* Maroc. Le Polisario libère 300 prisonniers — Le 7 novembre, le Front Polisario, l’organisation qui revendique l’indépendance du Sahara occidental annexé par le Maroc, devait commencer à libérer 300 prisonniers de guerre marocains pour “des raisons humanitaires”. La libération a été décidée à l’occasion du ramadan et fait suite à une médiation libyenne. Elle se déroule par le truchement du Comité international de la Croix-Rouge, qui doit rapatrier les prisonniers au Maroc par avion. Le Polisario, qui avait déjà libéré plus de 1.300 prisonniers marocains depuis le début du conflit, détiendra encore quelque 600 prisonniers marocains après cette libération. Il accuse parallèlement le Maroc de retenir 150 prisonniers de guerre Sahraouis. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 8 novembre 2003)

* Mauritanie. Elections présidentielles mouvementées — 6 novembre. Coup de théâtre de dernière minute, à la veille du scrutin présidentiel: le colonel Khouna Ould Haidallah, principal opposant au président sortant, ainsi qu’une demi-douzaine de personnes de son entourage ont été interpellés et déférés en début de soirée devant le parquet du tribunal de Nouakchott. Deux de ses fils avaient déjà été arrêtés auparavant. Les autorités ont dit avoir découvert chez le candidat un “plan de coup d’Etat”. Ancien président de la Mauritanie, Ould Haidallah avait été renversé en décembre 1984 par l’actuel président Maaouya Ould Taya, qui dirige le pays d’une main de fer depuis 19 ans. Début juin, une tentative de coup d’Etat a fait trembler le pouvoir. La crainte d’un nouveau soulèvement est d’autant plus vive que Khouna Ould Haidallah semble avoir retrouvé le soutien d’une partie de l’armée. — Vendredi 7 novembre. Jour du scrutin. La Mauritanie compte 2,8 millions d’habitants, dont plus de 40% de Maures (Arabes de Mauritanie), autant de Haratins (anciens esclaves noirs arabisés et islamisés), et 18% de Négro-Africains (Peuls, Soninkés, Wolofs). Sont candidats: le président sortant Maaouya Ould Taya, Khouna Ould Haidallah, Ahmed Ould Daddah (demi-frère du “père de la nation”), et Messaoud Ould Boulkhier (chef charismatique des Haratins), ainsi que deux autres de moindre importance: Moulaye Ould Jied et une femme, Aïcha Mint Jeddane. — 8 novembre. Le président Maaouya Ould Taya est déclaré élu avec 66,7% des voix, dès le premier tour du scrutin. L’annonce de ces résultats a provoqué la colère de l’opposition qui a accusé le pouvoir de fraude généralisée. Ould Haidallah a obtenu un peu moins de 19%. Celui-ci a d’ailleurs de nouveau été arrêté à l’aube en compagnie de son directeur de campagne. Ils sont accusés d’avoir voulu renverser le pouvoir selon un plan qui prévoyait, en cas de victoire d’Ould Taya, la mobilisation des foules et une marche sur le palais de la République, soutenue par les militaires qui auraient alors “fraternisé” avec les manifestants. — 10 novembre. Des avocats ont entrepris des démarches pour former un collectif chargé de la défense d’Ould Haidallah et de ses proches. Le collectif devrait comprendre une cinquantaine d’avocats et quelques ténors de barreaux étrangers. — 12 novembre. Le Conseil constitutionnel a confirmé la victoire au premier tour du président Ould Taya. Par ailleurs, Me Sghaer Ould M’Bareck, nommé Premier ministre le 6 juillet dernier, a été reconduit à son poste par le président. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 12 novembre 2003)

