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Weekly anb09201.txt #6

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 20-09-2001      PART #1/ 6
* Africa. UN Special Session on Children - On 12 September, the United Nations General Assembly postponed next week's Special Session on children, in recognition of the terrorist attacks against the USA. UNICEF's Executive Director, Carol Bellamy, said: "We are all touched by the events that struck new York and the US on 11 September. We strongly support the General Assembly in its decision to postpone the summit on children. The city of New York needs to focus its energies on more urgent matters right now. This is a postponement, not a cancellation". (IRIN, 14 September 2001)
* Afrique lusophone. Sida - Le 12 septembre, le gouvernement brésilien et l'organisation Médecins sans frontières (MSF) ont signé un accord de transfert de technologie et de formation professionnelle pour la lutte contre le sida dans les pays africains de langue portugaise. L'accord a pour but "de renforcer les programmes de lutte contre le sida et de partager les expériences du gouvernement brésilien et de MSF dans ces pays", a indiqué le ministère brésilien de la Santé. L'objectif de MSF est de signer "à moyen terme un accord pour racheter des médicaments génériques brésiliens, ce qui n'a pu encore se faire car il existe une pression énorme des laboratoires", d'après le ministère brésilien. Le Brésil a lancé sa propre production de médicaments génériques anti-rétroviraux afin de fournir des soins gratuits à ses malades. (La Libre Belgique, 15 septembre 2001)
* Africa. OAU -- Term of Secretary-General ends - An Ivorian diplomat, Amara Essy, has been appointed to replace Dr Salim Ahmed Salim as the secretary general of the Organisation of African Unity OAU. Mr Essy will serve in the post for a year to usher in the new Africa Union. Dr Salim, a Tanzanian, ended his term of office on 17 September after twelve years in the post. He said he was very proud the OAU had facilitated the ending of colonialism and racism in Africa. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 18 September 2001)
* Africa/UK. Blair meets African reformers - The British prime minister, Tony Blair, has met six African presidents for talks at his country residence. The leaders of Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Botswana, Senegal, and Mozambique were invited by Mr Blair to share their views on the development of Africa. Mr Blair has named African development as a personal priority in his second term of office and correspondents say the African leaders are keen to create an image of stability in their countries to attract much-needed foreign assistance. The six African leaders and Mr Blair also condemned the attacks on the United States and pledged to work to "rid the world of the evils of terrorism". In a joint statement, they condemned the attacks "in the strongest possible terms. We consider these to have been attacks on the whole of the international community and on people of all faiths and cultures," the statement said. "We stand together today in solidarity with the United States in our determination that those responsible should be brought to justice." The meeting, which took place at Mr Blair's official country residence, Chequers, had been planned long before the 11 September attacks. (BBC News, UK, 18 September 2001)
* Africa. N. Africa seeks US aid for militant crackdown - North African countries are using last week's attacks in New York and Washington to try to persuade the US and European states to crack down on opposition activists living overseas and, in the case of Algeria, to supply weaponry to combat Islamist militants active at home. Earlier this week Algeria is reported to have given US officials a list of 350 militants wanted by the military-backed regime who, it says, are active in the west. At the same time, the Algerian regime reiterated its request for sophisticated military hardware, such as night-vision equipment, to help combat a near 10-year insurgency that has been fought by Islamist militants. Until now, the US has resisted Algeria's requests for such equipment on human rights grounds. "The North African countries are going to have to be very careful in supporting the Americans too proactively," says one European diplomat. "But at the same time some of the countries, like Algeria, recognise that there is an opportunity to say: "Look, you give us the equipment and we'll solve our own terrorist problem which prevents them from going abroad"," the diplomat says. Elsewhere in the wake of the attacks, Egyptian officials have repeated the accusation that France and the UK are harbouring "terrorists" by granting Islamists political asylum. One of those responsible for crashing an aircraft into the World Trade Centre, Muhammed Atta, is believed to have been born in Egypt. "What if these guys arrested in Hamburg are found to have received political asylum in Germany; is Germany going to be a target? What about England which has granted asylum to many terrorists?" one Egyptian official said last week. Similar sentiment has been voiced over recent years by Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, to governments in Europe. Neither Morocco nor Tunisia has the same militant tradition as Algeria or Egypt and no Moroccans or Tunisians have yet been named as being among the suspects. But two suicide bombers linked to Mr Bin Laden who last week blew themselves up and killed Ahmed Shah Masood, the Afghan opposition leader, were reported to have been Moroccan. Similarly, at least one of those held in Belgium in sweeps co-ordinated in the wake of the bombings is believed to have been Tunisian. Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of al-Nahda, Tunisia's main Islamist group, lives in exile in London and has been the subject of repeated extradition requests by the Tunisian government of Zinel Abdin Ben Ali. The UK authorities have so far resisted the requests and seem likely to continue to do so. (Financial Times, UK, 19 September 2001)
