• Will Mugabe get the message?
• Amnesty to hold silent vigil in support of Daily News
• Patients sent home as nurses’ strike takes hold
• How Banana split the Politburo
• If only Zimbabwe could be as lucky as Georgia
• JAG Open Letter Forum No. 193
• Zimbabwe cancels all 14 gold concessions
• In Botswana, border turns electric
• Obasanjo gets it right on Mugabe
• PM keen to oust Mugabe
• Call for Review of Budget
• MDC rules out protests to oust Mugabe
• Commonwealth snub of Mugabe irrelevant: MDC
• Mugabe cracks down on the internet
• Nigerian President gets tough with two of Africa's pariahs
• Zim to protect SA interests
• AIDS Orphans 11 Million Youths in Africa
• Find Cheaper Ways to Transport Fuel
• African Elephant Numbers and Distribution
• Zim expects boycott after snub

Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe will not attend the
upcoming Commonwealth summit in Nigeria next month, ending weeks of
speculation that the government's last-minute attempts might secure him an
invitation, Irin reports.

"We will not have an invitation [for Zimbabwe]. If there is no invitation
they will not come," Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo reportedly told journalists
in the southwestern Nigerian town of Otta on Tuesday.

After meeting with Obasanjo in Harare last week, Mugabe was reportedly
optimistic about a possible invite to the gathering. He told the official
Ziana news agency: "We must be allowed to attend the CHOGM [Commonwealth
Heads of Government Meeting] in Abuja because we are a full member of the
Commonwealth."

Nigeria and South Africa have openly favoured "constructive engagement" with
Zimbabwe, and Obasanjo's visit was seen as the latest attempt to coax the
government into kick-starting stalled talks with the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).

But other Commonwealth members such as Britain and Australia have argued
against Mugabe's presence at the summit, calling for fresh elections and a
commitment from authorities to address allegations of rights abuses before
an invitation could be issued.

According to John Mukumbe, a political analyst at the University of
Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe's exclusion from the summit could signal further
isolation from countries previously regarded as close allies.

"It was quite clear to Obasanjo that there has been no improvement in
relations between the government and the MDC. The political climate remains
tense and Mugabe has reneged on all of the promises he has made in the past.
Given the current situation, Obasanjo did not have any choice but to exclude
Mugabe from the summit."

Mukumbe added that the snub from the Commonwealth "may just be the turning
point", in the country's political crisis.

"In the face of such disapproval, it would not be surprising if we see moves
to relax some of the laws which have been used to supress dissent," he said.

Under Zimbabwean law, the police must give permission for all
demonstrations, a condition which rights activists say has curtailed basic
freedoms. Last week scores of activists were arrested while preparing to
protest spiralling inflation and the government's handling of the current
economic crisis. - Integrated Regional Information Networks

      THE Chelsea branch of Amnesty International in the United Kingdom will
this weekend hold a silent vigil in support of The Daily News, closed down
in September for failing to comply with Zimbabwe's controversial Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

      The vigil is scheduled for Saturday, November 29.

      According to a statement issued in London by the Commonwealth Press
Union, the vigil is being held to protest against “the suppression of
freedom of speech in Zimbabwe".

      It will begin at 11 am at Zimbabwe House, located at Number 429, The
Strand in London.

      Participants in the vigil are expected to bring a piece of white
cloth, to be used as a symbolic gag.

      The Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday were shut down in
September because their parent company, Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe
(ANZ), would not register with the government-appointed Media and
Information Commission as required by AIPPA.

      The publishing group challenged the constitutionality of some sections
of AIPPA in the Supreme Court, which however ruled that it could not hear
the challenge until ANZ first registered with the MIC.

      The MIC subsequently denied the company registration, but the
Administrative Court ruled that ANZ should be awarded a licence.

      The MIC has appealed the decision.

      More information on Amnesty International's silent vigil can be
obtained by contacting diana@morant4.freeserve.co.uk

      PUBLIC hospitals in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, were yesterday
discharging patients and closing wards as a result of a nationwide nurses'
strike.

      The nurses joined doctors at the weekend in a strike for higher wages,
deepening the crisis of Zimbabwe's underfunded public health system.

      A visit by IRIN yesterday to the city's two largest public hospitals -
Harare and Parirenyetwa – found that new patients were being turned away and
outpatient departments had been closed.

      Some wards at the hospitals were empty and only the maternity wings
remained open.

      A few senior nurses and student nurses were still on duty at both
hospitals, but patients who could afford the fees were being referred to
private clinics.

      Doctors who earn between Z$263 305 and Z$807 735 per month (about
US$330 and US $1 000 at the official rate, US$48 and US$147 at parallel
market rates) want their salaries hiked by 8 000 percent, while nurses say
they will not return to work until the government responds to their pay
proposals from last year.

      Nurses want their new salaries pegged at Z$1.6 million (US$2 000 at
the official rate, US $290 at the parallel rate) in the face of
hyperinflation, now standing at close to 600 percent.

      Zimbabwe's nurses last month joined the doctors' strike but returned
to work after they were promised an 800 percent pay rise.

      However, when the nurses received their November salaries, they
discovered that there had been no increase.

      "When we went to the bank to collect our salaries, we were disgusted
to find that we had been tricked into going back to work because the
salaries had not been adjusted," a nurse at Harare Hospital said.

