Weekly anb01304.txt #7

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 30-01-2003      PART #4/7

* Djibouti. Camp Lemonier  -  Camp Lemonier has been quietly established 
over the past few months at the end of a dusty road on the outskirts of 
Djibouti city. Surrounded by coiled barbed wire fences, watchtowers and 
huge sand-filled defence bags, it provides a desolate home to about 900 US 
troops, including special forces, army and Marine detachments, airmen and 
military police. The camp is also the most visible sign of a much upgraded 
US military presence in a region it considers a haven for al-Qaeda and 
other terrorists. Djibouti, the tiny fly-blown former French colony at the 
tip of a turbulent East Africa, once described by the French poet Rimbaud 
as "this awful, filthy country", is perfectly placed for such an operation. 
Situated where the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden meet, it is only an hour or so 
in a fishing vessel or motor-powered dhow across the Bab al-Mandab strait 
from Yemen, bin Laden's ancestral home and the site of a bomb attack on the 
USS Cole in 2000 that killed 17 American sailors, and an attack last 
October on a French oil tanker. Djibouti also has borders with Ethiopia, 
Eritrea and Somalia, the latter a failed state where the US suspects that 
al-Qaeda sympathizers planned the 1998 bombing of its embassies in Nairobi 
and Dar es Salaam and a suicide attack that killed 13 people last November 
at a hotel used by Israeli holidaymakers in the Kenyan port city of 
Mombasa. Last week Britain and several other Western governments warned 
their citizens about a possible Bali-style terrorist attack in the 
Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, a favourite tourist destination in the Indian 
Ocean a half-day's ferry ride from Mombasa. Much of the US base's 
activities are shrouded in secrecy. Humvee military vehicles race up to its 
entrance in clouds of dust and quickly disappear through raised barriers. 
Helicopters swoop in and out, ferrying supplies, equipment and personnel to 
warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden. Visitors, their approach monitored at 
a distance, are eyed suspiciously and rigorously searched before being 
allowed to enter. Inside, lines of air-conditioned military tents, many 
still unoccupied, and MASH-style hospital facilities, occupy areas of the 
camp's 36 hectares and groups of fatigue-clad soldiers busily go about 
their duties.   (The Times, UK, 24 January 2003)

* Djibouti/USA. Accord de dérogation à la CPI  -  Washington poursuit sa 
campagne diplomatique pour se mettre à l'abri d'éventuelles poursuites 
devant la Cour pénale internationale (CPI). Le 24 janvier, la Maison 
Blanche a signé avec le gouvernement de Djibouti un accord accordant 
l'immunité aux ressortissants américains susceptibles d'être jugés par la 
CPI pour crimes de guerre ou contre l'humanité. Djibouti, qui accueille 
depuis quelques mois un contingent américain sur son territoire dans le 
cadre de la lutte internationale contre le terrorisme, est le 18ème pays à 
signer un tel accord bilatéral avec les Etats-Unis.   (Misna, Italie, 25 
janvier 2003)

* Djibouti. Nomadic trade under threat  -  A nomadic salt trade that has 
been a way of life for centuries is being threatened by the fortunes of war 
and modern day industry. To the occasional tourist visiting the baking salt 
pans in the northeast African country of Djibouti, the efforts of a lone 
figure kneeling in the hot sun scraping salt crystals from the ground with 
his bare hands may look more like a test of physical and mental endurance 
than a way to make a living. Hours pass as he toils under the African sun, 
scooping cup after cup of the crumbling powder into sacks to load onto his 
two camels for the arduous trek to market. But for the nomads of Djibouti, 
it is a way of life. "It's my inheritance, my father did it, my son will do 
the same thing," said Ahmed Tour, 30, pausing from his toil on the plain. 
"I make whatever profits I can, just so I can avoid dying of hunger." A 
stone's throw from Tour's camels, metal squeals on metal as a mechanical 
digger flexes its giant claw, gobbling away at an estimated four billion 
tonnes of salt deposited by the lake. "I understand that it's hard for 
them, but they have to do it, there's no other way for them to make money," 
said the driver, Omar Abdi, 27. "We work for companies, that's why we're 
well paid." What began many years ago as a trade plied by nomads has been 
transformed into an industrial scale business, changing the face of Lac 
Assal and providing tiny Djibouti with one of its biggest export 
industries. Djibouti, an arid land of 640,000 people that depends on income 
from its strategic port, salt has become a growing export, alongside 
seafood from the Red Sea, providing hundreds of welcome jobs. "It's our 
crude oil," said Mohamed Ambassa, technical director of Selac (Salt), one 
of the biggest companies around the lake, 70 km west of the capital 
Djibouti. "We hope the salt industry can uplift the whole Djibouti 
economy."   (CNN, USA, 28 January 2003)

