wfn.org | All Africa News Agency BULLETIN No. 37/02 (a)

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

AANA Bulletin is an ecumenical initiative to highlight all endeavours and 
experiences of Christians and the people of Africa.  AANA Bulletin is 
published weekly and, together with the French Edition - Bulletin APTA - is 
also available through e-mail.	For editorial and subscription details, 
please contact: 

AANA Bulletin	: Acting Editor - Mitch Odero		
Bulletin APTA: Edition en frangais, ridacteur intirimaire : Sylvie Alemba

All Africa News Agency
P.O. BOX 66878 NAIROBI, KENYA
TEL : (254 2) 442215, 440224 ; FAX : (254 2) 445847/443241
E-mail : aanaapta@insightkenya.com

Stress On The Rise Among Productive Age Group

HARARE ( AANA) September 23 - Stress, the silent pandemic, is presently 
widespread in Zimbabwe although many ordinary folks are not aware of it. 
The condition can be treated free of charge, but most people are paying a 
lot of money because they do not know that they suffer from the condition.

Stress is an individual reaction to the environment or events occurring in 
one's surroundings.  Anything that can disrupt one's mental, emotional and 
physical well-being can cause stress.

In such cases, one's coping ability becomes impaired or overwhelmed by 
circumstances in one's life, which include loss of a job, marital problems, 
divorce or death of a loved one and financial problems.

The affected person does not see a solution to the problem and that 
person's life revolves around those issues day in and day out. Studies have 
shown that most local people suffer from stress as a result of problems 
within relationships and marriages.

According to Dr Dickson Chibanda, a psychiatrist, the majority of people, 
particularly between 18 and 35 years of age, are disturbed by interpersonal 
upheavals.

"Only 20 percent of people in Zimbabwe who try to kill themselves are 
depressed and 80 percent are really crying out for help," said 
Chibanda.  Depression is a higher stage of stress that needs medical 
attention while stress needs counselling only.

Chibanda said that a relationship between HIV/AIDS and stress has not yet 
been found though the infection is rampant in the country. Many people are 
killing themselves, he said, because of misunderstandings in a relationship 
not because they were infected with the virus.

Zimbabwe Traditional Healers Association president Prof Gordon Chavunduka 
said most people suffered from the condition as a result of societal, 
religious and cultural problems.  "Marital and societal problems which are 
caused by the economy are the major causes of stress," he said.

Cavunduka said most people were unaware that they were stressed and said 
members of his organisation referred some patients to hospital.  "Treatment 
depends on the cause and at times we perform traditional ceremonies, while 
in some instances medical and counselling services are offered," he said.

Another leading psychiatrist said stress was caused by adverse things in 
life. "People can even abuse alcohol or stop weddings because of 
stress.  About two to 15 percent of people who visit clinics are 
depressed," he said.

"Most people want to present the doctor with respectable symptoms that are 
physical.  They don't want to say anything about their emotional pain as it 
seems like a weakness to them".

He said non-respectable symptoms like fatigue, poor concentration, 
inability to cope and unhappiness were not spoken about. Sudden change 
could be the worst cause of stress, he added.

Stress can manifest itself through physical symptoms like headaches, 
abdominal pains, shivering and many other physical symptoms, which are 
easily misconstrued for an underlying physical illness.

If not treated, it can lead people to abuse alcohol or drugs in an effort 
to find solutions by themselves. Chibanda observed: "They will do whatever 
makes them feel good".

Various ways of treating stress include regular exercise, spending time 
with your loved ones, setting achievable goals and most of all 
communication. In Zimbabwe free treatment is offered to people suffering 
from stress.

Reported by Tim Chigodo

Kenyan Authorities Hold Yemeni Over Sept 11 Attack

NAIROBI (AANA) September 23 - A day before the world held memorial services 
to mark one year since the September 11 terrorist attack in New York and 
Washington, US,a Yemeni national, Hassam OmarHussein, said to be on the 
terrorists' wanted list, was charged in a Nairobi court with  attempting to 
falsely obtain a Kenyan identity card ID.

The suspect, Hussein, who is also known as Ali Abdalla	Ali was arrested by 
police in Nairobi, the capital, as he made his bid to register as a Kenyan 
citizen at a registration centre  in the city's Kariakor estate.

The arrest and arraignment of the suspect came weeks  after a Kenyan 
national, Sheikh Swedan, aged 33 years, arrested in the Pakistan city of 
Karachi last July for alleged involvement in the 1998 bombings of the US 
embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam,  as
extradited to the US.

During the appearance in the Chief magistrate's court here, the prosecution 
said the Yemeni suspect, Hussein, is a member of the Al-Qaeda terrorist 
network. His names appear on the wanted list of members of the group 
availed by the Federal Bureau  of Investigations (FBI) and circulated by 
the International Police (Interpol), the police claim in the court 
prosecution records.

The suspect who has a Kenyan co-accused, Salim Mbaraak, was arrested at the 
registration centre on September 3 this year. The Yemeni national had in 
his bid pretended to be a 28 year old Kenyan named Ali Abdalla.

A further charge stated that Hussein, had prior to his arrest made a sworn 
oath before  the Nairobi principal magistrate, claiming that he was a 
Kenyan citizen born on April 20, 1974. The suspect is also accused on being 
in Kenya illegally.

