Weekly anb11296.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 29-11-2001      PART #6/7

* Afrique du Sud. La politique anti-sida  -  Le 26 novembre, l'association 
d'aide aux malades du sida, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) attaque devant 
un tribunal de Pretoria le gouvernement sud-africain pour le contraindre à 
fournir aux services publics de santé les traitements "bon marché" limitant 
la transmission du virus VIH de la mère à l'enfant. Le président Mbeki a 
récemment jugé que ces médicaments étaient "aussi dangeureux que la 
maladie". En avril dernier, la TAC était pourtant aux côtés du gouvernement 
pour célébrer une victoire commune contre 39 groupes pharmaceutiques 
refusant les médicaments génériques bon marché.   (La Croix, France, 26 
novembre 2001)

* South Africa. Rivals do deal  -  South Africa's ruling party, the ANC, 
has reached a cooperation agreement with the party which brought apartheid 
to South Africa. The deal paves the way for the New National Party (NNP) to 
return to government at all levels as well as giving the ANC a foothold in 
the Western Cape, a key province where it had no governing role before. The 
predecessor of the NNP, the National Party, created and operated apartheid 
from the late 1940s until it began dismantling the system in 1990. After 
all-race elections swept the ANC to power in 1994, it participated in a 
national unity government, until pulling out in 1996. The two parties said 
in a joint statement: "The ANC and the NNP will cooperate in all areas of 
South Africa's political life. The spirit of participatory governance will 
also be reflected in appointments in national government, parliamentary and 
other appropriate structures," the statement said. They also said they 
would rule the Western Cape province in an equally divided coalition. 
Earlier this month, the NNP withdrew from the official opposition, the 
Democratic Alliance, and began talks with the ANC.   (BBC News, UK, 27 
November 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Accord au Cap entre ANC et NNP  -  Le 27 novembre, le 
Congrès national africain (ANC) au pouvoir et le Nouveau Parti national 
(NNP, ancien parti de l'apartheid, ont scellé un rapprochement historique, 
par un accord qui les verra gouverner ensemble dans la province du Cap. 
Résultat d'un mois de négociations depuis l'éclatement de l'alliance 
d'opposition de droite (qui gouvernait le Cap depuis 1999 -seule province 
qui échappait au pouvoir de l'ANC), l'accord prévoit six portefeuilles pour 
chaque parti au cabinet provincial, dont le poste de Premier ministre pour 
le NNP. Il indique aussi que le NNP devrait obtenir un ou plusieurs postes 
ministériels au niveau national lors d'un prochain remaniement. Au sein de 
l'ANC, seule Winnie Mandela, en conflit ouvert avec le président Mbeki, a 
publiquement exprimé sa réprobation. La puissante centrale syndicale 
Cosatu, principal allié de l'ANC, a dans un premier temps qualifié l'accord 
d'"opportuniste", avant de se rallier à l'idée d'un "bloc temporaire et 
tactique" dans la province du Cap. "Mais nous n'accepterons pas que la même 
chose se produise au niveau national", a prévenu le président du 
Cosatu.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 28 novembre 2001)

* South Africa. Requesting help in hosting Earth Summit  -  The South 
African government will ask companies to help foot the bill for the United 
Nations Earth Summit, to be held in Johannesburg next year, Valli Moosa, 
the minister of environment, said on 27 November. Mr Moosa said hosting the 
World Summit on Sustainable Development would cost about $55m. He warned 
the international community that the South African taxpayer could only be 
expected to pay for less than half of this amount. The summit was 
previously held in Rio de Janeiro. South Africa has invested heavily in 
conference infrastructure over the past five years as a means to boost 
tourism and promote the country on the international stage. It has built 
the International Conference Centre in Durban and another facility in 
Johannesburg. A conference centre in Cape Town is also under consideration. 
But the country has struggled to find the resources for large 
inter-governmental conferences. The Earth Summit will cost five times more 
than the UN Conference Against Racism in Durban. The government had 
difficulty raising the funds for the Durban conference and is still 
finalising the cost.   (Financial Times, UK, 28 November 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Mbeki dénonce les erreurs du Zimbabwe  -  Le président 
sud-africain Thabo Mbeki a dénoncé, le 27 novembre, les "mauvaises 
politiques économiques menées depuis deux décennies" au Zimbabwe, à 
l'origine selon lui de sa crise actuelle. Ces propos constituent l'une des 
plus vives critiques publiques du président sud-africain à l'encontre des 
autorités du Zimbabwe.   (La Libre Belgique, 29 novembre 2001)

