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Weekly anb0626_6.txt #6
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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 26-06-2003 PART #6/6
* Tchad. Nouveau gouvernement - Le mercredi 25 juin, le Premier ministre
Moussa Fadi, nommé mardi par le président Déby en remplacement de Haroun
Kabadi, a formé un gouvernement de 29 membres, marqué par la nomination de
douze nouveaux ministres. Ce gouvernement est doté de deux nouveaux
organes, appelés "ministères d'Etat", qui sont placés immédiatement après
le chef du gouvernement. Ces deux ministères d'Etat sont confiés à des
sudistes, alors que Moussa Fadi est un nordiste. La nomination d'un
nordiste comme Premier ministre a été diversement accueillie par la classe
politique. Elle rompt avec une pratique non écrite vieille d'un quart de
siècle, selon laquelle les deux têtes de l'exécutif (président et Premier
ministre) devaient incarner la diversité du pays, partagé entre un nord
arabo-musulman et un sud plutôt chrétien et animiste. "Le pouvoir
appartient désormais à une seule région", estime l'opposition. (ANB-BIA,
de sources diverses, 26 juin 2003)
* Togo. Longest-serving leader sworn in - 20 June: Africa's
longest-serving president, Gnassingbe Eyadema, has been sworn in for a
fresh five-year term in Togo -- a country he has ruled for 36 years. He
appealed in his inauguration speech for national unity, saying people of
Togo had to reject "hatred, intolerance and internecine fights" for good.
And President Eyadema said full development of Togo could be achieved.
"Economic independence is not a utopia. It will be achieved through
financial stabilisation, good governance, and transparent and rigorous
management," he said. "The fight against chaos, favouritism, squandering,
and corruption in all its forms therefore remains an absolute priority."
The investiture in Lome was attended by the presidents of Benin, Ghana,
Guinea-Bissau, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger and Senegal. Also there were
Amara Essy, the interim head of the African Union; and French Co-operation
Minister Pierre-Andre Wiltzer. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 20 June 2003)
* Togo. Démission du gouvernement - Le 20 juin, le président Gnassingbé
Eyadéma a prêté serment à la suite de sa réélection lors de la
présidentielle du 1er juin. Le Premier ministre Koffi Sama a ensuite
présenté la démission de son gouvernement au président, qui l'acceptée,
demandant à M. Sama d'expédier les affaires courantes, indique un décret
transmis le 24 juin. Le président Eyadéma a réitéré son appel pour la
formation d'un gouvernement d'union nationale. (ANB-BIA, de sources
diverses, 24 juin 2003)
* Tunisia. Cyber award for jailed journalist - 19 June: A Tunisian
journalist jailed after establishing a website for opposition views has
been honoured by the media advocacy group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF)
with their first Cyber-Freedom Prize. Zouhair Yahyaoui was arrested in a
cyber cafe last June and sentenced to two years imprisonment for "spreading
false news". Supporters say he has been tortured and grown weak after a
number of hunger strikes. The $6, (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 19 June 2003)
* Tunisie. 200 clandestins disparus en mer - Le vendredi 20 juin, un
bateau chargé d'immigrés clandestins originaires du Maghreb et d'Afrique
subsaharienne a coulé au large des côtes tunisiennes, faisant 12 morts, 197
disparus et 41 rescapés, selon un premier bilan officiel. Le bateau qui
était parti jeudi vraisemblablement du littoral libyen, transportait
environ 250 émigrés clandestins. Il a coulé au large de la ville tunisienne
de Sfax. On ignorait toujours, vendredi soir, si le naufrage était dû à la
surcharge ou aux mauvaises conditions climatiques. - Le samedi, on
apprenait qu'une cinquantaine de corps avaient été repêchés. Les immigrants
rescapés ont affirmé que l'embarcation, fournie par des passeurs en Libye,
était "surchargée et en mauvais état". -Dimanche, tout espoir de retrouver
de nouveaux survivants semblait perdu. Les recherches étaient d'ailleurs
rendues difficiles en raison de l'état agité de la mer. L'agence tunisienne
officielle TAP a signalé ce week-end un afflux de bateaux avec à bord des
candidats à l'immigration clandestine, faisant état de deux autres
tentatives d'immigration vers l'Italie impliquant 52 personnes. Les
habitants de Sfax ont affirmé qu'un autre naufrage avait eu lieu récemment
non loin de cette ville, avec à bord 74 clandestins dont 3 seulement
avaient pu être sauvés. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 23 juin 2003)
* Uganda. Uganda calls for EU help to counter rebels - Uganda's president
has requested European Union help in containing an offensive by
Rwandan-backed rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The conflict
threatens to pitch the country back into full-scale war and lead to direct
confrontation between Uganda and Rwanda. President Yoweri Museveni urged EU
ambassadors at a meeting in Kampala to request an expansion of the
emergency French-led peacekeeping force, which began deployment in Congo
earlier this month. The now 700-strong European Union force has a limited
United Nations Security Council mandate to secure the airport and halt mass
killings in the north-eastern town of Bunia. In recent months the
neighbouring countries, once allies in the five-year war for control of the
Congo government, have again come close to direct confrontation as they
exchanged accusations of backing rebel movements aimed at overthrowing
their respective governments. Western diplomatic sources said Mr Museveni
had described as "unacceptable to Uganda" advances by Rwandan-backed rebels
towards the strategic town of Beni. Should the advance continue, Mr
Museveni implied, Uganda would be forced to intervene in the Congo to
protect its borders. Beni is controlled by a combination of Congolese
government forces and a militia loosely allied to Uganda. The Ugandan
government fears that should the Rwandan-backed rebels capture the town,
they would link up with another allied militia further north, giving Rwanda
control through proxies of much of the resource-rich north-east of Congo.
