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 274
11 - 17 March 2006


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: 'Coup plot' arrests ahead of MDC congress
ANGOLA: San walk fine line between development and tradition
MALAWI: Cholera outbreak claims 51
MADAGASCAR: Mosquito-borne fevers rampant in biggest port
MOZAMBIQUE: Zambezi river continues to rise above flood warning level
COMOROS: AU military electoral observers for presidential election
BOTSWANA: UN body urges govt to reopen talks with the San
NAMIBIA: NGOs protest proposed children's law
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Annan in South Africa, promises to visit Zimbabwe
SWAZILAND: Treason suspects free on bail
ZAMBIA: IMF meets with finance ministers



ZIMBABWE: 'Coup plot' arrests ahead of MDC congress

The anti-senate faction of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic 
Change (MDC), led by its founding president, Morgan Tsvangirai, says its 
weekend congress will be a "watershed" moment in the nation's history.

This follows an eventful week in which charges against three MDC 
leaders, who had been arrested for links to an alleged coup plot, were 
withdrawn on Thursday. Another MDC MP was arrested for allegedly 
insulting President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday, and former MDC MP Roy 
Bennett is currently being sought by police in connection with the an 
arms cache discovered a week ago in Mutare, 260 km east of Harare.

Tsvangirai's faction maintained that the arrests were an attempt to 
derail the upcoming congress.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52286


Hunger stalks San community

Confronted by chronic poverty, soaring commodity prices and shortages of 
basics, such as maize-meal, the elders of Zimbabwe's aboriginal San 
group have raised the alarm and are appealing for assistance to avert a 
humanitarian disaster.

"For the past years our situation has remained bad, but the hunger that 
we are facing at the moment is just too much. Life has never been easy 
for us ... In fact, what makes matters even worse is that we are not 
receiving any kind of support [humanitarian aid] from anyone," Levule 
Maphosa, a community elder in Mgodimasili village, told IRIN.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52270


Govt plans to import wheat to cover shortages

The Zimbabwean government plans to import wheat in May to meet national 
consumption requirements, according to a senior official.

"We have produced about 133,000 mt of wheat, but it is not enough," said 
Didymus Mutasa, Minister of National Security, who chairs the National 
Taskforce on Food Security. "We will have to import to meet shortages, 
we will decide on the amount when we start planting in May."

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52233


Lepers struggle to cope in worsening economic crisis

Life is never easy for people afflicted by leprosy, but Zimbabwe's fast 
deteriorating socioeconomic conditions have made it even more 
challenging.

At the Mutemwa Leprosy Settlement in Zimbabwe's northeastern Mutoko 
communal lands, 90 km east of the capital, Harare, the patients are 
desperately in need of food, clothing and financial assistance as the 
centre's coffers are empty. The centre also urgently needs money for 
bedding, repairs and maintenance of the facilities.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52202


Pit latrines a health hazard in cities, warn experts

Zimbabwe's local authorities and health experts have warned that the 
erection of ventilated pit latrines by the small number of beneficiaries 
of the country's urban renewal housing project could pose a serious 
health hazard.

Government has encouraged the occupants of the 150 new houses - hastily 
constructed after the controversial Operation Murambatsvina (Clean out 
Garbage), which affected hundreds of thousands of people last year - to 
build the toilets while they await the installation of formal ablution 
facilities. But health experts pointed out that the pit latrines were 
not geared to dispose of human waste in an urban environment and could 
easily result in the outbreak of diseases associated with poor 
sanitation, a lack of hygiene and access to potable water, such as 
cholera and diarrhoea.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52271


ANGOLA: San walk fine line between development and tradition

Exploited for centuries and described as the poorest of the poor even in 
a poverty-stricken country like Angola, the last San people in this 
southern African country are very slowly getting back on their feet.

The San, also known as Bushmen, are widely considered as the descendents 
of Southern Africa's first inhabitants, but their lives, particularly 
during Angola's three decades of civil war, have been fraught with 
hunger, discrimination and exploitation.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52273


Chairs stay empty around the Cabindan negotiating table

Despite claims that the Angolan government has opened a dialogue to 
bring peaceful resolution to the conflict in Cabinda, their counterparts 
in the enclave have yet to be invited to the table.

The Angolan armed forces chief of staff, general Agostinho Nelumba 
'Sanjar', told Ecclesia, a local Catholic radio station, on Monday that 
"the government has opened a dialogue and, in the near future, the 
problem will be resolved". But according to Raul Danda, a representative 
of the human rights NGO, Mpalabanda Cabinda Civil Association (MACC), 
and member of the Cabinda Forum for Dialogue (FCD), "we are still 
waiting for negotiation to start."

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52206


Easy access to guns concern as election nears

Gunfire occasionally reverberates around Angola's capital, Luanda, these 
days, something that rarely happened during almost three decades of 
vicious civil war.

