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Weekly anb05235.txt #5
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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 23-05-2001 PART #5/5
* South Africa. Boesak released from jail - South African anti-apartheid
cleric Allan Boesak has been released from jail on parole after serving one
year of a three-year term for theft and fraud. Boesak was greeted by a
small crowd of family members, politicians from the governing African
National Congress and church ministers as he walked from the parole board
offices in Stellenbosch. He continued to main his innocence in comments
after his release. "I don't know how these people who sent me to prison
sleep at night,", he said --but added "I'm not going to waste my time being
bitter." Boesak was a founding member of the anti-apartheid United
Democratic Front and once headed the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.
He was jailed by the apartheid government for his activities and later
travelled internationally to campaign for the ANC. Mr Boesak was jailed
last May on two counts of fraud and stealing funds worth $400,000. (BBC
News, UK, 22 May 2001)
* Afrique du Sud. Boesak libéré sur parole - Le pasteur Allan Boesak,
condamné et emprisonné l'année dernière pour fraude et vol, a été libéré le
22 mai. Grande figure de la lutte anti-apartheid, il avait déjà connu la
prison du temps de ce régime. Condamné à trois années de prison, il en a
fait une seule. Il aurait détourné des dons pour sa Fondation pour la paix
et la justice, argent qui venait e.a. du chanteur Paul Simon. Selon Boesak,
qui a toujours affirmé son innocence, l'argent de Simon était un
cadeau. (D'après De Standaard, Belgique, 22 mai 2001)
* Sudan. Red Cross resumes flights - The International Committee of the
Red Cross says it is resuming humanitarian flights to Sudan. The Red Cross
suspended the flights after a Danish pilot was killed over southern Sudan
two weeks ago. But it said it now had information that that incident was
not pre-meditated, nor was the ICRC being deliberately targeted. Both the
Sudanese government and rebels of Sudan People's Liberation Army have
denied involvement; The Red Cross said the bullets found in the plane's
cabin were that of a light automatic weapon. The co-pilot died instantly
when several missiles struck the Red Cross aircraft, which was flown back
to its base at Lokichokio in northern Kenya by its remaining pilot. (BBC
News, UK, 22 May 2001)
* Sudan. $10 Million OPEC loan - Sudan has obtained a loan of 10 million
US dollars from the OPEC Development Fund to rehabilitate infrastructures
of the Gezira irrigation scheme in central Sudan. Finance minister
Abdulraheem Hamdi said on 22 May that early this year, OPEC had loaned
Khartoum another 22 million dollars to finance the rehabilitation of the
Gezira irrigation systems. He said that Sudan expects to obtain another
OPEC loan of 6 million dollars to rehabilitate other irrigation schemes in
the country. The Gezira irrigation scheme draws its water from the Sennar
Dam on the Blue Nile, 250 km south of Khartoum. The British built the dam
in 1925 to irrigate an area of 3 million acres. But the scheme's water
canals have deteriorated in recent years due to high silting. A lot of
earth-moving had to be done to clear them. (PANA, Senegal, 22 May 2001)
* Tchad. Election présidentielle - Le dimanche 20 mai, les Tchadiens ont
voté dans le calme pour une élection présidentielle, où Idriss Déby
briguait un troisième mandat. La commission électorale avait rejeté une
demande de report du scrutin, présentée par les six candidats d'opposition
accusant Déby de tentatives de fraudes. Selon les observateurs, le taux de
participation était au moins de 50%. Les premiers résultats du vote dans la
capitale sont attendus mardi; pour le reste du pays, il faudra sans doute
attendre une semaine. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 21 mai 2001)
* Chad. Presidential elections - 17 May: President Idriss Deby is seeking
re-election on 20 May in a vote that will decide whether he keeps his hold
on power as new oil wealth promises to transform the desperately poor
Central African country. Deby, 49, seized power in the landlocked former
French colony in 1990 and then won the first multiparty presidential
election in 1996. His opponents alleged fraud. 20 May: Presidential
elections. Idriss Déby appears confident about winning the election.
