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Africa: PANA Press Review
Any links to other sites in this file from 1996 are not clickable,
given the difficulty in maintaining up-to-date links in old files.
However, we hope they may still provide leads for your research.
Africa: PANA Press Review
Date Distributed (ymd): 960719
PANA News - Africa: Weekly Press Reviews
for July 12 and July 19.
Panafrican News Agency. B.P. 4056, Dakar, Senegal.
Tel: (221) 24-13-95; Fax: (221) 24-13-90;
E-mail: [email protected]
12 Jul 96
From Olu Sarr ; PANA Staff Correspondent
DAKAR, Senegal (PANA) - Boutros-Ghali's bid for re-election
as United Nations secretary-general, the summit of the
Organisation of African Unity, elections in Niger and the
establishment of Sierra Leone's Truth Commission, were among
the leading issues discussed in the African press this week.
Boutros-Ghali's announcement seeking a second five-year term
awakened the hostility of the United States government. The
Lagos newspaper, Daily Times, said that while the U.S. claimed
that its hostility was motivated by a desire to see a more
efficient U.N. system, "the real reason behind Washington's
moves may be nothing but sheer domestic politics."
It said: "It is no longer a secret that over the years, right
wing elements in the United States have turned the world body
into a favourite sport to be punched and vilified at every
opportunity."
Consequently, it said, "In a re-election bid that is already
badly tainted by Whitewater, Paula Jones and Filegate, Mr.
Clinton has chosen to vote against Boutros-Ghali perhaps to
deny his republican opponents an opportunity to attack his
foreign policy. But he went too far."
Trimming the U.N. bureaucracy, democratising its Security
Council, reducing the size of the U.S. contribution to the
world body, it said, were all badly needed changes.
"Reforms of this magnitude, some observers have pointed out,
go well beyond the purview of the secretary-general; it is an
issue which the member states themselves must pursue
vigorously," it said.
"Be that as it may, Africans must stand solidly behind Dr.
Boutros-Ghali in his re-election campaign because as the first
African to occupy that position, the secretary-general has
acquitted himself quite well," it said.
He was called upon to occupy that position "at a crucial but
difficult moment" in international relations. It noted that
with the end of the cold war, there was a dramatic shift of
world attention, to the countries of eastern Europe and the
former Soviet Union.
"In spite of this, Boutros-Ghali ensured that Africa was not
marginalised within the U.N. system," it said. "He supported
peace-keeping operations in Angola, Mozambique, Liberia and
Somalia."
Earlier this year, it noted, he launched a special 25 billion
U.S.-dollar initiative for the development of Africa. "These
factors, and the fact that past occupants of the world's
highest public office have always had a second term, compel
us to urge Africa to rally solidly behind Dr. Boutros-Ghali,
to ensure that he is not denied a second term which is rightly
his.
"Furthermore, Boutros-Ghali's second term would afford him
the opportunity to realise the democratisation of the
permanent membership of the Security Council, which the big
boys have hitherto monopolised to the exclusion of large
sections of the globe.
"The membership of the Security Council indeed poses the
biggest paradox of our time, namely, that those who are
weeping louder than the bereaved, calling for democracy in
other countries, cannot see the need to democratise the U.N.
to ensure that all the free nations of the world conduct
their affairs in an atmosphere devoid of bullying and
condescending inequality." Cotonou's Le Citoyen (The Citizen)
and The Monitor, of Addis Ababa, agreed with the Daily Times.
Le Citoyen, a Beninese publication, commented on the
endorsement given the Egyptian diplomat by the Organisation of
African Unity.
"In fact, Africa has no reproach against Boutros
Boutros-Ghali and his [first term] has been positive," Le
Citoyen said.
"Mr Boutros-Ghali's major handicap is American hostility or,
rather, Israeli hostility expressed through Bill Clinton, the
U.S. president, who will be seeking a second term in office at
the end of this year," it said. "In effect, Boutros-Ghali has
become persona non grata [in the United States] because of his
policy in the Near-East."
The Monitor noted U.S. assurances that it would not oppose the
election of another African as secretary general.
"Although this is a good diplomatic compromise, Africans
should not entirely leave the choice to be guided by the
tastes of the United States. They will have to make their own
independent choice and coordinate their diplomatic activities
to this end, with other developing countries," the newspaper
said. "There are, of course, a lot of educated and talented
African diplomats that can fill Boutros-Ghali's shoes. Whether
they are endorsing the re-election of Boutros Ghali' or any
other African candidate, they will have to close ranks as they
have recently done at the Yaounde Summit and [work] for the
best interests of Africa," it said.
"By its style of debate, its decisions, the bold affirmation
of pride in being African, Yaounde '96 "presented for the
O.A.U. an era of concrete resolutions," The official Cameroon
Tribune said.
But Le Quotidien, Cameroon's first privately-owned daily, said
it wished the resolutions will not end up as unimplemented
"pious wishes".
La Nouvelle Expression, another Yaounde newspaper, saw the
conference as a mere formality especially, it said, as there
were no resolutions nor concrete decisions on conflicts such
as those in Burundi, Somalia and Liberia.
Dakar's Sud Quotidien thinks the meeting was so mundane that
it suggested it be held every two years, rather than
annually. "Even the Islamic Conference Organisation, which
is better funded than the O.A.U., meets every two years," it
noted. In Niger, Gen. Ibrahim Mainassara Bare's dissolution
of the country's independent electoral commission, in the
middle of voting, and his arrest of opposition politicians
came under vicious attack.
