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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 166
15 - 21 March 2003


CONTENTS:

CAR: Rebel leader seizes power, suspends constitution
CAR: UN withdraws nonessential staff
DRC: Ituri ceasefire deal signed
DRC: Final session of Dialogue to start 1 April
ROC: Government, rebels reafirm commitment to peace
RWANDA: France agrees to receive genocide convicts
RWANDA: Government calls for help on demobilisation, reintegration
BURUNDI: 13 rebels killed in Ruyigi fighting
UGANDA: Eight killed in LRA attack
KENYA: Government starts destroying illicit weapons
KENYA: Terror warnings unfair, tour operators say

CAR: Rebel leader seizes power, suspends constitution

Rebel leader Francois Bozize - whose forces seized power on 15 March in
the Central African Republic (CAR) - has declared himself head of state,
suspended the constitution and announced plans for a National Transitional
Council to run the country.

"I will receive as soon as possible all the political parties and
stakeholders so that we can agree on a consensual transitional programme,"
Bozize announced in a broadcast to the nation on 16 March.

He said former heads of state would be honorary members of the council. He
said his administration's priorities would be to pursue talks with the IMF
and the World Bank on a "post-conflict" accord, restructure and reunify
the national army and the administration; seize illegal weapons; reform
financial services; intensify the campaign against HIV/AIDS; and prepare
free and fair elections. He gave no time-frame for his rule.

Bozize imposed a 10-day curfew from 19:00 to 06:00 local time, warned the
public against looting, and asked people to go about their normal business
beginning on Monday. He decreed that secretaries-general and directors in
all ministries remain at their post until appointment of new ministers.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32861]

On Monday, Bozize met army and police chiefs in an attempt to impose law
and order in the capital, Bangui. "Our top priority is the capital's
security," Parfait Mbaye, Bozize's spokesman, told IRIN. Mbaye added that
there was "no animosity" between the leaders of ousted President
Ange-Felix Patasse's security forces and the new administration, and that
many soldiers, gendarmes and policemen had resumed their duties.

However, the looting that started when Bozize's fighters first entered
Bangui continued through Monday. Youths armed with weapons stolen from
Patasse's official home bound their heads with turbans, to look like
Chadians, and went on looting sprees, targeting vehicles and other
property. The ousted government had often accused Chad of supporting
Bozize. Offices, schools and shops remained closed on Tuesday, despite
Bozize's call for a resumption of normal activities.

Also on Monday, 150 French soldiers, redeployed from the Gabonese capital,
Libreville, arrived in Bangui, the first of 300 troops being sent by
France to evacuate French nationals and to secure the main M'poko airport,
AFP reported. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32892]

Meanwhile, refugee leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
and the Republic of Congo (ROC) have urged the Office of the UN High
Commissioner to Refugees (UNHCR) to help about 5,000 refugees from the CAR
in the two countries to go home.

The UNHCR said on Tuesday that some 1,000 CAR refugees in Betou, northern
ROC, had said they wanted to go home. They include former civil servants
who want their jobs back. It said the refugees at Betou were the remnants
of an initial group of thousands who had fled the CAR for the ROC
following a failed coup attempt by former President André Kolingba in May
2001. More than 15,000 had also fled to the border town of Zongo in the
DRC, across the Oubangui river from Bangui.

"Some of those currently seeking to return to CAR had been given heavy
jail sentences, in absentia, for their alleged involvement in the coup
attempt of 2001. Some had been condemned to death, others to life
imprisonment. A majority of refugees in Betou and Zongo were associated
with the former military," the UNHCR said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32917]

On Wednesday, Mbaye told IRIN that 100 Chadian soldiers had arrived to
reinforce the CEMAC forces. Also on Wednesday, Radio France International
(RFI) reported that France had pledged to keep its 300-strong troop
contingent in Bangui, "for as long as possible".

In an interview on RFI that day, the French minister of state for
cooperation, Pierre-Andre Wiltzer, said the French troops would remain
"until the situation becomes somewhat stable".

"I am saying it again - and the French government said it officially -
that this country has fallen victim to a military coup. And as far as we
are concerned, this situation is absolutely unacceptable," he said, adding
that France was working with the Economic and Monetary Community of the
Central African States (CEMAC) to "do everything possible to restore calm
and democratic normalcy" in the CAR.

Wiltzer said democracy in the CAR would be achieved through national
dialogue, and that efforts must be made urgently to make the dialogue
possible. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32954]

CAR: UN withdraws nonessential staff

The UN system in the CAR has withdrawn its nonessential personnel
following last week's coup that brought Bozize to power, a UN official has
said.

