"I sincerely hope that President Mugabe will no longer disappoint the international community… the crisis talks have been taking too long."

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 29 October 2008

Introduction

On Monday 15 September 2008, a historic agreement was signed in Harare between the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Formations on resolving the challenges facing Zimbabwe.

The agreement comprises 25 "Articles" and lists the points of agreement reached under each.

The preamble acknowledges "the challenges that we have faced as a country and the multiple threats to the well-being of our people and, therefore, to resolve these permanently."

Commitments made by the three political parties in the preamble include:

• Dedicating ourselves to putting our people and the country first by arresting the fall in living standards and reversing the decline of the economy.
• Building a society free of violence, intimidation, hatred, patronage, corruption and founded on justice, fairness, openness, transparency, dignity and equality.

Article II:  Declaration of Commitment, states:  "The Parties hereby declare and agree to work together to create a genuine, viable, permanent, sustainable and nationally acceptable solution to the Zimbabwean situation and in particular to implement the following agreement with the aims of resolving once and for all the current political and economic situations and charting a new political direction for the country."

Flaws in the fragile power-sharing agreement soon became apparent however, amid concerns that delays in forming a unity government were exacerbating the humanitarian crisis and dashing hopes of an inflow of aid.

One of the main stumbling blocks was the unresolved allocation of ministries. 

On 11 October, the state-controlled Herald newspaper published a list of ministries to be controlled by Mugabe, including defence, home affairs (which controls the police), justice and foreign affairs.  This would ensure that Mugabe maintained his grip on the security forces and therefore continued to secure his power base.  Clearly this could also serve to protect his military chiefs who are reported to fear prosecution under the agreement.

On 24 October, the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper reported that opposition party leaders and diplomats had described the actual power-sharing signed on 15 September as a "forgery" after it was discovered the document was an altered version of the original one agreed to on 11 September.

Almost a week later, Tomaz Salomao, the Secretary-General of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), admitted the power-sharing deal signed had been fraudulently altered and pledged the issue would be resolved.

Welshman Ncube, the Mutambara-MDC's chief negotiator, confirmed there had been alterations and that two paragraphs were missing.  He said that former Minister of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa (Zanu PF), who had been given the document on a computer disc by South African officials to prepare a legal document, had admitted to altering one of the paragraphs and "accidentally" deleting two of the other clauses. (http://tinyurl.com/6ypjvh).

Following the failure of the SADC Troika on Politics, Defence and Security to resolve the political impasse last month, SADC will hold an extraordinary meeting on the situation in South Africa on Sunday 9 November.

A perspective of the meltdown in Zimbabwe

To ramp up the pressure, Zimbabwe's National Constitutional Assembly and other organisations are planning to embark on mass protest action next week to push for the setting up of a transitional government to immediately address the desperate humanitarian crisis.

Zimbabwe faces yet another disastrous agricultural year as most farmers have not received fertilizer or seed and in many parts the land has yet to be prepared.

The health crisis escalates by the day and the current outbreak of cholera is the worst in the country's history.  Famine, disease and the collapse of the health care sector are claiming lives at the rate of 4 000 each week, a staggering 16 000 every month.  Hundreds of infants are dying countrywide, many due to kwashiorkor, a disease caused by acute under-nutrition and a lack of proteins.

From mid October, medical staff at Harare Central Hospital and the Parirenyatwa hospital have been turning away patients, telling them the hospitals were closed. 

'There are no drips, no antibiotics, no sutures and anaesthetics for operations, it is better we close.  What we have now is a system that endangers the lives of patients," said a nurse, speaking on condition of anonymity to the Zimbabwe Standard.

The collapse of Zimbabwe's education system, once heralded as sub-Saharan Africa's finest, has been compared by Raymond Majongwe, secretary-general of the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe, to countries that are experiencing civil strife or fully-fledged war. 

