Weekly anb02015.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 01-02-2001      PART #5/7

* Libye. Verdict pour Lockerbie  -  Le 31 janvier, le tribunal écossais 
chargé du procès de l'attentat de Lockerbie a condamné un des accusés 
libyens, Abdel Basset al-Mégrahi, à la prison à vie, assorti d'une peine 
incompréhensible de 20 ans. L'autre accusé, Al Amine Khalifa Fhimah, a été 
acquitté au bénéfice du doute. Le verdict assure que "la conception, la 
planification et l'exécution" de l'attentat sont bien "d'origine libyenne", 
mais ne mentionne pas une seule fois le nom du colonel Khadafi. La 
télévision libyenne a annoncé le résultat du procès sans faire de 
commentaires. Le secrétaire d'Etat américain Colin Powell a rappelé que la 
tenue du procès était une condition nécessaire mais insuffisante à la levée 
définitive des sanctions de l'Onu. Londres attend que la Libye accepte 
publiquement sa responsabilité et dédommage les familles des 
victimes.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 1er février 2001)

* Libya. Bomber sentenced to life  -  A Libyan intelligence agent has been 
sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of the mass murder of 
270 people in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Abdel Baset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi 
must serve at least 20 years before he is eligible for parole. His 
co-defendant, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, 44, was found not guilty of murder 
and walks free and will not face any further legal action in British, U.S. 
or other courts. The verdicts, on 31 January, were the culmination of a 
12-year investigation that involved an international manhunt led by 
Scottish police and CIA investigators. Libya has said that Megrahi, 48, who 
will serve his sentence in the tough Barlinnie prison in Glasgow, Scotland, 
will appeal against the ruling -- a process that could take a year. U.S. 
President George W. Bush said he hoped the victims' families would take 
some solace from the guilty verdict. "I want to assure the families and 
victims the United States government continues to press Libya to accept 
responsibility for this act and to compensate the families," he said. U.N. 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the verdicts show "justice has taken its 
course." In Washington, a statement from The White House said the verdict 
did not in itself signify and end to U.N. sanctions against Libya. "This 
verdict is a victory for an international effort and has resulted in an 
indictment of a member of the Libyan intelligence services. The government 
of Libya must take responsibility."   (CNN, 31 January 2001)

* Malawi. Inhuman conditions in prisons  -  Apart from being places of 
punishment, prisons are meant to be places of reform for wrongdoers so that 
they can return to society as resourceful members. But with Malawi it is a 
different story. Here, inmates are subjected to all kinds of degrading 
treatment. This has prompted Amnesty International to petition the 
government of Malawi to stamp out sexual violence in prisons, separate the 
younger inmates, and investigate all cases involving sexual abuse, whilst 
also protecting inmates and staff who report such abuses. Amnesty's report 
concures with earlier findings by other international and local NGOs who 
decry the horrible conditions in Malawi's jails, characterised by 
overcrowding, food and medical shortages, and a sharp increase in 
communicable diseases.   (Hobbs Gama, Malawi, 12 January 2001)

* Mali. Insécurité dans le nord  -  Les autorités maliennes ont annoncé 
mi-janvier le déploiement d'un important dispositif de sécurité dans le 
nord du Mali, destiné à mettre aux arrêts une bande armée qui terrorise les 
populations. "Le groupe que nous recherchons, et qui détient six de nos 
hommes, est dirigé par Ibrahim Bahanga, ex- rebelle déserteur de l'armée", 
a affirmé un officier supérieur. La base de Bahanga a été démantelée en 
décembre à Tin-Essako (environ 2.000 km au nord de Bamako) et "ses hommes 
mènent actuellement des opérations isolées", a précisé le ministre de la 
Sécurité. Les vivres, munitions et véhicules constitueraient les 
principales cibles du groupe.   (Marchés Tropicaux, France, 26 janvier 2001)

