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

Tel: +27 11 880 4633
Fax: +27 11 880 1421
e-mail: irin-sa@irin.org.za


SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 146
6 - 12 September 2003


CONTENTS:

ANGOLA: Repatriations on track - UNHCR
SWAZILAND: Land reform key to future food security
ZIMBABWE: Malaysian seed poses environmental threat to biodiversity
BOTSWANA: Despite strong growth economic inequality persists
COMOROS: Aid agencies prepare for possible volcano eruption
MALAWI: Widespread rural food insecurity
ZAMBIA: Govt faces more demands for better pay


ANGOLA: Repatriations on track - UNHCR

At least 25,000 Angolan refugees have been returned to their home country
since the start of the voluntary repatriation programme run by the office
of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The returns have been organised by UNHCR in cooperation with the
governments of Angola and countries of asylum.

"Returns from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continue to lead with
nearly 14,000 Angolans returning to date, followed by Zambia at close to
10,000 and Namibia with almost 2,000," a UNHCR statement said on Friday.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36567

IMF calls for reduced deficit and greater transparency

Angola's mostly petroleum driven economy grew by 15 percent in 2002, yet
poverty remains widespread and the government's external borrowing has
reached unhealthy levels, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on
the country said on Thursday.

The IMF noted that growth in the non-oil economy had "lagged behind, and
that Angola continued to be dependent on imports and food aid for about
half of its cereals requirements".

"Poverty remains widespread, with more than 65 percent of the urban
population living below the poverty line. Poverty is reportedly far deeper
in rural areas," the report noted. Inflation had shown no sign of abating
and ran at above 100 percent throughout the year," the IMF said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36531


Italian funds to speed up demining

This week the Italian goverment handed over US $1.2 million to Angola to
boost demining efforts in the country.

The six-month demining project will remove mines from the main roads
leading to the town of Cuvango, in the southeast province of Huila.
Cuvango is considered a transport hub in the province.

"These demining activities will also target secondary roads, farmland and
land around water sources in other towns in the area," UN Development
Programme information officer Laurinda Santos told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36503


SWAZILAND: Land reform key to future food security

National development will continue to be frustrated until a permanent
solution is found to water security and fundamental adjustments are made
to land ownership, government and developmental NGOs were saying this
week, as summer commenced with a spell of hot, dry weather.

"The perennial water shortages suffered in Swaziland are the biggest
challenge facing government and the people right now, and we can't run
away from it," Minister of Agriculture Stella Lukhele said in a speech in
the central agricultural region of Manzini.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36574


ZIMBABWE: Malaysian seed poses environmental threat to biodiversity

Agriculture experts have voiced concern over plans to import seed
varieties from Malaysia to address the critical shortage of farm inputs in
Zimbabwe.

They warn that the Malaysian seed may be unsuitable for Zimbabwe's
climate.

Edward Mkhosi, a former provincial planning officer with the Agriculture
Rural Development Authority (ARDA) confirmed that there were indeed
dangers in the importation of Malaysian seed varities into Zimbabwe, due
to the big variation in the climatic conditions of the two countries.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36566


Aid distributions done on basis of need only, UN

Relief assistance in Zimbabwe will be directed solely by the needs of the
vulnerable, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Harare, J
Victor Angelo, said in a statement.

This follows news reports that a new government policy could interfere
with the distribution of relief food in the country, where over 5 million
people will require food aid this year.

"The government issued, on 14 August 2003, a policy paper on the
operations of NGOs, with the intention to improve on the shortcomings
which were experienced in the humanitarian and recovery programmes in
2002/03. The government has assured the UN that the new policy will not
interfere with humanitarian operations over the coming year," Angelo said
in a statement released on Wednesday.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36532

C-SAFE finds "high vulnerability" in resettled areas

Less than one in every 10 families living in newly resettled areas in
Zimbabwe has received food aid, the Consortium for Southern Africa's Food
Emergency (C-SAFE) has found in its latest baseline survey.

C-SAFE said in areas where the consortium operated, vulnerability was
"very high" and over 60 percent of the 1,625 households surveyed since
March 2003 were in "at least one vulnerability category".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36505

Report accuses youth militia of systematic violence

He may look like any ordinary, unemployed teenage youth in baggy pants and
an old T-shirt, but Thabo (not his real name) is haunted by ghastly
memories.