* Egypt. Experience teaches Egypt to keep low profile  -  The Egyptian 
authorities took extraordinary measures earlier this week to counteract a 
demonstration by the Islamist-leaning Labour party outside the US embassy 
in Cairo. Fewer than 150 demonstrators turned up, but the mobilisation of 
an estimated 1,000 police indicates the extreme sensitivity with which the 
regime of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president, views the prospect of war 
against Iraq. Cairo is solidly opposed to any military action and is 
refusing to take part. But Egypt, which likes to portray itself as the 
leader of the Arab world, has also chosen to adopt a lower profile in this 
latest confrontation despite evident fears about the effects of any war on 
domestic public opinion. Hence today's meeting of foreign ministers from 
five of Iraq's neighbours, plus Egypt, is taking place in Istanbul rather 
than Cairo. The ministers, whose governments share deep concern about the 
prospect of war, will try to avert an US-led military attack on Baghdad. 
(...) It seems that Mr Mubarak, with one eye on anti- US Egyptian opinion 
and another on Washington, is resigned to leaving the diplomacy, such as it 
is, to Turkey and Saudi Arabia. It is Riyadh that has been floating the 
idea of regime change in Iraq and of exile for Mr Hussein and his 
entourage. Egypt is having little to do with the proposal.   (Financial 
Times, UK, 23 January 2003)

* Egypt. State brutality  -  By day, Lazoghly Square, Cairo, is a 
fume-filled circus of honking taxis and frustrated drivers. By night, the 
heavily guarded entrance to the ministry of the interior is one of the most 
feared addresses in Egypt. Through a black marble arch lies the 
headquarters of the state security investigation unit (SSI) where political 
dissidents and Islamists rounded up in pre-dawn raids are interrogated. 
Detainees, according to innumerable accounts, are routinely tortured. 
Punishments reportedly involve prisoners being beaten, suspended over the 
edge of doors by arms tied behind their backs, subjected to cigarette burns 
and electric shocks, sexually harassed, deprived of sleep and food, and 
forced to watch relatives being tortured. In some cases heavy weights are 
put on inmates' legs or detainees are subjected to extreme cold. "When they 
come to us after being released they are in post-traumatic stress," says Dr 
Suzan Fayad, a psychiatrist, who works with Nadeem, an Egyptian 
organisation which rehabilitates victims of violence. Last November, Egypt 
was again condemned by the UN's influential committee against torture in 
Geneva. The committee concluded there was "widespread evidence of torture 
and ill-treatment in administrative premises" under the control of the SSI. 
Such denunciations are not new, but after September 11 there is a fresh 
sense of urgency, because human rights activists are beginning to wonder 
whether prisons and detention centres such as Lazoghly Square have played a 
role in transforming Islamist groups into violent extremist organisations 
such as al-Qaida. (...) Hafiz Abu Sa'eda, the head of the Egyptian 
Organisation for Human Rights believes the main reason that another 
Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, became more extreme was the torture 
inflicted on its members.   (The Guardian, UK, 24 January 2003)

