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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 168
10 - 16 January 2004


CONTENTS:

DRC-SOUTH AFRICA: Pretoria, Kinshasa sign US $10 billion accord
DRC: Belgium to send 190 military instructors
DRC: Hundreds of militiamen abandon forests
DRC: Elections possible in 2005, UN official says
DRC: Security Council okays unified brigade for Kisangani
CAR: Nonpayment of civil servants " violation of human rights", NGO says
CAR: Ex-presidential guards get five years in prison for gang-rape
CAR: NGOs agree to set up coordination team
CAR: Bozize sets up inter-ministerial polls team
RWANDA: Genocide survivors flee province over killings
BURUNDI: Donors pledge over US $1 billion for Bujumbura
BURUNDI: Fighting displaces 10,000 civilians
BURUNDI-TANZANIA: Marked increase in refugee returnee figures
UGANDA: Media outlets shut down over nonpayment of permit fees

ALSO SEE:

GREAT LAKES YEAR-ENDER - Prospects for peace increase as region moves into
2004 at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38831

KENYA: Bridging the reproductive health gap for girls in Nairobi slums at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38909

BURUNDI: Focus on rape at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38936


DRC-SOUTH AFRICA: Pretoria, Kinshasa sign US $10 billion accord

South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a bilateral
agreement worth US $10 billion dollars on Wednesday, covering the areas of
defence and security, the economy and finance, agriculture and
infrastructural development.

Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Joseph Kabila signed the deal
in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, at the end of Mbeki's first state
visit to the Congo. A joint commission of the two governments has been
tasked with implementing the agreement. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38969]


DRC: Belgium to send 190 military instructors

The Belgian government of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has authorised
the dispatch of 190 military advisers to the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC) to help build a new army, Belgian state radio and television,
RTBF, reported on 9 January.

"We've just given the go-ahead, we have not yet launched the operation
because at the moment we still lack what is known as the memorandum on
understanding," he said.

RTBF reported that the objective of the Belgian action was to help set up
a mixed brigade comprising representatives of the country's various
groups, including former rebels. The proposed force is to be deployed to
the northeastern town of Bunia, the principal town in the volatile Ituri
District, Orientale Province. A strengthened UN peacekeeping mission is
already deployed in Ituri.

Verhofstadt said the operation "was essential" for the success of the
peace process in the war-torn country. After years of effort in
successfully achieving a political settlement in the country, he said, it
was now time to create a single unified army. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38866]

A Belgian parliamentary delegation, led by Robert Denis, president of the
Belgian Parliamentary Defence Procurement Committee, arrived in the DRC
capital, Kinshasa, on 9 January for talks with government officials
concerning the 190 military instructors.

"Some of the military personnel who would form the team of instructors are
with us on this trip to find out what Belgium can to integrate the new
unified army," Denis told IRIN on Tuesday.


DRC: Hundreds of militiamen abandon forests

Hundreds of Mayi-Mayi militiamen have started leaving the country's dense
eastern forests and are assembling near Kindu, the largest city in Maniema
Province, officials said on Monday.

Officials of the UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, the government and
the Mayi-Mayi said the movement of the militiamen to assembly sites 15 km
from Kindu had picked up pace after the Mayi-Mayi leader, Kabambi Wa
Kabambi, left the forests over two months ago.

"They disarmed spontaneously, but most are hoping to be integrated into
the new army," Sylvain Belmambo, the vice-minister for veterans and
demobilisation, said.

He said the government was surprised at the large numbers that had been
coming out of hiding and had not taken measures to accommodate them. Some
700 Mayi-Mayi militiamen left the forests in November 2003, eager to
resume their civilian lives. The government has not yet determined quotas
for the various militia groups that will be selected for the new army.

"More than 1,500 of our fighters who were under the command of our leader
[Gen David] Padiri have left South Kivu and have joined another group at
Kindu," Marcel Mbunga, a former militia leader and now a member of the
national unity government, told IRIN on Monday. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38890]


DRC: Elections possible in 2005, UN official says

Despite delays in the legislature, general elections in the DRC could
still be held in 2005 in line with last year's all-inclusive peace
agreement that ended nearly five years of war there, a senior UN official
said on Monday.

"Most of the laws governing the conduct of elections [however] remain to
be enacted," William Swing, the head of MONUC, said.

He said the start of the electoral campaign, marking the end of
transitional rule, would depend on the government's programme and on
political goodwill. Swing's comments were reproduced in a communiqué MONUC
released on his meeting with the DRC's Parliamentary Committee on External
Relations, Defence and Security, in the presence of the visiting
parliamentary Belgian delegation.

