Weekly anb03135.txt #7

[anb-bia <anb-bia at village.uunet.be>]

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 13-03-2003      PART #5/7

* Kenya. MPs give themselves a pay rise  -  6 March: Members of Parliament 
in Kenya have approved plans to pay themselves large salary increases just 
a few weeks after a new parliament was sworn-in. But there is widespread 
public disapproval, with an opinion poll suggesting 85% of the public think 
the pay awards are unjustified at this time. The increases will see their 
pay packages rise from $5,000 to well over $6,000, in a country where the 
majority of the population survive on just $1 a day. They also come with 
the country's economy still struggling some three months since President 
Mwai Kibaki's opposition alliance won elections. But the MPs, in a debate 
that lasted for two-and-a-half hours, defended their action insisting the 
rises would strengthen the house and make members more effective in the 
performance of their tasks. The pay awards were recommended by a commission 
that examined the MPs pay package. The packages include salaries, 
allowances and benefits available to them in both parliament and in their 
constituencies. Finance Minister David Mwiraria told his colleagues that 
even though the additional expenditure would be a strain on the economy he 
would "pay the salaries from the same sources used to pay the salaries of 
other public officials". The Daily Nation newspaper which had conducted the 
opinion poll ahead of the debate found that Kenyans put a revival in the 
economy before MPs pay demands. Others thought the MPs pay came too early 
as they have not yet "even found their seats in the House". The pay rise is 
expected to come into effect when the National Assembly Remuneration Act is 
amended.   (BBC News, UK, 6 March 2003)

* Kenya. Nairobi hunts for "ghost workers"  -  10 March: The Nairobi City 
Council in Kenya has conducted a head count of staff at a huge stadium to 
determine the number of ghost workers on its pay roll. The council is 
worried about claims that retired, deceased or even non-existent staff are 
kept on the payroll fraudulently by officials who pocket their salaries. At 
the Nairobi City Stadium on 9 March, each council worker was required to 
bring an appointment letter, an identification card from the council and 
their National Identity Card in order to establish their eligibility. 
Nairobi City Council has 20,000 employees on its payroll, but many like 
Local Government Minister Karissa Maitha believes the genuine number is 
under 15,000. During the lengthy process, ambulance staff were called in to 
administer first aid to fainting city council workers stuck in long queues. 
11 March: The headcount shows at least 4,000 "ghost workers" are on the 
payroll.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 11 March 2003)

* Kenya. Energy firms investigated  -  11 March: The Kenyan government has 
launched an investigation into the running of four state-owned energy 
companies. Kenyan Energy Minister Ochillo Ayacko said the government would 
look into procurements made by the four firms, and claimed workers had 
"abused" business practices under the previous government. Mr Kibaki 
promised to stamp out corruption and rebuild the country's economy 
following the 39-year rule of president Daniel arap Moi's Kenya African 
National Union. Kenyan power costs are said to be among the highest in 
Africa. Mr Ayacko said he wanted to halve the tariffs charged by the 
country's two main independent power producers in an effort to reduce 
consumers' electricity bills.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 11 March 2003)

* Kenya. Qualifying for cricket's World Cup semi-finals  -  On 12 March, 
Kenya recorded a famous seven wicket victory over Zimbabwe to become the 
first non-test nation to qualify for the World Cup semifinals. Thomas Odoyo 
struck a powerful 43 off 40 balls with eight fours as Kenya easily reached 
its meagre victory target of 134 from exactly 26 overs in the Super Six 
match. He shared an unbeaten partnership of 73 with Maurice Odumbe (38 not 
out). Kenya, which has still to meet the unbeaten defending champion 
Australia in the second round, will play India in the semifinals. Zimbabwe 
was eliminated.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 12 March 2003)

