JOHANNESBURG, 23 February (IRIN) - CONTENTS

ZIMBABWE: Tense calm in Harare MOZAMBIQUE: Cyclone Favio rampages through coastal town LESOTHO: Former military junta threatens protest over election results ANGOLA: Global Witness campaigner  faces trial ZIMBABWE: Inflation hits aid agencies' capacity to assist ZAMBIA: Mineral tax increase holds no benefit for citizens ZIMBABWE: Cellphone companies to cut back international calls

ZIMBABWE: Tense calm in Harare

A tense calm prevailed in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, this week, after a police crackdown led to several clashes with angry supporters trying to attend an opposition party rally on Sunday, sanctioned by the High Court.

There were unconfirmed reports that three people died in skirmishes between the police and an estimated 50,000 supporters of the Morgan Tsvangirai-led faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Police said they were investigating.

The rally was to have seen the launch of the MDC presidential campaign at the Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfields, a township known for political activism since the 1950s. The running battles with the police spread to nearby townships like Glen View and Glen Norah.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70259

MOZAMBIQUE: Cyclone Favio rampages through coastal town

Cyclone Favio crashed into Mozambique's central province of Inhambane on Thursday leaving a trail of destruction as it headed towards the country's second city, Beira.

Favio struck the coastal town of Vilanculos, a popular tourist destination, as a category four tropical cyclone, reportedly ripping through rooftops, uprooting trees and damaging the electricity grid. Power to the town has been cut off.

"In one word: devastation," Cally Donaldson, who runs a tourist complex three kilometres outside the main town, told IRIN.

The first signs of Favio's arrival were felt in the early morning and "by 9 am we were loosing our roofs and it is still going. The wind is pounding and the rain is pelting down," Donaldson said.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70284

LESOTHO: Former military junta threatens protest over election results

Maj-Gen Justine Metsing Lekhanya, formerly chairman of the military council that ruled the country for five years, now leader of the Basotho National Party (BNP), this week threatened to protest his party's failure to win a single constituency seat in the recent general election.

The Lesotho army officer led a successful coup in 1986 and then headed the ruling military council until he was ousted in 1991. In 1998 he disputed the outcome of democratic polls, precipitating widescale unrest that resulted in neighbouring South Africa deploying a military force to restore order.

In terms of the first past the post system, the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy won 61 seats, the All Basotho Congress won 17 seats, and the Alliance of Congress Parties (ACP) won 1 seat. One constituency did not return a member because the ACP candidate died in the run-up to the poll, and a by-election will be held.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70301

ANGOLA: Global Witness campaigner  faces trial

A campaigner for transparency in the international oil sector, employed by the nongovernmental organisation Global Witness, was released on bail on Wednesday after she was arrested in the oil-rich Angolan enclave of Cabinda and charged with spying.

Dr Sarah Wykes, an experienced researcher into the links between corruption and human rights in resource-rich economies, is not allowed to leave the country and might have to wait for a year for the trial to begin. She had arrived in Angola on 11 February to meet with representatives of Angolan civil society involved in the international campaign for transparency, known as Publish What You Pay.

On 16 February, Wykes flew to Cabinda, an Angolan enclave sandwiched between Congo Brazzaville and Congo Kinshasa, which produces well over half Angola's oil output of 1.5 million barrels per day. Within 24 hours of her arrival in the enclave, police confiscated her passport and accused her of spreading propaganda hostile to the authorities. On Sunday morning she was arrested and charged with carrying subversive materials. This charge was later changed and Wykes was officially accused of espionage.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70280

ZIMBABWE: Inflation hits aid agencies' capacity to assist

Hyperinflation and an unrealistic foreign exchange rate has posed tremendous challenges for humanitarian organisations in Zimbabwe struggling to provide aid and development assistance. "We fund the number of programmes that we can at the current inflation and exchange rate, but it is very difficult, we have to continuously watch our actual budgets so that we do not exceed available funding," said an aid worker with an international development agency who asked not to be named.

The official exchange rate is pegged at Zim$250 to the US dollar, but on the parallel market - on which real prices are based - it is Zim$6,000 for a greenback. Some nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) have negotiated preferential exchange rates with their banks to stretch their limited foreign currency.

Full report:

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70321

ZAMBIA: Mineral tax increase holds no benefit for citizens

The Zambian government's attempt to assuage criticism for charging foreign investors one of the world's lowest mineral royalties by announcing that it will increase mineral tax to the global norm, is stoking renewed controversy after it was revealed that in reality nothing much will change.

Finance Minister Ng'andu Magande said in his 2007 national budget address earlier this month that the mineral royalty tax would be increased from the current 0.6 percent to the world average of 3 percent, tax holidays for foreign investors would be curtailed, and company tax for mining firms would be increased to "ensure more collection of revenue from the mining sector".

However, a few days later the finance minister conceded: "The new tax revisions won't affect existing mining companies ... the difficulty we have is that all mining operations have legally binding development agreements. Most of them are actually expanding their operations on the basis of the [existing] development agreements, which contain 0.6 percent as mineral royalties."

Full report:

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70279

ZIMBABWE: Cellphone companies to cut back international calls

Zimbabwean cellular phone operators have begun limiting the number of international telephone calls from Zimbabwe, citing the unavailability of foreign currency to pay for termination rates, charged by foreign networks to connect cellphone calls to recipients in their countries.

Officials in the communications industry told IRIN that the tariffs charged by local companies were no longer viable because the government was fixing the Zimbabwean dollar at "unrealistic rates" against major international currencies.

The Zimbabwean dollar is fixed at Z$250 to one US dollar, while on the informal market it trades at above Z$5,000 to one US dollar; the South African rand is fixed at R34 to the local currency, but fetches Z$760 on the informal market.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70234

IRIN news