Yemen
North Yemen became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1918.
The British, who had set up a protectorate area around the southern
port of Aden in the 19th century, withdrew in 1967 from what became
South Yemen. Three years later, the southern government adopted a
Marxist orientation. The massive exodus of hundreds of thousands of
Yemenis from the south to the north contributed to two decades of
hostility between the states. The two countries were formally
unified as the Republic of Yemen in 1990. A southern secessionist
movement in 1994 was quickly subdued. In 2000, Saudi Arabia and
Yemen agreed to a delimitation of their border.
Zambia
The territory of Northern Rhodesia was administered by the
[British] South Africa Company from 1891 until it was taken over by
the UK in 1923. During the 1920s and 1930s, advances in mining
spurred development and immigration. The name was changed to Zambia
upon independence in 1964. In the 1980s and 1990s, declining copper
prices and a prolonged drought hurt the economy. Elections in 1991
brought an end to one-party rule, but the subsequent vote in 1996
saw blatant harassment of opposition parties. The election in 2001
was marked by administrative problems with three parties filing a
legal petition challenging the election of ruling party candidate
Levy MWANAWASA. The new president launched an anticorruption
investigation in 2002 to probe high-level corruption during the
previous administration. In 2006-07, this task force successfully
prosecuted four cases, including a landmark civil case in the UK in
which former President CHILUBA and numerous others were found liable
for USD 41 million. MWANAWASA was reelected in 2006 in an election
that was deemed free and fair.
Zimbabwe
The UK annexed Southern Rhodesia from the [British] South
Africa Company in 1923. A 1961 constitution was formulated that
favored whites in power. In 1965 the government unilaterally
declared its independence, but the UK did not recognize the act and
demanded more complete voting rights for the black African majority
in the country (then called Rhodesia). UN sanctions and a guerrilla
uprising finally led to free elections in 1979 and independence (as
Zimbabwe) in 1980. Robert MUGABE, the nation's first prime minister,
has been the country's only ruler (as president since 1987) and has
dominated the country's political system since independence. His
chaotic land redistribution campaign, which began in 2000, caused an
exodus of white farmers, crippled the economy, and ushered in
widespread shortages of basic commodities. Ignoring international
condemnation, MUGABE rigged the 2002 presidential election to ensure
his reelection. The ruling ZANU-PF party used fraud and intimidation
to win a two-thirds majority in the March 2005 parliamentary
election, allowing it to amend the constitution at will and recreate
the Senate, which had been abolished in the late 1980s. In April
2005, Harare embarked on Operation Restore Order, ostensibly an
urban rationalization program, which resulted in the destruction of
the homes or businesses of 700,000 mostly poor supporters of the
opposition. President MUGABE in June 2007 instituted price controls
on all basic commodities causing panic buying and leaving store
shelves empty for months. General elections held in March 2008
contained irregularities but still amounted to a censure of the
ZANU-PF-led government with significant gains in opposition seats in
parliament. MDC opposition leader Morgan TSVANGIRAI won the
presidential polls, and may have won an out right majority, but
official results posted by the Zimbabwe Electoral Committee did not
reflect this. In the lead up to a run-off election in late June
2008, considerable violence enacted against opposition party members
led to the withdrawal of TSVANGIRAI from the ballot. Extensive
evidence of vote tampering and ballot-box stuffing resulted in
international condemnation of the process, and calls for the
creation of a power-sharing government have been ignored.
This page was last updated on 18 December 2008
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@2030 Airports - with paved runways
Afghanistan total: 12 over 3,047 m: 4 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2007)
Albania total: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 (2007)
Algeria
total: 52
over 3,047 m: 10
2,438 to 3,047 m: 27
1,524 to 2,437 m: 10
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 1 (2007)
American Samoa total: 3 over 3,047 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2007)