1. About ELF-RC
2. New banking relations
3. Abu Al Qasim Hajj Hamad (Sudan/Eritrea)
4. Issayas Afeworki (Eritrea/Egypt)
5. Africa on the drug-trafficking route: UN report
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The Indian Ocean Newsletter
March 1, 1997
HEADLINE: About ELF-RC
BODY: The vice chairman of Eritrean Liberation Front Revolutionary
Council, Menghesteab Asmerom, reacted on February 24 to a report in The
Indian Ocean Newsletter (ION N. 754) on discussions within the Eritrean
opposition. Whilst he does not contest the manner in which the talks
are presented in the article, he stresses that ELF-RC is no longer
chaired by Ahmed Nasser but by Ibrahim Mohamed Ali, who was elected to
the post in October 1995 during the the organization's 4th congress. A
former leader of ELF-RC, Nasser is today only "a member of the
leadership of the Revolutionary Council". He apparently does not even
appear on the list of ELF-RC executive committee members as designated
in October 1995.
Apart from the chairman amd the vice-chairman who is based in Bonn and
head of organizational office, the seven-member executive committee
includes Seyoum Ogbamicael (foreign relations), Dr. Beyene Kidane
(economic questions, head of foreign information department, and editor
of "The Eritrean Newsletter"), Mohamed Ali Ibrahim (secretary), Kelifa
Osman (information) and Mohamed Omar Yahya (without definite office).
I.O.N. - Ibrahim Mohamed Ali is a former ELF army chief of staff who
comes from Beni Amer and was seen as linked rather more with Egypt
during Eritrea's long years of fighting for independence. Ahmed Nasser
was considered to be closer to Iraq's Baas party.
LOAD-DATE: February 28, 1997
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The Indian Ocean Newsletter
March 1, 1997
HEADLINE: New banking relations
BODY: Receiving recently in Nairobi an adviser of Bank of Eritrea,
Arefaine G. Yohannes and the adviser to German Eritrean Reintegration
Programme Ms. Elisabeth Rothstein, the chairman of Kenya National
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kassim Owango, told them that the
Kenyan banks could in future carry out direct operations with Eritrea.
Previously, they had been obliged to pass by the intermediary of the
New York City branch of Citibank to carry out their financial
transactions with their Eritrean partners. Kenya Commercial Bank has
already commenced to use these direct procedures. However, the
commercial activities between the two countries remain still very
modest.
LOAD-DATE: February 28, 1997
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The Indian Ocean Newsletter
March 1, 1997
HEADLINE: Abu Al Qasim Hajj Hamad (Sudan/Eritrea)
BODY: A Sudanese from the region of Dongola who holds Eritrea
nationality, Muhammad Abu Al Qasim Hajj Hamad went to Khartoum last
week at the invitation of the Sudanese foreign minister Ali Uthman
Muhammad Taha after having, according to his own statement, discussed
this approach to the Eritrean head of state Issayas Afeworki. A writer
and journalist belonging to the Sudanese lay left-wing and anti-Com-
munist, very close to the Nasserian trend in Egypt, he had linked up in
the 1970s and 1980s with the organizations fighting for the independen-
ce of Eritrea. He became adviser to president Afeworki after the
independence of Eritrea in 1993 with the mission of weaving links
between the new regime in Asmara (then seen as being anti-Arab) and the
Arab world.
Coming from a man with that past, his initiative of mediation with
Sudan appeared credible. It was nevertheless shot down by president
Afeworki who considered that as his country was not at war with Sudan,
there was no reason for bilateral negotiation to exist. According to
Afeworki, only negotiations between the different parties in the
Sudanese civil conflict might be envisaged.
LOAD-DATE: February 28, 1997
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The Indian Ocean Newsletter
March 1, 1997
HEADLINE: ISSAYAS AFEWORKI (Eritrea / Egypt)
BODY: The Eritrean head of state was due to go to Cairo on February 29
to meet his Egyptian opposite number Hosni Mubarak for talks on Sudan.
Issayas Afeworki considers that the situation in eastern Sudan justi-
fies a mini-summit with the Egyptian president in order to discuss
bilateral and regional questions. He is also expected to tackle the
problem of Egyptian fishermen arrested by the Eritrean authorities
whilst fishing in Eritrean territorial waters.
LOAD-DATE: February 28, 1997
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Agence France Presse
February 28, 1997 28:13 GMT
HEADLINE: Africa on the drug-trafficking route: UN report
DATELINE: VIENNA, March 4
BODY: Africa is a major hub for shipments of Asian heroin and South
American cocaine, part of which remain on the continent and contribute
to local drug abuse, a UN report said.
Africa has been directly affected by increasing amounts of cocaine
being smuggled out of South America, mainly Brazil, the International
Narcotics Control Board said in its 1997 report.
The cocaine shipments transit through eastern, southern and western
Africa into Europe. Part of the shipments are sold to local buyers and
consumed by Africans.
In South Africa, an estimated 60 percent of all cocaine passes through,
but the rest is consumed locally. Crack is already a problem in South
Africa and in several western African countries where it is manufactu-
red.
Heroin, which is on the rise in Asia, also transits through Africa.
"Heroin abuse is already considered a serious problem by national
authorities in Mauritius, Namibia and South Africa," the report said.
Cannabis production and abuse is widespread in Africa.
Morocco remains the major supplier of cannabis resin in European
drug-trafficking markets. In 1995, Moroccan authorities seized 110
tonnes of cannabis resin in the north African country, the report said.
The abuse of stimulants, mainly amphetamine-type drugs, continues in
many African countries where there is no proper control over the
pharmaceutical supply system and street markets make selling the drugs
easier.
The Board welcomed the adoption in July 1996 of a plan of action for
drug control in Africa by members of the Organisation of African Unity
(OAU). It said however that only a few African countries had made
progress in the past year in the updating of their drug control laws.
"There are few countries in Africa where national drug control
strategies exist," the report stated, citing Burkina Faso, Egypt,
Namibia and Nigeria as countries that have set up such structures.
Altogether nine African states have not joined any of the three main
international drug control treaties, namely the 1961 Convention, the
1971 Convention and the 1988 Convention, the report said.
The UN commission urged these countries -- Angola, the Central African
republic, Comoros, Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea,
Mozambique and Namibia -- to do so.
LOAD-DATE: February 28, 1997
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