weekly anb04065.txt

[anb-bia <anb-bia at village.uunet.be>]

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 06-04-2000      PART #5/9

* Ethiopie. Travail et prostitution des enfants  -  Le 30 mars a
Addis-Abeba, le directeur de l'Organisation internationale du
travail (OIT) en Ethiopie, Robert Ransom, a revele l'existence d'un
commerce sexuel des enfants en Ethiopie. Cette pratique est "la
pire des formes de travail des enfants", a-t-il souligne, dans le
cadre d'un forum sur le travail des enfants regroupant quelque 60
experts representant le gouvernement ethiopien, des ONG, des
bailleurs de fonds et des organisations internationales. Pour
combattre ce fleau, le gouvernement ethiopien doit d'abord ratifier
la convention sur l'interdiction et l'elimination des formes les
plus avilissantes de travail dangeureux et exploiteur, a-t-il dit.
Selon lui, la lutte contre le travail des enfants doit egalement
etre soutenue par la societe civile, notamment les syndicats, les
organisations patronales et les chefs religieux, afin d'"eviter et
decourager l'exploitation des enfants qui sont utilises comme
ouvriers agricoles ou industriels et de les sortir des situations
d'exploitation dans lesquelles ils se trouvent".   (PANA, Dakar, 30
mars 2000)

* Ethiopia. Deepening food crisis  -  30 March: In January, the
government launched its largest food aid appeal since 1992 for
eight million people affected by drought and displaced by the
conflict with Ethiopia. Yet, already, with the Belg rains due in
February and March having failed almost completely, the number of
people in need of food aid is expected to rise again, possibly to
ten million. Already there have been a "significant number of
deaths, certainly in the hundreds" being recorded in southern parts
of Ethiopia. Also, the war with Eritrea has had "a dramatic impact
on food security". 31 March: Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has
complained that the international response to the famine
threatening eight million people in his country has been too slow.
He says that European countries in particular, could have done
more. 3 April: The UN Resident Coordinator says that with the late
arrival of the short (belg) rains, the UN country team is becoming
seriously concerned that Ethiopia may face a major humanitarian
crisis. The FAO in Rome also issues a similar warning. 4 April: The
EU and other donors have plans to send about 800,000 tonnes of food
aid to Ethiopia but the closure of the Eritrean-Ethiopian border
prevents the use of Eritrean ports. According to the EU's current
plans, aid will be sent through the port of Djibouti. However,
OXFAM blames the looming crisis in part on the EU for delivering
little more than half the food it promised last year. It says that
food donations are still not coming in fast enough.   (ANB-BIA,
Brussels, 5 April 2000)

* Ghana. Unions denounce price increases  -  Ghana's Trades Union
Congress has denounced a series of steep fuel price rises over the
past year, in an early sign of simmering discontent over pay in an
election year. In another hint of labour trouble ahead, a civil
service union has threatened action by the end of the month if pay
grievances are not addressed. Since January this year, the price of
gasoline has risen nearly 88%, diesel 82%, liquefied petroleum gas
for cooking 80%, and kerosene almost 170%.   (CNN, 3 April 2000)

* Ghana. Northeners seek ruling party nomination  -  4 April:
Northern members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC)
want to ensure the party's candidate for vice-president comes from
the region, whose ethnic groups say they have been sidelined. The
party is due to hold its annual congress at the end of April, with
Ghana's current vice-president, John Atta-Mills, a southern Fante,
widely tipped to emerge as its candidate for the December election
which will choose a successor to President Jerry Rawlings. "The
main criteria should be capability first, and then regional
balance, and we think we have many capable men and women", says a
senior government minister from the north.   (Reuters, 4 April
2000)

* Lesotho. Economic challenge  -  The immediate economic challenge
facing the present government of Lesotho, is the need to correct
the imbalances that have emerged in the past two years. This was
said by the Finance Minister, who is also Deputy prime Minister,
Kelebone Maope when presenting the budget for the new financial
year. "Government expenditure needs have surpassed its ability to
raise revenues. The economy is, in general, finding it more and
more difficult to generate sufficient foreign exchange to pay for
the required level of imports, and the country's level of savings
is currently not sufficient to meet its investment needs," said
Maope who made history by presenting the budget in a local Sesotho
language for the first time in the history of the country. Maope
said there was also a need to tackle "head-on" the problem of
unemployment in the country, which is currently estimated between
40 and 45%. "At this level of unemployment, and given that some
20,000 job seekers enter the labour market every single year, this
economy needs to create at least 40 000 news jobs every year if we
are to make a decisive dent in the high level of unemployment,"
said Maope, adding that for this to be realized, the economy will
have to grow by between 8-10% every single year for a sustained
period of time.   (Lawrence Keketso, The Survivor, Lesotho, 5 April
2000)

* Libye/USA. Rapprochement  -  Le 2 avril, Ali Triki, le secretaire
libyen a l'Unite africaine, un proche du colonel Kadhafi, a declare
que la Libye souhaitait normaliser ses relations avec les Etats-
Unis, pays avec lequel elle a rompu ses relations en 1981. Il a
estime aussi que la recente visite en Libye de quatre representants
consulaires americains avait constitue un pas dans la bonne
direction. "Les contacts se poursuivront et si les Americains sont
disposes a une normalisation, nous le sommes aussi, et ce dans
l'interet de tous les pays", a souligne Ali Triki.   (La Libre
Belgique, 3 avril 2000)

