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

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Central and Eastern Africa
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 11
11 - 17 March 2000



CONTENTS:

RWANDA: Government may take legal action against UN
RWANDA: Denmark to extradite genocide suspect
RWANDA: Miyet visits Kigali, Kampala
DRC: Rebels capture strategic town
DRC: "Massive" displacement in South Kivu
DRC: Shabunda clashes continue
DRC: "Weak basis" for resuming friendship, Belgium says
BURUNDI: Defence minister meets Mandela
BURUNDI: Transporters strike over fuel price rises
GREAT LAKES-HORN: "New impetus" to tackle arms proliferation
ETHIOPIA: Forest fires "under control"
DJIBOUTI: Diplomatic ties with Eritrea restored
SOMALIA: Libya warns leaders opposed to Djibouti plan
SUDAN: UN says OLS transport of rebels was "isolated incident"
SUDAN: Turabi warns of "third force"


RWANDA: Government may take legal action against UN

The Rwandan government has said it is considering taking legal action
against the UN over a report accusing it of helping the rebel Angolan
UNITA movement and breaking international sanctions, the BBC reported on
Friday.  Rwanda strongly denied allegations contained in the report, which
was leaked ahead of its presentation to the Security Council on Wednesday.
The Rwandan government vowed to expose the "forces" behind the
allegations.  "There is a deliberate conspiracy by some organisations and
individuals to tarnish the image of Rwanda internationally and this plot
has been going on for some time," Nicholas Shalita, the director of
information in the vice-president's office told IRIN on Tuesday. A press
statement released by the Rwandan defence ministry on Monday denied any
links with UNITA. "Vice-President [and defence minister] Paul Kagame has
never had any contact with Jonas Savimbi or any member of UNITA," the
statement said. "Whoever made any such claim should be considered a liar,
and treated with the contempt they deserve." 

RWANDA: Denmark to extradite genocide suspect

Denmark on Tuesday decided it would extradite a genocide suspect to
Arusha, Tanzania, to face charges at the International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda (ICTR), news agencies reported. The suspect, Innocent Sagahutu,
a former captain in Rwanda's army during the 1994 genocide, was arrested
last month in Denmark on an ICTR extradition request, the Associated Press
(AP) said.  Sagahutu, 38, is charged with crimes against humanity,
including mass rape, and is suspected to have been involved in the killing
of 10 Belgian peacekeepers, it reported. Denmark's justice ministry
determined that Sagahutu's extradition would not violate Danish law
despite his legal status as a political refugee, AP said, adding that
Sagahutu had appealed the ruling. 

RWANDA: Miyet visits Kigali, Kampala

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Bernard Miyet,
on a tour to prepare for the deployment of an observer force in the DRC,
ended a visit to Rwanda on Tuesday before going on to Uganda. "The
Under-Secretary-General briefed us on the deployment of the observer
force," Patrick Mazimhaka, Rwandan Presidency Minister, confirmed to IRIN
on Tuesday. "At this stage the parties are renewing their commitment to
the Lusaka agreement. There are concrete issues to discuss about the
actual deployment of the force because there is no definite plan yet." 

Rwandan radio said Miyet promised to deal with the problem of the
Interahamwe militia "without going to war".  "It must be clear at this
point: the UN forces will not engage in war operations," Miyet said. "It
has never been the case, it will not be the case. So, we will have to find
solutions by which we treat...the problems of the Interahamwe. But you
cannot expect that the UN forces will fight as proxies for anyone." 

DRC: Rebels capture strategic town

The Goma-based rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) on
Tuesday reportedly captured two towns in Kasai Occidental. "After weeks of
provocations by Kabila's troops and his allies on our positions at Kole
and Dekese, we decided to take back Idumbe and Longakolo port on the way
to Ilebo town," RCD Vice-President Moise Nyarugabo told IRIN on Wednesday. 
He said DRC troops had been using the towns to bring in reinforcements. 
"If they try to attack our positions again we shall advance further," he
warned. In Harare, the Zimbabwean army confirmed the fall of Idumbe and
threatened to retaliate for what it called a direct threat to the capital
Kinshasa, the Associated Press reported. Idumbe is 375 miles east of
Kinshasa. 

DRC: "Massive" displacement in South Kivu

Further massive displacement of civilian populations was reported in South
Kivu due to insecurity, WFP said in its latest weekly emergency report,
citing a "strong militia presence" in the area. "Over the past two weeks,
military hostilities have moved away from urban centres toward forests and
little information is available to humanitarian actors on the condition of
civilians in these areas due to lack of access," the report said. Only
about 60,000 out of an estimated 200,000 displaced people were currently
in accessible areas, it stated. 

DRC: Shabunda clashes continue

Meanwhile, clashes of "varying intensity" were continuing in Shabunda as
well as the mining areas of Lulingu and Kachungu, the WFP report said. 
Attacks by Interahamwe militia have moved northwest from Kalonge toward
the forest of Bunyakiri. Some humanitarian activities in Bunyakiri, Katana
and Uvira have had to be temporarily suspended due to insecurity along the
northern axis. An estimated 55,000 displaced people had arrived in the
Bukavu area alone since January, the report stated, adding that
malnutrition was reported to be increasing as the displacements continued. 

DRC: "Weak basis" for resuming friendship, Belgium says

Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel has spoken of a "weak basis" for the
resumption of "friendship" between his country and the DRC. In comments
broadcast by DRC television earlier this week during his visit to
Kinshasa, Michel said he believed "things are changing" in the DRC. "I
have not come here to make a valued judgement, but just to see how a small
country, a friend of the Congolese people, can help restructure more
efficiently our cooperation and perhaps strengthen it in the long run," he
said. 

