Weekly anb04163.txt #5

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

_____________________________________________________________
WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 16-04-2003      PART #3/5

* Congo (RDC). Accord en Ituri  -  Des mouvements rebelles et des 
combattants tribaux du nord-est de la RDC ont accepté de former une 
administration conjointe en vue de mettre un terme à une guerre civile 
longue de quatre ans et demi, ont annoncé les Nations unies le 14 avril. 
Les différents groupes, qui s'affrontent pour le contrôle de la province 
d'Ituri et ses ressources minérales, vont former une administration de 
large base, ouvrant la voie au retrait des troupes ougandaises, a indiqué 
Hamadoun Touré, porte-parole de la mission onusienne en RDC.   (La Libre 
Belgique, 15 avril 2003)

* Congo (RDC). La transition est lancée  -  Le train de la réunification du 
Congo, de la paix, voire de la réconciliation aurait-il enfin démarré? 
Malgré les ratés, les échéances se succèdent: la Constitution a été 
promulguée le 4 avril; le président Kabila a prêté serment le 7, sans 
attendre la désignation officielle de ses quatre vice-présidents. Il a 
convoqué la réunion à Kinshasa du "comité de suivi", chargé de mettre en 
oeuvre les accords. La transition de 24 mois, qui devra se terminer par des 
élections générales, est donc officiellement lancée. Plusieurs 
personnalités sont arrivées à Kinshasa pour participer aux travaux du 
comité de suivi, comme Olivier Kamitatu et Alexis Thambwe, pour le MLC, 
rejoignant les représentants du gouvernement, de la société civile, des 
Maï-Maï. Les personnalités du RCD-Goma, qui n'ont toujours pas fait le 
voyage, arguant de préoccupations sécuritaires, risquent d'être 
marginalisées et prises de court par l'accélération de l'histoire.   (Le 
Soir, Belgique, 15 avril 2003)

* Côte d'Ivoire. Fighting flares up again as Govt. takes shape  -  10 
April: Fighting has flared again in the west after government troops seized 
a town in a rebel-held area. Civilians are fleeing Zouan-Hounien, a 
strategic town 60 km from the rebel headquarters in Danane. There are fears 
that the shaky peace process could now be in even deeper trouble following 
the fresh attacks. Those fleeing the fighting around Zouan-Hounien could 
not give an exact death toll but said they had seen "many dead bodies in 
the town". The rebels of the Movement for People of the Great West (MPIGO) 
were not prepared for the attack and did not appear to have made any 
significant moves to repel the government's onslaught. The capture of 
Zouan-Hounien, will deprive the MPIGO rebels of a gold mine in the area 
which would have been used to sustain the war effort. Zouan-Hounien is also 
on the main tarmac road to Danane, which the rebels say was attacked by 
government forces with helicopter gunships on 8 April. --Rebel leaders 
begin a meeting in the western town of Mans to consider what action to take 
following the seizure of Zouan-Hounien by government forces. 14 April: Five 
representatives of rebel groups in Côte d'Ivoire have taken up their 
ministerial positions as part of a peace deal aiming at ending months of 
civil war. The five officials took office at a ceremony in the 
government-controlled main city of Abidjan. Four other rebels, including 
the leader of the main Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire (MPCI), 
Guillaume Soro, who are to become government ministers, did not show up for 
the official ceremony. As preparations for rebels to join the government 
took place, there was renewed fighting between government and rebel forces 
in western Côte d'Ivoire. At least two of the remaining rebel ministers 
still face prison sentences for deserting government forces during the 
rebellion which broke out last September.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 14 April 2003)

* Côte d'Ivoire. Les rebelles occupent leurs postes  -  10 avril. Les 
localités de Koutouba, Sandegue et Sanguinani (à plus de 600 km à l'est 
d'Abidjan) ont été attaquées et investies par les rebelles du Mouvement 
patriotique de Côte d'Ivoire (MPCI), selon un porte-parole du mouvement, 
qui a indiqué qu'il s'agissait d'une réaction aux attaques perpétrées par 
les forces gouvernementales contre leurs positions dans l'ouest du pays. -- 
11 avril. Le président Gbagbo a appelé "toutes les forces militaires et 
para-militaires à s'abstenir de tout acte de belligérance" et demandé aux 
ministres issus des trois mouvements rebelles de rejoindre le gouvernement. 
--Dimanche 13 avril. Cinq des neuf responsables rebelles devant occuper un 
poste dans le nouveau gouvernement, sont arrivés à Abidjan. Cinq rebelles 
du MPCI sont arrivés par avion en provenance de Bouaké, sous la protection 
des forces françaises et de la CEDEAO. -- 14 avril. On apprenait de bonne 
source à Bouaké, que Guillaume Soro, secrétaire général du MPCI et ministre 
d'Etat chargé de la Communication dans le gouvernement, se rendra demain à 
Abidjan pour sa prise de fonction. Il sera accompagné de trois chefs 
militaires, également ministres issus des rangs des Forces nouvelles. 
D'autre part, on signalait de nouveaux affrontements entre l'armée et les 
rebelles dans le village Bin-Houye, près de la frontière avec le Liberia. 
-- 15 avril. On apprend de sources concordantes que le président Gbagbo a 
signé, vendredi dernier, un décret de "délégation de pouvoirs" au Premier 
ministre. Le nouveau décret renforce sensiblement les prérogatives 
conférées à M. Diarra, comparées à celles reçues par lui le 10 mars 
dernier.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 15 avril 2003)

