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[The weekly roundup is based on IRIN daily updates and other relevant information from UN agencies, NGOs, governments, donors and the media. IRIN issues these reports for the benefit of the humanitarian community, but accepts no responsibility as to the accuracy of the original sources.]
Central and Eastern Africa: IRIN Weekly Round-up 22-98 covering the period 22-28 May 1998
UGANDA: DRC warns Kampala to stop "interfering"
In a sign of deteriorating relations with its erstwhile ally, the Democratic Republic of Congo warned Uganda to stop interfering in its internal affairs, the Agence congolaise de presse reported. Addressing a news conference last Friday, Economy Minister Victor Mpoyo accused President Yoweri Museveni of insulting his DRC counterpart Laurent-Desire Kabila. Mpoyo advised Museveni to "take care of affairs in his own country". "There are no regional leaders," he said. "Each country has its own leader and therefore we don't want Museveni to denigrate our head of state." Museveni was among several presidents who failed to attend a regional summit in Kinshasa, which was later cancelled. Uganda has accused DRC of failing to stop rebel activity and incursions into neighbouring countries.
The state-owned 'New Vision' this week reported Museveni would respond to the allegations. His press secretary Hope Kivengere was quoted as saying the government would not engage in a press war over the issue which would be tackled at presidential level.
Army confirms major LRA offensive in north
Ugandan army chief-of-staff Brigadier James Kazini has confirmed a major incursion by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army into northern Uganda, led by Joseph Kony from his base in south Sudan. Kazini told AFP on Monday some 23 rebels were killed in a gunbattle with the army on Friday in Gulu district. He said he believed large numbers of rebels had crossed over from Sudan because they feared they were likely to lose Khartoum's support. "Now we are normalising relations with Sudan, I think Kony suspects that they might change their attitude towards him," Kazini said.
LRA rebels attack health centre, expand sphere of operation
LRA rebels last week attacked a Catholic health centre at Orungo in Soroti district, eastern Uganda, looting drugs worth 6 million Ugandan shillings, the 'New Vision' reported last Friday. They also abducted eight people, including a 10 year-old girl. Eyewitnesses said hundreds of rebels entered from Lira district. They left a letter with a nun at the health centre inviting the people and a reporter to meet them. The army later said some 200 rebels were on the run and the situation was under control. News reports point out this was the first time rebels had spread out so far east from their northern hideouts.
Rebels trapped on two fronts
On Wednesday, the 'New Vision' said LRA rebels were trapped on two fronts by Ugandan troops. It cited security sources as saying Ugandan forces counter-attacked in the Lira district, surrounding the rebels in the Apala and Olilim areas. The trapped rebels are believed to be led by LRA second-in-command Vincent Otti Lagony.
Rebels refuse to link schoolgirl releases to freeing of Sudanese POWs
LRA rebels have rejected demands by President Yoweri Museveni to free 21 schoolgirls abducted from Uganda's northern Lira district in 1995. According to the 'New Vision' on Monday, an LRA press release said any attempt to rescue the girls by force would result in their death. Uganda last week released 42 of 114 Sudanese prisoners "as a goodwill gesture". The LRA press release said the rebels would free the girls "at the right time".
Interahamwe attack Ugandan villages
The 'New Vision' also reported that Rwandan Interahamwe militiamen attacked villages in Kisoro county, southwest Uganda, last Thursday looting and destroying property. Local officials said the rebels threatened residents, sending them fleeing in panic. Four unarmed Interahamwe members were arrested by Mganinga Park wardens and are being interrogated. According to a local official, the attackers "are not killers, they are after property".
RWANDA: Government resettling villagers in northwest
Government officials have begun resettling thousands of villagers displaced by war in northwest Rwanda, the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) reported. It quoted Rwandan radio as saying food items and farming implements were distributed to about 20,000 internally displaced residents in Ruhengeri prefecture. On Monday, local officials launched a campaign urging residents to maintain security in their communes. The following day, some 30,000 people from the prefecture gathered at Kigombe soccer stadium to take part in festivities aimed at depicting the negative effects of war, RNA said. Interior Minister Abdul Kharim Harelimana urged residents to desist from supporting insurgents and to denounce anyone collaborating with them. "Let this week be a week of restoring security in Ruhengeri," he said.
WFP to provide food aid to northwest
In its latest weekly report, WFP said it had carried out initial assessments after the government requested food assistance for 95,230 displaced people in Ruhengeri and Gisenyi prefectures. WFP pointed out no international organisations were fully operational in the prefectures which made detailed assessment difficult. The food agency plans to deliver 1,220 mt of food aid to the displaced people over a period of one month.
Rebels using children, radio says
According to Rwandan radio on Monday, rebels in northwest Rwanda are using children in their war against the government. It said 60 children abducted by militiamen had turned themselves in to the army in Nyamutera commune, north of Kigali. The children had reportedly been used by the rebels to spread anti-government pamphlets and spy on the army.
