This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 001950 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AID FOR DCHA/FFP LANDIS, CRUMBLY, MUTAMBA, 
PETERSEN 
DCHA/OFDA FOR PRATT, BARTON, KHANDAGLE, 
MENGHETTI, BORNS, MARX, HALMRAST-SANCHEZ, 
MCCONNELL 
AFR/SA FOR FLEURET, COPSON, FORT, BAKER, MACNAIRN 
STATE/AF FOR RAYNOR, DELISI 
PRETORIA FOR DIJKERMAN, HELM, DISKIN, HALE 
NAIROBI FOR SMITH, RILEY 
LILONGWE FOR RUBEY, SINK 
LUSAKA FOR GUNTHER, NIELSON 
MAPUTO FOR POLAND, BLISS 
MASERU FOR AMB LOFTIS 
MBABANE FOR KENNA 
GABORONE FOR THOMAS, MULLINS AND DORMAN 
ROME FOR FODAG FOR LAVELLE, DAVIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID PREL US ZI
SUBJECT:  UN Consolidated Appeal for Zimbabwe 
 
REFS: (A) Pretoria 03546; (B) Harare 01345; 
      (C) Harare 01880 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. The UN formally launched the stand-alone Consolidated 
Appeal (CAP) for Zimbabwe in September. While 
acknowledging the after effects of the last three years 
of drought, the CAP notes that Zimbabwe's humanitarian 
crisis has largely been man-made and that moving beyond 
emergency to recovery would only be viable if a wide 
range of policy reforms took place. The CAP addresses the 
short term and focuses on mitigation of the current 
crisis. Unlike the recovery in food security among the 
other five countries in the region, Zimbabwe's situation 
remains grave, is deteriorating further, particularly in 
urban areas, and accounts for more than half of the aid 
requested in the UN Southern Africa Regional Consolidated 
Appeal. The USG response to the CAP will presumably match 
or possibly exceed those of last year. It is hoped that 
the on going dialogue between UN and GOZ will resolve 
issues raised by recent GOZ attempts to acquire greater 
direct government control over the delivery of 
humanitarian assistance. 
 
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HIGHLIGHTS: 2003/04 CAP 
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¶2. The UN formally launched the stand-alone Consolidated 
Appeal (CAP) for Zimbabwe in September. The Zimbabwe CAP, 
in abbreviated form, had already been included as part of 
the UN Southern Africa Regional Consolidated Appeal for 
the period of July 2003 through June 2004, released in 
late July (Reftel A) after the GOZ request for assistance 
(Reftel B) was received. 
 
¶3. The regional appeal focuses on six countries affected 
by food insecurity, extreme poverty, and HIV/AIDS: 
Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, and 
Zimbabwe.  The total requested amount of the 2003/04 
regional appeal is USD 530 million, a decrease from the 
2002/03 revised appeal of USD 656 million. The decrease 
reflects the general improvement in food production in 
the region. Zimbabwe is the exception. Of the USD 530 
million requested in the regional appeal, USD 308 million 
is for food aid through the World Food Program (WFP) EMOP 
(Emergency Operation). Of that USD 308 million, almost 
two-thirds, USD 195 million, is for food aid to Zimbabwe 
alone. The Zimbabwe CAP primarily addresses non-food 
emergency assistance in agriculture, coordination, 
economic recovery, education, health, protection/human 
rights and water/sanitation. NGOs account for 
approximately 30 percent of  the project proposals 
included in the CAP, while UN agencies account for the 
remainder. The total request for non-food assistance for 
2003/04 is nearly USD 114 million. 
¶4. While acknowledging the after-effects of last year's 
drought, the CAP notes that Zimbabwe's humanitarian 
crisis has largely been man-made. "What initially 
appeared as a food crisis in Zimbabwe in 2002 has turned 
into a major humanitarian emergency due to the 
deteriorating economy, immense policy constraints, the 
devastating effects of HIV/AIDS, and depleted capacity in 
the social service sector," the appeal says. The country 
is in its fifth successive year of economic decline and 
"faces critical shortages of foreign exchange to maintain 
essential infrastructure, fuel and energy needs" 
resulting, in large part, from the effects of the 
government's fast-track land reform program. 
¶5. Zimbabwe will have an estimated 5.5 million people in 
need of food aid during the height of the lean season, 
despite recoveries in most other countries affected by 
last year's food shortages. As of the end of June, the 
inflation rate was conservatively estimated at 364 
percent and is forecast to top 500 percent by the end of 
the year. The industrial and agricultural sectors have 
been severely undermined by the state of the macro- 
economy, causing mass unemployment and worsening rural 
and urban poverty," the document notes. State control of 
prices, currency exchange rates and a monopoly on the 
import and marketing of maize and wheat are 
characteristics of an "economic framework within which 
the economy has contracted by one-third in four years". 
This had contributed to greater vulnerability as 
"structural unemployment is estimated at over 70 percent, 
and rising, as the major sectors generating employment" 
and foreign exchange continue to contract. 
¶6. The CAP also notes that loss of skills in the health 
and social services sector due to emigration and HIV/AIDS 
is yet another factor aggravating the crisis. The need 
for the GOZ to assume responsibility for responding to 
the humanitarian crisis and its continued lack of 
cooperation with humanitarian agencies are also 
highlighted in the appeal. 
¶7. The 2003/04 CAP concentrates on three main areas of 
humanitarian response: (1) preventing loss of life 
through food, nutrition, and critical health 
interventions; (2) mitigating the impact of the crisis on 
vulnerable groups; and (3) developing a productive 
dialogue among stakeholders to strengthen coordination 
and provide focus. While noting that recovery 
interventions and policies are essential to reducing 
Zimbabwe's reliance on international relief assistance 
and strengthening food security, the CAP further states 
that recovery would only be viable if a wide range of 
policy reforms should take place. 
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USG FOOD RESPONSE 
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¶8.  WFP's new EMOP includes plans to distribute 
approximately 450,000 MTs of food in Zimbabwe between 
July 2003 and June 2004, of which about 110,000 MTs will 
be covered by carryover commodities from its previous 
EMOP.  The USG, through USAID/DCHA's Office of Food for 
Peace, has traditionally provided between 40 to 50 
percent of WFP's requirements and it is anticipated that 
it will continue to cover this proportion of WFP's net 
additional needs for the new EMOP.  The C-SAFE program, 
which is fully funded by USAID, also plans to distribute 
an additional 100,000 MTs in rural areas during this 
period through targeted free distributions, food-for-work 
programs and supplementary feeding.  Further, it is 
anticipated that C-SAFE's Market Intervention Pilot 
Program in Bulawayo will provide 20,000 MTs of sorghum 
through January 2004.  Depending on the success of this 
pilot program, tonnage may be increased, if the program 
continues beyond January 2004 and expands into other 
urban areas. 
 