Rwanda, for its part, alleges that the Congolese government is using the
airstrip in Beni to pour troops and weapons into the area in defiance of
peace accords aimed at ending the war. (...) Mr Museveni's plea for an
expansion of the EU's role comes during an escalation of the conflict in
his own country. In recent days Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have
attacked areas in the east of Uganda, where they have not been seen since
the start of the brutal 17-year conflict. Ugandan intelligence sources said
the risk for Uganda now is of a second and even third front opening up
against Mr Museveni's government. (Financial Times, UK, 25 June 2003)
* Uganda. Schoolchildren kidnapped by rebels - 23 June: Religious leaders
in the northern Ugandan town of Gulu have spent the night out in the open
with thousands of children, who leave their homes every evening for fear of
abduction by rebels. For the last 17 years the Lord's Resistance Army
rebels have been abducting children, whom they turn into rebel soldiers.
The United Nations says that in the last year over 5,000 children have been
abducted by the rebels. The religious leaders have now appealed to the UN
Security Council to address the issue of conflict in northern Uganda.
Speaking shortly after leaving the bus station where the religious leaders
had stayed the night with the children, the Archbishop of Gulu called for
the rights of the children of northern Uganda to be protected. Archbishop
John Baptist Odama, who slept on plastic bags and a reed mat, described the
conditions the children sleep in as pathetic and appealed for a peaceful
end to the conflict. Fearing abduction by the Lord's Resistance Army
rebels, thousands of children walk into the urban centres of northern
Uganda every night. 24 June: A mass abduction has taken place at a girls'
school in north-eastern Uganda, blamed on the rebel Lord's Resistance Army
(LRA). Parents and the Roman Catholic authorities who run the school say
they fear the number of girls taken could be up to 100. An army spokesman
said helicopters were being used in a search and rescue operation which had
so far yielded no results. The abduction comes amid an intensified campaign
by the LRA which has been waging a 17-year-long campaign in northern
Uganda. The latest raid, on the Rwara Girls Secondary School, 50 kilometres
from the town of Soroti, happened overnight. 25 June: Ugandan soldiers are
searching for the abducted schoolgirls. Some girls have managed to escape
the night-time attack. Eleven of them have been found hiding nearby and
have been rescued, but between 40 and 80 are still thought to be
missing. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 25 June 2003)
* Ouganda. Rapt de lycéennes - Dans la nuit du 23 au 24 juin, au moins
une centaine de lycéennes ont été enlevées à Rwara (nord-est, à 40 km de
Soroti) par des rebelles de l'Armée de résistance du Seigneur (LRA). "Ils
ont attaqué le lycée pour filles de Rwara. Nos hélicoptères essayent de les
localiser pour les secourir", a indiqué un commandant de l'armée
ougandaise. Selon l'agence Misna, après l'attaque du lycée, les rebelles
ont encore pillé les villages des environs et enlevé une centaine d'autres
personnes, surtout des jeunes et des femmes. Par la suite, ils ont essayé
de pénétrer dans Soroti, mais ont été repoussés par les forces
gouvernementales. Celles-ci semblent de moins en moins en mesure de contrer
les attaques de la LRA. -- 25 juin. La quasi-totalité des lycéennes ont
retrouvé la liberté. Six adolescentes sont toujours portées manquantes, ont
indiqué les autorités de Soroti. Aucun détail n'a filtré sur la manière
dont l'armée a libéré les captives. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 26
juin 2003)
* Zambie. Immigrés illégaux expulsés - La Zambie a libéré de prison, puis
expulsé 82 immigrés illégaux originaires du Congo-RDC, de la Tanzanie, du
Malawi et du Zimbabwe, a annoncé le 23 juin le porte-parole des services
d'immigration. Il a révélé que 236 autres clandestins étaient encore
détenus, précisant que des dispositions ont été prises pour les renvoyer
dans leur pays d'origine. Ces mesures tendent à décongestionner les prisons
du pays. Ainsi, le commissaire chargé de d'administration des prisons
