Misery thy name is Zimbabwe

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The brutal Operation Murambatsvina - "Operation Clear Out Filth" - last year destroyed the homes or jobs of at least 700 000 people and the lives of 2.4 million others, affecting almost a fifth of the population estimated at 11 million. The informal economy, which fed 40% of the people, was wrecked, unemployment tops 70% and inflation has passed the 500% mark.

The International Crisis Group estimates that Zimbabwe's internal refugee problem is between four and five million and a further 3.5 million people are estimated to have fled the country, mostly to South Africa.

The African Union has been remarkably quiet on the subject, although its Commission on Human and People's Rights did recently adopt a resolution "strongly" condemning the human rights abuses of Mugabe's government. But so "strongly" did it feel about the matter that it kept it away from the media - essentially the public - and it was only through a British newspaper that it got out....