* Somalia. Mogadishu insecurity worsens — 15 August: The security situation in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has reportedly been deteriorating, with a wave of killings, abductions and car hijackings. Two heavily armed groups exchanged fire, on 14 August, killing at least eight people and wounding six more, in the busy Taleh neighbourhood of South Mogadishu. The incident took place when gunmen from one Somali faction dominating north Mogadishu used a bus to ambush members of another faction in a busy street. The attack was in retaliation for an earlier incident, but the wife of one of those who was killed said they had hit the wrong target. The constant fighting and the inability to deal with famine and disease have led to the death of nearly a million people in the country. Former interim president Abdikassim Salat Hassan, who pulled out of the talks on forging a new government just weeks before his term of office ended, has been accused of failing to secure Mogadishu. Gunmen rule the roads, forcing drivers to pay extortionate amounts of money. Regular car-jacking attacks have forced the closure of the capital’s major roads paralysing public transport as buses are refusing to use key routes. Meanwhile, the Kenyan Ambassador to Somalia, Mohammed Affey, left Mogadishu, today, for Kismaio in an attempt to revitalise the crumbling Somali conference in Kenya. The mandate of the three-year old Transitional National Government (TNG) expired on 13 August and Mr Salat announced that his government would not stand down until a new government and parliament were formed. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 15 August 2003)

* Somalia. Refugees call for a new administration — 18 August: Somali refugees in Kenya have accused the committee in charge of talks on setting up a new administration of delaying the process. Hundreds of refugees demonstrated outside the venue in Mbagathi, in the suburbs of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, calling for the formation of a new government. The talks had been adjourned to allow the president of Somalia’s Transitional National Government (TNG), Abdikassim Salat Hassan and the Juba valley alliance re-join the discussions. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 18 August 2003)

* Somalia. Somaliland floods — Heavy flooding has killed one person and destroyed more than 60 farms in Somalia’s breakaway enclave Somaliland, officials said. Regional governor Abdillahi Irro said that one person had drowned after the recent heavy rains and appealed to donors for help in saving wells supplying water to Hargeisa, Somaliland’s main city, which has faced water shortages in the past. Abdillahi said in a statement that 13 water pumping machines were swept away by the floods and almost all the wells on the river banks were sunk in the mud. The rains have also destroyed buildings in the border village of Wajale, where new warehouses are being built in preparation for a planned corridor linking landlocked Ethiopia with Somaliland’s Berbera port in a bid to boost trade. (CNN, USA, 20 August 2003)

* Sudan. Govt. forces inflict heavy losses on SLA/M — Renewed clashes have taken place over the past days between the rebels of the Sudan Liberation Army-Movement (SLA/M) and government forces in the western zone of Sudan. As reported in today’s edition of the main Sudanese Al-Anbaa newspaper, violent clashes took place in the area of Dissa (27km north of Kutum), a town in the desert zone of north Darfur. The paper says, government forces inflicted serious losses on the Sudanese rebels, though no official toll of the fighting has been disclosed. Also, According to the Sudanese press, two important figures in the rebel movement of Darfur were killed in the fighting: Khatir Tor al Khila, a top commander of the movement, and Abdallah Abakr, former leader of the SLA/M. (MISNA, Italy, 19 August 2003)

* Soudan. Négociations dans l’impasse? — 17 août. Les pourparlers de paix soudanais entre le gouvernement de Khartoum et le Mouvement/Armée de libération du peuple du Soudan (M/SPLA) ont repris le 11 août à Nanyuki, dans le centre du Kenya. Les négociations, qui durent depuis 14 mois, se déroulent sous la médiation de l’Autorité intergouvernementale pour le développement (IGAD), avec les Etats-Unis, la Grande-Bretagne, la Norvège, l’Italie, l’Union africaine, l’Union européenne et les Nations unies comme observateurs. Le 15 août, un officiel de la SPLA a indiqué que les discussions “étaient dans l’impasse et sur le point d’échouer”. Selon des informations contradictoires, cette situation serait due au refus du gouvernement soudanais de négocier sur la base d’un document-cadre mis au point par l’IGAD, auquel les observateurs sont favorables. En juillet 2001, Khartoum et la SPLA avaient signé un accord historique garantissant au Sud le droit de se prononcer sur son autodétermination à l’issue d’une période de six années de transition et le soustrayant à la loi islamique. Lors du dernier round de négociations, le mois dernier, le gouvernement soudanais avait rejeté le projet d’accord préparé par les médiateurs sur les questions en suspens, telles que le partage du pouvoir et des richesses, mais aussi les dispositifs sécuritaires durant les six années de transition. Le gouvernement rechigne notamment à suspendre la loi islamique dans la capitale Khartoum durant la transition et il a rejeté aussi une proposition selon laquelle Khartoum et la SPLA disposeraient d’armées séparées durant cette période. En dépit de l’impasse apparente, le 16 août, le ministre kényan des Affaires étrangères a exprimé son optimisme. “Le monde entier sait qu’il existe une conjonture favorable que l’on doit ne pas rater”, a-t-il déclaré. “Nous comptons encourager les deux parties à poursuivre les négociations en toute bonne foi”. — 19 août. Selon l’agence Misna, qui cite le quotidien indépendant soudanais al-Sahafa du 19 août, les colloques entre le gouvernement et la SPLA auraient été suspendus pour une durée indéterminée à cause de leurs désaccords. Les médiateurs de l’IGAD auraient décidé la nuit dernière de renvoyer sine die la tractation, au terme d’une semaine qui s’est écoulée entre blocages et scepticismes réciproques. Selon le journal, la délégation gouvernementale devrait quitter le siège des colloques dans la journée pour retourner dans la capitale soudanaise. — 21 août. Selon des sources proches de la SPLA, les négociations devraient malgré tout reprendre demain, vendredi 22 août, et durer jusqu’au 20 septembre, un mois de plus que l’échéance initialement prévue. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 21 août 2003)

