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 40
30 September - 6 October 2000



CONTENTS: 

DRC: Archbishop of Bukavu dies
DRC: Fighting "intense" on River Congo
DRC: Zimbabwean air force downsized
DRC: UN Human Rights Commissioner's visit
DRC: Masire to promote peace process
BURUNDI: Arusha talks end, but no ceasefire
BURUNDI: Mandela urges end to attacks on civilians
BURUNDI: Fighting continues in Bujumbura
RWANDA: Denmark extradites genocide suspect
UGANDA: Pledge to normalise relations with Sudan
UGANDA: Security "fluid in the north
KENYA: Child kidnappings spark mob justice
KENYA: Government admits security breakdown
ZANZIBAR: Commonwealth to send election observers
TANZANIA: Commission promises free and fair polls


DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Archbishop of Bukavu dies

The archbishop of Bukavu, Mgr Emmanuel Kataliko, has died in Rome, the
missionary news agency, MISNA, reported on Wednesday. It said he died
suddenly from a heart attack. The 68 year-old archbishop was in the
Italian capital to attend an episcopal conference. Reports say that
shortly after the news of his death was announced in Bukavu, the town was
gripped by tension, with gunshots heard in several areas and groups of
young people marching through the streets carrying crosses and chanting
slogans. There were also reports of stone-throwing incidents, with at
least one person killed and several injured. The cathedral was inundated
with crowds of people mourning Kataliko's death. As the archbishop's body
was awaited from Rome, the governor of South Kivu Province, Norbert
Bashengezi Katintima, issued a plea for calm over Bukavu radio. 

Following the death, the ethnic Tutsi Banyamulenge community expressed
concern for its safety. One Munyamulenge, interviewed by the BBC Kirundi
service, claimed the Banyamulenge were being targeted on suspicion of
"having killed" Kataliko. He said some people had fled, while others were
in hiding. 

DRC: Fighting "intense" on River Congo

Fighting was "quite intense" on the River Congo banks, the
secretary-general of the Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC), Olivier
Kamitatu, told IRIN on Monday. "Since our forces completely defeated those
of the government on the River Oubangui, the latter are concentrating all
their efforts on the River Congo," he said. He stated that MLC-held areas
such as Konongo had come under heavy attack with the government using
"very heavy artillery".  "This is why there are so many refugees in these
areas," he observed.  Kamitatu also told IRIN that five children had
injured and two houses destroyed last week when government aircraft
dropped four bombs on Gemena town in northwestern DRC. 

DRC: Zimbabwean air force downsized

The Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) has downsized its contingent in the DRC by
75 percent, the Zimbabwean 'Standard' reported. According to the
newspaper, a shortage of foreign currency for spare parts was one of the
factors behind the decision. Defence Minister Moven Mahachi confirmed the
AFZ withdrawal, but said this was a routine "resting period". He denied
claims that the airmen were grounded in the DRC because of a shortage of
spare parts. 

DRC: UN Human Rights Commissioner's visit

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), Mary Robinson, who
ended a visit to the DRC on Tuesday, has urged the DRC leadership to
ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, a statement from
the UN office in New York said. In her meeting with DRC President
Laurent-Desire Kabila, Robinson expressed concern over recent violations
of human rights which had been brought to her attention. 

She also visited the eastern part of the country. In Goma she met senior
members of the Rassemblement congolais pur la democratie (RCD), to whom
she expressed "extreme concern" over alleged massacres perpetrated in the
region. She also said she was worried about the numerous human rights
violations being regularly brought to her attention. The statement quoted
her as saying: "The armed conflict which is affecting your country can in
no way justify or excuse violations against defenceless civilians, the
very young or the very old who are too weak to flee." 

During the visit, the Kinshasa-based organisation, Journaliste en danger
(JED), drew her attention to the difficult circumstances under which the
media were operating. JED told her that press freedom was becoming more
and more remote, stressing that since President Kabila came to power more
than 100 journalists had been detained for long periods at a time. JED
also said that in the rebel-controlled areas of the country, "the press
has practically ceased to exist... as the rebel authorities and their
foreign backers will not stand the slightest criticism". 

