We would work with anybody who wants to push the national agenda forward

TO BE NOTED: From FP Via Freakonomics:

"Exclusive Interview with Morgan Tsvangirai

Posted May 2009

Zimbabwe's former opposition leader explains what it's like to share power with Robert Mugabe -- the man who (probably) tried to have him killed.

DESMOND KWANDE/AFP/Getty Images

Unlikely bedfellows: Zimbabwe's hopes rest on the uneasy relationship of two bitter enemies, Tsvangirai and Mugabe.

Imagine yourself working side by side each day with a man who -- for the last decade -- has repeatedly arrested you, charged you with treason, detained and beaten your friends, and may have plotted your assassination just a year earlier. You are prime minister and he is president, even though your party won elections to oust him from power last year. The fates of an entire country and 11 million people depend on your having a good working relationship. And now imagine that the country has multi-million-percent inflation, hundreds dying from cholera, and a pattern of political violence that has chased thousands out of the country in recent years.

Welcome to the life of Morgan Tsvangirai, prime minister of Zimbabwe and leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Since September, Tsvangirai has endured grueling negotiations to set up a power-sharing government with President Robert Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF. Three months into its operation, the pace of progress is slow, Tsvangirai told Foreign Policy's Elizabeth Dickinson. Remaining disagreements over the appointment of ministers, the ongoing arrest of activists and journalists, and basic day to day operations have plagued the arrangement. Donors in the West have refused to send aid to the broke Zimbabwean government so long as Mugabe is still at the reins. Still, Tsvangirai is thinking big about how to get the country back on track. An economic plan will aim to get the country functioning again over the next 100 days -- tackling even the contentious issue of land redistribution. In short, Tsvangirai says, "Ours is the transformative challenge: to transform old habits and introduce a new governance culture, and you know it's difficult in a coalition government."

Foreign Policy: How did it feel on day one, walking into the position of prime minister knowing all the challenges before you? What did it feel like?

Morgan Tsvangirai: It is obvious the level of economic degeneration that just hit us in the face when we went into government. There was a sense of euphoria, which was very short-lived because the decision to go in was influenced by a number of factors, one of which was that we could not be authors of chaos, and that if there was chaos in the country the outcome would be unpredictable; it would engulf us all. So, yes, there was a sense that we have made the right decision, but we didn't know what we were going into.

FP: You said yesterday that elements of ZANU-PF are holding up the progress of the unity government. Can you update us on the status of talks to resolve these remaining issues -- for example, the position of the Central Bank governor?

MT: The discussions amongst the principles are going very well; we certainly hope that tomorrow we'll be making an announcement on the outstanding issues. You must be conscious that this is a coalition government. There are sensitivities and emotions that need to be navigated and negotiated. One would be a bit overambitious to expect everything we're grappling with to be resolved within three months.

It's frustratingly slow, in our assessment, that we have gone this far without at least indicating how the outstanding issues will be resolved. But I'm glad to say that we have made progress. The issues that we have agreed upon -- and those we are still in disagreement about -- will be announced to the nation so that the nation is able to make an assessment as to if there has been progress or not.

FP: You have shown an incredible spirit of reconciliation -- saying on Friday, "Robert Mugabe was part of the problem but he is also part of the solution, whether you like it or not." But are Zimbabweans ready for that kind of reconciliation?

MT: There is a sense of cautious optimism that this inclusive government will be a successful experiment because no one wants to go back to the November, December, January, situation. So therefore, when you present national union as one of the democratic challenges, people accept that there is need for national healing for progress. But of course, there has to be a process of that national healing, otherwise people will continue to [have] that frustration.

FP: President Robert Mugabe has a sinister reputation in the United States and elsewhere. But are there things that the West is failing to understand about Mugabe?

MT: I'm sure this perception is what has been built up over the years -- some of which is a reality. But one of the underlying things is that I am prepared to work with President Robert Mugabe -- not because he's right but because of the national interest: We would work with anybody who wants to push the national agenda forward. But instead of [the international community] taking a cue from us as to how to proceed, it would appear that people have made this judgment [not to help], and they have thrown out the baby with the bath water.

FP: How do you react to donors when they tell you that they can't give aid to Zimbabwe yet, until more democratic progress is made?

MT: My beef with all the international community and diplomats is that, look, those of us who are pushing the democratic reform agenda should be supported so that we can sustain this experiment.