Since the school year began in January, the country's 4.5 million pupils have had a total of 23 days uninterrupted in the classroom.   To avoid the humiliation of total failure in 2008, the government has not cancelled the academic year, despite repeated calls from the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, with the Ministry of Education continuing with farcical public examinations.  

Six teachers were murdered and thousands assaulted by Zanu PF militia in the violence that marred the second-round presidential election on June 27.

VIOLATIONS OF THE POWER-SHARING AGREEMENT

The following selection of articles published in the media provides a perspective of the ongoing violations of the agreement.  They demonstrate that Mugabe and his Joint Operations Command (JOC) have no intention of relinquishing their stranglehold on power and, in many instances, it is "business as usual".

ARTICLE XVI:  HUMANITARIAN AND FOOD ASSISTANCE

Stipulations in the agreement include:

(a) that in the fulfillment of its obligations above, the Government and all State Institutions and quasi State Institutions shall render humanitarian and food assistance without discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity, gender, political affiliation or religion;

(b) that humanitarian interventions rendered by Non-Governmental Organisations, shall be provided without discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity, gender, political affiliation and religion.

(c) that all displaced persons shall be entitled to humanitarian and food assistance to enable them to return and settle in their original homes and that social welfare organisations shall be allowed to render such assistance as might be required…

Police and war vets block MDC food distribution to orphans
17 October 2008 - SW Radio Africa

As millions of Zimbabweans face a daily battle to survive, it is becoming clear that Zanu PF continues to hold the nation hostage - this after police and war veterans prevented the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) from distributing critically needed food to hungry orphans in the Nyanga rural district in the eastern Manicaland province last week….

Numerous children, the smallest and youngest victims of the country's combined crises, have already died from the hunger related disease of kwashiorkor….

Food aid is becoming daily more critical after Mugabe only partially lifted his government's ban on foreign aid, imposed in June. A United Nations assessment report predicted that up to 5 million Zimbabweans would face starvation in January...

According to international relief and development agency, World Vision, the chronic food shortages are the worst the country has ever seen. The group's Director of Humanitarian Emergency Affairs for Zimbabwe, Daniel Muchena, (said) the crisis had affected urban areas just as badly because of the economic collapse, and all sectors of the country would soon be reliant on food aid.

Despite this clear need for food, there has been no change in the minds of the Zanu PF controlled police and war veterans.

According to the MDC's social welfare officer for Manicaland, Lloyd Mahute, police and ex-combatants told MDC officials that they could not give food to people because they did not have permission to do so from Robert Mugabe's government - this despite the power sharing agreement signed by Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

According to Mahute, armed police, backed by war vets, some of whom were wearing ruling Zanu PF party regalia, last week stormed Ruwangwe rural business centre in Nyanga and ordered villagers who had gathered to receive food packs to disperse empty handed.

The MDC had sourced the food from charitable organisations for distribution to about 500 vulnerable households in Nyanga, the majority of which are parentless homes.

Mahute said that more than 10 tons of food including maize meal, cooking oil, salt, sugar beans and dried fish is now locked up in warehouses because it cannot be given to the hungry.

http://tinyurl.com/67h6f2

Kids dying of hunger in Zimbabwe
24 October 2008 - Sky News

Sky News has obtained new evidence of the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe where children are dying of starvation because of food shortages.

Filming secretly inside the country, we also found proof that Robert Mugabe is using his security forces to try to hide the crisis from the world. In one hospital ward in the eastern province of Manicaland we saw 15 children suffering from severe malnutrition….  One girl, aged four, could no longer stand because she was so weak.

An officer, speaking to us anonymously, told us he was among a team ordered to "intimidate and harass" the senior staff into concealing the number of starving children they are treating.

He said the nurses were warned they faced arrest if they admitted to anyone that there were malnourished children in the wards.

But one nurse, again speaking anonymously, told us there had been a significant increase in the number of starving children being admitted and in the number dying….

