Weekly anb02225.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 22-02-2001      PART #5/7

* Maroc. Adib reste en prison  -  Condamné à deux ans et demi de prison, en 
octobre dernier, pour avoir dénoncé dans la presse étrangère un cas de 
corruption dans son unité, le jeune capitaine Mustapha Adib ne sera pas 
libéré. Le 21 février, la Cour suprême marocaine a rejeté son pourvoi en 
cassation, en dépit des quinze vices de forme relevés par la défense. Son 
maintien en prison s'explique sans doute par le poids de l'armée et sa 
volonté de faire un exemple. (Libération, France, 22 février 2001)

* Mozambique. Les inondations progressent  -  15 février. Des opérations de 
sauvetage doivent être menées de toute urgence dans le district de 
Mutarara, dans la province de Tete à l'ouest du Mozambique, frappé par les 
inondations, a annoncé le Premier ministre. Le niveau des eaux dans le 
district continue de monter, a déclaré M. Mocumbi. De nombreuses personnes 
ont été évacuées, mais d'autres parties du district risquent d'être 
inondées très prochainement. Selon le quotidien Notitias, environ 5.000 
personnes ont été placées dans trois centres d'hébergement. On déplore cinq 
morts et 179 familles sont isolées en altitude. Les bateaux ne peuvent 
accéder à cette région en raison des forts courants. - Le 16 février, on 
apprenait que les fortes pluies avaient entraîné une brusque augmentation 
du niveau du fleuve Save, considéré comme la frontière entre le sud et le 
centre du Mozambique. La petite ville de Massangena, dans la province de 
Gaza, a été inondée. Plus au nord, les eaux du fleuve Pungue ont envahi des 
tronçons de la route Beira-Zimbabwe, où la circulation risque d'être 
interrompue. Environ 280.000 personnes ont été touchées par les 
inondations, dont 30.000 ont été délogées de leurs maisons. - 20 février. 
Les eaux du Pungue continuent monter; plusieurs kilomètres de la route de 
Beira sont maintenant inondés. Plus au sud, le fleuve Buzi est également en 
crue et a inondé la petite ville de Goonda et différentes parties de la 
ville de Buzi. Dans la province de Zambezia, plusieurs localités se 
préparent à une autre inondation.   (PANA, 15-20 février 2001)

* Mozambique. Flooding returns  -  17 February: Recent heavy rains and 
severe flooding has displaced thousands of people over large areas of 
Mozambique, with more rain forecast over large parts of the country. On 16 
February, the World Food Programme said it has sufficient food available to 
help those affected by the current wave of floods in Mozambique. 20 
February: Mozambique's second largest city, Beira, has been cut off from 
the rest of the country by rising flood waters. Mozambique is preparing an 
international appeal for help for victims of flooding in the centre of the 
country. 21 February Mozambique appeals for US $30 million. The flooding 
has so far killed 41 people and forced thousands from their 
homes.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 22 February 2001)

* Nigeria-Congo (RDC). Saving Congo's cassava  -  Scientists in Nigeria 
have drawn up a plan to save the most important food crop in the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo - cassava -- which they say is ravaged by disease and 
pests. The project includes a plan to fly in thousands of predator mites to 
do battle with cassava green mite, which is threatening to cause famine in 
the war-ravaged country. Researchers at the International Institute for 
Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan say that although cassava is a staple 
food for about 70% of the Congo's population, yields of the crop have 
fallen sharply in recent years. Tens of millions of Congolese eat the 
leaves and roots of the cassava plant every day, yet scientific evidence 
suggests the crop is badly affected by disease and pests and that yields 
are plummeting. The UN is concerned with the possibility of having to bring 
in large-scale food aid, even to fertile areas unaffected by the current 
civil war. Scientists from IITA say they will submit a plan to the UN to 
send to the Congo not only thousands of samples of high-yield strains of 
cassava, but also thousands of tiny insects. The high-yield strains and the 
predator insects are expected to multiply upon arrival in the Congo and 
therefore guarantee a more healthy cassava crop. "It is perfectly safe," 
said Alfred Dixon, the Sierra Leonean scientist who is in charge of the 
IITA's disaster relief unit. "We have tested it in laboratory and field 
conditions -- there is no harmful side effect," he said, because the 
predator mite is sure to die out when its diet of cassava green mites is 
exhausted.   (BBC News, 18 February 2001)

