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BFN [Text] Pyongyang, May 19 (KCNA) -- The Korean documentary film documentary film "Four Seasons of Pyongyang" vividly depicts the looks of Pyongyang today that has been built grandly and beautifully as the capital socialist motherland under the wise guidance of Comrade Kim Chong il and the happiness of working people living an independent and creative life against the background of the natural sceneries of four seasons. The newly released documentary films include "International Seminar on the Chuche Idea Held in Uganda (Kampala, 10-12. Feb. 1994)" which records the international seminar on the chuche idea held with success in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, powerfully displaying the aspirations of progressive mankind to build an independent new world. The studio has also made the documentary film "Soldiers of the General" which deals with the indomitable struggle of soldiers of the Korean People's Security Forces who returned to the motherland after winning a courageous fight with the enemy without the slightest vacillation, not abandoning their revolutionary faith and principle in the enemy controlled area. The new productions include "Our Party Cell" truthfully depicting the activities of a cell, the grassroots organization of the Workers' Party of Korea, which has creditably performed its noble mission and duty in strengthening and developing the party and victoriously advancing the revolution and construction, and a documentary film "Newly Built Houses for 30,000 Families" showing the heroic stamina of the Korean people in splendidly building the houses for 30,000 families in the capital as grand monumental edifices.

segment2 Saudi Arabia has readmitted former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin after he slipped back into Africa for three weeks, Arab diplomats in Jidda said. The burly, 61-year old Amin returned to Jidda, the diplomatic and financial capital of Saudi Arabia, about a week ago, the diplomats said. Amin fled to Libya after he was ousted from power in Uganda in April, 1979. When Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi rejected him eight months later, he was granted political asylum by Saudi Arabia. Amin recently left his home in suburban Jidda on a false passport, surfacing Jan. 3 in Zaire, where the government quickly expelled him.

segment3 The heart of Bwindi's Impenetrable Forest in southern Uganda is home to almost half the world's population of mountain gorillas - a rare and endangered species of which fewer than 650 remain. To protect Bwindi's gentle giants, gorilla tracking permits are strictly rationed: only six visitors are allowed to enter Bwindi national park each day. Even if gorillas are not sighted, the experience of exploring Bwindi's virgin jungle, under the canopy of huge tropical hardwoods, lianas and orchids, is mysterious and unforgettable. For the foreseeable future, Uganda's appeal to the foreign visitor will centre on 'special interest' activities: mountain trekking in the Ruwenzoris -the legendary Mountains of the Moon; a visit to Bwindi, or the equally remote savannah grasslands of the Kidepo Valley near the frontier with Sudan. It is also in Uganda where the Nile begins its 4,000-mile journey to the Mediterranean. International tour operators have begun to include Uganda on their East African safari circuits, encouraged by the country's efforts to recover its neglected tourism infrastructure. Abercrombie & Kent have set up two tented camps near Bwindi and Murchison Falls, and plan to transform the Lake Victoria Hotel near Entebbe into their five star showcase in Uganda. Tim Somerset Webb, president of A & K Overseas Ltd, says he is finalising an agreement for the management contract and an equity participation in Lake Victoria Hotel with the state owned Uganda Hotels Ltd. Accommodation in Kampala remains overpriced and somewhat below international standards, but a number of hotels in the capital are undergoing upgrading and renovation. About 40 local tour operators provide an increasing range of services for the adventurous traveller. At the Uganda Tourist Board, above the British Council offices in Kampala, Freddie Irumba likes to take the long term view. 'We have to be both cautious and sensible about promoting Uganda as a holiday destination,' he says. 'Until our hotels are rehabilitated, the road network improved and our passenger handling facilities at the airport are up to scratch, we should not aim to attract large numbers of visitors.' He says the number of visitors is rising by 20 per cent each year, and estimates arrivals will top 80,000 in 1994.

The fall of Idi Amin

The EAU dealt with the mass of verbiage emanating from Kampala Radio during the whole of the eight-year rule of President Amin, some of it funny, most of it dreary rantings. We heard the declaration of the “economic war”, saw the Asians out, author Denis Hills condemned to death and rescued by "Honest Jim" [Foreign Secretary James Callaghan], the executions of the “Obote plotters”, the Entebbe raid - and all of these bizarre happenings interspersed with reports of Amin’s marriages, births of yet more children and accounts of his denunciations and threats. It would occasionally be noticed that for a few days at a time Kampala Radio would not mention Amin and everyone at the Unit would get geared up thinking perhaps there had been a successful assassination, but he always popped up again,..

Not until 28th March 1979 did it become apparent that Amin’s position was really critical. On that day Kampala Radio was intercepted at 2320 local time saying that: “tonight ... is the first time when the Tanzanian aggressors with mercenaries and traitors, using long-range artillery, have bombarded Kampala”...

By the time the first shift came into work on 11th April, the BBC WS had already announced the fall of Kampala, but Kampala Radio had said nothing. We had, by this time, been watching Kampala on all frequencies from 6 a.m. until midnight every day for six weeks. The home and external frequencies were both playing light music - between transmission breaks, that is - but making no announcements of any sort. The second shift came in at 1215 gmt. Then, at 1259, Baptista, who was watching the home frequency, shouted. Heaton, who was arguing with Head of Unit George Balazs about what was most enjoyable in life, raced into the listening room and plugged in just in time to hear the words: “Amin is no longer in power.” The circuit was already open and transmission of these words was completed by teleop Kabogo at 1300 gmt. A certain amount of confusion then arose due to the fact that out of the four simultaneous recordings which were made of the announcement two failed and two were incomplete. Attass and Heaton got out what was available, after which, at 1320, the announcement was repeated, more snaps were sent and by 1340 the complete version had been transmitted. There was a strong sense of euphoria, but little time for self-congratulation.

At 1400, Attass said the external frequency had come on the air with light music, unannounced. At 1505 Attass, still listening to the external frequency, very conscious of the fact that this was transmitting from Soroti (130 miles north of Kampala) and that it was not linked with the home service, noticed it had gone off the air without warning.

Nothing further happened until 1700 when Dar es Salaam Radio announced, in Swahili, “We now join with Radio Uganda, Kampala, to hear a special message.” Then, in English, “This is Radio Uganda. Stand by for an address to the nation by Mr Y.K. Lule, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Uganda National Liberation Front.” Within a few minutes snaps were being transmitted to the effect that Lule was the new president of Uganda, that he had formed a provisional government and that elections would be held as soon as possible. By 1725, the names of the members of this government had been sent and about half an hour later, Attass, Bakhressa and Heaton transcribing, Balazs editing, the text of the speech was complete.

We noticed that in announcing this broadcast the radio had called itself Radio Uganda for the first time, instead of Amin’s Uganda Broadcasting Corporation. This gave us a clue as to what to watch out for on the Soroti external frequency, but by 1815 the latter had not resurfaced. Eleven minutes later it came up unannounced with light music, after which it was watched successively by Attass, Bakhressa, Heaton and Iyob Tseggai. The home frequency signed itself off at 1900. Then, at 1935, the external frequency announced: “Dear listeners: this is the external service of Uganda Broadcasting Corporation...” Now we knew we had got hold of something potentially exciting. Why had the radio called itself UBC instead of Radio Uganda? We were all listening now, having been joined by Alemayehu.

Six minutes later another announcement: Voice No.1: “Hello”. Voice No 2: “Are you ready?” Voice No 1: “Yes, we are ready, please, Your Excellency.” “It’s HIM!” Bakhressa shouted, leaping to his feet, and sure enough it was: “I, President Idi Amin Dada of the Republic of Uganda, I would like to denounce the announcement made by Lt-Col Oyite Ojok, the so-called chief of staff, that my government has been overthrown and they have formed their rebellion government in Uganda.” Heaton put out snaps to the effect that Amin was still in power, that his forces should not surrender and that most of Uganda was still in the hands of loyalists. Amin went on to give another version of his address in Swahili. The two speeches were divided up under the direction of Attass, who then transcribed together with Bakhressa, Alemayehu and Zainab, Heaton editing and Kamau teleprinting and the circuit open throughout, until it was all done text by 2133 gmt (0033 local). Heaton rang BBC correspondent John Osman, who was then able to listen to the speech together with BBC stringer Charles Harrison when it was repeated. EAU also sent out actuality.

At the end of it all we were more exhilarated than exhausted. Never had so much adrenaline poured into the bloodstream of the EAU team during any day of its existence. Not once had the teamwork come unstuck and we all went home that night feeling happy that, in our own way, we had been able to participate in an historic event of international significance, the overthrow of a tyrant and his replacement by a group of sane, educated men.

segment4 BFN [Excerpt] [passage omitted] Today the RPF [Rwandan Patriotic Front] combatants captured the important Ruhango trade center. The Ruhango trade center, which is located in Tambwe Commune, Ruhango Subprefecture, is the most important marketplace in the country. Traders from various neighboring countries like Burundi, Zaire, Tanzania, and Uganda meet each other there. The Ruhango trade center, which has fallen into the hands of RPF combatants, is located some 20 km south of the capital of Gitarama Prefecture, and some 12 km from Buyanza. The RPF combatants are making progress in their fight against the country's enemies to put an end to the massacres of innocent people.

segment5 Says another critic: 'The privatisation secretariat's recommendations to its political masters are often ignored, or overturned, often in pursuit of personal advantage for politicians and their associates.' There is criticism, too, of the amount of time spent outside the country promoting Uganda by senior government ministers and civil servants. The returns are far from clear, while work at home suffers. In 1985, over 50 per cent of government collected revenue came from coffee exports, but during 1993 it was nil, for the tax had been abolished. Tax collection as a percentage of GDP remains low - about 7 per cent, around a third the average for sub Saharan African countries, and is not expected to rise much above 10 per cent in the next two to three years. The Uganda Manufacturers' Association vigorously resists efforts to increase the burden on those already in the tax net. 'Uganda cannot afford to repulse capital by giving investors cause to relocate in neighbouring countries,' warned the association last year. The business community has a further concern - the appreciating shilling. High donor flows, improved coffee receipts and returning capital from Asian exiles have seen the currency strengthen from a high of 1,373 in January 1993 to a current level of around 960 to the dollar. This has resulted in artificially high import levels, which hurt the domestic producers and has hit exporters. Achievements notwithstanding, the task is a sobering one. If the economy maintains an annual average of 5 per cent growth and assuming population increase of between 2.5 and 3 per cent a year, it will take 30 years to double individuals' standards of living. At the same time, Uganda must reduce aid and reach self sustaining growth - the biggest challenge of all. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Development projects ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Uganda's 1993-6 Rehabilitation and Development Plan includes several multimillion dollar infrastructural projects of interest to international contractors. They are: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Project Planned expenditure (USDollars) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Kinyana sugar works Dollars25.9m Power III Uganda Electricity Board Dollars50.3m Second Water Supply project Dollars33.2m Small Towns Water Project Dollars26.3m Mandela National Stadium Dollars15.2m Kampala bypass Dollars18.3m Rehabilitation of Kampala city roads Dollars25.2m South West road maintenance* Dollars16.4m Masindi, Rwenkenga Apac Lira Kitgum road* Dollars16.0m ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Procurement of machinery & equipment Further information from Uganda Investment Authority, Box 7418, Kampala. Tel: 254641-234105, 234109, 251562/6. Fax: 242903.

segment6 BFN [Text] Kinshasa, May 26 (AFP) -- Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko has recommended the immediate demilitarisation of the Rwandan capital of Kigali, the Zairois Press Agency AZAP said Thursday [26 May]. "It is vital to declare Kigali and an area up to 20 kilometres around the town neutral," the Zairian president said. Mobutu said this would allow "the intervention of United Nations forces, emergency services of humanitarian organisations, as well as the setting up of a government of national union following talks between the two parties to the conflict." Zaire, along with Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania, borders the tiny east African nation where up to half a million people have been killed in fighting between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis since early April.

segment7 BFN [Text] Tunis, June 14 (AFP) -- A Rwandan rebel official said here Tuesday [14 June] his forces and the government had agreed to an immediate ceasefire. The official, Pasteur Bizimundu, said the Rwandan Patriotic Front would order its fighters to hold their fire Tuesday evening. He said Rwanda's interim government had made the same pledge. Officials from both sides were in Tunis on the sidelines of an Organization of African Unity summit. The ceasefire was reached in a meeting with the presidents of Zaire, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi. Ceasefire talks collapsed earlier in the day in the capital city Kigali after Hutu militiamen abducted and probably killed between 30 and 40 people, many of them children, who had been sheltering in a church, the United Nations said. The rebel army is dominated by the minority Tutsis.

segment8 Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Kampala, Jan 27 (AFP)--Somali warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid arrived in the Ugandan city of Entebbe on Thursday [27 January] for talks with President Yoweri Museveni, officials said. Aidid left the Kenyan capital, Nairobi earlier Thursday. He had been in Kenya since UN sponsored peace talks in Addis Ababa collapsed last month. Efforts to open Kenyan brokered negotiations in Nairobi between Aidid's Somali National Alliance (SNA) and the Group of 12 factions led by his enemy, self styled interim president Ali Mahdi Mohamed, met with little success, according to Somali sources. Aidid was expected to spend a few days in Uganda before returning to Mogadishu via Nairobi. He had planned to return to the Somali capital this weekend, but changed his plans when Museveni agreed to receive him in Entebbe, a source close to the warlord said.

