Weekly anb03015.txt #6

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 01-03-2001  PART #5/6

* Somalia. Anger over fake currency - The main market in the Somali 
capital, Mogadishu, has been closed after forged currency was found to be 
in circulation. A large quantity of forged Somali shillings arrived in the 
country on the evening of 7 February and started appearing in Bakara market 
early the next day. Importing forged currency is a perennial problem in 
Somalia as businessmen and faction leaders take advantage of the country's 
instability to make a quick profit. The Mogadishu government, the first for 
10 years, appears unable to stop the flow of fake notes. More than $3m 
worth of Somali shillings are reported to have been imported. The money 
arrived at Ballidogle Airport, 90 km south of the capital. It was driven to 
Mogadishu in 50 armed vehicles and guarded by 600 militiamen. Angry 
stallholders were blaming the government for the latest influx of money. 
"The fact that the money keeps coming in shows how useless this new 
administration is," one man said. President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan has 
promised that a central bank will be established and new banknotes issued. 
But his government has not been able to do that yet. In the meantime the 
Somali shilling continues to fall against the dollar. (BBC News, 8 February 
2001)

* South Africa. Mbeki appeals for national unity - President Thabo Mbeki, 
who has been dogged by controversy, on 9 February urged South Africans to 
shake off the legacy of 300 years of racial oppression, crime and violence, 
in his third state of the nation address. "We call on all our people across 
the colour line to dedicate this year to building unity in action for 
change," he told a packed National Assembly, watched over by his 
predecessor Nelson Mandela, diplomats and local dignitaries. Mbeki, who 
took over from Mandela in June 1999, said all South Africans had a common 
duty to strive to build a society free of corruption and the existing 
extremes of great wealth and grinding poverty. "Outwardly we are a people 
of many colours, races, cultures, languages and ancient origins. Yet we are 
tied to one another by a million visible and invisible threads," he said. 
Giving an account of the achievements of the African National Congress 
since the first democratic election in 1994, Mbeki said the government 
would now focus particularly on rural development to alleviate widespread 
poverty in the countryside. Mbeki pledged gradual privatization and talks 
on labour reforms to cut costs and create jobs. He said the economy was 
recognized by foreign markets as being on a sound footing and poised for 
robust growth. But opposition party leaders dismissed the speech for 
failing to address the immediate needs of the country's 40 million people. 
"It was not a very visionary or inspirational speech," Marthinus van 
Schalkwyk, deputy leader of the Democratic Alliance, said. (Reuters, 9 
February 2001)

* South Africa. Mandela's 1964 court speech found - The British Library has 
helped bring to life a tape containing a three-hour speech made by Mandela 
at the trial at which he fought for his life. In the recording, made in 
1964, South Africa's first black president spoke of the sacrifices he was 
prepared to make to achieve freedom for his people. "The ideal of a free 
and democratic society in which all persons will live together in harmony 
and with equal opportunities...is an ideal for which I am prepared to die," 
Mandela said. The "dictabelt" tape recordings had languished in the 
National Archive in South Africa until the British Library was able to 
transfer them on to modern playback equipment. "It is extremely rare and 
exciting when a recording as internationally important as this comes to 
light after so many years," the library's oral history curator Rob Perks 
said in a statement on 11 February. Transferring the speech onto compact 
discs involved heating and flattening the tapes, but British Museum staff 
said the quality they have managed to achieve it remarkable. Mandela was 
sentenced to life imprisonment in June 1964 for 221 acts of sabotage 
designed to incite a revolution. (MSNBC, 11 February 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Sida: manifestation - Le 12 février, plusieurs militants 
de la lutte contre le VIH/SIDA ont manifesté devant le parlement de la 
ville du Cap contre le manque de médicaments anti-rétroviraux à des prix 
abordables. Mené par l'archevêque anglican Njongonkulu Ndungane, le groupe 
s'est dirigé vers le parlement où un militant a remis un mémorandum qui 
demande au ministre de la Santé de mettre en oeuvre un plan de traitement 
basé sur les médicaments anti- rétroviraux génériques avant le 16 juin. La 
marche faisait suite à un office religieux dans la cathédrale St George. 
Lors de cette cérémonie, Mgr Ndungane a lancé un appel aux sociétés 
pharmaceutiques pour qu'elles réduisent le prix des médicaments qui 
traitent le sida, ou qu'elles émettent des licences autorisant la 
production de la version générique de ces médicaments. "Selon les chiffres, 
10% de la population meurent actuellement des conséquences du sida. Le défi 
qui se pose à nous est de préserver les 90% restant", a-t-il ajouté. (PANA, 
13 février 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Choléra: bidonvilles évacués - Le 13 février, dans la 
cité noire d'Alexandra à Johannesburg, des heurts ont opposé des policiers 
à des centaines de squatters protestant contre un projet gouvernemental 
d'évacuation de bidonvilles proches d'une rivière connue pour propager le 
choléra. L'Afrique du Sud connaît actuellement une épidémie de choléra qui 
a déjà fait plus de cent morts. (Le Figaro, France, 14 février 2001)

