Weekly anb11301.txt #6

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 30-11-2000      PART #1/6

* Africa. Action against the Media  -  Congo RDC: On 11 November, four 
journalists with the thrice-weekly Kinshasa newspaper L'Alarme, were 
arrested in Kinshasa. Egypt: On 21 November, the International Freedom of 
Expression Exchange Clearing House, said a number of journalists and an 
international human rights worker were assaulted and attacked while 
covering the Egyptian parliamentary elections. Ethiopia: The Solidarity 
Committee for Ethiopian Political Prisoners (SOCEPP) reports (18 November), 
that the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has continued with its 
repressive policies against the independent Press, and imprisoned the 
editor-in-chief of Ethiop after sentencing him to pay a fine of 10,000 Birr 
which he could not afford. Mozambique: On 22 November, journalists and 
politicians were deeply shocked by news of the murder, the same day, of 
Carlos Cardosa, editor of the independent newssheet, Metical. Swaziland: In 
a letter addressed to the prime minister, Reporters sans Frontières 
protested the expulsion on 14 November of Thema Molefe and Pat Seboko, 
respectively journalist and photographer of the South African daily, The 
Sowetan.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 23 November 2000)

* Africa. UN launches Polio blitz  -  The United Nations has begun an 
intensive 10-day campaign against Polio in Africa, which is intended to 
immunise 70 million children in 19 countries. The disease usually affects 
children under five, causing paralysis and sometimes death. The campaign is 
part of a programme by UN agencies to eradicate Polio worldwide by 2005. 
The first round of the campaign took place in October, with mostly West 
African countries targeted.   (BBC News, 18 November 2000)

* West Africa. ECOWAS Parliament launched  -  On 16 November, Malian 
President Alpha Oumar Konare in Bamako, launched the sub-regional 
Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), at a 
symbolic ceremony witnessed by the organisation's Executive Secretary, 
Lansana Kouyate. ECOWAS Parliamentarians are expected to work out rules of 
procedure for the 120-member Parliament, and elect an administrative 
Bureau. The seat of the august body was not disclosed. Konare, current 
chair of the Nigeria-based ECOWAS, recalled the difficulties on the path of 
setting up the sub-regional Parliament. But he named the achievements of 
the 25-year-old ECOWAS to include its supra-nationality, which underscores 
the clear will of member countries to accelerate the integration process, 
the putting in place of the organisation's court of justice and the free 
movement of goods and services. Konare also touched on the consolidation of 
democracy, respect for the verdict of the ballot box and respect for human 
rights in general in the ECOWAS region. ECOWAS was set up in 1975 to foster 
economic integration in West Africa. (PANA, Dakar, 16 November 2000)

* Afrique de l'Ouest. Enquête sur les incursions  -  Le 15 novembre, la 
Communauté économique des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (CEDEAO) a envoyé 
en Guinée, au Libéria et en Sierra Leone une "commission technique" chargée 
d'enquêter sur les incursions armées entre ces trois pays. Composée de six 
membres, elle doit notamment identifier les groupes armés à l'origine des 
raids transfrontaliers qui, depuis début septembre, ont fait environ 600 
victimes. La Guinée et le Libéria s'accusent mutuellement de tentatives de 
déstabilisation.   (Le Monde, France, 17 novembre 2000)

* West Africa. French/English-speaking Bishops meet together  -  "This 
historic meeting of the Western African Episcopal Conferences is most 
significant as a step in promoting and reinforcing that affective and 
effective collegiality which is so necessary for maintaining the communion 
of the Church as a whole". This was said by the Holy See Secretary of 
State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, in a telegram sent on behalf of Pope John 
Paul II to the first joint assembly of French-speaking and English-speaking 
Bishops' Conferences of West Africa, held in Ouagadougou, capital of 
Burkina Faso, from 16-19 November. The Bishops of the Association of 
Episcopal Conferences of Anglophone West Africa (AECAWA) and the Episcopal 
Conferences of French-speaking West Africa (CERAO), are meeting to reflect 
on the subject: "Building the Church-Family-of-God in West Africa: 
challenges and resources on the threshold of the third millennium." 114 
Bishops from 16 countries, are representing 119 dioceses and almost twenty 
million Catholics, that is 19,111,936 (or 10 percent) out of the 
191,374,527 people who live in West Africa. While America and France 
struggle for economic primacy in African countries, the Church is busy 
consolidating the process of unity and progress in communion. "Through this 
meeting you are realizing the dream of a great Pastor and Pioneer, Cardinal 
Paul Zoungrana. The witness this Assembly gives is great", Cardinal Jozef 
Tomko, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples wrote 
in a message to the Bishops. "The meeting symbolizes the double 
proclamation of the Resurrection and of Pentecost. Nothing can separate 
those who are born in baptism into a new relationship in Christ and the 
Church". (Fides, Vatican City, 17 November 2000)