I was saying to somebody this morning that it would appear that by raising the bar every time there is progress -- or every time there is an attempt [by the international community] to ignore the progress that has taken place because of one or two [outstanding] issues [unresolved in the coalitional government], you are invariably becoming a part of the [internal government] negotiations. And for the negotiating parties who are actually on the field, who are negotiating with ZANU-PF, you actually go to the extent of undermining the influence that we are trying to build among those skeptics [of international aid] inside the country.

FP: You've announced a new 100-day economic recovery plan. Can you tell us some of the things that will be happening as part of that plan?

MT: I'm sure that you know that we've just completed the first three months of this inclusive government, and the first phase was to try and consolidate the government, which I believe has now been achieved.

Now we go to the second phase in the next three months. It's a short-term program to try to intervene in various areas of our economy. And there are really five clusters: economic, social, infrastructure, rights, and security. We have done [this division] in order to build the priority programs in each ministry with the key results areas in target -- the milestones. So I would say that the next 100 days, the key priorities are to set the policy framework in various ministries; to ensure that we are able to rehabilitate some of the dilapidated infrastructure; and to ensure that the education and health delivery systems are on their feet. But above all, we need to mobilize the resources so that we can support these programs. So the 100-day plan is a test of the synergies within ministries -- across ministries -- to ensure that the whole government is working as a cohesive team.

FP: Where does land reform fit into this plan?

MT: In the 100 days, what we would expect from the Ministry of Land is first and foremost to do an assessment -- a country-wide assessment on the so-called land invasions [that occurred under Mugabe's previous government] -- if there are still any. The second part is to set up a land audit in terms of the global political agreement, a land audit that is meant to reveal whether the independent land commission is the basis to do proper land reform. We've got a plan on the land, and I think this is the only way that this issue will be finalized.

FP: In spite of your own resolve, is it difficult to motivate other members of the MDC in light of so many challenges?

MT: We have to keep focused. We know that from time to time, some of the old habits of violence will remain. But we don't lose focus on the need to create a democratic playing field so that when the new constitutional dispensation is created -- we can hold free and fair elections down the line. That's still the objective.

In other words, ours is the transformative challenge: to transform old habits and introduce a new governance culture, and you know it's difficult in a coalition government. But we know that within the transitional phase, it is important to unlock some of these mindsets that have taken us this far down. So how do I motivate our people? Our people know that we have not yet arrived as a full democratic Zimbabwe. But we are on the journey.

Morgan Tsvangirai is prime minister of Zimbabwe."

It was a political problem and not an economic one that drove us into the difficulties this nation experienced,

TO BE NOTED: From Reuters:

"Is Zimbabwe’s Gono going?

Post a comment (3)

Posted by: Matthew Tostevin

Tags: Africa, Zimbabwe crisis, aid, central bank, economy, Gono, hyperinflation, investment, MDC, Mugabe, Tsvangirai, ZANU-PF, Zimbabwe

The acknowledgement by Zimbabwe’s central bank governor that it raided the private bank accounts of companies and donors to fund President Robert Mugabe’s government during the economic crisis has increased speculation over his fate under the new national unity government.

Central Bank Governor Gideon Gono said the central bank took foreign currency from private accounts to help pay for some $2 billion in loans to state-owned companies and utilities and for power and grain imports. He said the government still had to repay about $1.2 billion, so the bank could repay the money it owes.

Heading the central bank at a time Zimbabwe was suffering economic collapse and hyperinflation that touched at least 231 million percent a year (according to official figures) was never going to be a badge of honour for the governor, but as he made clear in his statement, Zimbabwe’s problems went beyond economics.

“It was a political problem and not an economic one that drove us into the difficulties this nation experienced, and quasi-fiscal operations were a response to those political challenges we have now resolved through the inclusive government,” the statement said. “Our call is to let bygones be bygones and for everyone and every entity to start anew and open a new page.”

Gono has come under pressure from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to resign since the former opposition party joined Mugabe in a unity government in February. Western diplomats have also said Gono’s departure could help bring a resumption of badly needed aid.

Are his days numbered now Tsvangirai and Mugabe seem to be working together more closely than many might have expected?"

