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 401
8 - 14 November 2008


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: The divorce becomes final
SWAZILAND: Promise to heal the health service
ZAMBIA: Looming food crisis in refugee camps
SWAZILAND: Gerry Tsabedze, "The poor have rights, but they don't know
   them"
ZIMBABWE: Violence returns as talks flounder
ZIMBABWE: Derrick Jimu, "I put the blame for his death squarely on the
   city officials and the government"
ZIMBABWE: Less food for more mouths
MOZAMBIQUE: Cholera spreads in central provinces
MALAWI: Trying to alleviate the burden of the old
ZAMBIA: Lower copper prices will hurt the poor
DRC: What will stop the fighting?


ZIMBABWE: The divorce becomes final

Zimbabwe's political crisis deepened on 14 November with the withdrawal 
of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Morgan 
Tsvangirai, from the moribund power-sharing deal with President Robert 
Mugabe's ZANU-PF

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81482


SWAZILAND: Promise to heal the health service

Moved by the deplorable conditions he found on a tour of Swaziland's 
hospitals and clinics, Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini has vowed to 
reform the healthcare system.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81481


ZAMBIA: Looming food crisis in refugee camps

The Zambian government has warned that a looming food crisis in the 
country's refugee camps could cause unrest among the thousands of 
asylum-seekers from across the region.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81477


SWAZILAND: Gerry Tsabedze, "The poor have rights, but they don't know 
them"

Gerry Tsabedze, 40, has made it his mission in life to help unfairly 
treated Swazi workers find legal redress.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/HOVReport.aspx?ReportId=81446


ZIMBABWE: Violence returns as talks flounder

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government is launching another 
wave of attacks against the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), a 
spokesman for the opposition party told IRIN, after a much vaunted 
power-sharing deal appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81453


ZIMBABWE: Derrick Jimu, "I put the blame for his death squarely on the 
city officials and the government"

Derrick Jimu, 56, has still not come to terms with the death of his son 
from cholera in the low-income suburb of Budiriro, in Zimbabwe's 
capital, Harare. So far more than 20 lives have been lost in this area, 
and the epidemic has now spread beyond the city.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/HOVReport.aspx?ReportId=81428


ZIMBABWE: Less food for more mouths

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is moving into top gear this month to 
feed four million Zimbabweans, but severe funding shortages mean the 
organisation's coffers are beginning to run on empty, which has caused a 
cut in rations to below the minimum dietary recommendations.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81433


MOZAMBIQUE: Cholera spreads in central provinces

Fears that cholera may be spreading throughout central Mozambique has 
forced the government to issue the highest state of alert.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81403


MALAWI: Trying to alleviate the burden of the old

The respect Malawi's elderly once enjoyed in society is being soured by 
the twin pressures of poverty and HIV/AIDS, according to a recent 
report, and the government is introducing social grants to alleviate the 
burden they carry.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81407


ZAMBIA: Lower copper prices will hurt the poor

The fall in international copper prices is causing unease in Zambia, one 
of the world's largest producers, whose impressive economic growth in 
recent years has been based on copper exports.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81367


DRC: What will stop the fighting?

A pledge by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to 
complement UN peacekeeping forces in eastern Democratic Republic of 
Congo (DRC) with SADC soldiers does not take account of the regional 
body's limited military capacity, a military analyst told IRIN.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81391


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