* Rwanda. 900 réfugiés rapatriés — Le 2 septembre, quelque 900 ex-réfugiés rwandais, pour la plupart des gens qui avaient quitté le Rwanda après le génocide de 1994, ont été rapatriés au Rwanda par le gouvernement tanzanien. La majeure partie d’entre eux, dont la moitié sont des enfants, viendraient du camp de Ngara, qui aurait dû être fermé à la fin de 2002. Il s’agit du dernier groupe qui avait demandé le renouvellement de son statut de réfugié, mais leur demande a été rejetée par le gouvernement tanzanien. Certains réfugiés ont affirmé qu’ils avaient été rapatriés de force. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 5 septembre 2003)

* Rwanda. Campagne pour les législatives — La campagne électorale s’ouvre le 6 septembre pour les quelque 230 candidats qui se disputeront les sièges de la nouvelle Assemblée nationale, dont le scrutin se tiendra du 29 septembre au 2 octobre prochain. Le principal parti au pouvoir, le Front patriotique rwandais (FPR) présente une liste de 53 candidats avec 4 autres partis de la coalition gouvernementale, mais se taille la part belle avec 43 candidats. Les trois autres partis agréés présentent chacun leur liste. 19 personnes se présentent comme indépendants. La nouvelle Assemblée comportera 80 sièges. Deux de ces sièges sont réservés aux jeunes et un aux personnes handicapées. 24 sièges sont réservés aux députés femmes, qui seront élues au scrutin indirect par leurs associations nationales en raison de deux par chacune des douze provinces du pays. - La rentrée scolaire, qui se fait ordinairement à la mi-septembre, a été retardée au 6 octobre, la plupart des écoles primaires et secondaires devant servir de bureaux de vote. (D’après PANA, Sénégal, 5-8 septembre 2003)

* Rwanda/Canada. Rwandan suspect wins case — 9 September: A Canadian federal court of appeal has ruled the government does not have enough evidence to deport a Rwandan man accused of inciting genocide. For nine years, Canada has been trying to deport Leon Mugasera, largely basing its allegations on a speech he gave in Rwanda in 1992. Rwanda has also requested Mr Mugasera’s extradition to face war crimes charges. But the Canadian court ruled that while the speech may have been inflammatory, it did not actually incite the ensuing violence. Canadian immigration officials and a United Nations report had both accused the former senior politician of encouraging attacks in Rwanda on Tutsis in his speech. It was broadcast on radio in Rwanda and widely distributed on cassettes. Two years later in Rwanda, Hutus killed an estimated 800,000 Tutsis. In its ruling, the federal court in Quebec City strongly criticised the Canadian immigration tribunals that tried to deport Mr Mugasera. The court ruled that the government depended on a faulty translation of the speech and says the words were altered for partisan reasons by the international commission of enquiry. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 9 September 2003)

* Rwanda. Preparations for President Kagame’s inauguration — Intense preparations are underway for the swearing ceremony of President Kagame. A number of Heads of State are due to attend the ceremony on 12 September. An organising committee for the event has been formed to work with the foreign ministry. Among the guests expected to attend the ceremony are: Congo RDC‘s President Joseph Kabila; Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni; Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki; Tanzania’s President Benjamin Mkapa. Also US former president Bill Clinton is on the guest list. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 10 September 2003)

