AFRICANEWS
CLIPPINGSBujumbura-BURUNDIAccording to the BBC Kirundi service on 26th March, the president of the National Council for the Defence of Democracy, ( CNDD) Leonard Nyangoma, has dissolved the organisation's Executive Committee. A CNDD official, who spoke during the programme, said the measure had been taken due to tribalism and regionalism which had taken root in CNDD's leadership.The disclosure came at a time when a five-page hand-written letter from CNDD's vice-president, Christian Sendegeya, is circulating throughout the Burundian community all over the world. Sendegeya, a Tutsi from the northern province of Ngozi, joined the mainly Hutu CNDD claiming that Tutsi from the southern provinces, especially Bururi, were exploiting and mistreating those from the north. Now he is accusing Nyagoma, a Hutu from Bururi, of being regionalist and tribalist. In the letter written in Kirundi he said: " I have been defending you against accusations of regionalism levelled at you because I appreciated your commitment to the struggle. But this does not mean that those accusations were base-less." ( source. AANA).
Dar-es-Salaam, TANZANIAThousands of Muslim fundamentalists in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, brought parts of the city around Mwembe Chai Mosque to a stand still on May 29 after they rioted and set government vehicles on fire.The Muslims were angered by the recall of a permit granted to Muslims women to meet at a pubic hall in town. The women's agenda included what they said was mistreatment by police last February after the police arrested women demonstrators during a street protest. According to the women, the police forced them to undress and to sing Christian sons. Dar es Salaam police, fearing a riot on 29th March, decided to rescind the women's meeting. This ignited severe disturbances involving stone throwing fundamentalists called Mujadina baying for police blood.
Kampala-UGANDAPolygamous relationships in Uganda contribute immensely to this African nation's high maternal death rates, the head of Uganda's Women Doctors Association has warned.Dr. Olive Ssentumbwe Mugisha, who is also the national co-ordinator of safe motherhood programmes, told a private midwives seminar in Kampala early last month that polygamous relationships which are common in Uganda, and indeed throughout Africa, endanger women's lives by exposing them to sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS. "Women in polygamous unions also tend to have too many children as wives compete among each other to please the man," lamented Dr. Ssentumbwe Mugisha. She told the midwives that women who have too many children spaced poorly are prone to high risk of pregnancies. ( source: AANA).
Kigali, RWANDAAll seven nuns who were kidnapped by Hutu rebels on Monday 23 March in northern Rwanda have been set free. Five Rwandan nuns were released the following day while two Spanish nuns, a nurse and a doctor, were released on 28 March. They are reported in good health and are waiting in Goma to be flown by the Spanish embassy to Kinshasa.The seven nuns belong to the Sainte-Anne de la Charite order and worked at a dispensary in Kuvumu parish, located 10 km from Gisenyi town, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. The nuns were kidnapped by Interahamwe militias who also killed 15 people, burnt two vehicles and looted the dispensary. The militiamen infiltrated the area from their hideout in nearby Kanama commune.( source: AANA).
Lusaka, ZAMBIAZambian president, Fredrick Chiluba has implored the Bible Society of Zambia to be self reliant and desist from depending on donor aid for survival. Speaking at the society's annual meeting in the Zambian capital , Lusaka, at which he donated about US$ 70,000 ( Zambian Kwacha 100 million), Mr. Chiluba said the society should stand on its own feet instead of depending on foreign alms.He urged the society to distribute Bible to all corners of Zambia to give every Zambian a chance to own a copy in their respective local languages because the word is the power of God. "I have come here to preach the word of God. Please let us distribute the Bibles for others to know and appreciate the word of God. Once we succeed, no one will be threatened by the devil because whoever finds the word finds life," he said. He dismayed at the Bible Society's cry for foreign aid by complaining that donors had folded their arms and no longer funded the organisation. "I think the foreign donors are right when they say they cannot give you money. It is really a shame, extremely a shame to go out there asking the donors for money to print Bibles and distribute them. How can you receive blessings if you cannot give? Do you know why the donors are rich? It is because the give," said Mr. Chiluba who has declared Zambia a Christian nation.
Nairobi, KENYAFor more than 500 years, African people have lived in the absence of peace and justice, a workshop in Nairobi heard on March 31. The workshop was organised by "Abantu for Development," an NGO working around Africa.Participants examined how the role of women in peace-building can be enhanced in Africa. The workshop also had the objective of exploring ways of strengthening women organisations to make them stronger actors in programmes of conflict prevention, management, resolution and peace building among others. ( source: AANA)
Lagos, NIGERIAShareholders are pressing US-based oil multinational Mobil to review its investments in Nigeria in the light of continuing human rights violation. Two(2) institutional shareholders announced on March 30 that they will be tabling a human rights motion at Mobil's annual shareholders' meeting on 14 May. In particular, they want the company to push for the release of two detained Nigerian oilworkers' leaders.The shareholders' move is a further step in the world trade union campaign to free Milton Dabibi, General Secretary of oil and gas workers' union PENGASSAN, and Frank Kokori, General Secretary of oil and gas workers' union NUPENG. Kokori has been detained without trial in Nigeria since 1994 and Dubibi since January 1996. Both are in poor health, and their condition is reported to be deteriorating rapidly. They are still being denied access to the medical care that they need. They are also barred from contact with lawyers and with their union, which are being run by government-imposed administrators. Dubibi and Kokori are both recognised by Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience. ( source: IRIN).
Freetown, SIERRA LEAONEA commander of the Nigerian-led intervention force, ECOMOG, in Sierra Leone, colonel Buhari Musa, alleged on 8th that more than 3,000 troops loyal to the ousted Sierra Leonean military junta were receiving training in neighbouring Liberia, news organisations reported. Musa, ECOMOG commander for southern and eastern Sierra Leone, said the training was taking place in Lofa county at a camp used by the former faction of Liberian President Charles Taylor during civil war. The Liberian government has repeatedly denied these allegations. ECOMOG force commander major General Timothy Shelpidi told IRIN that he was verifying the information, adding that the claims were not new and had been circulating for a while.The Liberian defence ministry denied it was involved in training foreigners. Defence spokesman Philbert Brown said it would be "foolish" for the Liberian government to train anybody. He promised to take the press to the camp for them to see for themselves. (source: IRIN)
| CONTENTS | AFRICANEWS HOMEPAGE |
USAGE/ACKNOWLED Contents can be freely reproduced with acknowledgements. The by-line should read: author/AFRICANEWS. Send a copy of the reproduced article to AFRICANEWS.
AFRICANEWS - Koinonia Media Centre, P.O. Box 8034, Nairobi, Kenya
|