* Mauritania. Mauritania goes to the polls — 7 November: Voters in the African desert state of Mauritania cast their ballots in a presidential election, today, clouded by arrests on the eve of polls. Opposition candidate and former dictator Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah was held for several hours by police on suspicion of plotting a coup. Emerging from custody, he called for a heavy turnout and a clean vote. Mauritania’s pro-Western President, Maaouiya Ould Taya, is standing again after nearly 20 years in office. Police are believed to be still holding two sons of Mr Ould Haidallah and a number of his close associates. State Prosecutor Mohamed Elgheiz Ould Oumar accused the group of planning to «change the government by violence and insurrection» and warned that Mr Haidallah could be re-arrested «at any time». The accusation has been denied by the candidate’s team. The opposition candidate, who is campaigning on an Islamist platform, told hundreds of cheering supporters at his home in the capital, Nouakchott, that his arrest had been «just part of the ongoing intimidation». 8 November: Mauritania’s long-standing leader Maaouiya Ould Taya stands to win presidential elections in the first round, according to official sources. President Taya was ahead of the five other candidates with around 65% of the vote, according to the political affairs director. Mohamad Khouna Ould Haidalla, the country’s former leader, had won 20% support while Ahmed Ould Daddah and Messaoud Ould Boulkheir were each standing at 6%. Opposition candidates say the election has been marred by fraud and intimidation of their candidates. 9 November: Mauritania’s main opposition leader has been arrested — hours after the president won a third term in office. Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla was taken by police from his headquarters, says an aide. Veteran leader Maaouiya Ould Taya beat off five other candidates to win 67% of the presidential vote. Opposition candidates have called for a re-run of the vote, alleging massive fraud — a charge the government denies. Witnesses say police surrounded his campaign headquarters during the night, and waited until dawn to take him away. Ould Haidalla was charged with planning to seize power by force. 12 November: The Constitutional Court confirms Ould Taya’s re-election with 67.02% of the votes. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 12 November 2003)

* Morocco. An agency to tackle illegal migration — Morocco has declared the fight against illegal migration a priority and announced that a new government department and investigative force would be dedicated to combating people-trafficking. The move to tighten control of the country’s extensive Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines will be directed by the Interior Ministry, the official MAP news agency said. Illegal immigration is a point of friction between Morocco and Spain, which thousands of migrants try to reach by sea each year from Moroccan beaches, often on unsafe vessels. (New York Times, USA, 12 November 2003)

* Namibia. Agreement reached with white farmers — 7 November: A group of black farmers in Namibia has reached an agreement with a white farmers’ group and has called off its plans to invade 15 farms next week. The black farmers came under intense pressure from the government. The farmers wanted the government to speed up its policy of resettling blacks on white-owned land. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 7 November 2003)

* Niger. Directeur de journal condamné — M. Mamane Abou, directeur de l’hebdomadaire privé “Le Républicain”, a été condamné par défaut, le 7 novembre, à six mois de prison ferme, 300.000 FCFA d’amende et 10 millions de FCFA de dommages et intérêts pour “diffamation”. M. Abou est détenu à la prison civile de Niamey depuis le 5 novembre. Il lui est reproché d’avoir publié des documents confidentiels du Trésor public faisant état de malversations de la part du ministre des Finances. “Cette condamnation est un non sens”, a déclaré Reporters sans frontières. “Ce journaliste n’a fait que son métier et rien ne justifie une peine aussi lourde. De plus, la justice n’a pas respecté la procédure. Mamane Abou a été condamné par défaut alors qu’il est détenu à Niamey. Les avocats du journaliste n’ont même pas été informés du jugement de leur client”. Un des avocats du journaliste a dit que la défense allait immédiatement faire opposition à cette décision. (RSF, France, 10 novembre 2003)

* Nigeria. Pirates dans le delta — Six policiers nigérians ont été abattus par des “pirates de rivière” portant des tenues militaires, dans le delta du Niger; cinq autres ont été blessés. Les policiers ont été attaqués alors qu’ils patrouillaient sur les eaux de l’Etat fédéré de Bayelsa, au coeur de la région pétrolière. Les patrouilles ont récemment été renforcées dans le vaste réseau de rivières et de criques du delta, où les actes de piraterie vont croissant. La région est également la cible de pillards de pétrole, qui revendent l’or noir pour acheter des armes. (La Libre Belgique, 7 novembre 2003)

* Nigeria. Corruption issues — 6 November: President Olusegun Obasanjo has recalled a finance bill because fake versions of it might be being circulated in the National Assembly. Mr Obasanjo said it was virtually impossible to tell the difference between the real bill and forgeries. The bill is a critical one, as it sets out how Nigeria’s revenue is shared out between federal and local governments. He said it would be checked and every page would be signed by him before he sent it back to MPs and senators. Opposition MPs have accused the president of recalling the bill in order to cut federal funds, but a debate on the issue has been ruled out. 7 November: President Olusegun Obasanjo urges oil firms to open up their accounts to scrutiny as part of a new anti-corruption drive. «Whatever you receive, you must publish...I would appeal to extractive industries to participate,» he says. Nigeria, a major oil producer, has been ranked the second most corrupt country in the world after Bangladesh. Mr Obasanjo was speaking at a Berlin meeting of the global corruption watchdog Transparency International. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 7 November 2003)

