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Times Editor suspended over govt criticism

JOHANNESBURG, 11 December (IRIN) - Malawi's oldest newspaper house,
Blantyre Newspapers Limited, (BNL) has suspended its leading editor
apparently for criticising government over-expenditure.

Jika Mkolokosa, managing editor of BNL, publishers of The Daily Times and
Malawi News told IRIN on Tuesday that he had been suspended allegedly for
writing negative stories about President Bakili Muluzi and not featuring
him on the front page.

"The boss never called me up to hear my story. [If he had called me] I
would have been able to defend myself. But I wasn't given the
opportunity," he said.

Mark Chiusankhondo, financial controller for BNL told IRIN that Mkolokosa
was suspended purely as a disciplinary measure because he flouted
regulations contained in "clearly stipulated" editorial policy.

Chiusankhondo said after Mkolokosa had been warned, he had filled the
front page of a subsequent edition with the same "unbalanced material"
against an editorial policy that stated that the publication "shall not be
used as a tool to persecute an individual".

Mkolokosa had worked for BNL, owned by the late previous president Kamuzu
Banda and his family's Chayamba Trust, for 11 months. Banda had ruled
Malawi as a single party state for three decades.

"Editors are working in a subdued environment," said Charles Simango,
editor of Malawi News.

Malawi News recently reported that Muluzi had spent US $2,4 million in
four months for both internal and external travel and allegedly mostly for
in-country campaigns for his "unofficial" bid for a third term of office.

Mkolokosa, a former editor of Nation Publications Limited owned by
Agriculture Minister Aleke Banda, argued that it was too late to change or
withdraw the stories by the time he was cautioned that executive chairman,
Cassim Chilumpha was "mad with the stories" published by the two papers.

"It was unrealistic to change stories at that late hour," he said, adding
that he had planned to implement the instruction the following week.

Mkolokosa said he was very surprised with the decision taken by Chilumpha,
a former attorney-general and later finance minister in the Muluzi
government.

"I intend to make it clear when I go back that I'll not be willing to run
sanitised stories. I don't think it will do any credit to my
professionalism to accept a job that will not make me happy. I didn't
expect things would be this bad, but things of this nature are expected
with this job," he said.

Rogers Newa, chairman of the Human Rights Consultative Committee issued a
statement in support of Mkolokosa saying: "His suspension is tantamount to
intimidation by the state and a threat to the freedom of expression. It
also denies all Malawians their right to hear alternate views about the
events in their own country. This suspension is a threat to Malawi's
embryonic democracy."

Last year BNL fired Daily Times editor Rankin Nyekanyeka for not featuring
Muluzi on the front page of the newspaper.

"The government should not perceive constructive criticism as a danger to
their stay in power, but view it as a tool for promoting transparency,
accountability and the rule of Law," Newa added.

Criticism over government expenditure comes amid International Monetary
Fund (IMF) scrutiny of the country's budget in order to release
much-needed development funds

Some October rape victims are HIV positive

BANGUI, 11 December (IRIN) - Of the 111 women raped during October's
fighting in the Central African Republic capital, Bangui, and now
receiving care from Medicos Sin Fronteras-Espana (MSF-Spain), 26 have
tested HIV positive.

"For the moment, it is impossible to know whether there is any link
between their HIV sero-positivity and the rapes," Raquel Ayora, MSF-Spain'
s country representative in the CAR, told IRIN on Wednesday. "But if the
second test in six months proves that those who tested negative before
have HIV/AIDS, the conclusion will be that they were infected during the
rape."

The victims, she added, had other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs),
but that in these cases, too, it was unclear if they were due to their
ordeal. No case of pregnancy had so far been detected. MSF is providing
gynaecological treatment; HIV tests and drugs against STDs. Ayora said
that because the rape victims did not have rapid access to treatment, this
could complicate their situation.

She went on to say that MSF, the UN Children's Fund, and the CAR Ministry
of Social Affairs and Women's Promotion were talking to their partners
with a view to obtaining free long-term therapy for the HIV victims. She
said Amis d'Afrique, a Japanese NGO dealing with HIV/AIDS in CAR, was
among those that would take an active part in this programme.

A UN-supported team of four gynaecologists, a lawyer, a psychologist and
communications specialists was set up early in November to assist the rape
victims.

Most acts of rape were blamed on the fighters of Jean-Pierre Bemba's
Mouvement de liberation du Congo, from the neighbouring Democratic
Republic of the Congo. They came to help the beleaguered CAR President
Ange-Felix Patasse crush the October revolt by rebel soldiers loyal to the
former army chief of staff, Gen Francois Bozize.

