Weekly anb01187.txt #8

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

_____________________________________________________________
WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 18-01-2001      PART #7/8

* Senegal. 94 percent vote 'Yes'  -  Ninety-four percent of Senegalese who 
participated in the 7 January constitutional referendum voted 'yes', 
according to provisional results released in Dakar on 11 January by the 
National Election Observatory (ONEL). Out of 1,678,097 voters, 1,552,401 
voted in favour against 99,032 or 6 percent, the electoral panel said. In 
total, 2,552,589 voters were registered for the poll whose turnout rate was 
about at 65.74 percent. The total numbers of ballots cast are estimated at 
1,651,433 against a void of 26,644. The draft new constitution, which 
President Abdoulaye Wade submitted to the Senegalese people following his 
election in March 2000, provides for the dissolution of the Senate and the 
reduction of the number of MPs in the national assembly from 140 to 120. It 
also calls for the removal of the Economic and Social Council and the 
reduction of the presidential term of office from seven to five years. The 
quasi-totality of political parties had called for a "yes" vote, including 
the former ruling Socialist party. The referendum took place in the 
atmosphere of "calm, transparency, regularity and serenity," chairman Louis 
Pereira de Carvahlo, of ONEL told reporters.   (Pana, Senegal, 12 January 2001)

* Senegal. Parliamentary polls fixed for 29 April  -  Parliamentary 
elections would be held in Senegal on 29 April 2001, president Abdoulaye 
Wade announced in Dakar. Speaking at a meeting with representatives of the 
Front for Change (FAL), a coalition of parties that brought him to power in 
March 2000), Wade said that "public opinion", in general, "is favourable to 
the dissolution of the National Assembly which was the principle agreed to 
by party members of FAL". The Senegalese leader said that he intended to 
take "all the decisions quickly, particularly with regard to calling for 
elections, as soon as the new Constitution is promulgated". Commenting on 
the possible transformation of rural communities into communes, he said he 
had no intention of doing so "by presidential order". He further invited 
voters to discuss issues related to decentralisation, the prerogatives of 
regions, new regions or entities and the revision of the administrative 
division of prefectures.   (Pana, Senegal, 16 January 2001)

* Sénégal. Vers les élections  -  Le président Abdoulaye Wade a décidé de 
dissoudre l'Assemblée nationale le 5 février et d'organiser des élections 
législatives, "probablement" le 29 avril. Le président a annoncé sa 
décision à la suite d'une rencontre avec la coalition des partis ayant 
soutenu sa candidature à la présidentielle. Le mandat de l'actuelle 
Assemblée élue en 1998 et dominée par le Parti socialiste de l'ancien 
président Abdou Diouf, se serait achevé en 2003.   (Le Monde, France, 17 
janvier 2001)

* Sierra Leone. Rebel leader still in Liberia  -  The prominent Sierra 
Leone rebel Sam Bockarie, known as Mosquito, is still in Liberia despite 
Monrovia's announcement of his departure. Mr Bockarie said he had not been 
officially asked to leave and that requests to the international community 
to help facilitate his departure had not been met. Other prominent members 
of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) were also expelled in what the 
Foreign Ministry described as a new policy of disengagement from the 
rebels. Liberia has come under increasing international pressure to end its 
support for the RUF, and sanctions are currently being debated at the UN 
Security Council. President Charles Taylor is being treated as an 
international pariah, and Guinea is now encouraging Liberia's own 
dissidents to strike across its northern border. In these circumstances, 
there has been public pressure on Mosquito to leave. But local human rights 
groups have been unenthusiastic about escorting him to the border, as he 
had earlier requested. It is also not clear whether he will be welcomed by 
his fellow rebels, as the RUF has undergone a change of leadership while he 
has been away.   (BBC News, UK, 14 January 2001

