Weekly anb10053.txt #6

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 05-10-2000      PART #3/6

* Côte d'Ivoire. Towards the elections  -  28 September: The junta 
announces it will consider proposals put forward by African leaders for 
measures to delay the presidential elections due in October. The government 
has assured the OAU that "all proposals will be examined in a spirit of 
dialogue and openness". A delay of four months has been suggested by the 
leaders, for the presidential elections and a delay of two months for the 
parliamentary elections. Thousands of angry protestors spill into the 
streets of Abidjan, denouncing what they see as international interference 
into Côte d'Ivoire's politics and General Guei's plans for October 
elections. 2 October: General Guei has asked Nigeria to hand over the two 
generals who are reported to be sheltering in the Nigerian embassy in 
Abidjan. The two men, Lanssana Palenfo and Abdoulaye Coulibaly have been 
charged with involvement in an attack two weeks ago on General Guei's home 
in Abidjan. General Guei denies that soldiers who attacked his home have 
been tortured or killed. 3 October: Nigeria's President Obasanjo has ruled 
out immediately handing over the generals. He says the two generals feel 
threatened and need "more than ordinary assurances about their safety". 4 
October: The security arm of the 16-nation Economic Community of West 
African States (ECOWAS) begins emergency talks in Abuja, Nigeria, on the 
mounting tension in and around Côte d'Ivoire. The military junta announce a 
State of Emergency and curfew this weekend when the candidates approved to 
run in the Presidential election will be announced. The move comes as four 
people are killed and seven wounded in a bomb explosion in Abidjan. A 
senior member of the Rally of the Republicans opposition party, Henriette 
Dagri-Diabate, begins a hunger strike. On 3 October, security officers 
prevented her from boarding a flight to France saying she was not 
authorised to leave the country. She says she will continue her action 
until restrictions on her movements are removed. She later receives her 
exit visa.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 5 October 2000)

* Eritrea. "Unsuitable" for refugees  -  Land mines and devastation by 
Ethiopian troops in the border area of Eritrea has dashed hopes for a quick 
return of refugees to the former war zone, a UN official said on 3 October. 
Kris Janowski, spokesman for the UNHCR, said the agency had sent a team to 
the border area, which Ethiopian troops left about two weeks ago. The team 
visited only one town, Omhajer, wedged in a corner between Sudan and 
Ethiopia, but the agency assumes that what it saw will be similar to what 
it finds in other areas occupied by Ethiopian forces for three months. "The 
town was 80% destroyed, virtually all public buildings trashed including 
the hospital and the school. A partly destroyed church and mosque, with all 
the icons gone, everything looted, everything of any value taken away", 
said Mr Janowski.   (Financial Times, UK, 4 October 200)

* Ethiopia. The repression continues  -  The Solidarity Committee for 
Ethiopian Political Prisoners in Berlin, Germany, says that the extensive 
repression witnessed in many parts of Ethiopia in connection with the 
general election of last May, is continuing in many areas of South and 
central Ethiopia. Reliable reports indicate that, since July 2000, more 
than 1,600 people are being held in several prisons in Wolaita, Hadiya, 
Arba Mich, Kenbata and Gedeo, without ever being brought before a court of 
law.   (SOCEPP, Germany, 29 September 2000)

* Ethiopia. Haile Selassie to be reburied  -  Ethiopia's late Emperor Haile 
Selassie will be reburied on 5 November in a ceremony aimed at restoring 
the dignity of a monarch who died in murky circumstances 25 years ago. The 
body of the aged Emperor, who was deposed by military officers in 1974 and 
was either murdered or simply allowed to die of neglect a year later, will 
be buried in a tomb in the Orthodox Trinity Cathedral in Addis 
Ababa.   (CNN, 3 October 2000)

* The Gambia. Local elections "delayed"  -  The head of The Gambia's 
electoral commission said on 2 October it had indefinitely postponed local 
government elections scheduled for November because relevant legislation 
had not yet been passed by parliament. Bishop Solomon Tilewa Johnson, who 
heads the Independent Electoral Commission told reporters that the 16 
November date had been set for local elections in the expectation that 
draft local government legislation would be adopted before the poll. But 
the legislation has yet to come before the National Assembly, he 
said.   (CNN, 2 October 2000)

* Ghana. The December General Elections  -  A total of 1,081 candidates 
will contest the December 7 parliamentary election. According to figures 
compiled by the Ghana News Agency (GNA), this is about 38.5 per cent up on 
the 1996 figure of 780. The figures show that 64 candidates (12.2 per cent) 
are contesting as independent candidates while eight political parties are 
fielding the rest. They are the National Democratic Congress (NDC), New 
Patriotic Party (NPP), Convention People's Party (CPP) and the National 
Reform Party (NRP). The rest are the People's National Convention (PNC), 
the United Ghana Movement (UGM), the Great Consolidated Popular Party 
(GCPP) and the EGLE Party.   (Daily Graphic, Ghana, 28 September 2000)

* Guinée. Mme Djeya libérée  -  Un membre des Nations unies, l'Ivoirienne 
Mme Sapeu Laurence Djeya, enlevée le 17 septembre lors de l'attaque de la 
ville de Macenta, a été libérée par les rebelles le 28 septembre, a indiqué 
un responsable du HCR à Abidjan. Durant cette attaque, un autre membre du 
HCR, le Togolais Mensah Kpognon avait été tué.   (IRIN, Abidjan, 28 
septembre 2000)

