BURUNDI :
Burundi plans
massive refugee repatriation
March 22, 2006 By Andnetwork .com Source : IPPMEDIA
By Pacifique Nkeshimana
Burundi says it will complete the repatriation of all refugees still
resident in Tanzania in three years’ time.
Burundian Minister for National Solidarity, Human Rights and Gender Fran篩se
Ngendahayo told The Guardian in an exclusive interview in Dar es Salaam
yesterday that the repatriation is in line with the government’s plan to
ease the refugee burden that Tanzania has endured for nearly a decade as a
result of the civil strife that engulfed the Great Lakes Region, Burundi
included.
Ngendahayo was speaking on the sidelines of a tripartite meeting on Burundi
refugees in Dar es Salaam involving the United Nations High Commission for
Refugees (UNHCR) and governments of Tanzania and Burundi.
’’Following the democratic elections and the restoration of peace in the
country after a long civil strife, the government is planning to repatriate
all the refugees in three years’ time,’’ she said.
Ngendahayo said that the country would collaborate with UNHCR, UNICEF, World
Food Programme (WFP) and other international agencies to resettle the
refugees in their motherland.
’’We need our people back home; the country is peaceful. There is a good
government.
We thus need all the people to return home so that they, together with
people who remained behind, reconstruct the country,’’ she said.
The minister said that in the past two years, a total of 102,416 refugees
had voluntarily returned home.
However, she said, since the beginning of the year there has been a decline
in the number of refugees returning because of food shortages caused by
drought that has swept the country.
She said that thousands of famine stricken-people had crossed the border
into Tanzania in search food in refugee camps.
Some of the refugees have been denied entry into Tanzania because of lack of
genuine reasons for fleeing their country, Ngendahayo said.
UNHCR Country Representative Chrysantus Ache, told the meeting that Tanzania
and UNHCR would facilitate a visit of the Burundi delegation to the refugee
camp.
’’A cross border meeting is planned with all stakeholders - UNHCR, WFP,
UNICEF, FAO, WHO, OCHA and implementing partners - for March 31, this year
in Ruyigi Province in Burundi to look into the food situation,’’ Ache said.
He added that the refugee agency looks forward to working with the Tanzania
and Burundi governments and UN agencies.
Ngendahayo said that she would also update refugees in Kibondo today on the
current socio-economic and the political situation in Burundi.
’’I will tell them that the country is now peaceful and that the government
needs them back home so that they can be assisted while there,’’ she said,
and added that refugees constituted a major burden to Tanzania.
Speaking at the same meeting, Tanzania Minister for Home Affairs John
Zephaniah Chiligati said the recent democratic elections in Burundi
signified the progress to peace in the country.
’’The elections signified the fact that Burundi was now peaceful and
democratically governed. The elections instilled confidence in Burundian
refugees who have begun going back home,’’ Minister Chiligati said.
He added that in 2004/05, a record 144,732 refugees returned home, bringing
the total to 214,181 returnees since the repatriation exercise started in
2002.
Chiligati said that Tanzania hosts nearly 400,000 Burundian refugees.
He said that there were some 200,000 ”forgotten” Burundi refugees of the
1970s living in settlements in Rukwa and Tabora regions.
’’The 1972 refugees have been forgotten and are referred to as the ’Old Case
Load,’’ he said.
Chiligati said: ’’These are Burundian nationals living in Tanzania as
refugees. They are self-sufficient in food, but need education, healthcare,
water services and other basic needs, but UNHCR and the international
community have abandoned them.
The burden had been left to the Tanzania government to carry.’’
Chiligati said the Tanzania government had repeatedly reminded UNHCR and the
international community to provide humanitarian assistance pending their
repatriation, to no avail.
OUVERTURE DE
LA NEUVIEME REUNION TRIPARTITE BURUNDI-HCR-TANZANIE
Bujumbura, le 21 Mars 2006 (RTNB)-La neuvième réunion tripartite
Burundi-HCR-Tanzanie s'est ouverte ce lundi 20 mars 2006 à Dar-es-salaam en
Tanzanie dans le but d'analyser la poursuite de rapatriement des Barundi
réfugiés en Tanzanie. Environs trois cent mille Barundi vivant en Tanzanie
ont déjà regagné le Burundi. Cependant plus de nonante trois mille réfugiés
sont encore en Tanzanie sans compter ceux qui ont fui la famine ces derniers
jours. Il faudrait préciser que ce sont les commissions techniques qui se
sont réunies ce lundi pour préparer le conseil des ministres élargi aux
gouverneurs de provinces limitrophes.
LE PRESIDENT
DE LA REPUBLIQUE A NOMME LES HAUTS CADRES DE L'UNIVERSITE DU BURUNDI ET DU
MINISTERE DE L'EDUCATION
Bujumbura, le 22 Mars 2006 (RTNB)-Le président de la République,
monsieur Pierre Nkurunziza a nommé au début de cette semaine les hauts
cadres de l'université du Burundi et du ministère de l'éducation nationale
et de la culture. Le président de la République a nommé madame Sylvie
Hatungimana au poste du directeur académique de l'université, monsieur
Gaston Hakiza au poste du directeur de la régie des œuvres universitaires,
monsieur André Bampoye a été nommé au poste du directeur général de
l'enseignement secondaire général et pédagogique, madame Victoire Nahimana a
été nommée directeur général des bureaux pédagogiques, et monsieur Léandre
Niyonzima a été confié le poste du directeur général du bureau des projets
d'éducation.
LA BANQUE AFRICAINE DE DEVELOPPEMENT PROJETTE DE
CONSTRUIRE UNE ROUTE ASPHALTEE ENTRE LA PROVINCE KIRUNDO DU BURUNDI ET LA
VILLE DE KIGALI AU RWANDA
Bujumbura, le 22 Mars 2006 (RTNB)-La Banque Africaine de
Développement (BAD) prévoit de construire bientôt une route asphaltée entre
la province de Kirundo au Burundi et la ville de Kigali au Rwanda. En effet,
une délégation de la BAD vient de visiter la province de Kirundo au Burundi
pour faire le repérage du tracé de cette route qui sera d'une longueur de
cent kilomètres.
