Burundi: En bref ce 16 AVRIL 2006 ...

Léger report des pourparlers inter burundais de paix
Angop / Dimanche, 16 avril 2006

Bujumbura, 16/04 - Le long week-end pascal serait à l`origine d`un léger report dans les négociations inter burundaises de paix qui devaient s`ouvrir lundi à Dar Es-Salaam, en Tanzanie, entre des émissaires gouvernementaux et ceux du Front national de libération (FNL, rébellion), a appris la PANA de source officielle à Bujumbura.
Le chef de la délégation gouvernementale, Salvator Ntacobamaze, a indiqué dimanche à la presse que le départ de Bujumbura se fera finalement lundi au lieu de samedi et les pourparlers ne pourraient débuter que le lendemain.
"Les lundis de Pâques sont généralement chômés dans les pays de l`Afrique de l`Est et on n`a pas voulu aller passer un long week-end à Dar Es-Salaam sans rien faire", a simplement expliqué Ntacobamaze.
De son côté, la dernière rébellion encore active au Burundi dispose d`une délégation prête à négocier à Dar Es-Salaam depuis bientôt deux mois.
Par ailleurs, le pouvoir de Bujumbura a introduit une nouvelle donnée politique en annonçant des négociations en deux temps, d`abord avec l`aile majoritaire du FNL présente à Dar Es-Salaam et dont se réclame le chef historique du mouvement, Agathon Rwasa.

Burundi: l'Eglise catholique met en garde contre des dérives autoritaires
la-croix.com / AFP / 16 avr 2006

"La démocratie risque d'être remise en cause au Burundi si on ne fait pas attention", ont prévenu dimanche les évêques catholiques du pays, dans un message lu dans les églises à l'occasion de la fête de Pâques.
"Même si le Burundi est en train de sortir d'un conflit, il reste beaucoup à faire: les droits de l'Homme ne sont pas respectés, les viols se sont multipliés, des gens sont torturés jusqu'à ce que mort s'ensuive", ont affirmé les évêques dans ce message dont l'AFP a obtenu une copie.
Le texte est signé par les six évêques catholiques du Burundi, petit pays d'Afrique centrale où la religion catholique est majoritaire.
"Si on ne fait pas attention, la démocratie qui commençait à prendre racine au Burundi risque d'être remise en cause en raison de la volonté de certains de s'accaparer tous les pouvoirs", ont ajouté les évêques.
"Et vous vous souvenez tous jusqu'où la volonté de pouvoir et l'exclusion ont conduit notre pays", ont-ils encore dit, en faisant allusion aux différents massacres interethniques et à la guerre civile qui ont secoué ce pays.
"Nous conseillons (aux dirigeants) de mettre en avant le dialogue et la concertation avec ceux qui n'appartiennent pas à leur parti et ceux qui ne partagent pas leurs idées", ont-ils insisté.
Le Burundi tente de sortir de 12 ans de guerre civile qui ont fait plus de 300.000 morts. Depuis août dernier et pour la première fois depuis 1993, il est dirigé par un pouvoir élu dominé par la majorité hutue, et un seul mouvement rebelle, les Forces nationales de libération (FNL, hutu), continue de se battre.
La société civile et des partis politiques, y compris ceux qui font partie du gouvernement, ont récemment accusé le président burundais, Pierre Nkurunziza, de ne pas les consulter sur des sujets sensibles, comme la libération des prisonniers politiques.
Une délégation gouvernementale doit quitter lundi Bujumbura pour Dar es-Salam (Tanzanie), où le nouveau gouvernement burundais doit, pour la première fois, négocier avec les FNL.

Genocide survivor embraces forgiveness, faith
Dawn M. Hudson / The Grand Rapids Press / Sunday, April 16, 2006

As the saying goes, only the strongest survive. In Immaculee Llibagiza's case, it's more fitting to say only those strong in faith will survive.
As a survivor of the bloody Rwandan holocaust of 1994, Llibagiza shares a passionate recollection of how faith in God sustained her through death, destruction, danger and loneliness. Her book, "Left to Tell," gives readers an intimate glimpse at the effects of genocide and how internal war ripped the African country apart.
The author's story begins with a sunny introduction to her close-knit Catholic family. Her parents raised her and her three brothers with love, a strong value of education and deep-rooted tradition. Llibagiza's family belongs to the Tutsi tribe, a people greatly despised by the country's majority -- the Hutu tribe.
Throughout the book, you get a strong sense of the unrest and instability that the natives endure in their daily lives. The Rwandan president's untimely death seems to ignite the Hutu extremists to revolt and begin exterminating the Tutsis. "Every Hutu must join together to rid Rwanda of these Tutsi cockroaches! Hutu power!"
Tutsi people flee their homes, forced into hiding out of desperation. The war separates the members of Llibagiza's family, causing her and her younger brother, Vianney, to take refuge at a local pastor's home. Little did the college-aged woman know that she and seven other frightened Tutsi women would hide in Pastor Murinzi's cramped bathroom for 91 days with little food or air and no reassurance of her family's whereabouts or safety.
"I grasped the red and white rosary my father had given to me, and silently prayed with all my might: 'Please, God, blind the killers when they reach the pastor's bedroom -- don't let them find the bathroom door, and don't let them see us!"
It's hard to imagine Llibagiza spent the majority of her days in confinement in deep prayer. Her unceasing prayers and relentless faith in God's protection and grace seemed to be all she had. Since the women were hidden, they rarely spoke and communicated only through sign language. Meanwhile, bands of Hutu killers mercilessly tore through villages with machetes and spears, killing off every Tutsi in their path.
The author vividly recounts how stunned and hurt she was to see Hutu neighbors, friends and even her school teachers take delight in joining in on the killing spree.
Even as a Christian, I find it awe-inspiring to see Llibagiza's depth of dependence on faith. She constantly embraced forgiveness for the evil-doers and prayed that God would deliver her and her family safely. "I trust in you, God. I know that you will save us. You are stronger than this evil."
She credits God for every blessing that led her to freedom.
After the French government sent soldiers into the country to help restore order, Llibagiza and the other women in hiding amazingly escaped to a French camp. However, this task was not achieved without more heart-pounding obstacles.
Llibagiza, though high off the joys of freedom, was malnourished, dirty and weak from being confined to a bathroom floor for so long. At the camp, her spirits were lifted when she reunited with extended family members and friends that she thought were dead. She also learned the graphic details of her brothers' and parents' deaths. She was emotionally devastated by the damage done to the country, her village and the hundreds of families lost to ethnic cleansing. The author estimates nearly 1 million Tutsis were massacred, and many were buried in mass graves.
Besides the colorful detail of this ravaging war, the reader is most impressed by the author's sincere forgiveness and spirituality.
She tried to make peace with the harsh realities that have wiped out her home, family and village. She then moved in with her mom's childhood friend and sought a job with the United Nations. Instead of avenging her family's murders, Llibagiza dedicated her life to Rwandan orphans and encouraging survivors to forgive.
One can't help but think about how the Western powers failed to help this little country that was in dire need of protection. "Left Behind" also highlights how one country's struggles impact the global community. This quick read will make any reader misty-eyed as well as more appreciative of our freedoms as Americans.

A history of ethnic tension
newsday.com / April 16, 2006

The genocide in Rwanda that left about 800,000 men, women and children dead in the span of three months was the culmination of years of tension between Tutsi and Hutu extremists, and complicated by poverty and a history of colonial rule, among other factors, historians say.
The Hutu, the majority ethnic group, and the Tutsi, share the same culture, language and have intermarried. But dating back to colonial times, there were rifts among political leaders of both groups.
The breaking point came on April 6, 1994, when President Juvénal Habyarimana's plane was shot down. Hutu extremists killed those who opposed Hutu power and called for the extermination of the Tutsi "cockroaches." Friends and neighbors alike engaged in the murders.

ANGOLA

Formation des soldats des FAA sur le déminage à Uige
Angop / 16/04

Uige (Angola)- Cent trente et huit soldats des Forces armées angolaises (FAA) affectés aux brigades de sapeurs de la Ière Région Militaire et d`autres entités, participent depuis samedi, au camp militaire de Coxa-Londe, au premier cours de formation sur le déminage.
Au cours de cette formation, qui durera 25 jours, et dirigée par des instructeurs de l`Institut National de Déminage (INAD), sont dispensées des matières telles que, "les menaces causées par des mines", "l`identification des secteurs minés", "les caractéristiques et types des mines", entre autres.
A l`ouverture di cours, le gouverneur provincial, Antonio Bento Kangulo, a affirmé que la guerre qui a ravagé le pays a laissé implanté au niveau de la province de Uige, plusieurs mines qui rendent difficile la libre circulation des personnes et des biens.
Bento Kangulo, qui souligné l`importance de cette formation, a déclaré qu`outre d`assurer la libre circulation des personnes et des marchandises, le processus de déminage garantira également la création des conditions pour réaliser les prochaines élections dans le pays, en permettant ques les brigades électorales se déplacent sans sursauts vers l`intérieur de la province.
Il a assuré que le gouvernorat provincial apporterait toute son assistance pour proportionner une formation condigne aux formateurs.