      The Zimbabwe Nurses Association, the union representing nurses, held a
meeting on Friday in Harare and decided to rejoin the striking doctors.

      Health and child welfare minister, David Parirenyatwa, has
acknowledged that salaries in the health sector need to be addressed.

      "Given the state of our economy, I want health workers to get better
salaries, but striking is not the solution. We should have a round-table
conference and put the health of our people as the first priority," he told
the official Herald newspaper.

      Medical services in Zimbabwe have been under severe strain over the
last year. The chronic shortage of foreign currency for equipment and
essential drugs has worsened the situation.

      Doctors, nurses, and other health professionals have reportedly left
the country in large numbers in search of better pay.

      In a related development, the government yesterday deployed army
medical staff to help out at state hospitals hit by the strike, Reuters
reported.

      However, health officials said the move was not likely to have an
impact as military hospitals were also understaffed because of unfavourable
remunerations. - IRIN

      THE weird story is told of how, down there in the bowels of the earth
under the Heroes Acre in Harare, the former Vice-President, Simon Muzenda,
managed to send a message to President Robert Mugabe, on the death of Canaan
Sodindo Banana: "Please don't send him down here. He will cause problems.
Instead, why not send us Katarina?"

      After the story is told, everybody is too busy laughing their heads
off to ask how Mugabe reacted to the request.

      We don't have to wonder any more: Banana was not buried at the Heroes
Acre, but at his rural home in Esigodini, Matabeleland South.

      Some people have speculated on how Joshua Nkomo would have reacted to
the Zanu PF politburo decision not to honour Banana with burial at Heroes
Acre.

      Others have gone further and speculated on what a row the whole
incident would have created if Nkomo had insisted that Banana be buried at
the Acre.

      In spite of the good sork that the former president did in brokering
the controversial unity between Zanu PF and PF Zapu in the 1980s, few would
argue that, once he had left office, his personal behaviour was less than
honourable.

      If he had found a consenting adult for a partner and kept their affair
as secret as J Edgar Hoover and his male companion kept theirs for so many
years, he probably would have been buried at Heroes Acre.

      But Banana was actually convicted and jailed for what some people
prefer to call buggery - there was no consenting adult involved.

      For a man whose homophobia is world famous Mugabe would not have been
able to live down the decision to let a man of violent homosexual
tendencies - buggery is not by consent - be buried among Zanu PF's heroes.

      The last point is important to emphasise. The men and women buried at
the Acre are heroes only in the eyes of this party, or, in fact, of this
party's dinosaurs.

      Some people complained that it was unfair not to bury Banana at the
Acre when other people they thought could be described as murderers had
enjoyed that honour.

      I can't for the life of me remember a convicted murderer who is buried
there. People who may have killed the enemy during the war of liberation can
hardly be called murderers. Still, there are others interred there who ought
to have been dumped on the dustheap of political history.

      The debate on who is and who is not a hero in the warped estimation of
the politburo will rage for a long time - until the Heroes Acre is closed
down or is renamed The Zanu PF's Heroes Acre.

      Banana often denied he was homosexual; perhaps he was not gay, not in
the same manner that such people as James Baldwin, Tennessee Williams, Noel
Coward and others were. But he was convicted of sodomy, whose element of
violence always suggests an absence of tenderness.

      Banana did perform some heroics - in the promotion of soccer, for
instance.

      One day, perhaps, when there is a Soccer Hall of Fame, he could be
reburied there, along with Naison Mhlanga, John Madzima, Nelson Chirwa and
others - unless they too would rather have a version of Katarina instead.

      Katarina, a dancer of exotic distinction, is remembered for her stage
partnership with the legendary comedian, Safirio Madzikatire. She died
recently.

      By Mbaiso

In Botswana, border turns electric

Fence: But no barrier may be too great to hold back surge of illegal
immigrants from Zimbabwe

By John Murphy. Sun Foreign Staff

Matsiloje, Botswana - Residents of this village along the border with
Zimbabwe were quite pleased when Botswana's government began erecting a
10-foot-high electrified fence to separate the two countries. Officially,
the fence is to keep out livestock from Zimbabwe suspected of carrying
foot-and-mouth disease. But the villagers are hoping the fence, which will
snake across 300 miles of desert scrub, will do more: block the path of
thousands of illegal immigrants who are fleeing the political and economic
turmoil in Zimbabwe. Now that the electric fence is nearly complete,
villagers wonder whether it will deliver a shock powerful enough to stop the
Zimbabweans, whom they blame for Botswana's rising number of thefts, rapes
and other crimes. "We still don't know whether it will work. The generator
is very weak," said Simon Lephalo, a member of the local council in this
acacia shaded village of 1,200 people. In the shimmering desert heat,
Zimbabweans plod from house to house in border towns begging to wash cars,
mow lawns, weed gardens and perform odd jobs, anything for a hot meal or a
handful of change. At night they disappear, sleeping in the dry reeds along
the banks of the Tati River, bedding down in the desert, taking refuge in
bus stops or crowding into tiny rented shelters. No fence may be high enough
or threatening enough to hold back the rising tide of illegal immigrants,
authorities in Botswana say. There are too many reasons for Zimbabweans to
leave. Nearly half of Zimbabwe's population of 12.5 million people is facing
starvation this year, and 80 percent of the population is without work and
living in poverty. There are shortages of fuel, bread, and cooking oil and
other staples. The country's doctors have been on strike since October
demanding raises to keep pace with an annual inflation rate of 450 percent.

