wfn.org | All Africa News Agency Nov 3 2002 News

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

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. 43/03 November 3, 2003 News

NEWS  SECTION

African-Americans To Host Talks At AACC Assembly

NAIROBI (AANA) November 3 - African-Americans operating under the name, 
Black Church Liaison Committee, are set to attend the forthcoming All 
Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) 8th General Assembly, to be held in 
Yaounde, Cameroon from November 22 to 27.

The group will hold a number of workshops during the event, and will focus 
on a number of pertinent issues critical to the continent.

According to their leader, Rev Dr Angelique Walker-Smith, who is also the 
Vice Moderator of WCC-NCCC Black Church Liaison Committee, the group will 
hold five workshops, each with a different theme.

The themes will include: The African Child: Ecumenical and Development for 
Leadership of and with Youth; Promoting Christian Unity: Strategies for 
Promoting African and African-American Unity Affairs in the Media; Unity of 
the Church in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities.

Others are: Africa and Democratisation: A Comparative Look at African and 
African-American Civil Society; and Contemporary Reconfiguration of The 
Ecumenical Dynamics with a Focus on the African-American Contribution.

The first workshop, capturing The African Child: Ecumenical and Development 
for Leadership of and with Youth, is designed to address issues facing 
young people between ages 18-30, and the role of the Church in promoting 
their awareness of unity in the community.

The workshop will explore the kind of service projects and ecumenical 
resources available to increase awareness of the vision for Christian unity.

The second workshop, which will tackle Christian unity with the aim of 
promoting African and African-American affairs, is designed to develop 
media strategies for sharing the Gospel and the ecumenical agenda.

The third workshop, focussing on unity of the Church in the 21st Century, 
is aimed at addressing challenges facing African and African-American 
ecumenical relations.

Workshop IV will deal with the democratisation process in Africa. 
Participants will discuss democratic governance that is relevant to a 
stable civil society in both African and African-American contexts.

Workshop V, which will be facilitated by Rev Walker-Smith, will tackle 
contemporary reconfiguration of the ecumenical movement. Under this theme, 
the workshop will address the changing global landscape of ecumenism.

Reported by Joseph K'Amolo
Close Bishops Murder Case, Malawi Catholics Urge Muluzi

BLANTYRE (AANA) November 3 - Catholic clerics in Malawi have told President 
Bakili Muluzi to stop using the Church to gain political mileage. They have 
accordingly urged him to desist from discussing former government's plot to 
murder Catholic bishops, who had issued a critical pastoral letter against 
the regime's dictatorial leadership.

For the past few weeks, Muluzi has taken every opportunity to state that he 
would institute the arrest of John Tembo, President of the main opposition 
group, Malawi Congress Party (MCP), and others alleged to have been 
involved in the murder scheme more than a decade ago.

In 1992, some seven Catholic bishops authored and issued a biting letter, 
condemning the excessive human rights abuses of the late Dr Hastings Kamuzu 
Banda's government.

At that time, MCP, in which Tembo was a strongman, was in power. The 
bishops had called on all faithful to vote for a democratic system in a 
referendum that was to follow.

Tembo immediately convened an emergency meeting of party functionaries to 
decide the fate of the "offending" bishops, who were led by retired Bishop 
James Chiona.  While some delegates clamoured for the banning of the 
Catholic Church in the country, others demanded immediate but secret 
elimination of the involved clergy.

Muluzi's ruling United Democratic Front (UDF), then a pressure group, 
teamed up with other opposition colleagues to alert the international 
community, which foiled the murder plans.

The pastoral letter was thus, a source of impetus that ignited louder 
agitation for a multi-party political system, which ended more than 30 
years of Dr Kamuzu Banda's iron-fisted rule.

As Malawi approaches the 2004 general elections, where Tembo is among the 
top MCP contenders for the presidency, Muluzi has resorted to a smear 
campaign, saying: "Tembo is a crook and a murderer. People who conspired to 
kill the bishops must not be given a chance to rule this country again."

At one of the rallies, he ordered technicians from the state information 
department to re-play a tape that recorded Tembo's plans.

However, the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), a forum of Catholic 
bishops in the country, said here last week that the alleged plot was a 
by-gone issue, and urged all politicians not to use the Church to castigate 
one another.

"We know mistakes were made.  The MCP used the wrong approach to deal with 
the pastoral letter. But that issues is gone. As a church, we stand for 
peaceful co-existence. We would rather urge all political players to work 
for the good of the country," advised ECM spokesman, Fr Robert Mwaungulu.

