Zimbabwe II

File Photo by Aaron Unfumeli/EPA-EFE

Robert Mugabe: death of a liberation ‘colossus’ who crushed his foes as Zimbabwe unraveled
(Reuters) – Robert Mugabe, the bush war guerrilla who led Zimbabwe to independence and crushed his foes during nearly four decades of rule as his country descended into poverty, hyperinflation and unrest, died on Friday. He was 95.
He was one of the most polarizing figures in his continent’s history, a giant of African liberation, whose rule finally ended in ignominy when he was overthrown by his own army. He died in Singapore, where he had long received medical treatment.
Mugabe was feted as a champion of racial reconciliation when he first came to power in 1980 in one of the last African states to throw off white colonial rule.
By the time he was toppled, he was viewed by many at home and abroad as a power-obsessed autocrat who unleashed death squads, rigged elections and ruined the economy to keep control.
Mugabe took power after seven years of a liberation war, with a reputation as “the thinking man’s guerrilla”. He held seven degrees, three earned behind bars as a political prisoner of then-Rhodesia’s white minority rulers. Later, he would boast of another qualification: “a degree in violence”.
Just three years after independence, he sent the army’s North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade into the homeland of the Ndebele people to crush loyalists of his rival, Joshua Nkomo.
Human rights groups estimate as many as 20,000 people died in a two year purge that came to be known in the Shona language as Gukurahundi: “the early rain that washes away the chaff”. The opposition called it genocide.
If only his death were the cure for the woes of the country.

20 March
‘It was too late’: Hundreds are dead as rescue efforts stall in Mozambique and Zimbabwe
More than 300 people in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi and elsewhere in the region have been declared dead since Idai came ashore near the central Mozambican port city of Beira on Friday, destroying infrastructure across the city of half a million.
Many did not evacuate before the storm came ashore, wreaking havoc across the region. Houses are destroyed, and survivors had to scramble to their roofs and hope to be rescued.
“If we had closed schools, we would have saved lives,” Minister of Local Government July Moyo told reporters Tuesday in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.
The government estimates that about 400,000 people have been displaced, but WFP said that about 1.7 million people were in the cyclone’s path and that “the extent of the human suffering is not known.” Given the vast size of the affected region, “we do expect the death toll to increase significantly,” the agency said.

2018

8-9 August
Zimbabwe activists go into hiding as security crackdown intensifies
Opposition MDC backers report being harassed, detained and beaten after recent election
(The Guardian) Millions of people cast votes in the poll, the first since the ousting of Robert Mugabe last year. The victor was Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former aide to Mugabe and a stalwart of the Zanu-PF party, which has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980. Nelson Chamisa, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader, has said his party will challenge the “illegitimate and fraudulent” election in the courts.
The poll was seen as a potential turning point for Zimbabwe, which desperately needs foreign investment to avoid economic breakdown. But hopes for dramatic and immediate change have been dashed by violence and alleged human rights abuses since the election.
Zimbabwe opposition figure charged after forced return
UN accuses Zambia of violating international law after MDC’s Tendai Biti is denied asylum

3 August
Zimbabweans voted for change. They got a new crisis instead.
(WaPost) The declared winner of Monday’s vote — by less than 1 percentage point — is Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former spy chief intricately linked with decades of atrocities and power grabs under Mugabe. But as Mugabe’s popularity plummeted along with Zimbabwe’s once-healthy economy, Mnangagwa and allies in the military designed a bloodless coup. He became president and the top general his deputy.
To many in this nation of 16 million, his victory is unconvincing, not least so because the election commission took nearly four days to announce the results, which were revealed in the middle of the night and interrupted by an hour-long break.
The international community has remained mostly quiet in recognizing or congratulating Mnangagwa as Zimbabwe’s rightful next leader. The United States and the European Union have been clear that a credible election is their foremost condition for the lifting of sanctions and for backing a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
Nelson Chamisa, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), spoke once police had cleared from the hotel, pledging to challenge the results of Monday’s election in court and accusing the election commission of perpetrating “a coup against the will of the people.”He said his data showed that he had won 56 percent of the vote, and he called on the international community “to help us be liberated from the claws and manacles of this dictatorship.”

30 July
Zimbabwe election: High turnout in first post-Mugabe poll
(BBC) Foreign observers have hailed the election as an opportunity for Zimbabwe to break with its repressive past.
The presidential election is expected to be a tight contest between the incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa and his main rival Nelson Chamisa.
Parliamentary and local elections are also taking place on Monday.
Opinion polls give Mr Mnangagwa, who heads the ruling Zanu-PF party, a narrow lead over Mr Chamisa, who leads the MDC Alliance. Both leaders are running for the presidency for the first time.
Shadow of Mugabe looms over Zimbabwe election

13 July
Emmerson Mnangagwa: The ‘crocodile’ who snapped back
Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, the man known as “the crocodile” because of his political cunning, achieved a long-held ambition to succeed Robert Mugabe as Zimbabwe’s president in November.
(BBC) He is now hoping to win a presidential election to legitimise his rule, promising voters his efforts to woo foreign investors will bring back the economy from the brink of collapse.
“The crocodile”, who lived up to his name and snapped back, may have unseated Zimbabwe’s only ruler, but he is also associated with some of the worst atrocities committed under the ruling Zanu-PF party since independence in 1980.
Known as “the crocodile” because of his political shrewdness – his Zanu-PF faction is “Lacoste”
Received military training in China and Egypt
Tortured by Rhodesian forces after his “crocodile gang” staged attacks
Helped direct Zimbabwe’s war of independence in the 1960s and 1970s
Became the country’s spymaster during the 1980s civil conflict, in which thousands of civilians were killed, but has denied any role in the massacres
Accused of masterminding attacks on opposition supporters after 2008 election
Says he will deliver jobs, and seen as open to economic reforms.

