Weekly anb03211.txt #7

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 21-03-2002      PART #1/7

* Afrique. Site web de l'OUA/UA  -  Le 15 mars, le secrétaire général de 
l'Organisation de l'unité africaine (OUA), Amara Essy, a lancé le site web 
de l'organisation continentale, www.africa-union.org, dont le contenu est 
en anglais et en français. Selon M. Essy, cet outil de communication jouera 
un rôle majeur dans la réalisation de l'Union africaine (UA). Le site 
contient une large gamme d'informations détaillées sur les Etats membres et 
l'UA. Le portugais et l'arabe, les deux autres langues officielles de 
l'OUA, seront introduites très prochainement.   (PANA, Sénégal, 16 mars 2002)

* Afrique. ONU: départ de Mme Robinson  -  Le 18 mars, Human Rights Watch a 
exprimé sa déception en apprenant que Mme Robinson, Haut Commissaire aux 
droits de l'homme, ne poursuivra pas son mandat, et a montré du doigt les 
Etats-Unis qui s'étaient opposés à sa nomination pour un deuxième mandat. 
"Mary Robinson a payé le prix pour avoir eu la volonté de faire face aux 
gouvernements puissants qui enfreignent les droits de l'homme", a déclaré 
Reed Brody, directeur adjoint de HRW. "Elle a mis la barre très haut en 
terme de franchise et d'énergie pour les Hauts Commissaires à venir, et 
nous sommes tristes de perdre une alliée". Mme Robinson a annoncé que la 
session de la Commission des droits de l'homme à l'Onu qui vient de 
s'ouvrir pour une durée de six semaines, serait sa dernière. Bien qu'elle 
n'ait pas mentionné la campagne américaine contre elle, il est bien connu 
que des responsables à Washington ont fait pression sur le secrétaire 
général de l'Onu, Kofi Annan, afin qu'il ne lui demande pas d'effectuer les 
trois dernières années de son deuxième mandat. Les Etats-Unis n'ont pas 
caché leur mécontentement avec Mme Robinson après la Conférence mondiale 
contre le racisme l'été dernier à Durban. Plus récemment, Mme Robison a 
exprimé sa préoccupation à propos du statut des prisonniers afghans à 
Guantanamo et des victimes des bombardements américains en Afghanistan. Mme 
Robinson a également fait face à d'autres membres du Conseil de sécurité, 
tels que la Russie et la Chine.   (HRW, New York, 18 mars 2002)

* Afrique. La conférence de Monterrey  -  Le 18 mars, s'ouvre à Monterrey 
(Mexique) la conférence de l'Onu sur le financment du développement, qui 
devrait donner un souffle à la lutte contre la pauvreté. C'est ce à quoi 
vont s'employer officiellement, pendant 5 jours, une soixantaine de chefs 
d'Etat et de gouvernement et les grandes institutions économiques (FMI, 
Banque mondiale, OMC) réunis pour la première fois sous l'égide de l'Onu. 
Ainsi, la Banque mondiale a appelé les pays riches à doubler leur aide 
publique et atteindre 100 milliards de dollars par an; ouvrir leurs marchés 
aux produits du Sud (l'agriculture du Nord reçoit 1 milliard de dollars par 
jour de subventions!); accorder des aides financières et techniques pour la 
santé et l'éducation; aider les pays à établir une "bonne gouvernance". 
Mais le texte final de la conférence (le consensus de Monterrey), rédigé 
déjà fin janvier, est violemment dénoncé par les ONG internationales. 
L'Union européenne, lors de son sommet de Barcelone, vient d'accepter une 
légère augmentation de son aide: de 0,33 à 0,39% de son PIB. "Des 
miettes!", dénoncent les ONG, qui reprochent surtout au consensus de 
Monterrey de n'apporter aucun engagement contre la dette. Le Conseil 
oecuménique des Eglises s'est dit inquiet du déroulement de la conférence 
et a critiqué l'approche des institutions financières internationales. Le 
COE a appelé les participants à considérer trois points centraux: 
l'élimination des inégalités structurelles dans le système commercial 
international; la recherche d'une solution permanente au problème de la 
dette; et le renforcement du rôle de l'Onu dans le domaine des politiques 
économiques, financières, commerciales et sociales.   (ANB-BIA, de sources 
diverses, 18 mars 2002)

* Africa. Human rights  -  Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada 
have received a joint nomination for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for their 
work on the conflict diamond issue. Global Witness is an organisation which 
works in areas where natural resources and environmentally destructive 
trade are funding conflict or human rights violations. Global Witness has 
deployed creative advocacy on behalf of the victims of conflict diamonds 
and doggedly pursued humane policies to force the diamond industry and 
government leaders to address this problem. It is one of the instigators of 
the Kimberly process and continues to be a driving force in this 
international negotiation. Partnership Africa Canada is a coalition of 
Canadian and African NGOs working together on issues of human rights, human 
security and sustainable development. Congo (RDC): On 19 March, Human 
Rights Watch said the UN Mission in Congo should immediately send more 
military and civilian observers to the Ituri province in the north-east. 
The same day, Human Rights Watch condemned the arrests and beatings of 
human rights activists and journalists by the Congolese Rally for Democracy 
(RCD) in eastern Congo. Sierra Leone: On 20 March, Human Rights Watch said 
it welcomed the release of the UN Planning Mission Report, and this week's 
Security Council discussion on the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and 
urged immediate steps be taken to establish the court. -- In a letter (19 
March) to President Kabbah, Reporters sans Frontières has protested against 
the suspension of the daily African Champion Newspaper and its director, by 
the Independent Media Commission. Sudan: On 20 March, Human Rights Watch 
called on the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to renew 
and extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for human rights in Sudan. 
Swaziland: 19 March -- the High Court has ordered the trial of jailed 
opposition leader, Mario Masuku, to resume as early as next week. The trial 
was suspended last month after Mr Masuku's lawyers argued that the trial 
judge was no longer legally employed, but this argument was dismissed 
today. United Nations: On 18 March, Human Rights Watch expressed 
disappointment that Mary Robinson will not continue as the United Nations 
High Commissioner for Human Rights, and pointed a finger at the United 
States for opposing her nomination for a full second term. Zimbabwe: On 18 
March, Amnesty International appealed to the troika of Commonwealth leaders 
to address human rights concerns in their deliberations on 
Zimbabwe.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 20 March 2002)

