WFP retains control of food distributions

The Zimbabwean government has given an assurance that the World Food Programme (WFP) will remain in control of humanitarian food distribution, despite a controversial new policy directive issued by the government this month, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Victor Angelo told IRIN on Monday. "We were told that we can proceed as we did last year ... We will be implementing the [food distribution] programme this month with no operational change at the ground level. The UN will keep monitoring the situation on the ground," Angelo said. The ministry of public service, labour and social welfare had issued a new policy guideline altering the memorandum of understanding with WFP, which authorised the agency and its partners to distribute food aid in the country. The new directive allows WFP and its partners to deliver food to distribution points, but the government would then be responsible for the selection and physical distribution of the food to beneficiaries through local government structures and village authorities. NGOs would perform only a monitoring role. The directive, the "Policy on Operations of Non-Governmental Organisations in Humanitarian and Developmental Assistance in Zimbabwe", has been condemned as opening the door to the politicisation of WFP-delivered food. "In Zimbabwe the only real currency at the moment is food. The implications of this directive are extremely worrying, as it gives the government free rein over who receives food and who does not. The country really does not need this at this juncture, especially since it is the NGOs who are keeping the most vulnerable communities afloat," spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, Paul Themba Nyathi, told IRIN. He also alleged that Western donors would be unlikely to fund Zimbabwe's food aid appeal if the selection of beneficiaries and distribution was under the control of the government. An estimated 5.5 million Zimbabweans will be in need of food aid by January 2004. Explaining the government's position, public service minister July Moyo was quoted as saying: "We appealed for the food aid and we should determine how it is distributed." On Wednesday last week, Angelo and WFP country representative Kevin Farrell met with Moyo "to ask for clarification" on the new policy. Angelo said he was assured that the government's policy guidelines "do not mean that we as the UN will change the way we operate", adding that if there was any political interference by the authorities, the incident would be reported to the government. "The [memorandum of understanding] signed with the UN system is still valid ... The basis of the agreement with the government is that we implement our programmes with total autonomy," Angelo stressed.