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 323
24 February - 2 March 2007


CONTENTS:

MOZAMBIQUE: More rains, floods possible
ZIMBABWE: "Informal curfew" imposed, say rights workers
ZIMBABWE: Favio brings no relief to drought-stricken farmers in
   southwest
INDIAN OCEAN: Bracing for yet another cyclone
ZIMBABWE: Soaring tuition fees deprive youth of education
SWAZILAND: Community gardens flourish to feed the vulnerable


MOZAMBIQUE: More rains, floods possible

A crop and weather-monitoring group this week said there is a 
possibility of more rains and flooding in Mozambique in the coming 
weeks.

"We are only at the beginning of March, while the rainy season lasts 
till the end of the month," said Antonio Mavie, a food security 
specialist and meteorologist with the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning 
Systems Network (FEWS-NET). "The floods in 2001 only peaked in 
mid-March."

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70484


ZIMBABWE: "Informal curfew" imposed, say rights workers

An "informal curfew" has been imposed on the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. 
According to human rights groups and analysts it is designed to check 
any public unrest against the government.

Tension has been mounting in Zimbabwe over the past few weeks: 
nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), church groups, workers, and 
students have all staged sporadic demonstrations around the country, 
prompted by annual inflation running at nearly 1,600 percent, shortages 
of foreign currency and food, and pay that has consistently lagged well 
behind soaring prices.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70433


ZIMBABWE: Favio brings no relief to drought-stricken farmers in 
southwest

Cyclone Favio, which ravaged parts of Mozambique last week, brought some 
relief to drought-stricken southwestern Zimbabwe, but farmers and 
agricultural experts said the rain was too late to save crops.

"For the past two months, I have been looking at my crops wilt and 
hoping the skies would open up and give us the relief rains," said 
Xolani Mkhwananzi, a communal farmer in Lupane, capital of the 
southwestern province of Matabeleland North. "But nothing came, and I am 
now staring hunger in the face. The recent rains came when all our crops 
had literally died of moisture stress, so they meant nothing at all."

Farmers and government officials in drought-prone Matabeleland North and 
South provinces have appealed for early food aid packages.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70488


INDIAN OCEAN: Bracing for yet another cyclone

Cyclone 'Gamede' has authorities on alert. It followed on the heels of 
cyclone Favio but changed its course and decreased in intensity, 
avoiding landfall with the Madagascar.

Gamede had already taken its toll on the neighbouring Indian Ocean 
islands of Mauritius, claiming two lives, and La Reunion, where nine 
people were injured. Madagascar has been hit six times since December 
2006 by tropical storms, with 'Bondo' at the end of the year and 
'Clovis' in January causing the most damage.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70414


ZIMBABWE: Soaring tuition fees deprive youth of education

Zimbabwean parents not only have to contend with fees they cannot 
afford, but also with expensive essentials like uniforms, which now cost 
600 times more than they did in 2006.

Inflation is running at around 1,600 percent, nearly 80 percent of the 
workforce are unemployed, and the minimum wage is nowhere near the cost 
of a basket of basic household items, forcing many parents to withdraw 
their children from school. Standards of learning and teaching in 
Zimbabwe, at one time the envy of the African continent, have plummeted 
in recent years.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70041


SWAZILAND: Community gardens flourish to feed the vulnerable

NGOs in Swaziland are shifting the emphasis of their operations from 
handouts of donated foodstuffs to training households and communities to 
set up projects that produce food and generate income, to find a lasting 
solution to perennial food shortages.

Food relief will continue in emergency situations, but there is a need 
to teach people about drought-resistant crops and encourage home 
cultivation.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70467


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