• by IPS Correspondents (harare)
• Wednesday, December 21, 1994
• Inter Press Service

HARARE, Dic 21 (IPS) - THE U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (WFP) HAS COMMENDED DONORS FOR ACTING PROMPTLY TO COVER A FOOD DEFICIT IN WAR-BATTERED MOZAMBIQUE.

"THE RESPONSE FROM DONORS TO COVER A SHORTFALL OF 86,000 TONNES IN MOZAMBIQUE HAS BEEN VERY PROMPT," SAYS MERCEDES SAYAGUES, WFP INFORMATION OFFICER IN HARARE. "BUT THE SITUATION IN ZAMBIA AND MALAWI IS CRITICAL."

SINCE THE APPEAL WAS LAUNCHED LATE OCTOBER THE U.N. AGENCY HAS RECEIVED PLEDGES FROM BELGIUM, DENMARK, THE EUROPEAN UNION, GERMANY, ITALY, THE NETHERLANDS, AND THE UNITED STATES.

TO SPEED UP THE DELIVERY, WFP ASKED DONORS SPECIFICALLY TO PROVIDE CASH TO BUY FOOD IN THE REGION, AND SOME MAIZE HAS ALREADY BEEN BOUGHT FROM ZIMBABWE.

THE FOOD SHORTAGE IN MOZAMBIQUE IS MAINLY DUE TO AN UNEXPECTED INCREASE IN ORIGINAL ESTIMATES AND POOR RAINS IN THE CENTRE AND THE SOUTH. MORE THAN 1.5 MILLION PEOPLE, OUT OF A POPULATION OF 18 MILLION, NEED EMMERGENCY AID THIS YEAR.

THE DEFICIT IS ALSO ATTRIBUTED TO A HIGHER RATE OF RETURNING REFUGEES THAN EXPECTED FOLLOWING THE SIGNING OF THE 1992 ROME PEACE ACCORD WHICH BROUGHT A RESPITE TO 17 YEARS OF CIVIL WAR.

"IN MALAWI, THE SITUATION IS WORSE THAN WE HAD PREDICTED IN OUR LAST FOOD ASSESSMENT," SAYS SAYAGUES.

"INSTEAD OF 3 MILLION PEOPLE, MORE THAN 4.5 MILLION ARE IN NEED AND THE LACK OF CLEAN WATER IN FOUR DISTRICTS HAS RESULTED IN AN OUTBREAK OF DYSENTERY AND DIARRHOEA."

IN ZAMBIA, FOOD RELIEF PROGRAMMES HAVE BEEN LAUNCHED TO COVER MOST OF THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE COUNTRY WHERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS WERE SEVEREST, BUT WFP HAS NOT BEEN INVITED IN BY THE GOVERNMENT.

"AN APPEAL FOR 90,000 TONNES OF RELIEF FOOD AID FOR DROUGHT-AFFECTED RURAL POPULATIONS HAS MET WITH LITTLE OR NO RESPONSE," SAYS JOHN ROOK, CHIEF TECHNICAL ADVISOR OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICA DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY (SADC) REGIONAL EARLY WARNING UNIT (REWU).

ROOK HAS BEEN SECONDED TO REWU BY THE U.N. FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION (FAO) IN A BID TO STRENGTHEN THE REGION'S FOOD SECURITY MECHANISM.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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