segment9 BFN [By Annie Thomas] [Excerpt] Kigali, 22 Jun (AFP) -- Rwandan rebels waged a major offensive Wednesday [22 June] to take control of this capital city as France pressed ahead with controversial plans to intervene in the ethnic civil war. As the fighting intensified, the UN mission here sent its French speaking troops out of the capital because of rebel warnings that all French speaking soldiers could be targets in the event of French intervention. The Tutsi led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) launched the offensive late Tuesday, bringing a company of reinforcements forward from the northeast of Kigali and pounding the city centre with artillery, observers in the UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) said Wednesday. UN military spokesman Jean Guy Plante said that the fighting in Kigali was so fierce that the United Nations on Tuesday withdrew its observers and guards from the Mille Collines Hotel, which has become a refugee hostel in the centre of the city. The United Nations has also again suspended trade off evacuations of Hutus and Tutsis to relative safety from behind the enemy front lines, after a lull enabled the moving of two groups of 300 people on Monday. Forty two UN troops from Senegal, Congo and Togo left the capital by road for Uganda, several hours after they had been due to leave. Their departure was delayed as the rebels searched their luggage before allowing them to go. They planned to fly from Uganda to Nairobi. Kigali airport, jointly controlled by the UN mission and the rebels, remained closed on Wednesday. General Romeo Dallaire, the UN military chief in Rwanda, decided to send the soldiers to safety after the RPF warned that if France launched an intervention it bitterly opposes, its men might not distinguish between French and French speaking UN troops.

segment10 [(Clandestine) Radio Mogadishu Voice of the Great Somali People in Somali 1700 GMT 23 Feb 94] Uganda AIDS -- The British Medical Research Council and the Uganda Virus Research Institute, UVRI, have launched an intervention study in Masaka District to fight AIDS using a combination of information, education, communications, and sexually transmitted disease controls. The interventional project, which will cover 18 parishes in Masaka District, was launched yesterday by the acting representative of the WHO in Uganda, Professor (Abiye Obo Koribo). He said the project epitomizes the aims of the WHO that the people of the world should receive adequate health care by the year 2000. Prof. (Obo Koribo) said this calls for the involvement of community participation and empowerment of the people with affordable and appropriate technology for their own health. He said research should not be sterile, but applied in the field. The head of the program, Dr. (Dan Malda), said the project is expected to take five years and the actual intervention work would start in June or July this year. He said emphasisis would be put on community health based care in areas of control of sexually transmitted diseases and behavioral change in the control of HIV. [Kampala Radio Uganda Network in English 1700 GMT 26 Feb 94] Zaire Bacillary dysentery -- An epidemic of bacillary dysentery is currently rampant in the Lomela area in Kasai Oriental, where it is said to have claimed 800 lives since 1993 from a population estimated at about 200,000. A local official, Honorable Ekumbaki Ombata Ilongo, who reported this epidemic to ZAIRIAN PRESS AGENCY, called on the country's authorities to take all necessary steps to deal with the disease.

segment11 Mr Faustin Twagiramungu, a Hutu moderate named by the Tutsi dominated Rwanda Patriotic Front to head a national unity government, arrived in the capital Kigali on a UN aircraft from Uganda, saying his first priority was to reassure Rwandans fleeing a rebel advance, Reuter reports from Kigali.

segment12 Language: English Article Type:BFN [Excerpts] Nairobi, Jan 30 (AFP)--Somali warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid returned to the Kenyan capital Sunday [30 January] after a four day visit to Uganda, during which he had talks with President Yoweri Museveni, officials said. Aidid will stay in Nairobi for "a few more days" to continue consultations with other factions about the possible formation of an interim government in Somalia before the end of March, Aidid's spokesman Mohamed Hassan Awale said. [passage omitted] He emphasized that the provisional administration would only be set up after a consensus had been reached with other factions. Aidid's Somali National Alliance (SNA) faction will not impose a government in Somalia, he added. [passage omitted] Aidid is expected to meet representatives from the Somali Salvation Democratic Front, the Somalia National Democratic Union and the Somali National Front later this week before returning to Mogadishu. General Aidid has repeatedly called for UNOSOM's departure accusing the force of killing thousands of Somalis. [passage omitted] Aidid travelled to Uganda from Nairobi on Thursday. He arrived in Kenya late last month after the collapse of United Nations sponsored peace negotiations in Addis Ababa.

segment13 DAVID, a thin young man with an emaciated frame, drawn face and bulging eyes, walked falteringly towards the car waiting to drive him to a funeral. David, 23, a former guerrilla who helped bring the present government to power, is a victim of Aids, or 'Slim' as it is known in Uganda. Thousands have already died from the disease. In David's home town of Masaka, south west of the capital Kampala, and in nearby villages, more than half the young adults are HIV positive, infected with the virus that causes Aids. Nationally, the Uganda Aids Control Programme estimates that more than 1m people are HIV positive out of a population of about 17m. The government forecasts that by 2010 more than half the projected population of some 37m will have died of Aids. The epidemic is now threatening to undermine the measure of political and economic stability achieved since President Yoweri Museveni came to power five years ago. Mr Museveni assumed the presidency in January 1986 after waging a five year guerrilla campaign which brought down the military government which had itself overthrown the five year rule of Milton Obote six months previously.

segment14 Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Kampala, Jan 9 (AFP) -- Heavy fighting has erupted between Sudanese rebels and government troops near the southern town of Kaya, rebel sources said here Sunday [9 January]. An official of the mainstream Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) who asked not to be named said fighting broke out early last week in areas east of Kaya, close to the Ugandan border. Rebels have since killed 28 goverment soldiers, he claimed, but refused to give rebel casualty figures. An SPLA spokesman in Nairobi, Justin Arop, confirmed that fighting was raging. Arop gave other regions where fighting was also going on as Bor, Yei, Morobo, areas between the southern Sudan regional capital of Juba and Kit, and along the railway line in the Bahr al Ghazal Province. Ugandan officials said the fresh fighting had triggered a new influx of refugees into northern Uganda. An estimated 3,000 Sudanese were arriving in the region every week, Ugandan deputy minister for local government Steven Chebrot said. Uganda has a Sudanese refugee population of 200,000. Some 70,000 of them have arrived in the past five months. The SPLA has waged a decade long war against the Khartoum government to free the mainly animist and Christian southern Sudan from domination by the Moslem, Arabised north.

segment15 UN envoy to Rwanda Jacques Roger Booh Booh is in the Kenyan capital Nairobi for discussions with President Daniel arap Moi. The Red Cross said Booh Booh planned to visit Zaire and Uganda to ask their leaders to use their "good offices" to end the ethnic and political carnage unleashed after the April 6 death of President Juvenal Habyarimana in a aircraft crash. Rwanda's bloodbath began when Hutu Presidential Guards accused the rebels of shooting down the president's plane. The Presidential Guards spearheaded massacres of Tutsis and opposition supporters including Hutus. Clashes were also reported between the president's northern clan and Hutus from southern Rwanda. Meanwhile Wednesday, the head of Habyarimana's National Republican Movement for Democracy (MRND) accused Uwilingiyimana, killed the day after the plane crash, of having been planning a presidential coup. Matthew Ngirumpatse told a press conference here that two days before the plane crash, "the prime minister had called together a few senior officers and told them of her plan to organize a coup against the president." "I am not trying to justify a murder," Ngirumpatse said here. "I am trying to find the reasons which made soldiers do that," he said. Ngirumpatse also denied the existence of organized militias within the MRND who have been accused of involvement in massacres, and accused the rebels of having started the bloodletting. Uwilingiyimana and Habyarimana were members of rival Hutu factions.

segment16 Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Kampala, Jan 30 (AFP) -- The Somali faction headed by warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid said Sunday [30 January] it planned to set up an interim government in Somalia before the end of March, in a veiled ultimatum to the UN peacekeeping force there to leave. Spokesman for Aidid's Somali National Alliance (SNA) Mohamed Hassan Awale who accompanied the faction leader to Uganda said the United Nations peacekeeping force in Somalia (UNOSOM) had outlived its usefulness in the war torn country now that famine had ended. "After the creation of an authority in (the capital) Mogadishu and our target is March, disarmament will start and if we need help we shall ask African leaders to provide a peacekeeping force," said Awale, Aidid advisor on international affairs. Aidid left the Ugandan capital Sunday after a four day visit during which he had talks with President Yoweri Museveni. The warlord has repeatedly called for UN Operation Somalia's [UNOSOM] departure accusing the force of killing thousands of Somalis. The United States has set March 31 as the deadline for the pullout of its troops from Somalia, but the UN plans to maintain an 16,000-strong international force in the country. UNOSOM went to Somalia last year originally to keep the peace while aid workers distributed food to hundreds of thousands of starving people but the force was later locked in bloody clashes with SNA militiamen after the UN accused Aidid of ordering the killing of its soldiers and ordered his arrest. Awale said Aidid had "fruitful discussions with President Museveni on the situation in Somalia and the progress towards peace amongst the fighting factions". The meeting took place on Saturday. Aidid is going back to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi to continue peace negotiations with other Somalia factions, Awale said. He is expected to meet representatives from the Somali Salvation Democratic Front, the Somalia National Democratic Union and the Somali National Front, before returning to Mogadishu within the next couple of days, Awale said. Aidid travelled to Uganda from Nairobi on Thursday. He had been in Kenya since UN sponsored peace negotiations in Addis Ababa collapsed.

segment17 Mr Iqbal Riza, a United Nations special envoy, yesterday called off a trip to the Rwandan capital Kigali, saying warring parties could not guarantee his safety, Reuter reports from Mulindi, Rwanda. 'Both sides seem to have difficulty in securing our security. So we cannot go along the route into Kigali,' he told reporters before driving back into Uganda. He said he hoped to try and fly into Kigali from Uganda today. Mr Riza was to have travelled from northern Rwanda by road to Kigali to meet the government side after talks with rebels on ending seven weeks of violence in Rwanda in which an estimated half a million people have died. Fighting appeared to have resumed in Kigali in earnest after combatants agreed a truce to allow the envoy to visit. The talks with the rebels failed to agree on the key issue of the number of UN troops needed in Rwanda. Mr Riza said he had no mandate to alter the UN force figure of up to 5,500 authorised by the Security Council last week. The Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) rebels insist on at most 2,500. A rebel spokesman said the RPF turned down Mr Riza's appeal that it enter talks with the interim government, which took over after President Juvenal Habyarimana was killed along with his Burundi counterpart in a rocket attack on their aircraft on April 6. That tragedy sparked the current massacres in Rwanda, blamed largely on Mr Habyarimana's troops and militias from his majority Hutu tribe.

segment18 BFN [Text] The Hague, 10 May (ANP) -- Netherlands Development Aid Minister Pronk is leaving on Wednesday [11 May] for a visit to Rwanda, where fighting over recent weeks has left thousands dead. During his six day trip, the minister also will visit refugee camps in the border area with Uganda and Tanzania, and hold talks with aid organizations in Kenya. Pronk wants to see for himself how the process of providing aid for the victims of the violence is proceeding and what further assistance the Netherlands could provide. The Netherlands has already granted 8.4 million guilders (approximately 1.5 billion Belgian francs) in emergency aid for Rwanda and Burundi this year. From 14 May, the Netherlands aid organizations will be running a special campaign to raise funds for Rwanda. The minister will first visit Uganda, from where he will visit refugee camps in the border area with northern Rwanda and talk with representatives from the aid organizations and possibly also with RPF [Rwandan Patriotic Front] members. He will also meet with Ugandan President Museveni and his deputy minister for refugee affairs. On Saturday and Sunday, the minister will be in the Kenyan capital Nairobi for talks with international and private aid organizations, before flying on to Ngara in northwest Tanzania where hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees have gathered. Their number is rapidly increasing and the situation in northwest Tanzania is deteriorating daily. The aid organization Caritas warned on Monday [9 May] that famine on an unknown scale threatened in Rwanda and neighboring Burundi. An estimated 2 million people have left their homes due to last month's outbreak of ethnic violence in Rwanda which followed the assassination of the country's president.

segment19 No matter how one crunches the numbers, it is obvious that the fate of the new South Africa lies in the hands of foreign investors, bankers and fund managers. This is little more than a statement of the obvious in an increasingly integrated global economy, but also a result of a capital outflow of some Dollars 25bn since the mid-1980s. Reversing this capital outflow is the top priority, since foreign capital is likely to make all the difference between sluggish growth of 2.5-3 per cent annually and expansion of at least 5 per cent a year. Recognition of this unpalatable reality has bred a new consensus within the African National Congress to accept the inevitable trade off between fiscal and monetary discipline on one hand and social upliftment spending programmes on the other. That consensus remains firm, despite the unwelcome news that Mr Derek Keys, finance minister, has decided to resign, from October. He leaves behind an overtly pro business, supplyside budget that will do little for populist expectations in the short term; and an economic team which gives every sign of carrying on his policies without him. At the same time, the foreign capital issue is splitting the country into two camps, with many in the business establishment urging the new administration to lift at least some exchange controls and abolish the financial rand. 'With a sound conservative budget behind us, commodity prices improving and massive world support and sympathy, there will never be a better time for dropping the finrand,' says one banker who also warned: 'The climate for exchange control liberalisation is not going to get any better'. 'The cute money' he adds, 'is waiting for the second shoe to drop, for the inevitable decline in the commercial rand, before taking the plunge.' The danger is that this could turn out to be a self fulfilling prophecy as foreign investors watch and wait for exchange controls to be loosened.

