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ALL AFRICA NEWS AGENCY
P. O Box, 66878, 00800 Westlands,
NAIROBI, Kenya.
Tel: 254-2-4442215 or 4440224; Fax: 254-2-4445847, or 4443241;
Email: aanaapta@nbnet.co.ke

AANA Bulletin			Bulletin APTA
  Editor -Elly Wamari		Editor - Silvie Alemba

AANA BULLETIN No. 42/03 October 27, 2003

NEWS  SECTION

Church Organisation Mounts Crusade Against Condoms

HARARE (AANA) October 27 - A church organisation here has come up strongly 
against the promotion of condom use in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Pro Life Apostolate of Zimbabwe, a Catholic-backed organisation, says the 
distribution of condoms in attempts to contain HIV/AIDS is instead 
encouraging promiscuity and infidelity, therefore increasing the spread of 
HIV/AIDS.

The group, founded in 2000 with the blessing of the Catholic Bishops 
Conference, is advocating for total abstinence among unmarried couples, and 
fidelity among married people.

Leader and founding president of the organisation, Mr Harris Kachaso, said 
that since its inception, the anti-condom campaign has gained support from 
different age groups of the society.  Videos illustrating the defectiveness 
of the condoms are being shown in schools and other public places.

According to Kachaso, studies have shown that condoms are 75 percent 
defective, and could not be relied upon as an effective way to stop the 
spread of HIV/AIDS.

The Pro Life advocator now wants condom adverts removed from television, 
radio, schools and public places.  Speaking exclusively to AANA recently, 
he launched an attack against manufacturers and distributors of condoms, 
arguing that they were making dirty money and destroying nations by 
promoting promiscuity through the use of condoms.

"Use of condoms serves only to encourage people to be promiscuous under 
false belief that they are protected.  What we see as a solution to the 
HIV/AIDS scourge is abstinence and fidelity," he stressed.

Pro Life Apostolate is currently distributing literature to youths and 
adults throughout Zimbabwe, where centres have been established to promote 
abstinence and fidelity as an effective way to fight the pandemic.

Centres have also been opened in Malawi to promote the anti-condom use 
campaign. Kachaso is very concerned with random distribution of condoms, 
especially among the youths.

There has been a notable increase in the number of condoms distributed by 
the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFC), and the New 
York-based Population Services International (PSI).

The organisation distributed one million condoms a month last year, while 
this year, the figure has risen to three million.

"This is frightening, and it is business which has no regard for human 
life.  We are calling on governments and churches to join hands in 
promoting abstinence among youths and fidelity among married couples," 
Kachaso stressed.

PSI denied that it was promoting promiscuity, saying it distributed condoms 
as a second choice to abstinence.

ZNFC, whose main function is birth control and family planning, said it did 
not distribute condoms to stop the spread of AIDS, but primarily for child 
spacing.  The council encouraged abstinence and condoms in cases where one 
partner is affected by the disease.

Statistics indicate that 30 percent of Zimbabwe's 12 million people have 
tested positive for HIV, and more than 200,000 people are dying from the 
disease every week.

There is a galloping spread of HIV/AIDS in Malawi, with half of the army 
having tested positive.  The country, with a population of about 10 
million, has a rising death toll because of the pandemic, registering 
100,000 deaths weekly.

Reported by Tim Chigodo

Botswana Government To Introduce Routine HIV Testing

GABORONE (AANA) October 27 - Botswana is planning to introduce routine HIV 
testing in government medical facilities from January next year, in a bid 
to encourage people to begin anti-AIDS treatment early, President Festus 
Mogae has revealed.

"It is expected that all patients presenting symptoms associated with 
HIV/AIDS will be routinely offered an HIV test, with the opportunity to opt 
out should they so desire. The same will take place at ante-natal clinics, 
and clinics where sexually transmitted infections are treated," Mogae said 
in a public broadcast made on national television recently.

