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 205
13 - 19 December 2003


CONTENTS:

GREAT LAKES: Pygmies demand greater access to land, education
CAR: New premier forms government
CAR: Bozize urged to discipline his former fighters
CAR-DRC: UN allowed to use Oubangui for refugee repatriation
DRC: US $68 million from ADF for economic recovery, reunification
RWANDA: Genocide survivors denounce killings, harassment
BURUNDI: Annan concerned over economic hardships
BURUNDI: Interahamwe militiamen threaten security in the northwest 
UGANDA: New amnesty law to exclude top LRA leaders
TANZANIA: Japan boosts basic education for out-of-school children

GREAT LAKES: Pygmies demand greater access to land, education

Representatives of the Batwa, or pygmy, people from four countries in the
Great Lakes region have asked their governments to urgently seek ways of
guaranteeing their people greater access to land and education. "Batwa
children do not attend school or simply give up going to school because
their parents do not have land to cultivate," Liberate Nicayenzi,
Burundi’s only Batwa parliamentarian, told a conference on the social
integration of the Batwa, held in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura.

Participants in the four-day conference, which began on Monday, came from
Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda. It
was organised by an association championing the promotion of pygmies’
rights in Burundi, Unissons pour la promotion des Batwa (Uniproba), in
collaboration with the UK-based Minority Rights Group International.

Nicayenzi, who is also the legal representative of Uniproba, told IRIN the
conference was organised to pressure governments in the region to resolve
the Batwa's marginalisation. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38436]

CAR: New premier forms government

Newly appointed Central African Republic (CAR) Prime Minister Celestin Le
Roi Gaoumbale, has formed a new transitional government to replace that of
Abel Goumba, who was dismissed on 11 December and has since been appointed
vice-president, the minister for communication and government spokesman,
Parfait Mbay, announced on state-owned Radio Centrafrique on 12 December.

The new government comprises 28 ministers, including two women and six
military officers.

Under the new administration, Lea Doumta was retained as social affairs
minister, while former Commerce Minister Hyacinthe Wodobode became
minister of justice. Nine new ministers were appointed, including former
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Lebouder, who becomes senior finance minister;
Col Guy Kolingba, son of former President Andre Kolingba, who becomes
youth and sports minister; and Col Mouhamed Marboua, the chairman of the
national Islamic community, who was appointed junior finance minister.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38416]

CAR: Bozize urged to discipline his former fighters

Catholic Archbishop Paulin Pomodimo has urged the CAR leader, Francois
Bozize, to exercise more control over his former fighters, including those
from Chad, following reports of atrocities committed against the
population. "We refuse the cult of the knife," Pomodimo said on Thursday
during the celebration of mass at the Bangui Cathedral for the late
president, David Dacko, who died of asthma on 20 November in Yaounde,
capital of neighbouring Cameroon.

"When you have a dangerous dog that bites your visitors, you tie it,"
Pomodimo told the congregation, which included Bozize, Vice-President Abel
Goumba, Prime Minister Celestin Gaombalet, ministers and other senior
officials.

The congregation applauded Pomodimo’s remarks, which were in reference to
the former combatants and Chadians described as mercenaries, who fought
for Bozize during his insurrection from October 2002 to March 2003 against
former president Ange-Felix Patasse. Bozize overthrew Patasse on 15 March.
Since then, his former fighters and the Chadians have been accused of
human rights violations against the public. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38512]

CAR-DRC: UN allowed to use Oubangui for refugee repatriation

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will
repatriate refugees from neighbouring DRC to the Central African Republic
via the Oubangui river, according to a senior UNHCR official. The
waterway, which is the border between the two countries, has been closed
to human traffic since September.

"I received assurances from President Francois Bozize that the border will
exceptionally be opened whenever the UNHCR asks for it for refugee
repatriation," Kamel Morjane, Assistant UN High Commissioner for Refugees,
told a news conference in the CAR capital, Bangui, on Monday at the end of
a two-day visit to the country. He said repatriation by air was costly,
whereas most of the 7,000 refugees in the CAR were from the DRC's
northwestern province of Equateur, which was easily accessible by crossing
the Oubangui. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38450]

The first 301 of the Congolese refugees in the CAR went home on Tuesday
under the UNHCR repatriation programme. "We want the returnees to go
directly to their home regions," Jean Kitambala, the director for civil
protection and refugees in the DRC interior ministry, told IRIN in Bangui.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38468]

DRC: DRC: US $68 million from ADF for economic recovery, reunification

The African Development Fund, the financing arm of the African Development
Bank (ADB), and the DRC on Monday signed two loan and grant agreements
totalling US $68 million for an economic recovery and reunification
support programme in the DRC. The two agreements, signed at ADB
headquarters in Tunis, are for a loan of $64 million and a grant of $4.3
million for economic recovery and poverty reduction.

"It will make it possible to consolidate the macroeconomic stability in
the context of the reunification of the country," ADB said in a statement.
The programme would also help to improve public expenditure management and
rational allocation to priority social sectors, ADB reported.
"Furthermore, it will strengthen the promotion of good governance through
public sector reform, [the] fight against corruption, and private sector
stimulation."

The agreements were signed by ADB vice-president for micro-finance and
operations (West and Central Region), Olabisi Ogunjobi, and DRC Finance
Minister Andre Futa.

