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Weekly anb03141.txt #7

ANB-BIA - Av. Charles Woeste 184 - 1090 Bruxelles - Belg
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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 14-03-2002      PART #1/7
* Africa. Action against the Media - Cameroon: In a letter to the Justice Minister (6 March), Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) expressed its concern following the arrest of Peter William Mandio, publications director of the weekly Le Front Indépendant who was arrested on 1 March in Yaounde. He was released on 4 March but ordered to remain accessible to the judiciary. Also, La Nouvelle Presse publications director, Jacques Blaise Mvié is currently being sought by the security forces. Congo RDC: In a memorandum (12 March) to the parties in the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, Amnesty International calls for a binding commitment that justice and human rights will be at the heart of all agreements reached. Egypt: On 6 March, RSF protested to the Egyptian government about the arrest on 5 March of two journalists from the Qatari TV station Al-Jazeera. Kenya: On 8 March, in a report on Kenya, Amnesty International said that the Kenyan government has failed in its human rights obligations towards one half of its citizens and should urgently reform its laws and practices to end the impunity of those who commit violence against women. Madagascar: On 5 March, the International Freedom of Expression (IFEX) reported that four radio stations have been attacked following an eruption of violence over the disputed presidential election results. Morocco: On 5 March, IFEX said that journalists in Morocco can still be thrown into jail for up to five years if they commit press offenses, and foreign publications can still be banned. Zambia: On 24 February, Thomas Nsama, a photographer working for the privately-owned Post newspaper, was beaten by ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) supporters. Zimbabwe: On 6 March, it was reported that an International Federation of Journalists monitoring mission, has been blocked from the country. -- On 11 March, RSF said it vigorously opposes the decision made by the authorities to deny journalists access to the country's vote-counting sited. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 13 March 2002)
* Africa. Human rights - West Africa: On 8 March, a United Nations investigation into the sex-for-aid scandal headed for Sierra Leone, after visiting refugee camps in Guinea. The team from the UN's Refugee Agency, UNHCR, is trying to find out the extent of the abuse of women and children by aid-workers. A study by the UNHCR and a UK charity made public last month found that some aid agency employees were exchanging food and other supplies for sex. The leader of the UNHCR team said on 7 March that those named in the report would be moved, while in future more women would be hired. Central African Republic: In its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released on 4 March, the US State Department says the CAR's poor human rights record worsened in some areas in 2001. Sudan: On 7 March, Zenit reported that the Sudanese government has amputated a Christian's right hand for alleged theft. Church and family sources have now affirmed that Anthony James Ladou Wani, a member of the Kakwa tribe from southern Sudan, had his right hand amputated on 24 January. He had been convicted and sentenced for allegedly stealing spare car parts. --In its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the US State Department says the Sudanese government's record on human rights practices remained a serious concern last year. Tanzania: In its country report for 2001 on human rights practices, the US government has expressed disappointment at what it regards as a general deterioration of human rights in Tanzania, last year, despite notable government efforts to engage in dialogue with the Opposition. Tunisia: On 9 March, the Appeal Court in Tunis started hearing an appeal against prison terms imposed on a prominent opposition figure, Hamma Hammami and two colleagues. The men have been sentenced to over nine years for being members of the outlawed Tunisian Communist Workers Party. Zimbabwe: On 8 March, Human Rights Watch said that the fast track land reform programme in Zimbabwe has been accompanied by significant human rights abuses that harm the very people it was designed to assist. -- On 12 March, Amnesty International demanded that the government immediately and unconditionally releases more than 1,400 people, most of them polling agents and civil society election observers. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 13 March 2002)
