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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 17-01-2002

PART #3/4 - From  MALI to  SIERRA L.

* Mali. African Cup of Nations — 16 January: As Africa gets ready to watch its finest football players in action in the African Cup of Nations, the host Mali is working to make sure the competition runs smoothly. «The biggest technological challenge is communication,» said Urbain Sangare, the president of logistics for the competition. «We took on the challenge to make sure all of Africa sees every step of each game, so we have had to work on the telecommunications for outside and the telecommunications for in the country itself,» he said. The three-week feast of football kicks off on 19 January, with Mali taking on Liberia in the impressive 26 March stadium in the capital, Bamako. Getting the infrastructure in place for the competition has been made much harder by Mali’s size and the fact it is one of the poorest countries in the world. The country ranks fifth from the bottom of the development index of the United Nations. «Mali is a very big country,» said Mr Sangare, «and most of the pitches are located in the Sahara Desert. The challenge is to make the television images available to the whole country and then to allow the whole world to see the games organised by Mali.» Mr Sangare is confident that come Saturday, everything will be in place to make sure game results will be available straight away. «We have South Africa working on the satellite communications. Once this is done, everywhere in the world, if they can take images from the satellite, will have the games available.» However, the main headache may be simply finding when the competing teams are due to get to Mali. «Our biggest difficulty is the arrival of different teams because sometimes we have difficulty in communicating with the rest of Africa,» said Mr Sangare. «So, we don’t know exactly what time the people are scheduled to arrive.» The other related problem is making sure the teams get to the stadia in the four outlying venues —Sikasso, Segou, Kayes and Mopti. So, Mali is receiving aircraft from South Africa and Tunisia to help them move players around the country. (BBC News, UK, 16 January 2002)

* Mauritius. China investment in Mauritius cotton — A Chinese company is to build a cotton spinning mill in Mauritius, taking advantage of laws that allow duty-free access to the US, the world’s biggest textiles market. Textiles exported from Mauritius qualify for duty-free access to the US under the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA). The act was signed into law by President Clinton to boost trade between Africa and the US, by offering African exporters trade advantages. This investment however highlights fears that Asian countries are using Africa as a gateway to the US, raising questions about whether this investment will evaporate when trade rules are completely liberalised. The cotton mill is expected to produce 18,000 tonnes of cotton a year. Very few African countries are developed enough to take advantage of these trade preferences, with South Africa and Mauritius being the notable exceptions, Razia Khan, an economist at Standard Chartered said. (BBC News, UK, 10 January 2002)

* Morocco/Western Sahara. Kofi Annan urges Morocco and the Polisario to cooperate — UN secretary-general Kofi Annan is urging Morocco and the Polisario Front to continue cooperating with the global body for a «speedy and lasting solution to the conflict in Western Sahara,» according to a fresh UN report on their territorial dispute. In a report to the UN Security Council, Annan said he «counted on Morocco and the Polisario Front, as well as on Algeria and Mauritania, to continue cooperating with [his] special envoy in efforts to reach a speedy, sustainable and concerted settlement to the conflict over Western Sahara». Annan described as «encouraging» the recent release of Moroccan POWs and Sahrawi detainees, according the report published by public media in Rabat. However, he cited that over 1,350 other POWs were still being held, most of whom have been in detention for over 20 years, posing «a serious humanitarian problem». Annan reiterated appeals to the Polisario Front to release «all prisoners without delay». On the situation of Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf camps in Algeria, Annan said the issue was «a growing cause for concern», and called on the international community to provide generous support to humanitarian organisations to give the refugees relief assistance and means for voluntary return home. He hoped that Morocco and the Polisario Front would cooperate without reservations to enable the UNHCR to build confidence following the Security Council’s resolution about Western Sahara. (PANA, Senegal, 14 January 2002)

* Mozambique. Turning guns into art — With a gun trade about to take place, the atmosphere was predictably tense and the participants very nervous. Sousa, the man with the merchandise, smiled nervously as he talked in hushed tones to Guerra, the man who had come to collect. The door of Sousa’s two-roomed house remained firmly locked throughout —he did not want neighbours knowing about his illegal weapons or his past as a guerilla fighter in Mozambique’s vicious 17-year civil war. So the negotiations took place in the dingy half-light provided by the only window. Sousa, 44, entered another room to return with four AK47s, six clips of ammunition, and an old East European rifle complete with bayonet. All had traces of mud still on them, having been dug up from their hiding place in the bush earlier that day. The trade then took place, but Sousa did not receive any cash for the guns — he got a sewing machine. And Guerra was not a shady arms dealer. He works for a church-based charity — the Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM) —which is carrying out its own imaginative decommissioning programme. Once CCM gets the guns, they are cut up in its compound in Maputo, the Mozambique capital. Then, the bits are handed to a group of local artists who fashion them into sculpture. Weapons that once had the capacity to kill become animals, birds, or even chairs and coffee tables. The government supports the scheme, realising that the CCM‘s «no questions asked» approach allows people to hand over weapons with confidence, where otherwise they would fear prosecution. In the seven years that CCM‘s «guns into ploughshares» programme has been in operation, it has collected and destroyed more than 200,000 guns, grenades and rocket launchers. The artists’ extraordinary work, which has succeeded in doing what the government and the United Nations have previously failed, is touring the world. (CNN, USA, 11 January 2002)

