Weekly anb0165.txt #8

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 16-01-2003      PART #5/8

* Kenya. Moi back in town  -  13 January: Former Kenyan President Daniel 
arap Moi made his first public appearance on 12 January, vowing that he 
would play an active role in Kenyan life. Two weeks ago, Mr Moi retired 
after 24 years as Kenya's leader. Previously, one of Africa's 
longest-serving leaders and the continent's "big men", Mr Moi has plenty to 
keep him busy in retirement. It seems Mr Moi does not plan to spend his 
remaining days pottering around on his farm in the Rift Valley. Last week, 
even as President Kibaki was settling into State House, Mr Moi was back in 
the capital, settling into his private office. During his leadership, he 
was renowned for his energy, rising early and working late into the night. 
That pattern, it seems, will continue. Like many other retired heads of 
state, he wants to retain an international profile. Through his new Moi 
Foundation, the former president will stay engaged in the regional peace 
initiatives in Somalia and Sudan. He may also find time for more relaxing 
pursuits. He is a keen farmer; the Kenyan armed forces gave him a new 
plough and tractor as one of his retirement gifts. A committed Christian, 
he also indicated that he might like to take up lay preaching. More 
controversial is his continuing chairmanship of the former ruling 
party.   (BBC News, UK, 13 January 2003)

* Kenya. Le nouveau pouvoir  -  9 janvier. Dix jours à peine après avoir 
pris le pouvoir, la NARC (Alliance nationale Arc-en-ciel) poursuit ses 
réformes radicales en matière de gouvernance afin de conserver la sympathie 
du public. Le mercredi 8 janvier, cinq agents de l'administration locale 
ont été limogés, principalement pour des affaires de corruption. Le lundi, 
les établissements scolaires ont été envahis par des enfants après 
l'annonce par le nouveau gouvernement d'un programme gratuit 
d'enseignement. Quelques écoles ont dû fermer après que des parents avaient 
menacé de lyncher des chefs d'établissement qui ont refusé des enfants par 
manque de places. Le gouvernement a maintenant publié des directives en 
faveur d'un système de double flux dans les écoles primaires afin de 
réduire les encombrements. Le ministère de la Justice et des Affaires 
constitutionnelles s'est également mis à la tâche pour tenir ses délais 
concernant l'élaboration d'une nouvelle Loi fondamentale d'ici au mois de 
juillet prochain. Par ailleurs, le ministre des Travaux publics a annulé 
tous les contrats en attente qui ont été accordés notamment à des individus 
qui avaient la faveur de l'ancien régime. -- Le 14 janvier, des 
responsables du Fonds monétaire international doivent se rendre à Nairobi 
pour discuter de la reprise de l'aide au Kenya, gelée depuis janvier 2001. 
Le FMI et la Banque mondiale, qui avaient suspendu leur aide au Kenya en 
juillet 1997, l'ont reprise en septembre 2000, mais l'ont à nouveau gelée 
en janvier 2001 en raison, selon le FMI, de "sérieux revers" dans la lutte 
contre la corruption.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 14 janvier 2003)

* Kenya. Parliament and Government get down to work  -  9 January: The 
Kenyan parliament sits for the first time since the Rainbow Coalition won a 
sweeping victory in the 27 December election. The historic occasion is the 
first time that any party other than Kanu has sat on the government benches 
--a stark reminder of just how much has changed in Kenyan politics. The 
government's leather benches are crammed with members of the Rainbow 
Coalition led by President Mwai Kibaki. Opposite them sit the rump of Kanu, 
the party which until so recently dominated Kenya's political life. It is a 
set piece occasion -- the MPs are formally sworn in, a Speaker (Francis ole 
Kaparo) is elected. The new President has made it plain that he wants to 
see stalled anti-corruption legislation passed as soon as possible. 
International donors want these new measures in place before millions of 
dollars of aid can be released. 14 January: President Mwai Kibaki has been 
holding his first cabinet meeting since forming his new National Rainbow 
Coalition government. The meeting has been a marathon one, focusing on many 
key issues including the government's strategy of meeting its election 
campaign pledges. It takes place at a time of rising concern about the 
over-enthusiastic manner in which the new ministers have gone about their 
new duties, leading to chaos in some sectors such as public 
schools.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 14 January 2003)

