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Weekly anb03294.txt #6

WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 29-03-2001      PART #4/6
* Kenya. Leakey quits cabinet - 27 March: The surprise resignation of Richard Leakey is described by donors as a "huge setback").Richard Leakey, chief of the "dream team" meant to extricate Kenya from its myriad economic problems, has resigned from his key post as head of the civil service and from President Moi's cabinet. The President's office said Mr Leakey has been replaced by Sally Kosgei, a longtime Moi ally and former ambassador to Britain, who belongs to Mr Moi's Kalenjin ethnic group. Mr Moi's office said the President "noted that with the completion of stage one (of Kenya's recovery strategy), it is therefore time for others to take over and move the process of reform forward. President Moi said that he had agreed with Dr Leakey that he, Dr Leakey, stand down". -- 28 March: Two more members of the six-man "dream team" lose their jobs. A statement from President Moi's office indicated Moi has replaced Martin Luke Oduor-Ottieno at the Ministry of Finance and Titus Naikuni at the Ministry of Information, Transport and Communications. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 29 March 2001)
* Kenya. Government urged to publish report on tribal clashes - The Catholic Church in Kenya has asked the government to publish the results of an investigation into the tribal clashes that preceded the general elections in the period 1992-1997. The clashes, over land claims, resulted in the death of hundreds of people, and the homelessness and exile of several thousand. The results of the investigation, carried out by the Judicial Inquiry Commission, were given to the attorney general in 1999 but never made public. According to The Nation newspaper, Bishop John Njue, president of the Kenyan bishops' conference, said he had sent a letter to the attorney general. "The report contains the only path to reconciliation," the bishop wrote. "It is stupid that a report such as this one is not made public." Other Church leaders reported that their "numerous letters" to the attorney general have not been answered. The Nation quoted Archbishop John Njenga of Mombasa saying that the Church asked all the bishops to write to the attorney general. (Zenit, Italy, 27 March 2001)
* Liberia. Torture and ill-treatment of students - Liberian security officers responsible for torture and ill-treatment of students should be immediately investigated and brought to justice, says Amnesty International in a Press Release on 22 March. Dozens of university students were beaten by the security forces in Monrovia on 21 March, solely for peacefully protesting against the continued detention of four independent journalists of The News, arrested one month ago. (Amnesty International, 22 March 2001)
* Libéria. Comité de contrôle - Le secrétaire général de l'Onu a mis sur pied un comité d'experts composé de cinq membres chargés de contrôler le respect par le Libéria des mesures demandées par le Conseil de sécurité. Le comité a pour mission d'enquêter sur l'embargo sur les armes et le diamant imposé au Libéria, ainsi que sur l'abandon par ce pays de toute forme de soutien militaire aux rebelles sierra-léonais du RUF. Le comité qui devrait achever sa mission dans un délai de six mois, doit également faire des investigations sur les liens existant entre l'exploitation des ressources naturelles au Libéria et l'intensification du conflit en Sierra Leone. (PANA, Sénégal, 27 mars 2001)
* Malawi. Self-repatriation exercise - Some of the 125,000 displaced people in Malawi's worst-hit flooded district of Nsanje district have decided to go back to their home villages, after spending a month at flood victims camps without receiving any relief items. The sight of thin, crying, half naked children sprawling on the ground outside Nsanje Community Hall where 4,000 people rendered homeless by the floods are sheltering, illustrates the trauma suffered by these displaced persons -- hunger, diseases, and lack of proper shelter. The absence of relief items in camps, have prompted some displaced victims to trek back to their ancestral homes where they fled from floods. Most of them are sailing back by boats. Although people are going back to their homes which lie along the Shire River banks, a tributary of the Zambezi, their houses are half-submerged in water. Some displaced Malawians are crossing into the Mozambican districts of Magiza by boats where they believe they will receive food aid. (Brian Ligomeka, ANB-BIA, Malawi, 24 March 2001)
