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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 22-02-2001

PART #3/4 - From MALAWI to SUDAN

* Malawi. Inondations — Quelque 60.000 personnes sont déplacées dans la Lower Shire Valley (sud du Malawi), à la suite des pluies torrentielles enregistrées dans la plupart des régions du pays. Les familles ont dû se réfugier sur des petites élévations de terrain ou dans les écoles et églises, a déclaré le commissaire à la prévention des catastrophes. Toutes les routes de la région ont été détruites et les opérations deviennent impossibles, a-t-il ajouté. Si aucun décès n’a été enregistré, la plupart des gens de la région ont perdu tous leurs biens. (PANA, Senegal, 16 février 2001)

* Malawi. New leaders of Catholic Church — The Vatican has announced the appointment of Bishop Tarcisius Ziyaye of Lilongwe as Metropolitan Archbishop of Blantyre. He succeeds Archbishop James Chiona, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same metropolitan archdiocese, the Holy Father accepted, having reached the age limit. This appointment comes in the midst of a debate in Malawi about the differences within church ranks over the silence of the Church towards government abuses. People allege that the Church has be «bought». There is also controversy about the formation of a breakaway charismatic ministry. A further church appointment is that of Bishop Felix Eugenio Mkhori of Chikwawa, who becomes Bishop of Lilongwe. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 16 February 2001)

* Malawi. Nouvel archevêque — Le pape Jean-Paul II a nommé Mgr Tarsizio Gervazio Ziyaye archevêque de Blantyre, après avoir accepté la démission du titulaire Mgr James Chiona, qui avait atteint l’âge limite. Mgr Ziyaye était auparavant évêque de Lilongwe, où il est remplacé par Mgr Mkhori. (DIA, Kinshasa, 19 février 2001)

* Morocco. Champion runs into criticism over gift from king — Hicham El Guerrouj, Morocco’s most famous international sportsman, is at the centre of an extraordinary wave of popular criticism over royal patronage. El Guerrouj was recently given a parcel of land in the north-east of Morocco, in recognition of his exploits by the young king, Mohammed VI. But in what is seen as the first public display of criticism of such feudal practice, thousands of agricultural workers from around Berkane, El Guerrouj’s home town, took to the streets last month in protest. The 336 hectares in question comprise two farms that have been leased for years by the royal palace through the national agricultural agency, Sodea, the Société de Développement Agricole. They constitute some of the best land around Berkane for growing clementines and roses. The area, near the Algerian border, provides work for hundreds of people, many of them seasonal labourers. Such gifts, to a variety of public servants, from ministers to police chiefs, became a tradition under the previous king, Hassan II. «Our athlete could well have refused this sort of gift, in order to retain his reputation and popularity,» a spokesman from the farmworkers’ union, FNSA, said when the gift was made. The press also took up the issue for the first time, with Maroc Hebdo, an independent weekly, criticising «outmoded practices», and L’Economiste, another weekly, suggesting that El Guerrouj’s celebrity was being used to deflect criticism from the ailing Sodea. (Financial Times, UK, 17 February 2001)

* Maroc. Adib reste en prison — Condamné à deux ans et demi de prison, en octobre dernier, pour avoir dénoncé dans la presse étrangère un cas de corruption dans son unité, le jeune capitaine Mustapha Adib ne sera pas libéré. Le 21 février, la Cour suprême marocaine a rejeté son pourvoi en cassation, en dépit des quinze vices de forme relevés par la défense. Son maintien en prison s’explique sans doute par le poids de l’armée et sa volonté de faire un exemple. (Libération, France, 22 février 2001)

* Mozambique. Les inondations progressent — 15 février. Des opérations de sauvetage doivent être menées de toute urgence dans le district de Mutarara, dans la province de Tete à l’ouest du Mozambique, frappé par les inondations, a annoncé le Premier ministre. Le niveau des eaux dans le district continue de monter, a déclaré M. Mocumbi. De nombreuses personnes ont été évacuées, mais d’autres parties du district risquent d’être inondées très prochainement. Selon le quotidien Notitias, environ 5.000 personnes ont été placées dans trois centres d’hébergement. On déplore cinq morts et 179 familles sont isolées en altitude. Les bateaux ne peuvent accéder à cette région en raison des forts courants. - Le 16 février, on apprenait que les fortes pluies avaient entraîné une brusque augmentation du niveau du fleuve Save, considéré comme la frontière entre le sud et le centre du Mozambique. La petite ville de Massangena, dans la province de Gaza, a été inondée. Plus au nord, les eaux du fleuve Pungue ont envahi des tronçons de la route Beira-Zimbabwe, où la circulation risque d’être interrompue. Environ 280.000 personnes ont été touchées par les inondations, dont 30.000 ont été délogées de leurs maisons. - 20 février. Les eaux du Pungue continuent à monter; plusieurs kilomètres de la route de Beira sont maintenant inondés. Plus au sud, le fleuve Buzi est également en crue et a inondé la petite ville de Goonda et différentes parties de la ville de Buzi. Dans la province de Zambezia, plusieurs localités se préparent à une autre inondation. (PANA, Senegal, 15-20 février 2001)

