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Weekly anb04056.txt #6

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 05-04-2001   PART #6/6
* Soudan. Quinze tués dans un accident d'avion - Quinze militaires soudanais, dont le ministre adjoint à la Défense qui dirigeait les combats contre les rebelles sudistes, et onze généraux, ont été tués mercredi dans l'accident d'un avion militaire qui les transportait dans le sud du Soudan. Selon la radio d'Etat, le colonel Ibrahim Shamsul-Din et les officiers supérieurs venaient d'effectuer une visite dans le sud quand, sur le chemin du retour vers Khartoum, leur avion s'est écrasé pour une raison encore inconnue à Adaril (750 km au sud de la capitale). Le colonel Shamsul-Din avait fait partie du putsch qui plaça Omar el-Béchir à la tête du Soudan en 1989. Parmi les victimes, figurent aussi neuf généraux de corps d'armée, trois généraux de brigade et un colonel. Plusieurs personnalités poltiques et militaires ont déjà péri dans des accidents similaires. En juin 1999, un avion militaire s'écrasait dans la province de Kassala, faisant 50 morts, dont six officiers. En février 1998, trouvaient la mort l'ex-premier vice-président soudanais, le gén. al-Zubair Mohamed Saleh, et 25 personnes, lors d'un accident d'avion dans le Haut Nil. Cette province est une région pétrolière du sud du pays, en proie à la guerre civile depuis dix-huit ans. Les rebelles sudistes accusent Khartoum d'utiliser les revenus pétroliers pour financer l'effort de guerre et ont déjà appelé à plusieurs reprises les compagnies pétrolières internationales à se retirer du Soudan. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 5 avril 2001)
* Tanzanie. Rapatriement des réfugiés congolais - Au début de la semaine, l'ambassadeur du Congo-Kinshasa a annoncé que son gouvernement prépare le rapatriement de ses quelque 400.000 ressortissants résidant en Tanzanie, en collaboration avec le HCR. Ce rapatriement peut se réaliser suite au retrait des troupes rwandaises et ougandaises. Officiellement, la Tanzanie accueille 850.000 réfugiés originaires du Burundi, de la RDC, du Rwanda et de la Somalie. Le rapatriement des réfugiés congolais qui ont fui la guerre qui dure depuis 1998, est considéré par la presse tanzanienne comme un événement positif qui contribuera à atténuer les pressions sur la terre, les services collectifs et l'environnement. (PANA, Sénégal, 30 mars 2001)
* Tanzania. Plans to restore free primary education - Tanzania plans to restore free education in primary schools, President Benjamin Mkapa has announced in a radio broadcast. "The Government plans to reintroduce universal primary education for children reaching the age of seven, Mkapa said in a broadcast on 31 March. Without giving a target date, he said plans were in place to abolish the fees now charged by government primary schools, and to increase both the numbers and quality of teachers in the schools. Julius Nyerere, founding president of Tanzania, introduced free primary education for the first time in 1972, giving Tanzania one of the highest school enrolments in Africa. But government funds diminished during the late 1970s, and by 1982 had been cut to a fraction of their pre-1978 level, forcing schools to raise their own money to cover operating costs. Schools now call on parents to pay a standard contribution of 7,000 Tanzanian shillings ($8) a year. Tanzanian officials said that the money to revive free primary education would come from a reallocation of available resources. They said prospects for such funds had been improved by Tanzania's recent designation as a highly-indebted poor country by the World Bank and IMF, with remission of substantial debt repayments. Current primary school enrolment is about 57 percent, official figures show. The new school year starts in July, but government officials on Sunday said it was not known whether the new programme could be launched this year. (CNN, 1 April 2001)
* Tanzanie. L'opposition peut manifester - Les autorités tanzaniennes ont finalement cédé à la pression des partis d'opposition et annoncé qu'elles autorisent la grande manifestation prévue samedi prochain, le 7 avril, à Dar es-Salaam. Cette manifestation, à l'appel des 12 formations d'opposition, vise à faire pression sur le gouvernement du président Mkapa afin qu'il accepte leur demande de révision de la Constitution, portant sur plus d'autonomie des îles de Zanzibar (qui en 1964 ont fusionné avec l'ancien Tanganyika pour former la République unie de Tanzanie). Ils demandent également la reprise des élections 2000 à Zanzibar et la création de commissions électorales indépendantes pour le territoire continental et les îles. (PANA, Sénégal, 3 avril 2001
