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 36
4 - 8 September 2000



CONTENTS:

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Kabila reshuffles cabinet
DRC: UPDF crushes another revolt in Bunia
DRC: Fighting continues in Equateur
DRC: Government says it is ready to receive UN troops
DRC: UN says government must clarify its stance on Lusaka
DRC: RCD, foreign troops accused of rights abuses
DRC: Jailed activists disappear - rights group
DRC: Concern for imprisoned journalist
DRC: Israeli company awarded diamond contract
DRC: Rwandan Hutu militias kill nine researchers in gorilla sanctuary
GREAT LAKES: WFP cites key food requirements
BURUNDI: Buyoya launches information campaign on Arusha deal
BURUNDI: Frodebu faction "not opposed" to Arusha agreement
BURUNDI: Fresh outbreak of violence
RWANDA: ICTR convicts to serve sentences in Swaziland
RWANDA: SA officials "mistakenly" release genocide fugitive
UGANDA: Rebels attack refugee camp in the west

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Kabila reshuffles cabinet

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Laurent-Desire Kabila has
reshuffled his cabinet and appointed two former ministers who served under
the late President Mobutu Sese Seko. In the 10th cabinet reshuffle since
Kabila came to power in May 1997, the new cabinet now comprises 21
ministers, compared to the previous government, which had 18. In the
reshuffle on Friday, which local news reports described as "minor", key
portfolios remained as they were.

Mubima Maneniang Milang, the press attache at the DRC embassy in Nairobi,
told IRIN on Monday that the two former ministers who had served under
Mobutu were Dominique Sakombi Inongo, who now holds the communications
portfolio, and Norbert Likulia Bolongo, the new minister for enterprises. 
"They have been appointed on merit," he said. The cabinet includes six
women, four more than in the previous government. 

DRC: UPDF crushes yet another revolt in Bunia

The Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) said it crushed another revolt
against the leadership of Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, who heads the
Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Mouvement de Liberation
(RCD-ML) faction. The Ugandan semi-official 'Sunday Vision' newspaper said
last Friday about 30 rebel soldiers, allied to the suspended RCD-ML Prime
Minister Mbusa Nyamwisa, had mutinied. They were members of the Wadandi
ethnic group in Bunia and reportedly took refuge in a UN compound.
Earlier, they had taken control of the church-owned Candip radio station
and demanded that Wamba dia Wamba quit as leader of RCD-ML. They
reportedly held the station for an hour and broadcast reports saying Wamba
had been toppled, local sources told IRIN.  The rebels were later taken to
Kampala for "retraining". 

The Ugandan army is now holding two militia groups opposed to Uganda's
ally, rebel faction leader Wamba dia Wamba, Ugandan army spokesman Major
Phineas Katirima told IRIN. "One of the groups, from Ituri, composed of
both Hema and Lendu tribes, was brought to Kampala to be trained on how to
amicably resolve their differences in an armed struggle. 

DRC: Fighting continues in Equateur

MLC leader Jean-Pierre Bemba has confirmed to IRIN reports of fighting
along the River Ubangi and in the Imese and Dongo areas. He said that last
Sunday two battalions of government forces heavily bombarded Dongo, north
of Imese. Earlier, AFP quoted Bemba as saying he had repulsed the attack
and taken 20 government troops prisoner. He told IRIN his forces had now
captured some 270 people believed to have been fighting alongside Kabila's
troops in the most recent clashes. "They told us they do not want to go
back to the Kabila-camp because they did not know that they were going to
be used to fight their own Congolese brothers, so they requested to join
us," he said.

Rebel-controlled radio from Goma on Saturday reported that "extensive" 
fighting was going on in the northwest near Libenge in Equateur Province. 
"The front line is now closer to Dongo, and the Kabila government has
reacted by carrying out air raids in areas around the Ubangi river," the
secretary-general of the MLC, Olivier Kamitatu, told IRIN. UNHCR told IRIN
that some 84,000 refugees had fled into the Republic of Congo and a
further unknown number in the Central African Republic. 

DRC: Government ready to receive UN troops

The DRC government said at the weekend it was prepared to receive UN
peacekeepers, AFP reported. "I am in Dakar [Senegal] to come and get
them,"  it quoted DRC Foreign Minister Yerodia Abdoulaye Ndombasi, who was
visiting Senegal, as saying. He said his country would be happy to welcome
Senegalese soldiers "arriving first" on its territory. The Senegalese
contingent would be an addition to the Pakistani and Moroccan troops who
are part of the 5,500-strong UN mission (MONUC) to be deployed in the DRC. 

Meanwhile, in New York senior Congolese rebel leader Bizima Karaha on
Monday told Reuters that the armed opposition would ask the United Nations
to try and pressure DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila into honouring the
Lusaka peace accord signed last year. "We are looking to the United
Nations to support the Lusaka peace accord. We expect the United Nations
to do its job and use its influence to get Kabila to comply," Karaha said. 

