Software Vault: The Gold Collection/Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO/cdr55/afrnet.zip/NEWS0525.93

Text File | 1993-06-02 | 50KB | 992 lines

                USENET INTER PRESS NETWORK NEWS

                UPDATED TWICE WEEKLY: TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS

                LAST UPDATE: 05-25-93 AT 9:20 A.M.


Article: 15505 of soc.culture.african
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
From: [e-mail] (SMASH EPRDF)
Subject: OLF Press Release
Date: Sun, 23 May 1993 05:40:42 GMT
Lines: 103

Oromo Liberation Front
Adda Bilisummaa Oromoo
17 May 1993

           A Mockery of a Constitution

A symposium organized by the Inter-Africa Group on the making of a new
Ethiopian constitution, to which the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) is invited,
is to take place in Addis Ababa, from 17 to 21 May 1993. We have declined this
invitation and are now forced to make this statement to avert the confusion
that is deliberately being sown by some quarters.

We have to point out from the outset that this symposium gives the wrong
impression that: a) a democratic process of making a constitution is in
progress in Ethiopia, and, b) constitution making is mainly a technical and
academic exercise.  Unfortunately, the process of democratic transition set in
motion by the July 1991 Conference has been derailed and the ethnocratic
dictatorship of The Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) has been
instituted.  Not only the OLF, which was forced out of the Transitional
Government in June 1992, but more recently parties belonging to the Southern
Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Coalition have been forced out.  The Ethiopian
Democratic action Group has also suspended its participation.  Others were
excluded from the beginning.  The right to conduct political activities openly,
to be employed in public bodies, to trade etc., is reserved only to the TPLF,
its quislings and its supporters.  One cannot express one's different views
openly out of fear of repression similar to that suffered by the University
students last January.  Recently, over forty University lecturers and
professors were dismissed from their jobs for holding views different from
those of the TPLF.  Thousands of people are in jail or concentration camps for
supporting opposition political organizations.

The TPLF leadership's mishandling of the country's affairs, its fraudulent acts
and its mockery of democracy has been amply demonstrated during the district
and regional elections scheduled for June last year.  In short, the
transitional arrangement originally intended to cultivate mutual trust and
co-operation in resolution of conflicts has degenerated into more political and
social polarization.  Consequently, a democratic atmosphere which is absolutely
necessary for a genuine constitution making process does not exist in Ethiopia
today.

The TPLF leadership, after pushing political opponents out of the transitional
arrangement set up what it calls constitution drafting commission composed of
its members and loyal supporters.  Thus, the aim of the upcoming document is
clear: a) to give a facade of legality to the political, military and economic
hegemony of the ruling elite, and b) to subvert the right of self-determination
and democratic government.  And this puts the TPLF in line with its
predecessors who know only one set of laws, i.e., awaj (decree).  Awaj is
decreed by every warlord or dictator after conquest or seizure of power.  In
the past, in the name of modern constitution, Ethiopia has had three.  The
first one in 1931, and a revised version of it in 1955 (necessitated by the
federation of Eriterea in 1952) were both "gifts to his subjects" from the
emperor Haile Sellassie.  The last one of 1987 was an exercise by the Mengistu
regime to transform itself into a "civilian government" after thirteen years of
a "provisional" military government.  None of these outlived their authors.

We are back to the same process and the TPLF leadership is now set to write
another awaj (decree), in the form of a constitution.  To make efforts look
democratic, it has staged all sorts of drama in the same manner as its
predecessor when Mengistu declared the People's Democratic republic of Ethiopia
(PDRE).  Of course the drama is a public relations exercise for the benefit of
the international community.  In reality, such an exercise will not fool the
peoples of Ethiopia because of their recent experiences of unsuccessful
deception of the past regime.

As in the past, the Oromo people and many others are denied their legitimate
right to effectively participate in the constitution making process.
Everything is done behind their backs.  Since the present regime is in the same
tradition of its predecessor, as far as the OLF and the Oromo people are
concerned, the whole exercise is a facade and hence irrelevant.  Some might
tell us that we might as well express the same views by attending the
symposium.  But, we know from our experience in the Transitional Government
that our presence will do more harm than good for the cause of freedom and
democracy by giving the wrong image of participation while remaining
ineffective.

The OLF has suggested on a number of occasions that the best way to save
Ethiopia from further cycle of dictatorship, war and famine is, first and
foremost to develop a wider consensus through holding an all party review
conference, including the TPLF/EPRDF, and set in motion a genuine democratic
process of making a constitution.  The OLF called for the review conference as
early as February 1992, while still in the Transitional Government.  More
recently, in a meeting in Paris from March 11 to 13, 1993, the OLF along with
six other parties has called for Peace and Reconciliation Conference as soon as
possible.  The call as the only sane and correct course to be pursued, has
already gained the support of the Ethiopian population both at home and abroad.
Once a consensus regarding transitional arrangement is arrived at, we fully
recognize the need for and appreciate, the constructive role that neutral
academic institutions and international agencies can play in facilitating
exchange of relevant experiences of other societies and expert information.
Only in this manner can the exercise achieve the goal of serving all sectors of
the society and avoid being used by one party to exclude and marginalise its
contenders.

