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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 28-09-2000

PART #3/4 - From MOROCCO to SOUTH-AFRICA

 * Maroc. Visite du roi en Espagne — Pour sa première visite officielle en Espagne, le roi Mohammed VI a mis l’accent durant trois jours, jusqu’au 20 septembre, sur la nécessité d’un nouvel élan dans la coopération entre les deux pays. Il n’a pas évité les sujets sensibles, en particulier l’immigration. Il a regretté “le doute et la méfiance qui s’installent à la moindre tension”, dans une allusion aux émeutes raciales andalouses. Pour aider les intérêts des Marocains vivant en Espagne, deux nouveaux consulats seront ouverts à Séville et à Alméria. Madrid de son côté a décidé d’accorder 50 millions de dollars pour financer des projets de développement au Maroc, tout en effaçant 40 autres millions de dollars de dettes marocaines envers l’Espagne. Autres sujets délicats abordés, mais sans succès: d’une part la question du Sahara occidental, d’autre part la restitution au Maroc des enclaves de Ceuta et Mellila. (D’après Le Monde, France, 22 septembre 2000)

* Maroc. Festival du cinéma africain — Le 23 septembre, s’est ouvert la 7e édition du festival du cinéma africain de Khouribga, avec au programme la projection de quatorze long-métrages provenant de onze pays africains: Algérie, Bénin, Burkina Faso, Congo-RDC, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypte, Mali, Maroc, Tchad, Tunisie et Zimbabwe. Plusieurs cinéastes, acteurs et réalisateurs participent à cette rencontre. (PANA, 24 septembre 2000)

* Maroc. Mesures de croissance — Le 25 septembre, le roi Mohammed VI a annoncé un train de mesures destinées à stimuler la croissance économique. Les premières consistent en “une baisse de 17% du prix de l’électricité à usage industriel et à usage agricole”, a-t-il déclaré. Ces mesures entreront en vigueur le 1er octobre. Le roi a dit aussi avoir demandé à son gouvernement de préparer une réforme fiscale sur la base de la transparence, de la simplification et de la rationnalité, et il a exhorté le gouvernement et le Parlement à accélérer la réforme des PME, lesquelles représentent 95% du tissu économique du pays. Le chômage représente au Maroc 22% environ de la population urbaine active. (Reuters, 25 septembre 2000)

* Mozambique. Giant Aluminium Smelter Plant — The largest single private sector investment ever in Mozambique, the Mozal aluminium smelter at Beluluane on the outskirts of Maputo, was officially inaugurated on 21 September. Presidents Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Festus Mogae of Botswana, and Bakili Muluzi of Malawi witnessed the ceremony. The smelter has been in operation since 18 June, when the first of 288 reduction cells came on line, producing aluminium from alumna through electrolysis. By mid September, 35 percent of the reduction cells were installed and operational, and the smelter should be producing at full capacity by January 2001. Mozal will produce 250,000 tonnes of aluminium ingots a year, which will more than double the value of Mozambican exports. The factory is expected to add about seven percent to Mozambique’s Gross Domestic Product. The construction of the smelter set a world record for the aluminium industry: from inception to the casting of the first metal took just 25 months, six months less than expected. (PANA, Dakar, 21 September 2000)

* Mozambique. Flood victims get a new lease of life — Nearly 100,000 Mozambican families in areas affected by the February and March floods are to get a new lease of life when the country’ s agricultural authorities start handing out seed kits for the coming plant season. Already dozens of trucks loaded with seeds imported from neighbouring South Africa and Zimbabwe have reached the provinces affected by the floods. These were Maputo, Gaza and Inhambane in the south, Sofala and Manica in central Mozambique and the western province of Tete. Authorities have already started preparing kits of maize (corn), sorghum, millet, rice and ground-nut seeds to distribute to the families, said Joaquim Cuna, coordinator of the Emergency Operations Group in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Apart from seeds, the families are to receive agricultural hand tools. The largest share of the kits — 39,400 — will be distributed among families in Maputo province, where the Incomati, Umbeluzi, Movene and Maputo rivers devastated vast areas of farmland. Families in Gaza province will receive 24,474 kits, while Sofala families will get 12,100 kits. Manica, Inhambane and Tete will receive 12,000, 7,900 and 700 kits respectively. The Limpopo river caused the most damage in Gaza province, while in Sofala province it was the Buzi that wreaked havoc. The Save river, that marks the boundary between southern and central Mozambique, caused floods in the provinces of Gaza, Inhambane, Sofala and Manica. The import of seeds and tools was carried out under a contract signed by the Mozambican government and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is funding the project. The seeds and tools will be distributed by the Mozambican non-governmental organization, Kulima. (Africa Press Bureau, Johannesburg. 25 Sept. 2000)

