14 April 2000 : news summary:

Natural Disasters, Hazards and Emergencies

Various, 5-13/4/00
~ Reports and comments on developments in Ethiopia and aid efforts. EU increases aid to Ethiopia as another famine disaster looms but conflict makes efforts and distribution difficult. Ethiopia Ambassador expresses dissatisfaction at the aid response.

Various, 5-6/4/00
~ Articles following Cyclone Hudah as it approaches and hits Mozambique after killing 14 in Madagascar.

Security/Conflicts

Various, 5-13/4/00
~ Articles following the rapidly escalating violence and oppression in Zimbabwe as white Zimbabweans continue to defy Mugabe. The president marginally wins the vote for a constitutional amendment which states that Britain holds responsibility for compensation for land after its seizure.
Also: ‘Mugabe’s last stand‘, The Economist, 8-14 April 2000
~ Examines the situation in Zimbabwe.
Also: ‘South Africa ‘faces land seizure threat", T, 12/4/00
~ Zimbabwe’s precedent for land seizures goes down well at South Africa’s Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).

‘Boxing clever with Bruno and Burundi‘, G, 5/4/00
~ Mandela talks of his hopes and fears for war-torn Burundi and the prospects for the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mandela expresses worry that the west only complicates problems facing Africa with its interference.

‘Mandela accuses ‘policeman’ Britain’, G, 5/4/00
~ Nelson Mandela talking to the Guardian accuses Britain of playing "policeman to the world" in joining forces with the US to override international conventions such as the UN in affairs such as Iraq and Kosovo.
Also: ‘Mandela hits at peace ‘football’, DT, 6/4/00
~ Nelson Mandela hits out at the West’s role in the Middle East peace process.

‘Melting pot may spill over in blood‘, FT, 11/4/00
~ The threat of genocide hangs over the Democratic Republic of Congo as divisions grow.

Various, 10/4/00
~ Bolivia’s government has declared a state of emergency following violent protests as water prices rocket.

Human Rights

‘Human Rights‘
~ Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development Annual Report for 1999 on Human Rights.
‘Preparations begin for ‘Women 2000", TWNF, March 2000
~ Beijing+5, the World Conference on Women, will meet soon to assess the implementation of the ‘Beijing Platform for Action’ agreed on at the Fourth World Conference for Women, five years ago. Third World Network Features reports on the issues.

Corruption

‘Kenya’s coffee wars spread‘, G, 6/4/00
~ Kenya’s coffee industry is suffering from widespread corruption and mismanagement, to the extent that it is being driven towards the point of collapse.

Others

‘Debating on the Info Tech divide‘, TWNF, March 2000
~ Reports on the different viewpoints contributing to the debate on the "info tech divide" at the Global Knowledge Conference.

‘The African rebirth that holds so much hope‘, IND, 11/4/00
~ An extract from Nelson Mandela’s speech given at the LSE focusing on the positive developments which have occurred in Africa in the past two decades.

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