|
INSIDE AFRICA
INSIDE AFRICA
Aired May 3, 2003 - 12:30:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TUMI MAKGABO, CNN ANCHOR: Powerful symbolism amid signs that peace may be on the horizon in the Great Lakes. Old foes and the shifting political tide in Burundi, as one leader gives way to another. The Congolese government and rival rebel groups discuss the formation of a power-sharing government, as Ugandan forces withdraw from the country.
In our business spotlight, the growing number of African companies listing on the New York Stock Exchange. And, a potential crash crop for southern Africa's first people, the san.
These and other stories coming up on this edition of INSIDE AFRICA.
Hello and welcome. Good to have you join us on the program once again. I'm Tumi Makgabo.
Our focus this week: Africa's Great Lakes region and the quest for peace.
There were significant steps this week towards resolving the conflicts in the region. Well, it may all sound quite familiar. After all, there have been -- they have been there before, striking deals that eventually collapse, but this time, some say, it may be different.
We begin in Burundi, where, for the first time since the war began, a sitting president gave up power in the interest of peace.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PRES. DOMITIEN NDAYIZEYE, BURUNDI (through translator): I swear, before the Burundian people, that I will protect the peace agreement, security and all of the laws. And I will always work for the goodness of the people.
MAKGABO (voice-over): With those words, Domitien Ndayizeye becomes president of Burundi, beginning the second phase of a difficult transition. Ndayizeye is a Hutu, and he's taking over from a Tutsi president, Pierre Buyoya, a giant step in this ethnically-polarized nation.
This was part of a deal, the Arusha Accords, signed in 2000, brokered by former South African President Nelson Mandela. Under the agreement, a Tutsi would serve the first 18 months of a transitional period, and then cede power to a Hutu. There were doubts this day would ever arrive. Just two months ago, Buyoya expressed reservations about giving up the presidency. So, on this day, for some at least, there was reason to celebrate.
Inside Parliament Hall, former foes sang patriotic songs. Outside, traditional dancers welcomed the change. Earlier in the week, some former rebel leaders arrived in the capital, Bujumbura, for the first time in a decade, expressing optimism that peace is on the horizon.
ALAIN MUGABARABONA, FNL REBEL LEADER (through translator): I can sense the change already, and we are confident our arrival here will contribute greatly to the return of peace to this country.
MAKGABO: On the streets, reaction was mixed. A small band of Tutsi youths protested, refusing to accept a Hutu president, while in this Hutu neighborhood, residents say the change makes no difference in their lives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): For us here in Kanama, as well as other Hutu areas, we flee fighting even when Buyoyo is there. We are shocked even when Buyoya is there. So for us, it is fine for Buyoyo to leave for Domitien, so that even if the fighting starts, that's OK. We are used to it.
MAKGABO: Ethnic tensions here are nothing new. The minority Tutsis have always wielded political and military power. Outgoing President Pierre Buyoya has been at the heart Burundi's tortured politics for the past 15 years. In 1993, he became the first Burundian president to give up power after losing elections to a Hutu, Melchior Ndadaye. Tutsi extremists assassinated Ndadaye three months later, beginning the current civil war.
Buyoyo returned to power in a coup in 1996, and has since tried to end the conflict by signing several deals with Hutu-dominated rebel factions and political parties. But as the new president took office, fighting intensified in several areas. The largest rebel group, the Forces for the Defense of Democracy, or FDD, has denied shelling the Bujumbura, blaming a breakaway faction.
The FDD leader was in the capital for the swearing-in of the new president, cautiously pledging his support.
JEAN-BOSCO NDAYIKENGURUKIYE, FDD REBEL LEADER (through translator): Our movement is confident that things will work as planned. Otherwise, it will be very serious.
MAKGABO: President Ndayizeye has 18 months to consolidate the peace process. The African Union is helping. The first batch of a 3,000-strong peacekeeping force has arrived to join South African troops that have been in the country for 18 months. But they can only keep the peace if armed groups agree to come to the negotiating table and prove that this moment of reconciliation in the halls of parliament was more than just a hollow gesture.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
The next step will be local elections in six months' time, to be followed by parliamentary elections in a year. Parliament will then choose a president, who will steer this state to democratic presidential elections in about five years' time.
Well, in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, a little less dramatic, but a major development nonetheless, in ending what has been called "Africa's world war." Leaders and representatives of several rebel factions arrived in the capital, Kinshasa, for the first time in four years, to discuss the formation of a power-sharing government. All sides in the conflict agreed to the power-sharing deal at a meeting in South Africa last month; this, as Ugandan troops withdraw from Eastern Congo, where a recent ethnic massacre left hundreds of people dead.
