Zimbabwe hosts global carnival despite economic problems
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An international carnival aimed at boosting Zimbabwe's tourism industry has ended in the economically troubled country.
Some saw the festivities that featured artists from Brazil, Cuba, Egypt and elsewhere as a relief from the struggle to get by in the southern African nation.
Others called the carnival a waste of money in a country struggling to pay civil servants' salaries and battling acute currency problems.
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Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi defended the carnival as necessary to promote tourism, saying private sponsors paid for most of it.
The 10-day carnival has been held annually since 2013 with the exception of last year, when funding problems forced its cancellation.
A law banning the consumption of alcohol in public was suspended for the duration of the carnival.