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USG NON-FOOD AID RESPONSE 
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¶9. The OFDA EDRC/Harare participated actively in the CAP 
process, attending the CAP training workshop, follow-up 
strategy sessions and subsequent sector working groups 
with other donor representatives, NGOs and UN agencies. 
The USG, through USAID/DCHA's Office for Foreign Disaster 
Assistance (OFDA), is concentrating its response to the 
humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe in geographical areas 
particularly hard hit by the crisis in the following 
sectors: 
-- nutrition interventions through supplementary feeding 
programs targeted at children under five and school-age 
children; 
-- agricultural inputs, particularly seeds and technical 
support, for subsistence farming in communal areas to 
foster self-sufficiency; 
-- micro-irrigation projects in areas of chronic drought 
and in support of the food security needs of certain 
vulnerable populations, such as HIV/AIDs-affected 
households and orphan- and elderly-headed households; 
-- support (food and non-food) to internally displaced 
persons (IDPs), especially ex-commercial farm workers; 
-- rehabilitation of existing water and sanitation 
infrastructure in areas suffering most from the residual 
effects of drought; 
-- monitoring the humanitarian response, principally 
through non-governmental agencies, and including periodic 
UN-supported food security and nutrition surveys and 
needs assessments; and 
-- UN coordination and information dissemination of the 
humanitarian response through support to its Office for 
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 
 
¶10. Approximately USD 6.5 million of OFDA FY03 funds have 
been programmed in support of UN and NGO initiatives in 
these areas, with a similar amount under consideration 
for FY04. 
 
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COMMENTS 
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¶11. Although the Consolidated Appeal for Zimbabwe has 
come late in terms of planning humanitarian activities 
for the coming year, particularly for agricultural 
interventions, it remains a valuable document. The 
analysis of the current situation and humanitarian needs 
in country was arrived at through a highly collaborative 
and thorough process led by UNOCHA and reflect consensus 
among UN agencies, donors and NGOs.  In its role as an 
analytical and planning tool the CAP is perhaps more 
viable than it is as a fund-raising instrument.  Although 
some donors require a CAP in order to respond to 
humanitarian requirements, much funding, including almost 
all USG non-food assistance through OFDA, was 
provisionally programmed for FY03 before the CAP was 
officially launched. It is important to note, however, 
that OFDA programming reflected almost all the same 
assessments and sector priorities as those outlined in 
the CAP.  The Mission has communicated to the UN offices 
in Zimbabwe that the USG response to the non-food 
requests in the CAP will consist of the assistance 
outlined in paragraph 9, funded largely through NGO 
partners.  It is likely that any additional OFDA funding 
for FY04 will also be funded directly with NGO partners, 
"outside of the CAP."  We have not publicly announced the 
extent of the USG contribution so as not to assure the 
GOZ that USG resources are a given no matter what policy 
positions the GOZ might ultimately take. 
 
¶12. The Mission believes that the USG food and non-food 
assistance outlined above, together with assistance to be 
provided by other key donors (EU, DfID) meets the 
critical minimal relief requirements of the 2003/04 
Consolidated Appeal, at least through the end of the 
current CY (December 2003). Additional proposals for non- 
food assistance are currently under consideration and 
will continue to be concentrated in emergency activities 
in food security, nutrition, water/sanitation, 
agricultural inputs, monitoring response activities, and 
coordination and information. 
 
¶13. Recent attempts by the GOZ to acquire greater direct 
government control over the direction and distribution of 
humanitarian assistance (Reftel C) jeopardized ongoing 
efforts to mitigate the suffering of Zimbabweans in need 
(both food and non-food) to already acutely vulnerable 
populations. It is hoped that during the current dialogue 
between the UN and the GOZ, there will emerge mutually 
agreed upon operational norms for the delivery of 
humanitarian assistance in accordance with established 
humanitarian principles. 
Sullivan