Weekly anb01176.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 17-01-2002      PART #6/7

* Sierra Leone. UK backs border force  -  Sierra Leonean troops and armed 
British military advisers have begun deploying near Sierra Leone's 
sensitive borders with Guinea and Libera ahead of Sierra Leone's elections 
in May. The deployment is sensitive and potentially controversial, because 
Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels held the east for many years, and 
have in the past, used rear bases in Liberia.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 16 
January 2002)

* Sierra Leone. Accord sur un tribunal spécial  -  Le 16 janvier à 
Freetown, le gouvernement sierra-léonais et l'Onu ont signé un accord sur 
la création d'un tribunal spécial pour juger les responsables des 
innombrables atrocités commises contre la population pendant la longue 
guerre civile qui a ravagé le pays. Le tribunal pourra poursuivre pour 
"meurtre, extermination, esclavage, déportation, emprisonnement, torture, 
viol, esclavage sexuel, persécution pour motifs politiques, religieux ou 
ethniques". Concernant le douloureux dossier des enfants soldats, souvent 
envoyés commettre les pires exactions, le tribunal pourra poursuivre leurs 
recruteurs, mais aucun accusé de moins de 15 ans ne pourra être jugé. Le 
Front révolutionnaire uni (RUF) fait figure de principal accusé, mais les 
autres parties n'ont pas été en reste. Aucun représentant rebelle n'était 
d'ailleurs présent à la cérémonie de signature de l'accord.   (Libération, 
France, 17 janvier 2002)

* Sierra Leone. War crimes tribunal set up  -  16 January: Officials from 
the United Nations and the Sierra Leone Government have signed an agreement 
in the capital, Freetown, setting up a war crimes tribunal for the country. 
The Yugoslav-style war crimes court will indict those in positions of 
responsibility during a decade-long war notorious for its brutality against 
civilians. At the height of the conflict, thousands of innocent people had 
their hands chopped off by rebels simply because they supported the elected 
government. But although there is a deep desire for justice in Sierra 
Leone, the timing of the formation of the special court could not have come 
at a more sensitive time. Most of the rebels of the Revolutionary United 
Front have given up their guns to the large United Nations peacekeeping 
force here, and the rebel leaders say they want to participate peacefully 
in post-war elections to be held in May. But the imprisoned rebel leader, 
Foday Sankoh, seems bound to be the main target of the court, because his 
men committed widespread atrocities against civilians. And although the 
date for the first hearings of the court have yet to be made public, Foday 
Sankoh's trial is certain to raise the political temperature. The rebels 
have already complained that the court is biased against them, and point 
out quite correctly that many mutinous members of the government army were 
involved in atrocities against civilians as well. Details of just who will 
be indicted are expected to be revealed at a later date.   (ANB-BIA, 
Brussels, 17 January 2002)

* Somalia. Washington cultivating allies among opposition and 
neighbours  -  With US attention turning to Somalia as a possible next 
target of its war on terrorism, Washington is cultivating allies among 
Somalia's opposition and its neighbours. In Baidoa, a port city about 260 
kilometres northwest of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, officials of the 
opposition Rahawen Resistance Army say they are willing to help US forces 
go after al Qaeda members in Somalia. "Somalia is a perfect haven for 
terrorists," said Ibrahim Mohammed, the opposition group's leader. "There's 
no central government to speak of, we've been at war for more than 10 years 
and you have all kinds of bandits running around the countryside at free 
will. There's very little difference between Somalia and Afghanistan, and 
only the US can help us kick them out." US cooperation may be valuable in a 
lawless land after a decade of civil war. Baidoa's governor, Adan Mohammed, 
is quick to say an added American presence could finally bring about an 
ever-elusive peace.   (CNN, USA, 13 January 2002)

* South Africa. Cave reveals the world's oldest works of 
art  -  Archaeologists have unearthed the oldest works of art in the world 
-- two slivers of rock on which Stone Age artists etched symbolic patterns 
about 77,000 years ago. The rock art, found in a cave in South Africa, is 
twice as old as Stone Age cave paintings in southern France and 
demonstrates that humans living at this time possessed "modern" patterns of 
thought. Scientists believe that the cross-hatched engravings were 
carefully etched on to the red ochre stones, which are a form of pigmented 
iron ore that had been prepared by rubbing to create a smooth surface. 
Stone Age societies used red ochre symbolically as a body paint, and 
possibly also for skin protection and for tanning hides, but this is the 
first known example of the ochre being used to depict art. Christopher 
Henshilwood, professor of archaeology at Bergen University in Norway, led 
the team that made the discovery at the Blombos cave, 180 miles east of 
Cape Town. He believes the stones show a representation of conventions to 
express mutually understood concepts. "They may have been constructed with 
symbolic intent, the meaning of which is now unknown," Professor 
Henshilwood said. "These finds demonstrate that ochre used in the middle 
Stone Age was not exclusively utilitarian and, arguably, the transmission 
and sharing of the meaning of the engravings relied on syntactical 
language. To try to explain what the representations stand for is 
unfortunately beyond our capacity at the moment. But do they indicate a 
modern brain? I think the answer is yes. The surface of the ochre has been 
very carefully prepared", the professor added. "This is almost certainly 
not a doodle. They are symbolic." The 2in-long rocks were excavated in 1999 
and 2000 but their existence is only now being published in the journal 
Science, after two independent dating studies. "This shows the people in 
southern Africa were behaviourally modern 70,000 years ago," Professor 
Henshilwood added.   (The Independent, UK, 11 January 2002)

