Weekly anb12276.txt #6

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 21-12-2000      PART #6/6

* Tanzanie. Sécheresse  -  L'insuffisance pluviométrique observée depuis 
l'année dernière sur de grandes parties du nord et du centre de la Tanzanie 
a entraîné de faibles récoltes de maïs (denrée de base) et réduit la 
production des cultures commerciales. Un grand nombre de familles 
subissaient des conditions climatiques défavorables depuis quatre années 
consécutives, a précisé le PAM. Annonçant le 13 décembre la mise en place 
d'une opération d'urgence en Tanzanie, le PAM a précisé qu'il viendrait en 
aide à 1,3 million de personnes touchées par la sécheresse et réparties sur 
11 régions.   (IRIN, Nairobi, 18 décembre 2000)

* Uganda. Aid for Ebola outbreak  -  13 December: The European Union, has 
recently approved a contribution of 250,000 Euro to support the work of the 
Ebola Task Force. This sum channelled through the World Health 
organisation, will be used to support surveillance and control, case 
management and public education. An additional 810,000 Euro has been 
approved to provide support to vulnerable displaced populations in the 
north and west of Uganda and will provide water and sanitation inputs, 
non-food items such as blankets, cooking items and tools, malaria nets and 
hygiene promotion. This support will be coordinated by Medecins sans 
Frontières (MSF), France, MSF Netherlands, Action Contre La Faim, and 
Associazone Volontari per il Servizio Internatzionale. Immediately on 
notification of the first cases of Ebola infection in Gulu district in 
October, the Ministry of Health established a national Task Force to 
coordinate the response to the epidemic. The task force includes technical 
experts from WHO Geneva, and CDC Atlanta. District Task Forces are 
operational in Gulu, Mbarara and Masindi, and in other districts where 
cases were suspected but not confirmed (Mulago/Kampala, Jinja). District 
task forces have established multi-disciplinary teams working with hospital 
and district health staff. Isolation wards and laboratory facilities have 
been set up at the hospitals with active case detection, isolation and 
diagnosis of suspected infected persons in special wards, treatment of 
patients with Ebola and tracing of contacts underway in the affected 
counties. Health staff ensure safe and rapid burial of deceased Ebola 
patients. Health staff are trained to carry out strict precautions against 
accidental infection, intensive information campaigns are underway through 
the media (radio, TV, press) in English and local languages) and more 
intensively in the affected districts through local health education teams. 
As of 13 December there have been 413 cases with 161 deaths. 13 patients 
are currently admitted to Gulu hospital and 4 in Lacor Hospital. Six 
patients are admitted to Masindi Hospital. There have been no new cases in 
Mbarara district for one month. While the number of new Ebola cases has 
fallen significantly over the past four weeks the epidemic is continuing 
and the work of the task forces is ongoing. The donor response, technical 
support and funding for control measures have been rapid and substantial. 
Surveillance and prevention measures need to be continued for some time and 
additional resources will be required for treatment, prevention and 
surveillance.   (Stewart Tyson, EU, 14 December 2000)

* Zambia. A return to free education  -  In what appears to be a dramatic 
change of policy, the Zambian government has said it will return to free 
education in government-run primary schools. The Education Minister, 
Godfrey Miyanda, said the administration had decided to act because of the 
growing number of pupils dropping out of school because they couldn't 
afford the fees. He said his ministry had set aside more than eight billion 
kwacha, around two- million dollars, to give to schools to offset the 
non-payment of fees. President Chiluba's government scrapped free health 
care and primary school education after he swept to power almost ten years 
ago. A BBC correspondent in Zambia says, with elections due next October, 
there's a suspicion that the move could be little more than a gimmick, 
which could be reversed soon after the elections.   (BBC News, 15 December 
2000)

