Weekly anb09281.txt #7

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 28-09-2000      PART #1/7

* Africa. New deal to stop "conflict diamonds"  -  The smuggling of 
diamonds which finance some of the world's bloodiest civil wars would be a 
thing of the past under proposals signed in Pretoria on 21 September. 
Ministers from 20 countries and representatives from the diamond trade 
agreed to an international certification scheme which will trace the origin 
of all diamonds which enter the global market. The proposals will go before 
the UNfor ratification by members countries.   (BBC News, 21 September 2000)

* Afrique. Assemblée annuelle de la BM  -  La Banque mondiale, présente à 
Prague pour son assemblée annuelle tenue avec le FMI, a lancé un nouvel 
appel à la lutte contre la pauvreté et défendu la réduction de la dette aux 
pays les plus pauvres. "La pauvreté est le défi de notre époque. Le fait 
que l'aide internationale au développement ait baissé sur les deux 
dernières années est un crime", a déclaré son président, J. Wolfensohn, le 
21 septembre. Il a mis en garde les pays développés contre l'instabilité 
sociale que pourrait créer l'écart grandissant entre les pauvres et les 
riches. Le plan de réduction de la dette est le pivot de la stratégie des 
institutions de Bretton Woods, mais il est cependant critiqué par certaines 
ONG. Selon Oxfam, même après l'application de la réduction de la dette, les 
paiements resteront encore très élevés: 40% de l'ensemble des revenus de 
l'Etat dans le cas de la Zambie, de 25 à 35% au Cameroun, en Guinée, au 
Sénégal et au Malawi, et de 15 à 20% au Mozambique, en Tanzanie et en 
Mauritanie.   (Le Monde, France, 23 septembre 2000)

* Africa. Olympic Games  -  25 September: Africa's tally of Olympic medals 
is growing, but there's a long way to go to beat the total of 34 won in 
Atlanta in 1996. Mozambican runner Maria Mutola wins Africa's first gold 
medal, today, in the 800m, and Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie follows up 
later to take the gold in the 1000m race. Africans have now won 13 
medals.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 25 September 2000)

* Afrique. Jeux olympiques  -  25 septembre. Grâce aux médailles d'or 
obtenues par la Mozambicaine Maria Mutola au 800m dames et par l'Ethiopien 
Haile Gebresselassie au 10.000m, l'Afrique totalise maintenant onze 
médailles: Ethiopie, 1 médaille d'or et 2 en bronze; Mozambique, 1 en or; 
Afrique du Sud, 1 en argent, 2 en bronze; Kenya, 1 en argent, 1 en bronze; 
Nigeria, 1 en argent; et l'Algérie, 1 médaille en bronze.   (PANA, 25 
septembre 2000)

* Africa. Action against the Media  -  Angola: The Committee to Protect 
Journalists (CPJ) has said (19 September) that journalists charged with 
defamation of the President would face heavy fines and between two to eight 
years in prison under the new draft press law. Congo RDC: Journalists in 
Danger (JED) has learned (20 September) that Pierre Sosthène Kambidi, Le 
Phare's permanent correspondent in Tshikapa (Western Kasai province), has 
been detained in the town's central prison since 20 August. Côte d'Ivoire: 
On 21 September, no newspapers were published as journalists began a 
one-day strike to protest at the beating of Joachim Beugre, a journalist 
with the independent daily Le Jour, on 8 September. Ethiopia: In a 
Statement issued on 22 September, The Ethiopian Free Press Journalists' 
Association said that the Ethiopian people are facing a new challenge as a 
result of the increase in the price of paper and printing costs. This big 
increase has had far-reaching repercussions, discouraging writers, the 
publication of books, research documents, newspapers and magazines. Ghana: 
On 19 September, Sedi Bansah, a journalist working for the private 
bi-weekly The Crusading Guide, was arrested. He was investigating a story 
about an alleged assault by the deputy minister of defence on a civilian. 
Zambia: On 30 August, Angela Chisimba, a correspondent for the Zambia Daily 
Mail, was beaten and had her press identity card confiscated by riot police 
who were sent to quell a violent student demonstration at a University of 
Zambia campus in Lusaka. Zimbabwe: The Minister of State for Information 
and Publicity said (19 September) the government is not planning to 
liberalise the airwaves because the government had already done so soon 
after independence. However, on 22 September, the Supreme Court declared 
that Capital Radio, a private radio station, can start operating 
immediately. This breaks the current monopoly by the state broadcaster. But 
a further development came from the same minister previously mentioned. On 
25 September, he said the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation will continue 
to enjoy its broadcasting monopoly until the government establishes a 
regulatory framework giving conditions for new players.   (ANB-BIA, 
Brussels, 26 September 2000)

