An uncooperative Harare government is discouraging the arrival of what limited donor assistance may be available, say humanitarian sources, and competing needs for food aid across the Southern African region complicate the outlook for assistance.
International organizations providing food aid say funding is insufficient to feed the nearly 10 million people in the region who are already going hungry or may soon be without adequate food supplies and facing the ravages of malnutrition.
Something approaching another $160 million is needed from donors or the emergency aid will not arrive on time, according to the United Nations World Food Program.
Reporter Patience Rusere of VOA’s Studio 7 for Zimbabwe talked with Johannesburg-based World Vision spokesman Robert Michel about how Harare’s failure to issue a formal appeal for food aid is hurting the country’s chances of getting its fair share.
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