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Weekly anb01305.txt #7

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 30-01-2003      PART #5/7
* Ethiopia. Educated suffer government repression - In a 24 January Press Release, Human Rights Watch says the Ethiopian government is muzzling educators and students with a policy of harsh repression that includes extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and widespread denials of freedom of opinion and association. The 52-page report, "Lessons in repression: Violations of Academic Freedom in Ethiopia", documents an on-going pattern of impunity among federal and state security forces accused of using excessive lethal force to disperse protests by unarmed high school students and other civilians. (HRW, 24 January 2003)
* Ethiopia. Nestlé u-turn on Ethiopia debt - Nestlé, the world's largest coffee company, was forced into a humiliating u-turn last night, after public outrage forced it to drop its $6m claim against the famine stricken Ethiopian government. After being deluged by 40,000 letters inspired by The Guardian's revelation of its demand for compensation over assets seized in the 1970s, Nestlé will today announce that it has decided to back down. Talks between the company and the Ethiopian government this week resulted in Nestlé accepting Addis Ababa's offer of a $1.5m settlement, which will be handed straight over to the famine relief effort. The Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger, said it was a triumph for the power of public opinion. "After The Guardian first exposed the company's plans, over 40,000 people wrote to Nestlé outraged at their claim on the Ethiopian government," he said. "Corporate greed has buckled in the face of adverse publicity and direct action." Senior representatives from Nestlé are expected to sign a deal today with the Ethiopian government. In a statement last night, the giant food and beverages company said it was not interested in taking money out of a country confronted with famine and that it was exploring other ways it could be of assistance to the Ethiopian government. (The Guardian, UK, 24 January 2003)
* Ethiopie. Accord avec Nestlé - Le 24 janvier, Nestlé et le gouvernement éthiopien ont signé un accord pour le remboursement à Nestlé de quelque 1,5 million de dollars, en compensation d'une créance de $6 millions réclamée de longue date par Nestlé-Allemagne concernant une entreprise nationalisée en 1975 par le gouvernement de l'époque et revendue à un investisseur privé en 1998. Sous l'égide d'Oxfam, 40.000 lettres de protestation avaient été envoyées à Nestlé à ce sujet. Nestlé a indiqué que le montant reçu serait immédiatement alloué à des initiatives visant à combattre la famine en Ethiopie. Le groupe suisse a dit aussi examiner de quelle manière il pourrait aider le pays à assurer à plus long terme un approvisonnement alimentaire et un meilleur accès à l'eau. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 25 janvier 2003)
* Guinée. La santé du président Conté - Le 26 janvier, la télévision guinéenne a diffusé une séance de prières à laquelle ont pris part récemment, dans la capitale, des membres du gouvernement, des députés et d'autres dignitaires du régime pour "un prompt rétablissement" du président Lansana Conté. Un haut dignitaire, membre du parti au pouvoir, a indiqué que le président était "très fatigué et malade". Il s'est fait soigner d'un diabète aigu à l'hôpital militaire de Rabat (Maroc), où il doit retourner à la fin de ce mois pour un suivi médical. Plusieurs observateurs disent redouter le chaos en Guinée si le président Conté venait à disparaître aujourd'hui. Mais dans un entretien avec PANA, le leader de l'Union pour le progrès de la Guinée (UPG, opposition) a appelé "l'armée à prendre le pouvoir pour une période de 3 à 6 mois avant de nouvelles élections". "Le général Conté est gravement malade et donc incapable d'assumer les fonctions de chef de l'Etat", a-t-il ajouté, rappelant que le 14 décembre prochain est la date butoir de la fin de son second quinquennat. (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 27 janvier 2003)
