Weekly anb10036.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 04-10-2001      PART #6/7

* Afrique du Sud/Japon. Coopération  -  Le président sud-africain Thabo 
Mbeki, qui effectue une visite d'Etat de trois jours au Japon, a demandé à 
ce pays de jouer un rôle plus important dans le développement du continent 
africain. M. Mbeki a également convenu avec le Premier ministre japonais, 
Junichiro Koizumi, de la nécessité d'une union pour lutter contre le 
terrorisme. Le président Mbkei est accompagné d'une importante délégation, 
comprenant notamment les ministres des Affaires étrangères, de la Santé, et 
du Commerce et de l'Industrie. Le but de la visite est de resserrer les 
relations bilatérales et d'intensifier la concertation à un niveau élevé. 
Au cours de la dernière décennie, le Japon a été l'un des principaux 
partenaires de l'Afrique du Sud. En 2000, le montant des échanges 
commerciaux entre les deux pays a atteint 31,7 milliards de rands (près de 
3,5 milliards de dollars).   (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 2 octobre 2001)

* South Africa. Smuggling rife at borders  -  Lax border controls allowed 
people and goods to be smuggled across South Africa's international 
frontiers at will, according to the Pretoria-based Institute for Security 
Studies (ISS) "It seems that South Africa's international land border lines 
are open to whoever wants to enter or leave with illegal goods, including 
firearms, without being detected or brought to book for these illegal 
actions," said Ettienne Hennop, researcher for the arms management 
programme at the ISS and author of a report on the borders released on 1 
October. He said border posts were 50 per cent understaffed. But a main 
obstacle to effective control was lack of communication between police and 
army units. South Africa loses an estimated R17bn ($1.9bn) a year in 
uncollected duties as a result of illegal imports. In 1999, the police 
seized 1,053 stolen vehicles, 266 illegal firearms, 30,000 kilograms of 
cannabis and 1.5m Mandrax pills, widely abused pain killers. The police 
arrested 40,000 illegal immigrants. The army is estimated to have arrested 
double that number. The flow of illegal immigrants, which peaked in 1998, 
has not let up this year. With food shortages forecast in Zimbabwe, South 
Africa expects an increased flow of illegal "border jumpers" from the 
north. Since 1994, the government has reduced the number of police and 
soldiers on its borders. About 1,750 soldiers are deployed against 3,752 
seven years ago, to prevent the illegal flow of people, vehicles, arms and 
drugs, in support of a declining number of police officers. The report 
raises concern about the trade in firearms which is supporting violent 
crime, particularly cash-in-transit heists and low-level political 
assassinations orchestrated by large crime syndicates. About 33 per cent of 
border police believe that it is "very easy" to smuggle firearms into South 
Africa. Syndicates take advantage of the chaos at border posts to smuggle 
in firearms originating from Mozambique and Angola.   (Financial Times, UK, 
2 October 2001)

* South Africa. Senior ANC official arrested over arms deal  -  A senior 
official of the African National Congress has been arrested on charges that 
he profited from a controversial multi-billion dollar arms deal in 1999. 
Tony Yengenbi, the ANC's chief whip in parliament is being charged with 
corruption, fraud, perjury and forgery on allegations that he received a 
luxury car in return for ensuring he deal went ahead. An arrest warrant has 
also been issued for Michael Woerfel, an official with the European 
Aeronautical Defence Space Company, who is presently out of the 
country.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 3 October 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Chef du groupe parlementaire ANC arrêté  -  Le mercredi 
matin 3 octobre, la police sud-africaine a arrêté au Cap le chef du groupe 
parlementaire de l'ANC, Tony Yengeni. Il est accusé de divers délits: 
corruption, fraude et parjure. Ces accusations sont liées au scandale des 
pots-de-vin payés par la European Aeronautical Défence Space Company à 
plusieurs personnalités sud-africaines. Yengeni, mis en cause au début de 
l'été, avait alors démenti toute implication dans l'affaire. Yengeni a été 
libéré après paiement d'une caution de 10.000 rands, mais n'a pas le droit 
de quitter le pays.   (Misna, Italie, 4 octobre 2001)

