U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 122
11 - 17 May 2002


CONTENTS:

DRC: UN military observer killed
DRC: Calm returns to Kisangani after rebel infighting
DRC: "No real progress" at talks in Cape Town
BURUNDI: Floods displace over 6,000 people outside Bujumbura
BURUNDI-TANZANIA: US NGOs concerned over voluntary repatriation
TANZANIA: Government challenges "filthy" corruption rating
RWANDA: Heavy rains cause 63 deaths
RWANDA: Genocide suspect arrested in Belgium
ROC: Pool region still inaccessible, humanitarian situation unknown
CAR: Curfew lifted nearly one year after failed coup
KENYA: New media law under fire
KENYA: Action to assist thousands of flood victims
KENYA: Somali refugees in Mandera to be relocated
UGANDA: African Rights questions "Operation Iron Fist"

ALSO SEE:

BURUNDI: IRIN interview with presidential adviser Ambroise Niyonsaba at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27744

DRC: UN military observer killed

A military observer with the United Nations Mission in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC) was killed on Monday and his colleague badly
wounded when their vehicle hit a landmine at Ikela in Province Orientale.
A spokesman for the mission, Hamadoun Toure, said the dead man was an
Algerian colonel aged 48. This was the first fatality from such action the
mission had suffered since its deployment in 1999. The colonel and his
colleague, an Indian major, were on a routine patrol, said Toure.

The two were evacuated by a UN plane to Kisangani, 253 km northeast of
Ikela. An investigation into the circumstances of the incident has begun.
Ikela is on the ceasefire line, and was besieged for 10 months between
1999 and 2000. The UN mission, which numbers about 3,050 military
personnel, has suffered seven fatal casualties - six military and one
civilian - from sickness and accidents.

DRC: Calm returns to Kisangani after rebel infighting

Calm has returned to the eastern city of Kisangani in the DRC following an
outbreak of fighting early on Tuesday between rivals within an
anti-government movement, leaving at least nine people dead.

Residents of Kisangani, a city of some 500,000 people, said the shooting
started between 04:30 and 05:00 local time in one part of the city and
spread to other quarters. Armed elements occupied the local RTNC radio
station, from which they broadcast messages calling on all Congolese
soldiers to unite and drive Rwandan forces out of the country. City
residents said the shooting had died down by 11:00 and that pedestrians
and car owners were on the streets. However, RCD-Goma has blocked access
to Kisangani's two airports.

The attackers identified themselves as RCD-Originel, a splinter group of
the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) that controls
Kisangani and between a quarter to one-third of the DRC, AFP reported.
Rwanda backs the RCD, although the RCD insists that all Rwandan troops
have withdrawn from Kisangani, some 520 km west of the Rwandan border.
[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27767]

DRC: "No real progress" at talks in Cape Town

The RCD-Goma spokesman, Kin Kiey Mulumba, told IRIN on Monday that "no
real progress" had been made during talks held among opposition groups and
the RCD late last week in Cape Town, South Africa. The informal talks had
been held, "to see what can be done to push forward the peace process",
following the end of the inter-Congolese dialogue (ICD).

Mulumba said it had been decided in Cape Town that new inclusive talks
were needed, and that the ICD must resume so that outstanding issues
between the parties to the dialogue could be settled. "We need more
pressure from the international community now, from [South African
President Thabo] Mbeki, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, and other heads
of state, so that we can move forward. We need much more pressure," he
said.

Asked what the next step forward would be, he said: "Now we are waiting,
waiting to see what the international community will tell us, and for more
pressure to build up. Mbeki is doing his best, as is Mwanawasa." He added
that he was hoping to resume the ICD within a couple of weeks, but still
had had no confirmation from either the Mouvement de liberation du Congo
or the Kinshasa government of whether they would attend. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27742]

Meanwhile, a new report by the conflict resolution think-tank, the
International Crisis Group (ICG), which is urging all stakeholders in the
conflict to come together to take a partial accord to the next level, was
made available to IRIN on Wednesday. In the report, entitled "Storm Clouds
Over Sun City: The Urgent Need to Recast the Congolese Peace Process", ICG
cautioned that the agreement reached last month in South Africa among the
Kinshasa government of President Joseph Kabila, the Ugandan-backed
Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) of Jean-Pierre Bemba, and the
majority of delegates from unarmed political opposition groups and civil
society, "is the beginning of a political realignment in the DRC
conflict".

