OLZ Zimbabwe Update

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Wow - there has been a lot going on in Zimbabwe since we started Operation Love Zimbabwe two weeks ago! Just wanted to post a few updates before we get back to regular programming...

First of all, thanks to Baba at Baba's Farm Life for cluing me in to a Guardian article from Wednesday about a video that was smuggled out of Zimbabwe last week. The title and summary say it all: "Revealed: The true horror of everyday life in Zimbabwe. Starving children eat rats, families turn on each other and farmers kill their own livestock to survive. Smuggled film brings Mugabe nightmare to world's attention." If you want to be even more shocked at what's happening, check out the link and watch the video!

Secondly, I did want to highlight that the opposition party in Zimbabwe has agreed to a unity government. And seeing new Prime Minister Tsvangirai (who won the most votes for Presdient in last year's election) sworn in by President Mugabe this week brought a glimmer of hope to many in Zimbabwe, though it was tinged with skepticism.

Which, unfortunately, seems to to be justified. Yesterday Roy Bennett, treasurer of the opposition party and nominee for deputy agriculture minister in Zimbabwe, was arrested on a treason charge, which carries a death penalty. Rumors are that he was supposed to be killed and his body dumped. Demonstrators demanding his release were also arrested, and what followed was a rampage of property destruction. Apparently there is a powerful group behind a series of activities designed to end the unity government.

As Prime Minister Tsvangirai says, "We should be talking about feeding people. Our motivation is to get the civil servants back to work and the schools and the hospitals back to serving the people" (3 News) Instead, the new unity government is having to deal with resistance efforts...