Reported by Hobbs Gama
Somali Leader Attacks Kenya, Ethiopia At IGAD Summit

KAMPALA (AANA) November 3 - The cohesion of Inter-Governmental Authority on 
Development (IGAD) faces serious challenge over the Somalia peace process, 
which is threatening to be divisive.

Somalia's Transitional Government (TNG), led by President Abdi Kassim Salad 
Hassan, names Ethiopia and Kenya as culprits to the problems being 
encountered at the Somalia Peace Conference going on in Kenya.

He told a three-day IGAD leaders summit in Kampala that the intransigence 
of a dozen groups supported by Ethiopia and the rigid nature of the 
Chairman of Technical Committee on Somalia peace process, Bethwel Kiplagat, 
led to walkouts of pro-government factions, and the withdrawal of Djibouti.

The TNG president said he hoped that Ethiopia's influence on Somalia 
affairs will be curtailed.

Ethiopia has 12 military and political groups that formed an alliance, 
which, according to President Abdi Kassim, was "destabilising the country 
(Somalia)".

Ethiopia, he said, has not recognised his government and provides military 
support to groups like Ranhawein Resistance Army, led by Muhammad Said 
Heisi, to restart the civil war. He also alleged that Ethiopia's army still 
occupies parts of Somalia.

He was critical of Kenya's impartiality.  Kiplagat, he alleged, ignored the 
mandatory rules of procedure for the peace process to the extent that TNG 
delegates became a minority, and were overshadowed by Ethiopian-supported 
groups.

Ethiopia's position is that Abdi Kassim has failed to eliminate Islamic 
fundamentalist groups, and does not have a vision that will lead to 
co-operation with Puntland and Somaliland.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, who took over the IGAD chairmanship 
from President Omar El-Bashir of Sudan, said the Somalia question will take 
priority during his term.

An October 25 Communiqui issued at the end of the summit said the 
Facilitation Committee will be expanded to include all IGAD member-states, 
instead of only the frontline states, and that it will start its work 
immediately.

Museveni was tasked to evaluate the on-going Somalia peace process in 
Kenya, and decide a course of action.  He was also urged to steer IGAD in 
seeking Support from the African Union (AU).

The Somali question was not the only bone of contention at the IGAD summit. 
Sudanese foreign minister, Dr Mustafa Osman Ismail, called for IGAD's 
intervention in conflicts in member states, like the one between Ethiopia 
and Eritrea, and the civil war in Uganda.

He warned that unless a comprehensive peace is achieved in the region, even 
the peace process in Sudan will be hard to achieve.

The communiqui asserts that Museveni and Mozambican President, Joachim 
Chissano, who is the current Chairman of African Union, will confer on how 
the Algiers Agreement on the Ethiopia/Eritrea conflict will be pursued. 
What was absent in the communiqui was the civil war in Uganda.

The document spelt out that IGAD should come together to combat terrorism 
and proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the region.

Uganda's foreign minister, James Waphakabulo, expressed optimism that the 
Sudan peace process, which will eventually lead to a withdrawal of Sudan 
government troops in the South, will undermine the Lords Resistance Army 
(LRA) capacity to wage war.

Should this happen, he noted, it will only be a matter of time that the 
LRA, a resilient rebel group operating in northern Uganda, will filter out.

Reported by Crespo Sebunya

Continental Church Head Encourages Africans To Unite

MAPUTO/NAIROBI (AANA) November 3 - Despite the Church in Africa having the 
ability to mobilise millions of its members, it has failed to be supportive 
of the African renaissance, a process aimed at initiating strong unity 
among African nations to effectively tackle the continent's myriad problems.

The General Secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), Rev 
Dr Mvume Dandala made this observation in a speech read on his behalf by 
AACC's Executive Secretary for Ecumenical Relations, Dr Comlan Prosper Deh, 
at an Africa Regional Group (ARG) meeting here on October 27.

He observed that Africa needed not to go through the kind of woes it had 
encountered, since God had endowed the continent with lots of natural 
gifts, including mineral wealth, good climate, and fertile soil.

Said Rev Dandala: "Africa has a profusion of mineral wealth. It has the 
largest known deposits of copper in the world."

He went on:  "Africa's diamonds are in large quantities ever found anywhere 
in the world. Africa produces one-third of the world's chrome ore and 
one-fifth of the world manganese."

