Weekly anb0161.txt #8

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 16-01-2003      PART #1/8

* Africa. Action against the Media  -  Congo (RDC): Journalist Gisèle 
Ossambia and publication director Kabeya Pindi Pasi, both with the 
Kinshasa-based bi-weekly newspaper Numerica, were ordered to appear before 
a Kinshasa/Gombe court on 10 January 2003 to answer charges of having 
directed "harmful accusations" and "insults" against Agathe Mulimbi, 
president of the National Bureau for the Promotion of Social Action (BNPS), 
a government department accountable to the president. The BNPS was created 
by former president Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Malawi: The chairperson of the 
Malawi Institute of Journalism's (MIJ) radio station has accused it of bias 
and ordered that it not air any political programmes until the board 
reviews the station's code of conduct. In an 8 January 2003 letter to MIJ 
Executive Director James Ngombe, Henry Chibwana alleged that the radio 
station acts as a mouthpiece for one political party. "Since reason does 
not seem to prevail, I ask you to desist from broadcasting any political 
message, news or advertisements until the code of ethics and/or the 
broadcasting licence is reviewed," Chibwana states in his letter. However, 
Chibwana fell short of specifying which party the MIJ radio reportedly 
favoured. Ngombe said in an interview that his station would continue to 
air political items until Chibwana substantiates his allegations. 
Mauritania: On 14 January, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) denounced the 
Mauritanian government's ban on the latest issue of the weekly 
Arabic-language newspaper Sahafa. The issue was censored because it 
contained a report on opposition activities abroad. "This ban demonstrates 
once again that the authorities will not tolerate the independent press 
giving a voice to opposition figures," RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard 
said in a letter to Interior Minister Lemrabott Sidi Mahmud Ould Sheikh 
Ahmed, while calling on him to reverse the ban. Uganda: On 8 January, RSF 
protested over the Ugandan government's crackdown on live outdoor radio 
broadcasts of the views of ordinary Ugandans. "This is just a means of 
preventing people from debating national issues and making themselves 
heard," RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said in a letter to Information 
Minister Basoga Nsadhu, while calling on him to allow the broadcasts to 
continue. On 2 January, Nsadhu specified that the licences allocated to 
radio stations only allow them to broadcast from their studios. The street 
broadcasts, known as "ebimeeza", sprung up two years ago, when some 
stations organised round-table discussions outdoors and broadcast the 
results live. The "people's Parliaments", as they were nicknamed, have 
become very popular. Among the stations affected are Radio One, Central 
Broadcasting Service and Radio Simba. Zimbabwe: On 10 January, RSF said the 
state media and the government have accused Zimbabwean journalist Lewis 
Machipisa of spying for the BBC and SW Radio Africa, a London-based 
community radio station. In a front-page lead story that appeared in the 
state-owned weekly The Sunday Mail on 22 December 2002, the paper said that 
Machipisa is now working for the BBC and SW Radio Africa "despite the fact 
that the government banned the BBC from operating in Zimbabwe after 
accusations that the station was peddling falsehoods." The government has 
also labelled SW Radio Africa as a hostile station, which officials accuse 
of peddling "anti-Zimbabwe propaganda."   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 14 January 2003)

* Africa. African media watch  -  Newspapers in Nigeria this week commented 
widely on the choice of the two main candidates for April's presidential 
election. Incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo won the nomination of the 
ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). Major General Muhammadu Buhari, a 
former military ruler from 1984 to 1985, will represent the opposition All 
Nigeria People's Party (ANPP). Many observers predict that voters will be 
divided along traditional social fault lines, a point not lost on the 
independent daily This Day. We must decide: "To be a nation, or not to be!" 
The two chosen candidates bring Nigeria to "another testy juncture", the 
paper says. "Because of where they hail from... they are likely to bring to 
the fore again the deep divides of the Nigerian project. Ethnicity and 
religion may leap to the centre stage again, creating noise and distortion 
in the electioneering process and, more importantly, pushing the country to 
the precipice," the paper says. The "moment of truth has dawned for 
Nigeria", the independent Vanguard proclaims. "Most Nigerians abhor the 
truth, because they have lived, or been made to live a lie, but now, like 
Shakespeare's Hamlet, we must decide: "To be a nation, or not to be!"" Some 
papers take an even more downbeat line. An editorial in the Guardian warns 
that "there is the genuine fear that history is about to repeat itself". It 
says there is suspicion that the country's political atmosphere is polluted 
with "greed, bitterness, acrimony, vindictiveness". There is "a propensity 
to rig elections and to corrupt the process, a disposition towards violence 
and an inordinate exercise of the power of incumbency", the paper adds 
gloomily. The Daily Trust, a newspaper with wide circulation among the 
Muslims in the north, agrees. It says that Nigerians are faced with a 
"stark choice that plays up the fault lines binding the nation 
together".   (BBC News, UK, 10 January 2003)

