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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 120
27 April - 03 May 2002


CONTENTS:

DRC: Opposition alliance formed, Security Council mission arrives
BURUNDI: IMC notes "significant strides" and "a few difficulties"
BURUNDI: Government, FDD in preliminary talks
EASTERN AFRICA: Food shortages persist in some parts
CAR: Government launches "sweeping governance reforms"
UGANDA: New agreement with Sudan on full diplomatic ties
UGANDA: Government denies military training plans for returnees
UGANDA: LRA killed at least 300 Sudanese villagers, says army
TANZANIA: IMF emphasises agriculture, micro-finance
TANZANIA: ILO targets both women's income and child labour
TANZANIA: Politician, environmental lawyers charged over Bulyanhulu

ALSO SEE:

UGANDA-SUDAN: Focus on agreement to re-establish full diplomatic ties at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27586

DRC: Interview with Banyamulenge leader on fighting in Minembwe at:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=Great_Lakes

BURUNDI: IRIN Focus on the just-ended talks in Pretoria, South Africa at:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=Great_Lakes

DRC: Opposition alliance formed, Security Council mission arrives

The Rwandan-backed rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie
(RCD-Goma) has formed an alliance with five other political parties in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to fight attempts by President
Joseph Kabila and the Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo (MLC) to form
a new government, following an agreement made between them at the end of
the inter-Congolese dialogue (ICD) last week.

The alliance, called Alliance pour la sauvegarde du dialogue
inter-congolais (ASD) - to be headed by veteran politician Etienne
Tshisekedi, leader of the Union pour la democratie et le progres social
(UDPS) - has as its main objective the continuation of the ICD in Sun
City, South Africa. Other objectives are the formation of a new consensual
political order, the defence of the Lusaka Peace Accord and the
establishment of the rule of law.

The ASD, which will be based in Kisangani, eastern DRC, brings together
the UDPS, the Dynamique pour une transition neutre (DPTN), the Mouvement
Lumumbiste progressiste (MLP), the Conseil de l'opposition congolaise
externe de l'Amerique du Nord (COCEAN) and the Rassemblement pour une
nouvelle societe (RNS). [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27495]

On Monday, Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, the French diplomat heading the
current UN Security Council mission to the Great Lakes region, encouraged
all parties to the ICD to be "flexible" in their demands and to agree to
hold discussions on substantive issues and the steps to achieve
reconciliation, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported.

"It is certainly not the role of the Security Council to replace the
Congolese parties," Levitte told RFI during a stop in Pretoria, South
Africa. "It is also not the Security Council's role to act as a
facilitator in the inter-Congolese dialogue. Our role is to encourage all
the Congolese parties to be flexible enough to ensure that the great
results achieved in Sun City are not lost."

Recalling that 37 legal instruments relating to all aspects of Congolese
life were adopted by consensus at the peace talks in Sun City, Levitte
said that it was necessary to reach a political agreement among all
Congolese stakeholders. "That was not achieved in Sun City, but that is
not the end of the process," he stated. "The door remains open." [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27548]

On Tuesday morning, the UN delegation met DRC President Joseph Kabila in
Kinshasa for two hours of discussions. In the afternoon, the team held
meetings with representatives of civil society, political parties,
religious leaders and with MONUC and other UN agencies. Levitte told
reporters on Wednesday that Kabila had said he remained willing to pursue
negotiations on power-sharing in the DRC. "President Kabila told us that
the door of dialogue is wide open," Levitte said, according to Reuters.
[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27565]

Kabila told the delegation that he was willing to include the  RCD-Goma in
current negotiations between his government and the MLC over the details
of the Sun City accord. "What happened at Sun City is not a done deal," UK
Ambassador to the UN Jeremy Greenstock told reporters in Kinshasa. "He
[Kabila] is prepared to bring the RCD in on a deal which is being thrashed
out with the MLC."

Greenstock said the UN delegation was focused on three interlocking
issues: the recently concluded ICD; the withdrawal of foreign troops from
the DRC; and the demobilisation and disarmament of armed groups.

