Kutama, the school next to President Robert Mugabe’s rural home and where he went to school, was spared from the food ban on non-governmental organisations because his son was also going to school there.
The head of the school had approached the provincial governor for Mashonaland West and told him that the ban on food assistance from non-governmental organisations would result in the closure of the school.
The governor authorised an exception to permit food assistance to the school.
At the time some 1.3 million people were reported to be in need of food assistance.
In Gweru the Catholic relief agency, CAFOD, had been forced to bury two tonnes of food because it had been spoiled.
The organisation had not been able to distribute the food because Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front youths were intimidating CAFOD employees.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 08HARARE754, ZIMBABWEAN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS WORSENING AS BAN
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|
Reference ID |
Created |
Released |
Classification |
Origin |
VZCZCXRO1358
OO RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #0754/01 2411511
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 281511Z AUG 08 ZDS TO ALL NUM SVCS
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3351
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 2239
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 2359
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0889
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1636
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 1992
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 2413
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 4845
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHMFISS/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1508
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000754
SIPDIS
AF/S FOR G. GARLAND
DRL FOR N. WILETT
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR E. LOKEN AND L. DOBBINS
STATE PASS TO NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B. PITTMAN
DCHA/AA FOR MIKE HESS
AFR/AA FOR KATE ALMQUIST AND FRANKLIN MOORE
AFR/SA FOR ELOKEN, LDOBBINS, JKOLE
DCHA/OFDA FOR KLUU, ACONVERY, TDENYSENKO, LMTHOMAS
DCHA/FFP FOR JBORNS, JDWORKEN, LPETERSON, ASINK
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC EAID PHUM ZI
SUBJECT: ZIMBABWEAN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS WORSENING AS BAN
REMAINS IN PLACE
REF: HARARE 503
HARARE 00000754 001.2 OF 004
Classified By: Ambassador James D. McGee for reason 1.4 (d)
——–
SUMMARY
——-
¶1. (SBU) The Mugabe government continues to deny
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and private voluntary
organizations (PVOs) access to 1.3 million at-risk
Zimbabweans to provide food, water, seed, fertilizer, and
hygienic support. Currently, less than 300,000 people are
receiving assistance, and record-low harvest levels this
season may expose up to 5 million Zimbabweans to a severe
food crisis if the ban remains in place. Additionally, the
absence of seed in advance of seasonal rains may mean that
the next harvest is as bad or worse and lack of nonfood
assistance in the rainy season will increase the risk of
cholera and other diseases. While there are large stockpiles
of supplies in South Africa and Zimbabwe, the supply backlog
is forcing donors to reconsider the utility of sending
additional aid to Zimbabwe. Some NGOs have been able to
conduct discrete workaround operations with the consent of
local officials, though these groups still routinely face the
threat of violence from war veterans and you
th brigade members. END SUMMARY
—————————-
Vast Majority of Aid Blocked
—————————-
¶2. (U) The overwhelming majority of humanitarian aid
intended to assist 1.3 million desperate Zimbabweans
continues to be blocked by the ban on NGO and PVO activities
instituted in June by Nicholas Goche, the Minister of Public
Service, Labour and Social Welfare (MPSLSW) (reftel). These
activities include the distribution of food-based assistance,
as well as seed, fertilizer, hygienic support, and
infrastructure projects. A recent assessment of one district
in Manicaland by the World Food Program highlighted the
severity of the situation. According to the study, 38
percent of households had not consumed any cereal over the
previous 7 days, while 61 percent of households had eaten
only one meal a day. An additional indicator of the
worsening situation was that a majority of households had now
turned to selling livestock to purchase food.
——————————————— —
Low Harvests and the Approach of Planting Season
——————————————— —
¶3. (U) Persistent shortages of seed, fertilizer, and other
agricultural inputs brought about by the ban and the economic
crisis in Zimbabwe have led to record-low harvest totals this
year. A recent UN Crop and Food Supply Assessment warned
that this would expand to 5 million the number of Zimbabweans
needing assistance before the next crop is harvested.
¶4. (U) Additionally, the approach of Zimbabwe’s rainy season
threatens to exacerbate the impact of the ban due to the
inability of NGOs to distribute seed. At a meeting on August
26 between poloff and C-SAFE country representatives from
CARE International, Christian Relief Services and World
Vision, Edward Brown of C-SAFE said that if the ban was not
HARARE 00000754 002 OF 004
immediately lifted, aid organizations would be unable to
distribute seed in September prior to the rains, and rural
community farmers would miss an entire crop. Furthermore,
USAID officials have warned that if rains begin in October
without the distribution of soap and other sanitary items,
cholera and diarrheal disease will be widespread. Timing for
the resumption of aid is critical as it will take NGOs an
estimated 6 weeks to scale up operations to full capacity.
—————————————–
Meanwhile, Food Supply Sits in Warehouses
—————————————–
¶5. (U) The ban is leading to bulging stockpiles of food,
seed, fertilizer, and hygienic supplies in Durban, South
Africa, as well as in warehouses throughout Zimbabwe. Fambai
Ngirande, a spokesperson for the NGO coalition Nango, said in
a recent article in South Africa’s Mail and Guardian on-line
newspaper, that a portion of those stores were rotting and
would be unfit for distribution even if the ban were lifted.