Well, some say the withdrawal is creating a power vacuum and is leaving the ethnic Hema minority vulnerable.
Our correspondent, Catherine Bond, has just been to the region.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CATHERINE BOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No one here seems to sympathize with the Hema outside of themselves. The Lendu majority in particular appears poised to attack them.
The United Nations has just brought in armed peacekeepers to Bunia, but their mandate is to protect only U.N. personnel, not the local population. Most expect chaos and bloodshed when the Ugandans withdraw, bloodshed, which despite all of the warning signs, the international community hasn't taken adequate measures to prevent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MAKGABO: Catherine Bond in Bunia in the DRC.
Amos Namanga Hgongi heads the United Nations monitoring missions in the Congo. Earlier this week, I asked him about the situation in Eastern Congo, beginning with the withdrawal of Ugandan forces.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMOS NAMANGA HGONGI, SPECIAL REP. TO U.N. SEC. GENERAL: Certainly as you are aware, the international community is unanimous that Ugandans should pull out of the DRC, because now it is no longer a stabilizing factor in that region. The political process is moving forward, and if they did not withdraw, it would become almost a stumbling block to having the whole process completed.
So clearly, they have to leave the country, so that to permit the Congolese to be able to work together to form their own transitional government.
MAKGABO: Now, one thing that the Ugandan troops have certainly accused your mission, MONUC, of, is requesting that they leave, but that they remain on in certain areas, because of the issue of stability and security. Is that indeed the case?
HGONGI: Most certainly not. Certainly, MONUC has not requested Ugandans to stay behind in any part of the northeast of the country where they are. It's the Security Council's decision that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) agreement which was signed between the DRC government and Ugandans. They are (UNINTELLIGIBLE) agreement signed between the DRC government and Ugandans did agree that they should be in the Rwenzori (ph) Mountains to be able to control jointly the border area there. That is an agreement between the Congolese government and the Ugandans.
MAKGABO: With that in mind, security obviously is very key, particularly in that part of the country. The Ugandans, for a long time, were said to have played a peacekeeping role or a role of stability there. With them leaving, there comes the question of a power vacuum in the country.
Currently, MONUC has about 200 or so troops on the ground there. Is that going to be enough to keep the peace?
HGONGI: Well, as you know, it's not the military alone which maintains security. Security starts with a political agreement and the willingness of people to lead together. So, MONUC has tackled the problem from both directions. We did start not with the deployment of troops. We started with an agreement of cessation of hostilities, which was signed on the 18th of March by most of the Congolese, the armed factions in the Ituri region.
We did follow that up through with Ituri participation and commission process, which resulted in a democratically-elected local administration, which is supposed to be supported, which will therefore follow through the process of maintaining security.
The military forces we are sending to the place is just, let me say, an added security element. It's not the full replacement of all of the aspects of maintaining security in the region. There are 327 today. There will be 500 next week. By the end of current deployment, there will be850 or so by the middle of May.
MAKGABO: If you can then focus for a moment on whether, of course, the investigation under way into the massacre...
HGONGI: Yes.
MAKGABO: ... of some 966 people. What is the situation with regard to the progress being made in that investigation?
HGONGI: There was the preliminary investigation by MONUC, which they therefore (UNINTELLIGIBLE) an appeal to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who has the expertise in carrying out a real and total investigation. That's what is going on now.
But I cannot really say what preliminary findings they have had as of now. They will have to publish the full report, so that will put it all in perspective. They have clearly found that a massacre occurred, they have clearly found where people who were killed and were buried in those mass graves, and they went from one site to the other to be able to carry out -- to finalize the information.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MAKGABO: Excerpts there of a conversation I had earlier in the week with Amos Namanga Hgongi of the United Nations monitoring team in Congo. Five other nations were involved in the fighting in the DRC that claimed more than three million lives in four years.
INSIDE AFRICA continues in just a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MAKGABO: And welcome back. You're watching INSIDE AFRICA.
Time now for us to take a quick look at some other stories making news around Africa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAKGABO (voice-over): What some are calling the worst road disaster in recent history in South Africa left at least 51 people dead this week. According to officials, a group of trade union members was traveling to a rally early Thursday, when their bus crashed into a reservoir. Of the estimated 80 to 90 passengers on board, only 10 survived.
