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 Weekly Round-up 44
4 - 10 November 2000



CONTENTS:

DRC: Ugandan intervention foils anti-Wamba coup attempt
DRC: Kinshasa says it will accept Angolan refugees
DRC: Thousands displaced from Shabunda
DRC: Leaders agree on neutral African force
UGANDA: Warning that Ebola still not under control
BURUNDI: Ogata says Burundi has a choice to make
BURUNDI: Pro-Tutsi parties name presidential candidate
RWANDA: Donors urge pullout from DRC
RWANDA: Extra drought mitigation measures needed
TANZANIA: New Zanzibari president calls for unity

DRC: Ugandan intervention foils anti-Wamba coup attempt

The situation in the northeastern DRC town of Bunia was "tense and
confused"  on Monday following an attempt to overthrow Professor Ernest
Wamba dia Wamba, the leader of the governing Rassemblement congolais pour
la democratie-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-ML).  Bunia has been growing
increasingly fraught over the last few months after Wamba suspended his
two deputies, Mbusa Nyamwisi and Ateenyi Tibasima, accusing them of
planning a mutiny. So-called reconciliation talks were held in the Ugandan
capital, Kampala, last month, and a declaration was signed, agreeing that
the two would be appointed respectively as Wamba's first and second
vice-presidents. But on 4 November, the tension spilled over into armed
combat. Militiamen loyal to Mbusa Nyamwisi surrounded Wamba's residence
and opened fire in the vicinity.

However, on Monday, Colette Ramm, Wamba's adviser told IRIN the Ugandan
government had condemned the coup attempt and announced its support for
Wamba, after reinstating him as the movement's leader. On Wednesday, in an
announcement broadcast over Bunia radio, the Ugandan army commander in the
DRC, General Katumba Wamala, told the people of Bunia that the army was
trying the resolve the leadership problems within the RCD-ML "without the
shedding of civilians' blood". He called for cooperation and calm to stop
"suffering, chaos and incitement". "Hence demonstrations in support of one
side or another are banned," he said. 

DRC: Kinshasa says it will accept Angolan refugees

The DRC government has told the UNHCR that an estimated 18,000 Angolans
fleeing intensified fighting in Angola's Lunda Norte province will be
allowed to cross into Kahemba in the DRC. Kahemba already hosts 10,000
Angolans who had fled during earlier stages of the conflict. Some refugees
are reported to have crossed in the past few days, but there are no firm
estimates on numbers; the rest of the group has been waiting for several
days on the Angolan side of the border, waiting to cross, UNHCR spokesman
Kris Janowski told a press briefing on 3 November. 

There were also reports of more Angolans fleeing to the DRC in a separate
area, some 250 km west of Kahemba, Janowski said. Local village chiefs
were speaking of 10,000 new arrivals there, which - if confirmed - would
increase the number of Angolan refugees in the DRC's southern Bandundu
province to close to 50,000, he added. The DRC hosts some 170,000 Angolan
refugees, a figure which could quickly rise to over 200,000 if the latest
influx continued, Janowski added.

DRC: Thousands displaced from Shabunda

Some 27,000 people, displaced by fighting in Shabunda, near Bukavu, have
descended on the town of Kalima and remain there without any humanitarian
assistance, according to a report by the Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Kinshasa. It noted that only religious
workers were operating in the area, which continued to serve as a
battleground between troops of the Rassemblement congolais pour la
democratie (RCD-Goma) and militias from the Mayi-Mayi and Interahamwe. 
The World Food Programme in Bukavu had been forced to suspend its
interventions because of a lack of resources, OCHA noted. However, some
12,955 families have returned to villages around Kalonge, where security
has been restored. 

DRC: Leaders agree on neutral African force

African leaders meeting in Tripoli, Libya, have agreed on the deployment
of a neutral African force in the DRC, according to a statement issued
after the discussions on Wednesday. The summit, chaired by Libyan leader
Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, brought together the presidents of Zimbabwe,
Mali, Rwanda, Uganda and representatives of Angola, the DRC, Namibia and
South Africa. The statement, carried by the Libyan news agency JANA, said
the purpose of the neutral force would be to "guarantee the borders of
Rwanda and Uganda" and assess the size of militia groups active in the DRC
- such as the Interahamwe - ahead of disarming and resettling their
members. Uganda and Rwanda would withdraw their troops from DRC in
accordance with the provisions of the Lusaka peace accord, as would other
foreign forces present in the country. Gadaffi was tasked with following
up the implementation of the agreement. 

President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda described the meeting as successful,
Ugandan radio reported. He explained that the neutral African force would
replace all foreign armies currently in the DRC and "regretted" that such
a force had not been provided by the UN. "The neutral force will be duty
bound to deal with the armed vagabonds who have been disturbing the region
from their sanctuaries in the Congo," Museveni was quoted as saying.

Rwanda commented that it had "repeatedly called on the international
community to provide cast-iron security guarantees" against cross-border
attacks by DRC-based militias. "Rwanda is committed to a complete
withdrawal from the DRC once these guarantees have been provided in
accordance with the Lusaka agreement," presidential press secretary
Nicholas Shalita said in a statement received by IRIN on Thursday. 

UGANDA: Warning that Ebola still not under control

The Ugandan health ministry has reported that the number of cases of Ebola
fever now stand at 301, with 99 deaths. Apart from the cases reported in
the northern district of Gulu, there have been three confirmed cases,
including one death, in Mbarara District in the southwest, the World
Health Organisation (WHO) said. The chairman of the national Ebola Task
Force, Dr Sam Okware, said the situation in Mbarara was stable, and that
the first "imported" case of infection had been isolated, the
semi-official 'New Vision' newspaper reported on Tuesday. 

