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Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 187
9 - 15 August 2003


CONTENTS:

CENTRAL AFRICA: US lists those eligible under "Clean Diamond Trade Act"
GREAT LAKES: Countries urged to extend citizenship rights to "forgotten"
   pygmies
DRC: More MONUC soldiers arrive in Bunia
DRC: Persistent fighting around Butembo leaves thousands displaced
DRC: UNICEF envoy Jessica Lange deplores "unspeakable brutality"
DRC: Belgium gives E12.5 million to fight sleeping sickness
DRC: Netherlands gives $1 million for transitional government
DRC: Donors begin to respond to WFP appeal for the east
ROC: Brazzaville inaugurates its High Court of Justice
CAR: Ruling council fixes date for national conference
CAR: Former Red Cross chairman arrested
RWANDA: Genocide suspect transferred to UN tribunal
RWANDA: Electoral commission receives poll funds, Kagame pledges transparency
BURUNDI: Food distribution to CNDD-FDD rebels resumes
EAST AFRICA: Brand cattle to stop rustling, say police chiefs
UGANDA: Renewed fighting in east

ALSO SEE:

TANZANIA: Focus on child labour at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35950 DRC: Interview with MONUC
chief William Swing at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35977

CENTRAL AFRICA: US lists those eligible under "Clean Diamond Trade Act"

The Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC), Republic of Congo (ROC) and Tanzania are among 58 participants
eligible for trade in rough diamonds with the United States in accordance
with the Clean Diamond Trade Act, the US Department of State announced on
Monday.

It said that trade would be conducted in accordance with the Kimberley
Process Certification Scheme. The scheme has its origins in the decision
by Southern African diamond-producing countries in 2000 to take action to
stop the flow of conflict diamonds to the markets, while at the same time
protecting the legitimate diamond industry. Since then, the initiative has
grown and evolved to include more than 70 countries involved in the
production, export and import, as well as trade in rough diamonds. [For
more on the scheme, go to www.kimberleyprocess.com]

According to Global Witness, a UK-based NGO working to highlight the links
between the exploitation of the natural resources and human rights abuses,
the trade in conflict and illicit rough diamonds has funded and prolonged
conflicts in Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the DRC, as well as funding
international terrorism. [Full story at:  
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35940]

GREAT LAKES: Countries urged to extend citizenship rights to "forgotten"
pygmies

The advocacy group Refugees International (RI) has called on the
international donor community to encourage countries in Africa's Great
Lakes region to extend citizenship rights to the Batwa, or pygmy, people.

"Batwa occupy the role of second-class citizens," RI said in a report
released on Tuesday, entitled "Forgotten people: The Batwa 'Pygmy' of the
Great Lakes region of Africa".

"Education, health care, land ownership and equal treatment by the justice
system are all less accessible to the Batwa than the general population,"
RI said. "Without the availability of traditional or state resources, the
Batwa become the most vulnerable and most easily exploited populations
during the conflicts [in the Great Lakes region] that began in the 1990s."

In the Great Lakes, the Batwa are found in Burundi, the DRC, Rwanda and
Uganda. Outside the region, they are found in Cameroon, the CAR, and
Gabon. [The RI report is available online at:
www.refugeesinternational.org; also for full IRIN story see:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35955]

DRC: More MONUC soldiers arrive in Bunia

The UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, has continued to boost its
strength in the northeastern district of Ituri, with the arrival of 250
Bangladeshi troops in Bunia on Sunday, according to UN News. Their arrival
brings the number of Bangladeshi troops there to about 730.

They are expected to deploy throughout Ituri, unlike the EU multinational
force that is mandated to secure only Bunia, the district's main town.
Meanwhile, fighting in remote areas of the region was continuing, even
though a new power-sharing transitional government was installed in July
in the capital, Kinshasa, UN News reported. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35924]

DRC: Persistent fighting around Butembo leaves thousands displaced

Persistent fighting between Mayi-Mayi militias and the Rassemblement
congolais pour la democratie-Kisangani/Mouvement de liberation (RCD-K/ML)
former rebel movement around the town of Butembo in northeastern DRC has
forced thousands to flee for safety, NGO German Agro Action (GAA) reported
on Tuesday.