* Swaziland. Protesters and police clash — 13 August: Police have clashed with protesters in the Swazi capital as 20 heads of state began gathering to attend an international conference on sustainable development. Office and shop windows were smashed after heavily armed paramilitary police and soldiers fired teargas canisters and rubber bullets to disperse about 2,000 demonstrators in central Mbabane. About 20 heads of state are to meet to discuss public and private partnership investment in development projects. The pro-democracy campaigners appear to have timed their action to cause maximum embarrassment to the Swazi government. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 13 August 2003)

* Uganda. Fighting against poverty — 13 August: Uganda’s economic growth has been impressive in the past, but a recent slowdown has raised fears that people will remain trapped in poverty. When the World Bank’s Robert Blake left Uganda in July this year to return to Washington, local journalists asked him if he was leaving the country in a better state than when he had arrived seven years earlier. His response was an emphatic «yes». Now, he said, when he went upcountry, he saw children in school uniforms — even though they didn’t have shoes — and mud huts slowly being replaced by brick houses with tin roofs. Uganda’s achievements since 1986 — when President Museveni’s National Resistance Movement government came to power —have long been praised. It is one of three African countries (Botswana and Mauritius are the others) that has seen sustained growth for the past 15 years. The economy is still growing, but the speed of growth has started to slow to about 4.5% on an annual basis, according to World Bank figures. The stated centre of Ugandan government policy is to eradicate poverty, and for Uganda to reach its poverty target, it needs to grow at 7% a year. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 13 August 2003)

* Uganda. Idi Amin dies — 14 August: The ailing former President of Uganda Idi Amin Dada is seeking a kidney to keep him alive, according to his son, Hashim Amin. Two kidneys donated by anonymous donors were found to be incompatible with those of the former military strongman. Last month, the 78-year-old Idi Amin was admitted to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah, where he has remained ever since. 16 August: Idi Amin has died, hospital officials in Saudi Arabia have said. Amin had been in a coma since 18 July. Hospital staff said he had been suffering from kidney failure. Amin lived in Saudi Arabia with his entourage for more than 10 years, after being forced from Uganda by Tanzanian troops and Ugandan exiles in 1979. He fled to Libya, then Iraq, and finally settled in Saudi Arabia, where he was allowed to remain provided he stayed out of politics. Amin’s rule in Uganda, from 1971 to 1979, was one of the bloodiest in African history. Human rights groups say up to 400,000 people were killed under his regime. In 1972 he expelled the entire Asian population of Uganda, blaming them for controlling the economy for their own ends. Many of them came to the United Kingdom. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 16 August 2003)

* Ouganda. Mort d’Idi Amin Dada — L’ancien dictateur ougandais Idi Amin Dada, dont le régime est tenu pour responsable de la mort de quelque 300.000 personnes, selon les estimations, est mort le samedi 16 août à l’hôpital de Djedda, en Arabie Saoudite, ville où il vivait en exil. Il avait été admis à l’hôpital Roi-Fayçal le 18 juillet, dans un état critique. Né vers 1923 à Koboko (Ouganda), Amin Dada était âgé d’environ 80 ans. En 1971, il avait pris le pouvoir par un coup d’Etat contre le président Milton Obote, avant de devenir l’un des satrapes les plus sanguinaires du continent africain. Il avait été chassé du pouvoir en 1979, à la suite d’une guerre perdue contre l’armée tanzanienne, ralliée par les opposants du Front national de libération de l’Ouganda. (Le Monde, France, 17 août 2003)

* Ouganda. Nouvelles violences - Missionnaires tués — Le samedi matin 16 août à l’aube, les rebelles de l’Armée de résistance du Seigneur (LRA) ont tué 15 personnes dans l’attaque de la localité d’Awie Lem (60 km de Lira). Les habitants ont assisté au pillage féroce de leurs maisons. 40 personnes, dont un grand nombre de jeunes, ont été enlevées. Le lendemain matin, un petit centre commercial, Bata, proche d’Awie Lem, a été saccagé, mais aucune victime n’a été signalée. — D’autre part, le 14 août, deux missionnaires comboniens, un Italien, Mario Mantovani (84 ans), et un Ougandais, Godfrey Kiryowa (29 ans), ont été tués par des guerriers Karimojong au cours d’un vol de bétail dans le nord-est de l’Ouganda. (Misna, Italie, 18 août 2003)

