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 15
8 - 14 April 2000



CONTENTS:


DRC: Fighting still reported as new ceasefire date arrives
DRC: Belligerents agree on "disengagement plan"
DRC: Security Council approves special mission
DRC: Kinshasa promises dialogue, emphasises strict timetable
DRC: Refugees flee to Zambia in significant numbers
DRC: Ugandan, Rwandan tensions in Kisangani
RWANDA: Kagame to give up defence post if made president
RWANDA: UN memo on Habyarimana plane crash "under seal"
BURUNDI: Mandela visit to Bujumbura confirmed
BURUNDI: IDP sites among regroupment camps reportedly dismantled
BURUNDI: UN solicits ideas on proposed Great Lakes conference
TANZANIA: Government addresses need for refugee policy
SUDAN: NGOs move to return to SPLM-held areas



DRC: Fighting still reported as new ceasefire date arrives

The leader of the rebel Mouvement de liberation congolais (MLC), Jean
Pierre Bemba, said on Friday he could not observe the newly-agreed
ceasefire (due to take effect on Friday between the Kinshasa government
and its allies on the one hand, and the Ugandan- and Rwandan-backed
Congolese rebels on the other) because government troops were still
attacking his positions in Imesse and along the banks of the River Oubangi
in Equateur Province.  Fighting was continuing in these areas on Friday
even as the midnight deadline to cease fire approached, he said. Here [in
Equateur] there is no ceasefire because it is my duty to defend my
people," Bemba said.

The head of security and intelligence of the Rassemblement congolais pour
la democratie (RCD), Bizima Karaha, said his troops were holding their
ceasefire from Friday as agreed in Kampala at the weekend. "We ordered our
troops to observe it," he told IRIN. He claimed, however, that the
government had launched major attacks in Equateur, at Ikela, and Katanga
Provinces since the Kampala agreement. The government has denied the
allegations but affirmed that the Forces armees congolaises (FAC) would
respond to any attack, news organisations reported.

DRC: Belligerents agree on "disengagement plan" 

The Joint Military Commission (JMC) charged with implementing the Lusaka
peace agreement on the DRC and the Political Committee overseeing it
announced a plan in Kampala at the weekend for a total cessation of
hostilities, disengagement on both sides to establish a security corridor,
and the redeployment of forces. The new ceasefire would come into force on
Friday, 14 April, they said. However, Acting JMC Chairman
Brigadier-General Timothy Kazembe of Zambia said foreign troops would not
be withdrawn before full deployment of the UN Observer Mission in the DRC
(MONUC), the semi-official Ugandan 'New Vision' newspaper reported.  "If
the UN is unwilling to authorise peace enforcement under Chapter 7, we,
the parties, would assume responsibility for the coercive element of the
disengagement, demobilisation and resettlement of the armed groups in
Congo," the 'Monitor' quoted the Political Committee chairman, Ugandan
Minister for Regional Cooperation Amama Mbabazi, as saying.

DRC: Security Council approves fact-finding mission

The UN Security Council on Wednesday agreed to send a special mission to
the DRC to discuss with the signatories of the Lusaka peace accord ways of
bringing peace to the region. Council president Robert Fowler of Canada
welcomed the ceasefire and disengagement plan agreed in Kampala and urged
the combatants to adhere to it. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping
Operations Bernard Miyet told the Council that the Kampala disengagement
plan made the full phase two deployment by the UN more urgent, and that
the UN Observer Mission in the DRC (MONUC) had stressed the need to deploy
in the (government-held) towns of Mbandaka and Mbuji-Mayi "as rapidly as
possible," a UN statement said.

