Weekly anb02272.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 27-02-2003      PART #2/7

* Algeria. Strike shuts down Algeria  -  25 February: A 48-hour general 
strike has brought Algeria to a halt. The strike was called by the Algerian 
General Workers Union (UGTA) to protest against the privatisation of public 
enterprises and to denounce a wave of price hikes that have swept the 
country, as well as general economic mismanagement. Some 95% of workers 
were observing the action, a union representative said. The industrial 
zones of Oued Smar, Rouiba and Reghaia, in the east are silent.   (ANB-BIA, 
Belgium, 25 February 2003)

* Algérie. Assassinats  -  21-22 février. Le terrorisme semble prendre pied 
aussi dans les régions du sud algérien. Quatre gardes communaux ont été 
égorgés vendredi soir, après avoir été arrêtés à un faux barrage dressé par 
un groupe armé dans la région de Ouargla (750 km au sud d'Alger), rapporte 
la presse algérienne. Par ailleurs, deux policiers ont été assassinés 
samedi par des islamistes armés en plein centre de Draâ El Mizan, dans la 
région de Tizi Ouzou (est d'Alger). Un civil a été grièvement blessé lors 
d'une fusillade qui a suivi cet attentat. -- 25 février. Douze personnes 
ont été tuées et sept autres blessées mardi soir à un faux barrage sur une 
route près d'Hameur El Aïn (70 km à l'ouest d'Alger). Les forces de 
sécurité ont entrepris de vastes recherches pour trouver les agresseurs. 
Depuis le début de février, au moins 53 personnes, dont 24 civils, ont été 
tuées en Algérie dans des violences impliquant des islamistes 
armés.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 26 février 2003)

* Algérie. Grève générale de 2 jours  -  La puissante centrale syndicale de 
l'Union générale des travailleurs algériens (UGTA), hostile à la politique 
de privatisation du gouvernement, a lancé un mot d'ordre de grève générale 
qui risque de paralyser l'Algérie les 25 et 26 février. L'UGTA reproche au 
gouvernement le manque de transparence et de clarté dans sa politique de 
privatisation pour aboutir à l'instauration d'une économie du marché. Ces 
deux journées seront aussi l'occasion, selon la centrale, de dénoncer "la 
précarité" du système de Sécurité sociale et de retraite, ainsi que "la 
pauvreté grandissante des travailleurs et de leurs familles". Le salaire 
minimum est de 120 euros par mois, et le chômage touche officiellement 30% 
de la population. -- 25 février. La grève était largement suivie. Les 
transports, notamment aérien, étaient en grande partie paralysés, ainsi que 
le secteur bancaire, les lycées et les écoles. Dans les hôpitaux, un 
service minimal a été assuré. Le forage et l'acheminement du pétrole et gaz 
ne sont pas concernés par le mouvement. -- Le 26 février, la grève a encore 
paralysé l'Algérie. Le secrétaire général de l'UGTA a indiqué que son 
organisation ne refusait pas le dialogue avec le gouvernement et ne 
s'opposait pas aux réformes, mais qu'il était contre le "bradage" des 
entreprises publiques. Le Premier ministre, M. Benflis, a indiqué qu'une 
"nouvelle bipartite" avec l'UGTA se tiendrait dans les prochains 
jours.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 27 février 2003)

* Algeria. Forced disappearances  -  On 27 February, Human Rights Watch 
said that Algerian security forces made "disappear at last 7,000 persons, 
more than the numbers recorded in any other country during the past decade 
except wartime Bosnia. To date, the Algerian authorities have utterly 
failed to investigate these "disappearances" or to provide families with 
answers about the fate of their loved ones. None of the missing have 
returned and no one has been held accountable for their 
"disappearance".   (HRW, 27 February 2003)

* Algérie. HRW: "Disparitions forcées"  -  Les forces de l'ordre 
algériennes ont fait "disparaître" au moins 7.000 personnes, chiffre 
dépassant celui des disparitions recensées ces dix dernières années dans 
tout autre pays, à l'exception de la guerre en Bosnie, a déclaré Human 
Rights Watch dans un nouveau rapport publié le 27 février, intitulé 
"Disparitions forcées en Algérie: vérité et justice s'imposent". Les 
autorités algériennes avaient promis de mener des enquêtes sur ces 
"disparitions" et de donner des réponses aux familles. Ils n'ont cependant 
pas tenu leur promesse, aucun disparu n'est rentré chez lui, et personne 
n'a dû rendre compte de ces "disparitions". Le 2 mars, le président 
français Jacques Chirac débutera la première visite d'Etat d'un président 
français en Algérie depuis l'indépendance de ce pays. Dans une lettre 
envoyée le 21 février, HRW a vivement conseillé à M. Chirac d'exhorter le 
gouvernement algérien à créer une commission indépendante capable de 
résoudre le mystère entourant le sort de ces victimes.   (HRW, New York, 27 
février 2003)

