Robert Mugabe’s junta last week suspended all work by aid agencies, accusing them of using aid distribution to campaign for Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai ahead of a run-off presidential election – a charge aid groups deny.
Ban’s spokesperson Michelle Montas said that the envoy was being dispatched following the meeting between Robert Mugabe and the UN chief on the sidelines of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) summit in Rome two weeks ago.
Montas said: The invitation (of a UN envoy) was accepted by President Mugabe in his conversation with the Secretary-General in Rome, Italy. We’re not really talking about a special envoy here. Mr Menkerios would go as the person in charge of African issues in the Department of Political Affairs (to discuss the humanitarian situation in that country).
The European Union, United States, local church and human rights groups have criticised the aid ban, which they say has cut off support to more than two million Zimbabweans who received life sustaining support from aid agencies on a daily basis.
UN agencies in Zimbabwe said the ban disrupted donor-backed community programmes to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS, while thousands of people who received basic support such as clean water, sanitation and education support services were left without help.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour described the aid freeze as absolutely outrageous in the light of long-running food shortages in Zimbabwe.
Most households – especially the poor in rural areas – now depend on handouts from foreign governments and relief agencies to survive. – ZimOnline
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