Highlight the Plight of the Zimbabwean People

^{(with apologies to Charles Dickens)}

Courtesy of money.co.uk

By Charlotte Cardingham Jan. 12, 2009

The country’s central bank has today released the new note into circulation in their attempt to battle hyperinflation.

Zimbabwe’s central bank has today launched a $50billion note into circulation, despite the currency being virtually worthless.

According to today’s estimates the $50billion note will trade at $1.25 US dollars on the black market and have enough purchase power to buy just two loaves of bread or three newspapers.

Three weeks previous, when the government introduced a $10billion note, the equivalent £50billion would have been worth $3.30 US dollars, illustrating the currency’s severe decline in value.

A $20billion note has also been released as part of Acting Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa’s bid to tackle the cash shortages currently gripping the country.

This actually represents the second issue of such high value notes after the government were forced to revalue the currency and remove 10 zeros (effectively turning Z$10billion to just Z$1) in August last year.

Poverty stricken Zimbabwe is currently struggling with an unprecedented economic crisis. Almost 80% of its population is unemployed, its currency is dropping in value by almost 100% a day and inflation is running at a staggering 231million%. As a point of comparison, the official rate of inflation in the UK, the Consumer Prices Index, currently sits at 4.1%.

Hyperinflation has become such an issue that few are trading in the nation’s official currency. US dollars and South African rand have instead been adopted as a more viable alternative.

Even the government have acknowledged the futility of the Zimbabwean economy and in September licensed over a thousand shops to sell goods in foreign currency. Everything from food to fuel, property and mobile phone credit can now be bought with non-Zimbabwean funds.

While the situation is nothing short of dire it is difficult to see how this move by Zimbabwe’s central bank will better the situation.

“I am not really sure what these notes would be for,” commented Zimbabwean economist John Robertson in an interview with CNN. “No one now accepts the local currency. It is a waste of resources to print Zimbabwe dollar notes now.”

Many have argued that a resolution of the country’s grid-locked government can be the only possible reprieve for the situation.

Courtesy of Time.com

By Alex Perry Monday, Dec. 01, 2008

Cholera is one of the simplest diseases to prevent or cure. To kill the cholera bacterium in water, just boil it. To treat the chronic diarrhea and potentially fatal dehydration that results from cholera, take a liter of water, a teaspoon of salt, eight teaspoons of sugar, mix, and drink; or, for patients too weak to drink, administer intravenously.

You have to be destitute not to be able to afford a fire. You have to be just as poor not to afford salt and sugar. And you have to have ruinous public sanitation not to be able to filter out the feces of an infected person from the water supply (ingesting fecal matter is the most common way for cholera to spread). So it is a stark indication of how far Zimbabwe has fallen that a country that used to export food is now in the grip of a cholera epidemic that the World Health Organization (WHO) says has claimed 412 lives and infected 9,908 people. South Africa’s Sunday Times said 400 new cholera cases were arriving at a treatment center in the township of Budiriro every day. Aid groups on the ground — UNICEF, Medecins Sans Frontieres, German Agro Action and the WHO have between them set up 36 treatment centers — are working on a scenario of 10,000 deaths and 60,000 infected by next March. The outbreak began in the east of the country and now affects the entire eastern portion, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It is also hitting cities hard, including the capital Harare, where it can be expected to infect more people more rapidly because of greater population density. The epidemic has also spread to neighboring Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique.

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s woes is the power struggle between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, led by Morgan Tsvangirai. This, by itself, has been bad enough — Mugabe and his security services unleashed a campaign of violence that has killed more than 200 people when they lost control of parliament and Mugabe came second to Tsvangirai in a general election in March this year. (See pictures of the political crisis in Zimbabwe.)

But, in the context of Africa’s worst countries, 200 deaths, despotism, brutality and the corruption of the regime elite is all too usual. The cholera epidemic indicates Zimbabwe is entering a new stage: a humanitarian crisis that affects tens of thousands inside the country and, with hundreds of thousands of refugees pouring over Zimbabwe’s borders, all southern Africa too. After initially denying there was a problem, Zimbabwe’s regime changed its tune last week, saying it could not cope with the health crisis. “With the coming of the rainy season, the situation could get worse,” said deputy health minister Edwin Muguti. “Our problems are quite simple. We need to be helped.”

Courtesy of CNN.com

By Eliott C. McLaughlin

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said Wednesday that Zimbabwe is in shambles and warned that deaths from starvation and a cholera outbreak threaten to surge with the rainy season approaching.

