CONTENTS
ANGOLA: Humanitarian crisis "dramatic in the extreme"
ZIMBABWE: Consensus on land reform
COMORO ISLANDS: Calm after coup
MOZAMBIQUE: Debt servicing burden
ZAMBIA: Debt relief also sought for Zambia
MALAWI: Polluted rivers pose health hazard
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Three African nations fail landmine compliance
ANGOLA: Humanitarian crisis "dramatic in the extreme" The humanitarian crisis in war-torn Angola has become "dramatic in the extreme", with access to nearly one million displaced people becoming more and more difficult, the UN Humanitarian Coordination Unity (UCAH) told IRIN this week. "We are looking at bigger numbers of people in Angola than those fleeing Kosovo," said Fernando Costa Freire, the UCAH spokesman. "We have to feed, clothe and house these people and aid can only be sent to them by air and supplies are diminishing. Angola desperately needs more support from donors now." Meanwhile, diplomats in the Angolan capital, Luanda, told IRIN they did not see any medium-term end to the war. "Things are moving only in one direction - towards more war. The government would be committing political suicide if it was seen to agree to talks with UNITA at a time it has sought the rebels isolation and vowed to fight them to the end," a diplomat said. "In the meantime, its draft campaign for new soldiers had only a 20 percent success rate and with poor pay and conditions in the army, morale is at an all-time low. It means that they cannot win the war decisively and they have no way out of this situation." UN seeks tighter sanctions against UNITA In New York this week, the UN Security Council decided to send the chairman of its Angola sanctions committee, Robert Fowler, to Southern African this weekend on a three-week mission aimed at tightening sanctions against UNITA. Officials said he would then set up two investigation teams to probe UNITA's illegal diamond trade and its weapons purchases. Fowler would also have talks with representatives of the giant South African diamond company, De Beers. World Bank stops lending to Angola The World Bank said this week it would stop further lending to Angola unless it implemented critical economic reforms. "In past years we have been patient with the peace process underway in Angola, but now we have come to a point where further lending cannot be justified," Barbara Kafka, the World Bank country director for Angola told IRIN. She cited the resumption of the war, rampant corruption, questionable development policy and an economy that no longer functions, save for the oil sector. There was also concern at the growing distortion between the official and unofficial exchange rates. She said the World Bank would continue to supervise existing projects, but would not undertake new programmes. The bank's office in the capital, Luanda, would be reduced in size and its country representative would not be replaced when his term expires next month. ZIMBABWE: Consensus on land reform Tension over land reform between Zimbabwe's commercial farmers and the government was set to ease following an announcement this week of cabinet approval for a new plan described as "significant" by the farmers' union. "We now have a policy document we can work with," Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) official Jerry Grant told IRIN on Tuesday. "Land reform can be done properly without destroying the basis of the economy." The new Inception Phase Framework Plan, to be part funded by donors, calls for the resettlement of 77,700 rural families on a million hectares over two years. Sam Moyo, who led the technical team which prepared the framework report, told IRIN that around half of commercial farmland was under-utilised. Government calls on opposition to join constitutional reforms The Zimbabwe government plans to go ahead with a constitutional reform programme despite a boycott by opposition groups. Minister of Justice Emmerson Mnangagwa told the official ZIANA news agency at the weekend that it was in the opposition's best interests to participate in the government-appointed constitutional commission which was expected to present a draft constitution to President Robert Mugabe at the end of the year. But the opposition wants the new constitution drafted under an independent reform process. Under existing law, Mugabe can ignore the commission's recommendations or change it's terms of reference. Labour unions threatened mass action Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Congress of trade Unions (ZCTU) said it would stage a ational workplace sit-in later this month if government and private business failed to award workers a 20 percent cost-of-living adjustment. Mass action would defy a government strike ban. According to state media reports, the government said it would only negotiate with the unions over their pay demands if they dropped plans to launch a new political party in July to contest legislative elections next year. COMORO ISLANDS: Calm after coup The situation in Comoros was reported calm after a military coup last week. Diplomatic sources told IRIN the islands' new military leader planned to meet civilian politicians to discuss the formation of a transitional government pending elections next year. Colonel Azali Assoumani, who seized power in a bloodless coup last Thursday, said he would hand over to an elected government after 12 months, and would abide by an OAU-mediated agreement