Weekly anb02221.txt #7

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

ANB-BIA - Av. Charles Woeste 184 - 1090 Bruxelles - Belg
TEL **.32.2/420 34 36 fax /420 05 49 E-Mail: anb-bia@village.uunet.be
_____________________________________________________________
WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 22-02-2001      PART #1/7

* Afrique. Le trafic d'êtres humains s'amplifie  -  Le trafic des êtres 
humains est devenu une véritable industrie qui touche des pays toujours 
plus nombreux. Selon l'Organisation internationale des migrations (OIM), 
environ 4 millions de personnes sont victimes de la traite dans le monde 
entier, dont 500.000 en Europe occidentale. Ce trafic génère des profits 
compris entre 7 et 13 milliards de dollars par an, en hausse de 400% 
environ depuis dix ans. Ces nouvelles formes de "traite" recouvrent, selon 
une définition encore fluctuante, "les mouvements et la vente illicites de 
personnes entre pays et continents contre une compensation financière ou 
autre". Selon un journal belge, citant la police espagnole, le trafic des 
êtres humains serait devenu au Maroc plus rentable que celui de la drogue. 
Des milliers d'Africains sont ainsi à la merci de réseaux pour tenter de 
traverser le détroit de Gibraltar. Ce trafic a pris de l'ampleur sur le 
continent africain même. La Côte d'Ivoire, la Guinée Equatoriale et le 
Gabon font ainsi venir des femmes et des enfants dont le Ghana et le Mali 
sont les principaux fournisseurs. Le Bénin, le Ghana, le Nigeria et le 
Cameroun sont à la fois des récepteurs et des fournisseurs. Certains 
enfants sont ensuite "réexportés" ailleurs, en Europe ou au Moyen-Orient. 
Selon le Comité contre l'esclavage moderne (CCEM), cité par la Fédération 
internationale des droits de l'homme, les deux tiers des victimes arrivées 
mineures en France sont originaires d'Afrique de l'Ouest. Elles travaillent 
souvent plus de 15 heures par jour pendant des années pour des familles 
sans scrupules. On peut même louer des enfants auprès de rabatteuses, 
rapporte le CCEM. Des jeunes Béninoises se négocieraient à Paris pour 500 
FF par mois.   (M.-A. Leplaideur, Syfia Int., France, n. 01-4, février 2001)

* Africa. "The Story of Africa"  -  The BBC has launched a unique new radio 
series and web-site looking at African history from an African perspective. 
The Story of Africa looks at the events and personalities that have shaped 
the continent from the dawn of man to the triumph over apartheid. "The aim 
is to look at the history of the continent through the eyes of African 
historians and by using first hand accounts wherever possible," says series 
producer David Stead. "So much of African history has been written from a 
European viewpoint and has downgraded the huge contribution the continent 
has made to the world." David and co-producer Bola Olufunwa travelled 
thousands of kilometres around the continent interviewing historians and 
visiting key sites of historical interest. By plane, four-wheel drive, 
canoe and camel they criss-crossed Africa from Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and 
Kenya to Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Nigeria. "There are many 
moments which will be etched into my memory", says Bola. "These include 
interviewing the Emir of Zazzau in Zaria, Nigeria and being able to record 
his court musicians as they gave wonderful live performances. And I'll 
always remember holding a precious and beautifully illuminated fourteenth 
century holy Koran in my hands, scared that in one moment I could drop it 
and destroy part of our heritage." For David one of the highlights was 
venturing into the deserts of Sudan to find the pyramids of the ancient 
Meroitic empire. "Everyone knows about the pyramids in Egypt, but how many 
realise that Sudan also has them?" he says. "I remember being amazed by 
their sand-swept beauty as we approached, but whereas in Egypt thousands of 
people visit the pyramids every day, in the Sudan I was the only visitor. 
All I could hear was the wind." The BBC radio series is made up of 24 half 
hour programmes covering a range of historical periods -- including the 
Origins of humankind, the Berbers of North Africa, the rise of the Swahili, 
the West African kingdoms, slavery and independence.   (BBC News, 15 
February 2001)