23 April
Zimbabwe is confronting its past head-on. We are ready to embrace the world
SB Moyo, Zimbabwe’s foreign affairs minister
(The Guardian) The London meeting took place in the week that Zimbabwe celebrated the 38th anniversary of its independence. That we re-engage with the world while remembering our past is vitally important. Zimbabwe’s challenges emanate partly from the struggle that all countries, particularly those as young as we are, must go through as they seek to interpret and make sense of their history.
We can only do so by confronting the past head-on. Contested and painful as it is, our history cannot be changed. We can only learn from it. Most importantly, we need to unlearn the wrong things that we learned in the past.
It is precisely because we are keen to do this that we want to establish relations of friendship, equality and mutual respect, even with those with whom our past relations have been fractious. Our national ethos impels us to seek full readmission into the Commonwealth, whose amity, values and ethics we share, and to reclaim our place in the international community to which we rightly belong.
We are aware of not only our international commitments, but also our obligations to our own people. Our government has undertaken to ensure that the Zimbabwe electoral commission will conduct free, fair, non-violent and credible elections, and that the outcome fully respects the will of the people. The political parties that will contest the election are also discussing draft amendments to the electoral laws.

18 January
Zimbabwe president promises ‘free and fair’ election in five months
Emmerson Mnangagwa reaffirms pledge for first democratic vote since Robert Mugabe deposed

2017

5 December
How the African Union got it wrong on Zimbabwe
(Al Jazeera) As events played out in Zimbabwe, the African Union faced a conundrum: condemn the coup and the ZDF’s de facto seizure of power but be seen (once again) to be shielding Mugabe from his political reckoning; or accept the ZDF’s military intervention to absolve Zimbabwe – and the African Union – of Mugabe’s dictatorial reign, though at the risk of legitimating the use of force in politics.

26 November
‘Treacherous shenanigans’: The inside story of Mugabe’s downfall
Zimbabwe’s president finally accepted defeat only after he was sacked by his own party and faced impeachment
(Reuters/CNBC) Reuters could not confirm the account; but an intelligence report from November 13 indicates that Mugabe suspected some of his generals of preparing to overthrow him from China.
“A number of generals are now in China ready to plot Mugabe’s ouster with Mnangagwa,” the report said. It was not clear which generals, and whether their travel to China was authorized.
Mugabe’s spies suspected old allies had turned against the ageing president. An intelligence report, dated October 30, said Beijing and Moscow both supported regime change out of frustration at Zimbabwe’s economic implosion under Mugabe.

21 November

Robert Mugabe, who bragged he would rule until death (and perhaps beyond), has resigned

Now to fixing the country
(The Economist) SUDDENLY the dictator was no more. As Zimbabwe’s parliament began impeachment proceedings against Robert Mugabe, who had stubbornly refused to step down despite a country rising against him, a hush came over the joint session of senators and MPs. The speaker rose, in his hand a letter. Mr Mugabe had resigned. The room roared. “We have set ourselves free,” said one dancing man, a member of the central committee of Zanu-PF, the ruling party. “Mugabe is down. It is our time now.”
Amid the jubilation at Mr Mugabe’s end, Zimbabweans await the ascendancy of another deeply flawed figure, Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former vice-president sacked by Mr Mugabe on November 6th. It was this misstep by Mr Mugabe that set in motion his dramatic fall. Mr Mnangagwa fled the country after being fired, saying his life was in danger, and he has not been seen in public since. Yet his path to the highest office seems assured. On Sunday his party nominated him as its president and he is poised to take power, potentially in the next 48 hours. “This is wonderful. It means a new era,” said Josiah Hungwe, a Zanu-PF minister. “From now the hard work begins.”
Others were more equivocal. David Coltart, a prominent figure in the opposition, said on Twitter: “We have removed a tyrant but not yet a tyranny.”

19-20 November
Zimbabwe latest: Mugabe ‘let wife Grace usurp power
(BBC) Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party is set to begin impeachment proceedings against President Robert Mugabe on charges that include allowing his wife “to usurp constitutional power”.
The motion is now due to be presented to parliament on Tuesday.
Senior party member Paul Mangwana said the process could take as little as two days to complete, and President Mugabe could be removed by Wednesday.

Zimbabwe’s ruling party dismisses Mugabe as its leader in another blow to his presidency
On Sunday [19/11], the party that Robert Mugabe helmed for nearly four decades dismissed him as its leader, another blow to the longtime Zimbabwean president, whom the military detained last week. The party also told Mugabe that he must resign by noon Monday or face impeachment proceedings.
Those actions, unimaginable only a week ago, add to the groundswell of support aimed at ejecting the world’s oldest head of state. But they do not have any immediate effect on Mugabe’s position as president.

17 November
Robert and Grace Mugabe: What next for Zimbabwe?
(BBC) After 37 years in charge of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe is currently under house arrest after a military takeover.
South African envoys and a Zimbabwean church leader are trying to mediate between him and the army. The question now is what happens next, for Mr Mugabe and for Zimbabwe?
Here are seven possible scenarios …

15 November
Zimbabwe: Coup de Grace
Zimbabwe’s army mounts a coup against Robert Mugabe
After 37 years in power, the game is up
(The Economist) Today at dawn Zimbabwe’s generals declared that they had taken control of the country. The bloodless coup follows weeks of turmoil over who will succeed President Robert Mugabe and specific fears that he was moving to line up his wife, Grace, for the role. To facilitate her accession, he had sacked Emmerson Mnangagwa, his vice-president. Many now expect Mr Mnangagwa’s return, but his record is every bit as odious as Mr Mugabe’s.

Robert Mugabe’s grip on Zimbabwe ebbing away after military takes control
Head of state, who sacked his vice president last week in apparent attempt to give power to his wife, meets senior military officers after a day of house arrest
(The Guardian) The takeover by the armed forces appears to have resolved a bitter battle to succeed Mugabe, which had pitted his wife Grace against the former vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa. Mnangagwa was reported to have returned to Zimbabwe on Tuesday evening from South Africa, where he fled last week after being stripped of his office by Mugabe in an apparent attempt to clear Grace Mugabe’s path to power.
Reports that Grace Mugabe had fled to Namibia on Wednesday appeared false, with several sources saying she was detained with her husband in their residence in Harare..
The future of the first lady is a key element in the ongoing discussions between Mugabe and the military. Singapore and Malaysia, where the Mugabes own property, are potential destinations if she is allowed to travel into exile.
Grace Mugabe: the rags to riches rise and fall of ‘Gucci Grace’
Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe ‘confined to his home’
(Al Jazeera) President Robert Mugabe has been confined to his home, according to a statement by the office of his South African counterpart, Jacob Zuma.
South African officials said Zuma spoke to Mugabe by phone on Wednesday, amid a military takeover of government buildings in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.

