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Weekly anb05318.txt #8

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 31-05-2001      PART #8/8
* Zambia. "A Reminder to us of our own fragility in faith" - The following is a Statement by the Catholic Bishops in Zambia on the defection of the former Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo from the Catholic Church. "We, the Catholic Bishops in Zambia are deeply saddened and pained by the defection of Archbishop Milingo in his attempt to marry in the Moon Sect. For a long time we have tried to reach out to Archbishop Milingo, who has unfortunately rejected our regular and honest advice. Other people in the Church, including the Holy Father, have tried to reach out to him, but he took this advice as a form of persecution. In spite of all the efforts made by us and others, he decided to go on with his plan to marry, thereby turning his back on the Catholic Church. By doing this, the former Archbishop has put himself outside the Catholic Church. This implies that he is no longer a Bishop nor part of the Catholic Church. The former Archbishop has betrayed his vows by attempting marriage while still under his priestly commitments. The defection of the former Archbishop should not come as a surprise to us. Even among the apostles one of them did fall. His act portrays his failure to abide by sound apostolic tradition, which suddenly induced him not to perceive the advice from so many and not to discern the truth. He rather portrayed the others as not understanding his actions. We feel deep sympathy for the many people who put their trust in the former Archbishop and now feel betrayed and abandoned by his action. A challenge for them now is to make a right choice by committing themselves to follow Jesus Christ, who has the words of eternal life, rather than anyone else. The action by the former archbishop is a reminder to us of our own fragility in faith. It should therefore make us humble. Left to ourselves, without deep faith in Christ, we remain fragile and open to sin. However, the defection of any one of us does not change the Church of Jesus Christ, as it continues to bring His teaching and sacraments to the world. Finally, we invite all Christians to continue praying for the former Archbishop in the hope that he will decide to repent and come back to the Church". (Bishops of Zambia, 29 May 2001)
* Zambia. Chief Justice to probe ministers over graft - On 29 May, Chief Justice Matthews Ngulube said he would appoint a tribunal to investigate allegations of corruption against three ministers. The ministers are alleged to have used 2 billion kwacha ($700,000) meant for road repairs to finance elections within the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy in April. Those involved are Finance Minister Katele Kalumba, Home Affairs Minister Peter Machungwa and Works and Supply Minister Godden Mandandi. The case is a major embarrassment to President Frederick Chiluba, who is still trying to reunite the country after a divisive campaign by his supporters to keep him in office beyond the legal mandate of 10 years, which expires later this year. The case is already being probed by the Anti-Corruption Commission, which does not have prosecution powers, at the request of Speaker of the National Assembly Amusaa Mwanamwambwa. The tribunal will determine whether the ministers breached the parliamentary and ministerial code of conduct in their handling of the cash. They will lose their parliamentary seats and cabinet posts if they are found guilty, law experts said. (CNN, USA, 29 May 2001)
* Zimbabwe. Le problème des expropriations - Le 24 mai, les fermiers blancs et des financiers privés associés ont proposé de donner un million d'hectares de surfaces agricoles pour qu'elles soient distribuées à des familles noires sans terre, dans l'espoir de sortir de l'impasse sur le projet agraire. Le groupe qui s'est baptisé "Initiative conjointe pour le repeuplement du Zimbabwe", a affirmé que ces terres étaient immédiatement disponibles, promettant que les fermiers aideraient les familles concernées par leurs conseils techniques et leur matériel. Il a aussi promis que le Syndicat des fermiers blancs (CFU), qui représente quelque 4.500 personnes, abandonnerait toutes les poursuites judiciaires contre le gouvernement concernant les projets d'expropriation de 3.000 fermes appartenant à des Blancs. L'offre a été soumise au vice-président Joseph Msika, président de la commission gouvernementale de repeuplement. (AP, USA, 24 mai 2001)