Army launches major offensive against rebels in northwest
The Rwandan army has killed seven Interahamwe militiamen in a major sweep in the northwest, a military source said, according to AFP. The incident occurred on Saturday in Ngilu, near the town of Ruhengeri. The source said the RPA had been waging a "fairly large campaign after a mass return of civilians who had followed the militiamen to the volcano district". He said such returnees often provided the army with details of the militiamen's hideouts. Rwandan radio last Thursday reported over 4,000 people had returned home from the Virunga mountains where they were "collaborating with infiltrators to destabilise peace and security". The Rwanda News Agency, quoting officials in Ruhengeri and Gisenyi, also reported on Thursday that as many as 50,000 people may have returned to the northwestern regions over the last month.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Six ministers arrested or questioned
The DRC daily 'La Reference Plus' on Tuesday reported six DRC ministers were either under arrest or being interrogated. It said Information Minister Raphael Ghenda, Minister without Portfolio Kambale Mututulo and International Cooperation Minister Celestin Lwangi were under arrest, while Energy Minister Pierre Lokombe, Planning Minister Etienne Mbaya and Industry Minister Babi Mbayi were reportedly undergoing interrogation. No official explanation was given, but 'La Reference Plus' said the arrests of Ghenda and Lwangi could be linked to the airing of the film 'Never Again' which depicts atrocities allegedly committed during the liberation war. 'Le Potentiel' said the president's "directeur de cabinet" Yerodia Ndombasi was also questioned in connection with the film, but he was reportedly released later.
According to 'Le Potentiel', video footage shows soldiers of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL) standing next to the bodies of "presumed Rwandan Hutu refugees". The newspaper said the film was authorised to be aired on national television by a committee charged with organising the Kinshasa regional summit earlier this month which later failed to take place. The committee included Yerodia Ndombasi and Foreign Minister Bizima Karaha, 'Le Potentiel' said. "Their aim was to show that the current authorities in Kinshasa never again wanted to see such acts of barbarism in the Democratic Republic of Congo," it wrote.
Transitional constituent assembly established
The authorities have established a transitional constituent assembly to draw up a draft constitution for the DRC. According to a BBC report, the assembly was created by presidential decree and will have legislative powers. It specifically excludes anyone who held public office during the regime of former president Mobutu Sese Seko.
Troops, rebels clash near Goma
More details have emerged over an incident near Goma last week in which some 30 people were killed. AFP quoted diplomatic sources in Kinshasa as saying a gunfight broke out between government troops and unidentified rebels last weekend on the Butembo-Goma road. The Belgian embassy in Kigali confirmed a 24 year-old Belgian national was among the dead. He had reportedly been on a visit to Goma from Kampala.
Kalehe region reportedly unstable
The security situation in the Kalehe area of South Kivu is going "from bad to worse", according to a report in 'La Reference Plus' on Tuesday. It said the civilian population had become the "favourite target" of the military. The newspaper claimed the local people had become caught up in fighting between Banyamulenge soldiers and Rwandan Interahamwe militiamen. Agricultural activity had been abandoned as people migrated towards urban centres, the paper added.
BURUNDI: 500 arrested in security sweep
Over 500 people were arrested in Bujumbura on Thursday in a security sweep against rebels and illegal immigrants, according to AFP. Police sources said they conducted a raid in the central market area of the city, searching for Burundi rebels as well as Rwandans and Congolese who were in the country illegally. Rumours were circulating last week that ex-FAR, ex-FAZ and Burundi rebels had arrived in Bujumbura, AFP reported.
Nyerere threatens to quit as mediator if Buyoya not recognised
Burundi peace mediator Julius Nyerere has threatened to resign if the conflicting sides refuse to recognise the authority of President Pierre Buyoya, the Tanzanian 'Guardian' daily reported this week. "Major Buyoya may be an illegitimate president but the fact remains that he is the current president in power," Nyerere was quoted as saying. "If they say they don't recognise him, it will be foolishness. I will then pack my things and call it quits as I would have no work left to do." He said "recognition of Major Buyoya's influence" was a precondition for the Burundi peace talks which are due to resume in Arusha on 15 June, the newspaper reported.
SUDAN: "Devastation" in Twic county, Bahr al-Ghazal
Armed militia allied to the Khartoum government, have killed an unknown number of civilians and burnt villages and markets in a series of raids starting on 4 May in Bahr al-Ghazal. A spokesman for Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) told IRIN last Friday that several villages in Twic county, northeast of Gogrial were "devastated" by the "punitive" attacks. Up to a thousand men, travelling on horseback, were involved in the attacks NPA, said.
WFP revises number needing food aid
WFP has revised upwards the target number of people for food assistance in Bahr al-Ghazal state. It announced it would feed some 595,000 people, 380,000 of whom are in critical need of food aid for survival. WFP says the number of people requiring emergency food relief has increased from six weeks ago. The total number of people requiring food aid throughout south Sudan has also been revised upwards from 700,000 to 930,000. Eastern Equatoria and Wester Upper Nile are giving increasing cause for concern, WFP says in a news brief on Sudan.
Meanwhile, WFP said the first UN relief food barge convoy this year arrived in Juba last Thursday, after leaving the port of Malakal five weeks ago. The convoy of seven barge, carrying a total of 2,040 mt of cereals and pulses, stopped in 32 villages along the way.
NDA meets in Cairo to discuss how to topple Bashir
Sudan's opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) this week began a round of talks in the Egyptian capital Cairo to examine ways of launching an "intifada" against the Khartoum government, AFP reported. It quoted NDA spokesman Faruq Abu Issa who said the intifada was the main topic on the agenda. The NDA groups northern opponents to the government and southern rebels. Issa said the "unprecedented" talks were a "step forward for the opposition's struggle against the government to overthrow it". AFP noted the meeting is the first outside the Eritrean capital Asmara, where the NDA has its headquarters.
Nairobi, 29 May 1998
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