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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 242
28 August - 3 September 2004


CONTENTS:

DRC: Former rebel group rejoins government
DRC: Disarmament programme launched in Ituri
DRC: South Africa's electoral body to help Congo with poll
BURUNDI-DRC: Border still closed
BURUNDI: UN report suggests Congolese groups involved in killings
BURUNDI: Parliament creates electoral commission
CAR-DRC: Agreement sealed to repatriate 10,000 refugees
CAR: Commission lays out electoral timetable
RWANDA: UN tribunal asks for contributions
UGANDA: Group says rebels ready to talk
TANZANIA: Free drugs for HIV/AIDS patients


ALSO SEE: DRC: INTERVIEW with rebel general Laurent Nkunda
ALSO SEE: BURUNDI: Uphill task as election deadline nears
   [http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42961 ]


DRC: Former rebel group rejoins government

A rebel leader-turned-vice-president in the Democratic Republic of Congo
announced on Wednesday that his party had rejoined the country's
transitional government.

Azarias Ruberwa suspended the participation of the Rassemblement Congolais
pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) in the governing coalition on 23 August
because, he said, the peace process had broken down.
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42813

However, he said, after a meeting with key party members they decided to
end the suspension because "many impediments" to the transition process
had been removed and guarantees had been given.

[Full item on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42994]


DRC: Disarmament programme launched in Ituri

A government-approved disarmament programme for some 15,000 ex-combatants
in the DRC's Ituri District, and for their reintegration into civilian
life was officially launched on Wednesday in Bunia, the main town in the
area.

The US $10.5-million programme will be carried out at five transit sites
at Mahagi, Kpwandroma, Kasenyi, Iga Barriere/Nizi and Aveba. The camps are
to open on 13 September.

[Full item on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42982]


DRC: South Africa's electoral body to help Congo with poll

South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) announced on
Wednesday it would help prepare the ground for the DRC's general election,
due in July 2005, provided similar bodies in the region contributed to the
effort.

IEC Commissioner Thoko Mpumlwana told IRIN that a team from the IEC had
spent two weeks in the DRC assessing ways to provide help. Preparing for
the ballot is expected to present a daunting challenge to election
officials, given the logistical arrangements needed to cover one of the
largest countries in Africa.

[Full item on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42974]

The IEC's announcement came a day after South African President Thabo
Mbeki ended a two-day visit to the DRC by signing a series of agreements
ranging from health matters to defence. The agreements also covered
economic cooperation; the reciprocal protection and promotion of
investment; cooperation in public administration and a protocol on regular
diplomatic consultation, according to a joint communique issued by the
South African Department of Foreign Affairs.

[Full item on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42969]


BUR-DRC: Border still closed

After briefly reopening the border with Burundi on Saturday, the DRC
closed it again the next day for "security reasons". This closure was the
second in three days, Eliane Nabaa, spokeswoman for the UN Mission in the
DRC, MONUC, told IRIN on Monday.

Security along the volatile DRC-Burundi border was stepped up following
the 13 August killing of some 160 Congolese refugees in a UN transit camp
at Gatumba, 16 km northwest of the capital, Bujumbura.

[Full item on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42922]

On the Net: BURUNDI: Parliament creates electoral commission
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42908]


BURUNDI-DRC: UN report suggests DRC groups involved in Burundi massacre

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has cited evidence that a Burundian rebel
group acted in consort with armed groups from neighbouring DRC when it
carried out a massacre of refugees at Gatumba on the Burundian side of the
border.

Annan said in his first report on the UN Operation in Burundi:
"Eyewitnesses reported to ONUB that FNL [the rebel Forces nationales de
liberation] had actually attacked a nearby FAB (Burundi Armed Forces)
base, while Congolese Mayi-Mayi and FDLR (Rwandan [Hutu]
ex-FAR/Interahamwe) elements carried out the Gatumba massacre."

He said the attackers appeared to target refugees who were Tutsis from the
DRC, known as the Banyamulenge, "while refugees of other ethnic groups and
repatriated Burundians were left unharmed". He also said the FDLR denied
any involvement in the attack.

[Full item on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42960]


BURUNDI: Parliament creates electoral commission

Burundi's Senate, the upper chamber of parliament, approved a bill on
Wednesday creating an electoral commission. The law now only needs to be
signed by the head of state before the five commissioners, drawn from
various ethnic groups of regions, can begin work.

The Senate's approval came a day after the National Assembly, the lower
chamber of parliament, cleared the bill. The commission would conduct
general elections due before 1 November. The assembly also voted in a law
creating a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

[Full item on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42971]


CAR-DRC:  Some 10,000 DRC refugees to be repatriated

Some 10,000 refugees from the DRC who have been living in the Central
African Republic (CAR) are due to be repatriated following the signing of
an agreement between the two countries and the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees.

The refugee agency reported on Tuesday that the agreement, signed on 26
August in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, provides a legal framework for the
voluntary repatriation of the refugees. They fled the DRC's northwestern
province of Equateur during fighting between 1998 and 2002.

The agency said the operation is due to begin before the end of 2004.

[Full item on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42957 ]


CAR: Commission lays out electoral timetable

A new, democratically elected government will be installed in the CAR by
March 2005, the chairman of the country's electoral commission, Jean
Willibiro-Sako, said on Saturday at a news conference.

He said in Bangui, the capital, that parliamentary and presidential
elections would take place in early January 2005. A referendum on a
proposed constitution is scheduled for 28 November and its outcome will be
announced 15 days later.

[Full item on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42916 ]


RWANDA: UN tribunal asks for contributions

Unless adequately funded, the UN International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda would not be able to meet its target - set by the UN Security
Council - of completing all trials by 2008, the tribunal said in an annual
report.

The report, submitted to the UN Security Council by ICTR President Erik
Mose, said the tribunal recently had to freeze recruitment because some UN
member states had failed to pay their dues.

Since its inception, the tribunal has handed down 17 judgments in cases
that involved 23 suspects, three of whom were acquitted. Trials for 21
suspects are currently in progress. Five of them - involving 11 accused
persons - started since July 2003. The ICTR said it expected to complete
these trials by 2005-06.

[Full item on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42991 ]


UGANDA: Group says rebels ready to talk

Representatives of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have said that the
Ugandan rebel group is "keen to talk" with the government, according to a
team that met a rebel delegation on Monday in the northern district of
Gulu.

"We managed to meet three LRA rebel commanders, who said they all wanted
peace talks," said Joseph Ocwet, who led a mission sent by the UK-based
charity, Africa Relief Trust, to Gulu to meet the rebels. "The talks were
successful."

"They told us that we could start talks in a week's time depending on the
response from the government and after their consultations with senior
rebel commanders," added Ocwet, who is also Uganda's ambassador to the
African Union. "They told us that LRA leader Joseph Kony was willing to
take part in the talks, but at a later date because he will not be
available next week."

[Full item on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42940]


TANZANIA: Free drugs for HIV/AIDS patients

Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa announced on Tuesday that the
government would start distributing anti-retroviral drugs free to HIV/AIDS
patients in October.

"There is no cure for AIDS yet, these drugs can only prolong lives," Mkapa
said in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

He was speaking the signing of an US $87.9-million grant from the Global
Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. He said at least two million
Tanzanians were infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

[Full item
on http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42943]


[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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