ANB BIA African News Bulletin Bulletin d'Information Africaine Brussel/Bruxelles - BELG Fx 32.2 - 420 05 49 E-Mail paco@innet.be ================================= WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE/EDITION 12/01/1996 * Africa. African Nations Cup The 20th edition of the African Nations Cup finals kicks off in South Africa -- 13 January to 3 February. The African Nations Cup tournament is held once every two years. It started very small in 1957 with only three teams competing in Sudan. The 1996 edition in South Africa was scheduled to have featured 16 teams, but on 30 December 1995, Nigeria's Sports Minister Jim Nwobodo said his country was pulling out of the tournament because of fears for the safety of their players. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 4 January 1996) * Afrique. Des armees pour la paix La Conference internationale sur la diplomatie preventive et le maintien de la paix en Afrique, qui s'est tenue cette semaine a huis clos a Bruxelles, s'est terminee sur un accord pour ameliorer l'echange d'informations entre les principaux pays donateurs. La reunion etait destinee a ces derniers, avec l'absence d'Africains, a l'exception du representant de l'OUA (Organisation de l'unite africaine). Les ambassadeurs africains n'ont pas apprecie leur "mise a l'ecart" des travaux. Durant les travaux, "on a evoque une formation specifique au maintien de la paix", explique l'ambassadeur De Ruyt, cheville ouvriere de la Conference. "Il s'agit d'aider a organiser de bonnes structures de commandement, de former a utiliser du materiel de communication et a travailler ensemble lorsqu'on parle des langues differentes.[...] Il s'agit de former les forces armees de pays prets a maintenir la paix dans d'autres pays". (D'apres M.-F. C., La Libre Belgique, 12 janvier 1996) * East Africa. Regional news Fighting the water weed: Scientific experts and government officials from Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, attending a policy meeting (World Bank supported) in Dar-es-Salaam last week, endorsed the use of chemicals to fight the water hyacinth, a fast-growing weed that has been described as the biggest threat to Lake Victoria's ecosystem. Approval was given for the use of a herbicide (Roundup) and will initially be applied on a trial basis on the Ugandan side of the lake. "The magnitude of the problem on the Ugandan side is so big that they can't rely only on manual, mechanical or biological control methods", said Mr Saida Mbwana, the executive secretary of the programme whose full implementation is slated for 1996. Using sniffer dogs against narcotics smugglers: Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are to employ South African trained sniffer dogs at their ports and international airports as part of a major campaign against drug trafficking in the region. Mr Sethna, the programme's regional chief, said the South African police had agreed to help Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia in a drugs' war which some observers say the region is in danger of losing. Funding will be provided by the UN Drug Control Programme. The dogs are among a series of controls being put into place in recognition of the fact that drug trafficking has to be curbed. (The East African, Kenya, 25-31 December 1995) * Algerie. GIA, FIS, AIS: c'est la guerre La violence semble se reinstaller en Algerie apres la treve de l'election presidentielle: affrontements et attentats au camion piege se multiplient. Entre-temps, se fait de plus en plus evidente la scission entre l'AIS --le bras arme du FIS -- et le GIA, le plus violent des groupes armes. Ce dernier, dans un communique publie vendredi 5 janvier, "declare la guerre" au FIS et a l'AIS et reaffirme sa "determination" a "combattre tous ceux qui luttent pour le retour des elections". De son cote, l'AIS a dementi la reddition d'un de ses dirigeants, Larbi Merzak. Par ailleurs, le president Zeroual a demande dimanche 8 janvier au nouveau gouvernement algerien de faire en sorte de pouvoir organiser des elections legislatives et locales "a tout instant", qui constituent pour le pays "des imperatifs irrevocables". (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 5-10 janvier 1996) * Burundi. Le pays sombre de plus en plus Dans son discours de nouvel an, le president Sylvestre Ntibantunganya a declare: "Si nous ne sommes pas assez vigilants, notre pays court le risque d'un effondrement total". Son Premier ministre, Antoine Nduwayo, n'est pas plus optimiste: "L'ideologie de l'exclusion et du genocide gagne du terrain et l'economie est en train d'etre detruite". A New-York, le secretaire general des Nations unies, M. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a lance, le 2 janvier, un nouvel appel en faveur du stationnement de troupes au Zaire, appelees a intervenir au Burundi, en cas de troubles graves. Le secretaire general declare craindre "que la situation ne degenere au point d'exploser en violence ethnique sur une grande echelle". Le ministre belge des Affaires etrangeres, de son cote, a deconseille aux Belges, le 7 janvier, de se rendre au Burundi a cause des violences ethniques et de la deterioration des conditions sanitaires. La plupart des affrontements ne sont pas connus, mais diplomates et organisations humanitaires estiment que les tueries font environ 30 morts par jour. Les routes ne sont pas sures et les vehicules risquent a tout moment de tomber dans des embuscades. Depuis aout 1994, 11 membres d'organisations humanitaires ont peri. L'armee n'obeit qu'a ses chefs, et de part et d'autre l'influence des hommes politiques decroit au profit des extremistes. Toutefois, selon une declaration du HCR a Geneve, un nombre croissant d'organisations humanitaires ont repris leurs operations dans le nord du pays, supendues depuis quelques semaines. (D'apres Le Soir et La Libre Belgique, 5-10 jan. 1996) * Egypte. Femmes au gouvernement Fortement matinee d'education americaine, Nawal al-Tataoui est la premiere femme a obtenir le portefeuille de l'Economie, dans le nouveau gouvernement qui a prete serment, le 4 janvier, au Caire. Le Premier ministre, Kamal al Ganzouri, compte sur cette ancienne experte aupres de la Banque mondiale pour attirer les investissements etrangers et contribuer a la relance d'une economie ecrasee par le poids de la bureaucratie et du secteur d'Etat. Docteur en economie de l'universite americaine du Caire, Nawal al-Tataoui, qui a etudie dans le Wisconsin, a contribue a la creation, au Caire en 1978, de la Banque d'investissement arabe, dont elle preside le conseil d'administration. Elle cumulera, avec le portefeuille de l'Economie, celui de la Cooperation internationale. Au total, trois femmes figurent parmi les 32 membres du cabinet. (Liberation, France, 5 janvier 1996) * Gambie. Interdit aux Gambiennes de se blanchir Dans son discours de fin d'annee, le capitaine-president de la Gambie, Yahya Jammeh, musulman convaincu, a annonce des mesures visant a combattre les moeurs decadentes d'origine non africaine. Apres avoir declare la guerre au tourisme sexuel pratique dans son pays, il a etendu a toutes ses concitoyennes des interdits qui concernaient, depuis septembre, les femmes fonctionnaires. Desormais seront bannis tous les produits blanchissant ou eclaircissant l'epiderme: "Je ne veux pas victimiser les Gambiennes, a-t-il dit, mais se blanchir la peau est nuisible pour leur sante". Il a par ailleurs annonce l'organisation d'elections democratiques presidentielles et legislatives, en juin, pour permettre a la Gambie de renouer avec une vie constitutionnelle normale apres vingt-trois mois de regime militaire. Ces consultations seront precedees, en mai, par des elections municipales. (D'apres Liberation, France, 2 janvier 1996) * Ghana. Two Catholic nuns killed Two Roman Catholic nuns, an American and a Canadian, were hacked to death by a man wielding a machete on a beach in Ghana, police said Wednesday. The attacker fled with the two women's handbags, pursued by villagers who overpowered him in a nearby hamlet. Police said they had arrested a 21-year-old unemployed man suspected of attacking the women as they relaxed at the Brenu Pleasure Beach near Elmina, 100 miles from the capital, Accra. A police statement on Monday's attack, published by the Ghana News Agency, identified the American as Patricia Maclese of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary based in Kumasi, Ghana, and the Canadian as Claudia Murphy of the Sisters of Our Lady of Africa based in Tamale, also in Ghana. (Reuter, U.K., 10 January 1996) * Ile Maurice. Elections et gouvernement Selon les chiffres de la commission electorale diffuses par la television nationale, 79,4% des 715.198 electeurs inscrits ont pris part au scrutin. Le nouveau premier ministre de l'ile Maurice, chef de file de l'alliance de l'opposition et du Parti des travailleurs (PTR), Navin Ramgoolam, quarante-huit ans, est le fils du "pere de la nation" mauricienne, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, au