IV. Background ZANU-PF under President Robert Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe as a de facto one-party state since the country’s formal independence from colonial rule in 1980. As recent Human Rights Watch reports have shown, the government has suppressed political dissent, and has detained, tortured, or killed scores of people belonging to or supporting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party. Following its first parliamentary defeat in March 2008, ZANU-PF and its allies unleashed violence on MDC supporters ahead of a presidential run-off election, killing at least 163 MDC activists and injuring or displacing from their homes thousands more.2 After MDC presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the run-off, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) controversially declared Robert Mugabe the winner, triggering a political and governance crisis that was only resolved by the formation of an inclusive government in February 2009 in which Morgan Tsvangirai agreed to become prime minister and accept Robert Mugabe as president in a power-sharing agreement. Over the past several years, the government has plunged Zimbabwe into economic crisis, characterized by 80 percent unemployment and severe hyper-inflation. ZANU-PF’s land-grab policies have triggered the collapse of the agricultural sector, along with the country’s diversified manufacturing and tourism sectors.3 By the end of 2008, the government was increasingly unable to pay its civil servants and middle- and low-ranking soldiers. The disastrous humanitarian situation included a cholera outbreak that erupted in August 2008 and infected close to 100,000 people and claimed more than 4,200 lives; a public health system that has collapsed; and three-quarters of the population who are now in need of food aid.4 With the assistance of the World Health Organization and its Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, the power-sharing government of Zimbabwe appears to have brought cholera under control, with the numbers of reported new cases and fatalities significantly decreasing.5 2 Human Rights Watch, “Bullets for Each of You.” 3 Human Rights Watch, Crisis without Limits: Human Rights and Humanitarian Consequences of Political Repression in Zimbabwe, ISBN: 1-56432-429-X, January 2009, http://www.hrw.org/node/79824, p. 11. 4 “Consolidated Appeal for Zimbabwe,” United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), May 29, 2009, http://ochaonline.un.org/humanitarianappeal/webpage.asp?Page=1755 (accessed June 6, 2009). See also “Zimbabwe: UN Agency turns on taps at shut university,” University World News, May 31, 2009, http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20090528174434297 (accessed June 1, 2009). 5 “Cholera in Zimbabwe – Update 4,” World Health Organization, June 9, 2009, http://www.who.int/entity/csr/don/2009_06_09/en/index.html (accessed June 13, 2009). 11 Human Rights Watch | June 2009