Weekly anb09124.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 12-09-2002      PART #4/7

* Congo (RDC). UN investigates reports of scores killed in Congo  -  The 
United Nations is investigating reports that more than 100 people were 
killed in a new round of bloodletting in war-devastated northeastern Congo. 
Residents fleeing the town of Nyankunde in Ituri province told UN observers 
in nearby Bunia their village was attacked on 5 September by tribal 
warriors and fighters from one of several Ugandan-backed rebel factions. 
Violence has flared in Ituri over the past month as Ugandan troops have 
pulled out under an agreement aimed at ending a four-year war in the vast 
central African country that has left an estimated two million people dead. 
"It is difficult to know how many people were killed, because in the chaos 
people were trying to escape," a statement said from the Church Missionary 
Society in Britain, quoting someone who had been working at Nyankunde. "The 
dead were abandoned, roads were blocked and many people trapped," she said. 
Church groups estimated that more than 100 people died at Nyankunde. The 
trouble there follows killings at nearby Bunia last month, where at least 
110 civilians died --many of them women and children hacked to death. News 
of the attacks at Nyankunde has been slow to trickle from the isolated 
town, where church groups said communications equipment was destroyed in 
fighting involving ethnic militias and rebels of the RCD-ML faction. "The 
villagers told us of atrocities committed by soldiers from the RCD-ML and 
people from the Ngiti tribe, who now appear to be in control of Nyankunde," 
UN spokesman Hamadoun Toure told Reuters in Kinshasa. "They said 20 people 
were killed at the hospital, but we'll have to investigate to find out what 
really happened," he added.   (CNN, USA, 12 September 2002)

* Djibouti. Multiparty politics approved  -  President Ismael Omar Guelleh 
has announced the introduction of multiparty politics to coincide with the 
10th anniversary of the country's constitution on 4 September. In a speech 
to mark the occasion, the president hailed the achievements of the Djibouti 
people over the last 10 years. He described the 10th anniversary as a "new 
departure" for the country. "In keeping with this law on which our 
republican institutions are based, our people will, from today [4 
September], participate in the process of multiparty politics," he said. He 
cautioned against tribalism, regionalism, demagogy, disrespect for 
constitutional rule and violence.   (IRIN, Kenya, 5 September 2002)

* Egypte. Islamistes condamnés  -  Le 9 septembre, un tribunal militaire 
égyptien a condamné 51 islamistes, accusés de complot pour renverser le 
gouvernement, à des peines allant de 2 ans de prison à 15 ans de travaux 
forcés. Le tribunal de Huckstep (au nord du Caire) a acquitté les 43 autres 
militants comparaissant dans ce procès d'un groupe accusé d'avoir envisagé 
l'assassinat du président Moubarak. La majorité d'entre eux avait été 
arrêtée avant les attentats du 11 septembre 2001 (pour avoir illégalement 
levé des fonds en faveur des combattants tchétchènes et en soutien à 
l'Intifada palestinienne), mais les charges ont subitement été alourdies 
après cette date. En Egypte, les associations des droits de l'homme ont 
plusieurs fois dénoncé ce procès qu'elles estiment monté de toutes pièces 
et destiné uniquement à démontrer la participation active de l'Egypte à la 
lutte antiterroriste.   (D'après Libération, France, 10 septembre 2002)

* Egypt. Militants jailed  -  On 9 September, an Egyptian military court 
passed jail sentences on 51 Muslim militants for plotting to kill public 
figures and security agents and forming an illegal secret group. Seven were 
tried in their absence. Another 43, including Nash'at Ahmed Mohamed 
Ibrahim, a prominent preacher, were acquitted.   (The Guardian, UK, 10 
September 2002)

* Ghana. Reconciliation Commission receives petitions  -  The Ghana 
National Reconciliation Commission started receiving individual petitions 
and statements on 3 September in preparation for actual hearings. The 
commission, set up by the government "to investigate state-sponsored human 
rights abuses under unconstitutional regimes" has established five zonal 
offices throughout the country to receive the complaints. Two offices -- 
Tamale in the Northern Province and Bolgatanga in the Upper Eastern 
Province -- did not, however, open on 3 September. Staff for the two 
offices "are to be recruited". After receiving the petitions, investigators 
and researchers will assess them and recommend whether they warrant a 
hearing by the reconciliation panel.   (IRIN, Kenya, 5 September 2002)