* South Africa. Rugby racism probe to open — Today, a retired South African judge, Edwin King, begins an inquiry into allegations of racism in the national rugby team. The investigation was prompted by the resignation of the team’s media spokesman, Mark Keohane, who said an earlier, internal investigation amounted to a cover-up. The row has received saturation coverage in the South African media, and has prompted the intervention of the former President, Nelson Mandela. South Africans are passionate about sport and many had hoped that it could provide a unifying force in a country still struggling to overcome the legacy of apartheid. But far from bringing South Africans together, the dispute over the national rugby team, the Springboks, is proving deeply divisive. The row began when it emerged that a white player, Geo Cronje, had initially refused to share accommodation at a training camp with a black player. An inquiry by the rugby authorities failed to find evidence to back up allegations of racism. But just as the scandal seemed to be fading away, it returned with a vengeance. The team’s media spokesman said he would not be part of an organisation which tolerated prejudice. A seven-page document he produced to back up his  accusations will form the basis of the new, independent inquiry by Mr King. The retired judge has considerable credibility — he chaired the investigation three years ago into the match-fixing scandal involving one of South Africa’s greatest sporting heroes, the cricketer, Hansie Cronje. In an effort to restore a degree of unity, Mr Mandela has spoken to the Springboks’ coach, and is expected to meet members of the team as they prepare for next month’s Rugby World Cup in Australia. (BBC News, UK, 8 September 2003)

* South Africa. African cleric breaks ranks on gay issue — On 7 September, One of Africa’s most senior churchmen broke ranks with fellow African and developing world archbishops yesterday to denounce their arrogance and intolerance over homosexuality, the issue that threatens to split the worldwide Anglican communion. In an interview with the Guardian, the Most Reverend Winston Njongonkulu Ndungane, Archbishop of Cape Town and Primate of Southern Africa, implicitly criticised his colleagues for undermining the 70 million strong communion with their denunciations of the election in the US of an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, and the earlier aborted appointment of Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading. His remarks appeared directly aimed at Peter Akinola, Archbishop of Nigeria, head of the largest single church in the Anglican world, who has claimed that homosexuals are lower than beasts and who has called for the American and Canadian Episcopal churches to be thrown out of the communion. Those views have been backed by other bishops and archbishops, mainly from South America, the West Indies, other parts of Africa, the Far East and Australia. They are also supported by many British evangelicals. Both Archbishop Ndungane and Archbishop Akinola are among the 38 primates summoned to Lambeth Palace by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, next month to discuss the threats of schism caused by the gay issue. Opponents are claiming more than half of the archbishops will take a hard line on the issue and may attempt to force the US church out of the communion. But Archbishop Ndungane said: «There is an attempt to divert us from the major life and death issues in the world. There is a woman waiting to be stoned to death for adultery in Nigeria and yet we are not hearing any fuss from the leadership of the church there about that. People are going hungry across the world, the Israelis are building a fence around the Palestinians, HIV/AIDS is a global emergency... these are major, urgent, issues which should be a priority for the Church and we must not lose our focus on that.» (The Guardian, UK, 8 September 2003)

* South Africa. General elections in 2004 — In its Briefing Paper number 98, The Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference’s Parliamentary Liaison Office offers its assessment of the various parties’ chances in next year’s general election (sometime before the end of  June). The Paper states: «There can be few genuinely democratic countries where the outcome of a free and fair vote is so certain, at least as far as “who will win” is concerned. The question is clearly not whether the African National Congress (ANC) will win, but rather, what will its majority be? As far as the ANC is concerned, the Nelson Mandela factor cannot be ignored. He still embodies most people’s sense of nationhood and never tires of stating his own commitment to the ANC, indeed, his identity with it». However, the Briefing Paper pinpoints areas where the ANC‘s share of the vote may be reduced: Extremely high unemployment; landlessness; lack of adequate housing; general poverty; apathy among youth; evidence of corruption. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 8 September 2003)

