Weekly anb01247.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 24-01-2002      PART #7/7

* Tanzania. President announces deaths inquiry  -  16 January: President 
Benjamin Mkapa has announced the formation of a body to investigate the 
killings of opposition demonstrators in Zanzibar. The government says that 
a total of 27 people died during a police break up of a political 
demonstration last year. Mr Mkapa's announcement of the inquiry commission 
came as a surprise, just 10 days before the first anniversary of the 
deaths. People, generally, have expressed pleasure at the president's move 
despite the lateness of the setting up of the probing body.   (ANB-BIA, 
Brussels, 18 January 2002)

* Tanzania. Chaos as Tanzania provides free schooling  -  Tanzania's plans 
for free education for primary school students has hit a snag. The 
compulsory scheme re-introduced by President Benjamin Mkapa last year 
requires all seven-years-olds to register at primary schools across the 
country. But so widely observed has this been by parents, that they have 
found schools ill prepared to handle the huge extra numbers. Consequently, 
in the capital, Dar es Salaam, some of the students have been taking refuge 
under trees to escape either the blistering hot sun or they have been 
cramming into classrooms to escape the heavy downpours hitting the city 
recently. Kiburugwa Primary School in Dar es Salaam, which normally 
accommodates 3,500 pupils, has now registered a further 1,200 children. 
Head teacher Mr Yassini Shaban says the school cannot cope with the influx. 
"What am I going to do with these children?" he asks. "We have followed the 
government directive, the children have been registered, and now they sit 
under trees." The school needs 32 new classrooms to add to the current 11 
classrooms in order to cope, he says.   (BBC News, UK, 22 January 2002)

* Chad. Lawyer for Hissène Habré's victims honoured  -  On 17 January, 
Human Rights Watch hailed the announcement that Jacqueline Moudeina, a 
lawyer from Chad who was almost killed because of her work on behalf of 
torture victims, had received the prestigious Martin Ennals Award for Human 
Rights Defenders. The award is presented yearly by ten of the world's 
leading human rights organisations. Jacqueline Moudeina is the lawyer for 
the victims of the exiled former dictator of Chad, Hissène Habré. He is now 
in exile in Senegal. Lawyer Moudeina had taken an enormous personal risk by 
filing criminal complaints in Chad itself against a number of Habré's 
accomplices, many of whom are still in positions of power in 
Chad.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 17 January 2002)

* Uganda/Congo (RDC). Ugandan troops sent back to Congo  -  17 January: The 
Ugandan army says it is sending troops to the east of Congo RDC to stop 
factional fighting from spreading to areas near the Ugandan border. The 
army says the move is precautionary because of the difficult situation in 
eastern Congo. The deployment follows attacks by tribal fighters on a 
military camp about 60 kilometres west of the Ugandan border, belonging to 
a rebel group backed by the government in Kampala.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 17 
January 2002)

* Ouganda/Congo-RDC. Envoi de troupes  -  L'Ouganda revient au Congo-RDC. A 
force d'avoir manipulé, dressé les uns contre les autres les groupes 
ethnico-politiques de l'est de ce pays, l'Ouganda est obligé aujourd'hui 
d'intervenir pour éviter que les troubles entre factions rivales ne 
franchissent la frontière. "La situation là-bas était confuse; nous ne 
pouvions pas accepter une telle confusion près de nos frontières, qui 
mettrait en danger la sécurité dans cette zone, sans prendre des 
précautions", a expliqué un porte-parole de l'armée. Kampala a envoyé des 
troupes dans trois villes congolaises proches de la frontière, Aru, Ariwara 
et Mahagi, sans préciser combien d'hommes étaient déployés. Des centaines 
d'hommes appartenant aux milices tribales congolaises Maï-Maï ont attaqué 
la semaine dernière à Butembo une position militaire d'un petit mouvement 
rebelle soutenu par l'Ouganda. L'année dernière, l'Ouganda avait retiré 12 
de ses 14 bataillons de la RDC, conformément à l'accord de paix de 
1999.   (Libération, France, 18 janvier 2002)

