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Tuesday 21 February 2006


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IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 257 for 12-18 November 2005

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

CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Donors wary of funding housing programme
ANGOLA: Dos Santos promises free polls but short on details
MALAWI: Political squabbling takes precedence over rising food insecurity
SOUTH AFRICA: Asylum seekers enjoy little protection, says HRW
SWAZILAND: New policy recognises value of NGOs
MADAGASCAR: Aid needed now to save hungry children
NAMIBIA: Govt appeals for info on mass graves
ZAMBIA: Bishops add their weight to constitutional debate

ZIMBABWE: Donors wary of funding housing programme

The Zimbabwean government says it is willing to accept UN assistance to house people affected by its urban clean-up campaign, but donors are not clamouring to fund the programme.

"The government wants us to build shelters for its own list of beneficiaries, while we would like to help all those in need and left homeless," said a western diplomat.

Full report

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AIDS orphans and vulnerable children bear the brunt of collapsing economy

She's a sex worker, but not many passers-by would suspect that the slight figure standing in a narrow street opposite a nightclub in Zimbabwe's gold-mining town of Kwekwe is also a university student.

Tracy Bunjwali, a second-year business studies scholar and part-time prostitute, says her biggest fear is that she might bump into somebody she knows while out on the streets waiting to be taken to a nearby hotel-cum-brothel.

Full report

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MDC split spells doom for opposition politics, say analysts

A split in Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) will effectively derail opposition politics in the country for some time to come, say analysts.

Divisions in Zimbabwe's official opposition looked poised to degenerate into a permanent split on Sunday when MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai accused members supporting the party's participation in this month's senate elections of working in cahoots with the ruling ZANU-PF to destroy the party.

Full report

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ANGOLA: Dos Santos promises free polls but short on details

President Eduardo Dos Santos used the occasion of Angola's independence day celebrations to deliver a speech promising elections and greater prosperity, but critics said he failed to outline a proper timetable for the polls.

Thousands - including Portugal's president and several African leaders - turned up at Luanda's Cidadela football stadium on Friday for the festivities, the biggest celebrations since independence from Portugal 30 years ago.

Full report

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Post-Marburg, country emerges stronger

The deadly Marburg haemorrhagic fever outbreak in Angola has finally been consigned to history after claiming 227 lives, but the country handled the crisis "very well" and was now in a stronger position to face any future epidemic, according to the deputy health minister.

Jose Van Dunem told IRIN on Wednesday that he was "very relieved" to see the back of the Ebola-like virus in Angola, which the ministry and the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared over on 7 November.

Full report

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Aid flights threatened by lack of cash

UN World Food Programme (WFP) flights, which bring aid to half a million hungry Angolans and ferry more than a thousand humanitarian workers to remote areas every month, could soon disappear unless the UN agency receives more funding.

"If we don't get any funds, in two weeks from now we will have to begin cutting back services," WFP's Country Director Rick Corsino told IRIN.

Full report

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MALAWI: Political squabbling takes precedence over rising food insecurity

Malawi's political crisis hit a new low this week with the arrest of vice-president Cassim Chilumpha on corruption charges, igniting a new round of squabbling among the country's leaders.

The arrest was connected to a financial scandal during his time as minister of education, but is also being perceived as linked to the feud between President Bingu wa Mutharika and his former party, which is seeking to impeach him.

Full report

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Malnutrition numbers keep rising

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of malnourished children admitted to nutritional rehabilitation units (NRU) at clinics in Malawi in the past few months, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

In the south of the country, where the food crisis has been particularly severe, a UNICEF survey recorded a 22 percent increase in admissions to NRUs in October. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) reported last month that compared to the same period in 2004, admissions to NRUs in August 2005 were 41 percent higher in the central region, up by 24 percent in the south, and by 15 percent in northern Malawi.

Full report

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SOUTH AFRICA: Asylum seekers enjoy little protection, says HRW

A leading international human rights organisation has criticised South African officials for allegedly harassing and extorting money from desperate asylum seekers and refugees.

In a 66-page report, 'Living On the Margins, Inadequate Protection for Refugees and Asylum Seekers In South Africa', the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) claimed that while South Africa had adequate refugee laws on paper, asylum seekers, who lived on the sidelines, did not enjoy any protection in practice.

Full report

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Guns and gender violence - a lethal combination

Victoria [not her real name] thought she had the law on her side when she left her abusive partner and successfully applied for a protection order against him.

According to provisions set out in South Africa's 1998 Domestic Violence Act and reinforced by recently enacted firearms legislation, the order gave the police powers to confiscate the gun that had repeatedly been used to terrorise her.

Full report

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SWAZILAND: New policy recognises value of NGOs

The Swazi government has finally recognised the developmental role civic groups can play, passing guidelines this week on the creation, registration and running of Non-Governmental Organisations.

"We view this step as an indication that government regards NGOs as equal partners in development, and appreciates the contributions they make," said the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO), in a statement.

Full report

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Country's first urban OVC care centre rising to the needs

Gigi's Place is an unlikely name for Swaziland's first urban community care centre for orphans and vulnerable children, but it has put down roots in the gritty community it serves and celebrated its second anniversary at the weekend.

"I apologise for naming Gigi's Place after myself," said Gigi Nkosi, a fashion doyen and socialite who founded the centre, "but I am capitalising on my 'celebrity status' here in Swaziland to attract donors. We are entirely donor-funded, and the corporations have been supportive."

Full report

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MADAGASCAR: Aid needed now to save hungry children

Alarming results from a recent survey in Madagascar show that malnutrition levels have reached up to 74 percent in some parts of the remote southeastern region of the country.

According to the study conducted by the Ministry of Health, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and a number of local NGOs, 400 children were already suffering from acute malnutrition and would die in the next few weeks if interventions were not put in place.

Full report

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NAMIBIA: Govt appeals for info on mass graves

The Namibian government this week called for information on two apartheid-era mass graves discovered at a former military base in the northern town of Eenhana near the Angolan border.

"We are appealing to the conscience of those who served in the former South African Defence Forces (SADF), who are probably living in South Africa, to come forward with any information they might have [to help identify the bodies]," said Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Namibia's minister of information and broadcasting.

Full report

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ZAMBIA: Bishops add their weight to constitutional debate

Zambia's influential Catholic bishops on Wednesday warned President Levy Mwanawasa of the danger of blocking demands for a popular assembly to rewrite the country's constitution.

In a pastoral letter the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), which in the past has intervened at critical stages in the country's history, called on Mwanawasa to immediately enact a law creating a constituent assembly.

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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