* Sudan. Bank denies link with Bin Laden  -  The Sudanese bank believed to 
have been founded by Osama bin Laden has denied it had any connection with 
the suspected terrorist as Arabic banking regulators started to freeze the 
assets of his al-Qaeda organisation. A 1996 study by the US State 
Department said the Al Shamal Islamic Bank, which is based in Khartoum, was 
set up with $50m from Mr bin Laden, who teamed up with Sudan's ruling 
National Islamic Front. But on 27 September, an official at the bank said 
the institution had no links with Mr bin Laden or any members of his 
family. The official, who declined to give his name, said: "We have no 
relationship with bin Laden at all. I have worked here in this bank for 
nine years and never heard about bin Laden. I have had a look at the list 
of shareholders -- you never find that name." The bank was listed by one of 
Mr bin Laden's financial lieutenants at the trial earlier this year of 
terrorists who bombed two US embassies in Africa. Two other banks, Tademon 
Islamic and Faisal Islamic, were also named in the trial as banks where Mr 
bin Laden's supporters withdrew cash, while the group was said to have held 
accounts in London, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Cyprus and Dubai. However, the Al 
Shamal official said someone as well-financed as Mr bin Laden would be 
unlikely to bank in Sudan, where the banking sector was not 
strong.   (Financial Times, UK, 28 September 2001)

* Sudan. Rebels unhappy at peace delays  -  28 September: The Sudan 
People's Liberation Army (SPLA) say that the Khartoum government has 
informed it that peace negotiations which had been due to start on 24 
September, had been postponed indefinitely following the attacks in the 
USA. An SPLA spokesman says the government is giving flimsy reasons for not 
attending because it believed in a military solution.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 
28 September 2001)

* Soudan. Levée des sanctions  -  Le 28 septembre, les sanctions 
économiques et diplomatiques contre le Soudan ont été levées par le Conseil 
de sécurité de l'Onu sur proposition des Etats-Unis. Washington a indiqué 
avoir eu "de bonnes discussions" avec le gouvernement soudanais sur la 
coopération antiterroriste dans la foulée des attentats du 11 septembre et 
avait fait savoir qu'il ne s'opposerait pas à la levée. Lors du vote, les 
Etats-Unis se sont abstenus, alors que les quatorze autres membres du 
conseil ont voté la fin des sanctions. (Les Etats-Unis les maintiendront). 
Celles-ci avaient été imposées après l'attentat perpétré en Ethiopie, en 
1998, contre le président égyption Moubarak. Le Conseil de sécurité avait 
alors accusé Khartoum d'avoir hébergé les terroristes. Fruit de plusieurs 
mois de négociations entre les gouvernements américain et soudanais, la 
décision de lever les sanctions était prévue le 17 septembre; elle a été 
reportée en raison des attentats aux Etats-Unis. - 1er octobre. Nouveau 
signe de la détente avec Washington, le président soudanais el-Béchir a 
ordonné la suspension du procès et la libération de huit opposants de 
l'Alliance nationale démocratique, accusés de complot avec l'aide des 
Etats-Unis. Le chef de l'Etat a également suspendu le procès de 
responsables du Congrès national populaire (PNC), un parti islamique dirigé 
par son ancien allié Hassan el-Tourabi. Celui-ci restera cependant en 
résidence surveillée, par "mesure de précaution". - 2 octobre. Quelque 35 
activistes et membres du PNC ont été interpellés à Khartoum alors qu'ils 
tentaient de tenir une conférence de presse devant le siège du parti. Trois 
d'entre eux faisaient partie des prisonniers libérés la veille.   (ANB-BIA, 
de sources diverses, 3 octobre 2001)

* Sudan. Tensions ease  -  28 September: The United Nations has lifted 
sanctions against Sudan after the United States dropped its objections to 
the move. The US abstained from the Security Council vote, but all the 
other 14 countries voted to end the sanctions. The UN had imposed the 
sanctions on Sudan in 1996 to try to force the country to hand over several 
people suspected of involvement in failed plot to assassinate Egypt's 
President Mubarak. 1 October: President Omar al-Bashir has ordered the 
release of the dissident islamic leader, Hassan al-Turabi and his 
followers. He also has told Members of Parliament that he is dropping 
another case against a group of opposition politicians accused of plotting 
with the USA against Sudan. 2 October: A senior adviser to President 
al-Bashir has said the IGAD-sponsored peace process is a crucial part of 
efforts to end the civil war.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 4 October 2001)

