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Weekly anb06145.txt #8

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 14-06-2001      PART #5/8
* Kenya. Sida: oui aux médicaments génériques - Le projet de loi autorisant le gouvernement à contourner les brevets des sociétés pharmaceutiques pour fournir aux 2,2 millions de porteurs du virus du sida des médicaments meilleur marché, a été adopté à l'unanimité par le Parlement kényan, mardi 12 juin. Le Kenya est ainsi le deuxième pays africain, après l'Afrique du sud, à autoriser le recours à des médicaments génériques, copies de produits encore sous brevet. La loi kényane, soutenue par l'opposition et adoptée par acclamation, sera réexaminée par des comités parlementaires pour ces aspects techniques, avant d'être représentée pour un vote final. 2,2 millions de Kényans, soit 14% de la population adulte, sont touchés par le sida, déclaré "urgence nationale" par le président kényan Daniel arap Moi en 1999. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 13 juin 2001)
* Kenya. Parliament passes AIDS drugs bill - On 12 June, Kenya's parliament passed a controversial bill opposed by the global pharmaceutical industry that would allow the east African country to import and manufacture cheap medicines. MPs voted to accept the Industrial Properties Bill 2001 unanimously, a move that effectively loosens the pharmaceutical giants' hold on much-prized patent rights for a variety of medicines, including AIDS drugs. AIDS activists say the bill will allow more of Kenya's 2.2 million HIV-positive population access to the drugs, which have helped reduce AIDS deaths in the West by 75 percent. Kenya becomes only the second country in Africa to pass such a bill. The drugs industry was badly bruised in South Africa in April when it abandoned a court case seeking to challenge a similar law. The industry fears the bill could cause a domino effect across the rest of the world's poorest continent, where 25.3 million people are infected with the virus, cutting profits it says are essential for research into new medicines. (CNN, USA, 13 June 2001)
* Libéria. Combats à la frontière guinéenne - Le président libérien Charles Taylor a affirmé, le 9 juin, que ses forces avaient remporté de nouvelles victoires contre les "dissidents" dans le nord du pays, frontalier de la Guinée, tuant "des centaines d'ennemis". Les forces gouvernementales ont "l'ordre impératif de ne pas pénétrer en Guinée", a précisé le président Taylor. (Le Figaro, France, 11 juin 2001)
* Madagascar. Naufrage: 40 disparus - Au moins 40 personnes sont portées disparues après un naufrage, dans la nuit du 11 au 12 juin, d'un bac assurant la navette entre Mananara-Nord et Maroansetra, sur la côte nord-est de l'île de Madagascar, a annoncé la radio nationale. Le naufrage du Saifiah est le deuxième en un mois dans la même zone. Le 10 mai, 27 personnes avaient disparu quand une barge de débarquement, datant de la 2e guerre mondiale et transformée en bac, avait coulé. Les deux bacs transportaient notamment une équipe de football local. (La Libre Belgique, 13 juin 2001)
* Malawi. Muslims angry with Muluzi - Malawi's Muslim community have joined their Christian counterparts in attacking President Bakili Muluzi over his ambition to stand as President for the third time. The Muslims have also attacked Muluzi over his poor economic policies. Muluzi who is a Muslim, is also accused by his fellow Muslims of being a fake Muslim, spending most of his time in Christian churches and that he has swindled money meant for the construction of mosques. Muluzi has counter-attacked by saying there is nothing wrong in him attending church services as this is done by other reputable international Muslim leaders. Recently, the police arrested over 600 Muslims including some senior Sheiks who went to the Sanjika Presidential Palace in Blantyre to present a 13-page letter to President Bakili Muluzi petitioning him not to stand for the third term. The letter was signed by 13 leaders of the Sunni Muslim Supreme Council of Malawi. Four of the detained Sheiks were denied bail. The police said they had done this so they could have time to fully investigate the case. However, political analysts said this was meant to silence the Sheiks who are opposition sympathizers. (Frank Jomo, ANB-BIA, Malawi, 31 May 2001)
* Malawi. "Young Democrats" spreading fear - Malawi's "Young Democrats", one a peaceful youth group fighting for democratic reforms, have now turned violent and are a threat to Malawi's young democracy. Formed at the hight of Malawi's struggle for human rights and emocratic reforms in 1993, the Young Democrats were a a youth wing of the various groupings rallying against dictator Kamuzu Banda's regime. Made up of illiterate cadres, their task was to mobilise the masses behind the tide of democracy sweeping the country in 1993. Today, armed with petrol, matches, pangas and knives, the Young Democrats are at the forefront of disrupting opposition rallies, beating up supporters and burning vehicles. And they do so in the name of Banda's democratically-elected successor, President Bakili Muluzi and his governing United Democratic Front. (Sunday Nation, Kenya, 10 June 2001)
* Malawi. Ex-minister quits parliament and party - President Bakili Muluzi of Malawi has accepted the resignation from the ruling party of a former Finance Minister, Cassim Chilumpha. He was sacked from his government post in November when he was charged with corruption. He has also said he is standing down as a member of parliament with immediate effect. Mr Chilumpha -- a lawyer and a possible contender to succeed President Muluzi -- denied suggestions that he might be planning to join the recently formed opposition pressure group, the National Democratic Alliance. Last month, a judge in the capital, Lilongwe, dismissed the corruption charges against Mr Chilumpha on a technicality. He had been accused of accepting bribes, a charge he denies. (BBC News, UK, 11 June 2001)
