Weekly anb06066.txt #7

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 06-06-2002 PART #6/7

* South Africa. Fighting education apartheid - 30 May: The higher education 
system in South Africa is to be radically restructured in an effort to 
remove the racial imbalance introduced and fostered by institutionalised 
apartheid. The government has given the traditionally white universities 
five years to make progress towards re-integration -- if they do not act, a 
quota system could be introduced. The black universities and colleges 
created under apartheid will also be restructured to improve education in 
poor communities and rural areas. Restructuring higher education in South 
Africa has been a priority for the government since it took over the legacy 
of apartheid in 1994. Education was strictly segregated and spending on 
whites was 10 times greater than for black students. Despite heavy 
investment in previously black schools and colleges and the ending of 
segregation, schools and universities remain one of the most obviously 
divided sectors of post-apartheid society. Official figures show that 
almost half all white students go on to university or college after school, 
whereas only 12% of black and coloured pupils carry on their education. 
Announcing the reforms, Education Minister Kader Asmal said the 
traditionally white universities had five years to visibly accelerate 
racial integration. "This marks an exciting turning point... away from our 
shameful apartheid past to a confident future," he said. He said the 
country's 36 universities and technical colleges will be merged into 21 
higher education institutions in an effort to bring education closer to 
rural communities and poorer people. (BBC News, UK, 30 May 2002)

* South Africa. South African regional premier resigns - 1 June: The 
premier of South Africa's Western Cape province, Peter Marais, has resigned 
in the face of allegations of sexual harassment. The national leader of his 
party Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the resignation would allow Mr Marais 
time to prepare himself for possible legal action. He has denied any 
wrongdoing. The African National Congress, which is in a provincial 
coalition with Mr Marais' New National Party, welcomed what it said was a 
decisive move in a very messy political situation in the Western Cape. Mr 
Marais came to prominence last year, when his sacking as Mayor of Cape Town 
prompted a national re-alignment of South African politics, with his party 
moving towards a coalition with the ANC. (BBC News, UK, 1 June 2002)

* South Africa. Hansie Cronje killed - The bodies of former South African 
cricket captain Hansie Cronje and two pilots have been taken to a mortuary 
after a helicopter crew picked them up off the mountain side in Western 
Cape province where they were killed in a plane crash. Their remains were 
extricated from the wreckage on 1 June, but the bad weather delayed the 
helicopter's flight to the scene outside the city of George, about 500 
kilometres east of Cape Town. Investigators have been collecting flight 
data recorders from the Hawker Siddeley 748 cargo plane which came down 
early on 1 June during bad weather, killing all three on board. Tributes 
have been pouring in for Cronje, with calls to forget the bribes scandal 
which led to his ban from professional cricket and to concentrate instead 
on his sporting achievements. A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority 
said it was hoped that post-mortems on the bodies could be conducted on 3 
June. South African media reported that Cronje had caught a ride on the 
cargo plane early on 1 June in the morning after missing a scheduled 
flight. Relatives of the 32-year-old said the plane was unable to land due 
to poor weather conditions in George and crashed at about 0500GMT 
(0600BST). It appears the pilot tried to circle before landing but crashed 
in the rugged Outeniqua mountains. Cronje was banned for life from the game 
by the United Cricket Board of South Africa in 2000. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 3 
June 2002)

* South Africa. Scandals threaten Opposition - On 3 June, Cape Town's 
mayor, the latest casualty of a series of sex and corruption scandals that 
threaten to bury the two leading parties competing for South Africa's 
minority white and mixed-race vote, yesterday relinquished his ceremonial 
duties but continued to cling to political office. Gerald Morkel, a key 
leader of the Democratic Alliance party, stopped short of resigning 
outright following accusations by a high profile German fugitive accused of 
massive fraud that he gave the mayor tens of thousands of pounds in illicit 
payments. Mr Morkel's attempt to avoid political oblivion follows the 
resignation of the premier of Western Cape province on 31 May, amid a 
police investigation into gross sexual harassment. Peter Marais, the 
highest ranking public official in the New National party (NNP), which gave 
South Africa apartheid and has reinvented itself as a mostly "coloured" or 
mixed-race organisation, was Mr Morkel's main political rival in the 
region. The scandals have spread far beyond the individuals involved to tar 
the leaderships of both parties with charges of cover-ups and hypocrisy. 
President Thabo Mbeki's African National Congress is poised to take 
advantage in the days ahead with the introduction of a new law allowing 
elected officials to swap parties. (The Guardian, UK, 4 June 2002)

