U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

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e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 195
03 - 10 October 2003


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Government, rebel group sign ceasefire implementation deal
BURUNDI: Defuse land time bomb, ICG urges Bujumbura
DRC: At least 55 killed in Katshele, Ituri District
DRC: Mayi-Mayi, RCD-Goma sign ceasefire in Shabunda
ROC: France provides US $1.1 million worth of military support
CAR: 50,000 illegal guns still in circulation
CAR: France begins military aid
CAR: Ex-President Kolingba returns from exile
CAR: Former ruling party apologises to nation
RWANDA: Kagame party tops list of new MPs
RWANDA: New ICTR prosecutor takes up his post
RWANDA: 13 confirmed drowned in ferry accident
UGANDA: Army says over 850 abductees rescued from LRA rebels
UGANDA: WFP to commit US $20 million for feeding east and central Africa
TANZANIA: US donates $1.5m to UNICEF for refugee work
ALSO SEE:

DRC: IRIN interview with central bank governor Jean-Claude Masangu at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37040

DRC: IRIN interview with Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37081

DRC: IRIN interview with Belgian Development Minister Marc Verwilghen at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37108

DRC: IRIN interview with MONUC chief on latest Ituri massacre at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37088

CAR: IRIN interview with the Rev Isaaz Zokoe at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36894

RWANDA: Focus on genocide widows dying of HIV/AIDS at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37064

UGANDA: Eastern Teso region stands up to the LRA at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36896

BURUNDI: Government, rebel group sign ceasefire implementation deal

Burundi President Domitien Ndayizeye and Pierre Nkurunziza, the leader of
the country's largest rebel faction, signed an agreement on Wednesday to
implement a ceasefire deal reached in December 2002.

The implementation agreement, signed in Pretoria, South Africa, under the
facilitation of South African President Thabo Mbeki and Deputy President
Jacob Zuma, is on the integration of the armed forces, the police and
intelligence services.

Under the accord, known as the Pretoria Protocol on Political, Defence and
Security Power Sharing in Burundi, Nkurunziza's Conseil national pour la
defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie
(CNDD-FDD) will get 40 percent of the integrated general staff and the
officer corps of the army. The size of the component of non-commissioned
officers and other ranks is to be decided by the integrated general staff.

The general staff will propose to the government the structure and size of
the army and its officer component in a military to be known as the
Burundi National Defence Force (BNDF). The agreement says military command
posts will be shared on an overall 50-50 ethnic basis. It says
demobilisation and subsequent reintegration of combatants will be
progressive, and the final phase of the effort will take place once the
elected government is in place, and be "guided by the required size of the
BNDF". Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37076]
[Protocol document at: http://www.dfa.gov.za/docs/bdi031009.htm]

BURUNDI: Defuse land time bomb, ICG urges Bujumbura

The International Crisis Group (ICG) has urged the transitional government
in Burundi and the international community to prioritise the issue of land
for hundreds of thousands of refugees due to return following the
agreement between the government and the CNDD-FDD.

"If they do not make it an immediate priority, it [the land issue] risks
destabilising the transition from the day that a definitive ceasefire is
signed," the ICG said on Tuesday.

The signing of a final ceasefire and the permanent suspension of
hostilities carry the risk that many Burundian refugees will rush home to
a country unprepared to receive them, the ICG warned.

Among other recommendations, the ICG urged the government to revise its
land code immediately, in order to harmonise it with existing land law and
to "ensure that the right of women to own land is explicit". [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37066]

DRC: At least 55 killed in Katshele, Ituri District

At least 55 people, most of them women and children, were killed in the
Katshele area of Ituri District, northeastern Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC), the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, known as MONUC,
reported on Monday.

MONUC said it had dispatched a verification mission on Tuesday to
establish the circumstances of the killings and identify the culprits so
that they could be brought before justice.

"This was a hateful crime that runs counter to the process of
reconciliation that has begun in Bunia," MONUC said from its headquarters
in the national capital, Kinshasa.

It said it would use "all means necessary" to ensure that such crimes
would not go unpunished. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37042]

DRC: Mayi-Mayi, RCD-Goma sign ceasefire in Shabunda

An agreement to cease hostilities between forces of Gen David Padiri
Bulenda's Mayi-Mayi militia and the Rassemblement congolais pour la
democratie (RCD-Goma) former rebel movement - both now parties to a
national power-sharing government in the DRC - was signed on 1 October in
Shabunda, South Kivu Province, under the mediation of MONUC.

The accord calls for an immediate ceasefire, the free circulation of
persons and goods, and the creation of a follow-up commission comprising
three members from each of the two sides to monitor implementation of the
agreement, MONUC reported on 2 October from Kinshasa. It said a date and
location for this commission would be announced shortly.

