News Analysis

1. Who is Robert Mugabe? How long has he been in power? How popular is he?
He is Zimbabwe's president. He has been in power for 28 years. He was very popular when he started, but now the people, after seeing what he done, have changed their point of view.

2. Who is Morgan Tsvangirai? Which is/ has been his political role?
He is the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, and he is the President of the opposition party.

3. What happened during last year's elections? Which was the outcome?
Mugabe and Tsvangirai were the main candidates, and supposedly Tsvangirai was ahead of Mugabe, but finally Mugabe won.

4. Whis is the economic situation in Zimbabwe? How do the people feel about this?
The economy in Zimbabwe is collapsing. It was once a very stabilized economy, and now it is the worst economy in the world. Mugabe made a disaster with the currencies and the Zimabwean dollars, so the inflation grew and the economy dropped. There is an unemployment of 80%. The government of Zimbabwe faces a variety of economic problems after having abandoned earlier efforts to develop a market-oriented economy. Problems include a shortage of foreign exchange, soaring inflation, and supply shortages. Zimbabwe's involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy.

5. What do you think about the celebrations and the lavish party?
I think that it is completely inappropiate to do that. One thing is to celebrate a birthday with friends or something like that and another completely different thing is to spend 250 000 in a party while the crisis in the country is worse than ever.


a) Give the conflict a name and explain why you think it is a conflict.
Economy is spoiled, government is ignorant. It is a conflict because Zimabwe's economy is falling apart, cholera is infecting everyone, etc. and the one that is supposed to do something about it is celebrating his birthday with a magnificent party.

b) Who is involved and why?
Mugabe,Tsvangirai, and all the people in Zimbabwe.

c) Explain in detail why the conflict has happened.
I think that one of the main causes of the conflict is that Mugabe has been in the government for 28 years. He has made a lot of mistakes in the economy, and he is not willing to help the country anymore. He has changed his goals. The country is worse than ever and he has contributed to that, but he does not care.

d) Give a timeline of events (at least 5) related to the conflict.
August 2008, a cholera epidemic broke
Februry 21 2009, Mugabe's 85th birthday.
February 27 2009, Tsvangirai visited Harare Hospital.
February 28 2009, Mungabe spent 250 000 in his clebration
March 1 2009, appealed to the international community to help Zimbabwe's crippled economy.

e) How do you think this conflict can be solved and why?
First of all, the president should be changed because as I just said he is not making any good to the country. Then instead of spending that much money in a party, they should use it to help the sick people and to rebuild the economy.