* Egypt. Experience teaches Egypt to keep low profile — The Egyptian authorities took extraordinary measures earlier this week to counteract a demonstration by the Islamist-leaning Labour party outside the US embassy in Cairo. Fewer than 150 demonstrators turned up, but the mobilisation of an estimated 1,000 police indicates the extreme sensitivity with which the regime of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president, views the prospect of war against Iraq. Cairo is solidly opposed to any military action and is refusing to take part. But Egypt, which likes to portray itself as the leader of the Arab world, has also chosen to adopt a lower profile in this latest confrontation despite evident fears about the effects of any war on domestic public opinion. Hence today’s meeting of foreign ministers from five of Iraq’s neighbours, plus Egypt, is taking place in Istanbul rather than Cairo. The ministers, whose governments share deep concern about the prospect of war, will try to avert an US-led military attack on Baghdad. (...) It seems that Mr Mubarak, with one eye on anti-US Egyptian opinion and another on Washington, is resigned to leaving the diplomacy, such as it is, to Turkey and Saudi Arabia. It is Riyadh that has been floating the idea of regime change in Iraq and of exile for Mr  Hussein and his entourage. Egypt is having little to do with the proposal. (Financial Times, UK, 23 January 2003)

* Egypt. State brutality — By day, Lazoghly Square, Cairo, is a fume-filled circus of honking taxis and frustrated drivers. By night, the heavily guarded entrance to the ministry of the interior is one of the most feared addresses in Egypt. Through a black marble arch lies the headquarters of the state security investigation unit (SSI) where political dissidents and Islamists rounded up in pre-dawn raids are interrogated. Detainees, according to innumerable accounts, are routinely tortured. Punishments reportedly involve prisoners being beaten, suspended over the edge of doors by arms tied behind their backs, subjected to cigarette burns and electric shocks, sexually harassed, deprived of sleep and food, and forced to watch relatives being tortured. In some cases heavy weights are put on inmates’ legs or detainees are subjected to extreme cold. «When they come to us after being released they are in post-traumatic stress,» says Dr Suzan Fayad, a psychiatrist, who works with Nadeem, an Egyptian organisation which rehabilitates victims of violence. Last November, Egypt was again condemned by the UN‘s influential committee against torture in Geneva. The committee concluded there was «widespread evidence of torture and ill-treatment in administrative premises» under the control of the SSI. Such denunciations are not new, but after September 11 there is a fresh sense of urgency, because human rights activists are beginning to wonder whether prisons and detention centres such as Lazoghly Square have played a role in transforming Islamist groups into violent extremist organisations such as al-Qaida. (...) Hafiz Abu Sa’eda, the head of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights believes the main reason that another Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, became more extreme was the torture inflicted on its members. (The Guardian, UK, 24 January 2003)

* Egypt. War fears prompt Egypt to float its currency — On 29 January, Egypt moved dramatically to pre-empt the likely disastrous impact of a war against Iraq on its stumbling economy by freeing its currency, the Egyptian pound, to free-float against the dollar. Following an announcement on 28 January by Atef Obaid, the prime minister, of a shift from a fixed peg to a market determined rate, the Egyptian pound promptly depreciated on Wednesday by 16 per cent to trade at $1=5.40 pounds — slightly below the previous black market rate for the dollar. Analysts in Cairo were taken aback by the timing of Mr Obaid’s announcement. A further depreciation had been widely expected ahead of what is viewed in Cairo as probable war in the Gulf — but not the free-float. The shift was nonetheless widely welcomed. «They (the authorities) wanted to make sure that, if there is a war, the market will determine the effects and not have a parallel rate that is detrimental to  the inflows of investment and capital flows. I think it is a very positive move,» Hassan Heikal of the local investment bank EFG-Hermes said on 29 January. Egypt has had a decidedly chequered history when it comes to exchange rate management. Formally the pound has lost 36 per cent of its value against the dollar since the autumn of 2000 in a series of devaluations widely viewed as botched. On each occasion the Egyptian government has shied away from using its own central bank reserves, which now stand at just under $14bn, to ease liquidity and maintain supply of hard currency in the market. Instead it has relied on rationing of dollars and maintaining a de facto peg. (Financial Times, UK, 30 January 2003)

