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Weekly anb0410_6.txt #6

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 10-04-2003      PART #6/6
* Afrique du Sud. L'ANC renforce sa majorité - Le Congrès national africain (ANC, au pouvoir) a obtenu la majorité des deux tiers au Parlement, pour la première fois depuis 1994, après le ralliement de neuf députés d'autres partis. Le nombre total de ses députés est maintenant de 275 sur 400, soit 68,75% des sièges. Grâce à cette majorité, l'ANC pourra modifier la Constitution. Toutefois, la Cour constitutionnelle a le pouvoir de bloquer toute tentative en ce sens. (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 4 avril 2003)
* South Africa. Apartheid era law suit - Diamond giants Anglo American and De Beers face a $6.1 billion lawsuit from former mine workers who say they were treated like slaves under the racist apartheid regime. The suit follows the recent release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report, which said that businesses who profited under apartheid should pay reparations or face lawsuits from victims. (CNN, USA, 7 April 2003)
* South Africa. First African SARS case suspected - A 62-year-old South African man is being treated at a Pretoria hospital as a "probable SARS" case, according to officials. If confirmed, this would be the first known case of SARS -- or severe acute respiratory syndrome -- on the African continent. The man returned to South Africa on a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong on March 27. He didn't show signs of an ailment until seven days later when he developed flu-like symptoms and a cough. On April 7, he was admitted to Pretoria East Hospital with severe respiratory distress, hospital officials said, and is being held in isolation. According to doctors, the man -- whose name is being withheld -- is on a ventilator, but doing well. He had contacts with 17 people, including eight family members, who are now being monitored by health officials. (CNN, USA, 9 April 2003)
* Soudan. Efforts de paix - Suite aux menaces des Etats-Unis d'imposer des sanctions à Khartoum parce que le processus de paix traîne en longueur, le ministre soudanais des Affaires étrangères a déclaré que son pays a préparé un rapport énumérant les efforts déployés pour parvenir à un compromis avec le Mouvement/Armée de libération du peuple soudanais (SPLM/A). L'an dernier, le Congrès américain a voté une loi sur la paix au Soudan en menaçant d'infliger des sanctions à Khartoum si aucun effort n'était fait pour parvenir à une paix durable. Cette loi ne menace pas seulement d'un certain nombre de sanctions économiques, mais prévoit aussi une assistance à hauteur de $300 millions au SPLM/A. Le journal pro-gouvernemental Al-Anbaa a indiqué, le 4 avril, que le rapport du gouvernement contenait des faits et des explications qui devraient permettre de dissiper les inquiétudes du Congrès américain. A la suite d'une réunion qu'il a eue le 2 avril à Nairobi avec le leader du SPLA John Garang, le président soudanais Omar El-Béchir a déclaré que les deux parties avaient réaffirmé leur engagement à parvenir à un accord de paix dans les deux prochains mois. --D'autre part, le président de la Commission de l'Union africaine, Amara Essy, a accueilli avec satisfaction la reprise des négociations de paix. Celles-ci reprennent ce 7 avril au Kenya. Après avoir conclu une entente sur la fin de la guerre, les deux parties doivent évoquer un cessez-le-feu définitif, son contrôle, le désengagement de leurs forces, la démobilisation des combattants et le maintien de la paix dans le cadre d'une administration intérimaire. Il reste certainement encore à résoudre des points délicats. Il s'agit notamment de la gestion des forces armées, que le SPLA voudrait voir séparées pendant au moins 6 ans à partir de janvier 2004 et jusqu'au référendum sur l'éventuelle sécession du sud animiste et chrétien du nord islamique. Des difficultés pourront également surgir sur l'avenir de trois territoires riches en pétrole et dont le contrôle fait l'objet de contestations. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 7 avril 2003)
* Sudan. Final push for peace - 7 April: A team of international observers is being sent to report on an area in Sudan where there is still fighting, despite a temporary ceasefire being in place. The announcement was made as peace talks between the Sudan Government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLA) resumed in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. This latest round of talks will focus on security issues --namely what to do with the armies of both sides once a peace accord is in place. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Kenyan mediator Lazaro Sumbeiywo said the monitoring team would be sent to Bentiu in the Western Upper Nile region, where the fighting has been reported. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 7 April 2003)
* Tanzania. Anger over sell-offs - 3 April: A Tanzanian opposition party has attacked the wave of new investment in the country from South Africa. Criticism from the Tanzania Labour Party follows a number of high profile sales of former state-owned companies to South African investors. The latest is the sale of a 49% stake Air Tanzania to South African Airways. Others include the National Bank of Commerce, Tanzania Breweries and Kilombero Sugar Limited. Opposition MP Thomas Ngawaiya, an outspoken critic of the influx of South African companies, said the tendency for some companies to import their raw materials is harming the economy. "If South Africans make business in Tanzania and they start exporting, I think our economy will grow, then our country will become rich," he said. "But if they bring in all the materials from South Africa our farmers will not earn anything from that end. At the end of the day maybe we are going to be another slave to South Africa." And South Africa is not only making its presence felt in the newly privatised sector. It has opened the most successful mobile telephone operation in Vodacom. And South African companies have also moved into tourism, healthcare and the supermarket business. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 3 April 2003)
