President Muluzi's Gun Trade a Security Threat, Says NDA

The Chronicle Newspaper (Lilongwe)

June 2, 2003
Posted to the web June 2, 2003

Wezie Nyirongo
Lilongwe

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) President Brown Mpinganjira has
expressed his concern at the fact that the State President, Bakili
Muluzi who owns Rocksizer Mining Contractors is involved in the
importation, selling and trading in guns and ammunition, saying that
this is a very dangerous situation for any country to be in.

He said Rocksizer is personally registered under the name of E. B.
(Elison Bakili) Muluzi using the Sanjika Palace address as the business'
registered contact.

The company won the tender to import and supply all the arms and
ammunition for the Malawi Army and the Police Service, private security
firms as well as all explosives for the mining and allied industry after
Marketing Services Malawi (MSM) who were the traditional suppliers under
the Malawi Import & Export Company lost their ability to supply the
service to the country in the year 1997.

A reliable source within the police told The Chronicle that the supply
of ammunition from the company to the Malawi Police Services amounts to
approximately MK3 million per year and the amount is likely to go up
because they will soon start ordering rubber bullets from the company
for crowd control. The Malawi Army too pays an amount close to MK6.5
million per year for the supply of ammunition for their forces from
Rocksizer Mining Company.

'Instead of trying to alleviate the poverty of Malawians, Muluzi has
enriched himself beyond expectations and made himself into a businessman
whose reach and influence is far beyond the ordinary. He owns Rocksizer,
a company which, apart from grinding rocks and supplying gravel for
roads and for building, has a license to sell guns and ammunition,' said
Mpinganjira recently at a rally held in Kasungu.

'Imagine, the Head of State owning such a company! What do you expect
from him? Poverty is now rampant in the country because we lack a
responsible leader who can help people rather than a businessman who is
there just to make himself richer,' said Mpinganjira saying it is
dangerous and questionable for a head of state to own a company which
deals with guns running.

However, The Chronicle has established that the Malawi Constitution
forbids the president from actively embarking on any business
transactions and activity where the businesses material interests
conflict with the responsibilities and duties of his office. Section 88,
subsection 4 says: 'Any business interests held by the President and
Members of the Cabinet shall be held on their behalf in a beneficial
trust which shall be managed in such a manner as to ensure conformity
with this section.' In addition, subsection 5 says: 'The President and
Members of the Cabinet shall not use their respective offices for
personal gains or place themselves in a situation where their material
interests conflicts with the responsibilities and duties of their
offices.' Since 1994 when Malawi entered the new multi-party
dispensation many cabinet ministers have been intimately involved in
their respective businesses, often obtaining remuneration to supplement
their cabinet salaries.

The President has been on record as saying that he does not get any
money from the public purse for his numerous political rallies and has
even contributed to state functions from his businesses, a fact that
runs counter to the terms and spirit of the constitution which expressly
forbids additional remuneration from one's businesses.

The concern by the opposition leader of the president being involved in
the importation, sale and control of the nations munitions industry
comes in the wake of fears of arms caches being established to possibly
destabilise the country should the UDF fail to win in the next
elections. The episode of the threat in 1994 of the defunct Malawi Young
Pioneers (MYP) runs fresh in the minds of most Malawians.

*****

Sexual Harassement Encourages Spread of HIV/Aids

The Chronicle Newspaper (Lilongwe)

ANALYSIS
June 2, 2003
Posted to the web June 2, 2003

Maxwell Zingani
Lilongwe

When Sofia Moya (not real name) falls pregnant from her boss' husband
she is fired from the job and left without support from the father of
her unborn baby.

The only choice that she has is to return to her home village to wait
for the birth of her baby and a future that is not secure. The man who
has made her pregnant is not concerned and, his wife is happy and
relieved that the woman who was sharing her husband with her is no
longer in their house.

Sofia who was working as a housemaid for the couple is left without
support.

She has to face the challenges of having her first baby by herself,
This is not the end of her problems. In fact, this is only the
beginning.

When she gets home her family treats her like a prostitute. Sofia is
not a sex worker. The truth is that, in order to keep her job, Sofia had
to have sex with her boss' husband. Losing her job means no income for
her to send to her family in the village and they all depended on the
money that she sends - it is a life line for her family.

The case of Sofia is not happening only to housemaids alone, but to
women working in other places. These women are forced to suffer in
silence for fear of losing their jobs.

Doreen (surname withheld) said that she has sex with her boss whom she
knows is dating four other girls at the some company.

'I usually have sex with my boss right in his office because he said
that if I refuse to, he is going to get rid of me so that he employs
someone who can give him the pleasure that he wants.

'The problem is that he also has sex with some of my workmates, and
there are chances that I am exposed to HIV/AIDS,' said Doreen Most of
women who refuse to give their bosses what is termed 'the office ride'
face numerous problems and are often fired when they try to object to
the continued abuse.

Joyce Khungwa, lost her job because she refused to have sex with her
boss.

'When he approached me and told me that he wanted to sleep with me, I
refused. Two days later I was fired. I received a letter saying that I
was fired on the grounds that I was incompetent. He had already told me
that since I had refused to sleep with him I was not going to remain
with the firm,' said Khungwa, 23 who lives in one of the township in the
capital city.

Lorine Muhuju said she has been forced to have sex with a workmate who
has been helping her resolve a problem that she was having with the
machinery that she was to be using.

'When I had just joined this particular firm I had problems in using
the computers because they were different from the computers that I used
where I was working before. I asked for help from one of my fellow
computer operator but one day when working late he said that he was not
going to assist me any more unless I had sex with him that night,' said
Muhuju, a 27 year old, computer operator at one of the non governmental
organisation based in Lilongwe. She went on to say that the work that
they had before them was very urgent and if she did not finish it, there
was the possibility that she could lose her job. Put in a position where
her income could be removed through losing her job, she accepted what
the fellow computer operator wanted.

'Without him I knew that I was not going to be able do anything on my
own. When I asked him to use a condom. He said there was no where he
could have got a condom at the time, I slept with him without a condom
though I knew that it was dangerous but I did not have a choice,' said
Muhuju.

Most women who have been in such situations feel that there are chances
that they may be infected by HIV/AIDS because these men who rape women
in this manner do not use a condom. This puts the women at risk of
contracting HIV/AIDS. Men who are involved in this practice usually
sleep with other women using the same coercive manner.

Because of the possibility of losing their jobs and incomes, women
choose to keep silent on this issue. Even though they know that they are
in danger of becoming infected with HIV/AIDS, the loss of financial
income prevents them from exposing the abuse.

'If I go about telling this to people, they will call me all sorts of
names and some will not believe that I was forced to do it. Moreover, at
they end of the day it can cost me my job,' said Doreen saying she is
concerned about becoming infected with HIV/AIDS.

' My only worry is that it could be possible that my boss has the virus
and I might be affected as well,' said Muhuju.

Reports have indicated that a lot of women are being sexually abused in
work places. Society for the Advancement of Women (SAW) is one of the
organisations where women who have been abused go for legal advice. It
has a long record of numerous cases of sexual abuse in work places.

'There are a lot of cases where women have complained to us that they
have been abused sexual and some even reaching to the point of being
made pregnant by their bosses,' said Catherine Munthali, Executive
Director for SAW.

She said that though they are a lot of cases that have been reported,
it has been very difficult to prove the cases in a court of law.

'It is very difficult to get evidence of sexual abuse cases,' said
Munthali insisting that since it is difficult to prove such a case in
the court of law women should not wait until they have sex with their
bosses to complain.

'They should take up the case the moment the boss starts making
advances, because it is their right to have a job. There is no need for
them to pay back to the boss by sleeping with him,' said Munthali.

She also said that the major problem the courts face in obtaining a
conviction is that there is nothing in the laws of Malawi to do with
sexual harassment.

'The laws of Malawi only talk about rape. It is only recently that we
proposed to the Malawi Law Commission to draft a bill on sexual
harassment,' said Munthali.

*****

Councillor Threatens to Drag Deputy Minister Lamba to Court

The Chronicle Newspaper (Lilongwe)

June 2, 2003
Posted to the web June 2, 2003

Jacob Jimu
Lilongwe

Deputy Minister of Health and Population, Elizabeth Lamba, who is also
UDF Member of Parliament (MP) for Lilongwe City West, risks court action
for allegedly making defamatory remarks against a councilor who is
aspiring to run as an MP in her constituency.

The UDF Counselor for Chinsapo 2, John Nakanga, told The Chronicle in
an interview that Lamba held a meeting in his ward on 4 May where she
alleged that Nakanga had misappropriated K700,000 which he had received
from MASAF to help a club for Physically Challenged People which he
runs.

Nakanga added that at the same meeting Lamba also alleged that he has
been abusing donations which companies and organisations have been
making to his orphanage.

'All the things she said were total lies because the money I got from
MASAF was duly distributed to the intended beneficiaries and they can
testify to this fact,' charged Nakanga.

On the allegation that he misappropriated donations meant for the
orphanage, Nakanga said that he has never received any donation for the
orphanage and that he runs it with his own personal finances.

'If she is serious that I abused these donations, why then didn't she
cite the organisations which have been making these donations,' queried
Nakanga adding, 'these are very serious allegations which have cast
serious doubts on my integrity. I want her to explain them in the court
of law.' He said that he has already consulted his lawyers to take up
the matter with the courts and that he will give them an okay to
institute legal procedings once he receives a response from top UDF
officials who were informed about the MP's remarks.

He said Lamba made the statements in order to tarnish his image because
she regards him as a threat to her parliamentary seat because she knows
that he is planning to contest as an MP in her constituency.

'To prove that she is being driven by jelousy and insecurity, she even
went to the extent of saying that she has the financial capacity to
employ and feed me together with my family. How can the whole MP and
minister sink so low as to say that?' Wondered Nakanga.

He went on to say that Lamba has been removing people she perceives as
threats from different constituency positions.

'All indications are there that Lamba has lost popularity in the
constituency and people have now turned to me as a viable candidate for
the constituency,' he said.

When approached for comment at parliament building, Lamba said that she
would only comment on the issue when the matter is in court. However,
she asked this reporter not to write an article on the issue to avoid
giving Nakanga a platform.

MASAF officials at the institution's headquarters refused to comment on
whether they knew of the allegations and whether they had followed up on
how the donation made to Nakanga were used. They could not substantiate
whether there was any substance to the accusations levelled at Nakanga
by Lamba.

*****

Policemen Cry Foul

The Chronicle Newspaper (Lilongwe)

June 2, 2003
Posted to the web June 2, 2003

Lilongwe

Thirty Six traffic cops who were recently relocated to general duties
for being suspected of acquiring vehicles illegally have accused
Inspector General Joseph Aironi of harbouring grudges against junior
officers and harassing them.

The cops have complained through a letter sourced by The Chronicle with
copies sent to the DPP, the Ombudsman, The Inspector General of Police
and The Officer-In-Charge of Service Criminal Investigation.

Part of the letter reads: Last year the Inspector General reverted 144
traffic police officers that he found them (sic) stealing money at Bunda
Road Block. But until now the case is still outstanding. When will the
Inspector General take them to court which can prove them guilty or
not?

'The Inspector General is always struggling with the juniors especially
trying the traffic branch in Police service. Should they stop buying
their goods because of fearing him,' questions the police officers.

They complain that the IG is segregating in dealing with Police
officers as he always targets the more junior officers only.

'Why is it that he targets junior officers only? What about those who
are leading the branch? Are they exempted from this alleged offence?'
The cops query.

According to Daily Times of January 30, Aironi is quoted as saying that
in an attempt to stamp out the much talked about corruption in the
service, the Police have started probing officers who have wealth that
does not match with their positions.

'I have been quiet for a long time but I have seen that it has become
very shameful. Corruption in the Police Service is being discussed even
on radios,' he said adding, 'A constable does not qualify for a vehicle
loan.' Asked to comment on allegations that he too owns a fleet of
vehicles and several houses, Aironi denied this saying those were being
investigated were free to institute investigation on his property or
report him to the responsible minister for action.

'I am not scared because I have one vehicle which I got on loan and one
house. Those relocated officers might be saying a lot of things because
we have snatched white caps from them and they feel humiliated,' Aironi
is quoted in Daily Times.

He said that if it would be discovered that the officers obtained the
money to purchase the vehicles dubiously, the law would take its
course.

However the relocated cops complain that since January nothing has been
done.

'Since January when 36 traffic officers and four prosecutors were
relocated for acquiring vehicles corruptly and despite the fact that
some of them were threatened and statements under caution were taken
from them, we haven't heard the results,' the officers complained.

Police Public Relations officer George Chikowi said that the Police
boss thought of relocating the 44 officers because evidence against them
was not sufficiently overwhelming or conclusive to warrant court
proceedings.

'But we are still probing the matter and whatever transpires, we will
let you know,' said Chikowi.

The Police has stepped up its efforts to stamp out corruption in an
effort to instill public confidence in the Police Service which
currently is undergoing reform which is fully funded by the British.

*****

Malawi Ranked Third On Accidents in Africa

Malawi Standard (Blantyre)

June 1, 2003
Posted to the web June 2, 2003

George Mhango
Mzuzu

National Road Safety Council of Malawi (NRSCM) says of late the Country
has been ranked 3rd in Africa in terms of Road traffic Accidents after
Nigeria and Ethiopia due to careless driving and lack of First-Aid
Drivers Orientation Programmes.

"Malawi has only around 200,000 vehicles and out of these, 10 000
vehicles kill about 200 people in a year while some are admitted in
hospitals," said Chairperson of National Roads Safety Council of Malawi
Linda Soko in an interview following First Aid Drivers Orientation
Programme which has graduated 601 since march this year hosted by the
Taiwan Medical Mission.

The chairperson said these accidents have led to a health problem, as a
lot of patients lying in the Emergency departments in various hospitals
throughout the country are victims of such scenarios.

"Unfortunately the situation is aggravated by the fact that 30 percent
of export for countries in this part of Africa goes to debts repayment
instead of road construction leaving accidents prevention a compelling
one," Soko remarked.

She therefore appeals to civic leaders including councillors and other
authorities to take a leading role in discouraging the malpractices.

"If stakeholders could team up creating an accident free environment
thereby training drivers on first-aid issues and how to drirve carefully
this health problem in hospitals would be eradicated," queried Soko.

*****

UNICEF Accuses Police of Being Too Lenient

The Chronicle Newspaper (Lilongwe)

June 2, 2003
Posted to the web June 2, 2003

Stonald Kuphunda
Lilongwe

Negligence by the people and tendency to treat drivers with leniency
among the traffic police persons are some of problems that increase road
accidents that can cause children to lose their lives, UNICEF has said.

Delegates at the 'UNICEF Road Safety Campaign for the Children' meeting
held in Lilongwe recently said that a driver cannot avoid an accident
when a child is crossing the road if the car is driving at a speed in
excess of 80 kilometres per hour in a built up area.

They also acknowledged that people are negligent in the control of
their children as they cross the road. The traffic police personnel as
well usually condone drivers carelessness and negligence when they have
breached traffic rules.

'The traffic police person lets the car which is not in good condition
to continue travelling on the roads of Malawi instead of removing the
unroadworthy vehicle and referring it to the Road Safety Council for
testing. Initially, they tell the drivers of the car that is not in good
condition to go and sort out the problem at home. Thereafter the
policeman asks for a token [bribe] for letting the person go,' said
Hastings Samute from UNICEF.

He also said many drivers have fake driving licenses obtain from the
Road Traffic Examiners through the back door, but the traffic police
persons, knowing this still let the offenders go free as long as they
give them some small token in the form of money.

'Many drivers on the roads of Malawi are reckless and have false
driving licenses. They don't even check whether their cars are
roadworthy before driving off,' said Samute adding, 'for example one
even can drive a car that has loose or deflated tyres.' MacPherson
Mdalla, an official from Lilongwe City Assembly said that drivers ignore
road signs and some of them do not even know what the signs stand for
because they lack civic education for the road.

He said many road signs are continually being vandalised by some people
yet no one is willing to report it to those responsible to repair the
damage.

'The public has a major role to ensure that the road signs are not
vandalised by anyone. Whenever one sees anyone taking away the road sign
he should be reported to the police,' advised Mdalla.

According to the National Statistics Office every 18 people who die on
the roads in an accident, one is a child. The Road Safety Campaign for
Children is a three month program from May to July and is funded by
UNICEF.

*****

Aleke's Contract As a Trustee Ends July

Malawi Standard (Blantyre)

June 1, 2003
Posted to the web June 2, 2003

By Dickson Kashoti
Blantyre, Malawi

First Initial Trustee of Press Trust Aleke Banda's term of office
expires in July 2003, The Malawi Standard has learnt.

Emillias Dokali, lawyer representing the Attorney General in a case in
which Aleke took the AG to court over his purpoted dismissal as a
trustee said in an interview: " The President is free if he so desires
to write Aleke Banda withdrawing him from Press Trust. But such
dismissal would be of very nominal significance because his term of
office expires this July 2003," said Dokali who is also a Law Lecturer
at Chancellor College in Zomba.

High Court Judge, Healey Potani, on May 20, 2003 ordered Aleke Banda's
lawyer and lawyers for the Attorney General to draw up a consent order
declaring that Aleke and six others who were reported to have been
withdrawn by President Muluzi as trustees of Press Trust on April 30 are
still trustees.

The ruling follows a challenge in the court by the Attorney General
after an application by Banda restraining the President from dismissing
him as a trustee of Press Trust.

Aleke Banda had asked the court to arrange a date of hearing on which
he would argue through his lawyers that the President has no powers to
dismiss him.

Dokali said there was no document submitted to the court to support the
assertion that he had been dismissed by the President.

"He only relied on radio announcement to that effect. Section 90 of the
Constitution requires that any decision made by the President be in
writing and signed by him. Despite the absence of that written
communication, the court nevertheless granted the injunction."

"Mr (Kalekeni) Kaphale and I were given instructions by the Attorney
General to challenge the injunction and we did challenge it on the basis
that in the absence of any written communication as required by Section
90, Aleke Banda had no basis for applying for an injunction," said
Dokali.

Dokali said the lawyer for Aleke Banda conceded this point and as a
result, lawyers from both parties obtained a court order that the
injunction be dissolved.

He therefore said there was no decision made by the President to
dismiss Aleke Banda.

Section 90 of the Constitution talks about confirmation of decisions of
the president and it says that decisions of the president shall be
expressed in writing under his signature.

Mordecai Msisha, lawyer for Aleke Banda in the case said the cause of
Aleke's complaint is no longer there.

"The status quo remains. There's no need for anything to happen," he
said.

The board which Muluzi dissolved comprised Aleke as First Initial
Trustee, Second Initial Trustee Christopher Barrow, and other ordinary
trustees Health Minister Yusuf Mwawa, Bishop Joseph Bvumbwe,
Presidential Advisor on Education Professor Brown Chimphamba, late
Kamuzu Banda's grand niece Jane Dzanjalimodzi and international trustee
Walter Kamba.

Muluzi's new appointments saw Dzanjalimodzi, Mwawa and Kamba retained
while Education Minister George Mtafu replaced Aleke, lawyer Shabir
Latif replaced Barrow and new faces included Admarc general manager
Evans Chipala and architect Ben Chidyaonga.

Various commentators questioned the very wisdom of a high court judge
awarding an injunction in a matter where the complainant did not have
adequate documents to initiate an injunction.

"How did the judge grant an injunction when there was no document from
the President dismissing Aleke? Was this judge not aware of the
requirement that you can only challenge what is written down? Probably
the judge has an axe to grind against the President following that
impeachment case"; queried Mussa Wa Kadalikanga of Zingwangwa township.

*****

Zimbabwe govt crushes protests
Harare
02 June 2003 11:17
Authorities arrested Zimbabwe's opposition leader on Monday and fired
tear gas on student protesters, vowing to crush the launch of
anti-government demonstrations the opposition hopes will mark the most
significant challenge yet to President Robert Mugabe's decades long
rule.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change was arrested at his home on Monday, charged with contempt of
court for planning an illegal demonstration, said Innocent Chagonda, his
lawyer.

Police had come several hours before, around midnight, but left when
they found Tsvangirai was not at home.

Tsvangirai, a former trade union leader, has become increasingly
defiant in his calls for the people of Zimbabwe to rise up against
Mugabe and his policies which the opposition blames for sinking the
country into economic and political disarray.

This week has been called as a week of strikes and protest against the
government.

Riot police fired tear gas at hundreds of students at Zimbabwe
University as they tried to march from campus to downtown Harare.

The students were driven back by the clouds of tear gas. Tear gas was
also fired on a group that gathered on the street in the Harare township
of Budiriro.

In another Harare township called Mabvuku army trucks packed with
soldiers patrolled overnight. Riot police in helmets and bearing clubs
stood watch in downtown Harare.

Tsvangirai appeared in court on Monday where he is standing trial for
treason. The state says he was part of a plot to assassinate Mugabe,
charges he and his fellow accused -- two senior opposition officials --
deny.

"I'm in no position to comment," Tsvangirai told reporters of his
arrest as he was hurried into court by two plainclothes detectives.

One of his fellow accused, party secretary-general Welshman Ncube said
police had also tried to arrest him overnight. He was not at home, but
police assaulted his staff, he said.

"They beat my workers, there are broken bones," he said.

Of the launch of this week's actions against the government, he said,
"it is tough and it is very tense."

As part of their crackdown against demonstrations, police-manned
roadblocks were set up along all the main roads leading into the
capital, Harare and military helicopters swooped over the western city
of Bulawayo. Both cities are considered opposition strongholds.

In Bulawayo, two lawmakers were arrested, also accused of planning an
illegal demonstration, opposition officials said.

Over the weekend the High Court declared the demonstrations illegal,
but the opposition planned on filing an appeal against the ruling at the
Supreme Court on Monday.

In Harare it appeared the strike was taking hold, with most shops,
banks, and factories closed. Traffic was light, and only few commuter
busses were running.

Opposition officials said they were planning for street demonstrations
later in the day.

State television, in its nightly news on Sunday, said planned
demonstrations and strikes would be "met with the full wrath of the
law."

It said ruling party youths loyal to the government would break up
opposition street demonstrations and quoted Defence Minister Sidney
Sekeramayi as saying "enough measures" were being taken to stop
anti-government unrest.