Despite four years of peace, volleys of bullets are interrupting life in 
the capital and alarming its residents. As the prospect of the country's 
first peacetime elections draws nearer - either this year or in 2007 - 
so do the fears about the number of small arms held by Angolans.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52179


MALAWI: Cholera outbreak claims 51

A cycle of drought and flood in Malawi's southern and central regions 
has aggravated a cholera outbreak that has claimed 51 so far. The south 
experienced one of its worst droughts in a decade last year, and 
persistent dry spells have forced people to move around in search of 
food, exposing them to the risk of consuming contaminated food and 
water, which causes cholera, according to the UN Children's Fund 
(UNICEF) in Malawi.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52284


MADAGASCAR: Mosquito-borne fevers rampant in biggest port

Since the beginning of this year nearly all of the eastern port town of 
Toamasina's 200,000 residents have reportedly come down with either 
dengue or chikungunya fever. Both diseases are spread by the Aedes 
aegypti mosquito.

"We are sending a joint World Health Organisation (WHO) and Ministry of 
Health team there [Toamasina] on Sunday to better understand the 
behaviour of the mosquito. It is a different mosquito to the one 
transmitting malaria, which they are used to," the WHO country 
representative, Dr Leonard Tapsoba, told IRIN.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52231


MOZAMBIQUE: Zambezi river continues to rise above flood warning level

The Mozambican authorities and emergency partners are on high alert as 
the water level in the Zambezi river continues to rise well above flood 
warning levels.

Mozambique's largest river cuts through the northern province of Tete, 
and central provinces of Zambezia and Sofala. "This is a cause of 
concern, as the levels continue to rise and more rain is forecast," said 
Francisco Orlando, the provincial director of the disaster management 
unit in the central province of Zambezia, home to over three million 
people.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52184


COMOROS: AU military electoral observers for presidential election

As Comoros gears up for presidential primaries due on 16 April and the 
presidential election on 14 May, the African Union announced that it 
will send 500 troops to ensure the archipelago's upcoming polls are free 
and fair.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52288


BOTSWANA: UN body urges govt to reopen talks with the San

The UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has 
urged the Botswana government to reopen negotiations with the San 
community, who are contesting their relocation from the Central Kalahari 
Game Reserve (CKGR).

After meeting last week, the Geneva-based committee said it was 
concerned about the "discrepancy" between the information provided by 
the Botswana government that CKGR residents "were consulted and had 
agreed to their relocation outside the reserve, and persistent 
allegations that residents were forcibly removed".

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52207


NAMIBIA: NGOs protest proposed children's law

Namibian rights activists have braced themselves for a showdown with the 
government for "disregarding" their inputs to a children's rights bill, 
which they feel are undermined by its provisions.

Among the objections raised by the organisations were that the bill, 
which seeks equal rights for children born in and out of wedlock, 
provides automatic custody rights to the surviving parent - who could be 
an absentee father or a rapist.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52269


Hunger forces community to eat livestock feed

Poverty and hunger were forcing members of the San community in 
northeastern Namibia to eat livestock feed, according to a relief 
official.

A government investigation into a news report in a local daily, The 
Namibian, confirmed that members of the community, who live in western 
Caprivi, had consumed contaminated rice collected from the floor of a 
food warehouse, said Gabriel Kangowa, deputy director of the Emergency 
Management Unit (EMU).

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52204


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Annan in South Africa, promises to visit Zimbabwe soon

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was in South Africa this 
week and promised to visit Zimbabwe in a further attempt to resolve the 
country's problems.

Briefing the media in Cape Town after discussions with President Thabo 
Mbeki, Annan said Zimbabwe had great potential and an important role to 
play on the continent.

The current situation in the country was extremely difficult for 
Zimbabwe itself, the region, and the world, and had to be resolved, he 
said.


Bird flu - show us the money, say govts

Southern African countries have expressed confidence about dealing with 
an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu but funding for 
country plans remains elusive.

Representatives of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), 
the African Union (AU) and a number of international health and 
humanitarian organisations concluded a three-day workshop in South 
Africa last week to assess SADC member states' level of preparedness for 
dealing with an avian influenza pandemic.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52178



SWAZILAND: Treason suspects free on bail

Fifteen political activists on trial for treason in Swaziland have been 
freed on bail, despite the objections of government prosecutors.

Amid demands from international human rights groups that government 
investigate claims of police torture of defendants and witnesses, the 
state's case against the alleged petrol bombers suffered a setback when 
its South African advocates withdrew.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52176


ZAMBIA: IMF meets with finance ministers

International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Rodrigo de Rato was in Zambia 
this week to meet with the finance ministers of six African countries. 
News reports by SAPA-AFP said the meeting would showcase Zambia as a 
model for economic recovery, as it was one of several African countries 
to benefit from an IMF debt relief package. The country's economy had 
improved over the past four years, recording an average growth rate of 4 
percent.



Lusaka battles to control cholera

Zambia is struggling to combat an outbreak of cholera, a disease 
associated with poor sanitation, a lack of hygiene and access to potable 
water, which has claimed 137 lives, mostly in the capital, Lusaka.

The absence of a solid waste disposal system and potable water in 
informal settlements, and the unhygienic street vending of fruit, 
vegetables and other foodstuffs across the country have been identified 
as the main reasons for the spread of this highly contagious disease. 
More than 5,526 cases of cholera have been treated in 26 districts in 
Zambia since the outbreak began in August 2005. The capital has recorded 
116 deaths.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52172


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