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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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 197
18 - 24 October 2003


CONTENTS:

DRC: Kabila orders ex-FAR and Interahamwe out of country
DRC: Kinshasa launches major infrastructure rehabilitation programme
DRC-UGANDA: Congolese refugees fleeing to Kampala
DRC-UGANDA: Minister confirms presence of Ugandan rebel groups in east
UGANDA: Kampala rejects Amnesty report on Ituri
CAR: National talks end, follow-up team established
ROC: Fighting between army and rebels leaves at least 13 dead in Mindouli
BURUNDI: Opposition leader arrested
BURUNDI: African force at full strength with arrival of Mozambicans
BURUNDI: Judges resume work after 50-day strike
BURUNDI: Four suspects arrested for death of WHO official
RWANDA: President names new cabinet
RWANDA-TANZANIA: No forcible repatriation of Rwandans, government says
TANZANIA: UN agency in plea for US $17 million for drought victims
KENYA: Tribunal to probe corrupt judges begins sittings
CENTRAL AFRICA: Reporters Without Borders rates press freedom in region
ALSO SEE:

DRC: IRIN interview with Dr Prega Ramsamy, SADC executive secretary at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37381

DRC-RWANDA: IRIN interview with Amnesty International Secretary-General
Irene Khan at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37335

BURUNDI-TANZANIA: Focus on secondary school education refugee camps at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37292

DRC: Kabila orders ex-FAR and Interahamwe out of country

The DRC government has said it will no longer tolerate the presence on its
national territory of elements of the Rwandan former army (ex-FAR) and
Rwandan Hutu former militias (Interahamwe) who fled their country into
neighbouring DRC after playing a major role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Mulegwa Zihindula, spokesman of DRC President Joseph Kabila, made the
announcement on 16 October during a news conference in the capital,
Kinshasa.

"The president of the republic can no longer accept that these people, who
are not Congolese soldiers, remain in the Congo. They must be disarmed and
returned to their country," he said.

Mulegwa was responding to a question regarding recent allegations by
Rwandan authorities that the DRC's transitional national government was
continuing to support the ex-FAR and Interahamwe.

"The ex-FAR and Interahamwe are operating freely, well armed and have
never abandoned their intentions of destabilising Rwanda," Charles
Muligande, the Rwandan foreign minister, told IRIN. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37285]

On Monday, Muligande arrived in Kinshasa on the first visit to the DRC by
a Rwandan official for five years. After a subsequent meeting with Kabila,
he said both countries were determined to neutralise the rebels' ability
to fight.

"We are convinced that we will develop mechanism of information exchange
and that we will eventually develop strategies to neutralise these forces
which, in the end, are not only a danger to the DRC but also to Rwanda,"
he added. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37338]

DRC: Kinshasa launches major infrastructure rehabilitation programme

The DRC government launched a major roads and infrastructure
rehabilitation programme on Monday, known as the Multi-sectoral Emergency
Programme for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (PMURR - Programme
multi-sectoriel d'urgence de reconstruction et de rehabilitation).

Jean-Pierre Bemba, one of the country's four vice-presidents, who also
heads the government's economy and finance commission, announced the
programme at the start of a three-day workshop held in Kinshasa.

Projects under the PMURR will be financed by some US $2 million from
donors such as the World Bank. According to Planning Minister Alexis
Thambwe Mwamba, the objectives of the PMURR are to restore not only human
and institutional capacities but also to rehabilitate and rebuild various
infrastructures. The programme also has a social component.

"The programme will put in place a system of financing in favour of
community initiatives in rural, urban and semi-urban areas," Thambwe said.
"It will help to develop basic social and community services through the
maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction of social infrastructure in
order to ensure food security for all segments of our population." [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37378]

DRC-UGANDA: Congolese refugees fleeing to Kampala

Numbers of refugees from the DRC are fleeing their camps and settlements
along the shores of Lake Albert in western Uganda, because they fear being
attacked by other refugees whom they believe to be perpetrators of the
recent violence in the troubled northeastern DRC district of Ituri.

Many are heading for the capital, Kampala, where some are seeking
transfers to a third country while others are staying in the city doing
casual work, such as braiding hair, according to sources at the Office on
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Their numbers
have swelled in the small business districts of central Kampala in the
months following the Ituri massacres - and the inflow is continuing. The
refugees say this is because they are not safe in either the designated
government camps or their self-made settlements near the shores of Lake
Albert.