* Afrique. Ebola fait encore de victimes  -  Le bilan des victimes de 
l'épidémie d'Ebola qui a touché le Gabon et le Congo Brazza a atteint le 
nombre de 91, apprend-on dans un rapport de l'OMS (Organisation mondiale de 
la santé). Ce document, diffusé hier 2 mars, signale que les 31 décès 
confirmés en République du Congo sont tous circonscrits à la région de la 
Cuvette, dans le centre du pays. Cinquante-huit personnes sont encore en 
observation. Cette région touche l'autre foyer de l'épidémie, au delà la 
frontière, la province d'Ogooue-Ivindo, dans le nord-est du Gabon. Le 
ministère de la Santé gabonais fait savoir que les décès sur le territoire 
national sont au nombre de 60. Il ajoute que l'épidémie reste circonscrite 
à la province d'Ogooue-Ivindo et affirme que toutes les personnes entrées 
en contact avec les malades sont sous stricte surveillance.   (D'après 
MISNA, Italie, 21 mars 2002)

* Africa. Monterrey -- a drive on world poverty  -  17 March: Political 
leaders from around the world are gathering in Monterrey, Mexico for a 
special development summit which begins on 18 March. The aim is to provide 
the resources needed to reduce poverty and improve health and education in 
poor countries -- and meet the Millennium development goals agreed by the 
United Nations two years ago. The conference is also being seen as a test 
as to whether the new spirit of international cooperation against terrorism 
will be extended to tackle world poverty. And ahead of the meeting, both 
the United States and the European Union have pledged big increases in 
their aid budgets. But President Bush has made it clear that any new money 
would be conditional on economic, political and legal reform in developing 
countries. 18 March: The five-day summit opens. US President George W Bush, 
South Africa's Thabo Mbeki and French president Jacques Chirac among the 59 
heads of state who are attending. The UN has already agreed a final 
declaration pledging "to eradicate poverty, achieve sustained economic 
growth and promote sustainable development" as well as building "a fully 
inclusive and equitable global economic system." But critics argue that the 
achievements of the conference are unlikely to match its rhetoric. -- 
leaders say the summit has already achieved perhaps its most important 
mission: getting development aid back on the international agenda for the 
first time since the Cold War. 21 March: President. George Bush arrives at 
the Summit today and is due to give a keynote speech tomorrow. He is 
expected to announce a sizeable American aid package, double the size of 
the original announcement which was $5 billion.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 21 
March 2002)

* West Africa. European fishing fleets plundering West African 
stocks  -  High-technology fishing fleets from developed countries, 
including the European Union, are destroying the fish stocks of the poor 
states of West Africa, a UN report warns. A study of Mauritania, where EU, 
Japanese and Chinese boats have been given access to fishing grounds in 
return for hard cash, has found a dramatic fall in catches as stocks are 
over-exploited. Catches of octopus have halved in the past four years and 
some species, such as sawfish, have completely disappeared, the report 
says. Local employment has also been hard hit as a result of over-fishing 
and over-capacity in the foreign fleets. The number of people employed in 
the traditional octopus fishery in Mauritania has fallen from a peak of 
nearly 5,000 in 1996 to about 1,800 now. The over-fishing is due to a 
failure by some boats to comply with the rules, lack of enforcement and a 
shortage of fisheries protection vessels alongside other factors, the 
report says. Current regulations allow European Union shrimp boats to use a 
smaller mesh size than local boats. The report follows another recent UN 
study on the fisheries of neighbouring Senegal, which found that activity 
by foreign fleets, especially from the EU, had had a "devastating" effect 
on some important fish stocks. The switching of the local Senegalese 
fishing effort to export species also had a serious impact on local food 
supplies, the report found.   (The Independent, UK, 18 March 2002)

* West Africa. UN to launch review after sexual abuse claims  -  A 
diplomatic furore over allegations of sexual abuse of refugees by aid 
workers and United Nations peacekeepers has forced the UN to launch a 
crucial review of its aid programme in West Africa. Investigators from the 
UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) have been sent into the 
region by Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, amid growing concern over 
the apparent lack of protection given to children and young people affected 
by the allegations. Ruud Lubbers, the former Dutch prime minister who took 
over as head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in 
January last year, has pledged "zero tolerance" for abuse. A preliminary 
report belatedly published last month by the UNHCR and Save the Children UK 
indicated that refugee children and other children in the supposed care of 
aid agencies in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, were at "high levels of 
risk and vulnerability" with regard to sexual abuse. The report was based 
on an investigation by the two agencies carried out in October and November 
last year. A partial version, omitting the names of the organisations and 
individuals implicated, was publicly released after a UN whistleblower 
threatened to expose what she claimed was an internal cover-up. The version 
released into the public domain stated: "Sexual violence and exploitation 
of children appears to be extensive...and involves actors at all levels, 
including those who are engaged to protect the very children they are 
exploiting -- UN staff, security forces, staff of international and 
national NGO's, government officials and community leaders."   (Financial 
Times, UK, 19 March 2002)

Weekly anb0321.txt - #1/7