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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 27-09-2001

PART #1/4 - From AFRICA to BOTSWANA

* Africa. Aftermath to World Conference on Racism — Although Africa did not achieve most of its demands during the UN Durban Conference on Racism, the Conference for the first time in world history highlighted the brutalities which African people have suffered for over 500 years under slavery and colonization. «The European states were forced to reluctantly accept their responsibility and make a sound apology, even though they refused to accept the principle of reparations,» J.D Akumu, Chairman of the Pan-African Reparation Forum (PAN-REF) said in a Press Statement. Mr. Akumu said that all the African NGOs who attended the Conference, have accepted the current declaration, but only as a first step towards correcting the wrongs which Africans have suffered. The Statement reaffirms that Africans in Africa and Africans in the diaspora are determined to continue to press for serious corrective measures. The PAN-REF demanded that states, businesses, churches, communities etc. who perpetrated and benefited from slavery and the slave trade, and from colonization, should apologize to «our race for the wrong they have done.» Mr. Akumu added that it is «important to note that the German and French governments have taken a more understanding position than the British and American governments.» The Forum also rejected what is termed «an attempt to link reparations for inhuman acts, with Official Development Assistance. This is an insult to the African peoples’ dignity and we trust that no African government will contemplate accepting the linkage». (Thomas Omondi, Kenya, 12 September 2001)

* Afrique. Sida: perspectives effrayantes — Le VIH-SIDA fera plus de 10 millions de victimes en Afrique subsaharienne d’ici 2015. D’après un rapport de la Communauté de développement de l’Afrique australe (SADC), qui rassemble 14 pays de la région, le nombre de malades a considérablement augmenté. En 1995, 200.000 personnes étaient atteintes par le virus dans la région. Un an plus tard ce chiffre a doublé, dépassant la barre symbolique du million de cas en 1997. Entre 1990 et 1998, l’espérance de vie a diminué de 12,66 ans au Zimbabwe, de 10,55 ans au Botswana, de 8,73 ans en Afrique du Sud et 8,65 ans en Zambie. L’ONUSIDA estime qu’en 1999 le sida a fait plus de 250.000 victimes en Afrique du Sud, où cette maladie est devenue la première cause de mortalité. (AP, 20 septembre 2001)

* Africa. Action against the Media — Egypt: A state security court has convicted Mamdouh Mahran of undermining public security, publishing scandalous photo, insulting religion, and causing civil turmoil. Eritrea: In a letter addressed to the President of the Republic (19 September), Reporters sans Frontières protested against the suspension of all 8 private  newspapers in the country. — According to diplomatic sources, at least seven journalists working for the independent press have been arrested since 23 September. On 24 September it was reported that two journalists have fled Eritrea and are now in Sudan. They are Milkias Mehretab and Semere Teazaz who were working for the Keste Debena weekly newspaper. Liberia: In a 20 September letter to President Charles Taylor, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) protested the unlawful detention of T-max Jlateh, a journalist with the private radio station DC 101.1. He was arrested on 17 September. Senegal: On 24 September, the CPJ expressed «deep concern» at what it described as the increased harassment of Senegalese journalists since President Wade took office in April 2000. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 25 September 2001)