Most notably, the report said, this heralded the end of the anti-Kabila
coalition and confirmed the isolation of RCD-Goma. ICG said it would be
"highly desirable" for negotiations with the RCD to be finalised before
the transition government was installed on 15 June. It also said that
Mbeki would be the "ideal choice" to take over from the ICD facilitator,
Ketumile Masire. [The full 19-page report, containing ICG's
recommendations to the signatories of the Lusaka peace accord and members
of the Joint Military Commission, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and to
the government of the DRC, the MLC and their respective allies, is
currently only available in French. The Executive Summary and
Recommendations are now available in English, with an English translation
due next week. Click here]

DRC: UN Security Council reports on recent mission

The establishment of a transitional government in the capital of the DRC,
Kinshasa, the disarming of rebel groups, and the withdrawal of foreign
troops are essential next steps to advance the peace process in the DRC,
the head of a delegation just back from the Great Lakes region told the
United Nations Security Council on Tuesday.

UN News, posted on the Internet, reported that Ambassador Jean-David
Levitte of France said the establishment of a transitional government of
national unity in Kinshasa would help neighbouring Rwanda deal with its
security issues and enable the UN mission in the DRC (known by its French
acronym, MONUC) to better discharge its functions.

In order to take into account the security concerns of the DRC's
neighbours, the Council had put forward the idea of a "curtain" of troops,
which had been well received by those concerned, Levitte said. The concept
would involve deploying, "for a limited time period over a limited space
along the borders", troops from neighbouring countries on Congolese soil.
"That would be the last stage before complete withdrawal, in order to
create a spirit of cooperation and trust between neighbouring countries
that are destined to live side by side," he said.

On the situation in neighbouring Burundi, he said that while considerable
progress had been made, the peace process there remained fragile. He
called for a cessation of hostilities, the implementation of reforms
during the transition period, and international assistance to support the
country. The process towards peace was well under way, but had not become
irreversible, he cautioned. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27785]

BURUNDI: Floods displace over 6,000 people outside Bujumbura

Over 6,000 people have been displaced following flooding of the Mutimbuzi
river in the Buterere zone of Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi. The
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
confirmed to IRIN on Monday that the Mutimbuzi river had overflowed three
times in the last two weeks - on 29 and 30 April and then 6 May - causing
the destruction of 193 houses in the displaced people's site of Kijange,
and a further 42 in its environs. Surrounding fields of rice, maize, green
beans, potatoes and other vegetables had also been destroyed.

OCHA said that the flooding had occurred due to a large build-up of debris
in the river, coupled with heavy rains. The river had not been cleared
since 1988, despite the fact that accumulative build-ups of wood and
sticks from surrounding hills needed to be removed every five years. While
high levels of water were common to the area during the rainy season, this
had been the worst flooding for some years.

International organisations Medecins Sans Frontieres - Belgium, Jesuit
Refugee Service, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Cooperation
Suisse, the World Food Programme and the UN Children's Fund were assisting
the displaced people, OCHA confirmed. A considerable number of them were
currently sheltering in the classrooms of a local primary school, while
the rest were staying with family or friends. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27740]

BURUNDI-TANZANIA: US NGOs concerned over voluntary repatriation

A group of 10 American NGOs have expressed concern over the voluntary
repatriation of Burundian refugees from Tanzania "at this time". In a
statement issued on Tuesday for the attention of the office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the US government, the
group (which includes refugee aid, resettlement and protection agencies)
said: "Current conditions in Burundi do not appear conducive for refugee
return."

This was, it said, because opposing parties had not agreed to a ceasefire;
the political climate in Burundi appeared tense; the army remained
mono-ethnically Tutsi; conflict might arise when returnees tried to regain
their land; and repatriates might be obliged to live in existing
regroupment camps if conditions in their home areas were insecure. Since
March, the UNHCR has aided the voluntary repatriation of at least 5,000
refugees, and registered at least another 560,000 for future transfer.