* Ghana. Hearing clinic helps thousands  -  A new hearing clinic in the 
Ghanaian city of Kumasi is helping to transform the lives of thousands of 
people both inside and outside the country's borders. The Kumasi Hearing 
Assessment Centre is providing hearing aids and treatment to 150 patients a 
day, with some patients travelling from as far away as Nigeria for care. 
The clinic aims to tackle the high rates of people who are deaf in Ghana. 
An estimated 1% of the population has hearing problems of some kind while 
6% of all school children are believed to have difficulties. Doctors at the 
clinic say there is high demand for treatment at the clinic. "People come 
from all over this country, from north and south," says Dr Geoffrey 
Amadohfu, a clinical audiologist at the clinic. "We see people from Burkina 
Faso and Mali and even people from Nigeria. The clinic is very busy. It can 
be very hectic and there is always pressure on staff. We have modest 
equipment. We don't have the best but we are managing with the equipment we 
have. It is sometimes difficult but we are trying to cope with 
it."   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 9 September 2002)

* Kenya. Food prices level out  -  The latest figures on inflation in Kenya 
have shown that prices are falling. Kenya's headline inflation rate fell to 
1.8% in the year to August, compared to 2.1% in the year to July, according 
to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). The news bolstered the 
government's belief that prices of most commodities in the shops are now 
fairly stable. Evidence of lower inflation will come as good news to 
businesses, as they will find it easier to forecast their future costs. The 
CBS says that prices of most commodities remained relatively stable 
compared with the previous month. The food index decreased, compared with 
the previous month, thanks mainly to a slight drop in the prices of 
tomatoes, onions and Irish potatoes. The CBS also said that a drop in the 
value of paraffin led to a fall in the indices used to track the price of 
fuel and power. This also led to lower costs for transport and 
communications. Meanwhile, Kenya's underlying inflation rate -- which 
excludes food prices -- fell to 1.5% during the year to August, compared 
with 2% in the 12 months to July.   (BBC News, UK, 5 September 2002)

* Kenya. Mount Kenya dries up  -  "The mighty Mount Kenya is finally giving 
way as an inexhaustible water fountain," the Daily Nation newspaper 
reported on 5 September. Communities on the slopes of Kenya's most 
important water source have no water to drink and people further downstream 
on the rivers which flow from it are having to move upstream in search of 
water. Mount Kenya is one of Kenya's five main "water towers" -- mountains 
which are the sources of rivers supplying most of Kenya's water. According 
to the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep), more than seven million 
people are directly dependent on the mountain's water catchment area. But 
in recent years a range of problems has affected the water resources, 
including over-extraction of water from rivers on the mountain slopes, the 
destruction of forests, marijuana (bhang) cultivation, illegal grazing and 
the reduction in the size of Mount Kenya's 12 glaciers. The growing water 
problems are leading to conflicts between small and large-scale farmers, 
cultivators and pastoralists and "between everybody else and wildlife", 
according to the Daily Nation.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 5 September 2002)

* Kenya. Nominations' campaign  -  29 August: Kenya's Daily Nation reports 
that Keny's Catholic bishops have warned President Moi that he should 
"uphold democracy and fair play in the nominations' campaign. 9 September: 
President Moi has sacked a junior minister and told those KANU party 
members who oppose his choice of successor to quit the party. On 9 
September, the official presidential press service announced that deputy 
Foreign Minister Peter Odoyo had been relieved of his duties with immediate 
effect.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 9 September 2002)

* Liberia. Court ruling in human rights defender's case is a huge 
disappointment  -  In a Press release, Amnesty International expresses 
dismay at the recent court decision stating that human rights defender 
Sheikh K.M. Sackor should be tried under military jurisdiction. Sheikh 
Sackor is Executive Director of Humanist Watch, a Liberian human rights 
organisation. He has been held incommunicado since his arrest on 25 July 
2002. Although he has not been charged, government lawyers have accused him 
of belonging to the armed opposition Liberians United for Reconciliation 
and Democracy (LURD) and argued that the case should be handed over to a 
military tribunal.   (Amnesty International, 5 September 2002)

