* The Gambia. Foreigner tax imposed — 25 February: The introduction of a new «foreigners tax» in The Gambia has led to many foreigners fleeing the country. Every foreigner resident in The Gambia now has to pay 1,000 dalasi ($40) every year for an «Alien Certificate». Sources close to the government say the new tax is necessary because out of 1.5 million people living in The Gambia, about 700,000 are foreign nationals and their numbers are increasing. They also say the new tax will help the authorities improve social services for the entire population. One senior government official who backed the new tax said it is unfair to tax Gambians alone, while many expatriate workers are accumulating large sums of money at the expense of Gambian tax payers. The issue is so controversial that the cabinet is reportedly split over the tax. Since the introduction of this new alien tax many foreigners mostly from Guinea, Senegal and Sierra Leone have left the country. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 25 February 2003)

* Guinea. Presidency of the UN Security Council — 1 March: The west African state of Guinea comes under an unfamiliar spotlight, today, as it assumes the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council. The former French colony is taking over the presidency for one month, the period that all members of the council serve. But by chance it will be a month in which crunch decisions could be taken on Iraq, and activities around the horseshoe-shaped table of the Security Council will be under unprecedented scrutiny. ANB-BIA, Belgium, 1 March 2003)

* Kenya. Bank scandal spreads — 27 February: The collapse of a bank with close links to the previous Kenyan regime is causing a widening political storm. Euro Bank, a small but ambitious Nairobi bank, was liquidated last week after admitting being insolvent. Now, the management of the bank have been detained by the police for questioning, and politicians are starting to point to government members and other officials who were involved in the scandal. The country’s attorney general and the heads of the central bank and revenue authority have all been urged to resign, and members of parliament claim more allegations will come out over the next few weeks. President Mwai Kibaki, who led the opposition National Rainbow Coalition to power in December, has promised to rid Kenya of corruption. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 27 February 2003)

* Kenya. Flower firms blossom — Kenya’s horticultural industry is attracting major foreign investment again following the election of a new government, a leading export body has said. «We’re looking at between $200m to $300m coming in the next eight to 10 months,» said Hasmit Shah, chairman of the Association of Fresh Produce Exporters (AFPE). Growing fresh vegetables, fruit and flowers for export to European supermarkets is one of Kenya’s biggest industries and a major earner of foreign exchange. (BBC News, UK, 28 February 2003)

* Kenya/Tanzanie/USA. Nouvelles ambassades — Les Etats-Unis ont ouvert leur nouvelle ambassade à Nairobi, au Kenya. Ils font de même, le 4 mars, en Tanzanie. Le 7 août 1998, les deux bâtiments avaient été détruits dans un attentat attribué à Al-Qaïda. 229 personnes y avaient perdu la vie. (De Standaard, Belgique, 4 mars 2003)

* Kenya. Inheriting wives — When a Kenyan woman loses her husband, she also frequently loses her home, her land, her cows and all her other household property. What the widow gains, whether she likes it or not, is a new husband, frequently her brother-in-law. Human Rights Watch issued a report on 4 March condemning the traditional African practice of wife inheritance, in which a widow is transferred to a male relative of her deceased husband. Typically the new husband takes control of the property with or without the consent of the widow. The custom, common throughout Kenya, extends far and wide in sub-Saharan Africa. Traditionally, elders say, the practice ensured that the extended family would take care of widows. But critics maintain that it strips women of their property rights and exposes them to sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS. «Wife inheritance is often portrayed as an act of generosity in that the widow will have a man to “look after” her and confer the legitimacy of being in a male-headed household,» the report said. «But men clearly benefit not just from their inherited wife’s labour and childbearing potential but also from the property the deceased husband leaves behind.» The report called on the government of President Mwai Kibaki, which has pledged better treatment of women, to overhaul the legal system so that women have the same rights to property as men. The report recommends that judges and police officers undergo training on the issue and that a legal aid system be set up to assist destitute victims. (New York Times, USA, 5 March 2003)

* Kenya. Mombasa’s port is bursting at the seams — Kenya’s principal port of Mombasa is falling behind its competitors because outdated equipment is causing delays to shipments, the port’s managing director has told the BBC. The Port of Mombasa needs to invest about $28.8m to modernise its container terminal, Brown Ondego, managing director of Kenya Ports Authority has told the BBC. The congestion means that goods arriving in Durban, in South Africa, may reach destinations in Kenya’s neighbouring state of Uganda faster than those shipped through Mombasa, he said. «That is an embarrassment,«said Mr Ondego. «The only competition that we should be talking about truly is Dar es Salaam,» in neighbouring Tanzania, he added. Mombasa’s container terminal is doing brisk business but is being stretched beyond its capacity. It is handling about 300,000 containers a year, though it only has capacity for 250,000. Dar-es-Salaam, which is also on the Indian Ocean, can cater for 230,000 containers annually. Both ports are dwarfed by Durban, which handles more than one million containers a year. The port of Mombasa plans to find the bulk of the $28.8m it needs for new equipment from its profits. However, Mr Ondego said he was «hoping that we will be allowed to do some borrowing» to speed the process. (BBC News, UK, 5 March 2003)

