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 155
17 - 21 November 2003


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Civil freedoms under attack as inflation rockets
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Funding needed for food aid and social safety nets
MOZAMBIQUE: Low turnout in local elections
SOUTH AFRICA: Green light for national treatment plan
ZAMBIA: Food insecurity persists in two provinces
ANGOLA: UNITA calls for international community to assist ex-soldiers
MADAGASCAR: World Bank approves US $30 million credit
MALAWI: Quick action prevents spread of cholera


ZIMBABWE: Civil freedoms under attack as inflation rockets

Transparency International (TI) this week condemned the arrest of hundreds
of human rights activists, saying the latest clampdown by the authorities
was a blow to civil liberties.

TI expressed concern over the arrest of its Zimbabwe representative, John
Makumbe, who was detained with some 50 activists on Tuesday as they
assembled in preparation for a march to protest alleged rights abuses and
massive price hikes.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38012


Economic crisis compounds food shortages

Zimbabweans continue to face a particularly severe humanitarian crisis,
with nearly half the population having had their livelihoods eroded by
severe macroeconomic decline and precarious food security, the UN Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday.

"What began as a food crisis in Zimbabwe in 2002 has grown into a major
humanitarian emergency, with people suffering the effects of a
deteriorating economy, HIV/AIDS, depleted social services and policy
constraints," OCHA said in an appeal to donors.

The organisation noted that "as the country enters its fifth successive
year of economic decline, Zimbabwe faces critical shortages of foreign
exchange to maintain essential infrastructure, and inflation has soared".

In the Consolidated Appeal for Zimbabwe, agencies request US $109.4
million to meet outstanding funding requirements.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37981


Police prevent protest against deepening crisis

Truckloads of heavily armed riot police successfully broke up a
demonstration before it could get underway on Tuesday. Scores of people
had managed to assemble in the centre of the capital, Harare, for the
march to the ministry of finance, which was scheduled for mid-day.

Among those arrested were the president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions, Lovemore Matombo, and the union's secretary-general, Wellington
Chibhebhe.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37953

Resettled farmers in need of aid

A recent survey of households in Zimbabwe's northwestern Zvimba district,
in Mashonaland West province, indicates that newly resettled communal
farmers are in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

However, there appears to be reluctance by donors to assist these
communities, as this might appear to be giving tacit approval to
Zimbabwe's controversial land reform process, the international NGO Save
the Children UK (SCUK) told IRIN.

The report, released by SCUK on Monday, also pointed out that former
commercial farm workers - jobless and displaced by the government's
resettlement of landless blacks on former commercial farms - were in need
of assistance.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37950

Cholera claims 26 lives in two outbreaks

A cholera outbreak in two northern districts of Zimbabwe has so far
claimed the lives of 26 people, aid agencies reported on Monday.

According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) a total of 173 cholera cases
have been recorded in Kariba (Mashonaland West) and Binga (Matabeleland
North) since the outbreak in mid-October.

UNICEF said although unsafe drinking water was the main cause for the
rapid spread of the disease in the affected communities, "poor
communication from the ministry of health and child welfare" was to blame
for the slow response to the outbreak.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37921

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Funding needed for food aid and social safety nets

In July this year the United Nations, together with NGO partners, appealed
for US $419 million to address critical needs in six Southern African
countries. But some $317 million is still outstanding as the region faces
a catastrophe brought on by poverty, food shortages, HIV/AIDS and
declining social services.

In an update on the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) Humanitarian Appeal
for Southern Africa, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) said "millions of people in the Southern Africa region are
at risk, despite recent improvement in food security".

"The people of Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe
are struggling to cope with a food crisis, poverty and HIV/AIDS. Following
massive food shortages in 2001-02, the region's populations face a complex
crisis caused by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, food insecurity, poverty, weakened
governance capacity and declining social services," OCHA added.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37982

MOZAMBIQUE: Low turnout in local elections

Mozambique's generally peaceful and problem-free local elections have been
marked by low voter turnout, IRIN reported on Thursday.

In many places less than 15 percent of registered voters had bothered to
cast their ballots on Wednesday, mirroring the turnout in Mozambique's
last local elections in 1998, which were boycotted by the main opposition
party, RENAMO.

The Mozambique Political Process Bulletin (MPPB) said "initial reports
indicate quite a low turnout in most places" with queues "at just a few
polling stations". The MPPB, formerly known as the Mozambique Peace
Process Bulletin, is published by the the European Parliamentarians for
Southern Africa.

Electoral Institute of Southern Africa programme officer, Martinho
Chachiua, told IRIN that while "we don't know what the figures are yet, I
had expected more [voter turnout]" on the 19 November polling day. He
cautioned, however, that "local elections usually have lower turnouts than
general elections".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38015


Post-harvest needs similar to lean season

A recent post-harvest survey in Mozambique has shown worrying levels of
vulnerability for children and orphans due to the combined impact of
drought and HIV/AIDS, IRIN reported on Thursday.

