IRIN chronology of the current crisis

The following is a chronology of significant events in Zimbabwe from August 1997. 1997 August - The government pays out an unbudgeted multi-million dollar compensation to former independence war veterans after they besiege the headquarters of President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party demanding financial reimbursement for their role in brining Zimbabwe to independence from Britain in 1980. October - Mugabe, keen to boost flagging popularity, announces acceleration of the land reform programme. He says the constitutional right of white commercial farmers to compensation for land confiscated will not be honoured. He unsuccessfully challenges Britain, as the former colonial power, to pay the compensation. November - A list of 1,471 farm properties to be reallocated is published by the government. December - The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) organises a general strike over three unpopular new taxes to finance the new benefits for war veterans. The taxes are subsequently withdrawn. - Shortly after the demonstrations, ZCTU leader Morgan Tsvangirai is assaulted in his office by anonymous assailants, later said to be war veterans. 1998 January - In mid-January unprecedented food riots erupt in urban areas over price increases in the staple, maize. The army is deployed with authorisation to open fire. Nine people are reportedly killed and some 800 arrested. June - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 1 June approves a stand-by credit facility of US $175 million for 13 months in support of the country's 1998 economic reform programme. Of this amount, US $53 million was immediately available. Subsequent quarterly disbursements are made available subject to Zimbabwe meeting performance targets and programme reviews. - Four commercial farms are invaded by hundreds of landless peasants in Marondera, 70 km east of Harare. Mugabe says he will not use force to order their eviction. July - The Central Statistics Office reports that the country's year-on-year inflation had reached 29.8 percent for the month of June. The IMF sets an inflation target of 19 percent for the year. Economists say this is impossible to achieve. August - Mugabe's government sends troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to fight on the side of President Laurent-Desire Kabila's forces against a rebellion supported by Rwanda and Uganda. Local media reports say an estimated 6,000 troops, aircraft and armoured vehicles have been deployed at a monthly cost of US $1.7 million. The number of troops deployed in the DRC increased to about 12,000 by the beginning of 1999. - The IMF suspends the release of the US $53 million promised in June because of the country's involvement in the DRC. September - The Zimbabwe dollar loses half its value following the deployment of soldiers to the DRC, leading to massive price rises and violent street protests. Finance minister Herbert Murerwa attributes the slide of the Zimbabwe dollar to low commodity prices and monetary speculation. - At an international conference on land reform donors say they will support land resettlement if the government assures the programme is transparent, cost-effective and alleviates poverty. November - The petrol price is increased by 65 percent. December - The IMF refuses to release US $53 million in support funds. It indefinitely postpones a board meeting to consider further balance of payments support for the country. - The United States suspends a US $120 million aid package citing human rights violations following the detention and torture of two journalists. - The government introduces price controls on basic commodities after widespread food riots. Producers complain that with inflation running at 50 percent, affecting the cost of inputs, maintaining the government's artificial ceiling is not viable. 1999 January - The price of diesel is increased by 24 percent and the price of oil goes up 30 percent. April - The Zimbabwe government struggles to keep its price control regime on basic commodities intact in the face of price hikes by the country's millers and sugar producers, with further increases in the offing for May. - The government orders millers to reverse their latest 20 percent rise in the price of flour, and threatens to gazette the price of bread and flour if the millers do not comply. - The millers say they would only agree if the government provides the cheap wheat they were promised. - Sugar suppliers also announce a 20 percent hike, resulting in a ripple effect throughout the food and beverage industry. - The trade union movement threatens mass action if employers fail to award a 20 percent cost of living adjustment by the end of the month. May - 'The Financial Gazette' reports that Zimbabwe has spent the equivalent of US $12.5 million on its military intervention in the DRC. - Zimbabwe's Standard Chartered Bank says the country's economy is expected to grow by less than two percent in 1999. - The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe says inflationary pressures have become "the greatest single challenge" to stabilisation measures and growth prospects. It says inflation has hit an all-time high of 52.8 percent, up from 31 percent in 1998. - Tsvangirai launches a new union-linked opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). - Fuel prices go up 32 percent. - The country's consumer council says since the beginning of 1999, basic commodities prices had gone up by more than 300 percent. - The government says it will go ahead with a reform of the constitution which had been amended 15 times since independence in 1980, despite a boycott by opposition groups. It urges the opposition to participate in a government-appointed constitutional commission designated to present a draft constitution to Mugabe by the end of the year. - Tsvangirai, who is also chair of the opposition National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) says the boycott will continue. He says the NCA, a coalition of civil society groups, will lead a national "information and education campaign" to run in parallel with the government's constitutional reform process. June - An estimated 14,000 civil servants, including nurses and teachers, embark on strike action for a 25 percent wage increase while the government offers 5 percent. - The price of maize is increased by 20 percent. - The country's millers threaten to stop producing the national staple maize meal unless the government allows them a 60 percent hike in its retail price. - The millers lay off at least 1,000 workers out of a labour force of 1,400 following a production halt in protest over government price controls. - This is followed by the closure of the plants in a continuing dispute over the government's refusal to grant the millers a 62 percent increase on the retail price of maize meal. Widespread shortages of the staple maize meal follow throughout the country. July - The government relents and allows the millers an additional 20 percent increase in the retail price of maize meal, bringing the total retail increase to 42 percent. - The inflation rate jumps to 63.5 percent from 55.2 percent the month before. - The IMF expects Zimbabwe to meet an inflation target of 29.8 percent by December. Economists