* Horn of Africa. Anti-terror alliance  -  13 January: The foreign 
ministers of Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen say they have established a regional 
alliance that will attempt to combat terrorism in the Horn of Africa. The 
announcement came at the end of a two-day meeting in the Sudanese capital, 
Khartoum. The foreign minister of Sudan, Mustafa Ismail, said countries in 
the region needed to be coordinated to fight terrorism. The foreign 
ministers of the three countries said in a joint statement they would urge 
their leaders to hold an annual summit. The ministers also said they would 
get together every six months and they confirmed their next meeting would 
be in mid-June in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 13 
January 2003)

* Southern Africa. USA to negotiate trade deal  -  On 13 January, the USA 
announced the start of negotiations aimed at reaching a free trade 
agreement with five southern African countries by next year, saying it 
would go further than the European Union to remove barriers to trade with 
the region. The talks -- the latest in a flurry of bilateral trade 
initiatives from Washington -- will be held with the members of the 
Southern African Customs Union (Sacu). They are Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, 
South Africa and Swaziland. Robert Zoellick, the US trade representative, 
who met his counterparts from the five in Pretoria on 13 January, said 
negotiations would start on the understanding that no products would be 
excluded. "The FTA has the objective of covering all areas and all products 
and eliminating all barriers. Unlike the European Union, we offer totally 
free trade," he said. The negotiations will aim for improved reciprocal 
market access in areas including agriculture, industrial products and 
financial services, as well as strengthened protection of intellectual 
property rights. The FTA aims to build on the US African Growth and 
Opportunity Act (Agoa), which since 2001 has allowed duty and quota-free 
access to the US market for thousands of products and helped to create many 
jobs in the 38 eligible countries. Unlike Agoa, a unilateral US concession 
due to end by 2008, the FTA would provide certainty. "We hold the belief 
that the positive experience we have had with Agoa is something we should 
consolidate and make more permanent," Alec Erwin, South Africa's trade 
minister, said.   (Financial Times, UK, 14 January 2003)

* Algeria. Resurgence of violence  -  8 January: Mounting insecurity, and a 
deepening economic crisis, have pushed large numbers of Algerian young men 
to find ways of making the short hop across the Mediterranean to Europe. 
Some are just after employment and a better life, others are Islamist 
sympathizers fleeing repression by the security forces. And a third 
category include radicals involved in violent activities seeking a safe 
haven. "The inability of the Algerian state, and indeed the international 
community to resolve the problems in Algeria has contributed to the spread 
of these militant networks in Europe," a European terrorism official said. 
He says, however, that not all of the Algerians who join illegal groups in 
Europe have a history of supporting Islamic militants in their own country. 
Some may have been radicalised by the repression in the Algeria, and others 
have become radical through the connections they make in Europe. 9 January: 
Fifteen people have been killed by suspected Islamic militants in various 
parts of Algeria. One of the attacks took place in a mountainous area where 
the radical Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) is active. The 
Algerian Government says the group has links with the Al-Qaeda network. 
More than 100 people -- most of them members of the security forces -- have 
been killed since 4 January in attacks blamed on Islamic groups. Eight 
soldiers died when two home-made bombs were exploded as their convoy drove 
by in Sidi Ali Bounab, near Tizi Ouzou, in the Kabylie region, on 7 
January. The same day, a family of five were killed in the province of 
Chlef, 200km west of Algiers. The family, including two young children, a 
woman and a disabled person, where shot dead at close range. In a separate 
attack, a soldier and an armed civilian were killed in Batna, southeast of 
Algiers. Never since the start of the Islamist insurgency in 1992 have so 
many security forces been killed in successive attacks. On 5 January, the 
press reported one of the worst attacks on the army, with more than 40 
soldiers killed in an ambush blamed on Islamist rebels near Batna. The 
daily El-Watan said it was difficult to accept that an entire platoon of 
paratroopers could be decimated in such an easy way despite the 
government's repeated assertions that it has won its war on terror. Many in 
Algeria blame the resurgence of violence on President Abdelaziz 
Bouteflika's policy of national reconciliation.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 9 
January 2003)