He noted that the continent had all it needed to industrialise, including 
labour, but only lacked capital, which he observed, was hard to understand, 
when its looted treasury were keeping some foreign banks roaring in booming 
business.

"What then went wrong, that some of our countries at this point in time 
still import bottled water, orange juice, milk and even vegetable salads 
from Europe? Has neo-colonialism gone that far?" posed Rev Dandala.

Taking note of the new dawn in the continent, he said there was an 
emergence of genuine sub-regional unity. The African Union, he pointed out, 
was working towards a united Africa, which he noted, would save the
continent.

He urge Africans to own and support the New Partnership for Africa's 
Development (NEPAD), which he said, focussed on good governance, without 
which the reconstruction of Africa would not succeed.

Similarly, the AACC head urged churches in Africa to uphold ecumenism, 
which he stressed, could no longer be taken for granted, as it was "the 
only hope we have for common global voice against certain unpleasant 
aspects of globalisation".

Rev Dandala also noted that the continent had a great deal of ethics that 
was still passionately humanistic at a time when moral standards were 
falling globally. The African Church, he stated, had an added role of 
harnessing these humanistic ethics for the world.

Earlier, Rev Dandala visited parts of West Africa and Central Africa, 
during which he held a consultation with President Joseph Kabila of the 
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on October 21, on the peace process in 
the country.

Reported by Joseph K'Amolo

Regional Leaders Prioritise Projects For NEPAD Initiative

NAIROBI (AANA) November 3 - The Eastern Africa region has laid out its 
priority areas that the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) 
should address.

These, according to a communiqui released here on October 29 at the end of 
a one-day NEPAD regional summit for Heads State and Government, include 
peace, agriculture, transport, information and communication technology 
(ICT), and human resource development.

The communiqui states that the prioritised concerns will enhance stability, 
food security, road connectivity, education and health, as well as energy 
and ICT programmes in the region.

Some of the suggested projects include five Eastern Africa road corridors 
to enhance connectivity within the region, an oil pipeline extension from 
Malaba (Uganda) to Bujumbura (Burundi), and an East African "submarine 
fibre optic cable project with inland connection, including link to 
land-locked countries".

In attendance at the summit were presidents Mwai Kibaki of Kenya (the 
host), Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda, and Rwanda's Paul Kagame. Leaders 
of Tanzania, Burundi, Sudan, Eritrea, Mauritius, Djibouti, and Ethiopia 
were represented.

In his welcoming speech, President Kibaki called on African leaders to 
hasten economic integration to promote development on the continent.

He stressed that Africa's prosperity and the well-being of its people 
depended on harnessing the continent's huge potential through economic 
integration.

He reminded his counterparts that integration of the continent is no longer 
a matter of convenience, but an indispensable strategy for survival and 
development.

President Kibaki described NEPAD as a vision that all noble African leaders 
must not only share, but also demonstrate commitment to its realisation.

Reported by Osman Njuguna

NEPAD Official Urges Govts To Nurture Home-grown Ideas

NAIROBI (AANA) November 3 - African countries, both individually and 
collectively, must be placed on a development path that strengthens 
self-reliance and self-sustaining, a top official at the New Partnership 
for Africa's Development (NEPAD) secretariat in Johannesburg, South Africa, 
pointed out here on October 28.

NEPAD Deputy Director-General, Mr Smunda Mokoena, expressed concern that 
the continent's poverty situation will remain unchanged as long as it did 
not have capacity to generate own ideas to drive development.

"In this aspect, the incorporation of visionary ideas of NEPAD in Africa's 
economic programmes is crucial," he stressed.

Mr Smunda made the sentiments while addressing a one-day ministerial 
meeting for the NEPAD's Eastern African region, held here on October 28, 
ahead of the Second Eastern Africa Region Heads of State and Government 
summit on October 29.

The 200 delegates, drawn from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, 
Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Mauritius and Djibouti, deliberated on the 
theme:	Promoting Public-Private Partnership in the Implementation of the 
Regional NEPAD Projects in Eastern Africa.

Observing that Africa is still facing instability, poverty, 
underdevelopment and marginalisation, Mr Smunda stressed that "efforts to 
implement NEPAD (projects) should be intensified and the momentum, 
interest, support and solidarity the [initiative] has generated should be 
maintained".

Mr Smunda lamented Africa's over-dependence on analyses, studies, and 
reports produced by international organisations.  "As a result, they 
determine the development paradigm," he regretted.

