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 362
2 - 8 February 2008


CONTENTS:

COMOROS: Too late to mediate
ZAMBIA: Lusaka floodwater has nowhere to go
MALAWI: Subsidising agriculture is not enough
MADAGASCAR: Picking up after cyclone Fame
SWAZILAND: School gates close on orphans
MOZAMBIQUE: Commercial overfishing threatens coastal livelihoods
MALAWI: Enough food for everyone?
ZIMBABWE: The disappearing dollar
SOUTH AFRICA: School safety influences literacy rate
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Thirty percent less maize by 2030


COMOROS: Too late to mediate

Anxiety is rising in the semi-autonomous island of Anjouan as the 
Comoros Union government continues to talk tough about a military 
incursion to end a lingering political stalemate.

Hostility between the authorities on Anjouan and the other two islands 
in the Indian Ocean archipelago, Grande Comore and Moheli, flared 
following individual island elections in June 2007.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76568


ZAMBIA: Lusaka floodwater has nowhere to go

The reason why Zambia's urban poor have had to wade through ankle-deep 
water for weeks on end is as much down to human error as the torrential 
rain that has hammered the country: in a word, drainage.

Zambia has been soaked by heavy downpours since the last week of 
November 2007. In rural Southern and Eastern provinces, flooding has 
displaced thousands and drowned crops. In Lusaka, it has also brought 
misery: schools and clinics have been affected, homes stay waterlogged, 
and there is fear of an outbreak of cholera - all too common in the 
city, even during a normal raining season.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76566


MALAWI: Subsidising agriculture is not enough

Malawi is riding high on the success of its fertiliser subsidy programme 
and has become a regional exporter hoping to profit from booming food 
prices, but analysts are a bit more wary.

The country's agriculture sector has turned the corner since the drought 
in 2005, and food prices have shot up globally by nearly 75 percent 
within a decade and will continue to do so, according to the World 
Bank's annual Global Economic Prospects 2008.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76591


MADAGASCAR: Picking up after cyclone Fame

The authorities and aid agencies in Madagascar are coming to grips with 
the destruction left by cyclone Fame; although there is room for 
improvement, the response so far has shown that the 2007 cyclone season 
taught valuable lessons.

Tropical cyclone Fame made landfall in the northwest of the island in 
late December, bringing severe flooding to the northwest and centre of 
the country. But the disaster-prone island had learned valuable lessons 
from previous cyclones, experts said.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76590


SWAZILAND: School gates close on orphans

Thamie Simelane, 12, is among hundreds of thousands of orphans and 
vulnerable children (OVC) in Swaziland who might not be going to school, 
despite government assurances that the tuition fees of these children 
would be covered.

Headmasters rely on school fees to run their institutions, but limited 
government funds have materialised sporadically, often forcing schools 
to start sending children home.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76612


MOZAMBIQUE: Commercial overfishing threatens coastal livelihoods

Artisanal fishing provides a critical source of food and income to 
thousands of Mozambicans, but the ever-increasing local and 
international demand for fish, combined with rapidly depleting stocks, 
is putting increasing strain on this way of life.

The pressure is mounting: Mozambique's shallow coastal waters have been 
over-fished, its population - 40 percent of whom live on less than one 
US dollar a day - is growing at 2.4 percent annually, and traditional 
fishing techniques can no longer compete in a globalised fishing world.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76611


ZAMBIA: A new kind of internally displaced people

Zambia's open-door investment policy is coming under criticism from 
rights activists for passing on the real cost of development to the 
poor, who are being evicted to make way for the new prestige projects.

Campaigners describe the victims as 'internally displaced persons' 
(IDPs) - a description usually applied to people made homeless as a 
result of conflict or disaster.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76638


MALAWI: Enough food for everyone?

Despite a bumper harvest last season, there are signs of maize shortages 
in some parts of Malawi, but deputy minister of agriculture Bintony 
Kutsaira has maintained that stocks of the staple grain are sufficient.

Spot-checks of outlets run by the state grain marketer, the Agriculture 
Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC), in major towns revealed 
that people have been forced to buy less than the minimum quantity of 
50kg of maize. In some instances a 50kg bag of maize was shared among 
three or four people.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76636


SOUTH AFRICA: School safety influences literacy rate

South African schools are the most dangerous in the world, and if the 
issue is not addressed it will stunt children's education and jeopardise 
the future development of the country, according to the South African 
Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR). But experts warn that safety is 
part of a more complex problem.

The SAIRR recently published statistics from the 2006 Progress in 
International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), a study by the US-based 
Institute for Education Sciences (IES) in 30 countries worldwide, in 
which South Africa was ranked last in school safety.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76634



SOUTHERN AFRICA: Thirty percent less maize by 2030

As global warming pushes temperatures up and droughts become more 
intense, the production of maize, southern Africa's staple food, could 
drop by as much as 30 percent in another two decades, according to a new 
study.

The study by a group of Stanford University researchers calls on 
countries to opt for long-term measures like the development of new crop 
varieties and investment in irrigation, which could help lessen the 
impact on food production more substantially than shifting planting 
dates.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76652


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