Switzerland boosts emergency aid to Mozambique

The Swiss government has increased its emergency relief aid to flood victims in Mozambique to SFr10 million.

The Swiss government has increased its emergency relief aid to flood victims in Mozambique to SFr10 million.

Walter Fust, who heads Swiss humanitarian relief as well as the government’s Development Agency, said the most urgent need is for more helicopters and shallow-draught boats for rescue work.

However, as these would take too long to transport from Switzerland, Berne is funding relief projects of the World Food Programme and other international agencies.

Fust said South Africa could not commit all its helicopters to neighbouring Mozambique, and that fixed-wing planes were of no use in flooded areas.

Half of the SFr10 million of Swiss emergency aid is being diverted from the long-term projects run by the Development Agency in Mozambique. The agency has been active in the southern African country since 1979.

This is seen as a logical short-term measure, because most of the Swiss projects are in the north of the country and therefore unaffected by the flooding. Mozambique is a focus country for Swiss development aid, with much emphasis on the provision of clean water and public health schemes.

Rehabilitation work will be concentrated on these two domains, and in the short-term, epidemic specialists have been sent to Maputo.

Swiss development aid specialists are confident that Mozambique will recover from this new setback in the same way the country achieved a rapid return to normalcy after the civil war.

The Swiss foreign ministry has also supported mine-clearing programmes in Mozambique. Swiss officials said a new danger had arisen in that flooding had submerged minefields and was allowing lighter-weight mines to drift away.

By Peter Haller