Zimbabwe

The rule of law does not exist in Zimbabwe any more.

Robert Mugabe had banned the country's only independent newspaper the Daily News in mid-September for being too critical of the government. A judge has now ruled that the ban should be lifted and that the paper should be allowed to publish. The next morning armed riot police sealed off the entrances to the print works and ordered the staff back home.



The results of the farm annexation policy of Mugabe is now starting to be seen and felt:

About four years ago, the country's commercial beef cattle herd produced exports worth more than £1.3 billion annually. Now it is on the verge of extinction: in 2000 there were 1.4 million animals, today there are fewer than 125,000.

The annual inflation rate has reached surreal proportions: 620% in November of this year!!!

It is therefore no wonder that hunger is now spreading to the cities. This is heartbreaking, that a country formerly so rich that they fed their neighbours, are now so reliant on food aid that according to the United Nations, they will have to extend its famine relief plans in Zimbabwe for another six months due to increasing food shortages and the growing risk of cholera outbreaks in cities and towns.

And still, other southern African countries remain silent. Especially South Africa: Mbeki has taken silent diplomacy to a new level... The West remains silent too. Apart from Colin Powell, not a peep from the USA.



The hypocrisy of it all is quite stunning!