JOHANNESBURG, 23 November 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS

MALAWI: Attitudes to child labour changing MOZAMBIQUE: No lift-off for biofuels yet LESOTHO: A desire to learn stifled by hunger GLOBAL: New HIV numbers give better picture of epidemic ZIMBABWE: First diarrhoea, now possibly plague DRC-ZAMBIA: Congolese refugees begin returning home AFRICA: And then there were no fish MOZAMBIQUE: Voter registration in trouble, again ZIMBABWE: Workplace AIDS programmes feel the pinch

MALAWI: Attitudes to child labour changing

Despite laws forbidding the use of child labour - often viewed as the norm and an important source of income - enforcement has been anything but strict in Malawi, until recently.

Since March 2007 up to 480 children have been 'rescued' from tobacco estates in the district of Mangochi, once an important centre of slave trading on the southern banks of Lake Malawi.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75384

MOZAMBIQUE: No lift-off for biofuels yet

Ecomoz's biodiesel plant, surrounded by the decrepit remnants of an out-of-use oil refinery in the dusty industrial zone of Matola, just north of the Mozambican capital, Maputo, does not inspire much confidence in the newly-hyped energy of the future.

In July, Salvador Namburete, Mozambique's Minister of Energy, told the International Conference on Biofuels 2007 in Brussels, Belgium, that he saw great potential in biofuels because they would reduce Mozambique's dependency on fossil fuels. But Ecomoz and other ventures suggest that the sudden push for large biofuel projects in countries like Mozambique will be a process of trial and error.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75382

LESOTHO: A desire to learn stifled by hunger

The hunger of the seemingly healthy and well-groomed school students at Moruthane Secondary School, about 80km south of Lesotho's capital, Maseru, is at first not apparent, but as the morning progresses they become listless and their concentration lapses.

The learners, aged 14 to 16, are enthusiastic about their education, and the packed rudimentary concrete-block classroom, which has a few desks but no electricity, is testament to their desire to learn, but Lesotho's educators acknowledge that the greatest obstacle to learning is hunger.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75400

GLOBAL: New HIV numbers give better picture of epidemic

New HIV prevalence figures released on Tuesday suggest the global AIDS epidemic may be waning in many countries, but that UNAIDS also overestimated the number of people living with HIV in its earlier reports.

The 2007 AIDS epidemic update, jointly published by UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation (WHO), puts the number of people living with the virus at 33.2 million, a significant decrease from the 2006 estimate of 39.5 million. However, by applying an "improved methodology", UNAIDS has also revised the 2006 figure to 32.7 million.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75413

ZIMBABWE: First diarrhoea, now possibly plague

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, already reeling from a diarrhoea outbreak as a result of water shortages, has been told by its fuel-strapped city council that it can only collect refuse once a month.

Garbage has been piling up around the city centre and a stench has now enveloped most high-density suburbs, where refuse has not been collected for the past 3 weeks. Health services warned that the uncollected refuse could cause a possible rodent problem, which could expose residents to other diseases, like plague.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75405

DRC-ZAMBIA: Congolese refugees begin returning home

The repatriation of Congolese refugees, who had fled to Zambia from civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the 1990s, resumed on 22 November, according to a UN refugee agency official.

More than 400 Congolese refugees left Kala camp in Zambia, some 45km from the DRC-Zambia border, for Mpulungu Harbour on the southern edge of Lake Tanganyika, in Zambia's Northern Province, from where they would cross the lake by ship to Moba town in DRC's Katanga Province, said UNHCR spokesman Kelvin Shimoh.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75460

AFRICA: And then there were no fish

In the not-too-distant future, several African countries will face the reality of collapsed fisheries and the permanent degradation of their marine environment, a new report has warned.

Poaching and overfishing in a number of African countries could lead to collapsed stocks and cause permanent damage to the marine environment. This in turn will continue to adversely impact on food-security and economic development, with coastal communities dependent on fishing being the hardest hit.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75443

MOZAMBIQUE: Voter registration in trouble, again

After the Mozambican government, on the final day for voter registration, announced that eligible voters would have until 15 March 2008 to register, the sense of urgency faded.

Problems with voter registration and a general lack of preparedness mean the provincial elections, originally scheduled for 16 January 2008, will be postponed. Ruling party RENAMO favours coupling provincial and municipal elections and the main opposition, FRELIMO, prefers combining them with the presidential vote.

See full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75483

MOZAMBIQUE: Condom mythology

The myth that HIV comes from prophylactics is not new in Mozambique, one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, but it recently led to international repercussions after Catholic Archbishop Dom Francisco Chimoio aired his views in Maputo.

"Condoms are not safe, because I know of two countries in Europe that produce condoms with HIV, with the intention of finishing off the population of Africa," the bishop told Britain's BBC Radio.

See full report: http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75412

ZIMBABWE: Workplace AIDS programmes feel the pinch

Zimbabwe's seven-year economic crisis has forced private companies to make some difficult decisions about workplace programmes for HIV-positive staff.

Zimbabwe is suffering shortages of food, fuel, power, medicines and basic commodities; inflation is approaching a staggering 15,000 percent, and the country also has one of the world's highest rates of HIV infection. But companies struggling to stay afloat are still expected to provide life-prolonging antiretroviral medication, care and support.

See full report: http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75459

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