correct anb02146.txt #8

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

Une regrettable erreur nous a fait envoyer le fichier #6 du 7 février 
(0607) au de cleui du 14 février (0214).
Ci-dessous le ficher correct.
Veuillez nous excuser....

By mistake we sent you yesterday the file 02076 (file anb02146.txt, of 07 
Feb 2002) instead of the 02146 (of 14 Feb 2002).
Here below is the right one.
Please accept our apology...
Paolo





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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 14-02-2002      PART #6/8

* Rwanda. Father Seromba in Arusha  -  Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, 
Nuncio in Rwanda, voiced "admiration and satisfaction" at the news that Fr 
Athanase Seromba has presented himself spontaneously to the International 
Court for Rwanda which is set up in Arusha (Tanzania). Fr Athanase has been 
charged of complicity in the massacre of at least 2,000 people in Nyange 
parish in Kibuye prefecture, during the 1994 genocide in which 800,000 
people were killed in clashes between Hutu and Tutsi. "This was an act of 
responsibility and courage. It will give him an opportunity to respond to 
the serious charges brought against him". Mgr. Pennacchio also said he 
trusted that the "authorities would heed Fr Seromba's request for a speedy 
trial. "This is important in view of what is most urgent in Rwanda today: 
reconciliation", the Nuncio explained. Since 1997 Fr Seromba has been a 
guest of the diocese of Florence, at San Mauro parish. Fierce criticism of 
Fr Seromba by Rwandan press led international procurator Carla del Ponte to 
demand the priest's extradition. In a letter to the Archbishop of Florence, 
Fr Seromba said he had decided to go to Arusha to answer the accusations in 
person. Fr Seromba is not the only Rwandan clergyman to be accused of 
genocide. Archbishop Augustin Misago, of Gikongoro was arrested, 
imprisoned, tried and found innocent. In prison in Rwanda at the moment 
facing genocide charges there are 5 priests, 2 nuns and one seminarian. 
Four priests have been tried and found not guilty. In June 2001 two nuns 
were tried and found guilty by a court in Belgium. (Editor's update: 8 
February -- Father Seromba appeared before the tribunal and denies the 
charges made against him).   (Fides, Vatican City, 7 February 2002)

* Rwanda/Uganda. Discuss defusing tension  -  Ugandan Defence Minister 
Amama Mbabazi is in Kigali for talks with his Rwandan counterpart, Emanuel 
Habyarimana. Correspondents say the two men will discuss how to defuse the 
growing tension between their countries. Relations between the former 
allies have soured in the past two years following clashes between their 
troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they were deployed to 
support two rival rebel groups.   (BBC News, UK, 10 February 2002)

* Sahara occidental. Permis pétroliers critiqués  -  Les deux compagnies 
pétrolières internationales (TotalFinaElf et Keer-McGee) qui, en octobre, 
ont obtenu du Maroc des permis d'exploration-production au large des côtes 
du Sahara occidental, vont y regarder à deux fois avant de se lancer dans 
des travaux de prospection. A la demande du Conseil de sécurité, lui-même 
sollicité par le Front Polisario, le conseil juridique de l'Onu, Hans 
Corell, a en effet estimé en début de semaine que si les permis octroyés ne 
sont pas "illégaux en soi", des travaux d'exploration-production qui ne se 
feraient pas dans "l'intérêt" ou selon les "voeux" du peuple du Sahara 
occidental "violeraient les principes de la loi internationale" en la 
matière. Ce jugement mitigé rend peu probable la mise en oeuvre de travaux 
dans la mesure où il est quasiment impossible de prouver que les 
populations locales, dont l'évaluation pose des problèmes politiques, 
bénéficieront des retombées en cas de découverte.   (Le Monde, France, 8 
février 2002)

* Sénégal. Visite de Tony Blair  -  Le 9 février, le Premier ministre 
britannique Tony Blair était de passage à Dakar, dernière étape d'une 
tournée de quatre jours qui l'a conduit au Nigeria, au Ghana et en Sierra 
Leone. S'exprimant en français, il s'est déclaré "étonné" d'être le premier 
Premier ministre britannique à effectuer une visite officielle en Afrique 
francophone. "Il faut changer nos méthodes. Il faut travailler ensemble, 
Français et Britanniques, parce que nous avons maintenant les mêmes 
intérêts", a-t-il lancé. Les premiers à se réjouir de cette nouvelle 
"entente cordiale" sont les Africains. M. Blair en Afrique et M. Chirac à 
Paris se sont faits les défenseurs du "Nouveau partenariat pour le 
développement en Afrique" (Nepad), une initiative africaine qui tend à 
éviter toute marginalisation du continent.   (La Croix, France, 11 février 
2002)