"Our soil is very sacrosanct. We shall not allow it to be recolonized,"
Sekeramayi told the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.

The government has repeatedly accused Britain, the former colonial
ruler, of funding the Movement for Democratic Change and
opposition-backed labor unions to mount a campaign to oust Mugabe.

The television station showed footage of troops and riot police being
deployed in Harare and file footage of tear gas being fired on
demonstrators in previous protests.

Government vehicles sped through Harare late on Sunday throwing out
printed fliers urging Zimbabweans to ignore opposition calls for the
protests, saying: "No to mass action. No to British puppets. - Sapa-AP

*****

From TV evangelist to Zambia's vice president
By Penny Dale
BBC, Lusaka, Zambia

Never in the history of Zambian politics has someone's rise to power
been so meteoric as that of Nevers Mumba.

Almost overnight, Mr Mumba has moved from being an unimpressive
opposition leader to holding the country's second most prestigious
political job.

But who is he?

He is perceived as a man who is driven as much by his deep religious
conviction as his boundless ambition.

The 42-year-old Mumba was born in the north of Zambia in Chinsali,
reputed to be the true heartland of the Bemba people.

He is married to Florence, who apparently after the fifth child,
stopped Mumba from fulfilling his desire for siring 12 children.

His mother is one of the sisters of Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia's first
president.

Mumba greatly admires Mr Kaunda, but unlike the former president, Mumba
is better known as a preacher than a politician.

The founder of the well-known Victory Ministries, he made his name as a
fiery TV evangelist.

He studied theology in the United States and for close to two decades
he has pulled in huge crowds, preaching with eloquence a message of hope
and dignity through Christ.

He is well known not just in Zambia but also in Namibia, Uganda, South
Africa, Canada and the US.

Vision

In his own words, he heard God telling him to save Zambia through the
ballot box.

His vision is to cleanse the country of corruption and improve the
living standards of ordinary Zambians.

Mr Mumba says he is guided by the message of the the scriptures that
say when the righteous rule, people rejoice.

I first met him five or so years ago, when he was putting the final
touches to his transformation from priest to politician.

At the time he was doing the African media rounds in London, promoting
his National Citizens Coalition party.

He struck me as charismatic and extremely well-dressed in stylish
clothes and the phrase 'salvation through prosperity' unkindly popped
into my mind.

He did not strike me as a political animal.

He is intelligent and highly articulate but his silver tongue and his
other charming qualities were not enough when he stood for president in
Zambia's 2001 elections.

Out of the 11 candidates, Mumba's was one of the more spectacular
flops, when he polled only 2% of the vote.

According to his biography, Mumba loves boxing - a peculiar taste for a
preacher - but perhaps less so for a politician who very often displays
the flamboyant aggression of a boxer.

*****

[and this is just...weird]

Theme park offers the thrill of... brick-making

The latest theme park in the US state of Georgia is not aimed at the
usual holidaying hedonists.

Instead of rollercoasters and fast food, the most the Global Village &
Discovery Center can offer is "brick and tile making, as well as other
fun activities".

And it may be the only theme park in the world whose facilities are
deliberately built to look shabby and squalid, rather than getting that
way by accident.

But the Global Village, which opens on 7 June, has a serious point to
make.

Backed by Habitat for Humanity, a Christian charity, it aims to teach
wealthy Americans how the world's poor really live.

Building excitement

The main theme of the Global Village is housing; Habitat for Humanity
specialises in providing low-cost houses in developing countries.

Its centrepiece is a painstakingly recreated slum, reflecting poor
housing from Africa, Asia and Central America.

Visitors will be encouraged to help build new houses for the village,
to purchase and inscribe their own personal brick, or to sign up for
volunteer work overseas.

Despite the lack of overt excitement, Millard Fuller, the founder of
Habitat for Humanity, expects the Global Village to attract up to 70,000
tourists in its first year.

Hi folks,

Does anyone have Steve's current email? His upenn
address returned the mail.

Me- back from Afghanistan and currently in South
Africa and gainfully unemployed for the moment. More
later.

Cheers,
John P.

=====


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David Whitehead Sale Put On Hold

Malawi Standard (Blantyre)

June 1, 2003
Posted to the web June 2, 2003

Paul Kang'ombe And Dickson Kashoti
Blantyre

The Privatisation Commission has put on hold the handover of assets of
David Whitehead and Sons which was scheduled for Friday this week
following a High Court injunction obtained by the company's management.

David Whitehead and Sons (Malawi) Limited (DWS) Acting Chief Executive
Evelyn Mwapasa confirmed in an interview Thursday that the company's
management obtained the injunction through lawyers Racane and Associates
because the management felt K70 million was too low comparing to the
value of the assets.

"We are convinced that it is not right (to sale the company assets at
K70 million). They (Privatisation Commission) cannot say the machine is
scrap. The company (value) is at zero or negative but not the assets,"
Mwapasa said.

In a press release dated May 27, 2003, the Privatisation Commission
says Mapeto Wholesalers of Malawi in association with Jimtex Group of
companies of India was the preferred bidder, forming a consortium called
Mapeto (DWSM) Limited with 60 per cent owned by Mapeto Wholesalers and
40 per cent by Jimtex.

Mwapasa said the assets, though old, were in good running condition and
management felt the selling price could have been between K300 million
to K400 million.

Mwapasa said since the retrenchment exercise in October, 2002, the
operations of the company are no longer making losses, saying latest
management accounts of March 2003 show that the company made a profit of
K7.456 million.

Since October 2002, she said, the company has been able to pay off
creditors and other expenses not relating to the current operation to
the tune of K16 million which included insurance for old premiums at K6
million, old balances for water account at K4 million, police expenses
during staff retrenchment at K1 million, termination of housing leases
for retrenched staff at K3 million and old coal accounts at K2 million.

"Besides, the company today has cash bank balances of around K14
million," she said.

She said on May 28, 2003, the management met and felt that the assets
of the company can be profitably operated without any improvements and
that the assets of company have proven ability to generate healthy cash
flows.

She said the meeting also felt that the cash flow achievements have
been realised in spite of the fact that the company was never provided
with seed cash working capital for the small operation, which started in
October 2002.

"The meeting strongly felt that there is now a need for the company to
provide the information about the performance of the operations of the
company since October 2002 to the Privatisation Commission and request
that the sale price of the assets of the company be reviewed upwards,
this is in the interest of our government and the people of Malawi" she
said.

On the indications given by the Privatisation Commission about the
company having a value of nil or negative, she said it was true that the
book value of net assets of the company is negative, but this is
inclusive of the K1.2 billion debt, which has been hived off by
government.

Excluding this debt, she said, the assets of the company have a book
value in excess of K300 million.

"On the valuation of the assets being sold, the best basis to be used
is to evaluate their ability to generate income and cash. Therefore
descriptions like scrap or not much, do not give any meaningful
guidance".

"On this point, the meeting felt that the Privatisation Commission may
have been lacking information and they need to be provided with the
information which management has," said the Acting Chief Executive.

She said management sought court intervention because the assets
involved are public therefore the DWSM management is a group of citizens
in what she said were a privileged position, possessing vital
information, which needed to be considered in determining the price.

"The meeting resolved that the company should seek a court injunction
stopping the sale of the assets of the company. And request that the
sale price be reviewed in the light of the latest performance of the
company. I must repeat that management action is in the interest of
government as we are aware that at times government may not have a true
picture of issues at stake" she said.

The Privatization Commission, in the statement says that the joint
venture company is acquiring the core assets of DWS (properties,
machinery and equipment, stocks, and intellectual property rights).

The statement also says that Mapeto (DWSM) Limited was acquiring the
assets free of accumulated corporate commercial liabilities, as well as
free accumulated government and shareholder indebtedness.

The company has 250 employees on its pay roll but Mwapasa said the
company needs about 530 employees if the operations of the company were
to run smoothly.

Speaking to some commentators, the price offered by the bidders seems
so much on the lower side and would allow the new investors to get that
company for a song. "The company of that size cannot go for only K70
million with that developed infrastructure as well as its potential to
make profits. If the machinery is 'scrap' what is the interest of the
new investor? Would the buildings be the attraction?" mused one
businessman displaying his wares at the ongoing Trade Fair.

A lecturer at Polytechnic wondered the interest of the Privatization
Commission in hurriedly selling off such a giant company without
adequate consultation and discussion with management and general
stakeholders.

"Is this going to be another WICO case or another case of Malawi Lake
Services? Are these companies going to go for nothing? Are our friends
at the Privatization Commission protecting the interests of Malawians
who are suppose to benefit from the sale of such companies?

Would Malawians fail to put together K70 million to buy off the
company? Why can't management be given a chance to buy off the company",
further asked the business studies lecturer.

*****

President Muluzi Speaks Against Greedy Politicians

Malawi Standard (Blantyre)

June 1, 2003
Posted to the web June 2, 2003

Dickson Kashoti
Blantyre

President Bakili Muluzi has advised leaders against being greedy,
saying that leaders ought to be servants of the people. Speaking at a
mammoth rally he addressed at Malindi in Chief Chowe's area in Mangochi
on Thursday, Muluzi said that it is unfortunate that some people
withdrew their membership from the UDF because the party's national
executive committee did not recommend them as Presidential candidates in
the 2004 General Elections.

"As a matter of principle, you don't quit because you were not chosen,
because doing so is being greedy and over-presumptuous. Let's not be
greedy and self centred. We are in the positions that we are, because
people elected us to serve them. The same people will elect us into all
other positions depending on our performance and character." he said.

He said that a serious leader should be prepared to accept results of
an election.

President Muluzi also expressed surprise that some leaders go claiming
that they are the most intelligent. In an unveiled reference to some
former members of UDF like previous First Vice President Aleke Banda's
claims in the press that he was the intelligent and efficient member of
cabinet, Muluzi said that the country does not only need intelligence
but character and valuable service from people holding leadership
positions.

He said humility should be the key attribute in leaders, saying it is
only such leaders that identify themselves with people of various
standing in the country.

"I advise you to ignore leaders that pamper themselves," Muluzi said,
calling such leaders who "newspaper politicians."

Muluzi then urged UDF leaders to consolidate the party position as the
biggest and most popular party by attracting more membership.

He noted the tremendous contribution that party leaders made during the
fight against the one-party dictatorship, and their subsequent loyalty
over the years of the party's rule. Muluzi said that this why the UDF
national executive committee agreed to honour such people with UDF
Veteran Medals. He encouraged them to continue supporting the party.

"Whether you are in the North, Centre or in the South, accept my
heartfelt appreciation for your support," he said.

The President then introduced Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika and Dr. Cassim
Chilumpha as UDF national executive committee Presidential candidate and
running mate, respectively.

He said some disgruntled politicians were questioning the duo's
selection, claiming they were imposed. Muluzi clarified that the NEC
recommended the two and that their positions would be challenged at a
party convention to be held soon.

He also advised those that are interested in challenging the NEC's
proposals to contest at the convention by submitting their nominations
through NEC that will carry out a screening process of their credentials
and suitability to stand on UDF ticket.

The Malawi leader said that NEC's selection procedure was democratic
and in keeping with other conventions and practices elsewhere, notably
in the United Kingdom, where candidates are proposed and a party
convention confirms their suitability.

The President then expressed sympathy over the hunger situation in the
area, as reported by the areas' Parliamentarian, Ali Sikelo. Muluzi
donated 100 tonnes of maize and Likuni Phala to alleviate the people's
suffering. He also donated K10 million for the rehabilitation of about
16 schools in the area.

*****

SA to Send Vets Team to Help Malawi Fight Foot And Mouth

BuaNews (Pretoria)

June 2, 2003
Posted to the web June 2, 2003

Thabo Mokgola
Pretoria

South Africa will send a technical team to Malawi soon to help the
country contain the Foot and Mouth disease that has hit one of the
regions in that country.

Land and agricultural minister Thoko Didiza made the announcement,
following a meeting with her Malawian counterpart Chakufwa Chihana in
Johannesburg this morning.

She said that as part of today's meeting, government had agreed to
share its experiences with their Malawian counterparts.

Foot-and-mouth disease is highly contagious and causes blisters to form
between the hooves and in the mouth of cloven-hoofed animals such as
cattle, pigs, goats, buffalo and many wild grass-eating game species.

Human beings are, however, not susceptible to the disease.

'We are going to share those experiences also in the form of a
technical exchange where some of our veterinarians who have assisted in
the containment of Foot and Mouth in South Africa can actually go to
Malawi to assist,' she said.

She added that government would also look at assisting Malawi attain a
vaccine for the deadly disease from the Onderstepoort vaccine center, in
Pretoria.

Minister Chihana, who is also Malawi's Vice-President, said the
blending of domestic and wild animals in the affected region was one of
the major causes of the disease.

He said Malawi was not able to meet the challenge on its own, hence
they looked no further than their southern neighbour.

'I am happy that the minister has assured as that they will provide us
with vaccine, which we are lacking,' he said.

Other issues that were thrashed out at the meeting included food
security and the continent's socio-economic recovery plan, Nepad.

*****

Malawians 'Feast' On 'Free' Zambian Land

The Times of Zambia (Ndola)

June 2, 2003
Posted to the web June 2, 2003

EASTERN Province Permanent Secretary Peter Tembo has described the
encroachment by Malawians on Zambian land on the common border in Chama
district as a serious matter.

Brigadier General Tembo at the weekend appealed to members of
Parliament, councillors and local people to find ways of ensuring that
no more land was taken by Malawians.

He was speaking at the provincial development coordinating committee
meeting held at Luangwa Lodge in Chipata.

Gen Tembo, who promised to take up the matter with higher authorities
in Lusaka, was reacting to a report from Chama district administrator
Boniface Nkhata who said Malawians were allegedly opening more land on
Zambian soil for tobacco estates.

Mr Nkhata said a Malawian company, General Farming Limited, had
continued using 131 hectares of Zambian land in Kalovya area of Chama
district even after the matter was brought to its attention.

He said apart from illegally establishing the tobacco estates in
Zambia, the company was also indiscriminately cutting down trees for
curing the tobacco.

Chipata district administrator Clemens Mwanza called for amicable means
of resolving the issue before it degenerated into a bigger problem.

Mr Mwanza said Malawians were slowly grabbing Zambian land along the
border from Chadiza to Kanyelele near Isoka.

He warned that the matter should not be taken lightly because countries
had fought wars because of land disputes.

In September last year, then Eastern Province Minister Nason Sambwa and
Malawian high commissioner to Zambia Friday Makuta visited the area to
see for themselves the levels of encroachment.

Both officials promised to report the matter to their foreign affairs
ministries in their respective countries to find a peaceful solution to
the problem, but since then nothing has been done.

Just last week, Eastern Province Minister Clever Silavwe was shocked to
find that Malawians were farming on the Zambian land without any
hindrance.

Mr Silavwe promised to make the issue his priority to protect the land
of the country from foreign settlement.

He urged the local people to be patriotic by ensuring that all people
with suspicious nationality farming on the country's land were reported
to immigration officers. - Zana

*****

First HIV Vaccine Trial to Be Conducted in the US and Africa



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The Chronicle Newspaper (Lilongwe)

June 2, 2003
Posted to the web June 2, 2003

Lilongwe

The HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) has launched an international
clinical trial that will test a promising HIV prevention vaccine
candidate in humans.

The vaccine, called EP HIV-1090, will be tested in 42 volunteers in the
U.S. and Botswana. This trial has the multiple distinctions of being the
first trial to be conducted simultaneously in the U.S. and Africa, the
first HVTN trial to take place in Africa, and the first HVTN trial to be
conducted simultaneously in the U.S. and abroad.

'This trial marks a new stage in global HIV research,' stated Dr. Larry
Corey, Principal Investigator for the HVTN. 'Africa is carrying the
greatest burden of the AIDS epidemic, and it is therefore crucial that
HIV vaccine development include African leadership, participation and
support.' Previous human trials conducted by the HVTN outside the U.S.
have always followed a U.S. trial. This time participants will receive
the same inoculations during the same time period in the Boston,
Massachusetts area, in St. Louis, Missouri, and in Gaborone, Botswana.

'This study is a significant and hopeful step in Botswana's battle
against the scourge of AIDS,' said Joy Phumaphi, Botswana's Minister of
Health. 'The volunteers for this trial exemplify the best of the
traditional Botswana values of altruism and selflessness.' The vaccine
candidate is a multi-epitope vaccine developed by Epimmune, a San Diego,
California based pharmaceutical company. EP HIV-1090 is assembled from
synthetically produced DNA. These small pieces of DNA manufacture
specific proteins like the ones in HIV. These proteins have elements
referred to as epitopes, which in this case prepare the body to
recognize real HIV. There is no way that any part of this vaccine
candidate can cause HIV infection. As the body learns to mount a defense
against the vaccine, the hope is that it will also learn to fight off
real HIV, should the body ever be exposed to the actual virus.

The EP HIV-1090 trial is a Phase I trial, meaning that it is intended
to test the safety and immunogenicity (effect on the immune system) of
the drug. The double-blinded trial will enrol 42 volunteers, 36 of whom
will receive the candidate vaccine and six of whom will receive the
placebo.

Participants will be healthy, HIV-1-uninfected adults between the ages
of 18 and 40. The trial will last 18 months, after which time the data
will be evaluated. The candidate vaccine will then be considered for the
next stage of testing.

Initial lab studies have shown that EP HIV-1090 may have the potential
to induce an initial immune response against subtypes of HIV seen in the
U.S. and in Africa. Testing the product in both countries in the same
trial will allow for a more thorough understanding of the best way to
proceed with this vaccine candidate.

*****

Zimbabwe capital 'shut down'

Opposition parties in Zimbabwe say they will continue strikes and
anti-government protests despite police and army action on Monday
against street demonstrations.

In several places across the country riot police used teargas, and
soldiers in armoured cars fired guns to break up the demonstrations
against President Robert Mugabe's government.

Most of the capital, Harare, was reported calm on Tuesday, but with
virtually all businesses shut. There remains a heavy security presence
on the streets.

In low-income suburbs long queues of people waited for transport to
work places.

Only a few, mainly state-run buses were operating.

The government has warned business owners who fail to open that they
risk losing their operating licences.

The BBC's Barnaby Phillips says it is unclear just how many Zimbabweans
have the stomach to take on the well-organised security forces, in a
week of protests described as critical for the immediate political
future of President Mugabe.

Undeterred

The High Court in Harare is expected to give its judgement on Tuesday
on the government's application to tighten bail conditions for the MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and two other high-ranking officials of the
opposition party, all on trial for treason.

The group's secretary-general, Welshman Ncube, said violence against
protesters would not deter them.

"What is left is for the people to press on for the next four days with
the complete stay-away from work and massive demonstrations," he said.

At least 154 people, most of them opposition activists or officials,
were arrested across the country on Monday, police said.

Interference

A government spokesman, Jerome McDonald Gumbo, accused the MDC of
intimidating people who wanted to go about their daily routine as
normal, and said the government had a responsibility to maintain law and
order.

"A lot of people are suffering because they cannot conduct their
day-to-day business. You can't even conduct a funeral, you can't even
send your children to school," he told the BBC's Network Africa.

He also attacked what he said was outside interference in Zimbabwe's
affairs by countries like Britain and the US.

"The outside world must leave Zimbabwe to make its own decisions. They
must not interfere and incite our people to fight each other.

"In the end it is Zimbabweans who suffer," said Mr Gumbo.

Leaders of the main industrialised nations, the G8, at their meeting
France expressed concern over developments in Zimbabwe.

"We are concerned about reports of further violence by the authorities
in Zimbabwe against their own people," their communiqué said.

"We called on the government of Zimbabwe to respect the right to
peaceful demonstration."

*****

Zim govt seeks gag order against opposition
Harare
03 June 2003 17:07
Zimbabwe's government went to the High Court on Tuesday, the second day
of opposition-led protests, asking it to alter the bail conditions for
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and two other high-ranking opposition
officials.

The government wants the three, who are on trial for treason, to
refrain from making inflammatory statements or inciting violence as long
as they are on trial.

South African opposition defence attorney George Bizos said the
government's application amounts to an attempt to obtain "a gagging
order".

"The purpose of bail is not to gag accused persons from speaking
against the policies of a government which they consider wrong," Bizos
argued.

"Bail conditions are not to be used in order to stop political activity
in Zimbabwe," he added.

The trio, which includes Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary
general Welshman Ncube, is accused of plotting to assassinate Mugabe
ahead of last year's presidential elections.

They deny the charges, which could carry the death penalty on
conviction.

Bizos also argued against having the same judge preside over the
treason trial and the state application to tighten the bail conditions,
saying it would interfere with his function as the trial judge and "may
lead to a mistrial". Meanwhile the government threatened to withdraw
operating licences from business owners who failed to open on Tuesday,
saying its officials would be compiling a list of defiant companies.

That threat led to supermarkets in the low-income suburbs, located on
the periphery of the capital, to open for business. Later in the
morning, some department stores in central Harare opened for business.

But the MDC, which had called the mass action to force Mugabe to
discuss the country's economic and political problems with them,
expressed satisfaction on the first day of the protests.

The party said the protests were a "victory", despite the arrest of
several of its leader's supporters on Monday.

Ncube said the party "would like to congratulate all Zimbabweans for
their victory over tyranny and dictatorship... through their unity and
courage which has seen business come to a total standstill throughout
the country".

"This is a clear and unambiguous message to the Mugabe regime that the
people of Zimbabwe have had enough suffering at the hands of the
illegitimate regime," he said.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Ncube, six lawmakers and more than 120
MDC supporters were arrested on Monday for defying a High Court order
banning the mass action. Tsvangirai and Ncube were later released.

Scores of people, including university students were barred from
marching in the streets and assaulted by security forces.

One university lecturer said on Tuesday that 50 students had to be
hospitalised due to injuries, "notably broken bones" after police
rampaged through the campus to break up would-be demonstrators on the
first day of the protests.

In a statement, MDC said its provincial chairperson for Manicaland, in
eastern Zimbabwe and 45 MDC supporters were arrested on Tuesday. -
Sapa-AFP

Available on amazon.com: "My Malawi Journal" by Bea Buckley. Bea was
an older volunteer in the 96 health group who went home after a few
weeks. A chronicle of her training experience; probably mainly of
interest to those in my group. I won't critique it here, but I will
say I enjoyed it much more than the epic "Breakfast with Kamuzu."