* South Africa. Prestige with a hefty price tag - World summits are nice to 
have but expensive to keep. So South Africa is finding in its quest to have 
its big cities play host to thousands of delegates to United Nations 
conferences. An estimated 65,000 participants in the UN World Summit on 
Sustainable Development will roll into Johannesburg in late August. The 
summit is billed as one of the largest ever held. But the South African 
government, which is frantically preparing an untested city for the 
onslaught, is hoping it is not also one of the costliest. It already knows 
that the prestige of hosting the UN comes at a price, having struggled to 
foot the R100m bill for last year's UN World Conference Against Racism. 
International donors were slow to show their financial support and months 
after the conference, South Africa's foreign ministry officials were still 
scratching about for contributions to cover the cost. Chastened by its 
experience in Durban, South Africa has been better prepared to drum up 
financial support for August's summit. Valli Moosa, minister of 
environmental affairs and tourism, signalled at the end of last year that 
the developing country -- with one of the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates 
in the world -- should not be left to find all the cash for the meeting of 
world leaders. He rattled the contribution box loudly to donors, including 
the business community. The early warning appears to have worked to a 
certain extent. But the summit's budget is still not entirely covered. The 
provincial government and the city of Johannesburg are contributing R150m 
of the R500m conference budget. Donor countries -- mainly European Union 
members -- are paying R120m. The business community and delegates will have 
to bridge the gap. (Financial Times, UK, 5 June 2002)

* Soudan. Revers pour le SPLA - "Après plusieurs jours de combats 
acharnés", l'armée soudanaise vient de récupérer la ville stratégique de 
Gaisan, dans la région du Nil Bleu, à la frontière entre l'Ethiopie et le 
Soudan, des mains des rebelles de l'Armée de libération du peuple soudanais 
(SPLA), a-t-on appris le 30 mai de source mllitaire à Khartoum. Gaisan, 
située au pied du Plateau éthiopien, est passée à plusieurs reprises 
alternativement entre les mains de l'armée et celles des rebelles. La 
reprise de Gaisan place Kurmuk, située à 30 km plus à l'ouest, sous la 
menace directe des forces de Khartoum. Ces villes sont toutes deux situées 
au nord du Soudan, mais le SPLA considère les Engassanas, qui vivent dans 
cette région avec d'autres tribus, comme des groupes ethniques originaires 
du Sud-Soudan. (PANA, Sénégal, 30 mai 2002)

* Soudan. Le contrôle des aides internationales - Il y a quelques jours, le 
gouvernement soudanais a demandé à l'Onu le transfert de la base de la 
mission onusienne Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) de Lokichoggio à El Obeid, 
en plein territoire contrôlé par Khartoum. "C'est une évidente tentative de 
la part de Khartoum de maintenir sous contrôle les ONG qui fournissent de 
l'aide aux populations du sud", a commenté l'évêque de Rumbek, Mgr 
Mazzolari. "Je pense que les ONG réagiront négativement. Khartoum voudrait 
avoir un contrôle total des aides. Depuis des mois, elle empêche une grande 
partie des vols prévus d'arriver aux destinations où les besoins d'aide se 
font sentir". Depuis longtemps, les ONG internationales et les membres des 
Nations unies eux-mêmes ont dénoncé l'utilisation des secours destinés aux 
populations comme arme politique. De nombreuses ONG s'appuient sur l'OLS de 
façon marginale pour acheminer de l'aide vers les zones dont le 
gouvernement interdit l'accès. (D'après Misna, Italie, 30 mai 2002)

* Sudan. Sudanese army retakes key town - 31 May: The Sudanese army says it 
has recaptured the eastern town of Qeissan from the rebel Sudan People's 
Liberation Army (SPLA), after fierce fighting. The town, described as 
strategic by the Sudanese military, had been held by the rebels since 1997. 
The army said it had inflicted heavy losses on the rebels and had seized 
tanks and artillery. There was no immediate confirmation from the 
southern-based rebel movement. The armed forces general command said in a 
statement broadcast by Omdurman Radio that the fourth infantry division was 
able to gain control of the town, about 580 km south-east of the capital 
Khartoum, on 29 May. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 31 May 2002)

