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SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 32
11-17 August 2001


CONTENTS:

SOUTHERN AFRICA: SADC to send task force to Zimbabwe
ANGOLA: 10,000 refugees flee to DRC
ANGOLA-ZAMBIA: UNITA rebels flee into northwestern Zambia
ZAMBIA: Editor of independent paper charged with defamation
COMOROS: Separatist leader flees Anjouan
MALAWI: Journalists' group condemn attack
NAMIBIA: Floods devastate eastern Caprivi
SOUTH AFRICA: Government to strengthen law against land invasions

SOUTHERN AFRICA: SADC to send task force to Zimbabwe

The South African Development Community (SADC) on Tuesday established a
five-country task force to facilitate dialogue in Zimbabwe to help resolve
the country's political and economic crisis, but analysts contacted by
IRIN said they were concerned it could be too little, too late. In a
further deterioration of the situation in Zimbabwe this week, four
independent journalists were charged under a colonial-era emergency powers
Act, and a group of white farmers accused of public violence were
repeatedly denied bail.

At the end of the SADC summit in Malawi's commercial capital Blantyre on
Tuesday, an upbeat South African President Thabo Mbeki said that the task
force would start work within five days and would be "talking to
everybody", 'The Star' newspaper reported. According to the SADC
communique: "Summit expressed concern on the effects of the Zimbabwe
economic situation on the region, and indicated its readiness to engage in
a dialogue with the government of Zimbabwe and other cooperating partners
to resolve the situation." Representatives from Malawi, Namibia, Angola,
Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa were directed to work with Harare
"on the political and economic issues affecting Zimbabwe".

However, University of Zimbabwe economist Tony Hawkins told IRIN that he
was sceptical over what SADC could concretely achieve. "There are now so
many of these initiatives things are getting a bit crowded," he said in
reference to earlier Nigerian and South African diplomatic approaches, and
the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting in October.

"The only people in SADC with real clout is South Africa, but at the
moment they don't want to use it. The one card that would be very
effective against Zimbabwe is sanctions, but there is no way they [South
Africa] can use that card now," Hawkins said. "They may want to keep it up
their sleave in case there's a military takeover or stolen elections."

Meanwhile, in a response to a front page story in the independent 'Daily
News' four journalists earlier charged under a section of the country's
draconian security Act and released, were rearrested a day later on
Thursday under a different section of the law. 'Daily News'
editor-in-chief Geoff Nyarota, assistant editor Bill Saidi, and
journalists John Gambanga and Sam Munyavi were released on Wednesday after
an urgent High Court application. The police then dropped the initial
charge of publishing a false statement likely to cause "alarm or
despondency" under Section 50 (2) (a) of the Law and Order Maintenance Act
(LOMA) - which in 1999 had been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme
Court - for another charge on Thursday under Section 44 (2) (a) which
deals with the "publishing of subversive statements".

The men were charged following a story in the newspaper on Tuesday which
alleged that police vehicles had been used at the weekend during a looting
spree of commercial farms by ruling ZANU-PF party militants in Mashonaland
West province. Meanwhile, Mduduzi Mathuthu, a 'Daily News' reporter in
Bulawayo, was also briefly arrested on Tuesday for allegedly breaching the
same Act. His arrest followed an article in the newspaper's Monday issue
allegeing that a crowd had walked out on Vice-President Joseph Msika
during a Heroes' Day address at the provincial shrine when he asked them
to chant ZANU-PF slogans

In a separate case, the High Court postponed to next Monday a decision on
a bail application for 21 imprisoned white commercial farmers who face
public violence charges. The farmers were arrested last week after they
clashed with black occupiers on a farm in Chinhoyi, 100 km northwest of
Harare. The farmers appealed to the High Court after a Chinhoyi magistrate
court last week denied them bail on grounds that they could abscond or
interfere with witnesses, some of whom are believed to be farm workers.

In the aftermath of the disturbances in Chihoyi, Morgan Tsvangirai, leader
of Zimbabwe's main opposition party the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), on Tuesday described the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) as "a
conspiracy of dictators trying to rally behind another dictator", Reuters
reported. He denounced the organisation's failure to condemn violence by
President Robert Mugabe and urged South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki to
apply the same pressure his country did to Ian Smith's Rhodesian
government to accept the principle of majority rule in the days of
apartheid.