"We are distributing today a monthly food ration for another wave of 1,066
IDP [internally displaced persons] families in Butembo," Kay Grulich,
GAA's Butembo project manager, told IRIN.

Grulich said the IDPs came from South Lubero, about 60 km south of
Butembo, and Ituri District, about 120 km north of Butembo. "In total, we
have so far 3,500 IDP families in Butembo," Grulich said.

Tensions between the Mayi-Mayi and RCD-K/ML appear to be due at least in
part to the latter's attempts to disarm the former. On Tuesday, GAA said
that insecurity prevailed in many areas surrounding Butembo, and warned
that health and food problems would increase if the instability was left
unchecked. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35928]

DRC: UNICEF envoy Jessica Lange deplores "unspeakable brutality"

UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador Jessica Lange said on
Monday that the world could no longer ignore the atrocities, including
systematic rape, being inflicted daily on women and children in the DRC.

"Of the women and children who survive the stunning brutality, the
physical, emotional and psychological damage will last a lifetime," the US
actress said in a statement issued at the end of her recent three-day
mission to the DRC. "The world must stop the horror and help the
survivors. And those responsible must be brought to justice."

"Rape and sexual violence are not collateral damage, nor are they
inevitable in wartime: they are war crimes, and perpetrators must be held
accountable by their communities, by the transitional government and by
the international community through the International Criminal Court,"
Carol Bellamy, the UNICEF executive director, added.

UNICEF recalled that women and girls were often attacked while engaging in
everyday activities such as cultivating fields, collecting firewood or
walking to the market. It said boys were not immune to rape, either; in
fact, sexual violence against boys and the elderly appeared to be on the
increase.

"It is overwhelming to witness their tremendous humanity in the face of
such unspeakable brutality, and the courage and strength with which they
are facing the future," Lange said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35899]

DRC: Belgium gives E12.5 million to fight sleeping sickness

Belgium has given E12.5 million (US $14.2 million) to fight African
trypanosomiasis, commonly known as sleeping sickness, in the DRC, its
embassy in Kinshasa announced on Tuesday. It said efforts would be focused
on provinces where it was particularly endemic, namely Kinshasa, Bandundu,
Bas-Congo, Equateur, Katanga, Kasai Occidental, Kasai Oriental and
Maniema.

It added that it hoped to achieve a rate of infection less than 0.1
percent by 2007 - the level at independence - and that this would be
achieved primarily through epidemiological surveillance and training of
local medical staff.

Belgium said that it would also provide two experts to the Direction
nationale du programme national de lutte contre la trypanosomiase humaine
Africaine. [For more on African sleeping sickness, go to www.who.int; full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35937]

DRC: Netherlands gives $1 million for transitional government

The Netherlands has announced a contribution of US $1 million for
logistical support of the newly installed two-year transitional national
government of the DRC.

Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Development Minister
Agnes van Ardenne made the announcement on Wednesday in the Congolese
capital, Kinshasa, at the end of their five-day tour of the Great Lakes
region.

Due to a shortage in funds, the DRC's transitional government has
experienced difficulties in beginning its activities. The first ordinary
session of the National Assembly and the Senate, which was due to begin
early in August, has yet to take place because of this shortfall. [Full
story on: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36006]

DRC: Donors begin to respond to WFP appeal for the east

The EC and United States have given the UN World Food Programme (WFP) a
total of $15 million in response to an appeal for aid for an estimated
500,000 people facing severe hunger in eastern DRC, a WFP official told
IRIN on Friday.

