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Weekly News anb06226.txt #6
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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 22-06-2000 PART #6/6
* Uganda. Coffee processing plant not wanted - Nobody at the
moment is interested in buying a government-owned coffee processing
plant valued at some $24 million and reputed to be one of the
largest in Africa. Known as the Bugolobi Processing Plant, it has
a capacity of 240,000 tons and was at one time, owned by a
government parastatal, the Coffee Marketing Board (CMB). A Swiss
registered firm, SUCAFINA, which had $3.5 million to spare, was the
first to think of purchasing it, but then interest waned. Then,
MIDROC, a firm owned by a Saudi tycoon also talked big about buying
the facility. That thought has yet to materialise. So far, no
serious investor has come up. Coffee is still a major export for
Uganda. In fact, according to the Uganda Coffee Development
Authority, Uganda is Africa's number one coffee producer. In 1998,
coffee production reached 4 million bags. Coffee still brings into
the government coffers, 65% of the forex earnings and is still the
number one export commodity for Uganda. Yet it is surprising that
nobody thinks that buying the plant is worth while. (Crespo
Sebunya, ANB-BIA, Uganda, 16 June 2000)
* Uganda. Women's education - Though Uganda has made a lot of
progress in improving access to education over the last ten years,
girls' education still lags behind. When launching the National
Strategy for Girls' Education in Uganda on 1 June, Vice-President
Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe said: "In spite of the introduction of
Universal Primary Education where the government offers free
education to four children per family, of whom two should be girls,
the percentage of females enroled in primary schools in still lower
than that of boys". The government introduced Universal Primary
Education (UPE) in 1997, fulfilling a pledge made by President
Museveni during the 1996 presidential elections. As a result,
primary school enrolment has jumped from 3.1 million pupils in
1996, to 5.3 million in 1997. By 1999, it had risen to 6.6. million
(Figures from the Ministry of Education and Sports). However, UPE
has done little to close the gap between the number of girls and
boys enroled in primary schools. Before the introduction of UPE in
1996, girls accounted for 46% of total primary school enrolment. By
1999, the proportion of girls in primary school had risen to only
48%. (Fred Kirungi, ANB-BIA, Uganda, 16 June 2000)
* Zimbabwe. Privatising the mines? - 15 June: The opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says President Mugabe's threat
to hand over control of foreign-owned mines to skilled Africans is
a disaster for the economy. A spokesman for the MDC says Mr Mugabe
is trying to buy the votes of Zimbabwe's black elite in the
parliamentary elections. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 16 June 2000)
* Zimbabwe. Campagne electorale tendue - 15 juin. Apres plusieurs
tentatives infructueuses au cours des derniers jours, le chef de
l'opposition Morgan Tsvangirai a reussi a s'adresser a ses
sympathisants lors d'un rassemblement a Marondera. Le regime du
president Mugabe accentue les pressions et les violences contre
l'opposition avant la tenue des elections legislatives des 24 et 25
juin. Selon un jugement de la Haute Cour, les Zimbabweens d'origine
britannique voteront aux elections, mais la bataille sur la double
nationalite continue de faire rage a une semaine des legislatives.
-16 juin. A Harare, neuf groupes locaux de defense des droits de
l'homme ont accuse l'Etat et le parti au pouvoir de "campagne de
terreur" contre l'opposition avant les elections. - 18 juin. 70
militants de la ZANU-PF ont attaque le domicile de Mme Margaret
Dongo, candidate de l'opposition, blessant cinq personnes et
detruisant le mobilier. La police s'est refusee a arreter les
agresseurs. D'autre part, a Harare, quelque 25.000 partisants de
l'opposition ont assiste au dernier grand rassemblement du MDC
avant le scrutin. - 19 juin. Le gouvernement a refuse d'accrediter
quelque 200 observateurs etrangers (la plupart membres d'ONG) sur
les 500 prevus pour les legislatives. Le president Mugabe avait
deja annonce qu'il refusait la presence d'observateurs originaires
de la Grande-Bretagne. - 20 juin. Le MDC a affirme avoir la preuve
d'une fraude electorale massive par le gouvernement et a saisi la
Haute Cour. D'autre part, a England, 120 km au sud d'Harare, des
militants de la ZANU-PF ont attaque a coup de pierres et de
gourdins la voiture de quatre journalistes etrangers. - 21 juin. A
trois jours des elections, un climat de tension persistait. Le
parti au pouvoir affronte un parti d'opposition puissant qui
presente des candidats dans tout le Zimbabwe. Mais notons que selon
la Constitution, 30 des 150 deputes du Parlement sont nommes par le
president. Ce qui signifie que la ZANU-PF n'aura besoin de gagner
que 46 des 120 sieges pour avoir la majorite, tandis que
l'opposition devra gagner 76 sieges pour controler la chambre.
