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.za


SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 34
25 - 31 August 2001


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Mass displacements lead to widespread suffering
SOUTH AFRICA: Workers strike against privatisation
ANGOLA: Food secure until December
BOTSWANA: Indigenous people win land rights
ZAMBIA: Fresh refugee influx
MALAWI: Church slams state violence

ZIMBABWE: Mass displacements lead to widespread suffering

Zimbabwe could face a humanitarian crisis in commercial farming districts
where hundreds of thousands of farm workers have been displaced, agencies
reported on Friday. One of the hardest hit areas is Hwedza district in
Mashonaland East province. The Hwedza Farming Association this week
confirmed sweeping displacements. A spokesman for the organisation said
workers at 18 commercial farms had been driven out by government-backed
militias. Farming sources said Hwedza was a microcosm of a wider scenario
playing itself out on commercial farms across the country. The government
has seized about 3,000 farms or five million hectares out of the 12
million hectares previously occupied by commercial farmers. It recently
set a new target of 8.3 million hectares. This could leave hundreds of
thousands of farm workers destitute. There are between 350,000 and 400,000
farm-workers in Zimbabwe. Including their families and relatives, the
figure goes up to two million. Some of the displaced workers are
reportedly gathering in makeshift refugee camps in order to receive
assistance.

Villagers flee new wave of violence

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Mashonaland Central, a new wave of violence had
hit the Muzarabani and Mount Darwin districts, forcing more than 24
families to flee their homes, the 'Daily News' reported last Friday.
According to the newspaper, some opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) supporters had their homes burnt down. Seventy-seven-year-old Paul
Katsuwa of Mungororo village in Mount Darwin North was quoted as saying
that he had abandoned his home in April after being assaulted by ZANU-PF
youth and alleged war veterans for supporting the MDC. "They accused me of
betraying them when I joined the MDC as its district chairman. I had no
option but to flee because my life was in danger," he said.

Foot-and-Mouth outbreak spreads south

An outbreak of foot-and-mouth cattle disease has spread to four areas in
the Beitbridge district, on the South African border, AFP reported on
Thursday, quoting Zimbabwean state radio. The outbreak was first detected
two weeks ago in the second city of Bulawayo, 350 km southeast of Harare,
but the disease has now been found on 10 properties in three southern
provinces. Experts believe that the outbreak began after wild buffalo came
into contact with cattle. At least 7,000 head of cattle are to be
destroyed in an effort to contain the outbreak. Some 100,000 cattle on 100
farms around Bulawayo have been vaccinated against the disease, the radio
report said. The outbreak has forced Zimbabwe to halt all exports of beef
products, which are mainly sold to the EU, South Africa and other markets
in Africa and Asia. Annual exports total more than US $86 million.

Libyan fuel begins arriving

The Zimbabwean radio news website, monitored by the BBC, reported on
Saturday that the country had begun receiving fuel from Libya following an
agreement between the two governments. The first consignment of fuel began
being pumped from the Mozambican port of Beira earlier in the week, the
report said. According to the report, in terms of the agreement, Tamoil, a
Libyan-owned company, is to supply US $360 million worth of fuel to the
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM). Nicholas Kitikiti, permanent
secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Energy, was quoted as saying that
the fuel would meet 70 percent of Zimbabwe's normal fuel requirements. He
said negotiations were also under way between NOCZIM and a Monaco-based
Libyan company, Oil-Invest, to form a joint-venture oil company which
would be involved in fuel import and retail in Zimbabwe. According to the
report, the deals with the two Libyan companies and NOCZIM would be
financed by the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank. Zimbabwe would be paying in
Zimbabwe dollars. Kitikiti was quoted as saying that Zimbabwe, which has
been faced with high premiums associated with high risk, had been given
the best offer. Besides fuel supplies from Libya, NOCZIM would continue
getting petroleum products from Petronas of Malaysia through Engen of
South Africa.

