In 1975, a dawn-to-dusk curfew was imposed along the Mozambique border, and severe penalties prescribed for breaking the curfew. In practice, curfew breakers were invariably shot, and always punished. Beatings, rapes, killings, and torture were commonplace. The enacting of the notorious Indemnity and Compensation Act of 1975 (with retroactive application to 1972) did little to curb the excesses, and indeed gave security forces the impunity to kill and maim at will. Attacks on villages became more frequent, with the government explanation of civilians being "caught in crossfire". Such explanations, when investigated by CCJP, were often less plausible, and, for example, one such incident, at Karima village near Mount Darwin, suggested no presence of ZANLA forces, and much more a deliberate massacre to intimidate the local population. Thus, throughout the 1970's, the people of Mount Darwin and Rushinga were subjected to continuous stress, ill-treatment, deprivation, torture, and killing. They suffered materially too, with property being destroyed as punishment, livestock being confiscated, and fines being imposed, both individually and collectively, for failure to assist the security forces. It is probable, in the words of one district person, that everyone either directly experienced violence or witnessed it. No epidemiological studies have been done to date, but informal interviews frequently turn up victims among the informants. Demographic characteristics of field area Mount Darwin is a large rural areas, comprising 4 547 square kilometres. Mount Darwin district is estimated by the 1992 Census to be about 165 828 persons, with approximately 50% of the population in both districts is under the age of 19, so well under half the population was not alive during the war years described above. The population is stable settlement, however, since approximately 91% of the sample enumerated during the census were normally resident in the districts. Economically, the major activity is farming, but mining and commerce have increased during the independence years. In Mount Darwin about 59% of the population is estimated to be economically active, whilst unemployment is high - about 34% . Agriculture can be difficult since the district is in the low annual rainfall zone, and has suffered extensively during the repeated droughts of the 1980-1990's.