Weekly anb02206.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 20-02-2003      PART #6/7

* Rwanda. Avant-projet de Constitution  -  Le 18 février, le président de 
la Commission juridique et constitutionnelle, Tito Rutaremara, a remis au 
président Kagame l'avant-projet de la future Constitution pour examen et 
adoption en conseil des ministres avant sa transmission au Parlement, qui 
se fera d'ici à la fin de mars. Deux mois seront ensuite nécessaires pour 
vulgariser le projet adopté, avant de le soumettre au référendum qui est 
prévu en mai, a déclaré M. Rutaremara. Le texte prévoit un régime 
semi-présidentiel, un Parlement bicaméral, l'existence d'un Etat de droit, 
la gestion consensuelle du pouvoir. Il affirme des droits fondamentaux et 
l'égalité de tous les citoyens devant la loi. Le mandat présidentiel serait 
de 7 ans, renouvelable une fois. Cet avant-projet a nécessité deux ans de 
préparation.   (PANA, Sénégal, 18 février 2003)

* Rwanda. Rwandan pastor on trial  -  19 February: A verdict on the 
landmark case of a Rwandan clergyman and his son who are charged with 
committing genocide is expected today. The United Nations tribunal for 
Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania, will decide whether Pastor Elizaphan 
Ntakirutmana is guilty of slaughtering Tutsis in 1994. A local leader of 
the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Kibuye district, western Rwanda, he 
pleaded not guilty to all charges. Prosecutors contend that Pastor 
Ntakirutmana and his son actively participated in the mass slaughter in 
western Rwanda. In one notorious incident, Tutsis who had taken shelter in 
a church and hospital complex sent a letter to the pastor. It begged him as 
a man of God to help. "We wish to inform you", the letter said, that 
tomorrow, "we will be killed with our families." Mr Ntakirutmana's response 
allegedly was that the unarmed men, women and children should prepare for 
death. Soon after, Hutu militias attacked -- accompanied, it is alleged, by 
the pastor and his son. Of the hundreds who had sought shelter, only a few 
survived. The pastor himself fled to the United States after the genocide. 
After an extended legal battle, he was eventually extradited to Arusha. He 
and his son deny all the charges. -- Later in the day, Pastor Ntakirutmana 
and his son are both convicted of genocide, complicity in genocide and 
crimes against humanity. The Pastor is sentenced to ten years in prison and 
his son to twenty-five years. They will appeal.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 19 
February 2003)

* Rwanda. 2 condamnations au TPIR  -  Le 19 février à Arusha, le Tribunal 
pénal international pour le Rwanda (TPIR) a condamné un pasteur adventiste 
rwandais et son fils à 10 et 25 ans de prison pour leur participation au 
génocide de 1994. Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, 78 ans, et son fils Gérard, un 
médecin de 45 ans, ont été reconnus coupables d'avoir "participé à des 
tueries et des attaques et d'avoir causé de graves blessures physiques et 
morales à un grand nombre d'hommes, de femmes et d'enfants qui avaient 
tenté de se réfugier dans les locaux de l'Eglise adventiste du septième 
jour à Mugonero, ainsi que dans la zone de Bisesero", dans l'ouest du 
Rwanda. Depuis sa création, le TPIR n'a rendu que onze verdicts. Son quartier
pénitentiaire abrite 54 personnes, dont 22 seulement sont en cours de 
procès.   (Libération, France, 20 février 2003)

* South Africa. Wind changes for South Africa's black brokers  -  The 
Johannesburg Securities Exchange dominates the African continent and is a 
glittering, high-technology symbol of South Africa's economic maturity. Yet 
of the country's 550 stockbrokers, only 10 are black. After eight years of 
majority rule, the country's financial sector remains dominated by whites, 
prompting the government to pursue the tack taken in the mining sector: 
legislative intervention is necessary to encourage or even force change. 
The financial services empowerment charter, expected by mid-year, will set 
down the rules for the sector. Debate has already started and is likely to 
be heated but those in the industry hope it will create less controversy 
than the much-debated mining charter, which was preceded by a sell-off of 
mining stocks by overseas investors. "We are tired of waiting and it is 
clear that goodwill alone is not enough," says Emmanuel Lediga, founder and 
chief executive of Legae Securities, the oldest black-owned stockbroking 
firm. "The charter offers hope. An enforcement mechanism is needed, with 
specific ownership quotas and precise timeframes. Now is the time to act 
decisively because there is a new momentum for change". "The sector will 
have to be more innovative because BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) has 
become a key strategic issue," says Mark Anderson, director of African 
Harvest Capital. "There will be interesting developments this 
year."   (Financial Times, UK, 17 February 2003)

