Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 15 July 2004 — Page 6

Page 6 • The Muncie Times • July 15, 2004

AFRICAN BRIEFS

5th South African dies in Iraq A South African man was killed in Iraq on Thursday, bringing the South African dearth toll there to five, said the country's Department of Foreign Affairs. The man is believed to have been shot to death in a drive-by shooting in the Iraqi city if Basra. South Africa has no diplomatic mission in Iraq and has warned citizens that it is therefore and offense, under the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act, to carry out security services there. Nonetheless, some estimates say 15,000 South Africans are working there as mercenaries, or “private security contractors.” The occupation of the man who died on Thursday has not yet been revealed, but the other four South Africans, all of them white, who have died in Iraq were all working in that capacity. In January, for example, Farancois Strydom was killed by a suicide bomb while working for a security firm reportedly guarding Americans. He had formerly worked for Namibia’s police counterinsurgency Special Task Force, as has Henry Visagie, who was shot in the head when his convoy was ambushed.

Frail Mandela cuts back public activities “Former South African President Nelson Mandela will reduce the number of public appearances he makes, because he wants to devote more time to charity work and the second part of his

autobiography,” reports South African press. Mandela maintains a busy schedule of worldwide appearances, even though he is 85, walks with a cane and has had health trouble with tuberculosis and prostate cancer. In the past few weeks alone, he has encouraged South Africans to vote in their general election, appeared at the reinauguration of South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki, met with Pakistan’s minister of foreign affairs, met with Oman’s Oil and Gas Minister, and been to Trinidad to promote South Africa’s bid to host to 2010 Soccer World Cup. Handling so many public engagements has become “quite difficult I for Mandela] to manage,” says the head of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, John Samuel. Samuel added that Mandela wouldn’t pull out of public life completely, but is scaling down his profile, he is quoted as saying in South Africa’s Mail and Guardian newspaper. “When Mr. Mandela is read to do so, he will announce his retirement from public life,” he said. Press freedom awards goes to Ethiopian The ousted president of Ethiopia’s free press association has won a human rights prize for promoting the freedom of journalists in his country. Kifle Mulat, 51 who headed the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association (EFJA) for 4 years, was praised by Amnesty International (AI) for his fight against

repression. In a statement released ahead of the award ceremony in London last month, Al said he had awarded the Global Media Award for a Journalist at Risk. Al noted that Kifle had been jailed six times as a prisoner of conscience in the last 12 years after helping found the EFJA. Al also described a new Ethiopian press law being introduced as “draconian,” saying that many journalists were working under fear of repression. “Amnesty International is concerned that the proposed new press law includes harsher conditions for the press than the previous one, and could lead to more journalists being imprisoned as prisoners of conscience,” it said. \ The EFJA was banned, and its leadership overthrown and replaced by a new executive in January, during a meeting organized by government officials* The move and drew international criticism from media watchdogs, who expressed “growing alarm” over government attempts to “silence” the EFJA. The EFJA, which was set up in 1993, but only granted its government license 3 years ago, claims to fight for the rights of the independent press in Ethiopia. But it has drawn criticism from journalists in the private press for its “weak leadership”. Critics argue that EFJA has become “over-politicized’ ’. Government official have dismissed allegations that they repress journalists, and cite the existence of 82 weekly and 32 monthly newspapers in the country. Which they say, proves that freedom of expression and

journalism is flourishing. They also draw attention to meeting held with editors and journalist to draw up the new press law, which is to replace the 1992 law, and is due to come into force later this.

Civic groups need to join Africa Great lakes parley A network of 50 local civil society groups is lobbying to take part in an international conference on the Great Lakes region scheduled to be held in November, says a spokesman for the network. Great Lakes Peace and Security Network are seeking to participate at the conference independently “and by way of parallel process,” says Mwesiga Baregu a professor of political science at Tanzania’s University of Dar es Salaam, who is spearheading the effort. The office of the U.N. secretary general’s special representatives to the Great Lakes Region and the African Union (AU) are facilitating the process for the holding of the first summit of the Great Lakes conference in Dar es Salaam. Baregu said representatives of civil society groups from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia were due to meet in Dar es Salaam in June to consolidate their concerns and chart what they would like to see discussed at the UN-AU conference. “Fifty organization have been contacted and have already joined forces in the network’s preparatory process,” he added.

Baregu said the civil society network would also be lobbying to have its members engaged more directly by their governments in peace building efforts in the region. “Throughout the conference, issue such as community security, crossborder conflict, insecurity, human rights violation, good governance and sustainable peace building, internally displaced persons and refugee crises, should be addressed,” he said. Africa’s Great Lakes region comprises Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The U.N. -AU international conference on the Great Lakes aim to bring together regional leaders to establish a framework for the adoption and implementation of a stability, security and development pact. This will be one of the Abu’s biggest operations since laughing its PanAfrican Parliament earlier this year.