* Egypt. War fears prompt Egypt to float its currency  -  On 29 January, 
Egypt moved dramatically to pre-empt the likely disastrous impact of a war 
against Iraq on its stumbling economy by freeing its currency, the Egyptian 
pound, to free-float against the dollar. Following an announcement on 28 
January by Atef Obaid, the prime minister, of a shift from a fixed peg to a 
market determined rate, the Egyptian pound promptly depreciated on 
Wednesday by 16 per cent to trade at $1=5.40 pounds -- slightly below the 
previous black market rate for the dollar. Analysts in Cairo were taken 
aback by the timing of Mr Obaid's announcement. A further depreciation had 
been widely expected ahead of what is viewed in Cairo as probable war in 
the Gulf -- but not the free-float. The shift was nonetheless widely 
welcomed. "They (the authorities) wanted to make sure that, if there is a 
war, the market will determine the effects and not have a parallel rate 
that is detrimental to the inflows of investment and capital flows. I think 
it is a very positive move," Hassan Heikal of the local investment bank 
EFG-Hermes said on 29 January. Egypt has had a decidedly chequered history 
when it comes to exchange rate management. Formally the pound has lost 36 
per cent of its value against the dollar since the autumn of 2000 in a 
series of devaluations widely viewed as botched. On each occasion the 
Egyptian government has shied away from using its own central bank 
reserves, which now stand at just under $14bn, to ease liquidity and 
maintain supply of hard currency in the market. Instead it has relied on 
rationing of dollars and maintaining a de facto peg.   (Financial Times, 
UK, 30 January 2003)

* Eritrea. High grade gold discovered  -  A Canadian mining company has 
announced the discovery of new high grade gold and base metals at Bisha, 
some 150 km west of the Eritrean capital Asmara. Nevsun Resources Ltd, 
which owns 90 percent of the Bisha property, said the discovery was made 
after an initial phase of exploration drilling, totalling 804 metres in six 
holes. Prior work, carried out in 1998 and 1999, had defined a significant 
area of anomalous copper, lead and zinc, as well as the gold. "Similar base 
metal deposits occur in Eritrea at Dubarwa and Adi Nefas, located near the 
capital city of Asmara," Nevsun said in a news release issued on 22 
January. It noted that the Bisha exploration property covers 49 sq km and 
has "excellent port facilities on the Red Sea". Nevsun, which describes 
itself as an Africa-focused mine development and exploration company, has 
two key projects in Mali and Ghana. "Management believes that the new 
high-grade discovery at the Bisha property in Eritrea complements Nevsun's 
advanced Tabakoto and Segala Projects in Mali, West Africa, as they provide 
for regional projects and corporate growth," the news release 
said.   (IRIN, Kenya, 23 January 2003)

* Erythrée. Menace de famine  -  Plus des deux tiers de la population 
érythréenne, soit 2,3 millions de personnes, sont menacés par la famine et 
la sécheresse, a annoncé le 29 janvier à Genève la ministre érythréenne de 
l'Emploi, de l'Eau et de l'Environnement. Selon le Programme alimentaire 
mondial (PAM), les stocks de nourriture dans le pays seront épuisés dans 
deux mois.   (La Croix, France, 30 janvier 2003)

* Eritrea/Ethiopia. Border ruling favours Eritrea  -  Human Rights Watch 
(HRW) says that a crucial boundary ruling last year rejected many of 
Ethiopia's claims to territory after its war with Eritrea. Both countries 
claimed to have been awarded the symbolic village of Badme where their 
border war flared up in 1998, after a ruling issued by an international 
Boundary Commission in April 2002. In its 2003 World Report, HRW says that 
"the report [by the Boundary Commission] generally rejects Ethiopia's 
claims including (without mentioning it by name) the claim to the village 
of Badme where the war had started". But, according to diplomatic sources, 
Ethiopia is currently preparing a comprehensive legal challenge to the 
Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission's (EEBC) ruling.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 
24 January 2003)

* Ethiopia. State of the art airport terminal opens  -  One of Africa's 
largest airport passenger terminals opened in Addis Ababa this week ahead 
of a key summit by the continent's political leaders. The state of the art 
international terminal is expected to be able to process some 3,000 
passengers an hour. The opening comes just two weeks before dozens of 
African leaders fly into Addis Ababa for a summit hosted by the African 
Union (AU). Plans for a new terminal and runway were launched six years 
ago. The new runway can also accommodate the largest planes, like Boeing 
747s, which could boost the numbers of tourists flying into Ethiopia. The 
three-story building also houses a high tech security and baggage handling 
system built on more than 43,000 square metres of land. The terminal also 
contains banks and duty free shops. The new terminal at Bole International 
Airport is one of a number of airport terminal constructions that have been 
underway in Ethiopia. New terminals have been constructed in Gondar, 
Lalibela and an international airport in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray 
region in the north of Ethiopia.   (IRIN, Kenya, 22 January 2003)

Weekly anb0130.txt - #4/7