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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 21-12-2000

PART #4/4 - From SOUTH AFRICA to ZIMBABWE

* Afrique du Sud. Record de ventes de diamants — L’année 1999 avait marqué un record de ventes de diamants. L’an 2000 a été encore meilleur. Le 14 décembre, De Beers a en effet annoncé un niveau exceptionnel de ses ventes de diamants bruts cette année, à 6,4 milliards d’euros, en hausse de 8% par rapport à 1999. Le numéro un mondial du diamant relève que le dynamisme du marché américain, qui représente 50% du marché mondial, a été le premier facteur de croissance du marché. L’année 2000 a été positive sur tous les principaux pays, à l’exception du Japon où les ventes sont restées décevantes, précise le groupe sud-africain. (La Croix, France, 15 décembre 2000)

* South Africa. Rainbow nation at risk? — South Africans have been commemorating Reconciliation Day - the public holiday which under a democratic government has replaced the old Afrikaner Day of the Vow. The old holiday used to celebrate the Afrikaner victory over the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River. But local elections earlier this month showed South Africans voting along ethnic and colour lines — a sign of the growing polarisation in the country. In the Afrikaner-only town of Orania the 600 residents refused to take part in the polls - voting instead to elect their own rebel, white councillors. Farmer Johan Ferreira has big plans for the small all-white settlement, or Volkstat. «We have to start here - working with our own people and developing our own structures and then it’ll get bigger and bigger and then we’ll dominate the area,» Mr Ferreira said. The leaves of the farmer’s pecan nut trees flutter in the hot, dry wind. This is South Africa’s inhospitable heartland —irrigation and the most modern farming techniques are the only way to get a crop from Orania’s 3,000 hectares. Orania was born as apartheid was dying — but separateness is still the key. Johan Ferreira has been here seven years — since  just before the dawn of democracy. «It’s nice to work with your own people and stay in the community with your own people - and it’s better than the mixed communities.» The intensive farming is making the desert bloom. To these Afrikaners Orania is like the promised land, and there is an almost Zionist mentality. Farmers have returned from Israel with the latest agricultural methods — but they do not yet have a state. In South Africa’s transition it was agreed that Afrikaner self-determination would be discussed. But six years on Orania remains private property for only white residents who have now just refused to vote in South African elections. The councillors they elected in their own, rebel poll have just secured a court ruling: central government cannot dissolve their local authority while the self-determination question is unresolved. (BBC News, 16 December 2000)

* Afrique du Sud. Appel des Afrikaners — Le 16 décembre, comme chaque année, un millier d’Afrikaners se sont retrouvés au “monument des Voortrekkers” à Pretoria, symbole de la toute-puissance des nationalistes afrikaners du temps de l’apartheid. Des intellectuels afrikaners et anglophones y ont lancé un appel invitant les Blancs à reconnaître, en signant une déclaration, qu’ils ont tous profité du régime d’apartheid. Les signataires se sont aussi engagés à contribuer à un “fonds de réconciliation”, comme l’Allemagne l’a fait pour compenser les victimes juives du nazisme. Les Afrikaners semblent avoir définitivement tourné la page. En février, des hommes d’affaires afrikaners ont même signé une déclaration de soutien au gouvernement issu du mouvement noir ANC. (D’après Le Soir, Belgique, 19 décembre 2000)

* Swaziland. Conflict in law — «The lack of transparency in trials and juridical discrimination that the women of Swaziland are still subject to, can be attributed to the dualism between traditional law and the Roman/Dutch Law and Order system». This was the statement made on 17 December in Mbabane by Swaziland’s Chief of Justice, Stanley Sapire. Speaking during the presentation of the book: «Charting the Maze: Women in Pursuit of Justice in Swaziland» (written by the Woman and Law in Southern Africa Research Trust), Sapire underlined how the disharmony between the two juridical systems is mainly caused by the lack of a written code to reveal the nature of traditional Swazi laws. As an initial remedy to the situation, the Chief Justice suggested that the judges should be assisted by assessors in dispensing justice, so they can better comprehend traditional Swazi Law and Order. (MISNA, Italy, 18 December 2000)

