Regional aid package for Zim
by
2008-12-21 22:50
Harare - On Sunday a southern African bloc announced humanitarian aid for Zimbabwe as the country battles food shortages and a deadly cholera outbreak which has killed over 1 120 people.
"We are here to launch the initiative and find out how far we are in terms of delivering the required assistance," Southern African Development Community (SADC) executive secretary Tomaz Salomao said.
The undisclosed amount of assistance followed a visit by a SADC team led by South Africa two weeks ago to assess the country's humanitarian crisis.
Salamao said part of the package was South Africa's R300m donation of seed, fertilisers and fuel to help revive the country's agricultural sector.
South Africa had maintained that it would hold off any kind of aid assistance to Zimbabwe until a unity government was in place.
"This is regional solidarity. When you are facing difficulties, you have to count on the solidarity of your brothers.
"We cannot fail in assisting Zimbabwe, that's the critical and most important thing," said Salamao.
Regional countries who contributed to the package include Tanzania, Botswana and Namibia.
On Sunday, the United States announced that it would not extend aid to Zimbabwe as long as its leader Robert Mugabe remained president.
Once hailed as a model economy, Zimbabwe's fortunes have nosedived since 2000 when Mugabe seized white-owned farms and handed them over to landless blacks, often with no farming skills.
Plans to form a power-sharing government between Mugabe and his rivals have been stalled by disagreements over the allocation of key ministries.