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 166
7 - 14 February 2004


CONTENTS:

ANGOLA: UNITA accuses govt of "deliberately" delaying election date
LESOTHO: GDP has grown but challenges lie ahead, IMF
SOUTH AFRICA: Concern over World Bank's position on funding mining 
  projects
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Special report on the challenge of providing healthy 
  urban environments
ZAMBIA: Rise in poverty reduction spending, but workers protest wage 
  freeze
ZIMBABWE: Rescuing Bulawayo's street kids
MOZAMBIQUE: Feature on cholera outbreak
SWAZILAND: WFP in talks with govt to help cover food pipeline shortages
BOTSWANA: Civic umbrella body to highlight plight of the Basarwa


ANGOLA: UNITA accuses govt of "deliberately" delaying election date

This week Angola's main opposition party, UNITA, launched another salvo
against the government, accusing the authorities of dragging their feet
over announcing a date for the country's first post-war general elections.

"The government says it's committed to having elections, but by not
announcing the date has led people to think that they are not serious. We
know that a lot needs to be done, but we have said that it can be sorted
out with a lot of hard work, and elections can go ahead in 2005," UNITA
leader Isaias Samakuva told IRIN.

Samakuva was reacting to comments made earlier this week by a senior
official of the ruling MPLA party that it might be two more years before a
national poll was held.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39383


Two more years before elections - MPLA official

Earlier in the week Samakuva claimed that the police had targeted UNITA
members. He urged authorities to dismantle civilian militias armed by the
government during the civil war, which ended in 2002.

"In the provinces there are quite a few problems - our members tell us
that they have been intimidated by MPLA. The police also ignore our
complaints, and this means that it is difficult for our members to work.
In Lunda Sul (northeast) we have had two of our members disappear. When we
asked the police to investigate, we did not receive any answer," UNITA
spokesman Azavado Kanganache told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39454


Fear of epidemic of deadly sleeping sickness

Engracia, who just a few months ago was working as a cleaner in Luanda,
the capital of Angola, is one of 17 patients being treated for Human
African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) – or sleeping sickness - at a centre run by
the NGO, Medicins sans Frontieres (MSF), in the town of Caxito in Bengo
province.

This chronic disease, transmitted through the bites of infected tsetse
flies, was all but eradicated before independence in 1975, but again
reared its ugly head in the 27 years of civil war that followed.

Now, with hundreds of thousands of people on the move in peacetime, there
is a serious risk that they will take the parasite with them into areas
where uninfected tsetse flies may bite them, become infected and pass on
the disease, sparking an epidemic that Angola, struggling to rebuild its
war-shattered infrastructure, can ill afford.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39442


Rights activists call for greater transparency

Rights activists on Wednesday accused the authorities of riding roughshod
over civil liberties after demonstrators this week were prevented from
staging a protest against alleged government graft.

According to the protest organisers, police on Tuesday cordoned off access
to the venue for the demonstration, a central square in the capital,
Luanda.

"When we turned up for the demonstration the police turned us away - we
were not even allowed to get out of our cars. In the areas surrounding the
square there were hundreds of police, whose presence had frightened many
people," Carlos Leitao, president of the Angolan Party for Democratic
Progress (PADEPA) told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39432


DBSA to lend US $30 million for reconstruction

The Southern African Development Bank (DBSA) will lend Angola US $30
million for reconstruction projects, a senior bank official told IRIN on
Wednesday.

Bane Maleke, head of the New Partnership for Africa's Development desk at
the DBSA said the Bank had agreed on Monday to provide the state-owned
Savings and Credit Bank (BPC) in Angola with the funds for two
infrastructure projects.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39429


LESOTHO: GDP has grown but challenges lie ahead, IMF

Despite severe weather conditions and regional food shortages, Lesotho's
economy performed well in the 2002/03 fiscal year, concluded a recent
International Monetary Fund (IMF) review.

The economy grew by almost four percent, from less than three-and-a-half
percent in the previous year.

Despite marginal growth, the small landlocked country faced daunting
medium-term problems, said the IMF, and one of the key causes of concern
was the fall in agricultural production in recent years.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39458


New laws to strengthen HIV/AIDS action

Two new laws, one currently going through the legislative pipeline and
another enacted last year, are key to addressing the confluence of social
problems that are contributing to Lesotho's humanitarian crisis.

"Because HIV/AIDS is undermining our social institutions and economy, it
is crucial that the Sexual Offences Act be utilised now that it is law,"
Limakatso Chisepo, director of social welfare at the Ministry of Health,
told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39441


Mountain kingdom faces humanitarian calamity

The tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho is suffering a calamity. Quietly,
away from the glare of the international media, it is struggling to cope
with a series of deep, interlinked crises that are testing the capacity of
the government and the humanitarian community.

