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Zim bars aid agencies from diverting food to Zambia
Tinotenda Kandi, ZimOnline (SA)
June 12, 2008

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=3294

Harare - Zimbabwe's government has barred a coalition of relief agencies from moving a stockpile of food to neighboring Zambia, a week after it ordered aid groups to stop relief operations accusing them of supporting the opposition. Sources in the NGO community said the coalition known as C-Safe - and bringing together Care International, Catholic Relief Services, and World Vision International - sought permission from the government to divert a consignment of food to Zambia after Harare's refusal to allow the humanitarian groups to distribute the food locally. Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche turned down the request. The food, imported from the United States under the "food for peace programme", was initially meant for vulnerable Zimbabweans especially orphans and people living with HIV/AIDS. The food, whose tonnage was unclear but which our sources said included substantial quantities of cooking oil and wheat, remains stockpiled in warehouses in Harare, with aid officials worried it might expire and would have to be thrown away.

"We had requested that the food be moved to Zambia, where a similar programme is running unhindered but there was a big no from the government last week," said a C-Safe official who did not want to be named because she did not have permission from the group to speak to the media. It was not possible to get official comment on the matter from either C-Safe or Goche. The National Association of Non-governmental Organisations (NANGO) expressed fear that the government might seize the stockpiled food and use it for political gain by distributing it to potential voters to induce them to back President Robert Mugabe in a second round presidential election later this month. Mugabe faces opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the June 27 run-off poll after Tsvangirai won the first round ballot on March 29 but failed to secure the required margin to takeover power.

NANGO spokesman Fambai Ngirande said: "Fears that the government could raid NGOs' food stocks for political purposes are very real. We would not be surprised (if that happened) because they have shown that they are acting in bad faith. On one hand they ban NGOs from assisting those in need, and on the other hand they stop the movement of that same food to another country in need. The motive is questionable," said Ngirande. The government last week suspended all work by aid agencies, accusing them of using aid distribution to campaign for Tsvangirai. Relief agencies deny interfering in Zimbabwe's political affairs while the European Union, the United States, local church and human rights groups have criticised the ban and called for it to be lifted. United Nations (UN) agencies in Zimbabwe earlier this week called the ban on humanitarian aid a violation of fundamental human rights principles and said it had "created life threatening conditions" for more than two million vulnerable people who survived on donor support.

Meanwhile police earlier this week seized tones of food aid from a private warehouse in Harare. The food allegedly belonged to the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development but this could not be immediately confirmed with the aid group. NGOS normally rent private warehouses to keep their stocks before it is distributed across the country. The police however claimed the food was intended to be given to Tsvangirai so he could use it to buy support from hungry votes. Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu defended the warehouse raid that took place on Tuesday night, claiming that most of the food seized during the raid consisted of locally produced basic commodities that were in short supply in the country. Ndlovu said: "The food was manufactured locally, yet the NGOs tell us they are importing it from outside. There is something fishy here because local manufactures that are starving the formal market are feeding the NGOs. The police are widening their net and they will continue seizing any basic commodities stocked in suspicious warehouses."

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