* Lesotho. Culture undermines efforts to prevent HIV/AIDS — Social and cultural norms and traditions in Lesotho are hampering efforts to combat the rising HIV/AIDS epidemic, government officials told IRIN. Mathoriso Monaheng, Director of Administration at the Lesotho AIDS Programme Co-ordinating Agency (LAPCA), said the first case of HIV/AIDS was detected in Lesotho in 1986, when «a medical practitioner from East Africa, working in the Mokhotlong district, about 8 hours drive from [the capital] Maseru,» was diagnosed as HIV-positive. «As a result, everybody concluded that it was a disease for the foreigner. It was perceived to be a disease for Makwerekwere [a derogative term for foreign Africans].» Ignorance about HIV/AIDS has been a major stumbling block for efforts at halting the spread of the disease, she said. Monaheng used as an example of this the belief among some that condom’s were responsible for the spread of the disease. The government has committed itself to disbursing 2 percent of its budget — an estimated Maloti 53.2 million (about US $5.6 million) — to various ministries for their HIV programmes in a bid to improve knowledge of the disease and boost prevention efforts. (IRIN, Kenya, 16 September 2003)

* Liberia. The challenge of rebuilding — Inside Liberia’s parliament, the large chamber used for joint sittings of the upper and lower houses is a wreck. Only a handful of yellow chairs remain fixed in rows, on strips of red carpet. The other 150 or so seats have been ripped from their moorings and scattered over the auditorium’s bare floor, the victims of nocturnal theft and destruction thought likely to have been carried out by forces loyal to Charles Taylor, the departed president. The damage highlights the challenge facing the transitional government that is due to take office next month with the job of rebuilding a country whose institutions have been all but destroyed by tyranny and conflict. «I don’t think that the task is impossible,» says Jacques Paul Klein, special representative of the United Nations secretary-general in Liberia. «We have a limited population, we have resources here — we have to find out, however, who owns them.» For him the question is: «How quickly can we generate international investment and employment for the population in a country that has really been totally destroyed over the past 14 years?» The government of Mr Taylor, a former warlord who last month bowed to international pressure and went into exile, is widely seen as having left a legacy of corruption and waste. Among the documents scattered in the corridors and side-rooms of the looted parliament is the annual report for last year of the ministry of state for presidential affairs, with details of how the department spent its budget for 2002-03. The department’s staff of 1,261 included a 127-member choir while the Executive Air-Wing is reported to have taken delivery of five helicopters, with Ukrainian pilots and engineers. (Financial Times, UK, 16 September 2003)

* Liberia. Annan urges UN force — 16 September: The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has proposed that a force of 15,000 UN peacekeepers be sent to Liberia. The Security Council is due to consider the proposal later today. The force would begin to be deployed at the start of October but would not be expected to reach full strength until next year. In a report to the Security Council, Mr Annan said one of the most important tasks would be the disarmament of armed groups, including child soldiers. Mr Annan is clearly aware of the scale of the task a UN peacekeeping force will face once it is operational in Liberia. For that reason he is proposing a force which would operate under a Chapter Seven mandate — a technical term that would give them the most robust mode of operation available under the UN charter. In his report to the UN Security Council, Mr Annan says that despite positive political developments in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, the country as a whole remains highly unstable. More than 30,000 members of militia groups, armed forces and paramilitary personnel are still active in the countryside. Among these are large numbers of child soldiers. Mr Annan says that the disarmament and demobilisation of these armed groups is one of the greatest challenges in Liberia. While UN agencies working in co-ordination with peacekeepers will be expected to assist in this task Mr Annan says that, ultimately, the success or failure of the disarmament and demobilisation process rests in the hands of the warring parties themselves. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 16 September 2003)

