United Nations children's charity UNICEF is stepping up operations to feed and help children affected by Zimbabwe's crackdown on shanty towns and informal traders, the agency said on Friday. The six-week-old crackdown, which President Robert Mugabe's government says is aimed at cleaning up cities and black market trading, had destroyed tens of thousands of homes and businesses. "Many children are now without shelter during winter, while others have been separated from their parents and caregivers, schooling has been widely disrupted, access to water is difficult and respiratory and diarrhoeal diseases are a real threat," UNICEF country representative Festo Kavishe said in a statement, according to Reuters. The evictions and demolitions -- in which state media said two children were crushed to death -- have been condemned by rights groups as well as the United States and Britain.
