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Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 177
31 May - 06 June 2003


CONTENTS:

GREAT LAKES: Kagame, Ndayizeye pledge to boost regional stability
DRC: Lendu militias accused of massacre of more than 250
DRC: Advance unit of French troops arrive in Bunia
DRC: Rebel factions battle for control of Mbingi, North Kivu Province
CAR: NGO suspends relief programme due to insecurity
CAR: CEMAC gives Bangui US $9.1 million
ROC: Humanitarian evaluation mission under way in Pool Region
RWANDA: New constitution becomes effective
BURUNDI: Rebel faction in talks with government officials
BURUNDI: UN agency expresses concern over refugees
KENYA: President ready to be tested for HIV
UGANDA: Security alert after LRA rebels kill 15
TANZANIA: World Bank provides US $250 million to fight poverty

ALSO SEE:

DRC: Interviw with Jean-Marie Guehenno, UN Under-Secretary-General for
Peacekeeping at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34533

KENYA: Feature - hope for abandoned babies at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34541

GREAT LAKES: Kagame, Ndayizeye pledge to boost regional stability

Presidents Domitien Ndayizeye of Burundi and Paul Kagame of Rwanda pledged
on Tuesday to help bring stability to the Great Lakes region by supporting
peace efforts in Burundi and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC).

"We estimated that for the interest of all, the peace processes in the DRC
and in Burundi should come to the end, and that relations between Rwanda
and Uganda should be improved in the interest of the region," Ndayizeye
said.

Speaking to reporters in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, upon his return
from a one-day official visit to Rwanda, he said Kagame had agreed on the
need to support the Burundi peace process.

"President Kagame promised to convince armed groups [in Burundi] to
implement the ceasefire agreements they have signed with the government,
and for those who haven't yet signed to join the peace process," he said.

Ndayizeye said he urged Kagame to support the African Union peacekeeping
mission in Burundi, and that the Rwandan leader had promised, "to use his
power to persuade donors to give the force the necessary support". [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34505]

DRC: Lendu militias accused of massacre of more than 250

Members of the Hema community have accused Lendu militias of killing at
least 250 Hemas in northeastern DRC on 31 May.

"The Lendu combatants supported by the FAC [Forces armees congolaises, the
army of the Kinshasa government] on Saturday attacked Tshomia, where
troops were cantoned, from three locations," Kisembo Bitamara, the
political head of the Parti pour l'Unite et la Sauvegarde de l'Integrite
du Congo, an ethnic Hema militia led by traditional chief Kawha Panga
Mandro, told IRIN from Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

Kisembo said support for the Lendu had also come from the Rassemblement
congolais pour la democratie-Kisangani/Mouvement de liberation (RCD-K/ML)
rebel group.

The killings reportedly took place after the withdrawal of Ugandan armed
forces from the towns of Tshomia and Kasenyi, about 55 km southeast of
Bunia, the principal city of Ituri District. The towns are near the shore
of Lake Albert, which forms the border with neighbouring Uganda to the
east.

Kisembo said that the 252 Tshomia residents were killed, as well as 22
civilian members of Kawha's family, who were killed at his home. Another
37 had their throats cut with machetes on their way to the hospital, while
another three were "beaten and chopped up" at the local hospital.

"The bodies are still there so that observers from MONUC [the UN
peacekeeping mission in the DRC] who have not yet arrived can see for
themselves what happened," said Kisembo, who reported that additional
attacks took place on Sunday and Monday. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34497]

On Monday, another 450 Congolese refugees crossed into Uganda, alongside
the last departing battalion of the Ugandan army. Looking exhausted and
tatty, the refugees waded knee-deep through the thick swampland of
Rwebisingo, Bundibugyo District, carrying few possessions.

At the same time, a French delegation of five senior military officials
arrived in Uganda on Monday to discuss the use of Entebbe airport as a
base for peacekeeping operations in Ituri. The French first consul to
Uganda, Yves Drillet, told IRIN that the team, led by French Director of
African Affairs Bruno Joubert, had met Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
"We discussed the mission in Bunia and the technicalities of transit to
and from Entebbe," Drillet said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34494]

DRC: Advance unit of French troops arrive in Bunia

An advance unit of French soldiers arrived in Bunia on Friday to prepare
for the arrival of about 1,400 multinational peace enforcement troops, the
French news agency AFP reported.

"Several dozen special force soldiers landed at dawn this morning at Bunia
airport," the agency quoted Col Christian Baptiste of the French military
headquarters as saying. The French troops also took up position to secure
the Bunia airport, AFP reported.

