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 296
19 - 25 August 2006


CONTENTS:

NAMIBIA: Liberation war veterans make their voices heard
ZIMBABWE: Food shortages are looming
ZIMBABWE: Surviving the land invasions
SOUTH AFRICA: Anti-mercenary bill will hamper humanitarian work
BOTSWANA: New bill puts community broadcasting on the air


NAMIBIA: Liberation war veterans make their voices heard

Sixteen years after Namibia's liberation war, the government is to 
provide a handful of veterans with housing, but is promising more.

The move is unlikely to appease the National Committee on the Welfare of 
ex-Combatants - a group claiming to represent thousands of veterans of 
the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), the former armed wing of 
the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) - which presented 
their demands to President Hifikepunye Pohamba in June.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55287


ZIMBABWE: Food shortages are looming

Zimbabwe's government is blaming grain millers for food shortages, while 
the millers are laying the blame on government's failure to supply them 
with grain.

By law all grain harvested has to be delivered to the state-owned Grain 
Marketing Board, which then distributes it to millers. President Robert 
Mugabe's government has repeatedly denied that the country was facing 
food shortages, but the mathematics suggest otherwise, with a shortage 
of about 395,000 tonnes predicted.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55285


ZIMBABWE: Surviving the land invasions

After the initial chaos of Zimbabwe's farm invasions, a tenuous truce 
based on a survival philosophy of negotiations, barter and political 
alliances has left about 600 white farmers on their land.

Sustained by a belief that things "will get better", after nearly 4,000 
other white farmers were driven off their land by the ZANU-PF 
government's fast-track land redistribution programme that started in 
2000, these diehards are overcoming the insecurity that their farms can 
be taken in an instant.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55265


SOUTH AFRICA: Anti-mercenary bill will hamper humanitarian work

South Africa is poised to toughen already stringent laws against 
citizens serving as mercenaries in foreign wars and conflicts, but 
critics say the new legislation cuts too deeply and will hamper 
legitimate humanitarian operations.

The Prohibition of Mercenary Activity Bill will ban South Africans not 
serving in the domestic armed forces from participating in foreign wars 
in any capacity. If ratified, the bill drafted by the ruling African 
National Congress party could affect the thousands of South Africans 
working in security across Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55271


BOTSWANA: New bill puts community broadcasting on the air

After a four-year delay, Botswana has published a draft policy for its 
broadcasting industry.

The Botswana Broadcasting Bill seeks to establish a three-tier broadcast 
service: public, private and community. At present there is a national 
state broadcaster, while the private sector has two radio stations and a 
private television station. Private electronic media are confined to 
broadcasts within the capital, Gaborone.

Botswana is the only country without community broadcasting services in 
southern Africa.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55227


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