Themes in the News: Zimbabwe 

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"I think they might even kill me to create a by-election" - Costin Muguti, MDC MP
Today's Guardian carries a report entitled No painkillers, no visitors and no way out: Mugabe’s hospital ward for MDC activists (14/07/08). One new MDC MP, Costin Muguti, says he "couldn’t eat or talk for three days" after a police beating.

The credibility of the African Union is at stake - Ban Ki-Moon
In an unusually blunt (though not widely reported) remark, the UN Secretary-General said regarding the Zimbabwe crisis, "the credibility of Zimbabwe and the African Union is at stake, and therefore I count on the leaders of the African Union to exercise their leadership" (UN, 23/06/08).

The Kenyan prime minister, Raila Odinga, today (Guardian, 30/06/08) called on African leaders to suspend Zimbabwe from the Africa Union rather than welcome Robert Mugabe to their summit in Sharm el-Sheikh.

His comments came as the US completed a first draft of a UN Security Council sanctions resolution following the widely disputed re-election of Mugabe last week.

The US and a number of European powers pushed for a UN security council resolution that would have stated the results "could have no credibility or legitimacy", but South Africa blocked the move, arguing the Security Council was not in the business of certifying elections (Al Jazeera, 30/06/08).

Support for Mugabe has been waning among fellow African leaders (Economist, 26/06/08). The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) observer mission has said Zimbabwe’s run-off elections did not represent the will of the people (Al Jazeera, 30/06/08). However, South Africa was far from alone when the EU succumbed to pressure from African governments and allowed Mugabe to attend an EU summit in December (see: Barroso criticises Brown rather than the African leaders who support Mugabe).

Kenya warns of Rwanda-style disaster in Zimbabwe
Kenya PM, Raila Odinga warned on Wednesday that Zimbabwe could descend into a disaster akin to Rwanda’s 1994 genocide if the world did not intervene rapidly to remedy the crisis (Reuters, 25/06/08)

’Freedom is the air we breathe’ - Journalism under fire
The documentary maker Sean Langan tells the Observer’s Peter Beaumont about the three-month ordeal that saw him kidnapped and threatened with death in tribal Pakistan (28/06/08).

In Turkmenistan, a RFE/RL contributor "known for his moderate views" is being held at an infamous psychiatric hospital (RFE/RL, 27/06/08).

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, expressed concern this month about recent cases of intimidation and harassment of non-governmental journalists in Uzbekistan (17/06/08). Earlier this month, a scheduled EU-Uzbekistan conference on media freedom was scrapped in favour of an "Uzbek version" described as a "propaganda show" by Andrew Stroehlein, a media director for the International Crisis Group (RFE/RL, 10/06/08).

In Zimbabwe, Zanu-PF’s intimidating grip on national and international media effectively quashed the opposition MDC’s campaign, writes Tom Rhodes in the Guardian (25/06/08).

Comment: The legacy of restrictions on media freedom (together with poor education) can leave a population dangerously ignorant of the wider world putting journalists (and others) further at risk. Langan’s captors watched videos that told them "the west was raping their women and was against Islam. But, in reality, they know almost nothing about the west. Mr C asked me once if it was true that western women married frogs. He had seen a children’s fairytale and believed it was true."

Mugabe willing to give power to ally, threatens bloodshed
Zimbabwe’s President would be willing to hand power to a ruling party ally when he is sure the country is safe from "sell-outs" and from British interference, a newspaper has reported. But the state-run Sunday Mail said Robert Mugabe gave no time frame and vowed to stop the opposition from ending his rule, which Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, described as sadism (Sydney Morning Herald, 17/06/08).

"We shed a lot of blood for this country. We are not going to give up our country for a mere X" on a ballot. How can a ball point pen fight with a gun?" the Herald, a government mouthpiece, quoted Mugabe as saying (IHT, 16/06/08).

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe threatened on Monday to arrest opposition leaders over election campaign violence for which his opponents blame ruling party supporters (Reuters Alertnet, 16/06/08).