"Let me hasten to emphasise that testing will not be compulsory, but 
routine with consent. Further, respect to privacy and confidentiality will 
continue to be maintained," he added.

The government's decision to introduce routine testing was based on a 
revelation by the National AIDS Council (NAC) that not many Batswana were 
being tested for the pandemic.

NAC, a multi-sectoral approach to AIDS, whose chairperson is Mogae, decided 
that the programme was one way to help stem the scourge.

President Mogae expressed regret that little use had been made of the 
Tebelopele Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centres throughout the country.

Despite the free, confidential, and same-day testing service offered by the 
centres, only 65,000 people have made use of the facilities since they were 
opened in 2000.

"As a result, people have tended to go on ARV therapy much too late, 
causing an unnecessary burden on the public health system. Over 60 percent 
of bed occupancy in hospitals is HIV/AIDS related," said Mogae Patrick 
Bantsi, a counsellor at the Coping Centre for People with HIV/AIDS (COCEPWA).

"I think this will stimulate people to come forward and test for HIV/AIDS. 
It will be consensus based and will not be compulsory," he told AANA, while 
praising the government's decision.

COCEPWA provides post testing counselling for people diagnosed to be having 
HIV.  Out of a population of 1.7 million, an estimated 300,000 Batswana are 
infected with HIV, of whom 110,000 are believed to be at the phase where 
they are in need of antiretroviral therapy.

But the success of anti-AIDS programmes has been adversely affected by the 
reluctance of Batswana to know their HIV status.

Reported by Rodrick Mukumbira

Church Moves To Rescue Children From Witchcraft

BLANTYRE (AANA) October 27 - A church organisation here has come to the 
rescue of children alleged to have been practising witchcraft in a suburban 
area.

Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry brought together 14 of the children, 
together with their parents, to special prayers that took three days.

At the end of the session, the pastor, who did not want to be named, 
reported that all except three of the children	"were delivered" by the 
prayers.

Parents had complained that up to 50 children in Maone area of Limbe were 
practising witchcraft under the guidance of an unidentified man in the area.

The pastor said the rest of the children could be delivered if their 
parents decided to take them to prayers as well.

The children's ages ranged from seven to ten years.  One of them, who 
repented after attending the prayers, expressed regret that he had killed 
two of his relatives through witchcraft.

A 10-year-old girl alleged that the suspected witchcraft coach had been 
taking the children to a graveyard to give them foodstuff associated with 
black magic.

Another child claimed that the man, most of the time accompanied by his 
wife, spat on the food before giving it to them.

"The other day he took me to the graveyard, cut my arm and drank the blood 
that oozed ," the child claimed.

The alleged witchcraft teacher is said to be moving from township to 
township to administer his powers of darkness on children.

Malawi is predominantly Christian, with 80 percent of the faithful 
proclaiming Jesus Christ as their Saviour. But in isolated cases, some 
ethnic groups stick to a culture of paying homage to their ancestral spirits.

In those communities, evil deeds are associated with witchcraft, while the 
good ones are from "kind-hearted spirits".

The gravity of the problem is manifested in frequent news about witchcraft, 
on radio as well as in the newspapers.

Reported by Hamilton Vokhiwa

Calls For Conflict Resolution Through Sports As Games End

ABUJA (AANA) October 27 - The Eighth All Africa Games has ended in Nigeria 
with President Olusegun Obasanjo urging African leaders to sustain the 
spirit of unity engendered by the competition.

Speaking on October 18 at the closing ceremony of the games in Abuja, 
Nigeria's capital, President Obasanjo noted that the event was a 
celebration of Africa's well-being in a continent where good 
neighbourliness and love was in short supply.

"We are thrilled by the spirit of oneness displayed on the field, and 
honoured by the response of African countries," he noted.

"It is gladdening to know that we are not gathered for a resolution of 
conflict or discussion on cease-fire by militia groups," he added.