Bemoaning Zimbabwe’s decline is a familiar refrain for the embattled head of the Movement for Democratic Change. His most recent remarks, however, were backed by former President Carter, who returned from a five-day trip to neighboring South Africa this week and declared Zimbabwe “a basket case.”

Tsvangirai also expressed frustration with attempts to form a unity government between his group and the ruling Zanu-PF party. He said he has asked that South African ex-President Thabo Mbeki recuse himself as mediator between the two parties.

The Zimbabwean government quickly countered Tsvangirai’s allegations that President Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF were responsible for the problems gripping the country.

“The government is very committed to ensure that the humanitarian crisis is addressed. It would be wrong for the MDC to blame it on the government,” Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said.

Addressing Tsvangirai’s allegations that cholera deaths could soon top 50 a day and that the Mugabe-led government seems intent on covering it up, Mumbengegwi noted that Zimbabwe is not the only country where cholera is a problem. Watch why world leaders call the situation in Zimbabwe shocking »

“No government would want its people to suffer. Cholera is not peculiar to Zimbabwe,” he said. “We hear it is now in South Africa, too, but we cannot relax because of that. We have to fight it as Zimbabweans.”

A report in the state-run Herald newspaper Wednesday said the government has kicked off an information campaign to inform citizens of “the do’s and don’ts to combat the disease.”

The government is also drilling boreholes to find clean, subterranean water that can be pumped to the surface for drinking and bathing, the Herald reported.

The World Health Organization said last week that almost 300 people have died of cholera since August and more than 6,000 cases have been reported.

Tsvangirai said Wednesday that conditions would worsen this month as the rainy season brings steamy downpours to much of Zimbabwe, especially the eastern mountain forests.

Carter, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Graca Machel, wife of former South Africa President Nelson Mandela – all of whom belong to a group of world leaders called the Elders – had hoped to visit Zimbabwe on their recent trip to the region but were denied visas, according to Tsvangirai and a statement from the Carter Center.

“Mr. Mugabe would prefer that the suffering that he and Zanu-PF have caused, and continue to cause, remains in the dark,” Tsvangirai said in a statement, adding that because the Movement for Democratic Change and Zanu-PF cannot form a partnership after months of wrangling, “the MDC must instead work with those Zimbabwean organizations, groups and individuals to address the humanitarian crisis.”

The humanitarian problems illustrate the political quagmire in Zimbabwe, where a power-sharing agreement that Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed in September has yet to take effect.

Carter issued a statement Tuesday condemning what he said was Harare’s decision to renege on an agreement to allow him, Annan and Machel into the country. He also offered a damning assessment of the Mugabe regime.

“After almost three decades of governmental corruption, mismanagement and oppression, Zimbabwe has become a basket case, an embarrassment to the region and a focus of international concern and condemnation,” he said.

Denied passage to Zimbabwe, Carter, Annan and Machel were left to consult with regional leaders – including Tsvangirai, Botswana President Ian Khama and South Africa President Kgalema Motlanthe – as well as United Nations officials, nongovernmental organizations and Zimbabwe’s civil leaders.

“We had a complete and balanced agenda and more frank discussions than would have been possible in the oppressive and restrained environment of Harare,” Carter said in his statement.

Carter said he learned of conditions in which the official inflation rate has soared to about 231 million percent while thousands of Zimbabweans stand in line for their daily allowance of about 2 cents a day—from their own bank accounts. The allowance does not afford them a half loaf of bread, he said.

Teachers, who earn about a dollar a month, report a student-textbook ratio of about 20-to-1, and school attendance has dropped to about 20 percent in the past three months, the former president reported. The few students still attending classes are generally doing so in the hopes of being fed, he said.

“Meanwhile, top government officials and other privileged people can exchange Zim money at a favorable rate that is several thousand times more than the official rate available to other citizens,” Carter said. “They profit greatly from these monetary transactions and shop in special stores.”

The nation’s four major hospitals have shut down, as roughly 3,500 AIDS victims are dying each week. Unchecked sewage and filthy water have compounded the cholera problem, and Zimbabwe’s death rate from the disease is 10 times greater than rates in areas where treatment is available, Carter said.

The former president said 19,000 Zimbabweans are fleeing the country each month, mostly to South Africa and Botswana. He estimated that 4 million people have fled the nation.

“The middle class is departing, leaving behind the extremely poor and the small elite group around Mugabe who are profiting from the economic disaster,” he said.