Zimbabwe's hardships are the legacy of President Robert G. Mugabe, the
former guerrilla fighter who brought an end to white minority rule in 1980.
Twenty years later, facing mounting opposition to his poor management of the
economy, Mugabe launched a racially charged, chaotic and often-violent
program of seizing white-owned farms for landless black peasants, crippling
the country's agriculture-based economy. Mugabe won re-election last year
after a vote marred by charges of intimidation and fraud. A long-lasting
drought, meanwhile, left millions of Zimbabweans hungry and dependent on
government food aid that critics say is often denied to Mugabe's opponents.
But Zimbabwe's problems do not stop at its borders. Like the echoes from a
distant explosion, the political and economic upheavals of Zimbabwe are
being felt across the region, especially in Botswana and South Africa. South
Africa remains the top destination for Zimbabweans, but the immigrants'
impact is greater in Botswana, a sparsely populated country of 1.7 million
people. Each new economic or humanitarian disaster in Zimbabwe triggers a
fresh wave of human misery spilling into Botswana.

Flooding the country are Zimbabweans such as 22-year-old Themma Tlou. A
mother of two, Tlou lived on a white-owned commercial farm where her father
worked until government-backed militias seized the land and forced them to
flee in 2000. Out of work and out of food, Tlou left her children with her
parents and paid a guide $5 to escort her across the border into Botswana.
Under the cover of night she slipped through a tear in the fence and started
walking to Francistown, an industrial center of 100,000 less than an hour's
drive from the border. She had no money, just a jacket and hat to wear at
night and a modest dream of earning the equivalent of $50 to take home. But
her dreams were short-lived. Early the next morning, Botswana police
patrolling the border arrested her. She was brought to the Center for
Illegal Immigrants, a sprawling brick complex outside Francistown that
houses hundreds of immigrants awaiting deportation. They are given three
meals a day, a blanket to sleep on and a ride to the Zimbabwe border. Some
Zimbabweans are so flattered by the treatment they beg to stay at the
compound. In Zimbabwe, they say, they will only suffer. "All of the
industries have closed. We don't have work," says Tlou, waiting to be
deported. Edmora Banda, a surprisingly cheerful 20-year-old who is
well-known among immigration officials, was also waiting to be deported -
for the eighth time. On his most recent stay, he found a job at a
brick-making factory in Francistown, earning 20 pula, about $5 a day, a
fraction of what a Botswana citizen would demand but a fortune in Zimbabwe,
where he earned $10 a month as a gardener. He has sent his savings back home
to support his parents, two brothers and three sisters. When authorities
deport him again to Zimbabwe, he'll do just as he has done in the past. "By
tomorrow afternoon, I will be back," he promises.

From the Zimbabwe side of the fence, Botswana beckons like a promised land.
As the world's largest producer of gem diamonds, Botswana has one of the
fastest-growing economies. Combined with a government that embraces
multiparty democracy, exercises prudent fiscal policies and polices
corruption, Botswana has become a darling of the West, a model for other
African nations to follow. No one knows how many illegal immigrants from
Zimbabwe live here, but authorities estimate at least 1 million. So far this
year, more than 36,000 Zimbabweans have been deported. Those who elude
authorities perform the backbreaking jobs that the Batswana, as the people
of Botswana are known, consider beneath them. If the immigrants die, their
deaths often go unnoticed. Earlier this year, the Francistown government
buried the unclaimed bodies of a dozen Zimbabwean illegal immigrants. By
September, the mortuaries were again clogged with Zimbabwean bodies.
Although Botswana's economy has come to depend on them for cheap labor,
Zimbabweans are largely viewed here as a nuisance, responsible for the sharp
rise in prostitution, theft, rape and murder. "Zimbabweans are hated so
much. It's as if you are something stinking," says Nomsa Mdlozu, a reporter
who covers immigration issues for Francistown's newspaper, The Voice.
"Zimbabweans are hard workers especially when it comes to construction. But
the Batswana ignore their existence." Batswana forget, she says, that just
20 years ago when their country was still very poor, thousands of Batswana
sought work in Zimbabwe, once considered the breadbasket of Africa.

Police say there is no evidence that Zimbabweans are any more responsible
for crime than Batswana. Yet police have won support for stepped-up raids on
Zimbabweans, rounding them up by the hundreds at village taxi stands, at
factories and in their hide-outs in the desert. Zimbabweans are also the
target of a growing vigilante movement in Botswana. In Francistown, police
recently rushed to rescue a Zimbabwean from an angry mob that had accused
him of stealing a purse. In Tlokweng near Botswana's capital, Gaborone, the
chief called for the expulsion of Zimbabweans from his village, arguing that
they were responsible for escalating crime rates. This year, Botswana's
government amended its laws so foreigners could be tried in tribal courts,
where chiefs may mete out humiliating sentences such as public lashings. In
Matsiloje, Chief Seleka Paul Moipolai has no doubt that Zimbabweans are
guilty of stealing food, cattle, clothing and other items from his village,
but he adds that he is sympathetic to the Zimbabweans' suffering. "When we
ask them why they come here, they say they are starving," he says.

