[Then maybe Africa should stop chasing away White farmers and destroying agriculture as it has been doing since the 1960’s. Africans are starving because they have destroyed the hand that feeds them. And clearly, they can’t do any better by themselves. Jan]

Although there has been a genocide in Sudan, terrorist attacks around the world and wars across the African continent, the lack of a simple meal makes southern Africa the site of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.

The United Nations Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa, James Morris, recently returned from a visit to the Darfur region in Sudan, where an estimated 1,2-million people have been displaced in what has been described as ethnic cleansing by government-backed militias.

But he still believes that the huge HIV and Aids rate and massive food shortages have left southern Africa worse off.

“What is happening in southern Africa represents the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today,” said Morris.

The blight of HIV and Aids continues to be the forerunner in exacerbating the problem, depriving many countries of their human capital.

Most countries are losing more teachers and workers in the agricultural sector than they are able to replace.

Statistics gathered by the various UN organisations indicate that more than four-million children have been orphaned due to Aids and that women constitute in excess of 60 percent of those infected with the virus.

Morris spoke on Tuesday of his deep disappointment at not being able to visit Zimbabwe, which was suffering under one of the top five HIV and Aids pandemics in the world.

This is the main reason for the halving of life expectancy in Zimbabwe to just 33 years.

Morris expressed disappointment at not being able to visit Zimbabwe because of the unavailability of key government officials.

In the past two years he had visited President Robert Mugabe on six occasions and had worked “fairly well” with him, he said.

He refused to be drawn on Zimbabwe, apart from saying: “To go from production of 980 000 metric tons to 2,8-million metric tons is a remarkable turnaround, unprecedented anywhere in the world.” He was referring to Zimbabwe’s projections of its maize harvest this year.

Morris also rejected as “rubbish” Zimbabwean claims that the WFP was using food aid as a political tool.

“This sudden hullabaloo suggesting we have any different focus or drive in our work is nonsense,” he said.

He described the turnaround in agricultural production in Zambia as a real success story but refused to be drawn on whether this was due to former Zimbabwean farmers who had settled there after being kicked off their land in Mugabe’s black resettlement schemes.

Last year the WFP were able to buy 100 000 metric tons from Zambia and a further 60 000 this year, he revealed.

He attributed the success to the hard work by the Zambian government to supply agricultural inputs and to improved weather conditions.

He also cited the example of Malawi where 480 nurses were trained last year, but only 100 found employment due to lack of funds.

More than 90 percent of posts for physicians and 60 percent of nursing posts remained vacant because of lack of resources.

This article was originally published on page 2 of Pretoria News on June 23, 2004

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>