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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 31-10-2001

PART #4/4 - From SOUTH AFRICA to  ZIMBABWE

* South Africa. Floral riches at risk — A UK-based group, Fauna and Flora International (FFI), is working with South African colleagues to save the unique Cape floral kingdom. It contains about 8,500 species, 5,800 of them found nowhere else on Earth. But 1,400 species are thought to be critically endangered and close to extinction. Now, conservationists have worked out a plan to protect the area against the multiple threats it faces. There are six floral kingdoms on Earth — the Antarctic, Australasian, Boreal, Neotropic, Palaeotropic, and the Cape. Each is distinguished by the number of endemic species it contains (species found nowhere else). The Cape floral kingdom is botanically more diverse than the richest tropical rainforest. It occupies about 90,000 square kilometres (35,000 square miles) at Africa’s southern tip, stretching along the coast either side of the Cape of Good Hope. The main plant community is known as the fynbos, Afrikaans for «fine bush», and a reference to the fine-leaved shrubby species that make up much of the vegetation. The fynbos constitutes 80% of the Cape floral kingdom. The fynbos also contains many broad-leaved species, and it resembles other vegetation types like the Mediterranean maquis. It contains more than 7,000 species, nearly 5,000 of them endemic. It produces a huge and colourful display of wild flowers, and is the origin of familiar plants like proteas, geraniums and freesias. (BBC News, UK, 18 October 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Winnie Mandela inculpée — Le 18 octobre, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, l’ex-épouse de l’ancien président sud-africain Nelson Mandela, a été inculpée pour fraude et vol dans une affaire de prêts bancaires. Elle s’est vue notifier 60 chefs d’inculpation pour fraude et 25 autres pour vol, portant sur un montant global d’environ 1 million de rands ($110.000). Elle a été remise en liberté provisoire contre versement d’une caution et sera reconvoquée le 20 novembre. Plusieurs fois mise en cause à la fin des années 90 dans des affaires de meurtres et d’enlèvements commis par son entourage aux temps de la lutte contre l’apartheid, Winnie Mandela a toujours réussi à s’en sortir et à conserver sa popularité dans les townships. (D’après Libération, France, 19 octobre 2001)

* South Africa. Study Aid Scheme — South Africa’s student financial aid scheme, which is year spending 26 million pounds supporting more than 81,000 needy scholars, is to be reviewed under the Department of Education’s new National Plan for Higher Education. The government wants to know how the scheme can help improve access to public higher education, which is faced with dwindling student numbers, and how it can raise student success rates. Pretoria has also asked the scheme’s board to review income cut-off levels, coverage, the practice of not providing full-cost loans and the possibility of targeting priority fields for support. The Education Minister, Professor Kader Asmal, says the government was committed to ensuring that able but poor students were not excluded from higher education. The importance, attached to student aid, he says, is indicated by the fact that the scheme became a statutory agency in 2000, and by state allocations of 2.1 billion rands since 1994. A total of 2.9 billion rands has been spent on loans and bursaries since then. Numbers of students helped rose from 72,000 in 1996 to 81,000 this year. All in all, more than 376000 poor students received financial assistance in the five years to 2000. Loan recovery from graduates has begun in earnest, with 27.5 million recovered in the past financial year. Roy Jackson, chief executive officer of the Tertiary Education Fund that operates the scheme, expects 160 million rands to be recovered in the current financial year, thanks to new laws that enable the fund to dock repayments from graduates’ salaries via employers and banks. Universities and technikons are allocated funds to cover the fees of poor students according to the demographic profile of their students. Students are eligible for loans and bursaries that cover fees, accommodation and books, based on their academic potential and family income. Those who achieve good results are able to convert 40 per cent of their loan into a bursary that does not have to be repaid, providing an incentive to succeed. (James Brew, ANB-BIA, South Africa, 21 October 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Violences xénophobes — Le lundi 22 octobre, la police a tiré des balles en caoutchouc pour disperser une foule qui venait d’incendier deux baraquements de Zimbabwéens dans un bidonville de Zandspruit (Johannesburg), a annoncé la radio sud-africaine. La veille, 105 habitations de fortune occupées par des Zimbabwéens avaient été détruites et 174 pillées dans le même campement, qui compte 50.000 habitants. La population du bidonville avait adressé un ultimatum aux Zimbabwéens, exigeant qu’ils quittent les lieux dans les dix jours. Après l’expiration de ce délai, ils ont décidé d’expulser les Zimbabwéens et de détruire leurs baraques. Des habitants ont expliqué qu’ils étaient furieux de constater que les Zimbabwéens avaient un travail, alors qu’eux étaient sans emploi. Ils ont aussi ajouté que les étrangers étaient responsables de la criminalité. - Dans la nuit du 23 octobre, il y a eu d’autres incendies et pillages à Zandspruit. Malgré une forte présence de la police, d’autres maisons appartenant à des Zimbabwéens ont été incendiées. Des milliers de Zimbabwéens terrifiés sont allés se réfugier au poste de police voisin d’Honeydew. La police a arrêté 20 personnes accusées de violences. La Commission sud-africaine des droits de l’homme a condamné les attaques. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 24 octobre 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Sida: Mbeki récidive — Le président sud-africain Thabo Mbeki a déclaré que les traitements antirétroviraux étaient aussi dangereux que le sida. Mbeki avait déjà mis en cause le lien entre VIH et sida, et le rapport du Conseil de la recherche médicale sud-africain, selon lequel le sida est la principale cause de mortalité dans le pays. (Libération, France, 25 octobre 2001)

