The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has urged countries to use their natural resources to fight climate change. "Governments are once again coming together in Poznan to deal with the climate crisis, but they are running out of time," said IUCN Director General Julia Marton-Lefèvre. - “We need to make substantial progress at Poznan to achieve a credible and efficient post 2012 climate change agreement by Copenhagen in 2009.” Protecting natural resources, such as forests, rivers and mangroves, enhances the ability to cope with changes that are already happening as a result of global warming. The deadline for setting serious cuts in emissions is …

Zambia is to host the fourth African Union Peace and Security Council Retreat (AUPSCR) from December 4 and 5, 2008. The retreat is under the theme: "Interaction between Peace and Security Council and Civil Society Organization in the Promotion of Peace, Security and Stability in Africa." - It would be held at the Sun Hotel in Livingstone, about 800 kilometers from the capital, Lusaka. Zambia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Tens Kapoma said African Union Deputy Chairperson Erastus Mwencha and other notable members of the AUPSCR will be among the keynote speakers at the Retreat. The first and second African Union Peace and Security Council Retreats wer…

A copper smelter has been launched in Zambia with a sole aim of increasing copper production in Africa's largest copper producing nation. One of Zambia's largest mining companies owns the Nchanga copper smelter. - Konkola Copper Mines said the new smelter will treble copper cathode output to 500,000 tonnes within two years. The Nchanga smelter, which has a capacity to produce 300,000 tonnes copper per year and cost KCM $500 million, is one of major projects the mining company has undertaken to raise copper production. A statement from KCM said: “The smelter produced its first blister copper which was to be transported to the Nkana Copper Refinery for processing into cathod…

United Nation's World Health Organization and health partners have launched an intensive operation to prevent and control the increase of cholera cases. This have tripled in some areas to 150 a week, amid the recent escalation of violence in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. - Insecurity, massive population displacement, weak health services and a lack of safe water and proper sanitation facilities, have caused a marked increase in the number of people with cholera in North and South Kivu. As yet no data is available on the number of deaths linked to the current outbreak, but generally in complex emergencies the case fatality rate can surpass 30 percent. In 1…

A Kitwe based Roman Catholic Church priest Father Frank Bwalya has been arrested and detained on Wednesday for airing what is being deemed as biased post election analysis. He was charged with conduct likely to cause a breach of peace amid violent protests in the mining town of Zambia - Meanwhile, a wave of violent protests demanding for the release of Father Bwalya has ensued in the mining town of Kitwe. Police are fighting running battles with suspected losing Patriotic Front supporters. Father Bwalya was arrested while he was running a programme analysing the just ended elections which have been labeled as fraud by the opposition. The ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy, that nar…

Standard Bank, also trading as Stanbic Bank, this week won Bank Arranger of the Year award at the inaugural AI Infrastructure Investor Awards ceremony held in Johannesburg, South Africa. The event was held as part of the AI Infrastructure Projects Summit organized by Africa Investor. - The award was in recognition of Standard Bank’s financing towards the construction of the multi-million US dollar Nigerian Lekki-Epe Expressway, which is West Africa’s first toll road. Standard Bank was co-financial advisor as well as an arranger and underwriter on the project, which is a public private partnership, between the Lagos state government and the Lekki Concession Company. The thr…

Humanitarian crisis looms in Zambia if donor agencies failed to assist. Zambia's home affairs permanent secretary Susan Sikaneta called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization to strengthen their partnership and work with host governments in tackling the global food crises, fuel and energy price hikes. - Addressing the 43rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the Executive Committee of UNHCR in Geneva, Sikaneta alerted the international community of a looming situation in the Republic of Zambia. WFP has given notice to the Zambian government that it will stop feeding the refugees by 30th September 2008, for th…

About 3,000 vulnerable refugees in two refugee settlements in Zambia are at risk of starvation if the UN food agency - WFP does not receive additional resources to provide them with food next year. - “We have received communications from WFP stating that from 2009 they will stop providing food to refugees at the Meheba and Mayukwayukwa refugee settlements. While the majority of refugees in these settlements don’t need food assistance because they have attained self-sufficiency from agriculture – through land provided to them by the Government – and other sources of livelihood, we are worried for the very vulnerable persons who still need assistance,” said James …

