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Behind the stench of flowing sewage and the smell of disease is a country that is beyond collapse. Yet, nowhere are there more signs of bustling activity than the countries graveyards. On a bright day, in Unit L graveyard in Chitungwiza, the staff opens up 50 new graves for burials. Those allocated graves will be used up far before Sunset. The increases in burials in this cemetery are up 150 percent. Every few minutes families take turns burying their loved ones. They dig; they grieve and then depart; perhaps wondering if the will be able to afford the next funeral.
The rich soil of this previously prosperous country is once again at the heart of its activities; at one time famous for its rich harvests and abundant food the soil is now providing the country's blanket of death. The blanket needs to expand.
When I stayed with a friend in a residential area of Bulawayo last August, there was no water. Fifteen months later, there is still no water in their home. In many parts of Zimbabwe there is no water. According to a source yesterday, the government utilities turned off water when it ran out of money for treatment chemicals. Shovels have become as familiar an item as walking sticks as desperate families search the ground until they find water. People fill pots and pans, as they drink from this untreated sewage water.
In addition to the AIDS epidemic, the mass starvation and increase of rape and abuse, Cholera has reared its' head. Still, nothing is done by the rest of the world.
The situation in Zimbabwe is desperate. Most world news this weekend discussed President Mugabe's refusal to let a humanitarian team in the country. This team included former United States President, Jimmy Carter and former head of the United Nations, Kofi Anon and human rights activist, Graca Machel, who is also Nelson Mandela's wife. This was a diversion. So much more needs to be done immediately. If I hear one more President or Chancellor talk about the illegitimate regime or make a statement, I am going to scream.
The United Nations and The Red Cross push into war torn countries like Rwanda and the Congo, yet Zimbabwe is left on its own. True, there is not a typical war in this country, but there is systematic genocide. Isn't that a situation worth the world community's response?
The country has virtually shut down. Many schools, stores and government offices are closed. Last I read, inflation hovered somewhere near 230 million percent. Zimbabwean currency has been abandoned and replaced by the American Dollar.
Last week a group of men who supported the opposition party disappeared in the dark of night from their homes. The locals know these men will never be seen alive again. Families are separating out of desperation, traveling to other parts of Africa or globally, so they can send money back to family stranded in Zimbabwe. These people are the lucky ones. The families who have never traveled outside of Zimbabwe are the ones dying. They have no alternative.
Rapes have doubled, if not tripled. The women who had been raped by the youth militia are nowhere to be found. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michealene-cristini-risley/the-estimated-cost-of-hum_b_103772.html?view=screen
There is no medical treatment available, so most of these women are developing full blown AIDS. HIV/AIDS treatment medication is inaccessible; there is not a single hospital or clinic with its doors open.
A woman pregnant in Zimbabwe right now, is anything but joyful; most are certain to die. If a woman is unlucky enough to be in need of a caesarean for birth, she has two choices. She must pay the $400 dollars to get this procedure done, or her family creates a vigil as she dies. Death in these cases is almost imminent.
In the LA Times on Friday, Robyn Dixon interviewed a member of the Central Intelligence office, the CIA of Zimbabwe. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cio20-2008nov20,0,4184119.story.
The CIO agent speaking anonymously and "Estimates that 60% to 70% of CIO officers -- all but the hard-line ideologues -- no longer back Mugabe." Even with Mugabe's support deteriorating it is not likely to change the outcome in Zimbabwe. Conformity is a prerequisite to those in Mugabe's regime. No matter what your personal feelings, conform or risk death. This is why change cannot happen from inside Zimbabwe.
My friend recently pleaded with her husband to get their three children to a neighboring country. All their friends beg for food as they watch their children starve to death. Some of the Zimbabweans have had to bring food in by bus to feed their families. They cannot bring in enough food to feed everyone. She has struggled to help many to stay alive, but her life has been threatened, so she is now in hiding. Her husband drove all night to visit with her. She almost did not recognize him as he drove up; he had not had a bath in months. His skin was very dry and much darker than she remembered. He smelled as if he had "all the sewage of Gaborone on him", she said.
I often wonder if the rumor of Mugabe's Syphilis is true -- has this disease ravaged this man's mind or do I use that as an excuse? " It is hard for me to imagine a man turned so rotten from the inside out. His thirst for power and insatiable greed has destroyed this incredible country. Perhaps we can learn from the destruction of Zimbabwe that the actions of power and greed can destroy us all.