"Malnutrition among children is a silent emergency," Geoff Foster, a British paediatrician working in Zimbabwe, said. "Children are dying quietly in the villages."

…The police officer who spoke to Sky News said that aid agencies were being targeted by a campaign of harassment. "There are roadblocks and we are ordered to search all of their vehicles and we take some of the food that is meant to be used as aid," he said.

http://tinyurl.com/6or2wz

Robert Mugabe forces Zimbabwe aid agencies into cash crisis
19 October 2008 - Sunday Telegraph

Aid agencies have accused Robert Mugabe of cutting their lifeline to millions of starving Zimbabweans after he imposed sweeping new bank restrictions which have made it impossible for them to finance their operations.

… The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has cancelled the inter-bank money transfer system used by businesses and aid agencies to move cash around.

With daily cash withdrawals limited to Z$50,000 a day - worth just £1.20 given Zimbabwe's current soaring inflation rate - it has become impossible for relief workers to make the large payments necessary to buy and distribute food or pay staff wages….

"We cannot get money from the banks to pay people to distribute the food, it is as simple as that," said the operations manager of one of the top three distributing agencies.

"We have enough food in the warehouse to ensure no one starves, and we have enough money in the bank to finance our operations, but the Reserve Bank will not give us access to it."…

Mr Mugabe banned all non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from working in rural areas after he lost the first round of the presidential elections to Mr Tsvangirai….

David Coltart, an MDC MP from the country's second city, Bulawayo, said he has had a harrowing week in his urban constituency.

"The food shortage is catastrophic," he said. "There are HIV Aids patients on anti-retrovirals who have not had adequate food supplies for two months and some of them are at death's door. There are probably 25 000 others in my constituency alone also at death's door…. About two million people need food now, and it will be five million by January. The situation is absolutely critical."

http://tinyurl.com/62ytkr

Military seed merchants
23 October 2008 - IRIN (UN)

The distribution of agricultural inputs such as maize seed and fertiliser for the 2008/09 season has become the domain of Zimbabwe's military and President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party….

"We received an instruction that the government had purchased all the seed (through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe) and would be responsible for distribution to the farmers," an official who declined to be identified told IRIN….

The commander of Zimbabwe's defence forces, General Constantine Chiwenga, assisted by senior military officials, has been given the responsibility of identifying the beneficiaries of agricultural inputs, and maize seed and fertiliser have been handed out at Zanu PF rallies to party members and senior government officials.

A Zanu PF member in Marondera, a large town in Mashonaland East Province, told IRIN that senior army officers responsible for seed distribution were diverting it to the parallel market….

"Known or suspected Movement for Democratic Change [MDC] supporters did not receive any maize seed or fertiliser from the soldiers…," he said.

http://tinyurl.com/5v49vj

Zimbabwe Hunger Alert - Solidarity Peace Trust
10 October 2008

The hunger in Zimbabwe is at crisis proportions. The following link contains an account of one starving family that is typical of possibly thousands of others at this time - http://tinyurl.com/5ety99. The image below shows a Zimbabwean infant in suffering from Kwashiorkor, a famine related disease increasingly seen in Zimbabwe. The report contains more images.

http://www.solidaritypeacetrust.org/

ARTICLE XVIII: SECURITY OF PERSONS AND PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE

Stipulations in the agreement include:

(a) to promote the values and practices of tolerance, respect, non-violence and dialogue as means of resolving political differences;

(b) to renounce and desist from the promotion and use of violence, under whatever name called, as a means of attaining political ends;

(c) that the Government shall apply the laws of the country fully and impartially in bringing all perpetrators of politically motivated violence to book;

(d) that all political parties, other organisations and their leaders shall commit themselves to do everything to stop and prevent all forms of political violence, including by non-State actors and shall consistently appeal to their members to desist from violence;

(e) to take all measures necessary to ensure that the structures and institutions they control are not engaged in the perpetration of violence.