* Sudan. Delicate peace process — 3 September: MISNA reports that in Chad, the Sudanese government and rebels in Darfur have agreed to a six-week ceasefire. 4 September: Rebel leader John Garang has warned that the peace process, aimed at ending the 20-year war in Sudan, is in danger of collapsing. Speaking after arriving for what is been billed as a make or break meeting in Kenya, Mr Garang said he had come to Kenya ready to negotiate and take tough decisions. The civil war in Sudan, between the mainly Christian rebels in the south and the Islamic government of the north, has cost the lives of hundred of thousands of ordinary Sudanese. A ceasefire has more or less been holding on the ground in south Sudan, but the Sudan People’s Liberation Army are making it clear there remains a big gulf between the two sides. «The issues of the presidency, the issues of wealth sharing, the issue of security arrangements, the issues of power sharing, and the issue of the three conflict areas are the major issues that are outstanding,» Mr Garang said. The meeting in Nairobi will be the first face to face talks between John Garang and the Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha and are being seen as critical. Mr Taha is a powerful political figure in Khartoum, the power behind the throne, is how one observer described him. He is also seen as a hardliner, someone not instinctively supportive of the peace process. If the two men do not manage to narrow their differences, reaching a final settlement to this civil war will be more difficult than ever. Meanwhile, a different rebel group, fighting the government in Darfur in the west of Sudan, has just announced a ceasefire. The Darfur rebels are said to believe that a settlement between the southern SPLA and Khartoum could open the way for them to press their claims for land rights and an end to the rivalry between African and Arabic communities in the region. 5 September: The peace talks begin. They are being held in the town of Naivasha, Kenya. 10 September: Sudan’s Minister of Defence, General Bakri Hasan Salih, has arrived in Kenya to join the peace talks. Security issues are now under discussion and progress has been good. Observers say that is very encouraging that the talks have  gone on so long at such a high level, although key issues are still outstanding. These include power-sharing, wealth-sharing —especially of Sudan’s oil resources — and the composition of a national army during a transitional period. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 10 September 2003)

* Soudan. La paix au Darfour - Négociations — Le mercredi soir, 3 septembre, le gouvernement soudanais et les rebelles du Mouvement de libération du Soudan (MLS), actifs au Darfour, une région semi-désertique frontalière du Tchad, ont signé un accord portant sur un cessez-le-feu pour une durée d’un mois et demi, au terme duquel sont prévus “des pourparlers afin de parvenir à une paix globale”. L’accord exige aussi la libération des prisonniers de guerre. Cet accord devrait permettre au gouvernement de se consacrer plus aisément aux prochaines négociations de paix avec l’Armée populaire de libération du Soudan (SPLA), principale force rebelle du pays. — Le chef du SPLA, le colonel Garang, est arrivé le jeudi 4 septembre au Kenya, pour des négociations avec le premier vice-président soudanais, Ali Osman Mohammed Taha. La rencontre entre les deux responsables devrait ouvrir la voie au prochain round de négociations de paix prévu au Kenya le 10 septembre. Le 8 septembre, les autorités soudanaises indiquaient que les négociations entre MM. Taha et Garang avaient achoppé sur les principaux sujets de discorde. Les deux parties tentent de sortir de l’impasse sur le partage du pouvoir et des richesses durant une période intérimaire, mais les deux personnalités “n’ont pas encore progressé au cours de leurs entretiens”. Le SPLA réclame notamment 60% des recettes pétrolières et 40% des postes de gouvernement durant cette période. Toutefois, le 10 septembre, l’agence officielle de presse SUNA rapportait que les pourparlers enregistraient des avancées. Les deux parties sont en train de mettre au point les derniers détails de l’accord, au moment où le ministre de la Défense et d’autres responsables militaires arrivent dans la ville kényane de Naivasha pour prendre part aux négociations. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 10 septembre 2003)

* Tanzania/Rwanda. Last Hutu refugees leave Tanzania — 4 September: The last group of Rwandan Hutu refugees in Tanzania are now settling in at a makeshift camp in Rwanda some 80 km from the border. Some 900 were forcefully kicked out of Tanzania on 3 September after their claims for asylum were rejected. More than one million Rwandans fled the civil war that followed the genocide in 1994 to neighbouring countries with nearly half of them going to Tanzania. The group of 900 were the last of a rump group of 28,000 refugees that had remained in Tanzania since 1994, fearing reprisals over the genocide. Rwandan regional commissioner in Kibungo, James Kimonyo, said that the  Rwandan government would not screen the returnees because they posed no security threat. «These are our people returning home and we have nothing to worry about,» Mr Kimonyo said. «They will remain at the Kiyanzi camp until such time that they are able to return to their original homes». (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 4 September 2003)

