The Tragedy of Zimbabwe
Long surviving on a subsistence diet of prison rations, the people of Zimbabwe are not simply, as I previously blogged here, chronically short of clean water, but of bread too. BBC News reports:
Zimbabwe has only two weeks of wheat supply left, while citizens are faced with soaring bread prices, Zimbabwe's main milling organisation has said.
The cost of bread has risen by 30%, pushing Zimbabwe's inflation rate to more than 600%.
Zimbabwe has been in economic decline since President Robert Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms in 2000.
…
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the situation is becoming unbearable.
"It's terrible right now because of shortages," Arthur Mutambara, leader of one of two factions of the MDC. "Fuel is not available, commodities are unaffordable, unemployment 80%, inflation above 600%. It's a travesty of justice that the country has been so run down by Robert Mugabe's regime."
Over at The American, Roger Bate, Richard Tren and Zimbabwean Archbishop Pius Ncube provide some terrifying background and observe the scandalous complicity "of almost all African governments in enabling the murderous regime of President Robert Mugabe to sustain its legitimacy":
Overall life expectancy in Zimbabwe has fallen to about 30 years per person. Between 1999 and 2005-06, adult mortality increased by 40 percent among women and by 20 percent among men. This means that over one-third of Zimbabwean children are orphans. Even those with parents cannot depend on them for food and shelter, as 80 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. All Zimbabweans face severe government repression. It is no wonder that around a quarter of the population, mostly the young and able, have fled the country.