* Soudan. El-Béchir prête serment - Le 12 février, le président soudanais 
Omar el-Béchir s'est fait légitimer par douze dirigeants africains qui ont 
assisté à sa prestation de serment devant l'Assemblée nationale pour un 
nouveau mandat de cinq ans, en marge d'un sommet régional sahélo-saharien 
réuni à Khartoum. A cette occasion, il a appelé la rébellion sudiste à la 
paix et plaidé pour la concorde et la réconciliation nationale. La question 
de la rébellion armée au sud du pays demeure "la priorité des priorités" de 
son gouvernement, a-t-il indiqué, mais il a appelé à ne pas 
internationaliser cette affaire, tout en affirmant l'importance des 
initiatives de médiation régionales. M. Béchir s'est engagé à relancer le 
développement des provinces du sud à travers une série de projets. Il a 
également réaffirmé son engagement pour le respect des droits de l'homme et 
des libertés élémentaires, et plaidé pour l'indépendance de la justice et 
l'alternance pacifique au pouvoir à travers des élections libres, sans 
distinction de religion, de race ou d'ethnie. Il a encore souligné les 
relations entre son pays et l'Union européenne, et exprimé la volonté de 
son gouvernement à s'ouvrir au dialogue avec la nouvelle administration 
américaine. (D'après PANA, 12 février 2001)

* Soudan. Menace de famine - Le 13 février, le Programme alimentaire 
mondial a mis en garde contre la famine menaçant des millions de Soudanais 
du fait de la guerre civile et de la sécheresse qui persistent au Soudan, 
déclarant qu'une "crise se dessinait à l'horizon". "Si notre appel ne 
suscite pas une réponse immédiate, la situation pourrait rapidement se 
détériorer", a notamment déclaré le représentant du PAM au Soudan. 
L'organisation demande $135 millions pour nourrir 2,9 millions de personnes 
jusqu'à la fin de l'année dans les zones contrôlées par le gouvernement et 
dans les zones rebelles. Certaines régions du Soudan connaissent un déficit 
pluviométrique pour la troisième année consécutive, et la situation est 
exacerbée par la poursuite du conflit qui empêche de cultiver les terres. 
(PANA, 13 février 2001)

* Tanzanie. Réfugiés - Les fortes pluies ont entravé l'acheminement de 
produits alimentaires d'urgence dans les camps de réfugiés au nord-est de 
la Tanzanie, a indiqué le PAM. L'état des axes routiers reliant Kigoma à 
Kasulu, et Kasulu à Kibondo, est déplorable, a affirmé l'organisation. Plus 
de 10 camions y sont bloqués depuis deux jours. Ces retards ont entraîné 
une nouvelle réduction de la taille des rations aux réfugiés. - D'autre 
part, le 8 février au soir, des rebelles burundais du CNDD-FDD ont attaqué 
le centre de transit pour réfugiés de Kigadye (région de Kigoma), tuant un 
homme et enlevant 36 personnes au cours d'une tentative visant à les faire 
adhérer à leur mouvement, d'après la police tanzanienne. (IRIN, Nairobi, 
12-13 février 2001)