Given this, and the concerns over repatriation at this time, the NGOs
recommended that the UNHCR make a "concerted effort" to ensure that
refugees were aware that they were under no obligation to go home; that
they be supplied with relevant information to help them decide about
returning; and that those who then wanted to go home be aided to return
only to areas where UNHCR could monitor their protection. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27780]

TANZANIA: Government challenges "filthy" corruption rating

The Tanzanian government has reacted strongly to Transparency
International's (TI) most recent report that gave Tanzania the "filthy"
tag, reports this week's East African newspaper. Asked about TI's
Corruption Perception Index 2001 that gave Tanzania a 2.2 rating out of
10, thereby classifying it as one of the most corrupt countries in the
world, Wilson Masilingi, the minister responsible for good governance,
denied the existence of rampant corruption in the country, and described
TI as "an enemy of developing countries".

The report and the minister's comments have prompted mixed reactions in
the capital, Dar es Salaam. Edward Hoseah of the country's Prevention of
Corruption Bureau, an organisation with the a mandate of preventing,
investigating, prosecuting, educating and researching on all aspects of
corruption, said the report was a good indication of the levels of
corruption, but insisted that it was a subjective view and that more time
was needed to get a clearer picture of progress made.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim Seushi, the head of TI's Tanzania Section, stressed
that TI had been working closely with the government since 1995, and said
he believed that the minister has missed the point. "How the minister
should have used the corruption perception index is to measure the
effectiveness of the anti-corruption progress that the government is
undertaking. The perceptions of the business people are not necessarily in
line with what the government is doing," he told IRIN on Thursday.

Seushi sees tax administration, public procurement, contracting, clearing
of goods through customs and the bureaucracy in the granting of business
licences as areas where corruption is still prevalent. This problem, he
believes, can only be tackled by way of greater commitment to the issue.
[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27729]

RWANDA: Heavy rains cause 63 deaths

Heavy rains from April to early May have caused some 63 deaths and left
hundreds of people homeless in Rwanda, humanitarian officials in the
capital, Kigali, and FEWS NET reported.

In its report covering this period, FEWS NET - the USAID-funded Famine
Early Warning System, identified the most affected prefectures as
Cyangugu, Kibuye, Byumba, Kigali Rurale and Kigali Ville. So far, it said,
the government, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the
World Food Programme (WFP) were providing emergency relief. The ICRC was
providing shelter, cooking utensils, jerry cans and blankets. WFP Kigali
told IRIN on Wednesday that the number of homeless people would by known
on Friday, but that so far hundreds of families had been affected.

Although rains had damaged homes and infrastructure across the country,
FEWS reported, food security remained good at the national level. This was
because most crops were cultivated on hills, which were unaffected by the
downpours and subsequent flooding, as opposed to lowlands. FEWS reported
that crop production this season would be good, so long as rainfall became
moderate and remained so until the end of May. However, it added,
continued heavy rains would cause more deaths and damage crops and
infrastructure. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27796]

RWANDA: Genocide suspect arrested in Belgium

Belgian police in Brussels on Wednesday arrested a former Rwandan army
colonel wanted for genocide and other crimes allegedly committed in his
country in 1994, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda reported.
Leonidas Rusatira, 58, was commandant of the Rwandan military school, the
Ecole Superieure Militaire. He allegedly played a "major role" in the
killing of thousands of Tutsis who sought refuge in a Kigali technical
school, the Ecole Technique Officielle, the Tribunal reported.

Reports of widespread killing in and near the capital, Kigali, on 7 April
1994 spurred thousands of Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus to seek
refuge at the technical school, then under the protection of the UN
Assistance Mission to Rwanda. Rusatira also gave assurances that the army
would protect the school's new occupants. But after 10 Belgian UN soldiers
guarding Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana were killed, the UN forces
left the school.