The agreement was signed by Padiri and Col Fataki, a former leader of
RCD-Goma, in the presence of MONUC's sector five commander, Col Lawrence
Smith. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36988]

ROC: France provides US $1.1 million worth of military support

France has provided the Republic of Congo (ROC) with 600 million francs
CFA (US $1.1 million) in military support, the ROC government announced on
3 October from its capital, Brazzaville.

While few specifics were disclosed, the government said the contribution
would be used for "the strengthening of military capacities" - part of
which would include the purchase of new uniforms.

According to the French ambassador to the ROC, Jean Paul Taix, the
contribution fulfils one of the promises made by French Defence Minister
Michele Alliot-Marie during her visit to Brazzaville in April. Taix said
it would "enable the military to all wear the same uniforms and to improve
the image of the military in the eyes of the Congolese people". [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37046]

CAR: 50,000 illegal guns still in circulation

Some 50,000 firearms are still circulating illegally in the Central
African Republic (CAR), constituting a threat to the nation's stability
and to general elections scheduled for January 2005, Gen Xavier Yangongo
told IRIN on Saturday.

"We need external support to recover all these arms," Yangongo, who heads
the Peace and Security Commission at the ongoing national reconciliation
talks, said.

He said that those arms started going missing from barracks during the
mutinies of 1996-1997. However, he said, the situation was worsened by an
influx of guns from what was then the rebel-controlled northern part of
the DRC; from southern Chad, where armed groups conducted cross border
incursions into the CAR; and from rebel-held southern Sudan.

In addition, Yangongo said, the activities of robbers had intensified. He
added that Karaco, Balawa and Saraoui militiamen who fought alongside
President Ange-Felix Patasse during the mutinies were still armed and
active in Bangui. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37019]

CAR: France begins military aid

The French government has posted an army general to the CAR's presidency
to oversee Paris's military aid and the training of the army of its former
colony, state-owned Television Centrafricaine reported on Monday.

It said the French ambassador, Jean-Pierre Destouesse, introduced Gen
Perez to the CAR leader, Francois Bozize, on Monday. "General Perez is
here with all the needed means to work until the end of 2004," Destouesse
said.

He said the decision to aid the country in this way had been motivated by
the wish that elections scheduled for the second half of 2004 be held in a
secure atmosphere. He added that France had already ordered equipment for
the army and gendarmerie and selected the military instructors for the
task. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37043]

CAR: Ex-President Kolingba returns from exile

CAR former President Andre Kolingba returned home on Sunday after two
years of exile in Uganda.

"I am very happy to return to my country," he told reporters in Bangui on
arrival at the city's Bangui-Mpoko Airport.

He said he had returned so that he could support the efforts of the
current leader, Francois Bozize, and Prime Minister Abel Goumba to
"redefine a new Central African Republic".

After his failed coup on 28 May 2001, Kolingba fled to Uganda via the
neighbouring DRC. At that time, thousands of people from his Yakoma ethnic
group, including at least 1,000 soldiers, sought asylum in the northern
DRC and in the ROC.

In August 2002, the Bangui criminal court sentenced about 800 people, 600
of them in absentia, in connection with Kolingba's coup attempt. Kolingba,
his two sons and 18 other people were sentenced to death. In his efforts
to reconcile the nation torn by political and military crises, as well as
ethnic rivalry, Bozize, who ousted former President Patasse on 15 March, a
month later granted an amnesty to all the May 2001 coup convicts. As a
result, refugees started returning home en masse. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37015]

On Monday, Andre Kolingba apologised to the nation for the errors of his
government during his rule and for his role in the May coup attempt.

"I solemnly present my apology to my compatriots," he told 350 delegates
to the ongoing national reconciliation talks. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37039]

CAR: Former ruling party apologises to nation

The former ruling party in the CAR, the Mouvement de liberation du peuple
centrafricain (MLPC), chaired by Patasse, has apologised to the nation for
its mismanagement between 1993 and 2003.

"The MLPC solemnly presents its sincere apology to the entire CAR people,"
Hugues Dobozendi, the party's deputy chairman, said on Monday at the
reconciliation talks.

He said the party acknowledged its errors in the political, economic and
social spheres.

"Since 1960 no head of state has respected his commitments," Dobozendi
said, adding that all of them, including Patasse, should seek national
forgiveness. He described relations between Patasse and the MLPC as
"calamitous", with party faithfuls forced to act as "firemen".