* Eritrea. High grade gold discovered — A Canadian mining company has announced the discovery of new high grade gold and base metals at Bisha, some 150 km west of the Eritrean capital Asmara. Nevsun Resources Ltd, which owns 90 percent of the Bisha property, said the discovery was made after an initial phase of exploration drilling, totalling 804 metres in six holes. Prior work, carried out in 1998 and 1999, had defined a significant area of anomalous copper, lead and zinc, as well as the gold. «Similar base metal deposits occur in Eritrea at Dubarwa and Adi Nefas, located near the capital city of Asmara,» Nevsun said in a news release issued on 22 January. It noted that the Bisha exploration property covers 49 sq km and has «excellent port facilities on the Red Sea». Nevsun, which describes itself as an Africa-focused mine development and exploration company, has two key projects in Mali and Ghana. «Management believes that the new high-grade discovery at the Bisha property in Eritrea complements Nevsun’s advanced Tabakoto and Segala Projects in Mali, West Africa, as they provide for regional projects and corporate growth,» the news release said. (IRIN, Kenya, 23 January 2003)

* Erythrée. Menace de famine — Plus des deux tiers de la population érythréenne, soit 2,3 millions de personnes, sont menacés par la famine et la sécheresse, a annoncé le 29 janvier à Genève la ministre érythréenne de l’Emploi, de l’Eau et de l’Environnement. Selon le Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM), les stocks de nourriture dans le pays seront épuisés dans deux mois. (La Croix, France, 30 janvier 2003)

* Eritrea/Ethiopia. Border ruling favours Eritrea — Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that a crucial boundary ruling last year rejected many of Ethiopia’s claims to territory after its war with Eritrea. Both countries claimed to have been awarded the symbolic village of Badme where their border war flared up in 1998, after a ruling issued by an international Boundary Commission in April 2002. In its 2003 World Report, HRW says that «the report [by the Boundary Commission] generally rejects Ethiopia’s claims including (without mentioning it by name) the claim to the village of  Badme where the war had started». But, according to diplomatic sources, Ethiopia is currently preparing a comprehensive legal challenge to the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission’s (EEBC) ruling. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 24 January 2003)

* Ethiopia. State of the art airport terminal opens — One of Africa’s largest airport passenger terminals opened in Addis Ababa this week ahead of a key summit by the continent’s political leaders. The state of the art international terminal is expected to be able to process some 3,000 passengers an hour. The opening comes just two weeks before dozens of African leaders fly into Addis Ababa for a summit hosted by the African Union (AU). Plans for a new terminal and runway were launched six years ago. The new runway can also accommodate the largest planes, like Boeing 747s, which could boost the numbers of tourists flying into Ethiopia. The three-story building also houses a high tech security and baggage handling system built on more than 43,000 square metres of land. The terminal also contains banks and duty free shops. The new terminal at Bole International Airport is one of a number of airport terminal constructions that have been underway in Ethiopia. New terminals have been constructed in Gondar, Lalibela and an international airport in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray region in the north of Ethiopia. (IRIN, Kenya, 22 January 2003)

* Ethiopia. Educated suffer government repression — In a 24 January Press Release, Human Rights Watch says the Ethiopian government is muzzling educators and students with a policy of harsh repression that includes extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and widespread denials of freedom of opinion and association. The 52-page report, «Lessons in repression: Violations of Academic Freedom in Ethiopia», documents an on-going pattern of impunity among federal and state security forces accused of using excessive lethal force to disperse protests by unarmed high school students and other civilians. (HRW, 24 January 2003)

* Ethiopia. Nestlé u-turn on Ethiopia debt — Nestlé, the world’s largest coffee company, was forced into a humiliating u-turn last night, after public outrage forced it to drop its $6m claim against the famine stricken Ethiopian government. After being deluged by 40,000 letters inspired by The Guardian‘s revelation of its demand for compensation over assets seized in the 1970s, Nestlé will today announce that it has decided to back down. Talks between the company and the Ethiopian government this week resulted in Nestlé accepting Addis Ababa’s offer of a $1.5m settlement, which will be handed straight over to the famine relief effort. The Guardian‘s editor, Alan Rusbridger, said it was a triumph for the power of public opinion. «After The Guardian first exposed the company’s plans, over 40,000 people wrote to Nestlé outraged at their claim on the Ethiopian government,» he said. «Corporate greed has buckled in the face of adverse publicity and direct action.» Senior representatives from Nestlé are expected to sign a deal today with the Ethiopian government. In a statement last night, the giant food and beverages company said it was not interested in taking money out of a country confronted with famine and that it was exploring other ways it could be of assistance to the Ethiopian government. (The Guardian, UK, 24 January 2003)