Also- greatly enjoyed catching up with some of you in DC recently.
John P.- let's have a drink in Joburg sometime.

Scott

Refugees Influx, Misdeeds Worry Host Communities

African Church Information Service

June 2, 2003
Posted to the web June 3, 2003

Reported By Hobbs Gama
Lilongwe

Malawi government is facing complaints from communities surrounding
areas earmarked for settlement of refugees. The villagers are blaming
asylum seekers for land shortage, environmental destruction and rise in
crime rate.

The Ministry of Poverty and Disaster Management has now embarked on
negotiations with traditional leaders in Mwanza district, near the
border with Mozambique, to find ways of redressing the situation.

Most of the refugees flooding Malawi, one of the most peaceful states
in southern Africa, are from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
Rwanda, Burundi and Somalia.

Dzaleka refugee camp in the central region district of Dowa, is the
designated place for all refugees and asylum seekers.

But the camp, which is designed to accommodate 4,000 refugees, now has
more than 15,000 inhabitants.

Ludoviko Shati, the Minister for Poverty and Disaster Management, after
a tour of Luwani, assured the villagers that no land would be taken from
them for the refugees' small-scale farming and business activities. He
pleaded with the communities to peacefully co-exist with the asylum
seekers.

"We shall not snatch anybody's property. Instead, communities will
enjoy all amenities that will be constructed for the refugees," said
Shati, citing electricity, clean portable water and recreational
facilities as examples.

Commissioner for the department of Disaster Preparedness, Relief and
Rehabilitation, Lucius Chikuni, said the government, in conjunction with
United Nations Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), will soon rehabilitate
the campsite. He asked traditional leaders to co-operate.

"All we need is co-operation. Do not harass them, but conduct
development activities together," appealed Chikuni.

Malawi is still reeling under the effects of massive degradation of
vegetation in most of the districts formerly inhabited by Mozambican
refugees.

Besides depleting vegetation, a number of refugees have been implicated
in criminal activities. They escape from Dzaleka camp into the cities of
Lilongwe and Blantyre, where some engage in illegal business
activities.

Just recently, three refugees from the DRC were arrested by police in
Blantyre having been tipped by residents that they were renting a house
after their escape from Dzaleka.

George Chikowi, public relations officer at police headquarters in
Lilongwe, confirmed that the remanded refugees were being investigated
for a series of armed robberies in Blantyre.

Previously, UNHCR and immigration officials had reacted angrily to
public discontent over refugees, saying Malawi, as a signatory to the UN
Charter on the rights of refugees and other international conventions,
had the obligation to look after refugees and permit them opportunity to
engage in income raising ventures.

*****

Church Leaders Object to Condom Distribution in Prisons

African Church Information Service

June 2, 2003
Posted to the web June 3, 2003

Hobbs Gama
Blantyre

Leading clergy in Malawi have condemned proposals by some members of
parliament (MPs), that condoms be freely distributed to inmates around
the country's prisons, to check the spread of HIV/AIDS, following
rampant homosexual practices in the institutions.

Members of the National Assembly were sharply split, when Loveness
Gondwe, an opposition MP, blamed the government for not taking action
against widespread sodomy in prisons.

He told the government to stop pretending sex was not taking place in
jails. "Prisoners are citizens like everybody else and must be protected
from the AIDS scourge with free condoms," charged Gondwe, in response to
a report by the Inspectorate of Prisons, that deplored inhuman
conditions in most of the country's 23 prisons.

But some MPs spoke strongly against the idea, arguing that it would
defeat the concept of rehabilitation, as inmates were not allowed any
social pleasures in the course of serving their sentences.

Church leaders were particularly irked by the proposal, saying
homosexuality was a sin, and that promoting condoms in prisons would
encourage immorality among inmates.

Pastor Gibson Nachiye of the Deeper Life Church, and Bishop Andrew Dube
of the Assemblies of God, issued a stern criticism against the move
during a press interview here. "Homosexuality is a sin before God,
therefore, such act as distribution of condoms would only encourage
immorality," noted pastor Nachiye.

Bishop Dube, on the other hand, quashed another suggestion by some
members who favoured the idea of occasionally allowing prisoners to
sexually interact with their spouses.

"When one is in prison he is denied the right to freedom and social
life. Bringing wives for prisoners would be killing the whole idea for
confining wrongdoers," affirmed Bishop Dube.

Generally, churches in Malawi have been opposing free distribution of
condoms to check AIDS. The Catholic Church commands the largest
following, with 8 million members out of Malawi's 10 million
population.

It has been in the forefront in discouraging the faithful from using
condoms, even for family planning purposes.

The clergy assert that even though Malawi is one of the most badly
affected country in southern Africa by HIV/AIDS, condoms are not the
solution.

They have, accordingly, embarked on various programmes to promote
abstinence, especially among the youth.

*****

HCB to Supply Power to Malawi

Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

June 3, 2003
Posted to the web June 3, 2003

Maputo

Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), the company that operates the
Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi in the western Mozambican province of
Tete, has won the tender launched in March by the Electricity Supply
Corporation of Malawi, to supply Malawi with electricity for a 20 year
period as from 2004.

The chairman of the HCB board, Carlos Veiga Anjos, announced in Maputo
on Tuesday that negotiations on a detailed electricity sales contract
will start this month.

According to the tender documents, it is the Malawian company that will
be responsible for the transmission line from the dam town of Songo to
the Malawian commercial capital of Blantyre, and will have to seek the
necessary funding. The cost is estimated at 80 million US dollars.

Work on building the lines will begin in late 2003, and should be
concluded in 2004.

HCB will eventually supply Malawi with up to 300 megawatts of power,
though it will start with just 100 megawatts.

Malawian demand for power has been steadily growing, and in 1998 a
memorandum of understanding was signed between the Mozambican and
Malawian governments on the interconnection of the electricity grids of
the two countries.

As for the current modernisation of the Cahora Bassa power station,
Veiga Anjos said this is advancing "at a good pace". The result of the
automation now being introduced at the power station should be fewer
interruptions for maintenance work.

"We shall be able to produce more power than we have been producing",
said Veiga Anjos. Currently the theoretical maximum production is 2,075
megawatts (five turbines each capable of generating 415 megawatts).

The modernisation of the power station is budgeted at 40 million US
dollars.

*****

Zimbabwe activist 'dies from torture'

Zimbabwe's main opposition group says that one of its members has died
after being tortured by police officials and soldiers.

Tichaona Kaguru was taken away from the house of a Movement for
Democratic Change councillor in Harare, and later died in a city centre
hospital, the MDC says.

The police have arrested more than 300 MDC supporters and officials
during this week's strike, intended to drive President Robert Mugabe out
of power.

Most businesses in Harare and the second city, Bulawayo were closed on
Wednesday for a third day.

The government, however, says the Movement for Democratic Change
protests have flopped because the security forces have prevented the
mass demonstrations they had also called.

The BBC's Barnaby Phillips says neither the government nor the
opposition has emerged so far as clear winners, so conflict and economic
decline may well continue.

The MDC accuses Mr Mugabe of rigging last year's election and
mismanaging the economy.

But he says they are a front for white farmers and Britain, who are
trying to block his land reform programme.

Withdraw licences

Police maintained tight security in Harare, reports Reuters news
agency.

Shops and offices were also shut in the second city, Bulawayo, Reuters
says.

State television says that security agents are investigating businesses
which have shut down during the strike.

The government has threatened to withdraw their trading licences.

The MDC says that Mr Kaguru was dumped in the township of Mabvuku after
being assaulted overnight by security agents.

MDC activists and officials have been arrested throughout the country.

In Bulawayo, opposition MPs have gone into hiding, reports the BBC's
Themba Nkosi in the city.

MDC spokesman for Manicaland, Pishayi Muchauraya, told the
privately-owned Daily News: "The police have launched a door-to-door
manhunt for known MDC supporters and they are harassing their
families."

On Monday, riot police used teargas, and soldiers in armoured cars
fired guns to break up the demonstrations.

On Tuesday, about 200 people tried to march into Bulawayo city centre
but they were soon dispersed by riot police, our correspondent says.

Interference

The High Court in Harare is considering a government application to
tighten bail conditions for MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and two other
high-ranking MDC officials, all on trial for treason.

The group's secretary-general, Welshman Ncube, said violence against
protesters would not deter them.

"What is left is for the people to press on for the next four days with
the complete stay-away from work and massive demonstrations," he said.

The BBC's Themba Nkosi says some Bulawayo residents accuse MDC leaders
of being cowards for not being prepared to face the riot police and lead
the anti-government marches.

A government spokesman, Jerome McDonald Gumbo, accused the MDC of
intimidating people who wanted to go about their daily routine as
normal, and said the government had a responsibility to maintain law and
order.

"A lot of people are suffering because they cannot conduct their
day-to-day business. You can't even conduct a funeral, you can't even
send your children to school," he told the BBC's Network Africa.

He also attacked what he said was outside interference in Zimbabwe's
affairs by countries like Britain and the US.

Police beat patients in Harare

Harare

05 June 2003 07:51

Zimbabwean police raided a private Harare hospital yesterday, the third
day of a week-long national strike, beating and arresting several
patients, according to doctors.

Ten police accompanied by youths from the ruling Zanu-PF party stormed
into the Avenues Clinic, Harare's largest private hospital, and
assaulted many of the 150 people seeking treatment for their injuries
sustained in anti-government protests. Police herded several patients
into a van.

Many of the patients were being treated for gunshot wounds and other
injuries received at peaceful public protests against President Robert
Mugabe's regime.

The police surrounded the hospital and ordered away injured people
coming in for treatment, said health workers.

Government hospitals have refused to treat anyone suspected of being
hurt in the demonstrations.

The strike called by Zimbabwe's main opposition, the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), kept most banks, businesses and factories shut
for a third day despite official threats to punish companies that failed
to open.

Police maintained tight security in the capital while state radio
reported that the government was auditing which businesses were closed
and would begin procedures to remove their licences.

Although the strike has succeeded in closing down virtually all
businesses, the heavy security prevented massive street protests.

Mugabe said on Wednesday force had been necessary to maintain peace and
stability.

"It is sad when we are forced as a government to use teargas against
our own youth who are being misled but we have to do it in the interests
of peace and security," Mugabe told South Africa's SABC television
news.

"We don't want to make our people suffer. We suffered enough during
colonial times and during independence...

"We want our people to be free to express their free views and feel
that the country belongs to them, that they have a stake like everybody
else in the country."

The MDC on Monday launched a five-day national strike and protest
marches in a bid to force Mugabe out of office or at least get him to
the negotiating table.

The opposition accuses the government of plunging the country into
economic and social crisis and has demanded that Mugabe engage in
serious dialogue with it.

Mugabe said there was no way the MDC was going to remove his government
by force.

He said the MDC had rejected advice from South African President Thabo
Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo not to engage in acts of
violence to overthrow the government.

"Their appeal to the MDC not to resort to mass action, not to resort to
violence has not yielded fruit but we asked them to continue to appeal
to them," he said.

The MDC said on Wednesday that hundreds of its supporters had been
arrested since the start of the protests on Monday and that one of its
activists had been killed.

An activist from Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) was also reportedly stoned to death by
suspected MDC supporters on the first day of the protests.

An MDC official said that as many as 500 opposition activists,
officials and lawmakers could have been arrested since Monday.

There has been no official tally yet from the party but opposition
officials quoted in Wednesday's Daily News newspaper said that more than
277 opposition supporters had been arrested on Monday and Tuesday.

The MDC also alleged the army had "spent the whole night harassing and
beating up" opposition supporters in the poor suburb of Budidiro.

It said 10 opposition supporters arrested in Zimbabwe's second city of
Bulawayo were missing.

The High Court last weekend declared the planned mass action against
Mugabe's government illegal and warned that demonstrators would face the
full wrath of the law if they defied the ban on the protests. -
Sapa-AFP, Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

*****

Rise up Zimbabwe... Friday is D-Day

Harare

05 June 2003 12:10

Zimbabwe's opposition on Thursday warned that the last day of its
week-long series of protests will be D-Day for the government and called
on Zimbabweans to take to the streets despite state repression.

"The is the moment you have been waiting for. Tomorrow, Friday 6th
June, 2003 is D-Day," the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said on
the penultimate day of a five-day strike and protest movement it has
called to try to unseat President Robert Mugabe.

"Rise up in your millions to demonstrate publicly your utmost
disapproval of this violent dictatorship," the MDC said in an full-page
advertisement in the press.

It urged Zimbabweans not to be afraid despite hundreds of them having
been beaten up, allegedly by security forces and pro-government
supporters, and more than 500 others arrested since the start of the
mass protests on Monday.

The MDC said that since then, "the rogue regime has actively robbed you
of your democratic and constitutional right to express yourselves
peacefully against murder, rape, starvation, disease, violence and
general misrule.

"Don't be afraid. No force is stronger than you. Victory is in sight,"
it urged.

An MDC official said on Thursday afternoon that more than 50 of its
members and suspected sympathisers have been beaten by ruling party
members in the Harare
township of Highfield.

Police have not confirmed the charge, but Pearson Mungofa, the MDC
lawmaker for the suburb, said supporters of the ruling Zimbabwe African
National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) wearing army uniforms carried
out the assaults on Wednesday night.

Those assaulted included opposition party activists and "those who they
think sympathise with the MDC," Mungofa said.

Highfield was a flashpoint in the first days of a mass protest action
called by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai. On Monday at least one resident
was shot in the leg by police trying to quell an anti-government march.

Two weeks ago Tsvangirai addressed a rally in Highfield and announced
his party's plans for a "final push" against President Robert Mugabe's
government.

A job stayaway this week shut down shops and businesses in major cities
including Harare and the second city of Bulawayo. However, a show of
force by security agents has deterred any marches from gaining
momentum.

At least two people have been killed during the mass action, according
to reports from both the police and the opposition.

Mugabe defended the use of force by his security forces, saying they
had acted in the interest of peace and stability.

"It is sad when we are forced as a government to use teargas against
our own youth who are being misled, but we have to do it in the
interests of peace and security," Mugabe told South Africa's SABC
television news.

"We don't want to make our people suffer. We want our people to be free
to express their free views," he said.

The High Court last weekend declared the MDC mass action against
Mugabe's government illegal and warned that demonstrators would face the
full wrath of the law if they defied the ban on the protests.

Friday marks the 59th anniversary of the allied invasion of the beaches
of Normandy in northern France, or D-Day, which marked the start of the
campaign to liberate France and end World War II. - Sapa-AFP

muli bwa, nonse?

been off the airwaves for a while (changed emails, slogged through an internal medicine internship, and got engaged in the past year).  i think i've successfully managed to re-join ujeni just now. 

hope all are well.

JP, back in Africa!?  Send me the lowdown.  

-likoma steve

IMF dangles aid carrot for Malawi

Blantyre

10 June 2003 10:05

Impoverished Malawi will have to wait till next month to hear whether
millions in much needed aid will be made available, the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Monday.

Joseph Kakoza, the fund's Malawi head, said it will be waiting for next
month's presentation of the national 2003/2004 annual budget before
making a presentation to its executive board to resume aid to Malawi.

Having just completed a two week visit to Malawi, Kakoza said the IMF
would also be waiting for the implementation of government's fiscal
targets for the month of June.

"We would be monitoring how the Malawi government will implement its
fiscal target for the past three months ending June. We hope that the
budget will reflect what we discussed. It is our hope and every
Malawian's hope that we can revive the economic programme for
Malawi," he said.

The IMF is withholding $47-million because the country could not meet
preset financial conditions.

Kakoza supported the government's intention to use a major portion of
the aid to reduce domestic debt, strengthen controls, monitor government
expenditures and enhance tax administration and revenue collection.

Minister of Finance, Friday Jumbe told journalists on Monday that
government has made remarkable progress in its fiscal discipline and
urged donors to respond positively to the development.

"I am very sure that we are going to meet our targets for the past
three months by the end of this month and we are sure of having positive
results when the IMF executive board meets sometime
in August," he said.

Last year the cash strapped southern African country approved a Bill
authorising the government to borrow $50-million from the World Bank to
buy food relief to ease the current food crisis.

An estimated 3,2-million people face starvation in the country, in a
food crisis blamed on both drought and government mismanagement of grain
reserves. - Sapa-AP

*****

Malawians mull democracy decade

By Raphael Tenthani
BBC, Blantyre


This month 10 years ago Malawians achieved a historic metamorphosis.

After enduring three decades of uninterrupted one-party dictatorship
under the late Hastings Kamuzu Banda and the former ruling Malawi
Congress Party (MCP), Malawians said "enough is enough".

In June 1993, under intense pressure from donors, Dr Banda called for a
national referendum asking Malawians whether they wanted a continuation
of his one-party system of government or they preferred a multiparty
democracy.

Malawians decisively voted for the latter, thereby heralding a new dawn
of democracy.

Taking stock

As part of the commemorations, a group of scholars, politicians,
religious leaders, civil rights activists and donors have converged on
the capital, Lilongwe, to take stock of what has been or has not been
achieved during the past 10 years.

The meeting has brought together Malawians of diverse political views
from political exiles who fled Dr Banda's autocratic rule to the late
dictator's loyalists who fought so gallantly to retain the one party
system of government.

As you would expect, the ruling United Democratic Front is quick to
list the democratic plusses in the past 10 years.

Dr Bingu wa Mutharika was recently controversially anointed by
President Bakili Muluzi to be his successor when he retires after
serving his constitutional two five-year terms next year.

"The first five years of independence was essentially one of
transition, the second five years was a period of consolidation," he
says

"So the challenge for Malawi now is one of development and how we can
empower the ordinary Malawian in the street."

Kate Kainja, the secretary general of the former ruling Malawi Congress
Party (MCP), admits some strides have been made but says there is still
a lot of work to do.

"There is still a lot of discrimination," she says. "For example if you
belong to the opposition you are not likely to be supported in your
economic activities. For me that is a major headache."

Below par

Religious leaders, notably the Catholic Church, were credited to have
been the first to criticise Dr Banda's authoritarian regime.

Monsignor Boniface Tamani of the Catholic Church is Chairman of the
Public Affairs Committee, a grouping of religious leaders which comments
on socio-political issues in Malawi says the country can do better.

"We have achieved some freedom of expression. For example the judiciary
is exercising its independence somehow, but these are things that need
protecting," he said.

The monsignor said all Malawians had a responsibility to safeguard
these freedoms, demand their rights and make their leaders accountable.


"I think we haven't come to that level yet and that is one of the
requirements of democracy."

*****

CB Establishes Specialist Units to Improve Efficiency

The Chronicle Newspaper (Lilongwe)

June 8, 2003
Posted to the web June 8, 2003

Jacob Jimu
Lilongwe

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) says that it has established
specialist units in the bureau in order to enhance its capability in
combating corruption.

ACB Assistant Director Victor Banda said this last Friday at the
closing of three week's training for investigators on monetary
competencies that the bureau organised.

'Some of the specialist units we have established include contracts,
procurement and access and administration of justice. We hope that such
units will be better able to deal with issues in their respective
specialities since they will be equipped with requisite skills on how to
handle corruption issues in those areas,' said Banda.

He added that the British Department for International Development
(DFID) has already provided funding for the programme.

'At the moment the Malawi Institute of Management (MIM) is undertaking
a *needs assessment' and once the exercise is over the programme will
begin,' he said.

Speaking at the same function, the British Ambassador to Malawi, His
Excellency Norman Ling said that the dominant perception that the bureau
is ineffective is wrong, saying that the bureau has managed to register
a 50% success rate.

'Contrary to the view that the bureau is ineffective, it actually has a
conviction rate of 50%. This is very credible,' said Ling.

Ling called on government to create an enabling environment so that the
bureau's performance is further enhanced.

'The government must enforce its accounting and disciplinary
procedures.

Funding levels for the bureau should be maintained if not augmented,'
he added.

Ling expressed his government's desire to have the Corrupt Practices
Act amended in order to give the bureau the legal powers to commence
litigation against suspects of corruption without seeking the consent of
the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) as is currently the case.

'That would provide a strong, positive signal to the international
donor community and international investors that Malawi is committed to
fighting corruption,' remarked Ling.

The workshop, funded by the British government through DFID drew eleven
participants from Malawi, two from Zambia and one from Sierra Leone.


*****

Journalists Concerned About Community Radio News Ban

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

June 4, 2003
Posted to the web June 4, 2003

Johannesburg dalawi now is one of development and how

A group of concerned journalists in Malawi have called for the repeal
of a media law that bans community radio stations from broadcasting
news.

The issue has dogged Malawi's broadcasters for some time, but it rose
to prominence again during an international conference on the role of
community radio, held in the southern city of Blantyre earlier this
week.

A spokesman for the National Media Institute of Southern Africa
(NAMISA), Innocent Chitosi, told IRIN that Evans Namanja, director
general of the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA),
reminded delegates of the controversial Section 51 (3) c of the
Communications Act.

Chitosi said the warning appeared to have been directed at the Malawi
Institute of Journalism (MIJ) radio station, although a number of other
community radio stations broadcast news.

MACRA has previously accused the MIJ, considered a training ground for
journalists, of biased reporting and warned that it risked losing its
licence.

Chitosi said the latest warnings have been seen as an attempt to
silence media, other than the state-controlled Malawi Broadcasting
Corporation (MBC) and Television Malawi, ahead of next year's
elections.

"The MBC news is just about the ruling United Democratic Front and the
president's diary," Chitosa said. "But the MIJ puts people first and
quotes the opposition."

A statement released by NAMISA said: "Community radio gives all
political players and ordinary citizens a platform to air their views."

Chitosi said that NAMISA, the Malawi chapter of the Media Institute of
Southern Africa, had a meeting scheduled with parliament's media
committee later in June to discuss the matter.

"Although the act stipulates that community radio stations can't
broadcast news, it is against [section 35 and 36] of the Malawi
constitution which provides for freedom of the media and freedom of
expression," he said.

Chitosa said they would also ask for a review of the MBC and MACRA
boards to ensure that they are composed of media professionals.

With a high percentage of Malawi's population living under the poverty
line, many people cannot afford television sets or buy newspapers, and
rely on community radio stations for information.

