Weekly anb11297.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 29-11-2001      PART #7/7

* Zambia. Presidential candidates  -  Zambians are expected to go to the 
polls this year, but the government has not yet announced the date of 
elections. Major opposition parties has described the government stance as 
a political gimmick. Whilst many Zambians are speculating when the 
elections will be held, the government has started campaigning by 
distributing fertiliser to small-scale farmers. It has also released Kwacha 
6 billion to pay the defunct Zambia Airways employees. The following 
candidates are presently listed as vying for the presidency. They are: Levy 
Mwanawasa; General Christon Tembo; Brig.Gen. Godfrey Miyanda; Michael Sata; 
Ben Mwila; Anderson Mazoka; Dr. Nevers Mumba. The Electoral Commission has 
completed compiling the voters' register, and voters are collecting their 
voters' cards.   (Justin Mupundu, ANB-BIA, Zambia, 19 November 2001

* Zambie. Elections le 27 décembre  -  Après plusieurs mois d'incertitude, 
le président Chiluba a finalement annoncé la date des élections générales; 
elles auront lieu le 27 décembre prochain. Les électeurs seront appelés à 
choisir leur chef d'Etat, leurs députés et leurs administrateurs locaux. Le 
président Chiluba quittera le pouvoir au terme de deux mandats de cinq ans. 
Quelque dix candidats rivalisent dans la course à l'élection 
présidentielle. En décidant de convoquer les élections avec un préavis d'un 
peu plus d'un mois, M. Chiluba compte probablement exploiter les divisions 
existant à l'intérieur de l'opposition pour favoriser le candidat de son 
parti, Levy Mwanawasa.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 22 novembre 2001)

* Zambia. Post-Christmas poll for Zambia  -  22 November: Zambia's 
long-awaited general elections are to be held on 27 December, President 
Frederick Chiluba has announced. President Chiluba, who is expected to 
retire after the poll after serving two terms of five years, has also 
dissolved parliament to pave the way for the elections. Three of Mr 
Chiluba's four former vice presidents are seeking to replace him as 
president, running for different parties. There will also be parliamentary 
and municipal polls. Zambia has been gripped by election fever for months, 
with everyone aware that the president was due to stand down by the end of 
the year --after he failed to push through constitutional changes enabling 
him to stand again.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 22 November 2001)

* Zambia. Zambian troops kill 10 Angolans  -  Zambian soldiers patrolling 
the border in Western Province have killed 10 Angolans, Zambian President 
Frederick Chiluba said. Speaking during a campaign tour of the Copperbelt 
region on 22 November, Mr Chiluba did not say exactly where and when the 
incident took place. But he stressed that the two countries were not at war 
and that patient negotiations would resolve the crisis. The latest 
revelations came as Angola's special envoy, the deputy foreign minister, 
George Chikoti, announced the holding next week in Lusaka of a meeting to 
discuss the border crisis. He had been sent here to pass on the condolences 
of Angola's president over the killing of seven Zambians a fortnight ago. 
Fighting between government forces and Unita rebels had recently 
intensified in eastern Angola, the envoy said, adding that it was possible 
that the Zambian civilians, including a teacher and two village headmen, 
had been caught in crossfire. He also took the opportunity to refute recent 
media reports that Angolans were demanding, or had indeed seized, any 
Zambian territory.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 23 November 2001)

* Zambie/Angola. Résoudre le conflit frontalier  -  Le lundi 26 novembre, 
la Zambie a envoyé à Luanda une délégation de quatre officiers supérieurs, 
conduite par le commandant Henry Nkweto, pour discuter avec les autorités 
angolaises du conflit frontalier qui couve entre les deux pays. La réunion 
de 48 heures, qui commence le mardi, intervient à la suite de récentes 
attaques des deux côtés durant lesquelles sept civils zambiens et dix 
soldats angolais ont trouvé la mort. La rencontre est destinée à empêcher 
de nouvelles attaques, a commenté le ministre angolais de la 
Défense.   (PANA, Sénégal, 26 novembre 2001)

* Zambia. Moves to shore up currency  -  Zambia's central bank has 
introduced urgent measures to defend the value of the national currency, 
the kwacha. A spokesman for the bank said it would raise the proportion of 
deposits commercial banks must keep with the central bank and tighten up 
compliance with foreign exchange laws. The kwacha has lost almost a quarter 
of its value in the nine months since Lusaka relaxed monetary policy, and 
the bank is concerned that the fall could lead to 
higher-inflation.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 27 November 2001)

