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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 124
25 - 31 May 2002


CONTENTS:

AFRICA: OAU chief urges more action to stamp out conflict
DRC: Aftermath of the killings in Kisangani
DRC: Ongoing pillage of resources taking human toll - UN
DRC: Lusaka peace summit postponed pending "consensus"
DRC-RWANDA: Rwanda accused of genocide against 3.5 million
RWANDA: USAID grants US $2 million for genocide orphans
ROC: UN hopes to fly relief to Kindamba on Saturday
ROC: Hostilities, irregularities mar elections
BURUNDI: Some 32,000 displaced people without relief aid
BURUNDI: First step to peace is temporary truce, says ICG
CAR: Joint inquiry with Sudan over border clashes
KENYA: Concern mounts over Somali refugees
UGANDA: No rapid solutions in anti-LRA campaign in Sudan

ALSO SEE:

UGANDA: Special Report on displacement in the west at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=28012

TANZANIA: Focus on small arms impact and control at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28006

RWANDA: Interview with UNHCR representative Kalunga Lutato at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27946

AFRICA: OAU chief urges more action to stamp out conflict

Africa has to act more decisively in stamping out the wars that blight the
continent, the head of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) said on
Tuesday.

In a speech to mark the OAU's 39th anniversary, Secretary-General Amara
Essy said it was imperative to find lasting solutions to conflicts across
the continent. He said the new African Union - due to be launched in South
Africa in July to replace the OAU - would give fresh impetus to promoting
peace and security in Africa.

"We have to show greater determination and political will and mobilise
more resources, means and talents to take up, in a decisive manner, the
challenges of conflicts faced by the continent," he said. "The
Constitutive Act of the African Union intends also to give a new impetus
aimed at promoting peace and security, which are indispensable for the
economic and social progress of our continent."

Essy said the persistent wars in Africa "summon us and remind us of the
imperative need to find lasting solutions to these conflicts which afflict
our continent and annihilate its efforts for socioeconomic recovery".

He added, "Together and united, within the African Union, we shall be able
to face the challenges of the eradication of poverty, the struggle against
illiteracy and exclusion, the endemic diseases and instability."

DRC: Aftermath of the killings in Kisangani

The Pro-Rwandan Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma)
forces in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have killed
or seized dozens of civilians and others suspected of supporting a
breakaway RCD faction following a mutiny within the rebel ranks in
Kisangani, the capital of Orientale Province, on 14 May, Human Rights
Watch (HRW) reported on 24 May.

The New York-based rights body urged the UN Security Council to order its
peacekeeping mission in the DRC together with the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights to investigate the events.

HRW said on the first day of the fighting, "100 troops" from within the
RCD-Goma, calling themselves RCD-Originale, had briefly occupied the radio
station and broadcast an appeal to the public to expel Rwandan troops from
the DRC. The rights body said about 1,000 youths had responded and killed
three people whom they had identified as Rwandans.

Later on 14 May, it said, loyalist RCD-Goma troops retaliated by going on
a rampage in areas of the city whose residents were seen to have supported
the mutineers. Dozens were killed and many more wounded, HRW said. It
added that homes and church offices had been pillaged, and women from the
Mangobo quarter raped. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27972]

DRC: Ongoing pillage of resources taking human toll - UN

The illegal exploitation of natural resources in the DRC is being
consolidated in many areas, resulting in a ruinous effect on the civilian
population, according to an interim report released on 24 May at UN
headquarters in New York, UN News reported.

Following two months of fact-finding within and around the Great Lakes
region, particularly in eastern DRC, the UN panel of experts on the
illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth in the
DRC issued a preliminary report of its findings to the Security Council.

With various strategies being employed to divert revenues for personal
gain or to pay foreign armies - either to maintain their support against
rival groups or to finance continuing, existing military operations -
their immediate effect has been "the further collapse of most local
economies and the deepening impoverishment of most Congolese families",
according to the report.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian toll of this continuing exploitation is
widespread, especially in eastern DRC. "Local populations, including
children, are being conscripted and used as forced labour in the
extraction of resources by some military forces in different regions," the
report said. Different armed parties to force people to participate in
extraction work, leading in part to increased food insecurity, allegedly
use other tactics, such as the destruction of infrastructure for
agricultural production. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27973]

DRC: Lusaka peace summit postponed pending "consensus"

A peace summit for the DRC scheduled for Thursday in Lusaka was postponed
pending confirmation that all parties will participate, Zambian
presidential spokesman Arthur Yoyo told IRIN. "We have not been able to
get a consensus," he said, adding that the talks would be held "once we
have an indication from everybody that they are agreeable" about
attending.

The postponement, he said, was not based on any particular issue, but
rather it was "basically about getting everybody to agree to come".

