The UK annexed Southern Rhodesia from the [British] South Africa Company in 1923. A 1961 constitution was formulated that favored whites in power. In 1965 the government unilaterally declared its independence, but the UK did not recognize the act and demanded more complete voting rights for the black African majority in the country (then called Rhodesia). UN sanctions and a guerrilla uprising finally led to free elections in 1979 and independence (as Zimbabwe) in 1980. Robert MUGABE, the nation's first prime minister, has been the country's only ruler (as president since 1987) and has dominated the country's political system since independence. His chaotic land redistribution campaign, which began in 2000, caused an exodus of white farmers, crippled the economy, and ushered in widespread shortages of basic commodities. Ignoring international condemnation, MUGABE rigged the 2002 presidential election to ensure his reelection. Opposition and labor strikes in 2003 were unsuccessful in pressuring MUGABE to retire early; security forces continued their brutal repression of regime opponents. The ruling ZANU-PF party used fraud and intimidation to win a two-thirds majority in the March 2005 parliamentary election, allowing it to amend the constitution at will and recreate the Senate, which had been abolished in the late 1980s. In April 2005, Harare embarked on Operation Restore Order, ostensibly an urban rationalization program, which resulted in the destruction of the homes or businesses of 700,000 mostly poor supporters of the opposition, according to UN estimates.

Southern Africa, between South Africa and Zambia

20 00 S, 30 00 E

total: 390,580 sq km
land: 386,670 sq km
water: 3,910 sq km

total: 3,066 km
border countries: Botswana 813 km, Mozambique 1,231 km, South Africa 225 km, Zambia 797 km

0 km (landlocked)

none (landlocked)

tropical; moderated by altitude; rainy season (November to March)

mostly high plateau with higher central plateau (high veld); mountains in east

lowest point: junction of the Runde and Save rivers 162 m
highest point: Inyangani 2,592 m

coal, chromium ore, asbestos, gold, nickel, copper, iron ore, vanadium, lithium, tin, platinum group metals

arable land: 8.24%
permanent crops: 0.33%
other: 91.43% (2005)

1,740 sq km (2003)

recurring droughts; floods and severe storms are rare

deforestation; soil erosion; land degradation; air and water pollution; the black rhinoceros herd - once the largest concentration of the species in the world - has been significantly reduced by poaching; poor mining practices have led to toxic waste and heavy metal pollution

landlocked; the Zambezi forms a natural riverine boundary with Zambia; in full flood (February-April) the massive Victoria Falls on the river forms the world's largest curtain of falling water

12,236,805
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.)

0-14 years: 37.4% (male 2,307,170/female 2,265,298)
15-64 years: 59.1% (male 3,616,528/female 3,621,190)
65 years and over: 3.5% (male 199,468/female 227,151) (2006 est.)

total: 19.9 years
male: 19.7 years
female: 20 years (2006 est.)

0.62% (2006 est.)

28.01 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

21.84 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: there is an increasing flow of Zimbabweans into South Africa and Botswana in search of better economic opportunities (2006 est.)

at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.88 male(s)/female
total population: 1 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

total: 51.71 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 54.5 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 48.83 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

total population: 39.29 years
male: 40.39 years
female: 38.16 years (2006 est.)

3.13 children born/woman (2006 est.)

24.6% (2001 est.)

1.8 million (2001 est.)

170,000 (2003 est.)

degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid
vectorborne disease: malaria
water contact disease: schistosomiasis (2005)

noun: Zimbabwean(s)
adjective: Zimbabwean

African 98% (Shona 82%, Ndebele 14%, other 2%), mixed and Asian 1%, white less than 1%

syncretic (part Christian, part indigenous beliefs) 50%, Christian 25%, indigenous beliefs 24%, Muslim and other 1%

English (official), Shona, Sindebele (the language of the Ndebele, sometimes called Ndebele), numerous but minor tribal dialects

definition: age 15 and over can read and write English
total population: 90.7%
male: 94.2%
female: 87.2% (2003 est.)

conventional long form: Republic of Zimbabwe
conventional short form: Zimbabwe
former: Southern Rhodesia, Rhodesia

parliamentary democracy

Harare

8 provinces and 2 cities* with provincial status; Bulawayo*, Harare*, Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Masvingo, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Midlands

18 April 1980 (from UK)

Independence Day, 18 April (1980)

21 December 1979

mixture of Roman-Dutch and English common law

18 years of age; universal

bicameral Parliament consists of a House of Assembly (150 seats - 120 elected by popular vote for five-year terms, 12 nominated by the president, 10 occupied by traditional chiefs chosen by their peers, and eight occupied by provincial governors appointed by the president) and a Senate (66 seats - 50 elected by popular vote for a five-year term, six nominated by the president, ten nominated by the Council of Chiefs)
elections: House of Assembly last held 31 March 2005 (next to be held in 2010), Senate last held 26 November 2005 (next to be held in 2010)
election results: House of Assembly - percent of vote by party - ZANU-PF 59.6%, MDC 39.5%, other 0.9%; seats by party - ZANU-PF 78, MDC 41, Independents 1; Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - ZANU-PF 43, MDC 7

Supreme Court; High Court

The government of Zimbabwe faces a wide variety of difficult economic problems as it struggles with an unsustainable fiscal deficit, an overvalued exchange rate, soaring inflation, and bare shelves. Its 1998-2002 involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy. Badly needed support from the IMF has been suspended because of the government's arrears on past loans, which it began repaying in 2005. The official annual inflation rate rose from 32% in 1998, to 133% at the end of 2004, and 585% at the end of 2005, although private sector estimates put the figure much higher. Meanwhile, the official exchange rate fell from 24 Zimbabwean dollars per US dollar in 1998 to 96,000 in mid-January 2006. The government's land reform program, characterized by chaos and violence, has badly damaged the commercial farming sector, the traditional source of exports and foreign exchange and the provider of 400,000 jobs, turning Zimbabwe into a net importer of food products.

$24.99 billion (2005 est.)

$5.497 billion (2005 est.)

-7% (2005 est.)

$2,100 (2005 est.)

agriculture: 17.9%
industry: 24.3%
services: 57.9% (2005 est.)

3.94 million (2005 est.)

agriculture: 66%
industry: 10%
services: 24% (1996)

80% (2005 est.)

80% (2004 est.)

lowest 10%: 1.97%
highest 10%: 40.42% (1995)

56.8 (2003)

585% official data; private sector estimates are much higher (yearend 2005 est.)

7.9% of GDP (2005 est.)

revenues: $1.409 billion
expenditures: $1.905 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2005 est.)

30.1% of GDP (2005 est.)

corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, coffee, sugarcane, peanuts; sheep, goats, pigs

mining (coal, gold, platinum, copper, nickel, tin, clay, numerous metallic and nonmetallic ores), steel; wood products, cement, chemicals, fertilizer, clothing and footwear, foodstuffs, beverages

-1.7% (2005 est.)

8.877 billion kWh (2003)

11.22 billion kWh (2003)

3.3 billion kWh (2003)

22,500 bbl/day (2003 est.)

23,000 bbl/day

-$517 million (2005 est.)

$1.644 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)

cotton, tobacco, gold, ferroalloys, textiles/clothing

South Africa 31.5%, Switzerland 7.4%, UK 7.3%, China 6.1%, Germany 4.3% (2004)

$2.059 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)

machinery and transport equipment, other manufactures, chemicals, fuels

South Africa 46.9%, Botswana 3.6%, UK 3.4% (2004)

$160 million (2005 est.)

$5.17 billion (2005 est.)

$178 million; note - the EU and the US provide food aid on humanitarian grounds (2000 est.)

Zimbabwean dollar (ZWD)

calendar year

317,000 (2004)

423,600 (2004)

general assessment: system was once one of the best in Africa, but now suffers from poor maintenance; more than 100,000 outstanding requests for connection despite an equally large number of installed but unused main lines
domestic: consists of microwave radio relay links, open-wire lines, radiotelephone communication stations, fixed wireless local loop installations, and a substantial mobile cellular network; Internet connection is available in Harare and planned for all major towns and for some of the smaller ones
international: country code - 263; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat; two international digital gateway exchanges (in Harare and Gweru)

AM 7, FM 20 (plus 17 repeater stations), shortwave 1 (1998)

16 (1997)

.zw

6,582 (2005)

820,000 (2005)

404 (2005)

total: 17
over 3,047 m: 3
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 4
914 to 1,523 m: 8 (2005)

total: 387
1,524 to 2,437 m: 5
914 to 1,523 m: 186
under 914 m: 196 (2005)

refined products 261 km (2004)

total: 3,077 km
narrow gauge: 3,077 km 1.067-m gauge (313 km electrified) (2004)

total: 97,440 km
paved: 18,514 km
unpaved: 78,926 km (2002)

on Lake Kariba, length small (2005)

Binga, Kariba

Zimbabwe Defense Forces (ZDF): Zimbabwe National Army, Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ), Zimbabwe Republic Police (2005)

Botswana has built electric fences and South Africa has placed military along the border to stem the flow of thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing to find work and escape political persecution; Namibia has supported and in 2004 Zimbabwe dropped objections to plans between Botswana and Zambia to build a bridge over the Zambezi River, thereby de facto recognizing a short, but not clearly delimited Botswana-Zambia boundary in the river

IDPs: 400,000-450,000 (MUGABE-led political violence, human rights violations, land reform, and economic collapse) (2005)

transit point for African cannabis and South Asian heroin, mandrax, and methamphetamines destined for the South African and European markets