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 172
27 March - 2 April 2004


CONTENTS:

ANGOLA: Drastic cuts in rations as WFP faces pipeline breaks
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Heavy rains in Angola flood Zambia and Botswana
NAMIBIA: Rescue workers start evacuation in Caprivi
SOUTH AFRICA: Slow start of ARV rollout
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Treatment programmes skewed in favour of urban males
SWAZILAND: Textile industry under threat over AGOA rule
ZAMBIA: DRC refugees could go back by this weekend, officials say
ZIMBABWE: IMF calls for talks on economic crisis
LESOTHO: Food security situation "alarming" - report
MADAGASCAR: WFP praises SA assistance
MOZAMBIQUE: Humanitarian agencies battle drought, poverty and HIV/AIDS


ANGOLA: Drastic cuts in rations as WFP faces pipeline breaks

The twin setbacks of insufficient funding and a government ban on
genetically modified (GM) foods have put the World Food Programme's (WFP)
live-saving operations in Angola at risk, forcing the agency to halve
rations to beneficiaries in April and May.

WFP spokesman Richard Lee told IRIN on Friday its operations in Angola
faced a "severe funding crisis, which has forced the agency to drastically
reduce rations" to its beneficiaries. So far the agency has only received
24 percent, or US $35 million of the US $143 million appeal for Angola in
2004.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40403


Luanda withdraws from UN peacekeeping mission

The Angolan government announced this week that it will not participate in
a UN peacekeeping mission to Cote d'Ivoire. A senior Angolan official told
IRIN on Wednesday that the move followed claims that Luanda was too close
to Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo.

Angola's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joao Bernardo de Miranda, announced
on Tuesday that his government was going to decline a UN invitation to
send peacekeepers, in what would have been Angola's first UN mission.

Angola's ambassador to South Africa, Isaac Maria dos Anjos, told IRIN that
some members of the United Nations had "raised objections to the inclusion
of the Angolan troops in the mission - they claimed we are too close to
the Cote d'Ivoire government. They [the UN members] claimed that
objections had been raised by the opposition in Cote d'Ivoire."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40343


Mushrooming small entrepreneurs

Hundreds of small entrepreneurs in Angola are signing up for schemes that
lend money and provide advice to those wanting to start their own small
business, IRIN reported on Monday.

One such entrepreneur is Isabel Samba Mario. Single-handedly raising five
children, with the youngest just eight years old, this remarkable woman is
managing to juggle the demands of both family and a flourishing small
business.

Up before dawn to get supplies for her market stall, Samba Mario also runs
a household, gets her children to school on time, and earns enough from
selling kitchen pots to put a meal on the table when they get home.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40305


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Heavy rains in Angola flood Zambia and Botswana

Abnormal rainfall in Angola has inundated river systems and caused
extensive flooding in neighbouring Zambia and northern Botswana, disaster
officials told IRIN on Friday.

"More than 4,480 households have been affected as the Zambezi continues to
rise," said Dominiciano Mulenga, the national coordinator of Zambia's
Disaster Management Unit.

"As heavy rains continue to fall in Angola and in the Western province, we
expect the Zambezi to flood Lake Kariba. We will eventually have to open
the sluice gates, which will lead to further flooding downstream [in
southern Zambia]," Mulenga explained

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40406


Treatment programmes skewed in favour of urban males

IRIN reported on Tuesday that the shortfall in extending antiretroviral
therapy (ART) to HIV positive people in Southern Africa is "enormous",
with mostly educated, urban males benefiting from existing programmes.

Only one eligible person in 25,000 in the region was currently receiving
treatment, according to a study conducted by the Regional Network for
Equity in Health in Southern Africa (Equinet) and Oxfam GB, focusing on
equity in health sector responses to HIV/AIDS.

"Adult HIV prevalence in Southern Africa is estimated at 13.7 percent,
with upper ranges of over 30 percent. This translates into approximately
15 million adults and children currently infected. Of these an estimated
700,000 to 1 million currently have AIDS. Such data indicates the
significant burden of the disease in the region, and the scale of the
response required," the report said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40321


NAMIBIA: Rescue workers start evacuation in Caprivi

Namibian rescue workers began moving villagers to higher ground this week
as the Zambezi burst its banks along the eastern border of the Caprivi
strip, IRIN reported on Thursday.

"We have started evacuating people to drier areas," Timothy Shixungileni,
acting director of the Emergency Management Unit told IRIN. Twenty
households had been evacuated so far as the Zambezi rose past the
seven-metre mark.

The flooding, which began last month, has affected some 40,000 people,
according to the Namibia Red Cross Society.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40379


Govt predicts a bumper crop

IRIN reported on Tuesday that after a drought year in 2002/03, the
Namibian government has predicted a bumper winter crop, the best in six
seasons.

