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5 die as fresh cholera epidemic looms in Zim
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own
Correspondent Saturday 14 November 2009
HARARE - The World
Health Organisation (WHO) says a cumulative 116 cholera
cases have been
reported in Zimbabwe since August, killing at least five
people as fears
abound of another deadly outbreak of the disease that
claimed more than 4
000 lives between August 2008 and last July.
WHO said 14 new cases and
two deaths were reported this week as the disease
ravages nine of the
country's 62 districts.
"A cumulative 116 cases with five deaths have
been reported in nine out of
62 districts in the country," WHO
said.
News of the increased cholera cases came as aid agencies and the
Zimbabwe
government made contingency plans for an anticipated deterioration
in the
country's humanitarian situation until June 2010.
According to
an Inter-Agency Contingency Plan prepared by aid agencies under
the auspices
of the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA), aid agencies are on standby to respond to an
expected surge in
cholera cases this year amid indications that the
availability of clean
drinking water may not have improved.
It is estimated that between 100
000 and 125 000 people could be infected
with the water-borne disease this
year compared to 2008 when it affected
nearly 100 000 people.
The
agencies are also forecasting a surge in cases of the deadly H1N1 virus
or
swine flu during the next seven months as Zimbabweans continue to travel
within the region in search of economic refuge.
They project that the
number of people with swine flu could rise from 12
currently to 125 by June
2010 unless something is done to stem the tide of
Zimbabweans crossing into
South Africa and other neighbouring countries.
The aid agencies have also
warned of a likely scenario where between two and
2.8 million people would
require food assistance until the next harvest in
March 2010.
In the
worst-case scenario, the aid agencies are budgeting for between three
and
five million people applying for food handouts during the peak hunger
period
around between January and March 2010.
Zimbabwe is forecast to record a
poor harvest during the 2009/10 farming
season as weather experts warn of a
lurking moderate El Nino conditions
across the Pacific Ocean which are
associated with dry conditions across
southern Africa. -
ZimOnline
US$10m to relocate villagers from diamond field
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Andrew
Moyo Saturday 14 November 2009
HARARE - The government has
set aside US$10 million for the relocation of
thousands of families from
Marange diamond field to pave way for commercial
extraction of the precious
stones, a senior official has said.
"Government has set aside US$10
million for the relocation of the families,"
Mines and Mining Development
Deputy Minister Murisi Zwizwai said this week.
"The money would be used to
build new houses, clinics among others."
Zwizwai said that the government
would however wait until the end of the
2009/2010 agricultural season in
March next year to relocate the families to
a farm previously operated by
the state-run near the controversial diamond
field, where close to 300
people are reported to have been killed by
security forces since
2006.
President Robert Mugabe's government seized Marange, also known as
Chiadzwa,
claim from British-based mining firm African Consolidated
Resources Plc
(ACR) in October 2006 and allocated the claim to state-owned
Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation.
A High Court judge ruled
that the diamond field belongs to ACR but the
government, which has engaged
two different other firms to help mine the
claim, says it has appealed
against the judgment.
Human rights groups say police and soldiers sent to
protect the Marange
field used excessive and brutal force to take control of
the diamond field
and that the security forces themselves are involved in
smuggling of
diamonds.
But a meeting of the world diamond industry
monitoring group, the Kimberley
Process (KP), last week voted not to suspend
Zimbabwe from the world market
and instead agreed to give Harare implement
measures to bring standards at
Marange in line with KP requirements. -
ZimOnline
Rapaport
Group bans all Zimbabwe blood diamonds
http://www.examiner.com/
November 13, 11:46 AMDC Diamonds
ExaminerJhannet MarantonioNovember 13,
2009 - The Rapaport Group and the
RapNet Diamond Trading Network announced
today in its Rapaport Tradewire®
publication that it is "implementing an
immediate trading ban on all
diamonds from Zimbabwe due to severe human
rights violations in Marange.
RapNet members should immediately remove all
RapNet listings of diamonds
originating from Zimbabwe. Firms and individuals
that continue to trade in
diamonds from Zimbabwe will be denied access to
all Rapaport services." This
is significant because Rap generates the
indexes from which diamond prices
are derived.
For those of you not familiar with the term "blood diamonds"
or "conflict
diamonds," it basically means diamonds mined in war zones that
are then sold
to finance bloody and often sadistic insurgencies, invasions
and tyrannies.
The most widely known is the Sierra Leone conflict where the
Republican
United Front launched an insurgency wherein they conscripted and
enslaved
locals to mine diamonds illegally and any resistance was met with
brutality,
often the amputation of one or both arms at the elbow. Despite
the fact that
this had been going on since 1991, it was not addressed until
1999 and
studies estimate that over $125 million worth of rough diamonds
were bought
by the European diamond industry alone during that
time.
In May 2000, the diamond producing countries of Africa met in
Kimberly,
South Africa to establish a process whereby the origin of African
diamonds
could be tracked and diamond retailers, as well as the general
public, could
be assured that their diamond purchases had not contributed to
the financing
of violence. A resolution adopted on July 19, 2000 in Antwerp
mandated an
international certification system on the export and import of
diamonds, for
countries to impose criminal charges on anyone trafficking in
blood
diamonds, and for these entities to be banned from the diamond bourses
(the
exchange where rough diamonds are bought and sold). In addition, the
World
Diamond Council was created in 2001 and set out to draft a process
whereby
diamond rough could be certified. On March 13, 2002, the Kimberly
Process
Certification Scheme (KPC) was created. The Kimberly Process brings
together
governments, the diamond industry and concerned non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) to police the conflict diamond trade. It encompasses 49
members representing 75 countries and covers approximately 99.8% of the
diamond rough produced globally.
