Weekly anb09287.txt #7

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 28-09-2000      PART #7/7

* Uganda/Rwanda. Talks on Congo RDC  -  22 September: The President of 
Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, has had a day of talks in Rwanda with President 
Paul Kagame. In a joint statement, they repeated their support for last 
year's Lusaka peace accord, and said they would work together for its full 
implementation. Correspondents said the two leaders -- formerly close 
allies -- appeared keen to create an impression of renewed 
fraternity.   (BBC News, 22 September 2000)

* Uganda. The LRA -- a witness testifies  -  The Lord's Resistance Army 
(LRA) rebel leader, Joseph Kony, has got 48 official wives and more than 50 
children in Jebelen, his command base near Juba in southern Sudan. This was 
disclosed by one of the six former fighters repatriated on 22 September 
from Khartoum under the peace and reconciliation process. The boys, now 
between 12 and 26 years, arrived on 22 September at 9.00am at Entebbe 
Airport aboard Kenya Airways. Their names were not disclosed to the press 
for security reasons. Five girls (now mothers) were left with their five 
babies in Khartoum Islamic Mission, awaiting return. The boys, were 
received at Entebbe by UNICEF's chief communication co-ordinator, Keith 
Wright; the International Organisation for Migration's chief-of-mission, 
Charles Kwenin; the gender ministry's Sayyid Bukenya; and Owori Hama, a 
World Vision psycho-social support adviser. The boy, a former student of 
Minakulu Technical Institute, said Kony prevented them from returning. His 
left leg was amputated after he was shot in Jebelein when the SPLA attacked 
their camp. "I was abducted from Minakulu where I was doing carpentry in 
the early morning on July 21, 1996 and we were taken to southern Sudan," 
the boy, walking on crutches, said. He said he spent one year in captivity 
before they were flown to Omdurman military hospital near Khartoum. "I have 
been in the hospital for one-and-half-year undergoing treatment. But 
because I was taken there by force, I escaped from the hospital at night 
with my colleagues to an Islamic mission in Kordofan, Khartoum," he 
said.   (The New Vision, Uganda, 23 September 2000)

* Ouganda/Angola. "Entente" sur la RDC  -  Une délégation militaire 
angolaise conduite par le chef d'état-major, le général de Matos, s'est 
rendue cette semaine en Ouganda et a tenu des pourparlers avec le président 
Museveni et des officiers supérieurs. Selon une source ougandaise, ces 
consultations avaient pour but de rétablir la confiance entre les deux pays 
qui soutiennent des parties opposées dans le conflit au Congo-RDC. "Nous 
avons assuré la délégation angolaise que nous ne collaborons pas avec leurs 
ennemis", a indiqué un haut responsable ougandais, "et nos explications les 
ont convaincus". Il a ajouté que des projets étaient en cours pour 
développer une entente entre les trois pays "concernés par la sécurité en 
RDC", à savoir l'Angola, l'Ouganda et le Rwanda.   (IRIN, Nairobi, 27 
septembre 2000)

* Zambia. State Proceedings Bill causes uproar  -  The ruling Movement for 
Multiparty Democracy (MMD), which takes prides in "having a human face with 
a human heart", has once again caused an uproar in the nation by passing 
yet another controversial Bill, the State Proceedings (Amendment) Bill. 
This Bill seeks to protect the government against being subject to a 
Judicial Review by any aggrieved party in the courts. The Judicial Review 
procedure is a tool whereby a citizen can put a stop to any government 
excesses. In typical MMD fashion, the controversial Bill sailed through all 
three stages and is only awaiting President Chiluba's signature to become 
law. In the interlude before the President gives the Bill his "blessing", 
pressure against the Bill is mounting on all sides because people are fully 
aware that signing such a Bill is tantamount to signing away all future for 
Zambia. The Church of God in Zambia and Central Africa has taken a lead in 
expressing its disgust against such a Bill, saying that the MMD government 
has once again demonstrated its arrogance, in that it has no real interest 
in the people it is supposed to be serving. The Law Association of Zambia 
(LAZ) has also come into conflict with the Legal Affairs Minister, Mr. 
Vincent Malambo, who is the author of the Bill. The LAZ has described the 
State Proceedings Bill as "retrogressive because it takes away the rights 
of citizens, and it scares away investment in the country, as no serious 
investor can invest in a country where there is no security or adequate 
protection under the law".   (Moses Chitendwe, ANB-BIA, Zambia, 13 
September 2000)