* Ethiopie. Accord avec Nestlé — Le 24 janvier, Nestlé et le gouvernement éthiopien ont signé un accord pour le remboursement à Nestlé de quelque 1,5 million de dollars, en compensation d’une créance de $6 millions réclamée de longue date par Nestlé-Allemagne concernant une entreprise nationalisée en 1975 par le gouvernement de l’époque et revendue à un investisseur privé en 1998. Sous l’égide d’Oxfam, 40.000 lettres de protestation avaient été envoyées à Nestlé à ce sujet. Nestlé a indiqué que le montant reçu serait immédiatement alloué à des initiatives visant à combattre la famine en Ethiopie. Le groupe suisse a dit aussi examiner de quelle manière il pourrait aider le pays à assurer à plus long terme un approvisonnement alimentaire et un meilleur accès à l’eau. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 25 janvier 2003)

* Guinée. La santé du président Conté — Le 26 janvier, la télévision guinéenne a diffusé une séance de prières à laquelle ont pris part récemment, dans la capitale, des membres du gouvernement, des députés et d’autres dignitaires du régime pour “un prompt rétablissement” du président Lansana Conté. Un haut dignitaire, membre du parti au pouvoir, a indiqué que le président était “très fatigué et malade”. Il s’est fait soigner d’un diabète aigu à l’hôpital militaire de Rabat (Maroc), où il doit retourner à la fin de ce mois pour un suivi médical. Plusieurs observateurs disent redouter le chaos en Guinée si le président Conté venait à disparaître aujourd’hui. Mais dans un entretien avec PANA, le leader de l’Union pour le progrès de la Guinée (UPG, opposition) a appelé “l’armée à prendre le pouvoir pour une période de 3 à 6 mois avant de nouvelles élections”. “Le général Conté est gravement malade et donc incapable d’assumer les fonctions de chef de l’Etat”, a-t-il ajouté, rappelant que le 14 décembre prochain est la date butoir de la fin de son second quinquennat. (D’après PANA, Sénégal, 27 janvier 2003)

* Guinée-Bissau. Relance de la filière riz — Le Koweït va aider la Guinée-Bissau à mettre en oeuvre un plan de relance de la riziculture, a déclaré le 26 janvier le ministre de l’Agriculture, M. Mballo. “Notre objectif est d’atteindre à terme l’autosuffisance alimentaire”, a déclaré Mballo. Le montant du financement n’a pas été révélé. Le plan de relance prévoit entre autres l’installation de motopompes pour réguler les besoins en eau dans les rizières, l’encadrement technique des producteurs et l’utilisation de variétés de riz à haut rendement. La Guinée-Bissau est actuellement confrontée à un important déficit vivrier à cause d’une longue pause pluviométrique. La production de riz a baissé de 40 à 50% cette année dans la région de Gabou (est). Plus de 300 villages sont menacés de famine dans les régions de Kinara et Tombali dans le sud du pays. (PANA, Sénégal, 27 janvier 2003)

* Kenya. Ministres victimes d’un accident d’avion — Le 24 janvier, le ministre kényan du Travail, Ahmad Mohamed Khalif, a été tué quand son avion s’est écrasé au décollage dans l’ouest du pays, tuant également deux pilotes. Deux autres ministres (Martha Karua, ministre des Ressources en eau, et Linah Jebii Kilimo, ministre d’Etat rattaché à la vice-présidence) et le parlementaire George Khanari ont été blessés. L’avion de tourisme s’est écrasé au décollage, après avoir heurté une ligne à haute tension dans la région de Busia (ouest), selon la police. Tous revenaient de Nairobi après une visite dans la région. Le gouvernement du président Mwai Kibaki n’est en fonction que depuis quelques semaines. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 25 janvier 2003)

* Kenya. Labour minister killed in air crash — 24 January: A light aircraft carrying Kenya’s Labour Minister, Ahmed Khalif, and other government ministers, crashes shortly after taking off in western Kenya. The Labour Minister and two pilots are killed in the accident in Busia. Several other passengers are injured, some badly. The officials had been visiting Busia as part of celebrations for the election victory. President Kibaki says an investigation is under way. 25 January: The Government says the plane was too heavy. The Gulfstream I twin-propeller plane weighed 16 tonnes and was taking off from an airstrip designed for aircraft weighing less than 5.7 tonnes. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 25 January 2003)