Upon the KPC's creation, consumers
around the world breathed a collective
sigh of relief. Now they could be
certain that their diamonds had not funded
any form of violence. While this
writer has her own opinions about the
effectiveness of the Kimberly Process,
until recently it appeared to be
doing its job. However, over the last
several years, it has become known
that there are illegal mining and serious
human rights abuses taking place
in Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields with
no punitive actions implemented by
the KPC. In July of this year, an
11-person KPC review team was sent to
Zimbabwe. The resulting report cited
horrific violence against civilians and
recommended it be at least
temporarily barred from the KPC until compliance
was achieved.
To
date, Zimbabwe is still a member of the KPC. The Kimberly Process defends
this action, stating it will not vote on the matter but rather censure
Zimbabwe only through a complete consensus of its members. Since no
consensus on Zimbabwe's status was achieved at the recent annual plenary
session, the Kimberly Process failed to suspend Zimbabwe.
Despite
this complete failure on the part of the KPC in the face of evidence
of
human rights abuses, many retailers and groups such as Rapaport are
taking
it upon themselves to do what the Kimberly Process will not - refuse
to sell
any diamonds coming out of the Marange fields. Some retailers have
turned
exclusively to Australian and Canadian diamond sources in order to
ensure
that no conflict diamonds are introduced into their supply lines.
Though
it is this writer's hope that one day the Kimberly Process will
actually do
what it was created to do rather than create the illusion of
validity, until
then it will be up to individual retailers to do the right,
ethical and
moral thing.
Old Mutual and Zimbabwe diamonds
The Star, 12.11.09
By
Peta Thornycroft
South Africa's Old Mutual has nearly a six percent
share in a South African
company which is now mining diamonds on claims in
eastern Zimbabwe where
atrocities have taken place,
The
new companies now mining this area are doing so despite a September
order
from the Harare High Court which says parts of these diamond claims
belong
to British company, African Consolidated Resources, plc.
The court
confirmed ACR had leased the claims legitimately from 2006 and
ordered all
others, including the Zimbabwe security forces, to leave the
area, so that
development could take place.
Zimbabwe's mining minister Obert Mpofu
has ignored the High Court order and
announced the new deal Wednesday in the
Zanu PF controlled daily newspaper
the Herald.
He made the
announcement ignoring international concern backed up by
detailed reports of
gross human rights abuses by Zimbabwe security forces
against informal
miners and their families, during an army crackdown last
year, on the diamond
site known as Chiadzwa, in the Marange district in the
eastern Manicaland
Province.
The deal announced by Mpofu is a joint venture with
parastatal, Zimbabwe
Mining Development Corporation, which is listed on EU
and United States list
of restricted companies, and two newly formed
businesses, one of which
involves New Reclamation Group (Pvt)
Ltd.
Old Mutual is listed as nearly six percent shareholder in
Johannesburg
based, New Reclamation Group.
Old Mutual have not
answered phone messages or emails sent to them last week
to ask if they are
aware of what has taken place at Chiadzwa since ACR was
evicted from their
claims, and whether they were aware of the order given by
Judge Charles
Hungwe on September 24 confirming ACR's rights to the sites.
New
Reclamation, whose executive chairman David Kassel, also ignored
questions
put to him repeatedly by Independent Newspapers, has quit his
position to
work full time on the Zimbabwe diamond deal on commission basis
according to
details of a meeting of shareholders.
There is a growing and complex
trail of companies, trusts, and individuals
now shareholders in operations at
Chiadzwa, including a former air vice
Marshall of the Zimbabwe Airforce,
Robert Mhlanga, now in Sandton, a one
time South African mercenary, diamond
dealers from Belgium and Israel, and
a host of other individuals, mostly
South Africans who must believe they
will make instant wealth from the mostly
alluvial stones.
New Reclamation Group's interests are held in a
company called Grandwell
Holdings established in Mauritius which is in a JV
on ACR's northern claim
in the Marange district.
A new company,
Mbada, still to be registered in Zimbabwe, in which Grandwell
is
incorporated, was named by Mpofu as one of the two companies in which
the
ZMDC has a joint venture.
Mpofu said the second joint venture,
on the southern part of ACR's claims
has been awarded to another newly
established company, Candile Miners (Pvt)
Ltd which has two directors,
Dominic Mubaiywa, also managing director of the
state mining parastatal, and
another Zimbabwean, Lovemore Kurotwi, related
to or connected with some
powerful people in President Robert Mugabe's Zanu
PF.
Candile
Miners produced a video screened at the Kimberley Process plenary
meeting in
Namibia earlier this month to defend Zimbabwe's human rights
record on the
diamond claims.
Andrew Cranswick, CEO of ACR said last week that his
company would seek
legal redress for violation of its claims. "We will go to
court wherever we
can, and in particular anyone who buys stones from our
claims must realise
they will be buying stolen property."
Several
international human rights organisations, Global Witness among them,
have
collected data over the last two years of informal miners killed by
Zimbabwe
security forces.
