Weekly anb10125.txt #6

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 12-10-2000      PART # 5/6

* Mozambique. Police seize guns from RENAMO  -  On 10 October, the 
Mozambican police raided six houses in the central port city of Beira used 
by members of the country's main opposition party, the former rebel 
movement RENAMO, and seized a significant quantity of military equipment. 
Radio Mozambique reported on 11 October that one of those houses is said to 
be a residence of RENAMO leader Afonso Dhlakama, though he was not in Beira 
at the time. The material seized by the police included 18 AK-47 assault 
rifles, an unspecified number of pistols, and radio equipment. Sofala 
provincial police commander Augusto Mutaca said there was no resistance to 
the police operation, and no shots were fired. Two people were detained, 
one of who, named as Mariano Salomo, was in possession of three AK-47s, a 
pistol and 70 rounds of ammunition. Mutaca also said that the raid was 
authorised by a warrant from the provincial court, because of the rise in 
the number of firearms-related crimes in Beira. The first RENAMO reaction 
to the raids came from Rahil Khan, a prominent parliamentarian, who claimed 
that the police had also raided the RENAMO headquarters in Beira, where 
they had confiscated 15 computers, as well as seizing over 1.5 billion 
meticais (about 96,000 US dollars) intended for the payment of various 
debts the party had run up. He claimed the guns belonged to Dhlakama's 
bodyguards, and that RENAMO had already provided the police with a list of 
all the firearms used by these guards. There is nothing in Mozambican law 
that allows the leader of a political party such as Dhlakama to maintain 
his own private security force. The provision in the 1992 peace agreement 
granting RENAMO bodyguards police status expired after the October 1994 
elections.   (PANA, Dakar, 11 October 2000)

* Niger/UE. Convention de financement  -  Le 5 octobre, le Niger et l'Union 
européenne ont signé une convention de financement d'un montant de 18 
milliards de fcfa (1$ = 700 fcfa) destinée au développement du monde rural, 
a-t-on appris de source officielle à Niamey. Il s'agit du plus important 
projet de développement qui sera financé par le Fonds européen de 
développement, précise- t-on. En trois mois, le Niger et l'UE ont signé 
quatre conventions d'un montant global de 34 milliards de fcfa.   (PANA, 10 
octobre 2000)

* Nigeria. Campagne anti-corruption  -  Le gouvernement nigérian vient 
d'intensifier sa campagne anti-corruption avec la demande du président 
Obasanjo d'instaurer des unités de contrôle de la transparence dans tous 
les ministères fédéraux. Cette demande intervient à peine une semaine après 
la mise sur pied du comité anti-corruption. Le gouvernement a décidé aussi 
d'imprimer, dans toutes les langues du Nigeria, des exemplaires de la loi 
anti-corruption adoptée en début d'année. Les unités de contrôle 
anti-corruption sont chargées de dénoncer tous les cas de fraude, de 
corruption et d'autres délits de ce type commis au sein des ministères. 
Dans un récent rapport, Transparency International avait placé le Nigeria 
en tête du classement de la corruption dans le monde.   (PANA, 5 octobre 2000)

* Nigeria. Southern Governors discuss Sharia  -  10 October: Governors in 
Nigeria from 17 southern states are meeting as a group for the first time 
to forge a common position on contentious national issues. The meeting in 
Lagos is expected to discuss the introduction of Islamic law into the 
criminal code of several northern states, as well as ethnic conflicts and 
national unity. A spokesman from the governor of Lagos State said governors 
from northern Nigeria had been meeting for years to co-ordinate their 
demands, and it is right that their southern counterparts should also meet. 
11 October: The Governors agree on a number of measures aimed at redefining 
their relationship to the federal government. A statement issued after 
their meeting, says the Governors have agreed to review the formula for 
sharing national resources, including crude oil produced in the southeast. 
Decentralisation of control of the police force is also among the issues 
the Governors agreed to review.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 11 October 2000)

* Rwanda. Dons américains  -  Les Etats-Unis vont donner $4,3 millions au 
gouvernement rwandais en soutien au programme de démocratisation, justice 
et bonne gouvernance dans le cadre d'un accord passé avec l'USaid. Cette 
aide, affirme-t-on à Kigali, serait une concrétisation de l'initiative du 
gouvernement américain pour la justice dans la région des Grands Lacs, 
lancée par Bill Clinton en 1998. Au total, les promesses de dons des 
Etats-Unis pour l'année 2000 au Rwanda s'élèvent à $21,4 
millions.   (Marchés Tropicaux, France, 6 octobre 2000)

* Rwanda. Troisième journal en anglais  -  Un troisième journal doit 
paraître en anglais, le 16 octobre, a rapporté l'Agence rwandaise 
d'information. Le Rwanda Herald est né d'un conflit au sein du Rwanda 
Independent Media Group qui détient le journal Rwanda Newsline et son 
équivalent en kinyarwanda Umuseso. Le New Times, journal 
pro-gouvernemental, paraît également en anglais.   (IRIN, Nairobi, 6 
octobre 2000)

* Sierra Leone. Enfants-soldats en jugement  -  Après de longues 
hésitations, l'Onu a recommandé le 5 octobre que le tribunal spécial pour 
la Sierra Leone juge les enfants-soldats coupables des crimes les plus 
graves dans la guerre civile. Dans un rapport au Conseil de sécurité, M. 
Kofi Annan a estimé que le tribunal devait pouvoir juger les 
enfants-soldats âgés de 15 à 18 ans en raison de "la gravité des crimes qui 
leur sont imputés". Le 14 août, le Conseil de sécurité avait approuvé la 
création d'un tribunal spécial à caractère international et sierra-léonais 
pour juger le chef rebelle Foday Sankoh et les rebelles auteurs des plus 
graves atrocités commises. Seule une poignée des milliers d'enfants-soldats 
sera traduite devant la justice. M. Annan affirme qu'aucun enfant ne sera 
condamné à des peines de prison et recommande que leur procès soit 
accompagné de mesures de protection particulières.   (Libération, France, 6 
octobre 2000)

