Southern Africa: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 341 for 07 - 13 July 2007
Source: IRIN
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JOHANNESBURG, 13 July 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS SWAZILAND: A winter marked by
cold and hunger
ZAMBIA: Civil society warns against more borrowing
ZIMBABWE: Malawi provides maize lifeline
ZIMBABWE: Forced price cuts drive down production
ZIMBABWE: Diarrhoea outbreak claims 34 MOZAMBIQUE: Murders point to police brutality, raising human rights concerns
SWAZILAND: Stretched health system leaves home care as only alternative SWAZILAND: A winter marked by cold and hunger As winter deepens, hardship following Swaziland's worst-ever harvest is fastening its grip on growing numbers of people. The World Food Programme (WFP) predicted that Swazis would be hard
pressed by inflation in food prices, while the poor would be unable to purchase basic foodstuffs. A prolonged dry spell left around 400,000 vulnerable people - about 40 percent of the population -
in need of approximately 40,000 metric tonnes (mt) of food assistance until the next harvest in April 2008. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73198 ZAMBIA: Civil society
warns against more borrowing Zambia's decision to keep borrowing could slip the country back into indebtedness even before social expenditure improves, civil society activists warn. Civil
society has been against the government taking non-concessional loans - carrying normal interest rates and conditions - as opposed to concessional borrowing, which offers poor countries more generous
terms. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73193 ZIMBABWE: Malawi provides maize lifeline Malawi has started selling much-needed maize to Zimbabwe under an export agreement
that includes a US$10 million line of credit. In the past two and a half months, 90,000 metric tonnes have already been exported. Malawi's agriculture sector has had a second successive bumper
harvest, making an almost complete recovery from a drought in 2005 that left close to five million people in need of food aid. What remains uncertain is how Zimbabwe's crippling fuel crisis will
affect the distribution of the maize once it is in the country. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73170 ZIMBABWE: Forced price cuts drive down production A government
operation forcing businesses to reduce prices by 50 percent will drive manufacturing under, push unemployment up and bolster the informal market as basic commodities become scarcer, analysts have
warned. Over the past two weeks, teams comprising the police, ruling ZANU-PF militias and other government employees have been raiding factories, wholesalers and shops, and forcing them to sell at
reduced prices. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73169 ZIMBABWE: Diarrhoea outbreak claims 34 A diarrhoea outbreak has claimed the lives of 29 children and five adults
in the last two weeks in Zimbabwe, which has been experiencing water shortages as a result of frequent disruptions of supplies, according to a UN official. A severe shortage of foreign currency
means service providers cannot maintain or replace ageing water purification and distribution equipment, or import power from neighbouring countries to keep waterworks functioning. Urban residents are
being forced to use water from streams into which raw sewage and industrial effluent are being discharged. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73145 MOZAMBIQUE: Murders point
to police brutality, raising human rights concerns The arrest of three detectives in May for the execution-style murders of civilians has compounded the notoriety of the police in Maputo,
Mozambique's capital city. On 4 April the bodies of three men, each shot several times in the head at close range, were discovered on a football pitch near the city's Costa do Sol beach.
Three officers of the criminal investigation unit reportedly confessed to the killings, but alleged that superiors had ordered them to commit the crimes. See report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73143 SWAZILAND: Stretched health system leaves home care as only alternative Facilities and staff are being stretched beyond capacity as
Swaziland's public healthcare system buckles under a surge of HIV/AIDS patients, leaving many with home-based care (HBC) as the only alternative, says a new report. A study commissioned by the
ministry of health and social welfare reported that health centres and hospitals were under strain as patient loads attributed to HIV/AIDS increased. But the alternative - HBC - was not capable of
lightening the load. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73237© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org