Others, including young women connected with some of
the artisanal miners
have signed affidavits that they have been beaten and
raped, because of the
conflict diamonds.
The value of the stones
on ACR's claims which have been dug up by tens of
thousands of informal
miners, police and army members since 2006, is still
not fully
established.
De Beers, which previously had the leases of the claims
now owned by ACR
handed them back to the government of Zimbabwe in
2006.
Despite the uncertainty of the quantity and quality of gem
stones at
Chiadzwa, diamond dealers have flocked to buy them off informal
miners,
mainly in Mozambique, where trading rough diamonds is not
illegal.
There are many accounts of small fortunes having been made:
not by the
informal miners, but by middle men trading the stones
Plot to
convict Bennett exposed
http://nehandaradio.com/
Published on: 14th November, 2009
By Fortune
Tazvida
Zanu PF is working in over-drive mode to try and secure the
conviction of
MDC Treasurer General Roy Bennett on trumped up terror
charges.
The main stumbling block is the lack of any credible evidence
but this has
not stopped the regime from conniving to set this
up.
Attorney General Johannes Tomana and Defence Minister Emerson
Mnangagwa have
been tasked with manufacturing the evidence. Already numerous
trips have
been made to Mozambique to convince certain unnamed 'witnesses'
to testify.
Mugabe has already told his top aides there is no way he will
swear in a
dispossessed white commercial farmer into government and have him
serve as
Deputy Agriculture Minister especially given his violent land
reform
exercise.
Several months ago Mugabe lost his cool telling
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara, Tsvangirai had to find someone else
for the ministerial post who
was not Roy Bennett. 'What is so special about
Bennett?' he fumed.
Attorney General Tomana, a former soldier, has been
tasked to personally
ensure Bennett is either convicted or the state manages
to drag the case for
long enough to outlive the unity
government.
Nehanda Radio is also reliably informed all the judges who
are likely to
hear the case have already been given instructions on how to
proceed in
dealing with the matter especially given the intense
international media
coverage.
Justice Chinembiri Bhunu who is
currently presiding over the case has
already been asked by the defence to
recuse himself following several
judgment u-turns that betrayed the fact he
was getting orders from above.
Defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said
justice Bhunu should step aside because
of comments he made in 2006 that
appeared to show he already believed the
prosecution claims.
"We have
asked the judge to recuse himself and hand over the matter to
another
judge," Mtetwa told reporters after meeting with Bhunu in chambers.
"In
May 2006, he said this was a very serious case, and we feel this
(remark)
also affects Roy. Come Monday, he will decide whether to recuse
himself or
not," she said.
During a recent interview on Cable News Network (CNN)
Mugabe claimed Bennett
could not be sworn in because he is facing serious
charges. MDC Secretary
General and current Finance Minister Tendai Biti
however still has treason
charges hanging on his head but was sworn in all
the same.
ZANU PF
electoral college considers nominations for vacant VP position
http://www.apanews.net
APA-Harare
(Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe's ZANU PF is expected to take nominations for
the vacant
vice president position on Saturday as preparations gather
momentum for the
party's watershed annual congress scheduled for December, a
state-owned
newspaper reports here.
The Herald daily said ZANU PF electoral colleges
are due to meet in the
country's 10 provinces to elect the new Presidium and
Central Committee
members.
The contest for the position of party vice
president is expected to be hotly
contested, with at least five candidates
having expressed interest in
replacing Joseph Msika who died in
August.
President Robert Mugabe has two deputies in the party and in
government but
one of the vice presidents' slots has been vacant since the
August. Joice
Mujuru is the other vice president.
Under the ZANU PF
constitution, the two vice presidential slots must be
shared by members of
the old ZANU PF and the former PF ZAPU which derived
its support base from
Matabeleland in the west of the country.
The two parties merged in 1987
following a Unity Accord signed by Mugabe and
former PF ZAPU leader and late
vice president Joshua Nkomo.
Mujuru is from the old ZANU PF while the
former PF ZAPU was yet to choose a
replacement for Msika.
ZANU PF
national chairman John Nkomo has been nominated by one of the
provinces in
the Matabeleland region but he faces stiff competition from
other candidates
who have also thrown their hats into the contest.
The electoral colleges
are also expected to take nominations from candidates
vying for Nkomo's
current position which would be contested at next month's
congress.
JN/ad/APA 2009-11-14
Mpofu
slams Nkomo as Zanu PF picks VP
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
13/11/2009 00:00:00
by
Lindie Whiz
OBERT Mpofu launched a savage attack on Zanu PF national
chairman John Nkomo
on Friday, the eve of party nominations for the top
posts of vice president
and national chairman.
Nkomo is angling for
the vice presidency of Zanu PF and country following
the death of second
Vice President Joseph Msika on August 4.
Zanu PF's politburo ruled that
Msika's replacement must come from PF-Zapu
which it entered a unity
government with in 1987 - and Nkomo was immediately
installed by most
political analysts as the front-runner.
But in a surprise twist, Nkomo
has failed to get his candidacy backed by the
three Matabeleland provinces -
PF-Zapu's former strong-hold. After Bulawayo
declared it was backing Nkomo,
Matabeleland South publicly backed Deputy
Senate president Naison
Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu and Matabeleland North, where
Mpofu is a big player, is
also believed to be backing Ndlovu.
The other candidates in the running
are Bulawayo governor Cain Mathema and
Retired Brigadier-General Ambrose
Mutinhiri.
