Weekly anb11153.txt #6

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 15-11-2001      PART #3/6

* Guinée-Bissau. Directeur de journal arrêté  -  Le directeur du journal 
Diario de Bissau, Joao de Barros, a été arrêté le 14 novembre en début 
d'après-midi, a-t-on appris de sources concordantes. Le directeur du 
journal Gazetta de Noticias, Humberto Monteiro, a confirmé cette 
arrestation, ajoutant qu'il courait lui aussi le risque d'être interpellé à 
tout moment. Les deux journaux ont été fermés le 27 octobre dernier sur 
ordonnance du procureur général. M. de Barros avait déjà été arrêté en 
juillet, lorsque son journal avait dénoncé la corruption au sein des 
finances publiques où 15 millions de dollars auraient disparu.   (PANA, 
Sénégal, 14 novembre 2001)

* Guinea Bissau. Ex-judges arrested  -  Two of Guinea-Bissau's most senior 
judges, who were dismissed by the President two months ago, have been 
arrested. They are the former president and vice-president of the Supreme 
Court -- Emiliano Nosolini Reis and Venancio Martins. Also detained was the 
editor of a daily newspaper, Diario de Bissau, Joao de Barros. Criticism 
has been mounting both inside and outside Guinea-Bissau of President Kumba 
Yala's dismissal of three top judges, including Mr Reis and Mr Martins last 
month. The human rights group, Amnesty International, has called the move a 
serious attack on the independence of the judiciary. The president said he 
was acting because the judges were corrupt. But correspondents say there is 
increasing concern in Guinea-Bissau over the president's erratic 
behaviour.   (BBC News, UK, 14 November 2001)

* Kenya. Media owners want Press Bill dropped  -  New media laws proposed 
by the government have been termed as "draconian and unworkable" by Kenya's 
newspaper, radio and television firms. They have vowed to fight the 
proposals and ensure they are not enacted by Parliament. The Media owners 
Association warned that the proposed changes aimed at introducing 
"back-door" control of the media, and frustrating upcoming 
publications.   (Daily Nation, Kenya, 31 October 2001)

* Kenya. "Unless the Lord Builds the House, They Labour In Vain Who 
Build"  -  Kenya's Catholic Bishops have just ended their bi-annual Plenary 
Conference in Nairobi, and in prayerful consideration have discussed how 
the Lord want to build Kenya. In their Message, the Bishops spoke of 
Kenya's economic situation and the importance of working for justice. The 
Bishops said that almost every day presents a challenge for campaigning 
against injustice. They spoke of their concerns regarding security, the 
police, education, forests, abortion, the Fr. John Kaiser case, HIV/AIDS, 
the situation of farmers, etc. The Bishops concluded by saying that "the 
best interests of the country are always in accordance with God's wisdom 
and love".   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 13 November 2001)

* Liberia. Liberia's president brandishes the rod  -  Liberia's President 
Charles Taylor has administered publicly 10 lashes to one of his daughters 
after the school suspended her for indiscipline. The 13-year-old girl 
called Edena was made to lie flat on a table, face down before her 
classmates, to receive the strokes. Many African countries allow corporal 
punishment, though in Liberia the practice has become unfashionable since 
the end of the brutal seven-year civil war. The president said that he 
hoped his action would serve as an encouragement to parents, teachers, and 
guardians to instill discipline in students who appear to be 
uncontrollable. "As president, I have the responsibility not only for my 
children but all children in the country to ensure that the responsibility 
of nationhood will be passed on to reliable custodians." He blamed the 
increasing wave of indiscipline in various schools on the lack of suitable 
punishment. The JJ Roberts School principal, Ruth Doe, said she felt she 
had little alternative but to allow the beating. "In spite of efforts to 
dissuade the president from flogging his daughter in public, he went ahead 
but maintained it would serve as a deterrent to other children," she 
explained. Mrs Doe said, they had suspended the president's daughter along 
with a teenage boy for "displaying improper behaviour" on campus. The JJ 
Roberts foundation School is one of the most respected institutions in the 
country, with high academic standards and strict discipline. President 
Taylor also expressed thanks to the school's administration for their 
patience in dealing with students including his daughter. He later donated 
a 25 seater bus to the school. Corporal punishment used to be a tradition 
in Liberian schools but the emergence of child rights advocacy groups as a 
result of the country's civil war, has made the practice unfashionable. 
Indiscipline has become a major problem in Liberian schools.   (BBC News, 
I>>UK, 9 November 2001)

