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 177
1 - 7 May 2004


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: South African officials to visit alleged mercenaries
ANGOLA: Agreement on repatriation of Congolese immigrants
BOTSWANA: EU promises better access to markets
SOUTH AFRICA: Poverty and unemployment remain key challenges
NAMIBIA: WFP, UNICEF reissue appeal after getting no response
MALAWI: Erratic power supplies affect GDP
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Zimbabwe's lack of cattle vaccines alarms neighbours
ZAMBIA: Stringent measures lead to improved growth
MADAGASCAR: "Dramatic" effect of cyclones on food security - WFP
SWAZILAND: Draft constitution to be challenged


ZIMBABWE: South African officials to visit alleged mercenaries

A delegation from the South African High Commission in Zimbabwe was
scheduled to visit the alleged mercenaries in Chikurubi Maximum Security
Prison in the capital, Harare, on Friday.

"The delegation, comprising five officials from our Harare office, is
expected to discuss the needs of the detainees - if they need legal
assistance, health care - and they will also ascertain the conditions they
are being kept in," Ronnie Mamoepa, spokesman for the South African
foreign ministry, told IRIN.

The 70 suspects, who include South Africans, Namibians, Angolans,
Congolese, a Zimbabwean and a British national, were arrested on 7 March
on board a plane that landed at Harare International airport, and have
been accused of plotting to overthrow the President of Equatorial Guinea,
Obiang Mbasogo.


HIV/AIDS a war for survival says UNDP report

HIV/AIDS has been highlighted as the predominant threat to development in
Zimbabwe, according to a UN Development Programme (UNDP) report.

The Zimbabwe Human Development Report 2003, "Redirecting Our Responses to
HIV and AIDS", was launched on Thursday in the capital, Harare.

The researchers argue that the "devastating impact of the epidemic, which
is at its worst in the Southern Africa sub-region, is benchmarked against
a historical context of widespread socioeconomic vulnerability (lack of
development) of the population over many decades".


Staple foods increasingly inaccessible as prices rise

A 150 percent hike in the maize producer price as well as a 50 percent
increase in bread prices, brought on by a shortage of flour, is going to
make staple foods inaccessible to ordinary Zimbabweans, NGOs said this
week.

"Most Zimbabweans cannot afford mealie [maize] meal - which costs more
than Zim $20,000 (US $9.48) for a 10 kg bag - when it is available in the
retail outlets," said a representative of a food security monitoring
agency.


Thousands affected as authorities close private schools

About 30,000 pupils in Zimbabwe have been affected by the government's
decision to close private schools after accusing them of increasing fees
without state approval.

Armed police officers were deployed to 45 private schools throughout the
country to ensure that they did not open for classes on Tuesday.

Boarders at some schools were turned away when they arrived for the new
school term and those who had moved in during the weekend had to be taken
home by their parents yesterday.

Zimbabwe police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena told IRIN on Thursday that the
Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture had furnished the police with a
list of schools that had not conformed to its requirements for fee
increases.


Boom for traditional healers as health care costs rise

As the cost of medical care in Zimbabwe continues to rise, an increasing
number of patients have turned to traditional healers for assistance.

As early as five o'clock in the morning, patients accompanied by their
relatives start arriving at the homestead of Erina Muguyo, a renowned
traditional healer in the Porta Farm area about 30 kilometres west of the
capital, Harare. Despite the chilly weather, they queue patiently until he
starts attending to them at midday.


ANGOLA: Agreement on repatriation of Congolese immigrants

Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have agreed on the
conditions for repatriation of illegal Congolese migrants expelled by
Angolan security forces in the past few months, a senior official told
IRIN on Thursday.

"Both parties reached an agreement last night, which is effective
immediately," said the Angolan ambassador to South Africa, Isaac Maria dos
Anjos.

The Angolan authorities expelled at least 67,000 illegal Congolese in a
crackdown on diamond traffickers that started in December. UN agencies
estimated that 2,500 people a day were arriving in the DRC, mostly in
areas where there was no food, water or shelter for them.


Repatriation process in jeopardy, WFP

An acute funding shortfall has jeopardised the planned repatriation of
Angolan refugees as well as ongoing aid to people resettled since the end
of the civil war, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Thursday.

"After years of exile, tens of thousands of Angolan refugees in Namibia,
Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are set to endure
further hardships once they return home, due to an acute funding
shortage," WFP said in a statement.

The lack of funds for food aid would negatively affect the repatriation of
refugees, who depend on WFP food rations not only in transit but also
after they have returned to their areas of origin or resettlement.


BOTSWANA: EU promises better access to markets

The European Union (EU) has indicated a willingness to help members of the
African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) bloc with better access to the
markets of developed countries. This emerged at the 29th session of the
ACP-EU Council of Ministers meeting in the Botswana capital, Gaborone,
this week.

"The EU is determined to help ... the developing countries, and especially
cotton producing countries, to address the major challenges they face, and
set up adequate measures and tools to this end," said Tom Kitt, head of
the EU Council and Minister of State for Development Co-operation and
Human Rights in Ireland.


EU in trade talks with developing nations

Trade and foreign ministers from Africa and the Caribbean and Pacific
(ACP) bloc were doubtful if any progress would be made on dismantling
trade barriers in upcoming talks with their European Union (EU)
counterparts.

"Unless the developed countries will agree to make some movement on
agriculture - trade must not only be free, but it must also be fair," said
the Barbados Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Billie Miller,
at the opening of the three-day meeting this week in the Botswana capital,
Gaborone.

Developing countries have complained bitterly that massive trade tariffs,
as well as EU and US agricultural subsidies worth US $1 billion a day, are
stifling the development of poor nations.


Unions criticise govt over labour legislation

The Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) this week lambasted the
government for failing to amend the country's labour laws after signing
International Labour Organisation (ILO) agreements that protect
fundamental worker rights.

At May Day celebrations this weekend, BFTU President Ronald Baipidi
criticised "the delay and failures to act within a specified timeframe to
amend our labour laws" in line with agreements signed by government with
the ILO.

"We have [fought] tooth and nail for the audit of all labour laws and
statutes to be undertaken, to ensure conformity with the international
standards to which Botswana is a signatory. Where necessary, the laws
should be amended so that they fall in line with international best
practices elsewhere," he said.


SOUTH AFRICA: Poverty and unemployment remain key challenges

Although South Africa has made some impressive gains since the end of
apartheid 10 years ago, widespread poverty and the growing gap between the
rich and poor continue to hamper social development, says the United
Nations 2003 Human Development Report.

The South African leg of the report, prepared by the UN Development
Programme (UNDP), was launched on Wednesday in the financial hub of the
country, Johannesburg.

UNDP noted that while absolute poverty had declined, with the percentage
of people living below the national poverty line falling from 51.1 percent
in 1995 to 48.5 percent in 2002, close to 22 million South Africans were
still considered poor.


NAMIBIA: WFP, UNICEF reissue appeal after getting no response

Two United Nations agencies in Namibia on Wednesday reissued an urgent
appeal to the international community for funds to assist some 600,000
orphans, vulnerable children (OVC) and women suffering from the combined
effects of drought, chronic poverty and the worsening HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Neither the World Food Programme (WFP) nor the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
received any contributions in response to their US $5.8 million emergency
appeal for Namibia in March.

"We are disappointed at the lack of support, especially since the appeal
was meant to assist those who do not have any other means of supporting
themselves. These beneficiaries are among the neediest. Since we have not
received any contributions, we have not been able to feed anyone in May,"
WFP Namibia head, Abdirahman Meygag, told IRIN.


Malaria leading cause of death in five regions

Malaria is the leading cause of death in five of Namibia's northern
regions, claiming the lives of 467 people since January this year, a
senior health official told IRIN on Wednesday.

"Most of these deaths are malaria-related. The incidence of malaria peaked
earlier this year because of the heavy rainfall in the north," said Dr
Petrina Usiko, director of primary health care services in the ministry of
health. Although malaria cases were on the increase, she said the country
was not experiencing an epidemic.


Orphan crisis a disaster greater than floods, drought

When the Zambezi burst its banks and devastated huge areas of Namibia's
Caprivi region over the past few weeks it was a repetition on a miniature
scale of the vivid human drama of the Mozambican floods four years ago.

But the people in the region face a crisis far greater than the recurring
curse of drought followed by floods and another drought. The true disaster
remains largely unseen - it has a young face, sometimes even a smiling
face.


