Weekly anb05034.txt #5

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 03-05-2001      PART #4/5

* Rwanda/Kenya. Evêque anglican tranféré au TPIR  -  Un évêque anglican 
rwandais, Samuel Musabimana, recherché par le Tribunal pénal international 
pour le Rwanda (TPIR) pour sa participation présumée au génocide de 1994, a 
été arrêté le 26 avril à Nairobi. Une enquête a révélé qu'en 2000 l'ancien 
évêque était entré en Afrique du Sud avec un faux passeport. Arrêté en 
août, il avait été expulsé vers le Kenya. Il vient d'être transféré au TPIR 
à Arusha en Tanzanie. Pendant le génocide, il était évêque de l'Eglise 
anglicane au diocèse de Shyogwe, au sud-ouest de Kigali. - Le 2 mai, lors 
de sa comparution initiale devant le TPIR, M. Musabimana a plaidé non 
coupable. Il a en outre déclaré qu'il avait été arrêté 
illégalement.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 2 mai 2001)

* Rwanda. Police admit former minister missing  -  Police in Rwanda say 
they are investigating the disappearance of the former interior minister, 
Theobald Rwaka, after relatives and human rights groups expressed concern 
for his safety. Mr Rwaka was a Hutu member of the country's Tutsi-led 
government, but was sacked in March without an official reason being given. 
Correspondents say that before his dismissal, he was the subject of media 
attacks; he was accused of plotting with Rwandan Interahamwe fighters based 
in neighbouring Congo against the Rwandan government. He denied the 
allegations. He's believed to have fallen out with the ruling Rwandan 
Patriotic Front over media criticism of the state of the country's prisons 
which were the responsibility of his ministry.   (BBC News, UK, 2 May 2001)

* Rwanda/Belgium. The Brussels trial  -  26 April: Yvette Umugwaneza, who 
lived with the Karenzi family, and the only survivor of the April 1994 
massacre of that family, gives her testimony in court. Rwanda's Justice 
Minister has welcomed the trial in Belgium but has queried whether the jury 
really has a grasp of the 1994 genocide. 2 May: Beginning of the third week 
of the trial and generally-speaking there has been a positive attitude 
during the proceedings. The jury in particular is noted as being 
particularly attentive and have asked a number of pertinent questions to 
help the members understand better the background to the events which took 
place so far away. Evidence has frequently been accompanied by a great deal 
of emotion. Today, a former Rwandan government minister being tried on 
charges related to the 1994 massacre of 5,000 people in Rwanda denies that 
he had ordered a Tutsi family of eight killed to get a lake view from his 
villa. Alphonse Higaniro, on trial in Belgium along with three other 
Rwandans accused of helping Hutu radicals kill ethnic Tutsis and Hutu 
moderates, says his villa already had a view of Lake Kivu near Gisenyi, a 
town in the central African country. "I don't understand the reasoning," 
says Higaniro, testifying for the first time in the landmark trial. 
Higaniro says the accusation does not make sense because the family living 
in the villa only rented it. "I don't know how I was to have done it, given 
that he was not the owner of the place," he says. Higaniro, 52, transport 
minister under President Juvenal Habyarimana, whose death in a plane crash 
set off the genocide in April 1994, is alleged to have ordered the killing 
of a medical assistant, his wife and six children who were living in the 
villa. Three of the children managed to escape, while a fourth remains 
severely disabled from injuries suffered at the hands of machete-wielding 
Hutus. Higaniro, who was appointed by the government to run a match factory 
after being removed from the transport ministry, also denies charges that 
he knowingly let militiamen use the factory as a base for their activities 
in the southern town of Butare. "I have no knowledge of it," he says, 
explaining that he was not in Butare when the massacres began. Higaniro 
also denied charges that he helped incite the country's Hutu majority to 
kill the Tutsi minority during the Rwandan civil war.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 
3 May 2001)

* Sahara occidental. Prisonniers de guerre  -  Le 26 avril, le Conseil de 
sécurité de l'Onu a demandé au Maroc et au Front Polisario de libérer 
immédiatement environ 1.500 prisonniers de guerre toujours détenus par les 
deux camps. Après un exposé sur les derniers événements au Sahara 
occidental, les membres du Conseil ont estimé que la question des 
prisonniers de guerre n'était pas liée aux considérations politiques et 
qu'elle devait être résolue de toute urgence. Le 14 décembre dernier, le 
Front Polisario avait libéré 201 prisonniers; plus de la moitié d'entre eux 
étaient emprisonnés depuis plus de 20 ans. - Le 28 avril, le Conseil de 
sécurité a prolongé de deux mois le mandat de la Mission de l'Onu. Il a 
également appelé le Maroc et le Polisario a trouver une solution 
politique.   (AP, 27-28 avril 2001)

