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Weekly ANB1113_05.txt #7

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 13-11-2003      PART #5/6
* Somalia. Somalis shocked by UN report - Shocked by a UN report that their country hosted al Qaeda fighters, Somalis said on 6 November they feared the findings might disrupt international attempts to heal more than a decade of anarchy. The report said al Qaeda fighters trained and armed in Somalia organised a suicide attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya a year ago and a botched attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner taking off nearby. At least four al Qaeda suspects remain in Somalia, where additional weapons may have been imported for the purpose of carrying out further attacks in east Africa, according to a draft of the report obtained by Reuters on 6 November. Somalis, long weary of the fighting between rival warlords, said they feared the report's revelations of suspected activity by Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden's followers would undermine efforts to reverse the country's long collapse. (CNN, USA, 7 November 2003)
* Somalie. Fournitures d'armes - Processus de paix - Un courant continu de petites quantités d'armes et de munitions arrive en Somalie, alimente les marchés locaux et les factions, en violation de l'embargo décidé par le Conseil de sécurité, indique le dernier rapport du Groupe d'experts sur la Somalie. Le rapport affirme que ces violations de l'embargo ont permis, encore récemment, aux terroristes d'Al-Qaïda de s'approvisionner en armes. Les experts qualifient la situation en Somalie d'inquiétante. Selon eux, des centaines de tonnes d'armes et de munitions sont entrés dans le pays ces six derniers mois. Les armes proviennent de Djibouti, des Emirats arabes unis, d'Erythrée, d'Ethiopie et du Yémen, où elles peuvent n'avoir fait que transiter. Le rapport met en évidence les liens existant entre le trafic d'armes en Somalie et le terrorisme international. -- D'autre part, le 11 novembre, le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies a réaffirmé sa volonté de parvenir à un règlement global et durable de la situation en Somalie et son respect pour la souveraineté, l'intégrité territoriale, l'indépendance politique et l'unité du pays. Il réaffirme son appui résolu en faveur du processus de réconciliation nationale, lancé sous les auspices de l'Autorité intergouvernementale pour le développement (IGAD) et piloté par le gouvernement kényan. Et il se déclare prêt à aider les parties somaliennes dans la mise en oeuvre des accords conlus dans ce cadre. (NewsPress, 10-11 novembre 2003)
* South Africa. The ANC's internal bloodletting - Less than six months before South Africa's third presidential election, the ruling African National Congress is embroiled in an internal bloodletting that it seems powerless to stop. Already the volley of charges and countercharges has hurt the reputations of the deputy president and the national prosecutor. With the opening of what appears likely to become a lengthy inquiry into some of the allegations, President Thabo Mbeki may be hurt politically as well. For the last week, the South African public has focused on the juiciest aspect of the affair: the revelation that a white human rights lawyer who seemed to be a comrade in arms in the African National Congress's struggle against apartheid during the 1980's was in fact a spy for the apartheid government. The lawyer, Vanessa Brereton, went public a week ago on South African television with a tearful confession that she had betrayed black South Africans' struggle for freedom because she was in love with a senior officer in the apartheid government's security police. As intelligence agent RS542, she said, she gave her lover and handler information about three anti- apartheid activists, one of whom was later arrested and imprisoned without trial. Now living in England, Ms. Brereton said that she had apologized to those she betrayed and that she did not expect forgiveness. But Ms. Brereton's role as an apartheid spy is but a sidelight in a poisonous battle for power between Mr. Mbeki's deputy president, Jacob Zuma, and the national prosecutor, Bulelani Ngcuka. Both men are senior members of the African National Congress, which gained more than 65 percent of the vote in the presidential election in 1999. Mr. Ngcuka said openly in August that he suspected, but could not prove, that Mr. Zuma had benefited illegally from under-the-table dealings in a multibillion-dollar arms contract. Mr. Zuma's supporters struck back in September by accusing Mr. Ngcuka of acting as a spy --- code-named RS542 --- for the apartheid government in the last days of white rule here. That charge led Ms. Brereton to come forward because, she said, she did not want Mr. Ngcuka to suffer for her misdeeds. But Mr. Zuma's supporters have refused to back down, saying they never claimed to know the right code name for Mr. Ngcuka. Nor has the rivalry halted. Mr. Zuma has demanded a new inquiry into Mr. Ngcuka's conduct of the investigation into his role in the arms deal. In response, Mr. Ngcuka said that evidence against the deputy president would come out at the trial of an associate of Mr. Zuma's who was charged with fraud in the arms deal. The battle has consumed the party since at least August. Mr. Mbeki's inability so far to resolve it has emboldened his detractors, who say he pays too much attention to his image as a statesman and not enough to problems at home. (New York Times, USA, 11 November 2003)