"Attacks on bloth black and white farmers have nothing to do with land
reform," Tsvangirai told a press conference as fresh reports came in of
looting in the Chinhoyi-Banket area, 90 km northwest of Harare. In a
telephone interview from Chinhoyi a local church pastor, Deon van Dyk,
described as "bull" reports that police had taken action to curb attacks
which have caused the evacuation of 100 families and the trashing of about
40 homesteads. He said the Doma area, 60 km north of Chinhoyi "may have
quietened down", but "as we speak they are looting farms in the Banket
area" (40 km south of Chinhoyi). "I am angry, and it is time it started
showing," said Van Dyk, accusing the authorities of deliberately
encouraging the onslaught to further Mugabe's land reform programme. A
further four attacks took place overnight with many farmers, who were
willing to try and resume farming operations, still fearful to go back,
the report said.

The MDC said Mugabe hoped to chase whites off their land, short circuiting
even limited legal safeguards, in time to win votes for next April's
scheduled presidential elections, when Mugabe expects to seek a further
six-year term after 22 years in power. Tsvangirai accused the ruling
ZANU-PF party governor for the area, Peter Chanetsa, of masterminding the
week-long violence and alleged that a special army unit had been deployed,
in plain clothes, to terrorise suspected Mugabe opponents.

SADC to act on expected food shortages

The SADC summit on Tuesday directed agricultural ministers to meet as soon
as possible to examine the region's food security and to develop a
regional response to pending shortages. According to a communique released
on Tuesday, SADC said it expected a regional maize deficit of about 2.1
million mt, with South Africa and Mozambique being the only two countries
recording a surplus - 180,000 mt and 7,000 mt respectively.

In Zimbabwe official estimates indicate a maize deficit of between 150,000
and 200,000 mt for the 2001/2002 consumption year, and the situation could
deteriorate in the face of ongoing commercial farm invasions. The
government only recently acknowledged publicly that it would face a maize
deficit, while government and aid workers are wary about discussing the
crisis. "The food security situation is more being used for political ends
- whether to admit a shortage or not has become a political decision," a
senior aid official told IRIN. "People don't feel comfortable any more to
talk about whether there is a food shortage because it is politically
interpreted."

In its latest update on food security in the region, published on 30 July,
FEWS said southern Africa's maize production was at its lowest in six
years and that Zimbabwe was planning to import about 544,000 mt of maize.
While the country needs to import a maximum of 200,000 mt of maize to feed
its population, it would have to import about three times this amount if
it wants to maintain its strategic reserves as well.

Meanwhile, in an indepth interview with IRIN, Professor Sam Moyo, Director
of the Southern African Regional Institute for Policy Studies said that to
resolve the country's land reform crisis, the Zimbabwean government, white
commercial farmers and the British government would have to revisit an
agreement they reached at a landmark conference in 1998. Explaining the
history of Zimbabwe's controversial compulsory land acquisition programme,
Moyo, who was pivotal in drafting an agreed policy on land reform after
the donor conference in 1998, said the government would have to curb
violence on commercial farm land, the British government would have to
resume funding the programme and the farmers would have to give up about
five million hectares of land they had earlier promised.

For the full interview see:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/sa/countrystories/zimbabwe/20010814.phtml

In a personal account of land resettlement, a "seventy-something" Amos
Maduma told IRIN how Dombadema - one of Zimbabwe's oldest land
resettlement schemes in Matabeleland South - was launched by the
government. Maduma contrasted Dombadema with the government's current
controversial fast-track programme. "The people who are being settled on
the commercial farms are very violent," he said. "They go there and harass
people on that land. When some of us were settled here, in 1982, the
government had already bought this piece of land and we came here in an
orderly manner." He added: "What is troubling us now is the violence on
the farms. It is from our government, this violence ... We also settled
here in a fast manner, but it was peaceful and orderly. The people are
just being dumped there (on government acquired commercial farms). It's
just a word that they are being 'resettled'."

For the full interview see:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/sa/countrystories/zimbabwe/20010815.phtml

ANGOLA: 10,000 refugees flee to DRC

More than 2,000 new Angolan refugees have arrived in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) border town of Kimvula over the last few days,
bringing to nearly 10,000 the total number who have fled to the DRC, UNHCR
said in a statement on Friday.