* Rwanda. Four genocide suspects to be tried in Belgium  -  The trial of 
four genocide suspects, including two nuns, will start in Brussels on 17 
April and is to last for six weeks, the Belgian newspaper De Standaard 
reported on 14 February. It said four investigators from the federal 
criminal investigative department travelled to Rwanda on 13 February to 
make final preparations for the trial. The four investigators will contact 
45 witnesses in Rwanda in the coming days to ask them whether they want to 
come to Belgium in April. "All travel and hotel costs will be covered by 
the Belgian justice ministry. Where necessary, witnesses will also be given 
money to buy appropriate clothing," it said. The paper also said that given 
the extraordinary length of proceedings, a double jury with 12 effective 
members and 12 substitutes will be assembled. The trial is gradually being 
prepared on the basis of four specific cases.   (IRIN, Central Africa, 16 
February 2001)

* Senegal. Rebels change leadership -- moderates out  -  The head of 
Senegal's Casamance separatist rebels has reshuffled the movement's 
leadership, sacking three senior officials from its moderate wing and 
appointing a hardliner as assistant secretary general. A statement issued 
late on 12 February and signed by cleric Augustin Diamacoune Senghor, 
secretary general of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC), 
said the changes were made because of "incompetence, insubordination and 
internal fighting." It added that the decision aimed at accelerating the 
peace process between the armed rebel group, which fights for the 
independence of the southern region of Casamance, and the government. 
Analysts, however, said hardliners now appeared to have the upper hand. 
"It's the more moderate wing which has been pushed aside," said political 
analyst Babacar Justin Ndiaye. The statement said Sidy Badji had been 
dismissed from his position as Senghor's military adviser, together with 
Gambian-based spokesman Alexandre Djiba and Abdoulaye Diedhiou, another 
senior official. It appointed Mamadou Krumah Sane as assistant secretary 
general based in France. The MFDC launched its rebellion in 1982, accusing 
the central government of failing to develop the agricultural and tourist 
potential of Casamance, which is largely separated from the rest of Senegal 
by Gambia.   (Washington Post, 13 February 2001)

* Sénégal. Elections anticipées, le 29 avril  -  Le 15 février, le 
président Abdoulaye Wade a prononcé la dissolution du Parlement et fixé au 
29 avril les prochaines élections législatives. Le nouveau dirigeant 
souhaite recomposer une Assemblée nationale encore dominée par le Parti 
socialiste (PS) de l'ex-président Diouf. Ces élections devraient se résumer 
à un duel à trois: le PS, le Parti démocratique sénégalais (PDS) de M. 
Wade, et l'Alliance des forces de progrès (AFP) du Premier ministre 
Moustapha Niasse. En vertu de la nouvelle Constitution, adoptée l'année 
dernière, le nombre de sièges à l'Assemblée nationale est passé de 140 à 
120. Certaines petites formations ont critiqué le pouvoir pour n'avoir pas 
modifié le scrutin mixte (majoritaire et proportionnel) qui réduit leurs 
chances de décrocher des sièges.   (AP, 16 février 2001)

* Sénégal. 13 civils tués en Casamance  -  Le 16 février, treize chauffeurs 
routiers ont été tués dans la province sénégalaise de Casamance par des 
séparatistes présumés, selon les forces de sécurité. Des hommes armés ont 
obligé les routiers à descendre de leurs véhicules et les ont exécutés de 
sang-froid. Rien n'indique s'il s'agissait de criminalité ou d'une action 
du Mouvement des forces démocratiques de Casamance, qui lutte pour 
l'indépendance.   (Libération, France, 17 février 2001)

