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Sunday 25 December 2005


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IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 241 for 23-29 July 2005

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

CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: 'Look East' policy staves off collapse with grants and deals
ANGOLA: Painful period of transition
SOUTH AFRICA: Evictions worsen low-cost housing crisis
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Zimbabwe's evictions throw spotlight on the right to housing
SWAZILAND: New constitution signed into law
ZAMBIA: Refugees and host communities benefit from development project
BOTSWANA: San rights groups split
MALAWI: Emergency measures to cope with food crisis
MOZAMBIQUE: Economic security a challenge to ARV patients

ZIMBABWE: 'Look East' policy staves off collapse with grants and deals

President Robert Mugabe's 'Look East' policy took him to China this week for further trade deals to help rescue Zimbabwe's ailing economy, which is suffering the effects of an aid freeze by Western lenders.

China is at the forefront of the Look East initiative, which seeks trade and political agreements with Asian countries considered friendly to Zimbabwe, rather than traditional western partners, who have been critical of alleged human rights abuses and electoral fraud.

Zimbabwe has seen an unprecedented influx of Chinese goods over the past two years, and now a high-powered delegation, led by Mugabe on a week-long visit, has reportedly struck a number of commercial and loan agreements in exchange for trade and mineral concessions.

Full report

Govt pleads for donor funding to fix cleanup campaign fallout

Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has scoffed at a government plea for international assistance to build houses for thousands of people made homeless by its controversial urban cleanup campaign, IRIN reported on Thursday.

Vice President Joyce Mujuru reportedly made the appeal on Wednesday, noting that Operation Murambatsvina (Drive Out Filth) had officially ended. According to the United Nations, the two-month eviction campaign has affected some 700,000 urban dwellers.

MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyati labelled the call for aid "naive" and claimed that the operation was still underway.

Full report

HIV-positive people dispersed in 'cleanup' operation

The government's cleanup campaign has also impacted on HIV positive people on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.

Mtshumayeli Ndebele and his wife Sithandekile were left homeless when the authorities instructed them to find their own way to their rural home area. But the Ndebeles do not have a rural homestead to return to and, to make matters worse, they are both HIV positive: eviction from their home has forced them to abandon their ARV treatment.

Full report

Impact of demolitions greater than government's new plan

Although Zimbabweans are yet to tally the cost of the government's controversial cleanup campaign, there are already expectations that the financial losses will be significant.

A joint report released on Friday by the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) and Action Aid, an international development NGO, said although it was difficult to quantify the damage caused by the operation in monetary terms, a recent survey indicated major losses across a broad front, ranging from shelter to schooling.

Full report

Evictions continue despite international condemnation

IRIN reported on Monday that the government had ignored a call by the UN to halt evictions of people living in unauthorised housing, as Zimbabwean police had ordered residents out of Porta Farm, one of Harare's oldest informal settlements, about 35 km west of the capital.

The latest police operation at Porta Farm was the second time in a month they had tried to clear the 7,500 settlers from the area. At the first attempt in June, homes and markets were demolished to force people to return to their rural areas, or to a holding camp at Caledonia Farm, 15 km north of Harare, but many of the residents refused to move.

Full report

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ANGOLA: Painful period of transition

After three years of peace, Angola - rich in diamonds and oil - still faces a complex mix of humanitarian and developmental challenges.

"We believe that the donors are giving up sooner than they probably should. It's not fair or accurate to say, 'the war is over; the emergency is over now, so we can stop giving aid'. We should reduce relief but not end it; there's still a need for relief aid," said World Food Programme (WFP) country director Rick Corsino.

Full report

Focus shifts to reintegration of refugees

Some 320,000 refugees have returned to Angola since the 2002 peace accord was signed, and the focus of aid agencies is shifting from repatriation to reintegration.

During 27 years of civil war an estimated 500,000 Angolans fled to neighbouring countries - Zambia, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Botswana and South Africa - and millions more were displaced internally.

Of the 320,000 who came home, 185,000 were helped with transport or given assistance packages by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

Full report

President Dos Santos cleared to stand for next poll

Angola's main opposition party, UNITA, said it was unfazed by a Supreme Court ruling on Monday allowing President Eduardo dos Santos to stand in the country's first post-war election.

"We are not too concerned that dos Santos may stand for the elections next year - that is a decision for the MPLA - but now we want there to be more emphasis on making sure that the election does happen next year, and that people are ready to vote. These elections will bring about constitutional and political stability," UNITA's secretary for public administration, Alcides Sakala, told IRIN.

Full report

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SOUTH AFRICA: Evictions worsen low-cost housing crisis

A string of forced evictions in Johannesburg's inner city has raised the ire of human rights groups, who claim the mass removals disregard international law and often increase marginalisation of the poor and vulnerable, IRIN reported on Wednesday.

The Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) and South Africa's Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) alleged that apartheid-era laws were used to carry out evictions, rather than appropriate legislation passed in accordance with the country's new constitution.

COHRE estimates that some 25,000 people in the inner city are at risk of losing their homes as the council pushes ahead with its urban renewal scheme.

Full report

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SOUTHERN AFRICA: Zimbabwe's evictions throw spotlight on the right to housing

As Zimbabwe faces international rebuke for its controversial campaign to rid urban areas of illegal settlements, housing experts say large-scale forced evictions are on the increase in developing countries.

Despite international laws that explicitly condemn the practice, thousands of poor and vulnerable communities living on the edge under informal tenure arrangements continue to be uprooted.

Full report

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SWAZILAND: New constitution signed into law

On Tuesday, King Mswati III signed into law a new national constitution that effectively upholds his authority over most aspects of Swazi life.

After a nine-year gestation period, the new constitution does not fundamentally alter Swaziland's system of governance: ultimate power will remain in the hands of the Swazi king, putting a constitutional seal on a 1973 decree by Mswati's father, King Sobhuza, which overturned the constitution bequeathed by the British in 1968.

Full report

Maize staple not profitable, despite food crisis

Swaziland is in the grip of another food crisis but farmers say they cannot plant more maize, the country's staple food, as it is not profitable.

"I am in good health and we had good rains in this area this year, but I still won't grow more maize if I cannot recover the cost of fertiliser, tractor rental and transport to market," said small-scale landholder Thulaziswe Simelane, whose family farm lies 20 km south of the central commercial town, Manzini.

Full report

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ZAMBIA: Refugees and host communities benefit from development project

A rural development project encouraging refugees and host communities to work together to improve conditions in their areas is set to expand in Zambia.

The Zambia Initiative Development Programme was started in the country's Western province in 2002 and has already boosted crop production, improved health and education facilities, and opened access to markets for thousands of refugees and Zambians. It will now be expanded to include the remote North-Western province, which borders Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Full report

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BOTSWANA: San rights groups split

A split has emerged among groups campaigning against relocation of the San Bushmen from Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).

The Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA), an umbrella group of rights NGOs, issued a statement from their head office in Windhoek, Namibia, earlier this month, saying that the London-based NGO, Survival International (SI), did not have a mandate to speak on behalf of all the San.

Full report

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MALAWI: Emergency measures to cope with food crisis

President Bingu wa Mutharika has banned maize and fertiliser exports in response to a growing food crisis that the UN estimates is threatening a third of Malawians.

"Maize exports out of Malawi to anywhere are forbidden. We cannot export maize when our people are starving here," Mutharika said on Monday.

Full report

Economic growth and deforestation major challenges to food security, says WFP

Improved economic growth and the extension of social safety nets would help Malawi avoid recurring food shortages, according to the World Food Programme's (WFP) outgoing country representative, Gerard van Dijk.

He told IRIN the country had good resources, which "should make Malawi self-sufficient in terms of food", if properly managed.

Full report

Britain releases £20 million in budget support

The British government has released £20 million in budget support to Malawi, saying the country had "turned the corner" and was making "real progress" in fiscal discipline.

This is the first disbursement of the £60 million set aside by the British government as budgetary support, making Britain the first bilateral donor to provide macroeconomic support since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) froze aid to Malawi in 2000 as a result of overspending and corruption by the previous government.

Full report

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MOZAMBIQUE: Economic security a challenge to ARV patients

Although anti-AIDS drugs have helped thousands of people in Mozambique, hundreds of thousands more still desperately need the life-saving medication but lack the money to continue treatment.

When his wife died of an AIDS-related illness four years ago, Isufu Portina, 29, was wrongly arrested for allegedly poisoning and killing her. A priest from the Community of Sant' Egidio, a Christian civil society organisation, managed to get him released from prison after obtaining the autopsy report.

Full report

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[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Other

Other recent SOUTHERN AFRICA reports:

IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 262 for 17-23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

Volume of food aid causes transport bottleneck, 19/Dec/05

IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 261 for 10-16 December 2005, 16/Dec/05

Renewed calls for culling in wildlife reserves raises alarm among conservation groups, 15/Dec/05

South Africa's fuel shortage hits neighbours, could affect humanitarian operations, 13/Dec/05

Other recent reports:

RWANDA: Body found in Brussels canal confirmed that of ex-minister's, 23/Dec/05

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 23/Dec/05

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 309 covering 17 - 23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

CENTRAL ASIA: IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 51 covering the period 17 - 23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 262 for 17-23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

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