* Mozambique. Flooding returns — 17 February: Recent heavy rains and severe flooding has displaced thousands of people over large areas of Mozambique, with more rain forecast over large parts of the country. On 16 February, the World Food Programme said it has sufficient food available to help those affected by the current wave of floods in Mozambique. 20 February: Mozambique’s second largest city, Beira, has been cut off from the rest of the country by rising flood waters. Mozambique is preparing an international appeal for help for victims of flooding in the centre of the country. 21 February Mozambique appeals for US $30 million. The flooding has so far killed 41 people and forced thousands from their homes. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 22 February 2001)

* Nigeria-Congo (RDC). Saving Congo’s cassava — Scientists in Nigeria have drawn up a plan to save the most important food crop in the Democratic Republic of the Congo -cassava — which they say is ravaged by disease and pests. The project includes a plan to fly in thousands of predator mites to do battle with cassava green mite, which is threatening to cause famine in the war-ravaged country. Researchers at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan say that although cassava is a staple food for about 70% of the Congo’s population, yields of the crop have fallen sharply in recent years. Tens of millions of Congolese eat the leaves and roots of the cassava plant every day, yet scientific evidence suggests the crop is badly affected by disease and pests and that yields are plummeting. The UN is concerned with the possibility of having to bring in large-scale food aid, even to fertile areas unaffected by the current civil war. Scientists from IITA say they will submit a plan to the UN to send to the Congo not only thousands of samples of high-yield strains of cassava, but also thousands of tiny insects. The high-yield strains and the predator insects are expected to multiply upon arrival in the Congo and therefore guarantee a more healthy cassava crop. «It is perfectly safe,» said Alfred Dixon, the Sierra Leonean scientist who is in charge of the IITA‘s disaster relief unit. «We have tested it in laboratory and field conditions — there is no harmful side effect,» he said, because the predator mite is sure to die out when its diet of cassava green mites is exhausted. (BBC News, 18 February 2001)

* Rwanda. Four genocide suspects to be tried in Belgium — The trial of four genocide suspects, including two nuns, will start in Brussels on 17 April and is to last for six weeks, the Belgian newspaper De Standaard reported on 14 February. It said four investigators from the federal criminal investigative department travelled to Rwanda on 13 February to make final preparations for the trial. The four investigators will contact 45 witnesses in Rwanda in the coming days to ask them whether they want to come to Belgium in April. «All travel and hotel costs will be covered by the Belgian justice ministry. Where necessary, witnesses will also be given money to buy appropriate clothing,» it said. The paper also said that given the extraordinary length of proceedings, a double jury with 12 effective members and 12 substitutes will be assembled. The trial is gradually being prepared on the basis of four specific cases. (IRIN, Central Africa, 16 February 2001)

* Senegal. Rebels change leadership — moderates out — The head of Senegal’s Casamance separatist rebels has reshuffled the movement’s leadership, sacking three senior officials from its moderate wing and appointing a hardliner as assistant secretary general. A statement issued late on 12 February and signed by cleric Augustin Diamacoune Senghor, secretary general of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC), said the changes were made because of «incompetence, insubordination and internal fighting.» It added that the decision aimed at accelerating the peace process between the armed rebel group, which fights for the independence of the southern region of Casamance, and the government. Analysts, however, said hardliners now appeared to have the upper hand. «It’s the more moderate wing which has been pushed aside,» said political analyst Babacar Justin Ndiaye. The statement said Sidy Badji had been dismissed from his position as Senghor’s military adviser, together with Gambian-based spokesman Alexandre Djiba and Abdoulaye Diedhiou, another senior official. It appointed Mamadou Krumah Sane as assistant secretary general based in France. The MFDC launched its rebellion in 1982, accusing the central government of failing to develop the agricultural and tourist potential of Casamance, which is largely separated from the rest of Senegal by Gambia. (Washington Post, 13 February 2001)

