The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has released a damning report on how government failed to comply with the African Commission on Human and Peoples_ Rights (ACHPR) recommendations to stop widespread human rights violations in the country. The report coincides with the African Commission meeting in Banjul, Gambia, the last week in November, which is expected to discuss the human rights situation in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwean prosecutors have withdrawn corruption charges against President Robert Mugabe's nephew, Leo Mugabe. Leo Mugabe and his wife, Veronica, walked free Wednesday [16 November] before they had entered their pleas. Mugabe and his wife were facing charges of contravening the Grain Marketing Board [GMB] Act and the Customs and Excise Duty Act. They were arrested three weeks ago after police acted on claims that in 2003, the two diverted 30 tonnes of flour worth 147m Zimbabwean dollars to Mozambique without having been cleared in terms of the law.

"Through the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) African Heads of State and Government have made a commitment to human rights and accountability in Africa. We are calling on African leaders to honour these commitments and end their long silence on human rights violations in Zimbabwe. Today in Zimbabwe, hundreds of thousands of people are internally displaced and destitute, not because of a war, an earthquake or a tsunami, but because their own government has forcibly evicted them, demolished their homes, and destroyed their property and their livelihoods. These acts, totally unjustifiable under international law, have been widely condemned. However, African States have remained conspicuously silent and have not demonstrated the political will to respond to the human rights crisis in Zimbabwe."

An African roster for African professionals with a mandate to support international and humanitarian peace building missions within Africa seeks a Progamme Officer. The Officer will be based in Bulawayo and report to the Director and should be available to start in January 2006.

Zimbabwe's government has used state-sponsored brutality to quash dissent, and women on the front lines of protest are paying a heavy personal price. In an unlit park in central Harare on the night of Zimbabwe's March parliamentary elections, more than a hundred women gathered to sing and pray for peace. In this increasingly authoritarian southern African nation even public prayer is deemed a threat to public security. Several dozen police brandishing batons quickly arrived in tan Land Cruisers and pushed the women into the cars. By the end of the evening 300 women, most ordinary mothers and grandmothers struggling to feed hungry families, were in jail and at least nine had been beaten so badly they required hospitalization.

Police and war veterans in Masvingo have looted farm equipment worth more than $15 billion from a commercial farm, four years after the farm was invaded, The Standard has learnt. The owner of the farm and equipment, Tilma Pepler, told The Standard that riot police led by Assistant Commissioner Loveness Ndanga pounced on his Rhodene home where he has kept the equipment since his eviction from the farm. He said they "looted" all the equipment. "Police and people I suspect to be war veterans came and seized all my farming equipment. They said it was an order from the government. They were led by assistant commissioner L Ndanga," Pepler said.

Surging inflation, a lack of foreign currency to purchase medications and an urban renewal program that has displaced poor residents are preventing HIV-positive Zimbabweans from seeking and receiving care, the Chicago Tribune reports. According to UN statistics, more than one-fourth of Zimbabwe's 12.7 million citizens are HIV-positive and up to 3,000 people are infected each week.

The International Confederation of Trade Unions received further disturbing news November 9 concerning the fate of nearly 200 trade unionists arrested by the Mugabe regime for protesting against poverty. Leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) were amongst 118 people arrested in the capital Harare. The ICFTU has received reports that Wellington Chibebe, ZCTU General Secretary, has been tortured whilst in detention. Fifty other trade unoinists were arrested around the rest of the country. All the prisoners have been transferred to Chitunwiza, twenty-five kilometers outside of Harare.

Late into Zambia's long, dry season, the Victoria Falls are not at their most spectacular. Undeterred, bus loads of tourists still stop here daily to view the torrent. Most are unaware that a scarcity of water in the surrounding area has driven many rural communities to the brink of starvation. Poor rains early in the year saw the total failure of most crops in southern Zambia. As well as decimating the livelihoods of the area's predominantly subsistence farmers, the drought has resulted in a severe shortage of maize, the country's staple food.