Obansanjo, whose country won the competition advised that the bridge of 
love, harmony and tolerance at the event should endure in the continent.

The President of the Olympic Commitee, Benson Baba Tango, stressed the 
spirit of unity that pervaded the games in an interview with AANA.

"The spirit of unity was all over as participants interacted irrespective 
of their countries of origin. We should utilise sports to ensure the unity 
of Africa. When there is political problem between countries, we should 
resolve it through sports," Tango suggested.

Fifty-two African countries participated in the competition, in which Egypt 
came second, and South Africa third.

About 5,000 athletes participated in various sporting events at the games, 
described as one of the biggest and the best in its history.

The Abuja games was drug-free, with no participants being charged for 
doping, and no violence recorded throughout the meet.

Algeria is to host the next edition of the All Africa Games in 2007.

Reported by Lekan Otufodunrin

Crime Wave Triggers Plans For  Billion-Dollar Prison Facility

KAMPALA (AANA) October 27 - Ugandan government is planning to construct a 
US$ 2.75 billion prison facility essentially for dissidents, according to 
records from the Ministry of  Internal Affairs.

A 2003/04 ministerial report states that a Joint National Security 
Committee, made up of civil and military intelligence organs, agreed that 
the construction of a second maximum prison at Kigo was long overdue.

The current Kigo prison holds scores of hard core terrorist suspects, and 
is heavily guarded by the military.

The proposed facility is to be constructed in a four-year period, beginning 
this year. The government also plans to construct and expand other eight 
prisons in unstable areas, especially in the northeast, to assist
disarmament.

The prison expansion program comes in the wake of rising crime in the midst 
of inadequate structures to keep pace with criminal suspects. Prisons 
statistics of 2002 show that there are 18,000 prisoners, and that most 
jails are overcrowded.

According to police records, crime rate is gauged by prisoner to population 
ratio. The 2002 figures show that prisoner to population ratio has risen 
from 30 people per 100,000 to 101 to the same to date.

The rising crime comes at a time of reduced police numbers. As at June 
2003, there were 13,000 police officers, compared to 15,600 in 2001.

Observers note that this is indicative of serious under-funding of the law 
and order sector, whose finances are only 30 percent of what they were in 
1995, according to government statistics.

Consequently, the overcrowding in prisons is partly because of slow 
investigations. The Minister for Internal Affairs, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, 
recently told parliament that 64 percent of the inmates are on remand.

Reported by Crespo Sebunya

  What Observers Think Of Powell's Recent Visit To Kenya

NAIROBI (AANA) October 27 - When the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell 
arrived at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on October 22, the US 
security personnel took charge of the airport in a manner suggesting that 
the Kenyan security system was not competent to deal with the situation.

Scribes were kept some 200 metres away from the man they wished to take 
pictures of, and even interview.

That was not all.  Areas around the hotel he was booked in had to be 
barricaded, creating a traffic nuisance in parts of Nairobi's city centre. 
At State house, he kept his host waiting for 40 minutes. A disgusted Kenyan 
summed it as "contempt of the highest degree by someone on a mission to woo 
support at a time when a presidential election in the US is just around the 
corner".

Even though the impression given by Powell's visit was that the US was 
demonstrating goodwill for peace in the war-torn Sudan, political pundits 
argue that President George Bush is trying to fine tune his foreign policy, 
which has been roundly condemned by many in Africa as having ignored the 
interests of the continent.

Observers say Bush is making desperate attempts to befriend Africa as a way 
of wooing African-American votes.

As it appears, US's unilateral decision to wage war against Iraq has worked 
against Bush's rating in the country, particularly after the authorities 
failed to prove to the world that Iraq did actually have weapons of mass 
destruction and was a big threat to world peace as claimed.

