Battle against Cape fires continues

CAPE TOWN – Firefighters entered their 10th day on Tuesday evening fighting a blaze in the Franschhoek mountains above Dewdale farm.

Danie Wilds, fire chief of Cape Winelands district municipality, said crews were still battling the same hot spots that have been their nemesis for the past couple of days. “We are making good progress.The area that is burning is smaller, as is the fire line which at one stage was a couple of kilometres but is now a few hundred metres,” he said.Wilds said two teams would monitor the line during the night.Crews were battling constant flare-ups.Fortunately no lives or property were in immediate danger.There was “a lot less smoke” in the air, but firefighting conditions remained difficult.A strong south-easter, which according to the weather service was gusting at between 40kph and 50kph, was hampering efforts to quell the fire.The wind was expected to abate by Friday.Three helicopters used to water-bomb the fire earlier in the day had stood down and were on stand-by yesterday.Exhausted fire crews also had to contend with other smaller fires, notably at Rawsonville and Simonsberg, Wilds said.- Nampa-Sapa UN halves food aid for refugees in Zambia LUSAKA – The UN food agency has been forced to halve its rations to some 80 000 refugees in Zambia due to a lack of funds, an official said Wednesday.The World Food Programme reduced the ration for Angolans and Congolese refugees on Sunday after failing to source adequate funding to procure food aid, said WFP national spokeswoman Jo Woods.”Refugees are on half-rations as of January 1.The WFP in Zambia has received no contributions to provide food for refugees this year,” Woods told AFP.About 8.5 million dollars is needed to avert the food crisis, which is likely to worsen by March this year if no contributions are received from the international community, Woods said.”Food stocks for refugees living in Zambia will run out completely by March this year,” Woods said.The refugees, many of whom live in camps in remote areas of Zambia, depend entirely on WFP aid, she added.The WFP was already forced to cut rations for three months at the end of 2004 because of a lack of money.At the time, in addition to an increase in malnutrition rates, aid workers logged a rise in sexually transmitted infections as some refugees turned to prostitution in exchange for food.Besides the refugees, around 10 percent of Zambia’s 11 million people are also facing hunger due to drought.- Nampa-AFP Jailed Ethiopian opposition leaders, journalists denied bail ADDIS ABABA – An Ethiopian court yesterday denied bail to a group of 131 detained Ethiopian opposition figures and journalists who face treason and other charges relating to an alleged plot to overthrow the government after disputed elections.Amid protests from the accused, Federal High Court Judge Adil Ahmed said the counts were too serious to allow their provisional release and adjourned the case until next month to give the defendants time to consult with lawyers.”After examining the arguments on the bail request by the defence and the prosecution, we have reached a decision that since the charges against the defendants could carry a minimum penalty of 15 years in jail, we have turned down their request of bail,” he said.Members of the group – who include nearly the entire leadership of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and 22 journalists – refused last week to plead to the charges, which include treason, conspiracy to topple a constitutional government and genocide.They have complained they have been denied access to attorneys since their arrests in November in a massive crackdown following a second explosion of deadly violence during protests over alleged fraud in the May 15 polls that the CUD claims were rigged by the ruling party.- Nampa-AFP”We are making good progress.The area that is burning is smaller, as is the fire line which at one stage was a couple of kilometres but is now a few hundred metres,” he said.Wilds said two teams would monitor the line during the night.Crews were battling constant flare-ups.Fortunately no lives or property were in immediate danger.There was “a lot less smoke” in the air, but firefighting conditions remained difficult.A strong south-easter, which according to the weather service was gusting at between 40kph and 50kph, was hampering efforts to quell the fire.The wind was expected to abate by Friday.Three helicopters used to water-bomb the fire earlier in the day had stood down and were on stand-by yesterday.Exhausted fire crews also had to contend with other smaller fires, notably at Rawsonville and Simonsberg, Wilds said.- Nampa-Sapa UN halves food aid for refugees in Zambia LUSAKA – The UN food agency has been forced to halve its rations to some 80 000 refugees in Zambia due to a lack of funds, an official said Wednesday.The World Food Programme reduced the ration for Angolans and Congolese refugees on Sunday after failing to source adequate funding to procure food aid, said WFP national spokeswoman Jo Woods.”Refugees are on half-rations as of January 1.The WFP in Zambia has received no contributions to provide food for refugees this year,” Woods told AFP.About 8.5 million dollars is needed to avert the food crisis, which is likely to worsen by March this year if no contributions are received from the international community, Woods said.”Food stocks for refugees living in Zambia will run out completely by March this year,” Woods said.The refugees, many of whom live in camps in remote areas of Zambia, depend entirely on WFP aid, she added.The WFP was already forced to cut rations for three months at the end of 2004 because of a lack of money.At the time, in addition to an increase in malnutrition rates, aid workers logged a rise in sexually transmitted infections as some refugees turned to prostitution in exchange for food.Besides the refugees, around 10 percent of Zambia’s 11 million people are also facing hunger due to drought.- Nampa-AFP Jailed Ethiopian opposition leaders, journalists denied bail ADDIS ABABA – An Ethiopian court yesterday denied bail to a group of 131 detained Ethiopian opposition figures and journalists who face treason and other charges relating to an alleged plot to overthrow the government after disputed elections.Amid protests from the accused, Federal High Court Judge Adil Ahmed said the counts were too serious to allow their provisional release and adjourned the case until next month to give the defendants time to consult with lawyers.”After examining the arguments on the bail request by the defence and the prosecution, we have reached a decision that since the charges against the defendants could carry a minimum penalty of 15 years in jail, we have turned down their request of bail,” he said.Members of the group – who include nearly the entire leadership of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and 22 journalists – refused last week to plead to the charges, which include treason, conspiracy to topple a constitutional government and genocide.They have complained they have been denied access to attorneys since their arrests in November in a massive crackdown following a second explosion of deadly violence during protests over alleged fraud in the May 15 polls that the CUD claims were rigged by the ruling party.- Nampa-AFP