CONTENTS
ANGOLA: Displaced numbers reach 1.6 million
NAMIBIA: Angolans face deportation
MALAWI: Elections set for 15 June
ZAMBIA: Government offers Rwanda prison facilities
ZIMBABWE: Fourteen Zimbabwe soldiers held in DRC
MOZAMBIQUE: Training for voter registration agents
SWAZILAND: Decline in economic growth expected
BOTSWANA: First independent radio station licensed
ANGOLA: Displaced numbers reach 1.6 million The UN Security Council this week said the number of people internally displaced by the resumption of civil war had now reached 1.6 million and was growing. In a statement released after a meeting in New York, the Security Council urged the government and UNITA rebels to assist the humanitarian community. It reminded the two sides that they had an obligation under international conventions to cooperate with humanitarian agencies and guarantee the security of their personnel. Thousands displaced in new fighting The Security Council's warning on cooperating with relief workers came as thousands of people fled from a new outbreak of fighting in Angola's remote southeastern districts further exacerbating the country's growing humanitarian crisis. A spokesman for the UN Humanitarian Coordination Unit (UCAH) told IRIN that an estimated 15,000 people had fled from the Cangamba and Cangombe areas in recent weeks to seek shelter in the nearby provincial capital of Cuito Cuanavale, about 1,000 km southeast of the capital Luanda. "An assessment mission to the area at the weekend found that they were in urgent of need of humanitarian assistance and that they only had food stocks to last for about a week," he said. Analysts in Luanda said the fighting between government forces and the UNITA rebel movement constituted some of the remotest clashes yet reported in Angola since December when the civil war resumed following the breakdown of the 1994 UN-brokered Lusaka Protocol peace accords. Humanitarian sources said the airport at Cuito Cuanavale was open and that airlifts would be the only lifeline to the 15,000 internally displaced people because roads in the area were too insecure for aid convoys. Government rejects Savimbi's offer of talks The Angolan government, meanwhile, rejected an offer by the UNITA rebel movement to resume talks. "Savimbi no longer has legitimacy to negotiate as he has already shown that he does not keep his commitments," Portuguese radio quoted a government spokesman as saying. New offshore oil field In economic developments during the week, the Angolan state oil company, Sanangol and a subsidiary of BP Amoco have announced the discovery of a new Atlantic oil field some 185 km northwest of the capital, Luanda. The Platina-1 field, with an estimated production capacity of 6,500 barrels per day, will become BP Amoco's first project in waters off Angola which is sub-Sahara Africa's largest oil producer after Nigeria. Central bank decides to let currency float The Angolan central bank has decided to devalue the country's currency against the dollar to bring it in line with the black market rate, according to a state radio report. It quoted a central bank statement as saying: "The National Bank of Angola is not going to fix the official rate anymore or the cost of credit or the price of foreign exchange." NAMIBIA: Angolans face deportation More than 100 Angolans living in the Cuando-Cubango province of Angola along Namibia's northeastern border have been deported to Angola against their will since the beginning of April, according to Namibia's National Society for Human Rights (NSHR). Phil ya Nangoloh of the NSHR told IRIN this week: "Some of the female deportees have left behind their babies at Kalay, just north of Rundu along the northeastern borders of Namibia." The NSHR also claimed that the Angolans were being apprehended at the instigation of the Angolan authorities. "Information at our disposal indicates that young males, some as young as 15, as soon as they are deported, are immediately handed over for conscription into the Angolan armed forces," he added. Namibia's defence ministry dismissed the claims as "blatant lies". Caprivi refugee agreement Namibia and its neighbour Botswana this week signed an agreement with UNHCR paving the way for the voluntary repatriation of Namibian refugees in Botswana who fled separatist tensions in northern Namibia's Caprivi Strip. A UNHCR statement said the agreement was signed by Namibian Home Affairs Minister Jerry Ekandjo, Botswana's acting minister of labour and home affairs, Joy Phumaphi, and Mengesha Kebede, head of UNHCR's Regional Office for Southern Africa. Since October 1998, some 2,500 Namibians have fled from Caprivi and were subsequently granted asylum by the government of Botswana. MALAWI: Elections set for 15 June Malawi's parliament has instructed the Electoral Commission to hold the country's second democratic elections on 15 June, media sources told IRIN this week. Malawi's president, Bakili Muluzi, convened an emergency session of parliament last Friday to reschedule the country's elections following widespread