zambiennes a récemment déploré le surpeuplement de la prison centrale de
Lusaka, qui accueille plus de 1.000 détenus alors que sa capacité est de
300 pensionnaires. (PANA, Sénégal, 23 juin 2003)
* Zambia. Zambians pay price of costly drugs - 24 June: Zambia has one of
the highest rates of TB in the world. There are about 65,000 patients a
year, and out of them about 70 per cent also have HIV or Aids, making
diagnosis and treatment complicated. The government has responded by
introducing a policy of free TB drugs, but not anti-retrovirals. Health
minister Brian Chituwo says that Zambia's past chronic shortages of TB
drugs have now been resolved. He says that there are sufficient stocks in
the country to last until December and that every hospital and health
centre is supplied with the dosage of TB drugs they require, when they
require them. However, the minister admits that a black market in drugs
does exist in Zambia and is a problem. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 24 June 2003)
* Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai freed on bail - 20 June: Morgan Tsvangirai, who is
facing treason charges, has been granted bail and released from custody. He
was whisked away by supporters to his home in the suburbs of Harare. The
prosecution had opposed bail, which was set at ZIM$10m ($13,000 at the
official exchange rate). "This is an occupational hazard but it has
consolidated our determination," Mr Tsvangirai said outside the court. He
was detained a fortnight ago after a week of mass protests intended to
topple President Robert Mugabe. The judge warned him that he must not
"incite his supporters to remove the government through violence", or he
would violate his bail conditions and risk being returned to jail. Mr
Tsvangirai had already been charged with two counts of treason over an
alleged plot to assassinate Mr Mugabe, and had been on trial on those
charges since February. He denies treason, which carries the death penalty.
The opposition leader says he called this month's protests to try to force
the president to negotiate as the country falls into economic and political
chaos. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 20 June 2003)
* Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai libéré - Le 20 juin, la Haute Cour de justice du
Zimbabwe a autorisé la remise en liberté sous caution du chef de
l'opposition Morgan Tsvangirai, arrêté le 6 juin et inculpé de "trahison"
pour avoir appelé à "renverser" le régime. La caution a été fixée à environ
11.000 euros. Sa libération est toutefois soumise à de strictes conditions.
Il lui est notamment interdit de "faire des déclarations appelant au
renversement du gouvernement ou du chef de l'Etat par la violence". - Le 21
juin, au lendemain de sa libération, M. Tsvangirai a affirmé qu'il ne
renoncerait pas à sa campagne antigouvernementale. (ANB-BIA, de sources
diverses, 21 juin 2003)
* Zimbabwe. Powell urges pressure on Zimbabwe - 24 June: US Secretary of
State Colin Powell has renewed a call on Zimbabwe's neighbours to put
pressure on President Robert Mugabe to respect the rule of law. "If leaders
on the continent do not do more to convince President Robert Mugabe... to
enter into a dialogue with the political opposition, he and his cronies
will drag Zimbabwe down until there is nothing left to ruin," he wrote in
the New York Times newspaper. Mr Powell said the US was taking action to
help the Zimbabweans to resist tyranny, but added that such efforts were
unlikely to succeed quickly without greater engagement by Zimbabwe's
neighbours. His comments come as President George W Bush prepares to make a
visit to a number of African countries, during which he is due to spend
three days in South Africa. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 24 June 2003)
Weekly anb0626.txt #6/6 - TH END
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Un homme meurt chaque fois que l'un d'entre nous se tait devant la tyrannie
(W. Soyinka, Prix Nobel litterature)
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Everytime somebody keep silent when faced with tyranny, someone else dies
(Wole Syinka, Nobel Prize for Literature) *
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