Weekly anb11303.txt #6

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 30-11-2000      PART #3/6

* Eritrea-Ethiopia. Religious leaders continued to wwitness to peace 
throughout the war  -  "Only international solidarity can facilitate the 
peace process and trigger development in these countries, among the poorest 
in Africa." Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Nuncio to Ethiopia and Eritrea, was 
speaking to Fides about the present situation in these countries struggling 
with a border conflict. He added that the only ones who have been meeting 
regularly for talks "face to face to maintain a minimum of dialogue" were 
the religious leaders, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Catholics and 
Protestant. What is urgent, the Nuncio affirms, is to see that a 
peace-treaty is signed, provide assistance for refugees and de-mine the 
border. The first troops of a UN peace-keeping force are beginning to 
arrive. According to the cease-fire agreement, signed on June 18 in Algiers 
by Ethiopia and Eritrea, the UN mission, UNMEE, will consist of 4,200 men 
including 220 observers. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan is 
confident that the whole contingent will be in position by early 2001. One 
of the most urgent problems facing the UN mission will be assistance to 
refugees. UN data speaks of 300,000 internally displaced persons in Eritrea 
and only part of these live in assisted camps. Ethiopia has at least 
350,000 refugees.   (Fides, Vatican City, 28 November 2000)

* Guinée-Bissau. Retour au calme  -  23 novembre. Après d'intenses 
fusillades dans la matinée, les forces fidèles au gouvernement du président 
Kumba Yala ont déclaré contrôler la capitale Bissau et la majeure partie du 
pays, trois jours après que l'ancien chef de la junte militaire, Ansumane 
Mané, se fut autoproclamé chef des forces armées. La base aérienne de 
Bissalanca, fief de Mané, ainsi que l'aéroport tout proche, étaient en fin 
d'après-midi aux mains des forces loyalistes. Le général Mané et ses hommes 
sont en fuite. Un appel a été lancé à la radio pour essayer de le 
retrouver. Les habitants qui s'étaient enfuis la veille, commençaient à 
revenir en fin de journée. - 24 novembre. Le calme est revenu en 
Guinée-Bissau, où le gros de l'armée s'est rangé du côté du président Yala. 
Mais la plus grande confusion entoure le sort du général Mané. D'après le 
commandant de l'aviation, il a été arrêté; mais selon des sources 
autorisées à Bissau, il aurait en fait trouvé refuge dans une mission 
catholique de Quinhamel, à une trentaine de km au nord de la capitale. Dix 
de ses proches se seraient rendus aux autorités. -26 novembre. Le général 
Mané est toujours en cavale. D'autre part, des responsables des partis 
politiques soupçonnés de soutenir Mané et ses hommes font l'objet 
d'arrestations dans la capitale. Selon la télévision, le général Mané 
s'apprêtait à faire un coup d'Etat à l'issue duquel M. Francisco Benante, 
secrétaire général du PAIGC, ex-parti au pouvoir, devait occuper le poste 
de ministre de la Défense. Au moins 181 partisans de Mané ont été arrêtés 
pour "tentative de coup d'Etat". Mais le 27 novembre, le président Yala a 
ordonné la libération de tous les civils arrêtés, qui resteront toutefois 
en résidence surveillée en attendant les résultats de l'enquête ouverte sur 
cette affaire. Cependant, les leaders politiques ont refusé de sortir de 
prison tant qu'on ne leur aura pas expliqué pourquoi ils ont été 
arrêtés.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 28 novembre 2000)

