Malawi's president has cancelled a sitting of the southern African nation's parliament, raising the stakes in a political feud that threatens the government and implementation of international donor programmes.
President Bingu wa Mutharika had vowed to prevent parliamentarians from meeting for a six-week session until they agreed not to expel 70 members of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is largely made up former opposition members.
The opposition United Democratic Front is angry wa Mutharika bolted its ranks after winning the 2004 election and formed the DPP. It and another opposition party want to remove the DPP MPs under a constitutional provision -- Section 65 -- that prevents floor-crossing.
If successful, they would have enough support to pass a no-confidence vote in wa Mutharika's government as well as an impeachment motion against the Malawian leader.
"The president is asking the opposition to stop the issue of section 65 and agree that parliament meets to discuss other important matters other than the expulsion of MPs," State House press officer Chikumbutso Mutumodzi said, confirming that the sitting had been cancelled.
Malawi's 193-member parliament was to consider a number of World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) programmes seen as key to the impoverished nation, which relies heavily on donor support for its public spending.
The next sitting is scheduled for June.
The parliamentarians refused last year to debate the government's $1.2 billion budget for fiscal 2007/08 until the floor-crossing dispute was resolved. Pressure from civic groups and farmers prompted a change of heart, and it was passed.
Last month the IMF said the political uncertainty could affect implementation of its programme in Malawi.
"I hope we won't have a repeat of last year because the delays last year affected implementation of the some IMF programmes, which parliament needed to approve," Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe told Reuters on Tuesday.
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Country Backs Nepad Broaband Network
Malawian President Dr Bingu Wa Mutharika on February 13 put his signature to the protocol on policy and regulatory framework for the NEPAD Broadband Infrastructure Network, meaning the protocol came into force immediately, RNA reports.
Known as the Kigali protocol, the ratification by Malawi now brings to seven - making a majority of countries required to bring the protocol into force.
The other only six countries that had already ratified the protocol are: Lesotho, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
The inaugural signing of the Network was held in Kigali on 29 August 2006, where the first seven countries signed the protocol; namely: Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, DR Congo, and Zambia, also followed suit.
"What this development means is that we can now go ahead to quickly implement the NEPAD ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network, comprising of UHURUNET, and UMOJANET (the terrestrial segment), to provide quality and affordable telecommunications connectivity to Eastern and Southern Africa and to the rest of the African continent", said Dr Henry Chasia, the Executive Deputy Chairperson of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission in a statement on Tuesday.
"The countries that did not sign the Kigali Protocol by the deadline of November 30, 2006, can now accede to the protocol and thus benefit from the NEPAD network", he added.
Planning for the construction of the UHURUNET (the submarine cable) has already commenced and should be up and providing cheap connectity to the whole continent by the end of 2009.
"We expect construction of the submarine cable to start soon, and to be completed before the 2010 FIFA World Cup", says Dr Edmund Katiti, the NEPAD ICT policy and Regulatory Advisor in the same statement.
Under the Kigali protocol, Rwanda is to house the Special Purpose Vehicle - an entity that will own, operate and maintain the broadband cable project. The holding company for a fitting ki-Swahili name for a company operating an under-sea cable.
Political squabbles between Kenya and South Africa dogged communication cable projects for the continent. South Africa and Kenya argued over whether the previously planned EASSy cable should be controlled by the private sector, or an open access system - approved by NEPAD -where investors and non-investors are given international bandwidth access at the same price.
The result was that both announced projects outside of the EASSy initiative: Kenya's US$110 million TEAMS and the South Africa-led NEPAD Broadband Infrastructure Network. Late last year, the $2 Billion network was given a nod by other governments.
Known as the Kigali protocol, the ratification by Malawi now brings to seven - making a majority of countries required to bring the protocol into force.
The other only six countries that had already ratified the protocol are: Lesotho, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
The inaugural signing of the Network was held in Kigali on 29 August 2006, where the first seven countries signed the protocol; namely: Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, DR Congo, and Zambia, also followed suit.
"What this development means is that we can now go ahead to quickly implement the NEPAD ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network, comprising of UHURUNET, and UMOJANET (the terrestrial segment), to provide quality and affordable telecommunications connectivity to Eastern and Southern Africa and to the rest of the African continent", said Dr Henry Chasia, the Executive Deputy Chairperson of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission in a statement on Tuesday.