Meanwhile Zanu PF's secretary for administration Didymus
Mutasa has declared
his intention to seek nomination for the chairman's post
- raising the
possibility that Nkomo could lose both the chairmanship and
the vice
presidency.
Mpofu, who denies holding personal ambitions to
be vice president, said
Ndlovu was "a sober nationalist" and "a fatherly
figure" in a ringing
endorsement.
Mpofu then savagely attacked Nkomo,
saying he had pursued his political
career "through false political
credentials, credentials only known to
himself".
The Umguza MP and
Mines Minister did not refer to Nkomo by name but left no
doubt who was the
target of his venom when he referred to a failure to
mobilise Zanu PF
supporters for elections - a task which falls under the
national chairman's
portfolio.
"Ndlovu is a true revolutionary who never speaks about himself
and his
political credentials as opposed to those who have set out to
persecute and
destroy the political future of many aspiring young cadres
from this
region," Mpofu said.
"A good leader produces other leaders
and does not persecute his
subordinates. Ndlovu pursues his career through
genuine unity as opposed to
some people who have pursued their careers
through false political
credentials, credentials only known to
themselves.
"These are the same people who have been rejected by the
people several
times but Cde Ndlovu is far from that."
Nkomo has not
won a parliamentary election since 2000.
Senior Zanu PF leaders are said to
be keen to see Nkomo elevated to vice
president to spare him embarrassment,
but Mpofu warned those seeking to
block Ndlovu's path would be
"shamed".
He told the Chronicle: "I want to assure you that the voice of
the people in
the region and the entire country would be heard this weekend
and this will
shame those who have always sought to destroy the people's
wishes through a
transparent and democratic process, which Zanu PF has
always thrived to
achieve.
"We are in this inclusive government due
to such pretenders whose objective
is to secure positions instead of
mobilising people and strengthening the
party.
"I can safely say I am
speaking for the people of this region because
recorded results clearly show
that I have a majority following in this part
of the country."
In
line with a September 2008 power sharing pact between President Robert
Mugabe's Zanu PF party and the two MDC factions, Zanu PF will be allowed to
pick the second vice president to fill the vacancy created by Msika's
death.
Rautenbach's
sugar venture hits a snag
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=25025
November 14, 2009
By Owen
Chikari
MASVINGO - Attempts by Bio-Energy Development, a company owned by
entrepreneur Billy Rautenbach, to grow sugar cane on 100 000 hectares of
land in the giant Nuanetsi Ranch suffered a serious setback this
week.Zanu-PF's Masvingo provincial leadership refused to grant approval said
to be required for the multi-billion dollar venture planned by the
Zimbabwean business tycoon known for his strong Zanu-PF
links.
President Robert Mugabe and Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa
are
shareholders in Bio-Energy Development. The company has a proposal for a
multibillion venture in which it plans to grow sugar cane for ethanol
production, among other processes, in a bid to address the country's
perennial fuel shortage.
The company also planned to enter into
partnership with the Development
Trust of Zimbabwe (DTZ), a company wholly
owned by the former PF-Zapu.
Nuanetsi Ranch is, in fact, the property of
DTZ, a company formed by the
late former PF-Zapu leader, Dr Joshua Nkomo. It
remains unclear what
Bio-Energy Development paid to buy into Nuanetsi
Ranch.
The Masvingo political leadership this week refused to give
Bio-Energy
Development the green light to go ahead with the planned venture
arguing it
can not give land to a white owned company.
Sources within
Zanu-PF yesterday said that the party's Masvingo leadership
had told the
company to stop any further developments since the project had
not been
approved.
"We have told the company to stop any developments and that we
have reversed
our earlier decision for the project to go ahead," said a
senior Zanu-PF
official who requested anonymity.
"The company is
owned by a white man and giving him such a vast piece of
land might mean we
are now reversing the gains of the liberation struggle.
"The land reform
programme is meant to benefit the local black community and
if we give Billy
100 000 hectares of land what are we trying to tell fellow
Zimbabweans?"
Although Masvingo provincial governor Titus Maluleke
could not be reached
for comment yesterday early this year he openly said
that he was against the
business venture.
"We cannot give one man
such a big portion of land and, to make matters
worse, the man is white,"
Maluleke told journalists then.
Masvingo provincial administrator Felix
Chikovo yesterday confirmed that
there were problems regarding the business
deal but said he was not at
liberty to go into details.
"I just know
that the deal is currently facing problems and I cannot comment
further than
this," said Chikovo.
Sources at Bio-Energy Development yesterday said
that they had since stopped
importing machinery because of the
developments.
However Liberty Mhlanga the chairman of DTZ maintained
yesterday that the
partnership with Bio-Energy Development would go
ahead.
"We have more than 1 000 crocodiles on the property and we intend
to
expand," said Mhlanga. "We are not aware of any changes to our big
venture
with Bio-Energy Development."
President Robert Mugabe and his
defence minister are share holders through
Rautenbach's Sabot holdings, a
company which has the majority stake in
Bio-Energy
Development.
Mugabe and Mnangagwa are share holders in Sabot
holdings.
Zimbabwe
placed on CIA 'watch list'
http://www.zimeye.org/?p=10463
By John-Chimunhu
Published: November
13, 2009
Harare As the political and economic situation in
Zimbabwe gets
progressively worse, trafficking in human beings and drugs is
on the
increase, prompting the United States Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) to
place the country on its 'watch list'.
