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 228
23 - 29 April 2005


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Re-election to UN Human Rights Commission uproar
MOZAMBIQUE: More resources needed for malaria, say UN agencies
SWAZILAND: WFP calls for holistic approach to end food insecurity
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Large cross-border informal food trade recorded
ANGOLA: More than US $2 million to tackle Marburg
COMOROS: Controversial draft bill withdrawn
LESOTHO: Opposition "disapproves" local poll conditions
NAMIBIA: BIG could be beautiful for the poor
ZAMBIA: Govt not doing enough for OVC, says official report
INDIAN OCEAN: Conference contributes to global study on child rights
SOUTH AFRICA: Switching on to 'green'


ZIMBABWE: Re-election to UN Human Rights Commission uproar

Human rights groups have called for the "immediate reform" of the United 
Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) after Zimbabwe's re-election 
to the 53-member commission on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe was among 15 countries chosen to sit on the commission for the 
next three years, prompting immediate protests from the United States 
and other developed nations.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46854


Food imports will drain govt coffers, say analysts

Zimbabwe has turned to Zambia, Uganda and Tanzania for grain imports as 
the state Grain Marketing Board (GMB) attempts to restock the country's 
dwindling maize and wheat stocks.

Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Nicholas Goche 
confirmed to IRIN that Zimbabwe had expanded its grain sources to 
include these three countries, in addition to South Africa, the major 
supplier.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46809


Labour movement has little to celebrate on May Day

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) remains the only credible 
labour movement in the country, despite facing internal strife and 
pressure from the government, economic and political analysts told IRIN.

Over the past month the ZCTU leadership has been challenged by factions 
in affiliated unions, who have accused them of misappropriating money 
and awarding themselves hefty salary increases without union approval.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46887


Experts call for new assessment to determine food shortages

Agricultural experts have called for an "objective" assessment of crop 
production in Zimbabwe, as preliminary forecasts point to yet another 
year of widespread food shortages.

"There is consensus around the view that food production in the 2004/05 
agricultural season will be poor, and not nearly enough to satisfy the 
needs of the country in the next consumption year. However, objective 
and transparent assessments need to be undertaken in order to determine 
the magnitude and geographic spread of the production shortfall," the 
Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) cautioned in its latest 
food security update.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46885


Mining decline hits workers hard

The sudden closure of mines in Zimbabwe five years ago is still having a 
negative impact on the livelihoods of thousands of former employees.

Forty-four year old Sara Muwati was among the 1,300 workers who lost 
their jobs when the Mhangura copper mine in Mashonaland West province 
shut down in 2000.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46884


Call to boycott elections

A Zimbabwean NGO, the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), has urged 
political parties to boycott elections until the country gets a new and 
democratic constitution.

NCA chairman Lovemore Madhuku made the call after the Zimbabwe Electoral 
Commission (ZEC) issued a press statement calling on voters to check 
their names on the voters' roll as the country prepares for by-elections 
in 17 districts and urban centres.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46791


MOZAMBIQUE: More resources needed for malaria, say UN agencies

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) 
this week appealed to development partners to increase their efforts to 
prevent and fight malaria, the main child- killer in Mozambique.

Malaria accounts for around 35 percent of all deaths among children 
under five, and the high prevalence is a major contributing factor to 
Mozambique having one of the highest child mortality rates in the world.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46793


Public sector employees need more incentives

World Bank (WB) support in building Mozambique's public sector has been 
"satisfactory", but it has been less effective in strengthening human 
capacity, according to an evaluation report.

Mozambique is one of six country case studies undertaken by the 
Operations Evaluation Department (OED) of the WB to assess the relevance 
and effectiveness of its support for public sector capacity building in 
Sub-Saharan Africa over the past 10 years.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46792


SWAZILAND: WFP calls for holistic approach to end food insecurity

The World Food Programme (WFP) has called for a holistic approach to 
tackle food insecurity in Swaziland after four years of drought.

"We need to look at the food shortage situation as a whole, including 
all the factors that contribute: not just a lack of rainfall but the 
appropriateness of crops; the need to educate farmers on better seeds 
and cropping techniques; ways to mitigate AIDS, which is eliminating 
farmers," WFP's country representative in Swaziland, Abdoulaye Balde, 
told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46796


Business coalition launches HIV/AIDS mitigation plan

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have the potential to lift living 
standards and build a new generation of entrepreneurs, but in Swaziland 
that strategy is being challenged by AIDS.

