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Weekly anb02284.txt #7

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 28-02-2002      PART #4/7
* Ethiopia/Eritrea. Religions build reconciliation - "Meetings between Ethiopian and Eritrean religious leaders are important for promoting reconciliation among the two countries", Fides was told by the Papal Representative Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Nuncio to Ethiopia and Eritrea. He was commenting an ecumenical interreligious exchange of visits and prayers between representatives of Muslims and Christians, (Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants) of both countries. As an act of peace, on February 13 an Ethiopian delegation of religious leaders visited Asmara and on February 14 an Eritrean religious delegation made a return visit to Addis Ababa. The leaders were joined by thousands of faithful for peace prayer services, the Christians in church and the Muslims at the mosque. Archbishop Tomasi says the meetings "show that religions have a leading role to play in promoting reconciliation among the two countries, divided by a bloody war over borders from 1998 to 2000" (Fides, Vatican City, 21 February 2002)
* Ethiopie/Erythré. Les religieux pour la paix - "La rencontre des chefs religieux d'Ethiopie et d'Erythrée est un pas très important pour la réconciliation entre les deux pays", a déclaré à Fides Mgr Silvano M. Tomasi, nonce apostolique en Ethiopie et en Erythrée, à propos de la visite en Erythrée, le 13 février, des représentants religieux éthiopiens (orthodoxes, catholiques, protestants et musulmans). Le 14 février, les chefs religieux érythréens ont rendu la visite en allant à Addis-Abeba. Mgr Tomasi considère que les rencontres entre les dirigeants religieux ont non seulement une grande valeur symbolique, mais "montrent que les Eglises et les groupes religieux veulent avoir un rôle d'avant-garde pour la réconciliation entre les deux pays", divisés par un conflit sanglant, pour une dispute de frontières qui a duré de 1998 à 2000. Les rencontres entre les chefs religieux d'Ethiopie et d'Erythrée ont été préparées par l'oeuvre norvégienne "Church Aid" qui a organisé 6 réunions entre 1998 et 2001: 3 à Oslo, une à Francfort, une à New York, une à Nairobi. (Fides, Cité du Vatican, 21 février 2002)
* Ethiopia. Somali region sacks officials - The government of Ethiopia's Somali region has sacked seven of its top officials on charges of corruption. The decision was taken by an executive meeting of the governing Democratic Peoples Party. The seven ministers, which include the vice president Adam Abdulahi, were suspended last month after being accused of self-interest and nepotism. The authorities are to convene a special regional congress to discuss the issue. (BBC News, UK, 27 February 2002)
* Ghana. Cacao: augmentation du prix à la production - Au Ghana, depuis le 22 février, est entré en vigueur une augmentation de 41% du prix à la production du cacao, la plus grande source de recettes d'exportation du pays. Dans sa présentation du budget au Parlement à Accra, le ministre des Finances, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, a annoncé que le cacao rapporterait désormais 6,2 millions de cédis (environ 815 dollars) la tonne, contre 4,384 millions de cédis auparavant. (PANA, Sénégal, 24 février 2002)
* Guinée/Liberia/Sierra Leone. Sommet au Maroc - Les 26 et 27 février à Rabat, les présidents de la Sierra Leone, du Liberia et de la Guinée ont participé à un sommet sur la paix, organisé à l'initiative du Maroc. Les trois chefs d'Etat s'accusent mutuellement de soutenir les mouvements rebelles qui sévissent dans leur pays respectif. La rencontre intervient alors que le Liberia connaît depuis plusieurs semaines une flambée de violence alimentée par les rebelles du LURD (Libériens unis pour la réconciliation et la démocratie) que le président Taylor accuse d'être soutenus par la Guinée. Taylor à son tour est accusé d'avoir soutenu en Sierra Leone les rebelles du Front révolutionnaire uni (RUF) pour profiter du trafic régional de diamants. - Le 27 février, le sommet de Rabat s'est achevé par une déclaration commune, qui se limite à une déclaration de bonnes intentions. Les trois chefs d'Etat ont réaffirmé la nécessité de "la sécurité totale le long de leurs frontières communes, le rapatriement des réfugiés et l'asssistance aux personnes déplacées, et la réactivation du secrétariat de l'Union du fleuve Mano". Ils ont aussi "expressément condamné les activités des groupes armés non gouvernementaux dans leur région". (AP, 26-27 février 2002)
* Kenya. Halting land allocation - Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi has frozen the allocation of publicly-owned land to private individuals or businesses, in an effort to end illegal land grabbing. A decision to resume the programme will be taken after a land commission set up three years ago submits its final report, probably in October. The president acknowledged that current practices had resulted in grave irregularities and raised serious concerns. President Moi said the situation had led to the serious depletion of forests, wildlife corridors and amenity land. Correspondents say members of the government have been regularly accused of giving government land to party supporters and sympathizers. Town and city councillors throughout the country are also regularly accused of grabbing public land to sell for profit. The 78-year-old president, who has been in power for 23 years, said in some instances land had been allocated illegally. The commission of inquiry into the land law system which he appointed in November 1999 was, among other things, given the task of undertaking a broad view of land issues in the country and recommending the main principles of land policy framework. (BBC News, UK, 21 February 2002)
* Kenya. Regional Conference on Street Children - The Civil Society Forum for East and Southern Africa on Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Street Children, was held in Nairobi from 11-13 February. The conference was jointly organised by the British Consortium for Street Children, and Street Child Africa, as well as Kenya's Undugu Society of Kenya, founded by the late Father Arnold Grol, Missionary of Africa, a pioneer in the work with street children in Nairobi. Participants listed poverty, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the high cost of education as the main causes for the increasing number of street children all over the continent. They pledged to lobby their national governments and international organisations, ahead of the Special UN Session on the Rights of the Child, in May this year, to adopt measures to improve the life of street children. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 24 April 2002)
