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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 97
27 October - 02 November 2001


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: New government inaugurated, dawn of a new era
BURUNDI: UN Security Council endorses security force
BURUNDI: Parliament approves transitional constitution
DRC: All hope for dialogue not lost, says Masire
DRC: Widespread insecurity remains impediment - WFP
RWANDA-UGANDA: Defence ministers pledge to resolve conflicts
UGANDA: Museveni sets target on Karamojong disarmament
UGANDA: Increase in Irish aid
CENTRAL AFRICA: Countries meet to coordinate policies and efforts

BURUNDI: New government inaugurated, dawn of a new era

President Pierre Buyoya was sworn in on Thursday to head a three-year
power-sharing government in Burundi which mediators hope will restore
peace to the country after eight years of civil war.

The presidents of Burundi, Mali and Rwanda; the mediator, Nelson Mandela;
South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma; and OAU Secretary-General Amara
Essy were among the important guests at the inauguration.

Mandela negotiated the formation of the new government, which will be in
place for the first 18 months, starting on Thursday. Within the new
administration, the majority Hutu will share power with the minority
Tutsi, who have dominated politics for most of the country's 39 years of
independence from Belgium. In the new cabinet, announced on Tuesday, 14 of
the 26 portfolios will go to Hutus and 12 to Tutsis. Gen. Cyrille
Ndayirukiye of the pro-Tutsi UPRONA party heads the Ministry of Defence.
Foreign Affairs goes to Terence Singunguruza (UPRONA) and the Finance
Ministry to Eduard Kadigiri, a Tutsi, of the Alliance Burundo-Africaine
pour le salut, or ABASA. A Hutu, Salvator Ntihabose, holds the Ministry of
the Interior and Public Security. [Full cabinet list at
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=12647]

"The greatest task will be to negotiate and secure a cease-fire,"
Apollinaire Gahungu, the presidential spokesman, told IRIN.

Provision exists in the peace agreement for this, but a breakaway faction
of the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD) - the
CNDD-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD), and the Parti
pour la liberation du people Hutu-Forces nationales de liberation
(PALIPEHUTU-FNL) - have not signed this document. Over the next three
years efforts must be made, Gahungu said, to get them on board. "We are
really optimistic that a cease-fire negotiation is possible, because there
is no reason for the anti-government forces to continue fighting," he
said. [Full report at Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=12636]

BURUNDI: UN Security Council endorses security force

The UN Security Council on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution backing
the creation of a temporary international security force for Burundi, and
endorsed the efforts of South Africa and other countries to implement the
Arusha peace agreement signed in August 2000 by Burundi's warring
factions, UN News reported. Some 230 South African troops arrived in
Bujumbura, the Burundi capital on Sunday, the advance party of some 700
men who will form the core of the special unit to offer protection to some
150 returning Burundi exiles to take part in the transitional government
and state institutions. The South Africans will also train an
all-Burundian protection force, UN News reported.

The Council also reaffirmed its strong support for the establishment of
the transitional government and urged the international donors to honour
their pledges made at a Paris conference in December 2000. AFP cited a
report in South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper quoting the Burundi
mediator, Nelson Mandela, as appealing to the donors to double their US
$440 million pledge to Burundi. The resolution also called on the rebel
FDD and FNL to cease all hostilities and violent acts against civilians
immediately, enter into negotiations and join the peace process. The
Council also asked all the countries of the region to support the process
fully, UN News reported. "The Council expressed its willingness to
consider, in the light of current progress, further contributions to the
peace process and the implementation of the Arusha Agreement," it added.
[Full report at Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=12579]

The South African troops now deployed in Burundi faced a very "delicate
mission", analysts told IRIN on Tuesday. Speaking from Burundi, an
independent analyst, Jan Van Eck, said the troops were going into a "very
unhappy environment" but should be "okay" if they kept their mandate
limited.

"The troops will be okay if they perform the task of going in there and
serve as a protection force. If they stick to this, then they are unlikely
to encounter any problems. The difficulties could arise if they are
forced, through circumstances, to deviate from the mandate," Van Eck said.
"The problem could come if the troops are forced in any way to engage in
some kind of fighting, and the last thing everybody needs is for South
Africa to become embroiled in some kind of conflict on foreign soil."
[Full report at Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=12587]

BURUNDI: Parliament approves transitional constitution

Burundi's parliament on Saturday adopted, by acclamation, the transitional
constitution that will guide the work of the new power-sharing government,
the state-owned ABP news agency reported.

