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Botswana + 6 more

Southern Africa: IRIN News Briefs, 2 July

SADC: Call for debt cancellation
Kaire Mbuende, the executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Thursday called on the G-7 countries to cancel the debt of the SADC member states Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Speaking to reporters in Namibia, Mbuende said it was unfortunate that the G-7 countries, through the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have so far only identified Mozambique as qualifying for a debt write off.

"In addition to Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe currently spend about 80 percent of their gross domestic product each on debt servicing annually," Mbuende said. He added: "Debt is too harmful to the poorest of our communities, therefore, I am appealing for total debt write-off for these four countries."

ZIMBABWE: DRC joint commission agreed

Zimbabwe is reported to have dropped its objections to a proposed joint military commission to which all the belligerents in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) conflict are supposed to contribute three commanders each after the signing of a much hoped for ceasefire agreement.

The commission would be charged with the responsibility of tracking, disarming, containing and documenting armed groups in the war-torn country. Harare had objected to the setting up of the commission on grounds that this should be the function of the UN.

BOTSWANA: Teachers angry over directive

Botswana's teachers are petitioning the country's president Festus Mogae to reverse a directive issued by the Department of Public Service and Management which recommends higher salaries for teachers with "scarce" skills such as engineering and science-based subjects.

"The directive will lead to insubordination because it will be difficult for some senior teachers to supervise newly-qualified teachers with "scarce" skills who will earn higher salaries than them when their entered the service," the teachers argued in the petition.

[ENDS]

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