* Nigeria. Heurts communautaires — Le 10 janvier, un responsable du gouvernement local a annoncé qu’une centaine de personnes ont été tuées au cours d’affrontements entre communautés se disputant l’exploitation des ressources halieutiques d’un lac dans le centre du Nigeria. Les heurts ont éclaté le vendredi 4 janvier et se sont poursuivis tout le week-end, mais la situation est maintenant sous contrôle, a précisé un responsable de l’information de l’Etat de Nassarawa. Les affrontements ont mis aux prises les communautés Loku, Udege et Agutu, dans une zone proche de la capitale de l’Etat, Lafia. - Le 13 janvier, des sources policières et hospitalières ont annoncé que 36 personnes ont été tuées lors d’affrontements liés au contrôle du trône de la ville d’Owo, dans le sud-ouest du Nigeria. Des membres du groupe militant ethnique interdit Yorouba, le Congrès des peuple d’Odua (OPC), se sont affrontés le 12 janvier avec des gardes du palais du dirigeant traditionnel de la ville d’Owo. Ils revenaient des funérailles du ministre de la Justice, Bolga Ige, assassiné le 23 décembre, et ont tenté d’assaillir le palais du roi traditionnel local. Onze blessés sont décédés la nuit. Un responsable de la police a déclaré que 25 personnes avaient été tués durant les affrontements. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 14 janvier 2002)

* Nigeria. Factional fighting — 11 January: A clash between villagers in central Nigeria has left up to 100 people dead and many more injured, with eight villages in ruins. It appears the dispute was over fishing rights to a local lake. Violent clashes are becoming increasingly common across the country and almost always involve access to scarce resources such as land or water. A local government spokesman, Ibrahim Shagaba, confirmed the incident. It was, he said, between the inhabitants of a series of villages about 90km east of Lafia, the Nasarawa state capital. By the time police brought the fighting under control, at least eight villages had been destroyed and thousands had fled their homes. Nasarawa state has seen violence like this before, all too recently. Just six months ago hundreds of people were killed in a dispute over access to farmland. And in neighbouring Taraba state, at least 50 people were killed last week in a dispute between indigenous farmers and those they perceive to be settlers in the area. Across the country, similar scenes have been witnessed, with many thousands dying over the past two years. There is well-founded speculation that such outbreaks of violence are frequently exacerbated by local political squabbles, and are likely to continue in the run-up to next year’s local and national elections. 13 January: At least 25 people have died in factional fighting between members of a banned Yoruba militant organisation and guards of the traditional ruler of the town of Owo in Nigeria. The clashes, just the latest in a series of communal clashes across Nigeria in recent weeks, took place on 12 January in Owo, which is near Akure, about 150 kilometres north-east of Lagos. The violence frequently appears to be linked to the political aspirations of local leaders in the run-up to elections due to be held early next year. This time two rival factions in the south-west have fought over the rights to a royal throne. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 14 January 2002)

* Nigeria. Woman appeals death by stoning — 14 January: An Islamic court in northern Nigeria is hearing an appeal, today, on behalf of a woman sentenced to death by stoning. Safiya Husseini Tungar-Tudu was convicted of adultery by a Sharia or Islamic court in Sokoto state last year, a crime which carries a mandatory death sentence. But her lawyers are now seeking to overturn the conviction on the grounds that she was raped. Harsh criminal punishments, such as death by stoning and amputation of limbs for theft, have been introduced in many of Nigeria’s majority Muslim northern states over the past two years. But although amputations have been carried out, no one has yet been stoned to death. Under Islamic law, she is free to live with her family until she either wins her appeal or is taken away to be stoned to death. Later on the same day, an Islamic court postpones the appeal hearing, to give prosecution lawyers enough time to react to new evidence that the baby in the centre of the case was fathered by her former husband. The hearing will now take place on 18 March. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 14 January 2002)

