African drought appeal

by Angus Macdonald CATHOLIC and other aid agencies in Zimbabwe are launching relief programmes to try and tackle the worst drought in southern Africa for over 50 years.
Zimbabwe's Catholic bishops are appealing for donations towards a supplementary feeding programme aimed at under-fives in all seven of the country's dioceses. The programme, which involves local women and uses existing school feeding points for distribution, is estimated to cost nearly £1.5 million.
Zimbabwe has traditionally been a food exporter. but this year the failure of the rains has devastated crops and the country will have to import 1.7 million tonnes of maize, as well as other staple foods, in order to feed its people. Livestock are dying and dams and boreholes drying up. President Robert Mugabe has declared a national disaster.
Highlighting the bishops' appeal, Fr Joe Hampson. the Jesuit provincial in Zimbabwe. also called on the international community to play its part in helping the drought-stricken region.
Meanwhile the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development (CAFOD), together with other British aid agencies, has been lobbying the UK government and the European Commission to agree plans for massive additional emergency aid to deal with the drought crisis in Africa.