* Guinea Bissau. Crisis situation - Follow up  -  23 November: Thousands of 
people have been trying to escape fighting in Bissau, capital of Guinea 
Bissau. The fighting is between, forces loyal to President Kumba Yalla, and 
troops supporting the former military ruler, General Ansumane Mane. General 
Mane has proclaimed himself Army Chief-of-Staff. Some reports say that 
thousands have fled from the north of the city to take refuge in the south. 
In an appeal the Bishop of Bissau, Bishop José Camnate Bissign, exhorts the 
sides in the conflict to open a dialogue to avoid the country falling back 
into a devastating civil war. This morning, in two messages broadcast over 
state radio, Colonel Verissimo Seabra Correia affirmed his command over the 
Guinea Bissau military, a role assigned to him by the President. He also 
underlines that his leadership is recognised in barracks throughout the 
country and that the navy has confirmed its loyalty to democratic 
government. Later on, the same day, forces loyal to the President say 
troops supporting General mane have been driven from their base north of 
the capital. 24 November: According to an air force commander, Ansumane 
Mane has been captured by government forces, having been arrested at an 
airport north of the capital. A further report states he has sought refuge 
in the Quinhamel parish church, 30 km west of Bissau. 26 November: The 
authorities say they have arrested a number of opposition politicians. A 
government spokesman says the government has come into possession of a list 
of politicians who were to have taken posts in a new government if General 
Mane's bid for power had succeeded. General Mane is reported to be still at 
large. 27 November: President Kumba Yala of Guinea Bissau orders the 
release of all the civilians arrested during last week's fighting between 
government troops and those backing former junta leader Gen. Ansoumane 
Mane. The president announces the clemency on radio during the 13.00 (local 
and GMT) radio news bulletin. The measure will benefit the leader of the 
African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, 
Francisco Benate, leader of the Socialist Alliance, Fernando Gomes, 
Secretary General of the Union for Change Rambout Barcelos and several 
other politicians who were arrested on suspicion that they were involved in 
the coup attempt staged by Mane on 22 November. Yala says, however, that 
the concerned persons will remain under house arrest until an inquiry into 
the affair has been concluded. According to the radio, the first person to 
be released Monday was Caramba Toure, a legislator of the Union for Change. 
The President does not mention the fate of Mane's family, arrested four 
days ago.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 27 November 2000)

* Kenya. Churches, MPs blast Govt. over lethal brew  -  On 19 November, 
Religious and political leaders attacked the Government for what they 
called its reluctance to deal with illicit brews. Anglican Primate Dr David 
Gitari charged that the Government should have declared the tragedy in 
which 137 people have so far died, a national disaster. Six opposition MPs 
who visited survivors of the lethal "kumi kumi" drink of Nairobi's Mukuru 
slums, said they will introduce a Motion in Parliament to discuss the 
tragedy.   (Standard, Kenya, 20 November 2000)

* Kenya. Snub for Government  -  Kenya's controversial review process 
suffered a set back on 28 November when a government-appointed chairman of 
the Kenya Review Commission refused to be sworn in. Professor Yash Pal Ghai 
appointed by President Moi to head the Commission was to be sworn in by 
Chief Justice Bernard Chunga. But Professor Ghai told the Press in Nairobi 
that he was not ready to be sworn in until he completed his consultations 
with officials of the Church-led Ufungamano Initiative which is running a 
rival review process. He said: "I want to incorporate the Ufungamano group 
because tis is a democratic process on which everybody should be given a 
chance to participate".   (BBC News, 28 November 2000)

* Kenya. Freedom of assembly under increasing threat  -  In a 28 November 
press release, Amnesty International said: "The violent methods used by the 
Kenyan police over the weekend to break up rallies in various parts of the 
country are appalling. The authorities appeared to be unwilling to prevent 
violence by some of their own supporters". Diferent rallied were held by 
both opposition and ruling party members of the Parliament and others who 
are critical of the government.   (Amnesty International, 28 November 2000)