The Nairobi-based WFP regional information officer, Laura Melo, said that
the donations by the EC ($4.3 million) and the US ($9.5 million) have now
given WFP a 41 percent resourcing level of the $38 million it requested in
June. [Full story on: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36005]

ROC: Brazzaville inaugurates its High Court of Justice

The ROC inaugurated on Tuesday its High Court of Justice in the capital,
Brazzaville, with the swearing-in of members before parliament.

The creation of the court was called for under Article 153 of the national
constitution, which was approved by referendum in January 2002. The court
is empowered to prosecute the country's highest authorities - including
deputies, senators, judges and the president - for crimes in the conduct
of their official duties.

All 35 members of the court, including judges, senators and deputies (of
the National Assembly) were elected by their respective peers. The court
will be presided over by Placide Lenga, with Georges Akiera serving as
chief prosecutor.

CAR: Ruling council fixes date for national conference

The CAR's legislative body, the National Transitional Council, voted 60 to
0, with one abstention, on Tuesday, fixing a date for a national
reconciliation conference after years of political instability and war,
according to state-owned radio.

The conference is now due to take place from 10 to 25 September. The
council also recommended the establishment of a 72-member preparatory team
to pave the way for the conference. The team's members are to be grouped
into technical commissions on politics and diplomacy; defence and
security; economy and finances; social and cultural affairs; and
logistics.

The council also recommended new members for the conference coordination
team, previously chaired by Bishop Paulin Pomodino and his deputy, Henri
Maidou. The council disqualified Maidou, who was recently appointed by
President Francois Bozize as his special adviser, for the position of
deputy coordinator. Instead, the council proposed a coordination team of
one coordinator, his deputy, three representatives of the government and
three of the council. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35943]

CAR: Former Red Cross chairman arrested

Police in the CAR capital, Bangui, have arrested the chairman of the CAR
Red Cross Society's dissolved executive board, Francois Farra-Frond, for
his alleged involvement in the misappropriation of donor funds, according
to a Red Cross official.

"All the Red Cross's partners have suspended their support," Red Cross
Secretary-General Albert Sangou-Gbaya told IRIN on Tuesday. He added that
Red Cross personnel had not been paid salaries for eight months.

After dissolving the executive board on 9 July, Social Affairs Minister
Lea Koyassoum Doumta appointed an interim body, pending the election of a
new executive board in January 2004.

Operational since 1966 and with a total of 10,000 volunteers in 14 of the
CAR's 16 provinces, the Red Cross actively involved itself in the
exhumation and reburial of badly buried corpses during the repeated crises
of the last six years. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35942]

RWANDA: Genocide suspect transferred to UN tribunal

A former mayor suspected of involvement in the genocide in Rwanda was
transferred on Wednesday to the Tanzania-based UN International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda after his arrest in Uganda, the tribunal reported.

In a statement, the tribunal said Juvenal Rugambarara, a former mayor of
Bicumi Commune in Kigali Rural Province, was in its detention facility in
the northeastern town of Arusha, awaiting trial for genocide and crimes
against humanity.

Rugambarara, a physician by profession, is due to make an initial
appearance before a judge on Friday, the tribunal said. He faces nine
charges that include genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, incitement
to commit genocide and three counts of crimes against humanity.

He became the Bicumbi mayor in 1993. He allegedly "ordered, instigated,
encouraged, aided and abetted the preparation and execution" of crimes
against ethnic Tutsis in Bicumbi during the April-June 1994 genocide. The
tribunal reported that Rugambarara's arrest brings to 56 the number of
people in its custody. The UN Security Council established the tribunal in
1995 to bring to trial alleged perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide. The
court has so far handed down 12 convictions and one acquittal.

RWANDA: Electoral commission receives poll funds, Kagame pledges
transparency

Rwanda's National Electoral Commission has so far raised half of the $4.6
million it requires for the 25 August presidential and 29 September
parliamentary elections, according to an official.