* Liberia. Casques bleus — Kofi Annan recommande de créer au Liberia une puissante force des Nations unies comptant au moins 15.000 hommes et près de 900 policiers civils. Dans un rapport que le Conseil de sécurité devait examiner le 16 septembre, le secrétaire général précise que ces troupes devront être déployées en leur permettant le recours à la force. Outre la sécurité de la population, les soldats auront en effet la charge du désarmement des milices. Le rapport note que “si la situation au Liberia continue à s’améliorer, le pays reste instable car des groupes armés, des milices et des éléments criminels continuent à y opérer”. L’Onu estime à 38.000 le nombre de combattants incontrôlés dans la nature, dont une forte proportion d’enfants. Médecins sans frontières affirmait que la vie de centaines de milliers de civils était toujours menacée par les violences ou le manque d’aide. - D’autre part, le Nigeria a adressé un avertissement à l’ancien président du Liberia, en exil sur son territoire. En échange de l’asile politique, Charles Taylor, inculpé de crimes contre l’humanité par un tribunal de l’Onu, s’était engagé à ne pas intervenir dans les affaires de son pays. Les Etats-Unis l’accusent d’être en contact quotidien avec ses partisans à Monrovia. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 17 septembre 2003)

* Liberia. Peacekeepers deploy — 10 September: Thousands of displaced civilians, who fled renewed fighting between government forces and rebels a week ago in central Liberia, have begun returning to their camps following the deployment of West African peacekeepers in Bong County today. The peacekeeping force has fully deployed along the road from Kakata, 45 km north of the capital, Monrovia to Totota, 64 km further north. Over 50,000 internally displaced people had fled from four large camps in Totota, 109 km north of Monrovia, and moved southwards to Salala because of fighting between the government and rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). 14 September: West African peacekeepers have moved south of the Liberian capital Monrovia, reaching the war-shattered country’s second-largest city, Buchanan. Ecomil forces failed to gain permission from the rebel group Model to enter Buchanan on 13 September but deployed on the outskirts of the port. A fragile peace is just about holding in Liberia since former President Charles Taylor stepped down on 11 August and an interim government was formed. Rebels however still control large parts of the country, where many people are suffering from malnutrition and disease. 16 September: General Festus Okonkwo, commander of the force deployed by ECOWAS, says that soldiers of the African peace force are not able to take up positions in the northern and eastern zones of Liberia still under rebel control. 17 September: The United Nations food agency says it plans to begin distributing urgently needed food supplies to the port city of Buchanan, today. A truck convoy reached the city yesterday, but a WFP official said that a curfew prevented the distribution from proceeding immediately. The convoy was carrying enough to feed 16,000 people for a month. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 17 September 2003)

* Libya. Sanctions lifted — 11 September: France’s foreign minister says that an agreement with Tripoli on compensation for the victims of the 1989 UTA airliner bombing means Paris will now vote for UN sanctions against Libya to be lifted. Paris has repeatedly delayed the UN vote, saying it would not agree to ending the sanctions imposed on Libya for the 1988 Lockerbie Pan Am bombing unless Tripoli also met the demands of the UTA victims’ families. «France naturally has no more opposition to the security council voting for the lifting of sanctions against Libya as quickly as possible,» says Dominique de Villepin, ending the fraught prospect of a French veto. Libyan sources had said earlier that a Libyan charitable organisation and representatives of the families of the 170 UTA victims, negotiating in Tripoli, «appear to have succeeded in removing the final hurdles before a final deal can be signed». 12 September: The United Nations Security Council has voted to lift more than a decade of sanctions against Libya. The move clears the way for the payment of compensation to families of the victims of the bombing of a Pan Am jet above the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. Libyan state radio hailed the vote as a «victory» which opened a «new page» in Tripoli’s drive to normalise relations with the West. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 12 September 2003)