* South Africa. Joe Modise  -  Johannes (Joe) Modise died on 26 November 
2001 at his home in Pretoria, aged 72. He trod a familiar career path in 
the African National Congress (ANC), from low-paid truck driver to 
liberation activist to high-ranking leader. As the ANC's military 
commander, Joe Modise presided over the setting up of detention camps in 
Tanzania, and the Quattro camp in Angola, where suspected informers and 
dissidents were incarcerated. When the ANC came into office in 1994, 
President Nelson Mandela appointed him Minister of Defence. As minister, he 
presided over the initially bumpy, but eventually successful integration of 
the Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation, or MK), the ANC's armed wing 
with the apartheid army, along with various black ex-homeland guerrilla 
formations.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 29 November 2001)

* South Africa/Belgium. SAB soars on merger report  -  South African 
Breweries (SAB), the world's fifth-largest brewer, saw it stock soar after 
the FT said Interbrew was preparing an acquisition. Interbrew, the brewer 
of Stella Artois, said on 28 November it had undertaken a preliminary study 
of SAB that may or may not lead to a takeover. The Belgian brewer said no 
approach had been made. The acquisition would create the world's 
second-largest brewer, the Financial Times said, citing documents that 
indicated an all-stock offer could be made by December 3 at a price of 
about $5.6 billion. SABwas valued at about $4.8 billion at the close of 
London trading on 27 November. The company's stock rose more than 9 percent 
to 483 pence in midday London trading on 28 November. Interbrew's stock 
dropped 5.1 percent to 27.90 on concerns it may overpay for SAB and could 
be forced to issue shares to pay for any acquisition. "There is fear of 
overpayment," Gerard Rijk, beverages analyst at ING Barings, told Reuters. 
SAB would have a price tag of $5.5 billion to $6 billion but Interbrew does 
not have enough cash and would need to carry out a new share issue or a 
share exchange, diluting the value of its existing stock, Rijk said. 
Interbrew is still involved in a wrangle with British competition 
authorities over its $3.3 billion acquisition of Bass Brewers and has been 
told to sell the Carling brand in Britain. It recently bought German brewer 
Beck's.   (CNN, USA, 29 November 2001)

* Sudan. Nuba welcomes food aid  -  A United Nations-brokered four week 
ceasefire has allowed much-needed emergency supplies to get through to 
Sudan's Nuba mountains. Until last week, they had been cut off by the 
18-year civil war between the Khartoum government and the southern SPLA 
rebels. Hundreds of men, women and children waited patiently for their 
share of the food aid to be doled out by officials. Some had travelled for 
days to get to the distribution point. Many looked gaunt and exhausted. One 
woman told me children were dying in her village because there was not 
enough food for them. The widespread hunger in the Nuba mountains is 
man-made. The Nuba mountains have some of the most fertile lands in Sudan. 
In better years a food surplus is produced here. But a major government 
offensive earlier this year drove farmers from their fields and thousands 
from their homes. It was the latest blow to a people whose unique heritage, 
a mixture of over 50 different tribal groups, has been under threat in 
recent years. Murder, abduction and rape are widespread, as the government 
attempts to exert its control over this remote area. Some have described 
the wholesale assault on the Nubians as nothing less than genocide.The 
airdrop by the World Food Programme offers a glimmer of hope to this 
beleaguered people.   (BBC News, UK, 23 November 2001)

* Soudan. Cessez-le-feu dans les zones pétrolifères?  -  Le gouvernement 
soudanais serait sur le point de proposer un cessez-le-feu dans les zones 
proches des monts Nouba, rapportent des sources journalistiques 
internationales, qui précisent que l'initiative est le résultat d'un accord 
convenu entre le président soudanais et l'envoyé spécial des Etats-Unis, 
John Danforth. L'offensive diplomatique entend ramener la paix dans la zone 
pétrolifère de l'Etat de Ouahda, dans le Sud-Soudan, où interviennent de 
nombreuses entreprises pétrolières. Toutefois, selon des sources au 
Sud-Soudan, l'acceptation d'un tel cessez-le-feu par le SPLA (armée de 
libération populaire du Soudan) s'avérera fort difficile. D'après les 
observateurs, les recettes provenant de l'exploitation du pétrole sont 
investies par Khartoum dans son arsenal militaire.   (MISNA, Italie, 27 
novembre 2001)