* Zambia. President survives sack bid — 14 August: Zambia’s parliament has voted against a motion to impeach President Levy Mwanawasa. The move, which accused Mr Mwanawasa of 25 counts of violating the constitution, including corruption, nepotism and tribalism, was defeated by 92 votes to 57. Two-thirds of the 169 MPs — 106 — had to vote in favour for the motion to succeed after two days of heated debate. Correspondents say that Mr Mwanawasa has alienated many top officials by launching a vigorous anti-corruption campaign against members of the government of former President Frederick Chiluba. Mr Chiluba was earlier this month charged with stealing almost $30m during his 10 years in office. Several senior members of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) voted in favour of the motion, while some opposition MPs voted against it. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 14 August 2003)

* Zambie. Echec de la tentative de destitution — Le 13 août, une tentative des députés de l’opposition zambienne visant à destituer le président Levy Mwanawasa pour corruption et violations graves présumées de la Constitution a été réduite à néant, après que des élus de l’opposition ont trahi leur parti et voté contre la motion. La motion devait être approuvée par les deux tiers des 159 membres de l’Assemblée nationale pour pouvoir être soumise. Sur les 149 députés présents, 57 ont voté pour la motion, alors que 92 autres, principalement les ministres du gouvernement, leurs adjoints et les ministres provinciaux, ont voté contre. (PANA, Sénégal, 14 août 2003)

* Zambie. “Big Brother Africa” — Les Eglises chrétiennes de Zambie dénoncent la diffusion à la télévision nationale d’une série télévisée qu’elles jugent immorale, intitulée “Big Brother Africa”. Il s’agit de séquences tournées en Afrique du Sud. La série montre dans leur intimité des hommes et des femmes de plusieurs régions d’Afrique, regroupés dans une même maison et filmés 24h sur 24. Dans une pétition, les Eglises réclament l’arrêt de cette série diffusée par satellite. Celle-ci est le premier programme de “télé-réalité”, une nouvelle télévision sud-africaine. Chaque soir, la télévision nationale de Zambie le reprend dans ses émissions et le projette sur ses antennes pendant trente minutes. (DIA, Congo-Kinshasa, 18 août 2003)

* Zimbabwe. Timely aid — 13 August: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has received $28m from the European Commission to spend on food for Zimbabwe. The WFP says the money could not have come at a more critical time. It will stop emergency food supplies running out at the end of the month by speeding up the delivery of about 60,000 tonnes of maize, they say. A recent WFP assessment found that over three million Zimbabweans are urgently in need of food aid and this figure is likely to jump to 5.5 million in six months. Other regional countries affected by drought last year appear to be faring better than Zimbabwe this year. Aid agencies blame President Robert Mugabe’s controversial land reform programme for exacerbating the food crisis. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 13 August 2003)

* Zimbabwe. Nouvelle mine de diamants — Le 19 août, l’entreprise minière Rio Tinto Zimbabwe a annoncé l’ouverture, le mois prochain, d’une nouvelle mine de diamants d’un coût de 40 millions de dollars américains, à Murowa, au centre du pays. La compagnie a indiqué que les opérations de la nouvelle mine vont démarrer après la réinstallation des populations autour de la zone minière. La mine possède certaines réserves de diamants les plus importantes du Zimbabwe, estimées à 23,1 millions de tonnes. La mine de Murowa, la deuxième en importance du Zimbabwe, devrait être pleinement opérationnelle l’année prochaine. (PANA, Sénégal, 19 août 2003)

* Zimbabwe. Mugabe to run food aid distribution — On 19 August, the Zimbabwean government said that it would take control of the distribution of food aid, provoking suspicion that it will be channelled to supporters of President Robert Mugabe’s party, Zanu-PF, to help secure their votes in the forthcoming local elections. The minister of social welfare, July Moyo, reversed the government’s previous policy of allowing the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and other international charities to give relief directly to the millions of Zimbabweans who are going hungry. In a directive to the UN and the charities, he said that rural government officials and village heads would decide who should get food aid. Currently 3.5 million people are receiving aid, and the government expects the number to rise to 5.5 million by December. Some people are reportedly eating maize meal raw because they are too weak to carry it back home to cook. Last year more than 7 million of the 13 million population depended on food relief. It was well documented that the government restricted the distribution from its supplies to Zanu-PF supporters. The WFP, which directed all the food coming in from other countries, found that the government was also interfering in the distribution of donated food. At one point it halted deliveries to one district when Zanu-PF officials seized food and handed it to supporters. (The Guardian, UK, 20 August 2003)