Weekly anb12195.txt #6

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 19-12-2002      PART #5/6

* Malawi. New economic pledges  -  12 December: Malawi's government is 
under pressure to clean up its act, following the suspension of vital loans 
from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Malawi parliament has now 
unanimously passed a bill to borrow $50m from the World Bank to cushion the 
country's worsening food crisis, while finance minister Friday Jumbe has 
introduced a series of cost-cutting measures. The IMF suspended its 
financial support amid concerns over the government's spending, under 
President Bakili Muluzi. Aid agencies say between 3.2 million and 3.6 
million Malawians are on the verge of starvation because of both the 
drought and alleged government mismanagement of grain reserves. But Mr 
Jumbe, reading from a cabinet white paper, gave journalists a list of 
measures that would reduce spending and help the government to operate 
within its budget. The IMF has said it will resume the crucial loans to 
Malawi once the country has dealt with its rising wage bill and high 
spending. Mr Jumbe's cost-cutting measures include cutting down on building 
projects, reducing the number of Malawi embassies, and trimming government 
departments. The white paper also proposes to reduce government travel and 
to cut the wage bill by 50m Malawi Kwacha (about $600,000 million). Other 
proposals include using the "maize levy" -- which is collected on every 
litre of fuel motorists buy and usually used as a safety net fund -- for 
general budgetary expenditure. The areas usually funded from these 
so-called safety nets, such as buying food or medical drugs in times of 
emergencies, will now be funded by the World Bank loan. Toll fees will be 
introduced on the country's roads by next month and there will also be an 
increase in licence fees for vehicles.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 12 December 2002)

* Maroc/Espagne. Un geste du roi  -  Le 13 décembre, le roi Mohammed VI du 
Maroc a décidé d'autoriser, "à titre exceptionnel" et par "solidarité", les 
pêcheurs espagnols victimes du naufrage du pétrolier Prestige à opérer dans 
les eaux marocaines. Hautement symbolique, ce geste de Rabat est le premier 
signe tangible d'une décrispation entre le Maroc et l'Espagne, dont les 
relations diplomatiques se sont particulièrement détériorées depuis octobre 
2001.   (AP, 13 décembre 2002)

* Morocco. Cracking down on Islamists  -  10 December: The trial in Morocco 
of three Saudis and seven Moroccans accused of being part of an al-Qaeda 
plot has shaken the image many Moroccans hold of their country as a 
peaceful, tolerant Muslim state. Many here now fear their country is under 
threat from the import of radical, fundamentalist ideas from 
abroad.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 10 December 2002)

* Mozambique. Riot police in Parliament  -  12 December: Riot police were 
called in today, to restore order in Mozambique's parliament after 
opposition MPs banged on the tables, shouted and whistled. The MPs were 
protesting after the assembly refused to allow them to replace five of 
their members who had either defected or been expelled. Their Mozambique 
National Resistance Party (Renamo) claims that the five, including the 
organization's former number two, Raul Domingos, can no longer defend the 
interests of the people who elected them. However, the majority Mozambique 
Liberation Front (Frelimo) party says the five are protected by the law. 
Frelimo MP Mateus Kathupa said Renamo's attitude is in violation of the 
law. Under the Mozambican constitution, MPs have to serve until the end of 
their mandate unless they die or become ill. They may also be replaced if 
they express interest in leaving parliament. Frelimo insists the five 
should continue to serve as independents in parliament until general 
elections in 2004.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 12 December 2002)

* Nigeria. Fresh fraud probe for Nigeria Airways  -  12 December: Nigeria's 
scandal-ridden national airline is facing yet another probe into the 
alleged misdeeds of its management. The government has announced that, 
following a judicial inquiry it is setting up a ministerial committee to 
investigate the disappearance of more than US $400m between 1983 and 1999. 
The period in question covered the years from Nigeria's last civilian 
government to the election of the current administration of President 
Olusegun Obasanjo. The airline is barely functioning after years of 
mismanagement, with only one operable aircraft and barely any reliable 
timetable. The idea of fraud at the heart of Nigeria Airways is unlikely to 
come as news to Nigerians. Popularly dubbed "Nigeria Air Waste", the 
company's abysmal maintenance record and its swelling bad debts have seen 
its fleet of jetliners dwindle from 20 two decades ago. In common with 
other state enterprises, the airline was treated as a cash cow by a 
succession of military governments, the most recent inquiry has found. It 
has also identified several high-placed Nigerians as party to the theft, 
Information Minister Jerry Gana said, although he declined to name them or 
the companies involved. The recent record, however, is little better. 
Earlier this year attempts to privatise the airline ran into problems after 
the Ministry of Aviation sold a 49% stake to a UK leasing company, Airwing, 
without going through the proper channels. The process was already in 
jeopardy after a World Bank body advising on the sale pulled out in May 
2001, saying that with most of its routes sold off there was almost nothing 
left that anyone would want. In January 2002, the airline said it was 
sacking almost half its staff in readiness for privatisation. And flights 
to London -- the most important route given the massive Nigerian expat 
population in the UK --were restarted only in late 2001 with a leased 
aircraft after an eight-year hiatus. The UK safety authorities had refused 
to certify the airline as airworthy.   (BBC News, UK, 12 December 2002)