* Sudan. Sudanese die crossing to Libya - Reports from Khartoum say that 45 
Sudanese nationals, seeking jobs in Libya, have died after losing their way 
in the western desert. The Sudanese news agency, Suna, said the victims had 
probably died of thirst and hunger, and it warned others Sudanese not to 
attempt such an enterprise. It gave no further details of when the group 
got lost or whether there were any survivors. Correspondents say that 
thousands of Sudanese work in oil-rich Libya, many of them having taken the 
desert road. (BBC News, UK, 2 June 2002)

* Soudan. 45 morts dans le désert - 45 Soudanais, en route vers la Libye 
pour y trouver un emploi, sont morts pendant leur voyage après s'être 
perdus dans le désert, a rapporté l'agence officielle soudanaise le 2 juin. 
Selon un communiqué du gouvernement régional de l'Etat de Darfur, situé à 
la frontière de la Libye, les victimes sont probablement mortes de faim et 
de soif. Il ne précise pas quand le groupe s'est perdu et s'il y avait des 
survivants. En février, 18 hommes étaient morts de la même façon après que 
leur camion fut tombé en panne dans le désert. Des milliers de Soudanais 
traversent régulièrement le désert de sable dans l'espoir de trouver un 
emploi en Libye, pays riche en ressources pétrolières. (AP, 2 juin 2002)

* Swaziland. Rasta row shakes Swazi royals - 28 May: A row has broken out 
in the royal family in Swaziland about Rastafarian members of the royal 
household. King Mswati's aides have evicted six young men, including the 
king's nephew, for wearing dreadlocks and, allegedly, for smoking marijuana 
in the royal residence. Royal sources say the order to evict the men was 
made by King Mswati after they made abusive utterances against him. But the 
men deny the allegations against them and say that the real motive for 
their eviction is to prevent them gaining access to the king. They want to 
pass to the king a message from God they say they received in a dream. The 
father of one of the men, Prince Sulumlomo, has condemned the eviction and 
is reported to have sought an urgent meeting with King Mswati, who is his 
younger brother, over the eviction order. His son, Prince Bhamela, and the 
five other men, have been ordered not to set foot inside the Ludzidzini 
royal palace and in any of the royal residences because of their 
Rastafarian beliefs. They have also been asked to vacate the late King 
Sobhuza's royal residence where they sought alternative accommodation after 
their eviction. Royal sources say this is the second time the men have been 
ordered out of royal residences for their belief in Rastafarianism. The men 
say that they have been detained several times by police for their beliefs, 
but that they have never been charged. (BBC News, UK, 28 May 2002)

* Swaziland. King takes ninth wife - 3 June: King Mswati III has married 
once again, bringing the total number of his official wives to nine. The 
wedding during which the king married his ninth wife, Nontsetselelo 
Magongo, an 18-year-old girl forced to leave school last year amid protests 
from human rights and anti-child abuse institutions in Swaziland and 
abroad, took place on 1 June. Royal sources say that the ceremony was once 
again conducted by King Mswati's sisters, as well as the wives of his late 
father, King Sobhuza II, at the Ludzidzini royal residence. (ANB-BIA, 
Brussels, 3 June 2002)

* Tchad. L'ex-président Malloum rentre au pays - Le vendredi 31 mai, 
l'ancien président tchadien Félix Malloum est rentré définitivement au 
Tchad, après 23 ans d'exil au Nigeria. En 1975, à la chute du régime du 
président Tombalbaye, il avait été porté par l'armée à la présidence du 
Conseil supérieur militaire, et présidé aux destinées du Tchad jusqu'à la 
fin de la guerre civile. En 1979, il décide volontairement de démissionner 
de ses fonctions de chef de l'Etat, pour s'exiler au Nigeria. Vendredi, à 
son arrivée, M. Malloum a été reçu par le président Idriss Déby, qui a 
salué son retour comme un événement national, appelant tous les Tchadiens 
exilés à revenir au pays pour apporter leur contribution au développpement 
du Tchad. (PANA, Sénégal, 1er juin 2002)

Weekly anb06066.txt #6/7