Meteorologists in Malawi are warning of possible flooding during the rainy season, which runs from November to March. The heavy rains would be caused by a weather pattern over the Pacific Ocean called La Niña. It’s defined as cooler than normal sea-surface temperatures that affect global weather patterns, with one result being increased moisture in southern Africa. Voice of America English to Africa reporter Lameck Masina in Blantyre tells us about government efforts to reduce the affect of potential flooding.
The seasonal forecast for the last quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008 has put officials on alert. It says Malawi has a 35 percent chance of above average rainfall, a 40 percent chance of normal rainfall and a 25 percent chance of below average rainfall. For weather analysts, the report is a warning that some parts of the country will experience flooding.
The forecast is based on La Nina – an atmospheric condition often known to cause severe weather around the world, including strong, monsoon-type rainfalls and flooding in Africa and Asia.
Some doubt the accuracy of the forecast – saying past predictions have been wrong.
But government weather analyst Winston Chimwaza says the Department of Meteorology has acquired modern equipment from Europe, including a weather satellite that sends images back to Malawian climatologists.
“We have had the MSG, Meteosat Second Generation, which is actually getting information basing on satellite observations, and we have also acquired four automatic weather stations which have been put in different parts of the country. So with a network of observations, we are likely to get [the right] data, which will help us in forecasting issues” he says.
In response to the threat of flooding, government ministries have come up with a number of measures including the evacuation of people from flood-prone areas to higher ground.
In the past, farmers in those areas have resisted moving to the higher ground, in part because the land is not fertile.
But government official Lilian Ng’oma told the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation that she expects people to comply.
Ng’oma is the commissioner and principle secretary for the Department of Poverty and Disaster Management Affairs in the Office of President and Cabinet:
“This time people are willing to move. We were discussing with the [traditional] chiefs the problems and solutions. And one of the main problems why they were not willing to move is water, so we have reassured them that once they move we will ask the Water Department to give them some boreholes.”
Annual flooding often occurs in most parts of southern Malawi, especially along the River Shire, a tributary of the River Zambezi, which flows into Mozambique.
Last January, floods displaced about 8,000 families in 400 villages in the southern district of Chikwawa, along the upper reaches of the River Shire. In nearby Nsanje District, another 116 villages were flooded, destroying about 2,600 homes.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is also making efforts to reduce the damage.
Sanderson Juwawo is the land conservation specialist in the Blantyre Agriculture Development Division of the Ministry of Agriculture in southern Malawi. He says the division is encouraging farmers in the uplands to practice farming methods that will help contain the rains and prevent the waters from flooding lowland farms:
“For the time being, we are continuing to encourage smallholder farmers to construct ridges on the contours so that as much water as possible is actually conserved within their fields. At the same time, [farmers should build ditches to prevent the amount of water flowing] into those rivers, which are prone to flooding. [This will reduce] runoff in the waterways.”
The farmers are also advised to replant their seeds after flooding. Generally, the government helps provide supplies.
According to IRIN -- the news outlet of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs -- the principal secretary in the Ministry of Water Development and Irrigation, Andrina Michiela, says plans have been made to provide clean drinking water and boreholes for affected areas. Land conservation specialist Sanderson Juwawo says the government plans to intensify its reforestation programs. Trees and bushes would help hold the soil in place and would absorb some of the water. That plan, he says, would be a long-term effort, and would be contingent on sustained funding.
Monday, 29 October 2007
UN Refugee Agency Closes Camp
One of Malawi's two refugee camps has officially closed after the United Nations refugee helped the remaining 660 refugees and asylum seekers there move north to the country's remaining refugee camp, acting in response to a Government request which cited security concerns.
"As of today, Luwani Refugee Camp is officially closed," said Kelvin Sentala, a protection field assistant with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) based in the capital, Lilongwe, who was in charge of the convoy that moved the residents out. The convoy - 16 trucks of luggage, nine with refugees and asylum seekers, an ambulance, a bus with 27 vulnerable individuals, two pickup trucks and two UNHCR escorting vehicles - was timed to arrive in Dzaleka camp just before dark. The relocated refugees and asylum seekers will live in tents while building their new homes with material provided by UNHCR.
UNHCR provides food on the night of arrival, but the next morning refugees and asylum seekers were expected to use their own food, which was moved along with all their other belongings. The convoy on Thursday included the refugees' 120 goats, 45 pigs and 160 chickens. The final movement to the recently expanded Dzaleka Refugee Camp, just north of the capital, brings to some 3,000 the number of refugees and asylum seekers who have been moved since the Government decided last April to close Luwani. The closing of the camp, ordered by the Government on what it termed security grounds, has both positive and negative aspects.
