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Weekly anb05315.txt #8

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 31-05-2001      PART #5/8
* Kenya. Quotas from COMESA sugar proposed. - A confidential report by a government fact-finding mission which returned recently from five Comesa countries, suggests that Kenya should impose quotas on sugar imports from the Comesa region, to protect the local market from saturation by more efficient producers in Sudan, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia. The fact-finding mission found out that the factories in these countries had capacity utilization rates much higher than even the most efficient producers in Kenya. The threat to the local sugar market is further underlined by a finding that the four countries are all net sugar exporters, with surplus stocks that could be readily exported to Kenya. The mission's main recommendation is that Kenya should create an arrangement whereby sugar is imported into the country, only through agreed quota levels, especially whenever there are national deficits. The mission visited Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mauritius, all of which have acceded to the zero-tariff regime, which came into operation within the Comesa region on 31 October 2000. Kenya is a party to the same agreement on a total duty waiver on products. As a result of this, the country experienced a dramatic increase in imports of agricultural commodities, particularly sugar, to the detriment of Kenya's sugar industry. (T & C Inc, Kenya, 24 May 2001)
* Liberia. War in the north - 23 May: The Liberian government says that it has recaptured a crucial town in Lofa county in the north of the country from rebels. Foya, about 250 km north of the capital Monrovia, is an important centre close to the Guinea and Sierra Leone border. The town has changed hands at least twice since March. But a spokesman for the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) said the government statement was "a lie". The rebels say that they are moving closer to Monrovia. This is the latest exchange of claims in this 10-month insurgency. The fighting is part of a series of regional conflicts in neighbouring Sierra Leone and Guinea. The Liberian Government said on 22 May that the army had launched a "major offensive that resulted in the massive retreat of dissident forces". Lurd on the other hand say that it is trying to establish a civilian administration in Lofa county and there is no fighting there at all. Meanwhile, Liberian President Charles Taylor has called for a meeting with his Guinean and Sierra Leonean counterparts in order to settle the region's conflicts. The Guinean President Lansana Conte, however, will not meet Mr Taylor because he says Mr Taylor is backing rebels movements in the other countries that are destabilising the region. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 24 May 2001)
* Liberia. Regime under threat - The Liberian president, Charles Taylor, has called in the Sierra Leonean Revolutionary United Front (RUF) guerrillas to help fight off an insurgency which threatens his rule. With UN peacekeepers deploying throughout Sierra Leone, the RUF's survival has become contingent on Mr Taylor, whose arms-for-diamonds deals have sustained their 10 years of war. But analysts say the insurgency in Lofa county, in northern Liberia, by the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) poses a serious threat to Mr Taylor and could topple him, dramatically increasing the chances of peace in Sierra Leone. Liberian refugees at Daru, a ransacked town near the southern border of Sierra Leone, said the RUF had not stopped the dissidents sweeping Mr Taylor's ragtag security services before them. UN intelligence sources said LURD were in control of Lofa and had been reported as far south as Salayei, 125 miles from the capital, Monrovia. LURD are thought to be a loose alliance of Mr Taylor's disgruntled former officers and rival warlords, galvanised by Guinea since it was attacked by RUF and Liberian fighters last year. (The Guardian, UK, 28 May 2001)
* Malawi. Child labour rampant in tobacco industry - The umbrella organisation, Tobacco International Growers in Africa, has noted that the tobacco industry in Malawi, the country's major forex earner which contributes 70 percent of Malawi's foreign exchange earnings, is promoting child labour. It seems that many young people are either employed on the tobacco estates or sell cigarettes in the markets or drinking joints. Addressing the Press, the International Tobacco Growers in Africa Chief Executive, Garbett Thyangathyanga, said it happens because children in Malawi provide cheap labour. Most most of the children employed on the tobacco estates are sent there by their parents whose aim is to earn more income. "This is an abuse of the children's rights, such as the right to education. Primary education in Malawi is free so that children who work in the tobacco industry do so at a time when their friends are in class," said Thyangathyanga. The Ministry of Gender and Youth says it is aware of the problem. (Frank Jomo, ANB-BIA, Malawi, 24 May 2001)
* Nigeria. Corruption hearings open - In the first case brought by Nigeria's anti-corruption commission, three senior officials have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. One of the accused Mika Anache was a member of an official panel set up by the government to investigate the management of the state-run airline, Nigeria Airways. He is accused of receiving money to influence the outcome of the hearings, and the three others are accused of paying him. One of them was not present in court, and has yet to plead. The commission was set up last year by President Olusegun Obasanjo as part of his attempts to stamp out corruption in a country which correspondents say is regularly voted one of the most corrupt in the world. (BBC News, UK, 29 May 2001)