criticism of the registration process by opposition parties, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and international observers as flawed because of the shortage of materials at over 100 registration centres. Investors cautious ahead of elections Fred Kanjo, head of economic research services at the Commercial Bank of Malawi, told the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) in a recent interview, that both foreign and local investors had adopted a more cautious stance ahead of the 15 June elections, before making any firm investment decisions. Malawi has experienced a growth rate of about 8 percent since 1995, with the country's economy expected to grow by about 6 percent in the 1998/99 season. Oxfam to lobby for debt cancellation Oxfam plans to lobby the G8 countries to cancel Malawi's external debt - estimated at over US $500 million - at a summit in Germany next month. Maxwell Mphwina, Oxfam's Malawi Programme Officer, told IRIN this week: "Debt repayment has drained almost 17 percent of Malawi's annual export earnings," adding that Oxfam would impress upon the eight countries that instead of repaying the debt, Malawi should rather invest the money in free primary education. The G8 countries are the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and Russia. ZAMBIA: Government offers Rwanda prison facilities The Zambian government has offered to provide prison facilities for Rwandan convicts of the 1994 genocide, media reports said this week. The 'Times of Zambia' reported that Lusaka was about to sign an agreement with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda which would make it the second nation after Mali to provide prison facilities. It added that the tribunal based in Arusha, Tanzania, was negotiating similar facilities with Madagascar and Benin. EU offers to pay for DRC diplomacy costs The European Union (EU) has offered to meet the costs of President Frederick Chiluba's shuttle diplomacy in the quest for a peaceful solution to the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), news organisations reported this week. Zambia has been mandated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to coordinate the DRC peace efforts. Chiluba was quoted as telling a news conference the EU had offered to meet the costs including those incurred by his frequent visits for talks with leaders in neighbouring African nations and beyond. ZIMBABWE: Fourteen Zimbabwe soldiers held in DRC Congolese rebels last weekend announced the capture of 14 Zimbabwean soldiers in a battle near Eshimba, some 250 km southeast of the diamond mining city of Mbuji-Mayi, Reuters reported this week. In a dispatch quoting a rebel spokesman, it said the men were held after a battle last Friday, but gave no further details. The incident, however, was not confirmed by the government or independent sources, it said. MOZAMBIQUE: Training for voter registration agents The Mozambique Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE) is to train about 11,000 people in voter registration throughout the country, local media reports said this week. "The training of these instructors will start by the end of next month. We hope to have trained the whole structure within 50 days, from instructors at national level, down to the brigade staff," the Maputo Daily, 'Noticias' said. Electrification an urgent priority Economic and social development in many areas of Mozambique is deadlocked because only about 5 percent of the population has access to regular electricity supplies, the Mozambique news agency, AIM, reported this week. AIM quoted the National Director of Energy, Casimiro Francisco, as saying the government was preparing a survey of the existing sources of power countrywide so as to set up a new network across the nation. SWAZILAND: Decline in economic growth expected The Central Bank of Swaziland (CBS) has predicted a growth rate of only 2.5 percent for 1999/2000, the 'Swazi Observer' reported this week. The CBS director of research, Cleopas Dlamini, was quoted as saying that growth was down by 0.5 percent from last year when Swaziland registered a growth rate of about 3 percent. Dlamini said that one of the main reasons for the lower growth rate was the slowdown in foreign direct investment in the country. Swaziland elected to the UN Human Rights Commission Swaziland, along with Burundi, Nigeria and Zambia, has been elected to the 53-nation UN Human Rights Commission, Swazi radio reported this week. Swazi radio quoted the opposition Peoples United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) as saying that they commended the election as it would expose the kingdom on human rights issues. BOTSWANA: First independent radio station licensed The first independent radio station in Botswana has been granted a licence to broadcast, the SAPA news agency reported. The new radio station, Yarona FM, is expected to go on air within four months. SAPA said a second licence application, sought by a group of investors from South Africa and Botswana, was still pending.
