Former US president Jimmy Carter, former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, and Graca Machel (the wife of Nelson Mandela), tried to enter Zimbabwe on November 22, but were refused visas. Instead, the three prominent international figures and representatives of the new group “The Elders” met with aid groups, refugees and civil society leaders in South Africa about the growing humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.

They emerged from these meetings saying the situation is deteriorating rapidly, and that the country ‘may soon implode as basic services collapse and cholera takes hold.’

As cited in this recent The First Post piece, “As many as 1.4m people are at risk of contracting cholera in Zimbabwe, according to Medicins Sans Frontieres. The World Health Organisation says that by late last week about 300 people had died in hospitals from the disease, with many more thought to have died at home and 6,000 others infected.”

As a response to the crisis, The Elders released lists of recommendations to world donors, to Zimbabwe’s political leaders, to Zimbabwe’s authorities, and to the Southern African Development Community (SADC). You can see the recommendations below, and is this pdf from their site.

-Virginia Simmons

To donors:

·Immediately provide $140 million to WFP to maintain its planned food assistance programme in coming months;

·Fund the Consolidated Appeal of $550 million launched on 19 November by 35 humanitarian agencies operating in Zimbabwe to address urgent needs in all sectors in 2009;

·Consider offering special assistance to medical and teaching staff to return to work so that services can be resumed;

·Encourage WFP and FAO to explore a ‘Home-Grown Help’ initiative to provide seed and fertiliser to farmers for the 2009-10 growing season and potentially sell produce to WFP programmes;

· Provide sufficient funding for the implementation of a Zimbabwe-led comprehensive development programme as soon as a power-sharing government is in place and macro-economic policy changes are underway.

To Zimbabwe’s political leaders:

·Implement the Global Political Agreement immediately and in good faith and form a truly inclusive government;

·Show goodwill by collaborating immediately to address the country’s humanitarian crisis. Failure to make progress in implementation of the GPA is prolonging the people’s suffering.

To Zimbabwe’s authorities:

·Work with the World Food Programme and others to more clearly define the food gap and request that the immediate US$140 million shortfall in funding for food is fully resourced;

·Provide guarantees that humanitarian agencies will have unimpeded access throughout the country to assess needs and deliver vital humanitarian and food assistance;

·Join a regional coordination mechanism to address the cholera epidemic and prevent it spreading;

·Work with donors and countries in the region to ensure the provision of essential life saving medication and medical equipment, including antiretroviral drugs;

·With assistance from donors, take immediate steps to treat existing water sources, improve water and sanitation infrastructure, and ensure medical supplies and expertise are provided as a matter of great urgency to tackle the widespread outbreaks of cholera and other water-borne diseases;

·Work with donors to retain and encourage the return of doctors, nurses and other health staff by offering transport allowances, salary top-ups and food;

·Work with donors to explore innovative ways to get teachers back to school, through incentives such as transport allowances, salary top-ups and food;

·Review agricultural and pricing policies to increase farmers’ incentives to produce;

·Together with international donor agencies, make a concerted effort to ensure that inputs such as seeds and fertilizer are available at affordable prices for the 2009-10 season.

To SADC leaders:

·Urgently develop a regional coordination mechanism to address and contain the fatal cholera epidemic in collaboration with Zimbabwean government authorities and WHO, with Zimbabwe’s closest neighbours taking the lead;

·Engage directly and assertively with the political leaders of Zimbabwe to encourage the full implementation in good faith of the Global Political Agreement and the creation of a truly inclusive power-sharing government;

·Formally acknowledge that a refugee crisis exists and suspend deportations of Zimbabweans until there is full implementation of the GPA, conditions for safe return exist, the cholera epidemic is under control and the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe is vastly improved;

·Provide adequate support and services to those who have left Zimbabwe, and offer those in an irregular situation a temporary legal status that would allow them to be documented, to work and to live with dignity;

·Carry out an official SADC mission to Zimbabwe to assess first-hand the humanitarian situation on the ground.