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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e-mail: irin-sa@irin.org.za


SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 72
18 - 24 May 2002


CONTENTS:

MADAGASCAR: Island lurches towards civil war
ANGOLA: Aid agencies move into family quartering areas
LESOTHO: Focus on election and economy
ZIMBABWE: Economic crisis worsens amid food shortages
MALAWI: Aid starts to flow
ZAMBIA: Drought takes its toll on the poorest
SOUTH AFRICA: Amnesty amendment comes under scrutiny
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Women's burden when shortages bite

MADAGASCAR: Island lurches towards civil war

Analysts this week warned of the possible outbreak of civil war if
President Marc Ravalomanana carried out his threat of military action
against supporters of former president Didier Ratsiraka, if the blockade
of the capital was not lifted by Monday.

Ravalomanana's army minister General Jules Mamizari on Friday issued
arrest warrants for a minister and eight army officers suspected of
setting up the blockade around Antananarivo, local newspaper L'Express
reported.

General Jean-Emile Tsaranazy, the public works minister in the former
government of Ratsiraka, is suspected of masterminding the dynamiting of
several key bridges in the country, the newspaper said.

IRIN learnt on Thursday that the situation was tense in Mahajanga and
Tulera as hundreds of soldiers loyal to Ravalomanana prepared for military
action. Also on Thursday, another bridge was blown up on the road leading
from the capital to Mahajanga.

A UN Development Programme report said the province of Tamatave was the
hardest hit by cyclone Kesiny and that medicines for malaria and diarrhoea
treatment were badly needed, as well as water treatment products.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=27914

On Tuesday IRIN reported that the lack of fuel in Antananarivo had reached
a critical stage, forcing residents to buy on the black market. In
December a litre of petrol cost the Malagasy consumer US $0.46. Today a
litre fetches US $2.76, which very few Malagasy can afford.

The price of fuel has dramatically increased since supporters of former
president Ratsiraka cut off supply lines to the capital in February,
starving Antananarivo of fuel and other vital supplies.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=27868

IRIN spoke to leading Africa political analyst, Stephen Ellis about the
unfolding events on the divided island and the prospects for peace and
reconciliation. When asked about the liklihood of civil conflict in the
country Ellis said :" If Ravalomanana went ahead with military action, "he
may break the resistance but on the otherhand it may just spark a very
ugly ethnic civil war. Of course both men should return to dialogue, and
if they were to do so then a peaceful solution is quite feasible. A war
would be disastrous from most points of view.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=27867

ANGOLA: Aid agencies move into family quartering areas

Aid agencies in Angola are extending relief operations into quartering
camps where UNITA soldiers' families have gathered, and areas of the
country that have now become accessible as a result of a 4 April ceasefire
between government and UNITA forces.

Relief workers who have been operating in the quartering camps' family
areas since the ceasefire, as well as the Joint Military Commission (JMC)
which is overseeing the demobilisation process, have described the
humanitarian situation there in recent weeks as critical. Official JMC
statistics show that more than 65,300 soldiers had already registered at
the 35 cantonment locations by Monday, accompanied by almost 164,000 of
their relatives who are being quartered separately.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27878

General Paulo Lukamba "Gato", head of UNITA's management committee, spoke
to IRIN about the country's return to peace, the planned elections, and
UNITA's upcoming party congress - critical for the reunification of the
movement. He also offered an apology to the Angolan people for the three
decades of civil war that has devastated the country.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27943

The UN's Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator Ross Mountain is to lead
an inter-agency needs assessment mission to Angola in early June as the
United Nations works towards an expanded role in the country's peace
process.

Mountain's visit is to be followed by the arrival of Kenzo Oshima, UN
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, and Ibrahim Gambari, UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Adviser on Africa, to launch a
joint emergency humanitarian appeal with the government.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27896

LESOTHO: Focus on election and economy

This week the country was focused on the critical 25 May general election,
the first since the disputed poll of 1998 that led to widespread unrest
and a regional military intervention.

The period immediately after the election and announcement of results is
crucial, as nobody in the country wants a repeat of 1998.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) convened a conference at which all the
political parties contesting the election agreed to meet immediately after
the election results are announced.

The UNDP said the parties would meet to discuss the formation of a new
government. "The party leaders also discussed the possibility of
appointing a facilitator to lead the post-election negotiations, how to
allocate cabinet posts and align party priorities in a potential coalition
government, and the important role to be played by the opposition in the
new National Assembly," the UNDP said.

On Wednesday IRIN focused on the alleged exploitation of Lesotho's
clothing factory workers.