He said the question of refugees and internally displaced people, the
presence of foreign armed groups in the DRC and the demobilisation of
local armed groups were obstacles that must be overcome if proper
elections were to be held. He described MONUC's mission as one to
encourage good governance, stabilise the region, organise democratic
elections, establish the rule of law and improve the people's quality of
life. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38912]

The Belgian delegation subsequently expressed concern that world powers
had not provided the government in Kinshasa the means with which to hold
successful democratic elections in 2005.

"I am concerned," Robert Denis, president of the Belgian Parliamentary
Defence Procurement Committee, told IRIN on Tuesday.


DRC: Security Council approves unified brigade for Kisangani

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Thursday
welcoming the formation of an integrated army brigade in Kisangani, the
main town in the northeastern province of Orientale.

In adopting the resolution, the council adjusted one of its prior demands
in order to allow the brigade to operate in the town "as a step towards
the formation of a Congolese national army".

In a statement, the council said that the resolution had been adopted
because its demand for the demilitarisation of Kisangani, contained in
another resolution it made in 2000, no longer applied to the DRC's
restructured and integrated forces since a government of national unity
and transition had been established.

The council said on Thursday it was encouraged by the progress achieved in
the DRC's peace process since the conclusion of the agreement signed in
Pretoria on 17 December 2002, and the subsequent establishment of the
government. It called upon the international community to provide more aid
for the integration and restructuring of the DRC army. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38963


CAR: Nonpayment of civil servants " violation of human rights", NGO says

A human rights organisation in the Central African Republic (CAR) has
expressed concern over a declaration on 7 January by Finance Minister
Mohamed Mahdi Marboua that the government was broke and could no longer
pay monthly salaries on time.

"The nonpayment of civil servants' salaries is a violation of human
rights," Lambert Zokoezo, chairman of the Observatoire Centrafricain des
Droits de l'Homme (OCDH), said.

He described Marboua's declaration, which was broadcast by state-owned
Television Centrafricaine, as "a provocation of the population that would
lead to dramatic consequences". Radio Centrafrique reported on 10 January
that after Marboua's declaration, representatives of the civil servants
had met the following day with the directors of three local banks and
reached an arrangement for the payment of salaries this week.

Reacting to Marboua's declaration, Bangui Roman Catholic Archbishop Paulin
Pomodimo urged Bozize to "find a rapid settlement to the salary issue".

Radio Centrafrique quoted him as saying on 10 January, "There may never be
social peace if civil servants keep waiting indefinitely for their
salaries," [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38862]


CAR: Ex-presidential guards get five years in prison for gang-rape

The CAR's permanent military tribunal has sentenced five former
presidential guards to five years' imprisonment for gang-raping a woman on
28 October 2003 in the capital, Bangui, state-owned Radio Centrafrique
reported on 10 January.

The rape was perpetrated at a barracks of the presidential intelligence
unit known as the Section d'Enquete, de Recherche et de Documentation,
which was later disbanded.

Reports of the gang-rape followed a series of other human right
violations, including killings allegedly committed by soldiers and
mercenaries said to be of Chadian origin. Human rights organisations and
some political parties have called for the repatriation of the mercenaries
and for the trial of those accused of crimes. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38859]


CAR: NGOs agree to set up coordination team

Some 200 NGOs in the CAR have agreed to set up a team to coordinate all
activities undertaken by their organisations, an official told IRIN on 10
January.

The decision to form the team was made at the end of a meeting of the
NGOs, dubbed the "social forum", held from 6 to 9 January in Bangui.

"The forum adopted a declaration creating a coordinating body and called
for a general assembly of civil society to elect the executive board,"
said Zokoezo, the chairman of the forum, who is also OCDH chairman.

He said that the coordination of all interests had become urgent to enable
civil society to engage in the drafting of a new CAR constitution, the
revision of the electoral code and in the organisation of elections due
later this year.

Zokoezo said the coordinating body would include federations of labour
unions, women's non-political organisations, youth and religious
organisations as well as farmers' cooperatives. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38861]


CAR: Bozize sets up inter-ministerial polls team

An eight-member inter-ministerial committee has been set up in the CAR to
usher in democracy to the country before January 2005.

The minister in charge of the government's secretariat, Zarambeaud
Assingambi, announced on Monday on state-owned Radio Centrafrique that
Prime Minister Celestin Gaombalet would head the committee, appointed by
the CAR leader, Francois Bozize.

The committee comprises Gaombalet, Assingambi, Interior Minister Marcel
Malonga, Justice Minister Hiancythe Wodobode, Public Security Junior
Minister Jules Wande, Public Transport and Civil Aviation Junior Minister
Desire Pendemo and Public Service Minister Jacques Boti.

This committee's appointment ended uncertainty over the electoral
calendar, weeks after a committee formed to oversee the implementation of
recommendations made during the national reconciliation forum in 2003
announced that the last poll would take place in April 2005. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38894]


RWANDA: Genocide survivors flee province over killings

Several genocide survivors have fled the southwestern province of
Gikongoro for fear of becoming targets of killings that have rocked the
area lately, a government bi-weekly newspaper, The New Times, reported on
Monday.

