Weekly anb11075.txt #5

[anb-bia <anb-bia at village.uunet.be>]

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 07-11-2002      PART #5/5

* South Africa. Man charged with overthrow plot  -  A white South African 
man suspected of leading a right-wing extremist group has appeared in court 
in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the black-run government. 
Tom Vorster, a 52-year-old businessman, was arrested on 4 November after 
being on the run from police since August. Police believe Vorster is one of 
the leaders of the Boeremag, a shadowy right-wing group accused of planning 
attacks on police and army bases in a bid to seize control of the South 
African government and chase black people out of the country. Of South 
Africa's 43 million people, only about 10 percent are white. Vorster, who 
was remanded in custody on 5 November, will stand trial next May along with 
17 other men alleged to be part of the coup plot. They will face charges of 
terrorism, treason and sabotage, public prosecutors said. Police said 
Vorster had not been linked to nine bombings in the black township of 
Soweto last week that killed one woman and which government officials 
blamed on white racists. But police said on 5 November they were expecting 
to make four or five more arrests linked with the alleged coup plot. So far 
20 men have been arrested in connection with the suspected plan to 
overthrow the government. Charges against two have been withdrawn and four 
have been released on bail. All are members of the white Afrikaans-speaking 
community, descended from Dutch and French settlers who arrived on the 
southern tip of Africa three centuries ago.   (CNN, USA, 5 November 2002)

* Afrique du Sud. Membre de l'extrême droite poursuivi  -  M. Tom Vorster, 
un haut responsable de l'extrême droite blanche sud-africaine "Bouremag", a 
comparu le 5 novembre devant la justice à la suite d'accusations de 
terrorisme et de complot pour renverser le gouvernement. Il avait été 
arrêté dans la nuit du 4 au 5 novembre dans une chasse à l'homme de grande 
ampleur. La police avait intensifié ses efforts pour arrêter les membres 
des groupes d'autodéfense de l'extrême droite à la suite des attentats à la 
bombe de la semaine dernière à Soweto. Le tribunal de Pretoria a rejeté la 
demande de M. Vorster de libération sous caution. La reprise de son procès 
avec 17 autres personnes accusées d'avoir trempé dans le complot, est 
prévue au mois de mai 2003.   (PANA, Sénégal, 6 novembre 2002)

* South Africa. Six miners shot  -  6 November: Six South African miners 
have been shot and seriously wounded by unknown gunmen outside a platinum 
mine near the town of Rustenburg, police said. "The miners were walking 
from their hostel to the mine shaft when they were attacked. Six people 
were seriously wounded and taken to hospital," said police spokesman 
Captain David Serepa, today. The gunmen -- armed with shotguns, rifles and 
pistols -- attacked the miners at around 4 a.m. (0200 GMT). Police said the 
motive for the attack was not immediately known. The mine owner, Anglo 
American Platinum, confirmed the incident near one of its mines outside 
Rustenburg, 100 km from Johannesburg. "We think it has to do with crime in 
the area," said Amplats spokesman Mike Mtakati.   (CNN, USA, 6 November 2002)

* Soudan. Tourabi sort de prison  -  Les autorités soudanaises ont 
transféré, fin octobre, Hassan Tourabi, 70 ans, leader du Parti national du 
congrès populaire, dans une villa à Khartoum, où il sera maintenu en 
résidence surveillée. Cette décision fait suite à son hospitalisation, au 
début du mois, consécutive à une chute survenue dans la prison de Kubar, où 
il était détenu depuis septembre dernier. Opposant au régime d'Omar 
el-Béchir -- après en avoir été l'éminence grise et le principal allié -- 
Tourabi avait été arrêté en février 2001.   (J.A./L'Intelligent, France, 
4-10 novembre 2002)

* Swaziland. Royal kidnap case shelved  -  4 November: Amnesty 
International says it is gravely concerned by the recent attempts by agents 
of King Mswati III to undermine the independence of the judiciary. The 
king's agents ordered the Chief Justice and two other High Court judges to 
drop the case brought by Lindiwe Dlamini. 5 November: The mother of a girl 
allegedly abducted to become the 10th wife of Swaziland's King Mswati III 
has agreed to indefinitely postpone the case. Lindiwe Dlamini had sued 
royal aides in a case which called into question the king's absolute powers 
and brought the royal family into conflict with the judicial system. But 
her daughter, Zehna Mahlangu, was made a royal fiancee in a traditional 
ritual at the weekend, effectively making her the king's latest wife. This 
seems to have placated Ms Dlamini but she did not drop the court case in 
case she was not satisfied with her daughter's future treatment, her lawyer 
told the court, today. "For the first time my client was allowed to only 
have a telephone conversation with her daughter at the weekend," lawyer 
Lucas Maziya said.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 5 November 2002)

