SUMMARY
After an intrastate conflict over government that ended in 1979, Zimbabwe became a relatively stable country with low rates of organized violence compared to other countries in Africa. However, there remains a pattern of violence towards civilians perpetrated by the Government of Zimbabwe. Outside of its borders, Zimbabwe has provided secondary warrying support to Mozambique between the years 1985–1990 during the Mozambican civil war and to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from 1998 to 2001.
Since 1963, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) has experienced the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organized violence.
Constant violence
Zimbabwe experienced an intrastate conflict that ended in 1979. From then onwards, there has not been another state-based conflict in the country. Organized violence in the country corresponds mainly to the category of one-sided violence. In the early 1990s, RENAMO attacked civilians in eastern Zimbabwe in the context of the conflict in neighboring Mozambique. By the mid 1990s, the Government of Zimbabwe became the main perpetrator of violence against civilians.
Known for their brutal attacks against civilians, RENAMO made incursions into Zimbabwe and carried out two civilian massacres in 1989, leading to the first peak of the time-period. The first massacre happened in March in the Chipinge district, while the second took place in eastern Zimbabwe in July. Both attacks combined, caused 18 fatalities. The following year, attacks from RENAMO fighters against civilians on the Zimbabwean side of the border continued. Such attacks left a total of 14 civilian casualties that took place in Nyamaropa village, Mount Darwin area and eastern Zimbabwe.
By 1995, RENAMO was no longer actively targeting civilians in Zimbabwe, instead, attacks against civilians were related to police brutality from the Government of Zimbabwe. This led to another peak in violence when police killed three civilians in Harare and one in Karoi.
Incidences of one-sided violence continued taking place intermittently during the next years until 2008, when the highest peak in number of fatalities in the time-period was reached. After diamond deposits were discovered in 2006 in the district of Marange, eastern Zimbabwe, illegal miners started gradually dominating the diamond trade, leaving it out of the government’s control. With the aim to regain control over the diamond fields and mines in Marange, the Government of Zimbabwe launched a military operation in 2008 that resulted in over 200 civilian casualties.
Violence against civilians by the Government of Zimbabwe peaked again in 2019 with a total of eight civilian fatalities, double the death toll from the previous year, when four deaths were reported. In 2020, there was one incident of one-sided violence perpetrated by the Government of Zimbabwe, which took place in the town of Victoria Falls. Although violence against civilians continued to drive the trend, the total number of fatalities was lower than in the last two years.
Pre-1989 conflicts
Present day Zimbabwe was referred to as Southern Rhodesia within the British colonial system, and became a part of the Central African Federation of Northern and Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1953. This Federation under British rule came to an end in late 1963 when the territory was broken up into three: Northern Rhodesia (which became Zambia in 1964), Nyasaland (which became Malawi in 1964) and Southern Rhodesia, which legally remained within the British Commonwealth.
In the era of decolonization, Britain adopted a foreign policy called NIBMAR, or No Independence Before Majority African Rule, mandating democratic reforms that placed governance in the hands of the majority black Africans. The governing white minority of Rhodesia, led by Ian Smith, opposed the policy and its implications. In 1965, Smith’s regime made a unilateral declaration of independence, or UDI, from the British Commonwealth and held on to its white supremacist ideology. The international community condemned the UDI and the illegal Rhodesian government was the first to experience UN authorized economic sanctions. The sanctions were not universally adhered to, however, and South Africa most notably continued its economic dealings with Rhodesia.
In Rhodesia, black liberation movements were beginning to arm as a response to UDI. The Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) was founded in 1961 by Joseph Nkomo. However, under Nkomo ZAPU was never sufficiently militant to satisfy its more radical members and this led to a split in 1963 when Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole left it to form the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), the group later led by Robert Mugabe (who took over in 1976). Both groups were banned by the Smith regime and the leadership was either imprisoned or conducted their struggle from exile. The conflict was first active in 1967–1968, followed by a period of low activity. The conflict then became active again from 1972. ZANU and ZAPU fought separately, but for the same goal, namely black majority rule, until 1976 when they formed the joint political and military council, PF (Patriotic Front).
As the conflict between black nationalists and the Smith regime unfolded, the threat of a subregional conflict became increasingly eminent. Prior to PF, ZAPU militarily allied itself with the ANC of South Africa, whose presence in Rhodesia prompted the South African government to send paramilitary troops and mercenaries to aid the Rhodesian government. Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania provided safe havens and financial support to the liberation movements.
The Smith regime began to crumble when South Africa, Rhodesia’s ally, was forced by the world powers to exert heavier pressure upon Rhodesia to accept majority rule. In April 1979, following a white referendum that accepted the principle of majority rule, elections were held and the country got a black moderate for prime minister and the name of the territory was changed to Zimbabwe-Rhodesia – yet international recognition was withheld. The PF had not participated in the elections and had continued the armed struggle. An agreement with PF was reached in December 1979, reelections were held and the economic sanctions were lifted. In the 1980 reelections, ZANU-PF and Mugabe prevailed as winners. Upon seizure of power, Mugabe reassured that there was room and need for the white minority in the new Zimbabwe.
During the Mozambican civil war, Zimbabwe provided secondary warring support to the Government of Mozambique between the years 1985–1990. Zimbabwe also provided troops to former President Kabila’s Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1998–2001.
