Rawlings' exit will not affect NDC - Nelson
Eastern Region CP support National Chairman
Journalism schools, apart from GIJ, SCS are not accredited - NMC
Chief appeals to Ghanaians to uphold the rule of law
Constitutional rule, not end of revolution - Nii Sekan
Journalists asked to help dispel unfounded rumours
Re-organisation of fire squads begins
Egypt's foreign minister visits Syria for talks on peace process
Arafat tells Mubarak that talks with Israel "absurd"
Victoria Falls beauty under threat
Car thefts worry Kenyan insurers
Chad president satisfied with summit
Greed fans ethnic flames in Congo war - An analysis of the war in the Congo
UN negotiates with Sudan for release of air crew
Rawlings' exit will not affect NDC - Nelson
Ekumfi-Essuehyia (Central Region) 7 Feb 2000
A National Vice-chairperson of the NDC, Madam Faustina Nelson, has said the end of President Rawlings’ tenure will not have an adverse effect on the party.
She has, therefore, urged members of the party not to panic because the vast experience and charisma of President Rawlings will still be at the disposal of the party, adding: "the exit of the president will rather give him ample time to concentrate on the activities of the NDC".
Madam Nelson was addressing a get-together organised for members of the party in the Mfantseman East and West constituencies at Ekumfi Essuehyia at the weekend.
She said the party was combat ready and would soon launch its electioneering campaign.
"We have the necessary logistics ready and have mapped out our strategies; there will be no turning back when the campaign takes off." She urged the various wings of the party to bury their differences and work as a team to win more votes for the party than it did in 1996.
Mr Jacob Arthur, Central Regional Minister and MP for Mfantseman West, said his appointment and the nomination of Professor John Atta Mills, who hails from the area, as the flag bearer of the NDC, pose a big challenge to the people of the district.
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Eastern Region CP support National Chairman
Koforidua (Eastern Region) 7 Feb. 2000
Members of the Eastern Regional branch of the Convention Party (CP) have resolved to support the efforts of the acting National Chairman to settle the pending court case against the leadership of the party out of court within one week or they would advise themselves.
In a resolution issued at Koforidua on Friday, they pointed out that the year 2000 should mark a turning point in the fortunes of the party and "it is, therefore, necessary that we hold our hands together as comrades with a common destiny and march into the future with confidence".
The resolution was addressed to the acting National Chairman and signed by Messrs Kwabena Apea, Secretary, A.K. Ackumey, Treasurer and Alex Apau, Assistant Secretary.
It stressed the need for the case to be settled out of court expeditiously to enable the party to organise its national congress to elect its presidential candidate and national chairman.
The resolution noted that Ghana "is at the cross roads and it is only the CP that can save it from the present economic hardships and social deprivations to make Ghanaians live in dignity and contentment".
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Journalism schools, apart from GIJ, SCS are not accredited - NMC
Accra (Greater Accra) 7 Feb. 2000
Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo, Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission (NMC) said on Friday that the National Accreditation Board does not recognise certain institutions that offer courses in journalism because they are not accredited to train journalists.
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafo said the non-accreditation of such institutions, stems from the fact that the National Accreditation Board does not have basic information about their activities.
He was speaking during the Annual General Meeting of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) when the issue of self-styled journalists came up.
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafo, who undertook the enquiry with some staff of the School of Communication Studies (SCS), University of Ghana, Legon, said that was the reason why the NMC refuses to grant accreditation to products from such institutions, since their certificates are not recognised by the Board.
The Ghana Institute of Journalism and the SCS are the only accredited institutions that train journalists in the country.
It was realised from contributions of delegates that the issue of self-styled journalists, has spread from the Greater Accra Region where it started, to other regions.
Some of such self-styled journalists take up the mantle of the profession just because their letters or articles to editors are published in newspapers or carried on air.
"They go from office to office to harass people," a delegate from the Northern Region said.
While some delegates called for a mechanism that empowers one to practice only with GJA's permission, as pertains in other professional organisations, others suggested that those trained by unaccredited institutions should be included in GJA workshops on ethics and professional practice.
Mrs Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, GJA President, asked journalists to expose such impostors, whose acts drag the image and reputation of the profession in the mud, pending appropriate measures from the association.
Newsmakers should also seek the identity of people, who parade as journalists.
She called for the support of GJA members on a motion to hand such people over to the law enforcement agencies.
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Chief appeals to Ghanaians to uphold the rule of law
Tumu (Upper East) 7 Feb 2000
A traditional chief has appealed to Ghanaians to comport themselves and show respect, tolerance and uphold the rule of law during the next presidential and parliamentary elections to ensure peace and stability in the country.