segment20 But UN military sources and diplomats said that with the rebel takeover of Kigali imminent, and demoralised government soldiers short of ammunition and starting to join a massive exodus of terrified civilians from the capital, the discussions may come after the effective end of a three year civil war. [passage omitted covered in referent items] The UN military sources meanwhile reported that army commanders and some ordinary soldiers were starting to join thousands of terrified Hutus streaming out of Kigali on foot. "Rumours that the city is about to fall are spreading and people are scared of retaliation for the killings of Tutsis," said a UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official estimated that a rebel victory was "a few more days away." Minority Tutsis dominate the rebel movement, led by Rwandan exiles who fled to Uganda to escape ethnic massacres in the runup to independence from Belgium in 1962. Kabia, speaking by telephone from Kigali, said the RPF had agreed to meet army commanders Monday to discuss a ceasefire. But a senior Western diplomat familiar with Rwanda said the battle weary government forces "could simply be forced to surrender." "They're short of ammunition, their morale is low, their government has run away to a town outside the capital, and they're scared of taking the blame for the massacres," a UN military source in Kigali said. The rebel agreement to discuss ceasefire terms nevertheless signalled a breakthrough for Riza, but the rebels still oppose the planned deployment of 5,500 UN peacekeepers in Rwanda and demand a maximum of 2,500. The UN, condemned by aid agencies for withdrawing all but 400 of its 2,500 soldiers from Rwanda after president Juvenal Habyarimana's death in an alleged April 6 rocket attack on his plane, is struggling anyway to muster the planned new force. [passage omitted] Riza was to leave Rwanda on Friday to review another heavily criticised UN peacekeeping operation in Somalia's anarchic capital Mogadishu, where the failure of tens of thousands of foreign soldiers to end factional fighting has dampened enthusiasm for another perilous mission in Africa.

segment21 Another source of provisions: supplies captured from the enemy, especially munitions stores and heavy weapons of French origin seen in rebel convoys headed for the front. The RPF has built up a substantial "war chest" of funds collected from a Rwandan diaspora that is very supportive of "the cause," i.e., the return to Rwanda. Finally, it is even possible the rebels are receiving support from the predominantly Tutsi Burundian Army, which turns a blind eye to quasi overt RPF recruiting efforts among Rwandans and Burundians in the refugee camps. Such support, though understandable, makes it possible for the RPF to persevere in its offensive. "The RPF's clandestine arms network has been in place a long time," says one Rwandan diplomat, "while we ourselves must rush around to find new suppliers. Our normal suppliers, like South Africa, have been told to respect the embargo." Is Uganda's at least tacit support for the RPF intended to repay the debt Mr. Museveni owes the Rwandan refugees? Or is he attempting, as the interim Rwandan government claims, to "create a Tutsi empire in the region"? "The president has other concerns," explains one Western diplomat, "beginning with the south Sudan problem." The imminent arrival of Sudanese Army units on Uganda's northern border--up to now in the hands of south Sudan rebels backed by Kampala--may well accelerate destabilization of the north at the hands of Khartoum, which already is arming a small group of guerrillas there who are little more than bandits. Uganda's president is reportedly eager to "dispose" of the Rwandan exiles by sending them back home. "Back in 1988, I told Habyarimana (the Rwandan president killed on 6 April, whose death triggered resumption of the civil war) that he should let the refugees go back," says Mr. Museveni, probably worried lest the opposition capitalize politically on anti Rwandan xenophobia. In fact, Rwandan refugees (the first of whom arrived in 1959) have done quite well for themselves in Uganda and have often served as scapegoats, notably in 1982 when they were literally expelled by then President Obote to Rwanda, which adamantly refused to accept them.

segment22 "There's too much bitterness after all the bloodshed, and neither side is willing to accept the other's conditions," said a senior envoy in Nairobi. "If the rebels are saying that they will only talk to the military, that could simply mean that they aren't ready to talk at all," the diplomat said. Tanzania brokered peace accords signed in August between the two sides which were hailed as a breakthrough in efforts to end the three year civil war that erupted when the rebels invaded from neighbouring Uganda in October 1990. But the death of Habyarimana, a Hutu, and the army's claim that his plane was shot down rekindled the war. The Presidential Guard spearheaded massacres of Tutsis in the capital Kigali, still littered with bodies more two weeks after the killings began. Death squads are still hacking and clubbing to death people suspected of being Tutsis or rebel sympathisers. United Nations' efforts to broker a ceasefire have so far failed. The government is believed to be unwilling to accept a rebel demand for the interim administration to be disbanded. "How can they negotiate anything if one side doesn't even recognise the other?" the diplomat said. Tanzanian President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, who convened the talks, has met separately with the rebel front's vice chairman Patrick Mazimhaka and the home affairs minister in the interim government, Faustin Munyazesa. The UN spokesman in Kigali, Moctar Gueye, welcomed the Tanzanian initiative and expressed the hope that Rwanda's neighbours, worried that the bloodshed could spill over into their countries, could find ways of putting pressure on both sides to lay down their arms. The slaughter in Rwanda has sparked a regional refugee crisis. At least 50,000 Rwandans have streamed into neighbouring countries. The UN meanwhile confirmed that rebels had captured the northern town of Byumba this week. The rebels have also claimed to have gained ground against government forces in Kigali, in the northeastern Mutura region and in the Buganza area to the east. They also said they had surrounded Habyarimana's hometown, the northern Hutu stronghold of Ruhengeri. UN officials were unable to confirm the claims as the fighting on several fronts has made travel impossible in Rwanda, a patchwork of rebel and government held pockets.

segment23 BFN [Text] The International Red Cross has suspended its operation in Kigali after an ambulance in which it was carrying patients was stopped at a roadblock and the patients killed. The killers are believed to be either government troops or militia men. And latest reports say heavy fighting for the control of the capital is continuing between the RPF [Rwandan Patriotic Front] and government forces. Meanwhile, human rights organizations have blamed foreign countries of refusing to give food to Rwandans who are reported to be starving. It said foreign countries are only interested in evacuating their nationals.

ANSWER segment24 BFN [Text] Mr. Velayati, the foreign minister, arrived in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, on Saturday evening in a continuation of his tour of several African countries. Our country's foreign minister and his accompanying delegation were welcomed at Kampala Airport by the foreign minister, deputy prime minister, and the head of the Shiite Association of Uganda. According to the Central News Unit, during his visit to Uganda, Mr. Velayati will not only hold talks with that country's senior officials, but will also attend and speak at the seventh assembly of the Pan African Congress at the invitation of that congress.

segment25 The reforms have nevertheless begun to attract foreign business interests. Mr John Dorrell, of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who led a delegation of British businessmen to Uganda last November said: 'When we came here in 1987 the country was on its knees; now it is showing signs of life. It is a market worth Pounds 39.2m (Dollars 69m) to British exporters, up by 18 per cent on 1989.' Britain is one of Uganda's main trading partners. Foreign investor interest has also come from a number of Ugandan Asians, who formed the backbone of the business community before their mass expulsion by Idi Amin in 1972. Two once powerful Ugandan Asian industrial groups, run by the Madhvani and Mehta families, have already returned to Uganda and between them now produce some 60,000 tonnes of sugar - enough to meet local needs. Ugandan born Mr Nazimu Virani, chairman of UK property to pubs group Control Securities, whose family were among the 60,000-strong Asian community expelled by Amin, is leading a high powered delegation of British businessmen and industrialists to Uganda with the aim of identifying potential areas of investment. But Asians' confidence is unlikely to be wholly restored so long as the government fails to offer compensation for an estimated Pounds 2bn of property expropriated by Idi Amin following his purge of Asians. Yet potential foreign investors will need to be convinced that other problems which threaten stability are being overcome. The army has been accused by Amnesty International, the human rights body, of killing civilians, and corruption remains widespread. For one former soldier, however, the future is bleak. David, the aids sufferer, stared into the ground and said: 'We fought in the war to stop us being killed by the army. Now we are all dying of Aids anyway.'

segment26 The opening of the Masala Chaat Indian takeaway in Kampala was a grand affair. Its concrete backyard brimmed with the cream of Ugandan society. Government dignitaries mingled with bankers; the US ambassador chatted with Asian and Ugandan families. Ms Mumtaz Kassam, a returned Ugandan Asian, surveyed her restaurant with satisfaction. Her guest of honour, Finance Minister Joshua Mayanja Nkangi, delivered an effusive inauguration speech. They were celebrating, in a modest way, the seven years of stability which have allowed Ugandans to start rebuilding their lives. Small ventures such as Ms Kassam's takeaway are a psychological boost to a capital still haunted by abandoned villas and boarded up businesses.

segment27 NAKABUBI'S village was in mourning last month. Nobody grieved for the death of yet another Aids victim more than this 31-year old widow. Her husband had already died of Aids, and this latest victim was godfather to her youngest son. He had promised to help with school fees. Now he is dead, Nakabubi must struggle alone. Most of the widows in villages across western Uganda have lost their husbands to Aids. And in a country were women are regarded as chattels, widows often lose more than just their husbands. Another widow, Mabel, was evicted from the family home by her in laws when her husband died in 1990.

segment28 We cannot exonerate them from the crimes committed by the Rwandan government.' The rebels distrust Paris because of its military and financial support for the government of Gen Juvenal Habyarimana until his death in an air crash on April 6. Having bolstered Rwanda's crumbling army with military advisers, weapons, armoured cars and helicopters, France is regarded as an accomplice to the slaughter of Tutsis and Hutu opponents of the Habyarimana regime which followed his death. France plans to lead quick missions into Rwanda to rescue endangered civilians, but has pledged not to make deep raids or to be drawn into fighting between government and rebel forces. The UN mandate authorises French troops to use force if attacked. In Paris Mr Alain Juppe, French foreign minister, yesterday sought to downplay the military and political risks for France intervening almost alone in Rwanda, in the face of hostility from rebels controlling two thirds of the country. 'Senegalese soldiers will be at our side and discussions are in train with Guinea Bissau,' he told the French Senate yesterday. Senegal is apparently to send troops it had already agreed to contribute to the planned UN force due in Rwanda in late July, at which point France has said it will pull its troops out. Mr Juppe said he hoped European countries would give France the logistic support the US has already pledged. France will be pressing its European Union partners for backing when the Twelve start their summit in Corfu later today, Mr Alain Lamassoure, French EU affairs minister, said yesterday, adding that while 'there might be 10 good reasons for not intervening, the one essential reason for doing so is that a whole people is in the course of dying'. The French are setting up field hospitals on the Zaire border. But it is not clear whether they will just seek to evacuate refugees and wounded to the hospitals, or try to set up safe zones as they and other UN peacekeepers have sought to do in Bosnia. Although Operation Turquoise is meant to be a bridging operation until the UN can muster a multinational force, it has inadvertently undermined the work of the 400 UN military personnel who remained in Kigali after the majority of UN troops and all foreigners were evacuated in April. Thousands of Tutsis have also demonstrated against the French expedition in Bujumbura, the capital of neighbouring Burundi, which is bristling with the tensions of the Rwandan conflict. With anti French sentiment rising in the RPF controlled areas of the capital, the UN decided to relieve 42 French speaking African soldiers from their duties. They were flown to Uganda on Wednesday.

segment29 Give them love while I live.' The southern districts of Masaka and Rakai, once known as the granary of Uganda, bear the heaviest burden of the Aids epidemic outside Kampala, the capital. Out of the 38,552 Aids cases reported in Uganda by the end of last year, almost 8,500 were in these two districts. Every family knows of a relative or a friend afflicted by the condition. Production of the two main cash crops, coffee and bananas, is dwindling because Aids is attacking adults in the prime of life. Often, the surviving partner also has the virus and chooses to expend his or her dwindling energies producing food crops for the family's subsistence.

segment30 BFN [Report on interview with President Yoweri Museveni by Mark Huband in Kampala on 5 May] [Text] Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, called on rebel forces in Rwanda last night to allow a limited foreign military intervention to stop the carnage which has left up to 200,000 people dead in the country -- and he became the first leader in the region to accuse Rwanda's government openly of using genocide to eliminate opposition. President Museveni has close ties with the anti government Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and his call for a foreign role is likely to have a strong impact on it. The rebels have condemned the United Nations for all but pulling out of Rwanda when the killings began in early April, and then planning a return which could halt the rebel advance through the country. President Museveni condemned the current government in Rwanda for its involvement in the slaughter but called on foreign countries, and the UN, to understand the real nature of the crisis before sending in troops. "The international community -- some of them don't know that it is the policy of government (in Rwanda) to use genocide as an instrument of eliminating opposition. I think if there was that understanding then the view of the situation would change. "Everybody would know that it is a criminal band, just like the Nazis, (which is responsible for the killing), and then the whole international community would hunt them down," he said in his first interview with a foreign newspaper since the Rwanda crisis erupted on April 6. "But I think there could be a basis for some limited involve ment; for instance, on purely humanitarian issues -- distributing food, rescuing civilians threatened by the massacres promoting a dialogue among the parties -- for a limited period, not indefinitely, and without attempting to influence the politicians of the countries." He stressed that the RPF should accept such an intervention, as its forces could not move quickly enough to save lives still under threat from government death squads operating in the capital and the south and west of the country. "The RPF needs to give the chance to the international community. Because now people think it,s merely a struggle for power by the two groups." The UN secretary general, Butrus Butrus Ghali and the Americans have discussed the Rwanda crisis with President Museveni. Uganda has been accused by the Rwandan government of supplying the RPF with arms. This has been denied by President Museveni, whose close ties with the RPF stem from the support its personnel gave him during the civil war which brought him to power in 1986. But his approval of an intervention stems as much from concerns about the Rwanda crisis spilling over into neighbouring countries, particularly Burundi, as it does from the impact on Rwanda itself.