National Assembly President Leonce Ngendakumana read the adopted text
during the plenary session of the body. He said that of the 336 amendments
lodged at the assembly's bureau, only a few clauses in the text sent by
the government were modified in form or content. Among these changes was
the change in the title from "Constitutional transitional arrangements" to
"Constitution of transition".

ABP reported that regarding the content, the "status and restoration of
the monarchy can only occur by referendum", and that "all authorised
political parties or movements" can take part in [government]
institutions, including the integration of the defence and security
forces, taking into account the internal political configuration, in
return for a commitment to work towards peace, national reconciliation and
democracy.

During the three-year transitional period, armed movements will be
incorporated into the defence and security forces on the basis of the
permanent cease-fire signed by the belligerents, and through the
recruitment of other Burundi citizens.

DRC: All hope for dialogue not lost, says Masire

Reacting to his suspension of the inter-Congolese dialogue on 21 Oct., the
facilitator, Ketumile Masire, has said he nevertheless remains optimistic
for future negotiations, according to a recent interview with
allAfrica.com.

"I think what happened in Gaborone did show that not all hope is lost,
because at least they [the conference delegates] related in a very genuine
way. They were all exuding confidence," Masire said, referring to a
preparatory meeting held at the end of August in advance of the talks
convened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 15 Oct.

Masire also expressed patience for the Congolese, whom he called a people
who have been betrayed many times. "The culture that has taken 40 years to
evolve cannot be shed overnight," he said. Working together in this
dialogue, later in their parliaments and in their communities, and with
friendships being built across the party lines - that will help to
engender the confidence that is necessary for the process to succeed."
[Full report at Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=12638]

DRC: Widespread insecurity remains impediment - WFP

Insecurity and poor road conditions throughout South Kivu in eastern DRC
remain major constraints for the World Food Programme (WFP) to carry out
large-scale food distributions there, the UN agency reported on 26 Oct.

In Katanga province, insecurity forced WFP to suspend a planned food
distribution in Mitwaba. In Equateur province, food availability and
accessibility in various areas has been "greatly affected" by looting and
the presence of land mines. WFP was able to resume food distribution for
internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mbandaka, where it also intends to
support the therapeutic feeding centre run by MSF. However, local
populations in Basankusu, Befale, Makanza and Bolomba remained in need due
to limited access. In Bas-Congo province, WFP reported a continued influx
of Angolan refugees in Kimvula, bringing the caseload from 3,600 to over
13,000. As a contingency measure, WFP is planning an initial distribution
of 163 mt of food pending a needs assessment mission. {Full report at
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=12559]

Meanwhile, two armed opposition movements in the DRC have agreed to form
"a joint military force to track down, arrest and disarm negative forces",
including the Rwandan Interahamwe Hutu militias, members of the Rwandan
former armed forces, the Congolese Mayi-Mayi militia, the Burundian FDD,
the Ugandan rebel Allied Democratic Forces and the rebel National Army for
the Liberation of Uganda, rebel- controlled RTNC radio in Goma reported on
Monday. Delegations from the two rebel movements - the Rwandan-backed
Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) and the
Ugandan-backed Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo (MLC) - submitted a
plan for their coalition to Rwandan President Paul Kagame, whom they met
in Kigali at the end of last week. Kagame "encouraged them to continue
working together, and to realise that only Congolese can solve Congo's
problems", the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) reported on Monday. [Full report
at Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=12561]

RWANDA-UGANDA: Defence ministers pledge to resolve conflicts

Rwanda and Uganda vowed on Monday to resolve their security concerns
amicably and agreed they would not allow anti-government dissidents to
operate from each other's territories, news organisations reported.

The defence ministers of the two countries, meeting in the southwestern
Ugandan town of Kabale, agreed to relocate dissidents to third countries
with the help of the UNHCR. They also pledged to give each other prior
notice of troop deployments near their common border and in the DRC, where
they support different local factions fighting the government. Uganda
agreed to withdraw from its border with Rwanda a battalion it had deployed
in September after Ugandan army dissidents in Kigali declared their
intention to launch an armed struggle to topple Ugandan President Yoweri
Museveni, PANA reported.

