Weekly anb06217.txt #8

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 21-06-2001      PART #7/8

* Sudan. Civil war situation worsens  -  14 June: CISA (Kenya) reports that 
intense military activity in Western Bahr el Ghazal since May has displaced 
an estimated 57,000 people who are now in desperate need of humanitarian 
assistance, the Sudan Catholic Information Office has said. Speaking on 13 
June on arrival from Raja, which the SPLA/M captured from the government on 
2 June, the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Rumbek, Ceasar Mazzolari, 
described as "very desperate" the humanitarian situation in the affected 
area. "Mt first appeal is for food to be dropped at Raga to help attract 
the desperate civilians now scattered in the surrounding areas to return to 
their homes (in Raga" said Bishop Mazzolari. 19 June: A report from AP in 
Nairobi says that the UN and other aid agencies have evacuated the key 
southern Sudanese town of Wau, ahead of a SPLA advance.   (ANB-BIA, 
Brussels, 19 June 2001)

* Soudan. Insécurité à Wau  -  Le Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM) a 
annoncé le 19 juin que vingt-quatre expatriés des Nations unies et 
d'organisations non gouvernementales ont été évacués de Wau, dans le 
sud-ouest du Soudan, pour des raisons de sécurité. Wau est une ville clef 
de la région du Bahr el-Ghazal, contrôlée en grande partie par l'Armée de 
libération des peuples du Soudan (SPLA), la rébellion sudiste de John 
Garang. Le PAM a précisé que sur place il reste suffisamment de nourriture 
pour deux ou trois semaines. Médecins sans frontières (MSF) a évacué 
certains de ses employés, mais plusieurs de ses travailleurs soudanais sont 
restés sur place. MSF essaye de revenir à Wau pour continuer son travail 
humanitaire à l'hôpital. Le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR), 
au contraire, "est en train de renforcer ses activités à Wau", a déclaré 
son porte-parole à Nairobi. Ces retraits ont irrité Khartoum qui les estime 
injustifiés et les interprète comme un soutien des humanitaires à la SPLA. 
De son côté, le porte-parole de la SPLA Samson Kwaje, a affirmé que les 
rebelles encerclent la ville, à une dizaine de kilomètres, et contrôlent le 
chemin de fer et les routes d'accès. Le président soudanais Omar al-Béchir, 
en visite à Wau lundi 18 juin, a déclaré que "la bataille pour nettoyer le 
Bahr al-Ghazal de la rébellion a déjà commencé". Il a aussi accusé les 
Etats-Unis d'inciter la SPLA a exiger la fin de l'exploitation pétrolière 
en échange d'un cessez-le-feu.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 20 juin 2001)

* Sudan/USA. "Sudan Peace Act" sails through the House  -  Condemning 
Sudan's genocidal war against its people in southern Sudan, Ed Royce voted 
on 13 June for the Sudan Peace Act, which cleared the House by an 
overwhelming vote of 422-2. Royce, who chairs the House Africa 
subcommittee, managed the bill on the floor. "Sudan is suffering through 
the longest running civil war in the world. The fighting between the 
radical government in the north and forces in the south has led to human 
suffering on a massive scale. It is estimated that more than 2 million 
Sudanese have died of war-related causes since 1983. An estimated 4 million 
Sudanese are internally displaced, with 2 million living in squatter areas 
of Khartoum. Over 3 million Sudanese will require emergency food aid this 
year. Famine is a constant. At a March hearing of the International 
Relations Committee, Secretary of State Colin Powell suggested that Sudan 
is one of the greatest tragedies on the face of the earth. The Secretary is 
right," Royce said. The Sudan Peace Act does several things. Among them: It 
requires companies wishing to raise capital in the US for operations in 
Sudan to enhance their reporting requirements. This disclosure includes the 
nature of those operations and their relationship to violations of 
religious freedom and other human rights in Sudan. This report will be a 
valuable tool in alerting American investors to the nature of their 
potential investment. This should serve as a deterrent to foreign companies 
raising money on US markets for oil development activities in Sudan -- 
activities that unquestionably are intensifying the fighting and human 
suffering in Sudan. It urges the Administration to make available to the 
National Democratic Alliance $10 million dollars in previously appropriated 
funds. This funding can be used to help build the civil society that has 
been devastated in the South. It requires the Administration to develop a 
contingency plan to operate outside of Operation Lifeline Sudan, the 
humanitarian relief effort that has been manipulated by the government of 
Sudan.   (US House of Representatives, 14 June 2001)

