Zimbabwe: Crisis Looms

Recently elections that occured in Zimbabwe have turned out to be the cause for a possible crisis. An article highlights the situation:

"Zimbabwe’s election officials, at the government’s behest, began a partial recount on Saturday of disputed election results, while a human rights group accused members of the ruling party of running “torture camps” to punish opposition supporters."

While the international community has been watching this situation for quite sometime tensions are now actually beginning to cause violence on a wider scale. The article also highlights some history of the president that had run the country for two decades.

"Zimbabwe has been swallowed by fear and uncertainty since the election. The leading opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, appeared to get
the better of Robert Mugabe, 84, the liberation hero who has ruled this country since independence in 1980. Mr. Mugabe has presided over the collapse of the economy, which is racked by corruption, shortages and a yearly inflation rate of more than 150,000 percent."

With a change in leadership we can see how this is causing such a significant stir in the populace. While a change may be needed I think this change may lead to further violence within the populace and may spread to other surrounding nations. We can see some heightened tensions pointed out by the article:

"Also on Saturday, a cabinet minister in Mozambique said a Chinese ship carrying arms to Zimbabwe was heading to Angola in hopes of docking there after being turned way from South Africa, according to Reuters. The ship left South African waters on riday after a court refused to allow the weapons to be transported across the country; an Anglican archbishop had appealed to the court to bar the arms shipment for fear the weapons would be used against Zimbabweans."

The best way to help the situation is to allow some international actors to work with the Zimbabwe government. This situation may potentially lead to worse problems for the people of Zimbabwe as they continue to struggle with internal issues.