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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 21-06-2001

PART #4/4 - From SUDAN to ZIMBABWE

* Sudan. Civil war situation worsens — 14 June: CISA (Kenya) reports that intense military activity in Western Bahr el Ghazal since May has displaced an estimated 57,000 people who are now in desperate need of humanitarian assistance, the Sudan Catholic Information Office has said. Speaking on 13 June on arrival from Raja, which the SPLA/M captured from the government on 2 June, the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Rumbek, Ceasar Mazzolari, described as «very desperate» the humanitarian situation in the affected area. «Mt first appeal is for food to be dropped at Raga to help attract the desperate civilians now scattered in the surrounding areas to return to their homes (in Raga» said Bishop Mazzolari. 19 June: A report from AP in Nairobi says that the UN and other aid agencies have evacuated the key southern Sudanese town of Wau, ahead of a SPLA advance. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 19 June 2001)

* Soudan. Insécurité à Wau — Le Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM) a annoncé le 19 juin que vingt-quatre expatriés des Nations unies et d’organisations non gouvernementales ont été évacués de Wau, dans le sud-ouest du Soudan, pour des raisons de sécurité. Wau est une ville clef de la région du Bahr el-Ghazal, contrôlée en grande partie par l’Armée de libération des peuples du Soudan (SPLA), la rébellion sudiste de John Garang. Le PAM a précisé que sur place il reste suffisamment de nourriture pour deux ou trois semaines. Médecins sans frontières (MSF) a évacué certains de ses employés, mais plusieurs de ses travailleurs soudanais sont restés sur place. MSF essaye de revenir à Wau pour continuer son travail humanitaire à l’hôpital. Le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR), au contraire, “est en train de renforcer ses activités à Wau”, a déclaré son porte-parole à Nairobi. Ces retraits ont irrité Khartoum qui les estime injustifiés et les interprète comme un soutien des humanitaires à la SPLA. De son côté, le porte-parole de la SPLA Samson Kwaje, a affirmé que les rebelles encerclent la ville, à une dizaine de kilomètres, et contrôlent le chemin de fer et les routes d’accès. Le président soudanais Omar al-Béchir, en visite à Wau lundi 18 juin, a déclaré que «la bataille pour nettoyer le Bahr al-Ghazal de la rébellion a déjà commencé». Il a aussi accusé les Etats-Unis d’inciter la SPLA a exiger la fin de l’exploitation pétrolière en échange d’un cessez-le-feu. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 20 juin 2001)

* Sudan/USA. «Sudan Peace Act» sails through the House — Condemning Sudan’s genocidal war against its people in southern Sudan, Ed Royce voted on 13 June for the Sudan Peace Act, which cleared the House by an overwhelming vote of 422-2. Royce, who chairs the House Africa subcommittee, managed the bill on the floor. «Sudan is suffering through the longest running civil war in the world. The fighting between the radical government in the north and forces in the south has led to human suffering on a massive scale. It is estimated that more than 2 million Sudanese have died of war-related causes since 1983. An estimated 4 million Sudanese are internally displaced, with 2 million living in squatter areas of Khartoum. Over 3 million Sudanese will require emergency food aid this year. Famine is a constant. At a March hearing of the International Relations Committee, Secretary of State Colin Powell suggested that Sudan is one of the greatest tragedies on the face of the earth. The Secretary is right,» Royce said. The Sudan Peace Act does several things. Among them: It requires companies wishing to raise capital in the US for operations in Sudan to enhance their reporting requirements. This disclosure includes the nature of those operations and their relationship to violations of religious freedom and other human rights in Sudan. This report will be a valuable tool in alerting American investors to the nature of their potential investment. This should serve as a deterrent to foreign companies raising money on US markets for oil development activities in Sudan — activities that unquestionably are intensifying the fighting and human suffering in Sudan. It urges the Administration to make available to the National Democratic Alliance $10 million dollars in previously appropriated funds. This funding can be used to help build the civil society that has been devastated in the South. It requires the Administration to develop a contingency plan to operate outside of Operation Lifeline Sudan, the humanitarian relief effort that has been manipulated by the government of Sudan. (US House of Representatives, 14 June 2001)

