Red Cross appeals for money to feed millions of Zimbabweans (Roundup)

Aug 6, 2008, 13:14 GMT

Geneva/Johannesburg - The Red Cross in Zimbabwe on Wednesday issued an emergency appeal to donors for 26.6 million dollars for food aid to Zimbabwe, saying millions in the politically and economically unstable country faced hunger.

The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Geneva said the funds would help those already in need and avert an aggravation of the situation.

The number of people in need could rise to up to 5.1 million, almost half the population, by the end of the year, the IFRC noted.

The IFRC currently provides food aid to 260,000 people in Zimbabwe, including orphans, the chronically ill and other vulnerable people, IFRC relief programme coordinator John Roche said.

'Given the worsening supply situation, we want to expand these efforts in the coming six to nine months and also coordinate with other relief organizations,' he said.

Populist policies that have resulted in hyperinflation of several million per cent, combined with drought, are blamed for the hardship of many in the southern African country.

Aid agencies say food imports are urgently needed to counter the situation.

Zimbabwe's controversial President Robert Mugabe, whose re- election in a one-man election in June has been derided as a sham by the West, has come under fire for ordering 'pro-opposition' aid agencies to suspend their field operations in the run-up to the poll.

Under pressure from the African Union and the dire state of the economy, Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has entered talks in South Africa with Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on the formation of a unity government.

A unity government that is led by the MDC would attract a glut of donor funding and foreign investment.

According to South Africa's The Star newspaper Wednesday, a draft agreement that is being circulated at the more than two-week-old talks proposes that Tsvangirai be made executive prime minister and Mugabe a ceremonial president.

Johannesburg-based radio station 702 also carried a similar report.

The Star said the deal would also give Mugabe and other Zanu-PF leaders immunity from prosecution for atrocities committed under his 28-year rule.

Neither party to the talks would confirm the report because the they are subject to a media blackout.