Weekly anb02136.txt #7

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 13-02-2003      PART #6/7

* Somalia. Fuel shortage hits Mogadishu  -  A severe fuel shortage has hit 
the Somali capital, Mogadishu, over the past two weeks, according to a 
local businessman. Fuel prices have sky-rocketed, with the price of petrol 
doubling within a week. The shortage was reportedly affecting not only the 
transport sector but many of the light industries which had proliferated in 
the city over the last couple of years, businessman Husayn Haji said on 5 
February. He said the shortage was due to the fact that no cargo of 
petroleum had reached Mogadishu for "at least a month", and some traders 
were taking advantage to hike the price. The fear of a war in Iraq was also 
contributing, with "rumours that once war starts, there will be no fuel 
coming from the Gulf countries", he said. The bulk of fuel for Somalia 
comes from the United Arab Emirates. Petrol previously costing 8,000 Somali 
shillings (30 US cents) per litre two weeks ago was by 4 February selling 
for 16,000 shillings, Husayn said. Also contributing to the shortage was 
the unwillingness of some the traders to keep large reserve stocks due to 
fears of the fluctuations affecting the Somali currency. The exchange rate 
for one US dollar was 20,000 shillings on 5 February, Husayn said.   (IRIN, 
Kenya, 5 February 2003)

* Somalia. Somali peace talks to switch to Nairobi  -  10 February: The 
Somali peace talks, which have been dragging on in the western Kenyan town 
of Eldoret, are to move to the capital, Nairobi. Since October, the talks 
have been beset by infighting as well as financial difficulties. Now, the 
several hundred delegates are to be taken to Nairobi, where they will carry 
on attempting to hammer out some kind of workable form of government for 
Somalia. Somalia has not had a central government in 12 years of fighting 
between rival warlords. The talks are being moved to the capital because 
they will be more cost effective there, Peter Nyagah, an official of the 
Kenyan Foreign Ministry, which has been hosting the talks, said. "The aim 
of the plan... is simply to facilitate the conclusion of the talks, and 
also to try to reduce the costs, because the costs in Nairobi are 
relatively cheaper than the ones that have been incurred in Eldoret," Mr 
Nyagah said. "In Nairobi, per delegate, it will be about $40 a day, but in 
Eldoret, the spending has been close to $100 a day." He said that the talks 
would take place in government-owned buildings, whereas the talks in 
Eldoret have been held in private hotels.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 10 February 
2003)

* Somalia/Kenya. Bantu refugees being prepared for life in the USA  -  The 
first Somali Bantu refugees will probably reach the United States this 
spring after the US agreed to take them in, according to a report released 
by the US State Department on 5 February. The 12,000 or so refugees under 
consideration for admission to the US have been in refugee camps in Kenya 
for over 10 years. Most of them were moved from the Dadaab camp in 
northeastern Kenya to Kakuma in the northwest between June and September 
last year, Sasha Chanoff, a spokesman for the International Organization 
for Migration (IOM) said.The refugees have already begun the process that 
will see them into the US.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 5 February 2003)

* South Africa. Cricket's World Cup opens  -  9 February: Now that the 
cricket World Cup has got under way in Cape Town, South African papers 
celebrate the occasion -- though fears about politics remain. Pictures of 
the ceremony feature on many front pages, with the Mail and Guardian 
typical in its coverage. "The only cloud of the night, literally, hung over 
Table Mountain, but Newlands... was awash with sound and colour," it 
enthuses. It alludes to worries about England's match in Zimbabwe but does 
not allow these to dampen its mood. "It would be stretching a point to say 
that the World Cup is already smoothly up and running, but it couldn't have 
asked for a better introduction than that provided at Newlands," it 
concludes.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 9 February 2003)

* Sudan. 3rd phase of peace talks end on a positive note  -  The third 
phase of the talks underway in Kenya for an end to Sudan's civil war, have 
concluded on a positive note. It seems the positions of the government and 
the SPLA are becoming closer. The delegations of the two sides defined 
procedures for the sharing of power and the division of proceeds from the 
exploitation of the nation's immense oil resources. The government and the 
SPLA came to an agreement for the formation of a government of national 
unity that will guide the nation until the next democratic elections, and 
also established the formation of a mixed commission to work on a draft 
constitution.   (MISNA, Italy, 7 February 2003)

