Weekly Round-Up - IRINSA-351: 23-Nov-07
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 351
17 - 23 November 2007
CONTENTS:
MALAWI: Attitudes to child labour changing
MOZAMBIQUE: No lift-off for biofuels yet
LESOTHO: A desire to learn stifled by hunger
GLOBAL: New HIV numbers give better picture of epidemic
ZIMBABWE: First diarrhoea, now possibly plague
DRC-ZAMBIA: Congolese refugees begin returning home
AFRICA: And then there were no fish
MOZAMBIQUE: Voter registration in trouble, again
ZIMBABWE: Workplace AIDS programmes feel the pinch
MALAWI: Attitudes to child labour changing
Despite laws forbidding the use of child labour - often viewed as the
norm and an important source of income - enforcement has been anything
but strict in Malawi, until recently.
Since March 2007 up to 480 children have been 'rescued' from tobacco
estates in the district of Mangochi, once an important centre of slave
trading on the southern banks of Lake Malawi.
See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75384
MOZAMBIQUE: No lift-off for biofuels yet
Ecomoz's biodiesel plant, surrounded by the decrepit remnants of an
out-of-use oil refinery in the dusty industrial zone of Matola, just
north of the Mozambican capital, Maputo, does not inspire much
confidence in the newly-hyped energy of the future.
In July, Salvador Namburete, Mozambique's Minister of Energy, told the
International Conference on Biofuels 2007 in Brussels, Belgium, that he
saw great potential in biofuels because they would reduce Mozambique's
dependency on fossil fuels. But Ecomoz and other ventures suggest that
the sudden push for large biofuel projects in countries like Mozambique
will be a process of trial and error.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75382
LESOTHO: A desire to learn stifled by hunger
The hunger of the seemingly healthy and well-groomed school students at
Moruthane Secondary School, about 80km south of Lesotho's capital,
Maseru, is at first not apparent, but as the morning progresses they
become listless and their concentration lapses.
The learners, aged 14 to 16, are enthusiastic about their education, and
the packed rudimentary concrete-block classroom, which has a few desks
but no electricity, is testament to their desire to learn, but Lesotho's
educators acknowledge that the greatest obstacle to learning is hunger.
See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75400
GLOBAL: New HIV numbers give better picture of epidemic
New HIV prevalence figures released on Tuesday suggest the global AIDS
epidemic may be waning in many countries, but that UNAIDS also
overestimated the number of people living with HIV in its earlier
reports.
The 2007 AIDS epidemic update, jointly published by UNAIDS and the World
Health Organisation (WHO), puts the number of people living with the
virus at 33.2 million, a significant decrease from the 2006 estimate of
39.5 million. However, by applying an "improved methodology", UNAIDS has
also revised the 2006 figure to 32.7 million.
See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75413
ZIMBABWE: First diarrhoea, now possibly plague
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, already reeling from a diarrhoea
outbreak as a result of water shortages, has been told by its
fuel-strapped city council that it can only collect refuse once a month.
Garbage has been piling up around the city centre and a stench has now
enveloped most high-density suburbs, where refuse has not been collected
for the past 3 weeks. Health services warned that the uncollected refuse
could cause a possible rodent problem, which could expose residents to
other diseases, like plague.
See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75405
DRC-ZAMBIA: Congolese refugees begin returning home
The repatriation of Congolese refugees, who had fled to Zambia from
civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the 1990s,
resumed on 22 November, according to a UN refugee agency official.
More than 400 Congolese refugees left Kala camp in Zambia, some 45km
from the DRC-Zambia border, for Mpulungu Harbour on the southern edge of
Lake Tanganyika, in Zambia's Northern Province, from where they would
cross the lake by ship to Moba town in DRC's Katanga Province, said
UNHCR spokesman Kelvin Shimoh.
See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75460
AFRICA: And then there were no fish
In the not-too-distant future, several African countries will face the
reality of collapsed fisheries and the permanent degradation of their
marine environment, a new report has warned.
Poaching and overfishing in a number of African countries could lead to
collapsed stocks and cause permanent damage to the marine environment.
This in turn will continue to adversely impact on food-security and
economic development, with coastal communities dependent on fishing
being the hardest hit.
See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75443
MOZAMBIQUE: Voter registration in trouble, again
After the Mozambican government, on the final day for voter
registration, announced that eligible voters would have until 15 March
2008 to register, the sense of urgency faded.
Problems with voter registration and a general lack of preparedness mean
the provincial elections, originally scheduled for 16 January 2008, will
be postponed. Ruling party RENAMO favours coupling provincial and
municipal elections and the main opposition, FRELIMO, prefers combining
them with the presidential vote.
See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75483
MOZAMBIQUE: Condom mythology
The myth that HIV comes from prophylactics is not new in Mozambique, one
of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, but it recently led to
international repercussions after Catholic Archbishop Dom Francisco
Chimoio aired his views in Maputo.
"Condoms are not safe, because I know of two countries in Europe that
produce condoms with HIV, with the intention of finishing off the
population of Africa," the bishop told Britain's BBC Radio.
See full report: http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75412
ZIMBABWE: Workplace AIDS programmes feel the pinch
Zimbabwe's seven-year economic crisis has forced private companies to
make some difficult decisions about workplace programmes for
HIV-positive staff.
Zimbabwe is suffering shortages of food, fuel, power, medicines and
basic commodities; inflation is approaching a staggering 15,000 percent,
and the country also has one of the world's highest rates of HIV
infection. But companies struggling to stay afloat are still expected to
provide life-prolonging antiretroviral medication, care and support.
See full report: http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75459
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