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Weekly anb03223.txt #6

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 22-03-2001      PART #3/6
* Congo (RDC). Troop withdrawals - The warring parties in Congo are pulling back from their frontline positions. An official from the UN Mission in Congo says that the disengagement from all fronts is a reality. Everyone is showing great willingness, and they are moving. The official says that almost all Rwandan troops have already withdrawn and that soldiers from the Rwandan-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) have also begun pulling back The Ugandan- backed Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) is also reported to be withdrawing. Uganda began pulling its troops out of the northern town of Buta at the end of February, and the UN has confirmed that nearly a whole battalion has left. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 22 March 2001)
* Congo (RDC). Guy Kasongo Kilembwe libéré - Guy Kasongo Kilembwe, rédacteur en chef de l'hebdomadaire "Pot Pourri" a été libéré sans explication dans la matinée du 22 mars 2001, après vingt-trois jours de détention. Joint au téléphone par Reporters sans frontières, le journaliste a raconté que pendant les premiers jours de sa détention dans des cachots des Services spéciaux de la police et de l'Agence nationale de renseignements, il a été "sévèrement fouetté" par ses geôliers. Il a précisé qu'il n'a jamais été déféré à un tribunal et qu'il n'avait pas l'autorisation de recevoir des visites. La nourriture apportée par sa famille était régulièrement confisquée par les gardiens des cachots. Des responsables des Services spéciaux de la police et de l'Agence nationale de renseignements ont expliqué à Guy Kasongo Kilembwe d'une manière informelle que des articles critiques envers le ministre de l'Intérieur Gaétan Kakudji étaient à l'origine de son interpellation. (Reporters sans frontières, France, 22 mars 2001)
* Côte d'Ivoire. Réconciliation? - Le 19 mars à Lomé (Togo), le président ivoirien Laurent Gbagbo a rencontré Alassane Ouattara, le leader de l'opposition ivoirienne, écarté des deux derniers scrutins nationaux. C'est leur première rencontre depuis la présidentielle d'octobre, qui avait été suivie de violences entre leurs partisans. Après une série d'entretiens sous l'égide du chef de l'Etat togolais, président en exercice de l'OUA, les deux leaders ont appelé à la réconciliation nationale. La rencontre a été l'occasion de procéder à un examen approfondi de l'évolution de la situation politique en Côte d'Ivoire et des voies et moyens visant la consolidation de la politique d'apaisement et de réconciliation, indique-t-on à Lomé. Cependant, M. Ouattara a déclaré qu'il ne décréterait une trève que s'il était "réhabilité politiquement" et que si les responsables de son parti étaient libérés de prison. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 20 mars 2001)
* Côte d'Ivoire. Winning AIDS drug war - Far from the big courtroom battle over HIV-drug patents in South Africa, Côte d'Ivoire quietly imports knockoff generic HIV drugs as it has for years -- without fuss, patent payments or apologies. "Believe me, I don't care", Kassim Sidibe, director of Côte d'Ivoire's AIDS progam said on 19 March. "Our concern is what we can do for our people. The lower the prices are for us, the better for our people". (InfoBeat News, USA, 20 March 2001)
* Egypt. Egyptian law and policies encourage torture - Egypt's legal, political and social climate encourages the use of torture during detention and leaves victims without adequate means of redress, an Egyptian human rights group said on 19 March. A key reason behind the spread of torture was the country's emergency law, in force since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981, said a new report by the Human Rights Centre for the Assistance of Prisoners (HRCAP). "The report states that the emergency law provides a fertile climate for the spread of torture, as it allows for long periods of detention without guarantees such as visiting rights and contact with lawyers," the Centre said in a news release. "Ninety-nine percent of the 1,124 cases included in the report were under the emergency law," it said. HRCAP director Mohammed Zarei told Reuters that the report included cases of torture committed between 1981 and 1999, and took two years to compile. The report said that deficiencies in the prison law and penal code, as well as political and social practices also encouraged the use of torture. At the same time, limited opportunities of redress for victims meant there was no deterrent for offenders. (Nbil M. El- Khodari, Egypt, 20 March 2001)