ANGOLA: Displaced numbers reach 1.6 million The UN Security Council this week said the number of people internally displaced by the resumption of civil war had now reached 1.6 million and was growing. In a statement released after a meeting in New York, the Security Council urged the government and UNITA rebels to assist the humanitarian community. It reminded the two sides that they had an obligation under international conventions to cooperate with humanitarian agencies and guarantee the security of their personnel. Thousands displaced in new fighting The Security Council's warning on cooperating with relief workers came as thousands of people fled from a new outbreak of fighting in Angola's remote southeastern districts further exacerbating the country's growing humanitarian crisis. A spokesman for the UN Humanitarian Coordination Unit (UCAH) told IRIN that an estimated 15,000 people had fled from the Cangamba and Cangombe areas in recent weeks to seek shelter in the nearby provincial capital of Cuito Cuanavale, about 1,000 km southeast of the capital Luanda. "An assessment mission to the area at the weekend found that they were in urgent of need of humanitarian assistance and that they only had food stocks to last for about a week," he said. Analysts in Luanda said the fighting between government forces and the UNITA rebel movement constituted some of the remotest clashes yet reported in Angola since December when the civil war resumed following the breakdown of the 1994 UN-brokered Lusaka Protocol peace accords. Humanitarian sources said the airport at Cuito Cuanavale was open and that airlifts would be the only lifeline to the 15,000 internally displaced people because roads in the area were too insecure for aid convoys. Government rejects Savimbi's offer of talks The Angolan government, meanwhile, rejected an offer by the UNITA rebel movement to resume talks. "Savimbi no longer has legitimacy to negotiate as he has already shown that he does not keep his commitments," Portuguese radio quoted a government spokesman as saying. New offshore oil field In economic developments during the week, the Angolan state oil company, Sanangol and a subsidiary of BP Amoco have announced the discovery of a new Atlantic oil field some 185 km northwest of the capital, Luanda. The Platina-1 field, with an estimated production capacity of 6,500 barrels per day, will become BP Amoco's first project in waters off Angola which is sub-Sahara Africa's largest oil producer after Nigeria. Central bank decides to let currency float The Angolan central bank has decided to devalue the country's currency against the dollar to bring it in line with the black market rate, according to a state radio report. It quoted a central bank statement as saying: "The National Bank of Angola is not going to fix the official rate anymore or the cost of credit or the price of foreign exchange." NAMIBIA: Angolans face deportation More than 100 Angolans living in the Cuando-Cubango province of Angola along Namibia's northeastern border have been deported to Angola against their will since the beginning of April, according to Namibia's National Society for Human Rights (NSHR). Phil ya Nangoloh of the NSHR told IRIN this week: "Some of the female deportees have left behind their babies at Kalay, just north of Rundu along the northeastern borders of Namibia." The NSHR also claimed that the Angolans were being apprehended at the instigation of the Angolan authorities. "Information at our disposal indicates that young males, some as young as 15, as soon as they are deported, are immediately handed over for conscription into the Angolan armed forces," he added. Namibia's defence ministry dismissed the claims as "blatant lies". Caprivi refugee agreement Namibia and its neighbour Botswana this week signed an agreement with UNHCR paving the way for the voluntary repatriation of Namibian refugees in Botswana who fled separatist tensions in northern Namibia's Caprivi Strip. A UNHCR statement said the agreement was signed by Namibian Home Affairs Minister Jerry Ekandjo, Botswana's acting minister of labour and home affairs, Joy Phumaphi, and Mengesha Kebede, head of UNHCR's Regional Office for Southern Africa. Since October 1998, some 2,500 Namibians have fled from Caprivi and were subsequently granted asylum by the government of Botswana. MALAWI: Elections set for 15 June Malawi's parliament has instructed the Electoral Commission to hold the country's second democratic elections on 15 June, media sources told IRIN this week. Malawi's president, Bakili Muluzi, convened an emergency session of parliament last Friday to reschedule the country's elections following widespread criticism of the registration process by opposition parties, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and international observers as flawed because of the shortage of materials at over 100 registration centres. Investors cautious