U N I T E D  N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
email: irin@ocha.unon.org


Central and Eastern Africa
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 10
4 - 10 March 2000



CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA: Raging fires wiping out wildlife, property
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: US envoy says "additional mediation" needed
RWANDA: New premier appointed
RWANDA: Aid worker, government official killed
RWANDA: France to hand over genocide suspect
DRC: Kabila criticised at Kinshasa conference
DRC: Miyet to explain UN mission and seek "full support"
BURUNDI: Commissions make little progress
SUDAN: SPLM denies expelling relief agencies
SUDAN: Government bombs NGO compounds
UGANDA: Minister vows continued support for SPLA
UGANDA: Rebels kill 12 in the north
ZANZIBAR: EU says no aid resumption yet
KENYA: UNHCR puts out fire at Kakuma camp
ROC: Displaced returning home in continuous stream
ROC: Education system "paralysed"


ETHIOPIA: Raging fires wiping out wildlife, property

Forest fires raging out of control in Ethiopia's southeast Oromiya state
have destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of land, and urgent appeal
has been issued for international aid.  The fires, which broke out over
three weeks ago in the Shakiso district of the state's Borena zone of
Oromiya state, are believed to have escalated out of control after local
farmers started burning land for cultivation.  Government officials
described the situation as "critical". The head of the natural resources
department in the agriculture ministry, Tamiru Habte, told IRIN the
international response to the government's appeal for assistance had been
"insignificant". A total of six experts, three from South Africa, two from
Germany and one from the US, on Sunday travelled to the Borena and Bale
zones to assess the damage and study ways of extinguishing the fires. A
further 22 experts were expected in the country by Wednesday, Tamiru said. 

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: US envoy says "additional mediation" needed

US Special Envoy and Secretary of State Anthony Lake, who is shuttling
between Ethiopia and Eritrea, has said "additional mediation" is needed to
secure the two countries' mutual acceptance of the OAU's Technical
Arrangements peace document.  US State Department spokesman James Rubin
said in a statement that consensus was reached on "some" of the provisions
of the document. Both Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki and Ethiopian
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi reaffirmed their confidence in the OAU's
mediation process. 

RWANDA: New premier appointed

Rwanda's former ambassador to Germany, Bernard Makuza, has been appointed
the country's new prime minister replacing Pierre-Celestin Rwigema, who
stepped down last week amid accusations of financial impropriety, Rwandan
radio reported.  The post of prime minister which, according to the 1993
Arusha accords belongs to the Hutu-dominated Mouvement Democratique
Republicain (MDR), has changed hands three times since the current
administration took over in 1994. The first prime minister, Faustin
Twagiramungu, fled to Belgium in 1995 and has since formed an opposition
alliance against the government. He told IRIN that the post of prime
minister no longer had any value in Rwanda, because "the vice-president
[Paul Kagame] makes all the decisions". Observers point out Makuza belongs
to the "liberal wing" of the MDR which was opposed to the former regime of
Juvenal Habyarimana. 

RWANDA: Aid worker, government official killed

Presidential adviser Aciel Kabera was shot dead outside his home in Kigali
on Sunday, sources in the capital told IRIN. Observers believe the murder
was a "political killing". Kabera, a former prefet of Kibuye, was a
genocide survivor and an influential figure in the Rwandan government,
they added.  Meanwhile, WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini expressed
outrage over the killing on Saturday of a UN volunteer working for the
agency in Rwanda.  Samuel Sargbah, a Liberian national, was shot dead by
an unknown attacker while sitting in his car in Kigali. 

RWANDA: France to hand over genocide suspect

The French Court of Appeal on Monday ordered the extradition of genocide
suspect Francois Xavier Nzuwonemeye to the International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, the first such extradition by France. AFP
quoted his lawyer Eric Morain as saying the court proceedings were held in
camera and did not know the reasons behind the decision. He said he would
appeal. Gerald Gahima, the Rwandan prosecutor-general, told IRIN his
government was happy with the French court's decision. "This action is
good news because the French authorities are cooperating with the tribunal
and we hope they will arrest and hand over other suspects based in
France," he said. The suspect is a former member of the Rwandan Armed
Forces. 

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Kabila criticised at Kinshasa conference

Delegates attending the national consultation meeting in Kinshasa have
criticised President Laurent-Desire Kabila, saying he is no different to
his predecessor Mobutu Sese Seko. According to Reuters news agency,
representatives of some political parties and human rights groups said
that "in place of the old dictatorship, a new one has made itself at home
and the longed-for change has turned out to be pure fabrication".  The
press attache at the DRC embassy in Nairobi, Mubima Maneniang Milang, on
Wednesday dismissed the remarks. "President Kabila has a vision for the
country," he told IRIN.  Milang claimed those who were criticising Kabila
were followers of opposition leader, Etienne Tshisekedi "out to prolong
what Mobutu started". 

DRC: Miyet to explain UN mission and seek "full support" 

UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Bernard Miyet was
due in Kinshasa on Thursday to explain in detail the UN plans to deploy a
force in the country. He also intended to seek from all belligerents "the
full support essential to deploy the more than 5,500-strong military
observer mission", a UN press release stated. In approving the expanded
mandate of the UN Observer Mission to the DRC (MONUC) on 24 February, the
Security Council asked to be advised as soon as possible on "whether
deployment conditions existed or not", and Miyet's mission was part of
that assessment, the statement said.  Miyet was scheduled to remain in DRC
until Sunday, before travelling on to Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Uganda to
complete his mission. 