27 nouveaux cas de choléra enregistrés à Bengo
Angop / Dimanche, 16 avril 2006

Caxito(Angola) - 27 nouveaux cas de cholera avec un décès ont été enregistrés samedi dans les municipalités de Dande et d`Icolo et Bengo, dans la province de Bengo, au nord de Luanda, a déclaré à la presse le supérviseur provincial du programme de contrôle épidémiologique, José Geremias.
Le responsable a fait savoir qu`avec ces chiffres, la province de Bengo totalise depuis le surgissement du choléra le 25 mars dernier, 1.378 cas, dont 49 décès.

UGANDA

Uganda captures DRC rebels in Kampala
www.chinaview.cn / Yan Zhonghua / 2006-04-16

KAMPALA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Several Congolese who were accused of illegal entry will be charged in Uganda, following their arrests in Kampala, an official has said.
Ugandan Minister of Internal Affairs Ruhakana Rugunda was quoted by the state-owned Sunday Vision as saying, "Uganda welcomes all neighbors, but if any of these neighbors is not law-abiding, the laws of Uganda will deal with him."
Bwambale Kakolele, being declared persona non grata last August,was among the detained, who sneaked back into the country.
The majority of the estimated 10 arrested rebel leaders were members of the Congolese Revolutionary Movement (MRC) rebels who were based in Ituri, a town near the Congo-Uganda border.
Asked if they would be deported to Kinshasa, Rugunda said that deportation depends on "individual cases" as Uganda has no extradition treaty with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Six other Congolese rebels were arrested in February along withan American national, Peter E. Waldron who has been deported.
Army spokesman Felix Kulaigye said of the rebels, "We have picked them and the courts of law will decide their fate."
However, security sources said that Uganda has been angered following reports that the MRC rebels in Ituri and are now allies of the Allied Democratic Front, another group of rebels fighting the Ugandan government in the western region.
"We have information that MRC is being supported by some peoplein Kigali and Goma," the source said, "We think the recent incursion of ADF rebels into Bundibugyo district is a bigger war strategy by the enemies of Uganda."
In recent weeks, MRC fighters backed by ADF rebels have attacked positions of the Congolese army and the United Nations Observer Mission in Congo in areas along the DRC-Uganda border. Enditem

Northern Ugandans Fear Rebel Resurgence
Peter Eichstaedt in Lira / 17 - April, 2006

The Lord’s Resistance Army is still raiding villages, but the Ugandan military says the rebels are close to defeat.

Uganda

Fear clouds Tom Okeng’s eyes and his voice is strained as he recounts the attack on his village by ten rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army early last month.
While his children and wife watched in horror, Okeng was dragged from his thatched-roofed mud hut in the darkness of night, tied up with a rope, and stabbed repeatedly with a bayonet.
The rebels wanted money from him but settled for food, he says. Then they abducted a handful of villagers whom they would use as porters, cooks and soldiers to swell their depleted ranks.
When the band’s leader called for a pistol and threatened to finish him off, Okeng leapt up, struck at his captors, and stumbled into the darkness with bullets whizzing by his head.
Later that night, eight of the kidnapped villagers escaped when the rebels, who had by now separated into two groups, began shooting at each other in the belief that they had been attacked by a local defence militia.
“We all ran off in different directions,” recalled Lily Aburu, 40, who had earlier been yanked from her hut. “I thought it was the end.”
Aburu believes both she and Okeng were lucky. “If Tom [Okeng] had not taken the chance to run, he would not have survived,” she said.
For nearly 20 years, the mysterious Joseph Kony and his LRA have terrorised northern Uganda, southern Sudan, and most recently eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.
More than 1.8 million people, about 94 per cent of northern Uganda’s entire population, live in 202 refugee camps created by the war, according to a consortium of aid groups called Civil Society Organisations for Peace in Northern Uganda.
A recent report from the consortium, which represents dozens of aid groups with decades of experience in the region, says that some 900 people die each week from the warfare or related problems, such as disease and injury. That is three times higher than the death rate seen in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
The LRA rebels survive by pillaging communities, kidnapping children to become soldiers and wives, and routinely killing and mutilating victims. An estimated 25,000 children have been kidnapped during the past 15 years.
The recent LRA attack on Orem - the second in a month - has left villagers wondering if this war will ever end, even though the Ugandan military says it is all but over.
According to the villagers, their assailants were well-armed and wore new camouflage uniforms. This suggests the LRA still have access to supplies, which many analysts believe come from neighbouring Sudan.
By day, Okeng’s wife Lucy and her neighbours tend garden plots of cassava, beans and millet around the village. But at night, they return to the nearby refugee camp, or hide out in the dense bush to sleep or keep an eye on their few remaining farm animals.
“Once the moon is full, they will come back,” says Okeng, nervously watching the waning daylight - the rebels move around at night.
But Ugandan officials say the villagers’ fears are largely unfounded. They dispute the extent of the problem claimed by the coalition of civil society groups, and argue instead that the LRA’s days as an effective fighting force are over.
Colonel Charles Otema, the head of intelligence for the Ugandan army in the north, says the rebels still active are just “a few remnants” of Kony’s army “who have resorted to thuggery”.
Otema describes the army’s activity as “mop up” operations, in pursuit of disparate bands of rebels. “If there’s an attack, we pursue them, we chase them and crush them.”
“In the villages, people are feeling safe, gradually,” said Otema, indicating that some people may soon leave the refugee camps and go back to their farms.
Recent reports suggest Kony may be in Garamba National Park, a jungle game preserve in the troubled northeastern provinces of the DRC.
Kony fled his previous stronghold in southern Sudan with a small force of his most loyal soldiers, many of whom were kidnapped as children and have known no other life, to join his second-in-command, Vincent Otti.
Otti commands some 200 or more fighters and has terrorised parts of eastern Congo since last year. In January, his fighters killed eight Guatemalan peacekeepers and wounded five more members of the 17,000-member United Nations force struggling to maintain order there.
Colonel Otema says Uganda wants permission from DRC officials to cross the border and pursue Kony and Otti. Once that authorisation comes, he says confidently, “end of story - we are talking months. These people cannot hold.”
The capture of Congolese militia commander Thomas Lubanga, who was turned over to the International Criminal Court, ICC, in The Hague, has renewed hope that Kony and Otti could be captured.
Lubanga, alleged to have killed 2,000 civilians during regional conflicts in Congo in the late Nineties, faces charges of kidnapping children and forcing them to become child soldiers in his militia.
Last October, the ICC issued indictments for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Kony and four of his top commanders, one of whom is already dead.
Additionally, the UN Security Council has asked Secretary-General Kofi Annan to develop plans for the UN to help end the conflict in northern Uganda, just as it moves toward possible intervention in Sudan’s Darfur region.
But some LRA commanders close to Kony say he will never be captured alive.
Jackson Acama, 44, a former major in the LRA who was granted amnesty, says Kony is convinced he is a prophet and takes his orders directly from God.
“Kony does not care how many people die,” claims Acama. “He is doing what God tells him to do. Kony will never give up until people accept him as a prophet, or he is killed.”
Betty Bigombe, the lead Ugandan negotiator with Kony and the LRA, is hopeful yet sceptical, saying, “The LRA is weak now, but they always have regrouped and come back with renewed brutality.”
Bigombe speaks to the LRA regularly and insists they are willing to negotiate. But when asked whether the end is near for the rebel movement, she grimly responds, “It’s a long way off.”
Kony has only three options, she suggests: death, prison or exile.
But the last of these options is now is unlikely, following Nigeria’s recent agreement to turn over former Liberian leader Charles Taylor to be prosecuted for war crimes by an international court.
Despite mounting international pressure for action against the LRA, the residents of Orem doubt that peace is around the corner.
Okeng is mystified about why the LRA persists with its violence, but pressed to give an answer, he confides that he believes the people of northern Uganda are being punished. But why, and for what sins, he cannot say.
Robert Akona, 33, who is Okeng’s neighbour, shrugs when he is asked when the conflict might end. “I’m leaving it all to God and prayers,” he said.
Peter Eichstaedt is a senior editor in Uganda with the Institute for War and Peace Reporting - Africa.

