[Prec. per data] [Succ. per data] [Prec. per argomento] [Succ. per argomento] [Indice per data] [Indice per argomento]

Weekly ANB0911_03.txt #7

_____________________________________________________________
WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 11-09-2003      PART #3/7
* Côte d'Ivoire. No names for defence and security ministers yet - On 4 September, Ivorian Prime Minister Seydou Diarra failed to propose candidates for the vacant posts of defence minister and internal security minister, prolonging the six-month old impasse over who should fill these key portfolios. President Laurent Gbagbo, who has rejected all the candidates put forward previously by Diarra's broad-based government of national reconciliation, had asked him on 29 August to come up with new names by 4 September. A meeting between Gbagbo and the cabinet where the new names were due to have been presented and discussed was delayed until 4 September. But a final communique issued after the said the issue of the two ministerial appointments had been put on hold again until 8 September. (...) Rebel forces occupying the north of the country have said they will refuse to start a process of demobilisation and disarmament until the new ministers have been appointed under the terms of a peace agreement signed in January. The disarmament process was due to have begun on 1 August, but continues to be held up by this sticking point. (IRIN, Kenya, 4 September 2003)
* Côte d'Ivoire. Lent processus de paix - Le 4 septembre, lors d'un conseil des ministres, le président Gbagbo a exigé le "désarmement" des ex-rebelles au cours de ce mois de septembre. Selon un communiqué, il a donné au gouvernement une véritable feuille de route devant aboutir aux élections de 2005, comportant le "désarmement, la démobilisation et la réinsertion". Pour lui, l'une des conditions majeures de l'organisation des élections "c'est la réunification du territoire". Il a soutenu avoir fait lui-même "sa part de sacrifice".- Dans la soirée, s'adressant aux chefs coutumiers de l'Est ivoirien, M. Gabgbo a réitéré sa volonté de voir libérer les zones toujours sous contrôle des Forces nouvelles, notamment Bouaké (centre) et Korhogo (nord). - D'autre part, le 6 septembre, le Rassemblement des jeunes démocrates pour la paix (RJDP), regroupant les jeunesses des partis de MM. Bédié et Ouattara et du défunt général Guéi, ont appelé le président Gbagbo à "appliquer intégralement, dans l'esprit et dans la lettre, les accords de Marcoussis". - Le 8 septembre, le président Gbagbo a rencontré des délégations de l'ex-rébellion et du Rassemblement des Républicains (RDR, opposition) dans le cadre des consultations devant aboutir à la désignation des ministres de la Défense et de la Sécurité, deux portefeuilles toujours dirigés à titre intérimaires. - 10 septembre. Le programme DDR (démobilisation, désarmement, réinsertion), dont la mise en activité a été maintes fois reportée, devrait devenir effectif dans les jours à venir. Ce mercredi, le Premier ministre, M. Diarra, a procédé à la mise en place du Comité de réunification qui a pour mission la mise en oeuvre du programme DDR. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverse, 11 septembre 2003)
* Djibouti. Illegal immigrants to be expelled - 5 September: The United States has denied being behind moves by the government in Djibouti to expel illegal migrants. More than 50,000 have already left, but thousands more have congregated in camps and found themselves stranded on borders waiting for transport, with trains and buses overcrowded. Many others are afraid to return home, mentioning continuing conflict in Somalia and fears of repression and persecution in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Warnings by Washington of possible attacks on Western interests in the country are thought to have led the government to clamp down on the foreigners. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 5 September 2003)
* Egypte. Libération d'intégristes - Près d'un millier de membres du mouvement intégriste égyptien Djamaah Islamiyah ont été libérés, a annoncé le ministre égyptien de l'Intérieur, dans un entretien publié par un hebdomadaire égyptien. Les membres de ce mouvement se sont engagés à rejeter la violence. En revanche, 23 membres du mouvement intégriste Al-Djhad ont été arrêtés. (La Croix, France, 5 septembre 2003)
* Eritrea. Fuel rationing - 5 September: The Eritrean Government has introduced rationing at its petrol stations restricting private car owners to just over a tank a month. There has yet to be a full official explanation given for the decision but earlier this year an IMF report warned of the country's declining level of foreign currency reserves and called its monetary and exchange rate system unsustainable. The usually busy streets of Asmara have almost entirely cleared of private cars as the rationing of fuel bites. The coupon system first announced a week ago has restricted private cars to just 40 litres a month -- just over a tank of petrol -- and taxis to 150 litres. No explanation of the coupon system has been made in the state-owned media here but the head of the petroleum corporation of Eritrea said that it had been brought in to regularise the amount of petrol being consumed and denied that there was a shortage. Eritrea has no oil of its own and has to buy its petrol using hard currency. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 5 September 2003)
