The Latest from Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has been capturing international headlines this week after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew only days before the July 27th run-off election. In an open letter delivered to the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission on Monday, Tsvangirai stated that “What has been going on … after the elections held on the 29th March 2008 is a clear testimony that the elections scheduled for the 27th June 2008 cannot be held efficiently, freely, fairly, transparently and in accordance with the law.” He cited numerous acts of intimidation, violence and vote-rigging undertaken by incumbent President Robert Mugabe’s forces in the past month.

Pressure is now mounting on Mugabe to cancel the election. Tsvangirai has called for the African Union to lead a peaceful transition in Zimbabwe with support from the UN and the Southern African Development Community. At an emergency meeting in Swaziland today, SADC called for the election to be postponed because of violence and yesterday, UN Security Council unanimously adopted a statement condemning the violence and saying that free and fair elections would be impossible to hold on 27 June. While the non-binding statement was significantly watered down from a draft version circulated by Western countries on the council, it represents the first time Zimbabwe has been criticized at the UN by South Africa, Russia and China.

Editorials in both The New York Times and the The Washington Postare demanding more decisive action by Zimbabwe’s African neighbors, particularly South Africa, as well as the UN Security Council.

Edith Jibunoh, ONE policy staffer stationed in Abuja Nigeria, wrote to share more about the background of the elections. You can read it all after the jump.

Stay tuned here for more updates and a closer look at how the crisis is impacting regular Zimbabweans.

-Nora Coghlan
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Crisis in Zimbabwe

Yesterday, just days before the date set for Zimbabwe’s run-off election, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the election and went to the Dutch embassy seeking refuge.

From the AP today:

He has survived at least three assassination attempts and last year he was hospitalized after a brutal assault by police at a prayer rally. Images seen around the world of his bruised and swollen face have come to symbolize the plight of dissenters in Zimbabwe…

On Sunday, Tsvangirai pulled out of the violence-wracked presidential runoff, declaring that the election was no longer credible and the loss of life among his supporters was simply too high.

And just now U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice released a statement, including:

The United States condemns in the strongest terms the Government of Zimbabwe’s continuing campaign of violence against its own people… The Mugabe regime cannot be considered legitimate in the absence of a runoff. In forsaking the most basic tenet of governance – the protection of its people – the Government of Zimbabwe must be held accountable by the international community. We call upon the Southern African Development Community, African Union Peace and Security Council, and the United Nations Security Council to take up this issue immediately.

Mugabe Set to Claim Victory in Zimbabwe Despite Election Reports

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is set to claim victory in the country’s recent election, despite many reports that he received significantly less votes than opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Once prosperous, Zimbabwe suffers from the world’s highest inflation rate, chronic shortages of food and fuel, a steep increase in HIV/AIDS rates and a decline in life expectancy.

From IWPR:

In what can best be described as a shock result, President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party are about to announce victory for Mugabe in the parliamentary and presidential elections, according to unofficial results leaked from the ZANU-PF and Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, ZEC, command centres.

But sources within the ZEC centre - newly christened the National Collation Centre - say Mugabe clearly lost the election to his opposition rival Morgan Tsvangirai, polling only 20 per cent of the vote. He is also said to trail Simba Makoni who garnered 28 per cent.

And from the Washington Post:

A sheet of blue paper hanging on the notice board of a drab community hall told the tale of a remarkable upset:

President Robert Mugabe: 3,066 votes.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai: 8,154 votes.

…The electoral commission remained silent more than 24 hours after polls closed, but Zimbabweans took it upon themselves to tabulate results on pieces of paper gradually appearing outside 9,000 polling stations across the country…Outside another polling station in Chinhoyi, a 38-year-old law student marveled that the results were available for all to see. “In the past it was hidden. You couldn’t see what was on the ground,” the student said. “Now you know.”

Read more from the full IWRP and Washington Post articles.

Zimbabwe AIDS Healthcare Crisis

There’s an important article about the status of AIDS healthcare in Zimbabwe in the Boston Globe this week.

As stated in the piece - in all of Zimbabwe, only 24% of those HIV positive receive the AIDS drugs they need. In sub-Sahara Africa, the average is 28%.

And according to a World Health Organization April report - only 6% of children in Zimbabwe receive the treatment they need.

Some excerpts:

“Zimbabwe’s financial crisis has seen the near collapse of its health system. Hit by foreign currency shortages and hyperinflation, the government stopped taking new AIDS patients in October 2006. Many people die of AIDS complications without ever getting antiretroviral medicine….

As access to government treatment has become impossible for most, the private market is out of reach, too. A December report by the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, an international advocacy group, said the number of private HIV/AIDS patients dropped from 10,000 in July to 6,000 because government policies and inflation had caused the cost of treatment to soar.

Ahmed Leher, 52, cannot bear to call his illness by its name. To him it’s “this thing” or “this rubbish.”

His weight has dropped 50 pounds in a few months. He feels angry knowing that there’s a medicine out there that could save him, yet the hospital system won’t give it to him.

“I don’t want to die young,” he said, his face anguished. “I know there’s still life. I know that with ARVs I can live for years”

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Read the full piece here.

-Virginia Simmons