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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 14-09-2000

PART #4/4 - From SOMALIE to ZIMBABWE

* Somalie. Soutien de l’UE — Le 11 septembre, l’Union européenne s’est engagée à soutenir le gouvernement nouvellement élu en Somalie pour aider à la reconstruction et à la réhabilitation des infrastructures de ce pays une fois l’autorité de l’Etat pleinement rétablie. L’UE a exprimé l’espoir que la récente élection du président Salat Hassan contribuera au rétablissement de l’Etat en Somalie. Elle a exprimé son attachement à la préservation de l’unité nationale et de l’intégrité territoriale de la Somalie, et elle a exhorté les chefs de guerre à rejoindre le processus de paix. (PANA, 11 septembre 2000)

* Somalia. To restore law and order in Mogadishu — 11 September: Growing violence in the Somali capital is damping down optimism that followed last month’s appointment of the country’s first president in almost a decade. Bus owners pull their vehicles off the roads in Mogadishu in protest at the rising violence after armed militia wrecked several vehicles on 10 September. Residents say a wave of looting and banditry had hit the capital in the last few days. Somali warlords have reacted angrily to a decision by the new interim president to recruit militiamen into a new police force. The warlords describe the decision as «risky» and have vowed to prevent the deployment of the force. At the weekend, a committee appointed by President Hassan had begun a recruitment drive for at least 4,000 police officers to restore law and order in Mogadishu. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 12 September 2000)

* South Africa. Concern over violence — The following recent incidents have been reported in the Press: 1) Police have warned parents in the western Cape to keep their children under guard following a series of gruesome child murders. The body of the latest victim — a six-year-old girl — was found on 6 September in a disused classroom. She is the fifth child to be discovered in Cape Flats since the beginning of April. 2) Police also say a prominent Western Cape magistrate handling cases involving members of a Muslim vigilante group has been killed on 7 September in a drive-by shooting. Pieter Theron was driving in the southern suburb of Plumstead when a man and a woman fired five shots at him from a white car, hitting him in the head and body. 3) Also, about fifty women from St. Philip’s Anglican Church Mothers Union in Grahamstown, have marched to the magistrate’s court in Grahamstown to protest against the abuse of women and children. The group handed over a petition to the Chief Magistrate requesting that no bail be allowed for alleged rapists, and that police corruption should be rooted out. 4) A car-bomb has exploded outside a nightclub in Capetown. The police say there were no serious injuries. 5) A honeymoon couple from New York were robbed of their car and belongings by an armed gang as they left the Kruger National Park during the weekend, the domestic news agency SAPA reported on 11 September. 6) On 11 September, South Africa’s Safety Minister says that Cape Town is threatened with a major bomb blast as a group blamed for a series of bombings, switches to more powerful explosives. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 11 September 2000)

* Afrique du Sud. Réunion de l’ANC et ses alliés — Le 11 septembre, le président Mbeki a ouvert une réunion du Congrès national africain (ANC), du Parti communiste sud-africain (SACP) et du Congrès des syndicats sud-africains (COSATU). Le lieu de la réunion est gardé secret. Selon un membre du COSATU, les discussions seront centrées sur la politique macro-économique du gouvernement et des propositions de réforme des lois du travail. L’alliance, forgée lors des élections de 1994 qui ont mis fin à l’apartheid, connaît de fortes tensions depuis le début de l’année. Les syndicats et les communistes critiquent la politique de privatisations du gouvernement, qui tend à attirer d’abord les investisseurs, plutôt que de chercher à diminuer le chômage. Un tiers des travailleurs sud-africains est au chômage. (D’après de Standaard, Belgique, 12 septembre 2000)

* Afrique du Sud. Attentats - Juge assassiné — Le 7 septembre, la campagne de violence urbaine qui frappe depuis trois ans la ville du Cap a franchi une nouvelle étape avec l’assassinat d’un juge antiterroriste qui enquêtait sur des attentats imputés à une milice d’autodéfense islamiste, le Pagad. A l’annonce du meurtre du juge Theron, abattu devant son domicile d’une banlieue nord du Cap, le ministre de la Sûreté, Steve Tshwete, a affirmé qu’il avait été tué parce qu’il enquêtait sur des dossiers de violence urbaine, mettant en cause le Pagad. Les forces de police sont en état d’alerte, des mesures spéciales ont été prises pour protéger des magistrats “cibles potentielles” et des renforts ont été envoyés au Cap. En trois ans, la vague d’attentats dans la région du Cap a fait 3 morts et 105 blessés. Le 9 septembre, le Pagad a nié qu’un seul de ses membres ait été impliqué dans la campagne d’attentats. - Le 12 septembre, sept personnes ont été légèrement blessées lors de l’explosion d’une bombe près d’une mosquée et d’une salle où se déroulait une réunion du parti d’opposition l’Alliance démocratique. Cet attentat est le premier dans un quartier majoritairement musulman. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 14 septembre 2000)

