Perence Shiri

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Perence Shiri
11 January 1955 –

Allegiance	Zimbabwe
Service/branch	Air Force of Zimbabwe
Rank	Air Marshal
Commands held	Zimbabwean Fifth Brigade Air Force of Zimbabwe

Air Marshal Perence Shiri (b. 11 January 1955^[1]) is the current commander of the Air Force of Zimbabwe^[2] and a cousin of Robert Mugabe.^[3] He has called himself Black Jesus.^[4]

From 1983 to 1984, the Zimbabwean Fifth Brigade, under Shiri's command, was responsible for a reign of terror in Matabeleland. During the slaughter, thousands of civilians were killed and thousands more were tortured. Despite this, in 1986, Shiri was granted a place at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.^[5]

In 1992, Shiri was appointed the commander of the Air Force of Zimbabwe, taking over from Air Chief Marshal Josiah Tungamirai.^[2]

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Shiri was reported to have organised farm invasions by war veterans.^[6] In 2002, in response to the subsequent food shortage, Mugabe dispatched Shiri to South Africa to purchase maize. This undertaking was backed by a credit note for the equivalent of 17 million GBP from the Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi.^[3]

With the Mugabe government facing increasing problems, the Zimbabwean press reported in February 2007 that Shiri was regularly attending General Solomon Mujuru’s unofficial meetings with other senior military commanders and some political leaders. These meetings had discussed forcing Mugabe to the polls in 2008 with a view to his replacement as president.^[7]

In the days before the 2008 Zimbabwean presidential election Shiri, along with other Zimbabwean Defence chiefs, held a press conference where they stated that defence and security forces had been deployed across the country to maintain order. In a remark aimed against the Movement for Democratic Change, the defence chiefs stated it would be a criminal act anyone to declare himself the winner of the election. They maintained that such a statement must only be made by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.^[8]

[edit] Sanctions against Shiri

In 2002 the European Union barred Shiri from entering the EU^[9] and on 6 March 2003, George W. Bush ordered the blocking of any of Shiri's property in the United States.^[1]