The United States warned its citizens on Friday of the risk of travel to crisis-ridden Zimbabwe.
”Zimbabwe continues to be in the midst of political, economic and humanitarian crises with serious implications for the security situation in the country,” the US State Department said in a travel warning.
”The Department of State warns US citizens of the risks of travel to Zimbabwe,” the advisory said, urging them ”to take those measures they deem appropriate to ensure their well-being”.
Zimbabwe has been reeling since Robert Mugabe’s re-election in 2002, which the opposition charges was rigged, and a series of economic policies including land reform that have sent inflation soaring and left millions in the country, once Southern Africa’s breadbasket, in need of food aid.
Mugabe has steadfastly ruled out talks with the opposition, charging that it was a front for Western countries bent on driving him from office.
The State Department statement warned that Zimbabwe’s humanitarian crisis is expected to worsen in coming months and may lead to possible large-scale migration of Zimbabweans to urban or border areas, with further disruption and an increase in crime and instability.
It advised Americans to avoid commercial farms, especially those occupied by settlers or so-called ”war veterans”, who are typically young government supporters acting allegedly with impunity outside the law.
In 2002, US embassy staff members were detained and one was beaten by war veterans on a farm near Harare. — Sapa-AFP