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 167
14 - 20 February 2004


CONTENTS:

ANGOLA: New restrictions placed on NGOs
ZIMBABWE: Country "needs to be normalised" before polls - MDC
NAMIBIA: Special report on land reform, Part 1
SOUTH AFRICA: More funds for peacekeeping efforts
MOZAMBIQUE: Unpredictable weather threatens food security
SWAZILAND: State of emergency declared
ZAMBIA: Unions' strike "successful"
MALAWI: US $25 million from World Bank next month
MADAGASCAR: Aid urgent after Elita sows destruction


ANGOLA: New restrictions placed on NGOs

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in Angola will have to
submit detailed reports and strictly adhere to national labour laws and
other regulations as the government implements a law governing their
activities, IRIN reported on Friday.

Rules passed in December 2002, designed to boost efficiency and
coordination as the country moves to a reconstruction and development
phase after 27 years of civil war, would be fully enforced, Minister of
Social Welfare Joao Baptista Kussumwa said this week.

Urging NGOs to embrace "a more healthy and useful cooperation", Kussumwa
said that if limited resources were to be used efficiently, NGO projects
should be included in the government's strategy for growth and fighting
poverty.

NGOs are still digesting the implications of the new system, but after
having been allowed to operate freely during Angola's emergency years of
the war and its immediate aftermath, some fear it could harm their
autonomy and hamper their humanitarian efforts.

More
details

New body to monitor diamond-mining sector

On Thursday IRIN reported that the Angolan government has set up a new
security body to monitor the lucrative but loosely controlled
diamond-mining sector.

A newly established security agency, the Corpo de Seguranca de Diamantes
(CSD), will monitor the storing, classification and transportation of
diamonds.

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said this week that control of
diamond security in the past "has been allocated to several people or
groups within the ruling elite, sometimes in partnerships with foreign
firms. The CSD will be under the control of the domestic intelligence
services".

As part of ongoing efforts to curb illegal diamond trafficking, the
Angolan army arrested 700 people during an operation in the central
province of Bie in December, and some 10,000 illegal Congolese diamond
miners were expelled.


Luanda offers apology over expelled miners

Angola has apologised for the treatment of Congolese miners during a
recent crackdown on illegal diamond traffickers in the country,
acknowledging that "excesses" were committed by soldiers, IRIN reported on
Tuesday.

"These excesses provoked harmful repercussions, which we regret, and for
which we offer a public apology," Angola's official Journal de Angola
newspaper quoted interior minister Osvaldo Serra Van-Dunem as saying on
Monday.

Some 10,000 illegal diamond miners from the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) have been expelled from Angola since December 2003, as part of the
government's campaign to clean up the diamond mining industry.

However, a DRC rights group, Voice of the Voiceless (VOV), told IRIN that
Angolan troops and civilians had subjected many of the Congolese to
beatings and death threats. "Many of the returnees told us that they had
experienced some form of violence. In one case, one of the miners crossed
the border after Angolan soldiers had amputated one of his arms. These
people were treated as subhuman," said Dolly Ibefo, vice-president of the
rights body.

More
details


ZIMBABWE: Country "needs to be normalised" before polls - MDC

The Zimbabwean opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) told IRIN
on Thursday the country "needs to be normalised" before elections can be
held.

MDC spokesman Paul Temba Nyathi was responding to an announcement on state
radio on the same day that parliamentary elections would be held in March
next year. President Robert Mugabe was also quoted as saying he had no
plans to retire from politics.

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details


New study sheds light on lives of disabled

Disability and social support grants in Zimbabwe only amount to about Zim
$15,000 (US $3.75) a month, while a loaf of bread cost Zim $2,300, IRIN
reported on Thursday, citing a recent study.

The report, "Living Conditions Among People with Activity Limitations in
Zimbabwe, a Representative Regional Survey" sampled 22,000 people in five
of the country's 10 provinces, and found the disabled were deeply
disadvantaged in terms of access to education, employment and state
support.

Only one out of every eight respondents was receiving financial
assistance, the study revealed.

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details


Inflation set to rise to 700 percent

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has warned that official inflation will
rise to 700 percent next month before falling steadily for the rest of the
year, reported IRIN on Wednesday.

Addressing a business seminar in the capital Harare late last week, RBZ
governor Gideon Gono said projections by the central bank showed that
inflation would rise from the current 622.8 per cent to peak at 700 per
cent in March. Thereafter it would sink, until reaching a low of 200
percent in December.

