The Zimbabwe crisis has reached a new level that is both hideous and, paradoxically, hopeful. The hideous part is that people are dying-indeed, Zimbabwe as a country is dy-ing-at an even faster rate than before, as cholera sweeps acrossrnthe country. Mass hunger looms: the un's World Food Programme reckons that, in the new year, it must provide food for 5.5m in a population that has shrunk, through disease and emigration, from about 12m probably to less than 9m.rnDespite a power-sharing deal that Robert Mugabe signed inrnmid-September with the leader of the opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai, who defied the stacked odds to win both a general election and the first round of a presidential one in March, government violence continues apace. Mr Mugabe shows no sign of wanting to compromise. Even in the past fortnight, leading human-rights campaigners and people prominent in Mr Tsvangirai's party have been abducted. The local currency is worthless, so swathes of public services have ceased to function. Zimbabweans have been reduced to subsistence (some survive on roots and berries), barter, and remittances and handouts from abroad. A true humanitarian disaster beckons.
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