DRC: UN says government must clarify its stance on Lusaka

The DRC government must clarify its position on the 1999 Lusaka peace
agreement before a planned deployment of UN military observers and support
troops could proceed, a United Nations spokesman maintained on Wednesday.
"There have been some incomprehensible messages from the Congolese
Government and there has to be a clarification on this subject", Amadou
Toure, a spokesman for the UN Observer Mission in DRC (MONUC), told a news
briefing in Kinshasa.

DRC: RCD, foreign troops accused of rights abuses

The Goma-based rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) 
and their Rwandan and Ugandan allies have been accused of "massive human
rights violations". Reuters quoted a statement from the local rights
group, ASADHO, as saying on Monday that the Ugandan and Rwandan forces
were responsible for terrorising the population and committing arbitrary
killings. The group cited an incident in Bukavu in eastern DRC in August
where RCD troops killed two young men "falsely" accused of stealing a
sewing machine, and a Ugandan army attack on a restaurant in Kirima, a
village in the Butembo area, also in eastern DRC, in which 12 people were
said to have died. 

ASADHO also castigated Rwandan troops for the deaths of nine people when a
hand grenade was thrown into a crowd at a religious celebration in Bukavu
on 26 August. "The authors of the attack are Rwandan soldiers, who were
seen at the celebration shortly before the explosion," ASADHO said. The
Rwandan government has vehemently denied the allegations. 

DRC: Jailed activists disappear - rights group

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday called on the RCD-Goma authorities and
their Rwandan allies to reveal the whereabouts of three Congolese men and
one woman, who disappeared after their arrest in Bukavu on 29 August. In a
statement, the organisation said that the four had been transferred from
Bukavu to Goma in eastern DRC and had not been seen since. 

RCD-Goma's Second Vice-President Moise Nyarugabo was quoted by the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as saying on Tuesday that the four were
helping the authorities in Goma with "investigations". The four were
arrested after a grenade explosion in Bukavu which killed seven people and
injured at least 43 others. Authorities accused them of having passed
information about the attack to the international press. Three of them,
Paulin Bapolisi Bahuga, Gervais Chirhalwirhwa Nkunzimwami and Aloys
Muzalia Wakyebwa, are teachers at the Institut de Pedagogie in Bukavu. The
fourth, Regine Mutijima Bazalake, is a civil society activist. 

DRC: Concern for imprisoned journalist

The International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) said on Tuesday it
was concerned over the plight of a Congolese journalist and newspaper
publisher serving a three-year term at the central prison in the DRC
capital, Kinshasha. It said in a statement that Freddy Loseke Lisumbu la
Yayenga, publisher of 'La Libre Afrique', was suffering from kidney
failure and paralysis of the right leg, and that he had been bed-ridden
since late August. He was arrested on 31 December last year and sentenced
to three years on charges of "insulting the army". 

DRC: Israeli company awarded diamond contract

The DRC government has reportedly granted a diamond export monopoly to an
Israeli company in exchange for Israeli paramilitary training to "stem
smuggling" through the country's porous borders. The Associated Press (AP)
quoted a special investments adviser of Kabila, Nkere Ntanda Nkingi, as
saying that the Israeli army would train the Congolese police
anti-smuggling unit to improve control over the country's diamond wealth. 
However, AP noted that the Israeli Defence Ministry had denied "any" 
knowledge of the agreement and I.D.I, the Israeli diamond company which
signed the deal, said it only agreed to recommend names of security
experts who could help DRC cut down on smuggling. 

DRC: Hutu militias kill researchers in gorilla sanctuary

Rwandan Hutu militiamen on Tuesday killed nine members of a Congolese team
studying ways to improve conditions at a gorilla sanctuary in the
Gahuzi-Biega National Park in eastern DRC, the Rassemblement congolais
pour la democratie (RCD-Goma)vice-president, Moise Nyarugabo, told IRIN.
He also said that another group of Interhahamwe had on the same day killed
four people in the Kibumba area near Goma. He said RCD-Goma forces had
killed three of the attackers. 

GREAT LAKES: WFP cites food requirements

WFP, in its latest monthly update for August, has cited major food
requirements for four countries in the Great Lakes region where drought
has threatened food security. 

Tanzania: 

WFP said an assessment in June indicated likely food shortages in 32
districts of 10 regions across Tanzania, some of which were experiencing
crop failures for the fourth year. Traditional coping mechanisms were
almost exhausted. It said the areas most affected were Arusha, Shinyanga,
Dodoma, Singida, Morogoro, Kilimanjaro, Tanga, Mwanza, Mara and Coast. 

Rwanda: 

WFP drought assistance was continuing in Kibungo, Gitarama and Kigali
Rural, where 5,892 mt of food relief was distributed between January and
August to 74,869 drought-affected households, making up a total of 374,345
people.
 
Uganda: 

It said the Karamoja region continued to face drought-related food
shortages, which were compounded by insecurity in the area. WFP said it
had been assisting 160,000 people since March, to whom 7,065 mt of food
had been distributed so far, against a target of 9,069 mt. New donor
contributions were needed. It said that a rapid assessment it had carried
out with the government and NGOs had found an increasing number of some
270,000 people in need of relief. 

