Weekly anb01096.txt #9

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 09-01-2003      PART #6/9

* Lesotho. Bizarre weather, ravages crops  -  The crops here in the rugged 
mountains of Lesotho are failing because the rain came much too early. And 
much too late. There were hailstorms and tornadoes, too. Then an early 
frost killed most of the maize sprouts that had survived the earlier 
bizarre weather. Now this tiny kingdom of subsistence farmers tucked into 
southeastern South Africa is in the midst of a famine; the World Food 
Program estimates that nearly one-third of Lesotho's 2.1 million residents 
will need emergency handouts this year. (...) Climate experts say the 
"extreme weather events" that have plagued countries like Lesotho in recent 
years are remarkably consistent with predictions for a warmer world. (...) 
Lesotho is almost entirely dependent on rain-fed subsistence farming; it 
has virtually no irrigation. And most of the South African mining jobs that 
once provided livelihoods for its people have disappeared. With the world's 
fourth-highest AIDS rate, Lesotho is not well positioned to absorb shocks 
to its system. And for two straight years, the rudest shocks have come from 
the weather.   (Washington Post, USA, 8 January 2003)

* Liberia. Elections en octobre  -  Le 2 janvier, la Commission électorale 
libérienne (ECOM) a publié le calendrier pour la tenue des élections 
présidentielle et générales prévues le 14 octobre. Les programmes 
d'éducation des électeurs vont démarrer le 2 janvier. Du 4 au 20 février, 
l'ECOM amendera les lois et directives et promulguera un code de conduite. 
L'inscription des électeurs se fera du 15 au 29 avril. Le 11 juin sera le 
dernier délai pour la soumission des partis et de leurs candidats. La 
campagne électorale se déroulera du 20 juin au 13 octobre. L'ECOM envisage 
de procéder aux élections présidentielle, législatives et municipales le 
même jour (14 octobre) pour "en réduire les coûts".   (D'après PANA, 
Sénégal, 2 janvier 2003)

* Liberia. USA condemns Liberia election plans  -  3 January: A United 
States official had said that Liberia is not ready to organise the general 
elections it has announced for October. The US ambassador in Monrovia, John 
William Blaney, cited the harassment of members of the opposition and 
restrictions on presidential candidates. The chairman of the electoral 
commission, Paul Guah, announced on 2 January that presidential and 
parliamentary elections would be held on 14 October. Incumbent President 
Charles Taylor has said he will stand for a second term. He led a 
seven-year rebellion which ended with his election in 1997. Mr Blaney said 
Washington was concerned that "preparations for the 2003 elections were 
inadequate, and that necessary conditions do not yet exist to permit free 
and fair elections. Let me say that the United States wants to see a free 
and fair election and will not support, nor recognise, the results of any 
fraudulent one".   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 3 January 2003)

* Liberia. Tracing Liberia's lost generation  -  7 January: A new strategy 
to reunite children forced into exile by the ongoing rebellion in Liberia 
has caught the public imagination in the capital, Monrovia. The 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the local Red Cross 
society, have posted the photographs of over 600 unaccompanied children 
around Liberia to be identified and reunited by their parents. Excited 
people have been queuing up to look at photographs of children, which are 
on display at hospital and school compounds, market places and camps for 
people displaced by the fighting. According to a statement distributed by 
ICRC's Head of Mission, Dominique Liengme, more than 1,000 unaccompanied 
Liberian children have been registered in Guinea and Sierra Leone. Those 
are children who found themselves in those countries between 2001 and 2002. 
Under the tracing and reunification exercise, relatives who recognise their 
children on the posters can contact the nearest Red Cross volunteer, and 
the process to reunite them then begins. In Monrovia alone, 80 people have 
so far identified their children since ICRC began putting the posters up at 
the end of last month. The head of ICRC's Tracing Department in Liberia, 
Marcel Stoessel, told reporters that of the 80, 20 cases have been resolved 
and "by today or tomorrow, we will go to the parents and give them the good 
news."   (BBC News, UK, 7 January 2003)

