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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 22-01-2001

PART #4/4 - From TANZANIA to ZIMBABWE

* Tanzania/Zanzibar. Zanzibar’s political refugees — 15 February: The Government appears to have changed its stance towards Zanzibar’s political refugees currently in a camp in Kenya. More than 1,000 Zanzibari opposition members have fled from Zanzibar and Pemba, complaining of political harassment following violence which left many people dead. On 13 February, the Government called on he refugees to return home saying that no one will be arrested for being involved in the violence. However, the next day, Tanzanian Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye told parliament that there were criminals among the refugees, who would be arrested once they returned home. The government has maintained its call for the refugees to go back to Zanzibar. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 15 February 2001)

* Tanzania. Kilimanjaro’s white peak — The beautiful ice fields on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa could completely melt away in the next 20 years if the Earth continues to warm at the rate many scientists now claim. The calculation comes from Professor Lonnie Thompson, of Ohio State University, who has made an aerial survey of the famous Tanzanian peak. He said comparisons with previous mapping showed 33% of Mt Kilimanjaro’s ice had disappeared in the last two decades — 82% had gone since 1912. Studies on other tropical peaks had revealed a similar picture, he told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He warned this melting could have serious repercussions for drinking water supply, crop irrigation, hydroelectric production and tourism. «Kilimanjaro is the number one foreign-currency earner for the Tanzanian Government. Twenty thousand tourists go there every year because one of the attractions is to see ice at three degrees south of the equator. But I think there is a real possibility that that ice will be gone by 2015.» Professor Thompson has spent about 20 years studying the tropical ice fields on the mountains of South America, Africa, China and Tibet. (BBC News, 19 February 2001)

* Tanzanie. Membre du parti au pouvoir assassiné — Rachid Saïd, haut responsable régional du parti au pouvoir, le Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), a été assassiné ce week-end sur l’île de Pemba, qui fait partie de l’archipel de Zanzibar. Sa famille a accusé des membres de l’opposition, le Civic United Front (CUF), d’être responsables du meurtre. Pemba, fief de l’opposition, a été le théâtre, le mois dernier, d’émeutes qui ont fait des dizaines de victimes entre forces de l’ordre et opposants. Malgré le bouclage de Pemba par la police, des bateaux transportant des habitants de l’île fuyant les violences ne cessent d’accoster sur la côte kényane voisine. Environ un millier de personnes s’y sont réfugiées, principalement des militants du CUF, dont le secrétaire général, et leurs familles. La semaine dernière, des leaders de différentes confessions religieuses tanzaniennes ont publié un communiqué conjoint mettant en garde le gouvernement et les partis d’opposition de plonger le pays dans le chaos. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 20 février 2001)

* Tanzania/Zanzibar. Drug trafficking rocks Zanzibar — Zanzibar is now becoming a drug flashpoint, as a spate of illicit drug peddling is hitting the Indian Ocean island. The mushrooming clandestine business is reportedly poising a great threat to general security and many people’s health, and unemployed youths are becoming vulnerable to this development. The government, which has been handling the drug problem in secrecy, has now brought the issue into the spotlight. Zanzibar’s Chief Minister, Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, says that bootlegging is becoming a great scourge and that new avenues of curbing it have to be mapped out if the island is to be made a drug-free zone. «We cannot keep on denying the fact that Zanzibar is a hotbed for drug trafficking. Instead, we should find ways of ensuring that the problem does not get out of hand,» says Nahodha. He says legislative measures will be taken to kickstart the crusade against drug contraband. According to Nahodha, Zanzibar is currently sketching out a bill that will give the anti-drug campaign legal muscle. The bill is envisaged to spell out tough measures against drug syndicates, which are currently taking advantage of the laxity of authorities. Zanzibar is used by drug barons as a doorway of drugs from Europe, Asia and the Arab world. The illicit stuff, which include cannabis, heroin, cocaine and other opiates, are then taken into the interior of Africa. (Makame Mzee Makame, ANB-BIA, Zanzibar, 20 February 2001)

