Weekly anb04115.txt #6

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 11-04-2001      PART #5/6

* Sénégal. Habré sommé de quitter Dakar  -  Le 8 avril, le président 
sénégalais Abdoulaye Wade a demandé à Hissène Habré de quitter le Sénégal, 
où les tribunaux se sont déclarés incompétents pour le juger de "complicité 
de torture" commise pendant ses huit années au pouvoir au Tchad. L'ancien 
dictateur, âgé de 58 ans, aurait un mois pour quitter Dakar, où il vit en 
exil depuis dix ans, mais il n'a pas été précisé à partir de quand courait 
ce délai.   (Le Figaro, France, 9 avril 2001)

* Sénégal. Campagne électorale  -  6 avril. Le président sénégalais 
Abdouaye Wade a fait part de son intention de battre campagne en faveur de 
la liste de la "Coalition SOPI" regroupée autour du Parti démocratique 
sénégalais (PDS) dont il demeure le secrétaire général national. "Je vais 
soutenir ceux qui veulent me donner une majorité", a-t-il indiqué, 
signalant qu'il fera le tour du Sénégal avec ses propres moyens, comme il 
l'a toujours fait. - La campagne pour les législatives anticipées du 29 
avril s'est ouverte officiellement le 7 avril à minuit. 25 formations 
politiques et quelque 3.000 candidats brigueront les suffrages. Les 
élections se dérouleront selon deux modes de scrutin: majoritaire sur liste 
départementale pour 65 députés, et proportionnel sur liste nationale pour 
les 55 autres. - 10 avril. L'ancien Premier ministre Moustapha Niasse, tête 
de liste de son parti, l'Alliance des forces de progrès, a invité les 
Sénégalais à la vigilance, estimant que le rêve suscité par l'alternance, 
intervenue le 19 mars 2000, "est en train de devenir une vaste déception". 
Il accuse aussi son ancien allié, le PDS du président Wade, de vouloir 
instaurer un parti-Etat.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 10 avril 2001)

* Senegal. Insecurity persists in Casamance  -  One person was killed on 6 
April when armed men ambushed cars travelling on a major road in Casamance, 
southern Senegal, 'Le Soleil' daily reported. On the following day, three 
cars were hijacked and their passengers robbed of their belongings on a 
road north of Ziguinchor, Casamance's main city. Both attacks have been 
blamed on dissident members of the Mouvement des forces democratiques de 
Casamance (MFDC). The 6 April casualty was the first since 23 March, when 
the Senegalese government and the MFDC signed the second part of a 
two-tiered peace accord. The first part was signed on 16 March. Soon after 
the agreements were signed, government soldiers and MFDC fighters clashed 
near the Gambian border, leaving one soldier wounded. The renewed 
insecurity does not come as a surprise to Dieudonne Pandare of RADDHO, a 
Dakar-based human rights organisation which closely monitors the Casamance 
crisis. The treaty was a move to satisfy the international community, 
Pandare told IRIN on 9 April. In order to achieve sustainable peace, "all 
the major actors have to be implicated" through discussions and a 
give-and-take approach, he added, referring to the fact that some of the 
MFDC's political and military leaders were not involved in the 
negotiations.   (IRIN, West Africa, 10 April 2001)

* Sierra Leone. Aide de l'UE  -  L'Union européenne a décidé d'accorder un 
nouveau programme d'aide humanitaire de 11 millions d'euros aux populations 
victimes du conflit en Sierra Leone. Selon les ONG, le conflit armé en 
Sierra Leone a entraîné le déplacement de quelque 450.000 personnes à 
l'intérieur du pays. Le nouveau programme d'aide de l'UE vise trois 
obbjectifs: l'assistance intégrée aux déplacés; l'aide aux enfants, aux 
femmes et aux personnes ayant subi une amputation; et l'assistance 
logistique aux organisations humanitaires.   (PANA, Sénégal, 5 avril 2001)

* Sierra Leone. Le RUF prêt à coopérer  -  Le mouvement rebelle 
sierra-léonais, le Front révolutionnaire uni (RUF), a assuré l'Onu de son 
désir de coopérer avec sa mission en Sierra Leone. Cette déclaration, 
publiée le 9 avril, fait suite à une entrevue à Lansar de la secrétaire 
générale adjointe des Nations unies, Mme Frechette, avec des responsables 
du RUF. Pour montrer leur engagement, les rebelles ont démantelé trois 
postes de contrôle entre Rogberi et Lansar. A Lansar, Mme Frechette a fait 
une tournée des zones de déploiement de la Minusil. Durant son séjour en 
Sierra Leone, elle a également rencontré le président Kabbah.   (PANA, 
Sénégal, 10 avril 2001)

