By Andrew L. Jaffee

The BBC was good enough to report that Zimbabweans now have the shortest life-expectancy on earth. But the Beeb left President Mugabe’s role in this disaster as a footnote in an article published today. Let us give credit where credit is due. The first 5 paragraphs in the BBC’s article state:

Life in Zimbabwe is shorter than anywhere else in the world, with neither men nor women expected to live until 40, a new UN report says.

Zimbabwe’s women have an average life expectancy of 34 years and men on average do not live past 37, it said.

The World Health Organisation report said women’s life expectancy had fallen by two years in the last 12 months.

Correspondents say poverty because of the crumbling economy and deaths from Aids are responsible for the decline.

Zimbabwean women have the lowest life expectancy of women anywhere in the world, according to the report.

Here’s the footnote — in the 13th and last paragraph:

Zimbabwe’s economy has shrunk by an estimated 40% in the last seven years under President Robert Mugabe.

What is this? A half-truth? An understatement? Mugabe has called his own people “filth” and is directly responsible for his people’s suffering, according to Human Rights Watch:

“The Zimbabwean government has caused untold suffering to poor and vulnerable people,” said Tiseke Kasambala, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “To make matters worse, Mugabe’s government is now delaying the provision of much-needed humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of people affected by the evictions.”

The humanitarian consequences of “Operation Murambatsvina” (“Operation Clear the Filth”) have been catastrophic. Thousands of men, women and children are now internally displaced and are living without access to humanitarian assistance, particularly in the rural areas where acute food shortages are looming and humanitarian agencies have had difficulties tracing those in need of assistance.

The United Nations estimates that as many as 700,000 people have been evicted and their houses and properties demolished since the government launched the operation on May 19.

Human Rights Watch said that women, children, persons living with HIV/AIDS and foreign-born residents were particularly hard hit by the evictions. Accounts of the victims share a common thread: all cite a similar process of forced, indiscriminate and often violent displacement at the hands of police coupled with consistent orders to move to rural areas.