[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Weekly anb06214.txt #8
_____________________________________________________________
WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 21-06-2001 PART #4/8
* Congo (RDC). Devastating human toll in east - On 19 June, Amnesty
International published a Press Release appealing to the different armed
forces fighting in eastern Congo RDC to halt further killings and other
mass human rights abuses against unarmed civilians. In a newly published
report: "Rwandese-controlled eastern RDC: Devastating human toll", Amnesty
International said that the killing of thousands of Congolese civilians
trapped in the middle of this destructive fighting, cannot be justified by
the Rwandese Government and the allied Congolese Rally for Democracy-Goma
authorities on the basis of security threats to Rwanda's borders. The
abuses cannot be justified either by the Rwandese and Burundian-Hutu
dominated armed opposition groups and the Congolese Mayi-Mayi militia who
are fighting to throw out the Rwandese forces and their RCD-Goma
allies. (Amnesty International, 19 June 2001)
* Congo (RDC). Autres retraits de troupes? - Le 19 juin à Bruxelles, le
président angolais dos Santos a déclaré qu'il avait bon espoir que toutes
les troupes étrangères se retireraient de la RDC sans toutefois préciser
quand. L'Angola fera de son mieux pour respecter les engagements auxquels
il a souscrit en signant l'accord de Lusaka, a-t-il assuré. "Tout le monde
sait pertinemment qu'un retrait des troupes angolaises et zimbabwéennes
avant la conclusion d'un accord politique pourrait entraîner des risques
d'implosion",a ajouté le ministre belge des Affaires étrangères, Louis
Michel. Parallèlement, le ministre angolais des Affaires étrangères a
indiqué qu'il n'y avait "aucun problème" entre les troupes angolaises et
zimbabwéennes stationnées en RDC. - D'autre part, le Rwanda a réaffirmé
avoir besoin de garanties sécuritaires de la part de Kinshasa avant de
retirer l'ensemble de ses troupes de la RDC. "Le Rwanda se retirera du
Congo lorsque les forces génocidaires, armées et soutenues par le
gouvernement de Kinshasa, ne constitueront plus une menace pour sa
sécurité", a affirmé un porte-parole du président. (ANB-BIA, de sources
diverses, 19 juin 2001)
* Congo (RDC). UN boat completes historic Congo trip - A UN barge has
reached the eastern Congolese city of Kisangani in a voyage which marked
the reopening of the Congo river, one of Africa's most important trade
routes. Crowds lined the rivers' banks to welcome the boat, which has taken
12 days to reach the rebel-held city. It is the first recorded journey to
cross between government and rebel-held territory since the route became
impassable almost three years ago because of the war. Aid agencies hope the
reopening of the river will mean more food gets through to areas like the
capital Kinshasa, where war has left many people going hungry. The barge's
journey, which was agreed to by both warring sides, also lifted hopes of
further moves towards peace. The fuel barge left the government-controlled
city of Mbandaka, about one-third the way from Kinshasa to Kisangani, on
June 7. Boats have regularly travelled sections of the river, but the UN
barge was the first to openly cross from one side of the country to the
other. (BBC News, UK, 19 June 2001)
* Congo (RDC). Trafic sur le fleuve - Le 19 juin à Kisangani, le Bateau
de la paix, chargé par la Monuc d'initier la réouverture du trafic sur le
fleuve Congo entre Kinshasa et Kisangani, a été accueilli par une foule en
liesse. Le convoi était composé d'une barge transportant du carburant et
d'un pousseur où avaient pris place trois observateurs de l'Onu. Il était
parti de Mbandaka il y a 12 jours. A leur arrivée à Kisangani, les membres
du convoi ont indiqué qu'ils ont été bien reçus par les populations
riveraines et tous les responsables militaires et civils rencontrés durant
le voyage. (PANA, Sénégal, 20 juin 2001)
* Côte d'Ivoire. War against fight child trafficking - The government of
Côte d'Ivoire has warned police chiefs, customs officers and the heads of
local administrations that they must take child trafficking seriously. The