* Afrique/Etats-Unis. Après les attentats - Divers pays africains ont encore exprimé leur solidarité avec les Etats-Unis après les attentats qui ont frappé ce pays. Ainsi, le 16 septembre au Maroc, une cérémonie oecuménique à laquelle ont participé les fidèles des trois religions monothéistes, a été organisée dans la cathédrale de Rabat à la mémoire des victimes. Le gouvernement algérien a indiqué que les tragiques événements impliquaient "l'urgente et impérieuse nécessité d'une action universelle dans le cadre d'une stratégie concertée sous l'égide des Nations unies". En Libye, le colonel Kadhafi a réitéré ses condoléances et appelé à une réunion sur les motifs du terrorisme. Le président zambien a promis l'aide de son pays pour combattre le terrorisme. Le Soudan a renforcé les mesures de sécurité dans les aéroports et ports maritimes pour contrecarrer une infiltration possible de terroristes. Au Nigeria, bien que certains musulmans aient montré leur joie à l'annonce de l'attentat, la principale organisation islamique a condamné sans réserves cet acte de barbarie. Le 18 septembre, les Tanzaniens ont observé une journée de deuil et leur président a lancé un appel à la communauté internationale pour qu'elle se regroupe derrière les Etats-Unis pour traquer les terroristes. Le 19 septembre, le président sénégalais M. Wade a proposé à son homologue zambien M. Chiluba, président en exercice de l'Union africaine, un pacte africain contre le terrorisme. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 19 septembre 2001)
* Algérie. Faux repentis - La police algérienne a affirmé, le 15 septembre, que "des terroristes repentis avaient rejoint de nouveau les groupes armés", sans en préciser le nombre exact. Quelque six mille islamistes armés avaient bénéficié de la "loi sur la concorde civile" du président Bouteflika. Parallèlement, il avait libéré des milliers de condamnés impliqués dans le soutien à des groupes armés. (Le Figaro, France, 17 septembre 2001)
* Algérie. Menaces islamistes - Le Groupe salafiste pour la prédication et le combat (GSPC) d'Hassan Hattab, qui opère toujours en Kabylie, a menacé de s'en prendre aux intérêts américains et européens en Algérie si ces pays mettaient à exécution leurs menaces de représailles contre "les pays musulmans et arabes". - D'autre part, dans la nuit du 16 au 17 septembre, six personnes d'une même famille, ainsi qu'un jeune homme de 20 ans et une jeune fille de 17 ans, ont été assassinées par balles dans une cité de Sig, près de Mascara (360 km à l'ouest d'Alger). Cette tuerie porte à 78 le nombre des tués dans des violences en Algérie depuis le début du mois de septembre. - 28 islamistes ont été abattus par l'armée dans une vaste opération de ratissage dans les Monts Boukhil, situés entre Djelfa et Laghouat dans le sud algérien, a-t-on appris de bonnes sources le 18 septembre. Cette opération ciblait des éléments appartenant au GSPC. L'armée a utilisé des moyens héliportés pour venir au bout du groupe. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 18 septembre 2001)
* Algeria. Tackling Islamic militants - Security officials in Algeria have claimed a military success against an Islamist militant group that has been waging a war of insurgency for the past nine years. They said the army had killed at least 28 rebels belonging to the second biggest Islamist faction, the Salafist Group or GSPC, to the south of the capital, Algiers. The victory claim follows growing criticism of the authorities over their failure to put an end to endemic terrorism in Algeria in which an estimate 150,000 people have been killed. Reports are rare in Algeria of military successes against Islamist rebels and this claim of victory is fortuitous for the government which is facing a wave of criticism. The contrast is being made between, on the hand, the Algerian authorities inability to have any impact on the country's endemic terrorism, and, on the other hand, the forceful approach being taken by President Bush following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. (BBC News, UK, 18 September 2001)
* Angola. Savimbi hospitalisé? - Jonas Savimbi, le dirigeant du mouvement rebelle Unita, que l'on n'a plus vu en public depuis l'été 1999, est hospitalisé depuis le début du mois à Johannesburg (Afrique du Sud), selon l'hebdomadaire portugais Expresso. Il serait accompagné du secrétaire général et de hauts responsables de l'Unita. Ces informations ont été confirmées à Expresso par le révérend Chicane, conseiller du président sud-africain Thabo Mbeki et par un général de l'armée angolaise. (La Libre Belgique, 17 septembre 2001)
* Burkina Faso/Togo. Burkinabe group appeals to Togo's President to release Agboyibo - A group of eight opposition parties from Burkina Faso known as the "February 14", has appealed to Togolese President Gnassigbe Eyadema to release the leader of the Action Committee for Regeneration (ACR), Yawovi Agboyibo, unconditionally. In an open letter to Eyadema published on 19 September, the group declared that Agboyibo's six-month imprisonment "is not only a settling of old scores, but also a cowardly act to remove an embarrassing opponent from the political scene" at a time when Togo is about to opt for a democratic change in power. It pointed out that prime minister Kodjo Messan (initiator of the trial and native of the same electoral constituency as Agboyibo) has used justice to eliminate a political rival. According to the letter, the arrest and "hasty" conviction of Agboyibo was a culmination of the travesty of justice. (PANA, Senegal, 19 September 2001) 

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