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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 18-04-2002

PART #4/4 - From SOUTH AFRICA to  ZIMBABWE

* South Africa. «Dr Death» acquitted — Dr Wouter Basson, the man who headed South Africa’s apartheid-era germ warfare programme, has been acquitted on charges of murder, conspiracy, fraud and drug possession. «I find the accused not guilty on all the charges,» Judge Willie Hartzenberg said as the judgment was read out in the courtroom in Pretoria. Dr Basson, dubbed «Dr Death» by the media for his alleged attempts to perfect killing, showed little reaction, just smiled briefly as he was found not guilty on 46 charges. The ruling African National Congress condemned the verdict as «outrageously bad». (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 11 April 2002)

* Afrique du Sud. Le docteur de l’apartheid acquitté — Cerveau du programme d’armes chimiques du régime raciste d’Afrique du Sud, entre 1982 et 1992, le Dr Wouter Basson a été acquitté, le 11 avril, faute de preuves, à l’issue d’un procès de trente mois à Pretoria. Ce médecin militaire de 51 ans répondait de 46 chefs d’accusation pour sa participation à des assassinats de militants anti-apartheid. Les laboratoires secrets placés sous sa direction élaboraient des poisons servant à liquider les opposants. Basson était en charge du programme “Project Coast” qui devait permettre au pouvoir de se doter d’une capacité chimique militaire en contournant l’embargo international, grâce à un important réseau d’espionnage technique. (Le parquet fédéral a annoncé son intention de faire appel). (Libération, France, 12 avril 2002)

* South Africa. Media conference doesn’t condemn Mugabe — 16 April: A Commonwealth conference on democracy and the media fails to adopt a resolution condemning President Robert Mugabe’s crackdown on the independent media in Zimbabwe. Parliamentarians and journalists attending a three-day conference on securing an effective relationship between legislators and reporters failed to agree that Mugabe’s post-election law curbing freedom of the press and the arrest and harassment of journalists merited a separate declaration. African delegates broadly lined up against a declaration condemning Zimbabwe’s suppression of press freedom that was supported by delegates from Britain, India and Australia. «We should stick to our own theme of promoting relations between parliamentarians and the media and enhancing the free press and democracy,» South African provincial legislator Pule Malefane told the conference, organized by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. «As to specific situations, I don’t think we need to...pronounce on them.» (CNN, USA, 17 April 2002)

* South Africa. Tight security at race murder trial — 16 April: A packed South African court hears grisly details of a brutal race killing by five white members of a rugby club as the judge begins summing up the emotionally charged case. Some 200 people crowd into the Pretoria courtroom to hear Judge Bernard Ngoepe begin delivering his judgment. Only a handful are friends and family of the five accused. Fears of violence prompt the deployment of armed police inside the courtroom, but there are no incidents. Riaan Botha, Kobus Joubert, Ben Korff, Francois Velloen and Corne Kloppers are accused of murdering Tshepo Matloha, a 19-year-old black man, in March 2001. Nine white men were initially charged, but the state withdrew charges against four last year. (CNN, USA, 17 April 2002)

* Sudan/Uganda. Uniting to wipe out LRA — Up to 5,000 child fighters have been encircled by Sudanese and Ugandan troops in southern Sudan, in readiness for an all-out assault on the cultish rebel army. With the abducted and apparently brainwashed children violently resisting efforts to negotiate, on 12 April, the UN children’s agency, Unicef, warned of a possible massacre. «These are indoctrinated children who believe they have to fight to the death; neither Ugandan nor Sudanese soldiers are likely to feel too sorry for them,» Nils Kastburg, Unicef’s director of emergency programmes, said. «It is proving impossible to reach them, and we’re getting desperate.» The joint offensive against the Lord’s Resistance Army, a brutal Ugandan rebel group largely composed of abducted children and led by a self-declared spiritual medium who claims supernatural powers, began two weeks ago. After fleeing their four main camps on the eastern bank of the White Nile, in southern Sudan, the 7,000 rebels have dispersed into several groups. Intelligence sources say that groups are besieged by the Sudanese army south-east of the town of Juba, and by the Ugandan defence force further east, near Mogiri and Magwe. The rebels hiding near Magwe, thought to number several thousand fighters with their families, include the LRA’s leader, Joseph Kony. Ugandan and Sudanese efforts to contact the rebels have so far been met with a hail of bullets. Unicef and the Red Cross are therefore barred by their own safety regulations from trying to offer the children safe passage. «We’ve got desperate parents in Uganda wanting their children back and meanwhile they’re fighting to the death in Sudan,» Mr Kastburg said. «We are extremely frustrated not to be making more headway.» (The Guardian, UK, 13 April 2002)

