Weekly anb03305.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 30-03-2000      PART #5/7

* Rwanda. Murder doubts emerge  -  The UN has confirmed that it has
uncovered an internal memorandum containing allegations that the
assassination of the former Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana,
was the work of Tutsi fighters, not Hutu extremists as has been
widely suspected. The downing in April 1994 of a plane carrying
President Habyarimana and the former president of Burundi was the
act widely considered to have sparked the genocide in Rwanda. At
the beginning of the month, the Rwandan Government reacted
furiously when newspapers reported that a UN document existed
casting doubt on who was responsible for the shotting down of the
former president's plane. According to the document, the
assassination was the work of Tutsi members of the Rwandan
Patriotic Front (RPF), not Hutus intent on sabotaging President
Habyarimana's plans for power-sharing between both groups. The
allegations brought into question a widely held assumption about
the roots of the 1994 genocide. An initial search of the UN's files
failed to turn up the report, but now the UN says a three-page
memorandum has been discovered in one of the UN's New York
departments. The document was drawn up two-and-a-half years ago by
an Australian investigator, Michael Hourigan, who has now left the
UN. The UN in New York has now sent a copy of the report to the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in tanzania, for the
tribunal to make decision about whether its contents should be
released.   (BBC News, 28 March 2000)

* Rwanda. Le rapport retrouve  -  Le 1er mars dernier, le journal
canadien The National Post citait un rapport non officiel de l'Onu,
date du 1er aout 1997, qui mettait en cause le FPR, et le vice-
president Kagame en particulier, dans l'attentat contre l'avion du
president Habyarimana en 1994. Kigali avait reagi en denoncant une
campagne de calomnies. Maintenant, une source au sein de
l'organisation a confirme que ce rapport avait ete decouvert dans
les archives de l'Onu. Le document de trois pages a ete redige par
Michael Hourigan, ancien enqueteur pour le tribunal penal
international pour le Rwanda (TPIR). Cette semaine, a la demande du
secretaire general de l'Onu, le document a ete transmis au TPIR. Du
coup, il a ete demande par des enqueteurs et diplomates francais
charges de faire la lumiere sur cet attentat, et par des avocats
charges de defendre la cause de Rwandais inculpes de genocide.  
(ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 29 mars 2000)

* Rwanda/Belgique. Genocide: vers les assises?  -  Le juge de la
chambre du conseil de Bruxelles a ordonne mardi 28 mars que les
dossiers concernant deux religieuses rwandaises, soeur Gertrude et
soeur Marie-Kisito, et un Rwandais, Alphonse Higaniro, accuses de
participation au genocide de 1994 et vivant en Belgique, devaient
etre communiques au procureur general, afin que celui-ci fixe
l'affaire devant la chambre des mises en accusation. Seule cette
derniere a le pouvoir de renvoyer en assise þ ou de ne pas le
faire. Parallelement a cette decision, le juge a donne raison au
ministere public qui demandait une prise de corps a l'encontre des
trois personnes, c'est- a-dire la possibilite de les arreter si
necessaire. Le procureur peut desormais decider de leur arrestation
s'il craint qu'elles ne prennent la fuite.   (D'apres MFC, La Libre
Belgique, 29 mars 2000)

* Rwanda. Sectes religieuses  -  Les autorites rwandaises se sont
declarees preoccupees du nombre de sectes religieuses dans le pays
et ont promis de les surveiller de pres. S'exprimant sur la mort
des membres d'un culte millenariste en Ouganda voisin, le ministre
de la Justice, M. Mucyo, a declare que le Rwanda avait connu
beaucoup de batailles juridiques pour des questions de terres ou
d'argent entre dirigeants de sectes. "Si l'on ne prend pas des
mesures pour lutter contre cela, nous pourrions facilement etre
confrontes au meme probleme que les Ougandais", a-t-il prevenu.
Selon un responsable de l'Eglise presbyterienne, le Rwanda compte
deja "une myriade de sectes religieuses".   (IRIN, Nairobi, 29 mars
2000)

* Senegal. A new President  -  22 March: The National Committee For
The Counting Of Votes, has confirmed provisional results of the 2nd
round of presidential elections. Abdoulaye Wade got 58.50% of the
votes, while Diouf received 41.50%. The final results should be
made official by the Constitutional Council by 27 March, latest. 23
March: Abdoulaye Wade, elected on 19 March as Senegal's next
President, says he will be sworn in on 1 April. he has had a two-
hour meeting with out-going President Abdou Diouf. Mr Wade praised
Diouf for his adherence to the ideals of democracy during his 20-
year rule. Wade also announced that Diouf has accepted to represent
him at the OAU-EU summit to be held from 3-4 April in Cairo, Egypt.
Wade said a new cabinet will be formed before 4 April, the
country's 40th independence anniversary. 25 March: The
Constitutional Court releases the final election results. Abdoulaye
Wade received 969,332 votes (58.49%); Abdou Diouf received 687,969
votes (41.51%). In the second round, some 1,657,301 voters out of
the 2,745,239 registered voters cast their ballots. Those who voted
thus represented 61.07% of the registered voters. 26 March: Senior
figures in the Socialist Party have asked for the resignation of
party leader, Ousmane Tanor Dieng. The blame him for the party's
electoral defeat.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 27 March 2000)