* Libya. 1986 Berlin disco bombing  -  On 13 November, a German regional 
court said Libya was largely to blame for a bomb explosion in a Berlin 
disco in 1986 that killed three people and heightened tensions at the time 
between Tripoli and the west. In a ruling with significance for the US-led 
campaign against terrorism, the Berlin court found four people guilty of 
involvement in planting the bomb on April 5 1986 in La Belle disco in the 
then West Berlin. The nightclub was frequented by US military personnel. 
Some 230 people were injured in the explosion. A German woman found guilty 
of murder was sentenced to 14 years in prison while a Palestinian, a Libyan 
and a Lebanese-born German were sentenced to between 12 and 14 years for 
attempted murder. A fifth person was acquitted. Judge Peter Marhofer said 
in a statement that "the court was convinced that the Libyan state was at 
least to a large extent responsible" for the disco attack. He said it was 
"planned by members of the Libyan secret service in senior positions in the 
Libyan [embassy] in East Berlin". He added that the four people found 
guilty had been manipulated by the Libyans into planting the 
bomb.   (Financial Times, UK, 14 November 2001)

* Malawi. Churches take up education challenge  -  Educationalist from 
religious organisations in Malawi, have resolved to employ their own 
teachers in schools under their control, in a bid to improve educational 
standards. In a joint meeting of the Malawi Council of Churches and the 
Episcopal Conference of Malawi, the general-secretary of the Malawi Council 
of Churches, Rev. Dr Augustine Msopole said the Association of Christian 
Educators in Malawi, had decided on new measures, in the wake of declining 
educational standards, specially in government schools. The Association 
would also have its own conditions of service. "This is a model of how the 
educational decline can be arrested", said Dr Msopole. He said the 
Livingstonia Synod of the Church of Central African Presbyterian (CCAP) in 
the northern region, had already started employing its own inspectors of 
schools. The Synod was also working on a teacher's guide. Dr Msopole said 
the Churches were going to play a critical role in raisin education 
standards in Malawi.   (Hamilton Vokhiwa, ANB-BIA, Malawi 26 October 2001)

* Malawi. Information technology offers hope  -  Malawi is now turning to 
Information Technology (IT) as a tool for improving the lives of its twelve 
million people. Over half the population live below the poverty line. 
Although requiring much capital and expertise investment, donors and NGOs 
have led the way to show Malawi why it must join the information 
superhighway. Currently, there are 10,000 active users of Internet, and 
eight Internet Service Providers, with an increasing number of clients 
sending and receiving E-Mail. In October, Malawi launched the UNDP-funded 
Sustainable Development Network Programme (SDNP). The SDNP aims to provide, 
enhance and support the access and utilisation of communication through the 
computer, so as to improve the standard of living and socio-cultural 
values. Vice-President Justin Malewezi has said that IT is the "vital 
gateway for sustainable economic and social development. Without improved 
IT, all the government's attempts to bring health, wealth and education to 
all citizens, will be in vain. Information and communication technology are 
not a luxury".   (Hobbs Gama, ANB-BIA, Malawi, 23 October 2001)