* South Africa. «Co-operative government» — 29 October: South Africa’s white-led opposition alliance has collapsed after the defection of the New National Party (NNP), the rump of the old apartheid movement, to seek an accommodation with the African National Congress. Its split from the Democratic Alliance, which it created 16 months ago with the Democratic Party and a small Afrikaner nationalist party, was brought about by the sacking of Cape Town’s NNP mayor for his role in fabricating petitions in support of re-naming streets after former Presidents Mandela and de Klerk. 30 October: The NNP is in crisis as many members express opposition to a leadership decision to forge an alliance with the ANC. However, the NNP‘s leader, Marthinius van Schalkwyk, says his party is not seeking to merge with the ANC, but is interested in «Co-operative government». (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 31 October 2001)

* Soudan. Attaques des zones pétrolières — Entre le 12 et le 20 octobre, les rebelles du SPLA (Armée populaire de libération du Soudan) ont attaqué trois zones pétrolières situées dans les Etats d’Al Wihda, Nil supérieur et Bahr el-Ghazal. Selon le porte-parole des rebelles, ceux-ci auraient tué plus de 400 soldats et se seraient emparés d’un grand nombre d’armes et de munitions. Il a précisé que les opérations continueraient pour paralyser le business de l’or noir, à l’origine de “la mort et la fuite des habitants, et dont les gains renforcent le régime terroriste de Khartoum”. Les rebelles relancent leur ultimatum aux compagnies pétrolières, les sommant de quitter le pays. -D’autre part, dans la nuit du 20 au 21 octobre, un avion de l’armée gouvernementale a bombardé des villages de la zone de Sopo, dans l’ouest du Bahr el-Ghazal, faisant 12 morts et de nombreux blessés. Selon le SPLA, les bombes utilisées étaient des bombes au napalm. 24 heures après le raid, les zones touchées étaient toujours en flammes. Le SPLA a demandé que des experts internationaux vérifient la nature des explosifs largués. (D’après Misna, Italie, 22 octobre 2001)

* Swaziland. Democracy meetings broken up — 20 October: Police in Swaziland have forcibly broken up a banned news conference organised by a pro-democracy alliance. The meeting with journalists was called to announce a programme of action to win the release of a detained opposition politician on treason charges. But the police issued a statement saying it could not go ahead because «such a conference will adversely affect the security of the country». Thulani Mthethwa of the Guardian newspaper of Swaziland, who was at the press conference, said: «They have ordered everybody, local and regional journalists to leave the house, and have assaulted one photographer,». The Swaziland Democratic Alliance includes civic groups, opposition parties, students and trade unionists. Alliance representative Jan Sithole said that protesters were prepared to pay any price for freedom. Detained politician Mario Masuku, of the People’s United Democratic Movement is facing charges of sedition and faces up to 20 years in jail. Mr Sithole said Mr Masuku had been detained because of the views he was expressing, which were not treasonous by international standards. A year ago Mr Masuku had called on Swazis at a rally to «do away with the Mswati government» — referring to King Mswati III. 27 October: Opposition grows against the king’s order for teenage girls to preserve their virginity, as it appears that the army could get involved. 29 October: Riot police have contained a pro-democracy protest outside the High Court. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 30 October 2001)

