President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has been fighting for his political survival throughout the elections season this year so much so that a three-month-old ban issued on federal aid has only just been lifted this month. Mugabe placed the ban on the works of aid groups because some of the international aid groups had backed an opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, in Zimbabwe and was funneling aid money into its treasury. That accusation comes from the Zimbabwean government, which is corrupt and politically divided. The aid groups have challenged the government to prove its case; asked which NGOs had used food for political purposes, Mr. Ndlovu, Zimbabwe’s minister of information, declined Friday to name any. “They know themselves,” he said.
Because of this ban, 1.7 million orphans, schoolchildren, the elderly, and other impoverished Zimbabweans will not receive food and basic assistance distributed by the UN World Food Program. At least 170,000 schoolchildren had been denied food donated by the United States and 455,000 people had missed out on water, sanitation, and public health programs. The US provided $171 million of food aid, 20 metric, last year meant for schoolchildren, but was instead confiscated by the Zimbabwean authorities and handed out at a ruling party political rally.
Aid officials expected the ban to end after the presidential election runoff. The opposition candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, dropped out days before it was held because of state-sponsored violence against his supporters. The ban cleared rural areas of aid workers who could have witnessed the violence against the opposition. However, the ban dragged on for more than two months after the runoff.
It is clear this ban is highly politically motivated. Aid officials speculated that the restrictions became a bargaining chip in power-sharing negotiations between Mugabe’s party (his regime has been in power for 28 years) and the opposition. The United States and Great Britain, both nations sending the most aid and both of which are hightly critical of Mugabe, made Mugabe more resistant to lifting the restrictions, further proving how political the ban became. Mugabe continues to add to the indisputable suffering of Zimbabwe’s people just so he can keep his regime strong. However, he is hurting his people more and more by the increased unemployment, which stands more than 80%. 45% of the population needs food aid and many people desperate for food implement survival strategies such as foraging for wild seeds and fruits, eating fewer meals, and selling their belonging-cows, pots, pans, for money to buy scarce and expensive food.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/world/africa/30zimbabwe.html?ref=africa
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