2016

14 May
Zimbabwe’s trillion-dollar note: from worthless paper to hot investment
The central bank of Zimbabwe issued $100,000,000,000,000 notes during the last days of hyperinflation in 2009, and they barely paid for a loaf of bread. But their value has shot up
(The Guardian) Most 100 trillion dollar notes fetch close to £20-£25 on eBay, but set against the £1.50 paid by Wolstencroft in 2011 it is a striking return. In percentage terms, it is – close to 1,500%, compared with the miserable 5% rise in the FTSE 100 over the same period.In an extraordinary irony, the 100 trillion dollar note – a symbol of financial mismanagement on a colossal scale – has turned into one of the best-performing asset classes of recent years.
In 2009 the government scrapped the currency, leaving US dollars and South African rand as the main notes and coins in circulation. To this day, Zimbabwe still has no currency of its own, although the government last year offered to swap old deposit accounts into US dollars, giving savers $5 for each 175 quadrillion (175,000,000,000,000,000) Zimbabwean dollars.
In an extraordinary irony, Zimbabwe now suffers among the world’s worst deflation, currently at -2.3%.

2013

28 August
Zimbabwe Sails Close to Economic Rocks
(IPS) – For President Robert Mugabe to defeat the opposition in the Jul. 31 election by hook or by crook may have been a walk in the park, but beating the economic crisis will be another matter. The stock market fell 11 percent the day he was sworn in, the biggest fall in a day since 2009.
Fears are rising that the policies of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) will further scare away foreign investors.
“Zanu-PF’s current policy mix is in conflict with the needs of investors, and at present Zimbabwe is the least attractive investment destination worldwide,” John Robertson, director of the Robertson Economic Information Services told IPS. (28 August)
In Zimbabwe, A Luta Continua
(OpenCanada.org) The ZANU-PF applied, Machiavelli-style, a classic Gramscian combination of forceful power and sly persuasion – the dialectic of coercion and consent – to confound the fourteen-year-old MDC challenge, along with most members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union, and the western world (including the Andrew Youngs and Jesse Jacksons who filed into Harare’s State House hoping the United States could take a clean and sanctionless ZANU-PF beyond pariah status). The scale of ZANU-PF’s claims of a “credible” electoral win are tarnished by reports of chicanery and what the MDC likes to call “shenanigans”, as it declares the results null and void, but it is doubtful that records of all the “revolutionary party’s” electoral misdemeanours will change the harsh world of realpolik that will allow ZANU-PF’s careful plan to proceed. (8 August)
Mugabe mulls blacks-only stock exchange
(Al Jazeera) Zimbabwe president plans to set up second stock exchange only to be used by black-owned businesses.
Zimbabwe’s ruling party, Zanu PF says its landslide election victory is an endorsement of the policy and that it plans to target foreign owned businesses. (8 August)
5 August
Mugabe Tightens Grip on Power After Disputed Zimbabwe Vote
(WSJ) Longtime President’s Large Win Likely to Exacerbate Political Instability, International Isolation
3 August
Zimbabwe Election: Robert Mugabe ‘Wins’ Vote, Electoral Committee Announces – of course!
Zimbabwe protests weighed after Mugabe landslide
African observers signal approval of Zimbabwe vote
(CBC) Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change said on Friday it could take to the streets to challenge President Robert Mugabe’s victory in elections it rejects as a farce and which face skepticism from the West.
Mugabe’s ZANU-PF has already claimed a resounding win and interim tallies of the parliamentary count suggest a massive victory.
While the African Union’s monitoring mission chief called Wednesday’s peaceful polls generally “free and fair,” domestic monitors have described them as “seriously compromised” by registration flaws that may have disenfranchised up to a million people. [An historical note: Africa’s Mess, Mugabe’s Mayhem
Robert I. RotbergVenal leaders are the curse of Africa, and Robert Mugabe is a walking reminder of how much damage they can do. No mere thug like Idi Amin, the gifted Mugabe created modern Zimbabwe and then robbed it of its enormous potential. (September|October 2000) – nothing has changed.]
30 July
Zimbabwe’s Underhanded Autocrat — How Mugabe Manipulated the Vote
(Foreign Affairs) If Robert Mugabe has his way, the results of Zimbabwe’s July 31, 2013, presidential, parliamentary, and local government elections will have been determined before a single ballot is cast. The wily 89-year-old autocratic president, in power for 33 years, has put in place a system of security, legal, fiscal, and administrative measures aimed at again returning his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) to national office. The credibility of any election that yields such an outcome, however, will be suspect.

Zimbabwe’s 2013 elections explained
As Zimbabweans prepare to vote in presidential, senate, national and local government elections, what is at stake for the country?
(The Guardian) After the violent elections in 2008, Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party and Tsvangirai’s MDC-T (so named to distinguish it from the MDC-N, a breakaway faction of the MDC led by Welshman Ncube, the industry and commerce minister), were forced to form a coalition, which has, against the odds, overseen solid economic growth since 2010, due to the resurgence of agriculture and revenue from diamonds.
The re-emergence of the agricultural industry is of particular significance, as it formed the backbone of the economy until the policy of land reform was implemented.
Now, resettled farmers grow 40% of the country’s tobacco and 49% of its maize. However, the economy is slowing, and unemployment is understood to be running at 85%, with youth unemployment a particular concern.
Education – formerly an area in which Zimbabwe excelled, with the highest literacy rate in Africa – has been especially slow to recover, owing to a lack of funding and a “brain drain”. Although the economy is the most pressing issue for many Zimbabweans, youth unemployment and education will be two of the country’s long-term challenges.
What if Mugabe loses?
Both parties have agreed to accept the result irrespective of the winner. Yet the language from the campaign suggests the opposite. After military intervention in Egypt, many commentators worry that if Mugabe loses at the polls, the same will happen in Zimbabwe. Some senior military officers loyal to Mugabe have strongly indicated that they would not accept Tsvangirai as president. The generals are loyal to Mugabe, as he appointed them and they have profited immensely under him, but the allegiance of the rank and file is unknown. So while the threat from the military is real, it should not be overstated.