signed in April at an inter-island conference in Madagascar. It was called to settle the long-standing secessionist tensions that have beset the three-island archipelago. The Madagascar agreement gives greater autonomy to the two smaller islands of Anjouan and Moheli and introduces a three-year rotating presidency between the three islands. However, it led to violence on Grand Comore in which people of Anjouan decent were targeted after the Anjouan delegation to the 19-23 April conference failed to sign the accord on the grounds they needed to consult their people. The army said it intervened to restore order. MOZAMBIQUE: Debt servicing burden Mozambique currently spends twice as much servicing its debt, as it is able to spend on education and three times the amount it is able budget for health care, Christian Aid Director Daleep Mukaraji told IRIN. Speaking in a telephone interview ahead of conference in London next week on debt relief, he said repayment of the debt, even under the new World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) relief initiative, was hampering the country's ability to rebuild. Mozambique still remains one of the world's poorest nations. In rural areas only eight percent of the population has access to portable water. "In all fairness to the World Bank and the IMF, I have to say that the latest HIPC initiative was too late, takes too long to achieve its goal, and ultimately doesn't really help the local population," Mukaraji said. Mozambique was one of the first countries to be granted HIPC status under which its debt service payment would fall from an estimated US $113 million per year to US $100 million a year. ZAMBIA: Debt relief also sought for Zambia Meanwhile, the World Bank representative in Zambia this week called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other bilateral donors to ensure the country qualifies for HIPC status. The representative, Laurence Clarke, told IRIN that the HIPC status, once granted, would help Zambia reduce its debt to a sustainable level. He said some donors in the Paris Club had indicated their willingness to waive the eligibility requirements for Zambia. DRC refugees to be screened for Ebola virus Zambia said this week it would start to screen refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the Ebola virus. Health ministry spokesman Ben Chirwa told the 'Times of Zambia' that a medical team had been dispatched to Kaputa on the country's northernmost DRC border town where some 11,000 DRC refugees are camped, following the outbreak of suspected haemorrhagic fever in the northeast Watsa area of the DRC. A WHO official told IRIN that there was as yet no confirmation the Watsa outbreak was Ebola. MALAWI: Polluted rivers pose health hazard Industrial waste dumped illegally into some of Malawi's major rivers has polluted the tributaries from which villagers draw water for human consumption and farming, government officials told IRIN this week. The waterways listed include the Lingazi River in the administrative capital, Lilongwe, the Mudi River in the economic capital, Blantyre, and the Mzuzu and Zomba rivers. A government official insisted the waste dumping had stopped. An official of the World Health Organisation (WHO) told IRIN that Malawi's rivers were regularly polluted by heavy rains, industrial or agricultural waste. "Since about 80 percent of Malawi's population lives in rural areas, most of them, at least 50 percent, use ground water," the WHO official said. Malawi, at the beginning of this year, experienced heavy flooding which resulted in a cholera outbreak. SOUTHERN AFRICA: Three African nations fail landmine compliance Delegates attending the first meeting of signatories of the 1997 Ottawa Landmine Ban Treaty in Maputo, Mozambique, this week were told that Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal had failed to comply with the terms of the treaty. Jody Williams, co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, said the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) was "particularly appalled at the disregard for their international commitments by the governments of treaty signatories Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal." Williams gave no details of the alleged "disregard" by the three nations. An ICBL report released at the meeting said Africa remained the world’s most affected landmine continent, and it listed Angola, Mozambique, Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia as worst-hit. Of 48 countries in Africa, 40 had so far signed the treaty. SADC security forces to withdraw from Lesotho next week South Africa and Botswana will withdraw their forces from the mountain kingdom of Lesotho next week, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has announced. The two countries intervened last year to restore stability under the aegis of the South African Development Community (SADC). It said they were expected to be withdrawn by 15 May. Caprivi secessionists get asylum in Denmark Denmark has granted asylum to two Namibian secessionist leaders from the northern Caprivi Strip area who had sought refuge in neighbouring Botswana, UNHCR announced this week. Former opposition leader Mishake Muyongo and Chief Boniface Mamili left Botswana on Monday for Denmark. Thirteen other separatist leaders, among the 2,500 Caprivians who fled Namibia for Botswana last year citing persecution, were also awaiting asylum in the West.
