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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 05-04-2001

PART #4/4 - From SOUTH AFRICA to ZIMBABWE

* South Africa. Govt. hits back at EU criticism of AIDS policy — On 3 April, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, South Africa’s minister of health, lashed out at the European Union for criticising the country’s AIDS policy at a time when it is fighting to contain its own epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease. In an open letter to Miet Smet, head of an European Parliament delegation that visited South Africa last month, the minister complains that people coming to the country should «acclimatise themselves about the nature and size of the AIDS problem before making sweeping statements about the country’s national and multi-sectoral response to the epidemic». (Financial Times, UK, 4 April 2001)

* South Africa. The Bafokeng defend their rights — Africa’s wealthiest tribespeople, the Royal Bafokeng, who have grown rich on platinum reserves discovered beneath their ancestral land north-west of Johannesburg, launched a campaign on 1 April against a South African government move to nationalise mineral rights. In full-page advertisements in the South African media, the tribe denounced a draft Mineral Development Bill aimed at taking the ownership of mineral rights out of private hands as «devastating» for the Bafokeng and comparable to the tactics of «expropriation without compensation» used by the apartheid regime. South Africa has some of the world’s richest mineral reserves including diamonds, gold and manganese and, through deft negotiations throughout the 20th century, the Bafokeng secured royalties worth at least £12m a year from the world’s second biggest reserve of platinum near Rustenburg. Platinum is used in catalytic converters for cars and its price has soared in recent years. But the Bafokeng who have built schools, a civic centre and impressive health facilities are the exception to the rule in a country whose black majority 42 million population has not benefited from the wealth of its subsoil.The South African government wants mining rights to rest with the state, which is common practice internationally. Last week, South Africa’s Minister of Minerals and Energy, Phumzile Mlambo-Necguka, bowed to industry pressure for a rethink and agreed to redraft the Bill and appoint an advisory panel of international experts. (The Independent, UK, 2 April 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Rencontre avec les leaders religieux — Lors d’une rencontre pour discuter des différentes manières de promouvoir les questions non raciales et autres, mardi 3 avril, le président sud-africain Thabo Mbeki Sud a appelé les leaders des 30 principales communautés religieuses de son pays à accélérer le processus de construction d’une société non raciale. M. Mbeki les a également encouragés à renforcer les programmes pour l’éradication de la pauvreté, à restaurer les valeurs morales et à participer à la renaissance de l’Afrique. Tous les différants groupes religieux — chrétien, musulman, hindou, juif, baha’ie et les croyances traditionnelles africaines — étaient représentés. Ils ont pris l’engagement d’oeuvrer à la transformation sociale et spirituelle de la nation au-delà des clivages politiques et confessionnels. Malgré l’existence de différends et de difficultés au sein de la communauté religieuse qu’ils ont ouvertement reconnue, ils ont admis que des activités communes de soutien pourraient être menées, notamment au sujet de l’établissement d’une communication plus rapprochée entre le gouvernement et les communautés religieuses sur des questions spécifiques relatives à la transformation de notre pays.

(ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 4 avril 2001)

* South Africa. Long-awaited AIDS report — The Government has released a long-awaited report on AIDS in South Africa. More than 4 million South Africans are now thought to be HIV-positive. But the findings show a deep and almost unbridgeable divide between panel members. Many will be left wondering why the government had to call a panel of experts together to make this conclusion. Also, an inspecting judge, Johannes Fagan, has reported to Parliament that natural deaths in South Africa’s overcrowded prisons have rocketed by 584% in the past five years, mostly as a result of HIV/AIDS. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 5 April 2001)

