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1. Opposition Beja group to step up fight against Khartoum
2 SUDAN REBELS SAYS FOREIGN OIL COMPANIES TARGETS
3. Nile states look to new division of waters
4. SUDAN TO TRY REBEL LEADERS FOR ATTACKS ON BORDERS
5. Ethiopian court hears witness say he was tortured
6. Eritrea, Ethiopia agree to prevent iodine deficiency diseases
7. Khartoum wants to try nine opposition figures
8. Ethiopia accuses Sudan and Egypt over Nile waters
9. Sudan's Mahdi says he overcame Arab fears
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British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
February 27, 1997, Thursday
HEADLINE: Opposition Beja group to step up fight against Khartoum -
Eritrean radio
SOURCE: Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea, Asmara, in Tigrigna 0400
gmt 25 Feb 97
BODY:Text of report by Eritrean radio on 25th February
The Beja [Sudanese tribe] Congress, in its first conference, which was
held this week, said it would step up its political and military opera-
tions, and would strengthen its struggle against the Khartoum regime. The
congress nominated a new leadership, and amended its political programme
and constitution. The Beja congress, in its concluding declaration, said
its discussions had highlighted the strengthening of its cooperation with
the forces of the National Democratic Alliance of Sudan. The congress
also called on the Sudanese in general, and the people of eastern Sudan
in particular, to increase their participation in the struggle against
the Khartoum regime.
LOAD-DATE: February 26, 1997
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Reuters Financial Service
February 27, 1997, Thursday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: SUDAN REBELS SAYS FOREIGN OIL COMPANIES TARGETS
BYLINE: By Victoria Engstrand
DATELINE: ASMARA, Feb 27
BODY: A Sudanese rebel group, Sudan Alliance Forces (SAF), said on
Thursday all foreign oil companies operating in Sudan were considered
legitimate military targets.
A statement in the Eritrean capital by SAF commander Brigadier Abdel Aziz
Khalid Osman described Canada's Arakis Energy Corporation and Interna-
tional Petroleum Corporation as "vultures" and accused them of recently
signing agreements with Khartoum.
"By doing so they have offered direct help to the fanatics in Khartoum to
murder, enslave, and oppress our people. As such, they have allied
themselves with the enemies of freedom, democracy and peace. They will be
treated as enemies," it said.
The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the largest rebel group in
Sudan, has threatened Arakis operations and SPLA leader John Garang said
in December that its oil fields were military targets.
Fighting in a rebel offensive launched in January was several hundred km
(miles) northeast of Arakis' Heglig and Unity oil fields, from which a
consortium hopes to build a pipeline to the Red Sea to carry as much as
250,000 barrels of oil a day by the year 2000.
SAF, based mainly in eastern Sudan around the town of Kassala is
relatively small but has shown in the past six months it can launch
attacks inside Sudan.
"The merchants of death have ignored earlier warnings by the NDA
(National Democratic Alliance) and the SPLA," said SAF, which with the
SPLA is a member of the opposition alliance based in Eritrea.
"We stress today that all installations and personnel of foreign oil
companies in the Sudan, including the Arakis Energy Corporation and the
International Petroleum Corporation, are legitimate military targets,"
SAF said.
"Collaboration with the NIF (National Islamic Front) is a political and
not a business decision.
"The shareholders and potential investors in the Arakis Corporation and
the International Petroleum Corporation should know that, once democracy
is re-established in Sudan, we will under no circumstances permit those
who have allied themselves with the present dictatorship to carry on
business in our country," it added.
SAF said both companies were engaging in Sudan at "attempts at personal
enrichment at the expense of our people."
Sources close to Arakis said late last month that U.S.-based Occidental
Petroleum Corp. in concert with Vancouver -based International Petroleum
Corp. were widely speculated to be negotiating for a concession near the
Arakis project.
Arakis, based in Calgary, Alberta, forged a $ 1 billion joint venture
last year to develop ex-Chevron Corp. oil fields in southern Sudan
thought to hold up to 3.5 billion barrels of oil and build the 1,530-km
(950-mile) pipeline to the Red Sea.
Arakis then revealed that a U.S.-based company, widely speculated to be
Occidental Petroleum, had been kicked out of the talks by Sudan's
government. Occidental officials declined comment.
Final consortium members included the state oil companies of China and
Malaysia, countries friendly to Sudan's Islamist-backed government, which
has a stake in the project.
LOAD-DATE: February 28, 1997
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The Financial Times Limited
Financial Times
February 27, 1997, Thursday LONDON EDITION 3
HEADLINE: Nile states look to new division of waters: Mark Huband reports
on an attempt to co-ordinate sharing of one of Africa's great resources:
BODY: All the states through which the waters of the Nile flow have
disputes with at least one neighbour but, when it comes to sharing the
water, there is more than a glimmer of hope of co-operation.
