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A6 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 4 april 2024
Zimbabwe declares drought disaster, the latest in a region where

El Nino has left millions hungry

BY FARAI MUTSAKA ple than previously forecast
Associated Press will likely need food aid.
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) More than 60% of Zimba-
— Zimbabwe declared a bwe’s 15 million people
state of disaster Wednes- live in rural areas, grow-
day over a devastating ing the food they eat, and
drought that’s sweeping sometimes small surpluses
across much of southern that can be sold to cover
Africa, with the country’s expenses such as school
president saying it needs $2 fees. With relatively little
billion for humanitarian as- participation in the cash
sistance. economy, many of those
The declaration was widely won’t be able to buy food
expected following simi- even when it’s available in
lar actions by neighboring markets. Zimbabwe, once
Zambia and Malawi, where a regional agricultural
drought linked to the El powerhouse and grain ex-
Nino weather phenom- porter, has in recent years
enon has scorched crops, relied more and more on
leaving millions of people in aid agencies to avert mass
need of food assistance. hunger due to extreme
“Due to the El Nino-induced weather conditions such as
drought … more than 80% heat waves and floods.
of our country received be- James Tshuma, a farmer in Mangwe district in southwestern Zimbabwe, stands in the middle of his Mnangagwa’s declaration
low normal rainfall,” Presi- dried up crop field amid a drought, in Zimbabwe, Friday, March, 22, 2024. will open the way for aid
dent Emmerson Mnangag- Associated Press agencies to mobilize inter-
wa said in a speech calling tions to contribute towards erage rainfall, but this year from January to March. national support for more
for international aid. The humanitarian assistance. has seen the worst drought The first few months of the aid, but many people may
country’s top priority, he El Nino, a naturally occur- in decades. year are traditionally known still fail to get assistance,
said, is “securing food for ring climatic phenomenon In Zimbabwe, the United as the “lean period,” when which is likely to be target-
all Zimbabweans. No Zim- that warms parts of the Pa- Nations’ World Food Pro- households run short as they ed to the most vulnerable
babwean must succumb cific Ocean every two to gram has already rolled out wait for the new harvest. populations due to limited
to, or die from hunger.” seven years, has varied ef- a food assistance program However, there is little hope resources amid a global
He appealed to United Na- fects on the world’s weath- targeting the 2.7 million for replenishing food stores hunger crisis and a cut in
tions agencies, local busi- er. In southern Africa, it people, nearly 20 percent this year, and Mnangagwa humanitarian funding by
nesses and faith organiza- typically causes below-av- of the country’s population, said that even more peo- rich governments.q

Russia: U.S. shares blame in a concert hall attack claimed by

Islamic militants

By JIM HEINTZ shares blame for the attack Since the March 22 attack councils of the Shanghai istry gave the death toll in
Associated Press by gunmen on a Moscow at the Crocus City Hall, the Cooperation Organization. the attack as 144, but chil-
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — concert hall that killed 145 deadliest on Russian soil in The SCO is a nine-country dren’s rights ombudsman
The head of Russia’s na- people, even though a two decades, Russian of- regional security and eco- Maria Lvova-Belova said
tional security council on branch of the Islamic State ficials including President nomic bloc that includes Wednesday that a sixth
Wednesday contended group has claimed respon- Vladimir Putin have repeat- China, India and Iran. child injured in the attack
that the United States sibility. edly claimed, without pre- “However, it is much more had died.
senting evidence, that it important to quickly estab- The attack came two weeks
was organized by Ukraine, lish who is the customer and after the United States Em-
which has been fighting a sponsor of this monstrous bassy in Russia issued a
Russian invasion for more crime. Its traces lead to the warning that it was moni-
than two years. Ukrainian special services. toring reports of planned
An affiliate of the Islamic But everyone knows that terrorist attacks on public
State claimed responsibil- the Kyiv regime is not inde- targets. The U.S. State De-
ity for the attack and Kyiv pendent and is completely partment said information
has consistently denied in- controlled by the United about the planned attacks
volvement. States,” Patrushev said. was passed on to Russian
“They are trying to impose Four suspected gunmen officials.
on us that the terrorist act were captured the day Putin spokesman Dmitry
was committed not by the after the attack in the Bry- Peskov on Wednesday de-
Kyiv regime, but by sup- ansk region, which borders clined comment in a con-
porters of radical Islamic Ukraine. Putin and other of- ference call on a report in
ideology, perhaps mem- ficials claim that the gun- the Washington Post that
Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation bers of the Afghan branch men had arranged for pas- U.S. officials had specifi-
Nikolai Patrushev attends a session of the Collective Security of IS,” security council head sage into Ukraine. Six other cally identified Crocus City
Treaty Organisation (CSTO) in Minsk, Belarus, Thursday, Nov. 23, Nikolai Patrushev said at a suspected accomplices Hall as a potential target,
2023. meeting in the Kazakhstan have also been arrested. saying that was a matter
Associated Press
capital Astana of security Russia’s emergencies min- for security services.q