* Tanzanie. Nouvelle vague de réfugiés — La recrudescence des affrontements au Burundi aurait provoqué une nouvelle vague de réfugiés dans les districts occidentaux de la Tanzanie. Le PAM a indiqué que 3.300 nouveaux arrivants, Congolais et Burundais, avaient été enregistrés pendant les deux semaines écoulées. Le nombre de réfugiés enregistrés par le HCR s’élève à plus de 465.000 dans les camps tanzaniens situés dans les provinces de Kasulu, Kibondo, Kigoma et Ngara. (IRIN, Nairobi, 11 septembre 2000)

* Tchad. Négociations de paix — Des négociations de paix ont eu lieu à Syrte, en Libye, le 9 septembre, entre la présidence tchadienne et le Mouvement pour la démocratie et la justice au Tchad (MDJT), la seule rébellion encore active sur le terrain. Ce sont les premières négociations depuis le lancement de la rébellion en octobre 1998. Elles ont regroupé, autour du dirigeant libyen Mouammar Kadhafi, le président Idriss Déby et le chef du MDJT Yousouf Togoïmi. (Le Monde, France, 12 septembre 2000)

* Tunisie. Retour de Taoufik Ben Brik — Le journaliste tunisien Taoufik Ben Brik, qui avait observé une grève de la faim pendant près d’un mois et demi en avril et mai derniers, a regagné Tunis le 7 septembre après quatre mois d’"exil volontaire" en France. Le correspondant du journal français La Croix et de deux agences européennes avait déclenché son action de grève pour protester contre le harcèlement dont il se disait victime pour ses articles critiques à l’endroit du régime tunisien. A son arrivée à l’aéroport de Tunis-Carthage, une centaine de personnes étaient présentes qui ont adressé des vivats au journaliste et entonné des chants ainsi que l’hymne national tunisien. (AP, 7 septembre 2000)

* Uganda-Congo (RDC). Joint Commission for Uganda army and Bemba rebels — Ugandan military sources say the Ugandan army (UPDF) and the Congolese rebel movement operating in north-west Congo RDC have formed a Joint Military Commission (JMC) aimed at coordinating their military campaign against the government of President Kabila in Congo RDC. Ugandan army sources say that the 10-man JMC is chaired by Brigadier Katumba-Wamala who is presently in Gbadolite in Equateur Province, north-west Congo. Six officers are from the Ugandan army (UPDF) while four are from Jean-Pierre Bemba’s Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC). Military sources say the JMC will be charged with defending this area from Kabila’s forces, and both the UPDF and the MLC forces will secure both the River Congo which runs through the middle of the province, and the Ubangui River that runs along the Congo RDC border with Central African Republic. (Editor’s note: The MLC, backed by Uganda, is one of the three main rebel groups fighting Kabila and has been the most active in recent months). (Crespo Sebunya, ANB-BIA, Uganda, 1 September 2000)

* Uganda. Talking tough to rebels — President Museveni has promised to improve security in the west of the country following a series of attacks by anti-government forces in recent months. The deteriorating security situation in the region forced him to cancel a scheduled trip to the UN Millennium Summit in New York in order to carry out a tour of the region. He visited the western district of Hoima, which has seen an upsurge of activity by Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels. The ADF forces, who operate from dense forest areas in the Ruwenzori Mountains on the Congo RDC border, have been fighting since 1996 in an attempt to overthrow the Museveni government. (BBC News, 9 September 2000)

* Ouganda. Menace rebelle, fuite des habitants — Des centaines d’habitants du sous-comté de Nkooko et du district voisin de Kibale, à l’ouest de l’Ouganda, ont pris la fuite après que les rebelles des Forces démocratiques alliées (ADF) avaient menacé de lancer de nouvelles attaques sur la région. Plus de 100 familles se sont réfugiées dans le district de Kiboga et d’autres arrivaient en grand nombre. Le président Museveni a lancé un nouvel appel aux rebelles pour qu’ils se rendent aux autorités, rappelant qu’ils bénéficieraient de l’amnistie du gouvernement. (IRIN, Nairobi, 12 septembre 2000)