* Soudan/USA. Une loi américaine pro-rébellion — Le 13 juin, les députés américains ont approuvé avec une large majorité le “Sudan Peace Act”, une loi qui veut soutenir économiquement la rébellion sud-soudanaise, écrit l’agence Misna. Cette réglementation impose en outre aux sociétés opérant au Soudan de divulguer toutes leurs activités pour être quotées en bourse. De cette manière, elles finissent dans la sphère de compétence de la loi, qui interdit expressément aux compagnies présentes sur le marché actionnaire américain de mener des affaires liées àl’exploitation des ressources pétrolières soudanaises. S’il est également approuvé par le Sénat américain, le Sudan Peace Act permettra aux rebelles du Sud-Soudan d’accéder dans de très brefs délais à un financement d’environ 10 millions de dollars. -D’autre part, le 17 juin, John Garang, le chef des rebelles du SPLA, a affirmé que les compagnies pétrolières étrangères qui opèrent dans le sud du pays, étaient des “cibles légitimes”. Selon lui, le gouvernement est “responsable des pertes que pourraient subir les ouvriers et les compagnies”. Le Soudan, devenu exportateur de pétrole depuis 1999, grâce notamment à des sociétés chinoise, canadienne, malaisienne et suédoise, produit 205.000 barils/jour, dont 145.000 sont exportés. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 18 juin 2001)

* Sudan/USA. US business gears up to derail Sudan delisting law — US business groups and the Bush administration are gearing up to try to derail legislation that would for the first time deprive some foreign companies of access to US stock markets if they run foul of US foreign policy. The heightened concern comes after Talisman Energy, the Canadian oil company, warned this week it would sell its controversial stake in a Sudan oil project if the US Congress pushed forward with threats to de-list the company from the New York Stock Exchange. Jim Buckee, Talisman chief executive, said in Calgary on 18 June that the Sudan Peace Act, passed by the House of Representatives last week on a 422-2 vote, could force the company to pull out of Sudan rather than risk losing access to US capital markets. Mr Buckee said the bill was «dangerous» and would «send a big chill through all other foreign investors who potentially want to list in the US». US companies are barred from Sudan, and there is growing support in Congress for measures that would in effect block foreign companies as well. US legislators hope that depriving the Khartoum government of oil revenues would end the civil war in Sudan, which has claimed about 2m lives during two decades. (Financial Times, UK, 21 June 2001)

* Tanzania. Illiteracy, poverty cited as causes of child labour — They work in commercial agriculture, in mines and in quarries. They are also in domestic service where some are easily lured into drug trafficking and at times, premature sex. Some engage in absolute prostitution while others wait in restaurants or work in garages. Whatever their preoccupation, child labourers do not pay pension contributions, income tax or health insurance. Official figures show that more than 450,000 such children are engaged in various commercial activities and may ironically be contributing millions of shillings to the informal economy. They are among a record 4.1 million out of an estimated 10.2 million children aged between five and 14 who are not attending school, according to preliminary data from the country’s 2000-2001 Child Labour Survey. Instead of learning, most of them are engaged in economic activities or in housekeeping. Often putting in long hours with little return, the children turn to this kind of employment as a last resort, a survival strategy against life’s daunting problems. According to a survey by the regional office of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Dar es Salaam, declining household income is among the chief motivating reasons behind Tanzania’s child labour situation. This makes it difficult for parents to meet their basic family obligations. Poverty levels have increased sharply in Tanzania since the 1990s, from 48 percent to 56 percent now. The ILO says HIV/AIDS pandemic has also impacted negatively on life expectancy and mortality rates, and which when combined with a low level of income and population increase has reduced overall human welfare. (PANA, Senegal, 21 June 2001)

* Tchad. Difficile contestation — Le 15 juin, le Comité politique d’action et de liaison (CPAL), qui regroupe quatre mouvements d’opposition tchadiens, a estimé dans un communiqué “nulles et non avenues” les dernières élections tchadiennes qui ont vu la réélection du président sortant Idriss Déby. Au même moment, une “grève d’avertissement”, lancée à l’encontre du pouvoir par les candidats de l’opposition, devait se dérouler dans la capitale tchadienne, mais elle a été peu suivie. Le lundi 18 juin, qui avait été décrété “journée pays mort” par l’opposition, l’activité était quasiment normale au Tchad: l’ensemble des commerces, marchés et banques étaient ouverts comme à l’accoutumée et les taxis et bus roulaient normalement. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 18 juin 2001)

