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800,000 AIDS Orphans In Tanzania

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (PANA) - The number of AIDS orphans in Tanzania is expected to reach 800,000 by the end of the year, according to estimates by the country's National AIDS Control Programme and the UN Development Programme.
Citing hospital records, a National AIDS Control Programme report said the number of orphans had increased sharply over the past few years, while babies born with HIV infection were also on the increase.

"By the end of 1997, half a million people in Tanzania were living with AIDS, over 1.5 million were infected

Pan African News Agency:

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Sudan criticises Clinton green light to distribute food to SPLA

KHARTOUM, Dec 1 (AFP) - The Sudanese government has criticised US President Bill Clinton for authorizing the distribution of food to the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), saying it reflected a "hostile" attitude towards Sudan.

Government spokesman Ghazi Salah Eddin Atabani, quoted in Wednesday's Akhbar al Youm daily, accused the US administration of "backing a continuation of the war" in Sudan, adding: "This is now made clear by its direct support to the rebel movement."

This position "hinders efforts for

Agence France-Presse:

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Turkey Earthquake Victims Emergency Relief Update

Background
Since the devastating earthquake of August 17, 1999, which killed over 17,100 people and left some 44,000 injured, over 1300 tremors have made aftershocks a regular occurrence in and around the affected area in northwestern Turkey. In recent days the frequency of the tremors increased significantly, culminating in a new earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale on Friday, November 12, 1999. The epicenter was 100 km east of Izmit, a city severely damaged by the earlier quake and the location of a refinery fire that burned for days afterwards.

Initial Response

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Mandela named new Burundi peace mediator

ARUSHA, Tanzania, Dec 1 (AFP) - South African former president Nelson Mandela on Wednesday was named here as the new mediator in the peace process for Burundi during a summit of leaders of Great Lakes states.
Mandela replaces Tanzanian former president Julius Nyerere, who died in October.

The only other viable candidate for the thorny task of mediating negotiations in this northern Tanzanian town between various Burundian parties and rebel groups was the former president of Botswana, Ketumile Masire.

gir/afm/po

AFP

Copyright (c) 1999 Agence France-Presse

Agence France-Presse:

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Pourparlers de paix interburundais: Nelson Mandela a été désigné comme nouveau médiateur

Arusha, 1er décembre 99 (FH) - Les chefs d'Etats d'Afrique de l'Est et australe, réunis à Arusha (Tanzanie), ont désigné l'ancien président sud-africain, Nelson Mandela, comme nouveau médiateur dans le processus de paix burundais, rapporte l'agence de presse indépendante Hirondelle.
Un communiqué du huitième sommet régional des Grands Lacs a fait état de la nature consensuelle du choix de la personne de N. Mandela. Le ministre des Affaires Etrangères ougandais, Amama Mbabazi a déclaré que M. Mandela disposait non seulement du soutien des pays de la région,
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Angola + 2 others
Southern Africa: IRIN News Briefs, 1 December

Report
IRIN
ANGOLA: New currency launched
The Angolan Central Bank on Wednesday launched a new currency, the kwanza, as part of a monetary reform program to simplify small transactions, news reports said.

The reports quoted Aguinaldo Jaime, the central bank governor, as saying the authorities wanted to do away with the public having to use large wads of the old currency, the readjusted kwanza, when making small purchases. The largest denomination of the new currency will be five kwanzas, which is worth 5 million readjusted kwanzas.

IRIN:

A selection of IRIN reports are posted on ReliefWeb. Find more IRIN news and analysis at http://www.irinnews.org

Une sélection d'articles d'IRIN sont publiés sur ReliefWeb. Trouvez d'autres articles et analyses d'IRIN sur http://www.irinnews.org

This article does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. Refer to the IRIN copyright page for conditions of use.

Cet article ne reflète pas nécessairement les vues des Nations Unies. Voir IRIN droits d'auteur pour les conditions d'utilisation.

