Weekly anb12143.txt #6

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 14-12-2000  PART #3/6

* Djibouti. Calm restored - Authorities in Djibouti say order has been 
restored to the capital after police occupied key positions in protest 
against the sacking of their commanding officer. In a national broadcast, 
Interior Minister Abdallah Miguil thanked the army, police and people for 
keeping calm. The national broadcasting headquarters had been occupied by 
police protesters who also took up positions outside the office of 
President Ismael Omar Guelleh. But armed troops, reported to be using heavy 
weapons, regained control of the broadcasting outlets as well as other key 
installations. Armed policemen surrounded the presidency on the morning of 
7 December after a presidential decree was announced sacking the chief of 
staff of the National Police Force, Yasin Yabeh Ghalib. There were 
exchanges of fire between the army and the police, but no details of 
casualties have been made available. The United Nations Secretary General, 
Kofi Annan, currently in Ethiopia, said he was "surprised that there was an 
attempted coup in Djibouti" adding that Africa could no longer tolerate 
coup plotters. Trouble in Djibouti began after a brief announcement on 
national radio on the morning of 7 December that General Ghalib had been 
transferred to other functions by presidential decree. No reason was given 
for the dismissal. Many people assumed that the president and his police 
chief were good friends because they grew up together. But tension between 
the two is reported to have been growing. One report said President Guelleh 
had accused the police chief of not being in control of security in the 
capital. Colonel Ali Hasan Omar was named as the new interim head of the 
police. On 8 December the authorities said they have arrested all the 
police officers who staged the rebellion, except police chief General Yacin 
Yabeh who is holed up in a foreign embassy. (BBC News, 8 December 2000)

* Djbouti. Mutinerie de policiers - Le 7 décembre, des policiers en armes 
protestant contre le limogeage de leur chef ont pris position dans 
plusieurs centres névralgiques de la ville de Djibouti, notamment la 
radio-télévision nationale et les environs de la présidence et de la 
résidence du chef de l'Etat. Dans le centre-ville ils n'ont rencontré 
aucune résistance; par contre, la situation était plus tendue devant le 
camp militaire, où policiers et soldats armés se faisaient face. Les 
policiers refusent la mise à l'écart de leur chef, le général de division 
Yacin Yabeh Galab, chef de la police depuis l'indépendance en 1977. Le 4 
décembre, le général Galab a été nommé conseiller au ministère de 
l'Intérieur et remplacé à la tête de la police par le colonel Ali Hassan 
Omar. - Dans la soirée, M. Kofi Annan qui se trouvait à Addis Abeba, a 
annoncé que M. Galab avait été arrêté après avoir tenté un coup d'Etat. 
(ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 8 décembre 2000)

* Egypt. Hotel deal "close" - A long-running dispute which has soured 
relations between foreign investors and Egypt could be on the verge of 
settlement. An international tribunal awarded a UK hotel company more than 
$20m in damages against the government for the misappropriation nearly 10 
years ago of two hotels, company executives said on 11 December. The 
Washington-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes 
(ICSID), an affiliate of the World Bank, ruled last week that the Egyptian 
government was liable after the state-owned Egyptian Hotels Company (EHC) 
occupied the Nile Hotel in Cairo and the Luxor Hotel in Upper Egypt in 
1991. But the question remains whether the Egyptian government which has 
fought the case tooth and nail will finally accept defeat. "I'm delighted 
with the outcome of the case but disappointed that we didn't get all that 
we were looking for in terms of compensation for loss of business. I just 
look forward to the government paying up," said Nael Farargy, the managing 
director of Wena Hotels, the claimant in the case. Wena, which is now only 
a shell of its former self, had been granted leases for the two Egyptian 
hotels in 1989 by EHC. But a dispute over money escalated to the point 
where Egyptian officials, on the apparent instructions of EHC, 
simultaneously stormed both hotels in 1991, confiscating documents and 
violently evicting staff and guests. Despite rulings by Egyptian courts 
that the hotels should be refurbished and returned to Wena and a brief 
resumption of business, the Nile Hotel was again confiscated in 1995. The 
hotel company then took its case to ICSID, citing a bilateral investment 
guarantee treaty signed in 1975 by the British and Egyptian governments. 
Wena argued that it had "suffered enormous losses leading to the almost 
total collapse of its business" and demanded $62m in compensation. The 
Egyptian government tried to dispute the jurisdiction of the tribunal and 
argued that the case was being heard too long after the events in question. 
But ICSID ruled on 8 December that the government had contravened the 
investment treaty and should pay up. Wena has not, however, gained 
compensation for the loss of profits and business opportunity that it had 
been seeking. The company was founded when it opened one hotel near Gatwick 
airport in the UK. The Egyptian hotels represented its only other assets. 
(Financial Times, UK, 11 December 2000)

