THE INDIAN OCEAN NEWSLETTER # 565 - 06/03/1993

ITALY/AFRICA ITALIAN-STYLE FUND-RAISING The "Craxiscandal" in Italy, that has thrown a more than suspecting light on the Italian Socialist Party's financing network, and that has pointed the finger at more than one high-level politician, including the PSI ex-leader, Bettino Craxi, or the former Foreign minister, Gianni de Michelis (1989-1991), has revealed dubious practices within Italy's overseas cooperation service. (...). [Total : 740 Words]. (8,2USD)

MOZAMBIQUE DEMINING PROGRESS REPORT At the request of the European Community two non-governmental organizations have sent an exploration mission to Mozambique to make a progress report on demining and to evaluate the rural demining situation, notably in Tete province. (...). [Total : 178 Words]. (4,7USD) ZIMBABWE COMPETITION IN THE BALANCE A recent report made by United States five consultants with US-AID funds, Study of Monopolies and Competition Policy in Zimbabwe concludes that there are severe discrepancies in competition between different manufacturing companies in the country, and highlights their inefficiency. (...). [Total : 163 Words]. (4,7USD) FRANCE/AFRICA FRENCH FUND'S 1992 REGIONAL CREDITS According to the final audit of credits approved last year by the French Cooperation Ministry's Fonds d'Aide et de Coopération (FAC), Djibouti received the most out of all the countries covered by The Indian Ocean Newsletter, with about seven million dollars. (...). [Total : 237 Words]. (4,7USD) DJIBOUTI/ETHIOPIA TRANSPORT LINK-UP MOVES ALONG A four-man mission from the Caisse Française du Développement (CFD), Messrs Martin, Ficatier, Wachenheim and Widmaier, set off for Djibouti this week from Paris, to tie up the project for the modernization of Djibouti's port and to update the plans to revamp the Djibouti-Ethiopian railway line. (...). [Total : 370 Words]. (4,7USD) MADAGASCAR THREE ECONOMIC OPTIONS Speaking at the seminar on development, held in the Malagasy capital, Antananarivo from March 3 to 5 by the Comité de Redressement Economique et Social (CRES), the World Bank representative, Michel Palein, presented three economic options for Madagascar. (...). [Total : 197 Words]. (4,7USD) FRANCE/AFRICA FRENCH CREDITS PLANNED FOR 1993 When the steering committee of the French Overseas Cooperation Ministry's Fonds d'Aide et de Coopération met last month, it approved credits for various projects in Indian Ocean and Southern and East African countries. (...). [Total : 470 Words]. (4,7USD) SOUTH AFRICA CHANGES FOR FRENCH MISSION Although the Organisation pour la Coopération Industrielle entre la France et l'Afrique du Sud (OCSAF), has not yet become operational (due to open on April 6, 1993), the South Africa-based personnel at the French Direction des Relations Economiques Extérieures (DREE) is being shaken up. (...). [Total : 214 Words]. (4,7USD) KENYA EMERGENCY AGRICULTURAL CREDIT The International Development Association (a World Bank-affiliate), approved on February 23 a credit of 20 million dollars to Kenya as part of an emergency aid programme for people in Kenya affected by drought. (...). [Total : 120 Words]. (4,7USD)

