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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 223
17 - 23 April 2004


CONTENTS:

GREAT LAKES: Kigali denies massing troops on Burundi border
DRC: Tens of thousands expelled from Angola in urgent need of 
  humanitarian aid
DRC: Belgian military aid arrives
DRC: ICC prosecutor receives Kabila letter on war crimes
ROC: Corruption increasing poverty, NGOs say
CAR: Official explains UNDP's role in disarmament process
BURUNDI: Rebel group vows to stop hostilities
BURUNDI: Meeting held to honour unsung heroes, heroines
RWANDA: Bizimungu lawyer held for contempt of court
UGANDA: Museveni offers to negotiate with LRA rebels
UGANDA: Official rejects ICG report on northern crisis
UGANDA: Sudanese militia vows to fight LRA rebels


ALSO SEE:

GREAT LAKES: Displaced in Bujumbura:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40585

EAST AFRICA: A refuge from civil wars at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40581

EAST AFRICA: Special report on the repatriation of Burundian refugees at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40573


GREAT LAKES: Kigali denies massing troops on Burundi border

A Rwandan senior military official denied on Thursday reports that his
country had massed troops on its border with Burundi in anticipation of an
attack by Hutu rebels based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

"Our troops are evenly deployed in all corners of our country," Col
Patrick Karegeya, the army spokesman, told IRIN.

He added: "We have not massed any troops along the Burundi border. Those
are reports based on mere hearsay. What people could have seen in the
region bordering Burundi is [the] mere readjustment of our troop
deployment."

There have been news reports of a sharp rise in tension along the border,
with Rwanda anticipating that DRC-based Rwandan Hutu rebels would cross
into Burundi and then attack Rwanda. For years, these rebels have used the
DRC as a base and have, in the past, used Burundi's Kibira Forest in
Cibitoke Province to attack Rwanda. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40708 ]


DRC: Tens of thousands expelled from Angola in urgent need of humanitarian
aid

Tens of thousands of Congolese nationals expelled from Angola are in
urgent need of humanitarian aid in two southwestern provinces of the DRC,
the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in
its situation report of 17 April.

It said the returnees in the provinces of Bandundu and Kasai Occidental
needed food, water, health services and non-food items. Others needed
transport to cross the Tungila River that separates Angola and the DRC.

Determination of this situation followed an OCHA-led inter-agency needs
assessment mission on Thursday to the provinces of Bandundu and Kasai
Occidental. OCHA reported that humanitarian partners and the Ministry of
Solidarity and Humanitarian Affairs had estimated that between 80,000 and
100,000 Congolese "have been or will soon be forcibly expelled in this
latest wave of population movements".

It said that the government of Angola began in December 2003 and in
January 2004 a policy of expelling Congolese civilians who had been living
and working illegally in the country as manual diamond miners.

"Starting in April, this situation has taken a turn for the worse and an
acute humanitarian crisis is in the making," OCHA reported. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40634; also see:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40697 ]

Medecins Sans Frontieres-Belgium said on Wednesday it had sent an
emergency medical team to a sector of the DRC's border with Angola,
following an announcement by the Angolan government that was expelling
another 18,000 Congolese illegal diamond miners.

"There have been massive expulsions for ten days now," Gilbert Gitelman,
OCHA's field coordinator, told reporters on Wednesday in the DRC capital,
Kinshasa, "families have been separated, intrusive body searches have been
conducted on women, children have given laxatives to expel hidden
diamonds, and women and even some men have been raped in public." [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40689 ]


DRC: Belgian military aid arrives

Belgium has delivered medical supplies and military vehicles to the new
unified army of the DRC), the press attaché at the Belgian embassy,
Bernard Quintin, said on 16 April.

"The medical material and a car carrier with 30 jeeps and trucks are for
the integrated brigade that Belgium is presently training in Kisangani,
Orientale Province," he said.

Belgian Defence Minister Andre Flahaut arrived in Kinshasa on 15 April to
help supervise the unloading of the consignment transported by the Belgian
naval ship, Godetia, to the DRC port of Matadi.

Close to 200 Belgian instructors are training 4,000 DRC troops for the
first brigade of the unified army that integrates the country's former
belligerents. Belgium, the former colonial power in the DRC, has
undertaken this task in an effort to support the pacification and
unification of the war-torn country. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40615 ]


DRC: ICC prosecutor receives Kabila letter on war crimes

President Joseph Kabila has written to the prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo, asking him to investigate
alleged wars crimes that may have been committed anywhere in the DRC.