pouvoir de l'independance, en 1968, jusqu'en 1982. M. Navin a forme, le 30 decembre, un nouveau gouvernement compose de 21 ministres. Paul Berenger occupe le poste de vice-premier ministre, ainsi que celui de ministre des affaires etrangeres et de la cooperation internationale et regionale, qu'il avait deja detenu avant son depart du gouvernement de Sir Anerood Jugnauth, en 1993. (D'apres Le Monde, France, 2 janvier 1996) * Kenya. Les vrais prophetes Il ne veut pas etre appele "prophete": "si vraiment vous voulez parler de prophetes, parlez des gens qui vivent dans les decharges de Nairobi", a declare le pere Alex Zanotelli au Congres national de l'Association italienne des amis de Raoul Follerau, qui s'est tenu a Rimini du 8 au 10 decembre. Parmi les 100.000 marginaux de Korogocho, les plus marginaux sont les enfants des rues --"une armee" -- et les filles obligees a se prostituer pour survivre, condamnees a choisir entre mourir de faim ou mourir par sida. Ils sont sauves par la foi en un dieu qui n'est pas le notre (le dieu-argent), mais le vrai "Dieu des esclaves, des opprimes, des veuves, des prostituees". Filles qui, agees de vingt ans, appellent au secours pour "mourir avec le sourire sur les levres"; jeunes meres qui prient Dieu de les guerir, "non pas pour moi, mais pour cet enfant qui n'a personne"... En nous poussant a consommer de plus en plus, notre "Marche" est un dieu inutile "a qui nous sacrifions 40 millions de personnes chaque annee". Un dieu qui dicte toutes les lois "parce que nous le voulons, parce que nous acceptons sa dictature par nos choix quotidiens dans notre consommation, nos epargnes, notre vie". (D'apres Adista, Italie, 23 decembre 1995) * Kenya. "Torture common", says Amnesty A report published on 22 December 1995 says that Western donors are preparing for yet another meeting on Kenya next month against the backdrop of what Amnesty International and other sources say are continuing grave human rights abuses in that country. US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa George Moose said recently that "we have been putting our concerns to the Kenyan government and will continue to do so". Those concerns are growing and could result in a new freeze on donor balance-of- payments assistance, similar to one implemented in 1992 to press the government of President Daniel arap Moi into legalising opposition parties. In an apparent division of labour, the administrative police routinely batter alleged common criminals for confessions, while the Special Branch, formally known as the Directorate of Security and Intelligence (DSI) and the police's Criminal Intelligence Department (CID) reserve the rough treatment for political detainees. The lack of medical attention for prisoners is used as a tool of torture by the authorities. Opposition member of parliament Njenga Mungai was denied treatment for a urinary condition by doctors at the Nakuru hospital who reportedly feared that, like some other government doctors, they could be forcibly evicted from their homes if they treated a political prisoner, says the report. (AFJN, Washington, 22 December 1995) * Liberia. Massacre de civils Plusieurs dizaines de civils ont ete massacres, mardi 2 janvier, dans un camp de deplaces a Klay, a 45 km de la capitale, Monrovia, par des membres de la faction de l'Ulimo-Krahn, dirigee par le "general" Roosevelt Johnson. Des temoins ont raconte que les combattants ont envahi le camp et "tire dans tous les sens", faisant plusieurs dizaines de morts et obligeant les 9.000 occupants (dont 500 refugies de Sierra Leone) a s'enfuir. Des milliers de civils fuyant les combats avaient ete rassembles par les troupes de l'Ecomog (la force africaine de paix) dans ce camps de Klay. Par ailleurs, James Seitua et Stanton Peaboy -- deux journalistes du Daily Observer, le journal le plus respecte du pays -- ont ete arretes le 9 et le 10 janvier a la demande, semble-t-il, de Charles Taylor, chef de la princupale faction liberienne et membre de la presidence collegiale de transition. (D'apres AFP, France, 4-12 janvier 1996) * Liberia. Factions still a force to be reckoned with 20 December 1995: The UN Secretary-General warns that Liberia's warring factions, already behind on a timetable for peace, may not be ready to retire and disarm their troops until January. In a report to the UN Security Council, the Secretary-General says that the factions have not even begun to send troops to various sites intended to house combatants who are to be disarmed. Nor are they likely to do so until mid-January, when the sites can finally be equipped to receive troops, he writes. "While this is a cause for concern, the delay should be seen in the context of the implementation timetable, which may have underestimated the delays involved in deploying the necessary personnel and equipment". That delay is a significant slip, since Liberia's seven main factions were supposed to have sent their soldiers to the quartering sites by 9 November 1995 and to have finished disarming them by 1 December 1995. That lag, in turn, could prevent Liberia from attaining sufficient security to carry out elections planned for August 1996. 