"We have withdrawn 10 UN consultants who were working with the
government," Stan Nkwain, the UN Development Programme resident
representative, said on Wednesday.

The consultants included those of the World Bank, the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and the United Nations
Children's Fund. He said they could return when the situation stabilised.

The UN offices and homes of some UN staff had been completely looted, and
some staff members had been beaten, Nkwain said. The looting has prompted
France to evacuate 300 of its nationals and those of other countries to
Libreville.

DRC: Ituri ceasefire deal signed

Delegates of the Ugandan and DRC government, different rebel groups, and
ethnic militia operating in northeastern DRC signed a ceasefire accord on
Tuesday in Bunia, the principal city in Ituri District of Orientale
Province.

The ceremony was presided over by Amos Namanga Ngongi, the UN
secretary-general's special representative to the country.

The first meeting that on Thursday set up the preparatory technical
committee for the establishment of the long-awaited Ituri Pacification
Commission in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) followed the
ceasefire deal. The withdrawal from the DRC of all Ugandan troops, who now
control Bunia after booting out its erstwhile allies of the Union des
patriotes congolais (UPC), is only expected after a Congolese local
administration is established in the city. This is an issue due to be
discussed by the IPC.

"Ethnic [community] leaders and the representatives of different armed
movements will be involved in this process," Hamadoun Toure, the MONUC
spokesman, told IRIN. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32895]

However, the UPC did not sign the Ituri accord. "We are ready to sign a
ceasefire with Uganda, but not with the other groups with which we are not
an adversary," Thomas Lubanga, the UPC leader, told IRIN on Wednesday.
Lubanga, who had reportedly died in a Kisangani hospital from battlefield
wounds, said he was speaking from a location near Bunia. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32938]

DRC: Final session of Dialogue to start 1 April

The final session of the inter-Congolese dialogue will be held in Sun
City, South Africa, on 1 and 2 April, the facilitator of the talks, former
Botswana President Ketumile Masire, has announced.

He made the announcement after visiting the DRC, where he met all the
parties to the dialogue. Masire said he was "encouraged" by the
understanding and response he had received from the parties regarding the
"slight" alteration on the original dates, which were 23 and 24 March.

Masire met President Joseph Kabila on Monday. He also held talks with
opposition party leaders, civil society representatives, and the leaders
of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Mouvement de liberation
and the Mayi-Mayi. He held talks on Tuesday with the leaders of the
Mouvement de liberation du Congo and the Rassemblement congolais pour la
democratie, in Gbadolite and Goma respectively.

On 11 March, Masire received in Gaborone copies of the Global and
All-Inclusive Agreement for the Transition in the DRC and the Transitional
Constitution from Moustapha Niasse, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's
special envoy to the DRC. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32940]

ROC: Government, rebels reafirm commitment to peace

Ninja rebels and the government of the Republic of Congo (ROC) have
entered into a new commitment to restore peace in the crisis-torn Pool
region.

In a declaration issued in the capital, Brazzaville, on Monday, a
spokesman for the Ninja rebel leader, the Rev Frederic Bitsangou, alias
Pasteur Ntoumi, agreed to end hostilities, disarm his fighters, and enable
the restoration of state authority in Pool.

At the same time, Minister of State Isidore Mvouba said the government
would guarantee an amnesty offered to the rebels. He said ex-combatants
would be reintegrated into the national army and included in a special
committee to be formed to establish peace in Pool. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32894]

RWANDA: France agrees to receive genocide convicts

France on 14 March became the first European country to sign an agreement
with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to implement
sentences imposed by the UN court, the tribunal reported.

The tribunal reported that the French ambassador in Tanzania, Jean
Francois Lionnet, signed the agreement on behalf of his government, and
ICTR Registrar Adama Dieng represented the tribunal. The agreement is
expected to take effect after ratification by the French National
Assembly.

The agreement brings the number of countries that have entered such
agreements with the tribunal to four. The other countries are Benin, Mali
and Swaziland. The tribunal said negotiations were in progress with other
African and European countries. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32862]

RWANDA: Government calls for help on demobilisation, reintegration

The Rwandan government is appealing to NGOs and public and private
institutions to help thousands of former soldiers and militiamen needing
advice on how to reintegrate themselves into their communities after
demobilisation.