In this regard, he urged political leaders in particular to desist from the use of unsavoury language during their campaigns, and should act responsibly "since politics is all about development and welfare of the people."
Kuoru Lurwie Kanton, paramount chief of the Tumu traditional area made the appeal on Saturday at this year's Paare-Gbiele festival of the chiefs and people of Tumu in the Sissala district.
"Paare-Gbiele", literally means farmers play, and is an annual festival of the people to give thanks to God for good harvests, and to ask for better harvest the following year.
It is also a period for the people to discuss problems affecting the security of the area and map out strategies to address them.
Kouru Kanton also appealed to traditional rulers to ensure peace and harmony among their people during the elections period to enhance accelerated development.
Mr David Osei-Wusu, Upper West Regional Minister said the government attached importance to festivals because "they are capable of breaking barriers that divide the people."
He appealed to the Sissala traditional council to ensure that all vacant skins in the district are filled, since "chieftaincy disputes constitute a potential danger to peace and stability".
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Constitutional rule, not end of revolution - Nii Sekan
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 7 Feb 2000
The Presidential Staffer in charge of ACDRs, Nii Adjei Boye Sekan, has stated that the establishment of constitutional rule does not end the 31st December Revolution.
"Probity and accountability, which were the tenets of the revolution, are still relevant for the progress of the country and cadres should, therefore, adhere to such principles."
Nii Sekan, who was addressing cadres in the Brong Ahafo Region at a meeting at Sunyani on Friday, noted that a revolution is a process and it is only those who understand what it is about who can push it forward for the achievement of its desired goals.
He, therefore, admonished the cadres to stand for election both at the local and national levels to enable them to implement their ideas.
He noted that whether President Jerry John Rawlings stays in office or not, his ideals should continue to permeate the fabric of the Ghanaian society.
"You should, therefore, work hard so that the revolutionary process which led to the birth of the Fourth Republic will not be derailed by its opponents."
He noted that although President Rawlings has distinguished himself over the years to the admiration of the entire world community, the opposition do not accept this fact.
Nii Sekan urged the leadership of the NDC at the national, regional and constituency levels not to neglect the cadres in their areas since such a move could spell doom for the party.
He dismissed the notion in certain quarters that cadres have been marginalized within the NDC and said they are being represented at all levels.
Nii Sekan made said the NDC does not need any extra magic to win the 2000 election if the role of the cadres is recognised.
He called on all revolutionary organs such as the National Mobilisation Programme, 31st December Women's Movement and the ACDRs to come under the Progressive Voluntary Organisation.
Nii Sekan said an exercise would be launched to register all cadres so that their actual number could be known.
He warned cadres who have benefited from the poverty alleviation fund and the youth in agriculture programme to pay back their loans.
The Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Alhaji Kwadwo Maama Adam, who is
also the Regional Organiser of the ACDRs, said the cadres' front in the region is solid and has enjoyed uninterrupted peace and tranquillity over the years.
It is for this reason that the activities of the Reform Movement, which rocked the cadre front in many parts of the country, could not materialise in the region, he said.
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NPP is intact - Kufuor
Dormaa-Ahenkro (Brong Ahafo) 7 Feb. 2000
Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, NPP flag bearer, has stated that the resignation of Mr Kwame Pianim from the party would not affect the strength of the NPP.
He said the principles upon which the party was founded decades ago will continue to sustain it saying "it will remained intact."
Mr Kufuor who is currently on a 12-day tour of Brong Ahafo to ascertain the strength of the party in the region , was speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Dormaa-Ahenkro on Sunday.
The NPP Flag Bearer, however, described Mr Pianim's resignation as '' a surprise and unfortunate''.
He said the party would focus its attention on the rural areas to educate the people to understand its manifestos.
Mr Kufuor stressed that voting is the political right of every individual and therefore urged the people to exercise their franchise in the forthcoming general elections.
He expressed the hope that this time, the people would give the NPP the mandate to rule to ensure good governance and to alleviate the present hardship ''in the midst of plenty''.
He was accompanied by Mr Kwadwo Yeboah-Fordjour, regional chairman of the party.
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Journalists asked to help dispel unfounded rumours
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 7 Feb. 2000
Mr Sam Okechukwu, Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, has called on Journalists to help dispel unfounded rumours and allegations.
He also called on Media Practitioners in both Ghana and Nigeria to always exercise restraint and demonstrate maturity in the discharge of their duties.
Mr Okechukwu was addressing a section of Journalists, members of the Nigerian Youth Association and the All Nigerians Community in Kumasi.