We would like to take this opportunity to call upon the Inter-Africa Group and
the participants of Addis Ababa symposium to support our initiative of Peace
and Reconciliation Conference and the right of all peoples of the country to
participate in shaping their country's future.  Otherwise, a constitution
drafted by one party, and then approved by an assembly elected or a referendum
in the manner of the June 1992 "elections" will have the same fate of the
Dergue's 1987 Constitution, which we were told was approved by over 80% of the
population.

            Victory to the Oromo People!!!


From uwvax!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!pipex!bnr.co.uk!demon!holloway.demon.co.uk!bill Tue May 25 08:57:01 CDT 1993
Article: 15518 of soc.culture.african
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
From: [e-mail] (Bill W)
Path: uwvax!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!pipex!bnr.co.uk!demon!holloway.demon.co.uk!bill
Subject: Angola - U Turn #1
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Reprinted without permission, for "fair use" only
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Financial Times, Thursday May 20, 1993

Clinton reverses US Angola policy and ditches Savimbi

By Jurek Martin in Washington

THE US yesterday accorded full diplomatic recognition to the former
Marxist government of Angola headed by President Jose Eduardo dos
Santos.

Speaking before a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa,
President Bill Clinton made it clear he had acted because Mr Jonas
Savimbi's Unita movement had refused to accept the latest peace plans
designed to end the civil war in Angola.

"The Angola government," Mr Clinton said, "has by contrast agreed to
sign that peace agreement, has sworn in a democratically elected
national assembly and has offered participation by Unita at all levels
of government.  Today we recognise those achievements by recognising the
government and republic of Angola."  He said he had tried to use the

leverage of recognition as a means to end the civil war.  He also wanted
to reaffirm "the high priority that our administration places on
democracy."  He did not say if he thought an end to the carnage in
Angola was now in sight.  The decision to isolate Unita internationally
appears to mark the end of a long relationship between the US and Mr
Savimbi, regarded for much of the Reagan and Bush administrations as a
bulwark against the ambitions of the former Soviet Union and Cuba in
Angola.

US financial and materiel support for Unita ended in 1991, before the
peace agreernent which also saw the withdrawal of Soviet aid and Cuban
troops.  However Mr Savimbi has remained a popular figure in US
right-wing political circles, frequently escorted around Washington by
the likes of Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina.

However, his refusal to accept the results of elections last year,
narrowly won by Mr dos Santos and his party, and his resumption of the
civil war angered the Bush administration in its final weeks and has
increasingly frustrated Mr Clinton's government.

The last straws were continuing reports of Unita's territorial gains and
atrocities on the ground in Angola and its rejection last week of the
latest peace proposals put forward by international mediators in
Abidjan, capital of Ivory Coast.

Mr Clinton had also been subject to increasing domestic pressure to
recognise the dos Santos government.  This has been most evident from
influential black leaders such as the Rev Jesse Jackson and Congressman
Kweisi Mfume of Maryland and also, if more discreetly, from US oil
companies with interests in Angola.

Some external influence was also brought to bear.  Bishop Tutu said he
was "thrilled" by Mr Clinton's action, which would help improve human
rights in Africa.

The emerging Clinton approach to Africa involves the promotion of
democracy and market-oriented reforms, debt relief, an activist approach
to "disasters in the making", such as Somalia, and attempts to resolve a
number of conflicts such as Zaire, Liberia, Sudan and Togo.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill W.


From uwvax!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wupost!uunet!pipex!bnr.co.uk!demon!holloway.demon.co.uk!bill Tue May 25 08:57:08 CDT 1993
Article: 15519 of soc.culture.african
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
From: [e-mail] (Bill W)
Path: uwvax!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wupost!uunet!pipex!bnr.co.uk!demon!holloway.demon.co.uk!bill
Subject: Angola - U Turn, #2
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Financial Times, May 22/23 1993

Angolan peace talks collapse

MARATHON Angolan peace talks have collapsed after the government and
Unita rebels failed to agree on a draft peace package, raising fears
that the civil war may intensify, Reuter reports from Abidjan.

A final session of the six-week-old talks in Ivory Coast broke up
without success last night and participants said negotiations were
swspended indefinitely.

"I'm afraid the war is going to go on and probably to intensify," Ms
Margaret Anstee, the United Nations special envoy to Angola, said in the
Ivorian capital Abidjan.  "That means we have to intensify our efforts
to try to get the two sides together again."  There was no indication if
talks between Unita and the MPLA government wowld restart.

Ms Anstee said the main stumbling-block was a military clause in the
draft peace agreement saying Unita fighters would withdraw from areas
they have occupied since late last year.  The MPLA said it was ready to
sign the peace package, drawn up by observers from Portugal, Russia and
the US.  Unita refused.

President Bill Clinton on Wednesday announced US recognition of the
formerly-Marxist MPLA, effectively ending 18 years of support for Unita.

