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 324
3 - 9 March 2007


CONTENTS:

NAMIBIA: "Worst floods in 20 years" could blight food production
ANGOLA: Political climate heats up in countdown to elections
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Bracing for a seventh year of hunger
SOUTH AFRICA-ZIMBABWE: Undocumented kids alone in a new country
SOUTH AFRICA: Teenage pregnancy figures cause alarm
ZIMBABWE: Agriculture sector can recover, say analysts
ZIMBABWE: Economic meltdown could destabilise region, warns ICG


NAMIBIA: "Worst floods in 20 years" could blight food production

Officials evacuating the circumstances of residents displaced by early 
flooding in Namibia's Caprivi Region, in the far northeast of the 
country, fear the situation could worsen, as more heavy rain is 
expected. The floods have already displaced 13,000 to 15,000 people.

Heavy rain in neighbouring Angola has caused the Zambezi River to burst 
its banks and spill onto the floodplains in the Caprivi Strip in the 
past few weeks.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70617


ANGOLA: Political climate heats up in countdown to elections

Allegations by Angola's main opposition UNITA party that police tried to 
assassinate its leader last week provoked concern about the political 
climate in the run-up to legislative elections in 2008.

Isaias Samakuva, who has been at the helm of the former rebel movement 
since 2003, was on a five-day visit to Kwanza Norte Province, east of 
the capital, Luanda, when police officers allegedly shot at the 
municipal party headquarters he was visiting.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70595


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Bracing for a seventh year of hunger

After months of erratic weather, relief agencies are again predicting 
widespread food shortages throughout southern Africa, where cyclones, 
extreme drought and flooding have devastated the harvests of millions of 
people.

Torrential rains have drowned ripening harvests in Angola, Madagascar, 
Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia under flooded fields, while crops 
in Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, southern Mozambique, Zimbabwe and 
Swaziland have wasted away in unusually long, hot, rainless periods. All 
indications are that southern Africa could be heading for yet another 
year of critical food shortages.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70591


SOUTH AFRICA-ZIMBABWE: Undocumented kids alone in a new country

A rising number of unaccompanied Zimbabwean children are entering South 
Africa, according to a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) that provides 
assistance to refugees and displaced people.

The South Africa Women's Institute of Migration Affairs (SAWIMA), which 
liaises with the government's Lindela Repatriation Centre, outside 
Johannesburg, where undocumented and illegal foreigners are held before 
being repatriated, said it picked up at least five unaccompanied minors 
from the centre every week.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70584


SOUTH AFRICA: Teenage pregnancy figures cause alarm

Alarming figures released by a South African provincial education 
department indicate that schoolgirl pregnancies have doubled in the past 
year, despite a decade of spending on sex education and AIDS awareness.

The number of pregnant schoolgirls jumped from 1,169 in 2005 to 2,336 in 
2006 in Gauteng, the country's economic heartland and most populous 
province, according to statistics released in the provincial parliament.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70538


ZIMBABWE: Agriculture sector can recover, say analysts

Zimbabwe's struggling agriculture sector can be turned around with more 
"nuanced" government support targeting smaller-scale farmers, 
agricultural experts said.

Reserve bank governor Gideon Gono this week signalled an end to 
preferential loans and inputs for wealthier black commercial farmers in 
the next growing season. He argued that seven years since the start of 
land redistribution, the so-called 'A2' farmers needed to be "weaned 
off" government support. Gono said the government would rather now 
concentrate on assisting small-scale 'A1' farmers.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70531


ZIMBABWE: Economic meltdown could destabilise region, warns ICG

A new report by the Brussels-based think-tank, International Crisis 
group (ICG) has voiced concern that the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe 
could destabilise the region.

"Due to the gravity of the economic situation ... unplanned violence 
could erupt at any time, set off perhaps by an event as simple and 
common as a traffic accident or overzealous police activity," said the 
ICG report, 'Zimbabwe: An End To The Stalemate?'.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70534


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