In January 2002, ahead of Zimbabwe's presidential elections, Thabo was
among some 70 National Youth Service militiamen who besieged the home of
the chairman of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in
ward 5 of Tsholotsho, in northern Matabeleland. The youth allegedly forced
the family to watch as they beat the man with an iron bar, then strangled
him. Independent human rights monitors confirmed the murder.

Thabo was speaking on Friday in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the launch
of a report on the Zimbabwe government's youth militia and its track
record of human right abuses, titled "National youth service training -
'shaping youths in a truly Zimbabwean manner'".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36450


BOTSWANA: Despite strong growth economic inequality persists

Botswana has experienced remarkable growth in recent years, however, there
is an urgent need to ensure that socioeconomic development is broad-based,
says a new report.

The report, "Botswana: Future Prospects and the Need for Broad-based
Development" by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), based in
Pretoria, South Africa, notes that while the country stands out as having
experienced "remarkable and consistent growth ... it is the only country
of 21 in the world that recorded a drop in the Human Development Index
(HDI)" between 1990 to 2001".

Paradoxically, it simultaneously experienced rapid economic growth during
that period.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36502

Miss HIV Stigma Free 2003

Amidst cultural dance and drama performances, fourteen HIV-positive women
in Botswana paraded down the runway this weekend in a beauty pageant aimed
at destroying misconceptions about people living with the disease.

This was a beauty contest with a difference - the judges were searching
for participants who could be ambassadors of HIV/AIDS, and displayed
courage, sacrifice and patriotism.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36472


Tensions rise over Gaborone's new border fence

The government of Botswana this week announced that it would go ahead with
plans to erection of a 2.4 metre high electric fence stretching along 500
km of its border with Zimbabwe, despite the objections of its neighbour.

Botswana government officials described as malicious comments made by the
Zimbabwean high commissioner to Botswana, Phelekeza Mphoko, who said last
week that "Botswana is trying to create a Gaza Strip" by putting up the
fence.

Mompati Merafhe, minister of foreign affairs and international
co-operation, explained that Botswana has "had a problem with Zimbabwean
illegal immigrants and cattle crossing the border spreading foot-and-mouth
disease".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36439


COMOROS: Aid agencies prepare for possible volcano eruption

United Nations agencies in the Comoros on Monday said plans for the
evacuation of civilians were underway following reports of a possible
volcanic eruption on the main island of Grande Comore.

"Some of the major UN agencies are currently working together to come up
with an emergency response contingency plan. It still is not clear when
the eruption will occur, or if it will occur at all, but we are preparing
for a number of possible scenarios," acting UN Resident Coordinator Kalula
Kalambay told IRIN.

Kalambay added that in the worst-case scenario, up to 70,000 residents may
be affected.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36446


MALAWI: Widespread rural food insecurity

The lack of assets in rural households struggling with the impact of
HIV/AIDS in Malawi is making the country extremely vulnerable to shocks
such as last year's drought, a recent survey has found.

The Consortium for Southern Africa's Food Emergency (C-SAFE) survey found
that about 80 percent of rural households in the two countries could be
"classified as 'asset poor' or 'very poor'". This was of concern, as
"households with limited assets are vulnerable, not only because of their
relative poverty but also because they have few items to divest, should
they be forced to spend money on food or emergencies".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36496


SWAZILAND: Legal experts review controversial draft constitution

The International Bar Association (IBA) has submitted to the Swazi
government what legal experts are calling the most comprehensive
assessment yet of King Mswati's proposed draft constitution. While a panel
of constitutional attorneys found legal inconsistencies in the document,
it congratulated the nation for seeking a restoration of rule of law in
governance.

"Several centuries of tradition will be changed by the implementation of
the new constitution because of its inclusion of a Bill of Rights,
something which the Swazi people have been calling for, for some time.
However, the panel recommends further initiatives," said chairman of the
panel, Dr Phillip Tahmindjis, at a press conference announcing the report
in the capital, Mbabane, on Friday.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36451


ZAMBIA: Govt faces more demands for better pay

The Zambian government's already strained budget faces yet more demands
from the public sector, as police joined the ranks of 120,000 other civil
servants demanding better salaries and perks.

The government's budget overrun has been met with disapproval from donors
and the International Monetary Fund, who have withheld about US $175
million earmarked to support Zambia.

Late on Monday more than 120,000 public workers in Zambia called off a
two-week-old national strike that virtually crippled government
operations.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36464


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

[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or to
change your keywords, contact e-mail: IRIN@ocha.unon.org or Web:  
http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this
item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003


distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
    Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Southern Africa                  www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/safrica