He indicated that some of the stories being given prominence could damage the warm relationship the two countries have laboured to cultivate over the years.
"This must be stopped in the interest of peace and harmony.
Neither Ghana nor Nigeria will benefit from this in the long run", the High Commissioner said.
He explained that, it is important that citizens of Ghana and Nigeria work to ensure peaceful co-existence between both countries in order to foster political stability, economic prosperity and overall progress of the two sister countries.
Mr Okechukwu challenged Nigerians living in Ghana to participate actively in sustaining their country's nascent democracy saying, "Nigeria of today, more than ever before requires dedicated services of all citizens particularly the youth in whose hands the future lies".
Mr Okechukwu urged the Nigerians to be more patriotic and helpful to each other and also maintain and improve upon the confidence and respect they have been able to establish so far.
He recalled that in December last year, the High Commission started the issuance of consular cards to all Nigerians living in Ghana and asked those, who are yet to complete the forms for the cards to do so because it is very important to possess them.
He stressed that the High Commission is also conducting a census of Nigerians in detention or prison in Ghana with a view to determining the appropriate consular assistance to be extended to them while serving their sentences and after.
Mr Okechukwu observed that some Nigerians experience delays before being repatriated after serving their prison sentence and said he was determined to do all that is possible to see that this trend stops.
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Re-organisation of fire squads begins
Assin Foso (Central Region) 7 Feb. 2000
The Ghana National Fire Service has started re-organising fire volunteer squads in the Assin District to make them active again.
The World Vision International (WVI) is supporting the programme with funds for the training and procurement of basic equipment like wellington boots and cutlasses.
A 57-member fire volunteer squad from the Achino zone of the district, comprising Achino, Armah Camp, Breman, Agrave, Ahuntem, Tatare Nkwanta, and Nyame Yedur is the first to benefit from the re-training exercise.
The squad underwent a two-week training exercise in causes of fire outbreaks, rural fire fighting techniques, physical education, construction of fire belts and management of fire disasters.
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Egypt's foreign minister visits Syria for talks on peace process
Cairo (Egypt), 7th February 2000
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa left for Damascus on Monday to hand a letter from President Hosni Mubarak to Syrian President Hafez Assad on latest developments in the peace process, foreign ministry sources said.
Moussa's visit to Damascus came amid conflicting reports on the possibility of resumption of peace talks in Washington between Syria and Israel, and tension in south Lebanon due to escalation of attacks by Hizbollah against Israeli soldiers in the occupied zone.
The Egyptian minister's visit also comes one day after a meeting between Mubarak and Palestinian Authority President Yassir Arafat in which he provided "a very negative report" on the status of talks with Israel.
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Arafat tells Mubarak that talks with Israel "absurd"
Cairo (Egypt), 7th February 2000
Palestinian Authority President, Yasser Arafat, presented a "very negative report" to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday on the status of talks with Israel, and asked for world pressure on Israel to honour agreements.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister, David Levy left Cairo after a short visit in which he attended a meeting with Egyptian, Jordanian and Palestinian counterparts on the fate of "displaced" Palestinians who were forced to leave their land after the 1967 war between the Arabs and Israel.
Arafat arrived in Cairo early Sunday with a number of his top negotiators. After meeting Mubarak, he held talks with Arab League Secretary-General Esmat Abdel-Meguid to ask him for Arab backing in the current difficult negotiations with Israel.
He said after meeting Abdel-Meguid that Palestinian-Israeli talks were going through "a dangerous crisis". Arafat also accused Israel of trying to "escape" from implementing the Sharm El-Sheikh agreement signed by the two sides in early September.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, who took part in the meeting between Mubarak and Arafat, said the Palestinian leader "described the negotiations and contacts which took place between the Palestinian and Israeli sides on all levels as absurd negotiations, and confirmed that the situation cannot continue like this".
Mussa added that "everybody should know that there is a clear Israeli retreat on the Palestinian track.
"We should not believe all the rosy statements made (by Israel) in order to create optimism. We have to start dealing with the existing problems which are dangerous, and would become more dangerous if we did not start quick and immediate movement."
After a meeting between Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday, which Palestinians described as a failure, Arafat called for U.S., European and Arab intervention to pressure Israel to implement the Sharm El-Sheikh agreement.
According to the Sharm El-Sheikh deal, the two sides agreed to conclude the framework agreement on February 13 and to conclude final-status talks by September 2000.
As for the "displaced committee" meeting which ended its first meeting in four years in Cairo late Sunday, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Palestinian Authority Planning Minister, Nabil Shaath, agreed to hold a second ministerial meeting in "no later than three months".
