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 70
04 - 10 May 2002


CONTENTS:

U N I T E D  N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network

CONTENTS:

ANGOLA: Trouble over demobilisation
MALAWI: Third term controversy amid food crisis
ZIMBABWE: Mugabe gets first taste of selective sanctions as economy goes
bust
ZAMBIA-ZIMBABWE: Little hope of lost maize millions being repaid
MADAGASCAR: Ravalomanana assumes presidency for the second time
ANGOLA-NAMIBIA: Refugee camp to be relocated
SWAZILAND: Tradition of labour tribute draws fire

ANGOLA: Trouble over demobilisation

This week Angola's demobilisation came under increased scrutiny. While the
government announced on Thursday with some satisfaction that close to
42,000 UNITA troops had been quartered - corresponding to about 78 percent
of the former rebel group's military force - the international community
warned that all was not well.

Humanitarian Coordinator Eric de Mul told IRIN in an interview that while
conditions in the quartering areas deteriorated, the government had failed
to elaborate on the role for the international community in the
demobilisation process. The delay was threatening the ceasefire agreement
and making already jaded donors uneasy.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27719

See also:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27662

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has started distributing food aid to
thousands of severely malnourished people who are being discovered in
areas of Angola now open to aid workers after last month's peace
agreement. However, WFP food supplies for some one million people
currently being fed in Angola are running out, with stocks reaching
dangerously low levels. This comes at a critical time, just when the
number of hungry people is soaring, the agency warned.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27664

It is not just the newly accessible people who are at risk. Angola's
children face a longer term threat. One child in three dies before the age
of five and only 30 percent of those who survive ever make it to school, a
new rights monitoring group said on Wednesday.

A statement ahead of the launch of the Watchlist on Children and Armed
Conflict by several NGOs said that according to UNICEF, children in Angola
form more than half the population but little attention is paid to their
needs. There has been largely silence over the violations of their rights
by government and opposition armed forces during the war.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27673

On a more positive note, a new book by two young international aid workers
in Angola promises to be about something other than the civil war.
'Angola - Stories for Trees' is a collection of short stories by 44
'estrangerios' living in Angola. A broad stroke of daily life in a country
that has for the most part of its independence been embroiled in a
treacherous civil war.

MALAWI: Third term controversy amid food crisis

Opposition leaders in Malawi demanded on Thursday that President Bakili
Muluzi come clean about the controversial campaign to change the
constitution to allow him to run for a third term in 2004. The president
has yet to announce if he intends to stand for an unconstitutional third
term.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=27682

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) stepped up efforts on
Wednesday to alleviate widespread famine in Malawi. USAID is to provide
the country with US $5.4 million in emergency food aid in response to the
government's appeal for international assistance to help overcome the
country's food crisis. In declaring a national disaster in February, the
government said that seven million people out of a population of 10
million had no food. Floods, drought and a government decision to sell off
its grain reserves - arguing that they were old - contributed to the food
crisis.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=27684

Although optimistic about donor funding to fight famine in Malawi, CARE
international said the assistance was still nowhere near what is required
to prevent a humanitarian disaster.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=27644

A new report published by the World Bank has shown that education reforms
undertaken by the government have clearly been "pro-poor". The
government's decision to abolish primary school fees and increase
government spending has had a significant impact on access to education
for the poor. Since 1994 there has been a dramatic increase in enrolment
rates for both primary and secondary school.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=27646

ZIMBABWE: Mugabe gets first taste of selective sanctions as economy goes
bust

The week ended with President Robert Mugabe getting his first taste of
selective sanctions. Mugabe jetted off to New York to attend the UN
Special Session on children, but his movements were confined to the UN
precinct.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27717

Meanwhile IRIN reported on Friday that Zimbabwe's stock market could
experience a mini boom, but for all the wrong reasons. Independent market
analyst Raymond Brand said the "mini boom" was being fed by local
investors with precious few investment options.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27714

On Thursday IRIN reported that Zimbabwe's parliament had passed a
controversial law aimed at speeding up redistribution of land, as illegal
farm invasions increased. A constitutional lawyer said the ramifications
for farmers were "pretty grim".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27702


On Wednesday IRIN reported that political violence continued to plague the
country, despite President Robert Mugabe's election victory. There were
four deaths as a result of political violence in April and a total of 55
since 1 January, a local human rights group said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27663

ZAMBIA-ZIMBABWE: Little hope of lost maize millions being repaid

Ari Ben-Menashe, the man at the centre of Zimbabwe opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai's treason case, has been ordered to repay millions of
dollars to the Zambian government in a maize deal gone wrong, the
Financial Gazette reported.

However, the Zambian government is unlikely to see the US $6 million plus
interest the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) ordered
repaid after as Ben-Menashe's Carlington Sales Company, which was
contracted to supply 50,000 mt of maize in the late 90's, has been
liquidated.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27718

Meanwhile, Zambia's human rights record has been slammed in a new report
by a local human rights NGO, with the police coming in for particular
criticism.

Afronet executive director Ngande Mwanajiti told IRIN their newly released
report, entitled 'Zambia Human Rights 2001', found abuses in freedom of
association, freedom of expression and misconduct over the organisation of
last year's election.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27703

An ambitious project is underway in Zambia to integrate refugees into
their host community while helping the local region to develop, UNHCR said
in a statement on Wednesday.

The Zambia Initiative, proposed by the Zambian government with the support
of the refugee agency UNHCR and several donors, is a "holistic approach
aimed at linking development to relief assistance and addressing both the
needs of refugees and the host population," the statement said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27669

MADAGASCAR: Ravalomanana assumes presidency for the second time

The international community on Monday was cautious in their show of
support for Madagascar's new president, Marc Ravalomanana. Although
several western diplomats were present at the inauguration ceremony, most
sent consular officials rather than ambassadors, IRIN reported.

The guarded approach was seen by analysts as the "most appropriate
response" to the unresolved political row between Ravalomanana and veteran
leader, Didier Ratsiraka. The former president called the investiture a
"second coup d'etat".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27626

ANGOLA-NAMIBIA: Refugee camp to be relocated

Despite objections, the Namibian government is to go ahead with plans to
relocate around 24,000 refugees to an ecologically sensitive district
occupied by the hunter-gatherer San community.

Home Affairs Minister Jerry Ekandjo said objections by donors who help
feed the refugees, mainly from war-ravaged Angola and the Democratic
Republic of Congo, would not stop his government from moving the refugees
at the Osire camp to M'kata. Osire is situated in central Namibia, 300 km
north of Windhoek.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27625

SWAZILAND: Tradition of labour tribute draws fire

By tradition, Swazis of all generations and genders show their devotion to
their monarchs and fealty to their chiefs by providing labour for chores
both practical and symbolic. Recently, the custom has drawn fire from
pro-democracy groups, who claim the practice of tribute labour violates
human rights, IRIN reported.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27681

In a move considered to be a breakthrough for the conservative kingdom of
Swaziland, more than thirty people living with HIV/AIDS have come forward
to tell their stories in a new book to be released this week.

'Life Stories: Testimonies of Hope from People with HIV and AIDS' is a
collection of interviews with 30 Swazis from a diverse group who share
experiences about living positively with HIV/AIDS. The book also contains
stories from "involved parties", family members, counsellors and friends
showing how to care for those living with HIV positive people.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27672


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

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