* Sénégal. Elections anticipées, le 29 avril — Le 15 février, le président Abdoulaye Wade a prononcé la dissolution du Parlement et fixé au 29 avril les prochaines élections législatives. Le nouveau dirigeant souhaite recomposer une Assemblée nationale encore dominée par le Parti socialiste (PS) de l’ex-président Diouf. Ces élections devraient se résumer à un duel à trois: le PS, le Parti démocratique sénégalais (PDS) de M. Wade, et l’Alliance des forces de progrès (AFP) du Premier ministre Moustapha Niasse. En vertu de la nouvelle Constitution, adoptée l’année dernière, le nombre de sièges à l’Assemblée nationale est passé de 140 à 120. Certaines petites formations ont critiqué le pouvoir pour n’avoir pas modifié le scrutin mixte (majoritaire et proportionnel) qui réduit leurs chances de décrocher des sièges. (AP, 16 février 2001)

* Sénégal. 13 civils tués en Casamance — Le 16 février, treize chauffeurs routiers ont été tués dans la province sénégalaise de Casamance par des séparatistes présumés, selon les forces de sécurité. Des hommes armés ont obligé les routiers à descendre de leurs véhicules et les ont exécutés de sang-froid. Rien n’indique s’il s’agissait de criminalité ou d’une action du Mouvement des forces démocratiques de Casamance, qui lutte pour l’indépendance. (Libération, France, 17 février 2001)

* Sénégal/Tchad. L’affaire Habré — Le 20 février, la Cour de cassation du Sénégal a annoncé qu’elle statuerait le 6 mars sur le sort d’Hissène Habré, l’ancien dictateur tchadien vivant en exil au Sénégal, qui avait été inculpé le 3 février 2000 de complicité de torture, puis relaxé suite à un recours devant la Chambre d’accusation. A l’issue d’une journée d’audiences, les victimes et les organisations de défense des droits de l’homme se disent optimistes. Dans son réquisitoire, le parquet a soutenu qu’une lecture scrupuleuse des conventions et lois applicables à l’affaire Habré, déterminait clairement la compétence du Sénégal en la matière. Les parties civiles ont de ce fait bon espoir de voir les poursuites contre l’ancien dictateur relancées.  (Human Rights Watch, New York, 20 février 2001)

* Sierra Leone. Renvoi des élections — Le Parlement sierra-léonais a approuvé le renvoi de six mois des élections législatives et présidentielles initialement prévues au printemps, la présence des rebelles du RUF dans de vastes zones du pays ne permettant pas un déroulement correct des scrutins. La Constitution sierra-léonaise prévoit un renvoi maximal de six mois. (Misna, Italie, 15 février 2001)

* Sierra Leone. Health care workers in desperate need of support — Health care workers in areas of Sierra Leone faced with large numbers of returnees and displaced people are «sorely in need of extra support,» the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) warned on 20 February in a statement issued in Freetown. «Health workers in Sierra Leone are struggling to cope with not just one, but several challenging situations,» said WHO, which recently dispatched a team to assess the health care situation in the country. «While Sierra Leonean refugees are being repatriated by boat from Guinea at a rate of 2,000-2,500 a week, in Sierra Leone itself their compatriots are fleeing Kambia, which is controlled by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and under almost daily airborne attacks from Guinea’s forces.» Meanwhile, in other places, islands of relative peace promise the chance to get health care to populations long cut off, the agency said, noting that almost 17,000 returnees have now moved into Lokomassama chiefdom. «Though food distribution and community facilities such as schools and public latrines are being supported, health facilities and staff are not receiving the same attention,» WHO said. «[Our] mission found health buildings in sore need of repair and with poor staffing levels. One community health officer serves the whole chiefdom, has only been paid his salary for three out of the past six months and has no fuel for the aged and unreliable motorcycle which is his only means of transport.» The 12 other health posts are run by nurses or midwives who have received little training in recent years, WHO said (WHO, 20 February 2001)

