'Millions need aid'
2005-08-12 09:31
New York - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged potential donors to help more than 10 million people across Southern Africa who need humanitarian aid because of the "triple threat" of Aids, food shortages and bad government.
"If we are to avert a catastrophe in a few months time, then food and cash must be pledged immediately for humanitarian assistance programmes," Annan said in a letter to the leaders of 27 countries, the European Union (EU) and the African Development Bank that was released on Thursday.
Annan's appeal - which did not give a specific figure - came six weeks after the head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today is not in Sudan, Afghanistan or North Korea but in Southern Africa.
A combination of crises
James Morris, who is also Annan's special envoy on humanitarian needs, said the "lethal mix" of Aids, drought and poor governance was destroying Southern Africa's social fabric.
In the letter he sent this week, Annan said the combination of crises "is threatening the very survival of communities in the region".
"Tragic experience has taught us that we cannot wait until the last minute to respond with humanitarian assistance," he said. "In raising the alarm now, I hope you will do everything within your power to ensure Southern Africa does not become another crisis that was within our grasp to prevent."
Annan and Morris did not name any countries where bad governance contributed to food shortages, but the United States, Britain, France and other security council nations have singled out Zimbabwe. They have strongly criticised President Robert Mugabe's demolition of thousands of illegal shanties and stalls which left between 300 000 and 1.5 million people homeless and jobless.
Millions need humanitarian aid
Annan said, without giving specifics, that recent crop and food assessments by the UN, governments and voluntary organisations, "indicate more than 10 million people will need humanitarian aid over the coming year".
Many have been battling food shortages for the last three years and because of poverty and the impact of the Aids pandemic "they simply have not had a chance to recover", he said.
"This year, the late arrival of seeds and fertiliser, combined with several extremely dry months, were enough to seriously impact agricultural production in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe," Annan said. "Malawi, for example, is facing its worst harvest since 1992."
Between 700 000 and 800 000 tons of food will probably be needed, he said.
"Fortunately, South Africa has a sizable grain surplus this year - the only country in the region that has avoided a deficit - and it may be possible to procure supplies there if donors move quickly," Annan said.
- AP