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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 23-11-2000

PART #4/4 - From NIGERIA to ZIMBABWE

* Nigeria. Des journalistes risquent la bastonnade — Selon les informations recueillies par Reporters sans frontières, les médias de l’Etat de Kano ont rapporté à la mi-novembre que le gouvernement régional souhaitait voter une loi condamnant les journalistes publiant des informations offensant la sharia à une peine de 60 coups de bâton. Le gouvernement de Kano n’a pas démenti ces informations et d’autres journaux ont affirmé qu’un comité de onze membres avait été mis en place pour examiner la proposition de loi préparée par l’émir de l’Etat de Kano. Le 26 novembre, la sharia doit entrer en application dans l’Etat de Kano. RSF a adressé une lettre au gouverneur de l’Etat, affirmant que “ce projet de loi viole la Constitution nigériane, le Pacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques et la Charte africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples ratifiés par le Nigeria”. (RSF, France, 20 novembre 2000)

* Nigeria. Food security and better income for African farmers — The Nigeria-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), has recorded yet another feat in its efforts to improve food production, food security and income for the poor people of sub-Saharan Africa with the development of Striga resistant maize varieties. Otherwise known as witch-weed or fire-weed, Striga is a parasitic weed that attaches itself to the roots of maize or certain other cereals and legumes, thereby depriving the crops of required nutrients for survival and development, while causing toxic effects that eventually destroy its hosts. The effect is wilting of the host plants and severe yield loss. Striga infests about 40% arable land in the Savannah regions of sub-Saharan Africa, thus threatening the lives of more than 100 million people who depend on cereals and grains in the sub region. The new maize varieties developed by IITA scientists were introduced to farmers at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja in collaboration with the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in the area. A special field day was recently organized for maize farmers in the area by maize breeders in the Crop Improvement Division of the Institute to create public awareness on the research breakthrough which is expected to make a monumental impact on maize farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, where yield loss attributed to the effect of Striga is estimated at US $7 billion annually. Addressing farmers and other dignitaries on the occasion, the IITA maize breeder, Dr. Jennifer Kling, said confidently that «maize varieties have been developed that can suppress the development of Striga, and double maize yields in farmers’ fields where Striga occurs.» The varieties include maize that mature early (70 days), the intermediate maturing varieties (80 days) and those that are late maturing (90 days). The farmers who were conducted around the various experimental and demonstration plots and farmers’ fields in the area, were convinced about the impact of the improved varieties. (Taye Babaleye, ANB-BIA, Nigeria, 21 November 2000)

* Rwanda/Burundi. Barrage hydroélectrique — Le Rwanda et le Burundi viennent de conclure un accord en vue de travailler conjointement à la production d’une centrale hydroélectrique en construisant un barrage sur la rivière de la Ruzizi le long de la frontière entre le Rwanda, le Burundi et la RDC, apprenait-on sur les ondes de la radio nationale. Cette décision a été prise à l’issue d’une rencontre de deux jours à Kigali entre les ministres de l’énergie des deux pays. Les deux Etats sont convenus de faire tout ce qui était dans leur pouvoir pour trouver des fonds pour ce projet. (IRIN, Nairobi, 21 novembre 2000)

* Sahara occidental. Manoeuvres de l’ALSplain D — Le 20 novembre à Douguej (sud-est du Sahara), l’Armée de libération sahraouie (ALS) a procédé à des manoeuvres en prévision, selon l’agence de presse sahraouie, d’un “retour imminent” de la guerre au Sahara occidental. Des bataillons d’infanterie motorisés, de l’artillerie lourde et la DCA ont participé à ces manoeuvres. (Le Monde, France, 22 novembre 2000)

* Sierra Leone. UK tactics criticised — 16 November: The commander of the UN peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone, General Mohammed Gaba (Nigeria) has strongly criticised Great Britain for mounting a show of military force this week in support of the government side of the way, just hours after a ceasefire agreement was signed. The dramatic show of British capability includes the arrival in Sierra Leone of warships, attack helicopters and 600 marines. (BBC News, 16 November 2000)