* South Africa. Catholic Bishops reply to President's State of the Nation 
Speech  -  On 17 February, the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference 
(SACB) congratulated President Mbeki on his firm stand in favour of a 
peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis. However, the Bishops expressed their 
disappointment with the President's treatment of two issues of vital 
consequence for South and Southern Africa: the AIDS pandemic and the 
Zimbabwe crisis. On both counts, the SACB pleads with the State President 
that he take the nation into his confidence in an effort to formulate and 
implement clear and open policies, so that all sectors of society may 
become engaged in seeking just and equitable solutions.   (SACB, 17 
February 2003)

* South Africa. Arms experts being sent to Iraq  -  A team of South African 
experts on weapons disarmament will travel to Iraq by the end of the week 
to assist the country, South African President Thabo Mbeki said on 18 
February. The group will "inform and advise" Iraqi President Saddam Hussein 
about how South Africa dismantled its nuclear weapons program in the early 
1990s, he said. The group of seven men includes scientists and a member of 
a government office focusing on peace initiatives. "Between them they will 
be able to address all matters that relate to nuclear, chemical and 
biological weapons of mass destruction, missile systems, nonproliferation 
and disarmament," Mbeki told a session of Parliament in Cape Town. They 
have worked with the UN Conference on Disarmament and other international 
bodies responsible for the enforcement of the nuclear nonproliferation 
treaty and chemical and biological weapons conventions, he said. The UN's 
chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, mentioned in his report to the Security 
Council on 14 February that Baghdad had accepted the South African offer of 
disarmament consultation. @CITA_1 = (CNN, USA, 18 February 2003)

* South Africa, At centre of child sex trade  -  South Africa has become a 
market for children sold into prostitution from Africa, Europe and the Far 
East, a report to the UN commission on human rights said. Children from 
Angola, Mozambique, Senegal, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda, Eastern Europe, 
Thailand and China are being either lured or kidnapped to the country to 
become prostitutes on the streets of Johannesburg and Cape Town, a report 
by experts to the commission said. Angolan, Congolese and Nigerian criminal 
rings are responsible for much of the trafficking, but criminal elements 
from Bulgaria, Thailand, China and Russia are also said to be involved. The 
report was compiled by UN officials who visited South Africa last year to 
investigate the high incidents of abuse, rape and child prostitution. The 
hunger crisis in southern Africa, which is affecting about 15 million 
people, is contributing to an increase in trafficking of children, the 
report said. It also found that lack of public freedoms and equality under 
apartheid was often among the causes of abuse. "The traditional relations 
of family harmony were seriously damaged by decades of oppression and 
contempt, and their present manifestations in devious forms are shocking," 
the report said. Some parents sell their own children into prostitution. 
Many who have been orphaned by Aids sell their bodies for sex in order to 
survive. Last year the South African human rights commission found that 
almost one-third of children in the country had been sexually abused. 
However, UN investigators found there was no framework for children who 
have been abused or are in need of treatment for Aids.   (The Guardian, UK, 
19 February 2003)

* South Africa. Moves on black ownership  -  On 18 February, the South 
African government said it would push ahead with reforms to widen black 
ownership of the economy in spite of investor doubts about how best it can 
be achieved. Alec Erwin, minister of trade and industry, told mining 
companies and international investors at an annual mining conference that 
his government had taken the first steps to transform South Africa's 
formerly white-dominated economy, but that more were needed to reverse the 
effects of apartheid. "We cannot see an economy that can grow or be stable 
over time if there is one racial group not benefiting from that economy. We 
are not going to bring out a process that would detract from growth, but we 
are not going to do nothing about it [white dominance]." Bringing South 
Africa's black majority into the mainstream economy is essential for the 
country's long-term stability. But analysts fear that South African 
companies will lose value by having to sell assets off cheaply to achieve 
empowerment targets. Confidence in the South African mining sector was 
rocked last year by fears that the government wanted to take an aggressive, 
fast-track approach to boosting black participation in the sector. A draft 
mining charter proposing ambitious empowerment targets unnerved investors 
and sent local mining stocks spiralling downward. Confidence has since been 
restored by agreement between the government and mining companies on less 
ambitious equity ownership targets and a broad empowerment agenda covering 
employment equity, training and corporate social 
responsibility.   (Financial Times, UK, 19 February 2003)

* Soudan. Prisonniers politiques libérés  -  Un nombre non précisé de 
prisonniers politiques soudanais a été libéré à l'occasion de la fête 
musulmane de l'Aïd el Kébir, a-t-on appris à Khartoum dans la presse du 
samedi 15 février. Parmi eux figure Ibrahim Sanoussi, ancien gouverneur de 
l'Etat de Nord-Kordufan, une personnalité de premier plan du Parti 
populaire du Congrès national (PNCP) de Hassan el Tourabi. Deux autres 
personnalités du PNCP et trois leaders du mouvement étudiant du parti ont 
aussi retrouvé la liberté, mais onze de leurs militants sont encore 
derrière les barreaux. Le gouvernement a également libéré des militants 
d'autres partis de l'opposition. La détention sans procès a occupé une 
place importante dans les discussions avec une délégation d'Amnesty 
International qui était en visite au Soudan au début du mois de 
février.   (PANA, Sénégal, 15 février 2003)