Land crisis meeting set for September

Six southern African heads of state are to meet in Harare next month to
find solutions to Zimbabwe's land crisis, according to news reports. The
decision was taken during a meeting between SADC chairman and Malawian
President Bakili Muluzi, Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano and
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in Mozambique's port city of Beira on
Monday. According to the report, Mugabe said he had extended the
invitation to the heads of state. "I invited them to come and see the
situation for themselves, where we are, how far we have gone, the work we
have done to date on our own and assess the issue of violence which is
played upon by Britain, assess also the ... role of war veterans, the role
of government and ... look at things objectively, taking into account also
the negative role of the (white) farmers," the report quoted Mugabe as
saying during a television interview. Mozambican presidential spokesman
Estefane Moholovi told AFP that the meeting would be held by
mid-September, but no firm date had been fixed.

ANGOLA: Food secure until December

A late donation to the World Food Programme (WFP) has guaranteed food
rations to more than one million people in Angola until the end of
December, according to WFP Public Affairs Officer in Luanda, Cristina
Muller. However, Muller told IRIN on Thursday that there were still
shortages on the horizon. "With this (new) donation we can guarantee the
food pipeline until the end of December. However, if we don't get some
form of commitments by the end of September, we predict a break in the
pipeline around January and February," Muller said. She said a donation of
about 6,000 mt of resources from the United States had plugged the gap
until the end of December and that the agency needed about the same
quantity of supplies to ensure deliveries in January and February. WFP
feeds just over one million people in Angola every day. The state of
Angola's runways and its unstable military situation have also affected
food deliveries, according to Muller. WFP flights are only permitted
between 7am and 5pm because of security threats. In Huambo, however,
flights are permitted between 7am and 2pm only, further inhibiting WFP's
capacity to get food to the needy.

For the full report:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/sa/countrystories/angola/20010830.phtml

At least 10 die in fresh attacks

Also on Thursday, Lusa news agency reported that at least 10 people had
been killed in two separate attacks in the past week. According to the
report, seven people were killed and four others seriously wounded in
Caimbambo, Benguela province, during an attack by presumed UNITA rebels
last weekend. In another attack, the agency said, rebels had killed an
Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) captain and two other soldiers in an ambush on
Wednesday on the highway linking Sumbe, the capital of Cuanza Sul province
and the city of Gabela. Quoting a police source, the report said the
attack on Caimbambo, which is about 450 km south of the capital Luanda,
had involved an undetermined number of gunmen who robbed residents of
their possessions and about 30 head of cattle. According to the report,
Angolan authorities announced in May that they had dismantled a UNITA base
in Caiave, near Caimbambo. Quoting a military source, the agency said
rebels had burned two civilian vehicles during the Wednesday ambush. The
source said authorities had reopened the highway on Thursday. The road was
closed on Wednesday because of UNITA rebel movements.

Security meeting opens

Meanwhile, on Wednesday Angolan and Zambian defence experts met in Luanda
for two days of talks to review common security issues. The meeting was
the 18th since the Joint Permanent Commission for Defence and Security was
formed, the Angolan news agency reported. In the opening session of the
commission, Angolan Minister of Defence Kundi Paihama called for an
increase in military pressure on UNITA rebels in order to force their
leader Jonas Savimbi to accept dialogue. According to the minister, UNITA
was currently undergoing one of the most difficult moments in its
existence. Since the beginning of the year, he said, the national army had
captured 1,758 rebels and freed 82,428 civilians who had been kept captive

Dos Santos says withdrawal decision is 'normal'

In a significant development, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, president of Angola
since 1979, said on Tuesday that his decision not to stand for re-election
was 'normal' and that his lengthy stay in office had been precipitated by
the country's civil war - Africa's longest-running conflict. "It wasn't
possible to fully apply the constitution because of the war situation. But
if we were in a normal situation, there already would have been at least
two elections and I would have finished two mandates. And under the terms
of the constitution I wouldn't have been able to be a candidate for a
presidential election", Lusa news agency quoted Dos Santos as saying at
the close of a Luanda event marking his 59th birthday.

