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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 80
30 June - 6 July 2001


CONTENTS:

DRC: Belgium resumes bilateral cooperation
DRC: Swedish hostage released by Mayi-Mayi
DRC: More than 100,000 CAR refugees need help - Bemba
DRC: Kabila attends mini-summit in Dar es Salaam
DRC: Delegates for dialogue chosen from government-held side
BURUNDI: Ghana ready to send troops to Burundi
BURUNDI: Security Council calls for end to hostilities
RWANDA: Kagame to meet Museveni over strained relations
RWANDA: Ugandan army officer defects
RWANDA: "Security cornerstone for development" - Kagame
RWANDA: ICTR investigator pleads "not guilty" 
RWANDA: Rebels kill police officer, wound officials
GREAT LAKES: EU "arms-length" policy unacceptable, Belgium says

DRC: Belgium resumes bilateral cooperation

"Your suffering has lasted long enough," Belgian Prime Minister Guy
Verhofstadt told the Congolese people during a speech to mark the DRC's
41st independence anniversary on 30 June. Verhofstadt, leading a
delegation of 100 Belgians, including Foreign Minister Louis Michel, on a
two-day visit to Kinshasa and Kisangani, is the first Belgian premier in
13 years to visit the DRC, IRIN sources accompanying the minister noted.

"The message I bring today, on behalf of my country, is to mobilise all
our energy, all our convictions and all our faith in the Congolese
people," he told DRC President Joseph Kabila, ahead of announcing the
resumption of bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Apart from
four agreements worth US $18 million, Verhofstadt announced two new
agreements, as well as the liberalisation of state loans, frozen since
1990.  The agreements will allow the provision of electricity to "millions
of inhabitants in Kinshasa, Kisangani and Kananga", he said, adding that
"we are also determined to quickly examine cancelling the bilateral debt",
in keeping with the recent Great Lakes Action Plan, adopted by the Belgian
government.

"Since the beginning we have adopted an impartial attitude", Verhofstadt
stressed, adding that "being impartial, does not mean we lack critical
judgement". Although he recognised the importance of the national
conference on human rights held recently in Kinshasa, Verhofstadt
considered that "unacceptable abuses are still being committed". He said
that any strengthening of cooperation would depend on positive steps being
made in the inter-Congolese dialogue and restoring a state of law in the
country.

DRC: Swedish hostage released by Mayi-Mayi

A Swedish hostage held by the Mayi-Mayi in northeastern DRC since mid-May
was released on the evening of 30 June in exchange for a truck from his
company, the Norwegian-based Christian Relief Network (CRN) aid agency,
which negotiated his release, told Reuters on 1 JUly. Bjoern Rugsten, who
owns a trucking firm in the DRC, "is tired and has lost some kilos, but
he's in good health", Bent Ronsen, director of CRN, said. "Apparently he
was treated OK, especially when the Mayi-Mayi commanders were in the
camp."

Rugsten was seized on 15 May, along with a group of Thais and a Kenyan,
from a compound of the Thai-Ugandan Dara Forest timber company in Mangina,
some 30 km west of Beni. "Yesterday the negotiators took the Volvo truck
and drove it close to the Mayi-Mayi camp, then sat down and waited,"  
Ronsen said. "After about four hours waiting, the Mayi-Mayi came out with
Bjoern."

In recent weeks, the Mayi-Mayi have released seven of the Thais,
apparently in exchange for medicines, but they continue to hold the
others. "We are committed to keep working until they are all out," Ronsen
said. "We know it's going to take some time."

DRC: More than 100,000 CAR refugees need help - Bemba

Front por la liberation du Congo (FLC) leader Jean-Pierre Bemba told AFP
on Monday that more than 100,000 refugees from neighbouring Central
African Republic (CAR) were in urgent need of help. He said they had
crossed the Oubangui river into areas in northeastern DRC controlled by
the FLC. "We are calling for urgent assistance and appeal to international
humanitarian agencies to come and help the Central African people leaving
their country," he said, describing the situation as "urgent and very
serious". "Every day thousands more refugees are crossing the river," he
said. FLC soldiers supported CAR government forces in late May following
an attempted coup against President Ange-Felix Patasse by a mutinous unit
of the CAR military.
 
Last week the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that some
14,000 to 17,000 people had fled to Equateur Province in northwestern DRC
from Bangui, capital of CAR. UNHCR dispatched a team to Zongo and nearby
villages in Equateur to coordinate emergency assistance with aid agencies
operating in the area. Aid operations were also planned for some 600 CAR
refugees in the towns of Betou and Impfondo in northern Republic of Congo.
UNHCR reported that hundreds of refugees were arriving daily in these
areas.

