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Zimbabwe: US Envoy Barred From Visiting Holding Camp
ZimOnline
Zimbabwe
August 15, 2005
The Zimbabwe government at the weekend barred United States envoy Tony Hall from visiting a holding camp for victims of a government clean-up operation.
Hall, who was on a three day visit to assess food shortages in the crisis-sapped country, was told by government officials that he needed permission to visit Hopely Farm, in Harare.
"I was told in a hushed tone that the government doesn't want me to see this place because old people are dying," said Hall.
"We can't address the suffering of these people if we can't see and assess their needs."
President Robert Mugabe's government, which has been accused of using food as a political weapon, last week said it was not aware of the US envoy's visit prior to his arrival last Wednesday.
A United Nations report published last month said at least 700 000 people were thrown onto the streets after their houses and backyard shacks were destroyed in a government campaign to clean-up cities and towns.
Another 2.4 million were also directly affected by the exercise which has been condemned by human rights groups and most Western governments as a violation of the rights of the poor.
Hall on Saturday donated US$51.8 million to buy food aid for southern Africa with most of the aid going to Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is facing severe food shortages blamed on Mugabe's seizure five years ago of white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks.
The US envoy also said he was saddened by the conditions in Zimbabwe where an estimated four million people need food aid or they will starve.
"I remember when this country (Zimbabwe) was the bread basket of southern Africa and today that bread basket is empty. I am and was appaled at the deterioration that has taken place there, just in three years," he said.
The envoy's three-day visit ended last Saturday.
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