UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has appealed to governments and private firms to lend helicopters to help Mozambique evacuate 50_O00 people threatened by floods. So far, 450_000 persons have been affected and 75 deaths attributed to the floods. Noting that water levels continue to rise in the Zambezi river basin, and a tropical storm is predicted to strike the country at the weekend, Annan?s representative said: “Mozambique is inches away from a humanitarian disaster.” – AFP