A study published in March of three plants, by the Canada-based Ethical
Trading Action Group (ETAG), concluded that "violations of freedom of
association and workers' right to organise and bargain collectively appear
to be continuing in the factories".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27897

On Monday IRIN reported that despite some minor hiccups, the first votes
in Lesotho's general election were to be cast on Thursday.

Advance voters were to be the first to choose their representatives in the
mountain kingdom on Thursday, the rest of the country's registered voters
will vote on Saturday 25 May. Among those who qualified to be advance
voters were staff members of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC),
police, national security services, health services and government
officials who would be on duty or out of the country on election day.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27895

ZIMBABWE: Economic crisis worsens amid food shortages

The week was marked by the arrest of another journalist amid reports that
at least 700 companies had folded in the last 18 months, leaving 90 000
workers jobless.

Geoff Nyarota, editor-in-chief of Zimbabwe's Daily News and a 2001 CPJ
International Press Freedom Award winner, was arrested by police on Monday
and charged with publishing falsehoods. He was released after five hours
of questioning.

If found guilty, he faces a fine of up to ZW $100,000 (US$ 1,876) or a
two-year jail term.

Nyarota is the fourth journalist to be arrested for the April 23 story
about youths from the ruling ZANU-PF party beheading an opposition
supporter in front of her two daughters. The newspaper later admitted the
story was inaccurate as they had been misled by a source.

Political violence decreases

On Thursday IRIN reported that politically motivated violence appears to
be decreasing in Zimbabwe, according to a local human rights group.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum's (Human Rights Forum) latest report
on political violence, released on Thursday, indicates that the number of
incidents have decreased as tensions subside.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27917

On Monday IRIN reported that all of Zimbabwe's rain-fed crops had failed
and the country only had a quarter of the food it needed for the next 12
months.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27851

MALAWI: Aid starts to flow

After several appeals, aid is finally starting to flow into Malawi. IRIN
reported on Tuesday that the European Commission said it would supply
95,000 mt of food aid to help the country overcome crippling food
shortages.

"The European Commission expresses its sympathy and solidarity with all
Malawians facing hunger and malnutrition in this very difficult moment.
The EC is therefore determined to assist Malawi in its struggle to
alleviate the suffering of its people," a statement said.

According to the agreement with the Malawi government, 15,000 mt of maize
will be distributed between April and September among the most vulnerable.
It will give 3,000 mt of Likuni Phala (a maize and porridge mix) to
475,000 children under five and 5,000 mt of fortified maize to 100,000
pregnant and lactating mothers. During the second half of 2002 7,000 mt of
maize will be distributed as nutritional support to under-five children,
the elderly and lactating mothers.

The EC announcement comes as other donors have closed their purses on
Malawi in the face of allegations of bad state expenditure.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27872)

Meanwhile, the latest harvest figures in the region show that Zimbabwe,
Malawi, Zambia and Lesotho are, as feared, going to be the worst hit by
food shortages.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27851)

The World Food Programme said about 500,000 people in Malawi needed help
now, but it feared this could rise to three million by next year.

ZAMBIA: Drought takes its toll on the poorest

Families in southern and western Zambia have had to manage on one meal a
day as the country's most recent drought took its toll on the most
vulnerable. A report by Care International said 80 percent of households
surveyed in six districts in southern and western Zambia said their maize
supplies will run out by June.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=27919

SOUTH AFRICA: Amnesty amendment comes under scrutiny

NGOs and political analysts questioned the government's decision to
consider giving blanket amnesty for those who didn't originally apply, or
whose applications failed. South African President Thabo Mbeki was
criticised last week when 33 prisoners were granted a presidential pardon
on the grounds of their alleged political activities. Former head of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Archbishop Desmond Tutu warned that
the 33 presidential pardons could undermine the work of the commission.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=27892

South Africa's plan for African recovery, controversial US farm subsidies
and the unfairness of having to pay to use a toilet are the new refrains
of rock star and humanitarian activist Bono.

The man whose journey to stardom began with anthemic songs about injustice
in Northern Ireland is on a four-nation fact-finding tour of Africa with
US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill the man who, as Bono puts it, controls
the purse strings of one of the world's richest countries.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27931

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Women's burden when shortages bite

"Women's work" like fetching food, tending crops, searching for firewood
and carrying water is considered "invisible work" according to recent
studies.

As millions of Southern Africans face smaller larders this year, the
region's women face the daunting task of carrying out these duties with
dwindling energy reserves and at the same time trying to keep their bodies
going.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27916


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

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