The mortality rate for the strain of Ebola fever currently affecting
Uganda was holding steady at around 30 percent, a much lower rate than
that for other strains, WHO stated, adding that over 110 persons had been
discharged from hospitals in Uganda.

However the international health NGO, Medecins sans frontieres (MSF),
warned on Monday that the epidemic in the north was still not under
control.  "While the measures taken so far have clearly been successful,
there is still a chance of the epidemic spreading beyond the Gulu
district, and there have been some cases with strong clinical evidence
appearing in neighbouring areas," it said.

BURUNDI: Ogata says Burundi has a choice to make

The nation of Burundi was "at a crossroads", with a choice between peace
and an intensified conflict situation that would certainly cause massive
displacement, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata told a UN
General Assembly debate on world refugee movements on Monday. In her last
address as High Commissioner, Ogata said former South African President
Nelson Mandela had given new momentum to the Arusha peace process, but the
continued fighting in the country was "deeply discouraging". She said the
situation in Burundi concerned her enormously, and that she would pass
those concerns on to her successor at UNHCR (Ruud Lubbers, former
Netherlands prime minister). As the peace accord neared implementation,
Ogata hoped that the various opposition movements "would accept the
inevitability of peace and move forward", she said. When peace did come,
UNHCR was prepared to help more than half a million refugees return home
from Tanzania. 

BURUNDI: Pro-Tutsi parties name presidential candidate

Six pro-Tutsi parties have put forward an army officer as a presidential
candidate to lead the transition.  The six - ANADDE, AV-Intwari, INKINZO,
PIT, RADDES and PRP - nominated Colonel Epitace Bayaganakandi, a former
interior minister and chief of the gendarmerie, whom they identified as a
"responsible leader and saviour", the private Netpress news agency
reported on Monday. The six parties stated that "neither power-sharing nor
internal political cohabitation have helped bring Burundians together in a
spirit of peace and reconciliation".  It was therefore necessary to
identify "men of integrity ... with a genuine agenda of reconciliation". 
Netpress recalled that the four presidential contenders representing Tutsi
interests so far include Bayaganakandi, the current president, Pierre
Buyoya, former President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza of the PARENA party and the
ABASA (African-Burundian Alliance for Salvation) leader, Terence Nsanze. 

RWANDA: Donors urge pullout from DRC

International donors meeting in Kigali have urged Rwanda to pull out of
the DRC, stressing that its involvement in the conflict is putting a
strain on much-needed aid, news organisations reported. "The USA would
appreciate a full disengagement from DRC - a drop in the military budget
can release resources for other needs," AFP quoted US ambassador George
Staples as saying. It said his comments were echoed by the European Union
representative, Jeremy Lester. The Rwanda News Agency (RNA) noted that the
three-day conference would discuss a poverty alleviation strategy for
Rwanda. This is the first time since the genocide in 1994 that such a
meeting has been held in Rwanda, RNA said, citing the 'Newsline'
periodical.  Previously, the donor meetings have been held in Geneva,
London and Stockholm. 

RWANDA: Extra drought mitigation measures needed

The southeast of the country has been seriously affected by a long period
of drought and the resultant late start to the agricultural season, with
farmers in many districts having lost seedlings and obliged to sow their
fields again. The lack of seeds and cassava cuttings was "strongly felt by
the poorest households" who had no capacity to acquire them, according to
an emergency report on Friday, arising from a joint assessment mission. 
Certain actions had already been taken to mitigate the negative
consequences of poor rainfall - including setting up irrigation systems
and delivering manual pumps, motor pumps, agricultural tools and seeds -
but "additional initiatives should be implemented", the report said. The
mission had representatives from Rwanda's Ministry of Agriculture,
Livestock and Forests (MINAGRI), FAO, WFP, USAID's Famine Early Warning
System (FEWS) and the European Union. The situation was especially bad in
villages under the 'imidugudu' villagisation scheme, which contain mainly
the poorest households and whose populations do not always have access to
arable land, the mission teams reported.

An estimated six million coffee trees have been affected by drought, with
next season's losses estimated at 1,777 mt of fresh coffee beans. Banana
plantations have also been hit, affecting both food supplies and income
generation, while cattle mortality was up to 25 percent in some districts
(communes) and the degradation of meadows threatened to accelerate
erosion, the report stated. People's coping strategies included selling
the sheet metal roofing of houses, disposing of cattle at unfavourable
prices, family migration and staying away from school, it said. Some
267,000 people in the southeast are affected by the ongoing drought,
according to the first estimates of the assessment team. In the
short-term, the FAO recommends tackling vegetable seed supply, cassava
seeds multiplication, production of short-cycle seeds, expanding
agricultural outreach in nutritional centres, and reinforcing irrigation
systems allowing water management at the farmers' level. [for further
details, go to: http://www.reliefweb.int/]

TANZANIA: New Zanzibari president calls for unity

Zanzibar president-elect Amani Abeid Karume of the ruling Chama Cha
Mapinduzi (CCM) party was sworn in on Wednesday after the results of
controversial elections on the islands were announced the previous day. In
his inaugural address, he vowed to promote unity and reconciliation, and
on Thursday ordered the release of 18 opposition Civic United Front (CUF)
activists, held for three years without trial.

Meanwhile, incumbent Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa was sworn in for a
second five-year term, and pledged to cooperate with opposition parties.
He said the huge number of votes for the ruling CCM would not turn the
country back into a one-party state. "Advice based on strength of argument
will be received with open arms, but pressure based on argument of force
and violence will be rejected," he stated during his inaugural address in
Dar es Salaam.

Nairobi, 10 November 2000


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