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
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SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 41 covering the period 9-15 October 1999
CONTENTS:
ANGOLA: Army moving on UNITA stronghold ANGOLA: UN protests UNITA allegations ANGOLA: The relief of Malanje ANGOLA: ICRC lorry hits landmine ANGOLA: Concern for newspaper editor ZIMBABWE: Fresh IMF talks BOTSWANA: Election preview BOTSWANA: Drought hits livestock MOZAMBIQUE: Four candidates to fight election MOZAMBIQUE: New census shows population of nearly 17 million NAMIBIA: Election date announced ZAMBIA: Poverty threatens agricultural sector ZAMBIA: Poverty getting worse SOUTHERN AFRICA: First SA-EU trade agreement SOUTHERN AFRICA: New effort to combat malaria launched SOUTHERN AFRICA: G7 to phase out gold sales SOUTHERN AFRICA: HIV/AIDS now a development problem SOUTHERN AFRICA: UNDP official visits region
ANGOLA: Army moving on UNITA stronghold
The UNITA rebel movement, under pressure from an Angolan army offensive, is attempting to withdraw its forces from its key central highlands military and air supply base in Andulo, Western diplomats and security analysts told IRIN this week.
They said government forces were now close to Andulo, which lies some 480 km southeast of the Angolan capital, Luanda. The government's offensive, prosecuted with caution and under a blanket of official silence since mid-September, has already succeeded in eliminating UNITA's politically-symbolic Bailundo base 120 km southwest of Andulo.
As they advance on Andulo, the sources said UNITA could be forced to abandon its conventional military equipment and revert to its traditional guerrilla warfare tactics.
"UNITA are moving out of Andulo in large numbers but they can't get their tanks and vehicles out because there are only a few roads in the area," one Western envoy said.
The Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), have been reorganised and with better planning, have won back some confidence after two earlier disastrous attempts to oust UNITA from the central highlands in December last year and again in March,security sources said. New ground-attack aircraft, and reports of the involvement of foreign pilots, has also given the government a military edge. But despite the advances, a diplomatic source warned, "it's definitely not over yet." According to a UNITA report posted on the Internet on 24 September, the rebels said they could call on 40,000 guerrilla fighters. The document said UNITA intended to "reorganise" countrywide and launch attacks in the diamond-rich northeastern Cuango river valley, Bengo Province outside Luanda, the outskirts of the northern city of Malanje, and the coastal areas between Lobito and Luanda. It added that artillery would be redeployed "within range of some of the key strategic centres."
UN protests UNITA allegations
The United Nations expressed "deep concern and regret" this week at a recent statement by the UNITA rebel movement alleging that the World Food Programme (WFP) was shipping food and fuel to government forces.
"The United Nations system is committed to providing life-sustaining humanitarian assistance to all in need, often under dangerous security conditions," said a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The spokesman recalled that this year, seven aid workers had lost their lives in Angola while assisting vulnerable populations. "The UN system has taken, and will continue to take, every possible measure to prevent any loss or diversion of aid," he said. He said Annan urged all parties to the conflict to ensure full access and security to allow humanitarian organisations to provide assistance, where needed, throughout the country.
The relief of Malanje
Humanitarian sources in Angola told IRIN this week that there were signs of recovery in the besieged government-held city of Malanje east of Luanda, where three months ago, malnutrition rates were as high as 32 percent. They cited the results of a September survey showing the malnutirition rate had now dropped to around 22 percent after a month of food distribution to over 300,000 war-affected people.
The government offensive since mid-September has also managed to end the sporadic shelling of Malanje by UNITA rebels and has helped raise confidence, according to humanitarian officials.
Malanje, some 360 km east of Luanda, has historically been a stronghold of the ruling MPLA. But its strategic significance lies in its position as the gateway to the diamond-rich Lundas to the east, and its proximity to a UNITA supply corridor running from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the north to the rebels' central highlands heartland.
In April last year, with the unravelling of the UN-brokered Lusaka peace accord, villagers started fleeing the countryside for Malanje. By May this year, when the World Food Programme ended its transportation of food to the city, 125-130,000 people were receiving relief assistance. The resumption of humanitarian deliveries in August and general food distribution - albeit half rations - to the war-affected has made "a big difference", an aid worker said.
ANGOLA: ICRC lorry hits landmine
A lorry operated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) detonated an anti-tank landmine near the embattled Angolan central highlands capital of Huambo, an ICRC spokesman told IRIN. No-one was injured in the incident which occurred on Friday, last week.
