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Zimbabwe: Harare bars relief agency from assisting displaced families
ZimOnline
April 07, 2006

http://www.zimonline.co.za/headdetail.asp?ID=11917

HARARE - The Zimbabwean government on Tuesday barred an international relief agency from distributing food aid to hundreds of displaced individuals at a holding camp in Harare insisting it should limit its work among the chronically ill and child-headed families only.

An official with Christian Care relief agency said they were told at a meeting chaired by a Department of Social Welfare officer, Ezekiel Mpande, to halt its general food assistance programme to displaced families.

The Christian Care official who refused to be named for professional reasons told ZimOnline yesterday that they were ordered to confine their activities at Hopley Farm to "targeted feeding" of vulnerable groups only.

"Christian Care is now required to feed only the sick, child headed-families and the crippled but the problem is that the majority of the people at the farm desperately need assistance. Some people will definitely starve to death because of hunger.

"As long the government does not allow us to feed all the people, we cannot do anything to help these other people who do not fall under agreed categories," said the official.

Sources at the farm said the Harare authorities regard Hopley Farm as an "enclave" of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party and giving food to the residents would be tantamount to "supporting the opposition party."

About 1 300 people are staying at Hopley Farm after their houses and backyard shacks were razed to the ground last May in a controversial clean-up exercise sanctioned by President Robert Mugabe to clean up cities and towns.

At least 700 000 people were rendered homeless through the exercise, according to figures released by United Nations envoy Anna Tibaijuka. Another 2.4 million people were also directly affected by the exercise which the UN criticised as a serious infringement of human rights.

Labour and Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche who is in charge of food aid distribution could not be reached for comment on the matter.

The World Food Programme (WFP) in January this year stopped distributing food at the camp after reports of politicisation of relief aid.

WFP regional public affairs officer Mike Huggins said the body stopped distributing relief food after "distribution concerns" were raised at the camp. But Huggins said the WFP was, "in dialogue with government so that we can resume feeding vulnerable people".

The Zimbabwean government has in the past rejected charges of withholding food aid to MDC supporters as punishment for backing the opposition party.

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