* Sierra Leone. Vaccination contre la polio  -  Durant le week-end
du 25-26 mars, une premiere serie de vaccinations contre la polio
a ete menee avec succes dans les centres regionaux de toute la
Sierra Leone, a indique un consultant pour le programme des
Journees d'immunisation nationale. "La participation a ete massive
dans tous les centres et on a enregistre une demande accrue de
vaccinations dans le nord", a-t-il precise. Il a ajoute que selon
les informations recues, en majorite du district de Koinadugu, les
civils semblent se sentir plus en securite et commencent lentement
a sortir de la brousse pour participer au programme.   (IRIN,
Abidjan, 27 mars 2000)

* Somalia. Puntland withdraws from Djibouti Talks  -  23 March: An
important region in Somalia has said it no longer supports the
Somali peace conference due to be held in Djibouti next month. The
administration in the north-east Puntland region said it would not
attend, accusing Djibouti of hijacking the gathering. It said
opposition leaders had ben listened to, while advice from Puntland
leaders had been ignored. The government in Djibouti denied that it
wanted to take over the talks, and repeated that the conference had
the support of the Somali people and the international community.
24 March: There've been clashes in Puntland between militiamen
loyal to the regional leader there and a crowd of demonstrators.
reports say militiamen open fire on demonstrators in Bosasso,
killing one man and wounding several other people. The
demonstration was called to protest against the decision by the
regional leader, Abdillahi Yusuf, to withdraw support from the
Somali peace conference. The crowd urged Mr Yusuf to reverse his
decision and attend the conference.   (BBC News, 23-24 March 2000)

* Somalia. Djibouti President: "A debt of honour"  -  27 March:
President Guelleh of Djibouti has been explaining his Somali peace
plan to ordinary Somalis in a question-and-answer session broadcast
on the BBC World Service. The President spoke in Somali, a language
also spoken in Djibouti. Asked why he got involved in trying to
restore peace to Somalia, President Guelleh said Djibouti owed
Somalis a debt of honour for their support during Djibouti's
struggle for independence from France. He expressed confidence in
Libya's support for his plan, despite rumours that Tripoli planned
to hold a rival peace conference next month, when the Somali
National Reconciliation Conference, backed by the UN Security
Council is due to take place in Djibouti.   (BBC News, 27 March
2000)

* Soudan. IGAD: un Soudanais secretaire general  -  Le diplomate
soudanais Atalla Mohammed a ete elu secretaire general de l'IGAD,
l'Autorite intergouvernementale pour le developpement, a laquelle
adherent sept pays appartenant en large partie a la Corne de
l'Afrique: le Kenya, l'Ethiopie, l'Erythree, Djibouti, le Soudan,
l'Ouganda et la Somalie. Le choix d'une personnalite soudanaise est
quelque peu surprenant, etant donne que l'IGAD est implique dans la
mediation entre le gouvernement de Khartoum et ses opposants
politiques et belligerants.   (Misna, Italie, 29 mars 2000)

* Sudan. Fighting flares up again  -  25 March: A delegation from
the Inter-Governmental Authorities for Development (IGAD) arrives
in Khartoum to continue peace talks with the government. The
delegates arrived after fighting flared up last week in east Sudan
between the government an alliance of northern and southern
opposition forces. 26 March: A large number of refugees are fleeing
from southern Sudan into neighbouring countries, in fear of
government air raids, factional fighting and general lawlessness.
"The number fleeing from the fighting into neighbouring countries
has doubled in the past month, says the UNHCR. 27 March: The
Sudanese government bombed two civilian hospitals in rebel-held
areas of southern Sudan, last week, rebel agencies say. Up to 14
bombs were dropped on 22-23 March near a hospital in Lui.   (ANB-
BIA, Brussels, 28 March 2000)

* Afrique du Sud. Greve des mineurs  -  Le 22 mars, le syndicat
national des mineurs sud-africains a declenche un mouvement de
greve pour protester contre les licenciements au ministere des
mines et de l'industrie. Goldfields, le 2e producteur d'or sud-
africain, a indique que la greve declenchee par 11.000 adherents du
syndicat avait paralyse trois de ses mines, qui ont perdu plus de
$3 millions du fait du mouvement qui fait partie d'une serie de
greves organisees en prelude a la greve generale prevue le 10 mai
prochain pour marquer la preoccupation face au licenciement de
50.000 mineurs depuis 1994. La centrale syndicale, forte de 1,8
million d'adherents, n'approuve pas les politiques liberales mises
en oeuvre par le gouvernement, en depit de l'alliance conclue avec
l'ANC et le parti communiste.   (PANA, 23 mars 2000)

WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 30-03-2000  END OF PART #5/7