Weekly anb03076.txt #6

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 07-03-2002      PART #6/6

* Tunisie. Recherche d'hydrocarbures  -  Le 28 février, un permis de 
recherche d'hydrocarbures en Tunisie a été octroyé à la compagnie 
américaine CMS Energy, qui aura pour partenaire l'Entreprise tunisienne 
d'activités pétrolières (ETAP). Le permis couvre une superficie de près de 
4.500 km² dans le centre du pays. Le programme de recherche prévoit un 
investissement de l'ordre de 4,2 millions de dollars sur une période de 
cinq ans. Il s'agit de la première concession octroyée par la Tunisie 
depuis la récente promulgation d'un nouveau code "incitatif" à 
l'investissement dans la prospection des hydrocarbures.   (AP, 28 février 2002)

* Ouganda. Fermeture de la frontière avec le Soudan  -  L'Ouganda a annoncé 
qu'il a fermé sa frontière avec le Soudan, dans le but de faire échec aux 
attaques des rebelles de l'Armée de résistance du Seigneur (LRA), qui 
seraient soutenus par le gouvernement de Khartoum. Les rebelles de la LRA 
ont attaqué, le 30 février, trois villages dans les districts de Kitgum et 
de Pader (nord), tuant des douzaines de civils non armés. L'armée 
ougandaise est alors entrée en territoire soudanais et a tué 96 rebelles. 
"Nous avons décidé de fermer la frontière et de limiter la circulation afin 
de monter une garde permanente contre toute attaque", a dit le porte-parole 
de l'armée.   (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 4 mars 2002)

* Uganda. Army pursues rebels into Sudan  -  The Ugandan army has sent more 
troops into Sudan in pursuit of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who 
killed three people and injured eight more in the northern district of Gulu 
on 3 March. A Ugandan army spokesman said that an LRA splinter group had 
attacked a funeral service firing indiscriminately at the mourners in Lagot 
village. This is the second attack by the rebels who the Ugandan army says 
have been in the area for the past two months targeting civilians. The 
Ugandan army said that on 1 March it killed 80 LRA fighters following 
another raid a week ago. The government hopes that the new deployment, in 
the Sudanese regions of Rubone and Kisaga, will drive out the LRA rebels 
from the border region who are said to have been roaming neighbouring 
villages for the past two months. Uganda has in the past accused Khartoum 
of supporting the LRA, which has been fighting President Museveni for the 
past 15 in the north, planning to replace the present constitution with the 
Bible's Ten Commandments of God. Sudan on its part had accused Uganda of 
aiding the Sudan People's Liberation Army, which since 1983 has been 
fighting for autonomy for the animist and Christian southern Sudan from the 
Arabic north. Following a peace accord signed in Nairobi in 1999 both 
countries pledged to stop supporting each other's rebels and last year the 
two restored diplomatic ties after a six-year break. The LRA, led by Joseph 
Kony, is notorious for abducting children turning them into soldiers and 
some into concubines. At least 12,000 children have been abducted since 
1986.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 4 March 2002)

* Western Sahara. Moroccan king visits Western Sahara  -  King Mohammed VI 
of Morocco has begun a two-day tour of Western Sahara, in a move officials 
say asserts Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory. It is King 
Mohammed's second visit there in the past four months. The Polisario Front, 
which seeks independence for Western Sahara, described the trip as "a 
provocative expedition." There has been no serious fighting since both 
sides signed an agreement in 1991 to settle the Western Sahara issue 
through a referendum. But voting has never taken place because of 
disagreements between Morocco and the Polisario Front about who is eligible 
to take part. Last year, the UN Secretary General 's special representative 
on Western Sahara, James Baker, presented a plan that would give the region 
limited autonomy for about four years under Moroccan sovereignty. Morocco 
has backed the plan, while Polisario has rejected it.   (BBC News, UK, 6 
March 2002)