(g) to work together to ensure the security of all persons and property;

(h) to work together to ensure the safety of any displaced persons, their safe return home and their enjoyment of the full protection of the law.

MDC statement on the recent spate of violence
7 November  2008 - MDC-T Press Release

Violence, which arrested this country after the 29th March election has reared its ugly head again. Zanu PF has unleashed a new orgy of brutality and assaults across the whole country. On the 27th of October 2008 over 25 MDC supporters were brutally attacked in Epworth and five of them had to be hospitalised. In addition, Zanu PF militia has set up two torture bases in Epworth, Harare.

The bases are in Ward 4 with one at Maulani and another at Rueben Shopping Centre. The bases are being sponsored and financed by the losing Zanu PF candidate and former Minister of Mines Amos Midzi. Midzi is also Zanu PF's chairman for Harare province.

Also involved in running the bases are, Zanu PF Youth Chairman, Zimbwe and other party cadres Garakara and Chimandira.

On Thursday 30th October 2008 state security agents in Banket, Mashonaland West province, raided the homes of MDC leadership and arrested nine MDC members including a two year-old girl. During the arrests they looted property including a computer and party documents at the home of MDC's national executive member, Concilia Chinanzvavana.

However, by Monday the police had not brought the accused to court. MDC's lawyers then filed an urgent court application at the High Court compelling the police to bring the arrested to court or release them as 48 hours had lapsed since their arrests.

But the police were by Thursday afternoon defying the High Court order. Those in police custody are, Ward 22 councillor, Fani Tembo, ward coordinator, Lloyd Tambwa, Fidelis Musona, Fidelis Chiramba and Ernest Mudimu, Chinanzvavana and her husband Emmanuel Chinanzvavana and a two year-old baby.

Over and above this, the majority of the MDC elected rural councilors are unable to execute their mandate due to continuous disruptions, violence and interruptions by Zanu PF thugs including the former Minister of Local Government, Chiminya Ignatius Chombo.

In addition, students activist from Zinasu have also been terrorised. Jennie Williams, Mahlangu and other colleagues from Women Of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) are still languishing in Remand Prison in Bulawayo. Over and above this, over 100 activists from the Women Coalition of Zimbabwe were arrested on the 28th of October as the SADC Troika meeting sat in Harare.

Zanu PF's actions portray a Party that has declared war on its people. A Party that is bankrupt of any genuine solution for Zimbabwe other than hunger and violence. To the extent that Zanu PF's actions are clearly a breach of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and an assault on the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed on the 15th of September 2008.

It is quiet evident that Zanu PF has put a full stop to that dialogue. In short Zanu PF has killed the dialogue despite the hopes, patience and expectations of the people of Zimbabwe. The bottom line is that Zanu PF must be upfront with the Zimbabwean people and openly bury the corpse of these talks.

ROHR activists released from police custody without charges
30 October 2008 - The Zimbabwean

Six Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe activists who were arrested on 27 October after a peaceful protest were released next day without any charges.

(The activists) spent a night at Harare Central police station … after numerous failed attempts by staff to identify and rescue them….

…Their detention was kept secret by sympathetic officers who wanted to protect the detainees from the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).

This comes in the wake of reports from ROHR members and the public that some police officers also fell victim to Zanu PF violence on Monday.

An ROHR eyewitness who escaped from the Zanu PF headquarters after the abduction…, saw a police officer in uniform being beaten inside the headquarters.

She said he was being accused of being sympathetic to opposition activists and disregarding Zanu PF instructions.

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

ARTICLE XII:  FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY AND ASSOCIATION

Stipulations in the agreement include:

(a) to work together in a manner which guarantees the full implementation and realisation of the right to freedom of association and assembly

Riot police descend on women protesters
October 27, 2008 - Women's Coalition

Riot police in Harare descended on hundreds of women who were peacefully protesting over the delayed conclusion of the peace talks between Zimbabwe's three major political parties.