* Sénégal/Tchad. L'affaire Habré  -  Le 20 février, la Cour de cassation du 
Sénégal a annoncé qu'elle statuerait le 6 mars sur le sort d'Hissène Habré, 
l'ancien dictateur tchadien vivant en exil au Sénégal, qui avait été 
inculpé le 3 février 2000 de complicité de torture, puis relaxé suite à un 
recours devant la Chambre d'accusation. A l'issue d'une journée 
d'audiences, les victimes et les organisations de défense des droits de 
l'homme se disent optimistes. Dans son réquisitoire, le parquet a soutenu 
qu'une lecture scrupuleuse des conventions et lois applicables à l'affaire 
Habré, déterminait clairement la compétence du Sénégal en la matière. Les 
parties civiles ont de ce fait bon espoir de voir les poursuites contre 
l'ancien dictateur relancées.   (Human Rights Watch, New York, 20 février 2001)

* Sierra Leone. Renvoi des élections  -  Le Parlement sierra-léonais a 
approuvé le renvoi de six mois des élections législatives et 
présidentielles initialement prévues au printemps, la présence des rebelles 
du RUF dans de vastes zones du pays ne permettant pas un déroulement 
correct des scrutins. La Constitution sierra-léonaise prévoit un renvoi 
maximal de six mois.   (Misna, Italie, 15 février 2001)

* Sierra Leone. Health care workers in desperate need of support  -  Health 
care workers in areas of Sierra Leone faced with large numbers of returnees 
and displaced people are "sorely in need of extra support," the United 
Nations World Health Organization (WHO) warned on 20 February in a 
statement issued in Freetown. "Health workers in Sierra Leone are 
struggling to cope with not just one, but several challenging situations," 
said WHO, which recently dispatched a team to assess the health care 
situation in the country. "While Sierra Leonean refugees are being 
repatriated by boat from Guinea at a rate of 2,000-2,500 a week, in Sierra 
Leone itself their compatriots are fleeing Kambia, which is controlled by 
the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and under almost daily airborne 
attacks from Guinea's forces." Meanwhile, in other places, islands of 
relative peace promise the chance to get health care to populations long 
cut off, the agency said, noting that almost 17,000 returnees have now 
moved into Lokomassama chiefdom. "Though food distribution and community 
facilities such as schools and public latrines are being supported, health 
facilities and staff are not receiving the same attention," WHO said. 
"[Our] mission found health buildings in sore need of repair and with poor 
staffing levels. One community health officer serves the whole chiefdom, 
has only been paid his salary for three out of the past six months and has 
no fuel for the aged and unreliable motorcycle which is his only means of 
transport." The 12 other health posts are run by nurses or midwives who 
have received little training in recent years, WHO said (WHO, 20 February 2001)

* South Africa. Offices of ex-oil board chief raided  -  South African 
authorities looking for evidence of corruption in a deal to replace the 
country's oil reserves have raided the offices and homes of the former 
chairman of the oil board and a local businessman. The raids mark an 
escalation in the official probe into allegations that HBTI, a joint 
venture between Trafigura, a large Dutch oil trader, and High Beam 
International, a local company, bribed officials to win the contract to 
advise on the R1.5bn ($191m) deal. The 18-month-long affair has raised 
questions over the handling of the country's natural resources and 
underlined the potential for abuse of black empowerment -- South Africa's 
effort to promote black business. A spokesman for the National Director of 
Public Prosecution on 15 February said officers had raided the home and 
office of Moses Molele, a director of HBTI, and Keith Kunene, former 
chairman of the Central Energy Fund, the holding company for the Strategic 
Fuel Fund (SFF), the state company which oversees the country's oil stocks. 
In October 1999, the SFF agreed to sell off 9.5m barrels of strategic oil 
reserves and replace them with higher- quality crude using its own 
resources despite offers from a number of oil companies. However, last 
April, the SFF hired HBTI to advise on the deal. According to an official 
report by the energy ministry, the decision was taken without a competitive 
tender and without telling the government. The government subsequently 
cancelled the contract between the SFF and HBTI and dissolved the SFF 
board.   (Financial Times, UK, 16 February 2001)

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