* Egypt. BP and ENI to build plant - BP Amoco and the Italian energy company ENI plan to invest $2.5 billion in a liquefied natural gas project in Egypt, a report said on 21 march. The deal between the two European companies and the Egyptian Petroleum could be announced as early as this week, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the negotiations. BP and ENI will each hold 45 percent of the venture, which involves building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at the Egyptian Mediterranean port of Damietta. Initial exports will be to Mediterranean markets such as Spain, although LNG carriers could transport the gas to the USA, where BP has a receiving terminal, the report said. The LNG process turns gas into liquid to allow the fuel to be transported by sea. Egypt's proven gas reserves at the end of 1999 were close to those of Norway, a major gas supplier to western Europe. (CNN, 21 March 2001)
* Eritrea-Ethiopia. Peacekeeping mission - 8 March: The United Nations Security Council has approved a six-month extension of the mandate of the UN Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia, through to 15 september. Yesterday, The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, distributed his report on Eritrea and Ethiopia. He said that important issues which affected the peacekeeping operation in the two countries remain unresolved. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 20 March 2001)
* Erythrée/Ethiopie. L'UNMEE prolongée - Le 15 mars, le Conseil de sécurité de l'Onu a prolongé le mandat de la mission de l'Onu en Ethiopie et en Erythrée (Unmee) de six autres mois, soit jusqu'au 15 septembre 2001. A l'unanimité, le Conseil a demandé aux deux ex-belligérants d'assurer une application rapide de l'accord de paix et de réorganiser leurs forces afin de permettre la création d'une zone de sécurité séparant les forces des deux parties. Le Conseil a not les progrès faits par les deux pays et les a encouragés à poursuivre leurs efforts. -D'autre part, le 16 mars, le CICR a rapatrié 1.222 civils éthiopiens d'Erythrée. (PANA, Sénégal, 16 mars 2001)
* Ethiopie. Récolte record - Le ministre éthiopien de l'Agriculture, M. Huluka, a révélé que son pays a enregistré une récolte de 12,6 millions de tonnes, la meilleure en cinq ans. Les experts de la FAO, du PAM et du ministère ont pronostiqué cette production céréalière pour la saison 2000-2001. Selon M. Huluka, près de 9 millions de tonnes proviennent de petites fermes utilisant des méthodes améliorées d'exploitation comprenant les engrais et la lutte contre les insectes nuisibles. Cette bonne saison agricole fait suite à trois années de sécheresse consécutives. En janvier dernier, l'Ethiopie avait encore lancé un appel en faveur d'une aide de 640.000 tonnes de céréales pour la population affectée par la sécheresse de l'année précédente. (PANA, Sénégal, 19 mars 2001)
* Ethiopia's. Top TPLF leaders expelled - Prime Minister Meles Zenawi expelled several leaders from The Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), the Indian Ocean News Letter reported today. The Indian Ocean Newsletter in its report said that the Prime Minister met yesterday in Addis Ababa under tight security, with government ministers and several Ethiopian political leaders to inform them of his decision to expel twelve leaders of the TPLF, which holds the key posts in the coalition government. Meles Zenawi's move is backed by 18 of the 30 members of the TPLF's central committee, including Seyoum Mesfin, Sebhat Nega, Kinfe Gebre Medhin, Addis Alem Balema, Berhane Gebre Kristos, Abadi Zemo, Mulugeta Alemseged, and Arkebe. The Prime Minister's close collaborators, Tewolde Wolde Mariam and Alemseged Gebre Amlak have gone over to the dissident group led by Siye Abraha and made up of 12 members of the central committee, including Abay Tsehaye, Aregash Adane, Awalom Weldu, Hassan Shifa, Gebru