* Algérie/Russie. Livraison d'armes  -  L'Algérie a demandé à être dotée 
d'une technologie de l'aviation de guerre, d'un système de défense aérienne 
et d'armes spécifiques pour sa Marine, a rapporté le quotidien algérien 
Al-Khabar le 23 février, en citant le président de la commission de 
coopération militaire et technique de la Fédération de Russie, Mikhaïl 
Dmitriev, qui animait une conférence de presse à Moscou. Les deux pays sont 
sur le point de parvenir à "des résultats concluants", a-t-on précisé. Les 
déclarations du responsable russe interviennent au moment où est annoncé un 
projet d'avion algéro-russe, qui s'inscrit dans le cadre de l'accord 
stratégique ratifié entre les deux pays en avril 2001. Par ailleurs, le 
journal algérien a souligné que les préparatifs allaient bon train en 
Algérie pour la visite d'Etat que doit effectuer le président Poutine dans 
le pays au cours du premier trimestre de l'année en cours.   (AP, 24 
février 2003)

* Angola. Radio Ecclesia accusée  -  Le gouvernement angolais a accusé 
Radio Ecclesia d'être un instrument de propagande négative contre les 
citoyens angolais et les institutions du pays, a rapporté l'agence Cisa. 
Dans une déclaration du 14 février, le ministre de la Communication a 
reproché à la radio catholique de servir d'instrument d'offenses et de 
diffamation. Radio Ecclesia rejette ces accusations. Selon un journaliste 
angolais, M. Marques, la radio catholique est la seule station digne de foi 
où les Angolais ordinaires peuvent exprimer leurs opinions sur la 
transition politique du pays. Bien que ne disposant pas de ressources 
financières suffisantes, Radio Ecclesia a un avantage sur la station 
publique, indique le journaliste: elle permet d'émettre des critiques sur 
le gouvernement. En 2004, Radio Ecclesia commémorera son jubilé d'or. La 
station, qui appartient maintenant à la Conférence épiscopale d'Angola et 
de Sao Tomé, a vu le jour en 1954 et se veut aujourd'hui un outil de 
promotion de la paix et du développement.   (DIA, Kinshasa, 24 février 2003)

* Angola. Frustration increases as ex-soldiers await govt 
assistance  -  Costa, a former soldier with the Angola's former rebel 
group, UNITA, thought he was finally going home last December. Since the 
end of the civil war he had been living in the Madimbe gathering area in 
Zaire province. But the truck that fetched him from there deposited him at 
the Kituma transit centre, more than 250 km from his home town of Maquela 
do Zombo, in the north of Uige province. "When I arrived here I understood 
that in terms of the peace accord this was a transit area, and within two 
or three days I would be able to move on to my home area," he told IRIN. 
Kituma is a collection of simple brick houses sprawling across a hillside 
on the edge of Uige city, and was originally built to house displaced 
people. Since late last year the population has grown to around 1,000 as 
increasing numbers of exUNITA soldiers and their families have arrived -- 
and stayed. United Nations staff blame the situation on the failure of 
different provincial authorities to co-ordinate their operations. Trucking 
the soldiers from gathering areas to transit centres was the task of the 
authorities in the province where they had been living. But it is the 
authorities in the home province who are responsible for transporting 
people to hundreds of home villages scattered throughout the 
province.   (IRIN, Kenya, 26 February 2003)