28 July
Mugabe makes final pre-election push
Thousands gather in capital Harare as Zimabwean president reaffirms policy of indigenisation.
Zimbabwe arrests Tsvangirai’s poll organiser
Party official of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC detained after reporting dumping of marked ballots.
13 June
Mugabe calls elections – and Tsvangirai rejects them as illegal
(The Guardian) Zimbabwe set for fresh political chaos as Mugabe decrees date for elections and quashes constitution
Zimbabwe seems poised for a fresh political crisis following Robert Mugabe‘s declaration of an election for next month which has now been rejected as “unlawful” by his chief rival.
Seeking to extend his 33-year rule Mugabe on Thursday used a presidential decree to bypass parliament and set the long-awaited poll for 31 July.

2010

Previous events in the sorry saga ; What Rhodesia Can Teach Us about Zimbabwe

23 December 2010
Leaked cable paints portrait of eccentric Mugabe
Desperate for foreign friends, Robert Mugabe sits in splendid isolation in his presidential office, obsessed with the past, as a white-gloved butler serves him tea and parmesan breadsticks.
This is the odd portrait that emerges from a “surreal” meeting between the Zimbabwean autocrat and U.S. officials last year, as documented in a secret diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks and published in South Africa.
7 April
Nicholas Kristof: Postcard From Zimbabwe
In a week of surreptitious reporting here (committing journalism can be a criminal offense in Zimbabwe), ordinary people said time and again that life had been better under the old, racist, white regime of what was then called Rhodesia.
1 April
Zimbabwe’s first human rights and election commissions sworn in by President Robert Mugabe
(BBC) The creation of the two commissions is seen as crucial in moving the country towards free and fair elections.
The Human Rights Commission will be headed by a law professor and the Electoral Commission by a former judge.
This is a step towards implementing the power-sharing agreement between Mr Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, but others issues remain.
21 December 2009
Zimbabwe politicians reach breakthrough
Zimbabwe’s rival leaders Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai reached an agreement on forming committees to oversee human rights, the media and elections.
10 December
Mugabe Orchestrated Rape – AIDS-Free World report
The AIDS-Free World report titled “Electing to Rape: Sexual terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe” was launched on International Human Rights Day as an appeal to leaders around the world to stop ignoring the violence being carried out against the people of Zimbabwe and to declare the systematic rape of women pre-, post- and during the 2008 elections, a crime against humanity. “The report unequivocally establishes that Robert Mugabe and his henchmen were guilty of crimes against humanity,” said AIDS-Free World co-director Stephen Lewis.
8 November
Trial for top Zimbabwean PM’s aide gets under way
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has called for the “the malicious prosecution” of aide Roy Bennett to stop and temporarily withdrew from the unity government last month, citing Bennett’s case as well as accusations of human rights abuses by militants and security forces loyal to longtime President Robert Mugabe.
3 November
O. Carl Unegbu: Zimbabwe’s Blood Diamond: The New Unfinished Business of Kimberley
(World Policy Blog) Once more, Africans are dying as a result of what should have been a blessing to their lives. This time the victims are not from the same old notorious places like Angola, Sierra Leone, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but from a new and badly troubled location where diamond-related deaths were hitherto not an issue. Enter Zimbabwe. Late last month, the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch released a report in which it accused the Zimbabwean government of complicity in the killing of more than 200 people during a raid and takeover by the Zimbabwe military of the Marange diamond fields in the eastern part of the country. The government explains the operation as a move designed to flush out illegal diamond miners from the area.
Kimberly group might suspend Zimbabwe
Members of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme meeting in Namibia face the prospect of being blasted as failures over inaction on concerns surrounding Zimbabwe’s diamond production. Rights groups say the KPCS, set up to keep conflict diamond off the international market, should suspend Zimbabwe until the government does more to end human-rights abuses in its diamond-mining regions. AllAfrica Global Media (11/2)
Zimbabwe deports UN rights expert
Zimbabwean authorities refused to allow United Nations human rights expert Manfred Nowak to enter the country even though he was invited to visit by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Nowak was detained at the airport and later deported in what he called “a serious diplomatic incident.” Reuters (10/28) , BBC (10/29)
“The Rule of Law Just Isn’t There”
HARARE, Oct 16 (IPS) – Agriculture used to be Zimbabwe’s economic mainstay but it has been on the decline since 2000 when the ZANU-PF government embarked on a so-called land reform programme that resulted in about 4,000 productive white farmers losing their farms, many to members of the politically connected elite.
5 October
Mukoko Gets Passport Back
(VOP) Harare – Crusading human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko has finally regained her passport back following her acquittal on charges of plotting to unseat President Robert Mugabe’s government.
Background (The Independent, January 2009) Jestina Mukoko: ‘Mugabe’s henchmen came for me before dawn’
4 October
Nestlé to stop buying Grace Mugabe dairy’s milk
The Swiss food giant Nestlé on Thursday announced it would stop buying milk from a Zimbabwean dairy controlled by Robert Mugabe’s wife. [That didn’t take long! The Swiss rarely ignore threats to profits.]
30 September
Campaign Begins to Stop Nestlé Buying ‘Blood’ Milk
(AllAfrica) AfriForum, a South African civil rights initiative, on Wednesday launched an international campaign calling on people to boycott all Nestlé products, until the company stops buying ‘blood milk’ from Robert Mugabe’s wife Grace.
An outcry erupted early this week when it was revealed that the Mugabes own 12 farms between them and that the Swiss national food giant has been buying milk from Mrs Mugabe, who controversially ‘acquired’ Gushongo Dairy Estate. This was after the previous owner was forced to sell his farm at just a fraction of its value, after a prolonged campaign of violence in 2003.
Will visit change Zuma’s relations with Zimbabwe?
South African President Jacob Zuma’s first trip to Zimbabwe since taking office has spurred speculation Zuma will alter significantly the special relationship between South Africa and Zimbabwe — one that has been characterized by critics as too accommodating. A spokesman for the African National Congress says a new tough direction for relations will not go as far as the economic sanctions the U.S. and U.K. have placed on Zimbabwe but will be marked by new diplomatic initiatives such as meeting with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. The Christian Science Monitor (8/27)
9 April
Mugabe Aides Said to Use Violence to Get Amnesty
HARARE, Zimbabwe — President Robert Mugabe’s top lieutenants are trying to force the political opposition into granting them amnesty for their past crimes by abducting, detaining and torturing opposition officials and activists, according to senior members of Mr. Mugabe’s party.
26 March
Zimbabwe sees some economic stabilization, much more needed
The decision by Zimbabwe’s new coalition government to abandon the Zimbabwean dollar in favor of foreign currencies has stabilized prices and curbed runaway inflation. Zimbabwe still faces severe economic challenges and international donors have indicated more reform will be necessary if Zimbabwean leaders hope to gain more aid. TIME (3/26) 
6 March
Tsvangirai injured, wife killed in car crash
The wife of Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was killed and Tsvangirai was injured in a head-on collision with a truck as the couple was being driven home to Buhera, south of Harare. An aide to Tsvangirai and his driver also were injured. A spokesman for Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change party described the prime minister as being in “relatively stable” condition. CNN (3/6) , The New York Times/Reuters (3/6) BBC (3/6)
27 February
(FP Morning Brief) While his country asks neighbors for aid, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe is raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for his own birthday party.
20 February
Zimbabwe recovery costs ‘massive’
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said the cost of rebuilding his country’s economy could run as high as $5bn (£3.5bn). Zimbabwe’s political deadlock recently ended with a power-sharing deal, but the economy is in a state of collapse. Also on Friday, the UN said more than 80,000 people had now been infected by Zimbabwe’s cholera outbreak.
19 February
Will Morgan Tsvangirai wield real power? Not yet, it seems
(The Economist) THE new unity government of Zimbabwe, launched with fanfare on February 13th, has got off to an inauspicious start. It appears that orders issued by the new prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, are already being countermanded by ZANU-PF, formerly the sole ruling party, still bent on keeping the upper hand. Rumours of a coup, planned by a cabal of disgruntled senior security men and ZANU-PF bigwigs opposed to any real power-sharing, are rife. No one knows quite who is in charge.
15 February
(FP Morning Brief) Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe has bought a $6 million home in Hong Kong. Exit strategy?
13 February
It didn’t take long – did it? How much longer is the world going to endure this?
On the very day Zimbabwe’s new unity government was sworn in, agents of President Robert Mugabe’s security forces on Friday arrested Roy Bennett, the third-highest ranking member of the opposition party that is supposed to share power with Mr. Mugabe. More
11 February
Morgan Tsvangirai has become prime minister of Zimbabwe. He may be in office, but not in power Full article
West will wait for progress before aiding Zimbabwe
Provision of new development assistance to Zimbabwe and any easing of sanctions will hinge upon “inclusive and effective governance” as part of a power sharing deal, U.S. officials said Wednesday, a day after a British leader expressed similar sentiment. While Zimbabwe is in desperate need of financial and development aid, Western governments are loath to reward President Robert Mugabe without tangible evidence of political progress. BBC (2/4) 
28 January
(Times Online) Barack Obama may be planning a diplomatic push to oust Robert Mugabe. A key figure in any new approach will be Susan Rice, Mr Obama’s UN ambassador, who is a Zimbabwe expert.
17 January
Zimbabwe rolls out Z$100tr note
Other notes in trillion-dollar denominations of 10, 20 and 50 are also being released to help Zimbabweans cope with hyperinflation. The latest annual figure for inflation, estimated in July last year, was 231m% – the world’s highest.

