weekly anb04196.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 19-04-2000      PART #6/7

* Rwanda. Bishop Misago  -  14 April: In an interview, Fides spoke
with the Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of
Peoples, Archbishop Zago, who said that Bishop Misago's arrest was
a sad event, not only for the Church, not only for Africa, but for
the world in general. He remarked on the great dignity with which
Bishop Misago has accepted incarceration and lives this time, not
hiding away, but on the contrary, defending the truth. At the same
time, Fides also reported that Bishop Misago's defense lawyer,
Alfred Pongon, has said that the accusations brought against the
bishop were "a mixture of unacceptable facts which the law cannot
qualify materially as criminal facts". The lawyer traced the
campaign against Bishop Misago which began with accusations
launched by African Rights and which spread, "distilling into
hearts and minds the poison of hatred and revenge". 17 April: A
report from the Bishops' Conference of Rwanda says that the
conclusive phase of the trial against Bishop Misago of Gikongoro
opened today. Even before the judges arrived, the court was full to
overflowing. The presiding judge reminded the court that the
Bishop's trial had now been on-going for six months and the time
has come to conclude proceedings. He then said that he could only
be present for this morning as he had other obligations in the
afternoon. Also, he warned that some lawyers will not be available
at the end of the week (Because of Holy Week). He then said that
proceedings will continue on 24 April and will continue from then
until 26 April. A different version of details concerning the day's
proceedings comes from the Press Agency Hirondelle. Because the
judges had other obligations on the afternoons of 17-19 April and
because Bishop Misago had requested not to have to come to court on
Holy Thursday (20 April) and Good Friday (21 April), the trial will
resume on 24 April, and will continue 25-26 April.   (ANB-BIA,
Brussels, 18 April 2000)

* Senegal/Guinee Bissau. Nouveaux remous en Casamance  -  La Guinee
Bissau a proteste aupres du Senegal, affirmant que des regions de
sa frontiere nord, Cutima et Jumbembem, ont ete bombardees par des
avions de l'armee senegalaise qui auraient poursuivi des rebelles
du Mouvement des forces democratiques de la Casamance (MFDC). Le
porte-parole du MFDC, Alexandre Djiba, a nie que son mouvement ait
des combattants dans les zones bombardees. Il a reconnu que des
combats avaient repris, le 10 avril, dans la region de Kolda, alors
que l'armee senegalaise indiquait qu'un "ennemi" avait attaque ses
positions a Sare Wari, dans cette region. M. Djiba dement que les
combattants du MFDC fassent des raids sur la Casamance a partir de
la Guinee Bissau.   (D'apres IRIN, Abidjan, 13 avril 2000)

* Somalia and Kenya. Bracing for drought emergency  -  Food stocks
are being pre-positioned in Somalia in anticipation of a major
emergency. Even where there is aid, children who could be saved are
now dying. For the 6th year in succession, harvests are expected to
fall, and the blow will fall on a population enduring a bare level
of subsistence. In Kenya, the WFP says more than 75,000 tons of
food is urgently needed to feed drought victims in Kenya. A UN
spokesperson in Kenya says there is already an emergency appeal for
around 43 million dollars to but food for drought victims in Kenya. 
 (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 17 April 2000)

* South Africa. Mbeki under fire for plans to buy new jet  - 
President Mbeki has come under fire after revealing plans to
purchase a new jet costing US $50 million to replace the present
presidential aircraft. Mbeki plans to buy a bigger Airbus 319 to
replace the Falcon 900 which he and former presidents Nelson
Mandela and F.W. de Klerk used over the past decade. The official
opposition Democratic Party criticised the plans on 18 April,
saying there were other pressing needs facing the country.   (PANA,
Dakar, 18 April 2000)

* Sudan. Government oppression  -  Sources from Sudan have informed
ANB-BIA about atrocities committed by Sudan government soldiers in
a massive onslaught on civilians around the Bentiu oil area in
March. People in the oil area are being forced to flee up to 200km
away. In Kadugli, capital of the Nuba Mountains, eight army
divisions are assembling for a new offensive on four fronts. The
government is preparing for the construction of a second oil
pipeline from Bentiu. This time it will run a long way due north,
then sharply east to Port Sudan, avoiding the eastern border which
is under pressure from the opposition alliance. The above has been
confirmed by the New Sudan Council of Churches.   (ANB-BIA,
Brussels, 13 April 2000)

