SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 17 covering the period 23-30 April

ANGOLA: Attacks along strategic humanitarian route People fleeing the besieged government-held city of Malanje along a strategic humanitarian convoy route to the capital Luanda have increasingly come under attack by armed gunmen in recent days, the UN Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (UCAH) said in its latest report. In one such attack on Monday, 19 April, it said two vehicles travelling the 500 km road west towards the capital were ambushed and the passengers shot and killed. "The number of victims is still unknown because the vehicles were jam-packed with people escaping Malanje. A few injured survivors, mainly children, are being treated in Kuanza Norte hospital," it said. The report gave no indication as to who might be behind the attacks, but analysts told IRIN that although the UNITA rebel movement controlled much of the countryside, there were also armed bands of roving bandits in many parts of the country. UNITA ambushes claim 37 lives About 37 people were killed and several others wounded last Friday when UNITA rebels ambushed vehicles in two separate incidents along remote stretches of road in Angola, according to a report on Monday by 'Radio Ecclesia' in Luanda. In the first attack, it said 12 people were killed and 16 wounded when two vehicles were ambushed on the road between Lucala and N'dalatando in Cuanza Norte Province east of the capital along the route linking Luanda with the Malanje. The other attack, also attributed to UNITA, occurred in the Canjala region, 250 km south of Luanda, in which 25 people, 10 of them Rapid Intervention Police escorting the convoy, were killed. Twelve vehicles were burned and several other passengers were reported missing. They were travelling from Luanda to the coastal city of Benguela. Food situation turns critical The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) this week appealed to the international donor community to provide funds for airlifting food to displaced Angolans in the embattled cities in the country's highlands. The appeal follows the closure of many access roads because of the deteriorating security situation in the country caused by fighting between UNITA rebels and government forces. In its appeal, WFP says it is seeking US $8.8 million "to charter cargo aircraft to transport desperately needed food to the war-affected cities of Kuito, Huambo and Luena where supplies are running out." Franceso Strippoli, the agency's Angolan representative, said: "Most cities in the highlands are virtually isolated because of the ongoing fighting, and the hundreds of people that have sought refuge in these areas are also cut off from outside assistance." Over half a million vaccinated against polio More than half a million children living in and around Luanda have been vaccinated in an emergency campaign against polio which has already claimed 30 lives. UCAH said that the national health authorities and UNICEF had helped vaccinate 634,368 children under the age of five. Mothers protest against conscription A group of about 300 mothers in the northern province of Cabinda, protesting against the forced conscription of their sons into the Angolan army, were last week violently dispersed by the paramilitary Rapid Intervention Police. "The police arrested four women thought to be leaders and violently dispersed the demonstrators," a resident in Cabinda told IRIN this week. "The next day the women went to the streets again to demand the freedom of their colleagues and a response to their demands. Again, the police whipped the demonstrators and dispersed them violently." According to the source, the arrested women were then released by the local authorities to prevent any further disturbances. The 21 April demonstration by the Cabinda mothers is believed to be the first public protest against the compulsory military draft for all able-bodied men born in 1978, declared recently by the hard-pressed Angolan government in the renewed war against the UNITA rebel movement. ZIMBABWE: Mugabe faces fresh political challenge The threatened launch of two new political parties in Zimbabwe is set to deepen the challenges facing President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party, political analysts say.The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has announced it would "facilitate" the formation of a labour party to take on ZANU-PF in legislative elections next year, and in a further flexing of political muscle, promises a tough round of collective wage bargaining later this year. In Matebeleland, once the industrial heartland of the country, the political movement ZAPU-2000 is drawing on popular resentment over the neglect of the western region and perceived hegemony of the majority Shona ethnic group at the expense of the Ndebele who make up 20 percent of the population. ZAPU-2000 is not yet a political party, but reportedly intends to stand in coming elections. "There is a groundswell of support for a political change," ZCTU leader Morgan Tsvangirai told IRIN. "People have realised that it's time to move from talking about what's wrong to fighting for it." The ZCTU is planning an extra-ordinary conference in June to "define the way forward" for the proposed new "worker-friendly" party, he added. ZAMBIA: Congolese refugees relocated A total of 5,400 refugees who fled into northern Zambia from fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been relocated to a new refugee camp near Mporokoso, some 200 km south of the border. Dominik Bartsch of UNCHR told IRIN this week the refugees, who were being relocated to remove pressure on the northernmost border town of Kaputa and to provide them with better facilities, had started entering Zambia in early March. By the end of that month when the influx slowed down, their number had reached about 15,000. He said up to 500 refugees were now being transported daily to the Mwange camp outside Mporokoso in an operation expected to last a month. Meanwhile, about 2,000 refugees who had been camping with local people near Kaputa had entered the town's refugee camp in recent days. Officials had also confirmed the presence of an estimated 2,600 DRC refugees in a remote area along the shores of Lake Tanganyika some 100 km east of Kaputa. MALAWI: Election date likely to change again Malawi's general elections slated for 25 May could be postponed due to snags in the registration process, a spokesman for the country's electoral commission told IRIN this week."No official decision has been taken as yet. A final decision will most likely be made by Monday," the spokesman said. If a deferment is ordered, it would mark the second postponement of the polls originally scheduled for 17 May. Registration exercise also likely to be extended The electoral official said the commission is considering extending the registration period, which would have a bearing on the polling date. The exercise is supposed to end on 3 May, but has been hampered by a shortage of film and cameras, which has delayed the issuing of registration cards."In terms of the Malawi constitution the registration process has to be completed within in 21 days of the polling date. Logically then if the registration exercise is extended then the polling date has to then be postponed as well," a political analyst told IRIN. Parliament would also have to reconvene to approve the new election date. MOZAMBIQUE: WFP flood relief operations WFP said this week that it had delivered nearly 500 mt of emergency food supplies to flood victims in the southern regions of Mozambique. In its latest Emergency Report WFP said: "Since the first interventions began in March WFP has delivered a total of 450 mt of maize and beans through the combined relief operation (helicopter, aircraft, boat and trucks) to the flood-affected areas of Vilankulos and Inhassoro." Earlier this year, Mozambique experienced its worst flooding in 40 years, with Vilankulos and Inhassoro being amongst the most devastated areas. In March, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that an estimated 70,000 people had been affected by the floods, with up to 6,000 people displaced. SOUTH AFRICA: Plans to make AIDS a notifiable disease Plans to make HIV/AIDS a notifiable illness in South Africa has ignited fears that the disease will fall under a renewed veil of secrecy and an increase in discrimination against sufferers of the disease, an activist of the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS told IRIN this week. Under a proposed new amendment to health care regulations, health workers will be required to disclose the HIV status of their patients to the authorities and to the patient's immediate family. The activist said that whilst openness about a person's HIV status was "a good thing", it had to be based on a policy of voluntary disclosure. He said: "A person's decision to tell the world whether they are HIV positive has to be done without force."