LES OPERATEURS ECONOMIQUES EMETTENT DES DOUTES SUR L'EFFICACITE
DU CONTROLE DES IMPORTATIONS PAR LA SEULE SOCIETE " SGS "
Bujumbura, le 22 Mars 2006 (RTNB)-Dans un proche avenir le
contrôle des importations sera fait par la société " SGS ". Cependant les
opérateurs économiques ont laissé entendre à l'occasion de leur rencontre
avec le ministre des finances, la semaine passée, que même s'ils sont
favorables à ce type de contrôle, ils émettent des doutes sur l'efficacité
de cette nouvelle procédure de contrôle des importations par la seule
société " SGS "
LA FAMINE QUI SEVIT DANS LA PROVINCE
KIRUNDO A POUSSE LES FAMILLES A FUIR NOTAMMENT VERS LA PROVINCE DE BUBANZA
QUI N'EST PAS A L'ABRI DE LA FAMINE
Bujumbura, le 22 Mars 2006 (RTNB)-La famine qui sévit au nord du
Burundi et plus précisément dans les communes Busoni et Bwambarangwe en
province Kirundo, a forcé certaines familles à fuir leurs collines devenues
inhospitalières pour se réfugier dans les localités présumées prospères dont
la commune Bubanza de la province Bubanza, qui, pourtant n'est pas elle même
à l'abri de cette famine. Par suite, deux familles ont été accueillies par
des ménages qui en appellent au se secours parce que les ménages en question
sont débordés. L'administrateur de la commune Bubanza a tranquillisé en
promettant de demander aux bienfaiteurs de leur venir en aide.
REUNION DES PARTENAIRES DE LA MUTUELLE DE LA FONCTION
PUBLIQUE
Bujumbura, le 21 Mars 2006 (RTNB)-Une réunion a rassemblé ce
matin les différents partenaires de la mutuelle de la fonction publique et
les responsables de cette assurance-maladie. Au menu des échanges figurait
la validation des cartes et biens d'autres questions comme les prescriptions
médicales des médecins privés aux bons de la mutuelle de la fonction
publique. Le directeur général de la mutuelle, monsieur Jean Marie Niyokindi
a déclaré que la mutuelle est obligée de revalider les anciennes cartes de
la mutuelle parce que des difficultés techniques empêchent encore
l'utilisation de la carte magnétique et que les activités de validation
seront lancées à Bujumbura depuis le 3 avril jusqu'au 24 avril 2006 tandis
que ces activités seront effectuées dans les provinces du 22 mai au 9 juin
2006. Le directeur général de la mutuelle a également promis la
multiplication des pharmacies à l'intérieur du Burundi et que bientôt il y
aura une pharmacie de la mutuelle à Muyinga et à Mwaro.
‘Extremely
fragile’ conflict-ridden Burundi needs close monitoring: Annan
20 March 2006 – www.un.org
Improvements in human rights, good governance and other areas are urgently
needed in conflict-ridden Burundi, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a
report released today, calling for close monitoring of the impoverished
country in the countdown to the planned withdrawal of the United Nations
mission there by the end of this year.
In his latest report to the Security Council on the UN Operation in Burundi
(ONUB), covering the situation since November, Mr. Annan noted that
“significant challenges remain,” with the “most immediate task facing the
Government is ending the 12-year conflict and restoring durable peace.”
“After more than a decade of devastating conflict, the security and economic
situation in Burundi remains extremely fragile, requiring massive commitment
of all involved,” the Secretary-General pointed out.
“Urgent improvements are required in the areas of good governance,
transparency and accountability and respect for human rights, as well as the
continuation of major economic, security and political reforms,” he said,
stressing the importance of the active involvement of the region, bilateral
partners and the UN.
The conflict, along with recurring drought and frequent displacements, had
driven “two thirds of the population into extreme poverty and thousands are
still facing serious food shortages,” he said.
Describing the humanitarian and social crises in Burundi as “acute,” Mr.
Annan emphasized that the plan to fully withdraw the ONUB by 31 December had
been developed with the Government, “following its specific and strong
request for the early disengagement of the United Nations peacekeeping
presence.”
He noted that the “initial tasks” of the UN operation had been completed,
but warned that “given the severity of the challenges facing the country…the
possibility of a relapse remains strong,” and recommended altering the
withdrawal time depending on the situation on the ground.
“In that regard…it will be prudent to continue to monitor developments
closely and assess the situation in the coming months, in consultation with
the Government and major stakeholders,” he pointed out.
“Should the situation at that time so require, the pace of the ONUB drawdown
could be adjusted accordingly in full consultation with the Government,” Mr.
Annan concluded.
Earlier this month the UN said that 2.2 million people in Burundi --
including refugees and returnees – will need food aid in 2006 because of
poor rains, crop disease and poverty.
RWANDA
Let’s start afresh says Kagame
Wednesday, 22nd March, 2006 newvision.co.ug
By Eddie Ssejjoba
RWANDA President Paul Kagame has said his country and Uganda should forget
their bitter past and build stronger ties for the sake of development.
Kagame, receiving the credentials of Uganda’s new ambassador to Rwanda,
Richard Tumusiime Kabonero, said whatever happened in the past and the
tension that existed between the two governments, should be forgotten. He
said both countries had historical links beyond bilateral and commercial
relations.
Kagame, who was in a jovial mood, received Kabonero’s credentials at his
office in Kigali on Monday. Kabonero has replaced Adonia Ayebare, now the
deputy envoy in Washington in charge of New York. He was accompanied by the
first secretary, Arthur Kasigazi, and the second secretary, John Magoba.
Kabonero was received by foreign affairs minister Charles Murigande,
ambassador Amri Sued, the adviser on foreign affairs and Brig. Gen. Jean
Bosco Kazura.
After the ceremony, Kabonero addressed the press at Hotel Mille Collines
where he explained details of his discussions with Kagame. Kabonero said
Kagame invited him back for a longer discussion on how quickly they can work
on normalizing relations between the two countries.
“He received me happily and said he was hopeful that I will be available to
work with him in what he termed as a new era. He asked Uganda to forget
whatever happened between the two countries and end the tension that existed,”
Kabonero said.
Asked to elaborate on what Kagame meant with the tension and whatever
happened in the past, Kasigazi said it was common knowledge that Kigali and
Kampala had been on high tension during the Kisangani I, II and III when
their two countries clashed in Congo and the border standoffs.
“The president said our relationship is historical and not like any other
country, and asked me to enhance that relationship now,” Kasigazi said.
He said Kagame was happy that he had finally got a new ambassador after a
long wait of six months, and asked Kabonero to settle quickly and start
serious work.
Kabonero is also in charge of Burundi.
Kagame also asked Kabonero to extend his congratulatory message for the
second time to President Museveni upon his re-election.
“I commended him for the strides Rwanda had made in development and the
economy,” he said.
Charities
criticise BBC Rwanda film
Tuesday, March 21 2006 - by Dave West
www.digitalspy.co.uk/
Aid organisations have attacked BBC-funded filmmakers in Rwanda for acting
insensitively.
The charities have questioned the decision of Shooting Dogs producers to
recreate massacre scenes where the tragedies actually took place.
At one location, students from a school were taken to hospital and sedated
while they endured flashbacks prompted by chants and whistles from an angry
mob. One crew member had a breakdown when he was taken to a street where he
hid down a manhole for three months to escape killers.
Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, director of UK-based Rwandan charity Survivors' Fund,
spoke of the problems the filming prompted. "In Rwanda, if you see a machete
being wielded - it doesn't matter if it's for a film - it seems real," she
said. "When the shoot was over, we had to step up trauma counselling.
"It took some people six months to overcome the anxiety, fear and paranoia,"
Blewitt continued. "What really hurts is that the BBC will be making money
from the film, but it has not put a penny into the organisations dealing
with all this."
A Unicef spokesman echoed her sentiments. "It's important to highlight
issues like the Rwandan conflict," he said. "But reliving these experiences
can be traumatic for children and we encourage journalists and others who
work with survivors to adhere to our guidelines."
Shooting Dogs writer and producer David Belton said he regrets the problems
at the school.
"We took great pains to avoid local people being confronted with the
disturbing scenes, and had two trauma counsellors and medical staff on
hand," he explained. "We made the film in Rwanda because the Rwandans wanted
us to. They were appalled that Hotel Rwanda was filmed in South Africa, with
South African actors."
Rwanda: Bird
flu threatens agriculture ministry
March 22, 2006, By Andnetwork .com | Newtimes, Rwanda
Following reports that the deadly Bird Flu has hit the neighbouring
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Rwandan Minister of Agriculture,
Anastase Murekezi will on Friday 24, address a press conference to divulge
information on how the government will deal with the virus.
“I can’t tell you anything now, if you want any information regarding Bird
Flu come to the press conference on Friday,” Murekezi who also heads the
government taskforce on the virus...
told The New Times Tuesday, March 21, on phone, declining to give details.
However, earlier when asked about government’s efforts to stem a possible
outbreak of the virus otherwise known as the H5N1 strain, the Director of
the Rubilizi-based Rwanda Animal Resources Development Authority (RARDA),
Dr. Theogene Rutagwenda said they were working with the police to monitor
any developments regarding the strain.
“We don’t have a lot of money, but we are working with the National Police
to monitor the situation at our border. We are also sensitizing the people
to be extra vigilant on the issue, designing brochures about the virus and
to publicize it in media outlets,” Rutagwenda told this reporter.
Dr.Rutagwenda’s assertions however contrast those of the Assistant Research
Director at the Center of Training and Treatment of HIV/Aids and other
pandemics (TRAC+) Dr.Vianney Nizeyimana, who recently told The New Times
that the Ministry of Health had earmarked about one billion Francs to
counter any eventuality arising out of the strain.
“That huge amount is news to me, I don’t know where you got that figure from
but to the best of my knowledge, we don’t have such money and even we
haven’t imported any vaccines like Tamiflu,” he said.
Meanwhile, Press reports indicate that by Thursday 16, agricultural
officials in Rwanda’s backyard, the DRC had recorded at least 260 chicken
and ducks suspected of having died of avian flu.
The DRC becomes the fifth African country to confirm the outbreak of the
fatal strain following Nigeria, Egypt, Niger, and Benin, while neighbouring
Uganda is said to have imported Tamiflu vaccines in bulk to counter any
possible outbreak of the Bird Flu.
Water Project - Ruhengeri, Rwanda
Monday 20th March 2006 -
Source: Concern | In Ruhengeri Province Concern has been helping the
local population with the provision of clean water. For many people in
Rwanda, especially in Ruhengeri, access to clean water is still a huge
problem. In some cases women and children (who are traditionally the ones
who carry the water from the source to the houses) have to walk for as long
as 3 hours to get to the nearest clean water point. One can imagine that
communities often resorted to using less clean water, like that out of a
river or stream for daily use.
In Rutare Sector, the 500 families who live there used to drink and wash
with the water from a nearby river. The nearest clean water point was
literally miles away. A small spring provided some of the people from the
community with better water, but because the stream was just running day and
night, a lot of the valuable water got lost.
Concern has helped the community to construct a storage tank around the
natural spring and has assisted the community with the construction of three
gravity fed water tanks. A total of seven taps will be in place once the
construction is completed.
A number of women and children are up near the spring, where the tap has
already been fixed, filling their jerry cans with clean water. Francoise
Cyiza is around 10 years old. She is first in line when we arrive. She
giggles when we ask her what she thinks of the new taps. “Very nice”, she
says and calls her friends over to be photographed beside the tap.
Some older women arrive, Esperance Nyirakarire and Therese Muhawenima. They
both agree that the water source is a great improvement. It was not so hard
for us to get water up here; but down in the valley, people never had a
chance to come up here. For them it’s too far, so they drank the dirty water
all the time.
UGANDA
Uganda : Museveni's Two Types of Conflict Resolution
The Monitor (Kampala)| March 22, 2006 | Andrew M. Mwenda
It is a hot August, 1989 and Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has made a
great impression on the world by sounding very "un-African." He has
criticised the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) for keeping quiet when
the rights of Ugandans were abused by former presidents Idi Amin and Milton
Obote.
He has attacked African leaders for seeking to cling to power by ruling for
more than 10 years. Do not forget that he is the first person in Africa to
lead a protracted war against an entrenched regime and win without much
foreign support.
This August, Museveni has two delegations to meet: one is from Israel and
the deputy foreign minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, leads it. Likud Prime
Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, has sent the Israel delegation. Netanyahu tells
Museveni that he is nostalgic to be at Entebbe because his brother, Yoni
Netanyahu, died at the airport during the 1976 Israel raid on the airport.
The delegation has come to Entebbe to discuss the future of the Middle East,
especially the Palestinian question with the youthful Ugandan president. The
Israelis know that Museveni is close to Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi, and
has good contacts with Republican-led America. Also on the waiting list to
meet Museveni is a delegation from South Africa led by F.W. De Klerk.
The delegation sent by President Pick Botha is also supposed to negotiate
the end of apartheid in South Africa, beginning with the release of Nelson
Mandela. Museveni has been instrumental in the negotiations to give
independence to Namibia since one of the conditions has been that the
African National Congress (ANC) pulls their troops from Angola. ANC has
complied and their training bases have been shifted to Uganda.
In the discussions with the Israelis, Museveni makes an impassioned
presentation on the need for a negotiated settlement between the Israelis
and the Palestinians. Netanyahu insists that peace is unlikely and Museveni
holds to his guns that peace in the Middle East is possible.
When the Israel delegation leaves, De Klerk enters with his delegation.
After hearing their plans for a peaceful resolution of the South Africa
crisis, Museveni tells De Klerk point blank that only a successful armed
struggle can bring an end to apartheid.
De Clerk makes an impassioned case on the changes taking place in the
country and the opportunities for peace. Museveni insists that he cannot be
convinced about a peaceful resolution of the South African question. One
hopes to look 15 years later, in 2004 to see how right Museveni's assessment
is.