Shortly afterwards, on 11 April, soldiers allegedly commanded by Rusatira
and members of the Interahamwe, the Hutu extremist militia led by George
Rutaganda, moved in and killed thousands, the Tribunal said. Survivors
were led to Nyanza where, under Rusatira's supervision, they were killed
by army troops and the Interahamwe, the Tribunal said. He was promoted to
general "some days after the massacre", the Tribunal said, citing
Rusatira's indictment. He will be sent to the Tribunal's detention
facility in Arusha, northern Tanzania.

Rutaganda was serving a life term for genocide and crimes against humanity
(murder and extermination), but had appealed against his conviction, the
Tribunal said.

ROC: Pool region still inaccessible, humanitarian situation unknown

Fighting between government forces - supported by Angolan troops - and
Ninja militias allied to the Rev Frederic Bitsangou (alias Ntoumi) in the
Pool region of the Republic of Congo (ROC) is now well into its second
month. The total number of persons displaced by the conflict there remains
unknown, but is "at least 22,000 and probably more", according to
humanitarian sources in the country.

The government has reported that at least 5,000 persons have found refuge
in the town of Kindamba, a small and isolated town of 5,000 inhabitants in
the Pool region, about 170 km northwest of the capital, Brazzaville, but
they have not yet received any assistance. Not more than 2,000 people have
managed to reach refuge outside the affected area, in neighbouring
Plateaux, Bouenza and Lekoumou regions. The international community has
been able to visit them and provide assistance, and it is expected that a
mission to Kindamba may be organised in the coming days.

The UN and other international organisations were recently allowed to
visit Kinkala, the capital of Pool region some 79 km west of Brazzaville,
the office of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator reported on Friday. The
mission, conducted on 8 and 9 May, found that the four displacement camps
that had been set up in Kinkala since 5 April had been closed by the
authorities on 14 April. About two-thirds of Kinkala's population has
returned to their homes.

The tens of thousands who had been displaced from the southern
neighbourhoods of Brazzaville in early April have, for the most part,
returned to their homes. Thousands of displaced people from the Pool
region are still in Brazzaville, although some are returning. However,
still more keep arriving in Brazzaville from various localities in Pool,
usually claiming that they are fleeing out of fear. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27746]

CAR: Curfew lifted nearly one year after failed coup

Nearly one year after its imposition in the wake of a failed coup that
shook Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), a nationwide
curfew was lifted on 9 May. The curfew was originally imposed on 28 May
2001, when soldiers loyal to former President Andre Kolingba launched an
offensive against forces loyal to current President Ange-Felix Patasse.

Humanitarian sources in Bangui speculated that the timing of this decision
was due in part to the fact that rebel soldiers who fled across the
Ubangui River to Zongo in the neighbouring DRC have been relocated some
100 km from the riparian border and progressively disarmed, whereas
previously, they remained an armed threat just across the river.

A statement from the office of the president said that the lifting of the
curfew meant that life had returned to normal in CAR. It further noted
that "in taking this decision, the President of the Republic ... counts on
the public-spiritedness and sense of responsibility of all children of
CAR". "On the other hand," it continued, "[the President] sends a strict
warning to all who, refusing obstinately that our country and the people
of CAR live in national peace and harmony, would attempt to take advantage
of this return to normalcy to hatch their harmful plots to challenge our
democratically constituted institutions. They will be considered as
terrorists and will be brought to justice." [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27715]

KENYA: New media law under fire

International human rights and journalist organisations have criticised
the recent passing by the Kenyan parliament of a new media law under which
publishing fees for newspapers will be substantially increased. They
described it as an attempt by the government to "handicap" the media
economically, and to severely "muzzle" the press, ahead of the critical
presidential and parliamentary elections due to take place later this
year.

The new law, passed on 8 May, is an amendment to the Books and Newspapers
Act, and it raises the cost of the libel insurance bond from US $128 to
about $12,800. It also requires publishers to submit two copies of each of
their publications to the attorney-general's office before selling any
other copy. It provides for vendors and distributors who fail to establish
whether the publishers have complied with the registration requirements to
be fined up to $256 or face three years of imprisonment, or both. However,
the law now awaits presidential assent before coming into force.

