Weekly ANB0821_5.txt #6

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

_____________________________________________________________
WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 21-08-2003      PART #5/6

* Mozambique. Police trial farce  -  14 August: The trial of the seven 
policemen charged with facilitating the escape of Anibal dos Santos Junior 
from the Maputo top security prison was suspended on 13 August, only one 
day after it started. Anibal, best known as Anibalzinho, is one of the six 
men found guilty of assassinating prominent Mozambican investigative 
journalist, Carlos Cardoso. The suspension of the trial follows a discovery 
by the court that the defence lawyer for two of the seven policemen is not 
registered with the Mozambique Bar Association. The complaint over the 
defence lawyer's credentials was raised by the chairman of the association 
Carlos Cauio. The defence lawyer, Alberto Igrejas, told me that while he 
did not dispute the court's decision, he should have been given a chance to 
legalise his position.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 14 August 2003)

* Mozambique. Aiming for titanium wealth  -  Mozambique could become a 
major producer of the rare metal titanium as the result of a mining project 
that has just won $20m backing from the World Bank. For Mozambique to take 
its place among the world's key world mineral producers would be a massive 
step forward given that it is one of the poorest countries in Africa. An 
Irish mining company, Kenmare Resources, is putting the finishing touches 
to a $200m mineral sands project in one of its poorest regions, Nampula 
Province in the north-east of the country. Mineral sands comprise mainly 
rare titanium, rutile and zirconium. All three metals are in demand in many 
industries, but especially in electronics. Titanium is used for many 
purposes ranging from coating aircraft, turning paper and paint white, to 
helping women with untreatable ovarian cancer. It is stronger and lighter 
than steel and is particularly popular in aviation. Kenmare Resources' 
project is called Moma. It has received a $20m guarantee from the World 
Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. The hope is that when it 
is fully developed, it should establish Mozambique as one of the world's 
foremost producers of titanium. It should also bring much needed 
infrastructural development to this impoverished region, and should create 
around 2,000 jobs, directly and indirectly, when it is up and 
running.   (BBC, UK, 20 August 2003)

* Nigeria. Affrontements à Warri  -  Le samedi 16 août, les autorités 
nigérianes ont imposé un couvre-feu dans la ville méridionale de Warri, au 
coeur de la région pétrolière du Delta du Niger, à la suite de violents 
combats interethniques qui ont fait au moins un mort dans les rangs de 
l'armée. Des maisons ont été incendiées, des milliers de civils ont pris la 
fuite, emportant à la hâte quelques effets personnels. Dans un seul 
quartier touché par les combats, au moins 30 maisons ont été détruites. Les 
affrontements ont éclaté vendredi soir et se sont poursuivis samedi matin 
entre les membres des ethnies Ijaw et Itsekiri, qui s'affrontent depuis des 
années dans la région. Le conflit interethnique porte sur les terres et le 
pouvoir politique, mais il a été aggravé par la concurrence que se livrent 
les communautés depuis le boom pétrolier des années 1970. Les ONG dans la 
région estiment qu'entre 200.000 et 300.000 barrils par jour sont volés par 
des gangs qui font percer les oléoducs. Les revenus servent à financer des 
achats d'armes. Les combats entre Ijaw et Itsekiri ont repris de manière 
sporadique à la mi-juillet, après une accalmie consécutive à la vague 
d'affrontements de mars dernier. -- 18 août. Les affrontements se sont 
poursuivis pour la quatrième journée. Dans la nuit du dimanche au lundi, au 
moins dix personnes ont été tuées, selon un officier supérieur de la 
police. Les combats ont fait au moins 20 morts au total, d'après les 
témoignages recueillis. L'armée a déployé des véhicules blindés et des 
renforts de troupes dans la zone.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 19 août 
2003)

* Nigeria. Clashes in Niger Delta  -  17 August: The authorities in Nigeria 
have imposed a night-time curfew in the city of Warri, in the Niger Delta, 
after clashes between rival Ijaw and Itsekiri ethnic groups. In March, 
dozens of people were killed in ethnic violence and three oil companies 
shut down about 40% of oil output. The latest fighting began on 15 August 
and continued overnight into 16 August. It was not clear how the violence 
started, with both sides blaming the other. Residents fled the clashes, 
carrying mattresses and boxes of belongings on their heads. Army spokesman 
Emeka Onwuamaegbu said: "We lost one soldier in the course of maintaining 
law and order." 18 August: Street battles have continued for a fourth day 
in the southern Nigerian town of Warri between heavily armed gangs from two 
rival communities. Scores of buildings have been burnt and more than 30 
people are now known to have died since the fighting began on 15 August. 
The army is being deployed on the streets, but local residents say there 
are parts of the town where the clashes have continued without intervention 
from the security forces. Despite assurances from the army that the clashes 
have been brought under control it is clear that the situation in some 
districts of the town remains extremely volatile. 19 August: Clashes in 
Warri continue. But with a heavy army presence on the streets, the pockets 
of violence appear to be more localised and gunfire only sporadic. Since 
the unrest began, at least 30 people have died in street battles between 
local militia groups, and many thousands have fled their homes. With a 
tight security presence now in place in Warri town, much of the chaotic and 
explosive violence of the past few days appears to have abated.   (ANB-BIA, 
Belgium, 19 August 2003)