* Sudan. East African leaders condemn terrorism  -  10 January: Leaders of 
seven East African nations have endorsed a resolution against international 
terrorism at a regional summit in Sudan's capital, Khartoum. But 
differences between the countries, who make up the Inter-Governmental 
Authority on Development (IGAD), in particular over the definition of 
terrorism, ensured that the proposal did not include any actual concrete 
policies. Two of the participants -- Sudan and Somalia -- have been mooted 
as possible targets in any second phase of the US-led war against 
terrorism. Decisions on specific action were postponed until the next IGAD 
summit, due to be held in Uganda next year. A draft proposal suggesting 
ministers of justice and heads of security meet within two months to begin 
work on a joint campaign against terrorism was dropped because leaders 
could not agree on the meaning of the concept. Sudan's Foreign Minister, Dr 
Mustafa Osman Ismail, said it was up to the United Nations to decide on its 
definition.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 11 January 2002)

* Sudan. Ceasefire talks in Switzerland  -  14 January: The Sudanese 
government and the rebels of the Sudan Liberation Movement are meeting in 
Geneva this week to negotiate a limited ceasefire in Africa's longest 
running civil war. The Swiss authorities, who are sponsoring the talks 
jointly with the United States, say the discussions will focus on a 
limited-term but renewable ceasefire in the Nuba mountains region, in 
central Sudan. The truce will be placed under supervision by international 
observers. It is the first time the United States are mediating in talks 
between the warring sides in Sudan. Last year, the US Secretary of State, 
Colin Powell, told Congress that he would make the eighteen-year Sudanese 
civil war a priority.   (BBC News, UK, 14 January 2002)

* Soudan. Sommet de l'IGAD  -  Le 10 janvier, le président soudanais, Omar 
el Hassan el Béchir, a ouvert à Khartoum le 9e sommet des chefs d'Etat de 
l'Autorité intergouvernementale pour le développement (IGAD), en appelant à 
l'arrêt des activités de tous les groupes qui menacent la stabilité des 
Etats membres. Au menu des débats de la rencontre de deux jours vont 
figurer la coopération économique régionale, la prévention des conflits et 
les moyens de résoudre et de combattre le terrorisme. Tous les chefs d'Etat 
des sept pays membres (Djibouti, Erythrée, Ethiopie, Kenya, Ouganda, 
Somalie et Soudan) sont présents au sommet. - Le 11 janvier, le sommet 
s'est conclu avec l'approbation d'un texte sur la lutte contre le 
terrorisme et une exhortation au gouvernement de transition et aux factions 
somaliennes de s'efforcer de ramener l'ordre dans le pays. La majorité des 
observateurs a été plutôt déçue par le contenu du document, jugé trop vague 
et trop générique. Les participants ont annoncé qu'ils désiraient organiser 
une nouvelle conférence de réconciliation sur la Somalie en mars à Nairobi. 
- D'autre part, le 14 janvier, des représentants du gouvernement soudanais 
et de l'Armée populaire de libération du Soudan (SPLA) ont entamé à 
Buergenstock (Suisse) à huis clos des négociations pour un cessez-le-feu 
dans les monts Nouba (centre du Soudan).   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 
15 janvier 2002)

* Tanzania. Privatising railways  -  Tanzania is looking for a private 
company to run its railways. The government has placed adverts in 
international newspapers this week inviting the private sector to lease the 
railway infrastructure and run freight and passenger services for a period 
of 25 years. The railway is a crucial form of transport for Tanzania and 
its land-locked neighbours -- Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo -- who trade with the world through the port in Dar 
es Salaam, Tanzania's former capital. The country's rail network covers 
nearly 3,000 kilometres of tracks. The transfer of the railway from state 
to private hands is being managed by the Parastatal Sector Reform 
Commission. The Commission's co-ordinator, Heavenlight Kavishe, said that 
the small number of privatisations in Africa and the lack of big players in 
the market make it difficult to predict who will bid for the concession. 
"We've had interest from South Africa, from as far as New Zealand, from 
Canada, and I think one European company," he added. Mr Kavishe said the 
government is asking for private participation in both the maintenance of 
the track and ownership and operation of the rolling stock. Tanzania did 
look at the way railways had been privatised in Britain whilst formulating 
their strategy, according to Mr Kavishe, but allowing more than one company 
to compete on the same track has been ruled out.   (BBC News, UK, 8 January 
2002)

* Tanzanie/Burundi/Rwanda. Rapatriement de réfugiés  -  Des représentants 
du bureau du Haut commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) et 
le gouvernement tanzanien rencontrent cette semaine des représentants des 
gouvernements burundais et rwandais pour discuter du rapatriement 
volontaire des réfugiés en Tanzanie. La première réunion se déroule dans la 
capitale burundaise Bujumbura du 13 au 15 janvier, et la seconde aura lieu 
dans la capitale rwandaise Kigali les 17 et 18 janvier. Les deux rencontres 
réuniront la Commission tripartite sur les rapatriements volontaires de 
chaque pays et leur groupe de travail technique. Le président tanzanien 
Mkapa a déclaré que la Tanzanie est écrasée par le fardeau des réfugiés. 
Les Burundais constituent de loin le plus grand groupe. Le HCR vient en 
aide à 350.000 Burundais à l'ouest de la Tanzanie, alors qu'un autre groupe 
de quelque 470.000 Burundais vit dans des zones d'installation et dans des 
villages tanzaniens sans recevoir de l'aide. Environ 200.000 d'entre eux 
sont en Tanzanie depuis les années 1970.   (IRIN, Nairobi, 15 janvier 2002)

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