EU and ADB provide funds for food relief

The European Commission (EC) has provided US $29 million in humanitarian aid to help vulnerable populations in Southern Africa affected by food shortages, displacement and conflict. At the same time, the African Development Bank (ADB) has approved a grant of US $4 million to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) under the bank's Special Relief Fund to finance humanitarian relief to the six most affected countries. The World Food Programme has warned that up to 14.4 million people in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique will require food aid until the next harvest in March/April 2003. In Angola, which has just emerged from a long civil war, some 1.8 million people are expected to need food aid up to December. The EC funding is the latest tranche from an emergency budget made available earlier this year. It would be used for food operations targeting vulnerable groups, interventions in the water, sanitation and medical sectors and for agricultural rehabilitation. Poul Nielsen, EC commissioner for development and humanitarian aid said it was "a substantial and concrete expression of European solidarity towards the innocent victims of this unfolding crisis". The ADB contribution would be used for the acquisition, transportation and distribution of 20,000 mt of cereals and 1,000 mt of pulses. The aid announcements came as SADC leaders gathered in Angola's capital, Luanda, to discuss pressing regional issues. SADC Executive Secretary Prega Ramsamy said in his opening address that one of the organisation's immediate challenges was to provide food for millions of people in the region. With the help of the UN, SADC had so far received more than one-third of its food aid requirements and another 30 percent would be forthcoming in coming months, he said. Ramsamy also suggested a strategic grain reserve to avert future shortages. More controversial subjects like the formulation of a regional policy on accepting genetically modified (GM) food aid and the situation in Zimbabwe were also expected to be discussed. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe had reportedly not offered to fill the post of SADC deputy this year, a position which would have made the country the host for next year's summit. News reports said the country was blocked from the post due its human rights record, but the state-controlled Herald newspaper said Zimbabwe stood down so that it could focus its full attention on the country's agrarian reform programme.