U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
email: irin@ocha.unon.org
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Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 32
5 - 11 August 2000



CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Secretary-General recommends UN peace mission
SOMALIA: Djibouti president insists on first parliamentary session
SOMALIA: Demonstrations over seats
SUDAN: Aid flights suspended
SUDAN: Aid staff evacuated
SUDAN: Sudan denies attacking relief operations
KENYA: Second anniversary of embassy blast
KENYA: Aid agencies criticise slow response to crisis 
DRC: Parliament inauguration set for 21 August
DRC: RCD-Goma to follow Rwanda's disengagement plan
RWANDA: Troops return from DRC
RWANDA: UNHCR worried over "clandestine returns" 
BURUNDI: Government condemns murders
BURUNDI: Genocide becoming a factor in peace deal
ROC: UN seeks to consolidate peace
TANZANIA: Over 30 districts affected by drought
TANZANIA: Voter registration kicks off


ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Secretary-General recommends UN peace mission

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended that a UN peace mission to
Ethiopia and Eritrea would require a total military strength of up to
4,200 personnel, including 220 military observers, three infantry
battalions and support units. In a New York briefing on Thursday, his
deputy spokesman Manoel de Almeid E Silva said the recommendations were
made in a report submitted to the Security Council. Under the Algiers
peace agreement, Ethiopia and Eritrea had proposed that the UN
peacekeeping operation would terminate by successfully concluding the
demarcation of the disputed border. In his briefing, the spokesman said
the UN mission would monitor the redeployment of Ethiopian forces to
positions they held on 6 May, 1998, and to monitor the position of
Eritrean forces, which are to remain a distance of 25 km away from the
redeployed Ethiopian forces. The mission will also monitor the temporary
security zone and coordinate and provide technical assistance for mine
clearance.

SOMALIA: Djibouti president insists on first parliamentary session

Sources in Djibouti told IRIN that President Ismail Omar Guelleh is
frustrated with the pace of the Djibouti-hosted Somali National Peace
Conference, which is being financed by the Djibouti government. According
to sources at the conference, President Ismail Omar Guelleh threatened to
pull the conference tent down if the Transitional National Assembly (TNA) 
failed to convene on Sunday 13 August. According to the sources, the
chairman of the conference, Hassan Abshire, outlined the progress of the
conference to the president and called for patience. But Abshire admitted
that the conference had been slowed down over clan allocation of seats to
the TNA, with some sub-clans threatening to walk out. Guelleh is under
financial and political pressure to get the Somali talks - the 13th
attempt at reconciliation - to conclude successfully with an elected
parliament, prime minister and president.

SOMALIA: Demonstrations over seats

Hundreds of people took to the streets in the Somali capital, Mogadishu,
on Tuesday to protest over the allocation of seats in the proposed
national assembly, AFP reported. Demonstrations were held in Mogadishu's
Hariryale district and in two southern parts of the capital, Gubta and
Deymile, and were dominated by members of the Murursade sub-clan of the
major Hawiye clan.

SUDAN: Aid flights suspended

All relief flights under Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) have been
suspended because of the recent government bombing campaign in the south,
the office of the UN Secretary-General said in a statement released on
Tuesday. "The Secretary-General is deeply concerned over the security of
humanitarian personnel and facilities belonging to Operation Lifeline
Sudan...all OLS relief flights have been temporarily suspended, pending a
security assessment," the statement said. The suspension of flights was
decided after some 18 bombs were dropped on Monday "in the vicinity of
UN-based facilities at Mapel", despite assurances by the government that
bombings of the locations used by UN/OLS would not recur.

SUDAN: Aid staff evacuated

WFP evacuated aid staff from Mapel, southern Bahr el-Ghazal, on Wednesday
afternoon, after another bombing raid. The UN food agency said nine bombs
were dropped near a relief facility. In a statement released from Rome on
Wednesday, WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini strongly condemned the
continued bombings. "These violent attacks are totally unacceptable and we
strongly condemn them. They show there is no respect for aid workers
trying to help innocent Sudanese."

