¤ SOUTHERN AFRICA: Floods leave Angolan returnees stranded
 JOHANNESBURG 06 January 2012 (IRIN) - Several thousand Angolan returnees from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are stranded by floods in northeastern Angola. They are among the first casualties of what promises to be a very wet rainy season in parts of southern Africa. |
¤ ZIMBABWE: Growing risk of waterborne diseases in rural areas
 MHONDORO 03 January 2012 (IRIN) - Barbra Phiri, 20, a single mother living on a farm settlement in rural Mhondoro, about 45km southwest of the Zimbabwean capital Harare, does not think twice about letting her two-year-old twins splash about in a pool of greenish water close to her hut. |
¤ TECHNOLOGY: IRIN's pick of the year 2011
 NAIROBI 29 December 2011 (IRIN) - Computers and mobile phones are already essential to humanitarian planning, and 2011 saw the growth of technology-based humanitarian interventions, from the use of GPS (global positioning systems) to provide early weather warnings to real-time health reporting. |
¤ SOUTHERN AFRICA: Pick of the year 2011
 JOHANNESBURG 29 December 2011 (IRIN) - In 2011 the global economic crisis combined with poor governance, financial mismanagement and unpredictable rainfall to push several southern African countries to the point of crisis. Others responded to rising unemployment and increased pressure on national budgets by hardening their attitude towards immigrants and closing their borders to asylum-seekers. IRIN covered developments from all over the region, but the following stories consistently grabbed headlines: |
¤ ZIMBABWE: WFP buy local scheme helps farmers
 HARARE 27 December 2011 (IRIN) - Veteran small-scale farmer Trynos Mamombe has returned to maize farming after two years, thanks to a multi-partner initiative which is helping him to market his crop and get paid for it promptly. |
¤ ZIMBABWE: Where pensions can mean poverty
 HARARE 23 December 2011 (IRIN) - After working for 42 years at a private company as an office messenger, Kamunjoma Dikani, 73, retired in 2000, just as Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation began to take root. |
¤ SOUTH AFRICA: Migrants’ health care hit by deportations
 JOHANNESBURG 20 December 2011 (IRIN) - While most nations are dependent to some extent on the world’s 214 million migrants for skills and labour, few ensure these migrants have access to their health systems, something that could have dire public health consequences, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). |
