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Weekly anb02147.txt #8

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 14-02-2002      PART #7/8
* Afrique du Sud. Sida: Mandela s'insurge - Le 7 février, Nelson Mandela a critiqué les hésitations sud-africaines sur le traitement du sida, affirmant que la lutte contre la transmission du VIH de la mère à l'enfant est "centrale". L'ancien président faisait référence aux doutes entretenus par le gouvernement, et en particulier le président Thabo Mbeki, sur le lien de causalité entre le VIH et le sida, sur l'efficacité des antirétroviraux et sur les moyens nécessaires. Une attitude de plus en plus critiquée par la presse, les Eglises, les syndicats et les médecins. Mandela a toutefois laissé entendre qu'un changement de cap était en vue: "Beaucoup de gens, en particulier au gouvernement, réfléchissent très sérieusement aux remarques qui ont été faites". Le président Mbeki a ainsi cessé, du moins publiquement, de mettre en cause le lien entre le VIH et le sida. Mais l'Etat est toujours critiqué pour son refus de généraliser les antirétroviraux, notamment la Nevirapine, qui empêche l'infection des enfants à naître, alors que 70.000 bébés naissent séropositifs chaque année en Afrique du Sud. - Par ailleurs, le 8 février, la Commission européenne a approuvé un programme de 50 millions d'euros afin d'aider l'Afrique du Sud à lutter contre le sida. Ce programme, qui s'étalera sur six ans, a été ciblé pour "les plus pauvres d'entre les pauvres". Il est destiné à financer des aides aux communautés locales et à domicile, dans le cadre des soins de santé de base. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 9 février 2002)
* South Africa. South African bank's accounts frozen - Deposits have been frozen at the eighth largest bank in Africa after bankruptcy fears spurred savers to withdraw more than 1bn rand ($87m) last week. Fears that Saambou Bank's bad debts in its microlending business, which lends small sums to individuals and small businesses, could pull it under were growing among customers who were left unable to access their accounts. Saambou has a 5% share of the country's retail savings market. The run on the bank led the central bank, South African Reserve Bank, to step in and place it under curatorship. Both the bank itself, several economists and the Registrar of Banks, Christo Wiese, insisted the Saambou remains solvent. But the Reserve Bank said panic withdrawals threatened to leave it with liquidity problems. The curator appointed by the Reserve Bank, John Louw, will look at the bank's finances before savers will be told when they can once again access their accounts. The freezing of Saambou's accounts came less than a month after the country's number one retail bank, Absa, was hit by news that its small loans arm has run up 1.5bn rand in bad debts in the microlending segment. (BBC News, UK, 10 February 2002)
* Afrique du Sud. Changements de noms - La province du Nord sud-africaine change de nom à partir de ce 14 février. Elle s'appelera désormais Limpopo. Son chef-lieu, Pietersburg, est rebaptisé Polokwane, qui signifie "lieu de sécurité". (Misna, Italie, 14 février 2002)
* South Africa. Magistrates accused - The South African government is taking up to 28 magistrates to court in a civil action that accuses them of abusing several million pounds of public funds to install luxuries such as outside lounges and swimming pools at their homes and offices. The departments of public works and justice are suing "more than 20 magistrates" around the country and some contractors who they claim were involved in a costly swindle in which departmental concessions were used for luxuries instead of maintenance work as intended. The respected Afrikaans daily Beeld reported on 13 February that the crack police Scorpions unit was also investigating criminal charges of fraud and corruption against dozens of senior judicial figures. Beeld exposed the "lapa" (outside lounges) scandal four years ago, at the start of an official investigation into claims that magistrates or financial controllers in their offices abused a justice department concession allowing them to authorise up to 3,000 rand for critical maintenance work. "The investigation showed that some magistrates used the money to erect and fit luxury items such as "lapas", electric gates, new carpets and swimming pools at official magistrates' residences and offices under the guise of it being necessary maintenance," Beeld reported. At some offices, thousands of invoices for small amounts were paid out for work worth millions. Now the state is ready to prosecute, two contractors and a financial controller have been arrested, summonses are being prepared and the High Court will be asked to order magistrates and contractors to repay the government "millions of rand". Judge Willem Heath, a former government corruption-buster involved in the initial investigation, said: "We will not rest before every cent owed the state is recovered from the magistrates and contractors." (The Independent, UK, 14 February 2002)
* Sudan. Government attacks rebels - 7 February: A spokesman for the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), said the government of Khartoum has not respected the cease-fire in the Nuba mountains and has blocked the arrival of international aid for the Nuba population. The spokesman said on 6 February, in Nairobi (Kenya), that government forces opened fire against rebel soldiers on 3 February, creating new hostilities and a climate of insecurity. There was no independent confirmation of the claim and no immediate comment from the government in Khartoum. Rebels in the mainly Christian or animist South, have been fighting the Islamic government in Khartoum for a greater autonomy since 1983. The conflict has since killed about 2 million people. The UN says hundreds of thousands of people are in desperate need of food and aid to survive. The cease-fire, which is renewable every six months, was reached in Switzerland during last January, between the SPLA and the government of Khartoum. The government of President Omar Hassan al Beshir had recently demonstrated particular interest in the cease-fire in the region, particularly aimed at restoring peace in the nation's main oil zones in the State of El Ouahda (450km south-west of the capital). (MISNA, Italy, 7 February 2002)