* South Africa. Local chiefs to keep power — The South African Government has defused a dispute with tribal leaders that threatened to derail key local elections set for early December (5 december), allowing them — at least for now — to retain most of their local powers. The 800 traditional leaders in South Africa who hold sweeping powers over millions of people had threatened to boycott the elections unless their demands were met. (CNN, 16 November 2000)

* Afrique du Sud. Justice — Le 21 novembre, cinq membres du Pagad, une milice d’inspiration islamiste, ont été condamnés à huit ans de prison pour possession d’armes et de munitions. Les peines prononcées montrent un durcissement de la justice sud-africaine à l’égard du terrorisme urbain qui sévit au Cap depuis deux ans. - D’autre part, le 22 novembre, les six policiers blancs accusés d’avoir “entraîné” leurs chiens à l’attaque sur des clandestins mozambicains ont été remis en liberté provisoire, sans être formellement inculpés, dans l’attente d’un “complément de preuves”. Les policiers avaient été filmés en 1998. La découverte de cette vidéo, début novembre, avait suscité une grande émotion en Afrique du Sud. (Liberation, France, 22-23 novembre 2000)

* Sudan. US Bishops’ Statement — In a Statement published on 14 November, the US Catholic Bishops said that the cruel, fratricidal conflict in Sudan continues with few signs that an end is in sight. «One of the worst human tragedies of our times has been met with relative indifference by the international community. During the last 17 years, more than two million men, women and children have died, and twice that number have been driven from their homes and ancestral lands». The Bishops go on to say that the Bishops of Sudan are clear that all sides are engaged in egregious human right abuses, including the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army. The Sudanese Government, however, bears the greatest responsibility for abuses against civilian populations. (US Catholic Bishops, 14 November 2000)

* Soudan. Sadek al-Mahdi boycottera les élections — Le 15 novembre, le chef du principal parti d’opposition soudanaise Oumma, Sadek al-Mahdi, a confirmé que son parti boycotterait les élections présidentielle et législatives prévues en décembre. L’ancien Premier ministre les a assimilées à “un match de football avec une seule équipe, les autres participants étant absents ou forcés de l’être”. Le gouvernement de M. al-Mahdi, élu démocratiquement en 1985, avait été renversé en 1989 par un coup d’Etat qui a porté au pouvoir le général Omar el-Béchir, et lui-même avait fui Khartoum en décembre 1996. Il est souvent accusé par le reste de l’opposition soudanaise de s’entendre avec le régime. (La Libre Belgique, 17 novembre 2000)

* Sudan. Presidential elections — Sudan’s Electoral Commission has announced that it has approved the candidacy of former president Jaafer Nimeiri in presidential elections next month. The general is the fourth challenger to the incumbent, President Omar al-Bashir. Of the five candidates onoy two are household names — Mr Bashir and Mr Nimeiri — the other three, Malik Hussein, Mahmoud Juha and Samoual Hussein Monsour, are not well known (BBC News, 21 November 2000)

* Swaziland. Crude repression fuels pro-democracy movement — A political analyst recently equated Swaziland’s monarchist rulers to the figurative ostrich that sticks its head in the sand in the face of adversity. He was immediately branded «unSwazi» and banished from the State media, but the comparison is not without justification. The past three months have seen a marked increase in social and political unrest in the traditionally peaceful kingdom of one million people. But, unlike in the past, the protestors are not just the usual bunch of trade unions, students and disaffected politicians. A large percent of the demonstrators who took to the streets are rural villagers —the bedrock on which absolute monarch King Mswati III’s power is built. The villagers, who still revere the concept of the monarch as semi-divine, were shocked into public protest after King Mswati evicted over 200 families and their chiefs so that his brother, Prince Maguga Dlamini, could take ownership of the land. The eviction undermined Swazis’ ancestral rights to their fore-fathers’ land and sparked an unprecedented rural revolt that rocked Swaziland’s Tikhundla government and gave the embryonic pro-democracy movement the ammunition it needed to launch an international ‘liberation’ campaign. The ruling Dlamini dynasty appeared unmoved — if anything, they are moving in the wrong direction: crudely tightening their hold over the country. When political activists demand greater freedom of expression, the government charges them with sedition, places them under house arrest and criminally charges, fires or shuts down media critics. When the trade unions express concern about the industrial relations climate, it bans their meetings and arrests key union leaders even as an International Labour Organisation delegation tours the kingdom. When students call for public dialogue on the country’s future, police forcefully close Swaziland’s only university to forestall further protests, order foreign journalists out of the country, and reintroduce an outdated detention-without-trial law named after the lethal Swazi knobkerrie. (African Eye News Service, S.Africa, 16 November 2000)

