What's happening in Zimbabwe?

Important elections took place in Zimbabwe in

southern Africa on 30 July 2018
It was a significant moment as this was the first presidential election that a man
called Robert Mugabe wasn't in the running for since the country became
independent.

The former president Mr Mugabe announced he was stepping down as leader in

November 2017 at the age of 93, after the army took control of the country on 22
November.

He had been in power in Zimbabwe for 37 years - ever since it became independent
in 1980.

These are the first elections to take place since this happened.

Who won?
On Friday morning Emmerson Mnangagwa was announced as the winner of
Zimbabwe's presidential election.

He is is in charge of the Zanu-PF party and had been filling the president's role since
Robert Mugabe stepped down. Before that he used to be the vice-president.

The president said on Twitter he was "humbled" and called the result "a new
beginning".

The electoral commission confirmed he had received 50.8% of votes, compared to

44.3% for Nelson Chamisa, the leader of Zimbabwe's other main political party.

But Mr Chamisa and his supporters have rejected this result and insist he is the
winner.

His party MDC Alliance said they had not been able to check the result for
themselves and want to go to court to challenge the result.

Mr Chamisa is almost half the age of President Mnangagwa.

This election was an important moment for the country, that had the same leader for
37 years.

In order to understand the significance of this vote, we need to look back at the
recent history of the country.
What is the story of modern Zimbabwe?
The country that is now Zimbabwe was taken over by Britain in the 1880s and
named Southern Rhodesia.

Although far fewer white people lived there than black people, the country was
dominated by white people who ran everything. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a
lot of fighting as they tried to keep power.

Groups representing the black majority won a war in 1980 and changed the country's
name to Zimbabwe.

A man called Robert Mugabe, who was a key player in Zimbabwe's fight for
independence, became the country's first prime minister. He was prime minister until
a presidential system was introduced in 1987.

Mr Mugabe has been a controversial figure though.

Many people both in Zimbabwe and abroad are very critical of him because of the
way he ran the country. They say he was a dictator who completely controlled the
country and used violence to get what he wanted.

In the past, he has been accused of fixing elections to make sure he stays in power,
and he also had tight control over the media and what people were allowed to say.

But to some, he was a hero because he fought for independence.

His years in charge were marked by economic problems for the country and conflict
against those who didn't agree with him.

Since 2000, there have been huge food shortages in Zimbabwe because of rules
that Mr Mugabe brought in to give farms back to black people. Not enough food was
being produced to feed everybody and bad droughts made the problem worse.
These tough years left one in five people in Zimbabwe living in extreme poverty.

Many people became angry with the way Robert Mugabe and people around him
were running Zimbabwe and treating its people.

He sacked then then vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa at the start of November

2017, angering army leaders who saw it as an attempt to set up his wife Grace to be
the next president. Mr Mugabe said this was "utter nonsense".

On 19 November, Mr Mugabe was removed as the leader of Zimbabwe's ruling

Zanu-PF party and ex-vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa was made president in
his place.

What happened during the election?

International help was brought in to make sure that this election ran smoothly.

It is 16 years since the European Union and US observers have been allowed to
monitor elections in the country.

The opposition in Zimbabwe raised concerns about some aspects of the vote - for
example, over how secure the ballot papers were and voters being made to vote a
certain way in some rural areas.

But those running the election said it was being run in a lawful way. While voting was
taking place on 30 July, Pumza Fihlani - a BBC News reporter in the country's capital
Harare - said: "Officials say the process has smooth and peaceful so far."It was
expected that younger voters would be very important in this election, as almost half
of the people registered are under the age of 35.

Mr Mugabe said that he would not vote for his successor, Mr Mnangagwa, saying: "I
cannot vote for those who tormented me.". He suggested that Mr Chamisa is the
only viable candidate.

In response to this, Mr Mnangagwa thinks Mr Mugabe made a deal with the

opposition. "We can no longer believe that his intentions are to transform Zimbabwe
and rebuild our nation," he said.

Towards the end of the day of voting, Pumza explained: "When the sun sets today,
through their votes, Zimbabweans will have done all they could to help steer their
country's future."

After the polls closed, Mr Mnangagwa tweeted that Zimbabweans had "voted in the
spirit of tolerance, mutual respect and peace"

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/45008011
Zimbabwe president abandons Davos
trip amid unrest

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has broken off a trip to Europe

after violent protests in his home country.

Mr Mnangagwa had been due to attend the Davos economic summit where he was
expected to seek investment for Zimbabwe.

Ministers say the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is using sharp
fuel price increases as a pretext for violence.

But the MDC accuses the authorities of a brutal crackdown.

Mr Mnangagwa's announcement of a steep increase in the fuel price over a week

ago led to angry protests in the capital, Harare, and the south-western city of
Bulawayo.

Rights groups say at least 12 people have been killed but this has not been officially
confirmed.

Mr Mnangagwa arrived back in Harare late on Monday night.

He condemned the demonstrations, saying "everyone has the right to protest, but
this was not a peaceful protest".

He accused protesters of "wanton violence and cynical destruction" and "looting

police stations, stealing guns and uniforms".
 When you wait seven hours and still get no fuel
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Earlier, MDC leader Nelson Chamisa said many of the party's members had been
detained including four MPs.

He accused security forces of attacking families in their homes.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the umbrella group that called the
protests, says its leader Japhet Moyo has also been arrested.

Mr Mnangagwa has said that any violence from the security forces will be
investigated and punished.
His spokesman George Charamba had warned on Sunday that the security forces'
actions were just "a foretaste of things to come".

"The MDC leadership has been consistently pushing out the message that they will
use violent street action to overturn the results of [last year's] ballot," he said.

The opposition rejected a court ruling in August 2018 that confirmed that President
Mnangagwa had defeated Mr Chamisa.

What has the opposition said?

Mr Chamisa told the BBC that there was "no justification whatsoever of having
soldiers with live ammunition, with guns, machine guns, AK47 on the streets, beating
up citizens".

"People are being approached in their homes, they are being taken out of their
homes with their families even if they are sleeping... a lot of people have been
arrested for no apparent reason," he said.

MDC national chairperson Thabitha Khumalo said that she had gone into hiding after
the police and military turned up at her home at night.

Why have fuel prices increased?

The price rise was aimed at tackling shortages caused by an increase in fuel use
and "rampant" illegal trading, President Mnangagwa said.

But many Zimbabweans, worn down by years of economic hardship, suddenly found
they could not even afford the bus fare to work.
The new prices mean Zimbabwe now has the most expensive fuel in the world,
according to GlobalPetrolPrices.com
Mr Mnangagwa has been struggling to revive the economy, which is experiencing
high inflation while wages have stagnated.

It emerged on Monday that South Africa had rejected a request from Zimbabwe for
an emergency loan of $1.2bn (£932m) in December.

The government had hoped the cash would help stabilise the economy and resolve
fuel shortages in the country.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46955725