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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 237
24 - 30 July 2004


CONTENTS:

DRC: Relief agencies gear up to help newly displaced
DRC: International Criminal Court launches first investigation
DRC-RWANDA: UNHCR repatriates second-generation immigrants
BURUNDI: Political progress made, peace mediator Zuma says
CAR: Government gets post-conflict aid of US $8.5 million


DRC: Relief agencies gear up to help newly displaced

Relief agencies are again gearing up to deliver urgently needed aid to
thousands of people displaced by a resurgence of fighting between
dissident and loyalist government troops in eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC), a UN official told IRIN on Friday.

"They are in a precarious position," Jean-Marc Cordaro, the official, said
about the displaced.

Cordaro, who heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) in the Bukavu, South Kivu Province, said OCHA, the UN's
Children's Fund, the World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture
Organization, as well as the NGOs International Rescue Committee and
Malteser would deliver food aid, non-food items and water. They would also
provide health care and sanitation to the displaced, he added.

The fighting between loyalist forces and the dissidents loyal to Gen
Laurent Nkunda resumed two weeks ago. Fighting is concentrated in the area
north of the town of Kalehe, and has sent two groups of people fleeing in
different directions.

Cordaro said 30,000 people from villages close to Kalehe had sought refuge
in and around the town, and on the banks of Lake Kivu, and that UN
agencies and their humanitarian partners were ready to start providing
relief.

Meanwhile, he said, the second wave of displaced persons, mostly
Kinyarwanda-speaking residents of the area, had fled from Kalehe north to
the high plateau towns of Numbi, Shanje, and Chebumba. They are to be
cared for by OCHA's office in Goma.


DRC: International Criminal Court launches first investigation

Investigators from the International Criminal Court have arrived in the
DRC to begin their first probe into allegations of serious violations of
international law in the country over the last two years, UN spokeswoman
Marie Okabe said on Tuesday.

The investigators are expected to hold closed door meetings with
representatives of the Congolese government, civil society, as well as
international organizations, she told reporters in New York.

The Court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, also said on 23 June
that the Court would begin by looking into the crimes that had allegedly
been committed in the Congo since 1 July 2002.

In September 2003, Moreno-Ocampo said there were connections between
crimes committed in Congo's northeastern district of Ituri and businesses
operating in Europe, Asia and North America. He pledged to investigate the
matter to determine the level of involvement of these businesses in
commissioning crimes.

"The investigation of the financial aspects of the atrocities allegedly
committed in Ituri will be crucial to prevent future crimes and for the
prosecution of crimes already committed," he said.

He added that the investigation might "contribute to the ongoing peace
process and ultimately yield stability for the DRC, fostering not just
political stability but also healthy markets".[Full story on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42403 ]

In addition, the UN has appointed Burkinabe lawyer Titinga Pacere to
report on the human rights situation in the DRC, UN News reported on
Wednesday. He will work independently of any government and will report to
the UN Human Rights Commission and, in some cases, directly to the UN
General Assembly. [Full story on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42406 ]


DRC-RWANDA: UNHCR repatriates second-generation immigrants

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has repatriated 283 people to Rwanda in a
case involving second-generation Rwandan immigrants living in the eastern
Democratic Republic of the Congo town of Kalehe, a UNHCR official told
IRIN on Tuesday.

The refugees claimed that Congolese military and local officials had
rounded them up from their homes in Kalehe and detained them in a military
camp in Bunyakiri, tortured and raped some girls before forcefully
expelling them into neighbouring Rwanda, said Mussa Fazil Harerimana, the
governor of Cyagungu, a Rwandan town that shares the border with the
Congolese town of Bukavu.

However, an official of the UNHCR told IRIN on Tuesday, "None of the
people told us that they were tortured". [Full story on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42390 ]


BURUNDI: Political progress made, peace mediator Zuma says

After two days of consultations with Burundian political parties, South
Africa's deputy president and mediator in Burundi's crisis, Jacob Zuma,
said on Tuesday that except for "two outstanding issues", a draft
agreement reached in Pretoria last week was ready for implementation.

The agreement is meant to serve as the basis for the country's new
constitution. Burundi's transitional period leading to democratic rule is
set to end on 1 November but, so far, neither the constitution nor other
legal documents have been adopted.

One outstanding issue is whether the Tutsi-dominated parties could take
control of 40 percent of the national assembly and 40 percent of
ministerial posts. The other issue is the post of vice-president.


UPRONA (the Parti de l'unite pour le Progres National) and other
Tutsi-dominated parties had rejected the agreement reached in Pretoria
saying Zuma had privileged the interests of the Hutu-dominated parties
known as the G-7.

[FULL STORY ON http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42415 ]


CAR: Government gets post-conflict aid of US $8.5 million

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have approved US $8.5
million in post-conflict emergency aid to the Central African Republic,
the first such aid since the October 2002 rebellion.

The government will be able to use part of the money to correct what the
Fund calls "the disturbing situation in the social sectors".

The grant will also be used to "stabilise the macroeconomic situation,
support the ongoing reform process, and catalyse external assistance".
More than one-third of the grant will go to paying off government debts.
Some $6 million will be spent on social-related expenditures, particularly
health and education, according to report by the state-owned Radio
Centrafrique.

[FULL STORY ON http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42393 ]


[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
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