Baptiste said no-one had been wounded in what he called the "preliminary
phase" of the operation, codenamed Artemis, "which aims to ensure that the
necessary technical and security conditions are in place to allow the
deployment of the international force" in the town. AFP reported Baptiste
as saying that the bulk of the troops would start arriving "in the coming
days," but gave no specifics.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution on 30 May to send an armed
French-led multinational force to Bunia following ethnic unrest in Ituri
District. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34564]

DRC: Rebel factions battle for control of Mbingi, North Kivu Province
 
Heavy fighting between two rebel factions for control of the area of
Mbingi in North Kivu Province, eastern DRC, has been taking place since
the weekend of 31 May - 1 June, MONUC confirmed on Wednesday. The fighting
involves the Rwandan-backed RCD-Goma and the pro-Kinshasa government
RCD-K/ML, some 140 km north of Goma, in the region of Mbingi.

MONUC called on the belligerents to respect their commitments to a
cessation of hostilities under a global peace accord signed in April in
Pretoria, South Africa.

For their part, the two rebel movements accused each other of having
started the battle for control of the region. Both sides admitted that the
fighting involving heavy weaponry had caused the civilian population to
flee the locality. However, neither side nor MONUC could provide figures
regarding the number of displaced. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34538]

CAR: NGO suspends relief programme due to insecurity
 
The Italian humanitarian NGO Cooperazione Internazionale (Coopi) has
temporarily suspended its medical emergency programme in northern Central
African Republic (CAR) due to insecurity, an official told IRIN on Monday.

"The situation is still unstable for us to expose the lives of our workers
and our equipment," Massimiliano Pedretti, the Coopi representative in the
CAR, said.

The decision to suspend the EC-supported drug distribution in Ouham and
Ouham Pende provinces was made on 30 May after unidentified armed men
stole a Coopi vehicle near Bossangoa, 305 km northwest of Bangui, the CAR
capital, Pedretti said. The Coopi team in Bossangoa had returned to
Bangui, pending the restoration of security in the area.

The move by the NGO comes just days after the EC announced its E1.79
million emergency programme to revamp and re-equip health facilities in
nine war-affected provinces in the CAR. Since taking power in a coup on 15
March, the CAR leader, Francois Bozize, has failed to restore security in
the north, discouraging thousands of displaced people from returning home.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34483]

CAR: CEMAC gives Bangui US $9.1 million

Responding to an appeal from the CAR, the Economic and Monetary Community
of Central African States (CEMAC) granted five billion francs CFA (US $9.1
million) on Tuesday to the new administration in Bangui.

Africa No. 1 radio, a private Gabon broadcaster, reported that the
announcement was made in Libreville, the capital of Gabon, at the end of a
daylong CEMAC summit that focused on the CAR.

"CEMAC has responded to our appeal, it is now the turn of the
international community to respond," Bozize said.

The summit was the first international meeting Bozize had attended since
seizing power on 15 March. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34509]

ROC: Humanitarian evaluation mission under way in Pool Region

The first full-scale humanitarian evaluation of the entire Pool Region of
the Republic of Congo (ROC) since the outbreak of civil unrest in March
2002 is currently under way.

The inter-agency mission, comprising several UN bodies and NGOs, seeks to
identify the main humanitarian needs in the domains of health, nutrition,
education, and shelter, with the objective of facilitating the eventual
return of tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from
the region.

According to the ROC government, at least 77,765 IDPs from the Pool region
have been recorded, primarily in and around the national capital,
Brazzaville.

The mission, which began on 29 May, is due to be completed on or around 7
June, depending on road conditions and any other unforeseen complications,
at which point findings will be consolidated and analysed by participating
agencies. This is the first time that the government has granted the
humanitarian community total access to the Pool Region since March 2002.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34454]

RWANDA: New constitution becomes effective

Rwanda's new constitution became effective on Wednesday after President
Kagame signed it into law, the Rwandan News Agency (RNA) reported.

The signing followed a referendum and a ruling by Rwanda's Supreme Court
declared the vote's final results and authorised its publication in the
government's official gazette, RNA reported.

"I declare this law the supreme law of the country, replacing the law that
governed Rwanda for the last nine years," the RNA quoted Kagame as saying
during the ceremony held at the parliament building in the capital,
Kigali.

