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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 24-08-2000

PART #3/4 - From LIBERIA to SENEGAL

* Liberia. Equipe de télévision arrêtée — Le 18 août, quatre journalistes (deux Britanniques, un Sud-Africain et un Sierra-Léonais) ont été arrêtés pour “espionnage” par la police de Monrovia. Selon le ministre libérien de la Justice, l’équipe, qui travaille pour la maison de production britannique Insight News Television, avait pour objectif de «ternir l’image du président du Liberia», Charles Taylor. L’équipe se trouvait au Liberia afin de réaliser un documentaire pour lequel elle avait obtenu l’autorisation du ministre de l’Information. La Grande-Bretagne a accusé le Liberia de se marginaliser au sein de la communauté internationale et le secrétaire d’Etat aux Affaires étrangères a exigé la libération immédiate des quatre journalistes. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 22 août 2000)

* Liberia. Foreign film crew charged with spying — 20 August: A British Channel 4 film crew held in Liberia on suspicion of spying wait to hear whether they will face trial. British director David Barrie, cameraman Tim Lambon, South African cameraman Gugulakhe Radebe, and Sierra Leonean film-maker Sorious Samura have been held in a police station in Monrovia since 18 August. They had arrived three weeks ago, working for a television company, Insight News Television, commissioned by Channel 4 for a political documentary series, Sorious Samura’s Africa. Liberia’s justice minister, Eddington Varmah, says they have «engaged in acts against the security of the state» and were arrested on suspicion of espionage. He accuses them of trying to denigrate the President, Charles Taylor, and of assisting foreign powers in their diplomatic confrontation with Liberia. 21 August: The journalists are taken to court and charged with spying. 22 August: The journalists spend an extra night in jail after Judge Timothy Swope puts off a decision on whether to grant bail. He is expected to rule on the issue tomorrow. 23 August: In a Press Release, Amnesty International says the arrest of a foreign TV crew is yet another attack on the freedom of the news media in Liberia. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 24 August 2000)

* Libya. Shell in talks with Libya — Royal Dutch/Shell is negotiating a number of exploration blocks in Libya, a company official said on 23 August. «Following an invitation by (Libya’s state-owned) National Oil Company, we are engaged with them in commercial discussions regarding a number of blocks,» the Shell spokeswoman said. (Financial Times, UK, 24 August 2000)

* Malawi. Controversy over the death penalty — There are presently some 800 prisoners on death row in Malawi. Their execution seems delayed by deadlock in the debate whether to retain and use the death penalty or not. Human rights activists urge that the 1996 capital punishment Act made during Kamuzu Banda’s 31-year autocratic rule is inhuman. Banda’s administration kept the death penalty on the statute books. In 1993 there was the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) during which chiefs, lawyers, politicians, the clergy, civil society and special interest groups hotly debated the issue. The NCC opted to retain the death penalty but the issue has come to the fore once again. The fact is, Malawi is experiencing an increase in crime resulting from rising unemployment, corruption, poverty, access to small arms coming from neighbouring war-torn countries. Although the death penalty remains possible, Malawi has not carried out any executions of prisoners convicted of murder since President Muluzi came to power in 1994. (Charles Masapi, Malawi, 21 August 2000)

* Morocco. Record hashish crop — Morocco’s cannabis farmers are enjoying a bumper harvest this year, thanks to a combination of late rains and an atmosphere of greater tolerance under King Mohammed VI. The growers produce some 2,000 tonnes of hashish a year, despite demands from the European Union for the government to stop it. A recent parliamentary report says 60,000 hectares of land are given over to cannabis cultivation. Other reports claim that more than 120,000 hectares grow behind a camouflage of maize. Bankers estimate this black economy accounts for between one-third and a half of the country’s total earnings. (The Independent, UK, 15 August 2000)

* Maroc. Le roi gracie 1.165 détenus — Le roi Mohammed VI a accordé sa grâce au profit de 1.165 détenus à l’occasion de la “révolution du roi et du peuple”, célébrée le 20 août, date de l’exil en 1953 du roi Mohammed V. Le ministère de la Justice a indiqué que, parmi ces personnes, 356 ont bénéficié d’une grâce totale, 572 d’une remise de peine, et 4 détenus d’une commutation de la peine perpétuelle en peine de temps. Aucune indication n’a cependant été donnée sur l’identité des personnes graciées. (PANA, 20 août 2000)

* Maroc. Découverte de pétrole et de gaz — Le 20 août, le roi Mohammed VI a annoncé la découverte d’importants gisements de pétrole et de gaz dans la région orientale de Talsint, à quelque 200 km des frontières avec l’Algérie, sans toutefois préciser les quantités découvertes. Selon la presse marocaine, les gisements pourraient avoisiner les 20 milliards de barils d’équivalent de pétrole. Une dizaine de sociétés se partagent actuellement une vingtaine de permis d’exploration et de prospection au Maroc. L’objectif du pays est de réduire sa facture pétrolière estimée à 6 milliards de FF par an. Le souverain marocain a toutefois souligné que la découverte ne va pas dissuader le Maroc de continuer sa marche de développement des différents secteurs économiques comme le tourisme, la pêche et les technologies de l’information. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 22 août 2000)