NGOs working in Kimvula reported that the estimated 2,000 refugees who
began arriving in the small town during this week have settled in several
villages in the area. Kimvula is some 120 kms east of an area called
Kitompolo, which has also received in the last ten days thousands of new
Angolan refugees fleeing a UNITA rebel attack on the northern towns of Beu
and Cuilo Futa. By Thursday, UNHCR had registered some 7,200 new refugees
in Kitompolo. An estimated 700 others are also still in border villages
near the area, the statement said.

The Angolan refugees, mainly women and children, fled with few belongings
and are living in extremely difficult conditions along the border under
rudimentary shelters. They are in generally good physical condition,
although a few cases of diarrhoea have been reported. UNHCR has deployed
additional staff to the border to assist with registration, the
distribution of basic supplies and to expedite arrangements for the
transfer of the refugees away from border areas.

Fernando Mendes, head of the UNHCR office in the northern Angolan town of
Uige, told IRIN that the region's military commander had assured
humanitarian workers on Tuesday that the government was determined to
prevent UNITA from capturing the border town of Maquela de Zombo.
Humanitarian sources said the fighting around Beu and Cuilo Futa was
strategically significant as UNITA was trying to re-establish a supply
corridor between DRC and Angola.

UNITA claims responsibility for train attack

In continued rebel action across the country, a UNITA spokesman told IRIN
on Tuesday that his organisation had carried out an attack on a scheduled
passenger train that killed at least 150 people. "Yes it's true, UNITA
destroyed a military train on 10 August, it was not full of civilians,
that's just MPLA (government) propaganda," Joffre Justino, speaking from
Lisbon, said. He added that the train, a thrice-weekly service between
Luanda and Dondo, 200 km to the southeast of the capital, was a legitimate
target because it had a large troop escort and was carrying munitions and
military supplies.

The army has denied that there were soldiers on the train. But Justin
Pearce, a foreign journalist based in Angola, interviewed survivors of the
attack at the Neves Bendinha hospital in Luanda, where the wounded, many
suffering from serious burns from exploding fuel, were taken. "Survivors
said there had been some soldiers on the train, but they were guarding
it," Pearce told IRIN. Miltary escorts are usual for road and rail
journeys throughout Angola because of the threat of UNITA attack. Railway
authorities told Pearce that 470 tickets had been sold for the journey. An
estimated 500 people were aboard the train when it was attacked.

Witnesses said that after the ambush, between the towns of Zenza and
Dondo, rebels had fired on passengers trying to extricate themselves from
the train's carriages. Asked if machine-gunning passengers escaping the
wrecked train was acceptable, Justino repeated UNITA's claim that all
those on the train were military personnel.

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said the UNITA attack cast further doubt
on the rebel group's recent claims that it was willing to talk peace. Dos
Santos said in a written statement that he was "upset and exasperated" by
the ambush. The train, consisting of four passenger cars, two freight cars
and two oil containers, was derailed when it struck an anti-tank mine
while it was travelling in Cuanza Norte province.

"This type of act does not contribute to moves toward peace," Dos Santos
said in the statement. He added that recent signs that UNITA chief Jonas
Savimbi was ready to negotiate an end to the three-decade civil war "may
just be an attempt to confuse international public opinion". Savimbi sent
a letter in May to Roman Catholic church leaders in Angola, urging them to
try and draw the foes into peace talks. However, the rebels have increased
their attacks on military and civilian targets in rural areas recently,
claiming they are responding to an army offensive. Justino told IRIN that
the Angolan air force had been indiscriminately bombing UNITA-controlled
areas.

Meanwhile SADC heads of state on Tuesday agreed in principle tough
measures to enforce UN sanctions against UNITA. The new measures include
installing mobile radar systems to detect illegal flights across national
borders. The leaders said in a communiqué that that would also set up a
certification system for the trade in rough diamonds, and a task force to
formulate strategy to stop the supply of petroleum products to UNITA. SADC
leaders created an ad-hoc committee made up of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia
and Zimbabwe and coordinated by Mozambique's President Joaquim Chissano to
compile a report on how SADC member states were enforcing UN sanctions
against UNITA. News reports quoted analysts as saying that none of the
SADC states, except for South Africa, had the means to implement the
measures announced on Tuesday.

