ZIMBABWE: AIDS service NGOs allowed to resume operations

HARARE, 13 June 2008 (PlusNews) - Nicholas Goche, the social welfare minister who regulates NGO activity, said on 13 June that more than 400 organisations working in the HIV/AIDS sector would be allowed to resume operations - an about-turn on a blanket ban announced on 4 June.

In the original circular to civil society, Goche wrote: “It has come to my attention that a number of NGOs involved in humanitarian operations are breaching the terms and conditions [by engaging in political activities]. I hereby instruct all NGOs to suspend all field operations until further notice.”

Church-linked organisations were also affected by the ban, which drew international condemnation.

"This is a deplorable decision that comes at a critical humanitarian juncture for the people of Zimbabwe,” the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said on 6 June. “I therefore strongly urge the government to reconsider and rescind this decision as soon as possible.”

Holmes pointed out that much of the UN's humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe was channeled through NGOs, and that aid for two million Zimbabweans would be affected. Among the organisations suspended were those “engaged in vital humanitarian work, fully respecting the principles of impartiality and neutrality,” and he called for them to be allowed to work and for their safety and security to be guaranteed.

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