Spare a thought for the poor people of Zimbabwe

[bohanka]

P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USWhile all the turmoil going on in Iran steals the world's attention. Spare a thought for the poor people of Zimbabwe. They are cursed with the leadership of one of the world’s worst kind of despots - Robert Mugabe. This evil man has been in power since 1987 and has brought his people nothing buy misery. Zimbabwe used to be one of the cornerstones of Africa but has now been reduced to grinding poverty by this egotistical, bloodthirsty, racist, thug.SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" [/color][/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-US?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /o/o[/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USHis chaotic land redistribution campaign has caused a mass exodus of white farmers. This insane action has crippled the economy. His security forces continue their brutal repression of the Zimbabwean people and anyone opposing this Mugabe's despotic regime. [/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USo/o[/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USThe ruling ZANU-PF party, headed by Mugabe, used fraud and intimidation to win a two-thirds majority in the March 2005 parliamentary election, allowing it to amend the constitution at will and recreate the Senate, which had been abolished in the late 1980s. [/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USo/o[/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USMugabe also ordered an urban rationalization program, which resulted in the destruction of the homes or businesses of over 700,000, mostly poor supporters of the opposition, according to UN estimates. [/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USo/o[/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USDeforestation, soil erosion, land degradation and poor mining practices have led to toxic waste and heavy metal pollution on a huge scale. One terrible statistic is the life expectancy of a Zimbabwean male is only 40.39 years, while a female Zimbabwean can expect to live to the ripe old age of 38.16 years.[/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USo/o[/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USZimbabwe faces many difficult economic problems as it struggles with an unsustainable fiscal deficit, an overvalued exchange rate, soaring inflation, and bare shelves. Its 1998-2002 involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy. [/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USo/o[/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USIn 1998, one US dollar bought 24 Zimbabwean dollars per US dollar. Today you will need 96,000 thousand Zimbabwean dollars just to buy one US dollar.[/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USo/o[/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USWhy does the rest of the world stand by and do nothing while this evil dictator continues to persecute his own people? Why does the United Nations continue to ignore the suffering of the Zimbabwean people? Why? [/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-US[/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USI will never understand why nothing is ever done about despots like Robert Mugabe.[/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USo/o[/color]P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"SPAN lang=EN-USFor more on this subject go to:SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1" [/color]http://www.mugabe.org/ [/color]

[IamTheKing9]

Well, I visited the site at the link you provided, but the "How To Help" section asks Zimbabwean people to share their accounts of outrage at Mugabe's administration. Is there any way I can help (other than by giving money)?

[bohanka]

I sincerely believe the best way to help without donating huge sums of money is to simply talk to people about what's happening in Zimbabwe. If enough people are aware of what is going on - surely that will force some kind of change. The point I was trying to make was: why do the United Nationsallow despots like Mugabe to do what he is doing. Why can't the United Nations remove scum like him?

I liken it to neighbourhood watch. If a neighbour beats his wifehalf to death when he comes home from the local bar, what should we do;draw the curtains and pretend we saw and heard nothing? Or should we call the police and have it stopped?

The United Nations has many good points but their decision to sit on their hands and do nothing about many, many issues is infuriating. The United Nations is nothing morethan a paper tiger.

I'm sure the US Government feels this way and that is whythey made the decision toremove Saddam Hussein. I only hope Robert Mugabe is near the top of their list.

Sorry, I get a little carried away sometimes...

[andrew247]

The life expectancy there is very worrying. They're almost back to Stone Age life expectancies.

[bohanka]

You're right. Actually, I got the life expectancy figures wrong. According to the World Health Organization, the life expectancy for Zimbabwean women is now 34 years old -UThirty-four/U!

Why does the world allow a tyrant like Mugabe to get away with what he is doing to the people of Zimbabwe? The world needs a taskforce of some kind to intervene and deal with situations like this. It's no good depending on the United Nations to do something, they're to busy vacillating.

[bohanka]

The World Health Organisation now says the average life expectancy for women in Zimbabwe has plunged to 34 - the world's lowest - and for men to 37.

Zimbabwe is a State in decline ruled by an uncaring, despot. Here are some more horrifying statistics:

Every 20 minutes, a child dies of Aids in Zimbabwe and another is orphaned, according to the United Nations children's agency, Unicef, which estimates that 1.6 million children, almost one in three, are orphans.

3,000 people die of Aids-related illnesses each week, despite an apparent slight decline recently in the HIV rate.

4.3 million people are receiving food aid after several poor harvests blamed on drought and Mugabe's insane land reform.

3.5 million Zimbabweans have emigrated, mostly to South Africa, Botswana and Britain. South Africa and Botswana have erected fences to stem the flow of Zimbabweans.
Agriculture and industry are in ruins, unemployment is pushing 80% and the official inflation rate of 913% is widely deemed a gross underestimate. The economy has shrunk by 50% in the past six years - the fastest contraction anywhere outside a war zone.

The real problem isn'tMugabe. The real problem is that the world just doesn't give a damn.

[IamTheKing9]

Hmm. Well, I'll try and tell all of my friends about this. Other than that, I'm severely limited by the contacts list.

Thirty-four? That's way too less. Is there any way to contact the UN from their site? We could but try.

By the way, I'm ashamed to say that this is the first time I've ever heard of what Zimbabwe is actually going through. I always though that their cricket players looked good enough, and in good shape. And I guess I took the measure from there.

[bohanka]

Never judge a country by it's Cricket team eh?

[IamTheKing9]

I guess so.