* Africa. IMF/World Bank's tour  -  19 February: This week's tour of Africa 
by the heads of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, stirs 
memories of colonial leaders visiting the outer reaches of their empires. 
Their mission will have zero impact on the lives of 300m Africans living on 
less than 65 cents a day. But if James Wolfenson, president of the World 
Bank, and Horst Kohler, managing director of the International Monetary 
Fund, can raise Africa's profile by their visit it will be justified. The 
past decade has been grim for Africa. Average economic growth has 
consistently fallen below the 5 per cent annual rate needed to prevent a 
rise in the numbers in poverty: in 1998-99, national income per head fell 
by 1 per cent. Even allowing for their low income, African infant mortality 
rates are exceptionally high: 151 children out of 1,000 die before they are 
five, and this rate rose in some countries in the 1990s. Life expectancy 
has risen slowly and in southern Africa, where HIV/AIDS affects up to one 
in five adults, children can expect to live shorter lives than their 
parents. Much of the blame for Africa's plight lies squarely with its 
governments. Lack of the rule of law, corruption and war never provide the 
conditions for the private sector to foster economic growth. But 
development has been hindered further by declining international interest: 
aid from industrial countries has dropped by 40 per cent in nominal terms 
in the 1990s. Africa's cloud has a silver lining. Some states have 
succeeded: over the 1990s real economic growth exceeded 4 per cent a year 
in 14 African countries. In Mozambique and Uganda, annual growth has 
exceeded 7 per cent. A welcome consensus on development is also emerging 
that progress must start at home and be based on economic growth, 
liberalisation and good governance. Only when these conditions are in place 
can international aid bring significant benefits. Here there is an 
important role for the west. If wealthy societies are serious in wanting to 
raise the living standards of Africa, they must increase development aid to 
countries with a track record of success. Trade barriers must be 
dismantled, particularly in agriculture. Aid must not be tied to trade. It 
should also be designed to reduce poverty rather than boost the 
international visibility of the donor country: for example, through an 
impressive capital project. Little has been achieved in promoting African 
development over the past decade. Much has been learnt. The next decade can 
be better but only if African countries accept reform and the developed 
world becomes genuinely committed to rewarding success.   (Financial Times, 
UK, 19 February 2001)

* Afrique. Rencontre avec le FMI et la BM  -  Les dirigeants du Fonds 
monétaire international et de la Banque mondiale ont rencontré, les 19 et 
20 février Bamako (Mali), une dizaine de chefs d'Etat pour parler avec eux 
de la lutte contre la pauvreté. Le directeur général du FMI, Horst Kohler, 
et le président de la BM, James Wolhensohn, se sont entretenus à huis clos 
avec les présidents du Burkina Faso, du Cap Vert, du Gabon, du Ghana, de 
Madagascar, du Mali, du Niger, du Nigeria, du Sénégal et de la Sierra 
Leone. Dans la soirée du mardi, les présidents Mbeki d'Afrique du Sud et 
Obasanjo du Nigeria ont eu une autre rencontre avec les deux dirigeants, 
pour leur exposer leur "programme de renaissance de l'Afrique pour le 
millénaire", qui a été présenté au récent sommet économique à Davos. En 
septembre dernier, MM. Kohler et Wolfensohn s'étaient "engagés à mettre 
l'Afrique au centre de leurs préoccupations et de leur action", ont 
souligné les deux organisations.   (La Libre Belgique, 20-21 février 2001)

* Afrique. Climat: scénario catastrophe  -  Faute de mesures pour enrayer 
le réchauffement de la terre, la planète, pays riches et pauvres confondus, 
s'expose dans les décennies à venir à des inondations, famines, épidémies 
et autres catastrophes "naturelles". Cette sombre mise en garde émane d'un 
rapport publié le 19 février à Genève par le Comité inter-gouvernemental 
des Nations unies sur les changements climatiques (IPCC). Pour les auteurs, 
les Etats pauvres de la planète, et notamment les plus déshérités parmi 
eux, souffriront le plus de ce phénomène, ce qui aura pour conséquence 
d'agrandir un peu plus le fossé Nord-Sud et la fracture sociale aux 
Etats-Unis et en Europe. Quant à l'Afrique, déjà le continent le plus 
déshérité de la planète, elle sera la plus vulnérable aux conséquences, 
dans les années à venir, du réchauffement de la terre. Les épidémies 
risquent de se multiplier, notamment dans ses immenses mégalopoles situées 
sur le littoral et qui risquent, de surcroît, d'être englouties par la 
montée des eaux.   (D'après La Libre Belgique, 20 février 2001)

