Daily Press Cuttings

 

Friday 4th February 2000

FT: Chad/Senegal: A Senegalese court yesterday indicted the exiled dictator of Chad, Hissein Habre, on charges of torture, and put him under house arrest. Judge Demba Kandji of the Dakar regional court took the action after hearing the testimony of six of Mr Habre's victims and receiving information regarding hundreds of other crimes. While the judge will continue his investigation into the case, today's move opens the way for a trial, possibly later this year. Cuba: Cuba is trying to join the 71-member African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries in time for the signing of a new trade and aid pact with the EU at the end of May. Full membership would enable Cuba to enjoy the same non-reciprocal trade preferences with the EU enjoyed by other ACP states and share in the _13.5 billion development aid package agreed for the next five years.

The Guardian: IMF/NGOs: Aid agencies from around the world have complained in a joint letter to the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, about the highly secretive and undemocratic way in which the new managing director of the IMF is being selected by rich industrialised countries. “It is disgraceful that the millions of people living daily under IMF influence have absolutely no opportunity to engage in the process of choosing the managing director,” says the letter signed by a wide range of non-governmental organisations including Friends of the Earth, Jubilee 2000, the Bretton Woods Project and the World Development Movement.

The Times: UK/Arms: Letter from the Secretary General of International Alert, Oxfam, Saferworld, Christian Aid and BASIC saying that they are alarmed at the direction of government policy on arms exports. Recent decisions on arms sales to Indonesia, Zimbabwe and other destinations indicate more than individual misjudgments—they suggest that at least some government departments are abandoning any real commitment to a more responsible policy.

IHT: World Bank: Comment from the World Bank, Red Cross and the prime minister of Saint Lucia on the new initiative for tackling disasters world-wide. The ProVentium Consortium, which has been launched in Washington this week, includes partners such as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societites, the UN, Goldman Sachs, the World Conservation Union, and two leading insurance companies, Munich Re and Swiss Re. The new global alliance will form a dynamic coalition with governments to help them take charge in identifying and reducing the risks they face.

Thursday 3rd February 2000

FT: World Bank: The World Bank yesterday launched a partnership between private and public organisations aimed at helping poor countries cope with natural disasters. The so-called ProVention Consortium brings together governments, international organisations, private insurance companies, non-governmental organisations and universities. Natural disasters killed more than 50 000 people, most in poor countries, and destroyed $65 billion of property in 1998. The World Bank says that it has lent $19 billion for post-disaster reconstruction over the past 20 years. World Trade: Negotiators from the EU and 71 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries today hope to reach a final agreement on renewing the Lomé Convention, the trade and aid agreement governing relations between them. ACP countries are expected to accept the EU's offer of a _13.5 billion development aid package over the next five years. Middle East: Focus on the region asking whether economic modernisation can proceed fast enough to curb demands for political reform. King Mohammed of Morocco is one of an emerging generation of younger Arab leaders presenting themselves as benevolent rulers determined to improve miserable social and economic conditions.

Wall Street Journal: WSJ leader poses 9 pointed questions for Caio Koch-Weser the German candidate for replacing Michel Camdessus at the head of IMF. They range from “What do you understand by the term moral hazard? What steps did you take at any point in your 25 years at the World Bank to ensure that World Bank money was properly used by governments such as Zaire under Mobutu and the Philippines under Marcos? To whom does money controlled by the IMF belong? a. The IMF; b. member governments; or c. Western taxpayers?

IHT: Indonesia: International donors pledged $4.7 billion this week to help keep the floundering Indonesian economy afloat, but they warned that their support was conditional on Jakarta's commitment to democracy and human rights. The pledge was made by the Consultative Group on Indonesia and includes the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Cambodia: Comment from the NGO Human Rights Watch that Cambodia must not simply embark on a few show trials of the Khmer Rouge. When Cambodia's donors meet this spring to consider aid, they should insist on Hun Sen's full compliance with UN requirements.

