Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has used strong language to decry what he calls British neocolonialism, which he says is behind daily rumors that he will be nudged into retirement. But now he finds himself fiercely defending his role as host of one of the British Empire's most enduring legacies: cricket. The cricket World Cup is coming to South Africa next month, and neighboring Zimbabwe is to host six of the 54 matches.

An early proponent of the United Nations effort to prevent so-called blood diamonds from reaching global markets announced Sunday that it was quitting the oversight group to protest the sale of uncut gems from Zimbabwe, which is accused of human rights abuses in one of its largest diamond fields. The withdrawal of the Global Witness watchdog group from the Kimberley Process certification program, which is governed by diamond-trading nations, highlights growing problems in the system set up in 2003 to stop sales of rough diamonds from African war zones.

As Americans flock to stores for holiday shopping, some plan to buy diamonds for loved ones. But that special gift could have a bloody past. If the diamonds are from Zimbabwe, the stones could have been mined under the control of Zimbabwe's army, which Human Rights Watch found has killed more than 200 people, engaged in torture and used forced labor, including children, in the nation's Marange diamond fields. The good news is that U.S. consumers can help expose and shut down the illegal trade in these diamonds.

The young mother crossed the surging Limpopo River, the water up to her neck, like cruel hands trying to drag her under. Other women traveling with her were terrified, screaming, "We're going to die!" Ruvarashe Chibura concentrated all her strength on the little bundle she held high in the air: her 15-month-old baby, Cynthia. "I never cried. I had my baby over my head," she says now of that desperate crossing from her native Zimbabwe to South Africa. "I was afraid that Cynthia would be swept away.

Enjoyed the article by Christian Kallen on the Zambezi River Jan. 4. Game parks throughout Zimbabwe are wonderful. Lodges in the parks are $30 a night and are furnished with eating/cooking utensils (cheaper rates without those amenities) and an attendant who appears every morning and washes dishes, makes beds, cleans the lodge. The main road around Zimbabwe (which is about the size of Texas) makes driving a breeze. The scenery is varied and spectacular, from desert to forest-covered mountains.

Re "Death takes up residence in a failed nation," Dec. 11 Etched in my mind is the sight of distraught mothers holding listless babies with distended bellies and misshapen heads -- and that was during a 2002 trip to Zimbabwe. That memory has now been replaced by your article's description of needless suffering. This pitiable country -- rich in farmland and natural resources -- has gone from desperation to a complete breakdown of civil society. Shame on world leaders, the African Union and the United Nations.

The newspaper consists of a small office with one authentically untidy desk and one bare but for a borrowed laptop. A couple of chairs. Newspapers and papers stacked on the floor. And Boss Barns. That would be Barnabas Thondhlana, one of Zimbabwe's best-known newspapermen. He sits at the messy desk, explaining the vague order in the various piles. The big one is job applications, hundreds of them. The ones he doesn't like (including those of four former state spies) get thrown onto the floor.

Why are all those women carrying buckets of water on their heads? That was the first riddle that David Coltart, Zimbabwe's new education minister, faced last month as he walked into his high-rise headquarters. "The reason is that the whole of the Ministry of Education, 18 floors, has no water in it. So my first, immediate task was to get the pump repaired. If you walk down the stairwells you will gag, the stench is so bad on some floors," Coltart said in an interview in his new office.

It was Day One for Zimbabwe's new government of national unity Friday, and already the paralysis had set in: The swearing-in ceremony that was supposed to usher in a new era of hope was delayed for hours by bitter squabbling. And in a sign that hard-liners in President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party remain bitterly opposed to the new prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, security forces arrested senior Tsvangirai ally Roy Bennett and charged him with treason.

The international organization that monitors conflict diamonds has agreed to allow Zimbabwe to export diamonds from its vast Marange mining fields despite rampant human rights abuses in the area. The decision by the Kimberley Process — as the regulatory group governed by diamond-trading nations is known — threatens an end to world consensus over blocking so-called blood diamonds from the market and makes it impossible for consumers to have confidence that the diamonds they buy did not contribute to violence, said some participants in the group's meeting this week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

The international organization that monitors conflict diamonds has agreed to allow Zimbabwe to export diamonds from its vast Marange mining fields despite rampant human rights abuses in the area. The decision by the Kimberley Process — as the regulatory group governed by diamond-trading nations is known — threatens an end to world consensus over blocking so-called blood diamonds from the market and makes it impossible for consumers to have confidence that the diamonds they buy did not contribute to violence, said some participants in the group's meeting this week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Human rights groups and Western countries fear that a new batch of what they consider to be "blood diamonds" is about to enter international markets, culled from vast deposits in Zimbabwe. At stake is what happens to the Marange deposits in eastern Zimbabwe, believed to be the biggest diamond find in a generation, and the definition of what kind of diamonds should be kept out of international markets. Current restrictions on diamond sales are meant to ensure that consumers are not inadvertently funding wars in Africa.

Forty-five Zimbabwean activists who attended a meeting to discuss the successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia were charged Wednesday with treason, which could result in the death penalty, and subverting an elected government. Attorneys for the defendants were informed of the treason charges only 10 minutes before Wednesday's court hearing, and had no chance to discuss the charges with their clients, lawyer Marufu Mandevere said. After the hearing, the defendants were led out in leg irons and handcuffs, and prison authorities again denied lawyers access to their clients, Mandevere said.

Roy Bennett, a key ally of Zimbabwe's prime minister, was acquitted of terrorism charges Monday by a high court judge. The decision removes one source of friction within Zimbabwe's troubled unity government, which joins two longtime rivals: the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC. However, many other sources of tension remain between the two ruling parties....

The baby rhino, an orphan, had barely been weaned. Her horn was only a few inches long. But that didn't stop the poachers from hacking it off. David Uys, 33, had helped raise the rhino after her mother was killed by lightning. He called her Weerkind -- "orphan" in Afrikaans. He won't forget the sight of the bodies of the baby and two other rhinos, shot dead, their horns removed. "I'm not a one for talking about emotions," Uys said quietly. "But it was like seeing one of your family members dead, the brutality of it."

As Americans flock to stores for holiday shopping, some plan to buy diamonds for loved ones. But that special gift could have a bloody past. If the diamonds are from Zimbabwe, the stones could have been mined under the control of Zimbabwe's army, which Human Rights Watch found has killed more than 200 people, engaged in torture and used forced labor, including children, in the nation's Marange diamond fields. The good news is that U.S. consumers can help expose and shut down the illegal trade in these diamonds.

Gideon Gono prints money, lots and lots of money that's worth next to nothing. Depending on whom you talk to, the architect of Zimbabwe's hyperinflation is a megalomaniac, a workaholic, a thief -- or the country's savior. Zimbabwe's central bank chief seems to have a finger in every government ministry. No project goes ahead without his approval. No underling approaches without fear and trembling.

Five convicted murderers were hanged Thursday in Harare, the city sheriff announced. The hangings, for crimes committed between 1981 and 1983, followed the execution of five convicted killers Monday. The death sentence is a standard penalty for murder in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said he would stay in the government and challenge President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF to implement last year's political deal in full. Tsvangirai said his Movement for Democratic Change was suspending last month's Cabinet boycott, imposed in response to what it said was Mugabe's refusal to abide by the agreement. Tsvangirai told party supporters at a rally outside Harare, the capital, that the boycott was a wake-up call for Mugabe not to regard his party as a junior partner in the fragile 9-month-old coalition.