* Tchad. Grève dans le secteur sanitaire — Le 24 octobre, le gouvernement a ordonné aux fonctionnaires de la santé publique de reprendre le travail dans les hôpitaux de la capitale N’Djamena. Une centaine de professionnels sont touchés par cette décision. Le 15 octobre, les fonctionnaires de la santé publique avaient entamé une grève pour forcer le gouvernement à payer des arriérés de salaire. A travers le pays, les hôpitaux et les centres de santé fontionnent avec un personnel réduit. La décision du gouvernemnt est fondée sur un décret présidentiel stipulant qu’en cas de grève le gouvernement a le pouvoir d’appeler les fonctionnaires à reprendre le travail. (IRIN, Abidjan, 25 octobre 2001)

* Uganda. Modernisation programme — The Government is soon to undertake a $100 million public sector reform programme to modernize the civil service and workforce as a whole, government officials say. Under the Uganda Capacity and Performance Enhancement Programme (CAPEB), the civil service will adopt business-like strategies, including Result Oriented Management and output-oriented budgeting. The CAPEB targets professional bodies like the 1,500 strong Uganda Institute of Engineers, which will be restructured along UK standards. Makerere University will attain 100% staffing (up from 50%) and be upgraded in several sectors. The World Bank team under Denyse Movin, completed the CAPEB blueprint. It is hoped to fill at least 56,000 skilled jobs in the public sector and attempt to lessen excessive reliance on expatriates — estimated to be 5,000 in 900 projects in the public sector. The Capacity Building Secretariat will implement the CAPEB, and will be observed by an inter-ministerial team, from the Ministry of Public Service and the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. (Crespo Sebunya, ANB-BIA, Uganda, 15 October 2001)

* Uganda. President Museveni in the driving seat — Tongues have been wagging in the capital, Kampala, since a Ugandan newspaper on 17 October reported that their president has just acquired his first driving licence. The Monitor newspaper said President Yoweri Museveni had been issued with a permit, and there are no previous records of him having had one. However, the paper was unable to unearth anyone who could confirm that he had in fact taken a driving test. Indeed, it seems inconceivable that anyone would have dared test President Museveni’s driving skills before issuing him with a licence. Businessman George Mwenda suggested as much. «He’s the president. Did he really go through a driving test like the rest of us do? I bet it is a fix.» There is also a theory being put forward that his acquiring of a driving licence could be Mr Museveni starting to prepare for civilian life, despite his being re-elected earlier this year for another term in office. (BBC News, UK, 18 October 2001)

* Vatican. Message du synode des évêques — A l’issue du synode des évêques, réuni à Rome depuis le 30 septembre, un “Message du synode au peuple de Dieu” a été rendu public le 26 octobre. Le texte fait une large place au problème de la faim et de la pauvreté dans le monde. On y lit notamment: “80% de la population de la planète vivent avec 20% de leurs revenus et 1.200 millions de personnes doivent ‘vivre’ avec moins d’un dollar par jour (...). Certains maux endémiques, trop longtemps sous-estimés, peuvent conduire au désespoir des populations entières. Comment se taire face au drame persistant de la faim et de l’extrême pauvreté, à une époque où l’humanité possède les moyens d’un partage équitable?”. Les évêques évoquent aussi la situation des réfugiés et des immigrés, les ravages du paludisme, l’expansion du sida, l’analphabétisme, le manque d’avenir des enfants et des jeunes abandonnés à la rue, l’exploitation des femmes, le trafic de la drogue et le commerce des armes. (Texte paru dans La Croix, France, 29 octobre 2001)