Opposition lobby queen to cancel Uganda visit
The Monitor / Andnetwork .com / April 16, 2006

The FDC has taken its fight against the re-election of President Museveni to Uganda’s former colonial master, the UK, just days after the Supreme Court rejected the party president’s petition to have the February 23 presidential election overturned.
The opposition party sent a team of top officials within days of the ruling to lobby the UK government to have Queen Elizabeth II not attend the Commonwealth Summit due in Uganda next year as a way to deny Mr Museveni legitimacy.
Ms Beti Kamya, a special envoy in the FDC president’s office, and a party deputy secretary general, Mr Kassiano Wadri, led the team that also included Mr Sam Akaki, the FDC envoy to the UK and the European Union.
“Britain should review its position regarding the participation of Her Majesty the Queen in the 2007 meeting of the Commonwealth heads of government, which is expected to take place in Uganda,” an April 10 letter written by Akaki to Mr Jack Straw, the UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, reads in part.
“If Her Majesty were to attend the meeting, she would be hosted by a president who was elected to office in non-compliance with the provisions [and principles] of the Constitution, the Presidential Elections Act and the Electoral Commission Act, in the conduct of the 2006 Presidential Elections.”
But Information Minister Nsaba Buturo is sure the FDC attempts will fall flat. “They are anti-Uganda people and are not worth being leaders in this country,” Dr Buturo said. “The beneficiaries of this summit won’t be President Museveni but the people of Uganda.”
Ugandans went to the polls on February 23 in the country’s first multi-party election since 1980. Museveni, the head of NRM, emerged victorious leading the five-horse race with 59 percent of the vote. His closest challenger, Dr Kizza Besigye of FDC, came in second with 37 percent.
Citing various irregularities, Besigye took to the Supreme Court on March 7. While the court dismissed his petition on April 6, the judges ruled unanimously that the elections were neither free nor fair, and accused the Electoral Commission of gross incompetence and bias. But by a 4-3 vote, the judges upheld Museveni’s re-election saying any electoral offences had no substantial effect on the results.
Besigye promptly rejected the ruling. He promised that the FDC would “continue to vigorously fight the unfair and undemocratic political dispensation in Uganda until the essential reforms are achieved”.
Akaki said in an interview from London that the current lobbying of the UK is simply part of the party’s continuing campaign against the government in Kampala.
The party also asked the UK to “impose targeted sanctions including travel bans… on President Museveni, his ministers, army officers mentioned in the UN report of the illegal exploitation of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and their immediate family members”.
It further wants the UK to regard Museveni as an “illegitimate” leader of Uganda, arguing that anything less would only send the wrong signal to dictators in Africa and elsewhere.
The FDC also wants London to confirm its decision to withhold budget support to Uganda. On December 20, 2005, the Secretary of State for International Development, Mr Hilary Benn, told the British Parliament: “I am concerned about the recent developments in Uganda and I have decided to reduce UK budget support this year to Uganda by £20 million. Some £15 million of this money will be used to provide humanitarian relief in northern Uganda, and £5 million will be held back until after the elections in February.”
The FDC letter was addressed also to Minister Benn.
Minister Buturo ridiculed the opposition party for its old mentality of believing that the power to lead this country is obtained from outside. “It is not Britain or anybody else but the people of Uganda who decide who can rule them,” he said. “But what is the FDC’s problem? They have been defeated electorally and should come down to earth. They should stop making us a laughing stock.”
Interestingly, the UK government is yet to congratulate the President upon his re-election. The FDC team did more than just call for sanctions and a cancellation of the Queen’s visit, which is more or less mandatory because she presides over Commonwealth summits.
The group, which returned on Friday, also met with Conservative Party officials, including leader David Cameron, in Manchester and, according to Kamya, “We solicited for finciancial support and facilitation.”
Sources say the party is reeling from a big financial debt arising out of the Besigye petition. “Our debt burden today is more than Shs90 million,” Besigye said in the aftermath of the court ruling.

Uganda: Nigeria warns Aryem on use of head gear
Monitor / ANDnetwork .com / April 16, 2006

The Nigerian Fashion Association (NFA) has written a strongly worded letter of protest to the Ugandan authorities over what it has termed the desecration of its national dress by Jessica Aryem, a state witness in the current trial of Dr Kizza Besigye.
The letter was in response to press reports that Aryem had concealed spy gadgets in her headgear. The charge was made by seasoned opposition lawyer, Caleb Alaka, who said Aryem’s colourful dress and matching Nigerian could easily conceal the spy gagdets.
Alaka, who hails from Uganda’s West Nile region, spotted the ruse being accustomed to Nigerian outfits loved in that part of the country.
The NFA say that their country’s national dress is being dragged in the mud by the publicity given to the story.
“We hereby forbid Jessica Aryem from appearing before the court in Nigerian dress because it continues to feed the stereotype that Nigerians are criminals who can conceal their criminal design in anything even a celebrated garment like the one she appeared in,” said the statement.
“What would you say if a woman testifying on behalf of Olesugun Obasanjo were to wear a gomesi or busuti as you call it, and wind up being accused of tucking gadgets inside her bulky belt? Kindly ask Jessica Aryem, the maize seller cum nurse or whatever her profession is to refrain from abusing the heritage of the people of Nigeria next week ,” writes the NFA.
The gele is the official name of the headpiece that Aryem wore, the NFA statement said. However sources from the state say that Aryem is free to wear whatever she chooses. “So far she has been free to contradict herself in court, free to switch professions like a chameleon and free to damage the case the government is making. She is certainly free to wear any gele she wants with whatever accessories she chooses. The Nigerians will have to put up with it as indeed many Ugandans have put up with her dramatic court appearances.”

Ouverture annoncée des négociations entre la rébellion et le gouvernement burundais
spcm.org / dimanche 16 avril 2006

Le président burundais, Pierre Nkurunziza
Le gouvernement burundais et le dernier groupe rebelle du pays, les Forces Nationales de Libération, vont entamer ce week-end, des négociations de paix à Dar Es Salam, en Tanzanie. Le ministre burundais de l’Information, Karenga Ramadhani, a déclaré que ces discussions auraient lieu, conformément à l’esprit de l’accord de cessez-le-feu conclu il y a trois ans. Plusieurs centaines de milliers de personnes ont été tuées au cours de la longue guerre civile entre Hutus et Tutsis. Une guerre qui a commencé en 1993.

Fuel prices go up in Tanzania
www.chinaview.cn / Xinhua / 2006-04-16

DAR ES SALAAM -- Prices at filling stations in Dar es Salaam have gone up over the weekend, after the price of crude hit 67 U.S. dollars a barrel on the international market.
Unleaded petrol is now selling at 1,260 Tanzanian shillings (1.024 dollars) per liter while diesel is selling at 1,256 shillings (1.021 dollars) per liter.
The two fuels were selling at 1,150 shillings (93 U.S. cents) per liter and 1,130 shillings (91 cents) per liter last week.
BP Tanzania is the oil importing company that has raised its filling station prices by the largest margin of about 10 percent. The company was the latest firm to have offloaded petroleum products last week in Dar es Salaam.
Local analysts attributed the fuel price hike to threats posed by Iran's nuclear standoff with the United States and the violence in the African oil-producing country of Nigeria.
They also predicted that the country's inflation was set to rise further in that fuel prices would affect the transportation and distribution of food in the country and fuel prices themselves,just like the food prices, also weigh heavily on the inflation scale. Enditem

9 survive plane crash landing in N. Tanzania
www.chinaview.cn / Yang Li / 2006-04-16

DAR ES SALAAM, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Nine people have survived the crash landing of their light airplane in northern Tanzania where torrential rains and gushing winds forced the plane almost 400 km off its destination airport to land amid sisal plants.
The nine people on board the eventful Cessna Caravan were medical collaborators heading for Moshi in northern Tanzania for aconference, according to local English newspaper Sunday News.
The newspaper said that no one on board the plane had got hurt in the incident which saw the light plane crash land in a sisal plantation field almost 400 km west of Moshi.
"Nobody was killed but the plane has been damaged," the newspaper quoted an eyewitness as saying. Enditem

Beheaded "US spy" found on Pakistan border
Reuters / Sun Apr 16, 2006

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan- Residents of a troubled Pakistani border region found the beheaded body of a man with note saying he was an American spy and a warning others would face the same treatment, an official said on Sunday.
The body was found on Saturday in a market area in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, where Pakistani forces have been battling al Qaeda-linked militants.
"He was American spy and all of you will face this if you follow him," a government official who declined to be identified quoted the note as saying.
Many al Qaeda militants fled to Pakistan's semi-autonomous border region after U.S. and Afghan opposition forces ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in late 2001.
Many of the foreign militants joined forces with ethnic Pashtun tribesmen, who inhabit both sides of the porous border, many of whom sympathize with the Taliban.
The Pakistani army killed an Egyptian al Qaeda member, wanted for involvement in the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in an air strike in North Waziristan on Wednesday.
A government spokesman identified the man as Abdul Rehman, one of the aliases used by Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah, for whom the United States had offered a $5 million reward.
He was killed along with six other Islamist militants in a missile attack on their hideout, according to officials.
Osama bin Laden is believed to have passed through North Waziristan during his escape from Afghanistan in late 2001.

RDCongo : 33 candidats définitivement retenus pour se disputer la prochaine présidence
xinhua / 2006-04-16

33 candidats se trouvent sur la liste définitive validée par la Cour suprême de justice (CSJ) pour se disputer la prochaine présidence, a annoncé samedi soir la Commission électorale indépendante (CEI) de la RDCongo.
Le 6 avril, la CEI avait annoncé une liste provisoire à soumettre à la CSJ et retenant 32 candidats à l'élection présidentielle de 2006, qui constitue la première démocratique en RDCongo depuis 45 ans.
Quatre femmes figurent parmi les 33 candidats officialisés, parmi lesquels l'actuel chef de l'Etat congolais et chef du Parti du peuple pour la reconstruction et le développement (PPRD) Joseph Kabila comme "candidat indépendant" ainsi que trois vice-présidents de la République : Azarias Ruberwa, chef de l'ex-rébellion du Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie (RCD) soutenu par le Rwanda, Jean-Pierre Bemba, chef de l'ex-rébellion du Mouvement de libération du Congo (MLC) soutenu par l'Ouganda, et Arthur Zahidi Ngoma, dirigeant d'un parti d'opposition.
Les candidatures de plusieurs personnalités sont également retenues, dont Antoine Gizenga, doyen des opposants congolais et président du Parti lumumbiste unifié (Palu), Mobutu Nzanga, fils de l'homme fort zaïrois, et Pierre Pay Pay, ancien gouverneur de la Banque centrale sous le régime de Mobutu.
La CEI devrait annoncer mercredi prochain la date du premier tour de la présidentielle et des législatives. Ces scrutins qui avaient été fixés au 18 juin, ont été repoussés.
Le président de la CEI, l'abbé Apollinaire Malu Malu, a indiqué que le nouveau calendrier électoral ne serait annoncé qu'après la validation de tous les dossiers par la CSJ, soit à la fin de ce mois.

