Essay - Multi-national Peacekeeping Forces in Zimbabwe Introduction Headlining the News Each...

Multi-National Peacekeeping Forces in Zimbabwe

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Headl*****ing the news each day for ***** past several months have been stories about the presidential elections in Zimbabwe. The resid*****g president, Robert Mugabe, is struggling to maintain his political position and power in a country that would have seen him gone almost a dec*****de ago but for the fact that ***** has carried out a c*****mpaign of terror, torture and fraud against the people of his ***** (Hamill, 2000, 129). Current economic conditions in Zimbabwe are catastrophic in terms ***** financial devastation to industry, businesses, and agriculture (Hamill, *****, 129). Economic ***** are so severe, in fact, that people ***** risking their lives ***** support Mugabe's ***** opposition (Dugger, 2008). ***** online site of the BBC Radio reports that Zimbabwe's inflation rate currently exceeds 100,000% (BBC *****, 2008, online).

Since ***** April election, which was reportedly in favor of the opposition, officials have scheduled for a June, 2008 runoff. As ***** of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe has created laws and enforced them in a way consistent with a dictatorship. Consistent with his efforts to protect and secure ***** power base, he has attempted to silence the world press in reporting on what is happening in Zimbabwe. Regardless of Mugabe's attempt to keep negative information and photo images out ***** ***** free *****, reports and evidence of voting fraud and violence committed against the voters by Mugabe's henchmen ***** continued to leak in***** the world news.

Bann*****g the press is a long st*****nding policy in the country and, more recently, as reported ***** news reports, journalists from various reporting agencies around the globe have ***** arrested and detained for ***** on events surrounding the elections in a w*****y ***** is not favorable to ***** government (CNN, 8 May 2008, online). The situation in Zimbabwe is serious, ***** the people ***** the ***** are struggl*****g ***** wrest the reins of control away ***** Robert Mugabe while the rest of the world can only watch and hope for that justice will prevail and ***** people of th***** once prosperous country ***** persevere.

***** question here is, if the African Union and the United Nations agree to take steps to prevent further conflict in this very unstable ***** nation: What k*****d of multi-lateral peacekeeping force would best serve the ***** and the election laws in Zimbabwe?

The study here will examine the country's political and economic history to gain an underst*****ding of the evolution of President Robert Mugabe's *****, which came into power with *****'s independence in 1980.

Political and Economic History of Zimbabwe

Geographic

***** political ***** ***** history of ***** can***** be approached with***** a discussion on Zimbabwe's past history as a British colony known ********** Rhodesia. A once economically prosperous nation, the former nation of Rhodesia consisted ***** three Federation territories: Southern and Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, a total of 486,109 squ***** miles (Brelsford, 1960, 1). It's northern neighbors were Tanganyika and the Belgian Congo, and, to the east, Mozambique, and to the west, Nor*****rn