Zaire accuses Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi of backing rebels who have
seized the east of the country. Burundi has faced tough sanctions from
all its neighbours since a coup brought the army back into power last
year. Sudan accuses Uganda, Eritrea and Ethiopia of supporting rebels
trying to overthrow the Khartoum government. Egypt, for which the Nile
flows as a majestic lifeline, has rarely had such bad relations with
Sudan, which it accuses of harbouring anti-government Islamic militants.
But the 10 states, which include the above as well as Kenya and Tanzania,
appeared to put political differences aside at a conference in Cairo last
week, in an effort to secure $ 100m (L62m) in aid for 21 projects
intended better to exploit the 6,750km river's economic potential and
ensure fair distribution of the resource.
Donor countries - notably Canada and Denmark, which intend to finance
three of the projects - have made aid conditional on the states co-
operating. In spite of the worsening political situation, 10 ministers
responsible for water supplies and the management of the Blue and White
Nile rivers believe that establishment of a region-wide action plan is
now likely.
"If there's no common political agreement then there's no climate for
investment," said Mr Aly Shady, senior policy adviser to the Canadian
International Development Agency, which has played a key role in bringing
the 10 states together.
Pressure for a new approach is intense. The only legal water-sharing
agreement in force is a 1959 bilateral accord which allows Egypt to
extract 55.5bn cubic metres a year and Sudan to extract 18.5bn cubic
metres. Both draw from waters largely sourced in Ethiopia, which is not
legally allowed to extract any water at all.
Egypt's current economic take-off has been accompanied by 3.5 per cent
annual population growth since the late 1980s, the lowest of the Nile
basin states and a quarter that of Tanzania. Nevertheless, by 2050
Egypt's population - the largest in the region - will have doubled to
118m. Mr Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president, in January launched a $ 223m
canal project to bring water to Egypt's Western Desert in an effort to
attract $ 4bn of private investment in new urban settlements. Diversion
of Nile waters is essential to the project.
Sudan uses 75 per cent of its allowance, while Ethiopia has yet to demand
a legally-based allocation. Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi all enjoy heavy
rainfalls, as do parts of Kenya, Tanzania and Zaire. But the Nile's
bounty can no longer be taken for granted.
"There are 250m people living in the Nile basin and this will become 1bn
by 2050. But the amount of water is exactly the same," said Mr Shady,
citing World Bank estimates. "More people will die very soon if they
don't start to co-operate. The water those states receive is less than
they need to live on, and this has been so since the 1950s."
Egypt is expected to see increasing urbanisation and industrialisation,
which historically cuts water usage as less is used for irrigation which
accounts for 85-95 per cent of overall consumption, Mr John Waterbury,
professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University,
wrote last year in a study of the current negotiations.
"The international community has grown comfortable with the 1959 status
quo, not because it is equitable, but because none of the nations most
affected by it have consistently called it into question. Ethiopia may
change that situation in the coming years," Prof Waterbury said.
Changing quotas would force Egypt to alter its remaining agricultural
output - moving away from rice in particular - as well as further expand
re-use of drainage water.
"We are not asking for more water. We are looking for co-operation," said
Mr Youssef Waly, Egypt's deputy prime minister. "Egypt is the gift of the
Nile, but it is using the water efficiently."
The need for a regional approach is vividly illustrated: worsening
erosion in the Ethiopian highlands affects Egypt's water supply by
silting-up the river hundreds of miles downstream.
"The co-operative framework will lead to an equitable distribution of the
water," said Mr Yagoub Abu Shora Musa, Sudan's minister of irrigation and
water resources. "The political considerations which arise from time to
time I don't think are hindering us from looking ahead at the things
which are lasting."
A similar view is held by the military government of Burundi, where the
White Nile rises, in spite of sanctions enforced by its neighbours.
Such equanimity has impressed donors. The World Bank, which has no plans
to lend its own funds, now appears willing to convene a meeting to
co-ordinate donations for the $ 100m being sought for the projects -
called the Nile River Basin Action Plan - and create a basin-wide
authority to co-ordinate the water's use.
"We believe that the level of dialogue has improved. Talking has changed
the tone. But it's at a very technical stage, which stems from bringing
so many countries together," said Mr David Grey, senior water resources
management specialist at the World Bank. "The river passes through some
of the poorest countries in the world. There are emerging economies with
growing demands. We want to avoid one person gaining by another person
losing."
LOAD-DATE: February 26, 1997
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Sentinel Communications Co.
