Weekly anb05301.txt #9

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 30-05-2002  PART #1/9

* Afrique. De l'OUA à l'Union africaine - Le secrétaire général de 
l'Organisation de l'union africaine, Amara Essy, a déclaré le 22 mai à 
Addis Abeba que le projet de transformation de l'OUA en Union africaine 
(UA) est en cours et que l'UA sera lancée, comme prévu, au prochain sommet 
de l'OUA à Durban. Ce sommet devra discuter de l'Assemblée des chefs 
d'Etat, du Conseil exécutif (qui remplacera l'ancien Conseil des 
ministres), du Comité des représentants permanents et du statut de la 
Commission. (PANA, Sénégal, 23 mai 2002)

* Africa. African Union - The African Union (AU) should play a centre-stage 
economic role to help African countries move rapidly towards social 
progress, the Egyptian Ambassador to France, Ali Maher Al Sayed said in 
Paris, on 23 May. Al Sayed, who is also the dean of the African diplomatic 
corps in Paris, emphasised that only a strong economic and political union 
of African States can help the continent surmount the current challenges. 
"I remain deeply convinced that through unity, all 53 countries of the 
continent will be able to make important accomplishments for themselves and 
for their peoples,", he said. The Egyptian diplomat described NEPAD (New 
Partnership for Africa's Development) as an initiative that would enable 
Africa to organise its priorities better and make external contribution 
more efficient. Africa is not looking for charity from the rest of the 
world, Al Sayed observed, saying that development partners who accept to be 
involved in NEPAD "will be helping themselves". (PANA, Senegal, 23 May 2002)

* Africa. COMESA leaders adopt protocol for Free Trade Area fund - Leaders 
of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) ended their 
7th summit in Addis Ababa on 23 May after adopting a protocol establishing 
a fund that will provide budgetary support to countries which have joined 
its Free Trade Area (FTA). The summit, which ended a day earlier than 
scheduled, appealed for international support towards the fund that will 
compensate and assist member countries to meet transitional costs that may 
hamper the implementation of the FTA. The fund will also support priority 
infrastructure developments in the region. According to a final communiqué, 
the leaders asked non-FTA member states to indicate when they intend to 
join the preferential trading arrangement, including their timeframe for 
reducing tariffs before the end of the year. The deadline for joining the 
FTA is December 2004. Just nine of the 21 COMESA member states have joined 
the FTA since its creation in October 2000. (PANA, Senegal, 23 May 2002)

* Africa. Children in need - (N.B. ANB-BIA's Supplement (issue 435) has as 
its theme: "Africa's children"). Nigeria: "Harvest-Time Ministries", a 
non-profit-making organisation, has introduced a children's project called 
the "Salama Children's Project". Salama African children are those orphans, 
or children coming from traumatized or depressed families, who have 
suffered during religious, ethnic or political crises. The Project's aim is 
to help raise these children in a peaceful and religious atmosphere, 
despite their previous experiences and setbacks. In a pilot project, 
twenty-five of these children come together twice a week to learn to praise 
and worship God. Use is made of indigenous musical instruments. Zambia: In 
a joint study funded by the United States Agency for International 
Development (USAID), the United Nations Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF), 
the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), and the Republic of 
Zambia, the conclusion arrived at, was the state of Zambia's children is 
bad. The study reveals the urgent necessity to address this situation. The 
fact is, only about 6,000 orphans in Zambia are being cared for. This 
suggests that many are homeless, living on the streets or in disused 
buildings. One expert working for an NGO has even gone so far as to declare 
the state of children in Zambia to be a "national disaster". Many of these 
children are left homeless because their parents have died from AIDS. (K. 
Dareng - Nigeria; J. Mupundu - Zambia. May 2002)