* Mali. Une candidate aux présidentielles - C'est une femme, chimiste et mère de six enfants, qui a été la première à présenter sa candidature aux élections présidentielles maliennes prévues pour 2002. Mme Sidibé Awa Sanogo sera une candidate indépendante "notamment pour améliorer la condition des femmes maliennes". Le 27 mars, lors d'une rencontre avec la presse, elle a déclaré qu'elle souhaitait "amener un changement dont tout le monde profitera". La candidate dirige actuellement un projet de formation professionnelle de femmes financé par l'Onudi, et fait partie de l'Association malienne des victimes de la répression, fondée après la chute du dictateur Moussa Traoré en 1992. (Misna, Italie, 28 mars 2001)
* Maroc. Militants sahraouis retenus - Le samedi 24 mars, deux militants d'origine sahraouie du "Forum vérité et justice", qui devaient assister à Genève àla session de la Commission des droits de l'homme de l'Onu, ont été empêchés de quitter Casablanca, a-t-on appris le 26 mars auprès de la Fédération internationale des droits de l'homme. MM. Brahim Noumri et Mahmoud Elhamed ont été retenus dans les locaux de la police jusqu'au samedi soir; leurs papiers d'identité leur ont été restitués, mais ils se sont vu interdire de quitter le territoire. (La Libre Belgique, 27 mars 2001)
* Mozambique. Floods displace thousands - More than 180,000 people have fled continuing floods in central Mozambique and are living in temporary accommodation centres, according to United Nations and government officials. The Zambezi river has remained at between two-and-a-half metres and three metres above flood level for more than five weeks. Rain is continuing upstream in Malawi and Zambia and flood waters are expected to remain at this level for at least a fortnight. So far 81 people have died. The navy began evacuating people from low ground in January using rubber boats donated for last year's floods. At first many people refused to leave their homes but with their fields still under water and their food stocks exhausted, thousands are now making their way daily by foot or canoe to the more than 70 accommodation centres. The authorities were well prepared, and evacuations began early. However, Mozambique remains one of the world's poorest countries and it does not have the resources to cope with the growing number of displaced people. The accommodation centres are largely organised by local government officials, with the help of national voluntary organisations and, increasingly, international non-governmental organisations. But food and other supplies must be brought in by the UN World Food Programme, Unicef, and the International Federation of Red Cross Societies. There are few paved roads in the flood area, and heavy rains have turned dirt roads to mud. It takes two days for a food lorry to travel the 200 miles from the port of Beira to Caia, the town on the south bank of the Zambezi river used as a food distribution centre. It takes another day to reach the three accommodation centres further downstream, near Marromeu, which now contain 24,000 people. At least 80 tonnes of food a day must reach the accommodation centres to feed 180,000 people. Officially, the UN World Food Programme says it is meeting the demand. Privately, however, UN officials admit that the two planes, two helicopters and a small fleet of trucks are not sufficient. Of the displaced, 155,000 are in the Zambezi valley and the rest have fled floods on two smaller rivers, the Lucheringo river, north of the Zambezi, and the Pungue river, south of the Zambezi. The Pungue rose again at the weekend, cutting the main road between Beira and Zimbabwe for the fourth time this year. (The Guardian, UK, 28 March 2001)
* Niger. Students in opposition to the Government - <P9%-2>21 March: Violent clashes take place between Niemay University students and security forces, leaving a gendarme dead and 40 people injured on both sides. 22 March: Opposition Members of Parliament gave called for a vote of "no confidence" in the government. In its motion still to be debated and voted upon, the Opposition indicts the government for its intransigence on measures adopted against demonstrating students, warning that this may lead to another lost academic year. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 23 March 2001)
* Niger. Menace de famine - Le 23 mars, l'Assemblée nationale du Niger a lancé un appel pressant à la communauté internationale pour apporter une aide alimentaire d'urgence aux populations menacées par la famine. Les députés ont également prié les commerçants de céréales d'éviter les spéculations sur les vivres et de ravitailler normalement les marchés pour permettre aux populations sinistrées de pouvoir acheter les vivres. En fait, les prix des céréales ont connu une hausse vertigineuse. Les commerçants ont dû aller acheter les vivres au centre du Nigeria; et à cela s'est ajouté la hausse du prix du carburant. Dans plusieurs régions du Niger, on assiste ces derniers jours à un déplacement massif des populations fuyant leurs villages pour trouver refuge dans les grands centres ou les pays voisins, notamment le Nigeria. En septembre dernier, les autorités avaient annoncé un déficit céréalier de 160.000 tonnes; aujourd'hui ce déficit est estimé à 330.000 tonnes. (PANA, Sénégal, 23-25 mars 2001)