* Chad. Finance secured for pipeline — ABN Amro has completed arrangements for a $600m project financing agreement to enable work to begin on the controversial oil pipeline from land-locked Chad to the Atlantic coast off Cameroon. It has taken ABN Amro and Crédit Agricole Indosuez 3½ years to conclude the complex deal, which brings together the World Bank, the European Investment Bank, and the US and French export credit agencies as well as the three oil multinationals with equity in the development. A syndicate of 16 other banks is also contributing. The agreement should finally enable Chad, one of Africa’s poorest countries, to exploit oil first discovered in the Doba basin more than three decades ago. The 1,080km pipeline will transport this from Doba down through the Cameroonian rainforest to an offshore storage and export facility in the Atlantic. It is due to be completed by 2003, with production at Doba estimated at 225,000 b/d and potential earnings for Chad of around $2bn during a 25-year production period. Until now, the project has faced numerous setbacks and delays. Environmentalists mounted stiff opposition, raising questions about the potential impact on Cameroon’s diminishing rainforests and their remote pygmy inhabitants. There were also concerns about Chad’s stability, with an upsurge of rebel opposition to the entrenched regime of President Idriss Deby in recent years in the northern, desert part of the country. Inhabitants of the southern region around Doba had meanwhile taken a cue from local activists in Nigeria’s impoverished oil-producing Niger Delta, demanding that they be fairly compensated for hosting the development. (Financial Times, UK, 21 June 2001)

* Tunisie. Grèves de la faim en série — Quatre militants tunisiens de défense des droits de l’homme et de RAID (Attac-Tunisie, non reconnu) ont annoncé qu’ils entament, le 14 juin, une grève de la faim illimitée pour obtenir la restitution de leurs passeports “arbitrairement confisqués” par le ministère de l’Intérieur, indique le journal Le Monde. Parmi eux, l’artiste-peintre Sadri Khiari, membre fondateur du Conseil national pour les libertés en Tunisie (non reconnu). Dans les prisons, pendant ce temps, les grèves de la faim se multiplient, avec comme objectif principal une amnistie générale (notamment la libération des prisonniers d’opinion et l’annulation des poursuites à l’encontre des défenseurs des droits humains). Ali Larayedh, ex-porte-parole du mouvement islamiste interdit Ennahda, emprisonné depuis plus de dix ans dans une cellule individuelle, refuse de s’alimenter depuis le 7 juin. 200 autres sympathisants d’Ennahda observeraient en ce moment un mouvement identique. - D’autre part, le 19 juin, l’opposant tunisien Mohamed Mouada, du Mouvement des démocrates socialistes, a été arrêté suite à l’annulation d’une liberté conditionnelle accordée après sa condamnation à onze ans de prison en 1996. Il se verrait reprocher une alliance avec le mouvement islamiste Ennahda. Par ailleurs, le défenseur des droits de l’homme Moncef Marzouki, condamné en 2000 à un an de prison mais laissé en liberté, doit comparaître le 23 juin devant la cour d’appel de Tunis. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 21 juin 2001)

* Uganda. Deteriorating situation in camps — MISNA reports that 14 Catholic priests from Katakwi District in Eastern Uganda have petitioned President Mugabe over the plight of people living in camps organised for internally displaced people. There are over 50,000 people displaced in Katakwi District alone, living in 37 camps. The priests say the people have been there since 1986 when the National Resistance Army took power. The commissioner for the Ugandan Human Rights who visited the camps described the situation as pathetic. People look desperate and are facing serious food shortages and a looming health epidemic. (MISNA, Italy, 18 June 2001)

* Uganda. Freer market gives coffee farmers more cash — The liberalisation of the coffee industry in Uganda improved the farmer’s share of the export price from below 20% in early 1990 to about 70% today, Uganda’s Prime Minister Prof. Apollo Nsibambi has said. Nsibambi said this in a speech read for him by the former Chief Justice of Uganda Samuel Wako Wambuzi at the opening of the regional conference on coffee and other tree crops at the Sheraton Hotel, June 17. The one-week regional conference, organised by the Eastern African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA) has drawn participants from Eastern, Central and Horn of Africa states, as well as global coffee organisations. «While the farmers would have had cause to celebrate however, the prices in the terminal markets have moved negatively against them,» Nsibambi said. He however said the situation was not so desperate for the farmers to lose hope. «The answer lies in your coming together and exchanging views and agreeing on a common strategy that you will adopt and follow in order to improve the well being of the producer,» he said. Nsibambi hailed EAFCA for their vision of enhancing quality and competitiveness of regional coffees in global markets. (New Vision, Uganda, 19 June 2001)

