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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Fax: +27 11 880 1421
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SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 53
05 - 11 January 2002


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Getting hotter
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Shuttle diplomacy ahead of SADC summit
NAMIBIA: Angolan refugees try to legalise status
MADAGASCAR: Protests called off
ZAMBIA: IMF praise for Zambia
ANGOLA: UNICEF appeals for US $18 million
LESOTHO: New law paves way for election
SOUTHERN AFRICA: High rainfall increases flood concerns

ZIMBABWE: Getting hotter

The Zimbabwean government put in place the legislative planks of its
presidential election campaign this week, as international and domestic
critics warned that the country was being steered deeper into political
crisis. The government presented parliament with four new bills which
analysts alleged served to deliberately criminalise the opposition, outlaw
the independent media, and ensure President Robert Mugabe's victory in the
9-10 March polls.

However, when parliament opened on Tuesday, the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) appeared to score an early victory when ZANU-PF
lost the vote over a controversial electoral bill. As well as
disenfranchising Zimbabwean voters abroad, the electoral bill aims to ban
independent election monitors and allow only a government-appointed
commission to conduct voter education. But, stung into action, ZANU-PF
used its majority to suspend parliamentary standing orders and procedures
to steamroll the electoral bill, and a draconian security bill, through
parliament on Thursday. [See IRIN:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=18859&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZIMBABWE]

International concern

Against the backdrop of the party political tussle in parliament,
international opinion was apparently hardening against Mugabe's
government. A ministerial team was due in Brussels for "consultations"
with the European Union on Friday over the EU's concern with the
government's deteriorating record on human rights and the preservation of
democratic principles.

The consultations - under the terms of the Cotonou agreement - last 60
days, during which Zimbabwe would be expected to deliver a "solution
acceptable to both parties". Failure to do so would lead to "appropriate
measures being taken", which has widely been interpreted as sanctions.
"The clock starts on Friday," a British foreign ministry spokesperson told
IRIN, in reference to the 60 day period. [See IRIN:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=18859&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZIMBABWE]

Britain stepped up criticism over the growing crisis in Zimbabwe, warning
on Thursday of "a tragedy of enormous proportions" if the situation
continued to deteriorate. Clare Short, Britain's international development
minister, said in a clear expression of London's position that the
country's "bad leadership was worrying the whole international community".
Her comments followed a warning by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Tuesday
that London would push for Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth if
political unrest worsened.

Ahead of a regional summit in Malawi on 14 January, the South African
presidency condemned the public support Zimbabwe's military leadership
expressed on Wednesday for Mugabe's re-election bid. Defence force chief
General Vitalis Zvinavashe told reporters in Harare on Wednesday that
security force bosses would not accept a president who did not take part
in the country's liberation war which culminated in independence from
Britain in 1980. The statement led to fear among citizens of a coup in the
event of an opposition victory in presidential elections in March. [See
IRIN:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=18931&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZIMBABWE]

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's journalists have vowed to defy a proposed media bill
that will control independent journalists through a government-appointed
licensing commission, and that places serious limits on freedom of
expression. After a meeting of journalists on Thursday, Abel Mutsakani,
head of the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe told IRIN: "We
agreed we are all mobilising for total defiance. No journalist is going to
be registered under the new laws, we are not going to abide by them. If we
are arrested, so be it." [For details of the bill:
http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/demgg/011130atoi.asp?sector=DEMGG]

According to Mutsakani, perhaps only if journalists are jailed, and civil
society mobilises in protest, would regional governments be forced to
acknowledge Zimbabwe's political crisis is about democracy rather than
land - and act to ensure free and fair elections. [See IRIN:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=18858&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZIMBABWE]

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Shuttle diplomacy ahead of SADC summit

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos held talks on Thursday with
Ugandan Defence Minister Amama Mbazi on improving relations between the
two countries and on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC). During the meeting, the Ugandan official handed over a message from
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, news reports said.

