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Munyaradzi Musiiwa Midlands Correspondent
Tanzania’s military remains committed to supporting Zimbabwe in honour of its founding President Julius Nyerere’s strong relations with President Mugabe, Major-General Salim Mustafa Kijuu has said.
Speaking during a tour of the Zimbabwe Military Academy in Gweru last week, Major-Gen Kijuu, who was attending the 34th Independence celebrations on April 18, said the two countries’ affable relations date back many years.

“I have come on behalf of the (Tanzania) Chief of the Defence forces who was invited for the Independence celebrations.

“The good relations we have with Zimbabwe date back to the time of the Chimurenga liberation struggle where we helped each other to attain independence. We are here to strengthen, cement and enhance these relations.

“We really value the friendship we have with Zimbabwe which started with our visionary leaders, Cde Julius Nyerere and Cde Robert Mugabe. We would like these relations to be strengthened for the betterment of the two nations,” he said.

Major-General Kijuu said Tanzania benefited a lot from Zimbabwe through training of its military cadets.

“We have our cadet students being trained in Zimbabwe and Tanzania has students from this country,” he said. “This has been helpful to the army of Tanzania because we exchange skills.

“I would like to applaud Zimbabwe for its initiative to set up the National Defence College whose facilities are the same as those at universities. This assists members of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces to advance their knowledge and further their studies.

“Tanzania would also benefit from that. These are some of the great lessons drawn from Zimbabwe which we seek to implement.”