weekly anb05256.txt #8

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 25-05-2000      PART #6/8

* Senegal. Abdoulaye Wade en France  -  Le 21 mai, a la veille de
sa visite officielle en France du 22 au 28 mai, le nouveau
president senegalais M. Abdoulaye Wade a affirme qu'il souhaitait
etre regarde "comme un ami" et ne pas jouer les "mendiants qui
tendent la main a l'exterieur". "Fonder le developpement
indefiniment sur l'aide exterieure n'a pas de sens", a-t-il ajoute.
Il a toutefois reconnu qu'il y a des domaines ou le Senegal a
besoin de la France et de l'Occident, citant les nouvelles
technologies de l'information, l'education et la formation, et la
construction de routes. Le chef de l'Etat a aussi annonce la tenue
d'elections legislatives ou d'un referendum le 26 novembre, afin
d'obtenir la majorite a l'Assemblee nationale. Dans une interview
parue le 23 mai dans Jeune Afrique-L'intelligent, le president Wade
annonce aussi son intention de demander a la France des armes et
des equipements militaires pour securiser ses frontieres avec la
Guinee Bissau.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 23 mai 2000)

* Sierra Leone. Foday Sankoh -- the path to war  -  A journalist in
Sierra Leone has sent us the following notes on Foday Sankoh: "At
the end of 1999, Foday Sankoh had gone to South Africa on the
pretext of getting medical treatment. Some people said he in fact
went to sell diamonds and buy arms and ammunition with the
proceeds. He had also asked for permission to go to Cote d'Ivoire
for medical treatment. When he returned, it was discovered that he
had imported vehicles and motor cycles for campaigning in the
elections scheduled for 2001. (His Revolutionary United Front [RUF]
had already been registered as a party under the name of the
Revolutionary United Front Party [RUFP]). Many people had
misgivings about Sankoh's explanation, fearing he was resorting
once again to armed conflict. The fact is, three-quarters of Sierra
Leone's diamond mining areas are controlled by the RUF and after
the signing of the peace accord, Sankoh was given the post of
Chairman of the Commission for Strategic Resources, Reconstruction
and Development -- a Commission created especially for him! Sankoh
then banned all diamond mining in the country, but at the same
time, his rebels were engaged in mining. He was reported to be
selling diamonds to foreign businessmen in Freetown who smuggled
them abroad and then used the cash to buy arms and other supplies.
At one time, he was reported to be giving out large sums of money
to people, so that they would support his political party. Many say
he would have done better continuing with this practise rather than
choosing the path to war. In any case, he was known to be "filthy
rich"".   (Alpha R.Jalloh, (ANB-BIA), Sierra Leone, 18 May 2000)

* Sierra Leone. Human rights concerns  -  17 May: Jesse L. Jackson,
President Clinton's special envoy to West Africa, says just before
his departure for Nigeria and other West African countries: "The
Revolutionary United Front must no longer have the military option
to hold a democracy hostage". Following today's arrest of Foday
Sankoh, Amnesty International reiterates its call for all those
responsible of committing human rights abuses, to be brought to
justice.18 May: The question of what to do with the captured rebel
leader, Foday Sankoh, returns to the centre of the crisis in Sierra
Leone, where 270 UN peacekeeping troops are still being held
hostage. The British decision to hand him over to the Sierra
Leonean police, after flying him to a secret location for his own
safety, coincides with a Human Rights Watch report that government
soldiers have been torturing and executing RUF rebels, including
some who had demobilised in line with the 1999 peace accords. Human
Rights Watch warns that a "descent to mob justice" in Sierra Leone
could encourage the RUF to return to full-scale fighting. The
international force is to be boosted by reinforcements from West
African states and Russia. The RUF still controls the diamond mines
in the north and east. It also has bases in neighbouring Liberia,
whose President, Charles Taylor, will be a vital party to any peace
agreement. In the light of Foday Sankoh's arrest, the UN calls for
a ceasefire. In a Press Release, Amnesty International says that
the UN Security Council must ensure the protection of the human
rights of all Sierra Leoneans. 19 May: The rebels accuse Britain of
joining what they call a "criminal conspiracy" against them, and
now seem to be targeting British troops in the belief that causing
casualties among the 800-strong UK contingent will force it to
withdraw. The UN Security Council has endorsed plans to expand its
peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone by an additional 2,000 troops.
21 May: Rebels have freed 54 more UN peacekeepers. 22 May: the Rev.
Jesse Jackson, the US special envoy to Africa, urges the US
Congress to provide financial support for peacekeeping efforts in
Sierra Leone. A high-level Kenyan delegation holds face-to-face
talks with Foday Sankoh, focusing on the fate of some 300 UN
peacekeepers still being held captive. The decomposing bodies of at
least six UN peacekeepers believed to have been murdered by rebels
have been discovered. They are wearing Nigerian, Zambian and Kenyan
uniforms with UN patches. 23 May: The UK is to supply light weapons
and ammunition to the Sierra Leonean army at the request of the
Freetown Government. 23 May: The UN Mission in Sierra Leone
(UNAMSIL) is to set up its own radio station as part of efforts to
expand its public information office.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 24 May
2000)

