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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 175
17 - 23 May 2003


CONTENTS:

DRC: Bunia crisis continues
DRC: UN forum hears allegations of cannibalism against pygmies
DRC: RCD-Goma says government blocking progress on transition talks
CAR: Army promises crackdown on crime
CAR: Kolingba regains army rank
ROC: Rebel priest leaves forest hide-out, marks end to war
RWANDA: Cabinet approves ban on main opposition party
BURUNDI: UN envoy decries "gross violations" of human rights
BURUNDI: Advance party of Ethiopian peacekeepers arrives
TANZANIA: Opposition party dominates peaceful by-elections in Pemba
UGANDA: Mixed reaction to vice-president's resignation

ALSO SEE:

KENYA: Focus on press freedom at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34162

DRC: Bunia crisis continues

A grave containing at least 30 bodies has been found in Bunia, the UN
Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), known as MONUC,
told IRIN on 15 May.

The discovery takes to just over 300 the number of people killed in recent
ethnic fighting in the town. A spokeswoman for MONUC, Isabelle Abric, said
the bodies were found in a water reservoir in a district of Bunia. "The
bodies are in such a bad state it is impossible to identify them," she
said.

Fighting stopped following the signing of a ceasefire agreement signed on
Friday in the Tanzanian commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, by
militia representatives. However, the UN reports the situation in Bunia is
still tense. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34259]

On Wednesday, Fred Eckhard, the spokesman for UN Secretary-General, said
in New York that the situation in Bunia remained "tense".

"There have been reports of militias attempting to infiltrate sites where
internally displaced persons are currently located," he said, noting that
MONUC was maintaining tighter surveillance at the camp sites.

He described the humanitarian situation in Bunia as "critical", with 4,000
people camped at the MONUC base and another 9,000 at the tiny airport,
which is under UN control. Eckhard said security constraints and landmines
outside Bunia were seriously impeding humanitarian access to people in
need.

Reports continued on Wednesday of people still fleeing Bunia and
surrounding areas. Action by Churches Together (ACT) - a global alliance
of churches and relief agencies operating in 50 countries - reported that
22,515 IDPs had been registered in Beni territory, south of Bunia. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34251]

The mounting insecurity in eastern DRC has prompted members of the
region's oldest expatriate community to flee. On 17 and 18 May scores of
Greek Cypriot residents of Ituri were flown to Entebbe, Uganda, after
spending three nights hiding at Bunia airport.

"The number we counted on one plane was about 60, but there were probably
more on another UN flight," Elizabeth Roussos, the vice-consul of the
Cyprus consulate to Uganda, said. "Some have gone to the border at Kasese,
waiting to go back. Others have gone to Greece, some are staying here,"
she added. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34245]

Also on Wednesday, the NGOs Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International
(AI) made a joint appeal to the UN to authorise the deployment of a rapid
reaction force to protect civilians in Ituri District. In an open letter
to the Security Council, they called the situation in Ituri "a critical
test" of the council's commitment to preventing mass killings and
protecting civilians. They said MONUC, had been unable to protect
civilians adequately.

"In Ituri today, the elements of a devastating crisis are clearly
present," Irene Khan, the AI secretary-general, said.

On Tuesday, news agencies reported that the EU was considering
contributing troops to a French-led multinational force. The reports
coincided with the arrival in Bunia of a French military reconnaissance
team. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34229]

Two UN military observers reported missing from 14 May have been confirmed
dead, Hamadoun Toure, the MONUC spokesman, told IRIN on Monday from Bunia.
He said the bodies of the two had been discovered on Sunday in Mongualu,
17 km north of Bunia. "They were savagely killed. We could not tell
immediately who did this," he added. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34171]

On Thursday, fighting broke out in the area around Aru, located about 170
km north of Bunia, news agencies reported, as a result of in-fighting in
the rebel Congolese group, Forces armees pour le Congo (FAPC), a breakaway
faction of the Hema group, the Union des patriotes congolais. They said
there had been an attempt to topple the FAPC leader, "Commander" Jerome
Kakawavu Bakonde, but it had failed and calm had returned to the area,
which is controlled by the FAPC. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34282]

DRC: UN forum hears allegations of cannibalism against pygmies

Representatives of indigenous people from the DRC told the UN Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues on Wednesday of alleged atrocities against the
pygmy minority, UN News reported. They recounted how during years of
conflict, pygmies had been victims of cannibalism and mass murder carried
out by the military and other armed groups, UN News said.

A vice-chairwoman of the forum, Njuma Ekundanayo, said at a news
conference in UN headquarters New York that although there were no exact
statistics on the numbers of indigenous people in the DRC, the pygmy
minority was the group "most preyed upon". She said, "I can tell you
things that would be very difficult to believe."