Police in Zambia have arrested 18 people for rioting and causing extensive damage to public property. They all belong to the opposition Patriotic Front. The suspects burnt makeshift shops and stoned motor vehicles after the Electoral Commission declared acting President Rupiah Banda winner. - Police in Lusaka say one vehicle was extensively damaged in Lusaka’s high-density suburbs of Chipata and Mandevu. Provincial police Chief Greenwell Ng’uni told reporters in the Zambian capital that police had to fire tear gas to disperse the unruly cadres. Ng’uni has cautioned that police will not allow any outbreak of post election violence. Rupiah Banda was on Sunday sworn-in at a…

- Zambia’s frontline opposition Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata has claimed that the on-going presidential vote has already been stolen and rigged. This follows recent media statements by security service chiefs that they will order security officers to quell any violent activities that are likely to burst from the election. Voting is underway and observers say this year’s election has been marred by apathy due to the statements issued by the army and police commanders ahead of today’s vote. Michael Sata told reporters in Lusaka shortly after he cast his ballot this morning that threats by the army commander and the police chief have sent fears among voters. …

Zambians have been urged to conduct efficient, free, fair and credible elections if the country is to continue receiving financial aid and support from international financiers. - Finance Minister Ng’andu Magande stated that Thursday’s presidential elections should be conducted in an environment that will ensure that Zambia continue to receive donor support and foreign direct investment. The emotionally looking Magande also praised staff at the ministry of finance for supporting his five-year tenure. European Union head of delegation in Zambia, Derrick Fee also urged the Zambian people to conduct a non-violent election. Fee said a free and fair election will uplift Zambia…

Security agents in Zambia have been placed on high security alert as elections take place on Thursday between four presidential candidates. Tension is mounting in the country as voters wait in a queue to cast their votes. - A blanket of police officers in full riot gear has been poured into the streets of the Zambian capital Lusaka. Campaigns closed last night amidst massive chanting and singing in various parts of the capital city. Observers fear that the country might be plunged into a series of violent clashes. The contest is between acting president Rupiah Banda, Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front, United Party for National Development Hakainde Hichilema and Heritage Party’s Go…

- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced 104 grants to explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve global health. The grants of US$100,000 each will be made to scientists from 22 countries and five continents. They mark the first round of funding from Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to help lower the barriers for testing innovative ideas in global health. The initial set of grants will inject fresh perspective into research for preventing or curing infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and TB, and limiting the emergence of drug resistance. Successful applicants showed how their project falls outside current scientific paradigms and could lead to…

- The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited (SBSA) has secured a US$ 60 million and € 174, 5 million, three-year term loan facility from a group of leading international banks. The facility, finalised at a signing in Munich, Germany today, was arranged by The Standard Bank of South Africa on a stand-alone basis. Eighteen banks participated in the transaction. The US$ 60 million and € 174, 5 million facility is priced at 115 basis points over Libor. The facility may be drawn in US dollars or euros. The facility is for general financing requirements, including, but not limited to trade related finance. Simon Ridley, Chief Financial Officer of Standard Bank Group, says: “We…

- Zambian and Rwanda are for the first time broadcasting presidential campaigns and parliamentary polls using IP (Internet Protocol) teleconferencing technology and Internet broadcasting technologies. Rwanda is also installing the technology in all of the country's public institutions to enable video conferencing of meetings, while the Zambian government is installing it in major hospitals across the country to help doctor and students consult with one another remotely. Rwanda plans that governors and mayors throughout the country will be able to hold meetings through video conferencing by 2009. In the meantime, IP teleconferencing technology has been deployed by the Rwanda…

- A fatal and mysterious livestock disease has broken in Southern Zambia’s Choma region about 130 kilometers from the capital Lusaka. Veterinary authorities in the area say the disease has so far killed over 200 animals since January this year. Area Chief Mapanza has told Africanews.com by telephone from Choma that all the 200 deaths of animals have been recorded in Mapanza Veterinary Camp. Chief Mapanza has therefore appealed for emergency support from the Zambian government. He also called for urgent steps to correct the situation as people in his chiefdom are losing animals on daily basis. The traditional leader says his people’s livelihood depend on livestoc…

A bill proposing the pay rise for cabinet ministers has been refused by Zambia’s acting president, Rupiah Banda. He refused to sign the bill into law and has promised to take the bill back to parliament for reconsideration. He said he will not assent the bill into law and pave way for the increments. - Banda told his supporters ahead of the October’s presidential election that although the country has scored positive economic gains in the last seven years, many Zambians are still wallowing in poverty, hence the need to reconsider certain proposals. He said the cost of food stuffs in the country had risen in the recent past and therefore, it was only fair to reconsider issu…