* Tanzania. Boosting the tourism industry  -  The 11 September bombing of 
the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, have 
effected Tanzania's tourism industry. Tanzania's efforts to boost the 
industry had attained significant successes. Receipts from tourism had 
started increasing, employment opportunities, either directly or indirectly 
had also increased. In recent years, the tourism industry accounted for 
about 16% of the GDP, and nearly 25% of total export earnings. But now, 
what's happening? Local tour operators, travel agents and others connected 
with the industry say the consequences of 11 September have started to bite 
hard. The poor performance has been blamed on two things: the bombings in 
the USA and concentration and dependence on the western market for tourism 
growth. Those working in Tanzania's tourism industry now say the government 
should start wooing tourists from the Far East, such as from China and 
Japan, among others and efforts should be made to improve Tanzania's 
infrastructure and international access.   (Perege Gumbo, ANB-BIA, 
Tanzania, 7 November 2001)

* Tanzania. $3bn debt relief  -  After four years of effort, Tanzania has 
finally won $3bn in debt relief from the World Bank and the International 
Monetary Fund. The agreement by the Bank and Fund makes Tanzania the fourth 
country of a list of more than 36 to have got to this point. The relief 
means that by next fiscal year Dar es Salaam should see its interest 
payments fall to $116m a year from $193m in 1999-2000. By 2010, the Bank 
said, the debt repayment should be down to an average of $87m a 
year.   (BBC News, UK, 28 November 2001)

* Uganda. Reform Agenda.  -  The World Bank has drafted a $125m blueprint 
for 18 war ridden districts in Northern and Eastern Uganda to allow them 
catch up with the rest of the country, Government officials say. The 
Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) is a five-year programme, to 
rehabilitate infrastructures, stimulate economic activity and strengthen 
the on-going peace process. It targets 2.5m people i.e. 30% of the northern 
population. USAF will work with NGOs, Community Service Organisations, 
traditional rulers and the local government.   (Crespo Sebunya, ANB-BIA, 
Uganda, 21 November 2001)

* Ouganda. Prêtre soudanais assassiné  -  L'abbé Peter Obore, prêtre 
soudanais du diocèse de Torit, a été assassiné le 24 novembre par des 
rebelles de "l'armée de résistance du Seigneur" (LRA) sur la route de Atiak 
à Bibia. Il voyageait en fourgonnette avec d'autres personnes. On ne sait 
pas ce que sont devenus les autres passagers. Le véhicule a été incendié. 
Le prêtre sera enterré dans son village natal dans le comté de Torit, a 
fait savoir son évêque, Mgr Paride Taban. Les rebelles du LRA sont 
responsables de toute une série d'assassinats et d'enlèvements.   (Fides, 
Rome, 26 novembre 2001)

* Uganda. Sudanese priest killed by LRA rebels)  -  A Sudanese priest was 
killed on 24 November by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in 
northern Uganda. According to MISNA sources, Father Peter Obore of the 
Catholic diocese of Torit, parish priest of Loa/Nimule (South Sudan), was 
killed in an ambush along the road from Atiak to Bibia (Gulu district), on 
return in his vehicle to Nimule, after attending a Seminar in the Ugandan 
capital, Kampala. There are no details concerning the fate of the other 
passengers in his vehicle. On receiving the news, Torit Bishop Paride Taban 
immediately made arrangements for the transfer of the priest's body to 
Ikotos. The funeral will be held at his home village of Tirangore in Torit 
County. Fr. Obore was ordained priest in 1987 by Bishop Taban. He was the 
third Catholic priest to be killed by armed men along the Ugandan border. 
The other two were Fr. Saturnino Ohure, assassinated 22 January 1967 and 
Fr. Leopoldo Anywar, killed 9 November 1968. The latest LRA rebel attack 
against Catholic church personnel occurred in September, when a Catholic 
Relief Service vehicle was ambushed and five people killed.   (MISNA, 
Italy, 26 November 2001)

* Ouganda. Les Turkana retournent au Kenya  -  Les pasteurs Turkana 
quittent le Karamoja (nord-est de l'Ouganda) pour retourner au Kenya. Selon 
des sources locales, 60.000 têtes de bétail ont traversé la frontière ces 
derniers jours. Les Turkana ont décidé d'abandonner l'Ouganda où, pendant 
une trentaine d'années, ils ont fait paître leurs animaux, pour fuir le 
programme de désarmement décidé par le gouvernement de Kampala. La mesure 
entrera en vigueur à partir du 2 décembre et concernera tout le Karamoja, 
où circulent quelque 100.000 armes légères. De cette façon, les Turkana 
conserveront leur armement.   (Misna, Italie, 29 novembre 2001)

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