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Weekly anb03275.txt #6

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 27-03-2002      PART #5/6
* Rwanda. "One Hundred Days" - A Rwandan feature film -- a love story set against the background of the genocide in 1994 -- has been shown amid emotional scenes in the capital, Kigali. The film, "One Hundred Days" was directed by a Briton, Nick Hughes, who witnessed the massacres first-hand while working as a television cameraman. He describes the film as a testimony to the survivors of the three-month period in which an estimated 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists. It was produced by a Rwandan, Eric Kabera. "One Hundred Days" has already been shown at film festivals around the world following its premier at the Toronto film festival. (BBC News, UK, 24 March 2002)
* Rwanda. Tribunal international - Le 21 mars, un nouvel homme d'Eglise rwandais, le prêtre catholique Hormidas Nsengimana, a été arrêté au Cameroun pour génocide, a annoncé le Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda (TPIR). Sont déjà détenus sous l'autorité du TPIR, indique l'agence Hirondelle: l'évêque anglican Samuel Musabyimana, le pasteur adventiste Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, et les prêtres catholiques Emmanuel Rukundo et Athanase Seromba. Hormidas Nsengimana, 48 ans, était directeur du collège du Christ-Roi à Nyanza en 1994. Il aurait joué un grand rôle dans les massacres de Tutsi dans la région de Butare. Il est le dixième Rwandais arrêté au Cameroun à la demande du TPIR. - D'autre part, à partir du 2 avril, quatre anciens hauts responsables militaires rwandais comparaîtront devant le TPIR, qui les accuse d'avoir participé à l'organisation du génocide en 1994. Parmi eux figure l'ancien directeur de cabinet du ministère de la Défense, l'ex-colonel Théoneste Bagosora, 61 ans, accusé d'avoir joué un rôle central dans le génocide anti-tutsi et les massacres de Hutu modérés, entre avril et juillet 1994. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 26 mars 2002)
* Rwanda. Election des délégués administratifs - Le lundi matin 25 mars, les Rwandais se sont mobilisés en masse pour participer à l'élection des comités exécutifs de cellules, le plus petit échelon administratif du pays, a constaté l'AFP à Kigali. Les électeurs, en majorité des femmes et des jeunes, se sont rassemblés dès 8h dans les écoles, bâtiments administratifs et terrains de jeux, transformés pour l'occasion en centres de vote. Dimanche soir, dans un message à la Nation diffusé par les médias nationaux, le président Kagame avait exhorté ses concitoyens à participer massivement au scrutin et à "choisir des candidats méritants" qui devront "s'acquitter de leur mission dans la transparence et la vérité". Le Rwanda compte 1.545 secteurs administratifs totalisant 9.189 cellules. Les électeurs votent sur tout le territoire pour désigner leurs représentants au comité de cellule. Les élus, dix par cellule, désigneront mardi en leur sein les représentants au niveau des secteurs administratifs. (La Libre Belgique, 26 mars 2002)
* Sahara occidental. Liberté de mouvement pour l'Onu - Le Front Polisario a décidé de rétablir la liberté de mouvement des observateurs militaires de l'Onu dans la région, a annoncé le 25 mars la Minurso, basée à El-Ayoun. Selon une source diplomatique à Rabat, le Polisario interdisait depuis janvier 2001 aux militaires des Nations unies de continuer à contrôler les positions de ses forces militaires. (Le Monde, France, 27 mars 2002)
* Sao Tome e Principe. Supreme Court confirms election results - 19 March: The Supreme Court declares the final results of the 3 March legislative elections. No party has got an absolute majority but the Sao Tome and Principe Liberation Movement (MLSTP) wins the poll with 39.6 percent of the votes cast, obtaining 24 seats in the 55 member assembly. The declaration opens the way for the formation of a new government. The MLSTP has agreed to form a coalition government with two other political groups, the Democratic Movement Force for Change/Party of Democratic Governance (MDFM/PCD) whose coalition won 23 seats (39.4 percent), and the Ue-Kedadji coalition that won eight seats (16.2 percent). The coalition has already begun negotiations with President Fradique de Menezes, a behind-the-scene patron of the MDFM/PCD, to select a prime minister from the MLSTP. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 20 March 2002)
* Sénégal. Attaque séparatiste en Casamance - Dans la nuit du 25 au 26 mars, une attaque attribuée aux indépendantistes a fait cinq morts et quatre blessés dans une station balnéaire de Casamance, zone du sud du Sénégal en proie depuis vingt ans à une rébellion. Selon une source militaire sénégalaise à Ziguinchor, 200 guérilleros du Mouvement des forces démocratiques de Casamance (MFDC, indépendantiste) ont fait irruption vers minuit à Kafountine, localité située sur la côte atlantique. Pendant quatre heures, ils ont pillé boutiques, concessions, campements touristiques et hôtels, avant de s'enfuir, surprenant par leur nombre le détachement militaire local. Durant l'attaque, cinq civils sénégalais ont été tués et trois autres blessés, ainsi qu'un Français installé dans la région. (Libération, France, 27 mars 2002)