In Angola, fighting continued.  The government said yesterday 40
civilians were killed and 51 wounded during a Unita raid on the besieged
eastern city of Luena.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill W.


From uwvax!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!pipex!bnr.co.uk!demon!holloway.demon.co.uk!bill Tue May 25 08:57:15 CDT 1993
Article: 15520 of soc.culture.african
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
From: [e-mail] (Bill W)
Path: uwvax!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!pipex!bnr.co.uk!demon!holloway.demon.co.uk!bill
Subject: Angola - U Turn, #3
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Reprinted without permission, for "fair use" only
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Guardian, May 22/23 1993

A 30 year old conflict in southern Africa took a new turn this week.
VICTORIA BRITTAIN assesses the options facing Angola's rivals

PRESIDENT CLINTON'S diplomatic recognition of the Angolan government
this week opens a new phase in a 30-year war which has devastated
southern Africa.  The bill for South African-led destabilisation in the
1980s alone was put at $100 billion (65 billion) by the United Nations.
The destruction of the past months in Angola is incalculable, in cash as
in human terms.

Jonas Savimbi, leader of the Unita guerrillas, and his longtime ally
President Mobutu Sese Seko of neighbouring Zaire, now face the most
dificult choices of their careers.  They can take the Idi Amin option
and accept the lifeline offered by retreat to a comfortable government
villa, probably in Rabat or Abidjan, or continue an ethnic war of
attrition which could still lead to Savimbi's threatened
"Somalia-isation" of one, and probably two, of Africa's potentially
richest countries.

The British government only washed its hands of Amin, a shameful
favourite, after he had been driven from power by his own desperate
population and the Tanzanian army.  For the West and the South African
military, Savimbi's defeat at the polls in Angola by the Popular
Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) last year should have been
a similar watershed.  But, because Angola's future is the political
touchstone for the whole region -- from Kinshasa to Capetown, from
Luanda to Maputo -- they abetted one last clandestine effort to keep the
MPLA from power.  Its history saw to that.  Angola was post-colonial
Africa's symbol of a non-racial, non-aligned, socialist state whose key
allies were Cuba and the military wing of the ANC.

For the eight years of Ronald Reagan's presidency, Savimbi's forces were
regarded as pillars of what was known as the Reagan doctrine -- along
with the Contra guerrillas fighting the Sandinista government in
Nicaragua or Afghan guerrillas opposing the Soviet-backed government.
Luanda, like Havana, Hanoi and Phnom Penh, was excluded from the
international community wherever the American writ ran.

Clinton's reversal came with recognition couched as a warning to all
those in the region who believed that the West's new fashion for
democracy in Africa was selective, that old American clients, from
Savimbi and Mobutu, to Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi could still play by
the old, violent rules.

The next test for America is what it does on the ground in Angola and
with the Kamina base in southern Zaire which was for years the centre
for the CIA, Israeli and South African support for Unita.

Savimbi still has huge reserves of arms and ammunition, and control over
the diamond areas which are funding the Zaire operations of his
50,000-man army.  Fuel supplies are his weakest spot.  American
logistics could do much to help disrupt supply lines and will deter the
South African network which started flying in men and materiel last
October.

WASHINGTON has been on the verge of considering annulling US visas for
Mobutu, and is along with France and Belgium seizing his personal
fortune, which may be worth as much as $10 billion.  Decisive action,
and US support for the reformist Zairean government led by Prime
minister Etienne Tshisekedi and opposed by President Mobutu, could
finally end the kleptocracy which is responsible for the collapse of the
state in Zaire, as well as for so much of Savimbi's logistics.

Yesterday all Angolan men aged between 20 and 22 were called up for
military service.  And in Luena, just one town in the east, yesterday,
100 people were killed and wounded.  The wounded will almost certainly
die too as, Luena has been under seige by Unita for four months and is a
paralysed and destroyed town.  The original population of 100,000 is
swollen with uncounted thousands of refugees.  The embattled
administration and small military force has no resources to maintain a
semblance of order.  There is no economy, no money in the bank, no
electricity, no clean water, no medicines, few doctors, and food had
practically run out a month ago before UN aid flights were stopped after
Unita troops brought down a World Food Programme plane with a
ground-to-air missile.

Luena's tragedy is the whole country in microcosm.  Even the capital,
Luanda, has been without regular electricity or water for months,
hundreds of new cases of cholera are registered every week and inflation
is rocketing.

US recognition of the government is just a first small step in
redressing a humanitarian and political crisis so extreme that, were it
in Europe, or visible on television screens it - would long since have
awakened an international outcry.

After the US move it is now up to the United Nations to take the next
logical step.  For six weeks the credibility of the UN as overseer of
the transition to peace has been mocked as talks in Abidjan saw Unita
officials refusing to accept either a ceasefire or the base line of the
Bicesse accord of May 1991, when they pledged to withdraw from the
territory they occupy and to demobilise their forces.