* Nigeria. Row over oil clean-up — The authorities in the Delta State have asked Royal Dutch/Shell to help clean up an oil spill which local communities say has caused widespread destruction to farmland and fishing reserves. A spokesman for Shell said the company was considering the request but felt aggrieved because, although the spillage originated from one of its wells, it had been caused by a deliberate act of sabotage. For the past two weeks, Shell has been involved in an acrimonious dispute with communities in the Ugheli area close to the town of Warri. (BBC News, 17 August 2000)

* Nigeria. Borno State adopts Sharia — An enormous crowd has gathered in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria, to celebrate the adoption of Muslim Sharia law. Christian leaders in Borno, who comprise a substantial minority, say they are strongly opposed to Sharia. Reports from Maiduguri say there was a large police presence on the streets on 19 August. Christians kept a low profile, closing their shops and businesses and choosing to stat at home. (BBC News, 19 August 2000)

* Nigeria. La charia adoptée dans un 8e Etat — Le 19 août, un huitième Etat du nord du Nigeria, le Borno, a adopté la loi islamique. Son gouverneur, Mala Kachalla, a présidé une cérémonie dans la capitale de l’Etat, Maiduguri, devant plus de 10.000 fidèles, mais il n’a pas précisé quand la loi prendra effet. M. Kachalla a pris également ses fonctions de grand juge islamique. Le Borno devient ainsi le 8e Etat du nord à instaurer ou à annoncer son intention d’introduire la charia depuis le retour du pouvoir à un gouvernement fédéral civil en 1999. L’instauration de la charia a provoqué des heurts interreligieux. (La Libre Belgique, 21 août 2000)

* Nigeria. Parliament to probe the Executive — The unending feud between Nigeria’s executive and legislative arms of government have a taken a turn for the worse, with legislators saying they are now ready to probe the handling of funds by the executive. In an apparent effort to turn the heat away from the two-chamber national assembly, which has been accused of profligacy and contract scams, the chairman of the house of representatives’ committee on ethics and privileges, Farouk Lawan, said «very soon our whole energy will be directed at the executive where we will unearth things that will shake this country.» But presidential adviser Aminu Wali said President Olusegun Obasanjo was not afraid of being probed by the lawmakers. Obasanjo started off the latest fight last week, when he publicly lambasted the lawmakers for illegally fixing huge salaries and allowances for themselves and advised them hands off in awarding contracts. The legislators reacted by describing the statement as uncharitable and in bad faith, setting the state for a renewed clash between the two branches of government. The president was speaking a few weeks after a probe set up by the senate led to the change of leadership in the upper legislative chamber, after revealing embarrassing cases of contract inflation, profligacy and overdrawing of approved allowances by the senators. The panel’s report has led to calls from enraged Nigerians for a similar probe of the lower house, whose speaker was also indicted in the 63-page report. The senate probe was set off by the report of the Auditor-General which showed gross abuse of financial regulations in the national assembly. But Lawan denied that his committee was in fact planning a revenge mission by seeking to probe the presidency, saying it was part of the committee’s schedule of duties to monitor the way the government spent funds. (PANA, Dakar, 21 August 2000)

* Nigeria. Visite de Clinton: investissements et allègement de la dette attendus — Le Nigeria, le pays le plus peuplé d’Afrique accueille à partir de samedi 26 août le président américain Bill Clinton dans l’espoir que cette visite attirera les investisseurs et mènera à l’allègement de sa dette. M. Clinton, qui avait imposé des sanctions au Nigeria en 1993 après l’annulation des élections par les militaires au pouvoir, ne s’était pas rendu dans ce pays de plus de 120 millions d’habitants lors de sa dernière tournée en Afrique. Washington considère le Nigeria comme l’un des Etats les plus importants en transition vers la démocratie et son président désormais civil, Olusegun Obasanjo, a rencontré M. Clinton à la Maison blanche et l’a invité dans son pays. Abuja attend davantage qu’un soutien verbal de M. Clinton à l’allègement de la dette du Nigeria, forte de 30 milliards de dollars. C’est une lourde charge pour un pays où le salaire moyen était estimé à 320 dollars mensuels l’an dernier. Outre les problèmes économiques, les deux chefs d’Etat devraient aborder les questions militaires et régionales. Le Nigeria est la plus grande puissance d’Afrique de l’ouest et Washington veut qu’Abuja joue un rôle de gendarme dans la région. (D’après AFP, France, 24 août 2000)

* Nigeria. Clinton’s visit — President Clinton’s three-day visit to Nigeria (August 25-27) is expected to be dominated by political issues. They will discuss democracy and how to consolidate Nigeria’s emerging democracy through direct US aid, as well as strengthening the country’s new institutions. The two leaders will also discuss West African issues. Clinton will address a joint session of Nigeria’s National Assembly. Security is being stepped up within the federal capital territory and its environs. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 24 August 2000)

