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Zim most food aid dependent country in the world
Alex Bell, SW Radio Africa
May 26, 2009

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news260509/zimaid260509.htm

Zimbabwe has this week been rated as the most food-aid dependent country in the world, a title that comes as the unity government continues to refuse to act on the ongoing land invasions.

According to a report released by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies this week, up to 80 percent of the population relies on food-aid to survive. The report also revealed that more than half of the children who died as a result of the cholera epidemic, were critically malnourished. The details in the report are a shocking indication of the severity of the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe, which used to be regarded as the 'breadbasket of Africa'.

The Global Political Agreement (GPA) that set out the guidelines for the formation of the unity government, called for the production of food to be encouraged to counter the desperate food crisis in the country. But, in complete violation of this point in the GPA, farm invasions have intensified and even been encouraged by Mugabe, to the point that food production is mostly nonexistent. The ongoing and increasingly violent land attacks are therefore the leading cause of the country's suffering and lack of investment, and yet the unity government seems unable to take any action to stop the attacks.

During an interview about the 100-day milestone of the Global Political Agreement last week, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai even played down the serious nature of the invasions, calling them 'isolated incidents' that have been 'blown out of proportion'.

"We have investigated examples of those so called farm invasions," the Prime Minister continued, repeatedly referring to the land invasions as 'so-called' attacks. "We have asked the minister of lands (ZANU PF) to give us a detailed report of what has been happening over all these so called farm invasions and the outcry over that."

Tsvangirai also insisted that the matter was being attended to, despite the clear lack of action by the government that has already sparked anger in the beleaguered farming community. Justice for Agriculture's (JAG) John Worsley-Worswick explained on Tuesday that the Prime Minister's comments are a gross "misrepresentation of the facts," that will ultimately jeopardise the future of the country. He further explained that "papering over the cracks," by playing down the severity of the land attacks, will not solve the bigger problem, saying: "We have a massive humanitarian crisis on our hands that will not be solved until the MDC challenges the Mugabe administration on issues such as the land attacks." The JAG official expressed frustration and disappointment over the MDC's unwillingness to confront ZANU PF, explaining the party is becoming complicit with ongoing crime.

"Farmers are now being exposed as a soft target because no one will take action to stop these attacks happening," Worsley-Worswick explained. "The continued infringement of property rights is a crime that no one is doing anything about."

Many farmers have been forced into hiding as a result of the latest attacks, while more than 100 are already facing prosecution on trumped up land-related charges. The physical land attacks have also become increasingly violent in recent weeks, and in most cases, farm workers have been the victims of beatings and harassment at the hands of land invaders.

Thousands more workers have lost their jobs because of the forced takeover of land by ZANU PF loyalists, adding to the 94% unemployment already crippling the country.

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