* Sierra Leone. Le trafic de diamants  -  Le 13 janvier, le ministre des 
ressources minières, Mohamed Deen, a déclaré que l'armée et la police 
sierra-léonaises avaient reçu l'ordre d'arrêter tous les commerçants 
soupçonnés d'acheter des diamants du Front uni révolutionnaire (RUF), a 
rapporté SLENA. D'après SLENA, la mesure fait suite à une information 
publiée par le New York Times, concluant que des commerçants de Kenema 
achetaient des gemmes du RUF, bravant ainsi l'embargo de l'Onu sur le 
commerce des diamants de guerre. Tout commerçant ayant une licence et pris 
en flagrant délit d'achat de diamants de guerre au profit de compagnies 
d'exportation, ou toutes les compagnies ayant effectivement acheté des 
diamants de guerre, seront poursuivis et, s'ils s'avèrent coupables, auront 
leur licence confisquée, a déclaré M. Deen à Reuters. Il a ajouté que les 
efforts internationaux en vue de réduire la vente des diamants de guerre 
ont eu des résultats positifs en Sierra Leone. Les revenus des ventes 
autorisées ont augmenté de $1,5 million en 1999 à $10,7 millions en 
2000.   (IRIN, Abidjan, 15 janvier 2001)

* Somalia. UN backs Somalia peace mission The United Nations Security 
Council has backed plans to send a peace-building mission to Somalia, 
nearly six years after UN troops were pulled out. The UN special 
representative to Somalia, David Stephen, said the mission would include 
political officers and aid agency officials, but not military force. The 
prime minister of Somalia's transitional government, Ali Khalif Galayr, 
told the BBC his country did not need large numbers of peacekeepers, but it 
did need UN support for a programme of demobilisation of militia groups. Mr 
Galayr said the safety of UN personnel would be guaranteed. The Security 
Council has asked UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to prepare a proposal for 
a peace-building mission aimed at ending a decade of turmoil in Somalia. 
"There will be no huge mission or massive ambitions in Somalia," Mr Stephen 
said, describing any future venture as "modest and practical". But he 
stressed that Somalia's administration needed assistance. Somalia has had 
no central government since 1991 and many of the country's warlords oppose 
the transitional government formed in August last year and headed by 
President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan. In recent days, Somalia's transitional 
government has accused neighbouring Ethiopia of sending troops into border 
areas. It also accuses Addis Ababa of arming and hosting militia groups. 
Ethiopia rejects the allegations.   (BBC News, UK, 12 January 2001)

* South Africa. ANC begins soul-searching  -  Senior members of the 
governing African National Congress (ANC) have begun a four-day strategy 
meeting in South Africa. The gathering, or lekgotla, as it is known, is 
expected to give a frank assessment of the ANC's performance since 
President Thabo Mbeki was elected in June 1999. A spokesman for the ANC 
said members would be examining the party's performance as an agent of 
change and social transformation in South Africa. ANC insiders say the 
meeting, at a secret location somewhere near Johannesburg, will present an 
opportunity for soul-searching about the direction of the party of 
government and the degree to which it is meeting the expectations of the 
electorate. Although the ANC took about 60% of the vote, turnout among 
black voters was exceptionally low. The challenge the ANC now faces is how 
to deliver on its local election promises of basic services such as water, 
housing and electricity.   (BBC News, UK, 12 January 2001)

* Soudan. Enlèvement de femmes et d'enfants  -  Plus de 120 personnes, 
femmes et enfants, ont été enlevées au Sud-Soudan à la suite d'incursions 
de groupes de miliciens islamiques favorables au gouvernement de Khartoum. 
Ces incursions, qui ont eu lieu début janvier dans la région de Mariel Bai, 
dans l'Etat du Bahr el-Ghazal, à quelque 1.000 km au sud de la capitale, 
ont fait au moins 11 morts, selon des fonctionnaires de l'Onu. Les auteurs 
de ces attaques et de ces enlèvements sont des miliciens des "forces 
populaires de défense", créées par le régime de Khartoum pour seconder 
l'armée dans sa lutte contre la guérilla du Sud-Soudan. (Ndlr: L'agence 
Misna pense plutôt à une incursion des Baqqara, éleveurs semi- nomades de 
souche arabe, auxquels Khartoum fournit des véhicules et des armes, leur 
condédant une sorte de "permis corsaire" pour piller les villages). Par 
ailleurs, selon la presse de la capitale, les forces rebelles auraient 
souffert de pertes importantes à la suite d'une offensive des troupes 
gouvernementales, faisant 60 morts dans la région d'Ayod, dans l'Etat du 
Haut Nil.   (Zenit, Vatican, 11 janvier 2001)

