Artists for Zimbabwe invite you to a charities fund-raising exhibition of paintings, photography and sculpture by nine outstanding young Zimbabwean artists. Various charities will be supported and the funds will be administered by the Zimbabwe Appeal Fund.

CAFOD's Emergency Support Section (ESS) provides specialist support, technical and humanitarian assistance to CAFOD International Division programme staff and partners across the globe during humanitarian crises. ESS is looking for a key specialist to join its team. To help with the humanitarian crisis reaching across southern Africa, CAFOD's ESS needs a new specialist member to provide support to CAFOD's Africa section in coordinating the overall response to the crisis.

Proven track record in administering, monitoring and evaluating public health projects in developing countries and knowledge of vaccine-preventable diseases epidemiology and immunization required.

The government has made a late appeal to the World Food Programme to continue food aid support for another year as there is no end in sight to the country's severe shortages and famine, say diplomatic sources. World Food Programme food assistance is set to close at the end of March, raising fears that malnutrition will increase; especially in the hardest hit provinces, Masvingo and Matabeleland North and South.

Soldiers manning queues at Batanai Supermarket in Harare assaulted Daily News photographer Philimon Bulawayo after he took pictures of the long, winding queues that have become prevalent at most shops selling basic commodities. Bulawayo, 29, said he was approached by two soldiers while he was standing opposite Batanai Supermarket and they started assaulting him.

Over 130 tonnes of donated maize impounded by Beitbridge customs officials last year from the Feed Zimbabwe Trust, an MDC-aligned relief organisation, has been sold by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) in controversial circumstances, it has emerged.

Amnesty International issued a press release last week detailing the abuses of the regime of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, as that leader landed in Paris for an African-Franco summit. The press release detailed recent violations of human rights and urged world leaders to come out strongly against the abuses.

A member of President Robert Mugabe's family, several high-ranking Zimbabwean officials and a senior company executive have grabbed farms and forcibly evicted peasants under a controversial land reform programme, according to a report ordered by the Zimbabwean president.

Financial Gazette sub-editor Taungana Ndoro was last Sunday victimised by soldiers guarding the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s Mbare studios, who forced him to roll on the tarmac and in a pool of mud. Ndoro said he was waiting near the broadcasting station for his wife when a group of about six armed soldiers seized him and led him to their post at the studios.

The defence in the trial of Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on treason charges Wednesday demanded evidence that a political consultancy firm that exposed the alleged plot to kill President Robert Mugabe, is a bonafide company.
Advocate George Bizos argued that the key witness Ari Ben Menashe, whom he has previously labelled a fraudster, must provide documentary evidence that his firm is not bogus.

The human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell will file a complaint with the general prosecutor of Paris, requesting that Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean President, be arrested on torture charges when he arrives for a two-day summit of African leaders. The legal action, using the UN Convention Against Torture, which France has signed, is likely to be symbolic because there is no precedent of a foreign leader being prosecuted in France while in office.

Jonathan Moyo refused to comment on weekend reports that President Thabo Mbeki had said Zimbabwe would change its tough media laws, following talks with South Africa and Nigeria. But his boss in the ruling Zanu PF politburo, Nathan Shamuyarira, was surprised at Moyo’s refusal to comment. The Zanu PF secretary for information and publicity said Moyo should comment "since he is the one who piloted the media law".

The primary responsibility of this position is to provide technical assistance to the region and to country programmes to expand CRS' outreach in response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic while ensuring that the CRS HIV/AIDS programming is accomplished in accordance with CRS/USCCB AIDS policies, & the Standards Approach for CRS HIV/AIDS Programming in Africa. Incumbent will provide leadership with HIV/AIDS Strategy Development, Information Management Project Development, Capacity Building, Monitoring & Evaluation and Networking. Masters in Public Health or related field required.

Police arrested a High Court judge seen as having angered the government by ruling against it, accusing him of corruption, state television reported on Monday.

President Thabo Mbeki said that Zimbabwe had agreed that changes were needed in its media laws, which critics say are aimed at muzzling the press. South Africa has been criticised for taking a soft approach with the government of President Robert Mugabe, which has been slammed by the West on human rights issues against the backdrop of a collapsing economy and chronic food shortages.

Many households were reported to be using 'coping' strategies to deal with food shortages, says a December/January report from The National NGO Food Security Network (FOSENET). These strategies included asset sales, school dropout, leaving home areas, and consumption of potentially toxic 'famine foods' that may have long term negative effects on households already impoverished by economic decline, unemployment, land hunger and HIV/AIDS. In the district of Mutare Rural people were reported to be moving away from their homes because of hunger. "This would need to be followed up as it is the first time an outflow of this nature has been reported and could signal a transition from food insecurity to more extreme famine type responses," said the report.

There is an unprecedented influx into Zimbabwe of asylum seekers from the Great Lakes region, a United Nations official has said. Tapiwa Huye, the assistant programme officer at the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) office, said: "The influx is unusual. The Transit Centre is full and we are looking for tents to accommodate the asylum seekers."

The plight of farm workers affected by Zimbabwe's fast-track land reform programme amid a serious food security crisis is being largely ignored, NGOs warn.

Protests marked Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's controversial first official visit to Europe for more than a year. On the day European Union travel sanctions were renewed for a year against him, he, his wife and about 70 other members of the Zimbabwean leadership flew into the French capital by private plane and checked into a five-star hotel.
Related Links:
* Obasanjo, Mbeki Move Could Plunge Country Into Violence
http://allafrica.com/stories/200302130394.html
* Letter from Obasanjo to Howard
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=964

The Southern Africa Human Rights NGO Network (SAHRINGON), consisting of human rights NGOs' in the region, has noted with "regret" the fact that the human rights situation in Zimbabwe has not improved since its March 2002 Presidential and Parliamentary elections. SAHRINGON has called on the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to take note of the various incidents of torture and increased violation of human rights in the country.