He expressed hope that NEPAD will assist in reversing this unfortunate 
scenario.  According to him, the initiative has excited the world and 
gathered unprecedented goodwill, both within and outside the continent.

"Africa has never received the kind of focussed attention on a platform to 
generate integrity and consultation, as with the NEPAD process," observed 
Mr Smunda.

Reported by Osman Njuguna

Christian Leaders Decry Delayed Govt Compensation

BLANTYRE (AANA) November 3 - Church leaders in Malawi have accused the 
government of disregarding their plea to compensate them for church 
buildings destroyed by rampaging Muslim followers.

In July, angry Muslim youth vandalised and burnt several churches in the 
Islamic stronghold district of Mangochi in southern Malawi, following 
government's arrest and secret deportation of five foreign nationals (all 
Muslims), suspected to be Al-Qaeda agents.

Structures belonging to the Seventh Day Adventist, Assemblies of God and 
Jehova's Witnesses, were among those damaged. A vehicle belonging to Save 
the Children Fund USA, was burnt.

Another vehicle, belonging to a Catholic Parish, was also torched in the 
violent demonstrations.

Dr Lazarus Chakwera, President of the Evangelical Churches Association of 
Malawi, who led a delegation to President Bakili Muluzi to plead for 
expeditious redress, said he was worried with the president's lack of
concern.

"It is strange that the president is not treating the matter with the 
urgency it deserves. This gives a negative implication (of) how the 
government views our issue after all the assurance we got from him," 
charged Chakwera.

General Secretary of the Blantyre Synod Presbyterian Church, Rev Daniel 
Gunya, was equally perplexed with Muluzi's lack of concern.

"You can imagine how we feel [about the] government's silence after we 
listed all the items that were destroyed," said Gunya.

Reported by Hobbs Gama

Africa's Move To Switch To Unleaded Petrol Gains Impetus

NAIROBI (AANA) November 3 - Africa's campaign to switch to unleaded petrol 
is gaining momentum, according to the Executive Director of United Nations 
Environment Programme (UNEP), Dr Klaus Toepfer.

Addressing a press conference here on October 17, the UNEP official pointed 
out that African countries have set 2005 as the year by which the entire 
continent should have phased out the leaded petrol.

Ethiopia, Ghana and Mauritania have become the latest countries to join the 
continent-wide effort.

They have all set  January 2004 as their deadline for fully adopting 
lead-free petrol, explained Dr Toepfer, who was joined at the press 
conference by Sr Philip Watts, the chairman of the Committee of Managing 
Directors of the Royal-Dutch Shell Group, a leading global company in the 
petrol business.

The move to introduce unleaded petrol in Africa has accelerated after the 
issue was given backing at last year's World Summit on Sustainable 
Development (WSSD), with the launch of the Partnership for Clean Fuels and 
Vehicles.

The UNEP top official cited last year's institution of the Dakar 
Declaration (June 2002) as one of the major steps the African continent has 
taken towards that goal.

"The Declaration is, among other things, backing the African countries to 
phase out lead in petrol by the year 2005," stressed Dr Toepfer.

A research carried out on the effects of lead on people's health, 
established that in Egypt, for example, lead pollution has led to 6,500 to 
11,600 heart attacks and premature deaths, and an average Intelligence 
Quotient (IQ) loss in children to 4.25 points.

And in Kenya, a research conducted jointly by UNEP and the country's Jomo 
Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, found out that kales 
grown in busy urban settings contained worrying levels of lead.

Sir Watts observed that his company was currently involved in various 
programmes in Africa in the area of refining fuels.

Reported by Osman Njuguna

Cardinal Pledges To Sustain Good Governance Campaign

LAGOS (AANA) November 3 - Nigeria's newly appointed Cardinal, Olubunmi 
Okogie, has pledged to sustain his campaign for good governance in the 
country, to help improve the welfare of the people.

Speaking at a reception hosted for him in Lagos on October 25 on arrival 
from Rome, where Pope John Paul II ordained him among 30 others, Okogie 
said he regarded his elevation as a further call to serve the people.

He said it was unfortunate that Nigeria does not have committed leaders who 
can sacrifice to achieve the greatness the country deserves.

Okogie decried the social lifestyles in the country, observing that the 
proliferation of churches has not helped in curbing corruption and other
vices.

Church leaders, according to him, have not done enough to educate their 
members to shun social ills, which now pervade the country.

The new cardinal said there was an urgent need for Church leaders to 
rededicate themselves to the service of God and not selfish interest.

