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Weekly anb01176.txt #7
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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 17-01-2002 PART #6/7
* Sierra Leone. UK backs border force - Sierra Leonean troops and armed
British military advisers have begun deploying near Sierra Leone's
sensitive borders with Guinea and Libera ahead of Sierra Leone's elections
in May. The deployment is sensitive and potentially controversial, because
Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels held the east for many years, and
have in the past, used rear bases in Liberia. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 16
January 2002)
* Sierra Leone. Accord sur un tribunal spécial - Le 16 janvier à
Freetown, le gouvernement sierra-léonais et l'Onu ont signé un accord sur
la création d'un tribunal spécial pour juger les responsables des
innombrables atrocités commises contre la population pendant la longue
guerre civile qui a ravagé le pays. Le tribunal pourra poursuivre pour
"meurtre, extermination, esclavage, déportation, emprisonnement, torture,
viol, esclavage sexuel, persécution pour motifs politiques, religieux ou
ethniques". Concernant le douloureux dossier des enfants soldats, souvent
envoyés commettre les pires exactions, le tribunal pourra poursuivre leurs
recruteurs, mais aucun accusé de moins de 15 ans ne pourra être jugé. Le
Front révolutionnaire uni (RUF) fait figure de principal accusé, mais les
autres parties n'ont pas été en reste. Aucun représentant rebelle n'était
d'ailleurs présent à la cérémonie de signature de l'accord. (Libération,
France, 17 janvier 2002)
* Sierra Leone. War crimes tribunal set up - 16 January: Officials from
the United Nations and the Sierra Leone Government have signed an agreement
in the capital, Freetown, setting up a war crimes tribunal for the country.
The Yugoslav-style war crimes court will indict those in positions of
responsibility during a decade-long war notorious for its brutality against
civilians. At the height of the conflict, thousands of innocent people had
their hands chopped off by rebels simply because they supported the elected
government. But although there is a deep desire for justice in Sierra
Leone, the timing of the formation of the special court could not have come
at a more sensitive time. Most of the rebels of the Revolutionary United
Front have given up their guns to the large United Nations peacekeeping
force here, and the rebel leaders say they want to participate peacefully
in post-war elections to be held in May. But the imprisoned rebel leader,
Foday Sankoh, seems bound to be the main target of the court, because his
men committed widespread atrocities against civilians. And although the
date for the first hearings of the court have yet to be made public, Foday
Sankoh's trial is certain to raise the political temperature. The rebels
have already complained that the court is biased against them, and point
out quite correctly that many mutinous members of the government army were
involved in atrocities against civilians as well. Details of just who will
be indicted are expected to be revealed at a later date. (ANB-BIA,
Brussels, 17 January 2002)
* Somalia. Washington cultivating allies among opposition and
neighbours - With US attention turning to Somalia as a possible next
target of its war on terrorism, Washington is cultivating allies among
Somalia's opposition and its neighbours. In Baidoa, a port city about 260
kilometres northwest of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, officials of the
opposition Rahawen Resistance Army say they are willing to help US forces
go after al Qaeda members in Somalia. "Somalia is a perfect haven for
terrorists," said Ibrahim Mohammed, the opposition group's leader. "There's
no central government to speak of, we've been at war for more than 10 years
and you have all kinds of bandits running around the countryside at free
will. There's very little difference between Somalia and Afghanistan, and
only the US can help us kick them out." US cooperation may be valuable in a
lawless land after a decade of civil war. Baidoa's governor, Adan Mohammed,
is quick to say an added American presence could finally bring about an
ever-elusive peace. (CNN, USA, 13 January 2002)
* South Africa. Cave reveals the world's oldest works of
art - Archaeologists have unearthed the oldest works of art in the world
-- two slivers of rock on which Stone Age artists etched symbolic patterns
about 77,000 years ago. The rock art, found in a cave in South Africa, is
twice as old as Stone Age cave paintings in southern France and
demonstrates that humans living at this time possessed "modern" patterns of
thought. Scientists believe that the cross-hatched engravings were
carefully etched on to the red ochre stones, which are a form of pigmented
iron ore that had been prepared by rubbing to create a smooth surface.