* Eritrea. Eritrea urges end to border delays - 4 September: Eritrea has called on the United Nations and the African Union to take "necessary measures" to ensure that the marking of the border with Ethiopia takes place in October. The demarcation of the border has already been delayed twice this year -- almost a year-and-a-half after the Boundary Commission first ruled on the marking of the border as part of the peace process between the two countries. Ethiopians are still trying to change the commission's decision to award Badme -- the village that triggered the war in 1998 to Eritrea -- and it is already looking possible that that deadline will come and pass. Patience within the international community is beginning to wear thin -- the head of the UN mission here has warned that the situation could turn into a stalemate and urged both parties to begin talking to each other. Acting information minister Ali Abdu Ahmed says it has now reached the point where international organisations need to take action. "The Ethiopian government continues to hinder the border delimitation and demarcation process. Therefore, we feel that all necessary measures should be imposed on the Ethiopian government, by the UN and the African Union," Mr Ahmed said. So far the start dates which the Boundary Commission set have passed without explanation or blame being attributed to either side. Mr Ahmed says that Eritrea is ready to start and that this "sitting on the fence is no longer acceptable. No one at least on this side is expecting the Boundary Commission to entertain the feeling of individuals. The only option they have is to spell out who is right and who is not -- if you don't do that then the one who is hindering the peace process will continue to do so," Mr Ahmed said. 10 September: The Secretary General of the United Nations has warned that patience is running thin with the delays in demarcating the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Kofi Annan said there had been no progress in improving relations between the two countries and has urged the international community to be more active in helping both countries fulfil their commitments under the peace deal. The start of border demarcation has already been delayed twice this year and a third date set for October now looks likely to pass without progress. The UN presence in Ethiopia and Eritrea costs well over $150m a year with 4,000 peacekeepers in place on the ground. Nearly three years after the peace agreement that ended the border conflict the UN's role here is to maintain a security zone while an independent commission rules and then marks out where the border should be. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 10 September 2003)
* Ethiopia. Still needing aid - 5 September: Ethiopia still requires $40m to help cope with the after effects of last year's drought, the government says. Just under a fifth of the population need humanitarian assistance this year, and while most of their food needs have now been covered, there was a warning that donors should not become too complacent. There were congratulations all round at today's meeting of the Ethiopian Government and donors. Everyone agreed that the response to this year's appeal has been very good and thousands of lives have been saved. But the government and the United Nations have said that no-one should rest on their laurels. The humanitarian agencies are now focusing their attention on the future -- next year and beyond. The head of the United Nations emergency unit, Paul Hebert, said great progress had been made to tackle food insecurity but there was still a lot of work to do. - Hunger will remain a threat in the future (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 5 September 2003)
* Ethiopia. Charity fun run to tackle hunger - 7 September: More than 8,000 Ethiopians have taken part in a six kilometre charity fun run in support of the millions of people in the country who need food aid. Leading the runners were two of Ethiopia's latest track stars -- world champions Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba. The race organisers said they wanted to show the world that Ethiopians can do something for themselves when it comes to poverty and the athletes' participation was vital. "This is a race against hunger and one we must win," 10,000-metre men's champion Bekele told reporters. "If we are committed, we can beat it, but it will be a tough fight -- harder than winning world championships." Cheering crowds gathered at the finishing line in Addis Ababa's main square where the thousands of runners crossed the finishing line and collected a small medal for taking part. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 7 September 2003)
* Gabon. Oil and wildlife can co-exist - In a rare tribute to the energy industry, scientists have praised one company's record in exploiting an African oilfield. They say Shell's field has more wild creatures than the surrounding national parks. The company says its environment policy has changed radically in the last 30 years. It is working with the scientists on an international code of practice for other companies in sensitive areas. The scientists, from the US-based Smithsonian Institution, are completing a two-year study of Shell's operations in its Rabi oilfield, in Gabon. The Smithsonian team has been working with local scientists to compile the most detailed study ever undertaken of the Gabonese forest's biodiversity. (BBC News, UK, 8 September 2003)
* Ghana. Ghana awarded credit rating - On 4 September, Ghana was awarded a credit rating for the first time under a new plan aimed at giving developing countries access to the international capital markets. Standard & Poor's (S&P), the largest rating agency, assigned Ghana a long-term sovereign rating of B+, four notches below investment grade. Ghana is the first country to receive a rating under the initiative, launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and S&P to help sub-Saharan African and other developing countries obtain sovereign credit ratings. UNDP hopes better access to financing would help developing countries achieve the accelerated rates of economic growth they need to reduce poverty. (Financial Times, UK, 5 September 2003)
