UNITED NATIONS, Dec 9: United Nations Emergency Coordinator Jan Egeland said on Thursday that the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe was ‘extremely serious and it is worsening as we speak’.

Speaking at a press conference at UN headquarters in New York, Mr Egeland, who returned this week from Zimbabwe, said he had met a range of officials and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and had two meetings with President Robert Mugabe on the UN’s work in the country.

He expressed hope that the UN and donor countries could contribute to breaking the vicious circle which had locked the Zimbabwean people into declining standards of living. A country that had enjoyed a life expectancy of more than 60 years 16 years ago, now has seen that reduced to 32 years, he said.

Mr Egeland said it was ‘heartbreaking’ to meet AIDS orphans, who number 500,000 in Zimbabwe.

“It’s heartbreaking to meet people who fear the future because of food insecurity, which is affecting the majority of the people. Prices are spiralling as food is becoming increasingly scarce. It was heartbreaking to meet victims of the eviction campaign last summer, who now are back in the same place, only in much worse shelter than the house that was bulldozed.”