SUDAN: Sudan denies attacking relief operations

The Sudanese government meanwhile said on Wednesday it regretted the UN
decision to suspend relief flights to southern Sudan, and blamed the rebel
movement for breaking the humanitarian ceasefire in Bahr el-Ghazal.
Humanitarian aid commissioner Sulaf Eddin Saleh told AFP that it was "a
legitimate right of the government to defend itself after the United
Nations and the international community have failed to stop violations by
the rebel movement of the existing ceasefire in Bahr el-Ghazal". He said
that the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) "persistently
violates the ceasefire and publicly declares its day-to-day military
operations in Bahr el-Ghazal, yet the UN keeps silent", AFP reported. The
relief commissioner also denied attacking any humanitarian aircraft or
offices, according to the BBC.

KENYA: Second anniversary of embassy blast

Monday, 7 August, marked two years since the devastating twin bomb blasts
at the US embassies in Nairobi and the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam,
which killed 224 people and wounded over 5,000, besides causing millions
of dollars' worth of property damage. A memorial ceremony was held in
Nairobi on Sunday with survivors "easily identifiable" by their "scarred
faces, white canes, wheelchairs, crutches and hearing aids", local press
reports said. The climax of the two-hour ceremony was a moving account of
the suffering by survivors, friends and relatives of the victims. On
Monday, the current US ambassador to Kenya, Johnnie Carson, said his
government would continue to help the victims. He was addressing hundreds
of people at the former US embassy site in downtown Nairobi where the
blast ripped through buildings in the area.

KENYA: Aid agencies criticise slow response to crisis

The international community is not responding adequately to appeals for
food in drought-stricken Kenya, where more than three million people are
facing starvation, a group of 13 leading aid agencies said. In a press
release issued on Monday, they said food shortages were becoming desperate
and urged governments and donors to support an appeal by the Kenyan
government and the World Food Programme for US $88 million for the July to
December period. So far, only a third of the requirements have been met.
Late pledges have meant that relief food is not flowing quickly enough,
the humanitarian and development agencies said. 

DRC: Parliament inauguration set for 21 August

The postponed parliamentary inauguration will now take place on 21 August
in Lubumbashi, DRC state television reported on Tuesday, quoting Justice
Minister Mwenze Kongolo. The transitional assembly, appointed by
presidential decree, was due to be inaugurated on Monday but was postponed
due to "material and other problems with the preparations", state media
reported. 

DRC: RCD-Goma to follow Rwanda's disengagement plan

The rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) has
announced it is prepared to comply with a disengagement plan announced by
Rwanda and pull back 200 km on all fronts if UN troops are deployed in the
vacated areas. In a statement, received by IRIN on Thursday, RCD spokesman
Kin-Kiey Mulumba named the fronts as Dekese in Kasai, Ikela in Equateur
province, and Moba in Katanga. The RCD also agreed to comply with the
demilitarisation of Kisangani as provided for in UN resolution 1304. The
movement had previously stated it would not withdraw from the city, after
it moved in following the June fighting between Rwandan and Ugandan
troops. However, the RCD statement expressed concern that the current
mandate of the UN mission (MONUC) did not allow it to defend Kisangani,
should it come under attack by DRC government troops. "The RCD could never
permit the loss of its territory to the Kabila regime, the negative forces
or enemy movements," the statement warned. It would therefore maintain a
minimal military presence in Kisangani. 

RWANDA: Troops return from DRC

Over 1,000 Rwandan troops have returned home on foot from the DRC, AFP
reported, citing army chief General Kayumba Nyamwasa. He told a ceremony
in the Rwandan capital Kigali that 1,004 soldiers and officers from the
75th battalion had been recalled after almost two years in the DRC. "They
marched for two weeks from Kisangani, passing by Lubutu, Walikale [in DRC]
and Cyangugu [in Rwanda], from where vehicles took them to Kigali," he
said.  Both Rwanda and Uganda agreed to demilitarise Kisangani after their
troops clashed there for a third time in June. Uganda is already
withdrawing some 4,000 troops from the DRC. 

