BULAWAYO
–
Lithuania
is
holding
onto
17
fire
engines
seized
in
March
2023
while
being
shipped
to
Zimbabwe
from
neighbouring
Belarus
which
is
under
European
Union
sanctions,
officials
said
on
Wednesday.
Zimbabwe’s
new
attorney
general
Virginia
Mabhiza,
appointed
last
September,
flew
to
the
small
European
country
earlier
this
year
on
a
mission
to
get
the
trucks
released
but
her
efforts
were
in
vain,
ZimLive
was
told.
Information
secretary
Ndavaningi
Mangwana
said
the
government
was
still
appealing
to
the
Lithuanians
to
release
the
fire
tenders.
“We
eagerly
await
the
release
of
the
fire
tenders.
These
fire
engines
will
be
critical
in
supporting
firefighting
operations,
protecting
life
and
property
as
well
as
preserving
Zimbabwe’s
world
heritage
sites
and
the
crucial
crops
that
defied
the
devastating
drought,”
Mangwana
said.
Priscilla
Misihairabwi
Mushonga,
Zimbabwe’s
ambassador
to
Sweden
who
also
oversees
Lithuania,
Finland,
Denmark
and
Norway
is
understood
to
have
also
been
engaged
in
meetings
with
the
Lithuanians
to
free
the
trucks
acquired
by
the
local
government
ministry
for
distribution
to
local
authorities.
Mabhiza
explained:
“17
fire
tenders
were
seized
on
March
7,
2023,
at
the
Malku
Bay
seaport
of
Klaipeda
in
Lithuania
.
“The
explanation
has
been
that
the
fire
tenders
or
certain
components
on
the
fire
tenders
were
manufactured
by
a
Belarusian
company
which
is
on
EU
sanctions
.
“Zimbabwe
maintains
that
we
are
an
innocent
third
party
who
bought
the
fire
tenders
without
any
knowledge
of
such
details.”
The
trucks
were
supplied
by
a
company
called
Red
Lion
under
an
opaque
deal
engineered
by
Belarusian
arms
dealer
Alexander
Zingman.
The
fire
tenders
were
being
delivered
through
Lithuania
to
a
port
on
the
Baltic
Sea
from
landlocked
Belarus
when
they
were
seized.
Belarus
is
under
European
Union
sanctions
since
2020
over
human
rights
abuses
under
its
tyrannical
leader
Aleksandr
Lukashenko.
During
the
same
period,
the
EU
also
had
targeted
sanctions
on
Zimbabwean
officials
and
certain
companies,
but
these
did
not
cover
trade
in
non-lethal
equipment
The
Zimbabwe
government
argues
that
the
Lithuanians
have
no
legal
basis
to
be
holding
onto
the
trucks.
Lithuania’s
foreign
ministry
has
not
responded
to
our
questions
over
the
seizure
of
the
fire
trucks.