Bennett, arrested little more than an hour before Zimbabwe swore in 36 cabinet ministers from across the political spectrum

TO BE NOTED:

"ZIMBABWE: Abduction threatens unity government

Photo: Movement for Democratic Change

Roy Bennett

HARARE, 13 February 2009 (IRIN) - The future of Zimbabwe's 48-hour-old unity government may hang in the balance after a leading member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was abducted by police outside the capital, Harare, on 13 February.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was installed as prime minister on 11 February, while President Robert Mugabe retained the executive post he has held for 29 years in a deal designed to heal the political divisions that have brought the once prosperous country to its knees.

The MDC said in a statement on 13 February: "Roy Bennett, MDC Treasurer General and Deputy Minister of Agriculture designate, has just been abducted by police from the Law and Order section at Prince Charles airport, just outside Harare. The police were led by one Assistant Commissioner Nyongwe."

Bennett, arrested little more than an hour before Zimbabwe swore in 36 cabinet ministers from across the political spectrum, was expected to be installed as a deputy minister next week.

Richard Cornwall, a senior researcher at the South Africa-based think-tank, the Institute for Security Studies, told IRIN the abduction bore the hallmark of "hardliners" attempting to "scupper this deal [unity government] before it gets off the ground."

He said the focus has been on the divisions between Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai's MDC, but recent developments showed "what sort of divisions exist within ZANU-PF, not all of who agree with the unity government." The next few days would determine Mugabe's "ability to bring the hardliners to heel," he commented.

Cornwall said it was understood that the "hardliners" were from the Joint Operations Committee (JOC), which comprised security chiefs of the army, police, Central Intelligence Organisation and the prisons department, and was coordinated by Emmerson Mnangagwa, at one time a presidential pretender.

The appointment of Bennett, a white farmer whose land was taken during the government's fast-track land reform programme in 2000, may have been seen as "a signal" to ZANU-PF hardliners that the MDC would renegotiate land ownership in Zimbabwe, Cornwall said.

Bennett fled his homeland and spent three years in exile after being accused of plotting to kill Mugabe, and only returned to Zimbabwe a few days ahead of Tsvangirai's inauguration.

Signs of tension

Indications that the unity government was facing severe challenges came within 24 hours of Tsvangirai assuming office, when he visited detainees ahead of their release from Harare's high-security Chikurubi prison.

A few hours earlier on 12 February, the Harare Magistrate's Court ordered the release of Jestina Mukoko, a veteran journalist and human rights activist, and two MDC activists accused of undergoing military training in neighbouring Botswana in order to topple Mugabe's government.

Harrison Nkomo, one of the lawyers representing the more than 30 detained activists, including Mukoko, told IRIN the three detainees had initially been taken to a private hospital in Harare after their release was ordered.

There is no doubt that they need urgent medical attention. For example, when Justina [Mukoko] was abducted on December 3 in 2008, she weighed 70kg but now she weighs 52kg

"Prison officers later came during the afternoon on Thursday [12 February] and returned them to the high-security prison complex before [taking] them [back to the hospital] at midnight. A private doctor and a government medical officer have examined the three, and they both agreed that they needed urgent medical attention."

Nkomo told IRIN the government was opposed to the three detainees receiving medical attention. "There is no doubt that they need urgent medical attention. For example, when Jestina was abducted on December 3 in 2008, she weighed 70kg but now she weighs 52kg, meaning she has lost 18kg in the two months that she has been detained."

At his inauguration, Tsvangirai said the jailed activists would not "remain in those dungeons any day or any week longer". Bennett's whereabouts remained unknown at the time of writing. "

"it is local and international aid workers and non-political social activists who will likely be the real agents of change in Zimbabwe in 2009."

Checking in on Zimbabwe. From the Guardian:

"What does 2009 hold for Zimbabwe?

Will a government of national unity, if finally formed, be the solution to the country's problems?

Comments (11)

• 
• • Knox Chitiyo
  • guardian.co.uk, Sunday 4 January 2009 12.00 GMT
  • Article history

As Zimbabwe limps agonisingly into 2009, there is one immediate question which the MDC has to answer; will they join the still notional government of national unity, or not? Morgan Tsvangirai stated that unless well-known activists Jestina Mukoko and other civil society and opposition figures are released, he will ask the MDC's national council to suspend negotiations.