* Tanzania/Zanzibar. A new twist to the islands' mayhem - Whilst the 
political tension that mounted up during the 27 January clashes between the 
police and the opposition Civic United Front supporters is still simmering 
down, the whole saga has taken a new dimension. Human rights bodies and 
legal institutions are calling for an independent inquiry into the events 
that reportedly claimed 300 lives on the island of Pemba. The Zanzibar 
Legal Services Centre, says the police acted outside the realm of law 
enforcement and should be probed. The Legal and Human Rights centre has 
described the whole episode as "the shame and barbarism of the millennium", 
and says the government should not only institute an inquiry into the 
issue, but it should also compensate the bereaved on Pemba and Zanzibar. 
(Makame Mzee Makame, ANB-BIA, Zanzibar, 13 February 2001)

* Tunisie. Congrès de la LTDH annulé - Le 12 février, la justice tunisienne 
a ordonné l'annulation des résultats et des décisions du 5e congrès de la 
Ligue tunisienne de défense des droits de l'homme (LTDH) et décidé de "la 
tenue d'une autre assemblée élective sous l'égide de l'ancienne direction". 
En octobre 2000, la LTDH avait élu un nouveau comité directeur, affichant 
une grande autonomie à l'égard du pouvoir. Quatre candidats battus avaient 
alors déposé plainte. Le régime de Ben Ali tolère en effet de moins en 
moins que le moindre espace public lui échappe, et la campagne médiatique 
dans la presse gouvernementale avait continué contre la nouvelle équipe 
dirigeante de la Ligue. Celle-ci compte faire appel du jugement, mais en 
fait la justice tunisienne l'a formellement mise hors- la-loi. (ANB-BIA, de 
sources diverses, 13 février 2001)

* Tunisia. Court rules against human rights group - A Tunisian court has 
ruled against a human rights group that is one of the last remaining 
centres of opposition to Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the president. Earlier 
this week, the court ordered that the Ligue Tunisienne de Droits de l'Homme 
(LTDH), the oldest human rights body in the Arab world, must hold new 
leadership elections. The group has been under judicial supervision and 
effectively shut down since October when it elected a new, more independent 
leadership, critical of Tunisia's poor human rights record and Mr Ben Ali's 
regime. Members say Mr Ben Ali's ruling Rassemblement Constitutionel 
Democratique (RCD) party had infiltrated the group in the late 1990s and 
succeeded in hamstringing it. In the wake of the October elections, a case 
was brought by four members of the league, two of them also members of Mr 
Ben Ali's party, who are contesting the results. One of the appellants, 
Kamel Ben Younes, a journalist, says that the more radical members of the 
league did not observe due process during the elections. The league's new 
leadership disagrees, saying Mr Ben Ali's government put the appellants up 
to the job. "The authorities have a very clear strategy to tie up the Ligue 
with continual postponements and delays," says Mukhtar Trifi, the LTDH 
president- elect. "It is very difficult, if not impossible, for us to work 
under these conditions." Western diplomats say Mr Ben Ali wants to repress 
potential opposition ahead of a possible referendum that would give him a 
fourth term as president. When he seized power in 1987 as Habib Bourguiba, 
the former president, slipped into senility, Mr Ben Ali changed the 
Tunisian constitution to limit any president to only two re-elections. 
Under current arrangements his time is up in 2004. The crackdown on the 
league is part of a broader campaign to stifle the opposition. Moncef 
Marzouki, Tunisia's best known human rights activist, has also been 
prosecuted but is free awaiting the results of an appeal. Mr Marzouki, now 
the spokesman of the Conseil National pour Liberte en Tunisie, was found 
guilty of spreading information illegally and of disturbing public order. 
(Financial Times, UK, 14 February 2001)

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