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


SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 76
17 - 21 June 2002


CONTENTS:

ANGOLA: Donors urged to assist recovery
ZIMBABWE: Reports of cross-border land grabs surface
MALAWI: Welcome debt relief amid concerns over third-term bid
MADAGASCAR: Talks unlikely to end crisis
COMOROS: Military still in place, no confrontation
ZAMBIA: Two million face food shortages
SWAZILAND: Hunger erodes traditional values
BOTSWANA: Canadian group protest Basarwa plight
NAMIBIA: Eye unit restores sight to the blind

ANGOLA: Donors urged to assist recovery

Angola's deepening humanitarian crisis has gained increased attention from
the international community. Lusa news agency reported that a European
Parliament (EP) delegation had travelled to Angola on Thursday on an
evaluation mission.

On returning to Brussels after the five-day visit, the delegation will
brief the EP on the current situation in the country, ahead of a debate on
the issue scheduled for 4 July.

Meanwhile, IRIN reported on Wednesday that a senior UN official had urged
donors to give generously to a US $142 million "bridging" appeal for
Angola over the next six months.

Ross Mountain, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHOA) Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator, said: "Of particular
concern were the 800,000 people only recently within reach of humanitarian
aid, following the 4 April signing of a ceasefire between government
forces and UNITE rebels."

Another UN agency, UNICEF, said on Tuesday that Angola had one of the
highest under-five child mortality rates in the world, estimating that one
Angolan child dies every three minutes.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28415

Organisations like UNICEF have recorded shocking findings in Angola.
Forty-five percent of the country's children suffer from stunting and at
least 750,000 children have lost one or both parents.

At least 70,000 children need urgent supplementary and therapeutic feeding
for their very survival, a UNICEF report said. Recent rapid assessments in
previously inaccessible areas, notably in Huambo, Bie, Malanje and Huila
provinces, reported an average global acute malnutrition rate of 30
percent and an average severe malnutrition rate of 10 percent, IRIN
reported on Wednesday.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28416

Angola's peace process has spurred preparations for the eventual return of
470,000 Angolan refugees sheltering in neighboring countries. The UN
refugee agency's (UNHCR) Assistant High Commissioner Kamel Morjane, toured
Angola and Zambia last week to assess the conditions for the repatriation
of people forced from their homes by close to three decades of civil war.

On Tuesday IRIN published an interview with Morjane. He talked about the
anticipated spontaneous return of 80,000 Angolans between now and the end
of the year. He referred to the "benchmarks" that needed to be in place
before UNHCR could assist with a planned repatriation of Angolans from
neighbouring countries. Ahead of World Refugee Day on Thursday, he also
explained why women and vulnerability was the theme of this year's
message.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28390

ZIMBABWE: Reports of cross-border land grabs surface

Authorities in Mozambique and Zimbabwe are investigating claims that
Zimbabwean commercial and peasant farmers are seizing arable land along
the Mozambican side of the border, AFP reported on Friday.

"We have had reports of illegal land occupations from the Manica
provincial authorities, the most serious case of which involves a major
Zimbabwean tobacco grower," said national director of land mapping and
planning José Mucombo .

He said authorities in one district of Mussorize had reported that
Zimbabweans had been extending their farms across the border into the
fertile lands of the central Manica province. Mucombo said governments of
the two countries had agreed to form a technical commission to investigate
the issue.

The report comes as Zimbabwean farmers and farm workers face uncertainty
over their future when the first wave of land acquisitions comes into
force on June 25.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28438

In addition to concerns about land ownership and an impending food crisis,
Zimbabwe was also singled out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
because it isn't dealing with its arrears payments adequately.

As of 12 June 2002, Zimbabwe owed about US $132 million - about US $74
million to the IMF's general department, and about US $58 million to the
Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) trust, an IMF statement said.

Meanwhile, opposition Movement for Democratic Change supporters were
arrested in several swoops around the country this week. Over 80 people
were arrested in Harare as youths attempted to commemorate the joint
African Day of the Child and the uprisings in Soweto on 16 June 1976.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28362

MALAWI: Welcome debt relief amid concerns over third-term bid

Struggling to cope with acute food shortages following a poor harvest,
Malawi welcomed a decision this week by donors to cut the country's debt
burden. Donors, however, expressed concern over constitutional moves that
would allow the president to stand for a third term.

Germany's Ambassador to Malawi, Franz Ring, told IRIN: "Germany is,
however, concerned that these hard won freedoms, democratic principles and
the procedures that govern them, are being undermined by recent
developments in Malawi."

On Thursday riot police in Blantyre halted a community debate on the
third-term issue, AFP reported. The United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) had organised the debate between senior politicians of
Muluzi's ruling party and the opposition.

