Britain, one of Zimbabwe's fiercest critics, Friday handed over 10 million pounds to be used for food aid in the southern African country, the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) announced. The donation by Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) is enough to buy food to feed three million Zimbabweans for a month. It comes a day after the WFP announced it had reached an agreement with the Zimbabwe government on the distribution of food aid. "This support comes at a critical time for WFP's programmes in Zimbabwe, when we are scaling up our programmes to reach over three million vulnerable people," Kevin Farrell, WFP's Zimbabwe director said at a ceremony in the capital Harare. The government says that three million rural people are in need of food aid due to drought. But aid agencies say the figure is likely to be higher. They say the government's controversial programme of seizing white-owned farms for redistribution has exacerbated the crisis. Britain, among other Western nations have criticised Mugabe's government over a breakdown of the rule of law and civil rights abuses. Harare denies the charges, and says Britain, the United States and other Western nations want to effect a regime change in Zimbabwe. --SP 2216 Local Time 1916 GMT
