Sunday, May 31, 2009

French Sniffing Around in Zimbabwe

Zut alors! What brings the French to our neck of the woods? They are not coming to sample the sorghum beer (chibuku) or the grilled trotters (mazondo). On May 30 the Zimbabwean portal (Zimbabwesituation.com) reported that French State Minister, Anne-Marie Idrac, had paid a visit to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and had invited him over to Paris next month. Unbeknown to most African leaders, being invited to the Elysee Palace is like being invited to Dracula's Palace: You are being invited there for a reason - a very sinister reason.

Here's the reason why the French suddenly have an interest in Zimbabwe. In the South-East of Zimbabwe lies a small district called Bikita. Bikita has the world's second-largest (known) reserves of lithium, after Bolivia. The car industry is striving to replace the internal-combustion engine with a battery-powered engine, and yes, lithium is a key part of battery technology. French entrepreneur, Vincent Bollore, has even begun to manufacture a small, battery-powered automobile. Which brings us back to Zimbabwe. All governments in the West are now keen to develop better ties with Zimbabwe since - in the future - whoever controls the battery technology and the resources will automatically control the automobile industry.

No comments :