At least 47 women were arrested around 10h00 on Monday 27 October and over 100 were beaten in the city as they were walking to the venue of the talks scheduled to begin this afternoon.

The Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) had mobilized nearly 1 000 women who were tear-gassed and badly beaten as they regrouped at a spot near the Rainbow Towers where the talks were expected to be held….

By 11h30, police had set up a roadblock and were turning away any cars intending to go to the venue of the talks, regardless of their purpose….

National Coordinator of the WCoZ, Netsai Mushonga, was among those arrested and information reaching their offices said the group had been denied access to lawyers…

The organisation said that time was running out for the millions who are starving in the country.

http://www.kubatana.net

Protester beaten to death inside Zanu PF office
28 October 2008 - SW Radio Africa

A protester from Monday's demonstration (near the Rainbow Towers) was beaten to death, allegedly at Zanu PF's offices in Fourth Street, Harare.

…Osborne Kachuru from Mbare was abducted immediately after the demonstration by unidentified men, and bundled into a twin cab truck belonging to Zanu PF.

A few minutes later three other people were abducted by youths using a Nissan single cab truck, believed to be owned by Zanu PF political commissar Eliot Manyika. Manyika was allegedly driving the car and instructing the youths to beat up some of the protesters.

… Edgar Chikuvire, the Information Director for the Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR), said their lawyers travelled to Parirenyatwa Hospital in an effort to positively identify Kachuru's body.
(However, they) were turned away by hospital authorities who told them they needed to bring at least one relative for the identification exercise.

Kachuru's friends insisted their colleague was killed inside the Zanu PF office after being brutally assaulted. Newsreel spoke to several of his friends who said they saw his body being removed from the Zanu PF office and transferred to the mortuary at Parirenyatwa.

More than 200 ROHR activists participated in the series of demonstrations on Monday that brought business to a standstill in Harare.

Around 300 women from the Women's Coalition also took to the streets, demanding a unity government be formed urgently. Over 200 students held another protest decrying the strike by lecturers and the continued closure of some of their colleges.

Police violently put down all the protests using tear gas and baton sticks….

The Women's Coalition reported that 47 of their members were arrested and a further 11 had to seek treatment for injuries sustained from police beatings…

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news281008/protester281008.htm

Police ruthlessly crush protest by youth activists
27 October - Zimbabwe Youth Forum

Hundreds of demonstrating activists (who gathered around the Harare International Conference Centre, the venue for the SADC Troika meeting), were arrested at the scene and many others were injured.

…  The peaceful march was violently crushed by the police who fired shots in the air as well as tear smoke. The police also beat up the protesters as well as ordinary citizens who were either queuing at the banks or moving around town….

There are also reports of more than twenty youth activists who were abducted close to the venue of the negotiations by militias who were moving around in white trucks marked Zanu PF….

The demonstration was organized and led by the Youth Agenda Trust and it involved other youth movements like the Youth Forum, community youth based organizations as well as student movements such as ZINASU and Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe.

http://www.kubatana.net    

WOZA declares a national disaster and demands food for all Zimbabweans in Bulawayo today - 9 arrested
October 16, 2008 - WOZA website

Hundreds of members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (MOZA) took to the streets of Bulawayo (on 16 October) … to declare a national disaster and demand immediate food aid for all Zimbabweans…

On arrival at the Government Complex, the group … sat down outside the gates whilst a delegation of four elderly women went in to request that the Regional Department Heads of all the service departments come out and address the crowd on what is being done to alleviate the humanitarian crisis facing the country.

The group sat peacefully waiting to be addressed for 45 minutes before five riot police approached the group…. They were forcibly dispersed by being beaten with baton sticks.

Two leaders, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, were arrested and taken to Drill Hall….  Three members received medical treatment for the beatings they received. One has a broken finger, the other two bruising….

http://www.wozazimbabwe.org

Update

On 3 November, WOZA reported that Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu had spent their third weekend - and a total of 19 days - in Mlondolozi Prison in Bulawayo.

