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
Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 51
16 - 22 December 2000



CONTENTS: 

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Fighting in the southeast DRC: Kinshasa
troops in Zambia pose "war" threat - Chiluba DRC: RCD rebels deny
launching offensive DRC: Orders to kill wounded, soldiers claim DRC: World
powers should increase DRC involvement ICG says RWANDA: WFP approves
operation for drought-affected RWANDA: Government denies links with
Habyarimana's death RWANDA: Army captures Interahamwe militia leader
BURUNDI: Planned repatriation of refugees from Tanzania TANZANIA:
Emergency drought programme needed UGANDA: Insecurity causes displacement

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Fighting in the southeast

Rebels of the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie
(RCD)last week began fighting their way towards two key government supply
lines with a view to taking control of the DRC's border with Zambia.
Reuters on Sunday quoted Zambian, rebel and intelligence sources as saying
the rebels were forcing government troops to flee into Zambia with the
intention of then turning back to take over key government areas. Up to
8,000 troops loyal to President Laurent-Desire Kabila of the DRC and
60,000 civilians had already fled from the fighting in the area and
crossed into Zambia, the agency reported. Zambian intelligence sources
were quoted as saying that "the rebels were pushing steadily towards the
tiny DRC border town of Mulilo", which was "the main government supply
access on Lake Tanganyika" and still heavily defended by DRC government
forces. 

Further south, the report said, government forces were "massed on the
shores of Lake Mweru near Kilwa Island" - another government supply line,
according to a senior Zambian intelligence officer, whom the agency did
not name. "There is a lot of fighting taking place," the agency quoted him
as saying. An unnamed RCD commander told Reuters from Lupia, a border post
1,250 km northwest of of the Zambian capital, Lusaka, in an area disputed
between Zambia and the DRC: "We are moving with this offensive. "The RCD
said at the end of last week that it was now in control of the towns of
Pweto, Mutotomoya, Moba Pepa and Kalemie, all in Katanga Province,
southeastern DRC. The rebel-controlled radio from Goma quoted the chief of
the RCD's armed wing, Commander Sylvain Buki, as saying this after ending
a month-long tour of these towns. 

DRC: Kinshasa troops in Zambia pose "war" threat - Chiluba

DRC government soldiers in northern Zambia were refusing orders to disarm
by Zambian authorities, while the Zambian military were having difficulty
in identifying them, as they had mingled with local villagers, the BBC
reported on Tuesday. It was their intention to reassemble in Zambia to
mount a counter-attack on the RCD rebels and their Rwandan allies,
according to the report.

Earlier, Zambian President Frederick Chiluba ordered troops to move to the
border with the DRC to ensure that the DRC soldiers "are prevented from
threatening the neighbouring country," Monday's 'The Times of Zambia'
newspaper said. "These refugees can easily bring war into Zambia if given
so much freedom," the newspaper quoted Chiluba as saying during a visit to
Zambia's Northern Province on Sunday. On Tuesday the newspaper reported
that the 300 Zimbabwean soldiers who had fled into Zambia had been
repatriated. Of the 3,700 DRC soldiers who had fled into Zambia, 97 had
"renounced their military status and have been absorbed as refugees", it
said. 

DRC: RCD rebels deny launching offensive

Meanwhile, the RCD have denied reports that their forces launched a major
offensive on government supply lines near the border with Zambia. "There
are no military operations going on in the reported area," the German news
agency (dpa) on Monday quoted Adolphe Onusumba, the RCD Goma leader, as
saying. He told the agency that there had been no rebel advance by his
forces and their Rwandan allies on Muliro town or Kilwa Island on Lake
Mweru. "The only operations taking place are just mopping-up activities
aimed at securing areas under our control and to protect the civilian
population from killings by [President Laurent-Desire] Kabila's troops," 
he told the agency. 

DRC: Orders to kill wounded, soldiers claim

Soldiers among the thousands of DRC troops who retreated into Zambia over
the past two weeks are saying they were ordered to kill their wounded
comrades. "We had orders from commanders to shoot dead any wounded. We
were told it was far too expensive to fly them to hospitals in Kalemie or
Lubumbashi," Reuters quoted Ndongala Kasiswa - a former DRC army captain
among the 97 ex-combatants who had laid down their arms and applied for
refugee status - as saying on Monday. "We had orders to end their lives. I
have killed and know many who have died," Kasiswa said. Other soldiers in
the group were quoted by the agency as saying "they had been told to kill
the wounded like 'flies'". 

DRC: World powers should increase DRC involvement ICG says

The International Crisis Group (ICG) has recommended a "stronger and more
determined involvement of the world powers to revive the Lusaka peace
process" in its latest assessment of the situation in the DRC published on
the web on Wednesday (www.crisisweb.org). "At present, none of the
belligerents has the power to escape the Congolese quagmire without help,"
ICG stated. The Lusaka agreement serves only as reference document, which
belligerents will reconsider once they realise they have no other options,
but at present "they all want to win, despite the fact that winning is no
longer possible", the report continues. ICG recommended that the UN
Security Council reconcile the differences between its own resolutions and
the Lusaka agreements. The organisation believes that de-linking the
issues of disengagement and withdrawal, disarmament and the
inter-Congolese dialogue may permit each to achieve maximum progress.

