MAJOR ISSUES FOR AMBASSADOR TONY HALL'S VISIT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 002214 SIPDIS SENSITIVE ROME PASS TO AMBASSADOR TONY HALL, MAX FINBERG AND TIM LAVELLE AT FODAG STATE FOR AF/S USAID/W FOR DCHA,OFDA,FFP AND AFR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID ZI SUBJECT: MAJOR ISSUES FOR AMBASSADOR TONY HALL'S VISIT TO ZIMBABWE, OCTOBER 8 - OCTOBER 11 2002 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. NOT SUITABLE FOR INTERNET POSTING. ¶1. (SBU) The US Mission in Zimbabwe welcomes the visit of Ambassador Anthony Hall to Zimbabwe. Ambassador Hall's schedule includes several meetings with donors and NGOs working on the delivery of humanitarian assistance, senior Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) officials and civil society leaders. We expect that these meetings will focus on the following seven major issues: -------------- Issue 1: GOZ Policies and the Food Crisis -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The economic and political policies of the GOZ have created the food crisis in Zimbabwe. This mismanagement has been aggravated by the lack of rain during the critical growing period last season. Many of the same policies have hindered the domestic and international response to the crisis. Most importantly, the Grain Marketing Board's monopoly on the purchase of grain from local producers and on the import of grain, along with government price controls on basic commodities (including maize) far below market price deters production and prevents the private sector from ameliorating the crisis. The impact of the fast track land reform program is well known. The lack of foreign exchange, due to the unrealistic fixed exchange rate, has limited the GOZ's ability to import food and fuel to move the food. This has contributed to a black market in basic foods which has pushed them outside of the ability of many even with some money to purchase staple foods. The implosion of the economy has also significantly limited the GOZ's ability to provide agricultural inputs (seed, fertilizer, and land preparation) to the new farmers, guaranteeing a continuation of the food crisis after the next harvest. -- Post recommends that you raise these policy issues in meetings with GOZ officials in order to facilitate the operation of the donors trying to respond to the food crisis and to permit the participation of the private sector. A change in these policies would lessen the severity of the inevitable continuation of the crisis next year. -------------- Issue 2: Food Gap -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The recently released Emergency Food Security Assessment report indicates that a more realistic estimate of the food gap may be 5-600,000MT prior to the next harvest season. The food gap is defined as the total amount of food needed to prevent massive hunger minus the sum of food in country, food the GOZ and private sector can import and food commitments by the donor community. Without significantly greater food commitments to the WFP EMOP or a significant policy change by the GOZ to permit the private sector to participate, Zimbabwe faces a potentially significant human catastrophe. Although the GOZ claims to be covering much of the gap, there are serious doubts that it will be able to import the additional 650,000MT of grain it has promised. Post does, though, recommend that you encourage the GOZ to meet its public commitments. Even if the GOZ does fully meet this commitment, a significant gap will still exist (over 100,000MT). -- Post recommends that you highlight this gap in discussions with WFP and other donors in order to encourage increased contributions, and with GOZ officials and in press contacts to push for policy changes that will permit the private sector to participate in the relief effort. -------------- Issue 3: Biotech Food Imports -------------- ¶4. (U) The USG has committed to providing significant food contributions to the current crisis. However, current GOZ policies related to biotech food imports have impeded our efforts to meet this commitment. The first round of this issue has been resolved with the signing of an MOU to swap GM whole kernel corn from the US with current non-GM maize held by the GOZ for distribution by WFP. The GOZ will take responsibility for milling and distribution of the US grain. This agreement only covers 17,500MT of corn currently held in Durban, RSA. There is no formal agreement from the USG, WFP, or the GOZ on future imports of whole kernel corn from the US. We are waiting to see how successful this swap will be. -- Post recommends that you discuss with GOZ officials and with WFP officials alternative means for future importation of US whole kernel corn, including the potential for further swaps or funding options for milling. -------------- Issue 4: NGO Capacity -------------- ¶5. (U) It is clear that Zimbabwe will need all the food it can get. Non-GOZ food distribution is done through NGOs. The NGOs that participate in the WFP program must be registered with the Ministry of Social Welfare. Currently, the WFP works with 7 international NGOs, and has only been able to reach less than half of its food distribution goal of 55,000MT per month. WFP and the UN Resident Coordinator have been pressing this issue, but it is proving very difficult for additional NGOs to get registered; e.g., OXFAM, CRS and Save the Children (UK) were all rejected while at least 3 others are still waiting to be registered. More international NGOs will be needed to meet the food requirements of the people. -- Post recommends that you bring up this critical issue in your meeting with the Minister of Social Welfare, July Moyo, whose Ministry is responsible for the registration of the NGOs. ¶6. (SBU) Post is also concerned about the capacity of the NGOs already implementing programs to fulfill their numerous obligations. USG and WFP policies are to use international NGOs to lead the implementation of their humanitarian assistance (HA) food distribution programs, some in partnership with local organizations. There are a very limited number of such NGOs registered to do this work in Zimbabwe. Therefore, there is significant overlap of implementers between bilateral and multilateral food distribution programs. In fact, the main NGOs (World Vision, CRS, and CARE) are used by both operations, in addition to their own programs. In addition, OFDA is entering into a seed distribution program with these same NGOs. -- Post recommends that you express concern about the capacity of the existing NGOs to carry out so many programs simultaneously when you meet with these groups. -------------- Issue 5: The PVO Law -------------- ¶7. (SBU) The GOZ has signaled its intention to crack down on the operation of Private Voluntary organizations (PVOs) (including Trusts),particularly those involved in democracy/human rights and in humanitarian assistance. As many as 2/3 of the local NGOs could face closure and/or criminal penalties by being declared in violation of the current registration laws. A new draft PVO law is also rumored to prohibit local PVOs from receiving support from sources outside of the country. This could have far reaching impact on the entire US assistance program and cripple the current humanitarian assistance efforts of the donor community. -- While we are certain that WFP and NGOs will raise this issue with you, you should be sure to raise it with GOZ officials. -------------- Issue 6: Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Current estimates indicate that there are 750,000 - 1 million IDPs in Zimbabwe. Most of these are economically and/or physically displaced farm workers. It is expected that this number could reach 2 million IDPs by next year. Both the USG and the UN are assessing the situation, but no one has programmed significant funds to deal with the problem. -- Post recommends that you raise this issue in discussions with the UN and others outside government and solicit views on what more can be done to address the problem. We also recommend that you encourage the UN Resident Coordinator to get promised OCHA support in place as soon as possible. -------------- Issue 7: Monitoring Food Delivery -------------- ¶9. (SBU) You should be aware that there have been documented accusations of political bias in the GOZ's emergency food distribution program. The major food donors have been working with the UN to establish a food delivery monitoring unit ("Information and Verification Unit" - IVU) to investigate such charges related to all food distribution programs. It has been agreed to set up this unit in the Relief and Recovery Unit (RRU) of the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator. While the RRU has never been a strong player in donor coordination we had hoped that additional support from OCHA would strengthen their performance. That support has not yet been put in place. Unfortunately, the management of the RRU has continued to deteriorate and the donors have concerns about the viability not only of the RRU but of the much more important IVU. -- We recommend that you raise the future of the RRU and the IVU in your meetings with the Resident Coordinator as well as with other major food donors - most notably the EU Ambassador (the EU will be providing the bulk of funding for the IVU) and the High Commissioner of the UK (the other major food donor). SULLIVAN