MALAWI: Erratic power supplies affect GDP

Environmental degradation along Malawi's largest river, the Shire, has
been blamed for ongoing power blackouts which are costing the country
millions.

Minister of Energy and Mining Hetherwick Ntaba said recently that Malawi
was losing Kwacha 36 billion (US $338 million) a year as a result of
erratic power supplies.

The minister made the observation when he opened a three-day symposium on
Environmental Geology in Blantyre, Malawi's commercial capital, last week.
Ntaba voiced his concerns in the wake of continued power interruptions,
causing the economy to lose Kwacha 100 million (US $938,967) a day,
according to government statistics.


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Zimbabwe's lack of cattle vaccines alarms
neighbours

The lack of foreign currency to buy animal vaccines has led to the
outbreak of a variety of highly contagious cattle diseases in Zimbabwe
that are threatening to spread throughout Southern Africa.

Controllable livestock diseases like blackwater fever, heartwater and
tick-borne diseases have drastically reduced Zimbabwe's national herd from
around six million in 2001 to less than 250,000 today.

Despite laws requiring the acquisition of veterinary service permits for
people wishing to move livestock from one place to another, the lack of
effective monitoring and alleged bribe-taking by officials has led to the
unchecked movement of stock, resulting in the failure of the control
programme, observers said.


Zimbabwe worst media freedom offender, claims report

Zimbabwe is allegedly the most repressive country in the region in terms
of media freedom, according to an annual survey by the Media Institute of
Southern Africa (MISA).

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also included
Zimbabwe in its list of "The World's Worst Places to be a Journalist",
released on Monday to mark World Press Freedom Day.

"Last year saw the biggest blow to press freedom yet, with authorities
closing the Daily News, Zimbabwe's only independent daily and the
country's most popular paper," the CPJ said. "Zimbabwean officials have
proven particularly sensitive to coverage of political unrest and the
country's severe economic problems."


South Africa donates US $15m for emergency relief

South Africa has donated R100 million (US $15 million) to the Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) for
their emergency operations in Southern Africa.

About R67.5 million ($10.2 million) of the donation will be used by the
FAO for agricultural interventions to improve household food security in
six drought and flood affected countries - Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique,
Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe - the regional director of FAO for Southern
Africa, Graham Farmer, told IRIN.

The "finer details of the interventions are being worked out" in
collaboration with the South African department of agriculture, which
would handle the technical aspects of the monetary assistance, he
explained.


ZAMBIA: Stringent measures lead to improved growth

Aggressive efforts by Zambia to curb government overspending have begun to
pay off and the country's finance ministry reports steady economic growth
over the past year.

Deputy Finance Minister Felix Mutati told IRIN on Tuesday that much of the
improvement - 5.1 percent economic growth in 2003 - was due to austerity
measures agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Zambia overshot its 2003 budget by Kwacha 610 billion (about US $130
million), as a result of which the IMF and other donors withheld US $175
million in funding.


MADAGASCAR: "Dramatic" effect of cyclones on food security -
WFP

The almost complete destruction of rice fields in Madagascar's northern
province of Mahajanga, after a series of severe cyclones, is expected to
jeopardise long-term agricultural production, the World Food Programme
(WFP) said on Monday.

Preliminary results from last week's inter-agency crop assessment in
affected areas in the northwestern region revealed that 80 percent of rice
fields in the Maevetanana district were destroyed by the heavy rains.

"The effects of the cyclones have been quite dramatic. After cyclone
Elita, residents in the area started planting again, but then Gafilo hit,
which destroyed much of their efforts," WFP country director, Bodo Henze,
told IRIN.


SWAZILAND: Draft constitution to be challenged

Swaziland's draft constitution will be challenged in court by the National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA), a group of lawyers, human rights activists
and opposition political parties.

"The Draft Constitution is a product of a process which is not free, not
transparent and not accountable to the people. It is founded on oppressive
laws that make it impossible for citizens to participate freely, without
fear, particularly because political rights are still being withheld and
political organisations are prohibited," said the NCA in a statement
issued on Monday.

Swaziland Law Society officials confirmed that the constitution would be
challenged in court before King Mswati decrees it as law, which the
monarch has promised to do during this year.


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