DRC: Kabila attends mini-summit in Dar es Salaam

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday reiterated that he was
tired of the war in the DRC and was pulling out his troops from that
country, a report posted on 'The Guardian' website said. He said he would
remove his troops from the DRC "in the spirit of the Lusaka peace accord".  
Museveni was speaking in Dar es Salaam, after a mini summit attended by
DRC's President Joseph Kabila and hosted by Tanzania's Benjamin Mkapa. He
said that he was in favour of the Lusaka peace accord as the way to
restore peace in the DRC. "We have one battalion at Gbadolite, Buta, Bunia
and another battalion at the border near the Ruwenzori mountains. We are
in the process of moving out," he said.

Kabila, for his part, said that although he was happy with Museveni's
pledge, he was not satisfied with the presence of foreign troops in his
country. "Satisfaction is a big word at this stage. But there will be more
meetings like this. This is just the beginning," Kabila said. He
reiterated his call for more UN peacekeeping troops in his country. "We
should make sure that we don't derail the peace process. The UN should
strengthen its forces. The present number of 1,500 troops is a joke," he
added. President Mkapa, who described the meeting as "good", said he had
arranged it so that Uganda and DRC could try to iron their differences.

DRC: Delegates for dialogue chosen from government-held side

The first two civil society delegates from territory controlled by the DRC
government to participate in the inter-Congolese dialogue and related
preparatory talks were chosen on Tuesday, the office of the facilitator
for the inter-Congolese dialogue, Ketumile Masire, announced on Wednesday.  
The two representatives were chosen in Kananga, Kasai Occidental Province.  
Another two delegates from the province were chosen in Dimbelenge, which
is under the control of the Rassemblement congolais pour la Democratie
(RCD) rebel movement, marking the completion of selection of civil society
representatives from rebel-controlled territory.

With the selection of representatives from Kananga, the delegation from
Masire's office, headed by Hacen Ould Lebatt, entered the final phase of
its supervision of the civil society selection process. Preparatory talks
for the inter-Congolese dialogue are scheduled to begin on 16 July in
Gabarone, Botswana, while a date for beginning the inter-Congolese
dialogue itself has yet to be announced.

BURUNDI: Ghana ready to send troops to Burundi

Ghana has expressed readiness to send its troops as part of the
"international protection force" to monitor peace in Burundi, the Ghanaian
defence minister, Kufuor Kwame, told journalists in Bujumbura on
Wednesday. The country would send the troops "if the situation
stabilised", Rwandan radio quoted him as saying. Kwame said he planned to
go to South Africa in the "next few days" to hold talks with the Burundi
peace mediator, Nelson Mandela, concerning the sending of troops to
Burundi. "Nothing is yet concrete in relation to the troops, because it is
a very difficult issue," it quoted Burundi's defence minister, Cyrille
Ndayirukiye, as saying. "Meetings have been planned for the near future
aimed at initiating discussions on what the mission of the troops will
be," he added. Ndayirukiye dismissed as "false rumour" claims that a
10,000-strong international force would be dispatched to protect
politicians, and would be stationed along Burundi's border with Tanzania
and the DRC. He said the country needed troops to control people's
movements along the two borders.

BURUNDI: Security Council calls for end to hostilities

The UN Security Council has called for the immediate suspension of
hostilities in Burundi, expressing concern over the continuing conflict
there. In a statement issued on 29 June, the Council reiterated its
support for the Arusha accord and Nelson Mandela's mediation efforts, and
called on the armed groups to enter into negotiations. It encouraged
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, through his representatives, to continue to
engage the armed groups and contribute to coordinated efforts to bring
about a political settlement of the conflict.

On the humanitarian front, the Council expressed grave concern over
continuing human rights abuses and violations of humanitarian law in
Burundi, and urged respect for such rights. "In particular, it urges the
belligerents to commit themselves immediately to the protection of
civilians, in particular their life, physical integrity and the means
necessary for their survival," the statement said. The Council called on
donors to increase humanitarian and development assistance to the people
of Burundi, in keeping with pledges by the international community at the
Paris Donor Conference from 11 to 12 December 2000. 

RWANDA: Kagame to meet Museveni over strained relations

President Paul Kagame was due to meet his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri
Museveni on Friday at Gatuna on the Rwandan side of the common. According
to a statement from Rwandan presidential spokesman Nicholas Shalita, the
talks are expected to focus on improving the strained relations between
the two countries. "We would like to have good relations with all our
neighbours, and we are ready to do what it takes to achieve this," Kagame
said in an address to mark the country's Liberation Day on Wednesday. He
added that "recent difficulties in relations with Uganda are unfortunate",
but hoped the meeting with Museveni would result in improved ties.
 
Earlier in the week, Kagame told news conference that the defection of
senior Ugandan army officers to Rwanda "has nothing to do with me or the
government of Rwanda". He stressed that Rwanda neither accepted, nor
supported statements against Uganda made by the officers. "The message has
been made clear to these officers," he said. "They cannot declare their
hostile intent to their country from Rwanda, where they are seeking
asylum. These instructions will have to be followed by them,or else we
will have to rethink how we deal with them." 

