by Rory Walkinshaw

Created on: February 25, 2009   Last Updated: March 01, 2009

Zimbabwe is starving. It is one of the poorest, most brutally repressive countries in the world and is headed by one of the 21st century's most corrupt, longest-ruling tyrants, Robert Mugabe. Britain and the United States indirectly aided his rise to power.In 1970, the Republic of Rhodesia broke all ties with Great Britain over the issue of majority rule. What followed was a 10-year insurgency pitting the Rhodesian Security Forces against Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army guerrillas.

The Rhodesians waged a skillful, bold campaign on a shoestring, improvising and adapting innovative tactics (such as "Fireforce" helicopter attacks and a mastery of bush tracking) to fight the insurgency.Mugabe's forces were well-armed and aided from a seemingly endless supply of Soviet equipment and advisers. ZANLA gained a reputation for barbarity that is shocking even to this day. Frequently, ZANLA guerrillas would burn and torture entire villages suspected of supporting the Rhodesian war effort.Smith's government fought to the bitter end, but with limited manpower and international sanctions preventing the large-scale importation of fuel and ammunition, the Rhodesians were eventually worn down.

Then, in 1980, the Lancaster House Agreements brought Mugabe to power.Mugabe's ascent was made possible by the Carter administration and Great Britain, who did a great deal to hamper the nation's efforts to fight. An international arms embargo was put into place and Rhodesia was forced to rely on the shaky support of South Africa for supplies.As the conflict dragged on, the Rhodesians attacked terrorist training camps in neighboring countries. The aftermath of two such attacks, Operation "Dingo" and "Eland," inflicted over 2,000 combined casualties on the guerrillas. The United Nations condemned the raids, particularly "Eland" in August 1976, as massacres perpetrated against refugee camps. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees issued a statement that a refugee camp was attacked.

The truth was quite different, however, as evidenced by the massive amount of enemy equipment and documents hauled off by the Rhodesian troops, proving that the camp was in fact a training base and staging area. They held out for as long as they could, but it was no use.So Robert Mugabe came to power and still runs the country. According to Amnesty International, "The human rights situation continued to deteriorate, in a context of escalating poverty. Freedom of expression, assembly and association

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