After the tumultuous silence following their abductions, Mukoko and her co-accused were suddenly produced, rabbit–style, out of the police hat. Allegedly, the accused were involved in the recruitment and training of saboteurs to overthrow Robert Mugabe from bases in Botswana. Even if this were true( COME ON ) – and there is as yet no wisp of evidence to support the state's case – the inhuman treatment of the activists is utterly unconstitutional and goes far beyond any crimes they have supposedly committed( IS THIS A SURPRISE ? ). If the MDC wish to give force to their ultimatum, they should not allow themselves to be steamrollered by Zanu-PF, South Africa and Southern African Development Community (SADC), into joining a Government of National Unity (GNU) just so they can all feed from the same trough.( AMEN )

"Operation Chimumumu"

Here's what that is:

"MARONDERA – Zanu (PF) has launched “Operation Chimumumu” - a nationwide campaign aimed at eliminating MDC officials and activists and some staff of targeted NGOs – in a desperate attempt to force MDC President, Morgan Tsvangirai, into a marriage of inconvenience.
The MDC has continued to resist being pressurized into the formation of an inclusive government in which Robert Mugabe continues to wield all the power – in contravention of the letter and spirit of the agreement signed in Harare on September 29.
Thirty armed men are reportedly being accommodated at a house owned by a senior Zanu (PF) politburo member in Winston Park, Marondera. The gunmen are allegedly dressed in riot gear and have been arresting locals before whisking them away to killing zones.
Mugabe and his military junta continue to thwart the legitimate power-sharing demands of the MDC - with the connivance of former South Africa president, Thabo Mbeki, and other undemocratic regional leaders."

The post continues:

"– the late 2009( 2008-DON ) assault on opposition and civil society activists by the Police and Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) – is part of the carrot and stick strategy; the carrot is the shiny new passport for Tsvangirai (and the promise of a seat at the edge of the high table as Prime Minister if he plays ball). The stick is the inevitable arrests, abductions and torture of opposition and civil society activists and the threat of worse to come if the MDC does not co-operate( YES ). Oddly enough, Zanu-PF may have given the opposition succour in making their choice. High court judge Yunus Omerjee ordered the immediate release of most of the accused. He also ordered that they be given access to proper medical treatment (many of them bear the signs of torture( TORTURE ) ), full access to lawyers, and normal visitation rights. Instead, the state has placed them in the notorious Chikurubi maximum security prison – a facility originally designed for the most violent criminal offenders.

There are other issues which need to be resolved – the ministerial posts, the governorships and the question of who will control the finances. But both MDC groups should insist on an unconditional end to political violence as a precursor to a GNU. Zanu-PF has alleged that the MDC is training military recruits in Botswana. If this is the case, then indeed the MDC has a case to answer; but Zanu-PF has not yet produced any proof. There is currently a SADC investigation into these claims. The MDC should insist that the findings be published before any GNU is formed, otherwise it will simply be yet another stick that they will be beaten with( LITERALLY ). The state is also making a distinction( UNREAL ) between humanitarian politics and human rights politics. Humanitarian aid organisations have been allowed ingress into Zimbabwe's blighted communities; human rights activists, in contrast, have not been spared the rod. The MDC then, if it were to join a GNU, would need to be aware of what it was getting into. It can hardly be part of a coalition government while civilians are being abducted and killed. There is no "acceptable" level of political violence, and the GNU cannot be Zimbabwe's redemption if the drums are beaten on human skin.( TRUE )

And what of military intervention? I don't see it happening. The most common suggestion is a military invasion of Zimbabwe from, or by, a neighbouring country (possibly Botswana)( I'D BE FOR IT ). Idi Amin's removal by Tanzania's Julius Nyerere in 1979 is cited as a useful precedent. There are many similarities between Mugabe's Zimbabwe and Amin's Uganda; a brutal leadership, a broken economy, the flight of millions, and a restive military. But there are some vital discrepancies – Amin provoked Tanzania and sent Ugandan forces into his neighbour's country in a hunt for Ugandan "dissidents". Mugabe has been very careful not to overstep the mark in his war of words with Botswana, and it would be difficult for the Botswana Defence Forces or other neighbouring country to justify invading Zimbabwe, other than in self-defence( A FAIR POINT ).