* Liberia. Thousands flee fighting in east — Fighting that erupted on 28 February in Toe Town, site of a refugee transit camp in eastern Liberia, sent more than 2,500 Ivorians, third-country nationals and locals fleeing in different directions, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on 3 March. It was the second time that the refugees were being displaced since they had just fled an armed conflict in neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire, the agency said in a news release on 3 March. «Citizens from Toe Town and few Ivorian refugees arrived in Zwedru [to the north] over the weekend and told UNHCR field staff that the town was partly burned and deserted, with bodies lying in the streets,» UNHCR‘s Emergency Coordinator Jo Hegenauer said. «We have no information on the state of our transit centre so far.» (IRIN, Kenya, 4 March 2003)

* Liberia/Côte d’Ivoire. Reprise d’une ville frontalière — 3 mars. Les forces armées libériennes ont repris la ville frontalière Toe Town (dans le sud-est du pays à quelque 15 km de la frontière avec la Côte d’Ivoire) des mains d’insurgés prétendument appuyés par des militaires ivoiriens, a annoncé la presse libérienne le lundi 3 mars. Le gouvernement a annoncé durant le week-end que des Libériens “hostiles” avaient attaqué et pris la ville, le vendredi, avec l’appui du gouvernement ivoirien. Le ministre de la Défense a dit que le gouvernement libérien estimait que cet acte “équivaut à une déclaration de guerre”, et que ses troupes chasseraient les “forces d’invasion”, sans toutefois préciser si elles feraient une incursion dans le territoire ivoirien. Toe Town abrite quelque 5.000 réfugiés ivoiriens qui ont fui les combats en Côte d’Ivoire avec des milliers de réfugiés libériens revenus chez eux. A Monrovia, circulent différentes versions de ce qui s’est passé à Toe Town, certains se demandant s’il y a eu vraiment une incursion à partir du territoire ivoirien. Mais des petits mouvements de rébellion contre le président Taylor ont pris pied dans l’ouest de la Côte d’Ivoire, à la faveur de la situation de désordre généralisé qui y prévaut. — 5 mars. Le Haut Commissariat des Nations unies a fait part de son inquiétude à propos de la disparition de trois fonctionnaires humanitaires, membres d’une agence adventiste, qui ont disparu dans une zone frontalière entre le Liberia et la Côte d’Ivoire. Fuyant les affrontements, des dizaines de milliers de personnes ont déjà trouvé refuge dans cette zone très instable. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 6 mars 2003)

* Libye. Rappel de l’ambassadeur à Ryad — Le 3 mars, la Libye a décidé de rappeler son ambassadeur en Arabie saoudite pour consultation, après l’altercation qui a opposé son dirigeant Mouammar Kadhafi au prince héritier saoudien Abdallah ben Abdel Aziz, le 1er mars, lors du sommet arabe en Egypte. Cette décision a été prise par le Congrès général du peuple, la plus haute instance législative du pays, qui a exprimé “son mécontentement face à l’agression” du colonel Kadhafi pour le prince Abdallah. Le Congrès va par ailleurs examiner l’avenir des relations bilatérales entre les deux pays ainsi qu’un possible retrait de la Libye de la Ligue arabe, pour protester contre l’absence d’initiatives face aux crises dans la région. Lors du sommet arabe, le colonel Kadhafi avait procédé à une analyse historique des raisons de la présence militaire américaine dans la région du Golfe, expliquant notamment que cette intervention était dictée par la volonté des pays du Golfe qui redoutent la force irakienne. Le prince héritier saoudien avait répondu avec véhémence aux propos du leader libyen, le qualifiant notamment de “menteur”. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 4 mars 2003)

* Malawi. Rabid hyena stalks villages — At least three people have been killed in Malawi and 16 others injured by what is believed to be a rabid hyena, health officials said on 5 March. The victims include two women and a three-year-old girl who died after being attacked by the animal, said Matius Joshua, the top health official in the district of Dowa, north of the capital Lilongwe. The mutilated bodies of the women had been found, but the body of the girl was still missing. The girl’s mother was also injured in the attack. About 4,000 people fled their villages in the area, when word of the attacks spread. Some villagers said they feared the attacks could be the work of witchcraft. (CNN, USA, 6 March 2003)