"Zimbabwe is a
source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and
children
trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual
exploitation; large
scale migration of Zimbabweans to surrounding
countries - as they flee a
progressively more desperate situation at home -
has increased; rural
Zimbabwean men, women, and children are trafficked
internally to farms for
agricultural labor and domestic servitude and to
cities for domestic labor
and commercial sexual exploitation; young men and
boys are trafficked to
South Africa for farm work, often laboring for months
in South Africa
without pay before "employers" have them arrested and
deported as illegal
immigrants; young women and girls are lured abroad with
false employment
offers that result in involuntary domestic servitude or
commercial sexual
exploitation; men, women, and children from neighboring
states are
trafficked through Zimbabwe en route to South Africa," says a
current notice
posted on the CIA website.
The US agency said it has placed Zimbabwe on
its 'watch-list' as the
government did not seem to be taking appropriate
measures to solve the
problem.
"Zimbabwe is on the Tier 2 Watch List
for its failure to provide evidence of
increasing efforts to combat severe
forms of human trafficking, and because
the absolute number of victims of
severe forms of trafficking is
significantly increasing; the trafficking
situation in the country is
worsening as more of the population is made
vulnerable by declining
socio-economic conditions," the CIA said.
The
agency said Zimbabwe was a 'transit point for cannabis and South Asian
heroin, mandrax, and methamphetamines en route to South Africa'.
The
CIA noted that Zimbabwe's neighbours had taken measures to stem the flow
of
illegal immigrants into their countries.
"Botswana built electric fences
and South Africa has placed military along
the border to stem the flow of
thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing to find work
and escape political
persecution; Namibia has supported, and in 2004
Zimbabwe dropped objections
to, plans between Botswana and Zambia to build a
bridge over the Zambezi
River, thereby de facto recognizing a short, but not
clearly delimited,
Botswana-Zambia boundary in the river," said the agency.
The CIA noted
that by the end of 2007 there were 569,685 internally
displaced people in
the country mainly as a result of 'MUGABE-led political
violence, human
rights violations, land reform, and economic collapse'
Harare
Symposium Proposes New Fund for Zimbabwe Health Services
http://www.voanews.com
By Sandra
Nyaira
Washington
13 November 2009
Stakeholders in
Zimbabwe's struggling health care system have agreed on the
need to set up a
national health fund to channel donor funds where they are
needed given the
reluctance of Western sources of assistance to directly
fund the Harare
power-sharing government.
The symposium on Thursday brought together
stakeholders from the government,
the United Nations, donor countries, civic
activists and interested parties
from the private sector.
Creation of
a national health fund was one of three action items agreed by
the
symposium. Others included better coordination between the Zimbabwean
state
and other stakeholders to monitor progress rebuilding the health
system, and
more actively engaging the public.
The proposed fund would be run on
behalf of the government and eventually
transferred to the control of the
Ministry of Health once certain political
issues are resolved - this an
oblique reference to the insistence by the
United States, Britain and other
countries that the 2008 Global Political
Agreement be fully implemented
before they will fund the government.
Managing Director Jeffrey Mecaskey
of Britain's Health Partners
International, organizer of the conference,
told VOA Studio 7 reporter
Sandra Nyaira that participants were candid about
the challenges but
unanimous in their resolve to succeed in rehabilitating
health care.
Executive Director Itai Rusike of the Community Working
Group on Health said
that he was impressed by the commitment of donors to
helping Zimbabwe revive
health services.
from VOA's Studio 7
UN food chief stages hunger strike ahead of
summit
Associated Press
By NICOLE WINFIELD (AP) - 2 hours ago
ROME - The U.N. food
chief said Saturday he was chilly but otherwise slept
OK after his first
night on a hunger strike to draw attention to the plight
of the world's
hungry before next week's U.N. food summit.
Jacques Diouf began the
24-hour strike at 8 p.m. Friday in the lobby of the
Rome-based U.N. Food and
Agriculture Organization. Since FAO offices are
unheated at night, he donned
a hat and scarf, and wore his overcoat over his
pajamas as he spent the
night on a makeshift mattress.
"I slept pretty well," Diouf said in a
statement. "The only problem was the
cold." Temperatures in the capital
dipped to 8 C (46 F) overnight.
The FAO said Diouf was trying to show
solidarity with the world's 1 billion
chronically malnourished people, raise
awareness about their plight, and put
pressure on world leaders to do
something about it.
FAO has said global food output will have to increase
by 70 percent to feed
a projected population of 9.1 billion in
2050.
To achieve that, poor countries will need $44 billion yearly of aid
to
agriculture, compared with the current $7.9 billion, to increase access
to
irrigation systems, modern machinery, as well as to build roads and train
farmers.
At the summit, world leaders are expected to pledge to
increase agricultural
development aid. But a draft declaration already
approved by delegates omits
any specific financial commitments and doesn't
include the 2025 deadline for
eradicating hunger, which had been sought by
the U.N.
Few heads of state from wealthy countries are attending,
although Zimbabwe's
Robert Mugabe arrived Saturday and other African leaders
were expected. Pope
Benedict XVI will address the summit
Monday.
Diouf, who was continuing the strike Saturday from his makeshift
office in
the FAO lobby, has called on people around the world to join in
the hunger
strike by skipping meals this weekend. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon is
expected to
join the strike Sunday, and Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno announced
he too
would fast for 24 hours starting Sunday afternoon.