A survey by the Southern African Migration Project found that a majority of
Batswana support having an electrified border fence to control illegal
immigrants. In the eyes of many Batswana, the animal control fence is a
convenient obstacle for humans as well as cattle. To the Zimbabwean
government, it is an insult. Zimbabwe's High Commissioner to Botswana balked
at the project, comparing it to the security wall that Israel is building in
the West Bank to control the movements of Palestinians. Botswana has been
one of the few African nations to openly criticize Mugabe's land reform, and
the fence has further cooled relations. Zimbabwean officials, meanwhile, say
they are baffled by the numbers fleeing their country. "I don't know why
anyone from one country would go to another country," George Charamba, a
spokesman for the Zimbabwe President's Office, says in a telephone interview
from Harare. But Emmanuel Madzongwe, a 34-year-old musician who was arrested
jumping the border this month in hopes of earning some money playing his
guitar in Botswana, had an answer for his government. "There's nothing to do
in Zimbabwe," he says, waiting to be deported in a windowless truck to his
homeland. "People don't have money for entertainment. Any money they have,
they spend on food."

Obasanjo gets it right on Mugabe

Editor

The decision by Nigerian President Olesugun Obasanjo not to invite
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to the Commonwealth Summit is a good
example of what good friends do. A good friend that makes tough decisions
for the good of everyone is a friend indeed. We trust that in making the
decision not to invite Mugabe, Obasanjo weighed the odds. Already the
leaders of Britain and Australia were opposed to Mugabe’s presence at the
Commonwealth Summit. Indeed he also had to consider SADC’s leaders’ view
which has always been that the sub-region should pursue "silent diplomacy"
to deal with Zimbabwe. Obasanjo must have realized that silent diplomacy has
failed in Zimbabwe’s case. It must have been a tough decision indeed for
Obasanjo. As the host, he had the discretion to invite Mugabe. He chose not
to. This we say, is a wise decision even though it may not be popular with
the advocates of silent diplomacy and African brotherhood. Perhaps SADC
leaders need the same boldness in dealing with Mugabe.

It would be strange if President Festus Mogae and his South African
counterpart Thabo Mbeki still hope that the Zimbabwean situation would
return to normal with the current developments in the country. Strange
because the developments in Zimbabwe have resulted in thousands of economic
refugees fleeing to Botswana and South Africa. Did Obasanjo make his
decision - which is a public reprimand of Mugabe - because his country is
very far from Zimbabwe? We want to believe he did it because he is aware
that inviting Mugabe for the Commonwealth meet will send the wrong signals.
Furthermore Mugabe’s presence in Nigeria would only harden his dictatorial
tendencies. We wish therefore to urge SADC and in particular Mogae and Mbeki
to emulate Obasanjo’s boldness in dealing with Mugabe. The time for silent
diplomacy is passed. SADC does not need another civil war. And we in
Botswana particularly anxiously await the return of normalcy to Zimbabwe.
And normalcy can only return when Mugabe starts to behave himself or quits.

The Herald (Harare)

November 26, 2003
Posted to the web November 26, 2003

Walter Muchinguri
Harare

PARTICIPANTS to a public hearing called by the Parliamentary portfolio
committee on Budget, State Enterprises, Finance and Economic Development,
have called for a general review of the 2004 national budget before it is
approved by the Parliament.

The participants - drawn from a cross section of the society - touched on a
number of issues including the exchange rate, taxes and inflation.

An official with the Institute of Chartered Accountants said that while it
was commendable that the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr
Herbert Murerwa, had raised tax thresholds for low income earners on the
lower end, the same had not been done on the other end of the tax
thresholds.

The official said that there was need to introduce inflationary credits,
which would ensure that the tax thresholds are reviewed in line with the
changes in the rate of inflation.

A Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) treasurer, Mr Mathews Kunaka,
said that the new income tax thresholds that were introduced were only a
temporary relief and could be eroded before June next year.

"The situation has actually narrowed the gap between tax thresholds which,
in essence, means that the same people who are not paying taxes at the
moment might be doing so by June next year due to increments in their
salaries," he said.

Mr Kunaka said although the minister had alluded to the fact that there was
commitment to reducing inflation, he had not spelt out the manner through
which this would be done.

"He should have outlined the targets that he is looking at achieving, which
will make it easy for us to calculate whether the current igures would be
accommodative," he said.

The CZI chief executive, Mr Farai Zizhou, said Dr Murerwa had fallen into
the same trap as his predecessors.

"The issue has been that the Ministers of Finance have been coming up with
very good intentions but they fall short when it comes to putting in place
measures to fulfill those intentions.

"As a Government that wants to stay in power, you will expect them to
channel all their efforts towards taming inflation because people are
looking up to Government yet the Minister actually said that the cost of
goods was actually going to go up further," he said.

Mr Zizhou said as an organisation they had identified a number of areas that
needed to be attended to which included the expenditure side and the need to
give the new Reserve Bank Governor leeway in his operations. Mr Zizhou said
that there was need to revisit the issue of privatisation although it was
commendable that the Government had made a commitment to allow parastatals
to operate on commercial lines.

