Weekly anb04136.txt #8

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 13-04-2000      PART #6/8

* Rwanda. Belgium apologises  -  7 April: The Belgian prime minister has asked
forgiveness for his country's part in failing to prevent the killing of hundreds
of thousands of Rwandans in the 1994 genocide. Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's
public apology came as Rwandans concluded a week of mourning for genocide victims
-- a week which has seen the bodies of thousands of murdered people exhumed and
reburied. Mr Verhofstadt also condemned United Nations officials for their
failure to prevent the deaths of the Rwandan prime minister and 10 Belgian
peacekeepers murdered at the start of the genocide. "I confirm that the
international community as a whole carries a huge and heavy responsibility in the
genocide", he told a gathering of several thousand Rwandans -- including senior
officials. "Here before you I assume the responsibility of my country, the
Belgian political and military authorities".   (BBC News, 7 April 2000)

* Rwanda. "Accusations a conspiracy" says Kagame  -  Paul Kagame, the acting
president of Rwanda, has charged that claims he ordered the assassination of his
country's leader in 1994 are part of a United Nations conspiracy to shirk blame
for the genocide that followed. Mr. Kagame told one interviewer he intends to
root out the conspirators and "expose them when the time comes." In another
interview, he spoke of worldwide networks that "operate like a mafia" to obscure
the failure of both the United Nations and the international community to prevent
the genocide. The statements are his first since the National Post revealed on
March 1 the existence of a UN report in which three informants implicated Mr.
Kagame in the assassination. Absent from the statements, however, are allegations
made in recent weeks by several Rwandan officials that the National Post is part
of the network conspiring against Rwanda. A Rwandan government statement issued
in the days following the March 1 article accused the Post of taking part in a
"well orchestrated smear campaign" designed to "intimidate the Rwandan people
into silence" about who was to blame for the genocide, which saw political
extremist Hutus massacre at least 500,000 of the country's Tutsis and moderate
Hutus. A declaration that Rwanda would take action that "might include suing the
paper" came from Martin Ngoga, the country's official representative at the UN's
war crimes tribunal for Rwanda, based in Arusha, Tanzania.   (Steven Edwards,
National Post, Canada, 11 April 2000)
* Rwanda. Bishop Misago's trial  -  11 April: The final hearing in Kigali of the
trial against Monsignor Augustin Misago, Bishop of Gikongoro (Rwanda), has been
adjourned. The judges of the Nyamirambo court, will meet tomorrow to postpone the
conclusion of the trial to 17 April. 57-year old Bishop Misago, born in Ruvune
(Byumba diocese), was arrested on 14 April 1999 for his alleged involvement in
the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Implications categorically denied by the Bishop of
Gikongo.   (MISNA, Rome, 11 April 2000)

* Rwanda. Mgr Misago  -  Le 14 avril, cela fera exactement un an que Mgr Augustin
Misago, eveque de Gikongoro, est en prison. Son arrestation avait ete precedee
d'une campagne de denigrement contre l'Eglise catholique, relayee notamment par
l'organisation African Rights, la seule a avoir lance des accusations contre
l'eveque, lesquelles n'ont pas ete reprises par le Tribunal penal international
pour le Rwanda a Arusha. Accuse de complicite dans l'assassinat, de non-
assistance a personne en danger et de collaboration dans le genocide, Mgr Misago
crie son innocence depuis un an. Selon Me Alfred Pognon, chef du college de
defense de l'eveque, l'accusation et la partie civile ont presente "un amalgame
inacceptable de faits que la loi ne peut qualifier materiellement de faits
criminels". La conclusion du proces, initialement prevue le 12 avril, a ete
renvoyee au 17 avril a la demande de la partie civile, mais la sentence ne
devrait de toute facon pas etre connue a breve echeance. A l'occasion de
l'anniversaire de l'arrestation de Mgr Misago, il est prevue que les eveques
rwandais lui rendent visite en prison ce 13 avril.   (D'apres CIP et ANB-BIA,
Bruxelles, 13 avril 2000)

* Sahara occidental. Tournee de James Baker  -  James Baker, l'emissaire
personnel du secretaire general de l'Onu, a entame une tournee maghrebine pour
tenter de trouver une issue a l'impasse dans laquelle se trouve l'organisation
d'un referendum d'autodetermination au Sahara occidental. Le 8 avril il etait a
Alger, le 9 avril au Maroc, ou il a ete recu par le roi. M. Baker a qualifie les
problemes rencontres par le plan de l'Onu de "serieux et compliques". Interroge
sur l'emergence d'une "troisieme voie", qui passerait par un abandon du
referendum et l'octroi par Rabat d'un large statut d'autonomie au Sahara, M.
Baker a repondu: "S'il y a un moyen d'appliquer le plan de l'Onu, nous devons le
faire. S'il n'y en a pas, nous devons continuer de chercher d'autres approches
pour parvenir a une solution definitive". Le 8 avril, le Polisario s'est dit pret
au dialogue avec le Maroc, "a tout moment, avec n'importe qui et n'importe ou",
a condition que le plan de paix de l'Onu soit respecte. Apres Rabat, M. Baker
etait encore attendu a Nouakchott (Mauritanie), mais en raison d'une forte fievre
il a quitte le Maroc, le 11 avril, en direction de Madrid, d'ou il devrait
regagner Washington. A l'issue d'un entretien avec le chef de la diplomatie
espagnole, M. Baker a declare que "le plan de reglement n'est pas mort, mais il
est dans une orniere".   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 12 avril 2000)