"We have
the technical means and the resources to eradicate hunger from the
world so
it is now a matter of political will, and political will is
influenced by
public opinion," Diouf said in the statement.
Groups
Say Sexual Abuse In Zimbabwe Rampant
http://www.voanews.com
By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
13 November 2009
Several aid organizations are planning
to set up centers in Zimbabwe where
victims of sexual abuse can get physical
and psychological help. The three
organizations involved in this project,
the International Organization for
Migration, the U.N. Children's Fund and
the U.N.'s Population Fund say their
assistance is desperately needed in a
country where sexual abuse is rampant
and the victims have nowhere to turn
for help.
The three organizations conducted a survey earlier this year in
the
Zimbabwean capital, Harare and several rural provinces. It found the
social,
political and economic instability in the country had led to an
increase of
sexual abuse of women, girls, and even some boys.
More
than 50 percent of the 1,900 people interviewed, both male and female,
said
they were forced to have sex against their will. Nearly half of the
respondents said they did not know what to do to cope with rape
experiences.
Spokesman for the International Organization for Migration,
Jean-Philippe
Chauzy, tells VOA the victims of sexual abuse are devastated
by their
experience and they have very little recourse to
help.
"There is a lot of stigmatization within the society against people
who have
suffered these sexual abuses and therefore there is no possibility
for
victims to speak out, seek counseling and support," said Jean-Philippe
Chauzy. "So, without this support, without this counseling, without the
medical assistance, obviously people will be marked for life and will be
stigmatized in society, which means that their future remains very
bleak."
Chauzy says the program being set up by IOM and the UN agencies
aims to
de-stigmatize victims of sexual abuse and rape. He says it is
important that
people who have suffered sexual abuse are able to speak out
and seek the
assistance they deserve and need.
But, many people, he
notes, hesitate to come forward and ask for help.
"For instance, the
survey that we carried out earlier in May showed about 30
percent of the
women who had suffered from sexual abuse did not know what to
do," he said.
"They did not know who to turn to. And, therefore, the fact
that, with our
partners, we will be setting up clinics in various provinces
of Zimbabwe
would, hopefully, address some of those needs. For the time
being, what we
have is one hospital in Harare that can basically deal with
victims of
sexual abuse. That obviously is not enough considering the extent
of the
phenomenon."
Chauzy says the centers will provide health care,
psychological and social
support and legal aid to victims of gender-based
violence. He says they will
target about 150,000 people, mostly women and
children, but also some men.
He says the centers will offer other
assistance as well, including life
skills and livelihood training. He says
people who have the means and
ability to care for themselves will lessen the
risk of their becoming
victims in the future.
Vote
for Betty!
November 14th, 2009
Betty Makoni has fought for nearly a decade to protect her country’s young
girls from sexual abuse. And she’s witnessed some of the worst cases of the myth
[that sex with a virgin will cure HIV/AIDS] in action.
“The youngest girl I ever came across was a day-old baby who was raped,” said
Makoni, 37.
Through her Girl Child Network (GCN), Makoni has helped rescue 35,000
girls from abuse — including Hope; thousands more have found an empowering
community and a public forum in which to speak out.
“Ten girls per day report rape cases,” she said. “It means if we keep quiet,
at least 3,600 girls per year may just be contracting HIV and AIDS.” (More here
via CNN)
Click here to vote for Betty to be a CNN Hero of the Year.
Voting continues until Thursday, November 19, 2009 (6 a.m. ET).
There is no limit on the number of times you may vote for the Hero of the
Year.
Lie-O-Meter – Tafataona
Mahoso
Posted by ZDN on November 13, 2009
Week Ending 13 November 2009
This week in honour of Friday 13th, we wondered whether to
rename the Lie-O-Meter. Perhaps it could be called the Mad-O-Meter due to the
utterances of the state press which have become truly insane rather than just
untrue.
In particular we quote the discredited Tafataona Mahoso
(judged ‘unfit for office’ in 2008 and fired from his post as chairman of the
Media and Information Commission). Taffy “Fathead’ Mahoso indulges his spleen in
the state owned Sunday Mail each week, and although it is hard to read his
booze-fuelled fantasies, they do reveal how very thin are the straws at which
Zanu-PF clutches. Mahoso gets a record 10 out of 10 this week.
The Lie
Senator Roy Bennett is a former Selous Scout.
The Reality
Hmm, Pachedu Bennett has graduated from a soldier (last week)
to a full fledged Selous Scout this week. Really, Taffy! Bennett was a police
reservist (and then joined Zanu-PF after Independence).
The Lie
Zimbabwe was “scandalised” by the fact that Prime Minister
Tsvangirai boycotted the burial of a ‘national hero’ at the weekend, and opted
to play golf instead.
The Reality
Zimbabwe was not scandalised. The PM played golf on Saturday
because he did not recognise Chando as a national hero. Tsvangirai has often
pointed out that awarding national hero status is not the sole prerogative of
Zanu-PF in the current ‘inclusive’ government. And who was this Chando anyway?
MP Misheck Chando was a minor official known as Cde Makasha during the war of
liberation, then served with 5 Brigade during the genocidal Gukurahundi campaign
in Matabeleland and the Midlands. Tsvangirai would hardly agree to honour such a
one.
