Children face starvation in worst Zimbabwe famine for decades
Jan Raath
Villagers try to collect water from a dry river bed in drought-hit Masvingo, ZimbabweReuters
Almost 3,000 young children in Zimbabwe are facing starvation as El Niño — and failures by President Mugabe's government — are conspiring to create one of the worst famines for decades.
A report released by the vulnerability assessment committee, the country's famine-watch organisation, says the children affected - all aged five or under - were already suffering from "moderate acute malnutrition". Save the Children UK has warned that the figure is likely to be higher because not all those affected have been included in the statistics.
Last week local health officials told Tanya Steele, the organisation's interim chief executive, that some mothers in the remote northern district of Binga were going without food for up to five days. In other cases, the women had to…