Weekly Round-Up - IRINSA-275: 24-Mar-06
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
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e-mail: irin-sa@irin.org.za
SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-Up 275
18 - 24 March 2006
CONTENTS:
ZIMBABWE: Attempts to reconcile MDC factions
ZAMBIA: Govt cautious about spending debt savings
SWAZILAND: Police crush pro-democracy rally
NAMIBIA: NGO slams prepaid water scheme
LESOTHO: Lowland districts face water shortages
AFRICA: China's great leap into the continent
ZIMBABWE: Attempts to reconcile MDC factions
David Coltart, a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), is leading an initiative to seal the fracture between the two
factions of his party, Zimbabwean media reported this week. The MDC
split in October last year over a decision to participate in the senate
elections. Student-leader-turned-politician Arthur Mutambara, who heads
one of the factions, has also called for reconciliation in recent weeks.
However, the other faction, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, maintained that
their group, the "real" MDC, was united.
Tsvangirai, who was re-elected leader of his faction at the weekend,
also reiterated calls for street protests against the Mugabe regime,
despite threats of a violent confrontation by the ruling ZANU-PF party.
See related reports:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52402
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52324
Deportees with no way home
Thousands of Zimbabwean cross the border to South Africa every month,
driven by the need to escape the economic crisis in Zimbabwe, where
inflation has risen to 782 percent and unemployment is over 70 percent.
But at least 2,000 of them are deported from South Africa every week and
end up stranded in the border town of Beitbridge, with no funds to make
their way home.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52387
ZAMBIA: Govt cautious about spending debt savings
Zambia's coffers are $150 million richer after having its debts slashed
by the G8 countries last year, but despite calls to open the spending
taps, the government has adopted a prudent approach to poverty
alleviation. It intends ploughing some of the savings, a reward for
sticking with economic reforms under the International Monetary Fund and
World Bank's Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, into
priority areas like education and health as part of a poverty
alleviation plan.
As it readies itself for elections this year, the Zambian government
rejected a call by opposition parties and civic groups to withdraw a new
electoral bill, saying its aim was to make the voting process more
accountable and transparent, and not to accommodate constitutional
issues. The group's main objections to the Electoral Bill were that it
empowers the president and not the electoral commission to set the
election date, and does not include the requirement that all future
presidents be elected with more than 50 percent of the vote. Under
current law, the candidate who gets the most votes becomes president.
See related reports:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52341
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52403
SWAZILAND: Police crush pro-democracy rally
Despite a new constitution, political parties are not free to operate in
Swaziland after a weekend crackdown by police on a People's United
Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) rally. Several members of the party's
leadership were arrested on Saturday during the planned rally in the
central commercial hub of Manzini, 35 km east of the capital, Mbabane.
PUDEMO sources told IRIN they wanted to test the limits of political
freedom under the new constitution, signed by King Mswati last year and
in effect since January, which contains a Bill of Rights allowing
freedom of speech and assembly.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52319
NAMIBIA: NGO slams prepaid water scheme
A Namibian rights NGO has slammed a local government scheme to provide
prepaid water, saying it was making the basic commodity "unaffordable
for the poor". A card issued by the local authorities to access the
water costs US $15, which is beyond the reach of ordinary Namibians, who
earn less than $47 a month.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52384
LESOTHO: Lowland districts face water shortages
The Lesotho Highlands scheme supplies South Africa with millions of
cubic metres of water per year, while people living in the lowlands of
the tiny mountain kingdom struggle to find water for domestic
consumption. Water is Lesotho's largest single source of foreign
exchange. The country, one of the poorest in the world, earns almost $30
million in annual royalties from South Africa - roughly 75 percent of
its budget. The kingdom has an unemployment rate of 45 percent, with 49
percent of people living below the poverty line.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52346
AFRICA: China's great leap into the continent
Providing cheap goods to African consumers is one way China is making
inroads into the continent, but on a more fundamental level the Asian
superpower is also engaged in a scramble for African resources to feed a
roaring economy, expected to overtake Britain's as the fourth largest in
the world by the end of 2006. This has sparked Western concern over
China providing alternative development support in the continent.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52405
No "magic bullets" to end poverty, says Jeffrey Sachs
There is no single solution to end global poverty, but sustained
interventions over a period of time to address the needs of a large
population can make a difference, said economist Jeffrey Sachs in an
interview with IRIN, explaining the idea behind the UN Millennium
Project. Sachs, who heads the project and the Earth Institute, has been
criticised for suggesting strategies that have been implemented before
and failed.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52322
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