Weekly anb05043.txt #6

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 04-05-2000      PART #3/6

* Congo (RDC)/Belgium. Probing Lumumba's death  -  The Belgian
parliament has opened an inquiry into possible government
involvement in the killing in 1961 of Patrice Lumumba, Congo's
first prime minister after the country gained independence from
Belgian colonial rule. The inquiry which follows the publication of
a book in Belgium which claims that the government of the day
orchestrated the murder in order to maintain control over the
country's rich mineral resources. The book, "The Murder of
Lumumba", was written by Ludo De Witte who recently said "The whole
murder was orchestrated from Brussels, with cooperation from
Congolese". At the same time, Belgium has expressed worries about
the arrest of Francois Lumumba, the son of Patrice.   (ANB-BIA,
Brussels, 3 May 2000)

* Congo (RDC). UN peacekeepers  -  Delegates from the UN Security
Council arrive in Kinshasa today, 4 May, to begin a week-long tour
of five African capitals involved in Congo's civil war. The aim of
the mission is to secure a ceasefire long enough to allow the
deployment of 5,500 UN peacekeepers. The Security Council's
decision to send a peacekeeping mission to Congo despite a fragile
ceasefire agreement, is fraught with danger and overshadowed by UN
interventions in Somalia in 1993 and in Rwanda a year later, which
ended disastrously. Just yesterday, 3 May, a number of UN
peacekeepers were reported killed in clashes with rebels in Sierra
Leone, and 49 were taken prisoner.   (Financial Times, UK, 4 May
2000)

* Corne de l'Afrique. La famine menace  -  Les Nations unies
annoncent une aggravation de la famine dans la Corne de l'Afrique,
ravagee par les guerres, si des mesures strictes ne sont pas prises
pour parer a la situation. Dans un rapport detaille, l'Onu indique
que la vie de 16 millions de personnes est en danger, et demande
aux gouvernements de la region et aux bailleurs de fonds de reagir
rapidement. Trois annees consecutives de faible pluviometrie ont
debouche sur une erosion cumulee des biens dans les communautes
agricoles et pastorales, sapant les strategies de survie et
entrainant une plus grande vulnerabilite a la secheresse. Le
rapport ajoute que la situation en Ethiopie, en Erythree, a
Djibouti, en Ouganda, au Burundi, en Tanzanie, en Somalie et au
Soudan, a ete aggravee par l'insecurite.   (PANA, 1er mai 2000)

* Erythree/Ethiopie. Pourparlers indirects  -  Le 30 avril a Alger,
l'Ethiopie et l'Erythree ont entame des "entretiens de proximite"
sur leur conflit frontalier, a rapporte la radio algerienne. Il n'y
a aucun commentaire officiel sur ces negociations qui se tiennent
a huis clos. Les ministres des Affaires etrangeres ethiopien et
erythreen doivent tenter, sous mediation algerienne, de mettre en
oeuvre le plan de paix elabore par l'OUA, dont l'Algerie assume
actuellement la presidence. Le ministre algerien de la Justice,
Ahmed Ouyahia, a ete charge de faire la navette entre les deux
ministres qui refusent de s'asseoir a la meme table. Le plan de
paix prevoit une treve, un retrait des zones occupees et le
stationnement d'une force de paix le long des 1.000 km de frontiere
commune.   (Reuters, 30 avril 2000)

* Eritrea/Ethiopia. Preparing for talks  -  28 April: Ethiopia and
Eritrea are meeting in Algiers tomorrow, for indirect talks to try
and resolve their two-year border war. The two sides are being
brought together by Algeria's President Bouteflika who is chairman
of the Organisation of African Unity. 1 May: When the UN special
envoy toured the drought-hit Horn of Africa, a visit to the
Eritrean port of Assab was specified. Then halfway through the
tour, the visit was cancelled without explanation. Assab is the
port through which the bulk of the international food aid was
brought for Ethiopia during the terrible famine of 1984-1985. Now
it lies in Eritrea, but Eritrea has offered Assab to be used for
the import of food aid, even for Ethiopia. Upgrading of the port is
required.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 1 May 2000)
* Ethiopia. Over 160 journalists jailed since 1991  -  Ethiopia has
for some time been condemned by organisations for the defence of
press freedom, as the biggest prison on the African continent for
journalists. On 1 April 2000, 8 members of the professions were
behind bars in the country. Four had been there since 1997. Some
were convicted of press offenses; others for taking part in
"terrorist activities". Many Ethiopian journalists have cases
pending.   (Reporters sans Frontieres, 28 April 2000)

* Ethiopia. Nightmare faces aid agencies in eastern Ethiopia  - 
Aid agencies face a logistical nightmare trying to truck in
hundreds of thousands of tons of food into the heart of Ethiopia.
They have to drive down the roughest tracks to the most remote
corner of an isolated region in a vast land, to villages where the
most basic of conveniences are just a rumour. Relief officials in
Gode say many areas of eastern Ethiopia have already crossed the
threshold from food shortage to famine.   (CNN, 30 April 2000)