ANGOLA-ZAMBIA: UNITA rebels flee into northwestern Zambia

A group of suspected UNITA rebels crossed into Zambia this week after
fleeing fresh fighting in Angola's southern Moxico province, AFP reported
on Friday. Quoting government officials the report said that the rebels
had entered Zambia on Monday.

"The rebels are coming heavily armed. But we have stepped up security," a
senior Zambian intelligence officer was quoted as saying. Reports on
Friday said that the Zambian army and air force were patrolling the border
to protect Zambian villages.  "It seems there is heavy fighting on the
Angolan side and the rebels are running away because most of them have run
out of bullets," another Zambian intelligence officer said. Meanwhile,
reports added, Angolan government soldiers have also reportedly crossed
the border to harrass Zambian villagers.

In a seperate development reports on Friday said that Zambian hostages
being held captive by Angolan soldiers would be swapped for 12 Angolan
soldiers serving a nine-month jail term for illegally entering the
country.

ZAMBIA: Editor of independent paper charged with defamation

The editor of Zambia's independent 'The Post' was arrested by police on
Friday and charged with criminal defamation after his paper carried an
editorial that labelled President Frederick Chiluba a thief, news reports
said. Fred M'membe was arrested at the newspaper's offices in the capital
Lusaka by six policemen and taken to the police headquarters in the city
centre. In an editorial on Friday 'The Post' said Chiluba had presided
over a deeply corrupt government that was involved in the pilfering of
public property. "This is the President who shields his thieving band of
ministers! Let's not forget that it is said that 'You shall know them by
the friends they keep'," the editorial said. "It's very difficult to avoid
calling President Frederick Chiluba a thief because he is a thief. We have
stated this many times and we will continue to do so," it added.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern over
press freedom in Zambia ahead of elections later this year. "CPJ expressed
its deep concern over a recent string of press freedom abuses in Zambia
and President Chiluba's government's increased monitoring of state-funded
media. Given the hostile climate that local journalists now face, CPJ has
little confidence that they will be able to work effectively during the
run-up to general elections scheduled for later this year," the CPJ said
in a statement.

The CPJ said the latest attacks on Zambian journalists appeared to be
reprisals for critical press coverage of Chiluba and other top-ranking
officials of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD). The
organisation cited the case of Bivan Saluseki, a reporter for 'The Post',
who was arrested for a 16 July story alleging that Chiluba and several
members of his cabinet were involved in corruption. Police briefly
detained Saluseki before charging him with criminal defamation of the head
of state under Article 69 of Zambia's Penal Code. The code prescribes up
to three years in jail for "any person who, with intent to bring the
president into hatred, ridicule or contempt, publishes any defamatory or
insulting matter".

The CPJ added that journalists have also been targeted for criticising
other officials. On 9 July, for example, police in the Northern province
town of Mpika arrested Ernest Mwape, a correspondent for the private
station 'Radio Phoenix' who also contributed to 'The Post'. The arrest
followed a 6 June article by Mwape alleging that Mulenga Supuni, the
area's district administrator, had reprimanded local police for failing to
give him adequate security protection during a student riot.

COMOROS: Separatist leader flees Anjouan

A local journalist told IRIN on Monday that ousted Comoran separatist
leader Said Abeid Abderemane may be heading for France. On Sunday Abeid
fled the breakaway island of Anjouan aboard a small plane to Mayotte, a
nearby French-ruled island, according to eye witnesses. "Based on reliable
sources in Mayotte I believe he will soon be on his way to Paris via (the
island of) La Reunion," Akbal Ali Saleh told IRIN. Colonel Abeid, the
former self-proclaimed president of Anjouan who was ousted in a bloodless
military takeover on Thursday, had been under house arrest on the island
before Sunday's flight.

