UN: 7m need food aid in Zimbabwe

ZIMBABWE’s humanitarian disaster is far worse than anticipated with only 6% of the population formally employed and more than half in need of emergency food aid, a UN report has said.

Fewer than half a million Zimbabweans have jobs, while nearly seven million need emergency aid, UN agencies said in the latest stark illustration of the economy’s collapse.

The new grim estimates by the World Food Programme means more than half Zimbabwe’s 12 million people do not have enough to eat, WFP spokesman Richard Lee said.

The UN food agency estimated in June that 5.1 million Zimbabweans would need aid by January, but the actual figure has proved to be 35% higher.

“The economic situation has worsened more dramatically than we had anticipated,” Lee said.

The crisis has deteriorated so quickly that the agency is being forced to halve cereal rations given to hungry Zimbabweans so that all those in need can receive aid, he added.

Meanwhile, Zimbabweans are being allowed to do business in foreign currencies in a bid to tackle the hyperinflation that has destroyed the Zimbabwean dollar, acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said yesterday.

The crisis shows no sign of ending with no moves to implement a power -sharing agreement.