* Morocco. Jail horror revealed  -  A Moroccan officer who survived 18 
years at a secret detention centre for government opponents under the late 
King Hassan has had an account of his experiences published in the kingdom. 
Ahmed Marzouki says he spent his time in solitary confinement in a tiny, 
windowless cell at Tazmamert --a military barracks in the Atlas mountains. 
Mr Marzouki, who was released 10 years ago, says he has written his memoirs 
so that Tazmamert never happens again. The publication is attracting wide 
media coverage in Morocco. It is being hailed as a watershed in Morocco's 
attempts to come to terms with its troubled past. Tazmamat was one of a 
dozen secret detention centres where the late King Hassan II sent hundreds 
of opponents to rot. Mr Mazuki was 23 when he and 57 other rebel officers 
were taken to Tazmamat on what he calls a slow programme of death. He spent 
more than 6,000 days in solitary confinement. For light, he moulded his 
interminable diet of meat fat into candles. Of the rebel officers 
imprisoned there, less than half came out alive. For years its mere mention 
was taboo and the king denied its existence. But now, under his son King 
Mohammed VI, each week brings to light fresh revelations of abuse during 
his father's 40-year reign.   (BBC News. 26 January 2001)

* Morocco. Bank probe tests power of old order  -  Breaking away from the 
country's corrupt, authoritarian past has proved difficult. Abdel Rahman 
Youssoufi, the Moroccan prime minister, has set up a judicial investigation 
into the apparent diversion of more than $1bn of state funds over the 
course of a decade to friends of the ancien regime through a state-owned 
real estate bank. The rollcall of names included in the investigation into 
the bank, Credit Immobilier and Hotelier, covers the breadth of the 
Moroccan elite from trade union leaders to political and business leaders. 
The parliamentary report accuses the bank's management of "pathological 
arrogance and paternalism towards customers". The case is a test of the 
government's willingness to confront older members of the country's 
political establishment, the makhzen, who benefited from the scam, Moroccan 
analysts say. There is a suspicion that only the bank's management will be 
brought to justice rather than all those involved in the scheme. Despite a 
stated ambition by King Mohammad, who succeeded his father in July 1999, to 
modernise a backward country, Morocco's progress has been uneven. As it has 
sought to move away from an authoritarian and corrupt system to transparent 
economic management and a more liberal political society, it has found it 
difficult to break the habits of the past. The process of modernisation 
started under the late King Hassan, who initiated a series of reforms in 
the 1990s, including the liberation of all political prisoners and the 
return of prominent political refugees. His son took a step further. Soon 
after taking over, he dismissed Driss Basri, his father's long-serving 
interior minister who was regarded as the pillar of the makhzen system. The 
focus of the government has also shifted towards social issues in a country 
where gross domestic product growth in the 1990s was barely enough to keep 
pace with the 2 per cent yearly rate of population growth. Only half of the 
population of 30m can read, illiteracy being particularly bad in the 
countryside and among women.   (Financial Times, UK, 31 January 2001)

* Nigeria. "Lack of help" angers Nigeria  -  Nigeria is frustrated by 
Britain's inability to co-operate with its investigation into the claimed 
looting of up to $4 billion of public funds by its former leader, General 
Sani Abacha. Prince Bola Ajibola, Nigerian High Commissioner, to the 
British House of Commons International Development Committee that most of 
the money plundered was held in british and other European banks. Other 
European authorities had given legal help, but Britain had yet to respond 
to the request for information. Britain's Home Office has said it cannot 
help Nigeria until individuals are charged. Some charges have been brought 
against Mohammed Abacha, the son of the former leader, but the Home Office 
considers them insufficient for it to act. The Serious Fraud Office has 
begun an investigation into the role of British Banks in the Abacha case, 
but this is in response to a request from the Swiss 
authorities.   (Financial Times, UK, 25 January 2001)

* Rwanda. Démobilisation dans l'armée  -  Un vaste mouvement de 
démobilisation des éléments "inaptes" au service ou ayant atteint l'âge de 
la retraite, en cours depuis 1998, reversera à partir de mars prochain 
quelque 10.000 soldats à la vie civile, rapporte The New Time, un 
hebdomadaire indépendant de Kigali, citant le colonel Charles Kayonga, 
conseiller du chef de l'Etat en matière de défense et de sécurité. Le 
colonel démentait ainsi l'information publiée par le Rwanda Herald, un 
autre hebdomadaire, selon laquelle le chef de l'Etat, le major-général Paul 
Kagamé, serait sur la liste d'un groupe d'officiers supérieurs 
"démobilisables" dans le cadre d'une politique du gouvernement destinée à 
"alléger" les rangs de l'armée rwandaise. On rappelle que le président 
Kagamé avait renoncé au cumul de la fonction présidentielle avec celle de 
ministre de la Défense, à la suite de son investiture à la magistrature 
suprême en avril 2000.   (PANA, Sénégal, 27 janvier 2001)

