"It's Not Just Darfur": Zimbabwe

Elsewhere in Africa

Fact Sheet on Zimbabwe
June 5, 2005

The country of Zimbabwe, a country of 12 million located in Southern Africa just north of South Africa, has been experiencing turbulent political and economic times. The March 31, 2005 parliamentary election, which the ruling party ZANU-PF claims it won, has been viewed as rigged by international observers.

Allegedly as a response to the urban poor’s support for the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change or MDC, on Sunday, May 29 the police swept through the poor shantytowns of Harare, the capital city, ordering the poor to destroy their own homes and shops, or have them destroyed.

Operation Restore Order, or better translated in the local language, “Operation Drive Out the Rubbish” has resulted in the arrest of at least 22,000 street traders. The urban poor are being forced back to their rural extended family homes, as a precaution by the government against urban riots as prices for food, housing, and transportation skyrockets.

A leading human rights organization, ZimRights has filed for a stay of the forced eviction of informal settlers in and around the capital. "About 200,000 people have been affected in the demolition drive - and many of them have papers to prove that they were legal occupants with lease agreements," said Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) director Munyaradzi Bidi.

Those concerned about the situation in Zimbabwe are urged to e-mail President George Bush at president@whitehouse.gov, call the comment line at 202.456.1111, or call the switchboard at 202.456.1414.

Sources: The Washington Post; UN IRIN Humanitarian Information Unit, www.irinnews.org