Asrat, Solomon Tesfaye, Abraha Kahsaye and Bitew Bedlay. Five are members of the TPLF's politburo, Indian Ocean added. The above mentioned dissident group drafted and distributed a nine-page document in Tigrana, addressed to "all respected comrade members of the TPLF and to all the organizations as a whole" and in which they outline the different stages of the current conflict, which centres on the attitude adopted towards Eritrea and recalls discussions undertaken within TPLF leadership circles before the war with that country. The crisis took a turn for the worse two months ago when Meles Zenawi tried to swap the two scheduled topics for debate by the TPLF's leadership --Eritrea and corruption -- for a debate on "the dangers of Bonapartism to Ethiopia", which directly targeted Siye Abraha's backers. (Visafric, Canada, 20 March 2001)
* Gabon/Congo-Brazza. Rapatriement - Le 14 mars, le ministre gabonais de l'Intérieur, M. Miyakou, a exhorté les militaires congolais vivant au Gabon "à regagner librement et en toute sécurité leur pays". M. Miyakou a déclaré qu'il se réservait le droit de mesures de refoulement systématique des intéressés à destination de Brazzaville où, selon lui, la paix règne actuellement. Il a souligné qu'au moment où le gouvernement congolais "s'efforce de résoudre définitivement la crise" par la négociation, il est tout à fait indiqué que les acteurs politiques retournent à Brazzaville. Selon lui, le statut de réfugié ne peut être maintenu en permanence lorsque les raisons qui en ont été à l'origine trouvent leurs solutions. (PANA, Sénégal, 15 mars 2001)
* Ghana. Looking to its past - The families of eight Ghanaian generals publicly executed in 1979 are asking President John Kufuor for access to the bodies so that they can be reburied. The men were killed during the first brief rule of former President Jerry Rawlings following hurried over-night trials. Amongst the men was General Akwasi Afrifa, who led the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah in 1966 and became head of state for two years. The others were members of the Supreme Military Council government of the 1970s, and included General Kutu Acheampong and General Fred Akuffo, both heads of state when that council was in power. Ironically, it was General Acheampong who led the overthrow of the Second Republic in January 1972, and brought down the government in which President Kufuor was a deputy minister. The generals' crimes were never spelt out. One of them, Admiral Joy Amedume, was shot for allegedly using his position to take a bank loan of $20,000. The widows and children of the generals are counting on what they describe in their signed petition as Mr. Kufuor's sense of "justice and mercy" to grant their request for a reburial They said in their petition that they had had suffered "anguish and pain over the years". This is because after the shooting the Rawlings regime failed to show family members where their husbands and fathers were buried so they could lay wreaths for them. There was suspicion that the generals had been buried in a mass grave, but senior prison officials say they know exactly where the graves are, and that they were buried separately. President Kufuor has not made any comments about the petition. However, he has pledged in several speeches since his inauguration that he wants national reconciliation with emphasis on assuaging the pain of families who suffered during the Rawlings years. (BBC News, 21 March 2001)
* Guinée. Réfugiés - Au sud de la Guinée, au moins 200 réfugiés épuisés, qui avaient fui Nongoa après l'attaque des rebelles le 9 mars, ont été recueillis sur la route, le 14 mars, par le HCR et transportés à Katkama. Selon le HCR, environ 9.000 réfugiés étaient dispersés dans plusieurs camps aux alentours de Nongoa au moment de l'attaque; beaucoup se sont enfuis dans la brousse et ont commencé à marcher vers le nord. Près de 2.000 sont arrivés à Mongo, 1.500 autres à Katkama, et 400 auraient atteint le camp de Nyaedou. D'autre part, plus de 800 réfugiés de plusieurs camps de l'intérieur du pays sont arrivés, le 15 mars, dans un centre de transit à Conakry. Le centre qui devait contenir 2.000 personnes au maximum, en héberge maintenant au moins 5.000. (IRIN, Abidjan, 16 mars 2001) 

WEEKLY ANB0322 - END OF PART 3/6