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SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 201 for 16-22 October - OCHA IRIN

Wednesday 17 November 2004


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IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 201 for 16-22 October

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENTS:

ZAMBIA: DRC refugees resist moving
SOUTHERN AFRICA: WFP asks for US $404 million to aid 1.5 million people
ZIMBABWE: Govt hires retired teachers to counter strike
NAMIBIA: AIDS, drought, floods, anthrax and now, locusts
SWAZILAND: Parched fields mean another year of food aid
MOZAMBIQUE: Negotiations to allow observers at final vote count "positive"
ANGOLA: Growing concern over traffic accidents
SOUTH AFRICA: Caution urged over new human trafficking laws
MADAGASCAR: Fifteenth to reach HIPC completion point
MALAWI: Six percent growth rate essential

ZAMBIA: DRC refugees resist moving

Refugees from neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who fled to Kilwa Island in northern Zambia earlier this month have refused to relocate to refugee camps, IRIN reported on Friday.

Provincial Minister Kennedy Sakeni said the estimated 3,000 Congolese who had fled insecurity in Katanga province preferred to stay on Kilwa Island in Lake Mweru, hoping the situation would return to normal, but were in dire need of food.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, confirmed the unwillingness of the Congolese to be moved and said it would provide assistance to the refugees while continuing to monitor the situation.

Full report

Call for improved women's healthcare as maternal deaths rise

A leading women's advocacy group in Zambia on Friday appealed to health authorities to spend more funds on improving maternal care.

An increasing number of women have died during childbirth in recent years. The latest figures from the 2001/02 Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) indicated 729 deaths per 100,000 live births, significantly higher than in neighbouring countries.

Lumba Siyanga, the acting executive director of the women's advocacy NGO, Women For Change, said pregnant rural women were made increasingly vulnerable due to the lack of access to reproductive healthcare and the low quality of treatment.

Full report

IMF preventing achievement of education MDG - Oxfam

Zambia's efforts to improve the quality of school education are being hampered by harsh conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a new report by the development agency, Oxfam, has claimed.

The report highlighted government initiatives to get more children into school by introducing free basic education but said IMF policies, which severely curtail the recruitment of teachers, threatened to undo much of the gain achieved in recent years.

Zambian schools are currently experiencing a shortage of about 9,000 teachers, despite having 12,000 trained teachers who cannot be put on the payroll due to a ceiling on expenditure imposed by the IMF.

Full report

Refugees arrive from DRC to escape fighting

The arrival of an estimated 3,000 Congolese refugees in Zambia at the weekend is expected to put further strain on the country's limited resources, a senior official warned on Monday.

Zambian Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Peter Mumba said the refugees crossed into Zambia to flee a rebel insurgency in Kilwa, a mining town on the Congolese shore of Lake Mweru, which straddles the border.

"It is still unclear to which group these rebels belong but we are making sure that all those who came across the border are screened. After we know for sure that there aren't any combatants amongst the group we will assign them refugee status. But it is becoming quite difficult for the government to continue hosting refugees," Mumba told IRIN.

Full report

Turning poachers into cultivators

A World Conservation Society (WCS) project in eastern Zambia's game-rich Luangwa valley is helping to transform poachers into farmers and entrepreneurs, IRIN reported on Monday.

The key is the use of food aid to persuade poachers to turn in their guns and join Conservation Farmer/Wildlife Producer Training Centres (CTCs), established by WCS to teach sustainable farming methods. WCS is linked to the Bronx Zoo in New York.

"I used to kill an average of seven elephants in a week," said Royd Kachali of Manga Village in the Luangwa Valley. Now he is one of 98 previously notorious poachers in the area who have taken up farming.

Full report

Call for reconciliation ahead of 40th anniversary

Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa has called for reconciliation between opposition parties, civil society and the government ahead of the 40th independence celebrations this month.

At a thanksgiving ceremony on Monday, Mwanawasa said his appeal for reconciliation did not mean all Zambians should hold uniform political opinions.

While many Zambians reportedly viewed Mwanawasa's rule as an improvement on that of his predecessor, Frederick Chiluba, the new president has had a bumpy presidency.

Full report

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SOUTHERN AFRICA: WFP asks for US $404 million to aid 1.5 million people

The World Food Programme on Thursday launched an appeal for US $404 million to support a monthly average of 1.5 million people in five southern African countries affected by food shortages, high HIV/AIDS rates and weakened capacity for governance.

The operation, expected to run for three years, needs US $63 million immediately to help people survive the 'hunger season' in the first quarter of next year, the UN agency said. Families and individuals vulnerable to food insecurity and HIV/AIDS in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia are to be targeted by the intervention.

"The media spotlight may have moved elsewhere, but the people of southern Africa will carry the scars of the last few years for generations to come," WFP's Regional Director for Southern Africa, Mike Sackett, said in a statement.

"If we don't step in now with support, there's a very real danger that southern Africa will descend into a perpetual cycle of tragedy, with children missing out on education and vital agricultural knowledge being lost," he added.