"The countries that did not sign the Kigali Protocol by the deadline of November 30, 2006, can now accede to the protocol and thus benefit from the NEPAD network", he added.
Planning for the construction of the UHURUNET (the submarine cable) has already commenced and should be up and providing cheap connectity to the whole continent by the end of 2009.
"We expect construction of the submarine cable to start soon, and to be completed before the 2010 FIFA World Cup", says Dr Edmund Katiti, the NEPAD ICT policy and Regulatory Advisor in the same statement.
Under the Kigali protocol, Rwanda is to house the Special Purpose Vehicle - an entity that will own, operate and maintain the broadband cable project. The holding company for a fitting ki-Swahili name for a company operating an under-sea cable.
Political squabbles between Kenya and South Africa dogged communication cable projects for the continent. South Africa and Kenya argued over whether the previously planned EASSy cable should be controlled by the private sector, or an open access system - approved by NEPAD -where investors and non-investors are given international bandwidth access at the same price.
The result was that both announced projects outside of the EASSy initiative: Kenya's US$110 million TEAMS and the South Africa-led NEPAD Broadband Infrastructure Network. Late last year, the $2 Billion network was given a nod by other governments.
U of R helps African university better prepare future employees
The University of Regina will be helping a southeast African university improve its technical training so students are better prepared for employment.
The federal government is announcing its support of a new development project that has the U of R partnered with the University of Malawi Polytechnic.
The curriculum of Polytechnic will be redesigned to better reflect Malawi's social and economic development. The $2.4 million in funding by CIDA's University Partnership in Co-operation and Development Program will be used towards ensuring employees have the technical skills needed by employers.
At last year's G8 Summit, Prime Minister Stephen Harper committed to doubling Canada's assistance to Africa from 2003-04 levels. The funding is to reach $2.1 billion by 2008-09.
The federal government is announcing its support of a new development project that has the U of R partnered with the University of Malawi Polytechnic.
The curriculum of Polytechnic will be redesigned to better reflect Malawi's social and economic development. The $2.4 million in funding by CIDA's University Partnership in Co-operation and Development Program will be used towards ensuring employees have the technical skills needed by employers.
At last year's G8 Summit, Prime Minister Stephen Harper committed to doubling Canada's assistance to Africa from 2003-04 levels. The funding is to reach $2.1 billion by 2008-09.
Canadian good intentions gone awry in Malawi
Beside the rutted, red-dirt road, a scrawling hand-painted sign points to some thatch huts and a mud-brick school still known as the Canada Community.
The sign, a couple of buildings, a few cow pens and creatively repurposed shipping containers is about all that's left of many millions in Canadian development dollars.
Back in the day, or in the '70s to be more precise, Canada brought about 300 head of prime Holstein cattle and the usual great expectations to the hill overlooking Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi mostly created from the imagination of the late, very peculiar president Hastings Banda.
As a foreign correspondent, I showed up several years later to find an almost perfect Canadian dairy farm making the best of it in a country that perpetually takes its unwanted place on the list of Africa's, and the world's, poorest.
Then, the insider joke was that Capitol Hill Dairy Farm was churning out milk for muzungus, the Bantu word for white folks. The humour's dark side was that the operation was so sophisticated, its machinery and materials so pricey, that its products were priced beyond local reach.
Twenty years later, the place is unrecognizable. Nestled in a flamboyant garden of flowering trees and roses is Kumbali, a country lodge rustic enough to let guests happily delude themselves about roughing in the bush and luxurious enough to attract the likes of Madonna. Below it, the farm is finding its way back to the future.
A decade ago, two entrepreneurial South Africans, Guy and Maureen Pickering, bought from the Malawi government the rolling 620-hectare spread with its distant view of Nkhoma Mountain.
Since then, they have been coping with Canadian good intentions and Malawian neglect. Hardy, free-ranging African zebu have replaced the diseased and dying imported cows.
High tech has given way to cheap, plentiful manual labour. And the farm now produces just enough milk and exquisite yogourt to supply its workers, the lodge and a few Lilongwe boutique markets.
Guy Pickering has nothing bad to say about the Canadian International Development Agency.
