Weekly anb04131.txt #8

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 13-04-2000      PART #1/8

* Africa. Action against the Media.  -  Angola: On 11 April, a court convicted
journalists Graca Campos and Americo Goncalves from the Luanda-based weekly
Angolense, for defaming a senior government official. They were given suspended
sentences of four and three months respectively and ordered to pay together
$40,000 in compensation to the official. Meanwhile, another two journalists have
appeared in court on charges of defaming a government minister. Cameroon: On 11
April, the World Association of News papers and the World Editors Forum wrote to
the Justice Minister, expressing concern at the sentencing of publisher Michel
Eclador Pekoua to six months in prison. Guinea: In a letter to the Communications
Minister (29 March), Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) asked for the release of
Abdoulaye Sankara, editor-in-chief of the private Conakry weekly Le Soleil, which
was suspended on 31 March. Nigeria: The World Association of Newspapers and the
World Editors Forum have written to President Obasanjo (10 April), expressing
their serious concern at the security raid on the offices of the newspaper
ThisDay, and the issuing of a warrant for the arrest of its chief editor, Nduka
Obaigbene. Tunisia: In a press release on 10 April, the International Freedom of
Expression Community says that the journalist Taoufik Ben Brick has appeared in
court for a second time. He has been on hunger strike for a week.   (ANB-BIA,
Brussels, 12 April 2000)

* Africa. The clergy  -  Between the years 1978 and 1998, the number of Catholic
bishops in the world increased from 3,714 to 4,439. This is one of the statistics
contained in the Statistical Yearbook of the Roman Catholic Church for 1998,
which will be published in April 2000,according to the Vatican Information
Service (VIS) in Rome. Of the continents, America had the largest number of
bishops -- 1,672 -- representing 37.7 percent of the total. Europe had 32.9
percent (1,459); Asia 13.9 percent (617); Africa 12.9 percent (575) and Oceania
2.6 percent (116). The number of priests, both diocesan and religious, dropped
between 1978 and 1998. In 1998, the total number was 404,626 of whom 264,202 were
diocesan and 140,424 religious. Between 1978 and 1998, the number of diocesan
priests grew strongly in Africa and also grew, though less strongly, in Asia and
America. In contrast to this, there was a considerable drop in numbers in Europe
and a smaller drop in Oceania. Though there was a drop in numbers of priests,
especially in Europe and North America, there was considerable growth in the
numbers of permanent deacons, both religious and diocesan; lay members of secular
institutes; lay missionaries and catechists. The number of candidates to the
priesthood grew in Africa and America, especially Latin America. In western
Europe the numbers remained static, while in eastern Europe they grew strongly. 
 (Adventist Press Service, Switzerland, 10 April 2000)

* Afrique. Le commerce de l'ivoire  -  La XIe conference de la Cites (Convention
sur le commerce international des especes de faune et de flore sauvages menacees
d'extinction) s'est ouverte le 10 avril a Nairobi (Kenya) et se conclura le 20
avril. Le principal sujet a l'ordre du jour est la reprise du commerce de
l'ivoire. Les pays d'Afrique australe sont partisans d'un commerce de l'ivoire
controle et limite, expliquant que leurs troupeaux, bien geres, menacent
l'agriculture. Mais le Kenya et l'Inde, soutenus par de nombreuses ONG
ecologistes, s'y opposent vigoureusement, car ils craignent que le commerce legal
ne favorise le braconnage et l'extinction de l'espece dans les pays ou elle est
moins bien protegee (Afrique centrale et occidentale, Asie). Interdit en 1989,
le commerce de l'ivoire avait ete rouvert, de facon extremement limitee, en 1997. 
 (D'apres Le Monde, France, 11 avril 2000)