* Libya. HIV/AIDS trial  -  3 April: The trial of six Bulgarian
medics and nine Arabs accused of deliberately infecting nearly 400
Libyan children with the HIV virus, resumes today. The trial first
began in February, but was postponed at the request of the defence.
Bulgarian officials say the defence will seek a further
postponement to give lawyers time to properly examine 1,600 pages
of prosecution material. This is a highly unusual case. The medics
were arrested nearly a year ago during an investigation into an
outbreak of AIDS in a children's hospital in Benghazi. 19
Bulgarians were detained at the time, along with other foreign and
local workers. Most were later released, but the 6 Bulgarians, as
well as 8 Libyans and a Palestinian, were charged with
intentionally infecting 393 children with the virus which causes
AIDS. The Libyans say more than 20 of them have now died. The court
eventually adjourns the trial.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 4 April 2000)

* Libya. Putting its mark on Africa  -  CNN-30 March: Libya is
slowly shedding its internationally imposed isolation. President
Gaddafi has welcomed an influx of European and Asian investment in
recent years, giving the country a more prosperous feel than it has
had in decades. But geographically and economically, Libya
considers itself the gateway to Africa -- and Gaddafi has made
every effort to stamp the continent with a Libyan mark. "He does
have ambitions to be a big player," says David Butter of the Middle
East Economic Digest. "He can't do much in the Arab world. Perhaps
he thinks he can do a bit in the African continent". þ BBC-4 April:
From his early arrival in Egypt on 31 March, Gaddafi's conduct was
vintage, individualist stuff. Although the air embargo against
Tripoli was no longer in force, Gaddafi chose to drive through the
desert from Libya rather than fly to Cairo. While most of his
counterparts stayed in Cairo's smartest hotels, Gaddafi had a
massive tent in the grounds of a presidential guest house where he
hosted a big banquet on the night of 2 April. He also turned up
late to the conference's opening ceremony, striding into the hall
only after President Mubarak had begun speaking.   (ANB-BIA,
Brussels, 5 April 2000)

* Madagascar. Nouveau cyclone  -  Madagascar, qui se remet a peine
du passage de deux cyclones devastateurs fin fevrier et debut mars,
a ete frappe d'une troisieme. Le 2 avril au matin, les services
metereologiques indiquaient que le cyclone Hudah, classe parmi les
tres intenses cyclones tropicaux, soit la plus forte categorie, se
trouvait a 200 km de la cote nord-est de l'ile et s'en approchait
dangeureusement. La radio malgache a adresse des mises en garde a
la population de la principale ville de la region, Toamasina. Aux
alentours de midi la frange du cyclone a touche l'ile dans le nord-
est du pays, et l'oeil du cyclone devait passer sur cette zone en
fin de journee. Des pluies et des vents violents, avec des rafales
atteignant jusqu'a 300 km/h, ont frappe la majeure partie de la
moitie nord du pays, surtout durant la nuit. Le 3 avril, vers 9h du
matin, le cyclone s'est eloigne de la cote nord-ouest en direction
du Mozambique laissant derriere lui au moins 13 morts, et entre
50.000 et 100.000 sinistres.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 4
avril 2000)

* Madagascar/Mozambique. Cyclone Hudah  -  2 April: Possibly the
most powerful cyclone of southern Africa's rainy season is bearing
down on Madagascar, threatening to compound the destruction from
earlier storms and raising the spectre of further devastating
floods. Madagascar's meteorological office says Cyclone Hudah
covering hundreds of square miles is thought likely to bring winds
of 200 mph when it hits the very area in the north-east of
Madagascar which was severely damaged by cyclones Eline and Gloria
in late February and early March. It is too early to whether
Cyclone Hudah poses a severe threat to Mozambique. Further reports
state that the cyclone has already hammered the north-east of the
island. 3 April: Cyclone Hudah is now heading towards Mozambique.
The cyclone, which measures about 400 kilometres across, is
accompanied by winds of up to 300 kilometres. 4 April: Aid
officials say Cyclone Hudah has created a desperate situation in
northern Madagascar with 100,000 people homeless and in need of
shelter and food. "This really is a disaster. No houses are
untouched. there is no power. The winds were so strong there are no
trees", said a WFP spokesman. 5 April: The cyclone is expected to
hit Mozambique today, striking provinces north of the areas worst
hit by the two months of flooding. A spokeswoman for the WFP says
that more heavy rains anywhere in Mozambique are deeply worrying.
The Cyclone, previously downgraded to a tropical storm, regains its
power as it hovers off the coast of northeastern Mozambique and
lashes the coastline with driving rain and high winds..   (ANB-BIA,
Brussels, 6 April 2000)

* Maroc. Injection a l'economie  -  Le gouvernement marocain
s'apprete a injecter 700 millions de dollars dans l'economie
nationale dans l'espoir de soutenir la croissance et de creer des
emplois pour pallier les effets de l'une des pires secheresses que
le pays ait jamais connue. La somme est issue d'un fonds special,
cree l'annee derniere apres l'attribution d'une seconde licence de
telephonie mobile a un consortium espagnol. Les 700 millions seront
consacres aux infrastructures nationales, construction de routes et
de batiments principalement.   (Reuters, 1er avril 2000)

weekly anb0406 -  end of part 5/9