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Kenya + 1 other
Moi urges warring Somali factions in Kenya to return home

NAIROBI, Dec 1 (AFP) - Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi on Wednesday urged members of the various warring Somali factions resident in Kenya to return to Somalia, a presidential press statement said here.
Speaking as he arrived at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Internnational Airport following a two-day visit to Arusha in northern Tanzania, Moi stressed that the security of Kenyan citizens was of paramount importance.

"The government will not allow any situation that may threaten that security," Moi said, noting that

Agence France-Presse:

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Project HOPE Initiative: Medical Rehabilitation for Victims of the Earthquake in Turkey

Report
Project HOPE
On August 24, one week after a devastating earthquake struck 55 miles southeast of Istanbul, Turkey, Project HOPE dispatched an eight-person team into Turkey to assess the health and medical needs in the area, and to recommend steps for addressing critical and long-term recovery needs. The team included three physicians and three nurses from the United States who served as volunteers, as well as a staff logistician and HOPE's Country Director for Egypt. During their visit, team members met with representatives of Turkey's Ministry of Health and other governmental
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Serbia + 1 other
Hunger strike over Serbian oil deliveries

Mayor Tomislav Panajotovic of Pirot said that he and the town council will soon go on a hunger strike if the central authorities do not allow EU heating oil shipments to cross from Macedonia into Serbia, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 30 November (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 November 1999). In Nis, Mayor Zoran Zivkovic said he will call on citizens to "seek out the guilty ones in Belgrade and Dedinje" (where Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic lives) if the authorities do not allow EU oil to reach his town. In Brussels, the
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty:

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Sierra Leone + 5 others
Merlin programmes worldwide 01 Dec 1999

Report
Merlin
Sierra Leone
Providing nutritional feeding to over 200 severely malnourished and approximately 1,000 moderately malnourished children in Kenema district in eastern Sierra Leone, where thousands have been made homeless by conflict. Running a paediatric ward in a satellite clinic, an emergency cholera treatment unit and mobile teams to provide basic health care in Freetown. Re-establishing and restocking one hospital and 18 health centres with drugs and equipment to provide medical care and health education to mothers and young children in Kenema and Bo districts.
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Nelson Mandela nouveau médiateur du processus de paix burundais

NELSON MANDELA NOUVEAU MEDIATEUR DU PROCESSUS DE PAIX BURUNDAIS
Arusha, 1er décembre 99 (FH) - Les chefs d'Etats d'Afrique de l'Est et australe, réunis à Arusha (Tanzanie), ont désigné l'ancien président sud-africain, Nelson Mandela, comme nouveau médiateur dans le processus de paix burundais, rapporte l'agence de presse indépendante Hirondelle.

Contacté en Afrique du Sud, Parks Mankahlana, porte-parole du président sud-africain en activité, Thabo Mbeki, a confirmé à l'agence Hirondelle que Mandala avait accepté le poste.

Mbeki, présent au sommet,

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UN brings together Afghan Taliban, opposition for first meeting

by Jean-Claude Chapon

KABUL, Dec 1 (AFP) - The United Nations has for the first time brought together officials from Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia and the opposition that is fighting it to resolve humanitarian issues, the UN said Wednesday.

Erick de Mul, UN coordinator for Afghanistan, said the two delegations met Tuesday in the no man's land which separates the two sides on the Shomali plains, north of Kabul.

The meeting was "extremely positive," and held in an "excellent atmosphere," de Mul said. He would

Agence France-Presse:

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Afghanistan Coordinator taken to front lines

Highlights of the Noon Briefing
By Fred Eckhard
Spokesman for the Secretary-General
UN Headquarters, New York
The Spokesman noted reports from Afghanistan which said that the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, Erick de Mul, had been taken to the front lines north of Kabul by the Taliban authorities to confirm that there were no child soldiers fighting on that front. That development, he said, was apparently in response to the Secretary-General's recent report on Afghanistan, which said that all sides in this conflict had been using child soldiers.
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Indonesia + 1 other
UN human rights team interviewing eyewitnesses in East Timor

The United Nations team investigating human rights violations in East Timor has been interviewing eyewitnesses in the capital Dili, a UN spokesman in New York said today.
The members of the international commission of inquiry have been meeting with eyewitnesses of violations and hearing testimony to killings and deportations, Spokesman Fred Eckhard told a UN press briefing.