It quoted a member of the Senate, Stanley Safari, as saying seven
survivors of the 1994 genocide had sought refugee in other parts of the
country due to intimidation and murder attempts.

"This is a clear indication of lack of prevention of the crime in the
province," Safari was quoted as saying. "It is appalling that even now
people are being hunted down to be killed."

Four genocide survivors were reported to have been killed in Gikongoro in
December 2003 by an alleged a gang of genocide suspects in order to
prevent the survivors from testifying in the Gacaca justice system,
introduced in the country in 2001. However, Prime Minister Bernard Makuza
told the senators last week that the security organs had arrested 25
suspects in connection with the killings, and that some of them would be
charged in court before the end of January. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38863]


BURUNDI: Donors pledge over US $1 billion for Bujumbura

Donors have pledged €810 million (US $1.03 billion) to fund the
reconstruction of Burundi over three years, the Belgian minister for
cooperation and development, Marc Verwilghen, announced on Thursday at the
end of the fourth "Forum of Partners for Development in Burundi".

Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye, who was accompanied by seven
ministers to the forum, held in Brussels under the auspices of the UN
Development Programme and the Belgian government, expressed satisfaction,
saying, "Donors have understood our needs. It's a note of hope for
Burundians and for the whole region."

The Burundian aid requests, amounting to $1.6 billion, were divided into:
the alleviation of the multilateral debt ($942 million), the programme of
rehabilitation of returnees ($608 million), the national programme for
reinforcing good governance ($65 million) and the reforms of the defence
and security forces ($80 million). Of the total funds pledged, the EU
promised $279 million, the World Bank $140 million, the US $135 million,
the UK $50 million, Germany $46.2 million and Belgium $44.6 million. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38935]


BURUNDI: Fighting displaces 10,000 civilians

About 10,000 civilians have been displaced in the latest round of fighting
between the army and the rebel Forces nationale de liberation loyal to
Agathon Rwasa in Bujumbura Rural Province.

"Some 2,000 families had left their villages and sought refuge at Isale
[town], but only one-third are still there," Severin Bagorikunda, the
interim administrator of Isale Commune, told IRIN on Wednesday.

The fighting had taken place on Monday and Thursday in Isale, Bagorikunda
said. Those who had fled on Thursday were mainly from Nyabibande and
Caranka areas, he said, while those who were displaced on Monday were from
Nyarumpongo and Cirisha areas in Bujumbura Rural.

"It is a continuous movement of the population, some return home as others
flee," he added.

Bagorikunda said that it was difficult to assess the situation as sporadic fighting continued in the commune. So far, the displaced have not received any aid. However, local administrative officials said they had made appeals for aid.

"They do not only need emergency food aid but assistance for the whole
agricultural season as all their harvest was looted," Bagorikunda said.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38921]


BURUNDI-TANZANIA: Marked increase in refugee returnee figures

At least 6,000 Burundian refugees left camps in western Tanzania for home
in December 2003, indicating increasing confidence in Burundi's peace
process and a possible beginning of a large-scale repatriation, aid
workers told IRIN on Wednesday.

"There seems to be a steady stream [of returnees], and if more crossing
points are opened up it looks like the numbers will increase," said Jesse
Kamstra, the project coordinator for the Tanganyika Christian Refugee
Service, an organisation managing refugee camps in Kigoma Region's Kibondo
District in the northwest.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) transported
registered returnees into Burundi through crossing points in Kibondo and
Ngara districts.

Refugees in camps farther south in Kasulu and Kigoma regions organised
their own journeys home, because UNHCR was said to be awaiting the
completion of a security assessment in southeastern Burundi before opening
more crossing points, officials said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38925]


UGANDA: Media outlets shut down over nonpayment of permit fees

The authorities on 8 January shut down a privately owned television
station and four radio stations in the capital, Kampala, over nonpayment
of permit fees, according to the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders
(RSF).

The Broadcasting Council, which regulates TV and radio, had seized the
transmitters of Top TV and Kampala African Radio, Mama FM, Kampala FM and
Top Radio, said RSF. "It is reasonable for a government to get private
media to pay for a permit, but this does not justify the wave of closures
that has started," it commented in a statement.

"Most of the media involved are not commercial and do not have the means
to pay the tax imposed on them. The authorities should show more
flexibility and find a compromise that will not bring about the demise of
half of the country's private radio stations," it went on to say.

Private radio stations are supposed to pay an annual state tax of three
million shillings (about €1,300). Dennis Lukaaya, spokesman for the
Broadcasting Council, said almost half the estimated 100 radio stations
and three TV stations operating in Uganda had not paid for their permits.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38830]


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