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Tuesday 21 February 2006


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IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 253 for 15-20 October 2005

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

CONTENTS:

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Region not adequately prepared for planting season, warns report
MALAWI: More aid needed, says UNICEF
LESOTHO: Economic diversification desperately needed
MOZAMBIQUE: Food security will worsen unless good rains come
ZIMBABWE: Opposition MDC hopes to avoid split
SOUTH AFRICA: Mbeki pushes ahead with anti-corruption campaign
ZAMBIA: Funding shortfall prompts people to leave Food-for-Work projects
NAMIBIA: Growing controversy over teen pregnancy

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Region not adequately prepared for planting season, warns report

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) has cautioned in a new report that Southern Africa may not be adequately prepared for the upcoming planting season, while widespread food shortages batter the region.

IRIN reported on Thursday that the World Food Programme (WFP) currently needs US $185 million to feed up to 9.2 million hungry people - in Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe - and a bumper harvest is required next year if the region is to recover.

"However, despite the slight optimism from the Southern Africa Climatic Outlook Forum (SARCOF) for a normal to above-normal rainfall season in 2005/06, the availability of inputs is of great concern," FEWS NET warned.

Full report

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MALAWI: More aid needed, says UNICEF

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) revised its appeal for Malawi to meet the needs of those caught in the worst humanitarian crisis the country has experienced in a decade, IRIN reported on Tuesday.

The rate of severe malnutrition among children under five had risen "alarmingly", UNICEF said. It has revised upwards its earlier appeal for US $2.5 million to $13 million, of which $9 million will go to fund nutritional programmes.

Humanitarian agencies initially expected the crisis to peak in the lean season between December and March, but there have been indications that the crisis may already be surpassing worst-case scenarios in some areas, particularly in the south. This has forced many agencies to review their plans in order to address the rapidly deteriorating situation.

Full report

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Mutharika declares disaster as food crisis deepens

IRIN reported on Monday that Malawi's worsening food crisis has been seized on by opponents of President Bingu wa Mutharika, intent on forcing him out of office.

Apparently bowing to opposition pressure, Mutharika on Saturday declared a state of disaster in all 28 districts of Malawi in response to widespread food shortages - an indication that the food crisis had become politicised, said Rafiq Hajat of the Blantyre-based Institute for Policy Interaction.

Hajat noted that the declaration came several weeks after the UN launched its US $88 million Flash Appeal for Malawi and was tantamount to "closing the stable door after the horse has already bolted".

Full report

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LESOTHO: Economic diversification desperately needed

Lesotho has to diversify its economy if it hopes to achieve the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), confront a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and address widespread poverty, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In a recent review of the country's economic performance, the IMF said "persistent drought conditions, weakened external competitiveness, a continued worsening of the terms of trade, and job losses from the phasing out of textile quotas by industrial countries" had caused real GDP growth to slacken off.

Full report

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Food aid needs could rise as lean season approaches

Funding shortages continue to bedevil food aid distributions in Lesotho as the country grapples with yet another year of shortages.

The tiny country needs food aid for more than half a million people despite a bigger maize crop this year, while the loss of farming skills due to HIV/AIDS is mounting.

"Right now, we are in a position to assist between 250,000 to 300,000 in need and that is a fair effort, given the limited resources we are working with," World Food Programme (WFP) deputy director Mads Lofvall told IRIN on Tuesday.

Full report

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MOZAMBIQUE: Food security will worsen unless good rains come

Preliminary findings from a food and nutritional assessment survey indicate that conditions in drought-affected southern Mozambique have deteriorated, a food security official told IRIN on Thursday.

"Rainfall, expected anytime now in Mozambique, could improve the conditions and perhaps reduce the estimated numbers in need of food aid," said Francisca Cabral of Mozambique's Technical Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition (SETSAN). "But as of now the drought is worse than last year, and it is not getting any better for people in the areas experiencing a fourth year of drought."

Full report

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ZIMBABWE: Opposition MDC hopes to avoid split

The leadership of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is continuing crisis talks to mend divisions over whether to participate in next month's senate elections.

Party president Morgan Tsvangirai and both the women's and youth assemblies have called for a boycott of the senate poll on 26 November, but a powerful faction within the party has vowed to press ahead with preparations for the elections.

Tsvangirai announced two weeks ago that the MDC would not participate in the upcoming poll, overruling the party's national council, which had voted in favour of contesting.

Full report

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SOUTH AFRICA: Mbeki pushes ahead with anti-corruption campaign

South African President Thabo Mbeki has come out strongly against political opportunism in the African National Congress (ANC), saying ruling party members should remain vigilant against individuals seeking office for financial gain.

Mbeki's rebuke - made in his weekly letter on the ANC website - came as the country gears up for local government polls.

Full report

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ZAMBIA: Funding shortfall prompts people to leave Food-for-Work projects

As the World Food Programme (WFP) struggles to make do with limited resources, desperate Zambians are turning elsewhere in search of food, a senior WFP official confirmed.

A serious funding shortfall has forced the UN food agency to dramatically cut rations to food insecure communities, who have started abandoning Food-for-Work activities to search for wild food or other piecemeal work, WFP said.

Full report

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NAMIBIA: Growing controversy over teen pregnancy

Ndjianje Tjiraure, 16, always excelled as a student at Ashipena High School in Katutura, Namibia's oldest black suburb.

But her hopes of becoming an engineer were dashed when she fell pregnant and gave birth to a boy last November, thanks to an education policy that requires teenage mothers to take at least a year off school to care for their babies.

"The authorities learnt of my pregnancy in the third month and expelled me," Tjiraure, who was in Grade 9 at the time of her pregnancy, told IRIN. "I have been told that I can only be admitted in school next year."

Full report

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[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Other

Other recent SOUTHERN AFRICA reports:

Policy revised to shed light on urban refugee blind-spot, 17/Feb/06

IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 270 for 11-17 February 2006, 17/Feb/06

Too white to be black - the challenge of albinism, 16/Feb/06

Remittances - curse or blessing?, 16/Feb/06

Conflict, development and natural disasters fuel internal displacement, 14/Feb/06

Other recent reports:

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Donors pledge support for humanitarian crisis, 21/Feb/06

ANGOLA: Ready to play larger security role in Africa, 21/Feb/06

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 17/Feb/06

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 270 for 11-17 February 2006, 17/Feb/06

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 317 covering 11-17 February 2006, 17/Feb/06

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