* Nigeria. Money laundering deadline  -  15 December: Nigeria has passed 
laws to crack down on money laundering one day before a sanctions deadline 
set by the world's rich and industrialised countries. The Financial Action 
Task Force (FATF), the investigative arm of the Organisation for Economic 
Cooperation and Development (MSOECD), threatened to impose financial 
sanctions against Nigeria if the 15 December deadline was not met. 
President Olusegun Obasanjo signed three bills on 14 December which will 
also create a financial crimes commission and tightened the regulation of 
Nigeria's banking sector. "A copy of the money-laundering bill 2002 has 
been sent... to the chairman of the FATF," a statement from Mr Obasanjo's 
office said. The OECD represents the interests of the 30 most 
industrialised countries in the world.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 15 December 2002)

* Sénégal. Manifestation violente  -  Le 14 décembre à Dakar, au moins 
trois personnes ont été blessées et dix autres arrêtées par la police, lors 
d'une manifestation des familles des victimes du naufrage du Joola, qui 
avait fait 1.200 morts le 26 septembre. La manifestation avait débuté 
pacifiquement, mais s'est heurtée à la police lorsqu'elle se dirigeait vers 
la présidence. Un cameraman d'une agence d'information a été brutalisé. Les 
personnes arrêtées ont été libérées dans la soirée.   (ANB-BIA, de sources 
diverses, 16 décembre 2002)

* Sénégal. Capitale administrative?  -  Le site Mékhé-Pékerse, situé à 
environ 120 km de Dakar près de la côte atlantique, a été provisoirement 
retenu pour servir de future capitale administrative du Sénégal, rapporte 
l'agence de presse sénégalaise APS, citant le ministre de l'Urbanisme et de 
l'Aménagement du territoire. La décision a été prise au terme d'un conseil 
présidentiel le 14 décembre. Les études préliminaires pour la réalisation 
de ce projet devraient être bouclées d'ici la fin du mois de 
janvier.   (PANA, Sénégal, 15 décembre 2002)

* Somalia. Faction leaders agree on participation  -  16 December: After 
weeks of wrangling over the number of participants attending the Somali 
peace talks in the Kenyan town of Eldoret, faction leaders have agreed to a 
maximum figure of 300. In an earlier statement, the leaders' committee had 
called for representation by 400 participants, after the regional 
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) -- which is brokering 
the conference -- said the numbers attending phase two of the talks should 
be reduced to 287. IGAD said it would meet the costs of sending surplus 
delegates back to Somalia, but those who did not register to return by a 12 
December deadline would have to meet their own transport costs. In agreeing 
to a maximum of 300 participants, the leaders' committee said these would 
be divided along clan lines. The leaders have also called for accelerating 
phase two of the talks, which includes discussions on a provisional federal 
charter, disarmament, and land issues. They say they want it to run 
concurrently with phase three, which is to deal with power-sharing. 
Furthermore, they have called for the establishment of a 450-seat 
parliament.   (IRIN, Kenya, 16 December 2002)

* Somalie. Parlement de transition  -  Le 16 décembre, les leaders des 
différentes factions somaliennes, prenant part à la Conférence nationale de 
réconciliation à Eldoret (Kenya), sont tombés d'accord sur la formation 
d'un Parlement fédéral de transition de 450 membres. La décision a été 
ensuite approuvée lors de l'assemblée générale. La répartition des sièges 
serait conforme aux critères retenus par rapport à la division ethnique et 
en conformité à la Constitution fédérale. Les leaders des factions ont 
aussi exhorté le président kényan, Arap Moi, à poursuivre le processus de 
réconciliation.   (PANA, Sénégal, 16 décembre 2002)

* South Africa. What to do with your old computer  -  More than 600 million 
perfectly good computers will be discarded by companies over the next five 
years. But an ambitious project is hoping to put hundreds of thousands of 
these abandoned machines to use helping children in the developing world 
become computer literate and better educated. The project is being 
co-ordinated by a group called the Digital Partnership. It unites large 
companies that regularly update their stock of desktop computers with 
software makers, networking companies and aid agencies to ready the 
machines for use in schools, village telecentres and prisons. Already the 
first few thousand computers have been installed in schools in South 
Africa. The ever-increasing size and sophistication of software on desktop 
computers means that large companies often have to upgrade their equipment 
to handle the demands of new programs. Most of the computers being thrown 
out still work perfectly and many are broken up and buried in landfill 
sites. Now the Digital Partnership, set up by the Prince of Wales' 
International Business Leaders Forum, is setting up a program to collect 
the discarded computers and use them in schools in the developing world. 
The first nation helped by the Digital Partnership is South Africa. Over 
the next year it hopes to transfer 170,000 computers to about 4,000 
government schools in the country. A network of workshops is being set up 
in South Africa to refurbish the donated computers and locals are being 
trained to do the work. Telecentres full of computers are being set up in 
the schools and teachers are being trained in the best ways to use the 
machines in lessons. Eventually all the machines will be running Windows XP 
and the Office XP suite of programs. Microsoft has waived software licence 
fees for all the schools getting computers via the Digital Partnership 
program. To help pay for the upkeep of the computers, schools are being 
encouraged to open up their computer rooms to locals and charge for courses 
in technology skills, for printing out documents or hosting e-mail accounts 
on their behalf. Web-based portals are being set up that will host up to 
date textbooks and educational material that should help schools save money 
and pay for the maintenance of the machines. Financial help has also come 
from the South Africa Government which has passed laws guaranteeing cut 
price net access for schools.   (BBC News, UK, 16 December 2002)

Weekly anb1219.txt - #5/6