Bush said the U.S. would work with Britain and others to make sure the runoff poll is conducted to international standards (IHT above). However, Dumisani Muleya writes in Business Day (Johannesburg) that "it is as plain as a pikestaff that the election will be a farce" (09/06/08).

Zambia is bracing for a Zimbabwean exodus
Serious concern is mounting in Zambia that a wave of Zimbabwean immigrants could cross the border escaping worsening political violence in the aftermath of the country’s presidential run-off election at the end of June (IRIN, 16/06/08).

“There has been a lot of pre-election systematic movement of Zimbabweans into Zambia, but we may have something like one-third of Zimbabwean immigrants crossing into Zambia to seek asylum,” said Joseph Chilengi, executive director of the Africa Internally Displaced Persons’ Voice, (Africa IDP Voice) a lobby group championing the rights of displaced persons. “Zambia seems to be the only country in the region that appears to be offering a conducive environment for asylum at the moment”.

Deaths, media repression and coup fears in Zimbabwe
There is a growing danger of a coup by military hardliners in Zimbabwe to prevent opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai from toppling President Robert Mugabe, Belgian-based think tank International Crisis Group says. It says military commanders opposed to Tsvangirai have been instrumental in preventing a democratic transition. "There is growing risk of a coup either before a run-off (in a pre-emptive move to deny Tsvangirai victory) or after a Tsvangirai win," its analysts say (Alertnet).

The run-off - in a country where inflation is a staggering 165,000 percent and unemployment around 80 percent - is on June 27. More than 50 people have been killed in political violence since the disputed March 29 elections and 25,000 have fled their homes, according to the opposition (Reuters, 27/05/08). To interview a Crisis Group analyst, contact Andrew Stroehlein in Brussels on +32 (0) 2541 1635 . Mugabe will never vacate his office for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai even if he loses the election next month, the Zimbabwean leader’s wife said Thursday (AFP, 29/05/08).

Mugabe flew out of the capital Harare on Sunday to attend a summit meeting of the United Nations’ food agency in Rome (AFP, 01/06/08) sparking outrage (The Times, 02/06/08). Mugabe's government has bought 600,000 tonnes of maize to ease food shortages before the June 27 presidential election run-off (Reuters, 29/05/08).

The arrest of Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Brussels this week on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity is a warning to Mugabe writes Patrick Laurence (Independent Online, South Africa, 01/06/08). IFJ fears more media repression ahead of the run-off (02/06/08)

Africa "primed for a descent into facism"
Executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, L. Muthoni Wanyeki says Africa has failed to address its governance problems: "From Ethiopia to Uganda to Nigeria to ourselves and, of course, to Zimbabwe, we should have halted the cycle of reversals caused by cynical manipulation of the electoral process in Africa. Why didn’t we? Because, as our own senior advocate Pheroze Nowrojee has uncompromisingly pointed out, we are, in effect, being primed for a descent into fascism — the idea that increased economic growth rates and improved efficiency on various fronts is an adequate compensation for limitations on basic freedoms and rights (The East African, 02/06/08).

Comment: Nowrojee's remark could apply equally to China, although a desire for economic growth should not be dismissed out of hand as greed since growth can pull millions out of poverty as it has in China. Wanyeki is perhaps too hard on Africa - failures of collective responsibility remain endemic among individuals and states worldwide. Related: 'Despots Masquerading as Democrats' (February, 2008).

Tsvangirai to return "very soon" despite alleged plot
Today, the MDC alleged the military was planning to kill Tsvangirai using snipers. "We know there are 18 snipers, and the military intelligence directorate is in charge of this," the party’s secretary general, Tendai Biti, told Reuters. He said Tsvangirai would return "very soon" (Guardian, 19/05/08).

Gibson Nyandoro told The Observer of his disillusionment with the regime. Now he is dead, a victim of new violence as Zimbabwe faces an election rerun (Observer, 18/05/08). The Zimbabwe run-off vote to take place on June 27th.

