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Weekly anb0165.txt #8

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 16-01-2003      PART #5/8
* Kenya. Moi back in town - 13 January: Former Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi made his first public appearance on 12 January, vowing that he would play an active role in Kenyan life. Two weeks ago, Mr Moi retired after 24 years as Kenya's leader. Previously, one of Africa's longest-serving leaders and the continent's "big men", Mr Moi has plenty to keep him busy in retirement. It seems Mr Moi does not plan to spend his remaining days pottering around on his farm in the Rift Valley. Last week, even as President Kibaki was settling into State House, Mr Moi was back in the capital, settling into his private office. During his leadership, he was renowned for his energy, rising early and working late into the night. That pattern, it seems, will continue. Like many other retired heads of state, he wants to retain an international profile. Through his new Moi Foundation, the former president will stay engaged in the regional peace initiatives in Somalia and Sudan. He may also find time for more relaxing pursuits. He is a keen farmer; the Kenyan armed forces gave him a new plough and tractor as one of his retirement gifts. A committed Christian, he also indicated that he might like to take up lay preaching. More controversial is his continuing chairmanship of the former ruling party. (BBC News, UK, 13 January 2003)
* Kenya. Le nouveau pouvoir - 9 janvier. Dix jours à peine après avoir pris le pouvoir, la NARC (Alliance nationale Arc-en-ciel) poursuit ses réformes radicales en matière de gouvernance afin de conserver la sympathie du public. Le mercredi 8 janvier, cinq agents de l'administration locale ont été limogés, principalement pour des affaires de corruption. Le lundi, les établissements scolaires ont été envahis par des enfants après l'annonce par le nouveau gouvernement d'un programme gratuit d'enseignement. Quelques écoles ont dû fermer après que des parents avaient menacé de lyncher des chefs d'établissement qui ont refusé des enfants par manque de places. Le gouvernement a maintenant publié des directives en faveur d'un système de double flux dans les écoles primaires afin de réduire les encombrements. Le ministère de la Justice et des Affaires constitutionnelles s'est également mis à la tâche pour tenir ses délais concernant l'élaboration d'une nouvelle Loi fondamentale d'ici au mois de juillet prochain. Par ailleurs, le ministre des Travaux publics a annulé tous les contrats en attente qui ont été accordés notamment à des individus qui avaient la faveur de l'ancien régime. -- Le 14 janvier, des responsables du Fonds monétaire international doivent se rendre à Nairobi pour discuter de la reprise de l'aide au Kenya, gelée depuis janvier 2001. Le FMI et la Banque mondiale, qui avaient suspendu leur aide au Kenya en juillet 1997, l'ont reprise en septembre 2000, mais l'ont à nouveau gelée en janvier 2001 en raison, selon le FMI, de "sérieux revers" dans la lutte contre la corruption. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 14 janvier 2003)
* Kenya. Parliament and Government get down to work - 9 January: The Kenyan parliament sits for the first time since the Rainbow Coalition won a sweeping victory in the 27 December election. The historic occasion is the first time that any party other than Kanu has sat on the government benches --a stark reminder of just how much has changed in Kenyan politics. The government's leather benches are crammed with members of the Rainbow Coalition led by President Mwai Kibaki. Opposite them sit the rump of Kanu, the party which until so recently dominated Kenya's political life. It is a set piece occasion -- the MPs are formally sworn in, a Speaker (Francis ole Kaparo) is elected. The new President has made it plain that he wants to see stalled anti-corruption legislation passed as soon as possible. International donors want these new measures in place before millions of dollars of aid can be released. 14 January: President Mwai Kibaki has been holding his first cabinet meeting since forming his new National Rainbow Coalition government. The meeting has been a marathon one, focusing on many key issues including the government's strategy of meeting its election campaign pledges. It takes place at a time of rising concern about the over-enthusiastic manner in which the new ministers have gone about their new duties, leading to chaos in some sectors such as public schools. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 14 January 2003)
* Lesotho. French donate emergency food aid - Female-headed households, children and the elderly in Lesotho are set to benefit from a recent donation of food aid from the French government, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on 14 January. The food package valued at US $160,000 was being distributed at two villages, Makeneng and Ha Ramohapi, south of the capital Maseru, and mainly consisted of legumes. Some 445,000 people in the landlocked country are in need of assistance following two consecutive poor harvests. (IRIN, Kenya, 14 January 2003)
* Liberia. 2 religieux accusés de trahison - Deux leaders du Conseil inter-religieux du Liberia (IRC), son secrétaire général David Kiazolu et son adjoint Christopher Toe, arrêtés trois semaines auparavant, ont été accusés de trahison. Après que leurs avocats avaient déposé une demande d'habeas corpus, ils ont été libérés, puis arrêtés immédiatement à nouveau et accusés de trahison par un tribunal pénal à Monrovia. Le gouvernement accuse les deux hommes d'avoir "collaboré" avec la rébellion des Libériens unis pour la réconciliation et la démocratie (LURD). Il dit être en possession de deux e-mails envoyés par le LURD aux leaders religieux et qui prouvent que ces derniers étaient en communication avec les rebelles du LURD. L'IRC, qui comprend des musulmans et des chrétiens, a rejeté ces accusations et indiqué que ces e-mails portaient sur des réunions que le groupe était en train d'organiser afin de réunir le LURD et le gouvernement autour d'une table de discussion pour mettre fin à la guerre. Il affirme que le gouvernement était au courant de ces réunions, de même que le Parlement de la CEDEAO et le président sierra-léonais Tejan Kabbah, qui avait accepté la tenue de cette réunion à Freetown. (PANA, Sénégal, 9 janvier 2003)