ANGOLA: Humanitarian crisis "dramatic in the extreme" The humanitarian crisis in war-torn Angola has become "dramatic in the extreme", with access to nearly one million displaced people becoming more and more difficult, the UN Humanitarian Coordination Unity (UCAH) told IRIN this week. "We are looking at bigger numbers of people in Angola than those fleeing Kosovo," said Fernando Costa Freire, the UCAH spokesman. "We have to feed, clothe and house these people and aid can only be sent to them by air and supplies are diminishing. Angola desperately needs more support from donors now." Meanwhile, diplomats in the Angolan capital, Luanda, told IRIN they did not see any medium-term end to the war. "Things are moving only in one direction - towards more war. The government would be committing political suicide if it was seen to agree to talks with UNITA at a time it has sought the rebels isolation and vowed to fight them to the end," a diplomat said. "In the meantime, its draft campaign for new soldiers had only a 20 percent success rate and with poor pay and conditions in the army, morale is at an all-time low. It means that they cannot win the war decisively and they have no way out of this situation." UN seeks tighter sanctions against UNITA In New York this week, the UN Security Council decided to send the chairman of its Angola sanctions committee, Robert Fowler, to Southern African this weekend on a three-week mission aimed at tightening sanctions against UNITA. Officials said he would then set up two investigation teams to probe UNITA's illegal diamond trade and its weapons purchases. Fowler would also have talks with representatives of the giant South African diamond company, De Beers. World Bank stops lending to Angola The World Bank said this week it would stop further lending to Angola unless it implemented critical economic reforms. "In past years we have been patient with the peace process underway in Angola, but now we have come to a point where further lending cannot be justified," Barbara Kafka, the World Bank country director for Angola told IRIN. She cited the resumption of the war, rampant corruption, questionable development policy and an economy that no longer functions, save for the oil sector. There was also concern at the growing distortion between the official and unofficial exchange rates. She said the World Bank would continue to supervise existing projects, but would not undertake new programmes. The bank's office in the capital, Luanda, would be reduced in size and its country representative would not be replaced when his term expires next month. ZIMBABWE: Consensus on land reform Tension over land reform between Zimbabwe's commercial farmers and the government was set to ease following an announcement this week of cabinet approval for a new plan described as "significant" by the farmers' union. "We now have a policy document we can work with," Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) official Jerry Grant told IRIN on Tuesday. "Land reform can be done properly without destroying the basis of the economy." The new Inception Phase Framework Plan, to be part funded by donors, calls for the resettlement of 77,700 rural families on a million hectares over two years. Sam Moyo, who led the technical team which prepared the framework report, told IRIN that around half of commercial farmland was under-utilised. Government calls on opposition to join constitutional reforms The Zimbabwe government plans to go ahead with a constitutional reform programme despite a boycott by opposition groups. Minister of Justice Emmerson Mnangagwa told the official ZIANA news agency at the weekend that it was in the opposition's best interests to participate in the government-appointed constitutional commission which was expected to present a draft constitution to President Robert Mugabe at the end of the year. But the opposition wants the new constitution drafted under an independent reform process. Under existing law, Mugabe can ignore the commission's recommendations or change it's terms of reference. Labour unions threatened mass action Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Congress of trade Unions (ZCTU) said it would stage a ational workplace sit-in later this month if government and private business failed to award workers a 20 percent cost-of-living adjustment. Mass action would defy a government strike ban. According to state media reports, the government said it would only negotiate with the unions over their pay demands if they dropped plans to launch a new political party in July to contest legislative elections next year. COMORO ISLANDS: Calm after coup The situation in Comoros was reported calm after a military coup last week. Diplomatic sources told IRIN the islands' new military leader planned to meet civilian politicians to discuss the formation of a transitional government pending elections next year. Colonel Azali Assoumani, who seized power in a bloodless coup last Thursday, said he would hand over to an elected government after 12 months, and would abide by an OAU-mediated agreement signed in April at an inter-island conference in Madagascar. It was called to settle the long-standing secessionist tensions that have beset the three-island archipelago. The Madagascar agreement gives greater autonomy to the