Unknown 1 000s dying in Zim

[Erna]

There's no shortage of news reports streaming in with regard to Zim. For me personally, I think military intervention is the only solution. I don't think it's possible for Zimbabweans to be any worse off than they already are. Mugabe must be removed by force. I doubt it will happen though. I can't help getting the impression that what he's doing suits certain world powers just fine, otherwise they wouldn't have let things get this far.

On the BBC news website, there's a reader comment section that posts the question: "How can the international community help Zimbabwe?".

_http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=5766&edition=2&ttl=20081209095942

It says former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said there was "bitter disappointment" with the current leadership. "Bitter disappointment"... Mmmmm, Mugabe massacred 20 000 Matebeles shortly after independence. He reduced the bread basket of Africa to a basket case. 231 million % inflation. No jobs. No fuel. No healthcare. No food. No clean water. No sanitation. No municipal services. No electricity. Disease ridden. State sanctioned violence against opposition supporters. Torture camps after the election for MDC supporters. Election fraud. Vote rigging. Massacre of white commercial farmers.

....and they are "disappointed". Welcome to the twilight zone!

Unknown 1 000s dying in Zim

_http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-1662_2439292,00.html

Harare - Thousands of Zimbabweans are dying, uncounted and out of sight in a silent emergency as hospitals shut, clinics run out of drugs and most cannot afford private medical care, health groups say.

Even as deaths from a cholera epidemic climbed into the hundreds, international and local organisations say many more are dying needlessly in a disaster critics blame on President Robert Mugabe's government.

The toll will never be known, according to Itai Rusike, executive director of the Community Working Group on Health - a civil society network grouping 35 national organisations.

"Zimbabwe used to have one of the best surveillance systems in the region," Rusike said in a telephone interview. "But phones are not working, nurses are not there, so their information system has collapsed. ... It is very difficult to tell how many people have died."

"These are symptoms of a failed state," he said in a telephone interview. "Nothing is working."

One meal in three days

The British charity Oxfam agreed with estimates of thousands of unreported deaths due to the collapse of the health system and says the situation will get worse with the onset of the rainy season, which lasts until February.

"When you look at people who are already weakened by hunger, many already weakened by HIV and Aids, and with rainy season comes malaria, and we know anthrax is spreading, it's really just a recipe for disaster," spokesperson Caroline Hooper-Box said in South Africa.

She said many people Oxfam interviewed in Zimbabwe say they have cut back to one meal in three days. Some are trying to survive on insects and berries.

Once a major food exporter, Zimbabwe has been crippled by shortages of necessities including food and medicine as Mugabe, the leader since independence in 1980, clings to power.

As businesses collapse, unemployment has risen to 80% with the majority of the population depending on handouts from a growing diaspora; more than a third of a population has fled, many to South Africa and Britain, but some as far as New Zealand.

In a new health report published last week, the civic group Women of Zimbabwe Arise recounted the case of an eight-year-old boy who fell in a school yard and twisted his knee.

"A week later, he was dead," the report said. "The death certificate cited cause of death as 'swollen knee' ... But the real cause of death is clear criminal negligence of the worst kind on the part of the Zanu-PF government."

The report was dedicated to two of the group's own leaders who it said died needlessly. One was Thembelani Lunga, a 32-year-old in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo who was HIV-positive and had problems accessing life-preserving antiretroviral medication.

Lunga died after being jailed for four days in Bulawayo Central Police Station, where she was denied access to AIDS medication, the organization said.

700 pregnant women turned away from hospitals

To the cholera deaths, the report said, it was necessary to add people with diabetes who run out of insulin, appendicitis cases, asthma attacks, bleeding ulcers and septicemia - "all treatable conditions from which thousands of deaths are now occurring".

Save the Children, a British charity, said hundreds, if not thousands of pregnant women and their children "stand a very high risk of death."

Zimbabwe director Rachel Pounds said the United Nations reported that 700 women were recently turned away from hospitals in Harare that are no longer able to provide maternity services.

