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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 94
6 - 12 October 2001


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Summit on opens in Pretoria
BURUNDI: President supports foreign participation in protection force
BURUNDI: Pro-Hutu G7 lays conditions for new government setup
BURUNDI: 9,200 displaced by recent fighting
DRC: Preliminary inter-Congolese dialogue to begin on Monday
DRC: RCD-Goma claims recapture of Fizi in east
DRC: Humanitarian agencies begin airlifts in east
RWANDA: Leading genocide suspect pleads not guilty
RWANDA: Genocide suspect freed
SUDAN: UN calls for end to bomb attacks
TANZANIA: Political reconciliation agreement signed
UGANDA: Security forces deployed against Karamojong
KENYA: "Living fossil" fish captured off Malindi


BURUNDI: Summit on opens in Pretoria

Representatives from 10 countries, among them five heads of state from the
Great Lakes region, gathered in Pretoria, South Africa, on Thursday to
discuss the installation of a transitional government in Burundi. Former
South African President Nelson Mandela, the Burundi peace facilitator,
chaired the meeting, which brought together presidents Omar Bongo of
Gabon, Joseph Kabila of the DRC, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Benjamin Mkapa
of Tanzania and Pierre Buyoya of Burundi. South Africa was represented by
Deputy President Jacob Zuma. Other countries present included Ghana,
Malawi and Rwanda, which all sent ministers. Representatives of two
anti-government groups, the Front national de liberation (FNL) and the
Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD) are participating in the
peace talks for the first time. Neither is signatory to the August 2000
Arusha peace accord. Discussions focused on practical steps required for
installing a power-sharing transitional government in Burundi by 1
November. The transitional government is to be established under the
Arusha peace accord.

Officials said the immediate issue to be resolved concerned the protection
of exiled political leaders who would be returning to Burundi to take up
positions in the transitional government. A small security force would be
required for this purpose. Soldiers for such a force are likely to come
from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa. The four countries have
already offered to provide staff for a UN peacekeeping force in Burundi.
Defence ministers from three of these four countries met in Pretoria on
Wednesday to review peacekeeping needs in Burundi.

BURUNDI: President supports foreign participation in protection force

Despite criticism from some politicians, President Pierre Buyoya said
Tuesday he would welcome the participation of Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and
South Africa as members of a special protection force to guard state
establishments and returning political exiles, AFP reported. However, the
pro-Tutsi PARENA party has objected to the idea, saying the presence of
these troops would be tantamount to a invasion of Burundi. "The troops may
be coming under the flag of cooperation, but they will be treated as
invaders," Net Press reported the leader of PARENA, the former Burundi
president, Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, as saying.

Foreign participation in the special protection force is being
contemplated, because details such as the total strength of an all-Burundi
unit, personnel recruitment and training have not been decided. The only
agreement so far is that half the force would be Tutsi and half Hutu.

BURUNDI: Pro-Hutu G7 lays conditions for new government setup

A group of seven pro-Hutu parties have laid down a 10-point plan they say
must be adopted before a transitional government can be set up in Burundi
as scheduled on 1 November, Radio Burundi reported on 6 October. The
proposal, presented to the committee monitoring implementation of the
Arusha peace accord, says hostilities must end and a timetable agreed to
on the reform of the army and security forces. The Hutu group also wants a
timetable for the recruitment and training of 10,000 men for a special
unit that would protect returning political exiles and state institutions.
The G7 said at least 4,000 of these troops must come from Ghana, Nigeria,
Senegal and South Africa, who should train the Burundian unit.

In addition, the G7 wants a temporary amnesty law passed for exiled
politicians, and the repeal of those that hinder the free functioning of
political parties. Other measures call for the president and
vice-president to issue the list of members of the transitional
government, and that the Implementation Monitoring Committee be given the
list of party representatives in the national assembly.

However, the Group of 10 Tutsi parties have rejected most of the
proposals, saying they are a ploy to delay the introduction of the
transitional government, Radio Burundi reported. A Burundi political
analyst told IRIN that the points raised by the G7 were not feasible,
because implementing them would delay the peace process and cost money.

BURUNDI: 9,200 displaced by recent fighting

Burundian military and UN aid agency sources told IRIN on Tuesday that
9,200 people in Muzinda, Rugazi commune had been displaced by fighting
that started 3 October between loyalist and anti-government forces in
Bubanza Province. A humanitarian aid official said the displaced had moved
close to a military post in Mpada commune, about 20 km north of Bujumbura,
the capital, for greater protection. The official added that 1,026
families (approximately 5,100 individuals) of the displaced had been
living in this state since 1 March and "are destitute, because their
houses have been burnt and looted".

Military spokesman Colonel Augustin Nzabampema said the administrator of
Rugazi commune, Felicien Ntahorwamira, had appealed for blankets, food,
sheeting and medicines. Humanitarian sources said there had been no
population displacements reported so far in Kanyosha and Nyabiraba,
Bujumbura Rural Province, southeast of the capital.

