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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 12-07-2001

PART #3/4 - From COTE D'IVOIRE - RWANDA

* Côte d’Ivoire. Ouattara décline un poste à l’Onu — Le chef de file de l’opposition ivoirienne, l’ancien Premier ministre Alassane Ouattara, a refusé un poste de représentant des Nations unies au Congo-Kinshasa “en raison de ses engagements politiques en Côte d’Ivoire”, a indiqué son parti. (La Libre Belgique, 6 juillet 2001)

* Djibouti. 4 Afars au gouvernement — Le chef d’Etat de Djibouti, M. Guellah, a effectué un remaniement gouvernemental, comme il l’avait annoncé au mois de mars. Il n’a pas nommé de membres du FRUD, le groupe rebelle d’ethnie Afar avec lequel un accord de paix a été signé le 12 mai dernier; mais il a nommé quatre personnalités modérées de la même ethnie, et notamment Ismael Ibrahim Houmed, nouveau ministre de la Justice. (Misna, Italie, 6 juillet 2001)

* Ethiopie. Jugements sur la “terreur rouge” — Onze Ethiopiens, accusés de “génocide et crimes contre l’humanité” pour des faits commis durant la “terreur rouge” (1977-78) du régime militaro-communiste de Mengistu, ont été acquittés par la Haute Cour fédérale d’Ethiopie. La cour a ordonné la relaxe de ces prévenus, qui occupaient à l’époque des postes à responsabilité, estimant que le procureur spécial n’avait pu produire les preuves de la culpabilité des accusés. En revanche, 23 autres personnes accusées des mêmes crimes ont été reconnues coupables. (La Libre Belgique, 6 juillet 2001)

* Ethiopie. Une nouvelle vague d’arrestations — Dans une lettre adressée à Wolde Michael Chamo, ministre éthiopien de l’Information, Reporters sans frontières (RSF), organisation internationale de défense de la liberté de la presse, a protesté contre le maintien en détention de Merid Zelleke et Mengistu Wolde Selassie, rédacteurs en chef, respectivement, de l’hebdomadaire Satanaw et Moged, publiés en amharique, et contre la récente vague d’arrestations au sein de la presse privée. “Nous vous demandons de relâcher immédiatement les deux journalistes” a demandé Robert Ménard, secrétaire général de RSF. L’organisation a rappelé que M. Abid Hussain, rapporteur spécial des Nations unies sur la promotion et la protection du droit à la liberté d’opinion et d’expression, a affirmé dans un document publié en janvier 2000, que “pour des délits tels que ‘écrits diffamatoires’, ‘insultes’, ou ‘outrages envers le chef d’Etat’, les peines de prisons sont à la fois répréhensibles et hors de proportion avec le dommage subi par la victime”. (D’après RSF, France, 12 juillet 2001)

* Eritrea-Ethiopia. Building bridges — Senior officials from Eritrea, Ethiopia and the UN gathered at the weekend to officially open the Mereb Bridge linking Eritrea and Ethiopia. The original bridge had been destroyed during the war, but a new Bailey bridge was supplied by the Netherlands and constructed by an Indian company with the help of Slovak engineers. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 11 July 2001)

* Equatorial Guinea. State seeks increased oil stake — President Obiang Nguema of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea has said his country plans to renegotiate hydrocarbons contracts in its favour and to use a new national oil company to raise state participation gradually in licences, possibly up to a majority stake. Recent discoveries have boosted production from almost zero when Mobil made its first big discovery in 1996, to more than 200,000 barrels per day today. Production sharing contracts in three producing licences have already been changed at various times since 1997, largely with the result of raising the state’s share of early oil output. Speaking at a press conference on 6 July in Bata, Mr Obiang said though the state had acquired a minimum equity stake in oil licences, «that still does not satisfy us. The first contracts were damaging for the country,» he said. «The contracts can be modified. We think [Petroguinea] will keep negotiating with the companies to boost the percentage of royalties, the percentage of the participation in the crude oil, and... the percentage as a shareholder. We can even achieve up to 50 or 51 per cent, so as to be owner of these companies.» He did not say how these negotiations would proceed, which licences would be affected, or how long the process would take. Petroguinea was formed by presidential decree earlier this year, but foreign oil officials in Malabo said they were still waiting to see exactly how it would work. A foreign oil official said: «They are stretched thin now as regards skilled people. To take on ownership they are going to have to have the people that can assume that responsibility.» (Financial Times, UK, 9 July 2001)

