U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Co-ordination 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 33 covering the period 14-20 August 1999
ANGOLA: UN to boost its presence
The United Nations announced plans this week to boost its presence in Angola and open a new office "to explore effective measures" aimed at restoring peace in the war-torn nation.
In a letter to the Security Council at the weekend, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the new office would be staffed by a team of 30 professionals assisted by administrative and support personnel. "The new multidisciplinary office would be staffed with the personnel necessary to liaise with the political, military, police and other civilian authorities with a view to exploring effective measures for restoring peace," the letter said.
The establishment of the new office comes in the wake of the decision last February to close the UN Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) and withdraw UN military observers from Angola. The MONUA withdrawal followed the resumption of the civil war last December when the UN-brokered Lusaka Protocol peace accords between the government and UNITA rebels broke down plunging the country into renewed warfare.
Diplomats told IRIN the UN was anxious to boost its presence in Angola where the humanitarian situation has deteriorated by the day with security along the country's roads so bad that the humanitarian community has been forced to fly emergency assistance to besieged government held cities. Annan said the other key UN office in Angola, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordination Unit (UCAH) would continue to operate in its present configuration.
Hundreds dying
A UN spokesman in New York said it was now estimated that 200 people were losing their lives daily as the war intensifies.
The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, told a news conference: "I was concerned that the very high level of attention and solidarity towards Kosovo inevitably would distract capitals, ministries of finance, and therefore resources, from crises elsewhere in the world. I hope I was wrong, but we will tell in the next few months."
In Angola, Vieira de Mello said, only 30 percent of US $106 sought by the UN in its appeal to donors had so far been forthcoming. He said limited air access to the besieged cities had enabled the humanitarian community to assist only some 600,000 people in need, "which is far short of what we know are the large number of victims in the country.
"Children are dying because the UN operation is not sufficiently funded and is thus obliged to restrict the aid that is being provided to these populations," Vieira de Mello said.
New US government donation
Within days of Vieira de Mello's statement, WFP announced a donation by the US government of US 13.5 million in response to WFP's urgent appeal for emergency food.
"This aid is essential to the survival of over one million destitute people who badly need food assistance," said Francesco Strippoli, WFP representative and Humanitarian Aid Coordinator in Angola. "We are extremely grateful for this large contribution which will help us win the battle against hunger."
The US 13.5 million contribution, through the 'Food for Peace' programme of the US government, provides for both the delivery and transportation of food commodities amounting to 19,000 mt.
Strippoli who called the donation "the first substantial response" to the new appeal, said: "We now face over 30 percent global malnutrition in urban centres like Malanje (350 km east of Luanda), and other cities are not far behind."
ICRC also steps up aid
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also stepped up emergency relief for Angola this week. ICRC said it had chartered three cargo aircraft which had delivered more than 100 mt of food and supplies in seven round trips since 16 August to the country's second city, Humabo in the central highlands.
"The assistance is intended for the tens of thousands of people living in the outskirts of Huambo and Kuito (130 km east of Huambo) - both displaced persons and local residents - who have been suffering since early this year from the escalation of the fighting," the statement said. "Now in full swing, the operation will continue for the next six months and provide these people with 3,000 mt of food a month. Agricultural supplies, including tools and seed, are being distributed as well."
On 9 August, it said ICRC delegates flew back to Malanje, some 350 km east of the capital, Luanda, where, for security reasons, they had not been able to go for months. After an initial assessment of needs, the delegates provided the city hospital with medical supplies for the treatment of some 200 war-wounded.
According to figures released in Luanda this week by the United Nations Humanitarian Coordination Unit (UCAH), the confirmed number of IDPs in the Huambo area now stands at 175,098, 72,810 in Kuito and 134,724 in the Malanje area. All three cities have been subjected to sporadic shelling by UNITA rebels for several months. Altogether, a reported total of 1,641,889 people have displaced since January last year. The confirmed total for the same period was 912,319.
Meanwhile, ICRC said it had launched an appeal on 11 August to raise US $28 million for Angola. With a total budget of slightly more than US $36 million dollars, the ICRC operation in Angola will thus become the organisation's third largest in Africa, the statement said.
Latest clashes
The new humanitarian aid was announced as a series of new ambushes and acts of sabotage were reported during the week.
Humanitarian sources told IRIN the most serious outbreaks occurred east of the Atlantic coastal city of Benguela, in an area some 450km south of the capital Luanda. Suspected UNITA rebels, they said, had shelled the besieged town of Balombo on Monday evening and destroyed a strategic bridge cutting road access from Benguela to the towns of Cubal and Ganda, and beyond to Huambo.
Along the same 150 km stretch of road east from Benguela, 13 people were reported killed and 12 injured when attackers described as "hungry local people" ambushed a commercial convoy at the weekend.