* Egypt. Opposition pushes reform - A new mortgage law designed to boost 
Egypt's stagnant real estate market and a bill to reform the capital 
markets are the centrepieces of legislation in front of a new Egyptian 
parliament which met on 12 December for the first time since elections in 
October. The largest opposition bloc in the new assembly is provided by the 
17 members of the Muslim Brothers, who have been allowed back in to the 
parliament for the first time in 10 years. They, in alliance with nearly 40 
independents and others, are expected to form a more meaningful opposition 
than in any of the parliaments of the last decade. The opposition is 
expected at least to criticise in public emergency legislation that gives 
the authorities the powers to bypass parliament and also to try to amend 
other laws that inhibit freedom of association. But the tactics and the 
cohesion of the bloc, which includes leftist and pro-market elements, has 
yet to be tested. Nor will the Muslim Brothers and their allies be able to 
threaten the hegemony of the ruling National Democratic party headed by 
President Hosni Mubarak, which retains its two-thirds majority in 454-seat 
assembly necessary to pass legislation and, more important, to nominate the 
president without an election. The recent vote did however jolt the 
National Democratic Party (NDP) and the old opposition. Nearly 
three-quarters of the old assembly lost their seats, an indication of 
popular disillusion with the stunted party system in Egypt. The NDP has 
been saved only by the defection of 218 independents. Mr Mubarak has 
statutorily appointed 10 more members -- four of them women and four Copts 
-- to bring the total assembly members elected so far to 452. A run-off 
between Muslim Brothers and establishment candidates for two seats in the 
northern port city of Alexandria is expected soon. (Financial Times, UK, 13 
December 2000)

* Erythtrée/Ethiopie. Signature de l'accord de paix - Le 7 décembre, le 
Conseil des ministres et les instances du Front populaire et démocratique 
des peuples d'Ethiopie (EPRDF, au pouvoir) ont entériné officiellement 
l'accord de paix global avec l'Erythrée. - Le 12 décembre à Alger, 
l'Ethiopie et l'Erythrée ont signé un accord de paix global, qui met fin à 
deux années de guerre et six mois de diplomatie sous la médiation de 
l'Algérie. L'accord a été signé par les deux présidents et paraphé 
notamment par la secrétaire d'Etat américaine Madeleine Albright et le 
secrétaire général de l'Onu Kofi Annan. Le texte prévoit aussi les 
procédures à suivre pour démarquer la frontière, l'établissement des 
compensations pour les dommages de guerre, et une enquête sur les 
responsabilités à l'origine du conflit et sur la situation des prisonniers 
de guerre. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 12 décembre 2000)

* Eritrea-Ethiopia. Peace Treaty begins a long process - 10 December: 
Eritrea and Ethiopia will formally end their two-year war on 12 December 
with a treaty that will begin a long and thorny process of marking their 
border and sealing the peace. Getting the nations' leaders to sign the 
agreement in Algiers, Algeria, took months of diplomatic pressure from the 
United States, the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity, 
but the tasks ahead could be more challenging than ending the fighting. The 
OAU-drafted peace agreement will establish commissions to mark the 620 mile 
border, exchange prisoners, return displaced people and hear claims on 
compensation for war damages. In the meantime, 4,200 UN peacekeepers will 
help consolidate peace along the former front lines. 12 December: Eritrea 
and Ethiopia sign the peace treaty in Algiers, ending their two-year border 
war. 13 December: Eritreans and Ethiopians give a low key welcome to the 
peace agreement and say the bitterness left by the brutal war will take a 
long time to heal. (Editor's note: The full text of the Agreement can be 
found on the BBC News: World: Africa). (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 14 December 2000)