"An ICRC four-wheel drive vehicle and a lorry had just left Huambo around noon on Friday when this happened," the spokesman said. "Fortunately it was only the rear section of the lorry which was damaged, sustaining a broken axle. The staff were jolted but fortunately no-one was hurt. They were very lucky." The incident, however, prompted new security measures. These included only commencing food distribution in the region after 9:00 a.m. so that the army could check the routes in advance. Staff had also been instructed not to travel on secondary roads in the area during food distribution operations.
Huambo, Angola's second city has been held under virtual seige by the UNITA rebel movement since the breakdown late last year of the UN-backed Lusaka Protocol peace accords, forcing the humanitarian community to fly food in by cargo plane for local distribution.
Concern for newspaper editor
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) said this week it was concerned and "appalled"' at action taken against an Angolan newspaper editor and publisher who was briefly detained a week ago.
A MISA spokesman told IRIN that although William Tonet, editor and publisher of the bi-weekly newspaper, 'Folha 8', had been released last week ago on bail equivalent to US $500 after a weekend behind bars, the government should live up to its pledges to respect press freedom in Angola.
In an interview with Tonet after his release, it said Tonet had expressed fear for the future following his release. "Anything can happen," it quoted him as saying. "They want me dead and if they fail to incriminate me the next target can be my life," he said.
Tonet reiterated that his detention was part of the political pressure facing him and other independent media.
ZIMBABWE: Fresh IMF talks
The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) deputy director for Africa, Anupam Basu, arrived in the Zimbabwe capital, Harare, this week for talks with finance ministry officials following a media storm over allegations that the government had misled the IMF about the cost of its military intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
A spokesman for the IMF told IRIN that no further details of the visit would be available until the talks were completed. 'The Financial Gazette' said the talks would focus on the Zimbabwe's economic reforms and its failure to achieve economic targets that had been agreed upon in August.
It said recent media reports that the government had misled the IMF about its spending in DRC would also be discussed. A report by the 'Financial Times' in London earlier this month, quoted an internal memo from the minister of finance which claimed that Zimbabwe had spent US $166 million from January to June rather than the US $3 million a month it had told the IMF.
Last week the World Bank said that it had indefinitely postponed talks on a new US $140 million structural reform programme until the government got its programme with the IMF back on track. In September The Netherlands said that it had cancelled a US $15 million aid programme to Zimbabwe citing concerns over governance and macroeconomic performance.
BOTSWANA: Election preview
An estimated 390,000 registered voters in Botswana go to the polls on Saturday in a dual ballot to elect a 40-member National Assembly as well as local councillors in the eighth general election since the country gained independence from Britain in 1966.
According to officials of the country's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), nine political parties have registered for the elections in which the party that polls the most votes in the 40 constituencies will form the government and appoint a president from among its members.
The same procedure will apply in the local government poll whereby a candidate who receives the most votes will assume the councillor position and the party with the highest number of councillors having the right to appoint local mayors.
The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) which has been in power since independence, is generally expected to be returned to power, albeit with a reduced majority. Botswana election watchers argue that the fragmentation of the opposition as well as general voter apathy will hand victory to the party of incumbent president, Festus Mogae.
Drought hits livestock
Livestock, including cattle, sheep and goats are dying in Botswana as drought tightens its grip on Botswana, while a growing number of children suffer malnutrition, according to the latest quarterly Botswana Food Security report this week.
Maize dealers had imported 36 percent of their annual import forecast, while imports of sorghum rose to 7 percent and wheat imports remained at the level of 9 percent, added the report. Most dams had dried up and livestock was reported to be watered mainly from underground boreholes.
The report also pointed out that the stock levels of maize at the end of June stood at 9,632 mt and about 8,205 mt of the maize was held by the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) and the country's millers. The report said wheat importers were holding huge carry-over stock of 62,258 mt, which explains the low import rate, adding that 43,689 mt of the wheat was commercially held.
MOZAMBIQUE: Four candidates to fight election
Four candidates have registered for the December presidential elections, a Mozambican electoral official announced this week. They are: President Joaquim Chissano of the governing FRELIMO party, Afonso Dhlakama of the country's main opposition party Renamo, Yaqub Sibindi of the smaller Pimo party and Wehia Ripua, leader of the Mozambican Opposition Union.
