Weekly anb05167.txt #8

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 16-05-2002      PART #7/8

* Rwanda. Rusatira arrêté à Bruxelles  -  Léonidas Rusatira, un ancien 
militaire rwandais, qui faisait l'objet d'un mandat d'arrêt pour génocide 
et crimes contre l'humanité délivré par le Tribunal pénal international 
pour le Rwanda, a été arrêté le 15 mai à Bruxelles et incarcéré. Son 
transfert au TPIR devrait intervenir dans un délai de trois mois au 
maximum. M. Rusatira est un ancien officier supérieur, commandant d'une 
école militaire rwandaise à l'époque du génocide. Après l'assassinat du 
président Habyarimana, un comité de crise avait été mis en place dont il 
faisait partie.   (La Libre Belgique, 16 mai 2002)

* Sénégal. Elections locales  -  Le 12 mai, les Sénégalais ont voté pour 
élire leurs conseillers régionaux, municipaux et ruraux, bouclant ainsi une 
série d'élections entamée le 28 février 2000 par la présidentielle. Les 
électeurs devaient désigner 14.352 conseillers qui siégeront dans 11 
conseils régionaux, 43 communes d'arrondissement, 65 communes et 322 
communautés rurales. Deux grandes coalitions se disputaient les suffrages: 
le Cap 21 (regroupant le parti au pouvoir et la mouvance présidentielle) et 
le Cadre permanent de concertation (CPC) formé de l'essentiel des partis 
d'opposition. On craignait toutefois un fort taux d'abstention, à cause 
notamment de l'absence d'une médiatisation de la campagne électorale. - 13 
mai. Selon les premières tendances, basées sur des résultats partiels et 
non officiels, le Cap 21 aurait gagné dans la région de Dakar et à Thiès, 
mais aurait perdu dans plusieurs métropoles régionales (Ziguinchor, 
Sédhiou, Kaolack, Tambacounda, Kédougou et plusieurs autres villes de 
l'intérieur).   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 13 mai 2002)

* Senegal. Local elections  -  12 May Voters go to the polls to elect 
11,900 regional, municipal and rural councillors in the country's 11 
regions, 67 communes and 332 rural communities. 14 May: The CAP Coalition, 
grouping Senegal's ruling Democratic Party and its partners, has won nine 
out of the eleven regional Councils, according to provisional 
results.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 15 May 2002)

* Sierra Leone. Elections  -  Les élections présidentielles et législatives 
sont prévues le 14 mai. Le président sortant, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah semble 
assuré de sa réélection, face à 8 autres candidats. Pour les législatives, 
plus de vingt partis politiques se disputeront les 124 sièges au Parlement. 
- Le vendredi 10 mai, des milliers de personnes faisant partie des forces 
de sécurité ont déjà voté. Ce jour de vote était destiné aux forces de 
sécurité, au personnel chargé de l'organisation des élections et à d'autres 
personnes qui, en raison de leurs fonctions, ne pourront pas voter le jour 
normal des élections. Environ 31 bureaux de vote ont été ouverts dans tout 
le pays pour ce vote spécial. D'autre part, le commandant de la mission des 
Nations unies a averti que ses forces seraient sévères à l'encontre des 
fauteurs de troubles. - Le 11 mai à Freetown, de violents incidents ont 
entaché le dernier jour de la campagne électorale. Les services de sécurité 
ont tiré à balles réelles pour disperser des militants du SLPP (au pouvoir) 
et du RUF qui s'affrontaient. - 14 mai. Près de 2,4 millions d'électeurs 
étaient appelés aux urnes. Ils ont voté massivement, sous la haute 
protection des casques bleus. Le scrutin s'est déroulé sans incident 
notable. Plus de 4.200 observateurs locaux et internationaux supervisaient 
les élections. - 15 mai. La population de Freetown a acclamé les premiers 
résultats officieux et partiels qui donnent le président sortant, Ahmed 
Kabbah, largement en tête, loin devant le parti des anciens rebelles du 
RUF. Les résultats officiels ne sont pas attendus avant le vendredi 17 
mai.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 15 mai 2002)