*****

Satellite Transmitters Monitor School Feeding

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

June 4, 2003
Posted to the web June 4, 2003

Johannesburg

The World Food Programme (WFP) in Malawi will monitor the progress of
its school feeding programmes in 12 pilot sites via satellite.

Twelve satellite transmitters have been installed in schools in the
central Dedza district to ensure the faster collection of data and act
as an early warning system, especially during the rainy season and in
remote areas, Giles Enticknap, WFP programme assistant for school
feeding in Malawi, told IRIN on Wednesday.

"It would provide information on where (food) deliveries have been made
and monitor the distribution of commodities for forward planning," he
explained.

The devices, which operate on five-year batteries, are installed in
protective boxes and operated by teachers. They contain a monitor with
prompts to enter information like enrolment figures and ration sizes on
the keypad. The information is relayed to a global satellite network and
then downloaded via a private company in France to a WFP website for
analysis by staffers.

The system is currently being used in countries in South America and
Asia, as well as in Sudan where it takes 15 hours for field workers to
reach some schools.

Plans are afoot to install up to 75 of the devices.

Malawi's school feeding programmes, considered an important factor
particularly in keeping girls in school, currently reach about 160,000
children in eight districts.

*****

HIV/Aids And Women's Reproductive Health

The Chronicle Newspaper (Lilongwe)

OPINION
June 8, 2003
Posted to the web June 8, 2003

Pushpa Jamieson
Lilongwe

The risk of death due to pregnancy is compounded by HIV/AIDS whose
incidence is highest amongst women in the age group 20 to 34. This issue
therefore has more to do with the control of women's bodies and
decisions on when and with whom women should have a child.

This is a satement in a publication made by the Government of Malawi on
The National Platform for Action as a follow up to the 4th World
Conference On Women which was held in Beijing in September 1995.

The statement also reveals that a Demographic and Health Survey (DHS)
found that at the time the survey was carried out, 40% of all
pregnancies in Malawi were unwanted.

This fact has indicated the need to empower women to be able to contol
their fertility in order for them to make the best choices for their
reproductive health.

A chat with Regina and some of her friends drawing water at a villiage
borehole in a rural location reveals to what extent women are concerned
about not being able to make the choice about how many children they
want to have.

'I have eight children and three have died,' Regina said. ' My last
born is now four years old and my husband is wondering why it is that I
have not become pregnant again.' She says she has had to use some tricks
in order not to fall pegnant. 'I heard from some younger women about
Banja La Mtsogolo and visited them on my way to the market. After
explaining to them that I did not want to have any more children, they
gave me medicine that I take every day.

'The only problem is that I must make sure that my husband does not
know that I take this in order not to become pregnant' she adds, 'I keep
the medicine in the dengu (basket) where I the ufa (maize flour) is
because that is a place he never goes.

'It is very difficult to keep this secret fom him and he would kill me
if he knew what I was up to'.

As the other women laugh at what is being told, one of them reveals
that she too has a problem because she does not want any more childen.

Gette worked as a housemaid for some time before she was married and
her boss told her about the pill. 'My boss and I were like family and
she always told me that I should not have many children because it was
not good for my health. Also, if I had less children, I could look after
them much better.' Since she was married less than five years ago she
has had two children and about to have her 3rd. 'I would like this to be
my last child and I worry about talking to my husband about not having
any more.' She points out that children are very important to the man,
and the more children he has the more manly he feels. 'I do not even
know how to start talking to him about not having any more children' she
laments.

The other women give advice to Regina about where else she can hide the
pill in order for her husband not to discover what she has been up to
and to Gette on how she can ensure that she does not have any moe
childern.

When the subject of HIV/AID is brought up, the joking and jovial mood
changes instantly. 'This is a real concern,' Regina says adding, 'We are
burying many people in the village and we know that it is this which is
killing us.' She say because of cultural beliefs women are made to
adhere to, it is not easy to talk to a husband about sex. 'Even if you
know that he has been sleeping with a person who has died from AIDS
related complications, you cannot ask him anything.' She said in most
cases women just take care of a husband that has become sick and not
even mention AIDS. 'You just take care of him and wait for your time to
get sick to come' The other women nod in agreement. Gette openly says
she has not been feeling well since her last baby and has thought about
finding out if she is HIV positive.

'I have not been well since the last child and would like to know if I
have the virus, but I cannot even speak to my husband about it because
he may think I do not trust him and he will leave me. He provides for me
and the children. I can not afford to suggest HIV testing which would
make him very angry.' Asked what they though would help in addressing
their concerns, one woman said:, 'If it was possible to talk to my
husband about HIV and AIDS without fear of being beaten or worse, left
it would be good.' Another added: 'If you can talk openly about things
like this as two people and not woman and man, more things would be
solved becaue you would consider each other's points' Although this is
happening in a rural setting, the situation is no different in the urban
areas where most women have been taught that a husband has the final say
in maters relating to the family.

Because sex is still very much a taboo subject in the Malawian culture,
silence surrounds this topic. This has a tremendously negative impact on
the prevention, treatment and mitigating factors in the fight against
HIV/AIDS.

Silence and not being able to discus HIV/AIDS or issue that concern sex
will hinder the fight against the epidemic.

According to a paper presented at the Mainstreaming of Gender in
Development Planning and Project Management for Catholic Relief Sevices
by Dr. Mary Shawa of the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Community
Services, because of the culture of silence that surrounds sex,
accessing treatment and services for sexually tansmitted diseases is
highly stigmatising for both women and men.

It is worse for women because telling a partner would result in a
matrimonial break up. Close to 80% of Malawian have one form of Sexually
Transmitted Infection (STI) without their knowledge because many of the
STDs do not show obvious signs or symptoms. Unless one has the
information about the signs to watch for, it is difficult to know if you
are infected.

As sex in still the most common and fastest way in which HIV/AIDS is
spread in Malawi, the risk of becoming infected is much higher when
woman are not able to make decesions about their reproductive health.

*****

Mozambique moved by HIV story

By Jose Tembe
BBC, Maputo

One of Mozambique's leading journalists has become the first media
professional in the country to announce publicly that he is
HIV-positive.

Bento Bango, who writes for the weekly paper Zambeze in Maputo, told a
news conference on Thursday that he had decided to break the silence so
that people would have no reason to speculate about his condition.

The 44-year-old father of four said he discovered he was infected with
the virus that causes Aids after a voluntary test at Maputo Central
Hospital in May this year.

He said he did not know how the news would be received by his
colleagues and employer, who have been informed, as HIV/Aids is still
stigmatised in Africa.

Courageous act

"I have been renting a house. But about two weeks ago, the landlord
told me to vacate the premises, although I have paid a three-month rent
in advance," he said.

The news conference was attended by Bango's wife, father, Prime
Minister Pascoal Mocumbi, Health Minister Francisco Songane and Janet
Mondlane, who heads the National Council for the fight against Aids.

Bango told his fellow journalists that he might have contracted the
virus HIV through unprotected sex.

Prime Minister Mocumbi praised Bango's courage.

Mr Mocumbi said Aids was claiming the lives of many Mozambicans, and
Bango's attitude showed that people were becoming aware of HIV/Aids,
which poses the greatest threat to the country's development.


'Positive Lives'

Receiving a copy of a book titled Vidas Positivas (Positive Lives) from
the prime minister, Bango said: "I hope that the government and the
community will support me, and I am prepared to work with the National
Council for the struggle against the pandemic".

Official statistics show that the rate of HIV infection among adults in
Mozambique has risen to nearly 15% this year, from 12% last year.

Life expectancy in Mozambique is expected to drop to just under 40
years in 2010 because of HIV/Aids.

*****

Bruiser Bob says he's 'fighting fit'

Cape Town

09 June 2003 09:29

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has dismissed speculation that he
means to retire in the near future, saying he is still fighting fit.

"I am for a fight, I am getting younger as I told you, and I still can
punch," he said in an interview recorded earlier this week and broadcast
by SABC television on Sunday.

He also said the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's "final
push" this week to topple his government -- which was brutally checked
by his security forces -- had failed totally.

"It was just some drama for the G8 which they wanted, but a drama in
which the main characters have failed to impress anyone," Mugabe said.

Asked about the possibility of talks with the MDC, he said his
government had already said it wanted dialogue "but it must be
meaningful dialogue".

Referring to the MDC's court challenge to the legitimacy of his
re-election as president last year, he said there could be no dialogue
on issues that were still pending in court.

"We have said either you withdraw the case in court regarding the
legitimacy of my government, the legitimacy of myself, or you wait until
the court has decided on the issues that you have placed before the
judges. You can't have it both ways."

The MDC, he said wanted to dialogue with the British and the Americans,
and did not look at the need for Zimbabweans to talk with each other in
a realistic way to find a solution to their problems.

"We are open on that one, yes, certainly, and we remain open. We have
said so to our mediators [Nigerian] President Obasanjo and President
Mbeki and they have been helping us immensely on this subject.

"But of course their appeal to the MDC not to resort to mass action,
not to resort to violence has not yielded fruit. But we ask them to
continue to appeal to them.

"It's sad when we are forced as government to have to use teargas
against our youth who are being misled. But we have to do it in the
interests of peace and security. We don't want to make our people
suffer."

Mugabe, who is 79, said that as he got "younger and younger" he was
attracted by the prospect of retirement. However he did not want to
retire in a situation where people were disunited and where certain
objectives had not been achieved.

"The succession issue should be discussed in a harmonious way, openly,
and if it points the way forward well and good, but if it is going to
cause division, as it is tending to do at the moment, then one says no
to it."

He said it would be nonsensical for him to quit only a year after
re-election.

He also rejected speculation that his government had mismanaged
Zimbabwe's economy, and blamed the country's woes on recurrent drought
and sanctions. - Sapa

*****

Tsvangirai to be held in jail until July



10 June 2003 07:44

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been remanded in
custody until next month and formally charged with treason after his
party called for anti-government protests last week, state prosecutor
Stephen Musona said on Tuesday.

Musona said the head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), who was arrested on Friday, was charged under the country's tough
security laws with treason for inciting violence.

He was remanded in custody until July 10 by a magistrates' court in
Harare but given leave to apply for bail at a higher court.

His arrest came on the last day of a week of protests against President
Robert Mugabe. The MDC claimed that 800 of its supporters had been
arrested in the five-day national strike last week.

Tsvangirai already faces charges of treason that he plot ted to have
President Robert Mugabe assassinated.

The fresh charge is that he plotted a violent overthrow of the Mugabe
government by calling for mass anti-government demonstrations.
Tsvangirai denies both charges, saying he has always advocated a
peaceful change of government in Zimbabwe.

The opposition party's secretary general, Welshman Ncube, a co-accused
in the first treason trial, was arrested yesterday and may also face new
treason charges. He was questioned yesterday by police, who were
expected to detain him after his appearance in the high court.

Mugabe warned that he would continue his campaign against the
opposition in a rare interview broadcast by the South African
Broadcasting Corporation: "As long as there is that fight, I am for a
fight ... And I can still punch."

The 79-year-old president dismissed suggestions that he is ready to
retire after 23 years in power.

South Africa has encouraged him to stand down and hand over to a
government of national unity as part of a deal. But Mugabe rejected the
suggestion. "I don't want to retire in a situation where people are
disunited and where certain of our objectives have not been achieved,"
he said. "It would be nonsensical for me, a year after my election, to
resign."

Human Rights Watch, a New York-based organisation, warned that the
Mugabe government had increased its abuses of civil rights in recent
months.

"Not only have the army and police personnel failed to protect people
from human rights abuses, but they are now carrying out abuses
themselves," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the
organisation's Africa division. "Recent legislation has drastically
curtailed citizens' rights to freedom of expression, assembly and
association." The report says political violence, prevalent in rural
areas since 2000, has become common in urban centres, and non-political
organisations are being targeted.

Police raided the offices and home of filmmaker Edwina Spicer in the
last few days. "They swooped on our house Friday and again on Monday,"
said Ms Spicer, who is currently in London. "They accused me of beaming
bad reports about Zimbabwe from our premises. When staff members said we
had not been here for a week, they were beaten and required
hospitalisation."

Spicer said that equipment worth an estimated £20 000 was seized.

Human Rights Watch joined numerous Zimbawean civic organisations in
calling for the Mugabe government to re-establish the rule of law,
disband youth militia, withdraw military personnel from residential
areas, and revise legislation contrary to international human rights
law.

The government is confronted with growing opposition. The five-day
strike shut virtually all industrial and commercial activity and
prompted a massive show of intimidatory strength by security forces.

Residents of Harare's townships reported beatings by Mugabe's youth
militia in retribution. Some claimed that the cabinet minister Elliot
Manyika directed the beatings, according to Zimbabwe's Standard
newspaper. Manyika carried a list of hundreds of names of people who
were marked for retaliatory violence, according to the report.

The new treason charges against Tsvangirai centre on two political
rallies last month where the state claims he urged supporters to take to
the streets to oust Mugabe and the Zimbabwean government.

Ncube is accused of calling on supporters, in statements the government
says were made last week, to take part in demonstrations and march to
State House, Mugabe's official residence. Under draconian new security
laws the protests were declared illegal.

Tsvangirai's lawyer, George Bizos, said the latest allegations were
"spurious" and intended to keep his client in custody in the wake of
last week's protests.

"The charges are to prevent him from exercising his rights as a
politician and leader of the opposition," he said. - Guardian Unlimited ©
Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

*****

Mugabe targets 'unpatriotic' firms

Harare

10 June 2003 13:47

The Zimbabwean government is to take over six firms which closed their
doors in support of last week's five day "mass action" by the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), industry Minister Francis Nhema
told state radio on Tuesday.

Nhema said the firm's operating licences will be cancelled. In
addition, expatriate staff employed by the firms would have their work
permits revoked and face deportation.

He said eight other firms investigated by security police and
government inspectors during the stayaway associated with the MDC
protest had managed to give "reasonable excuse" for not doing business
as normal.

Nhema did not give details of the firms, or the nationality of their
owners, but he threatened to give them to "loyal, patriotic" new
owners.

Legal and business sources were unaware which firms were being targeted
but expected appeals to the courts if the authorities went ahead with
seizures.

The MDC, led by veteran trades unionist Morgan Tsvangirai, hoped a
"final push" would force the exit of President Robert Mugabe (79) after
23 years in power.

However, the opposition were prevented from "bringing millions onto the
streets" by the massive deployment of troops, tanks and helicopter
gunships alongside ruling party militants.

The authorities allege the MDC are behind a dire shortage of banknotes
which most economists associate with the 269% runaway inflation here.

Police assistant commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said police roadblocks
were seizing large sums of notes. State radio said over Zim$15-million
(US$188 000) had been confiscated, allegedly intended to bribe youths to
take part in anti-Mugabe protests.

Pro-government militants were on Tuesday reported to have forced the
closure of a private boarding school at Lilfordia, 50km west of Harare.

The self-styled "ex-guerilla war veterans" invaded the grounds,
claiming that by temporarily closing during last week's protests, the
school had taken a political position, reported the independently- owned
Daily News. It said the 165 children had to be sent home.

Man Utd help Malawi street kids

Malawi's football-loving street children have a good reason to cheer.
Manchester United have donated two full replica strips for a street
children's football team in the capital, Blantyre.

The donation was in response to an on-air challenge by BBC Radio Five
Live.

Whilst reporting live from Malawi on the food crisis in the country,
Radio Five Live presenter Rajesh Mirchandani challenged Manchester
United to donate a complete team strip to Chisomo FC, a team of street
children from Chisomo children's club in the country's largest city,
Blantyre.

The club responded by donating two sets of shirts, shorts and socks,
plus a goalkeeper's strip and two footballs, which have now arrived in
Malawi.

The club was formed to enable children to leave the streets by helping
to rebuild their self-confidence.

"The street children we met are crazy about football - to them it's so
much more than just a game - it helps them cope with their troubles,"
says Rajesh Mirchandani.

Bare feet

Chisomo FC is Malawi's only street children's football team.

When the team first entered Blantyre under-14's league, the other teams
were not used to playing football with street children.

The street children were social outcasts and played without football
boots and strips unlike many other teams.

Last year Chisomo FC finished ninth in the Blantyre district league -
their first season - out of a total of 20 teams.

Last season's highlight was winning a local tournament where they
outplayed some of Blantyre's strongest teams.

"Football helps the children to have fun, to realise they have talents
and to learn discipline. To play for Chisomo the children have to work
hard at school or at the apprenticeships they are doing," says Chisomo
FC coach Macdonald Nkhutabasa.

Chisomo Children's Club, supported by Christian relief and development
agency Tearfund, works with some of Malawi's most vulnerable children.

Many of them are forced into a life on the streets by poverty and
HIV/Aids.

Since 1998, the club has worked to enable hundreds of children to
return to school or start apprenticeships in skills such as carpentry
and metal work.

Many of these children have also been reunited with families.

*****

The Plight of Women Beggars On the Streets

The Chronicle Newspaper (Lilongwe)

June 8, 2003
Posted to the web June 8, 2003

Maxwell Zingani
Lilongwe

One often wonders how a woman who is blind or has a physical disability
and lives and survives by begging in the streets will make her situation
worse by becoming pregnant and having a string of children to provide
for.

Most of these women offer sex to men in exchange for some of the things
that they may need. They often get raped in the process of trying to
negotiate.

One blind woman who makes her living by begging, Ndole Mussa, who is
popularly known as amayi a Chifundo (Chifundo's mother) said that she
was made pregnant by a watchman at a shop where she used to spend her
nights.

'All the watchmen were chasing beggers from the shop varandas that they
were guarding but this particular watchman let me and another woman
begger spend the night in the shelter of the shop,' said Mussa.

She went on to say that the watchman later told her that if she wanted
to continue to spend the night at the shop that he was gaurding she must
have sex with him.

'When I refused, he called his friend and the two of them forced me to
have sex with them,' said Mussa, She went on to say that when she
discovered that she was pregnant she tried to find the men that had
raped her but they were no longer where they used to be.

'Moreover, being blind, I only knew them by voice, therefore it was
difficult for me to trace them,' said Mussa adding that she had heard
later that the father to her child had also slept with other women
beggers.

'It was not just me who was raped by this partcular watchman, there
were others who had been raped by him,' said Mussa She said in the rainy
season things get tough because they need shelter.

This is also the time that the watchmen take advantage of them knowing
how desparate they are for shelter from the rain. .

Mussa said that this was not the only time that she was raped by
watchmen or other people who move around at night.

'One night I was raped by 6 people who I think were a gang of thiefs,'
said Mussa.

As if raping her was not enough of a nightmare, the men tore her cloths
leaving her almost naked.

'That was the only set of cloths that I had and lucky for me, the
following morning a woman took pity on me and gave me a dress,' said
Mussa.

She said that she has no doubts that she has been infected by HIV/AIDS
because of the number of men that she has slept with.

'I have been raped numerous times by countless men and I'm sure I have
AIDS - but there is nothing that I can do about it,' she said.

Another disabled woman who is also a beggar, Mary Zimange, said that
although she has never been raped by these watchmen, she offers them sex
in exchange for food or money.

'There are times when things get tough that we can go for two days
without having anything to eat, so it is during these times that I have
no choice but to offer sex to watchmen, or other men who are also on the
streets so that I can have something to eat,' she declares.

She says she has been on the streets of Lilongwe for the past 10 years
and is mother of a 4 year old son. She goes futher to say that she has
had sex with many men. Asked whether these men were using condoms she
simply asked 'Why?' saying that most men that she sleeps with never
mentioned the use of a condom.

Asked if she was not concerned about becoming infected with HIV and
contracting AIDS she says: 'Ndilibe nazo ntchito, ndi chimodzimodzi
munthu wakufa, (I don't care, I am as good as a dead person).' She said
that when she discovered that she was pregnant the man who had made her
pregnant refused responsiblity.

'When I told him that I was pregnant he said that he was not the one
who was responsible. From that time until today, I never seen him
again,' said Zimange.

She has slept with other men in order to provide food for herself and
her son.

'I need money to survive and when things get tough and people are not
giving us money, I have to find other ways to survive.'

A noticeable number of women who are on the streets begging are either
nursing infants or are pregnant. The fathers of these children do not
want to take responsibilty for the children.

*****

Zimbabwe's 'self defeating repression'

Washington

11 June 2003 09:24

For the fourth time in five days, the United States on Tuesday
pilloried Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government for its
crackdown on the opposition, calling it "self-defeating repression."

The State Department, which on Monday accused Harare of escalating a
campaign of "intimidation and suppression," renewed its calls for a
dialogue between the government and its foes and again demanded the
immediate release of detained opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

"We deplore the government of Zimbabwe's harassment and provocation of
the political opposition," deputy department spokesperson Philip Reeker
said.

"This is a time when dialogue between the government and opposition is
urgently needed, and the government should immediately cease its assault
on the opposition and pursue such a dialogue," he told reporters.
eo longer where they used
Since Thursday, the State Department has steadily stepped up its
criticism of Harare as the government cracked down anew on the
opposition.

Reeker said the Mugabe government's pursuit of ruinous economic and
social policies alone were responsible for the devastating crises in
Zimbabwe and dismissed a treason charge against Tsvangirai as
"spurious."

"The violence and coercion that have been propagated by the Mugabe
regime threatens Zimbabwe and have inflicted ... overwhelming hardship
on the people," he said, adding that the situation would likely get
worse unless Mugabe and his aides agreed to a dialogue with the
opposition.

"Their continued recalcitrance in the face of the situation there
represents really a self-defeating repression of the opposition and
stands in the way of a process forward to improve life for Zimbabweans
and to put the country back on the course of democracy and stability and
prosperity," Reeker said.

The spokesperson was unmoved by reports that one of Tsvangirai's top
deputies, Welshman Ncube, who was detained by authorities on Monday
three days after his boss, had been freed.

"We think they should both be released and these spurious charges
dropped," Reeker said.

The charges against Tsvangirai stem from his Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) party's call for mass protests against Mugabe's government
which it blames the government for the severe economic and social
hardships gripping the country, including food, fuel and money
shortages.

Mugabe has accused Tsvangirai of inciting his supporters to overthrow
the government although the MDC insists the strikes and streets marches
it encouraged last week were intended only to show public anger at the
government.

