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Weekly anb02216.txt #7
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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 21-02-2002 PART #6/7
* South Africa. AIDS village opens - The first ever purpose built village
for people living with the Aids disease has opened in South Africa aiming
to give more dignity and purpose to terminally ill patents. The village,
just to the west of Johannesburg, will house about 450 men, women and
children, who have no alternatives. It has been built by Sparrow
Ministries, a Christian group specialising in care for the destitute and
the terminally ill. Sparrow opened a hospice in Johannesburg 10 years ago
for people dying from Aids, but that hospice is now hopelessly crowded. The
Reverend Corinne McClintock of Sparrow Ministries says the village will
provide people with more space and comfort. "I think it gives them back
their dignity and it gives them a little bit of hope," she says. (BBC
News, UK, 14 February 2002)
* Afrique du Sud. Sida: la querelle s'envenime - Se démarquant de la
politique officielle du gouvernement sud-africain en matière de lutte
contre le sida, le gouverneur de la province du Cap Occidental a annoncé,
le 15 février, qu'il comptait bien continuer à distribuer un médicament
antirétroviral aux femmes séropositives ainsi qu'aux victimes de viols. Ce
programme a commencé il y a deux ans, quand la province était dirigée par
l'Alliance démocratique (opposition). Aujourd'hui, elle est gouvernée par
une coalition incluant l'ANC et le NNP. Mais le gouverneur Peter Marais
(NNP) affirme que le changement d'équipe ne doit pas modifier l'engagement
de la province contre le sida. Au Cap Occidental, 30 sites distribuent la
nevirapine, touchant actuellement 60% des femmes, alors que dans les sept
autres provinces contrôlées par l'ANC l'accès à la nevirapine est pour
l'instant restreint à une poignée de sites tests. (AP, USA, 15 février 2002)
* South Africa. Mandela attacks Mbeki's AIDS policy - Nelson Mandela is
wading into the increasingly bitter dispute over the South African
government's Aids policies by meeting the ruling African National Congress
leadership today to press for an end to prevarication over a catastrophe he
likened to a war. Mr Mandela has been under pressure from Aids activists,
scientists, trade unions and the churches to challenge the controversial
policies of President Thabo Mbeki towards a disease that is expected to
kill about 6m South Africans by the end of the decade.In his most
significant foray into politics since he retired as president nearly three
years ago, Mr Mandela told a Johannesburg newspaper yesterday that he will
be seeking to persuade the ANC leadership to curtail a futile debate about
the causes of Aids and focus on combating the disease. "This is a war. It
has killed more people than has been the case in all previous wars and in
all previous natural disasters. We must not continue to be debating, to be
arguing, when people are dying," he told the Johannesburg Sunday Times. Mr
Mbeki has attempted to quell criticism abroad by saying that while he
questions the link between HIV and Aids, the only obstacles to treating the
disease are a lack of resources and the need to test drugs. But at home,
the government's continued refusal to allow the universal distribution of
medicines that can prevent HIV-positive mothers from passing the virus on
to their babies -- despite a high court ruling ordering it to provide the
drugs -- is driving a growing wave of condemnation of Mr Mbeki. Aids
activists and doctors believe the government is throwing up irrelevant
questions about the effectiveness of drugs and claims of lack of financial
resources as a smokescreen for inaction. They were particularly angered
when the finance minister, Trevor Manuel, told the World Economic Forum
last month that South Africa would not be seeking money from the global
Aids fund because the problem is not cash but the lack of infrastructure to
deliver treatment. (The Guardian, UK, 18 February 2002)
* Sudan. Apologising for food aid bombing - 14 February: The government
of Sudan has apologised for a bombing raid on civilians collecting food in
the south of the country last weekend which killed two children. A
statement from the Foreign Ministry in Khartoum said the government
expressed its deepest regrets for the bombing. A government plane dropped
six bombs on 10 February on civilians collecting food dropped from a World
Food Programme aircraft around the town of Akuem in the southern province
of Bahr el-Ghazal. Government troops are battling rebel forces in the area.