ANSWER segment31 Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Pyongyang, February 8 (KCNA) -- An international seminar on the chuche idea for the independent development and cooperation of the world people is soon to be held in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, on the occasion of the birthday of the dear leader Comrade Kim Chong il. The seminar will be attended by delegations and delegates of national and regional organisations, political, academic and public figures and delegates of chuche idea study organisations around the world. The seminar will discuss theoretical and practical questions arising in the independent development and cooperation among the world people at the present time on the basis of the chuche idea, the guiding idea of this age.

segment32 Language: Arabic Article Type:BFN [Text] The rebel movement -- Garang's group -- has refused to open new safe land corridors from Kenya and Uganda and internal land corridors in the south of the country to transfer relief supplies to the affected areas, though the government of Sudan had agreed to open land corridors and offered all concessions for transporting relief supplies to citizens. A report by the SUDAN NEWS AGENCY from Nairobi said the Sudanese Embassy there issued a statement in which it held the rebel movement was responsible for the failure of the talks that were concluded in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, yesterday, and in which a government delegation, led by Dr. Ibrahim Abu Awf, minister of state at the ministry of social planning, and the special envoy of the UN secretary general for humanitarian affairs in Khartoum took part. The statement pointed out that the relief talks failed because of the insistence of the rebel movement -- Garang's group -- on not opening the (Nadus)-Kapoeta Torit road which feeds Kapoeta and Torit areas via the border area of (Nadus) from the Kenyan Lokichoggio where there are operation lifeline relief depots. The statement added that the Government of Sudan agreed to open a road from Uganda to feed all the west Equatoria area. It agreed to open a road from border (Nadus) area to feed areas of rebels also up to (Shabdum) and Jabal (Boma).

segment33 Of course, President Museveni tells anyone willing to listen that it is no difficult feat to transport arms clandestinely in that region. He can (and does) testify eloquently on that score from his own experience: When he was chief of a small rebel band in central Uganda, in the early 1980's, his men traveled to Bujumbura to pick up Libyan arms at the Islamic Cultural Center there, bringing them back by truck across Rwanda and Milton Obote's Uganda and presenting false documents at every checkpoint describing the cargo as Burundian tea! Clandestine Networks To diplomats posted in Kampala, it seems clear the Ugandan Army could seal the border "with 20 men per kilometer" if only the political will existed. While some observers concede that arms may also be coming in over the Zairian border, Uganda appears in reality to be the sole conduit through which supplies are reaching the rebels, the lifeline of the RPF, and the means by which the latter easily circumvents the embargo decreed by the UN Security Council. The provenance of the arms also raises a number of questions. It is difficult to account, for example, for all the movements of the Nigerian airplane that was held up several days in Cyprus after a stopover in Israel last month and ultimately landed at Entebbe. But it is possible some of the arms, destined for rebels in south Sudan, were diverted to resupply the RPF. In the Ugandan capital, debate continues over the extent to which Yoweri Museveni is implicated in Uganda's support for the RPF, a support that seems only logical given the large number of Rwandan exiles who joined Museveni's guerrillas and helped him take power in January 1986. Those who discount his involvement put most of the blame on members of his entourage (both in the military and in government political circles) who collaborate closely, unbeknownst to the president, with RPF leaders, either because they are ethnically Tutsi or Hima (Museveni's ethnic group, the Ugandan tribe closest to the Tutsi), or because of the help they received during their own guerrilla years. No one here doubts the Rwandan rebels, when they launched their first attacks in northern Rwanda (in October 1990), were equipped with Ugandan military materiel, but was it slipped covertly to them or openly proffered? UN officials at Kabale believe arms were transferred continously (i.e., in a series of deliveries) from Uganda to Rwanda between October 1990 and August 1993, when UNAMIR was deployed.

segment34 Language: English Article Type:BFN [Excerpts] The vice president, Dr. Samson Kisekka, has left for the Ivory Coast [Cote d'Ivoire] capital, Abidjan, to represent President Yoweri Museveni at the funeral of President Felix Houphouet Boigny, who died in France last year. [passage omitted] On his way to Abidjan, the vice president stopped over at Nairobi airport, where he talked to the press. Answering a question, Dr. Kisekka said African (?strife) originates from the politics of hatred, which he attributed mainly to ignorance. He stressed the need for vigorous sensitization of our people to stop this. He said it is important to cultivate a culture of self reliance to overcome indebtedness and other developmental problems. On the revival of the East African Community, he said Uganda welcomes the move, realizing the need for a collective economic force in the region. Regretting the collapse of the East African Community in 1977, he pointed out Uganda's historic brotherly ties with Kenya, which witnessed many Kenyans studying in Uganda's educational institutions and cooperation in other fields. On instability characterizing some countries in Africa, he said Uganda had made contributions to the resolution of conflicts and to date it has dispatched more than 700 troops to Liberia on a peacekeeping mission. On the situation at home, he outlined the government's programs which have facilitated a lot of change in the chaos before. He said the country is now preparing for Constituent Assembly elections which will result in the making of a new constitution to form the basis of governance. He said that the government is deliberately encouraging leadership by example, which has resulted in considerable success in some areas.

segment35 CSO [Article by Jean Helene on assignment in Kabale, Uganda: "Where Are the Weapons for Rwanda Coming From?"] [Text] UN officials seem unable to end the arms trafficking that makes possible the massacres.... Kabale--"To my knowledge, no weapons have been sent from Uganda to Rwanda since the deployment of the UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda [UNAMIR] in August 1993," declares Bangladeshi Colonel Asnar, military head of UNAMIR. He adds: "We have monitoring posts on all the roads leading to Rwanda, and our foot patrols put up mobile roadblocks. Also, ground operations are supported by helicopters providing aerial surveillance." Are 80 observers really enough to watch over 170 km of border winding through hills, forests, and swamps? In private, UN officials readily admit the border cannot be hermetically sealed with such a small contingent, however well equipped.

segment36 The current rate of 6 per cent of GDP is 'still too low to provide the basis for rapid economic growth', warns a World Bank paper, and the impact on investment from the privatisation programme, managed by Public Enterprise Reform and Divestiture Secretariat, has proved disappointing. Parastatals have been classified into five categories. The government will retain full ownership of certain utilities, national parks and a development bank. It will partially divest from hotels, mines and telecommunications. Some 43 companies are slated for complete privatisation, while another 17 will be liquidated. However, few of the 100-odd companies in state hands have the potential to break even. The government has only privatised a handful of enterprises since the programme began in 1991. A bottling company, a distillery, Shell Uganda (which Shell bought back) and the tea estates of Agricultural Enterprises Ltd are the only notable sales to date. Several textile and spinning mills have been advertised, but the sector's plant is generally obsolete, overstaffed and carrying bad debts. Accompanying the privatisation programme has been the Uganda Investment Authority's attempt to attract foreign investment, offering a range of incentives first set out in 1991, designed to enhance the privatisation programme. It has managed to attract around Dollars 200m over two years, but it has not been an easy process. 'Uganda has been isolated from the real world of investment for so long, it doesn't know what the outside world wants or what price it is prepared to pay for it,' says a foreign consultant in Kampala. From one insider comes this blunt appraisal: 'Not one company has accounts up to date. Where accounts exist, they are often false or inaccurate.'

segment37 BFN [Text] The commander of the Rwanda Patriotic Front, RPF, Major General Paul Kagame, has said the United Nations' proposal to send an intervention force at this stage amounts to complicity in the massacre of the innocent people. In an interview with Kampala's capital radio, Major Kagame criticized the United Nations for pulling out its peacekeeping forces at the height of the massacres, and he did not see why they now want to come back. He said it would appear that they want to protect those who are carrying out the massacres. He said the struggle of the RPF to bring the situation under control is worth it. He stressed that capturing Kigali, on which the RPF now has a strong grip, might not solve the problem, and they are trying to bring the situation in the whole country under control. He said it is now just a matter of time to accomplish this task. He admitted that many people have lost their lives in the struggle to end the massacre.

segment38 The end of year target for 1991 is 15 per cent. With an impressive 6-7 per cent increase in gross domestic product in each of the past three years, the World Bank has pronounced the country's economic prospects as 'good to excellent'. The economy has suffered, however, from poor world prices for coffee - the country's main crop and leading foreign exchange earner. Since the 1989 collapse of the International Coffee Agreement, which aimed to support prices through an export quota system, earnings from coffee exports have fallen to about Dollars 220m last year, from around Dollars 285m in 1989. According to the World Bank, Uganda suffered both a 30 per cent shortfall in foreign exchange earnings last year as a direct result of the ICA collapse, and the loss of local revenue levied as export tax on coffee exports. This further weakened the balance of payments, already under pressure because of the Gulf war induced higher oil prices. Lower foreign exchange earnings have also caused difficulties in servicing the country's Dollars 1.5bn debt.

segment39 The US will send troops into Rwanda to help boost emergency relief efforts at the airport in the capital, Kigali. Pentagon officials said yesterday that up to 200 troops would go to Kigali, but stressed they would be on a humanitarian, rather than peacekeeping mission. At least 4,000 US troops are already being sent to Zaire and Uganda to help deliver food, water and other supplies to more than 1m Rwandan refugees who fled their homeland as rebels won a bloody civil war. In another move to step up help, President Clinton yesterday asked Congress to approve Dollars 320m of extra aid. Meanwhile, a top United Nations aid official, Mr Peter Hansen, predicted Rwanda could see yet another 'world record' refugee exodus when French troops pull out of their south western security zone next month. About 1.6m Rwandan Hutus have taken refuge in the safe area set up by France, which says it will withdraw its 2,500 troops by the time its UN mandate expires on August 22. The first French troops left yesterday.

segment40 BFN [Text] There is a danger of the fighting in Rwanda spreading between the Rwandan Army and the Rwanda Patriotic Front [RPF], which is marching toward the capital to link up with its forces in the town. The RPF forces could reach Kigali this morning if they do not meet too much resistance. What is the RPF's aim? We spoke to Emile Roua Massirabo, one of the RPF's leaders in Kampala, Uganda: [Begin Massirabo recording] We have to get to Kigali. This is quite obvious. We have to arrive in Kigali to save and to aid the population, which is being massacred at this very moment. Our forces are advancing on Kigali. I can't tell you exactly where they are right now, but they are advancing along the road from the north. We want to put an end to the massacres. We want to arrest those responsible for these massacres, so as to put the country back on the democratic path. The opposition forces have systematically been exterminated. It has never been our aim to seize power.

segment41 Because there is no track record, we have a credibility problem.' But while the confidence factor is certainly critical at this stage, there is more to it than that. Almost everyone wants to see exchange controls and the financial rand abolished, but while many in the business community believe this can - indeed must - be done soon, ministers and their advisers are much more cautious. The central bank governor Dr Chris Stals, has set three conditions for financial rand abolition: that the discount on the investment currency falls below 10 per cent; a substantial reduction in financial rand balances, estimated at R4.5bn, held with the banks; and, most important of all, a build up in the country's foreign reserves, which in May had fallen to R7.2bn, some five weeks import cover. These three conditions are unlikely to be satisfied this year and possibly not until mid-1995, or even beyond. However, the critics warn that an overly cautious administration will always find reasons to delay. Their argument stands and falls on the assumption that the end of the financial rand would spark huge capital inflows, without which the economy will remain stuck in the slow lane.

segment42 BFN [By David Chazan] [Excerpts] Nairobi, May 26 (AFP) -- Battered and bedraggled Rwandan soldiers started fleeing the embattled capital Kigali on Thursday [26 May] as rebels appeared on the verge of taking the city despite an agreement to open ceasefire talks, military sources in Kigali said. A special United Nations envoy meanwhile said the rebel Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) had agreed to open discussions about a ceasefire with the army on Monday, a UN spokesman said. The army has already agreed to the principle of a ceasefire to allow the UN to fly desperately needed food and medicine to the survivors of a six week bloodbath in which up to half a million of Rwanda's seven million people are estimated to have been butchered. "The commanders of both sides have accepted the proposal of the special representative of the secretary general to open ceasefire talks," spokesman Abdul Kabia told AFP by telephone from Kigali. "These talks will be held in Kigali and will start Monday. The top commanders will not come, but will be represented at staff level by their deputies," Kabia said. Kabia said an army brigadier and a rebel commander would attend the UN mediated meeting.

segment43 Participation in the NRM is voluntary, and membership is not mandatory for Ugandans who wish to stand for public office. But by forcing candidates to stand as individuals, rather than as representatives of parties, Mr Museveni ensures there can be no organised challenge to his power. 'This is not a perpetual situation,' Eriya Kategaya, the NRM's national political commissar, says in defence of the 'movement system' of government. 'We do not rule out a multiparty system for Uganda in the future, but for the time being, people still associate the old political parties with chaos. 'The NRM does not seek to obliterate ethnic or religious differences,' Mr Kategaya adds, 'it wants to obliterate the misuse of ethnicity and religion for political ends.' As a result, the March elections for a constituent assembly to design Uganda's new constitution were not without an element of confusion. Political rallies were banned, and candidates were forbidden to reveal their political allegiances, although these were well known among the voters. Instead, they were allowed to 'debate' their views in meetings organised by local electoral commissions. The most hotly debated issue was a clause in the draft constitution that seeks to ban multiparty politics for another five years.