* Somalie. Réconciliation des factions  -  Le 8 avril, les leaders des 
principales factions somaliennes ont annoncé leur intention de convoquer 
une conférence de réconciliation "sans exclusive" dans six semaines en 
Somalie. La conférence est destinée à "établir un gouvernement d'union 
nationale représentatif et légitime de transition". "Nous voulons préparer 
le terrain en vue de la mise en place d'un nouveau gouvernement avec le 
soutien des masses", a déclaré Hussein Aïdid, président du Conseil somalien 
de réconciliation et de restaruration (SRRC). Le SRRC a été formé le mois 
dernier en Ethiopie par les leaders de 17 factions et le président du 
Puntland.   (PANA, Sénégal, 9 avril 2001)

* Somalia. Leaders to hold conference  -  Somali faction leaders opposed to 
the transitional government of President Abdekassim Salat Hassan said on 8 
April they will hold a reconciliation conference in the fragmented Horn of 
Africa nation. Hussein Aidid, speaking on behalf of the recently formed 
Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council, said the conference will be 
held in Somalia but gave no date. Hassan's government will be invited, he 
added. Hussein said 14 of 17 faction leaders who formed the council had 
already left Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, to organize the conference. 
The council, formed two weeks ago, is led by Abdullahi Yusuf, the 
self-proclaimed president of the northeastern Puntland region, and 16 other 
faction leaders. "The faction leaders and the Puntland president now 
control nearly all the country," Aidid said. Somalia has had no functioning 
central government since the 1991 ouster of the late dictator Mohamed Siad 
Barre by a coalition of rebels in which Aidid's father, the late Farah, was 
a key player. After ousting Siad Bare, the factions turned against one 
another and the country disintegrated into fiefs controlled by clan 
militias.   (InfoBeat, USA, 9 April 2001)

* South Africa. Police fire at court protesters  -  South African police 
fired rubber bullets at angry black demonstrators on 5 April after a court 
abandoned a bail hearing for a nine white rugby players accused of beating 
a black teenager to death. "The court proceedings were disrupted by the 
crowds who got a bit rowdy," police Captain Ronel Otto told Reuters. The 
South African Press Association said about 1,500 people sang protest songs 
and did the "toyi-toyi" protest dance outside the Pietersburg courthouse 
before the hearing was due to start. Magistrate Rassie du Toit ordered the 
courtroom doors opened to allow spectators in but chaos erupted when 
hundreds of people poured in and could not find seats. Du Toit abandoned 
the hearing and ordered the Noordelikes Rugby Club members detained 
overnight for a new hearing on 6 April. Witnesses said the suspects were 
led from the courthouse with towels over their heads and taken to an 
armoured truck that sped away past a yelling throng. Otto said blacks 
demanding the whites should be denied bail threw stones at private and 
police vehicles, smashed shop windows and marched on a filling station 
owned by one of the accused. "The police fired a few rubber bullets, but we 
have not had any reports of anyone being injured," she said. Rocks and half 
bricks rained down on another police riot control truck as officers tried 
to disperse the crowd. The hearing will be on again tomorrow and there will 
be much tighter security," Otto said. The nine accused, aged between 19 and 
34, are alleged to have beaten 19-year-old Tshepho Matloga to death two 
weeks ago after they found him and two friends hunting rabbits on a farm. 
One of the survivors was shot in the leg but managed to escape. Five dogs 
used in the hunt were found shot near Matloga's body. Officials and 
witnesses said police were called to the scene and found Matloga's body but 
the body disappeared when police left it unattended. It was later found in 
a farm reservoir about 200 km away, weighed down with a gatepost. The 
demonstration in Pietersburg was the latest in a series of protests against 
apparent racial attacks in South Africa's rural areas. In a separate case 
on 5 April, about 50 white farmers demonstrated outside a court in 
Warmbaths, demanding that two black men accused of attacking and robbing a 
former white politician and his wife be denied bail. South Africa's biggest 
farming body, Agri SA, says at least 30 white farmers were killed in 
January and February, allegedly by black attackers.   (CNN, USA, 5 April 2001)

