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 47 covering the period 20-26 November 1999
CONTENTS:
NAMIBIA: More Angolan refugees flee fighting NAMIBIA: Elections chief warns parties against violence NAMIBIA: Opposition party cancels rallies citing intimidation NAMIBIA-DRC: Namibia will withdraw troops once UN peacekeepers in place NAMIBIA: Troops in DRC cannot vote NAMIBIA: Government seeks extradition of chemical warfare expert ANGOLA: British government gets tough with Savimbi ANGOLA: Call for all-inclusive peace talks MOZAMBIQUE: Poor marketing hinders food security efforts ZIMBABWE: Mugabe pledges compensation for army atrocities ZIMBABWE: Mugabe says elections to be held in March ZAMBIA: US writes off debt ZAMBIA: Authorities arrest poachers LESOTHO: Negotiations over election timetable SOUTH AFRICA: CITES to grant request to sell ivory
NAMIBIA: More Angolan refugees flee fighting
Refugees fleeing fighting between Angolan government forces and UNITA rebels have been crossing south into Namibia daily this week as tensions along the 700 km of common frontier increased.
"Our latest refugee figures have grown from 2,300 a few days ago to 2,400," Hesdy G. Rathling, UNHCR's Senior Liaison Officer in Namibia, told IRIN this week. "We have to move them from the border areas near the towns of Rundu and Kahenge as soon as possible because of tensions and the obvious threats to their security."
He said a first group of 71 refugees had been taken to the new refugee camp being set up at Osire, some 230 km north of Windhoek. "The government is providing the transport and feeding new arrivals as they come."
As Angolan government forces flush UNITA rebels from long-held strongholds in the south of the country, Rathling said he expected the number of new refugees to grow steadily in coming weeks and said preparations were underway to feed, shelter and assist 5,000 or more in December.
"As the fighting continues we expect more to cross over at any time now. Even as I speak, we are hearing of fresh fighting in the border zone and people are coming over. So far, we can only be thankful that there has been no outbreak of disease. But we are expecting their numbers to double and that is the projection for which we have to prepare."
Meanwhile, humanitarian sources in Windhoek confirmed local newspaper accounts that people in the Namibian border town of Nkurenkuru had actually watched last week as the UNITA garrison of Cuangar fell to Angolan government forces.
In the battle, which resulted in one of the refugee influxes, a source told IRIN: "The town fell within an hour as people on this side of the border stood and watched. There seemed to be little resistance, and UNITA rebels either reportedly fled into the bush or surrendered. But hundreds of refugees crossed over to this side, and there is more fighting in the south of Angola."
NAMIBIA: Elections chief warns parties against violence
The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has warned the country's political parties to prevent violence as political temperatures mount in the run-up to the country's general elections scheduled for November 30 and December 1.
Joram Rukambe, director of the ECN, told IRIN this week that he had repeatedly warned the leaders of the nine political parties contesting the election not to let the process bring condemnation from foreign observers or rights groups at home.
He said he was aware of complaints by the Congress of Democrats (CoD) that it had been forced to call off rallies in the four northern provinces which constitute the country's majority Ovambo heartland.
With a week to go before Namibians vote in the third parliamentary and presidential elections since independence from South Africa in 1990, Rukambe said he had told political leaders not to schedule rallies in the same location at the same time.
"These are straightfoward rules. We have avoided violence so far and I have made it very clear that any incidents of violence must be reported to the police so that charges can be brought where necessary," he said. "In election time it is normal that they lay the blame on one another for their ills."
Political observers in Windhoek told IRIN that the CoD was expected to make inroads on SWAPO's two-thirds majority. The party has been campaigning on a platform of poverty alleviation combined with regular blasts at the government for failing to consult the electorate on its military intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and over its decision to change the constitution to enable President Sam Nujoma to serve a third five-year term in office.
Rukambe said there had been a surge of last-minute voter registrations in the country of 1.6 million. To date, he said, 847,000 people had registered, several thousands of them in recent days.
NAMIBIA: Opposition party cancels rallies citing intimidation
The Congress of Democrats (CoD) said this week it had been forced to cancel a number of rallies because of alleged intimidation by SWAPO activists.
