Hunger strikes in Zimbabwe

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- The U.N. food aid agency is calling for help for Zimbabwe after finding people in rural areas subsisting on wild fruits.

The agency made the discovery when it was finally got access to the countryside after months of being blocked by the government. It is appealing for more donations to fight hunger there.

As the humanitarian crisis deepened, Zimbabwe's politicians deadlocked in power-sharing talks.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called for former South African President Thabo Mbeki, a mediator in previous talks, to intervene, saying at a news conference in the Zimbabwean capital Thursday that his party wanted a "fair power-sharing arrangement that allows us to deal with the current economic crisis and at the same time restore democratic freedoms in the country."

Zimbabwe's governing party had accused independent groups of supporting opposition activists and barred them from distributing aid for three months. The ban was lifted in late August, but the groups, which had denied the accusations of political bias, were not able to resume work immediately for logistical reasons.

World Food Program spokesman Richard Lee accompanied workers handing out dried corn, vegetable oil and other aid in central Zimbabwe last weekend in one of the first mass distributions since the ban was lifted.

Zimbabwe's economic collapse, with inflation of at least 231 million percent a year, has put seeds, fertilizer and farming equipment out of the reach of many. AIDS has devastated the farming workforce. Weather also has played a role, with too much rain in some areas and too little in others last year.

The combination of factors and years of food scarcity have put Zimbabwe in a category all its own in a region where other countries are poor and others have been buffeted by AIDS and bad weather.

"Zimbabwe is the only one that is facing a national crisis," Lee said.

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