* Rwanda. Bientôt une nouvelle loi sur la presse  -  Une nouvelle loi sur 
la presse au Rwanda est sur le bureau du Parlement, après son homologation 
par le conseil des ministres, a-t-on appris le 31 janvier de source 
officielle. Selon M. Kayubari, responsable des médias au ministère de 
l'Administration, l'entrée en vigueur de cette loi n'est plus qu'une 
question de semaines. M. Kayubari a qualifié cette loi de "très libérale et 
favorable à l'éclosion de la liberté d'expression". "Plus de dépôts 
juridiques et administratifs obligés d'exemplaires de journaux" par 
exemple, avant leur mise sur le marché, a-t-il révélé. Les radios et 
télévisions privées seront à nouveau autorisées à des conditions plus 
souples. Alors que selon l'ancienne loi, sous le précédent régime, la 
diffamation était passible d'une peine "arbitraire" pouvant aller à la 
perpétuité (notamment en cas d'offense au chef de l'Etat), la nouvelle ne 
prévoit que des amendes comprises entre 20.000 et 100.000 francs rwandais 
(entre 46 et 230 $). Toutefois, vu l'expérience récente des "médias de la 
haine" qui ont incité au génocide, le gouvernement a introduit une 
disposition sévère concernant le délit "d'incitation à la haine ethnique", 
désormais passible de la peine capitale.   (PANA, Sénégal, 31 janvier 2001)

* Rwanda. Rencontre Kagamé-Powell  -  Le 31 janvier, le président rwandais 
Paul Kagamé et le secrétaire d'Etat américain Colin Powell sont tombés 
d'accord sur la nécessité de conclure un accord de paix visant à mettre un 
terme à la guerre au Congo-RDC, a indiqué le département d'Etat américain. 
M. Kagamé est actuellement en visite à Washington et participera le 1er 
février à un petit-déjeuner organisé par le président Bush, auquel est 
convié aussi le président congolais J. Kabila. Kagamé n'a pas indiqué s'il 
comptait s'entretenir avec Kabila, une rencontre largement encouragée par 
le département d'Etat. Lors de sa rencontre avec Colin Powell, le président 
rwandais a expliqué qu'il envisagerait de retirer ses forces du Congo si la 
sécurité de son pays était assurée. Mais il craint qu'un tel acte 
n'entraîne de nouvelles attaques par des militants hutu installés au 
Congo.   (AP, 1er février 2001)

* Senegal. World Conference On Racism  -  The African regional preparatory 
meeting for the upcoming world conference against racism concluded its work 
in Senegal on 25 January with the adoption of a wide-ranging draft 
declaration and Programme of Action, covering such issues as the impact of 
slavery and colonialism, ethnic conflicts, gender questions, human rights 
abuses and the struggle for democracy. During the three-day session in 
Dakar, some 500 participants --comprised of representatives of African 
Governments and civil society -- worked to define a common position in 
preparation for the World Conference against Racism, Xenophobia, Racial 
Discrimination and Related Intolerance, to be held in Durban, South Africa, 
from 31 August to 7 September 2001. In their draft declaration, the 
participants called for recognition of past injustices and warned that such 
acknowledgement would be meaningless without an explicit apology by 
ex-colonial powers or their successors. They also recommended the 
establishment of international mechanisms to follow up racism-related 
issues. In the margins of the regional meeting, Mary Robinson, UN High 
Commissioner for Human Rights and Secretary-General of the World Conference 
against Racism, met with representatives of African non- governmental 
organizations to discuss ongoing cooperation on the preparations leading to 
the conference.   (UN Press Release, 25 January 2001)

Weekly anb0201.txt - End of part 5/7