Weekly anb01188.txt #8

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 18-01-2001      PART #8/8

* Togo. Catholic radio closed  -  The Catholic "Jeunesse espoir" radio 
station that broadcasts from the bell tower of the Mission of Tabligbo, in 
the diocese of Aneho (south Togo), was closed down last Saturday, a day 
ahead of the national festivity that marks the 1967 coup that brought 
current President Etienne Gnassingbe Eyadéma to power. The radio had just 
announced the celebration of a mass in memory of former president Sylvanus 
Olympio, killed on the 13th of January 1963 by a putschist military 
commando to which Eyadema belonged. The soldiers sent by the local 
prefecture sealed off the entrance of the radio station, which will remain 
closed indeterminately. Local radio's are consented in Togo, but any kind 
of political or information programmes are forbidden, including news 
broadcasts. Radio "Jeunesse espoir" began a few years ago as an underground 
radio, but was then legalised.   (Misna, Italy, 16 January 2001)

* Togo. Foreign 'Facilitators' to arrive in Lome  -  A delegation of 
facilitators comprising of representatives of the Francophonie, the 
European Union, France and Germany was expected Wednesday in Lome to help 
boost political dialogue between the ruling party and the opposition. The 
move fits within the framework of the implementation of the Joint Follow-up 
Committee, which would work along with the facilitators in a bid to foster 
dialogue among Togolese politicians culminating the setting up of a date 
for the holding of parliamentary elections. Political observers believe the 
arrival of "facilitators" was crucial toward the organisation of the 
belated. The sources said the Independent National Electoral Committee is 
already facing serious difficulties to operate, as a result of its internal 
dissension and the lack of means.   (PANA, Senegal, 17 January 2001)

* Tunisie/UE. Conventions financières  -  Le 12 janvier, la Tunisie et 
l'Union européenne ont conclu deux conventions financières de 54,5 millions 
d'euros portant sur l'éducation et la mobilisation des ressources en eau. 
Les deux conventions ont été signées par le ministre tunisien des Affaires 
étrangères, Habib Ben Yahia, et le président de la Commission européenne 
Romano Prodi, arrivé la veille à Tunis dans le cadre d'une tournée dans le 
Maghreb. La première convention qui s'élève à 40 millions d'euros vise à 
appuyer les réformes engagées par la Tunisie dans le domaine de l'éducation 
de base. La seconde porte sur 14,5 millions d'euros destinés à assurer la 
protection et la valorisation des ressources en eau.   (La Libre Belgique, 
13 janvier 2001)

* Tunisie. Saisie d'un hebdomadaire  -  Les autorités tunisiennes ont saisi 
l'hebdomadaire "El Maouquif à l'imprimerie, le vendredi 12 janvier, a 
annoncé le rédacteur en chef de ce journal d'opposition, qui dénonce une 
manoeuvre du gouvernement destinée selon lui à museler la presse. El 
Maouquif est l'organe officiel du Rassemblement socialiste progressiste 
(RSP), l'une des six organisations de l'opposition légale reconnues. Ses 
responsables ont décidé en 1999 de donner la parole aux dissidents dans 
leur publication. L'édition saisie vendredi contenait des articles 
d'opinion et des reportages sur la situation des droits de l'homme en 
Tunisie.   (La Libre Belgique, 15 janvier 2001)

* Uganda. Museveni promises free education  -  Uganda's President Yoweri 
Museveni has launched his re-election campaign with a promise of free 
secondary school education. Under the plan, there will be a ceiling on fees 
in the short term, with a promise that fees will be scrapped in the longer 
term. There will also be bursary schemes and new schools built in each 
county, said the president. Mr Museveni, who has been in power for 14 
years, is up against six challengers in the 6 March election. His toughest 
opponent looks set to be Kizza Besigye, a doctor and former army colonel, 
who has worked with the president since they fought alongside each other in 
a guerilla war in the early 1980s. The president also spoke of his plans to 
modernise farming methods, by reviving co-operative societies. Meanwhile 
Besigye called for an end to what he called the harassment of his 
supporters. (BBC News, UK, 12 January 2001)

