Weekly anb04276.txt #6

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 27-04-2000      PART #6/6

* Zambia. Malnutrition on the rise  -  18 April: Poverty and low
agricultural productivity have increased malnutritional levels
among Zambia's rural households, with many forced to survive on
less than three meals a day. An official of the WFP says it is
currently involved in supplementary feeding programmes for 100,000
people, most of whom are women and children, as well as
tuberculosis victims. The WFP supplies high protein food, beans and
maize through rural clinics. According to government statistics,
70% of Zambian households are unable to meet their basic
nutritional requirements.   (IRIN, Southern Africa, 18 April 2000)

* Zambia. Diamond smuggling trade thrives  -  The ban on trade in
diamonds from territory held by UNITA, has not stopped foreign
visitors coming to the remote north-western corner of Zambia. They
pose as botanists, butterfly collectors or even preachers, but what
they are really interested in is diamonds. Some smugglers are
Angolan civilians, who walk great distances to the border to sell
one or two small gems. Others are UNITA officers, looking for
supplies or funds to support their families. A UN report last month
found that many African countries are paying only lip-service to
the sanctions regime. It said Zambia was being used as a channel
for diamond and fuel smuggling. It also named the country's
security chief, Xavier Chungu, as having regular contacts with a
senior UNITA source, and said that UNITA personnel were present in
Zambia with the knowledge and protection of the authorities.   (BBC
News, 19 April 2000)