The parliamentary and presidential elections will run concurrently on 3 and 4 December. Mozambique held its first democratic elections in 1994. FRELIMO won 129 seats in parliament, Renamo 112 and the Democratic Union nine seats in the 250 seat assembly.
New census shows population of nearly 17 million
Mozambique's population has reached almost 17 million, according to official statistics published this week. The census registered 16.278 million people, with an omission rate of about 5.1 percent. The census figures showed that 52 percent of the population were male and with 48 percent female.
NAMIBIA: Election date announced
Namibian President Sam Nujoma has announced that general and presidential elections will take place on 30 November and 1 December. In the last election the ruling party SWAPO, took 73 percent of the vote giving it a two thirds majority in the 72-seat National Assembly. An estimated 847,000 voters have registered for the election.
Meanwhile, the South African daily, 'Business Day', reported this week that Namibia's deputy minister for information and broadcasting, Ignatius Shixwameni had quit SWAPO because of "undemocratic practices" within SWAPO and the president's "reluctance to act against corrupt leaders."
ZAMBIA: Poverty threatens agricultural sector
Poverty is threatening the viability of Zambia's agricultural sector, particularly pork, dairy and poultry. The Zambia National Farmers Union said that because of the declining purchasing power of the Zambian people, farmers were unable to pass on production costs to consumers and processors. The union's report for the 1998/99 season said that processors were unwilling to raise prices, which reduced producers profit margins.
Poverty getting worse
Meanwhile, the Catholic Mission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) said this week that an estimated 85 percent of the Zambian population were living on less than US $1 a day with the remaining 15 percent on less than US $2 a day. It said that the quality of life of the majority of Zambians deteriorated drastically over the past year.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: First SA-EU trade agreement
South Africa this week signed its first trade, development and cooperation agreement with the 15-member European Union (EU) following four years of tough negotiations. South Africa, represented by its trade and industry minister Alec Erwin, hopes the deal will result in the growth of its economy, while the EU's development commissioner, Poul Nielson, called it a vibrant symbol of the commitment of the world's biggest trading bloc to post-apartheid South Africa.
It provides for the establishment of a free trade area between the parties over the next 12 years, during which the EU will grant duty-free status to 95 percent of imports from South Africa, while South Africa will cut its tariffs on 86 percent of its European imports.
South Africa's neighbours in the region are concerned that the deal will have a negative impact on their trade.
Full details of the report can be seen in an IRIN Briefing at the following web address: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/sa/countrystories/southafrica/19991012.htm
New effort to combat malaria launched
Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa this week launched the Lubombo Malaria Control Programme, as part of a renewed effort to combat the deadly mosquito-borne disease.
A statement from the South African Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said that the agreement between the three countries will pave the way for a coordinated US $6.6 million programme over the next five years.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: G7 to phase out gold sales
The recent decision by the industrialised G7 group of wealthy nations to suspend the sale of gold in order to finance debt relief for poor countries has provided a temporary reprieve for gold producing countries of sub-Sahara Africa, officials of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) told IRIN this week.
"The SADC mining ministers agreed with the G7 to suspend the sales to allow the region's finance ministers to conclude talks with the relevant central banks on alternative ways to finance debt relief," a SADC official said.
Last month's decision by the Bank of England to auction bullion on the open market, and the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) intention to sell 10 percent of its gold stocks saw the gold producing countries' fears of a drop in the price of gold realised. Two months earlier in July, the gold price had dropped to a 20-year low of about US $260 an ounce. This brought in its wake massive retrenchments and mine closures in South Africa's gold mining industry.
HIV/AIDS now a development problem
An international workshop investigating the implications of HIV/AIDS in the workplace in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, this week was given grim news about the economic impact of the disease in Africa.
In a joint statement by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and UNAIDS, which are jointly organising the conference said: "For every person who is infected with HIV or ill with AIDS, dozens more are affected as the virus enters their household, leaves them orphaned or strips them of their teachers, workers, managers and political leaders."
UNDP official visits region
The Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mark Malloch Brown, this week visited Lesotho where he met King Letsie III, Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, other senior government and opposition officials, and representatives of the donor community.
A UNDP statement said Malloch Brown, who arrived from the Namibian capital, Windhoek, is due to inspect various UNDP projects in Lesotho before travelling to South Africa at the weekend on the final leg of a regional visit.
Johannesburg, 15 October, 1999 10:30 GMT
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