In its current report the Namibia Early Warning and Food Information
System (NEWFIS) has predicted a total grain production of 155,000 tonnes
for 2004/05.

A spokesperson for NEWFIS said the last "normal season" had produced
135,000 mt of grain. "This season's production is expected to be eight
percent higher than the normal production realised in 1999/2000".

Last season Namibia produced only 73,200 tonnes of grain.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40329


Red Cross allocates funds for flood-hit Caprivi

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
(IFRC) has allocated almost US $74,000 for relief efforts in the flood-hit
areas of Caprivi in northeastern Namibia, IRIN reported on Tuesday.

Razia Essack-Kauaria, secretary-general of the Namibia Red Cross Society,
told IRIN that "this year's floods have already affected more people [than
last year's floods]". "Kabbe and Katima constituencies, located in the
low-lying areas along the Zambezi, which flows along the eastern border of
Namibia's Caprivi strip, have been submerged."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40325


SOUTH AFRICA: Slow start of ARV rollout

On Thursday IRIN reported on the first day of an anti-AIDS drugs rollout
in South Africa's Gauteng province.

Dr Blackburn was one of eight doctors, a team of pharmacists, nurses, and
dieticians on duty at the new antiretroviral treatment (ART) clinic at
Johannesburg Hospital on Thursday, awaiting the expected flood of patients
seeking treatment for HIV/AIDS.

Although not the rush anticipated, the ART clinic saw 35 patients and put
five on antiretrovirals (ARV) over the course of the day as the
government's long-awaited programme to provide free ARVs through the
public health system began, albeit initially as a pilot scheme.

To qualify for ART, a patient must have a CD4 count (which measures the
strength of the immune system) of 200 or below and be committed to
following the regimen strictly.

Five hospitals - Johannesburg Hospital, Chris Hani-Baragwanath, Helen
Joseph, Coronation and Kalafong - will provide the drugs to people living
with HIV/AIDS in Gauteng, South Africa's economic heartland.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40383


Army to investigate officer's death

On Wednesday IRIN noted that the South African National Defence Force
(SANDF) has launched an investigation into the shooting of a senior
officer in the country's peacekeeping contingent in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the official news service, BuaNews.

An unknown gunman shot and killed Colonel Siyalala Apheus Mothapo late on
Monday outside the Adikivu base in Bukavu, northeastern DRC.

Colonel Kwena Mangope of the SANDF said the circumstances surrounding the
death of the officer were still unclear, but an investigation was
underway. The UN is also investigating his death.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40356


All eyes on volatile province

Reports of two deaths from politically motivated violence in South
Africa's volatile KwaZulu-Natal province were not an indication that next
month's elections would be marred by widespread conflict, analyst Paul
Graham told IRIN on Monday.

Graham, executive director of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa
(IDASA), said while it would be "foolhardy to say that ... some
individuals are not going to get injured, the nature of the state has
changed, so that you are unlikely to get the kind of unrestrained violence
that was present during the 1980s and 1990s".

The province has been a hotbed of political violence for years, as the
ruling African National Congress (ANC) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)
- traditionally strong in KwaZulu-Natal due to its ethnic Zulu bias -
battled for control.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40300


Good rainfalls boost maize supply and reduce prices

Good rains and predictions of a better harvest have led to a considerable
drop in the price of maize on South African markets, IRIN reported on
Monday.

Earlier this year, drought and forecasts of poor maize production had led
the government to declare seven of the country's nine provinces disaster
areas.

The South African Chamber of Milling's executive director, Jannie de
Villiers, told IRIN: "We have had very good rainfalls since February - the
situation has much improved."

Both yellow and white maize dropped from between R1,300 (US $204) and
R1,400 ($219.7) a tonne earlier in the year, to a current price range of
R1,040 ($163.2) to R1,122 ($176.04) a tonne.

According to these figures, South Africa is set to have a supply of more
than 9 million mt of maize at its disposal, against a total demand of a
little more than 8 million mt.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40297


SWAZILAND: Textile industry under threat over AGOA rule

Swaziland's flourishing textile industry is experiencing a crisis, caused
by delays in US legislation that would extend a deadline in the African
Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), and enable Swazi exports to continue
entering the market duty-free, IRIN reported on Wednesday.

"Already, about one thousand garments workers out of 28,000 employed
nationally have lost their jobs because of the uncertainty over AGOA. Each
worker supports 10 dependants," said Sipho Mamba, Secretary-General of the
Swaziland Manufacturing and Allied Workers Union.

According to the Ministry of Enterprise and Employment, a quarter of the
population is either directly or indirectly dependent on factories that
export under AGOA.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40354


Campaign to help AIDS-hit education system

Also on Wednesday, IRIN reported that Swaziland is establishing a local
branch of the UN-supported Global Campaign for Education in an effort to
improve the kingdom's schools and curriculum.