RWANDA: Ugandan army officer defects

Lt-Col Anthony Kyakabale of the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF),
vowing to wage war against the government of Ugandan President Yoweri
Museveni, joined some 50 UPDF soldiers who defected last week to Rwanda,
the independent Ugandan newspaper 'The Monitor' reported on 30 June.
Kyakabale called the newspaper from Kigali on the evening of 29 June to
say he had joined Colonel Samson Mande to launch an armed struggle against
the government of Museveni. "As a revolutionary who went to fight against
electoral violence and rigging in 1980, I cannot sit by and watch Uganda
go back to its violent past," Kyakabale said. "I have decided together
with Colonel Mande and other UPDF officers and men to launch the struggle
to liberate Uganda from the tyranny of Museveni." Kyakabale said that his
organisation, which would be named soon, had extensive networks in
central, eastern, northern and western parts of Uganda, as well as within
the UPDF and Museveni's official residence itself. 

Responding to the defections, Museveni told a news conference on 30 June
that "these two [Kyakabale and Mande] are renegades who were
undisciplined. In fact, Mande jumped bail." Museveni also wondered why
Rwanda would allow UPDF officers to make statements against Uganda. "For
us, we will not at all allow anyone fighting Rwanda to operate from here. 
But we do not know why they are doing it," 'The Monitor' quoted him as
saying.

RWANDA: "Security cornerstone for development" - Kagame

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame on Wednesday called on Rwandans to join
hands in the maintenance of security if they were to enjoy "total
liberation", Rwandan radio reported. He cited security as the "cornerstone
of all developmental activities". Kagame, who was speaking at the
celebrations to mark the seventh national liberation day, also expressed
commitment to looking for ways of implementing the Lusaka peace agreement. 
He condemned the international community for not being supportive to the
implementation of the agreement. Kagame noted that the country had made
commendable achievements, including the unity of Rwandans,
democratisation, repatriation of refugees and resettlement, among other
things, in the last seven years after the genocide. Kagame said his
country's policy was to find a solution to problems through dialogue and
understanding. He also called upon Rwandan nationals in exile to return
and join efforts with other Rwandans in nation building.

RWANDA: ICTR investigator pleads "not guilty" 

Simeon Nshamihigo, who had been working as an investigator with the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for over two years under
an assumed name, pleaded "not guilty" on 29 June to three counts of
genocide and crimes against humanity in his initial appearance before the
ICTR, according to an ICTR press release. Nshamihigo is alleged to have
been responsible for planning, instigating, ordering, committing or
otherwise aiding and abetting the killings of Tutsi in Cyangugu
Prefecture. 

Nshamihigo, a former deputy prosecutor in Cyangugu Prefecture and
secretary for the Coalition pour la defence de la republique (CDR) in
Cyangugu Prefecture in 1994, was arrested in Arusha, Tanzania, on 19 May
2001 and transferred to the ICTR's detention facility on 25 May. The
arrest came after the Rwandan government complained in March that some
investigators working for defence teams at the ICTR were themselves
genocide fugitives. Nshamihigo's name appears on Rwanda's primary list of
top genocide suspects alleged to have masterminded the 1994 genocide. 

RWANDA: Rebels kill police officer, wound officials

A police officer was killed, and the mayor of Bonija District, Gitarama
Prefecture, and his deputy were seriously wounded during an "assassination
attempt by infiltrators" on 29 June. Rwandan radio said on Monday that the
mayor, Joseph Sibomana, was taken hostage by the infiltrators while he was
travelling on a motorcycle. He was currently in hospital, the radio said. 
It said the perpetrators of the attack, two rebels aged 13 and 20 years,
were captured and detained in a prison cell at the Gitarama brigade. 

GREAT LAKES: EU "arms-length" policy unacceptable, Belgium says

Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has called on the European Union to
pay greater attention to the central African countries. In a speech to
members of the European Commission in Brussels on Monday to mark Belgium's
presidency of the EU, Verhofstadt said the EU countries must take a
leading role in trying to resolve the conflicts in central Africa. 
Recalling his just-ended visit to the DRC, Verhofstadt said: "I would like
to draw your attention in particular to the development of coordinated
action in that region [central Africa] at the political, diplomatic and
economic levels." "The region in question is being ravaged by a war
involving much of the continent," he said. 

"Seven countries are engaged in the conflict, often switching sides, and
the number of victims is estimated at several million," he went on. "From
a political point of view, the Balkans and the Middle East may seem more
important, but from a humanitarian angle, our hesitancy and arms-length
policy vis-à-vis the Great Lakes region in Africa is unacceptable."

Nairobi, 6 July 2001


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