ZIMBABWE: Satellite images showing the devastation reaped by Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe on his own people have been released by Amnesty International, writes Joe Humphreys in Pretoria
The images were taken before and after Mugabe initiated Operation Murambatsvina ("Reject Filth"), the illegal eviction of up to 700,000 mostly urban shack-dwellers almost exactly a year ago.
As well as confirming the extent of the scorched earth policy, which human rights groups believe was aimed at punishing political dissenters, the photographs suggest Zimbabwe has done little if anything to deliver a promised rebuilding programme for those made homeless. "These satellite images are irrefutable evidence, if further evidence is even needed, that the Zimbabwean government has obliterated entire communities, completely erased them from the map, as if they never existed," said Kolawole Olaniyan, director of Amnesty International's Africa programme.
The human rights group commissioned the images to show the fate of Porta Farm (see above), a large, informal settlement established 16 years ago near the capital Harare, which had schools, a children's centre and a mosque. That was until June 2005 when heavily armed police officers came to the farm and ordered residents to leave before bulldozing their homes to rubble.
Mr Mugabe said the aim was to root out illegal traders but critics said the evictions were part of a political campaign against the largely urban supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party.
The government said it would construct more than 20,000 new homes for those evicted under Operation Garikai ("Live Well") but the satellite images, taken in June 2002 and April 2006, along with recent reports from the ground, indicate that little if any progress has been made.
A group of independent observers who in recent weeks tried to meet those evicted from Porta Farm and neighbouring settlements, as well as examine living conditions there, were turned away by police who cited security reasons.
Among those refused entry was Amnesty researcher Audrey Gaughran who said the majority of Operation Garikai houses were "incomplete, uninhabited or uninhabitable. It seems they are being built more as a public relations solution rather than a real solution". Ms Gaughran said freedom of expression had been eliminated in Zimbabwe, citing the arrest and detention of a group of parents protesting against an increase in school fees during her visit to the country.
Zimbabwe is suffering from inflation of more than 1,000 per cent and chronic food shortages and unemployment.
Attempts to broker a political solution appear stalled, with the Zimbabwean government indicating that UN secretary general Kofi Annan is no longer welcome to visit the country as planned later this year.