* South Africa. Huge cash boost for tackling AIDS - 12 November: South Africa is to almost quadruple its spending on tackling HIV/AIDS. Signalling a major new effort against the devastating disease, the government will spend $1.7bn (12.1 billion rand) over the next three years. This will include the national roll-out of key anti-retroviral drugs, with 1.9bn rand earmarked for the launch. South Africa has the largest HIV/AIDS caseload in the world, and the new funds come after growing criticism that the government was not doing enough. The additional funding, compared with the estimated 3.3bn rand spent between 2001/2002 and 2003/2004, could signal a major shift in the ANC government's political will to fight AIDS, analysts have said. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 12 November 2003)
* Afrique du Sud. Terreblanche condamné - Le 12 novembre, l'extrémiste afrikaner néonazi Eugène Terreblanche, qui purge déjà une peine de six ans de prison pour tentative de meurtre, a été condamné pour des attentats perpétrés avant les premières élections démocratiques en 1994. Terreblanche était soupçonné d'avoir ordonné au moins cinq attentats à la bombe lorsqu'il dirigeait le Mouvement de résistance afrikaner. (Le Soir, Belgique, 13 novembre 2003)
* South Africa. Terre Blanche convicted of bombings - On 12 November, a South African court convicted white supremacist leader Eugene Terre Blanche of terrorism for ordering bomb attacks before the 1994 elections that brought democracy to the black majority. Terre Blanche, the face of violent white reaction in the dying years of apartheid, was sentenced to a suspended six-year jail term under a plea bargain with prosecutors, National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Makhosini Nkosi said. Terre Blanche, the leader of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, is currently serving a six-year sentence for beating a black farmworker in 1996, causing permanent brain damage. He was convicted of giving orders for at least five bombings ahead of the 1994 vote. The bombers are already serving life sentences for other crimes. A burly man whose bearded visage once epitomized white extremism to the outside world, Terre Blanche has faded from the political stage but remains a potent symbol for disaffected Afrikaners, white descendants of Dutch and French settlers. He and his khaki-clad band of supporters threatened to derail democratic elections in 1994 that marked the end of decades of white minority rule. But the group, which once claimed thousands of members, suffered humiliating setbacks, notably when several of its members were filmed being shot to death in a failed effort to prop up the faltering government of the nominally independent black "homeland" of Bophutatswana shortly before the 1994 polls. Terre Blanche appealed to right-wing Afrikaner sentiment, organizing horseback possessions where armed followers flew banners emblazoned with a symbol reminiscent of the Nazi swastika. While the group is widely regarded as a spent force, the government still sees white right-wingers as a threat. Twenty-two members of another group, the Boeremag or Farmer Force, are on trial for treason over an alleged plot to topple the government. (CNN, USA, 13 November 2003)
* Sudan. 31 killed during charity handout stampede - 9 November: Police in Sudan have launched an inquiry into an accident in which 31 people were killed and 48 injured. The victims died in a stampede as they rushed to get charity donations being distributed on 8 November to mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The incident happened in the city of Port Sudan, about 1,200 km northeast of the capital Khartoum. A police statement says that 15 women, 12 children and four men suffocated in the stampede. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 9 November 2003)
* Soudan. Violences au Darfour - Malgré l'accord de cessez-le-feu signé entre le gouvernement soudanais et les rebelles du Mouvement/Armée de libération du Soudan (SLM) en septembre dernier et prorogé la semaine dernière, plus de 60 personnes ont été tuées le 8 novembre dans la région du Darfour, dans l'ouest du Soudan, suite à deux attaques séparées des forces gouvernementales et ses milices alliées dans la région frontalière avec le Tchad. Selon un leader du SLM, 35 personnes ont été tuées et 70.000 déplacées dans une zone de l'Etat du Nord-Darfour; et 32 civils ont été tués dans l'Etat de l'Ouest-Darfour, alors que 165.000 personnes ont été poussées à fuir la zone. Les Nations unies estiment que les milices pro-gouvernementales ont entraîné le déplacement de plus de 500.000 personnes depuis février dernier. (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 10 novembre 2003)