Last week, Health Minister David Parirenyatwa appealed for help from international organizations.

"Our central hospitals are literally not functioning. Our staff is demotivated and we need your support to ensure that they start coming to work and our health system is revived," he was quoted as saying in The Herald.

 

[thevenusian]

I have friends in Zimbabwe, and the reports are very grim. Communication has become much more difficult than it was even a couple months ago. It is no longer possible for those we know to call from there. Phone service (at least cellular) only works placing calls TO Zim, and not always now. Another friend is actually in the country attempting to bring some aid to those we know and I will be able to share some eye-witness news when that friend returns in about a week . What I can say for now is that life in Zimbabwe is nearly inconceivable to imagine for anyone who has their next meal sitting in the fridge. There is no food in stores. Any supplies one desires must be searched & negotiated for, including bottled water (during a cholera outbreak). There is virtually no employment. Most of the money common people manage to get comes from friends or relatives outside the country. It is possible to wire money into banks, but there is a limit (very small) to what a person is allowed to withdraw from their own account each time, and there are huge long lines for even that. It is really, really bad and rapidly getting worse.

 

[Erna]

I would appreciate it if you can report back on your friend's observations. Where are the other friends of yours based? I know quite a few ex-Zimbabweans who made a fresh start in South Africa. They all left before the currency collapsed completely. I also have these Zimbabwean ladies coming to my house sometimes on Sundays, selling hand-painted table cloths and Shona sculpture. They are just very anxious to get SA currency back to their people. The stories they tell me are unimaginable. Every time they return, they don't know what bad news awaits them on their return. Any more deaths in the family…

[quote author=thevenusian]
Any supplies one desires must be searched & negotiated for, including bottled water (during a cholera outbreak).[/quote]

I couldn’t believe a few days ago when I heard on the news that some people cashed in on the cholera crisis by selling bottled water at $25 (American dollars) a bottle.

I see another Tsvangirai aide was kidnapped on Monday.

_http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-1662_2439553,00.html

Tsvangirai aide kidnapped

Harare - Suspected state agents in Zimbabwe abducted an official from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), bringing to at least 19 the number of MDC supporters and civil society activists to have been whisked away without trace in recent weeks, an MDC official confirmed on Tuesday.

Gandhi Mudzingwa, a former personal assistant to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai who was working on the party's transition policy, was hijacked by a group of armed men while driving in Harare Monday evening, George Sibotshiwe, a spokesperson for Morgan Tsvangirai, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The MDC suspects his abductors were members of the feared Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), which is also suspected of the abduction last week of prominent activist Jestina Mukoko.

Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was taken from her home by around a dozen armed men. Her whereabouts is unknown. Two other members of the ZPP have since also been abducted.

Meanwhile, a group of 15 MDC members that were detained by police around a month ago in Mashonaland West province are also still missing, despite a High Court order that they be brought to court or released.

The disappearances are part of a new crackdown by Mugabe's regime against the opposition that began after talks between his Zanu-PF party and the MDC on the formation of a unity government foundered on the distribution of positions of power.

Some analysts believe that Mugabe may again be trying to "soften up" the opposition in advance of possible fresh elections.

"That's a definite possibility," Brian Raftopoulos, director of research and advocacy for the Solidarity Peace Trust, a South Africa- based NGO that campaigns for freedom and democracy in Zimbabwe.

"There was always speculation that if the mediation (between the parties) stalled, Mugabe would hammer structures in the country and call new elections," Raftopoulous told a Johannesburg news conference.

Mugabe himself last week told a group of supporters to "be ready" for new elections.

It is unclear how such a move, which the MDC would likely oppose, would resolve Mugabe's legitimacy issues. His re-election as president in an unopposed, violent vote in June was dismissed by the international community as a "sham." - Sapa-dpa

 

[thevenusian]

I would appreciate it if you can report back on your friend's observations. Where are the other friends of yours based?

My friends live in Harare and the countryside to the NW from there. I will certainly pass along whatever news I am able to get.

