Weekly anb05235.txt #5

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 23-05-2001      PART #5/5

* South Africa. Boesak released from jail  -  South African anti-apartheid 
cleric Allan Boesak has been released from jail on parole after serving one 
year of a three-year term for theft and fraud. Boesak was greeted by a 
small crowd of family members, politicians from the governing African 
National Congress and church ministers as he walked from the parole board 
offices in Stellenbosch. He continued to main his innocence in comments 
after his release. "I don't know how these people who sent me to prison 
sleep at night,", he said --but added "I'm not going to waste my time being 
bitter." Boesak was a founding member of the anti-apartheid United 
Democratic Front and once headed the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. 
He was jailed by the apartheid government for his activities and later 
travelled internationally to campaign for the ANC. Mr Boesak was jailed 
last May on two counts of fraud and stealing funds worth $400,000.   (BBC 
News, UK, 22 May 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Boesak libéré sur parole  -  Le pasteur Allan Boesak, 
condamné et emprisonné l'année dernière pour fraude et vol, a été libéré le 
22 mai. Grande figure de la lutte anti-apartheid, il avait déjà connu la 
prison du temps de ce régime. Condamné à trois années de prison, il en a 
fait une seule. Il aurait détourné des dons pour sa Fondation pour la paix 
et la justice, argent qui venait e.a. du chanteur Paul Simon. Selon Boesak, 
qui a toujours affirmé son innocence, l'argent de Simon était un 
cadeau.   (D'après De Standaard, Belgique, 22 mai 2001)

* Sudan. Red Cross resumes flights  -  The International Committee of the 
Red Cross says it is resuming humanitarian flights to Sudan. The Red Cross 
suspended the flights after a Danish pilot was killed over southern Sudan 
two weeks ago. But it said it now had information that that incident was 
not pre-meditated, nor was the ICRC being deliberately targeted. Both the 
Sudanese government and rebels of Sudan People's Liberation Army have 
denied involvement; The Red Cross said the bullets found in the plane's 
cabin were that of a light automatic weapon. The co-pilot died instantly 
when several missiles struck the Red Cross aircraft, which was flown back 
to its base at Lokichokio in northern Kenya by its remaining pilot.   (BBC 
News, UK, 22 May 2001)

* Sudan. $10 Million OPEC loan  -  Sudan has obtained a loan of 10 million 
US dollars from the OPEC Development Fund to rehabilitate infrastructures 
of the Gezira irrigation scheme in central Sudan. Finance minister 
Abdulraheem Hamdi said on 22 May that early this year, OPEC had loaned 
Khartoum another 22 million dollars to finance the rehabilitation of the 
Gezira irrigation systems. He said that Sudan expects to obtain another 
OPEC loan of 6 million dollars to rehabilitate other irrigation schemes in 
the country. The Gezira irrigation scheme draws its water from the Sennar 
Dam on the Blue Nile, 250 km south of Khartoum. The British built the dam 
in 1925 to irrigate an area of 3 million acres. But the scheme's water 
canals have deteriorated in recent years due to high silting. A lot of 
earth-moving had to be done to clear them.   (PANA, Senegal, 22 May 2001)

* Tchad. Election présidentielle  -  Le dimanche 20 mai, les Tchadiens ont 
voté dans le calme pour une élection présidentielle, où Idriss Déby 
briguait un troisième mandat. La commission électorale avait rejeté une 
demande de report du scrutin, présentée par les six candidats d'opposition 
accusant Déby de tentatives de fraudes. Selon les observateurs, le taux de 
participation était au moins de 50%. Les premiers résultats du vote dans la 
capitale sont attendus mardi; pour le reste du pays, il faudra sans doute 
attendre une semaine.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 21 mai 2001)

* Chad. Presidential elections  -  17 May: President Idriss Deby is seeking 
re-election on 20 May in a vote that will decide whether he keeps his hold 
on power as new oil wealth promises to transform the desperately poor 
Central African country. Deby, 49, seized power in the landlocked former 
French colony in 1990 and then won the first multiparty presidential 
election in 1996. His opponents alleged fraud. 20 May: Presidential 
elections. Idriss Déby appears confident about winning the election. 
However, observers point to "poor planning" in the run-up to the election 
with he French air force called in to deliver voting material to some of 
the more remote areas of the country. If a second round is required, it is 
scheduled for 1 July.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 22 May 2001)

* Togo. OAU to hold summit on conflict  -  A group of African leaders is 
gathering in the Togolese capital, Lome, for an emergency summit on ways of 
preventing, managing and resolving conflicts. The meeting, which has been 
organised by the Organization of African Unity, is to be attended by 
leaders from Nigeria, Togo, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, Sudan, Congo, and 
Algeria. Representatives from the warring factions in the Democratic 
Republic of Congo are also expected to be present.   (BBC News, UK, 18 May 
2001)

