| Zimbabwe – Turmoil deepens |
Political stalemate, uncontrollable inflation, cholera “genocide” and Robert Mugabe! This is how Zimbabwe is characterised these days. Once listed among Africa’s richest countries, Zimbabwe is now struggling to control its inflation rate running into millions.
The political stalemate in the country deepened this year when President Robert Mugabe refused to accept the victory of Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai in March`s Presidential Election. Adding to the misery was the refusal of Zimbabwe`s High Court to issue orders to release the results of the election. Meanwhile, the Mugabe government continued its crackdown on the opposition. On May 02, election officials announced the results of the polls, declaring a runoff for June 27 as both the candidates failed to garner 50% of votes. Mugabe got 43.2%, while Tsvangirai managed to collect 47.9% votes.
The twist came when Tsvangirai withdrew from the runoff on June 22, saying he cannot participate in “this violent, illegitimate sham of an election process”. Lone runner of the race, Mugabe, was re-elected with about 85% of the vote.
The US’ efforts to impose UN sanctions on Zimbabwe were vetoed by China and Russia in July, forcing President George W Bush to expand existing US sanctions on the African country.
Meanwhile, domestic reconciliation efforts were short lived as the power-sharing deal brokered between Mugabe and Tsvangirai soon fell through, hence pushing the country deeper into chaos.
The political problems in Zimbabwe failed to curb economic and health distress. As the year nears end, more than 1,100 people have reportedly died of cholera in an outbreak that is spreading to South Africa as well. Rather than curbing the disease that has infected around 16,000 people, the Zimbabwean leadership is busy in the blame game. According to Mugabe, former colonial ruler Britain started the country`s cholera epidemic in a bid to commit "genocide of our people".
On the economic front, Zimbabwe has crumbled under the world`s highest inflation rate, last estimated in July at more than 231 million percent. A new $10 billion note, worth USD 20 (EUR 15), was introduced in December by the central bank, which hardly proves enough for a Zimbabwean to see through the day.
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