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A pril 2, 1997 • I'm P oru and O bsi rvt r
P agi A6
Discontent toward Zaire government grows
Clement Biondi Kalondwa ped
als his bike hundreds o f miles each
month hiding the diamonds he buys
in his shirt collar to sell in this
sweaty diamond-trading capital
He makes just enough to feed and
educate Ins five children by trading
ihc diamonds at the garish store
fronts like Mister ( ash and Rambo
Diamond that line Kisangani s
broad boulevards
It s a brutal life." Kalondwa said
I in hoping lot something better
under the rebels
More than anything else, eco
nomic hardship has fueled the rebel
lion that swept through eastern Zaire
11, the past six months. Throughout
th is vast land studded with diamonds
and gold, people are angry w ith Presi
dent Mobutu Sese Seko for impover-
ishing what should be a prosperous
nation
Rebel leader Laurent Kabila has
said notching up m ilitary successes
has been easy compared to what lies
ahead running a government and
building an economy
II I can't do better than Mobutu,
ihcn our rebellion w ill have been .1
lailuie ." Kabila told I he Associated
Press
We are looking at the economy
so people in this liberated area can
stall normal life," he said "Norm al
life not as before
but something
better .. so they can live in peace,
w ithout corruption, without the ter
rorizing o f the people."
In the third o f Zaire under his
control, Kabila has reduced duties
on most im p o rts and exports,
trimmed the c iv il service, tried to
quash corruption and encouraged
investment from abroad
Border crossings with Uganda.
Rw anda and Burundi are again busy
with traders ami ports have reopened
on Lake I angany ikaand Lake Kivu
Some foreign-owned businesses
are starting up again after fleeing in
October, including the Heineken
brewery in Bukav u. a Canadian tex
tile business in Kisangani and a
sugar refinery in I Ivira
To residents o f eastern Zaire it's
the basics that count - electricity and
water, hospitals, schools forthe c h il
dren.
Transportation is also a big prob
lem.
Kalondwa - gesturing at his b i
c y c le , k n o w n by Z a iria n s as
guarded secret, known only to in
dustry engineers But the research
ers performed their work based on
documents that were leaked from
within the communications indus
try and dissem inated over the
Internet late last year
" The industry design process is at
fault," said David Wagner, a re
searcher at the I inversity o f Califor
nia at Berkeley and a member o f the
team that broke the code "W e can use
this as a lesson, and save ourselves
vulnerabilities in the future.''
The Times said other members o f
the team were Bruce Schneier and
John Kelsey o f Counterpane Sys
tems, a Minneapolis consult ing firm.
Schneier is the author o f a standard
textbook on cryptography.
Fears about the digital code's ef
fectiveness were raised five years
ago when the communications in
dustry agreed under government
pressure to adopt a watered-down
privacy technology Several telecom
munications industry officials told
the Times that the pressure came
from the National Security Agency,
which feared that criminals or ter
rorists might benefit from stronger
encryption technology
Chris C arroll, an engineer at GTE
Laboratories and chairman o f the
industry committee that oversees
privacy standards for cellular phones,
told the Times that work is being
done to fix the problem
"W e're already in the process o f
correcting this flaw ," Carroll said.
Thousands o f pieces o f space
junk are orbiting Earth at enor
mous speeds, threatening to smash
into satellites and manned space
Hights and interfering with astro
nomical observations
After a three-day conference on
space junk, scientists from 18 coun
tries said while the probability o f
such collisions remains small now.
the hazard would increase as the
skies become more crowded.
The first confirmed collision be
tween a w orking satellite and space
trash occurred July 24, when a
French microsatellite was damaged
by a fragment o f the exploded third
stage o f an Ariane rocket, they
said.
Almost 300 new satellites are
NationsBank Donates $350,000 To
100 Black Men of America, Inc.
100 Black Men o f America, Inc.,
w ill use a $350,000 g ift from
NationsBank (N Y SI NB) to help
improve the quality of lile and edu
cational opportunities for African-
Americans and minorities through
out the country.
help to support our mission to em
power a new generation o f leaders.
“ This g ift is consistent with the
goals o f NationsBank and its Profes
sional A frican-A m erican Market
Development U nit." said Shedrick
Barber, national coordinator, Pro
Ihe contribution was presented
fessional African-American Market
m Charleston, South Carolina at a
regional training conference o f the
organization.
Thomas W. Dortch. Jr.. National
President o f 100 Black Men, said,
NationsBank has been a long-time
supporter o f the ‘ 100 s' programs.
This philanthropic contribution w ill
Development for NationsBank
"NationsBank partners with or
ganizations like 100 Black Men to
strengthen the com m unities we
serve. These resources w ill not only
benefit our communities, but w ill
also benefit the individual members
o f 100 Black Men o f American, Inc.,
as they go forward in their important
w ork."
