Africa gets extra R34m food aid

2005-09-01 20:00

Johannesburg - Aid agencies have welcomed an announcement by the European Commission that it will donate an additional $5.4m (about R34.4m) to help meet food requirements in Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland.

According to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), more than 10 million people of southern Africa need emergency aid, especially Zimbabweans.

The EC donation brought to about $53m (about R338m) the total contributions for hunger relief in southern Africa made by the commission and individual member states of the European Union.

Michael Huggins of the WFP said, however, $187m (about R1.2bn) was still needed for "the next lean season, which finishes between March and April 2006".

Of the three nations set to benefit from the EC pledge, Zimbabwe was the most severely affected by food shortages.

13m people need food aid

According to the WFP, preliminary research showed that about 2.9-million of the country's 13-million citizens would require food aid this year.

However, the UN agency noted that this estimate was based on a government commitment to import 1.2 million tons of food as well as a number of assumptions.

They were that maize prices would be subsidised and salaries could keep pace with inflation.

If these assumptions were not met, the number of people needing food aid could increase.

The WFP planned to distribute 300 000 tons of food to Zimbabweans in need, and was already helping about a million people in the country through school-feeding schemes and Aids programmes.

Destruction of informal homes

The WFP country director for Zimbabwe, Kevin Farrell, said: "At the moment we have commitments for about 50% of our needs through to December."

Concerns about hunger in Zimbabwe had deepened with the destruction of informal homes and businesses in the country's cities.

The international outrage about the demolition prompted UN secretary-general Kofi Annan to send UN human settlements programme executive director Anna Tibaijuka on a fact-finding mission.

In a report released in July, she estimated the campaign had left 700 000 people homeless and many without the means to earn a living.

5 000 blankets given to Zim

South African churches mounted a relief drive for Zimbabweans affected by the campaign, and sent 37 tons of food and nearly 5 000 blankets to the country this month.

Additional supplies of beans, oil and maize were now awaiting clearance from Zimbabwean authorities.

In a supplementary budget presented on August 16, Zimbabwean finance minister Herbert Murerwa scrapped duties on maize and wheat imports.

He also announced a temporary measure, subject to review, which stripped the government-controlled Grain Marketing Board of the monopoly for importing and selling grain.

Murerwa said private importers would now be allowed to import maize, the country's staple crop.

- SAPA