The Kenyan government says it will set up a commission to investigate thousands of alleged torture cases during the regime of former President Daniel arap Moi. The country's minister of justice says it would be based on commissions set up in countries like South Africa and Chile. However, critics aren't convinced, citing the lack of arrests, and even promotion for some accused of torture.
Many in Zimbabwe are bracing for yet another showdown between the government and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. The ZCTU called a three-day stay-a-away last week to protest the more than 300-percent hike in fuel prices. The strike paralyzed the country, and the South African and Nigerian presidents (UNINTELLIGIBLE) press President Robert Mugabe to retire in an attempt to break the deadlock.
In the repatriation of Rwandan refugees in Zambia has begun under the auspices of the United Nations High Commission of Refugees. Thousands of Rwandans have been living in Zambia since the 1994 genocide, which killed more than 800,000 people. Their repatriation comes after the signing of a tri-apartheid agreement in January. The first 16 refugees arrived in Kigali on Friday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And turning our attention now to business news, and let's take a look at how your money fared this week. Nadia Bilchik has that.
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Tumi. It really is great to be back.
Today, we are following news from the oil industry across the continent.
In Nigeria, a tense hostage standoff on several oil rigs is affecting prices overall around the world. The price of benchmark Brent-listed crude oil fell 28 cents a barrel to $23.54. The downward move came as fears eased that the hostage standoff could spiral out of control. Striking oil workers holding expatriate staff hostage agreed to release them on Friday. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo forced them into the standoff by ordering both sides back to the bargaining table. The workers were protesting a recent decision to use boats instead of helicopters to ferry Nigerian staff to the rigs, and also the dismissal of five union members. The rigs, owned by Houston-based Transocean, are drilling wells on behalf of Royal Dutch/Shell and TotalFinaElf.
Meanwhile, Royal Dutch/Shell has beaten analysts' expectations and reported record quarterly profits, and French TotalFinaElf is expected to report a 44-percent rise in first-quarter profits next Tuesday.
In our business spotlight this week: Petrochemicals giant, Sasol, which recently became the latest African company to list on the New York Stock Exchange. And our Paul Tilsley reports Wall Street is buzzing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL TILSLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Executives of South African petrolchemicals giant, Sasol, ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, a symbolic welcome for the company as it lists on the exchange.
PETER COX, CEO, SASOL: You know, we've been looking forward to this day for many, many months, hard work, hard preparation, and that also it's wonderful to be here today and to know it's real now. And we listed, and there it is.
TILSLEY: Outside, a huge Sasol banner flutters beneath the NYSE's famous stars and stripes. Inside, a glowing South African consul general jokes that she's seen almost as much of the NYSE as her office, as this is the sixth time in the past couple of years that a company from her homeland has listed here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Africa is ripe for international investment, and we hope people will put their money on the South African companies.
TILSLEY: Even jaded New York analysts are sitting up and taking notice. With its pioneering oil-to-gas technology, Sasol is a strong listing.
TILSLEY (on camera): But this is the latest in an ever-growing line of companies from the African continent to list on the exchange.
BRIAN RAFFERTY CO-FOUNDER, TAYLOR RAFFERTY: Is it Africa's decade? I don't know the answer to that, but I know that we're seeing some very positive steps forward by some very impressive companies with very impressive managements that will help build the profile of the southern part of Africa at least in a very positive way that needs to be done.
TILSLEY (voice-over): With the appropriate soundtrack of South African musical, Amorta (ph), the spirits of togetherness moving out throughout the exchange, a worldwide satellite television (UNINTELLIGIBLE) shows Sasol and NYSE bigwigs celebrating.
Paul Tilsley, INSIDE AFRICA, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BILCHIK: Ghana's Ashanti Goldfield was the first African company to list on the New York Stock Exchange back in 1996.
That's a look at your money for this week. I'm Nadia Bilchik.
Tumi - back to you.
MAKGABO: Nadia, thanks, and good to see you.
And we'll have more of INSIDE AFRICA right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(INTERRUPTED BY NEWS BREAK)
MAKGABO: All right, Rosemary, thank you very much.
Well, are you looking for a way to maintain your figure? Well, then your search for a magic and safe weight loss potion may be over. As Charlayne Hunter-Gault tells us, the answer may lie with the San people of Southern Africa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Petrus Vaalbooi has a secret, one as old as man, if not time.
PETRUS VAALBOOI, SAN LEADER: And I learned my son, I've learned my daughters.