The UN, like the Americans until this week, opted for the wooing and
face-saving of Savimbi.  In a travesty of justice they have, throughout
the 17 months run-up to the election, and at least until late January,
overlooked or minimised Unita's strategy of violence in an effort to
appear neutral between the two parties.  The policy backfired badly as
it fed Savinibi's intransigence and allowed him to paralyse relief
efforts.  Now the UN can shift gear and, with US back-up, start a vast
humanitarian emergency supply programme which cannot be held to ransom
by an insurgency condemned by the whole world.

Savimbi's own future remains the sticking point it has been since
negotiations began in the late 1980s.  He has made it clearer than ever
in the past eight months that there can be no peace, and therefore no
guarantee of the safety of the UN, as long as he remains in the country.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill W.


From uwvax!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!hpscit.sc.hp.com!hplextra!hpfcso!zld Tue May 25 08:59:54 CDT 1993
Article: 15538 of soc.culture.african
From: [e-mail] (Zemen Lebne-Dengel)
Date: Sun, 23 May 1993 20:16:26 GMT
Subject: Ethiopia: MERCHANTS IN SHAME!
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Path: uwvax!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!hpscit.sc.hp.com!hplextra!hpfcso!zld
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Lines: 110


              MERCHANTS IN SHAME

>From a new journal called Ethiopian Commentator (EC), May 1993, pp. 42-43.
==========================================================================
For those interested in subscribing to the quarterly "EC" write:
         Ethiopian Commentator
         P.O.Box 1655
         Portage MI, 49081
         USA
Subscription rates are $17.76/yr, postage included.
Phone and/or Fax at 1-616-373-1106
=========================================================================

The (EC) recently received two letters allegedly written by the president of
the so-called All Amhara Peoples Organization (AAPO), Professor Asrat Weldeyes.
One of the letters is addressed to President Clinton and the other, to the
newly selected US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Mr. George
E. Moose. The letter to President Clinton is sent via Mr. Moose intentionally
and for a sinister reason.

Before addressing the content and potential intent of the letters, some
information about the Professor is relevant. [Continued in the 1st response to
this base note].

Letters #1 and  #2 of Professor Asrat follows: (see EC, pp. 42-43)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

  "Ref. no. AAPO/223/93
   January 1993

   Mr. George E. Moose,
   Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs,
   The US Department of State,
   Washington, DC.

   Dear Sir,

     I have herewith attached a letter to the President of the United States
   of America. Since I am not fully appraised of the protocol that should be
   employed for the delivery, I am forced to inconvenience you, since
   Ethiopia's plight is within your new mandate.
     We hope we will be excused for inconvenience that we have caused but hope
   the matter receives your personal attention.
     May I take this opportunity to express my highest consideration and wish
   you success in your new challenging undertaking to support the development
   of democratic institutions in Africa.

   Yours Sincereley,

   (signature)
   Professor Asrat Woldeyes,
   President of the All Amhara Peoples Organization (AAPO).
   ------------------------------------------------------------------

   Mr. William Jefferson Clinton
   President of the United States of America
   The White House, Washington DC, USA

   Dear Mr. President,

     Further to my letter of 14 November 1992, I have availed myself of this
   opportunity to write to you on behalf of the All Amhara Peoples Organization
   (AAPO) and on my own behalf, our heartfelt congratulations which you and
   the Demcoratic Party deserves on your inaguaration as President of the
   United States of America.
     Sir, now that you are the president, we wish to put the plight of our
   country and people before you for justice, on the eve of your inaguaration.
   In one of your public statements you cited a vital sentence from the famous
   speech by the great Abraham Lincoln which he amde at Gettysburg, VA, 'a
   house divided against itself can not stand ...' The same great speech by
   Lincoln begins with, 'four score and seven years ago our forefathers brought
   upon this continent a nation conceived in liberty ...' What the great
   Lincoln said then holds true today fo all, including Ethiopia because no
   less than thirty (30) centuries ago our Ethiopian forebears created upont
   the African continent a nation conceived and preserved in liberty. Ethiopia
   today however is faced with the greatest threats to its very survival. The
   prevailing threats emanate from our historical enemies as well as new ones.
   I believe such problems can eventually be addressed but two major anomalies
   in our current plight must immediately brought to your presidential
   attention.
     The first major point concerns the complete lack of democracy in Ethiopia
   at this time. This letter, which was prepared for despatch on January 1993,
   just in time for your inaguration, had to be delayed until now because armed
   men of the Transitional Governmewnt of Ethiopia began abducting supporters
   of AAPO as of the morning of Tuesday January 9, 1993. Already they have
   rounded up scores of our supporters throughout the country. My own bodyguard
   was kidnapped from my front gate and most of our provincial offices have
   been closed down. This is the kind of democracy the current US Ambassador
   in Addis Ababa, Mr. Baas, and his collegues are exalting. What prevails in
   Ethiopia is absolute mockery of democracy.
     Secondly, during the recent disturbances in the Addis Ababa University
   which resulted in unnecessary loss of life, attempts were madeby our
   opponents to link AAPO to that ghastly act. Unbelievably, when querried,
   Ambassador Baas stated in public "... What's all the fuss about? It's only
   Amharas who are killed!... They are anti-Oromo... and they are no better
   than our niggers...".
     But we are unable to comprehend why Ambassador Baas chose to take such
   a strong stand against the Amhara people. We are persuaded to point out to
   you, Sir, that such action by a senior diplomat is counter productive and
   certainly not in the best interest of our two nations.
     Meanwhile, Mr. President, please permit me to seize this opportunity of
   your inaguration to express to you and the Democratic Party our full
   collaboration, however limited in cultivating democracy and contributing
   toward the preservation of regional as well as world peace.

