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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 06-12-2001

PART #4/4 - From WESTERN SAHARA to  ZIMBABWE

* Western Sahara. Chirac stirs tension in Western Sahara — The leader of the Polisario has vigorously criticised the French President Jacques Chirac for describing the disputed territory of Western Sahara as part of Morocco. The Polisario has been fighting for an independent state in the region since Morocco took control of it in 1976. But comments made by President Chirac on 3 December during a visit to Morocco, apparently puts France at loggerheads, not only with the Polisario, but also with Spain and Algeria. Government officials in Morocco are barely concealing their delight at what they are interpreting as the first public endorsement of Moroccan sovereignty in the Western Sahara from a major European power. When asked a question about the future of the western Sahara, Mr Chirac referred to the region as the provinces of southern Morocco. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 3 December 2001)

* Somalie. Appel au dialogue — Le 30 novembre, suite à une visite de trois jours d’une délégation du gouvernement somalien de transition, l’Ethiopie a lancé un appel à toutes les parties en Somalie afin qu’elles entament d’urgence un dialogue constructif pour restaurer la paix, la stabilité et la réconciliation nationale. L’Ethiopie a réaffirmé la nécessité d’établir en Somalie un gouvernement comprenant toutes les parties  aussitôt que possible. La délégation, elle, a exprimé sa volonté de poursuivre des négociations avec toutes les parties sans conditions préalables. - D’autre part, onze personnes ont été tuées pendant une bataille, qui a éclaté le 1er décembre dans l’après-midi pour des contentieux sur des terres dans le village somalien de Tobonka Bondo (sud). Quatre autres ont succombé à leurs blessures pendant la nuit, selon des témoins. Les communautés rivales appartiennent au clan des Hawiye. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 3 décembre 2001)

* Somalia. On the verge of economic collapse — On 3 December, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia said that Somalia is on the verge of an economic collapse unparalleled in modern history. He said: «We now find Somalia on the precipice of potential and total economic collapse. It now stands on the threshold of ruin». (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 4 December 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Policiers blancs condamnés — Le 29 novembre, quatre policiers blancs sud-africains, reconnus coupables d’avoir “exercé” leurs chiens à l’attaque sur trois Mozambicains en 1998, ont été condamnés à des peines de quatre à cinq ans de prison ferme par la Haute Cour de Pretoria. Tous quatre plaidaient coupable. Deux autres accusés, ayant plaidé non coupable, seront jugés en juin 2002. Les six policiers afrikaners avaient été filmés en janvier 1998, lâchant leurs chiens sur trois clandestins mozambicains, soumis à une avalanche de coups et d’insultes racistes. Pendant le procès, un accusé mais aussi d’anciens maîtres-chiens de la police ont révélé que la pratique d’"excercer" les chiens à l’attaque sur des “cibles vivantes” était courante depuis des années. (Libération, France, 30 novembre 2001)

* South Africa. Police jailed for dog attacks — Four white South African policemen have received jail sentences for setting their dogs on three black Mozambicans. The charges stemmed from a video discovered late last year which showed the officers laughing and jeering as their dogs savaged the men. The act was cruel and sadistic. They laughed and treated it as a joke. The policemen were sentenced to effective jail terms of between four and five years each for aggravated assault by Pretoria High Court. The broadcasting of the video provoked an intense public outcry and raised concerns about continuing racism among South African police years after the end of apartheid. Robert Henzen, 32, Eugene Truter, 28, Jacobus Smith, 31 and Lodewyk Kock, 32, pleaded guilty last week to assaulting the three illegal immigrants in 1998. Two other officers, who pleaded not guilty, will have their own full trial process. Judge Willem van der Merwe described what the policemen did as «cruel and sadistic». (BBC News, UK, 29 November 2001)