HUNTER-GAULT: A secret the 60-year-old San man says was handed down to him by his father and grandfather, and to them by theirs. The San, South Africa's first people dating back some 150,000 years, hunters and gatherers, who on their long treks in search of food, survived for days without it.
Their secret? This Kalahari cactus the San call Xhoba.
Petrus tells me the San use Xhoba, also known as Hoodia, for all manner of ailments, including hangovers. It's also the San's Viagra.
But what has excited those in it, for science and for profit, is its capacity to stave off hunger, a potential dieter's dream.
(on camera): It's bitter.
VAALBOOI: No, no.
HUNTER-GAULT: So, I'm not going to get hungry? I'm going to lose weight? I'll be the first test case. I'll be in your trials.
(voice-over): South Africa's government-financed research library, the CSIR, patented the active chemical in the Hoodia, P-57, licensing rights to develop it to the British pharmaceutical Phytopharm, in conjunction with Pfizer.
The CSIR acknowledges the deal was done without the San's knowledge, leading to two years of legal wrangling.
PETRUS TERREBLANCHE, SCIENTIFIC INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH: This is in the media. We've always had the intention to share the benefits. The question is: When do you do that?
HUNTER-GAULT: The San's lawyer says it was when he called and demanded it.
Still, the agreement now in place not only sets a precedent for dealing with indigenous knowledge, but gives the 100,000 surviving Bushmen in four countries claims on 6 percent of the monies paid during the clinical testing, and 8 percent of royalties if and when Hoodia hits the market, the smallest slice of a potential multibillion dollar pie. Still, better than nothing for the region's poorest of the poor, trying to save their culture and their people from extinction.
VAALBOOI: Where is not the son? I am the same. I am the same man. I am the same people. I am (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
HUNTER-GAULT: In their wilting fast-disappearing language, these San women both marvel over and joke about their pictures in an article about the promise of the Hoodia. But too many broken promises have left them cynical, saying they'll celebrate when they see schools and clinics, when they're not hungry, when someone shows them the money.
(on camera): These once-proud hunters and gatherers, now reduced to selling their tools and their images to tourists at places like this by the side of the road. But if the Hoodia becomes the Viagra of weight loss, then they may be able to leave this existence by the side of the road.
(voice-over): Charlayne Hunter-Gault in the Kalahari Desert, South Africa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MAKGABO: And finally, a story about a long-lost mummy. It was stolen from an Egyptian tomb about a century-and-a-half ago, and now experts believe they have found it, and a museum in the United States city of Atlanta says the mummy is on its way home.
Alphonso Van Marsh has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An Egyptian mummy on display at Atlanta's Carlos Museum. And Egypt's top antiquities expert says, it's royalty.
DR. ZAHI HAWASS, DIR. EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES: When I first entered and my eyes looked at it, I could smell that was a pharaoh.
VAN MARSH: Dr. Zahi Hawass says the mummy was stolen from Egypt's Valley of the Kings back in antiquity.
(on camera): What is it about this mummy that tells you it's royal, that it's a pharaoh?
HAWASS: First of all, from the first look actually you can see he's a pharaoh. It's like when you look at someone and you say, he looks (UNINTELLIGIBLE). If you look at the face itself, it has evidence of gold that was covering (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and this is a king.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, this exhibition is about Ramses I. He's actually an important historical figure, even though he only ruled less than two years.
VAN MARSH (voice-over): After the museum legally acquired the mummy, Emory University Hospital used medial imaging to help confirm it was most likely the king that launched Egypt's Golden Age.
(on camera): Researchers admit that even with current science, there is no way to be able to tell with 100 percent accuracy as to whether this mummy is indeed of Ramses I, but the Carlos Museum says it's working with Egyptian authorities to bring this pharaoh back to Cairo by the end of the year.
DR. PETER LACOVARA, CARLOS MUSEUM, EMORY UNIV.: As a mummy of a known person, it doesn't really have commercial value. It would be like, you know, digging up the body of Abraham Lincoln and trying to sell it on eBay. You just couldn't do that ethically.
VAN MARSH (voice-over): The Carlos Museum says they want the message to be clear.
LACOVARA: I hope that this does show the Arab world that Americans -- or some Americans do care about culture and the heritage we all share.
VAN MARSH: This pharaoh, the last-known royal mummy outside of Egypt, is heading home.
Alphonso Van Marsh, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MAKGABO: And that's our look INSIDE AFRICA for this week. I'm Tumi Makgabo.