   Signed for
   Professor Asrat Woldeyes
   President of AAPO. "
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


From uwvax!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!darwin.sura.net!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!umn.edu!csus.edu!netcom.com!makobili Tue May 25 09:01:39 CDT 1993
Article: 15553 of soc.culture.african
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Path: uwvax!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!darwin.sura.net!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!umn.edu!csus.edu!netcom.com!makobili
From: [e-mail] (SMASH EPRDF)
Subject: ETHIOPIA: The "Chat Mafia"
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
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Date: Mon, 24 May 1993 19:46:41 GMT
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                            6/93
           E T H I O P I A       (12)

THE CHAT MAFIA
     Goshu of Medhin gained some diplomatic success in the US
during his last visit to the State Department, but "most of the
time was spent complaining than designing a futuristic
strategy", a US diplomat commented.  Galasa of OLF is also
visiting both Washington and UN (NY) offices around end of
May.

     Meles is designing side-door foreign currency channel to
finance his diplomacy.  In 1987 Mengistu's Tigrean Colonel left
for Europe to shop for military wardrobe.  He was to pay the
company double the agreed upon price in hard currency,
whereby the company management agreed to deposit the excess
money in a Swiss Bank.  The colonel is now leading the TPLF
financial office with accounts in London and Swiss.  All export
money is accounted by this office, and few trusted individuals
with paid vacuum positions in Addis are also assigned to
London as scholarship students to handle the finance.  German's
aid to the released prisoners is partly channeled through these
accounts.  Sources said that the Mafia's main targets are sales of
coffee, hide, and the Ethiopian Air Lines.  EAL activities are to
be moved to Asmera, and its financial activities are in transition
- a matter of time before the Mafia controls its assets.  The
already controlled Chat market came in to the TPLF command
through Abdulizak Mohammed and Ibrahim Malka.  The Chat
corporation was formally owned by fifteen individuals until the
Mafia infiltrated and replaced its President.  The Mafia money
has already gone in to financing strong political groups that will
lobby influential African, American, and European politicians.
There is a rumor that a new magazine called "Ethiopian
Commentator" benefitted from this fund.  Some Eritreans here
argue that the Constitution Conference held in Addis in mid
May is partly financed by the Mafia.  It seems there is some
Eritrean involvement of unknown degree.  There were plans to
"buy" some OLF and All Amhara members to the Mafia.  Four
OLF members were arrested when they rejected the envitation,
and their car set to fire in a place called Qobo.  Meles' readiness
to sign and borrow money on behalf of Eritrea was initially tied
to the Mafia operation, but could as well be simply a good
humanitarian will.

    In the north the TPLF agitation failed when invited some
fifty Amhara seniors to Mekele in an attempt to convince them
to accept the three districts now annexed to Tigrai.  Recently
there is popular dissatisfaction opposing the increased taxation
in Gondar area.  Some leaders are imprisoned.  Very similar
situation exists else where.  Civil disobedience is quickly
crashed.  In Wollega the EPRDF detained the well known
community leader Mr. Olana Bati again.  Olana is about 70
years old.  His detention was followed by wide spread arrests of
high school students currently imprisoned in Didessa.  In Hurso
(Harar) the TPLF still holds some 850 civilians.  As the
pressure continued from the OLF in the east, the TPLF declared
openly that if this pressure continues it will shoot all the 850
prisoners in Marshal Court.  The TPLF statement came after
OLF liberated about 170 of the prisoners.  This was followed by
shooting many Oromo individuals in Halela and Chachabsa
near Awash.  "If OLF continues its military pressure at the
extent of such a civilian loss is an open guess" commented an
OLF member in Cairo.

    In Britain there was some EPLF - TPLF joint activity
probably aimed at shaping and increasing Eritrean involvement
in Addis.  Meles has favored a new law that may be effective
soon to allow foreigners to buy land in Ethiopia.  A complex
financial and political cooperation is being worked.  "We rarely
disagree" commented an Eritrean diplomat.  The land sale is
probably aimed at allowing a continued Eritrean financial
presence in Ethiopia.  Double citizenship is also in the process
of adaptation.  Uthman Umer, the EPLF diplomat and
ambassador in Cairo is more worried about Eritrean devotion to
Israel than "local" problems as he put it.  In his interview with
Al Ahram, he denied any Israeli involvement other than
humanitarian.  His answers found very shallow reception in
Egypt.  He was later heard admitting that there may be some
Eritreans detained for openly opposing Eritrean ties with Israel.
He also told his Egyptian friend "I am having hard time
defending why Eritrea refuses to join the Arab League.  Eritrean
leaders discovered more reaction from Arabs for their contacts
with Israel than they anticipated.  A Greek orthodox General
was invited to Asmera to counter the damaging image without
compromising the west.