 

[Erna]

_http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=903479

Mugabe: There is no cholera


Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe today said that "there is no cholera" in his country, saying doctors have tamed an outbreak, despite UN reports of a growing death toll.

"I am happy to say our doctors have been assisted by others and WHO (the World Health Organisation)... so now that there is no cholera," he said in a nationally televised speech.

He also denounced calls by Prime Minister Gordon Brown of former colonial power Britain and US President George W. Bush for him to step down.

"Because of cholera, Mr Brown wants a military intervention," he said. "Bush wants military intervention because of cholera."

"There is no cause for war any more," Mugabe said. "The cholera cause doesn’t exist any more."

His announcement came just one day after the WHO said 775 people had died of cholera in Zimbabwe, with more than 16,000 cases reported.

The agency warned that the disease could afflict up to 60,000 people in the coming weeks.

Hours before Mugabe spoke, South Africa declared a disaster area along its border, where hundreds of people have fled Zimbabwe to search for treatment for the deadly but curable disease.

So far 10 people have died of cholera in South Africa, and the number of Zimbaweans coming in search of medical care is straining the resources in Limpopo province, a government official said.

The Vhembe district includes Musina, a bustling town at the 24-hour border crossing between South Africa and the cholera-hit town of Beitbridge in Zimbabwe.

The disaster status frees up funding and helps focus relief efforts, Nchabeleng said.

"These people come in infected and have to be treated. That has been a strain on the capacity of our health infrastructure to respond."

More than 650 cholera cases have been treated in South Africa, according to local health officials, but the disease is only one of the troubles pushing Zimbabweans to flee Mugabe’s rule.

Nearly half of Zimbabwe’s people need emergency food aid to survive crushing shortages across the country, according to the United Nations.

The cholera epidemic has highlighted the collapse of even basic services in Zimbabwe, where running water is spotty and broken sewage pipes lie leaking in the streets.

Aid agencies warn that Zimbabwe’s cholera crisis is spreading to neighbouring countries, and the region’s shared waterway, the Limpopo River, has tested positive for the disease.

 

[Erna]

Battle for Zimbabwe's blood diamonds

_http://www.hararetribune.com/business-a-tech/news/1013-a-war-zone-the-wild-west-marange-diamond-mines-in-zimbabwe.html

A war zone: The wild west Marange diamond mines in Zimbabwe

The young miner already recognised the sound of dogs as a terrifying harbinger of death, but the dull thud of the helicopter blades was something new.

Minutes later, a Zimbabwean air force helicopter swept over hundreds of fleeing illegal diamond miners and mowed down dozens with machine-gun fire. Police then arrived and unleashed the dogs that tore into the diggers, killing some and mutilating others. The police fired tear gas to drive the miners out of their shallow tunnels and shot them as they emerged.

Miners say scores of people died in the assault two weeks ago. "First we heard the helicopter and we knew it wouldn't be good but I thought it would just deliver soldiers," said the young miner, a former student who gave his name only as Hopewell.

"Then it came over us and started shooting. There was a man next to me, he had been digging near me, and the bullet went right through his head. Everyone was in panic. People ran but they didn't want to leave their finds behind so they were stopping to grab them and getting shot."

The police and military have for weeks been conducting a bloody campaign, which Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has described as "resembling a war", to drive thousands of illegal miners out of a recently discovered diamond field that some in the industry believe might be the richest in years.

The miners say hundreds have died. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change says it has the names of 140 people killed although there is common agreement that many have been buried without a word.

The diamond fields around Chiadzwa, about 30 kilometres north-west of the town of Mutare in Zimbabwe's eastern Manicaland province, are a collection of shallow tunnels and open gullies dug out after the discovery of gems close to the surface two years ago set off the rush.

Thousands of illegal diggers — estimates run between 10,000 and 30,000, including foreigners from across southern Africa — moved in, spending days or even weeks discovering tiny diamonds worth no more than $US200 ($A304). But that is several months' pay for many Zimbabweans as their country collapses under the weight of hyperinflation.