* Zimbabwe, Help needed to trace Mugabe funds  -  International auditing 
firms operating in southern Africa said on 17 January that an investigation 
into the assets of Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, and those of his 
associates would be strengthened by the co-operation of international donor 
agencies. John Roux, the head of PricewaterhouseCoopers' forensic unit in 
Johannesburg, said the international banking community's co-operation in 
tracking funds belonging to Zimbabwe's ruling elite depended on donors, 
such as the World Bank or the European Union, raising concerns about the 
abuse of their funds. The US and the UK have launched an investigation into 
the assets held abroad ahead of a possible decision to impose targeted 
sanctions on Zimbabwe to put pressure on the government to hold free and 
fair elections. The US said that capital outflows from top officials to tax 
havens in Europe and the US had been increasing in the months before the 
presidential elections in March. Ed Royce, chairman of the Africa Committee 
of the US House of Representatives, warned of the danger of officials 
stripping the Zimbabwean national treasury. "There is nothing to prevent 
them [Zimbabwean officials] from doing it [moving money offshore]. It's 
very difficult to investigate. To get the Swiss banking authorities to 
co-operate, you would need some official backing and a criminal 
prosecution. The banks are not going to disclose for the sake of 
disclosing," said Mr Roux.   (Financial Times, UK, 17 January 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Violence at rally  -  20 January: Violence has erupted in 
Zimbabwe's second city Bulawayo ahead of a visit by Nigerian President 
Olusegun Obasanjo to discuss the nation's deepening political crisis. 
Police fired tear gas to disperse rival party supporters who clashed before 
an opposition rally, witnesses said. At least 18 people were injured. The 
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said its supporters were 
attacked by militants from President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party trying 
to prevent them from entering a sports stadium for the rally, at which MDC 
presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai was due to speak. About 150 
militants camped in the stadium overnight to block the entrances and stop 
an expected crowd of 15,000 from attending, the MDC said. Eddie Cross, an 
opposition official at the stadium said police refused to remove the 
militants and "clearly were in cahoots" with them.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 20 
January 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Media law again delayed  -  22 January: Zimbabwe's parliament 
adjourns until 23 January without holding a long-awaited debate on a 
controversial media bill, which critics say is part of President Mugabe's 
drive to silence opposition to his bid for re-election in March. Under the 
controversial proposals, foreign journalists would not be allowed to be 
based in Zimbabwe. All local media organisations would have to apply for 
annual government licences or face two years in prison. Reports deemed to 
cause alarm and despondency would be forbidden. The bill is one of several 
pieces of legislation which analysts say are key to Mr Mugabe's campaign to 
win the 9-10 March presidential elections, when he is likely to face a 
strong challenge from the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the 
Movement for Democratic Change. The proposed legislation has been 
criticised by foreign governments and media organisations. Zimbabwean 
journalists have vowed to carry out protests. Parliament was expected to 
pass the bill last week, but Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa delayed its 
introduction, saying the government was considering several 
amendments.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels 23 January 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Vers les élections  -  Face au tollé provoqué par son nouveau 
projet de loi sur l'information, le gouvernement zimbabwéen a décidé, le 22 
janvier, d'en modifier le contenu, notamment au sujet des journalistes 
étrangers, indique le quotidien français Le Figaro. Ces derniers pourraient 
être autorisés, sous certaines conditions, à exercer leur activité au 
Zimbabwe, ce que la précédente mouture interdisait. Le texte, qui doit être 
voté cette semaine par les députés, reste toutefois largement répressif. - 
D'autre part, selon l'agence PANA, le gouvernement a demandé à la 
Commission de supervision des élections d'élaborer un code de conduite 
réglementant le comportement de tous les partis politiques dans la 
perspective de l'élection présidentielle des 9 et 10 mars prochain. Malgré 
les appels au calme et à la non-violence lancés par les principaux partis, 
les affrontements liés à la campagne électorale continuent à augmenter 
entre militants rivaux. - Par ailleurs, pour faire face à la grave crise 
alimentaire, le gouvernement a confisqué 36 mille tonnes de maïs récoltées 
par des cultivateurs d'origine européenne, rapporte l'agence Misna. La 
confiscation concerne des fermiers blancs dont les propriétés ne figurent 
pas parmi celles qui sont en phase d'expropriation. Plus d'un demi million 
de personnes souffrent de carence alimentaire, surtout dans les régions 
méridionales et occidentales.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 23 janvier 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Programme to send food to Zimbabwe set for clearance  -  18 
January: The World Food Programme (WFP) is expecting to get clearance, 
today, to send its first consignment of maize to Zimbabwe, where food 
shortages are worsening and an estimated 500,000 people are on the brink of 
starvation. The first load of 8,470 tonnes of maize meal donated by the US 
will leave Tanzania by train as soon as Zimbabwean inspectors in 
Dar-es-Salaam have declared it "acceptable and bacteria-free", said Judith 
Lewis, WFP regional director for eastern and southern Africa. "You could 
say it is a drop in the ocean, but I prefer to call it a start," said Ms 
Lewis. "The situation in Zimbabwe is bad and deteriorating fast." The WFP 
estimates that at least 116,000 tonnes of maize is urgently needed. Other 
organisations put the total food import bill for the year at $750m, while 
3.5m Zimbabweans have applied for food handouts. The consignment marks the 
return of the WFP to Zimbabwe, which it had left in 1996, and is the 
outcome of often difficult negotiations with the government. "We have been 
working on a memorandum of understanding with the authorities since 
November," said Ms Lewis. "They were concerned at how we would actually 
operate. But we have opened an office in Harare and, despite a slow start, 
the programme is now shifting into high gear." Zimbabwe normally produces a 
surplus of food but this year a combination of negative factors has brought 
the country to the brink of famine. The maize shortage, initially caused by 
drought, has been exacerbated by politically motivated violence, as 
agricultural production has been severely hampered by farm invasions and 
commercial farming has been disrupted by the government's "fast-track" land 
reform programme. 23 January: The WFPsays it has made its first delivery of 
food aid to Zimbabwe. Trucks from neighbouring South Africa delivered the 
first of 5,200 tons of corn meal -- the region's staple food -- to 
warehouses in the second city of Bulawayo. Further consignments of beans, 
ground nuts and vegetable oil would be delivered soon, said Anna Shotton, a 
WFP spokeswoman in Harare. This evidence of Zimbabwe's economic devastation 
came as southern African church leaders called on President Robert Mugabe 
to step down. And the British Government said political conditions in 
Zimbabwe had worsened in the last two weeks, and threatened that it would 
press for the country's suspension from the Commonwealth unless the 
situation improved. The UN food agency has appealed for $60m from 
international donors to feed 558,000 rural Zimbabweans in need of immediate 
aid. The government blames the food shortages on poor rains, but critics 
say that the invasion of white-owned farms by militant supporters of Mr 
Mugabe has worsened the situation. Zimbabwe has traditionally been a major 
exporter of food to the region. On 21 January, state media reported that 
the authorities had seized 36,000 tonnes of grain from white farmers who 
were accused of hoarding it to create artificial shortages.   (ANB-BIA, 
Brussels, 24 January 2002)

Weely news - anb0124.txt - #7/7

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