* Africa. Combatting terrorism — Algeria: The Algerian authorities have said they are furnishing the American Government with the names of Algerians abroad they believed were linked to Bin Laden. Kenya: Kenya has pledged to help the US-led anti-terrorism coalition. Foreign Minister Chris Obure has said: «The government of Kenya is committed to working with the US government and other governments to respond firmly and decisively to acts of terrorism.» Morocco: Morocco has deported to France an Algerian national whom Algeria has accused of having links with an Islamist faction supported by Osama Bin Laden. The Moroccan security services said that Kamar Eddine Kherbane had been expelled following questioning about allegations of arms smuggling to Algeria. He was due to be deported to Britain where he has been living as a political refugee for some years. However the authorities seem to have put Mr Kherbane on a plane bound for Paris. By doing so the Moroccan Government has ignored an extradition request by the Algerian authorities who stated that Mr Kherbane was a wanted criminal and was linked to Bin Laden. That is not clear, but it is known that Mr Kherbane was a founder member of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in Algeria as well as being a former airforce pilot and a former Islamist fighter in Afghanistan at the same time as Bin Laden. A spokesperson for the British embassy in Rabat said that Mr Kherbane was free to return to Britain. He had been visiting his imprisoned brother-in-law in Morocco on a legitimate British travel document though contrary to reports he does not have a British passport. Senegal: The President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, has called for an African pact against terrorism. Mr Wade, speaking in Paris, urged African leaders to come together following last week’s attacks in America to ensure terrorist groups were deprived of any kind of support in Africa. He suggested that the Organisation of African Unity establish a seven-member committee of African heads of state to ensure that no country on the continent offered sanctuary to terrorist  groups, much less money or aid. Senegal’s population is 95% Muslim, but fundamentalist Islam is not common and relations with the Christian minority are good. Somalia: Somalia’s transitional government has said that Osama Bin Laden would not be welcome there and has pledged to help the United States fight terrorism. US intelligence has suggested that the man, named as the prime suspect for the 11 September suicide attacks on the US, may be heading for Somalia. US intelligence sources have said that Bin Laden is preparing to flee Afghanistan for Somalia and diplomats in east Africa have said that some radical Islamic groups in Somalia may be linked to his al-Qaeda network. They also say that he has been preparing to send his wives and family members to meet him there. South Africa: South Africa has reaffirmed its support for President Bush’s international coalition against terrorism. Uganda: Uganda has said it will support the US. «We will put all our means at the disposal of the international community in the fight against international terrorism,» new Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi has told the French news agency, AFP. Tunisia: On 24 September, prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi pledged his country’s support for a global coalition to combat international terrorism. ANB-BIA, Brussels, 25 September 2001)

* Africa/USA. FBI seek Bin Laden links in Africa — The FBI is stepping up its hunt across Africa for suspects wanted in connection with their investigation into the recent suicide attacks on New York and Washington. Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa have all been given long lists of names of people believed to be linked to the prime suspect behind the attacks, the Saudi-born militant Osama Bin Laden. Officials from the FBI and the CIA have been in Sudan for a year, where Bin Laden was based until 1996. More than 200 people died in bomb attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, also linked to Bin Laden. United States investigators are also reported to be scrutinising banking transactions in Kenya’s second city of Mombasa. Bin Laden’s organisation is thought to be a loose coalition of groups operating across continents with US officials believing that his associates may operate in more than 40 countries. Tracking the people, the front organisations and the financial infrastructure of this network, is an immensely complex task. (BBC News, UK, 24 September 2001)

* Africa/France. Paris seeks to honour colonial Algerian support — On 25 September, France sought to make amends for one of the most shameful episodes in its colonial history when President Jacques Chirac unveiled a plaque commemorating the thousands of Algerians massacred  for supporting the French military when the country gained independence in 1962. The memorial to the deaths of these people — estimated at 100,000 — was a tardy recognition by the French state that these harkis had been abandoned to their fate in independent Algeria, where they were seen as collaborators. On 25 September, Mr Chirac talked of the events as a «terrible tragedy» and said: «The massacres committed in 1962, affecting the military as well as civilians, women as well as children, will forever leave the irreparable imprint of barbarism and they must be recognised as such.» Mr Chirac, who served as a conscript in Algeria during the bitter six-year struggle for independence, added: «This duty to confront the truth and accept what happened is both a debt of honour and an obligation for the president of the republic and the head of the armed forces.» Under the March 1962 Evian Treaty that granted Algeria independence, the Algerian signatories promised to take no action against those who had supported the French presence. In theory, this guaranteed protection for the large number of Algerians who had been on the French payroll as support troops and police but seen as collaborators by the Algerian nationalists. The French authorities were reluctant to take more than 20,000 into mainland France for fear of encouraging a broader flight of Muslims from newly independent Algeria, when already there was a mass exodus of French «colons». But Paris also declined to let those remaining keep their weapons for self-protection on the grounds that this might destabilise a fragile peace. The number of those killed in 1962 as a result of these reprisals has never been established with precision but range from 100,000 to 150,000. Those who escaped and managed to obtain residence in France first had to spend a long time in internment camps run by the French army. Some 400,000 harkis or their children and grand-children are estimated to be now resident in France. Successive French administrations’ refusal to confront the failure to protect the harkis in part was conditioned by fears of resurrecting the many painful and unpleasant episodes in the Algerian war of independence. There were also concerns about the impact of such a move on delicate diplomatic relations with Algeria. (Financial Times, UK, 26 September 2001)

