U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
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Fax: +254 2 622129
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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 50
9 - 15 December 2000



CONTENTS:

DRC: Security Council extends MONUC mandate
DRC: Widespread insecurity in the east
DRC: Kisangani mission tells of "immeasurable trauma" 
DRC: Refugee flow to Zambia continues
DRC: "Extreme concern" for Pweto population
BURUNDI: US $440 million pledged at donor conference
BURUNDI: Parties ask for time to solve leadership crisis
BURUNDI: Amnesty International urges focus on human rights
RWANDA: UN and other donors approve governance fund
RWANDA: ICTR investigating alleged RPF massacres
TANZANIA: 31 people killed in land use dispute
TANZANIA: WFP renews food aid to over 1.3 million people
UGANDA: Analysis discounts suspected Ebola cases in Jinja


DRC: Security Council extends MONUC mandate

The UN Security Council on Thursday extended by six months the mandate of
the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), and agreed
to a proposal by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to increase the number of
military observers monitoring the disengagement of forces from
confrontation lines. It gave qualified support to the idea of sending
infantry units to the DRC's eastern border with Rwanda, agreeing to
support Annan on the matter "as soon as he considers that conditions allow
it". Troops may be deployed in Kisangani, Mbandaka "and other areas the
Secretary-General deems necessary", including possibly in Goma or Bukavu
in the east of the country, according to a UN press statement. 

The Council resolution invited Annan, in consultation with the
Organisation for African Unity (OAU) and other parties, to review MONUC's
mandate and assess the implementation of the ceasefire and disengagement
plans at a follow-up meeting between the Security Council and the
signatories to the Lusaka agreement in February 2001. [for further
information, see IRIN separate story of 15 December headlined "DRC:
Security Council allows increase in UN observers"]

DRC: Widespread insecurity in the east

There have been persistent complaints from the rebel Rassemblement
congolais pour la democratie (RCD) in eastern DRC that pro-government
armed groups are continuing to launch numerous attacks in North and South
Kivu provinces, Kofi Annan stated in his 1 December situation report on
the DRC, published this week as a Security Council document. Although the
armed groups responsible were not signatories to the Lusaka agreement,
"there are persistent reports that they receive arms and training from one
of the parties", he said. The "armed groups" are widely understood to be
the Congolese Mayi-Mayi, Rwandan Interahamwe and ex-FAR members, and
Burundi Hutu militias, whom the DRC government has been widely accused of
arming. "The Mayi-Mayi militia and predominantly Hutu armed groups have
continued to commit widespread human rights abuses," Annan stated. They
had also regularly attacked villages, and killed villagers if they refused
to hand over belongings. It had also been reported that Hutu armed groups
"use rape as a weapon of war", he added. 

The Secretary-General also reported how, in the absence of government
structures in rebel-controlled areas, "arbitrary arrests, illegal
detention, forced deportation and ill-treatment have been used to harass
and intimidate the population, human rights groups, church associations
and NGOs". There had been a greater incidence of extortion and looting,
and a marked increase in the number of warlords in rural areas, who were
systematically destroying civil society and manipulating clan and ethnic
differences, he said. Leadership struggles in the rebel movements, rising
inter-ethnic rivalries and increasing resentment on the part of Congolese
ethnic groups against Tutsis in general had all "put the civilian
population in greater danger than previously reported", Annan added. 

DRC: Kisangani mission tells of "immeasurable trauma" 

A UN inter-agency team assessing the situation in Kisangani, Province
Orientale, northeastern DRC, after serious fighting between Ugandan and
Rwandan troops in the city in June has reported to the UN Security Council
that the conflict increased the hardship faced by the population. On 5
June, persisting tensions in the city between the occupying forces of
Uganda and Rwanda - supposed allies in the DRC conflict - erupted into
violent conflict in which more than 760 people were killed and an
estimated 1,700 wounded, the mission team's preliminary analysis stated. 
In addition, the mission team reported, more than 4,000 houses were
damaged, 69 schools shelled and medical facilities and and other public
buildings badly damaged. Transport infrastructure was badly damaged,
including the vital bridge over the Tshopo river. 

Beyond the physical damage, "the psychological trauma inflicted on the
civilian population... was immeasurable", the mission team said. 
"Systematic violations of international humanitarian law and
indiscriminate attacks on civilians have left residents "highly
traumatised", it added. [for further details, see separate IRIN story of
13 December headlined "DRC: Massive civilian trauma after Kisangani
clashes"]

DRC: Refugee flow to Zambia continues

Fighting in the southeastern province of Katanga has continued to send
refugees streaming across the border into Zambia, aid workers told IRIN on
Monday. An estimated 50,000 refugees and several thousand troops loyal to
the Kinshasa government - including a complete brigade - have fled into
northern Zambia in the last few weeks ahead of an advance by the Congolese
rebel RCD and the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA). Among those escaping
following the fall of the DRC town of Pweto last week are a reported 300
Zimbabwean troops. UNHCR said on Friday it was looking after some 600
former fighters, who had been disarmed by the Zambian authorities. 

