- Central Intelligence Organisation
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The Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) is the national intelligence agency or "secret police" of Zimbabwe.
Contents
History
The CIO was formed in Rhodesia on the instructions of Prime Minister Winston Field in 1963 at the dissolution of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and took over from the Federal Intelligence and Security Bureau, which was a co-ordinating bureau analysing intelligence gathered by the British South Africa Police (BSAP) and the police forces of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
The first head of the CIO was Deputy Commissioner Ken Flower; during his tenure the BSAP Special Branch Headquarters were incorporated within the CIO, while the Special Branch retained its internal security function within the BSAP. The deputy head of the CIO, and eventual successor to Flower, was Danny Stannard [1]. His brother Richard Stannard, a former captain in the British Army Military Police, became the Director Military Intelligence (DMI) under Robert Mugabe. Richard, sometimes also known as "Slick," was, like Emmerson Mnangagwa, known to have been recruited by another foreign intelligence service[citation needed], initially, but not solely, in order to penetrate his former colleagues in BMATT, the British Army Training Team sent to assist in the formation of the new Zimbabwe National Army.
Prime Minister Mugabe kept Flower in the role of head of the CIO after majority rule in 1980, when the country's name changed to Zimbabwe. Flower had no more than a professional relationship with MI6 despite rumours that he had covertly and intermittently plotted with the British intelligence services to undermine Ian Smith's government. He had, however, an especially good professional relationship with Sir Dick Franks, the head of MI6 at the time, as he had with all the other main intelligence agencies.
Mossad infiltration
The CIO was infiltrated by the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, through Ari Ben Menashe, allegedly a "former" Mossad agent now living in Canada. The Israeli interest was in the supply of plutonium from the Congo via Zimbabwe to North Korea and thence to Syria and Iran.
CIO infiltration of the MDC
Col. Lionel Dyck, a close business associate of Mnangagwa, approached Morgan Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube separately with different offers [2] on behalf of Mnangagwe, his "principal"[3]. Dyck, a white former Rhodesian Army officer, had started a landmine clearance company, Minetech [4] in association with Mnangagwa. Minetech has now transferred its Head Office to Wiltshire in the UK and has amalgamated with the British company Exploration Logistics.[5]
The Chairman of Exploration Logistics is Alastair Morrison OBE, MC [6][7] a former second-in-command of 22 SAS who has very close links with MI6.
In recent years international human rights organisations such as Amnesty International have criticised the CIO's role in alleged internal repression, which is said on occasions to have involved torture.
In his book Serving Secretly, Flower complained about the undue influence of Irish Catholics in top positions during his early days in the BSA Police. He thought that this matter had been resolved in the late 1940s after a commission of enquiry. The Commissioner of Police at the time Mugabe became Prime Minister, most of the other top police officers were Catholic and Irish or had strong Irish connections.
See also
Tupiri Pardington (junior C.I.O operative) MUNHUMUTAPA Joseph Mananga (junior C.I.O operative) KAGUVI Tapiwa Chinjekure (c.i.o midlands) GWERU Government composed building Nyagwaya .N. (war veteran Tanzania group) MUKWATI
References
- Flower, Ken (1987). Serving Secretly - An Intelligence Chief on Record Rhodesia into Zimbabwe 1964 to 1981, London, John Murray.
Categories:- Law enforcement agencies of Zimbabwe
- Law enforcement in Rhodesia
- Intelligence agencies
- Secret police
- 1963 establishments
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