Weekly anb04035.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 03-04-2003      PART #5/7

* Liberia. Combats près de la capitale  -  Le 27 mars, des combats ont été 
signalés aux portes de Monrovia. Des responsables militaires et des 
réfugiés ont fait état de tirs à 5 km de la capitale. Selon d'autres 
sources, une centaine de rebelles se seraient infiltrés dans la banlieue 
ouest de Monrovia, attaquant un camp de déplacés avant l'intervention de 
l'armée. Les assaillants auraient contraint un millier de réfugiés à les 
suivre. La veille, le président Taylor avait affirmé dans une déclaration 
rapportée par la presse, que les rebelles du LURD (Libériens unis pour la 
réconciliation et la démocratie) avaient été "repoussés par les forces 
gouvernementales". Des combats ont été signalés ces derniers jours dans 
d'autres provinces du Liberia. -- 31 mars. Le Groupe international de 
contact sur le Liberia négociera, lors de sa réunion prévue à Accra (Ghana) 
du 14 au 16 avril, un cessez-le-feu entre le gouvernement de Monrovia et 
les rebelles du LURD, a-t-on appris de source officielle à Abuja (Nigeria). 
Le secrétaire exécutif de la CEDEAO a indiqué que la situation au Liberia 
ne s'améliore pas et que "la sous-région est préoccupée par une éventuelle 
détérioration de la situation". Il a dit que la réunion travaillera, en 
collaboration avec le gouvernement libérien, à créer un environnement 
favorable à la tenue d'élections libres et justes d'ici la fin de l'année. 
Le Groupe de contact est composé de l'Onu, de l'Union africaine, de l'Union 
européenne, de la CEDEAO, des Etats-Unis, de la France, du Royaume-Uni, du 
Nigeria, du Ghana et du Maroc.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 31 mars 2003)

* Liberia. Liberia's civil war  -  27 March: Liberia's President Charles 
Taylor has accused the United States of indirectly supporting Liberian 
rebels. He said the United States had given money to help train the Guinean 
army, which he said was backing Liberians United for Reconciliation and 
Democracy (Lurd) rebels. Mr Taylor made the remarks on a visit to a camp 
for displaced people near the capital, Monrovia, that was attacked by Lurd 
on 25 March. --President Taylor discloses that Liberia is importing weapons 
in defiance of a UN ban. 31 March: Fierce fighting is raging between 
Liberian Government forces and rebels for control of a town in the 
north-eastern border with Guinea. Defence Minister Chea says that after two 
days of serious fighting in Ganta, government troops moving from two 
different directions had managed to encircle the rebels. The attack on 
Ganta by the rebels of the Liberian United for Reconstruction and 
Development (Lurd) took place soon after Mr Chea had announced the 
recapture of the strategically important city of Gbarnga. The rebels, Mr 
Chea claimed, are now confined to the centre of town and are running out of 
ammunition. Ganta, about 180km from the capital Monrovia, has historically 
been seen as President Charles Taylor's military stronghold because he 
started his then rebellion from there in 1989. The fighting around Ganta 
has left thousands of people displaced. They are heading to villages and to 
rural Nimba county to escape the fighting.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 31 March 2003)

* Liberia. West African arms trafficking and mercenary activities  -  A new 
Global Witness report launched on 31 March, exposed the Liberian 
government's violent destabilisation of West Africa, through its support of 
mercenaries in Cote d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone and through its regular 
import of weapons in violation of UN sanctions. The report, titled, "The 
Usual Suspects: Liberia's Weapons and Mercenaries in Côte d'Ivoire and 
Sierra Leone", outlines the threat posed by Liberia to international peace 
and security. It details the Liberian government's backing of the MPIGO1 
and MJP2 rebel groups in Côte d'Ivoire and its planned use of mercenaries 
to destabilise Sierra Leone. Global Witness calls upon the UN Security 
Council to take quick and decisive action, by passing a new Resolution 
recognising Liberia's realised threat to international security, renewing 
the current sanctions regime and extending sanctions to cover the Liberian 
timber industry, which continues to be the Liberian government's primary 
source of financial and logistical access to international markets for 
weapons and mercenaries.   (Global Witness, UK, 31 March 2003)

