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
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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 34
19 - 25 August 2000



CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Stage set for presidential voting
SOMALIA: New assembly speaker sworn in
SUDAN: UN envoy says recent bombings highlight need for peace deal
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: US official to visit both countries
KENYA: Child malnutrition on the rise
DRC: Government suspension of Lusaka accord "declaration of war" 
DRC: MONUC mandate extended
DRC: Angola raps Kabila
DRC: New assembly sworn in
UGANDA: Museveni urged to curb renewed ethnic fighting in DRC
BURUNDI: Mandela to meet negotiators
BURUNDI: Buyoya warns coup plotters
RWANDA: Senior officials in Uganda for talks



SOMALIA: Stage set for presidential voting

The field of contenders running for the presidency of Somalia has narrowed
down to 28 candidates ahead of Friday's historic vote in Arta, Djibouti,
by members of the country's new Transitional National Assembly. Conference
sources told IRIN that voting for the new head of state would begin
mid-afternoon and could last through the night. After the first round of
voting, the field is expected to narrow further to a short list of about
seven candidates. Originally there were 47 candidates, but several
withdrew from the race to become the first head of state in Somalia after
a decade of civil war and anarchy. 

SOMALIA: New assembly speaker sworn in

Abdillahi Deroow Issack, the newly-elected speaker of Somalia's
Transitional National Assembly, has been officially sworn in and
designated acting president, pending the election of a new president by
legislators at the Djibouti peace talks. Conference sources in Arta,
Djibouti, told IRIN on Tuesday that Issack had been formally sworn in as
speaker during a ceremony late on Monday night. 

SUDAN: UN envoy says recent bombings highlight need for peace deal

United Nations Special Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Eric Vraalsen
said on Thursday recent bombings in southern Sudan had highlighted the
need for a negotiated peace settlement to the long-running conflict and
called on all parties to redouble their efforts to that end. "Any act of
war which causes injury or loss of life to innocent civilians, which leads
to people having to move away from where they live, losing their
livelihoods, leading to internally-displaced people, causing damage to
property and so on, is totally unacceptable, and it must stop," he told
IRIN. 

Vraalsen, who is in the region for talks with the Kenyan and Sudan
governments, NGOs and other humanitarian officials from Operation Lifeline
Sudan (OLS), stressed the UN condemned "all acts of war" in Sudan,
including recent bombings raids by the government on the towns of Ikotos
and Paluer in eastern Equatoria and counter-attacks by Sudanese rebels. 

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: US official to visit both countries

A senior US official will visit Ethiopia and Eritrea to review the
humanitarian consequences of the recently-ended conflict between the two
neighbours, the US embassy in Addis Ababa announced on Wednesday. An
embassy statement said Ambassador Richard Bogosian, US Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright's Special Assistant to the Greater Horn of Africa,
would also raise American concerns about human rights abuses in the
region. Since a June ceasefire ending their two-year border war, Ethiopia
and Eritrea have accused each other of human rights abuses in the
expulsions by both countries of each other's nationals. 

KENYA: Child malnutrition on the rise

Malnutrition among children under-five in Kenya is increasing at an
alarming rate and food stocks are rapidly dwindling, the World Food
Programme (WFP) warned on Monday.  In a news release, WFP's Kenya Country
Director Holdbrook Arthur said reports of increasing malnutrition rates
were coming at a time when the UN food agency had been forced to cut
rations across Kenya, as funds and food were at "critically low levels". 

"General food distributions and supplementary distributions go hand in
hand," he said. "If you don't get enough of one, you will end up taking
large chunks out of the other just to keep food on the table." 

DRC: Government suspension of Lusaka accord "declaration of war" 

The DRC government on Wednesday officially suspended the Lusaka peace
agreement signed by all the warring parties to end the two year-old war in
Congo. The announcement by DRC Human Rights Minister Leonard She Okitundu
dashed hopes of a swift return to peace in the DRC, and was quickly
condemned by the government's opponents. "Nobody among the nine
signatories has the power to suspend the Lusaka agreement, one can only
renounce it,"  said Amama Mbabazi, Uganda's foreign minister in charge of
regional cooperation. "If Kabila has renounced the agreement that is a
serious matter and is a declaration of war. It means he is no longer bound
by the ceasefire," he told IRIN. 