Comparing Zimbabwe to Somalia, a failed African state that has had no functional government since 1991, Carter cast blame on African leaders who fail “to confront Robert Mugabe and force him to accept the result of the March election and more recently to comply with negotiated political agreements to share governmental authority with Morgan Tsvangirai and the opposition party.”

Tsvangirai snared more votes than Mugabe in March’s election but not a majority. Tsvangirai dropped out of a subsequent runoff, citing widespread violence against MDC supporters.

Carter’s call for African leaders to step up pressure on Mugabe came a day before Tsvangirai asked South Africa’s Mbeki to bow out as mediator between the MDC and Zanu-PF.

“Sadly, the negotiations have also been hampered by the attitude and position of the facilitator, Mr. Thabo Mbeki. He does not appear to understand how desperate the problem in Zimbabwe is, and the solutions he proposes are too small,” Tsvangirai said in his statement.

“He is not serving to bring the parties together because he does not understand what needs to be done. In addition, his partisan support of Zanu-PF, to the detriment of genuine dialogue, has made it impossible for the MDC to continue negotiating under his facilitation.”

Asked for the Zimbabwe government’s reaction to the MDC asking Mbeki to recuse himself, Foreign Minister Mumbengegwi said, “We have no right to tell them who to complain about. It is their decision in the MDC.”

Unless African leaders can find a way to mitigate the political impasse in Zimbabwe, the United Nations or the African Union might need to enter the fray, because, Carter said, “the poisonous effects” of the Mugabe regime, including the cholera outbreak, are spilling into other African nations.

Food, medicine and monetary donations should be sent immediately to humanitarian agencies such as CARE, World Vision and Save the Children, Carter said, advising that it is unwise to send cash directly to people in Zimbabwe.

“It is counterproductive to contribute money that can be confiscated by the Zimbabwe government,” he said.

Courtesy of www.sokwanele.com

PROMOTING NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE DEMOCRACY

It is more than a month since the elections were held on March 29th 2008, and we are still waiting for the Presidential results.

Meanwhile, Zanu PF has embarked on a campaign of terror and intimidation in the rural areas against opposition supporters. There have been at least ten murders so far.

A report released on the 25 April 2008 by the ‘Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR)’ details violence and torture against 62 people they have treated, over a period of the three days between April 22 to April 24. They state that even this number “under-reports the true total as full documentation (e.g. confirmation of suspected fractures by x-ray) of a number of cases has not yet been completed”.

In these three days, ZADHR says:

Sixty two cases were assessed and treated, including 9 women, one of whom is 84 years old and sustained serious facial injuries when she was struck in the face with stones on opening her door to unknown assailants. The youngest patient seen was a one year old baby boy who suffered gastroenteritis with dehydration following sleeping in the ?bush? with his mother after their home had been burnt down. 23 cases were from Karoi; otherwise there was still a concentration in Mudzi, Mutoko and Murewa with 12.
It is against this backdrop of gross human rights violations that riot police invaded Harvest House, the MDC Headquarters, and arrested scores of people on Friday, 25 April 2008.

Many of those arrested are injured civilians who had fled the rural areas to seek safety and refuge in the only place they could turn to; namely, the opposition headquarters. Many of them were injured days ago and were only able to get medical treatment when they arrived in town.

The state-controlled press have deliberately gone on to misreport the arrests.

The government’s motive, through the state-controlled press, is to try and persuade the people in our country – who have little access to independent news – that the victims of these horrendous attacks are actually criminals. By arresting the injured, the state hopes to hide the evidence of their violence and silence the voices that shame them. On Saturday, The Herald wrote:

Police yesterday arrested 215 people after raiding MDC-T?s Harvest House headquarters in central Harare on allegations of committing acts of political violence countrywide and going into hiding. [...] Chief police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said the information they had indicated that most of those who had participated in post-election violence had sought refuge at the MDC provincial and national headquarters. “Police rounded up 215 people at Harvest House this afternoon and these will be screened against participation in politically motivated criminal activities around the country,” he said.
The Herald would like us to believe that these people are criminals; however, the full extent of their lie is exposed when we learn that among the injured people arrested are twenty-four babies and 40 children under the age of six:

?This is ruthlessness of the worst kind. How can you incarcerate children whose mothers have fled their homes hoping to give their children refuge?? asked an emotional [Nelson] Chamisa yesterday. ?In Mugabe?s Zimbabwe even children are not spared the terror that befalls their parents.? [Nelson Chamisam is the MDC MT spokesperson]
The Herald might print lies, but the pictures the world has seen tell the truth. These are not pictures of criminals: they are the images of people who have been brutalised, tortured, murdered and had their human rights violated. They have been subjected to retributive persecution by a regime that fails to accept the simple truth that it has lost the elections.

