MAIL-IT REQUESTED: JANUARY 27, 2000 10580X CLIENT: PAUL LIBRARY: NEWS FILE: ALLNWS YOUR SEARCH REQUEST AT THE TIME THIS MAIL-IT WAS REQUESTED: FRANCE CONGO AND (DATE AFT 1/27/1998 AND DATE BEF 1/28/2000) NUMBER OF STORIES FOUND WITH YOUR REQUEST THROUGH: LEVEL 1... 31 LEVEL 1 PRINTED DISPLAY FORMAT: FULL SEND TO: WEBSTER LIBRARY, # 1 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 7141 SHERBROOKE STREET WEST MONTREAL, QUEBEC CANADA H4B 1R6 **********************************06347********************************** PAGE 1 LEVEL 1 - 1 OF 31 STORIES COPYRIGHT 2000 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY XINHUA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE THE MATERIALS IN THE XINHUA FILE WERE COMPILED BY THE XINHUA NEWS AGENCY. THESE MATERIALS MAY NOT BE REPUBLISHED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE XINHUA NEWS AGENCY. January 11, 2000, Tuesday SECTION: WORLD NEWS; POLITICAL LENGTH: 211 words HEADLINE: French Minister to Tour Africa in Support of Lusaka Truce Agreement DATELINE: PARIS, January 11 BODY: French Minister of Cooperation Charles Josselin will visit Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda from January 12 to 15 to seek support for implementing the Lusaka truce agreement for the Democratic Republic of Congo, the French Foreign Ministry confirmed Tuesday. A French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Josselin will be in the three countries and meet with the "strongman" of Rwanda, Vice President and Defense Minister Paul Kagame, in Kigali. Uganda and Rwanda, who support the rebels of Congo, signed a truce agreement on July 10, 1999, in Lusaka, Zambia, with other belligerent countries of Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia involved in the Congo conflict which broke out in August 1998. The Congolese government of President Laurent Kabila, and its allies Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia also signed the agreement in Lusaka, while the rebels in Congo endorsed the truce on August 31, 1999. The truce agreement calls for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Congo, the demilitarization of the rebels, the deployment of U.N. peace-keeping force and free elections in Congo. However, sporadic fighting has since been going on between the Congolese government and rebels and the two sides blame each other for violating the truce accord. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: January 12, 2000 PAGE 2 LEVEL 1 - 2 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1999 Africa News Service, Inc. Africa News December 23, 1999 SECTION: NEWS, DOCUMENTS & COMMENTARY LENGTH: 610 words HEADLINE: Uganda; Uganda Plane in Unita Zone, Says Report BYLINE: Wairagala Wakabi, The East African (Nairobi) BODY: Kampala - Fresh reports that a DC-4 commercial plane, allegedly leased to the Uganda Air Force, was flying secret missions into Angola's rebel-controlled territory could signal trouble in the relationship between the two countries. The report, by a leading human rights group, claimed that the Ugandan plane was among others flying missions to the National Union for the Total Liberation of Angola (Unita)-held territory, implying that it was backing the rebels. But Uganda has demanded that the Angola government produce evidence of its alleged support to the Jonas Savimbi-led rebels, amid reports that senior Uganda People's Defence Forces and Intelligence officers had visited Angola recently. The reports said the officials, led by deputy chief of Military Intelligence Lt. Col. Noble Mayombo, were in the Angolan capital of Luanda last month, apparently to convince officials of President Eduardo dos Santos's government that Uganda did not support Unita. The acting director for Regional Cooperation in Uganda's Foreign Ministry, Mr. James Baba, said President Museveni had spoken several times with the Angolan Defence Minister over the allegations. Said Mr. Baba: "We've asked them to produce evidence of our support to Unita. We wrote to the Organisation of Africa Unity Secretary- General (in May) asking Angola to publish the evidence of our support to Unita, but they haven't," he said. Last Wednesday's report by the American Human Rights Watch organisation on the first anniversary of renewed fighting in Angola, said a plane leased by the Ugandan Air Force was sighted in Unita territory last year. The DC-4 plane number 3D-ATF - a commercial jet manufactured by US company Macdonald Douglas is registered in Mozambique to Interocean Airways. According to JP Airline Fleets International - the 1999/2000 index of planes and ownership the aircraft is leased to Uganda. It was in Unita territory without authorisation. It is also not clear what cargo or personnel the plane carried to and out of Angola. Author Alex Vines, who has researched Angola for the past five years, said: "It is rather alarming that a company with a history of sanctions busting is PAGE 3 Africa News, December 23, 1999 leasing an aeroplane to the Ugandan Air Force. Why was it in Angola if it was hired by the Ugandan Airforce?" The Angola visit of the Ugandan officials was prompted by reports that President Museveni's regime was dealing with Jonas Savimbi's Unita, which has battled Mr. dos Santos's regime for decades, and is accused of committing grave atrocities against civilians. Lt. Col. Mayombo declined to comment on the alleged visit. "I can't discuss that. The rules are that it is the Minister of Defence who can talk," he told The EastAfrican. Observers said Uganda's military could have dealt with Mr. Savimbi when Mr. dos Santos' regime started supporting President Laurent Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo against the rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda. UPDF spokesman Lt. Barigye Bakoko also declined to comment. The report named 20 aircraft involved in illegal flights to Unita territory. The planes were from the Angolan state oil company Sonangol, Ukraine, Russia, Moldovia, Liberia, France, Congo, Sierra Leone and Mozambique. Meanwhile The EastAfrican has learned that Uganda applied diplomatic pressure on the Zambian government to have the crew of a Ukrainian plane intercepted recently, freed. The plane was apparently on a mission to ferry arms to Unita. The crew of the Ilyushin 76 aircraft, which comprised five Ukrainians and a South African, was released without any charges against them. Publication date: December 20-26, 1999 LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: December 23, 1999 PAGE 4 LEVEL 1 - 3 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1999 British Broadcasting Corporation BBC Summary of World Broadcasts November 20, 1999, Saturday SECTION: Part 5 Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean; CENTRAL AFRICA; DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO; AL/D3697/A LENGTH: 321 words HEADLINE: Civil society members said "persecuted" by rebels in northeast SOURCE: Source: Misna news agency web site, Rome, in English 17 Nov 99 BODY: [3] Text of report in English by Italian-based Missionary Service News Agency (Misna) web site on 17th November The Reseau [network] France-Congo yesterday launched an alert concerning death threats against four prominent figures of the civil society of Butembo (Nord-Kivu [Province], [eastern] Democratic Republic of Congo). The Reseau also urged adhesion to an appeal to stop the persecution of the civil society, launched by the French NGO COSI [expansion untraced], an appeal or invitation addressed to authorities of the RCD (Congolese Rally for Democracy)[-Kisangani faction] which take orders from Prof Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, and to those of the Ugandan state. While as far as the imminent danger lurking over the four figures of the civil society [is concerned], two were in fact arrested in the last few days by the RCD forces which control the area. As reported by the Reseau, the two are Kasereka Kihuvi, vice-president of the entrepreneurs union in Butembo, and Desire Lumbu-Lumbu, honorary social affairs minister [title as published] of the then Republic of Zaire. Always according to the Reseau, the two were tortured, whipped and beaten to the point of being unrecognizable, and were therefore transferred three days ago to Kampala. The other two, which seem to have disappeared, are Vahamwiti Mukesyayira, president of the civil society of Butembo and delegation head of Nord-Kivu during the recent meeting, in Kinshasa, of NGOs, and Wabunga Singa, president of the diocesan peace and justice commission of Butembo-Beni [both in northeastern DRCongo]. Their families have been continuously visited and threatened by soldiers. The only possible thing that links the four, according to the Reseau, is the signing, together with another 14 local figures, of a memorandum sent to the RCD to illustrate the situation in the Beni-Lubero area [northeastern DRCongo]. PAGE 5 The British Broadcasting Corporation, November 20, 1999 LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: November 19, 1999 PAGE 6 LEVEL 1 - 4 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1999 British Broadcasting Corporation Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring November 18, 1999, Thursday LENGTH: 316 words HEADLINE: DRCongo: Civil society members said "persecuted" by rebels in northeast SOURCE: Misna news agency web site, Rome, in English 17 Nov 99 BODY: Text of report in English by Italian-based Missionary Service News Agency (Misna) web site on 17th November The Reseau network France-Congo yesterday launched an alert concerning death threats against four prominent figures of the civil society of Butembo (Nord-Kivu Province , eastern Democratic Republic of Congo). The Reseau also urged adhesion to an appeal to stop the persecution of the