Dobozendi's declaration marks a new era in the MLPC's view of the
political situation in the country. Since Bozize's March coup, the party
has just "taken note of the change" and offered its support to Bozize, but
had not until now openly criticised Patasse. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37065]

RWANDA: Kagame party tops list of new MPs

President Paul Kagame's political party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front
(RPF), tops the list of the new MPs read out on Tuesday by National
Electoral Commission President Chrysologue Karanga, the Rwanda News Agency
(RNA) reported.

Karangwa was quoted as saying that the MPs, elected through direct
universal suffrage in polls that began on 29 September, were led by the
RPF with 33 seats, followed by the Parti social democrate, seven seats;
Parti liberal, six seats; Parti democrate centriste, three seats, Parti
democrate ideal, two seats; Parti socialiste rwandais, one seat; and the
Union democratique du peuple rwandais with one seat.

The RNA reported that Karangwa also named two youth representatives and
one for the disabled. A total of 24 women MPs were elected by women
representatives from the country's 12 provinces were also named. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37074]

RWANDA: New ICTR prosecutor takes up his post

The newly appointed prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda, Hassan Jallow, arrived on 4 October at court headquarters in
Arusha, Tanzania, to begin his new assignment.

According to a statement issued on Monday from the tribunal, Jallow met
with court staff - including ICTR President Judge Erik Mose and the
registrar, Adama Dieng - to explain new policies he intended to put in
place aimed at expediting investigations and completing trials by 2008, as
recommended by the UN Security Council.

Jallow, from The Gambia, commended the work of his predecessor, Carla Del
Ponte, from Switzerland, whose mandate expired on 14 September. On 28
August, the UN Security Council amended the statute of the ICTR so that as
of 15 September, the tribunal would have its own prosecutor. Del Ponte
will remain as prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37018]

RWANDA: 13 confirmed drowned in ferry accident

At least 13 people drowned when a passenger ferry sank on Monday on Lake
Kivu in Rwanda's southwestern province of Kibuye, police spokesman Damas
Gatare told IRIN.

"We have confirmed it," he said on Tuesday.

A provincial official, who did not want to be named, told IRIN that the
ferry, carrying 36 passengers and merchandise, was overloaded and battered
by strong waves. It capsized on Monday near the town of Kibuye. "The ferry
was carrying more than it could hold," the official said.

The state-owned national radio reported that Rwandan military speedboats
had rescued 23 people. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37053]

UGANDA: Army says over 850 abductees rescued from LRA rebels

The Ugandan army says it has rescued 876 abductees from the Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in the past two months.

Speaking at the defence ministry headquarters in Bombo, 50 km from
Kampala, on 3 October, Chief of Military Intelligence Col Noble Mayombo
said the abductees were rescued between 4 July and 5 September, at a time
when the LRA was under increasing pressure from Uganda's armed forces and
associated local pro-government militia groups.

In addition, Mayombo said, "Seventy LRA fighters surrendered to the army
during the past two months, 186 LRA fighters were killed and 27 captured
in various battles across the traditional area of operation in the
districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Pader, and Lira."

Mayombo and Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi said the recent successes were
partly due to support from the local population in the newly-targeted
eastern Teso region of Uganda. "The UPDF [Uganda People's Defence Forces]
has enjoyed a great deal of support," Mbabazi said. Referring to the local
Arrow Group militia in Teso, Mbabazi added: "We are arming them, we are
training them and they are under full UPDF control." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37004]

UGANDA: WFP to commit $20 million for feeding east and central Africa

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) says it is committing $20 million to
buy food for those who are most at risk from food insecurity in east and
central Africa.

The food will go to Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, DRC, ROC,
Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania.

On Tuesday, WFP Executive Director James Morris met Ugandan President
Yoweri Museveni during his visit to WFP's regional operations, whose
headquarters are in Kampala. Addressing a news conference the same day, he
said the talks had been fruitful.

Referring to the conflict in northern Uganda, which has displaced some 1.2
million people according to WFP figures, Morris said: "My appeal is
specifically to the donor community. My hope is that the world will put
enormous pressure on both sides to this conflict to find another way."

"Uganda has done a good job with HIV/AIDS and with economic growth, but on
the other hand there's a big conflict. My plea is that he [Museveni] will
do something about it. Armed conflict is the most serious issue in this
region," Morris said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37073]

TANZANIA: US donates $1.5m to UNICEF for refugee work

The US government has given the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) a $1.5-million
grant for humanitarian work in Tanzania, the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam
announced on Thursday.

UNICEF will spend the money on programmes in refugee camps in western
Tanzania, where an estimated 400,000 people - who have fled conflicts in
neighbouring Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo - are living.
The US Embassy said $1 million would be spent on HIV/AIDS prevention and
treatment and the remaining $500,000 would be used to support refugee
education.[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37138]


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


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