RWANDA: Genocide survivors denounce killings, harassment

An umbrella organisation for genocide survivors in Rwanda, known as Ibuka,
has denounced the killing, harassment and intimidation of its members over
their testimony under the Gacaca justice system. "The reason behind the
killings and the harassment is to scare away genocide survivors from
testifying in Gacaca courts," Ibuka said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The Gacaca justice system, based on traditional village courts, has been
used in Rwanda since 2001 to expedite trials for an estimated 85,000
suspects held in prisons across the country in connection with the 1994
genocide that claimed the lives of at least 800,000 people. Gacaca
supplements the regular courts and is intended to boost the reconciliation
of all ethnic communities in the country.

Ibuka reported that four of its members were killed in the last half of
2003 in the southwestern province of Gikongoro and the central province of
Gitarama, after they showed interest in testifying in the Gacaca courts.
"These killings are well planned and target one section of people with the
intention of keeping their lips shut," Ibuka reported. "We condemn this
and call upon relevant authorities to take action." It said several of its
members had been harassed and some had been forced to leave their
ancestral homes to seek refuge elsewhere.

On Thursday, the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) reported that a special
commission, whose members will include senators, had been established to
investigate the allegations of murder, harassment and intimidation made by
Ibuka. RNA also reported that a cabinet meeting on Wednesday had condemned
the murder and intimidation of genocide survivors, and called upon
security and judicial officials to ensure that those responsible were
punished. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38509]

BURUNDI: Annan concerned over economic hardships
 
Despite "encouraging" developments in Burundi's peace process, the
socioeconomic deprivation from which the people continue to suffer is a
matter of serious concern, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday.

"There is a risk that the hopeful signs of peace which have now begun to
appear could be lost unless they are accompanied by improvements in the
living conditions of the population as a 'peace dividend'," Annan said in
his latest report to the UN Security Council on the situation in Burundi.

Calling on the donor community to provide aid to Burundi, Annan said
donors should accelerate disbursement of the pledges they made in Paris
and Geneva and “respond generously at a partners' forum being organised in
Brussels in early 2004". "I also encourage donors to strengthen their
support to humanitarian assistance efforts in Burundi," he said. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38440]

BURUNDI: Interahamwe militiamen threaten security in the northwest

A local official in Burundi's northwestern province of Cibitoke has
expressed concern over a security threat posed by Rwandan Hutu militiamen,
known as Interahamwe, who have staged raids in the province in the last
month, looting property in two communes. "Interahamwe militias have been
hiding in the Kibira forest neighbouring the communes of Mabayi and
Bukinanyana for about a month now," Benoit Ntigurirwa, the Cibitoke
governor, told IRIN on Wednesday.

"We don’t have their exact number but from the intelligence reports we
gathered, those who have been raiding the communes might be around 150,"
Ntigurirwa said. He told IRIN that the militiamen had raided the two
communes in late November and again on 5 and 8 December, mainly targeting
cattle, food and money.

Administrative and military officials had taken measures to curb the
Interahamwe incursions, Ntigurirwa said, adding that night patrols were
being planned and military positions had also been increased in the area.
He said the Interahamwe had entered Burundi from the DRC through Kagwena
locality, known to be a corridor used often by the militiamen. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38471]

UGANDA: New amnesty law to exclude top LRA leaders

Uganda’s government has announced plans to amend its four-year-old amnesty
law to exclude the top leadership of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army
(LRA). The current law expires on 17 January. The Amnesty Act, which
became law in January 2000, currently offers blanket immunity and
resettlement packages to all rebels who surrender.

Shaban Bantariza, the Ugandan army spokesman, told IRIN on Tuesday the law
- which is renewed every six months - would this time be amended in
parliament to exclude the LRA leader, Joseph Kony, and his senior
commanders. Whereas hundreds of junior members of the rebel group had
taken advantage of the amnesty and surrendered, he said, the LRA top
leadership had ignored calls for peace talks and instead "continued to
supervise the killing of innocent civilians".

However, members of the Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative – which
is opposed to a military solution to the conflict - have expressed concern
over the move. In a statement, they urged the government to extend the
amnesty for the rebels "without any restrictions or limitations", as part
of efforts to help build trust between the parties. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38439]
 
TANZANIA: Japan boosts basic education for out-of-school children

The government of Japan, through the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), has
given US $711,263 to support a basic education project targeting
out-of-school children in Tanzania, the Japanese foreign ministry reported
on Wednesday. In a statement, the ministry said the aid would be
channelled through the Trust Fund for Human Security to the "Basic
Education and HIV/AIDS and Life Skills for Out of School Children in
Tanzania", to be implemented by UNICEF.

Under the project, text books for students and reading materials on
HIV/AIDS would be provided and community workshops held on HIV/AIDS with
the support of the Complementary Basic Education in Tanzania, a programme
aimed at providing "life skills (nutrition, hygiene, HIV/AIDS prevention),
literacy and vocational training opportunities to out-of-school children".

Children aged eight to 18 years are expected to benefit from the project.
According to the ministry, Tanzania has a high HIV/AIDS rate and a low
rate of school attendance among children. The ministry said the project
was expected to increase out-of-school children's opportunities for basic
education and to enhance the capacity of individuals in communities to
prevent HIV/AIDS.


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


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