segment44 Mr Museveni's detractors - mainly northern and eastern communities which formed the stronghold for Milton Obote, a former president now living in exile - regard the Constituent Assembly as an attempt to legitimise the NRM and Mr Museveni's unelected rule. 'The law has locked us out,' says Mrs Cecilia Ogwal of Mr Obote's Uganda Peoples Congress. 'Why should we have to field candidates clandestinely? Why are western donors backing Museveni's regime? They are apologists for a manipulated democracy.' But Mr Museveni's victory in presidential elections due later this year is already a foregone conclusion. Since the new constitution allows a president to serve for two consecutive five year terms, Mr Museveni could well be in power until 2004. The fact that this does not alarm a majority of Ugandans speaks for Mr Museveni's unrivalled popularity and for the overriding value placed on peace and stability. Most Ugandans believe multiparty democracy can wait. However, even Mr Museveni's supporters worry about the stability of a political system which hinges entirely on the will of one man. The wounds in Ugandan society run deep, and nobody cares to speculate about what would happen to the country if Mr Museveni were suddenly no longer on the scene.

segment45 'One of our best trained economists died of Aids last month,' Mr Muhakanizi regrets. He says companies are likewise losing skilled workers and can no longer afford to provide medical care schemes. 'Even our surplus labour will not alleviate the problem in the long run,' he says. Mr Manuel Pinto, the director of Uganda's Aids Control Programme, has resigned himself to the fact that the disease will continue to be the main killer in Uganda for the foreseeable future. 'Aids takes a long time to manifest itself, so we are a long way away from seeing the reversal of the epidemic, or the fruits of our prevention efforts,' he says. The rate of HIV infection varies from 5 per cent in some rural areas to 30 per cent in urban areas, and according to government data it is still rising. 'Children are our window of hope,' Mr Pinto says. 'We are trying to educate those between the ages of five and 15 so that they are kept free from Aids.' The problem is compounded by the practice of polygamy and the low status of women in Ugandan society. But slowly, Mr Pinto believes, the government is getting its educational message across. Agencies such as TASO report that polygamy in the countryside is on the wane, and that more people are using condoms.

segment46 Perhaps the biggest surprise in newly accessible destinations is eastern Europe. Here is an area of tremendous historical significance, a great patchwork of cultures that has been cut off to western visitors for half a century. Yet with few exceptions, eastern Europe has failed to catch on. The main problem is that the east regards western tourism as a cash cow. Hungry for foreign exchange, but furnished with sub standard facilities and lacking expertise, eastern European countries continue to charge more than their services are worth. Shoddy hotels, bars and restaurants charge western prices; the good hotels that do exist charge higher than western prices. Many east European destinations are simply not that attractive.

segment47 BFN [By Annie Thomas] [Excerpts] Kigali, June 7 (AFP) -- Rwandan troops and rebels exchanged fire on Tuesday [7 June] in the capital Kigali and close to Gitarama, the interim government's base, as the United Nations postponed a new round of peace talks planned for Wednesday. Heavy shelling and small arms fire rocked several parts of the city in the morning as several empty UN trucks for Kabale on the Ugandan border to load up with relief supplies flown into Uganda's Entebbe airport Monday. Kigali airport has been closed since Sunday when it was shelled by government forces just after a UN flight had landed. The fighting died down during the day in a city largely deserted by its inhabitants, where the rebels are pitted against the army and extremist Hutu militias who have holed up in the southwestern Nyamirambo district. Government forces also battled the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) about three kilometres (two miles) from Gitarama, 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Kigali, Colonel Mooen Ahmed, operations chief in the UN mission, said. The leader of the General Paul Kagame, late Monday said his men had pushed back the government troops, who had begun what UN officials described as a "major counter offensive." Fighting was also reported to the north of Kigali, in the direction of rebel held Ruhengeri. The army has sent reinforcements northwards to try to halt rebel advances. [passage omitted on previously filed material] A UN spokesman announced that ceasefire talks planned for Wednesday had been postponed for at least 24 hours because the chairman of the talks, Ghanaian Gen. Henry Anyidoho, was out of the country and had been unable to fly directly back to Kigali. "Even if he arrives on Tuesday night, he'll need time to prepare for the talks, which will now be held on Thursday or Friday," UN civilian spokesman Pierre Mehu said. Anyidoho, the deputy chief of the UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR), had left the Kenyan capital Nairobi for Kampala in Uganda, flown by helicopter to the border and was to make his way to Kigali by road, Mehu said. Two sessions of UN mediated talks took place last week, enabling agreements to be reached on evacuating civilians and providing food and medical aid amid the battle, but led to no ceasefire accord. [passage omitted] The international Red Cross has evacuated more than 700 orphans and abandoned children from Butare in the south, a town still in government hands, to Burundi, a Red Cross official said. [passage omitted] About a hundred more children, some with dreadful injuries perpetrated in cold blood, arrived overnight in Rome in an evacuation operation mounted by the Italian Red Cross and government. The children, some under a year old, were all taken to Rome hospitals and will eventually find foster families, Maria Pia Fanfani, president of the Italian Red Cross, said.

segment48 [end recording] [passage omitted] [Masure] Our special correspondent in Kigali, Laurent Boussie, is live on the telephone. He arrived in the Rwandan capital this morning from Uganda. Laurent, can you hear me? [Boussie] Yes, indeed, Bruno, I can hear you. [Masure] Can you tell us in a nutshell what the situation is like in Kigali this evening from a military viewpoint? [Boussie] In Kigali, after 48 hours of shelling and fighting, today was a rather calm day. This precarious truce allowed the humanitarian organizations and UN soldiers to evacuate hundreds of wounded people. [Masure] You had the privilege--the journalistic luck--to meet the president of the Rwandan Patriotic Front in Kigali this morning. He confirmed the hostility of the Rwandan rebels toward any French military presence. [Boussie] You know, you know, he is called Alexis Kanyarengwe. He is the president of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, which has a majority of Tutsis, but he himself is a Hutu. He expressed extremely harsh words and his determination seems to be very strong. I am going to read to you a sentence he uttered this morning: French soldiers are coming here in order to protect the torturers. As soon as they set foot in Rwanda, we will consider them as enemies and do our utmost to fight them. As you can see, he is very determined and his men on the ground seem to be, too. [Masure] Thank you, Laurent Boussie, for this report live from Kigali.

segment49 His administration has since been marked by a broad based appeal for reconciliation and political stability. But in the past three years, the main aim has been to rehabilitate the economy. The hope is that an economic cure may alleviate some of the social problems of poverty and malnutrition which make parts of Uganda susceptible to diseases such as Aids. To that end the government has: Published an investment code aimed at attracting foreign investment; Reduced inflation from 240 per cent in 1988 to 29 per cent in 1990; Rebuilt a large part of the once crumbling trunk road network and infrastructure; Improved the provision of essentials, such as sugar and soap; Enhanced medical services; Reduced the currency black market by devaluing the Ugandan shilling and authorised the establishment of bureaux de change. The World Bank will this year lend around Dollars 200m for reconstruction projects, having loaned similar amounts in each of the past three years as part of a structural adjustment programme. The price of that programme has been tough: it has included frequent devaluations, increased producer prices to the peasant growers of Uganda's main export, coffee; the abolition of inefficient state owned marketing monopolies (except in cotton); and a concerted effort to cut the budget deficit. Having finally published an investment code last November after months of debate, plans are now afoot to sell off loss making state owned companies, particularly those in better shape, to foreign investors. Cutting inflation has been one of the government's big successes.

segment50 BFN [Text] Nairobi, May 23 (AFP) -- A UN envoy called off a trip to Kigali on Monday [23 May] despite a shaky truce in Rwanda's embattled capital, saying neither rebels nor government forces could guarantee his security. The envoy, Iqbal Riza, was to have travelled to Kigali by road Monday to continue discussions to pave the way for the return of UN peacekeepers to stem ethnic slaughter in Rwanda. But after talks in the morning with leaders of the rebel Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) at their headquarters in Mulindi, northern Rwanda, Riza cancelled the trip and returned to Uganda by helicopter, a UN spokesman said. "We did not obtain explicit guarantees from the two parties about his safety," spokesman Abdul Kabia said by telephone from Kigali, where fighting tailed off despite sporadic gunfire. Kabia said both sides had agreed to a two day truce to allow Riza to hold talks with rebel leaders and Rwanda's interim government on plans to deploy 5,500 UN troops to stem a six week old bloodbath in which up to half a million people have been killed. The rebels, however, said they had not agreed to a full truce, but had agreed to hold fire wherever possible to allow Riza to travel safely. But Riza was still concerned about negotiating a dangerous crossing just outside Kigali, Kabia said. "The truce is largely holding," Kabia said. "There are occasional exchanges of fire, but there's a lot less fighting than usual and so we consider that the truce is being respected."

segment51 BFN [Excerpt] The 60th session of the OAU Ministerial Council entered its fifth day today. Almost all the points on the agenda have been discussed. Our camera was present at the news conference given by the session's official spokesman to representatives of Tunisian and foreign media. [Unidentified correspondent] The OAU Ministerial Council, in its plenary session, which started yesterday and continued through the night until 0100 today, discussed a number of issues related mainly to the Lockerbie affair and the developments of the conflict between the Libyan Jamahiriyah and a number of Western states. It also discussed the African states' stance regarding the results of the recent GATT talks, in addition to the discussion of the special report on Africa's participation in the world summit on social development that will be convened in the capital of Denmark in 1995. The spokesman said that on the sidelines of the meetings, a special committee continued its efforts to bridge the gap between the parties to the conflict in Rwanda by meeting each party separately and listening to proposals of both the representatives of the Rwandan Government and the Rwandan National Front. The committee, the membership of which consists of Tunisia, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Zaire, Zambia and Kenya, held another meeting this morning to discus the proposals of both the parties. The formulating committee today started drafting the resolutions and recommendations which will be submitted to the Ministerial Council for approval. In his reply to a question by a reporter, the session's official spokesman said the OAU Ministerial Council will conclude its meetings tomorrow evening.

segment52 At Lanlate, the administrator was shown about 50 of the victims with the disease in various parts of their bodies. Addressing the people, the Oyo State commissioner for health, Mrs. Oluyoyede Fatunde, appealed to them to always boil or filter their water before drinking. [Lagos Radio Nigeria Network in English 0600 GMT 21 Feb 94] Cerebro spinal meningitis -- Reports say the death toll in the outbreak of cerebro spinal meningitis in Lansa North local government area of Plateau State has risen to 28. The death toll was confirmed by the head of an investigation team dispatched to the area, Dr. Wandem. [Lagos Radio Nigeria Network in English 0600 GMT 28 Feb 94] Somalia Cholera -- A statement issued by the office of the chairman of the High Council of the Internal Affairs Committee of the Somali National Alliance says a cholera outbreak has been officially confirmed in some districts of Somalia. Briefing reporters on the outbreak of the killer disease, the chairman of the High Council, Mr. Abdi Hasan Awale Qaydid, said, quoting the acting secretary general of the Somali Red Crescent, Dr. Ahmad Aptidon Kulmiye, that cholera was first diagnosed in Boosaaso and since has spread to the regional capital of the eastern region, Beledweyne. According to Dr. Ahmad Aptidon Kulmiye, the chairman said the outbreak was first detected on 5 February 1994. The chairman added that the deaths started on 11 February 1994, and since then 50 persons have died and 165 others have been diagnosed as cholera cases in hospitals. Many others may be suffering in their homes.

segment53 Government economists, question whether now is the time for a 'leap over the cliff' that could end in tears with interest rates of 30-40 per cent, the commercial rand down a further 20 per cent and the government's credibility in tatters. Countries such as Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe have all shown that exchange control liberalisation can result in exchange rate appreciation and a rapid increase in reserves. But Mr Keys believes South Africa is different, with wealthy individuals, cash rich corporates and institutional investors just waiting for the opportunity to invest offshore. Officials point out that South Africa is not as under borrowed as often suggested, noting that while foreign debt is only a modest 14 per cent of GDP, if foreign holdings of equities, and fixed interest securities, are added in, the ratio doubles. Dr Stals questions whether South Africa is ready for 'the burden of convertibility' - the impact that premature exchange control abolition might have on the exchange rate, inflation, wages and interest rates. It is ironic that the private sector, so insistent that now is the time for 'an economic leap of faith like the constitutional agreement', is more pessimistic about the economic fundamentals - inflation, growth and the new administration's capacity to impose fiscal discipline, than the government. Private sector economists believe not just that the trough of the inflationary cycle has passed but that inflation, which touched a 21-year low of 7.1 per cent in April, edging fractionally higher to 7.2 per cent in May, could be back in double digit figures before the end of 1995.

segment54 BFN [Text] Nairobi, April 27 (AFP) -- Renewed fighting in Kigali, including heavy artillery exchanges, breached unilateral ceasefires declared by government forces and rebels, a UN spokesman said Wednesday [27 April]. During intense fighting early Wednesday, a shell landed on a tennis court 50 metres (yards) from UN headquarters near the Amahoro stadium where about 5,000 displaced people are sheltering, spokesman Abdul Kabia said. By late in the day the Rwandan capital was again reported calm. "We drew the attention of both sides to the danger they were exposing us to and the fighting shifted," Kabia told AFP by telephone from Kigali. But Kabia said the Tutsi dominated rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front had shelled the airport because the Hutu led government forces had set up mortars and artillery pieces there and were firing at rebel positions. Meanwhile, the head of the ruling National Republican Movement for Democracy (MRND) accused former premier Agathe Uwilingiyimana of plotting a presidential coup prior to her murder on April 7, the date the ethnic carnage which has claimed an estimated 100,000 lives was unleashed. The United Nations cancelled its flights into Kigali and asked government troops to move their weapons out of the airport, which they promised to do, Kabia said. Four UN planes bringing relief supplies were expected later Wednesday, he said. According to International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation head Philippe Gaillard, a rocket landed late Tuesday on the X ray unit at a Kigali hospital near a Rwandan army camp. There were no reported casualties. He said the streets of Kigali were still largely deserted, except for Army, UN and ICRC vehicles.