* Uganda. Paris Club cancels debt — International donors meeting in Paris have agreed to cancel US $145 million of Uganda’s foreign debt. The Paris Club said the money represented its share of a programme to reduce the country’s debt level by a total of US $650 million. The donors praised the Ugandan Government for its commitment to economic and structural reforms. (BBC News, 12 September 2000)

* Uganda. Stringent measures to control AIDS in senior military ranks — President Museveni has said that all army personnel going for further training will have to be checked medically first of all, to see if they are sero-positive. Uganda’s army must be equipped with skilled personnel, but it is pointless to train soldiers or officers at a high cost, only to see them have to withdraw from army ranks because of AIDS. It could be that the President’s decision is the result of pressure from the USA which is increasingly getting involved in training Uganda’s military. (Crespo Sebunya, ANB-BIA, Uganda, 13 September 2000)

* Zambia. COMESA Free Trade Area — Zambia is preparing to join the COMESA Free Trade Area (FTA), scheduled for its official launch on 31 October 2000. The programme involves the elimination of export and import licensing, foreign exchange allocations, exchange controls and quotas. It also calls for the removal of technical standards, discriminatory exchange rates and the elimination of singe channel marketing. According to Zambia’s Finance Minister, Zambia will lose an estimate Zambian Kwacha 1.2 billion in revenue as a result of the full implementation of the FTA, but these losses are being viewed against future benefits. (Wilcliff Sakala, ANB-BIA, Zambia, 7 September 2000)

* Zambia. Chiluba vows to fire tourism minister — On 8 September, Zambia’s independent newspaper The Post carried a report that President Chiluba has vowed to fire the tourism minister, Anoshi Chipawa, for allegedly having bought an opposition Republican Party membership card. Reverend Chipawa has accused the Minister without Portfolio, Michael Sata, of having reported him to President Chiluba over the membership card incident with the intention that he should be fired. (The Post, Zambia, 8 September 2000)

* Zambia. Medical, traditional doctors unite against AIDS — Desperate to stem the onslaught of AIDS and frustrated with the high cost of Western medicine, Zambia has launched an ambitious research programme that will unite the country’s traditional and Western-trained doctors, Health Minister David Mpamba said on 11 September. Mpamba said the government and some donor agencies, including the Norwegian International Development Agency (NORAD), have started promoting the programme that includes the Traditional Health Practitioners Association of Zambia (THAPZ) and the Central Board of Health, which runs the government-sponsored health services. «We (traditional healers) cannot test blood for AIDS, inject or conduct blood transfusion. That is done by Western-trained medical doctors,» said Rodwell Vongo, president of the traditional healers group in an interview. «But they (Western doctors) don’t understand voodoo, spiritualism or fortune telling which is best done by traditional healers,» he said. Traditional healers often use herbal remedies and are often better suited to conduct AIDS-awareness education than their Western-trained counterparts because they are grounded in traditional culture. With an estimated 200 new infections a day, the immuno-deficiency disease has reduced the life expectancy in this southern African country from nearly 49 years in 1991 to 37 years at present, country statistics show. An estimated 73 per cent of Zambian families are keeping more than one orphan whose parents have died of AIDS, said Moses Sichone, coordinator of the newly formed National AIDS Council, which falls under the Central Board of Health. (Africa Press Bureau, Johannesburg, 12 September 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Land issues always to the forefront — 7 September: The annual Congress of Zimbabwe’s Commercial Farmers Union ends in confusion after the Minister for Land and Agriculture fails to attend to deliver his traditional address. Nearly 700 delegates who had gathered for the meeting in Harare appeared surprised and disappointed that the minister, Joseph Made, did not turn up. The Union president, Tim Henwood, says it is the first time in living memory that the relevant minister has failed to speak to the conference. 8 September: The Government says it plans to seize another 150 white-owned farms. Owners and other interested parties are given one month to register their objections with the land, agriculture and rural resettlement ministry. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 9 September 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Explosion outside MDC headquarters — 11 September: There has been an explosion in Harare, outside the headquarters of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). An opposition spokesman said the explosion was caused by a grenade and accused the Government of being behind the attack. (BBC News, 12 September 2000)