There are no effective global controls on the arms trade - Tutu
In the current scandal of the attempt to ship tonnes of arms and ammunition to Zimbabwe, it is the Chinese who have spoken the most sense, writes Desmond Tutu in the Irish Times (16/05/08). China’s foreign ministry said the country’s shipment of mortar grenades, rockets and bullets was "perfectly normal trade". If you want to export weapons to a country that commits gross abuses of human rights, then you can. At the moment the United Nations is working on an arms trade treaty that could stop weapons transfers like this one to Zimbabwe. Now that it looks like the ship and its contents are returning to China, civil society, trade unions, human rights groups and others can proclaim a momentary victory. But if the UN meetings do not come out in support of a tough treaty, then this victory will be at best temporary - and at worst meaningless.Unions step up campaign against boat with arms for Zimbabwe
South African trade unions vowed to step up a campaign against a Chinese boat loaded with weapons for the Zimbabwean army (AP, 21/04/08).

MDC secretary general Tendai Biti said Zimbabwe was now "in a war situation" following disputed polls on 29 March (BBC, 20/04/08).

Reuters Television finds out what is happening in Zimbabwe after the authorities refused to announce presidential results (Video; 19/04/08).

The Times's Africa correspondent, Jonathan Clayton, has been deported from Zimbabwe today after being detained for eight nights and fined 20bn Zimbabwe dollars (about £125), the paper said (Guardian, 17/04/08). He described his ordeal in The Times. In one interrogation he was struck to the ground. His fellow inmates were mostly policemen and soldiers who had deserted. Before he left, a sympathetic policeman said to him: "Zimbabwe is a good country. One day things will change and you will be back" (The Times, 19/04/08).

"Down with thieves who want to steal our country," Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told crowds recently marking 28 years of independence (BBC, 18/04/08).

TDs Barry and Chris Andrews call for action on Zimbabwe, China
Fianna Fáil TD Barry Andrews said Friday that urgent action is needed to curb election rigging during the second round of Zimbabwe voting (04/04/08). His cousin Fianna Fáil TD Chris Andrews has called on Ireland to withdraw from the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony (27/03/08). Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern has also issued a statement on Tibet (31/03/08).

Opposition accused of mimicking Kenyan tactics
The opposition MDC were accused of mimicking Kenyan opposition tactics by Zimbabwean Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga. "We know what the idea is: They make an announcement; people go in the streets and celebrate," Matonga said. "When there’s a new announcement, then the people feel the elections are rigged." "That's what happened in Kenya," he said (CNN, 02/04/08). Previously, Mugabe warned his rivals against Kenya-style violence.

MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai has raised concerns that Mugabe may mobilize veterans like those who invaded the white-owned farms this weekend in an attempt to use violence to stay in power.

War veterans on Saturday invaded six farms in the southern Masvingo province, giving the farmers and their families between five and 10 hours to vacate their property, said Hendrick Olivier, the head of Zimbabwe’s Commercial Farmers’ Union (CNN, 06/04/08). On April 15, 2000, the first white farmer was shot dead in Zimbabwe

The lawyer for two foreign journalists arrested while covering Zimbabwe’s elections made an urgent application Sunday for the release of the two men on the third day of their detention. Barry Bearak, a correspondent for the New York Times and Stephen Bevan, a freelance journalist with the Sunday Telegraph, were arrested on Thursday night during a police raid on a tourist lodge in Harare in an attempted crackdown on the scores of foreign journalists covering the elections without accreditation (m&c, 06/04/08).

A Zimbabwean High Court judge has ruled that he can hear a petition by the opposition demanding the immediate release of the recent election results (BBC, 07/04/08).

Mugabe warns rivals against Kenya-style violence
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe warned the opposition on Friday against Kenyan-style violence if they lose next week’s election, saying security forces stood ready to crush such protests (AlertNet, 21/03/08).

