Lausanne World Pulse – World Pulse Archives – World Pulse Archives
BURUNDI: Last spring Burundi seemed on the way to peace. In fact, 11 of the country’s 17 provinces qualified for development aid. But all that is in shambles now, not because of Hutu-Tutsi tribal rivalries, but because of power struggles between different parties within the major tribes. Only one remote northeastern province is calm. South Africa and Uganda promise strong measures to restore peace.
CENTRAL ASIA: Fearing radical Muslim elements, governments are keeping the lid on Islam in Uzbekistan (pop. 25.1 million) and Turkmenistan (pop. 4.6 million). In Uzbekistan, imams are carefully checked and their sermons approved. Radical clerics have been jailed or exiled. Security police check mosque attendance. Uzbekistan has 6,500 political and religious prisoners in its jails. In Turkmen-istan, Muslim schools considered too independent have been shut down. Many Islamic centers have been closed. Three years ago the president ordered the burning of 40,000 copies of the Koran in Turkmen. Although there seems to be little popular support for setting up Islamic states in Central Asia, the ground for extremism remains fertile, mainly because of poverty, political repression and the flourishing drug trade.
CHINA: In southern China’s rural poverty-stricken Guangxi Province, strict enforcement of China’s so-called one child policy has resulted in baby trafficking. Where sons are worshiped and daughters are a burden, poor farming families are trying for sons, traditionally the family’s only old-age security. Families are permitted only one child if the first is a boy. They are permitted a second child if a girl comes first. Each subsequent child brings a $3,500 fine—two decades’ worth of local farm income. Eighty percent of trafficked babies are girls. The babies are sold all over China, with the main market probably among the urban childless.
EUROPE: Babies are not arriving fast enough to stem Europe’s dramatic population decline, leaving governments wondering how they will ever afford to pay retirement benefits for today’s working people. Fertility rates are so low that the continent’s population is likely to drop dramatically over the next 50 years. Italy, Spain and Germany face sharply reduced populations. Shrinking populations and rising life expectancies put the squeeze on governments. One extrapolation shows that by 2050 there will be 75 pensioners for every 100 workers. Can immigrants take up the slack? Not likely. By one calculation, it would take five to 10 times as many immigrants as there are now just to flatten the economic effects of aging populations. Some politicians want to cut back, not increase immigration.
LIBERIA: Warring factions named 54-year-old Christian businessman Gyude Bryant to lead the country’s interim government after Moses Blah, the caretaker president, steps down in October. As chairman of the new administration, Bryant will aim to end violence, disarm wild warrior bands, get hundreds of thousands of refugees home, and hold elections in 2005. Bryant is a key figure in the Episcopal Church, one of the country’s main denominations.
PERU: Once thought extinguished, Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) has resurfaced in Peru, evidenced by a number of bombings and other terrorist attacks in remote areas. The 1980-93 war against Sendero guerrillas took some 30,000 lives. Well-armed bands of rebels have raided villagers in the Apurimac and Huallaga valleys. Officials claim Sendero has only 175 armed men and women. Their former leader, Abimael Guzman, is being held in a specially built naval prison alongside several other Sendero leaders. One senior policeman claims that prison security is too lax. He says that messages are exchanged regularly between the 1,700 prisoners held as terrorists and friends outside.
RUSSIA: For the first time in nearly half a century, the government has increased its restrictions on abortion. While regulations remain permissive, legislation effective August 11 allows women to receive an abortion between the 12th and 22nd weeks of pregnancy by citing one of four circumstances—rape, imprisonment, the death or severe disability of a husband, or the loss of parental rights. Previously accepted “social indicators” such as being a single mother, unemployed or a refugee are no longer valid. Some conservative lawmakers and leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church have vowed to continue fighting for greater restrictions. Russia’s declining population trend—for every 10 births, there are still nearly 13 abortions—has also led to demands that steps be taken to reverse the situation.
SOUTH AFRICA: A leaked government study says 1.7 million deaths from AIDS could be prevented by 2010 if all who need anti-AIDS drugs could get them. The official government line is that urgent steps are being taken, but for the last 18 months President Mbeki has stymied a plan to allow universal access to anti-AIDS drugs. The World Bank predicts a complete economic collapse if there is no effective response to AIDS.
THAILAND: The country’s prevailing Buddhism, which teaches reverence for all kinds of life, has produced a troublesome cat and dog problem in Bangkok. At the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, a top tourist attraction, more than 50 stray cats foul the grounds and hiss at visitors. Officials claim Bangkok has 120,000 stray dogs, which cause worse problems than the temple cats. Thais do not tolerate putting to sleep stray animals, and they put out food for them. While the mayor wants to sterilize the dogs, King Bhumibol advocates adopting them. He himself has taken in many strays. His book about his favorite puppy sold 100,000 copies within minutes of its release.