However, observers point to "poor planning" in the run-up to the election
with he French air force called in to deliver voting material to some of
the more remote areas of the country. If a second round is required, it is
scheduled for 1 July. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 22 May 2001)
* Togo. OAU to hold summit on conflict - A group of African leaders is
gathering in the Togolese capital, Lome, for an emergency summit on ways of
preventing, managing and resolving conflicts. The meeting, which has been
organised by the Organization of African Unity, is to be attended by
leaders from Nigeria, Togo, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, Sudan, Congo, and
Algeria. Representatives from the warring factions in the Democratic
Republic of Congo are also expected to be present. (BBC News, UK, 18 May
2001)
* Tunisie. Code de la presse - Les journalistes tunisiens se déclarent
déçus par une réforme récente du code de la presse et souhaitent qu'il soit
"mis fin au paradoxe entre un discours officiel libéral et la pratique
continue de la censure". Dans une motion publiée le 19 mai par
l'hebdomadaire Ach-Chaab, organe de la centrale syndicale UGTT, les
journalistes réunis en assemblée générale ont critiqué la révision du code
de la presse jugée "en deçà des attentes" et affirmé que leur point de vue
et leurs "suggestions n'ont pas été pris en compte". Dans un entretien à
deux quotidiens nationaux, le 11 mai, le président Ben Ali avait incité la
presse tunisienne à traiter de tous les sujets, affirmant qu'il n'y avait
pas de "tabous" en Tunisie. (Le Monde, France, 22 mai 2001)
* Zambia. Chiluba says: "I will step down" - President Frederick Chiluba
has finally ended the third term debate after reiterating that he will step
down when his second five-year term expires later this year. But not all
Zambians believe that the president is being sincere. Even when Zambia's
newly-appointed vice-president, Enock Kavindele, assured the nation that
the government is working out Chiluba's package in readiness for his
retirement, very few believed him. The opposition Zambia Republican Party's
Chairman for Finance and Economic Affairs, Dean Mung'omba, for instance,
called Chiluba's announcement: A lie. From my long experience with
President Chiluba, I believe the announcement was just a ploy to defuse the
growing tension. It was also made to ensure that the Organisation of
African Unity summit is hosted without any political hurdles" When he
addressed the nation on both radio and television on 4 May, President
Chiluba said he would leave office after his term ends this year. He said:
"Ten years ago when you, the people of Zambia opted for a popular
government, I promised that I would serve faithfully, and that when I have
serve my two terms, I would leave office. That has always been my position,
and that is the only statement I have made." He added that he would retire
from active politics, but only if he is satisfied that there is a smooth
transition of power in the Movement for Multiparty Democracy
(MMD). (Mwana Bwalya, ANB-BIA, Zambia, 15 May 2001)
* Zimbabwe. "Restructuring exercise" at ZBC - Heads are rolling at the
state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. The chairman of the
ZBC's board of governors, Mr Gedion Gono, has fired personnel holding key
posts at the corporation. The "restructuring exercise" is taking place at a
time when the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front needs to
intensify its propaganda and maintain its grip on the electorate in time
for next year's presidential election. The government's image has reached
its lowest ebb since independence in 1980, and the ZBC is losing
advertising. Mr Gono, a respected banker and one of President Mugabe's
favourite advisers has set up what he terms "Strategic Business Units" to
boost ZBC's revenue. Critics say the ZBC is in the red. Until recently, the
Corporation was headed by a Director General. This post has been abolished
and the man at the helm will be a chief executive. Opposition parties,
especially the Movement for Democratic Change, have complained about the
non-coverage of their organisations. (Stan Dongo, ANB-BIA, Zimbabwe, 11
May 2001)
* Zimbabwe. "Arbitrages" des vétérans - Le 17 mai, le gouvernement
zimbabwéen a ordonné aux vétérans de la guerre d'indépendance de mettre fin
à leurs arbitrages dans les conflits de travail au sein des entreprises et
de laisser le ministère du Travail s'en occuper. Depuis le mois d'avril,
les vétérans qui accusent les syndicats officiels de s'intéresser davantage
à la politique qu'aux intérêts des travailleurs, se sont engagés à arbitrer
les conflits de travail. Mais selon les directeurs d'entreprises, ces
arbitrages suscitent surtout des troubles. Certains parlent d'une campagne
de terreur urbaine. En quelques semaines, plus d'une vingtaine
d'entreprises et d'ONG ont été la cible de commandos aux accents guerriers
et souvent xénophobes. Ils surgissent à l'improviste et réclament de
l'argent et la réintégration d'employés licenciés, parfois depuis des
années. En début de semaine, une usine danoise a dû fermer ses portes après
des attaques répétées. Plusieurs ressortissants étrangers ont aussi été
agressés, dont l'ambassadeur du Canada. Longtemps silencieux, le
gouvernement a donc fini par réagir. Le 17 mai, dix personnes ont été
arrêtées à Harare, gage de la nouvelle fermeté du gouvernement. (D'après
PANA et Libération, 18 mai 2001)
Weekly anb0523.txt - #5/5
THE END
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Un homme meurt chaque fois que l'un d'entre nous se tait devant la tyrannie
(W. Soyinka, Prix Nobel litterature) - Everytime somebody keep silent when
faced with tyranny, someone else dies (Wole Syinka, Nobel Prize for
Literature) *
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