The Express: Zimbabwe: Article looks at the pressure used by Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe to secure support in next week's referendum for a new constitution. The constitution will enable him to extend his 20 year rule and requisition many of the country's 150 000 white-owned farms.

The Independent: Sudan/UK: British companies BP and Weir Pumps are involved in a project to construct a 1000-mile Sudanese oil pipeline, which will transport oil from central Sudan to the Red Sea. The investment has drawn severe criticism from opponents of the Sudanese regime, who see it as a weapon of war in a long-running conflict.

The Times: India/Arms: A British arms dealer who says he was working for British intelligence when he took part in an arms drop over India was given a life sentence in Calcutta yesterday.

Wednesday 2nd January 2000

Dow Jones: Debt/US: U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said this week

that President Bill Clinton will ask Congress for significantly greater funding for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative. He said proposed debt relief for Bolivia, Guyana, Honduras and Nicaragua would not happen if the U.S. did not meet its funding commitments. The administration was asking for a supplemental request for the Financial Year 2000 budget of $210 million for the HIPC Trust Fund and authorisation to use the remaining earnings on re-valued IMF gold for debt relief. In the upcoming budget request for FY 2001 the administration would ask for a further $225 million for HIPC: $150 million for the HIPC Trust Fund and $75 million to meet the cost of reducing US bilateral debts. Finally, the administration was also requesting $375 million in FY 2001 in advance appropriations for these two elements of HIPC.

FT: Japan: Japan's 17 largest banks have written off Y51 000 billion (£300 billion) worth of bad loans in the past eight years in an effort to clean up the country's financial system, according to data collected by the Financial Supervision Agency, Japan's regulator. The figure is equivalent to about 10 per cent of Japan's. This sum is equivalent to the size of the combined economies of Belgium and the Netherlands. IMF: The outgoing head of the IMF, Michel Camdessus, said yesterday that the institution should be explicitly recognised as the lender of last resort to the international financial system—and should be given the tools to perform the role. His speech will be seen as a rebuttal of calls by Lawrence Summers, US Treasury Secretary, for the IMF to play a narrower role. He described the WTO meetings in Seattle as a disaster. Failing to eliminate the barriers to the exports of the poorest countries threatened to “make a mockery” of the decision by governments to cut by about a half the debts of the 35 to 40 poorest countries. IMF: FT leader calls for an open process of selection for the new head of the IMF, where qualified candidates would present their visions of the future for the organisation, and the Board would then vote. Money laundering: Letter from Jenny Kimmis of Oxfam, saying that stolen money from Nigeria is just the tip of an iceberg. The UN, the Financial Stability Forum are variously developing plans to contain the problems, but what is needed is an integrated approach that brings money-laundering under a single regulatory framework. Indonesia: Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesia's president, yesterday raised the stakes in his battle to oust the country's former armed forces chief, threatening to remove him form the cabinet if he did not resign immediately.

The Guardian: Morocco: Mohammed VI, the king of Morocco who took over following the death of his father Hassan II last July, has shown no sign of ducking the tasks he set himself: to loosen the authoritarian regime he inherited and force radical change. UK/ECGD: UK trade minister Richard Caborn launched a bitter attack on the Guardian and Channel 4 for publicising confidential reports which revealed a Whitehall row over whether human rights and the environment should play any role in the business of the Export Credits Guarantee Department. Stephen Byers, The Trade Secretary, has ordered an enquiry into how the papers were released.

IHT: India/Bangladesh/US: US President Clinton will visit India and Bangladesh for five days during the week of March 20^th. He will be the first US President to visit Bangladesh. Sudan/US: Increasingly alone in its efforts to isolate Sudan, the Clinton administration is considering whether to reopen the US embassy in Khartoum, and has decided not to supply food directly to Christian insurgents in southern Sudan.

The Times: Germany/corruption: Millions of marks from Germany's espionage budget were channelled into secret party funds to strengthen democracy in Spain and Portugal in the 1970s and 1980s. some may have flowed back to fund election campaigns in Germany, according to disclosures yesterday that gave another twist to the scandal that has disgraced Helmut Kohl and rocked the political establishment.