Weekly anb06084.txt #6

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 08-06-2000      PART #4/6

* Ghana. Soins de sante  -  Les groupes vulnerables des regions
rurales du Ghana recevront des soins medicaux gratuits. Le
ministere de la Sante a alloue 10 millions de cedis (2,2 millions
de dollars) a ce programme, a rapporte l'agence de presse du Ghana
le 1er juin. Cette somme, qui constitue 3% du budget du secteur de
la sante, couvrira les besoins de personnes agees, des enfants en
bas age, des femmes enceintes et des gens consideres comme pauvres
ruraux. D'autre part, le Ghana est un des six pays qui
beneficieront d'un don du Japon a l'Unicef d'un valeur de 28
millions de dollars pour eradiquer la polio, a annonce l'agence de
l'Onu.   (Dapres IRIN, 5 juin 2000)

* Ghana. Un avion s'ecrase: 6 morts  -  Le 5 juin, un appareil
d'une compagnie aerienne geree par l'armee ghaneenne s'est ecrase
a l'atterrissage sur l'aeroport international de la capitale Accra.
Selon Andy Mensah, directeur de l'aviation civile, l'accident a
fait six morts et une trentaine de blesses parmi les 52 occupants
de l'appareil. Selon les responsables de l'aeroport, l'accident est
apparemment du au mauvais temps sur la region quand le Fokker-27
s'est ecrase.   (AP, 5 juin 2000)

* Kenya. Threat of massive starvation  -  The tragic failure of the
long rains between March and May has now become a matter of life
and death for many millions of Kenyans, while massive power cuts
will ensure that millions more will be cast out of their work
places due to the dramatic drop in water levels at the country's
hydro power complex, the Seven Forks power stations on Tana River.
The Seven Forks produces 70% of Kenya's power -- 690MW. Other
sources include 30 MW that Uganda sells Kenya from the Owen Falls
Dam near the source of the River Nile; the Olkaria geothermal power
stations in Naivasha in the Rift Valley. Geothermal power is quite
promising since Kenya has numerous such steaming geysers, but short
sighed planners totally bereft of foresight, gave the thumbs down
to such proposals, preferring instead to "okay" the money-guzzling
hydro power dam at the Turkwell Gorge Dam which cost US dollars 100
million, and which is, to all intents and purposes, considered to
be a White Elephant. The last good rains Kenya experienced were the
El-Nino floods of 1998. For two consecutive years since then, the
bi-annual rainy season has been woefully lacking. Kenya's economy
is now reduced to a hand-and-mouth existence. This comes with
President Daniel Arap Moi claiming that 23 million Kenyans face
starvation between June and October when the short rains are
expected. Before Mr.Moi issued his frantic appeals for food to the
World Food Programme, USAID and the European Union, it was already
evident that matters were grave.   (Joe M'Bandakhai, ANB-BIA,
Kenya, 26 May 2000)

* Lesotho. Corruption trial of building companies  -  5 June: It
started as a run-of-the-mill trial against one greedy individual in
Lesotho, but has since snowballed into a court case that implicates
some of the world's largest and best known construction companies.
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project bribery and corruption trial
begins today at the Lesotho High Court in Maseru. Several companies
are accused of paying bribes to the then chief executive of the
project, either directly or through intermediaries. The $8 billion
construction project, one of the largest in the world, involves
building a series of dams and tunnels that will eventually transfer
1 billion cubic metres of water a year from land-locked water-rich
lesotho, to the industrial, densely-populated area around
Johannesburg in South Africa.   (Financial Times, UK, 5 June 2000)

* Liberia. Rapatrier les refugies  -  Le HCR a lance un appel a la
communaute internationale pour financer le rapatriement des
refugies liberiens en Guinee. 32.000 d'entre eux se sont
enregistres pour un rapatriement volontaire, mais selon le HCR
quelque 130.000 autres souhaitent rentrer chez eux, apres 10 ans
d'exil. Les refugies sont arrives en Guinee durant la guerre civile
qui a eclate au Liberia en decembre 1989. Une operation de retour
avait debute en 1997, mais en aout 1999 elle avait ete suspendue
apres la fermeture de la frontiere entre la Guinee et le Liberia. 
 (D'apres IRIN, Abidjan, 7 juin 2000)

* Liberia. London wants ties cut with Sierra Leone rebels  -  On 6
June, Britain said it was seeking US and European help to persuade
Liberia to cut its links with the Sierra Leone rebels, as one of
several moves to offset the impact next week's withdrawal of UK
marines from Sierra Leone. Britain's Foreign Secretary says: "There
is significant evidence establishing close links between Sierra
Leone's RUF rebels and Liberians who are profiting from illegal
diamond smuggling".   (Financial Times, UK, 7 June 2000)

* Libya. The Lockerbie Trial  -  The Lockerbie case is probably the
most interesting and important criminal trial taking place anywhere
in the world. But you are not likely to be reading or hearing very
much about it in the weeks and months to come. Bringing the two
Libyans before a court of law was a major achievement. But that is
about as far as the compliments go. Huge sums of money have been
spent by the Scottish Court Service on providing facilities for the
Media in a specially built court near Utrecht in the Netherlands.
But no attempt has been made to give reporters what they actually
need to cover the trial. A vast structure has been erected so that
16 television reporters can simultaneously broadcast live from
sheltered positions overlooking the court. But television companies
are not allowed to bring editing equipment onto the site.
Journalists have been given a huge media centre with places for 240
reporters to watch the trial on a closed circuit television link.
But the Crown Office, which is responsible for Scottish
prosecutions, will not provide even the most basic information --
such as who the witnesses are and how they spell their names.  
(BBC News, 5 June 2000)