Officials from the Ugandan government office for refugees and the UNHCR in
Hoima, the regional office in charge of Kyangwali, confirmed that some
refugees had sneaked out of Kyangwali and headed for the capital. But they
pointed out that many of the refugees who had settled in the Hoima area
were fabricating stories in order to get transfers to countries in the
developed world. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37314]

DRC-UGANDA: Minister confirms presence of Ugandan rebel groups in east

Mbusa Nyamwisi, the minister for regional cooperation in the DRC, has
confirmed reports of the presence of Ugandan rebel training camps in his
country's northeastern North Kivu Province, in the region between Beni and
Kasindi.

"These camps exist and it is possible that there are other such camps that
have not been identified, because these armed groups are located in the
forest, sometimes in very small camps," Nyamwisi told IRIN on Thursday.

Nyamwisi is also the leader of the Rassemblement congolais pour la
democratie-Kisangani/Mouvement de liberation (RCD-K/ML), a former rebel
movement now party to the DRC national unity government. Prior to this,
RCD-K/ML controlled the region in question. Ugandan rebel groups such as
the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda and the Allied Democratic
Forces have been active in this region in the past.

Nyamwisi said he was concerned by recent reports that Uganda had been
mobilising its forces along the joint DRC/Ugandan border. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37416]

UGANDA: Kampala rejects Amnesty report on Ituri

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and the spokesman of the Ministry of
Defence, Maj Shaban Bantariza, have dismissed a new report by the advocacy
group, Amnesty International (AI), accusing the government of Uganda of
continued involvement in eastern DRC.

AI Secretary-General Irene Khan released the report on Tuesday during a
news conference in Kampala, and called on Uganda to face up to its
responsibilities to stop supporting armed factions in eastern DRC.

"Some of these armed groups in Ituri are still enjoying support from
elements in the Ugandan military and its government," she said.

But the Ugandan government rejected the report. The AI officials had
earlier met with Museveni, who dismissed claims of continued support of
armed groups as "politically fabricated allegations". Bantariza said that
AI's claims were "simply untrue". "We are now fully behind the Kinshasa
dispensation of bringing a political settlement to the problems of Congo,"
Bantariza told IRIN. "How can we now support armed groups who are enemies
of that government?" [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37380]

CAR: National talks end, follow-up team established

The national reconciliation talks in the CAR ended on 16 October in the
capital, Bangui, with the completion of the final report and the setting
up of a team to oversee implementation of the recommendations made,
according to the chairman of the talks, Isaac Zokoe.

Zokoe told IRIN on 17 October that a 21-member follow-up team, including
15 people elected by the 350 delegates to the talks, and representatives
of the government, the National Transitional Council and the talks'
coordination team, was set up on 16 October. He said the team would
operate until after the transition, due to end in January 2005.

During the month-long talks, the delegates from all the country's
provinces and affiliations discussed and made recommendations on issues
including truth and reconciliation; politics and diplomacy; economy and
finances; defence and security; and education, social affairs and culture.

Zokoe said the dialogue had achieved its goals and that the reconciliation
process had started in earnest. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37286]

ROC: Fighting between army and rebels leaves at least 13 dead in Mindouli

At least 13 people were killed on Wednesday in Mindouli, in the southwest
of the Pool region of the ROC, when a gunfight erupted between the army
and Ninja militiamen, government spokesman Alain Akouala Atipault said at
a news conference.

"This is not a return to war in the department of Pool, nor a Ninja attack
on a train. It was simply an incident," he said on Thursday in the
capital, Brazzaville.

Mindouli, about 137 km west of Brazzaville, is a stopping point for the
national train line, the Chemin de fer Congo-ocean, which links the
nation's political capital to its coastal economic capital, Pointe-Noire.