Health crisis worsens as doctors, nurses flee Zimbabwe
Doctors and nurses in Zimbabwe have either fled or gone on strike as a situation that the Physicians for Human Rights describes as forcible neglect by President Robert Mugabe only worsens. Desperate to keep the few remaining doctors, Zimbabwean officials have been distributing free cars as incentives or bribes. AIDS has become Zimbabwe’s greatest killer in the humanitarian crisis, far outpacing the death toll of cholera, according to Doctors Without Borders. BBC (1/15) 
31 December 2008
Harare diary: Ups and downs of 2008
(BBC) … a professional living and working in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, has been writing a diary throughout the year, describing her struggle to survive in a country with an economy in freefall. Here, we look back at the frustrating lows and the one euphoric high of an eventful year, marked by controversial elections.
27 December
White Farmers Confront Mugabe in a Legal Battle
… the tribunal’s recent ruling, in favor of the white farmers, is also a milestone of particular relevance to Zimbabwe. It suggests that a growing number of influential Africans — among them religious leaders and now jurists — are confronting Robert Mugabe … for his government’s violations of human rights and the rule of law, even as most regional heads of state continue to resist taking harsher steps to isolate his government.
19 December
Mugabe insists ‘Zimbabwe is mine’
(BBC) Zimbabwe is currently gripped by economic collapse and a cholera epidemic. The UN on Thursday reported that the death toll from the disease had risen to 1,123 and that 20,896 people had been infected.
11 December
Africans, Europeans and Americans must together rescue a dying country
(The Economist) In July a UN Security Council resolution to impose targeted sanctions (travel bans and asset freezes) against Mr Mugabe and his acolytes was blocked by China and Russia, with South Africa also dissenting, on the ground that Zimbabwe posed no threat to international stability. The blocking duo can hardly still argue that case with a straight face. Moreover, Zimbabwe is close to meeting the criteria for invoking the declaration endorsed at the UN in 2005 that there is an international “responsibility to protect” people facing, among other things, crimes against humanity. A group of peacemakers known as “the Elders”, including Jimmy Carter, a former American president, and Kofi Annan, the UN’s former head, having been refused entry into Zimbabwe, may help to push the issue up the UN’s agenda. Though Mr Mugabe would try to resist such a move, Mr Annan is quietly standing by to assume the mediator’s job in place of Mr Mbeki, an appointment devoutly to be wished.
Cholera Is Raging, Despite Denial by Mugabe
The outbreak is yet more evidence that Zimbabwe’s most fundamental public services — including water and sanitation, public schools and hospitals — are shutting down, much like the organs of a severely dehydrated cholera victim. [Mr Mugabe] even declared Thursday that the nation’s cholera epidemic had ended, just a day after the World Health Organization warned that the outbreak was grave enough to carry “serious regional implications.”
6 December
UN forced to cut food aid to Zimbabwe’s starving people
Half a million will go without emergency handouts this month, and more will be hungry in January. Meanwhile, Gordon Brown says it’s time to tell Mugabe ‘enough is enough’
When it looks as if things cannot possibly get worse, they do
Zimbabwe’s two main rival parties agreed to a constitutional amendment that would provide for the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, to become prime minister, with Robert Mugabe remaining president. But other unresolved issues still prevent a unity government from emerging. Meanwhile cholera swept the country. The government declared a national emergency and appealed for international help. See article
Mugabe rejects recommendation for unity government
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe announced his intention to form a cabinet “as soon as possible” in defiance of a recommendation by southern African leaders that he form a unity government by sharing control of the Home Affairs Ministry with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. The MDC, which also rejected the proposal as contrary to an earlier agreement to allocate 16 of 31 cabinet seats to the opposition, responded with calls for a boycott. Analysts suggest intervention by the UN or African Union may be necessary to break the impasse. The Washington Post (11/11)
Talks in Zimbabwe fail as Tsvangirai refuses compromise on police
Power-sharing talks in Zimbabwe failed after Prime Minister-elect Morgan Tsvangirai refused to submit to pressure from regional leaders to agree to share authority with President Robert Mugabe over the nation’s security and police forces. Los Angeles Times (free registration) (11/10) , The Guardian (London)
12 October
Mbeki to arbitrate in Zimbabwe as Mugabe threatens unilateral cabinet
The power-sharing arrangement that brought tentative political stability to Zimbabwe was threatened as President Robert Mugabe declared that his political party would appoint the heads of all the cabinet ministries, including military and police. Financial Times (10/12) , The Guardian (London) (10/13) , BBC
9 October
Zimbabwe inflation up to 231 million percent
Despite the announcement of a power-sharing agreement between opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe, ostensibly ending the political stalemate driving inflation and economic insecurity in Zimbabwe, inflation rose from 11.2 million percent to 231 million percent in July. The World Bank has categorized Zimbabwe’s as the fastest shrinking economy of any country not at war. Mail & Guardian (South Africa)/Reuters (10/9)
11 September
Dare we hope? We have seen too many similar stories.
Peace Deal Reached in Zimbabwe
The power-sharing talks have aimed to resolve the political crisis, but Mr. Tsvangirai offered no immediate details about how they settled the issue that has bedeviled them: Mr. Mugabe’s refusal to share the supreme authority he has wielded over the southern African nation for the past 28 years. More from Reuters
Resourceful Zimbabweans fighting hunger