* Zambia. Tribunal begins probe of ministers — An independent tribunal on 18 June began probing allegations of corruption and abuse of office against three senior Zambian ministers who are close aides to President Frederick Chiluba. The tribunal is investigating the ministers for allegedly diverting more than $700,000 meant for road repairs to financing the April elections of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD). Finance Minister Katele Kalumba, Home Affairs Minister Peter Machungwa, and Works and Supplies Minister Godden Mandandi have publicly denied any wrongdoing. The three ministers are among Chiluba’s most trusted aides and are also members of MMD‘s powerful policy-making national executive committee. The tribunal, chaired by deputy chief justice David Lewanikawhich, will examine whether the ministers’ conduct breached parliamentary ethics. If the tribunal finds them guilty, they could lose their parliamentary seats and cabinet jobs. The scandal emerged after a divisive congress of the MMD voted in April to allow Chiluba to seek office for an unconstitutional third term. Each term lasts for five years. Under intense pressure and a cabinet revolt, Chiluba chose to step aside. Western countries that provide millions of dollars in foreign aid to the poor southern African country are watching the hearings closely. (CNN, USA, 18 June 2001)

* Zambia. «I was a stranger and you welcomed me» — Zambia’s Catholic Bishops have issued a Pastoral Letter on the Situation of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Zambia, on the occasion of World Refugee Day (20 June). It is also by way of preparation for the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia, scheduled to be held in Durban, South Africa, later this year. In the Letter, the Bishops state that it is the human and religious duty of every Zambian to welcome refugees and to offer them the opportunity of taking part in their social setting. The Bishops insist that while the refugees arrive in Zambia destitute and looking for protection, at the same time they come with all their potential to contribute to humanity. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 20 June 2001)

* Zambie. Appels des évêques pour les réfugiés — A l’occasion de la journée mondiale des réfugiés (20 juin) et en vue de la Conférence mondiale contre le racisme, la discrimination raciale et la xénophobie, les évêques zambiens ont publié une lettre pastorale («J’étais étranger, et vous m’avez accueilli») à lire dimanche 24 juin dans toutes les églises du pays. Devant des accusations systématiques de plus en plus nombreuses contre des réfugiés qui cherchent asile, les évêques mettent en garde la société zambienne contre un accroissement de la xénophobie. La Zambie a toujours gardé une tradition d’accueil pour les réfugiés venus d’autres pays (Zimbabwe, Namibie, Afrique du Sud, Mozambique, Angola, Grands Lacs...). Mais, selon les évêques, cette tradition semble mise en danger par la loi zambienne qui ne garanti pas aux réfugiés la liberté de mouvement, le droit à l’emploi ou à posséder des biens, et la nationalité à leurs enfants nés en Zambie. Les évêques demandent aux autorités d’accorder tous leurs droits aux réfugiés obligés de rester en Zambie pour de longues périodes et de les protéger de tout abus ou geste arbitraire. A la population, ils demandent de leur donner la possibilité de participer à toute la vie sociale, afin qu’ils puissent s’intégrer dans le pays et refaire leur vie dans la sécurité. Après avoir invité les fidèles et leurs pasteurs à ouvrir leurs communautés et leurs services sociaux à tous ces réfugiés, quelles que soient leur origine ou leur religion, les évêques parlent de la nécessité de réfléchir sur ce qui a amené les réfugiés dans le pays et sur la manière dont ils sont traités. Forcés par la guerre et la persécution à quitter leurs maisons et leurs familles, ils arrivent souvent dépourvus de tout, mais, riches de leurs traditions et de leur culture, ils apportent un potentiel humain qui peut contribuer à faire avancer le développement et à enrichir la société. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 20 juin 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Restrictions pour la presse internationale — Dans une lettre adressée au ministre zimbabwéen de la Communication, Jonathan Moyo, Reporters sans frontières a protesté contre les nouvelles restrictions imposées aux journalistes étrangers. RSF a demandé au ministre d’annuler ces mesures et de laisser les correspondants étrangers travailler en toute liberté sur le territoire zimbabwéen. Le 13 juin, le gouvernement a annoncé que les journalistes étrangers devront dorénavant demander leur accréditation auprès du Département de l’information au moins un mois avant leur entrée dans le pays. Les formalités de voyages ne pourront être engagées qu’après l’accord exprès du Département. Les correspondants étrangers déjà présents au Zimbabwe se sont vus intimer l’ordre de quitter le territoire afin d’effectuer leur demande d’accréditation depuis leur pays d’origine. (RSF, Paris, 15 juin 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Foreign reporters restricted — Zimbabwe has announced stricter conditions on foreign reporters requiring them to apply for official press accreditation at least a month before an intended visit. State media announced that applications now have to be submitted to the Information Ministry in Harare or through Zimbabwe’s diplomatic missions abroad. And journalists have been warned not to make travel plans until approval is given. The government has been waging a campaign against the independent media in Zimbabwe, with one eye on presidential elections scheduled for 2002. The BBC‘s Joseph Winter and another foreign reporter had to leave in February after officials accusing them of biased reporting against the government. Earlier this year, the printing presses of the Daily News, the country’s leading independent newspaper, were blown up. Information Minister Jonathan Moyo accuses opposition groups, independent and foreign journalists of working together to fuel violence. The government’s new conditions came a day after it announced the price of fuel was increasing by 70%. (BBC News, UK, 15 June 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Human rights group goes bankrupt — The Zimbabwe Human Rights Organisation (ZimRights), once the leading human rights watchdog in the country, is bankrupt. The human rights watchdog went broke following the withdrawal of funding by its major donors who are unhappy with the organisation’s in-house squabbles and the alleged infiltration of the group by agents of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), the Daily News reported. Munyaradzi Bidi, ZimRights’ national director, said: «We have serious financial problems. We have failed to pay our workers their salaries for May. I have not been paid either. Some donors have pulled out. We simply do not have institutional funding to meet our administrative functions. We are now poorer than we were four years ago.» Twelve organisations were ZimRights’ major donors. They included Norwegian People’s Aid, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Hivos, Danida, USAid, the European Union, Oxfam GB and the Norwegian and Swedish embassies. ZimRights sources said all donors had since stopped funding the organisation. (IRIN, Southern Africa, 15 June 2001

