Zimbabwe -- Mugabe still to appeal for food aid

BULAWAYO -- Zimbabwe, which requires 1.8 million tonnes of food to avert starvation, has not yet appealed to the World Food Programme (WFP) for assistance, a month after President Robert Mugabe told WFP chief, James Tim Morris, that he would welcome food aid.

Harare has also not declared a state of disaster over food shortages, a move that would enable other international relief groups to begin raising aid for an estimated four million Zimbabweans facing starvation after poor harvests last season.

The delay by Mugabe and his government in appealing for help could see donated food being delayed by up to three months before it can reach hungry Zimbabweans many of whom are already on the verge of starvation.

A WFP spokeswoman in Harare, Makena Walker told ZimOnline that it takes about three months for donated food to be shipped from donor countries outside Africa to Zimbabwe.

Walker however said in the event international donors responded to a formal appeal for help by Zimbabwe by making cash available to the WFP to purchase food, then the organisation would buy food from neighbouring South Africa which could be moved to Harare within a much shorter period.

"South Africa has reserves of 300 million metric tonnes of grain in its silos and the region can buy from them but the process becomes difficult when food is donated because it has to be shipped and that takes about three months," said Walker.

The WFP official said when Mugabe met Morris last month he had only indicated that Harare was willing to accept WFP food assistance but that did not amount to a formal appeal for food aid.

She said: "As it is presently, the Zimbabwean government has not yet made a formal appeal to the international community and neither has the government declared a state of disaster for international donors to start making contributions.

"When WFP director, Tim Morris, was in the country the government said it would welcome food but that was not an appeal."

Zimbabwe intelligence Minister Didymus Mutasa, who is in charge of food distribution, could not be reached to find out why it is taking the government so long to formally appeal for food relief.

But Agriculture Minister Joseph Made this week told Parliament that the government would welcome food from anyone wishing to help as long as there were no "political strings" attached to the aid. Mugabe and his government accuse international donor groups of using food as a pretext to incite Zimbabweans against their rule.

Made also told Parliament that the hard cash-strapped government was planning to import 1.8 million tonnes of the staple maize. He did not say where the money, more than US$200 million required to buy the maize, would come from or when the food imports would start arriving in the country.

The government, which last year told international relief groups to take their food elsewhere because it was not needed in Zimbabwe, had until just before last March's disputed election denied that the country was facing serious food shortages.

The government also denies that the chronic food shortages that have plagued Zimbabwe for much of the last five years are largely due to disruptions to agriculture linked to its seizure of white-owned commercial farms for landless blacks.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee, comprising government departments and international relief agencies working in the country, is next week expected to present the findings of a study into Zimbabwe's food situation at a meeting of the regional assessment committee in Johannesburg. - ZimOnline

When Mugabe says that he wants "no political strings" he really means that he wants to be free to attach his own strings to the donated food.

Zanu PF has a history of using hunger as a political weapon, withholding food from whole villages who have failed to vote for Zanu PF. Some NGOs have had to withdraw from Zimbabwe rather than allow their relief efforts to be diverted by Zanu PF interference.

I can't believe this bastard.

He starves his own people, he kicks them out of their homes or off their farms, he confiscates foodstuffs already donated and then he wants the rest of the world to donate more food?

And yet the African Union and UN stand by idly while all this goes on.

This is a very messed-up situation to say the least.

"Made also told Parliament that the hard cash-strapped government was planning to import 1.8 million tonnes of the staple maize. He did not say where the money, more than US$200 million required to buy the maize, would come from or when the food imports would start arriving in the country."

If Zim needs to import 1.8 million tonnes of maize, then the agricultural disaster is even worse than I had imagined. Zimbabwe requires an annual total of 1.8 million tonnes for all purposes, including human consumption and animal feed.

I had assumed that the commercial agricultural production had fallen to 1/3 of its pre-2000 level. If 1.8 million tonnes has to be imported by a nation that cannot pay for it, then the commercial production has totally collapsed.

In other news... Robert Mugabe has just been elected as a Town Selectman in New London, Connecticut. New London Mayor Simon Legree said, "This is a wonderful development. Mr. Mugabe's experience in the field of redevelopment will be a valuable resource in our community..."

I can have your 300 Million Tons there Friday, but if it is a UN operation, it will take three months while they dither around with the money in Geneva and make sure everybody gets his cut. Stealing that kind of money takes time, you know!

"When Mugabe says that he wants "no political strings" he really means that he wants to be free to attach his own strings to the donated food."

And I recall the story from just a few days ago when Mugabes thugs seized a shipment of food.

How soon we forget. Zimbabwe, formally Rhodesia was the Bread Basket of Africa. The appropriation of White farms led to this debacle and this will be the future of Africa. So. Africa after apartheid is in decline regardless of what the LMM tell us and like Africa, the Washington DC school dist., Oakland CA., King/Drew, Compton Jr College, Detroit, on and on.

The United Nations, oil for food, you tell me.

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