Zimbabwe kicks medical group out of displacement camp
-24/05/06
Zimbabwe kicks medical group out of displacement camp
-24/05/06
The authorities in Zimbabwe have banned the internationally-acclaimed Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) from assisting displaced families at a holding camp outside Harare after the medical aid group issued a damning report on deteriorating health conditions at the camp.
The report, which elaborates concerns expressed by church and development groups, says that Hopley Farm camp on Harare’s southern border had been hit by an outbreak of scabies, tuberculosis, pneumonia, malaria and sexually transmitted infections because of squalid conditions at the camp.
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Hopley was set up as a temporary home for thousands of families left homeless and without means of livelihood after the government last year demolished shantytowns, city backyard cottages and informal business kiosks in a controversial ëurban renewalí exercise the United Nations said left 700,000 people homeless and indirectly affected another 2.4 million people.
The World Council of Churches and other faith organisations have condemned the Zimbabwean governmentís policies for their devastating impact on the poor. President Mugabe received a muted reception when he spoke at the WCC assembly in Harare in 1998, and his relations with many of the churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, since then.
Regarding the Medecins Sans Frontiers ban, “there was a directive from Dr Mungofa (Stanley) ordering a social welfare officer, Mr Ezekiel Mpande, to chuck the guys out with immediate effect. They have since been booted out of the camp,” said an observer.
Mungofa, is the Harare health services director and was working with MSF to provide health services to victims of the clean-up exercise at the settlement. Mpande is in charge of the settlement.
An official at MSF offices in Harare confirmed to ZimOnLine that the aid organisation had stopped operations at Hopley.
Meanwhile, on 18 May, angry Hopley residents besieged government offices at the camp demanding the return of Medecins Sans Frontiers. But they were quickly dispersed by security personnel at the camp.
In the report MSF said it had treated 5,342 patients between January and March 2006, most of them suffering from skin and respiratory infections associated with a squalid living environment.
“In the same period, MSF diagnosed 30 malaria cases and many sexually transmitted infections, some linked to prostitution which in turn is partly caused by lack of food in the settlement,” the MSF report declares.
Harare routinely accuses especially Western-based non-governmental organisations of using the pretext of carrying out humanitarian work while trying to ferment an uprising by Zimbabweans against President Robert Mugabe and his government.
Last week church groups defied bans on processions to make their own concerns about the national situation known, and to speak out for the Gospel of peace and justice.
[Also on Ekklesia: Bulawayo churches defy Zimbabwe protest ban 22/05/06; Zimbabwe’s Churches to defy authorities on first anniversary of slum clearances; Church leaders condemn Mugabe clampdown; WCC condemns Mugabe’s forced evictions; Churches provide Zimbabwe relief and step up protests; Zimbabwean police ban church parades and prayer vigils; Zimbabwe is facing mass hunger, says archbishop; Southern Africa remains gripped by food crisis says Christian agency; Archbishop urges non-violent resistance in Zimbabwe; Mugabe bureaucracy blocks vital church aid to destitute; London protests against Zimbabwe oppression continue]
Zimbabwe kicks medical group out of displacement camp
-24/05/06
The authorities in Zimbabwe have banned the internationally-acclaimed Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) from assisting displaced families at a holding camp outside Harare after the medical aid group issued a damning report on deteriorating health conditions at the camp.
The report, which elaborates concerns expressed by church and development groups, says that Hopley Farm camp on Harare’s southern border had been hit by an outbreak of scabies, tuberculosis, pneumonia, malaria and sexually transmitted infections because of squalid conditions at the camp.
Related Articles
Hopley was set up as a temporary home for thousands of families left homeless and without means of livelihood after the government last year demolished shantytowns, city backyard cottages and informal business kiosks in a controversial ëurban renewalí exercise the United Nations said left 700,000 people homeless and indirectly affected another 2.4 million people.
The World Council of Churches and other faith organisations have condemned the Zimbabwean governmentís policies for their devastating impact on the poor. President Mugabe received a muted reception when he spoke at the WCC assembly in Harare in 1998, and his relations with many of the churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, since then.
Regarding the Medecins Sans Frontiers ban, “there was a directive from Dr Mungofa (Stanley) ordering a social welfare officer, Mr Ezekiel Mpande, to chuck the guys out with immediate effect. They have since been booted out of the camp,” said an observer.
Mungofa, is the Harare health services director and was working with MSF to provide health services to victims of the clean-up exercise at the settlement. Mpande is in charge of the settlement.
An official at MSF offices in Harare confirmed to ZimOnLine that the aid organisation had stopped operations at Hopley.
Meanwhile, on 18 May, angry Hopley residents besieged government offices at the camp demanding the return of Medecins Sans Frontiers. But they were quickly dispersed by security personnel at the camp.
In the report MSF said it had treated 5,342 patients between January and March 2006, most of them suffering from skin and respiratory infections associated with a squalid living environment.
“In the same period, MSF diagnosed 30 malaria cases and many sexually transmitted infections, some linked to prostitution which in turn is partly caused by lack of food in the settlement,” the MSF report declares.
Harare routinely accuses especially Western-based non-governmental organisations of using the pretext of carrying out humanitarian work while trying to ferment an uprising by Zimbabweans against President Robert Mugabe and his government.
Last week church groups defied bans on processions to make their own concerns about the national situation known, and to speak out for the Gospel of peace and justice.
[Also on Ekklesia: Bulawayo churches defy Zimbabwe protest ban 22/05/06; Zimbabwe’s Churches to defy authorities on first anniversary of slum clearances; Church leaders condemn Mugabe clampdown; WCC condemns Mugabe’s forced evictions; Churches provide Zimbabwe relief and step up protests; Zimbabwean police ban church parades and prayer vigils; Zimbabwe is facing mass hunger, says archbishop; Southern Africa remains gripped by food crisis says Christian agency; Archbishop urges non-violent resistance in Zimbabwe; Mugabe bureaucracy blocks vital church aid to destitute; London protests against Zimbabwe oppression continue]