* Sudan. Can Africa bring peace to Sudan>  -  In a Press Statement, Sudan 
Focal Point-Africa (SFP-A), an ecumenical peace and advocacy ministry of 
Sudanese and international Churches, said: "Following the recent visit to 
Khartoum by the South African Foreign Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, 
as Chair of the African Union, the Churches of both Sudan and South Africa 
will take a keen interest in the role of the African Union and the South 
African government in supporting the Sudanese peace process. The Churches 
and their international partners are holding the annual Assembly of the 
Sudan Ecumenical Forum in South Africa from 23-27 February, shortly before 
the Sudan peace negotiations resume in Nairobi. The Church has been the 
only consistent voice of Sudanese civil society at both the local and 
international level during the long-running conflict in Sudan. As more 
breaches of the cease-fire by the government of Sudan come to light, and as 
the international community focuses its attention on another potential war 
in Iraq, it is more important than ever that Africa should not forget the 
suffering Sudanese people. The theme of the Assembly is "The Role of the 
Church in the Peace-Building Process in Sudan". Amongst other topics, the 
delegates will reflect on post-conflict reconciliation, and relations 
between Christianity and Islam, in the light of the South African 
experience. On Sunday 23 February 2003 the Assembly will begin with a 
public ecumenical service in St Alban's Anglican Cathedral in Pretoria at 6 
pm. On 27 February the Assembly will conclude with a press conference and 
public briefing at the Methodist Central Church in Johannesburg at 10 
am.   (SFP-A, South Africa, 19 February 2003)

* Tanzania. Government seeks Chinese aid to modernise railway  -  Tanzania 
is seeking Chinese aid to modernise the 1,860.5-km Tazara railway linking 
Tanzania to landlocked Zambia at New Kapiri Mposhi, the New China News 
Agency, Xinhua, has reported. Xinhua, which is the official Chinese news 
agency, said on 11 February that Tanzanian Communication and Transport 
Minister Mark Mwandosya had expressed "the hope" while welcoming the 
chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political 
Consultative Conference, Li Ruihuan, at Tazara's Dar es Salaam terminus. 
"We seek your support in further strengthening the infrastructure, 
modernising the locomotive fleet, re-equipping workshops and strengthening 
the Tazara centre in Mpika," the agency quoted Mwandosya as saying. China, 
it said, had helped with the feasibility studies, design and construction 
of the Arusha-Musoma railway line, which Mwandosya said was conducive to 
the peace and economic growth of the Great Lakes region. Tazara, or the 
Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority, was completed and opened to traffic in 
July 1975, after five years of construction by Chinese, Tanzanian and 
Zambian engineers and workers. With 977.3 km of the line in Tanzania and 
883.2 km in Zambia, it was built as an alternate lifeline to Zambia during 
the eras of apartheid in South Africa and the illegal minority government 
in Rhodesia, now independent Zimbabwe.   (IRIN, Kenya, 12 February 2003)

* Tunisie. Gréviste de la faim en danger  -  L'état de santé d'un opposant 
tunisien islamiste emprisonné, Hammadi Jebali, "s'est considérablement 
dégradé, après plus d'un mois de grève de la faim", s'alarme l'Association 
internationale de soutien aux prisonniers politiques. Selon l'AISPP (non 
autorisée à Tunis), Jebali a dû être transféré le 12 février aux urgences 
d'un hôpital de Bizerte, information démentie de source officielle. Jebali, 
54 ans, a été condamné à plus de 17 ans de prison, en 1991 et 1992, pour 
appartenance au mouvement islamiste Ennadha (interdit), dont il était l'un 
des dirigeants.   (Libération, France, 17 février 2003)

* Ouganda. Menace de famine dans le nord  -  L'Onu a lancé un cri d'alarme 
attirant l'attention sur la situation qui prévaut au nord de l'Ouganda où 
plus d'un million de personnes risque de manquer de nourriture et d'aide 
alimentaire en raison des hostilités persistantes entre les forces 
gouvernementales et les rebelles de l'Armée de résistance du Seigneur 
(LRA). La situation dans le nord est aggravée par les mauvaises récoltes 
entraînant une baisse des stocks alimentaires des ménages. Les combats ont 
également rendu difficile l'accès des personnes déplacées à leurs maisons 
et fermes afin de s'adonner à la culture durant la saison agricole qui doit 
commencer le mois prochain. La population est presque totalement isolée du 
reste du pays. Et le Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM) a dû réduire ses 
activités de 50%.   (PANA, Sénégal, 13 février 2003)

Weekly anb0220.txt - #6/7