Zimbabwe needs hope.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Hope is a scarce commodity in Zimbabwe - nearly as scarce as cornmeal in drought-stricken regions of this once-prosperous nation in southern Africa.

As expected, President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front won his country's recent parliamentary elections the same way it has won every other election in recent years - through corruption, intimidation and violence.

Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangiarai, was forced to defend himself against trumped-up charges of treason. His followers were killed, assaulted, tortured, raped and imprisoned by Mugabe's ubiquitous security forces. Mugabe's supporters larded Zimbabwe's voter rolls with more than a million fictitious voters. See-through ballot boxes enabled Mugabe's thugs to record how people voted. Mugabe last year ordered international relief agencies to halt food shipments, making sure he could use food to manipulate voters in a country where more than 3 million people are hungry.

Mugabe has systematically inflicted misery, hunger and violence on his country's citizens. Since 2000, Zimbabwe's economy has shrunk by a third, while inflation has hit three figures. Three million Zimbabweans have gone to other countries in search of work, and the ranks of remaining workers have been thinned by an AIDS epidemic that has infected a third of the population.

Zimbabwe was once southern Africa's breadbasket. But Mugabe's seizures of white-owned farms, even in defiance of an order from his country's supreme court, have caused food production to plummet.

It's hard to believe that Mugabe was once one of Africa's most highly regarded and successful leaders. Like South Africa's Nelson Mandela, he spent years in prison before leading the fight for independence from racist white rule in what was formerly known as Rhodesia.

Over the past two decades, however, Mugabe has shown that he is willing to do anything to remain in power, and has steadily corrupted the country he led to freedom. He has stacked Zimbabwe's once much-admired court system with judges on his payroll. He has put family members and cronies in top positions. He has shut down independent newspapers and barred foreign journalists. He has sent troops to fight in the Congo without consulting his Cabinet.

In recent years, Zimbabweans have shown remarkable courage in standing up to Mugabe. Zimbabwe's Archbishop Pius Ncube recently called for a popular uprising. The missing ingredient for much-needed change is for other nations to demand that Mugabe leave office.

So far, even Zimbabwe's neighbors have been shamefully reluctant to speak out. South African President Thabo Mbeki has refused to denounce Mugabe, even going so far as to predict that Zimbabwe's elections would be fair.

Western nations must also demand change, just as they did in the Ukraine and Yugoslavia. When President Bush says he is dedicated to promoting freedom and democracy throughout the world, Zimbabwe should be at the top of his list.

Without support from the rest of the world, Zimbabweans will continue to suffer and die under Mugabe's unyielding grip.