Uganda: U.S. to Support Anti-LRA War
New Vision (Kampala) March 19, 2006 Alice Emasu Washington, DC
THE United States Director for African Affairs at the National Security
Council in Washington, Dr. Cindy Courville, has said the US government is
committed to supporting Uganda to end the 20-year northern Uganda war.
Courville revealed this on Thursday during a meeting with six women
journalists from Africa at her office in the White House, Washington DC.
She said the administration of President George Bush was working tirelessly
to find the best way to fight Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA).
The LRA, declared by the United States a terrorist organisation, has been at
war for 20 years, raping, maiming and killing the local population. Over one
million people have been uprooted from their homes by the war and are now
living in camps.
"We know that you are challenged by Kony. Many people feel frustrated but we
have to work with you and get a solution. We feel that it is probably not
right to deploy 2,000 American soldiers to fight one man," explained
Courville, who is President Bush's advisor on security and foreign policy
matters.
According to her, the solution to the war in the north couldn't be found as
fast as the people want it. She said the US has assisted the country to
train the army in anti-terrorism.
While commenting on the recently-concluded presidential election, Courville
said prior to the election, Uganda was seen as a role model of democracy in
many ways by most of the African countries.
She said the US did not participate in removing the presidential term limits.
"We are told your people chose to return Museveni as your president. But
even if there were problems with the term limits, you now have to work with
him and build the political parties," she said.
Courville pointed out that Museveni cannot be compared with the former South
African President Nelson Mandela because whereas Mandela, inherited the
political policies from previous governments; Museveni initiated policies.
She, however, observed that the challenge for Museveni is to move forward
and open up the political space for the parties.
"I really believe
that Uganda has a big future. I think that democracy for East Africa will be
a success. But for the region to be stable, the East African leaders need to
work with the governments of Rwanda and Burundi because they still need
support," Courville said.
She disclosed that Bush was concentrating on Africa because he has seen the
determination of the African people to develop their continent.
Uganda at the forefront of Africa's boom in evangelical
Christianity
Tue, Mar. 21,
2006 By Shashank Bengali | Knight Ridder Newspapers
KAMPALA, Uganda - On a warm Sunday morning last month, in a spartan
university lecture hall, a few hundred well-dressed young men and women sat
mesmerized as a 25-year-old minister slowly worked them into a frenzy.
"Uganda belongs to Jesus!" David Othieno proclaimed as he strutted in front
of the podium in a neat charcoal suit. The worshippers, gathered at Makerere
University, a prestigious school nestled in the hills of this leafy East
African capital, erupted in cheers and song. Behind the fresh-faced minister,
a drummer struck up a vigorous beat.
Evangelical Christianity is flourishing in Uganda, leading a boom across
Africa that's attracting millions of converts each year and changing the
social and political landscape of the world's poorest continent.
Nearly two hundred years after the first wave of missionaries arrived in
Africa, Christianity is growing faster here than anywhere else in the world.
There are more than 390 million Christians in sub-Saharan Africa today, up
from 117 million in 1970, a trend due mostly to evangelism, according to the
Center for the Study of Global Christianity in South Hamilton, Mass.
Critics dismiss it as a new form of Western colonialism, but Christian
leaders say Africa's evangelical movement is driven largely by Africans
themselves.
"There's a lot in Africans' circumstances that makes Christianity really
resonate with them," said Jonathan Bonk, the editor of the International
Bulletin of Missionary Research in New Haven, Conn. "It's a faith of hope
for poor people."
In Uganda, a lush but largely poor country about the size of Oregon,
evangelical leaders estimate that at least one-fifth of the 28 million
people are born-again Christians. Their number includes leading government
officials, populist young pastors, DJs and other celebrities, and high
school and college students.
Uganda's most prominent born-again Christian is the president's wife, Janet
Museveni, who was elected to Parliament in February.
Ugandan evangelicals have forged close ties with the powerful evangelical
movement in the United States. Backed by American contributions, Ugandan
churches play a growing humanitarian role, building schools, health clinics
and orphanages, including in the impoverished northern half of the country,
which has been wracked by civil war for the past two decades.
Aid agencies "come and phase out, but there's a sense that the church is
here to stay," said Fred Ssekyewa, 41, the pastor of Gaba Community Church,
which is in a lakeside slum outside Kampala.
The church gets nearly all its funding from American churches such as
Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, Calif., Ssekyewa said. With the
money, his church has launched a health clinic and AIDS education programs
for its mostly poor congregation.
Like their American counterparts, Uganda's churches are a strong political
force. Evangelicals helped shape Uganda's controversial, U.S.-backed anti-AIDS
strategy, which emphasizes abstinence over condom use.
As a result, Uganda is one of the biggest recipients of money under
President Bush's global AIDS-relief program - $239 million in the past two
years - which earmarks money for abstinence programs.
First lady Museveni is an outspoken supporter of abstinence; she's led
abstinence marches and has called for a nationwide census to count the
number of virgins.
Evangelical churches are springing up across the country, from cavernous,
modern buildings in Kampala to simple shacks in rural areas. Foreign
visitors sometimes are accosted on the streets of Kampala and asked whether
they've "been saved."
"There's a definite sense that the movement has grown in Uganda," said
Martin Ssempa, the 38-year-old pastor of Makerere Community Church, on the
campus of Makerere University, where the service was last month.
Speaking by phone from Las Vegas, where he was on one of his frequent U.S.
tours, Ssempa said evangelicals' response to the threat of AIDS in Uganda
had helped to fuel the church's rise.
In the 1990s, Uganda had one of the world's highest rates of HIV infection,
about 15 percent. Churches, backed by the government, launched an innovative
program to educate Ugandans about the disease. By 2002 the HIV rate was down
to 6 percent.
Now, thanks largely to Ssempa's 8-year-old church, Uganda's leading
university has become a hotbed of Christianity, with more than 50
established prayer groups.
"My direction is to raise leaders for Christianity," Ssempa said, "and the
best leaders are found on college campuses."
The aggressive push by evangelists such as Ssempa to recruit believers
doesn't sit well with leaders of the country's other major religions -
chiefly Islam, which claimed 12 percent of the population in a 2002 census.
Although most Ugandans belong to Christian denominations, Muslim leaders
don't like it when President Yoweri Museveni calls Uganda a Christian
nation. And they often complain about evangelists using the airwaves -
evangelicals own no fewer than seven FM radio stations and two television
stations - to denigrate Islam.
"Some of them go to the extreme," said Sam Ahmad Ssentongo, the imam of the
Makerere University Mosque. "Evangelicals will fabricate a lot of lies
against Islam."
At the Makerere church service last month, for nearly an hour, Othieno
railed against Islam, Hinduism and foreign business interests in Uganda.
They had "dedicated this nation to evil," he said repeatedly, as the young
congregation murmured its approval.
"For Indians, Chinese, South Africans," Othieno cried, "we are confessing on
behalf of all foreigners who have dedicated this nation to their gods - it
is wicked!"