Congolese voters not allowed to come back to Zambia
www.chinaview.cn / Yan Zhonghua / 2006-04-16

LUSAKA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The refugees of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who are returning to their country to vote in the forthcoming general elections will not be allowed to come back to Zambia, the Sunday Mail newspaper reported.
Permanent Secretary of Home Ministry Peter Mumba was quoted as saying that under the law, the refugees who leave for their respective countries voluntarily before formal repatriation is sanctioned by the concerned parties can not be readmitted back as refugees.
If some refugees from the DRC have made official requests to bepermitted to register as voters in their country, they will be given the permission on condition that they will not return with the same status of refugee, he said.
He said that any refugee who seeks permission to go back to hiscountry of origin ceases to be a refugee.
Spokesperson of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Kelvin Shimo also said that refugees who gives valid reason for wanting to return to their countries of origin are released unconditionally but will not be readmitted by the host country as refugees.
The DRC will hold its first general elections in 40 years in June this year.
Mumba said at the end of this month, Zambia, the DRC and UNHCR will sign a tripartite agreement on repatriating DRC refugees.
He said the three parties have been hesitant to start the repatriation because of reported rampant skirmishes in the DRC.
Zambia is hosting over 60,000 refugees from the DRC. Enditem

Situation toujours instable dans le sud-est du Congo
rtl.be / 16-4-2006

Plus de 167.000 personnes ont fui depuis la mi-novembre 2005 des combats entre armée congolaise et miliciens locaux Maï Maï au Katanga, région minière du sud-est de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) où l'aide humanitaire commence à s'organiser. Ces déplacés ont fui leur village dans les territoires de Bukama, Manono, Mitwaba et Pweto, situés entre 350 et 600 km au nord-est et nord-ouest de Lubumbashi (capitale du Katanga), dans une zone grande comme quatre fois la Belgique, selon le Bureau des affaires humanitaires des Nations Unies (OCHA) au Katanga.
Début avril, le Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM) des Nations Unies a lancé sa première opération de largage aérien de vivres en RDC au Katanga : 375 tonnes de farine de maïs et de pois vont ainsi être distribuées dans le territoire de Mitwaba.
"Nous avons essayé d'envoyer des convois par la route, mais ils mettent cinq semaines à arriver, quand ils arrivent, vu l'état des routes pendant la saison des pluies. La situation est vraiment dramatique. Nos prévisions des besoins alimentaires sont déjà dépassées parce que les déplacés arrivent toujours plus nombreux. Nous n'avons plus que 700 tonnes de stock à Lubumbashi, et à moins d'une aide d'urgence, nous ne pourrons pas venir en aide à ces déplacés", explique Thomas Mokake, responsable du bureau du PAM à Lubumbashi.

L'arrivée au Katanga de 1.400 Casques bleus, dont un bataillon béninois soutenu par la Belgique, prévue d'ici mai, devrait contribuer à sécuriser les populations, mais ne règlera sans doute pas le problème de fond. "Il faudrait relever les troupes gouvernementales basées depuis 1997 au Katanga et beaucoup trop impliquées localement", plaide le chef du bureau d'OCHA pour le centre du Katanga, Alfred Gondo, qui s'interroge sur l'approvisionnement en armes des Maï Maï,"entretenus pendant des années par Kinshasa".

Kenya: Unrest as bandits strike in Moyale, steal 28 cows
The Standard / Andnetwork .com / April 16, 2006

Tension continued to mount in Northern Kenya as armed bandits raided another manyatta, and stole 28 cows in Sololo area of Moyale District.
This comes just three days after the burial of three MPs who perished on a peace mission to Marsabit.
The raiders, who attacked a Gabra manyatta, were believed to have come from another part of the same district.
The raiders struck just a day after other attackers, believed to have crossed from Ethiopia, stole about 3,000 animals in the same area.
Moyale Officer Commanding Police Division, Mr Hesbon Kadenge, said the attackers struck at about 3 pm on Friday.
Kadenge, confirming the incident to The Sunday Standard, said a contingent of police officers was dispatched to the village that borders Ethiopia.
No injuries were reported on villagers who were said to have fled when the attackers were detected.
The police chief at the same time appealed to the area residents to abstain from cattle rustling and other criminal activity, adding that the Government is not going to spare the perpetrators.
"We are appealing to the communities living in Moyale District to stop this crude habit of cattle rustling. Law enforcers are on the ground and we call on members of the public to assist them in tracking down the rustlers," said the OCPD.
On Thursday afternoon, in the neighbouring Marsabit District, armed raiders attacked a village in Dukana area, and stole 2,974 animals.
The animals are said to have crossed over to Ethiopia and the area District Security Intelligence Committee (DSIC) has written a protest note to the Ethiopian Government.
President Kibaki, while in Marsabit last Wednesday, ordered a crackdown on criminals in the area who have been terrorising residents for decades.
Cattle rustling and sporadic raids characterise the districts of Moyale and Marsabit, whose MPs perished in the Monday crash while on a peace mission.

Kenya's imported dream tree becomes a nightmare
Sapa-AFP / Beatrice Debut / Ngambo / 16 April 2006

Kenya

It is fast-growing, drought-resistant and sprawls over hectares of land in Kenya's arid regions, providing fuel and furniture material for thousands of impoverished herders and farmers.
But once hailed as a miracle cure for land degradation and desertification, the rapidly spreading prosopis tree has become an environmental menace that many wish had never been introduced to the East African nation.
And having been brought to Kenya from the Americas in a much-lauded two-decade-old programme, authorities are now importing another non-indigenous species -- a leaf beetle known to eat prosopis seeds -- to curb its growth.
In the early 1980s, the Kenyan government, with financial backing from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), encouraged the planting of prosopis trees with an eye toward sustaining life in arid and semi-arid zones.
But more than 20 years later, it has overgrown its welcome and objectives, blocking off pathways and stooping over rural roads as well as altering river courses, some of which now meander through homesteads.
"The river used to be six kilometres from here," says Joel Olesaaya, a local councillor in this village in Baringo district, 300km north-west of Nairobi where
prosopis trees run rampant.
"Now, it is in my field and my house is flooded on a regular basis, I had to move," he said, as wandered round his corrugated tin house that is often marooned by surging river waters.
With a countrywide coverage of between 500 000 and a million hectares, the thorny deciduous tree has forced 113 people from their homes in Ngambo alone as it overwhelms efforts to curtail its growth.
"The problem is that prosopis is very aggressive, it grows on its own," said Simon Choge, an official with Kenya Forestry Research Institute. "It is now out of control. It is an invasion."
Its sweet and alluring fruit has also proved a fatal attraction for browsing livestock, at least 1 000 of which have died as a result of eating the green-bean like produce that turns pale yellow when ripe, residents say.
"The pods are too sugary, the goats lose their teeth and die," said Wesley Lekakimon, a Ngambo resident, who like many see the benefits of the prosopis explosion as being far outweighed by its ubiquity.
While acknowledging the problems, government officials have urged patience, noting that the trees can be used to benefit communities.
"Prosopis is a problem now, but the challenge we have is how to manage and utilise it," allowed David Mbugua, the chief conservator of forests with Kenya's environment ministry.
Yet angry locals are demanding action to fight back after attempts to take advantage of a bad situation by felling the trees and using the wood to make charcoal and the fruit to make cattle feed proved not worth the expense.
"I have made 3 000 Kenyan shillings ($42) in the past six months," said Eresia Merige a local farmer who has been trying in vain to eke out a living from the labour-intensive process.
Choge shares her frustration.
"It is hard to mobilise people because of the intensity of the work and you don't get anything at the end of the day," he said.
But even as the government acknowledges the problems, it failed to come up with a viable solution until last year when it proposed the introduction of another non-native species, the Algarobius prosopis beetle, from South Africa.
The beetles arrived earlier this year, but are being held in quarantine in Nairobi pending tests to ensure they will not destroy other plants or pose dangers to animal life as the prosopis tree has done.
"We have to test them to make sure that they don't kill other indigenous species," Choge said.
Still, the residents here are dissatisfied with the government, saying the move to curb the spread of prosopis is too little, too late and have filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages of millions of shillings from the state and the re-introduction of indigenous tree species.

Kenya: Tension at Ethiopia border
Nation Media / ANDnetwork .com / April 16, 2006

About 100 families living near the Kenya-Ethiopia border have fled their homes for fear of attack from marauding bandits said to be dressed in the neighbouring country's military attire.

The fleeing families are now camping at Dukana and El-Hadi primary schools where they have taken refuge following two separate attacks in which they lost about 3,000 animals.