TUMI MAKGABO, CNN ANCHOR: Powerful symbolism amid signs that peace may be on the horizon in the Great Lakes. Old foes and the shifting political tide in Burundi, as one leader gives way to another. The Congolese government and rival rebel groups discuss the formation of a power-sharing government, as Ugandan forces withdraw from the country.
In our business spotlight, the growing number of African companies listing on the New York Stock Exchange. And, a potential crash crop for southern Africa's first people, the san.
These and other stories coming up on this edition of INSIDE AFRICA.
Hello and welcome. Good to have you join us on the program once again. I'm Tumi Makgabo.
Our focus this week: Africa's Great Lakes region and the quest for peace.
There were significant steps this week towards resolving the conflicts in the region. Well, it may all sound quite familiar. After all, there have been -- they have been there before, striking deals that eventually collapse, but this time, some say, it may be different.
We begin in Burundi, where, for the first time since the war began, a sitting president gave up power in the interest of peace.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PRES. DOMITIEN NDAYIZEYE, BURUNDI (through translator): I swear, before the Burundian people, that I will protect the peace agreement, security and all of the laws. And I will always work for the goodness of the people.
MAKGABO (voice-over): With those words, Domitien Ndayizeye becomes president of Burundi, beginning the second phase of a difficult transition. Ndayizeye is a Hutu, and he's taking over from a Tutsi president, Pierre Buyoya, a giant step in this ethnically-polarized nation.
This was part of a deal, the Arusha Accords, signed in 2000, brokered by former South African President Nelson Mandela. Under the agreement, a Tutsi would serve the first 18 months of a transitional period, and then cede power to a Hutu. There were doubts this day would ever arrive. Just two months ago, Buyoya expressed reservations about giving up the presidency. So, on this day, for some at least, there was reason to celebrate.
Inside Parliament Hall, former foes sang patriotic songs. Outside, traditional dancers welcomed the change. Earlier in the week, some former rebel leaders arrived in the capital, Bujumbura, for the first time in a decade, expressing optimism that peace is on the horizon.
ALAIN MUGABARABONA, FNL REBEL LEADER (through translator): I can sense the change already, and we are confident our arrival here will contribute greatly to the return of peace to this country.
MAKGABO: On the streets, reaction was mixed. A small band of Tutsi youths protested, refusing to accept a Hutu president, while in this Hutu neighborhood, residents say the change makes no difference in their lives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): For us here in Kanama, as well as other Hutu areas, we flee fighting even when Buyoyo is there. We are shocked even when Buyoya is there. So for us, it is fine for Buyoyo to leave for Domitien, so that even if the fighting starts, that's OK. We are used to it.
MAKGABO: Ethnic tensions here are nothing new. The minority Tutsis have always wielded political and military power. Outgoing President Pierre Buyoya has been at the heart Burundi's tortured politics for the past 15 years. In 1993, he became the first Burundian president to give up power after losing elections to a Hutu, Melchior Ndadaye. Tutsi extremists assassinated Ndadaye three months later, beginning the current civil war.
Buyoyo returned to power in a coup in 1996, and has since tried to end the conflict by signing several deals with Hutu-dominated rebel factions and political parties. But as the new president took office, fighting intensified in several areas. The largest rebel group, the Forces for the Defense of Democracy, or FDD, has denied shelling the Bujumbura, blaming a breakaway faction.
The FDD leader was in the capital for the swearing-in of the new president, cautiously pledging his support.
JEAN-BOSCO NDAYIKENGURUKIYE, FDD REBEL LEADER (through translator): Our movement is confident that things will work as planned. Otherwise, it will be very serious.
MAKGABO: President Ndayizeye has 18 months to consolidate the peace process. The African Union is helping. The first batch of a 3,000-strong peacekeeping force has arrived to join South African troops that have been in the country for 18 months. But they can only keep the peace if armed groups agree to come to the negotiating table and prove that this moment of reconciliation in the halls of parliament was more than just a hollow gesture.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
The next step will be local elections in six months' time, to be followed by parliamentary elections in a year. Parliament will then choose a president, who will steer this state to democratic presidential elections in about five years' time.
Well, in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, a little less dramatic, but a major development nonetheless, in ending what has been called "Africa's world war." Leaders and representatives of several rebel factions arrived in the capital, Kinshasa, for the first time in four years, to discuss the formation of a power-sharing government. All sides in the conflict agreed to the power-sharing deal at a meeting in South Africa last month; this, as Ugandan troops withdraw from Eastern Congo, where a recent ethnic massacre left hundreds of people dead.