* Afrique. OUA: mauvais payeurs  -  Les arrieres de contribution dus a
l'Organisation de l'unite africaine prennent a nouveau des proportions
alarmantes: 49,6 millions de dollars au 30 mars, soit deux fois le montant du
budget annuel. Seuls 13 pays sur 53 sont a jour: Afrique du Sud, Algerie, Angola,
Burkina, Egypte, Ethiopie, Lesotho, Maurice, Mozambique, Namibie, Nigeria,
Senegal et Swaziland. En revanche, 8 pays ont ete sanctionnes parce que le
montant de leurs impayes depasse deux annees de contribution: Centrafrique,
R.D.Congo, Comores, Guinee, Guinee-Bissau, Liberia, Sao Tome et Seychelles. Ils
ne peuvent plus participer au vote ni prendre la parole, a moins d'honorer leurs
obligations avant le sommet de l'OUA prevu au debut de juillet a Lome. Chantre
de l'Union africaine, la Libye reste redevable de sa contribution de 1999 et
d'une partie de celle de 1998, soit 2,3 millions de dollars au total.   (Jeune
Afrique, France, 11 avril 2000)

* Afrique. Le "Sommet du Sud"  -  Le 12 avril, s'est ouvert a La Havane (Cuba)
le "Sommet du Sud" du groupe dit des G77. Ce groupe a ete cree en 1964 pour
reunir et organiser l'ensemble des pays en developpement membres des Nations
unies et promouvoir le developpement et la cooperation dans leurs pays. Il compte
actuellement 133 pays, mais a garde son nom historique. Le sommet de La Havane
est la premiere reunion du G77 au niveau des chefs d'Etat ou de gouvernement. Une
cinquantaine d'entre eux, principalement des Africains, ont repondu a
l'invitation du president Castro; les autres pays sont representes par des
delegations de haut niveau. Malgre la belle facade, le sommet cache mal de
serieuses divergences entre des pays qui ont des interets tres variables. Le
secretaire general des Nations unies, Kofi Annan, present a l'ouverture, a bien
decrit le defi qui attend cette reunion. "Le Sud devra etre entendu, a-t-il
declare, mais il faudra que ce soit un message coherent et constructif".  
(D'apres Le Soir, Belgique, 13 avril 2000)

* Africa. Group of 77. Meeting in Cuba  -  11 April: Leaders from the world's
developing countries meeting in Cuba plan to focus on winning debt relief and
finding ways to increase their involvement in the world's knowledge-based
economy. The gathering is the first time that the 133-nation "Group of 77,"
founded in 1964, is holding a summit at the level of heads of state. Until now,
the organization has been a bloc within the United Nations. The organization's
chairman, Arthur Mbanefo of Nigeria, told a news conference on 10 April that the
summit would look for ways to help poorer nations fit into an increasingly wired
world -- despite problems such as power and telephone shortfalls that make
Internet connections difficult. Mbanefo, his country's ambassador to the United
Nations, also indicated the group may urge developed countries to relieve poorer
nations' heavy debt burden. "We would like to see a situation where some of this
debt is cancelled," he said, noting that some countries spend twice as much
servicing their debts as they do on social services. Working meetings of lower-
level officials began on 10 April. Talks by heads of state are to take place on
12-13 April. The G-77 was created in 1964 by 77 developing nations and has grown
to 133 members as new countries have emerged with the end of the colonial era.
12 April: President Castro opens the Summit with a sharp attack on capitalism and
inequality. he says the suffering caused by capitalism is on a scale comparable
with the Nazi Holocaust. "The images we see of mothers and children in whole
regions of Africa, remind us of the concentration camps of Nazi Germany", he
says.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 13 April 2000)

* Africa-IMF. Overcoming a siege mentality  -  From the outside, the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) looks like an institution under siege. Streets
are blocked off, the police barricades are up and security is tight. In the
aftermath of the riots in Seattle four months ago, the authorities are taking no
chances. On the inside, however, the mood is cheery, almost upbeat. Its biannual
world economic outlook, released on 12 April, shows that recovery from the dark
days of late 1998 has been rapid and robust. To be sure, the IMF has some well-
warranted words of caution, particularly about the durability of the US boom and
the continued ill-health of Japan, but it has been pleasantly surprised by what
has happened since the Russian debt default took the global economy to the brink
20 months ago. "Global economic and financial conditions have improved
dramatically during the past year," the report says. "The effects of the recent
financial crises may be felt for some time, but the emerging economies in Asia
have for the most part staged a strong V-shaped recovery, and the transition
countries and Latin America have begun to recover from the subsequent turbulence
that particularly affected Russia and Brazil." As a result, the IMF has revised
upward its prediction for global growth last year from 2.9% to 3.3% and is
forecasting expansion of 4.2% this year, 0.8 percentage points higher than it
pencilled in last autumn. But, while the rich west and parts of Asia and Latin
America are doing well, the IMF admits that "progress in raising real incomes and
alleviating poverty has been disappointingly slow in many developing countries,
and the relative gap between the richest and poorest countries has continued to
widen".   (Larry Elliot, The Guardian, 13 April 2000)

