Weekly anb09271.txt #7

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 27-09-2001  PART #1/7

* Africa. Aftermath to World Conference on Racism - Although Africa did not 
achieve most of its demands during the UN Durban Conference on Racism, the 
Conference for the first time in world history highlighted the brutalities 
which African people have suffered for over 500 years under slavery and 
colonization. "The European states were forced to reluctantly accept their 
responsibility and make a sound apology, even though they refused to accept 
the principle of reparations," J.D Akumu, Chairman of the Pan-African 
Reparation Forum (PAN-REF) said in a Press Statement. Mr. Akumu said that 
all the African NGOs who attended the Conference, have accepted the current 
declaration, but only as a first step towards correcting the wrongs which 
Africans have suffered. The Statement reaffirms that Africans in Africa and 
Africans in the diaspora are determined to continue to press for serious 
corrective measures. The PAN-REF demanded that states, businesses, 
churches, communities etc. who perpetrated and benefited from slavery and 
the slave trade, and from colonization, should apologize to "our race for 
the wrong they have done." Mr. Akumu added that it is "important to note 
that the German and French governments have taken a more understanding 
position than the British and American governments." The Forum also 
rejected what is termed "an attempt to link reparations for inhuman acts, 
with Official Development Assistance. This is an insult to the African 
peoples' dignity and we trust that no African government will contemplate 
accepting the linkage". (Thomas Omondi, Kenya, 12 September 2001)

* Afrique. Sida: perspectives effrayantes - Le VIH-SIDA fera plus de 10 
millions de victimes en Afrique subsaharienne d'ici 2015. D'après un 
rapport de la Communauté de développement de l'Afrique australe (SADC), qui 
rassemble 14 pays de la région, le nombre de malades a considérablement 
augmenté. En 1995, 200.000 personnes étaient atteintes par le virus dans la 
région. Un an plus tard ce chiffre a doublé, dépassant la barre symbolique 
du million de cas en 1997. Entre 1990 et 1998, l'espérance de vie a diminué 
de 12,66 ans au Zimbabwe, de 10,55 ans au Botswana, de 8,73 ans en Afrique 
du Sud et 8,65 ans en Zambie. L'ONUSIDA estime qu'en 1999 le sida a fait 
plus de 250.000 victimes en Afrique du Sud, où cette maladie est devenue la 
première cause de mortalité. (AP, 20 septembre 2001)

* Africa. Action against the Media - Egypt: A state security court has 
convicted Mamdouh Mahran of undermining public security, publishing 
scandalous photo, insulting religion, and causing civil turmoil. Eritrea: 
In a letter addressed to the President of the Republic (19 September), 
Reporters sans Frontières protested against the suspension of all 8 private 
newspapers in the country. -- According to diplomatic sources, at least 
seven journalists working for the independent press have been arrested 
since 23 September. On 24 September it was reported that two journalists 
have fled Eritrea and are now in Sudan. They are Milkias Mehretab and 
Semere Teazaz who were working for the Keste Debena weekly newspaper. 
Liberia: In a 20 September letter to President Charles Taylor, the 
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) protested the unlawful detention of 
T-max Jlateh, a journalist with the private radio station DC 101.1. He was 
arrested on 17 September. Senegal: On 24 September, the CPJ expressed "deep 
concern" at what it described as the increased harassment of Senegalese 
journalists since President Wade took office in April 2000. (ANB-BIA, 
Brussels, 25 September 2001)

