Weekly anb12137.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 13-12-2001      PART #7/7

* Afrique du Sud. Le rand en chute libre  -  Le rand sud-africain, en chute 
libre depuis le 11 septembre, ne cesse de battre des records à la baisse 
face aux devises des pays industrialisés, en dépit de fondamentaux 
économiques jugés sains par les spécialistes. En un an, la monnaie 
sud-africaine a perdu plus de 30% de sa valeur face au dollar. Le 6 
décembre, il a touché un nouveau plancher à 11,28 rands pour un dollar, 
contre 7,64 début 2001.   (Le Figaro, France, 7 décembre 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Arrestation de l'assassin de Marike De Klerk  -  Un agent 
d'une compagnie de sécurité a avoué le meurtre, sans en préciser le mobile, 
de Marike De Klerk, 64 ans, l'ex-épouse du dernier président blanc de 
l'apartheid Frederik De Klerk. Celui-ci a appelé à une campagne contre la 
criminalité galopante en Afrique du Sud. Il était rentré précipitamment au 
Cap, le 6 décembre, de Norvège, où il participait au centième anniversaire 
du prix Nobel.   (Le Figaro, France, 8 décembre 2001)

* South Africa. Events following the murder of Marike de Klerk  -  6 
December: The police in South Africa say they have arrested a security 
guard in connection with the murder of the ex-wife of former South African 
President FW de Klerk. Marike de Klerk, 64, was stabbed and strangled in 
her luxury Cape Town flat. A spokesman for her ex-husband said that the 
suspect, who is being detained for questioning, was not known to the late 
Mrs De Klerk. Mr De Klerk, who divorced his wife after 39 years of marriage 
in 1998, returned home early from Stockholm, where he was to have attended 
a Nobel Peace Prize function. He shared the 1993 prize with Nelson Mandela. 
He told reporters on his return that he could not immediately comment on 
the arrest until he was "fully briefed". 7 December: The 21-year old 
security guard has confessed to Mrs de Klerk's murder. He worked at the 
beach complex where Mrs de Klerk has lived since her divorce in 1998 from 
former president F.W. de Klerk. The guard has insisted he did not act 
alone. 10 December: Luyanda Mboniswa, a security guard, appears in court in 
Cape Town, to be charged with Mrs de Klerk's murder.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 
10 December 2001)

* South Africa. Mbeki in China for trade talks  -  9 December: President 
Thabo Mbeki has begun a three-day visit to China aimed at boosting economic 
ties. He arrived in Beijing along with a delegation of government ministers 
and top businessmen. Mr Mbeki, who welcomed Chinese President Jiang Zemin 
last year on his historic first visit to South Africa, comes to China as it 
enters the World Trade Organisation. The two countries are already strong 
trading partners but South Africa is looking to expand. "We are looking at 
China as both a market and as an investor," South African Foreign Affairs 
Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said. The South African president has 
brought with him his ministers for trade and industry, agriculture, 
tourism, foreign affairs, defence and technology, as well as business 
leaders. China was South Africa's 10th most important export market last 
year and South Africa aims to become the chief entry point for Chinese 
goods entering the continent.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 10 December 2001)

* Afrique du Sud. Thabo Mbeki en Chine  -  Le 9 décembre, le président 
Thabo Mbeki, accompagné du ministre des Affaires étrangères et d'une 
importante délégation gouvernementale, s'est envolé vers la Chine pour une 
visite officielle de quatre jours, suite à celle effectuée par le président 
chinois, Jiang Zemin, à Pretoria en avril 2000. M. Mbeki compte renforcer 
les relations sino-africaines et discuter avec son hôte de l'importance du 
Nouveau partenariat pour le développement en Afrique. La coopération entre 
la Chine et l'Afrique a connu un net renforcement. Depuis le début des 
années 1990, les échanges commerciaux se sont multiplés par dix, avec 
notamment l'Afrique du Sud qui compte pour 28% dans le volume de ces 
transactions.   (PANA, Sénégal, 10 décembre 2001)

* South Africa. Asbestos miners in battle for compensation  -  The dust 
cover of the billiard table at Koegas mine club still lies draped over the 
green felt, 22 years after the asbestos mine was closed. Across the swollen 
Orange River, piles of geologists' notebooks in the deserted mine manager's 
office mark out the deposits of the purest "blue" asbestos in the 
surrounding hills. Koegas was the largest asbestos mine in South Africa's 
Northern Cape. Its owner, UK-based Cape Plc, provided employment for 
thousands of local people, who unknowingly stamped and crushed the 
poisonous fibres used as insulating and building material. At the weekend, 
covers of a different kind were laid over the body of a Cornelius Taaibosch 
in nearby Prieska, the town where asbestos was milled. He worked at Koegas 
mine for 10 years as an underground crusher. His family says he never 
recovered his health and died suffering from the chronic respiratory 
difficulties that characterise asbestosis. Mr Taaibosch, 55, was one of 
about 7,300 people claiming compensation from Cape. He was also the 40th 
person to die of asbestosis in Prieska this year. Three hundred people have 
died of asbestos-linked illnesses since 1997 and the numbers are increasing 
at a rate of about one death a week. Mr Taaibosch was buried the day after 
a South African government delegation returned from talks with Cape in 
London in an attempt to reach an out-of-court settlement.   (Financial 
Times, UK, 11 December 2001)

