weekly anb05111.txt #8

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 11-05-2000      PART #1/8

* Africa. Action against the Media  -  Congo RDC: On 4 May, Article
19 appealed for the immediate release of Freddy Loseke Lisumbu La
Yahenga, editor of La Libre Afrique, who has been in custody since
his arrest on 31 December 1999. Egypt: In a 3 May letter to
President Mubarak, the World Association of Newspapers and the
World Editors Forum expressed serious concern at the seizure of the
most recent issue of the magazine Al-Tadhamoun. Morocco: On 3 May,
the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum
expressed serious concern, in a letter to the prime minister, about
the sentencing to jail of journalists Khalid Mechbal and Mustapha
Alaoui. Togo: On 3 May, the World Association of Newspapers and the
World Editors Form wrote to President Eyadema, expressing concern
about the arrest of newspaper director Hippolyte Agboh and the
seizure of a number of publications. On 5 May, Amnesty
International said that as the OAU July Summit to be held in Togo
approaches, the government's pledge to human rights remains
rhetorical, as long as attacks against human rights activists and
the independent media continue. Tunisia: The International
Federation of Journalists said on 5 May, that it is concerned about
journalist Taoufiq Ben Brik who has been on hunger strike since 3
April. Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe's Supreme Court has ordered an
investigation into the alleged torture of two journalists, Mark
Chavunduka and Ray Choto, both of the independent Standard
newspaper, while they were in military detention last year. The
official Ziana news agency said (4 May) that Chief Justice Anthony
Gubbay had ordered Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri to
prosecute "all persons against whom there was reasonable suspicion
in the perpetration of such offenses".   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 8 May
2000)

* Africa. Children -- The worst place to be a child  -  6 May: In
Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela speaks at the launch of an appeal for
world leaders to improve the lives of children. He lashes out at
African tyrants who cling to power. 8 May: The Save the Children
agency says thirteen million children throughout the world, are
currently uprooted from their homes by war. In a new report "War
Brought Us Here", the organisation charts the troublespots where
children suffer most. It calls on governments, rebel factions and
the UN to respect the rights of what it calls "the most innocent
victims of conflict". The report says that in Sierra Leone,
thousands of children have been massacred, raped and had limbs
severed. Many others are forced to serve as soldiers. "But Angola
is the worst place in the world to be a child", states the report.
Three decades of strife have left a million young people homeless,
and exposed to bombardment, landmines and chronic disease.   (ANB-
BIA, Brussels, 8 May 2000)

* Afrique. Le scandale de la guerre  -  Dans l'esprit du Jubile,
les missionnaires comboniens du monde entier ont lance une
invitation "aux hommes et femmes de bonne volonte a rompre le
silence et a unir leurs forces pour mettre fin aux terribles
guerres qui font rage dans la region qui va des Grands Lacs jusqu'a
la Corne d'Afrique". L'objectif de la campagne est de contribuer a
promouvoir la paix et la reconciliation en Erythree, en Ethiopie,
dans la Republique democratique du Congo, au Soudan et en Ouganda,
en mobilisant la societe civile, la classe politique et les medias.
Le slogan de la campagne est: "rompre le silence: paix pour
l'Afrique". Les missionnaires comboniens ont explique qu'ils
etaient a la fois "surpris, peines et indignes par le fait que ce
qui se passe en Afrique ne fait l'objet que d'informations
sporadiques et filtrees", si bien que "les pertes en vies humaines,
l'enorme flot de personnes deplacees et refugiees, les souffrances
indicibles, l'appauvrissement et la deshumanisation des populations
civiles epuisees, laissent malheureusement indifferente une grande
quantite de personnes, et notamment ceux qui detiennent le pouvoir
politique et economique". Le P. Alex Zanotelli, qui travaille dans
un bidonville de Nairobi, au Kenya, a declare, au cours de la
presentation de la campagne, que "s'il est vrai que seulement 0,8
% du PIB mondial vient d'Afrique, la part d'information consacree
a ce continent est probablement encore inferieure".   (D'apres
Zenith, Italie, 10 mai 2000)

* Africa. Facing continent-wide conflict  -  Africa last night
faced the prospect of widening conflict, as tensions deepened
across the continent. A fresh threat of war between former allies
Uganda and Rwanda, and renewed fighting between Eritrea and
Ethiopia added yesterday to the conflicts destabilising the region.
Efforts to defuse a series of crises, from Sierra Leone in the
west, to the Horn of Africa in the east, appeared to be breaking
down. A UN Security Council mission led by US ambassador Richard
Holbrooke, which visited seven African states in as many days,
ended its journey yesterday empty-handed. Attempts to revive peace
moves in Congo RDCand defuse tensions between Uganda and Rwanda
collapsed.   (Financial Times, UK, 11 May 2000)