segment55 There are very few studies on the effectiveness of NGOs in alleviating poverty. Do they provide cost effective services? Are NGO projects sustainable in the long run? And what happens to these projects when expatriate staff leave? One limited study, conducted by Britain's Overseas Development Institute, found a mixed bag of results. This is hardly surprising, given the thousands of NGOs, both foreign and indigenous, now operating in Africa. However, the study drew some interesting conclusions. Where poverty alleviation did occur, improvement was modest. There was little evidence to suggest that beneficiaries had managed to escape from poverty on a permanent basis, while few projects demonstrated potential to sustain themselves once an NGO ceased operating in the area. Credit focused initiatives were found to be costly to administer due to the expense of monitoring large numbers of small loans. Few of the schemes became self sustaining or self administered. Drought or disaster quickly increased default on loans and eroded the capital base of these small lending ventures. But perhaps the greatest weakness of NGOs lies in their narrow focus. Often, projects fail because the wider economic or social context is not taken into account. In Ghana, a US funded project to raise maize productivity was so successful that it collapsed when local markets were flooded with maize and prices plummetted. An engineering workshop making ox ploughs in Acholi, western Uganda, went out of business when bandits started stealing cattle in the region. Another common temptation is for NGOs to create an artificial or temporary demand for produce or skills they are trying to develop. The activity collapses when NGOs stop purchasing the goods. These weaknesses notwithstanding, the NGO's seem set to play an increasingly important role in efforts to resolve Africa's development crisis.

segment56 Economic reforms, backed by donors and enthusiastically applied by the government, have brought dramatic results. Uganda's economic growth has averaged 5 per cent a year since 1988, inflation has fallen from 240 per cent in 1986 to single figures, and foreign exchange reserves cover more than three months of imports. Meanwhile, the budget deficit stays within limits agreed with the IMF and two critical areas of government spending are being tackled. The civil service will end up half its original 300,000 size, and the army will also be cut by half to 45,000 by the end of next year. In the process, life for the business community has been radically changed. Price controls have been lifted, foreign exchange controls abolished, and a privatisation programme begun in 1992-93 is under way. Meanwhile, foreign investors are returning, albeit cautiously, as are expelled Asians, encouraged by legislation that has allowed them to reclaim more than 3,000 properties expropriated by the Amin regime in the 1970s. For any government these measures would represent a remarkable achievement, let alone one with Uganda's history. But adding to the difficulties have been deteriorating terms of trade - 65 per cent over the past six years - as weakening coffee prices saw the crops' earnings drop from Dollars 384m in 1986 to Dollars 151m in 1992, recovering to Dollars 184m last year. The trauma has been eased, however, by donors, who have increased assistance from Dollars 230m in 1986 to more than Dollars 550m in 1993 with outright grants rising from under 10 per cent of government income in 1988 to 52 per cent last year. Although this has allowed growth to be maintained, it has left Uganda uncomfortably dependent on aid, and reaching levels of domestic and foreign investment sufficient to lead to self sustaining growth, is now the single greatest challenge.

ANSWER segment57 BFN [Text] The seventh Pan African Congress convened in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, today in the presence of top officials from various countries and representatives of regional and international organizations. According to a Central News Unit correspondent's report Foreign Minister Velayati, who is taking part in the Congress at the invitation of the Ugandan Government, said in a speech at the session: The revival of Islam is one of the most successful replies to the rule of colonialist powers. It is the Islamic movements which are leading the struggle against foreign rule. Mr Velayati described the special circumstances of the Third World countries, particularly African countries, in global equations and referred to the conspiracies of hegemonistic powers to plunder their wealth. He said: In the past, through dangerous propaganda, the people of the Third World were estranged from their spiritual and material values. Today colonialist powers are resorting to fresh political, economic and even military means to continue their rule. Mr Velayati said the South South cooperation was a prerequisite to the task of the Third World countries. He said: Collective self sufficiency in the Third World could be further achieved through cooperation in organizations such as the Non Aligned Movement, the African Unity Organization, and the Islamic Conference Organization. Our country's Foreign Minister referred to the expansion of Iran's cooperation with Africa after the victory of the Islamic revolution. He said: Iran's diplomatic relations with African countries has doubled in the past 15 years. We are actively taking part in the development programs of African countries. Referring to the severance of relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the racist regime of South Africa he said: Iran continues to give the necessary support to freedom seeking struggles in Africa, such as the struggle of the Namibian nation. We hope that, from now on, through unity and understanding, especially amongst the majority of the deprived peoples of South Africa, the dark days of racism come to an end in that country, too.

segment58 Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Conakry, Jan 7 (AFP) -- A Liberian armed faction slaughtered about 20 Guinean traders in cross border raids on their villages in the Macenta district of southern Guinea, authoritative sources said here Friday [7 January]. Members of the United Liberation Movement (ULIMO) attacked three villages on December 20, killing traders they accused of supplying their rivals of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), the sources said. Questioned by AFP from Dakar, Guinean Interior Minister Alseny Rene Gomez confirmed "the existence of trouble" along the border, but declined to give any casualty toll. Almost all those killed were Malinkes, but the minister said the massacre had nothing to do with "an ethnic problem or a political problem" among Guineans following a presidential election here. Alpha Conde, Guinea's main opposition leader, who is a Malinke, also said there was no question of ethnic strife among Guineans. "These are ULIMO men who once again have made incursions into Guinea, killing Guineans they accuse of cooperating with (NPFL leader) Charles Taylor," he said. Guinean officials have also accused the NPFL of launching punitive raids into Guinean territory to kill traders they accuse of supporting ULIMO. Both ULIMO and the NPFL are, with the Armed Forces of Liberia, the army of assassinated President Samuel Doe, signatories to a peace and disarmament accord reached in Benin in July after more than three years of civil war. In a separate development, a first contingent of 173 Ugandan soldiers arrived in the Liberian capital Monrovia on Friday, to join the Nigerian led ECOMOG peacekeeping force first sent to the war torn country by other West African states in 1990. They immediately went on to the iron ore port of Buchanan, 90 kilometres (55 miles) east of Monrovia, where their headquarters will be established. More than 600 soldiers from Tanzania have arrived in Liberia since December 23 under a plan to reinforce ECOMOG with some 2,55O soldiers from Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, bringing the force's total strength to 19,000.

segment59 No one can quite explain to me why the island should appear quite so glamorous at present. Perhaps the world is changing so fast that we now feel a sentimental attachment to what appears a long gone past. One of the best publications describing the range of individually tailored travel available from UK travel firms is the one produced by the Association of Independent Tour Operators: 133a St Margaret's Road, Twickenham, Middlesex TW1 1RG. Tel: 081-744-9280. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- TEN DESTINATIONS WORTH CONSIDERING ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Travel is so subjective that no two people could ever devise the same list of Top 10 destinations. Here is my own list of places - urban, seaside, European or tropical - that look promising for 1994, writes Nicholas Woodsworth: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Istanbul: about the most exotic and atmospheric place you can reach from London on a short city break conveniently. 2 Corsica: has an off putting reputation for terrorism, which has left the island one of the friendliest, most beautiful and best preserved areas in the Mediterranean. 3 Lake Lucerne, Switzerland: astonishing mountain beauty and bourgeois self assurance. 4 Luangwa Valley, eastern Zambia: fast being poached out, but so few controls that it is one of the last places where game viewing is still a real adventure. 5 The Keys, Belize, central America: Caribbean islands the way they used to be - rum, sailing boats, conch shell steaks. 6 Lombok Island, Indonesia: next door to Bali, but 20 years behind in seaside development. The further one heads inland, the further the present age recedes; strictly Stone Age at its centre. 7 Terlingua, Texas: ghost town in the Chihuahuan desert near the Rio Grande. Recommended for its bars, cowboy music, frontier spirit and chilli con carne. 8 Hue, central Vietnam: old imperial capital on the Perfume River, home to the most genuine and welcoming smiles in Asia. 9 Salvador de Bahia, north eastern Brazil: Afro Latin culture, physical sensuality, and coconut milk based cooking. 10 Sese Islands, Lake Victoria, Uganda: the ultimate escape; difficult to reach, difficult to get away from, negligible facilities. Serene and entirely unpressured.

segment60 Uganda's single largest foreign investment project, capable of boosting annual export earnings by 10 per cent a year over its 10-year life, is poised for take off. And has been for a good many years, sceptics might add - ever since the potential of a vast pyrites dump at Kilembe copper mine was first confirmed more than 10 years ago. This time it is different, say the project's backers, who point out that the scheme is now well down the road to fruition, while Uganda's political and economic climate has never been more encouraging. Lying in the foothills of the Ruwenzori mountains, on Uganda's western border with Zaire, the mine once produced 17,000 tonnes of blister copper a year. But the advent of Amin, coupled with the slump in world prices, proved its downfall and its operational days as a copper mine are almost certainly over. The foreign exchange bonanza lies above ground, in the 1m tonne pile of pyrite concentrates accumulated since the mine opened in 1956. It contains 1.4 per cent cobalt, valued at about Dollars 200m, fluctuating according to world prices, and this can be recovered. Even allowing for capital outlay (about Dollars 40m) and running costs, the net foreign exchange benefits are enormous for a country whose total exports last year were worth USDollars 184m. Efforts to start the project go back to 1991 when Bureau de Recherce Geologiques et Miniers (BRGM) of France produced for Kilembe Mines Ltd a pre feasibility study which concluded that treatment of the pyrites by bleaching was the most economic and environmentally safe way of recovering the cobalt. In June 1992, the Ugandan government signed a joint venture agreement with BRGM and Barclays Metals Ltd (BML) of the UK to undertake the project. The new Kasese Cobalt Company wil be jointly owned by the parastatal, Kilembe Mines Ltd with a 45 per cent shareholding, BRGM (27.5) and BML (27.5). Results from a pilot plant constructed at nearby Kasese in 1993 confirmed its viability, and annual production of 1,000 tonnes over a 10 to 12 years. A feasibility study followed, which confirms the merits of the project. All being well, commercial production could begin within two years.

segment61 BFN [Excerpt] Kigali, May 14 (AFP) -- The UN mission here hit out Saturday [14 May] at United Nations Security Council delays in deploying fresh troops in Rwanda, as the corpses of thousands of victims of the country's ethnic bloodbath surfaced in neighbouring Uganda. "A single day's delay is one day too much," said Moctar Gueye, a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) in the capital. Reduced from 2,500 to around 400, the mission has become powerless to prevent continuation of the carnage which aid agencies estimate has claimed at least 200,000 lives in little more than five weeks. On Friday in New York the Security Council postponed until next week a vote on the planned deployment of 5,500 additional UN troops. But Gueye added that he was hopeful that, once authorised, the reinforcements would be capable of intervening to help secure an end to the bloodletting. Meanwhile sporadic bursts of heavy weapons continued in the Rwandan capital Saturday as rebels fighters battled government troops for control of the city, Gueye said. The exchanges between rebels of the mainly minority Tutsi Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) and the Hutu dominated government forces, were limited to small arms fire during the afternoon, Gueye said, adding: "The calm will not last." Separately, health officials in Kampala said Saturday that Ugandans living on the shores of Lake Victoria had had to bury thousands of corpses flowing into the lake from Rwanda though the River Kagera. The officials warned that unless the mass burials were expedited, epidemics could break out as mutilated, decomposing bodies continued to flood in. Ugandan villagers have buried an estimated 26,000 bodies recovered from the lake during the past three weeks, said Emmanuel Pinto, a deputy from western Uganda. The official NEW VISION newspaper reported on Friday that bodies were arriving at the rate of 1,600 daily. The UN World Health Organisation has supplied villagers with grave digging tools to speed up the macabre exercise. Earlier Saturday in Kigali, former French minister for humanitarian action Bernard Kouchner called on the international community to help avert "genocide" in the country. "We cannot stand by and let genocide be perpetrated," said Kouchner, a doctor who founded the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres and who arrived here on Thursday and spent Friday touring orphanages and camps for people made homeless by the conflict. The UN Security Council postponed action on the Rwanda proposal until early next week after around four hours of discussions. British ambassador to the United Nations, Sir David Hannay, stressed all delegates were aware of the urgency of the situation, but a US diplomat said he believed Washington had not received sufficient details on where the reinforcements would be deployed. Diplomatic sources said there were unconfirmed reports that the force would be composed of troops from Australia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania, would include 800 troops deployed in Kigali to protect the airport and other key sites. Government sources in Canberra said Saturday that at least 10 western countries, mostly European but including Australia, had been asked to make a contribution to the new force.

