The two men are supposed to share power in a new unity government that is facing the world’s highest inflation rate, hunger and a cholera epidemic that has killed 3,400 people.

Briggs Bomba grew up in Zimbabwe and is now with Africa Action, an organization that focuses on shaping U.S. political and economic policies that affect African nations. He joins Martin Savidge to discuss the likelihood that Mugabe will actually share power, possible solutions to the cholera epidemic and the role of other African countries in improving conditions in Zimbabwe.

PBS Wide Angle interviews Mahmood Mamdani, a Ugandan-born professor of government at Columbia University and an expert on African Studies. Mamdani explains why he believes that the new power-sharing agreement is the best way forward. He also reflects on Mugabe’s three-decade rule, failed land reforms and the subsequent collapse of Zimbabwe’s agricultural system.

The two men are supposed to share power in a new unity government that is facing the world’s highest inflation rate, hunger and a cholera epidemic that has killed 3,400 people.

Wide Angle’s web-exclusive documentary series Focal Point goes undercover with independent journalist and native Zimbabwean Robyn Kriel. Underground Zimbabwe chronicles life in Zimbabwe under Mugabe.

In the video Zimbabwe’s Life Lines, Kriel takes cameras inside empty stores and speaks with people who are trying to make a living in Zimbabwe’s thriving black market. The footage was shot a year ago and the situation has worsened significantly since.

In the video Demonstrating Under Dictatorship, Kriel also follows the non-violent street protests of the 35,000-member activist group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA).

For more on the crises in Zimbabwe, visit Wide Angle’s Underground Zimbabwe.

Morgan Tsvangirai will become prime minister of Zimbabwe’s unity government.

Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, said on Friday that it will accept a power-sharing plan worked out in September and join a unity government with President Robert Mugabe. The leader of that party, Morgan Tsvangirai, will become prime minister.

The move underscores a growing sense in the region that Zimbabwe needed a political solution so it could address its growing humanitarian crisis.

Blogger “Marius Bosch” writes that the agreement might improve prospects for dealing with the country’s cholera epidemic and widespread hunger.

The “Afrodissident” blog writes that the agreement will merely allow Mugabe’s party to retain a “veneer of democratic respectability” and that the Tsvangirai’s party will not have much power.

Blogger “Denford Magora” in Zimbabwe writes that Tsvangirai’s decision to join the government is merely a “face-saving” tactic, and that the opposition party has merely hopped aboard a sinking ship, as the government has no hope of repairing Zimbabwe’s infrastructure.

Zimbabwe is also trying to deal with a paralyzed economy. This week, the United Nations said unemployment has reached 94 percent. Zimbabwe announced that it will allow transactions in other currencies, as the Zimbabwean dollar has been plagued by hyperinflation.

The economic hardship touches just about every part of life in Zimbabwe, including the crumbling education system. This week was supposed to be the start of the new school year, but teachers went on strike over pay.

Blogger “Bishop Kadenge” writes that the education strikes are hurting Zimbabwean parents, who must pay extra money to get home tutors, but that Zimbabweans as a whole are coming together and working as a community.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Sokwanele - Zimbabwe under a Creative Commons license.

Protesters marched at the Harare International Conference Centre, the venue for this week’s regional meeting.

After hours of talks, Zimbabwe’s rival political parties remain at a standstill on a power-sharing deal.

The country’s neighbors — members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) — have now decided to intervene and hold a regional summit to resolve Zimbabwe’s political impasse. United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon has urged decisive action at the meeting.

As Zimbabwe’s political future hangs in the balance, bloggers from the region voice their thoughts about President Robert Mugabe and the political system.

Blogger “Kwapi” writes at the “NowPublic” Web site that Zimbabwe’s leaders, as well as its complacent citizens, are to blame for a cycle of poltical dysfunction.

Blogger “Opalo” demands an ultimatum, writing from Zimbabwe that the squabbling over cabinet seats ignores the plight of rural citizens in a country whose inflation rate recently reached 231 million percent.

A citizen journalist at “OhMyNews” writes about Mugabe’s current situation and the climate of fear in Zimbabwean politics.

On Oct. 27, 47 protesters from the Restoration of Human Rights group (ROHR) were arrested in Harare, Zimbabwe, where the regional summit will take place.

The “Zimbabwe Republic Police” blog, which monitors police action in Zimbabwe, concludes the protest was peaceful and that the officers involved should themselves be arrested.

Zimbabwe’s main opposition party accused the 28-year incumbent Mugabe of lacking sincerity about developing a cooperative government. Mugabe has led Zimbabwe since it gained independence from Britain in 1980. The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, may boycott the forthcoming summit.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Sokwanele under a  Creative Commons license.