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Weekly anb01096.txt #9

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 09-01-2003      PART #6/9
* Lesotho. Bizarre weather, ravages crops - The crops here in the rugged mountains of Lesotho are failing because the rain came much too early. And much too late. There were hailstorms and tornadoes, too. Then an early frost killed most of the maize sprouts that had survived the earlier bizarre weather. Now this tiny kingdom of subsistence farmers tucked into southeastern South Africa is in the midst of a famine; the World Food Program estimates that nearly one-third of Lesotho's 2.1 million residents will need emergency handouts this year. (...) Climate experts say the "extreme weather events" that have plagued countries like Lesotho in recent years are remarkably consistent with predictions for a warmer world. (...) Lesotho is almost entirely dependent on rain-fed subsistence farming; it has virtually no irrigation. And most of the South African mining jobs that once provided livelihoods for its people have disappeared. With the world's fourth-highest AIDS rate, Lesotho is not well positioned to absorb shocks to its system. And for two straight years, the rudest shocks have come from the weather. (Washington Post, USA, 8 January 2003)
* Liberia. Elections en octobre - Le 2 janvier, la Commission électorale libérienne (ECOM) a publié le calendrier pour la tenue des élections présidentielle et générales prévues le 14 octobre. Les programmes d'éducation des électeurs vont démarrer le 2 janvier. Du 4 au 20 février, l'ECOM amendera les lois et directives et promulguera un code de conduite. L'inscription des électeurs se fera du 15 au 29 avril. Le 11 juin sera le dernier délai pour la soumission des partis et de leurs candidats. La campagne électorale se déroulera du 20 juin au 13 octobre. L'ECOM envisage de procéder aux élections présidentielle, législatives et municipales le même jour (14 octobre) pour "en réduire les coûts". (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 2 janvier 2003)
* Liberia. USA condemns Liberia election plans - 3 January: A United States official had said that Liberia is not ready to organise the general elections it has announced for October. The US ambassador in Monrovia, John William Blaney, cited the harassment of members of the opposition and restrictions on presidential candidates. The chairman of the electoral commission, Paul Guah, announced on 2 January that presidential and parliamentary elections would be held on 14 October. Incumbent President Charles Taylor has said he will stand for a second term. He led a seven-year rebellion which ended with his election in 1997. Mr Blaney said Washington was concerned that "preparations for the 2003 elections were inadequate, and that necessary conditions do not yet exist to permit free and fair elections. Let me say that the United States wants to see a free and fair election and will not support, nor recognise, the results of any fraudulent one". (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 3 January 2003)
* Liberia. Tracing Liberia's lost generation - 7 January: A new strategy to reunite children forced into exile by the ongoing rebellion in Liberia has caught the public imagination in the capital, Monrovia. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the local Red Cross society, have posted the photographs of over 600 unaccompanied children around Liberia to be identified and reunited by their parents. Excited people have been queuing up to look at photographs of children, which are on display at hospital and school compounds, market places and camps for people displaced by the fighting. According to a statement distributed by ICRC's Head of Mission, Dominique Liengme, more than 1,000 unaccompanied Liberian children have been registered in Guinea and Sierra Leone. Those are children who found themselves in those countries between 2001 and 2002. Under the tracing and reunification exercise, relatives who recognise their children on the posters can contact the nearest Red Cross volunteer, and the process to reunite them then begins. In Monrovia alone, 80 people have so far identified their children since ICRC began putting the posters up at the end of last month. The head of ICRC's Tracing Department in Liberia, Marcel Stoessel, told reporters that of the 80, 20 cases have been resolved and "by today or tomorrow, we will go to the parents and give them the good news." (BBC News, UK, 7 January 2003)
* Liberia. Rebels fight for diamonds - 8 January: Government troops and rebels have been clashing in Liberia for control of the diamond and gold producing north-western towns of Wesua and Wieju. Defence Minister Daniel Chea said fighting spread to the two towns after rebels of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) were dislodged from nearby Geingba on 4-5 January. Rebel reinforcements have reportedly been using the abandoned railroad track of an old iron mining company in the area to join the Wesua-Wieje battle. Government troops, too, have been drawing reinforcements from Geingba and the town of Bopolu, which was once the rebels' stronghold, 100 kilometres from Monrovia. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 8 January 2003)
* Libya/USA. US woman given Libyan nationality - A Los Angeles woman who entered a Libyan Internet beauty pageant has been granted Libyan nationality and been appointed Tripoli's honourary ambassador to the United States. Libya's Foreign Ministry released a statement on 6 January that "American Miss Net" Tecca Zendik was granted nationality during a special ceremony in Tripoli, where she arrived on 5 January for a four-day visit. The ministry described Zendik as "a beautiful bird of peace that came from the United States to ensure that relations between the Libyan and American peoples are embedded in the roots of history." Zendik, 23, thanked the Libyan government for granting her citizenship and said she hopes to influence people from around the world to love Libyans, the Foreign Ministry statement said. Libya in November hosted the "Miss Net World," won by Britain's Lucy Layton. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi met the 23 entrants who travelled to Libya for the contest, in which Internet users from all over the world chose the winner. (The Guardian, UK, 7 January 2003)
* Malawi. Floods wash away vital crops - Floods in Malawi have washed away homes and submerged crops adding a new burden to a country struggling to overcome a severe food crisis. News reports said four people died in the flooding last week, and 15,000 were left homeless. "The situation is very bad. Extensive flooding has taken place," Lucius Chikuni, the commissioner for relief and disaster preparedness said on 5 January after a helicopter tour of affected areas. "Thousands of people are homeless and there has been extensive crop damage." Heavy rains caused four rivers in the south of the country to burst their banks. A rail bridge collapsed on the line linking Malawi with the Mozambican port of Nacala, along which much of the country's relief food is transported. Sections of the main highway connecting the commercial city of Blantyre with the administrative capital Lilongwe were under water, and the road from Lilongwe to the north was also cut. (IRIN, Kenya, 6 January 2003)
* Mali. Ivorian war cuts Mali's cotton profits - 3 January: Mali's cotton industry has dramatically slashed its profit forecast for 2003 because of increased transport costs caused by the civil war in neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire. The conflict in West Africa has, at times, shut down the main ports in Côte d'Ivoire, affecting not only Mali but most other neighbouring countries. Mali's state-owned cotton company, CMDT, cut its forecast by 67% from 4.62bn CFA francs ($7.3m), which was based on exporting through Côte d'Ivoire's main port of Abidjan. "Now, as the chances of this happening are dwindling and as we go to Lome (Togo), Tema (Ghana) and Dakar (Senegal) to export, expected profit has been reduced to 1.52bn (CFA francs)," says a company official. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 3 January 2003)
* Mali. Marchandises bloquées à Dakar - Plus de 100.000 tonnes de marchandises à destination du Mali sont actuellement en souffrance au port de Dakar, a-t-on appris le 6 janvier à Bamako, où se sont concertés sur la question, la semaine dernière, les ministres sénégalais et malien des Transports. La crise qui prévaut en Côte d'Ivoire, où s'effectuaient plus de 70% des transactions commerciales maliennes, a amené les opérateurs économiques maliens à s'orienter de plus en plus vers le port de Dakar, qui est aujourd'hui complètement engorgé. Au cours de leur rencontre le 3 janvier, les ministres ont examiné les voies et moyens de favoriser le développement du trafic toujours croissant, en dépit de la faible capacité d'évacuation des réseaux de chemin de fer des deux pays. (PANA, Sénégal, 6 janvier 2003)