* Africa. Combatting terrorism - Algeria: The Algerian authorities have 
said they are furnishing the American Government with the names of 
Algerians abroad they believed were linked to Bin Laden. Kenya: Kenya has 
pledged to help the US-led anti-terrorism coalition. Foreign Minister Chris 
Obure has said: "The government of Kenya is committed to working with the 
US government and other governments to respond firmly and decisively to 
acts of terrorism." Morocco: Morocco has deported to France an Algerian 
national whom Algeria has accused of having links with an Islamist faction 
supported by Osama Bin Laden. The Moroccan security services said that 
Kamar Eddine Kherbane had been expelled following questioning about 
allegations of arms smuggling to Algeria. He was due to be deported to 
Britain where he has been living as a political refugee for some years. 
However the authorities seem to have put Mr Kherbane on a plane bound for 
Paris. By doing so the Moroccan Government has ignored an extradition 
request by the Algerian authorities who stated that Mr Kherbane was a 
wanted criminal and was linked to Bin Laden. That is not clear, but it is 
known that Mr Kherbane was a founder member of the Islamic Salvation Front 
(FIS) in Algeria as well as being a former airforce pilot and a former 
Islamist fighter in Afghanistan at the same time as Bin Laden. A 
spokesperson for the British embassy in Rabat said that Mr Kherbane was 
free to return to Britain. He had been visiting his imprisoned 
brother-in-law in Morocco on a legitimate British travel document though 
contrary to reports he does not have a British passport. Senegal: The 
President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, has called for an African pact 
against terrorism. Mr Wade, speaking in Paris, urged African leaders to 
come together following last week's attacks in America to ensure terrorist 
groups were deprived of any kind of support in Africa. He suggested that 
the Organisation of African Unity establish a seven-member committee of 
African heads of state to ensure that no country on the continent offered 
sanctuary to terrorist groups, much less money or aid. Senegal's population 
is 95% Muslim, but fundamentalist Islam is not common and relations with 
the Christian minority are good. Somalia: Somalia's transitional government 
has said that Osama Bin Laden would not be welcome there and has pledged to 
help the United States fight terrorism. US intelligence has suggested that 
the man, named as the prime suspect for the 11 September suicide attacks on 
the US, may be heading for Somalia. US intelligence sources have said that 
Bin Laden is preparing to flee Afghanistan for Somalia and diplomats in 
east Africa have said that some radical Islamic groups in Somalia may be 
linked to his al-Qaeda network. They also say that he has been preparing to 
send his wives and family members to meet him there. South Africa: South 
Africa has reaffirmed its support for President Bush's international 
coalition against terrorism. Uganda: Uganda has said it will support the 
US. "We will put all our means at the disposal of the international 
community in the fight against international terrorism," new Defence 
Minister Amama Mbabazi has told the French news agency, AFP. Tunisia: On 24 
September, prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi pledged his country's support 
for a global coalition to combat international terrorism. ANB-BIA, 
Brussels, 25 September 2001)

* Africa/USA. FBI seek Bin Laden links in Africa - The FBI is stepping up 
its hunt across Africa for suspects wanted in connection with their 
investigation into the recent suicide attacks on New York and Washington. 
Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa have all been given long lists of names 
of people believed to be linked to the prime suspect behind the attacks, 
the Saudi-born militant Osama Bin Laden. Officials from the FBI and the CIA 
have been in Sudan for a year, where Bin Laden was based until 1996. More 
than 200 people died in bomb attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania 
in 1998, also linked to Bin Laden. United States investigators are also 
reported to be scrutinising banking transactions in Kenya's second city of 
Mombasa. Bin Laden's organisation is thought to be a loose coalition of 
groups operating across continents with US officials believing that his 
associates may operate in more than 40 countries. Tracking the people, the 
front organisations and the financial infrastructure of this network, is an 
immensely complex task. (BBC News, UK, 24 September 2001)

* Africa/France. Paris seeks to honour colonial Algerian support - On 25 
September, France sought to make amends for one of the most shameful 
episodes in its colonial history when President Jacques Chirac unveiled a 
plaque commemorating the thousands of Algerians massacred for supporting 
the French military when the country gained independence in 1962. The 
memorial to the deaths of these people -- estimated at 100,000 -- was a 
tardy recognition by the French state that these harkis had been abandoned 
to their fate in independent Algeria, where they were seen as 
collaborators. On 25 September, Mr Chirac talked of the events as a 
"terrible tragedy" and said: "The massacres committed in 1962, affecting 
the military as well as civilians, women as well as children, will forever 
leave the irreparable imprint of barbarism and they must be recognised as 
such." Mr Chirac, who served as a conscript in Algeria during the bitter 
six-year struggle for independence, added: "This duty to confront the truth 
and accept what happened is both a debt of honour and an obligation for the 
president of the republic and the head of the armed forces." Under the 
March 1962 Evian Treaty that granted Algeria independence, the Algerian 
signatories promised to take no action against those who had supported the 
French presence. In theory, this guaranteed protection for the large number 
of Algerians who had been on the French payroll as support troops and 
police but seen as collaborators by the Algerian nationalists. The French 
authorities were reluctant to take more than 20,000 into mainland France 
for fear of encouraging a broader flight of Muslims from newly independent 
Algeria, when already there was a mass exodus of French "colons". But Paris 
also declined to let those remaining keep their weapons for self-protection 
on the grounds that this might destabilise a fragile peace. The number of 
those killed in 1962 as a result of these reprisals has never been 
established with precision but range from 100,000 to 150,000. Those who 
escaped and managed to obtain residence in France first had to spend a long 
time in internment camps run by the French army. Some 400,000 harkis or 
their children and grand-children are estimated to be now resident in 
France. Successive French administrations' refusal to confront the failure 
to protect the harkis in part was conditioned by fears of resurrecting the 
many painful and unpleasant episodes in the Algerian war of independence. 
There were also concerns about the impact of such a move on delicate 
diplomatic relations with Algeria. (Financial Times, UK, 26 September 2001)

