Government resumes food distribution after pressure from US and Vatican

The government, which had ordered the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace to stop food distribution in Binga, was forced to resume after pressure from the United States government and the Vatican, according to a cable released by Wikileaks.

The cable says President Robert Mugabe had to intervene personally after the government failed to move against war veterans.

The war veterans, acting on the orders of Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, had forced the CCJP to stop food distribution and hindered any attempts to deliver the much needed food to hospitals and school children.

Full cable:

Viewing cable 02HARARE1714, ZIMBABWE: FOOD DISTRIBUTION RESTARTS IN ONE

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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001714

SIPDIS

USAID FOR AFR/SA MCOPSON; DCHA/FFP LLANDIS, DSKORIC

NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER

LONDON FOR CGURNEY

PARIS FOR CNEARY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2012

TAGS: PGOV PHUM EAID ASEC ZI

SUBJECT: ZIMBABWE: FOOD DISTRIBUTION RESTARTS IN ONE

OPPOSITION AREA BUT THREATS OF INTERFERENCE ARISE IN

ANOTHER

REF: HARARE 1398

Classified By: Political Officer Todd Faulk for reasons 1.5 (b)

and (d)

¶1. (C) Post has learned from Amcit Father Tom McQuillen that

the Catholic Church has been permitted to restart food

distribution in the beleaguered Binga district of

Matabeleland North province in Zimbabwe. War veterans,

acting on the order of Local Government Minister Ignatius

Chombo, forced the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace

(CCJP) to cease food distribution efforts throughout Binga in

late May, and hindered attempts to deliver much-needed food

to hospitals and school children (reftel). Chombo had

accused the CCJP of improperly assuming government functions

and ordered its operation closed, despite the fact that the

CCJP had become one of the largest sources of food for rural

Binga residents. A major element of ZANU-PF concern was

clearly that the CCJP leader in Binga is an MDC candidate in

local council elections. Father McQuillen informed us that

after an agreement was reached with local government, the All

Souls Catholic Church in Binga and Catholic charities of the

Zimbabwean Catholic Church was permitted to take over CCJP’s

program, and it started distributing food again on July 22

with the help of Catholics for Overseas Development (CAFOD),

a British NGO. CAFOD made arrangements with local trucking

companies for All Souls to deliver 85 tons of mostly maize

meal during the week of July 22; it was able to deliver 23

tons to schools and hospitals on the first day alone. Father

McQuillen reported that the hunger situation in Binga

district has become acute; many teachers are reporting empty

classrooms because children have been too weak to go to

school. (Comment: That should start to change with the new

deliveries. End comment.) As part of the distribution

agreement, All Souls sent letters to all Church centers in

the district informing them of the distribution and asking

them to report any attempt to politicize the food deliveries

or segregate recipients based on political affiliation.

¶2. (C) It was only after the Binga incidents generated much

bad publicity and public pressure from the USG and Vatican

that the Government worked to find a solution. According to

the Apostolic Nuncio, it had been difficult for the

Government to move against the war vets but that President

Mugabe himself had eventually sought positive resolution of

the problem (some six weeks after it originated).

¶3. (U) While relief was restarting in Binga, government

officials threatened to stop food deliveries to opposition

supporters in another opposition stronghold, Gwanda district

in Matabeleland South province. According to the independent

“Standard” newspaper, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister

Abedinico Ncube threatened to stop food deliveries at a July

20 public meeting if residents did not vote for ZANU-PF in

September rural council elections. “Maize is in abundance

but very soon it will be available only to those who dump the

opposition and work with ZANU-PF.” While handing out food,

Ncube also reportedly told the recipients that “as long as

you value the government of the day you will not starve …

(but) you cannot vote for the MDC and expect ZANU-PF to help

you.” In another case of food politicization, the MDC

released a press statement about a July 12 meeting in which

the ZANU-PF M.P. for Beitbridge, Kembo Mohadi, warned World

Vision and Organization Help that their food relief work was

at “government’s invitation” and that they must follow the

Government’s directives. Mohadi reportedly asked the NGOs

for a list of the equipment it was using to distribute food

and said “Government” would soon be taking over the food

distribution. He also reportedly stated that he was part of

a “Cabinet Committee on Social Services Action” and that

similar meetings were taking place across the country. The

MDC statement noted that Mohadi held the meeting in Gwanda

town, which is represented in Parliament by MDC M.P. Paul

Temba-Nyathi, and that no MDC officials were invited to the

meeting. However, local war veterans and representatives

from the government-controlled Grain Marketing Board were

present.

¶4. (U) World Vision Zimbabwe Director Rudo Kwaramba told us

and the press separately that politicians could talk, but

that no food distributed by World Vision had been nor would

be politicized.

——-

Comment

——-

¶5. (C) The incidents described above demonstrate the

pressing need for an independent monitoring mechanism. We

are working with DFID here to develop a proposal that the EU

can join us in supporting. Our objective is to provide

funding to the UN or one of its agencies, which in turn will

contact an outside organization to conduct the monitoring.

The UN’s involvement is necessary, as they are the only ones

capable of eliciting GOZ agreement to permit monitoring. We

would also specify that the outside contractor gather

information from all available Zimbabwean sources as to the

fairness and impartiality of food distribution.

SULLIVAN

(18 VIEWS)