For the full report:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/sa/countrystories/angola/20010829a.phtml

Train attack victims still trapped in forest - witness

A number of passengers wounded in a UNITA rebel attack on a train 18 days
ago were still hiding out in a nearby forest, unable to walk and awaiting
rescue, a witness claimed on Tuesday. More than 250 people were killed and
160 injured in the 10 August attack between the towns of Zenza and Dondo,
about 150 km east of the capital Luanda. The news emerged after reports
that at least 50 people were killed during an attack on a bus last Friday
near the town of Cacolo, about 400 km east of Luanda, in Malanje province.
According to the BBC, the attack took place exactly a week after UNITA
rebels ambushed a train, killing more than 200 people. It was still
unclear by late Monday who was behind the latest attack. According to the
report, Catholic radio station Radio Ecclesia said a group of men fired a
missile at the bus, causing the vehicle to catch fire. They then shot at
people who tried to escape the flames. Lusa quoted Isabel Dora, a survivor
who was hospitalised in Malanje, as saying that many passengers died
inside the burning bus.

UNITA peace plan not yet enough - Church

On Monday, Angolan church leader Reverend Daniel Ntoni-Nzinga has
described a UNITA peace plan released last week as interesting but not
particularly significant - yet. Ntoni-Nzinga, executive secretary of the
Inter-Ecclesial Committee for Peace in Angola (COIEPA), which has been
central in trying to create conditions for peace talks, told IRIN on
Monday that a ceasefire was absolutely necessary for talks to begin.
"Looking at the agenda for negotiations that UNITA sets out in the
proposal, a ceasefire comes right at the end. I find this strange. We
can't really discuss all these other serious issues without a 'silencing
of the guns'. Our appeal is that there must be a ceasefire first. There is
nothing that can come out of this process unless there is an end to
military actions," he told IRIN. In its new overture UNITA proposed, among
other things, the formation of a transitional government comprising of the
ruling MPLA, UNITA and the opposition National Liberation Front of Angola
(FNLA). It also mooted the creation of a "supreme peace council". So far
the government has rejected the proposal, sticking to its position that
the only mechanism for peace remains the Lusaka protocol signed in 1994.

SOUTH AFRICA: Workers strike against privatisation

South African workers this week took part in a two-day strike to protest
against the government's privatisation of state assets. Government and the
Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) - the largest federation
of trade unions in South Africa - are at odds over the number of workers
that participated in the strike. COSATU said that it expected an estimated
four million workers to strike and on Thursday said that between 50-70
percent of workers in the main economic centres participated. However,
Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi was
quoted as saying that the strike had not "enjoyed overwhelming support".
She said that at parastatals - the institutions that government is aiming
to privatise - an estimated 90 percent of workers ignored the strike
while, she argued the private sector had registered a 70 percent
attendance at work. A spokeswoman for the South African Chamber of
Commerce (SACOB) told IRIN on Wednesday, the first day of the strike, its
member in Gauteng province had reported that an estimated 70 percent of
their work force had stayed away. She said that the most affected sector
was the retail sector.

Cracks in the alliance beginning to show

The two-day strike highlighted the cracks in the tripartite alliance
(government, unions and the South African Communist Pary (SACP), with
senior government officials lashing out at COSATU for refusing to postpone
their protests at least until the United Nations Conference on Racism
which opened in Durban this week had ended. Last week top cabinet
ministers publicly rebuked COSATU accusing the leadership of "hypocrisy"
and of "misleading the public". Writing in the ANC on-line newsletter,
'ANC Today', President Thabo Mbeki dismissed the trade-union's argument
that the privatisation policy was not agreed by the ANC's alliance
partners. "Whose interest do they serve to abandon the morality of
revolutionaries, so that they can use workers as cannon fodder to launch
an offensive aimed at defeating their own liberation movement," Mbeki
wrote. COSATU's general secretary Zwlinzima Vavi was quoted as saying that
he was "disappointed" that Mbeki had "picked up stones and threw them at
us". The government put out full-page advertisements in Sunday newspapers
defending its privatisation policy and criticising the strike, calling it
"unnecessary".

