Greater support needed for Red Cross operation in southern Africa
21 November 2002

The Red Cross leadership from across southern Africa gathered in Windhoek, Namibia, today to discuss the on-going food crisis threatening 14.4 million people in the region and to review progress in implementing the largest International Federation emergency appeal since the Balkans crisis.

Four months after the launch of the appeal, there has been a 50 per cent response from donors which amounts to 44.3 million Swiss francs. "We will be reviewing progress and looking at ways to maximize our resources and to increase donor support for the operation in the lean months ahead," says McBain Kanongodza, secretary general of the Malawi Red Cross.

The meeting takes place at a critical time as the Red Cross looks to expand food distributions, particularly to households affected by HIV/AIDS and to provide agricultural starter packs to subsistence farmers so they can take advantage of the current planting season.

In addition to providing food directly to 230,000 beneficiaries, plans are in place to start food distribution to 50,000 people mainly AIDS patients and their families. The operation ultimately aims to provide food aid to 750,000 people.

With an eye to the March harvest next year, seeds and fertilizers are being distributed to the families of 110,000 subsistence farmers in Malawi, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe before the pending rainy season makes planting impossible. These agricultural starter packs also include spades and hoes to help people plant vegetables and become less dependent on food aid.

In Lesotho, maize seeds, donated by the German Red Cross and the German government, are being planted. "Many farmers here have no source of income to buy seeds. So without the donation they would not have been able to plough and sow and hope for a better harvest," says secretary general, Ntharetso Lieta of the Lesotho Red Cross Society.

However, emergency food assistance is still needed for the hardest hit families in the five famine-affected countries of Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland.

For further information, or to set up interviews, please contact:

In Geneva
Denis McClean, Head, Media Service - Tel: + 41 22 730 44 28 / + 41 79 217 33 57

In Windhoek
Solveig Olafsdottir, Regional Press Officer - Tel: + 264 61 23 52 16 / + 264 61 23 52 26

The Geneva-based International Federation promotes the humanitarian activities of 181 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies among vulnerable people. By coordinating international disaster relief and encouraging development support, it seeks to prevent and alleviate human suffering. The Federation, National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross together, constitute the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.