civil society, launched by the French NGO COSI expansion untraced , an appeal or invitation addressed to authorities of the RCD (Congolese Rally for Democracy) -Kisangani faction which take orders from Prof Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, and to those of the Ugandan state. While as far as the imminent danger lurking over the four figures of the civil society is concerned , two were in fact arrested in the last few days by the RCD forces which control the area. As reported by the Reseau, the two are Kasereka Kihuvi, vice-president of the entrepreneurs union in Butembo, and Desire Lumbu-Lumbu, honorary social affairs minister title as published of the then Republic of Zaire. Always according to the Reseau, the two were tortured, whipped and beaten to the point of being unrecognizable, and were therefore transferred three days ago to Kampala. The other two, which seem to have disappeared, are Vahamwiti Mukesyayira, president of the civil society of Butembo and delegation head of Nord-Kivu during the recent meeting, in Kinshasa, of NGOs, and Wabunga Singa, president of the diocesan peace and justice commission of Butembo-Beni both in northeastern DRCongo . Their families have been continuously visited and threatened by soldiers. The only possible thing that links the four, according to the Reseau, is the signing, together with another 14 local figures, of a memorandum sent to the RCD to illustrate the situation in the Beni-Lubero area northeastern DRCongo . LANGUAGE: English LOAD-DATE: November 18, 1999 PAGE 7 LEVEL 1 - 5 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1999 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd. The Toronto Star September 11, 1999, Saturday, Edition 1 SECTION: ENTERTAINMENT LENGTH: 619 words HEADLINE: WHAT EAR-CANDY SHOULD BE BODY: World Music Reviews Geoff Chapman World Playground (Putumayo) Here's a great earful for kids and doting parents: 12 songs from all over the planet that amount to cheerful ear-candy in the best sense. The roster includes such ''name'' players as bluesman Taj Mahal with Jamaica's Cedella Marley Booker (Bob Marley's mom) on ''Three Little Birds,'' Buckwheat Zydeco doing ''Mardi Gras Mambo'' and Canada's Teresa Doyle with the Maritime Celtic folkie ''Home By Barna.'' Other songs come from Senegal, Chile (a sweet version of ''La Mariposa'' by Colibri), Australia (Trevor Adamson's ''Waltzing Matilda'' in the aboriginal Pitjantjatjara dialect), Greece, France, Congo, Brazil, the U.S. and Israel (Shlomo Gronich and the Sheba Choir singing about the rescue of Ethiopian Jews). Great liner notes are the final touch to a great gift album. Get it. CHUCHO VALDES Briyumba Palo Congo (Blue Note) On Briyumba Palo Congo, percussive Cuban pianist Valdes, who is slated to play Massey Hall on Sept. 30, seeks the origins of the island's Bantu/Congo religious traditions aided by bass, drums and imaginatively forceful percussionist Roberto Vizcaino Guillot. Valdes abruptly transforms floating soundscapes into hard-driving lines and adds pounding versions of ''Caravan'' and ''Rhapsody In Blue' for contrast on the seven-tune outing. ''El Rumbo'' is the virtuoso showcase with its guaguanco beat, just ahead of the titler (with its ritmo de Palo and chorus) and the terrific ''Ponte La Clave.'' PAGE 8 The Toronto Star, September 11, 1999 There's a bristling thrust to all Valdes' ruminations about the African, Spanish and American influences on Cuba's music, with mambo and conga figures and exotic island rhythms cushioning the very contemporary sound. KARRIN ALLYSON From Paris To Rio (Concord) She used to concentrate on Broadway standards performed in the jazz mode, but now singer Allyson boldly pores over love songs originating far from her North American roots, as well as adding personal percussion and piano to her seven-piece band and chamber quartet. Almost all vocals here are in French and Portuguese, songs associated with Piaf (''Des Histoires''), Jacques Brel (''Ne Me Quitte Pas), Ivan Lins (''Te Amo'') and Gal Costa (''Coracao Vagabundo''). She is most effective in French, rather ordinary in Brazilian, offers some phrasing in English, does vocalese, includes a classical piece (''Belo Horizonte'' by Villa-Lobos) and even adds an Italian song adaptation of ''Cinema Paradiso.'' PANDIT SHIV KUMAR SHARMA Sampradaya (Realworld) Three works occupy 66 entrancing minutes of the legendary Sharma playing a folk instrument he has elevated to classical status - the santoor, a hammered dulcimer with 116 strings that are beaten with two carved sticks. Sharma plays the raga Janasammohini, which is meant to create serenity and happiness - and does. A second santoor player, Sharma's son, Rahul, is heard (as is custom), while Shafaat Ahmed Khan handles tabla and Manorama Sharma provides tanpura accompaniment on music that's all improvised but stunningly precise. OMAR FARUK TEKBILEK One Truth (World Class) Turkish singer and multi-instrumentalist Tekbilek maintains the revered old styles but adds such Western effects as electric guitar and keyboards, as well as flamenco guitars and planet-wide percussive ideas, to program 10 long, slick but not entirely convincing pieces. Some are new compositions, others are devotional music gussied up with contemporary surface embellishment. The impact is scattergun - traditional music for fleeting 21st-century tastes and hardly the best window into the wondrous depths of Sufi music. PAGE 9 The Toronto Star, September 11, 1999 GRAPHIC: KARRIN ALLYSON: Strays far from her jazz roots with album of French and Portuguese love songs. LANGUAGE: English LOAD-DATE: September 11, 1999 PAGE 10 LEVEL 1 - 6 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1999 The Omaha World-Herald Company Omaha World-Herald June 2, 1999, Wednesday SUNRISE EDITION SECTION: ;NEWS; Pg. 11 LENGTH: 387 words HEADLINE: Egyptian Envoy Says Milosevic Stands in the Way of Peace BYLINE: STEVE JORDON SOURCE: WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER BODY: NATO countries and Russia might be able to find grounds for peace in Kosovo if all sides in the conflict want to move toward peace, Egypt's ambassador to the United States said Tuesday in Omaha. Yet the policies of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic do not show a will for peace, said Ambassador Ahmed Maher El Sayed, who was a participant in the Camp David talks that led to peace between Egypt and Israel. "The experience of Camp David is that there has to be a common will of all participants to find a peaceful solution," El Sayed said, especially a respect by each side for the rights of the others and a vision of an equal relationship between them. "It seems to me that many of these conditions do not exist in Kosovo because of the policies of President Milosevic," he said. El Sayed was in Omaha to view an exhibit of Egyptian artifacts at Joslyn Art Museum. He said efforts by some NATO countries and Russia may bring a diplomatic solution to the Kosovo conflict. Former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari were to lead a peace mission to Belgrade today, and the Clinton administration signaled a willingness to suspend allied bombing of Yugoslavia. El Sayed said the next few days may show whether the prospects for peace are real. "What we had in Camp David is that both parties started from a point of equality and beliefs and a desire to conclude peace," he said. "What we see in Kosovo is the continuation of the policy of ethnic cleansing. We see bombing continuing. We see continued violence. The situation is very dangerous, but we do not know if it is ripe for a peaceful solution." El Sayed said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., told him about the Egyptian exhibit at Joslyn and invited him to visit Omaha. Michael Yanney, chairman of Joslyn's board of governors and chairman and chief executive officer of America First Cos., sponsored his visit. PAGE 11 Omaha World-Herald, June 2, 1999 El Sayed has been ambassador to the United States since 1992. He was ambassador to the Soviet Union and later Russia from 1988 to 1992. A 1956 graduate of the Cairo University Faculty of Law, he joined Egypt's foreign service the next year and has represented his country in Switzerland, France, Congo, Portugal, Belgium and other nations. GRAPHIC: Mug/1 El Sayed; Jeff Bundy/World-Herald/1 -PHID- 1007054 LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: June 2, 1999 PAGE 12 LEVEL 1 - 7 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1999 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company The Houston Chronicle April 08, 1999, Thursday 2 STAR EDITION SECTION: PREVIEW; Pg. 29 LENGTH: 257 words HEADLINE: REPERTORY & ART FILMS SOURCE: Staff BODY: Rice Media Center The New Films From Iran series continues with a double feature this weekend. The Traveler From the South (1996, 90 min., Farsi, with English subtitles). On his way to visit his aunt in Teheran, a 12 year-old boy has misadventures when he comes to the aid of an old woman who has been robbed. Director Parviz Shahbazi originated the story idea for The White Balloon. At 7:30 p.m. Friday; 4:15 and 8:45 p.m. Saturday. The Mirror (1997, 95 min., Farsi, with English subtitles). Jafar Panahi, director of The White Balloon, tells another story of a little girl, here getting frustrated with the adult world and taking things into her own hands. At 9:15 p.m. Friday; 2:30 and 7 p.m. Saturday. For information: 713-527-4853. Museum of Fine Arts The African Film Festival, co-sponsored by Houston's Ancestral Films in association with the Film Society of Lincoln Center, offers six features and four shorts. It begins this weekend and continues April 16-18. The opening film, I.D., includes an appearance by the director, Mweze Ngangura. This weekend: I.D (Pieces d'Identites, Belgium/France/Congo 1998, 97 min. subtitles). An aging African king has adventures in Brussels. At 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, When the Stars Meet the Sea (Quand les etoiles rencontrent la mer, Madagascar, 1996, 85 min., subtitles). Kapila embarks on a journey to find his father. Feature preceded by A Taxi for Aouzou (Un Taxi pour Aouzou, Chad, 1994, 22 min., subtitles). At 7 p.m. Sunday. PAGE 13 The Houston Chronicle April 08, 1999, Thursday For information: 713-639-7515. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH TYPE: Movie Review LOAD-DATE: April 10, 1999 PAGE 14 LEVEL 1 - 8 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1999 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company The Houston Chronicle April 05, 1999, Monday 3 STAR EDITION SECTION: A; Pg. 14 LENGTH: 1359 words HEADLINE: Houston's International Scene SOURCE: Special to the Chronicle BYLINE: NANCY A. DEAN BODY: Japan Festival will include origami, bonsai For the seventh year, visitors to the Japan Festival on Saturday and Sunday will be able to participate in authentic Japanese games and sample that country's food and entertainment. The festival, in the Japanese Garden area of Hermann Park will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. Admission is free. Activities will include demonstrations in origami (folding paper into elaborate animal and other shapes) and bonsai (cultivating miniature adult trees). Visitors can also participate in a Japanese tea ceremony. Other activities will include Japanese dancing, drums and martial arts presentations, plus tours through the Japanese Garden. The Japan-American Society and the Japan Business Association sponsor the festival each year to encourage an appreciation of Japanese culture in Texas and to increase awareness of the Japanese Garden. For information, call 713-963-0121. Space-station challenges topic at meeting "The International Space Station: The Ultimate Challenge for Cross-Cultural Communication," will be discussed by Regina North at theSIETAR meeting (Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research) on Saturday. North, a cross-cultural communication instructor at Johnson Space Center, will highlight the challenges to and innovations incorporated into training in order to effectively accomplish a huge multicultural project. Not only are the space-station astronauts involved in cross-cultural training, but also ground PAGE 15 The Houston Chronicle April 05, 1999, Monday operations and management personnel. The meeting will be at St. Luke's United Methodist Church, 3471 Westheimer at Edloe, Room R25. It begins with refreshments at 9:30 a.m., program at 10 a.m. Admission is free, and visitors are welcome. For details, call 713-669-1972. Final act of Italian opera celebration set The final act of the Italian Cultural and Community Center's "Celebration of 400 Years of Italian Opera in Four Acts," will be Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the center, 1101 Milford. The evening features dinner, wine, a lecture, videos and music. Nancy Bailey of Rice University's Shepherd School of Music will discuss the grand themes in Verdi's operas. Dinner is being provided by Crapitto's Restaurant. Proceeds from the four-part series support the programs of the center, including its Italian language program. For reservations, call 713-524-4222. Concertmaster performs for Israeli envoy Israeli violinist and concertmaster of the Houston Symphony, Uri Pianka, was the featured performer in a recent recital in the home of Tzion Evrony, consul general of Israel, and his wife, Rita. Pianist Scott Holshouser accompanied Pianka. Guests included director of the Baker Institute Edward Djerejian; the consuls general of Spain, India and Slovenia; the publisher and editor of the Jewish Herald-Voice; and Houston Chronicle senior editorial writer James Gibbons. Luncheon to honor Japan's consul general PAGE 16 The Houston Chronicle April 05, 1999, Monday Masami Takemoto, the recently arrived consul general of Japan, and his wife, Hiromi, will be the honored guests today at a luncheon hosted by the Japan-American Society to introduce the Takemotos to the international community in Houston. The consul general has come to Houston from Tokyo, where he had been a special assistant to the president of Japan's National Space Development Agency since 1997. Besides holding several positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the years, Takemoto also served in the Japanese embassies in Spain and Thailand. He entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1970, after graduating with a law degree from Waseda University. UH to stage Puccini's opera 'La Rondine' Puccini's comic opera "La Rondine" ("The Swallow") will be performed in Italian with English surtitles by students attending the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston on Friday, Saturday and April 12. For reservations and information, call 713-734-1000. International films showing in Houston All films mentioned in this summary are subtitled in English. An uncut edition of the Academy Award-winning "Cinema Paradiso" will be shown Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at the Italian Cultural Center, 1101 Milford. This version has recently been made available to American audiences. It includes 32 additional minutes cut from the film before it was distributed in Britain and the United States, so the audience discovers what became of Toto's first true love, Elena. Admission is free. The center provides the pizza; you bring your favorite Italian wine. For information, call 713-163-9291. As part of its retrospective on Marlene Dietrich, the Goethe-Institute, 3120 Southwest Freeway, Suite 100, is showing "Marlene" on Wednesday at 7 p.m. It is Maximilian Schell's documentary completed in 1983 in which the actress refuses to show her face. Dietrich is 78 (or maybe 83), and Schell begs and begs her to show herself, but only the off-camera voice is available. For details, call 713-528-2787. PAGE 17 The Houston Chronicle April 05, 1999, Monday African films are being shown at the Museum of Fine Arts for the next two weeks. To begin the festival, there will be a special appearance preceding the screenings on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. of the director of I.D., Mweze Ngangura. This Belgium/France/Congo production is an urban comedy about an aging Africa king who travels to Brussels to find the daughter he sent there years earlier. "When the Stars Meet the Sea," a film made in Madagascar, will be shown at 7 p.m. Sunday. Kapila is born in a small village on the day of an eclipse. Custom dictates that the baby survive a night alone among the cattle, but a childless young woman rescues him and forever changes his fate. The film will be preceded by a 22-minute short, "A Taxi for Aouzou," showing a cab traveling through Chad while the driver shares his hopes and dreams for the baby his wife is expecting. MFA films are screened in the Brown Auditorium, 1001 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-639-7515. Continuing its series featuring new films from Iran, The Rice University Media Center will show "The Traveler from the South" at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at 4:15 and 8:45 p.m. Saturday. It is about a 12-year-old boy who travels from southern Iran to visit his aunt in Tehran. The short film, "Outsider," will precede the featured movie. In it, an Iranian boy describes how he was pressured to join a gang and the sense of belonging it gave him. "The Mirror" will be screened Friday at 9:15 p.m. and Saturday at 2:30 and 7 p.m. A child waits in vain for her mother to pick her up from school. How she rebels and who she rebels against is what makes this a remarkable film. The center is at Entrance 8, University Boulevard and Stockton Drive, and the film information line is 713-527-4853. Tonight only there is also another film event at the Rice center. It is the American Museum of Natural History's Margaret Mead Traveling Film & Video Festival, the largest showcase for international documentaries in the United States. This year the newly formed Anthropology Club at Houston Community College Central Campus is hosting the festival in Houston. At 6 p.m. will be "Spudwrench-Kahnawake Man," a Canadian film about the Mohawk Indian "high steel" workers legendary for their part in building New York City skyscrapers. It will be followed by "Night Patrol," an Australian film about alcohol abuse, gasoline sniffing and domestic violence that reaches crisis proportions in the Yuendemu community in Australia's Northern Territory. Then at at 7:40 p.m. "Moon Children," a Taiwanese documentary about albinism, which in that country often leads to ostracism from mainstream society, will be shown. Bread Day is a Russian documentary set outside St. Petersburg in a forgotten settlement. At 9:50 p.m. the Lithuanian film, "The Bathhouse" is scheduled. On alternate days of the week, elderly men and women take refuge in the oldest and last active public bathhouse in Vilnius. The final documentary is "Black Tears," a musical portrait of the octogenarian Cuban quintet, The Old Troubadours. For information about the Mead festival, call 713-718-6860. PAGE 18 The Houston Chronicle April 05, 1999, Monday LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: April 6, 1999 PAGE 19 LEVEL 1 - 9 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1999 Africa News Service, Inc. Africa News April 1, 1999 SECTION: NEWS, DOCUMENTS & COMMENTARY LENGTH: 263 words HEADLINE: Congo Brazzaville; Church Organises Clean Up Of South-Brazzaville BYLINE: Panafrican News Agency BODY: Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - About 100 youths recruited by the Catholic