    A heated criticism of the government's dismissal of more
than forty University faculty and staff dominates most of the
international agendas and meetings on Ethiopia.  "I do not think
Meles thought of the diplomatic consequences" commented one
of the dismissed Professors.  "Both European and American
donors are deeply troubled" said a UNICEF agent in Rome.  In
the mean time there is a clear confusion within the ranks of the
All Amhara organization between those who favor an "All
Ethiopian agenda" similar to that of Medhin and those who
push Amhara-centric issues.  While the "All Ethiopianists" led
by Prof. Asrat claim their primary enemy to be the TPLF, the
Amhara-centrists (getting ground in North America) seem to
back-up from this assumption.  "It favors the Tigrean attitude"
said an Amnesty officer, and this is going to complicate the fate
of the Amharas in the south.


Published and distributed by Barry Gossa of Cairo.













































From:    IN%"[e-mail]"   "FORUM PAN-AFRICA (Peer Distribution List)" 24-MAY-1993 16:21:42.48
To:      Multiple recipients of list AFRICA-L <[e-mail]>
Subject: Africa is not doing so bad.. President of ADB


AFICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK SEES GROWTH DESPITE AFRICA'S WEAK ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE
ABIDJAN (MAY 12) IPS - Africa has strong medium-term prospects for growth,
despite the continent's weak overall economic performance, the president
of the African Development Bank (ADB) said here today.
Opening the ADB's 29th annual meeting, Babacar Ndiaye said the view
that Africa was beyond hope was "a misleading portrayal of both prevailing
reality and future possibilities."
"Even during the 1980s, the period all too readily decried as the
lost decade for development, some 20 countries in all sub- regions,
had records of positive increases in per capita income," Ndiaye told
representatives of the bank's 76 African and non- African members.

Africa's growth rate of two percent last year may have been poor in
comparison to six percent for developing countries as a whole, but
nevertheless gave "hopeful indications of turnarounds in economic
performance," said Ndiaye, a Senegalese national.
He blamed the continent's poor collective economic performance on
last year's devastating drought in eastern and southern Africa, the harsh
international economic environment and the conflicts in Angola,
Liberia and Somalia.
Pointing to the lack of progress to deal with Africa's estimated $300
billion external debt, Ndiaye called for "more comprehensive measures"
to address the issue.
He stressed, however, the importance of looking beyond debt relief
toward negotiating better terms for future borrowing.
The ADB comprises 51 African member-countries, which own two- thirds
of the bank's shares, and 25 non-African members -- among them major
western donor countries.
Ndiaye highlighted the ADB's unique preference for development- oriented
action that has set it apart from other multilaterals since its inception
in August 1963.
However, he said the bank's aim to fuel development would fail unless
its operations were based on sound policies.
Therefore, he said, the bank's financial and operational policy measures
should be reinforced to bring the group into line with other multilaterals.
But to preserve the concessional nature of the ADB's work, the burden
of risk would have to be shifted from the bank to the African Development
Fund (ADF) -- the bank's soft loan arm set up in 1973.

To balance the group's banking and developmental interests, Ndiaye
said it was essential participants increased their contributions to the ADF
by at least 50 percent in the seventh replenishment period -- 1993/96.
With such a replenishment level, it would be possible to stop, without
much ado, ADB funding to low-income countries," said Ndiaye.
Concessional lending could still be considered on a case-by-case basis,
at lenient maturity, grace period and interest rates, he added.
Some of the ADB's poorest members together owe the bank nearly $360
million in arrears -- about five percent of the bank's total outstanding
loans of $7.3 billion.
A key pillar of the DABs's development philosophy now appears
to be that structural adjustment with a new, socially-conscious face is
essential for economic integration.
The ADB argues that structural adjustment and economic integration
must complement, rather than conflict with, each other.
Seeing its future within the context of the African economic community,
the ADB is marketing itself as the economic arm of the politically-weak
Organization of African Unity (OAU).
"We have to go beyond standard national approaches to adjustment and
envisage a wider horizon in order to approach the issues more collectively
with the view to designing sub-regional adjustment programs," Ndiaye said.
To facilitate intra-regional trade as well as trade between Africa
and the rest of the world, the ADB is proudly displaying its new baby,
the African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank).
With $413 million of the initial authorized capital of $500 million
already pledged by African governments and banks, the capital threshold has
been raised to $750 million.
As Afreximbank's main sponsor, the ADB is keen to open up the new
bank to international participation, <SR>
thereby replicating the group's own global, interdependent make-up.
The meeting, scheduled to end May 14, will also discuss ways to fund
Africa's fight against the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
more effectively.