* Sierra Leone. Refugee poll concession  -  Voter registration ahead of 
May's general elections in Sierra Leone, has been extended for three days 
until 10 February. Election officials say it is to overcome what they 
called organisational problems in getting the process up and running. A 
scheme has also been announced to ensure thousands of Sierra Leoneans who 
fled the civil war will also be able to vote. Sierra Leone electoral 
commissioner, Walter Nicol, said that refugees returning to Sierra Leone 
before mid-April will still be able to register if they show their UNHCR 
card as proof of identity. It follows an aborted plan to let refugees 
register and vote in host countries, such as Guinea and Liberia. Mr Nicol 
said that the two nations rejected the request, claiming that the whole 
electoral process may invite violence.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 8 February 2002)

* Sierra Leone. Les besoins sont énormes  -  Le 8 février, une délégation 
de donateurs de douze pays a achevé une mission d'une semaine en Sierra 
Leone en déclarant que, bien que la paix soit rétablie, les problèmes et 
les besoins auxquels le pays est confronté sont "énormes". Un représentant 
des Pays-Bas a indiqué qu'il a été "choqué" par l'ampleur de la dévastation 
et par les besoins humanitaires énormes dans les régions visitées par 
l'équipe, ajoutant que la communauté internationale allait continuer à 
appuyer la Sierra Leone. Alan Doss, représentant du secrétaire général de 
l'Onu, a informé que la réponse des donateurs était extrêmement positive. 
L'objectif de la visite, a expliqué M. Doss, ne consistait pas à prendre 
des engagements financiers, mais à discuter avec le gouvernement au sujet 
des perspectives et des priorités en vue de la réinsertion et du 
redressement.   (IRIN, Abidjan, 11 février 2002)

* Sierra Leone. Refugees go home  -  The first batch of Sierra Leonean 
refugees has returned home from Liberia under a United Nations voluntary 
repatriation programme which started on 13 February. About 300 refugees 
crossed the border, one month after Sierra Leone declared an end to its 
brutal 10-year civil war. UNHCR said groups of 300 to 400 refugees would be 
repatriated from now on alternate days. There are about 70,000 Sierra 
Leonean refugees still left in Liberia, where fighting between the 
government and rebels has recently escalated near the capital Monrovia. 
Many Sierra Leoneans now feel insecure in Liberia and are anxious to leave. 
Thousands of Sierra Leoneans, as well as some Liberians, have already fled 
across the border because of the surge in fighting the in Liberian town of 
Klay.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 14 February 2002)

* Somalie. Attaque de la radio gouvernementale  -  Le lundi soir, 11 
février, une vingtaine de miliciens équipés de fusils d'assaut et de 
lance-roquettes ont attaqué les locaux de la radio gouvernementale, 
poussant la "Voix de la République somalienne" à cesser d'émettre. Cette 
radio était le seul vecteur de communication avec les habitants de la 
capitale pour le fragile gouvernement de transition du président Salad 
Hassan. Il s'agit du deuxième coup dur pour le gouvernement cette semaine, 
après que trois chefs de faction ont menacé de lui retirer leur soutien. 
Mise sur pied en 2000, cette équipe transitoire n'a que peu d'influence 
hors de Mogadiscio, et elle a contre elle nombre de seigneurs de guerre 
somaliens soutenus par le grand voisin éthiopien.   (AP, 12 février 2002)

* Somalia. Eight killed in fighting  -  Eight people were killed in 
fighting between rival militias armed with truck-mounted heavy machine guns 
in southern Somalia on 12 February, witnesses said. Witnesses said fighters 
from both sides were killed in the 90-minute clash in the Bardhere district 
of Gedo region 400 km west of Mogadishu. Gunmen used more than 20 of the 
battle wagons known as technicals in the encounter. The fighting pitted a 
faction friendly with neighbouring Ethiopia known as the Somali Restoration 
and Reconciliation Council (SRRC) against the Juba Valley Alliance, aligned 
to Somalia's fledgling transitional national government (TNG). The SRRC is 
an Ethiopian-backed coalition of warlords united mainly by their opposition 
to the TNG, chaotic Somalia's first attempt at a central administration in 
a decade. The SRRC accuses the TNG, formed in 2000 and largely funded by 
Gulf Arab states, of harbouring armed Islamic militants linked to Osama bin 
Laden's al Qaeda group. The TNG denies this and says it would welcome 
visits by US military investigation teams to assess the SRRC's allegations. 
Residents said about 60 families had fled the area to try to escape the 
fighting.   (CNN, USA, 13 February 2002)