* Uganda. Museveni faces six opponents  -  Campaigning has begun for 
Uganda's presidential election, set for the 6th of March. Current President 
Yoweri Museveni, who is running for re-election, faces six opponents. His 
main opponent will probably be Kizza Besigye, a doctor and former guerrilla 
fighter alongside Museveni in the early 80's, before becoming interior 
minister and a senior member of the army in 1986. Today Besigye is among 
the top critics of the President's National Resistance Movement. Besigye 
has already expressed his favour for the withdrawal of Ugandan troops from 
the Democratic Republic of Congo and the opening of dialogue with the 
internal rebellion. The other candidates are Chapaa Karuhanga, the 
parliamentarian Aggrey Awori, Kibirige Mayanja, the actor Charles 
Ssenkubuge Siasa and Francis Bwengye, at the head of a dissident branch of 
the Democratic Party. Meanwhile, Museveni launched his re-election campaign 
with a promise of free secondary school education.   (Misna, Italy, 16 
January 2001)

* Uganda. Police to control campaign violence  -  Police have set up a team 
to fight election-related violence following the deaths of three people 
campaigning for candidates in the upcoming presidential election. The day 
before campaigning began January 11, Museveni's campaign manager in 
Uganda's central region was shot and killed after attending a strategy 
meeting. Museveni, 55, is seeking his final five-year term in the March 6 
elections. He came to power in 1986 after a five-year guerrilla war and 
easily won election in May 1996 against two opponents under Uganda's 
singular "no-party" system. This time, Museveni faces six opponents. 
Museveni suspended the activities of political parties in 1986, arguing 
that the parties, many of which had religious or tribal bases, were the 
root of the problems and conflicts that plagued Uganda and the rest of 
Africa. In a referendum last year, Ugandans voted to continue the 
suspension. Parties still exist but cannot conduct campaigns, publicly seek 
members or raise funds. Around 10 million people are registered to vote in 
this country of 22 million.   (AP, 16 January 2001)

* Zambia. Retire, Chiluba advised  -  Three senior church leaders have said 
President Chiluba should retire from politics to crusade for peace using 
his vast experience and negotiating skills. In separate interviews the 
Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) executive director Thomas Lumba said 
Dr Chiluba's potential should not only be localised but instead earn him 
international prominence as shown by his peace negotiations in Congo DR. 
"We want to see the President rise above partisan politics like South 
African former president Nelson Mandela, the late Tanzanian president 
Julius Nyerere and many others who had championed the call for democracy". 
Northmead Assemblies of God senior pastor Joshua Banda echoed the same 
sentiments saying President Chiluba should be given the liberty beyond 
partisan politics to champion the young democracy he had begun as seen in 
the building of his Institute of Democracy and Industrial Relations. And 
Church of God regional superintendent Bishop John Mambo said the third term 
opinion polls on the President to be conducted by the National Organisation 
for Civic Education (NOCE) would not help.   (Times of Zambia, 12 January 2001)

* Zambie. Economie et finances  -  Le 11 janvier, le président Chiluba a 
prévenu les milieux d'affaires locaux que son gouvernement serait obligé 
d'appliquer à leur encontre les lois en vigueur s'ils n'arrêtaient pas de 
faire baisser la valeur de la monnaie locale, le kwacha. S'exprimant lors 
d'une réunion avec les capitaines d'entreprise à Lusaka, ils les a accusé 
d'étouffer l'économie du pays et d'obliger le gouvernement à introduire des 
mesures restrictives pour endiguer la sortie trop importante de devises. Le 
kwacha a chuté à 4.700 contre le dollar américain ces dernières semaines, 
une situation que les autorités ont attribué à la fuite des capitaux. Ces 
deux derniers mois, le kwacha s'est déprécié de 22%, dont 16% pour le seul 
mois de novembre. Le mois dernier, M. Chiluba avait ordonné aux 
investisseurs étrangers de garder au moins 75% de leurs bénéfices dans le 
pays. - Le 13 janvier à Ndola, le président Chiluba s'est engagé à garder 
toutes les sociétés stratégiques publiques de son pays, déclarant que son 
gouvernement ne privatisera pas celles qui ne le sont pas encore, malgré 
les exigences de la communauté des bailleurs de fonds, dont la Banque 
mondiale. Il a notamment indiqué que son pays contestera la vente de la 
Société nationale de la distribution de l'électricité, de la Banque 
commerciale nationale, de la Raffinerie de pétrole d'Indeni, de la Société 
pétrolière nationale, de l'Autorité ferroviaire Tanzanie-Zambie et de la 
Société nationale de télécommunications, car, a-t-il dit, ces sociétés sont 
essentielles à la sécurité du pays. Il a souligné que certains 
investisseurs ne pensaient qu'à faire des bénéfices pour s'enrichir 
personnellement et enrichir leurs pays. Il a accusé les investisseurs 
étrangers d'être à l'origine de la fluctutaion du kwacha, en marquant leur 
préférence pour le dollar qu'ils avaient adopté comme la monnaire 
officielle. Il a averti que le gouvernement allait intervenir dans les 
opérations de ces investisseurs.   (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 12-14 janvier 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Mesures financières  -  Le 11 janvier, le gouvernement 
zimbabwéen, qui connaît des problèmes de trésorerie, a indiqué qu'une 
chasse aux fraudeurs lancée il y a deux ans, a permis de recouvrir plus de 
70,5 milliards de dollars zimbabwéens (1 $ US = 55 $ zimb.). Le 
gouvernement a par ailleurs annoncé son intention de réduire l'importation 
d'Afrique du Sud de produits non essentiels afin de mettre un terme à son 
déficit commercial avec son voisin d'Afrique australe.   (PANA, Sénégal, 11 
janvier 2001)