BURUNDI: Defence minister meets Mandela

Defence Minister Colonel Cyrille Ndayirukiye held talks in Johannesburg on
Thursday with the peace process facilitator, Nelson Mandela, the Burundi
embassy in South Africa confirmed to IRIN on Friday. It gave no details of
the meeting, but said direct talks between the government and the rebel
Forces de defense pour la democratie (FDD) - which also has a delegation
in South Africa - were not envisaged "this time". The BBC quoted FDD
spokesman Jerome Ndiho as saying direct talks between the army and the
rebels were necessary if the government wanted peace. 

BURUNDI: Transporters strike over fuel price rises

The Burundi transporters' organisation, Atrabu, responded to a government
hike in petrol prices by striking in Bujumbura on Thursday and Friday. The
increases announced by Commerce Minister Gervais Nkanagu brought the cost
of super grade petrol to 570 Burundi francs a litre, diesel to 520 francs
a litre and kerosene to 450 francs a litre.  The transport strike was
"very painful to the public" in Bujumbura with employees having to walk
long distances to work, a resident told IRIN. To make matters worse, even
those with cars had no fuel and the price of taxis had risen to between
1,500 and 3,500 francs, she said.  Civil servants were particularly
unhappy, and there were rumbling threats of industrial unrest if the fuel
price rise was not offset by salary increases. 

GREAT LAKES-HORN: "New impetus" to tackle arms proliferation

Delegates attending a conference on the proliferation of small arms in the
Great Lakes and Horn of Africa region have agreed to work together to
tackle the problem.  A declaration issued on Wednesday at the end of the
four-day meeting in Nairobi called for strengthening or adopting national
laws and control mechanisms to govern civilian possession of weapons. 
Delegates said the conference had given the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa
region a "new impetus" in their struggle against the influx of illicit
arms.  Although representatives from various countries expressed different
concerns and priority areas, "one thing we know, is that there is a
problem, and we have to address it", an Ethiopian delegate told IRIN. 

ETHIOPIA: Forest fires "under control" 

The forest fires that broke out last month in southeastern Ethiopia's Bale
and Borena regions of Oromiya State have reportedly been brought under
control. The team leader for Forestry and Wildlife in the ministry of
agriculture, Million Bekele, told IRIN on Thursday that although there
were still fires in some areas, "there is a great difference compared to
what it was, even last week". "The fires have been controlled through the
help of experts who equipped the local people with the right skills to put
them out," he said. 

DJIBOUTI: Diplomatic ties with Eritrea restored

The Eritrean government on Monday welcomed "with satisfaction" a decision
by Djibouti to restore diplomatic ties. "The Eritrean government, which
has always attached great importance to the cultivation of warm and good
neighbourly relations between the brotherly peoples of the two countries,
is prepared on its part to normalise and restore diplomatic ties with the
Republic of Djibouti," a statement from Eritrea's foreign ministry said. 
It expressed gratitude to Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gadaffi "and other
friendly governments which have exerted efforts towards the realisation of
this objective". 

SOMALIA: Libya warns leaders opposed to Djibouti plan

Three Somali faction leaders, who visited Libya this week, were warned by
Gadaffi that "our friendship will come to an end" if they did not agree to
the formation of a national government, according to the Somali
'Xog-Ogaal' daily. Mogadishu faction leader Hussein Aideed, the
self-declared Somaliland leader Mohamed Egal, and Puntland's leader
Abdullahi Yusuf returned to Somalia on Tuesday following a three-day visit
to Libya. The three are opposed to the Djibouti peace plan aimed at
forming a national government in Somalia. "We do not want a divided
Somalia nor anyone bent on fragmenting it," Gadaffi was quoted as saying. 

SUDAN: UN says OLS transport of rebels was "isolated incident" 

The UN has admitted that Sudanese rebels were transported aboard a UN
aircraft last month, but said it was "an isolated incident and not part of
a broader pattern". The issue arose after a hostage crisis in early
February when four staff and associated personnel were held for eight days
by pro-government militia members who claimed the UN had transported three
rebel leaders on another flight, Britain's 'Financial Times' reported.  UN
spokesman Fred Eckhard, said on Friday the report was "essentially
correct". Though an internal investigation of the hostage incident in Old
Fangak from 2-10 February was still being finalised, it confirmed that the
UN's Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) did transport three rebels on one of
its planes, and that this had triggered the hostage incident, he said. "It
is also correct that OLS has tightened its procedures to keep this kind of
thing from happening again. In our view, that was an isolated incident and
not part of a broader pattern," Eckhard added. 

SUDAN: Turabi warns of "third force" 

The government on Sunday extended the state of emergency in Sudan, decreed
by President Omar al-Bashir on 12 December to the end of this year.  The
cabinet said the decision had been taken "to enable the government to
execute its programmes", but that it would commit itself to external
openness and give priority to citizens' interests, Sudanese television
reported. Former speaker of parliament Hassan al-Turabi - who is now
marginalised - has called on the people to use their power to protect
Sudan's constitution from violation "if the regular forces fail to do so". 
Turabi, quoted by the Sudanese newspaper 'Al Ray al-Amm', warned that
continued confusion within the Congress party "would bring about a third
force from the armed forces or the street to fill the gap". 

Nairobi, 17 March 2000, 10:20 gmt


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