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ZIMBABWE: Government calls on veterans to leave farms
The Zimbabwean government has called on war veterans to end their occupation of white-owned farms following the High court's rejection of a government appeal against an earlier ruling for the police to evict war veterans from hundreds of white-owned farms.
In a statement this week, acting president and chairman of the National Land Acquisition Committee, Joseph Msika, said: "It is our intention to impress upon the demonstrators who have been protesting against the resistance by commercial farm owners to release land for redistribution and resettlement, that the reasons for the their demonstrations are well appreciated and understood by both the party (ZANU-PF) and the government."
He added: "However, in light of these recent developments, it is no longer necessary to continue with the demonstration."
Msika told state media that the recent constitutional amendment which allows for land to be seized without compensation "had cleared the way for the orderly redistribution of land largely owned by whites".
In his ruling against an appeal by Attorney-General Patrick Chinamasa, Judge Moses Hungwe Chinhengo said he urged President Robert Mugabe to "recognise that it is in the permanent interest of Zimbabwe and the rule of law to bring an end to the farm invasions".
Meanwhile, in an interview with the BBC the veterans' leader Chenjerai Hunzvi said that the "court could go to hell" and that the veterans would not give up the land without a fight.
More reports on Zimbabwe can be viewed at: https://reliefweb.int/IRIN/countrystories/zimbabwe
ANGOLA: UN mandate renewed
The United Nations Security Council this week endorsed the Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recommendation that the mandate of the United Nations Office in Angola (UNOA) be extended for a further six months.
In a press release the Security Council said that it "reaffirmed its view that a continued United Nations presence in Angola could greatly contribute to the promotion of peace, national reconciliation, human rights and regional security".
At the same time, a five-person UNHCR technical team arrived in Angola last weekend at the request of the government of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos to examine the role the refugee agency could play in assisting the estimated 3.7 million internally displaced people (IDPs).
Nicolas Bwakira, UNHCR's Regional Director for Southern Africa told IRIN that UNHCR would assist IDPs in cooperation with other UN agencies "within UNHCR's mandate and policies" on the displaced. Included in the technical team was a legal officer who would examine issues of protection for IDPs, including forced relocation and rape, Bwakira added.
ANGOLA: WFP concerned about food security in Kuito
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) warned this week that an estimated 200,000 people in the Angolan city of Kuito, about 560 km southeast of Luanda, would face starvation if the landing strip at the city's airport was not repaired.
Ronald Sibanda, WFP representative in Angola said: "We need to transport a minimum of 3,000 mt per month just to keep up with the demand. Right now it is simply impossible to meet current food requirements."
WFP said that at present it had enough food stocks in the city to last about two weeks and that if the airport was not repaired within that period, it would be impossible to distribute full monthly rations to about 203,000 beneficiaries who are due to receive food at the beginning of May.
Meanwhile, WFP said that during April it planned to distribute food to an estimated 1.3 million Angolans, with the largest individual programme being in Huambo, some 550 km southwest of Luanda, where there are over 300,000 beneficiaries.
ANGOLA: Concern about Russian pilots
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed "extreme concern" about the fate of six Russian airmen held by the Angolan UNITA rebel movement, according to the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS.
The ministry said it had been two months since UNITA announced the freeing of the men. It had since received no further information about the whereabouts and the status of the airmen.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Floods report
Cyclone Hudah, which devastated northeast Madagascar, died down after it reached Mozambique last weekend bringing gusts of strong winds and some rain, the South African Weather Bureau reported this week.
"It looks now as if this one is finally over," a weather bureau spokesman told IRIN. "We have some rains in Mozambique and there was some infrastructure damage from gusts of winds, but now it is over." Weather reports said there were currently no further cyclones predicted in the Indian Ocean.
At the request of the Malagasy government, the United Nations this week launched a new "flash appeal" seeking US $15.7 million from donors to provide urgent humanitarian assistance for over 300,000 people affected by the devastation wrought 10 days ago by cyclone Hudah. In some areas in the northeast of the giant Indian Ocean island, only two days of food remain, a UN spokesman said.
Hudah followed cyclones Eline and Gloria which tore through the country in February and March and wrought the worst devastation in Mozambique. Flooding brought on by the cyclones also struck neighbouring South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.
According to the ministries of health of Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe, 10 million people in the region are now at risk of cholera, malaria, and other water-borne diseases.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said nearly 4 million people in the region have been affected by the floods. In its latest report it said the number of flood-related deaths in southern Africa is now estimated at 1,000.
A detailed flood report can be viewed on http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/sa/countrystories
AFRICA: Conflict diamonds targeted
A group of European non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has launched a public awareness campaign over the role the diamond trade can play in funding rebel armies across Africa.
Called 'Fatal Transactions', the campaign asks the public and other interested organisations to urge the diamond industry to implement effective controls to ensure that diamonds do not fund rebel armies, thereby fuelling conflict.
Global Witness, one of the four organisations leading the drive, said the campaign is not anti-diamond but rather it is anti-war. "Diamond revenue can bring enormous benefits to a country's economy if transparently controlled," Global Witness said. It gave as examples Botswana, Namibia and South Africa where, it said, diamond revenue has funded economic growth and stability.
MOZAMBIQUE: New debt reduction package
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group's International Development Association (IDA) have agreed to a comprehensive debt reduction package for Mozambique under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.
An IMF statement this week said the move was in response to the emergency brought on by the recent devastating floods. "Both the World Bank and the IMF decided to accelerate the debt relief by forgiving 100 percent of the debt service owed by Mozambique in the next 12 months, so that Mozambique will not have to pay any debt service to either institution during this period," it said.