* Libye. L’Onu lève les sanctions — 11 septembre. Les familles des victimes de l’attentat contre le DC-10 de la compagnie française UTA en 1989 sont parvenues à un accord d’indemnisation avec la Libye, a annoncé un des avocats des familles. Dès lors, “la France n’a plus d’opposition à ce que le Conseil de sécurité vote le plus rapidement possible la levée des sanctions contre la Libye”, a déclaré le ministre français des Affaires étrangères. La France avait menacé d’opposer son veto si les victimes de l’avion français n’obtenaient pas des dédommagements comparables à ceux accordés aux victimes de l’attentat de Lockerbie. L’accord obtenu établit le principe d’une indemnisation “juste et équitable”, dont le montant sera fixé d’ici un mois. — 12 septembre. Quinze ans après l’attentat de Lockerbie, le Conseil de sécurité de l’Onu a levé les sanctions imposées à la Libye. Les Etats-Unis et la France se sont abstenus. Les sanctions comprenaient un embargo sur les armes et les liaisons aériennes, et un gel des avoir financiers de la Libye. Washington, à qui “le comportement de la Libye continue à causer de sérieux soucis”, maintient toutefois les sanctions bilatérales américaines, qui sont plus larges, et interdisent notamment aux ressortissants américains de se rendre dans le pays et de commercer avec lui. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 13 septembre 2003)

* Madagascar. Le train à nouveau sur les rails — La société Madarail, qui a conclu un accord de concession du chemin de fer malgache d’une durée de 25 ans, a réceptionné deux locomotives importées du Portugal. Quatre autres locomotives ayant appartenu au défunt Réseau national du chemin de fer malgache (RNCFM) ont déjà été remises en fonction. La direction de Madarail a indiqué qu’un autre investissement de 20 millions d’euros est en cours de négociation avec les banques pour la réhabilitation des infrastructures ferroviaires, dont les rails et les ponts. Des wagons de transport de voyageurs seront fonctionnels dans une semaine, mais ne desserviront que certaines régions enclavées. Le dernier train qui a relié la capitale Antananarivo au port de Tamatave date des années 1980. Depuis lors, la RNCFM, qui figure parmi les victimes de l’étatisation, a sombré dans une profonde léthargie. (D’après PANA, Sénégal, 17 septembre 2003)

* Malawi. President’s son arrested — 12 September: Police in Blantyre, have arrested one of the sons of the country’s President Bakili Muluzi, following a house raid, where they also seized some ammunition. According to the police, a group of armed officers raided the house of President Muluzi’s late brother Dickson, in the densely populated township of Bwangwe. That is where they arrested Evance, the president’s son and Willard, the son of the president’s late brother. Malawi’s Southern region police commissioner Often Thyolani confirmed the arrest of the two cousins, who are both in their mid-20s. In a telephone interview, today, Mr Thyolani says that three more gang members were also rounded up during the swoop. He said police have kept the gang on full remand until they appear in court on 15 September. Mr Thyolani said as law-enforcers they are mandated to arrest any suspected criminal regardless of name or parentage. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 12 September 2003)

* Morocco. Bombs may nudge Morocco towards more liberalism — If those who carried out the bombings that killed 33 people in Casablanca on May 16 hoped to pave the way to a hardline Islamic state, they may be about to achieve the opposite. In the wake of the attacks in Morocco’s commercial capital, King Mohammed VI, who succeeded his father four years ago, has ordered an acceleration of moves to liberalise family law. Previous attempts to introduce a new law were suspended after a massive demonstration in Casablanca organised by Islamists in March 2000. But the king has now ordered a commission examining changes to report by the end of this month. Moroccan officials say this could open the way to the most liberal code on women’s rights in the Arab world, apart from Tunisia. First, however, a trial of strength beckons between the Moroccan crown and secularists on the one hand, and Islamists of varying stripes on the other. The commission’s proposals are expected to include outlawing polygamy, banning marriage to minors, and reform of divorce laws that massively favour men, according to Mohamed el-Yazghi, Morocco’s minister of water, environment and land management. Morocco suffers from a high incidence of divorce and, concomitantly, prostitution and families headed by lone mothers, which many believe lies behind the social alienation demonstrated by those who carried out the bombings. The king himself, 40 last month, is known to be firmly in the liberal camp — as seen by the coverage of his wedding, unprecedented by Moroccan standards, and the publicity given to the birth of his first child shortly before the bombings in May. Authorities have already moved against hardliners associated with Wahabi teachings. Thousands of unofficial mosques have been closed and up to half of the country’s preachers have been fired, says Mr Yazghi. (Financial Times, UK, 11 September 2003)