* Sudan. Thousands displaced by fighting  -  On 9 February, a US monitoring 
team said thousands of southern Sudanese civilians have been displaced by 
recent fighting between the warring sides to the African country's 
20-year-old civil conflict. "Regardless of which party may be 
responsible... many thousands of civilians have been forcibly displaced 
from their villages by direct military attack," according said Brigadier 
Herbert Lloyd, manager of the Civilian Protection Monitoring team in a 
report released at a press conference at the US Embassy in Khartoum. 
Herbert was referring to Lara, Tam, Nhialdou, Leel and villages south of 
Mankien and Mayo -- all areas in Western Upper Nile region of southern 
Sudan where a cease-fire was agreed upon in October. Throughout January, 
Herbert's team travelled to Western Upper Nile areas to inspect the affects 
of clashes between troops belonging to the Khartoum-based government and 
the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army. "What has happened is horrific 
and sad," US Charge d'Affaires Jeff Millington said during the press 
conference. "The government of Sudan bears responsibility for most of this. 
We are here to work with both parties to help reach the most valuable 
objective to stop fighting."   (CNN, USA, 10 February 2003)

* Sudan. Killing fields discovered in Southern Sudan  -  An international 
team of investigators discovered fields of human remains, including those 
of children, in the Upper Nile province of southern Sudan, a group says. In 
a statement, the Centre for Religious Freedom, a division of Freedom House, 
said, "Interviews with local survivors confirmed that the remains were 
those of victims of an unprovoked attack [on] the unarmed civilian villages 
of Liang, Dengaji, Kawaji and Yawaji in April of 2002. It is estimated that 
from one-third to one-half of the 6,000 civilians originally living in the 
region were killed in the attack," the centre added. "The attackers were 
reported by the survivors to be the Sudan regular army from the Boing 
Garrison, commanded by Brigadier General Ibrahim Saleh," the Centre for 
Religious Freedom reported. Striking in the early morning while the 
villagers slept, the heavily armed Government of Sudan soldiers began 
killing the unarmed residents and burning their houses. The attackers were 
reportedly armed with 60 mm mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, 12.7 mm 
heavy machine guns and AK-47 assault rifles."   (Zenith, Italy, 10 February 
2003)

* Ouganda. 4.500 enfants enlevés en 2002  -  Au cours de l'année 2002, le 
mouvement rebelle de l'Armée de résistance du Seigneur (LRA) a enlevé 
quelque 4.500 enfants dans le nord de l'Ouganda, selon un rapport d'une 
commission de l'ONU. Un chiffre bien supérieur à celui de l'année 
précédente. D'après le rapport, on ignore combien de ces enfants enlevés 
ont pu rentrer chez eux, combien ont été tués et combien sont toujours aux 
mains de la LRA. Toutefois, selon Els De Temmerman -- qui s'occupe à Gulu 
des enfants échappés ou libérés --, plus de 3.400 enfants ont été délivrés 
depuis juin 2002. Certains avaient été détenus durant six ans par la LRA. 
La commission onusienne a demandé au ministre américain Colin Powell de 
prendre une initiative pour mettre fin à cette guerre civile. Selon un 
leader de la population acholi, les rebelles seraient d'accord d'entamer 
des négociations de paix, si la communauté internationale y était 
impliquée.   (D'après De Standaard, Belgique, 7 février 2003)

* Ouganda. La Croix-Rouge suspend ses opérations  -  Le 11 février, la 
Croix-Rouge ougandaise a annoncé la suspension de ses opérations dans le 
nord du pays, après une embuscade rebelle où six de ses employés ont été 
blessés et admis à l'hôpital dans un état critique. La Croix-Rouge est 
chargée de porter secours à des milliers de personnes ayant fui les combats 
dans les provinces de Gulu, Pader et Kitgum. Les combats avec l'armée se 
sont intensifiés ces derniers mois, faisant grimper le nombre de réfugiés 
de 500.000 à 800.000 en un an.   (Le Figaro, France, 12 février 2003)

* Uganda. The Baganda call for federalism and autonomy  -  It was the 
biggest protest Uganda had seen for years. On January 28th, a 
crowd--200,000-strong, by the police's perhaps exaggerated 
estimate--marched through the normally traffic-choked streets of Kampala, 
Uganda's capital. The men wore long white tunics; the women colourful 
dresses with huge shoulder pads--the traditional garb of Buganda, the 
ancient kingdom from which Uganda derives its name. What did they want? 
"Federo!" chanted the marchers. The Baganda, Uganda's biggest tribe, want a 
new federal constitution, with their kingdom as a semi-autonomous state. 
Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, has to take them seriously. Like many 
African countries, Uganda is less a nation than an agglomeration of 
peoples, arbitrarily thrown together by British colonial map-drawers. The 
Baganda, a quarter of the country's 24m people, dominate the relatively 
prosperous south, and are fiercely proud of their history. Baganda 
politicians like to point out that when the British "discovered" Lake 
Victoria, their tribe was already living in a flourishing state there, 
ruled by a hereditary king, the kabaka.The present kabaka, Ronald Muwenda 
Mutebi II, still lives in a palace in Kampala. But today he rules little 
beyond his court. A federal constitution could change that; the king and 
his parliament of appointees and clan leaders want the power to make laws, 
and to tax and spend. They also want Kampala, now a bustling, multi-ethnic 
city, re-incorporated into the kingdom.   (The Economist, UK, 8-14 February 
2003)

