Relief Groups Warn of Dire Conditions in Zimbabwe as Election Nears

By Caroline Preston

Aid groups have become the latest victims in the political repression that has gripped Zimbabwe amid presidential elections this year. The government this month ordered humanitarian charities to suspend relief operations in the country, a move the organizations say could have devastating consequences for the millions of people who rely on them for food, medical care, and other assistance.

While many charity leaders are reluctant to discuss the situation for fear of further jeopardizing their operations, some say President Robert Mugabe’s regime may be trying to rid rural areas of eyewitnesses to violence and intimidation, and cut off food to opponents, ahead of a run-off election scheduled for June 27.

“They’re using food as a political tool,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director with Human Rights Watch.

In a letter on June 4, the government accused humanitarian groups of breaching the terms of their registration and instructed them to halt work “until further notice.” Mr. Mugabe has charged some charities with politicking and using food to buy votes.

A few groups have faced intimidation, and, in at least one case, government supporters have stolen food from an aid truck and handed it out at a pro-Mugabe rally.

Charity leaders dismiss the charge that they have engaged in politics.

“We uphold the key principles of impartiality,” said Paul R. Miller, Africa team leader at Catholic Relief Services. “It would be crazy for any aid agency in this context to be allowing any political manipulation of their work. Aid agencies are being extremely careful.”

Most charities have halted their operations in compliance with the ban, although a few continue to work in some parts of the country.

‘Desperate Situation’

The suspension of relief work is already taking a toll on Zimbabwe’s poorest people.

Roughly four million people — nearly a third of the population — rely on food assistance. The country’s agricultural sector is in shambles, and unemployment rates have climbed above 80 percent.

“It’s a desperate situation,” said Sue Mbaya, advocacy director at World Vision’s Africa division, which feeds 400,000 children in the country. “We’re already dealing with those who are the poorest, who suffer the most, the most marginalized, and it’s all just becoming more entrenched.”

Relief workers recounted with frustration stories of young children orphaned by AIDS who were no longer being monitored because child-sponsorship programs have been suspended, and of youths who weren’t receiving lunches because school-nutrition programs have ground to a halt. AIDS patients haven’t been able to get access to the antiretroviral drugs they need to survive, and gains charities have made in agricultural production were being undone.

“There’s an enormous gap that no one is filling,” said Hearly Mayr, director for public awareness with Adventist Development and Relief Agency International.

His charity feeds 7,100 schoolchildren who were now having to scramble to find food from relatives or by begging on the street, he said. School attendance had climbed when the aid group started its feeding program, and Mr. Mayr said he worried many children would soon drop out of school.

Poor Crops

Aid officials foretold even greater hunger to come because of drought and other factors.

“This is the worst harvest in the history of Zimbabwe,” said Michael Hess, assistant administrator of the bureau for democracy, conflict, and humanitarian assistance with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“The international community is going to have to come up with 700,000 tons of food, and we need the ban to be lifted as soon as possible so we can begin to deliver it to those who are in need,” Mr.Hess added.

As people in the countryside suffer, most aid workers have been recalled to their charities’ regional offices or put on paid leave. A few foreign governments have removed their charity staff members from the country.

While there have been no reported cases of violence against charity workers, several aid organizations that declined to be identified said some of their staff members had been stopped at checkpoints, threatened, and refused access to some parts of the country.

The U.S. government has asked for an investigation into the seizure of food from a humanitarian convoy earlier this month, Mr. Hess said, but has not heard back.

Charity and U.S. government officials are calling on the government to lift the ban immediately. They are also making appeals to regional brokers such as the African Union and the Southern African Development Community to put pressure on Mr. Mugabe’s government.

There is some hope among aid workers that the ban will be lifted after the June 27 election. But U.S. officials said they have had no clear indications that that will be the case.

“It would be guesswork at this point,” said Mr. Hess.

Donor Resolve

Charities said that no donors have indicated thus far that they’ll consider suspending financial support for projects in Zimbabwe, even as many nonprofit workers have been put on leave.

“All have been supportive, understanding, and patient,” said Kenneth Walker, Africa communications manager at CARE. His charity relies on grant makers such as the Bill & Melinda Gates, Oak, and Rockefeller Foundations for its work in the southern African nation.

Said Mr. Hess, of USAID, which provided more than $170-million in food aid to Zimbabwe last year: “We can’t make that drastic a step of cutting off funding to our NGO partners yet. We have to let the diplomacy do its process.”

However, Mr. Hess said that some aid might have to be rerouted.

USAID has begun to ship 90,000 tons of food to Zimbabwe. Some food will be put into storage in the region if the ban isn’t soon lifted, but if the crisis persists it will be delivered to other nations.

“There are other hungry people in the world,” he said. “There’s a big crisis in the Horn of Africa so we’ll have to consider diverting it there as well if it can’t get in.”

Meanwhile, aid workers expressed desperation for the people reached by their programs.

“The children we’ve been feeding and the sick we’ve been attending to can’t wait,” said World Vision’s Ms. Mbaya. “They need these services and they need them now.”