Church of Congo have started cleaning up the south Brazzaville areas of Bacongo and Makelekele, in order to facilitate the return of some 200,000 civilians who fled the areas last December amid fighting between the army and Ninja militiamen. During the six-week operation, funded by France, Congo's major economic partner, the youths would clear burnt vehicles and household appliances in the streets, overcrowded by weeds sometimes 4 metres in height in some areas. The youths, wearing gloves, boots and masks, and using shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows, collect the garbage and load it on trucks belonging to a public works company. Each youth is paid 5,000 CFA francs per week. Just two days after the operation was launched, the youths have thoroughly cleaned Brazzaville's largest market in Bacongo and the Makelekele hospital. The operation does not cover the scouring of gutters which have been completely clogged up by garbage and sand. That aspect of the clean-up would be done by the EU which launched a major sanitation operation in north Brazzaville several weeks ago. Over 200,000 people fled south Brazzaville to seek refuge in the north of the Congolese capital from the street fighting that killed more than 400 people in two months (December and January). Several houses and shops were looted or burnt by armed gangs or unruly soldiers of the national army during the fighting. This looting is continuing, though with less intensity, in the south Brazzaville areas. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: April 1, 1999 PAGE 20 LEVEL 1 - 10 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1999 AFP-Extel News Limited AFX News March 11, 1999, Thursday SECTION: General; Summary; Other; General News; Government; Government Changes, Cabinet Lists LENGTH: 445 words HEADLINE: AFX World news summary - Holbrooke reports no progress in Kosovo peace talks BODY: WASHINGTON (AFX) - U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke said that more than six-and-a-half hours of direct talks with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic had yielded no progress towards a Kosovo peace agreement. NEW YORK (AFX) - Indonesia ruled out an agreement on an East Timor autonomy plan at current talks, and rejected a United Nations proposal for an indirect vote on the territory's future status. MOSCOW (AFX) - Premier Yevgeny Primakov said Russia will avoid entangling itself in a "big war" with Chechnya, but promised a tough response to punish the rebel republic for the abduction of a top Moscow envoy. KINSHASA (AFX) - The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo decided to expel four UK government officials and an American detained here since Sunday, official Congolese television reported. BEIJING (AFX) - Two Tibetan monks were detained in Lhasa after they staged a brief protest to mark the anniversary of anti-China riots, the Tibet Information Network said. RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AFX) - Two teenagers were killed in the Gaza Strip when Palestinian police opened fire on rioters protesting a death sentence handed down against a local man for slaying a policeman, officials said. GUATEMALA CITY (AFX) - In the first such admission from a U.S. leader, President Bill Clinton said that U.S. support for former military forces that caused violence in Guatemala was "wrong and must not be repeated." BOGOTA, Colombia (AFX) - The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest rebel group, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and murder of three U.S. citizens but said the act was not part of its policy. QUITO, Ecuador (AFX) - Six people were injured, including two police officers, and 97 people arrested during the first day of a 48-hour nation-wide strike, officials said. WASHINGTON (AFX) - The Pentagon appointed Admiral Joseph Prueher to review safety measures adopted in the aftermath of the ski lift accident that left 20 dead in Italy's Cavalese resort last year. Prueher is to conduct an investigation with Italian military authorities over the next 30 days, said a statement by the U.S. Defense Department. ROME (AFX) - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami spoke in favour of democracy and an end to terrorism here as protests continued to mar his visit, the first by an Iranian leader to western Europe since the 1979 Islamic revolution. sz/bl PAGE 21 AFX News, March 11, 1999 LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: March 12, 1999 PAGE 22 LEVEL 1 - 11 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1999 British Broadcasting Corporation BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific - Political Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring February 14, 1999, Sunday LENGTH: 384 words HEADLINE: OVERSEAS EVENTS MARK NORTH KOREAN LEADER KIM CHONG-IL'S BIRTHDAY SOURCE: KCNA news agency, Pyongyang, in English 1038 gmt 13 Feb 99 BODY: Text of report by the North Korean news agency KCNA Pyongyang, 13th February: 16th February Kim Chong-il's birthday is the greatest holiday of the Korean people. Celebrations are going on in the DPRK Democratic People's Republic of Korea and many other countries around the world ahead of this day. A "Latin American regional seminar on exploits performed by the respected Kim Chong-il for national reunification" took place in Lima, Peru, on 28th January, attended by over 400 people, including delegates from 10 Latin American countries. Those present at the seminar warmly congratulated Kim Chong-il on his birthday, highly praising him for his exploits in the cause of reunifying Korea. On 22nd December last year a preparatory committee was inaugurated in Guyana to celebrate his 57th birthday. Similar organizations have since been formed in some 30 countries, including Cambodia, Pakistan, Russia, Germany, Britain, France, Congo, Egypt and Mexico, involving senior party and government officials, politicians and public figures. The Indian national preparatory committee involves representatives of 25 political parties, public and friendship organizations. The preparatory committees fixed celebration days. In this period they hold celebration and lecture meetings, symposiums and other events in their capital cities and localities. The San Miguel City Council of Peru presented city gold medal and certificate of merit to him, and the Lain Ya Vernus as received , Guyana, group for the study of works of comrade Kim Chong-il was inaugurated with the February holiday in the offing. Media of many countries including the Ethiopian paper The Monitor', the Guyanese paper Chronicle' and the Madagascan national radio arranged special issues or special programmes under titles, including those "leader Kim Chong-il's political philosophy" and "great man of 21st century". His famous works have been published in booklet. In the last three years alone, more than one hundred countries witnessed the inauguration of preparatory committees to celebrate the February holiday and more than 2,000 celebrations were held in some 200 countries. Over 300 media in about 150 countries made special issues and broadcast special programmes on PAGE 23 BBC Worldwide Monitoring, February 14, 1999, Sunday some 1,000 occasions. LANGUAGE: English LOAD-DATE: March 31, 1999 PAGE 24 LEVEL 1 - 12 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1999 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur January 28, 1999, Thursday, BC Cycle 19:15 Central European Time SECTION: International News LENGTH: 93 words HEADLINE: Timber firm staff missing in Congo DATELINE: Paris BODY: Several staff of a German timber firm have been missing in the Congo People's Republic (Brazzaville) since Tuesday morning, the French Foreign Ministry said in Paris Thursday. Among the missing are five French nationals, a German, a Dane and several Congolese, the ministry said. They work for the Socobois timber company and were last seen around the town of Dolisie. "We are trying together with the German Foreign Office to find out something about the situation of the timber company staff," a French Foreign Ministry spokesman said. dpa jp LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: January 28, 1999 PAGE 25 LEVEL 1 - 13 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1999 Agence France Presse Agence France Presse January 05, 1999 12:46 GMT SECTION: International news LENGTH: 218 words HEADLINE: Armed 'bandits' killed French expatriate in Congo: army source DATELINE: (INCORPORATES France-Congo) BODY: BRAZZAVILLE, Jan 5 (AFP) - Armed bandits executed a French expatriate worker whose body was found at Nkayi in Congo where he had been employed by a sugar company, a military source said Tuesday. The source, who asked not to be named, said that Thierry Teissedre, 27, had been killed in December by ex-militia forces of a regime ousted in 1997. The source gave no details of other deaths, but the Dauphine Libere daily reported Tuesday that a Congolese colleague of Teissedre had also been brutally murdered. The French expatriate came from Avenieres in eastern France. The two bodies were found by a team sent by Teissedre's employers, a Congolese-based subsidiary of the Grands Moulins de Paris which specialises in sugar cane production. Congo has seen a resurgence of fighting since December 10 between the army and rebel militias. The army source said that Teissedre was killed either by the Cocoye militia of former president Pascal Lissouba or the Ninjas of ex-prime minister Bernard Kolelas. The French paper said Teissedre's relatives had lost all contact with him 17 days ago. The army of President Denis Sassou Nguesso last month carried out operations against militia forces active in the Nkayi region, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) west of