At least seven opposition MDC candidates and activists have fled their homes after their houses were damaged in attacks by people believed to be ruling party, Zanu PF supporters in the past week as political violence mounted ahead of this weekend’s elections (The Standard, 22/03/08).

Mugabe told a rally in Harare ahead of next week’s elections the main opposition party would not rule in his lifetime (BBC, 22/03/08).

Mugabe compares his challenger, Makoni, to a prostitute
The 84-year-old leader is facing a serious challenge from one-time ally and former finance minister Simba Makoni, who has vowed to reverse the country’s economic slide if elected in the March 29 vote. The 58-year-old Makoni was expelled this month from the ZANU-PF (Reuters, 23/2/08). Comment: If Makoni is a 'prostitute', could Mugabe agree with Makoni's diagnosis as to which way the wind is blowing?

Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai launched his election campaign Saturday pledging to end Mugabe's rule, revive the country’s moribund economy and mend strained relations with the West.

Child deaths down in Iraq by 62% or 71,000, also down worldwide
UNICEF estimates of annual child mortality in Iraq fell by 62% between 1997 and 2006. If the UNICEF figures are correct, sanctions were a likely factor behind both the high child mortality in 1997 and the subsequent reduction. 71,000 fewer children died in 2006 than if 1997 mortality rates had persisted. Connect-World compared figures from a new UNICEF report with those from an earlier UNICEF report (Read More...)

This is part of a larger story about the cost in millions of lives if the World fails to meet the fourth Millennium Development Goal to reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate. Yet, it is also a story of the benefit in millions of child-deaths avoided if and when progress towards the goal is made. For example:

Connect-World has found that 8 of the 10 most populous countries in the world -- accounting for over half of earth’s population -- saw reductions in mortality of between 29% (Pakistan) and 55% (Brazil) between 1997 and 2006.

However, a number of countries have witnessed a considerable deterioration, notably Botswana and Swaziland, and including Kenya, North Korea and Zimbabwe (Connect-World, 29/1/08). Global progress in reducing child mortality is insufficient to reach the fourth millennium development goal.

More analysis of the 2008 UNICEF report on child mortality... Press information from UNICEF regarding the report. Contact Connect-World regarding the analysis.

Mbeki steps in to take charge of Zimbabwe talks
South African President Thabo Mbeki has taken personal charge of stalled negotiations between Zimbabwe’s ruling party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to salvage them from collapse and save his own reputation, sources said (Cape Times, 10/1/08).

The year's unreported stories - MSF and Foreign Policy Magazine
People struggling to survive violence, forced displacement, and disease in the Central African Republic (CAR), Somalia, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere often went underreported this year and much of the past decade, according to the 10th annual list of the “Top Ten” Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories, released today by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) (20/12/07).

The 2007 list (see summary) also highlights the plight of people living through other forgotten crises, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Colombia, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, and Chechnya, where the displacement by war of millions continues. It also focuses on tuberculosis (TB) and childhood malnutrition. Contact: MSF Ireland.

Foreign Policy magazine has also challenged readers to see The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007 (December 2007). At no.8: dengue fever linked to climate change. Warmer climates may be putting millions of people around the world at risk for the disease, a virus that causes excruciating pain in people’s joints. This year is on track to be the worst year in nearly a decade for the mosquito-borne virus, also known as "bone-breaker disease."

EU-Africa summit ends in trade deadlock
Africa and Europe’s first summit in seven years ended on Sunday without agreement on the key issue of trade, dealing a blow to efforts to forge a new economic partnership between the two continents.

More than 70 European and African leaders were also at odds on how to deal with Zimbabwe, which was singled out along with Sudan by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for not respecting human rights (Reuters, 9/12/07).

Mugabe overshadowed the Summit according to a report on RTE's morning Ireland (10/12/07).

Archbishop of York cuts up dog collar in protest
The Archbishop of York cut up his dog collar on live television (BBC Video, 9/12/07) in a dramatic protest against Robert Mugabe’s rule. He suggested Africa's leaders had become 'sycophantic hero-worshippers', backed Brown's boycott, called dialogue to date 'dialogue with the deaf' and said racism was responsible for Africa's unwillingness to condemn Mugabe.

