Published January 30, 2009

Just as a power sharing agreement between Robert Mugabe and the opposition MDC party was announced today in Zimbabwe, Frontline/World's Joe Rubin talks with our correspondent -- who must remain anonymous for her own safety -- about the situation there.

She describes a terrifying reality, with human rights activists reportedly being tortured and languishing in jail and a worsening cholera epidemic that has already killed at least 3,000 people. She says Zimbabweans find hope in Barack Obama, a president they view as a fellow African, but, in her view, the only way to bring about real change might be with military intervention.

In a reporter's diary to be published in the Washington Post's Outlook section on Sunday, our correspondent says that she is not optimistic that anything will change soon. "I find it hard to celebrate [the power sharing agreement]. Mugabe remains powerful under the new government, still controlling the state coffers, the military, the police and the media. I sigh as I think of the problems ahead."

Project

One Step From Hell

In almost three decades of rule, Robert Mugabe's evolution from liberator to tyrant led Zimbabwe from democratic independence and its status as South Africa's breadbasket to a one-party state with an inflation rate over 231 million percent.
February 1, 2009 / The Washington Post

Now the Terror Has Returned

by Joe Rubin
How much lower can Zimbabwe sink?
November 20, 2008 / Frontline/World

Zimbabwe: The Deal that Never Was

by Joe Rubin
On September 15, 2008, the cellphone networks were so jammed, I couldn't reach any of my friends in Zimbabwe or abroad to share the news that I was covering first hand. What a day in the history of...
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