* Mauritanie. Menace de famine — Une mission du Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM) qui vient de séjourner en Mauritanie, où sévit une grave sécheresse, a jugé la situation nutritionnelle “alarmante” et estimé que “l’alerte maximale” devait être déclenchée. Le PAM estime que 580.000 personnes sont menacées par la faim dans cinq pays du Sahel, dont 420.000 en Mauritanie. (Libération, France, 28 février 2003)

* Mozambique. Cyclone chaos — Fierce winds and heavy rains have displaced some 23,000 people in southern Mozambique after tropical cyclone Japhet destroyed homes and pulverised crops in the storm-weary African country. The cyclone, packing winds of up to 170 kph, swept down from the northern part of the country this week, ripping roofs off houses, tearing down power lines and killing at least three people. Governor Aires Aly of the coastal Inhambane province said most of the affected areas could not be reached by road and telephone communications had been interrupted. «It is impossible to assess the damage caused by the bad weather. But I can tell you that many houses built with flimsy materials have been destroyed,» Aly told Reuters. He said the storm had left an estimated 23,000 people homeless. In the tourist town of Vilankulo, Mayor Suleimane Amugy said about 95 percent of brick houses had had their roofs ripped off or windows and doors damaged. «Water and electricity supplies have been interrupted as a consequence of damage to the equipment. It’s so terrifying,» Amugy told the national state-controlled, Radio Mozambique. (CNN, USA, 6 March 2003)

* Niger. Sultan libéré — Elhadj Aboubacar Sanda, ex-sultan de la région de Zinder (sud-est du Niger), a été remis en liberté provisoire le 24 février. Suspendu de ses fonctions en juin 2001, il avait été condamné le 11 septembre 2002, par le tribunal de Niamey, à deux ans de prison ferme pour complicité d’escroquerie et au remboursement du montant détourné, soit 21,9 millions de FCFA (environ 33.000 euros). Son procès en appel doit avoir lieu le 10 mars prochain. L’ex-sultan était déjà poursuivi pour “complot de coup d’Etat, vols et recel de voitures, enlèvements et assassinats”. Aucune date de procès n’a encore été fixée pour ces derniers chefs d’accusation. (JAI, France, 2-8 mars 2003)

* Nigeria. Vigilante threat — 28 February: In a new report, Human Rights Watch warns that the run up to the April elections could be marred by the threat of violence by vigilante groups. Human Rights Watch says the Odua People’s Congress (OPC), a group based in south-west Nigeria, is responsible for the deaths or injuries of hundreds of people over the past few years. The report also highlights the support given to vigilante groups. The report’s authors highlight the OPC‘s involvement in ethnic clashes in Lagos over the past few years in which hundreds of people have died. — The leader of the OPC denies his members are engaging in violent acts against rival groups in the run-up to national elections in April. Gani Adams, the leader of the OPC, rejects Human Rights Watch‘s allegations (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 28 February 2003)

* Nigeria. Fuel shortages worsen — 28 February: Motorists across Nigeria are grappling with acute fuel shortages, with long queues of angry motorists waiting for hours outside those petrol stations which have supplies. One motorist said he was unable to find any petrol along the 500km road from Maiduguri in Borno State to the capital, Abuja. Such problems were common during the long period of military rule in the 1980s and 1990s but the government had hoped it had solved them. Information Minister Jerry Gana has blamed unnamed «political enemies» for causing the shortages in order to discredit the government in the run-up to general elections in April. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 28 February 2003)

* Nigeria. Many dead as boat sinks — 3 March: About 80 people are missing after a boat sank in north-western Nigeria. The boat sank on the River Niger in Kebbi State on 1 March but reports of the accident just started to emerge today. It was carrying about 100 people when it reportedly hit a rock and capsized near the village of Besse. Five survivors have been found, along with nine bodies according to a spokesman for Kebbi State. «It’s too early to ascertain the number of people who died in the mishap, but survivors from the wreck said that the boat was carrying about 100 passengers to a local market,» the spokesman, Abdullahi Zuru, said. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 3 March 2003)

* Nigeria. Naufrage — Plus de 80 personnes sont portées disparues, deux jours après le naufrage d’un bateau qui traversait le fleuve Niger, dans le nord du pays. Il y a cinq survivants et neuf corps ont été repêchés. Le bateau, qui pourrait avoir transporté une centaine de personnes, a heurté un rocher avant de sombrer. (La Croix, France, 4 mars 2003)