The Lie
Mahoso again: “Tsvangirai takes the white supremacist
declaration that Rhodesians never die (what?) to mean that Rhodesia must live so
blatantly again through MDC-T”
The Reality
Mahoso has run out of legitimate ways to discredit the MDC,
the party which is bringing all the most welcome improvements to Zimbabwe. The
Rhodesian regime was dismantled 30 years ago, never to return. Insulting the MDC
like this just makes people laugh at the poor mad creature who tries to justify
his salary by writing such garbage.
The Lie
(er, no, at this point it’s a – rant? rave? gibber? –
whatever madmen do): “The President is a symbol; the Prime Minister is a symbol;
National Heroes Acre is a symbol. A hero’s burial is a symbol; and so is the
flag.” And that PM Tsvangirai does not know what a flag at half-mast
means.
The Reality
You’re nuts, Mahoso.
The Lie
“…what saves the state from relying entirely on violence to
maintain social and political integrity is the smooth forging, arranging and
deployment of powerful symbols which transform raw energy, potential aggression
and simmering conflicts into community rituals of solidarity and
co-operation”.
The Reality
You wish! But what keeps Zanu-PF from the dustbin of
political history is that they rely entirely on violence to maintain their grip
on power. Does ‘Daffy Taffy’ really think that our rage, suffering and
injustices can be transformed by a geriatric making a symbol out of a political
gab-fest?
Ok that’s enough of Taffy Fathead Mahoso – you get the
picture. The rest of his piece descends into serious weirdness as he accuses the
PM of ‘inflicting wild ritual violence’ on the sacred symbols of statehood…
offering Zimbabwean children a “white Rhodesian Selous Scout instead of an
uncle”…… and other sickmaking drivel. Get back into your straitjacket,
Taffy.
The Lie
Here’s a biggy from the country’s Attorney General: Johannes
Tomana said that the state’s star witness, Mike Hitschmann, agreed to testify
against Roy Bennett in the High Court trial that started on
Monday.
The Reality:
According to the country’s top defence lawyer, Beatrice
Mtetwa, Hitschmann has no accusations to make, and has refused again and again
to testify against Roy, as he has nothing to say, was cleared of his own
charges, and was tortured into making statements in the first place. If he
testifies it will be under extreme duress.
The Lie
The Herald newspaper claimed that PM Tsvangirai and his
Secretary General (also Finance Minster) Tendai Biti are on a collision course.
It claimed: “The (MDC-T) president does not recognise that there are sanctions
on the country, but the secretary-general (Tendai Biti) is acknowledging that
sanctions are there and they are causing unwarranted suffering to the
people.”
The Reality
Minister Biti immediately rubbished this report, saying: “The
Herald has an agenda to create artificial fissures in the people’s Movement in
the hope that they can concoct another split in the MDC.” Right on. And do we
care that Zanu-PF leaders just cannot bear the unwarranted suffering caused by
the targeted sanctions that prevent them shopping at
Harrods?
Will I be back?
Dear Family and Friends,
If you think
things are back to normal in Zimbabwe, just walk into a
bank. Its something I
haven't done for many months and flipping
through my last cheque book
reminded me of the mayhem of our banks
less than a year ago. My cheque stubbs
look like something from a
crazy kindergarten. There's a payment for a
telephone bill of four
hundred million dollars, another to a dentist for
forty one billion
dollars. There's a deposit of four trillion, six hundred
billion
dollars and another page showing a balance on hand of
fourteen
trillion dollars. One page is
slashed through in red ink
with the words : "NB: Aug 08: 10 zeroes
removed by Gono." And then, in
October 2008, also in red ink on a
cheque stubb are the words: "Can't get in
bank, queues of thousands."
It seems like a lifetime ago but in fact its
just a year ago that
this was happening and now of course Zimbabwe doesn't
even have its
own currency - thanks to Zanu PF and Reserve Bank Governor Mr
Gono.
Zimbabwe's much talked about sovereignty is long gone when it comes
to
the economy and now we buy and sell in US dollars and South
African
Rand. Having been taught since childhood to save, save save, I
decided
it was time to get back into the banking habit.
I was the
only customer in the newly refurbished international bank
in my home town
last week. Yes I still have an account, they told me
after tapping in my
numbers, but it's no longer valid. The balance
left there in January 2009 of
trillions, or was it quadrillions, is
gone - apparently eaten up by
devaluation and ledger fees, not
converted to 'real' US dollar money. A new
account number has been
allocated to me, the bank said but it's dormant and
requires a deposit
of 20 US dollars to bring it to life. No, the bank say,
the money left
in my account doesn't qualify to activate the new account, you
must
deposit REAL money they insist. Once this has been done I
enquire
about a cheque book - oh no we haven't got any yet I'm told. And
an
ATM card - oh please, what planet am I on to be asking such an
insane
question!
A week later with the account open and activated I
take a deep breath
and embark on the first withdrawal. I am the only customer
in the bank
and my shoes click loudly as I cross the polished floor. The lady
at
the enquiries desk is applying her make up and doesn't stop as I
stand
in front of her. She won't tell me if my expected transfer
has
arrived. She says I have to fill in a slip before she can tap
the
number into the computer. She doesn't have any slips, I've got to
get
them from a man sitting at a desk back at the entry door. I walk
back
across the banking hall, the man is busy chatting and laughing
to
someone on the phone. He ignores me until he is finished. I fill in
the
slip back at the enquiries desk while the lady carries on with her
face
decorating, mirror in hand, lips pouted.