Ugandan John Sentamu pledged that he would not wear the symbol of his office again until the Zimbabwe president had been removed from power (PA, 9/12/07).

Barroso criticises Brown rather than the African leaders who support Mugabe
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, ahead of this weekend’s EU-Africa summit. He is banned from the EU, but was let in after African leaders threatened to stay away if he was not invited.

UK PM Gordon Brown is boycotting the summit in protest. EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has criticised the decision, saying that leaders sometimes have to meet people they disapprove of.

"If you are an international leader then you are going to have to be prepared to meet some people your mother would not like you to meet. That is what we have to do from time to time," he said. (BBC, 6/12/07). Related remarks by Barroso.[4’06"] (press conference, 6/12/07)

According to the Economist, the summit took place because it was Portugal’s big project for its presidency and because the EU is worried about increasing trade between Africa and China.

"If you’re a journalist,... This is the first EU-Africa Summit in seven years. Don’t waste your rare column inches and air time on a non-story about pointless political posturing" blogs Journalist Andrew Stroehlein of the International Crisis Group. He suggests following the lead of Zimbabwean Arnold Tsunga, Vice President of the International Federation for Human Rights. Tsunga said Mugabe’s attendance was a diversion from the real issues the EU and Africa needed to address, particularly about Zimbabwe, but also right across Arica (5/12/07).

Comment: Barroso's basic point may be right - that you cannot boycott every country where there are problems with human rights - but does it follow that you cannot boycott any country? The plight of suffering Zimbabweans would be far and away more important than Mugabe’s fate if only the two could be separated - clearly, the EU (since it imposed a travel ban) and Brown believe that they cannot.

Mugabe is supported by sympathetic neighbours. His attendance, despite the EU travel ban and Brown’s boycott (threatened in advance), highlights that support. It also highlights the EU’s unwillingness to pressure those neighbours over Mugabe. That is a story... and one of many at the Summit.

Morning Ireland looks at life after Mugabe less than a week after the death of his predecessor, Ian Smith
Aoife Kavanagh reports from Zimbabwe where she speaks to people ahead of the scheduled elections next year (RTE, 26/11/07). Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai does not want Mugabe to die unexpectedly.

Ian Smith, prime minister of Rhodesia "for 15 turbulent years" (BBC obituary, 20/11/07) died on November 20, 2007. Roy Bennett, a leader of MDC in exile in South Africa, said Mr Smith "created an immense amount of suffering" but "those who replaced Smith happen to be worse and even more oppressive" (Irish Times, 22/11/07).

Mugabe’s tyrannical rule did not diminish that of Mr Smith, nor did it prove him right, according to the Economist (22/11/07), which described his Rhodesia as racist and "rather squalid." Ciaran Byrne remembers meeting Ian Smith in 2000 (Irish Independent, 24/11/07). Irish Times obituary (24/11/07). See also Irish Times, 21/11/07. Obituary in the Sunday Independent (25/11/07; ©Telegraph). [Why just these newspapers? A very quick search for obituaries on Ian Smith restricted to Irish domains yielded the IT and the Indo.]

More reports from Aoife Kavanagh in Zimbabwe: Mugabe’s divide and rule policy weakens rivals (Irish Times, 26/11/07) and Inside the ruined country (Irish Times, 24/11/07).


Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai compares Zimbabwe to South Africa during apartheid
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday (AFP, 21/11/07) called for international support to help break the political stalemate between his party and President Robert Mugabe’s regime. "...Zimbabweans are seeking international solidarity, like South Africa during apartheid," Tsvangirai told reporters. 


Army on alert to prevent British invasion: Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe said Monday (AFP, 19/11/07) it had put its military on high alert against a possible British invasion. The statement came after the former head of the British armed forces, Lord Charles Guthrie, revealed in an interview (UK Indpendent on Sunday, 19/11/07) that the possibility of invading Zimbabwe had been discussed during Tony Blair’s premiership.