* Sierra Leone. Presidential and parliamentary elections  -  9 May: 
Freetown grinds to a halt as thousands of jubilant supporters of the former 
ruling All People's Congress (APC) take to the streets in a political rally 
ahead of the country's 14 May elections. The rally brings together all 
shades of APC supporters clad in red and white, the party's colour, 
drumming, dancing, singing and carrying banners with varying slogans. The 
main Siaka Stevens Street, named in honour of the late Sierra Leonean 
president, founder of the APC, is the centre of action, with pockets of 
supporters scattered in other parts of the city, effectively bringing it to 
a halt. -- The High Court orders the publication of the full list of 
presidential and parliamentary candidates contesting the 14 May election. 
This reverses the order it had given to the National Electoral Commission 
on 7 May to put on hold the final list containing the names of 
parliamentary, vice presidential and presidential candidates. 10 May: 
Former rebels and soldiers from Sierra Leone's once-undisciplined army vote 
today ahead of next week's main polling day in an election designed to give 
the country a new start after a decade of civil war. The special vote will 
allow security forces to be free for surveillance and monitoring of the 14 
May elections, the first since the end of the war in January. At the 
Benguema training camp, about 32 kilometres east of the capital Freetown, 
new recruits drawn from different factions that participated in the war 
line up to vote. The recruits are supervised by officials from the National 
Election Commission (NEC). The NEC's chairman, Walter Nicol, tells 
journalists that between 10,000 and 15,000 voters are expected to take part 
in the special ballot. Their votes are to be counted after the 14 May 
elections. 11 May: United Nations troops in Sierra Leone have intervened to 
break up riots in the centre of the capital, Freetown, as opposing 
political parties clashed. Several people were seriously injured by the 
stone-throwing supporters of the ruling party and former rebels of the 
Revolutionary United Front, (RUF). This is the first significant electoral 
violence in the campaign ahead of the 14 May elections which are meant to 
mark the end of a decade-long war. The clashes came as campaigning ended 
for the landmark presidential poll. UN troops in armoured personnel 
carriers fired into the air to break up crowds of hundreds of rival 
supporters. After the UN intervened, a semblance of order returned and this 
isolated incident should be seen in the context of a so far remarkably 
peaceful election campaign. 14 May: Presidential and parliamentary 
elections. 15 May: Counting has begun. Kabbah is reported to be ahead. 16 
May: Preliminary results from the elections in Sierra Leone show the 
incumbent President, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, has taken a strong lead, Electoral 
Commissioner Walter Nicol said. Turnout was high and there were no reports 
of violence in the vote which, it is hoped, will mark a definitive end to 
the 10-year civil war.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 16 May 2002)

* Somalia. Trouble in "Puntland"  -  8 May: Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, one of 
two men claiming the presidency of Somalia's autonomous state of Puntland, 
has seized the region's commercial capital Bossasso, following a three-day 
sweep across the region. Bossasso was the last remaining stronghold of Jama 
Ali Jama, who was chosen by clan elders in November to replace Abdullahi 
Yusuf as president. Colonel Yusuf's offensive began on 6 May near his 
southern stronghold of Garoweh, and spread quickly north. Bossasso appears 
to have fallen without a fight. Elders arranged for Colonel Yusuf's entry 
into the city rather than allow it to be damaged. Ali Jama fled the city by 
car, and when it became clear that he was not about to make a stand local 
officials changed sides. Bossasso is home to 70,000 residents and is 
critical to the finances of Puntland. Taxes from exports of sheep, goats 
and camels to Dubai and Kuwait, as well as duties levied on imports of cars 
and electrical good, pay for the running of the region. Last year a 
congress of elders elected Jama Ali Jama as the new head of Puntland, but 
this was immediately rejected by Colonel Yusuf, who described the vote as 
futile and illegal. He accused supporters of the transitional government in 
Mogadishu of being involved in the leadership change, although it is not 
clear whether Mr Jama is any more sympathetic to Mogadishu than Colonel 
Yusuf.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 8 May 2002)

* Somalie. Le président du Puntland renversé  -  Le mercredi matin, 8 mai, 
la milice loyale au colonel Abdulahi Yusuf Hamed a envahi la ville 
portuaire de Bosaso et renversé le président Jama Ali Jama de la région 
autonome du Puntland. La veille déjà, la milice de Yusuf s'était emparée de 
la ville de Qardo. Elle s'est ensuite dirigée sur Bosaso, dont elle a pris 
le contrôle sans rencontrer de résistance. M. Jama s'est enfui dans le 
village d'Iskushuban, à quelque 160 km de la ville. En août 2001, Jama 
avait renversé le colonel Yusuf, qui est soutenu par l'Ethiopie. Celui-ci a 
déclaré maintenant à la foule rassemblée à Bosaso qu'il était le président 
légitime du Puntland.   (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 10 mai 2002)

