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

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e-mail: irin-sa@irin.org.za


SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 174
10 - 16 April 2004


CONTENTS:

ANGOLA: More than US $40 million for food relief and agriculture in 2003
BOTSWANA: Appearance of polio reported
MADAGASCAR: EU aid to cyclone ravaged island
MOZAMBIQUE: Cholera crisis waning but not yet over
NAMIBIA: New approaches to speed up secure land reform
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Regional crop forecasts mixed
SWAZILAND: Poverty alleviation scheme threatened
ZIMBABWE: EC aid to help prevent "looming crisis"


ANGOLA: More than US $40 million for food relief and agriculture in 2003

Global energy giant ChevronTexaco and American aid agencies pumped more
than US $40 million into Angolan food relief, agriculture and education
projects in 2003, a company official told IRIN on Thursday.

"We are running the projects in the provinces of Benguela, Bie, Huambo and
Huila," Fernando Paiva, ChevronTexaco's director of public and
governmental relations told IRIN. The company was also set to launch a
micro-credit bank in Angola later this year, he added.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40596


More support for returning populations

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has received a funding
boost for projects aimed at supporting the ongoing return and resettlement
of Angolan refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and demobilised
solders.

The government of Angola estimates that some 3.3 million people, including
former refugees, IDPs and demobilised soldiers have returned to their
places of origin since the peace treaty in April 2002 ended nearly 25
years of civil war. Most people have returned to villages in Kuando
Kubango, Huambo and Kuanza Sul provinces.

"Since October 2003, IOM Angola, working with the Angolan government,
local communities, NGOs and UN agencies, has been helping vulnerable
populations in need of reintegration support in Huambo and Kuanza Sul.
Support includes population stabilisation, reconciliation, confidence
building and income-generation schemes," the agency said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40549


Youth centres to highlight HIV/AIDS awareness

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and its partners, including provincial
governors and the Catholic church, opened its first youth centre in the
eastern Moxico province on Wednesday, and Benguela in the west on Friday.

The main goal of the centres is to raise HIV/AIDS awareness among the
country's youth - almost 70 percent of the population is under 24 years
old - and prevent the southwest African country from suffering the same
fate as many of its neighbours.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40509


BOTSWANA: Appearance of polio reported

Health officials in Botswana are on alert after the first case of polio in
more than a decade was reported.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a seven-year-old boy
from the Ngami district in northwestern Botswana suffered the onset of
paralysis on 8 February.

"The polio case in Botswana underlines the magnitude of the risk posed to
polio-free areas by the ongoing polio outbreaks in west and central
Africa, and is compounded by the growing vulnerability of populations to
polio globally, following the cessation of preventive polio immunisation
campaigns in most polio-free countries in 2002/03," WHO said in a
statement released on Wednesday.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40595


"Normal" seasonal flooding begins

The "normal" seasonal flooding of the Okavango river in northern Botswana
began this week, a disaster official told IRIN on Tuesday.

The situation in the Okavango delta, which had been experiencing unusual
flooding since February, was expected to be compounded, according to Joyce
Mosweu, director of the National Disaster Management Unit in Botswana.

About 992 households had been affected in Ngamiland province, where the
delta is located. While no casualties were reported, there had been
extensive damage to roads and infrastructure, she added.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40532


MADAGASCAR: EU aid to cyclone ravaged island

The European Commission (EC) has allocated a €2 million (about US $2.4
million) aid package for cyclone victims in Madagascar.

An EC statement said the funds would be directed towards a number of
projects, including emergency repairs to roads and bridges, "to enable
cyclone victims to receive assistance".

Cyclone Gafilo struck Madagascar last month, rendering more than 200,000
people homeless.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40552


MOZAMBIQUE: Cholera crisis waning but not yet over

Mozambique's cholera crisis appears to have passed its peak, and health
officials say they expect the situation to improve as the rainy season
draws to an end.

World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesman Dr Pierre Kahozi told IRIN that
"it is likely that we will have a better situation" in coming weeks, as
"cholera is normally linked to the rainy season".

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) official Dr Gerard Bedock said while there
were "still some" cases being reported, "the big emergency of the
beginning of the year seems to be over".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40538


NAMIBIA: New approaches to speed up secure land reform

A radical redistribution of land in Namibia could lead to disinvestment
and undermine economic growth, a new study has warned.

"Rethinking Land Reform in Namibia: Any Room for Economics?", a study by
the Windhoek-based Institute for Public Policy Research, argued that while
expropriation was needed to accelerate land reform, "the absence of clear
criteria" would create uncertainty and insecurity among farmers and the
business and investor communities.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40540


Over 1,000 more flood-affected Caprivians to be evacuated

Over 1,000 Namibians are to be evacuated from the flood-hit Caprivi strip
in the next two days, a senior official told IRIN on Tuesday.