* Liberia. New accounts of human rights abuses  -  n a Press Release on 6 
March, Human Rights Watch stated that five nurses held for three months in 
2002 by Liberians United for Reconciliation (LURD) rebels have now provided 
detailed accounts of their mistreatment. All of them were physically, 
sexually and psychologically abused. Refugees now resident in Sierra Leone 
who fled from Liberia between July and October 2002, also provided 
eyewitness accounts that LURD rebels systematically imposed forced labour 
on threat of wounding or death. Human Rights Watch also documented that 
armed forces loyal to President Taylor have continued to commit massive 
violations of human rights and humanitarian law.   (HRW, 6 March 2002)

* Liberia. Liberia urged to probe UN deaths  -  On 11 March, Kofi Annan 
urged Liberia to investigate the deaths of three employees of a US-based 
relief group working in a part of the West African country torn by civil 
war. Annan issued his plea after the Adventist Development and Relief 
Agency (ADRA) confirmed the deaths in eastern Liberia of Norwegian Kaare 
Lund, the director of ADRA Norway; Liberian Emmanuel Sharpolu, ADRA's 
country director for Liberia, and Sharpolu's driver, Liberian Musa Kita. UN 
chief spokesman Fred Eckhard said: "The secretary-general extends his 
deepest sympathy to the families and colleagues of these three humanitarian 
workers. He demands that the government of Liberia determine the exact 
circumstances under which the incident took place and bring the 
perpetrators to justice. He further calls on all parties to the conflict in 
Liberia to reinforce measures taken to ensure the protection of civilians, 
including relief workers." The three were on their way to visit a 
Norwegian-funded ADRA project at the time of a rebel attack on Toe Town in 
eastern Liberia two weeks ago.   (CNN, USA, 11 March 2003)

* Liberia. 3 humanitaires tués  -  7 mars. Deux travailleurs humanitaires 
libériens d'une ONG protestante qui travaille en collaboration avec le Haut 
Commissariat de l'Onu pour les réfugiés (HCR), ont été tués au Liberia au 
cours des combats près de la localité de Toe, frontalière de la Côte 
d'Ivoire. Une troisième personne était toujours portée disparue. - Le 11 
mars, le HCR a annoncé que cette personne, un humanitaire norvégien 
travaillant pour la même ONG, avait également été tuée. - D'autre part, 
l'agence IRIN signale de nouveaux affrontements à l'ouest du pays entre les 
rebelles du LURD et les forces gouvernementales autour de la petite ville 
de Bo, à la frontière avec la Sierra Leone.   (ANB-BIA, de sources 
diverses, 12 mars 2003)

* Libye. Lockerbie: accord sur indemnités?  -  Le 11 mars, la Libye aurait 
conclu un accord avec les Etats-Unis et la Grande-Bretagne par lequel elle 
accepte sa responsabilité civile pour l'attentat de Lockerbie ainsi que le 
versement d'indemnités, a-t-on déclaré de source proche des discussions. Le 
montant des dommages accordés aux victimes serait en passe d'être fixé. 
L'accord prévoirait aussi la levée des sanctions onusiennes contre la 
Libye, en vigueur depuis l'attentat en 1988. Un accord mettrait fin à une 
longue dispute entre l'Occident et la Libye à l'approche du déclenchement 
éventuel d'une guerre contre l'Irak.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 12 
mars 2003)

* Libya. No deal yet in Lockerbie talks  -  On 12 March, it was reported 
that Libya has moved closer to agreeing a settlement to compensate victims 
of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, in which 270 people were killed, the US and 
UK say. Talks held in London end with progress, which will now be discussed 
by the individual governments concerned. Both the US and UK play down 
expectations of an imminent announcement of a final deal. Unconfirmed 
reports suggested Libya has provisionally agreed to pay about $2.7bn 
compensation -- about $10m to each of the families concerned. A final 
agreement will lead to the ending of United Nations sanctions against 
Libya, which were imposed following the bombing of the PanAm airliner over 
the Scottish town of Lockerbie. Talks on the compensation deal, which would 
mark the end of Libya's isolation following the bombing, have continued 
regularly since the end of the criminal trial of two Libyans. The trial 
resulted in one man, Abdel Basset Ali Mohammed al-Megrahi, being convicted 
of the attack. The second defendant, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted. 
The 270 people killed in the bombing were mainly US or UK nationals -- 259 
were passengers and crew on board the airliner and 11 were killed on the 
ground. However, on 13 March, hopes that the Libyan government will accept 
responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing have been dashed. William 
Burns, a key member of the US State Department, tells American relatives of 
victims of the atrocity that no deal is yet possible. He says progress has 
been made but the Libyan government are still refusing to accept its 
officials were responsible for the atrocity in which 270 people died. 
Without that, United Nations sanctions imposed after the bombing cannot be 
lifted.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 13 March 2003)