“Being a woman in Zimbabwe is like going to war with a gun minus bullets. Lack of sanitary products are now threatening the Zimbabwean women's livelihoods. In Zimbabwe women are unable to afford the small quality and quantity of sanitary products that are available currently in the market.” Thabitha Khumalo

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The Zimbabwean Government is expected to sign an agricultural agreement with China that could see vast tracts of land being ceded to the fast-growing nation. The deal, envisaged to boost agricultural production, should be signed on November 8 and will be guaranteed by the Ministry of Finance. The deal will be in two phases. The first component is a direct government-to-government agreement while the other has an element of private sector participation. Government is expected to enlist private sector participation under the Zimbabwe Development Company, represented by Zimbabwe Farmers Union vice-president Edward Raradza.

Zimbabwe's opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has split. While Morgan Tsvangirai, its leader, decisively won the battle to boycott senate elections, he lost most of his most senior colleagues in the process. Tsvangirai called yesterday's meeting of the MDC's national council and it voted overwhelmingly against participation in the upcoming national elections to establish a senate, reversing a narrow decision on October 12 to field candidates for the poll. Tsvangirai went against the party's constitution and ignored that decision. But with new-found energy, he embarked on a hectic campaign around the country to change opinion.

We are looking for an operations manager to begin work early January 2006. The person will be responsible for overall daily management of Kufunda, including: team management, work plans and performance management, finances - including financial management, budgeting and overseeing our accounts, logistics and scheduling - including programming, shopping, transport, fundraising, high level involvement in key operational projects – including overseeing community outreach and projects development.

Amnesty International is working with Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions to coordinate a campaign initiative across Africa on the situation in Zimbabwe. A similar action involving 200 NGOs in June was very successful. We hope you will be willing to work with us [again] on this initiative. We are asking NGOs for help. Click on the link to find out what you can do.

Skilled public servants in Zimbabwe have seen their wages rendered almost worthless by runaway inflation. Since 2000, a further economically important group of migrants has been white farmers - government policy changes led to the seizure of 4,000 white-owned farms. But far greater numbers of Zimbabweans felt the heavy hand of government with the launch this year of Operation Murambatsvina, the urban clean-up that the UN says left 500,000 people homeless.

While Zimbabwe grapples with a major economic crisis young and energetic Zimbabwean girls have come together to courageously fight a silent war raging in their communities: the war on sexual abuse. With no special regalia or artillery, the girls are armed simply with their melodic high-pitched voices. Their combined musical talents recently produced the music album: Wake Up Girls – Child Sexual Abuse: Lets develop a culture of prevention. The album is inspired by Betty Hazviperi Makoni, the Founder and Director on the Girl Child Network (GCN) an organisation that promotes the rights of the girl child in Zimbabwe.

Presidents Robert Mugabe and Thabo Mbeki have made a secret pact to train black pilots for South Africa while easing whites out of the SA Air Force (SAAF). An informed source with the Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ), speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed this week that 14 experienced instructors, led by Group Captain Chasakara, would leave shortly for South Africa. It is understood that they have been seconded to the SAAF to undertake a comprehensive two-year training programme aimed at beefing up the numbers of black pilots.

Over three quarters of the parents of new graduates are now urging their offspring to leave, mainly because their families depend on remittances from abroad. The prospects of Zimbabwe's economy bouncing back from its current crisis are likely to be dim if the results of a new survey of university and college graduates are taken into account. Over three quarters of the parents of new graduates are now urging their offspring to leave, mainly because their families depend on remittances from abroad. Tens of thousands of Zimbabwean doctors, nurses, pharmacists, teachers and other professionals have already left the country.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appealed to the Government in Zimbabwe to allow the United Nations to provide humanitarian assistance to the country after the authorities rejected the world body's aid amid reports that tens of thousands of people there are still homeless and in need of help. "The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned by the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe," his spokesman said, citing reports of continued suffering months after the eviction campaign that began in May 2005. Mr. Annan reacted with dismay to a decision by the Government to reject offers of UN assistance.

When the giant Lake Kariba was built in the 1950s, authorities at the time celebrated its construction as one of the most sterling feats of engineering and human endeavour. The lake, whose construction was completed in 1958, provides hydro-electricity to Zimbabwe and Zambia and influenced the springing up of bustling commercial, fishing and tourism activity in Kariba town and on its shoreline thereby generating significant revenue and employment to the country. However, 47 years down the line thousands of people who were displaced on the Zimbabwean and Zambian banks of the Zambezi River to make way for the colossal water reservoir feel that they are entitled to compensation.