"Their forensic expert has carried out preliminary examinations of some of the bodies that had been found recently in West Timor, but there are no conclusions yet on that examination," he added.

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Russia: Human Rights Group Arrives In Dagestan

Grozny, 1 December 1999 (RFE/RL) - A European human rights delegation arrived today in Dagestan, the eastern neighbor of Chechnya, to discuss the plight of Chechen refugees affected by the fighting in their country. Led by Alvaro Gil-Robles, the Council of Europe human rights commissioner, the delegation had earlier visited Ingushetia and northern areas of Chechnya currently under Russian control. It is estimated that more than 230,000 Chechens fled their country to escape the Russian military offensive. Meanwhile, Chechen officials say their
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Russia says poised to take key Chechen town

By Alkha Tosuyev

SLEPTSOVSK, Russia, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev predicted on Wednesday Russian troops would capture a strategic town guarding the eastern gateway to the rebel-held Chechen capital Grozny within two or three days.

"The Chechen town of Argun is sealed off and, I think, within two or three days it will be freed from rebel fighters," RIA news agency quoted Sergeyev as saying during an inspection visit to an infantry division sent from Moscow.

Sergeyev told Interfax news agency Moscow's

Reuters - AlertNet:



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US says Sudanese criticism of food aid plan 'ridiculous in extreme'

WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday said Sudan's criticism of a US proposal to send food aid to a rebel group there was "ridiculous in the extreme" and blasted Khartoum for not taking steps to end the country's long-running civil war.

"The idea that they would criticize anyone else for trying to help deal with the mass starvation and deprived conditions of the people of Sudan is ridiculous in the extreme," State Department spokesman James Rubin said.

"It's as a result of the intransigence

Agence France-Presse:

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Ugandan Parliament offers rebels amnesty

KAMPALA, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The Ugandan parliament has offered a six-month amnesty to rebel fighters in an attempt to end a long-running civil war, newspapers said on Wednesday.
The rebels have six months from the date at which President Yoweri Museveni signs the amnesty bill to claim the amnesty by giving themselves up and handing in weapons.

The bill, passed on Tuesday, represents a new approach to two rebellions which have displaced 400,000 people from their homes and seen more than 10,000 children kidnapped in northern and western Uganda in the last 12 years.

Reuters - AlertNet:



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Annan greets Mandela's appointment as Burundi facilitator

Highlights of the Noon Briefing
By Fred Eckhard
Spokesman for the Secretary-General
UN Headquarters, New York
The Secretary-General welcomed the designation by the Eighth Arusha Regional Summit on Burundi of former South African President Nelson R. Mandela as the new Facilitator of the Burundi Preace Process. The Secretary-General "hopes that the prestige and authority of Mr. Mandela will reinvigorate the process in Arusha after the death of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere," the Spokesman said.

In view of the current political and

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RFE/RL News 01 Dec 1999: Russian Federation/Chechnya

GROUND FIGHTING IN CHECHNYA INTENSIFIES
Chechen defenders continued to launch counterattacks against Russian forces in the vicinity of Alleroi, Tsentoroi, and Alkhan-Yurt, southeast of Grozny, and near Urus Martan, to the west of the capital, inflicting heavy losses. Russian forces continued their aerial and artillery bombardment of both Grozny and Urus Martan. Speaking by telephone from Grozny, former Chechen Foreign Minister Movladi Udugov told Reuters on 30 November that Russian claims to have surrounded Grozny from the west, north, and east are untrue and that federal forces control
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