Brazzaville. jg-mc/nb/gd LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: January 05, 1999 PAGE 26 LEVEL 1 - 14 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur November 28, 1998, Saturday, BC Cycle 10:50 Central European Time SECTION: International News LENGTH: 167 words HEADLINE: Hostile sides in Congo conflict meet in Paris DATELINE: Paris BODY: The hostile sides in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo were brought together at the negotiating table Saturday morning through the efforts of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and French President Jacues Chirac, diplomatic sources said in Paris. The meeting sponsored by the United Nations was attended by Congo's self-declared president Laurence Desire Kabila and Presidents Pasteur Bizimungu of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Also on hand were President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe as chairman the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Burkina Faso President Blaise Comparoe as chairman of the Organisation for African Unity (OAU). The meeting took place on the periphery of the 20th Franco-African summit which is being attended by 49 of the 53 member nations of the OAU and the U.N. Secretary-General. Rebels in eastern Congo have been fighting to topple Kabila, and both Bizimungu and Museveni have admitted to supporting the rebels. dpa ba LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: November 28, 1998 PAGE 27 LEVEL 1 - 15 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur November 28, 1998, Saturday, BC Cycle 11:38 Central European Time SECTION: International News LENGTH: 168 words HEADLINE: CORRECTION: Hostile sides in Congo conflict meet in Paris DATELINE: Paris BODY: The hostile sides in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo were brought together at the negotiating table Saturday morning through the efforts of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and French President Jacues Chirac, diplomatic sources said in Paris. The meeting sponsored by the United Nations was attended by Congo's self-declared president Laurence Desire Kabila and Presidents Pasteur Bizimungu of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Also on hand were President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe as chairman the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore as chairman of the Organisation for African Unity (OAU). The meeting took place on the periphery of the 20th Franco-African summit which is being attended by 49 of the 53 member nations of the OAU, as well as the U.N. Secretary-General. Rebels in eastern Congo have been fighting to topple Kabila, and both Bizimungu and Museveni have admitted support for the rebels. dpa ba EDITOR-NOTE: Eds: correcting Burkina Faso president's name in 3rd graf LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: November 28, 1998 PAGE 28 LEVEL 1 - 16 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur November 28, 1998, Saturday, BC Cycle 12:46 Central European Time SECTION: International News LENGTH: 55 words HEADLINE: URGENT Annan receives pledge to end Congo conflict DATELINE: Paris BODY: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has received a pledge from the warring parties that they will end immediately all hostilities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This was announced Saturday by a U.N. spokesman following peace negotiations on the periphery of the 20th Franco-African summit in Paris. dpa wo LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: November 28, 1998 PAGE 29 LEVEL 1 - 17 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur November 28, 1998, Saturday, BC Cycle 13:22 Central European Time SECTION: International News LENGTH: 200 words HEADLINE: 1ST LEAD: Annan receives pledge to end Congo conflict DATELINE: Paris BODY: An end to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo appeared in sight Saturday after a U.N. spokesman announced that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has received a pledge from the warring parties that they will end all hostilities immediately. Annan and French President Jacques Chirac had earlier Saturday brought the hostile sides together at the negotiating table for the first time, on the periphery of the Franco-African summit which was due to end later Saturday. The U.N.-sponsored meeting was attended by Congo's self-declared president Laurence Desire Kabila and Presidents Pasteur Bizimungu of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Rebels in eastern Congo have been fighting to topple Kabila, and both Bizimungu and Museveni have admitted support for the rebels. Also on hand were President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe as chairman the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore as chairman of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). The meeting took place during the 20th Franco-African summit which is being attended by 49 of the 53 member nations of the OAU, as well as the U.N. Secretary-General. dpa wo ba LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: November 28, 1998 PAGE 30 LEVEL 1 - 18 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur November 28, 1998, Saturday, BC Cycle 14:44 Central European Time SECTION: International News LENGTH: 335 words HEADLINE: 2ND LEAD: Annan receives pledge to end Congo conflict DATELINE: Paris BODY: An end to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo appeared in sight Saturday after a U.N. spokesman announced that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has received a pledge from the warring parties that they will end all hostilities by mid-December at the latest. Annan and French President Jacques Chirac had earlier Saturday brought the hostile sides together at the negotiating table for the first time, on the periphery of the Franco-African summit. The U.N.-sponsored meeting was attended by Congo's self-declared president Laurence Desire Kabila and Presidents Pasteur Bizimungu of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Rebels in eastern Congo have been fighting to topple Kabila, and both Bizimungu and Museveni have admitted support for the rebels. Also on hand were President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe as chairman the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore as chairman of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Chirac confirmed that an agreement had been reached and said that a ceasefire would be signed before December 17, the day on which a two-day OAU conference opens in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. The Congo meeting took place during the 20th Franco-African summit which was attended by 49 of the 53 member nations of the OAU, as well as the U.N. secretary-general, and ended on Saturday. Meanwhile the governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia announced at the summit in Paris that they were seeking a peaceful solution to their border dispute. Their willingness to reach a settlement to the dispute, which erupted in fighting in May, was mentioned in the conference's final document. Annan had held talks on the fringes of the summit with Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Eritrea, which gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993, bases its claims on surveys carried out by the former Italian colonial authorities back in 1902. dpa ba wo PAGE 31 Deutsche Presse-Agentur, November 28, 1998 EDITOR-NOTE: Eds: Updating, adding Eritrea-Ethiopia talks LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: November 28, 1998 PAGE 32 LEVEL 1 - 19 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur November 28, 1998, Saturday, BC Cycle 16:20 Central European Time SECTION: International News LENGTH: 548 words HEADLINE: ROUNDUP: Leaders pledge to end Congo, Eritrea-Ethiopia conflicts DATELINE: Paris BODY: African leaders gathered in Paris for the Franco-African summit pledged Saturday to end the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia. A United Nations spokesman announced that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had received a pledge from the leaders of the countries involved in the DRC conflict that they would end all hostilities by mid-December at the latest. Annan and French President Jacques Chirac had earlier Saturday brought the hostile sides together at the negotiating table for the first time on the periphery of the Franco-African summit. The U.N.