* Algérie. Embuscades et assassinats  -  Le mardi soir 7 janvier, lors 
d'une embuscade tendue par un groupe islamiste armé, huit militaires ont 
été tués dans la région de Tizi Ouzou en Kabylie (110 km à l'est d'Alger). 
Les militaires, qui menaient des opérations dans le maquis de Sid Ali 
Bounab, ont été surpris par l'explosion de deux bombes actionnées à 
distance. L'attaque est attribuée par la presse au Groupe salafiste pour la 
prédication et le combat (GSPC) d'Hassan Hattab. Elle se situe trois jours 
après une autre embuscade, attribuée au même groupe, qui a coûté la vie à 
plus de 40 militaires dans les Aurès. - Dans la nuit de mardi à mercredi, 
cinq personnes ont été assassinées par un groupe islamiste dans la région 
de Chlef (200 km à l'ouest d'Alger). Les victimes appartiennent à la même 
famille: la mère, ses deux enfants et leurs deux oncles. La région est 
réputée être une zone d'activité du Groupe islamique armé (GIA). - Le 
mercredi, sept islamistes armés ont été tués à Relizane (400 km au 
sud-ouest d'Alger) lors d'une opération de ratissage de l'armée dans les 
monts Ouancharis.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 11 janvier 2003)

* Algérie. Kabylie: fin de la grève de la faim  -  Le 13 janvier, les six 
délégués des âarchs (coordination des comités de villages kabyles) en grève 
de la faim depuis le 3 décembre à la prison de Tizi Ouzou, en Grande 
Kabylie, ont annoncé la cessation de leur action, a rapporté l'agence 
algérienne APS. "Après 41 jours de grève de la faim, nous avons décidé de 
répondre favorablement aux multiples appels (...) en mettant fin à cette 
action", ont expliqué ces délégués dans une déclaration. -D'autre part, le 
dimanche 12 janvier, la Kabylie avait fêté le nouvel an berbère sous les 
bombes lacrymogènes lancées lors d'affrontements entre jeunes manifestants 
et forces de l'ordre. Les manifestants voulaient marcher pour exiger la 
libération des délégués emprisonnés.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 14 
janvier 2003)

* Angola. Airdrops for inaccessible areas  -  The World Food Programme 
(WFP) is to conduct airdrops of food aid to Angolans in inaccessible areas. 
Humanitarian agencies have been unable to reach many parts of the country, 
either because of the danger of landmines or poor road infrastructure. WFP 
spokesman in the capital Luanda, Marcelo Spina-Hering, says the agency was 
in the process of preparing for the airdrops. "There are many different 
areas throughout the country that are inaccessible...in three locations, in 
the north, south and centre of the country, there are 40,000 people 
isolated. That's only in those three areas, we do not know the total number 
of people cut-off from aid," he says.   (IRIN, Kenya, 10 January 2003)

* Burundi. At least 10 killed in attack  -  13 January: At least 10 people 
have been killed in Burundi during an attack on a convoy of vehicles 
travelling towards the capital, Bujumbura. The attack is reported to have 
taken place at Kangunzi, 55 kilometres north-west of the capital. Most of 
the vehicles were buses, and there are reports that many passengers were 
injured. The army say they have been chasing rebels of the Forces for the 
Defence of Democracy (FDD) in the area. The FDD signed a ceasefire with the 
government in December, but a spokesman has denied his group is responsible 
for the ambush.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 13 January 2003)

* Burundi. Army returns loot  -  14 January: The army in Burundi has 
returned possessions that undisciplined soldiers looted last week during an 
operation in a suburb in the north-east of the capital Bujumbura. The move 
to return the looted property has been welcomed by locals but it has also 
been seen as proof that people in that part of the city had good reasons to 
distrust the army. It has been a long exercise trying to identify one's 
belongings from a pile where the military had mixed up the objects that 
were looted from Taba, a location in the district of Kamenge, north-east of 
the capital, Bujumbura. But the people were respectful of one another's 
property and did not take belongings that were not theirs. Many, still, 
could not trace their possessions and asked the military authorities to 
continue the search in every area where they suspected the looters had 
hidden them.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 14 January 2003)

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