* Sudan. Large-scale government offensive in western Upper Nile and Bahr al Ghazal — 16 April: The Sudan Armed Forces (SPAF) have conducted a large scale offensive in Western Upper Nile and Bahr al Ghazal (South Sudan). The news was announced on 15 April in Nairobi (Kenya) without any additional details, by Samson Kwaje, the spokesman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the political wing of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). For the moment there is no confirmation from any independent source. (MISNA, Italy, 16 April 2002)

* Swaziland. Sticking with rand link — 11 April: Swaziland will not abandon its currency link to the rand despite a sharp fall in the value of the South African currency, Swazi officials have said. The lilangeni has been linked to the South African rand through a one-for-one exchange rate since its introduction in 1974. Speaking in parliament, today, acting finance minister Prince Guduza Dlamini says: «While it is true that the lilangeni has lost 40% of its value this past year as the rand has fallen against the US dollar, the Swazi economy is not large enough to sustain our own currency.» One benefit is that the Swazi economy is cushioned against the impact of any domestic political uncertainty. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 12 April 2002)

* Tanzania. Fire destroys embassy — 11 April A huge fire has engulfed a multi-story building in Dar-es-Salaam, destroying one embassy mission and several other business premises. No-one was hurt in the fire, which was noticed on the 14th floor of the building in the city centre at about 9.PM. It quickly spread to the 13th and 12th floors of the building, which is owned by the state-run National Insurance Corporation. Among the offices gutted were the premises of the Kenyan High Commission where the fire is believed to have started. The embassies of India, Finland and Germany are located in the same building but appear to have suffered no damage. The fire also swept through the studios of a popular private radio station, Clouds FM and the premises of several other businesses. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 12 April 2002)

* Tanzanie. Naufrage d’un ferry — Le 11 février, au moins cent personnes pourraient avoir trouvé la mort dans le naufrage d’un ferry tanzanien, dans l’est du pays. Selon un journaliste, le ferry transportait 150 personnes. Le ferry traversait la rivière Kilombero, au départ d’Ulunga et à destinsation de Morogoro, à quelque 250 km de Dar es-Salaam. Le naufrage s’est produit après qu’un cable de remorquage, utilisé pour permettre au ferry de passer d’une rive à l’autre, eut cédé, selon Radio Tanzania. (AP, USA, 12 avril 2002)

* Tanzania. Ferry tragedy — 11 April: At least 100 people are feared dead after a ferry capsized in central Tanzania, state-owned radio has announced. About 150 people were reported to have been in the ferry, owned by the Tanzania Roads Company, when it sank near the town of Mahenge, according to the acting police commander of Morogoro region. The accident occurred at around 1400 (1100 GMT) on the Kilombero River, some 300 kilometres west of Dar es Salaam, according to Radio Tanzania. The reason for the disaster is not yet clear but that there are two main theories: heavy rains or possible overloading. The acting police chief, Juma Kondia, said that four bodies had been recovered and that 20 people were injured, four of them reportedly in a critical condition. Police across Morogoro district have been mobilised in the rescue effort and that navy divers have been called in to search for survivors and recover bodies. 15 April: The Tanzanian authorities say they have pulled 14 bodies out of the Kilombero river since the ferry capsized, but efforts to find about 20 more are being hampered by weather and inexperienced rescuers. Kilombero District Commissioner David Holela says the recovery operation is being complicated by strong currants, winds and heavy rain as well as the inexperience of the local fishermen who were doing the work. «We do not have divers, we are expecting divers from the navy to assist in the recovery later today.» (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 16 April 2002)

* Tanzania. Dig unearths ancient secret — A discovery which a Tanzanian archaeologist believes will change how East African history is regarded has been made on tiny Juani Island, off the Tanzanian coast. Prof. Felix Chami Felix Chami, professor of archaeology at the University of Dar es Salaam has uncovered a major site on Juani, near Mafia Island, which he believes will substantially increase the evidence that East Africa was part of a wider Indian Ocean community. Previous to Dr Chami’s other discoveries on the Tanzanian coast, scholars had never considered East Africa as part of the ancient world. The professor had been alerted to the existence of the cave by two local men who informed Peter Byrne, owner of a small lodge on Mafia Island and supporter of efforts to discover the intriguing history of these small islands — which are now entirely dependent on fishing. (BBC News, UK, 17 April 2002)