* South Africa. Baby rape shocks the country  -  11 December: Two men are 
due to appear at a court in Johannesburg, today, accused of raping a 
five-month-old girl who was discovered covered in blood and in tears. It is 
the latest in a series of rapes of baby girls -- some of them involving 
children less than one year-old, which has left South Africans reeling with 
horror. Every day the newspapers bring awful revelations: a nine-month-old 
girl gang-raped by six men; an eight-month-old raped and left by the 
roadside. Outside the central Johannesburg magistrates' court, 200 
demonstrators gathered carrying banners with slogans like "child rapists 
are not human". Yet many protesters seem unable to understand why the rapes 
are happening. Rape statistics from South Africa are so shocking as to be 
almost unbelievable -- women's rights activists say one South African is 
raped every 26 seconds. It is the young who are particularly vulnerable, 
with the police saying that more teenagers are raped than any other age 
group. But even in a country numbed to horrific events, these cases are 
bewildering to South Africans, and making them question where their society 
is heading. "Actually it's not a new phenomenon, it's been something that 
you hide, you regard it as an embarrassment within the family. But now 
people have started to talk, they've decided that they've had enough," said 
a woman protester.   (BBC News, UK, 11 December 2001)

* Soudan. Le gouvernement réarmerait le LRA  -  Les forces armées 
soudanaises forment et fournissent des armes aux nouvelles recrues des 
rebelles de l'Armée de résistance du Seigneur (LRA), la formation guérilla 
qui a semé la mort et la terreur pendant des années dans le nord de 
l'Ouganda, affirme le porte-parole du SPLA. Le camp d'entraînement se 
trouverait à Heilu, dans la zone de Torit, à une soixantaine de km de la 
frontière ougandaise. Khartoum et Kampala s'accusent réciproquement depuis 
des années de soutenir et de financer les formations rebelles actives sur 
leurs territoires. Il y a quelques mois, ils ont rétabli leurs rapports 
diplomatiques après six ans de rupture.   (Misna, Italie, 7 décembre 2001)

* Swaziland. Concern for jailed Swazi leader  -  Relatives of the jailed 
Swaziland opposition leader, Mario Masuku, say they are worried about his 
deteriorating health. Mr Masuku is losing weight at an alarming rate and 
has been diagnosed as suffering from hypertension and diabetes, they say. 
The president of the Peoples United Democratic Movement, Pudemo, was 
arrested in early October for defying his bail conditions following a 
charge of sedition a year ago. No date has been set for his trial and there 
is little prospect of one before about February, according to officials. 
Pudemo said Mr Masuku had spent more than a month sleeping on the floor of 
a crowded jail cell with two old blankets, although he had been given a bed 
and more blankets.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 12 December 2001)

* Tunisie. Opposants empêchés de communiquer  -  Dans une lettre adressée 
au président Ben Ali, Reporters sans frontières a protesté contre le 
blocage, depuis la Tunisie, de nombreux numéros de téléphone à l'étranger 
et contre les coupures des lignes de téléphone de nombreux opposants. Par 
ailleurs, l'accès à Internet est devenu extrêmement difficile et de 
nombreux sites d'information (comme celui de Libération et d'organisations 
des droits de l'homme) sont totalement bloqués. De plus, le courrier 
traditionnel n'échappe pas au contrôle, il n'arrive pas toujours à 
destination ou sinon ouvert.   (RSF, France, 10 décembre 2001)

* Uganda. Fuel fire kills 50  -  Up to 50 people have been burnt to death 
when they tried to collect fuel spilled from a broken-down fuel tanker in 
the eastern Ugandan district of Iganga, according to police.The incident 
occurred in Busesa, a densely populated village, 100 kilometres east of 
Kampala, the Ugandan capital. The police say they are investigating reports 
that the fire was deliberately started by the driver of the tanker after 
the villagers defied his order not to get close to his vehicle. It is not 
yet known whether the driver and crew on the fuel tanker are among the 
victims. Among those killed are passengers of a minibus whose driver 
reportedly attempted to drive through the flames. The Police Commander in 
Iganga District, Elisam Mugisha, who was at the scene of the accident, said 
he feared as many as 50 people may have died on the spot.   (ANB-BIA, 
Brussels, 6 December 2001)

