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 14 covering the period 26 2-9 Apr 1999
ANGOLA: Humanitarian concerns over Angola funding
The humanitarian community in Angola is concerned that the Kosovo refugee crisis could divert the attention of donors from what it called a "drastic situation" in Angola where heavy fighting has displaced an estimated 700,000 people in the past four months.
A humanitarian representative in the capital Luanda told IRIN on Wednesday that the situation in Angola was "just as desperate" as fighting rages between government forces and UNITA rebels in many parts of the country.
A spokesman for the UN Humanitarian Coordination Unit in Angola (UCAH) said WFP was currently flying emergency food to tens of thousands of people in six towns around the country where road access had been severed because of the fighting.
"The attention on Kosovo in this sense is a worry," said Aidan McQuade, the Luanda representative of Oxfam UK and Ireland. "A lot of donors are saying they are prepared to support the humanitarian response in Angola. Now is the moment when that support is most needed."
Army conscripts must report for duty
Meanwhile, as the conflict escalates, Angola's defence minister said that all men born in the year 1978 had until the end of the month to report for military duty. Kundi Payhama said in a weekend broadcast that UNITA was putting "strong pressure" on the provincial capitals of Kuito and Huambo in the central highlands, and on Malanje east of Luanda. The conscription call was fair, Payhama said, "in view of the situation the country is facing".
DRC ceasefire talks scheduled for Lusaka
The presidents of Angola, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zimbabwe on Thursday signed a collective defence pact in Luanda committing themselves to a joint response if any one of their countries is attacked.
The immediate focus of the Luanda agreement was the DRC, where Angolan, Namibian and Zimbabwean troops are supporting President Laurent-Desire Kabila against the rebels of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD), regional analysts told IRIN. The allied leaders on Thursday reaffirmed their backing for Kabila ahead of the next round of ceasefire talks in Lusaka, Zambia, scheduled to take place soon after the Luanda summit.
"The meeting in Luanda is very significant," a Harare-based analyst said. "The allies have been discussing what happens in Lusaka." Ceasefire mediator Zambian President Frederick Chiluba this week signalled he had won agreement from both Kabila and the rebels to meet face-to-face for the first time.
NAMIBIA-DRC: Soldiers objecting to the war in the DRC reported arrested
Namibian soldiers objecting to the war in the DRC and who are refusing to fight are reported to have been arrested by the Namibian authorities. A statement sent to IRIN by the Namibian Society for Human Rights cited the case of Namibian Defense Force Staff Sergeant Benson Hukununa, stationed just outside the capital city Windhoek.
A spokesman for the Namibian ministry of defence told IRIN on Wednesday that Hakununa had been detained "because he had refused to go on a mission," but declined to give any further details. But he added: "There is only one person who is being detained, and he is being held pending a disciplinary hearing."
ZAMBIA-DRC: WFP warns of renewed refugee influx
WFP warned on Wednesday it was bracing itself for a further influx of refugees from the DRC into northern Zambia. The UN agency said food aid was urgently needed to feed the growing numbers of people: "WFP has been able to borrow food from other programs to feed the refugees, but these supplies are rapidly becoming exhausted."
UNHCR said in a statement that by Tuesday the registered refugee population in Kaputa had risen to 17,467 with an estimated further 6,000 in surrounding villages. It added that about 200 new arrivals were entering Zambia everyday. WFP noted there had been some cases of measles, and that it feared outbreaks of malaria, diarrhoea and cholera.
UNHCR said that plans to relocate the refugees from Kaputa to Mwange camp near Mpororkoso, further south, had been delayed due to bad roads. It said a bridge along the Nchelenge-Kaputa road had been partially washed away by rising water levels and delayed the delivery of 54 mt of maize meal to Kaputa.
ZAMBIA: Police investigate Kaunda "assassination" attempt
The Zambian police are continuing their investigation into an alleged assassination attempt last week of former president Kenneth Kaunda, a government official told IRIN on Tuesday.
He said comment on the case was premature until the police completed their enquiry. But he questioned the "language of assassination" used by Kaunda's supporters, who have accused the government of being behind the incident.
Kaunda's vehicle was ambushed by gunmen outside his home on Thursday night. According to news reports, shots were aimed at the passenger seat he normally occupies, before the gunmen escaped in a waiting mini-bus. Kaunda was not in the car at the time, and nobody was injured.
IMF disburses US $28million
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a loan of US $28million to Zambia following the country's qualification to the second stage of the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) initiated three years ago.