Hundreds of opposition supporters, activists and officials were
arrested or assaulted by state agents during the week of mass action.

Mugabe has defended the use of force against the demonstrators, saying
it was necessary to preserve national security.

Tsvangirai appeared in Harare's high court on Wednesday, handcuffed,
shackled and in prison uniform, for a hearing on his application for
bail. The court accepted a defence request for Tsvangirai to attend in
civilian dress, and the hearing was briefly suspended to allow the
opposition chief to change. - Sapa-AFP

One of the jobs listed below is for Malawi, but you must be a physician.
Pass on the word.

----- Original Message -----
From: <pwha-net@...>
To: "PWHA-NET" <pwha-net@...>
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 6:48 PM
Subject: [pwha-net] Job Opportunities at FHI


> Job Opportunities at FHI
> Maggy Li,USA
> ***
>
> Hello, please help distribute the following opportunities and encourage
> people to apply online at www.fhi.org.  Thanks
>
> FHI is dedicated to improving lives, knowledge, and understanding
> worldwide through a highly diversified program of research, education, and
> services in family health and HIV/AIDS prevention and care. Since our
> inception in 1971, FHI has formed partnerships with national governments
> and local communities in dozens of countries throughout the developing
> world to support lasting improvements in the health of individuals and the
> effectiveness of entire health care systems.  We are seeking qualified
> candidates for:
>
> Associate Program Officer, YouthNet (DC)
> Responsible for providing support to develop, approve, administer, and
> monitor subagreements and technical assistance at the global and
> country-level activities of the YouthNet Program. Coordinates the
> development, review, approval and administration of subproject documents,
> including subproject amendments and Task Orders. Assures adherence of
> subproject documents to Program norms and helps develop and maintain
> system for tracking such information. Assists Program staff in responding
> to administrative and programmatic requests. Assists in the preparation
> and coordinates the compilation of reports and applications, including
> annual and interim reports, work plans, strategies, including typing
> correspondence, trip reports, purchase requisitions, entries for the EIS
> and other routine documents.    BA/BS in public health or related field
> and three to five years relevant experience or Masters degree in public
> health or related field and one to three years relevant experience in
> program support. International experience and experience in public health
> preferred.
> Experience working with USAID cooperating agencies preferred. Strong
> writing skills. Fluency in French, Spanish or Portuguese preferred.
>
> ***
> Senior Technical Officer, Community and Home-based Care (CHBC), (DC)
> Responsible for overseeing development and implementation of the
> Institute's technical strategy for community and home-based care. Provides
> technical oversight to country programs and implementing partners to
> ensure technical soundness of CHBC interventions. Provides technical
> leadership and technical support in CHBC approaches and implementation
> including linkages with VCT, Clinical care, OVC, and ARV learning site
> programs. Develops guidelines, tools and recommendations related to
> implementation and evaluation of CHBC.
> Coordinates/collaborates with other technical units within FHI and others
> for development of relevant tools and guidelines for CHBC.    M.D., or MPH
> with equivalent experience in public health or the social sciences; and
> five years experience in health and social support programs in developing
> countries. Must have home/community based care experience or palliative
> care experience in HIV/AIDS. Fluency in French is an asset.
>
> ***
> Vice President, Program Support (DC)
> Program Support
> Responsible for providing programmatic leadership and oversight for field
> programs and global projects of the Institute for HIV/AIDS. Manages the
> Program Support Department workplans and budgets as well as human
> resources.
> MD or PhD, with public health degree or equivalent experience in public
> health, and 11-13 years of professional experience; or Master's degree in
> relevant discipline; and 13-15 years of professional health experience.
> Experience include five years specialized experience in HIV/AIDS programs
> in developing country settings and ten years management experience in
> public health programs.
>
> ****
> Vice President, Technical Support (DC)
> Technical Support
> Responsible for providing technical leadership and oversight for the
> technical strategies and activities of the Institute for HIV/AIDS. Manages
> the Technical Support Department workplans and budgets as well as human
> resources.    MD or PhD, with public health degree or equivalent
> experience in public health and 11-13 years of professional experience; or
> Master's degree in relevant discipline and 13-15 years of professional
> health experience. Experience includes seven years specialized experience
> in HIV/AIDS programs in developing country settings plus eight years
> management experience in public health programs.
>
> ***
> Country Director (East Timor)
> Responsible for directing and managing the implementation of the
> FHI/IMPACT program in East Timor in accordance with the USAID IMPACT
> Cooperative Agreement and in collaboration with the UN and local
> authorities. Ensures that appropriate technical assistance is provided to
> programs and activities as described in the FHI/IMPACT plan.    Requires
> Master's in public health or related field, and at least seven to nine
> years experience in the management of large public health or development
> programs or PhD/MD and five to seven years relevant experience.
> Willingness to learn local language.
> Good cross cultural skills.
>
> ***
> HIV-AIDS Care and Support Technical Assistant (Malawi)
> Responsible for strengthening the Ministry of Health and Population's
> coordination role in the implementation of all health services that make
> up the continuum of HIV/AIDS care and support. Develops and implement
> HIV/AIDS care and support services, policies and standards that are
> sensitive to equity concerns. Works with all stakeholders to facilitate
> standardized training of providers in provision of HIV care and support
> services. Facilitates development of a prioritized operations research
> plan relevant to Malawi in the areas of care and support and develop the
> capacity of the Ministry (HIV/AIDS Unit in particular) in designing,
> implementing, evaluating, writing and disseminating operations research.
> Facilitate the development and exploitation of links and synergies between
> HIV/AIDS and other relevant public health programs nationally and
> internationally (such as TB, STI, reproductive health, etc.) Prepare
> long-term plans, annual work-plans, 6-monthly reports and other ad hoc
> reports on the state of scaling up and performance of care and support
> services, research, stakeholder participation and budgets and
> expenditures.    Requires a qualified physician with at least ten years
> post-qualification experience in infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa
> (or equivalent combination of education and experience), of which at least
> the last five years experience is in implementing HIV care and support
> programs.
>
> FHI has a competitive compensation package.
> Interested candidates please submit cover letter, resume including salary
> requirements online at www.fhi.org
> or to:
> FHI
> HR,
> 2101 Wilson Blvd.,
> Suite 700,
> Arlington, VA 22201;
> Fax (703) 516-9036
> or e-mail: humanresources@...;
> Please indicate sourcing in your application.
> AA/EOE/M/F/V/D
>
> Maggy Li, MBA, PHR
> Recruiting Specialist, FHI
> Tel: (703) 516-9779 ext 220
> Email: mli@...
>
> *---*
> A posting from PWHA-NET (pwha-net@...)
>
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or its supporters.
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> Reproduction welcomed provided source is cited as follows:
> PWHA-NET eForum 2003: pwha-net@...

World Bank Funds Community-Driven Projects

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

June 11, 2003
Posted to the web June 11, 2003

Johannesburg

A World Bank cash injection of US $60 million aims to make a difference
to Malawians by financing the construction of development projects that
communities themselves have identified.

World Bank senior agricultural services specialist, Francis Mbuka, told
IRIN on Wednesday that the Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) was into
its third incarnation since 1995.

"The fund is designed to help the communities deal with their local
problems - basically to provide services to the people in the
communities. It's done through the communities being organised and then
trained by MASAF to access the funds. In order to access the funds they
have to contribute 20 percent [of project costs in cash or in kind, e.g.
construction materials], and 80 percent is then provided by the fund for
the identified public projects - roads, bridges, clinics, schools and so
forth," Mbuka said.

A World Bank statement said the bank's board had approved the funding
on Tuesday.

MASAF promoted a "bottom-up, demand-driven approach to development,
supports safety net activities, facilitates capacity building for
communities to implement demand-driven programmes, and facilitates
investments through savings clubs," Norbert Mugwagwa, World Bank task
manager for the programme, was quoted as saying.

Mbuka explained that MASAF 3, as the current three-year social action
fund was called, could make a difference to the lives of Malawi's
vulnerable populations.

"Malawi has a lot of vulnerable people who live below the poverty level
and, therefore, in a year like this year [of food shortages] ... this
programme is designed to take care of those as well," he said.

The programme had components to help ensure assistance to vulnerable
groups such as widows and widowers, the elderly, malnourished children
aged under five, orphans and their foster parents, the disabled, and
persons affected by HIV/AIDS.

"There are three major sections to the MASAF. The first is the PWPs -
public works programmes - which help vulnerable groups to get jobs in
their own villages, doing road works, for example. For this they get
paid a minimum wage that would help them meet their food requirements
while working their own gardens. So, they would work part of the day at
a MASAF programme, and then they go to work in their own gardens - it's
really a good safety net," Mbuka explained.

The second part of the MASAF was the "SSP - sponsored sub-project -
where finances would go to an NGO to help vulnerable groups like AIDS
patients, orphans, the disabled, people like that".

Mbuka explained that the NGOs identified vulnerable people and would
apply for funds, "and say 'look we would like to help with ABC', and if
MASAF is satisfied with that, then the funds are disbursed to the
community, on the understanding that the community should have taken
part in the design of that [assistance] programme".

The third aspect of the MASAF was the community sub-project (CSP).
"This is where the community involvement is the key: the community
identify that they have a need, they define their programme, set up
objectives and targets, and form a committee which looks after the
affairs of the CSP project," Mbuka said.

"All MASAF's experiences will be documented and analysed, and the
knowledge gained will be used for training and shared, to better improve
other communities and projects," the World Bank added.

*****

Fear stalks Zimbabwe's streets

Harare

13 June 2003 15:37

The state has opposed Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's
bail application, as he readies to spend an eighth night in jail on
Friday, but his continued detention without trial on treason charges has
drawn no reaction from ordinary Zimbabweans, who live in fear of arrest
and repression by the security forces.

Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was
arrested on June 6, the last day of week-long nationwide protests called
for by the opposition against the government of President Robert Mugabe.
The state on Thursday refused his application for bail.

The MDC blames the government for the severe economic and social
hardships gripping the country, including food, fuel and money
shortages.

Last week's protests took the form of work stoppages, which brought
many Zimbabwean cities to a halt, and were supposed to include peaceful
marches "for democracy".

But the marches never go off the ground, as security forces turned out
in force, and feared pro-government youth groups roamed the streets of
the southern African country.

Hundreds of opposition supporters, activists and officials were
arrested or assaulted by state agents during the week of mass action.

Tsvangirai was on Tuesday charged with treason as well as inciting
public violence. He was accused of urging Zimbabweans to oust Mugabe and
his government at rallies held before the week of protests.

The latest treason charges, which can carry the death penalty on
conviction, are the second to be brought against Tsvangirai.

He is currently on trial with two other senior MDC officials charged
with high treason for allegedly plotting to eliminate Mugabe ahead of
the 2002 presidential elections, won by Mugabe.

The court that charged Tsvangirai on Tuesday also ordered that he
remain in prison until July 10, but gave him leave to apply for bail.

He was held at Harare central police station for four days before being
moved to the capital's crowded, dilapidated jail.

Tsvangirai's lawyers filed for bail before Harare High Court on
Wednesday, but the application hearing went into its third day Friday,
and the union leader turned opposition chief looked likely to spend a
second weekend behind bars.

Meanwhile, there was no sign of protest on the part of opposition
backers to show their anger at their leader's arrest and continued
detention.

But, says the MDC, opposition backers have been wise to hold back.

When Tsvangirai was arrested, the MDC accused the government of trying
to provoke a popular outcry, which would then have been fanned until it
became violent protests, giving the government the ideal excuse to "ban
and crush" the MDC.

As recently as Thursday, when Tsvangirai's bail hearing was into its
second day, the MDC urged its activists and sympathisers to "remain calm
in the face of open provocation".

Memories are still fresh in the minds of Zimbabweans of the repressive
measures taken to crush last week's planned street marches.

At least one opposition supporter died, another was shot and injured
while hundreds of others were arrested, often under violent
circumstances.

Would-be protesters were dispersed by police firing teargas or charging
them and beating them with the butts of their guns or batons. Students
on the University of Harare campus were roughed up.

Adding to the misery endured last week by ordinary Zimbabweans are the
obligatory long hours of waiting in line for even the most mundane of
products.

Almost every native of this southern African country has for months had
to queue for hours for food, petrol, a bus to go to work, and money from
the bank, as Zimbabwe continues its downward spiral into unemployment
– 70% are out of work -- and inflation climbs ever higher. It is
now at nearly 300% per
annum.

A food crisis sparked by chaotic land reforms, which have seen farms
seized from whites and redistributed to landless blacks, and a serious
drought has left 5,5-million of the country's 11,6-million people in
need of food aid.

But the president has continually denied holding any responsibility for
Zimbabwe's multi-pronged crisis. Instead, Mugabe, who has ruled the
country for 23 years, blames the country's woes on the MDC and its
foreign backers, notably
former colonial power Britain and the US, who have, he says, but one
objective: to oust him and set up a pro-British government.

On Thursday, Mugabe threatened to expel the British ambassador to
Harare, Brian Donnelly, accusing him of being behind last week's
anti-government protests. - Sapa-AFP

*****

Mugabe threatens UK envoy

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has threatened to expel Britain's
ambassador in Harare, accusing him of helping opposition protests.
"We know that the British have been behind it. They are giving them
money, we know that. That's why I warn Donnelly, if he continues doing
it, we will kick him out of this country," Mr Mugabe told supporters,
naming Britain's envoy, High Commissioner Brian Donnelly.

His comments made at a public rally in the south-east of the country
follow last week's demonstrations and strikes organised by the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC).

In London, officials have denied any suggestion that the government is
supporting illegal activity in Zimbabwe and said Britain supported the
principle of democracy and the right to peaceful protest.

This latest threat against Britain is all part of Mr Mugabe's message
that he will not tolerate mass demonstrations in Zimbabwe aimed at
pressurising him to stand down, says the BBC's Hilary Andersson in
Johannesburg.

Blaming Britain

Relations between Britain and Zimbabwe have plummeted in recent years.


Mr Mugabe now rarely makes a public speech without blaming Zimbabwe's
troubles on its former colonial master.

He has accused Britain of having a colonial and racist agenda to back
Zimbabwe's white farmers, many of whom have lost their land due to the
government's controversial land redistribution programme.

Zimbabwe is deeply divided between supporters of Mr Mugabe and
supporters of the opposition, but the anti-British message has some
appeal in the country, where for years most of the land has been in
white hands.

*****

Zambia ministers lose pay rise

By Penny Dale
BBC, Lusaka, Zambia

The new vice-president of Zambia, Dr Nevers Mumba, has announced that
the cabinet has agreed to cut back their salaries by 30%.

The unprecedented move comes just months after they were awarded a 30%
rise and is an attempt by President Levy Mwanawasa to keep the economy
afloat at a time when the country's wage bill has spiralled out of
control.

Dr Mumba told journalists at a press conference on Thursday that the
government has done this to show leadership in the management of the
nation's resources, and ensure the sustainability of the economic
programmes.

The government is hoping to score political points with a public that
complains constantly about fat-cat politicians and their hefty salaries
and allowances.

Debt relief

But the move is also designed to keep the economy out of trouble as
Zambia enters the final phase of wiping out half of its external debt
under the World Bank's Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) programme.


At stake is about $3.5 billion in debt relief in line for Zambia if the
government shows that it has sustained economic reform, including
reducing the wage bill, for 12 months by the deadline of December.

But, according to the vice president, the government is not doing this
just to satisfy the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The deeply religious Dr Mumba said that the belt-tightening operation
is also about morality.

Skimpy resources

He explained that the time has come for the government to look at
whether it is spending its skimpy resources in the best way.

Over the next few weeks, other government officials will also be asked
to give up some of their monthly pay as the government tries to reduce
the rising budget deficit.

The vice-president said he has already held constructive talks with
union leaders, at which he briefed them on the state of affairs.

So after a 30% increase earlier this year, from 1 July the cabinet will
be back to square one, with the president earning $700 a month.

*****

Food aid hits Zambian farmers

There have been complaints in Zambia that the UN's food agency is
distributing aid that is no longer needed.

Former Zambian agriculture minister, Guy Scott, told the BBC that the
last year's drought was now over and after a good harvest there was now
food available all over the country.

But World Food Programme spokeswoman Judith Lewis says there are still
pockets where people needed food aid or could not afford to buy the food
now on the market.

"We've got to be sure that we don't leave these people behind. And so
that's what we're trying to look after - those pockets and those most
vulnerable people who are still at risk in Zambia.

She says the needs are particularly acute among HIV-affected families
and also in the southern district where there was not a good harvest.

Surplus

But Mr Scott says that World Food Programme deliveries were delayed in
arriving and what they are doing now is artificially cutting the food
prices paid to commercial farmers.

"People are being targeted with food aid right in the middle of a
bumper harvest," he said.

Genetically modified food aid was sent to Southern Africa during the
drought, despite strong reservations expressed in Africa.

But Zambia banned the aid, saying it would rather go hungry than risk
losing its export markets in Europe because its crops had been
contaminated with GM seed.

The drought in Southern Africa is now over, but Zimbabwe's agricultural
sector in particular remains in a poor state, after the government
implemented a widely criticised fast track programme of transferring
land ownership from white into black hands.

15 June 2003

Dear all,

Is anyone living in, around, or near Davis, CA?

Vyrle

Electoral Commission Abusing Funds

The Chronicle Newspaper (Lilongwe)

June 15, 2003
Posted to the web June 16, 2003

Christopher Jimu
Lilongwe

Commissioners and Secretarial staff at the Malawi Electoral Commission
are abusing the Loan Facility System and are now owing government
millions of kwachas which they took as Emergency Advances and loans to
buy cars and other household items, including the payment of personal
rentals.

According to a confidential Internal Audit Report leaked to The
Chronicle five Commissioners owe government over a million kwacha each
in salary and allowance advances and personal loans.

But publicist for the Commission Fergus Lipenga in explaining away the
large handouts say that the loans are part of the commissioners benefits
as stipulated in their job description by the Pubic Appointments
Committee.

'It is normal. Each and every company gives loans to its employees and
the same applies to the Electoral Commission. That is why people find
out first whether a company give loans before they join it,' Lipenga
said.

However, according the report the granting of advances at the MEC is
open ended resulting in Commissioners/officers having too many advances
and loans than their salaries can accommodate in repayment.

'This leads to impecuniosity on the part of the commissioners and staff
that are easily tempted to be partisan with monetary inducements,' reads
the report.

It further reads that the total unrecovered balance as at April 30,
2003 for the Commissioners and Senior Secretarial Staff was
K11,033,511.45. In each case the report indicates that in the 6 months
to May 2003 of the K1 million taken for motor vehicle loans less than
10% has been recovered. In some cases advances have been taken on a
monthly basis with no movement towards recovery.

Commissioners have obtained loans for up to 3 cellpones within a space
of 6 months including obtaining advances for paying cellphone bills.

The report indicates that the abuses will continue unless they are
stopped and recoveries are implemented immediately.

According to the report Chairman of the Commission J.B. Kalaile owes
government K1,140,000, Commissioner F. C. Chirwa K1,529,638.00,
Commissioner A. G. Mtendere K1,275,015.68, Commissioner K. Tembo
K1,196,000, Commissioner M. F. Kanjo K1, 027,837.64, Commissioner M. E.
Ngwembe K937,070.13, Commissioner Nanthuru K964, 950.00, Commissioner
Mwalughali owes K916,000.00 while Commissioner Nsanja owes government
K916,000.

The overall total owed by the Commissioners is K9,938,511.45.

On their part, the Commission Secretariat Staff owe the government
K1,095,000.00. Explaining about the loans by the Secretariat Lipenga
said that those working in the secretariate are entitled to an emergency
loan amounting to three months of their salary. They are also entitled
to a car loan three times their annual salary recoverable in 78 months.

Asked to comment on the complaints that the current Electoral
Commission is partisan in its electoral administration in order to avoid
being queried on the infringement of regulations governing advances and
get government protection, Lipenga said, 'That is not true. All the
loans were accounted for.' On reports that the EC that is deliberately
favouring the ruling party by refusing the opposition parties equal
coverage on Radio MBC and TV Malawi, and for failing to stop the ruling
party from conducting election campaigns before the campaign period has
begun, Lipenga said that the Commission is not empowered to carry out
such tasks.

'If the opposition parties are worried about that issue then they
should go to parliament to amend the constitution and give the EC the
powers to intervene,' he said.

*****

EU Satisfied With Progress On Roads

The Chronicle Newspaper (Lilongwe)

June 15, 2003
Posted to the web June 16, 2003

Wezie Nyirongo
Lilongwe

European Union (EU) Head of Delegation, Wiepke Van der Goot said the
Union is impressed with the way the National Roads Authority (NRA) is
managing EU funds meant for road rehabilitation and maintenance
programmes, though there is need for the government to look at the
programme as a priority that needs urgent attention and sufficient
funds.

He said it is inappropriate to pretend that there is no need for road
rehabilitation and maintenance because most of the roads in the country
are badly damaged.

He added that the EU is supporting NRA with funds to rehabilitate such
roads country-wide in order to make them passable as well as to assist
in avoiding frequent road accidents which, in most cases occur due to
poor road conditions. "We haven't seen anomalies with how EU funds are
managed at the NRA. "They manage them very well although there is still
need for the government to realise that the programme is a priority and
needs enough money since most roads are damaged," Goot told The
Chronicle in a separate interview after reports that government is
diverting some of the EU funds from NRA for other unknown businesses.

The EU has been funding road projects over the last few years to the
tune of some 90 Million, which is equivalent to 8.5 billion Kwacha.

The Head of Delegation recently graced the ground breaking ceremony for
Masasa-Golomoti-Monkey Bay road in Dedza district. The EU has set aside
an amount of MK1.68 billion which is about 16.8 million for the
reconstruction and rehabilitation of the road.

He said the rehabilitation of the Masasa-Golomoti-Monkey Bay road will
undoubtedly have a great impact on this central part of Malawi and
possibly also on the entire country. " It will not only facilitate
access to markets, schools and health centres, it will, in all
likelihood, also provide a major boost to the tourism sector, with the
possibility of earning valuable foreign currency and increased
employment possibilities.

The road will shorten the route to the southern part of Lake Malawi
which is a major tourist attraction," said Goot.