In a statement issued from its headquarters in The Hague, the ICC said on
Monday that Kabila's letter refers Ocampo to the situation of crimes that
may have been committed in the DRC since the entry into force of the Rome
Statute on 1 July 2002.

"By means of this letter, the DRC asked the prosecutor to investigate in
order to determine if one or more persons should be charged with such
crimes, and the authorities committed to cooperate with the International
Criminal Court," the court reported.

It said after receiving several communications from individuals and NGOs,
Ocampo had in July 2003 announced that he would closely follow the
situation in the DRC, and that the situation would be a priority for his
office.

"Since then, the office has continued its work in analysing the situation
in the DRC, especially in Ituri," the court reported.

"In accordance with the Rome Statute, the prosecutor will now proceed to
determine whether there is a reasonable basis to initiate an investigation
in respect of the situation referred," it said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40655 ]


ROC: Corruption increasing poverty, NGOs say

Although corruption has always been a feature of Congolese life, the lack
of political will by the country's leaders to fight the phenomenon is now
causing a rise in levels of poverty, according to local NGOs.

"It is obvious that the majority of Congolese are hostages of the corrupt
minority," said Cephas Ewangui, president of the Congolese Federation of
Human Rights and of the Thomas Sankara Pan-African Association.

This perception is illustrated by a 2003 World Bank questionnaire survey
into poverty in the Republic of Congo. Of the 6,114 persons questioned,
5,981 said corruption and fraud constituted a major social ill in the
country. Top of the list of the most corrupt government departments is the
customs, followed in order by the police, the courts, teachers and town
councils, according to the survey. It said that there was also corruption
in giving public contracts.

The survey showed that the public was more concerned about corruption than
by low salaries and unemployment, and that the effects of corruption were
manifested in various ways. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40656 ]


CAR: Official explains UNDP's role in disarmament process

The UN Development Programme (UNDP), through its Small Arms and
Demobilisation Unit, Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, will
assist the government of the Central African Republic (CAR) to disarm,
demobilise and reintegrate former combatants, an official told IRIN.

UNDP Weapons and Ammunition Disposal Specialist Remi Vezina, who was on a
two-week mission to the CAR, said on 17 April that the UN agency's
assistance would be channelled through the government's project for
reintegrating former combatants and providing support to communities.

During his visit, Vézina met CAR government officials and explained the
processes and strategies of disarmament and reintegration of former
combatants through the project, which was approved in February. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40651 ]


BURUNDI: Rebel group vows to stop hostilities
 
At the end of a four-day meeting in the Tanzanian town of Kigoma, the
Burundian rebel Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) faction led by
Agathon Rwasa announced on Wednesday that it had decided to suspend
hostilities against the transitional government of Burundi.

"We have decided to stop fighting immediately, but if attacked we will
defend ourselves," Pasteur Habimana, the FNL spokesman, told IRIN on
Wednesday.

Reacting to the FNL announcement, Burundi's communication minister and
government spokesman, Onesime Nduwimana, told reporters on Thursday in the
capital, Bujumbura, that there would be no military offensive by
government forces if Rwasa's group stopped attacks.

Rwasa's group also said it had relaxed its stance regarding peace
negotiations with the government, but that such talks would not begin
before the international community listened to its grievances. The group
had previously refused to negotiate with the government of President
Domitien Ndayizeye, and before him that of President Pierre Buyoya. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40707 ]


BURUNDI: Meeting held to honour unsung heroes, heroines

A three-day meeting convened by the international NGO Search for Common
Ground opened on 16 April in Bujumbura to honour the nation's unsung
heroes and heroines: ordinary Burundians who risked their lives to save
others over the course of the country's decade-long civil war.

The NGO said these heroes and heroines comprised ordinary people from
different provinces, and of different religions and occupations. They
include farmers, priests and nuns, who all shared their extraordinary
courage during difficult times.

The minister in charge of mobilisation for peace and reconciliation,
Antoine Butoyi, who attended the meeting's inaugural ceremony, said the
existence of such heroes and heroines in countries torn by recurrent
ethnic violence was an indication that people could overcome their ethnic
differences and fight poverty, their common enemy.

The meeting is the first of its kind in Burundi. The heroes and heroines
were identified through a radio programme, "Inkingi y’ ubuntu", produced
by Studio Ijambo, during which the heroes and heroines, those they saved,
and their neighbours gave testimonies of their courage and humanity. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40619 ]

The meeting ended on 18 April, with Vice-President Alphonse-Marie Kadege
urging them to keep up the fight against injustices. "Your courage and
humanity can serve as an example to many," he said. "That is the reason
why you should go on so that we change our region."