Many of the miners are professionals such as teachers and civil servants who have abandoned jobs that do not pay enough to feed their families. Others are students who have dropped out of university in the hope of making a quick fortune and subsistence farmers whose land has not produced a crop in years. And some have got very rich.

Mutare, on the border with Mozambique, has taken on the air of a frontier town filled with brash young men touting US dollars and an air of menace. The hotels are filled with miners and dealers. Luxury cars prowl the streets. Shops have filled with imported goods sold for American dollars and South African rand.

The governor of Zimbabwe's central bank, Gideon Gono, has estimated there are more than 500 syndicates handling over $US1 billion a month in illegally dug diamonds that are swiftly smuggled out of the country.

Now Zimbabwe's Government, or at least members of its discredited ruling elite, are apparently trying to take control.

Legal and opposition political sources in Mutare say the prime mover behind the military assault is the Zimbabwean air force chief, Perence Shiri.

He oversaw the bloody military campaign of beatings and killings in Manicaland earlier this year that terrorised voters into supporting Robert Mugabe in June's presidential election.

------------

After issuing statements denying that scores of people were murdered in the Chiadzwa diamond fields in Manicaland province, the truth finally came out on Thursday when the District Administrator for Mutare appealed to the City Council for land to bury 83 people.

The Deputy Mayor for Mutare, Admire Mukovera, confirmed receiving a phone call from the DA Mr Mashava, requesting land for a mass burial. He was told that 78 people had been killed in the volatile diamond minefield, while five had died from cholera. The Deputy Mayor said bodies were piling up in mortuaries at Mutare General and Sakubva District hospitals.

The DA claimed the mass burial was necessitated by the fact that the bodies from Chiadzwa were mixed up with cholera victims, and they were trying to stop the spread of the disease.

However, the predominantly MDC led Mutare City Council has refused, saying it was a national issue and the government has to issue a public statement first, which would also notify the relatives of the deceased.

The MDC spokesperson for Manicaland and Makoni South MP Pishai Muchauraya, believes the Mugabe regime is trying to conceal its ‘murderous actions’ by burying the people it slaughtered in the mining fields in a mass grave.

He said: “The council must not give them ground until the facts and figures are made public and the circumstances surrounding the murder of those 83 people are known.”

It is feared many more were killed during the campaign of terror unleashed on illegal diamond miners by soldiers and the police, as warlords battle for control.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has described the areas as "resembling a war" and the miners say hundreds have died. One report said a policewoman working in Chiadzwa saw a pile of 50 bodies after one helicopter attack. "There were a lot of bodies. They were piled up. I don't know what happened to them. Some of the dead are just buried secretly," she said. "Miners are killed every day. The orders to the police are to shoot them if they find them digging but many of the police do not want to carry out those orders. These are ordinary people like us."/SWRadio Africa

 

[Erna]

Mukoko & Mudzingwa held hostage in Kariba

_http://www.zimbabwemetro.com/news/mukoko-mudzingwa-held-in-kariba/

Prominent Zimbabwean human rights activist, Jestina Mukoko and two senior MDC officials are being held hostage in a remote location in Kariba and ZANU PF plans to use them as ransom to force the MDC to enter into an all inclusive government, a source tells Metro.

“They are still alive,at least for now”, the source said, but refused to reveal the exact location where the captives are kept but told us that its a remote location in the Kariba area where the government also keeps anyone suspected of espionage,working for the CIA or M16.

The plan according to a source is that Mugabe’s regime wants Tsvangirai to be back in Zimbabwe and be sworn in as Prime Minister as they are fears that he is making a lot of progress outside of Zimbabwe.The regime desperately wants the MDC to be part of government as they feel they can contain that than the changing wave of opinion and leadership in the SADC region.

“You will notice the abductions started when Tsvangirai left the country,that is why he will never get a passport as long as he does not become Prime Minister, right now they will do anything to make him come back including making it uncomfortable for any country in the SADC to keep him, any country which keeps him will be accused of working with the west to topple the government”, revealed the source.

