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
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Central and Eastern Africa: IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 47 covering the period 20-26 November 1999
CONTENTS:
DRC: "Organised battles" reported in Equateur DRC: Possible hitch in rebel meeting DRC: Mayi-Mayi attack Butembo airport DRC: Mayi-Mayi "not controlled" by Kabila DRC: Kabila accused of rearming DRC: Resolution would "equip" 500 UN observers BURUNDI: Three dead in grenade attack on Bujumbura market BURUNDI: Rebel attack repulsed in Bujumbura Rural BURUNDI: Choice of new mediator critical, report warns BURUNDI: Main parties push for Mandela mediation RWANDA: Request for Barayagwiza review welcomed RWANDA: IMF approves loan UGANDA: Army hunting Ikondere killers ROC: Systematic rape of girls in "forgotten war" SUDAN: WFP warns of "looming crisis" in the south DJIBOUTI: Guelleh seeks IGAD endorsement for Somali peace plan ERITREA: Boycott of Djibouti-hosted IGAD summit ETHIOPIA: Government denies mistreating Eritreans, seizing property SOMALIA: MSF suspends activities in Kismayo CAR: RDC members killed in Kembe
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: "Organised battles" reported in Equateur Both sides in the DRC conflict have reported serious fighting in Equateur Province on Wednesday and Thursday, with each blaming the other for violating the ceasefire agreement signed in Lusaka. Regional analysts told IRIN there seemed to be a committed government offensive underway in the northwest, "in line with its pledge to liberate the country by the millennium", but its allies were less involved and didn't want to be too involved in a major breach of the Lusaka ceasefire. All the indications were that "organised battles, not just skirmishes" were underway in the province, the analysts said.
Meanwhile, an official of the UN Observer Mission to the DRC (MONUC) observed that "if all the reports are correct - and we do not have the witnesses to be sure - but if it's the case of a major offensive, then the Lusaka agreement is in danger of becoming part of history."
DRC: Possible hitch in rebel meeting
A planned meeting next week between the three rebel groups in the DRC faces a possible hitch after the leader of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-ML) Ernest Wamba dia Wamba said he would not attend. Wamba told IRIN on Wednesday he was not involved at the consultation level and was "not aware" of the meeting. "You cannot call a consultation meeting without first discussing it with those concerned," he said. The Ugandan daily 'The Monitor' on Wednesday quoted the rival RCD-Goma faction leader, Emile Ilunga, as saying the three rebel groups would meet next week in an effort to resolve their differences. Leader of the Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC), Jean-Pierre Bemba, meanwhile confirmed to IRIN he would attend the meeting. "We are trying to come together and forge a united front," he said.
DRC: Mayi-Mayi attack Butembo airport
Mayi-Mayi fighters early on Tuesday attacked Butembo in northeastern DRC and briefly occupied the airport, RCD-ML leader Ernest Wamba dia Wamba told IRIN on Wednesday. He said about 30 assailants were killed and a number wounded, while a further 20 escaped following the attack which lasted 10 minutes. According to Wamba, the DRC government promised the assailants US $10,000 each if they captured the airport, after which President Kabila would send reinforcements. "But how can people control an airport with machetes?" Wamba said. "These people are so hungry they can fall for any lie and go ahead and lose their lives for no reason.
DRC: Mayi-Mayi "not controlled" by Kabila
The Mayi-Mayi militia forces have denied they are under the control of President Laurent-Desire Kabila, saying they have "never belonged to an individual or a group". In a statement, received on Monday by IRIN, the Conseil politico-militaire des forces Mayi-Mayi, said they simply shared the desire to "render harmless the invaders". The statement announced the Mayi-Mayi's "new strategy" of "urban ungovernability", in which they sought to attack military targets in "occupied" towns. One example of this was the attack against Ugandan troops in Beni earlier this month, the statement said. It claimed Ugandan commander Colonel Reuben Ikondere was "captured, tried and sentenced to death". He was then "executed" along with two of his bodyguards. Their bodies were returned to Beni, so they could be repatriated to Uganda, the statement said.