* Zambia. Chiluba loses retirement benefits  -  A judge in Zambia has 
ordered former President Frederick Chiluba to stop using government-owned 
facilities and personnel. Over the weekend, Mr Chiluba parted company with 
his Mercedes, a number of other vehicles and the keys to a government-owned 
house in the fashionable district of Kabulonga. In what amounts to a rapid 
and rather humiliating climbdown, the former leader of Zambia also said 
goodbye to his security guards and some other domestic staff. Ever since he 
left office at the beginning of the year, the opposition have been trying 
to have him stripped of a variety of state assets. Trying to minimise any 
embarrassing political fall-out, Zambia's Minister of Information, and one 
of Chiluba's closest allies, Vernon Mwaanga, stressed to the media that Mr 
Chiluba had surrendered all of the assets "voluntarily". However, there was 
no mention of the High Court ruling on 1 March by Judge Anthony Nyangulu, 
who ordered Mr Chiluba to be stripped of all state benefits. Judge Nyangulu 
even ordered that Mr Chiluba's salary be cut off, as well as his 
entitlement to free fuel and free phone calls. The ruling was based on one 
of his own laws - that past presidents are not entitled to any state 
benefits if they stay involved in active politics. The legislation was 
specifically targeted at Mr Chiluba's predecessor, Dr Kenneth Kaunda. 
Having lost his benefits because he is still president of the ruling MMD, 
Mr Chiluba will be supplied with the same perks by his party. He also has 
his own, reputedly sizeable, wealth to fall back on. However, the matter is 
unlikely to end there. Many opposition politicians are already calling for 
the former president to be prosecuted for illegal use of state resources 
over the past two months. And emboldened by this legal victory, the 
opposition will now be clamouring to have Mr Chiluba's presidential 
immunity lifted by parliament to allow him to be questioned about 
allegations of corruption relating to his 10 years in office.   (BBC News, 
UK, 4 March 2002)