* South Africa. Mbeki laments failure to curb Zimbabwe violence — International initiatives are failing to remedy political violence in Zimbabwe and put the country on track for free and fair presidential elections in March, Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s president said on 29 November. The Commonwealth and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have set up ministerial contact groups to engage with President Robert Mugabe’s government. They are seeking to encourage the ruling Zanu-PF government to restore the rule of law and reverse the country’s economic crisis, which has led to food shortages and a sharp contraction of the economy. «Those efforts have not brought the results we wanted to see,» Mr Mbeki said in an interview with foreign reporters. He warned that any manipulation of the forthcoming presidential election would escalate tensions in Zimbabwe. «If you have elections in Zimbabwe which were not seen by the people as legitimate and where the [new] government was not considered legitimate, you would probably end up with a situation worse than it is now,» he said. Investors and the South African foreign ministry have expressed concern that economic hardship and misrule by Zanu-PF could precipitate civil strife, particularly among the minority Ndebele group in Matabeleland, ahead of the elections. (Financial Times, UK, 30 November 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Tutu pour un “ministre du sida” — A l’occasion de la journée mondiale contre le sida, le 1er décembre, l’ancien président sud-africain Nelson Mandela a exhorté la communauté internationale à fournir aux séropositifs un accès aux médicaments permettant de lutter contre la pandémie. Quant à l’ancien archevêque du Cap, Mgr Desmond Tutu, il a appelé le président Thabo Mbeki à s’engager contre le sida, plaidant pour la fourniture généralisée d’anti-retroviraux et la nomination d’un “ministre du sida”. “Nous devons admettre que le sida est causé par le VIH”, a déclaré Mgr Tutu, en référence aux thèses dissidentes soutenues par Mbeki en 2000. “Le sida est notre ennemi commun. Nous devons investir autant de ressources que nous avons investi contre l’apartheid”, a-t-il encore affirmé. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 3 décembre 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Viols de mineurs — La recrudescence des viols de mineurs inquiète l’Afrique du Sud. Selon les statistiques de la police, les viols de mineurs ont augmenté de 8,5% entre 1996 et 2000, avec 21.500 plaintes enregistrées l’an dernier. Jamais, dans les annales de la radio-télévision sud-africaine, autant d’appels n’avaient afflué. Les messages se succèdent exprimant l’indignation face à la “barbarie” et la sympathie pour les nouvelles victimes dénombrées chaque semaine. Plusieurs viols, notamment dans la province du Kwazulu Natal, ont été motivés par une croyance selon laquelle un rapport sexuel avec une vierge peut guérir du sida. (Libération, France, 4 décembre 2001)

* South Africa. Business group rejects Earth Summit plea — The Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has rejected an appeal by the South African government for businesses to help fund next year’s United Nations Earth Summit in Johannesburg. Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman of the ICC‘s Business Action for Sustainable Development, said contributions by business to the R550m ($54m) cost of next September’s World Summit on Sustainable Development would undermine its credibility as an inter-governmental forum. He said: «It is inappropriate for business to fund the core costs of a United Nations summit. We shall land up with accusations that business is trying to influence the process. We would have demonstrators saying, “Mind your own business”.» The South African government is sending warning signals that it is unable to bear the bulk of the costs. Valli Moosa, the minister of environment, said last week that funding an international conference would be difficult to justify when the country’s priority was to provide basic social services. Although South Africa is anxious to attract international conferences to boost tourism, the government is reluctant to pick up the bill. It struggled to raise money for the UN Conference Against Racism in Durban in September, which cost R100m. International donors gave only R11m. (Financial Times, UK, 4 December 2001)

* South Africa. Rivals form coalition — 5 November: A power-sharing agreement between the African National Congress (ANC) and the former party of apartheid will become a reality, today. The New National Party (NPP) is forming a coalition with the ANC in the country’s Western Cape Province. It forms part of an agreement between the former enemies which will see the two parties co-operate at every level of government. Swearing-in the New National Party leader as premier of the Western Cape is merely a formality, but it marks an historic and controversial coalition between two groups that once stood at either end of the political spectrum in South Africa. Peter Marais, the former Mayor of Cape Town, will be sworn in as premier of Western Cape, and there will be a cabinet reshuffle in the province that will split control down the middle between the ANC and the NNP. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 5 November 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Ex-première dame assassinée — Marike De Klerk, l’ex-femme du dernier président blanc d’Afrique du Sud, Frederik De Klerk, a été assassinée. Son corps a été retrouvé le 4 décembre dans son appartement côtier au Cap. D’après le rapport d’autopsie, elle a été étranglée et portait une blessure de couteau dans le dos. L’ex-première dame, âgée de 64 ans, était décédée depuis près de 36 heures. Une enquête a été ouverte. Marike De Klerk avait divorcé de Frederik en 1998, après 39 ans de mariage, après que l’ancien président eut révélé une liaison avec la femme d’un armateur grec, qu’il a par la suite épousée. Frederik De Klerk fut, de 1989 à 1994, le dernier  président du régime d’apartheid. Le 4 décembre, il se trouvait en Suède pour assister aux célébrations du centenaire du prix Nobel. Se déclarant “choqué”, il a annoncé son retour en Afrique du Sud. (Libération, France, 6 décembre 2001)

* South Africa. De Klerk’s former wife murdered — The former wife of F.W. de Klerk has been brutally murdered in her Cape Town flat. Marike de Klerk, 64, was stabbed and strangled, the police said after an autopsy. Her body had been found after she failed to keep a hairdresser’s appointment. At the time, police refused to speculate on the cause of her death. Mrs de Klerk becomes the latest high-profile victim of the country’s high crime wave. Mr de Klerk said he was «devastated and deeply shocked». He is returning home immediately from Sweden where he was to attend a ceremony marking 100 years of the Nobel Peace Prize. President Mbeki said: «Mrs de Klerk was strong, charming and dignified». (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 6 December 2001)