* Africa. Rift Valley Fever  -  On 26 September, the Sudanese authorities 
announced they had closed the border with Kenya in an effort to prevent 
Sudanese livestock from being infected with disease after a recent outbreak 
of Rift Valley Fever this month in Saudi Arabia. Khartoum took the measure 
after Saudi Arabia banned imports of sheep and other livestock from Yemen 
and several African countries, including Sudan.   (IRIN, East Africa, 27 
September 2000)

* Africa/USA. African Growth and Opportunity Act  -  President Bill 
Clinton's offer to open up the US market to poorer African countries has 
created a spirit of urgency among eligible African countries, not to miss 
the large market, which will, to a large extent favour the textile and 
garments industry, plus other goods from Africa. But experts are warning 
that sub-Saharan countries which could benefit from America's generosity 
will have to put their own houses in order. Readers will recall that on 1 
May 2000, President Clinton signed the African Growth and Opportunity Act 
(AGOA), due to come into effect on 1 October, aimed at letting 48 countries 
of sub-Saharan Africa, export duty and quota free articles into the USA as 
a way of boosting their economic investment capacity. According to the 
provisions of the Act, only those countries with less than US $1 per capita 
income per day, and having a democratic ideal and liberalised markets, will 
benefit from the Act. The aim is to increase trade and investment, expand 
economic growth and reduce poverty in African countries. (Hobbs Gama, 
ANB-BIA, Malawi, 14 September 2000)

* Africa: World Bank/IMF. Jubilee 2000 calls for a better deal  -  21 
September: Debt campaigners reacted angrily to the World Bank chief, James 
Wolfensohn's denial of responsibility for the delays which have bogged down 
the west's debt relief programme. Jubilee 2000, the umbrella group which 
has mobilised tens of thousands of people around the world to campaign for 
a better deal for the world's most indebted countries, said his disclaimer 
was disgraceful. "It beggars belief that the head of one of the world's 
most powerful economic institutions, funded by taxpayers, can pass the buck 
that in this way," said Lucy Matthew, a Jubilee 2000 spokeswoman. "The debt 
relief programme was designed and developed in Washington. Now that it 
isn't working, it's the job of the bank and the International Monetary Fund 
to make it work". Mr Wolfensohn said the two institutions were doing 
everything they could to meet the target set by western finance ministers 
of getting 20 countries through the programme by the end of the year". 23 
September: Prague will experience its first big demonstrations since the 
fall of communism this weekend, as protestors arrive from all over Europe 
ahead of the IMF/World Bank annual meeting next week. 25 September: 
Cash-strapped African countries are being forced to use aid money to pay 
debts owed to the World Bank and the IMF, Jubilee 2000 has revealed. The 
organisation held a Debt March on 24 September in Prague, and its new 
report, "Shadowy Figures", highlighted the huge scale of "negative 
transfer" from poor countries to the Bretton Woods institutions. The report 
looks at how aid, intended for development, is sometimes used for debt 
repayments to the international financial institutions. The report 
highlighted the case of how the World Bank expressed concern that its own 
aid, in the form of funds from its soft-loan arm, the International 
Development Association, was used to pay Zambia's dues to the IMF. Jubilee 
2000 says this means that Western taxpayers are financing the World Bank 
and IMF. 26 September: The president of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, 
tells protestors against globalisation that he shares their passion for 
fighting poverty. In his address to the annual meeting of the World Bank 
and the International Monetary Fund, he says he wants globalisation to be 
an instrument of opportunity and inclusion, but stresses that there is no 
turning back from a more integrated world economy. "Outside these walls 
young people are demonstrating against globalisation. I believe deeply that 
many of them are asking legitimate questions and I embrace the commitment 
of a new generation to fight poverty. I share their passion and their 
questioning".   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 27 September 2000)