* Liberia. Rebels fight for diamonds  -  8 January: Government troops and 
rebels have been clashing in Liberia for control of the diamond and gold 
producing north-western towns of Wesua and Wieju. Defence Minister Daniel 
Chea said fighting spread to the two towns after rebels of Liberians United 
for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) were dislodged from nearby Geingba 
on 4-5 January. Rebel reinforcements have reportedly been using the 
abandoned railroad track of an old iron mining company in the area to join 
the Wesua-Wieje battle. Government troops, too, have been drawing 
reinforcements from Geingba and the town of Bopolu, which was once the 
rebels' stronghold, 100 kilometres from Monrovia.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 8 
January 2003)

* Libya/USA. US woman given Libyan nationality  -  A Los Angeles woman who 
entered a Libyan Internet beauty pageant has been granted Libyan 
nationality and been appointed Tripoli's honourary ambassador to the United 
States. Libya's Foreign Ministry released a statement on 6 January that 
"American Miss Net" Tecca Zendik was granted nationality during a special 
ceremony in Tripoli, where she arrived on 5 January for a four-day visit. 
The ministry described Zendik as "a beautiful bird of peace that came from 
the United States to ensure that relations between the Libyan and American 
peoples are embedded in the roots of history." Zendik, 23, thanked the 
Libyan government for granting her citizenship and said she hopes to 
influence people from around the world to love Libyans, the Foreign 
Ministry statement said. Libya in November hosted the "Miss Net World," won 
by Britain's Lucy Layton. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi met the 23 entrants 
who travelled to Libya for the contest, in which Internet users from all 
over the world chose the winner.   (The Guardian, UK, 7 January 2003)

* Malawi. Floods wash away vital crops  -  Floods in Malawi have washed 
away homes and submerged crops adding a new burden to a country struggling 
to overcome a severe food crisis. News reports said four people died in the 
flooding last week, and 15,000 were left homeless. "The situation is very 
bad. Extensive flooding has taken place," Lucius Chikuni, the commissioner 
for relief and disaster preparedness said on 5 January after a helicopter 
tour of affected areas. "Thousands of people are homeless and there has 
been extensive crop damage." Heavy rains caused four rivers in the south of 
the country to burst their banks. A rail bridge collapsed on the line 
linking Malawi with the Mozambican port of Nacala, along which much of the 
country's relief food is transported. Sections of the main highway 
connecting the commercial city of Blantyre with the administrative capital 
Lilongwe were under water, and the road from Lilongwe to the north was also 
cut.   (IRIN, Kenya, 6 January 2003)

* Mali. Ivorian war cuts Mali's cotton profits  -  3 January: Mali's cotton 
industry has dramatically slashed its profit forecast for 2003 because of 
increased transport costs caused by the civil war in neighbouring Côte 
d'Ivoire. The conflict in West Africa has, at times, shut down the main 
ports in Côte d'Ivoire, affecting not only Mali but most other neighbouring 
countries. Mali's state-owned cotton company, CMDT, cut its forecast by 67% 
from 4.62bn CFA francs ($7.3m), which was based on exporting through Côte 
d'Ivoire's main port of Abidjan. "Now, as the chances of this happening are 
dwindling and as we go to Lome (Togo), Tema (Ghana) and Dakar (Senegal) to 
export, expected profit has been reduced to 1.52bn (CFA francs)," says a 
company official.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 3 January 2003)

* Mali. Marchandises bloquées à Dakar  -  Plus de 100.000 tonnes de 
marchandises à destination du Mali sont actuellement en souffrance au port 
de Dakar, a-t-on appris le 6 janvier à Bamako, où se sont concertés sur la 
question, la semaine dernière, les ministres sénégalais et malien des 
Transports. La crise qui prévaut en Côte d'Ivoire, où s'effectuaient plus 
de 70% des transactions commerciales maliennes, a amené les opérateurs 
économiques maliens à s'orienter de plus en plus vers le port de Dakar, qui 
est aujourd'hui complètement engorgé. Au cours de leur rencontre le 3 
janvier, les ministres ont examiné les voies et moyens de favoriser le 
développement du trafic toujours croissant, en dépit de la faible capacité 
d'évacuation des réseaux de chemin de fer des deux pays.   (PANA, Sénégal, 
6 janvier 2003)