segment63 CSO [Finnish News Service report based on Stockholm TIDNINGARNAS TELEGRAMBURO dispatch: "Rwanda Is a Catastrophe Also for AIDS Research"] [Text] The war in Rwanda has destroyed a large scale medical project for testing the AIDS vaccine. Laboratories, research personnel -- everything that was in place, says Professor Lars Olaf Kallings to TIDNINGARNAS TELEGRAMBURO. Now the Belgian, French, and U.S. physicians, as well as other experts who were responsible for the project, have departed the area. Rwandans who were involved find themselves in flight either inside or outside the country. Rwanda has been hard hit by AIDS. A study conducted two years ago found that 45 percent of pregnant women in the country were infected with HIV. Rwanda at the AIDS Catastrophe's Epicenter "Rwanda, Burundi, and the Kagera area in Tanzania, and a part of Zaire comprise the epicenter of the African AIDS catastrophe," says Prof. Kallings, who is part of the international effort, but is on the the staff of the Swedish Public Health Institute in Stockholm. The UN World Health Organization (WHO) had selected Brazil, Uganda, Thailand, and Rwanda for the vaccine project. The research station and laboratory located in Kigali, the capital, had already produced good results before the appearance of any vaccine that could be tested on a large scale. "What we know about how the infection is spread from mother to child, and especially about the role of breast milk, has often come from studies in Rwanda, just as understanding of how a noninfected partner in a marriage can be protected," says Kallings. He emphasizes that WHO's Rwanda project was not tainted by colonialism. It did not operate by having foreign exports come to an underveloped country in order to demonstrate how things were to be done. The Rwandan authorities and Rwandan staff personnel played a large role, he stated. "It is tragic that this is now all destroyed. Moreover, Rwanda is a country that in general has great need of the results from the vaccine project," he says. Enormous Streams of Refugees "We don't know how the institutions that were responsible for the project have been impacted by the war. But we can fear the worst." In Kinshasa, located in neighboring Zaire, is found a good AIDS laboratory with significance for the entire region. Riots a couple of years ago led to plundering of the building. The refrigerator was lifted out and all tests destroyed, states Kallings, and he now fears the same sort of thing is now happening in Kigali. Enormous waves of refugees have fled from Rwanda over the past month, especially into Tanzania. "We know that war and fleeing of people leads to spreading the infection," asserts Prof. Kallings.

segment64 BFN [Text] Kampala, 12 Apr (AFP) -- Rwandan rebels Tuesday [12 April] said their forces had entered the capital, Kigali, and were about to join a batallion of 600 fellow fighters surrounded by government troops in the city. "Our forces are now within eyeshot of the place where our 600-strong unit is," said Christine Umutoni, spokeswoman for the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) office in Uganda. She told AFP that RPF forces were not in a hurry to take Kigali and would move slowly to avoid massive destruction of the city. Many government troops were deserting and joining rebel forces, she claimed. Umutoni said RPF was "suspicious" of the French soldiers who had gone to Kigali to help evacuate foreigners. "They are showing signs of wanting to stay around and help this murderous regime," Umutoni said. Some 500 French soldiers flew into Kigali over the weekend to ensure the safe evacuation of the 600-odd French citizens in Rwanda. Umutoni complained the French troops were not leaving although the rescue mission had been completed. Reports from Kigali said the interim government left the Kigali hotel where it had taken up residence for an unknown destination as shooting intensified in several areas around the city.

segment65 RWANDAN rebels attacked government positions yesterday, shattering a midnight ceasefire which was supposed to end a 21-month tribal conflict, Reuter reports from Kigali, Rwanda. The defence minister, Mr James Gasana, said groups of Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) insurgents raided communes along Rwanda's northern border with Uganda, where the government claims the rebels are based. In Uganda, a Rwandan embassy official said the rebels had also attacked Byumba district, north of the capital, and fighting was still going on. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni called on both sides to observe the truce. The ceasefire was to have taken effect at midnight on Sunday and to be followed on July 13 by the deployment of a 50-man military observer force from Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Senegal.

segment67 Language: Arabic Article Type:BFN [Text] The official peace negotiations between the Sudanese Government and the rebels will open in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi at 1000 Kenyan time, 0900 Sudanese time, under the supervision of the committee of the leaders of the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Eritrea in the presence of the foreign ministers of these states. Today's session will be held at the Kenyan Foreign Ministry, while subsequent sessions will be held at a different venue which has not yet been announced. The delegation of the Sudanese Government will be headed by Mr. Muhammad al Amin Khalifah, chairman of the Transitional National Assembly, and also includes Dr. 'Ali al Hajj Muhammad, the official spokesman for the government delegation; Dr. Nafi Ali Nafi, Agnes Lokudu, Angelo Beda, Dr. 'Abd al Rahman Ibrahim, Mathiang Malwal, Musa Sid Ahmad, Peter Charliman, and 'Abd al Raziq al Fadl, as well as Sudan's ambassadors to Kenya, Addis Ababa, and Uganda. For the rebels, the delegation of Garang's faction will be headed by Salva Kiir Mayar Dit, Yusuf Kuwah, Philip Lomoding, Stephen Wani, Justin Yaak, and others. The delegation of the United Faction will be headed by (Richard Mola) and its members comprise (Dhol Ashwal), Arok Thuon Arok, John Luk Jok, Dr. Peter Adhok, and others. The radio correspondent in Nairobi says that the most positive indicators pointing to the success of these negotiations is the presence of the leaders of the two rebel factions, Garang and Machar, at the opening session. This has never happened before at any of the earlier rounds of talks. Their presence indicates confidence in the negotiations. Moreover, Kenya's President Moi, in his speech to the opening session, stressed the need for these negotiations to succeed so that Africa could demonstrate to the whole world its capacity to solve its problems by itself. The current negotiations will have as their starting point the point at which the two sides arrived at in the earlier rounds at Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Abuja One and Two. It is worth noting that the Sudanese delegation led by Mr. Muhammad al Amin Khalifah is fully mandated to sign the agreement to be reached.

segment68 Language: Arabic Article Type:BFN [Text] The official peace negotiations between the Sudanese Government and the rebels will open in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi at 1000 Kenyan time, 0900 Sudanese time, under the supervision of the committee of the leaders of the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Eritrea in the presence of the foreign ministers of these states. Today's session will be held at the Kenyan Foreign Ministry, while subsequent sessions will be held at a different venue which has not yet been announced. The delegation of the Sudanese Government will be headed by Mr. Muhammad al Amin Khalifah, chairman of the Transitional National Assembly, and also includes Dr. 'Ali al Hajj Muhammad, the official spokesman for the government delegation; Dr. Nafi Ali Nafi, Agnes Lokudu, Angelo Beda, Dr. 'Abd al Rahman Ibrahim, Mathiang Malwal, Musa Sid Ahmad, Peter Charliman, and 'Abd al Raziq al Fadl, as well as Sudan's ambassadors to Kenya, Addis Ababa, and Uganda. For the rebels, the delegation of Garang's faction will be headed by Salva Kiir Mayar Dit, Yusuf Kuwah, Philip Lomoding, Stephen Wani, Justin Yaak, and others. The delegation of the United Faction will be headed by (Richard Mola) and its members comprise (Dhol Ashwal), Arok Thuon Arok, John Luk Jok, Dr. Peter Adhok, and others. The radio correspondent in Nairobi says that the most positive indicators pointing to the success of these negotiations is the presence of the leaders of the two rebel factions, Garang and Machar, at the opening session. This has never happened before at any of the earlier rounds of talks. Their presence indicates confidence in the negotiations. Moreover, Kenya's President Moi, in his speech to the opening session, stressed the need for these negotiations to succeed so that Africa could demonstrate to the whole world its capacity to solve its problems by itself. The current negotiations will have as their starting point the point at which the two sides arrived at in the earlier rounds at Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Abuja One and Two. It is worth noting that the Sudanese delegation led by Mr. Muhammad al Amin Khalifah is fully mandated to sign the agreement to be reached.

segment69 BFN [Text] Latest reports from Rwanda say fighting has continued in the capital, Kigali, where thousands of people have been killed since President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi were killed in a plane crash last Wednesday [6 April]. Fighting is reported to be going on in the city center and around the airport. The rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front based in the north of the country is reported to have confirmed that its fighters have reached the outskirts of Kigali. It said that the main objective is to fight the Presidential Guard, who are reported to be killing civilians, especially Tutsis. Meanwhile, efforts to evacuate foreigners are continuing. Among those who have left Kigali are Asians, who have gone to Burundi and Kenya.

segment70 French troops flew into eastern Zaire yesterday in readiness for Operation Turquoise - the controversial military expedition to rescue civilians trapped in Rwanda's genocidal war. Transport aircraft landed the first soldiers of a 2,500-strong force at airfields in Bukavu and Goma on the shores of Lake Kivu. From there, the military intends to make short forays into western Rwanda, where thousands of persecuted Tutsis are herded in concentration camps guarded by Hutu militias. France won the UN Security Council's blessing for its mission of mercy despite international scepticism, a shortage of allies on the ground and the bitter opposition of the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which believes France is intervening to deny them an outright victory in the civil war. Yesterday, however, the RPF seemed to be softening its opposition to French intervention. 'If the French stick to their humanitarian mandate, and do not interfere in our struggle, then we will have no quarrel with them,' Dr Emmanuel Ndahiro, the RPF's military spokesman, said from the capital, Kigali. 'But we still have misgivings about the French operation.

ANSWER segment73 The United Nations will send another convoy of food to starving masses in southern Sudan, this time along a different route than the treacherous path traveled by an earlier convoy that was attacked by rebels, a spokesman said. Seven people died in the attack in rebel held territory. The new 47-truck convoy is to carry 1,100 tons of maize from Uganda's capital, Kampala, on a two day journey to the Sudanese city of Nimule just across the border. Operation Lifeline Sudan seeks to avert 100,000 famine deaths by stocking more than 110,000 tons of food in southern Sudan before heavy rains begin in mid May. But the operation, in addition to the attack, has been plagued with delays caused by political difficulties, bad weather and equipment shortages.

segment74 Researchers in west Africa have won an international award for breeding a better banana. Development of a high yielding strain resistant to the devastating black sigatoka disease, has attracted the 1994 King Baudouin Award for the most outstanding agricultural breakthrough of the year. The research should lead to higher food output and a significant increase in the incomes of millions of African farmers. Named after the late Belgian monarch, the award is presented by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, a world wide research network. It goes to the Ibadan, Nigeria based International Institute for Tropical Agriculture. Bananas are one of Africa's most important staple foods, exceeding maize, rice and cassava in value. In Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, per capita banana consumption averages 200kg a year. But black sigatoka, a fungus disease, spreads rapidly in the wind and can destroy up to half a farmer's crop. Breeders face the problem that bananas do not produce seeds. 'When we started the research, eight years ago, people thought we could not make any progress in breeding bananas,' said IITA director general Mr Lukas Brader. Using a combination of approaches, scientists at the institute were able to make a breakthrough in breeding technology, which led to a hybrid of plantain banana, a variety used for cooking, that yields two to three times as much as existing varieties and is resistant to black sigatoka. Following trials in 12 sub Saharan countries, the hybrids are soon to be released to farmers. The hybrids have the advantage of not needing pesticide and they grow faster than existing varieties. The higher yields are expected to reduce the need to expand banana cultivation to other land areas. 'Over the next eight to ten years these hybrids will gradually replace the existing varieties', said Mr Brader. The annual value of banana production in Africa is now estimated at Dollars 2.8bn, but this could increase to Dollars 9bn if the hybrids are widely planted. Mr Ismail Serageldin, CGIAR chairman and World Bank vice chairman, said millions of small African farmers and their families would benefit. 'This is truly a milestone contribution toward stemming the long term decline of per capita food production in sub Saharan Africa', he said.

segment76 Moreover, UN observers run up against perplexing snags from time to time. For example, the fact that sometimes they must wait for days before getting approval from Ugandan forces, the National Resistance Army (NRA), to inspect a new zone; Colonel Asnar blandly calls them "procedural delays." In 1993, UNAMIR personnel had to wait for two weeks for permission to monitor the environs of the Kakitumba border post, across which all provisions for the Rwanda Patriotic Front [RPF] allegedly passed on their way into Rwanda (according to rumors never confirmed), and until 16 June humanitarian convoys were not allowed to use the asphalt road leading down from Kakitumba, though it is the most direct route for getting emergency aid to the RPF zone. These questions remain unanswered, and one has the impression that neither the RPF nor Ugandan authorities are being completely candid.

segment79 Exports of coffee, Uganda's main cash crop, have fallen from a recent peak of 176,453 tonnes in 1989 to 123,883 tonnes last year. But low commodity prices and bad weather have also contributed to the decline. Beyond issues of output and productivity, Mr Muhakanizi says the cost of caring for Aids patients is eating up people's savings, leaving less to invest in economic development. Government and non government organisations report that families resent spending their meagre resources on medication for patients they know will die. Where charities try to provide bed sheets and other basic comforts for Aids sufferers, they often find that relatives sell the donated goods to recoup the cost of caring for the patient. Aids is also putting an intolerable strain on the extended family network, which is the only form of social insurance most Africans have. In Uganda, where annual per capita income is a mere Dollars 167, one of the lowest in sub Saharan Africa, the responsibility for housing, feeding, clothing and educating Aids orphans is often beyond the means of most rural households. The problem is not confined to rural areas.

segment81 Health workers in Masaka say the disease is killing what was a thriving market town. 'With fewer farmers coming to market, the town merchants are going out of business or cutting their losses by moving to Kampala,' says Mr Elias Mugisha, an Aids counsellor who works for TASO, a Ugandan non government organisation which cares for Aids and HIV sufferers. The World Bank, which plans to finance a study on the impact of Aids on the Ugandan economy, estimates Aids related deaths will reduce Uganda's population growth rate from 3.7 to 3.1 per cent from 1995 to the turn of the century. The crude death rate, which at 20 per 1,000 is already twice the average among low income countries, is likely to rise to 26 per 1,000 during this period. The deaths are sapping the strength of Uganda's predominantly rural economy. 'Agriculture is suffering,' says Mr Keith Muhakanizi, an economist at the Finance Ministry. 'As yet, I don't have macro economic data to sustain this assertion, but a trip to any village will bear this out. Cash crops are being abandoned in favour of essential food crops as labour loses productivity.'

