Other than the usual home- made problems (corruption, etc), the biggest obstacle to the development of Africa is the charity industry. People like Oxfam, Norwegian People's Aid, WFP and countless others not only prop up dictatorships, they also completely distort the market. How can a local farmer compete with free food? What many in the West fail to comprehend is that most (if not all) 'famines' in Africa are man-made, i.e, arise through idiotic policies (Zimbabwe), ethnic warfare (Somalia) or sheer incompetence and non-existing infrastructure (pretty much anywhere). To really help Africa, the entire charity industry should leave - Africans are not stupid and will find their own solutions to their own problems.

Chris, London,

Of course governments can be changed from outside! What complete tosh it is to suggest that the only way is through elections and people's choice! Most governments in Africa and they are ALL failures have been imposed by a small minority on the majority. Food Aid and ALL aid is a disaster. More blackmail here about common humanity etc. There is no such thing. It's just an ideological perspective like relativism and multiculturalism. Ignore this. Impose change on Africa if you want and maybe just maybe it will do some good. But do NOT hold your breath. People in Africa are starving themselves. Let them make their own choices if you like but why bail them out?

e.cho, Ely, UK

Nobody with an ounce of humaitarian blood in their veins could countenance using food aid to topple a regime however odious - and this one is hard to beat on that score. And nobody with a true sense of hostory will fail to recognise that such sanctions will invariably fail because the incumbent authorities will always find ways to harness the aid to augment their corrupt activities. The UN is a failure, and so are the politicians who collude with such miserable criminals as Mugabe and his like. But regime change is the only answer - and that must - really must - come from within.

Tim, Kingston,

My biggest disappointment after spending 15 years delivering food aid in Africa is that, despite the good efforts of the WFP - and they do good work - nothing has changed. But what's the alternative? When a people are in trouble you can't just stand-by and do nothing. Not if you want to retain your claim to a share in a common humanity. That Mugabe is an evil man who needs to be removed from the scene is a given. Starving his victims in the hope of fomenting a revolt is not the solution.

Peter Taber, Vero Beach, FL

Claire Short, step forward and take a bow. Rather than give black Zimbabweans what they deserved, she - and, no doubt her NuLabour masters, played politics, and refused. I hope that she is ashamed. However, like Mayor Ken and Uncle Fidel, she probably thinks she did "the right (or should it be left) thing".

Bill Peter, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Why no comments?....As an exercise,try replacing "Zimbabwe" with the word "China"..and watch what happens...Why has England let this happen to what was once a thriving Rhodesia?...Why hasn't the UN stepped in before now?

David Murphy, Chengdu, China

A moral dilema? Enable a dictatorship to survive by feeding the helpless and the starving or allow them to starve in the hope the regime will topple? I cannot believe the question is even being asked. Firstly there is no evidence to suggest starvation alone will bring down the regime, Stalin survived his collectivisation famine. If you were given the choice, death by starvation and liberation from a dictator or food and life under dictatorship thie choice is easy. Would Mr. Holman sacrafice the lives of his family in the hope to bring a political change? Finally can Mr. Holman ensure the replacement regime will be better?

Let the WFP do their job and vent your anger and energy to instsitutions which are failing. If placing conditions on food aid leads to even one death the price is too high.

Victor McClean, Lausanne, Switzerland

I think every individual should, in dealing with any critical issues, consider the plight of the ordinary person. The above article, to my view, suggests that feeding hungry people in Zimbabwe aids Mugabe in the election bid.

Ial not a politician, but I would want to highlight that denying people, access to food, especially the ordinary citizens would be an unnecessary and painpacked punishment, which they dont deserve.
WFP is doing its humanitarian role, and let this process be misconstrued or dragged into political weaves.

People in Zimbabwe are starving, and need urgent assistance such as the one WFP is extending, before during and after elections.
Politics and humsnitarian work should not be mixed, no matter how they may appear to be interwoven.
Thank you WFP, keep up the noble and life-serving work

Tod, Kigali, Rwanda

Zimbabwe is the shining statement if one was needed that the UN and all of its agencies are a sublime failure, We listen to the insults and rhetoric emanating from Harare about how Africa is for Africans and about the dread of outside spies and interference from formal colonial powers and at exactly the same time their hands are deeply in our pockets to enable them to feed their own tribes We handed over this nation of Rhodesia a certain going concern the jewel of Africa so much so that it took 28 years to totally destroy it beyond recognition, We collectively have sunk Billions of pounds into these grand disasters that the UN call Nations, We have mortgaged our own peoples futures to bail out these despotic Gombeens these beggars on horseback who then dictate to us and tell us how things are going to be, We have hundreds of rooms with thousands of tables in that big building in New York it is time to get around some of those tables and find a better way to deal with these people

Peter Kennedy, Vancouver BC., Canada