Femi.
From:    IN%"[e-mail]" 24-MAY-1993 19:12:07.18
To:      Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <[e-mail]>
Subject: Report on HELINA 93

REPORT ON THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL WORKING CONFERENCE ON
HEALTH INFORMATICS IN AFRICA   -   H E L I N A   9 3

by

Dr. Salah H. Mandil, Director-Advisor on Informatics, WHO, Geneva
Chairman of HELINA 93 Scientific Programme Committee (SPC)

Dr. A.D. Akinde, Head of Computer Science Dept., OAU, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Chairman of HELINA 93 Local Organising Committee

Mr. Mikko Korpela, Senior Researcher, Univ. of Kuopio, Finland
Chairman of HELINA 93 Overseas Bureau and Member SPC


     The first International Working Conference on Health Informatics in
Africa, HELINA 93, was hosted in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, 19-23 April 1993.  The
event has a historical significance because it is the first ever international
conference in Africa in the field of information technology uses in the health
sector.  When followed up by similar future conferences, HELINA could be said
to have joined the global MEDINFO, European MIE, and North American COACH and
SCAMC periodic conferences on the same subject.

     The conference was organised under the auspices of the International
Medical Informatics Association (IMIA).  The Local Organising Committee was
established by the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Computer Science
Department and the OAU Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
An Overseas Bureau was run by the Computing Centre, University of Kuopio,
Finland.  HELINA 93 was also co-sponsored by the:

     -    World Health Organisation (WHO)
     -    International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP)
     -    Regional Informatics Network for Africa (RINAF) Project, UNESCO
     -    International Development Research Centre, Canada
     -    Federal Ministry of Health and Human Services, Nigeria
     -    Academy of Finland
     -    Ministry of Education, Finland
     -    Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway
     -    Commonwealth Secretariat, United Kingdom
     -    DataTree & InterSystems Co., USA
     -    and personal contributions.

     The participants at HELINA 93 came from 28 African and 11 other
countries, and totalled 124 including 45 foreign and 79 from the host country.
The conference was primarily in English, and interpretation facilities were
available in French.  All the language groups of African countries were
represented.

     The HELINA 93 comprised of scientific papers, workshops, tutorials and
keynote address.  Thirty-one scientific papers were selected for presentation
through a two-phase blind refereeing procedure by an International Programme
Committee.  A keynote address and seven tutorial lectures laid the foundation
for different sections of the programme.  The authors, co-authors and other
presenters came from Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Asia and
the Pacific.  The audience was equally divided into health/medical care and
computing/communications professionals.

     The programme also included five parallel workshops for practically
oriented discussions and hands-on sessions.  As a post-conference event, and
in coordination with the HELINA 93 Scientific Programme and Organising
Committees, UNESCO's RINAF Project held a training course on networking and
e-mail for twenty West and Central African participants of HELINA 93.

     The exceptional geographical coverage of the conference was matched by
an equally fine coverage of health informatics topics.  These were National
Health Informatics Policies and Strategies; Informatics in Primary Health Care
Management; Hospital Information Systems; Epidemiological Surveillance and
Research; Information Storage and Retrieval;  Informatics and Health/Medical
Education; Knowledge-Based (e.g. Expert) Systems; Networking & Communications;
and Technology and Applications Development.

     Unedited versions of the scientific papers were available to the
participants as a HELINA 93 Pre-Proceedings.  The Proceedings of HELINA 93
will be published by Elsevier/North-Holland Publishers.

     The organisation of HELINA 93 was not without some major difficulties.
Nearly all African participants, outside of the host country, needed full
sponsoring in order to be able to attend.  This made the organising task of
HELINA 93 quite different from that of the revenue-generating conferences in
industrialised countries.  Fund raising was the main concern throughout the
three years period of organisation.  Extreme sparing, austerity and even
personal sacrifices enabled all but a few of the intending African countries
to send participants.

     The closing session included an evaluation of the conference
organisation and content.  HELINA 93 participants unanimously regarded the
conference very timely and a big success, and a HELINA 96 should be planned.
The atmosphere of enthusiasm and pioneering was particularly noted.  HELINA 93
shed the light on the geographic and substantive spread of informatics in
health care in Africa, which was beyond what was believed before.  A typical
comment was, "I didn't know there was so much Health Informatics in Africa and
carried out mainly by Africans".  It was also appreciated that contrary to
most scientific conferences, the presentations in HELINA 93 were not just
academic treatises but oriented towards a social objective - Health for All.

     The combination of a training event and a scientific event, through
tutorials and submitted papers, was appreciated and recommended to be followed
in the future.  The future HELINA's are to include more hands-on sessions and
demonstrations, and can be preceded by pre-HELINA national workshops and
symposia.  Invitations to host and organise HELINA 96 were expressed by three
countries.

     It was decided that, until the next HELINA, an electronic bulletin board
be established and that E-Mail and the IMIA Newsletter be utilised for further
communications amongst the "HELINA community".  Moreover, a roster of training
facilities and individual consultants, properly screened, will be established.
A future IMIA Board is to discuss the establishment of a regional set-up to
promote collaboration amongst national health informatics societies in
Africa.

