EU pledges massive food aid for Zimbabwe

EU promises to award emergency food aid worth £11.7 million to Zimbabwe

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Thursday, 16, Oct 2008 05:55

The European Union has promised to award emergency food aid worth €15 million (£11.7 million) to feed hungry and starving Zimbabweans facing one of the worst humanitarian crises of the last decade.

In a statement to mark World Food Day, the European Commission said it "had adopted a new emergency funding decision for food assistance in Africa aimed at saving lives and relieving suffering in one the worst vulnerable regions".

Zimbabwe is set to receive €15 million (£11.7 million), making it one of the five largest recipients of Commission food assistance which include Sudan (€86 million), the Palestinian Territories (€40.36 million), Ethiopia (€32.5 million) and Somalia (€27 million).

"World Food Day is a chance to remember that the current food crisis has even more dramatic consequences, putting the very lives of millions at risk," Louis Michel, European commissioner for development and humanitarian Aid said.

"In some parts of the world, a major catastrophe is brewing because growing numbers of people don't have enough food to survive.

"The commission has responded to these urgent needs by dramatically increasing its food assistance to the most vulnerable."

Zimbabwe is in its eighth year of gripping food shortages, with international food monitoring agencies saying over three million people face starvation because of food shortages in the country.

Food shortages in Zimbabwe set in 2000 following the chaotic land reform programme that saw landless black citizens take over prime farming land from white commercial farmers, resulting in agricultural plummeting to low levels since they had no farming expertise.

Since then, the nation has survived on food imports and food handouts from food aid agencies that president Robert Mugabe blames for using food as bait against starving Zimbabweans to rebel against him.

Mr Mugabe has defended the land reform programme saying it was necessary to right the wrongs of the colonial past. He blames food shortages on droughts while experts cite poor planning on the part of government ahead of each and every farming season.