* Nigeria. Lutte contre la désertification - Le gouvernement fédéral a entrepris des mesures pour arrêter la désertification dans la partie nord du pays dans les 5 à 10 années à venir, a annoncé dans son édition du 23 mars le quotidien The Guardian, citant le ministre de l'Environnement, M. Mohammed Kabir Saidu. La désertification et les problèmes écologiques qui y sont associés ont affecté la vie et les biens des habitants des Etats de Bomo, Yobe, Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi et Zamfara. Baptisé "Green Shelter Belt" (GSB), le projet d'un coût estimé à 3 milliards de nairas (25 millions de dollars) consistera à planter des millions de semis d'arbres cette année et à creuser des trous de sonde pour assurer leur survie et leur croissance. GSB, qui s'étendra sur 1.500 km, servira de protection contre les vents du sahara et agira comme agent de stabilisation des sols fragiles du désert. (IRIN, Abidjan, 23 mars 2001)
* Nigeria. Shell lawsuit closer to a trial - A lawsuit alleging Royal Dutch/Shell's involvement in the torture and murder of Nigerian environmentalists by the former military regime moved nearer to trial yesterday, when the US Supreme Court refused to intervene to stop it. The justices declined to step into the legal battle between Shell and relatives of Ken Saro-Wiwa -- the Nigerian playwright who was executed in 1995 on murder charges -- and other victims. Mr Saro-Wiwa led protests against Shell's operations in the Ogoni region of Nigeria. The Supreme Court refused to consider Shell's argument that the dispute had no significant connection to the US. The effect of its decision will be to allow the lawsuit to proceed in the US. (Financial Times, UK, 27 March 2001)
* Nigeria. Southern states want more autonomy - The governors of Nigeria's 17 southern states have called for constitutional reforms towards transferring more power from the central government to the states. They also say they want national resources to be shared more fairly, and the Federal Constitution amended to allow their states the right to form their own police forces. the meeting in Benin City is only their third. (BBC News, 28 March 2001)
* Rwanda. Reports of using forced labour are denied - Rwanda has angrily rejected reports that it is using its prisoners as forced labour in mines in Congo RDC. Rwandan officials say that crimes against humanity committed by Rwandan prisoners ruled out freeing them, and that all prisoners were accounted for and believed to be still in jail. Correspondents say Rwanda is believed to have funded its campaign in Congo RDC through mining. It had been reported that 1,500 Rwandan prisoners had been seen working under armed guard at a columbite-tantalite mine in Numbi. "Col-tan" is a rare mineral which is now a crucial ingredient in the manufacture of mobile phones and other hi-tech goods. (BBC News, 22 March 2001)
* Rwanda. Tribunal lawyers investigated for fee-splitting - United Nations investigators have uncovered evidence that some lawyers defending suspects at the international war crimes tribunal for Rwanda may be providing financial inducements to win clients. A UN report by the Office of International Oversight Services says lawyers paid by the UN to defend poor Rwandans at the tribunal, in Tanzania, have given detainees expensive gifts, such as computers, video cassette recorders and a gold watch. The lawyers had also provided financial support to detainees' families, extending in some cases to employing suspects' friends or relatives as case investigators none of whom had gone to Rwanda to collect information. The report -- which also looked into similar allegations about the war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia -- said such actions suggested an informal system of fee-splitting by lawyers, although there was no direct substantiation of such arrangements. The report quoted some lawyers at the tribunal of complaining that their clients had pressured them for money or an outright share of the legal fees. (BBC News, 28 March 2001)
* Sénégal. Accord militaire en Casamance - Le 23 mars, le gouvernement sénégalais et les rebelles casamançais ont signé un accord de paix, le deuxième en une semaine. Cet accord en quatre points prévoit: "le dépôt des armes, le cantonnement des forces, la restitution et la destruction des armes, et le retour des militaires dans les casernes". (Libération, France, 24 mars 2001) 

Weekly anb0329.txt - End of part 4/6