1,600 camels stolen

Kenyan security officials have confirmed that the families had fled their homes in North Horr division of Marsabit District and Moyale following the attacks on Kenyan herders.
During the attacks, 1,624 camels, 1,200 sheep and goats and 150 head of cattle were taken away.
Independent reports also indicated that 175 firearms were also confiscated from the Kenyan herders during the raids.
The first attack occurred on Tuesday when a group of Kenyan herders from Dukana location were held hostage by Ethiopian soldiers.
And the second attack happened on Thursday in Moyale district where a large number of livestock was taken away.
The Eastern provincial acting police boss, Mr Robert Kitur, said bandits from Ethiopia crossed over the border and attacked a manyatta at Uran village in Moyale.
"They did not kill anyone during their first attack but stole 14 goats," Mr Kitur told the Sunday Nation yesterday.
The first incident, where herders were rounded up by the Ethiopian attackers, police boss said, happened on Ethiopian soil.
Kenyan herders from Dukana had crossed the border with their livestock to Ethiopia in search of pasture, Mr Kitur explained.
He said that when people in Dukana and El-Hadi village – which is also at the border – heard about the incident, they panicked.
"They thought that the Ethiopian soldiers were preparing to attack them. And they have now moved out of their manyattas. They are camping at Dukana and El-Hadi primary schools," the acting PPO said.
On the fateful day, Mr Kitur continued to explain, "a group of herders left Dukana and crossed the border with their herds. As usual they started grazing their livestock.
"It happened that the Ethiopian soldiers were on patrol when they came across the Kenyan herders and asked them to identify themselves. When they failed to produce valid identification documents, the soldiers arrested them and confiscated their animals, the police officer said.
He is not sure about the number of herders who were rounded up.
"We are not sure about the number but what I know is that all those arrested have been released," he said.
Like the other areas in the Northern Kenya region, Dukana, which is at the border, is ravaged by the prevailing drought.
Herders are now taking their animals to Ethiopia where pasture is available.

Relief supplies

Yesterday, arrangements were being made in Marsabit town, which is 300 km away from Dukana, to take relief supplies to the displaced families.
However, Mr Kitur said that after the two incidents, they held a security meeting where they sent a protest note to the Ethiopian government to release the animals they had confiscated.
The Ethiopian embassy in Nairobi declined to comment on the issue, preferring to do so on Tuesday.

AFRIQUE DU SUD :

Concern over Mittal South Africa's profitability reports
newkerala.com / 16 Apr 2006

By Fakir Hassen, Johannesburg: The just-released annual report of Mittal Steel South Africa, part of the world's largest steel company owned by London-based Lakshmi Mittal, shows the company is doing very well contrary to its testimony before a court here, say industry experts.
The conflicting profitability reports of the company, which was hauled up before the Competitions Tribunal here over its pricing, is causing concern among industry analysts.
During the three-week investigation into Mittal SA by the tribunal here, expert witnesses brought by the company repeatedly pointed out that it would not be profitable in the long term if the tribunal forced Mittal to change its pricing structure.
Mittal SA was brought before the tribunal by several local steel users and two mining companies, who allege unfairness over its import parity-pricing model.
But the testimony by various experts that essentially pleaded poverty has been negated by statements in Mittal Steel's annual report, in which the company's chairman, Khaya Ngqula and chief executive Davinder Chugh both describe Mittal's earnings as "exceptionally good".
The picture painted by the annual report is one of a company that is indeed very strong with profitable operations, contrary to the evidence presented at the tribunal, which aimed to counter the allegations of excessive prices to local buyers.
"(The annual report) describes a vibrant and extremely profitable business, going as far as to state that 'we reinvented the steel industry'," analyst Jabulani Sikhkhane wrote in the daily Business Report.
"There is no hint that this is a company that might be in difficulty, all of which does tend to confirm the view expressed by tribunal member Norman Manoim that the picture presented at the tribunal was just that - a picture created purely for the purposes of the hearing."
The annual report also does not see the tribunal hearing as a serious threat, with the only reference to it being a note to the financial accounts explaining why no provision has been made for the complaints to the tribunal of the Competitions Commission: "Because no significant exposure exists in this regard."
But at the tribunal, Mittal Steel argued that although it had changed the import parity-pricing model to which the complainants objected, it could not reduce prices as this would mean that the company would be forced to close down in the longer term.
The import parity-pricing model sees local buyers paying the same price as those abroad would pay, including freight and other charges.
The complainants have argued that Mittal's new model does not reduce the prices in any way.
The tribunal is expected to make its finding known after the current Easter holiday recess.
Mittal Steel SA was so renamed after the LNM Group, headed by steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, took over the former state-owned producer Iscor three years ago.

ZIMBABWE/SOUTH AFRICA : Trevor Ncube enters the media's 'hall of fame'
The Zimbabwe Independent / Andnetwork .com / April 16, 2006

PUBLISHER of the Zimbabwe Independent and the Mail & Guardian of South Africa, Trevor Ncube, is this year one of the recipients of the Print Media Newspaper Fellows awards.

Ncube was awarded the fellowship at the 5th annual Mondi Shanduka Newspaper Awards at the Sandton Sun last week.
He joined two other South African print media luminaries, Deon du Plessis, publisher of the Daily Sun and Stuart Craib, chief executive officer of The Witness, in the SA media hall of fame.
Launched in 1998, the awards recognise individuals who devote their energy to furthering the interests of the newspaper and print media industry over a number of years.
Ncube, who is also the publisher of the Standard in Zimbabwe, was honoured for his outstanding work as president of Print Media SA and the Newspaper Association during his 2003 to 2005 term of office.
Part of his citation reads: “He advanced the cause of press freedom and newspaper business with his persistent and quiet lobbying with government on issues of concern.
“Through his chairmanship he was able to get the industry to formulate joint positions on a number of intractable issues. He should also be credited with doing the spade work in securing the hosting of the 2007 World Association of Newspapers Conference in Cape Town.”

South Africa: MDC's Mutambara Pays Courtesy Call On Mbeki
Business Day (Johannesburg) / Jonathan Katzenellenbogen / April 16, 2006

Johannesburg

IN A bid to kick-start faltering talks to resolve the Zimbabwean political impasse, President Thabo Mbeki met the faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Prof Arthur Mutambara in Pretoria last week.
The party's deputy secretary-general, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, who was at the meeting, described it as "a courtesy call". The idea of the meeting had been purely to provide a basis for future talks, she said.
They had not discussed any role for SA as a mediator in the current impasse.
Also attending the meeting were MDC deputy leader Gibson Sibanda and secretary-general Welshman Ncube.
Mbeki is still to meet the opposing faction, led by founding president Morgan Tsvangirai, but the latter has already said he sees no role for the former in the opposition party's problems. He has also said Mbeki is "part of the problem in Zimbabwean politics".
Mbeki's office declined to comment on the meeting. But in earlier comments it was clear that Mbeki had availed himself to mediate in the MDC faction fights and had expressed his belief that "Zimbabwe needs a vibrant and unified opposition".
Mbeki has, unsuccessfully thus far, tried to broker a political agreement between Mugabe's ruling Zanu (PF) and the MDC.
The meeting comes at a time when Mutambara is battling to consolidate his leadership. Last week a number of MPs and prominent members defected to the faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga said the meeting marked the start of a round of meetings that would be held with a number of African leaders to introduce Mutambara.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean government has moved to downplay reports that Vice-President Joseph Msika was critically ill in a Cape Town hospital.
Msika took over as vice-president when Joshua Nkomo died in 1999. He was a member of Nkomo's Zapu faction and his current position allows Mugabe's party to claim a degree of support in Matabeleland.
Zimbabwean Deputy Health Minister Edwin Muguti, who accompanied Msika to SA, said that "Msika is in no danger and recovering well".
He denied Msika has a heart problem. "We went for a walk with him yesterday in SA," said Muguti. "He is recovering well." Muguti said Msika had been taken to SA "because equipment needed to attend to his condition was not available in Zimbabwe".
Zimbabwean media reports, quoting sources in Zanu (PF), say the ailing 82-year-old Msika had requested to be released from the government.
The sources say Mugabe is reluctant to release him, fearing a refuelling of the succession battle that is threatening a schism in the ruling party

South Africa: Inflation Control is All in the Mind
Business Day (Johannesburg) / Kevin O'grady / April 16, 2006