"Our goal is to provide free and quality education to all Swazis - to all
children, of course - but also to Swazi women, to correct a historical
imbalance," Evart Dlamini, acting administrator for the campaign, told
IRIN.

The Global Campaign for Education has the backing of the UN Education,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation, and is comprised of teachers' unions
and education-oriented NGOs in participating countries. Dlamini is an
official of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers, which is
spearheading the national campaign in partnership with the Swaziland
Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), the Swaziland Council of Churches,
and the Swaziland branch of Women and Law in Southern Africa.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40340


ZAMBIA: DRC refugees could go back by this weekend, officials say

More than 1,000 Congolese refugees sent fleeing into northern Zambia
earlier this month by renewed fighting near the border could return home
by this weekend, Zambian officials told IRIN on Wednesday.

"According to our reports, these Congolese citizens - about 1,038 - fled
following threats from the Mayi-Mayi [rebels] that they would blow up
their villages by 30 March, and there were skirmishes in the villages
bordering Lake Maweru [between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and
northern Zambia]," said Zambia's Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Kennedy
Sakeni.

Citing reports received on Wednesday, he said, "we have had no reports of
any skirmishes on the DRC side, so we expect the fleeing Congolese to go
back by this weekend."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40352


ZIMBABWE: IMF calls for talks on economic crisis

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged that tripartite talks on
Zimbabwe's economic challenges be restarted by government, unions and
business "in a concerted and comprehensive way", IRIN reported on Thursday

An IMF staff team visited Harare from 17 to 31 March and held discussions
with the authorities on the economic situation and the government's
macroeconomic policies. They also met with unions, civil society, NGOs,
political parties and the diplomatic community.

"Zimbabwe's economy has experienced a sharp deterioration in the last five
years. Real GDP has declined by about 30 percent, and is still
contracting. Inflation doubled in each of the last three years to reach
600 percent at the end of 2003. This has had dire social consequences:
unemployment is high and rising, poverty has doubled since 1995, school
enrolment declined to 65 percent in 2003, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic
remains largely unchecked," the IMF said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40375


Ruling party wins crucial by-election

IRIN reported on Monday that the ruling ZANU-PF reclaimed the Zengeza
constituency in Chitungwiza, 35 km southeast of Zimbabwe's capital Harare,
in a weekend by-election marred by violence that left one person dead and
several wounded.

ZANU-PF won 8,442 votes while the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) scooped 6,704. The result is significant, as the ruling party
was defeated in all major urban settlements in the 2000 parliamentary
poll.

However, MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said violence and intimidation
affected the outcome of the ballot. "The results of the Zengeza
by-election do not surprise us in view of the gross intimidation, violence
and the callous murder of our member," he said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40302


LESOTHO: Food security situation "alarming" - report
 
The food security situation in Lesotho is "alarming", with low crop
production causing a sharp increase in prices, IRIN reported on Wednesday.

In its bi-monthly report, RIACSO noted that the latest Lesotho
Vulnerability Assessment Committee (LVAC) survey had found that "as a
result of low production, food prices have gone up between 20 and 50
percent, with the highest price increases recorded in remote areas".

The LVAC carried out a livelihood vulnerability monitoring exercise
between 3 and 11 March.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40349


MADAGASCAR: WFP praises SA assistance

WFP has praised the efforts of the South African relief team in cyclone
ravaged Madagascar, IRIN reported on Thursday.

"Tens of thousands of people affected by a devastating cyclone in
Madagascar have received vital food aid rations, thanks to the successful
cooperation between a South African relief team and the WFP," said a
statement from the aid agency.

The South African government despatched four helicopters and a cargo plane
to Madagascar, soon after Cyclone Gafilo struck in mid-March, to help in
the overall relief effort, including distributing WFP food aid.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40382


MOZAMBIQUE: Humanitarian agencies battle drought, poverty and HIV/AIDS

On Thursday IRIN focused on the plight of poor families struggling with
the impact of HIV/AIDS and food shortages.

HIV/AIDS has reached 13.6 percent of Mozambicans aged between 15 and 49
years and, combined with existing poverty, has pushed many families over
the edge. These families represent the extent of the humanitarian
challenge in the country.

Assisting people living with HIV/AIDS requires a rethink of traditional
aid programmes, because they not only need food but also a consistently
nutritious diet to prolong their lives.

"Everyone understands that nutrition is vital for people living with
HIV/AIDS - how to make it work is not easy," says Tom Shortley, World Food
Programme (WFP) emergency coordinator. "The biggest challenge is to link
this provision of nutritious food with programmes run by the ministries
and other organisations, such as NGOs who are assisting people with
HIV/AIDS, without overburdening them with too many more activities.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40384


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

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