The consolidation of the population into one site near the capital will make UNHCR's provision of services easier. But the agency warned that there will be no land available for agriculture at Dzaleka - unlike Luwani where an irrigation project still under development could have made some refugees self-sufficient. "The Government of Malawi - in keeping with its reservations to the 1951 Convention regarding freedom of movement, work rights and naturalization - is not allowing refugees to locally integrate," said Henry Domzalski, UNHCR's acting Representative in Malawi.
With Malawi currently not permitting the local integration of refugees, UNHCR has looked for other solutions. Few have wanted to go home and for those who can neither repatriate nor locally integrate, UNHCR has aided resettlement to third countries.
In 2006, some 500 refugees were resettled to Australia, Canada, Norway, and Sweden. So far this year, 44 people have been resettled in Australia.
"As of today, Luwani Refugee Camp is officially closed," said Kelvin Sentala, a protection field assistant with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) based in the capital, Lilongwe, who was in charge of the convoy that moved the residents out. The convoy - 16 trucks of luggage, nine with refugees and asylum seekers, an ambulance, a bus with 27 vulnerable individuals, two pickup trucks and two UNHCR escorting vehicles - was timed to arrive in Dzaleka camp just before dark. The relocated refugees and asylum seekers will live in tents while building their new homes with material provided by UNHCR.
UNHCR provides food on the night of arrival, but the next morning refugees and asylum seekers were expected to use their own food, which was moved along with all their other belongings. The convoy on Thursday included the refugees' 120 goats, 45 pigs and 160 chickens. The final movement to the recently expanded Dzaleka Refugee Camp, just north of the capital, brings to some 3,000 the number of refugees and asylum seekers who have been moved since the Government decided last April to close Luwani. The closing of the camp, ordered by the Government on what it termed security grounds, has both positive and negative aspects.
The consolidation of the population into one site near the capital will make UNHCR's provision of services easier. But the agency warned that there will be no land available for agriculture at Dzaleka - unlike Luwani where an irrigation project still under development could have made some refugees self-sufficient. "The Government of Malawi - in keeping with its reservations to the 1951 Convention regarding freedom of movement, work rights and naturalization - is not allowing refugees to locally integrate," said Henry Domzalski, UNHCR's acting Representative in Malawi.
With Malawi currently not permitting the local integration of refugees, UNHCR has looked for other solutions. Few have wanted to go home and for those who can neither repatriate nor locally integrate, UNHCR has aided resettlement to third countries.
In 2006, some 500 refugees were resettled to Australia, Canada, Norway, and Sweden. So far this year, 44 people have been resettled in Australia.
UN Shuts Down Refugee Camp in Malawi
United Nations, Oct 29 (Prensa Latina) The United Nations announced the official closure of the Luwani refugee camp and the transfer of 660 people to the only such facility still open in Malawi, at the request of the government of Lilongwe.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the refugee camp in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, will raise authorities' security concerns.
More than 600 people, their belongings and animals were transferred on 17 trucks to Dzaleka, where they will live in tents until construction of shelters, with materials supplied by the UNHCR, is completed.
Including the new arrivals, 3,000 refugees will live in the camp, located in the northern part of the capital.
The UNHCR expressed concern because unlike the Luwani camp, the Dzaleka camp has no conditions for the refugees to be self-sufficient by working the fields.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the refugee camp in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, will raise authorities' security concerns.
More than 600 people, their belongings and animals were transferred on 17 trucks to Dzaleka, where they will live in tents until construction of shelters, with materials supplied by the UNHCR, is completed.
Including the new arrivals, 3,000 refugees will live in the camp, located in the northern part of the capital.
The UNHCR expressed concern because unlike the Luwani camp, the Dzaleka camp has no conditions for the refugees to be self-sufficient by working the fields.
Henderson supporters protest in Lake Malawi
Supporters of London vicar Nicholas Henderson disrupted a meeting of the diocese of Lake Malawi last week, protesting against plans by the church leaders to hold new elections for a bishop.
Henderson supporters protest in Lake Malawi
On Oct 20 clergy and lay leaders of the diocese met with the Dean of the Province, Bishop Albert Chama, Provincial Secretary Fr Eston Pembamayo and the diocese’s vicar-general Canon Bright Mkoko to lay out plans for new elections in light of the decision last month by the Province’s House of Bishops to deny any further appeal of the rejection of Mr Henderson’s election as bishop.
Members of a group styled the ‘House of Laity’ disrupted the meeting, objecting to plans to go forward with new elections. It said: “Bishop Chama’s agenda for the meeting was to dictate to us to hold fresh elections which did not go down well [with its members].”
As ‘Bishop Chama was in no compromising mood’ the group ‘decided to close the offices and confiscate the keys of the three diocesan vehicles’ to show that ‘we are serious.’
Lake Malawi has been without a bishop for two years. Factional disputes have led to violence at times, and allegations exchanged of murder and corrupt practices. A church official familiar with the situation told CEN the situation remained tense, but expected the new election would move the diocese forward.
