Weekly anb01236.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 23-01-2003      PART #6/7

* Sénégal. Naufrages en série  -  Dans la nuit du jeudi au vendredi 18 
janvier, une pirogue a chaviré à Mbour, dans la région de Thiès, provoquant 
la mort de six pêcheurs, alors que trois autres en ont réchappé. - Le 
vendredi matin, dans le port de Dakar, quatre personnes ont trouvé la mort 
et deux sont portées disparues à la suite du naufrage d'un bateau de pêche 
italien, vingt personnes ayant pu être sauvées. - Et le samedi, lors d'un 
nouveau naufrage d'un navire sénégalais dans les eaux mauritaniennes, huit 
personnes sont portées disparues et onze autres ont pu être 
sauvées.   (D'après AFP, France, 18-19 janvier 2003)

* Senegal. Agreement with Switzerland signed  -  Less than two months after 
voters rejected an initiative that would have given Switzerland the most 
restrictive asylum laws in Europe, the Swiss government has signed an 
agreement aimed at curbing frivolous applications for political asylum. The 
agreement with Senegal, signed recently in Dakar, Senegal's capital, allows 
Switzerland to deport to Senegal any West African whose asylum application 
has been rejected and whose country of origin is not clear. Nearly all the 
3,402 refugees from West Africa who arrived here in 2002 -- more than twice 
the 1,627 who came in 2000 -- have been denied political asylum, but fewer 
than 1 percent are thought to have given the authorities their true 
identities. The Swiss authorities believe most West Africans come to 
Switzerland for economic reasons: to work or to take advantage of the 
nation's generous welfare benefits. They say the agreement is a first step 
in combating human traffickers operating out of West Africa, by signalling 
that those with no legitimate reason for claiming asylum will not be 
allowed to stay. Switzerland, with a population of 7.3 million, has the 
largest number of asylum seekers, per capita, in the developed world, 
according to UN statistics, and the number is rising.   (Int. Herald 
Tribune, USA, 20 January 2003)

* Sierra Leone. Former ruler flees  -  18 January: Former military ruler, 
Johnny Paul Koroma, has gone into hiding following a police raid on his 
house in the west of the capital Freetown. Mr Koroma -- who led a junta 
which came to power briefly in 1997 -- has accused the Sierra Leonean 
Government of "trying to eliminate" him. Eighteen people were arrested 
today's raid, which the authorities say is part of an investigation into an 
attack on an army barracks in Freetown. Mr Koroma denies any involvement in 
the attack, but said he might give himself up to international peacekeeping 
troops.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 18 January 2002)

* Sierra Leone. Calme après une fusillade  -  Le lundi 20 janvier, le calme 
est revenu peu à peu dans la capitale Freetown, bien que de nombreuses 
boutiques soient restées fermées, suite à la fusillade survenue la semaine 
dernière dans une base militaire, que les autorités ont qualifiée de 
complot visant à déstabiliser le gouvernement. La police et d'autres agents 
de sécurité ont effectué un raid au domicile de Johnny Paul Koroma, 
l'ex-chef de la junte militaire, qui aurait pu être impliqué dans ce 
complot. 18 personnes ont été arrêtées. Koroma, qui est maintenant député 
au Parlement, est recherché par la police.   (PANA, Sénégal, 21 janvier 2003)

* Somalia. 2003 -- make or break year for the TNG  -  In its review of 
Somalia for 2002, IRIN says that the high hopes inspired by the convening 
of the Eldoret peace conference have yet to be brought to fruition and the 
general mood is one of pessimism. Some of the important warlords have left 
Eldoret and those still there are bickering among themselves and accusing 
IGAD of mismanagement. The ceasefire agreement has already been violated in 
Puntland and Baidoa, and in the absence of any means of enforcing the 
ceasefire, there is little chance of it holding. The Mogadishu warlords and 
the Transitional National Government (TNG) have signed an agreement to open 
the Mogadishu seaport and airport and to cooperate in fighting crime in the 
city. If the agreement is implemented, this could herald peace for the 
city. For the TNG, 2003 will be a make-or-break year. If it expands its 
sphere of influence by entering into agreements with the Juba Valley 
Alliance and all or at least most of the Mogadishu faction leaders, then 
this will be the year when the TNG will have turned the corner and Somalis 
will be able to see light at the end of the tunnel.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 17 
January 2003)

