President Robert Mugabe has told United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan that Zimbabwe will welcome food aid as long as it is not tied to any political conditions.
The state-owned Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday that Mugabe’s Press Secretary, George Charamba, said the president and Annan had been talking since Zimbabwean officials backtracked on assertions the country would reap a bumper harvest of 2,5-million tonnes of maize.
Between two million and five million Zimbabweans face starvation unless 1,2-million tonnes of grain are imported quickly.
Mugabe, who was accused of using access to food as a weapon in recent parliamentary elections, had earlier accused donors of seeking to choke Zimbabweans with unwanted aid and told them to take their aid elsewhere.
He has also refused to remove the government Grain Marketing Board’s monopoly on the distribution of grain.
Charamba said Mugabe has agreed to meet with World Food Programme director James Morris, who will soon tour African countries suffering food shortfalls.
Mugabe last met with Morris in 2000, when he rejected pleas for orderly land reform instead of ”fast-track” seizure of 5 000 white owned farms, which caused widespread disruption to Zimbabwe’s agriculture and the economy.
Charamba said the president made it very clear to Annan that Zimbabwe will accept food aid but remains firmly opposed to any assistance predicated on political conditions.
Mugabe has rejected Western European, Commonwealth and American calls for political reform. He blames current economic difficulties on ”covert sanctions”, which he says were imposed in retaliation for confiscation of white land since February 2000.
In 1998, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund withdrew budget support because of chronic financial indiscipline, including sending 14 000 troops to the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
”The Zimbabwean government is clear that the primary responsibility of ensuring that Zimbabweans are provided with food is its own,” said Charamba.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change is attempting to import an initial 200 000 tonnes of grain for its own relief effort, but fears shipments will be seized at the border by customs, on ministerial orders. — Sapa-AP