Mr Phil Chingwaru from the Zimbabwe Farmer's Union said while it was
commendable that the Government had joined hands with the private sector in
supporting agriculture, there was need for the former to address the issue
of collateral.

"Although the Government has provided or sourced money for the agricultural
sector, the money is still out of reach for the communal farmers who are
still being asked for collateral," he said.

Mr Albert Nhamoyebonde of the University of Zimbabwe Medical School said Dr
Murerwa had got all the fundamentals wrong in the budget.

"Parliament must make changes before approving the budget because the budget
will bring hardships to families and individuals.

"To make workers pay more in taxes than companies will destroy the
confidence of the people in the Government and Parliament.

"Companies are taxed at 30 percent while individuals are taxed at 45 percent
and with the culture of extended families, people will not be able to afford
the kind of support that is needed," he said.

The chairman of the Parliamentary portfolio committee on Budget, State
Enterprises, Finance and Economic Development and legislator for Mutoko
North, Mr David Chapfika, said that the contributions would be forwarded to
the Minister of Finance and Economic Development and would be part of the
committee's report to parliament.

Dr Murerwa last week announced an $8,4 trillion budget that allocated more
resources to the education and defence sectors.

The budget was, however, criticised for leaving most of the issues to the
monetary policy, which is expected to be announced by the incoming Reserve
Bank Governor, Dr Gideon Gono, next month.

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition party has ruled out
"Georgia-style" mass protests to overthrow President Robert Mugabe's
government, saying it favoured dialogue to resolve all disputes.

The pledge on Wednesday was made by officials from Zimbabwe's main
opposition group, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), on a visit to
South Africa's parliament seeking support against the Mugabe government over
last year's election.

It was the first time that South Africa's ruling African National Congress
had invited Zimbabwe's main opposition group to brief MPs on developments in
Harare.

"Is it an option to overthrow the state Georgia-style? It is certainly not
an option for us. We are absolutely committed to the constitutional and
democratic path," MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi told South Africa's
parliament's foreign affairs committee.

He was referring to mass protests that forced the former Soviet republic's
president, Eduard Shevardnadze, to resign over the weekend.

"We are intent on dialogue because we realise Zimbabwe needs it and we
realise it is the responsible thing to do," he added.

The MDC is in a bitter feud with the ruling Zanu-PF and is challenging
Mugabe's 2002 presidential election victory in the country's courts.

It claims the Mugabe government had used violence and intimidation against
opposition supporters, but African observers, including the ANC, say the
poll was free and fair.

Nyathi said Zimbabwe needed solidarity from its neighbours and called for
pressure on Mugabe to move negotiations on the country's future forward.
There were still no formal talks between the MDC and ZANU-PF, he said.

"We need your solidarity...violence, intimidation and torture are wrong,"
Nyathi said, adding it was disturbing to see Mugabe hailed by many as a hero
in South Africa.

"Mr Mugabe comes to South Africa and is hailed as a hero because he rails
against imperialism... I hope they have the opportunity to think about the
millions who go to bed hungry because of Mugabe," he said.

South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has been criticised for not taking a
stronger stance against the Mugabe government, and the ANC has historically
aligned itself with Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party.

Zimbabwe faces a deepening economic crisis with inflation at more than 500
percent. The government claims the economy has been sabotaged by local and
international interests opposed to his seizure of white-owned farms for
distribution to landless blacks.

Reporters sans Frontières has urged Zimbabwean authorities to drop charges
against 14 people who were arrested for circulating an e-mail message
criticising President Robert Mugabe's economic policies and calling for his
departure.

"Robert Mugabe has already gagged the traditional news media and we must now
speak out so that the internet does not meet the same fate," Reporters sans
Frontières secretary general Robert Ménard said about the arrests in
Zimbabwe.

"The Zimbabwean opposition is increasingly using the internet to distribute
information criticising the regime and this right must not be denied them,"
he added.

The Herald, a government-controlled daily, said those detained were released
after paying bail of Z$50 000 but have been ordered to appear in court on
November 26. The e-mail message encouraged Zimbabweans to stage violent
demonstrations and strikes to force Mugabe to stand down, the newspaper
said.

This is the first time the Zimbabwean authorities have used a law passed
last year by Parliament allowing it to intercept e-mail. An employee with a
Zimbabwean internet service provider told the BBC that no system for
monitoring e-mail has yet been installed. The police therefore intervened
after receiving a copy of the message.

"What is happening is that governments are starting to not only wise up to
the internet, but to acknowledge it as an important medium of
communication," says South African internet journalist and author Arthur
Goldstuck.

"As such it poses a tremendous threat to totalitarian regimes such as those
in China and Zimbabwe. If it were still the old South Africa, internet
access would probably be rigidly monitored, but unlike these examples, the
individuals using it to express their views would be pursued by security
police rather than through the open justice system."

Goldstuck says an emerging trend would be governments avoiding pursuing
these matters openly because the nature of the medium means their
embarrassment will be compounded.

"The violating e-mails would become part of the online record of discussion
of the cases, which is exactly what these kinds of governments want to
avoid."

The Zimbabwean news media use the internet to get around government
censorship.

