30 August 2000
Johannesburg — ZAMBIA-ANGOLA: Zambia broke diplomatic protocols - Angolan FM - Angola has accused Zambia of breaking diplomatic protocols by publicly announcing that two Angolan bombs were dropped on Zambian territory, news reports said on Wednesday.
"We are not sure that's entirely what happened," Angolan Foreign Minister Joao Pedro told AFP. Meanwhile, on Tuesday Angolan Defence Ministry spokesman Bravo da Rosa Kamaca was quoted by the Portuguese news agency 'LUSA' as saying that the "information was not correct". Pedro said Zambia should have consulted with a bilateral security and defence commission before making any public statements. "We have already reached an agreement on mechanisms to study all such problems," Pedro said.
Zambian Home Affairs Minister Peter Machungwa said on Tuesday that two Angolan bombs had exploded on Monday in Jimbe, a rural town on the border with Angola, near an area controlled by the UNITA rebel movement.
NAMIBIA-BOTSWANA: Extradition case to begin
The extradition hearing of treason suspects wanted in Namibia for their alleged involvement in the Caprivi secession conspiracy was expected to begin in a Gaborone court on Wednesday, news reports said.
According to a report by 'The Namibian' the hearing of the 14 Namibians was not expected to continue immediately after their first appearance in the Gaborone Magistrate's Court. One of the 14, Devil Moa Kabo, was also not expected to be in court as he is reportedly ill.
The 14 are accused of offences ranging from high treason and murder to attempted murder, armed robbery and the illegal possession of arms and ammunition. They are alleged to have taken part in a plot to secede the Caprivi Region from Namibia.
NAMIBIA: Fresh UNITA attack reported
Suspected UNITA rebels have killed a man in a remote village in northern Namibia, 'The Namibian' said on Wednesday.
"Suspected UNITA bandits shot dead a 66-year-old Namibian man, Gabriel Nzowo, in the early hours of yesterday (Tuesday) morning," the paper said. It said a group of five armed men shot the man at close range after helping themselves to food from his kitchen. The attack took place west of the town of Rundu in Namibia's Kavango region.
The Namibian Press Agency (NAMPA) quoted the defence force as saying 13 people had attacked the village and left a message written in the local Rukwangali language which said traditional leaders, teachers and politicians were their targets.
MOZAMBIQUE: WFP aid to continue
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday that it was extending its food relief operations in flood-stricken Mozambique until next year.
WFP's spokesman Inyene Udoyen, said the operations were being extended until March next year because an estimated 175,000 people would not have access to a good harvest this year.
Following the floods earlier this year WFP provided food aid to an estimated 500,000 people mainly in the southern and central parts of Mozambique. WFP said that it was moving away from free food aid and replacing it with food-for-work programmes.
SOUTH AFRICA: Bomb injures six in Cape Town
A bomb exploded on Tuesday near the US Consulate in the centre of Cape Town, leaving six people with minor injuries and destroying a car, South African news reports said.
The explosion hit just as the afternoon rush hour was getting underway. It was centred in an area of office buildings on Adderley Street, one of the city's main roads. "The US Consulate's operations were not affected," consulate spokesman Brian Penn was quoted as saying. He said no one in the consulate was injured in the blast.
Police spokesman Rod Beer said it was too early to speculate on the bomb's target. In the past two years, Cape Town has been the target of numerous bomb attacks that have killed two people and injured at least 100.
SOUTH AFRICA: Racism conference opens
A four-day conference opened in South Africa on Wednesday to discuss racial abuse and discrimination. Speaking at the opening of the four-day event President Thabo Mbeki said that the racial divisions still ingrained in South Africa had to be tackled "lest they worsened social instability".
"The postponement of this discussion would sharply exacerbate the danger of the social instability implicit in the racial divisions that continue to characterise our society," Mbeki said
The conference will also address the increase in xenophobia as tensions between South Africans and immigrants from neighbouring countries grows, news reports said.
MALAWI: Opposition parties boycott voter registration
The opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) have called on potential voters not to register for the forthcoming local government elections allegedly because the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) had connived with the Electoral Commission to rig the polls, news reports said on Wednesday. The registration of voters for the 21 November elections started on Monday throughout Malawi.
However MCP's publicity secretary, James Chimera, was quoted as saying that the opposition was against the registration exercise because the Electoral Commission had not given them enough time to mobilise their machinery to monitor the exercise. He said a letter from the commission last Saturday only informed the MCP the registration would begin two days later on 28 August. "How could we mobilise our monitors for the over 5,000 registration centres at such a short notice?"
MALAWI: Government seeks US $25 million for resettlement
The Malawi government plans to ask donors to provide US $25 million to purchase land for a resettlement programme to cater for 21,000 landless peasants, news reports said on Wednesday. Henry Juwa, principal secretary at the lands ministry was quoted as saying that at least 14,000 hectares were required for the resettlement programme once a land reform policy becomes law in October. "I am sure we will get the US $25 million from donors," he was quoted as saying.
Analysts said Malawi wanted to quickly distribute idle land to the landless to avoid the Zimbabwe-style land invasions. Lands Minister Thengo Maloya said the land distribution exercise would begin immediately after Parliament passed the country's land reform policy. About 60 percent of Malawi's 10 million people do not have access to land, and Maloya said the land issue could easily become a "breeding place for violence".
SOUTHERN AFRICA-UGANDA: Uganda to apply for SADC membership
Uganda is to apply for membership of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the country's regional cooperation minister, Amama Mbabazi was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Mbabazi told AFP in an interview that the move would not contradict its membership in other regional bodies, such as the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), but would "supplement" the roles played by them. "We have started the process of applying," Mbabazi said. "We're all heading in the same direction. SADC plays a supplementary role to EAC and I don't find any contradiction in our joining SADC," Mbabazi said.
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