On the triangle of issues, Greenstock said the details of the ICD were not
the primary concern of the security council, but rather that the
delegation was "looking for a result from the dialogue, because without it
there can't be a proper withdrawal of foreign forces". He said that Kabila
was pursuing the non-military option, as was demonstrated by the departure
from the DRC of some 12,000 to 13,000 allied troops (Angolans, Namibians
and Zimbabweans) since Kabila succeeded his father, the late
Laurent-Desire Kabila, following the elder's assassination in January
2001. [Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27567]

At a press conference in Kinshasa on Tuesday, Levitte announced that a
proposal for a Great Lakes conference would be submitted to countries in
the region. "We are going to submit a document drawn up in New York to
relaunch the project of a conference for the countries of the Great Lakes
region," he said. He said one aim of such a conference would be to focus
on the problem, shared by all the countries in the region, of ethnic
minorities which straddle borders. Promoting trade, development and
tourism would be another aspect.

On Wednesday, the UN Security Council delegation arrived in the troubled
city of Kisangani in northeastern DRC as part of its week-long mission to
encourage peace efforts in the Great Lakes region. Several Security
Council resolutions have called on RCD-Goma to withdraw its forces from
the DRC's third-largest city, where clashes with Ugandan forces in 1999
and 2000 resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths.

Levitte told reporters in Kisangani that a push for the total
demilitarisation of the city would be high on the Council's agenda. He
also emphasised the importance of reopening the DRC's vast riverine
network to free navigation, a matter on which all warring parties have
consented in theory. "We will give a strong push to the resumption of
commercial traffic in all of Congo. What's important is the resumption of
normal life for thousands and thousands of ordinary people," Levitte was
quoted by Reuters as saying.

The UN team, due to visit Angola on Thursday to meet President Jose
Eduardo dos Santos and the Political Committee of the Lusaka ceasefire
agreement, will travel on Friday to Uganda, where they will meet with
President Yoweri Museveni and MLC leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, who will serve
as prime minister in the DRC's new political order.

On Saturday, the mission will be in Tanzania to meet President Benjamin
Mkapa. On Sunday, it will be in Burundi, to meet President Pierre Buyoya,
Vice-President Domitien Ndayizeye and the presidents of the Senate and
National Assembly. Monday will be spent in Rwanda, to meet President Paul
Kagame and Rwandan authorities. A meeting will also be held with a
delegation of Rwandan former armed groups. On Tuesday, the team is due to
return to UN headquarters in New York. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27575]

BURUNDI: IMC notes "significant strides" and "a few difficulties"

The Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC) of the Burundi peace process
"noted that significant strides had been made despite a few difficulties"
during its eighth regular session held from 22 to 26 April in the capital,
Bujumbura, a statement from the IMC said. Primary among these strides,
according to a source present at the talks, was the general functioning of
the transitional national government established on 1 November 2001. "It's
an operational and working institution now, comprised of representatives
from all segments of society - which is fantastic for Burundians," a
diplomatic source close to the IMC told IRIN on Tuesday. "The whole
process is maturing."

Difficulties cited by the same diplomatic source included ongoing delays
in the establishment of a Burundian special protection unit (to replace
the South African forces currently ensuring the daily functioning of
government institutions and the safety of politicians returned from exile)
and in the reform of the military, both attributable in part to the lack
of a ceasefire agreement between the government and rebel factions. Also
noted were claims by the myriad of political parties which constitute the
transitional government that their representation in that government
remained insufficient.

With regard to the ongoing repatriation of Burundian refugees from camps
in neighbouring Tanzania, the IMC "congratulated and praised" Burundi
Minister for Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Displaced Persons
Francoise Gendahayo "for what has already been done for the refugees and
displaced persons" of Burundi, according to the IMC statement.

While viewing the repatriations as a generally positive development in
light of assurances given by both Gendahayo and the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that returns had been and continued to
be voluntary, the IMC made suggestions regarding what it termed
"unresolved issues" - including continued insecurity, land allocation, and
longer-term economic support for returnees, a source present at last
week's meetings told IRIN. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27540]

BURUNDI: Government, FDD in preliminary talks

Last week's attempts to have delegations respectively from the Burundi
government and the rebels of the wing of the Forces pour la defense de la
democratie (FDD) wing led by Pierre Nkurunziza hold talks in Pretoria,
South Africa, flopped, but something "quite significant" happened, an
analyst on Burundi affairs, Jan van Eck told IRIN on Thursday. Delegates
from the Burundi government and from the rebel Forces pour la defense de
la democratie (FDD) on 27 April held preliminary talks in Pretoria, South
Africa.