DRC: "Extreme concern" for Pweto population

In and around Pweto, meanwhile, the civilian population is being exposed
to major risks, posed both by the conflict itself and by the major cholera
epidemic rampant in the region, where more than 4,700 cases and 360 deaths
have been recorded since the beginning of the year, according to MSF. The
town was overpopulated due to the influx of internally displaced people
(IDPs) and soldiers, and "there is a desperate shortage of health care
facilities", it said. In a recent press statement, the NGO Medecins sans
frontieres (MSF) said it was extremely concerned for the people of Pweto.
"Even when peace is eventually restored, the people of Pweto will not have
immediate access to a health facility capable of containing the epidemic,"
the agency said. Elsewhere, in Kilwa and Kasenga districts, the agency was
offering health care to some 3,300 people, mostly displaced from earlier
fighting in Pepa and Moba, and who passed through Zambia before returning
to the DRC, the statement added. 

BURUNDI: US $440 million pledged at donor conference
 
International donors pledged US $440 million for the reconstruction of
Burundi at the conclusion of a two-day international donor conference in
Paris on Tuesday. The donors made it conditional, however, for a
transitional institution to be set up and for its transitional leader to
be appointed before they could disburse the funds, the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on Wednesday. Nelson Mandela, the
facilitator of the Burundi peace process, said the pledges had exceeded
his "wildest dreams", the Associated Press (AP) reported. "I totally agree
with [former] President Mandela that the success of the conference went
beyond our expectations," Burundi President Pierre Buyoya told Radio
Burundi. The aid package would help convert Burundi, "at present a purely
subsistence agriculture economy, into an industrial economy", Mandela told
the press on Tuesday.

BURUNDI: Parties ask for time to solve leadership crisis

Burundi groups have asked the Burundi peace facilitator, Nelson Mandela,
to give them three to four days, "but not more than a week, to discuss the
question and find a solution" to the question of who should lead a
proposed three-year transitional period in the country. "We are still
studying ways to find a solution for the question," the BBC quoted FRODEBU
leader Jean Minani as saying on Wednesday. "Burundians, journalists and
the international community should remain patient. We are trying to find a
solution," he said. "Although some people seem to move unwillingly, the
majority of us and most Burundians want to find a solution," he added. 
"What I can say is that we have not had a breakthrough," Minani said.

BURUNDI: Amnesty International urges focus on human rights

In a press statement released on Monday to coincide with the donor
conference in Paris, the international human rights organisation Amnesty
International has urged international donors to focus on "rebuilding human
rights" in Burundi. Amnesty said that strengthening the country's judicial
system, support for refugee protection in neighbouring countries, and
protection of IDPs within Burundi were areas in which international aid
and assistance could decisively influence efforts to enhance respect for
human rights. 

Peace process facilitator Nelson Mandela condemned what he called
"cowardly assaults" by rebels in Burundi as he opened the conference on
Monday, the Associated Press agency (AP) reported. Mandela referred in
particular to the "dastardly attack" on a Sabena airliner last week as it
prepared to land in the Burundi capital, Bujumbura, the report said. 
French President Jacques Chirac issued an "urgent and solemn call" to the
armed groups which have remained on the sidelines of the peace process in
Burundi to agree to a ceasefire, noting that "the donors evidently cannot
do this in place of the Burundians", AFP reported.

RWANDA: UN and other donors approve governance fund

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the governments of the
Netherlands and Switzerland have approved additional funding, worth US
$8.5 million, for four projects supporting the parliament, justice, civil
service reform and the decentralisation and democratisation policies in
Rwanda. A press release from UNDP said that the Netherlands' contribution
of over $6.4 million would support the decentralisation and civil service
reform processes by providing training to civil servants and setting up
administrative and management structures for local governments. It would
also help the government to construct a modern jail to accommodate 7,500
prisoners in Gitarama Prefecture which complied with international
standards for the detention and treatment of offenders, the statement
said.

The Swiss contribution, amounting to some $400,000, would contribute to
the organisation of local elections and the training of newly elected
local leaders. An estimated $1.67 million contribution from UNDP's core
resources would go to support a decentralisation management unit in
government, the formulation of a community development policy, and the
promotion of information and communication technology (ICT) in the
parliament, the agency stated. 

RWANDA: ICTR investigating alleged RPF massacres

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR), Carla Del Ponte, said on Wednesday she had discussed with Rwandan
President Paul Kagame this week investigations the Tribunal was carrying
out into massacres alleged to have been committed by Rwandan Patriotic
Front (RPF) troops during the civil war in Rwanda. Del Ponte said she
opened her investigation into alleged war crimes committed by the RPF in
1999 and informed the Rwandan authorities at the same time. Del Ponte said
she needed the Rwandan authorities' cooperation to complete her
investigation, because they had their own dossiers on the massacres. Asked
whether it damaged the independence of her investigation to be discussing
these issues with Kagame, who was himself commander of the RPF during the
civil war, she told IRIN: "I need access to witnesses... Being realistic,
without their cooperation I can get nowhere." 