Follow Michealene Cristini Risley on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@mcrisley
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I don't think many people here actually believe the West is to blame for much here, simply put the problems here are internal and need to be resolved internally. Right now however the Wet may not like to understand it, they are prolonging the situation with the kind of Aid they give. It means the people have no reason to stand up to the Military. But rumours are abound every day and more and more seem to be about someone from within the security forces making a stand......................lets hope.
Wow, some of the comments on this thread are simply moronic now. In answer to a few questions and comments from my posts - I am far from Zanu PF!! I am a white supporter of the opposition who knows that the exaggeration of the problems here simply makes things harder for all of us. The poster "Murewa" is a member of the Security Forces here who searches all these kinds of threads and spouts his rubbish.
Everyone except the rural and uneducated here in Zim knows fully well there are no sanctions on the country apart from targeted against individuals. Last week the US added the two white main supporters of Mugabe at long last. Both arms dealers and both mine owners.........
How oxymoronic is this! This Zimrick fellow tries to defend himself from being accused of supporting Zanu by turning around and ACCUSING someone else!
If Zimbabwe's security forces had someone like me as a member, I can promise you, they would not be in this rut they are in! Goodness knows, they need someone within their ranks to increase their IQ by orders of magnitude! Thier thuggish behaviour and knee jerk reactions clearly shows a lack of deep thinkers amongst them.
Off course, Zimrick would classify what I say as "rubbish". As a proud "white" as he calls himself, he fights from the other side of the fence, a side against my grandparents who had their lands seized in the 1950s by his then government in Rhodesia; to distribute to British veterans of WW II.
He propagates the fiction that there are no sanctions against Zimbabwe, so he can further "expose" the incompetence of a Black government.
The genius of Zimrick and many western writers lays in the expectation that most readers will never really search for the sanctions truth themselves. They would just rely on the noisiest and most common refrain. Because, if anyone bothered to check the truthfulness of it all, they would find that the US has a law called Zimbabwe Democracy and Recovery Act (ZIDERA) designed to impose FINANCIAL sanctions against the country. They would also see that the EU has similar financial sanctions.
What makes Zimrick and his ilk continue to spew that sanctions are only "targeted" against Mugabe, is that the sanctions architecture actually pretends this! Its the definition of the target that ends up encompassing almost every facet of Zimbabwe's economy. When the US and the EU says they have made it illegal for their citizens to deal with Mugabe, any company he may own, any government entity he may control, any private company that might have dealings with Mugabe's government, this "targeted" sanction already encompasses close to 80% of Zimbabwe's economy. Imagine your utility company or your phone company and even your food processing company no longer able to secure western international finance because its government-owned and is therefore associated with the "targeted" Mugabe!
When between 70 to 80% of Zimbabwe's laborforce works directly for the state or for companies run by the state, how does "targeting" Mugabe and companies "associated" to him not cause misery to the whole country?
Could Zimrick please explain this to us?
I sympathize with the Zimbabweans and African's posting a comment on this blog site. However, it is incredibly FRUSTRATING to continue to hear that the WEST is to blame for the current situation. Perhaps we are, however, we need to move past that and figure out how we can help make things better.
There are people all over the world, that WANT TO HELP Zimbabweans. I hear from them everyday. I would love to see comments from you on what we can do and how we can help.
I promise, I will get the word out.
Most of us never absolved Mugabe of guilt in this fiasco, we just wanted you to recognize that he is not the ONLY one guilty in this mess. Western sanctions, which their leaders choose to brag about or deny, depending on which audiance they are addressing, have had a much bigger impact that any of Mugabe's failures.
Solutions:
Here is what we would love the world to do for us;
a) Admit that sanctions from the West are not just directed at Mugabe and his cronies, but target the whole economy.
b) Plead with the American and EU leaders to stop using these sanctions as a stick against Mugabe, because its a stick hitting ordinary Zimbabweans much harder.
c) Instead of waiting to see starving faces in April and then raising money to feed people, rather raise money NOW, this November, to help with agricultural inputs like seeds and fertilizer.
Help the peasants TO fish, not WITH fish!
Thank you. I am making phone calls this morning. There are some GREAT ideas, here. I don't disagree. I do not think any of us who know anything about the situation feel that it is MUGABE's blame alone. I am not naive about our own part in it. I am hopeful that under our new president things will change.
