She advised them to knock on her door if outstanding government business "was not actioned within five days".

She added that nepotism（縁者びいき） and corruption in state-owned companies would not be tolerated（寛大に扱う）, as they were the backbone of Zimbabwe's economy which is in crisis.

Most Zimbabweans have little prospect of finding a job and there is rampant（はびこっている） inflation and food and fuel shortages.

"If you have found some doors in government closed and you are constrained（強制される） because the relevant government departments are a hindrance（妨害）, my door is open," she said.

But state-owned companies would come in for more scrutiny（綿密な調査） and should carry out government policies.

Zimbabweans could overcome the country's economic hurdles, she said, if they united together.

"We Zimbabweans behave like a naked teacher wearing an apron who then turns to write on the blackboard while the back is not covered and is exposed to the children," she said.

At the meeting, Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono said state-owned firms were central to turning around（よい方向に向ける） Zimbabwe's economy as they contributed to about 40% to the country's gross domestic product.

Zimbabwe is arrears（滞納金） with the IMF to the tune of $175m.

Last week the organisation decided to defer（猶予する） for six months a ruling on whether to expel（除名する） Zimbabwe because of its unpaid debts.

For years it has been a major tobacco producer and is potentially a bread basket（穀倉地帯） for surrounding countries which often depend on food imports.

But the seizure of almost all white-owned commercial agricultural land, with the stated aim of benefiting black farmers, led to sharp falls in production. The country has endured critical food shortages and many Zimbabweans survive on grain handouts（お恵み）.

Aid agencies and critics partly blamed the shortages on the land reform programme. The government blamed a long-running drought, and Mr Mugabe accused Britain and its allies（同盟国） of sabotaging（妨害する） the economy in revenge for the redistribution programme.

The government's urban slum demolition drive in 2005 drew global condemnation（非難）
. The razing（倒壊） of "illegal structures" rendered（報いる） hundreds of thousands of people homeless.

The former Rhodesia has been the scene of much conflict, with white settlers dispossessing（から奪う） the resident population, guerrilla（ゲリラ） armies forcing the white government to submit to elections, and the post-independence leadership committing atrocities（残酷） in southern areas where it lacked the support of the Matabele people.

The country's challenges include the need to address its international isolation, chronic（慢性的な） unemployment, rampant inflation（はびこっているインフレ） and one of the world's highest rates of HIV/Aids infection（エイズの伝染）.

Zimbabwe has had a rocky relationship with the Commonwealth（イギリス連邦） - it was suspended from the organisation after President Mugabe's controversial re-election in 2002 and later announced that it was pulling out（手を引く） for good.

President: Robert Mugabe

Robert Mugabe played a key role in ending white rule in Rhodesia and he and his Zanu-PF party have dominated Zimbabwe's politics since independence in 1980.

The main challenge to the octogenarian（80歳代の人） leader's authority has come from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The MDC says its members have been killed, tortured（拷問にかける） and harassed by Zanu-PF supporters. The president has accused the party of being a tool of Western powers.

Mr Mugabe was declared the winner of the 2002 presidential elections, considered seriously flawed（台無しにする） by the opposition and foreign observers. He received a boost（後押し） in 2005 when Zanu-PF won more than two-thirds of the votes in parliamentary elections, said by the MDC to be fraudulent.

The size of the win enabled the president, if he wished, to change the constitution.

Ideologically（概念的に）, Mr Mugabe belongs to the African liberationist（解放運動家） tradition of the 1960s - strong and ruthless（冷酷な） leadership, anti-Western, suspicious of capitalism and deeply intolerant（寛容でない、我慢できない） of dissent（異議） and opposition.

His economic policies are widely seen as being geared（ギアを合わせる） to short-term political expediency（私利私欲） and the maintenance of power for himself. Mr Mugabe has defended his land reform programme, saying the issue is the "core social question of our time".

• Foreign minister: Simbarashe Mumbengegwi
• Finance minister: Herbert Murerwa

All broadcasters transmitting from Zimbabwean soil and the main newspapers are state-controlled and toe the government line.

The private press, relatively vigorous（精力的な） in its criticism of the government, has come under severe pressure. The only privately-owned daily, the Daily News, remains subject to a publication ban. The paper and the government had waged（激戦が起きている） war in the courts.

A weekly newspaper, The Zimbabwean, is produced in London and is distributed in Zimbabwe as an international publication, and among Zimbabweans living abroad.

Restrictive media laws, condemned（非難する） by the EU, the US and media rights organisations, criminalise（有罪とする） the publication of inaccurate information. Journalists who fail to register with a government body risk imprisonment.

State-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) operates the country's only TV and radio stations. ZBC formerly had two TV channels; its second network was leased to private station Joy TV until the agreement was cancelled in 2002. Some of Joy TV's programming was said to have ruffled government feathers（政府の羽毛を逆立てる=政府を怒らせる）.

Radio is the main source of information for many Zimbabweans. Although no private stations exist, the Voice of the People, set up by former ZBC staff with funding from the Soros Foundation（ソロス氏という投資家の基金） and a Dutch NGO, operates using a leased shortwave transmitter in Madagascar.

Another station, SW Radio Africa, began broadcasting to Zimbabwe via shortwave and the internet in 2001. It aimed to "give listeners unbiased information so they can make informed choices...". The station's shortwave signals were jammed（妨害する） in March 2005, a period coinciding with the run-up to parliamentary elections.