* Nigeria. New oil chief pledges tranparency — The new head of Nigeria’s state oil company has promised an aggressive policy of market deregulation, increased production and improved transparency, as part of attempts to attract greater foreign and domestic investment and to allay concerns about corruption. Funsho Kupolokun, managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, said Nigeria remains a committed member of the Opec cartel of oil-producing countries but will seek an increase in its production quota. Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer and the world’s seventh-largest oil exporter. But the government’s attempts to deregulate the petroleum sector have generated political controversy that has deterred investor interest in the country’s decrepit refineries. «Initially there was a bit of [investor] trepidation,» Mr Kupolokun said in an interview with the Financial Times. «Now that everyone knows there is complete liberalisation, there is a lot of interest coming up.» Mr Kupolokun, who was appointed last week, said the government would try to sell a 51 per cent stake in the first of the country’s four refineries by the end of the first quarter of next year, adding that the other sales would take place by the end of June. He said the government’s gradual — but controversial —removal of the subsidy on the retail price of petrol was a «done deal». The subsidy, which is thought to cost the government about $1bn a year, is popular with consumers but is disliked by domestic and international oil marketing companies. (Financial Times, UK, 10 November 2003)

* Rwanda. Arusha: procès d’ex-ministres — Le 6 novembre, le procès de quatre ex-ministres du gouvernement rwandais au pouvoir pendant le génocide de 1994, s’est ouvert devant le Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda (TPIR) à Arusha, en Tanzanie. Chacun des accusés répond de six chefs d’accusation de génocide et de crime contre l’humanité. Les quatre accusés sont l’ex-ministre de la Santé Casimir Bizimungu, des Affaires étangères Jérôme Bicamumpaka, du Commerce Justin Mugenzi, et de la Fonction publique Prosper Mugiraneza. Ils plaident non coupables. Ils sont accusés de s’être entendus avec d’autres extrémistes, “de la fin de 1990 jusqu’à juillet 1994",»pour élaborer un plan dans l’intention d’exterminer la population civile tutsi, d’éliminer des membres de l’opposition et de se maintenir ainsi au pouvoir. Dans l’exécution de ce plan, ils ont organisé, ordonné et participé aux massacres perpétrés à l’encontre de la population tutsi et des Hutu modérés". (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 7 novembre 2003)

* Rwanda. Key genocide trial begins — 6 November: Four former Rwandan ministers have gone on trial, charged with masterminding the killing of some 800,000 people in the 1994 genocide. They are the former ministers for foreign affairs, health, trade and the civil service. The four men are accused of being in charge of militia that systematically slaughtered ethnic Tutsis. The UN tribunal, in the Tanzanian city of Arusha, is keen to respond to charges of inefficiency. Prosecutor Paul Ng’Arua told the court the ministers blazed a path to hell for the majority Tutsi population. «He said he would show that wherever these ministers went, acts of genocide and the displacement of Tutsi populations followed them,» a spokesman said. Former Health Minister Casimir Bizimungu, a 52-year-old former doctor, is accused of travelling overseas to buy weapons for the militias with government funds and was arrested in Kenya in February 1999. After spending over half a billion dollars and with more than 800 staff, the tribunal has achieved only 12 convictions in nine years. A new chief prosecutor, Hassan Jallow, 52, from The Gambia, was appointed earlier this year, to take sole charge in Arusha from Carla del Ponte. 10 November: The new chief prosecutor at the international tribunal for the Rwandan genocide is in the capital, Kigali, for crucial talks with the government. The Rwandan Government says it is unhappy with the slow pace of the tribunal. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 10 November 2003)