* Sierra Leone. Lent redressement  -  18 mai. La Communaute
economique des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (CEDEAO) a decide de
depecher 3.000 soldats supplementaires en Sierra Leone dans le
cadre de la force ouest-africaine Ecomog. De leur cote, les
rebelles du RUF ont procede, via le Liberia, a de nouvelles
liberations de casques bleus; selon le porte-parole de la Minusil,
un nouveau contingent de 44 otages liberes a regagne Freetown.
D'autre part, l'incertitude demeurait sur le sort qui sera reserve
a Foday Sankoh, le chef historique du RUF; le gouvernement n'a
toujours pas dit s'il comptait le traduire en justice. Human Rights
Watch reclame pour sa part un proces equitable pour crimes contre
l'humanite. - 19 mai. Le Conseil de securite a decide de porter le
nombre des casques bleus en Sierra Leone a 13.000; Kofi Annan
voudrait meme l'augmenter a 16.500. D'autre part, les rebelles du
RUF exigent, pour reprendre les negociations, que leur chef Foday
Sankoh soit libere, a declare leur porte-parole. -21 mai. L'Onu a
annonce que 54 nouveaux casques bleus avaient ete liberes par le
RUF. Le president Kabbah a annonce que Foday Sankoh faisait l'objet
d'une enquete et pourrait comparaitre devant un tribunal. - 22 mai.
Les rebelles ont encore relache 29 casques bleus zambiens, mais
retiennent toujours quelque 250 soldats de la Minusil, annonce
l'Onu. Ils ont exige la liberation d'ici 13 jours de leur chef
Foday Sankoh. D'autre part, des soldats sierra-leonais ont annonce
avoir decouvert une dizaine de corps mutiles qui pourraient etre
ceux de casques bleus zambiens avec, dans leurs uniformes, des
passeports zambiens et des cartes d'identite militaires. La journee
a aussi ete marquee par le lancement d'une offensive pro-
gouvernementale sur les positions rebelles; les forces loyalistes
se dirigeaient vers l'est en direction de Lunsar, a une centaine de
km de Freetown. - 23 mai. La Grande-Bretagne a donne le coup
d'envoi du retrait de son dispositif militaire, mais s'est declaree
prete a fournir armes et encadrement a l'armee gouvernementale; les
parachutistes seront remplaces par des commandos de marine. - 24
mai. Deux journalistes etrangers, un Espagnol et un Americain, ont
ete tues dans une embuscade pres de Lunsar et deux autres, un Sud-
Africain et un Grec, ont ete blesses mais ont pu s'enfuir. D'autre
part, Kofi Annan a dit esperer que la plupart des quelque 250
casques bleus encore retenus par les rebelles seraient liberes
avant la fin de la semaine.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 25 mai
2000)

* South Africa. Crime on the decrease  -  Murder and other serious
crime in South Africa, has decreased dramatically since the
beginning of the year, says Steve Tshwete, Minister for Safety and
Security. Murder has decreased by 22 per cent in the first three
months of the year, he says, and in some areas, other crimes have
dropped by 20 per cent, following the implementation of new anti-
crime strategies by the South African Police Services. Since
"Operation Crackdown" was introduced in March to target organised
crime, 82,553 suspects have been arrested and detained. Police have
also seized 3,473 stolen vehicles, 2,509 illegal firearms, 38,261
kilograms of dagga and 68,019 Mandrax and Ecstacy tablets. "Our
operations are bearing fruit," he says. "Let criminals know we
shall give them no quarter."   (James Brew, ANB-BIA, South Africa,
20 May 2000)

* South Africa/USA. Clinton and Mbeki meet for AIDS talks  -  South
African President Thabo Mbeki and President Clinton spent several
hours on 22 May, discussing the need to combat Africa's widespread
poverty and disease, but Mbeki continued to express doubts that HIV
causes AIDS, a stance that has caused consternation in political
and medical circles, White House officials said. Administration
spokesmen painted a generally positive picture of the talks, saying
the two presidents explored ways to involve regional powers, such
as Nigeria, and Britain and other Western nations in dealing with
Africa's most severe problems. When pressed by reporters, however,
they acknowledged that Mbeki continued to question whether AIDS --
which some experts predict will kill one-fourth of his nation's
people by 2010 -- is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or
HIV. Most researchers consider the HIV-AIDS link irrefutable.
Mbeki's scepticism has broad policy implications, because he also
has questioned the use of AZT, a drug widely employed in the West
to slow the onset or progress of AIDS. His administration has
refused to distribute AZT to pregnant women with HIV, even though
doctors say it could significantly reduce the chances that their
children would be born HIV-positive.   (Charles Babington,
Washington Post, 23 May 2000)

Weekly anb0525.txt - End of part 6/8