Weekly Round-Up - IRINSA-183: 25-Jun-04
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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SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 183
19 - 25 June 2004
CONTENTS:
ANGOLA: Military involvement in DRC unlikely
NAMIBIA: Refugees released on bail
SOUTH AFRICA: AI urges Mbeki to help end alleged rights abuses
SOUTHERN AFRICA: South Africa regional centre for human trafficking
SWAZILAND: Youth congress calls for political change by 2008
ZAMBIA: New power line to boost export earnings
ZIMBABWE: New anti-corruption legislation "unconstitutional"
AFRICA: Call for greater solidarity among ACP countries
ANGOLA: Military involvement in DRC unlikely
Angola was unlikely to get involved in any military intervention in
support of the government in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an
analyst with the Luanda-based think-tank, Centre for Strategic Studies
told IRIN on Wednesday.
The analyst was responding to reports of rising tensions in the DRC and a
trip to Kinshasa, capital of the DRC, by Angolan foreign affairs minister
Joao Miranda this week.
He noted that any instability in the DRC "means the possibility of
refugees coming into Angola, and arms trafficking at the border", which
would burden Angola's limited resources to police its borders.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41829
Discussions on election timetable to begin
Angola's main opposition party, UNITA, on Tuesday cautiously welcomed a
move by the authorities to open dialogue on a timetable for the country's
first post-war elections.
In a communique issued at the weekend, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos
announced that the Council of the Republic, a consultative body, would
begin discussions on possible dates for the national poll.
"This is positive step, as we have been saying that Angola will only be
truly democratic as soon as elections are held. It is important that the
government consult broadly with all the opposition parties and members of
civil society to achieve consensus on a definite date for elections,"
UNITA's secretary for public administration, Alcides Sakala, told IRIN.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41816
NAMIBIA: Refugees released on bail
Six refugees charged with incitement to public violence in Namibia were
released on Wednesday on Nam $500 (US $80) bail.
The six, all Congolese nationals, were arrested on Tuesday and charged
with "incitement to public violence, resisting arrest and obstructing
police officers from executing their duties", police spokesman chief
inspector Angula Amulungu confirmed.
They are members of the Association for the Defence of Refugee Rights
(ADR), based in Osire refugee camp about 300 km north of the capital,
Windhoek.
The arrest followed an attempted protest during World Refugee Day
celebrations on Monday, when the refugee group waved placards accusing the
authorities of violating their rights by allegedly denying them refugee
status.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41836
Farmers' union seeks to allay land reform fears
This week the Namibian Agricultural Union (NAU) sought to allay fears that
the country was heading for a Zimbabwe-style fast-track land reform
programme.
The move followed a second round of letters notifying farmers that the
government intended to purchase their land under its reform programme and
was willing to pay "just compensation".
NAU president Jan de Wet told IRIN: "We must put the minds of farmers and
the international community at ease. The letters to farmers are an
invitation, and not a notice served on them that if they don't offer [to
sell their farms] then their land will be expropriated [without
compensation],"
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41833
SOUTH AFRICA: AI urges Mbeki to help end alleged rights abuses
Rights group Amnesty International (AI) this week delivered an open letter
to South African President Thabo Mbeki, urging him to intensify efforts to
end alleged human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
AI spokesman in South Africa Samkelo Mokhine told IRIN that the rights
group was "expecting a response from [Mbeki's] government".
"The letter, signed by AI South Africa, AI Zimbabwe and other human rights
and civil society organisations from South Africa and Zimbabwe underlines
the ongoing and unrelenting nature of the crisis in Zimbabwe," said a
statement released by the rights group.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41846
SOUTHERN AFRICA: South Africa regional centre for human trafficking
South Africa is the regional centre of an intricate trafficking network
that recruits women and children from Mozambique, Angola, Malawi,
Thailand, China, Eastern Europe and even as far afield as the East Asian
city of Macau, delegates at a conference on human trafficking heard this
week.
About 1,000 Mozambicans are smuggled into South Africa every year, earning
traffickers approximately one million rand (about US $159,223) annually,
according to Jonathan Martens in his presentation to a conference in
Johannesburg, South Africa. Martens.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41837
Conference on human trafficking opens
"I am young - but up here is old," says an 11-year-old girl working as a
prostitute in Cape Town, pointing to her head - one of many images in
hard-hitting footage on the sex industry, screened at the opening of a
conference on human trafficking in South Africa on Tuesday.
According to Interpol, sex traffickers earn an extimated US $19 billion
annually. "It is diffcult to put a figure to the value of trade in
Southern Africa, as we have only just begun investigating it," Jonathan
Martens of the Geneva-based NGO, International Organisation for Migration
(IOM), told IRIN.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41817
HIV/AIDS seriously impacts social service delivery
Spiralling HIV/AIDS rates and ongoing food shortages were to blame for the
"world's most serious" humanitarian crisis, James Morris, the UN Special
Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa, said on Tuesday.
At the end of a week-long mission to Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and
Namibia, Morris noted that the average regional HIV/AIDS prevalence rate
of 24 percent had taken its toll on the ability of governments to deliver
essential social services.
"What is happening in southern Africa absolutely represents the most
serious humanitarian crisis in the world today," Morris told reporters in
Johannesburg.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41814
Regional leaders should "recommit to peace"
Political leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its
neighbours need to recommit to peace to check rising tensions, a security
analyst told IRIN on Monday.
Henry Boschof, a security expert at the Pretoria-based Institute for
Security Studies, said an upcoming mission by the Southern Africa
Development Community (SADC) to the DRC should urge "all the signatories
to the Sun City agreement to recommit to peace".