* Zambia. Opposition leader wants to be king  -  A founder member of 
Zambia's ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) and now a leading 
opposition leader, Akashambatwa Mbikushita-Lewanika, has floated himself 
for the kingship of the Lozis, one of Zambia's most influential tribes. The 
Lozi king Ilute Yeta IV died in July in a Lusaka hospital after a long 
illness. As leader of the opposition Agenda for Zambia (AZ), Lewanika has 
long been campaigning for the secession of the former Barotseland (Western 
Province) from the rest of Zambia and has vowed not to rest until a "total 
Barotse takeover" takes place. But his plans, announced in early September 
to political and government heads in Western Province at a meeting in the 
Barotse capital of Mongu, 600 kilometres west of Lusaka, has attracted 
mixed feelings from some quarters of the Barotse royal establishment and 
resentment from members of the ruling party. Opinion leaders believe that 
Lewanika's bid to become king of the ethnic Lozis will be an uphill battle 
because the "powers-that-be" seem to be prepared to do all they can to 
lessening his chances of ruling the Lozis, one of the biggest and most 
influential of Zambia's 73 tribes. Lewanika, who resigned from the MMD "on 
principle", said the Lozis should unite and take control of their land and 
end the continued exploitation that has doomed their province. According to 
an Amnesty International report, secessionists in the Western Province and 
Namibia's Caprivi Strip are living in constant fear. "There is an 
unresolved dispute, dating back to independence in 1964, over the status of 
the former Barotseland Protectorate, now called Western Province," the 
report said. "Lozi secessionists fighting in neighbouring Namibia's Caprivi 
Strip last August, raised fears in Zambia of similar secessionist violence 
in Western Province," Amnesty International added.   (Africa Press Bureau, 
Johannesburg. 21 September 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Govt. promises squatter evictions  -  21 September: The 
Zimbabwean government says it will step-up the eviction of illegal black 
settlers on white-owned farms, particularly those who had occupied land 
after the July launch of a government resettlement scheme. At the moment, 
hundreds of white- owned farms remain occupied by war veterans and their 
supporters, while the government has listed over 2,000 farms for compulsory 
acquisition. To date, only 100 farms have actually been redistributed to 
poor black peasants. Earlier this week, police for the second time evicted 
people who had occupied farms around Harare. The same day, it is reported 
that ZANU-PF party militants opened fire on a group of white farmers and 
their black workers. No one was hurt in the shooting near the farming town 
of Featherstone, about 110 kilometres south of Harare. 22 September: White 
farmers facing eviction from their land win a temporary reprieve when the 
Supreme Court rules the eviction notices illegal and says farmers shouldn't 
be forced to leave before the year's end. The Supreme Court says the 
Agriculture Ministry did not meet conditions of the land acquisition laws 
when it served about 100 farmers with 30-day eviction notices last 
month.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 25 September 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Indian business people under threat  -  ZANU-PF is now turning 
its attention to the Indians living in Zimbabwe. These constitute a very 
small percentage of the total population but in some areas form a powerful 
business community. In Bulawayo, the Bulawayo Chapter of the Affirmative 
Action Group (AAG) has issued a circular entitled: "Indiginisation versus 
Indians", which incites black Zimbabweans to rise against Indians, and 
calls on the authorities to investigate whether Indians are paying taxes, 
if their immigration papers are in order, and that they're not 
over-charging black people for their rentals. The AAG also calls on the 
government to come up with a Building Acquisition Act just like the land 
act, to enable them to compulsorily acquire the buildings. The fact is, 
local people are trying to gain access to rented accommodation.   (Tendai 
Madinah, ANB-BIA, Zimbabwe, 25 Sept. 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Court to rule in November on land seizures  -  Zimbabwe's 
Supreme Court will rule in November on an application by white farmers 
challenging President Mugabe's power to take their land without 
compensation. It also decided on 26 September that farmers whose properties 
have already been seized under the government's fast-track land 
re-settlement program should be given 90 days' notice to vacate their 
premises. A spokesman for the mainly white, 4,5000-member Commercial 
Farmers Union said this ruling offered a reprieve for farmers who had 
already been issued with 30-day eviction orders.   (CNN, 27 September 2000)

Weekly anb0928.txt -  End of part 7/7

THE END

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Un homme meurt chaque fois que l'un d'entre nous se tait devant la tyrannie 
(W. Soyinka, Prix Nobel litterature) *
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Everytime somebody keep silent when faced with tyranny, someone else dies 
(Wole Syinka, Nobel Prize for Literature) *
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