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 2 covering the period 9-15 Jan 1999
ANGOLA: Portugal urges UN to stay
With Secretary-General Kofi Annan due to report to the Security Council on the future of the UN peacekeeping mission in Angola (MONUA), Portugal this week urged the organisation to remain in the country.
In a national radio broadcast monitored by the BBC at the weekend, Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama said: "No matter how high the degree of criticism of the way in which the UN has followed the Angolan question, the abandonment of Angola by the UN would be the worst of all possible developments."
Heavy fighting between the government and opposition UNITA movement earlier led to the withdrawal of UN observers from provincial capitals.
Portugal, with Russia and the United States, is one of the three Angola observer nations reporting to the UN Security Council. Gama added it was important for the UN "to continue playing a role at the service of peace and humanitarian aid".
Arrangements underway to recover bodies of plane crash victims
A MONUA spokesman told IRIN on Monday, that arrangements were being made to recover the bodies of 14 UN personnel and crew who perished aboard a UN Hercules C-130 transport shot down near the second city of Huambo on 26 December. Local and Portuguese media reports said some bodies had been found buried alongside the wreckage of the aircraft and that the cause of death, if they had initially survived the crash, would only be known once the remains were exhumed.
UNITA locates site of second crash
UNITA on Tuesday said it had located the site of a second UN plane crash and would take a UN team to the area. According to UN spokesman Fred Eckhard, the pledge was given by UNITA officials in Paris to the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Security Affairs Benon Sevan. No further details were given, and by Friday the UN was still awaiting access to the site.
Also on Tuesday, the Security Council called on UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi to cooperate "in good faith" in the search and rescue operations following the two plane crashes in UNITA-controlled territory. In a resolution, the Council concluded Savimbi had not complied with demands to guarantee security and access .
Humanitarian fears as situation in Malanje worsens
The situation in the Angolan city of Malanje is continuing to deteriorate rapidly with unrelenting shelling of the city entering its second week, according to the UN Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (UCAH) in Luanda.
In a report received on Thursday by IRIN, UCAH warned that the nutritional and health status of the most vulnerable groups, particularly displaced people, is likely to be seriously affected given that the fighting has prevented humanitarian agencies from implementing relief programmes.
WFP resumes some flights
However, following the suspension of UN flights after the two planes were downed over UNITA-controlled territory recently, WFP on Wednesday resumed flights to various parts of the country. The UCAH report said cargo flights carrying foodstuffs went to Luena and Saurimo and one passenger flight, transporting humanitarian workers, flew to each of Luena, Saurimo and Negage. WFP subsequently hopes to reach as many provincial capitals as possible.
A senior UN humanitarian affairs official, Martin Griffiths, arrived in Luanda on Thursday to discuss the future of humanitarian operations in Angola where an estimated one million people are in need of urgent assistance.
ZIMBABWE: Military detain editor over coup report
The editor of a privately owned weekly newspaper which carried a report of an alleged coup plot in Zimbabwe has been detained and held incommunicado by the military authorities.
Iden Wetherell, deputy editor of a sister publication, 'The Zimbabwe Independent' told IRIN on Tuesday that Mark Chavunduka, editor of 'The Standard', had been held by military police on Monday and was being detained in contravention of the law and the country's constitution.
The arrest followed a report on Sunday in which 'The Standard' said that 23 members of the Zimbabwe National Army had allegedly been detained last month for plotting to overthrow the government of President Robert Mugabe.
In a national television broadcast, Zimbabwe's defence minister, Moven Mahachi, condemned the report as untrue and said action would be taken against the newspaper: "The independent media has a well calculated programme to destroy this country, to destroy this government, to destroy [the ruling party] ZANU-PF."
In its report, the newspaper, quoting "highly placed sources in the military" said the 23 detainees were being held at the Chikurubi maximum security prison in the capital Harare. "Mugabe's mismanagement of the economy, and Zimbabwe's involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been cited as reasons for their intended action," the newspaper said.
NAMIBIA-BOTSWANA: Refugees still fleeing Caprivi
The number of Namibians fleeing secessionist tensions in the northern Caprivi Strip south into Botswana has increased from 1,200 a month ago to over 2,000, a UNHCR spokesman told IRIN on Thursday. Many of the asylum-seekers, most of whom are being housed in the Dukwe refugee camp north of the capital Gaborone, claimed in interviews with Botswana and UNHCR officials that they were being harassed by a Namibian military security unit sent into the area. The refugees include an additional 1,000 San bushmen who have not formally sought asylum.
In a statement to IRIN this week, the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) said abuses against people in Caprivi "are continuing unabated". However Botswana's President, Festus Mogae, citing good relations with neighbouring Namibia, has pledged that none of the refugees would be forced to return. UNHCR, which conducted a fact-finding mission in Botswana last week, said refugees were trickling into Botswana daily and that their number was currently estimated at 2,046.
NAMIBIA: Government lifts news blackout on 'The Namibian'
The independent daily, 'The Namibian', said on Tuesday that the government had rescinded a news blackout on information about the country's military intervention in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Last month, the defence ministry said it would not provide the newspaper with information because of its "distorted" reporting on the DRC conflict. The ban was extended this month to cover all the media.
However 'The Namibian' reported that following discussions between Defence Minister Erikki Nghimtina, and its editor, Gwen Lister, the information ban on the newspaper had been lifted with immediate effect.
Johannesburg, 15 January 1999, 10:00 gmt
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