According to Professor Moustafa Hassouna, formerly of University of Nairobi 
and now a Regional Political Analyst with the Centre of Public Integrity, a 
Washington-based NGO, Powell's visit to Kenya, which just came on the heels 
of President Mwai Kibaki's state visit to the US, was an indication that 
America was out to woo Kenya, which is a strategic asset in the greater 
East African region.

On a different fold, Professor Hassouna observes that Powell's visit to the 
Sudan peace negotiations was meant to give the peace process an added boost 
to the Khartoum government, which Washington is watching very closely.

Accordingly, says the political scientist, Washington wants to do business 
with Khartoum, which has a lot of potentials, including the oil reserves 
that the US may want to exploit.

Says Hassouna: "The US drive in the region tells a lot that [they] will be 
around here for sometime. Powell's coming to the peace talks was to make 
the US add their voice that the peace in Sudan is irreversible."

This in essence, meant that America wants to appear as having played a role 
in the peace negotiation, yet, says Professor Hassouna, the previous 
successive regimes have promoted the agenda of war in the Sudan, perhaps 
more than any other contributor. But now, notes the renowned political 
analyst, the Republicans have chosen to promote a peace agenda.

The professor attributes the move by the Bush administration to work for 
peace in the Sudan to "great deal of pressure" from the Carter Centre, 
which pushed the State Department to the realisation that promoting peace 
in Sudan will secure goodwill for the US in the region.

Also, says Prof Hassouna, the Republicans are keen on portraying themselves 
as being sensitive to African matters, given the Anglican and Evangelical 
activities in the continent, particularly in southern Sudan, where there 
have been very active missionaries urging the State Department to take a 
stand as far as conflict in southern Sudan was concerned.

Reported by Joseph K'Amolo

Eastern Africa Heads Of State To Hold A NEPAD Summit

NAIROBI (AANA) Ocotber 27 - A regional summit for New Partnership for the 
African Development (NEPAD), bringing together Heads of State in Eastern 
Africa region, is scheduled for October 29.

A spokesperson for the Nairobi NEPAD secretariat told AANA last Wednesday 
that the scheduled regional summit will assemble leaders of Sudan, 
Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, the host 
country.

The summit will be preceded by a ministerial meeting a day earlier.

Meanwhile, reports from the NEPAD secretariat in Johannesburg indicate that 
the organisation plans to host the first conference of African ministers of 
Science and Technology for southern African region from November 3 to 7.

NEPAD Secretariat will host the scheduled regional conference in close 
co-operation with the South African government, through the Department of 
Science and Technology.

The conference will focus on national and regional issues of science and 
technology, with the aim of developing a framework for NEPAD on the subject.

Reported by Osman Njuguna

Key Meeting On Agricultural Development Kicks Off

NAIROBI (AANA) October 27 - An Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the giant 
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) opens 
here today.

A spotlight of the meeting will be discussions on research priorities, 
focusing on solutions for bolstering Africa's agricultural sector.

According to a press release from Tell-em Public Relations (EA) Limited 
(Tell-em), which is responsible for co-ordinating publicity for the AGM, 
the meeting brings together about 1,000 delegates, among them scientists, 
development specialists, government officials and representatives of local 
farming communities, from across the globe.

The AGM, which continues to October 31, will also feature the launch of a 
new bioscience facility at the Nairobi-based International Livestock 
Research Institute (ILRI). "This is a world-class state-of-the-art 
laboratory that will serve the Eastern Africa region," Tell-em's Account 
Director, Catherine Ouma, told AANA last week.

ILRI is an affiliate of CGIAR, which is an alliance of 62 countries and 
organisations supporting a network of 16 agricultural research centres 
operating in 100 countries.

Said Dennis Garrity, the Director of CGIAR's World Agroforestry Centre, 
recently:  "We are delighted to be holding the CGIAR meeting in Africa. It 
is an excellent opportunity to discuss research priorities with our many 
partners in the region.  It is a good opportunity for delegates to be able 
to see the real impacts of our work."

Reported by Elly Wamari