* Tchad. Crash — Le secrétaire général de la présidence tchadienne, Abderamane Dadi, et le ministre de la Promotion économique, Ali Ahmed Lanine, sont morts le 14 février au soir dans l’accident de leur avion privé, près de N’Djamena. Ils avaient tous deux été des artisans du projet pétrolier de Doba. (Libération, France, 16 février 2001)

* Uganda. UN finds Congo child soldiers — The United Nations Agency For Children (UNICEF), says it has discovered 163 child soldiers from the Democratic Republic of Congo at a training camp in neighbouring Uganda. UNICEF said all the youngsters, who are aged between nine and 11, wanted to go back to their families in and around the Congolese border town of Bunia. The children were among a group of nearly 700 people who had been flown from the town for «political education» and military drill training in Uganda’s Kyankwanzi camp. Bunia has recently been the scene of fierce fighting between DR Congo’s government troops and Ugandan-supported rebels, who control the town. The UN has previously expressed its concern over the recruitment of children in the Congolese conflict and other regional battlefields, estimating that more than 20,000 are involved in fighting. A UNICEF-led team spent three days in Kyankwanzi, identifying and registering the group of children who had been living there for six months. The 163 youngsters, among them three girls, will be handed over to UNICEF‘s care by the Ugandan Government on 22 February. «Above all, we have to take every measure to ensure these children are not returned home to be thrown into combat situations,» said UNICEF representative Michel Sidibe. The group will be taken to a transit camp, where they will be provided with «the psycho-social care and schooling they require before they are reunited with their families». In the meantime, the UN agency said it had sent badly needed supplies of clean water, medicines and sports equipment to the camp. Earlier in the month, the UN reported that although rebels in the area stopped their recruitment campaigns in the urban areas of Congo, it was still going on in rural sectors. (BBC News, 21 February 2001)

* Zambia. Aid doubts «ignored» — The International Monetary Fund and World Bank proceeded with a $3.8bn debt relief programme for Zambia despite indications of serious irregularities in the country’s mineral sales highlighted in an independent auditors’ report. The IMF asked Zambia to commission the European Union-financed audit last June as part of the conditions for a loan agreement after Fund officials noted substantial discrepancies in the national accounts between the market price of cobalt and the amount Zambia realised. The audit confirmed that cobalt was sold in 1998-99 for at least $60m below the market price in an arrangement «unjustified on economic grounds». The IMF and World Bank were under pressure from western finance ministers to approve debt relief for some of the world’s poorest countries before the end of last year following energetic campaigning by groups such as Jubilee 2000. However, the debt-relief programmes were designed to be restricted to countries with a commitment to transparency and good governance. The disclosure is likely to prove an embarrassment for Horst Köhler, IMF managing director, and James Wolfensohn, World Bank president, on the eve of a seven-day tour of Africa. The audit blames senior officials at the then state-owned Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) for agreeing «an improper and damaging exclusive agency contract» with Metal Resources Group (MRG), Bahamas-based trading company. MRG was able to price contracts at $6 a pound in January 1999, half the price cobalt had traded at a month earlier and barely a third of what it fetched a month later. MRG insists it has done nothing wrong and says auditors made minimal efforts to represent its position. (Financial Times, UK, 16 February 2001)

* Zambia. Coup suspects — The Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of Human Rights Allegations recommends that the Zambian government should compensate 79 individuals alleged to have been involved in the attempted coup of October 28 1997. The Commission has also demanded that three top security officers should be retired from their jobs on the national interest and that the Government should compensate the treason suspects to the tune of over US $ 170,000. The suspects are believed to have been tortured whilst in custody. The Government has rejected the compensation demands, but has called for appropriate disciplinary measures to be carried out wherever necessary. (Gideon Thole, ANB-BIA, Zambia, 19 February 2001)

* Zambia. Election aid to Zambia withheld — Zambia’s co-operating partners, including the European Union, have withheld their assistance to the Electoral Commission in Zambia, meant to facilitate the country’s general elections later in the year. This followed the government’s refusal to accept some conditions, including adherence to the constitutional limitation on the presidential term of office. Donors are also demanding a level playing field for political parties in funding, and equal access to the public media, especially to state-owned radio and television.  (PANA, Senegal, 20 February 2001)

