UPDATE 2-Zimbabwe secures $950 mln credit from China

Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:16am EDT
 
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* Zimbabwe secures $950 mln credit lines from China

* Secures pledges of over $500 mln on U.S., Europe trip

* More aid on condition of democracy, better rights record

(Adds Tsvangirai quotes, background)

By Nelson Banya

HARARE, June 30 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe has secured $950 million in credit from China to help rebuild its economy, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Tuesday, the biggest offer from a single country since the unity government was formed.

Zimbabwe has appealed to the world for a "financial stimulus package" for its devastated economy, and says it needs $10 billion to rebuild dilapidated infrastructure and ease a 90 percent unemployment rate.

"The government through the minister of finance, secured credit lines of almost $950 million from China," Tsvangirai said in a news conference.

He said a three-week tour he conducted of the United States and Europe had yielded pledges totalling more than $500 million.

"The amount of assistance that was raised on my visit to Europe and the United States does not reflect the enormous support we will be able to utilise if we are to fulfil all our political obligations," he said.

He said other promises of aid would be realised only when Zimbabwe created a democracy and improved human rights after what critics say was President Robert Mugabe's repressive rule.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change in February formed a fragile coalition administration with Mugabe's ZANU-PF to end a long-running political crisis and a decade of economic ruin.

Zimbabwe has warned a lack of foreign support would put a recovery plan drawn up by the unity government in peril.

"If we want outside assistance, we must first prove that we are able to fulfil the obligations we have undertaken within the agreement that was brokered by (regional grouping) SADC," Tsvangirai said.

PEACEFUL PROTESTORS BEATEN  Continued...

 

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