Wisely or not, CIDA tried to strengthen a weak dairy industry, and within a few years, Malawi ran a turnkey operation into the ground. Building on what little was left, Pickering is slowly pulling the farm out of bankruptcy by replacing First-World ways with Third and subsidizing the farm with the lodge.
CIDA's corporate memory can't quite recall how much was spent at Capitol Hill even though those who worked on the project remember $12 million. But what's more certain than the cost is the result.
Weary of reading "milk for muzungus" newspaper stories and tired of explaining its failures to increasingly militant auditors-general, Canada's development agency doesn't do much direct development anymore.
These days, CIDA spends a lot of its $3 billion budget and staff time on the latest in a long list of development cure-alls: working with other governments and agencies to improve aid effectiveness. Whether or not focusing on governance and corruption proves a better long-term remedy for persistent, grinding poverty remains to be seen. But in the meantime, CIDA isn't leaving behind the wrecked Ozymandias-like monuments to hubris that attract the unwanted attention of reporters and bean-counters.
So completely has CIDA erased its big-project past that a team of its management experts checked into Kumbali last month with no awareness of the farm's history and left without apparently grasping the irony or, perhaps, the lesson.
The sign, a couple of buildings, a few cow pens and creatively repurposed shipping containers is about all that's left of many millions in Canadian development dollars.
Back in the day, or in the '70s to be more precise, Canada brought about 300 head of prime Holstein cattle and the usual great expectations to the hill overlooking Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi mostly created from the imagination of the late, very peculiar president Hastings Banda.
As a foreign correspondent, I showed up several years later to find an almost perfect Canadian dairy farm making the best of it in a country that perpetually takes its unwanted place on the list of Africa's, and the world's, poorest.
Then, the insider joke was that Capitol Hill Dairy Farm was churning out milk for muzungus, the Bantu word for white folks. The humour's dark side was that the operation was so sophisticated, its machinery and materials so pricey, that its products were priced beyond local reach.
Twenty years later, the place is unrecognizable. Nestled in a flamboyant garden of flowering trees and roses is Kumbali, a country lodge rustic enough to let guests happily delude themselves about roughing in the bush and luxurious enough to attract the likes of Madonna. Below it, the farm is finding its way back to the future.
A decade ago, two entrepreneurial South Africans, Guy and Maureen Pickering, bought from the Malawi government the rolling 620-hectare spread with its distant view of Nkhoma Mountain.
Since then, they have been coping with Canadian good intentions and Malawian neglect. Hardy, free-ranging African zebu have replaced the diseased and dying imported cows.
High tech has given way to cheap, plentiful manual labour. And the farm now produces just enough milk and exquisite yogourt to supply its workers, the lodge and a few Lilongwe boutique markets.
Guy Pickering has nothing bad to say about the Canadian International Development Agency.
Wisely or not, CIDA tried to strengthen a weak dairy industry, and within a few years, Malawi ran a turnkey operation into the ground. Building on what little was left, Pickering is slowly pulling the farm out of bankruptcy by replacing First-World ways with Third and subsidizing the farm with the lodge.
CIDA's corporate memory can't quite recall how much was spent at Capitol Hill even though those who worked on the project remember $12 million. But what's more certain than the cost is the result.
Weary of reading "milk for muzungus" newspaper stories and tired of explaining its failures to increasingly militant auditors-general, Canada's development agency doesn't do much direct development anymore.
These days, CIDA spends a lot of its $3 billion budget and staff time on the latest in a long list of development cure-alls: working with other governments and agencies to improve aid effectiveness. Whether or not focusing on governance and corruption proves a better long-term remedy for persistent, grinding poverty remains to be seen. But in the meantime, CIDA isn't leaving behind the wrecked Ozymandias-like monuments to hubris that attract the unwanted attention of reporters and bean-counters.
So completely has CIDA erased its big-project past that a team of its management experts checked into Kumbali last month with no awareness of the farm's history and left without apparently grasping the irony or, perhaps, the lesson.
The Kigali Protocol for the NEPAD ICT Network Comes into Force
Pretoria, South Africa, 19 February 2008. The protocol on policy and regulatory framework for NEPAD ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network, known as the Kigali protocol, came into force on 13th February 2008, after His Excellency Dr Bingu Wa Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi put pen to paper in Lilongwe, Malawi. Malawi thus became the seventh country to ratify the protocol. Other countries that have already ratified the protocol are: Lesotho, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Ratification by seven countries was the majority needed to bring the protocol into force.