Full report

Global warming threatens to deepen poverty

The effects of climate change due to global warming have already taken a toll on poor communities, jeopardising efforts to reduce poverty, warned humanitarian and development agencies in a new report released this week.

The Working Group on Climate Change and Development, a coalition of environmental and aid agencies, noted that agricultural production, water supplies, public health and people's livelihoods were all being undermined by the effects of climatic change.

In a report entitled, 'Up in Smoke? Threats from, and Responses to, the Impact of Global Warming on Human Development', the coalition called for urgent action to avert the threat.

Climatic research in three districts in South Africa showed frequent and more intense droughts in the last 30 years; in Majancaze district in Mozambique's Gaza Province, extreme weather patterns had resulted in floods and droughts that had had a severe impact on people's lives.

Full report

Anti-money laundering laws essential

All Southern African countries need to outlaw money laundering because it is costing their economies several billion dollars a year, says a specialist researcher.

Charles Goredema of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) told IRIN that Angola, Malawi and Lesotho were some of the countries in the region that still did not have legislation criminalising money laundering in place, which was hampering law enforcement in the region.

Stolen vehicles from South Africa, Botswana and Namibia were being smuggled to Angola, where they were exchanged for diamonds or paid for with cash realised from the sale of illegal diamonds or hard currency, according to a book co-authored by Goredema, 'Profiling Money Laundering in Eastern and Southern Africa'.

Full report

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ZIMBABWE: Govt hires retired teachers to counter strike

The Zimbabwean government, battling with a strike action by teachers, has resorted to hiring retired educators to man classrooms and invigilate ongoing examinations.

Long queues could be seen on Tuesday at the offices of the ministry of education in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, as retired teachers and unemployed graduates jostled for the job offers.

"We have not yet been told how much we will be paid for our services during the invigilation of examinations, but I think it would be something worthwhile. I have not been employed since my graduation in 2002 and I think this is a grand chance for me to get a few [Zim] dollars for myself, as you know how difficult life is these days," a job hopeful, Malvern Mavhaire, told IRIN.

Teachers went on strike last week, demanding a review of their salaries from Zim $670,000 (about US $119) to at least Zim $1.4 million ($249). The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe calculates the minimum monthly expenditure for a family of four at around Zim $249.

Full report

Few rural dwellers visit VCT centres

Few rural Zimbabweans are using the Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) centres, according to the latest Zimbabwe Human Development Report.

The US-based NGO, Pact, recorded only 50 to 108 visitors a month at two of its VCT centres located at the Regina Coelli Mission in Manicaland province and the St Theresa's Mission in Masvingo province.

"To go for testing takes courage - a person's perception of their risk to exposure is what drives them. If we get 100 in one month, that's great," Choice Makufa, director of Pact told IRIN.

Pact's VCT centres are located at mission hospitals because "faith-based organisations reach out to the most vulnerable people, who feel comfortable with them," said Mafuka. To attract more visitors to the centre, the NGO also offers Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPCT) treatment, access to home-based care, treatment of opportunistic infections and links to services such as birth registration and writing a will.

Full report

Court returns Tsvangirai's passport

The Harare High Court returned the passport of Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, on Wednesday, ending a protracted period of travel restrictions that were part of his bail conditions.

Tsvangirai, a former trade unionist and leader of the labour-backed Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was acquitted last week of plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe.

Full report

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NAMIBIA: AIDS, drought, floods, anthrax and now, locusts

A bumper harvest in Namibia's northeastern region of Caprivi has not eased the plight of vulnerable groups, aid workers warn, IRIN reported on Thursday.

"The entire issue is one of accessibility [to food]," said the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Namibia, Abdirahman Meygag. While there has been a good crop in parts of the region, "there are an increasing number of [AIDS] orphans and an increasing number of vulnerable people".

WFP is currently feeding 11,000 orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) in Caprivi, many of whom are believed to have lost their parents to AIDS. This month the agency targeted an additional 7,000 for assistance, in a poor region that has been hard hit by a series of natural disasters.

An outbreak of locusts, livestock diseases and a missed harvest for victims of flooding earlier this year "are all ingredients of the unfolding humanitarian situation", Meygag told IRIN.

Full report

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SWAZILAND: Parched fields mean another year of food aid

Battling with food insecurity, some Swazis have adapted their lives to the reality of relying on food aid for their survival.

A joint report by the Food and Agricultural Organisation and World Food Programme (WFP) found that an estimated 262,000 Swazis in a population of 970,000 - 15,000 more than after the 2003/04 agricultural season - would be in need of food aid by the beginning of 2005.

Swaziland's food production suffered again this year from erratic rainfall, which started late and then became so heavy in mid-season that it threatened budding crops.

Full report

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MOZAMBIQUE: Negotiations to allow observers at final vote count "positive"

The European Union (EU) on Tuesday said negotiations with Mozambique's electoral commission to open up the one remaining part of the counting process in upcoming general elections to observers were progressing well.

An EU official told IRIN the talks were "positive" and were moving in the "right direction". "We have been engaged in ongoing dialogue with the electoral commission and we expect a resolution," he said.

