U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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Integrated Regional Information Network for Southern Africa

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SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 56
26 January - 01 February 2002


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Journalists to challenge new law
MADAGASCAR: Political turmoil continues
ANGOLA: Aid workers fear influx of IDPs, fighting continues
ZAMBIA: WFP begins food distribution
MALAWI: WFP acts to reduce child hunger
NAMIBIA: Money for refugees' food expected in days - WFP
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Denmark cuts aid, targets rights violators
MOZAMBIQUE: Community radio aiding development

ZIMBABWE: Journalists to challenge new law

The week in Zimbabwe ended with parliament passing a controversial media
bill, which draws the country closer towards European Union (EU)
sanctions. Independent journalists told IRIN on Friday 1 February that
they were preparing to challenge the restrictive legislation.

"Now that the bill is passed we expect President Mugabe to sign it into
law in the next few days. If that happens the Independent Association of
Journalists of Zimbabwe is to immediately challenge it in the courts on
the grounds that it still infringes on our rights and on the freedom of
expression, which is guaranteed by Zimbabwe's constitution," association
president Abel Mutsakani told IRIN.

Rashweat Mukundu, a research and information officer at the Media
Institute for Southern Africa (MISA), told IRIN there were significant
changes in the law passed on Thursday 31 January, but that this would not
ensure freedom of expression or journalists' access to information.

The law passed was changed to allow an envisaged media commission to
register and accredit journalists, instead of the minister of information.
However, the commission is to be appointed by the minister. The new laws
also do not require media organisations already registered in the country
to apply for a new licence, as proposed in the original bill.

For more details:
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20276

EU sanctions

European Union (EU) foreign ministers on Monday 28 January agreed in
principle to impose targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe if Harare failed to
allow an EU election observer mission into the country by 3 February and
lift a ban on foreign journalists, a British foreign office spokesman told
IRIN.

"By next Monday morning we want a team of EU election observers on the
ground in Zimbabwe, and if that's not the case then sanctions will
follow," the spokesman said.

The sanctions package would include a travel ban on named members of the
government, the freezing of their foreign assets, and an embargo on the
export of weapons that could be used for domestic repression.

Sanctions could also be imposed after the 3 February deadline if there was
an attempt to prevent the EU mission from operating effectively, or if
there was a "serious deterioration of the situation on the ground" such as
further abuses of human rights or attacks on the opposition. An assessment
that the March presidential election was not free and fair would also lead
to EU action, the spokesman said.

For more details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20176

Meanwhile, Commonwealth foreign ministers meeting in London on Wednesday
30 January decided against suspending Zimbabwe and opted instead to call
on Mugabe to end political violence and ensure peaceful and fair elections
in March.

In a statement released after the meeting, the Commonwealth Ministerial
Action Group (CMAG) called on the government of Zimbabwe to ensure that
there was an "immediate end to violence and intimidation and that the
police and army refrain from party political statements and activities".
It urged the government to allow all parties to campaign feely "without
intimidation and fear of recrimination".

CMAG asked Mugabe's government to ensure that Zimbabweans were able to
make an "unfettered and informed choice" in the elections "inter alia
through full access to information from the media".

CMAG said it "noted" that Mugabe had "publicly issued an invitation" to
the Commonwealth and other international organisations to send observers,
and called for the "immediate" deployment of these observers and for the
"full cooperation" of the Zimbabwe government "in facilitating the
operation of the Commonwealth and other international and domestic
observers". Ministers also condemned the controversial media bill.

For more details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20257&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZIMBABWE

Tensions within ZANU-PF

The bill has highlighted tensions within the ruling ZANU-PF party.
Zimbabwe's parliamentary legal committee was quoted as saying on Tuesday
29 January that the bill "threatened free speech" and granted the
government "frightening powers".

"I can say without equivocation that this bill in the original form was
the most calculated and determined assault on our liberties guaranteed by
the constitution," Eddison Zvobgo, committee chairperson and former
cabinet member, said in a report to parliament.

MADAGASCAR: Political turmoil continues

The political turmoil continued in Madagascar this week, with opposition
leader Marc Ravalomanana saying that he would only call an end to a
general strike if foreign monitors were allowed to verify the results of
last month's elections. The strike, which entered its fourth day on Friday
1 February, was called by the opposition to demand that Ravalomanana be
declared the outright winner of December's elections.

UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative Adama Guindo told
IRIN on Tuesday 29 January that businesses, shops and schools were
affected by the strike. The protracted dispute and fears of violence
prompted the UN to restrict staff travel to and within the country. Guindo
said "security phase one" had been declared in Madagascar - meaning that
all visiting UN staff need security clearance from the UNDP before
entering the country.

The decision came after Security Council President Jagdish Koonjul issued
a statement late on Monday 28 January, calling for all parties to refrain
from violence.

Ravalomanana claimed he won about 52 percent of the vote in the 16
December poll, while provisional results suggested he only won 46.59
percent, with his opponent, President Didier Ratsiraka, taking 40.59
percent of the vote. The High Constitutional Court on Friday 25 January
confirmed the preliminary results. The decision by the court makes it
necessary for a second round of voting to take place.