RWANDA: UNHCR worried over "clandestine returns" 

UNHCR has expressed concern about clandestine returns of Congelese Tutsi
refugees from Rwanda to highly unstable areas of eastern DRC. A UNHCR
spokesman told a Geneva news briefing on Tuesday the agency had learnt of
the night-time departure last Friday of a group of 33 Congolese refugees
from Gihembe camp in Rwanda's Kibuye prefecture for Goma in North Kivu. 
The transfer by private vehicle was at least the third of this type in the
past two weeks, with 88 people known to have been transferred by bus from
Gihembe to the DRC on 24 July and 123 on 2 August. Many of the remaining
refugees have expressed concern about the clandestine nature of the
departures. They told UNHCR that the individuals who have provided
transport had also been visiting the camps to encourage refugees to
repatriate.

BURUNDI: Government condemns murders

The Burundi government has strongly condemned the murder of 27 military
cadets in a rebel ambush on Sunday, and urged the international community
to do the same. In a statement, received by IRIN, the government described
the killings as "revolting" and said they were carried out by "terrorists
who are turning their back on a peaceful solution". Other (pro-Tutsi) 
parties and institutions, such as the National Assembly, also condemned
the murders. The cadets were buried in a moving ceremony on Wednesday in
the grounds of Burundi's Higher Institute for Military Officers (ISCAM)
where they had been studying, the private Netpress news agency reported.
The military chaplain, Athanase Ndikumana, who conducted the mass asked:
"What are we negotiating in Arusha?" The ceremony was attended by
President Pierre Buyoya, Defence Minister Cyrille Ndayirukiye and other
senior government and army officials.

BURUNDI: Genocide becoming a factor in peace deal

The formation of a new "G10" group at the Arusha talks in Tanzania has
highlighted the importance of the issue of genocide for the pro-Tutsi
parties, according to regional analysts. The UPRONA party faction of
information minister Luc Rukingama and the radical Tutsi PARENA party have
now joined the original Group of Eight. Analysts say this reflects the
growing demand by Tutsis at home that the peace accord should take into
account a UN report which said genocide had been committed against the
Tutsis in 1993 after the assassination of president Melchior Ndadaye. The
other wing of UPRONA - led by Charles Mukasi - has refused to take part in
the peace negotiations because the issue of genocide has not been
addressed, and observers point out that his views coincide with those of
many Tutsis in Bujumbura, whose acceptance of the peace accord is
essential. The PA-Amasekanya (Self-Defence) movement, whose aim is to
obtain recognition that a genocide was committed against the Tutsis, is
gaining in popularity in Bujumbura. Diplomatic sources told IRIN that the
movement is arming and training hundreds of young Tutsis. 

REPUBLIC OF CONGO: UN seeks to consolidate peace

The United Nations strategy for the remainder of the year in the Republic
of Congo is to promote peace by helping the population get back on its
feet, according to the most senior UN official based in that country. UN
Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Republic of Congo William
Paton told IRIN on Tuesday that UN agencies in the country were focusing
on four particular areas in pursuit of this objective: reintegrating
returnees, youth and militia into society; reestablishing social services,
such as health and education; restarting agricultural and
income-generating activities; and promoting the rule of law. 

"We're in a pretty positive situation right now," Paton said. "630,000 of
780,000 people displaced by the war have returned home because of the
peace and tens of thousands of refugees have arrived from the DRC fleeing
the war there."

TANZANIA: Over 30 districts affected by drought

Thirty-two districts in Tanzania are affected by drought and are likely to
face "critical" food shortages during the later part of the year, until
the next harvest, a WFP Rapid Assessment Mission conducted in July found
out.  The most affected regions are Arusha, Shinyanga, Dodoma, Singida,
Morogoro, Kilimanjaro, Tanga, Mwanza, Mara and Coast. It said that these
areas are facing crop failure for the fourth consecutive season and the
traditional coping mechanisms have been almost exhausted.  The Tanzanian
government has requested WFP to assist in identifying the number of people
who will not be able to meet their food needs in the coming months and
will need relief.

TANZANIA: Voter registration kicks off

Registration of voters for Tanzania's second multiparty elections slated
for October, began on Tuesday in more than 33,000 centres countrywide. 
The Tanzanian 'Guardian' newspaper quoted the chairman of the National
Electoral Commission (NEC), Justice Lewis Makame, as saying that at least
21.5 million people were expected to register as voters. He directed all
assistant registration officers to ensure that people with disabilities,
the elderly and the sick were given first priority whenever they arrived
at the registration centres.

Nairobi, 10 August 2000


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