Another journalist told IRIN that there was growing discontent in
Anjouan's main city of Mutsamudu that Colonel Abeid had been allowed to
leave. Diplomatic sources told IRIN on Monday that the city was reported
calm, with flights arriving, a small number of tourists relaxing on the
beach and hotels, and shops and offices open as usual. But the journalist
warned of a confrontation between rival military groups or violence
sparked by youths who want to see the former strongman brought to justice.
"There is a level of resentment that Abeid's departure may have been
facilitated by foreign powers," the journalist said. Already some members
of his family have reportedly been arrested.

Comoros President Colonel Azaly Assoumani has made no comment about the
takeover but Prime Minister Hamada Madi Bolero met the ambassadors of
China, Libya and France and the heads of UN agencies on Grande Comore on
Friday for consultations on the takeover, officials said. Diplomatic
sources told IRIN on Monday that the government was expected to say more
about the situation on Anjouan when a more complete picture of events had
been established. A statement on Anjouan radio at the weekend identified
the members of the military committee now ruling the island as Hassani
Ali, Mohamed Bacar and Halidi Charif, describing them as military
commanders. Although the military committee said on Saturday it would
pursue efforts made by the administration it ousted to end secessionist
strife on the Indian Ocean islands, Ali Saleh said that the spectre of
renewed fighting on Anjouan would do nothing to aid the OAU-sponsored
national reconciliation process in the Comoros. Anjouan's unilateral
secession in 1997 was driven by discontent over the political and economic
dominance of Grande Comore, as well as its perceived mismanagement of the
economy.

MALAWI: Journalists' group condemn attack

The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) in South Africa condemned an
attack on African Eye News Service's (AENS) senior correspondent in
Malawi, Brian Ligomeka. Ligomeka was formally accredited by the Malawi
government to cover the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
summit in Blantyre at the weekend. FXI said in a statement on Wednesday
that Ligomeka, along with colleagues, went to the city's Chileka Airport
on Sunday morning to report on the arrival of a delegation.

"The journalists were about to leave the arrivals hall, when seven masked
men grabbed Ligomeka from behind and dragged him out of the building via
the VIP lounge. Once outside, the armed men identified themselves as
members of the ruling United Democratic Front's youth league and
threatened to 'kill you because you insult our president in your
articles'," the FXI said. The men, the FXI added, then accused Ligomeka of
being a spy for the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) pressure
group. The men said Ligomeka was a spy because he had in the past briefly
worked for 'The Mirror' newspaper, which is owned by NDA leader Brown
Mpinganjira. The organisation said that Ligomeka was currently in hiding,
after his attackers threatened to track him down and kill him.

NAMIBIA: Floods devastate eastern Caprivi

Floods have devastated parts of eastern Caprivi in northern Namibia, 'The
Namibian' reported on Monday. The newspaper said the government was
assessing the extent of the damage and displacement of villagers in the
Kongolo constituency in the Caprivi. The report said that several villages
in the Kwando river area were submerged, with fields waterlogged after the
river burst its banks as a result of heavy rains in neighbouring Angola
and Zambia.

Chief control officer for planning and operations in the Emergency
Management Unit (EMU), Sylvester Simwanza, said villages at Maswabelo,
Manginginya, Izwii, Muchimbami and Ngulu had been hardest hit. Simwanza
said the EMU was assessing the extent of the damage to see how government
could assist. Apart from food, the displaced villagers might need tents
and blankets as they have had to leave behind almost all their belongings.
Caprivi regional governor Bernard Sibalatani said yesterday that in some
areas the floods had destroyed entire crops and that the villagers would
need food relief from government.

SOUTH AFRICA: Government to strengthen law against land invasions

The South African government plans to outlaw land invasions and make it an
offence to invade or grab land. Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele
told journalists on Monday that the government had decided to "strengthen"
the Prevention of Illegal Eviction and Unlawful Occupation Land Act of
1998. The law states that it is illegal for a person to accept money or
any other reward for instigating invasions. The government wants to make
land grabbing illegal - whether it is for money or out of a need for
shelter. "Government believes that land invasions are no solution to
addressing the question of landlessness and homelessness. We regard the
land invasions as unacceptable. Government is not going to tolerate any
unlawful act in the allocation of shelter and we are determined to stamp
our authority to prevent that," Mthembi-Mahanyele.


IRIN-SA Weekly
Tel: +27-11 880 4633
Fax: +27-11 880 1421
E-Mail: irin-sa@irin.org.za


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