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 73
25 - 31 May 2002


CONTENTS:

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Famine threat warning
LESOTHO: 500,000 people in need of food aid
SWAZILAND: 150,000 need food aid in tiny kingdom
ZIMBABWE: Urgent aid needed to avert catastrophe
MALAWI: Fears confirmed as three million face hunger
MADAGASCAR: Soldiers clash
LESOTHO: Uncertainty as parties threaten legal action
ZIMBABWE: Attempts to improve country's image amid political strife
ANGOLA: Struggle for social justice
MALAWI: Parliament to decide on third term bid
NAMIBIA: Military convoys to continue in Caprivi
ZAMBIA: IMF endorses poverty plan
BURUNDI-SOUTH AFRICA: SA's troops get thumbs up

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Famine threat warning

The results of recent joint missions to Malawi, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and
Swaziland revealed that at least 10 million people in four Southern
African countries are threatened by "potential famine".

Given the gravity of the findings, Food and Agriculural Organisation (FAO)
and World Food Programme (WFP) have called on donor governments worldwide
to respond quickly and generously with food aid donations to "avoid
widespread hunger from developing into a humanitarian disaster".

Hardest hit by the food shortages is Zimababwe, where almost six million
people face food shortages. To assist with the distribution of food, the
WFP is setting up a regional office in South Africa to assist with
logistical and transport operations.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=28014

LESOTHO: 500,000 people in need of food aid

Nearly half a million people urgently require emergency food aid in
Lesotho, according to the joint assessment by the WFP and FAO. Erratic and
adverse weather conditions contributed to the low agricultural output.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=28016

SWAZILAND: 150,000 need food aid in tiny kingdom

Close to 150,000 people in Swaziland are in need of food assistance, the
WFP and the FAO said. Although the government has already allocated 1,500
mt of maize for distribution to the most vulnerable, it still falls short
of the 188,000 mt needed over the next six months. The regions most
affected by the poor harvest are the Middleveld, the Lowveld and the
Lobombo Plateau.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=28022

ZIMABABWE: Urgent aid needed to avert catastrophe

Land reform activities and a severe drought have been identified as major
causes of a collapse of agricultural production in Zimbabwe, where six
million people face hunger. The situation has been worsened by Zimbabwe's
continued economic decline. The economy contracted by 4.2 percent in 2000
and by a further 8.6 percent the following year.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=28021

MALAWI: Fears confirmed as three million face hunger

On Wednesday WFP and FAO confirmed alarming figures that almost 3.2
million Malawians face severe food shortages.

The organisations concluded that the major cause of the poor harvest was
erratic rainfall, with long dry spells during the critical months of
February and March.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=28023

Just one US dollar was all that Yusuf Kwajedwa needed to buy fertiliser so
that he could plant a crop this year. But, even if he had made the 10 reed
mats he needed to barter for the fertiliser, and if his wife Sakina had
swapped some firewood for seed, he, like others in Nkhonde village in
Malawi's impoverished southern Dedza district, would have been too sick
with cholera to plant the crops.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28065

MADAGASCAR: Soldiers clash

The week ended on the divided island with soldiers in the capital,
Antananarivo staging a pay protest. The local newspaper Midi Madagasikara
said on Friday that military forces loyal to the new President Marc
Ravalomanana clashed with dozens of soldiers demanding more pay.

The latest twist came amid calls for renewed talks in Dakar, Senegal,
between Ravalomanana and former President Didier Ratsiraka. The talks
aimed at bringing an end to the five month long political stalemate was
scheduled for 29-30 May. However, on Thursday, neither of the two
political rivals had arrived in Dakar.

Fears were confirmed on Tuesday that the latest outbreak of violence in
Antananarivo would jeopardise renewed talks between Ravalomanana and
Ratsiraka. Ratsiraka said he would not attend the planned meeting in
Senegal until his erstwhile prime minister was released from house arrest.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=27997

On Monday IRIN learnt that four soldiers loyal to Ratsiraka were
reportedly killed in a gun battle as supporters of Ravalomanana raided the
former prime minister's residence, the only government office still under
the control of Ratsiraka in Antananarivo.

The move by Ravalomanana's supporters was seen as the final step in
consolidating Ravalomanana's government in the Indian Ocean Island.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=27969

LESOTHO: Uncertainty as parties threaten legal action

The week ended in Lesotho with some uncertainty as to what would happen
following threats by two main opposition parties that they would lodge
objections to the 25 May election results.