* Zambia. Constitutional experts warn Chiluba over third term — The architect of the current Zambian constitution has given President Fredrick Chiluba a «few days» in which to change his position on amending the laws to enable him contest the 2001 general by seeking a third term of office. Speaking at the first ever National Conference on Upholding, Protecting and Defending the Zambian Constitution, in Lusaka on 21 February, he said that Zambia was heading for danger unless Chiluba reconsiders his position on the controversial third term debate, being spearheaded by selected members of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD). «I have become very concerned, because I smell divisions in this country, which will destroy the fabric of peace which has been keeping Zambia together since independence in 1964». It should be recalled that Mwanakatwe was chairman of the 1996 Mwanakatwe Commission of Inquiry, tasked with amending and redrafting the Constitution. «At the age of 75, I dream of a Zambia where my grandchildren can live in peace. I am appealing to President Chiluba to change make up his mind». Mwanakatwe reminded President Chiluba that the Constitution was amended in 1991 and 1996, in order to facilitate the birth and growth of democracy. He said that he was not going to be party to any attempt to change laws to suit any group of individuals at the expense of the silent majority. (Gideon Thole, ANB-BIA, Zambia, 21 February 2001)

* Zimbabwe. A currency gone insane — Officially, one American dollar will buy you 55 of the Zimbabwean kind. But Harare’s money-changers will happily give you 70 or 80, unless you ask for a receipt, while industrialists, looking for foreign exchange must part with anything up to 100 Zim dollars to get hold of a single greenback. All this is illegal, but Zimbabwe’s insane currency have made criminals of many honest people. Zimbaweans cope with the shortage of the dollars that count, in various ways. the government grabs them from other people. On February 9th, it told the country’s banks to start selling all their hard currency inflows to the central bank and the state petrol-importing monopoly, at the official rate. It said that Zimbabwean embassies abroad face power cuts because they cannot pay their bills. (...) The economy is so stormy that many exporters stay afloat only by selling American dollars on the black market. Others try to keep their foreign earnings off-shore. This is not easy, since most sell tobacco, gold, roses and other goods that can be observed and recorded as they quietly leave the country. But some quietly set up overseas subsidiaries to buy their own products at artificially low prices. the subsidiary then sells the goods to the real buyer, and keeps the proceeds abroad. (...) (The Economist, UK, 17 February 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai inculpé — Le 16 janvier, le leader du Mouvement pour le changement démocratique (MDC, opposition) Morgan Tsvangirai a été inculpé d’incitation à la violence. Lors d’un discours, il avait conseillé au président Mugabe de démissionner pour éviter d’être destitué avec violence. Son procès commencera le 30 avril. En réaction, le MDC a rappelé que Mugabe a à plusieurs reprises menacé de mort des Blancs et d’autres adversaires. Le mois prochain, le vice-président du MDC, Gibson Sibanda, doit comparaître en justice parce qu’il a dit à ses militants de ne pas se laisser intimider par les partisans de Mugabe. - Le 17 février, deux journalistes ont été expulsés. Joseph Winter, correspondant de la BBC, et Mercedes Sayagues, correspondante du journal sud-africain Mail and Guardian (qui avait relaté des violences commises par des militants de Mugabe), ont reçu l’ordre de quitter le pays dans les 24 heures. “Expulser des journalistes ne peut empêcher le monde de voir ce qui se passe au Zimbabwe”, a commenté le secrétaire d’Etat au Foreign Office. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 19 février 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Les fermiers blancs divisés — Les propriétaires blancs d’exploitations agricoles, engagés dans une guerre des nerfs avec le gouvernement à propos de son programme de réforme agraire, sont en train de se diviser face à la détermination du président Mugabe de poursuivre jusqu’au bout ce programme, malgré les critiques de la communauté internationale. Le Syndicat des exploitants agricoles (CFU) qui s’est réuni ce week-end pour discuter de l’impasse où se trouvent les négociations, a décidé de reprendre le dialogue. Des divisions profondes ont émergé au sein de l’association, la plupart des membres accusant la direction actuelle d’être responsable de