weekly anb04069.txt

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 06-04-2000      PART #9/9

* Zambia. Last copper mines sold  -  31 March: The last major sale
of Zambia's copper mines will take place at a special ceremony in
Lusaka, today. Copper is the major source of wealth in Zambia, but
the state-run industry has been brought to the brink of bankruptcy
by mismanagement and corruption. It is hope that the privatisation
of the mines -- which has proved controversial in Zambia -- will
help rejuvenate the country's ailing economy. "We've sold the
family silver for nothing", said one independent Member of
Parliament. The buyer is mining giant Anglo American which is
paying $90 million for the three mines in one of the world's
richest copper belts.   (BBC News, 31 March 2000)


* Zambia. Without Kenneth Kaunda  -  In Zambia, it appears that
many opposition politicians believe that without Kenneth Kaunda as
the opposition political figure head, they are a ship without a
captain. Most of them are against the reported resignation of their
"captain" from active politics. His recent retirement from active
politics has not only brought confusion to his United National
Independence Party (UNIP), the former ruling party, but among other
Zambian opposition politicians who are threatening to sue him. The
Zambia Alliance of Progress (ZAP)'s spokesperson, Alfred Ndlovu,
says that Dr Kaunda was Zambia's leading political figurehead whose
absence from the political scene will affect the performance of the
opposition in the presidential and parliamentary elections which
will be held in 2001. The United Party for National Development
(UPND)'s legal and constitutional affairs chairman, Sakwiba Sikota,
says that Dr Kaunda's retirement has left the opposition parties in
an awkward situation because he was part of their planning for
winning the 2001 elections.   (Gideon Thole, ANB-BIA, Zambia, 1
April 2000)

* Zambia. Democracy Institute  -  The Fredrick Chiluba Centre for
Democracy and Industrial Relations Studies that President Fredrick
Chiluba wants to establish in Lusaka, could be a major contribution
to democracy in Southern Africa where democracy is still young.
Chiluba's declaration to step down as President when his term of
office ends, places him alongside other African leaders who are
firm advocates of democracy such as Olusegan Obasanjo, Nigeria's
President, Nelson Mandela, the former President of South Africa,
and the late Julius Nyerere formerly President of Tanzania.
Chiluba's term of office has not been without its critics and
shortcomings. At the time he was laying the foundation stone for
his Institute, doctors in Zambia were on strike resulting in a
number of patients dying in Zambian Hospitals. The establishment of
the Institute has also attracted some criticism within Zambia. It
has been described by some prominent Zambians as an "ambitious
venture". A former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Zambia,
John Mwanakatwe, (a close friend of former President Kenneth
Kaunda) want the President to explain how the Institute will be
used. He fears the centre will be run along partisan lines and will
not be open to opposition parties. People remember that Kaunda's
Citizenship College was used to teach United National Independent
Party members how to be loyal to Kaunda and his party. President
Bakili Muluzi of Malawi recently described the Fredrick Chiluba
Institute as very important for the Southern African Region, as
will help many people towards a better understanding of democracy. 
 (Binson Musongole, ANB-BIA, Zambia, 4 April 2000)

* Zimbabwe. Affrontements  -  Le 1er avril a Harare, la police a
utilise des bombes lacrymogenes pour mettre fin a des affrontements
opposant des manifestants anti-gouvernementaux a des partisans du
president Mugabe. Deux personnes ont ete serieusement blessees lors
de ces emeutes qui impliquaient des veterans de la guerre
d'independance venus perturber une manifestation de quelque 10.000
personnes, a laquelle participaient de nombreux Blancs. La police
a declare cette manifestation illegale et cinq personnes ont ete
arretees. Il s'agit des plus graves incidents depuis l'occupation
de plusieurs centaines de fermes appartenant a des Blancs par
d'anciens combattants reclamant la redistribution des terres aux
Noirs. Le 2 avril, au lendemain de ces incidents, des organisations
civiques ont averti que le Zimbabwe pourrait basculer dans une
guerre civile si le gouvernement refuse de faire respecter la loi.
Mardi 4 avril, un policier zimbabween a ete tue par balle dans une
ferme appartenant a un Blanc qui avait lui-meme subi des violences
lundi de la part de squatters diriges par d'anciens combattants.
Selon un temoin, le policier aurait ete en civil quand il a ete tue
par un squatter qui l'avait pris pour un membre du Mouvement pour
le changement democratique (MDC-opposition). La Haute cour du
Zimbabwe a donne ordre a la police d'expulser les squatters; mais
celle-ci a refuse de faire appliquer cette decision de justice. De
son cote, le president Mugabe considere ces occupations comme des
manifestations pacifiques et a annonce que la police
n'interviendrait pas sauf en cas de violence. L'opposition a accuse
le chef de l'Etat de refuser d'appliquer la loi. L'augmentation
croissante de la violence raciale contre les Blancs au Zimbabwe est
consideree par beaucoup comme l'aboutissement d'une tactique
dangereuse du regime du president Robert Mugabe, qui cherche a
s'accrocher au pouvoir.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 5 avril
2000)