Hunger in Zimbabwe — the result of economic collapse in the face of political stalemate — is driving citizens to forage for food. Some are living off of tree roots and porridges, while others have contracted exotic diseases from eating fruits indiscriminately. TIME
25 August
“Mugabe is drawing lines in the sand, challenging the MDC. If the MDC remain united in the face of the new threats, they will still have a chance to stop Mugabe playing with the nation’s life.” University of Zimbabwe professor John Makumbe.  Full story
August 22
Mugabe takes generals’ advice and abandons deal
Robert Mugabe has abandoned a negotiated solution to the Zimbabwean crisis at the behest of the generals who prop him up, sources have told The Independent.
Day of the Crocodile
By Peter Godwin
(Vanity Fair September 2008) Zimbabwe’s longtime ruler, Robert Mugabe, made a brutal sham of recent elections, after banning Western journalists. The author, a native, reports from the inside on Mugabe’s campaign of terror—and the extraordinary courage of those who’ve confronted “The Fear”.
14 August
(The Economist) Talks on power-sharing in Zimbabwe between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, mediated by South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki, appeared to stall. One of the sticking points (Surprise!) was how much power a new prime minister, most likely to be Mr Tsvangirai, would have in a new administration if Mr Mugabe stayed on as president. See article
12 August
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe agreed a power-sharing deal with a breakaway opposition faction on Tuesday, but has yet to agree with main rival Morgan Tsvangirai, South African President Thabo Mbeki said. BBC reports ‘no deal’
8 August
Mbeki to meet Zimbabwe political leaders
HARARE (Reuters) – South African President Thabo Mbeki, mediating in Zimbabwe’s post-election crisis, will go to Harare on Saturday amid growing optimism a power-sharing deal can be reached between the ruling party and the opposition.
1 August
Harare diary: No more trillionaires
“At midnight, my bank stripped me of my trillionaire status – the Z$5 trillion sitting in my account became Z$500.”
28 July
Zimbabwe to lop zeroes off currency
By Tom Burgis in Johannesburg and Tony Hawkins in Harare
(FT) Zimbabwe’s economy is unravelling at such a pace that the central bank is set to slash yet more zeroes from the country’s increasingly worthless currency. State media on Sunday quoted Gideon Gono, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor and one of the members of the ruling elite targeted by fresh western sanctions last week, as saying he would extend a currency policy that has so far failed to stem hyperinflation.
24 July
Zimbabwe: Government Panics Over Failure to Pay Military And Police
(allAfrica.com) The government is reported to have run out of paper to print money and is believed to be panicking over how to pay salaries for civil servants, especially soldiers and police who are the backbone of the Mugabe dictatorship.
Giesecke & Devrient, the European company that was providing the paper, was last month pressured to cut supplies by the German government. In addition, a company that provides the software licences for the design and printing of the banknotes, is reported to be considering withdrawing their contract.
23 July
How seriously, or not, to take talks between Zimbabwe’s rival claimants to the presidency
(The Economist) … Nor will talks be easy given the ongoing repression in Zimbabwe. In the past few months alone over 120 opposition activists have been killed and thousands arrested. The opposition says that 200,000 people have fled the violence.
12 July
2 Vetoes Quash U.N. Sanctions on Zimbabwe
UNITED NATIONS — An American-led effort to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe failed in the Security Council on Friday, with Russia and China exercising a rare double veto to quash a resolution that they said represented excessive interference in the country’s domestic matters.
10 July
Global net closes on Mugabe’s gang
By Daniel Howden
The net was tightening last night around the leading figures in the Mugabe regime as the United Nations identified the key individuals it blames for the current crisis in Zimbabwe.
UN Security Council nations move toward sanctions against Zimbabwe
Though a veto by China or Russia has not been ruled out, an effort to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe’s regime has found the support of the majority of nations on the UN Security Council. Financial Times (7/9) , The Guardian (London) (7/9)
8 July
Bush Pushes Hard Line on Zimbabwe at G-8
The leaders of seven African countries and eight industrialized nations emerged divided after three hours of closed-door meetings dominated by the crisis in Zimbabwe. President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, suggested that a power-sharing agreement was the answer.
7 July
Zimbabwe sanctions could lead to civil war, Mbeki warns [G8] leaders
· Bush losing patience with South African diplomacy
· Opposition activist’s body found tortured and burnt
South African peace plan for Zimbabwe welcomed by MDC
The proposals suggest Thabo Mbeki has recognised Morgan Tsvangirai’s claim to government
South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki, has presented a plan to Zimbabwe’s political leaders that would allow Robert Mugabe to remain as a titular head of state but surrender real power to the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who would serve as prime minister until a new constitution was negotiated and fresh elections held.
5 July
UK is sending 11,000 Mugabe refugees back
Zimbabweans who fled regime are being sent Home Office letters telling them to return
(RCI) A British film crew has evidence of voter intimidation during the presidential runoff election last month in Zimbabwe. Guardian Films shows footage taken secretly by a Zimbabwe prison officer.
Zimbabwe ‘vote fraud proof’ emerges
(Al Jazeera) The footage had reportedly been smuggled out of the country by Shepherd Yuda, an officer at a prison in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital.
The video shot inside the jail shows Yuda and his colleagues being forced to vote for Robert Mugabe.
Mbeki holds Harare crisis talks
South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki has held talks in Harare with Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and members of a breakaway opposition faction.
Despite disagreements, AU endorses negotiations for Zimbabwe
