Picture of the day: removing a Zimbabwean town

Amnesty International today released a satellite photograph of a shanty town in Zimbabwe that was destroyed during President Robert Mugabe's Operation Murambatsvina (Drive Out Rubbish) last summer.

A wave of demolitions left around 700,000 people homeless last year in a campaign that human rights groups say was aimed at areas that oppose Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party.

The before-and-after images, taken in June 2002 and April 2006 respectively, show the destruction of Porta Farm, a settlement 20km (12 miles) outside Harare that was created in 1991 after another slum-clearing operation, this time to prepare the city for the arrival of Commonwealth heads of state, including the Queen.

Porta Farm used to be the home of up to 10,000 people and became one of the central images of last year's evictions when Anna Tibaijuka, the executive director of Habitat, the UN agency for the homeless, visited the town to see the bulldozers at work and meet families given 24 hours to abandon their homes.

Jan Raath, a reporter for The Times in Zimbabwe, was with Ms Tibaijuka that day, he wrote this story and recalled the visit this morning:

"It was already three weeks into the demolition when Tibaijuka came and most of Porta had been destroyed. People were living under plastic shelters and it was cold, it was a disaster. Porta was a pretty well established place because it had been there for so long: there were brick buildings, a school and decent facilities.

"Porta used to line the western highway coming out of Harare so I remember when Tibaijuka visited the road was lined with scores and scores of people, with baskets and little bundles and blankets, looking for a ride into Harare to stay with friends and relatives. The Government got cold feet because she was there and stopping pulling down buildings but there were dozens of police and I had to slip away before I was arrested.

"It's impossible to say what happened to the people of Porta -- like the other hundreds of thousands of people made homeless they have just scattered and been absorbed across the country, into the villages and townships. Crowding in parts of Harare has redoubled, there are squatters camps everywhere, in the parks, on the golf course, and these people used to have homes.

"I can tell you that the demolitions haven't finished. I just came from a meeting of the Harare Residents Association this morning and heard that police are pulling down so-called illegal structures in a township south of Harare called Glenorah. It's going on, you know."

Comments

[Pueraria Mirifica]

Nice blog, thanks for this information.

[Oily Pete]

Why is it the west's responsibility? Why don't India or Brazil or Egypt step in?

[Stephen]

I think something should be done about Mugabe.

But everyone knows that as soon as someone decides to act, the people who are moaning today "why doesn't the WEST do something", will be the same ones who will criticise the action.

Why doesn't South Africa bear some responsiblity. They are supporting Mugabe by their non-action.

[Harry Webb]

This is terrible YES when is the West going to do something about this thug before more people are left homeless. It should not be happening Mr Bush and Mr Blair PLEASE do something soon.

[Michael Hey]

Zimbabwe is a beautiful country blessed with a great deal of mineral wealth and some of the kindest people I've ever met. It pains me a great deal to sit and watch a evil meglomaniac destroy what has taken several generations to build. In general I oppose the death penalty, however if Mugabe was politically assasinated by a foriegn power I wouldn't loose a second ssleep. I've personally experienced what he has done and can think of few inividuals that epitomise pure evil in todays world. bottom line he needs to go...

[Michael Dyke]

I think it's about time that world leaders and their respective countries follow through with their desire for world order. Every country has a right to exist and decide its own fate by the hands of its people, but in cases such as Mugabe, force certainly needs to be applied by all 'free' countries of the world, democratic or otherwise.....

[Ross]

The international community must stand up and do something about this dictator. Why do we always forget about Africa? Could it be because the governments of the west are motivated purely by economical and political gain rather than genuine humanitarianism?!

[Alberto DM]

Mugabe is potentially a worse criminal than Saddam. He is a dictator since he wins elections by falsing the results like last year. Everyone in the world was astonished by his behaviour, but no one has ever done anything to sort this situation out, UN included. In the meantime people loose their homes and are forced to live in the streets. (we do not know if Mugabe kils them as well, and it would not surprise me).

[colin smart]

Mugabe is a criminal -why does the west allow him to continue? What's the difference between Zimbabwe and Iran - oh yeah, Iran has oil. as ever double standards exist