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

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SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 49
08 - 14 December 2001


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Opposition leader freed after short detention
MOZAMBIQUE: Chissano says no third term
ANGOLA: Demands for immediate ceasefire
SWAZILAND: Jailed opposition leader sick
MALAWI: Plans to bring food to poor
ZAMBIA: Chiluba's decade
BOTSWANA: Press council plans condemned


ZIMBABWE: Opposition leader freed after short detention

Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai
was detained in a dawn raid and released without charge on Friday 14
December as the ruling ZANU-PF opened its annual conference to prepare for
presidential elections in March.

Tsvangirai's arrest came a day after President Robert Mugabe, speaking
ahead of the conference in Victoria Falls, said that the MDC was a "real
terrorist threat" to the country. Basking in the support of a Southern
African Development Community (SADC) task team, which this week endorsed
Harare's land reforms and rejected calls for sanctions, Mugabe said those
in favour of sanctions were "bound to fail because there is solid support
for our land programme in the region". He urged preparation for a
"physical fight" and called on youth to defend Zimbabwe's independence.

Speaking to IRIN after spending about two hours in custody, Tsvangirai
said no charges were laid against him. "They just picked me up and took me
to Harare Central police station," he said. Tsvangirai said he was
arrested because the police searched his house on Thursday and found one
of his guards with a two-way radio. They returned to arrest him because he
did not have a licence for the device. No licence is required for the
radio under Zimbabwean law.

Tsvangirai said he was convinced his arrest was aimed at intimidating and
harassing him and other government opposition ahead of next year's
election.

He also said he did not think that regional heads of state would agree
with the six-member SADC team which left Harare this week. The team was
reported as saying that it supported government efforts to prevent and
curb violence and opposed threats of sanctions against the country. "I am
very certain that the heads of state will not endorse such a position ...
I am sure they will have to review it in the face of overwhelming evidence
of ongoing violence and the hate speeches made by Mugabe," he told IRIN.

For more details please go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17787&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZIMBABWE

Election set for March

Earlier in the week, on Tuesday 11 December, President Robert Mugabe
announced that the long-awaited presidential election would be held in
March, although the exact dates were not set. The announcement came after
Mugabe met the task force of ministers from SADC.

Ordinary Zimbabweans, however, told IRIN this week that they wanted free
and fair elections, and that only after a peaceful election would the land
issue be resolved.

For an IRIN focus on this issue please go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17772&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZIMBABWE

The Zimbabwe Law Society (ZLS) warned in its annual report this week that
2001 had seen a growing atmosphere of lawlessness in the country.
Sternford Moyo, president of the ZLS said: "It is with some sadness that I
have to report that the year 2001 witnessed a growing atmosphere of
lawlessness, characterised by politically motivated violence, threats of
violence, extortion [and the] the undermining of formal dispute resolution
mechanisms in labour matters."

For the full IRIN report please go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17700&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZIMBABWE

Britain calls for regional pressure

British Foreign Office Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Baroness
Amos said on Wednesday 12 December that politics, rather than land, was at
the heart of Zimbabwe's crisis.

Providing the House of Lords with an overview of the British government's
position on Zimbabwe, Baroness Amos said: "The government of Zimbabwe has
sought to portray the country's problems as the understandable
consequences of a spontaneous popular clamour for land. That approach does
not bear detailed scrutiny. No one doubts the urgent need for land reform
in Zimbabwe, but ordinary Zimbabweans can distinguish between an
effective, transparent and sustainable land reform programme and the
Zimbabwe government's current fast-track programme."

For more details please go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17749&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZIMBABWE

WFP launches US $60 million food aid appeal

In a sign of the growing crisis, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP)
launched an urgent appeal on Thursday 13 December for US $60 million to
feed more than 550,000 rural Zimbabweans faced with severe food shortages.

WFP regional director for eastern and southern Africa Judith Lewis told
IRIN that the agency hoped to secure funding as quickly as possible to
ensure that food distributions were under way in January. She appealed to
donors for cash contributions, saying that this would help secure food
stocks rapidly and locally.