* Nigeria. Clashes leave 100 dead — 4 March: More than 100 people have been killed in clashes over the past few days between two communities in the north-eastern state of Adamawa, say the Red Cross in Nigeria. Among the dead were eight policemen and two soldiers, according to Red Cross head Emmanuel Ijewere. The situation is now reported to be calm with armed police deployed to the area. The area where the fighting has taken place, on Nigeria’s border with Cameroon, is very remote and it has taken some days for the full extent of the casualties to emerge. But now a Red Cross team has visited the area and made a full assessment; 110 dead, 500 injured and 21,000 people displaced from their homes. It is by far the worst outbreak of communal violence this year. The result of a dispute over land between nomadic Fulani cattle-herders and settled farmers of the Yungar ethnic group. In this latest round of a tit-for-tat battle that’s been escalating for months, the Fulani attacked the Yungar settlement of Dumne, burning houses and killing men, women and children, according to the police. Such clashes between two groups over land usage is common in Nigeria and has led to many thousands of deaths over the past few years. But in recent months there have been no major incidents reported. However, this latest outbreak is an indication of the potential for conflict never far from the surface between ethnic groups living side-by-side and competing for limited resources. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 4 March 2003)

* Nigeria. Violences dans le nord-est — Plusieurs dizaines de personnes, dont 7 policiers, ont été tuées au cours du week-end du 1-2 mars, dans des affrontements entre des fermiers et des nomades dans le nord-est du Nigeria, a annoncé la police. Les heurts avaient débuté le 28 février lorsque des gardiens de troupeaux de l’ethnie fulani avaient attaqué le village de Dumne, dans l’Etat d’Adamawa, tuant des habitants dont des femmes et des enfants, selon les autorités fédérales. Les nomades fulani, qui circulent dans la majeure partie de l’Afrique de l’Ouest, s’opposent souvent violemment à des cultivateurs nigérians, en raison de rivalités pour l’utilisation des terres, notamment dans le nord du Nigeria dont le sol est aride. “Les policiers ont été envoyés pour calmer les troubles, mais ils ont été tués de sang froid par des factions rivales”, a déclaré un porte-parole de la police. - 4 mars. Selon un nouveau bilan de la Croix-Rouge nigériane, le nombre des victimes des affrontements au cours du week-end s’élève à 110 morts, au moins 500 blessés et 21.000 personnes déplacées. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 5 mars 2003)

* Nigeria. Senior politician shot dead — 5 March: A leading opposition politician has been shot dead in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, ahead of general elections in April. Harry Marshall of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) was killed by unidentified gunmen at his home this morning. Nobody else was injured and nothing was stolen. Correspondents say it appears to be a targeted assassination, although a political motive has not yet been confirmed. Observers fear that the elections could worsen existing religious and ethnic tensions in Africa’s most populous state. Mr Marshall was a senior figure in the ANPP, which is expected to pose the greatest challenge to President Olusegun Obasanjo’s re-election campaign. He was one of the contenders to be the running mate of the ANPP‘s candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 5 March 2003)

* Nigeria. Un opposant d’opposition tué — Le 5 mars, un haut responsable de l’opposition nigériane, Harry Marshall, a été assassiné à Abuja par des hommes armés non identifiés, a indiqué la police. M. Marshall était un des principaux responsables de l’All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), dont il était le coordinateur dans la région du Delta du Niger pour la campagne de Muhammad Buhari, candidat à l’élection présidentielle et principal rival du chef de l’Etat Olusegun Obasanjo. Des élections présidentielles et législatives sont prévues en avril-mai. L’ANPP est le deuxième parti du Nigeria et le principal opposant au Parti démocratique populaire d’Obasanjo. Il a rejeté la responsabilité du meurtre sur le gouvernement. Les assassinats politiques se multiplient dans le pays à l’approche des élections. Le mois dernier, deux personnalités politiques ont été tuées dans l’Etat d’Imo (sud-est). D’autres avaient déjà subi le même sort dans l’Etat de Kwara (centre). Et on compte d’autres tentatives d’assassinat sur des hommes politiques. Le président Obasanjo avait fait de la lutte contre la violence un des principaux thèmes de sa campagne électorale. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 6 mars 2003)

* Rwanda. Journaliste libéré — Le 27 février, Ismaël Mbonigaba, directeur de publication de l’hebdomadaire indépendant Umuseso, a été libéré suite à la décision de la cour d’appel de Kigali, en raison de vice de forme. “Il y a eu des irrégularités dans l’arrestation et la mise en détention”, a indiqué le procureur général. Reporters sans frontières avait dénoncé cette détention. (Ndlr.: voir notre Weekly News du 26 février). (Misna, Italie, 27 février 2003)