Akouala said the fighting broke out following an argument between Ninja
militiamen and government soldiers when the Ninjas tried to load
agricultural products onto the train to be transported to Brazzaville for
sale. A railway official told the militiamen that they were not allowed to
put their goods on the train. The Ninjas responded by firing in the air,
at which point government soldiers intervened. When the gunfight ended
five civilians, one government soldier, and seven Ninjas were dead. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37289]

BURUNDI: Opposition leader arrested

Burundian security officers arrested on 17 October the leader of a wing of
the pro-Tutsi Union pour le progrès national (Uprona) political party,
Charles Mukasi, a day after he was placed under house arrest. Mukasi is
head of the Uprona faction opposed to the 2000 Arusha peace accord.

Before his arrest, he had said that he had received a warrant from the
Presidential Police (the government intelligence services) on Thursday,
accusing him of "sedition and refusal to appear before the court".

"I write and publish my work for consumption by my readers, nobody has
told me that I have written inciting things," he said. "I have always
organised public meetings, I do not hide myself, I clearly give my
opinions, I fight for the restoration of a state of law in Burundi, this
is not a secret."

Terming the arrest illegal, Mukasi's lawyer, Gabriel Sinarinzi, said: "The
people who arrested Mukasi violated the law, first, they broke the door to
his house before arresting him and, secondly, Mukasi is in the custody of
the Presidential Police and nobody is allowed to see him." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37283]

On Sunday, the Burundian human rights organisation, Ligue Sonera,
condemned as inhumane the conditions under which Mukasi was being held,
and demanded that his relatives be allowed access to him or he could die
from hunger. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37334]

BURUNDI: African force at full strength with arrival of Mozambicans

Mozambique has sent another 91 troops to Bujumbura, bringing the African
peacekeeping mission in Burundi to full strength, Burundi National Radio
and Television, or RTNB, reported on Sunday.

They arrived on Saturday to join their 139 countrymen, as well as the
Ethiopians and South Africans already in Burundi who make up the force of
3,128 peacekeepers. The BBC reported that the head of the African Union
Mission in Burundi (AMIB), Mamadou Bah, welcomed the Mozambicans at
Bujumbura's airport.

"The force is now complete for the requested contingent," Reuters quoted
him as saying. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37305]

BURUNDI: Judges resume work after 50-day strike

Proceedings in most courts across Burundi resumed on Wednesday when judges
went back to work after a 50-day strike. The judges were heeding a call
made by their trade union leader for them to suspend the strike.

Trade union leader Adelin Hatungimana issued a statement on 19 October
saying the judges would give the joint government-judges committee time to
work on their demands, which include better working conditions, greater
independence from the government and salary increases. In his statement,
he also threatened that the judges would resume their strike if the
government failed to respect its commitments.

Several organisations and individuals in the country have voiced their
opposition to the strike, which has impacted negatively on the judicial
system by creating an even greater backlog of cases. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37379]

BURUNDI: Four suspects arrested for death of WHO official

Burundi police arrested four more people on Friday suspected of killing of
the World Health Organization representative in the country, Dr Kassi
Manlan.

The suspects are the deputy administrator of the immigration police,
Gerard Ntunzwenayo; an official at the government intelligent services,
Jaffet Nahimana; the commander of the national police, Emile Manisha; and
the commander of the traffic police, Sylvestre Manirakiza. They were taken
immediately to the public prosecutor for questioning. [Full story at
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37431]

RWANDA: President names new cabinet

Rwandan President Paul Kagame appointed a new cabinet on 18 October, 19
days after his ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) won a landslide
victory in the country's first multiparty legislative elections since the
1994 genocide.

Many of the principal figures in the cabinet retained their former posts,
AFP reported, among them Foreign Minister Charles Muligande, Finance
Ministers Donald Kaberuka and Local Administration Minister Christophe
Bazivamo. They are all members of the RPF, according to AFP.

"The principal change comes at the justice ministry where Jean de Dieu
Mucyo is replaced by the former secretary-general at the ministry, Edda
Mukabagwiza," AFP added. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37310]

Subsequently, on Tuesday, during the swearing-in of the new cabinet,
Kagame called on the new parliament to endorse the establishment of an
ombudsman's office so that senior and grassroots government officials
could declare their assets before taking office.

"We need to have a continuous assessment of how our leaders accumulate
their wealth," he said, adding that it would now be "compulsory" for all
government officials to declare their wealth. Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37370]

RWANDA-TANZANIA: No forcible repatriation of Rwandans, government says

The repatriation of about 20,000 Rwandans living illegally in Tanzania
will be a gradual and voluntary process, Maj Tumainiel Kiwelo, the
commissioner for Kagera Region, where the Rwandans are living, told IRIN
on Monday.