* Africa/UN. Killings in Sierra Leone jeopardise UN mission in
Congo  -  The detention and killings of UN peacekeepers in Sierra
Leone, have seriously jeopardised the speedy deployment of 5,500 UN
peacekeepers to Congo RDC, as well as the future of UN peacekeeping
missions elsewhere in Africa. The timing could not have been worse,
UN officials say. The news that four UN peacekeepers were missing
presumed dead, and 80 taken hostage by Sierra Leone rebels, came as
Security Council members were en route to Kinshasa to begin a week-
long tour of five African countries involved in Congo's civil war.
The unusual mission led by Richard Holbrooke, US ambassador to the
UN, aims to secure a ceasefire long enough for peacekeeping troops
to be deployed.   (Financial Times, UK, 5 May 2000)

* Southern Africa. Zimbabwe decline disrupts trade in the region  -
  The steep decline of the Zimbabwean economy has disrupted
regional trade and forced many South African importers to demand
"delivery at frontier" terms -- a sure sign of crisis -- for goods
from Zimbabwe, South African business leaders said on 4 May.
Members of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF have attacked and killed
opposition supporters and occupied white-owned commercial farms as
part of a violent election campaign. The trouble has frightened
away tourists and foreign investors and prompted the withdrawal of
credit limits and export credit guarantees for trade with Zimbabwe.
Insurers are also refusing to provide further cover for goods in
transit inside the country. South African exporters and importers,
already affected by international concern about the southern
African region as a result of the violence, have also been hit by
Zimbabwean foreign exchange shortages and the country's export
controls.   (Financial Times, UK, 5 May 2000)

* Algerie. Toujours des massacres  -  Neuf personnes, dont un
instituteur et ses cinq enfants, enlevees le 1er mai, ont ete
retrouvees le 6 mai assassinees et mutilees, pres de Tissemsilt, a
200 km au sud-ouest d'Alger. Deux repentis ont en outre ete tues
dans la region de Lakhdaria. Enfin, un gang specialise dans les
"faux barrages" aurait ete demantele par la police a Tizi-Ouzou; il
etait dirige par un tenancier de bar proxenete. D'autre part, selon
la presse algerienne du 6 mai, 34 membres de groupes islamistes ont
ete tues ces derniers jours lors de deux operations de ratissage
menees dans la region de Bouira, a 120 km a l'est d'Alger, et a la
frontiere avec le Maroc. Le journal Le Matin rapporte par ailleurs
que des elements de l'Armee islamique du salut (AIS) et du Groupe
islamique arme (GIA), qui ont beneficie de la loi sur la concorde
civile en se rendant aux autorites, ont recemment beneficie
officiellement d'armes pour assurer leur propre securite. Le
journal indique que des citoyens ont denonce cette situation.  
(ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 8 mai 2000)

* Algerie. Lettre du FIS  -  Profitant de la presence en Algerie
d'une mission d'Amnesty International, trois membres fondateurs du
Front islamique du salut (FIS) ont adresse une longue lettre
ouverte a quatre ONG de defense des droits de l'homme. Rappelant
"la necessite imperieuse" d'une visite a Abassi Madani, le leader
historique du FIS en residence surveillee depuis trois ans a Alger,
ils evoquent les principaux dossiers brulants concernant le drame
algerien, notamment les massacres collectifs, les disparus, les
assassinats de prisonniers, ainsi que l'etat d'urgence en vigueur
depuis huit ans, qui a facilite "l'etouffement de la vie politique"
et l'exclusion politique pratiquee a l'endroit de "l'opposition
veritable, seule capable de representer le peuple".   (AP, 10 mai
2000)

* Angola. Distribution of food aid may cease  -  Over one million
two thousand displaced people survive in Angola thanks to
international aid. Unfortunately, due to a lack of funds - warned
the World Food Programme (WFP) on 5 May in Geneva (Switzerland) -
the distribution of food aid may soon cease. Theatre to a
devastating and endless civil war, Angola is overrun with anti-
personnel mines which on a daily basis claim innumerable
defenceless lives. The situation is characterised by a constant
increase of ambushes and attacks by the numerous armed groups
present in the territory. The displaced people that have found
precarious shelters in the small and larger cities, are too afraid
to return to the countryside. The WFP, which foresees the necessity
to assist some one million six hundred thousand people by the end
of 2000, is currently in need of $100 million. The WFP had already
launched a previous appeal at the beginning of the year for $158
million to finance the distribution of 17,000 tonnes of food aid
each month. The WFP only received 60% of the funds requested, while
the number of needy people has in the meantime increased
significantly. The organisation may not be able to distribute
sufficient supplies already starting from next August.   (MISNA,
Italy, 8 May 2000)

Weekly anb0511 - End of part 1/8