It does not matter how many people the regime tries to arrest to cover up the reality that it is brutalising its own people; the world now knows the truth.

In a press release on Sunday the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for Zimbabwe (IDAZIM) announced that they had initiated, with full support from civil society, labour and legal organizations, a Truth and Justice Coalition on Zimbabwe. They have stated that:

Its objectives are to identify perpetrators and seek legal redress for the victims of crimes against humanity and other serious crimes in Zimbabwe [...] the coalition had now assembled over 200 names of ZANU (PF) military, militia, members of parliament and war veterans who in their personal and/or professional capacity have unleashed terror and tyranny against civilians in recent months. More importantly, their complicity with a cabal of high-ranking Zimbabwean politicians and military personnel with links to other countries is now documented for public release.

We need to Take Action!

On Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council will be briefed on the situation in Zimbabwe by the MDC Secretary General, Hon Tendai Biti. A statement issued today says:

The MDC will make its plea to the United Nations that the ZANU PF regime has unleashed brutal and fascist violence on the membership of the MDC and the generality of the people of Zimbabwe. The regime has declared war with the people, whose only ‘crime’ is voting for change, and change they can trust. We call on the United Nations to send an envoy, who will work with SADC to find a lasting solution to the crisis. This crisis can only end if Mr Mugabe accepts that he lost the election and allow a smooth transfer of power, leading to the formation of a government of national healing led by President Tsvangirai.

Under the Charter the functions and powers of the Security Council are:

to maintain international peace and security in accordance with the principles and purposes of the United Nations;
to investigate any dispute or situation which might lead to international friction;
to recommend methods of adjusting such disputes or the terms of settlement;
to formulate plans for the establishment of a system to regulate armaments;
to determine the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression and to recommend what action should be taken;
to call on Members to apply economic sanctions and other measures not involving the use of force to prevent or stop aggression;
to take military action against an aggressor;
to recommend the admission of new Members;
to exercise the trusteeship functions of the United Nations in “strategic areas”;
to recommend to the General Assembly the appointment of the Secretary-General and, together with the Assembly, to elect the Judges of the International Court of Justice.
What can we do?

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-
It is very important to reinforce the message of non violence at every opportunity. Please do what you can to help our country maintain its committment to non violence through these difficult and distressing days. We have come so far, let us not be seduced into violence in the way that Zanu PF hopes we will be.

You can also:

Send emails to Permanent Representatives to the United Nations of the United Nations Security Council and tell them, in your words, the truth about what is happening in Zimbabwe

They are Jean-Maurice Ripert (France); Sir John Sawers (UK); Vitaly Churkin (Russian Federation); Johan C. Verbeke (Belgium); Marty Natalegawa (Indonesia); Dumisani S. Kumalo (South Africa); Marcello Spatafora (Italy); Le Luong Minh (Vietman); Jorge Urbina (Costa Rica); Giadalla A.Ettalhi; Ricardo Alberto Arias (Panama); Zhenmin Liu (China) and Wang Guangya (China)
These are their email addresses (you can copy and paste them into your email software): france@franceonu.org; UK@UN.int; rusun@un.int; newyorkUN@diplobel.be; ptri@indonesiamission-ny.org; sacg@southafrica-newyork.net; info.italyun@esteri.it; info@vietnam-un.org; costarica@un.int; misioncostaricaun@yahoo.com; emb@panama-un.org; chinamission_un@fmprc.gov.cn;

Because of the violence in our country, ask the UN Security Council to place a UN arms embargo on all trade in arms and ammunition with Zimbabwe until such time that a political resolution has been reached and there is peace and no more violence in our country.
Ask them to call for an immediate end to the violence against the people of Zimbabwe, and to support the opposition’s request for special envoy to work with SADC to find a lasting solution to the crisis
Ask them to call for an immediate release of the Presidential results. Remind them that it is now one month after we voted and the results have still not been officially released
Send copies of your emails to SADC regional leaders. We recommend you focus your letters towards President Levy Mwanawasa who is the Current SADC Chairperson; President Thabo Mbeki, SADC’s appointed mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis; and President Jakaya Kikwete, the President of Tanzania who is also the current Chairperson of the AU. Their full details are provided below.
Forward this email to friends, family and colleagues and ask that they Take Action too!
Boycott the State controlled media! Don’t pay hard earned money to read lies.
Country: Zambia
Name: Mwanawasa, Levy
Job title: President of Zambia; Chairperson of SADC
Email: differmu@nkwazi.gov.zm
Telephone: +260 1 266147
Fax Number: +260 1 266092
Website address: http://www.statehouse.gov.zm/
Physical Address: Independence Avenue Woodlands Lusaka Zambia 10101 P.O Box 30135