* Zambia-Congo (RDC). Zambia on war alert  -  19 December: The security 
situation in Zambia's Luapula province bordering the war-torn Congo (RDC) 
is becoming increasingly dangerous almost by the hour. A top official in 
the Zambian ministry of home affairs intimated that there is a real danger 
of the fighting spilling into Zambia because of the thousands of armed 
Congolese soldiers, and civilians, seeking refuge in Zambia. Rebel soldiers 
of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) have, in recent weeks, routed 
Congolese government soldiers and their allies in and around key towns near 
Lake Mweru bestriding the Zambia-Congo RDC border, threatening to cut off 
their supply lines. Although more than 3,000 deserting Congolese government 
soldiers have been disarmed and placed under heavy guard, there are 
significant numbers who have refused to give up their weapons and are 
living among local villagers. The Zambian government has already stationed 
over 7,000 soldiers in the area, who have been put on high alert because of 
the potentially volatile situation. President Frederick Chiluba, who has 
visited some of the refugee settlements, made it very clear that his 
government will not allow Zambia to be dragged into the Congolese conflict. 
President Chiluba said: "We must be alert. Zambia will not allow its 
territory to be used to launch military attacks on neighbouring countries." 
There have been reports of some Congolese government soldiers planning to 
re-organise and launch attacks on rebel positions from across the Zambian 
border. Defence Minister Chitalu Sampa said the Zambian government is ready 
to send additional troops to the area if the security situation worsens. 
The number of refugees streaming across the border is increasing with the 
escalation in fighting. Officials of the United Nations High Commission for 
Refugees (UNHCR) said an average of 2,000 refugees per day are crossing 
into Zambia, putting a severe strain on resources. There is also a danger 
of epidemics like cholera breaking out. Several disarmed Congolese 
soldiers, demanding to be repatriated, have threatened to go on hunger 
strike.   (BBC News, 19 December 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Mugabe accuse la Grande-Bretagne  -  Le président Robert Mugabe 
a accusé la Grande-Bretagne d'être derrière l'instabilité socio-économique 
du Zimbabwe, en raison de son hostilité au programme de réforme agraire. 
Intervenant le 13 décembre devant le congrès annuel de la ZANU-PF, au 
pouvoir, il a mis en garde les pays de la région contre "l'influence 
néocoloniale déstabilisatrice de la Grande-Bretagne" et contre ses 
activités visant à "déposer tous les régimes issus de guerres de libération 
pour les remplacer par des régimes fantoches". M. Mugabe a confirmé que son 
gouvernement poursuivra la réforme foncière en dépit de la pression 
internationale. Il a accusé les tribunaux du pays qui ont, à maintes 
reprises, rendu des jugements contraires au programme de réforme de son 
gouvernement.   (PANA, 14 décembre 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Party and country leadership  -  14 December: President Mugabe 
of Zimbabwe opens a three-day special congress of his ruling ZANU-PF party 
with repeated denunciations of the country's white minority. In a vigorous 
and confident mood, he tells the 7,000 delegates gathered in the capital 
Harare that 20 years after independence whites still controlled the economy 
and discriminated against the black majority. The 76-year-old president 
also reaffirms his determination to ignore court rulings which prevented 
his government's efforts to acquire white-owned farms as part of an 
ambitious land resettlement programme. In his address he again blames 
everyone else for Zimbabwe's dire economic problems apart from his 
government, which has been in power since independence in 1980. And the 
International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the British are once again 
singled out for particular criticism. President Mugabe brings the audience 
to its feet roaring with approval when he argues that the government 
shouldn't bother to defend itself in the courts, which have repeatedly 
declared illegal its plans for large-scale land redistribution: "No 
judicial decision will stand in the way, we have adopted to acquire the 
land. After all, the land is ours by birth. It's ours by rights. It's ours 
also by struggle," he tells the party faithful. The main target of Mr 
Mugabe's anger, though, is the white community, which makes up well under 
1% of Zimbabwe's population. He says all economic power is in the hands of 
a racial minority of colonial origins which deliberately excluded the black 
majority. It is, said Mr Mugabe, a foreign-owned economy. While such 
remarks go down well with the party faithful, they are likely further to 
alienate potential donors, who continue to withhold desperately needed 
economic support. 15 December: The opposition MDC has called off plans for 
popular protests to force Robert Mugabe from office, because it fears a 
confrontation could provoke bloodshed and provide a pretext for cancelling 
presidential elections in 2002.) President Mugabe secures the provisional 
backing of his party to carry on as leader. State radio says that Mr Mugabe 
(76), was: "unanimously endorsed by the 6,600 delegates to continue until 
the land issue has been resolved". The President pledges to finish the 
seizure of white-owned farms for black resettlement by next 
year.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 16 December 2000)

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