while the worls watches the brewing crisis in iraq, and stews over what to do on the north koreans issue, mugabe is sitting smugly... well, not sitting at all, actually, hes jet setting to france for the franco-african leaders summit.
not only is he traveling with impunity, with his family in tow, but thanks to the slack attitude of south africa nad nigeria, zimbabwe's ban from the commonwealth is about to lapse. also thanks to slack EU monitoring, zimbabwes asset freeze is also about to lapse...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2743743.stm
couple this with the daily murders of opposition supporters... and the treason trial for the man who is the only challange to his power...
hes about to get off the hook with mass murder, and the destruction of a nation.
the facts speak for themselves...
in 1998, zimbabwe was a net exporter of food, and starvation was concidered a thing of the past. its standard of living was years ahead of its neighbours. the llife expectancy of zimbabweans was one of the highest in sub saharan africa.
zimbabwe was the worlds second largest tobacco grower, and the income from this made the zimbabwean economy the envy of even south africa.
now, zimbabweans are facing starvation across the board. it is a man made starvation similar to the results in the 1930's in the soviet union, when efficient private landholding was nationalised and spread out amongst the poor. the people that clamoured for land in zimbabwe, were middle class city dwellers, and the urban poor. neither group has any farming experience... the large scale farms were as efficient as any in the united states or europe, now they have been broken up into landholdings that are barely big enough to support the families on them, let alone create a surplus for the cities.
he has taken a modern farming economy, and turned it inot a 19th century subsistance economy, that is now in drought, and not capable of feeding a 21st century sized population.
at the current rate, zimbabwe could collapse, on a scale similar to somalia...
and hes getting away with it.
what can we do???
not only is he traveling with impunity, with his family in tow, but thanks to the slack attitude of south africa nad nigeria, zimbabwe's ban from the commonwealth is about to lapse. also thanks to slack EU monitoring, zimbabwes asset freeze is also about to lapse...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2743743.stm
couple this with the daily murders of opposition supporters... and the treason trial for the man who is the only challange to his power...
hes about to get off the hook with mass murder, and the destruction of a nation.
the facts speak for themselves...
in 1998, zimbabwe was a net exporter of food, and starvation was concidered a thing of the past. its standard of living was years ahead of its neighbours. the llife expectancy of zimbabweans was one of the highest in sub saharan africa.
zimbabwe was the worlds second largest tobacco grower, and the income from this made the zimbabwean economy the envy of even south africa.
now, zimbabweans are facing starvation across the board. it is a man made starvation similar to the results in the 1930's in the soviet union, when efficient private landholding was nationalised and spread out amongst the poor. the people that clamoured for land in zimbabwe, were middle class city dwellers, and the urban poor. neither group has any farming experience... the large scale farms were as efficient as any in the united states or europe, now they have been broken up into landholdings that are barely big enough to support the families on them, let alone create a surplus for the cities.
he has taken a modern farming economy, and turned it inot a 19th century subsistance economy, that is now in drought, and not capable of feeding a 21st century sized population.
at the current rate, zimbabwe could collapse, on a scale similar to somalia...
and hes getting away with it.
what can we do???