* Somalia. Seeking help to fight terror  -  In a report circulated on 13 
February, the government said the United Nations has two choices: watch the 
country slide back into anarchy and chaos or lend active support to the 
government in its struggle against terrorism. President Abdiqasim Salad 
Hassan's transitional government is Somalia's first central authority since 
dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991. In the following years, 
faction leaders fought with each other, turning the nation of 7 million 
into battling fiefdoms protected by heavily armed militias. Abdiqasim and 
his government are struggling financially and have little influence outside 
the capital, and clan-based factions still rule much of the Horn of Africa 
nation.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 13 February 2002)

* South Africa. Mandela "clean" of cancer  -  Former South African 
President Nelson Mandela has said he has been successfully treated for 
prostate cancer. Mr Mandela, 83, announced last July that he had prostate 
cancer and underwent seven weeks of radiotherapy. But he has told an 
audience in Cape Town that doctors had given him the all-clear. Speaking at 
a ceremony to present the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights, 
he said he was delighted at the news. "As a result of the treatment, the 
doctors took a blood sample and said "your blood is clean of the cancer"". 
AFP quoted him as saying. In 1985, while in prison, Mr Mandela was 
hospitalised for prostate surgery and had some tumours removed. They proved 
to be benign. He then returned to jail, where he remained until his release 
in February 1990, a pivotal moment in South Africa's history. Now retired 
from active politics, he still maintains a punishing travel schedule, often 
to collect achievement awards. Mr Mandela remains a fit and generally 
healthy man, but is starting to appear more frail. Four years ago, the 
Nobel peace prize winner married Graca Machel, the widow of the former 
president of Mozambique. He told his Cape Town audience it had been a pity 
she was not in the country when doctors gave him the good news. "Because 
had she been here I would have said: "Darling, let's go and dance"," he 
said.   (BBC News, UK, 7 February 2001)

* South Africa. Tutu spreads Olympic message  -  The Olympics attracts all 
manner of personalities from across the world. But one face I was not 
expecting to see braving the freezing temperatures in Salt Lake City was 
Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The former Nobel Peace prize winner is in town to 
give an address at the 2002 Reebok Human Rights awards -- but will also be 
spreading the Olympic spirit at the same time. The Archbishop says: "I'm 
excited to be here -- it's exhilarating. But I'll definitely be wrapping up 
very warm". The famous grin swept across the Archbishop's face when I asked 
him which events particularly caught his eye. "I'm quite keen to see the 
ice dancing," he quipped. "But as for trying any sports out, noooo, I'm way 
too old." Perhaps, but for a 70-year-old, Tutu is still bright as a button. 
And the man who was for so long the face of the anti-apartheid movement in 
South Africa is only too aware how sport can help fight human rights abuses 
around the world. "Sport helped trigger a great deal of change in our 
country, and we learned how it was possible to use sport in a positive way 
to bring about change. The Olympics are the perfect chance to celebrate 
diversity because there are so many nationalities here. It is so good to 
see human beings testing their abilities, competing in a way that is not 
lethal, and enjoying themselves. At the end, athletes will congratulate one 
another whether they have won or lost, and that sort of fellowship must be 
cherished. We will witness so many extraordinary things at this 
extravaganza, so while there is still a great deal of evil around the 
world, it will be nice to enjoy the good as well."   (BBC News, UK, 8 
February 2002)

* South Africa. Mbeki resolute on AIDS stance  -  President Thabo Mbeki has 
used his annual state of the nation address to call for the moral 
regeneration of South Africa to combat the scourges of AIDS, crime and 
poverty. But he has once again dashed hopes that he will change the 
government's heavily criticised policy on anti-retroviral drugs. Mr Mbeki 
said the key to fighting AIDS was public awareness and prevention and he 
again tied the struggle with the campaign against poverty and malnutrition. 
In his speech marking the new session of parliament in Cape Town, the 
president also refrained from any criticism of President Robert Mugabe in 
neighbouring Zimbabwe. The address is likely to disappoint a growing number 
of South Africans who have urged him to get tough on Zimbabwe and to change 
his policies on AIDS. The president said he was committed to an intensified 
fight against AIDS, but defended his policy of not making anti-retroviral 
drugs available to HIV-positive pregnant women in state hospitals.   (BBC 
News, UK, 8 February 2002)

Weekly anb0214.txt - #6/8