* Somalia. Somalis are smuggling children overseas  -  17 January: A United 
Nations investigation has revealed that Somali parents are paying up to 
$10,000 to have their children smuggled abroad. Some 250 children a month 
are reported to be sent via well-established routes. Families send them 
away believing they will have a better future in the rich, Western 
countries. However, the investigation revealed many of the children suffer 
trauma, while some may face physical abuse, or become involved in 
prostitution. The report says many Somali parents see no future for their 
children at home. They smuggle them abroad, believing it to be an escape 
from poverty and conflict. Agents are paid to take children to countries 
such as Britain or Sweden. Once there, the children are often abandoned at 
police stations or airports and left to make their own way. Although 
immigration procedures were tightened up after the 11 September attacks in 
the United States, the smugglers have simply opened up new routes. They use 
fake passports and give the children new identities. One smuggler boasts 
that he has a 100% success rate. The report says many of the children 
suffer psychological trauma. They are vulnerable to exploitation. Some may 
become involved in prostitution or benefit fraud. Most parents send their 
children away because they want them to have a better education, but only a 
handful succeed. Some of the children -- regarded as failures -- end up 
back their homeland.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 17 January 2003)

* Somalie. Crimes contre des lycéens  -  Le 17 janvier, les Nations unies 
ont condamné une série de meurtres et d'enlèvements de lycéens commis en 
Somalie par des miliciens. Plusieurs lycéens ont été tués le 24 décembre 
2002 et d'autres blessés par des hommes armés qui ont attaqué leur bus à 
Mogadiscio. "Nous exhortons les dirigeants somaliens à respecter les règles 
de protection de l'enfant", a déclaré Maxwel Gaylard, coordinateur 
humanitaire de l'Onu pour la Somalie.   (Le Figaro, France, 18 janvier 2003)

* Somalia. Peace talks in chaos  -  The peace talks unfolding here aimed at 
ending Somalia's long civil war have turned as chaotic as the country 
itself. Warlords are trying to remove the mediator. Hotels are threatening 
to evict delegates over unpaid bills. The police were recently ordered to 
expel the many Somalis who arrived without invitations. The negotiations, 
now in their fourth month, were troubled from the start. Hundreds of extra 
delegates showed up in October, prompting a brisk sale in bogus 
credentials. There have been walkouts, shouting matches and a protest by an 
unpaid hotel during Ramadan that left delegates from the largely Muslim 
country who had been fasting all day unfed. "The tragedy of it all is that 
it's probably better positioned than any conference in the past to 
accomplish something," said one of the handful of Western diplomats 
tracking the negotiations. "I wouldn't say it's hopeless, although it 
certainly looks hopeless when you're there." Somalia looks just as 
troubled. It has no national government to speak of, a state of limbo that 
has existed for a dozen years. Instead, heavily armed warlords rule by 
brute force, a throwback to medieval times. Although most Somalis are 
desperate for an end to more than a decade of anarchy, they still associate 
more with clan than country. (On 20 January, Kenya's newly elected 
government appointed a new special envoy for the Somali peace talks. He is 
retired Ambassador Bethwel Kiplagat, to replace Elijah Mwangale).   (Int. 
Herald Tribune, USA, 20 January 2003)

* Somalie. Nouveau négociateur  -  Elijah Mwangale, chef des négociateurs 
aux colloques de paix pour la Somalie en cours à Eldoret (Kenya), a été 
officiellement remplacé par Betrhuel Kiplagat, ex-ambassadeur de Nairobi à 
Londres. La nouvelle a été confirmée le 21 janvier. La gestion des 
négociations par Mwangale provoquait de plus en plus de mécontentements. 
Après être parvenus le 28 octobre dernier à un cessez-le-feu entre les 
différentes factions, les colloques étaient entrés dans une phase de 
blocage. Une grande partie des "Seigneurs de guerre" avait accusé Mwangale 
de mal conduire les travaux et avait abandonné ces derniers jours la table 
des négociations.   (Misna, Italie, 21 janvier 2003)