After The Daily News was banned in October, its editors decided to continue
publishing on a website hosted in neighbouring South Africa. The Insider, a
newspaper that has declared its intention of providing independent news, has
been publishing online since September to avoid the prohibitive cost of a
paper edition.

In China an unemployed man was tried on Wednesday for "incitement to subvert
the state" after he published an article on the internet accusing China's
ruling communist party of corruption, a human rights group said. His message
called on the party to "protect the rights and interests of the weaker
classes as well as those of retired workers and people expelled from their
homes".

The man on trial -- Sang Jiancheng (61) -- was charged with subversion for
posting incendiary material on the internet. The charge is commonly used by
Chinese authorities to punish anyone who is seen as opposing the government.

The subversion trial is the first of its kind in Shanghai since Lin Hai was
tried on the same charges in 1999 for expressing his political views, the
human rights group said.

China has heightened its crackdown on cyber-dissidents this year, with four
people accused of state subversion condemned to between eight and 10 years
in prison in May.

Other internet dissidents are likely to be convicted before the end of the
month, in southwestern Sichuan and northern Shaanxi provinces, as well as
Beijing, according to the rights group. -- Sapa-AFP

      Nigerian President gets tough with two of Africa's pariahs

      Obasanjo would 'persuade' Taylor to return to Liberia, and bar Mugabe
from summit

      By GLENN MCKENZIE
      From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

      OTA, NIGERIA — Nigeria's influential leader set tough terms yesterday
for two of Africa's pariah leaders, pledging to ''persuade'' ousted warlord
Charles Taylor to surrender for trial if Liberia asks and promising to bar
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe from next month's British Commonwealth
summit.

      Olusegun Obasanjo's comments came in a rare interview with the leader
of Africa's most populous nation, under a shady tree at the Nigerian
President's farm, amid strutting peacocks and a sunning baby crocodile.

      The Nigerian leader has strongly resisted U.S. congressional pressure
to turn Mr. Taylor over for prosecution on a UN-backed war-crimes indictment
in the West African country of Sierra Leone.

      Mr. Taylor has lived in exile in southern Nigeria since early August,
when he fled Liberia under international pressure as rebels laid siege to
the capital, Monrovia.

      However, if the interim government that succeeded Mr. Taylor decides
it wants him to face charges at home, "then I believe he will understand
sufficiently the need to go home," Mr. Obasanjo said.

      Asked what he would do if Mr. Taylor resisted, he responded, "I would
persuade him."

      It would be difficult for Mr. Taylor to resist such a request from Mr.
Obasanjo, who has laid down restrictions for the exile.

      The former Liberian president is barred from speaking to reporters and
is banned from meddling in Nigerian politics. He also is required to give
advance notice of any travel plans, although Mr. Obasanjo says Mr. Taylor is
free to leave if he so desires.

      Interim Liberian leader Gyude Bryant, appointed under an Aug. 18 peace
deal, has said Mr. Taylor should go to neighbouring Sierra Leone to face his
war crimes indictment there.

      Liberia's government has not specifically said it wanted Mr. Taylor
for trial.

      Mr. Taylor, a Libyan-trained guerrilla, launched Liberia into conflict
in 1989, at the head of what started out as a small rebellion.

      The 14 years of fighting that followed resulted in the deaths of an
estimated 250,000 Liberians.

      He emerged from the country's seven-year civil war in 1996 as
Liberia's strongest warlord, and won presidential elections in 1997.

      Rebels launched their ultimately successful fight to oust him two
years later.

      Also yesterday, Mr. Obasanjo ruled out Mr. Mugabe's attendance at the
Dec. 5-8 summit of heads of state of the British Commonwealth, set for
Abuja, Nigeria's capital.

      Mr. Mugabe said last week he expected to attend, heightening the
threat of boycotts by the Queen, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prime
Minister Jean Chrétien and other Commonwealth leaders.

      "He will not have an invitation," Mr. Obasanjo said of Mr. Mugabe. "He
can come on a bilateral basis, but not during" the summit.

      Zimbabwe was suspended by the Commonwealth after Mr. Mugabe's disputed
re-election in 2002. Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon and
Australian Prime Minister John Howard have repeatedly criticized Mr. Mugabe
for human-rights violations in Zimbabwe.

      Some members of the 54-nation Commonwealth have warned that Mr.
Mugabe's presence could split the organization.

      Mr. Obasanjo said he was encouraged that Zimbabwe opposition and
government officials were still engaging in dialogue, leaving open the
possibility of a "new dawn for Zimbabwe."

      Mr. Obasanjo also said he hoped Zimbabwe would not overshadow other
matters at the summit, including forging trade and foreign aid ties between
Western nations and the underdeveloped countries of the Southern Hemisphere.

      The interview was Mr. Obasanjo's first with foreign journalists here
since his re-election in April.

      He reiterated his pledge to fight graft in Nigeria, a nation of 126
million people. The country is still regarded as one of the world's most
corrupt, four years after his civilian administration replaced a brutal
military dictatorship in 1999.

By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS

Associated Press Writer

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - AIDS has already orphaned more than 11
million African children under the age of 15, and ``the worst is yet to
come,'' warns a report issued by the U.N. Children's Fund.

