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 330
14 - 20 April 2007


CONTENTS:

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Regional leaders pulled up for "non-response" to
   Operation Murambatsvina
MOZAMBIQUE: Resistance to illegal logging mounts
ZIMBABWE: Rural education falls victim to economic decline
ZIMBABWE: Murmurs of dissent in police force
SWAZILAND: Volunteers provide essential services in cash-shy towns
ZIMBABWE: Crackdown on illegal mining has unforeseen consequences
SWAZILAND: Stoicism in the face of the worst ever food crisis


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Regional leaders pulled up for "non-response" to 
Operation Murambatsvina

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Miloon 
Kothari, has described the "non-response" by the African Union and 
southern Africa to the "oppressive" Zimbabwean government as "shocking" 
and "unhelpful".

He was critical of regional leaders' reaction to the Zimbabwean 
government's forced evictions during Operation Murambatsvina (Clean out 
Filth) in 2005, which left more than 700,000 people homeless or without 
livelihoods.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71712


MOZAMBIQUE: Resistance forms to illegal logging

As reports warning of the scope of illegal logging in Mozambique grow 
more serious, local environmental groups are attempting to raise public 
consciousness of the issue and pressure the government to act, but this 
will be no easy task in a country where poverty reduction and HIV/AIDS 
usually take centre stage.

A newly formed coalition, called Amigos da Floresta (Friends of the 
Forest), has organised a march through downtown Maputo, the capital, 
this Saturday, the country's first public demonstration related to 
deforestation.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71711


ZIMBABWE: Rural education falls victim to economic decline

Education delivery in Zimbabwe's rural communities has all but 
disintegrated and experts warn that any gains made after independence 
are rapidly being reversed in the continuing economic meltdown.

The post-independence government, which started off on a socialist path, 
worked vigorously to ensure that education was available to children 
living in rural areas. Now the government was grappling with heavy 
domestic and international debts and no longer paid attention to rural 
areas.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71650


ZIMBABWE: Murmurs of dissent in police force

Zimbabwe's security forces have been criticised for their often-severe 
crackdown on opposition activists, but some policemen say they have 
arrested and sometimes tortured pro-democracy activists against their 
personal convictions.

They maintained they were forced to carry out their superiors' 
instructions out of fear.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71652


SWAZILAND: Volunteers provide essential services in cash-shy towns

In the scenic town of Ezulwini, on the eastern outskirts of the Swazi 
capital, Mbabane, high school students have volunteered to help their 
under-resourced local government keep a burgeoning problem in check.

In the cash-strapped kingdom, volunteers from the community and welfare 
nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) are regularly called upon to 
perform services that would normally be provided by municipal 
governments and financed by taxpayers.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71637


ZIMBABWE: Crackdown on illegal mining has unforeseen consequences

A controversial police crackdown on illegal mining late last year, 
followed by an environmental rehabilitation project in which small-scale 
farmers in central Zimbabwe were forced to participate, has left them 
struggling to find their feet, and adversely affected food security.

Police arrested more than 20,000 "illegal miners" across the country in 
Operation Chikorokoza Chapera (No to Illegal Mining), which began in 
November 2006, and then rounded up local people and forced them to work 
on restoring the landscape. Many left their homes for safer places, 
while small-scale farmers were forced to abandon their fields in the 
planting season.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71631


SWAZILAND: Stoicism in the face of the worst ever food crisis

Squeezed between Swaziland's worst-ever food crisis and the world's 
highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate, people are struggling to survive.

Abdoulaye Balde, Country Director for the World Food Programme in 
Swaziland, reported to government officials this week that the signs 
indicated the worst food crisis in the small kingdom's modern history.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71687



MALAWI: Small farmers hit by changes in the climate

Small-scale farmers in Malawi are becoming aware that they are bearing 
the brunt of climate change, which has been adversely affecting 
productivity, according to a new study by an international aid agency.

The research was conducted in Salima district, in Malawi's central 
region, and Nsanje in the south, as part of an effort to understand poor 
people's experiences in adapting to climate change.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71726


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