The signed instrument of ratification from the Malawian President reads in part, “I, Dr Bingu Wa Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi, for and on behalf of the Republic of Malawi, do hereby notify and confirm, in accordance with Article 22 of the protocol, that the Republic of Malawi ratifies the Protocol.”
The NEPAD e-Africa Commission, tasked with developing ICT policies, strategies and projects, and managing the development of the ICT sector in the NEPAD context, has been coordinating the signing and ratification of the Kigali Protocol.
Says Dr Henry Chasia, the Executive Deputy Chairperson of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission, “What this development means is that we can now go ahead to quickly implement the NEPAD ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network, comprising of UHURUNET (the submarine cable), and UMOJANET (the terrestrial segment), to provide quality and affordable telecommunications connectivity to Eastern and Southern Africa and to the rest of the African continent. This network will be a major step in interconnecting the African continent and thus helping to bridge the digital divide, and improving lives of Africans.
The partnerships and collaboration among African countries will be epitomized by the joint ownership, development and operation of the NEPAD network. The countries that did not sign the Kigali Protocol by the deadline of November 30, 2006, can now accede to the protocol and thus benefit from the NEPAD network”
The Kigali Protocol was negotiated by a wide range of stakeholders and was accepted and signed by 12 countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa. The Protocol takes account of the NEPAD network principles in the development of a policy and regulatory framework for the region, as well as in the details of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) that will own, operate and maintain the NEPAD network.
“We can now take the necessary steps to bring together entities that were nominated to be shareholders in the NEPAD submarine SPV to discuss issues such as a shareholders agreement, and thereafter form the SPV. We expect construction of the submarine cable to start soon, and to be completed before the 2010 FIFA World Cup”, says Dr Edmund Katiti, the NEPAD ICT policy and Regulatory Advisor.
It is envisaged that once implemented, the NEPAD ICT Broadband Infrastructure Initiative will greatly reduce the costs of telecommunications and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of how Africa does business with the rest of the world.
The countries that signed the Kigali protocol are: Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The inaugural signing of the NEPAD Broadband ICT Infrastructure Network was held in Kigali, Rwanda on 29 August 2006, where the first seven countries signed the protocol; namely: Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Subsequently, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Zambia, signed the protocol.
The signed instrument of ratification from the Malawian President reads in part, “I, Dr Bingu Wa Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi, for and on behalf of the Republic of Malawi, do hereby notify and confirm, in accordance with Article 22 of the protocol, that the Republic of Malawi ratifies the Protocol.”
The NEPAD e-Africa Commission, tasked with developing ICT policies, strategies and projects, and managing the development of the ICT sector in the NEPAD context, has been coordinating the signing and ratification of the Kigali Protocol.
Says Dr Henry Chasia, the Executive Deputy Chairperson of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission, “What this development means is that we can now go ahead to quickly implement the NEPAD ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network, comprising of UHURUNET (the submarine cable), and UMOJANET (the terrestrial segment), to provide quality and affordable telecommunications connectivity to Eastern and Southern Africa and to the rest of the African continent. This network will be a major step in interconnecting the African continent and thus helping to bridge the digital divide, and improving lives of Africans.
The partnerships and collaboration among African countries will be epitomized by the joint ownership, development and operation of the NEPAD network. The countries that did not sign the Kigali Protocol by the deadline of November 30, 2006, can now accede to the protocol and thus benefit from the NEPAD network”
The Kigali Protocol was negotiated by a wide range of stakeholders and was accepted and signed by 12 countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa. The Protocol takes account of the NEPAD network principles in the development of a policy and regulatory framework for the region, as well as in the details of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) that will own, operate and maintain the NEPAD network.
“We can now take the necessary steps to bring together entities that were nominated to be shareholders in the NEPAD submarine SPV to discuss issues such as a shareholders agreement, and thereafter form the SPV. We expect construction of the submarine cable to start soon, and to be completed before the 2010 FIFA World Cup”, says Dr Edmund Katiti, the NEPAD ICT policy and Regulatory Advisor.
It is envisaged that once implemented, the NEPAD ICT Broadband Infrastructure Initiative will greatly reduce the costs of telecommunications and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of how Africa does business with the rest of the world.