The most obvious challenge is the country's food crisis - more than a
quarter of the 2.2 million population are in need of food aid. But poverty
and AIDS make this emergency all the more complicated and severe, and
recovery a long-term project rather than a problem solved by a single good
harvest.

This week IRIN reported on the effects of food shortages on the country's
vulnerable population.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39434


Testing times for rural households

The people of Lesotho are used to hardship, but yet another poor
agricultural season as a result of drought is testing their resilience.

"Some rains came in late December and early January. Some people planted,
but no one has seen anything come of it," Chief Simon Mokorooane of
Hachabeli in the Mohale's Hoek district in the southwest of the country
told IRIN.

Lesotho's chiefs are instrumental in providing population data to
humanitarian organisations. Mokorooane said 117 families in his chiefdom
were found without any food, and were put on the list of beneficiaries for
food aid the World Food Programme (WFP) will deliver in his area this
week.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39437


"The land is blowing away"

Lesotho's food shortage is said to be the most visible manifestation of
the country's humanitarian crisis, but the destructive power of rampant
soil erosion is more apparent to the eye.

People emaciated by hunger are hard to find - though skinny cattle are
common in most districts - but lunar landscapes of eroded gullies are
multiplying at an alarming rate, say conservationists, and are wiping out
croplands.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39435


OPEC funds to boost water supply

The OPEC Fund for International Development is to provide Lesotho with a
US $4 million loan to help finance the expansion of the water distribution
network in the capital, Maseru.

Lesotho's urban population has surged in recent years, particularly in
Maseru, primarily due to an enormous increase in the number of people
migrating from rural areas to seek jobs in the garment industry. The
situation has put a substantial strain on the city's water and sanitation
services, an OPEC statement said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39423


SOUTH AFRICA: Concern over World Bank's position on funding mining
projects

South Africa's Minister of Minerals and Energy, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, on
Monday raised concerns that the World Bank was considering a limit on
financing coal and oil projects in developing countries.

Mlambo-Ngucka's concerns were prompted by the recommendations in an
Extractive Industries Review (EIR), launched by the World Bank two years
ago to evaluate the impact of its involvement in the oil, mining and gas
sectors.

The EIR has recommended that the Bank cease funding coal projects, and
phase out its support for oil production by 2008.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39413


Poll date announced

South Africa will go to polls on 14 April, President Thabo Mbeki announced
in parliament on Monday.

The voters' registration closed this week. A little more than 20 million
South Africans are expected to have registered.

The election will be South Africa's third since the country became a
democracy in 1994.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39371


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Special report on the challenge of providing healthy
urban environments

IRIN reported on Tuesday that Africa's urban poor, often struggling to eke
out a living in unplanned and expanding shanty communities, are at the
back of the queue for water and sewerage services from underfunded local
authorities.

But, as recent serious outbreaks of cholera in Mozambique, Zambia and
Zimbabwe have demonstrated, the lack of access to safe water and proper
sanitation are critical public health issues.

Clean water and sanitation are not only universal needs but basic human
rights. "They are essential elements of human development and poverty
alleviation, and constitute an indispensable component of primary health
care... Sustainable health, especially for children, is not possible
without effective and adequate water supply and environmental sanitation,"
said the foreword to the Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment
2000 Report, jointly produced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

More details
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39415


Graduates do better than feared in the job hunt
 
A recent report has challenged the conventional wisdom that Africa's
educated youth often find themselves without a job after completing their
studies.

The study, conducted by the University of Sussex in Malawi, Tanzania,
Uganda and Zimbabwe, gathered information from over 5,000 participants who
had graduated from schools and universities between 1980 and 1995. The
results showed that employment outcomes were considerably better than
expected.

Researchers noted that although governments and parents continued to
invest heavily in university and secondary education, it was widely
believed that young people were increasingly unable to find appropriate
employment which effectively utilised the knowledge and skills acquired at
tertiary institutions.

More details
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39412


Region may face food shortages in 2004/05 season

On Monday IRIN reported a warning from a regional food security meeting
that most southern African countries may not be able to meet their food
requirements for the 2004/05 season as a result of poor rains.

The region is also anticipating a hike in the price of staple foods due to
projected low production.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) held a Mid-season
Strategic Assessment and Disaster Preparedness Meeting in the Mozambican
capital, Maputo, from 4 to 6 February to review the impact of erratic
rainfall during the 2003/04 season.