* Guinea-Bissau. New bishop of Bafata — A Brazilian has been appointed bishop of the new diocese of Bafata in Guinea-Bissau. He is Father Carlos Pedro Zilli, a member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME). Father Zilli has been in Guinea-Bissau for 14 years. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 11 July 2001)

* Libya. Burkinabes and Ivorians bury hatchet — The President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Campaore, and his counterpart from Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, have agreed to end a period of bilateral tension. The two leaders, who met in the Libyan city of Sirte for talks brokered by the Libyan leader, Muammar Gadaffi, have agreed to work towards forming economic and cultural ties. Relations between the two West African countries have been strained by accusations that Burkina Faso was behind efforts to destabilise Mr Gbagbo’s government. The Ivorians have also blamed Burkina Faso and other neighbours of smuggling children into the Ivory Coast as slave labour on cocoa plantations. (BBC News, UK, 5 July 2001)

* Maroc. Ben Barka: le parti socialiste porte plainte — Le parti de l’Union socialiste des forces du progrès (USFP), dirigé par le Premier ministre marocain Youssoufi, a annoncé le 5 juillet son intention de porter plainte en justice après les dernières révélations sur l’affaire Ben Barka. Une plainte “sera déposée pour des crimes d’enlèvement, séquestration, tortures et assassinat devant le procureur de la cour d’appel de Rabat”. La justice marocaine ne s’est toujours pas saisie de ce que les autorités considéraient comme une “affaire franco-française”. C’est la première fois que le parti du Premier ministre commente les révélations faites, le 30 juin, par l’hebdomadaire marocain Le Journal et le quotidien français Le Monde sur les circonstances de la disparition en 1965 de l’ancien opposant socialiste marocain Mehdi Ben Barka. S’appuyant sur le témoignage d’un ancien standardiste des services secrets marocains, ils affirment notamment que Ben Barka a été enlevé à Paris sur ordre de Hassan II, torturé et assassiné par le général Oufkir, son cadavre transféré au Maroc avec des complicités françaises, et dissous dans une cuve d’acide avec l’assistance logistique de la CIA. (AP, 5 juillet 2001)

* Mozambique. President Chissano wants Zambezi bridge — The President of Mozambique, Joacim Chissano, has urged the World Bank to help build a bridge across the Zambezi River, which has become difficult to cross due to two consecutive years of flooding. The Finance ministry said Mr Chissano had raised the issue with the Bank’s managing director, Zhang Shengman. People wanting to cross the River, which cuts across the middle of the country, have to rely on ferry services which have been prone to disruption due to flooding. The cost of building a bridge is estimated at eighty million dollars. (BBC News, UK, 8 July 2001)

* Nigeria. Sokoto State orders 1st amputation under Islamic law — A state in northern Nigeria has approved amputation of the hand of a man convicted of stealing — the first such sentence since introduction of Islamic law there. The executive council of Sokoto state approved the sentence on 4 July. An Islamic, or sharia, court had convicted Umaru Aliyu of theft, and ordered his hand cut off at the wrist. Amputations, floggings, and executions for adultery are common forms of punishment in countries with the strictest form of Islamic religious law, such as Afghanistan. The punishments are new to Nigeria. The north of Nigeria is predominantly Muslim, and Islamic law was introduced in some states a year ago. Aliyu’s is the second amputation to be ordered by Islamic courts in northern Nigeria. The first was in Zamfara state, where a man’s hand was severed to punish him for stealing a cow. Aliyu refused his right of appeal, and instead confessed and accepted his sentence. On 5 July, it was not known what he had stolen, or when the sentence would be carried out. (CNN, USA, 5 July 2001)

