Brutal regimes often try to hide from the outside world the price their people pay for their own failed policies. Then, a single event will bring it back to the surface and into our headlines.
On 11 March, Zimbabwean police broke up a prayer meeting in Harare. One man was shot and killed, 50 people were arrested, and the badly battered face of the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangarai, has been seen in newspapers and on televisions across the globe.
For those of us – governments, NGOs, members of the public – who have watched the tragedy of Zimbabwe unfold over recent years, this latest appalling attack comes as little surprise: it is a symptom of a country in crisis.
An economy in free-fall – GDP down fifty per cent since 2000 and inflation set to top 5000 per cent. A quarter of the population dependent on food aid, four in every five without a job, and the one of the lowest life expectancies in the world: a girl born in Zimbabwe today will, on average, die before she reaches 35. Little wonder that between three and four million people have already had to leave their country and their homes to find a better life elsewhere.
We in Britain have always been clear on Zimbabwe.
We want change for the better – joining the millions of Zimbabwean voices calling for their own government to listen to its people, take heed and change. But the regime controls the media and portrays Mugabe as standing up for the rights of Africans against outside interference.
So we have a twin focus. First we are doing what we can to alleviate the suffering of Zimbabwe’s people, while making sure that assistance is not being exploited to prop up the regime itself. In the past five years, we have given over ??????’??