* Afrique de l'Ouest. Vers la fusion des conférences épiscopales  -  Les 
évêques catholiques ouest-africains se sont engagés à oeuvrer pour la 
fusion de leurs conférences épiscopales régionales, la AECAWA (anglophone) 
et la CERAO (francophone). Dans un message publié le 19 novembre, à l'issue 
de leur première assemblée conjointe, 150 évêques de l'Afrique de l'Ouest 
ont décidé d'élargir les domaines de leur collaboration dans l'esprit du 
synode africain. Ils ont aussi fustigé les conditions misérables des 
populations de la sous-région et se sont engagés à porter assistance aux 
réfugiés. Ils ont lancé un appel aux chefs d'Etat pour qu'ils mettent fin 
aux guerres et aux violences. L'assemblée qui a duré deux jours, a plaidé 
pour la réduction des tendances ethnocentriques et particularistes, et 
s'est engagée à adopter une stratégie pour édifier l'Eglise en Famille de 
Dieu, de façon à aider à l'édification des familles humaines. (D'après 
PANA, 20 novembre 2000)

* Algeria. Wafa banned  -  The Algerian regime has started cracking down on 
Wafa, a new party formed by Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi, one of Algeria's most 
respected senior politicians, now that his ability to draw support from 
nationalists and Islamists has become a threat. Mr Ibrahimi, a former 
foreign minister, is one of six candidates who pulled out of the April 1999 
elections, accusing the regime of massive fraud. He has been seeking to 
build on the support that his campaign received from secular Algerians as 
well as Islamists. His determination, however, seems to have caught the 
regime off-guard. For more than a year, as Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the victor 
in last year's poll, talked of peace and reconciliation, democracy and 
economic reforms, Wafa was kept in a legal limbo. The regime allowed it to 
build its party structures, but denied it legal status. This ambiguous 
position, however, came to an end last week, when Yazid Zerhouni, the 
interior minister, bluntly announced that Wafa would not be legalised. The 
party, he claimed, was nothing but a clone of the Islamic Salvation Front 
(Fis), whose near-victory in elections in 1992 was cancelled, plunging the 
country into a vicious cycle of violence. An investigation by the 
authorities, he said, had revealed that 17 of the party's 40 founding 
members had been active members of the Fis. In the past few days, the 
government has started closing party offices across the country's 
provinces. Mr Ibrahimi has other explanations for the regime's decision. He 
sees the effective ban as part of the larger strategy of muzzling any real 
opposition and insists that the government's findings are inaccurate and 
that they were not raised when the party applied for legal status a year 
ago. "We thought we were hearing talk of the rule of law but it's the rule 
of force here," he said. "They don't want a credible opposition because 
they suffer from a lack of legitimacy. All they want are parties that take 
their orders." Indeed, most political parties represented in Algeria's 
feeble parliament are pro-regime, including two of the three Islamist 
groups. Only a handful are opposition parties but the largest, the 
Socialist Forces Front (FFS), draws most of its support from the Berber 
minority. Observers in Algiers said the refusal to legalise Wafa underlined 
the broader strategy followed by Mr Bouteflika and the military: to seek a 
reduction of violence without undermining the regime's overwhelming 
political control. Since taking over, Mr Bouteflika has issued an amnesty 
to Fis fighters and other armed groups but made no moves to enter into a 
political dialogue with opponents of the regime or to promote further 
democratisation. Critics say this approach fails to deal with the root 
cause of the crisis. Fis militants have surrendered, but more radical 
groups have continued their fight. Despite a marked reduction of violence 
from the levels of 1996 and 1997, an estimated 200 Algerians are still 
killed every month.   (Roula Khalaf, Financial Times, UK, 16 November 2000)