* Lesotho. French donate emergency food aid  -  Female-headed households, 
children and the elderly in Lesotho are set to benefit from a recent 
donation of food aid from the French government, the World Food Programme 
(WFP) said on 14 January. The food package valued at US $160,000 was being 
distributed at two villages, Makeneng and Ha Ramohapi, south of the capital 
Maseru, and mainly consisted of legumes. Some 445,000 people in the 
landlocked country are in need of assistance following two consecutive poor 
harvests.   (IRIN, Kenya, 14 January 2003)

* Liberia. 2 religieux accusés de trahison  -  Deux leaders du Conseil 
inter-religieux du Liberia (IRC), son secrétaire général David Kiazolu et 
son adjoint Christopher Toe, arrêtés trois semaines auparavant, ont été 
accusés de trahison. Après que leurs avocats avaient déposé une demande 
d'habeas corpus, ils ont été libérés, puis arrêtés immédiatement à nouveau 
et accusés de trahison par un tribunal pénal à Monrovia. Le gouvernement 
accuse les deux hommes d'avoir "collaboré" avec la rébellion des Libériens 
unis pour la réconciliation et la démocratie (LURD). Il dit être en 
possession de deux e-mails envoyés par le LURD aux leaders religieux et qui 
prouvent que ces derniers étaient en communication avec les rebelles du 
LURD. L'IRC, qui comprend des musulmans et des chrétiens, a rejeté ces 
accusations et indiqué que ces e-mails portaient sur des réunions que le 
groupe était en train d'organiser afin de réunir le LURD et le gouvernement 
autour d'une table de discussion pour mettre fin à la guerre. Il affirme 
que le gouvernement était au courant de ces réunions, de même que le 
Parlement de la CEDEAO et le président sierra-léonais Tejan Kabbah, qui 
avait accepté la tenue de cette réunion à Freetown.   (PANA, Sénégal, 9 
janvier 2003)

* Liberia. Liberian religious leaders charged  -  8 January: Two members of 
a group trying to improve relations between Christians and Muslims have 
been charged with treason. They were arrested on 28 December after being 
found in possession of e-mails from a rebel group. David Kiazolu, 
Secretary-General of the Inter-Religious Council (IRC) and his assistant, 
Christopher Toe, had been told they would be released today, but were 
instead hit with the charges following a court hearing. The e-mails were 
apparently suggesting negotiations between the Liberians United for 
Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) rebels and the government of President 
Charles Taylor. Members of the IRC have been battling to get their 
officials released for almost two weeks. The statutory period for the 
authorities to either charge or release them had been exceeded and so the 
state lawyers had agreed to drop the original charges. But just as 
relatives and sympathizers of the men were hugging them outside the 
courtroom and praising God that their trouble was over, a court officer 
from an upper magistrate's court in the same building appeared. He served 
the released men with another writ, this time charging them with treason 
for allegedly conniving with Lurd rebels to overthrow the government. When 
lawyers for the accused men and prosecution counsels appeared before the 
magistrate minutes later, defence lawyers applied for the men to be freed 
on bail. But government lawyers countered the motion, saying treason 
suspects could not be released on bail. The two officials men have been 
taken to the Monrovia Central Prison awaiting the court's ruling. 10 
January: The Government drops the treason charges and frees them from 
further detention.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 10 January 2003)

* Liberia. Interest groups spell out guidelines for elections  -  A 
three-day consultative meeting that brought together Liberia's 18 
registered political and other pro-democracy groups have recommended, among 
other things, that in the absence of a national census a thorough voters 
registration be conducted in the presence of political party 
representatives. The pro-democracy groups that attended the meeting held 
from 8-10 January, included the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission 
(JPC), the Movement for Democracy and Elections in Liberia (MODEL). The 
group wants the Electoral Commission to exhibit neutrality and tolerance in 
the conduct of this year's elections scheduled to take place in October. It 
added that this would ensure confidence in the commission. To have 
tension-free elections, they recommended also that the electoral process be 
policed by constitutional security agencies. This would rule out the 
involvement of the presidential elite guard unit, the Anti-Terrorist Unit 
(ATU) which many Liberians said was not created by a legislative enactment. 
The ATU was created in 2000. Other recommendations were -- the on-the-spot 
counting of ballots at the close of polling in the presence of local and 
international observers, as well as the equipping of the state-owned 
Liberia Broadcasting System where all political parties should have equal 
access to the airwaves.   (IRIN, Kenya, 13 January 2003)