* Nigeria/UK. Virgin enters BA‘s lucrative route to Nigeria — Virgin Atlantic, the UK airline, carried out its maiden voyage to Lagos on 5 July, signalling the end of British Airways’ monopoly on the lucrative route between London and Africa’s most populous nation. «It has been a long-held ambition of mine to fly to Nigeria and I am delighted that Virgin Atlantic is at last able to serve Lagos, a route which has been crying out for competition for such a long time,» Richard Branson, Virgin chairman, said on arrival. Virgin’s entry into Nigeria coincides with a dramatic upsurge in travel to and from the country, as well as a steep decline in air travel between other continents more directly hit by the global economic downturn. For BA, Virgin’s main competitor, Africa and the Middle East was the only region showing growth last month, recording a 9.9 per cent increase in revenue per passenger km compared with a decline of 18 per cent for Asia Pacific. Since the death in 1998 of Sani Abacha, the former military dictator, and Nigeria’s return to civilian rule two years ago, European airlines have frequently found themselves flooded with angry customers bumped off because of overbooking. Visa applications to Britain have more than doubled in three years with 95,000 multiple entry visas expected to be issued from Nigeria this year. At least 1m Nigerians are thought to reside in the UK. (Financial Times, UK, 6 July 2001)

* Nigeria. $93m approved for space agency — The Nigerian government has approved N10.5bn ($93m) of spending towards the development of a national space programme under the name of NASRDA — the National Space Research and Development Agency. Ojo Maduekwe, the transport minister, said after this week’s cabinet meeting that funding would be spread over the next four years, by which time the agency was expected to become self-sustainable. The programme was designed to advance the management through satellite technology of natural resources and telecommunications in Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous nation but, with an annual per capita gross domestic product of only $300, is one of the world’s poorest. NASRDA would be split into six centres including one handling space transport and propulsion. A space command centre at the defence ministry would also eventually be created. Rocket science, once explored obsessively by Mobutu Sese Seko, the late Zairian dictator, was not an early aim, said one official who has helped map out Nigeria’s first space policy over the past two years. «We are more interested in applications that will assist us in the alleviation of poverty, in food security, the sustainable management of our natural resources and improvement in our telecommunications,» he said. «Satellite data are useful for solving these problems. This is more important to us now than the luxury of going to the moon or Mars. We will leave that to the Americans and the Russians who have the money and technology.» Officials involved in Nigeria’s faltering IMF and World Bank-sponsored reform programme were sceptical. «It would be better to concentrate first on health, basic education and security of lives and property than on a space agency. I can’t imagine why this is appropriate at this stage given Nigeria’s real needs,» said one. (Financial Times, UK, 7 July 2001)

* Rwanda. Rwandan singer jailed for genocide role — A prominent Rwandan musician, Juvenal Masabo Nyangezi, has been jailed for six years for having associated with those who carried out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The French news agency, AFP, said that Mr Nyangezi, who gained fame in the 1990s for his songs about love, Rwanda’s landscape and its contemporary culture, was found guilty of having joined a group of people who killed Tutsis in the Gikongoro commune. The prosecution, which had sought a life sentence, said it would appeal against the ruling. (BBC News, UK, 8 July 2001)

