1. Zimbabwe Today By Nick Welsh

2. But First, A little History Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia gained its independence from Britain in 1979. In the free elections of February 1980, Mugabe and his ZANU(Zimbabwe African National Union) won a landslide victory. After Mugabe’s election and re-election a few years later, Zimbabwe’s economy began to decline. Land issues, which the liberation movement had promised to solve, re-emerged as the main issue for the ruling party beginning in 1999.

3. President Mugabe He has served as the head of government since 1980, as Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987 and as the first executive President since 1987. Mugabe is a heavily outspoken and controversial leader. Many countries see him as a violent dictator. Mugabe then became the first Prime Minister of black-ruled Zimbabwe after calling for reconciliation between formerly warring parties, including the white people as well as rival parties.

4. Zimbabwe’s (increasingly worsening) Economic Situation The government of Zimbabwe faces a variety of economic problems after having abandoned earlier efforts to develop a market-oriented economy These problems include stopping foreign trade, explosive inflation and goods shortages. Mineral exports, agriculture, and tourism are the main foreign currency earners of Zimbabwe. Inflation rose from an annual rate of 32% in 1998 to an official estimated high of 11,200,000% in 2008.

5. Bad Economics cont. Because of this intense inflation the central bank introduced a new 100 billion dollar note. Local residents have largely resorted to buying essentials from neighboring Botswana, South Africa and Zambia. After Mugabe kicked out most of the white farmers in Zimbabwe a large food crisis occurred as a result of the lack of formal training given to the African’s that took over the abandoned farms.

6. Human Relations According to the United Nations World Health Organization, the life expectancy for men is 37 years and the life expectancy for women is 34 years of age, the lowest in the world in 2006. Zimbabwe has a very high HIV infection rate. The economic meltdown and repressive political measures in Zimbabwe have led to a flood of refugees into neighboring countries. An estimated 3.4 million Zimbabweans, a quarter of the population, had fled abroad by mid 2007.

7. Source Citation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe#Economy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe