Martin Meredith takes as the epigraph to this book a 1976 quote from Robert Mugabe: “Our votes must go together with our guns. After all, any vote we shall have shall have been the product of the gun. The gun that produces the vote should remain its security officer — its guarantor." That was before Mugabe came to power in 1980 and it was clear that, like Chairman Mao, he saw power as proceeding from the barrel of a gun. Meredith makes it clear in his book that Mugabe still believes in this power and has not hesitated to use it.

The head of a Commonwealth committee that suspended Zimbabwe in March, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, warned on Tuesday that Commonwealth countries may impose sanctions on Zimbabwe. His warning followed a decision by Zimbabwe to deport the Harare-based correspondent of Britain's Guardian newspaper following his acquittal on charges of publishing falsehoods under Zimbabwe's tough new media laws.

A wave of politically-motivated violence is sweeping across Masvingo province as marauding Zanu PF youths and war veterans continue to unleash a reign of terror on hapless teachers they accuse of having supported the opposition MDC during the run up to the March presidential election.

Working for our country programme in Zimbabwe, you will be instrumental in ensuring that the reputation we have developed for high quality vulnerability assessments and food aid projects is maintained and built upon.

Mapanzure High School near Masvingo town was on Monday shut down indefinitely after some of the 50 teachers at the school were beaten up by suspected supporters of the ruling Zanu PF party.

The African Union (AU) was launched with much pomp and ceremony in Durban, South Africa, on Tuesday. However, the crisis in Zimbabwe cast a shadow over the festivities. The leader of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai - unable to attend the launch - sent a videotaped message saying the biggest challenge for the AU was the "illegitimate" government of President Robert Mugabe.

An estimated US$1 billion has been laundered over the past six years in Zimbabwe, according to the National Economic Consultative Forum.

Four commercial farmers have been formally charged with disobeying a ban on farming activity on land targeted for redistribution. On Thursday, Commercial Farmers Union spokeswoman Jenni Williams confirmed that four farmers had been formally charged while another 11 had been asked to report to the police station.

My name is Hanna Bergstrom and I am a member of Amnesty International in Sweden. I write this letter to express my concern over the continuing restrictions on freedom of expression in Zimbabwe, in particular the signing into the law of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. These restrictions contravene the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Zimbabwe has acceded, in particular Article 19, which guarantees a person's right to freedom of expression and freedom to seek, receive and impart information.

This story is part of the SAfAIDS "positive voices" series. The story is published as related by Tarisai, an HIV positive Zimbabwean woman, to Dr Sunanda Ray at SAfAIDS. With these stories, SAfAIDS aims to highlight the real life experiences of people living positively with HIV.

Zimbabwe's white farmers have been branded racists and fascists by a government minister, urged tough action against those who are defying an order to stop working their fields. President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party said many white farmers were ignoring the government order, which took effect earlier last week.

It is uncertain what the future holds for Zimbabwe. Although most people discuss politics more freely than in the past, and whilst a significant number of Zimbabweans have expressed concern with the election result, there are no indications of how and where this discontent will be channelled. There are adjourned MDC-Zanu-PF talks about a government of national unity, and ‘smart sanctions’ as issues remain unresolved. However, civil society organisations are agreed that before a re-run there should be constitutional and electoral reforms, or at a minimum, pre-conditions conducive for holding a free and fair election.

The ongoing police repression of opposition MDC activity under the Public Order and Security Act continues to highlight the polarity of the media, with the privately owned press viewing the law and the repression as a paranoid, unconstitutional government clampdown on Zimbabweans' democratic rights to their freedom of expression, assembly and association. The government controlled media continued to reflect the official line, reporting and justifying the upsurge in violent police activity against perceived opponents in the context that government was protecting the public from a planned "violent" MDC uprising against a legitimate government.

A Daily News reporter, Chris Gande, was ejected from a courtroom during court proceedings by a prison official, The Daily News reported on 28 June. Gande, who is based in the city of Bulawayo, was covering court proceedings in which two prison officials are being charged with contempt of court for defying court orders to release two prisoners who had been granted bail. A reporter from the government-controlled Chronicle was, however, allowed to cover the case.

Zimbabwe's Minister of Information and Publicity, Professor Jonathan Moyo, warned media houses and journalists who refuse to register that the wrath of the "law" would descend on them. Moyo was quoted in the state controlled Sunday paper, The Sunday Mail of 23 June, saying that all media houses have to be registered.

A move by Zimbabwe's frustrated Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to boycott parliament could spell disaster for the opposition party, analysts have warned. They said parliament was the last remaining platform for the MDC to safely challenge the government.

The tension was ratcheted up a notch in Zimbabwe this week as farmers vowed to ignore a government order banning them from farming as millions of people struggle with the daily grind of food shortages. Under the country’s Land Acquisition Act, nearly 3000 farmers roughly half of the farming population will be breaking the law from June 25 if they continue to farm their land.

Support management of the in-country HIV/AIDS workplace prevention and education programme, under an umbrella initiative called SMARTWork [Strategically Managing AIDS Responses Together]. Experience in programme design, and needs assessment research, for technical assistance and training.

The Zimbabwean government has systematically ensured that those responsible for torture, abductions and political killings are never brought to justice, Amnesty International says in a new report called 'The Toll of Impunity'. "Impunity has become the central problem in Zimbabwe where state and non-state actors commit widespread human rights violations without being brought to justice. Unless the cycle of impunity can be broken, human rights abuses will continue unchecked and victims and their families will not see justice," the organization said.

It is estimated that Zimbabwe has lost about 50 percent of its wildlife, 65 percent of its tourism and up to 90 percent of safari hunting on commercial farms due to resettlement, according to Wally Herbst, Chairman of the Wildlife Producers Association.