ZAMBIA: Tom Kitt travels to Zambia today. Declan Walsh describes how the authorities there have food to feed their hungry people, but are refusing to do so because of fears of genetic modification.
Aid worker Steven Grabiner pulled open his warehouse in Chipapa, a hungry village half an hour south of Lusaka. Sunlight fell across 20,000 neatly stacked bags of maize meal, Zambia's staple food. The American pastor shook his head in frustration.
In the villages around, many people were hungry, he said. Some families had cut back to one meal a day; others were foraging for wild fruit and roots.
"This is nonsensical," he said, closing the door again. "I have enough to feed 40,000 people for a month. But I can't give it out."
The threat of famine is sweeping across southern Africa, and over one million Zambians are at risk. But the Zambian government has started refusing to accept US genetically modified (GM) food aid - even if it means some of its own citizens may die.
Two weeks ago President Levy Mwanawasa banned GM foods, citing possible health risks for consumers and jeopardy to future agriculture exports to the European Union.
"It is certainly awkward that people are going hungry when the food is there," Vice-President Enoch Kavindele said in an interview. "But we are listening to scientists who say agriculture could be affected and we could be hungry forever."
Aid officials and diplomats say such fears are unfounded, however, and warn this policy is putting thousands of lives at risk.
The United Nations had planned to feed 1.3 million Zambians during the coming six months. But US maize donations account for over half the planned food supplies, some 100,000 tonnes. Now stocks are running perilously low.
"We have less than a month's supply of food left," said Mr Richard Ragan, country director with the World Food Programme (WFP). "After that, we have zero."
Biodiversity is one of the issues under scrutiny at the World Summit in neighbouring South Africa this week. In Zambia, the GM move has triggered a fierce debate, much of it marked by a strong anti-American tone.
Newspapers have carried stark headlines about "Frankenstein's Fodder", while some organisations have accused the US of using food aid to introduce GM foods to Africa by stealth.
"We could become dependent on GM crops," said Father Pete Henriot of the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection. "So is this aid primarily about humanitarian assistance, or economic benefit to those giving it?"
Mr Mwanawasa says he is worried about the "toxic" effects of eating GM maize. Aid officials say such fears are unproven. They also point out that Cornflakes sold in Lusaka are made in South Africa, which grows some GM crops.
The other worry is cross-pollination. Campaigners say that if GM grains are used as seed for next year's harvest, the EU - which has adopted a cautious approach to GM - will refuse imports of other agri-products such as cut flowers, fruit and vegetables.
The acting EU ambassador to Zambia, Mr Ambjorn Berglund, confirmed that the EU demands certification of food imports. However, he said fears about GM maize excluding other products were unfounded.
The stand-off may be resolved through milling the donated maize into powder, as is happening in Zimbabwe. But the WFP says it has no funds for milling, and the US government is refusing to pay.
American officials point out that Zambians have already eaten GM maize. During a smaller food crisis last year, over 18,000 tonnes were distributed.
Campaigners say the US is using the WFP - to which it has already given $700 million this year, mostly through in-kind donations - as a means of distributing its own food surpluses.
One voice absent from the debate is that of 1.3 million Zambians living under the threat of famine.
There should have been a food distribution last week in Kabweza, a drought-stricken village close to Pastor Grabiner's food stores. Instead, there was nothing.
"There is very much hunger. Everything is getting thin," said Mr David Chinkumbi (72), sitting miserably near a couple of empty maize bins. His wife had just fed their daughter, who gave birth the day before, with wild papaya fruits. Mr Chinkumbi admitted to not knowing much about GM technology, but said: "If we had the choice, we would eat that food, because otherwise we are going to die anyway."