Geldof blasts 'thug' Mugabe

Bob Geldof today described Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe as a murderous thug and a madman for the way he has devastated his country.

Seventeen years after his first Live Aid appeal more than 14 million people are facing starvation in Africa, many of them in formerly prosperous Zimbabwe, which has been wrecked by Mr Mugabe's economic policies.

Speaking on the Today programme Mr Geldof said: "Mugabe is a murderous thug but you cannot predict that this man is going to go completely mad and devastate his own homeland.

"You can't predict he is going to cling to power at any cost even though that cost is the lives of millions of his own countrymen."

In London today the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which brings together 13 aid agencies including the British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Oxfam and Save the Children, launched a renewed appeal for food and medical aid.

Brendan Gormley, DEC chief executive, said funding for a major aid operation was urgently required to avert "a catastrophic famine".

He added: "The appeal will help fund health programmes, distribution of seeds and tools to subsistencefarmers, and food aid for the most vulnerable. There is still time to prevent the worst case scenario of death on a massive scale."

The figure of 14 million potential victims is one of the highest estimates yet of the number of people caught up in the famine.

The most seriously affected countries are Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho and Angola.

The World Food Programme originally launched an appeal at the beginning of July to raise more than £300million for the African countries but has only received 22 per cent of the funding it needs from foreign governments.