* Maroc/Espagne. Normalisation des relations  -  La normalisation des 
relations diplomatiques entre Rabat et Madrid est "sur la bonne voie", a 
estimé le 4 janvier Ana Palacio, la ministre espagnole des Affaires 
étrangères. Le dialogue diplomatique entre les deux pays vient de reprendre 
après plus de 16 mois de vive tension. Cette tension, amorcée en octobre 
2001, avait failli tourner à l'affrontement militaire en juillet 2002 après 
l'occupation par l'armée espagnole d'un îlot inhabité à moins de 200 mètres 
des côtes marocaines. Parmi les nombreux contentieux: le conflit du Sahara 
occidental, la lutte contre l'immigration clandestine et le trafic des 
stupéfiants, le maintien des enclaves espagnoles de Ceuta et Melilla en 
territoire marocain et le non-renouvellement d'un accord de pêche. Le 
premier signe tangible d'un dégel diplomatique a été donné le 13 décembre 
par le roi Mohammed VI, qui a autorisé les pêcheurs espagnols sinistrés par 
le naufrage du Prestige à opérer provisoirement dans les eaux marocaines. 
La prochaine étape de ce rapprochement devrait être la réinstallation 
d'ambassadeurs dans les deux capitales.   (AP, 4 janvier 2003)

* Maroc. Procès islamiste reporté  -  Le 6 janvier, la cour d'appel de 
Rabat a ajourné au 6 février l'examen du recours formé par Justice et 
bienfaisance, le parti islamiste (non légal) de Cheick Yassine, contre la 
condamnation à quatre mois de prison de seize de ses membres. Ils avaient 
été arrêtés en décembre 2000 pour "troubles à l'ordre public" au cours 
d'une manifestation réclamant la légalisation du mouvement. Celui-ci accuse 
Rabat de faire sciemment traîner les choses. L'épouse de Cheick Yassine, 
son fils et ses deux filles font partie des prévenus. Plusieurs centaines 
d'islamistes s'étaient rassemblés silencieusement devant la cour 
d'appel.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 7 janvier 2003)

* Mauritius. President insists Sugar Protocol is sacrosanct  -  President 
Karl Offman of Mauritius has said his country will resist, with the help of 
other ACP countries, any attempt to jeopardise the Sugar Protocol, 
insisting it is "a sacrosanct element in the general process of our 
development". Offman was addressing diplomats on Monday evening at Clarisse 
House in Vacoas, about 20 km south of the capital Port Louis. He said 
Mauritius attaches great importance to regional cooperation and will spare 
no effort, alongside partners in the Indian Ocean Commission, the Common 
Market of East and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African 
Development Community (SADC), to protect their common interests. "We will 
make sure that these economic blocs take a common stance at trade 
negotiations," the Mauritian leader stressed.   (PANA, Senegal, 7 January 2003)

* Mozambique. Sharp increase in those in need  -  Mozambique's national 
disaster agency claims the number of people who will need food aid in the 
country over the next few months has risen to 1.8 million. On 6 January, 
Rogeria Manguele, INGC (National Disaster Management Institute) spokesman, 
said that the sharp rise from the previous figure of about 600,000 was due 
to poor rains over the planting season in late 2002. Low rainfall had 
compounded the effects of a drought which had decimated the previous 
harvest in food insecure southern and central Mozambique. A further 
complication was that Mozambique was still battling to come to terms with 
the effects of wide-scale flooding in 2000 and 2001, Manguele added. Of the 
thousands of people displaced by the floods, some had returned to their 
home areas but a large proportion had been resettled. However, he noted 
that these people still required assistance.   (IRIN, Kenya, 6 January 2003)

* Mozambique. Famine  -  Environ 2 millions de personnes sont menacées de 
famine au Mozambique suite à la sécheresse, un chiffre bien plus élevé que 
les quelque 600.000 initialement prévus, selon l'Institut mozambicain de 
gestion des catastrophes nationales.   (La Libre Belgique, 7 janvier 2003)

* Niger. 4 Italiens tués par une mine  -  Le 3 janvier, trois touristes 
italiens sont morts quand leur jeep a sauté sur une mine antichar sur le 
plateau de Djado (nord-est), dans le désert du Ténéré. Le chauffeur a une 
fracture au bras et trois côtes cassées. Les touristes faisaient partie 
d'un groupe de douze personnes qui voyageaient en convoi. Leur itinéraire 
avait été agréé par les autorités militaires locales. Mais ils auraient 
circulé hors des pistes qui leur étaient réservées.   (Le Figaro, France, 6 
janvier 2003)

Weekly anb0109.txt - #6/9