nineteen eighties, the people of Matabeleland were subjected to the infamous Gukuruhundi campaign, where several thousand people were massacred by the National Army and innumerable people were injured or tortured . In the late nineteen nineties, there were widespread human rights abuses during and after the occurrence of food riots . From 2000 onwards, the Government orchestrated massive-scale land invasions that ultimately resulted not only in the displacement of most white commercial farmers, but also in the violent ejection from the farms of many thousands of farm workers. The entire land reform programme took place without adequate planning and has severely undermined the entire commercial farming sector. 34 35 36 Thus, it is clear that Operation Murambatsvina is merely one of a series of serious violations of human rights that have taken place under the ZANU PF Government of Robert Mugabe. Since 1998, the Forum has made continuous representation to the Zimbabwe Government, as well as international bodies, but these representations have been wholly disregarded. Furthermore, as will be seen below, the Zimbabwe Government has also paid scant regard to even international bodies. The Zimbabwe Government’s adherence to international standards Below we detail briefly a number of instances in which the Zimbabwe Government has allegedly been in breach of international agreements, and ignored the recommendations of international bodies. The Commonwealth The engagement by the Commonwealth on the crisis in Zimbabwe should leave no one in any doubt that the Zimbabwe Government does not take its obligations to international agreements seriously. Following the land invasions and a disputed Parliamentary election in 2000, the Commonwealth attempted to resolve the crisis, mainly by focusing on the land problem. This led to a high-level meeting of various Commonwealth government ministers in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2001. The Abuja Agreement was reached in Nigeria on 8 September 2001. This Agreement seemed to mark a significant development in addressing the crisis in Zimbabwe. President Robert Mugabe agreed to its terms and the ZANU (PF) Politburo accepted it in principle. The Zimbabwean Government, however, made no clear public statement indicating its complete acceptance of the Agreement. The Abuja Agreement committed the Zimbabwe Government to do the following:     To ―take firm action against violence and intimidation‖; To comply with the standards contained in the Harare Declaration and the Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme; To observe human rights, the rule of law, transparency and democratic principles; To take a series of confidence-building measures that will lead to immediate and observable changes in the domestic situation.