Britain on Friday joined a major food aid campaign for Zimbabwe to help three million people in the next six months, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said.
Despite differences with the government of President Robert Mugabe, Britain donated £10-million ($17-million) to buy 40 000 tonnes of food.
”This support comes at a critical time for WFP’s programmes in Zimbabwe when we are scaling up our programmes to reach over three million vulnerable people,” WFP country director Kevin Farrell said.
The WFP on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding setting out the terms for the food deliveries that are to continue until June.
UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland is due to arrive in Harare late Saturday for a four-day visit to assess the humanitarian situation.
Mugabe’s government has attributed food shortages to drought, denying that it was the result of its controversial land reforms which saw agricultural productivity grinding to a near halt after some 4 000 white farmers were forcibly removed from their properties.
Mugabe also blames the country’s woes on British Prime Minister Tony Blair whom he accuses of harbouring plans to recolonise Zimbabwe using the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party as a front.
Mugabe last year rejected offers of food aid, saying in an interview with Britain’s Skynews: ”We are not hungry. Why foist this food upon us? Do you want us to choke?”
In October this year, however, Mugabe’s government acknowledged that some Zimbabweans might be in need of food aid and promised to provide assistance to some 2,2-million people in the population of close to 13-million.
WFP estimates put the number of hungry Zimbabweans at 4,3-million. – Sapa-AFP