Chimurengas

Chimurenga means struggle or conflict, but has been extended now to a struggle for human rights and political dignity. There has been 3 chimurengas in Zimbabwe, the Africa insurrection against the British Colonial rule in 1896 - 1897, the guerrilla war against the British settler's minority in Rhodesia 1966 - 1980, and the current Chimurenga started in 2000 against the Zimbabwe government for their land reform program that has been under taken. The very small population of white farmers in Zimbabwe are causing this struggle because there are so few white farmers but they own the majority of the good farming land. Much of the white farmers land were destroyed by the ZANU and Zimbabwe went into a major food crisis and still today are struggling with food.

Gukurahundi

Gukurahundi was the armed conflict between the Zimbabwe Government and the ZAPU. The ZAPU armies terrorized civilians, farmers and government officials. During the time of Liberation of Zimbabwe the main liberation group (ZAPU) split into 2 groups, ZAPU and ZANU. There was a rivalry between the 2 groups for the support of the people and they would fight each other. In 1982 things became worse after ZANU found arm caches and they accused ZAPU of plotting another war. The ZAPU leaders were arrested and brought to court but were not imprisoned and all of them were released except Dumiso Dabengwa and Lookout Masuku whose trial was not given for 4 years. During this time the ZAPU lost thousands of followers because they saw this necessary to stay alive, with all their leaders in jail they felt there was no one to protect them. Mugabe made a deal with the Prime Minister of North Korea, Kim Il Sung, to have the North Korean Military train a group of Zimbabwean soldiers. This brigade would be called the Gukurahundi, the leader of the brigade was Perence Shiri and was consisted of all the other Zimbabwean army units. Most of the ZAPU were killed in public executions in front of family and friends after they dug their own grave. Many of them were burned alive and marched to a central place where many people could see them die. An estimated 700 to 800 people were killed until Mugabe and the leader of ZAPU, Joshua Nkomo, signed a Unity Accord in 1987 this ended the fight but there is still many problems that exist today.

Martin Meredith

Martin Meredith is a historian who has wrote many different books about people and things that go on in Africa. He used to work as a correspondent for in Africa for the London Observer than he moved to Oxford where he is an independent author. He is known for writing with a gloomy feel and his book usually end up with warfare and endless destruction.

Operation Murambatsvina

Operation Murambatsvina meaning Operation Restore order in English is a big Zimbabwean campaign that go around the country forcing people that are in illegal housing and commercial activities. The United Nations have estimated around 2.4 million people have been affected because of this. This operation is to help the spread of disease and other infectious things. Although the operation has received harsh attention from other political parties, church groups and other non government organizations. The UN has stated that this is an effort to drive out and make homeless of the urban and rural poor because they are the opposition of Mugabe. Many Zimbabweans refer to this as the Zimbabwe Tsunami because of the devastation it caused to the country in 2004. It has affected the major cities and the government would like to extend it into the rural areas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Murambatsvina

Land Conflict

The land issue has been a problem for over a hundred years in Zimbabwe. In 1888 white colonist under the British rule had taken some of the best land and began to to farm under colonial rule. In the 1950's the struggle for land became a major issue and even though the British agreed that the black's have voting rights the white minority did not want to share its power. In 1968 the war began for liberation and last 11 years ending in 1979. When they gained their independence in 1980 around two-fifths of the land was owned by white minority farmers while the other black farmers had to live and farm in bad areas. In 1980 the Lancaster House Agreement was made which gave Zimbabwe its independence and protected the white farmers from the government for the first 10 years. The in 1990 the government changed the constitution so that the government could have enforced land acquisitions but still most of the best agricultural land was owned by 4,500 white farmers. The Fast Track Land Reform began in 2000 and was supposed to help land equality but this process became extremely violent and caused intimidation as well as displacement. In the end of 2002 11.5 million hectares were taken from the white farmers and given to the black farmers most of the land going to government officials.

http://www.american.edu/TED/ice/zimbabwe.htm

Robert Mugabe

Robert Mugabe was born February 21st, 1924 and has been the President of Zimbabwe since 1982. Mugabe first became popular in the 60's when he became the Secretary General of the Zimbabwe African National Union. He was a prisoner of war in Rhodesia with the goal to replace the white minority. In 1979, when the war ended, many Africans saw him as a hero and he won the election in 1980. Early in his ruling he saw many killings targeting the Ndebele tribe in the midland of Zimbabwe. His government confiscated many white farms, printed trillions of dollars which caused hyperinflation and Mugabe has been accused of harassing other political parties especially members of the political party known as the Movement for Democratic change. Mugabe ruined Zimbabwe's economy with massive amounts of oil and food shortage. In the recent election against Morgan Tsvangirai he lost the first round 43% to 47%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe

Background Information

Zimbabwe has only had one ruler since it has gained its independence. President Robert Mugabe has been the country's only ruler since 1987 and has made sure that he has a lot of power and can repress opposite political parties that try and take his power. Mugabe has put his attention towards a land reform program that expels white farmers that are known as enemies of the state. People claim that he has rigged the 2002 election and they have comeback with brutal strikes. Before the country of Zimbabwe was created it was called Rhodesia and was controlled by the United kingdom. There were two groups formed to fight for their independence, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) led by Joshua Nkomo and the other group called Zimbabwe African National Union led first by Rev. Ndabaningi and then later by Mugabe. Eventually these two groups formed one group and came to an agreement with the United Kingdom and gained independence in 1980.

http://www.flashpoints.info/countries-conflicts/Zimbabwe/Zimbabwe_briefing.htm