Just to the south, in Huila province, another strategic road bridge linking Matala and Kuvango was blown up. Shelling was also reported from Huambo, Malanje, and Cacolo in the eastern Lunda Sul Province.
In the north of the country, independent 'Radio Ecclesia' reported several people missing after an ambush believed to have been carried out by UNITA forces near Kissanga, some 400 km northeast of Luanda in Uige Province. Fighting between government forces and UNITA rebels has raged in the area for several weeks.
Dos Santos rules out further negotiations with UNITA
Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said this week that there would be no further negotiations with the UNITA rebel movement.
Dos Santos made the remarks in the Mozambique capital, Maputo, at Wednesday's summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Dos Santos said there "was nothing left to negotiate" and that UNITA had to comply with the 1994 UN-brokered Lusaka Protocol peace accords.
CPJ protests action against journalists
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) this week protested to the Angolan government over police action against journalists in Luanda for broadcasting excerpts of a BBC interview with the UNITA rebel leader Jonas Savimbi.
In a letter sent to communications minister, Hendrik Vaal Neto on Tuesday, Ann Cooper, executive director of CPJ, said police with search and arrest warrants entered the offices of the independent broadcasting station, 'Radio Ecclesia', on 9 August and seized transmission equipment, the recording of the BBC interview and briefly detained three journalists.
Three Angolan state television journalists were also interrogated on 10 August because their network had re-broadcast the same Savimbi interview, Cooper said. All the journalists were released later that day, but the authorities forced 'Radio Ecclesia' to sign an agreement that it would not refer to Jonas Savimbi or UNITA on the air without prior permission from the government.
NAMIBIA: Caprivi doctor shot
Namibian security forces enforcing a state of emergency in the northeast Caprivi Strip following a separatist attack two weeks ago, this week shot and killed a medical doctor on his way to an emergency at the state hospital in the district capital, Katima Mulilo.
The National Society for Human Right (NSHR) in Namibia told IRIN that Dr Lucas Ilonga was a member of a medial team sent to the area after volunteer doctors departed in the wake of the 2 August attack. The NSHR said that it "condemns in the strongest terms the reign of terror as well as the erratic behaviour of the so-called security forces enforcing President Sam Nujoma's state of emergency in the Caprivi strip." It added that the shooting was "morally and legally reprehensible," and that it required "universal condemnation."
ICRC seeks access to Caprivi detainees
Meanwhile, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said this week that it was waiting to visit detainees held by the Namibian authorities following the Caprivi attack. Razia Kauria, a spokeswoman for the ICRC delegation in Namibia, told IRIN that the ICRC "was still locked in negotiations with the Namibian government over the issue of access to the detainees". The government this week missed a constitutional deadline to release the names of more than 200 suspects detained in connection with the separatist attack .
Some detainees released
Meanwhile, about 59 people arrested in and around Katima Mulilo after the attack have been released. Martin Shalli, chief of staff of the Namibian Defence Force said: "Any person released can be re-arrested if officials overseeing the state of emergency suspect that these individuals were involved in rebellious activities or abetting rebel activities."
Leading journalist dies
Bright Mwape, one of Southern Africa's leading journalists, died in a Windhoek hospital this week after sustaining serious injuries in a car accident on Friday, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) announced. Mwape, 33, was in charge of MISA's Media Information Unit, whose projects include the daily monitoring and international reporting of press freedom violations in all the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and also produces MISA's bi-monthly publication on media advocacy themes entitled "Network News". In 1996, while working for "The Post" of Zambia, Mwape spent 23 days in detention along with Fred M'membe, the newspaper's Editor-in-chief, after they were sentenced for contempt of parliament for publishing articles criticising statements made in Zambia's parliament by the country's vice-president.
Elections possible in early December
Namibians are likely to go the polls in early December, news reports said this week. According to the reports, 2 December as been tipped as the most likely date, but President Sam Nujoma would announce a final date on 8 October. John Rukambe, the Elections Director was quoted as saying that an estimated 800,000 Namibians were expected to vote in the country's third presidential and general elections.
ZIMBABWE: Dutch government cancels bilateral aid.
The Dutch government has decided to cancel bilateral aid to Zimbabwe, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Hague told IRIN this week. "A decision was taken by the Dutch parliament to reduce the number of countries that currently receive bilateral aid. So Zimbabwe is not the only country." She told IRIN that the government had decided that it had "spread itself too thinly across too many countries that were receiving bilateral aid."