* Ethiopia. Ethiopian wins London Marathon  -  13 April: Gezahegne Abera 
took the honours in a thrilling men's race at the London Marathon. The 
Ethiopian was one of five athletes in with a chance of victory as the 
leading group came onto The Mall five abreast. But after Abdelkader El 
Mouaziz and Paul Tergat fell off the pace in the sprint finish it became a 
three-way race for the line. And it was Abera who finished the fastest, 
with Italy's Stefano Baldini and Joseph Ngolepus of Kenya in second and 
third. "There were so many athletes around towards the end that it was 
complicated, but my instinct told me when to go," the 24-year-old Abera 
said. "I knew that (Paul) Tergat could be a threat, but I saw at the last 
minute that he was tired so I did not feel threatened by him, and I'm 
always confident that I can make a good finish."   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 13 
April 2003)

* Ethiopia. Death of a princess  -  Thousands of Ethiopians gathered on 13 
April to attend the funeral of Princess Tenagne Worq, who was the last 
surviving child of the nation's former emperor. After a five hour Ethiopian 
Orthodox Church service, Tenagne was laid to rest in the crypt of the 
Selassie Holy Trinity Cathedral, alongside her father Haile Selassie. Many 
said that Tenagne's death on April 6 in Addis Ababa marked the end of an 
era. "The princess was the last remaining link to the past," said British 
historian Richard Pankhurst, who lives in Ethiopia. "Her passing breaks the 
long history of Ethiopia going back to beginning of the century." Haile 
Selassie was emperor from 1930 until he was ousted by military officers led 
by Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1974.   (CNN, USA, 13 April 2003)

* Ethiopie. Appel du PAM  -  Le 14 avril, le Programme alimentaire mondial 
(PAM) a lancé un nouvel appel de fonds international d'un montant total de 
205 millions de dollars pour venir en aide à des millions d'Ethiopiens 
menacés par la famine en raison d'une grave sécheresse. Selon le PAM, "11,3 
millions d'Ethiopiens survivent grâce au flux continu de l'aide humanitaire 
internationale".   (Libération, France, 15 avril 2003)

* Kenya. British Army examines rape claims  -  9 April: British military 
police have flown to Kenya to investigate claims British troops raped and 
abused local women. More than 150 Masai women who live in the area around 
Dol Dol, near Mount Kenya, claim they were raped by soldiers mainly in the 
1980s and 1990s. A team from the Special Investigations Branch of the Royal 
Military Police flew out to Kenya on 6 April to investigate the claims. The 
team, which is due to return to the UK next week, is being led by Major 
John Wooldridge, according to the Kenyan newspaper the Daily Nation. 
London-based solicitor Martyn Day is preparing to launch a civil action 
against the army for compensation for the women. He is also in Kenya having 
made a number of trips there already to collect evidence over the 
allegations.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 9 April 2003)

* Kenya. 1 Million child labourers join school  -  An estimated one million 
"child labourers" have joined school following the introduction of the free 
education programme, the Director African Network for Prevention and 
Protection Against Child Neglect (ANPPCAN) Wambui Njuguna said on 9 April. 
Wambui said since the implementation of free education, most of the 
children who were in the labour industry due to poverty had been enroled in 
schools. She was speaking during a conference on child labour for 
Inter-Ministerial and stakeholders which is set to develop a time-bound 
programme on how to report initiatives to forming networks. The workshop 
seeks to look into ways of combating domestic labour. The director, 
however, observed that children between the ages of 14 and 18 years were 
"hanging out" since the free education programme did not cater for them. 
Wambui urged the Government to initiate programmes which will absorb this 
age group.   (The East African Standard, Kenya, 10 April 2003)