Despite a High Court appeal on the 27 October, they said there had still been no response from authorities.

…The influential South African Council of Churches (SACC) joined the growing list of South African civil and student bodies condemning the unjust detention of the WOZA leaders.

"We are very concerned about the welfare of these two courageous women," said Eddie Makue, SACC General Secretary. "It is ironic that those who are working for peace are charged with disturbing it, while those with the power to promote a true and just peace seem to have no interest in doing so," he added….

ARTICLE XI:  RULE OF LAW, RESPECT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND OTHER LAWS

Stipulations in the agreement include:

a) respect and uphold the Constitution and other laws of the land;

(b) adhere to the principles of the Rule of Law.

WOZA activists remain in jail as magistrate attends workshop
24 October 2008 - SW Radio Africa

… Human Rights Lawyer Gabriel Shumba, from the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, told Newsreel on (24 October) that the continued detention of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) leaders "exemplified the intolerance still evident in Zimbabwe."

The forum and other human rights lobby groups, including Amnesty International, widely condemned the arrests and called for (Jenni) Williams and (Magodonga) Mahlangu to be immediately released.

"The situation, including the desperate humanitarian crisis, is indicative of the fact that Zanu PF is not willing to let go," Shumba said.

"As long as this is the case, Zimbabweans will never be accorded the freedoms that are theirs by right." …

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news241008/WOZA241008.htm

ARTICLE XIII:  STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS

Stipulations in the agreement include:

(b) ensuring that all state organs and institutions strictly observe the principles of the Rule of Law and remain non-partisan and impartial;

(c) laws and regulations governing state organs and institutions are strictly adhered to and those violating them be penalised without fear or favour…

Zimbabwe opposition claims supporters attacked by youth militia
31 October 2008 - Bloomberg

Zimbabwe's main opposition party said 20 of its supporters were injured when they were attacked by a youth militia loyal to President Robert Mugabe.

The attackers, known as "Green Bombers" because of their uniforms, beat opposition members on October 29 at Epworth, outside Harare, the Movement for Democratic Change….

At least 20 MDC supporters had to seek medical attention, five of whom were hospitalized. The attacks followed a visit to the area by former Mines Minister Amos Midzi, who stood as a candidate for Mugabe's Zanu PF in Epworth in the March 29 election and lost to the MDC….

One man injured in this week's attacks said Zanu PF was "angry" because the MDC hasn't signed a final accord on power sharing.

http://tinyurl.com/5ph6mo

ARTICLE VII:  PROMOTION OF EQUALITY, NATIONAL HEALING, COHESION AND UNITY

Stipulations in the agreement include:

c) shall give consideration to the setting up of a mechanism to properly advise on what measures might be necessary and practicable to achieve national healing, cohesion and unity in respect of victims of pre and post independence political conflicts; and

d) will strive to create an environment of tolerance and respect among Zimbabweans and that all citizens are treated with dignity and decency irrespective of age, gender, race, ethnicity, place of origin or political affiliation…

CIO take over burial of murdered election official
30 October 2008 - SW Radio Africa

After allegedly murdering a whistle blowing Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) official, state agents last weekend forcibly took the body of Ignatius Mushangwe from his Waterfalls home and buried it in the Mukumba Village of Chihota.

A report by the Zimbabwe Times website quoted a family member as saying Mushangwe was meant to be buried .. in Harare by his family.

However agents from the notorious Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) forced his wife and eldest son to sign a letter consenting to the burial in Chihota….

A source confirmed that the agents claimed they had orders from the President's Office to carry out a hasty burial. '

More details are emerging on the murder of Mushangwe who allegedly spilled the beans on how Mugabe's regime planned to print surplus ballot papers to rig the June 27 Presidential run-off.