* Zambia. President Chiluba in the news — 19 October: Zambian police have arrested three men suspected of stealing President Frederick Chiluba’s last 16 months’ pay. The three, a businessman and two employees of Barclays Bank in Ndola, are accused of conspiring to divert the president’s salary from his account. According to the independent Post newspaper, which first came out with the story, the total sum stolen from President Chiluba was 82 million kwacha ($21,578). There was no immediate comment from the president, who appears not to have missed his last 16 months’ pay until the fraud was discovered. Police said the businessman’s account bore exactly the same names as those of the president, and the bank employees were therefore able to change account numbers on order slips without any questions asked. «Each time the salary came into the bank, the employees... would cross out his account number and put it in the name of their friend with similar names to the president,» a bank source told the Post. «The friend would then withdraw the money and [they would] share it amongst themselves. It seems this has been going on for the last 16 months,» the source said. 25 October: President Chiluba addresses the nation with a farewell speech expressing pride over his ten-year rule, but apologising for mistakes. 27 October: The Electoral Commission has issued new guidelines to govern the lodging of nomination papers by candidates in the forthcoming polls. 28 October: The ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy calls for peaceful general elections, and party insiders say the vote could be held as early as November. The MMD‘s presidential candidate, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, urges political opponents to tone down their rhetoric. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 29 October 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Shortages, lay-offs and starvation — 17 October: It is common knowledge that price controls lead to shortages of the very commodities we would like people to access,» Malvern Rusike, chief executive of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industry has said. «It is futile to try to address the symptoms of the economy’s problems and avoid the real issues, nor does it make sense to control the price of the end product whilst key input prices are market determined.» President Robert Mugabe has said he will press ahead with price controls introduced on bread and other commodities to curb soaring prices in the midst of Zimbabwe’s worst economic crisis since independence. Mugabe has warned that the state would take over any businesses that closed if they blamed their closure on price controls. 18 October: About three million people in southern Zimbabwe are reported to be facing starvation as critical food shortages bite. Since independence, the Southern African country has always been a net exporter of food but now aid agencies working in the area say the situation is desperate. No deaths from starvation have been officially reported in the area but relief agencies say the situation will worsen if food aid is not sent quickly. In some areas, thousands have resorted to eating tree roots simply to stay alive, but even the bland roots are now in scarce supply. Estimates by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) say Zimbabwe will need to import a total of about 570,000 metric tonnes of maize and wheat to avert starvation and replenish its reserves. So far, some 2.5 million have registered with the government for emergency food aid. According to Mark Karinda, the national drought coordinator of Christian Care International which is working in the affected areas, they have had to introduce a feeding scheme for children. Another aid agency, Care International, reported that in the southern Provinces of Midlands and Masvingo, 100,000 children are already taking a supplementary meal a day. For some of these children, school is the one place they are assured of a square meal each day and worth the long distance they have to walk. Last month Zimbabwean Agriculture Minister Joseph Made admitted the country was to import 100 000 tons of maize immediately from neighbouring South Africa to avert the looming food shortages. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 19 October 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Armes et pénuries — D’énormes quantités d’armes légères et de munitions affluent au Zimbabwe malgré l’embargo décrété l’an dernier par les Etats-Unis et l’Union européenne, révèle l’hebdomadaire zimbabwéen The Financial Gazette dans son édition du 18 octobre, selon une dépêche de l’agence Misna. L’information est le fruit d’un mois et demi d’enquête. Les trafiquants évitent l’interdiction internationale en passant par la Namibie et le Congo-RDC. La marchandise est envoyée aux casernes militaires, dans l’attente d’être distibuée en partie aux militants du ZANU-PF, le parti du président Mugabe. Des rendez-vous politiques attendent le pays, en particulier la campagne pour les élections générales de l’an prochain. Selon des sources militaires, l’entraînement et l’équipement de nombreux miltants, dont les vétérans de guerre, auraient déjà commencé. - D’autre part, selon l’agence PANA, les autorités zimbabwéennes ont accusé, le 18 octobre, les exploitants agricoles blancs de stocker du maïs pour créer des pénuries artificielles. Elles ont qualifié cet acte de collusion avec l’opposition, en prélude aux élections. Le Zimbabwe envisage d’importer 100.000 tonnes de maïs de l’Afrique du Sud pour faire face au déficit provoqué par la mauvaise pluviométrie de la dernière saison agricole. Mais une agence de commercialisation des céréales a indiqué que de récentes inspections ont révélé l’existence de 200.000 tonnes de maïs que les agriculteurs blancs avaient omis de déclarer conformément à la loi. Le 22 octobre, la police a ouvert une enquête sur la constitution présumée de stocks de maïs par le parti d’opposition MDC. La presse a rapporté que ce parti distribuait du maïs dans les régions frappées par la sécheresse dans le cadre de sa campagne électorale. Par ailleurs, le 23 octobre, l’association humanitaire World Vision International a annoncé que 500.000 personnes risquaient prochainement d’être victimes de la famine dans les provinces asséchées de Matabeleland et des Midlands. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 24 octobre 2001)