Interviewed afterward, Othieno said he hadn't meant to offend anyone. But
the teachings of Islam, Hinduism and Uganda's tribal religions "go against
what the Bible teaches," he said.
In the 1970s, under the dictatorship of Idi Amin, a Muslim, many of Uganda's
Christians were persecuted and thousands fled the country. In recent years,
with Christianity flourishing under a sympathetic government, Christians and
Muslims are increasingly at odds on social issues.
Last year, a leading imam threatened holy war over a proposed law that
prohibited a man from taking a second wife without the consent of his first
one.
Elsewhere in Africa, Christian-Muslim feuds have been worse. Last month in
Nigeria - another country in which evangelical Christianity is growing
rapidly - more than 120 people died in a week of rioting over the
controversial Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Even in relatively stable Uganda, there's a fear of religious violence, said
Stephen Mugabi, the secretary of the African Evangelical Alliance, based in
Kampala.
"Uganda is traditionally an open society in terms of faith," Mugabi said,
"but of late you hear many inflammatory things."
TANZANIE:
Tanzania to
gauge public opinion on EA federation
www.chinaview.cn 2006-03-22 Editor: Yang Li
DAR ES SALAAM, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania is planning to carry out a
public opinion poll in May this year to gauge popular reaction toward the
East African Federation (EAF).
The poll was originally planned for late last year but was postponed due to
the country's general elections, according to Andrew Chenge, Tanzanian
minister for East African cooperation.
Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, the three member states of the existing East
African Community, have been pondering on transforming their economic
integration bloc into a full-fledged political federation by 2010-2013
through a fast-tracking mechanism.
But some members of the public in these countries have been complaining that
they had been left out in the cold in the decision-making and implementing
processes of the EAF.
The heads of state of these three countries, therefore, decidedto start
sensitizing their respective populace about the processesof the federation.
Chenge has estimated that the sensitizing activity in the form of public
opinion polls would cost the country between 600 millionand 700 million
shillings (500,000-583,333 U.S. dollars).
Tanzanian president pledges
continued support for Uganda
www.chinaview.cn 2006-03-23
KAMPALA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete started a
two day visit to Uganda Wednesday, pledging continued support for and
cooperation with the Ugandan government and its people.
Kikwete called on Ugandan people to forget the bad past and theelection
excitement and to concentrate on reconstruction of their country, said a
news release from the State House.
Kikwete accompanied by his host Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni visited
Nakaseke Heroes' monument.
The visiting president paid homage to the fallen fighters of the National
Resistance Movement/Army who died during the protracted armed struggle
between 1981 and 1986.
Museveni thanked the people of Tanzania for the solidarity and support to
chase away the dictators for good.
Kikwete was on his first working visit to three countries in the region
including Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi shortly after he was sworn in as
president.
Tanzania : Civil society asked to
back govts in poverty alleviation
March 22, 2006, By Andnetwork .com
Source : IPPMEDIA
East African Co-operation, Deputy Minister, Diodorus Kamala, has appealed to
East African-based civil societies to support governments in the region to
strengthen their economies and alleviate poverty.
The minister made the remarks on Monday, at the opening of the East Africa
Association of Grant-makers (EAAG) workshop on Endowment Building held in
Dar es Salaam.
The EAC regional integration, he said, is not confined to the co-operation
between the three governments but include citizens through various civil
society organisations.
’’The co-operation, goes beyond our government leaders and people at the
boarder towns, and must involve much wider part of our citizens,’’ said
Kamala.
The minister said civil societies have a crucial role to stimulate fruitful
discussions on the benefits and challenges of the EAC, as the regional bloc
moves towards a political federation.
’’I encourage civil societies like EAAG, to act as key players in creating
an enabling environment for non-political foundations and trusts in East
Africa to work together and harness the resources for sustainable social
development,’’ said the minister.
On grants issuance, the minister warned that if not well implemented, the
process could create dependency on the part of the recipients.
’’The grantees might end up looking to grant makers as ’rich uncles’ who
have solutions to all their problems,’’ noted the minister.
He proposed to the East African-based grants-making associations to adopt
best practices and make grant-making process in the region more sustainable.
’’In the final analysis, grants must help the poor to get out of their
situation instead of increasing their dependency,’’ observed the minister.
Kamala pledge Tanzania’s commitment to closely work with civil societies to
achieve sustainable and equitable growth of the region’s economy.
’’We will continue supporting the growth and development of a vibrant civil
society sector in Tanzania and across East Africa,’’ the minister promised.
John Ulanga, Executive Director of the Foundation for Civil Society Tanzania,
said EAAG is working towards improving quality of lives of people in East
Africa.
This, Ulanga observed, will be achieved by networking grant-makers to better
define community issues, providing professional development opportunities,
creating and sharing knowledge on grant-making.
Formed in 2002, EAAG is a membership association of 16 foundations, trusts
and other related organisations in the region.
Tanzania : Kikwete salutes Irish
president
March 22, 2006, By Andnetwork .com | Source : IPPMEDIA
President Jakaya Kikwete has sent a congratulatory message to the President
of the Republic of Ireland, Mary McAleese, on the occasion of the country’s
national day.
’It is my pleasure and privilege to extend to you and through you to the
government and people of Ireland my heartfelt congratulations on the
occasion of your country’s National Day,’ reads part of President Kikwete’s
message.
In the message, the President has assured President McAleese that Tanzania
government is committed to strengthen the existing bilateral relations with
Ireland.
’On this historic day, I take the opportunity to reaffirm my country’s
commitment and desire to continue working with your government in
strengthening further the existing ties of friendship and co-operation for
mutual benefit of our two countries and people,’ President Kikwete stated.
He wished President McAleese illustrious good health and prosperity for the
people of Ireland.
CONGO RDC
:
Europe to send
peacekeepers to Congo poll
Euronews.net, France - 03/ 22/ 2006 - Free and fair - that is the hope of
the UN Secretary General for Congo's first democratic elections in more than
40 years. After meeting President Joseph Kabila, Kofi Annan said a pledge by
European countries to send a peacekeeping force to help police the polls
showed the international community was committed to the country.
"What is important," he said, "is that the elections are transparent, equal,
open, secure and inclusive."
But two of the Democratic Republic of Congo's major political players have
threatened to boycott the June election. Annan's urging all parties to work
together. The UN has some 17,000 peacekeepers in Congo, helping organise
presidential and parliamentary ballots that, it is hoped, will draw a line
under a five-year war that left millions dead.
It looks as though Germany will lead the European mission of some 1,500
troops. The government must first get parliamentary approval but is
confident it will do so at a vote in April.
Annan tells Congo to run elections by the rules
Wed Mar 22, 2006KINSHASA (Reuters - By David Lewis) -
Congo's landmark elections must be open to all and run by the rules to
ensure the results are accepted, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on
Tuesday.