* Nigeria. Stoning verdict quashed  -  19 August: An Islamic court of 
appeal in northern Nigeria has overturned the conviction of a man sentenced 
to death by stoning for the rape of a nine-year-old girl. Salimu Mohammed 
Baranda won his appeal by pleading insanity and has been ordered by the 
court to an asylum for psychiatric evaluation. The punishment of stoning to 
death has been introduced into the law in Nigeria's majority Muslim 
northern states over the past three years but as yet no sentence has been 
carried out. Salimu Mohammed has never denied he carried out the rape. In 
fact he pleaded guilty at his trial last year and initially refused to 
appeal the sentence. But family members intervened and persuaded him to 
change his mind.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 19 August 2003)

* Nigeria. Une lapidation annulée  -  18 août. Un tribunal islamique 
nigérian devrait rendre son verdict après le pourvoi en appel d'un homme 
condamné à mort par lapidation en août 2002 pour le viol d'une fillette de 
9 ans. Si cette condamnation était confirmée par la Cour, Samiru Mohammed, 
54 ans, pourrait devenir le premier Nigérian exécuté par lapidation depuis 
que douze Etats du nord du pays ont décidé la réintroduction de la charia 
(loi islamique) il y a trois ans. Le condamné étant décrit comme 
mentalement attardé, la défense comme l'accusation escomptent néanmoins un 
verdict de clémence. -- 19 août. La Cour islamique d'appel de la ville de 
Dutse a en effet annulé la condamnation à mort de Samiru Mohammed. Elle a 
suivi la défense qui plaidait la folie, et a ordonné son placement dans un 
établissement psychiatrique.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 20 août 2003)

* Nigeria. Closing in on missing cash  -  20 August: A long-running legal 
battle to return billions of dollars which went missing from Nigeria's 
central bank when the late military ruler Sani Abacha was in power could at 
last be making some progress. A lot of the money is believed to be in Swiss 
bank accounts, and Switzerland has now said it will help to send the money 
back. Earlier this week, Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice said it 
had temporarily lifted the lid on the country's banking secrecy and handed 
over bank documents concerning relatives of the former dictator. In return, 
Nigeria assured the Swiss that the human rights of any Abacha family member 
would be respected in the event that they would be tried before a court or 
face criminal proceedings. During Mr Abacha's rein, from 1994 to 1998, a 
huge sum of money went missing from Nigeria's central bank. Some reports 
put the total amount at several billion dollars.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 20 
August 2003)

* Rwanda. Towards the presidential elections  -  13 August: Rwanda's 
election authorities have accused the main opposition candidate in this 
month's presidential poll, Faustin Twagiramungu, of promoting ethnic 
divisions. The deputy head of the national election commission said that 
the opposition leader had been summoned to explain himself on 14 August. Mr 
Twagiramungu -- a former prime minister who returned from exile earlier 
this year -- denies the accusations. He says his campaign leaflets had been 
impounded by the authorities although they contained nothing 
discriminatory. He also questions impartiality of the president of the 
national electoral commission, accusing him of being the campaign manager 
for the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front party. 16 August: The Dutch 
government has withheld aid intended to ensure the smooth running of 
Rwandan's first presidential election since the 1994 genocide, a sign of 
unease over the disappearance of opposition politicians in the run-up to 
the poll on August 25. The Netherlands says the Kigali government has 
failed to explain satisfactorily the disappearance of five opponents of 
Paul Kagame, Rwandan president. It has frozen $283,000 in aid. It is the 
first western government to express openly unease over human rights in 
Rwanda during the election campaign.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 16 August 2003)

* Rwanda. Campagne électorale  -  La campagne électorale pour le scrutin 
présidentiel du 25 août s'est ouverte le 1er août et s'achèvera le 24 août 
au matin. L'actuel président Paul Kagamé y affronte Faustin Twagiramungu, 
Jean Népomuscène Nayinzira et Alvéra Mukabaramba. Twagiramungu s'est vu 
accusé de "divisionnisme" et un de ses dépliants de campagne a été saisi. 
Le 16 août, la radio nationale a aussi fait état de la "défection" de cinq 
de ses agents de campagne qui l'accusent d'appeler au vote ethnique en sa 
faveur. En privé, il leur aurait donné comme directive de "faire comprendre 
aux Hutu qu'ils ne doivent voter que pour leur frère Twagiramungu". M. 
Twagiramungu a indiqué ne pas connaître ces personnes et dénonce une 
manipulation. -- D'autre part, le 18 août, Reporters sans frontières a 
demandé aux candidats de prendre des engagements en faveur de la liberté de 
presse. "Nous vous demandons de prendre position publiquement sur cette 
question et de proposer des mesures concrètes pour faire progresser la 
liberté de presse", écrit l'organisation. Déplorant que le Rwanda soit 
aujourd'hui l'un des derniers pays de la région et du continent africain à 
ne disposer d'aucun média audiovisuel privé, RSF ajoute que "l'information 
est toujours monocolore au Rwanda et les rares journaux indépendants 
paraissent dans des conditions difficiles".   (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 16-18 
août 2003)