Total relief from all of Mozambique's creditors under the enhanced framework equals US $600 million, or US $254 million in net present value terms (NPV). This new amount is in addition to earlier debt relief worth US $3.7 billion.
ZAMBIA: DRC soldiers repatriated
A group of 62 government soldiers from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who crossed their country's southern border into Zambia last week have been granted safe passage home by the Zambian authorities.
A senior military official in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, told IRIN this week that the soldiers, all of whom had been disarmed, had not sought asylum in Zambia.
"They crossed over, relinquished their weapons, and have asked to go home. We are granting them safe passage to the border at Kaputa, and we have informed their government accordingly," the official said.
A detailed report on DRC refugees in Zambia can be viewed at: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/sa/countrystories/zambia/20000412.htm
ZAMBIA: WFP to provide emergency aid to refugees
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said this week it would provide US $2.6 million in food aid to an estimated 30,000 Angolan refugees in Zambia.
"The food will feed 30,000 new arrivals in the Western and Northwestern Provinces of Zambia as well as 1,000 malnourished under-five children to improve their health and nutritional status," WFP said in a statement. WFP added that it would distribute 4,909 mt of maize, vegetable oil, beans, salt and a high-energy protein blend.
ZAMBIA: Support for ivory ban
In contrast to its neighbours in southern Africa, Zambia told the 11th conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Nairobi, Kenya this week that it supports a total ban on the ivory trade.
Tourism ministry spokesman Gabriel Tembo said Zambia would not join the call of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana for eased restrictions on ivory sales. Senior conservation figures in Zambia's diplomatic community said that Zambian police seized 53 elephant tusks at the Lusaka international airport last week alone. Tembo said that lifting the ban could encourage poachers to hunt in Zambia's rich parks for elephant tusks.
SOUTH AFRICA-NIGERIA: Deepening relations
A new bilateral South Africa-Nigeria commission is to meet later this month to cement the deepening business links between Africa's two superpowers. The Bi-National Commission (BNC), established in October last year, is an attempt to explore the strategic relationship that has been established between the two countries since the end of military rule in Nigeria.
This month's BNC meeting is expected to carry forward negotiations over a bilateral investment treaty. There has been a great deal of interest in Nigeria over both South African expertise and capital. However, administrative problems have delayed some projects.
But major infrastructural projects are in the pipeline. The state-owned oil company Sasol, in partnership with the US firm Chevron, is planning to build a US $500 million gas-to-diesel plant in the Nigerian oil-producing delta.
The power utility Eskom is also eyeing the Nigerian market, and the revamping of Nigeria's crippled electricity company, NEPA. The South African cellular telephone company MTN is also reportedly considering spending more than US $300 million on infrastructural development over two years in Nigeria should it win one of the country's four GSM licenses.
SOUTH AFRICA: Widespread opposition to immigrants
A survey on South African attitudes towards immigrants and migration has revealed that the majority of citizens are opposed to an immigration policy that might welcome newcomers.
Conducted by the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP), the survey found that about 25 percent of South Africans want a total ban on immigration, and 45 percent support strict limits on the numbers of immigrants to be allowed into the country.
SAMP said only 17 percent of South Africans would support a more flexible policy tied to the availability of jobs, while a mere 6 percent support a totally open policy of immigration. "This is the highest level of opposition to immigration recorded by any country in the world where comparable questions have been asked," said SAMP. The full report is available on: http://queensu.ca/samp
SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS to slash economic growth
The AIDS crisis will cut South Africa's economic growth, increase inflation and exacerbate the country's shortage of highly skilled labour, South African media reported this week.
'Business Day' quoted a new report from the investment company, ING Barings, which said that the epidemic will cut South Africa's annual growth rate by 0.3-0.4 percentage points over the next 15 years. Though the infection rate among highly-skilled labour is only a third of that among the less skilled, it is still enough to cause a shortage of highly-skilled people, 'The Star' newspaper said, quoting the Barings report.
NAMIBIA: DTA, UDF named as official opposition
Namibia's national assembly speaker Mosé Tjitendero this week announced that the parliamentary coalition between the Democratic Turnahlle Alliance (DTA) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) was the official opposition, prompting the Congress of Democrats (CoD) to walk out of the assembly in protest.
Tjitendero's announcement brought to an end months of speculation about which party would become the 'official' opposition after the CoD and the DTA both won seven seats in last year's election. The CoD walked out after Tjitendero said his ruling could not be discussed. The CoD said it would challenge Tjitendero's decision, using all avenues including the courts.
The Directorate of Elections had declared the CoD as the official opposition when the election results were announced. Tjitendero said the "pronouncements" of the Directorate of Elections had no "effect upon this House (National Assembly)".
NAMIBIA: NBC 'switched off'
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Information and Broadcasting, Gabriel Shihepo this week barred a television and radio news crew from covering a press conference called by the Congress of Democrats (CoD). According to 'The Namibian', Shihepo "hauled" two Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) parliamentary journalists out of a press conference held by the CoD shortly after the party walked out of the National Assembly in protest at the recognition of the new official oppposition alliance.
NBC Director-General Ben Mulongeni supported Shihepo and said the journalists were "wrong to take a camera from the National Assembly to the press conference". He said the NBC staff who went to the CoD press conference would face disciplinary action.
MALAWI: Cut spending, says IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has told Malawi that government spending had to be cut before the country could be considered for debt relief.
The IMF said that a major concern was Malawi's poor record in controlling public spending and in preventing the waste of scarce resources. "Ill-conceived activities in the past and fraud are still costing the country dearly," Thomas Gibson, the head of the IMF's mission to Malawi said.
Gibson added that any prospects for sustained growth would "remain slim" unless inflation was brought under control. Malawi's current debt is estimated at US $2.4 million.
Johannesburg, 14 April 13:25 GMT
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