A Zambian Finance Ministry official declined to say exactly what the money would be used for, but told IRIN: "This is part of the US $349 million that has been agreed to with the IMF to support economic and financial policies for the period 1999 to 2001."
An IMF press release said the government's objectives for the 1999 economic and financial programme are to achieve real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 4 percent, reduce inflation to 15 percent and strengthen gross reserves to the equivalent of one-and-a-half months of imports.
But a representative of Jubilee 2000, a pro-debt cancellation lobby group, told IRIN that loans to Zambia from the IMF were dependent on conditions such as privatisation and curtailing of spending on social services. "Conditions imposed by the ESAF three years ago have led to untold hardships such as retrenchments and a stringent cash budget for schools and health sectors," Father Peter Henriot said. "We need to have public transparency regarding any future loans that the government plans to acquire."
ZIMBABWE: Government price controls under pressure
The Zimbabwe government is struggling to keep its price control regime on basic commodities intact in the face of price hikes this week by the country's millers and sugar producers, with further increases in the offing for next month.
The government has for the second time this year ordered millers to reverse their latest 20 percent rise in the price of flour, and has threatened to gazette the price of bread and flour if they do not comply by next week. The millers have said they would only agree if the government provides the cheap wheat they were promised. Sugar suppliers on Thursday also announced a 20 percent hike, which will have ripple effects throughout the food and beverage industry, analysts told IRIN.
Price controls, in a reversal of the government's free-market policies, were introduced last year on basic commodities following widespread food riots. Producers complain that with inflation running at 50 percent, affecting the cost of inputs, maintaining the government's artificial ceiling is not viable.
Zimbabwe's economy is in deep trouble. The IMF last month refused to release US $53 million in support funds. The US has reportedly suspended some US $120 million in aid due to human rights violations. Zimbabwe's military involvement in the DRC is also proving to be an expensive and lengthy intervention.
BOTSWANA: Asylum for Caprivi refugees
The Botswana government said on Wednesday it had granted political asylum to 1,116 refugees who recently fled secessionist tensions in Namibia's northern Caprivi Strip area.
A Botswana government official told IRIN the 1,116 were among nearly 2,500 people from Caprivi who have sought refuge in Botswana since October last year. They were currently accommodated in the Dukwe refugee camp in the north of the country.
"The remaining refugees' asylum applications are still under consideration," the official said. A UNHCR representative told IRIN they had not yet received confirmation of the asylum applications from the Botswana authorities. But he added: "We have recommended to the Botswana government that the Caprivi refugees be granted asylum."
Meanwhile, a Botswana court official told IRIN that 103 of refugees who had been apprehended for the illegal possession of arms and ammunition and for entering Botswana illegally, would appear in court again on 23 April.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Early crop forecasts predict deficits
Early crop forecasts suggest reduced grain harvests this season in several Southern African countries due to bad weather, according to the SADC Regional Early Warning Unit. "Currently the overall figures show surpluses for the region as a whole," REWU statistician Bentry Chaura told IRIN on Wednesday. "But several countries are going to have problems."
Deficits are forecast for Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. With the exception of war-hit Angola, these are climate-related. Heavy rains have pounded much of the region, while Tanzania has faced unseasonably dry weather. South Africa, the regional breadbasket, has revised its output prediction for commercially produced grain down from an estimated 7.6 million mt to around 5 million mt. National consumption is some 7 million mt.
"South Africa is the main reason for concern," REWU manager Richard Masundire said. "It will have a significant impact for regional supplies as South Africa is the major exporter of maize for all countries in the region."
South African neighbours concerned with EU trade deal
South Africa's neighbours are also concerned over the impact on their economies of the ratification of a South African-European Union (EU) free trade agreement.
A spokesman for the Namibian ministry of trade and industry told IRIN this week that there would be "profound implications" for his country's agriculture base, and fledgling manufacturing sector. He said: "We are concerned that agricultural products from the EU could penetrate Namibia and this could place Namibian products in a precarious position, because they would not be competing on an equal footing. EU products are heavily subsidised and would thus have an unfair advantage over Namibian products which do not enjoy such heavy subsidisation."
Under the proposed trade agreement, South Africa and the EU would remove barriers on an estimated 90 percent of all items currently traded between the two. This process is expected to take place over the next 12 years. It would mean cheaper EU goods on the South African market.
But South Africa is a key export destination for the region's agriculture-dependent economies. According to Paul Kalanga, a researcher at the University of Cape Town's Economic Research Unit, South Africa's neighbours fear they would be unable to compete with the cheaper and better quality EU goods, and could become a dumping ground for European products.
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