* Kenya. Controversial sale of Seed Company shares - The Kenya Seed Company has concluded a controversial sale of 3.36 million shares of the parastatal to selected private investors for $1.7 million, despite the rejection of the deal by the government. At stake is the country's food security, since seed multiplication is a strategic exercise which the government is not ready to hand over entirely to the private sector. The private placement will see the government ownership through the Agricultural Development Corporation fall from 53% to about 40% as private interests gain control at 50.6%. (The East African, Kenya, 18-24 February 2002)
* Kenya. Policeman victim of crime wave - Kenyan police are investigating the killing of one of the country's most senior officers, Njiru Kianda, in a shooting in Nairobi early on the morning of 25 February. Mr Kianda, who was a senior deputy police commissioner, was attacked by a group of gunmen as he sat in his car after dropping a colleague off at his home. A police spokesman says: "A few people have been detained in connection with the murder but none has yet been charged". Just two weeks ago, another senior police officer was killed in Nairobi. Correspondents say the murder of Kenya's third most senior police officer will increase Nairobi residents' security concerns. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 25 February 2002)
* Kenya. Mayor scrapes through exam - The mayor of Mombasa, who sat high school exams to bring himself into line with proposed new laws in Kenya, has scraped through with the lowest grade. A city education official told the AFP news agency that Mwalimu Masoud Mwahima managed only a grade E, the lowest in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examinations (KCSE), which he sat last year. Local Government Minister Uhuru Kenyatta Mr Mwahima and other civic leaders have sat the examinations because a parliamentary bill currently being debated would require all councillors to be educated to at least high school level. But Mr Mwahima may need to study even harder -- the proposed law would require all mayors to have a degree. The mayor was not available for comment and an aide declined to answer questions, saying it was a "private affair". (BBC News, UK, 26 February 2002)
* Lesotho. Dissolution du Parlement - Le Parlement du Lesotho a été dissous, par décision du roi Letsie III, le 25 février. Les quelque 2 millions d'habitants seront appelés aux urnes pour des élections législatives au mois de mai. Une date exacte doit encore être fixée. Par cette décision, le roi a fait démentir ses détracteurs qui craignaient l'annulation de l'échéance électorale. (Misna, Italie, 27 février 2002)
* Liberia. Liberians flee rebel attack - 21 February: More than 10,000 people are reported to have fled the latest attack in north-eastern Liberia by rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Development (Lurd). A wave of refugees have been heading towards the town of Kakata, some 35 km from the capital, Monrovia, after clashes in Bong Mines, an old iron ore mining town, on 19 February. The Liberian government says it has now regained control of the town but the fighting triggered a wave of looting by rebels and troops loyal to President Charles Taylor. Soldiers manning checkpoints on the stretch of road leading to the provincial town of Kakata have been ordered to stop their colleagues passing with suspicious items. One of the places targeted in the looting was the Taiwanese Agriculture Technical Mission which has been teaching thousands of farmers modern rice production methods. Armed men broke into the compound during the attack -- and made away with cash, televisions, refrigerators and mattresses. 22 February: President Taylor weeps openly before thousands of people and prostrates himself in a call for divine help. In front of a crowd gathered for a three-day fast and prayer service at Monrovia's main stadium, the President says: "I am not the president, Jesus is the president. We did not come here because we wanted to look good. We came here because we realized there is a higher authority." (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 23 February 2002)
* Liberia/Côte d'Ivoire. Afflux de réfugiés - Près d'un millier de réfugiés libériens, fuyant la reprise des combats dans leur pays, sont arrivés cette semaine en Côte d'Ivoire à Danané (650 km à l'ouest d'Abidjan), a-t-on constaté le 22 février. Les réfugiés, qui arrivent par petites vagues, font état d'intenses combats entre forces gouvernementales et "dissidents" aux portes de Monrovia. Un peu plus au sud, dans la région du Bas-Sassandra, sont arrivés quelque 200 personnes. La plupart de ces réfugiés sont accueillis par leurs compatriotes qui sont restés en Côte d'Ivoire depuis le début de la guerre au Liberia en décembre 1989. Les agences humanitaires s'apprêtent toutefois à ouvrir des centres d'accueil. "La situation, dit un responsable de Caritas, empire au Liberia et le nombre de réfugiés s'accroît de jour en jour". (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 22-23 février 2002)
* Liberia. Activists target ship in campaign to save forests - On 25 February, environmental activists prevented a ship from unloading a cargo of West African timber in France, at the start of what they said was a global campaign of disruption to stop rich nations conniving in the destruction of forests. Greenpeace, the international environmental group, said a dozen of its supporters boarded the Agia Irene from inflatable boats off the Mediterranean port of Se'te on the morning of 25 February, chaining themselves to cranes and other parts of the ship. The vessel, anchored off Se'te, is loaded with Liberian timber. "This is one of many actions we're taking in Europe and around the world," said Tim Birch, Greenpeace forest campaigner, speaking from the organisation's ship, Rainbow Warrior, near the Agia Irene. "We're going to be hitting very hard the companies and governments that enable this trade to continue." Greenpeace and other pressure groups such as Global Witness acknowledge that importing Liberian timber is legal, since there are as yet no United Nations sanctions on the trade. However, they say the uncontrolled harvesting of timber from Liberia is not only destroying ancient forests -- and thus endangering forest elephants, chimpanzees and other rare animals -- but also financing the civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone. (Financial Times, UK, 26 February 2002) 

Weekly anb0228.txt - #4/7