That leaves the UK and the United States to mull the challenge of direct intervention( NOT A GOOD IDEA ). This won't happen; UK and US forces are at full stretch in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Caucasus and Middle East will always be considered more important than Africa; there is also little public or state appetite further military adventures in far away places. It would be a huge operation and there is little indication that anyone is willing to pay the costs. In addition, humanitarian military intervention is best applied when civilians are clustered in readily identifiable camps or zones which can be cordoned off and protected by an international mission. This is not the case in Zimbabwe at the moment – although there has been tremendous dislocation, most people are still in their rural or urban homes, and this makes it difficult to imagine how an operation such as this would work. More importantly, at the first intimation of a major military offensive against it, the security sector in Zimbabwe would target the opposition leadership for elimination or for use as hostages.

This is not to say that Zanu-PF will not face a military threat. Growing dissatisfaction within the rank and file of the security establishment, increasing indiscipline and possible small-scale mutinies might be complemented by a possible "third force" of anti-state military operatives beginning a campaign of violence if the politics remain unresolved. This third force, if it comes into being, would be a threat to both Zanu-PF and the MDC. It would not be an MDC organisation, but its existence would be used by Zanu-PF to justify further repression. For Zanu-PF, an open military challenge would bind supporters together, but it would also widen the fissures in the security sector periphery and lead to overstretch.

The year 2009 will start the way 2008 ended; with the Zimbabwe question unresolved. Zimbabwe will be on the SADC agenda in its January meeting, and it will also feature at the UN Security Council meeting early in 2009. Although the regime v opposition polemic will continue, for ordinary people what really matters is how their daily lives can be transformed for the better. In this regard, it is local and international aid workers and non-political social activists who will likely be the real agents of change in Zimbabwe in 2009."

A sad but realistic appraisal. We could do more. Certainly South Africa could.

"If convicted they could face the death penalty."

Mugabe has been using this same tactic of arresting the opposition for years. When will it end? From the FT:

"Zimbabwe activists to stay in jail

By Tony Hawkins in Harare

Published: December 31 2008 10:23 | Last updated: December 31 2008 10:23

In a decision which could put an end to months of on-off negotiations to establish a coalition government in Zimbabwe, a magistrate on Wednesday ruled that 16 human rights campaigners and opposition supporters must remain in custody pending a Supreme Court hearing of their case.

Prominent human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko and 15 others are charged with recruiting people to undergo military training in Botswana with the aim of toppling President Robert Mugabe’s government. If convicted they could face the death penalty.( THIS HAPPENS EVERY ELECTION )

EDITOR’S CHOICE

News in depth: Zimbabwe - May-15

Western calls have little impact on Zimbabwe - Dec-22

Last week a High Court judge ruled that the detainees be transferred to a hospital for medical treatment, but government lawyers are challenging his ruling and police have refused to obey the order to take the prisoners to hospital.

The police were supported on Wednesday when at a brief hearing in Harare magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe said “This matter remains to be decided in the Supreme Court and the accused cannot be released.” Two other activists facing lesser charges were freed.

The decision could have far-reaching political consequences because three weeks ago opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai gave an ultimatum that he would break off coalition talks with President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party if appropriate legal procedures were not followed by December 31.

Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change is deeply divided over the issue of whether to participate in the unity government agreed in September.

In recent days party opinion appears to have hardened against the deal, largely because numerous actions by the Mugabe government cast doubt on its sincerity.

These include the abductions of more than 30 opposition supporters and human rights campaigners, only some of whom have been brought to court, the charging of five MDC officials on counts of terrorism and sabotage, including the head of the party’s security department and a senior adviser to Mr Tsvangirai, the re-appointment of the unpopular governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Gideon Gono, and the repeated use of the security forces against opposition and civil rights groups.

If he sticks to his word, Mr Tsvangirai will abandon the talks, but he is under intense pressure from the South African government( SHAMEFUL ), which is desperate for a deal that would leave Mr Mugabe in effective control.

The opposition leader also has a long record of flip-flopping on key issues, issuing numerous threats and ultimatums and then backing away from them.

Were the opposition to withdraw from the talks, President Mugabe has said he would call fresh elections which neither party wants and the outcome of which would not be recognised internationally.

Mr Tsvangirai, who has been out of the country for the last 10 weeks is understood to be considering returning, now that the Zimbabwe authorities have issued him a new passport, but there are serious concerns that he could be arrested, or worse, should he fly back to Harare.