Quelque 4.300 observateurs, dont 300 etrangers, vont surveiller ces
elections. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 22 juin 2000)
* Zimbabwe. Lead-up to the elections - 15 June: International
observers monitoring the run-up to the parliamentary elections (24-
25 June) say they hope their presence will serve to diminish
intimidation and violence which has swept rural areas of the
country claiming at least 30 lives. 18 June: ZANU-PF supporters
attack the home of Margaret Dongo. She is leader of the small
Zimbabwe Union of Democrats party. 19 June: A new opinion poll
suggests the MDC is poised to win 70 of the 120 parliamentary
seats. Zimbabwe has barred 17 African observers from an EU
monitoring team, accusing them of secretly working for the UK. 20
June: The Zimbabwean government has confirmed that hundreds of
election monitors are being denied accreditation because they work
for organisations rather than governments. It means that 200 of the
total of 500 potential observers will be prevented from witnessing
the voting at polling stations across the country. The head of the
Commonwealth team monitoring the elections, Nigeria's former
president, Abdulsalami Abubakar, condemns the political violence
sweeping the country and urges restraint. 21 June: Just hours after
returning from the G-15 Summit in Cairo, President Mugabe hits the
campaign trail. ZANU-PF officials say he will keep up his nation-
wide election campaigning until 23 June. The OAU's Secretary-
General, Salim Ahmed Salim, appeals to the people of Zimbabwe to
ensure a violence-free parliamentary election. Pierre Schori, head
of the EU's Electoral Observer Group, says he has never seen such
a level of political violence. Former Rhodesian leader Ian Smith
says he doubts if the elections will be free and fair but believes
the Opposition has a chance of defeating the ZANU-PF. (ANB-BIA,
Brussels, 22 June 2000)
ANB-BIA - Av. Charles Woeste 184 - 1090 Bruxelles - Belg
TEL **.32.2/420 34 36 fax /420 05 49 E-Mail: anb-bia@village.uunet.be
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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 22-06-2000 PART #5/6
* Senegal/Mauritania. River dispute resolved - On 18 June, the
Presidents of Senegal and Mauritania said they believed they had
resolved a water dispute that had caused migrants from each country
to flee home, fearing ethnic violence. The two Presidents held
talks on 17 June to try to resolve a dispute over the use of water
from the River senegal which marks the water between the two
countries. (CNN, 18 June 2000)
* Senegal. Le cardinal Thiandoum se retire - Le cardinal
Hyacinthe Thiandoum va quitter, a 79 ans, ses fonctions
d'archeveque de Dakar. Le pape Jean Paul II a accepte, le 16 juin,
la demission que le prelat proposait depuis plusieurs annees. Le
pape a designe pour lui succeder Mgr Theodore-Adrien Sarr, 63 ans,
eveque de Koaloack et president de la conference episcopale. Mgr
Thiandoum est ne en 1921, a ete ordonne pretre en 1949 et etait
archeveque de Dakar depuis fevrier 1962. Il a ete cree cardinal par
Paul VI en mai 1976. (La Croix, France, 19 juin 2000)
* Sierra Leone. Aide - L'assemblee generale de l'Onu a approuve,
le 15 juin, un budget de 1,67 milliard de dollars pour les
operations de maintien de la paix et de consolidation de la paix
dans le monde. $504 millions sont attribues aux operations de la
Minusil en Sierra Leone, sa plus grosse operation de maintien de la
paix qui compte actuellement plus de 12.000 hommes. D'autre part,
le Comite international de la Croix Rouge s'occupe de milliers de
Sierra-Leonais deplaces par les combats, notamment sur la peninsule
de Lungi et au nord du pays le long de l'axe entre Masiaka et Mile
91. A Makeni, dans le nord, quelque 40.000 personnes ont ete
deplacees par les combats la semaine derniere, selon le personnel
humanitaire. L'eveque de Makeni a affirme que ces civils deplaces
ne rentreront chez eux que s'ils recoivent les garanties
necessaires de securite. (D'apres IRIN, Abidjan, 16 juin 2000)
* Sierra Leone. Juger Foday Sankoh - Le gouvernement de Sierra
Leone a demande a l'Onu de mettre en place un tribunal penal
international afin de juger le chef rebelle Foday Sankoh et ses
principaux lieutenants pour crimes contre l'humanite, a annonce le
20 juin le ministre de l'Information. Les autorites sierra-
leonaises souhaitent la creation d'une juridiction speciale en
territoire sierra-leonais, operant selon une legislation combinant
les lois sierra-leonaises et internationales, a declare M. Julius
Spencer. "Le travail initial a deja commence", a-t-il indique.