UN Secretary-General welcomed the 14 April ceasefire plan as a
"significant step forward" and said the UN was prepared to work closely
with the parties involved to implement "the challenging provisions of the
disengagement plan," his spokesman Fred Eckhard said on Monday. The Joint
Military Commission (JMC) and MONUC would monitor and verify the
disengagement of forces, while MONUC would also be required to monitor and
verify the various combatants' movements, Eckhard said. In this context,
the UN mission urgently needed specialist military units "to prepare for
the deployment of its troops and equipment in the interior of the DRC," 
according to Eckhard's statement. The UN's Department of Peacekeeping
Operations (DPKO) was meeting troop-contributing countries on Thursday to
see if they would meet this need, it said. France, while welcoming the new
agreement, cautioned that more details were needed about the deal to make
sure it was in line with Security Council resolutions authorising the full
deployment of MONUC forces.

DRC: Kinshasa promises dialogue, emphasises strict timetable

The DRC government on Monday stated publicly its commitment to holding "an
inter-Congolese dialogue as envisaged by the last [peace] timetable in
Lusaka", but warned that any postponement beyond that timetable would
force it to leave the Lusaka process. Information Minister Didier Mumengi
said the DRC reaffirmed its commitment to the dialogue starting within 45
days of the 1 March re-validation of the Lusaka accord (and therefore
now), but expected the facilitator - former Botswana President Ketumile
Masire - and the signatories "to respect strictly these new provisions." 
Masire told 'The Sowetan' newspaper in South Africa he expected the
inter-Congolese talks to take place "within a month or two." DRC Foreign
Affairs Minister Yerodia Ndombasi said the dialogue should take place in
Kinshasa, "where all the institutions of the republic are represented and
where all security guarantees will be given to all the parties involved."
The rebels have repeatedly rejected Kinshasa and demanded a neutral talks
venue.

DRC: Refugees flee to Zambia in significant numbers

More than 2,000 refugees, many of them in poor physical condition, have
fled the DRC conflict and entered northern Zambia since the beginning of
the year. "There is a large movement of refugees on the northern border of
Zambia with the DRC," Kelvin Shimo of UNHCR in Lusaka told IRIN. Shimo
said an average of 50 DRC refugees a day were entering Zambia through
Kaputa and Sumbu from the DRC. Meanwhile, a group of 62 government
soldiers from the DRC who had crossed into Zambia last week have been
granted safe passage home by the Zambian authorities. A senior military
official in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, told IRIN on Thursday that the
soldiers, all of whom had been disarmed, had not sought asylum in Zambia.

DRC: Ugandan, Rwandan tensions in Kisangani

Persistent differences between Rwandan and Ugandan forces in the eastern
DRC town of Kisangani have led to the increased militarisation of the
town, with both sides and the rebel factions they back (the RCD and
RCD-Mouvement de liberation respectively) strengthening their zones of
control in the event of potential clashes, the 'East African' reported on
Monday. The recent differences - eased but not resolved by a meeting last
week of military intelligence chiefs from both countries in Kisangani -
were a sign that the relationship between the two was deteriorating again,
after last August's fighting between the two supposed allies, a western
diplomat in Kigali told IRIN. "Until both Kagame and Museveni intervene,
we are going to have more of last week's situation whereby troops square
off against each other, and possibly another skirmish," he added. 

RWANDA: Kagame to give up defence post if made president

Acting Rwandan President Major General Paul Kagame is to quit as Minister
of Defence if confirmed as head of state next week. "The law also says
that if a President is an active member of the army, he or she should
resign,"  Kagame's special assistant Major Emmanuel Ndahiro special
assistant to Paul Kagame told IRIN on Tuesday. Kagame is one of two
candidates from whom a joint session of the cabinet and assembly is
expected to elect a president on Monday, 17 April, in accordance with the
power-sharing arrangements of the Arusha Accords of 1993.