* Libye. Tunis Air reprend ses vols  -  La compagnie aerienne
nationale tunisienne Tunis Air reprendra ses liaisons regulieres
vers Tripoli le 8 juin, apres huit ans d'un embargo decide par les
Nations unies apres l'attentat de Lockerbie, a annonce un porte-
parole de la compagnie. Ces sanctions ont ete levees en avril 1999.
Certaines compagnies occidentales et arabes ont depuis lors repris
leurs vols vers Tripoli, mais Tunis Air est la premiere compagnie
nord-africaine a retablir ses liaisons avec la Libye.   (Reuters,
6 juin 2000)

* Libye. Lockerbie  -  Selon une enquete diffusee le 4 juin par la
chaine de television americaine CBS, un homme se presentant comme
un transfuge des services secrets iraniens, Ahmad Behbahani,
affirme que l'Iran est a l'origine de l'attentat contre un avion de
la PanAm qui a explose au-dessus de la ville ecossaise de
Lockerbie. Behbahani aurait confie la realisation de l'operation au
dirigeant palestinien Ahmad Jibril, chef du Front populaire de
liberation de la Palestine-Commandement general. Deux
ressortissants libyens presumes responsables de l'attentat sont
actuellement juges aux Pays-Bas. - Le 6 juin, ces revelations ont
ete dementies, tant par l'Iran qui denonce un complot, que par
Ahmed Jibril qui affirme n'avoir jamais rencontre Behbahani. Les
autorites americaines ont cependant annonce qu'elles evalueraient
soigneusement la credibilite de ces informations.   (ANB-BIA, de
sources diverses, 7 juin 2000)

* Malawi. Catholic Church launches food security programme  -  The
Catholic Church this week launched a US $15 project to ensure food
security at household level for thousands of people living in 70 of
Malawi's poorest villages. Programme Coordinator Nicholas Mbwakita
told IRIN on 6 June, that the project to assist a total of 23,000
households in the southern Chikwane and Phalombe districts, was
being funded by USAID. The project is being implemented by the
Catholic Development Commission of Malawi and Catholic Relief
Services. The three-phase project aims to improve food security by
providing inputs to subsistence farmers and teaching them new
agricultural methods; providing special assistance to children with
emphasis on health and proper nutrition; and to ensure special care
for HIV/AIDS sufferers and AIDS orphans.   (IRIN, Eastern Africa,
6 June 2000)

* Mali/Maroc. Commission mixte  -  Les travaux de la 3e session de
la commission mixte maroco-malienne ont debute a Rabat sous la
presidence des ministres des Affaires etrangeres. Les deux pays
desirent intensifier leur cooperation bilaterale notamment dans le
domaine de l'agriculture, l'hydrolique, les mines, la formation, la
culture et le tourisme. La commission mixte a tenu ses premieres
sessions en 1989 et en 1997.   (D'apres PANA, 6 juin 2000)

* Maroc. Fin des plages islamistes  -  Les plages reservees aux
islamistes, ou le port du voile est de rigueur pour les femmes,
seront interdites des cet ete au Maroc: c'est ce qu'a affirme le 5
juin le ministre de l'Interieur. Ces plages "privees", organisees
depuis quelques annees par l'association Al-Adl Wa al-Ihssane et
par le Parti de la justice et du developpement, etaient installees
sur la cote atlantique a El-Jadida, a Agadir et sur le littoral de
la Mediterranee, notamment a Nador.   (Liberation, France, 6 juin
2000)

* Mauritania. Senegal accused of undermining Mauritania's interests 
-  On 7 June, a Mauritanian government spokesman accused the "new
Senegalese government" of undermining the country's national
interests. Addressing journalists after the weekly cabinet meeting
in Nouakchott, Rachid Ould Saleh raised several complaints against
the "new Senegalese authorities"" including the revival of the
fossil valleys irrigation project. He said this project "has
devastated the efforts of Mauritanian peasants whose land has now
dried up because the new authorities in Dakar illegally diverted
the water" from the River Senegal. "The revival of the project to
revive the fossil valleys despite its disastrous consequences is
just an aspect of the deliberate intention of the new government of
Senegal to cause harm to Mauritanian interests," Ould Saleh said.
He also alleged that the Senegalese government was "training and
giving wide publicity to the Front for the Liberation of
Mauritanian Africans, which had been declared non-grata under the
government of former President Abdou Diouf. Explaining the order on
Senegalese nationals to leave Mauritania, the spokesman said this
was meant to avert a repeat of the bloodletting similar to what
occurred in 1989. Ould Saleh said the Mauritanian government was
also opposed to the intention by the new Senegalese authorities to
impose their superiority within the sub-region. He said, however,
that Mauritania was still prepared to find a solution to the
dispute with Senegal. Meanwhile, Senegalese ministers told a news
conference in Dakar on 6 June that the two countries had agreed to
set up a committee to discuss the issue of water extraction from
the river Senegal.   (PANA, Dakar, 7 June 2000)

Weekly News anb0608.txt - End of part 4/6