Though African leaders failed to disguise their differences of opinion about the failed election that retained President Robert Mugabe in office in Zimbabwe, African Union leaders did endorse the creation of a unity government — or at least negotiations — between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Botswana called on the AU and Southern African Development Community to ostracize Mugabe, whereas others were sympathetic to Mugabe’s claim that Western forces interfered. Financial Times (7/2)
30 June
Robert Mugabe was hailed a “hero” by Africa’s longest-serving head of state as he joined his fellow leaders at an African Union summit.
“He was elected, he took an oath, and he is here with us, so he is President and we cannot ask him more,” said Omar Bongo, President of Gabon since 1967.
Africans must deny Mugabe his moment of glory in Egypt
This is indeed Africa’s moment, for good or ill. If the summit allows the bloodstained charade of Mugabe’s election to pass unnoticed, hopes for the continent’s democratic development will have been radically set back. Similarly, if the summit denies Mugabe the fig leaf of legitimacy that he craves, his regime will be embarrassed and forced on the defensive.
The world voices its revulsion as Mugabe is sworn in as president
Robert Mugabe was sworn in for a sixth term as President of Zimbabwe yesterday ahead of his departure to an African Union summit.
Mugabe’s thugs attack white farmers
White farmers protesting over their land being seized were attacked by Robert Mugabe’s supporters the same day he was sworn in as Zimbabwe’s president.
Mugabe’s nemesis threatens chaos
Opposition leader drafting plans to make Zimbabwe ‘ungovernable’ after discredited one-man election
Inside Mugabe’s world
(BBC) South African writer Heidi Holland is one of the last non-Zimbabwean journalists to have interviewed Robert Mugabe. She spent two hours with him last December after pursuing the Zimbabwean president for months. See also Comment #1 below.
29 June
Mugabe sworn in amidst world criticism
28 June
Zimbabwe election results delay
President Robert Mugabe was said to have won by a wide margin, after the opposition boycotted the vote amid claims of violence and intimidation. But international observers have reported many spoilt ballots, which in some areas could outnumber votes cast.
27 June
Mugabe plays the God card
The strongman has conscripted an old ally, his country’s spiritualism, in the battle for the presidency
‘Sham’ election proceeds in Zimbabwe
An election monitor with the South African Development Community, one of the few organizations allowed to observe the presidential runoff in Zimbabwe that features only Robert Mugabe, says the election is worse than that of war-torn Angola in 1992. Mugabe has ignored all calls to postpone the election, despite threats of censure and sanction from the EU, U.S., UN and G8. In absentia, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai asked his followers not to vote unless their lives were in peril. Membership cards in Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party commanded high prices on the black market, as buyers believe that registration will serve as protection against police violence. BBC (6/27)
26 June
What international bodies can, and cannot, do about Zimbabwe
Mugabe rejects poll delay calls
Mr Mugabe said his party Zanu-PF would continue to rule the country as they believed it should be ruled.
Mandela has harsh words for Mugabe
Though he has rarely spoken publicly about politics in recent times, former South African President Nelson Mandela criticized Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in strong terms, blaming him for the outbreak of government-supported violence in Zimbabwe. Another South African leader, Desmond Tutu, had even sterner words for Mugabe, calling him a monster. Los Angeles Times (free registration)
Zimbabweans Make Plea for Help as Runoff Nears
25 June
Queen Strips Mugabe of Knighthood
Queen Elizabeth II has stripped Robert Mugabe of his honorary knighthood as a “mark of revulsion” at the human rights abuses and “abject disregard” for democracy over which he has presided.
Tsvangirai calls for ‘peacekeepers’ to end Zimabwe crisis
HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called Wednesday for “armed peacekeepers” to be sent to his country amid mounting international condemnation of President Robert Mugabe over the crisis.
He called on the African Union and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) “to lead… to start what I would call a transitional setup” that “would allow the country to heal.”
24 June
Has Tsvangirai made a fatal mistake? Reuters Africa Blog – many of the comments are thoughtful and well worth reading
Tsvangirai praises UN statement
A statement issued last night by the 15-nation UN Security Council and read by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad declared that Robert Mugabe’s regime had delegitimized the election through violence, suppression, and campaign restrictions. Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai praised the UN position from the Dutch Embassy, where Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said that Tsvangirai fled, apparently with the understanding that soldiers were coming for him. The candidate, who said that his withdrawal from the election angered the ruling party, has also said that his asylum at the Dutch Embassy is temporary. The Times (London) (6/24) , Los Angeles Times (free registration) (6/24)
23 June
Security Council Urges Zimbabwe to Halt Violence
UK names clique of six men behind ‘campaign of terror’
(The Guardian) Zanu-PF rose to the top after Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 by being more centralised, conspiratorial and ruthless than all its rivals. After the shock of defeat in March, the party simply went back to doing what it knows best.
Zimbabwe’s Tsvangirai takes refuge in embassy
(Reuters) Concern mounted both within and outside Africa over Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis, which has flooded neighboring states with millions of refugees. Both the African Union and Southern African Development Community (SADC) were discussing the situation following Tsvangirai’s pullout.
… Renaissance Capital investment bank said Zimbabwe risked total economic collapse with the real inflation rate now running at around 5 million percent. More from The Economist