RWANDA: UN memo on Habyarimana plane crash "under seal" 

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Friday confirmed
its receipt of a confidential UN memorandum concerning the circumstances
of the shooting down on 6 April 1994 of the aircraft carrying President
Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi. 
Tribunal President Navenethem Pillay directed that the document and
accompanying correspondence be immediately placed under seal in the
President's Chambers, a press release stated. Neither Pillay nor any other
of the tribunal judges had read the document, it added. UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan had forwarded the memo to the ICTR "so that
if the matter is raised before the Tribunal, the appropriate Trial Chamber
could decide if the document is relevant to the defense of any of the
cases on which the attorneys are working and, if so, determine under what
circumstances and conditions the document can be released," Pillay's
statement said.

BURUNDI: Mandela visit to Bujumbura confirmed

The facilitator for the Burundi peace talks Nelson Mandela will visit
Bujumbura on 28 April, an official of The Mandela Foundation in South
Africa told IRIN on Wednesday. The official said she did not have any
additional details of the visit. Burundi news agency Azania reported on
Monday that Mandela's main purpose would be to hold talks with the Burundi
army command. It quoted opposition sources as saying that Mandela would
also meet Burundi groups and associations which are opposed to the current
Arusha peace process.

BURUNDI: IDP sites among regroupment camps reportedly dismantled

Some 18,198 people, constituting five per cent of a total of 352,168
Burundi civilians forcibly relocated by the government to regroupment
sites since the latter months of last year, had returned to their homes as
of 7 April, an inter-agency assessment team has found. The mission found
that 16,912 internally displaced people (IDPs) had chosen not to return
home, humanitarian sources said. The government has claimed to have
dismantled 23 sites but the recent assessment mission found that, of
these, only nine were regroupment sites - "the rest being IDP camps," they
added. The occupants of 14 IDP sites had refused to return home. 

BURUNDI: UN solicits ideas on proposed Great Lakes conference

President Pierre Buyoya and Berhanu Dinka, the Special Representative of
the UN Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region, met on Wednesday in
Bujumbura to discuss the regional aspect of the DRC conflict, the Arusha
peace process for Burundi and on the proposed international conference on
the Great Lakes region among other issues, a UN press release stated. 
Dinka is to continue his consultations on the conference with leaders of
other states in the region, including Rwanda and the DRC, from next week. 
He has already visited Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the OAU in Addis
Ababa in his current role. "The region will provide essential ideas and
inputs for the further elaboration of a conceptual framework for the
proposed conference ... The process, from its inception, must be owned by
the region and must not be imposed from outside," Dinka commented.

TANZANIA: Government addresses need for refugee policy

The Tanzanian government had no official policy on refugees - despite
hosting over 450,000 official refugees - and was sheltering people from
troubled neighbouring countries in accordance with traditional generosity,
news organisations quoted the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home
Affairs, Bernard Mchomvu, as saying this week. A ministry official
contacted by IRIN on Thursday confirmed that the country had no policy
document and relied on the "open-door policy" which, he said, had often
been "taken for granted." Action on refugees in Tanzania was guided by the
Refugee Act drafted in 1996 and amended in 1998, and which needed "a bit
of polishing,"  he said. The government "will not ignore the [workshop]
recommendations because something needs to be done,"  the ministry
official said, adding that the Immigration Act also needed refinement to
clarify the difference between illegal immigrants, economic migrants and
refugees.

SUDAN: NGOs move to return to SPLM-held areas

Five international NGOs have applied to sign a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) sponsored by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement /Army (SPLM/A) 
six weeks after being expelled from Southern Sudan for failing to do so,
according to humanitarian sources. The Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation
Association (SRRA), the humanitarian wing of the SPLM, had set 29 February
as the deadline for NGOs operating in its area of control to sign an MOU,
which aid agencies said was overly restrictive and which resulted in the
departure of 12 NGOs from the rebel-held sector. A representative from one
of the seven NGOs which has decided not to apply to sign the MOU told IRIN
it had not changed and that the SRRA was not willing to negotiate on the
matter. "The conditions imposed by the MOU are still too stringent," the
NGO officials told IRIN. "We can't have the SPLA taxing our relief flights
or telling us who to hire."

Nairobi, 14 April 2000, 15:00 gmt


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