On Sunday 27 January, the government announced that the second round of
voting would take place on 24 February, with campaigning to begin on 9
February.

In an attempt to resolve the crisis, the Council of Churches this week
offered to mediate between government and opposition leaders.

ANGOLA: Aid workers fear influx of IDPs, fighting continues

As an Angolan government offensive against rebels in the eastern Moxico
province and other parts of the country intensified, forcing thousands of
Angolans from their homes into camps for the displaced, aid agencies
warned this week that many more people were on the move.

Cristina Muller, spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP) in
Angola, told IRIN on Wednesday 29 January that 2,359 new internally
displaced people (IDPs) were registered in Moxico's capital, Luena, last
week. This brought the total number of IDPs registered in January to
4,869, she said.

"Intense military activity has been reported throughout the province,
affecting the movement of people in the region. At the moment government
forces are reportedly moving 100-150 people daily by helicopter into the
provincial capital, Luena, where the situation remains calm. The area
along the border with Zambia is reported to be highly insecure, but
humanitarian agencies have no access to the region," she said.

"Our concern is with the humanitarian situation. What we have here are
extremely high numbers of IDPs moving ... WFP has increased the amount of
food delivered to Luena from 800 mt to 1,200 mt a month because the number
of IDPs has been so high," she added.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA), military activity in the interior of the country could also deepen
the humanitarian crisis in the province of Bie. The latest OCHA situation
report on conditions in the central province said "an estimated 22,000
IDPs in critical condition may try to enter Camacupa and Kuito in coming
months in search of humanitarian assistance".

For more details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20240&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ANGOLA

Angola completes withdrawal from the DRC

In other Angola news, reports said on Friday 1 February that the Angolan
army - the FAA - had withdrawn it last troops from the Democratic Republic
of Congo (DRC).

Congolese Deputy Army Chief of Staff General Dieudonne Kayembe made the
announcement at the international airport in Kinshasa. According to
reports, Kayembe did not say when the last Angolan troops left Congo, but
warned the withdrawal did not mean they were "abandoning prior
commitments".

ZAMBIA: WFP begins food distribution

In Zambia this week, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said that it had
started distributing food to 1.2 million Zambians after a sharp decline in
food production last year.

"We will be distributing the food in 24 districts, mostly rural, through
nine NGOs (non-governmental organisations) that we work with on the
ground," Richard Ragan WFP Country Director told IRIN. "In total we are
looking at about 42,000 mt. However at the moment we have only sourced
12,000 mt which is coming from South Africa."

In December WFP launched an appeal for US $18 million for Zambia. Ragan
described the process as "slow", saying that Germany was the only
bilateral donor country that had contributed, giving WFP US $1.9 million.

In a related development, news reports said on Thursday 31 January that
Zambia had waived import duties on maize and allowed 19 milling companies
to import the staple without paying tax until March. "Only 19 credible
companies have been exempted from paying importation tax," an official in
the ministry of agriculture told AFP.

Government looks to mine rescue plan

On the economic front, a high-level World Bank team arrived in Zambia on
Tuesday 29 January for discussions with the government over last week's
shock decision by mining giant Anglo-American to pull the plug on its
investments in the country's crucial copper industry.

A Zambian government official told IRIN that Lusaka was expecting the
World Bank and International Monetary Fund to help with a rescue package
to save jobs in the economically depressed Copperbelt, and to shore up an
industry that accounts for 80 percent of Zambia's foreign exchange
earnings.

The World Bank last week expressed "deep concern" over the decision by
Anglo-American, the majority shareholder in Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), to
halt further investment in the loss-making company. The decision was
announced by Zambia Copper Investments (ZCI), an Anglo-American-owned
company which has a 65 percent stake in KCM. ZCI said it was considering
several options, including the sale, transfer of assets, or closure of
KCM, over the next 12 months.

The Zambian government, reacting to Anglo-American's decision to withdraw
- after only returning to Zambia in 2000 - reportedly said that mines
"will not be closed and that employees ... should not panic".

For more details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20206&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZAMBIA

Mwanawasa's political woes grow

The mining crisis, grain shortage and the political impasse resulting from
the conduct of a recent presidential election, which the opposition
alleges was rigged, were among issues President Levy Mwanawasa had hoped
to see resolved at a bridge-building meeting he called for Monday 28
January at the National Assembly. However, a disgruntled opposition
boycotted the talks.

The seven opposition parties - the United Party for National
Development(UPND), Forum for Democracy and Development, United National
Independence Party, Heritage Party, National Citizens Coalition, Zambia
Republican Party and Patriotic Front - said in a joint statement that they
would not talk with the government until consensus on the ground rules was
reached.

"We are not part of it [the planned meeting]. As far as we are concerned,
there has been no integrity on their part. They should have engaged us
from the beginning instead of insulting us and creating a crisis," UPND
vice-president Sakwiba Sikota told IRIN.