NationsBank, through its Profes
sional A frican-A m erican M arket
Development Unit, formed in 1996.
is committed to assisting African-
Americans in wealth accumulation,
management and preservation
f ollow ing its January 17. 1997
merger w ith Boatmen s Bancshares.
Inc . o f St. Louis, MO, NationsBank
has primary retail and commercial
banking operations in 16 states and
the District o f Columbia. On a pro
forma combined basis. NationsBank
had total assets of approximately
$227 b illion at year-end.
100 Black Men o f America. Inc.,
through the development and sup
port o f 60 chapters in 27 states,
works to improve the quality of life
for African Americans and other
citizens and Io enhance educational
opportunities lor youth.
The 01 ganization has mentored
more than 60.000 young men and
women in its 34 year history Re
cently, the 100 Black Men pledged
to mentor an additional 120,000
youth by the year 2000 to the
President's Summit on Am erica’ s
Future.
Railroads economic impact on Oregon
Oregon's freight railroads con
tributed more than $200 m illion d i
rectly to the state economy in 1995
through wages and retirement ben
efits to current and former railroad
workers in the state, according to
figures released by the Association
o f American Railroads (A A R ).
In addition, the AAR noted, the
jobs o f thousands o f Oregonians de
pend on the safe, efficient and envi
ronm entally sound transportation
that railroads provide to link O r
egon business, industry and agricul
ture with markets throughout the
nation and the world
Payrolls for the 2.867 active O r
egon freight railroad employees to-
taled $142 m illion in 1995. Oregon
railroad employees are near the top
o f the U.S. wage scale, with average
individual salaries o f $49,682. The
railroad retirement system, which is
separate from the social security sys
tem, paid more than $121 m illion in
retirement benefits to 11.500 ra il
road retirees in Oregon and their
families.
In addition to the $263 m illion in
wages and retirement payments, rail
roads contributed m illions o f dollars
more to the ( Iregon economy through
the purchase o f goods and services
from Oregon vendors, and the pay
ment o f income, property and other
taxes Unlike the highway and wa-
Africans die early,
Westerners live longer
age or more, says me new u.rx.
study, "D ie World Social Situa
tio n."
Ihe report points out that the
lowest life expectancies are in A f
rica. while the highest are in Eu
rope. North America, Australia,
Japan and New Zealand Rwanda,
which experienced genocide in
1994, saw life expectancy decline
from 46.3 years in the period 1980-
85 to 22.6 in 1990-95. Life expect
ancy in Sierra Leone is 34.4 years.
39.4 years in Liberia, and 41 years
in Uganda. The highest African
life expectancies are in Botswana
(54.3). Kenya (54.1). Cote d’ Ivoire
(52.1), Congo (51.5) and Togo
( 5 1.0). According to the report, the
average person in Japan lives the
longest, reaching up to 79.5 years.
followed by Iceland at 78 8 years,
and Canada at 78.5 years.
The overall figure for A frica is
5 1 8 years, for Asia 64.5 years, for
Latin American 68.5 years. North
America 76.2 years. Europe 72.7
years and Oceania 72.9 years. A l
though there is no gender break
down by country, the study says
that on average women can be ex
pected to live about fouryears longer
than men.
Lor the world, life expectancy
for men is 62.2 years while that tor
women is 66.5 years. In the more
developed regions, this male-fe
male disparity is as high as 7.6
years, whereas in the less devel
oped regions, women live only three
years longer than men. In North
America, however, women's life
expectancy improved by fouryears
over the past decades, while male
life expectancy improved by live
years, thereby decreasing the male-
female gap from 7.7 years to 6.7
years The male-female gap also
decreased slightly in Africa, from
3.1 to 2.9 years.
Mawampanga said
•‘The rebels get more money now
than Mobutu did before Money * as
going into people's pockets, now it
goes to the cause," added Koteeha
Ramniklal. president o f Chamber o f
day.
Mawampanga promised tax con
cessions to help them get started
“ We don't have enough money,
we don't have a lot o f resources... so
there is only so much we can do with
the means that we have, but we re
try ing our best." the former I Iniver-
sity o f Kentucky economist said in
an interview
But he claimed credit for "doing
things that even for 30 years Mobutu
d id n't do. W e've lowered taxes,
we're rebuilding roads."
Already, he’ s made it easier for
Zairians to enter the lucrative gold
trading industry by reducing gov
ernm ent-required deposits from
$200,000 to $1,000.
As a re s u lt, s m u g g lin g has
dro pp ed , tax rece ip ts are up.
Commerce in Bukavu
Under Mobutu, corruption was
rampant Poorly paid officials taxed
almost everything and demanded
bribes from anyone who needed gov
ernment services.
None o f the money w as put in the
treasury
"W e inherited a disaster,’ said
Anatole Bishukwabo, governor o f
South K ivu. “ We have to re v ita l
ize an enormous country that was
neglected fo r a long time. That
means starting again from the be
g in n in g .”