* Zambia. Election date challenged  -  On 6 December, human rights and 
church groups questioned the legitimacy of this month's presidential 
elections, saying the timing of the poll date will disenfranchise many 
voters. Zambia goes to the polls on 27 December, two days after Christmas 
Day, to elect a new president, parliament and civic leaders. But the 
umbrella Oasis Forum -- made up of lawyers, NGOs and Churches -- has 
sharply criticised the election date, which will come at the height of the 
festivity and of the rainy season.   (Financial Times, UK, 7 December 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Neighbours refuse to turn on Zimbabwe  -  On 10 December, the 
Southern African Development Community (SADC) rejected the use of sanctions 
to bring Zimbabwe to heel. This was made clear by Lillian Patel, Malawi's 
foreign minister, who is chairing a meeting of ministers and officials from 
Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, South Africa and Zimbabwe. 
Zimbabwe ministers were angry and alarmed at the prospect the five SADC 
ministers representing South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique and 
Botswana who had met in Pretoria on 9 December would agree on a hostile 
common position before confronting President Robert Mugabe. Mr Mugabe 
himself did not attend the meeting. He was instead chairing a politburo 
meeting of his ruling Zanu-PF party ahead of its national congress on 
Thursday at which he will launch his campaign for re-election. Stan 
Mudenge, Zimbabwe's foreign minister, who led his country's SADC 
delegation, accused Britain of trying to "turn our friends against us". But 
Zimbabwe would not reverse its land resettlement programme designed to take 
back land "pillaged" by colonialists. Harare was aware there would be 
consequences as a result of its principled policies, he said, adding that 
Britain and the US believed that "might is right".   (Financial Times, UK, 
11 December 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Présidentielle en mars  -  Le 11 décembre, le président Mugabe 
a annoncé que la prochaine élection présidentielle aura lieu au mois de 
mars 2002, sans toutefois donner de date précise. En vertu de la 
Constitution, le mandat présidentiel de six ans de M. Mugabe expire le 1er 
avril et le scrutin doit avoir lieu en mars au plus tard. Cette annonce met 
fin aux spéculations selon lesquelles il aurait été tenté d'appeler à des 
élections anticipées afin d'éviter l'écueil des hausses de prix 
alimentaires en début d'année. Au pouvoir depuis l'indépendance en 1980, 
Robert Mugabe devrait être opposé à Morgan Tsvangirai, président du 
Mouvement pour le changement démocratique (MDC) qui a été à la pointe du 
combat politique. Par ailleurs, le gouvernement entend refuser la présence 
d'observateurs étrangers venant des Etats-Unis ou de l'UE lors du scrutin, 
préférant des scrutateurs originaires d'Afrique, d'Asie, des Caraïbes et du 
Commonwealth.   (AP, 11 décembre 2001)

* Zimbabwe. Election month named  -  12 December: President Robert Mugabe 
of Zimbabwe has said presidential elections will be held in March next 
year, though he did not give a specific date. Mr Mugabe told a group of 
ministers from the Southern Africa Development Community meeting in Harare 
to discuss the land and current political crisis that a date would be 
announced "in due course". Zimbabwe is by law required to hold its election 
no later than April next year. The run up to the presidential poll, in 
which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change threatens the stiffest 
challenge yet to Mr Mugabe's 21-year rule, has been marked by violence and 
claims of government supported intimidation. 13 December: Thousands of 
delegates from Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party are gathering in the resort 
town of Victoria Falls for their annual conference, which starts today. 
President Robert Mugabe is expected to use the event to launch his campaign 
for the presidential election in March. With political tension mounting, 
Zimbabwe's neighbours are concerned that the situation there should not 
slip out of control. Zimbabwe's big neighbour, South Africa, has most to 
lose should the crisis deepen in the coming weeks. Already hundreds of 
jobless Zimbabweans are trying to cross into South Africa every day, and 
the dramatic fall in South Africa's currency is partially due to a loss of 
confidence because of the Zimbabwean upheavals. Other, smaller neighbours, 
have similar concerns. Both Malawi and Mozambique fear that thousands of 
migrant workers could return home from Zimbabwe if they lose their jobs. In 
public, African leaders are reluctant to criticise. The governments of 
Angola and Congo -- military allies in the Congolese war -- will not break 
ranks with President Mugabe.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 13 December 2001)

Weekly anb1213.txt - #7/7 - THE END

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Un homme meurt chaque fois que l'un d'entre nous se tait devant la tyrannie 
(W. Soyinka, Prix Nobel litterature) - Everytime somebody keep silent when 
faced with tyranny, someone else dies (Wole Syinka, Nobel Prize for 
Literature) *
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