|
News Briefs 28 April 2000 Anti-malaria drive gets a US$750m boost The World-Bank, co-initiator of the Roll Back Malaria Meeting, pledged US$500 million, while Canada pledged US$10 million. The Summit, attended by 39 countries, including 20 African leaders and senior officials of major UN agencies and NGOs, also called for US$1 billion to be made available yearly to roll back the mosquito-borne tropical disease, which kills some two million people world-wide, 90 percent of them in Africa. In their Abuja Declaration, the leaders called on the creditor community to cancel the debt of poor and heavily indebted countries to enable them to fight poverty caused by malaria. The 13-page declaration also stressed the need for an investment of additional resources to stimulate the development of malaria vaccines appropriate for Africa and provide similar incentives for anti-malaria technology. A country plan of action attached to the declaration lays the framework for monitoring and management of the health system, provision of anti-malaria drugs and malaria control related materials.
According to a report presented to the summit, much of the US$500 million annual global
attacks cost Africa up to US$12 billion a year, while the region lost some 1.3 percent of
annual growth to the debilitating disease.(PANA)
Malawi introduces first women combat soldiers The 59 trainees are part of a group of 68 women admitted to the Salima Armed Forces College in in the Lake Malawi area. Army spokesman, Lt. Col. McLoyd Chidzalo, said four of the 68 women dropped out of the course while four others fell short of training requirements. Chidzalo was enthusiastic about the trainees, who were accepted to the college after pressure from women’s rights activists who argued that women in the army should not be given “soft”, non-combative jobs only. Chidzalo said the women soldiers were taught to fire rifles, were trained in self-defence tactics and were drilled in military intelligence. The Malawi armed forces plans to recruit 500 other soldiers and Chidzalo could not say whether any of these would be women. He stressed that although it was keen to recruit women, the Malawi army did not have facilities for them. However, a female dormitory is under construction at the Kamuzu barracks in Lilongwe.
The 59 graduates will be temporarily accommodated at Salima until the Kamuzu dormitory
is ready. (IRIN)
Mozambique minerals hit by low prices The graphite mine at Ancuabe, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, is currently closed, he explained, because it is no longer profitable to sell the graphite. Other producers, particular China, had flooded the market, pushing down the price, and the Ancuabe mine could not compete. Langa said his Ministry hoped to solve this problem by taking advantage of economies of scale, expanding production from 9,000 to 20,000 tonnes a year, and reducing unit costs. The investors in the mine are trying to raise US$4.5 million for this expansion. The government said it “will give all support possible so that Ancuabe can resume production”. The price of the mineral extracted from the sands, titanium, has also fallen, and this forced a “reduction in the rhythm” of the heavy sands project at Moebase, in Zambezia province. Langa also said that, although the Chipanga coalmine at Moatize, in the western province of Tete, is functioning. But its production is “almost symbolic” because of transport problems. Currently only a small amount of coal is exported, by road to Malawi. Taking large amounts to major export markets depends on rebuilding the railway to Beira which was sabotaged by the apartheid-backed Renamo rebels during the war.
It would take 300 million US dollars to rebuild the railway. This would allow the country to
export at least three million tonnes of coal a year. The government’s eventual target is ten
million tonnes a year. (AIM).
Pesticides an unnoticed killer in Tanzania Cancer, skin diseases and mental illness, seem to be on the increase and experts associate it to exposure to the pesticides. Avit Mmochi of the Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS) in Zanzibar recently said the harmful pesticide is being imported through different brand names making a ban on the importation less effective. So far there are about 3,000 different types of pesticides in use in the country and experts say the analysis of each one needs about a week, making the responsible bodies fail to scrutinize their effectiveness and side effects.
Studies on the import trends and types, amount and toxicity of the pesticides used in Tanzania
have indicated that the East Coast of Zanzibar had highly concentrated amounts of the
pesticides. (IPS)
COMESA works on security mechanism Foreign Affairs Minister Kelly Walubita told the first meeting of the COMESA committee on peace and security in Lusaka, late April, that duplication of duties and conflict of interests between organisations should be avoided. He noted that COMESA was a sum total of member states which belong to other sub-regional groupings. Those groups, he said, had already formed similar organs to deal with matters of peace and security. Walubita called upon the participants to examine the gaps not covered by other regional groupings and consider ways in which COMESA could address them in search of a lasting solution to peace and stability in the region. He advised the meeting to consider the important roles of the various systems of the UN and the OAU, with a view to determine how COMESA contributes toward the maintenance of peace and security in the world. Peace, security and political stability are vital preconditions for regional economic development and integration, he noted. “Vital aspects of regional economic integration and development, such as free movement of goods, services, capital and persons cannot be attained in an environment of instability”, Walubita cited. Meanwhile, COMESA secretary general Erastus Mwencha said because half of its member states were involved in armed conflicts that impede the free movement of goods, capital and persons, the organisation would find it difficult to meet its goals. (PANA)
|
||||
Special Report
Top