* Afrique. La pauvreté augmente  -  Le Fonds international de développement 
agricole (Fida), une agence de l'Onu siégeant à Rome, lance un cri 
d'alarme: au plan mondial, un milliard et demi d'êtres humains survivent 
avec moins d'un dollar par jour, seuil de la pauvreté absolue, et ils 
seront deux milliards en 2015. La majorité des indigents vivent dans les 
zones rurales où ils s'adonnent une agriculture de pure survie. La plupart 
d'entre eux vivent dans des régions peu fertiles et sont tributaires de 
précipitations irrégulières. Les pauvres représentent 44% de la population 
asiatique du sud, 24% en Afrique subsaharienne et en Asie de l'est, et 6,5% 
en Amérique latine.   (La Libre Belgique, 21 février 2001)

* Africa. Action against the Media  -  Central African Republic: In a 
letter to the Minister of Communications, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) 
has expressed its concerns (15 February) about the detention of Aboukary 
Tembeley, president of the Human Rights Defence Movement. Congo RDC: Four 
soldiers, in civilian clothes but armed, invaded the home of Clovis Kadda, 
editor of the twice-weekly L'Alarme from 13-14 February. A dozen members of 
the Rapid Intervention Police bust into Victoire Square, Kinshasa on 16 
February, and detained at least five newspaper vendors. On 16 February, 
five newspaper sellers were taken by the police and interrogated for 
selling the Alerte Plus weekly with a front-page article entitled: 
"Consequences of the assassination of Laurent-Desiré Kabila. Here is a list 
of the 16 military officers arrested". On 17 February, Khan Jooneed, a 
Canadian journalist from the Montreal-based daily La Presse who is 
reporting from Kinshasa, was apprehended in Kinshasa/Gombe by a group of 
soldiers. In a letter to the Minister of the Interior (20 February), RSF 
asked to be informed of the location where Jean-Luc Kinyongo Saleh, editor 
of the bi-weekly Vision is being detained. Côte d'Ivoire: In a 15 February 
letter to President Gbagbo, the CPJ condemned the continued harassment of 
independent journalists in Côte d'Ivoire under the pretext of investigating 
the failed coup attempt of 8 January. On 20 February, Côte d'Ivoire's Press 
Freedom and Ethics Observatory, spoke out against a police and gendarme 
search of the Abidjan offices of the independent daily newspaper Le Jour. 
Ethiopia: On 13 February, Befekadu Moreda, editor-in-chief of the private 
Amahric newspaper Tomar, was arrested at his office by Addis Ababa police 
and placed in custody. On 17 February, he was taken to Benishangui Regional 
Administration where he is said to be wanted for questioning. Guinea: In a 
letter to the President, Reporters sans Frontières has protested the 
sentencing of Aboubacar Sakho, editor of the weekly Le Nouvel Observateur 
to ten months in prison on 14 February. Zimbabwe: On 15 February, The 
Herald reported that Mercedes Sayagues, a Harare-based correspondent for 
the South African weekly Mail and Guardian has been given 24 hours to leave 
Zimbabwe after her temporary permit expired. On 18 February, the UK 
government strongly criticized Zimbabwe for what it called its intimidation 
of a BBC journalist, Joseph Winter, who has been ordered to leave the 
country.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 21 February 2001)

* Africa. Human rights  -  A rapid growth in government-sponsored human 
rights commissions across Africa, has not generally led to better human 
rights protection, Human Rights Watch charged in a major new study released 
today, Half the countries in Africa now have such commissions, while only 
one country (Togo), did in 1989. However, many of the commissions appear 
designed to deflect international criticism of human rights abuses rather 
than to address the abuses themselves. The commissions in Ghana, South 
Africa and Uganda, however, are exceptions to the general trend. 
International donors and the United Nations are actively encouraging the 
creation of these new state institutions. But after providing initial 
expertise and funding, these donors often do not follow through to make 
sure human rights commissions actually do something to protect victims and 
combat human rights abuse. The full 407-page report, "Protectors or 
Pretenders" can be obtained at www.hrw.org/reports/2001/africa/ in English 
and French.   (HRW, 22 February 2001)

Weekly anb0222.txt - End of part 1/7