* Algeria. USA gets «terror list» — Algeria is reportedly co-operating with the US in the international alliance against terrorism. State media reports that it has handed over to Washington a list of 350 Islamist militants known to be abroad and whom Algerian intelligence believes are likely to have links to Osama Bin Laden. Reports from Algiers suggests that for the first time, security services there are prepared to tell the Americans everything they know about Algerian Islamists abroad and whether they might be involved in the al-Qaeda network established by Osama bin Laden. Sources in the Algerian government say the Americans are being handed two  documents. One of them contains about 350 profiles of Algerian Islamist militants living abroad. Some will be moderates but others are believed by the Algerian authorities to be highly suspect. The Algerians are also reported to be providing a list of 2,000 names of known members of the two Islamist organisations accused of killing civilians in Algeria — the GIA and the GSPC. These militants are thought to be active mainly in Algeria itself though some may well be dead. The GSPC, which is believed by the Algerian authorities to have been created by Osama Bin Laden, issued a warning this week that it will target westerners in Algeria if Afghanistan is attacked. Security has been intensified around western embassies and businesses. After meetings in recent days the Algerian government took the decision to give its full support to the American-led campaign against terrorism saying they were fighting a common enemy. But the government has said any action involving Algeria must not take the form of a war against a country, religion, people or culture. (BBC News, UK, 20 September 2001)

* Algérie. Regain de violence — Un civil, un garde communal, un élément des Groupes de légitime défense (GLD) et sept islamistes armés ont été tués entre jeudi et samedi (20-22 septembre) dans l’est algérien, rapporte dimanche la presse algérienne. Un commerçant a été assassiné samedi matin par un groupe armé près de la mosquée au centre-ville de Thénia. Vendredi, un groupe armé a tué un garde communal et un membre des GLD à un faux barrage près de Meghraoua, dans la région de Médéa. Dans l’extrême est du pays, près de Bir El Ater, dans la région de Tebessa, quatre islamistes armés ont été abattus et deux autres arrêtés, le jeudi, dans une opération de ratissage. Trois autres islamistes armés ont été tués dans un accrochage au sud de la commune de Aïn El Melh. -Treize autres personnes ont été assassinées mercredi soir, 26 septembre, par un groupe armé àLarba, à trente kilomètres au sud d’Alger, a rapporté jeudi le quotidien Liberté. Cette nouvelle tuerie a visé une famille qui célébrait un mariage dans un village de la Mitidja, la riche plaine agricole aux portes de la capitale. La Mitidja n’avait pas connu d’attentats et de massacres depuis plusieurs mois, alors qu’elle a été de 1993 à 1999 un fief des groupes armés islamistes qui y faisaient régner la terreur. Depuis un mois ces groupes semblent vouloir revenir à Alger et dans ses environs proches. Depuis le début du mois de septembre, au moins 140 personnes ont été tuées dans des violences armées en Algérie, selon un bilan établi à partir de la presse et de sources officielles. (Le Soir et La Libre Belgique, 24-27 septembre 2001)