* Rwanda. 10 condamnations à mort — Le 6 juillet, dix personnes ont été condamnées à mort par la justice rwandaise pour avoir participé au génocide de 1994. Le tribunal de Gikongoro a aussi condamné huit autres Rwandais à la prison à vie, au cours du procès de 28 personnes accusées de crimes contre l’humanité et de génocide. Cinq autres personnes ont été condamnées à des peines allant de 6 à 15 ans de prison et cinq ont été acquittées. La justice rwandaise a déjà prononcé plus d’une centaine de peines capitales depuis le début, en 1996, des procès du génocide. (La Libre Belgique, 11 juillet 2001)

* Rwanda. Bishop sees Kibeho as a source of reconciliation — «I hope that through Our Lady, Kibeho will become a centre for national reconciliation». Bishop Augustin Misago of Gikongoro said this in a conversation with Fides about the official recognition on the part of the local Church in Rwanda, of apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Kibeho in 1981 and during the following six months. It was Bishop Misago himself (since Kibeho is in his diocese) who made the announcement on June 29. Our Lady is said to have appeared to three local school girls, Alphonsine Mumureke, Nathalie Mukamazimpka and Marie Claire Mukankango. In the past in Africa many people have claimed that they have seen the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, but none of these apparitions were ever officially recognised. Fides asked Bishop Misago, who was head of the Kibeho Inquiry Commission and who has just written a book on the subject, about the significance of these events. «When the news of the first apparition in 1981 began to spread», he said, «all over the country people began to say they had seen the Virgin Mary. As a Church we judged the first apparitions to be sufficient for the ends of the faith. The others were imitations or in any case they bring nothing new to the original apparitions at Kibeho». Since 1981, Kibeho became a place for pilgrimages and prayer meetings led by bishops. The approval of the devotion was granted in 1988. But Kibeho was also the site of massacres during the 1994 ethnic genocide. Regarding the impact on the life of the local Church and the process of reconciliation of the people of Rwanda, Bishop Misago said: «First of all I hope that through Our Lady, Kibeho will become a national centre for reconciliation. Marian devotion has certainly increased and so have pilgrimages to Kibeho. Although unfortunately the general situation of instability in the country, limits the movement of people and so also the flow of pilgrims». (Fides, Vatican City, 11 July 2001)

* Rwanda/Ouganda. Régler le différend — Le 6 juillet, le président rwandais Paul Kagamé et son homologue ougandais Yoweri Museveni se sont engagés à rétablir de bonnes relations entre leurs deux pays, désunis par la guerre au Congo-RDC. A l’issue d’une rencontre de trois heures dans une tente au poste-frontière de Gatuna, les deux ont plaidé, dans une déclaration commune, pour “l’amélioration et le renforcement des relations entre les deux pays et l’extension de leur coopération”. Les relations entre le Rwanda et l’Ouganda s’étaient dégradées, jusqu’à l’affrontement entre leurs armées en 1999 à Kisangani. Pour Museveni “l’affaire est close”. Kagamé, plus prudent, a déclaré qu’il fallait attendre de voir “si les discussions s’avèrent fructueuses” sur le terrain. (La Libre Belgique, 7 juillet 2001)

* Rwanda/Uganda. Seeking to mend rift — 6 July: President Yoweri Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, are meeting, today, at Katuna border post — a stretch of no-man’s land which lies between their two countries. The meeting is the first of its kind in close to a year and the presidents will be trying to find ways to repair their damaged relationship. Uganda and Rwanda were once the firmest of allies, with Uganda supporting Mr Kagame when his then rebel army fought its way to power in 1994. However, they fell out two years ago, soon after both countries decided to back rebels fighting the government in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite being on the same side, rival political and business interests led to a series of violent clashes between their armies in the north-eastern Congolese city of Kisangani. Neither side accepts blame and this year they have gone so far as to accuse each other of backing dissidents fighting their respective governments. Tensions reached an all-time low in March when Uganda formally declared Rwanda a hostile nation, ranking it alongside its traditional enemies — Sudan, and the Congo —with which it is at war. In a joint statement following the meeting, the two Presidents said they would work closely to promote peace in the region. (BBC News, UK, 6 July 2001)