* Zambia. Voter apathy in rural Zambia  -  Mporokoso in Zambia's Northern 
Province is home to about 5,000 people, and is one of the country's many 
remote communities. Days after outgoing President Frederick Chiluba finally 
announced an election date of 27 December -- right in the middle of the 
Christmas holiday and the rainy season, people are beginning to hear the 
news. Here, even tuning into a radio station is a hit-and-miss affair so 
news inevitably trickles through slowly. Mporokoso is 200 km from the 
nearest large town, Kasama, where daily newspapers are sold -- albeit a day 
after publication -- and people can listen to radio and television 
stations. But the road is in terrible condition, and most locals, market 
traders and subsistence farmers, have little reason to travel. They remain 
cut off from the political goings-on in the capital, Lusaka, and many do 
not seem to mind. Mporokoso has been without a MP since June, when the 
local one bailed out of the ruling party Movement for Multi-Party Democracy 
into the opposition Forum for Development and Democracy.   (BBC News, UK, 
28 November 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Priorities all wrong  -  HIV/AIDS is the number one killer in 
Africa, and is robbing the continent of skilled and productive young 
people. One would expect the regional media to prioritise matters related 
to HIV/AIDS. In Zimbabwe, we are talking of a country where 17% of its 12 
million people are infected with the AIDS virus. This means Zimbabwe will 
have a zero per cent population growth rate next year, mainly because of 
the AIDS pandemic. But media interests seem centred on such news items as 
the bombing in Afghanistan; and within Zimbabwe --political violence and 
the land conflict. Also, the Government's priorities seem to be elsewhere, 
as well. The 1 November 2001 budget, earmarked Z$4 billion for the land 
resettlement programme, and Z$34 billion will go to the defence 
budget.   (Dum. Khumalo, ANB-BIA, Zimbabwe, 7 November 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Mesures répressives  -  L'atmosphère s'aigrit de jour en jour 
au Zimbabwe. Le 20 novembre, le leader de l'opposition Morgan Tsvangirai 
(qui avait déclaré l'année dernière que le président Mugabe courait le 
risque d'être chassé du pouvoir s'il ne s'en allait pas de lui-même) a été 
acquitté par la Cour suprême, car la loi sur laquelle se basait 
l'accusation a été retenue comme inconstitutionnelle. Mais le 21 novembre, 
on apprenait que Mugabe avait donné son accord à un nouveau projet de loi 
contre le terrorisme. Selon le journal officiel The Herald, une personne 
condamnée pour avoir tenté de renverser le gouvernement risque la prison à 
vie ou la peine de mort. Et les journalistes qui publient des déclarations 
encourageant "l'hostilité au président" risquent un an de prison. Le 22 
novembre, The Herald annonçait aussi que bientôt les Zimbabwéens devront 
avoir sur eux une carte d'identité, un passeport ou un permis de conduire, 
sous peine d'un an de prison. "Le gouvernement crée une atmosphère 
répressive avec toutes ces mesures draconiennes", a déclaré un porte-parole 
de la Commission Justice et Paix. Un récent sondage avait indiqué que M. 
Tsvangirai l'emporterait sur Mugabe aux élections présidentielles de l'an 
prochain, si elles étaient libres et honnêtes. Ce dernier semble maintenant 
introduire des lois qui permettraient la mise hors la loi du parti de 
Tsvangirai, le MDC, ou de le condamner lui-même. Ces derniers mois, M. 
Mugabe a aussi nommé des juges qui lui sont tributaires. Par ailleurs, le 
23 novembre, le gouvernement a rendu publique une liste de six noms de 
correspondants étrangers (4 de journaux britanniques, un d'AP et un 
Sud-Africain) accusés d'aider les activités "terroristes" dans le pays. Un 
activiste sud-africain des droits de l'homme figure également sur cette 
liste.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 23 novembre 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Getting tough on ID cards  -  The Zimbabwean government has 
announced plans to introduce legislation allowing it to jail or fine people 
who move about without identity cards. The projected legislation, reported 
by the official Herald newspaper, is the latest in a string of restrictions 
which critics say are designed to hamper the political opposition ahead of 
presidential elections early next year. Four years ago, the Supreme Court 
ruled that such a measure would be unconstitutional, but the paper quoted 
the government as saying it was designed to combat increasing crime and 
terrorism. It has recently accused the opposition of carrying out acts of 
terrorism. On 21 November, the government said it would introduce tough new 
security laws making a wide range of offenses punishable with life 
imprisonment or death.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 23 November 2001)

