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Weekly anb03061.txt #7

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 06-03-2003      PART #1/7
* Afrique. Voyage de Bush en juillet - Prévu initialement à la mi-janvier, le premier périple africain de George W. Bush avait dû être reporté, en raison des préparatifs de guerre contre l'Irak. Il se déroulera finalement à la mi-juillet. Le président américain se rendra notamment au Sénégal, au Nigeria, en Afrique du Sud et au Kenya. (JAI, France, 2-8 mars 2003)
* Africa. Africa to miss anti-poverty targets - Most African countries will fail to reach UN targets for poverty reduction because of the impact of poor commodity prices, poor governance and Aids, a report has warned. The UN Millennium Declaration in 2000 set a goal of halving the number of people with incomes of less than $1 a day by 2015. But a report published by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says most African countries are unlikely to reach this goal, although some will make progress towards it. It says the millennium goals are unlikely to be reached because of the current absolute levels of poverty and poor projected growth rates. (BBC News, UK, 3 March 2003)
* Afrique. Forum mondial de l'eau - Le 3e Forum mondial de l'eau se tiendra du 16 au 23 mars à Kyoto, au Japon. Le 5 mars, l'Unesco et le département des affaires économiques et sociales des Nations unies ont rendu public le rapport mondial sur la mise en valeur des ressources en eau. Celles-ci sont "en chute libre", constate le rapport. A la lecture de ce rapport très sombre, il est clair que la crise mondiale de l'eau n'en est qu'à ses débuts. Le volume d'eau disponible par personne a déjà baissé d'un tiers en vingt ans, de 1970 à 1990, et un autre tiers devrait disparaître dans les vingt ans à venir, période durant laquelle la planète devra accueillir un à deux millions d'êtres humains supplémentaires. Le rapport prend d'autant plus des allures de cri d'alarme qu'il rappelle qu'au cours des 25 dernières années, plusieurs grands objectifs visant à améliorer la gestion des ressources ont été affichés sur la scène internationale, mais qu'aucun de ces buts n'a été atteint. Le texte stigmatise l'inertie politique et la malgouvernance manifeste en matière d'eau alors que certaines mesures, comme la désinfection de l'eau, ne sont ni difficiles à mettre en oeuvre ni onéreuses. (La Croix, France, 5 mars 2003)
* Africa. Action against the Media - Congo RDC: On 4 March, the organisation Journaliste en Danger (JED) reported that Radiotélévision Amazone (RTA), a radio station based in Mbuji-Mayi, capital of East Kasai province, was shut down on 1 March 2003 by order of East Kasai province Director Mutonj Mayand-a-Tshibang. RTA officials received notification of the decision via an official letter from the provincial director. According to accounts by RTA journalists reached by JED via telephone, the private station is accused of airing "unpleasant comments" and "false news" on a local language programme called "Lubila lwa Mukrezaka" ("The Voice of the Digger"). The programme, which aired on 25 February, featured a contentious report on an incident that took place in late February in a mine run by the diamond mining firm Minière de Bakwanga, in which several miners died. Egypt: On 25 February, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) issued a Press release on the Impact of the Emergency Law on Human Rights -- 1992-2002". This report is issued following the 23 February 2003 decision by the Peoples' Assembly to extend the state of emergency for three more years until 2006. The state of emergency has been in force in Egypt since the assassination of El Sadat in 1981 and has been continuously extended for almost 25 years. It is worth noting that the state of emergency was supposed to end in May 2003. Guinea-Bissau: On 3 March, Reporters sand Frontières (RSF) expressed concern about the serious deterioration of the press freedom situation in Guinea-Bissau following the permanent closure of the country's main opposition radio station. On 27 February 2003, the government announced the permanent withdrawal of Bombolom FM's broadcast permit. The radio station was accused of having demonstrated a lack of "professionalism", "pluralism" and "objectivity" in its news coverage. Togo: On 3 March, RSF said that reported that on 28 February 2003, the Audiovisual and Communications High Authority (HAAC) had announced the closure of the private radio station Tropik FM "until further notice." Zambia: On 28 February, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) said that on 24 February 2003, Information and Broadcasting Services Deputy Minister Webster Chipili threatened Radio Icengelo, a Catholic-owned station in Kitwe, with closure, saying it risks losing its broadcast licence if it continues to be used as a mouthpiece for opposition political parties. Zimbabwe: On 28 February, MISA reported that journalists with the private daily newspaper The Daily News were barred from covering Parliament and sitting in the public gallery on 26 February 2003. As justification for the move, Parliament officials said the daily's journalists are not accredited and the paper is not registered with the Media and Information Commission. -- In a 4 March letter to President Mugabe, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the World Editors Forum (WEF) expressed serious concern at the issuing of a warrant for the arrest of journalist Geoffrey Nyarota, the laureate of WAN's 2002 Golden Pen of Freedom. According to reports, on 28 February a Harare court issued an arrest warrant for Nyarota, former editor-in-chief of Zimbabwe's leading independent daily newspaper The Daily News, for failing to appear before a court on a remand hearing on charges of abusing journalistic privileges. Nyarota is currently at Harvard University receiving a fellowship award. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 5 March 2003)