Africa continues to grow, though not Zimbabwe

More analysis from The Independent: “Mugabe can pitch this as a foreign conspiracy.”

Latest Zimbabwe News from Reuters’ AlertNet including a new report on acute water shortages

The news stories below may help to put Brown’s decision in context.

5 hours late for work? The boss will understand / Zimbabwe Strike
"There is no petrol, and regular bus services are already a distant memory" according to the BBC's Sue Lloyd-Roberts in Harare, Zimbabwe. "I sometimes wait four or five hours to get to work," said one office worker. "But even the bosses don’t complain."

With the Zimbabwean economy in ruins, it is the people leaving the country who are helping those who have remained to survive according to Lloyd-Roberts (08/09/07).

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has vowed to press ahead with this week’s stayaway in defiance of police intimidation. (16/09/07) (The ZCTU are unlikely to be aiming their strike at lenient bosses.)


August 2007

Mugabe’s hold on Africans
Despite an economy in turmoil, four-figure inflation and the exodus of millions to neighbouring countries, Zimbabwe’s president can rely on the support of his African peers. The BBC's Peter Biles spoke to one of them in a bid to discover Robert Mugabe’s secret.

According to Biles, African tradition dictates that he should not be criticised in public whatever private thoughts his peers might harbour. (However, the support may be less to do with tradition than the particular appeal of Mugabe, since deference amongst peers would seem at odds with the poor to violent relations between a number of African neighbours.) 

17 August 2007
Zimbabweans urged to keep peace
Mugabe received rapturous applause in Lusaka at the opening of an African summit. "And he had nothing to fear from the opening speeches. The only mention of Zimbabwe was a call to its people not to rock the boat" (video) - Orla Guerin  at reporting for the BBC 

16 August 2007  
Zimbabwe edges closer to complete collapse - Fr Michael Bennett says people are suffering and struggling to get food in Zimbabwe
Speaking to Aoife Kavanagh on Morning Ireland

Zimbabwe crisis (Alertnet)
Amid warnings that thousands of Zimbabweans are running out of food, the U.N. World Food Programme has launched an urgent appeal. The $118 million fund will enable the agency to feed ten times the number of beneficiaries it currently helps, according to a spokesman.


Juy 2007

11 July 2007
Archbishop accuses Mugabe of megalomania Government seeks to wipe out opposition, says cleric
Joe Humphreys, Irish Times


June 2007

More than one-third of Zimbabweans face food shortages - Drought and economic crisis to blame
A poor harvest coupled with a worsening economic crisis will leave more than 4 million people in Zimbabwe in need of food assistance by early next year, according to a report (June 5) issued by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme. 

Blair backs Mbeki on Zimbabwe
Speaking in Pretoria earlier this month (June 1) Blair said 'It is from within Zimbabwe and this region that change has got to come. And what we will do is support people like President Mbeki who are trying to bring about change.' Southern African leaders have named Mbeki to mediate in Zimbabwe’s crisis.


May 2007

20 May 2007
Mugabe’s €3m shrine to himself
Stephen Bevan and Michael Gwaridzo, Independent.ie

18 May 2007
Zimbabwe: Mugabe’s Reign of Terror
Reporter Evan Williams and Director Siobhan Sinnerton, Channel 4

Africa does not speak with one voice on Zimbabwe – Pan-African Parliament votes to probe human rights abuses
The Pan-African Parliament took an unprecedented step on May 14, voting overwhelmingly in favour of sending a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe as most of the world condemned State-sanctioned beatings of human rights lawyers and opposition activists. 

The vote by African MPs contrasts with the actions of their governments which have outraged Western countries and human rights organisations in the last few days by choosing Zimbabwe to chair the UN commission on sustainable development.

However, the Economist (17/05/07) argues that 'Making bad countries run good causes is actually a promising notion.'

Amnesty International Irish Section highlighted media repression in Zimbabwe on World Press Freedom Day (Thursday May 3) through the publication of a newspaper ‘The Daily News in Exile’ [pdf].