2 January 1996: Fighting flares again in western Liberia after a day-long truce in battles between guerrillas and African peacekeepers. Rebel leader Roosevelt Johnson (ULIMO-J) denies that he is responsible for attacks on the African peacekeepers. 4 January: Witnesses say that hundreds of ECOMOG troops are massed with tanks on a road to western Liberia where 130 fellow-peacekeepers are held by guerrillas. The 130 men are believed to be all Nigerians. 7 January: About 15,000 people who have fled renewed fighting in north-western Liberia are threatened with starvation. Relief workers who flew to the beseiged city of Tubmanburg on 6 January say 80,000 people are crammed in the city without food or medicine. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 7 January 1996) * Malawi. Shot in the arm from Western donors 21 December 1995: The government congratulates itself over the resumption of aid to Malawi, formerly blacklisted by donors angry by the abuses committed by the previous one-party regime here. But it will take years before the spinoffs of the apparent international goodwill towards the small, landlocked country trickle down to the inhabitants of one of the world's poorest nations. Malawian officials announce that Western nations have pledged aid to the sum of 1,159 million US dollars. In 1992, Western nations froze about 70 million US dollars in economic aid to Malawi in reaction to severe human rights violations by the regime of then president Hastings Kamuzu Banda and its refusal to allow multiparty democracy here. 2 January 1996: State prosecutors file an appeal before the country's highest court against Banda's acquittal on conspiracy to murder charges. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 3 January 1996) * Maroc. Islamisme et trafic d'armes Neuf Marocains et quatre Algeriens ont comparu devant le tribunal militaire de Rabat pour "importation et detention illegales d'armes, de munitions et d'explosifs", et pour avoir tente d'introduire ces armes "illegalement" en Algerie au benefice de "groupes armes algeriens". Ils avaient ete arretes a la frontiere avec l'Algerie, ainsi qu'a Casablanca, a la mi-octobre. Les accuses, qui ont entre 25 et 40 ans, etaient defendus par sept avocats. L'acte d'accusation les considere comme des sympathisants du mouvement islamiste marocain Al-Adl wal Ihsan (Justice et bienfaisance), interdit, et dont le chef est assigne en residence surveillee a Sale, pres de Rabat. Huit des accuses, dont trois Algeriens, ont ete condamnes le 9 janvier a des peines de six a quatorze ans; les 5 autres inculpes ont ete acquittes. Les avocats de la defense ont denonce les rapports de la police et du juge d'instruction car les inculpes les auraient signes "sous la contrainte et sans qu'ils sachent exactement le contenu de ces documents elabores a l'issue de plusieurs semaines de torture". (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 5-10 janvier 1996) * Nigeria. Reconciling a nation 28 December 1995: Nigeria's military government swears in a Reconciliation Committee to smooth the transition to democracy promised by General Sani Abacha. Nigerian newspapers react coolly, saying the Committee comprises friends of General Abacha who are incapable of reaching out to opponents. The move comes as South Africa announces it will continue its policy of dialogue with Nigeria's military rulers, while keeping up international pressure on the Government. 1 January 1996: The military authorities free six political detainees. Among those released is the former leader of the oil union NUPENG. 2 January 1996: The daily newspaper Concord, belonging to opposition leader Chief Moshood Abiola, is once again on sale. It had been suppressed since 1994. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 3 January 1996) * Nigeria. Deportation ad. attacked On 2 January, the Nigerian High Commission in London came under fire from anti-deportation campaigners over an advertisement placed in several national daily newspapers by the High Commission aimed at discrediting Nigerians seeking asylum in Britain. The ad drew attention to the case of Ade Onibiyo, aged 20, a Nigerian asylum seeker who was given a temporary stay of deportation last month and whose case is going for judicial review. Mr Onibiyo says his father, Abdul, was a pro-democracy activist who has not been heard of since he was deported to Nigeria in October. In the ad, the High Commission denies he has been held by the country's security services. It accused the campaign of damaging the image of the country. (The Guardian, U.K., 3 January 1996) * Rwanda. MSF banned "for criticism" On 3 January, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), one of 43 aid agencies expelled from Rwanda, said that its French wing was thrown out for reporting atrocities committed by the authorities. MSF's president, Philippe Biberson, told a news conference that the "real reason was...our testimony on the serious attacks affecting the people we were working with". The Rwandan government ordered the foreign aid agencies out of the country last month on the grounds they had failed to register and said they had to leave their equipment behind. Police confiscated 16 of their ambulances and other vehicles. (The Guardian, U.K., 4 January 1996) * Rwanda. Un general rwandais denonce Un general rwandais hutu, qui avait rejoint en juillet 1994 les rangs de la nouvelle armee et a fui son pays en novembre, estime que le regime actuel "ne merite aucune confiance" et que le Rwanda fait face a une "derive mortelle". Le general Leonidas Rusatira estime que "le probleme hutu-tutsi" est reel et considere que le regime en place, domine par les Tutsis, applique a son tour "systematiquement des criteres ethniques pour confier des postes de commandes aux Tutsis et emprisonner les Hutus". Le gouvernement, ajoute le general, est "desireux de se debarrasser des yeux et des oreilles indiscrets que sont tous les etrangers" des organisations non gouvernementales (ONG) et des Nations unies. Kigali a decide le 6 decembre, d'expulser trente-huit ONG et a accepte que les troupes de la Minuar ne restent que jusqu'en mars. (D'apres Le Monde, France, 5 janvier 1996) * Senegal. Creation d'un Senat Lors de son message de Nouvel An, le president senegalais Abdou Diouf a annonce la prochaine entree en vigueur de la regionalisation qui, selon lui, "doit approfondir notre democratie locale et permettre aux citoyens de gerer leurs propres affaires, laissant a l'Etat les grandes missions de souverainete". Il a aussi annonce la creation d'un Senat: "Le moment me semble venu d'ajouter a la regionalisation l'institution d'un Senat qui, avec l'Assemblee nationale, constituerait le Parlement de la Republique et assurerait la representation des collectivites territoriales au sein du pouvoir legislatif", a explique le chef d'Etat. (D'apres AFP, France, 1 janvier 1996) * Sierra Leone. Civil servants' pay raised On 30 December 1995 it was announced that the government had raised salaries for civil servants, including the army and the police by 50%. The increases would take effect from 1 January 1996. He did not say how they would be financed. The country's economy has been devastated by a five-year-old guerrilla campaign the government is fighting, with the help of South African mercenaries and troops from West African allies. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 4 January 1996) * Soudan. Deux pretres et un seminariste detenus Le Vatican a denonce, jeudi 11, la detention de deux pretres, Mark Lotede, de l' archidiocese de Juba, et Romeo Todo, de l' archidiocese de Khartoum, ainsi que d' un seminariste, Paul Lomana, de Khartoum. Le P. Mark a ete arrete vers la fin de decembre, et les deux autres au cours de la premiere semaine de janvier. Tous les trois sont detenus par les services de securite, la police secrete soudanaise, et on craint pour leur sort. En commentant a chaud la situation, l' administrateur apostolique de Rumbeck, Mgr Cesare Mazzolari, declare: "Les eveques catholiques deplorent ce geste discriminatoire qui revele combien difficiles sont les conditions de vie des chretiens soudanais. Au lieu d' arreter des innocents, il serait mieux que le gouvernement soudanais oeuvre pour la reconciliation des differents groupes presents dans le pays et qu' il s' engage activement pour la paix." (D' apres Radio