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details


Network of support set up for OVC

IRIN on Tuesday reported on a community-based support network hoping to
provide material and emotional support to more than 40,000 orphans and
vulnerable children (OVC) in Zimbabwe.

The network was initiated in November last year by the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF), in partnership with the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society, Family AIDS
Caring Trust Mutare, and the Centre for Total Transformation.

The year-long programme, funded by the European Community Humanitarian
Office, assists OVC in 27 districts spread over eight provinces, said Ron
Pouwels, the project officer in UNICEF's child protection unit.

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details


Free ARVs available from next month

Also on Tuesday, IRIN reported that government hospitals in Zimbabwe's two
major urban centres, Harare and Bulawayo, are to start providing free
antiretroviral (ARV) drugs from next month, in partnership with UNAIDS,
the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the local health ministry.

The programme, unveiled last week, is part of WHO's "Three by Five" vision
of providing three million people globally with access to ARVs by 2005.

"The Three by Five programme is part of our efforts in assisting the
Zimbabwean government with the provision of antiretrovirals," WHO country
representative to Zimbabwe, Everisto Njelesani, was quoted as saying.

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details


"No tighter EU sanctions"

The European Union renewed its sanctions against the Zimbabwean government
this week, but were not significantly tightened.

Anticipating the move was a European parliamentarian, who expressed his
disappointment with the EU decision to IRIN on Monday.

More
details


New anti-corruption regulations "unconstitutional"

Also on Monday, IRIN reported on the new anti-corruption regulations
allowing Zimbabwean police to hold suspects accused of economic crimes for
up to four weeks without bail. The regulations were described as
"unconstitutional" by a human rights body.

Presidential Powers were used on Friday to amend the Criminal Procedure
and Evidence Act, which now 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.

More
details


Valentine's Day march stopped

IRIN on Monday reported on a pressure group's unsuccessful attempts to
hold a march in the capital, Harare, on Valentine's Day. Zimbabwean police
on Saturday dispersed more than 100 women who were planning march to urge
national reconciliation.

In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, the high court refused to hear an
urgent application sought by the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) to compel
the police to allow them to march.

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details


NAMIBIA: Special report on land reform, Part 1

This week IRIN looked at Namibia's land reform process, which is being
questioned by some who find the pace too slow, while others argue that its
benefits are debatable.

The land reform process in Namibia is based on a "willing-seller,
willing-buyer" principle, with the government having first option on any
commercial farm for sale.

Only 30,720 people out of an estimated 243,000 landless Namibians were
resettled by 2003, and critics have said the country's piecemeal land
reform had moved far too slowly since independence in 1990, and delivered
far too few tangible benefits to its land-hungry citizens.

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details


Special report on land reform, Part 2

In the second and final instalment of the special report series, IRIN
looked at the issue of security tenure for former farm workers on
commercial farms.

More
details


Some Angolan refugees reluctant to return home

IRIN on Monday reported on the plight of Angolan refugees in Namibia.
While many Angolan refugees in Namibia are said to be eager to return to
their country of origin, some based outside the border town of Rundu are
not entirely convinced that this would be in their best interests.

The refugees fled the civil war which ravaged Angola for 27 years and are
now reluctant to swop a relatively stable life for the uncertainties of
repatriation to Angola.

IRIN visited the Kasava refugee transit centre, where asylum seekers are
housed before being transported to the main Namibian settlement for
refugees at Osire. Next to the transit centre in Kasava is a small village
of traditional mud and straw huts, populated by 409 Angolan refugees.

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details


SOUTH AFRICA: More funds for peacekeeping efforts

South Africa's Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, on Wednesday allocated
R1.1 billion (around US $165 million) for the country's peacekeeping
missions on the continent over the next three years.

On Thursday IRIN spoke to defence analyst Henry Boschof of the Institute
for Security Studies, who pointed out that almost the entire amount would
go towards South Africa's deployment in Burundi, which had yet to find
foreign donors.

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details


Budget boost for AIDS spending

IRIN on Wednesday reported South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel's
announcement that a further R2.1 billion (US $305 million) will be
allocated to fighting HIV/AIDS over the next three years.

Manuel said in his 2004 budget speech to parliament on the same day that
this amount included provision for provincially administered
antiretroviral (ARV) treatment programmes.

