Zimbabwe’s imposing new Chinese-funded parliament opens

By FARAI MUTSAKA
Associated Press

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa has delivered a State of the Nation address at the country’s new multimillion-dollar parliament building. China has funded and constructed the imposing and spacious $200 million six-story building in Mt. Hampden, about 18 kilometers (11 miles) west of the capital, Harare, as a “gift”— signifying its growing influence on the former British colony. Mnangagwa’s address also served to officially open the last session of the current parliament before elections next year and marked the move out of Zimbabwe’s colonial-era parliament building in central Harare.