* Tanzania. Opposition supporters in Zanzibar beaten and arrested 
-  On 12 April, Amnesty International, in a Press Release, stated
that over 300 supporters of the Civic United Front (CUF) opposition
party in Zanzibar, have been beaten by police in the last week, and
over 100 arrested and charged with petty criminal offenses, such as
vagrancy. Amnesty International appeals to Zanzibar President
Salmin Amour and Tanzanian President Benjamin Mpaka to ensure that
freedom of opinion and association are respected in Zanzibar.  
(Amnesty International, 12 April 2000)

* Uganda. A Pandora's box for the economy  -  The war in Congo RDC
is opening a Pandora's box for Uganda's economy. Western donors who
met in Kampala in March told Museveni to move his troops out of
Congo soon, to avoid economic chaos, and political problems at
home. "The war in Congo is the major threat to Uganda's", says Rene
Rodault, France's ambassador to Uganda while addressing the
consultative donor group that agreed to give Uganda $800m for the
next financial year and also make available a $1.1bn debt relief
package. The Ambassador's warning war supported by Switzerland, the
USA and Sweden, both of whom see the continuing war as hopeless.
Donors are worried that if they don't criticise, Uganda's economic
progress will be on the line. Programmes that were meant to
maintain the country's economic growth-rate at 5% annually, are
floundering. The stability of the Ugandan shilling is under
constant threat, and the Bank of Uganda has recently warned that it
is running short of funds necessary to maintain the shilling's
stability. It's bad news for Uganda, which has been trying to keep
up appearances despite the grinding war. Donors say huge resources
have been transferred to the military ever since the war in Congo
broke out in 1998. But the Bretton Woods Institutions think in
spite of what's happening, Uganda still deserves this generous
help.   (Crespo Sebunya, ANB-BIA, Uganda, 11 April 2000)

* Uganda. Plan to buy jet, delays debt aid  -  Plans by Uganda to
acquire a new Gulfstream jet for its President have led
international lenders to put off a decision on new debt relief for
that country. The delay is an embarrassing new complication for a
global debt-relief program that Congress is sceptical about
funding. Uganda, an early participant in the program, has won
praise for using the savings from cancelled debt payments to
improve primary education. The International Monetary Fund and
World Bank had hoped to announce approval of an expanded package
for Uganda at a meeting of their governing committees this week
here. But last week officials delayed implementing the plan, some
of them appalled at the idea of forgiving more loans just when a
luxury jet was ordered. Sources said the reported cost of the
plane, about $35 million, is about what Uganda would save annually
in debt-service payments under an expanded aid plan that now has
been delayed. (...) An IMF director representing Uganda in the
organization said he believed the delay would be short. Questions
were posed about the jet, but not "in a challenging way," Cyrus
Rustomjee said. "We don't recognize this as being any extraordinary
expenditure." The plane's purchase had been discussed in Uganda's
parliament. It would be used by President Yoweri Museveni, who has
been in office since seizing power in 1986.   (John Burgess,
Washington Post, 16 April 2000)

* Uganda. Links with Australian doomsday group  -  The former
Ugandan cult leader Joseph Kibwetere, now wanted for murder, was
linked to an Australian doomsday group, the Marian Workers of
Atonement, according to documents found at his home by The
Guardian. According to his wife, Teresa, she and her husband
attended talks on supernatural manifestations given by the leader
of the Australian group, William Kamm -- whose spiritual name is
"Little Pebble" -- in Kampala. Based in Nowra, New South Wales, the
followers of 49-year-old Kamm, share many beliefs with Kibwetere's
cult, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of
God. (...) According to the documents, Mr Kamm held four meetings
at the Kampala police mess between October 6 and 10, 1989 -- when
reports of manifestations of the Virgin Mary, an aspect common to
both cults, were becoming frequent throughout Uganda and
neighbouring Rwanda. Mrs Kibwetere said she had been in contact
with Mr Kamm before she and her husband went to hear him talk. "We
were interested in visions of His Blessed Mother... Little Pebble
sent us these papers and I used to write to him. Then he came to
Uganda and we went to see him in Kampala." The couple's son,
Rugambwa, said the visit made a strong impression on his father. "I
remember them going, and when my father came back he said that
Little Pebble had filled him with new hope." The manifesto of the
Kanungu cult -- entitled: "A Timely Message from Heaven: The End of
the Present Times", which was first published in 1991 -- also names
Little Pebble among those "from various countries who got
revelations and visions of the chastisements that are coming".
Australian cultwatch groups have expressed a suspicion of links
between Mr Kamm's group and the Ugandan cult.   (The Guardian, UK,
18 April 2000)

Weekly anb0419 - end of part 6/7