* Liberia. Employés d'ONG enlevés libérés  -  Des hommes armés 
non-identifiés ont libéré au moins 7 employés d'organisations humanitaires 
enlevés au Liberia, mais des dizaines d'autres sont toujours portés 
disparus, ont affirmé le 31 mars des responsables des ONG. Le 27 mars, une 
bande de combattants armés avait kidnappé 80 employés dans des combats qui 
ont éclaté dans la ville de Zwedru (est), a annoncé le PAM. Parmi les 
employés libérés se trouvaient 3 Libériens travaillant pour le PAM, tandis 
qu'un quatrième manquait toujours. Deux employés expatriés de Médecins sans 
frontières ont également été libérés, mais 28 employés libériens de l'ONG 
manquaient à l'appel. "Action contre la faim" a signalé que 2 de ses 
employés étrangers étaient libérés, mais n'a pu dire combien d'autres 
étaient toujours retenus par les combattants.   (AP, 1er avril 2003)

* Liberia. Refugees feared drowned  -  1 April: Some 14,000 Liberians have 
crossed the border into Guinea after fleeing heavy fighting between 
Liberian government forces and Lurd rebels around the northeast border town 
of Ganta. Aid agencies confirmed that the refugees, mainly unaccompanied 
children and the elderly, have arrived in the Guinean border town of Bala. 
Reports say some of the refugees swam across the Macona River, that divides 
the two countries in that region, as the Guinean side of the common 
frontier between the two states is officially closed. Humanitarian agencies 
say that an unspecified number of people, including children, died in the 
process of trying to cross the river, as they could not swim properly. A 
UNHCR spokesman in Conakry said that the refugees are being moved to a camp 
in Leine in Lola Prefecture, where the government has agreed to the 
building of an extension of the camp for the incoming refugees.   (ANB-BIA, 
Belgium, 1 April 2003)

* Liberia. Street preaching banned  -  2 April: The Liberian Government has 
imposed an immediate ban on street preaching by evangelists and church 
leaders in the capital, Monrovia. A justice ministry press release cited 
security reasons for the ban but gave no more details. It only warned of 
stiff punitive measures against would-be violators of the new order. The 
ban comes just a week after rebels of the Liberian United for 
Reconciliation and Development (Lurd), who started their insurgency in the 
north of the county five years ago, came to within 10km of the capital. 
Until today, nearly every street corner and public square in Monrovia were 
scenes of day-time prayer services, with young evangelists and 
self-proclaimed spiritual counsellors drawing in crowds. Street vendors and 
students would abandon their daily duties and gather in the burning sun to 
repeat recitals of prayers for themselves and the nation. Followers were 
encouraged to present gifts, usually money, to God through the preachers in 
return for God's expected blessings. Indeed so widespread had street 
evangelism become that people with little or no biblical knowledge were 
also getting involved in the preaching.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 2 April 2003)

* Madagascar. A forgotten famine  -  Here in what is called the "Spiny 
desert" in southern Madagascar, it has not rained for weeks. Victor 
Rabelaha is one of the lucky ones. In return for his work he is given maize 
to eat, but even so, he says life is very tough. "This community is really 
suffering and in difficulties at the moment. We simply do not have enough 
food. Even the food that we normally rely on in times of famine such as 
cassava does not exist here, because there is just not enough water," he 
says. At the nearby village of Ankera, maize is poured into sacks as part 
of a major food for work distribution organised by the World Food 
Programme. But the last supplies were back in December and people like 
Fenosoa have struggled to feed their families since then. "Actually at the 
moment there is no rain and no harvest so we are suffering from a very bad 
famine. I am the head of my household because I no longer have a husband. 
It is very hard to feed five children. Everyday we have nothing to eat 
except cactus fruit and my children have had nothing to eat before this 
food arrived today. Twelve years ago we also had a very bad famine but this 
one seems worse", Fenosoa said. The aid agencies estimate that severe 
malnutrition amongst young children has doubled in the last few months. The 
situation here is scarcely known in other parts of Madagascar let alone in 
the rest of the world.   (BBC News, UK, 2 April 2003)