* Sudan. Disaster looms in western Sudan - 10 November: A humanitarian disaster is looming in western Sudan where over half a million people have been displaced by fighting, warns the United Nations. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes in the arid region and militia groups are terrorising the civilian population. The UN complains that humanitarian access is also being restricted by the Sudanese authorities. It says it has only 10% of the funding it wants and needs international help. The UN is also demanding unimpeded access to Darfur, accusing the Sudanese authorities of failing to honour a recent agreement. The fighting in Darfur escalated dramatically in February this year, pitting a local rebel movement against government-backed militias. Observers in Khartoum say it is at heart a conflict over the region's increasingly scarce resources. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 10 November 2003)
* Sudan. Plans to repatriate refugees - 11 November: The United Nations is drawing up plans to repatriate up to 500,000 Sudanese refugees in the event of peace deal. Ruud Lubbers, who heads the UNHCR, is in the region for talks with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and rebel leader John Garang. The agency said the project will be "one of the most challenging in recent times" due to "the near-total collapse of infrastructure in south Sudan". Peace talks to end decades of war are due to resume at the end of the month. More than two million people have died in the 20-year war between government forces and Mr Garang's SPLA rebels. Half a million Sudanese have fled to neighbouring countries -- including more than 220,000 to Uganda -- and millions are more are internally displaced. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 11 November 2003)
* Tanzanie. Aide européenne - La Tanzanie va recevoir 114 millions d'euros de l'Union européenne au cours des trois prochaines années, dans le cadre d'un accord signé à Dar es-Salaam, qui a pour but de soutenir les efforts de réduction de la pauvreté dans ce pays. Ces fonds, qui seront investis dans le cadre de la Stratégie pour la réduction de la pauvreté (SRP), maintenant dans sa troisième année de mise en oeuvre, vont soutenir des activités "dans les domaines prioritaires que sont l'éducation de base, les soins de santé primaire, le réseau routier rural, l'hydraulique, le VIH/SIDA, l'agriculture et le système judiciaire", a indiqué l'UE. (PANA, Sénégal, 12 novembre 2003)
* Chad. Firing squad executions - 6 November: Eight people have been shot in Chad in the first executions since 1991. Four men convicted of murdering a Sudanese businessman in September were among those killed by an army firing squad in the capital, Ndjamena. The executions, witnessed by two ministers and journalists, have been condemned by human rights groups. "We believe we are in a police state. We didn't give the suspects a chance to appeal," said Jean Padre from the Chadian Human Rights League. The murder of Sheik Ibn Oumar Idriss Youssouf, a Sudanese executive with a Chadian oil firm, caused a scandal at a time when Chad is trying to attract foreign investment in its oil sector. The four men were found guilty a month after his murder and executed two weeks later. "Chad has given a wonderful example to wrong-doers," Interior Minister Routouang Yoma Golom said. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 6 November 2003)
* Tchad. Huit exécutions - Le 6 novembre, huit condamnés à mort ont été exécutés au Tchad. Un groupe de sept hommes (6 Tchadiens et 1 Soudanais) a été fusillé dans la matinée à N'Djamena par un peloton d'exécution; un autre prisonnier a été exécuté à Abeché (est). Ils avaient tous été condamnés pour meurtres crapuleux ou familiaux. Ces exécutions sont les premières dans ce pays depuis 1991. Le président de la ligue tchadienne des droits de l'homme a indiqué que ces exécutions avaient lieu alors que tous les recours n'avaient pas été épuisés. La Fédération internationale des droits de l'homme (FIDH) s'est dite "consternée" par ces exécutions, affirmant qu'elles "constituent une gifle sanglante à l'Etat de droit". (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 7 novembre 2003)
* Chad/Sudan. Joint military force along borders - Sudan and Chad are jointly patrolling their common borders to maintain security and end attacks in the border zones, contraband and other criminal activities between the two nations. The decision was taken by the Khartoum and N'Djamena governments on 7 November. The joint task force was established following a series of talks between the Sudan Defence Minister Bakri Mohammed Saleh and his Chad counterpart Mohammed Nouri, addressing also the possibility of extraditing criminals and armed groups in their respective nations of origin. (MISNA, Italy, 8 November 2003)
* Togo. Elections locales le 14 décembre - Les élections locales au Togo auront lieu le dimanche 14 décembre prochain, rapporte le quotidien gouvernemental citant un décret présidentiel du 5 novembre. D'autres décrets fixent le cautionnement des candidats à 25.000 FCFA et nomment des magistrats des tribunaux de première instance à la tête des Commissions électorales locales indépendantes. On rappelle que depuis près d'une quinzaine d'années, il n'y a plus eu d'élections locales au Togo. Conseillers municipaux et préfectoraux ont fini leurs mandats depuis longtemps. Ils ont été remplacés il y a deux ans par des délégations spéciales. (PANA, Sénégal, 6 novembre 2003) 

Weekly anb1113.txt - #5/6