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SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 9 covering the period 27 Feb-5 Mar 1999
ZAMBIA: FBI team investigates Lusaka bombings
This week agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started investigating a series of bomb attacks which shook the Zambian capital, Lusaka, at the weekend. A senior government official told IRIN that Zambia did not want to point a finger at any individuals or nations until the FBI investigation was complete and until an outside internationally independent verdict had been reached.
About a dozen explosive devices were detonated in Lusaka and on the city's outskirts. One device at the Angolan embassy killed a security guard. Others exploded near the US International School and the headquarters of the Zambian electricity utility. A bomb explosion at the city's main water pipeline cut supplies to Lusaka for over 48 hours, the official said.
"You can be certain that we will get to the bottom of this. Our investigators also found several unexploded devices and they included limpet mines," the official said. Zambian president, Frederick Chiluba, cut short a visit to Rwanda where he was to hold talks on a peace plan for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which he is championing.
Analysts said the damage to the Angolan embassy was likely to worsen the already sour relations between Zambia and Angola. In the past few weeks tensions have run high between the two countries, following claims by Angola that Zambia is allowing arms shipments destined for the rebel UNITA movement to pass through its territory. Zambia has denied the charge.
ANGOLA: Observers unable to fulfill mandate
UN officials said negotiations were underway on the future of a UN role in Angola. UN special representative Issa Diallo said at a ceremony in the Angolan capital, Luanda, to mark the withdrawal of MONUA observers after a decade of UN peacekeeping in Angola. He said the Security Council put most of the blame for the failure of MONUA and the resumption of hostilities on UNITA.
In a statement Diallo said: "We are forced to acknowledge that MONUA was unable to fulfill its mandate. The UN Security Council primarily blames UNITA for the current impasse. Under the leadership of Dr Jonas Savimbi, UNITA failed to comply with its obligations in terms of the Bicesse peace accord, the Lusaka Protocol and relevant UN Security Council resolutions."
Annan concerned
Earlier in New York, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he "very much regrets" the impasse in the Angolan peace process and the resumption of the conflict which has raged sporadically since Angola's independence from Portugal in 1975. MONUA ceased operations in Angola on 26 February.
Annan said that since the conclusion of the 1994 Lusaka accords, UN peacekeeping operations had nevertheless contributed to four years of
"relative peace".
Saying the conditions for an effective UN peacekeeping role had ceased to exist, Annan said: "The United Nations will not, however, abandon the people of Angola. "
It was prepared to increase humanitarian, development and human rights assistance and was ready to offer support again whenever the parties might decide to seek a peaceful settlement.
Fierce fighting
In the fiercest fighting reported this week, UNITA rebels backed by tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery had forced government troops to pull back from positions just outside the strategic central Angolan town of Andulo, according to a government radio report.
Radio Angola said fierce battles were now taking place in the area near Andulo some 500 km southeast of the capital Luanda and that military tension was now rising in central Angola.
Andulo, like most government-controlled central towns in Angola has been under siege since the civil war resumed in December.
Mines claim more lives, Malanje shelled
The entry into force of the Ottawa Treaty banning landmines this week failed to prevent people in Angola losing their lives and limbs, the UN Humanitarian Coordination Unit (UCAH) reported this week.
It said "several people" had been killed or maimed by landmines in recent days, but no figures were immediately available. In its weekly situation report on the crisis in Angola, it also cited widespread fighting in the central highlands city of Huambo and around another besieged city, Malanje. The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) seeking shelter had increased in both cities putting further pressure on the local population and humanitarian agencies.
"Fighting and general insecurity around Malanje have increased human suffering and continue to prevent humanitarian assistance from being fully carried out," UCAH said. "The heavy shelling by UNITA has continued, air operations have thus not been able to resume. If the situation persists, it will become increasingly difficult to distribute food in Malanje for lack of implementing partners." A bridge on the Malanje-Luanda road blown up last week had been "temporarily repaired".
In Huambo, increased insecurity had forced the postponement of a number of joint assessment missions to outlying areas which had been planned by the government, UN agencies, and NGOs.
