Weekly anb09206.txt #6

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 20-09-2001      PART #6/ 6

* Sierra Leone. Disarmament process  -  14 September: There has been 
further progress in the disarmament process in Sierra Leone. Troops from 
the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, UNAMSIL, have been deployed for 
the first time in the diamond-rich town of Tongo in the Kenema district. 18 
September: The Security Council extends the mandate of the UN Mission in 
Sierra Leone for a further six months. At the same time, the Council urged 
the Sierra Leone Government to restore its authority across the 
country.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 19 September 2001)

* Sierra Leone. Réunion tripartite  -  Le 18 septembre, le Front 
révolutionnaire uni (RUF), qui avait boycotté une réunion fixée le 6 
septembre, a indiqué qu'il participera à la rencontre tripartite organisée 
par la mission de l'Onu (Minusil) à Makeni. Parmi d'autres questions, les 
participants discuteront de la libre circulation des personnes et des biens 
à travers le pays, un programme relatif à la tenue d'une conférence 
nationale consultative et l'extension à six mois du mandat du gouvernement 
actuel du Parti populaire sierra-léonais. La délégation gouvernementale est 
conduite par le ministre de la Justice Solomon Berewa, et celle du RUF par 
Mike Lamin, un combattant récemment libéré. -Par ailleurs, le 18 septembre, 
le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies a prolongé de six mois, à partir 
de fin septembre, le mandat des 16.600 casques bleus déployés en Sierra 
Leone.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 20 septembre 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Sida  -  Selon un rapport à paraître du Conseil de la 
recherche médicale, le sida est devenu la principale cause de mortalité en 
Afrique du Sud, avec 40% des décès des personnes âgées entre 15 et 49 ans 
dus à la pandémie. Ce rapport prévoit que, si aucune mesure efficace de 
traitement ou de prévention n'intervient en Afrique du Sud, il aura fait 6 
millions de morts d'ici à 2010. Fin août, la Treatment Action Campaign, 
principale ONG sud-africaine d'aide aux malades du sida, a attaqué le 
gouvernement en justice pour son inaction, alors que les compagnies 
pharmaceutiques sont désormais prêtes à fournir gratuitement des 
traitements.   (Libération, France, 17 septembre 2001)

* South Africa. AIDS named as South Africa's biggest killer  -  AIDS has 
become the biggest single cause of death in South Africa, according to a 
report by the country's Medical Research Council (MRC). Last year 40 per 
cent of adult deaths and 25 per cent of total deaths were AIDS-related. The 
report, titled "The impact of HIV/AIDS on adult mortality in South Africa", 
predicts that between 4m and 7m people will die from the disease by 2010 if 
no effective treatment is provided. Population growth will be halted, it 
adds. "This is a landmark report that has enormous policy implications," 
Malegapuru William Makgoba, the council's president, said on 17 September. 
"It is authentic, scientifically rigorous research: we looked at the 
pattern over a 12-year period." In a letter published last week and written 
in early August to Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the health minister, Thabo 
Mbeki, the South African president, questioned government spending on AIDS, 
based on 1995 mortality figures he had found on the World Health 
Organisation's website. According to these figures, "external causes", 
meaning violent deaths or accidents, were the biggest cause of death, while 
the "HIV disease" only ranked 12th. "Needless to say, these figures will 
provoke a howl of displeasure and a concerted propaganda campaign among 
those who have convinced themselves that HIV/AIDS is the single biggest 
cause of death in our country," Mr Mbeki wrote. The president's letter 
provoked an outcry from opposition parties, doctors and AIDS activist 
groups. Even UNAIDS, the United Nations AIDS agency, said Mr Mbeki had used 
outdated figures and that the number of AIDS deaths had increased 
exponentially since 1995. According to the MRC report, adult AIDS-related 
deaths have increased from 9 per cent in 1995 to 40 per cent last 
year.   (Financial Times, UK, 18 September 2001)

