Weekly anb02226.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 22-02-2001      PART #6/7

* South Africa. Nkosi Johnson close to death  -  Nkosi Johnson, the 
courageous child AIDS activist who stole the hearts of South Africans and 
the world when he spoke out at the international AIDS conference last year 
about the disease he contracted at birth, is in a critical condition after 
suffering seizures. With his weak immune system, he is unlikely to beat the 
onslaught of illness for much longer but in his short life Nkosi, 12 - 
believed to be the country's longest surviving AIDS baby - has greatly 
helped raise awareness of a disease that has infected 4.2 million South 
Africans and 40.8 million people worldwide. This week, South African mining 
companies began testing staff for HIV-AIDS to gather data on which to base 
action against the disease. Oxfam attacked drug companies for failing to 
provide cheap AIDS drugs to the developing world and new proposals were 
tabled in America to get rich countries to pay for AIDS drugs in Africa. 
Nkosi's foster mother, Gail Johnson, said on 14 February, that his 
condition had remained critical but stable since he was taken to hospital 
on 12 February. Last month, Nkosi suffered brain damage as the disease 
spread through his frail body. He was being cared for at home, unable to 
feed himself or to communicate. Nkosi first came to public attention in 
1997, when parents opposed him going to a Johannesburg school because of 
his HIV status. He lost his mother to AIDS in April that year, and under 
the loving care of Ms Johnson and her family he has put up an incredible 
struggle. Praised by the former president Nelson Mandela for his brave work 
in promoting awareness of the disease in a country where the stigma 
attached to HIV-AIDS is encouraging its spread, Nkosi's deteriorating 
condition is being watched with dismay by South Africans. He will never 
know it now but the fight against HIV-AIDS in South Africa has begun in 
earnest.   (The Independent, UK, 15 February 2001)

* South Africa. The poor benefit from budget  -  The Finance Minister has 
announced increased spending on social welfare and crime fighting in the 
country's budget for the fiscal year 2001-2002. He told Parliament that the 
government would have more money in its coffers - some of it from 
privatisation schemes - but this would largely go to reducing the debt 
burden inherited from the apartheid era.   (BBC News, 21 February 2001)

* Sudan. Hassan al Tourabi and the SPLA  -  19 September: The two main 
rivals of President Omar Hassan al Bashir have signed a Memorandum of 
Understanding. This accord was signed in Geneva on 18 February between 
Hassan al-Tourabi's Popular National Congress (PNC) and the Sudan People's 
Liberation Army (SPLA) that has been in conflict with the government of 
Khartoum since 1983. Al Tourabi says the alliance is aimed at ending the 
Sudanese civil war through a peaceful resistance to the current government. 
21 February: Al Tourabi is quoted in the independent Akhbar al-Youm as 
saying he "wants to set up a broad-based national front to restore 
democracy and rid Sudan of Dictatorship". The same day, Al Tourabi is 
arrested by security forces at his home in Khartoum. No charges have yet 
been made public but the government is expected to make an announcement 
shortly. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 22 February 2001)

* Soudan. Alliance sudistes-islamistes  -  Le 19 février, la rébellion 
sudiste soudanaise (SPLA, de John Garang) et la formation islamiste de 
Hassan el-Tourabi, le Congrès national du peuple, ont signé un "mémorandum 
d'entente" prévoyant "une résistance pacifique" au régime au pouvoir. La 
rébellion sudiste (animiste et chrétienne) est généralement hostile aux 
islamistes. Les sources civiles contactées par l'agence Misna n'ont pas 
encore fait de commentaire. Elles attendent de mieux comprendre cette 
entente, qui suscite une grande perplexité. Les deux parties ne semblent 
pouvoir s'accorder que sur le désir de faire tomber le président Béchir. Le 
21 février, Hassan el-Tourabi a été arrêté à son domicile par les forces de 
sécurité; il devra s'expliquer sur le "memorandum d'entente". - D'autre 
part, le parti d'opposition Umma, de l'ex-Premier ministre Sadek el Mahdi, 
a refusé l'offre d'un portefeuille ministériel dans le gouvernement du 
président Béchir. Le parti a déclaré, le 18 février, qu'il ne participerait 
pas ce gouvernement avant la tenue de nouvelles élections.   (ANB-BIA, de 
sources diverses, 22 février 2001)

* Tanzania/Zanzibar. Zanzibar's political refugees  -  15 February: The 
Government appears to have changed its stance towards Zanzibar's political 
refugees currently in a camp in Kenya. More than 1,000 Zanzibari opposition 
members have fled from Zanzibar and Pemba, complaining of political 
harassment following violence which left many people dead. On 13 February, 
the Government called on he refugees to return home saying that no one will 
be arrested for being involved in the violence. However, the next day, 
Tanzanian Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye told parliament that there were 
criminals among the refugees, who would be arrested once they returned 
home. The government has maintained its call for the refugees to go back to 
Zanzibar.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 15 February 2001)