* Sudan. Over 50 bombings in two months  -  In the last two months of the 
year 2000 the Khartoum airforce conducted over 50 bombings in South Sudan, 
killing over 47 people, for the most part civilians. The worst-hit region 
by the government Antonov planes was Equatoria, with over 20 bombings. In 
one of the latest attacks, on the city of Lui, 2 people were killed and the 
Cathedral of the local Episcopal church was destroyed. Between 7 and 8 air 
raids were instead carried out in both Bahr al Ghazal and the Blue Nile in 
the south. Sporadic attacks were also reported on targets in the High Nile 
and southern Kordofan. Yesterday another government raid was denounced in 
Mariel Bai (Bahr al Ghazal), in which 11 people were killed and some 120, 
for the most part women and children, were abducted. The raid was 
attributed to the People's Defence Forces, but the dynamics of the attack 
were typical of those carried out by the Baqqara, nomad herders of Arab 
origin. The regime of Khartoum supplies these Islamic tribes with armoured 
vehicles and automatic weapons, given them a sort of go ahead to carry out 
continuous raids against villages of Sub-Saharan ethnic groups, such as the 
Dinka. In the past the Baqqara were known for robbing and abducting women 
and children, avoiding any form of bloodshed.   (Misna, Iyaly, 12 January 2001)

* Sudan. Thousands said to flee rebel-held areas  -  Thousands of civilians 
have fled rebel-held areas in the remote Nuba mountains and sought 
sanctuary in government-controlled territory, a Sudanese government 
official said. Mohamed Haroon Kafi, a state minister in the Khartoum 
government, said rebels had held the civilians "in check" but failed to 
provide them needed services. More civilians are expected to flee, said 
Kafi, who was once a member of the rebel Sudan's People Liberation Army but 
split to join the government in 1997. State-run Sudanese television said 
some 30,000 people had so far fled rebel-held regions and taken refuge in 
the town of Kadugli and nearby areas. The report said they fled after the 
army defeated a rebel force in the Nuba Mountains area, forcing some 500 
guerrillas to surrender and hand over their weapons. A spokesman of the 
SPLA in Nairobi, Kenya, denied any civilians "have joined the government 
side." The spokesman, Samson Kwaje, said the army has been bombing the area 
since December 22, but "the SPLA forces are in high morale." The US-based 
Human Rights Watch in its World Report 2001 accused both the government and 
the SPLA of "gross human rights violations".   (AP, 17 January 2001)

* Togo. Dissoudre le Parlement?  -  10 janvier. Le Comité d'action pour le 
renouveau (CAR), principal parti de l'opposition au Togo, a demandé au 
président Eyadema d'honorer un accord passé avec l'opposition en 1999 en 
dissolvant l'Assemblée nationale et en convoquant des élections anticipées 
en mars. "Le processus conduisant à la tenue d'élections législatives ne 
peut débuter que si l'Assemblée nationale, dans laquelle le Parti du peuple 
togolais, au pouvoir, détient la majorité, est dissoute", a déclaré le chef 
du CAR, M. Yawovi Agboyibo, lors d'une conférence de presse. (L'accord de 
juillet 1999 contiendrait également un engagement de M. Eyadema de renoncer 
à briguer un nouveau mandat à la fin de 2003. Eyadema dirige le Togo depuis 
1967). Le 11 janvier, un autre parti d'opposition, le Parti pour la 
démocratie et le renouveau (PDR) a critiqué vivement la demande du CAR, car 
la dissolution de l'Assemblée impliquerait des élections législatives 
anticipées. Or, dit le PDR, "à ce jour, l'état d'avancement des travaux de 
la Commission électorale nationale indépendante ne permet pas d'enfermer 
l'ensemble des opérations électorales dans les délais indiqués". Il engage 
plutôt les partis à s'investir davantage pour aboutir à des législatives 
transparentes. On rappelle que l'organisation régulière de ces élections 
constitue le préalable à la reprise de l'aide internationale, suspendue 
depuis huit ans. - Le 13 janvier, le 34e anniversaire de l'arrivée au 
pouvoir du président Eyadema a été célébré à Lomé par un grand défilé 
militaire, en présence du nouveau président du Ghana John Kufuor. - Le 17 
janvier, une délégation des "facilitateurs" du dialogue inter-togolais, 
composée de représentants de la francophonie, de l'Union européenne, de la 
France et de l'Allemagne, était attendue à Lomé, où elle devait aider à 
relancer le dialogue politique en perspective des prochaines élections 
législatives.   (PANA, Sénégal, 10-17 janvier 2001)

Weekly anb0118.txt - End of part 7/8