* Zimbabwe. L’UE durcit le ton — Le 22 octobre à Bruxelles, lors d’un entretien entre une “troïka” européenne et le ministre zimbabwéen des Affaires étrangères, l’Union européenne a enjoint le Zimbabwe d’accepter rapidement une mission technique européenne et des observateurs lors de la prochaine élection présidentielle d’avril 2002, sous peine de possibles sanctions économiques. Le Zimbabwe a rejeté cet ultimatum de l’UE. -Le 29 octobre, le Conseil des ministres européen réuni à Luxembourg a décidé de durcir le ton. Il a déclenché une procédure de consultation “au titre de l’article 96 de l’accord de Cotonou”. Si aucun progrès n’est enregistré au bout de 60 jours, des “mesures appropriées” pourront être prises. On pourrait alors arriver à la suspension des avantages de cet accord pour le Zimbabwe. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 24-30 octobre 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Le Commonwealth et la crise agraire — Une équipe de représentants du Commonwealth a consacré le week-end à des rencontres au Zimbabwe avec différents acteurs de la crise soulevée par la redistribution des terres. Elle doit faire le point des mesures convenues avec la Grande-Bretagne en ce qui concerne la réforme agraire. Les autorités zimbabwéennes avaient convenu de mettre un terme aux confiscations des terres des fermiers blancs et de veiller à ce que le programme soit exécuté dans le respect des dispositions légales, Londres ayant promis pour sa part de recommencer à financer ce programme. L’équipe a tenu des réunions avec divers acteurs de la crise, notamment avec les fermiers commerciaux, les leaders traditionnels, le gouvernement, les autorités de l’Eglise et des partis d’opposition. Elle doit ensuite rédiger un rapport sur ses conclusions. (PANA, Sénégal, 28 octobre 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Crunch vote — 19 October: Robert Mugabe’s government is amassing huge quantities of arms and ammunition in preparation for next year’s crunch presidential ballot. An investigation by The Independent has revealed that Congo RDC and Namibia are helping Zimbabwe to circumvent an international arms embargo to buy huge quantities of guns and bullets. The arms embargo was imposed on Zimbabwe by the European Union and the United States because of its appalling human rights record. Inquiries reveal that President Mugabe’s government is importing and massing an assortment of guns at army bases around the country in preparation for the poll, which is expected to be violent.Most of the guns have been arriving secretly at Suri Suri air base in Chegutu, 140km west of Harare, before they are distributed to other military bases. Some will be sent to farms where self-styled war veterans have established bases to intimidate voters.Most of the weapons have arrived from Congo RDC in one of the country’s military cargo planes. The weapons consist of a significant portion of French-made guns, most of which top government sources say will be distributed to war veterans who are central to the ruling Zanu-PF party’s re-election strategy in the presidential poll. The sources say Zimbabwe, whose armoury has been massively depleted because of its participation in the three-year-old Congo RDC war, has been having great difficulty in replenishing its arms stocks because its traditional and cheaper arms suppliers in Europe are refusing to sell it arms.This has forced the army to ground most of its fleet of Hawk fighter aircraft because of Britain’s refusal to sell spare parts. 25 October: Zimbabwe could face the threat of EU sanctions after President Mugabe rejected a request to send an advance team of election observers to the country. 25 October: Amnesty International warns that state-sponsored killings in Zimbabwe are on the rise. 26 October: A Commonwealth delegation has begun discussions on the implementation of last month’s agreement on land reform in Zimbabwe, with officials denying that the two-day meeting has been «hijacked» to exclude government opponents. 27 October: The Commonwealth delegation goes to occupied farms to judge whether political violence and intimidation have ended. 28 October: The Commonwealth mission to Zimbabwe ends. In a statement, the mission urges President Mugabe to maintain law and order. No mechanism was established to monitor compliance. 29 October: The EU will impose punitive sanctions on Zimbabwe within months unless Harare can prove it is serious about human rights and democracy. EU foreign ministers meeting Luxembourg have agreed to begin immediate «consultations» with Harare, a process which paves the way for sanctions to be imposed. ZANU-PF says it is not acceptable for any country or organisation to set its own terms for coming to observe the election. 30 October: President Mugabe has accused some of his ministers of «wining and dining» with British officials instead of defending Zimbabwe’s land reforms. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 31 October 2001)