Space trash threatens satellites
Cellular code breached
A team o f computer security ex
perts has cracked the electronic code
meant to protect the privacy o f calls
made with new digital cellular tele
phones. The New York Times re
ports Thursday
The experts planned io announce
the breach Thursday as a public
w arn ing that the new phones may be
no mote secure from eavesdropping
than analog cellular phones in use
the last 15 years, the Times said
I ndependent security experts now
say the code is so easy to crack that
anyone w ith sufficient technical
skills could make and sell a m oni
toring device as easy to use as a
police scanner.
Technical details o f the security
system were supposed to be a closely
“ M o b u tu tr a n s p o r ta tio n " - is
pleased that the rebels have per
suaded com m unities to improve
the torturous 125-mile track from
Bukavu to W alikale, where he buys
a lot o f diamonds.
Mobutu spent so little on infra
structure that most roads are nearly
impassable Railways, airports and
ferries are decrepit Telephones
rarely work.
At a meeting o f businessmen
Thursday in Kisangani, Zaire's third
largest city. Kabila’ s finance m inis
ter, Mwana Nanga Mawampanga,
was peppered with questions.
M any wanted to know when the
economy w ould boom and how to
recover from the looting spree by
government troops and c iv ilia n s
before the rebels took over Satur-
terway modes o f transportation, rail
roads pay property taxes to state and
local governments on their privately
owned rights-of-way and are self-
supporting.
During 1995, Oregon ranked 16th
in the U.S. in the number o f freight
railroads ( 18), 3 1 st in the total num
ber o f rail miles (2,445), and 40th in
rail traffic (58 m illion tons).
Railroads move more lumber and
wood products than any other com
m odity in Oregon, originating 5
m illion tons in 1995
America s
railroads haul 4 1 percent o f all U.S.
intercity freight ton-miles, far more
than any other mode.
Railroads are the environmen
tally preferred mode o f transport
and have improved their fuel effi-
ciency by 60 percent since 1980.
Using the same amount o f fuel, rail
roads move a ton o f freight more
than three times as far as a truck.
Shipping by rail also eases highway
congestion
Since 1980. the rail industry has
reduced train accidents by 68 per
cent. According to the U.S. Depart
ment o f Transportation, 1995 (the
most recent year for which statistics
are available) was the safest year in
railroad history, bettering previous
safety records in 1993 and 1994
in spite o f the fact that rail traffic
was at an all time high.
AAR is the w orld’ s leading rail
road policy, research and organiza
tion focusing on increasing the safety
and productivity o f rail carriers.
A half-inch diameter fragment,
traveling at an average o f 17,400
miles an hour, can destroy a $100
m illio n satellite. N AS A has had
to replace 50 tiles on its space
shuttles that were damaged by
scheduled to be launched over the
next two years, 75 percent more than
the previous two years
Since "clean-up in space is nei
ther technically nor financially fea
sible. efforts must be directed to
wards reducing and avoiding the
creation ol space debris." the scien
tists said Wednesday in a statement
Only 5 percent o f the more than
10,000 trackable, man-made objects
orbiting Earth are operational. The
rest is debris from sources such as
exploded rocket stages and old satel
lites.
In addition, an estimated 70,000
to 150,000 orbiting bits - smaller
than 4 inches - pose an even bigger
risk because o f their greater number,
the statement said.
liny debris.
George Levin, a NASA spokes
man, said the U.S. space agency
supported international cooperation
in monitoring the dangerous debris
and w ill come up with recommen
dations on how to collect such trash.
Proposals include setting up a
“ space cemetery” for out-of-service
satellites, destroying the trash with
lasers, or forcing it to re-enter the
atmosphere so it burns up.
The conference was organized
by the European Space Agency.
CRIME STOPPERS
U.S. Postal Inspectors in Port
land and the Salem Police Depart
ment, in cooperation with Crime
Stoppers, are asking for you help in
locating and apprehending Sheila
Melanee St. John.
U.S. Postal Inspectors currently
hold a Federal Arrest Warrant,
charging St. John w ith possession
o f stolen mail. In addition. Salem
Police want to question her in con
nection with checks stolen from the
mail in the Salem area that are
being forged and passed as tar north
as King City
Sheila Melanee St. John is a 22
y e a r-o ld w h ite fem ale (D O B
050774), 5'6, 150 pounds, with
brown hair and blue eyes.
I f you have any information re
garding this case, call the Crime
Stoppers Program Crime Stoppers
is offering a cash reward o f up to
$ 1,000 for information, reported to
Sheila M elanee St. John
Crime Stoppers, which leads to an
arrest in this case or any unsolved
felony crime, and you do not have
io give your name. Call either U.S.
P o s ta l Inspectors at (503) 279-
2072. Crime Stoppers at (503) 823-
ENTER
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