U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa
Tel: +254 2 622147 Fax: +254 2 622129 email: irin@ocha.unon.org
Central and Eastern Africa: IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 17 covering the period 24-30 Apr 1999
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Nairobi meeting on "with or without" rebels
The national debate planned by the DRC government in Nairobi next month will take place "with or without" representatives of rebel factions, an official at the DRC embassy in Nairobi told IRIN on Wednesday. He said the intention was to seek a solution "which can satisfy the Congolese". The meeting, due to be held from 8-15 May, is intended to bring together the government, opposition parties, rebels, civil society and observers.
Civil society to boycott debate
However, doubt hangs over the proposed national debate. A group of prominent organisations making up the "Civil Society of DRC", in a statement issued this week, rejected a list of participants invited to the meeting and declined to attend. The organisations - including the human rights organisation ASADHO and NGO consortium CNONGD - said real grassroots groups had been omitted from the list. A member of the Civil Society told IRIN on Thursday the government had "selected" participants, rather than allowing the various groups to nominate their own representatives. He said DRC's main opposition leader, Etienne Tshisekedi, has rejected the invitation, as have the rebel factions. Two hundred and fifty seven people have been invited to the debate.
Libya peace deal in disarray
The Libyan peace deal, signed by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his DRC counterpart Laurent-Desire Kabila last week, also appeared to be in disarray. Rwanda, which has already rejected the accord, said Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi had no mandate to broker a peace deal for DRC, while Uganda's semi-official 'Sunday Vision' described the accord as "an agreement which was not an agreement". It said Museveni signed the accord to keep his "long time ally", Gaddafi, happy. DRC rebel leader, Jean-Pierre Bemba of the Equateur-based Mouvement de liberation congolais (MLC), said at the weekend there could be no peace deal between Kabila and Uganda without the agreement of all the parties to the conflict.
South Kivu reconciliation meetings continue
Reconciliation meetings are continuing in South Kivu, with the next one due to take place in the volatile Fizi area between Banyamulenge and Mayi-Mayi representatives, local sources told IRIN on Tuesday. While the move is positive, the situation in the Kivus is still far from stable, the sources added. But they hailed the meetings as a "local initiative" rather than trying to find outside solutions to DRC's problems.
UN human rights mission "after ceasefire"
The UN Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday adopted a resolution calling for a mission to the DRC "to investigate all massacres carried out on the territory, immediately after the signing of a ceasefire". It expressed concern "at the preoccupying situation of human rights, particularly in the east".
RWANDA: Bid to persuade refugees to go home
A delegation of former Rwandan refugees living in Kibungo prefecture recently visited the Ngara region of Tanzania in a bid to persuade Rwandan refugees to return home, the BBC Kinyarwanda service reported. It said the delegation was accompanied by about 10 government members. The refugees were shown video film depicting the situation in Rwanda. A small number decided to return voluntarily and 60 more refugees were due to visit their places of origin in order to report back to the camps. There are some 20,000 Rwandan refugees in Tanzania.
Less death sentences at genocide trials
Rwandan courts have judged a total of 1,274 genocide suspects over a two-year period, 232 of whom have been sentenced to death, the independent Hirondelle news agency reported on Tuesday. It cited the Rwandan human rights watchdog body, Ligue rwandaise pour la promotion et la defense des droits de l'homme (LIPRODHOR) as saying the trials were held between 27 December 1996 and 31 December 1998, and the increase in judgements was due in part to the "group trials" and also to the incentive of reduced sentences for guilty pleas. The report notes that the number of death sentences fell from 30.8 percent in 1997 to 12.8 percent in 1998, a result of the tribunals gaining in experience.
TANZANIA: Burundian refugees to sit school exams
UNICEF is to facilitate "cross-border school exams" for Burundian refugees in western Tanzania. It said that over the next few weeks, the exams would arrive from Burundi and would be returned to the country for grading after refugee schoolchildren completed them in the camps. According to UNICEF, about 6,000 Burundians have entered Kibondo camp since 6 April.
Insecurity halts repatriation of Burundians
WFP said the voluntary repatriation of Burundians from the camp had been suspended, following the recent influx from Burundi. The refugees are said to be fleeing insecurity in Burundi's Ruyigi province which has been wracked by increased rebel attacks of late. UNHCR told IRIN that hundreds of Burundians had been returning home every week.
BURUNDI: Army denies major clashes in Bujumbura Rurale
The Burundian army has denied media reports of major clashes in Bujumbura Rurale last weekend. Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mamert Sinarinzi told IRIN on Thursday there was a "small clash" after rebels infiltrated the Mutumba area of the province, and one civilian was killed. He said the rebels were hidden among the population, but there were also infiltrations from Tanzania. The spokesman added that there had been clashes on the Burundi-Tanzania border last week in which one Rwandan was captured. He said this proved there was a "coalition" operating in the Great Lakes region of the Burundian FDD, PALIPEHUTU, FROLINA rebels and the ex-FAR and Interahamwe of Rwanda. Sinarinzi said the continuing border problems could "trouble" the Arusha peace process, but the talks would continue.
Situation in Gitega province improving
The situation of people in Gitega Province has improved steadily since January, according to an Oxfam survey conducted in March. The agency's "emergencies bulletin" on Wednesday said there had been a notable decrease in acute malnutrition in the under-five population, continuing low mortality rates, functioning health services and fewer new admissions to supplementary feeding programmes. Returnees in the north of the province are also becoming more established, demonstrated by land cultivation, the agency added.
UN calls for further measures against impunity
The UN Human Rights Commission last Friday adopted a resolution urging the Burundi government to take more measures against impunity. The resolution however expressed support for the internal dialogue underway in the country, as well as for the Arusha process, and hailed the recent lifting of the regional embargo. It took note of "encouraging signs" in the struggle against impunity and for the promotion of human rights, but expressed concern over continued insecurity and reports of massacres.