ahead of elections Fred Kanjo, head of economic research services at the Commercial Bank of Malawi, told the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) in a recent interview, that both foreign and local investors had adopted a more cautious stance ahead of the 15 June elections, before making any firm investment decisions. Malawi has experienced a growth rate of about 8 percent since 1995, with the country's economy expected to grow by about 6 percent in the 1998/99 season. Oxfam to lobby for debt cancellation Oxfam plans to lobby the G8 countries to cancel Malawi's external debt - estimated at over US $500 million - at a summit in Germany next month. Maxwell Mphwina, Oxfam's Malawi Programme Officer, told IRIN this week: "Debt repayment has drained almost 17 percent of Malawi's annual export earnings," adding that Oxfam would impress upon the eight countries that instead of repaying the debt, Malawi should rather invest the money in free primary education. The G8 countries are the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and Russia. ZAMBIA: Government offers Rwanda prison facilities The Zambian government has offered to provide prison facilities for Rwandan convicts of the 1994 genocide, media reports said this week. The 'Times of Zambia' reported that Lusaka was about to sign an agreement with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda which would make it the second nation after Mali to provide prison facilities. It added that the tribunal based in Arusha, Tanzania, was negotiating similar facilities with Madagascar and Benin. EU offers to pay for DRC diplomacy costs The European Union (EU) has offered to meet the costs of President Frederick Chiluba's shuttle diplomacy in the quest for a peaceful solution to the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), news organisations reported this week. Zambia has been mandated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to coordinate the DRC peace efforts. Chiluba was quoted as telling a news conference the EU had offered to meet the costs including those incurred by his frequent visits for talks with leaders in neighbouring African nations and beyond. ZIMBABWE: Fourteen Zimbabwe soldiers held in DRC Congolese rebels last weekend announced the capture of 14 Zimbabwean soldiers in a battle near Eshimba, some 250 km southeast of the diamond mining city of Mbuji-Mayi, Reuters reported this week. In a dispatch quoting a rebel spokesman, it said the men were held after a battle last Friday, but gave no further details. The incident, however, was not confirmed by the government or independent sources, it said. MOZAMBIQUE: Training for voter registration agents The Mozambique Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE) is to train about 11,000 people in voter registration throughout the country, local media reports said this week. "The training of these instructors will start by the end of next month. We hope to have trained the whole structure within 50 days, from instructors at national level, down to the brigade staff," the Maputo Daily, 'Noticias' said. Electrification an urgent priority Economic and social development in many areas of Mozambique is deadlocked because only about 5 percent of the population has access to regular electricity supplies, the Mozambique news agency, AIM, reported this week. AIM quoted the National Director of Energy, Casimiro Francisco, as saying the government was preparing a survey of the existing sources of power countrywide so as to set up a new network across the nation. SWAZILAND: Decline in economic growth expected The Central Bank of Swaziland (CBS) has predicted a growth rate of only 2.5 percent for 1999/2000, the 'Swazi Observer' reported this week. The CBS director of research, Cleopas Dlamini, was quoted as saying that growth was down by 0.5 percent from last year when Swaziland registered a growth rate of about 3 percent. Dlamini said that one of the main reasons for the lower growth rate was the slowdown in foreign direct investment in the country. Swaziland elected to the UN Human Rights Commission Swaziland, along with Burundi, Nigeria and Zambia, has been elected to the 53-nation UN Human Rights Commission, Swazi radio reported this week. Swazi radio quoted the opposition Peoples United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) as saying that they commended the election as it would expose the kingdom on human rights issues. BOTSWANA: First independent radio station licensed The first independent radio station in Botswana has been granted a licence to broadcast, the SAPA news agency reported. The new radio station, Yarona FM, is expected to go on air within four months. SAPA said a second licence application, sought by a group of investors from South Africa and Botswana, was still pending.
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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