* South Africa. Offices of ex-oil board chief raided — South African authorities looking for evidence of corruption in a deal to replace the country’s oil reserves have raided the offices and homes of the former chairman of the oil board and a local businessman. The raids mark an escalation in the official probe into allegations that HBTI, a joint venture between Trafigura, a large Dutch oil trader, and High Beam International, a local company, bribed officials to win the contract to advise on the R1.5bn ($191m) deal. The 18-month-long affair has raised questions over the handling of the country’s natural resources and underlined the potential for abuse of black empowerment — South Africa’s effort to promote black business. A spokesman for the National Director of Public Prosecution on 15 February said officers had raided the home and office of Moses Molele, a director of HBTI, and Keith Kunene, former chairman of the Central Energy Fund, the holding company for the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF), the state company which oversees the country’s oil stocks. In October 1999, the SFF agreed to sell off 9.5m barrels of strategic oil reserves and replace them with higher-quality crude using its own resources despite offers from a number of oil companies. However, last April, the SFF hired HBTI to advise on the deal. According to an official report by the energy ministry, the decision was taken without a competitive tender and without telling the government. The government subsequently cancelled the contract between the SFF and HBTI and dissolved the SFF board. (Financial Times, UK, 16 February 2001)

* South Africa. Nkosi Johnson close to death — Nkosi Johnson, the courageous child AIDS activist who stole the hearts of South Africans and the world when he spoke out at the international AIDS conference last year about the disease he contracted at birth, is in a critical condition after suffering seizures. With his weak immune system, he is unlikely to beat the onslaught of illness for much longer but in his short life Nkosi, 12 -– believed to be the country’s longest surviving AIDS baby -– has greatly helped raise awareness of a disease that has infected 4.2 million South Africans and 40.8 million people worldwide. This week, South African mining companies began testing staff for HIV-AIDS to gather data on which to base action against the disease. Oxfam attacked drug companies for failing to provide cheap AIDS drugs to the developing world and new proposals were tabled in America to get rich countries to pay for AIDS drugs in Africa. Nkosi’s foster mother, Gail Johnson, said on 14 February, that his condition had remained critical but stable since he was taken to hospital on 12 February. Last month, Nkosi suffered brain damage as the disease spread through his frail body. He was being cared for at home, unable to feed himself or to communicate. Nkosi first came to public attention in 1997, when parents opposed him going to a Johannesburg school because of his HIV status. He lost his mother to AIDS in April that year, and under the loving care of Ms Johnson and her family he has put up an incredible struggle. Praised by the former president Nelson Mandela for his brave work in promoting awareness of the disease in a country where the stigma attached to HIV-AIDS is encouraging its spread, Nkosi’s deteriorating condition is being watched with dismay by South Africans. He will never know it now but the fight against HIV-AIDS in South Africa has begun in earnest. (The Independent, UK, 15 February 2001)

* South Africa. The poor benefit from budget — The Finance Minister has announced increased spending on social welfare and crime fighting in the country’s budget for the fiscal year 2001-2002. He told Parliament that the government would have more money in its coffers — some of it from privatisation schemes — but this would largely go to reducing the debt burden inherited from the apartheid era. (BBC News, 21 February 2001)

* Sudan. Hassan al Tourabi and the SPLA — 19 September: The two main rivals of President Omar Hassan al Bashir have signed a Memorandum of Understanding. This accord was signed in Geneva on 18 February between Hassan al-Tourabi’s Popular National Congress (PNC) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) that has been in conflict with the government of Khartoum since 1983. Al Tourabi says the alliance is aimed at ending the Sudanese civil war through a peaceful resistance to the current government. 21 February: Al Tourabi is quoted in the independent Akhbar al-Youm as saying he «wants to set up a broad-based national front to restore democracy and rid Sudan of Dictatorship». The same day, Al Tourabi is arrested by security forces at his home in Khartoum. No charges have yet been made public but the government is expected to make an announcement shortly. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 22 February 2001)

* Soudan. Alliance sudistes-islamistes — Le 19 février, la rébellion sudiste soudanaise (SPLA, de John Garang) et la formation islamiste de Hassan el-Tourabi, le Congrès national du peuple, ont signé un “mémorandum d’entente” prévoyant “une résistance pacifique” au régime au pouvoir. La rébellion sudiste (animiste et chrétienne) est généralement hostile aux islamistes. Les sources civiles contactées par l’agence Misna n’ont pas encore fait de commentaire. Elles attendent de mieux comprendre cette entente, qui suscite une grande perplexité. Les deux parties ne semblent pouvoir s’accorder que sur le désir de faire tomber le président Béchir. Le 21 février, Hassan el-Tourabi a été arrêté à son domicile par les forces de sécurité; il devra s’expliquer sur le “memorandum d’entente”. - D’autre part, le parti d’opposition Umma, de l’ex-Premier ministre Sadek el Mahdi, a refusé l’offre d’un portefeuille ministériel dans le gouvernement du président Béchir. Le parti a déclaré, le 18 février, qu’il ne participerait pas à ce gouvernement avant la tenue de nouvelles élections. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 22 février 2001)