The increase in spending will also cover the implementation of new rural
and scarce skills allowances, aimed at improving health services in remote
areas and retaining highly skilled professions in the health service. The
upgrade or replacement of 27 hospitals is also planned over the
medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF).

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details


MOZAMBIQUE: Unpredictable weather threatens food security

Floods and cyclones have threatened to wreak havoc on Mozambique's
predominantly rural population, while a drought in the south of the
country could continue for a third consecutive year. IRIN reported on
Wednesday that Mozambique could even experience all three calamities ^Ö
drought, cyclones and floods - in different parts of the country
simultaneously.

The emergency response strategy estimated that 1.3 million people in the
coastal provinces of Nampula (north) and Inhambane (south) could be
affected by cyclones this year, and another 875,000 are vulnerable to
flooding in Nampula, as well as in the southern and central provinces of
Maputo and Zambezia. It is also estimated that approximately 970,000
people could be threatened by drought, with Maputo, Tete and the provinces
of Nampula and Cabo Delgado in the north at highest risk.

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details


Cholera wave ebbs as countermeasures pay off

Aggressive attempts to control a recent outbreak of cholera in Mozambique
have paid off, and aid officials are reporting a significant drop in the
number of cases, IRIN reported on Tuesday.

The World Health Organisation this week confirmed the decrease in the
number of admissions to the Mavalane Cholera Treatment Centre (MCTC), the
main cholera facility in the capital, Maputo.

Since the outbreak of the disease in late December, the MCTC has treated
5,989 cases, and recorded 31 deaths. Kahozi attributed the improvement to
a number of preventative measures undertaken by the local authorities and
the humanitarian community.

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details


SWAZILAND: State of emergency declared

Swaziland on Wednesday declared a state of national emergency, formally
recognising the humanitarian crisis gripping the country and opening the
door to further donor assistance.

Prime Minister Themba Dlamini appealed to the international community for
assistance a press conference on the same day, reported IRIN on Thursday.

"The deadly combination of HIV/AIDS and poverty has produced a novel
situation that has increased the vulnerability of families. The
combination of these trends, and severity of the situation, leave no doubt
in my mind that the Kingdom of Swaziland is indeed in a desperate
scenario, which requires urgent national and international intervention,"
Dlamini said.

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details


ZAMBIA: Unions' strike "successful"

IRIN this week reported on the Zambian unions' nationwide stayaway against
tax hikes and wage freezes on Wednesday. With the police in Lusaka earlier
in the week refusing to grant the unions' permission to demonstrate, the
strike almost did not take place.

Sylvester Tembo, secretary-general of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU), described the strike as "successful". He told IRIN that 90 percent
of workers in the public sector had heeded the strike call.

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details


Concerns over irregularities in HIPC fund spending

Zambian debt relief monitors have raised concerns over alleged
irregularities in spending on poverty relief under the donor-supported
Highly-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, IRIN reported on
Tuesday.

The independent HIPC Tracking and Monitoring External Team, investigating
the use of the funds saved under the debt relief programme, identified
alleged abuses involving top civil servants in a report released last
week.

The team was established by the Ministry of Finance in 2001 to monitor the
disbursement of funds.

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details


MALAWI: US $25 million from World Bank next month

Malawi can expect the first half of a US $50 million structural adjustment
credit from the World Bank next month, a bank official told IRIN on
Wednesday.

The second tranche of the credit will be given to Malawi in October,
subject to certain conditions, which include commercialisation of the
Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC), said the
Bank's country economist, Maxwell Nkwezalamba.

Expressing confidence in the Malawian government's handling of
expenditure, Nkwezalamba pointed out that the British government was
expected to pump at least $19 million into the country in the coming
months, while a further $19 million was expected from the European Union
in the next few weeks, with $5 million more from Norway.

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details


MADAGASCAR: Aid urgent after Elita sows destruction

Madagascar has appealed for international assistance after tropical storm
Elita killed 29 people and left thousands homeless, IRIN reported on
Monday.

According to the presidential spokesman, Didier Rakotoarisoa, close to 100
people were injured after Elita returned to the Indian Ocean island for
the second time two weeks ago.

"The situation is critical - we have recorded 29 deaths, three people are
missing and about 44,000 people are without shelter. There was also
significant damage to about 500 public buildings, and about 12,000 homes
in [the northwestern province of] Mahajanga were destroyed. We have still
to assess the impact of the rains on roads and telecommunications,"
Rakotoarisoa said.

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details


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