However, the parties appear to lack significant support from voters in
doing so, the Lesotho NGO Council (LNC) told IRIN. Fears of a repeat of
the violence that followed the 1998 poll, which destroyed parts of the
capital Maseru and sent the economy into a recession, have been allayed by
the response of ordinary people to the election, the LNC said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28051

The conduct of the Lesotho election, meanwhile, was praised by
international observers as a model for the region and the continent. It
was announced on Tuesday that the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy
(LCD) had won an absolute majority, scooping 61 out of 120 parliamentary
seats. The final results were announced on Wednesday, the LCD took 77 out
of 78 constituency seats in parliament.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27996

ZIMBABWE: Attempts to improve country's image amid political strife

The week ended in Zimbabwe with the launch of a marketing campaign to
improve the country's image. News reports said President Robert Mugabe
said the launch of a CD-ROM, sponsored by the UN Development Programme,
would be a "factual and authoritative exposition .. of what Zimbabwe
really is".

Meanwhile IRIN reported on Thursday that despite Mugabe's consolidation of
power, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had not given
up its fight to force a re-run of the March presidential election.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28052

The Zimbabwean government was accused by a human rights group of
withholding food aid from Zimbabweans who voted for the opposition party
in the controversial March election.

IRIN reported on Tuesday that a Danish Doctors for Human Rights' (DDHR)
report had sketched several cases in which families suspected of
supporting the MDC had been turned away from food distribution sites or
denied access to maize at supermarkets.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28001

On Tuesday IRIN reported that Zimbabwe's government declared a state of
emergency over HIV/AIDS and would allow the importation and manufacture of
generic drugs. However, Lindy Francis, director of The Centre, an NGO
working with people living with AIDS (PWAs) in Harare said that if true,
the declaration was "five years too late" and raised more questions than
it answered.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27998

ANGOLA: Struggle for social justice

With the war over, attention is now turning to Angola's grim statistics on
poverty that makes the country one of the worst places in the world to
live in. An IRIN Focus looked at the struggle for social justice in a
country where a stark contrast exists between a wealthy elite and the
disempowered majority.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28066

The impact of HIV/AIDS is another neglected area belatedly receiving
attention from NGOs and UN agencies. IRIN visited a bar in Luanda and
spoke to commercial sex workers and AIDS educators trying to make a
difference.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28045

At least 560 foreign soldiers, mostly Congolese and Rwandan, who had
fought alongside UNITA rebels are in Angola's quartering areas awaiting
repatriation, the state news agency ANGOP reported this week.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28019

Meanwhile, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is to
deliver desperately-needed assistance to the families of some of the
65,000 UNITA soldiers currently quartered in 35 locations across Angola,
the agency said in a statement.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28024

MALAWI: Parliament to decide on third term bid

President Bakili Muluzi of Malawi has banned all demonstrations related to
his possible bid for a third term in office in 2004. Tension is building
between pro-ruling party supporters and religious organisations, human
rights groups and NGOs who have thrown their weight against any attempt to
amend the constitution to allow Muluzi to run again. Critics of the
government's unofficial campaign, have threatened protest action to
persuade Muluzi not to stand again.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28043

NAMIBIA: Military convoys to continue in Caprivi

"Bandit" attacks along Namibia's northern border have stopped since the
signing of Angola's ceasefire agreement, but the ministry of defence has
advised people in the Caprivi region to continue travelling under military
escort and avoid journeying by night.

A spokesperson said that although the situation in the Caprivi was "back
to normal" following the April agreement between the Angolan government
and UNITA rebels, the military convoys had not been suspended.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27994

ZAMBIA: IMF endorses poverty plan

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday it would provide
Zambia with US $317 million to support an ambitious government programme
this year to reduce poverty, which afflicts around 80 percent of the
country's 10 million people.

The Fund's country representative, Mark Ellyne, said the aid package would
include US $167 million in cash and US $150 million in debt relief under
the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28049

BURUNDI-SOUTH AFRICA: SA's troops get thumbs up

The South African government last week announced that its 700-strong
military contingent would remain in Burundi for a further six months, to
protect exiled Hutu leaders returning home to take part in the
transitional government. Analysts told IRIN on Thursday that the outfit
had "won the trust and support of Burundians", despite criticism that the
"peacekeeping mission" was ill prepared and lacked discipline.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=28053


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Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2002


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