The US government has been one of the leading countries sending food aid to Zimbabwe over the years. However, they have consistently refused to send agricultural inputs BEFORE the planting season! It costs 2/3 LESS to supply peasants with agricultural inputs, than with food proper! Also, Zimbabwean peasants were growing enough food for export before 2000, before the economic crisis settled in, they can easily do this again with enough seeds and fertilizer.
The above fact proves without a doubt to most of us that the only reason why the West would rather feed our peasants than help them feed themselves, is because they want to see Land Reform fail! They still wish for land taken from 4 500 white to be given back by the 350 000 Black peasants that benefited from land reform!
d) Help us by approaching your political leaders. Tell them you understand their anger against Mugabe. But remind them that we, ordinary Zimbabweans hold them accountable too, for our misery UNLESS they remove the sanctions they have on our country.
e) Finally, please do not fall into the Iraqi idiocy again! Were many of you were driven into a frenzy by your government and media about how Saddam was as evil to his countrymen and as dangerous to the world as Hitler!
Mugabe has done many bad things, however compared to many leaders in the 3rd world, he is one of the "saints"! This caricuture of him as a monster is NOT REAL! In a continent with several dictators that never bother with elections, have no opposition, have run their countries for more than 30 years, never achieved any positive Human Development Indexes for their people, Mugabe almost emerges as a statesman!
Once you remove the blinding hatred the western media has built up around Mugabe, you will be able to see the situation in Zimbabwe in a much better perspective that will make your assistance to our country more beneficial than destructive.
Zimbabwe is a much more complex issue that the personality of Mugabe, please treat it that way, maybe we can all start seeing simbiotic solutions then.
I hope you all take up this challenge.
I sympathize with your point of view concerning the situation in Zimbabwe but it is disappointing that you did not seem to realise that the reason the situation gets that bad in the country is because of inhuman embargo placed on Zimbabwe by the western nations which arrogantly insisted on "regime-change" in the country. And if you have tried to investigate the root of the confusion a little you would have found that President Mugabe became the enemy of the western power when he stopped being their lackey. If you realised the culpability of the western nations in the death of 50 thousand Iraqi children while the Clinton-Blair siege lasted against that country before Mr Bush put all the pretence aside and went openly in to finish the job, then you would understand what is happening in Zimbabwe now.
How was Mugabe a "lackey" of the West? And by regime change, do you mean the election by the Zimbabwe people for Tsvangurai? What of Botswana, the only country to stand up to Mugabe. Are they now lackeys too? If you are from Zimababwe, doesn't it trouble you that a country that was 20 years ago, so far behind in development is now so far ahead?
Tayo, I agree with you and disagree with you. WE have to stop blaming the WEST for all of Mugabe's behavior. IS it the west's fault when he tortures and kills because he cannot control an election? Is it the WEST's fault that he stops all aid from helping his people? It is much more complicated than his unwillingness to be a LACKEY for western power. And if so...how destructive to destroy your people to make a point to the west?
I don't disagee with you on Iraq. I AM ASHAMED that a president of the United States led us into that situation and is responsible for so many deaths. However even in that situation, there were threats to our country that were components of that decision.
Regime change...we are getting one and we need it badlly. WHY don't you think that Zimbabwe needs a regime change?
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=805&Itemid=1
Its never acceptable for any leader to kill or torture their opposition. Mugabe needs to be condemned for such acts. However, let's maintain a sense of even-handedness here. The abuse and murder against the opposition in Zimbabwe in no way compares to what happens in Rwanda, or Egypt and even worse, Kenya! If we have to be mad at Mugabe for doing these dispicable things, why don't we be equally aggreived when the West's favorites in Rwanda commit worse?
The aid issue that Michealene raises occured between February and June this year. It had been discovered that western-funded NGOs were distributing food to the poor in the name of the opposition; in other words requesting pledges to votes to the opposition in exchange for food. Surely, neither the US nor the UK would allow Russian NGOs offering people money in exchange for voting for politicians the Russians prefer!!
Sure, Regime Change is necessary too in Zimbabwe. But, like in the US, it has to be a regime change PREFERRED by the Zimbabweans, not thrust on us by rich nations! Had the West not been interefering with our politics since 1999, I am very confident that we would all have long decided to put Mugabe into retirement! Being told to do so by people that had us fight a violent for just to get our democracy, kind of makes most of us think , maybe wrongly, that the enemy of our former colonisers might be our friend!