DRC: Masire to promote peace process

The facilitator of the inter-Congolese dialogue, former Botswana President
Ketumile Masire, has announced a new drive to bring the peace process back
on track. A statement from his office received by IRIN said that despite
President Kabila's hostility towards Masire, efforts were continuing to
convene the inter-Congolese dialogue aimed at bringing all sides in the
conflict to the negotiating table. AFP quoted him as saying at the start
of a tour of Canada, Britain, France and Belgium that he was going to
"drum up" international support for his job as facilitator. 

Humanitarian sources, meanwhile, stressed the need for an immediate and
coordinated international response to the worsening crisis in the DRC. 
Civilians are increasingly bearing the brunt of the war. Communities are
becoming more and more isolated as access to at-risk populations poses
even greater hazards. The deepening impoverishment of the Congolese people
compounds the difficulty of providing effective relief, as the usual
emergency interventions may no longer suffice to reverse the downwards
spiral, said the sources.

BURUNDI: Arusha talks end, but no ceasefire

The 19 sides taking part in the Arusha peace process ended talks in the
Tanzanian town last Friday with little headway made on crucial issues, the
Internews press service reported. However, they did agree on the
composition of the Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC), set up to
oversee implementation of the 28 August peace agreement. The IMC will have
29 representatives drawn from regional governments, the UN, the OAU and
the Burundi parties, and an 11-person permanent executive council will be
set up within the committee. But key issues such as leadership of the
transition period and ceasefire arrangements remained elusive. 

BURUNDI: Mandela urges end to attacks on civilians

The facilitator, Nelson Mandela, last Friday said there was no
justification for the violent attacks on Burundian civilians when a
political accord had been reached. In a briefing to the UN Security
Council, he stressed the way was now open for all sides to bring their
concerns to the political table and urged the rebel groups to "demonstrate
the quality of their leadership, announce a ceasefire and halt the
slaughter of innocent people". He warned that if the armed groups were not
included in the peace process, there was no guarantee that the issues
agreed upon in Arusha would be adhered to by the rebels. 

Following his briefing, the Security Council adopted a statement calling
on rebel groups to settle their differences. It also called on
Secretary-General Kofi Annan to report urgently on specific actions the UN
could take to help bring about peace and economic recovery in Burundi.

BURUNDI: Fighting continues in Bujumbura

Burundi radio over the weekend gave more details about last week's
violence in Bujumbura's Kamenge zone. It said security forces entered the
area after rebels allegedly launched an attack there. Five rebels were
killed, and four soldiers injured, according to the radio. By last
Tuesday, 20 people, mainly civilians, were reported killed.  Interior
Minister Colonel Ascension Twagiramungu blamed rebels who, he said, had
infiltrated from the DRC via the Rukoko forest and Lake Tanganyika. He
said they included Rwandan Interahamwe and ex-FAR soldiers. 

Meanwhile, gunmen shot dead an Italian Catholic priest, Antonio Bargiggia,
and his companion as they were travelling along the Bujumbura-Gitega road,
Burundi radio reported. It said they were killed by four people - three of
them soldiers, who had been arrested. 

RWANDA: Denmark extradites genocide suspect

Denmark's Appeals Court last Wednesday upheld an earlier ruling to
extradite a former Rwandan army officer, Innocent Sagahute, to the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania. The
suspect is wanted on charges of participating in the 1994 genocide and the
murder of 10 Belgian peacekeepers, as well as of rape. 