The executive secretary of the commission, Damien Habamuremyi, told IRIN
on Wednesday that Rwandans had donated about 500 million Rwandan francs
($1 million) to enable the commission to hold the elections successfully.

Contributions from Rwandans are in addition to earlier ones by the British
government, which gave $1 million and the EU, which gave E500,000
($564,350).

At the same time, the commission announced that it had invited 1,036
observers from Europe, the US and the African Union (AU) to monitor the
presidential election. The electoral body also said that it would have at
least 47,000 enumerators in the polls. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35957]

Earlier, on Sunday, President Paul Kagame, said the government had taken
action to ensure that the 25 August presidential election in Rwanda is
free and fair, President Paul Kagame, himself one of the four contenders
for the post.

"We have put in place all measures that ensure a free and fair election,
the first being that the vote will be done through a secret ballot," he
said.

Speaking to reporters on his fourth campaign tour across the country, he
said the election, the first since the 1994 genocide, would be held in a
transparent manner, devoid of any malpractice. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35896]

BURUNDI: Food distribution to CNDD-FDD rebels resumes

Food distribution among Burundian fighters loyal to rebel leader Pierre
Nkurunziza resumed on Wednesday after a six-month suspension, Army
Spokesman Col Augustin Nzabampema told IRIN.

Reporters were not allowed to cover the distributions. "We got
instructions not to allow journalists to report anything, the operation
was supposed to be done in secret," Nzabampema said.

Witnesses said four lorries belonging to GTZ, a German NGO, escorted by a
unit of AU peacekeepers, transported the food, which was distributed at
Kayange in the northwestern province on Bubanza, on the edge of Kibira
Forest. The forest is considered a stronghold for Nkurunziza's Conseil
national pour la defense de la democratie-Force pour la defense de la
democratie (CNDD-FDD).

The last food distribution to the rebels, decided upon by the government
in a bid to prevent rebel attacks on civilians, took place in February.
The operations were then financed by the EU. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35962]

EAST AFRICA: Brand cattle to stop rustling, say police chiefs

A meeting of East African regional police chiefs on 8 August approved a
new plan to combat cattle rustling in the region.

The plan includes an ambitious programme for branding cattle to make them
easier to identify. The chiefs said branding could deter potential
rustlers, because their loot would effectively be tagged, making it easier
for police to recover cattle and punish perpetrators.

In a statement issued at the end of a three-day intensive meeting in the
Ugandan capital, Kampala, involving seven countries and several
international bodies, the police chiefs said that whereas branding herds
was not easy, "member states should urgently try to put in place
mechanisms that would facilitate identification of herds either by family,
clan or district for ease of restitution after recovery".

The recommendation was part of a parcel of reforms aiming to lessen
insecurity in the regions of East Africa worst affected by cattle-rustling
and armed banditry. Countries involved in drafting the resolution included
Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles, Sudan, Uganda and South Africa. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35872]

UGANDA: Renewed fighting in east

Fresh fighting broke out on 9 August in eastern Uganda's Katakwi District
between the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) and Lord's Resistance
Army (LRA) rebels, sparking speculation that the once-quiet district was
now the target of a full-scale LRA offensive.

On Saturday rebels attacked the small town of Atirir, 15 km north of
Soroti, razing buildings and looting the town's clinic of its drug stocks.
In response, the UPDF said it moved quickly to close off the road
immediately to the north of the area, before exchanging gunfire with
suspected LRA rebels. "They launched a terrorist attack on the town's
principal trading centre. Then our forces moved in to fight them back,"
the UPDF spokesman, Maj Shaban Bantariza, told IRIN.

Other sources in Soroti said the rebels had gained partial control of the
road linking Lira with Soroti and were laying landmines to keep hold of
it. But the UPDF denied this.

"They're not controlling anything," said Bantariza. "It was us who closed
the road in order to pursue them. There's no evidence that they have
planted landmines anywhere." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=35902]


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


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