* Algérie. Kabylie: vers des pourparlers — 23 septembre. La coordination des comités de villages de Kabylie a décidé d’organiser deux marches nationales pour commémorer le soulèvement populaire  du 5 octobre. La première sera organisée à Alger et regroupera uniquement les délégués des comités de villages. La seconde, de plus grande envergure, aura lieu à Tizi-Ouzou. Les comités qui essayent de coordonner le mouvement de protestation, vont réitérer leurs revendications, notamment les sanctions contre les gendarmes auteurs de dépassements, ainsi que la reconnaissance de la langue Amazigh. - 24 septembre. Selon le journal officiel El Moudjahid, le président Bouteflika a demandé à son Premier ministre d’engager des pourparlers officiels avec les militants berbères et il a invité la coordination des comités de villages à lui remettre leurs principales revendications. C’est la première fois que le chef de l’Etat s’implique de cette façon dans la gestion du mouvement kabyle. La plate-forme adoptée par le mouvement le 11 juin à El Kseur (capitale de la petite Kabylie) comporte 15 revendications principales, dont un plan économique d’urgence pour la Kabylie. 25 septembre. Au lendemain de l’offre de dialogue faite par le chef de l’Etat, la réaction des comités de villages est plutôt au rejet, en attendant le conclave interne prévu pour le 27. Ils restent sceptiques quant à la sincérité des autorités; certaines revendications, à leur avis, n’ont pas besoin de négociations mais plutôt de réponses concrètes et immédiatement exécutoires. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 25 septembre 2001)

* Algeria. Berbers reject president’s offer — Leaders of the Berber movement in Algeria have rejected an offer by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to officially receive their list of 15 demands for social and political changes. The movement says it intends to go ahead with a mass rally next month. Berber representatives meeting in the Kabylie regional capital, Tizi Ouzou, said it was too late for the government to be making such an offer after five months of confrontation in which at least 80 people have died and hundreds have been injured. The demands include legal action against Algerian police involved in killing Berber civilians, an economic plan to end social deprivation in the Kabylie region and state recognition of the Berber language and culture. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 25 September 2001)

* Angola. Savimbi traqué — Selon le ministre angolais de la Défense, le chef des rebelles de l’Unita se serait réfugié au Burkina Faso. Jonas Savimbi avait été déclaré “criminel de guerre” en 1999. En dépit d’une loi d’amnistie votée l’an dernier, le gouvernement angolais a lancé ces derniers mois une campagne diplomatique afin de tenter de convaincre la communauté internationale de créer un tribunal spécial et de juger le chef de la rébellion pour “crimes contre l’humanité”. - Le 24 septembre, le ministère des Affaires étrangères du Burkina Faso a cependant démenti  catégoriquement la présence de Savimbi au Burkina. Le porte-parole a rappelé que Savimbi était interdit de séjour au Burkina Faso, qui “respecte et applique les résolutions pertinentes du Conseil de sécurité”. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 25 septembre 2001)

* Angola. Rebel activity — 20 September: The United Nations Security Council urges Angolan rebels to end their attacks on civilian targets and begin talks with the government on ending a civil war that has raged in Angola for over a quarter of a century. The Council condemns «in the strongest possible terms, the terrorist attacks by UNITA forces on the civilian population of Angola». 25 September: Power supplies are interrupted in many parts of the Angolan capital Luanda after suspected members of Unita attack an electrical substation in the outskirts of the city. Not since 1992 has Unita managed to stage an attack so close to the capital. The attack takes place in the early hours of the morning in Viana, 16km from central Luanda, and well within the limits of the greater Luanda area. An explosion that damages the substation is followed by an exchange of fire in which a soldier from the Angolan armed forces and two Unita fighters are reported to have been killed. But one eyewitness tells a local radio station that no attempt had been made to pursue the attackers. Power has only been supplied intermittently in various parts of the capital since then, and towns up to 60km away are reported to be without electricity. This is the first time Unita has struck within the greater Luanda area since 1992 when rebels were driven from the city after losing Angola’s first and only democratic election and taking up arms once again. Since then, Unita’s conventional military capacity has been virtually destroyed. But in the last six months, the rebels have managed to regroup as a guerrilla force, staging a number of attacks on towns in the north-west of the country. Their object appears to be to sow terror in the area surrounding the capital, which is also the heartland of the ruling MPLA party. — Unita warns that the civil war will continue unless the 1994 peace pact is renegotiated. — Burkina Faso’s Foreign Ministry categorically denies the reported presence in Burkina Faso of Jonas Savimbi. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 26 September 2001)