An intelligence source has claimed that the ZEC director of training and development was, 'murdered by a hit-squad from the military intelligence, allegedly led by one Staff Sergeant Makwande, to silence him in an operation that was approved by the Joint Operations Command (JOC).'…

After being kidnapped in June, Mushangwe's partially charred body was found dumped in Norton last week.

Liberty Mupakati, a former civil servant who worked with Mushangwe, told Newsreel on Thursday that the hasty burial was meant to keep the media away and prevent photographs and other forms of recording.

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news301008/cio301008.htm

Amnesty: Zimbabwe abusers must face justice
31 October 2008 - Associated Press (AP)

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's party leaders and police who are responsible for beating, raping and killing dissidents must be brought to justice if almost a decade of abuse is to end, Amnesty International said Friday….

…The international human rights group said accountability was key. "If the perpetrators are allowed to roam ... they will do it again," Simeon Mawanza, Amnesty's Zimbabwe researcher, said at (the) news conference in South Africa…

… Amnesty said the Mugabe government's deliberate policy of protecting those who have committed human rights violations in order to maintain its hold on power has allow human rights violations to escalate.

The report included witness accounts of abuses starting in 2000, when the opposition Movement for Democratic Change first proved itself a real challenge to Mugabe's Zanu PF party.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/31/africa/AF-Zimbabwe-Human-Rights.php

ARTICLE V:  LAND QUESTION

Stipulations in the agreement include:

(f) work together for the restoration of full productivity on all agricultural land

New wave of Zim land grabs
7 October 2008 - Daily Dispatch Online

… Some white farmers, whose property was occupied by squatters in earlier land invasions, now find themselves the victims of fresh invasions by new bands of squatters belonging to Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.

Since 2000, the number of white families has shrunk from about 4 500 to about 400 as Mugabe's militias have murdered, maimed, looted and laid waste to farms in the name of a "revolutionary land reform programme" that was launched to rescue the octogenarian leader from losing an election.

Up to 60 farmers have been subjected to often violent attempts to drive them from their farms since Mugabe signed the power-sharing deal with Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leaders of the Movement for Democratic Change, last month.

The agreement commits the incoming Government to carry out a "comprehensive, transparent and non-partisan land audit ... for the purpose of establishing accountability".

"There has been a mad rush for free pickings; we are getting reports on a daily basis," said David Drury, a lawyer who has fought several cases for dispossessed white farmers.

"The agreement may well mean that there will be a moratorium on the process of land seizures. If the process is followed through, they are going to lose out. So now they want to get a toe-hold on the farms and assert their possessory rights."

Land grabbers - army officers, magistrates, agricultural officials, local government officials - are walking into homesteads and settling in, commandeering farmers' vehicles, furniture and the food in their fridges.

Didymus Mutasa, the Lands Minister, has signed blank "offer letters" supposedly conferring right of occupancy, which are then filled in by the would-be occupiers and waved in the faces of farmers.

http://tinyurl.com/3pzyj3

ARTICLE III:  RESTORATION OF ECONOMIC STABILITY AND GROWTH

Stipulations in the agreement include:

(a) to give priority to the restoration of economic stability and growth in Zimbabwe. The Government will lead the process of developing and implementing an economic recovery strategy and plan. To that end, the parties are committed to working together on a full and comprehensive economic programme to resuscitate Zimbabwe's economy, which will urgently address the issues of production, food security, poverty and unemployment and the challenges of high inflation, interest rates and the exchange rate.

(b) to create conditions that would ensure that the 2008/2009 agricultural season is productive…

Illegal Settlers Torch Timber Plantations
21 October 2008 - The Zimbabwe Standard

A wave of land invasions has struck the Eastern Highlands, leaving in its wake 10 000 hectares of torched plantations that will see heavy job losses and a shortage of timber products next year.

The country's thriving timber industry will suffer a major setback after illegal settlers set fire to vast tracks of timber plantations in the Eastern Highlands recently, destroying timber that could have earned the country billions in foreign currency.