His co-accused Mbarak,a Kenyan,is alleged to have unlawfully obtained a 
birth certificate claiming he lost the original one (birth certificate).

The Chief Magistrate, on granting the KShs 200,000 (about KShs 78 to the US 
dollar)bail, directed that the case be heard on October 22. The Yemeni 
national remains in custody until then.

In the September  11, 2001 incident, hijackers armed with knives forced two 
planes into the twin 110-storey building housing the Trade Centre in New 
York destroying it  causing death of thousands of people.

A third plane also hijacked by armed terrorists  the same day also damaged 
the pentagon while a fourth plane suspected to have been targeted to hit 
the Presidential Camp David retreat crashed in Pennsylvania , USA.

Blame on last year's  terrorists attacks in the US which resulted in death 
of some 3,000 people has been placed on the Al-Qaeda  organisation led by 
Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden. The Interpol and FBI are on extensive 
world wide manhunt for the alleged members of  the bin Laden's	Al-Qaeda
group.

In the other incident a US $25 million reward had been issued for the 
arrest of  the Kenyan, Sheikh Swedan believed to be involved in both the 
August 7, 1998 bombings of both bomb attacks in the two East African US 
embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and the September 11, 2001 US 
attacks.

While in Kenya, Swedan operated a transport business. He is believed to 
have been involved in the bombings of the embassies but had fled following 
the attacks.

Police conducted a manhunt for him. Reports confirmed last July that he was 
tracked down in the Pakistani capital and was recently extradited to the 
USA for a possible trial.

The British Guardian newspaper on September 5 carried an extensive  report 
on key suspects wanted in the US for both the East African and American 
attacks  and reported about the picking and extradition of the Kenyan by 
the Interpol.

Reported  By Andrew Kuria

LWF Underscores Urgent Need For Food In Southern Africa

WITTENBERG, Germany/GENEVA (AANA) September 23 - The Lutheran World 
Federation LWF Council called attention to food shortages in southern 
Africa, especially in Zimbabwe and surrounding countries.

The action came in response to recommendations from the LWF Programme 
Committee for World Service on the final day of the Council's September 
10-17 meeting in Luther's city of Wittenberg.

(The council expressed) alarm at the unacceptable delay in international 
humanitarian response. It also denounced "any use of humanitarian 
assistance as a political tool"

Robert Granke, Director of the LWF Department for World Service, told the 
Council that 12 million people are affected by the food shortage in 
southern Africa. About half of those people are in Zimbabwe.

  Granke said there is an urgent need to get seeds and tools to the region, 
and a concerted effort must be made to bring this need to the attention of 
LWF member churches because contributions toward relief efforts in southern 
Africa are lagging.

The Council agreed "to urgently draw public attention to the serious 
humanitarian crisis in southern Africa" and expressed alarm at the 
unacceptable delay in international humanitarian response. It also 
denounced "any use of humanitarian assistance as a political tool".

LWF General Secretary, Rev Dr  Ishmael Noko, a pastor of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe ELCZ, told the Council there have been 
political problems with the distribution of food.

Now, he said, the government of Zmbabwe had returned control of 
distribution to the non-governmental organizations providing the food relief.

The LWF Council also asked the General Secretary to convey its concern for 
and solidarity with churches affected by recent flooding in Europe.

Reported by Pauline Mumia

US Trade Official Offers Tips To Continent's Business Group

NAIROBI (AANA) September 23 - African Traders should use internet to 
aggressively boost their business with the United States, a US trade 
specialist has recommended.

Dr Susan Hester, who is also an international trade economics official, 
told a business seminar here in the Kenyan capital that a number of 
business people in the US are looking for information on the African 
products in the internet.

The specialist who was addressing Kenyan businessmen on Niche marketing of 
African textiles and Handcrafts organised under African Growth and 
Opportunity Act AGOA said lack of good information technology facilities 
has hampered African intrusion to the US market.

The US regional senior commercial officer at the Nairobi Embassy Cynthia 
Griffin said a larger percentage of African American wanted to trace their 
roots back in Africa and therefore are interested in the history of items 
on sale by African businessmen.

She said in order for Africa to achieve their goal in the penetration of US 
market they need to improve the information technology and create websites 
to expose the African traders to their US counterparts.

She said African Americans will, because of their heritage, identify with 
handcrafts, African Fabrics and Baskets and thus the African traders should 
grab this opportunity to enable them penetrate this untapped market.

The seminar was also told that the US business community view their African 
counterparts as not efficient. Consequently, it was time African 
businessmen proved their capability to change the attitude of the market.

Griffin said over 30 million African Americans, who constitute about 13 
percent of the US population, have been in need of African products and 
have never had access to any since most of their information is received 
through internet which is a luxury in Africa.

She said the American consumers require quality, potential suppliers, 
proper packaging and consistence customers with credible dealing in Africa. 
The aim of the seminar, she added, was to equip the African businessmen on 
ways of entering the US market and understand the requirement of the US
market.

AGOA was formed to foresee US custom service to allow duty free access for 
certain knit apparel items and other articles that have been the subject of 
controversy in the past. Griffin says the African traders should take 
advantage of it to penetrate the US market.

Reported By Herman Kasili