-sponsored meeting was attended by Congo's self-declared president Laurence Desire Kabila and Presidents Pasteur Bizimungu of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Also on hand were President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe as chairman the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore as chairman of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Rebels in eastern Congo have been fighting to topple Kabila, and both Bizimungu and Museveni have admitted support for the rebels. Chirac confirmed that an agreement had been reached and said that a ceasefire would be signed before December 17, the day on which a two-day OAU conference opens in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. Back in Africa, however, the rebels said they had no direct knowledge of any agreement, although they had heard the news on the radio. A commander of the RCD rebel alliance, speaking by satellite phone from their headquarters in Goma, on the border with Rwanda, dismissed the report of an accord. "The struggle continues," he declared. "Our troops are advancing. Everything else is complete and utter nonsense." Meanwhile the governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia announced at the summit in Paris that they were seeking a peaceful solution to their border dispute. PAGE 33 Deutsche Presse-Agentur, November 28, 1998 Their willingness to reach a settlement to the dispute, which erupted in fighting in May, was mentioned in the conference's final document. Annan had held talks on the fringes of the summit with Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Eritrea, which gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993, bases its claims on surveys carried out by the former Italian colonial authorities back in 1902. The final communique of the 20th Franco-African summit - which was attended by 49 of the 53 member nations of the OAU, as well as the U.N. secretary-general, and ended on Saturday - took note of the pledges to end the DRC conflict, saying that the parties "have declared their willingness to undertake measures within a short period of time in order to move significantly forward the search for a negotiated settlement". The states supporting the Kinshasa government - Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola and Chad - had expressed their willingness to implement a ceasefire "as soon as the circusmtances permitted this". Only Libya and Sudan, on which international sanctions have been imposed, and Somalia and Algeria, did not attend the Paris summit. The summit is held every two years, alternately in France and an African country. Mali and Cameroon have offered to host the next conference. dpa ba wo EDITOR-NOTE: Eds: Updating with denial by Congo rebels LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: November 28, 1998 PAGE 34 LEVEL 1 - 20 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur November 28, 1998, Saturday, BC Cycle 23:06 Central European Time SECTION: International News LENGTH: 614 words HEADLINE: 2ND ROUNDUP: Leaders pledge to end Congo, Eritrea-Ethiopia conflicts DATELINE: Paris BODY: African leaders gathered in Paris for the Franco-African summit pledged Saturday to end the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia. A United Nations spokesman announced that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had received a pledge from the leaders of the countries involved in the DRC conflict that they would end all hostilities by mid-December at the latest. Annan and French President Jacques Chirac had earlier Saturday brought the hostile sides together at the negotiating table for the first time on the periphery of the Franco-African summit. The U.N.-sponsored meeting was attended by Congo's self-declared president Laurence Desire Kabila and Presidents Pasteur Bizimungu of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Also on hand were President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe as chairman the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore as chairman of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Late Saturday, Kabila announced the Democratic Republic of the Congo would propose a time frame to end the fighting in his country that would include a December 8 meeting in the Zambian capital Lusaka at which a temporary armistice would be signed. Under the plan, a final accord would be developed December 17-18 at a conference of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Quagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. Rebels in eastern Congo have been fighting to topple Kabila, and both Bizimungu and Museveni have admitted support for the rebels. Chirac confirmed that an agreement had been reached and said that a ceasefire would be signed before December 17, the day on which a two-day OAU conference opens in Ouagadougou. Back in Africa, however, the rebels said they had no direct knowledge of any agreement, although they had heard the news on the radio. A commander of the RCD rebel alliance, speaking by satellite phone from their headquarters in Goma, on the border with Rwanda, dismissed the report of an accord. PAGE 35 Deutsche Presse-Agentur, November 28, 1998 "The struggle continues," he declared. "Our troops are advancing. Everything else is complete and utter nonsense." Meanwhile, the governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia announced at the summit in Paris that they were seeking a peaceful solution to their border dispute. Their willingness to reach a settlement to the dispute, which erupted in fighting in May, was mentioned in the conference's final document. Annan had held talks on the fringes of the summit with Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Eritrea, which gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993, bases its claims on surveys carried out by the former Italian colonial authorities back in 1902. The final communique of the 20th Franco-African summit - which was attended by 49 of the 53 member nations of the OAU, as well as the U.N. secretary-general, and ended on Saturday - took note of the pledges to end the DRC conflict, saying that the parties "have declared their willingness to undertake measures within a short period of time in order to move significantly forward the search for a negotiated settlement". The states supporting the Kinshasa government - Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola and Chad - had expressed their willingness to implement a ceasefire "as soon as the circusmtances permitted this". Only Libya and Sudan, on which international sanctions have been imposed, and Somalia and Algeria, did not attend the Paris summit. The summit is held every two years, alternately in France and an African country. Mali and Cameroon have offered to host the next conference. dpa ba wo wp EDITOR-NOTE: Eds: inserts kabila plans for preliminary armistice agreement LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: November 29, 1998 PAGE 36 LEVEL 1 - 21 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur November 27, 1998, Friday, BC Cycle 16:25 Central European Time SECTION: International News LENGTH: 463 words HEADLINE: ROUNDUP: Congo peace hopes rise after talks set for next month DATELINE: Paris BODY: Hopes for a peaceful solution to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo rose Friday with the announcement of a reconciliation meeting involving African leaders next month in Burkina Faso. France's development minister, Charles Josselin, said he was optimistic following news of the meeting that the crisis in former Zaire could be solved before the end of the year. He was speaking at a two-day Franco-African summit, also attended by Congo's self-declared president Laurence Desire Kabila, who was welcomed with a handshake by French President Jacques Chirac. There has been much media criticism of the presence of Kabila and other African dictators at the Paris summit. Human rights groups have been calling for Kabila to be arrested, but public prosecutors in Paris said Friday they would be taking no legal steps against the Congolese leader, who enjoys political immunity. Burkina Faso's foreign minister, Ablasse Ouedraogo, whose country holds the presidency of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), told the French radio station RFI the reconciliation meeting would be held in the West African country's capital Ouagadougou on December 17 and 18. It was hoped the meeting would be attended by 20 to 25 heads of state. All countries which were affected by the Congo crisis were invited as well as neighbours who could contribute to the search for a peaceful solution, he said. Kabila himself indicated he was ready to take part in talks. "A meeting with the aggressors is possible," he said on the fringe of the summit to the possibility of a meeting with Rwanda's President Pasteur Bizimungu and Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni: He added that the "unconditional withdrawal" of Rwandan and Ugandan troops from Congo was a precondition for any talks. But he rejected contacts with rebel forces, who have sent representatives to Paris, with the words, "which rebellion?". PAGE 37 Deutsche Presse-Agentur, November 27, 1998 Both Bizimungu and Museveni, who admit to supporting the rebels in eastern Congo fighting to topple Kabila, are taking part in what is the 20th Franco-African summit, but the first since France adopted a policy of non-interference in francophone nations on the continent and cut back its troop presence in Africa to 7,200 soldiers. Security was tight for the meeting, which is being attended by 49 of the 53 member nations of the OAU as well as United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. OAU President Blaise Compaore, Burkina Faso's head of state, told the summit that African states were responsible for their security, but this had to be supported by the international community. Efforts for security and stability required "unanimous vigour" from the African states for a mechanism for solving conflicts, Compaore said. dpa bw LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: November 27, 1998 PAGE 38 LEVEL 1 - 22 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 British Broadcasting Corporation BBC Monitoring Africa - Political Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring November 15, 1998, Sunday LENGTH: 726 words HEADLINE: CONGO: VISITING FRENCH MINISTER MEETS SASSOU-NGUESSO, PLEDGES COOPERATION SOURCE: Radio Liberte, Brazzaville, in French 1200 gmt 12 Nov 98 BODY: Text of report by Congolese Radio Liberte on 12th November Words indistinct among them the president of the republic, Denis Sassou-Nguesso. During their meeting, they discussed the forthcoming Franco-African summit which will take place in Paris from 26th to 28th November. In addition to the contacts he held with Congolese officials, Charles Josselin, French secretary of state for cooperation, held discussions with the French community resident in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire and also