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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 196
11 - 17 October 2003


CONTENTS:

DRC: MONUC begins deploying outside Bunia into Ituri
DRC: Journalist remains in prison eight months after arrest
DRC-RWANDA: Rights body urges Kigali to help curb rights abuses in 
  eastern DRC
RWANDA: Prime minister sworn in
CAR: Bozize apologises to nation over war
ROC: ICRC launches relief efforts in Pool
BURUNDI: Mozambican troops arrive
TANZANIA: Two major NGO coalitions join opposition to NGO Act
TANZANIA: Commonwealth urges faster judicial reform
KENYA: Long-neglected Turkana to reap benefits of Sudanese aid operation
UGANDA: Commonwealth boss says no intervention in war in north
UGANDA: Gov't accused of violating refugee rights

ALSO SEE:

AFRICA: Interview with governance expert Prof Okey Obyejekewe at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37239

BURUNDI: Focus on the way forward after Pretoria agreement at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37177

TANZANIA: Focus on the impact of hosting refugees at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37223

TANZANIA-BURUNDI: Focus on factors spurring refugees to go home at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37135

TANZANIA-BURUNDI: Focus on using film to improve the lives of refugees at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37109

DRC: MONUC begins deploying outside Bunia into Ituri

UN forces have begun to deploy outside of Bunia, the main town of Ituri
Province in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Maj-Gen
Mountaga Diallo said at a news conference on Wednesday in the capital,
Kinshasa.
 
"We have already deployed [last week] to Bule, and we are now in the
process of deploying in Bogoro, Iga Barriere and Marabo, and later in
Kpandroma, Aru, Mahagi and other locations," Diallo, the force commander
of the UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, said. "Each base will be
manned by between 150 and 200 soldiers."

MONUC Information Officer Madnodje Mounoubai said a team of army engineers
would precede each troop deployment.

This is the first permanent deployment of MONUC forces beyond the town of
Bunia, thereby "enabling them to better monitor the movements of armed
groups" in the region, the head of MONUC, William Swing, announced last
week. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37220]

DRC: Journalist remains in prison eight months after arrest

Eight months after his arrest on 14 February by the National Intelligence
Agency (Agence nationale des renseignements, ANR) officers, journalist
Bamporiki Chamira was still being detained at a prison in Kinshasa, a
national media watchdog reported on Wednesday.

Journaliste en danger (JED) said Chamira, of the Kinshasa-based daily, La
Tempete des Tropiques, was still being held at Kinshasa's Penitentiary and
Re-education Centre (Centre penitentiaire et de reeducation de Kinshasa,
formerly the Makala Central Prison). He is accused of "direct or indirect
participation in a plot aimed at eliminating President Joseph Kabila" and
of helping his daughter's husband, Maj Doris Mbenge, to escape from an ANR
prison. JED reported that four other members of Chamira's family were also
being held for trial.

JED said that Chamira’s detention was marked by several irregularities.
"In view of this, JED renews its request for a pardon and asks President
Joseph Kabila, in his role as Supreme Magistrate, to rectify the
irregularities surrounding this case and to order the unconditional
release of Chamira and his co-accused." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37246]

DRC-RWANDA: Rights body urges Kigali to help curb rights abuses in eastern
DRC

The human rights NGO Amnesty International has called upon the Rwandan
government to use its influence on armed elements operating in
neighbouring eastern DRC to help curb human rights abuses throughout the
region.

"While the Rwandese government has admitted that human rights abuses have
occurred in territory under its control, it has consistently claimed that
these abuses were committed by individuals, not by the military as an
institution," Amnesty said on Tuesday. "The Rwandese government claims to
have arrested a number of individuals which it is holding in military
prisons. Despite these arrests, little action has been taken against the
majority of alleged offenders from the security services."

Amnesty said it regretted that Rwanda had failed to systematically
investigate alleged human rights abuses committed by its own forces during
the 1990 to 1994 armed conflict and genocide, and in the DRC from 1996 to
present. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37227;
also see: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37226; for the
complete Amnesty statement, go to http://web.amnesty.org/]

RWANDA: Prime minister sworn in

Rwanda's immediate former prime minister, Bernard Makuza, was sworn in on
Wednesday after President Paul Kagame reappointed him to serve as the
country’s first premier following multiparty elections.