According to him, after talks with South Africa's Deputy President Jacob
Zuma, there are now prospects that the rebel group, Forces nationales de
liberation (FNL) will "start joining" the ceasefire negotiation process by
end of May. "The FNL delegation expressed its commitment to possible
ceasefire talks, but asked that it be given some time to have its own
internal consultations before it could start face to face talks with the
government side at the end of May," van Eck explained. "This gives the
possibility of all-inclusive talks," he said.

[see BURUNDI: IRIN Focus on the just-ended talks in Pretoria, South Africa
at: http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=Great_Lakes]

Talks between the government and FDD rebels failed to start on 22 April
after most of the FDD delegation were held up in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,
because they could not secure travel documents from Tanzanian authorities.
They finally obtained the documents through the South African authorities
and travelled on 26 April. In this round of talks, which were scheduled to
end on 30 April, the two groups were to discuss ways of bringing about a
of cessation of hostilities.

Meanwhile, AFP reported on 28 April that South African Deputy President
Jacob Zuma had spent several hours on Saturday with a delegation from the
Burundian rebel Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), which arrived in
South Africa on 26 April. The FNL delegation was not, however, scheduled
to meet either representatives of the Burundian government or the FDD, AFP
said. [Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27518]

EASTERN AFRICA: Food shortages persist in some parts

Bumper harvests have improved the food supply regionally but many remain
vulnerable to the effects of drought and conflict. Despite improved cereal
harvests in 2001/02 in most parts of the region, the effects of recent
drought and past or continuing conflicts continue to undermine the food
security of an estimated 11 million people in eastern Africa, the UN's
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported on Tuesday.

The FAO urged donors "to give priority to local purchases and triangular
transactions wherever possible for their food aid programmes" in order to
support domestic food production.
[see http://www.fao.org/giews/english/eaf/eaf0204/httoc.htm] In triangular
transactions, a donor typically purchases food with cash from its food aid
budget in one developing country which has a surplus for shipment to
another. This differs from the conventional practice of purchasing food
aid from a developed country or from the international market.

Food supply had improved considerably in Kenya following favourable rains
in major cereal producing areas. However, in Kenya, a sharp drop in market
prices following good harvests was having a negative impact on farmers'
incomes in key producing areas, it added.

The food situation is generally stable in Tanzania and Uganda, though
maize prices continue to rise in southern Tanzania due to increased
exports - especially to Malawi and Zambia, which are facing serious food
shortages - and problems in parts of Katakwi and Moroto districts in
Uganda, due to localised drought conditions and/or insecurity. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27557]

CAR: Government launches "sweeping governance reforms"

The Central African Republic (CAR) is launching "sweeping reforms" to
promote good governance, "an important step towards reducing poverty and
promoting sustainable development", the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) reported on Monday.

The reforms include improving public services; promoting decentralisation
and local governance; enhancing economic policies; and setting up an
effective, transparent judicial system that respects human rights. Other
areas of reform include the creation of an enabling environment for
private-sector development, the promotion of civil society participation
in public affairs, and the strengthening of the operations of the National
Assembly. CAR Prime Minister Martin Ziguele introduced the reforms earlier
this month in the CAR capital, Bangui, at a national seminar organised by
the CAR government and UNDP. Participants included government leaders and
representatives from the private sector, civil society, political parties,
local communities and development partners.

The seminar was intended to support government efforts to undertake "a
complete reform covering all sectors of public administration", Ziguele
said. It was hoped it would give a new impetus for all citizens to support
the "exercise and protection of their basic freedoms, and to a judicial
system that respects rights," he added. The seminar also reflected public
calls for "improvements in public services, greater transparency in public
administration, a better response to grievances and fairer distribution of
development gains," he said. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27524]

UGANDA: New agreement with Sudan on full diplomatic ties

Uganda and Sudan have agreed to re-establish full diplomatic ties, which
were severed in 1995 as each country accused the other of backing rebel
groups, and to appoint full ambassadors to each other's countries,
according to a joint government statement on 27 April. Ugandan Foreign
Minister James Wapakhabulo and Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman
Isma'il agreed in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on 26 April to "upgrade
the level of diplomatic representation between their countries to the
level of ambassadors, and to establish a joint ministerial committee" to
supervise bilateral relations, the joint communique stated.