* Soudan/USA. Une loi américaine pro-rébellion  -  Le 13 juin, les députés 
américains ont approuvé avec une large majorité le "Sudan Peace Act", une 
loi qui veut soutenir économiquement la rébellion sud-soudanaise, écrit 
l'agence Misna. Cette réglementation impose en outre aux sociétés opérant 
au Soudan de divulguer toutes leurs activités pour être quotées en bourse. 
De cette manière, elles finissent dans la sphère de compétence de la loi, 
qui interdit expressément aux compagnies présentes sur le marché 
actionnaire américain de mener des affaires liées à l'exploitation des 
ressources pétrolières soudanaises. S'il est également approuvé par le 
Sénat américain, le Sudan Peace Act permettra aux rebelles du Sud-Soudan 
d'accéder dans de très brefs délais à un financement d'environ 10 millions 
de dollars. - D'autre part, le 17 juin, John Garang, le chef des rebelles 
du SPLA, a affirmé que les compagnies pétrolières étrangères qui opèrent 
dans le sud du pays, étaient des "cibles légitimes". Selon lui, le 
gouvernement est "responsable des pertes que pourraient subir les ouvriers 
et les compagnies". Le Soudan, devenu exportateur de pétrole depuis 1999, 
grâce notamment à des sociétés chinoise, canadienne, malaisienne et 
suédoise, produit 205.000 barils/jour, dont 145.000 sont 
exportés.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 18 juin 2001)

* Sudan/USA. US business gears up to derail Sudan delisting law  -  US 
business groups and the Bush administration are gearing up to try to derail 
legislation that would for the first time deprive some foreign companies of 
access to US stock markets if they run foul of US foreign policy. The 
heightened concern comes after Talisman Energy, the Canadian oil company, 
warned this week it would sell its controversial stake in a Sudan oil 
project if the US Congress pushed forward with threats to de-list the 
company from the New York Stock Exchange. Jim Buckee, Talisman chief 
executive, said in Calgary on 18 June that the Sudan Peace Act, passed by 
the House of Representatives last week on a 422-2 vote, could force the 
company to pull out of Sudan rather than risk losing access to US capital 
markets. Mr Buckee said the bill was "dangerous" and would "send a big 
chill through all other foreign investors who potentially want to list in 
the US". US companies are barred from Sudan, and there is growing support 
in Congress for measures that would in effect block foreign companies as 
well. US legislators hope that depriving the Khartoum government of oil 
revenues would end the civil war in Sudan, which has claimed about 2m lives 
during two decades.   (Financial Times, UK, 21 June 2001)

* Tanzania. Illiteracy, poverty cited as causes of child labour  -  They 
work in commercial agriculture, in mines and in quarries. They are also in 
domestic service where some are easily lured into drug trafficking and at 
times, premature sex. Some engage in absolute prostitution while others 
wait in restaurants or work in garages. Whatever their preoccupation, child 
labourers do not pay pension contributions, income tax or health insurance. 
Official figures show that more than 450,000 such children are engaged in 
various commercial activities and may ironically be contributing millions 
of shillings to the informal economy. They are among a record 4.1 million 
out of an estimated 10.2 million children aged between five and 14 who are 
not attending school, according to preliminary data from the country's 
2000-2001 Child Labour Survey. Instead of learning, most of them are 
engaged in economic activities or in housekeeping. Often putting in long 
hours with little return, the children turn to this kind of employment as a 
last resort, a survival strategy against life's daunting problems. 
According to a survey by the regional office of the International Labour 
Organisation (ILO) in Dar es Salaam, declining household income is among 
the chief motivating reasons behind Tanzania's child labour situation. This 
makes it difficult for parents to meet their basic family obligations. 
Poverty levels have increased sharply in Tanzania since the 1990s, from 48 
percent to 56 percent now. The ILO says HIV/AIDS pandemic has also impacted 
negatively on life expectancy and mortality rates, and which when combined 
with a low level of income and population increase has reduced overall 
human welfare.   (PANA, Senegal, 21 June 2001)