* Sénégal. Développement rural  -  Le Fonds africain de développement (FAD) 
a approuvé un prêt de développement rural de 9 millions de dollars visant à 
l'amélioration de la production agricole et des revenus des habitants du 
Bassin Anambe, à Kolda, dans le sud du Sénégal. L'objectif est de réduire 
la pauvreté et de renforcer la sécurité alimentaire. Le prêt servira 
notamment au financement de plans fermiers, d'un programme de formation et 
d'alphabétisation, et de la mise en place d'un système de crédit 
décentralisé. Le FAD est la filiale de la Banque africaine de développement 
offrant de petits prêts et essentiellement axée sur la réduction de la 
pauvreté.   (IRIN, Abidjan, 27 avril 2001)

* Sénégal. Elections  -  Le dimanche 29 avril, quelque 2,8 millions de 
Sénégalais se sont rendus aux urnes pour élire 120 députés. Pour le 
président libéral Abdoulaye Wade, qui a dissous l'Assemblée le 15 février 
et dont le parti emmène une coalition "Sopi" ("changement" en wolof), 
l'enjeu est de mettre fin à la domination du Parti socialiste, qui contrôle 
la Chambre depuis 1960. Le vote a été perturbé par deux attaques, 
attribuées aux indépendantistes, en Casamance, où un soldat a été tué le 
samedi. - 30 avril. Selon des tendances non officielles disponibles, la 
coalition "Sopi", qui regroupe une quarantaine de petites formations autour 
du parti du président Wade, obtiendrait entre 45 et 53% des suffrages. Le 
Parti socialiste n'arriverait qu'en 3e position, derrière l'Alliance des 
forces du progrès (AFP) de l'ancien Premier ministre Moustapha Niasse. Les 
craintes exprimées par l'opposition sur le danger d'un retour à un 
parti-Etat, comme sous l'ancien régime socialiste du président Diouf, n'ont 
donc pas convaincu. Le taux de participation a atteint 66%. - 2 mai. Il 
semble bien que le président Wade sorte grand vainqueur des élections. 
Selon des résultats toujours partiels publiés par les commissions 
départementales de recensement, sa coalition "Sopi" est créditée de 90 
sièges sur les 120 que compte la nouvelle Assemblée nationale. L'AFP en 
obtiendrait 11, et le PS 10. "Le président Wade a donc toutes les cartes en 
main", écrit un journal dakarois.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 2 mai 2001)

* Senegal. Parliamentary elections  -  29 April: Voters cast ballots in 
legislative elections that will decide whether President Abdoulaye Wade can 
gain control of the West African nation's opposition-dominated parliament. 
Wade's Senegal Democratic Party is hoping to gain a majority in the 
120-seat National Assembly, which has traditionally been dominated by the 
Socialist Party. Wade ended 40 years of Socialist Party rule last year by 
winning the presidency. His main competition from among 24 other candidates 
comes from the Alliance of Progressive Forces of Moustapha Niasse. Voting 
began calmly across most of the country Sunday morning, but one soldier was 
killed and several others injured in an attack by suspected rebels, radio 
reports said. 2 May: President Wade now has an overwhelming majority in 
parliament. A multiparty coalition headed by the Senegalese Democratic 
Party has crushed its rivals.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 2 May 2001)

* Sierra Leone. Peace talks in Abuja  -  The Sierra Leonean government and 
rebels are holding talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja to reinforce a 
ceasefire and other steps to end their decade-long conflict. Other 
organisations at the meeting are the United Nations representatives from 
the Organisation of African Unity and the West African regional body 
ECOWAS. Although the ceasefire, agreed in November, is currently holding, 
and the United Nations has deployed troops in parts of the country, the 
rebels still control diamond-rich regions. A leader of the Revolutionary 
United Front delegation at the talks, Omrie Golley, said he hopes they will 
make substantial progress.   (BBC News, UK, 2 May 2001)

* Somalia. A chequered year  -  Somalia's interim government marked the 
first anniversary of the Somali Peace Conference with a big show of support 
in the capital Mogadishu. But the government has had difficulty in 
asserting its authority in Somalia and has so far failed to bring most of 
the country's faction leaders under its wing. However, this did not dampen 
the enthusiasm of the 2 May celebrations. More than 50,000 people took 
part, including thousands of children from schools in the capital. Nearly 
1,000 newly-recruited military men in jungle uniforms marched before 
government officials and delegations from Djibouti and Libya, while dancers 
and singers performed traditional songs. The delegations from Djibouti, led 
by the religious affairs minister Mr Mogeh Dirir, and six Libyan experts 
seemed to have been pleased with the support the new government is enjoying 
among the general public. Somali President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan made a 
long speech thanking the government and the people of Djibouti for their 
help in setting up the interim government. He said that it was impossible 
to solve the problems of a war-rotten country in just one meeting, "and it 
was unfortunate", he said, "that some leaders from governments in the 
region had boycotted the reconciliation conference".   (BBC News, UK, 2 May 
2001)