Within this period, a technical committee made up of diplomats from the four sides should meet once every two weeks to reach agreement on "the modalities of admission of persons displaced from the West Bank Gaza Strip in 1967".
The first technical meeting will be held "within two weeks from today in Israel", a joint statement issued by the four parties said.
The statement added that the Palestinian side, as well as the other parties, will submit to this technical committee lists of displaced persons for admission. The committee should also agree on the format of the "form of admission" intended to be completed by displaced persons.
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Victoria Falls beauty under threat
Lusaka (Zambia), 7th February 2000
If Zambia is to maintain its tourist name as the 'real Africa', with its untamed and staggering beauty, then there is urgent need, to conserve the bio-diversity of the Victoria Falls, a Zambian government newspaper said Monday, while reporting that the beauty of the falls is under threat.
The Victoria Falls, one of the world natural wonders, is threatened by people, Zambia Daily Mail reported.
A housewife from Lusaka, was found uprooting the natural flowers from the surrounding area of the falls and quoted as saying that "I want to go and plant these flowers at my house. They look nice and I hope they can adapt to the climatic conditions in the city."
"I'm not the first one to do this. My neighbour also came here with her husband during Christmas time and they got many of the flowers," she said.
According to the National Parks and Wildlife Act it is an offence for anyone to get flowers or shrubs out of the falls area or a designated national park.
They do this in utter disregard of the warning inscription which stands out at the entrance of the falls area and reads: "removing flowers or shrubs not permitted. Trading, littering prohibited. Offenders may be fined 40,000 Kwacha (about 16 U.S. dollars) or imprisoned for three years or both."
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Car thefts worry Kenyan insurers
Nairobi (Kenya), 7th February 2000
Increased carjacking and vehicle thefts in Kenya have worried insurance companies as compensation claims pile up, the East African weekly reported Monday.
According to Isaac Kuria, technical manager of the Association of Kenya Insurers, the grave concern to the industry is that the recovery rate of stolen vehicles remains poor as the number of thefts escalates.
Statistics show that in 1998, 800 vehicles were stolen and most were not recovered. However, by June 1999, the insurers had dealt with 850 cases of stolen vehicles.
Kenyan police spokesman Indidis Dola admitted that 305 car were stolen in October last year, 313 in November and 100 in the first half of December, saying over 50 percent of the car thefts took place in the capital Nairobi and its suburbs.
Kuria said in 1998, the insurance industry gave out 6.7 million dollars in compensation payments and the figure is expected to double in the 1999-2000 period.
Dola said the police are winning the war against carjackers as the cartels run a cross border business and stolen vehicles are resold in Uganda, Tanzania and even South Africa, adding that "we have recovered vehicles which were stolen in these countries."
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Chad president satisfied with summit
N'djamena (Chad), 7th February 2000
Chad President Idriss Deby, current chairman of the Economic Community of Sahelo-Saharian States (Comessa), said he was satisfied with the "important" decisions taken at the organisation's second summit held on Friday and Saturday in N'Djamena.
"Our discussions were frank and sincere. I am convinced that we have given a new momentum to this joint venture," he said in a closing speech of the proceedings.
The conference decided to hold its third session next year in Khartoum, Sudan and to hold ministerial sessions on various fields, particularly in energy, rural development, youth and culture, defense, transport and communications.
Deby stressed member states' concern to "cover all activity sectors to widen community co-operation."
The approval in N'Djamena of the "Security Charter is part of the countries' perception of the close interaction existing between peace and stability on one hand, and socio-economic development on the other," he said.
He urged Comessa to adhere to the charter by searching for peace where people are deprived of it.
In this respect, he lauded Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's initiatives for "his efforts for peace and harmony in the community and other African regions torn by conflicts."
Djibouti, The Gambia and Senegal were admitted as new members, joining Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Libya, Mali, Niger, Central Africa Republic, Sudan and Chad as part of the community.
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Greed fans ethnic flames in Congo war - An analysis of the war in the Congo
Nairobi (Kenya), 7th February 2000
As six foreign armies and three rebel groups scramble for a share of Congo's vast natural resources, greed, chaos and political opportunism are stirring up tribal hatred in Africa's third largest country.
Uganda and Rwanda said they entered the Congolese civil war in support of the rebels to prevent a genocide, but in Ugandan-controlled northeastern Congo, aid agencies are reporting massacres on a chilling scale.
United Nations agencies estimate that between 5,000 and 7,000 people have been killed since June in the countryside around the town of Bunia, while another 150,000 are thought to have been displaced by the fighting.