Country: Botswana
Name: Mothae, Tanki
Job title: Director of Politics, Defence and Security Affairs, SADC
Email: tmothae@sadc.int
Telephone: +267 361 1001 or +267 397 2848
Organisation: Southern African Development Community (SADC)

Country: South Africa
Name: Mbeki, Thabo
Job title: President of South Africa
Email: president@po.gov.za
Telephone 1: +27 (0)12 300 5200
Telephone 2: +27 (0)21 464 2100
Fax Number: +27 (0)12 323 8246 and +27 (0)12 461 2838
Physical Address: Private Bag X1000, Pretoria, 0001 Union Buildings, Government Avenue Pretoria; Private Bag X1000, Cape Town, 8000 Tuynhuys Building, Parliament Street, Cape Town
Website address: http://www.gov.za/

Country: Tanzania
Name: Kikwete, Jakaya
Job title: President of Tanzania and Chair to the African Union
Email: info@ikulu.go.tz
Telephone: 00 255 22 2 116 898 or 00 255 22 2 116 899
Fax Number: 00 255 22 2 113 425
Physical Address: State House Luthuli Road, Box 9120, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Dear 43ters,

I’m repeating this entry because I believe it contains an extremely important message for all.

I have just received the message below and have taken the liberty of posting it here. Yes Zimbabwe is just one more world crisis along with Darfur, Tibet, Iraq, etc. However we do have the power to at least try to do something instead of sitting back and merely watching from the sidelines. It doesn’t cost anything to sign a petition and your action may contribute to a solution. PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW

The Zimbabwe crisis is spinning even further out of control, but the international response is gaining steam.

In less than a week, more than 120,000 people from 215 countries and territories including thousands from across Africa have signed the Avaaz petition demanding the release of the election results. On Wednesday, as world leaders enter the United Nations for a special summit chaired by South Africa, a plane hired by Avaaz will soar above them pulling a massive aerial banner reading “MBEKI: TIME TO ACT DEMOCRACY FOR ZIMBABWE.”

To make this message count, can you help us reach 150,000 signatures by the end of the day? Forward this email to your friends and family, and urge them to sign the petition at this link:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/democracy_for_zimbabwe/20.php?cl=76880517

Yesterday, the Zimbabwe High Court ruled against requiring the immediate release of the results of the March 29 Presidential election. In response, opposition called for a nationwide strike, and Mugabe deployed police throughout the country.[1]

All of this came just after South African President Thabo Mbeki who, more than anyone else in the world, could influence Mugabe’s actions said on Saturday that “there is no crisis in Zimbabwe.”²

But Mbeki isn’t off the hook just yet. Tomorrow (Wednesday), he will chair a special United Nations Security Council meeting, where diplomats have promised to raise the Zimbabwe crisis.[3] If he looks up as he enters the United Nations headquarters, Mbeki will see a 280 square metre (3000 square foot) banner amplifying the voices of Avaaz members around the world and if he doesn’t see it then, you can be sure he’ll see it in the newspapers the next day. International press have already begun to report on the planned fly-over of the banner.

Throughout the day, Avaaz will update reporters in Southern Africa and at the United Nations on the growth of the petition. If all of us forward this email to friends, co-workers, and relatives, we can add tens of thousands of new signatures in one day, and show Mbeki and Mugabe that the world is watching and supporting the people of Zimbabwe as they demand democracy.

It’s easy to sign at this link:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/democracy_for_zimbabwe/20.php?cl=76880517

This Friday, the 18th of April, marks Zimbabwe’s Day of Independence from colonial rule. Amidst the worsening poverty and danger, civil society organisations across Zimbabwe are gearing up for nonviolent resistance to Mugabe’s regime, calling for local actions and urging supporters to wear white in solidarity. And Zimbabwean media organisations many now operating outside the borders are broadcasting news about the international support that Zimbabwe’s people are receiving.

Mugabe was once the hero of Zimbabwe’s liberation. Now his own people embody the principles he once championed. For those of us around the world, it is our privilege and our responsibility to stand with them.