Finally with a completed cash
withdrawal slip in hand I approach the
only teller on duty. I am still the
only customer but have to wait
because the teller is busy - chatting to a
friend. At last I'm
noticed, the friend steps aside and I am served. My
greeting to the
teller is ignored. My slip is checked, ticked and stamped and
then all
the information is copied, written by hand into a ledger. This
fools
me completely because the electricity is on and the computer screen
at
the tellers side is working. The teller takes my ID, withdrawal
slip
and ledger book and disappears. When he reappears he says :
'What
about my commission?' What commission I ask, saying I wasn't
informed
there would be a commission and saying that I know the depositor
paid
bank transfer fees and commissions at the other end. "No," he
says,
you have to pay a commission." I am then told to deduct the amount
and
change and counter sign all the amounts written in words and
numbers
on the now stamped and signed withdrawal slips to allow the bank
its
commission.
Finally after 17 minutes and now with one other
customer in the bank,
the money looks like it may be forthcoming. The teller
shouts out
through the bullet proof glass to someone in the back to bring
him
bank notes. They only have small denominations it turns out
and
finally these appear in a locked steel box. Checked and
rechecked
below the counter, the teller finally pushes a pile of notes across
to
me. No, I say, I wish you to count the notes to me. "What?" he says.
I
repeat my request and he rolls his eyes and with an audible sigh,
the
bank notes are counted to me. 26 minutes later and again the
only
person in this very well known international bank, I leave.
Will
I be back soon - I don't think so. This is the face of Zimbabwe
for investors
and tourists, what a shocking disgrace both for a
country and an
international bank. Until next week, thanks for still
reading, love cathy
Copyright cathy buckle 14th November 2009.
www.cathybuckle.com
An Elegy for Easterly
In the third of a series of Q&As
with the shortlisted authors, Petina Gappah discusses her collection of short
stories
What moved you to write stories about ordinary people living in
Mugabe's Zimbabwe?
I wish I could say there was some grand design behind this book when I began
writing the stories. There wasn't. As I wrote more and more stories, I began to
have a collection in mind, but that thought was quickly squashed in 2007 when
three people I knew in publishing told me that there was absolutely no appetite
in the industry for single author short-story collections, and I should just
work on a novel. So I wrote a couple of things that looked like novels, but I
kept coming back to the stories because they allowed me to examine the crisis in
my country through the eyes of different characters. In the end, through
something like 22 short stories, I had something that to me looked like a
spectrum of my country.
Was it your first attempt at writing?
As a child, writing was the thing, apart from reading, that I loved best, but
for many complicated reasons, mainly to do with being the first person in my
extended family to go to university, I ended up a lawyer. I wrote sporadically
over the years, but it was only in 2006 that I started writing seriously.
What came first in the collection?
A friend told me about a cousin who had died in England – the man's family
was having problems getting the body home. I thought with pity and horror of
that family, who would be like my own family, like any Zimbabwean family, with
people coming from all parts of Zimbabwe to attend a funeral – I imagined them
waiting endlessly for the body, and in the meantime, suffering severe economic
hardship. The image of this family being assaulted both in spirit and materially
unlocked something for me, it gave me a clue to how I could write about what has
happened to my country, and how I could tell this large story of a country's
collapse through the small things that were happening in the lives of ordinary
people.
What were the hardest bits?
The revision right at the end, proofreading the typescript. The American
edition was coming out three months after the UK and Commonwealth version, so I
did the proofing of both at the same time. I read the thing so many times that I
grew sick of my words, and I began to hate the book. I loathed it. I simply
could not bear to look at the wretched thing. And the more I read it, the more I
became convinced that I had pulled the most spectacular con in publishing.
How did you research the collection?
My sister Regina in Harare kept me up-to-date with the latest slang terms,
the latest prices, the latest jokes. Zimbabweans are insanely inventive with
language, it changes all the time. If the government introduced a new note, like
the billion-dollar note, it would have a new nickname in days. And whenever I
went home, I listened to conversations in taxis and buses. I also read at least
five online newspapers regularly, particularly the state-run paper the Herald,
which rewarded me with some surreal stories about men dancing themselves to
death and little kittens dressed up as babies.
How did it come to be published?
One name: Claire Paterson, my literary agent. She saw a book that the other
publishing professionals I had talked to had not seen. She suggested that I put
some of the stories in a manuscript. I did and she sent them out to different
publishers. Lee Brackstone and Mitzi Angel at Faber said yes almost as soon as
they read them.
What are you most pleased with?
That I listened to my editors Lee and Mitzi. They were always right.
Who were your literary models?
This year affirmed my commitment to the short story. I will write novels, but
I want to master the short story. My friend, the writer EC Osondu, pointed out
to me recently that although many of Africa's finest writers have written across
genres with great success, Wole Soyinka being the most dizzyingly dextrous
example, there is not one person who stands out as the master of the short
story; there is no equivalent to Chekhov or Munro or Carver or Mansfield. So my
contemporary literary models are writers such as Alice Munro and Lorrie Moore
and Grace Paley. And Mavis Gallant. I worship Mavis Gallant. I plan to hunt her
down in Paris where she lives and haunt her until she reveals everything she
knows about the short story.