ANGOLA: Landmines claim 12 lives
At least 12 civilians were killed and
two wounded in separate landmine blasts during the past two weeks, news
reports said at the weekend. The reports, quoting The Youths Club NGO,
said the deaths occurred in two separate incidents on farmland in near
Figuiera and Cusse in the southern province of Huila.
Although the reports were not independently confirmed, Renato Raimundo, a spokesman for the NGO, told PANA news agency his organisation had detected three camps for internally displaced people in the area where they suspected the presence of landmines. These were in Figueira near the coastal town of Lubango and near the municipalities of Caconda and Chibia. He said the NGO had had held more than 300 training sessions on mine awareness for nearly 10,000 people in Huila.
ANGOLA-NAMIBIA: Five abducted in border raid
Suspected UNITA insurgents abducted five Namibians at the weekend during a raid on a remote village west of the border town of Rundu, the NAMPA news agency of Namibia reported. Police regional commander for the Kavango region, Chief Inspector Olavi Hawanga, told NAMPA the incident occurred on Saturday morning in Nginga, about 170 km west of Rundu.
"A group of armed men surrounded villagers in that area and took all their belongings," the report said. "They selected the young ones and crossed with them into Angola, and left women and elderly men behind without assaulting them." According to the police, the Namibian Defence Force (NDF) crossed into southern Angola to try and find the hostages and their captors.
In a separate incident on Saturday at Musese, some 90 km west of Rundu, suspected UNITA insurgents "reportedly blew up" an irrigation pipeline.
ANGOLA-NAMIBIA: Talks on Epupa dam project
The Angolan government has said it did regard the Epupa hydroelectric project near the border between the two countries as a priority, 'The Namibian' reported on Monday.
In an "apparent rebuff" to Namibia's hopes of getting the power scheme off the ground, it said visiting Angolan minister of energy and water affairs, Luis da Silva, had reporters that Luanda's priorities were to rehabilitate the Calueque scheme and Gove dam inside Angola.
"Speaking through an interpreter, Da Silva said the Calueque scheme and Gove dam (also near the border) are our main two priorities as far as the Kunene River is concerned. He said Epupa has been the subject of discussion for some time, but did not indicate when Angola might agree on a site for the controversial hydropower scheme," the newspaper said.
ANGOLA-SOUTH AFRICA: A large trade imbalance
In its two-way trade with Angola, South Africa exported goods worth US $230 million to Angola, while its imports from that country last year amounted to only US $10 million, according to a Portuguese radio reported monitored by the BBC.
ZIMBABWE: Non-Aligned Movement criticises US restrictions
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has expressed its concern at the intention of the US government to adopt new legislation on Zimbabwe. A statement released on Friday by the South African mission to the United Nations in New York, said the Zimbabwe Democracy Act 2000, sought to prohibit American assistance and debt relief to Zimbabwe.
"It also seeks to block further assistance to Zimbabwe by international financial institutions in which the US is a member, and furthermore attempts to prescribe the outcome of the ongoing land reform process in Zimbabwe," the statement said. "The Coordinating Bureau (of the NAM) expressed its opposition to the proposed legislation which is in violation of the principles of the NAM, and of the United Nations Charters, which commit member states to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of all states."
MOZAMBIQUE: Cholera declines
Sporadic cases of cholera are still being reported in Maputo City and the southern provinces of Gaza and Manica but nowhere else in the country, the latest report by the government's disaster relief authority INGC said.
>From the beginning of the year to 24 July, 14,955 cases of cholera were reported, with 215 deaths. The number of reported cases of malaria is likewise declining throughout the country.
Meanwhile, a shipment of 23,500 mt of wheat from the United States destined for the commercial sector is to be converted into a donation by USAID. But whether this is in the context of the emergency appeals or the Rome donor conference is not yet known, the INGC report said.
MOZAMBIQUE: Adventist' aid
The US-based Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has pledged an additional US $250,000 worth of medicines to Mozambique during the US visit of the woman now famous for giving birth to a baby while trapped in a tree during Mozambique's floods earlier this year, an ADRA statement said.
Carolina Cecelia Chirindza Chibure and baby Rosita Mabuiango visited the ADRA International Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland this month. To date, ADRA has provided more than US $525,000 worth of relief assistance to Mozambique, the statement said.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Mandela for top SADC award
Former South African President Nelson Mandela is set to receive the top award of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) at the organisation's heads of state summit scheduled 6-7 August in Windhoek, Namibia.
PANA news agency quoted acting SADC executive secretary-general, Prega Ramsamy, as saying Mandela has earned the Sir Seretse Khama SADC medal for his role in promoting peace in the region and Africa as well as his distinguished leadership of South Africa during his 1994-99 presidency and his SADC tenure from 1996-99.
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