Weekly anb11301.txt #6

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

* Afrique. L'application de la charia divise les islamologues  -  Du 20 au 
24 novembre à Dakar (Sénégal), s'est tenu un symposium international sur 
l'évolution de l'islam en Afrique de l'Ouest ces deux derniers siècles. Le 
radicalisme qui a conduit certains pays islamiques à instaurer la charia 
(loi islamique) a divisé les islamologues et politiciens présents. Celle-ci 
est actuellement appliquée en Arabie Saoudite, en Iran, en Mauritanie, au 
Nigeria et au Soudan. Au terme de leurs assises, les chercheurs 
islamologues, universitaires, hommes politiques de 13 pays, ont montré des 
positions différentes face à l'intégrisme islamique. Certains d'entre eux 
estiment que les musulmans doivent légiférer pour harmoniser leur vécu 
quotidien au Coran. D'autre en revanche privilégient l'éducation, la 
formation et l'information pour faire coïncider mode de vie et préceptes 
coraniques. Une maîtrise de l'islam, de ses principes et de ses pratiques, 
est le meilleur moyen pour appliquer les principes de la charia, selon 
eux.   (APIC, Suisse, 26 novembre 2000)

* Africa. HIV infections down in sub-Saharan Africa  -  For the first time 
ever, some parts of Africa are seeing a decrease in new HIV cases. The 
decrease in sub- Saharan Africa comes despite an increase in the number of 
new HIV cases worldwide, a new UN report, released on 27 November, states. 
According to UNAIDS, the UN program that studies the global AIDS epidemic, 
about 5.3 million people were infected with HIV worldwide in 2000. An 
estimated 3.8 million of those were in sub-Saharan Africa, which is down 
from the 4 million who were infected there in 1999. This is the first time 
Africa has had a decrease in new infections and is probably the result of 
two factors. First, the epidemic has gone on for so long that it has 
already affected many people in the sexually active population. Second, 
prevention programs in some Eastern African countries like Uganda, kenya 
and Tanzania, are now paying off, reducing new infections. 1 December is 
World AIDS Day.   (CNN, 28 November 2000)

* Afrique. Nouveau rapport de l'ONUSIDA  -  Le 28 novembre, l'agence de 
l'Onu en charge de la lutte contre le sida (ONUSIDA) a publié son rapport 
pour l'année 2000. Les chiffres montrent une progression constante de la 
pandémie sur la plupart des continents. Pour l'Afrique, ces chiffres 
restent terribles: sur un total mondial de 36 millions de séropositifs, 
l'Afrique en abrite 25,3 millions; sur 20 millions de morts du sida, 15 
millions étaient Africains. Au Botswana, 36% de la population seraient 
infectés; au Zimbabwe, l'espérance de vie a baissé de 65 à 43 ans; en 
Afrique du Sud, une femme sur quatre entre 20 et 29 ans est séropositive; 
au Kenya, 40% des lits d'hôpitaux sont occupés par des sidéens, au Burundi 
70%... Le rapport donne toutefois une lueur d'espoir: pour la première 
fois, le taux de contamination en Afrique subsaharienne s'est stabilisé, 
avec 3,8 millions de nouvelles infections, contre 4 millions l'année 
précédente. Ce phénomène est probablement dû à deux facteurs: dans certains 
pays africains la pandémie semble avoir atteint son maximum, notamment en 
Zambie, au Zimbabwe et au Botswana; dans huit pays concentrés surtout en 
Afrique australe, le taux d'infection dépasse déjà 15%. Mais dans d'autres, 
comme l'Ouganda, la prévention a permis de juguler la progression du virus. 
Cependant, il est trop tôt pour crier victoire: on craint une aggravation 
dans certains pays relativement épargnés jusqu'ici, comme le 
Nigeria.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 29 novembre 2000)

* Africa. Action against the Media  -  Ethiopia: On 23 November, the 
Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association issued a statement complaining 
of arrests and intimidation of journalists in Ethiopia. Malawi: The 
authorities have warned (29 November) that they won't tolerate any 
newspaper which negatively targets either the government or the 
opposition.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 30 November 2000)

* Africa. Female circumcision -- "an appalling violation of human 
rights"  -  Third World countries that refuse to ban the controversial 
practice of female genital mutilation could be stripped of their right to 
receive European Union development aid, an EU commissioner warned on 29 
November. In an impassioned speech before the European Parliament, Anna 
Diamantopoulou, the EU's Greek commissioner for employment and social 
affairs, condemned the procedure as an appalling violation of fundamental 
human rights. As many as 2 million girls are considered to be at risk of 
genital mutilation each year. Female circumcision is practised in 28 
African countries. In Somalia, it is done to 98% of women. Sudan, Djibouti, 
parts of the Arabian peninsula, and Congo RDC are among the places named in 
UN studies as practising mutilation. The EU and the UN estimate that some 
135 million women have been circumcised. UN experts believe that the 
practice is gradually being rolled back through legal action. Last year 
Senegal outlawed it, and the year before, Tanzania, Côte d'Ivoire and Togo. 
Among recent reformers are Ghana, Burkina Faso and Egypt. (The Guardian, 
UK, 30 November 2000)

