Weekly anb07065.txt #8

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 06-07-2000      PART #5/8

* Libya. Gaddafi's great trek  -  Libya's President Gaddafi is continuing a
5,000 km journey by road and desert track from Libya to Togo where he is to
join other African leaders at next week;s Organisation of African Unity
(OAU) summit. The journey is highly symbolic, drawing attention to
Gaddafi's efforts over the years to extend his influence and patronage in
the Sahelian region, to the south of the Sahara and in West Africa as a
whole. Crowds have turned out to fête Gaddafi on his long trans-Saharan
safari.   (BBC News, 5 July 2000)

* Malawi. Is Parliament really concerned with the people?  - Alison Mala, a
vendor, is greatly concerned with the business of day-to-day survival.
Selling neckties, Mala often returns home empty-handed because due to the
current economic hardships in Malawi, people prefer to go without neckties.
Food is their priority. Mala says: "I'm lucky to make the equivalent of US
$1.7 a day. How do you expect me to feed a family of six on that?" Many
people blame the crisis on President Bakili Muluzi's six-year-old
administration. But what can the President do if the country's parliament
does not debate seriously the crucial issues facing the people. For
example, the special budget session has suspended until June 2001,
opposition leader Gwanda Chakuamba, for persistently boycotting state
functions. It took parliament three days to discuss this suspension when
Members should have been discussing the budget. Members are said to arrive
late in the House and to waste time debating trivial issues.   (Charles
Masapi, ANB- BIA, Malawi, 29 June 2000)

* Malawi. Catholic schools may have to teach the Koran  - Catholic schools
in Malawi may be forced to teach the Koran, if a proposed reform regarding
religious education for the Junior Certificate Examination Syllabus goes
ahead.The reform, which is supported by the Muslims and has been stopped by
protests on the part of Christian Churches, would abolish the subject,
"Bible Knowledge", and replace it with "Religious and Moral Education"
(RME), to include teaching the Koran and Traditional African Religions.
This reform, FIDES points out, connected with other facts, would appear
clearly to be in step with a plan to Islamise the country. In December
1999, the Muslim Eid feast was made a national holiday, and recently the
school calendar was adapted to Muslim culture. Behind all this, there is
obviously pressure from Muslim donor countries (Libya and Saudi Arabia).
The reform, for the moment suspended, would take effect in all schools,
state-run and grant-aided (run mainly by the Catholic Church and a few
other Christian denominations). This would mean Catholic schools would have
to include in the curriculum the study of the Koran and Traditional African
Religions and employ teachers to give the lessons. The Catholic Bishops
sent a Memorandum of Protest against the reform to the Minister of
Education, denouncing, also, the unilateral procedure adopted.   (FIDES,
Vatican City, 6 July 2000)

* Mali. Prêt de la BM  -  La Banque mondiale (BM) a approuvé l'octroi au
gouvernement du Mali d'un prêt de 115,1 millions de dollars pour l'aider à
lutter contre la pauvreté et à renforcer son infrastructure rurale de base.
Les fonds viseront à améliorer l'irrigation, à réhabiliter les routes, et à
fournir des services d'adduction d'eau potable et d'assainissement dans les
zones rurales, a indiqué la BM. Ces 30 dernières années, le Mali a connu
des précipitations de moins en moins abondantes et de plus en plus
irrégulières, et une accélération de la désertification. De graves
sécheresses dans les années 80 ont laissé quelque 1,4 million de ruraux
dans une situation de grande vulnérabilité aux pénuries alimentaires, a
encore relevé la BM.   (IRIN, Abidjan, 30 juin 2000)

* Mayotte. Consultation  -  Le 2 juillet, la population de Mayotte (île
française dans l'archipel des Comores) a voté dans le calme, lors d'une
consultation sur un nouveau statut politique qui doit mettre fin à une
situation provisoire depuis 25 ans et confirmer le maintien dans la France
de cette île de l'océan Indien, la transformant en "collectivité
départementale". Ce statut pourra être modifié en 2010. Selon les résultats
publiés le 3 juillet, le "oui" l'a emporté avec 72,5% des suffrages
exprimés. Les autorités comoriennes ont dénoncé les résultats.   (ANB-BIA,
de sources diverses, 4 juillet 2000)