THE ORLANDO SENTINEL
February 27, 1997 Thursday, METRO
HEADLINE: SUDAN TO TRY REBEL LEADERS FOR ATTACKS ON BORDERS
DATELINE: KHARTOUM, SUDAN
BODY: The government said Wednesday it would try nine opposition leaders
in absentia, including former Prime Minister Sadeq al-Mahdi, on charges
of waging war against the state. The charges are in connection with
attacks last month by a rebel alliance on Sudan's eastern borders. Sudan
has accused Ethiopia, Eritrea and Uganda of helping the rebels, but the
three countries deny the charge.
LOAD-DATE: February 27, 1997
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Reuters World Service
February 27, 1997, Thursday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: Ethiopian court hears witness say he was tortured
BYLINE: By Tsegaye Tadesse
DATELINE: ADDIS ABABA, Feb 27
BODY: A witness in Ethiopia's trial of former Marxist leaders told the
court on Thursday he was tortured and jailed for five years as a
suspected Eritrean rebel.
The prosecution witness said he was taken to the central investigation
office in 1979 and repeatedly tortured to force him to confess membership
of the rebel Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), then fighting a
war against Ethiopia.
The witness, who could not be named under a court order, said though he
was not a member of the front he had to tell officers he belonged to a
secret EPLF group to ease the torture. He was then jailed for five years.
The witness was testifying at the trial of 71 former Ethiopian Marxist
officials accused of genocide and crimes against humanity. All 71 could
be sentenced to death if found guilty.
Only 46 of the 71 former military junta known as the "Dergue" were in the
dock on Tuesday. The other 25 including dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam
who ruled Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 are being tried in absentia.
Mengistu now lives in exile in Zimbabwe after fleeing the country in May
1991 shortly before rebels entered the capital and set up a new govern-
ment.
The witness said nine other EPLF suspects who were rounded up at around
the same time fared less well than he did.
"All nine were taken out of prison and did not return or (have not been)
seen since then and they were assumed killed," he said.
The EPLF, which has since been renamed, now rules Eritrea which won
independence from Ethiopia in 1993.
The court also heard four other witnesses who said their relatives were
rounded up and jailed by the Dergue around 1977 but they had since
disappeared and were presumed executed.
Ethiopia's new government has charged 5,198 people with war crimes,
aggravated homicide and genocide. Of these 1,200 are suspected of
involvement in the "Red Terror" campaign during Mengistu's rule.
Death squads in the 1977-78 campaign hunted down thousands from rival
Marxist groups and other opposition organisations on behalf of Mengistu's
junta.
The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.
LOAD-DATE: February 28, 1997
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Xinhua News Agency
FEBRUARY 27, 1997, THURSDAY
HEADLINE: eritrea, ethiopia agree to prevent iodine deficiency diseases
DATELINE: addis ababa, february 27; ITEM NO: 0227200
BODY: eritrea and ethiopia have agreed to coordinate their efforts
toward containing diseases caused by iodine deficiency, according to the
voice of eritrea. at a three-day meeting ended wednesday in asmara,
capital of eritrea, the two countries have agreed to establish a joint
committee on iodine deficiency control mechanism. the joint committee
said diseases caused by iodine deficiency are rampant in both the
countries, stressing the need for overcoming iodine deficiency, according
to the radio. laboratories for iodizing salt were set up at the assab and
massawa salt producing enterprises established in 1995 and the distribu-
tion of the chemical has already begun.
about 150 million people in 40 other african countries are affected by
iodine deficiency which causes weariness both in body and mind.
LOAD-DATE: February 28, 1997
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Agence France Presse
February 26, 1997 26:22 GMT
HEADLINE: Khartoum wants to try nine opposition figures
DATELINE: KHARTOUM, Feb 26
BODY: Sudan is prepared to put nine opposition figures -- including
former prime minister Saddek Al-Mahdi -- on trial, even in absentia,
Sudanese Prosecutor General Abdul Rahman Ibrahim said Wednesday.
Ibrahim, who chairs a committee formed by the government to investigate
lawsuits filed against "symbols of the opposition," said in a statement
that the nine would be tried for undermining the constitutional system
and instigating war against Sudan.
Mahdi, who heads the Oumma party, fled Sudan in December for Asmara,
Eritrea, headquarters of the National Democratic Alliance that aspires to
oust the Islamic government in Khartoum.
Others on the list of include John Garang, head of the Sudan People's
Liberation Army (SPLA), which has been fighting successive governments in
Khartoum since 1983, and NDA chairman Osman al-Mirghani, leader of the
Democratic Unionist Party.
The rest of the nine include former armed forces chief of staff General
Fathi Ahmed Ali; Mansour Khalid, who was foreign minister in the 1970s;
Arab Lawyers Union secretary general Farouk Abu Eisa; former army
brigadier Abdul Aziz Khalid; and Oumma party officials Mubarak Al Fadil
al Mahdi and Omar Nour Ed Daem.