According to Amnesty, the government of Zimbabwe has relentlessly silenced its critics in the country’s private media through intimidation and repressive laws.  The practice of journalism remains a dangerous occupation and many journalists have been victims during the human rights crisis in Zimbabwe that started in 2000.


Background

Zimbabwe has been ravaged by HIV and AIDS (also here). One in four children has lost one or both parents to AIDS. 29.4 percent of children under five are stunted due to malnutrition. The economy has contracted by 50% in five years and prices are increasing by over 30% every month. On top of this, 2007 has been officially declared a ’drought year’. 

On the 18th May of 2005, ‘Operation Murambatswina” was launched by the Government. The Operation made an estimated 700,000 people lose their homes and/or livelihoods and impacted about 2.4 million people, according to the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy (UNSG-SE) for Human Settlement Issues in Zimbabwe.

In the last two years, UNICEF Ireland has donated US$265,000 to UNICEF programmes in Zimbabwe, the vast majority of this funding supported the complex humanitarian situation which materialised as a result of ’Operation Murambatswina". 

Zimbabwean children face some of the worst hardships in the world according to James Elder, UNICEF spokesman in Zimbabwe. 

This time last year, Elder wrote that 80 children a day were being infected with HIV from their mothers due to a lack of preventative drugs and nearly as many were dying each day of an AIDS-related illness. Dr Festo Kavishe of UNICEF said that the vast majority of these infections could have been prevented. 

In March, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, accused the Zimbabwean government of ’suppressing the basic fundamental rights of its people’ and called for external cooperation to bring about ’peaceful change’ in the country. 

On March 27, Conor Lenihan, Minister for Irish Aid and Human Rights, told the Seanad that ’Ireland is outspoken and committed to stopping the outrage that is occurring in Zimbabwe.’ He suggested that there was a ’culture of impunity’ and ’a pervasive atmosphere of intimidation and violence’. Lenihan said that the initial reluctance by African leaders to criticise a fellow African leader has gone and they are ’trying their best.’ However, even African leaders that know Mugabe well have not been able to make any progress. Despite his friendship over the years, Nelson Mandela did not believe he could change Mugabe. 

Total Irish Aid funding to the Zimbabwean people in 2006 amounted to almost €8 million. By 27/03/07, Irish Aid had given €2.4m in emergency and recovery assistance to Zimbabwe in 2007. A further €3m has been allocated for local NGOs which are working on HIV/Aids, and €1.4 million will be allocated to Trócaire and Concern. (Written answer on Tuesday, 27th March, 2007 to Parliamentary Questions 437 and 438 addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.) UNICEF Zimbabwe has received €1 million from the Irish government since 2006.

Photo credit: UNICEF/ HQ06-0439/Giacomo Pirozzi. ZIMBABWE: Blessing Chiwata, 17, reads a book in the home he shares with his three brothers in Devure Village near Harare, the capital. The boys live on their own because their parents have both died of AIDS. The community helped them rebuild their home. UNICEF assists child-headed households with food, school fees, blankets and psychological support. In 2006, Zimbabwe has one of the highest HIV rates in the world. One in five adults is HIV-positive and one in four children is orphaned, the majority due to HIV/AIDS. Fewer than seven per cent of HIV-positive pregnant women receive antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the disease, the primary cause of HIV infection in children. On average, 36,000 Zimbabweans die from AIDS each year, leaving behind 1.6 million orphans, 90 per cent of whom are looked after by extended family members or who fend for themselves. In addition to advocating for ARV treatment for all HIV-positive children, UNICEF is working with its partners to improve the health, education, protection and nutrition of orphans and other vulnerable children. UNICEF also advocates community outreach by training volunteer home-based care workers and supporting peer counselling groups such as ’Young People We Care’ (YPWC). Members of YPWC volunteer their time to provide secondary care for the terminally ill, and proactively engage in activities to reduce further transmission among their peers.