Johannesburg

GETTING people to believe prices are not spiralling upwards is half the battle won when it comes to keeping inflation under control. To win this half of the battle, Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni puts the fear of God into us. He makes it clear that he will stop at nothing to keep inflation in check, that even so much as the threat of soaring inflation will result in us paying more for our houses, cars and enormous credit-card debt.
This act of keeping inflationary expectations down may be the key to the long period of stable interest rates we are experiencing.
It is now exactly a year since the Reserve Bank's monetary policy committee last altered the repo rate. And, although the inflation rate has risen significantly since then, the Bank has been able to keep the repo rate steady at 7%, as it did once again on Thursday.
One of the "positives" underscored by Mboweni on announcing the committee's decision was the change in inflation expectations from a year or two ago.
Expectation of higher inflation is in a sense a self-fulfilling prophecy.
When workers expect general price levels to drastically rise, they demand higher wages, thereby putting up the costs of their employer and contributing to the fulfillment of the expectation.
When consumers think that prices will rise in the future, they spend more now, creating additional demand and helping fulfil the prophecy.
But, Mboweni said, fewer people expect CPIX inflation (consumer inflation excluding interest costs on mortgages) to breach the Bank's 3%-6% target range now than they did last year and in 2004.
Citing the Bureau for Economic Research's (BER's) latest quarterly inflation expectations survey, Mboweni said CPIX inflation expectations for this year had declined from an average of 5,2% in the fourth quarter of last year to an average of 4,4% in the first three months of this year.
This is a far cry from the average inflation rate of 6,4% for 2006 predicted by respondents when they were polled by the BER in the first quarter of 2004, and is even below the last recorded CPIX figure -- February's 4,5%.
That unit labour costs increased 3,3% last year, compared with 6,5% in 2004, and that wage settlements averaged 6,3% in the first quarter this year, was a manifestation of these "entrenched expectations that inflation will remain within the inflation target range", Mboweni said.
So, too, was the fact that the Bank's inflation forecast had not changed much from two months ago. The Bank expects CPIX to peak just below 5% in the first quarter of next year, then decline to about 4,6%, and stay there until the end of 2008.
Economists believe the committee took the right decision in keeping interest rates unchanged, but there is a growing view that the next move in rates will be up.
The problem, says NKC economist Hugo Pienaar, lies in predicting when this hike will happen, "especially if the actual inflation numbers continue to paint a fairly benign picture".
In spite of what Mboweni also referred to as a "benign" inflation outlook, there is no let-up in the message that we have not shaken off the spectre of higher interest rates; he continues to manage those expectations downwards.
Mboweni kicked off the press conference to announce the committee's decision with the ominous words: "Strong consumer demand and rising international oil prices continue to pose a threat to the inflation outlook."
He ended it in a similarly menacing vein, saying: "The monetary policy committee perceives the risks to inflation to be on the upside.
"In particular, the committee is mindful of the threats posed by strong credit extension, consumer demand, the widening current account deficit and rising international oil prices."
To those listening, it might have sounded as if a rate hike was on the cards. But in between the ominous introduction and the menacing conclusion lay half a dozen reasons that inflation is not enough of a worry to warrant higher rates. Yet.

AFRIQUE / U A :

Le pape lance un appel pour le Darfour
dw-world.de / 16.04.2006

Benoît XVI a envoyé sa bénédiction pascale « urbi et orbi » (à la ville et au monde) lors de la première messe de Pâques de son pontificat. Le souverain pontife, qui fête aujourd’hui ses 79 ans, a appelé à « des négociations sérieuses et loyales » entre la communauté internationale et l'Iran sur la crise du nucléaire. Pour le Proche-Orient, Benoît XVI a souhaité la création d’un Etat palestinien dans le respect de la reconnaissance d’Israël. Le pape a également lancé un cri d'alarme en faveur des populations du Darfour « qui s'enfoncent dans une situation humanitaire dramatique». Il a associé à son appel les populations d'autres régions d'Afrique « qui aspirent aussi à la réconciliation, à la justice et au développement », celles de la région des grands Lacs, de la corne de l'Afrique, de la Côte d'Ivoire, de l'Ouganda et du Zimbabwe.
En Allemagne, Pâques est l’occasion pour la conférence épiscopale d’interpeller la classe politique sur les problèmes de la société allemande. Le dernier en date étant celui de l’intégration, revenu au goût du jour depuis l’appel à l’aide d’une école berlinoise qui a révélé un échec de l’intégration à l’allemande. Le cardinal Karl Lehmann revient sur la question : « Je pense qu’il faut, indépendamment du dialogue interreligieux, agir à trois niveaux. Le premier est l’apprentissage de la langue. La langue est le pilier de toute communication. Le deuxième est le travail. Le monde du travail est un champ très vaste où les gens peuvent faire connaissance puisqu’ils se côtoient chaque jour plusieurs heures. Mais très souvent, la communication manque, parfois à cause de la langue justement. Je pense que le troisième niveau est la vie quotidienne, avec les voisins, dans la rue, etc. Il y a de multiples possibilités, lors des fêtes de quartier par exemple. Il ne faut pas oublier non plus le sport, qui offre une chance énorme d’intégration. Je pense donc qu’il faut redéfinir la conception et les conditions de l’intégration. Mais heureusement, il y a déjà de nombreux exemples positifs. »
Et puis Pâques marque également un tournant aux Philippines : la présidente Gloria Arroyo a annoncé l’abolition de la peine de mort dans son pays lors de son message pascal. La peine capitale sera commuée en détention à perpétuité.

Yahya Jammeh accuse une main étrangère dans la tentative de coup d'Etat
XINHUA / 2006-04-16

DAKAR -- Le Président gambien Yahya Jammeh a accusé une "intervention étrangère" dans la récente tentative de coup d'Etat en Gambie, a rapporté samedi l'Agence de presse africaine.
S'adressant samedi à des milliers de Gambiens, après une marche de trois kilomètres dans les rues de Banjul en guise de protestation contre la tentative avortée du coup d'Etat, il a estimé que ce putsch n'est "qu'une machination menée contre la Gambie de la part d'autres pays jaloux de la paix, du progrès et du développement que son gouvernement a enregistré depuis son accession au pouvoir".
"Cette jalousie s'est accentuée depuis que du pétrole a été découvert en Gambie", a-t-il ajouté, soulignant que le putsch avait aussi pour but d'empêcher la tenue du sommet de l'Union africaine (UA), prévue en juillet prochain à Banjul. "Nous irons de l'avant en dépit de ce que peut penser quelqu'un d'autre", a-t- il fait remarquer.
Le Président Jammeh a ensuite condamné "certains militaires sans sens patriotique qui se sont laissés achetés par des éléments étrangers en vue de semer le chaos dans le pays".
Il a également accusé l'opposition gambienne de "manquer de patriotisme", en la qualifiant de "bande d'aigris, d'égoïstes et de gourmands qui font usage du tribalisme pour accéder au pouvoir".
Le président Jammeh qui est lui-même arrivé au pouvoir à la faveur d'un coup d'Etat contre le gouvernement de Dawda Kairaba Jawara, en 1994, a survécu à trois tentatives de coup, y compris la dernière du 21 mars dernier.
Yahya Jammeh exerce son second mandat en tant que président élu. La prochaine élection présidentielle gambienne pour laquelle il sera appelé à briguer un troisième mandat devrait se tenir en octobre prochain. Fin

Rassemblement deux ans après la disparition de Guy-André Kieffer à Abidjan
jeuneafrique.com / 16/04/2006

Les proches et la famille du journaliste franco-canadien Guy-André Kieffer, disparu il y a deux ans en Côte d'Ivoire dans des circonstances qui n'ont jamais été élucidées, se sont rassemblés dimanche à Paris pour dénoncer "l'inertie" des autorités françaises et ivoiriennes sur ce dossier.
"Il s'agit de rappeler cete disparition pour qu'elle ne tombe pas dans l'oubli", a expliqué Me Chantal Hounkpatin, l'une des avocates de la famille du journaliste. "L'enquête piétine, elle est aujourd'hui au point mort. Il n'est pas normal qu'au bout de deux ans, rien n'ait abouti", a-t-elle ajouté.
Une tentaine de personnes, rassemblées place de la Nation sous des photos de Guy-André Kieffer, ont distribué des tracts avec la photo du journaliste disparu.
Guy-André Kieffer, correspondant de la Lettre du continent, publication spécialisée consacrée à l'Afrique, enquêtait sur des malversations dans la filière cacao, sujet extrêmement sensible dans ce pays qui en est le premier producteur mondial. Selon son frère Bernard Kieffer, le journaliste, qui a été enlevé en plein jour le 16 avril 2004 à Abidjan sur le parking d'un supermarché, enquêtait également sur des achats d'armes par le régime du président Laurent Gbagbo.
Le beau-frère de l'épouse du président ivoirien Simone Gbagbo, Michel Legré, la dernière personne à avoir vu vivant Guy-André Kieffer, sur le parking du supermarché, a été inculpé par la justice ivoirienne mais remis en liberté, a rappellé Me Hounkpatin. Un juge d'instruction a demandé sans succès à l'entendre en France, a ajouté l'avocate, en dénonçant "la désinvolture avec laquelle la famille est traitée" par le ministère français des Affaires étrangères qui lui a conseillé "d'engager un détective privé".
Les deux enquêtes judiciaires en cours en France et en Côte d'Ivoire n'ont, de fait, guère connu d'évolutions déterminantes ces douze derniers mois, hormis la remise en liberté du principal suspect, Michel Legré, beau-frère de l'épouse du président ivoirien Simone Gbagbo.
"M. Legré a été remis en liberté (le 28 octobre 2005). Il est à ce jour la seule personne inculpée dans ce dossier", a déclaré le ministre ivoirien de la Justice Mamadou Koné, qui a précisé que le dossier Kieffer demeurait "un dossier important, un dossier signalé". De nationalité ivoirienne, M. Legré est la dernière personne à avoir vu vivant Guy-André Kieffer, sur le parking d'un supermarché d'Abidjan, le 16 avril 2004, jour de sa disparition. Inculpé en mai 2004 par la justice ivoirienne pour "complicité d'enlèvement", "séquestration" et "assassinat", il réside actuellement à Abidjan.
Dans un entretien publié samedi par le quotidien Libération, le frère du journaliste, Bernard Kieffer, a dénoncé l'attitude française: "Paris ne veut pas envenimer ses relations pour le moins complexes avec la Côte d'Ivoire (...) Mais la passivité des autorités françaises confine à la complaisance". Il a également dénoncé le "mur de silence" dressé par les autorités ivoiriennes, relevant que "des proches du couple présidentiel Gbagbo sont impliqués".
"Alors qu'une deuxième année d'opacité se termine, il est grand temps qu'Abidjan et Paris multiplient des efforts concrets dans cette affaire. Le manque de détermination freine les investigations du juge français Patrick Ramaël et de sa consoeur Emmanuelle Ducos", a pour sa part réagi Reporters sans frontières (RSF).
Les demandes du juge Ramaël, chargé d'instruire l'enquête française, pour entendre M. Legré en France, loin du contexte ivoirien, sont jusqu'à présent restées lettre morte. Le président de l'Union nationale des journalistes de Côte d'Ivoire (UNJCI) a de son côté une nouvelle fois demandé que "la lumière soit faite sur cette disparition que nous déplorons profondément". "Il faut qu'on puisse le retrouver et qu'à défaut, on retrouve les coupables de sa disparition. Il faut qu'on sache ce qu'il est advenu de lui", a déclaré Amos Béonaho.