Large parts of Cape Town declared disaster zones

As heavy rains continued in Cape Town this week, President Thabo Mbeki
declared large parts of the city a disaster zone. The floods have left
thousand homeless and damaged infrastructure in and around the city. The
declaration under the 'Emergency Act' means that a committee made-up of
representatives from local, provincial and central government can be
established. The committee would assess the situation and decide on what
action needs to be taken. The declaration also allows for national
government to release money to help with the recovery operations. The
weather bureau in Pretoria has predicted that the rain will continue at
least until Friday. Reports at the weekend said the worst-hit areas were
the desolate and impoverished Cape Flats near the city's airport.

Government ponders more troops for DRC

In a separate development, head of the South African National Defence
Force (SANDF) General Siphiwe Nyanda said on Tuesday that he would be
ready to consider reinforcing the South African contingent of the peace
monitoring force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Nyanda was in
the DRC to inspect South African troops. "The United Nations are looking
forward to further support," Nyanda was quoted as saying, "and I indicated
that whatever extra support the UN may require, we are willing to look at
it. Of course the decision will be made at a political level, but we've
responded to what was asked of us in the past." "It's important to show
we're willing to shoulder responsibilities as a regional economic power,"
he said. "For many years now, people in the sub-region and in the
international community have expected us to play a more direct role in
trying to resolve the problems of the continent."

Kabila meets Mandela, asks for SA support

DRC President Joseph Kabila on Thursday held talks here with trade
officials, Congolese exiles and former president Nelson Mandela. He called
for closer ties between South Africa and the DRC, reports said. Kabila
told reporters: "I have come to try to build a bridge between the people
of South Africa and the Congo." He told them that he had directed a
"simple" message to trade and industry officials and businessmen during a
seminar held in Midrand, outside Johannesburg, earlier in the day. "I said
to them 'Come and invest in the Congo'." He said it was "a false
impression" that South Africa was too close to Rwanda politically and the
rebels it is backing in the three-year war in the DRC, a complaint that
again surfaced at peace talks in Botswana last week.  "A wide variety of
groups come to South Africa and we cannot say do not consult with them.
President (Thabo) Mbeki has been very careful to create an impression that
he will not compromise himself or us."

Mbeki senior dies

Govan Mbeki, hero of the anti-apartheid struggle and father of the South
African president died at his home in Port Elizabeth early on Thursday
morning. He was 91. Mbeki spent almost 25 years imprisoned on Robben
Island, alongside Nelson Mandela and other leaders of the African National
Congress. In the 1940s and 50s he rose up the ANC ranks, and strengthened
its position in his native Eastern Cape. In the 1960s he stood beside
Nelson Mandela and others at the Rivonia trial. There then followed a
quarter of a century in prison on Robben Island. He was released in 1987.

MOZAMBIQUE: Maize draws buyers from neighbouring countries

Mozambique's maize is being sold in bulk to neighbouring countries
experiencing shortages including Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe,
the Mozambican agriculture minister official said on Tuesday. Helder
Muteia said that operators from four neighbouring states are buying large
quantities of grain, particularly maize, from northern Mozambique. The
minister said that because of the demand the price of maize had risen in
the north of the country. "The foreign operators even reach remote areas
in their quest for maize," he said, adding that in the north "none of the
farmers will face marketing problems". He said however that the government
was concerned that peasant farmers might sell their harvests resulting in
maize shortages on a local level. He said that provincial agricultural
authorities were advising peasant farmers to keep stocks until the 2002
harvest began.

