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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 07-02-2002

PART #4/4 - From TANZANIA to  ZIMBABWE

* Tunisia. Anger at Tunis court arrests — Human rights groups have protested to the Tunisian president after four leaders of the outlawed Communist Workers Party were dragged from a courtroom within hours of emerging from years of hiding. They included the party leader, Hamma Hammami. About 30 policemen manhandled Mr Hammami and his comrades from the court in Tunis on 2 February, as their appeal against previously imposed prison sentences was being heard. Mr Hammami’s young daughter was injured as she tried to hold on to him. Lawyers described the police action as an abduction and have declared a strike in protest at the police action, to begin on 7 February. A group of 11 European-based human rights groups has sent a letter to the Tunisian President, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, expressing their outrage at the proceedings. The letter, from groups including Reporters sans Frontières; the Swiss Rights League and the Bar Council of England and Wales Human Rights Committee, said the court hearing was marked by grave violations of the rule of law and violence against members of the press. It said security in the court should have been guaranteed by the judge alone, without the intervention of police. The groups also condemned action taken against the media and demanded that material taken from three French television stations be returned. (BBC News, UK, 3 February 2002)

* Tunisie. De la clandestinité à la prison — Le 2 février, Hamma Hammami et trois autres opposants, sortis de quatre ans de clandestinité pour être rejugés, ont été emprisonnés pour leur appartenance au Parti communiste ouvrier tunisien (PCOT), un parti d’extrême gauche interdit. En 1999, ils avaient été condamnés par défaut à 9 ans et 3 mois de prison chacun. La législation tunisienne stipule qu’un nouveau procès doit être organisé si des personnes jugées précédemment par contumace se présentent volontairement devant la justice. Mais de nouveau procès, il n’y en eut pas. Sans débat, le juge est seulement venu confirmer les peines de 1999. Les télévisions étrangères ont été malmenées, leurs films confisqués. Les avocats, qui se sont retirés pour protester contre l’arrestation musclée, ont annoncé une grève générale du barreau pour le 7 février. Une dizaine d’associations humanitaires ont dénoncé “une série de graves violations des règles du droit”. Le 5 février, Amnesty International a demandé la libération immédiate des quatre hommes, qu’elle considère comme des prisonniers de conscience. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 5 février 2002)

* Western Sahara. Legal dispute — A legal opinion from UN lawyers to the president of the Security Council has failed to resolve a dispute over whether foreign oil companies can operate offshore the disputed Western Sahara with licences issued by Morocco. The opinion from Hans Correll, undersecretary for legal affairs at the UN, shifts the argument from one of rights of access to mineral resources to one of representation of the Sahrawis. Late last year Morocco, which has controlled much of the Western Sahara since Spain withdrew in 1975, issued one year «reconnaisance» licences to TotalFinaElf of France and Kerr-McGee of the US. The independence movement, Polisario, said the licences were illegal and in November the UN presidency asked for a legal opinion. Mr Correll’s reply said the contracts were not illegal because they did not breach the principle that exploitation of resources in non-self-governing territories must be for the benefit of the people of the territories. But this is because no benefits have yet accrued. Further exploration and production activity «in disregard of the interests and wishes of the people of the Western Sahara» would be illegal. Determining the wishes of Sahrawis is the nub of the Western Sahara question. Morocco claims the territory as its own while Polisario demands an independent state. Last year, decade-old UN attempts to organise a referendum on self-determination for the Sahrawis, many of whom live in refugee camps in southern Algeria, ground to a halt because the parties were unable to agree on the electoral roll. Minurso, the UN observer mission, has been pared down and its mandate may be allowed to expire in coming weeks. (Financial Times, UK, 6 February 2002)

* Zambia. Election observers question poll result — The European Union (EU) and the Carter Centre this week expressed grave doubts about the authenticity of the official results of Zambia’s general elections held in December, and called for a speedy judicial review of the results to ease lingering political tensions. The two organisations had earlier expressed concern at pre-voting manipulation of the process, and widespread chaos on polling day which saw thousands of people disenfranchised. They said in separate statements that further investigations had revealed that the election results did not reflect the will of the electorate. «In view of the administrative failures on polling day, the serious flaws in the counting and tabulation procedures, together with the close outcome of the elections, we are not confident that the declared results represent the wishes of the Zambian people on polling day,» EU Chief Observer Michael Meadowcroft told reporters on 5 February. «We cannot avoid the conclusion that the official published results, which contain such substantial unexplained anomalies, are unsafe. We strongly recommend that the Electoral Commission of Zambia publishes the voting figures from each polling station as an important contribution towards transparency. We hope that the courts will deal speedily with the election petitions». (IRIN, 5 February 2002)