* South Africa. Top ANC men deny "plot"  -  26 April: Three of South 
Africa's most prominent black businessmen -- Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale 
and Matthews Phosa -- have rejected allegations they were conspiring to 
remove South African President Thabo Mbeki. "I deny allegations of being 
involved in a plot to challenge the presidency of the ANC," Mr Ramaphosa 
said in a statement. South African security minister Steve Tshwete said in 
a television interview that he was concerned that there was a deliberate 
misinformation campaign against Mr Mbeki that could put him in physical 
danger. Mr Phosa was reported in the local press as dismissing talk of a 
plot as "rubbish. The allegations are not worthy of any comment... They 
accuse us of horrendous things and that is a provocation. I am not going to 
jump around as if I am guilty," he said. All three are no longer directly 
involved in politics but they are still members of the ruling African 
National Congress. Security minister Steve Tshwete did not specify exactly 
what the men are thought to have done but it is known that they have had 
presidential aspirations in the past. The same day, President Mbeki and the 
ANC embark of a damage-limitation exercise.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 27 April 
2001)

* South Africa. AIDS affects road transport sector  -  South Africa's road 
transport sector is one of the worst hit by the country's HIV/AIDS 
epidemic, with half the truck drivers surveyed by the Medical Research 
Council infected with the virus. A report, published by the council on 2 
May, said about 56 per cent of truck drivers who visited roadside sex 
workers in the KwaZulu Natal province were HIV positive. By contrast, HIV 
infection in the mining industry is estimated at 25 per cent. The sexual 
habits of truck drivers are blamed for helping to spread HIV/AIDS in 
Southern Africa and for the spread of the virus among rural communities. 
The report coincided with a survey by the South African Institute of Race 
Relations that said South Africa faced negative population growth within 10 
years, mainly as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. By the end of last 
year, about 6m South Africans were estimated to have HIV infection out of a 
total population of 44m. The Actuarial Society of South Africa has 
estimated that population growth in South Africa was 1.9 per cent in 2000 
and would drop to 0 per cent by 2011. KwaZulu Natal, the country's most 
populous province, has the highest HIV infection rate in South Africa, with 
one in three adults infected. At one truck stop, in Newcastle, an 
industrial town midway between Johannesburg and Durban, as many as 95 per 
cent of the truck drivers surveyed had HIV. The study shows that 34 per 
cent of truck drivers always stopped for sex during their journeys and 29 
per cent never used condoms.   (Financial Times, UK, 3 May 2001)

* Sudan. Hijackers face trial  -  The Sudanese authorities have detained 
the hijackers of an Ethiopian aircraft, saying they will stand trial under 
international law. The five hijackers, believed to be armed, were granted 
asylum after they released, unharmed, all passengers and crew on the plane 
which they forced to fly to Khartoum on 26 April. Sudanese Information 
Minister Ghazi Salah al-Din said: "We convinced the hijackers that the best 
offer they can get is fair treatment according to international law and not 
to be turned over to Ethiopia. That's all we offered them." The motive for 
the hijack remains unclear. The plane, which belongs to the Ethiopian Air 
Force, landed in the Sudanese capital at 1820 local time (1520 GMT) after 
being seized on an internal flight. Ghazi Salah al-Din Sudanese information 
minister Sudanese officials had face-to-face talks with one of the 
hijackers, following which all the hostages, believed to number about 50 
people, were released and the group surrendered. Mr Salah al-Din told the 
BBC that Khartoum had remained in close contact with Ethiopia throughout, 
which had supported its handling of the drama. He said the hijackers had 
originally demanded to be flown on to a third country and had also asked 
for visas to both Britain and the United States. But he said the Sudanese 
negotiators had eventually persuaded them to settle for remaining in 
Sudan.   (BBC News, UK. 27 April 2001)

* Soudan/Ethiopie. Avion détourné  -  Le 26 avril, un avion militaire 
éthiopien transportant 56 personnes, des militaires et leurs familles, a 
été détourné sur la capitale soudanaise, Khartoum. Le lendemain, le 
gouvernement soudanais a réussi à dénouer pacifiquement cette affaire, mais 
refusait d'extrader les pirates de l'air, cinq élèves officiers, réclamés 
par Addis Abeba. Le ministre soudanais de l'Information a annoncé que les 
pirates avaient accepté de libérer les otages contre la garantie de ne pas 
être extradés. Ils seront jugés au Soudan. Ce détournement s'est produit 
quelques jours après des affrontements entre jeunes et policiers qui ont 
fait au moins 41 morts la semaine dernière à Addis Abeba.   (ANB-BIA, de 
sources diverses, 28 avril 2001)

Weekly News - anb0503.txt - End of part 4/5