Well, some say the withdrawal is creating a power vacuum and is leaving the ethnic Hema minority vulnerable.
Our correspondent, Catherine Bond, has just been to the region.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CATHERINE BOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No one here seems to sympathize with the Hema outside of themselves. The Lendu majority in particular appears poised to attack them.
The United Nations has just brought in armed peacekeepers to Bunia, but their mandate is to protect only U.N. personnel, not the local population. Most expect chaos and bloodshed when the Ugandans withdraw, bloodshed, which despite all of the warning signs, the international community hasn't taken adequate measures to prevent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MAKGABO: Catherine Bond in Bunia in the DRC.
Amos Namanga Hgongi heads the United Nations monitoring missions in the Congo. Earlier this week, I asked him about the situation in Eastern Congo, beginning with the withdrawal of Ugandan forces.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMOS NAMANGA HGONGI, SPECIAL REP. TO U.N. SEC. GENERAL: Certainly as you are aware, the international community is unanimous that Ugandans should pull out of the DRC, because now it is no longer a stabilizing factor in that region. The political process is moving forward, and if they did not withdraw, it would become almost a stumbling block to having the whole process completed.
So clearly, they have to leave the country, so that to permit the Congolese to be able to work together to form their own transitional government.
MAKGABO: Now, one thing that the Ugandan troops have certainly accused your mission, MONUC, of, is requesting that they leave, but that they remain on in certain areas, because of the issue of stability and security. Is that indeed the case?
HGONGI: Most certainly not. Certainly, MONUC has not requested Ugandans to stay behind in any part of the northeast of the country where they are. It's the Security Council's decision that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) agreement which was signed between the DRC government and Ugandans. They are (UNINTELLIGIBLE) agreement signed between the DRC government and Ugandans did agree that they should be in the Rwenzori (ph) Mountains to be able to control jointly the border area there. That is an agreement between the Congolese government and the Ugandans.
MAKGABO: With that in mind, security obviously is very key, particularly in that part of the country. The Ugandans, for a long time, were said to have played a peacekeeping role or a role of stability there. With them leaving, there comes the question of a power vacuum in the country.
Currently, MONUC has about 200 or so troops on the ground there. Is that going to be enough to keep the peace?
HGONGI: Well, as you know, it's not the military alone which maintains security. Security starts with a political agreement and the willingness of people to lead together. So, MONUC has tackled the problem from both directions. We did start not with the deployment of troops. We started with an agreement of cessation of hostilities, which was signed on the 18th of March by most of the Congolese, the armed factions in the Ituri region.
We did follow that up through with Ituri participation and commission process, which resulted in a democratically-elected local administration, which is supposed to be supported, which will therefore follow through the process of maintaining security.
The military forces we are sending to the place is just, let me say, an added security element. It's not the full replacement of all of the aspects of maintaining security in the region. There are 327 today. There will be 500 next week. By the end of current deployment, there will be850 or so by the middle of May.
MAKGABO: If you can then focus for a moment on whether, of course, the investigation under way into the massacre...
HGONGI: Yes.
MAKGABO: ... of some 966 people. What is the situation with regard to the progress being made in that investigation?
HGONGI: There was the preliminary investigation by MONUC, which they therefore (UNINTELLIGIBLE) an appeal to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who has the expertise in carrying out a real and total investigation. That's what is going on now.
But I cannot really say what preliminary findings they have had as of now. They will have to publish the full report, so that will put it all in perspective. They have clearly found that a massacre occurred, they have clearly found where people who were killed and were buried in those mass graves, and they went from one site to the other to be able to carry out -- to finalize the information.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MAKGABO: Excerpts there of a conversation I had earlier in the week with Amos Namanga Hgongi of the United Nations monitoring team in Congo. Five other nations were involved in the fighting in the DRC that claimed more than three million lives in four years.
INSIDE AFRICA continues in just a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MAKGABO: And welcome back. You're watching INSIDE AFRICA.
Time now for us to take a quick look at some other stories making news around Africa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAKGABO (voice-over): What some are calling the worst road disaster in recent history in South Africa left at least 51 people dead this week. According to officials, a group of trade union members was traveling to a rally early Thursday, when their bus crashed into a reservoir. Of the estimated 80 to 90 passengers on board, only 10 survived.