Roughly 600 Rwandans had applied to remain in Tanzania as residents, while
the rest had not done so, because they wanted to go back, he said. "Those
that have not applied to stay cannot be forced to go. But they will move
slowly and are not going to be pushed."

Kiwelo said the Rwandans had been in Tanzania since the 1994 genocide, and
even before, but they had not legalised their stay. While there was no
deadline for them to leave, Kiwelo said the repatriation was in line with
an agreement signed in April between the Tanzanian and Rwandan
governments.

"We are working on the arrangements for them to move their possessions out
of Tanzania. We will be assisting them to go home and they will be met at
the border by Rwandan authorities to ensure a smooth repatriation," he
said. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37323]

TANZANIA: UN agency in plea for US $17 million for drought victims

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) appealed on Wednesday to the
international community for US $17 million to help feed two million people
facing severe drought in central and northern Tanzania.

"WFP's assistance will dovetail with the government's action plan to feed
the most vulnerable people between December and the end of March next
year," Nicole Menage, the WFP country director, was quoted as saying in a
statement issued in the commercial city of Dar es Salaam.

WFP said it planed to feed the two million during the period by providing
45,000 mt of food. It noted that the shortages, affecting all major food
staples, had been caused by poorly dispersed rainfall levels in the
2002-2003 agricultural season.

Food and cash crop production in the drought-affected areas fell by 30
percent to 50 percent compared to a normal year, WFP said, seriously
impacting on food security and income levels of the poorest farmers who
depend on subsistence agriculture. Some districts recorded crop losses of
more than 70 percent of normal production, the agency said. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37371]

KENYA: Tribunal to probe corrupt judges begins sittings

Questions are being asked about the validity of verdicts handed down by
many of Kenya's judges, as a tribunal opens this week to investigate their
corrupt behaviour.

A programme officer with the Kenya Human Rights Commission, Peter Kiama,
said it was expected that a number of appeals would be launched to revisit
old cases as the tribunal does its work. He said litigants who felt
justice was not done and wanted their cases reopened must be allowed to do
so.

"The judicial system must give them a chance. It is their right," he told
IRIN.

President Mwai Kibaki earlier in October suspended 23 judges, and set up a
tribunal to investigate their conduct, in a move widely seen as an attempt
at restoring public confidence in Kenya's judiciary. A separate tribunal
has been set up to investigate 82 allegedly corrupt magistrates around the
country. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37349]

CENTRAL AFRICA: Reporters Without Borders rates press freedom in region

Reporters Without Borders/Reporters sans frontieres (RSF), an
international media watchdog NGO, has published its second world press
freedom ranking, with countries of the central African region ranking from
medium to poor.

"This ranking measures the state of press freedom in the world," RSF said
in a statement issued on Monday. "It reflects the degree of freedom that
journalists and news organisations enjoy in each country, and the efforts
undertaken by the state to respect and ensure respect for this freedom."

Of the 166 nations surveyed, the Republic of Congo (ROC) was ranked 63rd,
followed closely by Tanzania in 70th position. Further down the list,
Burundi placed 92nd, while the Central African Republic (CAR) placed 107th
and Rwanda placed 112th. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) found
itself among the 50 countries "that respect press freedom least", scoring
127th on the RSF ranking. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37339]

CENTRAL AFRICA: Reporters Without Borders rates press freedom in region

Reporters Without Borders/Reporters sans frontieres (RSF), an
international media watchdog NGO, has published its second world press
freedom ranking, with countries of the central African region ranking from
medium to poor.

"This ranking measures the state of press freedom in the world," RSF said
in a statement issued on Monday. "It reflects the degree of freedom that
journalists and news organisations enjoy in each country, and the efforts
undertaken by the state to respect and ensure respect for this freedom."

Of the 166 nations surveyed, the Republic of Congo (ROC) was ranked 63rd,
followed closely by Tanzania in 70th position. Further down the list,
Burundi placed 92nd, while the Central African Republic (CAR) placed 107th
and Rwanda placed 112th. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) found
itself among the 50 countries "that respect press freedom least", scoring
127th on the RSF ranking. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37339]


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


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