He added that the authorities should ensure swift completion of the
road and that the necessary administrative arrangements be put in place
for all equipment and materials needed for construction to arrive at the
site without delays and without being halted at the borders of Malawi as
has sometimes happened in the past. "Malawi has probably one of the best
road networks in Southern Africa, but this will deteriorate if the NRA
remains under-funded and this will result in less regular road
maintenance." The project for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of
the road was awarded to Murray and Roberts contractors and Group Five
Joint Venture and the Societe' Nouvelle INGEROUTE were awarded the
Consultancy Services for the supervision and technical assistance for
the construction.

The road works commenced in mid March and will end in December 2004.
Apart from the rehabilitation of the Masasa-Golomoti-Monkey Bay road,
the EU has also committed itself to funding the rehabilitation of the
Mangochi-Monkey Bay road to the tune of MK605 million.

It will also fund the construction of four damaged bridges along the
Lakeshore area, Lisasadzi, Kasangadzi, Liwaladzi and Kalwe to the tune
of MK220 million- about 2.216 million.

*****

Attorney General's Case Under Scrutiny

The Chronicle Newspaper (Lilongwe)

June 15, 2003
Posted to the web June 16, 2003

Christopher Jimu
Lilongwe

The Chief Justice is contemplating taking to task Attorney General
Peter Fatchi for levelling unsubstantiated allegations against High
Court Judge, Dunstain Mwaungulu.

Fachi questioned Mwaungulu's handling of a multi-million dollar
contract case involving government and a pre-shipment company SGS.

High Court deputy Registrar, Michael Tembo told The Chronicle in a
telephone interview last Wednesday that the matter is receiving the
Chief Justice's urgent and utmost attention.

'The matter is with the Chief Justice who is looking into it. When he
is ready everybody will be informed. But as I have already said, it is
an urgent issue which is being seriously looked into,' said the
Registrar.

The Malawi Law Society in its press release dated June 6, 2003
protested against the conduct of the Attorney General when he levelled
unsubstantiated allegations against Judge Dunstain Mwaungulu in his
handling of the case relating to the injunction sought by SGS Limited.

Part of the press release reads: 'When the allegations were initially
made the Law Society gave the honourable the Attorney General the
benefit of conducting the case but the fact that the honourable Attorney
General has failed to furnish the court with necessary affidavit
evidence of his allegations clearly demonstrates that the honourable the
Attorney General did not act in good faith.' Law Society Secretary
Charles Mhango told The Chronicle in a separate interview that the
society got angered by Fatchi's actions and that is why they asked the
Chief Justice to invoke section 21 (b) and (i) of the act on the
Attorney General.

Section 21 states that: The High Court on its own motion or application
by the Attorney General can suspend and admonish any legal practitioner
or even have their names struck off from the row.

Said Mhango, 'We want to protect the profession so that other people do
not do what Fatchi did to the learned Judge Mwaungulu in future. That is
why we want the Chief Justice to admonish the Attorney General.' A
Lilongwe based lawyer who asked for anonymity accused Fatchi of dragging
politics into his profession hence the many blunders he makes even on
simple issues.

'It is like he wants to please his masters rather than respect the
ethics of his profession. If he continues like this he will land himself
in bad books with the rest of practising lawyers in Malawi. I am not
surprised that he is being investigated for professional misconduct,'
said the lawyer.

Fatchi told a local weekly that despite the outcry from lawyers to have
him disciplined his conscience was clear.

Under section 41 of the legal education and legal practitioners' act of
the Laws of Malawi, the Attorney General is the head of the bar in the
country.

According to the lawyers it is this fact alone that he (the Attorney
General) ought to be exemplary in his conduct because any conduct
against professional ethics and etiquette as has happened against the
judge will put the profession into disrepute and undermine the
independence of the judiciary.

*****

Africa's wildlife 'to be privatised'

By Martin Plaut
BBC, London

A South African private company has said that it has plans to take over
a string of national parks throughout Africa.

Sub-Saharan countries said to benefit from the plan are Zambia, Malawi,
Uganda, Kenya and Mozambique.

The scheme, which is the brainchild of a Dutch multi-millionaire and
nature conservationist, Paul van Vlissingen, has won the support of an
extraordinary range of groups and individuals, including former South
Africa president Nelson Mandela, the US State Department and even the
World Bank.

The plan came about after Paul van Vlissingen had a discussion with Mr
Mandela in 1998.

Neglected

Mr Mandela told him that Africa had so many other priorities, including
education, social services and treating HIV/Aids, he says, that there
were few resources left over to provide for the continent's wildlife.

As a result many game parks are being badly neglected, offering little
to nature conservation or to the people of Africa.
o
The Dutch tycoon, whose family runs the Makro chain of wholesalers,
came up with an initiative designed to save Africa's ailing game
reserves.

Many, he argues, exist only on paper, with underpaid rangers looking
after parks that have been hunted bare by poachers.

Expertise

The scheme was to found a private company, African Parks Management and
Finance Company, to take them over.

Although it is a company, it is designed to bring together public and
private resources, says Mr van Vlissingen.

"The state could bring in expertise, scientists, animals from other
national parks and land, and I could bring in management expertise and
the drive to make it go," he explains.

Mr van Vlissingen claims the Marakele national park which the company
runs north of Johannesburg has been a success, with a number of rare
species now well established.

Now he is looking further afield and he already has a contract to run
two parks in Zambia, Sioma Ngwezi and Liuwa Plains.

Sioma is described by the Zambian tourists authorities as "completely
undeveloped and rarely visited", and there is clearly much for the
company to do.

Critics

But the plan has not been without its critics. In April a Zambian
opposition member of parliament declared the deal as "ill-conceived,
null and void".

Speaking at the press conference in Lusaka, Livingstone MP Sakwiba
Sikota said people behind the proposed management of the parks by
African Parks should be exposed and investigated.

"This is an ill-conceived agreement, it borders on theft and plunder of
the resources of the people of Barotseland and should be thrown out.

No company should be given absolute rights over the people's natural
resources unless it is owned 100% by the people of Barotseland
themselves," he said.

In Malawi the company has a 25 year management agreement to run the
Majete, a government owned reserve in the south of the country.

Here again the park is in a poor state.

Poaching

Malawi tourism authorities say that the park recorded many species,
including elephant, sable, kudu, hartebeest, waterbuck, bushbuck and
duiker


"But few remain owing to heavy poaching, so it is best to forget about
mammals and appreciate the reserve simply as a beautiful wilderness
area," the authorities say.

African Parks is currently negotiating to take over other nature
reserves in Mozambique, Uganda and Kenya. Mr van Vlissingen accepts that
his plans are not only radical, but stir up controversy.

But he promises that although his company will be run along commercial
lines, profits will be ploughed back into the countries in which they
operate.

He believes that unless a radical approach to game conservancy is
adopted, Africa's wildlife will be wiped out in less than a generation.

*****

Unicef launches birth registration drive in Mozambique

Maputo

16 June 2003 09:05

Most babies in Mozambique are still denied their "membership card" to
society, because they are not registered at birth, the United Nations'
Children's Fund, Unicef, said on Monday.

Speaking at the launch of a registration drive in the country, Unicef's
Maputo representative, Marie-Pierre Poirier, said birth registration was
a fundamental right all children were entitled to because it was the
first legal acknowledgement of their existence.

"Hence, a birth certificate is one of the most important pieces of
paper a person will ever own.

"Unregistered children lack the most basic protection against abuse and
exploitation, and may become attractive to child traffickers, who seek
to take advantage of their non-status," she added.

On the other hand, a birth certificate opened the door to a whole range
of other rights including education and health care, she said.

"This is of crucial importance for all children, especially for orphans
and other children made vulnerable by HIV/Aids, and for street children.
We encourage the government of Mozambique to strengthen the registration
system and to remove all barriers that prevent parents from getting
their child registered", she added.

Speaking at a school in Maputo on Monday, the African Union's (AU) "Day
of the African Child," she reminded guests, including government
ministers that 2003 had been dedicated to the promotion of birth
registration by the AU.

Unicef said it was difficult to estimate how many people did not have a
birth certificate in Mozambique.

From 2000 to 2002 the number of people registered increased from 145
000 to 244 000 per year.

According to the National Directorate of Registration and Notary,
between 70 and 80% of those were children. However around 765 000 babies
are born in the country annually. - Sapa

*****

Even Zimbabwe's dead need fuel

By Themba Nkosi
BBC, Bulawayo


The dead have become the latest victims of Zimbabwe's endless fuel
shortages.

Some dead people have had to endure humiliation by fuel attendants and
garage owners, who demand to see the corpses before they can sell fuel
to hearse drivers enroute to cemeteries.

When the fuel shortages became serious, undertakers were given priority
at petrol stations.

But then conmen started masquerading as undertakers and hearse drivers
and bought large quantities of fuel from garages and sold it at
exorbitant prices on the black market.

In some cases, the conmen managed to produce what looked like genuine
burial certificates at petrol stations and were given fuel by
unsuspecting attendants.

Proof

The government and civic groups have condemned the practice with church
leaders describing it as "satanic".

But garage owners have defended the practice saying it is the only way
to avoid selling the scarce liquid to conmen masquerading as
undertakers.

"We have been getting a lot of people claiming to be from funeral
parlours, some of them carrying fake burial certificates," said one
garage owner.

"In the end we discovered that conmen had exploited the privileges
given to undertakers from genuine funeral parlours."

Funeral parlours fall under the Essential Services Act.

In Harare, undertakers were forced to take four bodies to a service
station after the garage owners demanded proof that the driver of the
hearse was genuine.

In some cases, the funeral parlours tell bereaved families to source
their own fuel before bodies can be transported to cemeteries for
burial.

The undertakers have lodged their complaints with the Minister of
Energy and Power Development, Amos Midzi.

*****

Tsvangirai waits in jail for bail hearing
16 June 2003 12:55

A lawyer for Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on
Monday he was still waiting to hear when a ruling is to be made in the
Harare High Court over a bail application by his client.

"I haven't heard anything yet," said his lawyer Innocent Chagonda.

On Friday, High Court Judge Susan Mavangira delayed a ruling on a bail
application by Tsvangirai, jailed 11 days ago on treason charges after
his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party organised a week of
anti-government protests.

After hearing arguments from both the defence and the state on Friday,
the judge said she needed time to consider their submissions and would
inform lawyers early this week when she would make her ruling.

The MDC called for a week of mass action against the government of
President Robert Mugabe, which it blames for the far-reaching economic
and social hardships in the country.

The government claims the MDC president had called for the violent
ouster of Mugabe. Tsvangirai's lawyers say there is no evidence to
support the charge.

Meanwhile, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported on Monday
that four prisoners convicted of murder had been hanged.

The four prisoners, who were executed on Friday, had all been convicted
of murder "without extenuating circumstances" the paper said.

Zimbabwe still observes the death penalty against people convicted of
serious crimes such as murder and high treason. - Sapa-AFP

*****

Zimbabwe Bans Strikes in Basic Services

By MICHAEL HARTNACK
The Associated Press
Sunday, June 15, 2003; 10:58 PM


HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has banned strikes
in "essential services" following a five-day protest against his 23-year
rule, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Doctors, nurses, employees of the state power utility, firefighters,
transport and communications industry workers will not be allowed to go
on strike, the independently owned Sunday Standard reported Sunday.

The newspaper said the ban was published in the government's Labor
Notice, a bulletin of new laws. Employees of state radio and television
also were forbidden to strike, the report said.

Penalties were not specified, the newspaper said, but lawyers claimed
Sunday that security laws allow for sentences of up to five years in
prison.

"It is a desperate measure which will not change anything because if
workers feel that their grievances are not being addressed they will
always turn to the streets despite the laws," said Collin Gwiyo, deputy
secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.

Mugabe, 79, told a ruling party rally Friday in the western
Matabeleland region that he would "never again" allow opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai to organize "mass action" advocating his removal.

Tsvangirai, 51, was detained June 6, the last day of the five-day
protest. He remained in a Harare prison Sunday.

Mugabe responded to the protest by deploying security forces to crush
street demonstrations but a concurrent general strike shut down the
economy.

Defense lawyers are seeking bail for Tsvangirai, who already is being
tried for treason linked to allegations he plotted an assassination
attempt against Mugabe. A ruling is expected this week. He could face
the death penalty if convicted.

Zimbabwe's economy currently is in its worst crisis since independence
in 1980 with 269 percent inflation, widespread unemployment and the near
collapse of commercial agriculture since Mugabe started redistributing
5,000 white-owned farms to black Zimbabweans.

Britain and the United States have questioned the legitimacy of last
year's presidential elections, which handed Mugabe the presidency for
six more years.

He has threatened to expel the two countries' diplomats for allegedly
inciting unrest, although they are the principal donors of food for 8
million Zimbabweans at risk of starvation.


*****

Sense of despair haunts the African Renaissance

15 June 2003 09:03

In the Liberian town of Redemption last week the bodies of the dead
littered the main street. Aid workers with Médecins Sans Frontières
described a smell of death hanging over the town. 'People have come from
camps where the last food distribution was months ago,' said Alain
Kassa. 'They have again been fleeing for six days with nothing to eat.
Here in the city they won't even find the bits and pieces of food that
they can gather in the bush.'

Kassa was describing Liberia, but his words could just have easily been
applied to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Ivory Coast or
southern Sudan -- five trouble-plagued places, but all of them in
Africa. A few bloody weeks have seen a failed coup in Mauritania,
fighting for Liberia's wrecked capital, Monrovia, appalling inter-ethnic
violence around the eastern DRC town of Bunia, and violent suppression
of political protests in Zimbabwe.

It was not supposed to be like this. In the decade after the end of the
Cold War, the proxy wars of the United States and Soviet Union were
coming to an end, apartheid had breathed its last gasp and a new
generation of African leaders had been anointed who promised to
transform their continent. That dream they dubbed the African
Renaissance.

Last week, however, amid the tales of horror, the impotence of UN
peacekeepers sent to keep a meaningless peace, amid the hunger,
mutilation and inevitable tragic columns of refugees, the question was
being repeatedly asked: what has happened to that promised African
Renaissance?

First mooted as a concept by President Nelson Mandela at the
Organisation of African Unity's summit in Tunisia in 1994, the African
Renaissance has, however, been most associated with Mandela's successor,
Thabo Mbeki.

Its crucial test was that set out by Jacob Zuma, South Africa's Deputy
Prime Minister, at the launch of its South African chapter when he
declared in 1999 that 'we will know that the African Renaissance has
been achieved once war and destruction are a mere chapter of Africa's
history rather than a daily reality'.

Would the African Renaissance succeed or would it go the way of the
other ideas of African transformation like Negritude, Pan-Africanism,
African Unity and African Socialism that were supposed to change the
African horizon but failed?

At first sight it appears already to have failed. For a summation of
Africa even by those -- like Kwame Owusu-Ampomah of Durban-Westville
University -- who believe in the idea of an African Renaissance makes
for grim reading. In a paper two years ago Owusu-Ampomah listed a litany
of familiar ills.

'At the turn of the twenty-first century,' he wrote, 'Africa continues
to waddle in poverty, disease, and ignorance, having long lost the
momentum of the socio-economic gains of the 1960s and the early 1970s.
Worse still, the continent is being ravaged by internal and
international conflicts, notwithstanding the scourge of Aids, with
devastating effects on life and property.'

It is a picture of gloom that is not alleviated by the bald tabulation
of a continent's woes. More than 30 wars in Africa since 1970 account
for 'more than half of all war-related deaths worldwide' and have been
responsible for between up to 9,5-million refugees, UN figures show.

The average African lives on less than two dollars a day;
three-quarters of the world's poorest countries are African. Growth
rates, after the economic gains of the Sixties and Seventies, were
negative in the Nineties.

The continent is also saddled with debt. Its apparently intractable
problems account for 75 per cent of the UN Security Council's
deliberations. Then finally there is the scourge of HIV, running at
infection rates of well over 30% in countries like Zimbabwe, whose
damage is economic and social as Aids has carved a swath through
Africa's skilled and educated classes.

The twin trajectories of the Africa of the twenty-first century are
signified by the 10-year anniversaries next year of two of the
continent's most significant recent events -- the first free and fully
inclusive elections in South Africa and the genocide in Rwanda.

What they represent is a continent's imperfect progress towards
democratisation of its societies, set against the warning of the most
terrible kind of war. They represent, too, both the palpable successes
of the African Renaissance and its bloody failings.

'Every decade some new idea emerges that is supposed to change Africa
for the better,' says Alex Vines, head of the Africa programme at the
Royal United Services Institute at Chatham House. 'At the beginning of
the Nineties everyone was talking about "good governance". Then we had
Baroness Chalker's model for multi-party democracy; now we have African
Renaissance.

'The reality is there are some good things going on, but there are also
deepening problems. One of the really good developments has been in
terms of freedom of expression and the biggest single thing that has
helped has been the mobile phone, which in recent elections in Kenya,
Ghana and Senegal has had a significant impact in reducing electoral
fraud as people have been able to mobilise very quickly against it when
they see something funny going on. It has encouraged whistle-blowing.

'There have also been some democratic watershed elections as in Kenya,
where we see an entrenched leader like Daniel arap Moi being forced to
stand down.'

There have been other success stories in a similar vein. In Zambia,
when President Chiluba attempted to change the constitution to stand
again he was slapped down. Ghana is in the process of peaceful
transition from the Rawlings era. Angola, too, is at the beginning of a
decade of transition following the end of its long war.

It is in terms of its economic challenges that the African Renaissance
is having its greatest impact, not least in its argument that Africa has
been shamefully treated by trade restrictions and tariffs that, as
President Museveni of Uganda argued in Washington last week, meant that
Africa was subsidising Western trade.

'The point about African Renaissance is that it is a great grab bag of
ideas,' says Patrick Smith, editor of Africa Confidential . 'But its
economic arguments are the ones that are now quickly becoming the
orthodoxy.

'There are two points that come out of this: firstly that Western
agricultural subsidies are an international scandal, but that even with
their removal African farmers need to be helped to take advantage of
this.

'It is exactly what Kwame Nkrumah (Prime Minister of Ghana) was arguing
50 years ago - that Africa needs to develop systems of manufacturing and
marketing if it is not to stay at the bottom of the pile. But finally
Africa seems to be winning the argument on this.'

The West -- and America's response in particular to this argument --
has been at best an imperfect response, as Smith argues, pointing out
that the much vaunted agreement by America to open its markets to
finished African textiles to the tune of $2-billion is highly
conditional and represents a drop in the ocean for the US textile
industry.

Smith argues, too, that it is the success of this kind of economic
reform that is crucial for stabilising Africa economically, politically,
and in terms of bringing an end to its wars. For its wars, as Smith
argues, recently have been as much about economic activity in failed
states as about tribal competitions.

'What people have to remember is that the armed militias of the kind we
are seeing in Congo at the moment are a business -- that war is business
and that is not just enough to pay fighters $30 to hand over their guns
if the fighter then does not have something economically useful to do.'

It is the long wars like that in Congo which cast the deepest and the
darkest shadows. These are wars that envelope all sectors of society,
where all are potential victims; all potentially incorporated into an
effort inimical to Africa's fragile civic societies. They are places
where the violence has gone on so long it has been part of daily life.

And it is a failure of leadership that goes beyond the African
Renaissance to implicate the West and the United Nations which have
allowed problems like Congo and Liberia to fester and whose solutions
have showed a lack of imagination. 'We are seeing a failure in Liberia
exactly the same as in Iraq,' Vines says. 'There is an agenda to remove
President Charles Taylor which was behind his indictment by the UN.
There is a fixation with his removal but no road map as to how Liberia
should proceed. It puts the country's future agenda in the hands of
armed groups.'

Recent military interventions, more successfully by the largely British
forces in Sierra Leone and more equivocally by the French in Ivory
Coast, have shown how successful quick intervention can be in bringing
conflict to an end or stabilising a dangerous situation.

'The Congo is the greatest shame to the UN system,' Smith argues. 'If
the Permanent Five do not act with serious money and serious resolution,
with sufficient troops and logistics, it will simply go down the
drain.'

What happens in the next few months in the DRC and Liberia may be the
test of the African Renaissance and the test, too, of whether the world
can usefully intervene in Africa for good. - Guardian Unlimited ©
Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Get A Free Psychic Reading! Your Online Answer To Life's Important Questions.
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There is 1 message in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. Good Times for us Lonely peeps
From: "penegirltw_232"


________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2003 18:58:23 -0000
From: "penegirltw_232"
Subject: Good Times for us Lonely peeps

I don't know about you guys but I have been looking for a new site to meet new people on.
I think I have totally found it and am going to share it with you.
Lot's of porn, adult games, videos, pics and Tons more to get off to.
Look me up in the chat rooms under the same name

http://www.seductivesingles.net/landing.asp?afl=EYHO



________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________



Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

I've been wondering about this too.  Since I doubt this person is just
sending to our list and would therefore respond to shaming, Rand, is
there a way to block this sender?

>>> mcnurty@... 6/16/03 3:57 PM >>>
Where is this shit comming from????
We can censor our own.  Can we not shame porn off of the Ujeni?
What the hell, do we not have control over whom can sign up for this
chat room?
hmmmmmmmmmm

mcnurty

ujeni@yahoogroups.com wrote:

There is 1 message in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. Good Times for us Lonely peeps
From: "penegirltw_232"



________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2003 18:58:23 -0000
From: "penegirltw_232"

Subject: Good Times for us Lonely peeps

I don't know about you guys but I have been looking for a new site to
meet new people on.
I think I have totally found it and am going to share it with you.
Lot's of porn, adult games, videos, pics and Tons more to get off to.
Look me up in the chat rooms under the same name

http://www.seductivesingles.net/landing.asp?afl=EYHO



________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________



Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/



---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!

That's an auto-generated e-mail address from a spammer.  You can tell by the
number at the end: spammers add random digits or characters to their e-mail
addresses to get around people like us who want to block them.   The next e-mail
we get from these slimeballs will almost certainly have a different number on
the end and probably a different text name at the front as well, so blocking
this address probably won't help a lot.  Also, most spam comes from proxy
companies that contract to send it out by the tens of millions, so there isn't
even a human being anywhere on the other end.  Or, at least, not a human being
who understands the concept of shame.