"The same situation has prevailed in other areas of the country preventing accurate knowledge of the humanitarian situation in those areas," it said. "However, UCAH and other humanitarian agencies have continued to strive for access to all areas where security permits."
ZIMBABWE: Cholera outbreak
A cholera outbreak in the north, east and southern districts of rural Zimbabwe since the beginning of January has claimed at least 87 lives and infected at least 135 others.
A Zimbabwean health ministry official told IRIN at least eight rural districts were affected by the epidemic. "The torrential rains during this season combined with the unhygienic conditions under which some of the affected people live, are the major causes of the cholera outbreak," the official said.
She confirmed 59 cases were reported from Harare Central, with 26 of these confirmed but added that no deaths occurred in the district. Mudzi district in Mashonaland East was most affected with 281 suspected cases reported to clinics, and 18 deaths.
NAMIBIA - BOTSWANA: Climate "right" for refugees return
The Namibian and Botswanan governments believed the climate was "right" for Namibian refugees currently in Botswana to return home, 'The Namibian' newspaper reported this week.
The paper quoted a joint communique issued by Namibian Home Affairs Minister Jerry Ekandjo and his Botswanan counterpart, Bahiti Temane, as saying: "Namibia and Botswana were convinced that the political environment in Namibia, specifically in the Caprivi region, was conducive to the return of the Namibian nationals."
But a UNHCR official told IRIN although the concept of voluntary repatriation was the corner stone of UNHCR policy, people must want to return to their countries of origin of their own volition. There were currently an estimated 2,400 Namibians seeking asylum in Botswana. He said: "As far as we are concerned that is not the case with them. We do not really get that feeling."
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Regional food supply situation
The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said in a statement this week that favorable rains in recent months had heralded a "generally positive outlook" for food crops in Southern Africa.
However, the FAO cautioned food supply conditions were likely to worsen in Angola, which was among 38 nations requiring emergency assistance: "The food supply situation is expected to deteriorate in Angola where a resumption of civil strife is hampering food production activities."
The FAO forecast a recovery in food production in a number of countries in region, including South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Flooding takes its toll in the region
However, the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) said following a period of severe drought the region had in recent months been subjected to heavy flooding, challenging the way in which it manages natural disasters.
It said heavy flooding in Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe and Zambia had necessitated "the implementation of rescue programmes to help victims."
Tinashe Madava who compiled the report told IRIN: "The Southern African region is not really prepared for floods. In the past, disaster management has tended to focus more on drought relief measures. Programmes need to be instituted that will help with flood disaster management."
SARDC quoted Mozambique's Technical emergency Commission (CTE) as saying that up to 100,000 people have been affected by floods which has been particularly severe in the central and southern parts of the country. The CTE also estimates that close on 29,700 hectares of crops have been lost due to the flooding.
In recent months Zimbabwe has been receiving above normal rainfall, causing many rivers to burst their banks and go into flood, SARDC said.
In Zambia, torrential rains in Lusaka and in the Copperbelt region had led to a cholera outbreak. To date cholera related deaths have been put at 70, SARDC reported. Regional security
After a flurry of diplomatic initiatives aimed at ending the seven-month rebellion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), at least five heads of state were in different consultations to agree on the contents of a peace plan promoted by president Frederick Chiluba of Zambia.
South Africa to push for a peace
In a speech to parliament, Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo said Pretoria was seeking the implementation of a cease-fire, the standstill of all opposing forces, the withdrawal of all foreign troops and "all-inclusive" negotiations among the Congolese themselves.
"The South African approach is to resolve the conflict through SADC (Southern African Development Community), in consultation with the OAU, in accordance with the principles decided upon at the SADC summit in Pretoria on the 23rd August 1998," said Nzo.
Nzo added the conflict in the DRC was part of much larger problem currently affecting the Great Lakes region. "The seriousness of the conflict in the Great Lakes region was once again demonstrated earlier this week by the brutal slaying of eight foreign tourists in Uganda."
Johannesburg, 5 March 1999 14:00 GMT
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