* Rwanda. Children orphaned in the genocide must come home — Rwanda has asked the United Nations to help trace and repatriate about 30,000 children evacuated during the 1994 genocide and adopted in Europe. The appeal was made by President Paul Kagame’s wife, Janet, who on 14 August told a conference on the rights of children that the orphans could not be adopted outside the country without the consent of relatives and the government. (CNN, 15 August, 2000)

* Rwanda. Lawyer alleges deceit by UN tribunal — The very future of the UN war crimes tribunal for Rwanda may again be thrown into question over prosecution efforts to repair mistakes that last year led an appellate court to order the release of a leading genocide suspect. A Canadian lawyer for the suspect says she has uncovered evidence showing that the tribunal’s prosecutors tricked war crimes appeals court judges into reversing their decision to free her client due to prosecution bungling. In a motion filed before the judges, Carmelle Marchessault says the prosecutors used «false documents» to make their case for the continued detention of Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, an alleged mastermind of hate propaganda during the 1994 slaughter of up to 800,000 people. She also alleges that the prosecution office resorted to lies and deceit to win United States support for her client’s extradition from Cameroon, where he was arrested in April, 1996, on international warrants. A tribunal official declined comment, saying the case is now in court. He said that a response could be expected from the prosecution office before the judges rule on the matter. Mr. Barayagwiza, currently behind bars in the prison compound of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania, is founder of Rwanda’s now-defunct Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, which incited the country’s Hutus to eliminate the minority Tutsi population. He also led an extremist Hutu party and was foreign policy advisor to the Hutu-dominated interim government that presided over the genocide. But last November, the appeals court judges ruled his civil rights had been violated because tribunal prosecutors had been excessively tardy in formally charging him. Running the prosecution office at the time was Louise Arbour, now a justice with the Supreme Court of Canada. The judges’ simultaneous order to release Mr. Barayagwiza caused a storm of protest from the current Tutsi-dominated Rwandan government, which ceased co-operating with the court until a way could be found to keep Mr. Barayagwiza in jail for an eventual trial. The withdrawal of co-operation threatened the very future of the tribunal as trials of other suspects began to grind to a halt because prosecutors were denied access to witnesses inside Rwanda. To have the order reversed, the prosecutors hastily presented the judges with «new facts» that allegedly showed Mr. Barayagwiza’s rights had not been compromised to the extent previously thought. The judges ruled in March that Mr. Barayagwiza would remain incarcerated. But if the «new facts» are found to be invalid, the judges would be faced with having to reinstate their November order to release the suspect, a move that could spur Rwanda to again cease co-operation with the tribunal. (National Post, Canada, 18 August 2000)

* Rwanda/Ouganda. Pourparlers — Le 21 août, le Rwanda a envoyé en Ouganda le secrétaire général du parti au pouvoir, Charles Murigande, et le conseiller à la présidence sur les questions de sécurité, le major Emmanuel Ndahiro, pour une réunion de suivi du sommet de juin entre les présidents des deux pays. Les responsables ougandais ont déclaré que la guerre en RDC ferait l’objet de discussions, parmi d’autres sujets bilatéraux. (IRIN, Nairobi, 22 août 2000)

* Sénégal. Pourparlers avec le MFDC — Le président sénégalais Abdoulaye Wade s’est déclaré prêt à mener des entretiens directs avec le Mouvement des forces démocratiques de Casamance (MFDC), la Gambie et la Guinée Bissau, pour mettre fin au conflit du sud du Sénégal, a rapporté le 22 août l’agence de presse officielle APS. Le 18 août, à l’issue d’une visite officielle d’une journée du président de Guinée Bissau, Kumba Yala, M. Wade a réitéré son souhait de résoudre la crise en Casamance sans prolonger la guerre. “J’ai la conviction, a-t-il dit, que la Guinée Bissau ne s’emploie pas à prolonger le conflit et que les infiltrations d’hommes armés le long de la frontière vont cesser, maintenant que l’on a introduit des patrouilles militaires conjointes”. M. Wade s’est déclaré prêt à tenir des pourparlers avec les parties qui peuvent aider à mettre un terme à 18 années de guerre menée par le MFDC pour l’indépendance de la Casamance. (IRIN, Abidjan, 22 août 2000)

* Senegal. Flow of Coca-Cola halted — The local affiliate in Senegal of the multinational Coca-Cola Company has been ordered by the government to temporarily halt production of two of its flagship brands, Coca-Cola and Sprite. The authorities took the unprecedented action in response to a public outcry after several bottles were found to be contaminated. The minister for commerce said the ban will remain in force until government-sponsored tests determine whether or not the brands are fit for human consumption. The managers of the company involved say they are not to blame and are pointing the finger at a rival company. (BBC News, 23 August 2000)