weekly anb06291.txt #6

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 29-06-2000      PART #1/6

* Afrique. Nouveau partenariat UE-ACP  -  Le 23 juin, l'Union
europeenne et 77 pays d'Afrique, des Caraibes et du Pacifique (zone
dite ACP) ont signe a Cotonou (Benin) une importante entente
commerciale et d'aide qui verra les Europeens consacrer a leurs
partenaires moins favorises un montant de 13,5 milliards d'euros
sur les 5 prochaines annees. Ce contrat prevu pour durer 20 ans
remplace les conventions de Lome signees en 1975 qui ont reglemente
les relations commerciales et la cooperation entre l'UE et la zone
ACP depuis 25 ans. Les Europeens ont fourni une aide se chiffrant
a plusieurs milliards de dollars dans des secteurs tels que
l'agriculture, la peche, les mines, les services et l'industrie aux
pays de la zone ACP.   (AP, 23 juin 2000)

* Africa. Poverty summit  -  26 June: In Geneva, world leaders and
ministers attending a United Nations summit on global poverty have
largely agreed that not enough has been done to meet goals set five
years ago. The special five-day World Summit for Social Development
will look at progress towards eliminating poverty. It will review
10 commitments made at a conference in Copenhagen in 1995 for
wiping out poverty, providing universal primary education and basic
health care as well as halving the rate of poverty by 2015. 28
June: In a letter from the World Council of Churches (WCC) to UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the WCC says: "We have noticed with
dismay in recent years how the UN's development agenda has
floundered, as more and more responsibility for global, economic
and trade reforms was ceded to the World Trade Organisation and the
Bretton Woods Institutions controlled by a small number of highly
industrialised countries".   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 27 June 2000)

* Nations unies. Sommet social  -  Le sommet social de l'Onu, qui
a debute le 26 juin a Geneve, a dresse un constat tragique de la
situation sociale dans le monde. Trois milliards de personnes
vivent avec moins de deux dollars par jour; 150 millions sont au
chomage; 800 millions n'ont pas d'acces aux services de sante...
Dans un premier rapport, les experts de l'Onu, de la Banque
mondiale, du FMI et de l'Organisation de cooperation et de
developpement economique ont defini sept "objectifs indissociables"
pour faire decoller le developpement: la lutte contre la pauvrete,
l'education, l'egalite des sexes, la mortalite infantile et
juvenile, la mortalite liee a la maternite, la sante genesique
(planning familial et prevention des maladies sexuellement
transmissibles) et l'environnement.   (La Libre Belgique, 27 juin
2000)

* Afrique. Rapport de l'Onusida  -  Selon le rapport bisannuel de
l'Onusida publie le 27 juin a Geneve, 34,4 millions de personnes
etaient porteuses du virus VIH ou atteintes du sida dans le monde
fin 1999, dont 24,5 millions en Afrique subsaharienne. Pour 1999,
5,4 millions de personnes supplementaires ont ete infectees et 2,8
millions de malades sont decedes l'an dernier, ce qui porte a 18,8
millions le nombre total de deces a cause du sida depuis le debut
de la pandemie. Les 10 pays qui ont le plus fort taux de prevalence
chez les adultes entre 15 et 49 ans en Afrique sub-saharienne,
sont: le Botswana (35,8%), le Swaziland (25,25%), le Zimbabwe
(25,06%), le Lesotho (23,57%), la Zambie (19,95%), l'Afrique de Sud
(19,94%), la Namibie (19,54%), le Malawi (15,96%), le Kenya
(13,95%) et la RCA (13,84%).   (La Libre Belgique, 28 juin 2000)

* Africa. AIDS -- a shocking new report  -  28 June: The AIDS virus
will kill half of all young adults in Botswana, South Africa and
Zimbabwe, according to a shocking new report by the United Nations.
It says that the virus is wreaking social and economic havoc on the
worst affected nations. In the Central African Republic there has
been widespread closure of schools because so many teachers have
died of an AIDS-related illness. The UN says that $4 billion is
needed annually to contain the epidemic which it says has claimed
19 million lives. The UN also calls for a massive increase in
funding for anti-AIDS programmes. The US Peace Corps has announced
that all Peace Corps volunteers now serving in Africa, as well as
new recruits assigned to work on that continent, will be trained as
AIDS educators. The UN report, entitled: "Report on the Global
HIV/AIDS Epidemic", estimates there are now 34.3 million people
infected with HIV worldwide. Nevertheless, the report found more
reason for optimism than many previous assessments. Some countries,
such as Senegal, have prevented national AIDS epidemics; others,
such as Uganda, have gradually slowed them.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels,
28 June 2000)