She added that there was still a possibility for Zimbabwe to receive multilateral aid from the Dutch through organisations such as the European Union (EU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
ZAMBIA: Secessionist leader arrested in Caprivi controversy
Imasiku Mutangelwa, leader of a Zambian secessionist movement, the Barotse Patriotric Front (BPF) was this week detained and charged with belonging to an unlawful organisation. The South African government decided that it would grant Mutangelwa's request for political asylum. Mutangelwa had sought refuge a week earlier at the South African High Commission in Lusaka following the attack in neighbouring namibia's Caprivi Strip.
Germany grants Zambia debt relief
Germany has cancelled and rescheduled an estimated US $323 million of Zambian debt to Germany. About 48 percent of Zambia's debt was written off and rescheduled the rest to paid off between April 2007 and October 2023. The payment was originally scheduled for payment between 31 March 1999 and 31 March 2002.
MALAWI: Police break up opposition protest
Police in Malawi's commercial capital, Blantryre, broke up a demonstration by opposition supporters who marched the Malawi Electoral Commission to present a petition on the 15 June election. Home affairs and internal security minister, Patrick Mbewe, was quoted as saying that permission for the march had not been granted and that the police "would thwart any demonstration." He added: "There is no need for the opposition to incite the public to demonstrate against the 15 June results. They should wait for a judicial review."
MOZAMBIQUE: Plans to build a deepwater harbour
The Mozambican government, in concert with a private company, is reportedly planning to build a deepwater harbour in Ponta Dobelo, south of the capital, Maputo, at an estimated cost of US $515 million. According to news reports, the development will also include an industrial park on about 20,000 hectares of land. Environmental groups have condemned the plan as a threat to the sensitive maritime ecology. An environmental activist was quoted as saying such a harbour and the associated sea traffic could damage coral reefs and beaches where turtles lay their eggs.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Low-key SADC summit closes
Leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) ended a low key summit in the Mozambican capital, Maputo this week without announcing any new initiatives on the conflicts in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), officials said.
According to media reports from Maputo on Thursday, heads of state attending the summit said that they had "received new commitments from the Ugandan and Rwandan governments" on the DRC conflict. The reports said the two countries, which have been supporting the rebels in the conflict, had pledged to abide by the terms of the ceasefire they signed in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, last month.
Meanwhile, DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila left Maputo on the eve of the summit on Tuesday, citing "pressing problems at home" as the reason behind his decision. Prior to his departure Kabila held talks with the heads of state from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola, all of whom are backing his government in the war against the rebels.
SADC leaders also agreed that the community would extend non-military aid to the Angolan government. According to news reports, Angolan President Jose Euduardo Dos Santos had earlier on Wednesday requested SADC's help in its fight against the UNITA rebel movement.
One of the special guests at the conference was Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who called for deeper and wider cooperation between SADC and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Obasanjo also called for closer cooperation between the two organisations in the field of conflict resolution. He added that institutional links between the two could be on of the first steps in achieving a closer relationship.
Economic issues also discussed
At least six of the 14-member SADC countries have ratified the regional free trade protocol, South African trade and industry department officials told IRIN this week. "We need at least seven member countries to ratify the protocol in order to make implementation possible by January 2000," the officials said, adding that the remaining member countries are expected to ratify the protocol after parliamentary approval.
The officials told IRIN the main stumbling block to ratifying the agreement is the issue of rules of origin on goods being traded within the region. "There is no consensus yet on the tariff schedules to apply on goods imported from other countries and traded within the region," one official said. He added that customs administration is no longer an issue in the negotiations as it had been resolved.
The countries that have ratified the protocol so far include Botswana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Namibia and Zambia. However, all SADC members, except the DRC, Seychelles and Angola, have signed the protocol.
SADC secretary quits
Meanwhile, Kaire Mbuende, the executive secretary of SADC agreed to resign his position, SADC sources told IRIN this week. The executive secretary's resignation was accepted by the new SADC chairman, President Joaquim Chissano. Confirming media reports of alleged dissatisfaction with his performance, a SADC source said: "Mbuende has offered to resign after some ministers expressed concern at the perceived lack of efficiency in the SADC secretariat he was heading." The officials said adding that his resignation has been accepted by the new SADC chairman, President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique. The Namibian-born Mbuende has been SADC's administrative head for the past six years. His duties will be assumed by his deputy, Prega Ramsamy, until a new executive secretary is appointed.
Johannesburg, 20 August 1999, 08:00 GMT
Contact IRIN-SA (Tel: +27 11 880 4633, e-mail irin-sa@ocha.unon.org) for more information or free subscriptions.
[This item is delivered in the "irin-english" service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information or free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or fax: +254 2 622129 or Web: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.]
Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 1999
distributed by - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Volunteers in Technical Assistance Disaster Information Center lists: www.vita.org/listsub.htm sitreps nat-dsr web: www.vita.org appeal fireline - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Southern Africa - http://www.vita.org/humanitarian/safrica