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afrol.com / AENS, 28 March - Malawi this week formally asked regional superpower South Africa for helicopters to help air-lift emergency flood aid to stranded villagers. Malawi disaster relief commissioner Lucius Chikuni said on Wednesday that South African had been requested to second military helicopters and fix-wing aircraft to help distribute food and medical supplies to people who have been cut off from the outside world since January. Fourteen villagers have drowned and an estimated 335 000 people have been affected by the flooding in 13 Malawi districts over the past three months. Chikuni said on Wednesday that Malawi's flood relief efforts were being hampered by widespread damage to road and rail links, which had isolated entire districts in the southern Nsanje, Mangochi, Zomba and Chikwawa regions. Nsanje district commissioner Charles Makanga said relief teams had been forced to use dugout canoes to distribute aid but could only take small loads and were very slow. "The canoes are also very vulnerable to hippo and crocodiles. A couple of canoes have already been capsized, with their cargo lost," said Makanga. Over 170 000 people have been displaced in Nsanje and the neighbouring Chikwawa districts, and were dependent on government handouts of maize, beans, salt and blankets. Chikuni said the Malawi Army's own cargo helicopters were unfortunately all in France being serviced, forcing the government lodge a formal request for assistance with the South African High Commission. - Our own helicopters cannot be sent back soon enough and would be unsafe to use unless they are serviced, so we really hope the South Africans care spare an aircraft or two, he added. Chikuni said High Commission officials indicated South Africa would be able to supply at least one aircraft to access the worst hit regions. Malawi Army spokesman Colonel McLlyod Chidzalo stressed that the country's helicopter fleet would be returned within the month but said many stranded villagers could not wait that long. Chidzalo declined to respond to opposition party criticism that President Bakili Muluzi's VIP helicopter should be modified to help with flood relief. The helicopter, operated by the army and used to ferry Muluzi and his wife around the country, is a converted cargo craft. "The need for timely assistance to flood victims has become paramount, but President Muluzi and his wife Shanil are [instead] flying around in the only available helicopter addressing political rallies," said former cabinet minister and outspoken opposition leader Brown Mpinganjira. Malawi's government has meanwhile called on the international community to donate at least US$6,7 million and emergency food aid through the United Nations Development Programme and other UN bodies. The World Food Programme (WFP) has already begun distributing food in six districts after securing 690 metric tonnes of food assistance. The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the Malawi Red Cross, have also attempted to provide aid were possible. By Brian Ligomeka,
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