UN to appeal for Zim aid
by Own Corespondent Tuesday 02 August 2011
HARARE – UN humanitarian coordinator for Zimbabwe Alain Noudéhou and the
country’s ruling coalition will today launch a revised consolidated appeal
(CAP) for aid for the African nation still struggling to shake off the
effects of a decade of recession and political strife.
It was not immediately clear how much the UN and the Harare authorities
would request in support from international donors under the revised appeal.
The 2011 CAP was first launched last December with the UN requesting donors
to provide US$415 million in support for a country whose humanitarian
situation remains fragile despite the unity government of President Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai managing to stabilise the
economy and ease political tensions.
The largest chunk of funds under the appeal was targeted to go towards food
assistance, accounting for nearly US$159 million or 38 percent of the total
amount sought.
It could not be established on Monday how donors have so far responded to
this year’s appeal for help after a lukewarm response to another UN-led
appeal for assistance for Zimbabwe in 2010.
Zimbabwe appealed for $478 million in support last year but received only
$223 million or 46.7 percent of the funds requested, making the country’s
appeal one of the five least funded in 2010.
Zimbabwe, which was once a regional breadbasket, has battled food shortages
since 2001 after Mugabe began seizing commercial farms from whites to give
to blacks.
The reforms saw agricultural output plummeting because the Zimbabwean leader
failed to provide black villagers resettled on former white-owned farms with
inputs and skills training to maintain production.
Farm seizures also had a knock-on effect on the manufacturing sector that
depended on agriculture for orders and inputs and has since 2001 operated
below capacity. – ZimOnline.