U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for Southern Africa Tel: +27 11 880 4633 Fax: +27 11 880 1421 e-mail: irin-sa@irin.org.zaSOUTHERN AFRICA IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 23 3-9 June 2000
CONTENTS: ZIMBABWE: UN cancels envoy's visit over concern at land crisis ZIMBABWE: Amnesty International says violence threatens fair election ZIMBABWE: Election observers into the fray ZIMBABWE: SA warns integrity of election vital for region ZIMBABWE: Candidates register ZIMBABWE: Court action over voters' register ZIMBABWE: Teachers flee rural violence ZIMBABWE: Commonwealth official resigns over Mugabe links ZIMBABWE: Concern grows over shortages of medicines ZIMBABWE: New US legislation to suspend aid ZIMBABWE: UNHCR meets Cuban asylum seekers ZIMBABWE: Tobacco output set to drop ZIMBABWE: Mugabe says all white-owned land could be seized ZIMBABWE: Denmark sets terms for Zimbabwe funding ANGOLA: Emergency food stocks running low ANGOLA: UNITA appoints new chiefs ANGOLA: Journalist acquitted ZAMBIA-ANGOLA: A meeting to ease border tensions MADAGASCAR: Impact of cyclones and drought on food supply MALAWI: Catholic Church launches food security programme MOZAMBIQUE: HIV/AIDS growing in Mozambique MOZAMBIQUE: World Bank aid for coastal zone resources NAMIBIA: Rights group praises government on child soldiers and mercenaries NAMIBIA: Nujoma backs Angola OAU boycott NAMIBIA: Nujoma denies owning diamond mine in DRC NAMIBIA: Angolan war killing tourism SOUTH AFRICA-DRC: SA reconnaissance team in DRC SOUTH AFRICA-SIERRA LEONE: De Beers supports embargo on SL diamonds ZIMBABWE: UN cancels envoy's visit over concern at land crisis The United Nations, citing concern at the Zimbabwe government's decision to requisition 804 commercial farms, has postponed a visit by UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch-Brown. The decision, announced last Friday by a spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said Annan regretted the announcement by the government of Zimbabwe that it intended to acquire the farms compulsorily. The spokesman said Annan felt Zimbabwe's decision "undermines the ability of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to build international support, including resources, for a legally-based solution to the land crisis, including compensation, based on the principles of the 1998 land reform conference". ZIMBABWE: Amnesty International says violence threatens fair election Amnesty International said this week that violence, intimidation, torture and extra-judicial murders in Zimbabwe had made it unlikely that the parliamentary elections later this month will be free and fair. In a new report after more than a month of research and monitoring the situation, the human rights group accused President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party of deliberately violations as part of a state-orchestrated campaign of terror in the run-up to the 24-25 June elections. Since the campaign of terror started after Mugabe lost a referendum calling for the seizure of white-owned farm land, Amnesty said it had found that human rights violations and torture had resulted in at least 30 deaths, mostly involving opposition supporters. It said thousands of people had been rendered homeless. "What two teams of Amnesty researchers found here in Zimbabwe are conditions which affect the free movement and free association of people, which are normal statutory rights, which have been severely compromised," Amnesty's Africa director, Maina Kiai, told IRIN on Friday after a visit to Zimbabwe. "It is a situation which will affect the ability of Zimbabweans to vote freely." A more detailed report can be found at: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN Amnesty International website: http://www.amnesty.org/ ZIMBABWE: Election observers into the fray The head of the European Union (EU) observer mission in Zimbabwe this week warned that the conduct of the 24-25 June parliamentary elections would have a profound effect on the country's relations with Europe. Pierre Schori, a former Swedish government minister, said the 200 EU observers would be deployed in urban and rural constituencies throughout the country in an effort to deter intimidation and create a suitable environment for the vote. ZIMBABWE: SA warns integrity of election vital for region South Africa has warned that the integrity of the upcoming Zimbabwean elections are vital for the stability of southern Africa. Sipho Pityana, Director General of the Department of Foreign Affairs said the elections had to be "beyond reproach". "If you don't have a free and fair election there, the world will forget that the region usually holds free and fair elections," Pityana said. Pityana also said that conditions had to be created to end the rural violence. He said in an address to the South African Institute for International Affairs (SAIIA), that "all parties should find an amicable solution to the problem". ZIMBABWE: Candidates register Candidates contesting the elections handed in their nomination papers on Sunday after three months of sustained political violence and intimidation. The MDC said the process passed off peacefully. The MDC, fielded 120 candidates for the 150-seat house. Only 120 seats are being contested because President Mugabe has the right to appoint 30 MPs. The candidates include Chenjerai Hunzvi, leader