weekly anb05114.txt #8

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 11-05-2000      PART #4/8

* Ethiopie/Erythree. Echec des negociations  -  5 mai. L'Ethiopie
et l'Erythree se rejettent mutuellement la responsabilite de
l'echec des negociations indirectes engagees la semaine derniere a
Alger pour regler le contentieux territorial. Le mediateur
algerien, Ahmed Ouyahia, avait tente de mettre en oeuvre le plan de
paix de l'OUA qui prevoit une treve, un retrait des zones occupees
et le stationnement d'une force de paix le long des 1.000 km de
frontiere commune. L'OUA, presidee par l'Algerie, a confirme
l'ajournement des discussions de paix et a lance un appel a la
retenue aux deux parties. - 7 mai. Le Conseil de securite de l'Onu
a decide d'envoyer sept de ses ambassadeurs (representant les
Etats-Unis, la Grande-Bretagne, la France, le Mali, la Tunisie, le
Nigeria et les Pays-Bas, et qui se trouvent actuellement en Afrique
centrale pour discuter du processus de paix au Congo) en Erythree
et en Ethiopie pour tenter de relancer les pourparlers de paix. Ils
vont exhorter les deux camps a "s'abstenir de recourir a la force
et a d'autres hostilites, et d'engager immediatement, serieusement
et sans conditions prealables des negociations". -10 mai. La
delegation de l'Onu, dirigee par M. Holbrooke, s'est entretenue le
9 mai avec le Premier ministre ethiopien, et le 10 mai avec le
president erythtreen. Aux journalistes, M. Holbrooke a declare que
les deux pays etaient sur le point de reprendre les hostilites.
"Nous sommes tout pres d'une reprise des hostilites et de
l'eruption de nouveaux combats", a-t-il affirme. - D'autre part,
des elections legislatives se tiendront le dimanche 14 mai en
Ethiopie. Ce scrutin doit designer les membres des conseils des
huit Etats federaux et des regions administratives particulieres,
ainsi que les 548 deputes de la Chambre des representants (le
legistlatif federal).   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 11 mai 2000)
* Ethiopia/Eritrea. Talks collapse  -  5 May: Mutual recriminations
have followed the collapse of peace talks aimed at ending the
conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The indirect talks, which
began last weekend, were organised and hosted by Algeria's
President Bouteflika, the current chairman of the Organisation of
African Unity (OAU). An Ethiopian statement blamed Eritrea for the
failure of the talks. But Eritrea said the talks foundered on
Ethiopia's refusal to sign a peace plan drawn up the OAU, which
Eritrea had accepted. Following the breakdown of talks, the United
States urged Eritrea and Ethiopia to re-commit themselves to
solving their border war. 8 May: A team of UN ambassadors has met
Ethiopian President Meles Zenawai in Addis Ababa to discuss ways of
ending the war. The ambassadors will continue on to Eritrea. 9 May:
After talks in Asmara, the UN team has decided to extend its stay
in the region by a day. The delegation has returned to Ethiopia but
plans to go back to Asmara tomorrow. 10 May: The members of the UN
Security Council delegation visiting the Horn of Africa fear war
may resume there, after the failure of their mission to resolve the
Eritrea-Ethiopia border dispute. "We are very close to a resumption
of hostilities and the outbreak of a new round off fighting
which...would constitute the largest war on the continent", warned
UN envoy Richard Holbrooke, after 3 days of fruitless but intense
diplomacy between the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The
difference between the opposing sides, Holbrooke said are "real,
but small".   (ANB-BIA, Brussels 11 May 2000)

* Kenya. White-owned farms invaded  -  9 May: A white Kenyan
government minister says hundreds of families have invaded two
white-owned farms, but the government says it has nothing to do
with the current land crisis in Zimbabwe. "The government wishes to
acknowledge that there has indeed been a land dispute involving the
two farms and the matter is in court", said a statement from
Richard Leakey, the country's chief civil servant and himself a
white Kenyan. "The invasion is not new...There is no connection
whatsoever between events in Kenya and Zimbabwe". Earlier the same
day, Basil Criticos, an assistant minister in the Kenyan government
and a white Member of Parliament, said his sisal farm in the south
of the country had been invaded by over 300 families.   (CNN, 9 May
March 2000)