* Tchad. Réfugiés soudanais — Quelque 65.000 réfugiés soudanais ayant récemment fui au Tchad, vivent dans des conditions misérables dans le nord et le nord-est de ce pays, a indiqué le Haut Commisariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR). Cet exode a commencé en avril, mais le gouvernement tchadien n’a alerté l’agence onusienne que très récemment sur le sort de ces personnes. Les réfugiés ont fui les combats entre rebelles et forces gouvernementales dans la région du Darfour, dans l’ouest du Soudan. La plupart d’entre eux sont très jeunes, mais on y compte également des femmes et des vieillards. Tous sont sans abri et à la merci des intempéries. Les infrastructures sanitaires sur place ont du mal à faire face aux besoins de ces réfugiés qui arrivent chaque jour par vagues. Selon une évaluation du HCR et du PAM, il leur faudra 1.200 tonnes de nourriture par mois. (D’après PANA, Sénégal, 9 septembre 2003)

* Chad. Government denies rebels’ claims — 10 September: The government of Chad has denied claims by the main rebel group to have captured the airport at the northern town of Bardai. The rebel Movement for Democracy and Justice (MDJT) said earlier its forces had taken the airport, surrounded the town and killed at least 35 government troops. But a government spokesman says that Bardai remains entirely under government control and that the airport has never been in rebel hands. The MDJT rebels have been fighting in northern Chad since 1998 to depose President Idriss Deby, who they accuse of corruption, despite a peace deal signed in January 2002 between the two warring sides. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 10 September 2003)

* Tchad. Action rebelle — Les rebelles du Mouvement pour la démocratie et la justice au Tchad (MDJT) ont annoncé avoir pris, le mardi 9 septembre, le contrôle de l’aéroport de Bardaï (extrême nord, frontalier avec la Libye) “à la suite d’un combat d’une rare violence”. Un communiqué du mouvement fait état de 35 morts du côté des forces gouvernementales. Bardaï est l’une des garnisons les plus avancées et les plus importantes des forces gouvernementales dans leur combat contre le MDJT, rébellion armée opérant dans la région depuis 1998. D’abord, le gouvernement tchadien n’a pas réagi à la nouvelle, mais un avion Antonov qui devait ravitailler mardi la palmeraie de Bardaï, a “essuyé des tirs” au-dessus de l’aéroport, a indiqué une source indépendante à N’Djamena. Toutefois, le mercredi, le gouvernement a démenti la prise de l’aérodrome et affirmé  que “toute la localité de Bardaï est bel et bien sous le contrôle de l’armée”. - Notons que quelque 200 anciens éléments du MDJT ont choisi récemment de “retourner à la légalité” en réintégrant les forces armées tchadiennes. Depuis le décès, en septembre 2002, de son président Youssouf Toumi, le MDJT est ballotté entre trois leaders et le Haut commandement militaire. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 11 septembre 2003)

* Tunisie. Mines antipersonnel — Le 4 septembre, l’armée tunisienne a procédé à la destruction du dernier lot de mines antipersonnel encore en sa possession, en application du traité d’Ottawa. L’opération, qui s’est déroulée dans un champ de tir situé à Cap Angela, à environ 60 km au nord de Tunis, a consisté à détruire par explosion 2.331 engins, près de quatre mois avant l’échéance fixée par le traité au 31 décembre 2003. C’est la quatrième opération du genre effectuée en Tunisie depuis 1999. Au total, 17.575 unités ont été détruites, 500 mines seulement ayant été conservées à des fins d’entraînement. Dans une étape ultérieure, la Tunisie envisage la neutralisation des champs de mines datant de la seconde guerre mondiale, notamment dans la région du sud. Selon un document, environ 40 millions de mines antipersonnel ont été détruites jusqu’ici par les Etats signataires du traité d’Ottawa. Il reste à en détruire 7 millions d’autres. De même, il existe actuellement 100 millions de mines antipersonnel actives disséminées dans plusieurs régions du monde, faisant en moyenne une victime toutes les vingt minutes (mort ou mutiliation). (AP, 4 septembre 2003)

