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UN Envoy witnesses squalid living conditions at Hatcliffe camp
By Tererai Karimakwenda
05 December 2005
The squalid camps where the government is housing thousands of victims of Operation Murambatsvina have finally been witnessed by a top United Nations official, and by all accounts, it was a horrific picture. On Monday, UN humanitarian envoy Jan Egeland visited the Hatcliffe informal settlement just outside the capital, and walked through mud to get to the families that were forced there by the government after it destroyed their homes.
Egeland is reported to have kept reporters at bay in order to talk to these suffering people alone. Residents told him the shacks were often water-logged due to heavy rains. And Egeland, as a coordinator of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, said to reporters: “…the needs are tremendous and the people are living under very bad conditions."
Soldiers have been blocking reporters, NGOs and religious organisations from entering the site, and according to Reuters, the people there were so happy several women sang when he arrived. Egeland is the first official not from the ruling party allowed in since the settlement was established in late May this year. 8,000 people are living at Hatcliffe, and the adults have no formal employment.
Egeland witnessed families living in plastic shacks that were built for them by the Catholic Church. Egeland was accompanied by UN and government officials. A Reuters report says Egeland met Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo and other senior government officials on Sunday, when he emphasised the critical role of the government in facilitating the work of humanitarian agencies. The Mugabe regime had originally turned down the UN’s offer to help with housing, only to make a u-turn recently.
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