GREAT LAKES: Package announced to address HIV/AIDS scourge
Health ministers from the Great Lakes have been issuing dire warnings about the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region. A two-day conference held in Kigali to launch the Great Lakes Initiative against AIDS (GLIA) ended on Wednesday, with an announcement by the director of Rwanda's National AIDS Control Centre (PNLS), Innocent Ntaganira, of a package worth around US $1.2 million to help combat the spread, the Rwanda News Agency reported. The GLIA initiative is sponsored by UNAIDS.
Burundi's Health Minister Juma Mohamed Kariburyo told the meeting that unless the disease was brought under control, Burundi's life expectancy in 10 years' time will have fallen to 39 years of age. His Rwandan counterpart, Ezechias Rwabuhihi, said the disease was "spreading like a bushfire" in Rwanda. An estimated 20-30 percent of people aged between 30-40 in the country are believed to be seropositive. Throughout the region, nearly five million people have HIV/AIDS, 99 percent of them aged between 15 and 49, the PANA news agency reported.
The countries represented at the meeting were Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. The Democratic Republic of Congo did not attend. The meeting noted that only in Uganda has the prevalence of HIV/AIDS decreased, by about 50 percent between 1993-98, PANA said.
UGANDA: Executions of 28 prisoners "in the balance"
Uganda, early on Friday, imposed a news blackout on the fate of 28 prisoners facing execution. On Thursday, human rights groups and the diplomatic community in Kampala were locked in negotiations with the government to try and rescind the court's decision, director of Amnesty's African regional office Patrice Vahard told IRIN. The order to execute the men, convicted of murder and robbery which carry mandatory death sentences under Ugandan law, has elicited an international outcry. There have been no executions in the country since 1996.
EAST AFRICA: Crops threatened by army worm invasion
An invasion of army worms in various parts of East Africa is threatening to ravage vast areas of crops in the region, experts warned on Tuesday. Press reports noted that the worms have already invaded and destroyed hectares of crops in northern Tanzania. Experts say the worms will invade Kenya by the second week of May as they reach the secondary stage of infestation. Rwanda is also suffering from the worm, especially in the prefectures of Mutara, Kibungo and Bugesera. The Rwanda News Agency quoted Agriculture Minister Ephraim Kabayija who said his ministry has begun to implement necessary measures to ensure that teams of technicians are on the spot to fight the quickly multiplying worms.
SUDAN: Risk of meningitis epidemic spreading
Nearly 1,000 people have died from meningitis in Sudan and a further 16,000 have been infected since the beginning of the epidemic last December, according to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Aid agencies and the government have warned the figures could increase as the hot weather persists. The disease, first reported in the northern Darfur state, has spread to 18 out of 26 states. "The epidemic is expected to last until the end of June-July, depending on the geographical location of the states affected," the WHO report said.
Returnees facing food deficit
Over 4,000 returnees are facing food shortages in the Liethnom area of Bahr al Ghazal state, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). In it latest weekly report, the UN food agency said around 4,800 returnees could no longer depend on kinship for their food needs. "At present, wild foods and fish are together thought to make up between 60-80 percent of the returnees' food sources," it said.
ERITREA: International NGOs to work with state relief agency
Oxfam International and Save the Children Fund are to join the Eritrean Relief and Rehabilitation Committee (ERREC) on a joint assessment visit to the southern border areas, where an estimated 200,000 to 250,000 people have been affected by the ongoing conflict with Ethiopia. The Eritrean government has previously restricted international NGOs. Oxfam International withdrew its operational presence in the country more than a year ago, though it retained a presence through continued funding.
Moves afoot for possible peacekeeping mission
OAU and UN conflict specialists met in New York last week to undertake "preliminary contingency planning" for a possible peacekeeping mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea. The mission is expected to be part of a resolution to the nearly year-long conflict between the two countries. Sources in the UN Secretariat and the OAU told IRIN on Tuesday that the talks included discussions on the deployment of military observers, demarcation of the border and funding arrangements. According to an OAU spokesperson, the moves were "farsighted" and designed to lay the groundwork "well in advance of a ceasefire".
SOMALIA: Security Council concerned over conflict
The UN Security Council on Thursday expressed its concern at the continuing conflict and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Somalia, and called on member states and international organisations to intensify their relief efforts. Council members welcomed attempts to negotiate an end to the conflict by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), other interested countries, the OAU and the League of Arab States, while calling on all UN member states to comply with the arms embargo on Somalia.
Fighting in Mogadishu
Meanwhile, internal rifts in the Joint Islamic Councils - formed last week to fight insecurity around Mogadishu's Bakara market, where armed robberies have been on the rise - led to fierce fighting which claimed at least 23 lives in Mogadishu on Wednesday and Thursday, AFP reported. Observers said the fighting was changing from a battle for control of the Bakara market to inter-clan fighting between the Murursade of warlord Mohamed Qanyare Afrah and the Habr Gedir, who dominate the Joint Islamic Courts (JIC).
Nairobi, 30 April 1999, 10:05 gmt
[The material contained in this communication comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN IRIN Tel: +254 2 622123 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org for more information or subscriptions. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. IRIN reports are archived on the WWW at: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . Mailing list: irin-cea-weekly]
[This item is delivered in the "irin-english" service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information or free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or fax: +254 2 622129 or Web: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.]
Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 1999
distributed by - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Volunteers in Technical Assistance Disaster Information Center lists: listproc@vita.org sitreps nat-dsr web: www.vita.org appeal fireline - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Central/East Africa - http://www.vita.org/humanitarian/ceafrica