For more details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20173&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZAMBIA

MALAWI: WFP acts to reduce child hunger

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) in Malawi said this week that it had
pre-positioned rations at all 84 nutrition rehabilitation units (NRU) it
supported at hospitals and clinics across the country to minimise the
effect of severe food shortages on children under five years old.

WFP's Ayoub al-Jaloudi told IRIN that the food agency usually expected an
increase in admissions at the NRUs during the "lean season", which runs
from December up until around harvest time in March. "Every year the
number of admissions increases by about 20 percent during this time. This
year the situation has been exacerbated by the food shortage," he said.

Malawi is in the grip of a serious scarcity of food, with the government
diverting average daily imports of about 1,200 mt of maize to the worst
affected regions, located in the south of the country. Recent news reports
have indicated that the number of malnourished children being treated at
hospitals and clinics is on the increase.

Al-Jaloudi said that while he could not provide exact figures, about 2,000
children under five years old in need of food and care were treated at
these centres at any given time. He said the rations provided to the
children - and sometimes to their mothers - included milk powder, maize
meal and oil. "All the hospitals (which run WFP-supported NRUs) have food
up to the end of March," al-Jaloudi said.

NAMIBIA: Money for refugees' food expected in days - WFP

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said this week that it expected to
secure funding soon to keep its food pipeline to refugees in Namibia
flowing beyond March.

The food agency said two weeks ago that it would run out of corn soya
blend and sugar by the end of February and that it would run out of all
food commodities by the end of March. WFP feeds at least 19,500 refugees
in Namibia, most of them from neighbouring Angola.

On Monday 28 January, the WFP spokesperson in Luanda, Cristina Muller,
told IRIN. "We have full confidence that within the next few days we will
have a significant contribution to feed Namibian refugees, which should
help the food pipeline for at least another two months." The number of
Angolans registered in camps in Rundu and Osire has kept increasing - in
fits and starts - over the past few years.

Investment, new policies needed to create jobs

On the economic front, an economist told IRIN this week that Namibia had
to gear its economic and education policies towards equipping its youth
for the job market - and to attract investment - if it wanted to cut its
unemployment rate of about 20 percent.

The Namibian newspaper on Tuesday 29 January quoted Higher Education
Minister Nahas Angula as saying that more than 20,000 Namibian
school-leavers were jobless. The report quoted him as saying that there
were more than 400,000 children in the education system, including about
15,000 in secondary-level institutions, he said.

"There are, however, more than 20,000 youth who are out of school and
jobless. Many others find employment in the public and private sectors, as
well as in the informal sectors," Angula was quoted as saying. He added
that students' varying needs could only be met through planning, programme
development and effective implementation.

However, Professor Mohamed El-Toukhy, head of the department of economics
at the University of Namibia, told IRIN on Wednesday that "the education
system must be market-related".

"For example in most African countries, as in Namibia, you need
technicians, engineers etc, but this is very expensive education to
provide. Yet when you look at the market you find there is a large supply
of little-needed qualifications. There are many people, for example, with
public administration diplomas and degrees," he said.

For more details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20239&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=NAMIBIA

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Denmark cuts aid, targets rights violators

Two Southern African countries will soon feel the effects of a Danish
government decision on Tuesday 29 January to cut aid to the developing
world by more than US $170 million.

After a review of the country's aid policies, Finance Minister Thor
Pedersen announced the cuts in a draft budget submitted to parliament on
Tuesday, saying that Denmark wanted to be more efficient in the way it
assisted the developing world and did not want to prop up dictators.

As a result, he said, his government decided to cease funding development
projects in Zimbabwe and Malawi completely. "The government will pursue an
assistance policy with a higher degree of consistency. Systematic,
constant violations of human rights and democratic rules will no longer be
accepted. Therefore, development cooperation with Zimbabwe, Malawi ... and
their status as programme countries will cease," according to the review
published on the foreign ministry's website.

Development cooperation with Zimbabwe had already been reduced
dramatically and was implemented outside of government channels, the
review said, adding that "these activities will now also be phased out as
quickly as possible, and already in 2002 reduced by DKK 75 million" (US
$8,699,990).

The review said political developments in Malawi continued to move in a
"negative" direction. "For this reason both development and environmental
assistance will be radically reduced in 2002 and finally phased out in
2003.

For more details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20263&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=SOUTHERN_AFRICA

MOZAMBIQUE: Community radio aiding development

Community radio in Mozambique is aiding development and helping ordinary
people to realise that they can change their lives, according to UN
officials.

"We want to create local capacity and development, we want people to see
that through access to information they can change their lives," Birgitte
Jallov, Chief Technical Adviser for the UNESCO/UNDP media development
project in Mozambique, told IRIN. Jallov said that the radio project was
part of a broader UNESCO programme in the Southern African country which
aims to strengthen democracy and governance through the development of the
media.

The Mozambican radio project is currently in its second phase, which
involves the actual establishment of radio stations. Two pilot radio
stations, one in Inhambane province in the east and the other in Chimoio
in the central Sofala province are already up and running.

For more details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20236&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=MOZAMBIQUE


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