Yahoo uses spam filters by default, this one must have slipped through.  Usually
the best way to deal with it is to report it as spam to yahoo, so that they
start adding it to the filters they use by default.  On my personal yahoo
account all I have to do is click the 'this is spam' button, but I'm not sure
how it works for a mailing list.

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Christine Chumbler [mailto:cchumble@...]
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 4:31 PM
To: ujeni@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [ujeni] Digest Number 1158


I've been wondering about this too.  Since I doubt this person is just
sending to our list and would therefore respond to shaming, Rand, is
there a way to block this sender?

Sorry, we've been away from the computer.  I don't quite understand how this
person is posting.  According to Yahoo, only group members can post messages,
and whoever this is is not a member of the group.  I submitted the email address
for banning, so hopefully that works.

-------Original Message-------
From: Christine Chumbler <cchumble@...>
Sent: 06/16/03 04:30 PM
To: ujeni@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [ujeni] Digest Number 1158

>

Thanks Mark.


-------Original Message-------
From: "Holland, Mark" <holland@...>
Sent: 06/16/03 05:08 PM
To: "'ujeni@yahoogroups.com'" <ujeni@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: RE: [ujeni] Digest Number 1158

>

Mugabe willl be gone 'in a year'

17 June 2003 12:18

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe may finally be ready to step down
"within a year", according to a report in Business Day.

The newspaper quoted Mbeki at the final session of the World Economic
Forum in Durban, as saying: "We will have an agreement in Zimbabwe
between government and the opposition about all the challenges that face
Zimbabwe."

Business Day said that according to sources in Harare, Mugabe was
"tired of trying to keep at bay the local and international forces
opposing him" and apparently wanted to leave once the MDC (Movement for
Democratic Change) recognised his presidency.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has now been in prison for 12 days after
he was arrested on charges of high treason for organising countrywide
protests against the ruling Zanu-PF. His trial resumed today after a
three week break, and concerns the first charges of treason brought
against the Tsvangirai, and two other opposition leaders, Welshman Ncube
and Renson Gasela.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's runaway annual inflation rate climbed nearly 31%
to just above 300% last month, the state-run Herald newspaper reported
on Tuesday.

The rise, which puts the annual inflation rate at 300,1%, was due to
steep price increases of foodstuffs, consumer durables and services.

With inflation at 300% in May, the objective of Finance Minister
Herbert Murerwa to bring the annual rate back down to below 100% appears
to be out of reach.

Murerwa made the pledge to stem runaway inflation when he presented the
budget for 2003 at the end of last year.

Zimbabwe's rampant inflation is a reflection of the deep-seated
economic crisis that is battering the country. Food, fuel and foreign
currency are in short supply here, and some 70% of the working
population is unemployed.

Three-quarters of Zimbabweans live below the poverty line, and nearly
half the population of some 11,6-million are at risk from famine,
sparked by a drought and by chaotic land reforms.

Meanwhile, the Biz-Community media newsletter reported on Tuesday that
Zimbabwean newspaper The Daily Mirror had halted its operations due to
the high costs of printing and the harsh economic environment.

Other newspapers have also come under pressure. The Daily News and its
sister publication the Daily News on Sunday said they had lost about
$1,6-million after suspected Zanu-PF youths and self-styled war veterans
destroyed copies of the latest issues, accusing them of backing the MDC
mass protests. - Sapa-AFP

*****

Zimbabwe lawyers concerned at delay in Tsvangirai's bail hearing

Harare

19 June 2003 14:59

Human rights lawyers in Zimbabwe on Thursday expressed concern at the
continued detention of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai who has been
in custody here for nearly two weeks.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said the detention of
Tsvangirai was "the highest profile matter" among a number of cases of
allegedly "delayed justice" in the country's courts.

Tsvangirai was arrested on June 6, the last day of mass action called
by his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party against the
government.

He was charged with treason for allegedly inciting the violent
overthrow of President Robert Mugabe's government during rallies ahead
of the mass action.

Tsvangirai denies the charges. He has so far spent 13 nights in police
custody awaiting a ruling on his bail application.

"Concern has also been raised that these delays appear to be more
pronounced in cases that are considered 'sensitive' or of public
interest or politically-related or of a constitutional nature," the ZLHR
statement added.

A judge hearing Tsvangirai's bail application said she would let his
lawyers know this week when they could expect a ruling on the bail
application. - Sapa-AFP

*****

Now Mugabe takes revenge on transport companies

Harare

19 June 2003 13:50

The Zimbabwe government is to withdraw the operating licences of
transport companies that shut down during a week of mass action early
this month to protest against President Robert Mugabe's government,
state-run ZBC radio station said on Thursday.

Some 44 transport companies in the private sector have already had
their licences withdrawn or are in the process of losing them, the radio
said.

At the beginning of the protests, called by the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), the government ordered businesses that had shut
to reopen or lose their licences.

The government accused company leaders of barring their employees from
working during the week-long protests which took the form of work
stoppages and "peaceful marches for democracy," in the MDC's words.

The work stoppages were well followed in Zimbabwe's cities but attempts
to hold marches were put down, often violently, by the security forces
and pro-government militias.

*****

Zim High Commissioner beats up Botswana reporter

Johannesburg

19 June 2003 07:50

The Zimbabwean High Commissioner to Botswana has assaulted a reporter
who wrote that a leading Zimbabwean official told a public rally
Botswana was to be used as a launch pad for regime change, the Media
Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) said on Wednesday.

The institute said Hloniphani Chengeta, a journalist for Botswana's
Sunday Tribune, was allegedly assaulted by High Commissioner Phelekezela
Mphoko last week Wednesday in full view of the paper's reporters and its
editor Masego Butale.

Misa said it had confirmed the allegations personally with both Butale
and with eight of Chengeta's colleagues. However, the Zimbabwe High
Commission in Botswana has flatly denied the allegations. The commission
said in a statement to Misa that the rally at which the alleged "regime
change" comments were made never took place.

It also said Mphoko had never assaulted Chengeta. Misa, however,
maintained that Chengeta travelled to Zimbabwe on June 1 to cover the
widely publicised anti-government demonstrations organised by the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Upon his return to Botswana, he filed the story about the rally at
Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo, attended by a high powered delegation
including Information and Publicity Secretary Nathan Shamuyarira.

In the story, Chengeta quoted Shamuyarira as saying he had reliable and
independent information that Botswana was going to be used as a launch
pad in case of regime change in Zimbabwe.

The day after the paper appeared, Mphoko is alleged to have visited the
Sunday Tribune offices, complaining that Chengeta fabricated the story
about Shamuyarira and that there had never been such a rally.

Mphoko demanded the newspaper print a retraction and inform its readers
that its reporter had lied. When Chengeta refused, Mphoko allegedly
threatened to beat him
and also threatened the paper with a lawsuit, but to no avail.

Mphoko returned to the Sunday Tribune offices two days after the
initial confrontation and accused Chengeta again of lying and of being
both an MDC and United States government agent.

"Mphoko then jumped on Chengeta, pulled him up by the scuff of his
neck, pinned him to the wall and pressed hard against Chengeta's throat
in full view of his workmates. One of his workmates came to Chengeta's
rescue," Misa said.

The institute said it tried to confirm that the rally did in deed take
place but unfortunately, no reporters from Zimbabwe's only independent
paper, the Daily Sun, had attended the rally.

The paper is seen by ruling party militants as a pro-MDC publication.
There have been numerous reports of Daily Sun reporters being attacked
at Zanu-PF rallies.

Misa said Butale and Chengeta reported the matter to the Gaborone
police who forwarded their findings to the police commissioner.

The High Commissioner for Zimbabwe has diplomatic immunity. - Sapa

*****

Blow for Chiluba theft case


Chiluba was Zambia's president for 10 years
A Zambian court has dropped charges against six men who were accused of
stealing state finances - along with former President, Frederick
Chiluba.
But the court in Lusaka reserved the right to re-arrest the six if new
evidence came to light.

They include former members of the national bank, the country's
treasury, the finance ministry, and the intelligence services.

Mr Chiluba and former intelligence chief Xavier Chungu are due to
appear next month charged with stealing about $3m.

Mr Chiluba, who stood down two years ago, has denied the allegations.
He is currently free on bail.

Corruption crusade

The six were released after Director of Public Prosecutions Mukelabai
asked the court to drop the charges, without giving any reasons.

Mr Chiluba led Zambia after defeating Kenneth Kaunda in the 1991
elections.

After two terms in office, he was barred by the constitution from
contesting the 2001 poll, won by ruling party candidate Levy Mwanawasa.


Mr Mwanawasa was initially seen as being Mr Chiluba's protege but since
his controversial election, he has led a vigorous campaign against
officials from the former regime for alleged corruption.

*****

Zambian police fire tear gas to disperse rioting vendors

Lusaka, Zambia

18 June 2003 14:59

Police in Zambia fired tear gas on some 2 000 stone throwing street
vendors Wednesday who began rioting after the police tried to shut down
their businesses.
Several cars were also stoned and one was set on fire, witnesses said.
There was no immediate word on injuries.

The police were not available for immediate comment, but vendors said
the unrest began when policemen began confiscating their wares and tried
to force them off the street corners where they peddle.

Lusaka's city council has launched a campaign to clear the streets of
vendors who do not have permits. Vendors have resisted the move.

Last week the council asked the police to begin forcibly removing the
vendors.
The vendors say that they cannot find jobs and have no other option but
to sell their products from the roadside.
ba meeting they held with a Canada-base
Vendors in this poor southern African country sell a range of products,
from vegetables, to sunglasses and shoes. - Sapa-AP

Musicians Threaten to Ban Broadcaster From Playing Their Tunes

African Eye News Service (Nelspruit)

June 19, 2003
Posted to the web June 19, 2003

Charles Mkula
Blantyre

Malawian musicians have threatened to ban the state-run Malawi
Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) from playing their tunes because it owes
them a small fortune in royalties.

The Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) says the MBC has not paid
royalties of more than US$32 000 for the past four years.

Member of the Cosoma executive board, Rev. Chimwemwe Mhango, himself a
well-known gospel artist, said that unless MBC paid up, the musicians
would resort to banning the corporation from using their material.

"We would like to see if MBC can do without our music," Mhango said.

Head of the Malawi Music Promotion Bureau at MBC, Geofrey Kazembe, said
a ban would be disastrous for the MBC.

He said local music occupied more than 80 percent of MBC air time.

One of Malawi's top selling artists, Lucius 'Soldier' Banda, said
record sales may suffer should the ban be enforced, but only slightly.

"There will always be music without radio stations, but there can never
be a radio station without music," he explained.

MBC director general Owen Maunde said while he appreciates MBC has an
obligation to pay royalties, it didn't have the money to do so.


*****

Tourism to Revive Economy

Daily Trust (Abuja)

June 19, 2003
Posted to the web June 19, 2003

Mohammed S. Shehu


The authorities of Malawi have earmarked plans to embark on destination
marketing of the country's tourism assets.

The position was made public by the tourism minister of the country in
a recent BBC interview.

He said the boosting of tourism is crucial to the revival of the
country's economy. He added that Malawi got the potential to revive the
economy of the country, but to do that the government must start by
recognising the ministry of tourism as a priority ministry.

"We have got to market our country, and stress that Malawi is a good
tourism destination and second to none on the continent of Africa," he
stated. But to do that, he added that the country must project itself.

*****

Tsvangirai out on bail

Harare

20 June 2003 10:26

Zimbabwe's high court on Friday said opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, being tried on treason charges for allegedly calling for the
violent overthrow of President Robert Mugabe, could be released on bail.
In its ruling, the court also said it was restricting what political
statements Tsvangirai could make.

Judge Susan Mavangira said the head of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change would be violating conditions of his release if he
advocated the removal of Mugabe and his government by what she termed
"violent or other unlawful means".

Mavangira ordered Tsvangirai to pay Z$10-million (about US$ 12 000) in
a cash bail bond and hand over property deeds or rights to other assets
worth Z$100-million (US$ 120000).

Mavangira said state prosecutors failed to argue Tsvangirai might fail
to appear for trial on the new round of treason charges.

On the first treason charges, Tsvangirai paid Z$3-million (US$ 3 600)
in a cash bond and surrendered his passport to the High Court.

Mavangira said the new bail was higher because of Zimbabwe's record
inflation that has soared since Tsvangirai was charged on the
assassination allegations shortly before he ran against Mugabe in
presidential elections last year.

Tsvangirai was arrested on June 6 at the end of a mass strike action by
his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.

The state had opposed bail for Tsvangirai.

The treason charges against Tsvangirai stem from his party's call for
the action in early June, which included street marches and job
stayaways, to protest alleged misgovernance.

The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, a grouping of 350 civil
organisations, said in a report on Thursday the opposition's objectives
in calling the protests earlier this month were unclear and that
publicity for it was confusing.

Some of the publicity called for "a final push" to remove Mugabe. Other
fliers said the protests were to bring him to the negotiating table.

The Coalition said the opposition "dangerously oversimplified" the
protests, leaving many of its supporters with the naive expectation the
entrenched government would lay down its arms in a single week of
protests.

The opposition has promised more protests and "mass action."

The Coalition said more coordination and better planning was needed in
future protests for democratic reform.

It said at least 600 people -- including five opposition lawmakers and
scores of district party officials -- were arrested in the effort to
crackdown on the recent protest action. - Sapa-AFP, Sapa-AP

*****

[this is amusing; perhaps an option to consider here in DC]

Lagos Seeks Sanity Tests for Traffic Woes

By GLENN McKENZIE
The Associated Press
Thursday, June 19, 2003; 9:14 PM


LAGOS, Nigeria - Lagos authorities have begun requiring psychiatric
tests of traffic offenders blamed for the city's "insane" gridlock.

Lagos' legendary traffic jams are aggravated by impatient drivers who
brazenly jump curbs and drive on the wrong side of the street, Lagos
Traffic Ministry spokesman Ogundeji Adesegun told The Associated Press.

The ministry in recent days ordered police to arrest offenders, impound
their vehicles, impose $200 fines and order mandatory psychiatric tests,
Adesegun said Thursday.

Hundreds of drivers had already been punished under the new measures,
authorities said.

Their vehicles are being held until they had received a "certificate of
sound mental fitness" from psychiatric clinics.

"Let us see if these people are mentally balanced. We have to end this
insanity," Adesegun said. "If this doesn't work, the next thing we may
do is advise the judiciary to impose jail terms."

"We have insane traffic. It is madness, no doubt about it," the
official said.

Lagos, a tropical port city of 12 million, is plagued by nightmarish
traffic preventing commuters from reaching work for hours.

Travelers routinely reserve four to five hours to creep from the city's
island suburbs to the international airport, a drive less 30 minutes
long with a clear road.

In an editorial, Nigeria's influential Guardian daily accused traffic
officials of using the strict new measures as an excuse to extort hefty
bribes from offenders.

The newspaper also accused officials of ignoring traffic hazards -
including bus-sized potholes, and mountains of rotting garbage clogging
drains and flooding streets during seasonal rains.

"They are more interested in revenue collection than traffic
management," the editorial said.

Regular fuel shortages despite Nigeria's status as Africa's largest
petroleum producer and the fifth-largest supplier of oil the United
States lead to mammoth gas station lineups and even worse traffic
snarls.

It is not the first time officials have gone to unusual lengths to
clear road congestion in Lagos.

In the early 1980s, Nigeria's then-ruling military imposed a system in
which vehicles with odd-numbered license plates could ply roads only on
Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays while even-numbered plates were allowed
on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The system failed; most commuters either openly flouted the rules or
obtained dou*rty.

The ble sets of plates for their cars.

Malawi terror suspects block exile

By Raphael Tenthani
BBC, Blantyre

A Malawi court has ordered the authorities not to deport five alleged
al-Qaeda members.
The five foreign nationals were arrested over the weekend.

Sources privy to the operation told BBC News Online that they were
arrested in a joint operation by the American Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) and Malawi's National Intelligence Bureau (NIB).

Blantyre lawyer Shabir Latif told High Court judge Justice Healey
Potani that his clients were arrested without being told what crime they
had allegedly committed.

"They were treated without dignity as they were handcuffed,
blind-folded and transferred to Lilongwe where they are being kept in an
unknown location and are said to be awaiting deportation to an unknown
destination on suspicion of being members of al-Qaeda," he said.

Mr Latif alleged that the Malawi Government wants to hand over the five
to the CIA who would - according to him - take them to Guantanamo Bay
detention camp in Cuba where other al-Qaeda suspects - especially those
arrested in Afghanistan - are being detained.

"Security officers without a warrant searched their houses and seized
their computers and confiscated their money," he said.

Charities

The lawyer described the methods used in the arrest of the five as
"unconstitutional and unlawful for it violates the right to freedom of
movement, the right of all people not to be discriminated against on
grounds of race or origin or nationality".

Justice Potani, in his order granting the injunction, ordered the
government to bring the five detainees before a court of law within 48
hours to be told of their offence under Malawi laws or any international
legal instruments or release them on bail.

The Directorate of Public Prosecutions has since indicated that it
would challenge the injunction.

The arrested al-Qaeda suspects include:

Mahmud Sardar Issa, a Sudanese national who heads the charitable
Islamic Zakat Fund Trust in Blantyre;
Fahad Ral Bahli, a Saudi national who is Malawi Branch Director of the
Registered Trustees of the Prince Sultan Bin Aziz Special Committee on
Relief;
Turkish nationals Arif Ulusam, a Blantyre restaurant owner, and Ibrahim
Itabaci, executive director of Bedir International School;
Kenyan national Khalifa Abdi Hassan, an Islamic scholar hired by the
Moslem Association of Malawi.
According to the sources, al-Qaeda wanted to use their charitable
organisations to channel money from Asia - where al-Qaeda is based - to
fund operations in Africa and beyond.

*****

Wanted: cash for Tsvangirai's bail

Harare

23 June 2003 12:21

Zimbabwe's main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
on Monday launched an appeal for help in raising the steep bail set last
week for the release of its leader Morgan Tsvangirai, charged with
treason.

"The president of the MDC was granted bail of 10-million (Zimbabwean)
dollars on Friday. Given the limited resources that the party is
operating on it has become necessary for the party to appeal to all
Zimbabweans to assist ...to pay this amount," said an ad published in
the independent Daily News.

Tsvangirai was arrested on June 6, the last day of week-long
anti-government protests organised by his party, and charged with
treason for allegedly inciting Zimbabweans to violently oust the
government of President Robert Mugabe.

Four days later a magistrates court charged him with treason -- the
second such charge brought against the MDC leader -- and he was ordered
to be held in custody for one month.

Treason is punishable by death in Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai's lawyers were given leave to apply for bail, but that
hearing dragged on and Tsvangirai had spent 14 nights in prison before a
High Court judge set his very stringent bail conditions and he was
released on Friday.

In addition to the 10-million-Zimbabwean dollars (US$12 500) bail, the
court ordered Tsvangirai not to make "any statement that advocates the
removal of the government or the state president by violence" and to
lodge title deeds for property worth 100-million Zimbabwean dollars with
the court.

"We remain firmly of the view that Mr Tsvangirai is innocent," the
advertisement said.

"He is being persecuted for fighting for justice and peace in Zimbabwe.
He is being persecuted for fighting for the people of Zimbabwe to have
enough food. We also believe that the state seeks to kill the MDC
through excessive bail payouts and legal fees."

The MDC blames Mugabe's regime for exacerbating Zimbabwe's economic and
social woes through misgovernance, and had called on Zimbabweans to
protest against the government by not going to work and by holding
"peaceful marches for democracy."

Some 70% of Zimbabwe's workforce is unemployed, annual inflation
exceeded 300%last month, and nearly half the country's 11,6-million
people are threatened by famine caused by a drought and chaotic land
reforms.

The work stoppages called for by the MDC were generally well followed
in the southern African country's cities, but attempts to hold marches
were put down, often forcibly, by security forces and pro-Mugabe militia
groups.

Tsvangirai faces another charge of treason, along with two key members
of his party, for allegedly plotting to eliminate Mugabe ahead of the
2001 presidential poll, which Mugabe won.

The three deny the charges. A treason trial involving the three has
been underway since February. - Sapa-AFP

*****

Mugabe opponent vows to fight on

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he will continue to
challenge President Robert Mugabe despite being accused of treason.
He told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that he would not be
deterred from peaceful protests.

Mr Tsvangirai was released on bail on Friday after being held in
custody following his latest arrest on charges of treason for allegedly
advocating the overthrow of Mr Mugabe.

He denies the accusations.

'Jail scandal'

Mr Tsvangirai also spoke in the interview about his two-week detention.


He said he was held in an overcrowded cell with 75 other people.

"They have very little food and their health condition is
deteriorating," Mr Tsvangirai said of the people with whom he had been
held.

It was "a scandal yet to explode", he said.

But he said he was treated like other inmates, and was neither molested
not harassed.

Mr Tsvangirai has a high profile as the leader of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). He was detained after a week of
mass protests organised by the MDC against President Mugabe.

He was freed on bail of 10 million Zimbabwe dollars (US$13,000 at the
official exchange rate).

A judge told him that he must not "incite his supporters to remove the
government through violence", or he would violate his bail conditions
and risk being returned to jail.

Mr Tsvangirai told Focus on Africa that the opposition's campaign would
remain peaceful.

"We have no intention of overthrowing anybody," he said.

'Negotiations wanted'

Mr Tsvangirai has already been charged with two counts of treason over
an alleged plot to assassinate Mr Mugabe. His trial on those charges
began in February.

He denies all treason charges against him, which carry the death
penalty.

The MDC leader says he called this month's protests to try to force the
president to negotiate as the country falls into economic and political
chaos.
lere given leave to appl
In March 2002, Mr Tsvangirai challenged Mr Mugabe for the presidency,
but lost in an election widely seen as fraudulent.

US takes Malawi al-Qaeda suspects

Five suspected al-Qaeda members arrested by Malawi have been handed to
US authorities, despite an injunction blocking deportation.
The BBC's southern Africa correspondent, Barnaby Phillips, says the
five suspects appear to have been whisked out of Malawi, although the
Americans are not yet saying where they have been taken.

On Tuesday, Malawi's High Court ruled the country's government could
not circumvent its own laws by handing over the five detainees, who come
from Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Turkey,

An injunction obtained by the suspects' lawyers to block their
deportation ordered the government either to charge the men with an
offence within 48 hours or release them on bail.