* Tunisie. Code de la presse  -  Les journalistes tunisiens se déclarent 
déçus par une réforme récente du code de la presse et souhaitent qu'il soit 
"mis fin au paradoxe entre un discours officiel libéral et la pratique 
continue de la censure". Dans une motion publiée le 19 mai par 
l'hebdomadaire Ach-Chaab, organe de la centrale syndicale UGTT, les 
journalistes réunis en assemblée générale ont critiqué la révision du code 
de la presse jugée "en deçà des attentes" et affirmé que leur point de vue 
et leurs "suggestions n'ont pas été pris en compte". Dans un entretien à 
deux quotidiens nationaux, le 11 mai, le président Ben Ali avait incité la 
presse tunisienne à traiter de tous les sujets, affirmant qu'il n'y avait 
pas de "tabous" en Tunisie.   (Le Monde, France, 22 mai 2001)

* Zambia. Chiluba says: "I will step down"  -  President Frederick Chiluba 
has finally ended the third term debate after reiterating that he will step 
down when his second five-year term expires later this year. But not all 
Zambians believe that the president is being sincere. Even when Zambia's 
newly-appointed vice-president, Enock Kavindele, assured the nation that 
the government is working out Chiluba's package in readiness for his 
retirement, very few believed him. The opposition Zambia Republican Party's 
Chairman for Finance and Economic Affairs, Dean Mung'omba, for instance, 
called Chiluba's announcement: A lie. From my long experience with 
President Chiluba, I believe the announcement was just a ploy to defuse the 
growing tension. It was also made to ensure that the Organisation of 
African Unity summit is hosted without any political hurdles" When he 
addressed the nation on both radio and television on 4 May, President 
Chiluba said he would leave office after his term ends this year. He said: 
"Ten years ago when you, the people of Zambia opted for a popular 
government, I promised that I would serve faithfully, and that when I have 
serve my two terms, I would leave office. That has always been my position, 
and that is the only statement I have made." He added that he would retire 
from active politics, but only if he is satisfied that there is a smooth 
transition of power in the Movement for Multiparty Democracy 
(MMD).   (Mwana Bwalya, ANB-BIA, Zambia, 15 May 2001)

* Zimbabwe. "Restructuring exercise" at ZBC  -  Heads are rolling at the 
state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. The chairman of the 
ZBC's board of governors, Mr Gedion Gono, has fired personnel holding key 
posts at the corporation. The "restructuring exercise" is taking place at a 
time when the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front needs to 
intensify its propaganda and maintain its grip on the electorate in time 
for next year's presidential election. The government's image has reached 
its lowest ebb since independence in 1980, and the ZBC is losing 
advertising. Mr Gono, a respected banker and one of President Mugabe's 
favourite advisers has set up what he terms "Strategic Business Units" to 
boost ZBC's revenue. Critics say the ZBC is in the red. Until recently, the 
Corporation was headed by a Director General. This post has been abolished 
and the man at the helm will be a chief executive. Opposition parties, 
especially the Movement for Democratic Change, have complained about the 
non-coverage of their organisations.   (Stan Dongo, ANB-BIA, Zimbabwe, 11 
May 2001)

* Zimbabwe. "Arbitrages" des vétérans  -  Le 17 mai, le gouvernement 
zimbabwéen a ordonné aux vétérans de la guerre d'indépendance de mettre fin 
à leurs arbitrages dans les conflits de travail au sein des entreprises et 
de laisser le ministère du Travail s'en occuper. Depuis le mois d'avril, 
les vétérans qui accusent les syndicats officiels de s'intéresser davantage 
à la politique qu'aux intérêts des travailleurs, se sont engagés à arbitrer 
les conflits de travail. Mais selon les directeurs d'entreprises, ces 
arbitrages suscitent surtout des troubles. Certains parlent d'une campagne 
de terreur urbaine. En quelques semaines, plus d'une vingtaine 
d'entreprises et d'ONG ont été la cible de commandos aux accents guerriers 
et souvent xénophobes. Ils surgissent à l'improviste et réclament de 
l'argent et la réintégration d'employés licenciés, parfois depuis des 
années. En début de semaine, une usine danoise a dû fermer ses portes après 
des attaques répétées. Plusieurs ressortissants étrangers ont aussi été 
agressés, dont l'ambassadeur du Canada. Longtemps silencieux, le 
gouvernement a donc fini par réagir. Le 17 mai, dix personnes ont été 
arrêtées à Harare, gage de la nouvelle fermeté du gouvernement.   (D'après 
PANA et Libération, 18 mai 2001)

Weekly anb0523.txt - #5/5

THE END








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