* Afrique du Sud. Accords sur la main d'oeuvre étrangère  -  Le 17 janvier, 
le ministre sud-africain du Travail, M. Mdladlana, et son homologue 
mozambicain, M. Seven, ont signé un accord destiné à améliorer le bon 
fonctionnement du marché du travail, notamment grâce à la protection et la 
sécurité des travailleurs immigrés des deux pays. Cette réglementation 
devrait empêcher l'emploi illégal de Mozambicains en Afrique du Sud et leur 
exploitation par des employeurs sans scrupules, a indiqué M. Mdladlana. 
Actuellement, 72.000 Mozambicains travaillent légalement en Afrique du Sud, 
dont 12.000 dans les fermes, le reste dans les mines. L'accord signé avec 
le Mozambique intervient une semaine après la visite de Mdladlana au 
Zimbabwe, où il a fait des concessions pour "régulariser le statut" des 
Zimbabwéens qui sont entrés illégalement en Afrique du Sud pour chercher du 
travail dans les fermes situées dans la zone frontalière. Environ 10.000 
Zimbabwéens travaillent actuellement comme ouvriers agricoles dans la 
province du Limpopo.   (PANA, Sénégal, 17 janvier 2003)

* Afrique du Sud. Massacre dans un sauna  -  Le 20 janvier, au Cap, des 
inconnus armés ont mené une véritable descente militaire dans un sauna 
fréquenté par des homosexuels, tuant huit personnes et blessant grièvement 
deux autres. La police s'interroge sur l'implication du crime organisé dans 
ce massacre visant directement la communauté homosexuelle.   (La Croix, 
France, 21 janvier 2003)

* South Africa. Assassins blamed for Cape killings  -  21 January: Those 
who carried out the brutal murder of eight members of staff in a gay 
massage parlour in Cape Town on 20 January may belong to a Johannesburg 
gang brought in as hired guns. Police are understood to be investigating 
whether run-ins with drug dealers or gangs may have led to the attack, in 
which two other men were injured, the Cape Times reports. Police have 
appealed for help to catch the perpetrators and said they want to question 
four white men seen in a BMW. Ten men were shot in the head at close range 
on 21 January. One of the two survivors is in a critical condition. Some of 
the victims had their throats slit. The gang in question, the Fast Guns, is 
a powerful Johannesburg gang created 15 years ago, with strong links with 
another Cape Town gang. The Cape Times says that the Fast Guns have 
reportedly been recruited in the past to carry out "hits" in Cape Town, 
1,600 km away, to throw local investigators off track. Police sources told 
the newspaper that investigations were centred on drugs, protection racket 
or possible business dealings gone wrong.   (BBC News, UK, 21 January 2003)

* South Africa. AIDS hits population  -  The HIV/AIDS pandemic sweeping 
South Africa is forecast to reduce the country's potential population 
growth by 12m people over the next 12 years, a study by the Pretoria-based 
University of South Africa said on 20 January. The study estimated that 
without HIV/AIDS South Africa's population would have grown to 61m by 2015. 
But the effects of the disease would leave it with 49m. Life expectancy in 
the worst hit provinces, such as KwaZulu-Natal, would fall to 33 years in 
eight years. South Africa has a population of about 45m of which about 11 
per cent have the disease. The country has one of the highest HIV/AIDS 
infection rates. About 25 per cent of adults are HIV positive.   (Financial 
Times, UK, 21 January 2003)

* South Africa. Land reform progressing well  -  In a bid to prevent 
widespread land invasions South Africa has sped-up its land reform process, 
with the Land Claims Commission having validated 95 percent of claims 
submitted since 2001. News reports quoted Land Affairs Minister Thoko 
Didiza as saying that government was "trying to fast-track the land 
redistribution process" in order to meet President Thabo Mbeki's 2005 
deadline for completion of the reform programme. Mbeki's deadline followed 
what Chief Land Claims Commissioner Wallace Mgoqi had termed "tremendous 
claimant and public pressure to speed up the process" in November last 
year. An extra R1.7-billion (about US $192 million) over the next three 
years had been specially allocated to the department of land affairs -- 
before the 2003/2004 budget -- as a demonstration by the government of "how 
serious it is about delivery in land restitution", he was quoted as saying. 
Land Affairs spokeswoman Nana Zenani confirmed reports that 35,294 of the 
37,838 claims had so far been validated.   (IRIN, Kenya, 21 January 2003)

* Afrique du Sud. Déficit démographique  -  La population de l'Afrique du 
Sud, actuellement de l'ordre de 43 millions, devrait connaître un déficit 
démographique de 12 millions de personnes d'ici 2015, en raison de la 
pandémie du VIH-sida, selon une étude conjointe de l'université de Pretoria 
et de l'Institut indépendant de recherche BMR.   (La Libre Belgique, 22 
janvier 2003)

Weekly anb0123.txt - #6/7