Tsudao Gurirab, the CoD secretary-general, told IRIN that SWAPO supporters had repeatedly disrupted rallies in the north: "We have had two incidents of physical violence, but fortunately, very fortunately, no deaths or serious injuries. We are determined to avoid violence of any kind at all costs, and this is why we called the meetings off in the north. We have had no problems campaigning in the south or in the main urban areas." As teams of election observers from the European Union and the United Nations this week fanned out into the countryside, political observers in the capital, Windhoek, where few campaign posters are in evidence, described the atmosphere as generally calm ahead of the voting.
NAMIBIA-DRC: Namibia will withdraw troops once UN peacekeepers in place
Namibia said this week it would withdraw its military intervention force from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as soon as UN peacekeepers have been deployed.
"We would withdraw from DRC now if UN peacekeepers were in place. We shall withdraw tomorrow, if they come," said Veiccoh Nghiwete, Permanent Secretary at the Namibian foreign ministry.
In an interview with IRIN, Nghiwete said that Namibia with its neighbours, Zimbabwe and Angola, had sent troops to support DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
"At the time we had in mind the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. We did not want another genocide, and neither did we want the capital Kinshasa overtaken by rebels, and I think we succeeded on both counts," he said. "You do not try to overthrow a government in a country by invading it which was what happened in Congo."
Nghiwete declined to discuss the number of Namibian troops currently deployed in DRC, or give further figures such as the number of casualties. Unofficially, however, the force is estimated at some 2,000 men, well below Zimbabwe's contingent of 10,000. According to the National Society for Human Rights, the deployment is costing the country an equivalent of US $150,000 a day.
NAMIBIA: Troops in DRC cannot vote
Soldiers serving with the Namibian intervention force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will not be able to vote in next week's presidential and parliamentary elections, government officials told IRIN this week.
Joram Rukambe, director of the Electoral Commission of Namibia said the ministries of defence and foreign affairs had found that setting up polling stations for soldiers in Congo was "not feasible".
"All factors were considered ranging from security in the Congo to the fact that many soldiers simply do not have voter registration cards, so it will not be possible for them to vote," he said.
NAMIBIA: Government seeks extradition of chemical warfare expert
The Namibian authorities this week said they had approached the South African government for information pertaining to Wouter Basson, an apartheid-era chemical warfare expert who was allegedly responsible for poisoning up to 200 fighters of the Namibian Southwest Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO).
Veiccoh Nghiwete, Permanent Secretary at the Namibian foreign ministry, told IRIN that Namibia would take the next legal step towards Basson's extradition once information provided on the case was sufficient to draw up a case. "Obviously, we have to await the outcome of the South African trial," he added.
During the hearing so far, it has been alleged in affidavits filed with the Pretoria high court that Basson played a role in the disappearance of many SWAPO activists. The court papers also disclosed that many SWAPO activists arrested by South African security and intelligence officials at the time had been injected with a lung paralysis chemical developed by Basson causing them to suffocate and die. In many cases, it was alleged further, their bodies were dumped at sea by the South African Air Force.
ANGOLA: British government gets tough with Savimbi
The British government has called for tougher action to be taken against Jonas Savimbi, leader of the Angolan UNITA rebel movement.
In a speech to an Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) conference in London, Peter Hain, Foreign Office Minister and British Minister for Africa said the British government had started targeting Savimbi's bank accounts and that the Bank of England had already frozen several accounts.
"The international community must co-operate with the UN. We must track down Savimbi's assets whether these are secretly deposited in nearby West Africa or elsewhere. The individuals, companies and governments involved need to be named and shamed. I give notice that we will 'out' them if we can."
"Our target is UNITA's leader Jonas Savimbi. He is in his own context as bad as Saddam Hussein or Slobodan Milosevic. The blood of hundreds of thousands of Angolans drip from his hands," Hain said.
He welcomed the recent announcement by the diamond giant De Beers that it would not be buying further diamonds from Angola for fear that it might be adding to "Savimbi's war chest", but said that there should be full transparency and that oil companies who worked in Angola, including BP-Amoco, Elf, Total and Exxon, had to be also more open with the international community and international financial institutions.
ANGOLA: Call for all-inclusive peace talks
Angolan peace activists in South Africa have warned that military defeat of the UNITA rebel movement could threaten the future democratisation of the war-ravaged country.
As a government offensive continues to score successes against UNITA, Daniel Ntoni-Nzinga, the Southern Africa representative of the Quaker International Affairs Programme, cautioned that Angola's political process should not be an arena of winners and losers.
