The World Food Programme said that it would have to expand its emergency operations in Zimbabwe because half of the population suffered from severe hunger due to climate change and an economic meltdown.
According to the Programme, temperatures are rising at more than twice the average global rate and drought and flooding have hit both urban and rural areas.
The announcement comes a few days after Hilal Elver, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, called on the West to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe, saying they were helping to push the southern African country to the brink of man-made starvation.
Western sanctions were imposed on Zimbabwe over human rights violations during the rule of Robert Mugabe, who died in September, but also more recently in response to violence against protestors, civil society, and opposition leaders.
