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 371
12 - 18 April 2008


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: What now from SADC?
MOZAMBIQUE: Linking small farmers to the formal economy
ZIMBABWE: Call for international action as violence worsens
SOUTH AFRICA: Food and electricity prices spark union protest
GLOBAL: Costly food opportunity to review aid responses
MADAGASCAR: Cash shortage hits cyclone food aid delivery
ZIMBABWE: Rampaging elephants destroying crops
ZIMBABWE: Opposition turning up the heat
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Beefing up for a revolution
ZIMBABWE: Looking for a knock-out ahead of round two
ZIMBABWE: SADC disappoints civil society


ZIMBABWE: What now from SADC?

However, Tsvangirai has said that the MDC would not take part in a 
presidential run-off ballot, as the high levels of violence and 
intimidation by Zimbabwe's police and army since the first round of 
voting would amount to Mugabe "stealing the election".

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77828


MOZAMBIQUE: Linking small farmers to the formal economy

The sustainability of a three-year multimillion-dollar project to 
stimulate commercial agriculture in Mozambique will be tested when the 
government withdraws its financial backing in June 2008.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77800


ZIMBABWE: Call for international action as violence worsens

Zimbabweans will commemorate independence day on Friday as a deeply 
divided and uncertain nation, shaken by a rising tide of political 
violence in the aftermath of last month's election in which the 
opposition for the first time won a parliamentary majority.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77817


SOUTH AFRICA: Food and electricity prices spark union protest

Thousands of members of the Congress of South African trade Unions 
(COSATU) took to the streets of Johannesburg on Thursday to protest 
rocketing food and electricity prices.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77818


GLOBAL: Costly food opportunity to review aid responses

High food prices have brought social unrest but they have also provided 
a "window of opportunity" to review global policies on the response to 
food insecurity, said a leading food aid analyst as experts and aid 
agencies began an unprecedented strategic re-think at a three-day 
meeting in Rome on 16 April.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77802


MADAGASCAR: Cash shortage hits cyclone food aid delivery

A funding shortfall has prevented vital food aid deliveries to tens of 
thousands of Malagasy people hit by this year's deadly cyclones, leaving 
many vulnerable to other natural disasters, said the World Food 
Programme's (WFP) country representative.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77793


ZIMBABWE: Rampaging elephants destroying crops

Marauding elephants that escaped from the Hwange National Park, an 
animal sanctuary in rural southwestern Zimbabwe, are destroying any 
hopes among peasant farmers of a moderately successful harvest.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77793


ZIMBABWE: Opposition turning up the heat

A call for an indefinite stayaway by Zimbabwe's opposition party, the 
Movement for Democratic Change, had a mixed response on 15 April, the 
day protest action began.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77777


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Beefing up for a revolution

African farmers, particularly those in southern Africa, can benefit from 
the global boom in the demand for meat says new research that suggests 
several options for ensuring that the "livestock revolution" does not 
pass them by.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77759


ZIMBABWE: Looking for a knock-out ahead of round two

At least one Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporter has been 
killed in political violence in Zimbabwe at the weekend, amid reports by 
human rights groups that ruling ZANU-PF party militants and the army 
have been deployed in the countryside to snuff out the opposition.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77760


ZIMBABWE: SADC disappoints civil society

Zimbabwe's civil society and the opposition party, Movement for 
Democratic Change (MDC), have expressed disappointment over the outcome 
of the much vaunted crisis summit held by the Southern African 
Development Community (SADC).

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77756


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