* Libye/Zimbabwe. Discussions bilatérales  -  Le 7 septembre, le président 
zimbabwéen Mugabe, accompagné de son épouse et d'une délégation, est arrivé 
en Libye pour une visite dont la durée n'a pas été précisée. Il s'est 
entretenu avec le colonel Khadafi de questions africaines et des relations 
bilatérales, selon des sources officielles. Ils devraient discuter 
essentiellement d'un contrat pétrolier. Les deux pays ont signé, l'an 
dernier, un contrat annuel de 360 millions de dollars payables en monnaie 
locale, mais ce contrat semble être remis en question. Selon des 
informations de la presse, la Libye aurait menacé de l'annuler, Harare 
étant revenu sur ses engagements de céder des actions dans les principales 
sociétés zimbabwéennes.   (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 8 septembre 2002)

* Libya. Fresh appeal launched  -  A new appeal process is to be started on 
behalf of the Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing. Lawyers for 
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi will lodge papers, today, at the European Court of 
Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. They are expected to cite alleged 
breaches of Megrahi's human rights during his trial and subsequent appeal 
at the special Scottish court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands. Megrahi was 
jailed for life for the 1988 bombing of Pan-Am flight 103 over the Scottish 
town, in which 270 people died. He was moved to Glasgow Barlinnie prison in 
March when he lost an appeal against his murder conviction. The lawyers who 
represented him during his appeal have since been replaced. His new legal 
team will lodge papers with the registrar of the ECHR in Strasbourg seeking 
leave to appeal. The grounds are expected to cite an article of the ECHR 
dealing with an accused person's rights to a fair trial and provisions for 
people being tried in a foreign court and language.   (BBC News, UK, 12 
September 2002)

* Madagascar. Aide, sécurité et transparence  -  L'aide de l'Union 
européenne à Madagascar, paralysée pendant le premier semestre de l'année 
par une grave crise politique, sera de 577 millions d'euros sur cinq ans, a 
annoncé à Antananarivo le président de la Commission européenne, Romano 
Prodi, soit une augmentation de 40%. -Par ailleurs, un émissaire de la 
Commission de l'océan Indien (COI) se trouve actuellement à Madagascar en 
vue de relancer le renforcement de la sécurité civile dans la Grande Ile. - 
D'autre part, lors d'une conférence de presse, le président Ravalomanana a 
donné l'assurance que les prochaines élections législatives se dérouleront 
dans la transparence la plus totale, avant, pendant et après le scrutin, 
afin d'éviter toute contestation.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 7 
septembre 2002)

* Malawi. Shutting biggest textile factory  -  Malawi has said it will shut 
down the country's largest textile factory, putting more than 2,000 people 
out of work, after plans for privatisation failed. The government has 
decided to stop subsidising the factory because of heavy financial losses, 
the Commerce and Industry Minister Peter Kaleso said. Only last month Mr 
Kaleso said that the government was looking for a strategic partner for the 
state-owned David Whitehead and Sons (DWS) factory and he was predicting a 
"booming" future. The closure comes even though Malawi has seen textile 
exports surge since it signed the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) 
treaty with the US in September 2001. In the last year the industry's 
yearly growth rate was reported to be 120%.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 6 
September 2002)

* Malawi. Illicit grain deals cost Malawi $40 million  -  The illicit sale 
of Malawi's grain reserves, which has compounded widespread food shortages, 
cost the country at least $40 million, according to an official report 
released on 8 September. The national auditor's office found that part of 
the 160,000-ton (176,000-short ton) food reserve was exported to Kenya, and 
the rest was sold locally, mainly to government officials, at below its 
market value. The losses on the grain, which had been stockpiled to avert 
possible food shortages, were incurred mainly by the National Food Reserve 
Agency. "The maize (corn) was originally bought at a higher price and sold 
at a low price," the auditor's office said in a report, which was leaked to 
the media. Aid agencies say the sale of the food reserves, along with 
failed harvests caused by drought and floods, have left more than 3 million 
people in danger of starvation. Several officials implicated in the 
auditor's report are already being probed by the official Anti-Corruption 
Bureau.   (CNN, USA, 8 September 2002)

Weekly News anb0912.txt - #4/7