With hope,

Ben, Ricken, Galit, Paul, Milena, Graziela, Pascal, Iain, and Milena—the Avaaz.org team

Sources:

AFP: Zimbabwe opposition strikers face police crackdown http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hwWRGDpJdG0A1GFJ6SSTbcP_MP8w
Zimbabwe is not in crisis, says Thabo Mbeki http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/12/wzim412.xml
Reuters: US, Britain want UN council to tackle Zimbabwe. (See final paragraph.) http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/15/worldupdates/2008-04-15T023403Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-330394-1&sec=Worldupdates
Zimbabwe National Association of Non Governmental Organizations
http://www.nango.org.zw/news/view.asp?id=802 _

ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means “voice” in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.

Don’t forget to check out our Facebook and Myspace pages!

To contact Avaaz write to info@avaaz.org. You can also send postal mail to our New York office: 260 Fifth Avenue, 9th floor, New York, NY 10001 U.S.A.

If you have technical problems, please go to http://www.avaaz.org.

Dear 43ters,

I have just received the message below and have taken the liberty of posting it here. Yes Zimbabwe is just one more world crisis along with Darfur, Tibet, Iraq, etc. However we do have the power to at least try to do something instead of sitting back and merely watching from the sidelines. It doesn’t cost anything to sign a petition and your action may contribute to a solution. PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW

The Zimbabwe crisis is spinning even further out of control, but the international response is gaining steam.

In less than a week, more than 120,000 people from 215 countries and territories including thousands from across Africa have signed the Avaaz petition demanding the release of the election results. On Wednesday, as world leaders enter the United Nations for a special summit chaired by South Africa, a plane hired by Avaaz will soar above them pulling a massive aerial banner reading “MBEKI: TIME TO ACT DEMOCRACY FOR ZIMBABWE.”

To make this message count, can you help us reach 150,000 signatures by the end of the day? Forward this email to your friends and family, and urge them to sign the petition at this link:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/democracy_for_zimbabwe/20.php?cl=76880517

Yesterday, the Zimbabwe High Court ruled against requiring the immediate release of the results of the March 29 Presidential election. In response, opposition called for a nationwide strike, and Mugabe deployed police throughout the country.[1]

All of this came just after South African President Thabo Mbeki who, more than anyone else in the world, could influence Mugabe’s actions said on Saturday that “there is no crisis in Zimbabwe.”[2]

But Mbeki isn’t off the hook just yet. Tomorrow (Wednesday), he will chair a special United Nations Security Council meeting, where diplomats have promised to raise the Zimbabwe crisis.[3] If he looks up as he enters the United Nations headquarters, Mbeki will see a 280 square metre (3000 square foot) banner amplifying the voices of Avaaz members around the world and if he doesn’t see it then, you can be sure he’ll see it in the newspapers the next day. International press have already begun to report on the planned fly-over of the banner.

Throughout the day, Avaaz will update reporters in Southern Africa and at the United Nations on the growth of the petition. If all of us forward this email to friends, co-workers, and relatives, we can add tens of thousands of new signatures in one day, and show Mbeki and Mugabe that the world is watching and supporting the people of Zimbabwe as they demand democracy.

It’s easy to sign at this link:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/democracy_for_zimbabwe/20.php?cl=76880517

This Friday, the 18th of April, marks Zimbabwe’s Day of Independence from colonial rule. Amidst the worsening poverty and danger, civil society organisations across Zimbabwe are gearing up for nonviolent resistance to Mugabe’s regime, calling for local actions and urging supporters to wear white in solidarity. And Zimbabwean media organisations many now operating outside the borders are broadcasting news about the international support that Zimbabwe’s people are receiving.

Mugabe was once the hero of Zimbabwe’s liberation. Now his own people embody the principles he once championed. For those of us around the world, it is our privilege and our responsibility to stand with them.

With hope,

Ben, Ricken, Galit, Paul, Milena, Graziela, Pascal, Iain, and Milena—the Avaaz.org team

Sources:

AFP: Zimbabwe opposition strikers face police crackdown http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hwWRGDpJdG0A1GFJ6SSTbcP_MP8w
Zimbabwe is not in crisis, says Thabo Mbeki http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/12/wzim412.xml
Reuters: US, Britain want UN council to tackle Zimbabwe. (See final paragraph.) http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/15/worldupdates/2008-04-15T023403Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-330394-1&sec=Worldupdates
Zimbabwe National Association of Non Governmental Organizations
http://www.nango.org.zw/news/view.asp?id=802 _

ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means “voice” in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.

Don’t forget to check out our Facebook and Myspace pages!

To contact Avaaz write to info@avaaz.org. You can also send postal mail to our New York office: 260 Fifth Avenue, 9th floor, New York, NY 10001 U.S.A.