These acts, Cotonou-based Le Citoyen said, were motivated by
his worry that his rivals would band together in opposition.
"He has thus vitiated the electoral process, creating a
situation that some describe as a second coup, even though he
denies it," the paper said.
"What credibility can be given to a ballot at which votes are
said to have been counted by soldiers or under tight military
surveillance?" said the Benin government daily, La Nation.
"After the military coup of last January, an electoral coup
has now been staged," the Cotonou newspaper said. Dakar's Le
Soleil said that after his January takeover, Gen. Bare had
all the tools needed to put the democratic process back on
track. But to complete this mission, it added, he had to hold
credible elections.
"To do so, the Independent Electoral Commission, though not
the ideal solution, gave a certain guarantee of fairness. Its
dissolution in the middle of vote counting and its replacement
by a body exclusively comprising senior officials chosen by
the military junta, raises strong suspicion on the
credibility of the results announced after the election," it
said.
The Daily Champion, another private newspaper published in
Lagos, described as "timely, welcome and commendable," the
establishment by the Sierra Leonean government of a National
Unity and Reconciliation Commission.
The new civilian administration in Freetown set up the body to
investigate the atrocities of the country's past military
administration. The idea is to right whatever wrongs may have
been committed by individuals or groups.
"If the commission carries out its onerous and historical
assignment with the requisite objectively, candour and
fairness, there is no doubt that the exercise will go a long
way in removing sources of conflict in Sierra Leone," it
said.
19 July 1996
From Daniel Mukwati Sibongo ; PANA Staff Correspondent
DAKAR, Senegal (PANA) - Politics again dominated editorial
commentary in parts of the continent this week.
In Lagos, Nigeria, the semi-official Daily Times described the
OAU summit held in Yaounde, Cameroon from July 8 to 10 as one
of the most successful in recent years.
It said the summit's support for Boutros Boutros-Ghali's bid
for a second term as United Nations Secretary General, in the
face of United States opposition, was honourable.
The Egyptian, it said, had done well for Africa in his first
term and deserved another.
The newspaper however, asked why the South African president,
Nelson Mandela, had left the summit prematurely for state
visits to Britain and France.
"Shouldn't the discussion of Africa's pressing problems have
taken precedence over Mandela's dining and wining with British
royalty ?" it asked.
The Vanguard, a private paper published in Lagos, stayed
closer to home. It urged Nigerians to pay greater heed to the
American ambassador's calls for the restoration of democracy
in the West African state.
"Mr. Carrington's comments on the occasion of the 220th
anniversary of American independence (July 4) were frank,
candid and friendly.
"He spoke of the need for the military to respect democratic
institutions by sticking to its task of defending the
country," it said.
"He spoke of the need to allow that essential and vital
ingredient of democracy -- the right of the people to choose
who will govern them and how."
"Mr. Carrington also canvassed the release of all political
detainees saying that he would have been happier if the likes
of Gani Fawehinmi, Femi Falana and Beko Ransome Kuti
(political activists) were around to be part of the
celebrations.
"We share the sentiments of Mr. Carrington and agree with his
weighty pronouncements on the social and political situation
in Nigeria," the Vanguard said.
In Senegal, the privately-owned 'Wal Fadjri' was critical of
Niger's July 7 and 8 presidential election.
It said the dismissal of the country's independent election
commission during the polls -- and a rushed appointment of a
hand-picked one by government -- had been a serious breech of
normal election procedure.
Wal Fadjri said the move by the military leader, Gen. Ibrahim
Bare Mainassara, also a presidential candidate, had raised
suspicions of fraud. The General was later declared winner by
an overwhelming majority.
"The general's style is disturbing, not so much for its
brutality, but for its blatancy. He did not need open and fair
elections supervised by the independent commission. The polls
were nothing more than a formality, a costly one, designed to
dress a regime born of a military coup in the garb of popular
legitimacy and legality," the newspaper said.
'Sud', another privately owned Senegalese daily, was less
compromising. It described Gen. Mainassara's action as theft
("hold-up").
It had become clear, the newspaper said, that the Gen. had
never been committed to free elections and had allowed their
organization only after pressure from donors.
"And when the election was turning against him, our general
turned to a hasty dissolution of the electoral commission and
designated a new one made up of his supporters."
It said the general had managed to break a general strike
called to protest his action by paying salary arrears owed by
the state on the same day.
"Today, the man who came in under the pretext of saving
(Niger's) democracy, 'derailed by the infantilism of the
country's leaders', is in reality its principal saboteur," Sud
said.
In Burundi, the proposal for a multinational peace-keeping
force to restore order in the tiny central African state,
remained a violent issue.
'La Balance', a weekly linked to the powerful Tutsi minority,
expressed its firm opposition to the force.
It said the force, designed to prevent the type of genocide
witnessed in Rwanda in neighbouring Burundi, would be fought
to the bitter end.
"It is a question of dying with our arms in our hands. It
means Burundians will not accept foreign armies (the
peacekeeping force) coming in to destroy the nation," the
paper said.
The government-owned 'Le Renouveau du Burundi' took a
different view.
It said the force would halt the killings in Burundi, and help
restore peace and order.
The daily said the decision to send in the force had been
taken by neighbouring African heads of state who had thorough
knowledge of what was going on in Burundi.
"We feel that in the current conditions of war...Burundi's
armed forces are incapable of stopping the massacres" taking
place in the country.
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