Taylor: Amnesty Hails Nigeria’s Action
Nigerian News / Andnetwork .com / April 16, 2006

Amnesty International has commended the Nigerian government’s position in repatriating former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, and said it was the logical thing to do so that the ex-warlord would face trial.
The international human rights organisation in a statement it issued recently stated that “Amnesty International welcomes the surrender of former Liberian president Charles Taylor to the custody of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, where he has been indicted and will face trial on 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
According to the body, “the organization also welcomes the arrest, on 17 March, of Thomas Lubanga -- leader of an armed political group in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) -- who was surrendered to the International Criminal Court on suspicion of having committed war crimes.”
The arrests it said were important steps in the fight against abuse of power on the continent. “These arrests represent important steps in the fight against impunity in Africa and send a message that those involved in human rights violations will be brought to account.
“However, further steps must be taken to ensure that other alleged perpetrators of human rights violations in Africa, including Hissene Habre, former president of Chad, face justice,” it said
Following the surrender of Charles Taylor, the Special Court has requested that -- for security reasons -- the trial be moved to the The Hague, The Netherlands. Amnesty International said it has been supportive of the Special Court and its important role in achieving justice for the thousands of victims of crimes against humanity, war crimes and other crimes under international law in Sierra Leone.
Elaborating on its position, the body stated that it “believes that whether Charles Taylor is tried in Freetown or elsewhere under the jurisdiction of the Special Court, it is critical that protection for all witnesses is guaranteed, and that the trial be accessible to and known by the victims, their families and the wider Sierra Leonean society.”
“Such measures are essential to ensure the relevance and contribution to the crucial message that impunity for crimes under international law will not be tolerated and that justice will be achieved for the victims of these crimes -- so that justice is both done and
It further expressed its belief in a statement by Mr. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General that "the capture and trial of Mr. Taylor will send a powerful message to the region and beyond that impunity will not be allowed to stand and that the rule of law must prevail."
The global body explained: “In the past decades the perpetration of crimes under international law has plagued many parts of Africa. African men, women and children have been victims of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other crimes under international law. Suspected perpetrators are rarely brought to justice, benefiting from amnesties and similar measures, while the victims have been frequently denied an effective remedy.
“The Constitutive Act of the African Union recognizes among its fundamental principles and objectives the "condemnation and rejection of impunity". Amnesty International therefore calls on African governments to ensure that suspected perpetrators of crimes under international law do not benefit from impunity.
“African states must try suspected perpetrators of crimes under international law in full accordance with guarantees of fair trial and without the imposition of the death penalty, and must extradite them to states that are willing to prosecute them in accordance with fair trial standards or surrender them to internationalized courts. Governments must also comply with any request made by the International Criminal Court to surrender accused persons.”

PanAfrica: U.S. Farm Subsidies Hurting Africa's Development
Inter Press Service (Johannesburg) / Joyce Mulama / April 16, 2006

Nairobi

In a renewed campaign, African trade ministers have urged the United States to remove agricultural subsidies that are hurting African farmers.
"We need to maintain pressure on the U.S. to remove agriculture subsidies because this is an impediment to our development," said Moody Awori, Kenya's Vice President, when opening a one-day meeting in the capital Nairobi, Friday.
"The removal of these subsidies will be a clear demonstration of the ability of the multilateral trading system to respond positively to the genuine cry of the many poor African farmers who live on less than one dollar a day," he said.
The 20 trade ministers, who met under the auspices of the 53-member African Union (AU), called on the United States to indicate when it would stop subsidising its farmers, as the Doha round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations get close to conclusion in 2006.
This round began in 2001 at a WTO ministerial conference held in Doha, Qatar. The negotiations seek to reduce trade barriers and make trade fairer for developing countries.
The talks subsequently continued in Cancun, Mexico, Geneva, Switzerland and Hong Kong, China in 2003, 2004 and 2005 respectively. But they failed to make any headway because agricultural protectionisms, including providing agricultural subsidies to farmers, have continued to be observed in rich countries.
The European Union (EU) has also urged the United States to tackle the issues around subsidies. "The U.S. has been shy to tell us how they will deal with subsidies. They have not told us exactly what they will be doing," Karl Falkenberg, the EU director general for trade, told journalists in Nairobi on the eve of the African trade ministers meeting.
He said the European Union no longer pays its farmers to produce more products; instead, farmers were being paid to produce less but quality products, which he said, still created a demand for more African imports. "If they produce less, it means that we will have to import more from Africa to satisfy our needs. This will lead to more export potential for Africa. We intend to defend African commodities into our markets because this is of benefit to Africa," Falkenberg added.
But critics contend that the EU reform on subsidies is still disadvantageous to poor countries which cannot afford to subsidise their farmers to produce more, let alone quality products.
According to Oxfam, an international charity, between 1999 and July 2005, American producers of cotton received more than 18 billion dollars in U.S. subsidies.
"The market value of this production during this same period was 23.39 billion dollars. This translates into a subsidisation rate of 86 percent, which means for every dollar received by cotton farmers from their sales, they received an additional 86 cents in subsidies," it said.
According to the charity, African countries have lost more than 350 million dollars in potential export revenue as a result of depressed world prices in the last two years.
"For some very poor countries, achieving progress on cotton offers the biggest opportunity of the Doha Round. With 20 million African farmers, dependent on cotton for their livelihoods, you can understand why. But, since this issue emerged in 2002, there has been virtually no progress. Everyone knows what needs to be done: there is no excuse for delay, this cannot be brushed under the carpet," said Celine Charveriat, head of Oxfam International's Make Trade Fair campaign, in a statement late last year.
The Nairobi meeting also urged Africa to resist any measures imposed on it. "Africa has a right to insist that an outcome of the Doha round of negotiations that does not take adequate account of its major interests and concerns will not be acceptable," Elizabeth Tankeu, the AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry, told the gathering.
Agriculture subsidies are not the only headache Africa is grappling with. At the WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in 2005, members adopted a provision that seeks to reduce and eliminate tariffs, especially on products of export crucial to developing countries.
African civil society groups have warned that Africa and other developing countries rely on tariffs for industrial development, as well as for government revenue.
"We reiterate our call to African governments not to undertake further commitments to reduce their tariffs on products that are essential for food security, the protection of small farmers' livelihood and income, and for rural development and poverty eradication," said a memorandum presented to the Nairobi trade ministers meeting. The document was signed by about 50 organisations.
Tariff cuts have led to an influx of cheaper imports that have threatened local production. In Kenya, for example, the dairy sector has been a casualty for a long time. All, but one milk processing plants closed down, resulting into a surge in imported milk products in the 1990s and in 2001. This prompted the government to raise the tariff on imported dairy products in 2002 from 35 to 60 percent to protect local production.
Not all outcomes of last year's WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong are unfair to Africa. The Aid for Trade (AfT) initiative is being perceived as an achievement.
The initiative seeks to fund developing nations, particularly Least Developed Countries (Africa included) to address constraints that have been largely responsible for their poor performance in global trade.