* Senegal. President attacked by Press  -  Less than a week after assuming
office, President Wade has come under sharp criticism from the Media. Newspapers
attacked him for backing down, during his state of the nation address on 3 April,
on pre-election promises to cut the presidential term from seven to five years
and to cut the size of his cabinet. He was also slated over his call for a
liberalisation of the Press. On 5 April, Mr Wade called for the creation of a
commercial television station, and suggested that the state-owned newspaper, Le
Soleil, which he has accused of partisanship, should be suspended while a new
role for it was thought out. he said he did not want a tame newspaper writing
editorials in praise of the government.   (BBC News, 6 April 2000)

* Sierra Leone. Les forces de l'Onu  -  Le 8 avril, une compagnie de reaction
rapide des forces onusiennes a riposte par des tirs lorsque des assaillants non
identifies ont pris pour cible les troupes ghaneennes de la mission de l'Onu
(Minusil) a Kenema. Les assaillants ont fui; le motif de l'attaque reste inconnu.
- Le 9 avril, une avant-garde de 210 soldats jordaniens est arrivee pour se
joindre a la Minusil. Le reste des deux bataillons jordaniens devrait arriver
plus tard. Le contingent zambien est attendu en mai. Le secretaire general de
l'Onu a declare que les 11.100 hommes de la force onusienne de maintien de la
paix seraient en Sierra Leone avant la fin de juillet.   (IRIN, Abidjan, 10 avril
2000)

* Sierra Leone. ECOMOG considering extending stay  -  11 April: West African
intervention troops are considering extending their stay in Sierra Leone amid
fears that their withdrawal could leave a security vacuum. The Deputy Defense
Minister is quoted as saying: "The possibility of the Nigerian-led force
remaining until UN peacekeepers are fully deployed, is being actively
considered".   (CNN, 11 April 2000)

* Somalia. Cholera and food shortages  -  Hundreds of people in Somalia have been
affected by a new outbreak of cholera in the Bay and Bakol regions, about 300 kms
south-west of Mogadishu. Health authorities in one area, Dinsor district, say 31
people alone have died from cholera in the past 3 days alone. Aid agencies and
the Somali Red Crescent Society have set up quarantine units in health centres.
The regions of Bay and Bakol are among several parts of Somalia also stricken by
drought. In one town, Wajwd, in south-west Somalia, there's such a shortage of
food, that special high-protein rations meant for a severely malnourished child
are routinely being used by an entire family.   (BBC News, 12 April 2000)

* South Africa. Media trial  -  The state built its case on evidence found in
plain sight: the defendants' own words, published photographs, boxes of
suspicious videotapes, transcripts and the most public of documents--newspapers.
Putting the media on trial for racism may have required imagination, but hardly
any sleuthing. Under threat of subpoena, South Africa's newspaper editors, radio
broadcasters and television producers have appeared before a governmental agency
to defend their portrayal of blacks. Their testimony has often been testy and
defiant, and the ensuing confrontation between the mostly white-owned media and
the black majority government has stirred animated debate about censorship,
political correctness and the state's responsibility to protect its citizens from
hurtful, dehumanizing speech in a democracy. Under South African law, the
hearings are similar to a civil trial. The Human Rights Commission filed formal
charges of racism against media representatives in February and subpoenaed 36
mostly white editors and producers to testify. The subpoenas were subsequently
withdrawn when journalists agreed to cooperate with the inquiry. Anyone refusing
to testify can be held criminally liable by the commission and subject to a fine.
"We cannot begin to talk about freedom of the press as long as there is no real
diversity of thought in our media," said Abbey Makoe, a black newspaper reporter
who presented testimony that supported the Human Rights Commission's allegations.
"The public discourse is being driven by a minority who do not value black lives
as much as white lives, who focus on black criminality and the alleged corruption
of [black] elected officials without ever identifying the historical
contributions of whites to our problems." But to the editors, producers and
broadcasters who testified before the commission, the hearings were a reminder
of the white minority's oppressive apartheid government, which shuttered
newsrooms that published stories deemed too sympathetic to the black liberation
movement.   (Washington Post, 10 April 2000)

* South Africa. Cricket captain in bribes scandal  -  The world of cricket was
plunged into turmoil on 11 April, when Hansie Cronje was sacked as South African
captain and suspended from playing after he admitted receiving between $10,000-
15,000 from an Indian bookmaker based in London during a limited over series with
Zimbabwe and England. Cronje said he "had not been entirely honest" with the
cricket board over match-fixing allegations which surfaced last week following
an Indian police investigation. "We in South Africa are shattered" said Ali
Bacher, managing director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA).
"He has not been honest. The UCBSA and the government have been deceived". The
all-rounder Shaun Pollock has succeeded as captain.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 12
April 2000)

* Sudan. Churches of the South concerned about food aid  -  The Christian
communities of South Sudan are seriously concerned over the suspension of
humanitarian services, caused by a disagreement between the Sudan People's
Liberation Army (SPLA) and various international NGO's regarding new regulations
imposed by the "Memorandum of Understanding" (MOU), drawn-up by the South
Sudanese rebels. Serious preoccupation was in fact expressed in a joint statement
released in Nairobi (Kenya) by the New Sudan Church Council (NSCC) and the Sudan
Catholic Bishops Conference (SCBC). The leaders of the Churches present in South
Sudan referred to the fact that 12 international NGOs refused to sign the MOU and
that the European Union humanitarian organisation suspended funds to all those
that adhered. The Churches therefore urge the EU to renew its action in favour
of the needy civil population and ask that the South Sudanese rebels and
international NGOs reach a prompt accord. Among the conditions contained in the
text of the MOU, there is also the "adhesion to the political principles" of the
SPLA.   (MISNA, Rome, 10 April 2000)

Weekly News anb0413 -  END of PART 6/8