* Tchad. Programme électoral - Le corps électoral sera convoqué le 5 avril par décret pour l'élection présidentielle du 20 mai prochain, indique l'agence PANA, le 1er avril, de source proche du Conseil constitutionnel. Le même jour, les candidats aux prochaines consultations devront déposer leurs dossiers. Le 18 avril, le Conseil publiera la liste des candidats officiels au scrutin. La campagne électorale démarrera le 19 avril, soit un mois avant le début des votes pour les sédentaires (les nomades et les Tchadiens à l'étranger voteront à partir du 17 mai). En cas de ballotage, les résultats définitifs du second tour devront être publiés le 3 août, et le président sera investi quelques jours plus tard. - Le 29 mars, les principaux dirigeants de l'opposition tchadienne avaient demandé un report de l'élection présidentielle en arguant d'irrégularités lors du dernier recensement électoral et de la situation militaire troublée dans la province du Tibesti (extrême nord). (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 2 avril 2001)
* Ouganda. Au moins 36 noyés - Au moins 36 personnes seraient mortes noyées dans les eaux du lac Victoria ces dernières 48 heures, après que deux bateaux en bois, qui faisaient la navette entre des îles et la côte, eurent chaviré en raison des mauvaises conditions météorologiques, a rapporté la police ougandaise. Il n'y a aucun survivant parmi les 22 pasagers du premier bateau, et sept parmi les 21 passagers du second. Les recherches se poursuivaient le 31 mars pour tenter de retrouver d'éventuels survivants. De nombreux bateaux, souvent surchargés et mal entretenus, chavirent chaque année sur le lac Victoria. (Reuters, 31 mars 2001)
* Uganda. Museveni seeks funds for army - President Yoweri Museveni has said he needs an additional $700m over the next one to three years to upgrade the security forces. He said this was necessary to wipe out inefficiencies and corruption in the army, which he said were partly to blame for a recent spate of rebel attacks in the north and west of the country. The money will be in addition to the annual defence budget, which last year came to a $110m. The recent rebel and terrorist attacks have followed last month's presidential elections. Mr Museveni won with 69% per cent of the vote, but the results are being challenged in court by his principal opponent, Dr Kizza Besigye. In the past three weeks there have been a number of rebel raids, including an attack on the western Ugandan town of Kasese which left 11 people dead. In an ambush in a northern national park 10 people were killed. Mr Museveni blamed the military for reacting slowly, going so far as to accuse soldiers of poaching hippopotamus while the rebels attacked. Uganda is a poor country and the president has in the past promised donors he would cut back on defence spending after first modernising the army. But he told journalists he was now unsure about cutbacks, given that Uganda was in the process of upgrading the infantry and building an air force. He did not make reference to Uganda's unpopular involvement in the three-year war in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. It is not clear if the president will get what he wants. (BBC News, 1 April 2001)
* Uganda. Election challenge under way - 3 April: The Supreme Court hearing of a petition challenging the 23 March presidential election result has opened to a packed courtroom. The front benches were filled with sombre lawyers in dark robes -- while the bewigged Supreme Court judges occupied the upper benches. Onlookers gathered outside the gates, but were not allowed inside. Journalists had to be cleared by officials -- before entering the high court compound -- where the hearings are taking place. Dr Kizza Besigye, who finished second behind President Museveni in the election is seeking to annul the results. He sat quietly in a neat suit near his supporter, Dr Paul Ssemogere, who is the head of the Democratic Party. To win the case his lawyers have to prove not just that their were irregularities and rigging but that these significantly affected the final result. He is challenging both President Museveni and the Electoral Commission. Today's hearing considered preliminary matters, including whether the electoral commission should be forced to give a copy of the voters roll, to the petitioners. The hearing proper is expected to begin on 5 April. The case has so far dragged in well over 140 lawyers. (BBC News, 4 April 2001)
