Weekly anb07135.txt #5

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

_____________________________________________________________
WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 13-07-2000  PART #5/5

* South Africa. Why the bid for the World Cup failed - South
Africa's failure in its bid to host the 2006 football World Cup
(losing to Germany by a single vote), is described by President
Thabo Mbeki as a setback in Africa's efforts to gain international
sporting recognition. He said: "We are confident that our bid was
sound in all respects but a few of the final arbiters, from their
unique vantage point, clearly had their own view different from
ours. Once more, our best wishes to the winning nation". But why
did the bid fail? Some people have pointed out that South Africa's
infrastructural development dies not match that of Germany -- even
though South Africa has some top class football and rugby grounds,
ready to be upgraded into stadiums worthy of the World Cup. But
South Africa's biggest drawback is the high rate of crime on its
city streets, especially the business capital, Johannesburg. South
Africa's campaign team had promised that 10% of its budget would
be used to tackle the crime menace. Transport was another problem
to be tackled. Some of the proposed stadiums were a long way from
tourist hotels, and the dangerous crowded minibus taxis remain the
backbone of public transport. (BBC News, 6 July 2000)

* South Africa. Farm seizure threat - On 6 July, South African
farmers' organisations denounced as nothing less than land theft,
plans to expropriate farming land that could lead to Zimbabwe-
style chaos. The move would be seen as an open declaration of war
on the white commercial farming sector, which could only have
"negative implications for the South African economy, leading to
even greater poverty and unemployment", farmers' leaders said. The
warning came after a statement by Gilingwe Mayende, South Africa's
land affairs director general, that the Government was considering
using its constitutional powers to seize land and speed up the
land redistribution process. Censuring white farmers for trying to
make a "quick killing" while negotiating sales of land with
government departments, Dr Mayende said than an over-reliance on
the "willing buyer, willing seller" principle, was impeding
effective land redistribution. "While the Government has
demonstrated a willingness to negotiate land prices on the basis
of this approach, the same level of commitment has not been
displayed by the majority of land owners whom we have negotiated
with", he said. (The Times, UK, 7 July 2000)

* Tanzania. The accused in the US Embassy bombing, pleads "not
guilty" - 10 July: A Tanzanian man charged with conspiracy in the
1998 bombing of the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam, pleaded not
guilty when he was arraigned before the High Court. Rashid Salehe
Hemed (alias Richard Bachai) denied that he had ever conspired
with five other suspects still at large, in preparing the bomb
that went off 7 August just outside the former American Embassy in
Kinondoni district. (PANA, Dakar, 10 July 2000)

* Tunisia. Human rights activists barred - The authorities in
Tunisia have refused to allow three foreign human rights activists
into the country. Officials from Amnesty International and the
International Federation for Human Rights were told their presence
was undesirable, although their organisations had earlier been
assured that visits to Tunisia could resume after a ban lasting
several years. (BBC News, 11 July 2000)

* Tunisie. FIDH et AI refoulés - Le 11 juillet, le président de la
Fédération internationale des droits de l'homme (FIDH) et une
délégation d'Amnesty International (AI) ont été refoulés à leur
arrivée à l'aéroport de Tunis-Carthage. Ils auraient dû passer
deux jours en Tunisie pour rencontrer des dirigeants de diverses
organisations, ainsi que Nadia Hammani en grève de la faim depuis
le 28 juin pour réclamer l'arrêt des poursuites judiciaires contre
son père, porte-parole du parti ouvrier communiste (POCT)
interdit. Les deux organisations ont exprimé leurs plus vifs
regrets après cet incident. Confronté à de nombreuses critiques
internationales en matière de respect des droits de l'homme, le
régime tunisien avait multiplié ces dernières semaines les mesures
d'apaisement en assouplissant les règles d'obtention du passeport,
en s'engageant à libérer une presse muselée et en libérant
plusieurs prisonniers d'opinion dont 17 membres du POCT. ? Le 11
juillet, Nadia Hammani, 17 ans, a annoncé qu'elle mettait fin à sa
grève de la faim sur avis de ses médecins et suite aux appels de
plusieurs ONG. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 12 juillet 2000)

