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Zimbabwe: Food Running Out and No Help in Sight
By Wilf Mbanga
Zimbabwean
September 21, 2005The Zimbabwe Government has at last admitted that it only has three weeks supply of maize (the staple food) in its grain silos. It is interesting to note that after months of claiming that the country had enough stocks to last until the next harvest, followed by a climb-down in which they said well maybe not quite enough, some would have to be imported, a civil servant was chosen to make the surprise announcement yesterday that, in fact, the country is short of food. Desperately short.
So short, in fact, that all basic food reserves will run out by the end of this month and a massive importation is necessary to avoid widespread starvation. But what is the government doing about this appalling state of affairs? Now that they have finally admitted to themselves that there is a problem, it is incomprehensible that President Mugabe has still not given the go-ahead to the United Nations to make an urgent appeal to the international community to avert a human tragedy on a scale that will rival Darfur.
UN secretary General Kofi Annan urged Mugabe last month to make an appeal before the world body could act to raise the necessary donations to avert the disaster. But Mugabe stubbornly refused. Initially Mugabe thought he had enough food to feed his supporters and was quite happy for all members of the opposition to starve. However, it has become apparent that even Zanu (PF) loyalists are now going to starve. There is just no food. Thanks to the rampant inflation occasioned by his disastrous Look East economic policies, corruption and mismanagement, the little food that is available has become unaffordable for most people - even those on the state payroll, including the well-paid army, police and militias.
The situation grew rapidly worse last week when, in desperation, the government raided every possible source of foreign currency in the country to pay the IMF US$120 million to stave off expulsion. This was a last-ditch made by necessary by the refusal of the Chinese to lend him the money and the surprising insistence of South Africa upon guarantees of good governance and economic reform before then would agree to a loan. Mugabe was obviously not prepared for the fact that his friends would let him down so badly. He had obviously miscalculated the extent of his influence over the only two friends he has left in this world.
Disaster, however, is almost guaranteed. Even if the world community were to agree today to feed Zimbabwe, and even if stocks of food were strategically available from sources within the southern African region (which is not the case - South Africa has some but not enough to feed 6 million Zimbabweans) that food could not be distributed to the hungry. There is no fuel in the country. The National Railways of Zimbabwe has virtually collapsed. Road transport is grounded.
The planting season is about to begin. But even at this crucial moment there is hardly any hope. The country has no seed, no fertiliser, no diesel for the tractors, and finance for inputs is unavailable as most of the banks teeter on the brink of collapse. There is surely no precedent, even in this wicked world we live in, where one person has knowingly, willingly and maliciously condemned millions of his compatriots to mass suffering and starvation on such a scale.
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