* Rwanda. Kagame thrusts aside fears over poll  -  Paul Kagame, Rwanda's 
president, is "unapologetic" about the role his troops have played in the 
war in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. He would send them 
straight back if his country's security were at stake. But in an interview 
with the Financial Times before next week's presidential election in Rwanda 
-- the first since the 1994 genocide -- Gen Kagame said he had asked the 
country's prosecutor-general to investigate United Nations reports that his 
army orchestrated the plunder of resources during its four-year occupation 
of eastern Congo. Under international pressure, Rwanda withdrew its troops 
from Congo last year. But reports persist that it continues to arm rebel 
proxies, undermining prospects for a new power-sharing government in 
Kinshasa set up to end the war. International concern is also mounting 
about the manner in which Gen Kagame is running his own country. Last week 
the Netherlands said it had frozen aid to help pay for the elections 
because of concerns about the disappearance of opposition politicians ahead 
of the vote. Dogged as ever in his avowed determination to restore 
stability to Rwanda, the 46-year-old general, appears unmoved. "We are not 
responsible for the problems of the Congo," he says, insisting that turmoil 
and dictatorship there had been claiming lives long before his troops 
marched over the border in 1998, sparking a war that has led to at least 3m 
deaths. "We would not shy away from moving back to Congo if anything 
threatened our security here. We are not even apologetic about it." Nor is 
Gen Kagame concerned that by punching well beyond its weight in the region, 
tiny Rwanda may have made more new enemies in Congo than it has eliminated 
old ones. The region's problems go back decades, he says, underlining that 
parts of Congo were ruled from Rwanda before Africa's borders were drawn by 
colonial powers. "I don't see why you even think it is important that 
Congolese hate Rwandans. Maybe we shall hate them also," he says. "Or why 
did part of Rwanda have to be carved out and taken to Congo? I am not 
responsible for that."   (Financial Times, UK, 19 August 2003)

* Somalia. Mogadishu insecurity worsens  -  15 August: The security 
situation in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has reportedly been 
deteriorating, with a wave of killings, abductions and car hijackings. Two 
heavily armed groups exchanged fire, on 14 August, killing at least eight 
people and wounding six more, in the busy Taleh neighbourhood of South 
Mogadishu. The incident took place when gunmen from one Somali faction 
dominating north Mogadishu used a bus to ambush members of another faction 
in a busy street. The attack was in retaliation for an earlier incident, 
but the wife of one of those who was killed said they had hit the wrong 
target. The constant fighting and the inability to deal with famine and 
disease have led to the death of nearly a million people in the country. 
Former interim president Abdikassim Salat Hassan, who pulled out of the 
talks on forging a new government just weeks before his term of office 
ended, has been accused of failing to secure Mogadishu. Gunmen rule the 
roads, forcing drivers to pay extortionate amounts of money. Regular 
car-jacking attacks have forced the closure of the capital's major roads 
paralysing public transport as buses are refusing to use key routes. 
Meanwhile, the Kenyan Ambassador to Somalia, Mohammed Affey, left 
Mogadishu, today, for Kismaio in an attempt to revitalise the crumbling 
Somali conference in Kenya. The mandate of the three-year old Transitional 
National Government (TNG) expired on 13 August and Mr Salat announced that 
his government would not stand down until a new government and parliament 
were formed.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 15 August 2003)

* Somalia. Refugees call for a new administration  -  18 August: Somali 
refugees in Kenya have accused the committee in charge of talks on setting 
up a new administration of delaying the process. Hundreds of refugees 
demonstrated outside the venue in Mbagathi, in the suburbs of the Kenyan 
capital, Nairobi, calling for the formation of a new government. The talks 
had been adjourned to allow the president of Somalia's Transitional 
National Government (TNG), Abdikassim Salat Hassan and the Juba valley 
alliance re-join the discussions.   (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 18 August 2003)

* Somalia. Somaliland floods  -  Heavy flooding has killed one person and 
destroyed more than 60 farms in Somalia's breakaway enclave Somaliland, 
officials said. Regional governor Abdillahi Irro said that one person had 
drowned after the recent heavy rains and appealed to donors for help in 
saving wells supplying water to Hargeisa, Somaliland's main city, which has 
faced water shortages in the past. Abdillahi said in a statement that 13 
water pumping machines were swept away by the floods and almost all the 
wells on the river banks were sunk in the mud. The rains have also 
destroyed buildings in the border village of Wajale, where new warehouses 
are being built in preparation for a planned corridor linking landlocked 
Ethiopia with Somaliland's Berbera port in a bid to boost trade.   (CNN, 
USA, 20 August 2003)

Weekly anb0821.txt - #5/6