The Kenyan government says it will set up a commission to investigate thousands of alleged torture cases during the regime of former President Daniel arap Moi. The country's minister of justice says it would be based on commissions set up in countries like South Africa and Chile. However, critics aren't convinced, citing the lack of arrests, and even promotion for some accused of torture.
Many in Zimbabwe are bracing for yet another showdown between the government and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. The ZCTU called a three-day stay-a-away last week to protest the more than 300-percent hike in fuel prices. The strike paralyzed the country, and the South African and Nigerian presidents (UNINTELLIGIBLE) press President Robert Mugabe to retire in an attempt to break the deadlock.
In the repatriation of Rwandan refugees in Zambia has begun under the auspices of the United Nations High Commission of Refugees. Thousands of Rwandans have been living in Zambia since the 1994 genocide, which killed more than 800,000 people. Their repatriation comes after the signing of a tri-apartheid agreement in January. The first 16 refugees arrived in Kigali on Friday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And turning our attention now to business news, and let's take a look at how your money fared this week. Nadia Bilchik has that.
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Tumi. It really is great to be back.
Today, we are following news from the oil industry across the continent.
In Nigeria, a tense hostage standoff on several oil rigs is affecting prices overall around the world. The price of benchmark Brent-listed crude oil fell 28 cents a barrel to $23.54. The downward move came as fears eased that the hostage standoff could spiral out of control. Striking oil workers holding expatriate staff hostage agreed to release them on Friday. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo forced them into the standoff by ordering both sides back to the bargaining table. The workers were protesting a recent decision to use boats instead of helicopters to ferry Nigerian staff to the rigs, and also the dismissal of five union members. The rigs, owned by Houston-based Transocean, are drilling wells on behalf of Royal Dutch/Shell and TotalFinaElf.
Meanwhile, Royal Dutch/Shell has beaten analysts' expectations and reported record quarterly profits, and French TotalFinaElf is expected to report a 44-percent rise in first-quarter profits next Tuesday.
In our business spotlight this week: Petrochemicals giant, Sasol, which recently became the latest African company to list on the New York Stock Exchange. And our Paul Tilsley reports Wall Street is buzzing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL TILSLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Executives of South African petrolchemicals giant, Sasol, ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, a symbolic welcome for the company as it lists on the exchange.
PETER COX, CEO, SASOL: You know, we've been looking forward to this day for many, many months, hard work, hard preparation, and that also it's wonderful to be here today and to know it's real now. And we listed, and there it is.
TILSLEY: Outside, a huge Sasol banner flutters beneath the NYSE's famous stars and stripes. Inside, a glowing South African consul general jokes that she's seen almost as much of the NYSE as her office, as this is the sixth time in the past couple of years that a company from her homeland has listed here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Africa is ripe for international investment, and we hope people will put their money on the South African companies.
TILSLEY: Even jaded New York analysts are sitting up and taking notice. With its pioneering oil-to-gas technology, Sasol is a strong listing.
TILSLEY (on camera): But this is the latest in an ever-growing line of companies from the African continent to list on the exchange.
BRIAN RAFFERTY CO-FOUNDER, TAYLOR RAFFERTY: Is it Africa's decade? I don't know the answer to that, but I know that we're seeing some very positive steps forward by some very impressive companies with very impressive managements that will help build the profile of the southern part of Africa at least in a very positive way that needs to be done.
TILSLEY (voice-over): With the appropriate soundtrack of South African musical, Amorta (ph), the spirits of togetherness moving out throughout the exchange, a worldwide satellite television (UNINTELLIGIBLE) shows Sasol and NYSE bigwigs celebrating.
Paul Tilsley, INSIDE AFRICA, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BILCHIK: Ghana's Ashanti Goldfield was the first African company to list on the New York Stock Exchange back in 1996.
That's a look at your money for this week. I'm Nadia Bilchik.
Tumi - back to you.
MAKGABO: Nadia, thanks, and good to see you.
And we'll have more of INSIDE AFRICA right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(INTERRUPTED BY NEWS BREAK)
MAKGABO: All right, Rosemary, thank you very much.
Well, are you looking for a way to maintain your figure? Well, then your search for a magic and safe weight loss potion may be over. As Charlayne Hunter-Gault tells us, the answer may lie with the San people of Southern Africa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Petrus Vaalbooi has a secret, one as old as man, if not time.
PETRUS VAALBOOI, SAN LEADER: And I learned my son, I've learned my daughters.