More details
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39375


ZAMBIA: Rise in poverty reduction spending, but workers protest wage
freeze

Spending by the Zambian government on poverty reduction programmes has
increased by almost US $22 million this year, IRIN reported on Thursday -
an amount described by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as "modest",
given the scale of the country's problems.

"Increasing the spending on poverty reduction programmes from 1.5 percent
last year to two percent of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is a modest
improvement. We hope that more funds can be allocated in the future,"
IMF's resident representative in Zambia, Joseph Kakoza, told IRIN.

Industrial action against the budget is already looming. Workers are
expected to hold a countrywide strike next Wednesday to protest against
the wage freeze and increased income tax.

More details
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39452 


Media demand access to information

Also on Thursday, IRIN reported on a week-long campaign by members of the
Zambian media to demand enactment of the Freedom of Information Bill.

The campaign is part of the media's efforts to lobby for the bill to be
brought before the current session of parliament, said Kellys Kaunda,
chairman of the Zambian chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa.

Kaunda said the bill was among three pieces of legislation which were to
have been approved by parliament last year. "The other two - the now
Independent Broadcasting Authority Act, and an amendment to the Zambia
National Broadcasting Corporation Act, to transform it into a public
service broadcaster - went through parliament. But the Freedom of
Information Bill was withheld," he told IRIN.

More details
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39443


ZIMBABWE: Rescuing Bulawayo's street kids

It is a few minutes before lunchtime and a disorderly queue of dishevelled
youths in ragged clothes has already formed outside the doors of Thuthuka,
a drop-in centre for street children in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo.

Dozens of youngsters from all over the central business district converge
here daily for a free lunch, a bath and a chance to wash their clothes
before returning to the city's pavements.

Thuthuka has led Bulawayo's initiative to help its homeless children by
also providing life skills education and counselling at the drop-in
centre, as part of a city-wide taskforce trying to address the growing
phenomenon.

More details
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39409


Mozambican traders allege harassment at border

IRIN this week reported that attempts by the Zimbabwean authorities to
stamp out smuggling across its eastern border with Mozambique have
resulted in increased friction with Mozambican traders, who accuse
immigration officials of harassment.

Mozambican cross-border traders, mostly women, at the Forbes border post
told IRIN that they were excessively searched and allegedly sometimes
beaten by the Zimbabwean police.

A Mozambican trader, Maria Duncas, told IRIN: "The Zimbabwe police and the
soldiers are cruel. They ask us to remove our clothes when searching us
... most of the time the body search is done by men. We complained to the
governor of Manicaland province, but the soldiers are not changing their
behaviour."

More details
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39389


MOZAMBIQUE: Feature on cholera outbreak

Cholera has infected 4,700 people in Mozambique over the last two and a
half months, IRIN reported.

The Mavalane Cholera Treatment Centre is a collection of tents and
improvised shelters in the grounds of one of the main hospitals in the
Mozambican capital, Maputo. It is in the front line of the government's
attempts to tackle a new outbreak of the highly contagious disease.

Mavalane's intensive care ward consists of tents with makeshift cane
roofing, held up by logs stuck into the sandy earth. Hundreds of people
lie on wooden bed bases, tightly packed next to each other. The beds have
a hole in the middle and a bucket underneath, a necessity for the weakened
patients suffering from relentless diarrhoea. Drips to rehydrate them, and
cardboard boxes with their records hang from wiring connected to the roof.

More details
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39388


SWAZILAND: WFP in talks with govt to help cover food pipeline shortages

Also on Monday, IRIN reported that the World Food Programme (WFP) had
asked the Swazi government to help cover shortages in its food pipeline
for 150,000 beneficiaries.

Sarah Laughton, WFP's emergency coordinator in Swaziland, told IRIN that
the food agency was in talks with the authorities and hoped the crisis
would be resolved this week.

About 217,000 beneficiaries receive a monthly food ration from WFP and the
Swazi government. "Out of the 217,000, WFP, through its emergency
operations (EMOP), takes care of 150,000, while the remaining 60,000 are
looked after by the Swazi government," explained Laughton.

More details
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39386


BOTSWANA: Civic umbrella body to highlight plight of the Basarwa

At its biennial world assembly in Botswana next month, an umbrella body of
civic organisations plans to open a dialogue on the plight of the
country's bushmen, also known as the Basarwa.

CIVICUS, the World Alliance for Citizen Participation, said on Tuesday it
was hoping to play the role of a "neutral mediator" in a dispute that pits
the governnment against human rights groups.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39401


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

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