* Uganda. Mission looted — On the night between 7-8 September, Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels raided the Catholic mission of Iceme (50km west of Lira). The rebels looted the mission from top to bottom and severely beat up the Italian parish priest. MISNA sources specified that the raid commenced at around 21:30 on Saturday night and ended at around 02:00 on Sunday morning. Father Guglielmo Maffeis, 70, a Comboni originally from Ponte San Pietro (diocese of Bergamo), suffered numerous back marks and bruises due to the beating and is presently hospitalized in Lira where the doctors declared that, despite the haematoma’s on his back, his spinal cord was not damaged and he is out of danger. The «Olum» (as the LRA rebels are called in the Acholi language), literally emptied the priest’s house, stealing all the food, furnishings and fittings and whatever else they could find. The rebels then moved towards the Church, destroying a statue and stealing the microphone placed on the altar and the amplifier. (MISNA, Italy, 8 September 2003)

* Ouganda. Karamojong contre la LRA — Le général Kale Kaihura, conseiller militaire spécial du président Museveni, a confirmé le recrutement de guerriers karamojong pour lutter contre les rebelles de  l’Armée de résistance du Seigneur (LRA), précisant que “des milliers de Karamojong vont être mobilisés et armés” à cet effet. Cette décision a suscité les critiques des organisations qui oeuvrent à la pacification de cette ethnie guerrière, affirmant que cette initiative risque de raviver la violence au sein de la communauté. Jackson Owine, chef d’Amelok, une organisation oeuvrant à la promotion d’un dialogue pacifique entre les clans karamojong, estime que ce recrutement “a pour résultat de les remilitariser après les considérables efforts que nous avons consentis pour leur inculquer une autre façon de vivre”. La région de Karamoja est depuis longtemps le théâtre de scènes de banditisme et de troubles, les guerriers karamojong luttant pour la suprématie par la possession d’importants troupeaux, engendrant des vols de bétail et une anarchie généralisée. (D’après PANA, Sénégal, 10 septembre 2003)

* Zambia. Civil servants on strike — 5 September: Vice-President Nevers Mumba has warned striking civil servants that they face being dismissed next week if they do not return to work. But Union leaders have defied the government’s order, accusing the government of intimidation and vowed that they will not back down. They have rejected the authorities’ call to renegotiate the agreed deal on allowances. The general secretary for the Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ), Darrison Chaala, has been quoted by a Zambian newspaper, The Post on the web, as saying that the workers have to be ready to be fired in order to win their battle with the government. «We have the powers to grind government to a halt,» Mr Chaala said. 8 September: The strike is called off. 9 September: Public service workers have begun legal action against the State for «breaching the agreement» to pay civil servants housing allowances equivalent to up to 80% of their basic salary. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 9 September 2003)

* Zambia. Cherise wins the African «Big Brother» show — 8 September: The first pan-African version of the TV show, «Big Brother», has been won by Cherise Makubale from Zambia. The 24-year-old was declared winner on 7 September, picking up $100,000 prize money. Although the show, which was aired in 46 countries, has proved popular with viewers, politicians and religious leaders have been less keen. In Malawi, it was pulled off the air after it was deemed immoral, but the High Court overturned the ban. (BBC News, UK, 8 September 2003)

* Zimbabwe. Economic outlook gloomy — It is unlikely any significant progress will be made in resolving Zimbabwe’s political crisis this year, says The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which predicts that the country’s economy will continue to contract. «As a result of the political crisis and poor economic policy, we forecast that real GDP will contract by  13.1 percent in 2003 and 6.1 percent in 2004; inflation will continue to soar, averaging 368 percent in 2003 and 444 percent in 2004,» the EIU said. Although a negotiated end to the political crisis would eventually emerge, the process of organising formal talks between the ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was slow and suffered periodic setbacks, the latest of which revolved around attempts to draw up an agreed agenda for talks. (IRIN, Kenya, 4 September 2003)