The U.N. chief said a promise by European countries to send a force to help
secure the polls, scheduled for June 18 and meant to end a decade of war and
chaos, showed the international community was committed to the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
But in a reminder of the conflict simmering in much of the east, the British
aid agency Oxfam said on Tuesday three of its workers had escaped an attack
by militias over the weekend and continuing violence was making their work "almost
impossible".
Aid workers say the continuing violence is killing 1,000 people every day,
mostly through hunger and disease. An estimated 4 million have died due to
war or fighting since 1998.
The United Nations has its biggest peace force in Congo with nearly 17,000
blue helmets helping organise presidential and parliamentary polls meant to
draw a line under a 1998-2003 war that divided the nation and sucked in six
foreign armies.
After meeting President Joseph Kabila, Annan said the elections, the first
democratic polls in more than 40 years, must be free and fair.
"They must also be inclusive -- everyone must have the chance to take part,
without conditions," he added.
Two major political players have threatened not to take part in the final
step of the huge country's peace process.
RCD-Goma, the biggest rebel faction during the war when it was backed by
Rwanda, and now part of the transitional government, is threatening to pull
out of the process in a dispute over the distribution of seats in the future
parliament.
The biggest political opposition party, the UDPS, has boycotted the
transitional government so far and is demanding concessions regarding the
organisation of the elections before committing itself to taking part.
Both parties are calling for mediators to resolve their problems, but Annan
urged parties to work together to ensure the elections were a success.
"Everyone must accept the rules and the results," he said.
ROAMING MILITIA
U.N. peacekeepers have stepped up military offensives against a medley of
armed militia roaming the mineral rich and lawless east ahead of the polls,
but insecurity remains widespread.
British-based aid agency Oxfam said three of its staff were forced to flee a
militia attack in northeast Congo over the weekend.
"Our staff were lucky and were rescued after two days in hiding but this
ongoing violence is making our job almost impossible," Gordon Kihuguru,
Oxfam's programme manager for the Congo, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The stretched U.N. mission has sought help from European countries to secure
the electoral process by sending a back-up force to the former Belgian
colony.
Annan said the European readiness to send troops to Congo was a sign of the
international community's commitment to the peace process there.
"What is important is to make the population understand that the
international community is ready to do everything so that there is a calm,
peaceful election," Annan said.
KENYA :
Kenya’s
president says 5 million people facing food shortages
Mar 21, 2006 (NAIROBI) (ST/AP) — President Mwai Kibaki said
Tuesday that 5 million Kenyans are facing food shortages as a result of
failed rains, well above the 3.5 million people being targeted by
international aid agencies.
Kenyan President Mwai KibakiKenya has spent 5.21 billion shillings (US$72
million; A59.14 million) from its coffers and donors’ money to feed the
starving. But it is estimated that an extra 6.3 billion shillings (US$87.1
million; A71.55 million) "is required up to the end of June to meet the
increasing needs of the growing numbers of those affected by the famine,"
Kibaki said.
He was addressing the opening parliamentary session, hours after the U.N.
food aid agency said a shortage of funds has forced it to cut vegetable oil
from the food ration for three million people receiving assistance in Kenya
from March.
The U.N. needs US$225 million (A184.8 million) to feed 3.5 million Kenyans
from February 2006 until February 2007, but has so far received US$74.6
million (A61.3 million) _ leaving a 66.9 percent shortfall.
"Only limited amounts of corn-soya blend, which is especially beneficial for
malnourished children and nursing mothers, and pulses will be distributed in
the worst-affected areas," the U.N.’s World Food Program said in a statement.
"If these cuts continue into April and May, they will only worsen the
already perilous nutritional situation in the hardest-hit areas," said WFP
Kenya Country Director Tesema Negash.
The drought that has hit northern and northeastern Kenya has also affected
arid and semiarid areas of Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Tanzania and Burundi
_ leaving more than 11.5 million people in need of food aid in the next six
months.
"I would like to add that despite the severity of the famine, we have not
had to resort to massive importation of grain as often happened in the past,"
Kibaki told lawmakers. "All the food being distributed so far has been
sourced locally. This is a major boost to farmers in the food growing areas
of our country."
The available food stocks, however, will not last beyond June this year. The
government is making urgent arrangements to import additional grains to
bridge the gap, he said.
The European Commission donated A5.05 million (US$5.98 million) to help
provide food aid in Kenya. The U.N. food aid agency welcomed the donation
Tuesday.
ANGOLA :
Angola, Mexico eager to boost co-operation
Wed, 22 Mar 2006 - panapress
Luanda - Angola and Mexico have expressed readiness to strengthen bilateral
cooperation in education, health, agriculture, technical assistance, and
social reintegration.
Bilateral relations between Mexico and Angola were the focus of discussions
between Mexican President, Vicente Fox Quesada and Angolan Prime Minister,
Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, on the sidelines of the fourth World
Water Forum underway in Mexico City.
Prime Minister Dias dos Santos said that foreign affairs ministers and
diplomats of both countries would work on ways to strengthen bilateral co-operation.
AFRIQUE DU SUD :
CIAMPI: MBEKI'S SOUTH AFRICA NEW FACE OF AFRICA
(AGI) - Rome, March 21 - "Il South Africa represents the new face
of Africa, which is banking on democracy, responsibility, integration, and
regional cooperation. The South African government is engaged in a patient
work of mediation in the many conflicts still underway and in the
reinforcement of the new Pan African institutions", stated President of the
Republic Ciampi in his press statement on the occasion of the visit of
President of South Africa , Thabo Mbeki. "For long years - stated the
President of the Republic - when the South African people conducted their
victorious, peaceful battle for freedom, Italy was at their side." Today "our
meeting offers the opportunity to restate our determination and that of the
European Union not to be deflected from the aim of building a strong and
lasting partnership with Africa, to help it to reach its targets of growth,
helping it enter markets, and together managing flows of migrants. We want,
in other words, an Africa that grows together with Europe", concluded
Ciampi. (AGI) -
S. Africa's Mbeki Visits Italy to Strengthen Ties
By Sabina Castelfranco Rome 21 March 2006
www.voanews.com South African President
Thabo Mbeki began a three-day state visit to Italy aimed at strengthening
relations in order to speed economic growth. His first meeting Tuesday was
with his Italian counterpart, President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
Thabo Mbeki, left, and Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi attend welcome
ceremony at Quirinale presidential palace in Rome
South African President Thabo Mbeki began his three-day visit to Italy with
a meeting at the presidential palace with his Italian counterpart, Carlo
Azeglio Ciampi. After the talks in Mr. Ciampi's private study, the Italian
president said his vision is that of Africa growing alongside Europe.
Mr. Ciampi said the meeting was an opportunity to reaffirm Italian and
European determination to build a strong and lasting partnership with Africa,
to help it reach its targets of development, favor its entry into markets
and to jointly manage migratory flows.
