Weekly News anb06223.txt #6

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 22-06-2000      PART #3/6

* Egypt. Yielding up sunken treasures  -  New archaeological
techniques are helping to uncover the secrets of the lost cities of
ancient Egypt, astonishingly well preserved beneath the sea. Relics
and underwater film of the cities -- believed to be Herakleion and
Menouthis -- which lie in Aboukir Bay off Alexamdria, were shown by
an Egyptian-French team for the first time this month. They were
submerged more than 1,000 years ago, probably by seismic activity.
Although their existence was known from classical Greek writings,
there had been little tangible evidence until now. "We are all very
excited," said Gaballah Ali Gaballah, head of Egypt's Supreme
Council of Antiquities. "We are used to finding the remains of a
tomb, a church or mosque. This time we are finding complete
cities".   (Guardian Weekly, UK, 15-21 June 2000)

* Egypt. G-15 Summit  -  A bloc of developing countries have
demanded a restructuring of the global economy to give them a fair
share in world growth and prosperity. The G-15, formed in 1989,
which comprises members from Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria,
Senegal, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru,
Venezuela, India, Indonesia and Malaysia, said at the end of a two-
day summit in Cairo, that globalisation held out the promise of
higher living standards for all, when the group was founded a
decade ago. "This has not materialised", said a final communique.
"We are convinced that it will not, until the international
community redresses the asymmetries and imbalances in the global
economy". President Wade of Senegal, however, says: "The Cairo
Summit was enriching through open discussions, pertinent
recommendations, sustained by a strong determination to establish
re-inforced co-operation. This positive approach was due to the
perfect organisation of the meeting in an atmosphere marked by
warmth, friendliness and generous hospitality". Indonesia will host
the next Summit. The Group has been expanded to include Iran and
Colombia.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 22 June 2000)

* Erythree/Etiopie. Accord de paix  -  15 juin. Apres que
l'Ethiopie eut officiellement accepte, la veille, de signer
l'accord propose par l'OUA, les combats ont cesse sur les trois
fronts de la frontiere entre les deux pays. - Le 18 juin a Alger,
l'Ethiopie et l'Erythree ont signe un accord de paix visant a
mettre fin au conflit declenche en mai 1998. L'accord negocie sous
les auspices de l'OUA prevoit un cessez-le-feu immediat et le
deploiement d'une force de maintien de la paix des Nations unies
dans une "zone tampon" de 25 km de large jusqu'a ce que la
frontiere litigieuse soit delimitee clairement. La zone se trouve
en territoire erythreen, et l'administration civile erythreenne,
notamment la police, sera autorisee a y fonctionner. L'armee
ethiopienne devra quant a elle se redeployer sur ses positions
d'avant-guerre dans les deux semaines suivant le debut du
deploiement des troupes de l'Onu. Mais des experts craignent qu'il
puisse se passer des mois avant que la force onusienne soit mise en
place et que les refugies erythreens osent rentrer chez eux. - 19
juin. L'Ethiopie a annonce qu'elle repliait ses forces de la ville
occidentale de Tesseney vers des positions mieux defendables.
Pendant ce temps la situation humanitaire est plus qu'alarmante.
Les deux pays sont exsangues et les caisses sont vides. Selon
l'Onu, 1,1 million d'Erythreens sont actuellement deplaces et
l'Ethiopie continue a occuper la partie la plus fertile de
l'Erythree.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 20 juin 2000)

* Eritrea-Ethiopia. The peace deal  -  15 June: Ethiopia has agreed
to an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) peace plan, ending its
two-year border war with Eritrea and accepting international
demarcation of the country's 1,000 km border and the presence of UN
peacekeepers to monitor the border. Ethiopian forces are to move
back to pre-war positions within two weeks of a UN force's
deployment, at which time, a 25km "temporary security zone" between
the armies is to be established -- within Eritrean territory.
Eventually, a comprehensive peace accord will address longer-term
ties between the two countries. The ceasefire is to be signed on 18
June but the war of words continues. 18 June: The peace deal is
signed in Algiers.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 20 June 2000)