* Liberia. Liberian religious leaders charged - 8 January: Two members of a group trying to improve relations between Christians and Muslims have been charged with treason. They were arrested on 28 December after being found in possession of e-mails from a rebel group. David Kiazolu, Secretary-General of the Inter-Religious Council (IRC) and his assistant, Christopher Toe, had been told they would be released today, but were instead hit with the charges following a court hearing. The e-mails were apparently suggesting negotiations between the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) rebels and the government of President Charles Taylor. Members of the IRC have been battling to get their officials released for almost two weeks. The statutory period for the authorities to either charge or release them had been exceeded and so the state lawyers had agreed to drop the original charges. But just as relatives and sympathizers of the men were hugging them outside the courtroom and praising God that their trouble was over, a court officer from an upper magistrate's court in the same building appeared. He served the released men with another writ, this time charging them with treason for allegedly conniving with Lurd rebels to overthrow the government. When lawyers for the accused men and prosecution counsels appeared before the magistrate minutes later, defence lawyers applied for the men to be freed on bail. But government lawyers countered the motion, saying treason suspects could not be released on bail. The two officials men have been taken to the Monrovia Central Prison awaiting the court's ruling. 10 January: The Government drops the treason charges and frees them from further detention. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 10 January 2003)
* Liberia. Interest groups spell out guidelines for elections - A three-day consultative meeting that brought together Liberia's 18 registered political and other pro-democracy groups have recommended, among other things, that in the absence of a national census a thorough voters registration be conducted in the presence of political party representatives. The pro-democracy groups that attended the meeting held from 8-10 January, included the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC), the Movement for Democracy and Elections in Liberia (MODEL). The group wants the Electoral Commission to exhibit neutrality and tolerance in the conduct of this year's elections scheduled to take place in October. It added that this would ensure confidence in the commission. To have tension-free elections, they recommended also that the electoral process be policed by constitutional security agencies. This would rule out the involvement of the presidential elite guard unit, the Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU) which many Liberians said was not created by a legislative enactment. The ATU was created in 2000. Other recommendations were -- the on-the-spot counting of ballots at the close of polling in the presence of local and international observers, as well as the equipping of the state-owned Liberia Broadcasting System where all political parties should have equal access to the airwaves. (IRIN, Kenya, 13 January 2003)
* Libya. Exchanging intelligence with USA - Libya is exchanging intelligence about the al-Qaeda network with the United States, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has said. Colonel Gaddafi said there were what he called Libyan terrorists in the US and Britain, and they should be "wiped out". Osama Bin Laden is regarded as a prophet by many Muslims and has convinced his followers that the US is attacking the whole Islamic world, the Libyan leader tells Newsweek magazine in an interview. Colonel Gaddafi -- who himself has been accused of sponsoring international terrorism -- said there had been assassination attempts on his life by al-Qaeda members. "Fundamentalism is a threat to all regimes in the region," he said. (BBC News, UK, 12 January 2002)
* Madagascar. Gouvernement dissous - Le 11 janvier, le gouvernement a été dissous, à la suite de la proclamation, la veille, des résultats officiels des législatives du 15 décembre. La mouvance du président Marc Ravalomanana a remporté plus de 80% des sièges à l'Assemblée nationale. Son parti, le TIM, a obtenu 110 des 154 sièges. Le 12 janvier, le président a reconduit dans ses fonctions le Premier ministre Jacques Sylla, qui avait remporté 75% des voix dans sa circonscription de Sainte-Marie. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 13 janvier 2003)
* Malawi. Flood emergency - 11 January: President Bakili Muluzi has declared a "state of national disaster" and called for international assistance following severe floods in several parts of the country. "This is a disaster of highest proportion," Mr Muluzi says in a national address today, after making an aerial inspection of the area. The floods, caused by torrential rain, have killed at least eight people and displaced thousands more at a time when the country faces famine because of a drought. Six out of Malawi's 28 districts have been affected, including Salima where aid agencies have been supplying emergency food rations for a year. Homeless people are now taking refuge in schools, churches and the open ground, Mr Muluzi says on national radio. Many homes and gardens have been washed away and livestock killed. 13 January: The heavy rains have spread to a new district, destroying homes and crops. At least 3,000 families in the mountainous region of Rumphi in the north of Malawi have been left homeless following weekend floods -- and more than 3,000 hectares of crop destroyed. Rumphi is known for the growing of cash crops such as tobacco and coffee, as well as Malawi's staple crop, maize. The destruction of these crops by rain, now raises fears of further food shortages. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 13 January 2003)
* Malawi. IMF team to assess economic progress - An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team arrived in Malawi on 13 January to assess whether to unfreeze US $47 million in vital aid to the country, news reports said. In May the IMF said it would withhold the US $47 million earmarked for Malawi under its Poverty Reduction Growth Facility due to government overspending beyond targets set by the Fund. The IMF board was due to have met in December to review Malawi's economic performance before authorising the release of the money. But the meeting was postponed with the IMF telling the government to rectify "pressure points" in its current budget before lending could resume. (IRIN, Kenya, 14 January 2003)
* Malawi. Inondations - Plusieurs milliers de déplacés, des cours d'eau en crue, des villes et villages inondés, des ponts et des routes détruites par la furie des eaux. Les conséquences des inondations qui touchent depuis quelques jours le centre et le sud du Malawi sont extrêmement graves. Les intempéries, commencées avec de fortes précipitations début janvier, ont touché la zone comprise entre la capitale Lilongwe et le sud du pays. Il n'est pas encore possible de dresser un bilan des victimes et des dégâts, mais les disparus pourraient se compter par plusieurs centaines, selon des sources locales. Les crues ont balayé des ponts sur les principales routes du sud, rendant les secours très difficiles. Rappelons que la Malawi doit déjà faire face à une grave famine. (Misna, Italie, 15 janvier 2003) 

Weekly anb0116.txt - #5/8