"We still need both the MPLA (the ruling party) and UNITA to transform the country," he said this week at the launch of a new NGO, Angola 2000, committed to easing the plight of Angola's impoverished people.
The activists and Angolan analysts attending Angola 2000's launch said they doubted a military solution would bring peace. They argued that the government's avowed intent to eliminate UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi, or bypass him in any future negotiations, would not solve the country's insecurity.
MOZAMBIQUE: Poor marketing hinders food security efforts Poor marketing of agricultural products was the major stumbling block to ensuring food security and good nutrition in Mozambique.
A spokeswoman for the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said that proper marketing implied co-ordinated planning involving the authorities responsible for roads and bridges as well as the traders and the factories that process agricultural products. "Farmers will only produce more if they know they can sell their products," the spokeswoman said.
"Currently, the FAO and the Agriculture Ministry are working on a US $1.7 million food security programme covering Maputo, Sofala and Manica provinces aimed at introducing new production technologies," she said.
Last year Mozambique harvested nearly two million mt of grain - mostly maize - compared to the 300,000 tons a year during the 16-year civil war.
ZIMBABWE: Mugabe pledges compensation for army atrocities
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe reportedly told traditional leaders at the weekend that he will establish a committee to consider compensation for victims of atrocities committed by his troops in Matabeleland between 1982 and 1987.
It is estimated that as many as 20,000 Ndebele-speaking Zimbabweans were killed by the army's North Korean-trained 5th Brigade in a bid to crush a rebellion by guerrillas loyal to the late Joshua Nkomo.
Mugabe reportedly said: "Our critics are saying government's talk to compensate the people of Matabeleland and Midlands is politicking, but let me assure you that since we are a government that is people-oriented and take their interest seriously, we have a role to fulfil what we promise."
ZIMBABWE: Mugabe says elections to be held in March
Zimbabwe will hold parliamentary elections around March next year, President Mugabe reportedly said at the weekend while addressing a state banquet for visiting Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.
Mugabe said the elections would follow a review of the constitution by the government-appointed National Constitutional Review Commission which is due to present its findings at the end of this month.
ZAMBIA: US writes off debt
The United States this week wrote off US $32 million of Zambia's debt, while also rescheduling another US $33 million.
The agreement was signed by the US ambassador to Zambia, David Dunn and Zambia's Economic and Development Minister, Katele Kalumba. "The agreement we have signed consolidates about US $65 million of Zambia's debt to the US," Kalumba said.
ZAMBIA: Authorities arrest poachers Zambian wildlife authorities have apprehended more than 3,000 poachers and confiscated a total of 3,140 guns, which included military weapons, between 1996 and 1999.
A total of 2,140 convictions were secured, which raised US $700,000 in a campaign against commercial poaching in the country's 19 national parks and 35 game management areas.
The campaign, initiated in 1993 with the training of 1,981 wildlife officers, has also led to an increase in the elephant population from 9,000 to the current 35,000, an increase attributed to the 10-year international ban on trade in ivory.
LESOTHO: Negotiations over election timetable
A group of southern African foreign ministers is due in Lesotho at the end of the month to try reach agreement on the date for fresh elections in the politically volatile mountain kingdom, political sources told IRIN.
The framework of a deal was reached last month between the government and opposition parties mediated by Commonwealth special envoy, Moses Anafu.
Its key points are that a timetable for fresh elections should be drawn up by independent experts; two Commonwealth officials would sit on a new electoral commission; a security liaison committtee would be formed with representatives of all political parties and the Lesotho army; a contact group of party representatives created with access to the prime minister; and a joint committee on the public media set up to ensure equitable airtime. The agreement, however, remains unsigned with no date fixed for fresh elections.
The foreign ministers of Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe will arrive in Lesotho on 29 November to meet with the government and political parties over the status of the Commonwealth-mediated agreement. Their intervention signals that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is now back in the driving seat of the process of thrashing out a solution to the Lesotho crisis.
SOUTH AFRICA: CITES to grant request to sell ivory
South Africa's attempt to sell ivory is likely to be approved by the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) when the UN agency meets in Nairobi, Kenya next April.
South Africa is reportedly seeking permission to hold a once-off auction of about 28 mt of elephant tusks from the Kruger National park. The park is said to contain a population of about 9,000 elephants, while it is designed to hold only about 7,000.
Johannesburg, 26 November 11:00 GMT
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