A surprise decision by Angola to reject genetically modified (GM) food aid threatens to disrupt distributions to 1,9-million vulnerable people — many of them newly returned after the country’s two-decade civil war — the United Nations food agency said on Monday.
The decision, announced by Angola’s Council of Ministers on March 17, comes at a time when the World Food Programme (WFP) is already battling funding shortfalls for its programme in the oil-rich Southern African country.
UN officials are currently in discussions with Angolan authorities to determine the implications for a 19 000-ton shipment of United States maize that had been earmarked for the country.
If there is no clarity by Wednesday, the US could redirect the maize to another country, officials said.
Angola, a nation of about 14-million people, was ruined by a war pitting the government against Unita rebels. Up to a half-million Angolans fled their country before it ended in 2002.
The fighting also drove about four million people from their homes within the country.
About 3,8-million have now returned to their rural homes, but about 1,5-million remain dependent on food aid, according to WFP figures.
Despite pressing needs, Angola is struggling to compete for funds with other aid-dependent countries.
Donors have privately questioned the government’s commitment to resolving humanitarian problems in a country where one in every four dollars in oil earnings is unaccounted for, according to anti-corruption activists.
So far, the WFP has only been able to raise 24% of the $143-million it needs for the year beginning April 1, the agency’s regional director, Mike Sackett, said in Johannesburg.
Next month, it will be forced to reduce its cereal rations by 30%, he said. If no new donors are found by June, they will be cut again to 50%.
”The GM question is, I think, a further blow to the achievements of the objectives set out by [the] WFP in Angola,” Sackett said.
Details of the ban, which does not apply to milled grain, remain unclear, and the decision has not yet been officially implemented.
But it could have major implications for Angola, which receives up to 77% of its food aid from the US.
American biotech companies have been at the forefront of promoting genetically modified food, or GMOs, which can be made to resist insects or disease.
Europe, however, has imposed a moratorium on growing or importing GMOs because of fears about the environmental and heath risks.
African countries such as Zambia and Zimbabwe have also rejected biotech food aid.
The WFP respects their wishes, Sackett said. But importing milled grain is more expensive, and it can take months to source alternatives, he said. -‒ Sapa-AP