About one third of the Namibian population will not be able to celebrate Independence Day with joy and happiness, because they face starvation.
UN agencies appealed last week for US $ 5.8 million (N$ 37.7 million) in international donor aid to assist more than 600,000 orphans, vulnerable children and women in Namibia. The country has a population of 1,82 million people. Tens of thousands of children and their families would face severe difficulties in the coming months unless international assistance was forth-coming,’’ the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF said in a state-ment issued in Johannesburg. Those affected were suffering from the combined effects of erratic weather - drought in the north of the country, followed by heavy rains, severe poverty and a worsening HIV/AIDS epidemic, UN representatives said. In addition to a government effort to provide food assistance for around 530,000 people, the WFP will make available 8,000 tons of food to another 111 000 rural children and their families in 6 of the worst affected areas according to the statement. Meanwhile, ministers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) last weekend completed the agenda for a two-day
summit in Tanzania in May that will deal with the food crisis in the region. About 7 million people in the region are in need of food aid. The summit in Dar es Salaam on May 14 will join all SADC heads of states to tackle the food crisis.