* Liberia. Govt. troops battle with dissidents  -  On 23 November, 
Liberia's defence minister Daniel Chea confirmed "fierce fighting" was 
continuing between government troops and dissident forces that entered 
Liberia's north-eastern Nimba Liberia early this week. "Subsiding is not 
the word to use, because the fighting has just begun. We are mobilising 
troops from our military units to intensify our counter-offensive and 
convince the dissidents that government is serious about expelling them," 
Chea told journalists. The government announced on 21 November that 
dissident forces had attacked Douley, a town some 300 km northeast of 
Monrovia, where Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia share a common border. 
The location of the attack had left many wondering about where the 
insurgents had come from, but Chea said, "there is not doubt that Liberian 
rebels fighting government troops in that area came from Guinea." No group 
has claimed responsibility for the latest attack, which brings to four the 
number of cross-border attacks the Liberia government charges, are coming 
from neighbouring Guinea. Guinea denies the charge, and alleges a similar 
number of armed attacks on its territory were the work of the Liberian 
government supporting Guinean dissidents to destabilise Guinea. Relations 
between both countries have degenerated to the point where the Economic 
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has sent a fact-finding mission 
to both countries to study the possibility of deploying independent 
monitors at their common border.   (Peter Kahler, PANA, 23 November 2000)

* Libya. Gaddafi offers US election advice  -  President Gaddafi has come 
up with a novel solution to the problem of the US presidential election. In 
remarks published on 27 November, Gaddafi suggested the two candidates 
should share the presidency to avoid what he called civil war. The 
so-called brother leader of the Libyan revolution said whoever gains the 
most votes should become president and the runner up should be declared 
vice-president. The maverick North African ruler has also offered his views 
on western democracy. In a report carried by Libyan television, he said he 
did not believe in elections.   (BBC News, 27 November 2000)

* Libya. Lockerbie trial  -  28 November: The case against one of the 
Libyans accused of the Lockerbie bombing teeters on a knife edge as judges 
retire to consider whether they will throw it out. Counsel for Al Amin 
Khalifa Fhimah tells the Scottish court in the Netherlands there is "not a 
jot of evidence" against his client on some charges. Even prosecution 
lawyers agree they cannot not directly prove that Fhima was at the airport 
where the bomb was alleged to have been planted. Prosecution lawyers claim 
the bomb, which blew up Pan Am flight 103, was placed on a plane which left 
Malta's Luqa airport and then transferred to the New York-bound jumbo at 
Frankfurt Airport on 21 December 1988. 29 November: The judges at the 
special Scottish Court in the Netherlands reject arguments by lawyers for 
Fhimah, that there was insufficient evidence for his prosecution to 
continue. He thus loses his bid to have the Lockerbie case against him 
dropped.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 30 November 2000)

* Mali. Déficit céréalier  -  La production agricole pour la campagne 
2000-2001 au Mali se chiffre à 2.386.296 tonnes, toutes céréales 
confondues, à la date du 30 septembre, selon une enquête. Cette prévision 
de production enregistre une baisse de 17,5% par rapport à la campagne 
précédente. Le bilan prévisionnel qui en découle dégage un déficit brut de 
172.470 tonnes cette année. Pour l'ensemble des Etats membres du Comité 
inter-Etats de lutte contre la sécheresse au sahel (CILSS), il a été 
constaté un déficit céréalier de 930.230 tonnes. Les pays les plus touchés 
par la baisse de production sont le Burkina Faso, le Cap Vert, le Niger et 
le Tchad. (PANA, 27 novembre 2000)

* Mauritanie. Militants UFD libérés  -  Le 25 novembre, à la veille du 
ramadan, les six militants de l'Union des forces démocratiques-Ere nouvelle 
(UFD-EN), arrêtés le 10 novembre, ont été libérés, a-t-on appris de source 
officielle à Nouakchott. Les détenus avaient entamé une grève de la faim. 
Selon les observateurs, le pouvoir tente de décrisper la situation 
politique après la dissolution, le 28 octobre, de l'UFD-EN pour "incitation 
à la violence". Mais la crise risque de persister tant que la mesure de 
dissolution ne sera pas levée.   (D'après PANA, 26 novembre 2000)

Weekly anb1130.txt - Enf of part 3/6