* Tunisie. Droits de l’homme — Le 14 décembre les députés européens ont adopté une résolution demandant “aux autorités tunisiennes d’arrêter immédiatement toute forme de harcèlement et de répression à l’encontre des associations oeuvrant pour  l’Etat de droit en Tunisie [...]”. - Le 16 décembre devait s’ouvrir à Tunis le procès de Moncef Marzouki, célèbre militant des droits de l’homme et des libertés. Le docteur Marzouki, qui avait suscité l’ire du régime en se portant candidat à l’élection présidentielle de 1994 contre Ben Ali, risque jusqu’à vingt ans de prison. Les charges retenues contre lui n’ont en fait qu’un seul motif réel: ses fonctions de porte-parole du Comité national pour les libertés en Tunisie (CNLT), une association non reconnue par le pouvoir. Ce 16 décembre, le tribunal de première instance de Tunis a décidé de reporter le procès de M. Marzouki au 30 décembre. Seuls deux des chefs d’accusation ont été finalement retenus contre lui: celui d’appartenance à une “association non reconnue” et celui de “diffusion de fausses nouvelles”. - Selon le journal Le Monde du 21 décembre, l’avocat militant des droits de l’homme Najib Hosni a été condamné à la peine maximum de quinze jours de prison ferme pour exercice non autorisé de sa profession. Me Hosni avait purgé plus de deux ans et demi de prison avant de bénéficier en décembre 1996 d’une libération conditionnelle, qui n’annulait pas les charges et maintenait l’interdiction d’exercer. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 21 décembre 2000)

* Tanzanie. Sécheresse — L’insuffisance pluviométrique observée depuis l’année dernière sur de grandes parties du nord et du centre de la Tanzanie a entraîné de faibles récoltes de maïs (denrée de base) et réduit la production des cultures commerciales. Un grand nombre de familles subissaient des conditions climatiques défavorables depuis quatre années consécutives, a précisé le PAM. Annonçant le 13 décembre la mise en place d’une opération d’urgence en Tanzanie, le PAM a précisé qu’il viendrait en aide à 1,3 million de personnes touchées par la sécheresse et réparties sur 11 régions. (IRIN, Nairobi, 18 décembre 2000)

* Uganda. Aid for Ebola outbreak — 13 December: The European Union, has recently approved a contribution of 250,000 Euro to support the work of the Ebola Task Force. This sum channelled through the World Health organisation, will be used to support surveillance and control, case management and public education. An additional 810,000 Euro has been approved to provide support to vulnerable displaced populations in the north and west of Uganda and will provide water and sanitation inputs, non-food items such as blankets, cooking items and tools, malaria nets and hygiene promotion. This support will be coordinated by Medecins sans Frontières (MSF), France, MSF Netherlands, Action Contre La Faim, and Associazone Volontari per il Servizio Internatzionale. Immediately on notification of the first cases of Ebola infection in Gulu district in October, the Ministry of Health established a national Task Force to coordinate the response to the epidemic. The task force  includes technical experts from WHO Geneva, and CDC Atlanta. District Task Forces are operational in Gulu, Mbarara and Masindi, and in other districts where cases were suspected but not confirmed (Mulago/Kampala, Jinja). District task forces have established multi-disciplinary teams working with hospital and district health staff. Isolation wards and laboratory facilities have been set up at the hospitals with active case detection, isolation and diagnosis of suspected infected persons in special wards, treatment of patients with Ebola and tracing of contacts underway in the affected counties. Health staff ensure safe and rapid burial of deceased Ebola patients. Health staff are trained to carry out strict precautions against accidental infection, intensive information campaigns are underway through the media (radio, TV, press) in English and local languages) and more intensively in the affected districts through local health education teams. As of 13 December there have been 413 cases with 161 deaths. 13 patients are currently admitted to Gulu hospital and 4 in Lacor Hospital. Six patients are admitted to Masindi Hospital. There have been no new cases in Mbarara district for one month. While the number of new Ebola cases has fallen significantly over the past four weeks the epidemic is continuing and the work of the task forces is ongoing. The donor response, technical support and funding for control measures have been rapid and substantial. Surveillance and prevention measures need to be continued for some time and additional resources will be required for treatment, prevention and surveillance. (Stewart Tyson, EU, 14 December 2000)

* Zambia. A return to free education — In what appears to be a dramatic change of policy, the Zambian government has said it will return to free education in government-run primary schools. The Education Minister, Godfrey Miyanda, said the administration had decided to act because of the growing number of pupils dropping out of school because they couldn’t afford the fees. He said his ministry had set aside more than eight billion kwacha, around two-million dollars, to give to schools to offset the non-payment of fees. President Chiluba’s government scrapped free health care and primary school education after he swept to power almost ten years ago. A BBC correspondent in Zambia says, with elections due next October, there’s a suspicion that the move could be little more than a gimmick, which could be reversed soon after the elections. (BBC News, 15 December 2000)