* Zimbabwe/Congo (RDC). 300 troops court-martialed  -  Up to 300 soldiers 
were court- martialed by the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) in the past month 
alone over their refusal to be deployed in the Democratic Republic of the 
Congo (DRC) as Zimbabwe sends more troops to ward off a rebel offensive, it 
was established this week. Although the army denied the court martials, 
authoritative military sources said a significant number of Zimbabwean 
troops had returned home in December for the Christmas holidays, just about 
the same time renewed fighting intensified in the DRC. Army spokesman 
Chancellor Diye said court martials were a routine thing in the army 
involving different cases but said he did not know of anyone who had been 
court-martialed over their refusal to go to the DRC. The sources also said 
a number of court martials had taken place within the DRC itself and these 
had affected, among others, four battalion commanders who fled from the 
rebels and left equipment worth millions of dollars. More court martials 
were expected against some commanders who were among the 300 soldiers who 
fled the DRC into Zambia last month alongside 1 000 Congolese 
troops.   (Financial Gazette, Harare, 12 January 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Une victoire du parti de Mugabe  -  Le candidat du ZANU-PF du 
président Mugabe a remporté largement une élection législative partielle 
organisée le 13 janvier dans la circonscription de Bikita Ouest, à 400 km 
au sud de la capitale, a annoncé la radio le 15 janvier. Claudius Makova a 
obtenu 12.999 voix contre 7.001 pour le candidat du MDC (opposition). Les 
responsables du MDC ont affirmé que la violence de la campagne du parti au 
pouvoir avait intimidé les électeurs. Ce résultat a été analysé comme une 
marque de popularité du chef de l'Etat, à un an de l'élection 
présidentielle.   (AP, 15 janvier 2001)

* Zimbabwe. By-election boost for Mugabe  -  President Robert Mugabe's 
ruling Zanu-PF party has won a key by-election in south-eastern Zimbabwe, 
regaining a seat won by the opposition in the June election. The official 
Ziana news agency said the ruling Zanu-PF party's candidate, retired 
Colonel Cladius Makova, had received 12,993 votes. Boniface Pakai, the 
candidate for the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change 
(MDC), won 7,001 votes. Despite violent incidents in the run-up to the 
by-election, officials said polling days had been largely without incident, 
and with a sharp drop in turnout on the second day. The MDC captured the 
seat of Bikita West by a narrow margin in general elections last June, but 
it fell vacant three months later when the MP died. The opposition had 
hoped to prove that it could hold on to the gains it made during the 
general elections. (BBC News, UK, 16 January 2001)

Weekly anb0118.txt - End of part 8/8

THE END!!




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Un homme meurt chaque fois que l'un d'entre nous se tait devant la tyrannie 
(W. Soyinka, Prix Nobel litterature)
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Everytime somebody keep silent when faced with tyranny, someone else dies 
(Wole Syinka, Nobel Prize for Literature) *
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