Weekly anb0515_5.txt #6

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 15-05-2003      PART #5/6

* Sénégal. Dettes des paysans épongées  -  Le gouvernement sénégalais a 
décidé d'éponger la totalité des dettes contractées par ses paysans, d'un 
montant global de 5,5 milliards de FCFA (près de 8,4 millions d'euros), a 
annoncé le Premier ministre, Idrissa Seck. Cette décision fait suite à une 
mission effectuée récemment à Washington, qui a permis de discuter avec les 
institutions de Bretton Woods. Au Sénégal, le secteur agricole, "véritable 
moteur du développement économique", est confronté depuis quelques années 
aux effets négatifs combinés de périodes de sécheresse et d'une baisse 
importante des cours mondiaux, selon la FAO.   (Le Figaro, France, 12 mai 2003)

* Sénégal. Accords de financement  -  Lors de sa visite à Washington, 
Idrissa Seck, le Premier ministre sénégalais, s'attendait à devoir 
batailler pour finaliser un accord de financement avec le FMI et la Banque 
mondiale. Mais la rencontre s'est soldée par des avancées spectaculaires: 
en trente minutes, les deux parties se sont accordées sur le contours d'un 
nouveau programme, indique le "Courrier international" le 13 mai. Selon la 
presse sénégalaise, cette coopération est significative de "l'amitié qui 
lie les présidents Bush et Wade" et serait un remerciement de 
l'administration américaine pour la position du Sénégal dans le conflit 
américano-irakien. Les institutions de Bretton Woods ont accordé à la 
délégation sénégalaise un chèque d'environ 28 millions d'euros et la 
promesse de financer la reconstruction de la Casamance avec une enveloppe 
de 9 millions supplémentaires. Les Etats-Unis ont aussi assuré que le 
Sénégal figurerait en bonne position sur la liste des pays pouvant 
bénéficier du Millenium Challenge, un programme d'aide au développement 
prévu pour 2005 et doté d'une enveloppe de 4,35 milliards d'euros. -- 
D'autre part, l'Union européenne a accordé au Sénégal un financement de 201 
milliards de FCFA (près de 306,5 millions d'euros) sur 5 ans, destiné à 
"soutenir les efforts du gouvernement pour la réduction de la pauvreté 
d'une manière durable", a-t-on annoncé le 14 mai à Dakar de source 
européenne.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 14 mai 2003)

* Sierra Leone. Government should denounce impunity agreement with the 
US  -  Amnesty International today expressed deep shock at the Sierra Leone 
Parliament's ratification of a reciprocal impunity agreement with the USA. 
"This is a completely unacceptable decision especially at a time when the 
country is starting the process of dealing with the mass human rights 
abuses that have taken place in its recent past," the organization said. On 
6 May 2003, despite strong opposition from civil society, Sierra Leone's 
Parliament became the first in the world to ratify an impunity agreement 
with the USA. The Sierra Leone Parliament supported the impunity agreement 
which provides that Sierra Leone will not surrender US nationals accused of 
genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to the new International 
Criminal Court. Even more disturbingly, as Sierra Leone has accepted the 
jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, the agreement is 
reciprocal providing that the USA will not surrender to the International 
Criminal Court Sierra Leonean nationals accused of the worst possible 
crimes in the world. "This agreement is unlawful and violates Sierra 
Leone's obligations as a state which has ratified the Rome Statute of the 
International Criminal Court, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and other 
international law," Amnesty International said. "In response, we have 
written to President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah urging him to refuse to give 
presidential consent to the agreement." At the same time, the organization 
expresses its dismay that members of parliament have supported the 
ratification of the agreement. Amnesty International welcomes the lone 
stand for international justice taken by one member of parliament, Ibrahim 
Sorie, in voting against ratification.   (Amnesty International, 8 May 2003)

* Sierra Leone. Warlord confirmed dead  -  8 May: President Kabbah has 
confirmed that the man killed by Liberian troops on 6 May is Sam Bockarie. 
he says the Sierra Leonean ambassador to Liberia has positively identified 
the body -- after initially casting doubt on the identity of the corpse. Mr 
Kabbah says the body will be inspected by the International Committee of 
the Red Cross before being flown back to Sierra Leone.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 
8 May 2003)