* Zambie. L’UE conteste les résultats des élections — Le 6 février, l’Union européenne a contesté les résultats des élections générales du 27 décembre dernier, dont la présidentielle remportée d’une courte tête par le candidat du pouvoir, Levy Mwanawasa, affirmant qu’ils ne représentent pas les “voeux” des électeurs. “Nous ne pouvons pas éviter la conclusion que les résultats officiels publiés, qui contiennent tant d’anomalies inexpliquées, ne sont pas fiables”; précise le rapport final des observateurs de l’UE présents aux élections. (Le Figaro, France, 7 février 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Towards the elections — 31 January: The official Zimbabwe media says the decision on 30 january not to suspend it from the Commonwealth was a humiliating defeat for the «mighty British empire». In an editorial, The Herald said Britain had been «slapped in the face» and with its record of colonialism, was in no position to lecture anyone about respecting human rights. But the Commonwealth’s secretary-general denied the decision by Commonwealth foreign ministers was «a moral victory» for President Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe’s parliament is again due to debate a controversial media law after reports that it has been altered to take account of criticism from within Mr Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party. Zimbabwe’s foreign minister has also reacted for the first time to the European Union’s threat to impose sanctions, accusing it of trying to «perpetuate an archaic colonial relationship». — Parliament presses ahead with the passage of a highly restrictive press bill. The Access to Information Bill gives the government the right to ban newspapers and prevent reporters from working. — President Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai file their nomination papers for the presidential election. Five candidates have filed their papers. 4 February: The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, stands up to senior military leaders who have threatened a coup of he wins the presidential elections, by sating he will sack them. Last month, the army high command said it would not recognise any government that did not adhere to the aims of the «revolution». — The European Union will this week send an advance team to Zimbabwe to prepare logistics and infrastructure for the 150-strong team of observers that EU member states intend to send ahead of the elections. 5 February: Former Nigerian head of state Abdulsalami Abubakar is to lead a Commonwealth mission to Zimbabwe to monitor the forthcoming presidential elections. The announcement came as an advance party of Commonwealth officials arrived in Zimbabwe on 5 February to pave the way for the main group. Last week, the 54-nation Commonwealth rejected British calls to suspend Zimbabwe from the organisation, but decided to send monitors to oversee the elections. Don McKinnon, Commonwealth Secretary General Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon said the first observers would arrive in Zimbabwe later this week, followed by a main group of about 40 monitors later this month. General Abubakar, who was Nigerian head of state until 1999, previously led a Commonwealth mission which oversaw parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe in June, 2000. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 6 February 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Campagne électorale — 31 janvier. Le président Mugabe a officiellement lancé la campagne pour l’élection présidentielle des 9 et 10 mars. Il a fait enregister sa candidature, tout comme le chef de l’opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai, ainsi que trois autres: Shakespeare Maya, leader de l’Alliance nationale pour la bonne gouvernance, et les leaders de deux petits partis qui ont été obligés de se présenter comme candidats indépendants, Wilson Kumbula (de la ZANU) et Paul Siwela (de la ZAPU). -D’autre part, les députés du parti au pouvoir ont voté (après d’innombrables ajournements et amendements) des lois imposant des restrictions drastiques à la liberté de presse. La loi donne au ministre de l’Information tous pouvoirs sur les permis de travail des journalistes et autorisations des organes de presse. Une commission disciplinaire est mise sur pied, chargée de retirer les permis de travail, de confisquer les matériels et de prononcer des condamnations pouvant aller jusqu’à deux ans de prison. La loi interdit aussi aux journalistes étrangers de diriger les bureaux au Zimbabwe de tout organe de la presse étrangère, ces bureaux devant être sous la responsabilité de citoyens zimbabwéens. Selon l’opposition, qui a qualifié cette législation de “fasciste”, ces lois visent à museler toute critique pendant la campagne électorale. De nombreux dirigeants européens et américains ont condamné l’adoption de ces mesures. Le Danemark a décidé de supprimer son aide au Zimbabwe. - Le 4 février, la Commission européenne a estimé que des sanctions n’étaient pas en vue “pour l’instant”, dans la mesure où le pouvoir à Harare ne s’est pas opposé au déploiement des premiers observateurs européens pour les élections présidentielles. Les ministres des Affaires étrangères des Quinze avaient averti que l’UE imposerait des sanctions si cette mission ne pouvait pas se déployer à partir du 3 février. -5 février. La première mission d’observateurs du Commonwealth est arrivée à Harare. Le Commonwealth devient ainsi la première organisation à détacher des observateurs pour le scrutin électoral. Sa mission d’observation sera dirigée par l’ancien chef d’Etat du Nigeria, le général Abdulsalami Abubakar. Par ailleurs, les autorités zimbabwéennes ont invité un groupe d’organisations régionales et internationales, dont l’OUA et l’Union européenne, à envoyer des observateurs. Mais elles ont spécifiquement exclu les ressortissants britanniques, car, disent-elles, Londres est de parti pris en faveur des partis de l’opposition. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 6 février 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Prominent reporter arrested — 5 February: A British newspaper, The Independent, says its correspondent in Zimbabwe has been arrested for allegedly violating strict new security laws. Basildon Peta, who is also the secretary general of the Zimbabwean Union of Journalists, was charged with failing to notify authorities about a demonstration against the new measures, the paper said. Mr Peta is the first journalist for the international media to be detained under the Public Order and Security Act, just days after it came into effect. The Independent said Mr Peta would appear in court in the capital, Harare, today. If convicted, he could be sentenced to two years in jail, the newspaper said. Having been held overnight in Harare Central Jail, he is released. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 6 February 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Un journaliste libéré — Le 5 février, Basildon Peta, secrétaire général du Syndicat des journalistes du Zimbabwe et correspondant du quotidien britannique The Independent, a été arrêté puis relâché, à Harare. Il était accusé d’avoir organisé une manifestation illégale la semaine dernière. Le bureau du procureur général a refusé de le poursuivre, affirmant que la loi permettait les manifestations des organisations professionnelles sans l’autorisation préalable de la police. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 6 février 2002)