* Tanzania. Kilimanjaro's white peak  -  The beautiful ice fields on the 
top of Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa could completely melt away in the 
next 20 years if the Earth continues to warm at the rate many scientists 
now claim. The calculation comes from Professor Lonnie Thompson, of Ohio 
State University, who has made an aerial survey of the famous Tanzanian 
peak. He said comparisons with previous mapping showed 33% of Mt 
Kilimanjaro's ice had disappeared in the last two decades -- 82% had gone 
since 1912. Studies on other tropical peaks had revealed a similar picture, 
he told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement 
of Science. He warned this melting could have serious repercussions for 
drinking water supply, crop irrigation, hydroelectric production and 
tourism. "Kilimanjaro is the number one foreign-currency earner for the 
Tanzanian Government. Twenty thousand tourists go there every year because 
one of the attractions is to see ice at three degrees south of the equator. 
But I think there is a real possibility that that ice will be gone by 
2015." Professor Thompson has spent about 20 years studying the tropical 
ice fields on the mountains of South America, Africa, China and 
Tibet.   (BBC News, 19 February 2001)

* Tanzanie. Membre du parti au pouvoir assassiné  -  Rachid Saïd, haut 
responsable régional du parti au pouvoir, le Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), a 
été assassiné ce week-end sur l'île de Pemba, qui fait partie de l'archipel 
de Zanzibar. Sa famille a accusé des membres de l'opposition, le Civic 
United Front (CUF), d'être responsables du meurtre. Pemba, fief de 
l'opposition, a été le théâtre, le mois dernier, d'émeutes qui ont fait des 
dizaines de victimes entre forces de l'ordre et opposants. Malgré le 
bouclage de Pemba par la police, des bateaux transportant des habitants de 
l'île fuyant les violences ne cessent d'accoster sur la côte kényane 
voisine. Environ un millier de personnes s'y sont réfugiées, principalement 
des militants du CUF, dont le secrétaire général, et leurs familles. La 
semaine dernière, des leaders de différentes confessions religieuses 
tanzaniennes ont publié un communiqué conjoint mettant en garde le 
gouvernement et les partis d'opposition de plonger le pays dans le 
chaos.   (ANB- BIA, de sources diverses, 20 février 2001)

* Tanzania/Zanzibar. Drug trafficking rocks Zanzibar  -  Zanzibar is now 
becoming a drug flashpoint, as a spate of illicit drug peddling is hitting 
the Indian Ocean island. The mushrooming clandestine business is reportedly 
poising a great threat to general security and many people's health, and 
unemployed youths are becoming vulnerable to this development. The 
government, which has been handling the drug problem in secrecy, has now 
brought the issue into the spotlight. Zanzibar's Chief Minister, Shamsi 
Vuai Nahodha, says that bootlegging is becoming a great scourge and that 
new avenues of curbing it have to be mapped out if the island is to be made 
a drug-free zone. "We cannot keep on denying the fact that Zanzibar is a 
hotbed for drug trafficking. Instead, we should find ways of ensuring that 
the problem does not get out of hand," says Nahodha. He says legislative 
measures will be taken to kickstart the crusade against drug contraband. 
According to Nahodha, Zanzibar is currently sketching out a bill that will 
give the anti-drug campaign legal muscle. The bill is envisaged to spell 
out tough measures against drug syndicates, which are currently taking 
advantage of the laxity of authorities. Zanzibar is used by drug barons as 
a doorway of drugs from Europe, Asia and the Arab world. The illicit stuff, 
which include cannabis, heroin, cocaine and other opiates, are then taken 
into the interior of Africa. (Makame Mzee Makame, ANB-BIA, Zanzibar, 20 
February 2001)

* Tchad. Crash  -  Le secrétaire général de la présidence tchadienne, 
Abderamane Dadi, et le ministre de la Promotion économique, Ali Ahmed 
Lanine, sont morts le 14 février au soir dans l'accident de leur avion 
privé, près de N'Djamena. Ils avaient tous deux été des artisans du projet 
pétrolier de Doba.   (Libération, France, 16 février 2001)

* Uganda. UN finds Congo child soldiers  -  The United Nations Agency For 
Children (UNICEF), says it has discovered 163 child soldiers from the 
Democratic Republic of Congo at a training camp in neighbouring Uganda. 
UNICEF said all the youngsters, who are aged between nine and 11, wanted to 
go back to their families in and around the Congolese border town of Bunia. 
The children were among a group of nearly 700 people who had been flown 
from the town for "political education" and military drill training in 
Uganda's Kyankwanzi camp. Bunia has recently been the scene of fierce 
fighting between DR Congo's government troops and Ugandan- supported 
rebels, who control the town. The UN has previously expressed its concern 
over the recruitment of children in the Congolese conflict and other 
regional battlefields, estimating that more than 20,000 are involved in 
fighting. A UNICEF-led team spent three days in Kyankwanzi, identifying and 
registering the group of children who had been living there for six months. 
The 163 youngsters, among them three girls, will be handed over to UNICEF's 
care by the Ugandan Government on 22 February. "Above all, we have to take 
every measure to ensure these children are not returned home to be thrown 
into combat situations," said UNICEF representative Michel Sidibe. The 
group will be taken to a transit camp, where they will be provided with 
"the psycho-social care and schooling they require before they are reunited 
with their families". In the meantime, the UN agency said it had sent badly 
needed supplies of clean water, medicines and sports equipment to the camp. 
Earlier in the month, the UN reported that although rebels in the area 
stopped their recruitment campaigns in the urban areas of Congo, it was 
still going on in rural sectors.   (BBC News, 21 February 2001)

Weekly anb0222.txt - End of part 6/7