The heroes and heroines left Bujumbura vowing continue their work to
foster peace and reconciliation. "The fact that so many people coexist
here and elsewhere gives us an additional courage to continue," one of
them told IRIN.


RWANDA: Bizimungu lawyer held for contempt of court

Proceedings in the trial of former Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu
were disrupted on Wednesday when his lawyer was arrested for contempt of
court.

A judge in the Kigali Court of First Instance ordered the lawyer,
Jean-Bosco Kazungu, to be jailed for 24 hours for causing "disruption and
failing to adhere to orders issued by the president of the court".

The trial for Bizimungu, who is facing treason charges, resumed on Monday
amid drama as a prosecution witness recanted his testimony, saying the
police had intimidated him into signing a statement claming that Bizimungu
was recruiting a private militia. The witness, Obed Nsigiyumva, 33,
disowned his testimony under cross-examination by Kazungu.

Bizimungu's trial opened in March, nearly one and a half years after his
detention. He is charged with threatening national security, attempting to
form a militia, being in illegal possession of firearms, and embezzlement
of US $100,000 that was meant for genocide orphans. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40693 ]


UGANDA: Museveni offers to negotiate with LRA rebels
 
President Yoweri Museveni repeated on 15 April an offer to negotiate with
the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who are fighting his government in
the north, but warned at the same time that military strikes against them
would continue.

Museveni, speaking on national television, said: "If they [the rebels]
indicate through intermediaries that they are willing to talk and assemble
in certain areas of southern Sudan, then I will order a ceasefire and give
them safe passage. Once assembled, they will be supplied with food,
clothing and medical supplies."

The proposal follows a similar offer made in April 2002 when Museveni told
the rebels they could surrender under amnesty. But this time he made it
clear that until they cooperated, military strikes against them would
continue.

"The day and night operations aimed at wiping out the terrorists will be
continued and will be intensified until every terrorist leader has been
accounted for or until the remnants of the terrorists come out from their
crime-laden way of existence," he said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40605 ]


UGANDA: Official rejects ICG report on northern crisis

Uganda has strongly denied allegations in a report by an international
think-tank that the war in the northern region is being manipulated to
bolster military capabilities to prop up President Yoweri Museveni's
regime.

The 41-page report, published on 14 April by the Brussels-based
International Crisis Group (ICG), accuses Museveni of using the war to
maintain close personal links between himself, the government and the
army, and of giving top government jobs to officers loyal to himself in
order to "protect [his] own power base".

A Ugandan official expressed fury over the report. "Rubbish is too good a
word for this report. I have no vocabulary to describe it," Maj Shaban
Bantariza, the Defence Ministry spokesman, told IRIN on Wednesday.

He also describe the report as an "insult" to the president and the army.
"These ones [ICG] are dealing in rumours," he said. "We have soldiers
losing their lives, people dying and living in IDP [internally displaced
persons] camps. Which kind of president deliberately allows this to
happen? This is just wrong."

According to the ICG, the conflict "provides a crisis environment that
enables the government to justify measures that would be unacceptable in
different circumstances, such as the continued presence of many former and
current army personnel within its ranks". It added that "this close nexus
between political and military considerations impedes sound policy". [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40678 ]


UGANDA: Sudanese militia vows to fight LRA rebels

A southern Sudanese militia has vowed to wage all-out war against Uganda's
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in apparent retaliation for LRA
attacks on civilians inside Sudan.

In a statement issued over the weekend, the Equatoria Defence Force (EDF),
a militia formerly allied to the LRA and the Sudanese government, promised
to "take the war against LRA rebels in south Sudan to all their
hide-outs".

"We shall smoke LRA rebels in their holes and they will be killed like
rats when they run out," Charles Kisanga, the EDF secretary-general, said
in a signed statement.

Kisanga asked Uganda to help his militia against the LRA. "EDF is
appealing to the Ugandan government to help us get rid of this brutal
terrorist guerrilla force," he said. "It has been years since UPDF
[Ugandan People's Defence Forces] started pursuing LRA in south Sudan, but
Uganda can rest assured that EDF has the capacity to do this job in a much
shorter time and at a lesser cost if we are afforded the facilities we
need to get the job done". [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40660 ]


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004


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