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SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 77
22 - 28 June 2002


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Land reform back in the news
MALAWI: Setback for third term campaign
ANGOLA: WFP warns of dwindling food supplies
MADAGASCAR: Antananarivo in the dark as military advances
SWAZILAND: Tradition preserves gender inequality
MALAWI-MOZAMBIQUE: Poverty reduction needs more than just political will
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Oxfam calls for re-think on agriculture liberalisation

ZIMBABWE: Land reform back in the news

As Zimbabwe's land reform programme culminated in almost 2,900 commercial
farmers being forced to stop operating this week, President Robert Mugabe
moved to clarify his land reform policy by saying there would still be
enough land left for white farmers.

The fast-track land reform programme, which Mugabe has said is to return
land that colonialists took from black people, stepped up a notch on
Tuesday. Amid international condemnation, mainly white farmers who had
received final notices of compulsory acquisition had to stop farming, or
face a fine or imprisonment.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28482

The Herald newspaper reported Mugabe as saying that though he would press
ahead with the programme, there would still be enough land left for white
people and that the government was opposed to one person holding several
farms. He told a visiting human rights group that white people were
misrepresenting facts to the world by claiming land reforms would leave
them without any land because many had more than one farm each, the
newspaper reported.

The newspaper also reported police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena as saying
the police had no capacity to monitor whether all farmers were obeying the
order to stop farming. But he said the police would be ready for the final
eviction of farmers on 8 August.

In a last bid to hold onto their farms, the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU)
which represents most of the affected farmers, said two farmers had lodged
court challenges to their acquisition orders. Other farmers said they did
not know what they would do after 8 August.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28520

But while Mugabe weathered criticism on the latest development in the land
programme, Amnesty International released a report criticising his
government for "structural impunity".

"The ordinary Zimbabwean hasn't had any sense of justice - not just from
the 70s, (under the previous Rhodesian government) but up to 2002," said
Amnesty International spokesman Samkelo Mokhine.

More details: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28502

And on the political front, analysts warned that a move by Zimbabwe's
frustrated Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to boycott parliament
could spell disaster for the opposition party.

For more details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28544

Meanwhile, the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief Coordinator, Kenzo Oshima led a UN mission to Zimbabwe
this week to meet government officials, the diplomatic corps and civic
society to discuss the humanitarian situation in the country. The trip is
part of a broader mission to also visit Malawi and Zambia to help in
contingency planning and support for the coordination of humanitarian
assistance.

MALAWI: Setback for third term campaign

A controversial campaign to allow President Bakili Muluzi to stand for a
third term in office received a set back on Thursday, when the tabling of
a parliamentary private member's bill to amend the constitution was
postponed.

Opposition Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) MP, Khwauli Msiska, was expected
to present the bill that would clear the way for Muluzi's bid for a third
term in 2004. But Speaker of Parliament Sam Mpasu announced late on
Wednesday - to silence from the ruling United Democratic Party (UDF) bench
and booing from opposition deputies - that Msiska had written to him to
defer the motion.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28533

ANGOLA: WFP warns of dwindling food supplies

The World Food Programme (WFP) warned this week that food supplies for
post-war Angola are dwindling precisely at a time when more food is
urgently needed for growing numbers of hungry people. The organisation
urged a rapid response for its expanded food aid operation, due to start
in July. The agency needs US $241 million to feed up to 1.5 million people
over the next 18 months.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28530

A report on conditions in the remote town of Chitete, in Angola's northern
Huambo province, provided yet more confirmation of reports that the
country is in the grip of a severe humanitarian crisis. According to the
survey presented by Medecins Sans Frontieres, the leading cause of death
in the town is malnutrition and three-quarters of the people who are dying
are children under five.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28546

Last weekend the country launched a drive to vaccinate three million
children under-five against polio - with the help of the local girl and
boy scout movement. The signing of Angola's ceasefire in April has, for
the first time in years, opened up areas throughout the country that were
previously inaccessible for polio National Immunisation Day (NIDs)
campaigns, the UN children's agency UNICEF said in a report.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28503

In addition to reeling from food shortages and a dearth of health
facilities, Angola has also to remove between four and five million land
mines spread across the country, the Associated Press reported. Landmines
are killing or injuring about 60 people each month and about 80,000 people
are mutilated by mines, the agency reported Social Assistance Minister
Joao Baptista Kussumua as saying. The mines, left after decades of civil
war, are hindering the return of civilians to their villages, Kussumua
said.

MADAGASCAR: Antananarivo in the dark as military advances

Fighting between Madagascar's rival camps continued on Friday in the north
of the country claiming three lives. News reports said that troops loyal
to President Marc Ravalomanana had gradually gained control of most of the
island from forces loyal to former President Didier Ratsiraka. In what was
suspected as political sabotage, another electricity pylon was blown up on
Thursday leaving half of the capital, Antananarivo, without power. But
analysts said that the international community had warmed to Ravalomanana
after the newly inaugurated president received formal recognition from the
United States. Other western powers are expected to follow suite, although
neither the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) nor the former colonial
power, France have endorsed his government.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28560

On Monday IRIN reported that a refusal by the OAU to recognise either
Ravalomanana or Ratsiraka as Madagascar's legitimate ruler, ensured
continued political deadlock. At the OAU emergency meeting in Ethiopia
last week, delegates reiterated their call for free and fair elections,
with the assistance of the OAU, the United Nations and the European Union.
On his return to the island, after leaving for France and sparking
speculation that he had gone into exile, Ratsiraka said he remained the
country's rightful president.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org./report.asp?ReportID=28479

SWAZILAND: Tradition preserves gender inequality

King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, has promised
a new constitution by year's end, but the women of Swaziland see no change
in sight in their centuries' old subordinate status. "We are seeing a
retention of the political status quo in the new constitution, and we are
worried that other reforms like gender equality will also be dismissed,"
said Doo Aphane, legal consultant for the Swaziland branch of Women in Law
of Southern Africa.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28480

MALAWI-MOZAMBIQUE: Poverty reduction needs more than just political will

A lot more than political will is needed to eradicate poverty in Africa,
according to a recent report by an international development think-tank.
The British-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI) asked some tough
questions of how public money is managed and spent in trying to alleviate
poverty in five African countries - Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania
and Uganda.

The aim of the research titled, 'How, When and Why does Poverty get Budget
Priority' was to identify the factors influencing the importance attached
to poverty reduction within the budget process, and the effectiveness with
which policies are translated into funding and, ultimately, into results.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28504

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Oxfam calls for re-think on agriculture liberalisation

Oxfam has warned that food security will remain fragile across Africa
until the right to food is put at the top of the agenda of international
financial institutions and national governments. In a briefing paper on
the food crisis in Southern Africa, Oxfam acknowledged that the causes of
the current crisis threatening nearly 13 million people were a complex mix
of poverty, HIV/AIDS, bad weather and poor governance.

But, the development agency said, "donor-driven policies of liberalising
African food production have been especially controversial, with evidence
that they have made it more difficult for people to grow food or to afford
to buy it".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28542


IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11 880-4633
Fax: +27 11 447-5472
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

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