Namibia: Nujoma urges exiles to return | Southern Africa: Ivory sales in Japan Task Force to Protect Wildlife established Increase Budget Allocation for Education African governments have been urged to demonstrate greater practical commitment to the education sector by increasing budget allocations for education, ZANU-PF Secretary for Education, Joyce Mujuru said. Speaking at a Conference of African Ministers of Education in Harare recently, Mujuru also Zimbabwe's Minister of Rural Resources and Water Development, said bigger budgets for education would translate into a better learning environment that would benefit students, teachers and society at large. The conference adopted a Programme of Action that is aimed a promoting African education. Delegates recommended that governments establish national committees as well as appoint national correspondents to spearhead the development of education on the continent. The delegates also recommended those regional economic bodies such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Economic Community for West African states create committees in consultation with member states and governments as well as NGOs, which will be responsible for the development of education in Africa. It was also recommended that the secretary-general of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) should take the necessary measures to ensure that the Conference of African Ministers of Education was convened on a regular basis as a follow-up measure to the programme of action.(The Chronicle)
International Community Aids Mozambique The international community has pledged around US$2 million in response to the Mozambican government's emergency appeal to cope with the effects of severe flooding which the country early this year. The Mozambican government had appealed for US$12.4 million to assist flood victims and repairing damaged roads and bridges. Prime Minister, Pascoal Mocumbi said the aid received so far was for flood victims and few little had been promised to repair, bridges and other damaged infrastructures. The worst hit areas were parts of the southern province of Inhambane that are usually semi-arid. Estimates from Mozambique's Technical Emergency Commission (CTE) are that at least 100 000 people have been affected by this year's flooding in central and southern parts of the country. Preliminary estimates made by the CTE revealed that about 29 700 hectares of crops have been lost to the floods. The country experience floods for the second year running.
Namibia: Nujoma urges exiles to return President Sam Nujoma of Namibia on Sunday called on all Namibians seeking refuge in Botswana from secessionist tensions in the northern Caprivi strip to return home. In a speech in the capital Windhoek to thousands of supporters, Nujoma said: "All those Namibians who followed the failed and disgruntled politicians to Botswana should come back to their country as there will be no reprisals or witchhunts as they are Namibians first and then Caprivians. They are welcome to return to their own country." Nujoma added: "Those who incited people to work for the breakaway of Caprivi should remember that Namibia is not divisible, and their acts are treason against the State." Namibians, he added, valued the rule of law, friendship and peaceful resolution of problems. The president's remarks were a sequel to the flight by hundreds of Caprivians to Botswana earlier this year, on grounds that they feared political persecution in Namibia because of their alleged association with the Caprivi Liberation Movement. According to UNHCR figures, an estimated 2,400 Namibians were currently seeking refugee status in Botswana. Most have been granted political asylum in Botswana and were housed in the Dukwe refugee camp in northern Botswana. Their leaders were being accommodated near the capital, Gaborone, pending negotiations to find them asylum in third countries. Two weeks ago, five of the asylum-seekers from Caprivi were repatriated after voluntarily applying through the UNHCR to be sent home.
Southern Africa: Ivory sales in Japan After nearly a decade ivory tusks will once again be exported from the African continent to the Far East after the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) decided to temporarily lift the ban. A spokesperson for CITES in Geneva said Namibia and Zimbabwe will be allowed to export registered stocks of ivory to Japan. A decision on Botswana will be passed later because the country "still had a few things to do" to fully comply with all the conditions laid down, said the spokesperson. Cites agreed to the once-off sale of nearly 60 mt of ivory as part of an effort to raise funds for conservation programmes in Africa. Namibia has been given permission to sell 13.8 mt and Zimbabwe 20 mt of stockpiled ivory in the next few months and if given the greenlight Botswana will be allowed to export 25 mt. The ivory comes from elephants that have either died of natural cause or culled. The temporary lifting of the ban came after pressure from the three countries that argued that their respective elephants herds had grown so large that they were damaging the environment. The total ban in ivory came into effect on 18 January 1990; Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia voted against the resolution on the ban. (IRIN)
Task Force to Protect Wildlife established Six African countries recently set up an "African Interpol" to fight wildlife crime, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has said. A UNEP news release says the task force, to be headquartered in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, was established by Kenya, Lesotho, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The move follows recommendations by a group of wildlife law enforcement officers from African countries who recognised the need for international cooperation in order to fight crime successfully. The task force will function under the Lusaka Agreement on Cooperative Enforcement Operations which came in to effect in 1996. (IRIN)
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