segment90 Due partly to the influence of Plato and Aristotle (neither of them keen democrats) there was a long hiatus, through the Middle Ages and up to the modern age, when democracy languished except in places such as Iceland and Switzerland. 'And maybe Andorra', he added, 'though I'm not all that strong on the medieval history of Andorra'. Developing countries today - in Africa for example - though they did not practise democracy at least claimed to do so. 'Usually they are gangs of crooks, murderers and thieves who are there simply for the purpose of taking money from every source they can find and putting it into Swiss bank accounts - and they still call themselves the People's Democracy of Whatever it may be. It's the tribute vice pays to virtue.' Is our idea of democracy really the same as the Athenians'? Isn't ours much less mechanical, much more about individual liberty? 'I really do believe ancient Greek democracy was libertarian in its ideals. I really do think the motive behind democracy was that one man was as good as another. 'Alright, I can think of plenty of exceptions - add in women, and you've got a very large exception. Nevertheless, it is a fact that Greeks - the Greeks I'm talking about now, Athenians in the sixth century - really did think that one man ought to be as good as another, at any rate in the way he was treated. They knew people are not really equal: they must be treated as if they were. This is a political fiction, if you like, but an exceptionally useful fiction.' Was this idealism, or rather the suspicion that if you did not pretend to treat people equally eventually they would come with pitchforks and tip you out? 'I think the former.

segment106 President Yoweri Museveni, the architect of Uganda's newfound stability, is not an easy man to define. An intellectual turned soldier, he would be the World Bank's model African statesman - if only he could be persuaded to accept western style democracy. Mr Museveni advocates an open economy, respect for human rights, a free press and contested local elections, but he does not believe in multiparty politics. In its stead, Mr Museveni offers his National Resistance Movement, a broad church which has taken several political opponents into its fold. At the village level, Mr Museveni has introduced elected 'resistance councils' which decide local tax and spending policies and keep government officials in check. Most Ugandans regard the councils as better than the former system, inherited from colonial rule, in which government appointed village chiefs were a law unto themselves. The resistance councils in turn nominate delegates to the next tier of government, at parish and district levels. Topping this edifice is the National Resistance Council, which has functioned like a legislature for the past seven years.

segment107 They also sold her cows, 'to pay for my husband's hospital bills'. When she clung to a small banana plot, her brother in law stole the harvest. When she, too, fell sick, the same man took her four children away. 'If I could only earn a little money,' she says, 'I could get my children back.

segment112 Having achieved the seemingly impossible on the political front, President Mandela's new government now needs an economic miracle. South Africa must become the first non Asian country to replicate the East Asian miracle of growth with equity. The numbers in this year's United Nations Human Development Report underscore the challenge. South Africa, with a gross domestic product of Dollars 120bn and one of the world's 25 biggest economies, ranks 93 in terms of human development, and sixtieth in terms of income a head. The UN says that if white South Africa were treated as a separate country, it would rank 24th in the world, just below Spain, while if the same were done for black South Africa, it would rank 123rd, just above Congo and behind Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Vietnam. The sheer unsustainability of such comparisons, now that the black majority is in the driving seat, highlights the formidable nature of the economic challenge. It is not just a matter of jerking the economy back on to the relatively high growth path of the 1950s and 60s - 5 per cent annually - which will be difficult enough, but of restructuring it to ensure substantially greater participation for those marginalised for the past 300 years. East Asian experience shows this can be done although whether South Africa is ready for the sacrifices this will involve is another matter. With the commodity cycle having passed its trough, the global economy on the mend and South Africa's investment climate looking better than at any time for at least 40 years, the economy is poised for a period of sustained growth. Even so, few economists believe that growth of more than 2.5-3.5 per cent is on the cards for the next two years, while for the rest of the century, a battery of constraints - the cumulative legacies of apartheid, the balance of payments, unsustainable levels of domestic debt, the shortage of skills and the need to restructure manufacturing - will keep expansion below 5 per cent annually. At issue is the new government's capacity to impose restructuring while simultaneously delivering on the social front.

segment116 The "Banyarwandans" then gave their support to Mr. Museveni, who launched his rebellion. But after the NRA captured Kampala, anti Tutsi feeling exacerbated the emergence of a veritable "Rwandan mafia" that Ugandans have sorely resented. Ever since the start of the conflict, Yoweri Museveni has said the Tutsi insurgency was an internal Rwandan problem, and he rarely used to criticize the RPF; but recently he has changed his tune. Following the massacre of the bishops in Kabgayi, with the Ugandan press reporting survivors' accounts of killings attributed to the RPF, Museveni has been harshly critical of the rebels. The Ugandan head of state seems now to be distancing himself from them, and calls publicly on the RPF to accept a cease fire, since "it lacks the means to win the war rapidly." He also insists on the need for changes in the current government, as envisioned in the Arusha accords and to remove those responsible for the massacres. It is said that Mr. Museveni left the OAU summit in Tunis in some haste, irritated as he was by criticism from his peers over his support for the rebels at a time when he was making an all out effort to help, meeting on a regular basis in Kampala with a "crisis committee" composed of the ambassadors of neighboring countries and U.S., French, and British representatives. While it is obvious in Kampala that UNAMIR enjoys cordial relations with the RPF, the same cannot be said for the humanitarian organizations clamoring to get into the rebel zone. The RPF wants to maintain tight control over the organization of emergency assistance to the "600,000 displaced persons in camps in the liberated zone," and humanitarian organizations are raising a hue and cry about these constraints. Other problems have also surfaced, such as the temporary ban on access to some camps, which is still controlled jointly by two officials, one political and the other military. For "security reasons," it is difficult or impossible to leave these camps, where observers have raised questions about "educational meetings" which rightly or wrongly, are being described as "reminiscent of Cambodia."

segment118 President Mandela's problem is that he doesn't have a year or two in which to await meaningful results. Its not that expectations are excessive but that the new administration must deliver soon in the fields of township electrification, housing, more school places and improved social services, but also on the key issue of jobs. The World Bank estimates that half the country's black workforce is without formal sector employment. Optimistic as ever, the Bank believes that given appropriate policies, including wage restraint and fiscal discipline, this ratio could halve within 10 years. If President Mandela can deliver jobs on this scale, he will indeed have performed a remarkable double whammy - an economic as well as a political miracle. But in the 1990s world of jobless growth this has the ring of mission impossible.

segment120 NON GOVERNMENT agencies provide isolated islands of hope in a sea of social and economic despair, the British charity Oxfam wrote earlier this year in its assessment of the African crisis. This is no exaggeration. By stepping into the vacuum left by the collapse of government services, NGOs have become as indispensable to Africa's development efforts as official aid flows. NGOs invested Dollars 6.4bn in Africa in 1989 - more than the World Bank's net transfers to the region, and more than six times the figure for direct foreign investment. And as disenchantment grows with African bureaucracies, donor governments are increasingly channelling official assistance through NGOs. 'They help the poor directly, without costly bureaucratic mediation of donors and recipient governments, and without danger of assistance ending up in pockets of the rich, the military or the corrupt,' says the World Bank. NGOs now get about one third of their funds from official sources. Although emergency relief work dominates the headlines, NGOs are now involved in virtually every aspect of African life, providing health services, drilling bore holes, serving as a 'bank' willing to finance small traders and cottage industries. Farmers are more likely to get seeds for planting, rural credit and extension services from an NGO than from government.

segment121 And they are more concerned about the welfare of African women than most African men. NGOs are often the only safety net between tough structural adjustment programmes and abject poverty. At Kikuyu Hospital, one of the oldest mission hospitals in Kenya, Ms Margaret Waweru, the administrator, says: 'We are seeing a growing number of patients who feel government hospitals no longer provide adequate services.' This is particularly true since Kenya's state hospitals started charging for services. Because Kikuyu manufactures its own drugs, it can sell them to patients at a fraction of the market cost.

segment122 The mission hospital has also become the main referral centre for eye surgery in the country, because the infrastructure once available in state hospitals - drugs, surgical instruments, equipment - has collapsed. Many of the doctors working at Kikuyu left the state health service in frustration. 'It was very demoralising not to have the basic means to do your job,' says one of the eye surgeons. 'It's not a question of pay. Medics prefer working for NGOs because they know they will have the resources to work well." In the 1980s, it was common for NGOs to try to duplicate government services, Now the emphasis has shifted to working alongside government to strengthen their services. Kikuyu hospital runs training programmes for ophthalmologists in the state health service. In Zambia, Oxfam and Unicef have played a pivotal role in the rehabilitation of primary health clinics. And in Uganda, charities such as Save the Children Fund are supplying medical kits, essential drugs and salary top ups for government health workers.

segment124 PER capita incomes in the very poorest developing countries have fallen for the past three years and fragile economic reform programmes are threatened by recession and inadequate international support, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said yesterday. In its latest annual report* on the 47 least developed countries, as defined by the UN, Unctad projects a 1.4 per cent increase in total LDC output this year, after no growth in 1991 and a slight decline in 1990, but expects per capita incomes to show a new decline. The recent economic performance of LDCs, which have a total population of 500m, compares with growth averaging 2.5 per cent a year between 1985 and 1989. LDCs have also lagged behind developing countries as a whole, whose output rose by over 3 per cent in 1991. The Unctad report highlights big divergences in performance between LDCs. In many countries afflicted by civil war and natural disasters, such as Somalia, Afghanistan, Liberia, Mozambique and Ethiopia, 'the development process has come to a virtual standstill'. Elsewhere, some more politically stable countries have achieved respectable growth rates and raised per capita incomes, including Botswana, Lesotho, the Maldives, Nepal, Bangladesh and Uganda. But Unctad, main UN forum for debate of north south issues, says external factors have also been responsible for the LDCs' problems. The recession has limited trade, falling commodity prices have cut revenues, and private remittances from abroad, a big source of foreign exchange for some LDCs, have declined due to foreign labour cuts in industrialised and developing countries. Rich countries, it adds, have failed to fulfil pledges made in the UN action programme for LDCs agreed in 1990, including increased aid flows, action to tackle LDC indebtedness (most of which is owed to governments) and measures to improve LDC access to industrial markets. The report notes fears that eastern Europe's financing needs may further reduce the resource pool for LDC development. Failure by the west to support painful reforms in LDCs risks halting or reversing the process, with far reaching consequences including 'social and economic collapse, ecological damage, food insecurity, and huge population displacement.' *The Least Developed Countries: 1992 report, UN Sales No. E93.11. D3.

segment131 'The record is grim and it is no exaggeration to talk of crisis . . . What is needed is a new kind of social compact, an agreement within the world community that the struggle against poverty in Africa is a joint concern which entails responsibilities for both parties' - World Bank, 1981 The warnings have gone unheeded. Now come signs of a continent under intolerable strain, poised between crisis and catastrophe, lacking both the capacity and the will to implement economic and political reforms. Rwanda is the latest in Africa's roll call of disasters over the past 20 years, during which at least 10m people have died and as many have become refugees. For some governments, the strain has proved too much. Zaire, almost straddling the waist of Africa, is less a state than a collection of fiefdoms. Sudan, Africa's largest country, has been destroyed by civil war, and Sierra Leone, Liberia, Somalia, Angola are joining them. Worse may be to come, for two of Africa's most important countries are now at risk: Nigeria in the west and Kenya in the east are both showing signs of stress. Nigeria's leaders squandered Dollars 100bn of oil earnings over the decade of the oil boom from the 1970s to the early 1990s. External debt, currently Dollars 34bn, rises by Dollars 6bn a year, the civil service is undermined by political interference and corruption, per capita gross domestic product has halved since 1980, the fault line is deepening between Moslem north and Christian south. Meanwhile Kenya is battling against impossible odds.

segment132 Its population has tripled over the past 20 years to 25m, land hunger grows, unemployment rises, and 400,000 school leavers compete annually for 20,000 jobs in formal employment. Corruption and vested interests stand in the way of effective reform. Meanwhile Africa's rare 'success stories' such as Ghana and Uganda, are not inspiring. 'Current growth rates among the best (emphasis added) African performers are still too low to reduce poverty much in the next two or three decades,' warned a recent World Bank review. The Bank's hopes, back in 1989, that African economies could grow at a rate of 4 to 5 per cent proved optimistic.

segment136 In certain countries, where the mangement capacity of government is weak, NGOs should run primary health care, or primary education, or drought relief. The private sector should make investment decisions, rather than aid workers without the necessary skills. Increase transparency. Too often donors are willing to conceal what they know of corruption in African governments. They fail to insist on minimum levels of accountability and access to information. By withholding or denying African electorates information about structural adjustment programmes, they stifle debate about economic policy. Constitution making. Hopes for the revival of democracy will be dashed unless Africa draws up constitutions which take account of ethnic, religious and regional differences. Rebuild the parties and institutions of democratic government. Set levels of military spending at a percentage of GDP below spending on housing, education and health. Radical measures to ease Africa's debt burden should be accompanied by tougher monitoring of reform policies, including donor officials in institutions such as central banks and finance ministries. If governments are not willing to embrace structural adjustment and good governance requirements, then donors should only finance humanitarian projects. Above all, the west must be motivated by self interest as much as compassion in its response to the African crisis. Possible solutions will only be implemented when an ailing Africa is seen as a threat and as a loss. As Africa's economy declines, so immigration to southern Europe will rise; Moslem extremism will intensify; drug trafficking will increase; disease, whether Aids or the discovery of bubonic plague in Zaire, will pose a serious health problem; environmental erosion or neglect will lead to the destruction of valuable flora and fauna. Africa cannot be ring fenced: and the longer a co ordinated response to its crisis is postponed, the more daunting become the problems and more serious the consequences of failure.

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