* Ouganda. Les troupes en RDC - Le ministre ougandais des Affaires
étrangères a annoncé au sommet de l'OUA à Lomé que la moitié des
troupes ougandaises se retirerait du Congo-RDC "dans quelques
semaines". Par ailleurs, selon un porte-parole de l'armée,
l'Ouganda a désigné un nouveau commandant pour la région de Bunia
(nord-est de la RDC), le colonel Charles Angina, qui aura comme
objectif de stabiliser la région qui a été le théâtre de luttes
intertribales. Et des sources gouvernementales ont indiqué que le
général Edward Katumba Wamala devait remplacer le général James
Kazini en tant que commandant en chef de la mission militaire
ougandaise en RDC. (IRIN, Nairobi, 10 juillet 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Match mortel - Des incidents qui ont éclaté le 9
juillet au stade national de Harare, lors du match de football
Zimbabwe-Afrique du Sud comptant pour la qualification au Mondial
de 2002, ont fait 12 morts et de nombreux blessés. Lorsque
l'équipe sud-africaine a marqué un deuxième but, le public a
commencé à lancer des bouteilles et autres projectiles, l'arbitre
a suspendu le match, et les forces de l'ordre ont utilisé des gaz
lacrymogènes et des lances à eau pour "ramener le calme". Dans la
panique qui a suivi, des gens se sont faits écraser contre les
barrrières. Des fonctionnaires présents ont sévèrement critiqué
l'intervention des forces de l'ordre, jugée excessive et
irrationnelle. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 10 juillet 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Reactions to elections - 6 July: Opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai confirms that he wants impeachment proceedings
launched against President Mugabe. He cites pre-election violence
as grounds for impeaching the President. "The President was
responsible for initiating this violence, so there is every reason
for impeachment", Mr Tsvangirai says. His opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) declares its intention to petition the
High Court to nullify the election results in 28 constituencies
where it suspects there were irregularities. The MDC announces a
15-member shadow cabinet and reiterates its refusal to take part
in a coalition government with President Mugabe. 10 July: The
electorate are starting to exert pressure on the two main parties,
to bury their poll hatchet and "deliver" on the economy and other
election promises. President Mugabe is staying away from the OAU
summit in Togo because he says he is putting the finishing touches
to a new cabinet. 11 July: A Commonwealth observer mission says
that pre-poll violence influenced voting in the elections. (ANB-
BIA, Brussels, 12 July 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Distribution des terres - Le 12 juillet, le porte-
parole du ZANU-PF (le parti au pouvoir) a déclaré que le
gouvernement commencera, le 14 juillet, à redistribuer les terres
des 804 fermes de propriétaires blancs qu'il veut exproprier. Les
paysans et anciens combattants qui occupent certaines fermes
depuis février, devront les quitter pour se rendre dans les
exploitations nouvellement acquises, où on leur donnera des
terres. (La Croix, France, 13 juillet 2000)

* Zimbabwe. The land issue - 6 July: White farmers are offering to
sell another 400 farms to the government for its black
resettlement programme, bringing to 600 the number of farms made
available to the government this week. The Commercial Farmers'
Union (CUF) deputy director, Jerry Grant, says the government does
not need to pursue its controversial land seizure plans, because
white farmers are prepared to sell some of their land for a
properly managed resettlement programme. Thousands of white
Zimbabweans are streaming back into the country from neighbouring
states (mostly Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia) where they
sought temporary shelter to escape election-related violence in
the run-up to the elections. 7 July: The CUF says the war veterans
are continuing to wreck havoc on farms. 12 July: A senior ZANU-PF
official says war veterans occupying white-owned farms are to be
moved to lands taken over by the government from white farmers.
(ANB-BIA, Brussels, 13 July 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe continues to show his dissatisfaction
with any opposition - The following is a commentary just received
from Zimbabwe on the current atmosphere within the country: "The
first serious opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), led by former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai won 57 of
the 120 elected seats. (Mugabe can still appoint another 30 MPs)
against the odds in a remarkably dirty election, but opposition
supporters are still being penalised. After the ruling party lost
every seat in the capital, army and police have imposed an
unofficial curfew in the poorer suburbs, beating up customers at
beerhalls and nightclubs. Some bars say even their workers are
afraid to come to work because of the violence. Mugabe's reaction
to an incident in the national soccer stadium would be funny if it
were not tragic. In the last minutes of a World Cup qualifying
match against South Africa, some bottles were thrown when the
visitors scored a clinching second goal, and police fired teargas
at the crowd. In the ensuing panic, thirteen people, including
four children, were killed. Mugabe, in his message of condolence
to the relatives of the dead, blamed the MDC for the incident.
Apparently MDC slogans were shouted and the crowd showed red
cards, the MDC symbol, that Mugabe should go. It seems that this
provoked the police to their disproportionate, unprofessional and
ultimately tragic action. But any stick will do to beat the
opposition with. (Magari Mandebvu, Zimbabwe, 13 July 2000)

Weekly anb0713.txt - End of part 5/5

THE END


***********************************************************************
*  Le soleil n'oublie pas un village parce qu'il est petit...         *
*               --------                                              *
*  The sun does not forget a village just because it is small...      *
***********************************************************************
**********************************************************************
AFRICAN NEWS BULLETIN - BULLETIN D'INFORMATION AFRICAINE
A fornigtly publication of African news and information
Bi-mensuel d'information et actualite africaine
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We hope you find our WEEKLY NEWS informative and helpful.
But maybe you don't know our printed
AFRICAN NEWS BULLETIN/BULLETIN D'INFORMATION AFRICAIN?
For further information and informed comment about Africa,
YOU NEED TO READ IT - Why not send for a FREE COPY
and Subscription Details from our address on: <anb-bia@village.uunet.be> ?

Trouvez-vous nos "WEEKLY NEWS" interessantes et utiles?
Mais peut-etre vous ne connaissez pas notre publication
BULLETIN D'INFORMATION AFRICAINE / AFRICAN NEWS BULLETIN?
Il s'agit d'UN INSTRUMENT INDISPENSABLE
pour mieux comprendre et mieux connaitre l'actualite africaine.
Pour recevoir une copie gratuite et plus de renseignements
pour un abonnement envoyez-nous un simple E-mail
avec votre requete et votre adresse postale.

**********************************************************************
Greetings from: ANB-BIA, Av. Charles Woeste 184,B-1090, Brussel, Belgium
Ph.: 32-2 420.34.36-Fax: 32-2 420.05.49 - <anb-bia@village.uunet.be>
WWW:  http://www.peacelink.it/anb-bia/anb-bia.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------