Government denies drought-related deaths

The Namibian government on Tuesday refuted reports that three people had died of starvation in the drought-stricken Okavango region.

Audrin Mathe, spokesman at the Prime Minister's office said an investigation by the country's Emergency Management Unit (EMU) to ascertain the veracity of the report had concluded that there had been no fatalities due to hunger in the region.

Mathe told IRIN: "The team visited the hospital in the Kahenge constituency on Monday and interviewed matrons, doctors and villagers in the area about these allegations. After speaking to the emergency councillor in the area all that was uncovered was that a young child had died in September. His death was not directly linked to the food shortages."

Mathe also dismissed reports that technical and administrative problems had led to delays in the delivery of food aid to about 345,000 people in Namibia's drought-hit northern regions.

"Nobody can predict drought conditions and therefore it is near impossible to be totally prepared for it. To date, the bulk of the food has been delivered to the most neediest communities in the country. Between today and Wednesday 16 mt of food supplies will be delivered with the Caprivi region as a priority. Also, additional maize had to be sourced from other southern African countries which admittedly caused some delay," Mathe said.

The region hardest hit by this year's poor harvest was the Caprivi in the extreme northeast of the country.

The Namibian government had set aside US $14 million for the procurement of maize meal, beans, cooking oil and tinned fish to help lessen the impact of the drought. The EMU has awarded tenders to transporting companies to distribute about 30,000 mt
of food relief across the country's 13 regions.