* Tchad. Difficile contestation  -  Le 15 juin, le Comité politique 
d'action et de liaison (CPAL), qui regroupe quatre mouvements d'opposition 
tchadiens, a estimé dans un communiqué "nulles et non avenues" les 
dernières élections tchadiennes qui ont vu la réélection du président 
sortant Idriss Déby. Au même moment, une "grève d'avertissement", lancée à 
l'encontre du pouvoir par les candidats de l'opposition, devait se dérouler 
dans la capitale tchadienne, mais elle a été peu suivie. Le lundi 18 juin, 
qui avait été décrété "journée pays mort" par l'opposition, l'activité 
était quasiment normale au Tchad: l'ensemble des commerces, marchés et 
banques étaient ouverts comme à l'accoutumée et les taxis et bus roulaient 
normalement.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 18 juin 2001)

* Chad. Finance secured for pipeline  -  ABN Amro has completed 
arrangements for a $600m project financing agreement to enable work to 
begin on the controversial oil pipeline from land-locked Chad to the 
Atlantic coast off Cameroon. It has taken ABN Amro and Crédit Agricole 
Indosuez 31/2 years to conclude the complex deal, which brings together the 
World Bank, the European Investment Bank, and the US and French export 
credit agencies as well as the three oil multinationals with equity in the 
development. A syndicate of 16 other banks is also contributing. The 
agreement should finally enable Chad, one of Africa's poorest countries, to 
exploit oil first discovered in the Doba basin more than three decades ago. 
The 1,080km pipeline will transport this from Doba down through the 
Cameroonian rainforest to an offshore storage and export facility in the 
Atlantic. It is due to be completed by 2003, with production at Doba 
estimated at 225,000 b/d and potential earnings for Chad of around $2bn 
during a 25-year production period. Until now, the project has faced 
numerous setbacks and delays. Environmentalists mounted stiff opposition, 
raising questions about the potential impact on Cameroon's diminishing 
rainforests and their remote pygmy inhabitants. There were also concerns 
about Chad's stability, with an upsurge of rebel opposition to the 
entrenched regime of President Idriss Deby in recent years in the northern, 
desert part of the country. Inhabitants of the southern region around Doba 
had meanwhile taken a cue from local activists in Nigeria's impoverished 
oil-producing Niger Delta, demanding that they be fairly compensated for 
hosting the development.   (Financial Times, UK, 21 June 2001)

* Tunisie. Grèves de la faim en série  -  Quatre militants tunisiens de 
défense des droits de l'homme et de RAID (Attac-Tunisie, non reconnu) ont 
annoncé qu'ils entament, le 14 juin, une grève de la faim illimitée pour 
obtenir la restitution de leurs passeports "arbitrairement confisqués" par 
le ministère de l'Intérieur, indique le journal Le Monde. Parmi eux, 
l'artiste-peintre Sadri Khiari, membre fondateur du Conseil national pour 
les libertés en Tunisie (non reconnu). Dans les prisons, pendant ce temps, 
les grèves de la faim se multiplient, avec comme objectif principal une 
amnistie générale (notamment la libération des prisonniers d'opinion et 
l'annulation des poursuites à l'encontre des défenseurs des droits 
humains). Ali Larayedh, ex-porte-parole du mouvement islamiste interdit 
Ennahda, emprisonné depuis plus de dix ans dans une cellule individuelle, 
refuse de s'alimenter depuis le 7 juin. 200 autres sympathisants d'Ennahda 
observeraient en ce moment un mouvement identique. - D'autre part, le 19 
juin, l'opposant tunisien Mohamed Mouada, du Mouvement des démocrates 
socialistes, a été arrêté suite à l'annulation d'une liberté conditionnelle 
accordée après sa condamnation à onze ans de prison en 1996. Il se verrait 
reprocher une alliance avec le mouvement islamiste Ennahda. Par ailleurs, 
le défenseur des droits de l'homme Moncef Marzouki, condamné en 2000 à un 
an de prison mais laissé en liberté, doit comparaître le 23 juin devant la 
cour d'appel de Tunis.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 21 juin 2001)

* Uganda. Deteriorating situation in camps  -  MISNA reports that 14 
Catholic priests from Katakwi District in Eastern Uganda have petitioned 
President Mugabe over the plight of people living in camps organised for 
internally displaced people. There are over 50,000 people displaced in 
Katakwi District alone, living in 37 camps. The priests say the people have 
been there since 1986 when the National Resistance Army took power. The 
commissioner for the Ugandan Human Rights who visited the camps described 
the situation as pathetic. People look desperate and are facing serious 
food shortages and a looming health epidemic.   (MISNA, Italy, 18 June 2001)

Weekly anb0621.txt - #7/8