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Weekly anb05307.txt #9

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 30-05-2002  PART #7/9
* Mali. ATT officiellement élu président - Le général à la retraite Amadou Toumani Touré (ATT) a été officiellement déclaré vainqueur de l'élection présidentielle du 12 mai. Selon un arrêt de la Cour constitutionnelle, rendu le 23 mai dans l'après-midi, ATT est sorti vainqueur du second tour de l'élection avec 926.243 (65,01%) des 1.424.746 suffrages exprimés. Aussitôt après le verdict de la Cour, le chef de l'Etat sortant Alpha Oumar Konaré, dans un message radiotélévisé, a félicité le nouveau président. M. Touré entrera en fonction le 8 juin prochain. - Le 24 mai, seize formations politiques ont signé un protocole d'accord consacrant la naissance de la mouvance présidentielle, dénommée "Convergence pour l'alternance et le changement" (ACC). La plupart de ces partis avaient soutenu le candidat ATT dès le premier tour de la présidentielle. Ils ont "les mêmes vues pour oeuvrer au développement du Mali", a affirmé leur porte-parole, M. Ibrahim Bocar Bâ. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 24 mai 2002)
* Mali. L'ancien couple présidentiel gracié - Moussa Traoré, ancien président du Mali (1968-1991), et son épouse Mariam, condamnés à la peine de mort commuée en prison à perpétuité, ont été graciés le 29 mai par le président Alpha Oumar Konaré. Renversé par un soulèvement populaire, Traoré avait été condamné à mort pour crimes de sang et crimes économiques; sa femme pour crimes économiques. Le nouveau président élu, M. Touré, avait déjà manifesté son intention de libérer M. Traoré, et cette libération avait fait l'unanimité de la classe politique, qui estime que cette mesure est de nature à favoriser la réconciliation nationale. (PANA, Sénégal, 29 mai 2002)
* Mozambique. Foreign debt forgiveness - The year 2002 will go down in Mozambique's political and economic history as a period of triumph -- as far as foreign debt forgiveness is concerned. In May, this year, Britain, Italy and Germany and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Nations Fund for International Development announced, separately, the cancellation of huge amounts of debt for Mozambique (population 17 million). Debt cancellations are being effected, thanks, to the benefits of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. Mozambique became the third African country to qualify under the HIPC Initiative, following Tanzania and Uganda. In 1996 Mozambique had an international debt of US $5.6 billion. Since achieving HIPC status, Mozambique has satisfied donors. An Economist Intelligence Unit report in May this year, noted that the country has performed well and was in line to receive the remainder of the US$ 4.2 billion promised under the debt reduction. (Frederico Katerere, ANB-BIA, Mozambique, 21 May 2002)
* Mozambique. Makeshift brakes caused train crash - 26 May: Railway officials in Mozambique are blaming an extraordinary error of judgement by one of their drivers for causing the worst rail disaster in the country's history. The driver apparently used four large stones to stop passenger carriages from rolling downhill after his train lost power, but the makeshift brake gave way sending nearly 200 people to their deaths. The crash happened at Muamba on the main rail line between the Mozambique and South Africa, about 60 kilometres north of the capital, Maputo. President Joachim Chissano has declared three days of national mourning for the people who died in the crash. Hundreds more people were injured in the accident, and President Chissano urged people to donate blood to help treat them. Antonio Libombo of the Mozambican Railway Company said the train had experienced mechanical difficulties as it tried to climb a hill on a mountainous stretch of the line. The driver therefore disconnected the passenger section of the train, which was already half way up the hill, from the cargo section, which he took back to the nearest station. The driver wedged the four stones under the wheels of the passenger section to keep it from sliding backwards before he drove off, Mr Libombo said. However, the official said, the stones gave way and the passenger train careered down the tracks into the freight train, whose cargo was mainly cement. Reports said dozens of passengers were buried alive by choking cement dust. "An investigation is still under way," Transport Minister Tomas Salomao said. "But at first glance, the crash was caused by a human error." 27 May: Health officials in Mozambique have appealed to the families of those killed in the train crash to claim the bodies of their relatives because of inadequate morgue facilities. The central morgue in Maputo, which can normally only handle 50 bodies owing to a faulty cooling system, currently has 98 corpses in storage. Health authorities expect 52 bodies to be recovered on today for burial, but they would like the families of the remaining victims to come forward as soon as possible. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 27 May 2002)
* Mozambique. Accident de train: près de 200 morts - Le samedi 25 mai, 192 personnes ont été tuées et 169 autres blessées dans le déraillement d'un train à Pessene, au sud-ouest de Maputo, selon le dernier bilan donné le dimache soir par le ministre des Transports. Un deuil national de trois jours a été décrété après le déraillement, sur la principale ligne reliant le pays à l'Afrique du Sud, d'un train de voyageurs tractant aussi des wagons de marchandises. L'accident s'est produit lorsque le train peinait à franchir une colline abrupte. Les cheminots ont alors séparé les wagons de marchandises et ceux des passagers, ces derniers étant immobilisés sur la voie par des pierres censées les caler. Mais ces dernières n'ont apparemment pas été suffisantes pour retenir les wagons, qui ont dévalé la pente avant de dérailler, selon la version officielle. Cette catastrophe ferroviaire est la plus meurtrière que le Mozambique ait jamais connue. (Le Figaro, France, 27 mai 2002)
* Nigeria. Adopting Biosafety Guidelines - The Nigerian Government has adopted a set of Biosafety Guidelines, joining Egypt, Kenya and South Africa, the only other African countries with such Guidelines. The Federal Ministry of Environment has acknowledged the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) for the very active role it played as a member of the inter-ministerial committee which developed the Guidelines. The committee addressed a number of issues which will promote the rational application of biotechnology for development. The committee's submission has been deliberated upon by the Federal Executive Council, and forwarded to the National Assembly to pass into Law. Biosafety is the assessment of the impact and safety of genetically improved organisms. The Biosafety Guidelines prescribe appropriate regulatory measures for the establishment and maintenance of institutional capacities, that are necessary for safety in biotechnology, as well as the development of expert human resources. (Taye Babaleye, ANB-BIA, Nigeria, 21 May 2002)