* Tunisia. Eight arrested in France over Tunisian synagogue 
bombing  -  French police have detained eight people in connection with an 
attack on a synagogue in Tunisia that killed 19 people in April this year. 
The suspects were arrested near Lyon for questioning by agents from 
France's counter-intelligence service, the DST. Police were acting on 
orders from the leading anti-terrorism judge, Jean-Louis Bruguiere. One of 
those detained was identified as Walid Naouar, the brother of the man 
believed to have been driving the gas-laden truck that exploded outside the 
synagogue on the resort island of Djerba. Mr Naouar's parents and three 
people close to the family were among the others detained, the Lyon 
prosecutor Christian Hassensrat said. Under French anti-terrorism laws, the 
authorities can hold the suspects for up to four days without charging 
them. Fourteen of the victims in the 11 April attack on the Ghriba 
synagogue were German tourists. The 2,000-year-old synagogue, the oldest in 
Africa, was crowded with tourists at the time of the blast. Djerba, 370 
miles south of Tunis, is one of the country's most popular resorts. German 
investigators have found evidence suggesting links between the synagogue 
attack and Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network. Germany's chief federal 
prosecutor, Kay Nehm, said he believed a German citizen identified only as 
Christian G. travelled five times to Afghanistan and was possibly 
developing computer software for al-Qa'ida. Investigators traced the 
35-year-old man as the recipient of an intercepted phone call from the main 
suspect in the synagogue attack. The Tunisian government initially 
maintained the explosion was accidental, but then acknowledged it was "a 
premeditated criminal act". The authorities have said they believe the 
attack was the work of a Tunisian, Nizar Naouar, and an unidentified 
accomplice who also lived in Tunisia. They believe Naouar died in the 
explosion, but they have not said what happened to his alleged accomplice. 
A group linked to al-Qa'ida that claimed to have launched the 1998 bombings 
of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania has claimed responsibility for the 
Tunisia blast.   (Independent, UK, 6 November 2002)

* Uganda. Ugandans profit from Kenya's elections  -  This year's 
presidential election campaign in Kenya is already turning out to be a 
boost for the business community across the border in Uganda. The date of 
the election, 27 December, was only announced on Tuesday, but Ugandan 
businessmen have been generating profits for some time from the sale of 
special handkerchiefs, caps and wall calendars bearing the portraits of the 
two main presidential contenders, Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta. Eastern 
Uganda's FM radio stations are also set to benefit from money coming in 
from their wealthier neighbour. Nearly all the bars and private offices in 
eastern Uganda display calendars of Kenya's big political rivals 
conspicuously pinned on the walls, ahead of the 27 December election. But 
the biggest beneficiaries of the Kenyan presidential campaign could be the 
proprietors of private FM radio stations in eastern Uganda. Campaign agents 
for both Kenyan candidates want to use FM stations like Open Gate FM in 
Mbale and Rock Radio in Tororo to send special campaign messages to their 
supporters in western Kenya. The managing Director of Rock Radio, Paul 
Etiang, said his radio station whose signal can reach areas as far into 
Kenya as Kisumu and Eldoret would strike a deal with the Kenyans. But only 
on the condition that Kenyan politicians do not insult their opponents over 
the air waves.   (BBC News UK, 30 October 2002)

* Zambie. L'aide alimentaire OGM  -  Le PAM va retirer les 15.000 tonnes de 
maïs américain génétiquement modifié que la Zambie a refusées et envisage 
de les envoyer au Malawi et au Zimbabwe, a indiqué le 5 novembre son 
porte-parole à Genève. L'agence de l'Onu est en train d'acheter 20.000 
tonnes de nourriture ne contenant pas d'OGM, dont "une partie" ira à la 
Zambie, mais les besoins de ce pays (estimés à 21.000 tonnes) ne seront pas 
couverts immédiatement en raison des délais d'acheminement. La Zambie est 
frappée de plein fouet par la crise alimentaire affectant l'Afrique 
australe et 2,9 millions de ses habitants sont menacés de famine. Le PAM 
s'attend à ce que la crise alimentaire dans ce pays atteigne son point 
culminant en décembre-janvier.   (AFP, France, 6 novembre 2002)