* Mozambique. Aid agency extends its emergency operation — The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on 26 September said it has extended its emergency operation in Mozambique with six months to assist about 172,000 people who were still facing severe food shortages due to the country’s worst floods ever in February and March this year. The extended operation would cost an additional US $6.8, bringing the total funding needs for the emergency feeding operation since February to US $42.8 million. «The emergency is by no means over yet,» Georgia Shaver, WFP regional manager for Southern Africa, said in a statement. Tens of thousands of farmers have been unable to grow their own food largely because agricultural land is still water logged. The rainy season, which normally starts in December, could further worsen farming conditions, particularly in the low-lying areas. A nominal amount of rain could result in flooding. The WFP said many farmers who have been able to plant have found their crops to be of poorer quality than usual. «We are still helping communities to recover from the devastating floods, but there is still a lot to be done and the rainy season is just around the corner,» Shaver said. (Africa Press Bureau, Johannesburg. 26 Sept. 2000)

* Namibia. Apartheid in the work place — When workers at the National Art Gallery of Namibia (NAGN) went on strike on 23 August this year, one of their complaints against their managing director was her alleged «racist behaviour». The all-black strikers said their white counterparts received «special treatment». The NAGN‘s managing director, Annaleen Eins, said those white workers who receive more money, do so because they are educated, whereas the black workers in question do not have any formal training. Very few people believed her. The general view was that disparities in staff earnings can only be explained in terms of the time of apartheid, during which white people were favoured against the blacks. The government is working flat out to implement its Affirmative Action policy, which seeks to provide better living conditions for Namibia’s black population. This involves creating jobs for black Namibians in both parastatal and privately-owned companies. What happened at the NAGN is not an isolated incident. Last month, black workers at Telecom Namibia said their white-dominated management still appoints and promotes some of the staff on a colour basis. The Affirmative Action policy, like the Indigenous People’s Business Council, is doing well in creating a middle class among the black population. (Mwana Bwalya, ANB-BIA, Namibia, 21 September 2000)

* Niger. Dissolution des mouvements ex-rebelles — Le 25 septembre à Agadez, quelque 10.000 personnes ont participé à une cérémonie au cours de laquelle ont été incinérées au moins 1.243 armes de guerre déposées par les ex-rebelles touareg et toubous et les milices d’autodéfense. Ces rebelles, aujourd’hui repentis, avaient sévi au nord et à l’est du Niger entre 1991 et 1995, les affrontements ayant fait au moins 200 morts. La cérémonie, dite de “la flamme de la paix”, a été organisée dans le cadre des accords de paix conclus entre 1995 et 1998. Au terme de trois traités, les ex-rebelles ont abandonné leur exigence du fédéralisme au profit d’une politique de décentralisation. Ce 25 septembre, les mouvements ex-rebelles ont proclamé leur auto-dissolution. (PANA, 25 septembre 2000)

* Niger. Arms destroyed to celebrate peace — The President of Niger, Tanja Mamadou, has lit a «flame of peace» to incinerate more than a thousand weapons at a ceremony in the northern city of Agadez. The bonfire — greeted by applause and ululations from a crowd of several thousand —was aimed at highlighting the end of Tuareg and other rebel wars in northern Niger, following the peace accords of 1995 and 1998. The President of Chad, Idriss Deby, and the President of Sierra Leone, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, attended the ceremony, as did representatives of Burkina Faso, Algeria, France and the Organisation of African Unity. The Tuareg leader, Mohamed Anako, used the occasion to announce the dissolution of several rebel movements and militias. (BBC News, 25 September 2000)