* Guinée. Attaque meurtrière  -  Une attaque, vraisemblablement menée par 
des assaillants venus du Liberia, a fait une soixantaine de morts à 
N'delenou, un village de Guinée proche de la frontière du Libéria. Il 
s'agit de la quatrième attaque menée dans la région de Macenta depuis le 
1er septembre. Par ailleurs, le 29 septembre, le HCR a fait état de 
nombreux civils fuyant le village frontalier de Guekedou craignant d'autres 
attaques en provenance du Liberia. Les autorités guinéennes accusent le 
Liberia, le Burkina Faso, les rebelles sierra-léonais du RUF et d'anciens 
militaires guinéens d'une entreprise de déstabilisation de la Guinée. Par 
ailleurs, dans une déclaration radio- diffusée, le ministre guinéen de 
l'administration territoriale a déclaré mardi 26 septembre que la Guinée 
continuera à accueillir et protéger tous les réfugiés sur son 
territoire.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 2 octobre 2000)

* Guinea. Border clashes  -  2 October: Guinean officials say calm has been 
restored on the border region with Liberia following an attack in the 
Macenta region in which more than sixty people were killed. Guinean 
officials say the army drove back the armed group responsible for the 
attack, which took place on 29 September on two villages at Fassankoni. 4 
October: Military sources in Guinea confirm that three rebels have died in 
a short but vicious confrontation with a group of armed insurgents. Two 
Guinean soldiers were killed and one police signaller wounded in the clash 
that took place in Koyama in the south east border region. The sources 
claim the attackers came from across the border in Liberia on the night of 
2 October, possibly in search of food.   (BBC News, 2&4 October 2000)

* Kenya. Meurtres d'enfants  -  Une vague de meurtres d'enfants dans la 
région de Nairobi suscite l'inquiétude dans la capitale kényane et a poussé 
l'Unicef à presser les autorités de prendre des mesures urgentes pour 
mettre fin à ces actes qui semblent l'oeuvre de tueurs en série. Selon 
l'Unicef, près de 50 enfants pourraient avoir été kidnappés par des tueurs 
en série depuis un an. (Libération, France, 4 octobre 2000)

* Kenya. Problems hit reform plans  -  Only two months after a new deal 
with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kenya's efforts to reform 
appear in some difficulty, with a parliamentary bill threatening interest 
rate controls on commercial banks and efforts at trimming the civil service 
stalled. In late July, the IMF granted Kenya a $198 million poverty 
reduction and growth facility, ending a three-year donor freeze amid hopes 
that a reform team would put the country back on track. But the obstacles 
to implementing its tough conditions are becoming apparent.   (Financial 
Times, UK, 4 October 2000)

* Libye. Demande de levée des sanctions  -  Le 29 septembre, le Mouvement 
des pays non alignés a réclamé au Conseil de sécurité de l'Onu la levée 
"immédiate et irrévocable" des sanctions pesant sur la Libye. Les 
sanctions, imposées en 1992, ont été suspendues le 5 avril 1999, Tripoli 
ayant remis à la justice internationale deux agents libyens recherchés pour 
l'attentat de Lockerbie. Dans une lettre adressée au Conseil de sécurité, 
les chefs de la diplomatie de Cuba, d'Afrique du Sud, de Malaisie, du 
Burkina Faso, du Laos et du Zimbabwe, s'exprimant au nom des non alignés, 
estiment que la Libye a pleinement coopéré avec le tribunal qui juge 
actuellement les deux suspects. Mais les Etats-Unis notamment veulent que 
Tripoli fasse la preuve qu'elle a définitivement renoncé au terrorisme 
avant la levée des sanctions et verse des indemnités aux familles des 
victimes de l'attentat.   (AP, 29 septembre 2000)

* Libye. Union africaine  -  La Libye a ratifié l'acte constitutif de 
l'Union africaine, a-t-on appris le 1er octobre à Tripoli. Le Congrès 
général du Peuple, la plus haute instance législative, a ratifié cet acte 
adopté en juillet dernier lors du sommet de l'OUA. On rappelle que le Mali, 
le Sénégal et le Togo ont déjà ratifié le projet d'Union africaine. Sa 
proclamation solennelle est prévue en mai 2001 à Syrte en Libye.   (PANA, 2 
octobre 2000)

* Libye. Après les émeutes de Zaouia  -  Le 27 septembre, l'ambassade du 
Niger à Tripoli a été "entièrement mise à sac" par une foule de jeunes 
Libyens en colère, à déclaré le 29 septembre la radio nigérienne. Selon le 
quotidien arabe Al-Hayat, cet incident est survenu à la suite de la mort de 
dizaines de ressortissants africains, en majorité des Tchadiens et des 
Soudanais, lors d'affrontements avec des Libyens dans la ville de Zaouia. 
Selon la radio nigérienne, les manifestants auraient confondu l'ambassade 
du Niger avec une autre chancellerie ouest-africaine, probablement celle du 
Nigeria. - Le 2 octobre, le Nigeria a annoncé qu'il allait rapatrier de 
Libye des milliers de ses citoyens. Tripoli avait démenti l'implication de 
Tchadiens et Soudanais à Zaouia, ne reconnaissant que des "disputes" entre 
Libyens et Nigérians "pour des raisons de moralité", des Nigérians 
cherchant à "draguer des filles". Tripoli avait ordonné le renforcement de 
la sécurité et la punition des immigrés impliqués dans des émeutes. Un 
premier groupe de 700 Nigérians a été débarqué au Nigeria par un avion 
libyen. Certains d'entre eux ont révélé qu'ils avaient été détenus pendant 
deux semaines dans diverses prisons libyennes avant d'être 
rapatriés.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 4 octobre 2000)

Weekly News anb10053.txt - end of part 3/6