* Tanzania. Commonwealth calls for fresh elections in Zanzibar — Fresh elections should be held in Zanzibar, supervised by «a reformed election management machinery,» according to a recommendation by the Commonwealth Observer Group that monitored the poll in October. The group said that even though elections were held 5 November in the 16 constituencies where voting had been cancelled on polling day, 29 October, «the case for fresh elections remains unanswerable.» The observers also called for a reform of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission. «These two measures are vital if there is to be a credible and secure basis for democracy in Zanzibar,» the team said in its final report released in London on 16 November. The observers commended Zanzibaris who turned out in large numbers to take part in their second multi-party elections since independence in 1963. «Unfortunately, the conduct of the election fell far short of minimum standards,» the report said. It cited the lack of ballot papers, which led to the cancellation of the election in the 16 constituencies, representing 40 percent of registered voters. «The cause was either deliberate manipulation or gross incompetence,» the observers said. (PANA, Dakar, 17 November 2000)

* Tchad. Situation alimentaire précaire — Selon l’agence AFP, de graves pénuries alimentaires sont attendues dans les régions sahéliennes du Tchad, qui s’attendent à de mauvaises récoltes pour la saison 2000-2001 en raison de la faible pluviométrie de ces derniers mois. Le 16 novembre, le ministre de l’Agriculture a lancé un appel pressant à la communauté internationale pour engager une aide d’urgence. Les départements les plus frappés sont Biltine (est), Kanem (ouest) et Batha (centre), qui regroupent près d’1,5 million d’habitants. - D’autre part, le 21 novembre, 50 personnes ont été tuées, à 350 km de la capitale, lors d’une véritable bataille rangée entre deux groupes d’éleveurs à propos du partage de la terre. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 23 novembre 2000)

* Tunisie. Grévistes de la faim — Quatre détenus politiques tunisiens, en grève de la faim à la prison de Tunis, sont dans un état grave, a annoncé le 22 novembre à Paris un responsable de la Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’homme. Il s’agit de trois islamistes et d’un militant d’extrême gauche. Selon les membres de leurs familles, deux de ces détenus, “dans un état de fragilité extrême”, risqueraient de mourir, victimes notamment de diabète et d’hypertension. (La Libre Belgique, 23 novembre 2000)

* Uganda-Lesotho. Controversial dam projects — For critics in Lesotho and Uganda, the recent report of the World Commission on Dams (WCD) is likely to stir up further resistance to the construction of controversial dam projects in the two countries. The report portrays the Lesotho Highlands Water Project and the proposed Bujagali Hydroelectric Dam project in Uganda as especially harmful. It questions the social and environmental impacts of the projects and their justifiability on the basis of environmental implications as well their economic benefits. The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), Africa’s largest infrastructure project, is a massive, multi-dam scheme built to divert water from Lesotho’s Maloti Mountains to South Africa’s industrial Gauteng Province. The first phases of the World Bank-supported project involves the construction of three large dams which, when completed will dispossess more than 30,000 rural farmers of homes, fields, and grazing lands and deprive many of their livelihoods, according to the WCD report. The project, the report says, poses serious threats to Lesotho’s mountain river systems because of reduced flow rates and less-frequent floods. Several endangered plant and animal species in the Senqu River basin or Orange River in South Africa «will be placed under severe strain and may entirely disappear from project areas,» the report warns. It raises similar overtures over the 530-million-US dollar Ugandan Bujagali project that seeks to drown Bujagali Falls on the River Nile. The multi-million dollar project is to be funded by the US-based AES Corporation. (Nicodemus Odhiambo, PANA, 20 November 2000)