The 48-hour time period elapsed at 2200 local time (2000 GMT) on
Tuesday.

On Wednesday, a High Court judge demanded that they be freed but he was
told they were no longer in Malawi custody.

No trails

Malawi's Director of Public Prosecutions, Fahad Assani, refused to
disclose when the five Muslim foreigners had left Malawi, but denied
that they had been deported.

"If the Americans has intelligence linking anyone residing in the
country to terrorism, Malawi has the duty to facilitate their arrests,"
he told the BBC.

He confirmed the five were no longer in the custody of Malawi
authorities.

Their lawyer, Shabir Latif, accused the government of violating its own
laws.

A senior Malawian immigration official told Reuters news agency that he
was travelling with the suspects.

"I'm not in Malawi at the moment. We are out of the country. They are
not in the custody of Malawi, they are in American custody," he said.

State prosecutors say the five men - two from Turkey, one Saudi, one
Sudanese and a Kenyan - were arrested in a joint operation run with US
officials at the weekend, barely two weeks before President Bush is
scheduled to visit Africa.

A spokesmen for the police chief and interior ministry said that Malawi
intelligence and immigration officers apprehended the men after they
were identified by the US Central Intelligence Agency.

The BBC's Raphael Tenthani in Blantyre says that Malawi does not have
an extradition treaty with the United States.

*****

Zambian police 'interview' controversial editor

Lusaka

25 June 2003 14:43

Zambian police on Wednesday summoned a newspaper editor for questioning
on falsehoods about President Levy Mwanawasa published in his newspaper,
a police source said on Wednesday.

Police spokesperson Brenda Muntemba confirmed that Masautso Phiri,
editor of the Today newspaper, had been summoned for "interviews" with
the police, but declined to give details.

But a source in the police force said Phiri was likely to face arrest
for allegedly "publishing false news with an intention to alarm the
nation".

Recently Today published two controversial stories about Mwanawasa. One
story headlined Sick Levy collapses, claimed that the head of state was
ill and had collapsed at his Lusaka home.

Another story claimed Mwanawasa had separated from his wife after she
had an affair with a presidential aide.

The editor's lawyer, Sakwiba Sikota said the police summons was vague
but he suspected his client was wanted in connection with the
publication of the controversial stories.

Phiri has been arrested several times before.

He once served a three-month jail sentence for contempt of court after
he published a story alleging that Supreme Court judges had received
bribes from former president Frederick Chiluba. - Sapa-AFP

*****

Robert Mugabe's 'ruthless regime'

Harare

25 June 2003 10:23

African nations need to put strong pressure on Zimbabwe's government to
end its authoritarian rule, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on
Tuesday as the main opposition leader returned to court to face the
first of two treason cases.

Opposition officials say President Robert Mugabe's government has
targeted Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai
as part of a desperate bid to cling to power despite political and
economic chaos roiling the nation.

An estimated 70% of Zimbabweans are unemployed, inflation has soared to
269%, hunger is rife and recent opposition protest efforts were thwarted
only when police and soldiers fired tear gas and live bullets at
assembling demonstrators.

Writing in Tuesday's New York Times, Powell called the government "a
ruthless regime," accused Mugabe of "violent misrule" and predicted he
and his cronies would eventually lose their fight for power, "dragging
their soiled record behind them into obscurity". However, Zimbabwe's
neighbours in Africa have to step up pressure on Mugabe to ensure a
swift end to his dictatorship and save their region from further
instability, he said.

"If leaders on the continent do not do more to convince President
Robert Mugabe to respect the rule of law and enter into a dialogue with
the political opposition, he and his cronies will drag Zimbabwe down
until there is nothing left to ruin," he wrote.

Powell also bemoaned the treatment of Tsvangirai, comparing him to
Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate
imprisoned by her government.

For now, Tsvangirai is a free man, having been released on bail on
Friday in the second of two separate treason cases he is fighting.

Treason is punishable by death in Zimbabwe.

Those charges accuse Tsvangirai, jailed for two weeks after calling for
anti-government strikes and protests earlier this month, of advocating
Mugabe's violent overthrow.

In the earlier charges, which he faced in his ongoing trial on Tuesday,
prosecutors say he and two other opposition leaders planned to
assassinate Mugabe and sought the help of air force head Perence Shiri
in a planned coup.

The three deny the charges, saying they were framed by the government
to weaken the opposition.

Shiri told the Harare High Court on Tuesday he was approached by
opposition officials in January last year and offered Z$10-million
(US$182 000 at the former official exchange rate) only to "pacify" the
military.

Defence attorney Eric Matinenga said Shiri held two meetings with the
officials, including the opposition's shadow defence minister, Giles
Mutsekwa, a former army officer. He said the meetings did not deal with
a possible coup and were called ahead of last year's presidential
election to clarify a televised statement made by police and military
chiefs that they would not work with Tsvangirai if he were elected.

Shiri said armed forces chief General Vitalis Zvinavashe wrote that
statement, which said the military would not follow a leader who had not
fought in the bush war that led to independence in 1980 and swept Mugabe
to power.

"For us to maintain discipline, I cannot question what my superior
said. He is a four-star general, I am a three-star general," Shiri
said.

The discussion at Shiri's Harare home with opposition officials "was
not mainly about the elections. It was whether I would cooperate with
the [opposition] once it assumed power," he said.

Shiri, a senior ruling party official, said he knew the Constitution
required the military to remain non-partisan.

Tsvangirai was arrested and charged two weeks before the March 2001
election, which Mugabe narrowly won.

Independent observers said the election was swayed by
state-orchestrated political violence and vote rigging.

Charges in the trial are based on a secretly recorded video tape made
in the offices of Canada-based political consultant Ari Ben Menashe. He
claims Tsvangirai asked for help in an assassination plot and coup.

Prosecutors say Tsvangirai again tried to topple Mugabe through this
month's protest action.

The opposition blames Mugabe for crippling the economy and creating
acute shortages of fuel, food, medicine and essential imports. Mass
famine was avoided this year only by foreign humanitarian aid. -
Sapa-AP

*****

Zimbabwe govt bans motorists from carrying fuel

Harare, Cape Town

25 June 2003 09:48

The Zimbabwe government has banned motorists from carrying fuel in
containers, a routine procedure in the southern African country where
there are chronic fuel shortages, a newspaper said on Tuesday.

The official Herald newspaper said people who wanted to transport
containers of fuel privately would now have to obtain permission from
the government or face arrest.

"If, for example, someone has a funeral or is a farmer who needs
diesel, he has to apply to the ministry to be given permission to carry
the fuel... otherwise he will get arrested," Rueben Marumahoko, the
Deputy Minister of Energy was quoted as saying.

The Herald said the move was intended to stamp out a thriving black
market for fuel, which sells for anything up to 1 700 Zimbabwe dollars
(US$2) a litre, way above the official price of Z$450 (54 US cents) per
litre.

But members of the public are likely to be angered by the ban.

Motorists here often have to carry spare fuel with them on long trips
out of cities, where they are unlikely to find fuel at service
stations.

For the past three years Zimbabwe has faced severe fuel shortages that
have in turn disrupted industry and commerce and caused transport
problems for members of the public.

Motorists sometimes have to queue for days to obtain the scarce
commodity.

The Herald reported that by Monday police at roadblocks were already
confiscating fuel containers found in vehicles.

Last month the government claimed it had concluded a fuel deal with
Libya that would see the oil-rich north African country supplying
Zimbabwe with its fuel needs by the end of June.

Libya did provide Zimbabwe with 70% of its fuel needs, but the supply
line was cut after Zimbabwe failed to meet its end of the bargain, which
was to supply Libya with beef, tobacco and sugar.

Meanwhile, in South Africa, a report of the National Assembly's
agriculture and land portfolio committee recommends that when there is
need for food aid in Zimbabwe, the South African parliament should back
such a vote.

The report released by the committee -- headed by African National
Congress MP Neo Masithela -- on Tuesday, also noted that when the
Parliament considered the Communal Land Rights Bill -- which is intended
to transfer rights of title to peasants - it "should take note of and
learn from the lessons" of the Zimbabwean land reform process.

The recommendations follow a visit to Zimbabwe by members of the
committee including ANC -- which constituted a majority -- and DA and
IFP members.

There was a consensus, it noted, among Zimbabweans including
non-government organisations and both the opposition and ruling parties
that land reform was a good policy and should take place "but in a
correct way and on an equitable basis"..

The MPs met a variety of groups including the largely white Commercial
Farmers' Union and the black Indigenous Commercial Farmers' Union and
the Zimbabwe Farmers' Union.

The CFU told the MPs that during the presidential election in 2002,
farmers were on the front line and "systematically organised commercial
agriculture was shut down".

"There is no doubt that while elections are high (on the go) and the
ruling party is trying to maintain (a) grip on power ... issues of
production are not at the forefront of policy," the CFU was reported as
saying.

Production throughout the commercial sector, reported the CFU, had been
reduced by 70% and is being further eroded.

The maize production had dropped from 810 000 tons in 2000 and was
expected to be 80 000 tons this year. Wheat had dropped from 283 00 tons
to an expected 60 000 tons. There were 1,2-million head of livestock in
2000, now it stood at 150 000.

A different picture was painted by the ICFU and the ZFU which argued
that much of the livestock however, had been slaughtered by "outgoing
farmers slaughtering calves, cows and heifers". They put livestock
figures at a more conservative 5,5-million having dropped from
six-million. The discrepancy in these figures was not explained.

The black farmers groups said the farmers who left the farms "took
their tractors". Some were locked up "in Harare or on farms".

But the black farmers' groups say that overall the land reform
programme "has unlocked the agriculture potential of the country. The
large scale farms were too large for individual farmers with utilization
of between 25% and 40% with farms now smaller and more manageable. -
Sapa-AFP, I-Net Bridge

> Malawi Alert
> June 25, 2003
> President threatens media
>
> President Bakili Muluzi on Tuesday 24 June threatened to deal with
> media houses that probe into the way he distributes maize to his
> supporters during political rallies.
>
> President Muluzi was apparently incensed by a lead article in the
> "Weekend Nation" of June 21-22, 2003, that questioned the source of
> the alms the president doles out at his rallies.
>
> "Voertsek (go away)! How can newspapers question that? Do I take the

> maize from your home? And you, the opposition, have I ever come to
you
> asking for alms?" fumed President Muluzi, when he addressed the crowd

> at a ceremony to inaugurate a donor-funded strategic bridge in
central
> Malawi.
>
> The president warned that he would be forced to act if the media does

> not stop rubbing its nose in his business.
>
> "One day I will come to your home and grab you by the collar", he
said
> without elaborating.
>
> In its editorial of June 25, the daily newspaper "The Nation"
defended
> its sister paper, saying that in a democracy people have a right to
> know how public resources are used.
>
> In the article, the "Weekend Nation" interviewed the Deputy Secretary

> to the President and Cabinet and the Deputy Secretary General of the

> ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) on the source of the maize. The

> two officials expressed ignorance on the source and referred the
paper
> to the Commissioner for Relief who also expressed ignorance on the
> origins of the maize.
>
> President Muluzi said the newspaper should have asked the Minister of

> Agriculture, Chakufwa Chihana, instead of the three officials.
>
> In April 2003, Muluzi handpicked the president of opposition party
> Alliance for Democracy (Aford) for the position of second
> vice-president and Minister of Agriculture in a new cabinet of 46
> ministers. This appointment is generally seen to be a reward to
> Chihana for not standing in the way of a third term for President
> Muluzi.
>
> BACKGROUND
>
> The Ministry of Agriculture says that, currently, Malawi has enough
> food and the National Food Reserve Agency is over-stocked. This is in

> sharp contrast to Muluzi's insistency that he is dishing out the
maize
> because people are starving.
>
> Some analysts claim that Muluzi is distributing the maize to gain
> political mileage ahead of next year's general elections.
Media Institute of Southern Africa

*****

World Vision to Run Malaria Control Project

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

June 25, 2003
Posted to the web June 25, 2003

Johannesburg

World Vision Malawi (WVM) will run a community-based malaria control
project in the country over the next three years.

Up to 260,000 people who are most at risk of contracting malaria will
benefit from the project, WVM Relief Manager Francis Battal said in a
statement. This includes 200,000 children under the age of five years
and 42,000 pregnant and lactating women.

According to the World Health Organisation, malaria is the number one
killer of children in Africa and the "roll back malaria" campaign has
identified women and children as the groups most vulnerable to the
disease.

Battal said the project objective was to reduce malaria-related illness
and deaths among children by 25 percent, and maternal deaths attributed
to malaria by 30 percent, through more access to community-based malaria
prevention and care in the area development programmes (ADP).

He said some of the strategies to be used in the project would be
increasing access to insecticide-treated bed nets, enabling communities
to make early diagnosis, and appropriate referral of malaria cases.

The US $1.7 million project is jointly funded by the United Nations
Children's Fund, who will provide US $1,278,915, and World Vision
International, who will make available $442,925. Work in the initial
programme areas is expected to begin next week.

"As you can see, this is a big project and we are excited that it will
impact so many people in the country." Battal said.

*****

State closes case in Zim treason trial

Harare

26 June 2003 15:09

State lawyers on Thursday closed their case in the marathon treason
trial of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and two senior party
officials, while defence lawyers said they would apply to have the
charges dismissed.

The close of the state's case, which claims Tsvangirai and his two
co-accused in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party plotted to
kill President Robert Mugabe, comes four months after the trial began.

One of the lawyers defending the MDC trio, Chris Andersen, told the
court that the defence team would be applying to have the three
discharged, because he said the state had not proved its case against
them.

"It is our intention to make an application to have the three accused
persons discharged," Andersen said before Judge Paddington Garwe.

Garwe postponed the matter to July 7, when he said the court would deal
with the application for discharge.

Earlier the court heard the last of the state's 11 witnesses testify.

Edward Chinhoyi, a technician with the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation, had been called to give his views on the videotape that is
said to incriminate Tsvangirai in a plot to "eliminate" Mugabe.

The tape was made on December 4 2001, three months ahead of a disputed
presidential election that pitted Tsvangirai against Mugabe, and which
Mugabe won.
It was made using hidden surveillance cameras in the offices of
Canada-based political consultant Ari Ben Menashe, whom the MDC say they
approached to do promotional work for them in North America.

On the tape, which Ben Menashe gave to the Zimbabwe authorities,
Tsvangirai is alleged to have requested for the consultant's help in
"eliminating" Mugabe and organising a coup to topple his government.

MDC secretary general Welshman Ncube and senior party official Renson
Gasela were also said to be part of the plot. If convicted all three
could face the death penalty.

Chinhoyi, an expert in video recording and editing, testified that the
picture on the tape was "hazy", making it difficult to tell who was
speaking.

But he said in his view it had not been tampered with after its initial
recording.
Defence lawyer Andersen argued that the poor picture was "intended",
and that the tape may have been expertly edited as part of what the
defence claims was "a trapping exercise" by the government to sideline
Tsvangirai ahead of the 2002 poll.

"A poor picture could not be made by mistake," he said.

The three MDC officials deny the charges against them, and say they
were the victims of a government set-up. - Sapa-AFP

*****

Govt of national unity for Zimbabwe?

Harare

26 June 2003 11:53

The ruling party in Zimbabwe is ready to form a government of national
unity with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), but will
not consider new elections, a newspaper said on Thursday.

"We have had such governments in the 1970s and in 1987 with Zapu (an
opposition party)," the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic
Front (Zanu-PF) spokesperson Nathan Shamuyarira told the private Daily
News.

"It is a tradition that we have always had and we are ready for that,"
Shamuyarira was quoted as saying.

But the paper said he rejected calls for a transitional government that
would be tasked to prepare for free and fair elections. This was in
response to a promise made earlier this week by US Secretary of State
Colin Powell that the US would resume aid to Zimbabwe "with the
president (Mugabe) gone".

"We have never been opposed to a government of national unity. We have
also never objected to American investment," Shamuyarira said. "But such
(US) support should not be conditional."

The US government does not recognise Mugabe's victory in last year's
presidential poll. It has imposed a visa ban on Zimbabwean leaders,
frozen any assets they might have in the United States and cut off all
official assistance to the government.

The Zanu-PF spokesperson's comments about a unity government
contradicted those of Mugabe who has said he will never form such a
government with the opposition party, which he says is a front for
Western interests.

The MDC is also adamantly opposed to such a government. The party,
which poses the biggest threat to Mugabe's 23-year hold on power, says
such a move would see the opposition party neutralised.

In a separate development, Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, speaking
in his capacity as deputy Zanu-PF spokesperson was quoted in Thursday's
official Herald newspaper as saying the use of "lies and deception" by
Powell and US President George Bush would never work against Zimbabwe.

"The use of lies and deception by Powell and Bush has not worked in
Iraq where he wanted to mix it with oil. It will never work anywhere
else and will certainly not mix with land in Zimbabwe," Moyo said.

The Zimbabwe government claims that Western countries, including former
colonial power Britain and EU member states as well as the United
States, are opposed to Zimbabwe's land reform programme, which has seen
fast-track seizures of land from white farmers for redistribution among
new black farmers. - Sapa-AFP

*****

Mugabe goes begging for fuel again

Harare

26 June 2003 11:59

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and several government officials left
for Libya on Wednesday to hold discussions about the supply of fuel to
the country, state radio said.

"Negotiations with Libyan authorities are expected to centre on the
provision of more fuel to Zimbabwe," the Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation reported.

Libya supplied Zimbabwe with 70% of its fuel needs before the supply
line was cut after Zimbabwe failed to keep its side of a bargain to
supply Libya with sugar, tobacco and beef in return.

Since then fuel of all types has been critically short here. But the
government this month claimed that the fuel deal had been resumed, and
that Libya was going to continue supplying Zimbabwe with fuel at the end
of June.

The radio said Mugabe was leading "a high-powered delegation" to the
north African country, and that he would hold talks with President
Moammer Gadaffi ahead of the African Union summit due to take place next
month.

Zimbabwe has been experiencing erratic fuel supplies for the past three
years due to a shortage of foreign currency needed to import it.

The situation has become worse in recent months, with most fuel
stations unable to serve the scarce commodity.

The Zimbabwe government has come up with restrictions to try and curb
the sale of existing scarce supplies on the black market at exorbitant
rates.

On Tuesday it banned motorists from carrying fuel in containers, and on
Wednesday it said that public transporters would now have to obtain fuel
using coupons. - Sapa-AFP

I think it has been 3+ years since Ken Shockley and Cathey Weber suggested
the book "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down". I had always kept a
mental note that it was a book I should pick up but never got around to
it...until now. (Actually, it's assigned reading in a health care delivery
class I am taking.)

It is an awesome story! I was crying like a baby a couple of times during
the book. I wish I could return the favor and suggest a great read, but with
Violet and school I haven't done much reading for pleasure.

For those of you who have children/grandchildren and are interested in book
suggestions "The Ruler of the Courtyard" by R. Khan is a great kid's book-I
was laughing out loud at the end. If your chickens ever got on your nerves
in Malawi this is the kid's book for you.

Luz

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There was an interesting story on INSIGHT on BBC this morning about the
Malawi tobacco industry: how Limbe Leaf is a benevolent employer, looking
out for the rights of workers, etc., and at the same time encouraging
everyone to grow tobacco so there is s glut and they can buy on the cheap...

They even had pictures of child laborers, people become indentured servants
to the point that their "free" land costs them an arm and a leg to pay for
the fertilizer, food, etc. gievn during the year.....

Nice

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Malawi Muslims Riot Over Alleged Extraditions
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030627/wl_nm/security_malawi_riots_dc

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World - Reuters Malawi Muslims Riot Over Alleged Extraditions Fri Jun 27, 6:05 PM ET Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Denis Mzembe BLANTYRE, Malawi (Reuters) - Police in Malawi fired tear gas Friday to disperse hundreds of Muslims protesting against the arrest and alleged extradition this week of five suspected members of al Qaeda. Angry demonstrators in the resort district of Mangochi burned down offices of the global "Save the Children" charity and a Catholic church, while others attacked the offices of the Muslim Association of Malawi in Blantyre, police said. No one was seriously hurt in the protests, which were fueled by anger over unconfirmed reports that U.S. security officials whisked the five suspects out of the country earlier this week, with the approval of Malawian authorities. Malawian Muslims were also angered by news that High Court Justice Frank Kapanda had overturned an injunction lawyers for the five detainees won blocking their deportation -- seen as a strike against al Qaeda ahead of President Bush (news - web sites)'s visit to Africa next month. "We are so angry, especially with (President Bakili) Muluzi -- who should be the first person to protect Muslims," said Amir Juma, a Muslim businessman in his 30s. Muluzi is a Muslim. Malawian officials say U.S. security personnel took the five men -- two Turkish, one Saudi, one Kenyan and one Sudanese -- out of the country Tuesday before they could appear in court. Malawi is a small landlocked southern African country of 10.6 million people with a sizeable Muslim minority. It has never been seen as having terrorist links. MAM public relations officer Saiti Jambo told Reuters that irate Muslims ran amok in the organization's offices -- smashing windows and burning furniture, computers and vehicles -- after they failed to gain access to its chairman, Sheik Omar Wochi. "Sheik Wochi was not in the office and this angered them," Jambo said. "We watched helplessly as they decided to vent their anger on the offices." The Muslims chanted anti-government slogans, accusing their government of relinquishing its sovereignty by succumbing to pressure from the U.S. government. They also accused their association of failing to protect fellow Muslims. The U.S. embassy in Malawi initially denied U.S. involvement but has not responded to media inquiries since Tuesday.  Email Story   Post/Read Msgs   Print Story Ratings: Would you recommend this story? Not at all 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 Highly Next Story: Report Shows UK, Ireland Reliant on Overseas Nurses (Reuters) More World Stories · Israel, Palestinians Agree Deal Before Rice Visit  (Reuters) · US forces search for missing troops as attacks continue  (AFP) · EU Farm Reform Unlikely to Benefit Poor Countries  (OneWorld.net) · Israel, Palestinians OK Gaza Pullbacks   (AP) · New Liberian Truce Revives Faint Hope of Peace  (Reuters) ADVERTISEMENT Services • Daily Emails • Free News Alerts

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