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ZIMBABWE:
Govt says no need for aid despite food shortages
IRIN
News
July
08, 2005
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48048
JOHANNESBURG
- Despite an estimated 4.5 million Zimbabweans needing food aid
this year, the government insists there is no need to launch an
official appeal for international assistance.
"No state
of disaster will be declared, and there are no plans to appeal for
food aid," Leonard Turugari of the ministry of public service,
labour and social welfare, told delegates at a regional food security
meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday.
The two-day
gathering of government representatives, UN agencies and NGOs from
the region aimed to tackle specific challenges arising from a decline
in agricultural production in recent years.
Several southern
African countries are entering a fourth year of food shortages and
the UN World Food Programme says it needs US $266 million to assist
more than 10 million vulnerable people across the region.
Turugari said
his government had the capacity to import 1.2 million mt of maize,
the staple grain, in the coming months, to make up for a shortfall
in national output. He attributed the downturn in production to
lingering drought conditions and economic difficulties.
Although there
were no plans on the table to ask the international community to
step in and kick-start a general food distribution programme, Turugari
said the "door was not closed to donors". NGOs could continue
giving assistance to the vulnerable, provided they worked "within
their mandates".
International
NGOs operating in Zimbabwe have come under fire from the government
for allegedly using food aid to campaign for the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC); on the other hand, the MDC has claimed
that the government used food as a political weapon by withholding
it from perceived opponents.
When asked if
there was a guarantee that the 1.2 million mt of imported maize,
which is to be distributed by the state-controlled Grain Marketing
Board, would be channelled to the most vulnerable, Turugari said
there was "no evidence to the contrary".
He also commented
that, contrary to reports, the scarcity of basic commodities was
due to producers hoarding essential items.
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