Sudan promised US envoy John Danforth it would end such
bombings. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 14 February 2002)
* Sudan. Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference - The Sudan Catholic Bishops'
Conference exists as one normal legal ecclesiastical body, with two
regional wings. The exact function of each wing has yet to be determined
but two wings have had to be established so that the pastoral needs of the
Catholic Faithful can be adequately catered for in present-day
circumstances. The Catholic population outside government-controlled
territory is served by the Bishops' grouping known as The Sudan Catholic
Bishops' Regional Conference (SCBRC), based in Nairobi Kenya. Areas under
government control are served by the Bishops' grouping known as The Sudan
Catholic Bishops' Conference (SCBC)-North. Members of the SCBRC are: Bishop
Paride Taban of Torit (the SCBRC's president); Bishop Erkolano Lodu Tombe
of Yei (the SCBRC's vice-president); Bishop Johnson Akio Mutek, auxiliary
Bishop of Torit; Bishop Joseph Gasi Abangite of Tombura/Yambio; Bishop
Macram Max Gassis of El-Obeid; Bishop Ceasar Mazzolari of Rumbek. Members
of the SCBC-North are: Archbishop Paolino Lukudu Loro of Juba (president of
the Conference); Archbishop Gabriel Zubeir Wako of Khartoum; Bishop Rudolf
Deng Majak of Wau; Bishop Vincent Mojwok of Malakal; Bishop Antonio
Menegazzo, Apostolic Administrator of El-Obeid; Bishop Daniel Adwok Kur,
Auxiliary Bishop of Khartoum. (Soc.Comm.Dept., Cath. Bishops' Conf.,
Sudan, 19 February 2002)
* Swaziland. King's brother to draft constitution - On 20 February,
Swaziland's absolute monarch, King Mswati III, appointed his brother as
head of a committee to draft a new constitution that pro-democracy groups
have said will simply further entrench the king's power. "This process will
essentially entrench the current situation. Swaziland is controlled by a
dynasty that runs the country like a private farm," said Bongani Masuku,
secretary general of the Johannesburg-based Swaziland Solidarity Union. The
king's brother, Prince David Dlamini, has been recalled from Copenhagen
where he was ambassador to Denmark until his appointment as the committee
head. Last week Denmark -- known as a generous aid donor to Africa --
suspended developmental assistance to Swaziland in protest at the country's
human rights record. Political parties have been banned in Swaziland, a
mountainous kingdom squeezed between South Africa and Mozambique, since
1973, and pro-democracy groups say the king is growing increasingly
intolerant of dissent. The leader of Swaziland's main opposition party is
on trial for allegedly defaming the king and a number of independent media
organisations have been shut down. (CNN, USA, 20 February 2002)
* Togo. La loi électorale modifiée - 14 février. Le secrétaire général
des Nations unies, Kofi Annan, a critiqué le récent amendement apporté à la
loi électorale togolaise par le gouvernement, estimant que cela n'allait
pas contribuer à créer des conditions favorables à la tenue des prochaines
élections législatives anticipées. Le 8 février, dans la perspective de ces
élections prévues en principe pour le 10 mars prochain, le Parlement
togolais a amendé, sur proposition du gouvernement, la loi électorale,
stipulant entre autres que tout candidat aux législtaives doit résider dans
le pays pendant six mois, et que tout candidat à la présidentielle doit,
quant à lui, vivre sur le territoire national pendant 12 mois précédant le
scrutin. Cette condition disqualifie la principale figure de l'oppositionn,
Gilchrist Olympio, qui vit au Ghana. - Le samedi 16 février, à l'appel des
six principaux partis de l'opposition, près de 2.000 personnes ont
manifesté à Lomé contre la récente modification de la loi électorale. Ils
réclamaient également la libération du leader d'opposition, Yaovi Agboyibo.
On n'a pas signalé d'incidents. Selon un communiqué publié le dimanche
soir, le président Eyadema a de nouveau lancé un appel pressant à la
reprise du dialogue politique au Togo. (ANB-BIA, De sources diverses, 18
février 2002)
* Togo. Protests against amendments to electoral code - On 16 February,
at least 2,000 people demonstrated in Togo's capital, Lome, against
amendments to the country's electoral code and the continued detention of
opposition leader, Yaovi Agboyibo, jailed since 3 August 2001. The
demonstration was organised by six parties, of which five had signed the
Lome framework agreement. These included the Comite d'Action pour le
Renouveau, led by Agboyibo, who was initially sentenced to six months'
imprisonment for defaming Prime Minister Agbeyome Kodjo. In January that
indictment was quashed, but he was forced to remain in jail to face a
second charge of instigating an attack on a political rival in 1997. "By
modifying the electoral code, the government is rejecting the Lome
Framework Agreement that the ruling coalition signed in July 1999 with
opposition parties", Martin Aduayom of the opposition African Peoples'
Democratic Convention) said. "We cannot accept that." (IRIN, 18 February
2002)
* Tunisie/Libye. Accords de coopération - Trois importants accords de
coopération ont été conclus entre la Tunisie et la Libye, portant sur
l'interconnexion des réseaux électriques des deux pays, un projet de
gazoduc devant alimenter la Tunisie en gaz libyen, et la protection de
l'environnement. Au cours de la cérémonie de signature, présidée le 19
février par les Premiers ministres tunisien et libyen, les deux parties ont
aussi procédé à l'échange des instruments de ratification de l'accord de
libre-échange conclu récemment entre Tunis et Tripoli et d'un autre relatif
au transport maritime. (AP, USA, 20 février 2002)
* Uganda. Govt. forces accused of involvement in arms' trade - The
Ugandan government has defended itself against criticisms by Amnesty
International to the effect that the Ugandan police and army are linked to
a flourishing illegal arms trade in the country. On 18 February, responding
for the government, Ofono Opondo, spokesman for the ruling National
Resistance Movement said that President Yoweri Museveni's government had,
on the contrary, impounded several illegal arms consignments destined for
other countries in Africa, and had introduced an amnesty law to encourage
armed groups such as the Karamojong in northeastern Uganda to hand in their
weapons. "Many people are surrendering their guns under the amnesty law,"
Opondo said. "The problem with Amnesty International is they think the
government of Uganda sanctions arms trafficking," he said. Amnesty
International has said Uganda was among the "notorious countries dealing in
illicit arms", The New Vision government-owned newspaper reported on 16
February. (IRIN, 18 February 2002)
* Zambia. Budget deep in the red - Just weeks after mining giant Anglo
American pulled out of a critical copper mining operation, Zambia's economy
has suffered a second blow in the shape of a spiralling budget deficit. The
shortfall in 2001 grew to 8%, far above the 0.75% that had been forecast,
new figures show. The deficit was blamed on sharp rises in public sector
pay combined with spending increases ahead of presidential elections in
December. The need to tighten belts increases the pressure on President
Levy Mwanawasa's new government, already in difficulties after an election
which observers have alleged was rigged. Alongside agriculture, copper has
long been the mainstay of Zambia's economy, accounting for 80% of exports
and a fifth of overall economic output. But with the mines in trouble just
three years after they were sold off, and much of last year's crop flooded
out, the budget is expected to come under more strain, not less. The
government can take some comfort from an offer of $300m from the
International Monetary Fund to help the country cope with Anglo's
pullout. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 18 February 2002)
Weekly anb0221.txt - #6/7