* Sénégal. Manifestation à Dakar — Le 6 novembre, des milliers de Sénégalais ont manifesté au centre de Dakar “contre la violence politique et l’impunité” au Sénégal. Cette manifestation, qui a rassemblé 2.500 personnes selon la police, 10.000 selon les organisateurs, était organisée à la suite de l’agression à coups de marteau de Talla Sylla, chef du petit parti Jef-Jel, très critique envers le président Abdoulaye Wade, il y a un mois à Dakar. Jusqu’à présent, la police n’a procédé à aucune arrestation. (Libération, France, 7 novembre 2003)

* Sierra Leone. Former enemies ride together — 6 November: The way most people get around in Bo, Sierra Leone’s second city, is on the back of motorbike taxis. What is remarkable is that the taxi riders are former rebels and pro-government militia fighters who fought so bitterly against each other during Sierra Leone’s 10-year civil war. Both the rebels and the Kamajor militia were accused of brutal atrocities but once the war ended, new skills were needed and in Bo they acted fast. At a stroke the creation of the Bo Bike Riders Association three years ago solved two problems. It brought cheap transport to the people of Bo and it took potential criminals and troublemakers off the streets — or rather it kept them on the streets but doing something useful. Some 1,000 motorbike taxi riders are now operating in the city. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 6 November 2003)

* Somalia. Somalis shocked by UN report — Shocked by a UN report that their country hosted al Qaeda fighters, Somalis said on 6 November they feared the findings might disrupt international attempts to heal more than a decade of anarchy. The report said al Qaeda fighters trained and armed in Somalia organised a suicide attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya a year ago and a botched attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner taking off nearby. At least four al Qaeda suspects remain in Somalia, where additional weapons may have been imported for the purpose of carrying out further attacks in east Africa, according to a draft of the report obtained by Reuters on 6 November. Somalis, long weary of the fighting between rival warlords, said they feared the report’s revelations of suspected activity by Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden’s followers would undermine efforts to reverse the country’s long collapse. (CNN, USA, 7 November 2003)

* Somalie. Fournitures d’armes - Processus de paix — Un courant continu de petites quantités d’armes et de munitions arrive en Somalie, alimente les marchés locaux et les factions, en violation de l’embargo décidé par le Conseil de sécurité, indique le dernier rapport du Groupe d’experts sur la Somalie. Le rapport affirme que ces violations de l’embargo ont permis, encore récemment, aux terroristes d’Al-Qaïda de s’approvisionner en armes. Les experts qualifient la situation en Somalie d’inquiétante. Selon eux, des centaines de tonnes d’armes et de munitions sont entrés dans le pays ces six derniers mois. Les armes proviennent de Djibouti, des Emirats arabes unis, d’Erythrée, d’Ethiopie et du Yémen, où elles peuvent n’avoir fait que transiter. Le rapport met en évidence les liens existant entre le trafic d’armes en Somalie et le terrorisme international. — D’autre part, le 11 novembre, le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies a réaffirmé sa volonté de parvenir à un règlement global et durable de la situation en Somalie et son respect pour la souveraineté, l’intégrité territoriale, l’indépendance politique et l’unité du pays. Il réaffirme son appui résolu en faveur du processus de réconciliation nationale, lancé sous les auspices de l’Autorité intergouvernementale pour le développement (IGAD) et piloté par le gouvernement kényan. Et il se déclare prêt à aider les parties somaliennes dans la mise en oeuvre des accords conlus dans ce cadre. (NewsPress, 10-11 novembre 2003)