* Africa. Children are victims of slave traffickers - The number of people 
forced into slavery around the world has risen to 27 million, according to 
a report published by an international human rights group. The study -- 
released to coincide with a special UN session on slavery -- says millions 
of girls working as domestic servants are forced into sexual slavery. The 
trafficking of child camel jockeys to the United Arab Emirates, bonded 
labour in Pakistan and forced labour in Sudan are also highlighted. Slavery 
is fuelled by "poverty, vulnerability and lack of political will", 
Anti-Slavery International says. Last week, the US endorsed a report drawn 
up by an international group of "eminent persons" which concluded that 
slavery existed in Sudan. The report recommended that the Sudanese 
President, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, take the lead by launching an 
anti-slavery campaign and calling for the release of all slaves. The 
Sudanese Government comes in for criticism from Anti-Slavery International, 
which accuses it of "failing to take adequate steps to end raiding and 
slavery". Between 5,000 and 14,000 people are said by the group to have 
been abducted into forced labour in Sudan since 1983. There are also 
problems of forced labour in Mauritania where, the London-based rights 
group says, little has been done to secure the release of slaves or punish 
those who use them despite the abolition of slavery in 1981. (ANB-BIA, 
Brussels, 27 May 2002)

* Africa. World Cup preliminaries - Cameroon: On 23 May, Cameroon's World 
Cup trek ended when the squad finally touched down in Japan after a 60-plus 
hour journey. The Indomitable Lions' arrival also ended the long wait of 
their hosts in the tiny Japanese village of Nakatsue. Cameroon's journey 
began after their friendly against Denmark in Copenhagen the previous 
Friday. After the game, a row over players' bonuses initially delayed the 
squad by 48 hours in Paris. Following a stop in Bombay, the squad's charter 
plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok after failing to 
gain permission to fly over Cambodian, Vietnamese and Philippine airspace. 
Following another six-hour delay, the plane was allowed to leave Japan 
after obtaining clearance. Cameroon's embarrassing delay risked a loss of 
goodwill after local residents in Nakatsue were forced to cancel several 
events, including a welcome ceremony and a practice match with local high 
school students. Lateness is rarely tolerated in Japan and some considered 
Cameroon's tardy arrival an insult. Nakatsue, with a population of 1,400, 
has spent a considerable sum of money on improving lodging and training 
facilities for the visit of the Olympic and African champions. Despite the 
delay, the Japanese hosts were still preparing to roll out the red carpet 
in the small hours of the morning. -- On 26 May, Cameroon held England to a 
draw 2-2, in a friendly warm-up. Nigeria: Nigeria's World Cup team will 
receive substantial financial rewards if they reach the finals of the 
tournament, the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) has said. Largely made 
up of overseas-based players, Nigeria's team has a history of pay disputes 
before and during major tournaments. There were huge arguments over bonuses 
and allowances during the Super Eagles 1994 and '98 World Cup outings. At 
the last African Nations Cup tournament in Mali, players protested against 
the non-payment of air fares. -- Defender Celestine Babayaro has arrived in 
Japan and begun full training, relieving doubts that he might have had to 
withdraw from the squad. He survived his first training session with his 
team-mates on 28 May with no ill-effects from an injury that had kept him 
out of all Nigeria's warm-up matches. It means the Nigerians now have a 
full strength squad from which to choose their line-up their opening match 
against Argentina on 2 June. Senegal: Senegal's top striker El-Hadji Diouf 
was the star of the show as the Dakar Lions triumphed over Ecuador in their 
last warm-up game before the World Cup. Diouf showed great touch throughout 
the game and set up the winning goal. He created panic in the Ecuador 
defence with a well-placed cross that was turned into his own goal by 
defender Augusto Porozo on 69 minutes. The goal came only a minute after 
Diouf could have opened the scoring himself. He feigned to go outside 
before cutting back inside and curled a shot from long-range past Cevallos 
that bounced off the post. After the match Senegal boss Bruno Metsu singled 
the Lens player out for praise. South Africa: After the doubts that 
surrounded South Africa's build-up to the World Cup, it has become quite a 
job to wipe the smiles off the faces of coach Jomo Sono and his players. 
After all the doom and gloom following poor performances in recent 
friendlies, the euphoria in the camp is understandable following their 2-0 
win over Turkey on 23 May. That victory meant they lifted the Reunification 
Cup in Hong Kong with a game to spare in the tournament. The euphoria in 
the team should however, not be misplaced. It was, after all, a warm-up 
friendly and the Turks used no fewer than nine substitutes. Nevertheless 
the victory would have given the team a tremendous psychological boost 
ahead of next weekend's opening game against Paraguay. The important thing 
is that they have scored four goals in their last two games without 
conceding any. On 26 May, South Africa defeated Vissel Kobe 3-0, in a 
friendly warm-up match. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 28 May 2002)