"This country will surely be a better place if many church leaders [live up 
to] to their responsibilities," Okogie, who is Nigeria's third cardinal,
said.

Okogie's appointment has been greeted with lots of commendation in 
acknowledgement of his active role in being a critic of social ills.

The Lagos state governor, Bola Tunubu, said Okogie's elevation was well 
deserved as "he has never been counted among those timid souls who seek to 
hide behind the mask of spirituality to maintain criminal neutrality in the 
face of tyranny and misrule".

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, said Okogie has 
always demonstrated tremendous courage and consistency in his advocacy 
against dictatorship and bad governance.

Reported by Lekan Otufodunrin

  Cleric Urges Govt And Christians To Uplift Rural Life

LAGOS (AANA) November 3 - The Nigerian government has been urged to improve 
the standards of living in the rural areas through the provision of basic 
amenities, which are presently lacking.

The President of African Rural Interserve, a Christian non-government 
organisation, Rev Mark Ibekwe, in an interview here, said the situation in 
most rural areas of the country was appalling.

"The government at all levels, including the local government councils, 
have not impacted much on the lives of the rural dwellers. They lack 
virtually everything that could improve their lives," said Rev Ibekwe.

"The roads are not tarred, (there is) no [piped] water, only few have 
electricity, there are no good schools. They are disadvantaged in many 
areas and there is urgent need to redress the situation," he added.

He attributed the increasing rural urban migration in the country to the 
lack of opportunities, especially for youths, and called for concrete steps 
to be taken to check the alarming drift.

Rev Ibekwe said there was need to re-evaluate the various government 
programmes for rural areas, to ensure that they address the real problems 
confronted by the rural dwellers.

To help address the problem, African Rural Interserve has launched a 
Compassion Cross programme to enable skilled professionals to offer a week 
of their time for rural community service.

Christian organisations according to Rev Ibekwe, have to meet more than the 
spiritual needs of the people.

"The Church should additionally offer the social gospel, which involves 
meeting the physical needs like education, health services and food," he 
stated.

Reported by Lekan Otufodunrin

Court Tussle May Delay Third Mobile Network In Kenya

NAIROBI (AANA) November 3 - The licensing of Econet Wireless International 
(Econet), a South African company awarded tender recently to operate the 
third GSM network in Kenya, might not take off as scheduled, after another 
bidder, Kenya Telecommunication Investment Group (KTIG), moved to court and 
obtained an injunction blocking the award.

KTIG argues that the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK), the 
government's communications regulatory body, needs to rescind their 
decision as their bid was about twice that of Econet.

The organisation's Country Director Titus Ndundu, confirmed that they moved 
to court to seek justice.  KTIG, which comprises 14 Kenyan investors 
operating both locally and abroad, had tendered US$ 55 million, against 
Econet's US$ 27 million.

Mr Ndundu pointed out that the perception that their partners, Detecon of 
Germany, was not reputable, was not true, as it is one of the leading 
Telecommunication Service Providers in Europe, with over 69 million 
customers worldwide.

Econet was awarded the license after KTIG failed in some aspects of the 
tender requirements.

Currently, Kenya has two mobile telephone service providers, Safaricom and 
Kencell, who have been reported to be unhappy with the latest awards 
because of the comparatively low figure.

Econet was scheduled to start its operations by early next year, but with 
this new development, Kenyans might have to wait for the court tussle to 
end before a third mobile operator can be licensed.

Reported by Herman Kasili

Benin Continues Anti-Polio Campaign As Nigeria Stumbles

COTONOU (AANA) November 3 - The campaign against polio is in a decisive 
phase in Binin. The latest phase has, as its main goal, to make Binin 
polio-free.

The on-going vaccinations, which started on October 22, and will continue 
in a second round, from December 5 to 7, targets all children between 0 and 
5 years old.

The last case of wild polio detected in Binin dates back to the year 2000.

Because neighbouring countries such as Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso and 
Ghana, are not yet polio-free, the event is being synchronised with similar 
vaccinations in Nigeria and Niger, with the support of the World Health 
Organization (WHO), Rotary International, CDC Atlanta and UNICEF.

However, latest reports indicate that Muslim leaders in Nigeria have raised 
objection to the vaccinations, alleging that the move was an American 
initiative to import disease via the vaccines, to reduce the Muslim
population.

WHO has nevertheless stated that the vaccines are up to international 
standards.

Reported by Charles Eyitayo YAI