* Botswana. Bushmen's land exploited  -  Botswana is letting mining 
companies explore for diamonds in parts of the Kalahari desert from which 
San Bushmen were recently evicted, renewing the accusation that the 
country's oldest ethnic group is the victim of a plot by the government and 
multinational companies. Sections of the central Kalahari game reserve, 
which the government said would not be touched, have been opened only 
months after an assurances that relocating the Bushmen had nothing to do 
with diamonds. Concessions to explore have been granted and one company, 
Kalahari Diamonds Limited, has got $2m from the World Bank to fly a 
surveillance plane over territory thought to be rich in kimberlite, one of 
the volcanic rocks associated with diamonds. The London advocacy group 
Survival International, which opposed the Bushmen's removal, said on 19 
February that it had been vindicated in linking it to diamonds. "There has 
been a complete explosion in the number of concessions given out, and this 
funding for the exploration is further proof that there is a link," its 
spokeswoman Sophie Thomas said. But mining companies and a Botswanan group 
representing the dwindling number of Bushmen said they were moved for other 
reasons. The 15-year programme to move them from bleached scrub closer to 
settled areas ended in February last year. The authorities said they moved 
voluntarily to benefit from better healthcare and resources, but critics 
said they had been coerced. Self-sufficient communities had had their water 
supplies cut off before being dumped in bleak settlements with derisory 
compensation.   (The Guardian, UK, 20 February 2003

* Botswana. Boys' bleak future  -  A 15-year-old boy living in Botswana has 
a 90% chance of dying of HIV/AIDS during his lifetime, according to new 
analysis of World Health Organisation statistics. "This is a chilling 
statistic," says Professor Rodney Phillips of Oxford University, who 
carried out the analysis. Botswana has the highest instance of HIV 
infection in the world. Over one in three of the population is infected. 
The countries in the rest of southern Africa are not much better off. In 
Zimbabwe and South Africa the statistics are nearly as high. Hopes of 
finding an effective vaccine in the near future are fading, says Professor 
Phillips.   (BBC News, UK, 27 February 2003)

* Burkina Faso. Meningitis kills 401 since October  -  Meningitis has 
killed 401 people out of 2433 cases in Burkina Faso since the beginning of 
the 2002-2003 meningitis season in late October, Souleymane Sanou, head of 
meningitis control in the health ministry said on 20 February. Sanou, 
speaking in an interview on the national radio, said analyses of the cases 
show persistence of the new W135 meningitis strain which was first reported 
a year ago. Before that time, Burkina Faso was only affected by the A and C 
strains. Five health districts out of 53 in the country, had been declared 
meningitis epidemic areas, the official said. These included Batie in the 
South west, Manga, Po in the south Pama and Diapaga in the east. Each of 
these districts had reported 10 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. "They are 
epidemic spots and we are undertaking in the next days a reactive 
vaccination of people in affected areas," Sanou said. Some 150,000 doses of 
the 500,000 trivalent (A,C,W135) vaccine doses sent last week by the World 
Health Organization (WHO) to contain the epidemic would be allocated to 
these areas, he added.   (IRIN, Kenya, 21 February 2003)

* Burkina Faso. FESPACO -- 2003  -  21 February: Moroccan director Ayouch 
Nabil has lashed out at the organisers of Africa's biggest film festival, 
Fespaco, on the eve of its opening. Speaking from Paris, he says that 
Fespaco is "disorganised" and "lacks respect for the film makers." Nabil, 
who scooped Fespaco's top prize in 2001, adds that he had become 
disillusioned with the event. "People from the ministry are taking care of 
this festival and they don't know about cinema and they don't have the 
respect. If they don't respect me I don't see why I should respect them," 
he says. Nabil says he is angry with the treatment given to directors by 
the organisers. Nabil is now refusing to enter his latest film, entitled "A 
Minute Less Sunshine", into the race for a prize this year. Attracting 
thousands of visitors, Fespaco, the Pan-African film and television 
festival, is the biggest regular cultural event on the continent. This 
year, FESPACO runs from 22 February to 1 March and is being held in the 
capital, Ouagadoudou. 25 February: Controversy has struck Africa's top film 
festival, Fespaco, again after Ivorian movie fans boycotted the event. The 
source of their anger is the exclusion of the film "Roues Libre", directed 
by Sidiki Sijiri Bakaba. Some Ivorians believe the film has been 
deliberately rejected as part of the wider picture of political antipathy 
between the two countries. It had been included in an earlier shortlist for 
the long feature films competition, but failed to make the final 16. But 
Fespaco Director Baba Hama defended the exclusion of the film, adding that 
there was nothing unusual about Bakaba's film not making it through to the 
final shortlist. "It's normal for a film-maker to be sad because they all 
want to be in the competition," Hama said. But it's impossible to enter 
everybody. So there's not any explanation to give. It's just the result of 
the work done by the selection committee. That is all." Newspapers in 
Burkina Faso have alleged that Ivorians have not travelled because the 
authorities in Abidjan advised them that their lives would be at risk in 
Ouagadougou.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 25 February 2003)

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