He is under pressure also to agree to the deal because of the rapidly worsening humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe with the World Health Organisation estimating that 1608 people have does from the cholera epidemic afflicting the country. The WHO warned this week that the situation could get worse in the weeks ahead."

Mugabe really knows how to use the suffering of his country's citizens to keep himself in power. In essence, they're hostages.

"The crisis is getting worse and worse in Zimbabwe and only SADC can pull the plug on the Zanu-PF government. "

From the Guardian:

"Zimbabwe's neighbours must act

Forget the bombast, David Miliband. Concentrate on getting southern Africa to pull the plug on Robert Mugabe's regime

Comments (…)

• Phil Hall
• guardian.co.uk, Saturday 27 December 2008 10.00 GMT
• larger | smaller
• Article history

If the British government wants to help Zimbabwe, it would be better if the foreign secretary, David Miliband, refrained from making bombastic pronouncements and instead focused on petitioning legitimate political players in the region to act against Robert Mugabe. Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries are the ones who can cut off the supply line of luxury goods to the Zimbabwean regime just in time for Christmas, not Britain.

Of course, Britain as the former colonial power in Zimbabwe lacks the moral authority to intervene directly. It is too easy for Mugabe to respond by characterising Miliband's soundbites as hypocritical interventions, mainly concerned with preserving the land rights of the residual white diaspora.

By portraying Blair, and now Brown and Miliband, as machinating "racists", "imperialists" and "former settlers", Mugabe has been able to increase the level of solidarity and warmth felt towards the Zanu-PF government by a few degrees. Because nobody likes an interfering former colonial power.

In contrast to the British government, however, the British people have a magnificent record of fighting against injustice in southern Africa through the anti-apartheid movement. And one of the strategies of anti-apartheid that worked was to target those companies that sustained the apartheid regime.

Two of those companies were Barclays Bank and Anglo American. And just to prove that they are truly colour blind when it comes to supporting oppressive regimes, the same companies are also currently shoring up the Zanu-PF dictatorship.

Barclays provides the government with the lines of credit it needs and foreign earnings from mining provide the Zanu-PF elite with enough foreign currency to live comfortably. In June this year, British-based Anglo-American announced it would be investing £200m in its Unki platinum mine.

In another echo of former times, it was Peter Hain, one of the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement, who immediately spoke out against Anglo American's decision to make a major investment in Zimbabwe. These two companies should now be boycotted by the British people and targeted for their support of Mugabe in the same way that they were boycotted and targeted in the time of anti-apartheid.( HEAR HEAR )

But ultimately, of course, the solution to the problem is in the hands of the SADC countries. In fact, there are very few reasons for the governments of the other SADC countries to support Mugabe. There were always deep differences between them and the Mugabe government.

It had to be explained to me that Mugabe did not "go bad" after independence; he was always a conniving apparatchik scheming and murdering his way to the top.( TRUE )

Wilfred Mhanda has chronicled how he did this. Mhanda describes the reaction of African leaders to Mugabe seizing control of Zanu from Ndabaningi Sithole in 1975: "Robert Mugabe and his followers had staged a coup against Sithole while they were all in prison. Smith released Mugabe, who then led a Zanu delegation to meet with the leaders of the frontline states - Agostino Neto, Julius Nyerere, Samora Machel and Kenneth Kaunda. They were surprised and horrified to see Mugabe leading the delegation and asked how on earth he could stage a coup inside an enemy prison against the properly elected leader of the movement. They suspected the prison authorities had helped Mugabe."

Mugabe was even put under house arrest by Samora Machel, the president of Mozambique in 1977. Unlike the other African leaders, Mugabe was not a socialist, a nationalist or even a brave military commander. He was a tribalist, who we now know was responsible for the Gukurahundi massacre of an estimated 20,000 in Matabeleland.

The crisis is getting worse and worse in Zimbabwe and only SADC can pull the plug on the Zanu-PF government. It should put aside false loyalties and do so, and as soon as possible."

That he has remained in power is an international disgrace.