* Maroc/Espagne. Normalisation des relations - La normalisation des relations diplomatiques entre Rabat et Madrid est "sur la bonne voie", a estimé le 4 janvier Ana Palacio, la ministre espagnole des Affaires étrangères. Le dialogue diplomatique entre les deux pays vient de reprendre après plus de 16 mois de vive tension. Cette tension, amorcée en octobre 2001, avait failli tourner à l'affrontement militaire en juillet 2002 après l'occupation par l'armée espagnole d'un îlot inhabité à moins de 200 mètres des côtes marocaines. Parmi les nombreux contentieux: le conflit du Sahara occidental, la lutte contre l'immigration clandestine et le trafic des stupéfiants, le maintien des enclaves espagnoles de Ceuta et Melilla en territoire marocain et le non-renouvellement d'un accord de pêche. Le premier signe tangible d'un dégel diplomatique a été donné le 13 décembre par le roi Mohammed VI, qui a autorisé les pêcheurs espagnols sinistrés par le naufrage du Prestige à opérer provisoirement dans les eaux marocaines. La prochaine étape de ce rapprochement devrait être la réinstallation d'ambassadeurs dans les deux capitales. (AP, 4 janvier 2003)
* Maroc. Procès islamiste reporté - Le 6 janvier, la cour d'appel de Rabat a ajourné au 6 février l'examen du recours formé par Justice et bienfaisance, le parti islamiste (non légal) de Cheick Yassine, contre la condamnation à quatre mois de prison de seize de ses membres. Ils avaient été arrêtés en décembre 2000 pour "troubles à l'ordre public" au cours d'une manifestation réclamant la légalisation du mouvement. Celui-ci accuse Rabat de faire sciemment traîner les choses. L'épouse de Cheick Yassine, son fils et ses deux filles font partie des prévenus. Plusieurs centaines d'islamistes s'étaient rassemblés silencieusement devant la cour d'appel. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 7 janvier 2003)
* Mauritius. President insists Sugar Protocol is sacrosanct - President Karl Offman of Mauritius has said his country will resist, with the help of other ACP countries, any attempt to jeopardise the Sugar Protocol, insisting it is "a sacrosanct element in the general process of our development". Offman was addressing diplomats on Monday evening at Clarisse House in Vacoas, about 20 km south of the capital Port Louis. He said Mauritius attaches great importance to regional cooperation and will spare no effort, alongside partners in the Indian Ocean Commission, the Common Market of East and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to protect their common interests. "We will make sure that these economic blocs take a common stance at trade negotiations," the Mauritian leader stressed. (PANA, Senegal, 7 January 2003)
* Mozambique. Sharp increase in those in need - Mozambique's national disaster agency claims the number of people who will need food aid in the country over the next few months has risen to 1.8 million. On 6 January, Rogeria Manguele, INGC (National Disaster Management Institute) spokesman, said that the sharp rise from the previous figure of about 600,000 was due to poor rains over the planting season in late 2002. Low rainfall had compounded the effects of a drought which had decimated the previous harvest in food insecure southern and central Mozambique. A further complication was that Mozambique was still battling to come to terms with the effects of wide-scale flooding in 2000 and 2001, Manguele added. Of the thousands of people displaced by the floods, some had returned to their home areas but a large proportion had been resettled. However, he noted that these people still required assistance. (IRIN, Kenya, 6 January 2003)
* Mozambique. Famine - Environ 2 millions de personnes sont menacées de famine au Mozambique suite à la sécheresse, un chiffre bien plus élevé que les quelque 600.000 initialement prévus, selon l'Institut mozambicain de gestion des catastrophes nationales. (La Libre Belgique, 7 janvier 2003)
* Niger. 4 Italiens tués par une mine - Le 3 janvier, trois touristes italiens sont morts quand leur jeep a sauté sur une mine antichar sur le plateau de Djado (nord-est), dans le désert du Ténéré. Le chauffeur a une fracture au bras et trois côtes cassées. Les touristes faisaient partie d'un groupe de douze personnes qui voyageaient en convoi. Leur itinéraire avait été agréé par les autorités militaires locales. Mais ils auraient circulé hors des pistes qui leur étaient réservées. (Le Figaro, France, 6 janvier 2003) 

Weekly anb0109.txt - #6/9