Under a government demobilisation scheme, former fighters are given money
to start earning a living through a project of their choice. The projects
have to be approved by Community Development Committees (CDCs), which
check that they are financially viable, environmentally friendly and
socially acceptable. But the government is concerned that the committees
are not up to the task.

"The CDCs are not competent enough to appraise the projects, and so we
need NGOs and local associations to support them," Faustin Rwigema, the
coordinator of the Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission,
told IRIN on Thursday. "We are trying to identify supporters from
international and local NGOs to help build the capacity of CDCs. We also
want to be able to tell ex-fighters that if they need help in their
projects, they can go to an NGO or someone with expertise."

Rwigema told IRIN that, so far, the response from NGOs to the appeal had
been limited, and that the government was advertising for their help.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32942]

BURUNDI: 13 rebels killed in Ruyigi fighting

An army officer, his bodyguard and 13 rebels died on 13 March during heavy
fighting between government forces and rebels of the Conseil national pour
la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie
(CNDD-FDD) faction led by Pierre Nkurunziza, a Burundi Defence Ministry
official told IRIN.

The official, Serge Nizigiyimana, who is in charge of communications at
the defence ministry, said on 14 March that the fighting had occurred at
Muhwazi in Nyabitsinda Commune, in the eastern province of Ruyigi. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32865]

The current round of fighting in Ruyigi, which began three weeks ago, has
left thousands in the province surviving in critical conditions, sleeping
rough in order to escape repeated attacks by FDD, according to the UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Authorities in
Ruyigi estimate that altogether 4,654 families are sleeping rough in the
bush. Hospitals and health centres are registering many patients suffering
from respiratory infections and malaria after spending nights in the rain.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32926]

UGANDA: Eight killed in LRA attack

Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) killed eight people on Monday
during an ambush when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at on a truck
in Mucwini, Kitgum District, in the north of the country, according to the
Ugandan army.

A Ugandan People's Defence Forces commander, Paddy Ankunda, told IRIN he
was disappointed by the attack, which came a day after President Yoweri
Museveni extended a truce for five days, to allow talks to take place
between the government peace team and the rebels.

On 16 March, the rebels also looted merchandise and property in Buyatira
trading centre, in Gulu District, but no casualties were reported.

Two recent attempts to hold face-to-face talks between the government team
and LRA representatives have failed. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32889]

Also on 16 March, the Ugandan government extended its cessation of
hostilities for a further five days, to allow contact between the
government peace team and the LRA. A spokeswoman for the government peace
team, Betty Aketch, told IRIN on Monday that this time around the team
would make every effort to meet the rebels.

"We are determined to meet with the rebels within this new five-day time
limit we have been given by President Museveni," she said.

Museveni's office announced the extension after a meeting between the
peace team and an LRA commander, known as "Major Tubley", was cancelled on
14 March. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32856]

KENYA: Government starts destroying illicit weapons

A decision by Kenya to destroy illegal small arms and light weapons has
been described as a positive move towards restoring peace and security in
the eastern African region.

"The outlook is very positive," said Ochieng Adala, a senior programme
officer at the Nairobi-based NGO Africa Peace Forum.

At the weekend, the Kenyan government launched its war on the
proliferation of illegal weapons by burning 1,000 small arms which the
police had confiscated from criminals. Vice-President Michael Wamalwa, who
presided over the televised event, said the 1,000 weapons were part of
some 7,227 assorted small arms and light weapons the government expects to
destroy over a period of time.

"We have made a decision to take our place in the fight by eliminating the
stock of illicit weapons in government custody and to sustain the fight
for future recoveries and prompt destruction of the same," Wamalwa said.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32860]

KENYA: Terror warnings unfair, tour operators say

Tour operators have complained that Kenya is being unfairly singled out by
the US and UK, which last week warned of possible new terror threats in
the Horn and East Africa.

Both the local tourist industry and the Kenyan government have described
the warnings as "unfortunate". The US and the UK on 13 March warned their
citizens of possible new terror threats, specifically in Kenya, Djibouti
and Ethiopia.

Jake Grieves Cook, the chairman of the Kenya Tourist Federation (KTF), a
leading international tour operator, told IRIN on Monday that Kenya was
being unfairly singled out as an unsafe destination.

"We want to make it clear to overseas journalists that Kenya should not be
looked at in isolation as an unsafe destination. They should look at the
global context," Cook said.

Two government ministers last weekend also protested against the terror
warning for Kenya. Internal Security Minister Chris Murangaru and Tourism
Minister Raphael Tuju said the government had put in place security
measures to counter any terrorist threats, the Daily Nation reported.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32863]


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