Weekly anb09201.txt #6

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 20-09-2001      PART #1/ 6

* Africa. UN Special Session on Children  -  On 12 September, the United 
Nations General Assembly postponed next week's Special Session on children, 
in recognition of the terrorist attacks against the USA. UNICEF's Executive 
Director, Carol Bellamy, said: "We are all touched by the events that 
struck new York and the US on 11 September. We strongly support the General 
Assembly in its decision to postpone the summit on children. The city of 
New York needs to focus its energies on more urgent matters right now. This 
is a postponement, not a cancellation".   (IRIN, 14 September 2001)

* Afrique lusophone. Sida  -  Le 12 septembre, le gouvernement brésilien et 
l'organisation Médecins sans frontières (MSF) ont signé un accord de 
transfert de technologie et de formation professionnelle pour la lutte 
contre le sida dans les pays africains de langue portugaise. L'accord a 
pour but "de renforcer les programmes de lutte contre le sida et de 
partager les expériences du gouvernement brésilien et de MSF dans ces 
pays", a indiqué le ministère brésilien de la Santé. L'objectif de MSF est 
de signer "à moyen terme un accord pour racheter des médicaments génériques 
brésiliens, ce qui n'a pu encore se faire car il existe une pression énorme 
des laboratoires", d'après le ministère brésilien. Le Brésil a lancé sa 
propre production de médicaments génériques anti-rétroviraux afin de 
fournir des soins gratuits à ses malades.   (La Libre Belgique, 15 
septembre 2001)

* Africa. OAU -- Term of Secretary-General ends  -  An Ivorian diplomat, 
Amara Essy, has been appointed to replace Dr Salim Ahmed Salim as the 
secretary general of the Organisation of African Unity OAU. Mr Essy will 
serve in the post for a year to usher in the new Africa Union. Dr Salim, a 
Tanzanian, ended his term of office on 17 September after twelve years in 
the post. He said he was very proud the OAU had facilitated the ending of 
colonialism and racism in Africa.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 18 September 2001)

* Africa/UK. Blair meets African reformers  -  The British prime minister, 
Tony Blair, has met six African presidents for talks at his country 
residence. The leaders of Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Botswana, Senegal, and 
Mozambique were invited by Mr Blair to share their views on the development 
of Africa. Mr Blair has named African development as a personal priority in 
his second term of office and correspondents say the African leaders are 
keen to create an image of stability in their countries to attract 
much-needed foreign assistance. The six African leaders and Mr Blair also 
condemned the attacks on the United States and pledged to work to "rid the 
world of the evils of terrorism". In a joint statement, they condemned the 
attacks "in the strongest possible terms. We consider these to have been 
attacks on the whole of the international community and on people of all 
faiths and cultures," the statement said. "We stand together today in 
solidarity with the United States in our determination that those 
responsible should be brought to justice." The meeting, which took place at 
Mr Blair's official country residence, Chequers, had been planned long 
before the 11 September attacks.   (BBC News, UK, 18 September 2001)

* Africa. N. Africa seeks US aid for militant crackdown  -  North African 
countries are using last week's attacks in New York and Washington to try 
to persuade the US and European states to crack down on opposition 
activists living overseas and, in the case of Algeria, to supply weaponry 
to combat Islamist militants active at home. Earlier this week Algeria is 
reported to have given US officials a list of 350 militants wanted by the 
military-backed regime who, it says, are active in the west. At the same 
time, the Algerian regime reiterated its request for sophisticated military 
hardware, such as night-vision equipment, to help combat a near 10-year 
insurgency that has been fought by Islamist militants. Until now, the US 
has resisted Algeria's requests for such equipment on human rights grounds. 
"The North African countries are going to have to be very careful in 
supporting the Americans too proactively," says one European diplomat. "But 
at the same time some of the countries, like Algeria, recognise that there 
is an opportunity to say: "Look, you give us the equipment and we'll solve 
our own terrorist problem which prevents them from going abroad"," the 
diplomat says. Elsewhere in the wake of the attacks, Egyptian officials 
have repeated the accusation that France and the UK are harbouring 
"terrorists" by granting Islamists political asylum. One of those 
responsible for crashing an aircraft into the World Trade Centre, Muhammed 
Atta, is believed to have been born in Egypt. "What if these guys arrested 
in Hamburg are found to have received political asylum in Germany; is 
Germany going to be a target? What about England which has granted asylum 
to many terrorists?" one Egyptian official said last week. Similar 
sentiment has been voiced over recent years by Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian 
president, to governments in Europe. Neither Morocco nor Tunisia has the 
same militant tradition as Algeria or Egypt and no Moroccans or Tunisians 
have yet been named as being among the suspects. But two suicide bombers 
linked to Mr Bin Laden who last week blew themselves up and killed Ahmed 
Shah Masood, the Afghan opposition leader, were reported to have been 
Moroccan. Similarly, at least one of those held in Belgium in sweeps 
co-ordinated in the wake of the bombings is believed to have been Tunisian. 
Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of al-Nahda, Tunisia's main Islamist group, 
lives in exile in London and has been the subject of repeated extradition 
requests by the Tunisian government of Zinel Abdin Ben Ali. The UK 
authorities have so far resisted the requests and seem likely to continue 
to do so.   (Financial Times, UK, 19 September 2001)

* Afrique/Etats-Unis. Après les attentats  -  Divers pays africains ont 
encore exprimé leur solidarité avec les Etats-Unis après les attentats qui 
ont frappé ce pays. Ainsi, le 16 septembre au Maroc, une cérémonie 
oecuménique à laquelle ont participé les fidèles des trois religions 
monothéistes, a été organisée dans la cathédrale de Rabat à la mémoire des 
victimes. Le gouvernement algérien a indiqué que les tragiques événements 
impliquaient "l'urgente et impérieuse nécessité d'une action universelle 
dans le cadre d'une stratégie concertée sous l'égide des Nations unies". En 
Libye, le colonel Kadhafi a réitéré ses condoléances et appelé à une 
réunion sur les motifs du terrorisme. Le président zambien a promis l'aide 
de son pays pour combattre le terrorisme. Le Soudan a renforcé les mesures 
de sécurité dans les aéroports et ports maritimes pour contrecarrer une 
infiltration possible de terroristes. Au Nigeria, bien que certains 
musulmans aient montré leur joie à l'annonce de l'attentat, la principale 
organisation islamique a condamné sans réserves cet acte de barbarie. Le 18 
septembre, les Tanzaniens ont observé une journée de deuil et leur 
président a lancé un appel à la communauté internationale pour qu'elle se 
regroupe derrière les Etats-Unis pour traquer les terroristes. Le 19 
septembre, le président sénégalais M. Wade a proposé à son homologue 
zambien M. Chiluba, président en exercice de l'Union africaine, un pacte 
africain contre le terrorisme.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 19 
septembre 2001)

* Algérie. Faux repentis  -  La police algérienne a affirmé, le 15 
septembre, que "des terroristes repentis avaient rejoint de nouveau les 
groupes armés", sans en préciser le nombre exact. Quelque six mille 
islamistes armés avaient bénéficié de la "loi sur la concorde civile" du 
président Bouteflika. Parallèlement, il avait libéré des milliers de 
condamnés impliqués dans le soutien à des groupes armés.   (Le Figaro, 
France, 17 septembre 2001)

* Algérie. Menaces islamistes  -  Le Groupe salafiste pour la prédication 
et le combat (GSPC) d'Hassan Hattab, qui opère toujours en Kabylie, a 
menacé de s'en prendre aux intérêts américains et européens en Algérie si 
ces pays mettaient à exécution leurs menaces de représailles contre "les 
pays musulmans et arabes". - D'autre part, dans la nuit du 16 au 17 
septembre, six personnes d'une même famille, ainsi qu'un jeune homme de 20 
ans et une jeune fille de 17 ans, ont été assassinées par balles dans une 
cité de Sig, près de Mascara (360 km à l'ouest d'Alger). Cette tuerie porte 
à 78 le nombre des tués dans des violences en Algérie depuis le début du 
mois de septembre. - 28 islamistes ont été abattus par l'armée dans une 
vaste opération de ratissage dans les Monts Boukhil, situés entre Djelfa et 
Laghouat dans le sud algérien, a-t-on appris de bonnes sources le 18 
septembre. Cette opération ciblait des éléments appartenant au GSPC. 
L'armée a utilisé des moyens héliportés pour venir au bout du 
groupe.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 18 septembre 2001)

* Algeria. Tackling Islamic militants  -  Security officials in Algeria 
have claimed a military success against an Islamist militant group that has 
been waging a war of insurgency for the past nine years. They said the army 
had killed at least 28 rebels belonging to the second biggest Islamist 
faction, the Salafist Group or GSPC, to the south of the capital, Algiers. 
The victory claim follows growing criticism of the authorities over their 
failure to put an end to endemic terrorism in Algeria in which an estimate 
150,000 people have been killed. Reports are rare in Algeria of military 
successes against Islamist rebels and this claim of victory is fortuitous 
for the government which is facing a wave of criticism. The contrast is 
being made between, on the hand, the Algerian authorities inability to have 
any impact on the country's endemic terrorism, and, on the other hand, the 
forceful approach being taken by President Bush following the terrorist 
attacks on New York and Washington.   (BBC News, UK, 18 September 2001)

* Angola. Savimbi hospitalisé?  -  Jonas Savimbi, le dirigeant du mouvement 
rebelle Unita, que l'on n'a plus vu en public depuis l'été 1999, est 
hospitalisé depuis le début du mois à Johannesburg (Afrique du Sud), selon 
l'hebdomadaire portugais Expresso. Il serait accompagné du secrétaire 
général et de hauts responsables de l'Unita. Ces informations ont été 
confirmées à Expresso par le révérend Chicane, conseiller du président 
sud-africain Thabo Mbeki et par un général de l'armée angolaise.   (La 
Libre Belgique, 17 septembre 2001)

* Burkina Faso/Togo. Burkinabe group appeals to Togo's President to release 
Agboyibo  -  A group of eight opposition parties from Burkina Faso known as 
the "February 14", has appealed to Togolese President Gnassigbe Eyadema to 
release the leader of the Action Committee for Regeneration (ACR), Yawovi 
Agboyibo, unconditionally. In an open letter to Eyadema published on 19 
September, the group declared that Agboyibo's six-month imprisonment "is 
not only a settling of old scores, but also a cowardly act to remove an 
embarrassing opponent from the political scene" at a time when Togo is 
about to opt for a democratic change in power. It pointed out that prime 
minister Kodjo Messan (initiator of the trial and native of the same 
electoral constituency as Agboyibo) has used justice to eliminate a 
political rival. According to the letter, the arrest and "hasty" conviction 
of Agboyibo was a culmination of the travesty of justice.   (PANA, Senegal, 
19 September 2001)

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