* South Africa. Arms fraud probe gathers pace  -  South African officials 
said on 5 April they were investigating at least 24 individuals and 68 
statutory bodies in connection with allegations of fraud and corruption in 
the country's biggest post-apartheid arms deal. "This may well end up in 
court... At this stage, it seems to us that there might very well be some 
criminal prosecutions," National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani 
Ngcuka told editors at a briefing. Ngcuka, Auditor General Shauket Fakie 
and Public Protector Selby Baqwa are heading an inquiry into the award of a 
43 billion rand ($5.35 billion) arms contract to companies in Britain, 
Germany, Italy, Sweden, France and South Africa. Pressed to say whether the 
possibility of prosecutions meant the award process was flawed, Ngcuka 
said: "At this stage, we are not in a position to say all is not well." 
Fakie said 30 full-time staff helped by outside auditors were probing 
allegations of conflict of interest, bribery and process violations in the 
purchase of ships, submarines, helicopters and fighters. Ngcuka said 
investigators had seized bank and other records of 68 statutory bodies and 
24 individuals under investigation in connection with the deal but that it 
was too soon to say whether any crime had been committed. Fakie said a 
critical issue was to establish a link between gifts received and the 
allocation of contracts, adding that investigators hoped to publish a 
substantive report by the end of July. He said criminal corruption and 
unethical behaviour would be covered in the report. Fakie said 
investigators had started looking into the controversial acquisition of a 
luxury car by the parliamentary head of the ruling African National 
Congress, Tony Yengeni, weeks before the issue was raised in the 
media.   (CNN, USA, 5 April 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Attaques contre les fermes  -  Rien que pour cette année, 
l'Afrique du Sud a enregistré 19 meurtres et 128 raids contre les fermes 
d'après l'organisation Agriculture South Africa. La récente série de raids 
et ceux de l'année dernière, dont le nombre serait supérieur à 800, ont 
suscité l'ire des partis politiques. Le ministre de la Sécurité, Steve 
Tshwete, a qualifié les fermiers de "colonne vertébrale de l'économie" et 
indiqué qu'ils devaient être protégés. Un comité a aussi été chargé 
d'enquêter sur les causes et les mobiles de ces attaques.   (PANA, Sénégal, 
6 avril 2001)

* Sudan. US Bishops and Sudan  -  Following a two week fact finding mission 
to North and South Sudan, a delegation of US Bishops said on 6 April that 
the United States must take bold steps to bring about a just and lasting 
peace in war torn Sudan. A peace in Sudan can no longer go unattended by 
the international community, said Bishop John Ricard, President and 
Chairman of the Board of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), who led the 
delegation. The judgement of history will be determined by the courage and 
determination of the international community to take bold steps now to help 
bring this cruel war to an end. The delegation, consisting of US Bishops, 
various advisors from the US Catholic Conference (USCC) and the Executive 
Director of Catholic Relief Services, met with senior government and 
religious leaders in Khartoum before travelling to South Sudan to see 
firsthand the effects of the war there.   (USCC, 6 April 2001)

* Sudan. Rebels threaten oil workers  -  Sudanese rebels have threatened to 
attack international oil workers operating in the wartorn south of the 
country. The SPLA rebels, who are fighting for autonomy or independence in 
the south, said the Sudanese Government was using money from oil exports to 
finance its military operations. A number of foreign companies, including 
Britain's Rolls Royce, have been brought in by the Sudanese Government to 
help exploit the country's vast new oil reserves. The rebels have targeted 
oil installations since Sudan began exporting oil in 1999. International 
human rights organisations have accused foreign oil companies of fuelling 
the conflict in which an estimated two million people have been killed. The 
rebels accuse government troops of waging a brutal scorched earth policy to 
drive civilians from the oilfields. In the flat, parched plains of southern 
Sudan, the talk is of famine and oil. Gaunt men emerge from their mud huts 
to search for berries. Last year's drought means food stocks are now 
dangerously low. Oil has been discovered in the region, enough oil to 
re-energise a tired civil war that has dragged on for almost two decades. 
Government troops have already secured some of the oilfields, driving 
thousands of civilians out in the process.   (BBC News, UK, 8 April 2001)

* Soudan. Au Sud, le massacre continue  -  Pour s'assurer le contrôle de 
régions pétrolifères au sud du Soudan, le régime de Khartoum en chasse les 
populations d'origine et y installe des colons venus du nord. La 
responsable de la section Afrique d'Eglise en détresse, Christine du 
Coudray, revenue d'un voyage de trois semaines dans le Sud-Soudan, a dit 
notamment au journal La Croix: "Les compagnies internationales 
nord-américaines, chinoises, malaisiennes, britanniques et françaises qui 
se sont vu concéder des droits d'exploitation tentent de mettre en avant 
leur contribution au développement économique de ces régions. En fait, 
elles contribuent indirectement à financer la politique du Front national 
islamique au pouvoir à Khartoum qui consiste à exterminer ou à contraindre 
au déplacement les populations du sud et à installer des migrants du nord 
disposant d'une autorisation gouvernementale. Selon des sources ecclésiales 
à Nairobi, les bombardements de l'aviation gouvernementale contre les 
civils se sont intensifiés depuis l'été dernier sur toutes les zones 
d'exploitation pétrolifère du sud-ouest et du sud-est. Sur le terrain, les 
maisons et les cultures sont brûlées, les hommes massacrés, les femmes 
violées et les enfants emmenés en esclavage par les milices 
progouvernementales. Dans la seule région de Bahr-el-Ghazal, depuis 
janvier, on estime que 55.000 Nuers ont été chassés".   (La Croix, France, 
9 avril 2001)

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