* Ghana. IOM brings hundreds of child labourers home - A first group of 173 children who had been trafficked for forced labour in fishing communities at Yeji in the Atebubu district of the Brong Ahafo region, will be reunited with their parents in the next two weeks in the Volta, Central and Greater Accra regions. The children, who had been sold by their impoverished parents to local fishermen for up to 1.5 million Cedis (US $180), are staying at the International Office for Migrations (IOM) transit centre in Yeji and are being given medical examinations before completing the final lap of their journey home. They are part of a larger group of 1,002 children due to be released by their former employers. In return, the fishermen will receive training, modern fishing equipment and micro credits to help them improve their fishing techniques or engage in other income generating activities. Interestingly, most of the fishermen who have accepted to release the children, have decided to give up fishing on Lake Volta and to engage in other activities, such as cattle and pig rearing. The IOM has registered a total of 1,002 school-aged children who have been trafficked for slave labour in fishing communities in the Volta and Central regions of Ghana. They are mostly boys aged between 3 and 14 forced to work in the fishing industry. They begin at dawn and work until late afternoon casting and drawing nets. They are poorly fed and never paid. (MISNA, Italy, 8 September 2003)
* Kenya. UK flights to Mombasa resume - 4 September: Flights by UK airlines to the tourist destination of Mombasa in Kenya have been resumed due to improved security arrangements. The news, announced today by the Department for Transport, comes more than two months after the ban on flights to Kenya's capital Nairobi was lifted. A stoppage had been imposed on flights to both cities in May following intelligence that British planes could be a terrorist target. But the Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice still warns there is a "high threat" from global terrorism in Kenya. A statement from the Department for Transport said: "Earlier this year the review under which we keep the security of UK citizens and interests overseas led us to impose a ban on flights to Kenya by UK airlines. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 4 September 2003)
* Kenya. Mourners crushed in stampede - 5 September: More than 40 people were injured, some seriously, as huge crowds jostled to view the body of Kenya's Vice-President Michael Wamalwa in his home district of Bungoma, western Kenya. Part of the local stadium where the body had been taken for viewing collapsed, leaving many people with broken limbs and chest injuries. Lavish preparations are underway for the state funeral on 6 September, at which mourners will feast on 100,000 loaves of bread, five to 10 bulls, 300 chickens and around 200kg of rice. Unconfirmed reports say that one person died during the stampede. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 5 September 2003)
* Kenya. Cardinal Otunga dies - Cardinal Maurice Michael Otunga, one of the Church's outstanding figures in Africa since the Second Vatican Council, died on 6 September. He was 80. The Archbishop Emeritus of Nairobi was hospitalized weeks ago with an illness that resulted in respiratory and kidney complications. Upon learning of the death, John Paul II expressed his sympathy and assured his prayers so that "the Good Shepherd, in his tender love, will bring this dedicated servant speedily to the place prepared for him at the heavenly banquet." In the telegram to Nairobi's current archbishop, Raphael S. Ndingi Mwana'a Nzeki, the Pope expressed his gratitude "to Almighty God for the many graces bestowed on the Church through Cardinal Otunga's long years of generous service as priest and bishop." Maurice Otunga was born in Chebukwa in January 1923 and baptized at age 12. Ordained a priest at 27, he was named by Pope Pius XII as auxiliary bishop of Kisumu in 1956. In 1969, Pope Paul VI named him coadjutor of Nairobi, and in 1971, archbishop of that city. The same Pope made him a cardinal in 1973. (Zenit, Italy, 7 September 2003)
* Kenya. Row over Prime Minister post - 8 September: President Mwai Kibaki and his key ally in last year's general election, Raila Odinga, are headed for a major political confrontation. President Kibaki says that he is in full charge of the nation and has openly rejected calls by Mr Odinga's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) that he should share power by appointing Mr Odinga as an executive prime minister. According to a pre-election agreement between the parties that form Kenya's ruling National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), the post of executive prime minister was to have been created and allocated to the LDP. But President Kibaki has ruled out the possibility, much to the dismay of Mr Odinga's followers who played a major role in President Kibaki's overwhelming victory in the 2002 general elections. Addressing an Anglican congregation on 7 September in the capital, Nairobi, President Kibaki said that the present Kenyan political order will remain in place, raising further the already high political temperature in the NARC. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 8 September 2003) 

Weekly anb0911.txt - end of #3/7