Ivorian Government has been hugely upset by the international reaction to a
recent film highlighting the treatment of young Malian workers on its cocoa
plantations. Senior members of the government have been sent off round the
world to try to repair the damage done by what it considers an unjust slur
on its reputation. The message from the government is that it should be
seen as the victim, not the perpetrator of child trafficking. It says that
it had no idea what was going on on its plantations, and that, if there are
child slaves in Côte d'Ivoire, then they are only to be found on
plantations owned by foreigners. The government claims that Malians and
Burkinabe bring their young relatives to Côte d'Ivoire to work for them
without wages. The authorities are already claiming some success in
intercepting and sending back groups of children. Now they have summoned
all the law enforcement agencies to a meeting to lecture them on the need
to take child trafficking seriously, to arrest the perpetrators, and take
the children into custody until they can be handed over to their consular
authorities. The government is also threatening to prosecute transporters
and impound their vehicles if groups of children are found on board. (BBC
News, UK, 15 June 2001)
* Côte d'Ivoire. Coming in from the cold - Côte d'Ivoire's President
Laurent Gbagbo is starting a week long visit to France, the first of its
kind since he was elected in October last year. It is officially being
classed as a private visit, but he is due to meet President Jaques Chirac,
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and other members of the government. - Côte
d'Ivoire is finally coming in from the cold after three years of poor
relations with its main overseas donors. Years which have seen a major
corruption scandal and a coup d'etat and then the events of last October, a
deeply flawed presidential election swiftly followed by a popular uprising
and an eruption of ethnic violence. France and other donors have been
pressing for better financial discipline and for signs that the government
really wants to achieve national reconciliation after the very divisive
events of last year. France finally announced last week that it was
resuming government to government aid and the European Union is expected to
make a similar announcement within the next week. (BBC News, UK, 18 June
2001)
* Côte d'Ivoire. M. Gbagbo à Paris - En visite en France pour cinq jours
depuis le 17 juin, le président ivoirien Laurent Gbagbo, lors d'un déjeuner
de travail lundi 18, a demandé au président Chirac d'intervenir pour une
normalisation des relations entre la Côte d'Ivoire et l'Union européenne,
fortement réduites depuis le coup d'Etat de décembre 1999. M. Gbagbo, qui
sera reçu par M. Jospin et divers ministres, aura aussi des contacts avec
des décideurs économiques. "Je suis venu demander à la France de faire en
sorte que l'Union européenne cesse son boycottage qui n'a aucune raison
d'être", a-t-il déclaré au quotidien Le Monde. (ANB-BIA, de sources
diverses, 20 juin 2001)
* Egypte. Féministe jugée pour apostasie - Le 18 juin, Nawal-al-Saadawi,
célèbre militante féministe égyptienne, a comparu devant le tribunal des
affaires familiales du Caire qui examinait l'annulation de son mariage avec
l'intellectuel Chérif Hetata pour apostasie. L'avocat Nabih al-Wahch, qui a
bâti sa réputation sur des actions en justice contre des personnalités,
accuse la féministe d'avoir "renié les préceptes de la religion et méprisé
l'islam" en prétendant que le pèlerinage à La Mecque "est un reste de
paganisme". Elle aurait aussi déclaré que le Coran ne mentionne aucune
obligation de porter le hijab (foulard islamique). L'avocat a fait valoir
que le droit égyptien, inspiré par la charia (loi islamique), interdit à
l'homme le mariage avec une femme qui n'est pas croyante. Les juges se
prononceront sur la recevabilité de cette plainte le 9
juillet. (Libération, France, 19 juin 2001)
* Ethiopie. Campagne anti-corruption - L'Ethiopie perd chaque année 25
millions de dollars en raison de l'extraction et de la vente illégale d'or,
a révélé le ministère éthiopien des Mines et de l'Energie. Plus de 100.000
personnes seraient engagées dans l'extraction illégale de l'or en Ethiopie.
