South Africa

JOHANNESBURG - The African National Congress's (ANC's) national executive committee (NEC) has asked for a review of party structures in three "problem" provinces, says ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe. The Eastern Cape, the North West province and the Western Cape are already under scrutiny and will be visited by the national working committee, which will then report back to the NEC before the end of July. Speculation has been rife that the NEC might decide to dissolve the Western Cape ANC provincial executive committee. This follows reports of intraparty battles within the province, resulting in the party's national leadership deploying an election team to take over their campaign in April.

WASHINGTON - Lending by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Africa is set to double this year as the region is gripped by the global economic crisis and more countries need aid. The IMF has seen a sharp rise in demand for its loans from African countries this year as their balance of payments is hit by a sharp drop in revenue from exports, volatile commodity prices and falling foreign investment. In the first five months of this year, the IMF committed about $1,6-billion to Africa, compared with $1,1-billion in 2008 and $200-million in 2007. Roger Nord, mission chief to Tanzania and a senior adviser in the IMF's Africa Department, says that, this year, the stock of the fund's lending in Africa will double relative to where it stood at the end of 2008. This is clearly a reflection of what is happening in the world economy, he says, but also indicative of the IMF's conscious policy to scale up its assistance to Africa. The increase is not only in new lending for countries that graduated from IMF assistance during the past decade of high economic growth, but also in existing loan programmes. The IMF recently approved a combined $545-million in emergency funding for Kenya and Tanzania, an example of countries that have followed sound economic policies but have been unable to escape the effects of the economic crisis. IMF financing is designed to cushion falling currency reserves, while, at the same time, allowing countries to continue spending on vital infrastructure projects.

BONN - Both rich and poor nations have criticised a first draft text of a new United Nations (UN) climate treaty, but accept it as a starting point for six months of arduous negotiation. Problems with structure and balance have been cited, but delegates at talks among 180 nations, in Bonn, generally agree that "this session marks a turning point" because formal negotiating texts are on the table for the first time, outlining all ideas for inclusion in a new UN climate treaty meant to be agreed on in Copenhagen, in December. These ideas include suggestions that rich nations set aside up to 2% of their gross national product to help the poor cope with global warming, and suggestions by rich nations about how the poor can slow their rising emissions of greenhouse gases. European Union delegates say that the text is acceptable as the basis for negotiation in the coming months on a treaty that will curb the use of fossil fuels and succeed the UN's existing Kyoto Protocol.

HARARE - Zimbabwe needs $719-million in urgent humanitarian help in 2009, as the country struggles to attract Western aid in an attempt to emerge from a decade of economic collapse, says the United Nations (UN). Last year, Zimbabwe suffered economic implosion, pushing inflation to a record 231-million per cent in June, leaving nine in ten people without a job and a cholera outbreak that killed more than 4 200. The UN humanitarian coordinator for Zimbabwe, Agostinho Zacarias, and Zimbabwe government officials have jointly appealed to foreign donors to provide funding to meet the humanitarian needs. Aid agencies last November put the country's humanitarian needs at $550-million. The figure has now risen because of growing needs in agriculture, health, education, food aid and safe water. The UN says that six-million Zimbabweans have limited or no access to clean water, more than half the population may require food aid this year, while 44 000 children under the age of five years need treatment for acute malnutrition. Consequences of an economic meltdown and lack of agricultural inputs for the 2008/9 agriculture season, compounded by the collapse of critical social services, continue to place the country in a situation of structural emergency.