USAID told AFP that the police had orders "from above" to stop the debate
for security reasons.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=28435

IRIN reported on Wednesday that new findings suggested that Malawi's food
security crisis, which threatens more than three million people, may well
be a case of famine in a land of potential plenty. A government review
suggested that irrigation farming should be intensified. UN Food and
Agricultural Organisation (FAO) officer in Malawi, Des Fortes, told IRIN:
"Malawians have not started using other water resources available to them
like the wetlands."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=28401

On Monday USAID granted the government of Malawi what amounts to US $14.6
million in aid as part of an ongoing cooperative effort to target poor
sectors of the country. "USAID applauds the decision of the government of
Malawi to dedicate the majority of the funds to the import of
approximately 40,000 mt of maize, to be procured and distributed through
commercial market mechanisms, using competitive tendering processes,"
Roger Yochelson, USAID Mission Director, said in a statement.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=28384

MADAGASCAR: Talks unlikely to end crisis

Renewed talks between Madagascar's political rivals were dealt a blow on
Friday as President Marc Ravalomanana refused to attend the summit in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The summit chaired by Senegalese President
Abdoulaye Wade included about half a dozen other African heads of state.
Also, Amnesty International called on the country's leaders to address
ongoing human rights violations.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28457

The World Food Programme on Tuesday said it had started emergency food
distribution to help feed 35,000 malnourished children in the capital,
Antananarivo, and other major cities across the country

A WFP statement said: "In some areas, malnutrition levels among children
under five have risen by up to 45 percent as a result of the crisis that
has gripped the country following the presidential elections held in
December 2001."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=28396

IRIN reported on Monday that Ravalomanana sought to form a government of
national unity in a bid to end the political crisis and win international
acceptance.

But analysts said success could depend on whether his arch rival, Didier
Ratsiraka, would accept the reappointment of hardline Prime Minister
Jacques Sylla.

Although Ratsiraka's reaction to Sylla's reappointment would be important,
analysts said that Ravalomanana's forces had made significant headway in
its campaign.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=28361

COMOROS: Military still in place, no confrontation

The military was still in place at key government buildings in Grande
Comore on Friday as island president Abdou Soule Elbak and Union of
Comoros president Azali Assoumani tried to resolve the division of power
on the island.

Last week Assoumani ordered certain buildings, including the departments
of finance and customs, be placed under military watch as he and Elbak
couldn't agree on the control of strategic departments.

Under a new political agreement, the three islands of Anjouan, Moheli and
Grande Comore have their own president with an overall union president.
However, both the island president and the Union president are based in
the Grande Comore capital Moroni and the constitution doesn't provide
clarity on how power will be shared.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28349

ZAMBIA: Two million face food shortages

About 2.3 million Zambians are in need of food aid, a Food and
Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) joint
assessment has found.

The report, based on a crop and food supply assessment mission conducted
during May, said the 2002 output of the main staple maize is estimated at
606,000 mt, 24 percent below last year's poor harvest and 42 percent lower
than the normal crop of 2000.

The two organisations said the country needed 174,000 mt of food aid in
the coming months to feed about 21 percent of the total population.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28379

Meanwhile, President Levy Mwanawasa's decision to scrap cost sharing in
Zambian schools and re-introduce free education has run into controversy
over whether the government can afford adequate levels of funding to the
country's neglected schools.

Mwanawasa argued that the reason for poor enrolment rates and a general
decline in education standards was a result of high school fees. The
government has since banned financial "contributions" from parents through
the Parents-Teachers Associations (PTAs) - viewed by some campaigners as a
hidden tax on already poor households - and announced a return to
universal free primary education.

"The reintroduction of free education is not a bad idea in itself, but it
must be viable before it is employed. As things stand, it has only meant
that schools no longer have enough money to run smoothly," a school
teacher, who asked not to be named, told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28419

SWAZILAND: Hunger erodes traditional values

Swaziland's traditional family values, which usually help people weather
disaster, are taking a knock as the region's food crisis forces people to
take extreme measures to survive.

"Instead of assisting each other, some Swazi families are stealing their
neighbours' food," said Ben Nsibandze, director of the National Disaster
Relief Task Force. "This is very un-Swazi. It cuts to the heart of who we
are as a people."

Nsibandze, who is also regional director of Hhohho province, the
northernmost of Swaziland's four administrative regions, said that even
rural Swazis living under chiefs are developing a "me first" mentality
that troubles traditionalists.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28418

BOTSWANA: Canadian group protest Basarwa plight

The worldwide campaign for the Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Game
Reserve in Botswana, received a publicity boost on the sidelines of an
international diamond conference in Canada on Monday.

Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group (VIPIRG) demonstrated
outside the World Diamond Conference because they believe the real reason
the Basarwa are being removed is because of the government's mining
interest in the reserve.

About 700 people are contesting their removal from the reserve - which
they consider their ancestral land and burial grounds - to resettlement
camps.

More detailis:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28389

NAMIBIA: Eye unit restores sight to the blind

Magdalena Kharises sang, danced and clapped her hands as she delighted in
being able to see for the first time in eight years.

Kharises had just undergone cataract surgery at a Surgical Eye Expedition
(SEE) at Namibia's Gobabis State Hospital. Not only was she now able to
see her grandchildren, more importantly, she had regained her financial
independence as she culd now resume control of her small monthly pension.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28400


IRIN-SA
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Fax: +27 11 447-5472
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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