SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 12 covering the period 19-26 Mar 1999

ANGOLA: UNITA shells Kuito For three days running this week, the UNITA rebel movement shelled the Bie Province capital of Kuito in Angola’s central highlands. The UN Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (UCAH) said fighting on the outskirts of the besieged government-held city some 500 km southeast of the capital Luanda had doubled the number of internally displaced people to an estimated 60,000. For weeks, Kuito, has only received emergency relief by air. But the resumption of WFP relief flights on 23 March was suspended the same day because of the fighting, and humanitarian staff were relocated to Luanda until further notice. Since the resumption of Angola’s civil war in December, Kuito has been the focal point of UNITA’s attacks and humanitarian officials said UNITA artillery was in range of the city’s airport. “The humanitarian community is extremely concerned at the situation in Kuito,” a UCAH spokesman told IRIN on Friday. “The situation is now very dire indeed. We don’t know what could happen in the next few days.” UNITA claims it routed government forces A dispatch of the UNITA KUP news agency cited a “resounding victory”. It alleged government forces had blown up a strategic bridge near the town and then fled. With the bridge now under repair, KUP said, “the situation is likely to change dramatically as UNITA forces expected to further tighten the noose around Kuito.” According to a report on Angolan state radio, the shelling started on 23 March. “Jonas Savimbi (the UNITA leader) and his gang of malefactors have once again caused grief among the martyred residents of Kuito,” the radio said. “Angolan Armed Forces and national Police units backed by Kuito residents are planning to react to the gang of malefactors.” It quoted a military source as telling Radio Nacional de Angola that the attacks had been possible because “Jonas Savimbi’s gang has been receiving aid from European and African countries which systematically violate UN Security Council resolutions.” No casualty figures have been given so far, and UN sources said they were also concerned about a resumption of shelling of the other besieged government-held city of Malanje, east of Luanda. Angola accuses Malawi of assisting UNITA On the political front, Malawi this week said Angola had accused it of allowing UNITA to use its airspace to fly weapons to territories under its control. The accusation follows weeks of political acrimony after Angola levelled similar charges at neighbouring Zambia. Malawi’s MBC radio reported this week that the Angolan government claimed Malawi had allowed flights carrying UNITA supplies to use its airspace. In Luanda, sources told IRIN on Friday that there had, however, been no mention of the allegations so far in Angola’s official media. Malawi’s defence minister, Joseph Kubalo, has denied the allegations, saying his government had responded to the allegations through the Southern African Development Community (SADC). ZAMBIA: Reporters charged over Angolan allegations Two more reporters from Zambia’s independent daily ‘The Post’ were arrested last week and charged with espionage, bringing to eight the number of journalists from the newspaper currently facing spying charges. ‘The Post’ reported that Zambian police on 20 March raided the homes of five journalists of the newspaper, arresting Douglas Hampande and MacPherson Muyumba, who were charged and then released on bail. The paper’s editor-in-chief, Fred M’membe, and reporters Reuben Phiri and Sam Mujuda were not at home when the police raided their homes. The espionage charges followed the publication of a report on Zambian military readiness towards Angola. The report caused an uproar in Zambia’s parliament, prompting the deputy speaker to order the minister of defence to take “appropriate” action against the newspaper. Six journalists were arrested in pre-dawn raids following the deputy speaker’s order and they were charged with espionage two weeks ago and released on bail after spending two days in detention. Meanwhile, ‘The Post’ reported last week that M’membe, also charged with espionage and released on bail, would appear in court together with his eight reporters on 16 April. Refugees pour in from DRC Meanwhile, heavy fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this week brought what the UNHCR described as one of the heaviest flights of refugees “in recent history” across Zambia’s northernmost border. It said people were coming into Zambia at the rate of 200-300 a day since March 4. By the end of the week, their numbers were estimated at 15,000. “In recent history, this is probably the largest refugee influx Zambia has witnessed over such a short space of time,” Oluseyi Bajulaiye, the UNHCR representative told IRIN. “Some 6,500 refugees are now concentrated in Kaputa (Zambia’s northernmost town) while the rest are located in villages in the surrounding areas.” Bajulaiye said the general humanitarian situation was still considered adequate although the infrastructure in Kaputa was clearly stretched to its limits. Two water bowsers and chlorination equipment have been sent to the town to ease water problems. The UNHCR expressed concern about the road conditions in the area which have caused delays in the delivery of assistance. The government said it was reviewing the road situation as a matter of priority. Bajulaiye indicated that preparations were also underway to respond to a further influx from the DRC. “Given the rapid escalation of this refugee influx, we cannot rule out further displacements,” he said Among the refugees, an influx of DRC soldiers The refugees included two groups of soldiers from DRC. Most of the initial contingent of 750 who crossed over last week had been disarmed and sent back to their country. Another group of 800 soldiers arrived this week. “The agreement to return the soldiers