* Sudan. Famine warning — Sudan is facing the prospect of a serious famine in the coming months. The warning comes from the UN World Food Programme who have been unable to raise the funds they need to feed three million people who are now under threat in the North African state. People are on the move trying to find food and they have already eaten the seeds which they need to plant the next harvest. The UN‘s World Food Programme first sounded an alert for Sudan last November. They appealed for $135m worth of food, but the civil war between the Islamist government in Khartoum and its opposition in the south has gone on too long for donor countries to care. Only 1% of the money was raised and now the WFP is warning of a famine which could kill more people than any disaster in the country since the mid-1980s. The head of the WFP in Sudan, Massood Haider, in London to try to raise money, said it is not just the war which is making life difficult but the weather. A prolonged drought has left major reservoirs empty, in a worse state than at any time in more than 50 years. Mr Haider said the clock is ticking. His food warehouses are empty and people will die on a large scale by July unless there is a swift response by rich countries. (BBC News, 29 March 2001)

* Soudan. Combats — Dans un communiqué divulgué le 30 mars, l’Alliance démocratique nationale (NDA) a affirmé avoir repoussé le quatrième assaut des milices gouvernementales qui tentaient de reconquérir la zone de Menza (Etat soudanais du Nil Bleu). Selon le NDA, l’attaque a été donnée à l’arme lourde dans le but de paniquer la population locale. La note n’indique pas le nombre de morts ou de blessés. La zone de Menza est contrôlée par l’Alliance depuis 1997 et l’armée a déjà tenté de la reprendre militairement à trois reprises. Elle se situe non loin de Damazin, où se dressent un grand barrage et une centrale hydroélectrique qui fournit l’énergie à la capitale Khartoum. (Misna, Italie, 30 mars 2001)

* Soudan. Le conseil du Nil — Au cours de sa réunion du 28 au 30 mars à Khartoum, le conseil des ministres de l’hydraulique des Etats du bassin du Nil a approuvé les projets de développement des ressources en eau, des ressources hydroélectriques et écologiques de la région. Les projets devraient être présentés lors d’un forum international de donateurs à Genève en juin prochain. Selon le ministre soudanais de l’irrigation et des ressources en eau, Kamal Ali, les projets visent à développer les capacités d’irrigation de la région ainsi que la production d’énergie hydroélectrique. Ils sont aussi destinés à mettre fin à la dégradation de l’environnement, à concevoir des programmes de protection des ressources en eau et développer les capacités en matière de recherche scientifique dans le domaine de l’eau. (PANA, Sénégal, 2 avril 2001)

* Sudan. Leader of the struggle to free the Nuba dies — Yousif Kuwa, the teacher who turned to armed struggle to get recognition for the Nuba people of central Sudan, has died at the age of 56 after a year-long struggle with bone cancer. His death strips the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army of a man who was the very embodiment of the «New Sudan» it is pledged to create. Kuwa died on 31 March in a Norwich (UK) hospital, while writing an open letter to the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, deploring the UN‘s failure to deliver relief to the Numba mountains three years after Khartoum promised to end its 12-year blockade. (The Guardian, UK, 3 April 2001)

* Sudan. US Bishops’ Conference visits war torn Southern Sudan — A delegation from the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) completed an extensive tour of Sudan’s non-government-controlled territory, in a move that could impact greatly on the relations between the USA and Khartoum. Having first spent a week in Khartoum, the US delegation divided themselves into two groups in order to be able to cover as much ground as possible in their two-day tour. One group led by Bishop Edward Braxton of Lake Charles in Louisiana, first visited the Diocese of Tambura Yambio in Western Equatoria, then proceeded to Rumbek in Bahr el Ghazal, Kauda in the Nuba Mountains in Central Sudan and finally to Narus on the eastern bank of the River Nile. Other members of the group were Fr. Mike Perry, the USCC‘s Policy Advisor on African Affairs, Mr. Ken Hackett, the Executive Director, of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Mr. Paul Townsend, who is the Country Representative for the CRS Sudan Programme. At hand to receive the USCC team at the different stations, were Bishops Joseph Gasi of Tambura Yambio, Paride Taban of Torit, Max Macram Gasis of El Obeid (Nuba Mountains) and Caesar Mazzolari of Rumbek. The second group comprised Bishop John Ricard of Tallahassee-Pensacola and Chairman of the CRS Board of Directors, and Kevin Appleby, USCC Director, Office of Migration and Refugee Policy. The Auxiliary Bishop of Torit, Rev Johnson Akio Mutek, accompanied the group that visited the Adjumani Refugee camp in northern Uganda, Nimule in Eastern Equatoria and Kakuma Refugee Camp in northern Kenya. The two refugee camps are homes to tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees, while Nimule hosts the internally displaced. (Fides, Vatican City, 3 April 2001)

