Mugabe finally welcomes United Nations food aid

HARARE – Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said yesterday he welcomed food aid from the United Nations but it was not yet clear how much the country would ask for, a senior UN official said.

Mugabe has accused aid agencies in the past of working to further a political agenda under the guise of food distribution, leading to a dramatic cutback in UN World Food Programme (WFP) help for the country. WFP director James Morris – who is also UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Envoy to Southern Africa – told journalists he would meet government ministers later in the day to get more details of Zimbabwe’s food requirements.”We will meet with ministers later in the afternoon to get a little more specific but the president said that he welcomed food assistance and food assistance that comes with a humanitarian commitment,” Morris said after meeting Mugabe.”And that’s the way we have worked forever here and we have worked well together and we will work through the numbers as we go forward,” he said.Last year, Mugabe’s government said Zimbabwe would produce 2,4 million tonnes of maize in 2005 and would not require emergency food aid for the first time in three years, but a severe drought has slashed output, with industry officials saying only 500 000 tonnes of the staple maize crop will be harvested.Officials say the country will likely now need some 1,2 million tonnes of imported maize, but many aid workers say they doubt the government has the foreign exchange to afford it.”I know that he (Mugabe) is focused on trying to import food and we will try to do our best from a humanitarian perspective,” Morris said.Aid workers say Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland will need at least 2 million tonnes of food in total – mostly maize bought from South Africa, which has had good rains.- Nampa-ReutersWFP director James Morris – who is also UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Envoy to Southern Africa – told journalists he would meet government ministers later in the day to get more details of Zimbabwe’s food requirements.”We will meet with ministers later in the afternoon to get a little more specific but the president said that he welcomed food assistance and food assistance that comes with a humanitarian commitment,” Morris said after meeting Mugabe.”And that’s the way we have worked forever here and we have worked well together and we will work through the numbers as we go forward,” he said.Last year, Mugabe’s government said Zimbabwe would produce 2,4 million tonnes of maize in 2005 and would not require emergency food aid for the first time in three years, but a severe drought has slashed output, with industry officials saying only 500 000 tonnes of the staple maize crop will be harvested.Officials say the country will likely now need some 1,2 million tonnes of imported maize, but many aid workers say they doubt the government has the foreign exchange to afford it.”I know that he (Mugabe) is focused on trying to import food and we will try to do our best from a humanitarian perspective,” Morris said.Aid workers say Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland will need at least 2 million tonnes of food in total – mostly maize bought from South Africa, which has had good rains.- Nampa-Reuters