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Suspension of aid agency work in Zimbabwe
6 June 2008
Statement from Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development on suspension of aid agency work in Zimbabwe
"The task of the international aid agencies working in Zimbabwe is purely humanitarian - to feed four million hungry people and to tackle the terrible poverty and deprivation which afflicts the country.
"For Robert Mugabe to use the threat of hunger as a political weapon shows a callous contempt for human life.
"This indefensible decision, which seems to be part of a strategy ahead of the presidential run-off, demonstrates to the world the lengths to which Mugabe will go to cling on to power.
"The international NGOs operating in Zimbabwe are not and never have been involved in internal politics and it is both offensive and absurd to suggest that they are.
"For the sake of millions of the poorest and most vulnerable people in Zimbabwe aid must be allowed to get through."
