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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Fax: +27 11 880 1421
e-mail: irin-sa@irin.org.za


SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-Up 155
6 - 12 February 2004


CONTENTS:

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Region not adequately prepared for planting season,
   warns report
MALAWI: More aid needed, says UNICEF
LESOTHO: Economic diversification desperately needed
MOZAMBIQUE: Food security will worsen unless good rains come
ZIMBABWE: Opposition MDC hopes to avoid split
SOUTH AFRICA: Mbeki pushes ahead with anti-corruption campaign
ZAMBIA: Funding shortfall prompts people to leave Food-for-Work projects
NAMIBIA: Growing controversy over teen pregnancy


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Region not adequately prepared for planting season, 
warns report

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) has cautioned in a 
new report that Southern Africa may not be adequately prepared for the 
upcoming planting season, while widespread food shortages batter the 
region.

IRIN reported on Thursday that the World Food Programme (WFP) currently 
needs US $185 million to feed up to 9.2 million hungry people - in 
Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe - and a 
bumper harvest is required next year if the region is to recover.

"However, despite the slight optimism from the Southern Africa Climatic 
Outlook Forum (SARCOF) for a normal to above-normal rainfall season in 
2005/06, the availability of inputs is of great concern," FEWS NET 
warned.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49652


MALAWI: More aid needed, says UNICEF

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) revised its appeal for Malawi to meet 
the needs of those caught in the worst humanitarian crisis the country 
has experienced in a decade, IRIN reported on Tuesday.

The rate of severe malnutrition among children under five had risen 
"alarmingly", UNICEF said. It has revised upwards its earlier appeal for 
US $2.5 million to $13 million, of which $9 million will go to fund 
nutritional programmes.

Humanitarian agencies initially expected the crisis to peak in the lean 
season between December and March, but there have been indications that 
the crisis may already be surpassing worst-case scenarios in some areas, 
particularly in the south. This has forced many agencies to review their 
plans in order to address the rapidly deteriorating situation.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49632


Mutharika declares disaster as food crisis deepens

IRIN reported on Monday that Malawi's worsening food crisis has been 
seized on by opponents of President Bingu wa Mutharika, intent on 
forcing him out of office.

Apparently bowing to opposition pressure, Mutharika on Saturday declared 
a state of disaster in all 28 districts of Malawi in response to 
widespread food shortages - an indication that the food crisis had 
become politicised, said Rafiq Hajat of the Blantyre-based Institute for 
Policy Interaction.

Hajat noted that the declaration came several weeks after the UN 
launched its US $88 million Flash Appeal for Malawi and was tantamount 
to "closing the stable door after the horse has already bolted".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49598


LESOTHO: Economic diversification desperately needed

Lesotho has to diversify its economy if it hopes to achieve the UN's 
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), confront a high prevalence of 
HIV/AIDS and address widespread poverty, according to the International 
Monetary Fund (IMF).

In a recent review of the country's economic performance, the IMF said 
"persistent drought conditions, weakened external competitiveness, a 
continued worsening of the terms of trade, and job losses from the 
phasing out of textile quotas by industrial countries" had caused real 
GDP growth to slacken off.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49650


Food aid needs could rise as lean season approaches

Funding shortages continue to bedevil food aid distributions in Lesotho 
as the country grapples with yet another year of shortages.

The tiny country needs food aid for more than half a million people 
despite a bigger maize crop this year, while the loss of farming skills 
due to HIV/AIDS is mounting.

"Right now, we are in a position to assist between 250,000 to 300,000 in 
need and that is a fair effort, given the limited resources we are 
working with," World Food Programme (WFP) deputy director Mads Lofvall 
told IRIN on Tuesday.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49630


MOZAMBIQUE: Food security will worsen unless good rains come

Preliminary findings from a food and nutritional assessment survey 
indicate that conditions in drought-affected southern Mozambique have 
deteriorated, a food security official told IRIN on Thursday.

"Rainfall, expected anytime now in Mozambique, could improve the 
conditions and perhaps reduce the estimated numbers in need of food 
aid," said Francisca Cabral of Mozambique's Technical Secretariat for 
Food Security and Nutrition (SETSAN). "But as of now the drought is 
worse than last year, and it is not getting any better for people in the 
areas experiencing a fourth year of drought."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49665


ZIMBABWE: Opposition MDC hopes to avoid split

The leadership of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change 
(MDC) is continuing crisis talks to mend divisions over whether to 
participate in next month's senate elections.

Party president Morgan Tsvangirai and both the women's and youth 
assemblies have called for a boycott of the senate poll on 26 November, 
but a powerful faction within the party has vowed to press ahead with 
preparations for the elections.

Tsvangirai announced two weeks ago that the MDC would not participate in 
the upcoming poll, overruling the party's national council, which had 
voted in favour of contesting.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49667


SOUTH AFRICA: Mbeki pushes ahead with anti-corruption campaign

South African President Thabo Mbeki has come out strongly against 
political opportunism in the African National Congress (ANC), saying 
ruling party members should remain vigilant against individuals seeking 
office for financial gain.

Mbeki's rebuke - made in his weekly letter on the ANC website - came as 
the country gears up for local government polls.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49648


ZAMBIA: Funding shortfall prompts people to leave Food-for-Work projects

As the World Food Programme (WFP) struggles to make do with limited 
resources, desperate Zambians are turning elsewhere in search of food, a 
senior WFP official confirmed.

A serious funding shortfall has forced the UN food agency to 
dramatically cut rations to food insecure communities, who have started 
abandoning Food-for-Work activities to search for wild food or other 
piecemeal work, WFP said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49600


NAMIBIA: Growing controversy over teen pregnancy

Ndjianje Tjiraure, 16, always excelled as a student at Ashipena High 
School in Katutura, Namibia's oldest black suburb.

But her hopes of becoming an engineer were dashed when she fell pregnant 
and gave birth to a boy last November, thanks to an education policy 
that requires teenage mothers to take at least a year off school to care 
for their babies.

"The authorities learnt of my pregnancy in the third month and expelled 
me," Tjiraure, who was in Grade 9 at the time of her pregnancy, told 
IRIN. "I have been told that I can only be admitted in school next 
year."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49666


IRIN-SA
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Fax: +27 11 784-6759
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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