The recent abductions of MDC officials are calculated to cut the flow of information from Tsvangirai to MDC personnel so as to frustrate him and force him to return. State agents are reportedly interested in abducting one Chris Mbanga.

ZANU PF ’s plan also includes limiting the dissemination of information to SADC, as they feel this is weakening their hand.

“They are really worried about what countries in SADC are getting from the media,they do not care about the west that much. You will notice in the next few weeks an effort to muzzle anyone suspected to providing information and reporting for the international media, that is why Mukoko was seized–to warn others.”

“If the power sharing deal fails to materialise,they will simply declare a state of emergency and destroy the MDC completely” the source added.

Jestina Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP),disappeared in the past six weeks and was seized when the government learnt that leaders in SADC were relying on her organisation’s reports for information on human rights abuses.

Within days, other abductions were carried out by groups of between six and nine armed men in civilian clothes using unmarked vehicles without number plates. On 7 November Brodrick Takawira and Pascal Gonzo, both of the ZPP, were abducted. Earlier Chris Dlamini, the MDC Director for Security was seized then on 10 December, Gandhi Mudzingwa, former Presidential Director for Morgan Tsvangirai, was kidnapped just outside Harare.

Mukoko’s organisation the ZPP, is funded by the Dutch and Canadian governments, is one of the most respected groups in Zimbabwean civil society. Its reports have been used in confidential diplomatic briefing documents.

One of the greatest fears of Mugabe and those involved in this year’s election-related violence is that the UN Security Council will call for an International Criminal Court investigation, as it did over Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir’s involvement in the Darfur killings.

 

[thevenusian]

I heard from my friend who has just returned from 3 weeks in Zimbabwe and received his permission to share a bit of what he observed there. The following excerpt has been edited only to remove personal info:

"...Life in Harare has turned into a rural existence. The streets are a freeway of people of all ages hauling water on their heads or in wheelbarrows full of water containers. Water is being gathered from miles away from sources such as creeks, rivers, ditches and boreholes. Alongside the water source are piles and piles of garbage with sewage draining through the streets. Some areas are lucky to have municipal water a good amount of time or at least once a week. J has not had tap water for three months. Her son hauls water at 4 a.m. every morning for their household chores before he goes off to work. Power cuts are random and unpredictable, lasting for days, some just one day several times a week. The houses in the Msasa area have not had electricity for 2 months. Most families cook their sadza outside the back door with a scarce amount of firewood.

The joy that we usually witness in our friends is being sucked away with worry about where to get the next meal, how to provide for their families, where will they get money. 14-year old T also met me at the airport. A very witty and bright youngster who has done a lot of growing up in the absence of his father, he hugged me and his first words were "It's really bad here now". The worry and stress is showing on everyone of every age.

We saw signs of aid coming in. A company called GOAL from Ireland with truckloads of Mealy Meal. UNICEF is also there distributing water purification tablets and food. The Red Cross had several stations set up for treating cholera patients. Demonstrations were a daily occurrence in the city center, only to be squashed out immediately by the police.

The money! My God, what a stress!! I can hardly describe the inflation and daily confusion around the money. Last week the 100 million dollar note was introduced and then the 500 million note. Everything shut down for two days to just figure out pricing, and then the money needed to circulate. We witnessed in one day the US dollar going up from 20 million to 80 million. The next day it was 200 million dollars to one US dollar. Riding kombie's came to a halt for the day with people not having the correct change nor any way to get it. Can't say anymore.....it's insane. I didn't even change money for Zim dollars, US dollars worked everywhere..."

 

[Erna]

Thanks thevenusian.

 

[PopHistorian]

Yes, thanks thevenusian. These kinds of currency collapse "test cases" might be very helpful for learning. Iceland, Zimbabwe -- I can't imagine what would happen if some nation on the Euro collapsed, like maybe Ireland (_http://ireland.homesgofast.com/news/celtic-tiger-economy-is-struggling-I1025/).