Maisonneuve Media Scout’s take
Robert Mugabe’s tyrannical rule over Zimbabwe is nearly secured after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai dropped his bid for the presidency yesterday. Calling the elections a “sham,” Tsvangirai claimed Mugabe’s campaign of violence precludes the possibility of a fair vote. Thus, Mugabe’s stranglehold on a country that he’s driven right into the ground will continue into the foreseeable future. The outlook for a Zimbabwean political and economic recovery seemed bright after Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change won more votes than Mugabe in a March election. However, since then, Mugabe has unleashed a whirlwind of terror against all corners of opposition support. Eighty-six people have been killed, and roughly 200,000 are displaced as Mugabe’s “thugs,” supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF party, have run roughshod over the country. Tsvangirai has said he cannot ask his supporters to risk their lives on election day, June 27, but has called on the international community to “stop the genocide.” Hopes to recuperate the country from Mugabe’s disastrous economic reforms have vanished now that his rule is projected to continue.
The Big Seven report on the event with a tragic sigh, but it is the Post’s analyses that shine. The paper runs David Blair’s critique of Tsvangirai’s decision from the Daily Telegraph. Blair laments Tsvangirai’s vacillating leadership and “disastrous judgment,” as it was only last week that the opposition leader announced that a boycott of the election would be a “betrayal of the victims.” For Blair, election time would have been inevitably tumultuous, but, given the size of his estimated lead, Tsvangirai’s victory was nearly certain. (Whether or not Mugabe would have honoured that victory is another matter.) Tsvangirai’s decision to drop out, Blair contends, has secured the continuation of a despotic regime. The Post also publishes the Daily Telegraph’s Louis Weston, who bemoans that the torch has been voluntarily surrendered to a dictator whose government has committed genocide, condoned the stealing of land, approved assassinations, and incited economic inflation of some two million percent. However, according to the Globe’s anonymous Harare reporter, Mugabe’s imminent ill-gotten victory will only further sully his reputation among the African Union and evoke further sanctions. For now, the world looks at Zimbabwe with a disapproving eye: The European Union calls the situation a “travesty” and the White House urged Zimbabwe’s “thugs to stop the violence.” However, it’s the African Union that will be tested when it meets to discuss the situation. “Only God who appointed me will remove me,” Mugabe said last week, betraying a gross misunderstanding of the whole notion of democracy; and if what Mugabe says is the case, Zimbabweans wait in trepidation on God’s will.
22 June
Contrary to other opinions, we believe that Morgan Tsvangirai has done the honorable thing in pulling out in the face of the outrageous thuggery of the Mugabe forces and, one hopes, avoiding the inevitable bloodbath that would have resulted from his victory in the run-off. That he has changed his mind may be attributed to a realistic appraisal of Mugabe’s determination to cling to power at whatever cost to the country. Meantime, we continue to deplore the sickly international efforts to ‘maintain peace, order and democracy’.
Zimbabwe opposition pulls out of election
(CBC) Zimbabwe’s opposition leader has pulled out of Friday’s runoff election against President Robert Mugabe because of mounting violence and intimidation against opposition candidates.
He also asked the United Nations “to intervene to restore the rule of law, peace, and the conditions of a free and fair election.”
NYT ; The Guardian ;
(Reuters) FACTBOX – What next in Zimbabwe’s political crisis?
Amidst the predictable self-justifying quotes from various Zimbabwean officials comes this pusillanimous comment from Thabo Mbeki, who has failed so miserably in any effort to resolve the crisis “Of course we would like to encourage the MDC to continue to play a role in the normalisation of the political process in Zimbabwe. We are very encouraged that Mr Tsvangirai, himself, says he is not closing the door completely on negotiations.” BBC

(Al Jazeera) Dethroning Mugabe no easy task