SUDAN ALL-ROUND DIPLOMACY The Sudanese delegate at the peace talks with the Southern Sudanese rebel movement, SPLA, Ali al Hadj (also minister of planning), met the leader of the SPLA Nassir faction, Lam Akol, and President Daniel arap Moi in the Kenyan capital on February 25. (...). [Total : 250 Words]. (4,7USD) SOMALIA TIME TO GO HOME Secretary General of the United Nations Boutros Boutros Ghali announced on February 25, that he was preparing to submit a report to the UN Security Council, ahead of the adoption of a resolution for the mandate of a second UN Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM II). (...). [Total : 450 Words]. (4,7USD) MADAGASCAR GENERAL ELECTION SLATED FOR EARLY MAY The Malagasy Council of Ministers this week decided on early May as the time for the country's general election, to be held under a proportional representation system. (...). [Total : 175 Words]. (4,7USD) COMOROS ISLANDS TIME FOR CHANGE... AGAIN President Said Mohamed Djohar of the Comoros Islands reshuffled his government on February 25. That government team had come into power only in January 1993. (...). [Total : 363 Words]. (4,7USD) KENYA OPPOSITION MAYOR FOR NAIROBI Opposition Ford Asili candidate for the mayorship of Kenya's capital Nairobi, Steve Mwangi, won the secret ballot with 40 out of the possible 73 votes. (...). [Total : 355 Words]. (4,7USD) MOZAMBIQUE UNITED NATIONS OPERATION MAKES FALTERING START The Italian authorities have finally obtained the number three slot in the hierarchy of the United Nations Operation in Mozambique (UNOMOZ), that they had asked for from UN Secretary General, Boutros Boutros Ghali (ION N°564). (...). [Total : 520 Words]. (4,7USD) DJIBOUTI RECURRING NIGHTMARE OF FRENCH MEDIATION FAILURE France has once again failed in its attempt to mediate a solution to the Djiboutian conflict between the government and the Front pour la Restauration de l'Unité et de la Démocratie (FRUD) rebels, after President François Mitterrand's adviser on African Affairs, Bruno Delhaye, visited the country on February 18. (...). [Total : 289 Words]. (4,7USD)

ETHIOPIA The transitional government in Ethiopia announced last week, the release of 16,000 members from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) held for several months by the EPRDF. (...). [Total : 36 Words]. (FREE!) MADAGASCAR According to information obtained by The Indian Ocean Newsletter, a secret French military mission led by a colonel, arrived in the Malagasy capital, Antananarivo on February 25, where it stayed for only 24 hours. (...). [Total : 109 Words]. (1,5USD)

PORTUGAL/MOZAMBIQUE VASCO CAL The European Commission is expected to appoint Vasco Cal as the EEC representative in Maputo, whose task will be to coordinate the European contribution to the Mozambican peace process. (...). [Total : 107 Words]. (4,7USD) UNITED STATES/AFRICA THE MOOSE TEAM United States' President Bill Clinton has a new "Africa team", with more French-speakers in it than George Bush's. According to information obtained by La Lettre du Continent (Indigo Publications), the new Deputy Secretary of State for African Affairs, George Edward Moose (ION N°559), former ambassador to Senegal (1988-1991), has selected diplomats to assist him, all of whom have been in posts in French-speaking Africa. (...). [Total : 191 Words]. (4,7USD) KENYA STEVE MWANGI The newly elected Mayor of Nairobi (see p.4), the opposition Ford Asili's candidate, has already served as a city councillor in a committee set up in 1983 by the Kenyan government to run the capital. (...). [Total : 181 Words]. (4,7USD) SUDAN/SOMALIA ABD EL BAGI MOHAMED HASSAN Recently received by the Somali interim President, Ali Mahdi Mohamed, the new Sudanese ambassador to Somalia, Abd el Bagi Mohamed Hassan, gave his host an invitation from General Omar Hassan al Bashir, head of the Sudanese junta, to visit Sudan. (...). [Total : 148 Words]. (4,7USD)

ISRAEL/ERITREA MANACHY ZAIBOURY The Israeli government has appointed an ambassador to Eritrea. Manachy Zaiboury arrived last week in Asmara to present his credentials to the provisional government, accompanied by Hayim Divon, Israel's ambassador in Ethiopia. (...). [Total : 32 Words]. (FREE!) REUNION ISLAND PAUL VERGES The secretary general of the Parti Communiste Réunnionais (PCR) has resigned after holding this post for 34 years. (...). [Total : 114 Words]. (1,5USD) DJIBOUTI HASSAN GOULED APTIDON The Djiboutian president sent on February 22, a circular to members of the government reminding them that they have to "improve revenues for the special 'General Mobilization' account. (...). [Total : 59 Words]. (1,5USD) FRANCE/COMOROS ISLANDS BOB DENARD The bail appeal of former chief of the presidential guard in the Comoros Islands under the late President Ahmed Abdallah, who recently returned to France from his South African exile home, and who is currently in prison in Paris, is due to be heard on March 10. (...). [Total : 58 Words]. (1,5USD) KENYA/DENMARK STEPHEN KALONZO MUSYOKA The Kenyan minister of foreign affairs left the Danish capital, Copenhagen on February 27, without managing to convince the Danish authorities to increase their aid to Kenya. (...). [Total : 53 Words]. (1,5USD)