* Libya. Exchanging intelligence with USA  -  Libya is exchanging 
intelligence about the al-Qaeda network with the United States, Colonel 
Muammar Gaddafi has said. Colonel Gaddafi said there were what he called 
Libyan terrorists in the US and Britain, and they should be "wiped out". 
Osama Bin Laden is regarded as a prophet by many Muslims and has convinced 
his followers that the US is attacking the whole Islamic world, the Libyan 
leader tells Newsweek magazine in an interview. Colonel Gaddafi -- who 
himself has been accused of sponsoring international terrorism -- said 
there had been assassination attempts on his life by al-Qaeda members. 
"Fundamentalism is a threat to all regimes in the region," he said.   (BBC 
News, UK, 12 January 2002)

* Madagascar. Gouvernement dissous  -  Le 11 janvier, le gouvernement a été 
dissous, à la suite de la proclamation, la veille, des résultats officiels 
des législatives du 15 décembre. La mouvance du président Marc Ravalomanana 
a remporté plus de 80% des sièges à l'Assemblée nationale. Son parti, le 
TIM, a obtenu 110 des 154 sièges. Le 12 janvier, le président a reconduit 
dans ses fonctions le Premier ministre Jacques Sylla, qui avait remporté 
75% des voix dans sa circonscription de Sainte-Marie.   (ANB-BIA, de 
sources diverses, 13 janvier 2003)

* Malawi. Flood emergency  -  11 January: President Bakili Muluzi has 
declared a "state of national disaster" and called for international 
assistance following severe floods in several parts of the country. "This 
is a disaster of highest proportion," Mr Muluzi says in a national address 
today, after making an aerial inspection of the area. The floods, caused by 
torrential rain, have killed at least eight people and displaced thousands 
more at a time when the country faces famine because of a drought. Six out 
of Malawi's 28 districts have been affected, including Salima where aid 
agencies have been supplying emergency food rations for a year. Homeless 
people are now taking refuge in schools, churches and the open ground, Mr 
Muluzi says on national radio. Many homes and gardens have been washed away 
and livestock killed. 13 January: The heavy rains have spread to a new 
district, destroying homes and crops. At least 3,000 families in the 
mountainous region of Rumphi in the north of Malawi have been left homeless 
following weekend floods -- and more than 3,000 hectares of crop destroyed. 
Rumphi is known for the growing of cash crops such as tobacco and coffee, 
as well as Malawi's staple crop, maize. The destruction of these crops by 
rain, now raises fears of further food shortages.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 13 
January 2003)

* Malawi. IMF team to assess economic progress  -  An International 
Monetary Fund (IMF) team arrived in Malawi on 13 January to assess whether 
to unfreeze US $47 million in vital aid to the country, news reports said. 
In May the IMF said it would withhold the US $47 million earmarked for 
Malawi under its Poverty Reduction Growth Facility due to government 
overspending beyond targets set by the Fund. The IMF board was due to have 
met in December to review Malawi's economic performance before authorising 
the release of the money. But the meeting was postponed with the IMF 
telling the government to rectify "pressure points" in its current budget 
before lending could resume.   (IRIN, Kenya, 14 January 2003)

* Malawi. Inondations  -  Plusieurs milliers de déplacés, des cours d'eau 
en crue, des villes et villages inondés, des ponts et des routes détruites 
par la furie des eaux. Les conséquences des inondations qui touchent depuis 
quelques jours le centre et le sud du Malawi sont extrêmement graves. Les 
intempéries, commencées avec de fortes précipitations début janvier, ont 
touché la zone comprise entre la capitale Lilongwe et le sud du pays. Il 
n'est pas encore possible de dresser un bilan des victimes et des dégâts, 
mais les disparus pourraient se compter par plusieurs centaines, selon des 
sources locales. Les crues ont balayé des ponts sur les principales routes 
du sud, rendant les secours très difficiles. Rappelons que la Malawi doit 
déjà faire face à une grave famine.   (Misna, Italie, 15 janvier 2003)

Weekly anb0116.txt - #5/8