* Algérie. Accord secret?  -  L'accord conclu en 1997 par l'armée et l'AIS 
(le bras armé du FIS) prévoierait un "retour" de ce mouvement "sur la scène 
politique". C'est ce qu'a affirmé, le 25 septembre, un ancien responsable 
du parti islamiste, Abdelkader Boukhamkham, en refusant toutefois de 
préciser s'il s'agissait d'un accord écrit ou d'une simple évocation 
verbale. Les militaires n'ont jamais divulgué la teneur des tractations. - 
D'autre part, plus de quarante personnes ont été tuées au cours de la 
semaine écoulée en Algérie, dont douze dans la seule soirée du 22 septembre 
dans la région de Blida. Treize autres personnes auraient été assassinées 
le 21 septembre lors d'une fête de mariage à Haouch Bichelin, à la sortie 
de Blida. La presse attribue systématiquement ces violences aux "groupes 
armés".   (Libération, France, 25- 26 septembre 2000)

* Algeria-Morocco. Illegal immigrants  -  About 2,000 illegal immigrants 
from sub-Saharan Africa have been stranded for months at the border between 
Morocco and Algeria -- living in a camp in a dry river bed on the outskirts 
of the town of Maghnia. They have been trying to emigrate to Europe but did 
not get that far. The Algerian authorities have been tolerating their 
presence but have now decided to send them back to their countries of 
origin. the security forces started to round up the illegal immigrants late 
on the night of 24 September. They were moved out of the dry river bed and 
into a large disused building in the centre of Maghnia town. More than 200 
of them, mainly Gambians, Senegalese and Nigerians have already started 
their journey home. They are travelling along the road that leads first to 
Mali, and then on to their respective countries.   (BBC News, 26 September 
2000)

* Angola. Projet de loi sur la presse  -  Le Comité pour la protection des 
journalistes (CPJ) rapporte qu'aux termes du nouveau projet de loi angolais 
sur la presse, les journalistes accusés de diffamer le président sont 
passibles de fortes amendes et de peines d'emprisonnement pouvant aller de 
deux à huit ans. Selon la nouvelle loi, les journalistes pourraient être 
accusés s'ils publient, diffusent ou reproduisent "des nouvelles ou des 
faits de la presse internationale ou étrangère qui s'en prennent à 
l'honneur et à la réputation du président de la République". Selon le CPJ, 
"si elle est adoptée, cette loi rendra pratiquement impossible, pour des 
journalistes angolais, de couvrir quel que sujet que ce soit ayant trait à 
la vie politique du pays sans risquer l'incarcération". Le projet de loi 
contient aussi des dispositions sur la sécurité de l'Etat, les secrets 
militaires et la diffamation, qui vont à l'encontre des objectifs que vise 
la liberté de la presse, dit le CPJ dans son évaluation. Aux termes d'une 
de ces dispositions, qui interdit la publication "de fausses nouvelles, de 
rumeurs non fondées ou de faits déformés susceptibles de provoquer le 
découragement, surtout dans le système bancaire ou financier", les 
journalistes sont passibles d'une forte peine d'emprisonnement, non 
précisée, et d'une amende. Un autre article prévoit que les personnes qui 
attentent "aux bonnes moeurs" sont passibles de deux à huit ans de prison, 
en plus d'une amende.   (IFEX, Canada, 19 septembre 2000)

* Angola. Illegal diamond trade to end  -  The days of illicit diamond 
digging in Angola are due to end. The government has announced measures to 
legalise the massive informal sector, which almost equals legitimate 
production. The change in policy aims to increase revenue from Angola's 
diamond resources for the national budget by ending illegal trading. 
However, members of the diamond industry are cynical about the government's 
new plan. Up to 300,000 illicit diamond prospectors, known as locally as 
Garimpeiros, are operating in Angola, the majority based in the north-east 
Lunda provinces.   (BBC News, 25 September 2000)

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