"Uganda and Angola were on opposite sides during the war in the DR Congo.
I am here now because our relations have improved and we are trying to
restore the alliance that existed among Angola, Uganda, Rwanda and DR
Congo," Mbazi said. "We have the commitment to work in favour of peace in
the DR Congo, so that we can negotiate with a stable neighbouring
country".

Luanda was also the destination of Rwandan President Paul Kagame this
week, in a similar initiative to rebuild bridges and set aside differences
over the DRC. "The visit is a positive sign," Rwandan foreign ministry
secretary-general Joseph Mutoboba told IRIN. "We were friends before and
the war in the Congo shouldn't affect our relations." [See IRIN:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=18642&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ANGOLA-RWANDA]

In a related development, DRC President Joseph Kabila on Thursday was due
to travel to Zimbabwe and Angola for talks with his regional allies on the
Congo peace process, news reports said. Kabila was due first in Zimbabwe
to meet President Robert Mugabe, before flying on to Luanda and two days
of talks with Dos Santos, AFP reported from Kinshasa. Both Zimbabwe and
Angola have had troops in the DRC since 1998 in support of the Kinshasa
government, opposed by Rwandan and Ugandan forces backing rebels in the
east of the country.

Ahmed Rajab, editor of the London-based newsletter Africa Analysis, told
IRIN that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was hoping for
progress in the DRC peace process at its summit on Monday in Malawi. A
proposal was expected from Rwanda and Uganda to "advance stability in the
region", he said.

NAMIBIA: Angolan refugees try to legalise status

A Namibian 'clean-up' operation along the Angolan border has prompted a
number of refugees who have been in the country illegally to report to the
UN refugee agency UNHCR to avoid arrest, deportation, or even conscription
into the army back home.

Francis Olayiwola, UNHCR field officer in Rundu, a border town in
Namibia's northeastern Kavango region, told IRIN: "We received 17 people
in Rundu on Monday, but they have not come as a result of the [latest]
attack [in the Caprivi region on Saturday]. They were living in the
Kavango region illegally. They did not want to be arrested and deported,
so they came to us," he told IRIN. The Namibian authorities imposed a
curfew along the long Kavango river border with Angola last October. They
said UNITA rebels crossed the border regularly to attack villagers, mainly
for supplies.

See IRIN:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=18774&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ANGOLA-NAMIBIA

MADAGASCAR: Protests called off

Antananarivo mayor and presidential candidate Marc Ravalomanana told tens
of thousands of his supporters on Friday that they should suspend rallies
backing his claims of victory in a 16 December poll until the official
result was published, news reports said. The call came after the
Organisation of African Unity - after a week of protests attended by tens
of thousands of people - called for restraint in the Indian Ocean state.
It urged all those involved to allow the relevant authorities to perform
their duties. It said it would continue monitoring the situation.

Opposition parties and local election monitors insist that Ravalomanana
won between 50 and 52 percent of the vote and that President Didier
Ratsiraka scored about 35 percent. However, unofficial government results
show that neither Ravalomanana nor Ratsiraka won an outright majority. If
the result is confirmed a second round of elections would have to take
place.

See IRIN:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=18850&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=MADAGASCAR

Government gets help to storm victims

The government of Madagascar has not yet declared a state of emergency,
but has moved swiftly to alleviate suffering in the wake of tropical storm
Cyprien, which hit the south-western region on 2 January. In its latest
situation report released on Tuesday, the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) said the government had already distributed one mt of
rice, tents and other goods to residents in the Onondaga, Morombe and
Toliara districts, which were most severely affected.

According to the report, an inter-agency reconnaissance flight over the
affected areas was conducted on 5 January, confirming initial estimations
of damage. It said about 900 people, especially from the coastal areas,
were affected in Morombe, and that about 1,000 people were affected in
Onondaga. In addition, two people were reported missing in Moro be, it
added. The estimated damage caused by Cyprien was estimated to be about US
$181,000.