The Ugandan government agreed, according to Saturday's joint declaration
in Kampala, "to expedite and maximise the Ugandan factor in the
realisation of a sustainable peace in southern Sudan under the umbrella of
IGAD [Inter-Governmental Authority on Development]." In the statement,
Khartoum and Kampala also announced their agreement "to extend their
cooperation and coordinate with each other in the multilateral sphere, and
to discuss in advance their respective positions with each other, in case
of difference, before taking any action."

This meant that the two countries had effectively "buried the hatchet"
over differences that emerged following Uganda's decision to back a recent
UN Human Rights Commission resolution urging Sudan to respect human rights
and fundamental freedoms, Muhammad Ahmad Dirdiery, charge d'affaires at
the Sudanese embassy in Kenya, told IRIN on Monday. "That issue has been
completely sorted out. We really have buried the hatchet," Dirdiery said.
"It was made very clear in the communique we issued that the two countries
will coordinate and cooperate on multilateral affairs. This means we have
revised the earlier position," he added. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27522]

UGANDA: Government denies military training plans for returnees

The Ugandan government has no official plans to subject a group of
returnees recently expelled from Tanzania, where they had been living, to
military and political training, a senior official in the office of the
prime minister has told IRIN. The New Vision government-owned newspaper
reported on Monday that the at least 3,000 returnees from Tanzania, where
they had lived for decades, were to undergo a political and military
course aimed at orientating them to Uganda's governance system.

The Ugandan returnees, mainly ethnic Bakiga cattle herders, were expelled
from Tanzania, allegedly for voting against Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha
Mapinduzi (CCM) party in elections in October 2000, according to media
reports in January. Those reports alleged that the expulsions were
effected after CCM lost the elections in the northwestern Tanzanian
district of Karagwe, Kagera Region, where the long-time Ugandan settlers
were then living. Quoting John Kamuningi, chairman of the Kahunge
sub-county in Kamwenge District, to which the returnees are being
relocated, the paper said the course, known in Uganda as "Chakamchaka",
was aimed at "exposing" the returnees to the ruling National Resistance
Movement's system of governance.

Martin Owuor, Assistant Commissioner in the Disaster Preparedness and
Prevention Department of the office of the prime minister, told IRIN on
Monday that the Ugandan authorities had not made any plan to expose the
returnees from Tanzania to the Chakamchaka programme. "We have no such
plans. An LC2 chairman [at the village level, such as Kamuningi] in not a
policy maker," Owuor said. "[An] LC2 is a leader at the lowest level. He
has no budget." [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27521]

UGANDA: LRA killed at least 300 Sudanese villagers, says army

Members of the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and their
leader, Joseph Kony, have killed up to 300 civilians in southern Sudan in
the past week, in retaliation for their refusal to support the movement,
according to a senior Ugandan army spokesperson. Shaban Bantariza, the
Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) director of information and public
relations, told IRIN on Friday that the LRA had in the past week been
"carrying out ritual killings in different places" similar to the earlier
massacre of 60 mourners in the area. "Kony has been killing in different
places. The numbers are soaring. Right now we know they can't be less than
300," Bantariza said.

Bantariza said he had on Thursday sent a group of local and international
journalists to the region where the incidents reportedly happened to
"verify the truth for themselves". According to Bantariza, Kony had turned
against the southern Sudanese civilians for refusing to support his
movement with food and cattle. "The simple reason why Kony is doing these
things is because he is annoyed and desperate," Bantariza said. "The
villagers have plenty of food and animals, which Kony wants, but they have
refused to sustain a Ugandan rebellion. So he is trying to subdue them and
eat their food."

