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 42
14 - 20 October 2000



CONTENTS:

UGANDA: Ebola outbreak confined to Gulu
BURUNDI: Rebels meeting in Pretoria 
BURUNDI: Two soldiers sentenced to death for murder
BURUNDI: Refugees streaming into Tanzania
DRC: Leaders agree to pull back troops
DRC: UN mandate extended
DRC Rebels say Kabila has launched "general offensive"
DRC: WFP "very concerned" over humanitarian situation
RWANDA: Kambanda life sentence upheld by appeals court


UGANDA: Ebola outbreak confined to Gulu

As the death toll crept up in the ebola fever outbreak in northern Uganda,
health officials confirmed that the disease was confined to the Gulu area
and had not spread as originally feared. The information officer for the
World Health Organisation (WHO) in Uganda, Benjamin Sensafi, told IRIN on
Thursday that 111 cases had so far been reported, with 41 deaths.
Suspected cases in neighbouring Kitgum District had turned out to be
dysentery, he said. Sensafi added that it was expected the situation would
be brought under control in the next few days, adding that there was no
problem over the provision of medical care and personnel. He denied
reports that activities by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) were
keeping medical staff away, stressing that the government was providing
enough security. "No rebel incidents have been reported," he said.

BURUNDI: Rebels meeting in Pretoria

Friday, 20 October marked the deadline imposed by regional leaders on
armed rebel groups in Burundi to sign a ceasefire accord, with little
indication that they planned to abide by the date, but some optimism for
future negotiations. For the past week, PALIPEHUTU-FNL has been in
Pretoria, South Africa, holding a consultative meeting with its leadership
for a mandate to start the negotiating process with the government.
Burundi analyst, Jan van Eck, of the South Africa-based Centre for
Conflict Resolution, who has been at the forefront of this initiative,
told IRIN on Friday that PALIPEHUTU-FNL would make known its decision to
the facilitator of the peace process, Nelson Mandela, who would then make
an announcement. "It is extremely unlikely PALIPEHUTU-FNL will reject
talks with the government," van Eck said. "There are now real prospects
for talks leading to a genuine ceasefire." [For full story, see separate
IRIN item of 20 October headlined "Some optimism on ceasefire deadline
day"]

BURUNDI: Two soldiers sentenced to death for murder

Burundi's war council tribunal on Tuesday sentenced two people to death,
two others to life imprisonment and another to 20 years imprisonment,
Burundi radio reported on Wednesday. The first trial was related to the
murder of Caritas Nahimana, former principal of Gitega paramedical school
in central Burundi, who was killed with her two sons on 3 October. The
second trial was for the murder of an Italian cleric, Brother Antonio, of
Mutoyi trading centre, also in central Burundi. Br Antonio was also killed
on 3 October 2000, with unconfirmed reports linking his murder to an armed
robbery. On Sunday 15 October, an Italian nun, Sister Gina Simonita, was
killed and a Burundi colleague injured on their way to Sikiliza parish
after an earlier rebel attack on Mweya, southwest of Gitega in the centre
of the country, Burundi media reported. Throughout the week there were
rumours that Sr Simonita wad been killed because of her role as a Catholic
relief worker, according to Bujumbura residents. 

BURUNDI: Refugees streaming into Tanzania

Thousands of Burundian refugees from villages in the eastern province of
Cankuzo have been streaming across the Tanzanian border near Ngara,
following clashes between Burundian rebels and government troops. A
statement from UNHCR said that the number of arrivals was increasing
daily, reaching 2,700 on 12 October. Another 2,000 were waiting at the
border to be transferred to Mbuba transit camp. The first arrivals said
rebels who recently attacked military targets in the east had ordered
civilians in the area to leave Burundi. On 11 October, UNHCR staff in
Tanzania saw villages burning across the border in Burundi and some
refugees arriving that day identified the burning homes as their own.