Cont'
Mugabe might have used the wrong tools to deliver to us what any citizen wishes for in their country, but he has certainly woken us up to our strong claim to be master of our on destinies, especially being major participants in our own economy, never again being bit players and sidewhows to western multinational control and unfair and racially biased land ownership by whites in our country.
This does not mean that we do not need any western help, we do. However, what we want more than anything is an HONEST assessment of our situation. Creating "evil dictator" caricutures that even we, Zimbabwe's citizens, fail recognize is not the way to go!
The election of Obama shows there are many Americans out there willing to set aside hubris and understand other people's points of view. Please, we beg you, ignore these silly caricutures created about our country and give yourself a chance to look at the other side! All these Africans that at least see the point of view from Mugabe's perspective cannot all be his "cronies" no yet his "evil" cheerleaders!
We are humans like you, we have aspirations, desires and dreams of self-worth, listen to us more, before you start force-feeding us with "help" that usually turns much more detrimental to our interests!
So that was not an honest assessment? What pray tell is? After all that is been done to the people of Zimbabwe - including the most evil, destruction of hope. After reading this misery, what other side is there?
What's not honest is pretending that the West is not part of the misery Zimbabweans are experiencing now.
I am Zimbabwean. I can tell you that far from having my hope "destroyed" as you put it, I am actually very INSPIRED by the brave stand ordinary Zimbabweans are taking in the face of such crushing poverty.
What side is there; you ask? Well, it's the side you probably do not like to listen to much. The one that shows that MANY Zimbabweans actually agree with Mugabe's intent on Land and asset ownership by the Indegenes.
That the only reason why westerners read more about Mugabe than much worse dictators in Africa has more to do with racial hurt by sympathizing white kith in kin in the West, rather than a genuine concern for the poor Black Zimbabweans. A people whose life might be hard, but no more harder than in many other African countries. Countries where the west has clearly failed to show the same "democratic" zeal for!
SO THE BIG QUESTION, WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP? Many of us want to help and are willing to stand up to say so... TELL US PLEASE
Cont'
This obsession against Mugabe seems to ignore the fact that many of us Zimbabweans might not be too pleased with Mugabe, but we generally agree with what he is trying to do, giving us not just the ephemeral political "independence", but the more substantive right to be shareholders of our own natural resources. That whites are a part of Zimbabwe, but cannot in anyway be the master of the economy, leaving us blacks to be "hewers of wood and drawers of water".
Where else in the world is it proper to allow less that 0.2% of an ethnic group to control over 80% of the nation's resources?
The West might finally succeed in getting rid of Mugabe using the usual false guise of "bringing democracy to Zimbabwe". However, its going to be very difficult for them to try and disabuse us of the ideas African economic rights we share with Mugabe. Just screaming "human rights" without supporting Economic Rights, is no longer enough for us.
I do not think there are many Zimbabweans out there, having gone thru all this pain and misery, who are going to stop demanding an equitable share of land ownership, mineral wealth and control of major corporates in our country!
Cont'
That his image in the West took an about turn in 2000, not because of a sudden realization of this man's "evil" but because of a fight between him and Tony Blair of the UK.
That Blair was now refusing to pay Zimbabwe's white farmers for land to be handed over to Black farmers, something previous British PMs like Thatcher and John Major had been complying to do as per Lancaster agreement of 1979.
That this land fight resulted in America joining in, with former asst. secretary of state for Africa, Chester Crocker, in Senate hearings in 2000, proposing that the way to "regime change" Mugabe for daring change land tenure in Zimbabwe, was "TO MAKE THE ECONOMY SCREAM!!", via sanctions and other means.
Today, the Zimbabwean economy is SCREAMING as any sanctioned poor country would obviously do, faced with the might and rage of such leading nations in the world. While I appreciate anyone being of assistance to us, I really resent people using our suffering as a mere prop for their hypocritical blame of Mugabe for a situation they know the West is fully complicit in!
Like a few people here, I too, am Zimbabwean. I distress at the depths our country has sunk. At times, I do not know where my family and relatives' next meal will come from.