Vaticane, 11 janvier 1996) * Swaziland. Opposition vows to make the country ungovernable On 1 January, a Swazi opposition group said it would make the country ungovernable if the government did not allow free political activity and unban political parties this year. Kislon Shongwe, president of the People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), told reporters that 1996 would be the year "of the birth of people's power. We shall see to it that something is done this year to make the country ungovernable if the country fails to unban political parties". (AFJN, Washington, 1 January 1996) * Tanzania. Mkapa off to a good start Displaying a remarkable sureness of touch for a man only days at the helm, Tanzania's new head of state, President Mkapa, made Kenya his first foreign port of call and Uganda his second, very quickly after his installation. Regionalists see this as an overt and unmistakeable demonstration of Tanzania's commitment to East African cooperation. (The East African, Kenya, 18-24 December 1995) * Tanzanie. Baby boom dans les camps hutus La presse tanzanienne s'est recemment inquietee du fort taux de natalite observe dans les camps de refugies hutus et burundais. Selon le journal Mtanzania, certains camps voient naitre, chaque semaine, entre 30 et 100 enfants. Selon Mtanzania, ce phenomene s'explique par l'oisivete des refugies et les conditions sanitaires et nutritionnelles relativement satisfaisantes qui regnent dans les camps, mais aussi par le desir de "compenser" les pertes dues a la guerre. Ce desir, corrobore par les observations des organisations humanitaires, est entretenu par la propagande des extremistes hutus, qui encouragent la croissance de la population dans la perspective d'un retour en force au Rwanda. Ces extremistes se sont opposes a la distribution de preservatifs, n'y voyant qu'une mesure de planning familial. Or le taux de seropositifs -- au Rwanda, avant la guerre civile, l'un des plus eleves du monde -- reste le risque sanitaire majeur pour la population des camps. (Le Monde, France, 6 janvier 1996) * Uganda. Journalist jailed for sedition On 20 December 1995, a court jailed an opposition newspaper editor for five months for sedition and publishing false news. Haruna Kanaabi, editor-in-chief of the Islamic weekly Shariat, was found guilty by magistrate Flavia Munaaba who ordered him jailed at Luzir maximum prison. Kanaabi, 30, faced 10 years in jail since each of the two offenses carry a maximum sentence of five years but Munaaba said she was reducing the penalty to five months as the editor was a first offender, the papers said. Kanaabi was also ordered to pay a fine of 1.2 million shillings ($1,200). It was the first time a journalist was sentenced to jail since President Yoweri Museveni took power in 1986. Political analysts said the conviction was a bid by the government to reign in critical journalists before the elections. Lawrence Kiwanuka of the pro-opposition Citizen newspaper jumped bail and fled to exile in Kenya in 1995 after he was charged with sedition. He said state security agents planned to assassinate him. (AFJN, Washington, 21 December 1995) * Zaire. Un pretre et une religieuse tues Un pretre francais et une religieuse belge ont ete assassines, dans des situations semblables, le 21 decembre 1995. Le pere Robert Besson, 68 ans, de la Societe des Peres Blancs, a ete retrouve assassine dans sa chambre, proche de son bureau. Le pere etait econome-adjoint du diocese de Kisangani, et l'hypothese de vol par des bandits semble la plus vraisemblable. Une autre missionnaire, soeur Christine Sellekaerts, 53 ans, belge, appartenant a la congregation des Soeurs du Coeur immacule de Marie, a ete assassinee le meme jour a Kimpangu, sur la frontiere zairo-angolaise, lors d'une fusillade. Serieusement touchee, la religieuse est morte une demi-heure plus tard; une consoeur philippine et une autre zairoise ont ete egalement blessees. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 2 janvier 1996) * Zaire. Adoption d'un budget amende Le Parlement de transition zairois a adopte aux petites heures, le 1er janvier, un budget d'austerite amende, propose par le Premier ministre Kengo wa Dongo (centriste), qui va permettre une augmentation des depenses publiques. Il s'agit d'un budget deficitaire fixant les depenses a 587 millions de dollars, alors que les previsions de revenus sont fixees a 582 millions de dollars. En novembre, M. Kengo avait presente un budget d'austerite et voulait en faire le premier budget equilibre du Zaire depuis de nombreuses annees. (La Libre Belgique, 3 janvier 1996) * Zaire. Refugee camps The future of about 1 million Rwandan refugees has been thrown into doubt after Zaire said it would begin closing camps on its eastern border within days. On 5 January, President Mobutu Sese Seko's cabinet held an emergency meeting to discuss the dispute, after the foreign minister, Kamanda wa Kamanda, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees had agreed the "modalities" to send the Rwandans home. Rwandan officials said they were told that the cabinet meeting was called because Mr Mobutu interpreted the plan as forced repatriation and objected to it. With so few Hutu refugees willing to return to Rwanda, the announcement was seen as heralding another forced mass repatriation. (The Guardian, U.K., 6 January 1996) * Zambia. Money matters In 1995, Zambia's annual inflation rate rose from 34.1% in January to 45% in November. But a Bank of Zambia spokesman said the monthly inflation rate improved from 8.5% in October down to 3.9% in November. In 1995, within a space of six months, three banks (African Commercial, Meridien Biao and Commerce) collapsed. Nevertheless, the chairman of the Bankers Association of Zambia said the situation has since stabilised with appropriate measures being taken by the Central Bank to address the money market instability. The Bank of Zambia fortnightly statistics indicate that Zambia's gross international reserves improved from the September 1995 balance of US$ 248 million to US$ 257 million by 31 October. The Bank of Zambia's governor is optimistic things will improve for the better in 1996. (Stan Dongo, Zambia, 3 January 1996) * Zambia. Who is a Zambian? Zambia's President Frederick Chiluba insists he is a bona fide Zambian. At the same time he has accused the Post newspaper of maligning him. He said: "I have grown sufficiently thick-skinned to absorb the criticism and insults. The Post will not break me because I am innocent". The Post carried banner headlines affirming that Chiluba had a Zairian birth certificate and called for his impeachment. (Stan Dongo, Zambia, 3 January 1996) ==== INFORMATIONS - NOUS VOUS SIGNALONS... I - DOCUMENTS RECEIVED RECENTLY FROM THE JESUIT REFUGEE SERVICE, ROME === RWANDA Title: The Churches and genocide: lessons from the Rwandan tragedy. (Reprinted from The Month, July 1995) Author: Ian Linden Description: The General Secretary of the Catholic Institute for International Relations describes the events leading to the Rwandan tragedy, assesses the response of a divided Church and suggests a way forward. === LIBERIA Title: Peace in Liberia Source: Liberia Working Group. November 1995 Description: Field reports from Church and refugee workers in Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea and from various human rights organisations and news sources. === REFUGEES Title: Refugies de l'Afrique de l'Est Author: Pere Pedro Sala. M.Afr Source: Conseil Pontifical pour la Pastorale des Migrants et des Personnes en deplacement. Description: A document from the 13th Plenary Assembly of the above mentioned Council, held in the Vatican, 24-27 October 1995. (The document is in French). === BURUNDI Title: Recent UN Statements Source: Africa Policy Information Center, 5 January 1996 Description: A four-page summary of recent UN documents concerning Burundi, including the initial report of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights mandated to examine the human rights situation in Burundi. II - POUR CEUX QUI NE RECOIVENT PAS "Le Monde Diplomatique": Dans "Le Monde diplomatique" de janvier 1996: OUEST AFRICAIN Mini dossier sur les affrontements ethniques qui embrasent de vastes zones de l'Afrique de l'Ouest. Negliges par les geopoliticiens, ils mettent a mal, parfois durablement, tout espoir de developpement. === 1. L'Ouest africain ronge par ses abces regionaux (Philippe Leymaire) === 2. Liberia: Drole de paix (Michel Galy) === 3. Sierra Leone: La guerre et le neant (Thierry Cruvelier) === 4. Senegal: les deux resistances casamancaises (Jean-Claude Marut) Nous rappelons que les articles signales dans cette rubrique sont disponibles sur demande dans nos bureaux. Africa News Bulletin - Bulletin d'Information Africaine ANB-BIA - Av. Ch.Woeste 184 - 1090 Bruxelles - Belgique Tel.: **.32.2/420.34.36 - Fax: **.32.2/420.05.49 WWW: http://www.access.digex.net/~pbdc/index.html E-Mail paco@innet.be Press the BACK ARROW on your Browser to come back to ANB-BIA Menu.