[Zimbabwe] The Hungry Masses

[J.Hyde]

Naio90

Two weeks had elapsed since the collapse of Mugabe's government. Foreign nations had pledged support, and some had already arrived in the country and begun the process of providing aid. The calls for calm and order by The Provisional Government had been heeded by a euphoric populace. Mugabe was gone, there was a provisional government promising a transitional administration that would lead them to a brighter future, there was hope for a brighter future. However, time had elapsed and nothing had changed, in most regards, the situation was marginally worse than when Mugabe was in power for the most part, since water and electricity had never been provided in an effective manner. However, food had been available.

The residual stocks in the shops had slowly been depleted. No new stocks had been able to enter the country due to the collapse of the aviation authority. How could the planes carrying imported goods land if there was no one to operate the airports? The people were hungry. Word had spread regarding the arrival of Argentinians and foreign aid, indeed the Argentinians had moved to reopen the hospitals and clinics in Harare to bring medical care to the populace. However, food was now depleted. There was still contaminated water from wells and boreholes, or fresh water from the Cleveland Dam, to drink, but food stocks had been consumed.

Late at night, a large crowd began to form at the perimeter fence surrounding the Argentinian supply depot and camp. Many were shouting, begging for food for themselves and their families, while a brave few even made the daring move of trying to scale the fence to get inside the camp.

Meanwhile, in the city of Harare, sporadic bouts of burglary began to occur as people decided to prey on the richer neighbourhoods. The upper class suburbs of Borrowdale, Greendale, and Mount Pleasant, among others, were tempting targets, since they were rich. It stood to reason that they had the resources to buy more food than the poorer denizens of the city, perhaps even hoard food in the immediate aftermath of Mugabe's removal from office. Even if there wasn't food to take, there were possessions that could be taken and used to barter for food from others. The Zimbabwean dollar had never been a strong or stable currency, so it was, for the most part, completely worthless. Items were much more valuable than coins and paper.

 

[Naio90]

Noticing the growing unrest among the civilian population do to the low food supply, the logistics command of the argentine mission would intensify their food handout program by opening new food distirbution centers. The mobile field kitchens would be used to create these distribution centers accross different points of the city. Open and broad sectors would be used, like courts and parcs, with access to running water (sometimes using the mobile purification plants) to cook large quantities of food in the form of stews and rice dishes (high calories food). The civilian population would be asked to bring some kind of containers for the food to be handed out to them. Security would be provided to safeguard the argentine personnel and to mantain order. Due to the lack of running electricity around mot of the city, the kitches would work only during daytime.

As for the crowd gathering around the security fence, announcements would be made with megaphones speakers indicating that food would be handed out at different points and that the population should head to those places to receive their rations.

Calculations would privately be made to see how long current food supplies would last and if there was the need to ship in additional cargos of foods.

J.Hyde

 

[J.Hyde]

Naio90

The crowd that had gathered at the fence were satisfied by the reassurance and quickly dispersed, eager to grab any container they could find and head to the referenced points for food. However, a small percentage of the citizenry had gained a taste for criminal behaviour. They had been able to break into other people's homes and steal belongings without consequence, nor would there be any reasonable expectation of them being found through investigation. There were no detectives or forensic scientists to track them down, their was nothing stopping them from taking whatever they wanted, as long as they did so now, instead of later. The collapse of Zimbabwean society had finally revealed that it had some illegal opportunities that many were more than willing to take.

Subsequent nights would see an explosion in attacks on commercial and residential buildings, individuals or groups set on looting as much as they could before the provisional government, or the foreign interventionists, could react to stem the problem. Incidents of looting were even being perpetrated during the day, instead of being done at night. This was a mark of the public realising that anarchy, while objectively horrible, still had its immoral benefits.

 

[Naio90]

With the food issue temporarily under control, but still requiring a long term solution, argentine administrative officials would begin talks with the designated individuals from the transitional Government. Given the 200 armed peacekeepers currently deployed in and around Harare were nowhere near enough to conduct efficient policing operations, it would be informed that the argentines were looking forward to work together and in tandem with recently announce police force to be dispatched to Zimbabwe from Zaire.

Not only would be the zaireans better trained to conduct police duties (rather than the combat trained argentine personnel), but also the sufficient number could cover the basic needs to return the rule of law to the area.

Also, the argentine authorities in Zimbabwe would invite both the transitional Government as well as the other nations currently helping the country to move forward with long term planning and to begin thinking outside Harare, while thinking of the political scenario for the coming years.

J.Hyde JJSmithJr