* Tanzania. World Bank praises poverty reduction efforts - On 4 April, the World Bank praised Tanzania on Friday for making concerted efforts in poverty reduction, saying that its push to harmonise donor efforts in the country should be seen as a model for other developing nations. "What stands out is the strong government leadership in the whole effort," the World Bank country director for Tanzania and Uganda, Judy O'Connor, said. "The harmonisation between the World Bank and the United Nations system here in Tanzania should be seen as a model in terms of poverty reduction," she said. (IRIN, Kenya, 7 April 2003)
* Tchad/Soudan. Frontière fermée - Le Tchad a décidé de fermer sa frontière avec le Soudan, apparemment pour empêcher les groupes rebelles soudanais de se replier sur son territoire, apprend-on à Khartoum de source autorisée. Cette décision fait suite aux discussions de la semaine dernière entre le ministre soudanais de l'Intérieur et les autorités tchadiennes. Quant aux autorités de Khartoum, elles ont lancé, il y a deux jours, une opération militaire contre les rebelles des localités occidentales de Karwani et Jabal Marrah, qui leur a permis de libérer quatre otages retenus depuis six mois. (PANA, Sénégal, 3 avril 2003)
* Tunisie/Allemagne. Coopération antiterroriste - Un accord de coopération entre l'Allemagne et la Tunisie sur la lutte contre le terrorisme et le crime organisé a été signé par le ministre allemand de l'Intérieur, Otto Schilly, et son homologue tunisien Hédi M'henni, le 7 avril. Cette date marque le premier anniversaire de l'attentat de l'île de Djerba, revendiqué par Al-Qaida, qui a fait 21 morts, dont 14 touristes allemands. (Le Figaro, France, 9 avril 2003)
* Uganda. Rebels ambush convoy - 9 April: The Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have ambushed a convoy of vehicles on a "safe" road, leaving nine people dead and scores injured. The attack occurred between 4.30pm and 5.00pm local time at Moroli, about 50 miles west of the northern regional town of Gulu. The rebels also burnt a vehicle belonging to Uganda's leading pro-government daily newspaper, the New Vision and showered others with bullets. The paper's regional marketing officer, Jonathan Kibale whose vehicle was leading the convoy was shot dead and his body burnt by the rebels. A commanding officer of the Ugandan army, the Ugandan Peoples Defence Front (UPDF), Colonel Andrew Guti and a district commissioner said that the ambush was a big surprise since the road had been safe for the last nine months. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 9 April 2003)
* Zambia. Minister sacked for fraud - 5 April: President Levy Mwanawasa has sacked his deputy information minister, John Mwaimba, for alleged fraud, a government spokesman says. Mr Mwaimba is alleged to have used a fake title deed as a guarantee in the purchase of $300,000 worth of fertilizer. The dismissal follows newspaper reports of a court case between Mr Mwaimba and the company who sold the fertilizer. A statement issued by Mr Mwanawasa's spokesman said the decision to sack Mr Mwaimba should not influence any possible police action against the former minister. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 5 April 2003)
* Zimbabwe. Le nº 2 de l'opposition libéré - Le 7 avril, Gibson Sibanda, vice-président du Mouvement pour le changement démocratique (MDC, opposition), a été remis en liberté sous caution, après une semaine de détention pour sa participation à l'organisation d'une grève générale "illégale". Mais au tribunal, les policiers ont arrêté le porte-parole du MDC, Paul Themba Nyathi, venu assister à l'audience. Quelque 200 militants du MDC en colère ont été dispersés par la police anti-émeutes. Sibanda peut encourir jusqu'à vingt ans de détention pour l'organisation d'une "grève illégale". (D'après Libération, France, 8 avril 2003)
* Zimbabwe. Allegations of political violence - 4 April: Southern Africa's regional body has announced that it is to send a task force to Zimbabwe to investigate allegations of political violence. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) team will travel next week to speak to political parties, farmers' groups, civil rights organisations and churches, said Mozambique's foreign minister. 7 April: The deputy leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Gibson Sibanda, is freed on bail after eight days in police custody, but another senior party official, Paul Themba Nyathi, is arrested. 9 April: Initially, the police accused Paul Nyathi of "attemptiong to overthrow the government by unconstitutional means", but now he is being charged with "attemptiong to coerce the government". (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 9 April 2003)
* Zimbabwe. Archbishop of Harare dies - The Archbishop of Harare, Zimbabwe, the Most Rev Patrick Fani Chakaipa, is dead. He died aged 71 on the morning of 8 April. His funeral will be on 14 April. Archbishop Chakaipa was born on 25 June 25 1932 in Mhondoro, Zimbabwe. He was ordained priest in 1965, for the then Salisbury Archdiocese, which was later (June 1982) renamed the Archdiocese of Harare. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop for Harare in 1972, before his episcopal ordination on January 14, 1973. Three years later, on 31 May 1976, Chakaipa was appointed Archbishop of Salisbury, following the resignation of Archbishop Francis William Markall. During the special synod of African Bishops held in Rome in 1994, he made interventions in various aspects of the life of the Church in Africa. "The Church," he said in the topic on Justice and Peace, "can only promote justice if it makes all efforts to avoid injustice within the Church itself." On Evangelization, he said, "Evangelisation must begin in the family which is the domestic Church and in which men and women exercise their complementary roles. But present ways of contracting marriage are excluding vast numbers from the sacraments of the Church. We need a reappraisal of the Church's marriage regulations and of Christian family life." (MISNA, Italy, 10 April 2003) 

Weekly anb0410.txt - #6/6 - THE END


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Un homme meurt chaque fois que l'un d'entre nous se tait devant la tyrannie (W. Soyinka, Prix Nobel litterature) 
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Everytime somebody keep silent when faced with tyranny, someone else dies (Wole Syinka, Nobel Prize for Literature) * 
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