l’impasse. Le CFU aurait convoqué une réunion extraordinaire de l’association le mois prochain pour élire de nouveaux dirigeants qui auraient pour mandat de négocier “une solution à l’amiable”. - D’autre part, au Mozambique, des responsables de la ville de Chimoio (centre) ont accueilli favorablement un projet d’attribution de terres à environ 100 fermiers zimbabwéens, qui ont décidé d’émigrer suite à la réforme agraire dans leur pays. On espère que cette initiative augmentera la production agricole et créera environ 1.300 emplois. Le parti d’opposition Renamo a cependant conseillé la prudence, craignant des conflits si les Zimbabwéens se retrouvent avec de meilleures terres au détriment des Mozambicains. (PANA, Senegal, 20 février 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Uncertainties — Economy: On 15 February, the Financial Gazette said that South Africa’s ABSA Banl Limited, has withheld a US $75 million line of credit to the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) to buy fuel, until the Zimbabwean firm matches the Bank’s support with an equivalent amount of money in local currency. The Opposition: The Opposition Movement for Democratic change has urged the South African Government to cut of electricity and fuel supplies to Zimbabwe, to force President Mugabe to respect the rule of law. On 16 February, The Herald reported that the Government will withdraw passports from people who are campaigning for economic sanctions to be imposed upon the country. On 16 February, the Zimbabwe government stepped up its campaign against the main opposition group, indicting Morgan Tsvangirai, its leader, on charges of inciting violent change. Mr Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), will appear in court on April 30 to answer charges of uttering inflammatory statements likely to incite violence. He is the third MDC leader to be so charged following a similar accusation against Mr Gibson Sibanda, the deputy leader of the MDC and leader of the parliamentary opposition, and Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the party’s youth wing. No such charges have been made, however, against Joseph Msika, the vice-president, who earlier this week threatened a «return to revolutionary war» should ZANU-PF lose next year’s presidential election. Mr Tsvangirai’s party, which holds 56 of the 120 elected seats in parliament, said the charge amounted to harassment of opponents of President Robert Mugabe’s quest for another six-year term in elections next year. The charges stem from a speech that the MDC leader made at an opposition rally in Harare last September when he said Mr Mugabe should retire before Christmas or «we will remove you by force». Mr Tsvangirai’s party, reacting to the charges, noted that Mr Mugabe in speeches had promised death to whites and other opponents. On 18 February, the Government said it will tighten a law against dual citizenship in a move likely to hit thousands of whites of British descent. The Media: A letter sent to President Mugabe on 15 February, by the president of the Society of Professional Journalists, USA, expresses concern over «what has been happening to my fellow journalists in Zimbabwe. (...) I encourage you to renounce the use of violence against the media and to take immediate, visible steps to assure the people who bombed the Daily News, and those who threatened the Observer and other papers are caught and held accountable». On 17 February, a BBC journalist, Joseph Winter, was forced to take refuge, along with his family, at the British High Commission, after a group of men tried to break into his house. He has been ordered to leave the country, but a lawyer has obtained a ruling from a court in Harare delaying the expulsion for five days. In fact, he has now left Zimbabwe for South Africa. The land issue: On 15 February it was reported that the Commercial Farmers’ Union has decided to meet next month to debate how to break the impasse over the government’s land reform scheme. On 20 February, relations between the government and the Commercial Farmers Union hit a new low, when the authorities banned all further dialogue on the grounds that the union was receiving foreign funding and was no longer a reliable interlocutor, but an opposition party. Foreign affairs: The United States says it is looking for ways to punish Robert Mugabe following government threats to the Lives of Zimbabwe’s leading judges and the expulsion of two foreign journalists. On 21 February, Britain’s Foreign Secretary announced that Zimbabwe has accepted «in principle» a visit from a Commonwealth delegation. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 22 February 2001)