One aid agency has warned that genocide looms in the area, and released a video of burning villages, and dead or dying women and children with horrific machete wounds.
The conflict -- between the cattle-herding Hema and the farming Lendu tribes -- has parallels with that between minority Tutsis and majority Hutus in nearby Rwanda, which exploded into genocide in 1994.
There have long been tensions between the Lendu, who are more numerous in the area but much poorer, and the richer Hema, but never violence on this scale before.
The root of the conflict is competition over land, coffee and gold, -- the first major outbreak of fighting came in June with a Lendu attack on Hemas who they said had stolen their land.
But it is also a conflict about political power in the new, divided Congo, and a story of how a foreign army upset a delicate tribal balance, human rights groups say.
Congo's natural wealth has always been its curse, from the time Belgium's King Leopold created and then raped the country in the 19th century in a frantic quest for rubber and ivory.
Today, civil war in the former Zaire has sucked in foreign armies from Zimbabwe to Rwanda -- and some seem to be there just for a share of the spoils.
Politically, their divide and rule tactics, or plain insensitivity to local rivalries, have often pitted Congolese against Congolese.
When the Ugandans appointed a Hema woman last year as governor of a newly-created Kibali-Ituri province with Bunia as its capital, many Lendu felt hard done by.
"There were some Hemas who decided to try and translate their economic and financial power into a monopoly of political power and then exclude the Lendu," said Jacques Depelchin, a leading rebel official in Bunia.
"Some Ugandan soldiers also got hoodwinked into getting involved... on the side of the Hemas," he told Reuters.
Amnesty International also says Ugandan soldiers took money to fight for or just defend the Hema, and others sold them guns.
But the bulk of the blame, observers say, probably lies with local leaders playing tribal politics for their own ends.
"In all these conflicts in the region, you have a small elite which needs support, and the easiest way to get support is to call on ethnic sentiments," Amnesty's Godfrey Byaruhanga told Reuters from London.
Both sides are guilty of massacres since the conflict began, with the poorer Lendu lending to use traditional weapons like machetes, arrows and spears, and the Hema guns.
"What exacerbates the conflict is the fact the violence is taking place in a quasi-political vacuum," Byaruhanga said.
"Much of the military and political power doesn't have a strong interest in law and order as such -- its main interest is the pursuit of war."
The Hema governor has since been replaced by someone from another tribe, and Depelchin is leading a bid to bring local leaders together to end the conflict. But the fighting flared up again in January, with whole villages burned and looted.
Before the conflict the two tribes lived largely side by side, today communities are strictly Hema or Lendu.
The Hema-Lendu conflict is only one of the many ethnic problems which the Congolese civil war has reignited.
The rebel movement, for example, is itself seen as dominated by Tutsis from the east or abroad. When rebels tried to take the capital in 1997, innocent Tutsis were lynched in the streets of Kinshasa on the basis of their ethnic identity alone.
Although a peace deal was signed in Zambia by the numerous belligerents last year, fighting in Congo's interior continues and the country is still waiting for a promised United Nations peacekeeping force.
The Security Council is working on a resolution to authorise a U.N. force of 5,500 military observers and soldiers for the Congo, but memories of a disastrous intervention in Somalia in 1993 could still delay the deployment of troops.
Congo's degeneration into political anarchy and ethnic warfare may have gone too far for foreign intervention to resolve, while an internal solution is as far away as ever.
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UN negotiates with Sudan for release of air crew
Nairobi (Kenya), 7th February 2000
The United Nations said on Monday it was negotiating with the Sudanese government for the release of a U.N. plane and four crew held by pro-government militia in southern Sudan.
The plane, carrying an American U.N. worker, two Kenyan pilots and a Sudanese relief worker, was seized on Thursday by militia in Old Fangak in the volatile Western Upper Nile province.
"The plane is still being held and the U.N. and the government are negotiating the release," said Gillian Wilcox, spokeswoman for Operation Lifeline Sudan, an umbrella group of U.N. and other aid agencies working in Sudan.
Aid agencies fly daily into southern Sudan to deliver relief supplies to a region devastated by a 17-year-old civil war.
In its broadest terms, the war pits the Islamic government in Khartoum against mainly Christian and animist rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).
But the picture is complicated by inter-factional fighting, especially in oil-rich Western Upper Nile where numerous pro-government and rebel militia leaders are fighting for supremacy.
Militia leader Gabriel Tanginya is believed to be holding the hostages in retaliation for the capture of three of his commanders by rebels after they disembarked from another U.N. plane last month.
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