* Zambia. Over $500 million needed to fight AIDS — Zambia, one of the countries hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, has estimated that it will need about 558 million US dollars to implement a three-year national programme to combat AIDS. The government is expected to put in 126 million dollars, most of which would be expended on personnel costs to support hospital care and other government salaries, while donor partners are expected to contribute 414 million dollars. According to the costed national HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework for 2001-2003 document to be presented to Zambia’s co-operating partners this week, about 31 million dollars is currently committed by donors to support the framework. «The gap between the estimated total cost for implementing the Framework and the financing known to be available is 382 million US dollars. Approximately 39 percent of this gap is attributable to the estimated cost of drugs for Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART),» the document says. About 67 million dollars would be needed as cost of drugs for treatment of opportunistic infections and about 61 percent of the total budget would be channelled to hospital care of AIDS patients and to HAART. «The costs to be borne by the Zambian government for hospital care — 116 million US dollars, are by far the predominant amount among all the costs to be borne by the government. Approximately 93 percent of funds committed by the government for activities to combat AIDS would be expended on hospital care of AIDS patients,» it adds. (PANA, Dakar, 19 November 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Budget deficit to fall — Zimbabwe’s budget deficit will be reduced from 23 per cent to 15.5 per cent of gross domestic product next year by spending cuts and inflation, the country’s recently appointed finance minister, Simba Makoni, said. In his address to the country’s parliament, Mr Makoni announced tax concessions and a new export incentive, which are likely to be welcomed by business. But while he made no attempt to disguise the gravity of the country’s economic situation — he predicts a 4.2 per cent fall in real GDP this year followed by a smaller decline of 2.8 per cent in 2001 — observers noted that he failed to bring forward any significant measures likely to ease the long-running crisis. Agriculture, which grew 3 per cent in 2000, is forecast to contract by 9.5 per cent next year, largely because of the government’s «fast track resettlement programme», though the minister did not say as much. To finance land resettlement, US $18m is being set aside — a five-fold increase on last year’s vote. But despite the second worst HIV/AIDS crisis in the world, according to the UN, real spending on health will fall by almost a third, while the education vote is down 40 per cent in real terms. Defence spending is halved in real terms, with the minister hopeful of «the anticipated positive outcome of the initiatives to bring peace to the Democratic Republic of Congo», where Zimbabwe has deployed 11,000 troops in support of President Laurent Kabila. (Tony Hawkins, Financial Times, UK, 16 November 2000)

* Zimbabwe. The Connemara Open Prison System — An interesting innovation in Zimbabawe — The Open Prison System at Connemara, the one-time medium security facility near Kwekwe — opened its doors in February 2000 to receive a first batch of inmates. Comfortable secure accommodation partitioned into single rooms or shared accommodation, with wide open windows, has created a sense of freedom, unlike other secure accommodation in Zimbabwe’s prison system. With the existing fiscal restraints in Zimbabwe, the Government is having a difficult task transforming the old war-time structures into a modern penitentiary, capable of rehabilitating inmates. Better living standards in such institutions are benefiting a certain category of convicts. The Prisons Amendment Bill, gazetted by the Government on 19 July, is now waiting to be passed into law. This will empower prison officers to separate healthy inmates from those with infectious or communicable diseases. It will also enable the authorities to compulsorily test all inmates for diseases, which is presently not allowed. There are presently 70 inmates. Convicts are allowed to bring their own radios and cassette/CD players with them, plus other items for personal use. They can also go out at weekends on business trips. It should be noted however, that the category of prisoners assigned to Connemara does not include hard-core prisoners. (Dumisani Khumalo, ANB-BIA, Zimbabwe, 20 November 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Farmers to challenge court ruling — Farmers leaders are to appeal against a High Court ruling telling police not to evict squatters from farms they have occupied. Zimbabwe’s High Court issued a provisional order on 20 November, allowing squatters to stay on commercial farms,pending a final ruling on the government’s land programme. (BBC News, 21 November 2000)