* Algérie/Maroc. Pourparlers  -  Le 16 novembre, le ministre algérien de 
l'Intérieur, Noureddine Zerhouni, est arrivé à Rabat pour discuter avec son 
homologue marocain, Ahmed Lidaoui, du problème de fermeture de la frontière 
entre les deux pays. La frontière a été fermée en 1994, suite à l'attaque 
d'un hôtel de luxe à Marrakech (Maroc) par un groupe islamique armé, 
composé en grande partie d'Algériens possédant des passeports français. 
Selon un communiqué commun, rendu public dans la soirée, les deux pays sont 
convenus d'"une approche réaliste, pragmatique et prospective" en vue de 
normaliser leurs rapports dans tous les domaines.   (ANB-BIA, de sources 
diverses, 17 novembre 2000)

* Algérie. Visites du CICR et d'AI  -  Le président du Comité international 
de la Croix- Rouge, Jacob Kellenberg, est arrivé le 18 novembre à Alger 
pour une mission d'information de trois jours. Il se rendra à Tindouf, où 
il rendra visite aux réfugiés sahraouis. Il aura également des entretiens 
avec des responsables algériens, notamment avec des cadres du ministère de 
la Justice, concernant un rapport du CICR sur le système carcéral en 
Algérie. -D'autre part, le 19 novembre, une délégation d'Amnesty 
International a quitté Alger "déçue" par sa visite d'une quinzaine de 
jours. Le chef de la délégation, le canadien Roger Clark, a regretté de 
n'avoir pu rencontrer, comme il le souhaitait, de hauts responsables de 
l'Etat algérien. "Les autorités algériennes ne sont pas prêtes à nous 
rencontrer et à répondre à nos questions" a-t-il affirmé, estimant qu'"il 
est important que l'Etat dépasse le stade de la rhétorique" sur la question 
des droits de l'homme.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 21 novembre 2000)

* Algérie. Sanglante veille de ramadan  -  Dans la nuit du 20 au 21 
novembre, dix personnes ont été massacrées à Haouch Saboun, près de Bou 
Ismaïl, une petite ville côtière à 50 km d'Alger. Huit d'entre elles 
seraient des proches d'un policier, les deux autres des voisins. Depuis 
plusieurs semaines, des groupes se revendiquant des islamistes multiplient 
les attentats contre les forces de sécurité ou les milices armées par 
l'Etat. La reprise, la semaine dernière, des attentats à Alger même, a 
suscité une inquiétude d'autant plus forte qu'elle survient à quelques 
jours du début du ramadan, une période pendant laquelle on observe depuis 
des années une recrudescence de massacres. (Libération, France, 22 novembre 
2000)

* Burkina Faso. 14e tour cycliste  -  Le premier coup de pédale de la 14e 
édition du tour cycliste international du Faso a été donné le 15 novembre à 
Banfora. Onze étapes sont au programme pour une distance de 1.351 km. Une 
douzaine d'équipes en provenance de huit pays africains et européens 
participent à cette compétition qui prendra fin le 22 novembre.   (PANA, 16 
novembre 2000)

* Burundi. Staggering peace plans  -  Burundi's staggering peace plan may 
finally materialise after another facilitation meeting called by former 
South African president Nelson Mandela to be held in Arusha, Tanzania, in 
two week's time. Observers of the situation in Burundi, however, say it 
will take the wisdom of a Solomon to get all antagonistic political and 
armed groups in the central African country to commit themselves to the 
peace process. When the plan was hatched under the Arusha Accord On Peace 
and Reconciliation for Burundi 28 August, the world was made to believe 
that normalcy was about to be restored in the conflict-ridden country. But 
the bloody divisive conflict among the people of Burundi, arising from 
ethnicity and regionalism, still flares. Fears are surfacing now among the 
Hutu ethnic majority that Maj. Pierre Buyoya's government in Bujumbura, 
dominated by the Tutsi ethnic minority, is becoming ambivalent. According 
to a Hutu exile who preferred to remain anonymous, "their concern is not a 
bugbear story". Buyoya, he said, has been in a process of a military 
build-up, which the Hutu see as damaging the chances of peace. Maintaining 
that delegations of Burundi who have been taking part in peace negotiations 
in Arusha for over two years were not truly representative of the people, 
he said: "Though on 28 August 2000 they signed the peace deal, we know very 
well that many of them, deep down, resent it". In spite of such misgivings, 
many people in Burundi welcomed the peace accord as a step toward finding a 
viable solution to the seemingly endless crisis in their country. However, 
some of them who get their voices heard outside Burundi say it was 
unfortunate that during the Arusha talks, key armed groups and political 
parties were left out in the cold.   (Anaclet Rwegayura, PANA, 16 November 
2000)

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