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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 176
24 - 30 May 2003


CONTENTS:

CENTRAL AFRICA: Medical experts form network to fight malaria
DRC: Bunia crisis drags on
DRC: RCD-Goma rejoins follow-up committee negotiations
CAR: Joint military operation launched to restore security in Bangui
CAR: Ex-ministers still in hiding, despite Bozize pledge on security
CAR-CHAD: Refugees hit by malnutrition, NGO pleads for UN intervention
ROC: African Development Bank gives US $500,000 to help fight Ebola
RWANDA: New constitution gains approval
RWANDA: ICTR appeals court hands down first war crimes conviction
RWANDA: ICTR elects new president and vice-president
BURUNDI: UN Security Council praises peace process
KENYA: Flooding prevents delivery of supplies to southern Sudan
KENYA: Somali Bantus off to US
UGANDA: Kibale calm after violent land clashes

ALSO SEE:

UGANDA: Feature - How democratic is Uganda? at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34335

DRC: Interview with UN humanitarian official Carolyn McAskie at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34360

BURUNDI: Feature on African Union peace mission at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34349

CENTRAL AFRICA: Medical experts form network to fight malaria

Medical experts from eight central African countries have formed a network
to fight malaria following a three-day meeting in Kinshasa, the capital of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), officials from the World
Health Organisation (WHO) said.

At the end of the 21-23 May meeting, the experts from Chad, the Central
African Republic (CAR), Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon, Angola, the
Republic of Congo (ROC) and the DRC agreed to form the Reseau d'Afrique
Centrale pour traitement anti-paludisme.

"The aim of the network is to make a standardised map of the problem of
resistance to certain anti-malarial drugs in all the countries in the
region, because in some countries there is resistance to certain drugs
such as chloroquine," Dr Andrea Bosman, of WHO Geneva and medical officer
for the Roll Back Malaria campaign, told IRIN. Bosman said that according
to a WHO study, resistance was greater in the subregional countries
closest to eastern and southern Africa.

During the meeting, the medical experts proposed overcoming the resistance
in certain regions to the administration of chloroquine by using a
combination of two drugs. Bosman said the network, which is to be
supported by WHO, the World Bank and USAID, would have a budget of US $1.3
million for a preliminary three-year phase. Bosman said details of the
budget would be known in June.

DRC: Bunia crisis drags on
 
UN Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno
on 25 May visited Bunia, in northeastern DRC, to assess the situation
following the fighting between Lendu and Hema militias in which more than
300 people died. He told reporters in Bunia that a firm intervention by
the UN was urgently needed to stop further massacres.

After arriving in the capital, Kinshasa, on Thursday, Guehenno said at
least six countries were considering contributing to a rapid reaction
force which the UN wants to deploy in Bunia and the surrounding district
of Ituri. At present, the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC) has about 800 men
in Bunia, but they have not been able to prevent massacres of civilians.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34315]

Fighting again erupted in Bunia on Tuesday, according to MONUC. It said it
could not confirm the six dead and five injured reported by the Union des
patriotes congolais (UPC), the ethnic Hema militia currently in control of
central Bunia. However, MONUC reported that mortar fire on Monday had
killed one and injured five members of the Front de resistance patriotique
de l'Ituri, an ethnic Lendu militia trying to dislodge the UPC from the
city. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34345]

A UPC statement broadcast on Bunia's Radio Candip on Tuesday threatening
civilians drew immediate criticism from MONUC.

"MONUC protests the use of media to air messages inciting hatred,
recalling the sinister Rwandan Radio Mille Collines," it said in a
statement. "It denounces in the strongest possible terms this unacceptable
threat against the populations who took refuge in its headquarters in
Bunia."

The UPC statement said that displaced people who had found refuge at
MONUC's base would be "regarded as enemies, and a military team will be
put in place to dislodge them from the camp".

"This is indeed a flagrant violation of the UN Security Council's
resolutions mandating MONUC to protect civilian populations faced with
imminent threats," declared MONUC in a letter addressed to the UPC chief
of staff. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34367]

On Wednesday, UN News reported that the UN Security Council was expected
to take action "possibly as early as Friday" on a draft resolution to
deploy an emergency force to Bunia.