* Zimbabwe/UE. Le torchon brûle  -  Le 23 novembre, un entretien entre le 
président Mugabe et une délégation de l'Union européenne, conduite par le 
ministre belge des Affaires étrangères M. Michel, a tourné à l'affrontement 
verbal. Les divisions euro-zimbabwéennes portent notamment sur la réforme 
agraire engagée par Mugabe. Mais le ton a surtout monté lorsque la 
délégation a évoqué le rapport de l'Onu sur les pillages des ressources du 
Congo-RDC, et lorsque les Quinze ont laissé entendre qu'ils ne 
reconnaîtront pas le vainqueur de la prochaine élection présidentielle si 
l'organisation du scrutin et le climat qui entoure la campagne n'étaient 
pas modifiés. Faute d'accepter des normes minimales pour la tenue du 
scrutin et l'envoi d'observateurs indépendants, l'Union européenne a déjà 
agité la menace de sanctions à l'encontre du Zimbabwe dans les soixante 
jours.   (D'après Le Soir, Belgique, 24 novembre 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Unrest spirals  -  26 November: More than 10,000 employees of 
Zimbabwe's state-owned National Railways went on strike, today, forcing the 
suspension of services and causing further chaos in the troubled country. 
The rail workers are protesting against the state company's decision to 
spread their annual bonus over three payments instead of paying it in a 
single lump sum. The National Railways management said it had appealed to 
former employees to return to work on a contract basis and hoped to resume 
some services within 48 hours. The strike had disrupted caused disruptions 
around the country. Businesses in Bulawayo, where the railway headquarters 
are situated, said filling stations were running out of fuel and motorists 
had formed long queues. 27 November: Riot police in Harare have used 
teargas to break up a student protest over the killing of another student 
by a soldier. US State Department Correspondents say hundreds of students 
had gathered at the University of Zimbabwe planning to march to parliament 
and hand in a petition. But before they could set off, riot police sealed 
off the campus and started to beat them up. Students said they had wanted 
to march peacefully to hand in their petition, which denounced army 
indiscipline and called for the resignation of President Robert Mugabe. The 
latest violence came as the United States joined the chorus of 
international condemnation of Mr Mugabe's government. The student protest 
came in response to the death over the weekend of student Lameck Chemvura, 
who was thrown from a train by a soldier.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 28 November 
2001)

* Zimbabwe. Churches defy Mugabe  -  Faced with increasing reports of 
deaths from malnutrition in Zimbabwe, churches are openly defying an edict 
from President Robert Mugabe that only ruling-party officials may 
distribute food aid. The churches' defiance comes as an independent 
newspaper, the Financial Gazette, reveals today that the 77-year-old leader 
has ordered bomb-proof underground bunkers to be dug around his home and 
offices, as well as the delivery of 86 army trucks believed to come from 
Austria -- although there is an EU embargo on defence equipment to 
Zimbabwe. The underground chambers, to be built of reinforced concrete, are 
being planned to allow Mr Mugabe to prepare for unrest or civil war, in the 
event of his losing next year's elections, according to the paper. In 
Bulawayo and rural districts in the south of the country, Mr Mugabe's 
campaign to stay in power has already translated into hunger among 
thousands of people, according to the prominent Roman Catholic Archbishop 
Pius Ncube. He said: "The hunger is caused by the government's hypocrisy. 
It wants to distribute food assistance itself, so as to buy votes. It does 
not care how many people die as long as it can stay in power." The looming 
crisis comes after Mr Mugabe earlier this month banned hundreds of the 
country's commercial farmers from working their land and told their 
properties had, in effect, been nationalised. (...) In Masase, a village of 
some 2,000 people in the Midlands, it is the Lutherans who are defying the 
ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, and covertly 
supplying food. It is to people like Reverend Anders Berglund, from the 
Swedish Church, that Zimbabwe's Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, refers 
when he claims foreigners "might try to smuggle election monitors into 
Zimbabwe using the guise of food aid". Rev Anders said: "Children are 
fainting in class and the school day has had to be shortened because kids 
do not have the energy to concentrate."   (The Independent, UK, 29 November 
2001)

Weekly anb1129.txt - End of #7/7  - THE END



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(W. Soyinka, Prix Nobel litterature) - Everytime somebody keep silent when 
faced with tyranny, someone else dies (Wole Syinka, Nobel Prize for 
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