The official warned that with the Zambezi threatening to flood again in
another week, the number of affected people in the northern Namibian
province could rise.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40526


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Regional crop forecasts mixed

South Africa's exportable surplus maize should be enough to cover
commercial shortfalls in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and
Mozambique, according to a briefing published by the Famine Early Warning
Systems Network (FEWS NET).

The latest Southern African Development Community (SADC) Food Security
Network Ministerial Brief noted that "projected maize availability [in the
region] has improved, mainly as a result of increased harvest expectations
in South Africa, where total supply ... is now expected to reach 9.85
million mt".

This meant South Africa would have an exportable surplus estimated at 1.93
million mt.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40597


Five NGOs to receive USAID grants for HIV/AIDS programmes

Five NGOs running HIV/AIDS-related programmes in Southern Africa are to
receive a portion of US $350 million grant from the United States Agency
for the International Development (USAID) under the President's Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

The recipients, World Relief, Catholic Relief Services, Habitat for
Humanity, Opportunity International and Save the Children, were named on
Tuesday in the first round of grants to be announced under the
presidential initiative.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40547


SWAZILAND: Poverty alleviation scheme threatened

Swaziland's principal philanthropist has shut down a Lilangeni 11 million
(US $1.6 million) poverty alleviation scheme due to strained relations
with the authorities.

Financier Natie Kirsh terminated the Inhanyelo Fund, which provided small
low-interest loans to impoverished Swazis, after the absence of members of
parliament at the fund's relaunch last week.

"Without the backing of the MPs, the sustainability of the fund is
impossible, and it is with deep regret and sadness that I have no choice
but to terminate the fund and withdraw the additional L5.5 million (US
$834,357), plus further funds earmarked for its expansion," Kirsh said in
a statement.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40587


ZIMBABWE: EC aid to help prevent "looming crisis"

Aid efforts in Zimbabwe this week received a financial boost from the
European Commission (EC) to the tune of €15 million (US $17.8 million).

The EC funds are expected to support emergency food aid, bolster
agricultural recovery and improve delivery of social services. The money
will also go towards providing assistance to internally displaced people
and strengthen humanitarian coordination efforts.

"Over the past few years we have witnessed a spectacular decline of living
conditions for millions of Zimbabweans. By working through professional
and independent partners, ECHO [the EC's humanitarian aid office] has been
able to ensure that EU humanitarian aid reaches vulnerable people in need.
I urge the Zimbabwean authorities to continue to allow unfettered access
for humanitarian organisations, so that the further development of this
looming crisis can be prevented," Poul Nielson, EC commissioner for
development and humanitarian said in a statement on Wednesday.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40594


Attempts to boost falling tobacco production

As Zimbabwe's burley tobacco output continues to fall, the Air Cured
Tobacco Association (ACTA) has resolved to take direct charge of marketing
the crop in bid to restore price competitiveness and woo back farmers who
abandoned it in favour of the flue-cured variety.

According to ACTA chief executive officer David Shack, small-scale tobacco
farmers have been steadily abandoning air-cured burley because of low
returns, opting for the higher-priced flue-cured variety and its firmer
market prices.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40556


Feature - Black dairy farmers opt for crop production

Milk production in Zimbabwe faces a new challenge as inexperienced black
dairy farmers abandon the industry and opt for crop production.

The new farmers were given dairy farms to rear cows and produce milk
during the fast-track land redistribution exercise.

Silas Chirume, 45, whose farm is situated in the Beatrice area, about 80
kilometres to the southwest of Harare in Mashonaland East province, is one
of scores of farmers who are abandoning dairy farming.

Chirume told IRIN he had acquired his farm in 2002, but was finding it
increasingly difficult to continue with milk production because the number
of cows had dropped from 80 to 25.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40512


Cattle and game ranching proposed for non-arable land

Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU) plans to intensify livestock
and game ranching programmes in Matabeleland South and North to promote
agricultural production on land unsuited to crop farming.

ZCFU president Davison Mugabe told journalists in Bulawayo that the union
had tasked its regional offices in Matabeleland to consult local farmers
in designing proposals for both game and cattle ranching projects.

"Matabeleland is rich in wildlife and cattle ranching. It has the
potential to contribute to the national economy if these are exploited to
commercial levels of production. We are aware that some farmers want to
venture into these projects, but cannot do so because of lack of capital,"
said Mugabe.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40510


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

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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004


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