PanAfrica: Graft: UK's Plan for Africa
The East African Standard (Nairobi) / Samuel Otieno / April 16, 2006

Nairobi
A section of British parliamentarians have embarked on a mission to combat corruption and money laundering in Africa.
The move comes soon after the British Parliament launched a report portraying Kenya as a showcase for corruption in Africa.
The Other Side of the Coin: The UK Anti Corruption in Africa, released in March, identifies tendering, overpricing and use of ghost companies as among the avenues used to steal taxpayers' money in Kenya.
"Political corruption often links in with other mechanisms to skim off money through contracts from particular sectors," says the report.
The parliamentarians' move is also aimed at ensuring British aid is not consumed by corruption. The MPs also want to ensure aid does not support corrupt leaders.
Among those listed by The Africa All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) as major scandals that have hit Africa are the Anglo Leasing and Goldenberg scams.
"We examined what the UK can do to support African countries to tackle corruption, because UK policy is our area of potential influence," the report says.
"We do not excuse corrupt rulers from their ultimate culpability for stealing from their people," it adds.
Barely a month ago, the UK House of lords extensively debated the recent raid by State agents on the Standard Group and suggested suspension of aid.
"The Government has failed on corruption, failed on constitutional reforms and now failed on freedom of the Press. Although the people of Kenya deserve our continued aid especially in view of the current drought, the Government of Kenya certainly does not," said Lord Steel of Aikwood.
The Goldenberg scandal alone fleeced the Government of between US$600 million and $1 billion in just three years with the connivance of leading politicians and officials.
Recent revelations of graft have already forced the resignation of three powerful Cabinet ministers.
First to resign was Finance minister David Mwiraria, followed by Education minister George Saitoti and Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Kiraitu Murungi.
Scandals implicating several high level Kenyan politicians and officials that were recently revealed by former Anti-Corruption Czar, John Githongo, were mainly related to security sector contracts. The Githongo report, which alleges grand corruption by leading politicians through security sector procurement also shows that the money was sought to fund party political campaigns.
The APPG report singled out the widespread practice of mispricing as an effective vehicle for looting and laundering Government resources.
"It is a simple practice, a secret agreement by the buyer and seller to misprice a project or item to allow the difference between the real price and the book price to be diverted, often to a private offshore bank account," says the report.
The mechanism also works in the opposite direction, with corrupt officials arranging for the import of items at inflated prices.
Supply of goods to 'ghost' companies was identified as another avenue of looting billions of shillings meant for the country's development activities.
The report says the APPG will formulate ways to tackle corruption, bribe payments and mechanisms in international trade and credit that facilitate corruption and includes the Anglo Leasing scandal currently engulfing Kenya's Government and the stolen oil wealth of the Republic of Congo," .
Though education in Kenya should be a top priority for UK development assistance, the legislators say it is imperative that sector specific funding is protected, just as general budget support is protected.
The legislators say while the 'message' sent by international donors' decisions may sound of little consequence, they are in fact a very important aspect of their assistance since loss of financial backing to a corrupt government will empower civil society activists to call for action on corruption.
The report suggests that adequate support should also be given to civil society organisations that hold governments to account.
"In particular the media is vital as an effective exposer and monitor of corruption, as the recent media coverage of the Anglo Leasing scandal in Kenya has demonstrated".
The legislators also support the capacity of the media to retain their independence in the face of government pressure to enable journalists carry out investigations.
Donors, the report suggests, should take into account any government attempts to curtail the independence of the media when considering budget support.
The report also blames new large aid flows, which it says have provided opportunities for corruption as donors inject more funds to tackle crisis such as Hiv/Aids.
The Global Fund has since set tough conditions Kenya must meet if it is to continue receiving funding for its fight against Aids, TB and malaria.

UN /ONU :

L'Onu s'inquiète sur la menace du Tchad d'expulser les réfugiés soudanais
XINHUA / 2006-04-16

KHARTOUM -- Jan Pronk, le représentant spécial du secrétaire général de l'Onu pour le Soudan, a exprimé samedi sa préoccupation sur la menace du Tchad d'expulser quelque 200.000 réfugiés soudanais du Darfour présents sur son territoire.
Dans un communiqué publié par la mission de l'Onu au Soudan, M. Pronk a appelé le gouvernement tchadien à se conformer à ses obligations internationales pour assurer la totale protection de tous les réfugiés sur son territoire.
"Forcer les réfugiés, qui sont les victimes de conflits antérieurs, à fuir une nouvelle fois dans le contexte d'un conflit qui n'est pas de leur fait, provoquerait une plus grande souffrance pour eux", a ajouté M. Pronk dans le communiqué.
"Cela constituerait également une violation du droit humanitaire international", a-t-il ajouté.
Il appelé toutes les parties concernées à résoudre leurs différends politiques par les moyens diplomatiques et les négociations, soulignant l'importance de la paix au Tchad et au Soudan pour la région et le monde.
Le président tchadien Idriss Deby Itno a menacé vendredi d'expulser les 200.000 réfugiés soudanais installés dans l'est du Tchad si une solution n'était pas trouvée au conflit du Darfour, dans l'ouest du Soudan.
Il avait annoncé auparavant "la rupture unilatérale des relations avec le Soudan", qui arme, selon lui, des "mercenaires contre le régime tchadien".
Le Soudan a rejeté l'accusation du Tchad, réaffirmant son engagement à un accord de bon voisinage signé avec le Tchad début 2006.
Les Etats-Unis ont adressé vendredi une ferme mise en garde au Tchad pour qu'il n'expulse pas les réfugiés soudanais. Fin

Sudan rejects transfer of AU forces to UN
english.alarabonline.org / 16/04/2006

During a meeting with the UN Deputy Secretary General for peacekeeping forces in Khartoum, Al Beshir stressed commitment to the decision of the National Unity Government and the Sudanese people to reject the transfer, asserting that Sudan was strenuously working on reaching a peaceful solution to Darfur conundrum through negotiations, currently being held in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
"The Sudanese government is committed towards reaching an urgent peaceful solution to the Darfur issue through negotiations taking place in Nigeria", said Al-Bashir.
Al Bashir pinpointed that Sudan has nothing to gain from the instability in Chad which, on the contrary, has negative effects on his country.
The Sudanese President reasserted his country's commitment to Tripoli Agreement, noting that Chad's failure to send representatives to the security committee, in charge of monitoring the Sudan- Chad borders, constituted a setback to the implementation of the agreement.

USA :

17/04 :Usa: Le président tchadien avait sa propre fragilité, il devra engager une série de réformes
Alwihda - 17/04

Tchad: M. Zoellick appelle à la cessation de la violence au Tchad

Le secrétaire d'État adjoint américain, M. Robert Zoellick, a appelé à la cessation immédiate de la violence au Tchad et à l'adoption d'un « processus politique différent » afin d'éviter de nouveaux troubles et notamment des attaques rebelles telles que celle lancée le 13 avril contre N'Djamena, la capitale.
Dans l'allocution qu'il a prononcée ce même jour à l'institut Brookings, centre d'études politiques de Washington, M. Zoellick a observé que la crise au Tchad était en partie liée au Soudan, « mais également tout à fait liée aux rouages internes du Tchad », et que le gouvernement du président tchadien Idriss Deby « avait sa propre fragilité ».
Des élections sont prévues au Tchad début mai, mais il semble que certaines actions des rebelles soient motivées par leur sentiment que ces consultations ne seront ni libres ni honnêtes, a dit le haut responsible dans cet important discours portant essentiellement sur le Soudan.
« Malgré nos efforts et ceux de la France et de l'Union africaine, nous n'avons pas réussi à obtenir un arrangement satisfaisant entre le gouvernement Deby et certains membres de l'opposition en vue d'une élection honnête ou d'un quelconque processus politique auquel tous pourraient participer », a déclaré M. Zoellick à son auditoire.
Vu « l'histoire turbulente » du Tchad, le régime en place devra engager une série de réformes, a-t-il dit. Il ne faut surtout pas minimiser la gravité de la situation, en particulier le risque de débordement du conflit : « Nous voulons éviter tout ce qui pourrait mettre de l'huile sur le feu ou provoquer des désertions susceptibles de conduire à des attaques rebelles. »
Au sujet du Soudan, le secrétaire d'État adjoint a déclaré qu'il fallait au premier chef assurer la sécurité et la satisfaction des besoins essentiels des populations qui se trouvaient dans les camps de réfugiés. Fuyant devant la violence au Soudan, plus de 200.000 personnes se sont réfugiées dans ces camps du Tchad où elles résident à l'heure actuelle.
Selon M. Zoellick, on compte au Tchad environ 1.200 soldats français, dont la mission principale est de protéger les camps. « Nous sommes en communication avec eux, ainsi qu'avec le HCR (le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés) pour répondre aux besoins des réfugiés », a-t-il dit, ajoutant que, selon les informations qu'il avait reçues, la situation serait stable dans ces camps.
Le haut responsable américain a demandé à toutes les parties de mettre fin au conflit. Il a, de plus, fait état d'une réunion d'information urgente du Conseil de sécurité convoquée à la demande des États-Unis et d'autres pays, visant à faire le point des moyens qu'on pourrait mettre en Å"uvre pour éliminer toute intervention extérieure éventuelle, à demander aux groupements rebelles de cesser leurs actes de violence et à inciter, de même, les autorités à renoncer à la violence.

Situation d'instabilité au Tchad

Lors du point de presse quotidien du 13 avril au département d'État, le porte-parole, M. Sean McCormack, a qualifié de « fluide » la situation au Tchad.
Les États-Unis, a-t-il dit, « souhaitent vivement que la crise politique se résolve, et il appartient au peuple tchadien de régler ses différends politiques dans le respect de la loi, par le dialogue et par des moyens pacifiques, et non par le recours à la violence ».
Ce principe s'applique également à la situation au Soudan et au Darfour, a-t-il poursuivi. « Nous avons des discussions suivies sur ce dossier et nous faisons tout ce que nous pouvons à l'heure actuelle pour répondre aux préoccupations immédiates en matière d'aide humanitaire ainsi que de sécurité, en coopération avec la communauté internationale. Dans le domaine de la sécurité, nous travaillons très étroitement avec la mission de l'Union africaine et nous avançons sur d'autres fronts également, notamment l'OTAN et l'ONU. »
Du côté humanitaire, M. McCormack a affirmé que