* Nigeria. Lapidation: procès en appel reporté — Le 14 janvier, le procès en appel de la Nigériane, Safiya Husseini Tungar-Tudu, 35 ans, condamnée à être lapidée “pour adultère” par un tribunal islamique de Sokoto, a été ajourné jusqu’au 18 mars. Selon la défense, la jeune femme est revenue sur ses déclarations de viol à la suite duquel une petite fille, Adama, est née. Le père de cet enfant de 11 mois serait son dernier mari, dont elle a divorcé, et non un voisin. Selon l’interprétation locale de la loi islamique, Safiya ne peut être coupable d’adultère si elle accouche d’un enfant dont le père est son ex-mari. La condamnation de Safiya a soulevé un tollé international et les demandes de grâce s’accumulent sur le bureau du président nigérian, Olusegun Obasanjo. Mais celui-ci, qui a déclaré dès 1999 que la charia (adoptée maintenant par une douzaine d’Etats du nord) était “totalement anticonstitutionnelle, n’a pas osé jusqu’ici poser le problème à la Cour suprême de peur de créer un débat qui a toutes les chances de dégénérer en guerre civile religieuse. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 15 janvier 2002)

* Nigeria. Unions stand firm on strike — 16 January: Nigeria’s collective trade union body has launched a nationwide general strike, after failing to reach a compromise in a dispute with the government over a recent rise is the price of fuel. The government has declared the strike illegal, saying the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has not given the required 21 days’ advance written notice of the strike action. The NLC has rejected this charge and says the strike will continue until the government backs down and cancels the 18% increase in fuel prices. 17 January: Nigerian trade union leaders have pledged to continue the strike for a second day despite the arrest of a senior official. Nigerian Labour Congress leader Adams Oshiomhole and about a dozen of his supporters were charged yesterday with «unlawful assembly and inciting the general public against the government». But Mr Oshiomhole, who was released on bail, said the country’s workers were still angry and would not be put off by the arrests. The strike paralysed most of the country’s main cities and brought commercial life to a standstill. It has been declared illegal by a court in Abuja. Offices and banks shut down, petrol stations closed and streets normally crammed with traffic were empty because of the protests. There were outbreaks of violence in parts of the commercial capital, Lagos, with clashes between police and protesters trying to prevent civil servants going to work. In Lagos, the streets were deserted and shops were closed. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 17 January 2002)

* Rwanda/Belgium. Belgian court rejects appeals of genocide convicts — On 9 January, Belgian’s final court of appeal, the Cour de Cassation, rejected the appeals for a retrial by a Rwandan businessman and two Rwandan nuns sentenced to prison in Brussels on 8 June 2001 for war crimes committed during the 1994 genocide. Lawyers for convicts had appealed claiming irregularities in the original trial. However, the appeal court confirmed the sentence of 20 years imprisonment for Alphonse Higaniro, 52, a former minister and director of a match factory; 15 years for Consolata Mukangango, 42, also known as Sister Gertrude; 12 years for Julienne Mukabutera, 36, known as Sister Maria Kizito. Both nuns are from the Benedictine convent in Sovu, Butare Prefecture, Rwanda. The fourth convicted, Vincent Ntezimana, 39, is a former professor at Butare University. He was given a 12-year sentence but did not appeal. The trial of the «Butare Four» was described as «historic», because it was the first under a 1993 law in which defendants were judged in Belgium courts for war crimes and human rights violations committed by foreigners outside Belgium. All four originate from Butare in southern Rwanda, where their crimes were committed, and have been living in Belgium since the 1994 genocide, in which at least 900,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered. «It’s a fundamental judgement that makes the trial historic,» one of the lawyers of the victims said. «We are now waiting for other trials in Belgium and elsewhere, for which investigations are continuing.» Currently, a Belgian investigative magistrate, Damien Vandermeersch, is in Rwanda in connection with the killings of four Belgians in 1994. Three of the dead were aid workers — Olivier Dulieu, Christine Andre and Antoine Godfriaux — slain in Rambura (about 150 km from Kigali) on 7 April 1994. Their families suspect that they were killed because they had been informed about funds embezzled from the Belgian foreign aid office. (IRIN, 10 January 2002)

* Rwanda. Coalition politique en exil — Une nouvelle coalition en exil de l’opposition politique rwandaise, l’Alliance démocratique rwandaise (ADR, en kinyarwanda ADR-Isangano), vient de se former, regroupant le Congrès démocratique africain (CDA) et le Mouvement pour la paix, la démocratie et le développement (MPDD), selon un communiqué publié le 14 janvier à Bruxelles. L’ADR a présenté ses objectifs dans un programme politique de 10 points, qui sera le “pivot de sa vision, son organisation et son action politique” dans les domaines de l’économie, la gestion des affaires publiques et la justice. Dans une réaction, un porte-parole du gouvernement rwandais a indiqué que ces 10 points parlaient de programmes déjà en place. Il a aussi déclaré que ces partis ne sont pas enregistrés juridiquement au Rwanda et que toute activité menée par ces mouvements au Rwanda serait illégale. (IRIN, Nairobi, 15 janvier 2002)