DRC: MONUC mandate extended

The Security Council on Wednesday voted to extend the mandate of the UN
mission in DRC (MONUC) - due to expire shortly - until 15 October, as
recommended by the Secretary-General. The extension was designed to allow
time for further diplomatic activities in support of the Lusaka ceasefire
agreement and for more reflection on the future of the mandate. The
Council expressed concern that doubts over access and security had
prevented MONUC from deploying troops to its authorised strength. 
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy, ex-Nigerian president
Abdulsalami Abubakar, described talks with DRC President Laurent-Desire
Kabila in Kinshasa as "useful", but stressed some points still had to be
clarified before MONUC could expand its deployment. 

DRC: Angola raps Kabila

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos last week reprimanded DRC
President Laurent-Desire Kabila in view of his "negative attitude" towards
the peace process in the country. According to a private independent
Angolan newspaper 'Agora', "authorised sources" quoted dos Santos as
saying that Kabila's allies (Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe) have had
"enough of Kabila's arrogance". Dos Santos reportedly said the DRC leader
"went to the extreme"  of not attending the Southern Africa Development
Community (SADC) summit in Windhoek, which dealt with the peace process in
his country, and "contributed to the failure" of the 14 August summit held
in Lusaka. 

DRC: New assembly sworn in

DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila on Monday installed the constituent
and legislative assembly in Lubumbashi, DRC state television reported. It
quoted Kabila as saying it was an "historic day in the life of a people
who have always resisted foreign domination". Kabila reportedly handed
over his legislative powers to the assembly. "I have a mission during this
inauguration," Reuters quoted Kabila as saying. "That is to transfer power
to the assembly...And I am doing that with all my heart, knowing that you
will defend...unrelentingly the sovereignty and territorial integrity of
our country, that you will rebuild the pride of the Congolese people," he
said.  A government-selected committee chose some 240 deputies for the new
parliament out of 10,000 applicants and the president himself named the
remaining 60 deputies. 

UGANDA: Museveni urged to curb renewed ethnic fighting in DRC

The rights organisation, Human Rights Watch (HRW), has written to Ugandan
President Yoweri Museveni condemning the resurgence of inter-ethnic
violence in areas of the DRC under Ugandan control. The letter notes that
clashes between the Lendu and Hema tribes in the northeast Bunia region
has flared up again, and "civilian casualties are mounting". According to
the letter, about 100 mostly Hema people were killed in clashes on 14
August. "We fear that these incidents may prepare the ground for the
resumption of the deadly inter-ethnic conflict, leading to more violence," 
HRW said. "In view of its decisive influence in the region, your
government bears a grave responsibility for ensuring that violence against
civilians...is promptly contained," HRW told Museveni. 

BURUNDI: Mandela to meet negotiators

Burundi peace talks mediator Nelson Mandela is due in Arusha on Saturday,
the Hirondelle news agency reported, citing Mark Bomani, a member of the
facilitation team. On that day, the former South African president is due
to meet the 19 negotiating sides in order to adopt the "final version" of
the peace agreement. Mandela is expected to put forward "compromise
proposals" regarding issues still in dispute, particularly leadership of
the transition and a cessation of hostilities. The accord is due to be
signed on 28 August. 

BURUNDI: Buyoya warns coup plotters

Burundian President Pierre Buyoya has warned against a coup ahead of the
signing of a peace agreement on 28 August aimed at ending the country's
civil war. "Those who want to overthrow the government so that the
president will not be there to sign the peace agreement should know that
their actions will come to no good," the Associated Press quoted him as
telling civil servants and local administrators on Monday. A regional
analyst told IRIN the comments were a remarkable admission of Buyoya's
"vulnerability", and showed he was not in total control of hardliners
within the army. Buyoya was apparently directing the warning at radical
Tutsi opposition parties that are said to be behind recent anti-government
protests aimed at stopping the signing of the peace accord. 

RWANDA: Senior officials in Uganda for talks

Rwanda on Monday sent the secretary-general of the ruling Rwanda Patriotic
Front (RPF), Charles Murigande, and the presidential adviser on security
matters, Major Emmanuel Ndahiro, to Uganda for a follow-up meeting to the
June summit between the two countries' presidents. "At their last summit,
the presidents directed their respective officials to arrange follow up
meetings to chart the way forward," Ndahiro said. Ugandan officials said
the DRC war would be discussed among other bilateral issues. Ugandan and
Rwandan troops clashes for a third time in the DRC city of Kisangani in
June. 

Nairobi, 25 August


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


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