* Sierra Leone. Rebels face UN court - 21 March: Sierra Leone rebels who violated international humanitarian law during the 10-year civil war will be prosecuted in a special court, the United Nations Security Council has said. The first judges and prosecutors could be appointed within the next few weeks. The UN said that the special court could be functioning by the third quarter of this year, with the first indictments handed down by the end of the year. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 21 March 2002)
* Sierra Leone. Diamond struggle - Sierra Leone has virtually no control over the illicit mining of diamonds in its country, according to the country's finance minister, despite international efforts to clamp down on so-called conflict or "blood" diamonds. "We can't control it, they're mined everywhere," Sierra Leone's finance minister Peter Kuyembeh has said. "I sometimes find myself defeated when I want to find an answer to the diamond problem." The admission came as an international conference in Canada to establish controls over the diamonds trade again failed to reach an agreement. The three-day meeting was part of the Kimberley Process set up two years ago to end the trade in diamonds in war-torn countries like Angola and Sierra Leone, where rebel forces use the proceeds to buy weapons. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 22 March 2002)
* Sierra Leone. Improving the quality of governance - For ministers in the world's wealthy nations, improving the quality of governance in poor countries is a technical consideration in disbursing aid. For Kadi Sesay, development minister of Sierra Leone, it means ensuring that her house is never again ransacked by armed thugs during a military coup. Her lucid and intense contributions at last week's United Nations aid conference in Monterrey, Mexico, established her as one of the meeting's more weighty figures, giving strongly felt critiques of the consensus on aid. In 1996, Sierra Leoneans elected a new government, despite the barbaric civil war raging in much of the country in which atrocities against civilians were widespread. Ms Sesay was in Ghana in her role as head of Sierra Leone's Commission for Democracy and Human Rights in 1997 when a military coup ousted the government. Soldiers raided her house and took everything movable, threatening her mother and son. She left, first going to London and then to Ghana, where she joined the government in exile. It was there that she saw the importance of international support in helping a country establish democracy. Now, having returned to Sierra Leone as development minister, she struggles with the difficulties of bringing together a shattered country. The daily challenge is to draw former rebel soldiers into civilian life. "We are being very careful to retain the balance between the reintegration available to ex-combatants and making sure that the victims of the war also have services," she says. "If we don't retain that balance, it will look in the eyes of the victims as though we are rewarding the perpetrators, and punishing further the victims." (Financial Times, UK, 25 March 2002)
* Sierra Leone. Sankoh toujours vivant - Le 22 mars, le gouvernement sierra-léonais a vivement démenti les rumeurs faisant état de la mort du leader du Front révolutionnaire uni (RUF), le caporal Foday Sankoh. "Sankoh est en pleine forme", a déclaré à la presse à Freetown le ministre de la Justice et procureur général, Solomon Berewa. La réaction de M. Berewa fait suite aux rumeurs persistantes véhiculées dans la ville de Freetown par des personnels de l'administration carcérale et quelques membres des forces de sécurité sur le décès en prison du leader rebelle. Les tentatives de PANA, pour joindre le porte-parole du RUF en vue d'avoir sa version sur ces rumeurs, ont été vaines. - 26 mars. Le procès contre Sankoh et 49 anciens rebelles pour le massacre de 21 personnes en mai 2000, a été ajourné au 2 avril, à la demande du procureur général M. Berewa, parce qu'on ne trouve pas d'avocats pour défendre la cause des anciens rebelles. Foday Sankoh est défendu par un avocat nigérian, Edo Akanya, qui a dû s'inscrire temporairement à l'ordre des avocats local. (PANA et Misna, 22-26 mars 2002)
* Sierra Leone. Sankoh declares innocence - Sierra Leone's former rebel leader, Foday Sankoh, has told a Freetown court that he is innocent of murder. But the trial of Mr Sankoh and 49 other members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was postponed as the government cannot find a lawyer to represent them. The RUF was responsible for widespread atrocities during the country's long civil war. But these will be dealt with by a special United Nations war crimes tribunal. The on-going murder trial relates to an incident in May 2000, when Mr Sankoh's supporters allegedly killed 21 protesters after a peace deal had been signed. The charges were brought earlier this month, after a state of emergency was lifted, meaning the government could not otherwise extend Mr Sankoh's 22-month detention. "I am totally innocent of all the charges and I am asking the court to get me out of here," said Mr Sankoh said, dressed in dark green prison clothes. He has not yet been formally asked to plead but was answering a question from presiding judge Mange Deen Tarawallie. (BBC News, UK, 25 March 2002)