* Somalia. Creditor shuts Somali parliament  -  12 May: Somalia's 
parliament has been forced to shut temporarily because it has failed to pay 
its rent. The national transitional government, set up in 2000, owes a 
year's rent for the building being used by parliament. Police at the 
parliament -- where many documents are stored --have been told to leave by 
the proprietors who are now guarding the building. "The government should 
pay $1,400 a month for the property", Mohamed Hassan Idleh who manages the 
building said. "We won't let anyone into the building until we're paid. 
We've raised the issue several times, but nobody seem to care what we were 
talking about," he said. The drivers of the 29 buses that transport MPs 
from their houses to the parliament have also stopped working because they 
have not been paid for one year.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 12 May 2003)

* Somalie/Kenya. Retour de réfugiés  -  Le 13 mai, un groupe de 2.880 
réfugiés somaliens a quitté les camps de Dadaab et Kakuma au Kenya pour 
retourner en Somalie, mettant ainsi fin à un séjour de plus de dix ans dans 
le pays. Un appareil affrété par le HCR a transporté le premier convoi de 
réfugiés au nord-est de la Somalie, d'autres seront transportés au cours 
des cinq prochains jours. Les réfugiés ont reçu des équipements de base et 
le HCR les aidera à se réintégrer en Somalie en subventionnant des projets 
de santé, d'éducation et de production de revenus. Le Kenya compte plus de 
140.000 réfugiés somaliens. Depuis 1992, plus de 157.000 Somaliens ont été 
rapatriés du Kenya.   (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 14 mai 2003)

* South Africa. Plastic bags banned  -  9 May: South Africa is making the 
thin and flimsy plastic bag illegal. Known as the country's "national 
flower" because they litter streets -- retailers handing out the bags now 
face a fine of $13,800 or a 10-year jail sentence. The legislation means 
shoppers will either have to take bags with them when they go shopping, or 
buy new, thick, stronger plastic bags that are easier and more profitable 
to recycle. According to the South African Government the country uses 
eight billion bags a year. "Each plastic bag has a life of its own but we 
do not want it to end up on the street. We want everyone, from the producer 
to the retailer to the consumer, to start recycling," said Phindile 
Makwakwa, spokeswoman for the environment ministry.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 9 
May 2003)

* South Africa. Bus crash victims mourned  -  11 May: Thousands of people 
have attended a funeral service in South Africa for the victims of a bus 
crash in which 51 people were killed. The service, near the town of 
Kimberley in northern Cape province, was attended by President Thabo Mbeki 
and acting transport minister Jeff Radebe. They have pledged to do all they 
can to prevent similar accidents in future. The bus had been taking trade 
unionists to a May Day celebration when it crashed into a dam after the 
driver apparently took a wrong turn in the dark and foggy conditions. Only 
10 people survived. Between 15,000 and 18,000 people came to the Galeshewe 
Stadium, outside Kimberley, for the funeral of 49 victims. Some had been 
waiting since 0500 local time. Two of the victims had been buried on 
earlier occasions in other towns. The coach had been carrying members of 
South Africa's main labour federation the Congress of South African Trade 
Unions to a rally in the early morning. It skidded along a gravel path 
before plunging into the Saulspoort dam near the town of Bethlehem. The 
passengers were trapped inside because of poor exits.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 
11 May 2003)

* South Africa. Social benefits should be more easily available  -  In a 
Media Statement, The Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) 
calls on South Africa's government to make social benefits more easily 
available. The Statement says: "The Catholic Bishops are worried that so 
many people are unable to avail of welfare grants and benefits, and appeal 
to the government to provide structures immediately to help them access 
such benefits. Numbers of poor people are deprived of their constitutional 
rights and live in poverty, hunger and destitution. Church personnel and 
fieldworkers find that there is a serious difficulty due to lack of 
documentation. Many fail to access documents such as birth, death and 
marriage certificates and identity documents either through lack of 
knowledge, poverty of resources, poor transport and inadequate 
administrative structures".   (SACB, 13 May 2003)

* South Africa. Guard guilty of De Klerk murder  -  13 May: A security 
guard has been found guilty of murdering the ex-wife of former South 
African President, FW de Klerk. Marike de Klerk, 64, was found stabbed and 
strangled in her luxury Cape Town flat in December 2001. The judge said the 
defence had not provided any evidence to contradict the prosecution's case 
that Luayanda Mboniswa, had robbed and killed her. He worked at the sea 
front block of flats at the time. However, Mboniswa was acquitted on 
charges of rape. Marike de Klerk battled depression in her later years 
after the former president left her for his mistress. They divorced in 1998 
after 39 years of marriage. She was the country's first lady from 1989 to 
1994, the period during which Mr de Klerk released the African National 
Congress leader Nelson Mandela from prison and dismantled the country's 
apartheid system. Mrs de Klerk was at one point in charge of the then 
ruling National Party's women's wing. President Thabo Mbeki described her 
as a "strong, charming and dignified woman".   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 13 May 2003)