* Kenya. Judge in court for corruption — 27 January: A Kenyan High Court judge has pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud in the first corruption case ever filed against a Kenyan judge. The judge, Samuel Oguk, is accused of having accepted a bribe worth about $6,700 two years ago. His lawyers say the prosecution violates the judicial immunity guaranteed by the constitution. One of the main planks in President Mwai Kibaki’s election campaign was a pledge to eradicate corruption. Mr Oguk was freed on bail and police said they intended to bring more charges against him when the trial resumes on 10 February. The judge says he is being persecuted and has warned he will expose big names in Mr Kibaki’s government and some of the family members of his predecessor, Daniel arap Moi. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 27 January 2003)

* Kenya. Children freed from Islamic correctional centre — Kenyan police have rescued 11 boys from an Islamic correctional centre in the capital, Nairobi, where they were kept in chains and tortured. Most of the teenagers came from Kenya, but others were from the United Kingdom, Sweden and Ethiopia. In a dramatic raid at the Khadija Islamic Institute of Discipline and Education, the police were forced to fire in the air to fight off residents pelting them with them stones — before rescuing 10 teenagers who were being held at the centre. They were kept in chains and secured by padlocks in small rooms with little ventilation or light in Eastleigh, a Nairobi suburb inhabited mainly by ethnic Somalis and refugees from the Horn of Africa. The raid followed a tip-off from one of the teenagers who was himself later rescued from a hospital where he had gone to seek medical help. Nairobi police boss Stephen Kimenchu led the late evening raid. «We found the children running around in chains. It was some kind of extreme confinement you cannot imagine to be happening in this country. We were not aware of this until yesterday when we got there.» At the Kasarani police station, five kilometres from where they had been rescued, the children narrated their ordeal at the hands of Islamic teachers bent on turning them into good Muslims. Nairobi police boss Mr Kimenchu says the children were sent to the centre by their parent who pay $1,500 per child for a two-year stay. «I think the parents believed their children were learning the Koran. I don’t think they were aware of the actual conditions their children were living in,» he said. In Eastleigh, local councillor Kullow Ibraim Haji also condemned the cruel treatment of students: «I support the school and the parents who bring their children here to be taught discipline. But I don’t support torture and chaining of students,» he said. «Islam does not allow children to be tortured. Teaching and disciplining them is one thing —but not torture.» (BBC News, UK, 28 January 2003)

* Liberia. Moving against «blood diamonds» — Liberia announced completion of its own diamond-certification program on 29 January, saying it aims to prove it is doing its part to keep so-called «blood diamonds» off the market. Authorities of the West African nation hope the plan will lead to lifting international sanctions against it for its alleged gun-and diamond-trafficking ring, which has helped finance Liberia’s deadly civil war. Energy Minister Jenkins Dunbar told journalists Liberia’s plan includes a tamper-and forgery-resistant certificate in line with recommendations of the Kimberley Process. The Kimberley Process, developed by the diamond industry, human rights groups and 37 governments, aims at squelching the trade of diamonds to fund civil wars in Africa. The process is intended to track each diamond from the mine to the jeweler’s window, blocking the trade of diamonds trafficked illicitly. «Any Liberian diamonds that are not accompanied by the certificate should be banned on the world market,» Dunbar said. The minister  said he was optimistic the sanctions would «shortly be lifted» so that legal mining can resume in Liberia. (CNN, USA, 29 January 2003)

* Madagascar. Mixing religion and politics — Religion is close to the hearts of the people of Madagascar. Approximately half of the population are Christians. President Marc Ravalomanana is himself the vice-president of the Protestant reform movement known here as FJKM. Journalist and commentator Jean-Eric Rakotorisoa says that without the support of the Church, Ravalomanana would not have become president. «Religion played a big role, notably the Christian Churches — Catholic, Anglican, Reformist and Lutheran. They allowed Marc Ravalomanana to take power and get the support of the people. The Church allowed him to resolve the political crisis here and become president. So these churches had an enormous influence. Ravalomanana is the vice-president of the FJKM and he played on religion in order to get elected.» President Ravalomanana certainly takes Christianity seriously and he expects the thousands of people who work for him in his private companies to do the same. They have to attend regular services and hold prayer meetings before they start work. He also used a quotation from the Bible: Mark 5, Chapter 36 — as a political slogan: «Don’t be afraid, just have faith.» Some commentators and critics though are concerned that there has been a blurring of the boundaries between Church and state. They say the first article of Madagascar’s constitution talks of the secularity of government. So they wonder if has this independence been lost. (BBC News, UK, 22 January 2003)

