HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Top opposition leaders were assaulted and tortured by police who broke up a prayer meeting planned to protest government policies, colleagues of the activists said Monday.

One protester was shot dead by police in Sunday’s unrest in the outskirts of the capital and scores of others were arrested. Journalists trying to cover the events also were arrested.

In a statement, organizers of the prayer meeting, an alliance of opposition, civic, church leaders and student and anti-government groups, said lawyers who visited the detainees Monday reported the main opposition party leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, fainted three times after being beaten by police.

The alliance, called the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, said another opposition leader, Lovemore Madhuku, was taken to the main Harare hospital early Monday after collapsing from police assaults.

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SWRadio has been a great partner in the International Day of Prayer, and now their work is gaining international attention through CNN. Continue to pray for their work as they seek to broadcast true journalism around the world.

(CNN) — Radio journalists broadcasting news about Zimbabwe have turned to texting their bulletins via mobile phones.

In order to beat the censors, journalists from SW Radio Africa have decided to text headlines to listeners after radio signals were jammed.

“It’s really only with full access to information that you can promote democratic principles,” says Gerry Jackson, the founder of London based SW Radio Africa.

Following the 2000 shut down of her Capital Radio station, Gerry Jackson left the country for London. Using short wave transmission and the Internet, she began broadcasting SW Radio Africa.

Her attempt was successful until 2005, when the government of Zimbabwe began using Chinese technologies to jam the broadcasts.

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Proverbs 29 v 2 “ When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked are in power, the people mourn.’’

Gift Tandare was shot and killed today in a high density suburb of Harare. Morgan Tsvangirai Lovemore Madhuku, Nelson Chamisa, Mike Davis, Elton Mangoma were tortured in custody.

Arthur Mutambara and Tendai Biti are missing.

In Highfields, the police last night were assaulting ordinary citizens in the suburb for allegedly supporting opposition politicians and the organizers of the rally. It is reported that several people were injured during the melee instigated by the State.

As the nation mourns another lost life, the people of Zimbabwe and the international community are urged to continue rallying behind the cause for a democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe.

Please be praying for all those unjustly arrested, that they will be released and be out of harms way. Pray for the family of Gift Tandare in their mourning. Pray for the police- that they will open their eyes to the wrong that they are committing and that they will cease from their actions of harm against innocent citizens. Pray for Mugabe as he plans on staying in power until 2014. Pray for Zimbabwe…

God Bless, Peter

Note: this is an opposing view to the UNICEF Report found HERE.

UNITED NATIONS, February 26 — When does foreign aid serve to prop up a dictatorship? This question was raised earlier this year at the Executive Board meetings of the UN Development Program, concerning UN aid in North Korea. But the question appears to similarly arise in the wake of an announcements Friday and earlier this month concerning expanded programs in Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe by the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF.

Mugabe’s long descent from participant in the Zimbabwean independence struggle to dictator is widely known, certainly to the senior leadership of UNICEF. The UN commissioned a report by Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, head of the UN’s Nairobi hub, on Mugabe’s mass eviction in 2005 of 700,000 perceived political opponents, called Operation Muarambatsvina / Take Out the Trash (or, “Drive Out the Filth”). Virtually none of the families evicted were re-housed, according to follow-up reports.

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UNICEF Humanitarian Action Report [Zimbabwe], 2007: Read It
UNICEF Zimbabwe Feature Story: Read It

UNICEF Zimbabwe Feature [Excerpt]
In a rundown pole and dagga hut – where a torn blanket has been turned into a door and the only piece of furniture is an old paraffin lamp – Miriam Madzinga lives with her six younger siblings. They sleep side-by-side, partly through necessity (it is a one-room shack) and partly to ward off the cold.

Miriam welcomes us into their home as her half-dressed younger brothers play ‘tsoro’ (a local version of draughts) in the shade of the hut, while her young sisters help with the cooking. A bitter wind blows dust into their plates and eyes.

Miriam and her little brothers and sisters live at the heart of Buhera, two hours east of Zimbabwe’s capital, where maize is burnt dry and HIV decimates communities. Although she is just 16 years old, Miriam is head of her household. Her father died in 1998, and her mother four years later.

UNICEF estimates that 100,000 Zimbabwean children live in homes like Miriam’s – child-headed households. “I have just walked more than 4 km in search of water,” says Miriam. “Now it is time for cooking, bathing and cleaning.”

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The United Nations’ Consolidated Appeal for Zimbabwe 2007 is now available online. Here are some of the findings of the report:

:: The HIV/AIDS pandemic directly affects 18%[1]-20%[2] of the population, with an average of 3,000[3] deaths per week.

:: Zimbabwe’s population of 11.8 million people includes a number of vulnerable groups:
— people living with HIV/AIDS (1.8 million; UNAIDS, 2006);
— children that have lost one or both parents (1.4 million; UNICEF, 2006)
— people with severe disabilities (230,000; Government of Zimbabwe, Central Statistical Office, December 2004)
— the chronically ill (population figure unknown)
— food-insecure communities (1.4 million in rural areas; Rural Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee, 2006)
— refugees (3,200; UNHCR, 2006)
— ex-farm workers (160,000 households affected; UNDP, 2003)
— those directly affected by Operation Murambatsvina/Operation Restore Order (650,000-700,000; Report of the United Nations Special Envoy, 2005).

By Nelson Banya
February 22, 2007

HARARE, (Reuters) - Like many Zimbabweans, I frequently go to bed early because the power is cut off.

The darkness in my bedroom shadows the mood in the country, where an economic crisis has pushed inflation to nearly 1,600 percent, the highest level in the world.

Coping with economic meltdown is never easy. But in President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, once seen as the brightest economic star in southern Africa, it has become a disheartening battle that most people lose every day.

I’m a young urban professional, but I often start my day by using firewood to fix breakfast on a barbecue, something that until recently was a feature only of rural life.

Water supplies are erratic and often our taps are dry for much longer than the electricity is out.

Read on…