/ 26 February 2003

Zimbabwe crisis is ‘beyond comprehension’

The humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe under President Robert Mugabe is ”almost beyond comprehension,” World Food Programme director James Morris said on Tuesday.

”It is a disaster,” Morris told US lawmakers, adding that he had failed to make headway with Mugabe despite six meetings with the Zimbabwean leader in six months on the politics, bad economics and bureaucracy damaging food output and aid response.

”The human crisis there is almost beyond comprehension,” he said.

Traditionally Zimbabwe has been a food exporter. However, under Mugabe’s land distribution scheme thousands of productive farms are idle and food output is expected to be at 40% of normal levels this year.

”This scheme along with restrictions on private sector food marketing and a monopoly on food imports … are turning a drought that might have been managed into a humanitarian nightmare,” Morris said in prepared testimony.

US Agency for International Development head Andrew Natsios agreed. Zimbabwe, he said, had become ”a basket case rapidly sliding into a disastrous famine that is politically induced.”

Compounding the problem, Morris said, about one-third of the adult population in Zimbabwe was infected with Aids. ”Children are heading households,” he said.

According to the World Food Programme more than seven-million agricultural workers have died of Aids in 25 African countries, aggravating the famine in southern Africa and decimating the rural labour force.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean government on Tuesday nearly doubled fuel prices, according to figures released by state radio.

The less expensive and commonly used brand of petrol went up by slightly more than 91% to US$2,64 dollars per litre, with the hikes effective from midnight (2200 GMT) on Tuesday.

Energy Minister Amos Midzi gave rise in fuel price on international markets and increases in operational costs like freight charges as reasons for Tuesday’s hike. Zimbabwe, which imports all its petroleum products, is facing an acute shortage of foreign exchange and has been experiencing fuel shortages since December 1999.

The government last hiked fuel prices in June 2001, when prices increased up to 82% and sparked national protests. – Sapa-AFP