The Lusaka ceasefire agreement failed in its bid to put an end to the
two-and-a-half year war ravaging the DRC. The agreement proved hollow and
"the accord largely froze the armies in their positions, but did not stop
the fighting", ICG stated. As the military conflict faced an impasse, a
humanitarian catastrophe was under way in the country, ICG stated. The
fighting had already cost the lives of hundreds of thousands, and an
estimated two million Congolese had been displaced as a result. The
combination of humanitarian crisis with the growth of ethnic militarism in
the east of the country threatened the territorial integrity of the
country as well as the stability of its neighbours, ICG stressed. 

RWANDA: WFP approves operation for drought-affected

The World Food Programme (WFP) last week approved an emergency operation
(EMOP) to assist the drought-affected people in southeastern Rwanda, the
agency said in its latest emergency update. The operation, valued at US
$6.3 million, is expected to last for three months. It is aimed at
providing 13,216 mt of maize, beans and vegetable oil to approximately
267,000 people in the prefectures of Kibungo, Kigali Rural, Umutara,
Butare and Gitarama. WFP said that the cumulative effects of adverse
climatic conditions, compounded by structural poverty and disease of crops
and herds, had undermined the food security situation and eroded the
already fragile coping mechanisms of the most vulnerable households. The
WFP update said that urgent donor contributions were required for the
EMOP, "so the food distributions may start immediately". 

RWANDA: Government denies links with Habyarimana's death

The Rwandan government on Tuesday denied having any links with the
shooting down of the aircraft in which former Rwandan President Juvenal
Habyarimana was killed. "The position of the Rwandan government on this
issue has always been clear. The Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) and
President Paul Kagame had no hand in the downing of the plane," a
statement from the office of the president said. The government was
reacting to a report which referred to a UN investigator's memorandum, now
under seal at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which
is said to implicate Kagame in the downing of the aircraft. The aircraft
carrying Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart, Cyprien Ndadaye, was
shot down on 7 April 1994 as it approached to land at Kigali airport. The
incident has been linked to the start of the country's 1994 genocide. 

"In the interests of truth and to finally put the matter to rest, the
government of Rwanda supports a full investigation conducted by the ICTR
involving all political and military groups that were present in Rwanda in
1994," the statement said. "In case there are human rights violations on
the part of the RPA which the ICTR feels need to be investigated, the
Rwandan government will cooperate, as it has done in the past," the
statement said. 

RWANDA: Army captures Interahamwe militia leader

The RPA on Wednesday said it had captured an Interahamwe militia leader,
Lieutenant Isaie Habumukiza. Rwandan radio quoted Habumukiza as telling
journalists that currently "they [Interahamwe] did not have enough
strength to fight and that they lived on goods stolen from Masisi [North
Kivu, eastern DRC] inhabitants". The army's operational commander, Major
Fidele Hategekimana, was quoted as saying the operation was still
continuing and that those who had been captured were taken to Mudende, in
Gisenyi Prefecture, northwestern Rwanda, to a solidarity camp currently
regrouping some 600 captured Interahamwe. The RPA was pursuing the
remnants of the rebel force around the Nyamuragira volcano, in the Virunga
National Park, after capturing Habumukiza, the group's leader, Reuters
reported on Wednesday. The agency quoted Hategekimana as telling
journalists in Kigali that the rebels "are short of logistics and survive
thanks to looting the local population's property". 

BURUNDI: Planned repatriation of refugees from Tanzania

A tripartite meeting between the UN and the governments of Burundi and
Tanzania was held on 3 December to elaborate a plan for the return of
refugees from Tanzania to Burundi. The parties discussed the repatriation
of refugees in the event of the security situation improving in the
future, UNHCR told IRIN. In present circumstances, "conditions are nowhere
near adequate for return", Paul Stromberg of the UNHCR told IRIN. 

The plan for organised repatriation to Burundi allows for three years the
exercise should the Burundi peace process prove successful, a report by
the Jesuit refugee service (JRS) stated. One thousand refugees were
repatriated to Burundi every month from camps in Tanzania at their request
during the course of 1999, but this stopped entirely following the
killings of humanitarian personnel in the northeastern region in October
1999, Stromberg told IRIN. Meanwhile, the influx of refugees from Burundi
into Tanzania continues. 

TANZANIA: Emergency drought programme needed

Poor rains since last year affecting large parts of northern and central
Tanzania have reduced harvests of the staple maize grain and undermined
production of cash crops. For many families, this was the fourth
consecutive year of adverse climatic conditions, said the WFP. Announcing
an emergency operation for Tanzania on 13 December, WFP said it would
assist a total of 1.3 million drought-affected people in 11 regions. The
operation will run from December to April, and is valued at US $15.8
million. It is the third WFP drought relief operation in Tanzania, with
WFP having already provided over 40,000 mt of food. 

UGANDA: Insecurity causes displacement

Security has deteriorated in western Uganda, particularly Kabarole
District, where the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) have stepped up
activities. Displaced people are concentrated in protective camps at
night, but try to go back to cultivate their land during the day, said a
December report by the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA). Insecurity has also affected Bundibugyo and Kibaale
districts, with an influx of over 80 ADF rebels moving with a large number
of women and children. According to the report, activities by the ADF and
the Ugandan People's Defence Forces (UPDF) had caused displacement of some
20,000 people.

Rebels had taken advantage of the increased movement of people during the
festive season, said the OCHA report. It noted that the accompanying group
of women and children with the ADF probably signified a longer stay by the
rebels. The ADF may have been dislodged from their strongholds in the
Ruwenzoris and were seeking a more permanent refuge, said the report. 

Nairobi, 22 December 2000


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