* Soudan. Quinze tués dans un accident d’avion — Quinze militaires soudanais, dont le ministre adjoint à la Défense qui dirigeait les combats contre les rebelles sudistes, et onze généraux, ont été tués mercredi dans l’accident d’un avion militaire qui les transportait dans le sud du Soudan. Selon la radio d’Etat, le colonel Ibrahim Shamsul-Din et les officiers supérieurs venaient d’effectuer une visite dans le sud quand, sur le chemin du retour vers Khartoum, leur avion s’est écrasé pour une raison encore inconnue à Adaril (750 km au sud de la capitale). Le colonel Shamsul-Din avait fait partie du putsch qui plaça Omar el-Béchir à la tête du Soudan en 1989. Parmi les victimes, figurent aussi neuf généraux de corps d’armée, trois généraux de brigade et un colonel. Plusieurs personnalités poltiques et militaires ont déjà péri dans des accidents similaires. En juin 1999, un avion militaire s’écrasait dans la province de Kassala, faisant 50 morts, dont six officiers. En février 1998, trouvaient la mort l’ex-premier vice-président soudanais, le gén. al-Zubair Mohamed Saleh, et 25 personnes, lors d’un accident d’avion dans le Haut Nil. Cette province est une région pétrolière du sud du pays, en proie à la guerre civile depuis dix-huit ans. Les rebelles sudistes accusent Khartoum d’utiliser les revenus pétroliers pour financer l’effort de guerre et ont déjà appelé à plusieurs reprises les compagnies pétrolières internationales à se retirer du Soudan. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 5 avril 2001)

* Tanzanie. Rapatriement des réfugiés congolais — Au début de la semaine, l’ambassadeur du Congo-Kinshasa a annoncé que son gouvernement prépare le rapatriement de ses quelque 400.000 ressortissants résidant en Tanzanie, en collaboration avec le HCR. Ce rapatriement peut se réaliser suite au retrait des troupes rwandaises et ougandaises. Officiellement, la Tanzanie accueille 850.000 réfugiés originaires du Burundi, de la RDC, du Rwanda et de la Somalie. Le rapatriement des réfugiés congolais qui ont fui la guerre qui dure depuis 1998, est considéré par la presse tanzanienne comme un événement positif qui contribuera à atténuer les pressions sur la terre, les services collectifs et l’environnement. (PANA, Sénégal, 30 mars 2001)

* Tanzania. Plans to restore free primary education — Tanzania plans to restore free education in primary schools, President Benjamin Mkapa has announced in a radio broadcast. «The Government plans to reintroduce universal primary education for children reaching the age of seven, Mkapa said in a broadcast on 31 March. Without giving a target date, he said plans were in place to abolish the fees now charged by government primary schools, and to increase both the numbers and quality of teachers in the schools. Julius Nyerere, founding president of Tanzania, introduced free primary education for the first time in 1972, giving Tanzania one of the highest school enrolments in Africa. But government funds diminished during the late 1970s, and by 1982 had been cut to a fraction of their pre-1978 level, forcing schools to raise their own money to cover operating costs. Schools now call on parents to pay a standard contribution of 7,000 Tanzanian shillings ($8) a year. Tanzanian officials said that the money to revive free primary education would come from a reallocation of available resources. They said prospects for such funds had been improved by Tanzania’s recent designation as a highly-indebted poor country by the World Bank and IMF, with remission of substantial debt repayments. Current primary school enrolment is about 57 percent, official figures show. The new school year starts in July, but government officials on Sunday said it was not known whether the new programme could be launched this year. (CNN, 1 April 2001)