* Morocco. Key climate treaty hurdle cleared  -  8 November: Environment 
ministers at the conference on climate change in Marrakech, Morocco, have 
moved a step closer to bringing into force a key treaty to tackle global 
warming. The United Nations conference is attempting to draft the legal 
language to give effect to the Kyoto Protocol, which was signed in the 
Japanese city in 1997. This should pave the way for the protocol's 
ratification next year. Delegates from the European Union and developing 
countries say they are upbeat on the key issue of compliance -- namely the 
commitment by countries to stick to pollution targets and the penalty 
system for those that break the limits. Kyoto would commit signatories to a 
cut in their emissions of greenhouse gases -- believed by many scientists 
to be warming the planet -- by around 2% on 1990 levels. 10 November: All 
night negotiations at the United Nations conference on climate change ended 
early on Saturday in a compromise package, hailed by all parties as paving 
the way for ratification of the Kyoto protocol to reduce global warming. 
Russia and Japan pushed the conference into an extra 12 hours of wrangling 
to win concessions as the price for their crucial role in ratifying the 
controversial protocol, which aims by 2008-2012 to reduce industrialised 
countries' greenhouse gas emissions by a total of 5.2 per cent from their 
1990 level. Russia won its demand to be allowed "credit" for an extra 33m 
tons of carbon a year that it claims environmental management of its vast 
forests will absorb. Japan succeeded in weakening the conditions for 
countries to be able to sell credits for "surplus" emissions or for 
carbon-absorbing sinks. It also got an assurance that sanctions for 
non-compliance -- agreed this week in Marrakech -- would not be increased 
after the treaty was ratified. Both issues were vital for Tokyo, whose 
individual Kyoto target of a 6 per cent pollution reduction is probably the 
toughest to meet because Japan is already relatively 
energy-efficient.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 11 November 2001)

* Maroc. Boukhari sorti de prison  -  L'ex-agent secret Ahmed Boukhari, 
dont les révélations sur l'affaire Ben Barka avaient été publiées fin juin, 
a quitté la prison le 13 novembre, selon ses avocats. Arrêté à la mi-août 
et condamné en appel à trois mois de réclusion pour des chèques sans 
provision qu'il avait émis au début des années 1990, sa détention avait été 
dénoncée par des organisations de défense des droits de l'homme comme une 
mesure de représailles. Il a été dans l'impossibilité de répondre aux 
convocations de la justice française qui souhaite l'entendre au sujet du 
rapt et la disparition de Mehdi Ben Barka en 1965. Contacté après sa 
libération, M. Boukhari n'a pas laissé planer de doute sur ses intentions. 
"Je continuerai à témoigner du passé dans les médias (...) et devant la 
justice française, dès que j'aurai un passeport", a-t-il annoncé.   (Le 
Monde, France, 14-15 novembre 2001)

* Mozambique. 120 Zimbabwéens expulsés  -  Les autorités mozambicaines ont 
expulsé 120 ressortissants zimbabwéens à la suite d'une opération 
coup-de-poing contre les immigrés en situation illégale dans la ville de 
Beira. Des boutiques appartenant à des immigrés ont été fermées, d'autres 
fonctionnaient avec difficulté du fait d'un déficit de personnel, selon le 
journal Diario. Le 7 novembre, la police a reconduit 120 Zimbabwéens à la 
frontière pour les expulser. Une vingtaine de Zambiens pourraient être 
expulsés dans les jours à venir. Les expulsés peuvent emporter leurs biens, 
à condition qu'ils puissent prouver qu'ils sont acquis de manière légale. 
La plupart des personnes que le journal a pu interroger ont nié avoir 
commis un quelconque méfait.   (PANA, Sénégal, 10 novembre 2001)

* Niger. Conférence sur le travail forcé  -  Plus de 70 chefs coutumiers se 
sont rendus à Niamey pour participer à une conférence sur le travail forcé, 
qui a débuté le 13 novembre dans la capitale nigérienne. Durant les trois 
jours de travaux de la conférence, organisée sous l'égide du Bureau 
international du travail, les participants examineront les différents types 
d'asservissement dans le pays. Au programme figure l'esclavage 
traditionnel, pratiqué encore dans certaines localités, ainsi que la 
coercition et la violence que subissent les mineurs, comme la prostitution 
infantile par exemple. La conférence s'adresse aux chefs traditionnels à 
cause de leur influence sur leurs communautés.   (Misna, Italie, 14 
novembre 2001)

Weekly anb115.txt - End of #3/6