gave a news briefing which I ask you to listen to now. Josselin - recording We have very little time for this discussion, and I have to limit my address in order to make room for questions. However, I would like to begin this news briefing by reminding you that this is my first visit to Congo and also the first visit by a French minister since the war. It is also the first visit by an European minister since the war. To demonstrate the importance that France attaches to this ministerial visit, the French government wants the presence of the French cooperation minister here to attest to our determination to help Congo in its efforts at reconstruction, and also to deepen the roots of democracy. I had a very busy schedule in that I met several high level ministers today. I met the minister of foreign affairs, National Private Enterprises Minister Kaya, Finance Minister Dzon, the minister of culture and Francophone affairs, the president of the National Transitional council, and the minister of interior whom I met early this morning. He was by my side at the Armed Forces Central Hospital when we presented some equipment, some vehicles and medical equipment to the government - an action which so well demonstrates France's cooperation. Again this evening, I was able to meet President Sassou-Nguesso, with whom I held a lengthy exchange of views not only on Congo's internal situation, but also about its surroundings. We talked about the Central African region, particularly about the situation in its large neighbouring country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. I can say that France and Congo have long-standing bonds of cooperation marked by the stability of their relations words indistinct . I have personally followed with much attention the development in the situation since I took charge of cooperation and Francophone affairs. I was called into the government on 3rd June, and on 5th June, I assumed my duties. Congo was, in a way, the first issue I had to deal with and two days later, I held a first discussion with President Sassou-Nguesso on the television as heard . This is to say that in a way, I had contact with Congolese affairs very quickly and without exaggerating, I think I shared the concerns and the moments of distress experienced by the Congolese people and which the French community has also experienced. However, I am happy to note that progressively, Congo is PAGE 39 BBC Worldwide Monitoring, November 15, 1998, Sunday picking up, even if there is still much to be done. I saw proof of this when I went through the streets of Brazzaville. I know that if I had had the time to go towards Pointe-Noire or towards the north, I would have been able to assess what is left to be done in the area of road and communications, but for the meantime, we are concentrating our efforts on two important areas - the restoration of law and order and the fight against poverty. The restoration of law and order means support for the judiciary, the police, gendarmerie and the security service. It is the word indistinct of the public services. The fight against poverty means the development of word indistinct and self-sufficiency in food production. It also means support for health services, training and, in particular, the efforts to be accomplished for basic education and primary education with the determination to continue this effort to the level of higher education. Congo also needs to train its citizens. A short while ago, President Sassou-Nguesso was telling me about his concern for regional integration. I can see that Congo can play an important role in this region of Africa - it has the means to do so. At any rate, France is ready to help it play this role and to exploit its potential natural, material, and human wealth which is quite extensive. Well, I will like to stop here and respond to your questions... passage indistinct . LANGUAGE: English LOAD-DATE: March 30, 1999 PAGE 40 LEVEL 1 - 23 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 Africa News Service, Inc. Africa News November 10, 1998 SECTION: NEWS, DOCUMENTS & COMMENTARY LENGTH: 128 words HEADLINE: Congo Brazzaville; Charles Josselin In Brazzaville BYLINE: Panafrican News Agency BODY: BRAZZAVILLE, Congo (PANA) - The French junior minister in charge of Cooperation and Francophone affairs, Charles Josselin, arrived in Brazzaville late Monday to begin a three-day working visit in Congo, officials said Tuesday. During his stay, he will hold talks with the ministers of foreign affairs, planning, privatisation, private initiative promotion as well as with the chairman of the Transitional National Council (parliament). Josselin is the first high ranking French official to visit to Congo since the end of the civil war in October 1997. France is Congo's main economic partner and Pris is trying to get the international community to assist in post-war reconstruction estimated to cost 500 billion CFA francs (1 US dollar = 550 francs). LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: November 10, 1998 PAGE 41 LEVEL 1 - 24 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur September 10, 1998, Thursday, BC Cycle 19:51 Central European Time SECTION: International News LENGTH: 68 words HEADLINE: France to fly 34 tons of relief to troubled Congo DATELINE: Paris BODY: France is to fly 34 tons of relief supplies into the Democratic Republic of Congo this Sunday, the French state minister for development aid, Charles Josselin, said Thursday in Paris. The flight to Kinshasa will bring food, medicines and equipment to purify water. An aircraft will be made available for an entire week to fly emergency aid to isolated parts of the African country, he added. dpa jbp LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: September 10, 1998 PAGE 42 LEVEL 1 - 25 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur August 15, 1998, Saturday, BC Cycle 19:26 Central European Time SECTION: International News LENGTH: 90 words HEADLINE: France begins evacuation of expatriates from Kinshasa DATELINE: Paris BODY: French military aircraft began taking aboard French citizens and other Westerners fleeing the rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo, France 2 television reported Saturday. Three planes were standing by in Brazzaville, across the Congo River from Kinshasa, to receive evacuees being ferried across the river in boats. A Belgian aircraft was reported to be waiting at the Kinshasa airport to airlift foreigners out. The evacuation was being undertaken with the approval of the Congolese government, reports said. dpa eg jbp LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: August 15, 1998 PAGE 43 LEVEL 1 - 26 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company The New York Times August 15, 1998, Saturday, Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section A; Page 3; Column 1; Foreign Desk LENGTH: 1156 words HEADLINE: Civilians Flee Congo's Capital in Fear of Rebel Advance BYLINE: By HOWARD W. FRENCH DATELINE: KINSHASA, Congo, Aug. 14 BODY: Increasingly uncertain that the Government can keep approaching rebel forces at bay, thousands of foreigners and Congolese alike fled the capital today by whatever means they could. The rush to leave came even as things seemed to veer in the direction of normality, however temporarily, with the restoration of electrical power to the city after a 24-hour interruption. Responding to the urgent-sounding calls of almost every major Western country for its citizens to leave Congo, foreigners and locals with the cash and visas needed to board flights besieged airline offices and filled every available seat on the few remaining commercial flights. "I have got to get my family out," said one longtime foreign resident, who despite abundant business connections with the airlines had to struggle against many people, some offering bribes to airline officials, to secure three seats for relatives. "I myself will stay behind. But no one knows what might happen here, and the family had to leave." By day's end, virtually every scheduled airline had canceled its service to this city of more than five million, and Western countries, including the United States and France, were making arrangements for special charter flights to evacuate their remaining citizens. Many in Kinshasa feared the worst after a night without electricity, which followed the rebels' dramatic seizure of Africa's largest hydroelectric dam. But power was restored in most parts of the city by midday today. That set off another round of competing rebel and Government claims over the course of a nearly two-week-old conflict that has at times seemed as much psychological as military. The rebels said they still held the dam at Inga, about 200 miles southwest of here, but had restored the power supply as a humanitarian gesture. They threatened to cut it off again within three days if Mr. Kabila still clung to power. PAGE 44 The New York Times, August 15, 1998 The Government, having already suffered a huge blow with the interruption of electricity on Thursday, sought to reassure a public already tending toward flight and despair. "The dam was not taken by the invaders," Energy Minister Christian Eloko Botula said in an interview on the national radio after transmission had been restored. "There was simply a technical failure, and it has been repaired." That posture was belied by a private admission by a Government minister on Thursday that the dam had been lost to the rebels. For most people here, the failure of electricity has meant the failure of the water supply as well. And for reasons that have not been explained, the restoration of the power grid has not brought a resumption of running water. "This is the first time since decolonization that we have been without both water