HARARE, June 18, 2008 (AFP) - Zimbabwe has lifted a pre-election ban on charities involved in food distribution and AIDS treatment, state media said Wednesday, but NGOs said the move will have little effect.
The state-run Herald cited the government's acting welfare secretary as saying a recently imposed ban on all aid work would not prevent AIDS patients from "accessing drugs and therapeutic feeding from clinics and hospitals".
Food programmes would also be allowed to continue since they do not "entail community mobilisation by NGOs," Sydney Mhishi said.
NGOs provide food and medicines to children and clinics, mostly in rural areas.
The government announced a blanket ban on aid work earlier this month after accusing NGOs of siding with the opposition ahead of the June 27 presidential run-off election.
Charities said Wednesday's announcement would do little to change the situation in Zimbabwe, which is heavily reliant on aid as it faces the world's highest inflation rate and major food shortages.
The country has also been hard hit by the AIDS epidemic and aid groups had warned of a potential humanitarian crisis if the ban was not lifted.
"It does not amount to much because there is still very limited access, especially in rural areas due to politically motivated violence," said Famdai Ngirande of the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO).
Violence has mounted ahead of the run-off, with the opposition claiming more than 60 of its supporters have been killed in a campaign of intimidation.
Commenting on why the government made the move, Ngirande said "they recognised the initial suspension had dire effects on people living with HIV and AIDS and children on supplementary feeding programmes."
A spokesman for CARE, which had planned to resume food aid for 100,000 people in Zimbabwe before the suspension earlier this month, said Wednesday's news applied only to two groups that deliver HIV medicines to clinics.
"All field operations of all NGOs remain suspended," said Kenneth Walker, speaking from Johannesburg.
CARE has been told the ban would remain in place until the Zimbabwe government finished an investigation into aid groups operating in the country, said Walker.
The state media report came a day after Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe met with a top UN official visiting the country to evaluate the political situation ahead of the run-off.
In comments published in the Herald on Monday, Mugabe accused aid groups of exploiting food shortages to turn voters against the ruling party during the first-round elections in March.
The ruling party then lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980.
Mugabe, speaking in early June at a meeting on the global food crisis in Rome, accused Western powers of seeking "illegal regime change" in Zimbabwe and of channeling support for the opposition through NGOs.
The 84-year-old leader lost to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the March 29 first round presidential election, but official vote counts showed Tsvangirai just short of an outright majority.
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