* Guinée-Bissau. Relance de la filière riz - Le Koweït va aider la Guinée-Bissau à mettre en oeuvre un plan de relance de la riziculture, a déclaré le 26 janvier le ministre de l'Agriculture, M. Mballo. "Notre objectif est d'atteindre à terme l'autosuffisance alimentaire", a déclaré Mballo. Le montant du financement n'a pas été révélé. Le plan de relance prévoit entre autres l'installation de motopompes pour réguler les besoins en eau dans les rizières, l'encadrement technique des producteurs et l'utilisation de variétés de riz à haut rendement. La Guinée-Bissau est actuellement confrontée à un important déficit vivrier à cause d'une longue pause pluviométrique. La production de riz a baissé de 40 à 50% cette année dans la région de Gabou (est). Plus de 300 villages sont menacés de famine dans les régions de Kinara et Tombali dans le sud du pays. (PANA, Sénégal, 27 janvier 2003)
* Kenya. Ministres victimes d'un accident d'avion - Le 24 janvier, le ministre kényan du Travail, Ahmad Mohamed Khalif, a été tué quand son avion s'est écrasé au décollage dans l'ouest du pays, tuant également deux pilotes. Deux autres ministres (Martha Karua, ministre des Ressources en eau, et Linah Jebii Kilimo, ministre d'Etat rattaché à la vice-présidence) et le parlementaire George Khanari ont été blessés. L'avion de tourisme s'est écrasé au décollage, après avoir heurté une ligne à haute tension dans la région de Busia (ouest), selon la police. Tous revenaient de Nairobi après une visite dans la région. Le gouvernement du président Mwai Kibaki n'est en fonction que depuis quelques semaines. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 25 janvier 2003)
* Kenya. Labour minister killed in air crash - 24 January: A light aircraft carrying Kenya's Labour Minister, Ahmed Khalif, and other government ministers, crashes shortly after taking off in western Kenya. The Labour Minister and two pilots are killed in the accident in Busia. Several other passengers are injured, some badly. The officials had been visiting Busia as part of celebrations for the election victory. President Kibaki says an investigation is under way. 25 January: The Government says the plane was too heavy. The Gulfstream I twin-propeller plane weighed 16 tonnes and was taking off from an airstrip designed for aircraft weighing less than 5.7 tonnes. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 25 January 2003)
* Kenya. Judge in court for corruption - 27 January: A Kenyan High Court judge has pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud in the first corruption case ever filed against a Kenyan judge. The judge, Samuel Oguk, is accused of having accepted a bribe worth about $6,700 two years ago. His lawyers say the prosecution violates the judicial immunity guaranteed by the constitution. One of the main planks in President Mwai Kibaki's election campaign was a pledge to eradicate corruption. Mr Oguk was freed on bail and police said they intended to bring more charges against him when the trial resumes on 10 February. The judge says he is being persecuted and has warned he will expose big names in Mr Kibaki's government and some of the family members of his predecessor, Daniel arap Moi. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 27 January 2003)
* Kenya. Children freed from Islamic correctional centre - Kenyan police have rescued 11 boys from an Islamic correctional centre in the capital, Nairobi, where they were kept in chains and tortured. Most of the teenagers came from Kenya, but others were from the United Kingdom, Sweden and Ethiopia. In a dramatic raid at the Khadija Islamic Institute of Discipline and Education, the police were forced to fire in the air to fight off residents pelting them with them stones -- before rescuing 10 teenagers who were being held at the centre. They were kept in chains and secured by padlocks in small rooms with little ventilation or light in Eastleigh, a Nairobi suburb inhabited mainly by ethnic Somalis and refugees from the Horn of Africa. The raid followed a tip-off from one of the teenagers who was himself later rescued from a hospital where he had gone to seek medical help. Nairobi police boss Stephen Kimenchu led the late evening raid. "We found the children running around in chains. It was some kind of extreme confinement you cannot imagine to be happening in this country. We were not aware of this until yesterday when we got there." At the Kasarani police station, five kilometres from where they had been rescued, the children narrated their ordeal at the hands of Islamic teachers bent on turning them into good Muslims. Nairobi police boss Mr Kimenchu says the children were sent to the centre by their parent who pay $1,500 per child for a two-year stay. "I think the parents believed their children were learning the Koran. I don't think they were aware of the actual conditions their children were living in," he said. In Eastleigh, local councillor Kullow Ibraim Haji also condemned the cruel treatment of students: "I support the school and the parents who bring their children here to be taught discipline. But I don't support torture and chaining of students," he said. "Islam does not allow children to be tortured. Teaching and disciplining them is one thing --but not torture." (BBC News, UK, 28 January 2003)
