Weekly anb02217.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 21-02-2002      PART #7/7

* Zimbabwe. Christians rebuke State media  -  17 February: A group of 17 
Christian churches issued a statement denouncing violence and warning the 
state-sponsored media to stop demonizing its leaders as puppets of foreign 
governments and institutions. The Bulawayo-based group included the Roman 
Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Word for Life, Apostolic Faith, Evangelical 
Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches. Their warning comes as this southern 
African nation of 11.3 million braces for presidential elections next 
month. State media today reported that the government has set up a task 
force headed by its feared intelligence chief to distribute emergency food 
imports, the Associated Press said. Opposition leaders said they feared 
that the move meant that food would be used as a tool to help President 
Robert Mugabe win the hard-fought elections scheduled for March 9-10. 
Representatives of the Christian churches said they were concerned at 
Parliament's approval of the Public Order and Security Act, which requires 
them to seek state permission to hold prayers in public. The Chronicle 
newspaper accused Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo of 
politicizing the Church by turning his sermons into "political rallies." 
The churches also denounced the current culture of violence sweeping across 
the country. "We deplore, in the strongest terms, that it is acceptable to 
beat, rape, torture, harass and intimidate people going about their 
legitimate business," they said. The churches also expressed their 
solidarity with the families of those killed, injured, maimed and molested 
during violence and intimidation. "Widows, orphans and survivors are 
members of our Churches and communities; we extend to them our most sincere 
condolences," the statement said. "We are appealing to peace-loving 
Zimbabweans to go to the polls to exercise their constitutional right with 
a clear conscience in a free and fair manner," it added. (Editor's note: On 
18 February, after a brief court hearing, Father Kevin O'Doherty, a 
Mariannhill Missionary, and other Christian pastors and lay people, who had 
been arrested on 16 February for attending a peace prayer service in 
Bulawayo, were released.)   (Zenit, Italy, 17 February 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Tensions pré-électorales  -  Le 16 février, des dirigeants 
religieux de différentes confessions, dont un missionnaire catholique, ont 
été arrêtés à Bulawayo, la deuxième ville du Zimbabwe. Le père Kevin 
O'Doherty, un Américain membre des missionnaires de Marianhill, et d'autres 
religieux anglicans et méthodistes étaient détenus dans une prison, tous 
accusés de troubles à l'ordre public; ils avaient organisé un service de 
prière pour la paix, suivi d'une procession impliquant toutes les églises 
de la ville, après avoir refusé le patronage de cette initiative par le 
gouvernement. Le lundi 18 février, ils ont tous été libérés, après une 
brève audience au tribunal, indique l'agence Fides. Ils ont dû payer une 
caution de 1.000 dollars zimb. et devront se représenter au tribunal le 4 
mars. - Par ailleurs, le 17 février, le président Mugabe a nommé le chef 
des services secrets du pays à la tête de la force d'action qui devra 
distribuer l'aide alimentaire internationale. Les dirigeants de 
l'opposition ont dit craindre que cette nomination signifie que la 
nourriture sera utilisée comme un moyen de pression et un outil politique. 
- Le 18 février, des partisans du président Mugabe, armés de bâtons et de 
pierres, ont effectué une "descente" dans le centre d'Harare, semant la 
panique parmi les passants et attaquant des locaux du principal parti 
d'opposition.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 19 février 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Lead-up to elections  -  13 February: Hundreds of self-styled 
war veterans and supporters of the ruling Zanu-PF party went on the rampage 
in Zimbabwe's second largest city of Bulawayo in the evening. Dozens of 
people, amongst them late night shoppers, were injured in a further 
escalation of political violence ahead of presidential elections next 
month. -- The opposition candidate in Zimbabwe's crucial presidential 
elections next month has strongly denied allegations made in an Australian 
television documentary that he discussed a plan to assassinate his rival, 
President Robert Mugabe. The film purports to show Morgan Tsvangirai, the 
leader of opposition party the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), 
talking about the elimination of President Mugabe. The eight minutes of 
edited film was part of a one-hour documentary. The video, which appears to 
have been filmed secretly, shows four men in a room discussing political 
scenarios in Zimbabwe. The SBS Dateline programme said it was a meeting 
between representatives of a political consultancy in Canada and a man 
described in the film as, "the MDC's top man". The MDC claims Mr Mugabe's 
party is trying to discredit Mr Tsvangirai. Mr Tsvangirai has reportedly 
dismissed the charges as a crude smear campaign and says that there is no 
truth to them. 14 February: Thirty observers from the European Union have 
been accredited to observe the elections. Pierre Schori, the Swedish head 
of the EU observers, who is from one of the six European countries 
blacklisted by Zimbabwe, did not seek accreditation. He is in the country 
as a "tourist". 15 February: Zimbabwe has denied reports that it had 
withdrawn the tourist visa it granted to Pierre Schori, head of the 
European Union team sent to monitor next month's presidential election. 
"His visa has not been revoked but what happened is that our immigration 
officers went to warn Mr Schori to comply with the conditions of his 
tourist visa which he got when he came into the country," Zimbabwe's Home 
Minister, John Nkomo, told the Reuters news agency. 16 February: Pierre 
Schori, the Swedish diplomat in charge of the team, is forced to leave 
Harare, throwing a question mark over whether the full 150-strong team can 
monitor the presidential elections on March 9. Mr Schori -- who is due to 
brief ministers, in Brussels this morning -- is accused of "political 
arrogance" for making public statements despite having entered the country 
on a tourist visa. He insists he has acted in good faith. 18 February: 
European Union foreign ministers face a tough decision today over whether 
to slap sanctions on Zimbabwe after President Robert Mugabe's government 
expelled the head of the EU election observer mission. -- Thousands of 
President Mugabe's supporters attack the MDC office in Harare, breaking 
windows and beating up passers-by. They also attack anyone selling copies 
of privately-owned newspapers, while the police stand by. -- Later in the 
day, the EU slap "smart sanctions" on President Mugabe's regime and 
withdraws its entire election observer mission. The sanctions include a 
travel ban and an assets freeze targeting Mr Mugabe and 19 of his senior 
ministers, army and police commanders and their families. The EU is also 
going to cut off Euros 128 million in development aid for the 2002-2007 
period. 19 February: Zimbabwe describes as "disgraceful" the EU's 
sanctions. 19 February: The United States has backed the EU sanctions and 
says it is "moving rapidly" to impose sanctions of its own against Robert 
Mugabe's government.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, UK, 20 February 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Sanctions européennes  -  15 février. Après avoir accrédité une 
trentaine d'observateurs européens chargés de superviser l'élection 
présidentielle de mars, le gouvernement zimbabwéen a refusé d'accréditer le 
chef de la délégation européenne, le diplomate suédois Pierre Schori, qui 
risque de devoir quitter le pays. On lui a retiré son visa parce qu'il 
n'avait qu'un visa touristique et qu'il a fait des déclarations politiques. 
Ami de Mugabe, Schori n'est plus le bienvenu depuis qu'il a dirigé, en 
2000, la mission d'observation européenne des législatives et remis un 
rapport très critique. Harare a fait savoir qu'il n'accepterait comme 
observateurs que des ressortissants de neuf des quinze pays de l'UE, à 
l'exclusion de Grande-Bretagne et de pays comme la Suède, qui a accusé le 
régime de violer les droits de l'homme. La trentaine d'observateurs 
accrédités, appartiennent à ces neuf pays "amis". Les 6 autres sont la 
Grande-Bretagne, l'Allemagne, les Pays-Bas, la Finlande, le Danemark et la 
Suède. - Le samedi 16 février, comme il fallait s'y attendre, M. Schori a 
été expulsé. En réaction, le lundi 18, le Conseil des ministres européens 
des Affaires étrangères a décidé de rappeler ses observateurs déjà en place 
et a adopté des sanctions: un gel des avoirs en Europe des dirigeants du 
Zimbabwe ainsi qu'une interdiction de se rendre dans les pays de l'Union. 
Le conseil a également décidé un embargo sur la fourniture d'armes et de 
matériel militaire. Toutefois, l'aide au développement n'est pas touchée 
par ces mesures punitives. 19 février. Alors que les observateurs européens 
quittaient le Zimbabwe, les Etats-Unis à leur tour annonçaient des 
sanctions (encore à préciser). La Suisse va également étudier une 
éventuelle restriction des voyages ou le blocage des comptes. D'autre part, 
la décision européenne suscite des remous en Afrique et ne fait pas 
l'unanimité. Elle a été critiquée tant par le représentant des pays ACP, 
que par le secrétaire général de l'OUA. L'Afrique du Sud a qualifié la 
décision de "regrettable et malheureuse".   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 
20 février 2002)