Pygmy families, she added, were forced to hide their children from armed
militia and their neighbours. Additionally, she said, pygmies were
marginalised in towns and villages and hunted down in the jungles. The UN
forum heard details of the alleged atrocities during the second week of
its current session.

DRC: RCD-Goma says government blocking progress on transition talks

The rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) told IRIN
on Thursday that it was temporarily withdrawing its delegation from talks
in the capital, Kinshasa, on the formation of a transitional government
and institutions, claiming the government was blocking progress on one key
issue.

"We will return to our base in Goma to report on the situation and to
discuss our next steps," Joseph Mudumbi, an RCD-Goma official, said
shortly before leaving Kinshasa.

He claimed that the government, together with the rebel group Movement
pour la liberation du Congo, was refusing to accept a proposal made during
peace negotiations to end the war in the DRC that RCD-Goma should nominate
the commander of a reunified army.

Under the terms of a peace accord reached on 2 April 2003, parties to the
conflict agreed to form a national follow-up committee to decide the
details of a two-year transitional period.

CAR: Army promises crackdown on crime

The Central African Republic (CAR) military has promised to mount a
massive crackdown on unauthorised groups of people bearings arms and
spreading fear among the public, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported
on Thursday. It did not say what form the crackdown would take. However,
as a first measure, the military has called on residents in the capital,
Bangui, to inform it of suspects.

Public perception is that most of the armed robberies and other acts of
violence are the work of Chadian mercenaries who fought alongside the
forces of Francois Bozize, the current head of state, in his bid to
overthrow President Ange-Felix Patasse. Responding to public demand,
Bozize removed on Monday irregular Chadian fighters who had been manning a
police station in Bangui and reportedly committing human rights
violations. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34277]

CAR: Kolingba regains army rank

Former CAR President Andre Kolingba, who was sentenced to death in
absentia in August 2002 for involvement in a coup attempt, has had his
army rank of lieutenant-general restored to him, under a presidential
decree. Government-run Radio Centrafrique reported on Monday that the
current leader, Francois Bozize, signed the decree restoring Kolingba's
rank and full army retirement benefits when he returns home from exile.
However, he will not be a serving officer.

Kolingba, who was president from 1981 to 1993, had retired from the army
as a lieutenant general. However, former President Ange-Felix Patasse
demoted him to private for his alleged involvement in the failed coup of
28 May 2001. The courts also sentenced 20 others accomplices to death.
Another 800 people, mostly from Kolingba's Yakoma ethnic group, got
lighter sentences. Bozize ousted Patasse in a coup on 15 March. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34203]

ROC: Rebel priest leaves forest hide-out, marks end to war

The Congolese militia leader, Frederic Bitsangou, alias Pasteur Ntoumi,
left his forest hide-out in the Pool Region on Monday from where he had
been leading a guerrilla war campaign against the government since 1998.

"Peace is the work of God. At the end of the day it is the people who are
the winners," he said at an event marking his emergence from the forest at
Vindza, 150 km northwest of Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo.

Present at the ceremony was Col Casimir Ombere, a member of the Peace
Convention and of Reconstruction Follow-up Committee set up to consolidate
the 17 March peace accord between the government and Bitsangou's Conseil
national de la résistance. Bitsangou's return to the national fold seals
this deal.

Bitsangou's militia, know as the Ninja, has been waging a guerrilla
campaign against the government in Pool from where hundreds of thousands
of people have fled. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34228]

RWANDA: Cabinet approves ban on main opposition party

The Rwandan government endorsed a parliamentary report on Monday that
called for the banning of the main opposition party in the country, the
Mouvement democratique republicain (MDR), ahead of the country's first
post-genocide elections.

"We call upon the relevant authorities to implement these recommendations
in accordance to the specified laws," the cabinet reported.

Parliament voted on 15 May to dissolve the party after a parliamentary
commission accused it of propagating a "divisive" ideology.

The report named 47 individuals, including two government ministers and
five Members of Parliament in the transitional national assembly. The MDR,
of which Prime Minister Bernard Makuza is a member, is one of eight
parties in the transitional government of national unity that comes to an
end in July.

The parliamentary report also accused the MDR of secretly mobilising a
pro-Hutu youth wing, the Itara, which, the report said, was similar to the
1994 Interahamwe militia group that largely executed the genocide. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34181]

On Wednesday, the Rwandan News Agency, RNA, reported that the government
expected to start legal proceedings against the MDR "very soon". The
minister in charge of political parties, Christophe Bazivamo, told RNA
that the Ministry for Local Administration, Information and Social Affairs
would gather the necessary elements for the case. "A state prosecutor will
then initiate legal proceedings," he said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34257]

BURUNDI: UN envoy decries "gross violations" of human rights

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burundi, Marie-Thérese
Bocoum, who on Monday completed a weeklong visit to the country, has
decried the "gross violations" of human rights in Burundi.

