Weekly anb07057.txt #7



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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 05-07-2001      PART #7/7

* Zambie. Fin de grève - Près de 150.000 enployés du secteur public ont cessé la grève qu'ils menaient depuis six semaines. Le gouvernement a cédé en leur promettant une augmentation de salaire, qui dans certains cas devrait dépasser les 90%. Les autorités ont dû trouver un compromis pour éviter que le pays se retrouve partiellement paralysé à l'occasion du sommet de l'OUA qui se tiendra la semaine prochaine. (Misna, Italie, 3 juillet 2001)

* Zambia. Civil servants end strike before OAU summit - Zambian civil servants ended a six-week strike on 2 July after the government agreed to hefty pay rises to avert a stand-off during an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit in Lusaka next week. Nearly 150,000 public sector employees, including teachers, local council and court employees, will receive pay hikes ranging from 81 to 91 percent. "The strike has been called off with immediate effect," Civil Servants' Union leader Leonard Hikaumba told Reuters. But he also warned the government not to renege on its agreement after the OAU summit, which begins with a ministerial session on July 7. The heads of state converge on the Zambian capital on July 9. The unions had demanded salary increases of between 100 and 250 percent, but union leaders said they would probably call for further adjustments later in the year. Zambia is one of the poorest countries in the world and civil service salaries average between $50 and $71 a month. An average monthly bill for water and electricity is $60. The strike had hit public services hard, with hospitals manned by skeleton staff, court cases postponed and teachers staying away from schools. The Civil Servants Union, National Union of Public Workers, Teachers' Union and local council workers said the breakthrough had come over the weekend. The deal took effect on July 1. Senior OAU officials said they had urged Zambian President Frederick Chiluba to resolve the strike because it posed a security threat to the summit. A government-backed group called the National Organisation for Civil Education said in comments published on 2 July in local newspapers that some non-government organisations and opposition parties had planned to disrupt the OAU summit. (CNN, USA, 3 July 2001)

* Zambia. OAU summit - 3 July: All treaties and conventions adopted by the policy organs of the OAU but pending entry into force, are to be reviewed to bring them in line with changes attendant to the new dispensation of the African Union. African ambassadors accredited to the OAU approved the move, today at their 13th ordinary session in Lusaka, Zambia. Since its inception in 1963, the OAU's policy organs have adopted 22 treaties and conventions, out of which 14 have entered into force, one of them provisionally. Eight others have not come into force for lack of the necessary instruments of ratification. These would now be reviewed by the OAU Secretariat in tune with the Constitutive Act of the African Union, which African leaders are expected to formally launch at their 37th regular summit in Lusaka 9-11 July. The ambassadors also approved a proposal imposing penalties on member states that owe arrears of assessed contributions for two years. They also approved the Secretary-General's report calling for the extension of the OAU's drug control project in Africa, which is being implemented in collaboration with the UN Drug Control Programme (UNDPC). 4 July: The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, will proclaim the African Union at the summit. (PANA, Senegal, 3-4 July 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Nouvelles violences politiques - La tension monte dans la province du Mashonaland central (nord-est) à l'approche du nouveau scrutin électoral prévu les 28 et 29 juillet. Il faut en effet revoter pour remplacer le ministre de la Jeunesse, Border Gezi, décédé il y a un mois dans un accident de voiture. La situation est particulièrement critique au sein du collège électoral du chef-lieu Bindura. La semaine dernière, des sympathisants du parti au pouvoir, le ZANU-PF, ont mis le feu et pillé des villages prenant pour cible les partisans de l'opposition. La presse locale rapporte qu'au moins une personne a été grièvement blessée, d'autres plus légèrement. De nombreux paysans de la province, craignant une recrudescence de la violence politique, ont préféré quitter leurs maisons, désertant quasiment des villages entiers. (Misna, Italie, 27 juin 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Réforme agraire - Le président Mugabe vient d'annoncer qu'il compte saisir 2.030 fermes supplémentaires pour les octroyer à des fermiers noirs pauvres, dans le cadre de sa réforme agraire controversée. Le Zimbabwe compte près de 5.500 fermes commerciales, dont 95% sont désormais sur les listes d'expropriation. (Le Figaro, France, 2 juillet 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Armed War Vets terrorise villagers - Armed bands of former Zipra combatants have caused panic among the civilian population on the new resettlement areas in the Nyamandlovu area, north-west of Bulawayo. The war veterans are said to be harassing suspected supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change, and sexually abusing women settlers. According to some settlers at one resettlement scheme near Deli, groups of rowdy war veterans, some clutching Kalashnikov combat rifles, roam the resettlement areas on a daily basis, intimidating those who do not possess Zanu PF membership cards. Seven settlers were reported to have abandoned the new homes after war veterans kept on harassing and threatening to kill them. "Nobody feels safe in this place because of harassment by war veterans. Whenever we make reports to the Nyamandlovu police, they tell us they can't touch war vets," one villager told The Standard during a recent visit. "There is complete lawlessness in this country and something must be done to stop the harassment of civilians by these war veterans," said Kabelo Mlothswa, who claimed to have been tortured by three war veterans. Sometimes, the war veterans invade white-owned farms and ranches in the district and demand fresh milk and amasi (a dairy product). If the farmers refuse to give them the milk and game meat, they are severely assaulted. Police in Nyamandlovu refused to speak to The Standard saying they were instructed not to talk to journalists from the independent media. The officer who answered the phone told the paper to send questions to Harare. (Zimbabwe Standard, 2 July 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Grève générale - La Centrale syndicale zimbabwéenne (ZCTU) a lancé un appel à la grève générale les 3 et 4 juillet pour protester contre une augmentation massive (70%) du prix de l'essence, contre la mauvaise gestion de l'économie et pour le respect des droits de l'homme, malgré l'interdiction qui lui a été faite par le gouvernement. L'armée est mobilisée toute la semaine pour éviter que les manifestations ne tournent au chaos. - Le 3 juillet, dans tout le pays la plupart des magasins, des banques et des usines sont restés fermés. Selon les leaders syndicaux, la grève a paralysé les trois quarts de l'économie du pays. Le 4 juillet, la grève s'est poursuivie dans le calme. Trois journalistes photographes mis en garde à vue, accusés d'avoir entravé l'action de la police, ont été libérés. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 5 juillet 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Government faces opposition - 2 June: Zimbabwean riot police have been patrolling Harare's poor townships, today, ahead of a two-day national strike over soaring fuel prices. But union leaders said there was no danger of violence from their members. The main labour movement has called the strike for 3-4 July after President Robert Mugabe's government refused to reverse a nearly 70% rise in fuel prices announced on 12 June. The government has declared the strike illegal and promised to protect workers who ignore the call by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), which has 1.2 million members. In a joint statement the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries and the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe said the strike would further hurt the country's struggling economy. The statement said the ZCTU must talk to the government ahead of the strike. In Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, police said they were ready to deal with violence. 3 June: Police mounted extra patrols and road-blocks in the country's main cities, today, as the two-day national strike begins to protest fuel price hikes. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions says all 32 of its affiliate unions have endorsed the action in protest against last month's 73 per cent increase in fuel prices. 4 June: Many businesses, especially in industrial areas have been shut down by the strike. -- Opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, says he has secured pledges from Europe and the USA to provide independent observers for next years presidential election when he will stand against President Mugabe. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 5 July 2001)

Weekly anb0705.txt - Part 7/7
THE END

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