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Relax food import laws, church leaders urge Zimbabwe government
2003-124D
6/5/2003
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[Episcopal News Service]
As famine worsens in the drought-stricken southern parts of Zimbabwe, church leaders have appealed to the government to relax its food import laws
The Rev. Charles Chiriseri, a spokesperson for the Heads of Christian Denominations, said a number of churches had received offers of maize donations from their overseas partners and international donor agencies but had not imported the grain 'because of existing legal restrictions.'
Maize is Zimbabwe's staple food crop, and its importation and distribution are regulated by the government-run Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
Chiriseri told the independent Daily News On Sunday: 'The church as a civic organization has an obligation to provide aid in times of need, and we are appealing to the government to relax the law further to enable churches and church-related charities to import and distribute maize to the needy.'
The US-based Famine Early Warning Systems Network said in its latest report that while food security had improved in some parts of Zimbabwe, the situation remained critical in the Matabeleland area and the northern Zambezi Valley, near Zambia. These regions had been hard hit by a drought, which has been blamed in large part for the food shortages. Disruptions in agricultural production caused by the government's chaotic, and sometimes violent, land reforms have also been blamed. The shortages have left close to 8 million people in need of emergency food aid.
In April, the government relaxed some regulations and allowed the importation of stipulated quantities of food by individuals without an import license. But the regulation amendment did not cover importers of large quantities of grain. The Grain Marketing Board has been accused, when selling maize, of favoring officials of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party. The officials reportedly hoard the grain and re-sell it at inflated prices.
The national Non-Governmental Organization Food Security Network said in its April report that 'the price of GMB maize was reported to have risen, and political bias in access continued to be widely reported.'
'Many people are now reported to have stopped trying to buy food from the GMB,' the report said. 'There appears to have been little progress in resolving bias in access to GMB maize or making the GMB maize sales more transparent within communities.'
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