* Malawi. Le 3e mandat de Muluzi — En dépit des protestations, M. Henry Phoya, ministre de la Justice et procureur général, va demander le 28 janvier au Parlement de voter l’amendement constitutionnel proposé afin de permettre au président Muluzi de briguer un nouveau mandat de cinq ans. Son second mandat expire en 2004 et la Constitution lui interdit de se représenter. Un projet de loi similaire a déjà été rejeté le 4 juillet dernier. “Alors que nous pensions que la question était tranchée pour de bon, voilà que le procureur général vient mettre sur la table un nouveau projet visant les mêmes objectifs”, a déploré un député de l’opposition, soulignant que le pays était confronté à des problèmes bien plus importants. (D’après PANA, Sénégal, 27 janvier 2003)

* Malawi. Third-term protests — 27 January: Police have fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators angry at proposals to let President Muluzi run for a third term of office. Some 2,000 people march in Blantyre, before the protest is broken up. In Lilongwe, Parliament has started an emergency debate over a proposed change in the Constitution top let President Muluzi contest elections scheduled for 2004. 29  January: The Government has backed down in its attempts to allow President Muluzi to stand for a third term of office. A bill to change the Constitution has been withdrawn from Parliament. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 29 January 2003)

* Morocco/Spain. A rocky relationship — Forty members of the Spanish corporate elite will board a private plane early on the morning of 24 January for Rabat. They are Spain’s captains of industry and will make the two-hour flight as ambassadors for leading telecoms, energy, tobacco and banking companies, as well as textile manufacturers, airlines and steel makers. The delegation will be received by Driss Jettou, Morocco’s prime minister, and they may even be granted an audience with Mohammed VI, the Moroccan king. (...) With the pending privatisation of Morocco’s state-owned airline and tobacco company and bids opening for a second telephony licence and important utility concessions, there is no time to waste on formalities. The whirlwind visit — the delegates return to Madrid on the same day — is meant to signal Spanish corporate interest in Morocco, despite the sometimes rocky relations at diplomatic level. The restoration of normal diplomatic relations between Spain and Morocco, suspended for more than a year, may come next week when their foreign ministers meet in Rabat. (Financial Times, UK, 23 January 2003)

* Maroc/UE. Dialogue sur l’immigration — Le 28 janvier, le Maroc a appelé l’Union européenne à engager un “dialogue responsable” pour résorber le phénomène de l’immigration clandestine dans le cadre d’une responsabilité commune. Le ministre marocain délégué aux Affaires étrangères, Taieb Fassi Fihri, a indiqué que son pays est favorable à une approche globale qui s’attaque aux racines sociales et économiques du phénomène. Il a mis l’accent sur la nature “complexe” du problème et a souligné qu’un grand nombre d’immigrés clandestins sont originaires de pays africains sub-sahariens. Cette immigration est de plus aggravée par l’apparition de réseaux de passeurs, aussi bien dans le nord que dans le sud de la méditerranée. Le Maroc vient d’élaborer un projet de loi qui organise l’entrée des étrangers sur son sol. La question de l’immigration clandestine constitue l’un des dossiers qui empoisonnent les relations entre le Maroc et l’Espagne. (PANA, Sénégal, 28 janvier 2003)

* Mauritania. Famine warning — The World Food Programme (WFP) warns that hundreds of thousands of people in five West African countries are threatened with starvation. The needs are most pressing in Mauritania, where a third successive drought has had dire consequences for the local population. 420,000 people there need food aid, most of them in the south. Another country of particular concern is Cape Verde. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 28 January 2003)

* Nigeria. Le cas Amina — Le procès d’appel d’Amina Lawal, la femme condamnée à la lapidation pour avoir donné le jour à une fillette en dehors du mariage, se tiendra le 25 mars prochain, a décidé le tribunal islamique de Katsina. La cour a rejeté la demande présentée par le ministère public qui demandait un renvoi de 6 mois pour étudier le dossier de façon plus approfondie. Le 19 août dernier, un premier recours présenté par les défenseurs d’Amina avait déjà été rejeté. Le ministre nigérian de la Justice, Kabu Agabi, s’était déclaré totalement opposé au verdict. (Misna, Italie, 23 janvier 2003)