* Malawi. Dissolution du gouvernement  -  Le 2 avril, le président Muluzi a 
procédé à la dissolution de son gouvernement, a annoncé un communiqué de la 
présidence. Aucune explication n'a été donnée à cette décision surprise. Le 
communiqué indique que toutes les affaires relevant de la responsabilité du 
gouvernement seront orientées vers les services du président en attendant 
la nomination d'un nouveau cabinet. - Cette dissolution intervient deux 
jours après l'annonce, par le président Muluzi, de son intention de 
renoncer à son projet controversé de briguer un troisième mandat à la tête 
du Malawi. Il a également indiqué que son parti, le Front démocratique uni 
(UDF), a choisi l'ancien secrétaire général du Marché commun de l'Afrique 
orientale et australe (COMESA), Bingu wa Mutharika, comme candidat à 
l'élection présidentielle du 18 mai 2004. Plusieurs ministres auraient 
menacé de démissionner après cette déclaration. Aux élections de 1999, 
Bingu wa Mutharika s'était présenté contre M. Muluzi sous les couleurs de 
l'ancien Parti uni.   (PANA, Sénégal, 2 avril 2003)

* Malawi. No third term for Muluzi  -  31 March: Malawian President Bakili 
Muluzi has announced in a nationwide broadcast that he will not seek a 
further term in office. Instead he tells Malawians he has endorsed a 
cabinet proposal naming his economic planning minister as the governing 
UDF's candidate to be his successor. Mr Muluzi, who is ending his second 
five-year term as president, says with elections due in Malawi next year, 
it is time to ensure a smooth transition of power. President Muluzi has 
come under sharp criticism at home and abroad for his efforts to change the 
Malawian constitution to allow him to stand for a third term. A bill 
proposing the constitutional amendment failed to garner the required 
two-thirds majority when it was first introduced in July 2002. Another bid 
to push through the amendment failed again in January amid heavy protest 
from churches, NGOs and the donor community. But the bill was not withdrawn 
and the ruling party was pushing to put the question to a referendum. So 
this latest announcement seems to signal his acceptance of an exit from 
politics. "I am pleased to announce that the (UDF) National Executive 
Committee and the cabinet have proposed Dr Bingu wa Mutharika as a 
candidate to stand on the UDF ticket in the 2004 presidential elections," 
he said. 2 April: President Bakili Muluzi has sacked his entire cabinet 
just two days after naming an outsider as his successor. A brief statement 
from the office of the president does not give any reason for the surprise 
decision but only says all matters requiring cabinet attention should be 
directed to his office until a new cabinet is appointed. The Secretary to 
the President and Cabinet, Alfred Upindi, says he does not know why Mr 
Muluzi has sacked his cabinet. He says the president just called him into 
his office at State House this morning where he was told to issue the 
statement. The decision to dissolve the cabinet comes only two days after 
President Muluzi announced that the cabinet and the ruling United 
Democratic Front politburo had anointed Bingu wa Mutharika to be his 
successor for the elections scheduled for 18 May 2004.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 
2 April 2003)

* Maroc. Manifestation pour l'Irak  -  Le dimanche 30 mars, sans affichage 
partisan ni récupération politique, même de la part des islamistes, 
plusieurs centaines de milliers de Marocains (30.000 selon la police) ont 
manifesté à Rabat contre la guerre en Irak. Hormis quelques jets de pierres 
à la fin, il n'y a eu de violences que verbales, des appels à des 
opérations kamikazes "pour punir les Américains, auteurs d'un génocide en 
Irak", et des slogans antisémites ("Mort aux Juifs, piétinons-les"). Dans 
l'ensemble, les manifestants ont respecté les "hautes instructions" du roi 
Mohammed VI qui leur avait demandé de "faire preuve de pondération, de 
sagesse et de discipline", en précisant que l'ordre public serait assuré 
"quelques soient les conditions". Quatre heures durant, l'impressionnant 
cortège a traversé le coeur de la capitale sans aucun débordement. Des 
étrangers résidant au Maroc s'étaient joints aux manifestants sans être 
pris à partie. La communauté juive du Maroc a laissé "à chacun, 
individuellement, la décision de participer à la marche", selon son 
président, mais la plupart des Juifs marocains sont restés à la maison. Les 
islamistes de la mouvance Justice et Bienfaisance, interdite mais tolérée, 
se sont fondus dans la foule.   (Le Monde, France, 1er avril 2003)

* Mozambique. Govt. appeals for flood aid  -  On 2 April, Mozambique said 
it was seeking emergency aid to provide temporary shelter for 15,000 people 
displaced by floods last week in Sofala province in the centre of the 
country. The government's relief agency, INGC, said the extent of the 
damage caused by the flooding on 29-30 March, in which three people were 
killed, only became apparent on 1 April. A spokesman for the agency said: 
"The rains have stopped but many children, women, and the elderly are still 
living in the open since their houses were washed away".   (The Guardian, 
UK, 3 April 2003)

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