The Italian president said Europeans and Africans are together prepared to
face the challenges of a global society in which no one can win alone. He
said the challenges include the intolerable gap between the industrialized
and developing worlds, the fight against hunger and disease, the threat of
terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and the indiscriminate
exploitation of the planet's resources.
Mr. Ciampi also said South Africa represents the new face of Africa, which
strives towards democracy, responsibility integration and regional
cooperation. The South African government, he added, is committed in patient
mediation efforts in the still existing numerous conflicts and in the
strengthening of pan-African institutions.
Mr. Mbeki said this visit marked a further step forward in relations between
Italy and South Africa and an opportunity to renew attention to the
promotion of economic ties. The South African president is traveling with
his wife and a delegation that includes the ministers of foreign affairs and
trade and industry.
Mr. Mbeki said it was a special day in his country today.
"Our visit, Mr. President, commences on South Africa's Human Rights Day, a
particularly historic day in our country, and as you are aware Mr. President,
March 21st 1960 was a watershed day in our history, which was when 69 people
were killed in a cold-blooded way by the apartheid police for protesting
against the dehumanizing past laws," he said.
Mr. Mbeki's visit follows one by the Italian president to South Africa in
March 2002. Mr. Ciampi said frequent contacts between the two countries
confirm their friendship. He said all the conditions are in place for
significant prospects of collaboration.
Italy is one of South Africa's top 10 trading partners.
Mr. Mbeki is meeting in Rome with businessmen from both countries. He is
also expected to hold talks Wednesday with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
and Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni.
AFRIQUE
/ U A :
Leaders urge action on east African conflicts, drought
C Bryson Hull / Reuters With Sapa-AFP
NAIROBI — 03/22/2006 - East Africa had to focus on solving the Ethiopia-
Eritrea border dispute and bolster the African continent’s credibility by
shepherding Sudan’s and Somalia’s peace deals, regional leaders were told on
Monday.
As well as the tenuous aftermath of civil wars in Somalia and Sudan and the
potential of renewed conflict on the Ethiopia-Eritrea border, the leaders
were using their Nairobi summit to discuss a devastating drought.
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki urged Ethiopia and Eritrea to exercise
restraint and negotiate to end a row over their border, the source of a
1998-2000 war that killed 70000 people.
Kibaki assumed a two-year chairmanship of the Intergovernmental Authority on
Development, a seven-member bloc founded in 1986.
Since then, it has expanded to push peace and development in its member
states — Kenya, Djibouti, Uganda, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
It led talks to end Sudan’s two-decade civil war with a historic peace pact
in January last year, and those that created Somalia’s transitional federal
government in late 2004. That cease-fire has been frequently broken.
To boost Africa’s integrity, those peace plans had to succeed, said African
Union (AU) peace and security commissioner Said Djinnit. “No room should be
left for scepticism in the international community.”
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, the outgoing chairman, said there could
be no lasting peace in Somalia and Sudan until their national armies were up
and running properly. Burundi’s success in integrating former foes in one
army was proof Africans could solve their own conflicts, he said.
Sudan’s president told the summit that letting non-African troops into
Sudan’s troubled Darfur region risked creating turmoil like that seen after
the US invasion of Iraq.
Despite the widespread view that an AU peacekeeping force had done little to
quell violence in Darfur, President Omar al-Bashir argued it was doing its
job well.
Sudan has rejected a push for a United Nations (UN)-led peacekeeping force
in Darfur until it signs a peace agreement with rebel groups it is fighting
there. AU-led peace talks are under way in Abuja, Nigeria.
The AU has been under pressure to hand over its duties to a better-equipped
UN force. The 7000-strong AU mission, monitoring the shaky cease-fire, is
badly stretched and is at risk of running out of money by the end of this
month.
Earlier this month, the AU extended its Darfur mission until September 30.
UN and US officials Sudan of arming marauding Arab militia, who have raped,
killed and driven into squalid camps about 2-million villagers. Sudan denies
this.
Museveni urged Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo to help stop
insurgents from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group that has
waged a brutal war in the country’s north.
Museveni said the insurgents were out of northern Uganda and southern Sudan.
Last week, the Ugandan army said LRA leader Joseph Kony was with his deputy,
Vincent Otti, in eastern Congo.
Leaders also appealed at the summit for international help to combat a
regional drought that is threatening millions of lives. The drought has left
at least 6,25-million people in need of immediate food aid.
UN /ONU :
UN
suspends return of refugees to south Sudan
Wednesday, 22
March, 2006 Reuters GENEVA: The UN said
yesterday that it was temporarily suspending repatriation of Sudanese
refugees from three African countries to parts of southern Sudan following
recent armed attacks.
Three officials from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will
assess security in the volatile region for its staff, including 24
international employees who are being temporarily relocated, it said.
“We have decided to suspend our repatriation of Sudanese refugees from the
Central African Republic, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Yei,
Yambio, and Kajo Keji areas of south Sudan starting today and to Tambura
from Wednesday,” spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis told a briefing yesterday.
“Our international staff in these locations have been moved out to other
areas in southern Sudan for two weeks while we undergo a review of the
situation there,” she said.
The decision was taken after heavy fighting in Yambio on Saturday evening
near the compound of an aid agency and follows last week’s deadly attack on
a UNHCR compound in Yei.
The Sudanese People’s Liberation Army intervened in Yambio and scattered the
unidentified armed groups after hours of shooting, it said.
A local UNHCR guard was killed in the Yei attack by unidentified gunmen.
Another guard was wounded and an Iraqi working for UNHCR was left in
critical but stable condition.
UNHCR has been preparing for the return of hundreds of thousands of Sudanese
refugees from surrounding countries following a peace deal between the
government and southern rebels in January 2005, which ended two decades of
war.
A final group of some 167 Sudanese would leave Mboki camp in Central African
Republic on Tuesday for Tambura, according to UNHCR spokeswoman Helene Caux.
“It was already planned and people had sold their belongings,” she said.
Its voluntary repatriation programme from Democratic Republic of Congo was
to have begun on Monday, but was already on hold after last week’s shooting.
–
USA :
US scientists on malaria vaccine research in Tanzania
March 22, 2006, Source : IPPMEDIA By Andnetwork .com
Two biomedical researchers from Seattle in the US are currently engaged in a
research in Tanzania to find a vaccine for malaria.
Seattle’s Puget Sound Business Journal yesterday reported that the duo,
Stefan Kappe and Patrick Duffy, are based at the nonprofit Seattle
Biomedical Research Institute (SBRI).
According to the journal the scientists both of who are focused on a single
goal: finding a vaccine for malaria received millions of dollars in fresh
funding last year from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and are
reportedly moving ahead with ambitious studies.