* Morocco. Local elections — 12 September: The people of Morocco are voting in local elections, billed as a test of just how much the political landscape has changed since the May suicide bombings in Casablanca shook the country to its foundations. The election campaigns have promised a new openness and accountability in political life to counter the alienation that bred the bombers. But the party with the strongest appeal to voters in return for honesty, the Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD), has all but withdrawn from the election in recognition of the intense sensitivity now surrounding the issue of political Islam in the wake of the bombings. Although it condemned the attacks outright and insisted that it had no radical Islamist agenda, the PJD has been a principle victim of the climate of fear and suspicion engendered by the bombings. The party has retrenched, reducing its participation to about 20% of the more than 23,000 constituencies being contested, and virtually all of those in the areas of its biggest support base, the seething shanty towns on the margins of Morocco’s main cities. 14 September: The Moroccan Interior Minister, Mustapha Sahel, announces the results of the country’s communal elections, which show the political landscape virtually unchanged. The two leading traditional parties, the conservative Istiqlal and the socialist USFP, between them won more than 30% of the over 23,000 seats contested on town and local district councils. But the mainstream Islamist party, the PJD, won less than 3% of the vote — the result mainly of its decision to stand in only a fifth of the constituencies. For the authorities the key thing was that the election should build on the progress made in last year’s parliamentary elections which were widely seen as unusually free and fair. That mostly appears to have been the case. The authorities also wanted a respectable voter turnout. That too seems to have been achieved, officially at least, with a figure of 54%. The elections also saw the voting age lowered for the first time from 20 to 18 — another sign from the authorities that they are serious about trying to foster a greater sense of democratic inclusion. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 14 September 2003)

* Maroc. Elections communales — 12 septembre. 14,6 millions de Marocains sont appelés aux élections communales, premier scrutin national organisé dans le royaume depuis les attentats du 16 mai à Casablanca. Le scrutin désignera les 23.689 conseillers communaux qui dirigeront les communes urbaines et rurales du pays pendant six ans. Leurs pouvoirs ont été sensiblement élargis lors de la promulgation, le 3 octobre 2002, d’un nouvelle charte communale. 26 groupes politiques participent à ces élections, dont le parti islamiste Justice et développement (PJD), première force politique d’opposition. Mais ce parti, qui avait triplé son score aux législatives de 2002, a opté pour un profil bas. Il ne sera présent que dans 15% environ des circonscriptions et ne présentera de candidats que pour 20% des sièges. Selon son secrétaire général adjoint, “il s’agit d’une décision politique à cause des craintes énormes que l’étiquette islamiste suscite ici et à l’étranger”. - Les Marocains semblent s’être peu mobilisés pour ce scrutin. Des analystes prévoient un taux de participation encore plus bas que celui des législatives, déjà faible avec 52%. — 14 septembre. Finalement, le taux de participation est resté honorable: 54% sur l’ensemble du pays, mais seulement 35% dans les grandes villes. Le parti de l’Istiqlal et l’Union socialiste des forces du progrès, tous deux membres de la coalition gouvernementale, ont confirmé leur rôle de premiers partis du royaume. Le PJD n’a remporté que 593 sièges sur les 23.689 à pourvoir et ne s’est classé qu’en onzième position parmi les 26 partis en présence. Certains observateurs soulignent la faiblesse de ce score, d’autres affirment que la progression du PJD reste réelle, dans la mesure où il n’était présent que dans 15% des circonscriptions et qu’il s’est peu présenté dans les grandes villes, qui constituent son plus grand réservoir de voix. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 15 septembre 2003)

* Morocco. Schools teach Berber — 15 September: The Berber language is being taught in Moroccan schools for the first time from today. The classes will be taught in just a few hundred primary schools to begin with, but the government says the aim is to have Berber classes taught in all schools and at all levels within the next 10 years. The move is a sign of increasing recognition of Moroccan Berbers, who have long complained of being denied their rights despite constituting the majority of the population. As the new academic year begins in Morocco, 317 primary schools will start giving their first-year pupils lessons in the Berber language. It is the first step in the fulfilment of a promise made nearly 10 years ago by the late King Hassan to bring Berber into the classroom. Many had doubted it would ever happen at all. Although it is estimated that at least 60% of Moroccans are ethnically Berber, or Amazigh as they are known in their own language, Morocco’s constitution enshrines Arabic as the country’s only official language. The fact that Berbers were the original inhabitants of North Africa before the Arab invasions of the 7th century has been seen as a potential challenge to their authority by Morocco’s Arab rulers ever since. In the 20th century, there were several Berber rebellions. As a result the freedom even to choose a Berber name for a child has been banned. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 15 September 2003)

* Morocco. US joins Morocco medical exercise — US military troops are conducting joint medical training with Moroccan troops in the largest-ever exercise of its kind between the two nations. The training, which does not involve live fire, comes four months after radical Islamic suicide bombers killed 33 people in Casablanca. Instead, it consists of hospital surgeries and medical and dental care for residents of villages located hundreds of miles east of Casablanca. US and Moroccan medical troops have treated more than 3,800 Moroccans since the exercise started on September 6, US Navy spokesman Lt. Corey Barker told CNN. The mission runs until September 20. The exercise, dubbed Medflag 2003, was planned long before the May 16 Casablanca bombings, when a dozen suicide bombers killed 33 people in a series of coordinated attacks in Morocco’s largest city. The bombers were also killed. (CNN, USA, 16 September 2003)

* Maroc. Communauté juive dans la peur — Le 11 septembre à Casablanca, Albert Rebbibo, un marchand juif de bois de 55 ans, a été tué de plusieurs coups de pistolet devant son magasin par deux hommes masqués. Ils l’ont tué dans le dos, froidement, avant de prendre la fuite. “Si on l’a tué, c’est parce qu’il était juif”, assure sa femme. Selon le président de la communauté juive marocaine, il s’agirait bien d’un acte terroriste. L’inquiétude est réelle au sein de la communauté juive, qui parle d’un climat d’hostilité d’une part de la population. Certains préfèrent partir, laissant derrière eux une communauté qui s’éteint à petit feu (guère plus de 3.500 personnes pour l’ensemble du royaume). D’autres s’accrochent, mais tremblent de peur lorsque les enfants partent le matin pour l’école. “S’il y a encore un attentat, dit une femme, ce sera la débandade générale”. — 13 septembre. La communauté juive a été ébranlée par un deuxième asssinat. Elie Afriat, 75 ans, a été tué d’un coup de poignard le samedi matin dans une ruelle de Meknès (100 km au sud de Rabat), alors qu’il se rendait à la synagogue. Son cadavre a été retrouvé en milieu de matinée et son agresseur a, semble-t-il, réussi à prendre la fuite sans être inquiété. Ce double assassinat survient alors que le Maroc et Israël ont repris un processus de normalisation diplomatique. — 16 septembre. Les deux meurtriers de M. Rebbibo ont été identifiés par la police, a rapporté l’agence marocaine de presse MAP. Ils appartiendraient au mouvement islamiste Salafia Jihadia, déjà mis en cause dans les attentats-suicides de Casablanca en mai dernier. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 17 septembre 2003)

* Maroc. Le berbère dans les écoles — Jugée “historique” par la presse nationale, la rentrée scolaire au Maroc, qui a débuté le lundi 15 septembre, est marquée cette année par l’introduction de l’enseignement du tamazight (langue berbère) dans le cycle primaire. L’enseignement effectif de la langue berbère marque une réforme importante dans un pays de 30 millions d’habitants, dont entre 50 et 60% sont considérés comme berbérophones. Après des années d’arabisation à marche forcée au lendemain de l’indépendance, le défunt roi Hassan II s’était engagé dès 1994 à faire entrer le tamazight dans les écoles. Il aura fallu attendre l’avènement de son fils Mohammed VI en 1999 et la création en 2001 de l’Institut royal pour la culture amazighe (IRCAM) pour que ce projet se concrétise. Lancé à titre expérimental dans 317 écoles du royaume, l’enseignement du tamazight devrait être généralisé d’ici 2013, selon les projections du ministère de l’Education. (AP, 17 septembre 2003)