* Zimbabwe. Moving to break deadlock over land - A group calling itself the Zimbabwe Joint Resettlement Initiative said on 17 May it had offered the government 1m hectares of uncontested white-owned farmland for resettlement in an effort to break a deadlock over seizure of farm land. The group says 20,000 families could be resettled on the land offered while it would provide Z$60m (US$1m) in finance to support resettlement. Tim Henwood, president of the Commercial Farmers Union, was not at the meeting but Nick Swanepoel, a former president of the CFU who tried to oust Mr Henwood earlier this year, was. Also there was Greg Brackenridge, Zimbabwe chief executive of the Standard Bank of South Africa, which is supporting the initiative. The group also proposed the creation of a Z$1.375bn revolving fund to help fund resettlement. It is to launch an international public relations campaign to demonstrate that Zimbabweans are solving the land problem internally. Observers are puzzled by both the timing and content of the initiative. In April, President Robert Mugabe announced that the government had already resettled 70,000 families on 2.8m hectares of land. It is not clear how the offer of 1m hectares of "uncontested land", some of which has already been taken over by the state -- will get the government to change its mind on the compulsory acquisition, without compensation, of 5m hectares. Joseph Made, agriculture minister, has repeatedly ruled out fresh negotiations with farmers on the issue and in the last few weeks the government has continued to list new farms for takeover, including corporately-owned fruit, flower, tea and coffee estates. (Financial Times, UK, 25 May 2001)
* Zimbabwe. Second minister dies in a car crash - Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe's government has been thrown into disarray by the death of the defence minister, Moven Mahachi, the second cabinet minister to die in a car accident in the past month. Mr Mahachi, 53, was killed late on the afternoon of 26 May in a car accident in Zimbabwe's eastern mountain district of Nyanga. He had been one of Mr Mugabe's longest serving and most trusted allies. In 1975 he helped Mr Mugabe escape Rhodesian authorities by sneaking across the eastern border to Mozambique. Robert Mugabe was so shaken by Mr Mahachi's death that he cancelled a trip to Indonesia where he was to attend the G-15 summit of leaders of developing countries. As defence minister, Mr Mahachi was an important supporter of Zimbabwe's involvement in the Congo war, where the country has more than 12,000 troops supporting the Congolese president, Joseph Kabila. In January 1999 Mr Mahachi ordered the arrest of two Zimbabwean journalists who had reported opposition within the army to the Congo war. Army agents severely tortured the two journalists before releasing them. Mr Mugabe said the torture of the journalists was justified. Despite identification of the torturers and considerable evidence, police have not arrested anyone for the crimes. Mr Mahachi is the second Zimbabwean cabinet minister to die in a month. Four weeks ago the employment minister, Border Gezi, was also killed in a car accident. Mr Gezi was a key organiser of the invasions of white-owned farms and the often violent election campaigns in rural areas. (The Guardian, UK, 28 May 2001)
* Zimbabwe. Reports of plot against Mugabe denied - 29 May: A report published in The Guardian (UK) states that senior army officers in Zimbabwe have secretly warned the South African government that they may launch a coup against Robert Mugabe if the growing political and economic crisis results in violence. Pretoria has strongly advised against any move to overthrow the Zimbabwean president by force but has been made aware of the circumstances in which it may be attempted. According to senior sources in Pretoria, Zimbabwean military commanders believe the looming failure of the maize crop this year will create a food crisis and prove a critical flashpoint. Zimbabwe has all but run out of foreign exchange to import maize if, as looks likely, supplies of the staple and a partial failure of the wheat crop begin to take hold in and about October. 30 May: The BBC says that South Africa has denied being secretly warned by senior military officers in Zimbabwe that they would be prepared to mount a coup against President Mugabe. The Pretoria Government says it does not know of any coup threat and would inform the Zimbabwean Government if it heard of any. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 30 May 2001) 


Weekly anb0531.txt - #8/8 - THE END






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Un homme meurt chaque fois que l'un d'entre nous se tait devant la tyrannie (W. Soyinka, Prix Nobel litterature) - Everytime somebody keep silent when faced with tyranny, someone else dies (Wole Syinka, Nobel Prize for Literature) * 
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