Video testimonials document politically motivated sexual violence in Zimbabwe

According to the Zimbabwe Rape Survivors Association, during last year's highly contested presidential election an estimated 2,000 women and girls were the targets of politically-motivated sexual violence in Zimbabwe. State-sanctioned groups under President Robert Mugabe's ruling party, ZANU PF, beat and raped women for participating in the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and though men were also beaten, women were specifically targeted because they were easier to physically dominate. The violence, which occurred before international election observers arrived in Zimbabwe, was used to intimidate voters opposed to Mugabe's re-election. According to Marwick Khumalo, head of the Pan-African Parliament, voter turn-out for the 2008 run-off was subsequently "very, very low." Today Zimbabwe is at another crossroads. Despite South African Development Community (SADC) intervention, mediated talks between ZANU PF and the MDC are at a sticking point. The unity government's Global Political Agreement remains only partially implemented and with certain details of the power-sharing agreement in dispute, political tensions are once again rising.