The agreements, contained in a joint communique, were reached at a meeting
of Rwandan Defence Minister Emmanuel Habyarimana and his Ugandan
counterpart, Amama Mbabazi, Rwandan radio reported.

Radio Uganda said the Ugandan army commander, Jeje Odongo, and the chief
of military intelligence, Noble Mayombo, were also present. The meeting
was convened amidst media reports that the two countries were on the brink
of war. Relations between them have been tense since their armies clashed
in the northeastern DRC town of Kisangani in 1999 and 2000. [Full report
at Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=12583]

UGANDA: Museveni sets target on Karamojong disarmament

President Yoweri Museveni has said full-scale disarmament of Karamojong
warriors will begin on 30 Nov., and that he will return to the northeast
at that time to launch the programme so that it does not look like a
conflict between Iteso people in Katakwi District and their Karamojong
neighbours.

He said it should not be a big problem to disarm the Karamojong, whose
raiding has caused massive displacement in Katakwi. He attributed the
delay in taking action to a lack of coordination between the army and the
Ministry of Defence, The New Vision government-owned newspaper reported on
Wednesday. Museveni said the ministry had frustrated his earlier programme
for disarmament when it came up with a huge budget that Uganda could not
afford. He said that a huge budget should not be needed for the
implementation of the disarmament. "The resources are there. What has been
lacking is coordination," he added.

The BBC reported last week that Karamojong warriors in and around Moroto
town, for whom cattle rustling is a way of life, had agreed that they
would hand in illegal arms in exchange for 100 cows for every gun
surrendered. [Full report at
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=12605]

UGANDA: Increase in Irish aid

Increasing Irish government development aid to Uganda, signalled again
last week by President Mary McAleese during a visit to the country, was
based on Uganda's sustained commitment to tackling poverty, the Irish
Embassy in Kampala reported.

Irish aid to Uganda is expected to reach some 28 million Irish punts
(about US $32 million), in 2002, reflecting a rapid increase in Ireland's
global development expenditure since it committed itself to reaching the
UN target of 0.7 percent of Gross National Product by 2007, the Irish
charge d'affaires in Kampala, Mairtin O'Fainin, told IRIN on Tuesday.

That development aid was up from some 19 million punts ($21.8 million) in
2001 and 9 million punts ($10.3 million) in 2000, O'Fainin said, adding
that next year's level of funding would put Ireland among the more
significant donors to Uganda. Ireland's assistance would continue to
support priorities in health and education through the central
government's sector programmes, as well as additional programmes targeting
particular poorer districts, he added. [For IRIN interview with Irish
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Liz O'Donnell, on the reasons for
the extra aid, see East Africa page at: http://www.irinnews.org]

CENTRAL AFRICA: Countries meet to coordinate policies and efforts

Representatives from the governments of the CAR, DRC, the RoC, Gabon and
Angola met last week in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, to synchronise their
policies and efforts on behalf of refugees IDPs in the region.

The meeting was organised by the l'Association des parlementaires
Europeens pour l'Afrique (AWEPA), in collaboration with the government of
the DRC and the UNHCR, from 24 to 26 Oct. AWEPA is an association of
current and former members of national parliaments in Europe working "to
support the functioning of parliaments in Africa and to keep Africa on the
political agenda in Europe".

The primary objectives of the conference included the promotion of human
rights, and in particular the rights of refugees, with special attention
to women and children in light of their vulnerability; seeking long-term
solutions to the problems of refugees and IDPs with a view to a safe
return to their places of origin; and adoption in each country of national
legislation and a national commission for refugees where no such thing
already exists. Discussions were held on the possibilities of expanding
the mandate of UNHCR to increase its capacity to help IDPs uprooted by
war, and providing assistance to local populations that host refugees.

Participants also sought to address such issues as the promotion of
peaceful relations among the countries as a necessary condition for
"harmonious and integrated development"; the promotion of democracy and
good governance as imperative for peace and sustainable development; and
the fight against exclusion, racial discrimination, xenophobia and "all
forms of ethnic tension". Representatives agreed to encourage feasibility
studies for projects of common interest to central African states with a
view toward elevating the standard of living.

At the end of the conference a statement was issued, called the
"Declaration de Kinshasa", that summarised the themes discussed and called
for continued cooperation among the nations to ensure that proposals made
during this meeting would come to fruition. AWEPA is due to publish a
complete account of the conference.


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


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