An African tragedy: Zimbabwe was once one of Africa's most prosperous countries; today, it's a land of poverty and repression.

• Author: Wines, Michael
• Position: INTERNATIONAL

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Bread has disappeared from most store shelves in Zimbabwe, along with other staples like sugar, milk, cooking oil, and cornmeal. Meat is virtually nonexistent, and gasoline is nearly unobtainable. Hospital patients are dying for lack of basic medical supplies.

Runaway inflation, recently estimated at 10,000 percent a year, has rendered Zimbabwe's currency nearly worthless. In August, it took 200,000 Zimbabwe dollars to buy one U.S. dollar on the black market. When bread is available, one loaf can cost several thousand Zimbabwe dollars.

Power blackouts are becoming more frequent and breakdowns in water treatment have caused outbreaks of cholera in Harare, the capital. According to the United Nations, 40 percent of Zimbabwe's children are malnourished.

"There's been a huge collapse in living standards and also a deterioration in the infrastructure--in standards of health care, in education," says Iden Wetherell, editor of the newspaper Zimbabwe Independent. "There's a sort of sense that things are plunging."

What makes the suffering of Zimbabwe's 12 million people especially tragic is that this was once one of Africa's most prosperous countries. Its descent into poverty, as other African nations--including its neighbor South Africa--have seen strong economic growth, is largely the result of the repressive rule and disastrous economic policies of President Robert G. Mugabe, 83, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 27 years.

Over his five terms in office, Mugabe has become increasingly autocratic, using brutal force to stifle opposition and remain in power. He and his henchmen have been accused of killing thousands of civilians since the early 1980s. Mugabe's grip is so strong that he's been able to remain in power even as the nation descends into misery and chaos.

Emblematic of Mugabe's indifference to Zimbabwe's suffering was his lavish birthday party in February. Money was deducted from civil servants' salaries to raise the equivalent of $60,000 U.S. dollars to pay for the event.

FROM RHODESIA TO ZIMBABWE

Formerly known as Rhodesia, Zimbabwe was a British colony until 1965, when its white-minority rulers declared independence in the face of British pressure to give the nation's black majority more power. Mugabe was one of several leaders of guerrilla movements that fought white rule, and later participated in negotiations that led to black rule. He became the nation's first black leader when he was elected Prime Minister in...