For an IRIN story on WFP's appeal please go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17722&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZIMBABWE

ANGOLA: Demands for immediate ceasefire

Angolan civil society groups have challenged the United Nations to heed
the views of all Angolans in its efforts towards a peaceful solution for
the country. The organisations also urged the government and the UNITA
rebel movement to adopt an immediate bilateral ceasefire.

The organisations, including humanitarian, religious, women's and other
interest groups, made their call during a meeting on Thursday 13 December
with UN Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari, who is on a week-long
visit to Angola. They argued that the 1994 Lusaka protocol, which the
Angolan government sees as the key to peace, is not enough to ensure a
lasting settlement.

"The Lusaka Protocol is a base, but it cannot continue to be a graveyard
for innocent Angolans, while the signatories of the protocol continue to
use it for their own benefit," the civil society statement read.

For the full story please see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17802&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ANGOLA

Humanitarian impact of government offensive

In its latest update on Wednesday 12 December, the World Food Programme
(WFP) described the security situation in Angola as "tense", with a steady
movement of internally displaced people (IDPs) into urban centres.

The UN food agency said in its 3-10 December report that the humanitarian
and nutritional situation had deteriorated in the central province of Bie
and the southwestern province of Huila due to the high number of IDPs
arriving in municipal centres. The agency said the movements were
"allegedly as a result of intensified military activity".

For a full story please see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17651&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ANGOLA

An average of 100 displaced people are arriving in Luena, the capital of
Moxico province, each day. Angola's easternmost province is intensely
green at this time of year. Nevertheless, people there are close to
starvation.

For an IRIN focus on the situation in Luena, please see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17397&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ANGOLA

MOZAMBIQUE: Chissano says no third term

President Joaquim Chissano said this week that he would not contest the
2004 election. In a press release issued on Sunday 9 December, the central
committee of the ruling FRELIMO party said it had adopted "as its own" the
decision by Chissano not to stand for a third term.

The party said the decision was a "gesture of great dignity and political
wisdom, a gesture of a great statesman with a vision of the future for his
people and for the country". In his speech to the committee Chissano said:
"I am not saying goodbye, because there are still three years of work
ahead of me in which I am called upon to lead the destinies of the
nation."

In a separate development, Chissano met with Malawian President Bakili
Muluzi in Blantyre this week to discuss peace and stability in southern
Africa. Chissano chairs the Southern African Development Community's
(SADC) organ for politics, defence and security, while Muluzi holds the
rotating chairmanship of the regional grouping.

Demining of border post completed

News reports said this week that the Zimbabwean army had completed
demining operations around the main border crossing between Zimbabwe and
Mozambique. Report said the demining would allow for the expansion of the
border post, increased police patrols, and improvements on the railway
line between the Zimbabwe city of Mutare and the Mozambican port city of
Beira.

Cholera outbreak kills 81

Meanwhile, Mozambican health authorities said this week that a cholera
outbreak in seven provinces had killed 81 people and infected about 6,000
others. The central Zambezi province has been the hardest hit, news
reports said. Health officials were quoted as saying that the there were
fears that more people could be infected as the rainy season began in
earnest.

SWAZILAND: Jailed opposition leader sick

The jailed leader of the Swazi opposition was reported to be sick, news
reports said this week. Mario Masuku, president of the Peoples United
Democratic Movement (Pudemo), was arrested in October for contravening his
bail conditions after being charged with sedition.

Bongnkosi Dlamini, Pudemo secretary-general told AFP on Wednesday 12
December there was concern that Masuku was "exposed to inhuman conditions"
in prison. "The government should speedily try him or release him if they
cannot prosecute him," Dlamini said. No date has been set for Masuku's
trial.

MALAWI: Plans to bring food to poor

The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday 11 December that it was
drafting plans to help thousands of impoverished Malawians survive this
year's maize shortages.