to the DRC was reached between the governments of Zambia and the DRC and the UNHCR was not involved in the process,” said UNHCR spokesman Dominik Bartsch. NAMIBIA: New political party launched A new Namibian political party, the Congress of Democrats, was launched in the capital Windhoek this week by a former leading member of President Sam Nujoma’s ruling South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO). A member of the party’s interim committee, Nepeti Nicanor, told IRIN: “We plan to be an all-inclusive party to unite Namibians to take ownership of their political destiny.” The new party’s leader, Ben Ulenga, who was once a member of SWAPO’s central committee and a deputy environment minister, resigned his diplomatic post in London last year as Namibian high commissioner after a constitutional change allowing Nujoma to serve a third presidential term. Ulenga was also reportedly dissatisfied with Nujoma’s decision to send troops to DRC in support of President Laurent-Desire Kabila. “We will contest the parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for later this year and we want to govern the country according to the mandate that our members will give us,” Nicanor said. Ulenga, who was also a former member of SWAPO’s armed liberation wing, was captured by South Africa’s security forces in 1977 and sentenced to a 15-year prison term on Robben Island outside Cape Town. Released in 1985, he returned home and became general secretary of the Mineworkers Union of Namibia, before going fulltime into politics after Namibia’s independence in 1989. Nujoma urges exiles to return President Sam Nujoma this week called on all Namibians seeking refuge in Botswana from secessionist tensions in the northern Caprivi strip to return home. In a speech in the capital Windhoek to thousands of supporters, Nujoma said: “All those Namibians who followed the failed and disgruntled politicians to Botswana should come back to their country as there will be no reprisals or witchhunts as they are Namibians first and then Caprivians. They are welcome to return to their own country.” The president’s remarks followed the flight by hundreds of Caprivians to Botswana earlier this year. According to UNHCR figures, an estimated 2,400 Namibians so far had been granted refugee status in Botswana. Two more soldiers die in DRC At least two more Namibian soldiers were this week reported to have died fighting in DRC. The fatalities were reported to ‘The Namibian’ by relatives of the Namibia Defence Force (NDF) soldiers. Family members of the two men said they had been informed of the deaths by the NDF. The latest casualties bring the known NDF death toll in the DRC to 15. Namibia is fighting alongside troops from Zimbabwe, Angola and Chad. MALAWI: Floods displace thousands Over 21,000 people have been forced to seek shelter in temporary accommodation after heavy rains and floods destroyed households in 90 villages across southern Malawi, the government said this week. The floods brought on a cholera epidemic in Malawi which it said had claimed 260 lives since the end of January when heavy rains started. A health ministry spokesman in the capital, Lilongwe, told IRIN this week that cholera had claimed the lives of 103 people in the southern region of the country, which was worst hit, 140 in the central region and 18 in the northern region. Most cases were reported in urban squatter areas where sanitation was inadequate and hygiene conditions poor, he said. Farmlands destroyed A senior agriculture ministry official said that 12,905 hectares of crops had been destroyed by floods in the southern region. The areas worst affected were Machinga, Blantyre and the Shire Valley. Many farmers had also lost their livestock. MOZAMBIQUE: Donors pledge flood aid Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi of neighbouring Mozambique said this week the international community had pledged an estimated US $2 million by 15 March to help alleviate similar damage caused by heavy rains and floods. Mocumbi said most of the aid had so far been allocated to assist flood victims, but that the government had originally appealed for US $12.4 million of which an estimated US $4 million alone was needed for the repair of roads and bridges. In recent months, Mozambique, like Malawi, has been subjected to torrential rains and subsequent flooding. The worst-hit areas have been the southern province of Inhambane and Gaza and Sofala in the central region. Japanese aid On 10 March, Japan and Mozambique signed an aid agreement in which Japan promised to provide an estimated US $19.4 million as part of a bilateral aid package. The news agency said some of the money would be used to help feed flood victims. AFRICA: HIV/AIDS and TB Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has warned that tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most serious health hazards in the world, especially in nations with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS. His remarks were made in a statement in Geneva last week marking World Tuberculosis Day. “People with HIV/AIDS are 30 to 50 times more likely than those without HIV infection to develop TB,” Piot said. “Co-infection with TB and HIV is the leading killer of people with AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, where the majority of AIDS-related deaths are now occurring.” Piot said, however, that TB could be cured, even in HIV-infected people, if diagnosed in time and properly treated. He said there had been successful TB control in places where community health programmes serving large numbers of HIV-infected people had integrated TB diagnosis and treatment with their services. “The spread of TB can be further reduced if TB programmes provide access to voluntary HIV testing and counselling,” he said. “UNAIDS joins WHO in calling for increased commitment from governments and donors in the fight against the dual epidemics of TB and HIV/AIDS.”