* South Africa. The ANC‘s internal bloodletting — Less than six months before South Africa’s third presidential election, the ruling African National Congress is embroiled in an internal bloodletting that it seems powerless to stop. Already the volley of charges and countercharges has hurt the reputations of the deputy president and the national prosecutor. With the opening of what appears likely to become a lengthy inquiry into some of the allegations, President Thabo Mbeki may be hurt politically as well. For the last week, the South African public has focused on the juiciest aspect of the affair: the revelation that a white human rights lawyer who seemed to be a comrade in arms in the African National Congress’s struggle against apartheid during the 1980’s was in fact a spy for the apartheid government. The lawyer, Vanessa Brereton, went public a week ago on South African television with a tearful confession that she had betrayed black South Africans’ struggle for freedom because she was in love with a senior officer in the apartheid government’s security police. As intelligence agent RS542, she said, she gave her lover and handler information about three anti- apartheid activists, one of whom was later arrested and imprisoned without trial. Now living in England, Ms. Brereton said that she had apologized to those she betrayed and that she did not expect forgiveness. But Ms. Brereton’s role as an apartheid spy is but a sidelight in a poisonous battle for power between Mr. Mbeki’s deputy president, Jacob Zuma, and the national prosecutor, Bulelani Ngcuka. Both men are senior members of the African National Congress, which gained more than 65 percent of the vote in the presidential election in 1999. Mr. Ngcuka said openly in August that he suspected, but could not prove, that Mr. Zuma had benefited illegally from under-the-table dealings in a multibillion-dollar arms contract. Mr. Zuma’s supporters struck back in September by accusing Mr. Ngcuka of acting as a spy -— code-named RS542 -— for the apartheid government in the last days of white rule here. That charge led Ms. Brereton to come forward because, she said, she did not want Mr. Ngcuka to suffer for her misdeeds. But Mr. Zuma’s supporters have refused to back down, saying they never claimed to know the right code name for Mr. Ngcuka. Nor has the rivalry halted. Mr. Zuma has demanded a new inquiry into Mr. Ngcuka’s conduct of the investigation into his role in the arms deal. In response, Mr. Ngcuka said that evidence against the deputy president would come out at the trial of an associate of Mr. Zuma’s who was charged with fraud in the arms deal. The battle has consumed the party since at least August. Mr. Mbeki’s inability so far to resolve it has emboldened his detractors, who say he pays too much attention to his image as a statesman and not enough to problems at home. (New York Times, USA, 11 November 2003)

* South Africa. Huge cash boost for tackling AIDS — 12 November: South Africa is to almost quadruple its spending on tackling HIV/AIDS. Signalling a major new effort against the devastating disease, the government will spend $1.7bn (12.1 billion rand) over the next three years. This will include the national roll-out of key anti-retroviral drugs, with 1.9bn rand earmarked for the launch. South Africa has the largest HIV/AIDS caseload in the world, and the new funds come after growing criticism that the government was not doing enough. The additional funding, compared with the estimated 3.3bn rand spent between 2001/2002 and 2003/2004, could signal a major shift in the ANC government’s political will to fight AIDS, analysts have said. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 12 November 2003)

* Afrique du Sud. Terreblanche condamné — Le 12 novembre, l’extrémiste afrikaner néonazi Eugène Terreblanche, qui purge déjà une peine de six ans de prison pour tentative de meurtre, a été condamné pour des attentats perpétrés avant les premières élections démocratiques en 1994. Terreblanche était soupçonné d’avoir ordonné au moins cinq attentats à la bombe lorsqu’il dirigeait le Mouvement de résistance afrikaner. (Le Soir, Belgique, 13 novembre 2003)

* South Africa. Terre Blanche convicted of bombings — On 12 November, a South African court convicted white supremacist leader Eugene Terre Blanche of terrorism for ordering bomb attacks before the 1994 elections that brought democracy to the black majority. Terre Blanche, the face of violent white reaction in the dying years of apartheid, was sentenced to a suspended six-year jail term under a plea bargain with prosecutors, National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Makhosini Nkosi said. Terre Blanche, the leader of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, is currently serving a six-year sentence for beating a black farmworker in 1996, causing permanent brain damage. He was convicted of giving orders for at least five bombings ahead of the 1994 vote. The bombers are already serving life sentences for other crimes. A burly man whose bearded visage once epitomized white extremism to the outside world, Terre Blanche has faded from the political stage but remains a potent symbol for disaffected Afrikaners, white descendants of Dutch and French settlers. He and his khaki-clad band of supporters threatened to derail democratic elections in 1994 that marked the end of decades of white minority rule. But the group, which once claimed thousands of members, suffered humiliating setbacks, notably when several of its members were filmed being shot to death in a failed effort to prop up the faltering government of the nominally independent black «homeland» of Bophutatswana shortly before the 1994 polls. Terre Blanche appealed to right-wing Afrikaner sentiment, organizing horseback possessions where armed followers flew banners emblazoned with a symbol reminiscent of the Nazi swastika. While the group is widely regarded as a spent force, the government still sees white right-wingers as a threat. Twenty-two members of another group, the Boeremag or Farmer Force, are on trial for treason over an alleged plot to topple the government. (CNN, USA, 13 November 2003)