Church aid to leave for Harare soon

Two trucks carrying 37 mt of food aid and another laden with blankets for Zimbabweans affected by the government's controversial cleanup campaign are expected to leave South Africa for Harare soon, according to a South African Council of Churches (SACC) spokesman. "We have finally got the necessary documents saying that the maize in the truck has not been genetically modified - so we hope to get the necessary clearance certificate from the Zimbabwean authorities," said Rev Ron Steele on behalf of the SACC. The trucks have been waiting in a depot in Johannesburg since last week after the Zimbabwean government demanded documents confirming that the maize was not genetically modified. Christian Care, an NGO, will distribute the goods for the Zimbabwe Council of Churches. "The food aid is destined for the transit camps outside Harare," said Steele. A report by UN Special Envoy Anna Tibaijuka said about 700,000 people had been affected by the demolitions in and around urban centres, which "breached both national and international human rights law provisions guiding evictions" and had created "a humanitarian crisis". Meanwhile, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has announced that it will rent housing for more than 100 evicted families with disabled children and provide them with transport. UNICEF said it had joined the UN World Food Programme, the International Office of Migration (IOM), the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society and local NGOs in providing hundreds of thousands of people with blankets and plastic sheeting for protection from the cold, along with sanitation facilities, food and shelter. The organisations are also supplying chronically ill people with home-based treatment. "We have been working around the clock for the better part of three months and are improving the situation for tens of thousands, but such is the gravity of the situation that we are asking the international community to support the people of Zimbabwe," noted UNICEF's Country Representative, Festo Kavishe.