BURUNDI: Commissions make little progress

A senior member of the peace talks facilitation team, Mark Bomani, has
said the Arusha process is "irreversible", according to the Hirondelle
news agency. Speaking at the end of the commission meetings, he
acknowledged however that some of the commissions had made little
progress. The commission looking into the nature of the conflict remained
"blocked" on the question of genocide, while the commission on democracy
and good governance "required more time" as it had "the most difficult
text to issue". The duties of this commission include producing a
constitutional draft and defining the electoral system and transitional
institutions. The third commission on peace and security still has to
reach agreement on cessation of hostilities and integration of rebel
forces into the national army.  Hirondelle said the facilitators admitted
these were tricky issues, given that the rebel fighting forces had not
attended the peace talks. According to Bomani, the fourth commission on
reconstruction and economic development had "almost completed" the points
on its agenda. Delegation heads were due to meet again next month. 

SUDAN: SPLM denies expelling relief agencies

The SPLM reiterated its position on Tuesday that no NGOs had been expelled
or forced to leave its area of control in south Sudan. Spokesman Samson
Kwaje said they had "opted to leave of their own volition" rather than
have their activities regularised through a formal association between
them and the rebels' Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Association (SRRA). 
"To misinform the international community that they were expelled is not
only false propaganda but a malicious ploy," Kwaje said in a statement. 

SUDAN: Government bombs NGO compounds

Two people were killed and about a dozen injured when a Sudanese
government aircraft bombed a hospital compound of the American NGO,
Samaritan's Purse, in the rebel-held town of Lui, 130 km northwest of Juba
last week. The agency's Nairobi-based logistics coordinator Andrew
Kinyanjui, quoted by the Associated Press agency (AP), said it was the
first time the hospital - with a staff of 82 - had been bombed.  A
government Antonov bomber also bombed the compound of the Irish NGO,
Concern, in Yirol on Saturday, the agency's Sudan programme manager Ann
O'Mahony told IRIN on Wednesday.  The attack, in which two bombs hit the
compound, was the first on Yirol, in the southern Lakes region of Bahr el
Ghazal, in over a year. She said she did not believe Concern or any other
NGOs were being targeted for having signed the Memorandum of
Understanding. She considered that the bombings were merely to terrorise
the population generally. 

UGANDA: Minister vows continued support for SPLA

Ugandan Foreign Minister Eriya Kategaya has said the country cannot
abandon its "moral support" for the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army
(SPLA) because its cause is "genuine". "To be seen to abandon them because
we want peace with [Sudanese] President Bashir is not correct,"  the
semi-official 'New Vision' quoted him as saying. "Our moral support for
the SPLA is known and Sudan knows that," he said. "If the southern
Sudanese question is not solved, there can be no peace in the region -
there will be false peace." 

UGANDA: Rebels kill 12 in the north

Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have this week killed 12 people
and wounded over 30 at Padibe, some 24 km from Uganda's northern town of
Kitgum. The semi-official 'New Vision' newspaper reported that several
houses were torched and the raiders also looted the nearby Catholic
mission. It quoted Father Carlos Rodriguez, who visited the scene after
the incident, as saying that eight of the victims were killed at a
displaced people's camp in the town. President Yoweri Museveni was on on a
working visit to the nearby town of Gulu at the time. 

ZANZIBAR: EU says no aid resumption yet

The European Union (EU) has said it is not ready to resume aid to
Zanzibar, citing lack of "significant" change in the political sphere, an
EU official told IRIN on Thursday. "The situation has more or less
remained the same," he said. "The issue of the 18 opposition detainees
[held for over two years without trial] and the fact that certain
recommendations agreed on by an inter-party meeting have not been
fulfilled, are some of the reasons," he added. The EU suspended aid to
protest over the 1995 elections which the opposition Civic United Front
(CUF) claimed had been rigged. 

KENYA: UNHCR puts out fire at Kakuma camp

UNHCR staff have put out a "large fire" at the Kakuma refugee camp in
northwest Kenya, the agency's spokesman Kris Janowski told journalists in
Geneva on Tuesday.  Saturday's blaze, the fourth suspected arson attack in
the camp since January, caused no injuries but destroyed the whole block
in the Somali portion of the camp "before volunteers were able to bring it
under control", he said. More than 700 family shelters have been destroyed
and 4,000 people displaced by the fires. 

REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Displaced returning home in continuous stream

The humanitarian situation at the moment is characterised by "the
continuous move of displaced people from the forests and resettlements of
former refugees to their respective homes and villages", a UNICEF report
stated on Tuesday. It said this was especially so in areas where security
was guaranteed. Some 200,000 people internally displaced during the civil
war were expected to return home by April or May of this year, encouraged
by a decline in military activities and the December 1999 ceasefire
accords between the government and opposition parties. With about 370,000
people having already returned in January, that would bring the figures of
returned IDPs to some 600,000 - or roughly three-quarters of those
displaced throughout the country during late 1998 and 1999, the report
said. 

ROC: Education system "paralysed" 

The report also warned that more than 50 percent of children of school age
were still outside the system, and the quality of education had seriously
declined as a result of the civil war. Most schools were in a state of
poor basic hygiene and sanitation, and education as a whole was "seriously
paralysed", it said. However there remained two comparative advantages on
which the agency could capitalise to rehabilitate the school system.
First, there still existed parents' associations that played an active
role in sustaining education activities and, secondly, the NGO sector was
strongly cooperative. 

Nairobi, 10 March 2000, 11:20 gmt


[IRIN-CEA: Tel: +254 2 622147 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin-cea@ocha.unon.org ]


[This item is delivered in the English service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or Web:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2000
 


distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Volunteers in Technical Assistance
Disaster Information Center             lists: www.vita.org/listsub.htm
                                                     sitreps    nat-dsr
      web: www.vita.org                              fireline
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Central/East Africa  -   http://www.vita.org/humanitarian/ceafrica

: 07/12/00 EDT