DRC: Leaders agree to pull back troops

South African President Thabo Mbeki said after a one-day summit in the
Mozambican capital, Maputo, on Monday that five leaders with troops in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had agreed to pull back their troops
close to the positions they held when they signed the Lusaka ceasefire
agreement in July last year. The summit was attended by Presidents
Laurent- Desire Kabila of the DRC, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Sam Nujoma
of Namibia, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of Rwanda. Mbeki's
spokesman, Nazeem Mahatey, told reporters after the meeting: "The
presidents agreed that forces be withdrawn 15 km backwards, and Rwanda
further offered to withdraw some 200 km back from current positions." 

Meanwhile, the BBC said on Tuesday that Kabila had reportedly agreed to
the deployment of UN peacekeepers in government-controlled areas of the
DRC. 

DRC: UN mandate extended

The UN Security Council "unanimously" adopted a resolution extending the
mandate of the UN Mission in the CRC (MONUC) until 15 December. The
Council also deplored continuing hostilities in the country, the lack of
cooperation with the UN and the lack of progress on a national dialogue, a
UN statement said. It expressed "deep concern" over the dire consequences
of the conflict for the humanitarian and human rights situations, "as well
as at reports of the illegal exploitation of the natural resources of the
DRC". The extension of the mission's mandate, set to expire on 15 October,
was recommended by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his latest report to
the Council, in which he also noted there had been little progress, if
any, in the implementation of the Lusaka ceasefire agreement. 

DRC: Rebels say Kabila has launched "general offensive" 

Rebels of the Goma-based Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie
(RCD-Goma) have accused government troops of burning villages, killing
civilians and attacking RCD positions in southeastern Katanga Province. 
"Kabila attacked our positions in Kontaula in Katanga at 0500 a.m. (0600
GMT) on Saturday, 14 October," AFP quoted the RCD military commander,
Jean-Pierre Ondekane, as saying. "The fighting is continuing," he said. On
that day, he said, Kabila had launched "a general offensive on all fronts" 
against the RCD and the Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) of
Jean-Pierre Bemba. "Earlier, around the border with Kasai Province, they
burned the villages of Mbuyu, Kasenge, Kasese, Kalungu, Kalolo, Pshipangu
and Panga," he said, adding that at least 50 civilians had been killed in
these incidents and about 7,000 others had fled the area. He noted that
there were no rebel troops in the area, as they had been pulled back about
80 km a month ago. 

On Monday, however, the Forces armees congolaises (FAC) denied that it was
engaged in any offensive against the rebels. The FAC's spokesman, Colonel
Eddy Kapend, described Ondekane's accusations as "unfounded". 

DRC: WFP "very concerned" over humanitarian situation

WFP is "very concerned over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in
the DRC", the organisation said in its latest emergency update. "The
entire socioeconomic fabric of the country has been ruined, infrastructure
is non-existent, areas that used to produce surplus food are no longer
producing any, and the roads have been destroyed," it said. About 16
million - about one-third of the population - are believed to be affected
by food shortages, with two million of them facing "critical" lack of
food. The report said that at the beginning of the year about a million
people were thought to have been displaced by the civil war. This number
had increased to 1.4 million in June and 1.8 million is September, as a
result of new fighting in the Kivu and Equateur regions.

RWANDA: Kambanda life sentence upheld by appeals court

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR)  on Thursday upheld the life sentence imposed on the former prime
minister, Jean Kambanda, for his role in the 1994 genocide. Kambanda had
originally pleaded guilty to genocide and crimes against humanity, and was
sentenced to life imprisonment on 4 September 1998. However, he appealed
against the sentence and, after changing his defence counsel, requested
that his guilty plea be quashed and a new trial ordered, the ICTR said on
Thursday. The 1998 sentence, imposed by the ICTR sitting in Arusha,
Tanzania, was upheld by the appeals court judges sitting in The Hague, the
Netherlands, AFP reported, noting that Kambanda was the first former head
of government to be sentenced for the crime of genocide. 

Nairobi, 20 October


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


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