The countries that signed the Kigali protocol are: Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The inaugural signing of the NEPAD Broadband ICT Infrastructure Network was held in Kigali, Rwanda on 29 August 2006, where the first seven countries signed the protocol; namely: Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Subsequently, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Zambia, signed the protocol.
Southern Africa: SADC Region on High Alert As More Flooding Predicted
Southern Africa has been warned to brace for more and heavier rains as the peak of the rainfall season approaches.
The rainfall season in most of southern Africa stretches from October to March with a peak in late February. A forecast for the period January to March 2008 issued by the Sadc Drought Monitoring Centre warns of heavy rainfall across most parts of mainland Sadc and Madagascar.
Mauritius is expected to receive normal to above normal rainfall during the same period. Already, continuous heavy rains that began in December 2007 have led to flooding in parts of the region, claiming lives and destroying property and infrastructure.
According to preliminary figures released by national disaster authorities, the number of people affected by rains and floods since October 2007 in southern Africa currently stands at more than 190 000. In particular, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe have been the most affected. In Malawi, more than 60 000 people have been affected mainly through damage of property and crops. The damage stretched into southern Tanzania. About 95 000 people have been evacuated and resettled on higher ground in Mozambique while in Zambia about 17 000 have been affected with 1 900 in temporary accommodation while the rest are in host families. In Zimbabwe, about 15 000 have lost their homes, crops and property to the floods.
Significant incidents of flooding have also been reported in Lesotho (4 000 affected) and Swaziland (2 500 affected). In Madagascar, Tropical Cyclone Fame developed in the Mozambican Channel at the end of January and moved across the island, causing widespread damage and severe flooding while 550 people were left without shelter.
Meanwhile, warnings have been issued of the possibility of flooding in the flood-prone Caprivi area in northern Namibia due to the heavy rains that have been falling in that area and upstream of the Zambezi River in Zambia and Angola.
This season's La Niña-induced rains have brought some of the "heaviest rains in living memory" in most countries in the region with Zimbabwe recording its highest ever rainfall for the months of October, November and December (OND). Records at the Department of Meteorological Services in Zimbabwe show that OND rainfall in 2007 averaged 453,4mm. The wettest season to date had been 1924/1925 with an average of 413,8 mm for the same period.
"The La Niña phenomenon is the opposite of the more common El Niño effect associated with recent droughts in the region," says Amos Makarau, climate expert and director of Zimbabwe's Meteorological Services Department.
The La Niña phenomenon is characterised by a cooling of sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific region and has significant impacts on rainfall patterns in the whole world, causing very heavy rains in southern Africa. "Unlike the El Niño effect which is more periodical, occurring every four to five years, La Niña events are less frequent, irregular and when they occur their impacts can be quite significant," warned Makarau.
He urged national authorities to stay on alert and prepare for further flooding as these conditions are expected to persist until April.
Meanwhile, the Sadc Disaster Emergency Response Team says the likelihood of continued intense rainfall upstream of the Zambezi River has renewed the threat of extensive floods downstream as river levels continue to rise rapidly. Water levels at Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams, which usually act as buffers, preventing flooding in the Zambezi Valley, continue to rise sharply. Water is currently entering Lake Cahora Bassa at 10 000 cubic metres per second, double the rate that is being discharged by the dam. The Zambezi River Authority - a body set up by the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe to manage Kariba Dam - opened one spillway gate at Kariba Dam on February 11, 2008 in order to minimise structural damage to the dam wall.
The Authority warns that if the heavy rains persist as is forecast, "more gates may be opened as necessary without further notice". Cahora Bassa is currently less than 65 percent full and has the capacity to accommodate the sudden inflow if one floodgate is opened at Kariba.
However, officials from the Mozambican National Disaster Management Institute warn that if two or more floodgates are opened, a series of small towns in the Zambezi Valley thus far unaffected might be inundated. The action by ZRA is in accordance with the Standing Operating Procedures for Kariba Dam.
Under an agreement with Mozambique, any decision to open the Kariba floodgates must be announced at least seven days in advance, which was duly done by ZRA.
