ortages of basic commodities. Ignoring international condemnation,
MUGABE rigged the 2002 presidential election to ensure his
reelection. The ruling ZANU-PF party used fraud and intimidation to
win a two-thirds majority in the March 2005 parliamentary election,
allowing it to amend the constitution at will and recreate the
Senate, which had been abolished in the late 1980s. In April 2005,
Harare embarked on Operation Restore Order, ostensibly an urban
rationalization program, which resulted in the destruction of the
homes or businesses of 700,000 mostly poor supporters of the
opposition. President MUGABE in June 2007 instituted price controls
on all basic commodities causing panic buying and leaving store
shelves empty for months. General elections held in March 2008
contained irregularities but still amounted to a censure of the
ZANU-PF-led government with significant gains in opposition seats in
parliament. MDC opposition leader Morgan TSVANGIRAI won the
presidential polls, and may have won an out right majority, but
official results posted by the Zimbabwe Electoral Committee did not
reflect this. In the lead up to a run-off election in late June
2008, considerable violence enacted against opposition party members
led to the withdrawal of TSVANGIRAI from the ballot. Extensive
evidence of vote tampering and ballot-box stuffing resulted in
international condemnation of the process, and calls for the
creation of a power-sharing government have been ignored.

Geography
Zimbabwe

Location:

Southern Africa, between South Africa and Zambia

Geographic coordinates:

20 00 S, 30 00 E

Map references:

Africa

Area:

total: 390,580 sq km
land: 386,670 sq km
water: 3,910 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly larger than Montana

Land boundaries:

total: 3,066 km
border countries: Botswana 813 km, Mozambique 1,231 km, South Africa
225 km, Zambia 797 km

Coastline:

0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims:

none (landlocked)

Climate:

tropical; moderated by altitude; rainy season (November to March)

Terrain:

mostly high plateau with higher central plateau (high veld);
mountains in east

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: junction of the Runde and Save rivers 162 m
highest point: Inyangani 2,592 m

Natural resources:

coal, chromium ore, asbestos, gold, nickel, copper, iron ore,
vanadium, lithium, tin, platinum group metals

Land use:

arable land: 8.24%
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