two smaller islands of Anjouan and Moheli and introduces a three-year rotating presidency between the three islands. However, it led to violence on Grand Comore in which people of Anjouan decent were targeted after the Anjouan delegation to the 19-23 April conference failed to sign the accord on the grounds they needed to consult their people. The army said it intervened to restore order. MOZAMBIQUE: Debt servicing burden Mozambique currently spends twice as much servicing its debt, as it is able to spend on education and three times the amount it is able budget for health care, Christian Aid Director Daleep Mukaraji told IRIN. Speaking in a telephone interview ahead of conference in London next week on debt relief, he said repayment of the debt, even under the new World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) relief initiative, was hampering the country's ability to rebuild. Mozambique still remains one of the world's poorest nations. In rural areas only eight percent of the population has access to portable water. "In all fairness to the World Bank and the IMF, I have to say that the latest HIPC initiative was too late, takes too long to achieve its goal, and ultimately doesn't really help the local population," Mukaraji said. Mozambique was one of the first countries to be granted HIPC status under which its debt service payment would fall from an estimated US $113 million per year to US $100 million a year. ZAMBIA: Debt relief also sought for Zambia Meanwhile, the World Bank representative in Zambia this week called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other bilateral donors to ensure the country qualifies for HIPC status. The representative, Laurence Clarke, told IRIN that the HIPC status, once granted, would help Zambia reduce its debt to a sustainable level. He said some donors in the Paris Club had indicated their willingness to waive the eligibility requirements for Zambia. DRC refugees to be screened for Ebola virus Zambia said this week it would start to screen refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the Ebola virus. Health ministry spokesman Ben Chirwa told the 'Times of Zambia' that a medical team had been dispatched to Kaputa on the country's northernmost DRC border town where some 11,000 DRC refugees are camped, following the outbreak of suspected haemorrhagic fever in the northeast Watsa area of the DRC. A WHO official told IRIN that there was as yet no confirmation the Watsa outbreak was Ebola. MALAWI: Polluted rivers pose health hazard Industrial waste dumped illegally into some of Malawi's major rivers has polluted the tributaries from which villagers draw water for human consumption and farming, government officials told IRIN this week. The waterways listed include the Lingazi River in the administrative capital, Lilongwe, the Mudi River in the economic capital, Blantyre, and the Mzuzu and Zomba rivers. A government official insisted the waste dumping had stopped. An official of the World Health Organisation (WHO) told IRIN that Malawi's rivers were regularly polluted by heavy rains, industrial or agricultural waste. "Since about 80 percent of Malawi's population lives in rural areas, most of them, at least 50 percent, use ground water," the WHO official said. Malawi, at the beginning of this year, experienced heavy flooding which resulted in a cholera outbreak. SOUTHERN AFRICA: Three African nations fail landmine compliance Delegates attending the first meeting of signatories of the 1997 Ottawa Landmine Ban Treaty in Maputo, Mozambique, this week were told that Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal had failed to comply with the terms of the treaty. Jody Williams, co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, said the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) was "particularly appalled at the disregard for their international commitments by the governments of treaty signatories Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal." Williams gave no details of the alleged "disregard" by the three nations. An ICBL report released at the meeting said Africa remained the world’s most affected landmine continent, and it listed Angola, Mozambique, Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia as worst-hit. Of 48 countries in Africa, 40 had so far signed the treaty. SADC security forces to withdraw from Lesotho next week South Africa and Botswana will withdraw their forces from the mountain kingdom of Lesotho next week, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has announced. The two countries intervened last year to restore stability under the aegis of the South African Development Community (SADC). It said they were expected to be withdrawn by 15 May. Caprivi secessionists get asylum in Denmark Denmark has granted asylum to two Namibian secessionist leaders from the northern Caprivi Strip area who had sought refuge in neighbouring Botswana, UNHCR announced this week. Former opposition leader Mishake Muyongo and Chief Boniface Mamili left Botswana on Monday for Denmark. Thirteen other separatist leaders, among the 2,500 Caprivians who fled Namibia for Botswana last year citing persecution, were also awaiting asylum in the West.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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