* Kenya. Inquest into Father Kaiser's death  -  At long last, the 
government has agreed to order an investigation into the death of Father 
John Anthony Kaiser, a Mill Hill Missionary, who died in mysterious 
circumstances two and half year ago. Father Kaiser's body was found in 
Naivasha, about 100 km north of Nairobi, with a bullet wound to the head, 
on 24 August 2000. His pick-up truck was nearby, in a ditch. Father Kaiser 
was a staunch crusader for the rights of his flock in Kilgoris in Ngong 
Diocese where he worked, and beyond. Apparently, some people were not 
comfortable with his presence or his activities. In November 1999, Fr 
Kaiser was declared a prohibited immigrant in Kenya by the country's 
Immigration Department, which informed him that his work permit had expired 
six months before. An order was issued for his deportation. But after 
extensive media coverage pointing out that it was a human error, and 
following the intercession of various personalities, the deportation order 
was rescinded. Earlier in February 1998, the Mill Hill priest had given his 
testimony before the Akiwumi Commission, which was investigating 
politically-instigated clashes that had rocked Kenya between 1992 and 1998. 
(On 12 April, MISNA also reported on the death of Father Martin Macharia 
Njoroge, a Kenyan priest, who was shot by armed men on 4 April, as he was 
travelling in the outskirts of Nairobi. The priest died on 11 
April).   (MISNA, Italy, 11 April 2003)

* Liberia. Aide suspendue  -  Le 10 avril, l'aide internationale a été 
suspendue dans la majeure partie du Liberia. La décision a été prise en 
raison des combats qui font rage entre les forces gouvernementales et les 
rebelles du LURD (Libériens unis pour la réconcilitaion et la démocratie). 
Les missions occidentales demandent la mise en place de couloirs 
humanitaires sécurisés, pour pouvoir venir en aide aux dizaines de milliers 
de réfugiés. Le LURD, qui combat le président Charles Taylor depuis 1999, a 
attaqué, le 9 avril, un camp de réfugiés à 10 km de la capitale 
Monrovia.   (Libération, France, 11 avril 2003)

* Liberia. Donors suspend aid  -  10 April: The United Nations, along with 
a number of donor countries, has suspended humanitarian aid to several 
areas of Liberia because of continued fighting. In a joint statement, the 
European Union, the United States and UN missions in Liberia said that 
hostilities between rebel forces and government troops had put the people 
of Liberia into the midst of a humanitarian crisis. The statement said that 
the current fighting, between the government and rebels of the Liberian 
United for Reconstruction and Democracy (LURDS), had caused tens of 
thousands of people to flee their homes and seek safety wherever they could 
find shelter. The three missions called on the government and warring 
factions in Liberia to seek a negotiated settlement to the conflict, which 
began when rebels launched an insurgency in 1999. They also asked that they 
be granted access to safe corridors so that they could provide badly needed 
emergency relief assistance to Liberians and Ivorian refugees. 14 April: 
The Defence Minister has reported fierce fighting between government troops 
and rebels in Paynes Town, a village in the coastal county of 
Sinoe.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 14 April 2003)

* Madagascar. Salaire minimum accru  -  Le gouvernement de Madagascar a 
annoncé qu"'il augmentait de 9,5% le salaire minimum obligatoire dans le 
privé", après une hausse de 12% de celui des fonctionnaires. Antananarivo y 
voit un moyen de lutte contre la corruption, un des principaux chevaux de 
bataille du nouveau président, Marc Ravalomanana.   (La Libre Belgique, 12 
avril 2003)

* Madagascar. L'opposition se structure  -  L'Avant-garde de la révolution 
malgache (AREMA), parti de l'ancien président Ratsiraka, semble se refaire 
une santé après les manifestations étudiantes de la semaine dernière et la 
colère des magistrats, relèvent à l'unanimité les observateurs, qui 
indiquent que l'état de grâce est définitivement révolu pour le président 
Ravalomanana. La semaine dernière, diverses manifestations ont été 
organisées, principalement à Taomasina, par des étudiants réclamant le 
paiement de leur bourse. Ils ont été suivis par les juges du Syndicat 
national de la magistrature, solidaires de leurs collègues de cette ville 
sanctionnés par leur ministère de tutelle. Dans un communiqué de presse 
publié ce week-end, l'AREMA, qui réclame topujours une amnistie générale à 
l'endroit des détenus politiques, a présenté des propositions à caractère 
économique, qui devraient faire sortir le pays de la pauvreté. Il "exige" 
notamment l'accès à la santé, à l'éducation et à la formation, la remise en 
oeuvre des grands chantiers publics, ainsi que le redémarrage de la zone 
franche et de redéploiement des activités d'exportation. "Nous n'acceptons 
plus les régimes autocrates, sectaires et despotiques, d'où qu'ils 
viennent", lit-on dans le communiqué.   (PANA, Sénégal, 14 avril 2003)

Weekly anb0416.txt - #3/5