* Mauritania. EU aid for drought-affected children  -  The European
Commission has decided to earmark about US $345,000 for children suffering
from malnutrition as a result of drought in northern Mauritania. The
regions of Adrar, Inchiri and Tiris Ez Zemmour had been affected by a
particularly severe drought for three years. Adaption and survival
mechanisms the areas' residents have traditionally used, had been gradually
eroded. and the food and health situation was now critical. The new EU
assistance will go to more than 2,500 severely malnourished children under
the age of five and their mothers in five therapeutic nutritional centres
and 31 supplementary feeding centres. The project will be implemented by
the Italian Red Cross which is well established in the regions worst hit by
drought.   (IRIN, West Africa, 29 June 2000)

* Niger. Le président refuse la charia  -  Le 28 juin, le président
nigérien Mamadou Tandja s'est déclaré opposé à l'institution de la charia
(loi islamique) dans son pays à plus de 90% musulman. "Nous ne voulons pas
qu'on nous amène des problèmes, comme cela se voit ailleurs", a-t-il
déclaré, par allusion au Nigeria. "Le Niger est un pays laïc et tolérant,
évoluons ainsi et restons musulmans". Le chef de la confrérie Tidjane avait
demandé l'instauration de la charia au Niger.   (D'après La Croix, France,
30 juin 2000)

* Nigeria. Abacha's funds  -  On 29 June, President Olusegun Obasanjo said
he expected Switzerland to return in July a first instalment of the roughly
$600 million allegedly stashed in the country by late dictator Sani Abacha.
Obasanjo said that his elected government was trying to recover an
estimated $3 billion in embezzled state funds taken abroad by Abacha and
his entourage during his 1993-98 rule. So far, Nigeria has succeeded in
freezing nearly $2 billion deposited in banks worldwide, he told a news
conference in Geneva before addressing a UN summit on poverty. "We have got
frozen nothing less than 1.8 billion dollars, very close to two billion.
All of that is not in Switzerland, but a substantial part is in
Switzerland. There is some in other countries in Europe. Of course the
investigation continues...We reckon that it might be close to three billion
dollars." Sources close to the Nigerian government said about $600 million
in accounts belonging to Abacha, his son Mohammed, widow Mariam and brother
Abdulkadir and entourage are currently frozen in Switzerland. Another $620
million are frozen in Luxembourg. Obasanjo said: "We are leaving no stone
unturned because as you know, corruption impoverished (Nigerians). It is
stealing from the poor and making them poorer."   (Reuters, 29 June 2000)

* Nigeria. Obasanjo "worried" over Sharia  -  29 June: The Nigerian
government has expressed concern about the decision of the most populous
northern state, Kano, to adopt Sharia Islamic law. President Obasanjo has
sent his special adviser, professor Alphonsus Nwosu, to the state, to
express his worries. Kano has become the third state in the mainly Muslim
north to adopt Sharia, despite strong opposition from north Christians.
There are fears that Kanos' move could revive the sectarian violence in
which hundreds have died in Nigeria this year.   (BBC News, 29 June 2000)

* Nigeria. Les militaires et la démocratie  -  Les membres des Forces
armées nigérianes vont suivre une formation spéciale sur les idéaux de la
démocratie et le respect des droits de l'homme, selon le ministre de la
Défense T. Danjuma. Il a déclaré que le gouvernement désignera un plus
grand nombre de militaires pour suivre une formation dans des institutions
civiles à l'intérieur et à l'extérieur du pays, afin d'assurer qu'ils
comprennent correctement les rouages et le fonctionnement de l'autorité
civile. Depuis son accession au pouvoir, le gouvernement s'est lancé dans
une vaste opération de restructuration des forces armées et a entrepris
aussi de les rééquiper, de relever le niveau de vie des officiers et des
hommes de troupe, et de réformer le personnel militaire pour renforcer le
professionalisme. Le ministre de l'Information, M. Jerry Gana, a dit que si
les Nigérians avaient réussi à défendre la démocratie dans d'autres pays,
ils pouvaient parfaitement faire la même chose dans leur propre pays.
(D'après PANA, 3 juillet 2000)

* Nigeria. Strikes and civil unrest  -  Industrial unrest has spread across
Nigeria for the second time in a month amid doubts about President
Obasanjo's ability to reach an early agreement on economic reforms with the
International Monetary Fund. John Odeh, secretary general of the Nigerian
Labour Congress, said public sector workers in a third of the country's 36
states had joined striking civil servants in the commercial capital, Lagos,
demanding payment of a new minimum wage. The strike coincides with the
first visit to Africa of Host Kohler, the IMF's new managing director,
which started on 3 July in Nigeria.   (Financial Times, UK, 5 July 2000)

Wekly anb0706.txt - End of part 5/8