* Algeria. Suspected rebels kill six - Suspected Islamic militants have shot dead six people outside a town near Algiers. The six were killed at the entrance to El Affroun, 50 km south-west of the capital on 7 March, and the taxi they were travelling in set on fire, Algerian state radio reported. Security forces immediately began a major search for the attacker. Rebels from the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) have been active around El Affroun since Algeria's bloody civil war erupted in 1992. Algerian officials said the six, whose identities have not been given, had been stopped at a bogus road block. (BBC News, UK, 8 March 2002)
* Algérie. Le berbère, langue nationale - Le 12 mars, dans un discours à la nation, le chef de l'Etat Abdelaziz Bouteflika a annoncé que la langue tamazight (berbère) deviendra langue nationale et officielle. Cela sera inscrit dans la Constitution. La reconnaissance du tamazight est l'une des principales revendications du mouvement de protestation kabyle. L'arabe est actuellement la seule langue officielle en Algérie. Le président Bouteflika a aussi annoncé des sanctions contre les gendarmes, accusés d'être responsables du déclenchement et de la répression des émeutes du printemps dernier en Kabylie, qui ont fait une soixantaine de morts et quelque 2.000 blessés, selon un bilan officiel (107 morts et 6.000 blessés selon la coordination des villages kabyles). Le 11 mars, des affrontements entre manifestants et forces de l'ordre avaient à nouveau éclaté à Tizi-Ouzou, la capitale de la Grande Kabylie. Et le 13 mars, ces affrontements ont repris à Tizi-Ouzou et à El Kseur. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 13 mars 2002)
* Algeria. Campaigning starts for parliamentary poll - 7 March: Algeria's political parties have started their campaign for the parliamentary polls scheduled for 30 May. On the eve of Women's Day on 8 March, several parties staged rallies in Algiers to mobilise their rank and files and gear them up for the forthcoming polls. The National Liberation Front (FLN) held a meeting presided over by its secretary general and Prime minister, Ali Benflis. The associations of women and female students turned out in great numbers in anticipation of the 8 March celebrations. Benflis said that his party has decided to increase women's representation on its lists of candidates. None of the FLN's female candidate won a parliamentary seat during the last polls. Considered as a favourite of the upcoming polls, the FLN intends to follow the example of the National Democratic Rally (RND), currently holding the majority in parliament, which has decided that one of every five candidates on its lists will be a woman. 10 March: The Berber protest movement in Algeria has called for a boycott of the parliamentary elections. Leaders of Berber councils in Kabylie in the east of Algeria described the forthcoming elections as little more than a show of strength by the government; they would do nothing to improve daily life. The predominantly Berber region has been at the centre of anti-government protests for the last year. Later this week, the main political parties in the Berber region -- the RCD and the FFS -- will decide whether or not they too will boycott of the elections. 12 March: The language spoken by Algeria's main ethnic minority, the Berbers of Kabylie, is finally to be given recognition by the state. Tamazight will be recognised as a national language, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announces in a speech to the nation. "I have decided in total freedom and with total conviction to include Tamazight in the constitution as a national language," he says. "The national character of Tamazight cannot be questioned, whether the issue relates to Tamazight as a language or to Tamazight as a culture." (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 13 March 2002)
* Angola. Appel de l'Unita Renovada - Le 12 mars, l'Unita Renovada, la formation politique issue de l'Unita dont elle se détacha en 1998, a lancé un appel pour que soit organisé au plus vite un congrès pour élire de nouveaux dirigeants susceptibles de prendre les rênes de l'opposition en Angola. Il s'agit de la première déclaration officielle du parti depuis la mort du leader historique Jonas Savimbi. La réorganisation de l'Unita semble en effet être un élément essentiel après le tournant que représente cette mort. Les modérés qui quittèrent le maquis il y a trois ans pour entrer au Parlement, pourront certainement contribuer à convaincre leurs anciens compagnons d'armes à choisir la voie de la négociation, estiment des observateurs. Par ailleurs, dans une dépêche du 14 mars, l'agence AFP informait que mercredi 13 le gouvernement angolais avait ordonné à l'armée de cesser le feu contre les rebelles de l'Unita et qu'il était prêt à décréter une amnistie en faveur des combattants et leaders de la rébellion. (Misna, Italie, et AFP, 13-14 mars 2002)