* Somalie. Attaque éthiopienne  -  Le 15 mai, plusieurs centaines de 
soldats éthiopiens en uniforme ont attaqué la ville frontalière somalienne 
de Bulo Hawo, forçant des centaines de personnes à fuir leurs habitations, 
ont rapporté des témoins. Les forces éthiopiennes, qui ont utilisé des 
véhicules blindés et étaient soutenues par des milices somaliennes, se sont 
emparés de Bulo Hawo, à quelques kilomètres au sud de la frontière, après 
avoir bombardé la ville, selon ces témoins. La ville était contrôlée par 
une faction soutenant le gouvernement de transition du président Salat 
Hassan. Les autorités éthiopiennes ont démenti l'information.   (AP, 15 mai 
2002)

* Somalia. Renewed fighting in southern Somalia  -  15 May: Ethiopian 
troops are reported to have crossed the border into Somalia to help 
militias fighting the Somali Government. Eyewitnesses who fled across the 
border to Kenya together with hundreds of others, say that at least two 
people were killed and four injured when Ethiopian soldiers attacked the 
border town of Bulo Hawo early this morning. Kenya, which had given the 
Somali refugees in Mandera until today to go home, says it will set up a 
temporary camp for the thousands of refugees. Bulo Hawo is now once again 
controlled by the militias of the Somali Reconstruction and Restoration 
Council (SRRC), a coalition of opposition warlords backed by Ethiopia. Ten 
days ago, the SRRC had lost the town to the forces of Colonel Abdirizak 
Issak Bihi. Colonel Bihi has reportedly been captured unhurt by the 
Ethiopian forces and taken across the border to Ethiopia. The exchange of 
gunfire and the noise of the shelling in Bulo Hawo could be heard in 
Mandera. More than 10,000 Somali refugees have already found refuge in the 
Kenyan border town from the fighting in Gedo.The United Nations High 
Commissioner for Refugees has agreed with the Kenyan Government to feed the 
refugees by 17 May. But in the longer term, the Kenyan government would 
like the Somali refugees to go home.   (BBC News, UK, 16 May 2002)

* South Africa. More tolerant of corruption  -  Bribe-taking has become 
more common in democratic South Africa, the Transparency International 
survey found. More than half the company executives interviewed said 
corruption "had increased" or "increased significantly" in the past five 
years. The "deterioration of the rule of law" and "public tolerance of 
corruption" were identified as the main reasons behind the worsening trend, 
Mari Harris of Markinor, who conducted the survey, said on 14 May. The 
increase in bribery of public officials was blamed on low public sector 
salaries. Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, recently declared an 
"all-out war" on corruption in the public sector after several cases were 
exposed by the media. South African respondents found that local companies, 
especially small and medium-sized ones, were the most likely to offer 
bribes to get a contract or increase their market share. Among 
international companies, large multinationals were most likely to use 
bribes to enter the South African market, the survey found, particularly 
those from China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Russia. British companies were 
regarded by South African executives as the least likely to offer bribes, 
followed in the "squeaky clean" league by Swiss, Canadian and Swedish 
groups.   (Financial Times, UK, 15 May 2002)

* South Africa. Military adapting to budget constraints  -  The South 
African military, one of the most powerful in Africa, is redrafting its 
strategic plans and reviewing force levels to adapt to budget constraints, 
Defense Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on 14 May. "The mismatch between 
defense policy and our defense budget allocation has forced us to 
re-examine our overall strategy. Some hard decisions have to be made," he 
told parliament. The defense force has already signed a 12-year deal with 
countries including Britain, Sweden, Italy and Germany to provide jet 
trainers, fighters, ships and submarines at a total cost of $4.8 billion. 
Lekota said the combined defense force, including army, air force and navy, 
had calculated its need at 4.1 billion rand ($406.1 million) over the 20.6 
billion rand allocated in the budget for fiscal 2002-2003. "We are putting 
together a new force design and structure that will both enable us to carry 
out our constitutional obligations in the widest sense, whilst being 
affordable," he said. South Africa has deployed 930 soldiers to United 
Nations and other peace-keeping missions around Africa and has promised to 
play an active role in future monitoring missions. Lekota, who told 
legislators he would soon submit a new military strategy to the cabinet, 
has committed to reducing defense force numbers from the current 78,800 to 
a maximum of 70,000 by the end of next year.   (CNN, USA, 15 May 2002)

* Soudan. Massacre de civils  -  En une semaine, le Sud-Soudan a été le 
théâtre de massacres perpétrés par des rebelles ougandais, ayant coûté la 
vie à plus de 470 civils, a annoncé l'Eglise catholique. Selon un 
communiqué du diocèse de Torit, ces massacres ont été commis par les 
rebelles de l'Armée de résistance du Seigneur (LRA) dans leur fuite en 
territoire soudanais, alors qu'ils étaient poursuivis par l'armée de 
Kampala.   (Le Soir, Belgique, 13 mai 2002)

Weekly anb0516.txt - #7/8