The then rebels of the RPF took control of Rwanda from the interim
government formed after Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana was killed
on 7 April 1994 (and under which the genocide took place) between June and
August 1994, bringing an end to the genocide. In the course of seizing
power and pacifying the country, RPF soldiers are alleged to have killed
thousands of Hutus. In the past, the ICTR has been heavily criticised as
'a victor's tribunal' because only members of the predominantly Hutu
interim government have so far been indicted, despite reported evidence of
massacres and war crimes perpetrated by the mainly Tutsi RPF. [for further
details, see full report of 14 December headlined" RWANDA: Del Ponte
addresses alleged RPF massacres with Kagame"]
 
TANZANIA: 31 people killed in land use dispute

Over 400 people fled their homes in the eastern Tanzanian region of
Morogoro for fear of being attacked by Maasai pastoralists after a bloody
clash there on 8 December between the pastoralists and farmers left 31
people, mostly women and children, dead. The clashes between Maasai nomads
and farmers in Morogoro Region had been in progress since the end of
October, but worsened during four days of fighting last week, AP reported
on Tuesday. The 8 December attack was in revenge for the killing of two
Maasai tribesmen and the slaughtering of 35 cows by the farmers, AP said.
The combination of revenge and sheer anger at the confiscation of their
herds compounded a conflict over land use to which there is no clear
solution in sight. 

The clashes started after farmers in Kilosa confiscated herds which had
strayed into their fields and held them pending receipt of compensation.
The practice is not uncommon in Morogoro, one of the few regions in
Tanzania relatively spared by the drought, where pastoralists and farmers
live side by side. The attraction of pasture land was such that, according
to recent research, there were 250,000 head of cattle belonging to the
Maasai in the region's Kilosa District, the Tanzanian newspaper the
'Guardian' reported on Tuesday. [For further details see IRIN story of 15
December headlined "TANZANIA: Cattle clash sparks bitter feud"]

TANZANIA: WFP renews food aid to over 1.3 million people

The WFP on Wednesday launched a five-month emergency operation in Tanzania
following four years of continuous hardship due to drought. A press
release from the organisation said the initiative would reach 1.3 million
people across 11 regions in the country, at a cost of US $15 million. 
After visiting drought-stricken regions, a team of experts had indicated
that Tanzania's most recent harvest had been seriously affected by
irregular and premature rainfall, exposing the rural poor to "extreme
levels of food insecurity", the press release stated. "Tanzania still
suffers from the effects of the last four years of chronic weather
patterns. It is vital we don't let people slide any further down the scale
of poverty and hunger," it quoted WFP Country Director in Tanzania Nicole
Menage as saying. 

The shortfall of rain, particularly in Tanzania's central and northern
regions, had badly affected the livelihood of pastoralists, who rely on
livestock for survival, WFP noted. "Poor rainfall has reduced pasture and
water levels, damaging the health of animals," it said. "One of our fears
is that unless emergency rations arrive quickly, farmers will start
migrating to other areas or selling off their only assets, such as
livestock, tools, land and buildings," Menage said. "We hope our food aid
will stem this distress migration and give drought-hit farmers the chance
to reinvest in their farms."
 
UGANDA: Analysis discounts suspected Ebola cases in Jinja

Three suspected cases of Ebola in Jinja District, southeastern Uganda, had
proved not be the viral haemorrhagic fever after laboratory analysis,
health ministry officials said on Thursday. One hundred and sixty-one
people have died of the Ebola virus since the outbreak began in October,
according to ministry officials. Of 413 cases, 382 were in the northern
district of Gulu, where the epidemic was first confirmed in mid-October. 
Two new cases had recently been confirmed in Masindi District in the west,
while in Mbarara, southwestern Uganda, "the epidemic may have been
effectively contained", Dr Oladapo Walker, WHO representative for Uganda,
told IRIN. The Ugandan government has started paying risk money to medical
workers who attend to Ebola patients, the Assistant Commissioner of
National Disease Control, Dr Alex Opio, told Rwanda News Agency (RNA) on
Wednesday. IRIN reported on Tuesday that the fatality rate for the Ebola
outbreak in Uganda was around 30 percent, but can now clarify that, based
on the latest statistics available, it stands at 39 percent. 

Earlier, on Monday, the Ugandan newspaper 'The New Vision' reported that
health workers in Gulu District were monitoring over 4,000 people
suspected to have had contact with victims of Ebola. "One patient alone
can infect more than 20 people. We consider all those who attended the
burial of victims and those who looked after them in hospital as Ebola
contacts," Dr Paul Onek, head of medical services in Gulu, told the AP on
Monday.
 

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


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