* Rwanda. Twagiramungu candidat président — L’ancien Premier ministre Faustin Twagiramungu a communiqué, depuis Bruxelles, sa décision de se porter candidat à l’élection présidentielle qui devrait avoir lieu vers la fin de l’année. Apparu comme le chef de file des “Hutus modérés”, M. Twagiramungu a été Premier ministre durant la première année qui suivit la victoire du FPR en juillet 1994. Mais très vite, de profondes divergences l’opposèrent à ses alliés politiques, jusqu’à ce qu’en 1995 il choisisse l’exil. Agé de 57 ans, il se montre très critique à l’égard du pouvoir actuel. Se prévalant de contacts noués en Europe et ailleurs, il estime qu’il pourrait aussi nouer le dialogue avec les voisins congolais et burundais et faire progresser la cause de la paix dans la région. (CB, Le Soir, Belgique, 3 mars 2003)

* Rwanda. Twagiramungu announces his candidacy for presidency — On 3 March, Former Rwandan Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungu, announced in Brussels his candidacy for his country’s next presidential election. He vowed in a press statement to defeat incumbent President Paul Kagamé in the poll. The date for the presidential election has not been set and a constitutional referendum, initially slated for early March, has been postponed to 26 May. Twagiramungu was first appointed Prime Minister in 1993 under an Arusha accord, and was confirmed in 1994 with the coming into power of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR) of President Kagame shortly after the genocide following the death of Juvénal Habyarimana in a plane crash. He occupied the position until 1995 before he resigned following disagreement with Kagamé, and now lives in exile in Belgium. (PANA, Senegal, 3 March 2003)

* Rwanda. Tourist death arrests — Three Rwandans have been arrested and flown to the United States over the 1999 killing of western tourists in Uganda. Eight tourists from the USA, the UK and New Zealand were allegedly killed by Hutu Rwandan rebels because of US and British support for the Tutsi government in Rwanda. They were killed as they tracked rare mountain gorillas in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. On 1 March, the three men were flown from Rwanda to Puerto Rico, where they are due to be charged before being transferred to Washington. The indictment was kept secret until 3 March and also includes the alleged murder of one of the park’s guards. It was made public as President Kagame began a four-day visit to Washington. (BBC News, UK, 4 March 2003)

* Rwanda/USA. Exemption de poursuites — Le 4 mars, les Etats-Unis et le Rwanda ont signé un accord sur l’exemption réciproque de poursuites à l’encontre des citoyens de l’autre pays devant la Cour pénale internationale (CPI) sans le consentement du gouvernement concerné. Un tel accord est connu comme l’article 98 du traité instituant le CPI. Les Etats-Unis, qui ont signé le traité créant le CPI sous la présidence de Bill Clinton mais ne l’ont jamais ratifié ensuite, cherchent à signer des articles 98 avec un maximum de pays, afin d’éviter que des citoyens américains soient poursuivis devant la Cour internationale. Le Rwanda est le 22e pays à signer un tel accord avec les Etats-Unis. (La Libre Belgique, 5 mars 2003)

* Sénégal/Suisse. Accord de transit annulé — Le gouvernement sénégalais a décidé de se retirer de l’accord de transit convenu avec les autorités helvétiques et consistant à permettre à la Suisse d’envoyer au Sénégal des immigrants africains en situation irrégulière pour un examen plus approfondi de leur situation. Dans un communiqué rendu public le 3 mars, le ministère des Affaires étrangères annonce que devant la désapprobation générale suscitée par cette initiative, le gouvernement sénégalais “a décidé (...) de se retirer d’un tel accord”. Signé le 8 janvier dernier, cet accord a fait l’objet de sévères critiques de la part de nombreuses organisations sénégalaises et étrangères de défense des droits de l’homme. (PANA, Sénégal, 3 mars 2003)

* Sierra Leone. Commission vérité et réconciliation — Des milliers de personnes se sont adressées à la Commission vérité et réconciliation (TRC) pour raconter les crimes et vexations subis au cours de la guerre civile en Sierra Leone. Plus de 3.500 déclarations ont déjà été recueillies. Cette “récolte” menée en janvier et février, se poursuivra tout au long du mois de mars. “Nous nous préparons à commencer les audiences”, a dit le secrétaire du TRC. Cette commission, confiée par le gouvernement à sept experts en droits de l’homme pour reconstruire la vérité sur les violences et essayer de recomposer le tissu social du pays, travaille en parallèle avec le Tribunal spécial, institué il y a un an par les Nations unies. (Misna, Italie, 27 février 2003)