Widespread desertions from Zimbabwe’s army and police are weakening President Robert Mugabe’s security forces as large strikes loom because of the country’s deepening economic collapse. With inflation now at a global record of 1 600 per cent, the <i>Observer</i> can reveal that soldiers and police officers who cannot feed their families are leaving their posts in large numbers.

An astonishing picture of life inside Baghdad’s schools has been revealed by a group of Iraqi teachers who have travelled to the United Kingdom to gain respite from the daily bloodshed they witness. One, Suad Saleem Abdulla, described how she pulled her own children close every morning and said goodbye as if it was the last time she would ever see them.

In Baquba, in the Iraqi province of Diyala, unpleasant questions get answered very quickly. There is a startling pop, and then: ‘Who fired that shot? Did you fire that shot?’ One of the United States soldiers of Bravo Company of the 1/12 Cavalry is shouting at the accompanying Iraqi army troops, hoping against hope, it appears, that a weapon has been accidentally discharged.