* Africa. Action against the Media. - The Gambia: On 27 May, Article 19 
expressed concern over the excessive control of the public media in The 
Gambia by the government. Malawi: On 23 May, Reporters sans Frontières 
(RSF) condemned the actions taken by Dumbo Lemani, an advisor to the 
President. He assembled a group of between 1,000 and 3,000 militant members 
of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) on 20 May in front of the 
publishing firm Blantyre Newspaper Limited, which publishes two 
pro-opposition newspapers, the Daily Times and the Malawi News weekly. He 
then incited the crowd to threaten two journalists, Mabvuto Banda, and 
Akimu Kaingana, who had written articles opposing President Muluzi's 
candidacy for a third presidential term in 2004. Niger: On 23 May, RSF 
protested the arrests of Abdoulaye Tiémogo, publication director of the 
private weekly Le Canard Déchaîné, and Abarad Mouddour Zakara, publication 
director of the private weekly La Roue de l'Histoire. Rwanda: On 19 May, 
the Ugandan editor of the independent privately-owned weekly, Rwanda 
Herald, Asuman Bisiika, was deported by the Rwandan authorities, to Uganda. 
Somalia: On 27 May, RSF protested against the shutting down of the 
privately-owned Somali Broadcasting Corporation by the authorities of 
Puntland. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 27 May 2002)

* Africa. Statistics - On the occasion of the Meeting of Superiors of 
Missionary Institutes being held in Rome, the following statistics have 
been published concerning Africa: Population: 756.9 million (65% rural, 35% 
urban); Life expectancy: 50.7 years; Religions: Catholics -- 14.9%; Other 
Christians --31.6%; Muslims -- 40.5%; Traditional African religions and 
others: 13%. (Fides, Vatican City, 28 May 2002)

* Afrique. Bilan 2002 d'Amnesty - Dans son rapport 2002, rendu public le 28 
mai, Amnesty International (AI) dresse un sombre bilan du monde de 
l'après-11 septembre. Les attentats du 11 septembre, "crimes contre 
l'humanité", appellent "la justice, non la vengeance", avertit AI. Sous 
couvert de sécurité, les démocraties ont restreint les espaces de liberté 
et les droits des personnes par des législations draconiennes, alors que 
les régimes autoritaires en ont profité pour écraser leurs opposants ou 
relancer les opérations contre les minorités. En Afrique, AI épingle 
notamment l'Afrique du Sud et l'Egypte. En annexe de son rapport, AI a 
ajouté un chapitre "Bonnes nouvelles"; pour l'Afrique, y est notée la 
libération d'Alpha Condé en Guinée. (D'après Le Monde, France, 29 mai 2002)

* Afrique. Appel de la BAD - L'Afrique est la seule région en développement 
qui risque de ne pas atteindre la croissance voulue pour diminuer de moitié 
la pauvreté la plus grave d'ici à 2015, a indiqué le président de la Banque 
africaine de développement (BAD), M. Kabbaj, lors de l'ouverture, le 28 
mai, de la réunion annuelle de la banque. Environ 30 des 53 pays africains 
qui ont établi, il y a deux ans, un plan de développement avec les Nations 
unies et la BAD, atteindront partiellement le niveau prévu; pour les 
autres, les prévisions sont mauvaises. En Afrique, quelque 340 millions de 
personnes (environ la moitié de la population du continent) ne disposent 
même pas d'un dollar par jour, la limite de la "pauvreté absolue". M. 
Kabbaj a lancé un appel à la communauté internationale pour qu'elle double 
l'aide au développement de l'Afrique afin de pouvoir réaliser l'objectif de 
croissance économique prévu de 7%. (D'après De Standaard, Belgique, 29 mai 
2002)

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