Sunday, September 28, 2008

Mass Starvation Is On The Horizon For Zimbabwe

Hundreds of people wait in line for food in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, in December. The food shortages have grown worse this year, and most people in rural areas eat nothing but boiled rape, a leafy vegetable, and wild fruit.

Zimbabwe's Food Crisis Is Escalating -- L.A. Times

Millions are hungry, and the number is expected to grow. A collapsed economy, bad harvest and politics are cited.

MASVINGO PROVINCE, ZIMBABWE -- They look like birds pecking, grain by grain, along the nation's roadsides. Tattered women and children bend to pick up the smattering of corn blown from passing trucks. The precious grains are about all there is to eat.

Millions across Zimbabwe are on the brink of starvation, largely because of the failure of this year's harvest and the nation's collapsed economy, along with President Robert Mugabe's ban on humanitarian aid during the recent election campaign.

On the road from Harare, the capital, south to Masvingo province, a 3-year-old boy, Slupeth, collects grain with his mother, Esnat, 36, and her sister, Chipo, 26. It takes them half a day to gather a pound of ground corn, or maize, which will make a small dinner.

Read more ....

My Comment: Famine is in the air for Zimbabwe. With a change in South African leadership that is favorable to Zimbabwe's Mugabe, one can only expect the suffering to increase.

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