ジンバブエ国民の６０％が食料不足　「人的要因の飢餓」迫る

【ハラレＡＦＰ＝時事】国連のヒラール・エルバー特別報告者（食料の権利担当）は28日、アフリカ南部ジンバブエで記者会見し、同国では基礎的な食料ニーズが満たされていない人が国民の60％に上り、「人的要因による飢餓」が近づいていると述べた。また、同国は紛争地域を除き食料不安の最も深刻な4か国に入るとした。（写真はジンバブエ北東部の村ムトコで、干ばつで枯れたトウモロコシ畑を見回る地元女性）
　エルバー氏は１１日間の視察を終え、首都ハラレで会見した。同氏は「ジンバブエの人々は人的要因による飢餓の段階に徐々に近づいている」と語り、年内に８００万人が影響を受けると警告。物価上昇率４９０％のハイパーインフレと不作が合わさったことを要因に挙げた。
　同氏によると、地方では農作物が干ばつの影響を受け、現時点で「５５０万人という驚くべき規模の人々」が食料不安に見舞われている。都市部でも２２０万人が食料不足に直面するとともに、保健・医療や安全な水など最低限の公共サービスを受けられていないとした。
　ジンバブエ経済はロバート・ムガベ前大統領の数十年に及ぶ失政で機能不全に陥り、軍主導のクーデターで２０１７年に後任に就いたエマーソン・ムナンガグワ大統領の下でも立て直しは実現していない。
　ジンバブエは経済危機が慢性化している他、汚職、貧困がまん延し、医療制度も崩壊寸前となっている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/12/02-09:01）

Zimbabwe is facing man-made starvation with 60 percent of the people failing to meet basic food needs, a UN special envoy said Thursday after touring the southern African country.
Hilal Elver, Special Rapporteur on the right to food, ranked Zimbabwe among the four top countries facing severe food shortages outside nations in conflict zones.
The people of Zimbabwe are slowly getting to a point of suffering a man-made starvation, she told a news conference in Harare, adding that eight million people would be affected by the end of the year.
Today, Zimbabwe counts amongst the four highest food insecure states, she said after an 11-day tour, adding that poor harvests were compounded by 490 percent hyperinflation.
A staggering 5.5 million people are currently facing food insecurity in rural areas due to a drought that has affected harvests, she said.
Another 2.2 million people in urban areas also faced food shortages and lacked access to minimum public services, including health and safe water.
By the end of this year... the food security situation is expected to worsen with an estimated eight million people requiring urgent action to reduce food consumption gaps and save livelihoods, she said, describing the numbers as shocking.
Zimbabwe is in the grips of an entrenched economic crisis, pervasive corruption, poverty and a crumbling health system.
The economy, crippled by decades of mismanagement under former president Robert Mugabe, has failed to rebound under Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over following a military-led coup two years ago.
- 'Full-blown social unrest' -
Political polarisation, economic and financial problems and erratic climatic conditions all contribute to the storm of food insecurity currently facing a country once seen as the breadbasket of Africa, Elver said.
She warned that food insecurity heightened the risks of civil unrest and insecurity.
I urgently call on the government and the international community to come together to put an end to this spiralling crisis before it morphs into a full-blown social unrest, she said.
She said she personally witnessed some of the devastating consequences of the acute economic crisis in the streets of Harare, with people waiting for hours on long lines in front of gas stations, banks, and water dispensaries.
Elver said she also was received complaints of partisan distribution of food aid in favour of known ruling Zanu-PF members against opposition supporters.
I call on the government of Zimbabwe to live up to its zero hunger commitment without any discrimination, Elver said.
President Mnangagwa meanwhile said the government would reverse plans to scrap subsidies on corn, a staple in a swathe of southern Africa.
The issue of mealie-meal affects a lot of people and we cannot remove the subsidy, he said, referring to corn gruel which is widely eaten in Zimbabwe.
So I am restoring it so that the price of mealie-meal is also reduced, said the president.
We have a cheap food policy that we are creating to ensure that basic foods are affordable, he said.