Burundi: 

WFP said more than 110,000 people had received 623 mt of food. They were
mainly in the Muyinga and Kirundo drought zones, but some had settled in
Bujumbura Rural. It said insecurity continued in Cankuzo, Ruyigi, Bubanza,
Bujumbura Rural, Makamba, Rutana and Karusi provinces and Bujumbura town.

[For the full report, see: 
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/1c292ebb
87392c278525694d00655c1e?OpenDocument]

BURUNDI: Buyoya launches information campaign on Arusha deal

President Pierre Buyoya has launched a drive to inform the Burundi people
about last week's peace deal signed in Arusha, northern Tanzania. Buyoya
told a meeting that the accord, signed by all nine Hutu parties
represented in Arusha and six out of 10 Tutsi parties was a compromise,
which covered "everyone's concerns", and said that all interests had been
taken into account. Buyoya also went on state radio over the weekend to
stress that the amendments to the deal were effected to make it acceptable
to many of the Tutsi parties. He said not everything was yet settled, such
as thequestion of a ceasefire and transitional institutions. 

BURUNDI: Frodebu faction "not opposed" to Arusha

The internal Front pour la democratie au Burundi(Frodebu) faction, led by
Augustine Nzojibwami, on Wednesday reiterated that it was not opposed to
the recent signing of the peace agreement, but said it did not recognise
"the people who signed the peace agreement on behalf of Frodebu". In an
interview with a local journalist in Bujumbura, the faction's
secretary-general, Thomas Bukuru, said that his faction would oppose the
"implementation" of the agreement in a "non-violent" manner in parliament. 
"We shall peacefully oppose those people," he said. "We are able, we have
many followers...Despite the signing of the agreement, the parliament will
remain as it is and we have many of our people in it," he added.

BURUNDI: Fresh outbreak of violence

Barely a week after the signing of the Arusha peace accord, renewed
fighting was reported on several fronts in Burundi on Tuesday. Reuters
quoted the Defence Ministry as saying Hutu rebels had killed two children
and injured dozens of others when they attacked two minibuses in southern
Burundi. The state-run news agency, ABP, meanwhile, reported that rebels
had also attacked outposts near the capital on Monday, killing two
civilians and injuring another two. 

The Burundian army has confirmed that there was an exchange of fire on the
common border with Tanzania. "The firing came from the Tanzanian side of
the border and we lost a number of soldiers in the process. This action is
not in conformity with the spirit of cooperation as set out in last week's
Burundi peace agreement signed by the Tanzanian president as a witness. 
Our defence minister is in touch with his Tanzanian counterpart on the
incident," the Burundian army spokesman, Colonel Longin Minani, told IRIN
on Tuesday. 

RWANDA: ICTR convicts to serve sentences in Swaziland

Swaziland has agreed to receive persons convicted by the ICTR to serve
their sentences in that country. Foreign Minister Albert Nhlanla Shabangu
said his country had supported the creation of the tribunal and therefore
welcomed the opportunity to contribute to its work by facilitating the
enforcement of its sentences. 

RWANDA: SA officials "mistakenly" release genocide fugitive

Bureaucratic confusion between an elite South African police unit, the
Scorpions, and the Department of Home Affairs has resulted in the mistaken
release of a Rwandan bishop wanted in his country on genocide charges, a
South African television documentary programme said on Tuesday.  Bishop
Samuel Musabyimana, who entered the country on a false passport early in
August, is wanted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity by
the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). According to the
SABC documentary, Musabyimana was detained early in August on the same day
he had planned to leave the country. The police alerted the tribunal,
which then sent a team of investigators with an international warrant for
his arrest.

However, before the UN investigators arrived, Musabyimana was deported to
Kenya by the Home Affairs Department for being in South Africa with false
travel documents. According to the SABC report, the Scorpions failed to
inform the department that Musabyimana had been arrested for more than
just being in possession of false travel documents.

A spokesman for the Rwandan embassy in Pretoria told IRIN: "We were aware
of the bishop's presence in the country and of his subsequent arrest. We
do not understand the circumstances under which he was released."

Bulelani Ngcuka, the National Director for Public Prosecutions, was quoted
as acknowledging a "blunder"  had occurred. 

UGANDA: Rebels attack refugee camp in west

Rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) at the weekend attacked the
Kyangwali refugee settlement at Kyabitaka in Hoima District in western
Uganda and killed two people. The semi-official 'New Vision' newspaper
quoted security sources as saying that the rebels struck the camp at
around nine p.m. local time (18:00 GMT) on Sunday night. The camp has more
than 6,000 refugees, most of them Sudanese. 

A UNHCR official in Kampala told IRIN on Thursday the agency's country
representative had gone to the camp to investigate further. After the
attack, President Yoweri Museveni visited Hoima District to assess the
deteriorating security situation, local newspapers reported. Moreover, as
a reflection of its seriousness, Museveni had cancelled his visit to New
York to attend the United Nations Millennium Summit. Museveni vowed to
flush out the rebels from the area.

Nairobi, 8 September 2000


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




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