It is understood that every year, malaria is estimated to kill between 1.5
million and 2.7 million people, and infect 300 million to 500 million new
victims, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa.
According the journal, Kappe, a German parasitologist, is targeting the
primary carrier of malaria, the mosquito.
His team works on a minute scale ? cultivating malaria parasites from the
salivary glands of mosquitoes.
The team members look at the parasites’ genetic material, and try to
identify which genes allow the parasites to grow in the victim’s liver,
where they first take hold. The researchers then delete those genes.
The idea is that these genetically weakened parasites can no longer cause
malaria, but when they are introduced into the body, they stimulate
production of antibodies that can kill future, fully functional parasites.
The key, according to Kappe, is getting to the parasite in the early liver
stage.
’If you kill the parasite from that point, you prevent infection and you
prevent disease from forming,’ the journal quotes Kappe as having said.
They say the study requires 20,000 mosquitoes per week, which are hatched
and raised in ’The Swamp,’ an incubator space at SBRI’s South Lake Union
labs in Seattle.
So far, the team has tested its vaccine against a rodent form of malaria
that infects mice, and found that the vaccinated mice are protected for up
to a year.
Now the team is moving toward human trials at the Walter Reed Army Medical
Centre in Washington, D.C. Early work is being done in Australia, where
scientists at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne are doing the
first gene deletions on parasites that cause malaria in humans.
According to the journal Duffy, a tropical disease specialist, is tackling
malaria where it takes its most devastating toll, on the ground in Tanzania.
He and his colleague Michal Fried, a parasitologist, have settled in
Morogoro and are in the process of recruiting thousands of children to take
part in the study.
Some will be tracked from birth to age 3, and others at various points under
the age of 5.
The journal says Duffy is looking for answers to a long-standing puzzle: why
some children suffer so severely from malaria, while other children who
contract the disease do not get sick.
The goal is to identify which parasite forms cause the worst symptoms and
which immune responses provide the best defense. For that, Duffy needs
volunteers ? lots of volunteers.
CANADA :
EUROPE :
DROITS DE L’HOMME - Situation dans le monde en 2005 : 1
172 défenseurs réprimés
Ndiaga NDIAYE, FIDH /Le
Quotidien.sn -
Le rapport annuel de l’Observatoire pour la protection des défenseurs des
droits de l’homme (Fidh-Omct) sera publié, ce matin, à Genève, dans la
capitale suisse. C’est ce que nous apprend un communiqué de presse de ladite
organisation. Le rapport, indique le communiqué, «fait état de la situation
de 1 172 défenseurs réprimés, ainsi que des entraves à la liberté
d’association dans près de 90 pays». Il constitue, ainsi «un véritable
baromètre des libertés d’expression et d’association dans le domaine des
droits de l’Homme. Ce rapport annuel met à jour les grandes tendances de
l’arbitraire dans le monde et des combats engagés pour y résister», lit-on
dans le document. En effet, ajoute-t-on que cette cérémonie de lancement
sera l’occasion d’alerter l’opinion publique internationale sur la situation
de ces «obstinés du témoignage», qui paient au prix fort leur détermination
et leur engagement.
En prélude à la publication du rapport, une conférence de presse se tiendra
toujours à Genève et elle sera suivie d’une présentation dans le cadre des
Etats généraux des droits humains 2006, en présence de Mme Louise Arbour,
Haut commissaire des Nations-Unies aux droits de l’Homme à la Maison du
Grütli. De même, il est précisé que d’autres conférences régionales et
nationales auront lieu, à cette occasion. Comme en Tunisie, au Népal, au
Burundi, en Côte d’Ivoire, au Niger,
au Nigeria, en République Centrafricaine, au Sénégal, au Soudan, en
Tanzanie, au Togo, en Argentine, en Colombie, au Mexique, au Pérou, à
Bruxelles (Belgique), et dans plusieurs autres pays.
En outre, le communiqué de la Fidh ajoute que «le rapport sera également
présenté devant l’Organisation pour la coopération et la sécurité en Europe
(Osce), lors de la réunion supplémentaire sur la dimension humaine consacrée
au thème des défenseurs des droits de l’Homme, à Vienne (Autriche), les 30
et 31 mars prochains». Et pour boucler le programme de lancement, une autre
conférence de presse sera organisée à Moscou, lors de la parution en russe
de la section «Europe et Communauté des Etats indépendants» du rapport.
CHINE :
Angola says in JV with China to build refinery
Mon Mar 20, 2006
LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola's finance ministry said on Monday it had partnered
with China to move ahead with construction of a $3 billion oil refinery in
the port of Lobito.
"Yes, it's true, with China," finance ministry spokesman Bastos de Almeida
told Reuters, confirming local media reports. He gave no further details.
State oil firm Sonangol said in December that construction could start this
year and that it was upbeat about finding investors for the project. China
is keen on west African oil as it sucks in resources to power its rapid
economic growth.
INDE :
India, SA to sign shipping deal
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006
NEW DELHI: India and South Africa will sign a maritime agreement to step up
trading ties and to float joint ventures in the area of ship building and
transportation.
The agreement would be signed between India's ministry of shipping, road
transport and highways and the South African government. Shipping minister T
R Baalu will lead a high level delegation to South Africa to sign the
agreement.
The bilateral Maritime Shipping Agreement aims at increasing maritime ties
between India and South Africa and promoting contacts between shipping firms
of the two countries.
A Maritime Liaison Committee would be set up under the Agreement for
promoting merchant shipping, according to an official release.
The agreement also facilitates establishing joint ventures in the field of
maritime transportation, ship building and repairs, apart from allowing
exchange of information for smooth flow of commercial goods.
Assistance to vessels in distress while at sea also forms an integral part
of the Agreement. Baalu would also visit the major ports of South Africa
such as Cape Town and Durban during his visit, the release added.
India, S Africa to sign maritime agreement
UNI New Delhi March 21: The Union Shipping, Road Transport and
Highways Minister, Mr T R Baalu, leading a high-level delegation of his
ministry, today left for South Africa to sign the agreement on merchant
shipping and other maritime transport related matters between the two
countries.
The maritime shipping agreement aims at increasing cooperation between India
and South Africa in the field of shipping and to promote development of
contacts between shipping organisations and enterprises of the two
countries.
A maritime liaison committee would be set up under the agreement for
promoting merchant shipping and other maritime transport-related matters
between India and South Africa.
The agreement provides for facilitating Indian companies to establish joint
ventures in the field of maritime transportation, ship building and repairs
and would facilitate exchange of information for accelerating the flow of
commercial goods at sea ports, a ministry spokesman said.
Assistance to vessels in distress in the search and rescue operations of the
two countries also forms an integral part of the agreement.
Mr Baalu will also visit the major ports of Cape Town and Durban during his
stay in South Africa
BRAZIL:
