[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Weekly anb10184.txt #7
_____________________________________________________________
WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 18-10-2001 PART #4/7
* Eritrea. Defending political crackdown - The Eritrean Government has
defended a crackdown on dissidents which shows no signs of abating with the
detention of at least three more prominent Eritreans in the past few days.
Eritrean government spokesman Yemane Gebremeskel said that those arrested
had been involved in illegal activities which had endangered the country.
Eleven former ministers, eight journalists and at least four business
people have been arrested in the past month. Mr Yemane said that the
dissidents had gone beyond the law, but would not give any specifics nor
details of the charges they might face. He said other dissidents, who had
gone to live abroad, were free to return to Eritrea, but warned that if
they were guilty of illegal activities they would have to face the law. He
also denied that dissidents in the country were being muzzled by the
government. The latest arrests include Idriss Abaire, the director-general
of the Ministry of Labour who was arrested on 5 October according to
sources close to Mr Idriss. (BBC News, UK, 10 October 2001)
* Erythrée. Employés d'ambassade arrêtés - Deux employés de l'ambassade
des Etats-Unis à Asmara ont été arrêtés le 11 octobre, a-t-on appris de
sources diplomatiques. Les autorités locales n'auraient pas encore fourni
d'explications sur l'arrestation de ces deux personnes de nationalité
érythréenne, qui travaillaient au service politico-économique de
l'ambassade. Selon l'agence italienne Ansa, cette opération "semble être
une continuation des mesures répressives entreprises par le gouvernement
érythréen" qui a récemment interpellé des dissidents politiques et muselé
des journaux indépendants. (Misna, Italie, 17 octobre 2001)
* Ethiopie. Le président gravement malade - Le nouveau président
éthiopien, Girma Woldegiorgis, 77 ans, élu il y a seulement cinq jours, est
gravement malade. Selon des sources hospitalières, il souffre d'une
hypertension artérielle. Soigné d'abord dans un hôpital militaire à Addis
Abeba, il a été évacué en Arabie Saoudite, ont confirmé des sources le 14
octobre. (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 15 octobre 2001)
* Gambie. Election présidentielle
Le président gambien Yahya Jammeh, candidat à sa propre succession à la
présidentielle du jeudi 18 octobre, affrontera quatre candidats dont un
sérieux prétendant, Ousainou Darboe. Darboe, leader du Parti démocrate uni
(UDP), mise surtout sur une coalition de trois partis pour arriver au
changement, comme ce fut le cas au Sénégal voisin. Le scrutin pourrait être
suivi d'un deuxième tour dans les quinze jours, au cas où aucun des
candidats n'aurait franchi la barre des 50%. L'OUA a envoyé une équipe
d'observateurs. Hormis quelques petites échauffourées, la campagne
électorale se déroule dans un calme relatif. Toutefois, le dimanche 14
octobre, plusieurs personnes ont été blessées dans des accrochages entre
supporters rivaux. Le lundi soir, les forces de l'ordre ont tiré en l'air
pour éviter des affrontements. Le 16 octobre, la campagne s'est achevée
dans la violence, avec deux morts lors d'un rassemblement de l'opposition.
Ousainou Darboe a lancé un appel à ses compatriotes, leur demandant de
renoncer à toute violence au cours de l'élection. Les opérations de vote
ont débuté dans le calme tôt jeudi matin à Banjul et sa banlieue avec, dans
certains endroits, plusieurs dizaines de minutes de retard. (ANB-BIA, de
sources diverses, 18 octobre 2001)
* The Gambia. Presidential elections - 15 October: A four-member ECOWAS
delegation is due to arrive in The Gambia mid-week to monitor the 18
October presidential election. The monitors are members of ECOWAS' Council
of Elders, which is part of the 15-member organisations's conflict
prevention and resolution mechanism. Political parties are winding up their
electioneering ahead of the election. Five political parties are fielding
candidates in the poll. President Jammeh is seeking re-election on the
ticket of the ruling Alliance of Patriotic Reorientation and Construction
(APRC). 16 October: There have been clashes between security forces and
opposition supporters ahead of the elections. 18 October: Presidential
elections. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 18 October 2001)
* Ghana. Véhicules controversés - Une enveloppe de 4 millions de dollars,
destinée à l'achat de véhicules au profit des 200 parlementaires du Ghana,
est au centre d'une confrontation entre les députés et la jeune
administration du président Kufuor, qui a déclaré que les députés ne
peuvent pas disposer de cet argent. Selon le Graphic, un journal d'Etat, le
gouvernement a repoussé une décision du ministre des Finances visant à
prêter 20.000 dollars à chaque député pour l'achat d'un véhicule. Un
communiqué a confirmé l'annulation de cette décision par le président
Kufuor. La priorité du président est d'obtenir des véhicules pour la
police. (PANA, Sénégal, 11 octobre 2001)
* Ghana. MPs drive president to anger - Ghana's President John Kufuor is
said to be "furious" over a decision by MPs to give themselves $20,000
loans to buy new cars. But President Kufuor is not alone. Many people who
called into the countless phone-in programmes on Accra's dozen or so FM
radio stations on 10 October, also condemned the MPs for being concerned
only about their comfort. And their anger is directed to both the governing
NPP and the three opposition parties in parliament because the deal has
multi-party backing. According to the arrangements, payment for the cars
would be made directly from the MPs salaries from month to month. The
deductions have been pegged at around 1.2 million cedis, which leaves the
MPs with no more than 100,000 cedis (about $15) for the rest of the month.
No matter how tight-fisted Ghana's MPs may be, even if they worked at night
as magicians, they still could not possibly make 100,000 cedis last them
for more than a few days. As a result, people are concerned that the
arrangement could lead to what one senior official describes as "corruption
borne out of need, but not of greed". But the MPs say everyone is jumping
to unwarranted conclusions. One point, according to deputy majority chief
whip George Kyei-Mensa, is that some MPs have not signed up to take the
loan because either they cannot afford the monthly repayments, or that they
already have cars they are perfectly happy with. Those who take the money
must have other sources of income to enable them keep up with the repayment
schedule. Another point, and this was articulated by Doe Adjaho who comes
from the opposition NDC, is that under the constitution, parliament, the
judiciary and the executive all have equal power. And yet, whereas
ministers, judges and even senior civil servants get cars free from the
state, MPs are paying for theirs. The MPs believe they should be getting
commendation, not condemnation. (BBC News, UK, 11 October 2001)
* Guinée. Référendum constitutionnel - Un référendum constitutionnel, qui
modifierait la durée du mandat présidentiel et permettrait au président
actuel, Lansana Conté, de briguer un troisième mandat, a été fixé au 11
novembre, ont annoncé les médias le 11 octobre. La décision, prise la
veille à l'issue d'une réunion du conseil des ministres, intervient une
semaine après l'annonce par M. Conté qu'il était favorable à une telle
révision. Les partis de l'opposition et le président de l'Assemblée
nationale s'étaient prononcés contre cette révision. L'opposition veut
mobiliser les Guinéens à voter contre l'amendement proposé. Le mandat de M.
Conté expire en 2003. (IRIN, Abidjan, 11 octobre 2001)
* Guinea. Referendum on third term - The government of Guinea says it
wants to hold a referendum to decide whether the constitution should be
changed to allow President Lansana Conte to extend his term of office.
State-run Radio Conakry said the government had proposed holding the
referendum on 11 November. Amending the Guinean constitution would pave the
way for President Conte -- a former military ruler of the country -- to
stand again when his second term as an elected president expires in 2003.
Guinean opposition groups have been campaigning against any attempt to
extend Mr Conte's mandate. (BBC News, UK, 11 October 2001)
* Kenya. Les exportations de thé plongent - Les exportations kényanes de
thé, première source traditionnelle de devises du pays, aujourd'hui
concurrencée par l'horticulture, souffrent de la défection de
l'Afghanistan, troisième client du pays, qui a pratiquement stoppé ses
achats depuis le 11 septembre, selon les professionnels. L'Afghanistan
achète pour au moins 30 millions de dollars de thé par an au Kenya. (Le
Figaro, France, 12 octobre 2001)
* Kenya. UN concerned over police treatment of street children - The UN
Committee on the Rights of the Child has said it is concerned over the
incidence of police brutality against Kenyan children living and working on
the streets. In its "Final Conclusions and Recommendations" on the
implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Kenya, the
Committee said there was inadequate enforcement of existing legislation to
ensure the "physical and mental integrity" of all children was respected.
The Committee added that "greater efforts should be made to prevent all
forms torture, inhuman or degrading treatment by police forces". The
Committee strongly recommended that all appropriate measures be taken to
fully implement the provisions of the Convention. As one of the 191
signatories, Kenya is obliged to submit a report to the Committee, a
component of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on progress on the
Convention's implementation. (IRIN, 15 October 2001)
* Kenya. Sending more Missionaries abroad - In a colorful ceremony held
at the Consolata Shrine, 12 new Kenyan missionaries were sent out to the
world to evangelize. The African agency CISA reported that two nuns, two
religious brothers and eight priests received a mandate to leave their
country to proclaim the Gospel. The celebration was presided over by the
newly ordained Bishop Virgilio Pante of Maralal and marked the conclusion
of the centenary celebrations of the foundation of the Consolata
Missionaries. The Nairobi celebration gathered the four Consolata bishops
-- Ambrose Ravasi of Marsabit, Peter Kihara of Murangia, Auxiliary Anthony
Ireri of Nairobi, and Virgilio Pante of Maralal. It also included the
ordination of Consolata Missionary Father Joseph Otieno, of Nairobi's
Kahawa West parish. There are more than 250 Kenyan missionaries around the
world. More than 70 of them are Consolata priests, brothers and nuns. Two
of the new missionaries are going to Korea. They are among the first
African missionaries sent to Asia. (Zenit, Italy, 17 October 2001)
* Liberia. Starting to rebuild - Residents returning to this
much-fought-over town and surrounding villages have begun cleaning up the
debris of war to make the area inhabitable once again. Zorzor, situated on
the border with Guinea, has been attacked seven times by Liberian rebels
since 1999. "To clean the town is not the problem, the problem is the lack
of shelter for the thousands of people still residing in the bush," said
town chief Paul Howard. He heads the clean-up exercise, which is done every
Saturday. Gun-toting militiamen fighting alongside regular Liberian
soldiers maintain a huge presence in the town since driving dissident
forces away in April. Liberian Defence officials have accompanied members
of the United Nations Panel of Experts on Liberia to Lofa County to see the
effects of the fighting. Youth leader Sumo Gayflor said fighting has
stopped but many people are still too afraid to come to town. Changing
hands between government and rebel troops has reduced Zorzor to rubble.
Buildings are levelled to the ground, vandalised or pock-marked with
bullet-holes. One lady selling oranges in the open said that when she
returned from hiding, she could not recognise the spot where her home once
existed and is now living in her fields. Zubah Johnson, a 75-year-old
father of six, represents the elders on the committee to clean the town. He
said that food has never been a problem in Lofa County "but because of war
we abandoned all our farms and ran for our lives. We can venture into the
bushes and return with at least roots to eat, but medication is out. If any
sickness grabs you, you just have to bear it." (BBC News, UK, 9 October 2001
Weekly anb1018.txt - End of #4/7