HUNTER-GAULT: A secret the 60-year-old San man says was handed down to him by his father and grandfather, and to them by theirs. The San, South Africa's first people dating back some 150,000 years, hunters and gatherers, who on their long treks in search of food, survived for days without it.
Their secret? This Kalahari cactus the San call Xhoba.
Petrus tells me the San use Xhoba, also known as Hoodia, for all manner of ailments, including hangovers. It's also the San's Viagra.
But what has excited those in it, for science and for profit, is its capacity to stave off hunger, a potential dieter's dream.
(on camera): It's bitter.
VAALBOOI: No, no.
HUNTER-GAULT: So, I'm not going to get hungry? I'm going to lose weight? I'll be the first test case. I'll be in your trials.
(voice-over): South Africa's government-financed research library, the CSIR, patented the active chemical in the Hoodia, P-57, licensing rights to develop it to the British pharmaceutical Phytopharm, in conjunction with Pfizer.
The CSIR acknowledges the deal was done without the San's knowledge, leading to two years of legal wrangling.
PETRUS TERREBLANCHE, SCIENTIFIC INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH: This is in the media. We've always had the intention to share the benefits. The question is: When do you do that?
HUNTER-GAULT: The San's lawyer says it was when he called and demanded it.
Still, the agreement now in place not only sets a precedent for dealing with indigenous knowledge, but gives the 100,000 surviving Bushmen in four countries claims on 6 percent of the monies paid during the clinical testing, and 8 percent of royalties if and when Hoodia hits the market, the smallest slice of a potential multibillion dollar pie. Still, better than nothing for the region's poorest of the poor, trying to save their culture and their people from extinction.
VAALBOOI: Where is not the son? I am the same. I am the same man. I am the same people. I am (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
HUNTER-GAULT: In their wilting fast-disappearing language, these San women both marvel over and joke about their pictures in an article about the promise of the Hoodia. But too many broken promises have left them cynical, saying they'll celebrate when they see schools and clinics, when they're not hungry, when someone shows them the money.
(on camera): These once-proud hunters and gatherers, now reduced to selling their tools and their images to tourists at places like this by the side of the road. But if the Hoodia becomes the Viagra of weight loss, then they may be able to leave this existence by the side of the road.
(voice-over): Charlayne Hunter-Gault in the Kalahari Desert, South Africa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MAKGABO: And finally, a story about a long-lost mummy. It was stolen from an Egyptian tomb about a century-and-a-half ago, and now experts believe they have found it, and a museum in the United States city of Atlanta says the mummy is on its way home.
Alphonso Van Marsh has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An Egyptian mummy on display at Atlanta's Carlos Museum. And Egypt's top antiquities expert says, it's royalty.
DR. ZAHI HAWASS, DIR. EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES: When I first entered and my eyes looked at it, I could smell that was a pharaoh.
VAN MARSH: Dr. Zahi Hawass says the mummy was stolen from Egypt's Valley of the Kings back in antiquity.
(on camera): What is it about this mummy that tells you it's royal, that it's a pharaoh?
HAWASS: First of all, from the first look actually you can see he's a pharaoh. It's like when you look at someone and you say, he looks (UNINTELLIGIBLE). If you look at the face itself, it has evidence of gold that was covering (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and this is a king.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, this exhibition is about Ramses I. He's actually an important historical figure, even though he only ruled less than two years.
VAN MARSH (voice-over): After the museum legally acquired the mummy, Emory University Hospital used medial imaging to help confirm it was most likely the king that launched Egypt's Golden Age.
(on camera): Researchers admit that even with current science, there is no way to be able to tell with 100 percent accuracy as to whether this mummy is indeed of Ramses I, but the Carlos Museum says it's working with Egyptian authorities to bring this pharaoh back to Cairo by the end of the year.
DR. PETER LACOVARA, CARLOS MUSEUM, EMORY UNIV.: As a mummy of a known person, it doesn't really have commercial value. It would be like, you know, digging up the body of Abraham Lincoln and trying to sell it on eBay. You just couldn't do that ethically.
VAN MARSH (voice-over): The Carlos Museum says they want the message to be clear.
LACOVARA: I hope that this does show the Arab world that Americans -- or some Americans do care about culture and the heritage we all share.
VAN MARSH: This pharaoh, the last-known royal mummy outside of Egypt, is heading home.
Alphonso Van Marsh, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MAKGABO: And that's our look INSIDE AFRICA for this week. I'm Tumi Makgabo.
END
TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE THE SECURE ONLINE ORDER FROM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
|