of the independence war veterans spearheading the occupation of more than 1,000 white-owned farms across the country. He won a primary election for Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party in the Mashonaland East constituency. ZIMBABWE: Court action over voters' register However, Zimbabwe's general election was thrown into turmoil this week when thousands of ordinary people complained that their names were missing from the voters' roll and opposition parties accused the government of leaving out the names of young voters and whites sympathetic to them. The MDC threatened to take the matter to court unless Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede undertook in writing to prepare a supplementary roll of people omitted. Meanwhile, the MDC said that would set up a voters' roll "hotline" for people that had been left off the voters' roll. MDC's election director Paul Nyathi said: "We are receiving increasing reports from whites and young black people - mostly aged 20-28 - that they are not on the voters' roll." ZIMBABWE: Teachers flee rural violence At least 250 schools across Zimbabwe have closed down in recent weeks in the wake of a campaign of political intimidation against teachers, human rights activists told IRIN. There are some 6,000 schools in Zimbabwe. Bidi Munyaradze, director of the rights organisation, ZimRights told IRIN that teachers were perceived as supporters of the MDC. ZIMBABWE: Commonwealth official resigns over Mugabe links A senior Commonwealth adviser said this week that he was resigning following allegations that he had close business links with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his government. Moses Anafu denied the allegations but was quoted as saying that he was stepping down in December as the 54-nation group's special adviser on Africa. Last week the Commonwealth recalled Anafu as an election observer from Zimbabwe after the allegations surfaced in the British media. ZIMBABWE: Concern grows over shortages of medicines Zimbabwe's health minister, Timothy Stamps, this week warned of a looming shortage of drugs and because the government no longer had the money to pay for imported medicines. "I would be irresponsible not to sound this warning," Stamps, who is a medical doctor, said. "We are faced with a possible shortage of drug supplies for essential requirements such as anti-retroviral drugs for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, blood pressure and insulin, among others." But news reports said most of Zimbabwe's 1,082 public health centres had been stocking up on malaria and cholera medicines in anticipation of the shortages. ZIMBABWE: New US legislation to suspend aid The United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week passed new legislation to suspend US aid to Zimbabwe until the rule of law has been restored in the country. Senator Bill Frist, chairman of the committee's Africa panel, and sponsor of the legislation, said: "The farm invasions are nothing but a cover for an assault on democracy, the collapse of the economy and a desperate effort to win over rural, landless voters." The new legislation called 'The Zimbabwe Democracy Act' would authorise funding to help democratic institutions mount legal challenges against the election results. Funds would also be made available to torture victims and independent media. ZIMBABWE: UNHCR meets Cuban asylum seekers The case of the two Cuban doctors raised international concern following their arrest and subsequent deportation on Friday last week under circumstances which have been described as an attempt to forcibly return them to Cuba. After the refusal by an Air France pilot to carry the two passengers on a flight from Johannesburg to Paris enroute to Cuba, they were subsequently returned to Harare. "While in detention UNHCR staff were able to visit and reported to us that they were held in good condition and not subjected to any harassment," confirmed UNHCR Zambia spokesman Dominik Bartsch. ZIMBABWE: Tobacco output set to drop Zimbabwe's tobacco output for next year is likely drop by 30 percent as a result of the illegal occupation of commercial farms by independence war veterans, the Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) said this week. CFU deputy director Jerry Grant said tobacco output in the coming season could fall by about 60 million kg because of the disruption of the occupation of more than 1,000 white-owned farms across the country. ZIMBABWE: Mugabe says all white-owned land could be seized President Robert Mugabe said this week that his government could seize all white-owned land in Zimbabwe, and that the government was looking at requisitioning more than the 841 farms already designated. He made the remarks in a pep talk to the 120 candidates of his ruling ZANU-PF party who are contesting elections. "It is not just the 841 farms that we are looking at. We are looking at the totality of our land," Mugabe said. "If we allow others to own portions of it, it must be out of our own will, our own desire, our own charity. Not on the back of colonial history. So let us be clear on that." ZIMBABWE: Denmark sets terms for Zimbabwe funding Denmark has said it would contribute funds for a South African-led plan to raise money abroad to buy white-owned farms in Zimbabwe and hand them to landless blacks. Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said Denmark was ready, in principle, to offer economic aid to help end rural violence in Zimbabwe. Further reports on Zimbabwe can be found at: ANGOLA: Emergency food stocks running low WFP warned this week that emergency food supplies for hundreds of thousands of desperate and vulnerable people in war-torn Angola were running dangerously low. In an impassioned plea to the donor community requesting immediate food donations, Ronald Sibanda, the WFP Representative in Angola, said more than 1.5 million people dispersed and isolated by fighting between government forces and UNITA rebels now faced starvation. "So far this year, we have received less than 40 percent of what we need in order to assist the most needy," Sibanda said. "We are confronting a double problem: On the one hand the number of needy people continues to increase at a rapid pace, and on the other hand, the level of donations is lower as compared to previous years." "Furthermore, the nutritional level of the poorest Angolan demographic strata continues to decrease at an alarming pace," an agency statement said. "A large section of the population does not have sufficient means to supplement the food aid they receive from the humanitarian community and totally depend on organizations such as WFP just to survive. Therefore, WFP must increase the emergency ration from 1,800 kilo calories per person to 2,100." A more detailed report can be found at: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN ANGOLA: UNITA appoints new chiefs The leader of Angola's UNITA rebel movement, Jonas Savimbi, this week announced the appointment of six new figures to lead his troops in the war against government forces. The appointments, announced through the media in Portugal, include Geraldo Abreu Muhengu Ukwachitembo, who was named the new army chief of staff, and General Arlindo Pene, who was appointed his deputy. The reports said UNITA had declined to comment on the fate of those who were replaced in the wake of an Angolan army offensive which has seen rebel forces ousted from their traditional strongholds in southern and central Angola since October last year. ANGOLA: Journalist acquitted Angolan journalist Andre Mussamo, local correspondent of the bi-weekly `Folha 8', was acquitted on last Friday by the provincial court of Cuanza Norte. He was accused of violating state secrets. Ordering his release, the court found that charges that he had sought to publish the contents of a document containing secret and classified military information in the paper, was groundless. ZAMBIA-ANGOLA: A meeting to ease border tensions Zambian and Angolan defence and security officials will meet later this month to discuss tense border relations, Zambian Defence Minister Chitalu Sampa said. "Arrangements are being made to convene a joint permanent commission on defence and security this month to discuss mutual security concerns," he told a press conference. MADAGASCAR: Impact of cyclones and drought on food supply The FAO and WFP said in a new assessment report on Madagascar that the cyclones and drought had caused severe damage to crops and farm land. This has sharply reduced agricultural production affecting food supply on the giant Indian Ocean island. "The overall food supply situation is expected to be tight in 2000/01 (April/March). Serious food shortages are anticipated in 17 communes of the traditional food-deficit south region in coming months," the assessment said. It said that following the three cyclones an estimated 156,500 people needed "urgent humanitarian assistance", and that WFP was providing food aid to those most affected. It added that were serious food crop losses, in particular, staples such as rice and maize. "Losses of food and seeds stocks have also been significant," it added. More detailed reports on the assessment can be found at: http://www.fao.org/GIEWS/english/alertes/2000/SRMAD500.htm MALAWI: Catholic Church launches food security programme The Catholic Church this week launched a US $15 million project to ensure food security at household level for thousands of people living in 70 of Malawi's poorest villages. Programme Coordinator Nicholas Mbwakita told IRIN that the project to assist a total 23,000 households in the southern Chikwane and Phalombe districts was being funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project is being implemented by the Catholic Development Commission of Malawi (CADECOM) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS). The three-phase project aims to improve food security by providing inputs to subsistence farmers and teaching them new agricultural methods; providing special assistance to children with emphasis on health and proper nutrition, and to ensure special care for HIV/AIDS sufferers and AIDS orphans. MOZAMBIQUE: HIV/AIDS growing in Mozambique The spread of HIV/AIDS is growing so rapidly in Mozambique that at least one million children are expected to be orphaned by the disease in the next five years. Ian MacLeod, a spokesman for UNICEF, told IRIN that an estimated 350,000 Mozambican children have already been orphaned by the disease, and that although the country could not build orphanages for them, they should not be abandoned by their communities. He said UNICEF was spending US $3 million alone in Mozambique to combat HIV/AIDS which was mainly prevalent in the central and northern provinces of Manica, Sofala, Tete