Kagame signed versions of the new constitution in three languages:
Kinyarwanda, French and English. The constitution paves way for
presidential and parliamentary elections due in August and September
respectively. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34546]

BURUNDI: Rebel faction in talks with government officials

Representatives of the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) rebel faction
led by Agathon Rwasa and Burundian government officials have been meeting
in Switzerland since 31 May to discuss the possibility of holding peace
negotiations, government and FNL sources told IRIN on Tuesday.

Rwasa's faction is the only rebel group that has not signed a ceasefire
agreement with the Burundian government, and its troops continue to stage
sporadic attacks on government forces in parts of the country.

The meeting is being held in the Swiss city of Caux, with the FNL
delegation being led by the movement's vice-president, Jean-Bosco
Sindayigaya. Former Minister for Peace Ambroise Niyonsaba leads the
government delegation. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34496]

BURUNDI: UN agency expresses concern over refugees

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed
concern on Tuesday that thousands of Burundian refugees returning home
from Tanzanian camps may not be doing so voluntarily.

In a statement, the agency said many of those who were going back home had
complained that the level of food aid in the Tanzanian camps had steadily
declined.

About 5,000 refugees have returned to Burundi, nearly one month after the
installations of a new president in the country, the agency reported. It
said the number of refugees who returned in May was the highest so far in
2003.

"Some 4,000 Burundian refugees have gone home on their own to southern
provinces in Burundi despite the prevailing insecurity in provinces such
as Ruyigi and Makamba," the agency reported.

It added that another 700 were helped home to northern Burundi on
UNHCR-organised convoys.

Local authorities in camps in Kibondo District, western Tanzania, have
imposed new restrictions on refugees' movements, citing security concerns,
the UNHCR said. It added that the refugees were now confined to the camps.

"Many of the Burundian refugees who would normally supplement their food
by going out to work in nearby farms are now unable go beyond the
immediate vicinity of the camps and are wholly dependent on food aid," the
agency said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34482]

KENYA: President ready to be tested for HIV

President Mwai Kibaki has declared himself willing to be publicly tested
for HIV, Kaffim Mambo, the head of public relations with the Kenya
National AIDS Control Council (NACC), told IRIN on Tuesday.

During a briefing session last week on the filming of an anti-HIV-AIDS
advertisement, "the suggestion was put to him that the top leadership
should take tests", said Mambo. "He said he is ready to take a test
publicly."

"As the NACC, we have to see to it that it happens," added Mambo, saying
that it would probably take place after the advertisement was released in
two or three weeks' time. Kibaki had said he saw "nothing wrong" with the
country's top leadership being tested, he said. "Whether he's going to
tell them to take tests or not, we don't know."

The commercial, which stars Kibaki and will appear on television and
radio, is part of the Pamoja (All Together) Campaign launched by the NACC.
Filming with the president and about 20 other Kenyans from a cross section
of society took place last week. During the 35-second slot, Kibaki says
AIDS is the biggest threat Kenya has every faced, and that "it is time for
every person in Kenya to make a conscious decision to fight back". [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34487]

UGANDA: Security alert after LRA rebels kill 15

Security officials in war-torn northern Uganda are on high alert following
two Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel attacks on civilian vehicles.

The army said LRA attacked a bus travelling through northwestern Uganda on
the Karuma-Pakwach road on 28 May, setting it on fire and killing 14
people. Another 12 were seriously injured and rushed to Pakwach hospital.
Officials said the death toll was expected to rise as the injured were in
critical condition. Prior to the ambush, the area had been free of rebel
activity for some seven months, the army spokesman for Gulu District, Lt
Paddy Ankunda, said.

A day later, the LRA ambushed a civilian pick-up truck about 40 km east of
Gulu on the Gulu-Moroto road. "They killed one and seriously injured
another before burning the pick-up truck they were travelling in to ash,"
Ankunda told IRIN.

Security has been beefed up in response to the attacks, according to
security sources. "We still have measures to pursue them hard, and efforts
are being made to curtail future occurrences of this nature," said
Ankunda. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34424]

TANZANIA: World Bank provides US $250 million to fight poverty

The World Bank announced on 29 May that it would provide US $250 million
to support efforts by the Tanzanian government to reduce poverty through
three main operations: a Poverty Reduction Support Credit, a water supply
and sanitation project for the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, and an
agricultural development project.

"The programmes approved today represent concrete evidence of the World
Bank and other development partners, under government leadership, working
together in mutual trust towards the common goal of poverty reduction,"
Judy O'Connor, the World Bank country director for Tanzania, said. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=34426]


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