* Angola. Sanctions reconduites contre l’Unita — Le 24 septembre, le président américain G.W. Bush a prorogé d’une année les sanctions contre l’Unita, estimant que ce mouvement représente toujours une menace pour la paix. Les sanctions prises par les Etats-Unis depuis 1993 interdisent notamment toute livraison d’armes ou de pétrole à l’Unita, ainsi que l’importation de certains diamants d’Angola. Elles gèlent aussi ses avoirs aux Etats-Unis. L’Unita, dirigée par Jonas Savimbi, est tenue  par l’Onu pour la principale responsable de la reprise d’une guerre civile qui a fait, en 24 ans, au moins 500.000 morts en Angola. (La Croix, France, 26 septembre 2001)

* Benin. Benin moves against child slavery — The authorities in Benin have taken new measures to stop children being sent to other countries in West Africa to work as child labourers. The Minister of Family Affairs, Alassane Biga, said it was now mandatory to have a certificate in order to travel outside the country with children below the age of 15. The certificate would be free but those who violated the requirement would face the full force of the law. The measure comes amid growing concerning over the trafficking of young children in West Africa to work on cocoa and coffee plantations. In April a ship carrying dozens of children from Benin became the focus of an international search effort amid suspicions that the minors were being sent to work on farms in the region. (BBC News, UK, 26 September 2001)

* Bénin. Trafic d’enfants — Le Bénin a décidé de soumettre la sortie des mineurs du territoire national à une “autorisation préalable”, afin de lutter contre le trafic d’enfants, a-t-on appris le 26 septembre de source officielle. Le Bénin est considéré depuis quelques années comme une plaque tournante du trafic de mineurs en Afrique de l’Ouest. Plus de 5.000 enfants ont été interceptés par la police aux frontières du pays ces cinq dernières années. (La Croix, France, 27 septembre 2001)

* Botswana. Demandeurs d’asile rapatriés — Le 20 septembre, un magistrat botswanais a décidé de rapatrier 13 Namibiens recherchés dans leur pays pour des infractions allant de la possession illégale d’armes à la haute trahison. Le juge a notamment précisé que l’octroi du statut de réfugié aux Namibiens, originaires de la Bande de Caprivi, équivaudrait à utiliser le Botswana comme tremplin pour des actes de terrorisme. Les 13 Namibiens sont membres du Parti démocratique uni et de l’Armée de libération de Caprivi. Ils avaient traversé la frontière en octobre 1998 avec leur leader Mishake Muyongo après un soulèvement dans le but de se séparer de la Namibie. Leur présence avait créé un refroidissement entre Windhoek et Gaborone, jusqu’à ce que Muyongo et un certain nombre de ses principaux associés soient évacués vers le Danemark où ils ont bénéficié de l’asile politique. (PANA, Sénégal, 20 septembre 2001)

* Botswana/Namibia. A court wants Caprivi separatists deported — On 20 September, A Magistrate’s Court in Gaborone, Botswana, ordered that 13 alleged Caprivi (Namibia) secessionists, currently detained in Botswana, be sent back to Namibia to stand trial. If extradited,  the 13 would join 128 other persons now in police custody at Grootfontein, Namibia, on charges of high treason, with their trial billed for February 2002. Counsel for the defence Tengo Rubadiri, attacked the extradition request arguing that his clients would not receive a fair trial in Namibia. Rubadiri maintained that whatever offenses they are said to have committed in Namibia were political crimes that do not warrant extradition. The Namibian government last year requested that Botswana hand over the 13 suspects for trial. They are wanted in Namibia for allegedly taking part in a plot to secede the Caprivi region from the rest of Namibia in August 1999. It is alleged that they launched attacks on the town of Katima Mulilo on 2 August 1999, targeting the local police station, a military base and airport, the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation’s regional office as well as other government installations there. Some of them are also accused of armed robbery, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and murder, as some 10 people died in the violence. (PANA, Senegal, 20 September 2001)