* Zimbabwe. A l'approche des élections  -  28 février. Parlant à une foule 
de 40.000 partisans, le président Mugabe a réitéré son engagement à mener à 
terme son programme de réforme agraire, affirmant qu'aucune pression ne 
l'en dissuadera. D'autre part, à Harare, la police a pris d'assaut un 
bureau du parti d'opposition MDC et a arrêté 38 collaborateurs du parti. 
Plusieurs personnes ont été blessées. Bureaux et sympathisants du MDC sont 
régulièrement l'objet de brimades de la part des autorités. Selon le parti, 
plus de 90 de ses partisans ont été assassinés depuis 2000. -1er mars. Des 
militants du parti au pouvoir ont obligé l'opposition à annuler un meeting 
crucial à Marondera (70 km à l'est de Harare), à une semaine des élections. 
Ils ont brûlé des pneus et dressé des barrages pour bloquer les accès au 
lieu du meeting. Il y avait une importante présence militaire et policière, 
mais les autorités n'ont rien fait pour empêcher les agressions. Au moins 
six opposants ont dû être hospitalisés. -Le 3 mars, le chef de la mission 
d'observation du Commonwealth, l'ancien chef d'Etat nigérian, le général 
Abubakar, a déclaré que la presse exagère l'ampleur de la violence 
électorale. "Il y a des cas de violence ici ou là, mais pas de l'ampleur 
que vous décrivez", a-t-il dit aux journalistes. - Le lundi 4 mars, les 
dirigeants du Commonwealth, réunis depuis samedi à Coolum (Australie), ont 
exprimé leur profonde préoccupation concernant la situation au Zimbabwe, 
mais ont décidé de reporter au-delà de l'élection présidentielle leur 
décision sur d'éventuelles sanctions contre ce pays. (Le Zimbabwe a 
profondément divisé ce sommet du Commonwealth: la Grande-Bretagne et 
l'Australie avaient appelé à des sanctions immédiates, mais les pays 
africains ont fait bloc autour du Zimbabwe). Par ailleurs, le même jour, 
une réunion de M. Tsvangirai, leader du MDC, avec plusieurs ambassadeurs en 
poste dans la capitale a été interrompue par la police et annulée. A cinq 
jours du scrutin, les deux poids lourds de la politique, Mugabe et 
Tsvangirai, intensifient leurs campagnes par des meetings dans la 
périphérie d'Harare. - Le 5 mars, les militaires et les policiers ont 
commencé à voter, afin de leur permettre de maintenir l'ordre pendant le 
vote de l'électorat civil. Par ailleurs, les responsables des élections ont 
annoncé que plus de 5,6 millions d'électeurs étaient inscrits pour voter 
lors de l'élection présidentielle, un chiffre jamais atteint dans 
l'histoire électorale du pays. -6 mars. A trois jours de la présidentielle, 
le président Mugabe a changé par décret la loi électorale, annulant de 
facto une décision de la Cour suprême. Par ce décret, il a décidé de 
rétablir la loi électorale telle qu'elle avait été amendée début janvier 
par le Parlement. La nouvelle loi limite les activités des observateurs 
locaux, autorise les agents électoraux à interroger les électeurs sur leurs 
lieux de résidence (où ils doivent habiter depuis un an pour pouvoir voter) 
et interdit aux Zimbabwéens de l'étranger d'accomplir leur devoir 
électoral, à l'exception des diplomates et des militaires.   (ANB-BIA, de 
sources diverses, 7 mars 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Lead-up to elections  -  28 February: Opposition leader Morgan 
Tsvangirai has started legal action against an Australian television 
station after it broadcast allegations that he plotted to kill President 
Robert Mugabe. Despite strongly denying the allegations, Mr Tsvangirai has 
been charged with treason in Zimbabwe. The state-owned media in Zimbabwe 
seized on the footage and broadcast it repeatedly. A spokesman for Mr 
Tsvangirai says: "The allegations in the film are false and the SBS 
television station has been duped by Mr Mugabe's supporters. 1 March: 
Commonwealth foreign ministers meeting in Australia have finalised what 
action to take against Zimbabwe after months of mounting political 
violence. The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group released no details of 
the report it will submit to the full heads of government summit, which 
begins in the resort of Coolum near Brisbane on 2 March. President Robert 
Mugabe's government is accused of breaches of democratic rule and 
intimidation during the campaign for presidential elections which take 
place on 9-10 March. Britain is pressing for Zimbabwe's immediate expulsion 
from the Commonwealth, but the move is opposed by a majority of the 
eight-member action group. -- Zimbabwe's main opposition party say 31 of 
its members had been arrested when police raided a building where 500 
polling agents were being trained ahead of presidential elections on March 
9/10. Amid claims by regional observers that the violence had been 
"exaggerated", the Movement for Democratic Change said four truckloads of 
police had arrived at the building and "started beating up people at 
random". The police claimed they had raided the building because a group of 
MDC activists travelling in a truck from a rally in Seke on the outskirts 
of Harare had stoned passers-by from the truck. When chased by police, some 
had run away and sought refuge where the MDC training session was under 
way. Those arrested have been charged with attending an illegal gathering 
and malicious damage to property. 4 March: President Mugabe has put the 
army in charge of the presidential election and vote count. -- South 
Africa's Trade Union Federation (COSATU) voices its "extreme concern" that 
militias in Zimbabwe are intensifying their persecution of trade union 
activists. -- The Commonwealth heads of government have mandated the 
leaders of Australia, Nigeria and South Africa to decide on disciplinary 
action against Zimbabwe if the election is found to be rigged. -- 
Zimbabwean police cut short a meeting between foreign diplomats and the 
opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who was briefing them on his plans. 5 
March: The World Council of Churches and the All Africa Conference of 
Churches are coordinating an international team to observe the elections. 
-- Fears are increasing that there will be widespread irregularities in the 
presidential election. President Robert Mugabe has signed a decree 
reinstating a law thrown out by the Supreme Court last week which gives 
state election officers sweeping powers and restricts the activities of 
monitors. Election observers say they are extremely concerned by the 
failure of the government to finalise details such as the location or the 
number of voting stations, which is being seen as a possible attempt to 
disenfranchise opposition supporters. And police and soldiers have said 
they are being forced to vote for President Robert Mugabe in secret votes 
ahead of the election. Members of the security forces say they are being 
ordered by their superiors to vote by postal ballots and they have no 
choice who to select -- a charge which Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party 
denies. 6 March: The MDC is mounting a legal challenge to last-minute 
changes to the election laws. The party says it hopes to file an appeal at 
the Supreme Court, after President Mugabe had re-introduced regulations 
thrown out by the Court last week.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 7 March 2002)

Weekly anb0307.txt -  End of #6/6

THE END


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Un homme meurt chaque fois que l'un d'entre nous se tait devant la tyrannie 
(W. Soyinka, Prix Nobel litterature)
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Everytime somebody keep silent when faced with tyranny, someone else dies 
(Wole Syinka, Nobel Prize for Literature) *
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