Zimbabwe Crisis Briefing (Alernet.org)

Hit by drought, HIV/AIDS and economic meltdown, Zimbabwe is in the grip of its worst humanitarian crisis since independence.

• Female life expectancy 43 years
• Agriculture devastated
• World's highest inflation

Twenty years ago the country was hailed as an African success story and dubbed the "breadbasket" of southern Africa. Now it has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world, and a large proportion of the population is dependent on food aid.

Farming is the backbone of Zimbabwe's economy, but agriculture has been crippled by the combined effects of drought, HIV/AIDS and controversial government land reforms.
Unemployment is sky-high and galloping inflation has made basic foodstuffs, fuel, health and school unaffordable for many. Millions of Zimbabweans have fled to neighbouring countries.
Zimbabwe's crisis escalated when efforts to forge a power-sharing government - following disputed presidential elections in March 2008 - ended in deadlock.

The impasse was resolved in early 2009 and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in as prime minister with Robert Mugabe remaining president. The new unity government now faces the challenge of putting the country back on its feet.
Key facts

Percentage of population malnourished 45 percent ( WFP)
No. displaced More than 880,000 (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2007)
Percentage of people living on less than $2 a day 83 percent (U.N. Human Development Report 2007/2008)

For more in depth information: http://www.alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/ZW_CRI.htm?v=in_detail

Country Profile: Zimbabwe (BBC)

Full name: Republic of Zimbabwe
Population: 13.5 million (UN, 2008)
Capital: Harare
Area: 390,759 sq km (150,873 sq miles)
Major language: English (official), Shona, Sindebele
Major religions: Christianity, indigenous beliefs
Life expectancy: 44 years (men), 43 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Zimbabwe dollar = 100 cents
Main exports: Tobacco, cotton, agricultural products, gold, minerals
GNI per capita: US $340 (World Bank, 2007)
Internet domain: .zw
International dialling code: +263

Zimbabwe is home to the Victoria Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world, the stone enclosures of Great Zimbabwe - remnants of a past empire - and to herds of elephant and other game roaming vast stretches of wilderness.

For years it was a major tobacco producer and a potential bread basket for surrounding countries. But the forced seizure of almost all white-owned commercial farms, with the stated aim of benefiting landless black Zimbabweans, led to sharp falls in production and precipitated the collapse of the agriculture-based economy. The country has endured rampant inflation and critical food and fuel shortages. Many Zimbabweans survive on grain handouts. Others have voted with their feet; hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans, including much-needed professionals, have emigrated.

Aid agencies and critics partly blame food shortages on the land reform programme. The government blames a long-running drought, and Mr Mugabe has accused Britain and its allies of sabotaging the economy in revenge for the redistribution programme.

The government's urban slum demolition drive in 2005 drew more international condemnation. The president said it was an effort to boost law and order and development; critics accused him of destroying slums housing opposition supporters. Either way, the razing of "illegal structures" left some 700,000 people without jobs or homes, according to UN estimates.

The former Rhodesia has a history of conflict, with white settlers dispossessing the resident population, guerrilla armies forcing the white government to submit to elections, and the post-independence leadership committing atrocities in southern areas where it lacked the support of the Matabele people.

Zimbabwe has had a rocky relationship with the Commonwealth - it was suspended after President Mugabe's controversial re-election in 2002 and later announced that it was pulling out for good.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1064589.stm#facts