* Sudan. USA rejected Sudanese offer to share intelligence — The US rejected an offer by Sudan to hand over two men suspected of links to the 1998 bombings of US embassies in East Africa and refused offers to share intelligence on Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, letters between the two governments reveal. Suspicion of Sudan’s government within the Clinton administration lay behind the decision to reject the offer to share intelligence, two months before bombs killed 224 people. The stand-off came to light in the FT‘s investigation into al-Qaeda’s global terrorist network. Relations between the US and Sudan have thawed since President Bush’s election. Even before the September 11 attacks, Sudan had started to provide the US with details of individuals suspected of terrorist links who had lived in Sudan when it provided a haven for radical groups between 1991 and 1996. The rejection of similar co-operation by the Clinton administration denied US intelligence agencies access to details about al-Qaeda gathered while the organisation had its headquarters and training camps in Sudan in 1991-96. On 5 February, 1998, Gutbi al-Mahdi, then head of Sudan’s external security bureau, wrote to the regional head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, expressing a «desire to start contacts and co-operation between our service and the FBI». Mr al-Mahdi, now political adviser to Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan el-Bashir, also invited the official, David Williams, to visit Sudan. Mr Williams declined the offer. (Financial Times, UK, 30 November 2001)

* Tanzania. Tanzanian to head new East Africa Assembly — 29 November: East Africa’s new Assembly elect a Tanzanian as its first Speaker, placing him at the helm of a parliament aiming to foster European Union-style integration in the region. The newly-elected Speaker is  Abdulrahman Kinana, a former Tanzanian defense minister. 30 November: The East African Community (EAC) of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania inaugurates the Assembly, as part of the region’s efforts to forge a common market and closer political integration for its 80 million people. The inauguration takes place at the EAC‘s headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 30 November 2001)

* Uganda. Herders hand in arms — The Ugandan Government says Karamojong cattle herdsmen have handed in more than 3,000 guns at the start of a disarmament campaign in the remote north-east of the country. A government statement said President Yoweri Museveni witnessed the exercise in Moroto district and thanked the Karamojong for responding positively to his call to hand in illegal guns voluntarily. He reassured them that the army would protect them from cattle rustlers who cross from Kenya and Sudan. But he warned that whoever failed to hand in illegal guns by 2 January 2002 would be arrested, prosecuted and jailed. It is estimated that the Karamojong have about 40,000 guns which they use in inter-clan and cross-border cattle raids, which sometimes claim hundreds of lives. Cows are at the centre of the Karamojong value system, and cattle-raiding is a way of life. Raids principally take place to pay for dowries, but they are also a chance for men to prove their strength to the community. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 3 December 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Journalistes étrangers interdits — La loi sur la presse au Zimbabwe est de plus en plus restrictive. Le 30 novembre, le gouvernement a approuvé une norme qui interdit aux journalistes étrangers de travailler en tant que correspondants, ne permettant qu’aux Zimbabwéens autorisés d’accomplir de telles fonctions. Selon la presse locale, la mesure doit encore être examinée par le Parlement. Des centaines de sympathisants du parti au pouvoir, le ZANU-PF, ont manifesté en faveur de la nouvelle loi, lançant des pierres contre les bureaux de journaux indépendants et agressant des vendeurs ambulants de journaux. (Misna, Italie, 1er décembre 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Court backs Mugabe land reforms — Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court has ruled that President Robert Mugabe’s land reform programme complies with the constitution. The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), which represents the majority of white farmers, said the decision taken on 3 December was unexpected and confirms an interim decision taken by the court last month. The ruling removes the last remaining legal obstacle preventing the government from processing claims to white-owned farms. Zimbabwe’s land reform programme has been marred by violence since government supporters, calling themselves war veterans, began occupying white farms 18 months ago demanding that they be redistributed to landless blacks. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 4 December 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Les expropriations légalisées — La Cour suprême du Zimbabwe a jugé que les plans gouvernementaux d’exproprier des terres des fermiers blancs ne sont pas contraires à la loi. La Cour a ainsi annulé un jugement précédent en décembre de l’année dernière, où l’expropriation avait été considérée comme inconstitutionnelle et illégale. Récemment, le président Mugabe a remplacé le président et plusieurs membres de la Cour suprême par des hommes à lui. Selon le gouvernement, quelque 4.500 fermes (environ 95% des terres appartenant à des Blancs) sont susceptibles d’être expropriées. - D’autre part, le 4 décembre, la Chambre des représentants américaine a approuvé une mesure visant à renforcer la pression sur le président Mugabe, afin qu’il garantisse des élections libres et la protection de la propriété foncière. Le texte prévoit plusieurs mesures d’aide économique à condition que le gouvernement du Zimbabwe arrête de soutenir la violence et mène une réforme agraire équitable pour les fermiers blancs. - Le 5 décembre, le gouvernement zimbabwéen a approuvé le protocole de l’Union africaine portant création d’une Cour africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 6 décembre 2001)