* Soudan. La peur d'Ebola  -  Sept personnes sont décédées au Soudan, 
victimes présumées du virus d'Ebola. Selon l'OMS, une équipe d'experts doit 
se rendre prochainement dans la zone pour vérifier les causes des décès et 
vérifier leur lien avec la fièvre hémorragique. L'OMS a précisé que pour le 
moment il n'existe pas de preuves évidentes d'Ebola, mais les victimes 
présentaient des symptômes caractéristiques de la maladie. L'équipe de 
l'OMS se rendra dans la zone méridionale du Soudan, mais également dans la 
zone voisine du nord de l'Ouganda. Le gouvernement ougandais a renforcé les 
contrôles à la frontière, interdisant l'accès à quiconque, venant du 
Soudan, qui présente des symptômes suspects.   (Misna, Italie, 9 mai 2003)

* Soudan. La Ligue arabe dans le processus de paix  -  Les pourparlers de 
paix entre le gouvernement de Khartoum et le Mouvement/Armée populaire de 
libération du Soudan (SPLA/M) ont repris le 10 mai dans la ville kényane de 
Machakos. La Ligue arabe s'est maintenant impliquée dans ce processus de 
paix en conduisant une mission dans le Sud-Soudan. La délégation s'y est 
entretenue la semaine dernière avec le leader du SPLA/M, John Garang. Il 
s'agit de la première mission d'un tel genre depuis 1953. Certains Etats 
arabes, notamment l'Egypte, sont inquiets du fait que les négociations 
pourraient déboucher sur la sécession du Sud et créer l'instabilité de la 
région. "Le principal objectif de la Ligue arabe et de ses Etats membres 
est de faire tout ce qui est possible dans le domaine politique et de 
développer le Sud-Soudan afin de convaincre ses habitants que l'unité est 
une option intéressante pour eux", a souligné, le 11 mai, le chef de la 
délégation, Samir Hosni, qui s'est dit optimiste à l'issue de sa visite. M. 
Hosni a encore indiqué que l'organisation panarabe assistera désormais aux 
pourparlers de paix en tant qu'observateur. --D'autre part, les autorités 
soudanaises et le SPLA/M sont parvenus à un accord pour la reprise de 
l'acheminement de l'aide aux populations du Sud, selon le journal 
gouvernemental Al-Anbaa. La reprise du transport de l'aide humanitaire par 
bateau de Kosti (centre) à Juba (sud) est attendue le 12 mai.   (D'après 
PANA, Sénégal, 12 mai 2003)

* Sudan. Arab League seeks greater role in Sudan's peace process  -  After 
a 22-member delegation of the Arab League's Arab Cooperation Department 
visited Southern Sudan for the first time in 50 years, the League is now 
seeking an active role in pushing peace and reconstruction in war-torn 
Sudan. The head of the visiting delegation, Samir Hosni expressed optimism 
that the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) was serious 
about peace and wanted Sudan to remain unified. Some Arab states, 
especially Sudan's northern neighbour Egypt, have been concerned that the 
ongoing peace talks between the Sudanese government and rebels could lead 
to secession of southern and an instability in their backyard. Sudan's 
civil war has since 1983 pitted the Khartoum government, representing the 
mostly Islamic Arab north, against the SPLA/M, based in the mainly 
Christian and animist south.   (PANA, Senegal, 12 May 2003)

* Sudan. Medics probe disease  -  12 May: A medical team from the World 
Health Organization has arrived in southern Sudan to investigate the 
outbreak of a disease which has killed 10 people and infected 178. "A WHO 
team arrived Sunday at Ikotos in southeast Sudan and they are investigating 
reports of the disease outbreak both in Ikotos and nearby Imotong," Ben 
Parker, spokesman for the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Mukesh 
Kapila, says.Some fear that the disease could be the deadly Ebola virus, 
which has previously occurred in the region. But Mr Parker said the disease 
had not yet been identified.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 12 May 2003)

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