Netherlands' Rabo Bank has secured a loan facility of 25 million US dollars for Zambia's National Commercial Bank (Zanaco). The money was sourced from two international financing agencies - Holland's FMO and another in France. It is to assist Zanaco to consolidate its financial base. - At a signing ceremony in Lusaka on Friday, Netherlands Ambassador to Zambia, Harry Molenaar stated that the facility would enhance Zanaco's ability to contribute to Zambia's agriculture sector, which late President Levy Mwanawasa considered as a key sector. Molenaar also disclosed that the Netherlands government has committed a grant of two million Euros to facilitate development p…

20,000 Zambian bee farmers expect to double their annual production upon the coming into being of a new policy. The Centre for International Forestry Research is collaborating with African governments to come up with policies to guide the production, packaging and marketing of honey products. - Bee farmers earn slightly more than $3,000 for a tonne of honey and beeswax on the international market. The Zambian government believes raising bees would help pull more people out of poverty. Authorities say current forestry policy is supposed to make resources available for bee keeping and honey making. But they say the policy is outdated and the Department of Forestry is working with CIFOR to …

- By Sanday Chongo Kabange in Mexico City, Mexico A new study, co-funded by NASA, has identified a link between a warming Indian Ocean and less rainfall in eastern and southern Africa. Computer models and observations show a decline in rainfall, with implications for the region's food security. Rainfall in Eastern Africa during the rainy season, which runs from March through May, has declined about 15 percent since the 1980s, according to records from ground stations and satellites. Statistical analyses show that this decline is due to irregularities in the transport of moisture between the ocean and land, brought about by rising Indian Ocean temperatures, according to research publis…

- By Sanday Chongo Kabange in Mexico City, Mexico STANDARD Chartered Bank has donated 10 new Braille computers and $15,000 to the Zambia National Library and Cultural Centre for the Blind. The donation is the result of a fund-raising event held in Qatar - the Ladies Golf Tournament 2007. Standard Chartered Bank Qatar donated QR100,000 to Standard Chartered Bank Zambia from the proceeds of the event. “We wish to say a big thank you to the team in Qatar for this support. The Centre for the Blind has a lot of needs and this support has given them hope and belief that someone cares,” said Standard Chartered Bank head of coporate affairs Luke Njovu in a statement on Monday. St…

- A new electronic publication called Executive Issues has been launched in Zambia, which will be distributed and sold strictly by subscription. Modeled on the lines of Africa Confidential, the new publication is edited by Dickson Jere, a Zambian Journalist who has worked with a number of international media organizations including the French News Agency (AFP), Africa Confidential, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Africa Report and African Energy. Jere, who is the founder of the newsletter, said Executive Issues was established primarily to become the reliable source of information on Zambia. It is the first of its kind to be published in Zambia. “It will provide timely a…

- Less than month after South Africa’s Standard Bank was named “Best Bank in Africa”; UK’s Barclays Bank in Zambia has been named the “Best Bank in Zambia” by pre-eminent international finance magazine, Euromoney. In awarding Barclays Bank Zambia with the award held in London, Euromoney noted that the Zambian financial and banking market has various banks in operational but Barclays Bank Zambia has stood above the rest in over 100 years that it has been operational in the Southern African country. Barclays Bank Southern Africa region managing director Zafar Masud says the award of excellence awarded to Barclays is a testimony of Barclays Bank’s com…

Vedanta's Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) in Zambia has resumed operations after it was initially shutdown following civil unrest and labour protest on weekend. - Konkola Copper Mines spokesperson Sam Equamo has said in a news statements released in Lusaka that operations at Nkana smelter have now resumed and full production is normal. Equamo said 12 workers have since been fired as a result of the protest. KCM, majority-owned by London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, did not say what impact the one-day shutdown had on production. It forecast on Monday that it would raise cathode copper output to 250,000 tonnes in the 2008/2009 fiscal year from 150,000 tonnes the previous year. The l…

Villagers that have lived in Southern Zambia for over 50 years did not expect to experience 13 straight days of rainfall. In the village of Magoye, houses, food, crop and livestock were all washed away by the floods. - Devastating floods hit Southern Zambia during the 2007/2008 rainy season and compelled rural communities to adjust to new livelihoods. Weather experts and researchers cited global climate change as cause of the floods in Southern Zambia. Therefore, it is very likely that these kinds of disaster will occur more often in the future. A recent report from the University of Zambia in Lusaka says, Southern Zambia will continue to experience more rainfall than ever, because of the…