According to the country's National anti-HIV/AIDS committee (the Comite
national de lutte contre le Sida), 14 percent of the CAR population is HIV
positive, making it the most affected country in central Africa and the
10th in the world.

Compulsory Number plates cause rising tension

KINSHASA, 11 December (IRIN) - Tension rose in Bukavu, eastern Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), on Tuesday as hundreds of children
demonstrated against the introduction by rebel authorities of compulsory
licence plates for all vehicles in the town.

On Tuesday, police were sent to guard the Contributory Services Office
after a group of children aged between seven and 12 years began tearing
off the number plates of vehicles around the building, while shouting and
threatening staff inside. They then moved towards the town centre,
stopping and any vehicles displaying the plates to remove them.

Meanwhile hundreds of other youngsters had organised a peaceful march
through the town, between the areas of Essence and Cahi, shouting: "No to
the new plates! Death to RCD [Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie]!
No to pillaging! No to criminals!"

On Wednesday, no new plates were to be seen in the town, a humanitarian
worker said, adding that the police had done nothing to stop the children.

There has been significant resistance to the introduction of the number
plates (several weeks ago) from civil society, business people, the
association of transport operators, local and international NGOs, and
churches in Bukavu. Residents say they plates are too expensive - costing
between US $70 and $120 each - and that they signify a partition of the
DRC.

Meanwhile, RCD-Goma spokesman Jean-Pierre Lola Kisanga told IRIN that the
two employees of Radio Maendeleo (Radio Progress) arrested during the
closure of the station on Monday had been released early on Wednesday.

However, a humanitarian worker in the town who spoke to family members of
station director Kizito Mushizi later on Wednesday said neither Mushizi
nor his colleague, Omba Kamengele, had yet been released.

The station broadcast a programme on Sunday, in which RCD-Goma declined to
participate, that enabled listeners to air their views on the number-plate
system. Kisanga told IRIN the station had been closed because its role was
to provide information on development issues, not politics.

Rumsfeld discusses terror threat during whirlwind
tour

ASMARA/ADDIS ABABA, 11 December (IRIN) - US Defence Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld flew to Djibouti on Wednesday after agreeing with Ethiopia to
coordinate the fight against terrorism.

Rumsfeld, who met Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in Addis Ababa on
Tuesday, said both countries should work closely to counter terrorist
activities.

The defence secretary is on a 28-hour whirlwind tour of the Horn of Africa
visiting Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Meles said terrorist activity in the region was on the rise. Earlier this
week he accused a Somali-based Islamic organisation, Al-Ittihad, of being
behind last month's twin bomb attacks in the Kenyan holiday resort of
Mombasa. He said the organisation was linked to the Al Qaeda network.

Last week, Meles held talks in Washington with US President George Bush
and Kenyan leader Daniel arap Moi.

Rumsfeld began his Horn of Africa tour in Eritrea earlier on Tuesday,
where he met President Isayas Afewerki. At a press conference following
the talks, Rumsfeld said the US considered Eritrea an important partner in
Africa, with invaluable experience in fighting terrorist organisations
within its own borders.

"This is a country that has been dealing with the problem of terrorism in
the same way our country has," Rumsfeld said. "And we both agree that
these kinds of problems. require cooperation over a sustained period of
time."

He said the US was looking to build a "larger coalition of nations that
respect sovereignty and respect freedom, and a closer cooperation putting
more and more pressure on terrorists of all types on all continents".

For his part, Isayas offered to allow the US to use strategically-placed
Eritrea in the fight against global terrorism.

"We are not offering anything to get anything from the United States," he
said. "We have very limited resources, but we are willing and prepared to
offer these limited resources to fight the global war on terror."

Rumsfeld said he had discussed the closure of the private press in
Eritrea, as well as the detention of a number of political leaders and two
Eritrean US embassy employees with President Isayas, but emphasised that
each country was a sovereign nation with the right to deal with internal
issues as it deemed appropriate.

He said there was "clarity on both sides" on these issues, and added that
the US remained committed to strengthening its relationship with Eritrea.
Earlier this year, the State Department issued a statement criticising the
human rights situation in the country.

While in Djibouti - across the Red Sea from Yemen - Rumsfeld will meet US
troops who have been moved to the region, before going on to Qatar. His
visit there will coincide with a cruClick Here to Search This Siteial military exercise taking place in
the Gulf region this week.