* Kenya. Fermes blanches squattees  -  A l'appel de deux
parlementaires apparemment inspires par la situation au Zimbabwe,
des centaines de familles noires occupent deux domaines agricoles
blancs juges sous-exploites, a annonce le 9 mai le vice-ministre
kenyan des Routes et des Travaux publics, Basil Criticos, lui-meme
blanc. Criticos a precise que sa propre ferme avait ete envahie par
300 familles qui auraient maltraite son personnel et que 200 autres
familles occupent une autre exploitation. Depuis le debut des
occupations au Zimbabwe, des craintes se sont fait jour a Nairobi
sur une extension de cette campagne au Kenya. Le gouvernement
kenyan a cependant affirme que l'invasion des deux fermes n'etait
pas liee a la crise des terres au Zimbabwe, mais qu'il s'agissait
d'un litige foncier dont l'affaire est en cours de jugement. Il
faut noter qu'a l'independance du Kenya, la plupart des fermiers
blancs ont quitte leurs proprietes; toutefois celles-ci ne sont pas
allees a la population noire, mais ont ete vendues a des prix
derisoires a des multinationales.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses,
10 mai 2000)

* Kenya. Parliament publishes "list of shame"  -  Kenya's
parliament has published an unprecedented name-and-shame list of
politicians, linking some of President Moi's closest aides and
relatives to graft and scandal. The report names dozens of the
country's leading politicians and civil servants as being
responsible for corruption which has cost the country hundreds of
millions of dollars. The report, dubbed "the list of shame" by the
country's press, says Mr Moi's son Philip should be prosecuted for
allegedly evading duty worth $400,000 on six vehicles. President
Moi himself is not named in the report.   (Financial Times, UKI, 11
May 2000)

* Libya/The Netherlands. The Lockerbie Trial  -  3 May: Libya's
President Gaddafi says he will respect the trial's verdict. 4 May:
Graphic eye-witness accounts of the scenes in the Scottish town of
Lockerbie after the explosion of Pan-Am flight 103 caused by a
terrorist bomb, dominates the second day of the trial of the two
Libyans accused of murdering 270 people in the attack. Abdel
Bassett Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifa Fhimah are accused
of the murders. They are also accused of conspiracy to murder and
breaching an aviation security act. 5 May: Detectives investigating
the disaster tell of the painstaking investigation to find those
responsible. They present vivid evidence of the devastation at
Lockerbie in Scotland.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 6 May 2000)

* Malawi. Likoma Island receives more courtesy calls  -  Malawi's
newly established 27th District, Likoma, continues to receive
visitors. Within a short space of time, the Government has sent
three delegations on needs assessment missions. Likoma is situated
on Lake Malawi in the country's Central Region. It lies some 8
kilometres from Mozambique and to the north lies Tanzania.
Chizumulu's population is about 4,000, and Likoma's about 12,000.
The new district also includes Chizumulu Island. In an effort to
boost tourism, the local Chief says: "There is need to construct
good roads, establish a reliable water and electricity supply,
instal modern telecommunication facilities, improve education and
establish viable business enterprises". Existing development
projects were established by the Anglican Church which built a
church, schools and a hospital to serve the people. Missionary work
started as early as 1895. Patients attend the hospital from both
Tanzania and Mozambique in addition to the local people. Because of
its situation in the middle of Lake Malawi, this district has
enormous potentiality to attract tourists, but much has to be done
to develop the area.   (Benedict R. Chimeya, Malawi, 4 May 2000)

* Maroc. Journaliste condamne  -  Les autorites marocaines ont
interdit a M. Mustapha Alaoui, redacteur en chef de l'hebdomadaire
Al-Ousboue Assahafi, d'excercer le journalisme pendant trois ans,
apres sa condamnation par un tribunal pour diffamation du ministre
des Affaires etrangeres Mohamed Benaissa. L'interdiction prend
effet immediat le 9 mai. M. Alaoui a aussi ete condamne a 20.000
dirhams (1.881 dollars) d'amende et a un million de dirhams de
dommages et interets au ministre. Son journal avait accuse Benaissa
de "mauvaise gestion et corruption" lorsqu'il etait ambassadeur du
Maroc a Washington.   (Reuters, 10 mai 2000)

* Mozambique. Donors surpass aid need  -  4 May: International
donors meeting in Rome have promised Mozambique nearly $453 million
to help rebuild its economy and infrastructure after the worst
floods in living memory. The figure is $3 million more than the
Mozambique Government had requested when presenting its re-building
programme at the two-day aid conference. "Today is a very good day
for Mozambique, a very good day for Africa and a very good day for
development cooperation", said UNDP head Mark Malloch Brown.  
(ANB-BIA, Brussels, 5 May 2000)

* Namibia/Angola. Namibian forces set up bases inside Angola  - 
Namibian forces have set up bases inside Angola in an operation
aimed at ending UNITA rebel raids in northeastern Namibia. This is
a move that a local human rights group, Namibia's National Society
for Human Rights, has condemned as a dangerous escalation in
Windhoek's involvement in the Angolan conflict. Namibia's President
Nujoma says that the Angolan government has been informed.   (IRIN,
8 May 2000)

Weekly anb0511 - End of part 4/8