MAPUTO: Natural disasters, food shortages and high AIDS rates are threatening Mozambiques chances of throwing off the shackles of its long civil war, even though the Southern African country is showing impressive economic growth rates, a top UN envoy said Wednesday.
James T. Morris, the UN secretary-generals special envoy for humanitarian needs in southern Africa and the head of the World Food Program, said that nearly 40 percent of Mozambiques population lives on less than one US dollar (6,20 DKR) per day and that AIDS had cut life expectancy to 41 and 43 years of age for men and women respectively.
– Mozambique has very promising signs of becoming a vibrant and thriving economy, but as long as the country faces significant humanitarian challenges because of natural disasters, food shortages, and rising HIV/AIDS rates, the poorest people, particularly children, will continue to bear the brunt of the suffering, Morris said at the end of a two-day visit.
Morris is on a five-day tour to assess conditions in Mozambique and Malawi, which have been hard hit by drought and, more recently, floods. He met with Mozambiques Prime Minister Luisa Diogo and visited the malnutrition ward in Maputo hospital.
Mozambique, which saw a 16-year civil war end in 1992, is prone to recurring natural disasters. Currently 801.000 people are in need of food assistance because of drought and reduced harvests.
Even so, the Mozambican economy is growing at a rate of some 10 percent a year and Maputo has won praise from the World Bank and other institutions for its sound economic policies.
– For a country to emerge after such a long civil war and make the progress it has in the 14 years since the cease-fire, is extremely impressive, Morris said.
– I am proud of the efforts made by the UN and other institutions to support Mozambique, but when I see the extent of need in the country it is clear, we all must do more, he concluded.
Kilde: The Push Journal
