Villagers raid Zambia gene-altered maize stocks
Date: 31-Jan-03
Country: ZAMBIA
The villagers beat up a policeman guarding the stocks, and made away with 4,305 25-kg bags of maize last weekend, said a police officer in the southern town of Choma.
"The lone policeman guarding the warehouse was beaten badly and had to be taken to hospital. There were hundreds of villagers and the poor policeman was alone on duty. The villagers took all the stocks," a police officer said.
Some 14.4 million people in six southern Afreican countries - Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland - are facing critical food shortages because of adverse weather and political problems.
Zambia has banned the distribution of GM maize to its hungry citizens, citing possible medical side-effects. Other countries in the region have accepted milled GM maize.
But supplies of non-GM relief have been slow in reaching the needy, Zambian officials say.
The villagers also grabbed 989 25-kg bags of white non-GM maize donated to the region by Maureen Mwanawasa, wife of Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, as well as several hundred bags of beans, police said.