* Uganda/Sudan. UN returns kidnapped Ugandans from Sudan - More than sixty Ugandans abducted as schoolchildren by armed rebels have been flown home after escaping from their captors. They had been held by Ugandan rebels in southern Sudan. Officials of the UN children's agency, UNICEF, who welcomed the former captives at Entebbe airport, said they were in good shape. Those returning were all kidnapped in northern Uganda by the Lord's Resistance Army, which used them for sex, forced labour or as soldiers. Many had been held for several years and only twenty-four are still under eighteen. A BBC correspondent in Uganda says the rebels use abductions as way of recruiting new members and have seized at least ten thousand children over the past six years. Hundreds have escaped and made their own way back. But the returnees have not included former students of a girls secondary school at Apac, who were abducted in 1996. Under a 1999 accord, Sudan is supposed to return all Ugandans kidnapped as children by the rebels. (BBC News, 28 March 2001)
* Zimbabwe. Tourism faces collapse - Fewer tourists than ever are arriving at the country's premier resort town of Victoria Falls. This is symptomatic of the fact that the tourism sector is facing virtual collapse. Mrs Jane McLoughlin, Chairperson of the Matabeleland branch of the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism, says that Victoria Fall's seven biggest hotels are operating at 30% occupancy levels and "this is the worst ever figure we have recorded since 1998". A taxi driver in Victoria Falls says that most tourists are using Zimbabwe as a transit point for visiting other countries such as Botswana, Zambia and South Africa. "The few tourists who come here are usually in groups, and come for such leisure sporting activities as whitewater rafting and bungee jumping. They put up in back packers' camps and hardly spend any money in hotels". However, despite the gloomy picture painted by Victoria Falls' inhabitants, some visitors still feel the country has a bright future, despite negative publicity it has been getting abroad. (Dumisani Khumalo, ANB-BIA, Zimbabwe, 21 March 2001)
* Zimbabwe. "ZANU ising" in Zimbabwe - Some residents of Chitunfwiza, 25 km south of Harare, are annoyed by some street names in their town, which are in praise of the ruling ZANU-PF party. There's "Tendai Zanu" (Thank Zanu); "Kudzai Zanu" (Praise Zanu); "Zanu Yotonga" (Zanu is ruling); and "Mujibha" (war collaborators). Many aspects of life in Zimbabwe have been "Zanuised" so as to help people forget about the Opposition. National events like "Heroes Day" have been turned into ZANU-PF functions. Even those who took an active part in the liberation struggle have been conveniently forgotten. The late vice-president Joshua Nkomo is regarded as the father of the liberation struggle, yet there is no street bearing his name. It was only after his death that a statue is being carved and some institutions are to be named after him. Nkomo's book, "The Story of my Life" is still banned in Zimbabawe. (Tendai Madinah, ANB-BIA, Zimbabwe, 29 March 2001)
* Zimbabwe. Civic groups defy Mugabe - Hundreds of campaigners have attended a conference in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, to press for a new national constitution. The one-day meeting -- organised by a broad coalition of civic groups, the National Constitutional Assembly _NCA) --was boycotted by the government, war veterans and President Robert Mugabe's governing ZANU-PF party. n the lead up to the conference, ZANU-PF took out full-page newspaper advertisements, saying the NCA had no national mandate to press for reforms. Last year, the president proposed a new constitution which would have increased his powers. It was rejected after a successful campaign by the NCA. President Mugabe has tried to discredit the NCA, which has undertaken its own consultation exercise with the people to produce a new draft. Newspaper advertisements accused NCA members of taking money from Mr Mugabe's western critics and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to undermine his government. (BBC News, 31 March 2001) 

Weekly News - anb0405.txt - End of part 6/6

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