* Uganda. Troubled areas  -  10 February: The Ugandan Red Cross Society has 
announced that it is suspending its relief operation in the north of the 
country, after one of its convoys was ambushed by the rebel Lord's 
Resistance Army (LRA). Six Red Cross volunteers were injured -- three of 
them seriously -- when they were attacked on 8 February. Their radio 
equipment and personal possessions were stolen, and their vehicles were 
damaged. Meanwhile, 10 people and also students returning to school for the 
first day of term, were killed in an LRA ambush on 9 February. The LRA is 
the remnant of a rebellion in northern Uganda which erupted after President 
Yoweri Museveni seized power in 1986. It has achieved an international 
reputation for brutality, and for forcibly recruiting child soldiers -- 
although LRA leaders deny doing so. 12 February: At least 13 people have 
been killed and more than 2,000 others forced to flee in ethnic clashes in 
north-western Uganda. The fighting between the Lendu and Alur communities 
in Nebbi District was sparked off by the theft of timber and an ensuing 
revenge attack, police say. Police authorities in the region have asked the 
government for reinforcements as "the conflicts in neighbouring Congo RDC 
spill into Uganda", the daily New Vision reports. Thousands of people have 
been killed in ethnic tensions in the region, mostly on the Congolese side 
of the border where the Lendu have been fighting with the rival Hema 
community. Members of the Alur and Kebu communities razed half a dozen 
Lendu villages to the ground in the revenge attack near Nebbi town on 7 
February. "Six villages were completely destroyed, hundreds of huts burnt, 
property looted and more than 2,000 people are without homes," Samson 
Onyai, Nebbi District police commander said.   (BBC News, UK, 12 February 2003)

* Zambia. Ruling party wins by-election  -  7 February: Zambia's ruling 
Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) has scored an important victory by 
holding on to their parliamentary seat in rural Keembe, about 100km north 
of Lusaka. No official results have yet been released, but Anderson 
Mazoka's United Party for National Development (UPND) has conceded defeat, 
even though it accuses the MMD of buying votes with beer and maize. 
Estimates from the ground indicate a MMD win with a resounding 70% of the 
vote.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 7 February 2003)

* Zambie. Des terres contre la faim  -  Le gouvernement zambien a annoncé, 
le 4 février, son intention de donner des terres aux fermiers. Avec un 
objectif: relancer l'agriculture nationale moribonde pour mieux lutter 
contre la famine et moins dépendre des exportations de minerais. Le projet 
concerne 190.000 hectares, situés dans le centre et le sud du pays, qui 
seront divisés en lopins de terre de 1.000 hectares chacun. Les fermiers 
bénéficiaires de ces terres devront produire du maïs, du tabac, des 
légumes, des fleurs et des fruits.   (JA/I, France, 9-15 février 2003)

* Zambia. Re-thinking privatisation  -  11 February: President Levy 
Mwanawasa has told a delegation from the International Monetary Fund he 
wants to re-think the country's privatisation programme. Mr Mwanawasa said 
privatisation of crucial state enterprises had led to poverty, asset 
stripping and job losses. Privatisation is important for Zambia because the 
IMF and other western banks will cancel $3bn of the country's $6.5bn debt, 
provided the agreed privatisation programme is seen through. Zambia's 
government must also show this year that it is managing the economy well. 
The Zambian president said that although he supported privatisation in 
principle, mismanagement by his predecessor Frederick Chiluba had caused 
the southern African country great misery. "There has been no significant 
benefit to the country," Mr Mwanawasa told the IMF's assistant director for 
Africa Robert Sharer. "Privatisation has contributed to high levels of 
poverty, loss of employment and asset stripping. This administration felt 
that it is necessary and essential to revisit the method by which 
government exits itself from public property."   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 11 
February 2003)

Weekly anb0213.txt - #6/7