* Swaziland. The king takes eighth wife  -  King Mswati III of Swaziland 
has stunned the country by taking a 17-year-old schoolgirl as his eighth 
wife. A formal visit by the king to the girls' parents was made at the 
weekend completing the traditional wedding process. The marriage has 
attracted much comment as it comes just weeks after the king imposed a 
five-year sex ban on young girls saying he wanted to revive the old custom 
of preserving a young girl's virginity as well as helping halt the spread 
of HIV/AIDS. Some girls said that by taking a teenage schoolgirl as his 
wife the king was in effect undermining his own ban. Any man found breaking 
the cultural ban called "umchwasho" is either fined an animal such as a cow 
or will be liable to pay about $160.The 33-year-old king picked the 
schoolgirl called La Masango during the annual reed dance in 1999. She 
attends the Mjingo High School for Girls in the industrial city of Manzini 
and is in the fourth form. Meanwhile, another fiancee is already being 
groomed for the king. She is also a young student who has been taken from 
her parents' house to the royal family. This means she no longer has to 
wear the traditional woven cloth of unmarried girls which distinguishes 
them from married women.   (BBC News, UK, 28 September 2001

* Tanzania/Zanzibar. Economic progress  -  The Zanzibari government has 
authorised a Canadian company, Antrim Resources, to prospect for oil off 
Pemba and Zanzibar islands. The Canadian form obtained licence to prospect 
for oil in the country in 1997, but did not start exploration because it 
had not received approval from the Zanzibari government. On 24 September, 
the IMF completed the third review of Tanzania's arrangement under the 
Poverty reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF). As a result, Tanzania is now 
immediately able to draw up to 20 million Special Drawing Rights (SDR), 
worth about US $26 million, under the arrangement.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 27 
September 2001)

* Tanzanie/Rwanda. Rapatriement des réfugiés  -  Le 28 septembre, lors 
d'une visite du président rwandais Kagame à Dar es Salaam, le président 
tanzanien Mkapa a assuré qu'il n'y aurait pas de rapatriement forcé des 
dizaines de milliers de réfugiés rwandais installés dans les camps de 
Tanzanie. Une commission comprenant les gouvernements des deux pays et le 
HCR a été formée pour surveiller les opérations de rapatriement volontaire, 
a dit M. Mkapa. M. Kagame s'est pour sa part dit satisfait de ses 
discussions avec son hôte concernant les relations bilatérales et la 
sécurité dans la région des Grands Lacs.   (PANA, Sénégal, 28 septembre 2001)

* Tunisie. Marzouki: peine réduite  -  Condamné en décembre dernier à un an 
de prison ferme, l'opposant tunisien Moncef Marzouki a vu, le 29 septembre, 
sa peine réduite en appel à un an avec sursis. Membre fondateur du Conseil 
national des libertés en Tunisie (CNLT, non reconnu), M. Marzouki avait été 
condamné en première instance à un an d'emprisonnement pour "appartenance à 
une association illégale" et "diffusion de fausses nouvelles de nature à 
troubler l'ordre public". Professeur de médecine à la faculté de Sousse, 
cet ancien président de la Ligue tunisienne des droits de l'homme avait été 
licencié de son emploi en juillet dernier pour "abandon de poste", selon le 
motif invoqué par les autorités. - Deux observateurs d'Amnesty 
International, venus assister au procès, ont été détenus quelques heures 
par la police. Amnesty a l'intention de porter plainte.   (ANB-BIA, de 
sources diverses, 1er octobre 2001)

* Tunisia. President Ben Ali's fourth term plan  -  27 September: The 
ruling party in Tunisia is set to change the country's constitution, to 
allow President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to run for a fourth term in 
elections set for 2003. The Constitutional Democratic Rally, or RCD, has 
called on Mr Ben Ali to be its candidate, but opposition parties and human 
rights workers have expressed dismay at the prospect. With the ruling RCD 
dominating parliament a change in the constitution is a formality. Mr Ben 
Ali's critics say Tunisia is functioning as a one-party state and that all 
media outlets express government opinion. Under changes to Tunisia's 
constitution in the 1980s, presidents are only allowed to stand for a 
maximum of three five-year terms. Mr Ben Ali has described the ruling 
party's central committee as patriotic for endorsing him as their 
presidential candidate. His response indicates that he will be only too 
willing to continue to play the role. With the RCD dominating the country's 
parliament, a change in the constitution is expected to be a formality. 29 
September: Tunisia's opposition Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) has 
described the nomination of President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali for an 
unprecedented fourth mandate as "a very dangerous step for our national 
life". The party was reacting to the RCD central committee's decision to 
nominate Ben Ali as its candidate for the next presidential elections in 
2004. The committee endorsed calls made by RCD branches to submit his 
candidature although he is constitutionally barred after ruling the country 
for three five-year mandates. However, in a statement published in Tunis on 
29 September, the opposition PDP called on the ruling party to abide by 
article 39 of the Tunisian constitution, which limits the presidential 
mandate to two terms only. The party denounced the monopolisation of the 
Presidency by one person.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 1 October 2001)

Weekly anb1003.txt - End of part 6/7