* Zambie. Fuite des medecins  -  Quelque 57 medecins zambiens ont
quitte le pays depuis le declenchement, il y a 4 mois, de la greve
des jeunes medecins qui se poursuit encore a ce jour, a-t-on appris
le 25 avril. Le president de l'association des medecins residents,
M. Tembo, a indique que les medecins avaient quitte le pays malgre
eux et qu'ils seraient disposes a rentrer si les autorites
acceptaient d'ameliorer leur situation. M. Tembo s'est plaint aussi
de l'initiative du gouvernement de recruter davantage de medecins
cubains et chinois. Selon lui, plus de 150 medecins cubains et 39
medecins chinois ont ete recrutes. M. Tembo fustige les depenses
enormes pour les logements des medecins etrangers, alors que huit
medecins zambiens ont ete expulses de leur logement au cours du
mois dernier dans la seule ville de Lusaka. "Ce pays ne pourra
jamais se developper si l'on continue d'etouffer les professionnels
zambiens au profit des etrangers", a ajoute M. Tembo.   (PANA, 25
avril 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Land -- A confused issue  -  President Robert Mugabe's
point of view: In a land where farming is the single largest
generator of foreign exchange, nearly a third of Zimbabwe's most
productive farmland remains in the hands of 4,5000 white farmers,
and almost half of all land is owned by the country's 70,000
whites. Veterans point of view: The leader of Zimbabwe's "veterans"
movement, Chenjerai Hunzvi, says he will not allow elections until
the issue of land ownership has been resolved. He has promised an
end to violence in exchange for co-operation on plans to transfer
white-owned land to blacks. He has declared that he is concerned
only with land and that occupied farms will be evacuated only when
progress has been made on a resettlement programme. White farmers
point of view: They are adamant in their demands for full
compensation. And for most white farmers, there is an immediate
problem. Having fled their farms, their tobacco crop is still in
their sheds, not yet graded for the big sales. There are other
disincentives to an early sale of the tobacco crop in an auction
that last until October. Chief is the government's deafness to
repeated calls from all sectors of industry for a devaluation of
the Zim dollar in response to economic deterioration. Without that,
farmers will be forced to sell at enormous loss. One farmers says:
"Political instability and economic slump mean many of us will have
to play a game of wait and see". British point of view: Britain has
said it is ready to negotiate a land reform settlement that will
end the crisis in Zimbabwe. The deal will involve millions of
pounds worth of British support for the transfer of farming land to
impoverished black Zimbabweans, but will only go ahead if the
current wave of farm occupations and violence is stopped and fair
elections are held. The Churches point of view: The Zimbabwe
Council of Churches has reaffirmed its mandate to advocate for
justice, peace and reconciliation. The Opposition point of view:
Following the deaths in recent days of five party activists of the
Movement for Democractic Change (MDC), party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai says: "We believe that as MDC that the time has come
when, in the face of these attacks and without protection, it is
certainly a moment when the MDC will have to devise strategies to
defend ourselves".   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 26 April 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Violent unrest and its consequences  -  18 April:
Nigeria's Foreign Minister arrives to deliver a message to
President Mugabe from Niberia's President Obasanjo. 19 April: The
High Court has found the war veteran's leader, Chenjerai Hunzvi, in
contempt of court for inciting illegal occupation of white-owned
farms. he was found in "clear and wilful contempt" for disobeying
a court order last month, and is given a 5 May deadline to instruct
his followers to end their illegal occupations or face
imprisonment. Immediately after the verdict, leaders of the white
commercial farmers and the war veterans went straight to President
Mugabe's residence for crisis talks. The Commercial Farmers' Union
director, David Hasluck and the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association
leader, Richard Tate, both failed to have a meeting with the
President. Tate was asked to leave and Hasluck was turned away. The
squatters' leaders promise to negotiate with the farmers and end
the violence. 21 April: African leaders, at a regional summit held
at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, back President Mugabe's call for land
redistribution. The regional summit, supposedly to chew over the
war in Congo RDC, was hijacked by the host country's cash crisis.
24 April: New reports from the north-east of violence by war
veterans and government supporters. The situation is extremely
confused. Some white farmers have returned to their properties they
left last week in the Macceke area, but incidents of violence and
intimidation by government supporters have been reported in Mvurwi,
in the north-east, Glendale, close to Harare, and Wedza, east of
the city. - Members of the Commercial Farmers Union hold talks with
the leaders of the veterans in a fresh bid to curb violence. 25
April: Two more members of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) are reported as being killed. MDC spokesman Nomore
Sibanda says one man was beaten to death in Shamva, about 80 kms
northeast of Harare, on 24 April, and another was killed in the
city. Amnesty International says that "politically motivated
violence, is deliberately targeting opposition political activists
and farming communities in rural areas". Over 300 white farmers
have sought information on purchasing land in neighbouring
Mozambique. A four-man Zimbabwean ministerial delegation has left
for UK for talks on the land issue. 26 April: The major tobacco
growers in Zimbabwe have boycotted a tobacco auction that is
normally vital to the country's economy, because of violent unrest
over land reform. Only half the usual quantity of the crop was up
for sale: a marketing spokesman said the status of this year's
export crop was unclear, and the disruption had already cost
millions of dollars. Zimbabwe is the world's third largest tobacco
producer and the crop is its main export. In an attempt to defuse
the tense situation, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches is organising
a breakfast meeting of the country's political parties.   (ANB-BIA,
Brussels, 26 April 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Violences  -  19 avril. Les chefs des squatters qui
occupent des centaines de fermes appartenant a des proprietaires
blancs, ont promis de negocier avec les fermiers et de mettre fin
aux violences, mais aucun accord n'a encore ete trouve. Chenjerai
Hunzvi, leader des anciens combattants de la guerre d'independance
qui font partie des squatters, a cependant declare: "Nous sommes
d'accord sur la necessite d'arreter les hostilites et de travailler
pour trouver une solution". Pour la premiere fois aussi, Hunzvi a
admis que le climat pre-electoral n'est pas etranger aux troubles.
- Le 21 avril, les chefs d'Etat et emissaires de sept pays
africains (Afrique du Sud, Namibie, Angola, Mozambique, Ouganda,
Rwanda et Zimbabwe) se sont retrouves a Victoria Falls, a un sommet
regional place sous les auspices de la Communaute de developpement
d'Afrique australe, pour tenter d'enrayer la crise qui risque
d'avoir des consequences graves sur la stabilite de la region et
sur son economie. Mais le president Mugabe avait fait savoir qu'il
ne tolererait pas de pressions de la part de ses homologues. Le
sommet a appele la Grande-Bretagne et les donateurs internationaux
a financer la reforme agraire au Zimbabwe, se gardant bien de
critiquer le president Mubage. - Le 22 avril, la Grande-Bretagne a
reaffirme ses conditions de financement de la reforme agraire,
notamment la transparence des elections, la fin de la violence et
le retour a la legalite. Par ailleurs, le president du syndicat des
fermiers blancs a accuse les squatters d'avoir choisi une nouvelle
tactique en attaquant les ouvriers agricoles noirs; plusieurs de
leurs logements ont ete incendies. Le soir du meme jour, un
attentat a la bombe s'est produit dans le centre de Harare, visant
les locaux d'un journal independant zimbabween, le Daily News,
lance en 1999 pour concurrencer le quotidien gouvernemental The
Herald. - Le 23 avril, des anciens combattants ont envahi deux
autres fermes appartenant a des Blancs, et dans la nuit ils en ont
encore envahi une troisieme, incendie des granges et tue le betail.
Des assaillants ont aussi, pour la premiere fois, mis le feu a la
recolte de tabac d'une ferme a l'est de Harare, s'attaquant ainsi
symboliquement a la principale source de devises du pays. - Le 25
avril, un porte-parole du Mouvement pour le changement democratique
(MDC), qui rassemble les adversaires de Mugabe, a annonce que deux
de ses representants avaient ete tues par des adherents du parti
gouvernemental ZANU-PF. Les meurtres ont eu lieu a Shamba (80 km au
nord-est de Harare) et a Mhangura, un petit centre minier. A
Shamba, d'autres membres de l'opposition ont ete severement battus.
Le bilan des meurtres, depuis le debut des occupations des
exploitations agricoles, s'eleve deja a neuf. L'opposition semble
maintenant etre devenue la veritable cible du pouvoir. - Ce 27
avril, le Zimbabwe et la Grande-Bretagne renoueront le dialogue;
une rencontre ministerielle est prevue visant a "discuter de tous
les problemes auxquels est confronte le Zimbabwe".   (ANB-BIA, de
sources diverses, 27 avril 2000)

Weekly anb0427 - End of part 6/6
THE END


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