* Tanzanie. L’opposition peut manifester — Les autorités tanzaniennes ont finalement cédé à la pression des partis d’opposition et annoncé qu’elles autorisent la grande manifestation prévue samedi prochain, le 7 avril, à Dar es-Salaam. Cette manifestation, à l’appel des 12 formations d’opposition, vise à faire pression sur le gouvernement du président Mkapa afin qu’il accepte leur demande de révision de la Constitution, portant sur plus d’autonomie des îles de Zanzibar (qui en 1964 ont fusionné avec l’ancien Tanganyika pour former la République unie de Tanzanie). Ils demandent également la reprise des élections 2000 à Zanzibar et la création de commissions électorales indépendantes pour le territoire continental et les îles. (PANA, Sénégal, 3 avril 2001

* Tchad. Programme électoral — Le corps électoral sera convoqué le 5 avril par décret pour l’élection présidentielle du 20 mai prochain, indique l’agence PANA, le 1er avril, de source proche du Conseil constitutionnel. Le même jour, les candidats aux prochaines consultations devront déposer leurs dossiers. Le 18 avril, le Conseil publiera la liste des candidats officiels au scrutin. La campagne électorale démarrera le 19 avril, soit un mois avant le début des votes pour les sédentaires (les nomades et les Tchadiens à l’étranger voteront à partir du 17 mai). En cas de ballotage, les résultats définitifs du second tour devront être publiés le 3 août, et le président sera investi quelques jours plus tard. - Le 29 mars, les principaux dirigeants de l’opposition tchadienne avaient demandé un report de l’élection présidentielle en arguant d’irrégularités lors du dernier recensement électoral et de la situation militaire troublée dans la province du Tibesti (extrême nord). (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 2 avril 2001)

* Ouganda. Au moins 36 noyés — Au moins 36 personnes seraient mortes noyées dans les eaux du lac Victoria ces dernières 48 heures, après que deux bateaux en bois, qui faisaient la navette entre des îles et la côte, eurent chaviré en raison des mauvaises conditions météorologiques, a rapporté la police ougandaise. Il n’y a aucun survivant parmi les 22 pasagers du premier bateau, et sept parmi les 21 passagers du second. Les recherches se poursuivaient le 31 mars pour tenter de retrouver d’éventuels survivants. De nombreux bateaux, souvent surchargés et mal entretenus, chavirent chaque année sur le lac Victoria. (Reuters, 31 mars 2001)

* Uganda. Museveni seeks funds for army — President Yoweri Museveni has said he needs an additional $700m over the next one to three years to upgrade the security forces. He said this was necessary to wipe out inefficiencies and corruption in the army, which he said were partly to blame for a recent spate of rebel attacks in the north and west of the country. The money will be in addition to the annual defence budget, which last year came to a $110m. The recent rebel and terrorist attacks have followed last month’s presidential elections. Mr Museveni won with 69% per cent of the vote, but the results are being challenged in court by his principal opponent, Dr Kizza Besigye. In the past three weeks there have been a number of rebel raids, including an attack on the western Ugandan town of Kasese which left 11 people dead. In an ambush in a northern national park 10 people were killed. Mr Museveni blamed the military for reacting slowly, going so far as to accuse soldiers of poaching hippopotamus while the rebels attacked. Uganda is a poor country and the president has in the past promised donors he would cut back on defence spending after first modernising the army. But he told journalists he was now unsure about cutbacks, given that Uganda was in the process of upgrading the infantry and building an air force. He did not make reference to Uganda’s unpopular involvement in the three-year war in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. It is not clear if the president will get what he wants. (BBC News, 1 April 2001)

* Uganda. Election challenge under way — 3 April: The Supreme Court hearing of a petition challenging the 23 March presidential election result has opened to a packed courtroom. The front benches were filled with sombre lawyers in dark robes — while the bewigged Supreme Court judges occupied the upper benches. Onlookers gathered outside the gates, but were not allowed inside. Journalists had to be cleared by officials — before entering the high court compound — where the hearings are taking place. Dr Kizza Besigye, who finished second behind President Museveni in the election is seeking to annul the results. He sat quietly in a neat suit near his supporter, Dr Paul Ssemogere, who is the head of the Democratic Party. To win the case his lawyers have to prove not just that their were irregularities and rigging but that these significantly affected the final result. He is challenging both President Museveni and the Electoral Commission. Today’s hearing considered preliminary matters, including whether the electoral commission should be forced to give a copy of the voters roll, to the petitioners. The hearing proper is expected to begin on 5 April. The case has so far dragged in well over 140 lawyers. (BBC News, 4 April 2001)

