Weekly Round-Up - IRINSA-299: 15-Sep-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

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SOUTHERN AFRICA IRIN-SA Weekly Round-Up 299 11 - 15 September 2006

CONTENTS: ANGOLA-ZAMBIA: Food production declines as Angolan refugees go home NAMIBIA: Caprivi political party declared illegal SOUTH AFRICA: Officials under pressure to contain deadly TB SOUTH AFRICA: The world's biggest ARV Programme? SOUTH AFRICA: Ethanol - boon or bust? ZIMBABWE: Police stymie nationwide protests ANGOLA-ZAMBIA: Food production declines as Angolan refugees go home The repatriation of Angolan refugees is creating food shortages in and around the Zambian camps they have lived in for decades. Zambia hosts about 143,000 refugees from Africa's civil wars and politically unstable regions, including Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda, in a string of camps along its western and northern borders. Full report http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55543 NAMIBIA: Caprivi political party declared illegal The government has all but banned a political party wanting self-rule for the Caprivi Strip in northeastern Namibia, drawing strong criticism from human rights organisations on the grounds that this is "unconstitutional". http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55509 SOUTH AFRICA: Officials under pressure to contain deadly TB Health officials in South Africa are fighting to contain the spread of a deadly, drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis (TB) after an HIV-positive woman with the disease refused treatment and walked out of a Johannesburg hospital. Doctors have since located and quarantined the woman, but fear she might have infected several others with extremely drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB), a virulent disease that has already killed 52 people in the east-coast province of KwaZulu-Natal. Full report http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55548 SOUTH AFRICA: The world's biggest ARV Programme? To be HIV positive and living in South Africa is to be part of a national lottery that puts your current chances of accessing antiretroviral (ARV) treatment at about 25 percent. If you cannot afford private healthcare, make that just under 20 percent. Aside from your income bracket, the next best indicator of whether you will get your hands on those vital drugs is the province and the district in which you live. Full report http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55562 SOUTH AFRICA: Ethanol - boon or bust? South African farmer Hannes Haasbroek flew home from an agriculture conference in the United States six years ago, inspired by the novel and potentially lucrative idea of distilling maize into bioethanol fuel for vehicles. His friends laughed at him, but in little more than a year, the country's first billion-dollar bioethanol factory will be pumping out 500,000 litres of the liquid fuel every day. Seven more of the enormous factories are planned for sites across the country. Full report http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55584 ZIMBABWE: Police stymie nationwide protests Police foiled a nationwide anti-government protest by the country's largest labour federation when they arrested union, civic society and opposition party leaders, among others. A Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) spokesman in the capital, Harare, told IRIN that at least 500 people were taken into custody after protests were staged in 34 urban centres nationwide, including the capital and the second city, Bulawayo. Full report http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55550 IRIN-SA Tel: +27 11 895-1900 Fax: +27 11 784-6759 Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Center for International web: www.cidi.org Disaster Information listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Southern Africa www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/safrica