MDC: Zimbabwe villagers facing famine

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Villagers in Zimbabwe's Mashonaland East province are so hungry they have begun using cow feces for food, the Movement for Democratic Change says.

MDC Secretary for Welfare Kerry Kay said famine in the province's Wedza district has reached a level in which villagers are eating cow feces and dogs to survive, SW Radio Africa reported Tuesday.

Kay laid the blame for such famine conditions on the Zimbabwe African National Union -- Patriotic Front.

"This is a tragedy … its horrible and unbelievable. This is a failure of governance that can only be blamed on ZANU PF. This humanitarian crisis has left the country facing the prospect of a famine on an unprecedented scale," Kay said.

"You have mothers battling to feed their children and end up preparing cow dung as supplement for their kids. These innocent victims of a failed state are a desperate lot, they have no food and their malnourished children are dying," the MDC official added.