See IRIN:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=18737&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=MADAGASCAR

ZAMBIA: IMF praise for Zambia

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday promised to support
Zambia's new government, saying that the country was on the right track
towards economic growth, news reports said. "In the last two years, the
economy seems to be moving towards the (targeted) growth rate," AFP quoted
IMF deputy managing director Shigemitsu Sugisaki as saying on his arrival
in the capital Lusaka on Wednesday. Xinhua quoted Sugusaki as saying that
the IMF was ready to work with the Mwanawasa administration.

Zambian Finance Minister Emmanuel Kasonde said the government had made
agricultural development and poverty reduction its priorities, but could
not succeed without international support. Sugisaki was influential in
accelerating Zambia's accession to the Highly Indebted Poor Countries
Initiative, which slashes poor countries' debt in the framework of poverty
alleviation programmes and economic reforms, AFP said.

New president unveils cabinet team, policies

Two days earlier, on 7 January, President Levy Mwanawasa announced a new
cabinet and policy reforms that some analysts said would allay concerns of
him being a "puppet" president. Mwanawasa dismantled a pet project of his
predecessor, Frederick Chiluba, trimmed the size of the cabinet, and put
to an end direct State House donations to needy causes under the
"presidential discretionary fund", which was widely seen as a political
slush fund.

See IRIN:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=18533&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZAMBIA

Mwanawasa must be innovative - analyst

Claude Kabemba, a senior policy analyst at the Electoral Institute of
Southern Africa, told IRIN this week that President Levy Mwanawasa and his
ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) should be making every
effort to ease tension in the country and to "legitimise its victory" amid
widespread allegations of rigging during the 27 December polls.

He said a petition lodged with the country's chief justice by disgruntled
opposition parties would take a long time to resolve. "This thing can drag
on for a very long time. That is the problem with the electoral system in
Zambia. It does not allow a petition to be looked at before the president
is sworn in," he said. In the meantime, all political stakeholders,
particularly Mwanawasa, should be trying to get on with the business of
government.

See IRIN:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=18856&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZAMBIA

ANGOLA: UNICEF appeals for US $18 million

UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, has appealed for US $18 million to fund
its projects in war-wracked Angola, much of which it hopes to spend on
reducing the country's appalling child mortality rate. "The condition of
children in Angola remains catastrophic. The under-five mortality rate is
the second highest in the world, with one child dying every three minutes,
or 420 children dying every day," UNICEF said in its latest donor update
published on 9 January.

For the full appeal update:
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/6686f45896f15dbc852567ae00530132/6ce9fc708e1d02d849256b3d001d3478?OpenDocument

LESOTHO: New law paves way for election

A new law paving the way for general elections in the tiny kingdom later
this year came into effect on Tuesday, state-run Radio Lesotho reported
this week. The National Assembly Election (Amendment) Act of 2001
increased the number of seats in the national assembly to 120 from 80, and
allowed seats to be allocated under a mixed first-past-the-post and
proportional representation system. The Act was approved by the Interim
Political Authority (IPA), established to supervise fresh elections after
controversial May 1998 polls, Sapa reported.

In a related development, the British government announced this week that
it would give Lesotho about US $4.3 million for the establishment of a
revenue authority. Sapa reported the aid would be in terms of an agreement
signed in Maseru on Thursday 10 January between the British High
Commissioner to Lesotho, Kaye Oliver, and the country's Finance and
Development Planning Minister, Mohlabi Tsekoa.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: High rainfall increases flood concerns

Floods could hit parts of southern Africa again this year as experts
predict above normal rainfall in many areas until at least the end of
February. "The latest that we have now is actually that a great many parts
of the sub-region will experience quite substantial rainfall," Bradwell
Garanganga, climate expert with the Drought Monitoring Centre (DMC) - a
project of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) - told IRIN
on Tuesday. "The rainfall pattern is from normal to above normal rain ...
but there will be a lot of variation," he said.  [See IRIN:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=18558&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=SOUTHERN_AFRICA]


IRIN-SA
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Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

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