By 2010, there will be about 20 million children in sub-Saharan Africa who
have lost at least one parent to AIDS, bringing the total number of orphans
in the region to 42 million.

In the worst affected countries - Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and
Zimbabwe - more than one in five children will be orphans by 2010 - more
than 80 percent of them because of AIDS, according to the report ``Africa's
Orphaned Generations,'' which was issued Wednesday.

Even in countries like Uganda, where HIV prevalence has stabilized or
fallen, the number of orphans will remain high because of the proportion of
adults already infected with HIV - few of whom have access to
life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs.

These children - half of them between the ages of 10 and 14 - are left
without critical guidance, protection and support, the report warned. They
are also at risk of malnutrition, physical and sexual abuse, and exposure to
HIV infection.

``We need to move beyond feeling beleaguered to feeling outraged by the
unacceptable suffering of children,'' UNICEF Executive Director Carol
Bellamy said in a statement Wednesday.

Extended families are caring for 90 percent of African orphans, the report
said.

In many countries, a growing number of these households are headed by women
and grandparents. Already generally poorer, they are less and less able to
provide adequately for the children in their care - and their burden is only
set to increase.

To make matters worse, many of the most severely affected countries have no
policies to address the needs of orphans, the report found.

The failure to respond to the orphan crisis jeopardizes not only the
children's future, but also the development prospects of their communities
and countries, it said.

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to nearly three-quarters of the world's
HIV-infected population. Eight out of every 10 children who have lost
parents to AIDS live in this region.

Children in HIV affected households begin to suffer even before a parent
dies. Not only do they go through the trauma of witnessing their parents'
illness and death, but they are likely to be poorer and less healthy than
other children, the report said.

Household incomes plummet when adults fall ill from HIV because they can no
longer work full time, if at all. The amount of land they cultivate drops,
and with it food supplies, even as health care expenses soar.

Many children are forced to drop out of school because they can't afford the
fees, have to care for a sick parent, or need to earn money.

As a result, they are more likely to suffer damage to their cognitive and
emotional development, to have less education, and to be subjected to the
worst forms of child labor - including domestic work, quarrying and
commercial sex work - UNICEF warned.

The report argues that the course of the crisis can be altered by providing
immediate help to families and communities, including offering free basic
education, giving them safe and viable options for earning a living, and
providing them with financial and other assistance.

This is critical in a region where only around 1 percent of the 29 million
people living with HIV and AIDS have access to life-prolonging medicines
widely available in wealthier countries, UNICEF said.

``We must keep parents alive and ensure that orphans and other vulnerable
children stay in school and are protected from exploitation and abuse,''
Bellamy said. ``The future of Africa depends upon it.''

The Herald (Harare)

EDITORIAL
November 26, 2003
Posted to the web November 26, 2003

Harare

OIL companies, both traditional and new, have done much in recent months to
keep Zimbabweans and Zimbabwean businesses on the road.

Fuel is now almost always available for both the business sectors and the
private motorist, but the prices are high, with $3 000 a litre being the
present mean although some suppliers are a little cheaper and several charge
up to $3 500 per litre.

One reason for the prices being higher than hoped is the appalling cost of
transporting petrol and diesel from the nearest port, in this case Beira.

Oil importers are using road tankers.

This method is easily the most expensive and in normal circumstances can
only be cost effective for short-haul trips from city depots or rail-heads
to filling stations.

Rail tankers are significantly cheaper and oil pipelines are usually
regarded as the cheapest, so long as adequate quantities of fuel are moved
along a pipeline, a condition that Zimbabwe's private importers could reach
immediately if they switched.

There is a perfectly good pair of pipelines, from Beira to Feruka near
Mutare and from Feruka to Harare.

These pipelines were used to move most of Zimbabwe's fuel during the days of
the Noczim monopoly and must now be pressed into service for the benefit of
the private importers.

There is one problem though when many companies use the same pipeline.

The pipeline itself holds a lot of fuel and a particular importer's fuel can
only come out the other end if others are pumping into the start of the
pipeline.

It has been reported that two private companies, as well as Noczim, have
fuel trapped in the pipelines and are at the moment, unable to access what
they have already paid for until others start pumping.

There are several solutions to that problem.

The first, and most obvious, would be an agreement that everyone would use
the pipelines to move their fuel and that between them they would ensure
something close to continuous pumping.

This would mean a particular importer's fuel would be in the pipeline for
only a few days.

The other simple solution would be for importers to form a pool for
transport purposes.

All fuel coming out the Harare end of the pipelines would be divided among
the companies in strict proportion to what each had actually pumped into the
pipelines at the Beira end.

This would ensure that all importers would receive regular supplies.

Obviously, use of a pipeline cannot be free.

The owners of the two pipelines are entitled to a fee and the Mozambican
Government is entitled to levy a charge on fuel crossing its territory.

The transport and pumping fees need to be negotiated.

Noczim should be charging a fee that covers the actual costs and has a
reasonable mark-up.

We feel sure that it is possible for the private importers and Noczim to
negotiate such a mark-up and to agree on what the actual costs are.

Much will depend on how much the pipelines are used, with more use resulting
in lower costs for each litre moved and thus in cheaper rates.

Such an agreement will have two major benefits.

First, oil companies will be able to supply the private sector with fuel at
the lowest possible profitable price.