Inspite of all this, I am not blinded by visceral hate of Mugabe like most Western media and writers seem to want us Zimbabweans to. I have no problem in assigning some responsibility for this mess to Mugabe. However, I see him as just one of MANY players that have brought us were we are.
I bristle everytime a western reporter regargitates the usual ills about my country, culminating in the expected idiotic conclusion that points ALL the blame at the "evil dictator"! I feel this way because I know most of these writers know much better than they are letting on!
They know that prior to 1999, Mugabe ran one of the best economies in Africa.
That he made Zimbabwe much more successful that it was under white and colonial rule.
That he was the most respected African leader in the continent by western leaders.
That he was even honored with a British Knighthood by the Queen of England in 1996.
That he created the most educated people, not just in Africa, but in most of the 3rd World.
That for 19 years of his rule up to 1999, the vast majority of Zimbabweans kept him in power not because they feared him, but that they loved and respected his agenda for the country.
Again, I don't disagree with you. He was a freedom fighter that the people loved. Even Mbeki could not turn his back on him-even when it was OBVIOUS there were serious troubles in Zimbabwe. So I ask you, do you let a men stay in power because of what he has done in the past? Or do you find a way to oust him.
There have been many leaders in world history that started out well, and ended up on the wrong path. What would you like to happen?
I am so curious that everyone keeps defending MUGABE. Is your country working right now/ Is there enough food, is there jobs? Is the situation sustainable?
Tell me so I can understand.
WELL I GUESS IF THERE WAS -------OIL---------- IN ZIMBABWE,THEN AMERICA WOULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST TO BE THERE... UNFORTUNATRELY ZIMBABWE WILL JUST HAVE TO DISSAPEAR OR TRY TO FIND THE BONE THAT WOLD INTEREST THE DOG
Zimbabwe is not in the best situation..........by standards in the States (a friend from the mid-west e-mailed me the link to this article) they are comparatively dreadful. But compare them to much of the rest of Africa and people here do wonder why the US and UK focus primarily on Zimbabwe. Stores are not closed, if anything right now they are fuller than ever thanks to the US$ "licences". For the first time in a long time the situation is slowly getting better. Commodities are coming in now and being much more freely available where as before it was a case of if you knew someone. Hospitals are open and have started getting more drugs. I urge the writer to instead of relying on those who make money out of selling the bad Zimbabwe story to search around, come visit again and she will find there are many stories on Zimbabwe - not all doom and gloom. As for change, it HAS to come from within as otherwise any new leader would not have the full support and credibility to rule the country.
My sources are inside the country. I talked to two of them yesterday. They are struggling to survive. Shall I write about how everything is fine in Zimbabwe and we should not help out this country. The stores that people I know-are completely empty. They cannot even get bread-and are literally taking bread and other goods (oil).. from neighboring countries and bringing it in. Tell me what stores, as I will send people to them to get food. None of the people I know ever make money out of expressing the situation over there. They just want it to change.
Listen, I love Zimbabweans and the country. Do you have a better way to get the word out on the situation there? Do you really think that without international awareness and aid that the country is going to recover on it's own. I hope you are right. If things are so "improved", why didn't Mugabe let the humanitarian group in this weekend?
ARE YOU HALLUCINATING ZIMRICK??
OR ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ANOTHER COUNTRY
With the greatest of respect I live in Zimbabwe, I see the situation every day here and not only that live with a official from the WFP (World Food Programme - part of the UN). I know the real situation on the ground both in urban and rural situations. In some ways the situation is desperate - take for example the Cholera outbreak. But in others there is litle wrong. The point I and many others in Zim try to make is for us it is frustrating seeing foreign journalists exaggerating some of the issues to get their article at the top of the google list. I am not saying this writer is, but there are many that do. There is also a problem that many here make money from peddling bad news................it sells better than good news......
How does it come from within when an entire people's spirit has been broken. Wen hope has been destroyed? How?
While I appreciate your efforts to highlight our plight in Zimbabwe I feel it necessary to point out some factual errors.
In Bulawayo we have city water - in some neighbourhoods there is more water delivered than in others but it is factually incorrect to say there is no water in Bulawayo. The sewage pipes in some neighbourhoods have broken but thank god the sewage pipes are working in most.
It is incorrect to say that every hospital and clinic is closed. In Bulawayo the doctors and nurses are doing their best with limited staff and no supplies but they are at work.
