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 382
28 June - 4 July 2008


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: 'Can I give you some Harare luggage for your US dollars?'
GLOBAL: Balm to help ease way to climate change deal before G8?
LESOTHO: Water running on empty
ZAMBIA: Reports of Zambian president's death disputed
ZAMBIA: Reports of the President's death "erroneous"
ZIMBABWE: The grind goes on
COMOROS: Cautious optimism after calm Anjouan elections
LESOTHO: Children dial 800 22 345 for help
ZIMBABWE: Back to the past for a peaceful future
MOZAMBIQUE: Boost for the small farmer
ZIMBABWE: Too early for forgiving
ZIMBABWE: My enemy's enemy
ZIMBABWE: Mining between a rock and a hard place
ZIMBABWE: SADC's big headache


ZIMBABWE: 'Can I give you some Harare luggage for your US dollars?'

The flower seller booths on Unity Square in the Zimbabwean capital, 
Harare, are now the haunt of money changers, because this is one of the 
few commercial activities in the country still experiencing any kind of 
growth.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79106


GLOBAL: Balm to help ease way to climate change deal before G8?

Experts under the leadership of former UK prime minister Tony Blair have 
prepared a report described as a "useful balm applied at the right 
moment to tense muscles" in an attempt to crack a global deal on climate 
change in international talks ahead of the upcoming G8 summit in Japan, 
according to a global warming policy analyst.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79103


LESOTHO: Water running on empty

Three parched years in a row have drained Lesotho's water sources and 
thousands of people that are already facing chronic food insecurity risk 
losing access to water, the spread of disease and death.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79102


ZAMBIA: Reports of Zambian president's death disputed

Reports that Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa died in a hospital on 3 
July in the French capital of Paris, have been denied by the country's 
information minister.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79060


ZAMBIA: Reports of the President's death "erroneous"

The Zambian government insisted today that President Levy Mwanawasa was 
alive - denying media reports he had died in a Paris hospital - and 
described South African President Thabo Mbeki's minute of silence in 
respect of his counterpart at a rally in Pretoria as "erroneous".

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79088


ZIMBABWE: The grind goes on

Chamunorwa Shamhu* works for one of the few non-governmental 
organisations (NGOs) still allowed to operate in Zimbabwe, but by 
mid-afternoon this week had still not managed to write the five 
paragraphs needed for a funding proposal.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79061


COMOROS: Cautious optimism after calm Anjouan elections

Results from the election on 29 June show that voters on the Comorian 
island of Anjouan have chosen their next president and observers hope a 
year of political turmoil will make way for calm and much needed 
development.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79057


LESOTHO: Children dial 800 22 345 for help

In the two months since the government of Lesotho launched the county's 
first national child helpline, almost 500 orphans and vulnerable 
children have picked up the phone to demand assistance and an ear.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79034


ZIMBABWE: Back to the past for a peaceful future

An echo of Zimbabwe's past is increasingly being viewed as the only 
peaceful solution left to save the country from itself.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79037


MOZAMBIQUE: Boost for the small farmer

In an effort to build a long-term source of food supplies in developing 
countries while boosting small-scale agriculture, the World Food 
Programme (WFP) will soon begin buying food from local farmers in 
Mozambique.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79040


ZIMBABWE: Too early for forgiving

Martin Gurajena*, like many other opposition activists forced to flee 
Zimbabwe's ongoing political violence, has a difficult choice to make: 
when will it be safe to go home?

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79044


ZIMBABWE: My enemy's enemy

After a hurried swearing-in ceremony on Sunday to cap a second-round 
Zimbabwean presidential election internationally condemned as a farce, 
Robert Mugabe may now be setting his sights on new political opponents - 
this time within his own ZANU-PF party.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79017


ZIMBABWE: Mining between a rock and a hard place

International condemnation of Robert Mugabe's controversial re-election 
as president of Zimbabwe has now turned to criticism of foreign 
businesses operating in the country, which are seen as helping to prop 
up the regime.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79019


ZIMBABWE: SADC's big headache

If the Southern African Development Community (SADC) "wished to be taken 
seriously" it would have to declare Robert Mugabe's presidential claim 
illegitimate, a regional analyst told IRIN.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79020


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