Weekly anb06076.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 07-06-2001      PART #6/7

* Rwanda/Belgium. The Brussels trial  -  31 May: The defense lawyer for 
Alphonse Higaniro begins his case. He takes issue with the presiding judge 
for giving what was described as the judge's "own personal view" on what 
the defense is saying. Higaniro is accused of being a member of a "hard 
core" of Hutu extremists connected with the Milles Collines Radio-TV 
station. 1 June: The defense lawyer for Sister Gertrude opens his case. He 
reacts against what has been previously stated concerning his client, 
especially the description by the prosecution of her "diabolical 
activities". 5 June: The defense lawyer for Sister Kizito, Serge Wahis, 
says that during the genocide, churches and religious houses could no 
longer be considered as safe havens. The military could at one moment be 
protectors and the next responsible for massacres. It must not be forgotten 
that church personnel were completely untrained to act in such 
eventualities, and were obliged to take decisions. It's easy to be wise 
after the event. Lawyer Serge Wahis says that the whole story has not been 
told and many important witnesses have not appeared before the Court. He 
says that "The two nuns have been the victim of an enormous collective 
lie". Tomorrow, the jury expects to retire after the judge's 
comments.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 7 June 2001)

* Sénégal. Nouveaux mouvements de réfugiés  -  La tension en Casamance, 
dans le sud du Sénégal, continue de chasser les habitants vers la Gambie, a 
rapporté le 1er juillet à Genève le porte-parole du HCR. Plus de 200 
réfugiés sont arrivés cette semaine dans des villages au sud de la Gambie, 
portant à plus de 2.500 le nombre total des réfugiés depuis la mi-mai. 
D'autre part, le HCR s'emploie à vérifier des informations signalant que 
les autorités de la Guinée-Bissau sont en train de forcer les réfugiés 
sénégalais à s'en aller. Selon des sources humanitaires, les réfugiés ont 
fui le nord de la Guinée-Bissau après que des soldats avaient incendié de 
nombreuses maisons dans un village dont les habitants étaient souçonnés de 
cacher des membres du Mouvement des forces démocratiques de Casamance. Ces 
réfugiés y habitaient depuis une dizaine d'années.   (IRIN, Abidjan, 1er 
juillet 2001)

* Sierra Leone. Discussions de paix  -  Les présidents de Sierra Leone, M. 
Kabbah, et de Guinée, M. Conté, devaient se rencontrer le dimanche 3 juin 
dans la ville frontalière de Kambia, au nord de la Sierra Leone, pour des 
discussions de paix, a annoncé un quotidien gouvernemental, le Sierra News. 
La rencontre devait porter sur la situation à la frontière, où ont lieu des 
affrontements entre les rebelles du Front révolutionnaire uni (RUF) et 
l'armée guinéenne. L'armée sierra-léonaise a récemment envoyé des renforts 
en hommes et en matériel dans la région frontalière avec la Guinée pour 
tranquiliser la population. Les responsables militaires guinéens ont salué 
ce déploiement dans la région de Kambia et affirmé qu'ils cesseraient les 
attaques contre le RUF.   (Le Monde, France, 3 juin 2001)

* Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone-Guinea highway to re-open  -  The presidents 
of Guinea and Sierra Leone, Lansana Conte and Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, have said 
they want to re-open the road between Conakry and Freetown. The two leaders 
said that they had also agreed to deploy their troops on each side of their 
common border, after talks in the northern Sierra Leonean town of Kambia. 
Correspondents say that tension has increased sharply along the frontier 
recently, amid a series of cross-border attacks by the Sierra Leone rebel 
group, the Revolutionary United Front and counter-attacks by the Guinean 
army. Thousands of refugees have been trapped in the region, as they fled 
to get away from the fighting. Last week, the United Nations Secretary 
General, Kofi Annan, described the refugee crisis in the region as one of 
the most serious facing the international community at the present 
time.   (BBC News, UK, 4 June 2001)

* Sierra Leone. 150 enfants soldats libérés  -  Le 4 juin à Kailahun (est 
de la Sierra Leone), les rebelles du RUF ont encore libéré 150 enfants 
soldats, dont 40 filles, tous âgés de 8 à 18 ans. Au total, ce sont 764 
enfants soldats qui ont été relâchés par le RUF depuis l'accord de 
désarmement conclu il y a un mois avec le gouvernement sierra-léonais. 
L'organisation catholique Caritas a ainsi déjà récupéré 595 enfants libérés 
par le RUF. De nombreux enfants ont été enrôlés, souvent de force, au cours 
de cette guerre civile qui a fait plus de 200.000 morts depuis 
1991.   (Libération, France, 6 juin 2001)

* Somaliland. Oui à l'indépendance  -  Selon des résultats officiels 
publiés le 5 juin, 97% des électeurs de l'Etat autoproclamé du Somaliland 
se sont déclarés favorables à l'indépendance lors du référendum 
constitutionnel du 31 mai. Le Somaliland, situé au nord-ouest de la 
Somalie, a fait sécession en 1991, mais son indépendance n'est reconnue par 
aucun Etat ni aucune organisation internationale.   (Libération, France, 6 
juin 2001)