* Nigeria. «Unite for Saro-Wiwa’s sake» — President Obasanjo has visited Ogoniland in the Niger Delta and appealed to its people to unite in memory of their late leader Ken Saro-Wiwa. He is the first Nigerian leader to visit the politically explosive region since Ken Saro-Wiwa, a writer and human rights activist, was executed in 1995 along with eight supporters. (BBC News, 21 September 2000)

* Nigeria. Charia: appareils d’amputation — Selon le quotidien The Guardian du 24 septembre, l’Etat de Kano importe des appareils d’amputation pour exécuter les sentences découlant de décisions de justice basées sur la charia. La loi islamique doit entrer en vigueur à Kano le 26 novembre prochain. Les dignitaires religieux se sont réunis à Kaduna, durant le week-end du 23-24 septembre, et ont plaidé pour une application à l’échelle nationale de la charia. Ils ont exhorté le gouvernement fédéral à amender la Constitution pour permettre la création d’une cour d’appel fédérale islamique. La charia a été adoptée dans huit Etats du nord et se révèle de plus en plus un facteur de division politique. Elle a dressé l’un contre l’autre le nord à dominance musulmane et le sud majoritairement chrétien. Les associations des droits de l’homme ont critiqué l’adoption de la charia en raison de la sévérité des sentences prévues pour certains crimes, notamment l’amputation, et des lois relatives à la conduite de la femme. Un tribunal de l’Etat de Zamfara a condamné une jeune fille enceinte de 17 ans à 180 coups de fouet pour avoir eu des relations sexuelles hors mariage. (IRIN, Abidjan, 25 septembre 2000)

* Nigeria-Equatorial Guinea. Dispute settled — Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea have formally resolved a long-standing dispute over their maritime border which runs through some of the world’s richest offshore oilfields. The demarcation of the border was finalised in a treaty signed at the weekend between Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo and Equatorial Guinea’s President Theodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Officials involved in prior negotiations said the agreement involved Nigeria’s recognition of Equatorial Guinea’s sovereignty over the $1.5 billion Exxon-Mobil operated Zafiro oil complex and associated oil fields. In return, Equatorial Guinea conceded acreage further south where France’s Elf-Acquitaine has rights on both sides. (Financial Times, UK, 26 September 2000)

* Rwanda/Ouganda. Museveni à Kigali — Le président ougandais est arrivé le 22 septembre à Kigali pour sa première visite depuis les affrontements entre les armées des deux pays à Kisangani (RDC). Selon une source diplomatique, les principaux points des entretiens entre MM. Museveni et Kagamé devaient être la guerre en RDC et la formation d’un front commun des trois groupes rebelles congolais. Concernant le Burundi, dans un communiqué conjoint à l’issue de la visite, les deux dirigeants ont exprimé leur satisfaction et leur optimisme au sujet du processus de paix. (D’après ABP, Burundi, 22-23 septembre 2000)

* Rwanda. Sécheresse — La FAO a signalé que la forte sécheresse prolongée dans certaines parties du Rwanda a provoqué le déplacement de bon nombre de personnes et de bétail. La région du Bugesera est particulièrement touchée; ses récoltes insuffisantes ont conduit les habitants à migrer vers d’autres régions à la recherche de travail ou d’aide. Les habitants des nouveaux villages créés par les autorités rwandaises, dépourvus de plantations de bananes ou de manioc, sont particulièrement vulnérables aux pénuries alimentaires. Environ 150.000 personnes nécessitent une aide d’urgence dans la région du Bugesera, ajoutait la FAO, qui a lancé un appel pour une aide internationale. (IRIN, Nairobi, 25 septembre 2000)

* Senegal. Home after the World Youth Day in Rome — The young people from Senegal who travelled to Rome to take part in the 15th World Youth Day 15-20 August, returned enriched by the meeting with other cultures strengthened in their faith and enthusiastic about having made friends with young people from all over the world. This was said by Fr Alphonse Seck, national director of Catholic works and the lay apostolate in Senegal. But the World Youth Day unconsciously highlighted young Senegalese trouble: 60 of the group of 232 who were lucky enough to celebrate World Youth Day with the Pope and their peers, decided not to return home when it was over. They chose to remain in Italy, illegally, the organizers say since their passports were brought back to Dakar. Many have criticized the situation including the national press. Fides asked Fr Seck for his opinion on the matter. «This situation should speak to the world and the governments of Africa about the desperate situation of African youth abused and without a future in Africa». Besides the 60 Senegalese, some 45 young Zambian World Youth Day participants disappeared somewhere in or around Rome. On the other hand, Africa, Senegal in particular, is disappointed that the country chosen for the next World Youth Day in 2002, was not in Africa. The youth of Senegal have promised to send a message to the young people of other African nations to ask their support for a campaign to candidate an African nation to host a World Youth Day in the near future. But Fr Seck points out that «the African continent does not have the human or logistic resources necessary for the organization of an event of this size». Nevertheless he underlined that it would be a good idea for young people from all over the world to visit Africa to see for themselves the reality of a continent struggling with poverty, health emergency, civil wars. (Fides, Vatican City, 23 September 2000)