* Zimbabwe. Independent media under pressure  -  15 February: Zimbabwean 
journalist Basildon Peta has fled to South Africa, saying he fears for his 
safety after attacks on him in the state-controlled media. Mr Peta, who is 
the local correspondent of the British newspaper, The Independent, was held 
overnight in Harare central prison earlier this month for allegedly 
breaching strict new security laws. Mr Peta also writes for Zimbabwe's 
Financial Gazette and heads the country's union of journalists. After 
arriving in South Africa, said that the level of vilification and number of 
threats to which he had been subjected in Zimbabwe's state-controlled media 
had become unacceptable. On 13 February, Zimbabwean television devoted the 
first 13 minutes of its main news bulletin to reports about Mr Peta, 
accusing him of lying about the details of his detention. The Independent 
website said Mr Peta took an evening flight out of Zimbabwe on 14 February 
to join his wife and young child already in exile. "There has been a big 
attempt to try to destroy me completely. I will go back as soon as I feel 
it is safe, possibly before the election," Mr Peta said. The Independent 
said Mr Peta had been the victim of an erroneous report by the Media 
Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) alleging that he had spent less than 
five hours in custody, rather than the 15 hours he actually spent in a 
police cell. The false report was exploited by the authorities to vilify 
him, The Independent said, adding that the journalist's name last year 
topped a Zimbabwean security service hit list. 18 February; President 
Mugabe has banned major international news organisations from covering the 
elections. Five reporters and three photographers from South Africa who 
were to represent The Independent group have been denied accreditation. 
Correspondents from The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph as well as 
numerous reporters from Europe and North America have also been banned. 19 
February: Basildon Peta urges the international community "not to rest on 
its laurels" following the EU's decision to impose sanctions on 
Zimbabwe.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 20 February 2002)


Weekly anb0221.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)
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Everytime somebody keep silent when faced with tyranny, someone else dies 
(Wole Syinka, Nobel Prize for Literature) *
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