MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Smith
Australia will provide a further $8 million of urgent food and other assistance to the people of Zimbabwe in response to the escalating humanitarian crisis.
The situation in Zimbabwe has become extremely grave, with critical shortages of food and clean water.
Currently in Zimbabwe, 28 per cent of children under five are chronically malnourished and a cholera outbreak has spread to all of the nation's eight provinces, killing around 300 people.
The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that over five million people – nearly half Zimbabwe's population – will require food aid by early next year.
Australia will contribute:
- $6 million to the World Food Programme; and
- $2 million to NGOs in partnership with the UK's Department for International Development (DFID).
This assistance brings Australia's support for Zimbabweans to nearly $20 million in 2008-09.
Australia's contribution will assist those most vulnerable to hunger, in particular orphans, those affected by HIV/AIDS and people displaced by politically motivated violence or the policies of the Mugabe regime. It will also assist with protecting livelihoods and improving access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene.
The Australian Government remains gravely concerned by the ongoing political crisis in Zimbabwe, where people continue to be denied a democratic and representative government.
The Government is providing desperately needed humanitarian assistance to the people of Zimbabwe but will maintain targeted sanctions against the brutal Mugabe regime which has caused so much of the suffering.