* Zimbabwe. Rapidly deteriorating political and economic situation — 19 June: The Financial Times says that President Mugabe has agreed to allow a top-level group of Commonwealth ministers to help resolve Zimbabwe’s rapidly deteriorating economic and political crisis. The expected initiative is expected to focus on the explosive question of land redistribution to landless black farmers, as well as on Zimbabwe’s wider economic plight. But, Reuters has quoted Mugabe’s spokesman as saying he was not aware of any talks around letting a Commonwealth team come to Zimbabwe. Reuters reports that riot police in Zimbabwe cleared barricades erected in a Harare township yesterday after protests against the 70% rise in petrol prices. Witnesses in the capital say new barricades were erected elsewhere. However, a bright note for a sombre situation — Zimbabwe hopes a solar eclipse this week will help revive an ailing tourism industry hit in the past year by the country’s political crisis. Travel agents say hundreds of tourists, mostly from Europe, have flocked to the country in the past week ahead of the eclipse on June 21, the first of this millennium. Northeast Zimbabwe, home to the spectacular Mana Pools resort, will experience a total eclipse of the sun on June 21 while in most other parts of the country at least 85 percent of the sun will be in shadow. Leslie Gwindi, who heads a committee promoting the eclipse to tourists, says most of Zimbabwe’s hotels, especially in the northeast, are already fully booked. This is good news for a tourism industry struggling to survive a decline in arrivals after the political violence that marked parliamentary elections last year and the government-sanctioned invasion of white farms by war veterans. Industry officials estimate that Zimbabwe’s tourism receipts fell by one-third to US $100 million last year from $150 million in 1999. «The eclipse gives us an opportunity to re-market Zimbabwe as a safe international tourism destination and everyone that comes here is going to be an ambassador for the country afterwards,» Gwindi told Reuters. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 19 June 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Mugabe backs plan for overseas land mission — President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe on Wednesday «welcomed» a Nigerian initiative for a ministerial mission of seven Commonwealth states «to look into ways of easing the difficulties in relations between Zimbabwe and Britain on the land issue». A statement issued after talks in Nairobi with Daniel arap Moi, Kenya’s president, marks a softening of Harare’s stance on foreign involvement in the dispute over land expropriation. But it is seen by opposition parties in Harare as an attempt to deflect attention from the broader issues of the breakdown in the rule of law and the conduct of free and fair elections. The joint statement refers also to «the recent failure of the British government to honour its obligation [to finance land reform] was noted to be the fundamental cause of the current misunderstanding between the two countries». This interpretation is also to be rejected by Britain, which argues that it is not the principle of land resettlement but the manner in which Harare has conducted it that accounts for the withdrawal of UK and other donor support. Donors are also likely to reject the Zimbabwe claim — also in the joint statement — that illegal occupation of land has been legalised by the government’s recent rural Land Occupiers Act. Political analysts say the focus on land in the statement is part of Harare’s strategy to split the mission by building a coalition with Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa against the «old» Commonwealth of Australia and the UK. The seventh member is Jamaica. (Financial Times, UK, 21 June 2001)