Minister says Zimbabwe food aid must increase

Times (UK) ^ | August 1, 2002 | Michael Dynes in Johannesburg and Greg H urst, Parliamentary Correspondent

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Minister says Zimbabwe food aid must increase From Michael Dynes in Johannesburg and Greg H urst, Parliamentary Correspondent

BRITAIN will have to increase its emergency food aid to Zimbabwe to prevent widespread starvation, even at the risk of propping up the Mugabe regime, the Government admitted yesterday.

Baroness Amos, the minister with responsibility for Africa, who was in Pretoria, said that Britain had promised £30 million a year in food and development aid, but that figure would have to rise significantly.

Six million people are facing famine in the former British colony. The higher level of aid would be required for several years until the damage caused by President Mugabe’s seizure of about 3,000 white farms could be repaired, she said.

Lady Amos sought to silence critics, who will accuse the Government of propping up Zimbabwe’s Government, saying: “We cannot allow women and children to die.” Britain had “a moral responsibility” to ensure that the people of Zimbabwe did not starve, she said.

Nor could it refuse to increase assistance to Zimbabwe because of the danger that the ruling Zanu (PF) party would seek to ensure that food aid was distributed to government supporters, she said. Accepting that the British Government would face some critical questioning of its policies, she added: “It is essential that we work together to find a solution which puts the needs of the people of Zimbabwe first.”

Britain has already donated £45 million to the United Nations World Food Programme’s international appeal for £338 million to avert famine across southern Africa. Zimbabwe will receive £14 million in emergency food relief, in addition to the £18 million donated in development aid.

The Commons Public Accounts Select Committee criticised Britain’s spending on aid yesterday, saying that too little was reaching the poorest nations. More aid should be sent to poor countries whose governments were committed to reducing poverty rather than to middle-income states that could do more to support their poor, it said.

In a report on the Department for International Development, the committee states that 22 per cent of direct aid went to countries with pockets of deprivation, but that were not poor. These included Russia, Guatemala, Bolivia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Greater attention should also be given to evidence of poor governance and its impact on aid, from other aid projects, local press reports or court proceedings, the committee said.

Agricultural production in Zimbabwe’s commercial farming sector is down 60 per cent from two years ago and even if Mr Mugabe’s land seizures were reversed it would take many years for food production to revert to normal, Lady Amos said. Some 62 per cent of white commercial farms in Zimbabwe have been served with so-called Section 8 Land Act notices, making it a criminal offence for their owners to farm the land.

The World Food Programme estimates that 13 million people in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland are threatened by food shortages. The organisation fears that Western countries have been procrastinating out of a conviction that the region’s food crisis is self- inflicted, Lady Amos said.

Lady Amos told the Foreign Affairs Select Committee that she continued to hope for an unexpected and critical development that would save Zimbabwe, citing the example of Angola. In February the death of Jonas Savimbi, the rebel leader, in effect ended 40 years of conflict.

She added: “As the months go on, if the situation does not change, I think the neighbouring governments may well have to review their strategy.”

[Clive]

"Lady Amos told the Foreign Affairs Select Committee that she continued to hope for an unexpected and critical development that would save Zimbabwe, citing the example of Angola. In February the death of Jonas Savimbi, the rebel leader, in effect ended 40 years of conflict."

"She added: “As the months go on, if the situation does not change, I think the neighbouring governments may well have to review their strategy.”"

What a nice, quiet, understated, British way of calling for Mugabe to be taken out.

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"“We cannot allow women and children to die.” Britain had “a moral responsibility” to ensure that the people of Zimbabwe did not starve, she said."

Send in the troops and take out Mugabe. That's the 'moral' thing to do. (Then let the white farmers go back to work and support the low IQ idiots.)

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