D'autre part, le Front démocratique des peuples du sud de l'Ethiopie, un
des quatre membres de la coalition gouvernementale, a annoncé avoir lancé
une vaste campagne de lutte contre la corruption, le tribalisme et le
nationalisme étroit. Son président, qui est aussi vice-Premier ministre du
gouvernement fédéral, a notamment annoncé la tenue de débats internes
exhaustifs qui se tiendront jusqu'au mois d'août. (ANB-BIA, de sources
diverses, 19 juin 2001)
* Ethiopia/Italy. Italy pressed on Ethiopian obelisk - Reuters says that
two prominent academics have urged Italy's new government to return an
obelisk stolen by Italy from Ethiopia more than 60 years ago on the orders
of dictator Benito Mussolini. Professors Endrias Ashete and Richard
Pankhurst said in a joint letter to Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime
minister, that Italy's failure to honour previous pledges to return the
obelisk had incensed Ethiopians. (Financial Times, UK, 19 June 2001)
* Kenya. Kenya's "most important man" - The most important man in Kenya
ambles into a Nairobi restaurant, looking like a mildly eccentric academic
hunting for a library book. A small, grey-haired, comfortable figure, in a
tweed jacket and thick glasses -- he seems oblivious to the stares and the
nudges that follow him across the room. And it's no wonder they stare.
Depending on who you ask, Professor Yash Ghai is either Kenya's saviour, a
doomed optimist, or a dangerous figure who could help to tear this country
apart. He may not be the most powerful man in town -- far from it -- but he
may well hold this country's future in his hands. Professor Ghai's official
title is "Chairperson of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission." A
more accurate description would be "referee" or perhaps "bouncer" in a
chaotic, frenzied and sometimes sinister struggle to determine the fate of
the Kenyan state. It was last year that the 63 year old constitutional
lawyer was finally persuaded to leave a well-paid job in Hong Kong and
return to his native Kenya to take charge of a floundering and deeply
controversial constitutional review process. Ghai was not short of relevant
experience, having been involved in drafting constitutions for Papua New
Guinea, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Cambodia and others. Ghai immediately
set about trying to broker a truce between two rival constitutional reform
groups -- one made up of Kenyan MPs, the other of church and civic leaders.
After months of bitter wrangling, and escalating violence, the two groups
reluctantly merged. (BBC News, UK, 15 June 2001)
* Lesotho. Western contractors to be put on trial for
bribery - Multinational companies are about to go on trial in Lesotho for
paying huge bribes to a local official,a case without precedent in Africa.
European and Canadian engineering companies, four of them British, are
accused of paying an official about £3 million for contracts for one of the
continent's biggest engineering projects, the £1 billion construction of
huge dams to supply water and electricity to South Africa. (The Guardian,
UK, 19 June 2001)
* Liberia. WHO warns of imminent cholera, diarrhoea outbreak - The World
Health Organisation Wednesday warned that "bloody" diarrhoea and cholera
cases might increase in Liberia during this rainy season. WHO Resident
Representative Andre Ndikuyeze sounded the warning when he presented to the
Liberian health ministry a consignment of oral re-hydration salts,
vaccines, cold boxes, spare parts for water pumps and ringer lactates worth
55,876 US dollars. He, therefore, called for curbing practices associated
with the outbreaks of cholera and bloody diarrhoea during the season.
Ndikuyeze advised that a special focus in combating the imminent outbreak
of cholera and diarrhoea be placed on the internally displaced persons
camped in four regions of Liberia. "Our focus at this specific time is to
support internally displaced persons, so we are presenting several boxes of
health kit to take care of them over a three-month period", Ndikuyeze told
health minister Peter Coleman who received the donation. There are some
60,000 persons uprooted by war in northern Liberia and are now scattered in
areas with inadequate shelter, food, water and sanitation facilities as the
rainy season heads for its peak. Just one-fourth of the residents of
Monrovia benefit from pipe-borne water while most residents depend on water
from hand pumps and wells. Water-borne diseases have ranked among the most
recorded cases at health posts throughout the country, a health ministry
official said. (PANA, Senegal, 21 June 2001)
Weekly anb0621.txt - #4/8