* Somalie. Des milices manifestent contre une nouvelle armée - Le 25 mars, des milliers de miliciens ont défilé à bord de véhicules blindés dans les rues de Mogadiscio pour s'opposer à la création d'une nouvelle armée par le gouvernement national de transition (GNT). L'un des chefs de faction opposés au GNT les a appelés à "montrer leur force et leur unité". (La Croix, France, 26 mars 2002)
* Somalia. Pentagon withdraws Afghan-Somali claim - The US has retracted its claim that a positioning device found in an Afghanistan cave provided evidence of the links between al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan and Islamic extremists in Somalia. The Pentagon said it had been wrong in its initial claim on Wednesday that the global positioning system (GPS) unit had once belonged to Sergeant Gary Gordon, a US soldier who was killed in Mogadishu during a failed military action in 1993. It now believes the unit, which bore the name "G. Gordon", belonged to a US pilot who had served in Afghanistan. This pilot gave the GPS system to another pilot, who subsequently lost it during a skirmish in the recent two-week military campaign in south-western Afghanistan. It is not clear why the Pentagon went public with speculation about how the GPS unit might have ended up in an Afghan cave but the claimed Somalia link would clearly have bolstered the US argument about the global nature of its foe. (Financial Times, UK, 22 March 2002)
* Somalia. RAF jets deployed in surveillance over Somalia - British Royal Air Force aircraft are to begin aerial surveillance of Somalia to check for terrorist activity in the latest British contribution to the US-led war on terror. Ministry of Defence officials said on 22 March that two Canberra PR9 aircraft were being deployed to the Kenyan port of Mombasa. The mission will involve some 140 personnel. Reuters news agency reported from Mombasa that an Antonov aircraft chartered by the RAF and carrying military equipment landed there on 22 March. The PR9 aircraft carry modern high-resolution cameras that take pictures of the ground both vertically and from oblique angles. Officials said no specific evidence of terrorist activity had prompted the move. But defence experts see parallels between Afghanistan, where al-Qaeda flourished in a failed state, and Somalia, where a transitional government has a tenuous hold on power and does not control parts of the country. (Financial Times, UK, 23 March 2002)
* Somalia. UN discusses Somalia arms embargo - 23 March: The United Nations Security Council is considering draft proposals aimed at enforcing an arms embargo against Somalia, set up 10 years ago. The proposals, by the Norwegian delegation, want the UN to set up a panel of experts to monitor violations by land, air and sea. Panels that have been set up to review other states under sanctions have issued reports naming countries and individuals who violate embargoes. Norway also wants the UN to re-engage in Somalia's search for peace and try to end factional fighting. The proposals reflect fears that Somalia might become a terrorist haven. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 23 March 2002)
* South Africa. Courts back anti-HIV drug - A South African court has upheld a ruling that the government must make more widely available a drug which reduces the risk of HIV-positive women passing on the virus to their children. This is another setback for the government, which has argued that the drug, Nevirapine, is expensive to distribute and potentially dangerous. South Africa, with an estimated one in nine people HIV-positive, has the largest infected population in the world. Aids activists want all pregnant women to have access to the drug, which is thought to reduce by half the risk of passing on the virus to an unborn child. The high court in Pretoria ruled that state hospitals with the necessary capacity must provide Nevirapine, and that they should not wait for the results of the government's next appeal. This issue will probably go before South Africa's highest court, the constitutional court, in May. In the meantime the arguments surrounding Nevirapine are once again on the front pages of South Africa's newspapers. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 25 March 2002)
* South Africa/Zimbabwe. Tutu condemns S. Africa stance on Zimbabwe - South African Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has criticised his country's decision to recognise the result of Zimbabwe's recent controversial presidential elections. Archbishop Tutu said he was "deeply, deeply, deeply distressed and deeply disappointed" after South Africa declared the elections to have been free and fair. Despite sanctioning the outcome, South Africa backed a Commonwealth decision to suspend Zimbabwe from the organisation for a year. Speaking on South African public television, the archbishop said: "I think we do ourselves a very bad turn to claim that we hold to the ideals of democracy, freedom... freedom of speech and then to endorse, as seems to have been done, something that was so clearly flawed. When democracy is not being upheld, we ought, for our own sakes, to say it is not so," said Archbishop Tutu. He said he supported the decision to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe "with a very heavy heart, hoping that President Mugabe and his government elected in a flawed election will draw back from the edge of the precipice". (BBC News, UK, 24 March 2002) 


Weekly anb0327.txt - end of #5/6