(This does not refer to USG food.) According to the UN’s
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, donors
are taking notice of the aid ban and reconsidering the
utility of sending additional aid to Zimbabwe. Some supply
ships scheduled to arrive in Durban in the coming months risk
being diverted to other exposed populations. C-SAFE’s Brown
also highlighted that the ban would cost the Zimbabwean
people 20,000 metric tons of food aid, as USG food aid levels
allocated to C-SAFE partners are being reduced from 53,000 to
33,000 metric tons in 2009. The foregone aid has an
estimated valu
e of $14 million dollars.
——————————————— ———–
NGOs Face Violence and Intimidation, Attempt Workarounds
——————————————— ———–
¶6. (SBU) A trickle of aid continues as NGOs lobby and
receive ad hoc permission to resume operations from some
sympathetic provincial and district officials in regions
throughout the country. Most of this aid is in the form of
school-based feeding programs that tend-although not
exclusively-to occur in MDC-supportive areas. Even in these
areas aid workers face continued intimidation and violence.
CARE International Country Director Stephen Vaughan told
poloff that war veterans and youth brigade members routinely
ignore these local authorizations and threaten to burn
humanitarian vehicles or tell aid workers to “return to
Harare.” A positive recent development is that HIV/AIDS
assistance has resumed at nearly 100 percent of normal
operations.
¶7. (C) The Papal Nuncio to Zimbabwe told us on August 28
that employees of Catholic aid organization CAFOD were forced
to bury 2 tons of food aid that had spoiled at their Gweru
warehouse. CAFOD had been unable to distribute the food
because local ZANU-PF youth groups were intimidating
employees and using threats of violence to enforce the ban.
¶8. (C) Not surprisingly, an exception to the ban was made
for a school in Chinhoyi where one of Mugabe’s sons studies
and where Catholic relief organizations were providing food.
According to the Papal Nuncio, when the ban went into effect
on June 4, the head of the Marist college in Kutama (where
President Mugabe studied) approached the provincial governor
HARARE 00000754 003 OF 004
and explained that banning food assistance would result in
the school’s closure. This was sufficient cause to convince
the governor to authorize an exception to the ban to permit
food assistance to the school.
———————————————
Aid Groups’ Take on ZANU-PF’s Ban Motivations
———————————————
¶9. (C) At the August 26 C-SAFE meeting, representatives from
CARE International, Christian Relief Services and World
Vision argued that the Zimbabwean Government’s long reliance
on using food as a political tool made the government
intensely distrustful of any international aid organization’s
stated motivations. Vaughan suggested that there was a
prevailing fear within ZANU-PF that food distribution, if
allowed, would only create a dependency on international aid
groups that would further undermine ZANU-PF’s authority.
This fear and mistrust is heightened because the GOZ is aware
that the US donates 72 percent of all food aid and was
demonstrated by Mugabe’s statement at the convening of
Parliament on August 26 that the West was using food aid as a
tool of regime change.
—————————————–
MDC and NGO Strategies to Relieve the Ban
—————————————–
¶10. (C) MDC Agricultural Secretary Gwarazimba told USAID
officers on August 27 that MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti
expressed interest in raising the humanitarian access issue
at the first session of Parliament and calling the permanent
secretaries of MPSLSW and the Ministry of Agriculture to
account for the regime’s blockage of humanitarian assistance.
¶11. (SBU) In addition, NGOs and PVOs are increasing their
advocacy by issuing a common statement on behalf of over 100
agencies, and are finalizing a presentation to convey the
overall impact of the ban in the realms of food, agricultural
recovery, nutrition/child protection, and water/sanitation to
parliamentarians and representatives of both parties. NGOs
also plan to step-up their advocacy efforts to neighboring
countries. C-SAFE representatives identified several
alternative delivery mechanisms they are considering to
increase distributions despite the ban. These include
providing take away dry rations through school-based feeding
programs, increasing participation of government and
parliamentarians during food distribution activities, and
allowing beneficiaries to come to warehouses to receive food
to circumvent the ban on field activities.
———————————————
The Regime Also Profiting from Aid Activities
———————————————
¶12. (C) The Mugabe regime may be motivated to maintain the
presence of NGOs in Zimbabwe because virtually all
Zimbabweans employed by NGOs receive their salaries in
foreign currency and are taxed at just over 50 percent. At
an NGO forum on June 11, USAID officials were told this
amounts to between one and two million dollars per month in
revenue to the government. Unless NGOs choose to reduce
personnel, the government will continue to earn this income
even as the ban prohibits staff from distributing
HARARE 00000754 004 OF 004
humanitarian assistance.
——-
COMMENT
——-
¶13. (SBU) Despite repeated assurances that the ban would be
lifted, including an agreement to do so in the July 21 MOU,
the GOZ has not taken any positive action. It is important
that the MDC do a better job of publicly highlighting this
issue, and that the international/donor community likewise
raise the profile of this looming humanitarian disaster.
While ZANU-MDC negotiations command attention, millions of
Zimbabweans are at risk. END COMMENT
MCGEE
(72 VIEWS)