* Rwanda/Belgium. The Brussels trial - 23 May: The lawyers for the plaintiffs claiming damages, call for justice vis à vis the widows of those killed in the genocide. 28 May: The lawyer for the plaintiffs claiming damages against two of the accused, Vincent Ntezimana and Alphonse Higaniro finishes his speech, roundly denouncing the two accused as being guilty of genocide. 29 May: The final speeches of the lawyers for the plaintiffs are made today. In particular, the guilt of the two nuns is insisted on. The procedure in the coming days is: 30 May -- The lawyers for the defence begin their case; 5 June -- Both the defence and the accusation should have ended the presentation of their cases; 6 June -- Replies to both defence and prosecution cases; 7 June -- The verdicts. 30 May: The defence opens its case. The lawyers defending Vincent Ntezimana plead that a strong element of doubt exists and call for a acquittal verdict for their client. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 31 May 2001)
* Rwanda. Ten sentenced to death - A court in Rwanda is reported to have sentenced 10 people to death and 23 more to life imprisonment for leading the 1994 genocide in which around half a million people died. The state run radio said the court in Gisenyi, 80 kilometres north of the capital Kigali, had found them guilty of organizing the militias that carried out the killings of Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus. The radio said that a former member of parliament under the last extremist Hutu government, Wellars Benzi, was among those sentenced to death. Mr Benzi was accused of inciting Hutus to kill Tutsis through articles published in the Kangura newspaper. Correspondents say the judgement comes as Rwanda is trying to set up an alternative legal system to speed up trials of genocide suspects, and reduce overcrowding in the country's prisons. (BBC News, UK, 26 May 2001)
* Rwanda. Former president under house arrest - The former president of Rwanda, Pasteur Bizimungu, says he has been put under house arrest. Mr Bizimungu told the BBC programme, the Great Lakes Lifeline, that the measure was taken against him as he was planning to launch a new political party, together with other prominent Rwandan politicians. Mr Bizimungu resigned in March following disagreements within the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front. He was succeeded by his former vice-president, General Paul Kagame. (BBC News, UK, 30 May 2001)
* Sénégal. Démission du ministre de l'Economie - Le 23 mai a été une journée pénible pour la vie politique sénégalaise. Le ministre de l'Economie et des Finances, M. Mamadou Seck, personnalité importante du Parti démocratique sénégalais (PDS, au pouvoir), a démissionné dans l'après-midi suite à la diffusion d'informations concernant son implication présumée dans une affaire judiciaire. Selon la presse, il aurait été condamné en 1998 à deux ans de prison pour détournement de fonds. M. Seck a démenti ces accusations, en affirmant que l'affaire avait été classée. Plus tard dans la soirée, une communication officielle annonçait le limogeage de M. Abdoulaye Seye, directeur de la Brigade nationale de la Sûreté de l'Etat, le commissaire qui devait garantir la moralité des ministres avant qu'ils ne soient nommés. Ce sont les premières difficultés du nouveau gouvernement mis en place le 12 mai. (Misna, Italie, 24 mai 2001)
* Senegal. Rebel movements in Casamance - 25 May: Senegal says it has suspended an offensive against separatist rebels in Casamance. Over the past week, the Senegalese Government has been involved in operations against the rebel Movement of Democratic Forces in Casamance (MFDC) trying to eliminate their bases. 26 May: The MFDC says peace talks between the rival factions due to be held in The Gambia next week, have been postponed. The MFDC's leader, Augustin Diamacioune, says continuing differences between the rival factions and an upsurge of fighting in Casamance has forced the delay. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 26 May 2001)
* Sénégal. Affrontements en Casamance - 200 rebelles auraient été tués par l'armée lors d'une offensive qui visait à reprendre possession de bases rebelles en Casamance, a annoncé le 27 mai une agence de presse publique sénégalaise, qui affirme aussi qu'un grand nombre de villages ont été partiellement ou totalement brûlés la semaine passée. - D'autre part, près d'un millier de réfugiés casamançais, qui s'étaient installés depuis plus de dix ans au nord de la Guinée Bissau, ont été rapatriés de force par l'armée de ce pays depuis le 18 mai. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 28 mai 2001)
* Senegal. Casamance clashes -- Guinea Bissau pushes back refugees - More than 200 are dead and many are injured after a recent military "combing out" operation by the Senegalese army in the separatist Casamance region. For some time, the army has been working through the Bignona region on the border with The Gambia, to capture armed bands responsible for acts of terrorism. During the operation the army clashed with members of the armed wing of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC), struggling for independence since 1982. A military spokesman told Fides that the army is determined to clear the region of these bandits responsible for a series of massacres over the past few months. The MFDC's secretary general, a Catholic priest, Rev. Augustin Diamacoune Senghor, says the bandits are led by Salif Sadio, leader of a break-away faction of the MFDC. On March 16, this year, with the mediation of Bishop Maxient Coly of Ziguinchor, the Senegalese government reached a peace accord with the MFDC, but not all the rebels factions signed. A meeting to bring the different MFDC factions together, planned for the end of May, was postponed after the recent violence which forced more than 2000 people across the border to Gambia for safety. In the meantime Guinea Bissau has expelled from its territory about 1500 Casamance refugees who since 1990 had settled in villages along the Senegal-Guinea Bissau border. The army pushed the people back over the border, burning homes and killing livestock. The government justified the operation as an action to prevent war from spreading to its territory and because the refugees had always refused to report MFDC members hiding in their midst. Senegal's internal minister said he agreed with Guinea Bissau's policy. Humanitarian sources say about 7500 Casamance refugees are registered in Guinea Bissau. (Fides, Vatican City, 28 May 2001) 

Weekly anb0531.txt - #5/8