{"id":11683,"date":"2019-03-03T13:15:20","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T05:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=11683"},"modified":"2019-03-03T13:24:05","modified_gmt":"2019-03-03T05:24:05","slug":"botswana-pres-mokgweetsi-masisi-denies-report-of-600-million-loan-to-zimbabwe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=11683","title":{"rendered":"Botswana: Pres Mokgweetsi Masisi denies report of $600 million loan to Zimbabwe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanaweb.com\/GhanaHomePage\/worldNews\/Botswana-s-President-denies-report-of-600-million-loan-to-Zimbabwe-727493?gallery=1\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanaweb.com\/imagelib\/pics\/80831275.295.jpg\" alt=\"Botswana President  2 Diamonds\"\/><\/a><figcaption> <br><strong><em>Botswana\u2019s President, Mokgweetsi Masisi\ufeff<\/em><\/strong> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>GABORONE, March 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Botswana\u2019s President   Mokgweetsi Masisi dismissed a report that the country had offered Zimbabwe a $600 million diamond-backed loan and said his government had only offered to guarantee a $100 million private credit line for Botswana companies to invest in their troubled neighbour.<br><br>Zimbabwe\u2019s secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was quoted in the state-owned Herald newspaper on Tuesday saying Botswana had offered to lend Zimbabwe $500 million to support its diamond industry and another $100 million for the local private firms.<br><br>\u201cI want to clarify these reports that we are giving Zimbabwe hundreds of millions in loans. That is totally untrue,\u201d Mokgweetsi Masisi told reporters in Gaborone, after visiting Zimbabwe for business and trade mission.<br><br>\u201cWe are not giving them a single loan. The only thing we gave them were medical supplies made in Botswana and supplementary feeding worth 2.1 million pula ($197,600).\u201d<br><br>There is $100 million credit from private banks in Botswana and Zimbabwe to help Botswana private companies, Masisi added.<br><br>\u201cWhat we have demanded, which we are waiting for, is a letter of guarantee from the Zimbabweans to counter our own guarantee,\u201d he said.<br><br>Masisi also said Botswana, which is the largest producer of diamonds by value, would help Zimbabwe with its diamond trade because \u201cit would be useful and strategic for Botswana\u201d as it aims to become a global centre of diamond trading.<br><br>Zimbabwe\u2019s diamond sector has struggled since the government kicked out private companies from the eastern Marange fields in early 2016 after they declined to merge under the state-owned mining company.<br><br>Relations between Zimbabwe and Botswana have improved following a strained period when Botswana\u2019s ex-President Ian Khama, who stepped down in 2018, routinely criticised Zimbabwe\u2019s Robert Mugabe for holding on to power for too long.<br><br>A military coup in 2017 forced Mugabe to resign, ending his 37-year rule. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GABORONE, March 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Botswana\u2019s President Mokgweetsi Masisi dismissed a report that the country had offered Zimbabwe a $600 million diamond-backed loan and said his government had only offered to guarantee a $100 million private credit line for Botswana companies to invest in their troubled neighbour. Zimbabwe\u2019s secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":11693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213,297],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11683"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}