* Africa. Africa's aid plan seeks healthy growth - 6 March: Africa's ambitious new development plan, Nepad, must confront the huge tasks of improving health and education. "Good health is an essential pre-requisite for equitable development and fair globalisation," says Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa. Africa remains by far the world's poorest continent, with millions of its people living on less than $1 a day. As well as killing many Africans each year, infectious diseases pose a devastating threat to economic development. Malaria costs Africa up to $100bn a year in lost productivity, five times more than annual development aid received. The disease kills 1 million Africans a year, consumes 40% of the continent's health expenditure, and accounts for half of all hospital admissions. "A lot of absenteeism is due to malaria at school and at work," says Ann Kichoi, a Kenyan health worker with Amref, which provides such simple preventatives as mosquito nets. But there are welcome signs that policy makers in Europe and Washington are taking a more positive view of spending on health and education. This a shift from their past focus on making health and education ministries balance their books by charging fees. "Health is no longer considered as a black hole that you're pouring money into, but a critical element of a country's growth", says Alex Preike, World Bank health department chief economist. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 6 March 2003)
* Africa. Africa and the Iraqi crisis - Egypt: On 5 March, Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party led the largest antiwar march ever to take place in the country since the Iraqi crisis erupted. Libya: On 5 March, President Gaddafi warned of the "dire consequences" of any war against Iraq. Uganda: Following Kampala's intimated support for a military option in US-led efforts to disarm Iraq, Ugandan NGOs, charity groups and Churches have issued a joint statement (5 March) warning that war in the Persian Gulf would have a devastating impact on the Iraqi people. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 6 March 2003)
* Afrique/Europe. L'Eglise pour le développement - Les responsabilités de l'Europe et de l'Afrique pour le développement sur le continent africain sont examinées lors d'un colloque international qui se déroule les 27 et 28 février à Lisbonne (Portugal) sur le thème: "L'Afrique, l'Union européenne - partenaires dans la solidarité: la contribution de l'Eglise". La rencontre est organisée par la Commission des épiscopats de la communauté européenne (COMECE), le Symposium des conférences épiscopales d'Afrique et de Madagascar (SECAM) et la conférence épiscopale du Portugal. Les thèmes examinés seront: la dette extérieure et le bon gouvernement, le dialogue entre les religions et les cultures, la paix et le conflit, la santé et la vie. Chaque groupe de travail élaborera des propositions à présenter aux gouvernements comme une contribution de l'Eglise pour le développement en Afrique. (Zenith, Vatican, 27 février 2003)
* Afrique de l'Ouest. Crise humanitaire - Avec son lot de pillages, de raids, de meurtres et de conflits ethniques, la guerre civile ivoirienne a d'ores et déjà dégénérée, dans l'ouest du pays au moins, en une crise humanitaire régionale, affirme le HCR. Depuis le début du conflit, 400.000 personnes ont fui la Côte d'Ivoire et entre 600.000 et 800.000 autres ont été déplacées à l'intérieur du pays. Selon le HCR, 95.000 personnes ont fui vers le Liberia. Au nord de la Côte d'Ivoire, la Guinée a accueilli 85.000 réfugiés, avant de fermer sa frontière. Ce pays donne déjà refuge à quelque 189.000 civils qui ont fui les guerres civiles sierra-léonaise et libérienne des années 1990. Le 4 mars, le PAM a estimé à 900.000 le nombre de personnes ayant besoin d'aide alimentaire en Côte d'Ivoire, en Sierra Leone, au Liberia et en Guinée. (Reuters, 5 mars 2003)
* Algeria. Undeclared civil war - Algeria's powerful military rulers have been accused of allowing the "disappearances" of at least 7,000 people during an undeclared civil war with radical Islamists they have waged over the past 10 years. An investigation by Human Rights Watch in New York concluded yesterday that the Algerian leadership was guilty of gross human rights violations. Algeria had "utterly failed" to investigate the thousands of civilians made to "disappear" by the state security forces between 1992 and 1998, who remain unaccounted for. "None of the missing has returned and no one has been held accountable for their disappearance," it said. Hanny Megally, of Human Rights Watch, said: "All of the government's missing-person bureaux, complaint mechanisms and responses to foreign queries amount to a cruel stonewalling operation. Our research shows the government has not produced a shred of information, even when families can furnish details about the security forces they saw abduct their sons and husbands." The report said not one person accused of involvement in a "disappearance" had been charged or brought to trial. Separately, Amnesty International accused the Algerian security forces yesterday of widespread torture and demanded information on the fate of the missing people. After a two-week mission -- the first the organisation has been allowed to make in three years -- Amnesty said torture was systematic and widespread. The damning reports come on the eve of a visit to Algiers by Jacques Chirac, the first such visit by a French President to Algeria since independence in 1962. (The Independent, UK, 28 February 2003)
