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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 240
16 - 20 August 2004


CONTENTS:

Great Lakes: Risk of renewed fighting follows massacre of Tutsi refugees
Burundi: Regional leaders spurn rebels and call for elections
DRC: Thousands of IDPs stranded at Bunia airport camp
CAR-DRC: Border may reopen soon
UGANDA: Insecurity, poverty leaves children vulnerable to military
   recruitment - UNICEF


Great Lakes: Risk of renewed fighting follows massacre of Tutsi refugees

The UN Security Council called on Sunday for a probe into the massacre on
13 August of about 160 Banyamulenge - Congolese Tutsis - at a camp in
Burundi. Another 100 people were injured in the attack on the Gatumba
camp, nine km from the capital, Bujumbura, and less than one km from the
border with Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

A Burundian rebel group claimed responsibility for the massacre, but
according to various reports, the perpetrators also included Congolese and
Rwandan Hutu militiamen, known as Interahamwe, blamed for most of the
killings during Rwanda's genocide in 1994.

Following the massacre, a renegade commander of the DRC's army, Gen
Laurent Nkunda, vowed to rally his forces and resume fighting in the
war-torn region of Kivu in eastern DRC. Nkunda and another military
officer had taken over Bukavu, one of Kivu's main towns, in late May and
early June, claiming that the Banyamulenge there were being victimised.
The insurgents later withdrew from Bukavu, prompting many Banyamulenge to
flee to neighbouring Burundi for fear of reprisals.

Nkunda, himself a Munyamulenge, told IRIN Friday's massacre was "planned
genocide" and that he would take military action unless the Congolese
government arrested the "Hutu rebels" who were responsible. "We cannot
wait to be exterminated," he said, speaking from his base near Goma,
another town in Kivu.

Burundian armed forces were also reportedly massing on the border. "DRC
attacked our country and we will not wait until a second massacre takes
place," Burundi's army chief of staff said at a news conference on
Tuesday.

The Gatumba massacre has also raised questions about the location of the
camp since it is an international principle that refugee camps should be
at least 50 km from the border of the refugees' country of origin. A UNHCR
public information officer told IRIN the agency had been pressuring the
Burundian government to relocate the refugees since they arrived in June.
However, the government argued that Gatumba was just a transit camp. The
relocation was finally approved on Monday, three days after the massacre.

[For more information go to:

BURUNDI: Refugees protest lack of protection but who is to blame? http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42763

BURUNDI: Leaders back region's move on rebel group
http://www.irinnews.org/report. asp?ReportID=42754

GREAT LAKES: Threat of renewed war following Burundi massacre
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42737

BURUNDI: Grief and anger at mass burial of massacre victims
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42713

GREAT LAKES: Rwanda threatens action in DRC over Burundi massacre http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42684

BURUNDI: Security Council calls for probe of massacre
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42678 ]


Burundi: Regional leaders spurn rebels and call for elections

The one rebel movement still fighting in Burundi's civil war was declared
a terrorist group on Wednesday at a one-day summit of regional heads of
state. The leaders also ratified a timetable for Burundi's elections to be
held before 1 November.

The leaders vowed to act "decisively" against the rebel Forces nationales
de liberation (FNL) led by Agathon Rwasa, which has claimed responsibility
for last week's massacre of 160 Congolese refugees in Burundi.

"We're going to take action provided for by protocols governing terrorism
both nationally and internationally and act decisively against the group,"
Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa told a news conference at the end of
the summit on Burundi in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

Full story: [http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42746 ]


DRC: Thousands of IDPs stranded at Bunia airport camp

More than a year after inter-militia fighting in Ituri district in
northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo sent thousands of residents
fleeing for their lives, many are still holed up in an internally
displaced persons' (IDPs) camp near the airport of Bunia, the main town in
the district.

The displaced mostly come from Bunia or from the territory of Djugu, north
of the town. "They number around 13,000 today, as opposed to 15,000 in
April 2003," Modibo Traore, of the UN Office for Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Bunia, told IRIN. They had fled fighting
between several militias in the district.

Militiamen continue squatting in houses owned by civilians, said Traore.
"The situation is precarious. Most [IDPs] come from the neighbourhood of
Muzipela, which is under the control of UPC [Union des patriotes
Congolais] militiamen."  Some IDPs spend the day in town, but return to
the camp at night because of insecurity.

Full story: [http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42688 ]


CAR-DRC: Border may reopen soon

Officials from the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC) met in the CAR capital, Bangui, on Wednesday
to discuss the re-opening of their countries' common border. Authorities
in the DRC have already authorised crossings three times a week and are
hopeful that CAR authorities will soon reciprocate.

CAR's ministers for security and interior as well as the army chief of
staff, met with the DRC delegation. The special representative of the UN
Secretary-General in the CAR, Lamine Cisse, also attended.

"A joint committee CAR-DRC is working on the modalities of re-opening the
border," Yves Mobango-Yogo, leader of the DRC delegation and governor of
the province of Equateur, said. "We have the assurance that the border
will be re-opened soon."

Full story: [http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42772 ]


UGANDA: Insecurity, poverty leaves children vulnerable to military
recruitment - UNICEF

Insecurity and widespread poverty caused by an 18-year warfare pitting
government forces against insurgents in northern Uganda has made desperate
children vulnerable to recruitment as rebel fighters, the UN Children's
Fund (UNICEF) said.

UNICEF's protection officer in Gulu, Rebecca Symington, told IRIN that
many of children saw fighting as a form of employment and saw the carrying
of arms as the only way to protect themselves and others.

"We have discussed with the UPDF [Ugandan army] but we found out that the
children are reluctant to give up the trade to the extent of refusing to
give their actual age when we visit," Symington added. She said the
children were in need of money since some of them had dropped out of
school because they could not raise school fees.

Full story: [http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42730 ]


[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004


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