"I am HIV negative, but my past two work supervisors left because of 
illness. They grew so thin that you knew the cause," said Charles 
Mtetfwa, a contractor in the central commercial town of Manzini.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46839



SOUTHERN AFRICA: Large cross-border informal food trade recorded

Some 102,000 mt of maize was traded informally across Southern African 
borders between July 2004 and the March 2005, according to the Famine 
Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET).

The latest bulletin by FEWS NET's monitoring initiative noted that 
17,000 mt of rice and 17,000 mt of beans had also crossed national 
borders in informal trade by the end of the agricultural marketing 
season last month.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46813



Uneven record of press freedom, says new MISA report

Southern Africa's media faced a mixed bag of challenges over the past 
year, a new report has found.

The annual publication by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), 
'So this is Democracy? - State of Media Freedom in Southern Africa 
2004', published ahead of next week's World Press Freedom Day, said the 
status quo of either a generally free or a restricted media environment 
had been maintained in the countries surveyed.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46861



ANGOLA: More than US $2 million to tackle Marburg

More than US $2 million has been allocated by various agencies this week 
to help fight the Marburg outbreak in Angola.

The European Commission (EC) provided an additional $1.9 million, while 
the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies 
(IFRC) stepped in with over $200,000 to tackle the outbreak, the largest 
and deadliest of this rare disease.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46811


COMOROS: Controversial draft bill withdrawn

Political analysts and rights activists in the Comoros have applauded 
the withdrawal of a draft law allowing Union President Azali Assoumani 
to vie for a second four-year term in elections next year.

"By abandoning the legislation, Assoumani has shown that it is important 
to respect the constitution. This has set an important precedent, 
especially since there were expectations that he would have insisted on 
another term in office," local political analyst Abdorahim Said Bacar 
told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46794


LESOTHO: Opposition "disapproves" local poll conditions

Eleven Lesotho opposition parties have voiced their "disapproval" over 
holding local government elections this weekend, claiming that 
preparations are incomplete.

"We are not boycotting the elections, as our candidates have already 
been campaigning for it, but we have several concerns - the voters' roll 
has not been updated, the final voters' list has not been released and, 
in some areas, voting venues have not been publicised," Kelebone Maope, 
leader of the Lesotho People's Congress and a spokesman for the 
opposition parties said on Thursday.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46858


NAMIBIA: BIG could be beautiful for the poor

Namibian churches and NGOs have launched a coalition to lobby for the 
introduction of a universal grant to provide a safety net for the 
country's poor.

Borrowing the idea from neighbouring South Africa, they propose that a 
Basic Income Grant (BIG) be paid to every Namibian citizen from birth 
until the age of 60, when the national pension kicks in.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46880


ZAMBIA: Govt not doing enough for OVC, says official report

An official report has found that the Zambian government was not "giving 
sufficient priority" to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and has 
called for universal access to antiretroviral (ARV) drugs.

The study by the Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development (MSYCD) 
reviewed the state of OVC in Zambia over the past five years and found 
that assistance to the children was being hampered by inadequate funding 
and a lack of coordination among policies.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46837


INDIAN OCEAN: Conference contributes to global study on child rights

Delegates met in Madagascar this week to tackle the often-neglected 
issue of child rights in western Indian Ocean island countries.

The three-day conference brought together child rights advocates from 
Mauritius, Comoros, Seychelles and Reunion to discuss ways of dealing 
with the causes and impact of violence on children.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46814


SOUTH AFRICA: Switching on to 'green'

The Pan-African parliament building in South Africa switched to 'green' 
electricity last week in a symbolic commitment to renewable energy by 
the government.

Power is being provided to the building by Amatola Green Power, one of 
two suppliers of 'green electricity' through the national grid in South 
Africa. The other company is Green X.

'Green' power, or electricity - derived from renewable resources like 
biomass wastes in the sugar, wood and paper industries, alongside wind 
and solar energy, is the way to go, according to Davin Chown, an 
activist with the environmental lobby group, Earthlife Africa.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46888


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Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
2005


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