(La Libre Belgique, 21 juin 2000)
* Sierra Leone. In the hands of a shaky UN - 15 June: The last
British Royal Marines withdraw from Sierra Leone, as Britain's
deputy-prime minister, John Prescott, visits Freetown to assure the
government of continued backing from London for the war against the
Revolutionary United Front (RUF). But many people in Sierra Leone
are not persuaded that the strengthened UN force which the British
are leaving behind will guarantee security or maintain military
pressure on the rebels. At the core of the continuing British
effort will be the retraining of the Sierra Leone army by soldiers
from the 2nd Anglian Regiment. The Sierra Leone army consists of an
uneasy coalition of several private armies and guerrilla groups,
some of which have been previously fighting each other in the civil
war. The RUF already appear to be testing the UN's resolve, with an
attack on Nigerian peacekeepers near Port Loko, northeast of
Freetown. The UN says the rebels have been beaten off. 17 June: A
minor dispute over stolen cassette tapes degenerates into a gun
battle in the heart of Freetown. Sierra Leone has asked the UN to
set up an international tribunal to try captured rebel leader,
Foday Sankoh. Thousands of Sierra Leoneans are pouring out of
Makeni town before the army arrives in force. 20 June: In a letter
to the members of the UN Security Council, Human Rights Watch urges
decisive action to bring war criminals in Sierra Leone to justice,
and calls for stepped-up UN efforts to protect civilians, plus a
strict enforcement of an arms and diamond embargo against the
Sierra Leonean rebels. 21 June: Lunsar is recaptured by the RUF.
(ANB-BIA, Brussels, 22 June 2000)
* South Africa. Cronje admits to taking bribes - 15 June: For two
hours, Hansie Cronje, until two months ago the much-admired captain
of the South African cricket team, sits in a dark suit in front of
Judge Edwin King at the match-fixing inquiry in Cape Town and reads
out his statement. It has a ring of truth in it. Maybe it is not
the whole truth, but the sense of messiness and mixed motives seem
real enough. He tells in plain words how he'd been sucked into the
game's corruption. The Cronje who abases himself before the world,
was greedy, stupid, corruptible and calculating. He was also naive,
indecisive, vulnerable and calculating. Cronje names two other
former national captains: Salim Malik of Pakistan, who has already
been banned for life by the authorities there, and Mohammed
Azharuddin, one of the two great Indian batsman of the last two
decades. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 16 June 2000)
* Sudan. NDA reject amnesty - 21 June: The main Sudanese
opposition grouping, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has
rejected a general amnesty offered by President Omar al-Bashir to
all government opponents. However, the northern opposition group,
the Umma party -- which broke away from the NDA earlier this year -
- has tentatively welcomed the step, while calling for concrete
action towards greater democratisation in Sudan. The amnesty covers
anyone who has committed "acts of rebellion" since President Bashir
took power in 1989. (BBC News, 21 June 2000)
* Soudan. Amnistie - Le president soudanais Omar el-Bechir a
decrete une amnistie inconditionnelle a toutes les personnes
coupables d'un acte de rebellion commis entre le 30 juin 1989, date
de sa prise de pouvoir, et le 20 juin 2000. Celle-ci couvre les
actes de "rebellion, mutinerie, sedition, incitation a la guerre
contre le gouvernement et tentative de violation de la
Constitution". L'Armee de liberation des peuples du Soudan (SPLA,
rebelles sudistes) a immediatement rejete cette amnistie. (La
Libre Belgique, 22 juin 2000)
* Tchad-Cameroun. Les retombees du pipeline - Le 6 juin dernier,
le conseil d'administration de la Banque mondiale approuvait le
projet d'exploitation du petrolier tchadien et les deux projets de
renforcement de protection de l'environnement. Ce projet prevoit
que, pour le Cameroun, le pipeline evite la Vallee du Mbere (nord),
"sanctuaire des derniers rhinoceros noirs du monde" selon les
ecologistes, et le massif forestier de Deng Deng, a l'est du pays.