DRC: Preliminary inter-Congolese dialogue to begin on Monday

The facilitator of the inter-Congolese peace and reconciliation dialogue,
former Botswanan President Ketumile Masire, on Tuesday denied there were
plans to postpone talks following the opening ceremony on Monday in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia. "The reports are simply not true. We are going ahead with
our original plan and will hold the dialogue beginning Monday 15 October,"
Masire said. The first week of the dialogue, he said, would bring together
some 80 representatives from the DRC government, the armed and unarmed
opposition, and civil society organisation in order to work on procedural
matters. They will be joined by the rest of the delegates one week later,
on 22 October. Some 330 total delegates from across the DRC will,
thereafter, participate in the dialogue.

Adequate cash flow is reportedly a primary obstacle to beginning
full-scale talks. "We are hoping the international community will provide
further funding some time soon. Otherwise we will have to halt proceedings
as soon as what we now have runs out," Masire said. A substantial portion
of the initial pledges made and disbursed for the dialogue had been used
in the nearly 20-month run up to the talks, he added.

Another obstacle is continuing disputes over the participation of
Mayi-Mayi Congolese militias and the Ugandan-backed Rassemblement
congolais pour la democratie - Mouvement de liberation (RCD-ML) armed
opposition splinter group. "They will definitely be represented, after
they've been nominated by the Congolese" Masire's spokesman, George
Ola-Davies, said.

DRC: RCD-Goma claims recapture of Fizi in east

The Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma)
armed opposition movement announced on 6 October that it had recaptured
the strategic town of Fizi on the northwestern shores of Lake Tanganyika,
some 200 km south of Bukavu in eastern DRC, news agencies reported. The
announcement comes one month after it was reported that Fizi fell to a
coalition of Rwandan and Burundian rebels aided by Congolese army
officers.

"It was a long, difficult and fierce battle, but we finally kicked the
enemy out of [Fizi] on Friday [5 October] afternoon," Jean-Pierre Lola
Kisanga, an RCD-Goma spokesman, told AP. "They are now on the run in the
forests, heading south toward [DRC] government-controlled territory." Some
4,000 Burundian and Rwandan rebels and their Congolese allies reportedly
fled leaving behind their heavy military hardware, Kisanga told AP.

DRC: Humanitarian agencies begin airlifts in east

The Goma bureau of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) on Tuesday began helicopter airlifts of supplies from Goma
to Walikale, where residents were displaced by attacks launched on 30
September by Rwandan Hutu Interahamwe rebels and Congolese Mayi-Mayi
militias. A UN source in Goma said that among the supplies to be
transported were construction materials from international NGO Save the
Children to rehabilitate the general hospital of Walikale, school supplies
from UNICEF, and seeds and tools from the UN Food and Agriculture
Organisation.

RWANDA: Leading genocide suspect pleads not guilty

The brother-in-law of the late Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana,
pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to two counts of extermination or murder
as crimes against humanity at a hearing of the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Protais Zigiranyirazo, a former member of
Habyarimana's inner circle, entered his plea at his first appearance
before Judge Navanethem Pillay of South Africa - president of the tribunal
in Arusha, Tanzania. The indictment against Zigiranyirazo - who is the
brother of Habyarimana's wife, Agathe Kazinga - alleges that during the
genocide of April-July 1994, the accused, also known as "Mr Z", joined
three others now in the tribunal's custody in planning, ordering and
distributing arms that led to the killings of between 800,000 and just
over one million Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.

Before entering his plea, Zigiranyirazo, 63, asked the tribunal for
reports on investigations concerning the plane crash in which Habyarimana
died. He said he could not get a fair trial unless the causes of the crash
were investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice.

RWANDA: Genocide suspect freed

Rwandan genocide suspect Ignace Bagilishema left Tanzania for France on
Monday after being acquitted of war crimes by the ICTR, the Hirondelle
news agency reported. It quoted the tribunal's head of information, Tom
Kennedy, as saying that Bagilishema, 46, left aboard a regular KLM flight
for Paris. The French government accepted him in September after rejecting
an earlier appeal by his attorneys, Francois Roux and Maroufa Diabira, for
temporary residence.

However, the tribunal has placed restrictions on Bagilishema. Before
leaving he had to name two people of good reputation who would guarantee
that he be returned to Arusha whenever the tribunal demands. The tribunal
has also ordered Bagilishema to give his home address in France and
provide the nearest police station of any change of address. He cannot
leave France without the tribunal's permission and must surrender his
travel documents to the French police, unless the tribunal decides
otherwise. He is also required to report once a month to the police
nearest his home. Bagilshema is the former mayor of Mabanza, Kibuye
Prefecture, in western Rwanda. He is the first genocide suspect to be
freed, but may be required to appear before an appeal hearing.