* Tunisie. Attentat contre la synagogue de Djerba? — Attentat ou accident? Le 11 avril, l’explosion d’un camion citerne transportant du gaz a causé six morts et une vingtaine de blessés devant la Ghriba, la synagogue de l’île de Djerba en Tunisie. Le véhicule a heurté le mur d’enceinte du lieu de culte, l’unique jour de la semaine où le bâtiment est ouvert aux visiteurs. Au moins quatre touristes allemands, le conducteur du camion et un policier sont morts, selon Perès Trabelsi, le président de la petite communauté juive de Djerba, pour qui il s’agit d’un “accident ordinaire”. Les autorités tunisiennes privilégient pour l’heure la thèse de l’accident. Mais le ministère des Affaires étrangères israélien a immédiatement évoqué la piste d’un attentat suicide. - Le vendredi 12 avril, le bilan de l’explosion s’avérait beaucoup plus lourd que prévu: on comptait maintenant 10 morts, dont 6 touristes allemands, et 32 blessés, dont 16 graves. Tunis a de plus en plus de difficultés à défendre la thèse de l’accident. La configuration des lieux (la synagogue donne sur une voie sans issue) met cette thèse à mal. Le dimanche 14 avril, le bilan était déjà monté à 16 morts: 10 touristes allemands, 5 Tunisiens et 1 Français. L’Allemagne a récusé la thèse de l’accident. Le 16 avril, la Tunisie n’a finalement plus exclu l’hypothèse d’un attentat, sur base du caractère “suspect” du conducteur du camion. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 15 avril 2002)

* Tunisia. Blast at synagogue on island of Djerba — 11 April: Sixteen people, en of whom were German, have been killed by a powerful blast at an ancient synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba. Another thirty people, mostly Germans, were seriously hurt. The blast was heard at least five kilometres away from the famous Ghriba synagogue, the country’s official news agency says. Officials said the blast was an «accident», caused by a truck filled with natural gas crashing into a wall surrounding the synagogue. Ghriba, whose foundations are said to date from 566 BC, is one of Africa’s oldest synagogues and is still functioning. The driver of the truck was killed as well as four people in the area, officials said. Around 20 people suffered injuries, including some with burns, and helicopters were mobilised to take people to the regional hospital.The island of Djerba, off Tunisia’s southeast coast, is a popular holiday destination. It is also home to around 1,000 of Tunisia’s 3,000 Jews.Witnesses immediately feared the blast could be an attack on a symbol of the Jewish community in Tunisia. 16 April: After repeated pressure from the German Government President Zine Ben Ali now admits that the explosion «was not an accident». Tunisian officials now say they believe the driver of the lorry to be a «suspect». — German police have released without charge a man arrested in connection with the blast. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 17 April 2002)

* Uganda. Garden hit by space junk — 10 April: Ugandan police say a mysterious object which landed in the garden of a peasant woman in central Uganda is part of a space rocket. Initially, it was thought to be a meteorite, but further investigation revealed it to be man-made. Curious visitors are reported to have flocked to the site where the object landed at the end of March. It was dusk when the unidentified object hurtled into the garden of an elderly peasant woman. And, astonished eyewitnesses reported hearing a thunderous noise as it landed. At first, the villagers thought it might be a bomb, but further scrutiny revealed something more mysterious. The object is spherical, like a big pot, and about a metre in diameter. Ugandan police who removed it from the garden concluded that the object is a booster for a space rocket. Experts say it is extremely rare for man-made space debris to fall to earth —most of it gets burnt up as it re-enters the atmosphere. But occasionally, perhaps once or twice a year, a big chunk of it gets through. What is virtually unheard of is for it to land in someone’s garden. (BBC News, UK, 10 April 2002)

* Uganda. Remembering Idi Amin’s fall — 11 April: Ugandans are commemorating the downfall of the dictator Idi Amin, 23 years after the overthrow of his regime. Earlier this year the government declared 11 April a day of national observance. During General Idi Amin’s eight-year rule in the 1970s, torture and summary execution were widespread. As part of today’s commemorations, regional leaders have flown in to take part in a symposium looking at ways of ending conflicts in other central African countries. When Idi Amin was in power, an estimated 400,000 people were killed by his security forces and some 70,000 Ugandans of Asian origin were expelled. He expelled Ugandan Asians who owned most of the businesses, precipitating the country into chaos. He was ousted in 1979 by a combined force of Tanzanian troops and Ugandan guerrillas. Amin is now living in exile in Saudi Arabia. Idi Amin’s overthrow is being officially celebrated for the first time in 16 years. It was last commemorated in 1985, during the second term of president Milton Obote — whose first regime ended when Idi Amin deposed him in 1971. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 11 April 2002)

* Ouganda. L’Italie annule la dette — Le gouvernement italien a décidé d’annuler la dette de 83 millions de dollars que lui devait l’Ouganda. Selon un communiqué de presse de l’ambassade d’Italie à Kampala, le principe a été retenu le 16 avril entre des ministres des deux pays. La décision sera formalisée prochainement par la signature d’un accord à Rome. A cette occasion, l’Italie demande à l’Ouganda de rester fidèle à son engagement de respecter les droits de l’homme et les libertés fondamentales, de s’abstenir de l’usage de la force dans le règlement des conflits, et de lutter pour un développement durable. Le gouvernement italien attend également de l’Ouganda qu’il prévoie un budget pour les dépenses militaires dans la limite des besoins réels de sécurité et de la défense du pays. (PANA, Sénégal, 17 avril 2002)