* Uganda/Sudan. UN returns kidnapped Ugandans from Sudan — More than sixty Ugandans abducted as schoolchildren by armed rebels have been flown home after escaping from their captors. They had been held by Ugandan rebels in southern Sudan. Officials of the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, who welcomed the former captives at Entebbe airport, said they were in good shape. Those returning were all kidnapped in northern Uganda by the Lord’s Resistance Army, which used them for sex, forced labour or as soldiers. Many had been held for several years and only twenty-four are still under eighteen. A BBC correspondent in Uganda says the rebels use abductions as way of recruiting new members and have seized at least ten thousand children over the past six years. Hundreds have escaped and made their own way back. But the returnees have not included former students of a girls secondary school at Apac, who were abducted in 1996. Under a 1999 accord, Sudan is supposed to return all Ugandans kidnapped as children by the rebels. (BBC News, 28 March 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Tourism faces collapse — Fewer tourists than ever are arriving at the country’s premier resort town of Victoria Falls. This is symptomatic of the fact that the tourism sector is facing virtual collapse. Mrs Jane McLoughlin, Chairperson of the Matabeleland branch of the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism, says that Victoria Fall’s seven biggest hotels are operating at 30% occupancy levels and «this is the worst ever figure we have recorded since 1998». A taxi driver in Victoria Falls says that most tourists are using Zimbabwe as a transit point for visiting other countries such as Botswana, Zambia and South Africa. «The few tourists who come here are usually in groups, and come for such leisure sporting activities as whitewater rafting and bungee jumping. They put up in back packers’ camps and hardly spend any money in hotels». However, despite the gloomy picture painted by Victoria Falls’ inhabitants, some visitors still feel the country has a bright future, despite negative publicity it has been getting abroad. (Dumisani Khumalo, ANB-BIA, Zimbabwe, 21 March 2001)

* Zimbabwe. «ZANU ising» in Zimbabwe — Some residents of Chitunfwiza, 25 km south of Harare, are annoyed by some street names in their town, which are in praise of the ruling ZANU-PF party. There’s «Tendai Zanu» (Thank Zanu); «Kudzai Zanu» (Praise Zanu); «Zanu Yotonga» (Zanu is ruling); and «Mujibha» (war collaborators). Many aspects of life in Zimbabwe have been «Zanuised» so as to help people forget about the Opposition. National events like «Heroes Day» have been turned into ZANU-PF functions. Even those who took an active part in the liberation struggle have been conveniently forgotten. The late vice-president Joshua Nkomo is regarded as the father of the liberation struggle, yet there is no street bearing his name. It was only after his death that a statue is being carved and some institutions are to be named after him. Nkomo’s book, «The Story of my Life» is still banned in Zimbabawe. (Tendai Madinah, ANB-BIA, Zimbabwe, 29 March 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Civic groups defy Mugabe — Hundreds of campaigners have attended a conference in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, to press for a new national constitution. The one-day meeting — organised by a broad coalition of civic groups, the National Constitutional Assembly _NCA) —was boycotted by the government, war veterans and President Robert Mugabe’s governing ZANU-PF party. n the lead up to the conference, ZANU-PF took out full-page newspaper advertisements, saying the NCA had no national mandate to press for reforms. Last year, the president proposed a new constitution which would have increased his powers. It was rejected after a successful campaign by the NCA. President Mugabe has tried to discredit the NCA, which has undertaken its own consultation exercise with the people to produce a new draft. Newspaper advertisements accused NCA members of taking money from Mr Mugabe’s western critics and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to undermine his government. (BBC News, 31 March 2001)