UGANDA: Pledge to normalise ties with Sudan

Uganda and its neighbour Sudan resolved last week to normalise bilateral
relations, 'The New Vision' newspaper reported. The two countries agreed
in principle to disarm and relocate the rebels of the Lord's Resistance
Army (LRA) at least 1,000 km deep into Sudan from the border.  The talks,
attended by the foreign ministers of Uganda, Libya, Egypt and Sudan,
agreed that Egyptian and Libyan observers would be placed on the
Sudan-Uganda border to focus on removing the security threat caused by the
LRA to Uganda. They also agreed that to exchange foreign service officials
to look into the affairs of each other's country. Two Ugandan diplomats
will reportedly be stationed at the Kenyan embassy in Khartoum and two
Sudanese diplomats in the Libyan embassy in Kampala. 

UGANDA: Security "fluid" in the north

The security situation in the northern Ugandan towns of Gulu and Kitgum
has remained "fluid", the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest humanitarian update. It said some of the
attacks had resulted in the death of a number of people and several
injuries. "The presence of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels is
still high and their movement in both districts has been constant
throughout the reporting period."

OCHA noted that the rebels' approach and attack pattern had changed. 
"Unlike in the past, where they would loot and abduct civilians to carry
looted property, they seem to kill more of the people abducted," OCHA
said.  "It is also believed that the rebels have resorted to burning the
settlements of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and even killing quite
a number, in a bid to discourage them from staying in the camps," it
noted.  "As a result, IDPs have been made to move back and forth from
their original homes and the camps." 

KENYA: Child kidnappings spark mob justice

Child kidnappings have increased in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, with reports
of similar incidents in other towns in the past few days. The incidents of
bizarre kidnaps and mutilation of the bodies have irked members of the
public, who have resorted to mob justice, Kenyan media reports said.
Running battles have been going on between police and irate members of the
public.  Residents say they are taking the law into their own hands
because "the police have failed us". Three people were killed in Nairobi's
Korogocho slum area on suspicion that they were kidnappers, local
newspapers reported. An old man, in the company of his granddaughter, was
lynched at a city estate on suspicion that he had abducted the girl.
Similar incidents have been reported in the coastal town of Mombasa and
the Rift Valley town of Nakuru.  Analysts say that although abductions,
including those of adults, have been going on throughout the country for
several years, there has been much media attention on the subject lately,
and "it seems people are becoming more aware and coming out to condemn the
act". "The commercial aspect also tagged to it - of the abductors selling
body parts of their victims - has also led to the anger," a Nairobi
resident said.

KENYA: Government admits security breakdown

Kenyan Internal Security Minister Major Marsden Madoka on Thursday
admitted that there was a security breakdown in the country. He issued a
"high alert"  to the security forces to protect their weapons against
gangsters who are "now targeting them", the 'Daily Nation' reported. 
Madoka said that cases of armed robberies and senseless murders had been
on the increase in the recent past. He said that drugs, arms trafficking
and economic crimes such as fraud, money laundering and corruption were
taking root in the country. 

ZANZIBAR: Commonwealth to send observers to Zanzibar

The Commonwealth will send election observers to Zanzibar for the 29
October elections, a press release from the Commonwealth Secretariat said.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said that the organisation was
responding to requests from both the Tanzania National Electoral
Commission and the Zanzibar Electoral Commission. An assessment mission
from the Commonwealth Secretariat which visited Zanzibar last month
established that there was broad support for the presence of Commonwealth
observers prior to and during the elections. The release said that
Botswana's former foreign minister, Gaositwe Chiepe, would head the
observer group, comprising of seven Commonwealth citizens, supported by
five Commonwealth Secretariat officials.

TANZANIA: Commission promises free and fair polls

The Tanzanian Electoral Commission last week reassured political parties
in the country that the forthcoming general elections would be "free and
fair".  The deputy chairman of the commission, Augustine Ramadhan, said
all votes in the forthcoming general elections would be counted at the
polling stations, unlike in the 1995 general elections when all the votes
were counted at the office of the regional officer in charge. He said
civic results would be released and posted at every station. Parliamentary
results would be released from the office of the regional officer in
charge, and the presidential results by the electoral commission. 

 
Nairobi, 6 October 2000

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


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