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World Vision set to re-open Zimbabwe office,
but ban on aid agencies remains in effect
Humanitarian crisis deepens daily as inflation, unemployment, food prices soar
- The Zimbabwean government’s ban on aid agencies is entering its seventh week.
- Some 4.1 million Zimbabweans are in urgent need of food aid.
- Basic food prices are surging by an average of 55 percent each week.
- Those fleeing to South Africa may be forced elsewhere because of xenophobic violence.
HARARE Zimbabwe, July 18, 2008 —Humanitarian group World Vision will partially re-open its offices in Zimbabwe Monday. The office was closed following the government’s June 4 ban on non-government aid activities in the build-up to national elections held last month.
The ban is still in place but the government has since relaxed the ban, allowing aid groups to carry out some activities, including distributions at schools and institutions and to the chronically ill.
World Vision will maintain its office with a small team, while remaining staff members remain on leave until the ban is lifted. In the meantime, the team is currently assessing the impact of the ban on World Vision’s beneficiaries.
“We have sent all of our program managers and field officers to ascertain the situation on the ground, and we are expecting their feedback when we re-open on Monday,” said Bhekimpilo Khanye, World Vision’s executive associate in Zimbabwe. “This will inform future decisions, but in the meantime, activities like institutional feeding will continue.”
World Vision has since resumed its feeding programs in schools, institutions and to chronically ill groups in urban areas. In fact, these programs distribute some 600 metric tons of food to more than 100,000 beneficiaries.
As Zimbabwe’s political impasse continues, the humanitarian situation worsens daily. The government estimates inflation at 2.2 million, though economists place the rate even higher. Unemployment rates are as high as 80 percent. An estimated 4.1 million people are in urgent need of food aid, and food prices increase by 55 percent on a weekly basis.
It is estimated that more than 3 million Zimbabweans have fled the economic decline and repression in the country to seek refuge in South Africa. But because of recent xenophobic attacks there, these refugees may be forced to turn to neighboring Zambia or Botswana.