* South Africa. Nkosi dies  -  The 12-year-old boy whose plight dramatised 
the AIDS epidemic in South Africa has died in his sleep at 0540 local time 
(0340 GMT). Nkosi Johnson, who collapsed with Aids-related brain damage in 
December, had been praised by Nelson Mandela as an icon in the struggle 
against HIV/AIDS. A Johnson family spokesman said that Nkosi died after a 
desperate final battle against the disease. Nkosi will be remembered for a 
speech he made at the World Aids Conference in Durban last July. "You can't 
get AIDS by hugging, kissing, holding hands. We are normal human beings, we 
can walk, we can talk," he told delegates. Nkosi was born with HIV and was 
the longest surviving child born with the virus in the country. His mother 
has since died of AIDS, and he was adopted when he was two by a foster 
mother, Gail Johnson. Speaking before his death Ms Johnson said: "We 
chatted about death... He had strong feelings about letting me down," she 
said. "I told him I would miss him and no one could take his place."   (BBC 
News, UK, 1 June 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Nkosi est décédé  -  Le petit Nkosi Johnson, symbole de 
la lutte contre le sida en Afrique du Sud, s'est éteint le vendredi 1er 
juin à l'aube, à Johannesburg, a annoncé sa mère adoptive Gail Johnson. Il 
est mort à douze ans, après une agonie de plusieurs mois. Il ne pesait plus 
que 10 kilos. Nkosi était devenu un "héros" médiatique, donnant un visage 
au sida dans un pays ravagé par la pandémie, mais où cette maladie est 
encore taboue. Né séropositif, il avait prononcé, l'année dernière, un 
discours qui chavira le coeur des délégués à la conférence mondiale sur le 
sida à Durban, en suppliant de traiter les malades comme des gens 
normaux.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 2 juin 2001)

* South Africa. SAA cancels consultant contracts  -  South African Airways 
(SAA), the state-owned national carrier, said on Monday it was cancelling 
costly long-term contracts with international consultancy companies shortly 
after a revelation that it had paid its former chief executive R200m ($25m) 
over the past two-and-a-half years. The airline had halted contracts with 
Bain & Company, McKinsey and SH&E, a US revenue management company, with 
immediate effect amid concerns the government had lost control of the pay 
of highly paid foreign executives and consultants. Consultants are 
estimated to have earned R300m from SAA in the past year. Bain had been 
working for the airline since 1998 on fleet renewal and cost-cutting; 
McKinsey had advised on reservations and a US-based internet booking 
system. The use of consultants had characterised the management of Coleman 
Andrews, the American former chief executive of SAA, to bring about a 
financial turnround in the company. Concern had been expressed that the 
airline was relying too heavily on the services of consultants and that 
tender procedures had not been properly followed. Mr Andrews had his own 
contract cut short by 14 months in March. Officials in the Department of 
Public Enterprises said the government would prefer to see the airline led 
by a black executive. Last week, press reports said Mr Andrews had received 
a financial package of about R200m over the past two-and-a-half years, 
making him one of the top paid executives in South Africa. SAA said it had 
terminated the consultant's contracts to cut costs and develop local 
expertise. "The whole point is cost-cutting. These guys charge dollars. 
They were costly and they had done their jobs," said Victor Nosi, SAA's 
executive vice-president of marketing and communications.   (Financial 
Times, UK, 5 June 2001)

* South Africa. IMF gives backing over economy  -  On 6 June, Stanley 
Fischer, the deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund 
(IMF), gave the South African government a ringing endorsement of its 
handling of the economy since it took power in 1994. He said the ruling ANC 
had created an environment to achieve 6% economic growth in the short term, 
in spite of soft global growth projections. Mr Fischer praised the 
government's adherence to prudent fiscal policies and the Reserve Bank's 
handling of external shocks, including that of neighbouring Zimbabwe, 
saying they paved the way to breaking through the current level of 3% 
growth.   (Financial Times, UK, 7 June 2001)

* Sudan. Rebels take government region  -  The Sudanese People's Liberation 
Army (SPLA) says it has captured all of Western Bahr el Ghazal State, 800 
km south-west of Khartoum, from the government. SPLA spokesman Yasr Arman 
said that it made this latest advance in the country's 18-year civil war 
over the weekend. The Khartoum Government has denied that it has lost 
control of the province and says that fighting is continuing. The BBC 
correspondent in Khartoum said independent sources have confirmed that the 
SPLA is in control. He said that the fall of Western Bahr el Ghazal opens 
up several opportunities for the rebel SPLA. As the district is on the 
border with the Central African Republic the SPLA can benefit from the 
lucrative trade.   (BBC News, UK, 4 June 2001)

* Soudan. Combats et pourparlers  -  Les petites villes de Dem Zubeir et de 
Raga, situées dans la région sud-soudanaise du Bahr el-Ghazal, ont été 
conquises par les rebelles du SPLA. Selon son leader, John Garang, l'armée 
régulière a dû abandonner les deux localités, à travers lesquelles elle 
contrôlait la route reliant le nord du Soudan à Wau, bastion gouvernemental 
du sud du pays. La nouvelle a été démentie par l'armée, mais confirmée par 
des sources indépendantes. D'autre part, le sommet régional, tenu le 2 juin 
à Nairobi sous l'égide de l'IGAD (Autorité intergouvernementale pour le 
développement) pour relancer le processus de paix, s'est soldé par un 
échec. Pour le gouvernement, un cessez-le-feu doit être le tremplin des 
pourparlers, alors que pour le SPLA il n'est que le corrolaire d'un premier 
accord substantiel.   (Misna, Italie, 4 juin 2001)

* Sudan. Peace talks in Nairobi  -  Sudan's President al-Bashir refused to 
meet Colonel John Garang, leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army 
(SPLA), when the two were in Nairobi for peace talks at the weekend. He 
later told AP that he refused because Col. Garang had declined to meet him 
on three occasions previously. This was the first time since 1997 that the 
two Sudanese leaders have attended the same peace meeting. At the same 
time, Col. Garang told the BBC that the Government of Sudan announced the 
recent cease-fire but failed to address two important issues: that of 
Sharia Law in Sudan, and that of oil exploitation in the south.   (CISA, 
Nairobi, 5 June 2001)


Weekly anb0607.txt - #6/7