* Nigeria. Violences à Bauchi - Menace de grève - Le 25 mai, des incidents violents ont eu lieu entre étudiants chrétiens et musulmans à Bauchi (nord du Nigeria), faisant 3 morts et plusieurs blessés, selon la presse locale. Les bagarres ont commencé dans une école secondaire publique, avant de toucher d'autres parties de la ville. Un couvre-feu a été instauré. Les leaders religieux ont adressé un appel à la population pour faire revenir le calme. - D'autre part, le National Labour Congress (NLC), principal syndicat nigérian, a lancé un ultimatum de six semaines au gouvernement pour qu'il augmente de 25% les salaires des travailleurs du secteur public. Sinon, une grève générale sera déclenchée le 10 juillet, paralysant le pays. En janvier, le président du NLC avait été arrêté deux fois et deux mouvements de grève avaient été déclarés illégaux pour n'avoir pas respecté les 21 jours de préavis prévus par la loi. (Misna, Italie, 27 mai 2002)
* Nigeria. Obasanjo pledges rights action - 28 May: President Olusegun Obasanjo has made his first response to the findings of the Human Rights Commission, set up to investigate political crimes committed since the first military coup in Nigeria in 1966. Mr Obasanjo praised the members of the commission for the work. He said the report's recommendations would be faithfully implemented, after the document had been studied in detail. The report itself calls for national reconciliation and for the financial compensation for victims where appropriate, which remains a key point of contention. Speaking at a ceremony to mark the official publication of the report, Mr Obasanjo said that the entire process of allowing those that had suffered under decades of military rule had brought not only remorse, but also reconciliation. The findings of the commission, he said, would be carefully studied and acted upon. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 28 May 2002)
* Senegal. Senegal fights to protect fishing industry - 21 May: Senegal has said it wants to charge the European Union (EU) for fishing in its waters. The minister responsible for the sector said the government was looking to charge the EU, 20m euros ($18m) each year. Since the beginning of this year the West African country has banned vessels from the EU from fishing in its waters after over-fishing led to a crisis for the local industry. Talks between Dakar and Brussels have yet to produce an agreement on how commercial fishing should continue. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 21 May 2002)
* Sierra Leone. Uphill task for diamond exports - David Momoh, a Sierra Leone government mining inspector, polices the Kono diamond fields armed with one weapon: a 100-foot-long tape measure. Mr Momoh, whose task is to ensure gem-diggers working by the roadside stay within their allocated plots, has just had his zone of responsibility doubled because of a shortage of personnel. "You see how we are seriously understaffed?" asks Francis Kabia, government mine superintendent". There is one warden only to cover this entire area." The complaint is common among government officials charged with encouraging the legitimate production of diamonds, which all but shut down during the country's decade-long civil war. The supervision problems raise concerns that smuggling could deprive the nation of much-needed revenues and undermine international pressure for higher ethical standards in diamond production and export. The government is trying to encourage Sierra Leoneans and foreign investors to return to diamond mining after peaceful elections this month and this year's official declaration of the end of the civil war. The industry collapsed after the rebel Revolutionary United Front, which started the war in 1991, drove mining companies away from Kono and extracted and sold diamonds illegally to fund its activities. The government, which restarted its office in Kono in January, says it has issued 30 licences so far to Sierra Leoneans for alluvial mining -- the extraction of surface deposits by teams of men equipped with shovels. Some foreign companies that operated in Sierra Leone have returned for reconnaissance trips, although most will need to invest heavily to replace extraction machinery destroyed by the rebels. (Financial Times, UK, 24 May 2002)
* Sierra Leone. Companies urged to keep pre-civil war promises - The Sierra Leone government has told mining companies with interests in the country that it expects them to return to fulfil investment obligations suspended during the civil war. But the Ministry of Mineral Resources said it thought that a number were unlikely to come back because they would be reluctant to re-invest in operations that were damaged or destroyed before the official end of the conflict this year. Companies with interests in the gem-rich but politically unstable sub-region of west Africa, made up of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, face a difficult decision. Mano River Resources, a company publicly traded in Canada and Britain, had already begun prospecting in February under the terms of licences to explore for gold and diamonds. Mano, which includes the nephew of a former president of Liberia among its advisers, is typical of the small and specialised foreign mining companies that operate in Sierra Leone. One high-profile company with a licence to operate in Sierra Leone is DiamondWorks, which is listed in Canada and cropped up during the 1998 UK parliamentary investigation into contacts between the British government and the private military company Sandline International. Tim Spicer, Sandline's former chief executive, told the investigation that Rupert Bowen, DiamondWorks' then country manager, had left DiamondWorks to act as a consultant to Sandline, although he said there was no "corporate connection" between the two businesses. Another significant licence-holder is Rex Diamond Mining Corporation. Serge Muller, its president and chief executive, is a member of the Antwerp Diamond Bourse and a former marketing agent for Sierra Leone's then government-owned National Diamond Mining Company. (Financial Times, UK, 24 May 2002) 

Weekly anb05307.txt - #7/9