* Africa. Poor nations bear heat of climate conference failure  -  The 
desert advancing across West Africa, the ravaging of Latin America's 
forests, and the rising waters threatening coastal and island nations, are 
stark signs of the environmental crises facing developing countries. Last 
week's failure by the developed world's top polluters' meeting in The Hague 
to agree on a strategy for the reduction of greenhouse gases, has now 
intensified anxiety among poorer nations which hoped an accord would bring 
global action and aid to help stem the dangers caused by global warming. As 
the talks collapsed in acrimony, the Sahara desert continued to bite into 
Nigeria's arid north, while the threat from rising sea-levels to island and 
coastal states worsened. "One third of the world's most densely populated 
country would be flooded even with a small rise in the sea-level," said 
Anwarul Chowdhury, Bangladesh's ambassador to the United Nations. The 
immediate impact on developing nations from the conference failure is 
already being assessed. Officials in Costa Rica say that deforestation will 
quicken in the developing world after the failure to include its forests in 
a climate change treaty. (...) The failure of developed countries to reach 
agreement has left many developing nations feeling unrewarded for the 
efforts they have made to achieve the targets. Environmentalists and 
government officials in Nigeria regard the US as the main villain, both for 
the inadequacies of its hardline position on carbon sinks -- forests 
intended to soak up pollution - and for the manner in which negotiations 
were led. "We are beginning to think these conventions are no longer a 
negotiating process, that the west, in particular the US, calls the rest of 
the world to tell them what to do and if they won't do it the whole thing 
folds," said Muktar Aminu- Kanu, director of the Nigerian Conservation 
Foundation. Imeh Okopido, Nigeria's minister of state for environment said 
the country's efforts so far, concentrated around the elimination of 
gas-flaring associated with the oil industry, were being inadequately 
rewarded by the west. "We are all keen there should be give and take... so 
that the developing world can gain both financially, and from the transfer 
of technical know-how," Mr Okopido said.   (Financial Times, UK, 30 
November 2000)

* Africa. Women in the Media  -  Despite advances over the years, women in 
the media still have to fight harder to break through the "invincible" but 
very real glass ceiling, which has been placed over them. While balancing 
the many demanding roles placed on them, like motherhood on one hand, they 
have to starve off arrogance, subordination, harassment and prejudice in 
the workplace with others. These were some of the hard-hitting issues 
tackled during the Commonwealth Press Union's Editor's Forum in Barbados. 
Why are women still minority force in newspapers? The panel of seasoned 
journalists Patsy Roberson, media advisor for the Commission on Global 
Governance, Rechana Hakim editor of Newsline Magazine in Pakistan, and 
Cheryl Dorall deputy director of Information for the Commonwealth 
Secretariat, not only drew from their experiences, pointed to reports, 
which showed that women were being viewed as lacking the ability and 
intellect for the job. Dorall told journalists that the entire issue of 
gender equality needed to be more broad based so that women who were often 
pushed into "soft" areas like "matters of the heart" and given "girlie' 
assignments by those in management positions, could take their rightful 
place in journalism. In The Gambian context, Alagi Yorro Jallow of The 
Independent told colleagues there is more women representation in 
government particularly in top management levels. He cited a woman 
vice-president, cabinet ministers, and permanent secretaries as key policy 
decision-makers. But Mr. Jallow was quick to add that in spite of women 
being in top government positions no woman has been elected in the National 
Assembly. Only one female member was nominated by the president he said. 
(The Independent, The Gambia, 27 November 2000

* Algeria. Lack of concrete action  -  "The lack of concrete action by the 
Algerian authorities to address the wide range of outstanding human rights 
concerns, repeatedly raised by victims, their families and Algerian and 
international organisations, is a cause for deep disappointment," Amnesty 
International's delegates who visited Algeria from 5-19 November, have 
said. The organisation, however, welcomed the encouraging statements made 
over the past year by the Algerian authorities at the highest 
level.   (Amnesty International, 21 November 2000)

* Algérie. Hausse des salaires  -  A partir du 1er janvier 2001, le salaire 
national minimum garanti (SNMG) en Algérie, actuellement fixé à 6.000 
dinars par mois, sera porté à 8.000 dinars, soit 33% d'augmentation, et les 
salaires de la fonction publique connaîtront une hausse de 15%. Tels sont 
les principaux résultats des négociations entamées le 23 novembre entre 
d'une part le chef du gouvernement et d'autre part les représentants des 
syndicats et le patronat. Ces mesures, entérinées par le président 
Bouteflika, ont été annoncées le 25 novembre. Plusieurs groupes 
parlementaires avaient exigé une augmentation significative des salaires de 
la fonction publique et une revalorisation du SNMG à au moins 10.000 
dinars. -D'autre part, les forces de sécurité algériennes sont en état 
d'alerte renforcée à la veille du début, le 27 novembre, du ramadan, 
considéré par les intégristes musulmans comme la période sacrée pour leur 
lutte. Alors que la capitale Alger apparaît relativement sûre, les 
inquiétudes se portent vers des villes comme Blida, Chlef et Médéa. 
(ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 26 novembre 2000)

* Algeria. Calls for French torturers to go on trial  -  A group 
representing victims of Algeria's struggle for independence from France 
four decades ago, said on 26 November that French army generals who have 
admitted to the use of torture during the war should be brought to justice. 
A controversy has erupted in France following the recent admission by two 
generals who played key roles in the notorious 1957 Battle of Algiers, that 
torture and summary executions had been used widely in the fight against 
nationalists in Algeria.   (CNN, 26 November 2000)

* Angola. Projet de loi d'amnistie  -  Le 23 novembre, le président du 
groupe parlementaire du MPLA au pouvoir, M. Bornito de Sousa, a présenté un 
projet de loi d'amnistie, qui prévoit de pardonner les actes contre la 
sécurité de l'Etat, y compris les crimes militaires et de droit commun. 
Selon M. de Sousa, l'amnistie représente "une occasion d'élever les 
sentiments communs de solidarité, de fraternité et de cohabitation pour un 
avenir de paix, de démocratie, de développement et de réconciliation 
nationale". Il a cependant précisé que l'Etat continuera sa lutte contre la 
criminalité, le terrorisme et d'autres formes de subversion d'ordre 
constitutionnel.   (PANA, 24 novembre 2000)

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