* Zambia. Zambia furious over GM food  -  6 November: The Zambian 
Government has summoned aid officials working in a refugee camp to ask them 
why they have been distributing genetically modified (GM) maize, despite a 
government ban. A senior government official held what is described as a 
"furious meeting" with aid agency staff at the Makeba refugee camp in 
North-Western province. Aid workers say they have nothing to replace the GM 
maize, which is currently feeding 125,000 refugees in five camps, and fear 
that riots will break out if they attempt to remove it. The World Food 
Programme (WFP), which provides the food, says that the Government of 
Zambia has allowed it to mill and distribute the maize already stocked in 
the refugee camps. The WFP says it has received no written instructions to 
cease these activities. The Zambian Government decided last week to reject 
donations of GM food for nearly three million of its people hit by drought 
and famine. The decision was made on the basis of a scientific report on 
the implications of using GM food on the health and economic welfare of the 
country.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 6 November 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Menaces américaines d'intervention  -  Le 6 novembre, les 
autorités zimbabwéennes ont réagi avec colère aux menaces américaines 
d'intervention militaire éventuelle dans le pays, en vue d'assurer une 
distribution apolitique des vivres, tout en accusant Washington de tenter 
d'utiliser l'aide alimentaire comme prétexte pour destituer le gouvernement 
et installer l'opposition au pouvoir. Deux hauts responsables américains, 
accusant le président Mugabe d'utiliser l'aide alimentaire à des fins 
politiques, avaient averti, ce week-end, que Washington pourrait intervenir 
au Zimbabwe pour éviter une famine de masse au sein des partisans de 
l'opposition, qui seraient privés de nourriture par le gouvernement (ce que 
ce dernier a nié). Les relations entre le Zimbabwe et les Etats-Unis 
connaissent un coup de froid depuis plus de deux ans en raison de la 
confiscation controversée des terres des fermiers blancs. Les Etats-Unis 
ont imposé des sanctions personnelles aux leaders du pays, y compris 
l'interdiction de voyager.   (PANA, Sénégal, 6 novembre 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Crise économique  -  Selon le FMI, le Zimbabwe s'achemine vers 
l'effondrement de son économie. Le représentant du FMI au Zimbabwe, Gerry 
Jonhnson, a déclaré que la "mauvaise gestion" du gouvernement pourrait 
rapidement entraîner le pays dans une spirale d'hyperinflation qui mettra à 
genou l'économie nationale. Les prévisions parlent d'un taux d'inflation 
autour de 522% sur toute l'année 2003, mais il pourrait être encore plus 
élevé. La situation pourrait conduire à la faillite de plusieurs compagnies 
zimbabwéennes parmi les plus importantes et faire doubler, chaque mois, les 
prix des principaux biens de consommation. Johnson décrit un scénario 
apocalyptique sur le point de toucher le pays déjà épuisé par la crise 
alimentaire et par la séchersse qui a endommagé tout le secteur agricole. 
Selon lui, le parti de M. Mugabe a créé un "monstre à trois têtes" qui 
s'articule autour de la baisse de la production, des taux d'intérêts 
maintenus artificiellement à un bas niveau, et un taux d'échange de la 
monnaie nationale qualifié de "fictif". Pendant ce temps, le pays continue 
à défendre ses choix et a récemment refusé les prescriptions du FMI en 
matière d'assainissement économique.   (Misna, Italie, 6 novembre 2002)

* Zimbabwe. AIDS deepens  -  Aids is reducing Zimbabwe's agricultural 
labour force by about 10 per cent a year, the United Nations estimated 
yesterday. It forecasts that the disease will shrink the Zimbabwean 
agricultural workforce by 22.7 per cent in 2020. In neighbouring Namibia 
the effects will be worse. By 2020 the disease is expected to cut the 
country's agricultural labour force by 26 per cent.   (Financial Times, UK, 
6 November 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe accuses USA of invasion threat  -  6 November: 
Zimbabwe has accused the United States of planning to invade the country 
under the pretext of guaranteeing the distribution of food aid. The 
accusation --carried by a state-owned newspaper -- comes after remarks in a 
newspaper interview in which US State Department official Mark Bellamy was 
quoted as saying America might have to take "very intrusive interventionist 
measures" to ensure food aid was delivered. Opposition groups and aid 
agencies have accused Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe of only allowing 
the foreign aid to reach his own supporters. Nearly seven million 
Zimbabweans face starvation after a drop in maize production, which critics 
have blamed on Mr Mugabe's expropriation of white-owned farms. The 
Zimbabwean Government has said the decline in agricultural output is due to 
a lengthy drought. The government-controlled Herald newspaper ran a front 
page story, today, accusing America of plotting against 
Zimbabwe.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 6 November 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Bishop calls on Mugabe to quit  -  7 November: A leading 
Zimbabwean churchman has called on President Robert Mugabe to stand down 
because his controversial land reform programme is ruining the country's 
economy and putting millions at risk of hunger. The Bishop of Bulawayo, 
Pius Ncube, says black farmworkers are the real victims when white farms 
are handed over to government supporters. Mr Mugabe, he says, seems ready 
to starve his own people to keep power. The Bishop of Bulawayo said that 
Zimbabwe's economy was in tatters, with both professional people and the 
poor leaving the country in droves because of Mr Mugabe. He said the 
president did not care if his people starved and he should stand 
down.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 7 November 2002)

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