Zimbabwe's Diaspora

Harare, Zimbabwe

THE DIASPORA of Zimbabweans into neighboring states is substantially worsening the AIDS problem in southern Africa. African leaders have been reluctant to address this politically induced humanitarian disaster, but their own populations are now further threatened with disease. To act, regional leaders need support from the international community, which is trying to combat the AIDS pandemic. Business as usual is no longer an option. Unless political stability is restored in Zimbabwe and the refugees go home, all efforts to control the AIDS epidemic in the region may be worthless.

Robert Mugabe, the only president Zimbabwe has ever known, is the last "hero" of the African struggle for independence still clinging to power. Adored by most Africans for the past, he is despised by many of his countrymen for the present.

Mugabe came to power in 1980, and ever since has ruled with an iron fist. Since 2000, he has politicized the distribution of food, banned independent media, thrown nearly every white farmer off the land, and established a Hitler youth movement known as the Green Bombers. The fledgling opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, probably would have won the 2002 election had it been fair; instead the opposition has been intimidated into virtual silence.

The economy has halved in value over the past five years. With inflation rampant, bank notes are printed on only one side and carry an expiry date. Unemployment is over 80 percent. Food production in 2004 was less than half that of 2000; it is forecast to be 15 percent of normal this year. And while President Mugabe says everything is fine, the World Food Program reports that over 5 million people out of a population of maybe 11 million are short of food--and it is impossible to know how many Zimbabweans have left the country and how many remain.