* Soudan. Tourabi: peines prolongées  -  Le 13 septembre, la Cour 
criminelle de Khartoum a prolongé de 15 jours l'assignation à résidence 
surveillée de l'opposant islamiste Hassan al-Tourabi et la détention de 
quatre cadres de son parti, le Congrès national populaire. Le président de 
la cour a pris cette décision à la suite d'une demande du parquet, qui veut 
poursuivre son enquête. M. Tourabi, qui était l'inspirateur du régime 
islamiste soudanais et tout puissant à l'époque, a été arrêté le 21 
février, emprisonné, puis assigné à résidence le 29 mai dans une maison 
appartenant à l'Etat, une mesure considérée comme une détention.   (La 
Libre Belgique, 14 septembre 2001)

* Sudan. Nothing to fear  -  18 September: Sudan's Vice President has said 
that his country is not at risk from attack by the US. Osama Bin Laden, 
held responsible in the US for last week's terrorist strikes, used to be 
based in Sudan. In 1998 a pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum was destroyed 
by US missiles following the blowing up of the US embassies in Kenya and 
Tanzania. But Bin Laden is now thought to be in Afghanistan and the 
Sudanese authorities say he has taken all his supporters with him. Vice 
President Ali Osman Taha said: "We have nothing to fear and there is no 
organisation in Sudan, whether official or otherwise, that is connected 
with what happened in the US." He was also quoted as welcoming a speech in 
which President Bush said that the US would not react indiscriminately to 
the terrorist attacks. -- Uganda has taken the first step towards reopening 
its embassy in Sudan by sending an acting consul to the Sudanese capital 
Khartoum. A Sudanese official said the diplomat Paul Mukumbya would be 
joined by a new Ugandan Charge d'Affaires Abubakar Nadduli later this 
month. Ties between the two countries were severed in 1995 with each 
accusing the other of supporting rebel groups. Two years ago they signed an 
agreement aimed at restoring diplomatic relations.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 18 
September 2001)

* Chad. Former president expelled from opposition coalition  -  Former 
Chadian President Goukouni Oueddei has been expelled from an overseas-based 
opposition coalition, leaving its ranks divided, Radio France 
Internationale (RFI) reported. Antoine Bangui, chairman of the Coordination 
of Opposition Armed Movements and Political Parties, blamed Goukouni 
Oueddei for going it alone, RFI reported the group as saying in a 
communique. Bangui said the ex-president had made contact with other 
Chadian politicians without informing him and was playing into the 
government's hands. There was no immediate reaction from Goukouni. 
Goukouni, a former leader of the rebel Forces Armées Populaires (FAP), 
became president in 1979 at the head of a provisional government made up of 
a coalition of factions. Internal conflict and divisions plagued the 
government and Goukouni fled Chad in 1982 after Hissene Habre's Forces 
Armées du Nord -- for a time part of the coalition -- captured the capital, 
N'Djamena, and Habre declared himself head of state.   (IRIN, 18 September 
2001)

* Western Sahara. Polisario rejects UN peace plan  -  The Polisario 
movement, which has been campaigning for an independent state in the 
Western Sahara for 26 years, has formally rejected a new United Nations 
peace plan. The plan, proposing political autonomy for the region, was 
intended to replace an earlier proposal to resolve the issue of sovereignty 
by a referendum. The latest UN proposals were presented in detail just 
under three weeks ago by the special envoy on the Sahara issue, former US 
Secretary of States James Baker. The key proposal was to replace the 
long-running idea of a referendum by a political arrangement whereby for 
the next five years the Western Sahara would operate as a semi-autonomous 
territory. Morocco would keep its sovereignty and hold onto many of the key 
portfolios, including security, justice and economic affairs. But a 
statement issued on 16 September by the Polisario national secretariat 
states that Mr Baker's draft agreement was unacceptable and a waste of 
time. It called on Saharans to continue the resistance struggle in all its 
forms. That struggle has included over a decade of all-out war, though the 
guns have been mostly silent since 1991 when both sides agreed in principle 
to resolve the issue through the referendum of self-determination, a policy 
which Polisario insists must be maintained. The vote has never been held 
because of persistent disputes on who should be allowed to take part. The 
UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has put his weight behind the Baker plan, 
but he is apparently at odds with some key members of the UN Security 
Council.   (BBC News, UK, 16 September 2001)