* Africa. Action against the Media  -  Congo RDC: On 26 June, The
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for the immediate
release of a BBC journalist, Caroline Pare, and her Congolese
assistant, Pierre Mombele, who were arrested on 25 June by security
agents near Kinshasa. (Editor's note: Caroline Pare has now been
released. She said she was being deported. Pierre Mombele has also
been released). The same organisation has also expressed its
outrage over the continued persecution of Freddy Loseke Lisumbu la
Yayenga, editor of the weekly La Libre Afrique. Cote d'Ivoire: In
a 28 June letter to President Guei, the CPJ expressed its grave
concern about his regime's plans to tighten state control over the
press. Zimbabwe: The tenuous state of press freedom in Zimbabwe is
illustrated by a number of incidents in the days leading up to the
24-25 June parliamentary elections. The Media Institute of Southern
Africa has reported a number of intimidations of the Media in the
run-up to the election.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 29 June 2000)

* Afrique. Le commerce des diamants  -  La lutte contre le commerce
des diamants qui finance les guerres civiles africaines fait face
a des "difficultes enormes", a reconnu le secretaire d'Etat
britannique aux Affaires etrangeres le 28 juin, lors d'une reunion
internationale entre importateurs a Londres. Des representants
gouvernementaux et industriels de la Belgique, d'Inde, d'Israel,
des Etats-Unis et de Grande-Bretagne, pays importateurs, examinent
les moyens de tarir cette source de revenus pour les mouvements
rebelles. Londres souhaiterait en outre obtenir l'appui des pays
industrialises lors du prochain G8 au Japon.   (La Croix, France,
29 juin 2000)

* Africa. Trade in diamonds  -  28 June: Leading diamond importing
countries are meeting in London today, to discuss measures to stamp
out trade in gems which fuels war. British Foreign Office Minister
Peter Hain says it is the first time the diamond industry and
government officials would be able to "work constructively on ideas
to stamp out the illicit trade in blood diamonds. In the face of
enormous suffering caused by the diamond-fuelled wars in Sierra
Leone, Angola and Congo RDC, we have a duty to ensure that we are
doing as much as we can", he said. The UK's planned clampdown on
the trade in "blood diamonds" includes sanctions against rogue
dealers, and measures to ensure that diamonds are only traded for
hard currency from legitimate sources.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 29
June 2000)

* Africa. Regional and international meetings  -  Ethiopia: A
"spirit of cooperation" is emerging among the nine riparian states
of the Nile Basin that since 26 June have been taking part in the
Eighth Nile Conference in Addis Ababa. Experts from the Nile
Riparian states (except Eritrea), have been examining ways for
promoting sustainable development and management of the Nile and
utilising its resources for poverty alleviation in the region.
Kenya: Genetic engineering and modification technologies should be
geared towards the betterment of humanity, especially towards the
prevention of diseases, Kenya's Public Health Minister, Professor
Sam Ongeri, has said. While these new scientific breakthroughs have
been used by Western countries to perform various wonders, like the
cloning of animals, he said the same efforts should be diverted and
dedicated to finding a cure for the HIV/AIDS disease. He was
speaking on 27 June, during a consultative AIDS Workshop for
theological institutions in eastern and central Africa. Mali: The
second phase of long-term ecological surveillance observatories
(ROSELT) was officially launched in Bamako on 27 June. ROSELT is an
African network set up to ensure the scientific monitoring of the
environment in order to identify the causes and effects of
desertification on the continent, through the institution of a
regional system aimed at providing reliable information on the
degradation of land in the arid areas. Nigeria: Participants from
52 African countries are expected to attend the Conference of
Directors of Civil Service, to begin in Abuja on 27 June.The theme
of the Conference is: "Professionalism and Ethics of Public Service
in Africa". Senegal: Senegal's Minister of Energy and Water
Resources, Abdoulaye Bathily, has called for concerted efforts to
provide electricity to majority of Africans, saying the shortage of
electricity in most African countries is a serious problem.
Addressing the World Energy Council meeting, which opened in Dakar
on 27 June, Bathily said the development efforts of African
countries would come to naught if the energy sector is not
developed. South Africa: Malaria, the spread of TB and HIV/AIDS,
oral rehydration, measles, family planning and primary health
services, are some of the most pressing African health problems
being discussed at an international meetings of scientists near
Johannesburg this week. Zambia:The Zambian Government has commended
the Global Environmental Facility for providing $4.5 million for
Southern Africa Biodiversity Support Programme (SABSP). Environment
and Natural Resources Permanent Secretary, Jewette Masinja, made
the commendation when he opened the National Planning Workshop for
the SABSP in Lusaka on 27 June. SABPS is a programme aimed at
promoting the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in
southern Africa by strengthening regional biodiversity planning,
interstate co-operation and information exchange. A two-day
regional meeting for National Focal Points on Capacity Building
Coordination in Africa ended on 27 June in Lusaka, with a call for
the effective building, utilisation and retention of human
resources in Africa.   (PANA, Dakar, 29 June 2000)

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