Earlier this week, local and international media organisations reported
that on 26 April a group of armed LRA fighters had intercepted a funeral
procession and shot dead all 60 mourners participating. Quoting Bantariza,
the agencies said the attack, had taken place in the Agoro hills near the
Sudanese border with Uganda, where the rebels had taken refuge from the
Ugandan army offensive, being carried out with permission from Khartoum
and dubbed "Operation Iron Fist".
"Kony attacked a funeral procession of about 60 people, forced them to
cook the corpse in sorghum and eat it. They thought that they would
survive if they obeyed, but the rebels shot and killed all of them after
they had eaten the corpse," Reuters quoted Bantariza as saying. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27590]

TANZANIA: IMF emphasises agriculture, micro-finance

The IMF said on Monday that while Tanzania was "on track" in its economic
reform process, agriculture and the rural sector needed boosting, and the
government's social partners emphasised the need for more progress on
poverty eradication. Horst Kohler, Managing Director of the IMF, who was
in Tanzania on the first leg of a five-country African tour to assess the
impact of the organisation's policies, told journalists at a press
conference in State House in the capital, Dar es Salaam, that he had
travelled to the country to ascertain for himself that it was heading in
the right direction.

"From our meetings with government, parliamentarians, civil society and
the private and financial sectors, I am very assured that Tanzania is on a
good track," Kohler said on Monday. "It has embarked on what we call the
poverty reduction strategy process and, out of the meetings this morning,
it came very clearly that this approach is broadly backed by society,"
Kohler added. "The speakers said that there is a lot of room for
improvement but the direction is accepted, seems to be appreciated and is
already paying off."

[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27537]

TANZANIA: ILO targets both women's income and child labour

The International Labour Organisation (ILO), along with the government of
Tanzania and Akiba Commercial Bank, has launched a project to help tackle
the problem of child labour in the country by boosting women's
income-earning potential. The UN-associated agency signed an agreement
with the government and Akiba to establish a revolving loan fund, financed
by the Dutch government, to provide credit to participating women's
income-generation groups. A sum of US $200,000 will be deposited at Akiba
Commercial Bank as a Cash Guarantee Fund for improving women's economic
activities.

The broad objective is to reduce the use of child labour in Tanzania -
where the practice is widespread, in common with many African countries -
through the promotion of women's employment, according to the ILO. The
project will involve poor working mothers in selected sectors and
locations receiving loans as part of a package designed to allow women
make best use of the loans for productive activities.
[see http://www.unic.undp.org/labour.htm]

According to the ILO Director for East Africa, Ali Ibrahim, the project is
a response to the ILO's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights
at Work, which calls for both the elimination of child labour and of
discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
"It is also aimed at enhancing the government's efforts to fight poverty,
and promotion of gender equality as stipulated in the National Poverty
Eradication Strategy and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper," he said.

TANZANIA: Politician, environmental lawyers charged over Bulyanhulu

The leader of an opposition party and two environmental lawyers were this
week charged with sedition over their persistent claims that at least 50
artisanal miners were buried alive at Bulyanhulu, Tanzania's biggest gold
mine, in 1996. Claims that small-scale miners were buried alive initially
emerged soon after Bulyanhulu mining areas were cleared for the
development of large-scale production when the mine was taken over by
foreign investors in 1996. The Tanzanian government and Barrick Gold, the
Canadian company that owns the mine, have repeatedly denied the claims.

Augustine Mrema, leader of the Tanzania Labour Party (TLP), and Rugumeleza
Nshala and Tundu Lissu of the Lawyers Environmental Action Team (LEAT)
were charged with sedition for allegedly having published material and
made speeches encouraging disaffection against the government. Mrema told
IRIN on Thursday that the police had charged him with writing a letter or
giving a press statement in which he was alleged to have said that at
least 52 people were buried alive in the Bulyanhulu mine, and that the
government had not taken any steps to investigate the matter.
He said that, as he did not know what material the police were referring
to, he had denied the charges and was waiting to see what was levelled
against him.

Nshala confirmed that he and Lissu had been held in connection with a
statement last year claiming that the mining company, aided by the police,
had filled in artisanal mining pits in 1996 "while knowing that there were
people inside those pits". The trial is scheduled to begin on 31 May 2002.
If convicted, the three accused face up to two years in prison and a fine
of 10,000 Tanzanian shillings (about US $10). [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27587]

"Enhancing the socioeconomic empowerment of poor groups, a majority of
whom are women, is critical for fighting poverty, un/underemployment and
marginalisation," Ibrahim said, especially given that women, especially
those belonging to poor households, have borne the burnt of the social
costs of structural adjustments in the economy. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27571]


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