* Malawi. Serious food shortage  -  For the second year running, a serious 
food shortage has struck Malawi. According to the United Nations Food and 
Agriculture Organisation (FAO), some 3.2 million people (about one quarter 
of Malawi's population) rely on international food aid for their survival. 
In 2002, the FAO estimated that the production of maize was 1,539,000 
tonnes, i.e. 10 percent below last year's poor harvest. This reflects a 
late start of the rainy season followed by localised floods, a long dry 
spell, and early cessation of rains. Reduced input supplies, mainly 
fertilisers, also adversely affected yields. Consumption of green maize 
before the harvest, due to sever food shortages in the first months of the 
year, further diminished the output. The price of maize rose by 5-6% 
compared to last year. A bag of maize (sufficient for a family for three 
weeks to one month), costs 10 dollars, and the average wage in Malawi is 15 
to 20 dollars a month. Drought has also affected tobacco the country's main 
source of income (70% of state income) which in 2002 was 140 million tonnes 
compared to 184 million the previous year. Due to the serious food shortage 
between February 2001 and February 2002, cases of malnutrition in children 
under five increased 80%, and between November 2001 and April 2002 a 
mortality rate of 1.9 for every 10,000 children, died every day. Many 
Malawians escaped starvation thanks to food smuggled from Tanzania and 
Mozambique, and hunting wild animals. The situation is so critical that the 
Malawi Ministry of Agriculture estimates that more than 45% of green maize 
has been consumed.   (Fides, Vatican City, 7 March 2003)

* Mali. Allégement de la dette  -  Le Mali est admis à bénéficier d'une 
réduction de la dette pour un montant d'environ 675 millions de dollars 
dans le cadre de l'Initiative renforcée en faveur des pays pauvres très 
endettés, a indiqué le FMI le 7 mars. Un allégement de 365 millions de 
dollars sera accordé grâce à une réduction de 50% du service de la dette 
sur les crédits de l'Association internationale du développement (AID) du 
groupe de la Banque mondiale, de 2000 à 2014. Le FMI réduira d'environ $63 
millions le fardeau de la dette par une réduction de 38% de son service de 
la dette de 2000 à 2008. Il est attendu que d'autres créanciers offrent 
leur part de réduction dans ce contexte.   (IRIN, Abidjan, 10 mars 2003)

* Maroc. 14 jeunes condamnés pour "satanisme"  -  La condamnation par le 
tribunal de Casablanca de 14 jeunes amateurs de musique "heavy metal" à des 
peines d'un mois à un an de prison ferme pour "atteinte à la religion 
musulmane" a suscité de vives réactions. L'accusation les a présentés comme 
"adorateurs de Satan". Le procureur a tenté de justifier leur placement en 
détention depuis le 14 février, en raison de certains objets saisis et 
présentés comme pièces à conviction: des T-shirts noirs, un serpent en 
plâtre, des représentations de têtes de mort ou encore un cerveau en latex. 
La presse marocaine a dénoncé un jugement "absurde" et "liberticide". De 
nombreux intellectuels ont dénoncé dans les journaux marocains un 
"dangeureux dérapage sécuritaire" qui serait une concession aux nombreux 
appels à la censure contre les "actes attentatoires à l'islam" lancés par 
la puissante mouvance islamiste, dont le Parti de la justice et du 
développement (PJD) qui a fait une percée lors des législatives en 
septembre. (Ndlr. Le 11 mars, la cour d'appel a accordé la liberté 
provisoire à 11 des 14 jeunes, mais trois restent condamnés à un an de 
prison).   (La Libre Belgique, 10 mars 2003)