     Finally, it can be confidently stated that a most tangible long-term
outcome of HELINA 93 was the establishment of informal links between a clearly
evident Health Informatics community in Africa.  Good and bad experience was
exchanged, common concerns identified, contacts and collaboration plans
created.  The participants unanimously stressed that HELINA 93 would be
recalled as a major catalyst for the development and sharing of improved
policies, procedures, systems, facilities and human resources for the relevant
informatics support to health care in Africa.
From:    IN%"[e-mail]" 21-MAY-1993 12:11:23.24
To:      Multiple recipients of list AFRICA-L <[e-mail]>
Subject: President Invites Namibian President to Meet in Washington



----------------------------Original message----------------------------
 President Clinton Invites Namibian President to Meet in Washington
 To: National and Foreign desks
 Contact: White House Office of the Press Secretary, 202-456-2100

   WASHINGTON, May 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- President Clinton has
invited Namibian President Sam Nujoma to meet in Washington
on June 16.
   President Nujoma will be the first African head of state
to be received in the White House by this administration.
   The meeting with Nujoma, the first elected president of an
independent Namibia, underscores the president's commitment to
support democracy throughout Africa and elsewhere.  The two leaders
are expected to discuss developments in southern Africa, including
Angola and progress toward democracy in South Africa.
 -0-
 /U.S. Newswire  202-347-2770/
From:    IN%"[e-mail]"   "FORUM PAN-AFRICA (Peer Distribution List)" 24-MAY-1993 17:14:07.00
To:      Multiple recipients of list AFRICA-L <[e-mail]>
Subject: Some information on Africa from UNICEF

Hello All:

The following is taken from the Spring 1993 "In Action" newsletter put
out by the United States Committee for UNICEF:

                  DID YOU KNOW?

That one third of the 14 million children worldwide who die each year
are African, although Africans are only 10 percent of the World's
population?

That African women are key actors in local development and are
increasingly represented in formal decision-making and national life?

That immunization rates of African infants have risen from 20 percent
in 1986 to over 50 percent today?  In many countries, the immunization
program now reaches more villages and hamlets than the postal service.
 More than 500,000 children will be saved this year.

That Arica is the only region in the world where the nutrition
situation has not improved in the past 25 years?

That 30 percent of African women suffer from chronic anemia, part of a
vicious cycle in which their children are born with low birth-wegtht
and face almost certain malnutrition by the age of two?

That average life expectancy in Africa has risen to 54 years, an
increase of 13 years since 1960?
From:    IN%"[e-mail]"   "Arthur R. McGee" 24-MAY-1993 23:30:14.76
To:      Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <[e-mail]>
Subject: "Down and Out in the Global Village" (fwd)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 24 May 93 21:23:49 PDT
From: Gleason Sackman <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: "Down and Out in the Global Village" (fwd)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded by Gleason Sackman, net-happenings moderator
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Date: Mon, 24 May 1993 12:19:37 -0700 (MST)
From: "Dr. Ross Alan Stapleton" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: "Down and Out in the Global Village"

The 8 May 1993 issue of New Scientist, pp.36-40, has an article titled "Down
and Out in the Global Village; To make the most of the information age, you
need to be male, speak English and live in an industrialised country.  How
can the rest of the world claim its share of the electronic riches?" by Mike
Holderness.   A good article, by an Internet-literate journalist (who filed
it electronically over JANET), including a reasonable text box on Internet
itself.   From the article:

   "Three kinds of information barriers deny the majority of the world
    access to the new information sources.   Broadly, these are economic,
    technical and political.   Economic factors are the most fundamental.
    Many people live and work in places lacking the necessary communications
    to make links with other users.   It can take three days to place an
    international phone call from, say, India or Bangladesh--and then the
    connection is often not good enough for computer communications.   Of
    the technical barriers, by far the most excluding is language: most
    of the world's population cannot use computer communications in their
    own languages.   And finally, there are the political questions, which
    centre on access to effective education and training to use the
    technology--in particular, the notion that computer technology has a
    gender bias towards men."

The article leads in with the canonical "developing country farmer growing
yams in the face of ravaging native plant disease" scenario, which is not,
to my mind, a recommendation that every kraal have a Mac, but that
information networking be absorbed into some well-established traditional
programs: if US AID or the Peace Corps built up information archives (or
organized pointers to archives others are building already), if some of our
foreign assistance money went to ensure modest international pipes, and if
training and technical assistance in-country went to putting information
centers in population centers, we could work wonders.   Overtime we can
expect the same fan-out for ubiquitous access we're only seeing now in a
country that's got (or thinks it's got :-) billions in discretionary monies
to take networking out of the labs and into the broad communities.   (And
this is not to say that current, low-speed networking isn't wonderful and
shouldn't continue--if I were to pick only one area for emphasis, it would
be on training folks at both ends to use technologies lying around waiting
to be applied.   Fidonet *can* get communications into Africa, and the
government *can* pull electronic resources into useful libraries for
technical assistance.)

Ross