If you have technical problems, please go to http://www.avaaz.org.

Zimbabwe is on a knife’s edge between democracy and chaos. Results still have not been released from the 29 March elections—and each day, more signals emerge that Mugabe will resort to violence and fraud to hold on to power.

I just signed a petition calling for the release of the results of Zimbabwe’s election—and urging South African President Thabo Mbeki to pressure Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe to honour the will of the Zimbabwean people.

Please join me in signing

Courtesy of Avaaz.org – The world in action

Mugabe is unlikely to listen to the world’s outcry but he might listen to his old friend and powerful neighbour Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa. Click above to add your name to a petition calling for the results to be released, verified, and peacefully honored, and we will do all we can to deliver it to Mbeki through diplomatic channels, over the radio, and in a public event when Mbeki travels to New York for a United Nations meeting next week.

The more of us sign the petition, the powerful the message that South Africa’s reputation as a world leader is on the line.

The petition was organized by Avaaz.org.

Thanks!

Courtesy of Times Online

Robert Mugabe unleashed his most-feared thugs on the streets of the Zimbabwean capital today in a very public show of force as his party’s leadership united to back a last-ditch bid for him to stay in power.

At its first meeting since the party’s shock defeat at polls held last weekend, the Zanu (PF) politburo endorsed Mr Mugabe’s bid for a second-round run-off against his opposition challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai. The continued absence of official results in the presidential race, which Mr Tsvangirai says he has won outright, raised fears that the figures were being held back and manipulated to ensure that a second round would take place.

After a week of high drama – from reports of his imminent concession to tonight’s sudden nocturnal crackdown on foreign journalists and raids on opposition offices – fears are growing that Mr Mugabe is planning a violent, protracted fight to the end.

More than 400 of his so-called war veterans, the shock troops that led the violent invasions of white-owned farms, marched through the streets of Harare today in a silent display of menace. Afterwards they addressed the media, vowing to “defend the country’s sovereignty” against an opposition takeover.

Echoing the fiery anti-British rhetoric of Mr Mugabe’s election campaign, they said that they would defend Zimbabwe against “a white invasion” under the auspices of Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

“The election has been seen as a way to reopen the invasion of our people by whites,” Jabulani Sibanda, the veterans’ leader, said. The state newspaper and mouthpiece for the Mugabe regime had carried yesterday a thinly sourced report about alleged attempts by white farmers to reclaim their farms after the Opposition’s apparent victory.

A shadow fell over even that parliamentary win when Zanu (PF) claimed that the Opposition had bribed electoral officials and that it would contest results for 16 parliamentary seats. If they are overturned Zanu (PF) would win back its majority.

Mr Sibanda said that the victory declaration by the MDC, whom Mr Mugabe casts as colonial stooges, was “illegal” and “a provocation against us freedom fighters”. The powerful militia supposedly comprises former rebel fighters from the Rhodesian bush war, but many are young men born long after independence was won 28 years ago.

Reports from rural areas talked of the mobilisation of youth militia, who along with the veterans carried out much of the intimidation of voters in past elections that was missing from this time around.

Six days after the historic polls brought millions hungry for change flocking to the ballot box, there was still no sign of the official result of the presidential contest, prompting the Opposition to prepare a case to take to court demanding their immediate release. Under the country’s election law, authorities have one week to release all the results.

“So we want to see results by today. If that doesn’t happen then we will retrieve all our tools including court process to make sure we give Zimbabweans the results as soon as possible,” Nelson Chamisa, the MDC spokesman, said.

Foreign governments have joined in the clamour for the results to be announced, expressing their fears of foul play. But in a serious blow for the Opposition, South Africa yesterday slammed “a media conspiracy”, casting aspersions on the reasons for the delay.

South Africa, the regional superpower, is regarded as the only Government with any hope of pressuring Mr Mugabe into leaving quietly. Gordon Brown has been in close contact with South African leaders over the past week in an effort to persuade them that Mr Mugabe must be made to go.

But yesterday, a day after his first public appearance in nearly a week, Mr Mugabe looked far from a man at the end of his reign, wisecracking in front of the cameras as he convened the politburo meeting, joking with one high-profile election casualty that he had been “struck by lighting” at the polls.

Opposition politicians also met today to hammer out a joint strategy. By law, a run-off should be held within 21 days of the elections, but suspicions are building that Mr Mugabe intends to use controversial and disputed presidential powers to put off a vote for up to three months, thus giving himself time to intimidate the Opposition.

There are also fears he would seek to remove the electoral provisions that made it so hard to steal the vote, such as the publication of results at individual polling stations, which the MDC used to produce its own parallel results showing an outright victory.

The MDC has said that Mr Tsvangirai will submit to a second round “under protest” but still maintains he won the first round outright. Zanu (PF) projections put Mr Tsvangirai as the winner but with just less than the 50 per cent required to win outright.

One British and one American journalist seized from their hotel on Thursday night were charged under tough media laws today for operating without government accreditation. The United States called today for the immediate release of Barry Bearak, a Pulitzer prize winning correspondent for The New York Times, and revealed that a second American, Dileepan Sivapathasundaram, a senior officer with the election monitor group the National Democratic Institute, had been arrested at Harare airport as he tried to leave the country.

Courtesy of Time.com

By Alex Perry

On Tuesday Zimbabwe entered its third day of waiting for the results of a general election amid mounting evidence that the opposition had narrowly defeated President Robert Mugabe — and increasing suspicion that his ruling regime was trying to rig the results. But as the delay continued, speculation grew over the reasons for manipulating the results.

Members of the opposition have two theories. The first is that Mugabe is trying to push himself over the 50% mark and win the election outright — though they say that is increasingly difficult given the amount of unofficial results indicating otherwise. The second theory is that the 84-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 28 years, is trying to negotiate an exit. That is the more likely scenario, says David Coltart, a newly reelected member of parliament from Bulawayo. Speaking to TIME by phone, Coltart said, “It is increasingly clear that Mugabe has lost the support of the rank and file of the army and the police.” The armed forces have become Mugabe’s main support as his popularity plummeted amid the the country’s economy disintegration. South Africa’s Mail & Guardian is reporting negotiations between the opposition and Zimbabwe’s military and security apparatus.

Nevertheless, Zimbabwe citizens say they will not be surprised if Mugabe finds a way to stay on. “Nothing is going to happen,” says one resident of Bulawayo, who asked not to be named. “He is clinging to power because he has so much to lose.” If Mugabe were to leave office, they point out, he could suffer the fate of Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia, who is now awaiting trial in the International Criminal Court.

Officially, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has thus far released results for 131 out of the parliament’s 210 seats. According to that preliminary count, Mugabe’s Zanu-PF won 64 seats, while the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won a total of 67. But five of those opposition seats went to a splinter faction that has broken off from the MDC and its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe’s main rival.

The commission has yet to release any results on the presidential poll, held simultaneously on Saturday. The Zimbabwe Election Support Network, a non-governmental group, said a sample it conducted of 435 polling stations—5% of the total—showed Tsvangirai winning 49% of the presidential vote, Mugabe 41% and Simba Makoni, a former finance minister who split from Mugabe, 8%. If final results show that no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, Zimbabwe’s electoral law would mandate a run-off between Tsvangirai and Mugabe within three weeks.

Mugabe was once a darling of Africa for his overthrow of white supremacist rule in what was then known as Rhodesia, and was praised in the West for Zimbabwe’s excellent education system and relative prosperity. More recently he has become a failure and an embarrassment. Zimbabwe’s economy has collapsed: unemployment is 80%, inflation is 100,000%, and up to 3 million Zimbabweans have fled the country. Mugabe regularly rails against homosexuals and a Western conspiracy to recolonize Zimbabwe. His regime is riven with corruption, with senior figures allotting themselves large tracts of farmland seized under Mugabe’s anti-white land reform process. Wealth depends on political power in Zimbabwe, and in the run-up to the vote, senior regime figures, including the head of the army and the prison service, ordered their officers to vote for Mugabe and vowed that, even if he lost, the security services would continue to support him.

Now the delays in releasing the results have prompted speculation that the regime is attempting to fix the poll. There are ample grounds for suspicion: elections in 2000, 2002 and 2005 were marred by violence and rigging. In Washington on Monday, U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey urged that the results be released. “The opportunities for mischief increase the longer the delay is between the elections and the announcement,” he said. Earlier in the day, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described Mugabe as a “disgrace,” while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned that the “eyes of the world” were on Zimbabwe. Most foreign observers and journalists have been banned from covering the election.

Aside from the slow drip of parliamentary results, there has been no word from the regime since Saturday’s vote. Neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai have appeared in public, nor released any statement. Senior ministers are also staying hidden and not answering their telephones. Riot police have been deployed on the streets of the capital, Harare. There have been no clashes so far, but the limbo in Zimbabwe leaves residents there, and observers abroad, anxious about how it will end. With reporting by Howard Chua-Eoan/New York