Weekly Round-Up - IRINSA-291: 14-Jul-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 291
8 - 14 July 2006
CONTENTS:
ANGOLA: Cabinda separatists divided over peace talks
SOUTH AFRICA: Housing backlog stuck on the ground floor
SWAZILAND: Diversify or die - economists warn
ZAMBIA: Copper boom, but miners say earning just pennies
MOZAMBIQUE: South and centre still in danger of landmines
ANGOLA: Cabinda separatists divided over peace talks
Talks on ending a 30-year separatist rebellion in Angola's Cabinda
province have been underway this week in neighbouring Congo Brazzaville,
but it is unclear whether rebel forces will endorse the negotiations.
Angola's minister of Territory Administration, Virgilio Fontes Pereir,
met on Thursday with Antonio Bento Bembe, a former Front for the
Liberation of Cabinda (FLEC) leader who claims to represent the Cabinda
Forum for Dialogue (FDC), to discuss a peace deal in which the oil-rich
enclave will be awarded "special administrative status".
But a senior member of FLEC's General Staff, who wished to remain
anonymous, told IRIN: "We will not cease fire because that agreement is
only with Bembe - whatever he is doing, it has nothing to do with FLEC.
Bembe does not represent the aspirations of the people of Cabinda."
More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54621
Peace yet to turn to food security
Four years after the end of Angola's long-running civil war, the
mineral-rich southern African country is still battling to achieve food
security. According to a national crop assessment published this week,
more than 800,000 people in a population.
Angola's health system also remains in shambles. But a campaign was
launched this week which aims to deliver vaccinations against measles
and polio, the provide vitamin A supplements and de-worming medicines to
the country's 3.6 million children.
See reports:
Peace yet to turn to food security
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54575
Comprehensive child health campaign underway
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54602
SOUTH AFRICA: Housing backlog stuck on the ground floor
The South African government has spent over US$5.2 billion on housing
subsidies since 1994 but is still no closer to overcoming the desperate
shortage of adequate homes.
Government figures show that the housing backlog has continued to grow,
even though 1.8 million subsidised houses have been built since 1994.
With the pace of homelessness and informal settlement growth in South
Africa increasing there is still a long way to go.
See report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54511
SWAZILAND: Diversify or die - economists warn
Still reeling from blows to its major industries, Swaziland's economy is
set to come to a grinding halt unless government initiates reforms and
aggressively pursues foreign investment, economists warn.
The strong South African rand has made Swazi garments more expensive and
less competitive internationally. That, combined with the entry of
low-priced garments from larger developing countries like China, has
left the Swazi garment industry devastated. Meanwhile, the fortunes of
the northeastern 'sugar belt' depend almost entirely on sugar, or 'Swazi
gold', but EU reforms are set to plunge the industry deeper into crisis.
See reports:
Diversify or die - economists warn
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54603
Good times over for sugar farmers
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54541
Demise of sugar industry hits healthcare services
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54557
ZAMBIA: Copper boom, but miners say earning just pennies
With copper prices hitting record highs on international markets in
2005, Zambian miners and their communities hope for a rerun of the
1970s, when Zambia's miners drove the economy and were handsomely
rewarded with benefits and perks.
But the private investors that have since taken over from the
state-owned Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) are less concerned
about the welfare of miners and the neighbouring communities than the
bottom line and staying in business.
See report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54605
MOZAMBIQUE: South and centre still in danger of landmines
Fourteen years after the end of Mozambique's civil war, landmines still
threaten the lives of 500,000 rural people, denying them access to
farms, trade routes and water supplies.
The mine threat has considerably reduced in the north, but the rest of
the country remains under siege. Because no accurate maps were left by
the rebels and government troops who laid the mines during 16 years of
conflict, huge tracts of land are out of productive use because people
fear danger underfoot.
See report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54617
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