* Mali. Anger as Bamako buses stop running - People in the Malian capital, Bamako, have been describing the situation in their streets as "chaos" or "anarchy". For the second time in a week, hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to make their way through town on foot because public transport drivers refuse to take passengers. The drivers of the ubiquitous green vans, known as Sotramas, the only means of transport for about 90% of the population, are retaliating after a police operation on 7 June in which 60 drivers were arrested and their vehicles seized. Some people say they fear the week-long dispute between the police and some 20,000 Sotrama drivers with their apprentices is starting to resemble a gang war, with attacks and counter-attacks. (BBC News, UK, 9 June 2001)
* Maroc. Réforme du système électoral? - Le 12 juin, Driss Basri, ancien ministre de l'Intérieur, a préconisé l'établissement d'une véritable démocratie au Maroc par le biais d'une réforme du système électoral. Rompant pour la première fois le mutisme qu'il observait depuis son limogeage par Mohammed VI en 1999, Basri écrit dans les colonnes de "L'Economiste, publié à Casablanca, que le scrutin uninominal à un tour pratiqué dans le passé ne correspond plus à la réalité socio-politique du pays. Driss Basri prône le scrutin de liste à la proportionnelle pour les municipales et une élection à deux tours pour les législatives. Il faut un"gouvernement qui gère, administre et gouverne" et un "Parlement qui légifère et qui contrôle", soutient M. Basri. (La Libre Belgique, 14 juin 2001)
* Mauritanie. Enseignement primaire obligatoire - L'enseignement primaire est désormais obligatoire pour tous les enfants mauritaniens des deux sexes de 4 à 16 ans, a annoncé le 13 juin à Nouakchott le porte-parole du gouvernement. "Malgré un taux de scolarité de 90%, il y a encore des enfants qui n'ont pas eu la chance d'aller à l'école", a précisé M. ould Saleh. La nouvelle décision du gouvernement "rend obligatoire, pour chaque enfant, une scolarité d'au moins six ans". (AFP, France, 13 juin 2001)
* Mozambique. On détruit les armes - Les opérations de destruction des armes, intitulées Rachel, se sont achevées sur une septième édition particulièrement fructueuse. Financées par l'Union européenne et surtout par l'Afrique du Sud, elles visent à éviter que les armes cachées au cours des treize années de guerre civile au Mozambique ne viennent alimenter les réseaux du banditisme ou ne soient utliisées par des groupes criminels pour déstabiliser à nouveau la région. Depuis 1995, date de la première opération, 13.550 armes légères et 3,4 millions de caisses de munitions ont été retrouvées. (J.A., France, 5-11 juin 2001)
* Niger/Nigeria. Contrôle des frontières - Les forces de l'ordre du Niger et du Nigeria patrouilleront désormais ensemble le long des quelque 1.500 km de frontière qui sépare les deux pays. L'accord, officialisé le 6 juin, est dû à l'énorme augmentation du nombre de délinquants qui passent d'un Etat à l'autre pour échapper à la police. La présence de personnes recherchées est surtout signalée aux environs du lac Tchad. Selon la presse, la montée de la présence criminelle à la frontière serait due à la récente introduction, dans plusieurs Etats du nord du Nigeria, de la loi islamique qui prévoit des peines de mutilation pour des personnes coupables de vol. (Misna, Italie, 7 juin 2001)
* Nigeria. Running out of power - Nepa, Nigeria's state-run electricity company, said on 7 June that a third of the country would be without power for two weeks in the latest setback to faltering government attempts at reviving electricity supplies. Nepa officials said vandals had attacked a vital transmission line last weekend, plunging 13 states in the east of Africa's most populous nation into darkness and cutting power to several main cities, including Port Harcourt where the 2.2m b/d oil industry is centred. The blackout comes amid growing disillusionment with President Olusegun Obasanjo's government and doubts about its ability to address the chronic infrastructural and institutional deficits he inherited when the military handed power back to elected civilians two years ago. Mr Obasanjo took personal control of the power sector early last year after dismissing senior management at Nepa following a series of nationwide blackouts. There has been little sign of a turnround since then. On a good day Nepa produces scarcely more electricity than nearby Ghana, which has a population seven times smaller. Improving on this has become one of Nigeria's most frustrating challenges for Mr Obasanjo who only recently began to champion accelerated liberalisation of the power sector after a series of staff changes at Nepa and increased public investment failed to produce significant results. The frustrations were such that, late last year, Jerry Gana, the information minister, said "thieves and vandals" were sabotaging Nepa in what he described as an orchestrated ploy by political enemies to undermine the government's reform programme. (Financial Times, UK, 8 June 2001)
* Nigeria. Doctors' strike spreads to Lagos - Doctors in the Nigerian commercial capital, Lagos, have decided to join a strike over pay which has already caused widespread disruption to hospitals in other parts of the country. The strike was called 11 days ago by the Nigerian Medical Association, which complains that doctors earn much less than the $500 per month claimed by the government. Until now, though, it had not been widely observed by locally-employed doctors in Lagos. The BBC correspondent in Nigeria says the strike has left nurses and volunteers struggling to cope with the sick and injured. He says the latest development comes at a bad time for the government: besides a strike by university lecturers, there has been a rise in food prices, widespread power cuts, and a fall in the value of the currency. (BBC News, UK, 8 June 2001) 

Weekly anb0614.txt - #5/8