* Sao Tome e Principe. Last oil frontier becomes joint development zone — Agreements to develop the last unexplored oil frontier in West Africa were launched on 15 January by the presidents of Sao Tomé and Príncipe and Nigeria. The launch took place in Abuja, the Nigerian capital. The establishment of a Joint Development Zone could increase the importance of the region as a major oil exporter and transform the economic fortunes of Sao Tomé, a tiny island archipelago and hitherto one of the poorest countries on the continent. The deal also represents a breakthrough in a regional environment until now marked by sometimes bitter border disputes. Under the terms of the Abuja agreement, the two countries have agreed to put to one side a dispute over undemarcated maritime boundaries and jointly to develop an area potentially rich in oil reserves and fisheries. The deal offers a 60:40 split to Nigeria over Sao Tomé with respect to any oil that may discovered in the area. In return, Nigeria is to offer technical expertise and other forms of assistance to its partner. The two sides have yet to agree on who should first hold the chairmanship of the Joint Development Board that will manage the zone, although the composition of board and a supervisory ministerial council have been settled. (Financial Times, UK, 15 January 2002)

* Sénégal. Intempéries: 17 morts — 17 personnes sont mortes au Sénégal à la suite des fortes pluies, accompagnées de vents froids qui se sont abattues sur le pays les 9 et 10 janvier. Selon la préfecture de Podor, 13 personnes sont mortes par noyade, de froid ou dans l’effondrement de leurs maisons, dans ce département au nord du pays. Quatre pêcheurs ont été retrouvés morts et une trentaine d’autres sont toujours portés disparus, a annoncé le ministère de la Pêche. 110 pêcheurs, surpris en mer par le mauvais temps, avaient été retrouvés sains et saufs les 11 et 12 janvier, dont certains en Gambie et en Mauritanie. A Podor, plus de 115 mm de pluie sont tombés en 48 heures, alors que le département était balayé par un froid glacial. Ces pluies très rares en cette période (le pays est en pleine saison sèche) ont provoqué également de nombreux dégâts dans les cultures. (AFP, France, 13 janvier 2002)

* Sierra Leone. UK backs border force — Sierra Leonean troops and armed British military advisers have begun deploying near Sierra Leone’s sensitive borders with Guinea and Libera ahead of Sierra Leone’s elections in May. The deployment is sensitive and potentially controversial, because Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels held the east for many years, and have in the past, used rear bases in Liberia. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 16 January 2002)

* Sierra Leone. Accord sur un tribunal spécial — Le 16 janvier à Freetown, le gouvernement sierra-léonais et l’Onu ont signé un accord sur la création d’un tribunal spécial pour juger les responsables des innombrables atrocités commises contre la population pendant la longue guerre civile qui a ravagé le pays. Le tribunal pourra poursuivre pour “meurtre, extermination, esclavage, déportation, emprisonnement, torture, viol, esclavage sexuel, persécution pour motifs politiques, religieux ou ethniques”. Concernant le douloureux dossier des enfants soldats, souvent envoyés commettre les pires exactions, le tribunal pourra poursuivre leurs recruteurs, mais aucun accusé de moins de 15 ans ne pourra être jugé. Le Front révolutionnaire uni (RUF) fait figure de principal accusé, mais les autres parties n’ont pas été en reste. Aucun représentant rebelle n’était d’ailleurs présent à la cérémonie de signature de l’accord. (Libération, France, 17 janvier 2002)

* Sierra Leone. War crimes tribunal set up — 16 January: Officials from the United Nations and the Sierra Leone Government have signed an agreement in the capital, Freetown, setting up a war crimes tribunal for the country. The Yugoslav-style war crimes court will indict those in positions of responsibility during a decade-long war notorious for its brutality against civilians. At the height of the conflict, thousands of innocent people had their hands chopped off by rebels simply because they supported the elected government. But although there is a deep desire for justice in Sierra Leone, the timing of the formation of the special court could not have come at a more sensitive time. Most of the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front have given up their guns to the large United Nations peacekeeping force here, and the rebel leaders say they want to participate peacefully in post-war elections to be held in May. But the imprisoned rebel leader, Foday Sankoh, seems bound to be the main target of the court, because his men committed widespread atrocities against civilians. And although the date for the first hearings of the court have yet to be made public, Foday Sankoh’s trial is certain to raise the political temperature. The rebels have already complained that the court is biased against them, and point out quite correctly that many mutinous members of the government army were involved in atrocities against civilians as well. Details of just who will be indicted are expected to be revealed at a later date. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 17 January 2002)