As for saying there is no care for AIDS patients well I think you need to do a little more research. You are not giving credit to the tireless work of many non-profits. It is true that we need more help and many do not receive treatment but it is incorrect to say there is no treatment in the country.
The fact is that things are absolutely awful but it is important to be factual and not exaggerate a problem that is actually so bad it does not need to be exaggerated! Our people are in a bad state, they need food, water, medical supplies and above all someone out there who can champion our cause but factually!
You put it better than I did I think. I didn't think if I used terms such as exaggerate and factually incorrect it would be published..............I'm in Harare so have seen change here quicker than other places. Just got back from Charara, Kariba today and up there things are still happening - but slowly.
You are right on the effort the docs and nurses put in. As for the $400 fee the writer quoted, thats for private clinics like Trauma Centre in Avondale, Harare and certainly not indicative of the vast majority of clinics that are operating still in Harare.
Above all the problem is exaggeration only serves to dis-credit Zimbabwe. Tell the story truthfully, there is plenty to tell without going over the top..........
I was never talking about the non-profit groups that are helping. The work that I have seen of non-profits there is incredible. I saw those who were tireless and dedicated, night and day. I would love to get you in contact with the people I talked with you yesterday, as not only are they working with children who are HIV, and have no access to drugs, but the women raped by the youth militia. Please let me know how to connect you with each other.
I am doing my best to get the word on an atrocious situation.
michealene please dont be so naive and connect anyone to your sources,i know from experience with seirra leone,unless you trst the people.
becouse if you connect them your friends might be hurt of imprisoned for deffaming the country and lunatic mugabi.
think before you put people's lives at risk
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9707
God d... it! We will never learn, will we.
Obviously, you didn't read the link.
Thats true aswell,about the war for minerals
Fine, very true, but this does not address the fact that Zimbabwe used to FEED itself and the rest of Africa, it produced far more food than it could use and used to be a major food exporter, now it is begging for the most basic commodities. So who is responsible for this? Are you trying to tell me this has to do with sanctions?
"Who's responsible for this?"
White Supremacists. Look, many people are to blame, but the people who are MOST to blame are ALL White Supremacists. Of course food production will decline rapidly. THe most productive farmers were white. They were the beneficiaries of a colonial land grab. The white settlers had 80% of the arable land, and farming equipment. The white settlers took their equipment with them. The Chinese have had to come in and donate farm equipment. Their land was in the uplands that received all of the rainfall. These settlers weren't concerned with teaching the natives how to farm this land, and I don't have time for a history lesson. If yo-'re going to play dumb then I don't have time for it. Look it up somewhere. It's not a coincidence.
Right now, people are upset about the economy, and nothing makes someone feel better than pointing out a worse situation. This country has enough problems of it's own.
Lastly why would this country care about Zimbabwe, when there are blacks here that were blatantly neglected during Hurricane Katrina? Charity begins at home.
Why is everyone so afraid of that thug, Mugabe?
He's an over-hyped schoolyard bully who needs to have his bluff called.
If syphillus doesn't get him, hubris will. Unfortunately, many Zimbabweans won't live to see it happen, tho.
I wish I knew, why we were so afraid of him. GET HIM OUT!!
Why in the world is everyone so shocked by this situation? Mugabe showed his colors years ago and has consistently followed his credo.
Everyone is crying about who is going to do something. The US (the defacto world police) is already fighting on two fronts. Doesn't anyone else have the ball"s to take action? It's pretty obvious that this situation calls for more than pure diplomatic banter.
Should anyone intervene by mindless "cowboy diplomacy." Of course not. However, Mugabe has been at this for 28 years. How long is long enough?
Probilly not. Europe being trying, but they are white and Mugabe a master of the race card. by call any action against him racist, he can go on killing his fellow blacks. Why the rest of Africa watches on.
I am most shocked by the world community doing nothing. I wish someone would take action... I agree with you completely...
SO...how long is enough?
Europe, i.e. Britain, proved 30 years ago they had no stomach to right Zimbabwe as it emerged from white rule. It was much easier to send a few bobbies to stand around the voting sites, and then pretend Mugabe was a misunderstood hippy cream puff. That said, it's too far gone and far away for the US to help. The best any country can do is lean on South Africa to lean on Mugabe, and provide as much help as feasible for those who make it over the river.
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