Ibrahim, the prosecutor general, said the defendants would be asked to
appear in court in person. If they failed to do so, he added, they would
be tried in absentia.
Other charges that they would face include deadling with "hostile foreign
powers," agitation of rebellion, calling for opposing the government by
force, presiding over criminal and terroristic organizations, and
publishing false news.
Mahdi said Wednesday that the Sudanese opposition will hold a summit in
Asmara next month to discuss a transition government in anticipation of
the fall of the Khartoum government.
LOAD-DATE: February 26, 1997
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Reuters World Service
February 26, 1997, Wednesday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: Ethiopia accuses Sudan and Egypt over Nile waters
BYLINE: By Tsegaye Tadesse
DATELINE: ADDIS ABABA, Feb 26
BODY: Ethiopia accused Egypt and Sudan on Wednesday of unfairly using
most of the waters of the Nile at the expense of other countries in the
basin of the world's longest river.
"The stark inequity currently prevailing in the Nile Basin cannot remain
in the future since only the downstream riparian states (Egypt and Sudan)
are exclusively utilising the Nile waters while upstream countries have
not been able to secure their equitable right," said an Ethiopian policy
paper.
The paper was presented on the second day of a four-day annual conference
on the use of the Nile river waters. "Obligations not to cause signifi-
cant harm to other watercourse states operate only in such cases where a
water course nation exceeds its right to an equitable and reasonable use
of an international watercourse," it added.
The conference, first held in 1993 and set to run until 2002, is attended
by government representatives from Egypt, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zaire.
Up to 250 million people depend on water from the Nile's four main
systems and competition for the water feeds disputes involving Sudan,
Egypt and Ethiopia.
Egypt, accused by Ethiopia of using the vast majority of the Nile water,
appealed on Tuesday in its official paper for projects to be started in
Nile Basin countries not to cause harm to each other.
Cairo says its share of the Nile waters is insufficient for its needs.
Ethiopia's paper rejected as a delaying tactic Cairo's call on Tuesday
for a regional databank to be established to update statistics in
national databanks of different Nile basin states.
"It is believed there is sufficient available water resource data
currently in most of the Nile Basin countries. The argument for a
databank has been constantly used to prolong the issue of Nile water
allocations," said Ethiopia.
Sudan said it was committed to work towards an agreement on a framework
of cooperation acceptable to all Nile Basin states.
The Sudanese paper suggested that a panel of experts should handle
conflict between states on the equitable use of the Nile.
The 4,160-mile (6,700-km) long Nile river drains into the Mediterranean.
Its head waters are above Lake Victoria and Lake Albert.
LOAD-DATE: February 27, 1997
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Reuters World Service
February 26, 1997, Wednesday, BC cycle
HEADLINE: Sudan's Mahdi says he overcame Arab fears
BYLINE: By Victoria Engstrand
DATELINE: ASMARA, Feb 26
BODY: Ousted Sudanese prime minister Sadeq al-Mahdi said on Wednesday he
believed he had overcome Arab fears that Sudan's opposition was fighting
to break up the country.
Mahdi told Reuters his hosts on a recent tour of Arab countries believed
the opposition encouraged Sudan's break up into the Arabised and Moslem
north and Christian and animist south.
"Sudan is de facto divided. Within the geographic boundaries there are
several different authorities, the government, the SPLA, the SSIM, the
NDA. We are working to reunite the country," he said.
The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) is the main rebel group in the
National Democratic Alliance of opposition parties. The South Sudan
Independence Movement is a splinter of the SPLA.
"Some fear that Arab identity in Sudan is being threatened. It is far
from so. We are recognising the rights of other identities in the
country," said Mahdi, who was prime minister when President Omar Hassan
al-Bashir seized power in 1989.
"It is not a question of denying Arab identity, but to confirm other
religious identities. I think we managed to bring it home. It was a great
success," added Mahdi, who fled to Eritrea from Khartoum in December
after years of surveillance.
Since then he has visited Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab
Emirates and Ethiopia. He said he would leave the Eritrean capital
Asmara, the headquarters of the NDA, on Thursday for East Africa.
"Armed opposition should be aimed at seeking a political solution. It is
inevitable. The pressure, we think, will neutralise the military's
hegemony over the country, which will enable people to rise up (against
it)," Mahdi said.
He said he had written "a global call for support" to world leaders
including President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, King Hussein of
Jordan and the president and religious leader of Iran.
Mahdi said the regime in Khartoum was suffering from economic collapse,
hostility from its neighbours and was facing rejection by virtually all
forces except the National Islamic Front.
LOAD-DATE: February 27, 1997
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Sirak < smascio@ipass.net >
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