* Ethiopia. Ethiopia and Somaliland sign pact - Though Somaliland is not an 
internationally recognized country, Ethiopia has signed an agreement with 
it aimed at boosting trade between the two territories. Through the deal, 
Ethiopia is expected to become a frequent user of Somaliland's Port of 
Berbera. This is after Addis Ababa installs a microwave communication link 
between Somaliland towns of Burao, Hargeisa and Berbera. At the same time 
the agreement calls on the two countries to improve the road link between 
the two territories so as to enable greater use of the Port of Berbera 
located on the Gulf of Aden. By signing the agreement, Ethiopia becomes the 
first independent country to enter into any pact with the self-declared 
Republic of Somaliland. (Nehreen Luhar, T&C Inc, Ethiopia, 30 November 2000

* Ethiopia. Honouring fallen Cubans - Ethiopia plans to build a monument in 
Addis Ababa to honour some 160 Cuban soldiers killed fighting on the side 
of Ethiopia during the 1975 invasion by Somali troops, the government press 
reported last week. According to the Minister of Trade and Industry Mr. 
Kassahun Ayele who disclosed the plans after returning from the 
Ethiopia-Cuba joint economic co-operation meeting, which took place in 
Havana, the monument is to be erected on Churchill Avenue in the vicinity 
of the Tikur Anbessa Hospital. At the moment, there is already another 
monument honouring Ethiopian soldiers, which was erected in 1980 along the 
same avenue. During Somalia's invasion of parts of Eastern Ethiopia in July 
1975, Cuba sent what was termed as an "international" brigade in support of 
the "fellow socialist government" of former Ethiopian ruler Colonel 
Mengistu Haile-Mariam. (Nehreen Luhar, T&C Inc, Ethiopia, 30 November 2000)

* Ghana. Elections législatives et présidentielle - Le 7 décembre, les 
Ghanéens ont voté massivement et dans le calme pour élire un nouveau 
Parlement et surtout choisir un successeur au président Rawlings, qui a 
exercé le pouvoir sans partage pendant 19 ans. 10,6 millions d'électeurs 
étaient appelés à désigner 200 députés et départager les deux favoris pour 
la course à la présidence: le protégé de Rawlings, John Atta Mills, et le 
candidat du Nouveau parti patriotique (NPP), John Kufuor. - 10 décembre. 
Selon les résultats officiels, à la présidentielle, John Kufuor a obtenu 
48,44% des voix et John Atta Mills 44,80%; un deuxième tour sera donc 
nécessaire. Aux législatives, la principale formation d'opposition, le NPP, 
a échoué de peu pour remporter la majorité absolue, gagnant 97 sièges, 
contre 93 au NDC au pouvoir. - 12 décembre. La Commission électorale a fixé 
le deuxième tour de la présidentielle au 28 décembre prochain; (ANB- BIA, 
de sources diverses, 12 décembre 2000)

* Ghana. Close result in poll - 7 December: Ghanaians turn out en masse to 
vote for a new president as Jerry Rawlings, the flamboyant head of state 
who has dominated the country for the past two decades, prepares to stand 
down. Mr Rawlings, a former flight- lieutenant who first took power in a 
coup in 1979, has established himself as the longest-serving Ghanaian 
president since independence from Britain in 1957. He has served two terms 
as elected president and is now obliged by the constitution to hand over. 
Of seven candidates seeking to succeed him the front-runners are John Atta 
Mills, current vice president and candidate for the ruling National 
Democratic Congress (NDC), and John Kufuor, leader of the main opposition 
National People's party (NPP). 8 December: First results give an early 
boost to John Kufuor. Preliminary results released by the Electoral 
Commission from 25 constituencies show Mr Kufuor and his New Patriotic 
Party (NPP) leading in 22 of them. 11 December: Final election results in 
the Parliamentary elections: NPP -- 98 seats; NDC --93 seats; Peoples 
National Convention -- 3 seats; Convention Peoples Party -- 1 seat; 
independents -- 4 seats. I seat must be decided by a by-election. In the 
presidential poll: John Kufuor wins 48.44% of the vote; John Atta Mills 
wins 44.80%. Kufuor thus fails to clinch an outright victory. A second 
round must now be held within 21 days. The new President takes power on 7 
January. 12 December: The presidential runoff is set for 28 December. 
(ANB-BIA, Brussels, 13 December 2000)

Weekly anb1214.txt - end of part 3/6