* Zimbabwe. Harare's morgues stacked high with bodies of AIDS
victims  -  Room is running out for the dead at Zimbabwe's largest
mortuary -- a cool, walk-in room filled beyond capacity with the
victims of Africa's most deadly disease. Zimbabwe has been harder
hit by AIDS in the past two decades than any other country in sub-
Saharan Africa -- and nowhere is the evidence more starkly visible
than in this dimly-lit chamber of Harare's central hospital. The
disease now kills an average of 2,500 people each week in this
country, and, according to the United Nations, one-quarter of its
six million adults are infected with HIV, the virus that causes
AIDS. This mortuary was built to hold 176 bodies but, on one recent
summer day, there were 314. In the developing world, hospital
budgets are too tight to cover the ugliness of death underneath
starched sheets or body bags. The corpses here are stored in open
shelves, row upon row, uncovered and undignified. Babies lie in one
spot, askew, like a pile of dolls -- still wrapped in soft frilly
blankets or white hospital sheets. The adults lie in the clothes
they wore on the day of their death - bloody trousers, cotton
skirts, hospital gowns. "Three-quarters of them have died of AIDS,"
says the mortuary attendant.   (Corinna Schuler, National Post,
Canada, 5 April 2000)

* Zimbabwe. A nation in crisis  -  30 March: The mainly white
Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) urges outside parties not to
intervene in the land dispute. In a statement, the CFU's president,
Tim Henwood, said land reform was a Zimbabwean issue and should be
solved by the country's people. "I call on everybody internally and
externally to refrain from emotional reaction and interference.
Zimbabweans will solve this problem in a cool and level-headed
manner". More white-owned farms have come under occupation. In
Harare, city workers remain on strike for a fourth successive day,
leaving water supplies either cut off or undrinkable. Lorries and
commuter buses have to wait six hours for diesel. 1 April: The
British government has a three-point contingency plan in place
should relations in Zimbabwe deteriorate to the point that British
nationals are threatened. The final stage would be an emergency
airlift of all those holding British passports. The National
Constituent Assembly (NCA) says their demonstration in Harare,
today, against the government, was attacked by a "motley crew of
alleged war veterans". Especially targeted were the white
protestors who made up about 15% of the marchers. The Opposition
says more demonstrations are planned. 2 April: British Foreign
Secretary Robin Cook strongly condemns President Mugabe. He
criticises Zimbabwe's police for failing to protect the
demonstrators and calls on Mr Mugabe to honour a promise to set a
date for general elections. Brian Kagoro, spokesman for the NCA
accuses the government of "gross violations of human rights and an
obscene use of violence". 3 April: Robin Cook meets with President
Mugabe in Cairo and secures an assurance that the Zimbabwean
general election will be held in May, though no date is set. He
challenges Mugabe to allow EU observers to monitor the polling. 4
April: The Commonwealth secretary-general, Don Mckinnon says he
hopes elections promised in Zimbabwe will be "free and fair" but
the Commonwealth will not send monitors uninvited. A policeman is
shot dead on the property of a white landowner during a struggle
with black squatters. The death, on a farm near Marondera, is the
first of its kind since the squatters began their action. 5 April:
Opposition leaders and white farmers report a wave of arson attacks
and assaults by supporters of President Mugabe. the prospect of a
state of emergency looms closer. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the
opposition Movement for Democracy has criticised President Mugabe
for trying to divide Zimbabwe along racial lines. "Mugabe wants to
use the race card and to win support by attacking whites. But race
relations are good. The blacks and whites of this country have
never been united as we are now in standing against ZANU-PF. In the
past 100 years we have never achieved such harmony". Reports from
Zimbabwe indicate that even members of the country's police force
are living in a state of government-imposed fear.   (ANB-BIA,
Brussels, 6 April 2000)

========= STOP PRESS ==========

* Tunisia. Bourguiba is dead
6 April: Tunisian president, Habib Bourguiba, who led his country's
struggle for independence from France and ruled the North African
state for more than thirty years, has died. He was in his late-
nineties. Bourguiba was removed from power -- on the grounds of
senility -- in a coup in 1987 and was replaced by President Ben
Ali. Correspondents say Bourguiba was regarded as one of the most
influential African leaders of his generation. He strove to
modernise and secularise his country and women were guaranteed more
rights than in any other Arab state. The French President, Jacques
Chirac, said Bourguiba was a great figure and a personal friend,
who had contributed a lot to the whole of the Mediterranean.
Bourguiba spent his last years under virtual house arrest in his
hometown of Monastir, one-hundred-and-sixty kilometres south of
Tunis.   (BBC News, 6 April 2000)

weekly anb0406 -  end of part 8/9 - THE END



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