Makuza's appointment was made according the country's new constitution,
which requires that a member of the Hutu majority serve as his prime
minister to ensure power sharing between the Hutu and the minority Tutsi.

Prior to parliamentary elections held at the end of September, Makuza had
been prime minister for four years. Initially, he was a member of the
banned main opposition party, the Movement for a Democratic Republic.

Upon his being sworn in, Makuza announced that he and Kagame would name a
cabinet within the next 10 days, another constitutional requirement. He
said the government would formulate a plan to encourage economic growth. A
close ally of Kagame, Makuza was ambassador to Germany before his
appointment as prime minister in 1999.

CAR: Bozize apologises to nation over war

Central African Republic (CAR) leader Francois Bozize apologised to the
nation on Tuesday for damages and suffering caused during the war he waged
against former President Ange-Felix Patasse between October 2002 and March
2003.

"From the bottom of my heart, I apologise to the country's daughters and
sons," Bozize told the 350 delegates attending the national reconciliation
talks in the capital, Bangui.

He said during the war, some of his fighters had committed many excesses,
including looting and destroying public property. He said his relatives
and those of his fighters were also targeted by reprisals.

"I personally accept the consequences of my political action and, as a
leader, bear responsibility for the suffering endured by certain
categories of my compatriots," Bozize said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37199]

ROC: ICRC launches relief efforts in Pool

Following three weeks of evaluation and preparation, the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) began on Thursday a major relief effort
in the Pool region of southeastern Republic of Congo (ROC), which was
largely devastated by a year-long civil war.

In a statement issued on 10 October from its office in Brazzaville, the
ROC capital, ICRC said it intended reaching about 50,000 people across
Pool by the end of 2003. Particular emphasis would be on the distribution
of seeds and tools in the districts of Kinkala and Mindouli, with a view
to restoring self-sufficiency.

"The overwhelming demand by the people was for the provision of seeds and
tools, which shows that residents want to take control of their own
destiny and to not have to depend on humanitarian aid in the long term,"
Maarten Merkelbach, the ICRC country representative, told IRIN. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37198]

BURUNDI: Mozambican troops arrive

The first 20 of 228 Mozambican troops due to undertake peacekeeping duties
in Burundi arrived in the capital, Bujumbura, on Wednesday, the head of
the African Union (AU) Mission in Burundi, Mamadou Bah, told IRIN. He said
the rest of the troops were expected on Saturday.

Mozambique's defence ,inistry announced on Tuesday that the country would
spend at least US $14 million to sustain the contingent for the next 12
months. Some of the money would come from the Mozambican state budget and
the rest from donor countries such as the Britain, France and the United
States, the ministry said. An advance team of 12 staff officers had
arrived earlier in Bujumbura to prepare for the Mozambican contingent's
deployment.

Upon completion of deployment by contributing countries, the AU mission
would comprise 3,128 peacekeepers. Already, 1,600 South Africans have been
in the country since May and 845 Ethiopians arrived two weeks ago.
Ethiopia has pledged 1,300 troops. The peacekeepers are in Burundi to help
in the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of rebel troops and
to monitor the transition to democracy in the war-torn country.

TANZANIA: Two major NGO coalitions join opposition to NGO Act

Two major international NGO coalitions have expressed support for their
Tanzanian counterparts who oppose the country's NGO Act, due to enter into
force before the end of October, because it will impose "serious
restrictions to freedoms of association and expression".

In an open letter to Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, the International
Federation for Human Rights and the World Organisation against Torture -
in the framework of their joint programme, the Observatory for the
Protection of Human Rights Defenders - warned that several provisions of
the proposed act contravened the Tanzanian constitution, the UN
Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights.