* Eritrea. Humanitarian crisis in the wake of peace  -  Drought-
stricken Eritrea's peace deal with Ethiopia leaves it to contend
with a humanitarian crisis, a UN official said on 19 June. The
peace treaty forces nearly one million Eritreans displaced by the
war to remain in refugee camps with little food, water or medical
supplies until UN peacekeepers are deployed. "A good one third of
the population of this country is confronting a very serious
humanitarian crisis", says Carol Bellamey, executive director of
UNICEF. The World Food Programme has airlifted 36 tons of aid for
thousands of Eritreans in need.   (CNN, 20 June 2000)

* Ethiopia. Moving up the competitiveness index  -  Kenya's steep
decline and Ethiopia's surprising resurgence are the two main
features of the World Economic Forum's Africa Competitiveness
Report published on 21 June. The Report, compiled by the Harvard
Institute for International Development, in co-operation with the
Geneva-based World Economic Forum, is the second of the series to
be published. Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Harvard University, who
masterminded the survey, said the main determinant of whether
countries moved up or down the league table appeared to be
politics. Countries such as Nigeria, Malawi and Tanzania which had
moved up, reflected a general sense of an improved political
climate for business, while businesspeople surveyed for the report
had given such countries as Kenya and Zimbabwe the thumbs-down.  
(Financial Times, UK, 22 June 2000)

* Ghana. Sida  -  Quelque 400.000 Ghaneens ont contracte le virus
mortel VIH et 37.296 autres ont developpe le sida, a indique, le 14
juin, le coordinateur national de la lutte contre le sida, le Dr.
Kweku Yeboah. Selon les estimations, la pandemie a fait 120.000
orphelins au Ghana, a-t-il ajoute, et la transmission de la maladie
de la mere a l'enfant represente 15% des cas. Le vice-president de
la Commission nationale pour l'enfance, le Dr. George Puplampu, a
declare a la presse que les tabous concernant les relations
sexuelles avant le mariage et la crainte de la desapprobation
sociale empechaient toute discussion publique des moyens
d'inflechir l'incidence croissante des maladies sexuellement
transmissibles, dont le sida. La pandemie, a-t-il dit, menace de
grever les ressources humaines du pays, puisqu'elle affecte la
tranche d'age la plus productive.   (IRIN, Abidjan, 15 juin 2000)

* Guinee. Pret de la BAD  -  La Guinee recevra de la Banque
africaine de developpement un pret de 13,2 millions de dollars pour
des projets de securite alimentaire et reduction de la pauvrete en
zones rurales, a indique l'institution panafricaine. Ces projets,
qui ciblent les communautes rurales de Haute Guinee, developperont
des plaines irriguees, des plantations, du reboisement et la
rehabilitation de routes. Le pret, approuve le 16 juin, est
remboursable sur 50 ans.   (D'apres IRIN, Abidjan, 19 juin 2000)

* Kenya. Budget aims to ease economic crisis  -  On 15 June, Kenya
raised its VAT from 15% to 18%, in an ambitious budget aimed at
bringing back international donors and helping it cope with the
country's worst economic crisis in years. The budget is aimed at
reducing poverty and encouraging economic growth. Among the
measures announced by the Finance Minister, Chris Okemo, were the
raising of the lowest wage and removing 200,000 low earners from
the tax roll. He also announced that about 30,000 civil servants
will be laid off over the next two years.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 16
June 2000)

* Maroc/Mauritanie. Vers un axe routier Tanger-Dakar  -  Le Maroc
et la Mauritanie ont conclu un accord pour la construction d'un axe
routier de 500 km entre Lagouira (extreme sud du Sahara occidental)
et Nouakchott, a annonce le 19 juin le ministre marocain de
l'Equipement. Selon le ministre, ce troncon qui permettra de relier
sur route goudronnee Tanger a Dakar, soit pres de 3.000 km, sera
acheve d'ici 3 ou 4 ans. Le Maroc devrait prochainement conclure un
accord de libre-echange avec la Mauritanie, au meme titre que celui
existant avec la Tunisie.   (AP, 19 juin 2000)

* Morocco. Democracy will take time  -  King Mohammed VI of Morocco
said Morocco needed time to become more democratic, and its form of
democracy could never follow the Western European model. In an
interview with Time magazine, he said: "Morocco has a lot to do in
terms of democracy. The daily practice of democracy evolves in
time. Trying to evolve a Western democratic system to a country of
the Maghreb...would be a mistake. We are not Germany, Sweden or
Spain...Each country has to have its own specific features of
democracy".   (CNN, 19 June 2000)

Weekly anb0622 - End of part 3/6