* Sudan. Cardinal calls for protest campaign - One of the Holy See's highest exponents proposed the launching of an international campaign of protest against Sudan for violating human rights. Cardinal Roberto Tucci, president of Vatican Radio's administration committee, launched this initiative today when commenting on the case of 18-year-old Christian Abok Alfa Akok, condemned to death by stoning for being pregnant out of wedlock. The woman says she had been raped. "For years in Sudan there has been authentic persecution by the Muslim government against the peoples of the south, black skins, of Christian or animist religion," the Cardinal told Vatican Radio. "At the end of the year 2000, the civil war that began again in 1983 between the Arab Muslim north and the Christian, animist south, had cost the lives of some 2 million people," he said. "The Shariah [Islamic law] has been applied to a person who is not Muslim," he said. "It would be appropriate to start a campaign of protest against what is happening. Why doesn't the UN intervene?" the Cardinal wondered. "The United Nations Commission for Human Rights is concerned with the case, but perhaps this action should be supported by an authentic international campaign that will serve to shed light on the Sudanese situation." The first to support the Cardinal's initiative was Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kisangani, president of the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM). (Zenit, Italy, 7 February 2002)
* Soudan. Chrétienne graciée - Une chrétienne soudanaise de 18 ans, condamnée selon la charia à la lapidation pour être enceinte sans être mariée (voir En brefANB-BIA 2 février), a finalement été graciée, a annoncé la communauté Sant'Egidio à Rome. Une large campagne, soutenue notamment par Radio-Vatican, avait été menée en sa faveur. (La Croix, France, 12 février 2002)
* Sudan. UN protests at bombing - The UN food agency is to protest to Sudan after two children were killed by bombs dropped by a government plane near a food distribution point. The World Food Programme (WFP) said the incident took place on 11 February in the town of Akuem in the southern province of Bahr El Ghazal, where government troops are battling rebel forces. It said a 12-year-old girl and another child were killed and around a dozen people injured in the raid by a plane from the government side. "The WFP condemns firmly these bombings that have killed people (and) it will lodge an official protest with government authorities," the United Nations agency said in a statement. "It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that food aid can be distributed in complete safety to the people who need it to survive," it added. (CNN, USA, 13 February 2002)
* Soudan. Bombardements au Sud - Le 12 février, les Etats-Unis ont condamné fermement un bombardement de l'armée de l'air soudanaise survenu la veille contre des civils regroupés pour recevoir de l'aide alimentaire. Deux enfants avaient été tués. Le bombardement est survenu à Akuem (région du Bahr el-Ghazal) après qu'un appareil du Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM) venait de parachuter des vivres. "Cette attaque horrible montre que la prise pour cible d'opérations civiles continue", a déploré le porte-parole du département d'Etat, Richard Boucher. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 14 février 2002)
* Tanzania. Fighting US gem boycott - A Tanzanian mining industry delegation has left for Washington to try and persuade US jewellers to lift their boycott of the semi-precious gem, Tanzanite. The boycott was imposed after a Wall Street Journal article alleged that sales of the blue-to-violet gemstones were funding the al-Qaeda network. The mining industry in Tanzania -- the only country in the world where the gemstone is found -- has been hit hard by the boycott, announced last November. Minister for Energy and Minerals Edgar Maokola-Majogo is leading what his ministry is calling a "high-powered" delegation. A representative of the Tanzania Miners Association met the minister in the capital Dodoma this week, warning him that the boycott could effectively wipe out the Tanzanite industry. (BBC News, UK, 7 February 2002)
* Tanzania. African peacekeeping exercise - Sixteen African countries will join a French-led exercise to boost the continent's peacekeeping skills to be held in Tanzania this month. More than 2,000 troops are due to join the manoeuvres from February 15 to 22 under the auspices of France's Reinforcement of African Peacekeeping Capabilities scheme, as part of an initiative to improve coordination between the continent's armies, French officers said. The exercises are to assist African governments to cope with crises in the field of political backlash, humanitarian or natural disasters like earthquakes. The French-led initiative coincides with an exercise by 3,000 US troops in Kenya this month to improve the US military's cooperation with the east African country. Troops from France, Kenya, Madagascar and the 14 member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which includes Tanzania, will participate in the exercise. Twelve navy ships including the amphibian Siroco, three ships from South Africa, three from Kenya, two from Tanzania and one from Madagascar will be involved in the exercises around the coastal cities of Dar Es Salaam and Tanga. The United States, Britain, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Canada are also taking part, while observer countries include China, Japan, India, Australia and Argentina. (CNN, USA, 7 February 2001)
* Tanzania/Mozambique. Winning US export rights - Tanzania and Mozambique have secured the right to export clothes duty-free to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) scheme. Tanzania was given approval on 11 February and Mozambique's will be published shortly. Tanzania's approval comes 18 months after it became eligible and began to implement AGOA's strict conditions, which includes a system to verify the goods exported were actually produced in Tanzania. Under AGOA, countries can export unlimited amounts of apparel made from US textiles to the US without duty or quotas. Existing quotas on exporting locally produced fabrics to the US will also be enlarged. The US law also means that low-income countries like Tanzania and Mozambique can export some textile products made from cloth which they themselves have imported from countries other than the US. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 12 February 2002)
* Tanzania. Muslims in mosque riot - Rival groups of Muslims have held running battles with armed riot police around a mosque in the Tanzanian commercial capital of Dar es Salaam. The two groups had been at loggerheads over use of the Mwembechai mosque for a service to commemorate two Muslims who died in religious riots in 1998. Riot police surrounded the mosque early on the afternoon of 13 February to prevent what they termed a possibly volatile situation. But violence flared after members of the so-called Ponda group gathered in the area with the intention of holding special prayers without the permission of the group currently occupying the mosque. Correspondents say police with batons arrested and beat scores of Muslims and used teargas in an attempt to disperse the crowd. Police sealed off the area, saying they expected to spend the night outside the mosque to ensure that demonstrators did not return. It was unclear how many people had been injured in the rioting. (BBC News, UK, 14 February 2002) 

Weekly anb0214.txt - #7/8