During a recent visit to Mozambique on a fact-finding mission to assess the impact of floods in the region, SADC executive secretary Tomáz Salomão emphasised that the only way to minimise the impact of floods is through the improvement of communication and warning systems between the governments of countries that share river basins.Salomão said that it is important for countries upstream and downstream of major regional rivers to exchange information in order to plan joint action as agreed in the Sadc Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses.
The rainfall season in most of southern Africa stretches from October to March with a peak in late February. A forecast for the period January to March 2008 issued by the Sadc Drought Monitoring Centre warns of heavy rainfall across most parts of mainland Sadc and Madagascar.
Mauritius is expected to receive normal to above normal rainfall during the same period. Already, continuous heavy rains that began in December 2007 have led to flooding in parts of the region, claiming lives and destroying property and infrastructure.
According to preliminary figures released by national disaster authorities, the number of people affected by rains and floods since October 2007 in southern Africa currently stands at more than 190 000. In particular, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe have been the most affected. In Malawi, more than 60 000 people have been affected mainly through damage of property and crops. The damage stretched into southern Tanzania. About 95 000 people have been evacuated and resettled on higher ground in Mozambique while in Zambia about 17 000 have been affected with 1 900 in temporary accommodation while the rest are in host families. In Zimbabwe, about 15 000 have lost their homes, crops and property to the floods.
Significant incidents of flooding have also been reported in Lesotho (4 000 affected) and Swaziland (2 500 affected). In Madagascar, Tropical Cyclone Fame developed in the Mozambican Channel at the end of January and moved across the island, causing widespread damage and severe flooding while 550 people were left without shelter.
Meanwhile, warnings have been issued of the possibility of flooding in the flood-prone Caprivi area in northern Namibia due to the heavy rains that have been falling in that area and upstream of the Zambezi River in Zambia and Angola.
This season's La Niña-induced rains have brought some of the "heaviest rains in living memory" in most countries in the region with Zimbabwe recording its highest ever rainfall for the months of October, November and December (OND). Records at the Department of Meteorological Services in Zimbabwe show that OND rainfall in 2007 averaged 453,4mm. The wettest season to date had been 1924/1925 with an average of 413,8 mm for the same period.
"The La Niña phenomenon is the opposite of the more common El Niño effect associated with recent droughts in the region," says Amos Makarau, climate expert and director of Zimbabwe's Meteorological Services Department.
The La Niña phenomenon is characterised by a cooling of sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific region and has significant impacts on rainfall patterns in the whole world, causing very heavy rains in southern Africa. "Unlike the El Niño effect which is more periodical, occurring every four to five years, La Niña events are less frequent, irregular and when they occur their impacts can be quite significant," warned Makarau.
He urged national authorities to stay on alert and prepare for further flooding as these conditions are expected to persist until April.
Meanwhile, the Sadc Disaster Emergency Response Team says the likelihood of continued intense rainfall upstream of the Zambezi River has renewed the threat of extensive floods downstream as river levels continue to rise rapidly. Water levels at Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams, which usually act as buffers, preventing flooding in the Zambezi Valley, continue to rise sharply. Water is currently entering Lake Cahora Bassa at 10 000 cubic metres per second, double the rate that is being discharged by the dam. The Zambezi River Authority - a body set up by the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe to manage Kariba Dam - opened one spillway gate at Kariba Dam on February 11, 2008 in order to minimise structural damage to the dam wall.
The Authority warns that if the heavy rains persist as is forecast, "more gates may be opened as necessary without further notice". Cahora Bassa is currently less than 65 percent full and has the capacity to accommodate the sudden inflow if one floodgate is opened at Kariba.
However, officials from the Mozambican National Disaster Management Institute warn that if two or more floodgates are opened, a series of small towns in the Zambezi Valley thus far unaffected might be inundated. The action by ZRA is in accordance with the Standing Operating Procedures for Kariba Dam.
Under an agreement with Mozambique, any decision to open the Kariba floodgates must be announced at least seven days in advance, which was duly done by ZRA.
During a recent visit to Mozambique on a fact-finding mission to assess the impact of floods in the region, SADC executive secretary Tomáz Salomão emphasised that the only way to minimise the impact of floods is through the improvement of communication and warning systems between the governments of countries that share river basins.Salomão said that it is important for countries upstream and downstream of major regional rivers to exchange information in order to plan joint action as agreed in the Sadc Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses.
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