Le consortium petrolier a promis le financement de deux reserves
forestieres (Mbam et Djerem a l'est, et Campo au sud cotier). Est
aussi prevue une fondation pour le developpement des activites
socio-economiques liees au developpement des Pygmees, menaces de
disparition. Enfin, l'amelioration des compensations pour les
paysans victimes du projet petrolier est acquise. Le consortium
petrolier de concert avec le gouvernement camerounais a reajuste
les taux d'indemnisation qui, globalement ont double. Un metre
carre de jeunes plants de mais passe ainsi de 30 fcfa (0,3 ff) a 75
fcfa (0,75 ff). Selon les previsions du cabinet anglais Dames and
Moore, durant toute la periode d'exploitation du projet (estimee a
30 ans), les retombees directes sont estimees a 2 milliards de
dollars pour le Tchad, et a 500 millions de dollars pour le
Cameroun. Pendant la phase d'execution des travaux du pipeline (4
ans), le chantier generera 1000 emplois temporaires, et 250 emplois
stables seront pourvus pendant la phase d'exploitation petroliere.
Mais la manne petroliere beneficiera-t-elle effectivement aux
masses desheritees? Au Cameroun, l'absence d'une loi sur la gestion
des royalties de l'or noir laisse perplexes. Au Tchad, en depit des
dispositions legales, le pessimisme des ONG ecologistes et des
droits de l'homme est de mise. (J-D.M., Report.assoc., Cameroun,
20 juin 2000)
* Togo. La presse en deuil - La presse togolaise est en deuil.
Son doyen, John-Bosco Adotevi, qui fut egalement le collaborateur
d'ANB-BIA, est decede. Il a ete inhume le 16 juin a Lome dans
l'intimite. Nous le recommandons a vos prieres. (ANB-BIA,
Bruxelles, 19 juin 2000)
* Ouganda/Rwanda. Le ton monte - Le 16 juin, le Rwanda a accuse
les forces de securite ougandaises de harceler et d'arreter des
citoyens rwandais en Ouganda, creant un "climat de haine". Selon
les autorites rwandaises, une centaine de personnes parlant le
kinyarwanda ont ete arretees la semaine derniere dans la region de
Kabale (sud). L'Ouganda a rejete ces accusations. Des centaines de
milliers de Rwandais resident toujours en Ouganda, apres l'exil
force de 1959 a 1994. (La Libre Belgique, 17 juin 2000)
* Uganda. From "The New Vision" - 14 June: President Museveni
travels to Tanzania for a meeting with President Mkapa over the
Uganda/Rwanda conflict. 15 June: The UN Secretary-General has asked
the Security Council to consider sanctions against Rwanda and
Uganda if their armies refuse to leave Kisangani. However, the
Uganda Peoples Defence Force (UPDF) spokesman. Major Phineas
Katirima, has announced that the withdrawal of UPDF troops from
Kisangani will resume on 16 June. Members of Parliament have urged
President Museveni to mend fences with President Kagame of Rwanda.
President Museveni has appointed a special committee to handle
political and security matters in Africa and the Middle East. 16
June: Yesterday, the Finance Minister presented the year 2000/2001
Budget to Parliament. Salaries are up and taxes are down. President
Museveni says that despite the economic progress that has been
achieved under his government, there are still major problems that
need to be solved. Rwanda and Uganda have begun pulling their
troops out of Kisangani. 18 June: Rwandan troops are said to be
heading northwards, lending fears within UPDF circles of a possible
attack on their troops. 19 June: Uganda and Rwanda yesterday
accused each other of massing troops in Kisangani. Uganda has said
it is ready to go to court if Congo RDC files case for reparations.
The UN Security Council has voted for a resolution ordering all
foreign forces out of Congo RDC. 20 June: Civilians danced with joy
yesterday as calm returned to war-torn Kisangani when the last unit
of Rwandan soldiers withdrew from the city streets. Rwanda is
verifying reports that three Rwandan nationals who came into Uganda
over a week ago are under military detention. Uganda has the
biggest number of orphans in Africa with the registered total of
1.7 million. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 21 June 2000)
Weekly anb0622 - End of part 6/6 - THE END
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