Agreement on Beira corridor upgrade

President Joaquim Chissano and President Robert Mugabe signed a note of
understanding on Monday on the development of the Beira corridor. Lusa
reported that the heads of state signed the agreement during bilateral
talks in Mozambique's port city of Beira, a key outlet for landlocked
Zimbabwe. According to the report, use of the corridor - which links
Zimbabwe with the Indian ocean - recently dropped by about 50 percent
because of the ongoing political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. The
talks were preceded by a meeting between Mugabe, Chissano and Malawi
President Bakili Muluzi over Zimbabwe's crippling land crisis.

BOTSWANA: Indigenous people win land rights

After years of persecution, a tiny group of hunter gatherers in Botswana
is about to be given usage rights over an area bigger than Israel or
Rwanda, the 'Mail and Guardian' reported on Friday. In a radical
about-turn, the San and BaKgalagadi people are set to be given usage
rights over 24,000 km of the Central Kalahari and Khutse game reserves.
They will be allowed to carry out subsistence hunting on a quota system,
will be free to gather food, will be actively involved in environmental
monitoring of the sensitive Kalahari ecosystem and will be encouraged to
launch cultural tourism initiatives.

This follows years of attempts to dispossess them of their land, which
have included forced removals, assaults and the denial of basic services
and human rights. Nearly 2,200 San and BaKgalagadi people have been
removed from the two reserves and resettled in bleak camps, kilometres
from their traditional hunting grounds. An estimated 700 people, mainly
San from the settlements of Molapo and Metsiamanong, have resisted removal
and stayed inside the reserves.

European Union (EU) representatives in Botswana have offered substantial
funding for the development of cultural tourism. The EU has also offered
to take over the provision of basic services to the San and Ba-Kgalagadi,
like water, health, poverty relief and orphan care, services a junior
minister in the Botswanan government has threatened to cut off. The
document that outlines the deal has been described as "revolutionary" by
sources within the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks
(DWNP), the authors of the document.

Interview with national AIDS coordinator

Botswana has one of the world's highest percentages of people living with
HIV/AIDS. Latest figures from UNAIDS suggest more than 35 percent of
Botswana's adult population carry the virus. Stigma and denial remain huge
impediments to fighting the disease. A recent government report found that
many Batswana still believe that HIV/AIDS was a foreign disease, which is
not in Botswana or is only found in urban areas. Young people can be
overheard in Gaborone bars joking that AIDS stands for American Initiative
to Discourage Sex. Others even brand self-confessed people living with
AIDS as liars, while the other tendency is to hide those who die of
HIV/AIDS by claiming that they were killed by other diseases. Head of the
National AIDS Coordinating Group (NACG), Babu Khan, spoke to IRIN about
the challenges associated with tackling the epidemic.

For the interview:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/sa/countrystories/botswana/20010827.phtmltesti
ng

ZAMBIA: Fresh refugee influx

Zambian immigration officials have warned they are expecting an influx of
more Angolan refugees into the southwest corner of the country as fighting
across the border intensifies, UNHCR told IRIN on Tuesday. According to
the authorities, 103 refugees arrived at the border post of Shangombo on
Sunday and Monday. UNHCR has been unable to confirm the figure, but said
last week 42 Angolans crossed into Kalabo district further to the north.
Philip Ramaga, the head of UNHCR's Mongu sub-office in Zambia's Western
province, described the condition of the first group of refugees as "very
poor" compared to earlier influxes. "The fighting has just worsened
things," he told IRIN. Meanwhile, the Portuguese news agency Lusa on
Monday reported a UNITA claim that its forces had attacked Angolan and
Namibian troops in the southeastern Rivungo region of Cuando Cubango
province on 19 August. The communiqué, issued in Lisbon, alleged that 13
Angolan and 9 Namibian soldiers died in the fighting. Rivungo borders
Shangombo, and is east of the strategic Angolan town of Mavinga, which was
recently also the scene of clashes between the two sides.