SUDAN: UN calls for end to bomb attacks

The United Nations system on Tuesday condemned Sudanese government bomb
attacks on civilian targets in the south of the country. UN
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief
Coordinator Kenzo Oshima said in a statement he was "deeply concerned"
over three separate bombing raids on the village of Mangayath, Western
Bahr al-Ghazal, which occurred during the distribution of relief food to
internally displaced persons (IDPs). "I deplore in the strongest terms
these military attacks on civilians who were gathering in one location to
receive humanitarian assistance from the United Nations," Oshima said.

As a consequence of the repeated bombings, the UN had been forced to
evacuate its humanitarian staff without completing the planned delivery of
assistance, Oshima said. The WFP said on 7 October that it had planned to
distribute 240 mt of emergency food aid to some 20,000 IDPs in the area.
Most had arrived in Mangayath since late September, having fled fighting
in rebel-held Raga town. According to WFP, government Antonov aircraft had
dropped 15 bombs on Mangayath on 5 October, followed by further attacks on
7 October and 8 October. Oshima said the attacks were carried out despite
the food distribution having been cleared well in advance by the Sudanese
government, and that the most recent raids occurred despite an official UN
protest being filed with Khartoum.

"I strongly urge the Government of Sudan to refrain from any further
military action targeting civilians", Oshima said. "It is indefensible for
any government or rebel movement to carry out military acts whose victims
will most probably be civilians and relief workers."

TANZANIA: Political reconciliation agreement signed

The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party and the opposition Civic United
Front (CUF) on Wednesday signed an agreement to end political animosity
over last year's elections on the semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar.
Under the accord, a permanent voters register will be established, and
electoral laws and policies reformed, in an attempt to ensure a level
playing field for all political parties, AFP reported on Thursday. It was
also agreed that by-elections would be held in Zanzibar for seats which
were declared vacant by the Zanzibar legislature after CUF members refused
to take them up following last October's parliamentary elections.

Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, Zanzibar President Abeid Amani Karume
and CUF Chairman Ibrahim Lipumba all attended the signing at State House,
Zanzibar. Karume said the agreement would have little impact if the
parties did not work to implement it fully. (A reconciliation agreement
was signed in May 1999, under the auspices of the Commonwealth, to end the
then four-year political crisis that stemmed from the CCM's
widely-disputed 1995 general election victory in Zanzibar, but little of
it was ever implemented.) Lipumba said on Wednesday he was broadly
satisfied with the new agreement but would have preferred a re-run of the
October elections. "That has not been possible but we agreed to set up a
presidential commission which will be mandated to implement the peace
accord to the letter," he said.

Talks between the two main parties followed bloody political clashes on
Zanzibar on 27 January in relation to a CUF protest march, declared
illegal by the government. Under the reconciliation agreement, an
independent commission is to be established to investigate the cause of
the clashes will be established, and all political parties are to be
allowed to conduct their activities without threats and intimidation by
state security forces, AFP reported. Zanzibaris broadly welcomed the new
agreement but said it was important that it be fully implemented, the
'Guardian' newspaper reported on Thursday. Many interviewees said they
hoped that the unwarranted arrest of CUF members on the islands might now
end, the report added.

UGANDA: Security forces deployed against Karamojong

Some 2,900 security personnel have been deployed along the border between
the Teso and Karamoja subregions in eastern and northeastern Uganda in an
effort to protect the Iteso people from attacks by Karamojong
cattle-raiders, 'The New Vision' government-owned newspaper reported on
Thursday. A combination of Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) personnel
and paramilitary Local Defence Units (LDU) had been stationed in the area
after a recent escalation in raiding by Karamojong pastoralists on
villages and camps for IDPs in the neighbouring districts of Katakwi,
Soroti and Kumi, which comprise the Teso subregion of eastern Uganda. A
state of emergency was declared by the council of Katakwi District on 6
August; over 80,000 people have been forced to live in IDP camps there as
a result of Karamoja raids.

KENYA: "Living fossil" fish captured off Malindi

A specimen of a rare and unusual fish species has for the first time been
found off the Kenyan coast. The fish is a coelacanth, and it was captured
earlier this year in the nets of a commercial trawler operating off the
coastal resort of Malindi, but news of its existence only surfaced on 7
October, Gordon Boy, editor of 'Swara', the magazine of the East African
Wildlife Society, told IRIN on Tuesday. The fish, 1.7 metres long and
weighing 77 kg, has now been delivered to the National Museums of Kenya in
Nairobi, after lying for months in the Mombasa-based fishery company's
cold storage depot, he said.

Until 1938, coelacanths were known only from ancient fossils - some dating
back 360 million years. Their sudden disappearance from the fossil record
about 80 million years ago suggested that coelacanths had been extinct
since the time of the dinosaurs. The first living coelacanth was
discovered off the east coast of South Africa near East London in 1938.
That discovery is still widely considered to be one of the greatest
zoological finds of the 20th century. Described as "living fossils",
coelacanths have changed very little over the past 360 million years. They
differ markedly from all other living fishes in having fleshy appendages,
or lobes, at the bases of their paired fins, which move in a manner
similar to arms and legs. It was hoped that it would become possible to
put the fish on display at the museum, Boy told IRIN.


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001


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