* Sierra Leone. UN struggles to replace Indians — India’s withdrawal from the UN peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone has left the UN scrabbling to fill the vacuum and fighting to maintain its credibility. Countries are proving reluctant to contribute troops to one of the most violent conflicts Africa has experienced in recent years. The UN will not confirm which countries have been approached, but diplomats say that many countries, including the UK, have declined to join the mission, forcing the Security Council de delay expanding the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) from 12,400 troops to 20,500. (Financial Times, UK, 22 September 2000)

* Sierra Leone. Sankoh said to have cancer — The jailed former leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Foday Sankoh, is critically ill with prostrate cancer, a senior official at the Ministry of Social Welfare said on 26 September. Sankoh is being held in an unknown location by the government awaiting a likely trial by an international tribunal on war crime charges. (CNN, 26 September 2000)

* Somalia. Clashes in Mogadishu — 22 September: There has been an outbreak of heavy fighting in Mogadishu. At least 10 people are reported to have been killed in clashed between rival clans in the city centre at dawn. Militiamen loyal to the warlord Hussein Mohamed Aideed, attacked a neighbourhood called Bermuda with heavy artillery, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. The area is reported to be a stronghold of Mr Aideed’s rival, Ali Mahdi Mohamed. (BBC News, 22 September 2000)

* Somalie. Affrontements à Mogadiscio — Le 22 septembre, de violents combats à l’arme lourde entre clans rivaux ont fait au moins 15 morts dans le sud de Mogadiscio. Les combats opposent les miliciens des chefs de guerre Hussein Mohammed Aidid et Osman Hassan Ali “Atto”, des Habr Gedir, aux combattants du clan Abgal. Ces combats interviennent alors que la Somalie s’est dotée, pour la première fois depuis 1991, d’un parlement et d’un président provisoires. (La Libre Belgique, 23 septembre 2000)

* Somalia.Moves to form government — President Hasan has begun consultations with the clan-based Transitional National Assembly to form a government. He has invited the parliamentary clan groups to submit two names each over the next three days. After choosing a prime minister, subject to a vote of confidence by parliament, the President will then announce ministerial posts and the cabinet. He is now back in Djibouti. (IRIN, East Africa, 26 September 2000

* South Africa. Allies deserting Mandela’s heir — Little more than a year into his term as president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki is facing a crisis of public confidence few would have predicted when he won a landslide election victory. A rising tide of attacks from close allies have focused on Mr Mbeki’s controversial questioning of the link between HIV and AIDS, but this criticism reflects wider concerns about the president’s market-oriented economic policies, his handling of the Zimbabwe crisis and what some see as his authoritarian tendencies. In recent days, unparalleled criticism from friends — the unions, Desmond Tutu’s successor as Anglican archbishop and figures in Mr Mbeki’s own party, the African National Congress — has proved far more damaging than anything the opposition could throw at him. (The Guardian, UK, 23 September 2000)

* Afrique du Sud/Algérie. Coopération — Le 24 septembre, le président sud-africain Thabo Mbeki a achevé sa visite en Algérie. Les deux pays ont signé des accords économiques et militaires. L’Afrique du Sud intensifiera sa coopération dans le domaine des recherches et exploitations minières; l’Algérie aidera l’Afrique du Sud dans le domaine pétrolier. Les deux pays ont signé également un accord de coopération en matière de défense dont la teneur a été gardée secrète. Une trentaine de chefs d’entreprises sud-africaines, qui accompagnaient le président Mbeki, ont participé à un forum d’hommes d’affaires. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 25 septembre 2000)