A statement released by Council President Munir Akram said a draft
resolution on the authorisation of a multinational force was circulated at
a meeting of the 15-nation body. "There was unanimous support in the
Council for the secretary-general's proposal to deploy such a force,"
Akram said, adding that the draft resolution would be adopted as soon as
certain conditions were fulfilled.

Akram told reporters at UN headquarters in New York that the mandate of
the proposed force would chiefly be to restore and preserve peace in the
troubled region and that he believed the mandate would be "robust enough",
UN News said. "Our only concern, of course, regards financing and
logistical support, and we are awaiting confirmation on that," Akram said.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34385]

DRC: RCD-Goma rejoins follow-up committee negotiations The Rassemblement
congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) rebel movement announced on Friday
that it would rejoin negotiations leading to the formation of national
transitional institutions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Its withdrawal from talks on 22 May caused the postponement of the
inauguration of the transitional government originally scheduled to take
place on Thursday.

RCD-Goma withdrew from discussions of the follow-up committee of the
inter-Congolese dialogue, the negotiation process that concluded with a
power-sharing accord being reached in April, after it accused the
government of trying to keep the post of head of army for itself, and of
wanting to control the majority of military regions. [Full story at
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34441] CAR: Joint military
operation launched to restore security in Bangui
 
A joint operation, launched by the CAR military, police and gendarmerie,
and the peacekeeping force of the Economic and Monetary Community of
Central African States (CEMAC), began on 23 May to restore security in the
capital, Bangui.

Speaking on government-owned Radio Centrafrique, the CAR army chief of
staff, Col Antoine Gambi, said the operation was aimed at "eradicating the
insecurity that still prevails in Bangui", and that the target was
primarily a suburb in the city where most of the robberies had taken
place.

In the afternoon of 23 May, government and CEMAC forces manned junctions
and other strategic positions in the city, carrying out systematic
searches of vehicles. The commander of the CEMAC force, Adml Martin
Mavoungou, told Radio Centrafrique that the operation would last as long
as necessary. "We will do things progressively... These operations will
also extend to the countryside," he said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34307]

CAR: Ex-ministers still in hiding, despite Bozize pledge on security

Former CAR ministers, Martin Ziguele and Gabriel Jean Edouard Koyambounou,
are still in hiding in embassies in Bangui, despite a pledge by the new
CAR leader, Francois Bozize, to all officials linked to former President
Ange-Felix Patasse that their security was guaranteed if they returned to
their homes. Ziguele was prime minister and Koyambounou the minister of
state for communications in Patasse's administration, which ended on 15
March when Bozize seized power in a coup. Most officials in Patasse's
government sought refuge in embassies in Bangui following the coup.
Patasse is now in exile in Togo.

Former National Assembly Speaker Luc Apollinaire Konamabaye and former
Interior Minister Jacquesson Mazzette heeded Bozize's call and have come
out of hiding. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34358]

CAR-CHAD: Refugees hit by malnutrition, NGO pleads for UN intervention
 
The international NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Wednesday
that signs of malnutrition had been observed among an estimated 41,000
refugees from CAR who had fled to Chad since November 2002. Describing the
refugees' situation as "dire", the NGO appealed to the Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN World Food Programme
(WFP) to assist the refugees "before it is too late".

"This population is urgently in need of more assistance, particularly in
terms of food and a higher level of protection," Chris Verhecken, MSF's
emergency coordinator in Chad, said in a statement issued in Brussels,
Belgium.

MSF said the first signs of malnutrition had become evident among the
refugees in Gore, 25 km from the Chad-CAR border. It said a recent MSF
food security assessment found that 30 percent of children below five
years of age were at risk from acute malnutrition, "yet still no food is
forthcoming". [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34384]

ROC: African Development Bank gives US $500,000 to help fight Ebola

The African Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US $500,000 grant to
help fight the spread of Ebola in the ROC, according to a statement issued
by the bank on Monday.

Ebola, a virulent hemorrhagic fever with no known treatment or vaccine,
broke out in the ROC in 2002, and remains prevalent in the Cuvette-Ouest
Region. By early May, the number of Ebola cases identified in the region
had risen to 175, with 136 deaths, the bank said.