* Liberia. Moving against "blood diamonds" - Liberia announced completion of its own diamond-certification program on 29 January, saying it aims to prove it is doing its part to keep so-called "blood diamonds" off the market. Authorities of the West African nation hope the plan will lead to lifting international sanctions against it for its alleged gun-and diamond-trafficking ring, which has helped finance Liberia's deadly civil war. Energy Minister Jenkins Dunbar told journalists Liberia's plan includes a tamper-and forgery-resistant certificate in line with recommendations of the Kimberley Process. The Kimberley Process, developed by the diamond industry, human rights groups and 37 governments, aims at squelching the trade of diamonds to fund civil wars in Africa. The process is intended to track each diamond from the mine to the jeweler's window, blocking the trade of diamonds trafficked illicitly. "Any Liberian diamonds that are not accompanied by the certificate should be banned on the world market," Dunbar said. The minister said he was optimistic the sanctions would "shortly be lifted" so that legal mining can resume in Liberia. (CNN, USA, 29 January 2003)
* Madagascar. Mixing religion and politics - Religion is close to the hearts of the people of Madagascar. Approximately half of the population are Christians. President Marc Ravalomanana is himself the vice-president of the Protestant reform movement known here as FJKM. Journalist and commentator Jean-Eric Rakotorisoa says that without the support of the Church, Ravalomanana would not have become president. "Religion played a big role, notably the Christian Churches -- Catholic, Anglican, Reformist and Lutheran. They allowed Marc Ravalomanana to take power and get the support of the people. The Church allowed him to resolve the political crisis here and become president. So these churches had an enormous influence. Ravalomanana is the vice- president of the FJKM and he played on religion in order to get elected." President Ravalomanana certainly takes Christianity seriously and he expects the thousands of people who work for him in his private companies to do the same. They have to attend regular services and hold prayer meetings before they start work. He also used a quotation from the Bible: Mark 5, Chapter 36 -- as a political slogan: "Don't be afraid, just have faith." Some commentators and critics though are concerned that there has been a blurring of the boundaries between Church and state. They say the first article of Madagascar's constitution talks of the secularity of government. So they wonder if has this independence been lost. (BBC News, UK, 22 January 2003)
* Malawi. Le 3e mandat de Muluzi - En dépit des protestations, M. Henry Phoya, ministre de la Justice et procureur général, va demander le 28 janvier au Parlement de voter l'amendement constitutionnel proposé afin de permettre au président Muluzi de briguer un nouveau mandat de cinq ans. Son second mandat expire en 2004 et la Constitution lui interdit de se représenter. Un projet de loi similaire a déjà été rejeté le 4 juillet dernier. "Alors que nous pensions que la question était tranchée pour de bon, voilà que le procureur général vient mettre sur la table un nouveau projet visant les mêmes objectifs", a déploré un député de l'opposition, soulignant que le pays était confronté à des problèmes bien plus importants. (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 27 janvier 2003)
* Malawi. Third-term protests - 27 January: Police have fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators angry at proposals to let President Muluzi run for a third term of office. Some 2,000 people march in Blantyre, before the protest is broken up. In Lilongwe, Parliament has started an emergency debate over a proposed change in the Constitution top let President Muluzi contest elections scheduled for 2004. 29 January: The Government has backed down in its attempts to allow President Muluzi to stand for a third term of office. A bill to change the Constitution has been withdrawn from Parliament. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 29 January 2003) 

Weekly anb0130.txt - #5/7