Stone Age societies used red ochre symbolically as a body paint, and
possibly also for skin protection and for tanning hides, but this is the
first known example of the ochre being used to depict art. Christopher
Henshilwood, professor of archaeology at Bergen University in Norway, led
the team that made the discovery at the Blombos cave, 180 miles east of
Cape Town. He believes the stones show a representation of conventions to
express mutually understood concepts. "They may have been constructed with
symbolic intent, the meaning of which is now unknown," Professor
Henshilwood said. "These finds demonstrate that ochre used in the middle
Stone Age was not exclusively utilitarian and, arguably, the transmission
and sharing of the meaning of the engravings relied on syntactical
language. To try to explain what the representations stand for is
unfortunately beyond our capacity at the moment. But do they indicate a
modern brain? I think the answer is yes. The surface of the ochre has been
very carefully prepared", the professor added. "This is almost certainly
not a doodle. They are symbolic." The 2in-long rocks were excavated in 1999
and 2000 but their existence is only now being published in the journal
Science, after two independent dating studies. "This shows the people in
southern Africa were behaviourally modern 70,000 years ago," Professor
Henshilwood added. (The Independent, UK, 11 January 2002)
* Sudan. East African leaders condemn terrorism - 10 January: Leaders of
seven East African nations have endorsed a resolution against international
terrorism at a regional summit in Sudan's capital, Khartoum. But
differences between the countries, who make up the Inter-Governmental
Authority on Development (IGAD), in particular over the definition of
terrorism, ensured that the proposal did not include any actual concrete
policies. Two of the participants -- Sudan and Somalia -- have been mooted
as possible targets in any second phase of the US-led war against
terrorism. Decisions on specific action were postponed until the next IGAD
summit, due to be held in Uganda next year. A draft proposal suggesting
ministers of justice and heads of security meet within two months to begin
work on a joint campaign against terrorism was dropped because leaders
could not agree on the meaning of the concept. Sudan's Foreign Minister, Dr
Mustafa Osman Ismail, said it was up to the United Nations to decide on its
definition. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 11 January 2002)
* Sudan. Ceasefire talks in Switzerland - 14 January: The Sudanese
government and the rebels of the Sudan Liberation Movement are meeting in
Geneva this week to negotiate a limited ceasefire in Africa's longest
running civil war. The Swiss authorities, who are sponsoring the talks
jointly with the United States, say the discussions will focus on a
limited-term but renewable ceasefire in the Nuba mountains region, in
central Sudan. The truce will be placed under supervision by international
observers. It is the first time the United States are mediating in talks
between the warring sides in Sudan. Last year, the US Secretary of State,
Colin Powell, told Congress that he would make the eighteen-year Sudanese
civil war a priority. (BBC News, UK, 14 January 2002)
* Soudan. Sommet de l'IGAD - Le 10 janvier, le président soudanais, Omar
el Hassan el Béchir, a ouvert à Khartoum le 9e sommet des chefs d'Etat de
l'Autorité intergouvernementale pour le développement (IGAD), en appelant à
l'arrêt des activités de tous les groupes qui menacent la stabilité des
Etats membres. Au menu des débats de la rencontre de deux jours vont
figurer la coopération économique régionale, la prévention des conflits et
les moyens de résoudre et de combattre le terrorisme. Tous les chefs d'Etat
des sept pays membres (Djibouti, Erythrée, Ethiopie, Kenya, Ouganda,
Somalie et Soudan) sont présents au sommet. - Le 11 janvier, le sommet
s'est conclu avec l'approbation d'un texte sur la lutte contre le
terrorisme et une exhortation au gouvernement de transition et aux factions
somaliennes de s'efforcer de ramener l'ordre dans le pays. La majorité des
observateurs a été plutôt déçue par le contenu du document, jugé trop vague
et trop générique. Les participants ont annoncé qu'ils désiraient organiser
une nouvelle conférence de réconciliation sur la Somalie en mars à Nairobi.
- D'autre part, le 14 janvier, des représentants du gouvernement soudanais
et de l'Armée populaire de libération du Soudan (SPLA) ont entamé à
Buergenstock (Suisse) à huis clos des négociations pour un cessez-le-feu
dans les monts Nouba (centre du Soudan). (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses,
15 janvier 2002)
* Tanzania. Privatising railways - Tanzania is looking for a private
company to run its railways. The government has placed adverts in
international newspapers this week inviting the private sector to lease the
railway infrastructure and run freight and passenger services for a period
of 25 years. The railway is a crucial form of transport for Tanzania and
its land-locked neighbours -- Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo -- who trade with the world through the port in Dar
es Salaam, Tanzania's former capital. The country's rail network covers
nearly 3,000 kilometres of tracks. The transfer of the railway from state
to private hands is being managed by the Parastatal Sector Reform
Commission. The Commission's co-ordinator, Heavenlight Kavishe, said that
the small number of privatisations in Africa and the lack of big players in
the market make it difficult to predict who will bid for the concession.
"We've had interest from South Africa, from as far as New Zealand, from
Canada, and I think one European company," he added. Mr Kavishe said the
government is asking for private participation in both the maintenance of
the track and ownership and operation of the rolling stock. Tanzania did
look at the way railways had been privatised in Britain whilst formulating
their strategy, according to Mr Kavishe, but allowing more than one company
to compete on the same track has been ruled out. (BBC News, UK, 8 January
2002)
* Tanzanie/Burundi/Rwanda. Rapatriement de réfugiés - Des représentants
du bureau du Haut commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) et
le gouvernement tanzanien rencontrent cette semaine des représentants des
gouvernements burundais et rwandais pour discuter du rapatriement
volontaire des réfugiés en Tanzanie. La première réunion se déroule dans la
capitale burundaise Bujumbura du 13 au 15 janvier, et la seconde aura lieu
dans la capitale rwandaise Kigali les 17 et 18 janvier. Les deux rencontres
réuniront la Commission tripartite sur les rapatriements volontaires de
chaque pays et leur groupe de travail technique. Le président tanzanien
Mkapa a déclaré que la Tanzanie est écrasée par le fardeau des réfugiés.
Les Burundais constituent de loin le plus grand groupe. Le HCR vient en
aide à 350.000 Burundais à l'ouest de la Tanzanie, alors qu'un autre groupe
de quelque 470.000 Burundais vit dans des zones d'installation et dans des
villages tanzaniens sans recevoir de l'aide. Environ 200.000 d'entre eux
sont en Tanzanie depuis les années 1970. (IRIN, Nairobi, 15 janvier 2002)
Weekly anb0117.txt - En of #6/7