Henderson supporters protest in Lake Malawi
On Oct 20 clergy and lay leaders of the diocese met with the Dean of the Province, Bishop Albert Chama, Provincial Secretary Fr Eston Pembamayo and the diocese’s vicar-general Canon Bright Mkoko to lay out plans for new elections in light of the decision last month by the Province’s House of Bishops to deny any further appeal of the rejection of Mr Henderson’s election as bishop.
Members of a group styled the ‘House of Laity’ disrupted the meeting, objecting to plans to go forward with new elections. It said: “Bishop Chama’s agenda for the meeting was to dictate to us to hold fresh elections which did not go down well [with its members].”
As ‘Bishop Chama was in no compromising mood’ the group ‘decided to close the offices and confiscate the keys of the three diocesan vehicles’ to show that ‘we are serious.’
Lake Malawi has been without a bishop for two years. Factional disputes have led to violence at times, and allegations exchanged of murder and corrupt practices. A church official familiar with the situation told CEN the situation remained tense, but expected the new election would move the diocese forward.
Lidar company in Africa?
I want to get a quote for a lidar survey in Malawi for a grant proposal. Can anyone recommend a lidar company in Africa (probably South Africa, I'm guessing)? Or a company willing to do small scale survey work in Malawi?
CLICK ON THE QUESTION TO HELP PLEASE
CLICK ON THE QUESTION TO HELP PLEASE
Deportation of Zimbabwean asylum seeker delayed
A ZIMBABWEAN asylum seeker who has been on hunger strike for 45 days has had her deportation to Malawi delayed for a second time after a judge ruled she was “unfit to fly”.
Maude Lennard, one of several Zimbabweans facing deportation to Malawi after entering Britain on that country’s passports, was told she did not have to board a flight to Lilongwe on Friday.
Lennard, who is a member of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has failed in several bids to stop the UK from deporting her to Malawi where she has been told she faces jail for fraudulently acquiring that country’s passport.
Sarah Harland of the campaigning Zimbabwe Association said: "We're so relieved to hear that her flight has been stopped, and perhaps now these cases will be looked at with some compassion.”
A judge stepped in to stop the removal after a doctor at the Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedford said she was well enough to travel. But a team of doctors who had taken an interest in her case convinced a judge that “to remove her without medical attention would prove a serious risk to her health”, her lawyer said.
“The in-house doctors did not agree with that, but the Immigration Service were presented with cogent evidence that she was not fit to fly," the lawyer added.
Dr Frank Arnold of Medical Justice, who provided evidence that Lennard was too unwell to fly, said: "This is a dangerous situation. Doctors in detention centres appear to be putting the interests of their employers ahead of the interests of their patients. If true, this is a violation of the duties of a doctor, and should be investigated."
Malawian human rights groups warn that Zimbabweans deported to that country face a life of destitution and a criminal trial for breaching that country’s citizenship laws.
Originally, five women embarked on the strike at the detention centre but one was deported to Malawi and another started eating again.
Britain has refused the women’s plea for asylum, insisting that they travelled on “genuine” Malawian passports and are therefore Malawian and not Zimbabwean as they claim.
The UK government is currently not deporting failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe, awaiting the outcome of a country guidance case known as HS (Zimbabwe) which is currently before the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT).
Maude Lennard, one of several Zimbabweans facing deportation to Malawi after entering Britain on that country’s passports, was told she did not have to board a flight to Lilongwe on Friday.
Lennard, who is a member of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has failed in several bids to stop the UK from deporting her to Malawi where she has been told she faces jail for fraudulently acquiring that country’s passport.
Sarah Harland of the campaigning Zimbabwe Association said: "We're so relieved to hear that her flight has been stopped, and perhaps now these cases will be looked at with some compassion.”
A judge stepped in to stop the removal after a doctor at the Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedford said she was well enough to travel. But a team of doctors who had taken an interest in her case convinced a judge that “to remove her without medical attention would prove a serious risk to her health”, her lawyer said.
“The in-house doctors did not agree with that, but the Immigration Service were presented with cogent evidence that she was not fit to fly," the lawyer added.
Dr Frank Arnold of Medical Justice, who provided evidence that Lennard was too unwell to fly, said: "This is a dangerous situation. Doctors in detention centres appear to be putting the interests of their employers ahead of the interests of their patients. If true, this is a violation of the duties of a doctor, and should be investigated."
Malawian human rights groups warn that Zimbabweans deported to that country face a life of destitution and a criminal trial for breaching that country’s citizenship laws.
Originally, five women embarked on the strike at the detention centre but one was deported to Malawi and another started eating again.
Britain has refused the women’s plea for asylum, insisting that they travelled on “genuine” Malawian passports and are therefore Malawian and not Zimbabwean as they claim.
The UK government is currently not deporting failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe, awaiting the outcome of a country guidance case known as HS (Zimbabwe) which is currently before the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT).
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