Thousands of hectares of mostly pine trees were burnt to ashes within hours on once productive estates. One person, believed to be a commercial farmer, died during the conflagration….

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com

New Hyperinflation Index (HHIZ) Puts Zimbabwe Inflation at 2.79 Quintillion Percent
31 October 2008 - Cato Institute

Hanke Hyperinflation Index for Zimbabwe (HHIZ)
Date	Index	Monthly Inflation Rate	Annual Inflation Rate
3-Oct-08	4,190,000,000,000.00	18,000.00%	1,910,000,000,000%
10-Oct-08	16,100,000,000,000.00	21,700.00%	5,770,000,000,000%
17-Oct-08	1,050,000,000,000,000.00	479,000.00%	293,000,000,000,000%
24-Oct-08	108,000,000,000,000,000.00	13,500,000.00%	22,900,000,000,000,000%
31-Oct-08	17,900,000,000,000,000,000.00	493,000,000.00%	2,790,000,000,000,000,000%
Sources: Imara Asset Management Zimbabwe and Prof Steve Hanke's calculations.
Notes: 1. Numbers are reported with three significant figures. 2. The HHIZ is reported on the last trading day of the week. 3. The monthly inflation rate is HHIZ(t)/HHIZ(t-4) - 1 and the annual inflation rate is HHIZ(t)/HHIZ(t-52) - 1. 4. The HHIZ values are numerical estimates. In consequence, they are subject to revision when new price data are incorporated into the estimates.

Via the Cato Institute

ARTICLE XIX:  FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND COMMUNICATON

Stipulations in the agreement include:

(d) that steps be taken to ensure that the public media provides balanced and fair coverage to all political parties for their legitimate political activities.
Journalists Barred From Covering Talks

29 October 2008 - Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) - Windhoek

Several journalists were barred from covering the SADC Troika-mediated talks held in Harare on 27 October 2008 as part of efforts to break the impasse….

Security details manning the entrance to the premises of the Rainbow Towers Hotel, where the talks were being held, turned away a number of freelance journalists who are not accredited with the statutory Media and Information Commission (MIC) and demanded they produce MIC accreditation cards allowing them to cover the event.

Accreditation of journalists by the MIC is no longer compulsory following the December 2007 amendments to the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

Previously, on 15 and 16 October 2008, an official from the Ministry of Information and Publicity approached Brian Hungwe and Peta Thornycroft, who freelance for foreign media organizations, and ordered them to leave the hotel where they were mingling with other journalists…

The official reportedly told the journalists that he was acting on instructions from his superiors.

MISA-Zimbabwe calls upon the Parliament of Zimbabwe to repeal the AIPPA as a matter of urgency as it poses serious violations to media freedom and freedom of expression and also violates the 2002 Banjul Declaration on the Principles of Freedom of Expression in Africa, which frowns upon statutory regulation of the media as is the case in Zimbabwe under the MIC.

… MISA-Zimbabwe reiterates that journalists have the professional mandate to cover and report on the country's socio-economic and political developments as they unfold without any hindrance.

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/97994/

Zimpapers Editors Under Surveillance
21 October 2008 - The Zimbabwe Standard

All Zimpapers editors were this year put under surveillance to establish if they subscribed to the Zanu PF government's policies, the newspaper group's chief executive officer, Justin Mutasa has said….

Last week, this paper obtained minutes of (a disciplinary) hearing held on October 7 in Harare, where the under-fire CEO made shocking revelations about how government made direct appointments of editors in the group and that Zimpapers' editorial policy was set to suit individual Ministers of Information.

The Zimpapers' titles in the past have denied accusations that they operate more like a propaganda tool of the ruling Zanu PF and government and not as public media.

"The complainant (Mutasa) told the hearing that editorial standards are not set by the group chief executive but by the Minister of Information," read the minutes. "Every incoming minister calls all the editors and expounds to them what he expects from them. Editors must comply."…

http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com