Tuesday's announcement came a day after the DRC government said it would
not attend the summit, dismissing the latest efforts to end Africa's
biggest war - in the DRC - as "a waste of time", Reuters reported. "We
don't see the opportunity in going," Kikaya Bin Karubi, the DRC government
spokesman, was quoted as telling Reuters. "There is no urgency in holding
a summit in Lusaka today."

The inter-Congolese dialogue facilitator, Ketumile Masire, is leading
efforts to resume the talks with the help of the OAU. Its
secretary-general, Amara Essy, who has set a team in motion to organise a
brief visit to the DRC, reiterated that any deal that excluded one or more
parties "would simply not work". [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27993]

DRC-RWANDA: Rwanda accused of "genocide against 3.5 million

The DRC has accused Rwanda of committing "genocide against more than 3.5
million people" in the DRC, by engaging in "killing, slaughter, rape,
throat-slitting and crucifying".

In a case filed on Tuesday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in
The Hague, The Netherlands, the DRC government stated that Rwanda had been
guilty of "armed aggression" in the DRC since August 1998, and that it had
resulted in "large-scale human slaughter" in the South Kivu, Katanga and
Orientale provinces in the east of the country.

The application submitted to the court demanded the "immediate,
unconditional withdrawal" of Rwandan troops from DRC territory, and stated
that DRC citizens were entitled to compensation for acts of wrongdoing,
including looting, destruction, slaughter and removal of property.

The Rwandan Special Envoy for the DRC, Patrick Mazimhaka, denied the
charges. He told IRIN that Rwanda had no case to answer. He said people
had died in the region due to neglect, poverty, disease and a lack of
infrastructure, medical supplies, food and access for aid agencies.
"Rwanda cannot be held responsible," he said.

The ICJ would hold hearings on the request for provisional measures on 13
June and possibly on the 14th also, the ICJ said in a statement. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28033]

RWANDA: USAID grants US $2 million for genocide orphans

The USAID assistant administrator for democracy, conflict and humanitarian
assistance, Roger Winter, has announced an increase in planned aid to
Rwanda by almost US $2.8 million, the US aid agency reported. He was
speaking during a four-day visit to Rwanda, which ended on Tuesday.

The increase includes $2 million to enable 6,000 genocide orphans to
continue their education for two years. It will also include $350,000 for
dairy projects, $363,000 for a programme to mitigate sexual gender-based
violence, and $50,000 in disaster relief to offset the effects of recent
flooding in the country. Winter said that since 1994, USAID had provided
at least $480 million in humanitarian relief. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=28031]

ROC: UN hopes to fly relief to Kindamba on Saturday
A United Nations emergency relief aid operation for 2,000 people in the
town of Kindamba, in the Pool region of the Republic of Congo, is due to
begin on Saturday, the UN Coordination Unit in Brazzaville reported.

"We are still waiting for written authorisation for tomorrow, although
only technical things seem to be holding it up. We are very confident
we'll be able to go," a UN official said on Friday.

The UN hopes to fly aid into the town until the road leading to it is made
secure. The brief of the relief mission is to coordinate and discuss with
authorities an assistance strategy, and the return of city residents to
their homes. UN field security will ensure the security of ground
personnel. A six-member medical team will distribute non-food items,
vaccinate children, provide trauma counselling, reproductive health aid,
and evaluate the nutritional and epidemiological situation.

There will also be a four-member team to distribute 7.7 mt of World Food
Programme food rations for 10 days to the 2,000 displaced. A team of three
will assess housing, water and sanitation needs and install temporary
latrines as a matter of priority.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator William Paton described the
impending delivery of aid as a very welcome development. Since 31 March,
aid agencies have had no access to the town, in which normally 16,000
reside, due to fighting between government troops and so-called Ninja
militia, sympathetic to former Prime Minister Bernard Kolelas, who has
been convicted in absentia for crimes committed during the nation's civil
war. [Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28079
ROC: Hostilities, irregularities mar elections

Hostilities and irregularities marred the first round of legislative
elections held on Sunday in the ROC, the government said. "Overall, things
did not go as smoothly as the Ministry of the Interior would have liked,"
a government on Monday, adding that in the nation's capital, Brazzaville,
"a number of irregularities that could compromise the chances of this
round of voting being validated were observed in several districts."

Fresh polling will take place in four constituencies in Brazzaville's
northern suburb of Talangai, where angry voters, alleging fraud, ransacked
polling stations and made off with ballot boxes on Sunday, AFP reported.
There will also be a re-run in a constituency in Ouenze, another district
in the north of Brazzaville, where people were unable to cast their votes
because the logos of some candidates were missing from ballot papers.

In the port city of Pointe Noire and elsewhere, polling was delayed by
organisational problems as people could not find their names on the
voters' list or did not have a voter's card, Reuters reported. In the
southern Pool region, where the government has been battling
anti-government militias, voting was postponed in eight of 14 electoral
districts. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27992]

BURUNDI: Some 32,000 displaced people without relief aid

Some 32,000 displaced people in Ruyigi, eastern Burundi, are still without
aid, because fighting between government and dissidents has prevented
relief workers from reaching the needy in three localities in the
Nyabitsinda District, Helena Mazarro, a representative of the UN Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Burundi, said on Thursday.
"Several evaluation missions were cancelled due to fighting in the area,"
she said.