"With the war [between rebels and government forces] continuing in
Burundi, I don't see how we can talk about the improvement of the human
rights situation; human rights violations are committed daily," she said.

Speaking at the end of her visit, she said Burundian women and girls were
increasingly victims of sexual violations and rights to health care and
education were not respected. A majority of the population lived in abject
poverty, she said.

"That is why I call upon all the warring parties to deploy all possible
strategies to stop war, otherwise all efforts already made will be in
vain, and this will discourage the Burundian population," she added.

During her visit, Bocoum held talks with government officials,
representatives of human rights organisations, civil society and political
parties.

BURUNDI: Advance party of Ethiopian peacekeepers arrives

The deputy commander of the African peacekeeping mission in Burundi,
Brig-Gen Geberat Ayele of Ethiopia, landed in the capital, Bujumbura, on
18 May together with 15 officers; to prepare for the arrival of the rest
of the Ethiopian contingent expected to take part in the mission.

On arrival, Ayele told reporters that the peacekeeping mission, known as
the African Mission in Burundi (AMIB), would have a force of 2,870 troops
- 1,600 from South Africa, 980 from Ethiopia and 290 from Mozambique.
Initial reports had put the number of the AMIB troops at 3,500.

South Africa has had 232 peacekeeping troops in the country since April.
They are assisted by 701 South African soldiers protecting political
leaders who have returned from exile to take part in the transitional
government currently in place.

According to a timetable agreed upon under South African mediation, all
the troops from Mozambique are expected in Bujumbura on Thursday and the
Ethiopians on 2 June. The AMIB troops are expected to canton, disarm and
demobilise Burundi's combatants who have fighting government forces. The
cantonment is scheduled to begin on 6 June. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34166]

In a statement released in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on
Thursday, the US government said it had supplied radios, mine detectors
and computers worth nearly US $1 million to the Ethiopian armed forces.
The US support, according to the statement, is part of the African
Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) programme run by
the US Defence Department.

"The programme aims to build peacekeeping capabilities in African
militaries," the statement added. "The equipment and training provided by
ACOTA will enhance the capability of Ethiopian peacekeepers for taking
part in the Africa Union mission in Burundi." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34272]

TANZANIA: Opposition party dominates peaceful by-elections in Pemba

Voters on Pemba, the semi-autonomous island off Tanzania, overwhelmingly
demonstrated their support for Tanzania's main opposition party, the Civic
United Front (CUF), in Sunday's by-election, which, despite speculation to
the contrary, was held in an atmosphere of calm and order.

The barring of six CUF candidates had complicated the build-up to the
election, which was being held to fill 17 seats in Zanzibar's House of
Representatives and 15 seats in the Union's parliament that had been
boycotted in protest of allegations over vote-rigging during elections in
2000.

Observers said that polling took place in a "peaceful and organised"
manner and marked an important development in the implementation of the
"Muafaka", an agreement signed between CUF and the ruling Chama Cha
Mapinduzi, after post-election protests turned violent in 2001 and led to
the deaths of at least 30 CUF supporters at the hands of the police. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34185]

UGANDA: Mixed reaction to vice-president's resignation

Women's organisations in Uganda have voiced mixed reactions to
Vice-President Specioza Wandira Kazibwe's decision to resign from her
post. Kazibwe, a medical doctor by profession, reportedly wrote to
President Yoweri Museveni asking to be relieved of her post in order to
pursue a PhD at the Harvard School of Medicine in the US.

A presidential spokesperson confirmed Kazibwe's resignation, but told IRIN
that the president had not yet appointed a replacement. She was appointed
after Museveni came to power in 1986.

Some Ugandan women say that although her appointment as vice-president
raised the profile of women in politics, she failed to use her position to
positively influence key policies in favour of women. Jackie
Asiime-Mwesige, coordinator of the Uganda Women's Network, told IRIN that
Kazibwe's position as vice-president had been "mere tokenism" and had
nothing to do with advancing women's rights.

"We did not work closely enough with her. She even made statements that
eventually pulled the struggle down," she said.

One particular source of frustration for Ugandan gender activists was
Kazibwe's firm stand against the passing in parliament of a bill aimed at
enhancing women's land rights. The bill had sought to make women equal
partners in ownership of their husbands' land, to prevent situations where
the man's relatives remove widows and their children from the land once
the husband has died. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34256]


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