* Africa-World Bank. Zambia's experience  -  The impoverished people of Zambia
may have noticed a certain discrepancy between what the World Bank says and what
it does. The state, the bank's officials insist, must reduce its spending, and
Zambia's people must pay for health and education out of their own pockets. Yet
the same officials, as well as enjoying some of the most lavish public sector
salaries on earth and generous "relocation allowances", have free use of the best
hospitals and the best schools: the taxpayer meets their private health and
education costs. As the researcher Mark Lynas has shown, the World Bank's
"reforms" are directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Zambian
people. Most cannot afford to buy their own medicines, so they die of easily
treatable diseases. Partly as a result, infant mortality in Zambia has risen by
25% since 1980, while life expectancy has fallen from 54 to 40. The cuts have
forced Zambia's Siavonga Hospital to merge its obstetrics and tuberculosis wards,
with predictable results. The government has also been forced to slash its
spending on education, from œ40 per primary school pupil in 1991 to œ10.
Enrolment has fallen from 96% in the mid-1980s to 77% today. On 16 April,
thousands of people will converge in Washington to protest against the World
Bank's policies. There will be plenty to keep them busy. For the World Bank is
not, as it pretends to be, the saviour of the world's poor, but their most deadly
enemy. Every one of the bank's policies is beset by contradictions. It claims,
for example, to be the champion of free choice, yet its prescriptions are
resolutely Maoist. It promulgates precisely the same approach to development
everywhere on earth, regardless of circumstance. It rules not by science but by
slogan: the great leap forward will be achieved by means of "comparative
advantage", "privatisation" and "trade liberalisation". It keeps pursuing its
crazy schemes even in the face of repeated failure: the bank is still funding
hydroelectric dams all over the developing world, for example, despite scores of
social and environmental catastrophes.   (George Monbiot, The Guardian, UK, 13
April 2000

* Afrique de l'Ouest. Visite de Kofi Annan  -  Le secretaire general de l'Onu,
M. Kofi Annan, va mener une visite dans cinq pays d'Afrique occidentale du 24
avril au 4 mai, a annonce son porte-parole. Il se rendra au Senegal, en Gambie,
au Gabon, en Centrafrique et au Cameroun. Au Senegal, M. Annan devrait rencontrer
le nouveau president Abdoulaye Wade et participer au Forum mondial de l'Unesco
sur l'education.   (AP, 7 avril 2000)

* Algerie. Nouveau bilan macabre  -  Vingt-trois personnes ont ete tuees ces
derniers jours par des groupes armes, rapportait la presse algerienne le 8 avril.
Le 7 avril, sept bergers ont ete sauvagement assassines en fin d'apres-midi a
Ouled Djillali (150 km a l'ouest d'Alger). Le 4 avril, pres de Medea (70 km au
sud d'Alger) six autres ont ete tues par des islamistes armes presumes. Toujours
a Medea, cinq personnes ont ete assassinees le 6 avril. Par ailleurs, trois
membres des Groupes de legitime defense (civils armes par les autorites) ont ete
tues a Telagh (280 km a l'ouest d'Alger). Enfin, dans la region de Moumerdes (50
km a l'est d'Alger), un repenti de l'AIS a ete tue et un autre blesse a
Tidjelabine.   (Le Soir, Belgique, 10 avril 2000)

Weekly News anb0413 -  END of PART 1/8