* Algeria. USA gets "terror list" - Algeria is reportedly co-operating with 
the US in the international alliance against terrorism. State media reports 
that it has handed over to Washington a list of 350 Islamist militants 
known to be abroad and whom Algerian intelligence believes are likely to 
have links to Osama Bin Laden. Reports from Algiers suggests that for the 
first time, security services there are prepared to tell the Americans 
everything they know about Algerian Islamists abroad and whether they might 
be involved in the al-Qaeda network established by Osama bin Laden. Sources 
in the Algerian government say the Americans are being handed two 
documents. One of them contains about 350 profiles of Algerian Islamist 
militants living abroad. Some will be moderates but others are believed by 
the Algerian authorities to be highly suspect. The Algerians are also 
reported to be providing a list of 2,000 names of known members of the two 
Islamist organisations accused of killing civilians in Algeria -- the GIA 
and the GSPC. These militants are thought to be active mainly in Algeria 
itself though some may well be dead. The GSPC, which is believed by the 
Algerian authorities to have been created by Osama Bin Laden, issued a 
warning this week that it will target westerners in Algeria if Afghanistan 
is attacked. Security has been intensified around western embassies and 
businesses. After meetings in recent days the Algerian government took the 
decision to give its full support to the American-led campaign against 
terrorism saying they were fighting a common enemy. But the government has 
said any action involving Algeria must not take the form of a war against a 
country, religion, people or culture. (BBC News, UK, 20 September 2001)

* Algérie. Dix tués en trois jours - Un civil, un garde communal, un 
élément des Groupes de légitime défense (GLD) et sept islamistes armés ont 
été tués entre jeudi et samedi (20-22 septembre) dans l'est algérien, 
rapporte dimanche la presse algérienne. Un commerçant a été assassiné 
samedi matin par un groupe armé près de la mosquée au centre-ville de 
Thénia. Vendredi, un groupe armé a tué un garde communal et un membre des 
GLD à un faux barrage près de Meghraoua, dans la région de Médéa. Dans 
l'extrême est du pays, près de Bir El Ater, dans la région de Tebessa, 
quatre islamistes armés ont été abattus et deux autres arrêtés, le jeudi, 
dans une opération de ratissage. Trois autres islamistes armés ont été tués 
dans un accrochage au sud de la commune de Aïn El Melh. -Treize autres 
personnes ont été assassinées mercredi soir, 26 septembre, par un groupe 
armé à Larba, à trente kilomètres au sud d'Alger, a rapporté jeudi le 
quotidien Liberté. Cette nouvelle tuerie a visé une famille qui célébrait 
un mariage dans un village de la Mitidja, la riche plaine agricole aux 
portes de la capitale. La Mitidja n'avait pas connu d'attentats et de 
massacres depuis plusieurs mois, alors qu'elle a été de 1993 à 1999 un fief 
des groupes armés islamistes qui y faisaient régner la terreur. Depuis un 
mois ces groupes semblent vouloir revenir à Alger et dans ses environs 
proches. Depuis le début du mois de septembre, au moins 140 personnes ont 
été tuées dans des violences armées en Algérie, selon un bilan établi à 
partir de la presse et de sources officielles. (Le Soir et La Libre 
Belgique, 24-27 septembre 2001)

Weekly anb0927.txt - end of #1/7