DAILY NEWS EDITORIAL ON US FOOD ASSISTANCE TO

UNCLAS HARARE 001371 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/S, AF/PD, AF/RA NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPAO ZI SUBJECT: DAILY NEWS EDITORIAL ON US FOOD ASSISTANCE TO ZIMBABWE ¶1. Under headline "Looking a gift horse in the mouth" the independent daily "The Daily News" dedicated its June 5 editorial to calling on the government of Zimbabwe to "avoid politicizing food aid." Excerpts: ¶2. "For the estimated six million of the 13 million Zimbabweans on the verge of starvation, the issue of whether the food before them is genetically modified or not is luxury they cannot afford. Their preoccupation is with surviving the current food crisis. The USA last week gave Zimbabwe 18,500 tons of maize, in order to ease the current food shortage. However, 10,000 tons of the consignment was rejected because it did not have a certificate declaring it was not produced through genetic engineering. . . If the origin of the grain was unclear, a simple request to the Americans indicating concern about the possibility of the consignment being genetically modified, would certainly have been responded to and the fears by Zimbabwe either confirmed or allayed. It is possible the government is allowing the standoff between Washington and Harare over the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, which slaps 'smart' sanctions on President Mugabe, his two Vice Presidents, senior government ministers, officials and the ZANU PF leadership, to get in the way of international efforts to respond to the country's humanitarian crisis. This is a desperate situation and it is doubtful whether the people affected would elect to starve instead of consuming alleged genetically modified food. Which is the lesser of the two evils - to die of hunger or as a consequence of the suspected effects of genetically modified food? There is need to be less hysterical and avoid politicizing food aid. . . ." SULLIVAN