Posted on 07/21/2002 2:36:30 AM PDT by Clive
New York - Food aid for an estimated 12.8 million people in Southern Africa facing starvation is in jeopardy after international donors, angered by the political crisis in Zimbabwe, raised concerns about giving money to countries seen as undemocratic.
UN leaders this week called on international donors to give $611-million (about R6.1-billion) to help aid agencies provide food to people affected by chronic shortages in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia.
Zimbabwe, with its rapidly declining economy, will be at the centre of the crisis with more than six million people facing starvation in the next 12 months. The UN said $285-million would be needed to feed those in danger of starvation in Zimbabwe alone.
UN under-secretary for humanitarian affairs Kenzo Oshima said more than half the people facing starvation were children. Last October, Zimbabwe asked donors for $83.6-million in food aid, but received only $41.7-million.
"A number of donor representatives have raised concerns about governance issues, including in Zimbabwe. I think a dialogue has started to resolve those governance issues [in Zimbabwe]," Oshima said. Only four donor countries - Sweden, Canada, Germany and the US - pledged to assist the effort on Thursday, but did not disclose how much they would give.
Richard Lee, a spokesman for the World Food Programme who had been visiting the region, said people were on the "very edge". He said some people had for months been eating banana roots, wild fruits and maize husks, which had no nutritional value but filled them up.
In his report, Oshima lambasted Zimbabwe's land resettlement programme, saying it was a leading cause of the economic chaos. In a speech at the UN this week, however, July Moyo, Zimbabwe's Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, lauded the programme and said it would continue.
Cornia Pretorius reports that the president of the South African Democratic Teachers' Union has called on children, parents and teachers to help the millions of people facing starvation. "We know what is happening in Zimbabwe - that children can't go to school because they fear hunger," Sadtu president Willy Madisha said. He said those who could afford it would be asked to contribute food. "We will ask our 232,000 members to coordinate the effort at school level and to encourage children, parents and the community to contribute and let people [in the region] live."
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Hell's Eternal Bells, Clive-- "Democracy" is part of the problem over there-- if 50.00001% in a "democracy" vote that it's OK to rob their neighbor, then it's OK....
What they ought to be concerned with is all that aid not reaching needy people, but rather going into the pockets of corrupt tyrants...
No one will soon forget Somalia and Ethiopia.
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