Human rights and media organisations in Kenya have expressed fears that
the measure to raise fees for publishers will have severe implications for
the media, particularly in libel and defamation cases against newspapers
and bookshops. However, President Daniel arap Moi said he would soon sign
the law in order to curb "irresponsible journalism", local media reported
on Tuesday. Moi said the new law would prevent media houses from
publishing unverified reports, according to the Daily Nation. [Full report
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27764]

KENYA: Action to assist thousands of flood victims

The Kenyan government and international emergency relief organisations
have embarked on a programme to respond to the needs of victims of floods
and landslides, which have left more than 50 people dead and thousands
displaced, following heavy rains across the country. OCHA said on Monday
that the Kenyan government had activated its National Disaster Committee
and the district Disaster Management Committees, and dispatched teams of
experts to the affected areas to assess the extent of the floods and the
sanitary conditions of affected populations.

In a situation report released on Monday, OCHA said some 162,300 people
affected by the floods urgently needed materials - mainly
water-purification tablets, cholera kits and mosquito nets. The floods had
inundated wells in many areas, leading to a shortage of clean water, it
said. "The floods are seen as the worst to hit the country since 1998,
when the El Nino phenomenon struck the area," the OCHA report said.
According to media reports, floods and landslides in Kenya have killed at
least 53 people and displaced more than 150,000.

Although the Kenyan government had not officially appealed for
international assistance, and its National Disaster Operation Centre was
"coping" with the emergency, the international response to the emergency
had been favourable, OCHA said. Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27763]

KENYA: Somali refugees in Mandera to be relocated

The Kenyan authorities have asked the office of the UNHCR to relocate
about 10,000 Somali refugees who have been living in the northeastern
Kenyan border town of Mandera, the Nairobi-based Sunday Standard reported
on 12 May. The Mandera district commissioner, Jamleck Baruga, was quoted
by the paper as saying he had met UNHCR officials, who told him they would
comply.

The UNHCR regional spokesman, Jonathan Clayton, told IRIN that the agency
and the Kenyan government were "exploring the possibility of relocating
the refugees away from the border point". Most of the refugees were said
to be just 500 metres from the border. Clayton said the government was
fully cooperating with UNHCR on this matter. "It is providing asylum to
the refugees, and has indicated willingness to continue doing so," he
said.

The refugees fled inter-clan fighting in the border town of Bulo Hawa in
the north of Gedo Region, southwestern Somalia, last month after fighting
broke out there among rival factions of the Marehan clan. Humanitarian
sources in Mandera said the situation in Bulo Hawa was not yet conducive
to a return of the refugees. "The town is still insecure, with a lot of
militia roaming around," one of them said.

UGANDA: African Rights questions "Operation Iron Fist"

The UK-based advocacy organisation African Rights has said that the
Ugandan army's military campaign - entitled "Operation Iron Fist" - to
root out Joseph Kony's rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), has
grave consequences for the prospects of peace and for the people of
northern Uganda. In a statement issued on 9 May, African Rights said that
by taking the war into southern Sudan, the Ugandan government had "banked
on pulling off a spectacular end to the conflict in the north", but that
its calculations had not gone according to plan.

Following research among the Acholi people of northern Uganda - to whom
most of the LRA recruits belong - African Rights said the only way to end
the conflict was through dialogue and peaceful strategies, in order to
deprive Joseph Kony of recruits and political support. "Disregard for the
views of local people is a major reason for the problems that have beset
this initiative from the outset," says African Rights.  While a
substantial number of northerners make it clear that they would welcome a
decisive military victory by the government over Joseph Kony and the LRA,
"they know only too well that military action will entail the loss of more
Acholi lives, prolong insecurity and ensure that dislocation and displaced
camps continue without respite".

"The most widely held view among the Acholi is that the current military
operation should not have taken place at all," says African Watch.

However, the Ugandan army spokesman, Maj Shaban Bantariza, told IRIN on
Friday that the army had "taken the problem of the LRA back to its source"
by conducting "Operation Iron Fist" in Sudan. He said various dialogues
had been tried with the LRA since 1987, which had collapsed, and after
which the LRA had continued to fight. "Those talking about a peaceful
resolution, that's what we would wish as well, but all the talks have
failed." [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27817]


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