Lords, Shriti Vadera, the International Development Minister said the economic collapse in Zimbabwe meant that 80 percent of are without jobs and almost 60 percent were living below the poverty datum line.
“The people of Zimbabwe face a humanitarian crisis. A quarter of the population have fled to neighbouring countries, and half those remaining urgently need food aid. Each week over 3,000 people die of HIV/AIDS,” said Vadera.
“To help those immediately at risk I would like to announce that DFID is committing £50 million to extend the Protracted Relief Programme for the next five years. The programme will be delivered entirely through NGOs to provide seeds, fertilisers, livestock and access to HIV/AIDS care to assist 2 million of the most vulnerable Zimbabweans,” she said.
The donation comes at a time when the Zimbabwe government accuses Britain and the US of planning to bring a regime change in Zimbabwe .
However, Vadera said like all DFID programmes in Zimbabwe , no funding would go directly to the government.
Efforts to get a comment from Zimbabwean government officials on whether it would accept the donation were unsuccessful. In the past the ZANU PF government has used food donations as a vote catching gimmick.
At the moment, Zimbabwe , which is facing one of its severe food shortages, is importing food importing about 400 000 tonnes of maize from neighbouring Malawi .
“The programme is closely monitored to ensure that there is no political interference before the support reaches the intended beneficiaries, who include former farm workers and families forced to leave their homes,” said Vadera.
The Protracted Relief Programme (PRP) is built on an existing successful programme and would enable poor families to begin to provide for themselves.
The £50 million announced today brings the total UK humanitarian commitment to Zimbabwe since 2001 to over £200 million.
Post published in: News