Secondly Noczim itself will have an additional source of income, something
it desperately needs to be able to serve its new function as the supplier to
the Government and the public transport sector at the lowest possible price.

There has been a lot of discussion on what the private importers should be
allowed to charge.

Already we are seeing the effects of competition and fuel prices vary
significantly as a result.

This competition needs to be encouraged and intensified, and serious efforts
need to be made to stamp out even the suspicion of a cartel.

From IUCN - The World Conservation Union
Wednesday, November 26, 2003

Nairobi, Kenya, 26 November 2003 (IUCN) -- Between 400,000 and 660,000
elephants are currently thought to roam in African forests and savannas,
according to a report by experts from the IUCN Species Survival Commission's
African Elephant Specialist Group (AfESG).

The new African Elephant Status Report (AESR) is the latest in a series of
reports derived from the African Elephant Database (AED) - the largest and
most detailed source of information on the global distribution and abundance
of any species. Since 1986, the AED has been compiling information on the
status of elephant populations in all 37 African elephant Range States. The
new AESR is the work of many experts within the AfESG and its broader
network across Africa and required detailed compilation, synthesis, and
oversight by the authors over the past four years. The previous report of
the AED was produced in 1999.

Pooling information from the site level up to the regional level, the AESR
estimates Southern Africa to have the largest populations of elephants, with
numbers ranging from a definite 246,000 to a speculative 300,000. Eastern
Africa follows, with at least 118,000 elephants and speculatively as many as
163,000. Central Africa may harbour between 16,500 and 196,000 elephants,
while the smallest and most fragmented populations are found in West Africa,
ranging from a definite 5,500 to a speculative 13,200 elephants.

Overall, the population figures in the AESR are higher than those reported
four years ago. This is partly due to reported increases in major savanna
elephant populations in countries such as Botswana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe,
which together harbour the largest known populations on the continent. "But
this says little about how elephant populations have fared at the
continental level," explains Julian Blanc, one of the report's authors.
"Most elephant surveys are restricted to protected areas, and it is
precisely to protected areas that elephants flock when their range is
compressed by expanding human populations. And a high concentration of
elephants in protected areas can give a misleading impression of increasing
numbers."

Many other factors can lead to false impressions. "We now have estimates
covering a much larger area than we did five years ago - and that alone can
go a long way in explaining differences in numbers - but there are still
huge gaps in our knowledge," says Blanc. The estimates presented in the AESR
only cover just over half of the total area in which elephants may still
occur, and repeated assessments of the status of elephant populations in
these unsurveyed areas need to be made before an accurate picture of changes
in elephant numbers over time can emerge.
Knowledge of current elephant numbers and distribution is vital for the
effective conservation and management of the species, and is required for
defining strategies and setting conservation priorities. Elephants can have
major impacts on their habitats and on the livelihoods of people with whom
they share land and resources, and information on their distribution and
movements is also essential for developing sound land use plans and
policies.

The lack of such policies in most African countries, coupled with increasing
human populations on the continent, are leading to high levels of
human-elephant conflict and increasing fragmentation of elephant range.
Habitat loss and competition for resources between people and elephants
remain amongst the foremost challenges in elephant conservation today.

Despite the current limitations of data quality and availability, the AESR
provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date review of the current status
of African elephants throughout their range, and will be invaluable for
wildlife managers and policy makers to develop long-term strategies for the
conservation of elephants and their habitats.

---------------------------------
For more information contact:
Julian Blanc
IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +254 20 576 461
Mobile: +254 722 842613
Fax: +254 20 570 385
E-mail: julian.blanc@ssc.iucn.org
Web: http://iucn.org/afesg/

About IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group (AfESG)
The African Elephant Specialist Group (AfESG) is one of over 120 Specialist
Groups of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. It is comprised of over 45
scientists and wildlife conservation practitioners, from all over
sub-Saharan Africa, who voluntarily share their expertise in elephant
conservation and management. The broad aim of the AfESG is to promote the
long-term conservation of Africa's elephants and, where possible, the
recovery of their population to viable levels.
The African Elephant Database was initiated in 1986, and has since been the
standard reference on the current status of the African elephant at the
national, regional and continental levels. The AfESG constantly collects and
compiles information on elephant distribution, abundance and movement
patterns from a wide network of scientists and conservationists in all 37
African elephant range states, and feeds that information into the African
Elephant Database. The information contained in the AED is collated,
distilled and analyzed by a team of regional experts from the African
Elephant Specialist Group, and a major report of the AED is published in
print generally every three years. The AESR 2002 is available on the web in
PDF format: http://iucn.org/afesg/aed/aesr2002.html

About IUCN - The World Conservation Union
Created in 1948, IUCN - The World Conservation Union brings together 75
states, 108 government agencies, 750 plus NGOs, and some 10,000 scientists
and experts from 181 countries in a unique worldwide partnership. IUCN's
mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world
to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use
of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.
IUCN is the world's largest environmental knowledge network and has helped
over 75 countries to prepare and implement national conservation and
biodiversity strategies. IUCN is a multi-cultural, multilingual organization
with 1000 staff located in 62 countries. Its headquarters are in Gland,
Switzerland.
http://www.iucn.org
press@iucn.org