Special envoy visits region

UN Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa James T. Morris will visit six drought-stricken countries in the region from 3 to 16 September. Morris, also the Executive Director of the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), and Carolyn McAskie, the Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, will lead a two-week mission to Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Swaziland. Some 13 million people are threatened with starvation over the next six months as a result of food shortages brought about by adverse weather conditions and flawed government planning. Representatives of the World Health Organisation, UN Children's Fund, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation are expected to join the mission. They will meet government officials, donors, and relief agency representatives in each country. Morris will also attend the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, during which bilateral meetings are planned with key figures in the region. Meanwhile, in its latest situation report on the crisis in Southern Africa, WFP said US $3.8 million in new donor contributions had been confirmed, but the amount was well short of what was required. "The current funding shortfall for the operation is US $378 million, meaning the Emergency Operation [Emop] is 25.5 percent funded. WFP is currently expecting a regional shortfall of 75,884 mt of food against requirements for the months of September, October, and November," the humanitarian agency warned. One of WFP's donors, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), announced it had allocated an additional US $1.3 million to hunger victims in Southern Africa. This has brought the total amount of aid allocated by Switzerland to the region to US $3.3 million. "The additional Swiss contribution ... will be used by the WFP to buy and mill grain," SDC said in a statement. This was because food supplies in the region were scarce, and it was necessary to import. "But difficulties have [also] arisen because deliveries consist of amounts of genetically modified (GM) corn. This has met with opposition [from] Zimbabwe and Mozambique, which refuse to accept any GM products which have not been previously milled. "SDC is insisting that the GM corn to be delivered to these African countries be milled beforehand, to avoid the possibility that the products are reused for [agricultural] production," SDC said. SDC also noted that the humanitarian response in Southern Africa was, "logistically one of the most demanding in the world, because several of the affected countries lack sufficient infrastructure". On that point, WFP said it had met with officials in Malawi and Mozambique - as well as donors - regarding emergency repairs to the Nacala railway. "The 18-month project to make repairs to the railroad will enable WFP to move between 10,000-15,000 mt of food aid per month by rail from the Mozambican port of Nacala into Malawi," WFP said in its report. In Malawi, with 3.2 million people vulnerable until March next year, WFP reached 541,300 with aid in August. "In September, WFP plans to distribute over 13,000 mt to approximately 1.2 million people through general food distributions," the report said. Malawi needs 208,000 mt in food aid until next year's harvest. Across the border in Mozambique, WFP has signed a letter of understanding with the NGO, ACE Agrarios, to provide a two-month supply of food for 11,150 beneficiaries in the Cabora Bassa district of Tete province. WFP has also dispatched 3,600 mt of food from Maputo, to its central warehouse in Swaziland. A further 308 mt is expected to arrive in Swaziland next week. "From 26 July to 23 August, WFP delivered 2,054 mt of this food to the extended delivery points of implementing partners," the report said. Swaziland's vulnerable population is around 144,000. The country's food aid requirement of 15,000 mt is expected to be covered by the government and external assistance. In Lesotho, from 22 to 27 August, WFP's implementing partners distributed 78 mt of food aid to 5,594 beneficiaries in three districts. WFP expects the number of districts receiving aid to increase to six by the beginning of October. Some 147,000 mt of food aid is required to feed 445,000 people in Lesotho, roughly 25 percent of the population. Meanwhile, a World Bank mission is to visit Zambia next week to finalise details of support to the government. Zambia needs 174,000 mt in food assistance for 2.3 million vulnerable people. "The World Bank has indicated that they will provide badly needed foreign exchange for drought relief supplies (boreholes, health facilities, animal fodder), agricultural inputs for small-scale farmers, and some emergency food supplies," WFP said in its report. Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe, WFP had received government approval for HelpAge to become an implementing partner under the Emop, bringing the number of approved NGOs to six. Zimbabwe faces the region's most crippling food shortage with six million people, half the population, requiring food aid. "As most people in identified locations qualify as vulnerable, targeting exercises for expanded food distributions are becoming increasingly difficult," WFP noted.