Two shot as crowd fights for subsidised food

Two youths were shot and wounded when a guard fired on a crowd fighting for government-subsidised maize in Malawi's drought-hit southern Nsanje district. The district is among the areas worst affected by food shortages brought on by a combination of erratic weather, the impact of HIV/AIDS and weakened capacity for governance. Police spokesperson Willie Mwaluka told IRIN that the incident occurred late on Tuesday outside an Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) depot, when a crowd tried to force their way into the depot to buy subsidised maize. An ADMARC guard attempted to disperse the crowd by firing above their heads, but instead shot and seriously wounded Sanga Ndakupiza, 13, and Kenson Nyelezeka, 20. Contrary to earlier reports, Mwaluka noted that "these people were not shot by the police". Analyst Rafiq Hajat, executive director of the Blantyre-based Institute for Policy Interaction, told IRIN the incident was indicative of the level of desperation among some communities affected by food shortages. The food crisis in Malawi has surpassed previous worst-case scenarios, with more than 4.7 million people in need of assistance until March 2006. When the UN launched its US $88 million Flash Appeal for Malawi in August it estimated that 4.2 million people would need help, but noted that this could be affected by changes in the price of maize, which have increased steadily as the year progressed. The UN World Food Programme planned to feed 1.9 million people in December and was gearing up to reach 2.4 million in January. The government, with the support of donors, will be assisting the balance of people who are food insecure. Hajat said the situation in parts of the country was deteriorating, "because you have desperately hungry people and, while aid agencies and the government are doing their best, perhaps it's too little too late for many people, and that's where the desperation stems from". "And in the midst of it all, we have this political impasse between the executive and legislature that has not helped matters at all," Hajat added. Political observers, the United Nations and donors have warned that the battle between Malawi's legislature and the president it is trying to impeach is diverting much-needed attention from the country's food crisis. President Bingu wa Mutharika has been fighting for his political survival since June, when he left the United Democratic Front (UDF), headed by former president Bakili Muluzi, which had sponsored him in the national elections. Mutharika formed his own political party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), consigning the UDF to the unfamiliar role of an opposition party. The UDF hit back, proposing an impeachment motion that won the backing of other opposition parties, setting up a tense political standoff in parliament, where the DPP holds no seats. "It [the political crisis] has taken the national focus off the common enemy, which is mass hunger," said Hajat. "We've been preoccupied with political shenanigans instead."