* Zambie. Enquête sur un détournement — Le procureur de la République de Zambie a autorisé la police à commencer les investigations et à solliciter l’aide internationale dans l’enquête sur le détournement de fonds au sein de la défunte Meridien BIAO Bank. Le public réclamait cette enquête sur la disparition de 90 millions de dollars qui auraient été transférés par le canal de la banque aux Bahamas par l’ex-président Chiluba. Le ministre de l’Agriculture, Mundia Sikatana, avait accusé le gouvernement de Chiluba de collusion avec les responsables de la banque pour transférer ces fonds, une décision qui s’est soldée par la faillite de l’institution financière en 1995. (PANA, Sénégal, 12 avril 2002)

* Zambia. Central bank chief sacked — President Levy Mwanawasa has dismissed the central bank governor Jacob Mwanza with immediate effect. No reason was given for the sacking of 65-year-old Mr Mwanza, who took up the post as governor in 1995 and had three years left on his current five-year contract. Economist Caleb Fundanga, senior adviser to the president of the African Development Bank, has been named as his replacement, presidential spokesman Arthur Yoyo said. «With this appointment the President wants to demonstrate his resolve to seek the expertise and experience of Zambians where ever they might be,» Mr Yoyo said. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 17 April 2002)

* Zambia. Opposition leader arrested — 17 April: Police have confirmed that they are holding an opposition politician on corruption charges. They say Michael Sata is being held for what police say is the theft of two government vehicles and changing their registration. Sata is expected to be arraigned in court on 18 April. Mr Sata was once an aide to former president Fredrick Chiluba. But the two fell out when Mr Sata challenged Mr Chiluba’s intentions to run for a third term. He then broke away from the ruling MMD and formed his own Patriotic Front Party. He is accused of stealing the vehicles between 26 October and 31 December last year. Sata denies the charges and accuses the government of trying to silence him. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 18 April 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Répression contre la presse — Les autorités zimbabwéennes semblent avoir ouvert une véritable guerre d’usure contre la presse indépendante, indique Reporters sans frontières. Le 15 avril, Geoffrey Nyarota, directeur du Daily News, a été brièvement interrogé au commissariat de Harare et a été ensuite formellement inculpé de “publication de fausses nouvelles”. On lui reproche d’avoir publié des articles dénonçant les incohérences et les manquements du greffier principal de la dernière élection présidentielle. Le 15 avril également, Duminasi Muleya, reporter du Zimbabwe Independent, a été interrogé pendant quatre heures et inculpé de “diffamation criminelle”. On lui reproche d’avoir porté atteinte à la réputation de la femme du président, Grace Mugabe. Dans un article publié le 12 avril, Muleya faisait état de la sollicitation de l’influence de la Première dame par son propre frère, dans un conflit l’opposant à une industrie alimentaire. (RSF, Paris, 16 avril 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Election fallout — 12 April: The MDC is going to court, to day, try to overturn the results of last month’s controversial presidential election. The MDC has accused President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party of massive fraud and demanded a fresh contest. The MDC‘s leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, says the MDC lawyers have uncovered «mountains of hardcore and powerful evidence of electoral fraud which if presented to an independent and impartial court would undoubtedly result in Robert Mugabe’s electoral victory being set aside.» President Mugabe denies the allegations and has said no new presidential poll will be held until his term expires in six years’ time. The MDC has said there were large discrepancies in the figures recorded at polling stations and those announced by the government. But the opposition is not relying on the courts to annul the results and will continue to use political channels. «We are not under any illusions that despite the overwhelming evidence at hand, the legal action may face a hurdle given that ZANU-PF has now subverted Zimbabwe’s judicial system,» says Mr Tsvangirai. 15 April: The editor of Zimbabwe’s only private daily newspaper has been arrested after publishing a story that last month’s election results were falsified, his lawyer said. Geoff Nyarota from The Daily News was charged with falsifying and fabricating information and released three hours later, said Lawrence Chibwe. Days after his controversial re-election, President Robert Mugabe signed into law measures which greatly restricted the media. Another journalist was detained the same day, his editor said. Dumisani Muleya from the Zimbabwe Independent was picked up in connection with a story published on 12 April, Iden Wetherall. Also on 15 April, New Zealand became the latest country to slap a travel ban on Mr Mugabe and his associates in protest at the election, which Commonwealth observers said was held in a «climate of fear». In announcing the ban, Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said there was «clear evidence» that those on the list had been involved «in terms of human rights abuses and undermining the rule of law.» Mr Goff said his government had also banned sales of arms or other «instruments of oppression» to Zimbabwe, and will consider freezing the assets of Mr Mugabe and his associates if evidence emerges that they have investments in New Zealand. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 16 April 2002)