The three areas with displaced populations are Nyabitsinda, Kinynya and
Muhwazi. The health centre at Muhwazi had already registered some 500
acutely malnourished people, she said. The humanitarian community is
discussing with the government the possibility of humanitarian corridors
for the delivery of food, non-food items, nutrition, and water and
sanitation aid. She said aid deliveries were due to begin on Tuesday.

BURUNDI: First step to peace is temporary truce, says ICG

The immediate objective of the facilitation team for Burundi's ongoing
civil war, the country's donors, the UN secretary-general and leaders in
the Great Lakes region must be the negotiation of a truce between the army
and rebel forces, in order to allow humanitarian aid to reach the tens of
thousands of displaced people in the country, says the analysis and
advocacy body, the International Crisis Group (ICG).

Only then will their longer-term objective - the negotiation of chapter
III of the Arusha accord pertaining to a permanent ceasefire and reform of
the security forces - be feasible.

In a new report entitled "Burundi after six months of transition:
Continuing the War or Winning Peace?" the ICG noted the lack of progress
made in securing peace in Burundi, coupled with the fact that six months
after the installation of the transitional government, the implementation
of the Arusha accords had not yet begun. "To allow the Arusha accord to be
taken hostage by the ceasefire issue is to condemn Burundi's chance for
peace. It will only be through political consistency and concrete reforms
that the reason for the rebels to fight will finally disappear," Francois
Grignon, the ICG's Central Africa Project director, said.

The rebel Forces pour la defense de la democratie and Forces nationales de
liberation - which were not signatories of the Arusha accord - must cease
all attacks and guerrilla operations against the Burundi army and cease
all relations with the Rwandan dissident Armee de Liberation du Rwanda,
ICG said.

Meanwhile, the Burundi government must, among other things, immediately
cease hostilities against the rebel groups to allow them to negotiate,
said ICG. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27975]

CAR: Joint inquiry with Sudan over border clashes

The governments of the Central African Republic (CAR) and neighbouring
Sudan have agreed to establish a commission of inquiry into the killing on
18 May of about 100 Sudanese cattle herders in the region of Gordil and
Birao in the northern savannah of Vakaga Province of the CAR.

A joint communiqué issued on 28 May stated that the commission would
undertake a mission to determine the cause of the conflict; the exact
number of people killed, and to bring to justice those responsible. It
would also attempt to retrieve herds of cattle that had fled during the
hostilities. The statement noted the excellent relations between the two
countries and commended their border authorities for quickly restoring
calm among the population.

The communiqué follows high-level meetings held on Monday and Tuesday in
the CAR capital, Bangui, during which a Sudanese delegation of regional
governors and tribal chiefs led by President Umar Hasan al-Bashir's
adviser on security and minister of internal affairs, Maj-Gen Abd al-Rahim
Muhammad Husayn, and the secretary of state in the Ministry of External
Relations, Fudayl al-Tijani, met CAR government officials.

Sudanile website in Khartoum reported that the Bani Halbah, Ta'ishah and
Al-Falatah al-Wisdaniyyah ethnic groups spent eight months per year in
CAR. They have longstanding ties and intermarriage with a number of ethnic
groups in CAR.

KENYA: Concern mounts over Somali refugees

An unprecedented influx of refugees from Somalia into the northeastern
Kenyan town of Mandera is putting a heavy strain on the local population
in the arid district, where malnutrition levels have risen to between 30
percent and 40 percent in recent weeks and tension is reported to be
rising.

At the same time, international relief organisations are concerned over
reports to the effect that refugees who had fled the fighting in Bulo
Hawa, in Gedo Region, were being forced to return to their country by
pressure from the Kenyan authorities for them to do so, according to
humanitarian sources.

Divisions were also emerging between the Somalis over whether or not to
relocate to Dadaab refugee camp, in Turkana District, northwestern Kenya,
some 500 km to the south, Ron Redmond of the UNHCR reported on 24 May. The
inter-clan fighting which started in Bulo Hawa in April has sent two waves
of refugees into Mandera. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27935]

UGANDA: No rapid solutions in anti-LRA campaign in Sudan

A senior official in the Ugandan army has rejected claims that a number of
rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighters have offered to surrender
following clashes inside southern Sudan with the Uganda's People's Defence
Forces (UPDF).

Shaban Bantariza, the UPDF spokesman, told IRIN on Monday that LRA rebels
had neither surrendered nor had they been surrounded by the UPDF, as had
been reported in the local media.

Radio Uganda reported on 23 May that a "sizeable number" of LRA fighters,
including two senior officers, who were under siege by the UPDF, had
written to the army seeking to surrender. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27970]


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