"This largely man-made crisis, occasionally worsened by drought and erratic rains"

I don't know what to think when I read stories like this:

"In Zimbabwe, Survival Lies in Scavenging

By CELIA W. DUGGER

NZVERE, Zimbabwe — Along a road in Matabeleland, barefoot children stuff their pockets with corn kernels that have blown off a truck as if the brownish bits, good only for animal feed in normal times, were gold coins.( UNREAL )

In the dirt lanes of Chitungwiza, the Mugarwes, a family of firewood hawkers, bake a loaf of bread, their only meal, with 11 slices for the six of them. All devour two slices except the youngest, age 2. He gets just one.

And on the tiny farms here in the region of Mashonaland, once a breadbasket for all of southern Africa( SO SAD ), destitute villagers pull the shells off wriggling crickets and beetles, then toss what is left in a hot pan. “If you get that, you have a meal,” said Standford Nhira, a spectrally thin farmer whose rib cage is etched on his chest and whose socks have collapsed around his sticklike ankles.

The half-starved haunt the once bountiful landscape of Zimbabwe, where a recent United Nations survey found that 7 in 10 people had eaten either nothing or only a single meal the day before.( DEAR GOD )

Still dominated after nearly three decades by their authoritarian president( HE'S AMONG THE WORST RULERS EVER ), Robert Mugabe, Zimbabweans are now enduring their seventh straight year of hunger. This largely man-made crisis( TRUE ), occasionally worsened by drought and erratic rains, has been brought on by catastrophic agricultural policies( TRUE ), sweeping economic collapse and a ruling party that has used farmland and food as weapons in its ruthless — and so far successful — quest to hang on to power( SUCH A DISGRACE ).

But this year is different. This year, the hunger is much worse.

The survey conducted by the United Nations World Food Program in October found a shocking deterioration in the past year alone. The survey, recently provided to international donors, found that the proportion of people who had eaten nothing the previous day had risen to 12 percent from zero, while those who had consumed only one meal had soared to 60 percent from only 13 percent last year.

For almost three months, from June to August, Mr. Mugabe banned international charitable organizations from operating, depriving more than a million people of food and basic aid after the country had already suffered one of its worst harvests.

Mr. Mugabe defended( PEOPLE STARVING IS LESS IMPORTANT TO HIM THAN HIS STAYING IN POWER ) the suspension by arguing that some Western aid groups were backing his political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, who bested him at the polls in March but withdrew before a June 27 runoff. But civic groups and analysts said Mr. Mugabe’s real motive was to clear rural areas of witnesses to his military-led crackdown on opposition supporters and to starve those supporters( OF COURSE ).

The country’s intertwined political and humanitarian crises have become ever more grave — with a cholera epidemic sweeping the nation, its health, education and sanitation systems in ruins and power-sharing talks at an impasse. Meanwhile, Mr. Mugabe has blamed Western sanctions, largely aimed at senior members of his government, for the country’s woes( UNREAL ).

His information minister even charged last week that Britain, Zimbabwe’s former colonial ruler, had started the cholera outbreak — spread by water contaminated with human feces — as an act of “biological chemical war force,” a charge widely derided as paranoid or cynical( DISGRACEFUL ).

But for all Mr. Mugabe’s venom toward the West, a central paradox rests at the heart of his long years in power. It was the failed policies of Mr. Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF, including their calamitous seizure of commercial farms, that made this nation so utterly dependent on aid from the European and American donors he so reviles. And the same applies to Western leaders: Despite their scathing denunciations of him, it is their generous donations that have helped him survive by preventing outright famine among his people( A TOUGH CHOICE ).

“You’re acting to save lives, knowing that by doing so you are sustaining this government,” said one aid agency manager, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “And unfortunately, ZANU-PF is good at exploiting this humanitarian imperative.”

American-financed charities and the World Food Program have been feeding millions of Zimbabweans since late 2002, at a cost of $1.25 billion over the years. After a slow start this year because of the aid suspension, the United States and the United Nations are feeding almost half of Zimbabwe’s population this month( UNREAL ).

But the World Food Program is short of nearly half the food needed for January, said Richard Lee, a spokesman.

“You’re not looking at mass starvation yet,” said Sarah Jacobs, of Save the Children, adding that without an urgent infusion of food, “we may be reporting an even scarier, more horrible situation by January.”

No food aid has reached the village of Jirira in Mashonaland, near Harare, the capital. So each morning, people rise before the sun and stumble from their huts, beneath the arching canopy of a starry sky, to fill metal pails with the small, foul-smelling hacha fruit. Those who arrive as dawn breaks find the fruit has already been picked clean.