say prices must fall by over 4 percent to eet that target. - Riot police fire teargas to disperse protesting independence war veterans besieging the ZANU-PF party headquarters demanding US $13,000 each in compensation for their role in liberating the country. August - The IMF approves a standby loan of about US $193 million subject to the government meeting economic targets. But it also asks for clarification over Harare's spending on the DRC conflict. September - Zimbabwe's state-owned arms manufacturer, Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI), is reportedly owed about US $2.7 million by the DRC government for an unspecified amount of small arms and ammunition as well as food rations. - Bilateral donors earmark some US $141 million to help reform the battered economy following the IMF's promise of US $193 million for balance of payments support. - Official figures show a record inflation rate of 70 percent, with some banks charging an estimated 52 percent interest on loans. - Italy suspends a US $22 million aid programme for the electrification of about 250 rural schools and 250 clinics as well as for the construction of a major dam project. The Italians cite a lack of transparency in the awarding of tenders as the reason. October - The IMF suspends funds to Zimbabwe over disagreements on the cost of Zimbabwe's intervention in the DRC and its failure to heed economic reform recommendations. - The World Bank indefinitely postpones talks on a new US $140 million structural reform programme until the government gets its programme with the IMF back on track. - Finance minister Herbert Murerwa says an internal memo claiming Zimbabwe had spent US $166 million from January to June on the DRC war, rather than the US $3 million a month it had told the IMF, was quoted out of context. - The African Development Bank signs a US $130 million loan with the government to support economic development. However, the bank retracts its promise and puts the loan on hold saying Zimbabwe has to come to "terms with the IMF on the course of its troubled economic reforms". November - Zimbabwean exporters holding corporate foreign currency accounts are ordered to change half their holdings into local currency within 60 days under a finance ministry plan to support the country's dwindling foreign exchange reserves. December - NOCZIM, the country's oil procurement agency, raises retail fuel prices by about 8 percent, citing high prices on the world market, difficulties in getting foreign currency and high interest rates. - The government announces increases in salaries and perks of up to 750 percent for cabinet ministers, members of parliament, local chiefs and headmen to be backdated to July. Mugabe also gets a pay increase. - Diesel supplies run dry in most parts of the country, bringing public transport to a standstill. Hundreds of people are unable to travel to their rural homes to be with their families for the festive season. Queues build outside petrol stations, and commuters are stranded as buses run low on fuel. On one occasion, riot police are called to control an angry petrol queue. 2000 January - The government announces it would raise civil servants salaries by up to 90 percent. However, it said it would have to cut 20,000 jobs to effect savings on the public service wage bill. - The Central Statistical Office (CSO) announces that the inflation rate has dropped for the second straight month in December to 56.9 percent from 70 percent in October. - South African banks suspend lines of credit to Zimbabwe. The banks refuse to confirm any letters of credit from Zimbabwean banks mainly because of the foreign currency shortages and fears about the government's ability to continue receiving aid from the international community. - Zimbabwe's diesel shortages worsen as NOCZIM, the state oil procurement agency, fails to procure sufficient quantities of fuel because of its estimated debt of US $235 million to suppliers. - The Commercial Farmers Union says the shortages have disrupted tobacco harvesting, which accounts for about 30 percent of the country's export earnings. - Some public transport buses are grounded, making it difficult for many workers to get to and from work. - A Mobil spokeswoman says the oil industry is likely to face frequent shortages because stock levels were low and that it would take some time to re-build the country's reserves. February - In a major political defeat for Mugabe, the Zimbabwean electorate overwhelmingly rejects the draft constitution. In a two-day referendum 55 percent of the electorate vote against the proposed draft, against 45 percent who voted for it. An estimated one million voters participated. - Twenty-six white-owned farms are occupied by independence war veterans following the referendum. - Media reports say Zimbabwe has been exporting up to 1.5 million litres of fuel to the DRC and Zambia each week despite a crippling domestic shortage and growing queues outside petrol stations. - Fuel prices are increased by up to 18 percent in what analysts said was a necessary correction in the troubled industry. NOCZIM cites an increase of over 10 percent in world market prices as partly to blame for the hike. - President Robert Mugabe blames corruption and mismanagement at NOCZIM for fuel shortages across the country. - The IMF says it will not resume its budgetary support programme to Zimbabwe until the government adheres to economic reforms to kick-start economic growth and reduce poverty levels. The announcement follows a week-long visit to the country by a Washington-based team of the Fund. March - South Africa's state-owned oil company, SASOL, announces that it is to provide Zimbabwe with 550,000 mt of fuel to meet the country's diesel, petrol and aircraft fuel requirements. A SASOL spokesman said the company would meet 35 percent of Zimbabwe's requirements through its main refinery near Johannesburg. - Zimbabwe, like other southern African countries, suffers devastation from floods caused by tropical storms in February and March. The most affected areas are in the southern and eastern provinces of the country. - The Commercial Farmers Union reports damage to coffee crops, and the Cotton Producers Association says up to 28,000 hectares, worth some US $3.75 million, of this year's crop may be destroyed. - The UN estimates that 96,000 people are in need of immediate assistance, and that 20,000 of these have lost their homes. Some 500,000 people are less directly affected. - According to the UN, an additional 100 or more families are left homeless in Chirumhanzu district in the Midlands province, where about 1,000 families are affected. In Manicaland, 45 persons are confirmed dead, and an estimated 3,000 people left homeless. - NANGO, an umbrella organisation for local NGOs, identifies the rehabilitation of homes, clinics, schools and sanitation facilities as the highest priorities. - The police do not intervene against farm squatters despite a court order that they be evicted. Mugabe reiterates that he will not take action against the veterans. April - As the land dispute grows, over 900 white-owned farms are occupied. In the most serious incident since government supporters began invading the farms a policeman is shot and killed, apparently by occupiers, at a farm in Marondera.