* Angola. A weakened UNITA may agree to cease hostilities - 6 March: The possible death of the new UNITA leader, General Antonio Dembo, could lead to a cessation of hostilities between the rebel movement and the government's armed forces, UNITA spokesman Jaka Jamba has said. Dembo's death so soon after that of longtime UNITA commander, Dr Jonas Savimbi in February, would further weaken UNITA remaining on the battlefield and could serve as a catalyst to the peace process. Jamba was speaking as a mission of the Angolan Armed Forces visited the eastern Moxico province to investigate a captured UNITA rebel's claims that he had buried Dembo after he died from injuries in the same battle in which Savimbi was killed. The mission is expected back in Luanda on 7 March. 7 March: Oxfam International urges UNITA and the Angolan government to accept responsibility for providing for people in areas they control. 13 March: The Government has ordered its armed forces to halt all offensive action against UNITA. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 14 March 2002)
* Angola. Life after Savimbi - The words "Savimbi Jonas" are scratched roughly into the bark of a tree. Apart from that, there is nothing to indicate who lies beneath the fresh mound of earth in the cemetery on the edge of the town of Luena in eastern Angola. The graveyard has its own resident madman worthy of Hamlet, dressed in rags and hung about with crucifixes, who told me that Johannesburg is the capital of South Africa, and Nairobi is a city in Uganda. But there were also three young men hanging about who were able to give a more coherent account of events. "The coffin was closed when it arrived. But everybody wanted to see, so they took the lid off the coffin," one eyewitness to the burial said. "It was Savimbi, we knew what he looked like, and it was Savimbi himself." Many in the town are still convinced that the grave under the tree is empty, and that Savimbi's body was secretly taken away lest the grave become a shrine for his followers. One thing is certain though: Luena has suddenly gone very quiet. A few months ago, the helicopter traffic above the town was almost constant as the Angolan armed forces flew soldiers to the front, or brought displaced people into the town. Now only one or two aircraft go overhead each day. United Nations staff say the army now feels it has broken the back of the Unita rebels in Moxico, and is turning its attention to the northern Angolan province of Uige -- the area which has the next highest concentration of Unita guerrillas. (BBC News, UK, 12 March 2002)
* Benin. Disabled get financial assistance - Benin's minister of Family Affairs, Social Protection and Solidarity, Claire Houngan-Ayemona, has presented donations worth over US $23,000 to 100 disabled people. The package, which included 50 bicycles, 54 tricycles, a scooter, wheelchairs and an organ, is aimed at improving the living and working conditions of the disabled. "It is a good thing to have the means to move around, and it is a responsible attitude to maintain it," the minister said at the ceremony. She added that the equipment, while facilitating the mobility of disabled people, would enable them to increase their autonomy and help them take an active part in the process of national development. (PANA, Senegal, 12 March 2002)
* Burkina Faso. Epidémie de méningite - Une poussée épidémique de méningite a tué 36 personnes entre le 4 et le 10 février, sur 201 cas diagnostiqués, a rapporté l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS le 7 mars. Une campagne massive de vaccination a commencé dans le district de Dédougou. Le Burkina Faso se trouve dans la "ceinture de la méningite" en Afrique subsaharienne, qui s'étend de l'Ethiopie jusqu'au Sénégal. C'est l'un des pays de la "ceinture" les plus affectés, avec le Nigeria, le Mali, le Niger, le Tchad et le Cameroun. (IRIN, Abidjan, 8 mars 002)
* Burundi. Candidats au rapatriement - Une délégation de six personnes représentant les réfugiés burundais vivant dans des camps en Tanzanie, est arrivée le 9 mars dans la province de Makamba pour une visite qui s'inscrit dans le cadre des préparatifs de rapatriements massifs de ces réfugiés. La délégation a visité le site de transit du camp de Mabaro, près de Makamba. Elle s'est également entretenue avec les autorités, tant civiles que militaires, sur des questions relatives à la sécurité. Les six personnes ont ensuite passé la nuit dans leurs communes d'origine respectives. Cette visite intervient au moment où des réfugiés continuent à se rapatrier volontairement. Depuis janvier, la province de Makamba a déjà accueilli près de 900 personnes, en grande partie originaires de Nyanza-Lac. La province s'apprête à accueillir près de 64.000 rapatriés, et à réinstaller près de 102.000 déplacés. Par ailleurs, des rebelles s'infiltrent encore dans la région à partir du Congo. (Infoaza, Burundi, 11 mars 2002) 

Weekly anb0314.txt -  End of part 1/7