Following failed efforts to end the civil conflict through dialogue, the
DRC government and rebel groups met last year at Sun City, South Africa,
and unanimously endorsed a transitional constitution to govern the country
for two years.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41802
SWAZILAND: Youth congress calls for political change by 2008
The Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) resolved at a weekend meeting in
South Africa to use youth-led mass action to bring democracy to
sub-Saharan Africa's last remaining absolute monarchy.
"The assembly gathered under the battle cry: 'Youth of Swaziland unite and
rise up against royal oppression', affirming the decade of liberation
through popular and militant youth struggle," Kenneth Kunene, the SWAYOCO
secretary general, told a press conference.
At its 7th General Congress held in Nelspruit, about two hours' drive
north of the Swaziland border, SWAYOCO set 2008 as the date when they
expect to see a popularly elected democratic government in Swaziland,
which coincides with the next parliamentary election scheduled under the
current royal regime.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41798
Pregnant school girls no longer face expulsion
High school girls who fall pregnant will no longer be expelled from their
schools, the Swaziland Schools Headteachers Association resolved last
week. The policy change overturns what has been standard practice since
before independence, when Christian missionaries established schools in
Swaziland.
"Expelling pregnant girls is inhumane, because in most cases they are
impregnated by boys who are allowed to carry on with their education,
while the girl stays home," Themba Shabangu, Secretary General of the
headteachers' association, said in a statement.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41797
ZAMBIA: New power line to boost export earnings
Zambia is set to boost export earnings from hydropower generation once a
new US $12 million power transmission line to neighbouring Namibia is
completed by next year, according to news reports.
Angela Cifire, a senior public relations manager in Zambia's power
utility, Zesco, said the current 66kv power line from the Victoria Falls
power station to Katima Mulilo in Namibia's eastern Caprivi region would
be upgraded to 220kv. Namibia's power demands in the area have grown,
largely due to the irrigation needs of new sugar plantations and other
commercial activities.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41838
Coup plotter freed
President Levy Mwanawasa, acting on medical advice, on Monday freed
Captain Jack Chiti, one of the masterminds of an attempted coup in 1997,
news reports said.
Chiti, who has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is confined to a
wheelchair, was one of 46 coup plotters whose death sentences were
commuted to between 10 and 20 years of hard labour by Mwanawasa in
February.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41818
ZIMBABWE: New anti-corruption legislation "unconstitutional"
New anti-corruption legislation, effective from this week, which
formalises regulations allowing Zimbabwean police to hold suspects accused
of economic crimes for up to four weeks without bail is
"unconstitutional", human rights activists alleged on Friday.
The Criminal Procedure and Evidence Amendment Bill went through parliament
this week, despite opposition from some ruling ZANU-PF MPs. President
Robert Mugabe had already used his extraordinary powers to decree the
provisions of the bill in February.
The amendment enables the police to detain people suspected of committing
economic crimes, including corruption, money laundering and illegal
dealing in foreign exchange and gold, for up to a week. The police can
also hold suspects for a further 21 days if prima facie evidence of their
involvement is produced, without giving them the option of applying for
bail or paying a fine.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41880
Alarm over HIV prevalence in armed forces
Health workers in Zimbabwe have called for increased efforts to stem the
high number of AIDS-related deaths in the armed forces.
The recently released 2003 Zimbabwe Human Development Report claimed that
HIV prevalence in the armed forces far exceeded the general population
infection rate of 24.6 percent in the general population, and
three-quarters of soldiers died of AIDS within a year of leaving the army.
A UNAIDS survey undertaken in 1999 showed that 55 percent of the then
36,000-strong army were HIV-positive.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41858
Producers withhold soya crop
Soya bean farmers in Zimbabwe have decided to withhold their crops from
the market in protest at prices offered by buyers, Jane Mutau
vice-president of the National Soya Bean Commodity Association told IRIN.
The decision follows a deadlock in negotiations between producers and
buyers on setting a higher purchase price in line with increased
production costs.
Farmers are demanding a price increase of between Zim $2.5 million (about
US $467) and Zim $4 million (US $747) per tonne, while buyers maintain
they cannot offer anything higher than the current price range of between
Zim $1.7 million (US $317) and Zim $1.9 million (US $355).
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41849
Opposition crys foul over legal delays to electoral disputes
Zimbabwe's main opposition party on Wednesday accused the country's
judiciary of "deliberately sidelining" electoral disputes.
In a recent report the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) noted that 14
of the 39 electoral challenges filed by the party since the 2000
parliamentary poll had not been heard by the High Court.
"It has been four years since the last poll, but to date there remain
several disputed seats still unresolved. The delay is no coincidence, but
a clear indication that the work of the judiciary continues to be
politically influenced," MDC information officer, Nkanyiso Maqueda, told
IRIN.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41835
Women activists arrested
Police in Bulawayo arrested 78 women activists at the weekend as they
attempted to stage a demonstration to mark World Refugee Day and draw
attention to the plight of Zimbabweans "living like refugees", an official
of the NGO, Women of Zimbabwe (WOZA), told IRIN on Monday.
Zimbabwean police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed the arrests, but
was unable to confirm the number held. He said all the women had been
released after they admitted guilt to "staging an illegal demonstration"
but two women were still to appear in court.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41801
AFRICA: Call for greater solidarity among ACP countries
Leaders of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries meeting in
Mozambique this week called for greater solidarity among developing
countries when pressing the European Union (EU) for group trade benefits.
The 79-nation bloc focused on international trade, aid and security issues
at its 4th ACP summit, held in the capital, Maputo.
The EU recently agreed to revise trade arrangements giving ACP producers
special access to European markets and development aid. Instead of
agreeing to one accord, six regional groups in the ACP have decided that
the EU should negotiate an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with each
of them before a 2008 deadline.
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41857
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