Sir, There was no unilateral decision by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to provide food aid to Zimbabwe in 2001 (“Zimbabwe: the West blinked first”, www.timesonline.co.uk/comment — June 17; see also letter, June 22). Donors, non-governmental organisations, other UN agencies and the Zimbabwe Government all played significant roles in deciding to provide food aid to more than 5.5 million people.
WFP always conducts needs assessments to determine the extent and type of food aid required before any humanitarian operation begins.
WFP’s policy is that food aid must be given to the most vulnerable without condition. This is our bedrock principle in a world in which a child dies of hunger-related causes every five seconds.
Michael Holman suggests that food aid could be a bargaining chip for reform in Zimbabwe. We believe this to be morally repugnant. Donors give generously to WFP, the world’s largest humanitarian organisation, because they know we deliver food aid to people who would otherwise go hungry.
MIKE SACKETT
(WFP Regional Director, Southern Africa)
Johannesburg, South Africa.