While election monitors may be present at counting stations at the local level, they are excluded from the final provincial and national stages of the count.

The final tabulation is seen as crucial, because it is at this stage that spoiled ballot papers are considered, and both provincial and national election commissions make decisions about polling station results sheets.

Full report

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ANGOLA: Growing concern over traffic accidents

Road traffic accidents are claiming on average four lives a day in Angola's crowded cities, potentially posing one of the greatest threats to life in peacetime.

"We don't have good enough information to be sure, but people say that after the war, the main cause of deaths in Angola is traffic accidents," said Superintendent Imocento de Brito, deputy national director of the police's transport and traffic department at a road safety workshop organised by the police and the Interior Ministry, and supported by British oil company, BP.

Full report

Red tape could ground humanitarian flights

Bureaucratic wrangling over airport fees threatened to halt all World Food Programme (WFP) flights in Angola, IRIN reported on Thursday.

The flights provide vital food aid to around one million hungry Angolans as well as access to remote areas for thousands of aid workers.

ENANA, Angola's national airport administrator, wants WFP to pay all airport taxes, including navigation, landing, passenger and parking fees for flights operated by the UN food agency.

Full report

UNICEF set to train more teachers

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is set to train at least 29,000 Angolan school teachers by the end of this year.

"After three decades of war, no one denies that there is a shortage of qualified teachers - we are constantly running workshops to train teachers," UNICEF spokesman James Elder told IRIN.

Of the 29,000 teachers hired recently by the Angolan Ministry of Education, 20,000 had only a sixth-grade education and needed additional training. In the last quarter, UNICEF trained 10,500 teachers, 44 provincial trainers and 466 municipal trainers across 11 provinces.

Full report

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SOUTH AFRICA: Caution urged over new human trafficking laws

The problem of human trafficking in South Africa is coming under greater scrutiny as the state investigates new legislation to plug existing loopholes.

South Africa is a signatory to the United Nations Protocol on Trafficking in Persons, and hopes to have comprehensive domestic legislation in place by 2006, according to the International Organisation on Migration (IOM).

In late August IRIN reported that home affairs ministers from southern African countries had vowed to "remove any obstacles facing law enforcers in the fight against human trafficking", following a conference in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. They also pledged to review legislation in their respective countries regarding human trafficking.

Full report

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MADAGASCAR: Fifteenth to reach HIPC completion point

Madagascar has reached its completion point under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, the World Bank announced on Thursday.

As a result, the Indian Ocean island has qualified for debt relief of US $1.9 billion - half its total debt - the Bank said in a press release.

Full report

IMF approves US $16 million disbursement

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week announced a US $16.6 million disbursement to Madagascar.

On Monday the IMF completed the fifth review of Madagascar's performance under its Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement, the IMF's concessional facility for low-income countries. PRGF-supported programmes are based on the individual country's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), which aims to foster economic growth and reduce poverty.

Full report

Debt campaigners call for total write-off

A coalition of debt campaigners welcomed a decision by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cancel half of Madagascar's debt, but called for a total write-off of the money owed to the two financial institutions.

"The problem is Madagascar is still too poor to service the rest of its debt. We have been calling for full debt cancellation of all the poor countries which fall under the HIPC [Heavily Indebted Poor countries] initiative," Ashok Sinha, coordinator of the UK-based Jubilee Debt Campaign told IRIN on Monday.

Full report

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MALAWI: Six percent growth rate essential

Malawi needs to achieve an annual growth rate of at least six percent over the next decade to reduce poverty, President Bingu wa Mutharika said this week. The country's growth rate is currently below four percent.

To reach the required level of expansion, the government was "determined to create the necessary conditions for effective private sector participation in macroeconomic growth, through fundamental policy reforms to improve economic and political governance," Mutharika told a function to commemorate 44 years of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in the country.

Full report

Access to land a problem for rural poor

Experts have highlighted access to land and the preservation of biodiversity as key to the future of food security in Malawi.

International NGO Oxfam warned that a lack of access to arable land had contributed to food shortages and was also heightening tensions, with land-hungry communities increasingly encroaching on forests and tea estates.

Early last week a land dispute erupted in the Chimaliro traditional area in Thyolo district in the Southern region of the country.

Full report

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[ENDS]

Other recent SOUTHERN AFRICA reports:

IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 204 for 6-12 November 2004, 12/Nov/04

Infant and child mortality rates rising, 5/Nov/04

IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 203 for 30 October- 5 November 2004, 5/Nov/04

Five countries need urgent assistance, WFP, 4/Nov/04

Studies highlight aid efforts in context of HIV/AIDS, 4/Nov/04

Other recent reports:

SOUTH AFRICA: Frank dialogue about gender is key to tackling HIV/AIDS, 16/Nov/04

ZAMBIA: Government bans civic group, 16/Nov/04

ANGOLA: Lack of aid hampers reintegration of returnees, 16/Nov/04

NIGERIA: Unions call off strike after 11th-hour govt offer, 15/Nov/04

IRAQ: IRAQ CRISIS: Weekly round-up Number 87 for 7-12 November, 12/Nov/04

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