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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 157
11 - 17 January 2003


CONTENTS:

DRC: MONUC confirms cannibalism in Mambasa, Mangina
DRC: Government requests establishment of UN criminal court
DRC: RCD-Goma and UPC-RP form alliance
RWANDA: Rights group questions wisdom of mass releases of prisoners
BURUNDI: Zuma ends peace mission
CAR: President reshuffles government, army and police
ROC: Opposition boycotts parliamentary peace committee
TANZANIA: Norway boosts education funding

DRC: MONUC confirms cannibalism in Mambasa, Mangina

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), known as
MONUC, confirmed on Wednesday that rebel groups in the northeast of the
country had been engaging in acts of cannibalism.

"The rebels forced people to consume body parts of their family members,"
Patricia Tome, MONUC's director of information, said. MONUC said it had
received witness reports of rebels belonging to the Mouvement de
liberation du Congo (MLC) and its ally, the Rassemblement congolais pour
la democratie-National (RCD-N), being involved in cannibalism and forcible
cannibalism in Mambasa and Mangina, respectively situated 50 and 70 km
northwest of Beni.

A preliminary report, which has been forwarded to the UN Security Council
and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, cites 117 cases of
arbitrary execution, 65 of rape, including child rape, 82 cases of
abduction either for sexual purposes or work, and 27 of torture.

"There were horrifying things in the report concerning cannibalism, such
as babies whose hearts were torn out and taken away or given to someone to
eat, of small children who were killed, mutilated, and of people who were
executed in front of their families," Tome said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=31724]

DRC: Government requests establishment of UN criminal court

The government of the DRC asked the Security Council on Thursday to
establish a UN criminal court to try rebel groups accused of committing
atrocities, including genocide, in the northeast of the country, news
agencies reported.

A letter from the DRC's ambassador to the UN, Ileka Atoki, said the court
should try "all persons presumed to be responsible for acts of genocide or
other serious violations of international humanitarian law", AFP reported.

Atoki also asked the Council to authorise publication of the full report,
compiled by MONUC, on atrocities committed in late 2002 by the rebel group
MLC (MLC) and its ally, the RCD-N, as well as the Bunia-based Union des
patriotes congolais pour la reconciliation et la paix (UPCRP). [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=31754]

DRC: RCD-Goma and UPC-RP form alliance

The RCD-Goma rebel movement has formed an alliance with the UPCRP of
Thomas Lubanga. The agreement, signed on 6 January in the eastern DRC city
of Goma, commits the two parties to "cooperate and support each other
mutually in the domains of politics, military, and economy".

The accord cited a "convergence of points of view" between RCD-Goma and
UPCRP - including the demand for the total withdrawal of foreign military
forces from the DRC and the cessation of military support allegedly being
provided by Kinshasa to Mayi-Mayi and Interahamwe militias as well as
"other negative forces" in eastern DRC - as the rationale for this
alliance. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=31690]

RWANDA: Rights group questions wisdom of mass releases of prisoners

A rights advocacy group has said the government's release of up to 40,000
prisoners this month could wreak "potential havoc" in the administration
of genocide justice.

A statement released on Thursday by African Rights said the "provisional
liberty" being offered to the detainees would be likely to worry genocide
survivors, who would fear that suspects might thereby gain the opportunity
to attack their accusers, or evade justice through bribery or exile.

As the Gacaca village "courts" began their work, they would face
additional and unforeseen problems, said African Rights. Having released
thousands of prisoners, the state would no longer be able to guarantee
their presence at the "trials", and witnesses would be more vulnerable to
intimidation from the accused.  The independence of judges would also be
threatened.

"Whatever the arguments to the contrary, in reality it will be extremely
difficult for these judges to send back to prison thousands of detainees
whom the state has already taken the decision to free, especially in a
country where respect for authority is deeply ingrained." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=31737]

BURUNDI: Zuma ends peace mission

South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma ended on Thursday a four-day
visit to Ethiopia and Burundi to gather support for the deployment of an
African mission force in Burundi.

He arrived in the Burundi capital, Bujumbura, on Wednesday, after a
meeting on Tuesday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, with the African
Union's (AU) Central Organ of the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention,
Management and Resolution.

"The visit was highly successful. I am delighted that the AU Central Organ
accepted my proposal for it to support the deployment of an African
mission in Burundi," the South African Press Association quoted Zuma as
saying on arrival in the South African administrative capital, Pretoria.

"We were also able to impress upon the Burundian political players to
implement the decisions they have taken. It is urgent that mechanisms are
put in place for the implementation of all ceasefire agreements."

Zuma announced on Wednesday that South Africa, Ethiopia and Mozambique
would by the end of the month deploy troops to monitor the ceasefire
between the Tutsi-dominated Burundi army and the rebels. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=31755]

CAR: President reshuffles government, army and police

The president of Central African Republic, Ange-Felix Patasse, reshuffled
the government, army and police on Wednesday, but retained Prime Minister
Martin Ziguele at his post. The ministers of foreign affairs (Agba Otipko
Mezode), home affairs (Joseph Mounzole), defence (Pierre Angoa) and the
deputy of defence (Xavier Sylvestre Yangongo) are to vacate theirs. The
new government comprises 27 members, these consisting of 16 ministers,
nine deputy ministers and two ministers of state. Three of the ministers
are female and none comes from the opposition.

This cabinet reshuffle, which analysts regard as a mere readjustment,
takes place during a military crisis caused by the abortive 25 October
2002 invasion of the capital, Bangui, by rebels led by the former chief of
staff, Gen Francois Bozize. Patasse also appointed a new army chief of
staff, Col Antoine Gambi. The latter replaces Gen Ernest Betibangui, who
died in mid-December 2002. Patasse also created a new ministry at his
office to be in charge of intelligence. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=31757]

ROC: Opposition boycotts parliamentary peace committee

Opposition parties in the Republic of Congo have rejected a committee
formed by the National Assembly on 11 January to restore peace in the Pool
region. The committee comprises 20 members of parliament and 10 senators.

"We cannot take part in a committee that, fundamentally, has not accepted
the ceasefire or dialogue," said Joseph Kignoumbi kia Mboungou of l'Union
panafricaine pour la démocratie sociale. "The ceasefire accords of
December 1999 said it was necessary to have an inclusive dialogue."

He said the authorities in Brazzaville had engaged in a dialogue that
excluded the principal political actors. "It is absolutely necessary to
have a ceasefire and a dialogue with the belligerents," he said.

In another development, also on 11 January, the government reportedly
rejected a call from the leader of the Ninja rebels, Pasteur Frederic
Bitsangou (alias Ntoumi), for an inclusive national dialogue as a
precondition to the establishment of security in the country, in a
document sent to human rights groups several days earlier.

TANZANIA: Norway boosts education funding

Norway on Tuesday challenged the G-7 countries to follow its example and
significantly increase their commitments to education initiatives in the
developing world. 

Norway's minister for international development, Hilde Johnson, said this
would be the only way of meeting the Dakar Declaration commitments,
through which the international community undertook to ensure that no
country that attempted to provide education for all its citizens would
lack the resources to do so.

"We need more than donors like Norway chipping in with resources and
fighting for existing resources to be directed to education," the minister
told IRIN in Dar es Salaam. "We need the G-7 countries to come in heavily
because it is a significant [amount of] resources that are needed for the
goals to be achieved." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=31725]


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003


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