U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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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 256
4 - 10 December 2004


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Demobilisation phase launched, targeting 650 children
CAR: Referendum held, constitutional court members appointed
CAR: Court acquits ex-premier of corruption charges
GREAT LAKES: African Union to help in disarming militias
GREAT LAKES: DRC absent from tripartite meeting to
easy regional tensions
DRC: Humanitarian crisis is the world's deadliest, IRC says
DRC: UN troops break up militia camp in Ituri
CONGO: ADB approves clearance of 33 percent of Congo's arrears


ALSO SEE:

BURUNDI: Landmines keep killing two years after ceasefire
Full report


BURUNDI: Demobilisation phase launched, targeting 650 children

At least 650 children in Burundi are due to be freed from military service 
by 14 December, following the launch on Monday of a second demobilisation 
phase by the National Structure for the Demobilisation and Reintegration 
of Child Soldiers, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported.

It said these were children in the ranks of the six-armed movements and 
political parties that had signed ceasefire agreements with the government 
of Burundi.

UNICEF is supporting the national structure for the demobilisation and 
reintegration of child soldiers. UNICEF said since the launch of this 
demobilisation effort on 23 January, the national demobilisation body had 
reintegrated 2,261 children with their families and communities.

Full report


CAR: Referendum held, constitutional court members appointed

Citizens of the Central African Republic (CAR) went to the polls on 5 
December to vote for a post-transition constitution, a day after President 
Francois Bozize appointed members of the country's Transitional 
Constitutional Court. The result of the referendum, in which 1.5 million 
voters took part, will be known in a week.

Full report


CAR: Court acquits ex-premier of corruption charges

A court of appeals in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic 
(CAR), acquitted former Prime Minister Jean-Edouard Koyambounou of 
corruption on Tuesday, after a jury found the prosecution's evidence 
inadequate to support the charges.

Prosecutor Sylvain Nzas had accused Koyambounou, who served as prime 
minister under former President Ange-Felix Patasse, of embezzling $106,000 
of public funds. He was detained for 16 months at the Ngaragba Prison.

Full report


GREAT LAKES: African Union to help in disarming militias

With Rwanda threatening to send its army, once more, into the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo (DRC) to disarm Rwanda rebels operating from there, 
the African Union's (AU's) Peace and Security Council announced on Tuesday 
that it would seek a greater role in helping with disarmament. At the same 
time, the AU asked Kigali to desist from any unilateral action.

"The AU must commit itself to getting involved in the demilitarisation and 
disarmament of these genocidal forces," Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopia's minister 
of foreign affairs, said at the end of a three-hour emergency session at 
the organisation's headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia holds the December presidency, which rotates between members 
monthly, of the AU council. It consists of foreign ministers of 15 African 
countries.

In late November, Rwandan President Paul Kagame announced that his troops 
would enter eastern DRC to hunt down the Rwandan Hutu rebels who carried 
out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and who continue to threaten Rwanda's 
security. The DRC responded by saying its troops would fight off any 
invasion.

Full report

In bid calm tempers, the Great Lakes Parliamentary Forum on Peace urged 
both countries on Saturday to discuss their differences. The forum - also 
known as AMANI, the Swahili word for peace, had held a one-day meeting in 
Arusha, Tanzania, during which it said Congolese and Rwandan legislators 
should meet, "hopefully before March", to settle the issue of disarming 
the Rwandan militias.

The 12-member AMANI forum comprises legislators from Burundi, Kenya, 
Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Legislators from the DRC were invited 
as observers.

Full report


GREAT LAKES: DRC absent from tripartite meeting to ease regional tensions

The DRC effectively cancelled a high-level inter-government meeting 
scheduled for Thursday with Rwanda and Uganda to develop mechanisms by 
which they could peacefully work out their differences and ensure the 
security of their respective borders.

"Before talks can be held we insist that Rwandan troops withdraw from our 
territory," Simon Tshitenge, Congo's deputy minister for information, told 
IRIN in Kinshasa.

"Our county is at war. This is not the moment for us to leave it," he 
added.

DRC, Rwanda and Uganda had signed a tripartite security agreement in 
October, which would put in place a commission to deal with diplomatic and 
security issues.

Full report


DRC: Humanitarian crisis is the world's deadliest, IRC says

At least 31,000 people die each month as a result of conflict in the DRC, 
the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said on Thursday on releasing the 
results of a nationwide mortality survey.

"Eighteen months after the signing of a formal peace agreement, people in 
DR Congo continue to die at a rate that is one-third higher than the 
average rate for sub-Saharan Africa," IRC said.

The IRC survey, covering January 2003 to April 2004, measured mortality 
among nearly 58 million people, representing at least 90 percent of the 
Congolese population. IRC said an estimated five million people were 
inaccessible due to security problems.

Full report


DRC: UN troops break up militia camp in Ituri

UN troops shut down a militia camp on Thursday in the embattled 
northeastern district of Ituri in DRC, a UN official said on Thursday.

Christophe Boulierac, a spokesman of the UN Mission in the DRC, known as 
MONUC, said the militia camp was near a transit demobilisation centre that 
had been set up in the town of Mahagi, to receive fighters from the Forces 
armees du peuple Congolais militia group.

"The operation aimed to force the militiamen out of the camp because they 
were a threat to demobilised soldiers whom they threatened with death," 
Boulierac said.

MONUC broke up the camp early on Thursday. It subsequently discovered 15 
AK-47 rifles, a rocket, munitions and some documents.

Full report


CONGO: ADB approves clearance of 33 percent of Congo's arrears

The African Development Bank has approved a grant of $50 million to clear 
35 percent of arrears owed to it by the Republic of Congo (ROC), the bank 
reported on Wednesday. It said the nation's arrears to the bank amounted 
to $150 million at the end of 2003.

In a statement, the bank said the grant would facilitate the "rapid 
resumption" of its aid to the country, in conjunction with international 
financial institutions and the donor community. The bank said this 
intervention lay within the framework of its new aid to post-conflict 
countries, approved on 19 July 2004.

The bank added that ROC had fulfilled the conditions required to qualify 
for an arrears-clearance programme under the bank's framework for 
post-conflict countries.

Full report


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