* Zimbabwe/UE. Gel des avoirs de Mugabe?  -  Le Parlement européen a 
demandé aux Etats membres de l'Union européenne de "répertorier et geler" 
tous les avoirs détenus en Europe par le président Robert Mugabe, sa 
famille et ses proches collaborateurs, indique un communiqué rendu public 
le 13 septembre à Bruxelles. Le Parlement européen invite par ailleurs le 
Zimbabwe à résoudre le problème de la distribution des terres par des 
mécanismes "légaux, démocratiques et transparents". Il demande aussi à la 
Commission européenne de veiller à ce que l'aide humanitaire et alimentaire 
ne soit pas détournée par les vétérans de la ZANU-PF, et de suspendre 
l'aide au développement jusqu'à ce que la démocratie soit pleinement 
rétablie au Zimbabwe. Le Parlement invite enfin la Banque mondiale et le 
FMI à suspendre tous leurs prêts au gouvernement de Harare. -D'autre part, 
le 14 septembre, deux semaines après avoir accepté de mettre un terme à 
l'acquisition obligatoire de nouvelles fermes appartenant à des Blancs, le 
gouvernement du Zimbabwe a cité 234 fermes commerciales à acquérir de force 
pour la réinsertion des Noirs. Un geste qui risque de provoquer le courroux 
de la Grande-Bretagne. Par ailleurs, le gouvernement a accusé ceux qui 
s'opposent à la réforme agraire de faire de faux rapports sur les saisies 
récentes pour tenter de tromper l'opinion internationale; il a aussi accusé 
les fermiers blancs de fomenter de nouveaux actes de violence dans les 
fermes pour ternir la réputation du gouvernement.   (PANA, Sénégal, 13-14 
septembre 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Inflation  -  Le taux d'inflation au Zimbabwe a augmenté de 
près de 6% en août dernier par rapport au mois précédent, faisant ainsi 
passer le taux annuel de 70,1 à 76%, selon les chiffres du Bureau cental 
des statistiques. La semaine dernière, le prix du pain, un des aliments de 
base, a augmenté pour la huitième fois depuis le début de l'année.   (La 
Libre Belgique, 15 septembre 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Violence continues  -  15 September: Workers' houses on a 
white-owned farm in Zimbabwe have been burnt down, less than a week after 
President Robert Mugabe endorsed a deal designed to end such violence. 
Offices of the Beta farm were also targeted in an attack which left several 
people seriously injured, and possibly two dead, according to the white 
Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU). The CFU says the attacks were carried out 
by self-styled war veterans, who started white farm invasions early last 
year as part of an aggressive land redistribution campaign. The destruction 
of properties on the Beta Farm, in the rural district of Hwedza, 100 
kilometres southeast of Harare, follows a pact brokered in Nigeria by 
Commonwealth leaders to end the violent seizures of Zimbabwean farms in 
exchange for funds from former colonial power Britain for land reform. 
Fearing for his safety, the farm owner had locked himself inside the fence 
surrounding his house, and could not say how many of his 180 workers had 
lost their homes, the CFU said. The Government has listed more than 230 
commercial farms for take-over. 18 September: The ruling ZANU-PF has 
unanimously approved the land deal.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 19 September 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Judge stays on case  -  On 19 September, Zimbabwe's black chief 
justice refused to rescue himself from a court case after rejecting charges 
that he was biased against white farmers who are fighting seizure of their 
land. Godfrey Chidyausiku dismissed an application by the white Commercial 
Farmer's Union (CFU) that he should not be one of five Supreme Court judges 
to hear a government appeal on the legality of President Robert Mugabe's 
land reforms. The CFU said in an affidavit, and its lawyers argued in court 
on 19 September that Mr Chidyausiku's public profile, his close political 
association with Mr Mugabe and his statements endorsing Mr Mugabe's land 
policy called his impartiality into question.   (Financial Times, UK, 20 
September 2001)

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