and electricity," said Albert Mbuy, 54, who spoke near his house in the crowded popular neighborhood known as La Cite. A bystander, Kini Mbabu, responded, "It looks like a game to make us afraid." Electricity and water were not the only bad news for the Government either, although the impact of even more potentially serious developments has not yet come to be widely felt. The rebels said today that they had resumed flights of men and weapons from cities under their control in the country's far east, where the uprising began, toward the west, where they were reinforcing their positions and preparing to attack new targets. Throughout the conflict, diplomats here have said they have had few precise details about the rebels' activities. But witnesses sighted airplanes taking off today from the eastern city of Goma near the Rwandan border, and a foreign military expert and a local aviation specialist here both confirmed an abundance of mysterious flights from the east. Although Western diplomats among others have described the Tutsi ethnic group of Rwanda as the primary backer of the revolt, it remains unclear who actually makes up the rebel ranks. The rebels have been careful to present a diverse and visibly Congolese face to the public, and given the dislike of Rwandans in Congo, the leadership of any future government would be expected to be similarly diverse, not led by Tutsi, who are but a tiny minority in Congo. Little is known about the ideology of the rebels, who express platitudes about clean government and democracy. What they have accomplished so far has been done with surprisingly scant means. Angolan soldiers who visited the strategic western city of Boma, by the border with Angola, said the rebels were holding that town with as few as 100 men. Similarly, the nearby provincial capital of Matadi, a major western city, fell to the rebels on Thursday after a relatively minor clash. By all PAGE 45 The New York Times, August 15, 1998 accounts, Government soldiers in the area far outnumbered the rebels but panicked and fled their positions, looting shops and vehicles in their path. Today, to general disbelief, the Government announced that in addition to the Inga dam, it still controlled Matadi. "Kabila made the mistake of counting on numbers rather than quality when he put together his army," said one Congolese colonel who gave the Government little chance of defeating the rebels. "They discarded the notion of elite corps and specialization, destroying everything they found without distinction. The problem now is that our neighbors have serious armies with experienced units, and it is easy for them to dominate us." The notion of foreign domination has always been at the heart of this conflict, with Mr. Kabila, himself installed a year earlier in the same kind of operation, complaining bitterly of an invasion by Rwanda, with the help of Uganda and perhaps Western benediction as well. For the colonel -- as for Mr. Kabila and many Congolese and foreign diplomats as well -- it is a fact scarcely worth debating that from the start Rwanda has had an important hand in the rebellion. Faring poorly on the battlefield, Mr. Kabila's Government has made the foreign support for his adversaries a major theme of its propaganda war, and has had little trouble whipping up popular passions against Rwanda. At the outset of the rebellion, Mr. Kabila's forces in the capital organized a roundup of Rwandans -- and Congolese of suspected Rwandan ancestry -- that involved house-to-house searches, beatings and in at least a few cases lynchings and summary executions. Since then, international rights groups have complained that the state radio here has waged a hate campaign against Rwandans. But the depth of sentiment against Rwandans was profound already, in part because of resentment over their role in aiding Mr. Kabila's takeover. Now that resentment stands as one of Mr. Kabila's strongest remaining assets in his fight against the rebels. "We don't want the Rwandans here," said one elderly man who declined to give his name, "and a lot of people are going to die if they don't understand that. This country is Congo, and it belongs to the Congolese alone." GRAPHIC: Photo: Residents of Kinshasa collected drinking water yesterday from a pipe they opened. Electrical power was restored, but not running water. (Agence France-Presse) LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: August 15, 1998 PAGE 46 LEVEL 1 - 27 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur August 14, 1998, Friday, BC Cycle 17:47 Central European Time SECTION: International News LENGTH: 96 words HEADLINE: France sends planes to Congo in case of evacuation DATELINE: Paris BODY: As rebel forces advanced on Kinshasha, the French government announced Friday it was sending three military planes to Africa to stand by in event French citizens have to be evacuated from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The planes, carrying troops to assist in any possible evacuation, will be flown to Brazzaville, which is across the Congo River from Kinshasa. About 500 French citizens are known to be in Kinshasa, about 100 of whom have expressed interest in leaving the war-torn country. They were hoping to leave Kinshasa aboard a chartered plane. dpa eg ms LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: August 14, 1998 PAGE 47 LEVEL 1 - 28 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur July 11, 1998, Saturday, BC Cycle 09:28 Central European Time SECTION: International News LENGTH: 103 words HEADLINE: Congo releases French aid worker DATELINE: Paris BODY: A French aid worker who was detained in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Zaire, on May 4 has been freed and has left the country by air to Brussels, the office of French President Jacques Chirac announced Saturday. Fabrice Michalon had been travelling around Zaire on behalf of Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World) to gather information for aid projects when he was arrested in Goma, near the Rwandan border. During his tour of southern Africa in late June, Chirac had asked heads of state to intervene on behalf of Michalon, whose detention France had criticized as being arbitrary. dpa ba LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: July 11, 1998 PAGE 48 LEVEL 1 - 29 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 AFP-Extel News Limited AFX News February 25, 1998, Wednesday SECTION: Company News; Statistics LENGTH: 177 words HEADLINE: Elf Aquitaine unit finds new hydrocarbon reservoir in Moho field BODY: LONDON (AFX) - Elf Aquitane said its unit Elf Congo's second appraisal well in the Moho field, Moho Marine 3, showed a new hydrocarbon reservoir situated in the tertiary geological formation before reaching the main objective situated in the Albien formation. Elf said tests have been carried out on two levels of the tertiary, which gave an overall daily cumulative flow rate of 6,800 barrels. Drilling is now continuing as a side-track well, in order to reach its main objective in the Albien formation, it said. The company said: "These new results confirm the potential of the Haute Mer license and the important interest of tertiary exploration in the Congo. Studies are being carried out in order to determine the optimum conditions for developing the Moho field." Elf Congo is the operator of the Haute Mer exploration license within the framework of a production-sharing contract with the Republic of Congo. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: February 26, 1998 PAGE 49 LEVEL 1 - 30 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 AFP-Extel News Limited AFX News February 10, 1998, Tuesday SECTION: Company News; Statistics LENGTH: 81 words HEADLINE: Elf discovers oil off Congo BODY: PARIS (AFX) - Elf Aquitaine said its Elf Congo unit has made an oil discovery on the Haute Mer licence off the Congo coast. The discovery well, Bilondo Marine 1, is located 16 km southwest of Elf's Nkossa field. Production tests on two reservoir levels gave a daily cumulative flow rate of 8,520 barrels of oil, but additional work is necessary to evaluate the size of the discovery, it said. sw/pav LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: February 11, 1998 PAGE 50 LEVEL 1 - 31 OF 31 STORIES Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company The New York Times January 30, 1998, Friday, Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section A; Page 4; Column 6; Foreign Desk LENGTH: 187 words HEADLINE: World News Briefs; Congo's Leader Accuses U.N. of Helping Rebels BYLINE: AP DATELINE: BUKAVU, Congo, Jan. 29 BODY: Congo's President, Laurent Kabila, has accused France and two aid organizations of helping rebels in the eastern part of the country, according to an aide. President Kabila said on Wednesday that the French Government, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Caritas, a Catholic charity, were helping the rebels, according to Congolese radio and television reports. "All the evils originate from this," Mr. Kabila said in an interview in the eastern town of Bukavu. He did not specify how the foreign groups were helping the rebels and gave no reason for the accusation. In Geneva, Paul Stromberg, a United Nations spokesman, said Mr. Kabila's claims were untrue. "I don't know what makes him say these things," Mr. Stromberg said. Though some of the rebels backed Mr. Kabila's troops during his successful rebellion last year, the Congolese President said they have since turned against him. The Congo's Interior Minister, Gaetan Kakudji, said Mr. Kabila was considering declaring a state of emergency in the eastern provinces. "We will not let a new war happen there," Mr. Kakudji said. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: January 30, 1998