The Observatory singled out for particular criticism the fact that the act
called for: criminal sanctions against NGOs failing to register with the
government; aligning NGO activities with government plans, contrary to the
nongovernmental nature of NGOs; and prohibiting national networks and
coalitions of NGOs. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37143]

TANZANIA: Commonwealth urges faster judicial reform

The Commonwealth, in its capacity of coordinator of the political
reconciliation process on Zanzibar, has urged reform of the judiciary and
faster implementation of the Muafaka Agreement signed between two leading
political parties on the Tanzanian island. The call follows a visit to the
island by Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon from 10 to 12
October.

"We had meetings in Dar es Salaam and on Zanzibar and they went well," Ade
Adefuwe, the Commonwealth's special adviser for Africa, told IRIN on
Wednesday. "But we passed on to the Zanzibari government the donors’
concerns about the lack of reform of the judiciary."

Adefuwe also said that McKinnon discussed the reform of the Zanzibar
Electoral Commission with the authorities. "They are making progress but
have been given time limits to complete this," Adefuwe said, declining to
give further details. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37238]

KENYA: Long-neglected Turkana to reap benefits of Sudanese aid operation

The UN, donors and aid agencies are being asked to club together to raise
funds for the Turkana in northwestern Kenya, who over the last 10 years
have hosted an aid operation for war-torn Sudan worth US $1 billion.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has committed itself to donating
$200,000 by the end of 2004, and it is hoped aid agencies who use the town
of Lokichokio as a launch pad for their humanitarian efforts will provide
at least the same, Michael Lund, project manager in UNDP, told IRIN.

The project, due to begin this month using UNDP funds, is starting off
with the building of a secondary school, followed by training on the
management of water boreholes and conflict management, Lund told IRIN.
Currently, the nearest secondary schools are located between 90 km and 120
km from Lokichokio town, making them inaccessible and leading to universal
dropout rates, and low levels of education.

"We are trying to put something back into Lokichokio after all these
years. They hosted our operation, they are entitled to some kind of
benefit," said Ben Parker, spokesman for the UN Resident and Humanitarian
Coordinator in Sudan. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37221]

UGANDA: Commonwealth boss says no intervention in war in north

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon has said it is not the
organisation's place to intervene in Uganda's civil war in the north
unless requested to do so by the country itself or the UN.

"As far as peacekeeping goes, we don't have our own battalions and we
aren't mandated to make any intervention ourselves. The decision to
intervene is up to the United Nations," McKinnon told reporters in the
Ugandan capital, Kampala, on Monday. He is on a five-day tour of African
Commonwealth countries.

McKinnon said the Commonwealth would offer whatever assistance it could.
"We have let [Ugandan] President [Yoweri] Museveni know that we are here
to help in whatever way we can," he said.  "The international community
can offer support and assistance, but ultimately a lasting settlement to
this problem can only be achieved by Uganda itself," he added.

McKinnon said he had met Museveni earlier in the day and he felt confident
that Ugandan government could handle the problem.

"President Museveni gives me the impression that this situation is on the
way to being resolved, especially with the peace process in Sudan now
making so much progress," McKinnon said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37195]

UGANDA: Government accused of violating refugee rights

An international refugee rights organisation has criticised the manner in
which the Ugandan government last month carried out the relocation of
Sudanese refugees from a camp in western Uganda, which ended in riots and
the arrest of some refugees.

The US-based Refugees International said although Uganda had a strong
record of supporting refugees, its "forcible" removal of 16,000 Sudanese
refugees from Kiryandongo camp, to the West Nile region, threatened to
wipe out this record.

"Refugee descriptions of the move, having their homes burned and being
herded into crowded trucks with no food or water for the long journey,
suggest that the move was neither humane nor dignified," Refugees
International reported. "In addition, there are reports that more than 200
children were separated from their families."

The refugees, originally displaced from Acholi-Pii camp, in Pader
District, northern Uganda, when Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels
overran and looted their camp in August 2002, had been temporarily settled
in Kiryandongo camp in western Uganda. They had earlier protested against
plans to relocate them to West Nile, saying they feared attacks by the LRA
rebel group, which operated there. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37172]


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


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