* Zambia-Congo (RDC). Zambia on war alert — 19 December: The security situation in Zambia’s Luapula province bordering the war-torn Congo (RDC) is becoming increasingly dangerous almost by the hour. A top official in the Zambian ministry of home affairs intimated that there is a real danger of the fighting spilling into Zambia because of the thousands of armed Congolese soldiers, and civilians, seeking refuge in  Zambia. Rebel soldiers of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) have, in recent weeks, routed Congolese government soldiers and their allies in and around key towns near Lake Mweru bestriding the Zambia-Congo RDC border, threatening to cut off their supply lines. Although more than 3,000 deserting Congolese government soldiers have been disarmed and placed under heavy guard, there are significant numbers who have refused to give up their weapons and are living among local villagers. The Zambian government has already stationed over 7,000 soldiers in the area, who have been put on high alert because of the potentially volatile situation. President Frederick Chiluba, who has visited some of the refugee settlements, made it very clear that his government will not allow Zambia to be dragged into the Congolese conflict. President Chiluba said: «We must be alert. Zambia will not allow its territory to be used to launch military attacks on neighbouring countries.» There have been reports of some Congolese government soldiers planning to re-organise and launch attacks on rebel positions from across the Zambian border. Defence Minister Chitalu Sampa said the Zambian government is ready to send additional troops to the area if the security situation worsens. The number of refugees streaming across the border is increasing with the escalation in fighting. Officials of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said an average of 2,000 refugees per day are crossing into Zambia, putting a severe strain on resources. There is also a danger of epidemics like cholera breaking out. Several disarmed Congolese soldiers, demanding to be repatriated, have threatened to go on hunger strike. (BBC News, 19 December 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Mugabe accuse la Grande-Bretagne — Le président Robert Mugabe a accusé la Grande-Bretagne d’être derrière l’instabilité socio-économique du Zimbabwe, en raison de son hostilité au programme de réforme agraire. Intervenant le 13 décembre devant le congrès annuel de la ZANU-PF, au pouvoir, il a mis en garde les pays de la région contre “l’influence néocoloniale déstabilisatrice de la Grande-Bretagne” et contre ses activités visant à “déposer tous les régimes issus de guerres de libération pour les remplacer par des régimes fantoches”. M. Mugabe a confirmé que son gouvernement poursuivra la réforme foncière en dépit de la pression internationale. Il a accusé les tribunaux du pays qui ont, à maintes reprises, rendu des jugements contraires au programme de réforme de son gouvernement. (PANA, 14 décembre 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Party and country leadership — 14 December: President Mugabe of Zimbabwe opens a three-day special congress of his ruling ZANU-PF party with repeated denunciations of the country’s white minority. In a vigorous and confident mood, he tells the 7,000 delegates gathered in the capital Harare that 20 years after independence whites still controlled the economy and discriminated against the black majority. The  76-year-old president also reaffirms his determination to ignore court rulings which prevented his government’s efforts to acquire white-owned farms as part of an ambitious land resettlement programme. In his address he again blames everyone else for Zimbabwe’s dire economic problems apart from his government, which has been in power since independence in 1980. And the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the British are once again singled out for particular criticism. President Mugabe brings the audience to its feet roaring with approval when he argues that the government shouldn’t bother to defend itself in the courts, which have repeatedly declared illegal its plans for large-scale land redistribution: «No judicial decision will stand in the way, we have adopted to acquire the land. After all, the land is ours by birth. It’s ours by rights. It’s ours also by struggle,» he tells the party faithful. The main target of Mr Mugabe’s anger, though, is the white community, which makes up well under 1% of Zimbabwe’s population. He says all economic power is in the hands of a racial minority of colonial origins which deliberately excluded the black majority. It is, said Mr Mugabe, a foreign-owned economy. While such remarks go down well with the party faithful, they are likely further to alienate potential donors, who continue to withhold desperately needed economic support. 15 December: The opposition MDC has called off plans for popular protests to force Robert Mugabe from office, because it fears a confrontation could provoke bloodshed and provide a pretext for cancelling presidential elections in 2002.) President Mugabe secures the provisional backing of his party to carry on as leader. State radio says that Mr Mugabe (76), was: «unanimously endorsed by the 6,600 delegates to continue until the land issue has been resolved». The President pledges to finish the seizure of white-owned farms for black resettlement by next year. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 16 December 2000)