The post-harvest survey showed vulnerability levels similar to those
recorded during last year's lean season - when communities have generally
depleted their food stocks and are more vulnerable.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said additional analysis of data collected
by the national Vulnerability Assessment Committee (VAC) in May and June,
showed that "maternal orphans were found to be 50 percent more likely to
be chronically malnourished than the general child population (56 percent
versus 37.6 percent), and 120 percent more likely to be severely
chronically malnourished (36.4 percent versus 15.3 percent)".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38016


SOUTH AFRICA: Green light for national treatment plan

The South African cabinet's approval of a plan to start a national
antiretroviral (ARV) programme could mean that within a year, ARVs will be
available in at least one service point in all of the country's 56 health
districts.

The government's treatment plan envisages that all HIV-positive South
Africans requiring ARVs will be able to get the drugs from a facility in
their local municipality within five years.

Details of the final draft plan drawn up by a department of health task
team remain unclear, but an estimated 53,000 people are set to receive
treatment by the end of the current financial year. This would grow to
188,000 by 2004/05, and close to a million by 2007/08, health officials
said.

An estimated 5.3 million South Africans are believed to be HIV-positive.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38018


ZAMBIA: Food insecurity persists in two provinces

Although this year's good maize harvest in Zambia has alleviated food
shortages, households in two provinces continue to face food insecurity,
officials said on Wednesday.

"We had a reasonable harvest, which has assisted us in solving the food
crisis, but this is not to say that the needs of all Zambians have been
met. There is still concern over the food situation in the Southern and
Western Provinces," Elizabeth Phiri, permanent secretary in charge of
cooperatives and marketing in the Ministry of Agriculture told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37979


ANGOLA: UNITA calls for international community to assist ex-soldiers

Angola's former rebel movement, UNITA, on Thursday called on the
international community to step up pressure on the government to do more
to assist thousands of demobilised soldiers.

UNITA's secretary for public administration, Alcides Sakala, told IRIN
that government attempts at reintegrating demobilised soldiers into civil
society fell far short of current needs.

He noted that 1,000 demobilised soldiers from the northern Lunda Norte
province, who had been selected for jobs in the public service sector
after undergoing training, had not been paid in more than eight months.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38011


Refugees return to face land mines, lack of social services

IRIN reported on Thursday that Angolan refugees eager to return home are
being hindered by land mines, poor governance in rural areas and a
devastated infrastructure.

Kallu Kalumiya, regional coordinator for the Angolan repatriation
programme, said the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) had directly repatriated 45,000 Angolans since June. Some 24,000
had returned of their own accord over the same period, and another 100,000
had gone home since peace finally came to Angola in April 2002.

Kalumiya, speaking on Wednesday in Johannesburg, South Africa, said the
outlook was positive, with the political, security and humanitarian
situation improving all the time.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38014


Human rights abuses continue unabated, NGO report

On Tuesday, IRIN reported claims by Angolan activists that human rights
abuses in the northern enclave of Cabinda continue unabated, despite
greater international attention.

According to a recent report published by the Ad-hoc Commission for Human
Rights in Cabinda - a group of lawyers, academics and civic activists -
institutions responsible for addressing human rights abuses in Angola have
"preferred to remain largely silent on the issue of Cabinda" for political
reasons.

The report, "A Year of Pain", contains 30 pages of testimony of alleged
abuses, including murders, disappearances, arbitrary detentions and
torture, carried out largely by the Angolan army (FAA).

Separatists in the oil-rich province have been battling government troops
since independence in 1975.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37952


100th convoy of returnees arrives home

IRIN reported on Monday a UNHCR announcement that its 100th convoy of
trucks carrying returning Angolan refugees reached the eastern fringes of
the country's Moxico province a week ago.

The voluntary repatriation operation began on 20 June 2003.

The agency said it expected the number of returnee convoys to drop to
about 5,000 in November, when the rainy season slows down repatriation in
most areas of the country.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37919

MADAGASCAR: World Bank approves US $30 million credit

The World Bank (WB) has given the go-ahead to Madagascar's poverty
reduction strategy and approved a credit of US $30 million to support
reforms in the public sector, IRIN reported on Wednesday.

The credit is expected to go towards improving governance and bolstering
economic growth, particularly in rural areas, the Bank said in statement.

Although a political crisis in 2002 brought the already struggling economy
to a standstill, the Bank noted that since then the country had
outperformed expectations - in just a year, economic growth in Madagascar
has soared to 9.6 percent. It was noted that the government's commitment
to fighting corruption and reducing poverty had contributed to the
progress.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37980

MALAWI: Quick action prevents spread of cholera

Efforts are underway to mitigate the impact of cholera on ordinary
Malawians.

The NGO, World Vision Malawi, this week announced the establishment of a
"core research team in an effort to stamp out cholera", a recurring
disease in the country, which "kills many children and the elderly every
year".

"We must now put our foot down regarding cholera," World Vision Malawi
regional operations manager, Marion Chindongo, was quoted as saying. "It
is wrong for virtually all of us in Malawi to regard, and almost validate,
cholera as a disease that occurs every year; we need to go back to basics
and call it a preventable disease. Therefore, we should fight this disease
with renewed vigour, with a view to eliminating it altogether, at least in
World Vision projects."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37951


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

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