* Gabon. Nouveau gisement de petrole  -  Le 28 avril, le ministre
des Mines et du Petrole, Paul Toungui, a inaugure un nouveau puits
de petrole offshore qui pourrait produire un total d'au moins 20
millions de barils, a annonce un porte-parole d'Elf Gabon. Le
nouveau gisement represente 2% de l'ensemble de la production
petroliere du pays, a-t-il declare. Le puits, situe au large de
Port-Gentil, est le premier gisement significatif decouvert au
Gabon depuis plusieurs annees.   (Reuters, 29 avril 2000)

* Ghana. Mills endorsed as presidential candidate  -  On 30 April,
Ghana's ruling National Democratic Congress, endorsed Vice-
President John Evans Mills, as its candidate in the December
presidential elections. This marks the beginning of the end of the
era of President Jerry Rawlings who has dominated Ghana's politics
since 1979 when he led a successful putsch as a young airforce
officer.   (PANA, Dakar, 30 April 2000)

* Guinea/Zambia. The Church in Italy to take on their debts  -  The
Catholic Church in Italy has set up a charitable fund to pay off
the debt owed to Italy by two of the poorest African countries,
Zambia and Guinea. Private individuals and business institutions
will be asked to contribute to the fund, which will then be used to
re-pay the Italian government about 10% of the total sum owed to it
by the two countries. This is the estimated market value of the
debt. The organisers say that Zambia and Guinea will be asked to
set aside an equivalent sum to be spent on local development.  
(BBC News, 30 April 2000)

* Guinee. Le proces d'Alpha Conde renvoye  -  L'ouverture, le 12
avril, du proces d'Alpha Conde, plus de 16 mois apres son
arrestation, avait fait naitre l'espoir que le droit serait enfin
dit. Mais le 2 mai, la Cour de surete de l'Etat a decide de
renvoyer le proces sine die. Au depart, les avocats de la defense
avaient souleve de nombreuses exceptions en nullite, mais la Cour
avait rejete toutes ces requetes. Les avocats ont alors decide de
ne plus cautionner le proces et se sont retires. Le 2 mai, Conde
s'est donc presente seul devant le tribunal et, pour montrer que le
proces n'etait plus qu'une parodie de justice, il a declare qu'il
n'avait "rien a dire". Ses 47 coaccuses en ont fait autant. Le
president de la Cour a alors declare: "Quand vous accepterez d'etre
juges, nous reprendrons".   (D'apres Le Monde, France, 4 mai 2000)

* Kenya. Tueries interethniques  -  Le 1er mai, plus de 70
personnes ont ete tuees au cours de violents affrontements
intercommunautaires dans le nord du Kenya, a annonce la chaine
privee de television KTN. Ils ont oppose des membres des ethnies
somalie et borana dans une region connue pour ses violences et vols
de betail.   (Le Soir, Belgique, 2 mai 2000)

* Kenya. Fighting in north-east Kenya  -  Heavy casualties have
been reported from north-east Kenya in fighting between rival
ethnic Somali and Borana groups. Kenya television says more than 70
people have been killed so far, including 3 policemen. It's not
clear what sparked off the fighting, but Borana leaders have in the
past accused the Somalis of creating insecurity. The casualty
figures provided by the Media and local sources, contrast with
those of the police who say the number of people killed "has risen
to 14.   (BBC News, 1-3 May 2000)

* Libye. Proces Lockerbie aux Pays-Bas  -  Apres plus de dix ans
d'enquete et de negociations diplomatiques, le proces dit de
"Lockerbie" s'ouvre ce 3 mai dans la petite ville neerlandaise de
Zeist, mais devant une cour ecossaise, ce qui est une premiere
juridique mondiale. Les deux suspects libyens, Al Amin Khalifa
Fhimah et Abdel Baset al Megrahi, qui y sont detenus depuis un an,
sont accuses d'avoir fait exploser en decembre 1988 un avion de la
PanAm provoquant la mort de 259 passagers et de 11 habitants du
village ecossais de Lockerbie sur lequel l'appareil s'est ecrase.
Le proces est politiquement tres sensible, puisque le procureur
accuse les suspects d'avoir agi de concert avec les services
secrets libyens. Mais la defense a annonce qu'elle ne se
contenterait pas de disculper les accuses, mais qu'elle tentera de
prouver que l'attentat a ete fomente a partir d'autres pays. Le
proces s'annonce fleuve: une duree minimale d'un an et plus de
1.600 temoins pour l'accusation et la defense.   (ANB-BIA, de
sources diverses, 3 mai 2000)

* Libya. The Lockerbie Trial  -  30 April: After interviewing
thousands of witnesses and collecting 200,000 bits of evidence in
one of the world's largest criminal inquiries, investigators in the
1988 Lockerbie air bombing will finally bring their case against
two alleged Libyan terrorists to court this week on 3 May. But in
the final months before the trial, unforseen doubts have arisen
about whether the detective work that led to the suspects, will be
strong enough to result in their conviction on charges of mass
murder and conspiracy. Prosecutors say they have the right men and
the evidence to convict them, but observers who have followed the
probe over the past decade, warn that there are holes in the case.
(Washington Post). 3 May: The trial gets under way before a
Scottish court sitting in The Netherlands. The two Libyans blame
Palestinian terrorists for the bombing. The defence claims that
members of two Syrian-backed Palestinian groups --one a prosecution
witness -- planted the device.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 4 May 2000)

Weekly anb04050 - end of part 3/6