The sweet, fibrous, yellow pulp of the fruit has become the staple of the villagers’ diet. The fruit is now infested with tiny brown worms. Nevertheless, the women peel it, crush it and soak it in water. Some of the worms float to the surface and can be skimmed off. The mashed ones they eat.

Parents search for other sources of food as well. Bengina Muchetu tries to quiet her 2-year-old daughter Makanaka’s pangs with a dish of tiny, boiled wild leaves.

Maidei Kunaka grinds the animal feed she earns in exchange for her labor on a nearby ostrich farm — an unappetizing amalgam of wheat, soy bean, sand and what she calls “green stuff” — to nourish her three children.

“It’s not tasty, but we at least have something in our stomachs,” she said.

Villagers around here date the onset of Zimbabwe’s decline to the year 2000. It was then that Mr. Mugabe first felt the sting of political defeat, when a referendum that would have given him greater executive powers was defeated.

He took his vengeance, unleashing veterans of Zimbabwe’s liberation war and gangs of youth to invade and occupy highly mechanized, white-owned commercial farms that were then the country’s largest employer and an engine of export earnings. In time, thousands of farms were taken over. Farm workers and their families — about 1 million people altogether — lost their jobs and homes, according to a 2008 study by Zimbabwean economists for the United Nations Development Program( THIS REMINDS ME OF STALIN ).

Land redistribution often turned into a land grab by the political elite, and frequently poor farmers who received land did not get necessary support. The annual harvest of corn, the main staple food, has fallen to about a third of its previous levels, the Development Program reported.

The narrow roads that threaded this part of Mashonaland used to be lined with beautifully tended farms, residents say. Now, much of the land is overgrown with grasses. Trees sprout in the fields.

In Nzvere, a group of scrawny men sat under a Musasa tree, rolling cigarettes in bits of newspaper and chewing over the central fact of life in rural Zimbabwe: It is impossible to make a living as a farmer anymore.

In the 1990s, these men said, they harvested a cornucopia of vegetables on their small farms and sold the surplus in Harare. Now their land doesn’t yield nearly as much. With the formerly white-owned, large-scale farms no longer productive, the economies of scale that kept prices low for hybrid seed and fertilizer are gone. These small farmers cannot afford the higher prices.

The dollars and cents of farming simply do not add up, they said. The government monopolizes the buying and selling of corn through the Grain Marketing Board. With inflation running officially at hundreds of millions of percent, anything the board pays them is worthless by the time they get it out of the bank.

The farm redistribution has done them no good, they said, instead benefiting those who helped the ruling party grab the land. Even when food aid has come, only those in the ruling party hierarchy have gotten any, the farmers said.

So they have become scavengers, living off the land and surviving on field mice and wild fruit, white ants and black beetles.

The story is much the same in Jirira. Hacha fruit has mostly sustained the villagers, but soon the season will be over. And then what? “Only God knows what will happen,” Gloria Mapisa, the mother of a 1-year-old girl, said.

The suffering is not limited to the countryside.

This month, the Mavambo Trust, a small charitable group that works in a suburb of Harare, had its Christmas party, with a lavish feast of cornmeal porridge, chicken, vegetables and soft drinks. It was ample for 250 children, but more than 500 showed up. As word spread, famished children arrived early in the morning to wait by the steaming, fragrant pots of food. “So many came we couldn’t even shut the gates,” said Sister Michael Chiroodza, a Catholic nun.

Mavambo also runs a daily lunchtime feeding program for children on the grounds of a Catholic church. One recent afternoon, Annah Chakaka drifted into the church courtyard with her orphaned grandsons, Bhekimuzi, 13, and Bekezela, 10. They had come to beg for cornmeal to take home.

The boys, their handsome faces chiseled by hunger, said they do little now but help their grandmother with chores — fetching water, washing clothes, sweeping the floor. That, and hunting for food. They usually walk three miles to a muhacha tree to collect its hacha fruit.

But on this morning, Mrs. Chakaka said it had been difficult to wake the boys. They just lay there, too weak to get up. “Today we were just too hungry to look for wild fruit,” she said.

They drifted from the church’s courtyard as they had come, empty-handed."

We have to find effective ways to deal with leaders like Mugabe. I know it's tough, but we can't give up.