and Zambezia. "The whole of Mozambique has been drastically affected by HIV/AIDS with the central provinces being the worst affected," he said. "HIV/AIDS is the priority amongst priorities right now in Mozambique." He said at least one in four adults in the four provinces were HIV-positive. According to government figures for last year, about 15 percent of the Mozambican population of 17 million people were HIV-positive with an average of 700 people getting infected daily. In a related development, France last week granted the Mozambique government just over US 1 million to help tackle the HIV/AIDS crisis. MOZAMBIQUE: World Bank aid for coastal zone resources The World Bank this week approved a credit of US $5.6 million for Mozambique to assist the government in achieving sustainable economic development of coastal zone resources. The bank said in a statement that the funds would be used to support the Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Management Project, a key element of Mozambique's National Coastal Zone Management Programme. NAMIBIA: Rights group praises government on child soldiers and mercenaries The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) in Namibia has praised the Namibian government for distancing itself from the recruitment of Namibian mercenaries and child soldiers by the Angolan army. At a public rally at Rundu at the weekend, President Sam Nujoma strongly condemned Namibian citizens who have joined the Angolan Armed Forces. The NSHR said in a statement: "President Sam Nujoma must also be commended for his admission, albeit tacit, that there are in fact Namibian mercenaries." "Nonetheless, the fact that such recruitment has taken place on Namibian soil does not exonerate the authorities in terms of national and international law," the NSHR added. A more detailed report can be found at: NAMIBIA: Nujoma backs Angola OAU boycott Namibia has called on fellow African governments to support Angola's call that the venue for the upcoming Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit be moved from Lome in Togo to OAU headquarters in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. The Namibian government said it objected to the summit taking place in Lome because Togo's head of state was cited in a recent United Nations report as breaking international sanctions against the UNITA rebel movement. It said that the government had recently written to OAU Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim in support of Luanda's request for a change of location. NAMIBIA: Nujoma denies owning diamond mine in DRC Namibian President Sam Nujoma this week denied a local newspaper report that he owns a diamond mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where his troops are helping the government. A statement issued on Nujoma's behalf and signed by acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tuliameni Kalomoh, said the report in the 'Windhoek Observer' was "utterly false". The newspaper report on Saturday alleged that Nujoma owned a diamond mine at Maji-Munene, 45 km from the town of Tshikapa in central DRC. The newspaper, which published photographs of the mine, claimed the operation was being run by members of Namibia Defence Force. NAMIBIA: Angolan war killing tourism Several Namibian game lodges could close down and hundreds of employees be retrenched if the security situation along Namibia's border with Angola does not improve soon. Early in February at least 10 lodges temporarily closed their operations in the northeast, citing the insecurity caused by the Angolan war in which up to 50 Namibian civilians have been murdered. Since the escalation in hostilities the occupancy rate at hotels, lodges and other tourism establishments had plummeted resulting in hundreds of retrenchments. SOUTH AFRICA-DRC: SA reconnaissance team in DRC A South African military reconnaissance team arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this week to discuss South Africa's participation in UN peacekeeping operations. A spokesman for the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) told IRIN that the team was expected back in South Africa on 12 June and that they would brief SANDF and government officials about their visit. Major-General Andre Bestbier, director of joint operations division was quoted as saying: "We need to liase with UN headquarters and assess the requirements right down to laundry and cleaning services, so that when our people arrive, all the nuts and bolts have been sorted out." Diplomatic sources told IRIN that team was also likely to inspect various sites for any possible SANDF combat troop deployment in the DRC. SOUTH AFRICA-SIERRA LEONE: De Beers supports embargo on SL diamonds Diamond giant De Beers has given its backing to a British proposal for the UN Security Council to impose world-wide embargo on diamond exports by rebels from Sierra Leone." We support any efforts the United Nations is making to stop the illegal sale of diamonds," De Beers spokeswoman, Tracey Peterson said. "The embargo won't make nay difference to De Beers, we don't buy Sierra Leone diamonds," Peterson added. Johannesburg, 11:15 GMT, 9 June IRIN-SA - Tel: +2711 880 4633 Fax: +2711 447 5472 e-mail: irin-sa@irin.org.za [This item is delivered in the English service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. 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