WFP representative in Malawi, Adamo Diop-Faye, told IRIN that any food aid
would be channelled through food-for-work programmes run by the agency.
"The government asks that any intervention should be channelled through
food-for-work," she said. "We are developing an emergency operation, which
still has to be approved. We are trying to push for January. We're heading
to the holidays, so it seems the first distributions will be in January."

For the full IRIN story please go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17565&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=MALAWI

Government still planning free food distributions

The following day the Malawian government said it hoped to draw on donor
and public resources to provide free food to the most vulnerable in coming
months.

It said about two months ago that it would provide some 60,000 mt of maize
to the elderly and to those who could not take part in food-for-assets or
food-for-work programmes, but said at the time that it did not know where
it would get the maize from. The country's secretary for agriculture,
Ellard Malindi, told IRIN some programmes had already been planned, but he
was waiting for the cabinet to meet and approve the free distributions. "I
am just waiting for government approval to get the programme started," he
said.

ZAMBIA: Chiluba's decade

Zambian President Frederick Chiluba, whose 10-year tenure ends at the end
of this month, will best be remembered for initiating a radical political
and economic reform programme - and then reversing many of its elements
towards the end of his rule, political analysts say.

They believe that rising popular discontent on the back of a slide in
general living standards - and a sense of self-preservation - have forced
Chiluba to tighten his hold on the country with the decentralisation of
local administration, and to reintroduce a level of control over the
economy that his freemarket policies had initially sought to abolish.

A former minister charged that Chiluba's political gains ended with his
leading the country on the transition back to plural politics in 1991.
"His only credit is that he led a team that brought back multiparty
politics. That's about it. Then he began to lead the people down the
garden path and tried to anoint himself for a third term without their
consent. At the same time, Zambia saw the highest level of corruption
under him than it has ever seen," said former commerce and trade minister
Dipak Patel.

For the full IRIN report please see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17771&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZAMBIA

As Zambia prepares for general elections on 27 December, a controversy
over deepening food shortages, along with mismanagement and corruption,
has dominated the campaign.

Vice-President Enock Kavindele acknowledged this week that most of the
country had begun experiencing shortages of the staple maize meal, after
floods hit crops early this year. "The distribution of relief maize has
already started. We shall continue until the situation is addressed," news
reports quoted Kavindele as saying.

"It's a fact there is a food shortage in the country, but despite knowing
almost 12 months ago, they started importing [maize] very late," Dipak
Patel, a senior member of the opposition Forum for Democracy and
Development (FDD) told IRIN.

For the full report please see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17560&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZAMBIA

More Angolan refugees enter Zambia

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 Angolan refugees have crossed over into
Zambia's Western province in the last 10 days, a spokesman for the UN's
refugee agency told IRIN on Monday.

Fidelis Swai, from UNHCR's regional office in Pretoria, said: "We have
seen more than 1,000 cross over since about 1 December." He said that the
new arrivals were being housed at a temporary accommodation centre not far
from the main Nangweshi camp, which is about 150 km from the
Angolan-Zambia border.

Humanitarian sources told IRIN that the latest influx of refugees could
reflect Angolan government forces gaining the upper hand over the UNITA
rebel movement. "There were reports that UNITA had been preventing
refugees from crossing over, but now with the government gaining ground
people might be able to move about more easily and head towards the
Zambian border," one source said.

BOTSWANA: Press council plans condemned

Plans by the Botswana government to set up a press council with extensive
powers to impose fines and jail terms on journalists and publishers were
"dangerous, unworkable and could limit freedom of expression", the
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has warned.

"The Bill threatens to undermine efforts by media professionals to
establish genuine self-regulation," said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White
in a statement released earlier. "The affairs of journalism and the ethics
of our profession are best left to those with professional
responsibilities. We urge the government of Botswana to withdraw this Bill
in favour of a dialogue with journalists and media organisations. The way
forward should be based upon international principles of self-regulation."

For the full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=17709&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=BOTSWANA


IRIN-SA
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Fax: +27 11 447-5472
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001


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