* Sierra Leone. Children for trial  -  The UN has revised proposals for a 
special war crimes court in Sierra Leone to prosecute those most 
responsible for killing and maiming tens of thousands of people. After a 
series of protests from child welfare groups, a provision to put child 
soldiers on trial will only be allowed on a UN go-ahead. UN 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed that the new court should have the 
power to try both adults and teenage child soldiers for crimes committed 
during the country's civil war. But the UN Security Council would make the 
final decision on whether teenagers aged between 15 and 18 should face 
prosecution. Lawyers, including those within the UN itself, argued that the 
estimated 5,400 child fighters in Sierra Leone are themselves the victims 
of abusive commanders who abducted them, drugged them and forced them to 
kill. In a document issued on 5 October, the Coalition To Stop the Use of 
Child Soldiers said the proposed Special Court for Sierra Leone should 
prioritise the prosecution of those who have recruited children as 
soldiers, rather than the child soldiers themselves.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 
6 October 2000)

* Sierra Leone. Assistance britannique à l'armée  -  La Grande-Bretagne 
entraînera 3.000 hommes supplémentaires de l'armée de la Sierre Leone et a 
offert aussi d'équiper cette armée. Elle offre également de fournir des 
officiers pour des postes au sein du personnel du siège de la Minusil 
(mission de l'Onu). La Grande-Bretagne a également proposé de fournir une 
force d'intervention rapide composée de près de 5.000 hommes, qui serait 
basée en Grande-Bretagne mais serait en mesure de se déployer très 
rapidement.   (IRIN, Abidjan, 10 octobre 2000)

* Sierra Leone. Peacekeeping mission  -  9 October: One of the biggest UN 
Security Council missions in years, arrives in Freetown to review the 
mandate of the UN's largest peacekeeping force. The 11-member delegation, 
led by British UN Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, includes representatives of 
all five permanent members of the Security Council -- Russia, China, 
Britain, France and the USA. Canada, Bangladesh, Jamaica, Mali, Ukraine and 
the Netherlands are also represented. 10 October: The number of UK troops 
in Sierra Leone is to increase from around 300 to more than 400. The troops 
are being deployed under an enhanced programme to train, equip and advise 
the army in Sierra Leone. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 11 October 2000)

* Somalie. Aidid pour un dialogue  -  Hussein Mohammed Aidid, un des 
leaders de factions qui avait exprimé son opposition au gouvernement 
provisoire somalien nouvellement installé, s'est déclaré prêt à nouer un 
dialogue avec les nouvelles autorités, indique le journal kényan East 
African Standard. M. Aidid, qui contrôle une partie de la capitale 
somalienne divisée, a indiqué qu'il était prêt à signer un pacte de 
réconciliation avec le président élu Hassan Salat. Il a cependant averti 
que son Alliance nationale somalienne résisterait à toute tentative des 
nouvelles autorités d'imposer une administration unilatérale à la nation 
somalienne déchirée par la guerre.   (PANA, 8 octobre 2000)

* Somalia. New prime minister appointed  -  The new President of Somalia, 
Abdulhassim Salat Hassan, has appointed Ali Khalif Galayadh as his prime 
minister and asked him to forma government. President Salat said Mr 
Galayadh will have "to set up a government of national reconciliation and 
reconstruction". Mr Galayadh, 59, a one-time rival of the President, is a 
businessman and member of the powerful Darod clan of northern Somalia. He 
served briefly as industry minister in the administration of former 
president Siad Barre and now heads a Dubai-based telecommunications firm. 
The new prime minister says he plans to go to Mogadishu in a few days 
time.   (BBC News, 8-10 October 2000)

* South Africa. Mbeki and the AIDS controversy  -  South Africa's President 
Thabo Mbkei, claims that the CIA is working covertly with American drug 
companies to discredit him because he is challenging the world economic 
order and threatening profits by questioning the link between HIV and AIDS. 
The Guardian's sister paper in Johannesburg, the Mail and Guardian, reports 
that Mr Mbeki painted a picture of an international plot against him to a 
meeting of 200 African National Congress cabinet ministers and Members of 
Parliament (MP)s last week. The President said that criticism of his AIDS 
policy was a foretaste of foreign attempts to undermine his government to 
protect the existing balance of economic power. He called on MPs to resist 
the campaign. (Editor's note: The first trials of a new AIDS vaccine are to 
start in South Africa and the United States in February. The vaccine, 
Alphavax, will target what is known as the type C HIV virus -- a strain 
that affects more than 90% of South African sufferers.)   (The Guardian, 
UK, 6 October 2000)

* South Africa. Global Summit of Women 2000  -  For the first time in its 
10- year history, the annual Global Summit of Women is convening in Africa 
(in Johannesburg), with a specific brief to build partnerships and networks 
that will help African women climb the global economic ladder. Summit 
director Irene Natividad told the gathering of more than 500 of the world's 
most prominent women in business and politics, that it was time to set 
their own agenda. "We meet because in the official international summits of 
the world, we are not invited in large numbers. We are not yet there, not 
in charge, not yet. We ARE coming! But we are not going to wait for them to 
invite us, we are going to create our own summits", she said.   (BBC News, 
6 October 2000)

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