It said the grant was aimed at helping the government improve health
conditions for the people through better control of the epidemic. It would
also reinforce the surveillance and epidemiological control of the
disease. The grant would enable the government to acquire
information-gathering materials and training staff on their use, and to
procure communication equipment.

ADB said the total cost of the campaign against Ebola, including the
establishment of an epidemiological surveillance system, was estimated at
$1.1 million, and that its grant corresponded to 44.4 percent of the cost.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34368]

RWANDA: New constitution gains approval
 
Rwanda's 3.8 million registered voters went to the polls on Monday to vote
on whether or not to accept a draft constitution which it is hoped will
prevent a repeat of the 1994 genocide, news agencies reported.

The draft, which has already been approved by parliament, allows for an
80-member national assembly, a 26-member Senate and a president who will
be eligible for election for two seven-year terms. It also seeks to
prevent domination by any one party by stipulating that the president and
prime minister must belong to different parties. News agencies said the
clause aims to prevent any leader from manipulating differences between
the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34302]

On Tuesday, the Rwanda News Agency reported that the poll result had shown
that 93 percent of voters had approved the draft contitution. It went on
to quote President Paul Kagame as saying it was no surprise that the
population had voted massively in favour of the constitution, as it
contained their own views. He had gone on to announce that presidential
and parliamentary elections would be held in August and September
respectively.

However, the New York-based human rights group, Human Rights Watch, has
criticised the constitution, saying that it includes significant powers to
curtail civil rights, and that it favours Kagame's party, the Rwandan
Patriotic Front, the most powerful party in the country, because it
effectively bans political campaigning at grass-roots level. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34364]

RWANDA: ICTR appeals court hands down first war crimes conviction

The appeals court of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR) on Monday upheld a sentence of life imprisonment against George
Rutaganda, a key player in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

At the same time, the court handed down its first conviction for war
crimes, the ICTR said. He was sentenced by the ICTR on 6 December 1999
after he was found guilty on three counts - genocide, extermination as a
crime against humanity and murder as a crime against humanity.

According to an ICTR statement, the appeals court upheld the first two
convictions but acquitted Rutaganda of murder as a crime against humanity
after finding "inconsistencies" in witnesses' evidence.

However, it entered two new convictions for murder as a violation of
Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions after ruling that the trial chamber
had wrongly acquitted Rutaganda of war crimes relating to the killing of
Tutsi refugees at a school. The ICTR said the two convictions represented
the first time the tribunal had convicted a defendant of a war crime.

"The [appeals] chamber upholds the decision taken by the trial chamber.
Rutaganda should remain in detention in the custody of the tribunal,"
Theodor Meron, the presiding judge of the appeals court, said on
announcing the judgement. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34344]

RWANDA: ICTR elects new president and vice-president

The ICTR on Monday appointed former ICTR Vice-President Judge Erik Mose of
Norway as its new president. Judge Andresia Vaz of Senegal was elected
vice-president, the ICTR said. According to a statement issued by the
tribunal, Mose and Vaz were elected during the 13th ICTR session in
Arusha, northern Tanzania. Mose, who has been vice-president since 1999,
takes over from Judge Navanethem Pillay of South Africa. Vaz was appointed
an ICTR judge in 2001.

The tribunal said three of four other judges were sworn in ahead of
Monday's plenary session - Ines Monica Weinberg de Roca from Argentina,
Jai Ram Reddy of Fiji and Sergei Aleckseievich Egorov from Russia. The
tribunal was set up in 1995 to try Rwandans suspected of organising and
taking part in the 1994 genocide.

BURUNDI: UN Security Council praises peace process

The UN Security Council held consultations on Burundi on Tuesday and
welcomed recent "positive steps" taken in the country's peace process, UN
News reported.

In a statement issued after the consultations, the 15-nation Security
Council urged political actors and armed groups in Burundi to opt for
dialogue and to shun violence.

Fighting between rebel groups and government forces continues in Burundi,
despite the signing of ceasefire agreements between the government and
three rebel groups in December 2002. The country is halfway through a
three-year transitional period, brokered under South African mediation,
which would see Burundi move to democracy. News agencies reported on
Tuesday that tens of thousands of civilians were displaced following
fighting on Sunday and Monday between the rebels and the army in Kabezi
region, near the capital, Bujumbura.