World Bank withholds US $45 million assistance

The World Bank has withheld US $45 million dollars in balance of payment
support to Zambia until the Lusaka government meets its commitments to the
bank, local newspapers reported on Friday. The state-controlled 'Daily
Mail' quoted Yaw Answu as saying during a visit to Zambia that the country
had not done enough to ensure that savings from Highly Indebted Poor
Countries (HIPC) initiatives were channelled to the social sector. The
bank was also concerned at the Zambian's government's slow progress in
formulating the poverty reduction strategy programme, the newspaper quoted
Answu as telling Zambian Finance Minister Katele Kalumba at a meeting.
Katele had assured the World Bank that his government would ensure that
the savings from the HIPC initiative would go towards financing the social
sector, according to the report. Balance of payment support is given to
the poor southern African country to enable it to meet its annual budget
deficit.

MALAWI: Church slams state violence

Malawi's protestant churches on Sunday accused ruling party youth
activists of being "terrorists", in a broadside against alleged
state-sponsored violence. "We are aware of a group of terrorists which is
being controlled by some in the president's office," AFP quoted a letter,
read in churches throughout the country, as saying. The statement came
after leaders of the Malawi Council of Churches which groups 20 protestant
churches announced last week that its members had begun to fast and pray
to protest against violence against clerics. The "terrorists" is a new
term the churches have used to brand the self-styled Young Democrats of
the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) of President Bakili Muluzi, known
for harassing and attacking Muluzi's opponents, AFP reported. "The church
wants to bring to the attention of the powers that be (that) terrorism
does not build a nation, it breeds anarchy and Somalia is a good example
of state terrorism," the statement said. It called on the UDF "to deal
with the evil in its own rank and file".

AFRICA: Defending human dignity

In his opening address to the World Conference Against Racisim, South
African President Thabo Mbeki said the meeting had the potential and the
responsibility to "convey a message of hope to billions of people across
the globe".

"We have gathered as we have, because we are united in our resolve to
ensure that every human being leads a life of dignity. We meet here
because we are determined to ensure that nobody anywhere should be
subjected to the insult and offence of being despised by another or others
because of his or her race, colour, nationality or origin," Mbeki said.
"It became necessary that we convene in Durban because, together, we
recognised the fact there are many in our common world who suffer
indignity and humiliation because they are not white."

He added: "This World Conference will have to indicate what is to be done
practically so that this call results in a changed and changing world in
which all human beings actually enjoy the inalienable right to human
dignity ... We have gathered in Durban to make the commitment that this we
will do and, together, to decide what steps we will take to ensure what
has to be done, is done."

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday urged civil society
to "shine a spotlight into the dark corners where racism lurks, in every
society". Speaking to participants at the NGO Forum, he said: "So often it
is you, the civil society activists, who breathe life into these events.
Sometimes it is also you who bring clarity, because you can discuss openly
those awkward issues that governments have to avoid, or to blur, in the
interests of reaching consensus."

The Secretary-General added: "Many of you, I know, feel that your concerns
are not properly represented in the conference itself. And you fear that
they will not be reflected adequately - or perhaps at all - in the
Declaration and Programme of Action. But your anger and frustration can be
valuable in themselves, if you channel them into the creation of a
worldwide antiracist movement, in which all your different struggles will
converge."

SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS Activist groups call for greater focus on HIV/AIDS at
racism conference

AIDS activist groups urged delegates to the WCAR to address the failure of
the international community to respond to the AIDS pandemic in Africa. In
a statement received by IRIN on Friday, the groups described this failure
as "the most critical manifestation of international racism".

In the statement, Africa Action, Treatment Action Campaign, Physicians for
Human Rights, Oxfam, and the Student Global AIDS Campaign, said that
HIV/AIDS highlighted a system of global injustice and global medical
apartheid. They called upon the developed countries to contribute at least
US $10 billion to the UN Global Health Fund for a comprehensive program of
prevention, treatment and community support to fight HIV/AIDS. The groups
added that failure to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic would constitute one
of the greatest crimes against humanity.


IRIN-SA Weekly
Tel: +27 11 880 4633
Fax:+27 11 447 5472
e-mail: irin@irin.org.za


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