* Morocco. Judge jails metalheads  -  Their heavy metal music not only 
shook the walls of Casablanca's nightclubs and their parents' middle class 
homes: it also "shook Muslims' faith", according to a judge who has jailed 
14 young Moroccan metalheads. The nine members of the heavy metal bands 
Nekros, Infected Brain and Reborn, and five fans were given sentences of 
between three months and a year after being found in possession of 
skeletons, skulls, cobras, vipers and "a collection of diabolical CDs". The 
accused, aged 20 to 35, were arrested three weeks ago for allegedly 
disturbing public order and wearing satanic, "anti-Islamic" T-shirts 
depicting the devil and death. It was all too much for the judge, who found 
it "suspicious" that one of the musicians penned lyrics in English rather 
than Arabic, and declared that "normal people go to concerts in a suit and 
tie". Not even the heavy metal fans' court recitals of sections of the 
Koran were able to persuade him that they were not intent on undermining 
the country's official religion.   (The Guardian, UK, 11 March 2003)

* Mozambique. Sécheresse et menace de famine  -  Des récoltes misérables ou 
presque inexistantes dues à une terrible sécheresse (interrompue 
inutilement par le violent cyclone Japhet) menacent de famine une bonne 
partie de la population du Mozambique, en particulier dans les provinces de 
Gaza, Tete et Inhambane. L'année passée on avait déjà noté une pénurie de 
pluie dans le pays, mais, selon Fews-net, la situation serait cette année 
aussi dramatique que celle des années 1991-92. Maputo aurait battu le 
record de sécheresse entre octobre et janvier dernier. Parmi la population, 
les uns ont abandonné leur maison pour la ville voisine, d'autres ont pris 
la route pour l'Afrique du Sud. Selon Fews-net, la situation pourrait 
atteindre son paroxysme dans douze mois pour les gens les plus vulnérables 
du centre et du sud du pays.   (Misna, Italie, 10 mars 2003)

* Nigeria. Murder of Harry Marshall  -  6 March: A reward of nearly $80,000 
has been offered by Nigerian police for information leading to the capture 
of the killers of a senior opposition leader. Harry Marshall was shot dead 
by unidentified gunmen at his home on the morning of 5 March the capital, 
Abuja. His death is dominating the country's newspapers which suggest it 
bears all the hallmarks of a political assassination. Speaking at a rally 
in the northern city of Kano, President Olusegun Obasanjo held a minute's 
silence for his former ally and urged supporters to rid the election 
campaign of the spectre of violence. He paid tribute to his murdered 
opponent as "our friend and until recently a staunch member of our party". 
But, flanked by a heavier than usual security presence, he also warned 
opposition politicians: "No death should be politicised."   (ANB-BIA, 
Belgium, 6 March 2003)

* Nigeria. Poursuite des violences préélectorales  -  Le 5 mars, des jeunes 
ont attaqué à jets de pierres la caravane électorale du gouverneur de 
l'Etat d'Edo (centre-ouest), occasionnant la mort de deux personnes, a 
rapporté la presse locale. Plusieurs véhicules du convoi ont été détruits 
et des maisons brûlées à Urhoningbe. Les hommes de la sécurité ont tiré en 
l'air pour faire cesser ces attaques, provoquant une débandade au cours de 
laquelle deux personnes, dont une adolescente de 14 ans, ont été tuées. 
L'événement est survenu quelques heures après l'assassinat à Abuja de 
Marshall Harry, un des leaders de l'opposition. Au moins sept personnalités 
nigérianes ont été tuées au cours des 15 derniers mois, en dépit des 
efforts du gouvernement fédéral pour assurer des élections 
pacifiques.   (PANA, Sénégal, 6 mars 2003)

Weekly anb0313.txt - #5/7