UN News reported that Council President Munir Akram of Pakistan had urged
an end to fighting and said that the council supported a proposed regional
summit for Burundi.

"Council members urge Agathon Rwasa's Forces Nationales de Liberation to
cease hostilities, to join immediately the peace process and to start
negotiations with the transitional government," Akram was quoted as
saying. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34357]

UN News on Tuesday reported that the Council would send a mission to
Burundi and the DRC between 7 and 16 June to urge all parties in the
region to "continue pressing for peace".

UN News said all the Council's members would participate in the
delegation, to be led by Jean-Marc de La Sabliere of France. It said that
among other things, the mission would aim to emphasise the need to take
the peace process forward and to stress the willingness of the Council, as
well as of the wider international community, to support peace efforts
throughout the region. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34361]

KENYA: Flooding prevents delivery of supplies to southern Sudan

Floods wreaking havoc in Kenya since late April have destroyed a vital
bridge, impeding the delivery of humanitarian supplies to northern Kenya
and southern Sudan. According to a report from the office of the UN
Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for Kenya, the Lokichoggio humanitarian
base is no longer accessible by road after the Marich Pass bridge in
western Kenya was washed away.

The route is the only way to send supplies by road to humanitarian
organisations operating in southern Sudan as well as to the Kakuma refugee
camp, which hosts up to 100,000 refugees.

"The whole of southern Sudan is now cut off from humanitarian supplies
unless they are flown in," an official at the UN office told IRIN. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34193]

The WFP reported on Monday that it had temporarily shifted its
humanitarian operations for southern Sudan to western Kenya after floods
damaged part of the road to the Lokichoggio base in northern Kenya. WFP
said it had begun air-dropping food aid to southern Sudan from Eldoret
airport following the collapse of the Marich bridge.

"Resorting to moving the operation to Eldoret was critical to avoid a
massive disruption of food aid to war and drought-affected populations in
southern Sudan," WFP said in a statement. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34311]

KENYA: Somali Bantus off to US

The first group of Somali Bantus who have been living in a Kenyan refugee
camp for the past decade are due to start their final journey to the US
this week, where they will be resettled, the UNHCR said on Tuesday.

In a statement, UNHCR said this was the beginning of one of the biggest
resettlement operations to take place from Africa, in which some 11,800
Somali Bantus will be resettled in the US.

The first batch, consisting of 74 Somalis, was due to leave Kenya on
Tuesday and Wednesday. Another 150 are expected to travel before mid-June,
the statement said. The resettlement programme has been jointly conducted
by UNHCR and the International Organisation of Migration (IOM). The trip
follows weeks of cultural orientation given by the IOM, which is in charge
of relocation.

The Somali Bantus - a minority group whose physical, cultural and
linguistic characteristics distinguish them from the Cushitic majority in
Somalia - were considered for resettlement in the US, because they faced
difficult circumstances in their country where they were treated as second
class citizens. In the early 1990s, during civil war in Somalia, more than
10,000 fled to refugee camps in Kenya, where discrimination against them
by major Somali clans continued. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34194]

UGANDA: Kibale calm after violent land clashes

Western Uganda's Kibale District is reported to be calm again following
fierce ethnic clashes over land which resulted in the murder of three
civilians, including two children who were beheaded with hunting knives. A
further 50 people suffered serious injuries from attacks with spears, axes
and machetes, according to police sources.

The fight occurred on Monday between members of the Banyoro community and
the dominant Bakiga community of western Uganda. A group of Bakiga
attacked the Banyoro in a "pre-emptive strike" when they saw them in a
Bakiga-settled area and feared an attempt to appropriate their land by
force.

"It was just the usual fighting over land," Grace Turyagumanawe, the
police commissioner for the mid-west region, told IRIN. "We have already
arrested 15 involved in starting the fight. We are still pursuing the
ringleaders but we have a good idea who they are. We will be bringing them
to justice."

She added that security had been bolstered in the region. "We have
increased foot patrols and have quite a number of extra men on the ground.
We are now in a better position to prevent further scuffles," she said.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34381]


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