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Sunday 25 December 2005 |
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IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 235 for 11-17 June 2005[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]CONTENTS: ANGOLA: Concerns over possible delay of national election News that President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether sections of a new election law are unconstitutional has raised concern that Angola's first general election since 1992 could be delayed. The opposition UNITA party told IRIN that the latest hiccup might bring postponement of the promised 2006 elections. Full report ANGOLA: Plight of children still desperate, UNICEF head Angola still has one of the highest rates of child mortality in the world, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Country Representative Mario Ferrari said this week, and challenges relating to children remain huge. Three years after the end of the country's 27-year civil war, "the situation is that the long period of war had the effect of dismantling the social services, weakening social services in a radical way in the country. The effect is that ... this country has a child mortality rate of 250 per 1,000 - one of the highest in the world," Ferrari told IRIN. Full report ANGOLA: Food aid cuts loom due to lack of funds Much-needed food aid distributions in Angola and Lesotho have had to be cut back due to a lack of funds, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). Manuel Cristovao, WFP's spokesman in Angola, told IRIN on Monday that the agency was helping about a million people, mostly returning refugees and resettled internally displaced persons (IDPs). Full report ZAMBIA: Ruling party distances itself from attack on newspaper Zambia's ruling party, the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), on Friday denied that it had authorised any attack on the media, after claims that its supporters had attacked newspaper vendors. "We are committed to a democratic regime and believe in the freedom of the press," MMD spokesman Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika told IRIN. The Post, a privately owned daily newspaper, alleged that supporters of the MMD had attacked its vendors and confiscated copies of the newspaper at its printing plant in the capital, Lusaka, on Wednesday morning. Full report ZIMBABWE: National Plan of Action for OVC in need of resources Child rights groups in Zimbabwe made a plea on Wednesday for resources to provide much-needed support to more than one million orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) across the country. The country has 1.3 million orphans, of which more than one million have been orphaned by AIDS, and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that this figure is growing by 435 children every day, or 160,000 each year. Full report ZIMBABWE: Displaced families face bleak winter Around 190,000 homes have been destroyed and thousands arrested in the operation to clean up Zimbabwe's cities and towns, leaving many of those affected unable to find proper shelter or food. Authorities claimed the operation, launched on 19 May, was aimed at ridding urban areas of informal flea markets and illegal residential shacks and houses, saying they had become a haven for criminal activities. About 30 housing schemes, set up by war veterans after the fast-track land redistribution programme commenced in 2000, have also been demolished. Full report MALAWI: Government purchases expensive presidential vehicle despite food shortages Plans to purchase a US $545,000 limousine for President Bingu wa Mutharika have sparked a heated debate in Malawi, which faces yet another year of acute food shortages. Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe told parliament on Wednesday that the Maybach 62, made by Mercedes-Benz, was necessary, as the president was without an official vehicle. The car used by former president Bakili Muluzi was involved in an accident last year, and the government intended to pay for the new vehicle in instalments. Full report MALAWI: Civil society welcomes relief for farmers Malawian civil society has welcomed tax reforms and subsidies for agricultural inputs in the 2005/06 budget that will ease the burden of small-scale farmers plagued by poor harvests again this year. Unveiling the budget on Friday last week, Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe described the reforms as an attempt to "improve the economic buying power of individual Malawians", and said those earning less than US $40 a month would not be taxed. Full report MOZAMBIQUE: Civic groups welcome debt relief but want more aid and trade Civil society groups in Mozambique say the savings resulting from debt relief should be channelled into developing the agricultural sector. Mozambique is among the 18 countries eligible for a total writeoff of foreign debt after an agreement was reached by the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised countries in London at the weekend. Full report MOZAMBIQUE: HIV/AIDS-affected children need more assistance Nongovernmental organisations in Mozambique are concerned that not enough is being done to assist the escalating number of children infected and affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. More than one million Mozambican children are either living with HIV, caring for family members sick with AIDS-related illnesses, or have already lost one or both parents to the pandemic. Full report SOUTHERN AFRICA: Community-based groups need more support to help OVC Community initiatives to support orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Southern Africa need more funds and technical support, according to new research. The study conducted by the British NGO, Save the Children UK, identified a number of "bottlenecks" preventing the smooth flow of funds to support community initiatives and suggested "drip-feeding", or providing long-term funding to local groups, as an alternative. Full report SOUTHERN AFRICA: Project to manage groundwater approved A project to manage groundwater and drought in southern Africa was approved by the World Bank (WB) this week. The Groundwater and Drought Management project will cost US $7.5 million, and is being funded by a $7 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), with the remainder provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). Full report SOUTH AFRICA: Mbeki sends out a strong message on corruption, say analysts South African President Thabo Mbeki wanted to send a strong signal on tackling corruption by firing his deputy, Jacob Zuma, on Tuesday, political analysts said. Mbeki's decision, televised live from parliament in Cape Town, followed the conviction of Zuma's former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, on charges of corruption and fraud. The judge described the relationship between Zuma and Shaik as "generally corrupt". Full report SWAZILAND: NGOs, UNICEF call for implementation of national children's policy NGOs in Swaziland have accused the government of dragging its feet on implementing a comprehensive plan to improve the lives of children. At a meeting on Friday in Matsapha, an industrial estate outside the commercial hub of Manzini, social welfare NGOs emphasised the growing number of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). Full report SWAZILAND: Changing face of home-based hospice care AIDS has accelerated the death rate in Swaziland, causing home-based hospice care to expand into an entire support system for affected families. "People now come to us as a resource to go for help when they have a terminally ill family member, to help them cope with the burden, to help the patient, and to help the whole family emotionally, spiritually and medically," said Thulile Dlamini-Msane, director of Hospice at Home, a care centre near the Matsapha industrial estate outside Manzini in central Swaziland. Full report [ENDS]
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