* Algeria. Chirac warmly welcomed - 2 March: France's President Jacques Chirac receives a rapturous welcome from hundreds of thousands of Algerians at the start of the first official state visit by a French leader since the country's independence in 1962. French security officials put the crowd figures at around 500,000, but Algerian security sources said about 1.5 million turned out, today. They cheer as President Chirac drives from the city airport to the centre of town in an open-top limousine with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. President Chirac -- who served as a second lieutenant in the French army during the independence campaign -- is to spend three days in the country, along with a delegation of leading business people, including the heads of corporate giants TotalFinaElf, Alstom and Airbus, as well as French cultural figures. However, the main impact of the visit is likely to be symbolic. In a gesture of friendship, President Chirac presents his Algerian counterpart with the silver seal of the last ruler of Algiers, taken by French forces in 1830. "The return of this symbol of the sovereignty of the Algerian state in my mind seals the reunion between our two countries and our peoples, a new advance in our relations," President Chirac says. President Chirac and previous French presidents have been to Algeria since independence, but none of the trips has been an official state visit, with all the pomp this entails. 3 March: President Chirac urges Algerians not to forget the brutal war of independence which split the two nations. He speaks of shattered dreams and families torn apart before saying that France and Algeria could now build stronger ties. Mr Chirac receives a standing ovation from members of the Algerian parliament for his speech. He calls the 1954-1962 war a time of "destruction and suffering. The past is complex and still painful, and we must not forget it or renounce it," he tells the parliament. Mr Chirac also looks to the future, saying France wants to help Algeria develop and support its economic reform efforts. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 3 March 2003)
* Algérie. Visite du président Chirac - Le 2 mars, le président Jacques Chirac a entamé une visite d'Etat de trois jours en Algérie, la première d'un président de la République française dans ce pays depuis son indépendance en 1962. L'objectif du voyage est de consolider la "refondation" des relations franco-algériennes, entamée par la visite en France en 2002 du président algérien Abdelaziz Bouteflika. A son arrivée, M. Chirac a été acclamé par des centaines de milliers d'Algériens en liesse. Sa visite s'est ouverte par un acte hautement symbolique: la remise au président Bouteflika du sceau du Dey d'Alger, Hussein Pacha, que celui-ci avait remis, le 5 juillet 1830, au commandant du corps expéditionnaire français victorieux, marquant ainsi le début de la colonisation. Dans la soirée, les deux présidents ont signé une "déclaration d'Alger" où ils s'engagent à instaurer un "partenariat d'exception" en renforçant leur coopération dans tous les domaines et en améliorant la circulation des personnes. Le 3 mars, M. Chirac s'est adressé au Palais des Nations aux députés de l'Assemblée populaire nationale et aux membres du Conseil de la nation. Le 4 mars, le président français s'est rendu à Oran, la grande ville de l'ouest algérien, où il s'est notamment adressé aux étudiants de l'université d'Es Senia. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 4 mars 2003)
* Algérie. Groupe Khalifa sous administrateur - La commission bancaire algérienne a désigné un administrateur provisoire auprès de la Al-Khalifa Bank, la plus importante banque privée du pays, selon un communiqué de la Banque d'Algérie publié le 4 mars, qui précise que l'établissement est soumis depuis le 24 novembre 2002 à une mesure conservatoire de suspension des transferts de fonds vers l'étranger. Pour le quotidien Le Soir d'Algérie, la durée anormale de la suspension des opérations de transfert à l'étranger, qui frappe la colonne vertébrale du groupe Khalifa et qui menace de provoquer la mort du premier groupe privé algérien, ne fait qu'accréditer la thèse d'un acharnement contre le groupe "venu d'en haut". Khalifa Airways semble ne plus pouvoir faire face à ses engagements. Le 3 mars au matin, la compagnie a annulé la majorité des vols intérieurs. Khalifa Airways dessert 24 aéroports algériens et une vingtaine de destinations sur le réseau international. (AP, 4 mars 2003) 

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