* Zimbabwe. L’état de santé de Mugabe — Le parti au pouvoir au Zimbabwe, le ZANU-PF, s’est donné beaucoup de mal cette semaine pour répondre aux rumeurs sur le mauvais état de santé du président Robert Mugabe, a indiqué le 4 septembre un quotidien sud-africain. Le Sowetan note que M. Mugabe gardait un profil bas étonnant ces derniers jours. Mais “les rumeurs sur la mauvaise santé du président et les démentis rituels symbolisent souvent le malaise profond d’une société qui traverse une crise...”. La situation au Zimbabwe “devient plus désespérée chaque jour”, écrit le journal, citant le chômage, la hausse des prix et le niveau élevé de la pauvreté. Le Sowetan fait observer que la mauvaise posture de M. Mugabe s’est encore fait sentir cette semaine avec le bon score réalisé aux élections municipales par le principal parti de l’opposition, le MLC, avec 134 sièges contre 100 pour le ZANU-PF. (D’après PANA, Sénégal, 4 septembre 2003)

* Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe closes UN food offices — 5 September: United Nations officials in Zimbabwe say they have been forced to close several offices monitoring the distribution of food aid. They say the government in Harare asked the United Nations Development Agency (UNDP) to shut three newly-established field offices in rural areas. But UN workers say the delivery of relief supplies is unaffected and monitoring has continued. There has been no comment from the Zimbabwean Government — it has previously denied allegations of interfering in the distribution of emergency relief. Zimbabwe’s Government had earlier issued a directive for international food aid to be handed over to local authorities for distribution. Until now, the major foreign food donors have been distributing foreign food aid themselves — there have been concerns that President Robert Mugabe’s government has politicised the food assistance that it controls. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 5 September 2003)

* Zimbabwe. Mass cull of buffalo — Zimbabwe is culling thousands of buffalo to «contain» foot-and-mouth disease in a move that has sparked protests and been described as «futile and bizarre». Conservationists said the order was «stupid» and would kill off what was left of Zimbabwe’s tourism sector, which has shrunk to 15 per cent of its former level since political disturbances began in 2000. Salmon Joubert, a retired  executive director of the Kruger National Park, which straddles Zimbabwe’s borders with South Africa and Mozambique, said the decision «ranks as one of the most futile and bizarre moves that anyone can imagine». Many other cloven-hoofed animals, such as impala and kudu, are carriers of foot-and-mouth disease, so Zimbabwe would have to exterminate all of them to achieve its goal. Officials from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management descended on private game parks last week telling owners that the government of President Robert Mugabe had decided to destroy all buffalo on private land in order to eliminate the foot-and-mouth outbreak. Wilfried Pabst, who owns the Save Valley Conservancy, said officials told his workers that foot-and-mouth disease had cost Zimbabwe its European beef markets. «What is happening in Zimbabwe makes the Chinese Cultural revolution look like a picnic,» said Mr Pabst, a German national and a major investor in the country’s tourism sector. The National Parks officials indicated that, alternatively, the buffalo in the private game parks could be seized and taken to the government’s national parks to control their movements, Mr Pabst said. However, fences at most national game parks were destroyed at the height of farm invasions last year, leaving the buffalo there free to mix with cattle in villages. «Any sensible government would replace these fences [rather] than resort to the outrageous move of killing animals,» Mr Pabst said. (The Independent, UK, 8 September 2003)

* Zimbabwe. Commercial Farmers’ Union split — Zimbabwe’s white farmers union has suffered its first major split, after a breakaway faction left the group. Members of the Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) in the southern area of Matabeleland pulled out, complaining that the union was refusing to confront the government over land seizures. The split comes less than a konth after a new executive was appointed to run the group. In a statement in Bulawayo, Gavin Conolly, Matabeleland Commercial Farmers’ Union president said: «We do not believe the current leadership will faithfully, without fear or favour, represent us». Mr Conolly said they would like the CFU to adopt a more active strategy in defending the rights of all farmers, including those who have already lost their farms. (Daily Telegraph, UK, 10 September 2003)