DRC: Kabila accused of rearming
Rwandan Vice-President Paul Kagame on Wednesday accused DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila of taking advantage of delays in the implementation of the Lusaka ceasefire by rearming his forces. "Kabila is rearming. He has been purchasing a lot of military equipment, he has been reorganising his forces," Reuters reported Kagame as saying. Ugandan security sources and Congolese rebels have claimed that Kabila received two shiploads of arms and equipment from China, India and an unknown Arab country, as well as buying six modified Mig-21 fighter jets, the semi-official Ugandan 'New Vision' newspaper reported on Wednesday.
DRC: Resolution would "equip" 500 UN observers
A draft resolution to "equip" 500 military observers for the DRC was circulated by some members of the UN Security Council at an informal meeting on Wednesday, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said. The resolution would authorise UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to equip the observers "with a view to future deployment," the spokesman said. "I believe the members are trying to come up with something that would be acceptable to all of them and keep the United Nations role in the Congo moving forward, the next step being the deployment of these 500," he told journalists in New York. Meanwhile, Eckhard confirmed that four UN Military Liaison Officers (MLOs) arrived in rebel-held Gbadolite on Wednesday afternoon.
BURUNDI: Three dead in grenade attack on Bujumbura market
At least three people were killed in a grenade attack in Bujumbura's central market on Tuesday. Burundi army spokesman Colonel Longin Minani told IRIN the attack occurred around midday, and about 20 more people were wounded. An unidentified man threw two grenades into the teeming market, and in the ensuing panic he was able to run away. Only one grenade exploded. Minani said the authorities did not yet know who was responsible, but an investigation was underway. Regional analysts point out this type of attack was fairly widespread during the violence of 1994 and 1995.
BURUNDI: Rebel attack repulsed in Bujumbura Rural
Minani also said about 15 rebels were killed when they attempted to stage an attack on two army posts in Bujumbura Rural earlier on Tuesday. However, the army was aware of the impending assault and managed to repulse the attackers, he added. One Burundian army soldier was killed and two injured. Minani added that security in the volatile province was improving, but was unable to give a timetable for the return of regrouped people to their homes.
BURUNDI: Choice of new mediator critical, report warns
Burundi analyst Jan van Eck of the South Africa-based Centre for Conflict Resolution (CCR) has warned that unless a "genuinely new and acceptable" mediation for the Burundi peace process is agreed upon at a regional summit later next week, the prospects for durable peace will be extremely remote. In his latest report, van Eck said the choice of mediator was critical and the wishes of the Burundian government must be taken into account. He noted increasing opposition among President Pierre Buyoya's support base to continuing the Arusha process in view of the fact it had produced few results, particularly in the field of security and economic development. "Unless the new mediation is seen as more non-partisan and produces results in these areas - especially security - this opposition is likely to intensify and will eventually leave the government with no choice but to withdraw from the mediation process," the report warned.
BURUNDI: Main parties push for Mandela mediation
Representatives of Burundi's influential Convergence nationale pour la paix et la reconciliation (CNPR) - which groups together 10 parties within the country including the main FRODEBU and UPRONA parties - have been travelling in the region ahead of next week's Arusha summit to explain their position on the peace talks mediation and their support for a team of three facilitators, headed by former South African president Nelson Mandela. FRODEBU leader Augustin Nzojibwami, who is also president of the CNPR, told IRIN on Friday he believed they had the support of the sub-region, although he pointed out they had only visited Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya, whereas the summit would group 10 countries. "But it is difficult to turn down Mandela," he said. Meanwhile, Jerome Ndiho spokesman for the rebel CNDD-FDD - which has so far been excluded from the peace process - told IRIN his group favoured a team of mediators, but stressed there must be no dominant personality in the team. [For further details please refer to separate IRIN item: "IRIN Focus on the Arusha summit"]
RWANDA: Request for Barayagwiza review welcomed
The Rwandan government on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Carla Del Ponte, to request a review of the decision to release genocide suspect Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza. "We welcome any attempt to ensure that the people responsible for genocide and massacres in this country are brought to justice, so we welcome the proposal of the Prosecutor to apply for a review of the Barayagwiza decision," Prosecutor-General Gerald Gahima stated on Radio Rwanda.
However, there was no softening of Rwanda's stance that del Ponte would be denied an entry visa while the Barayagwiza decision stood. "As long as it is not reversed, we are not open to discussion. Their incompetence should not be at the expense of justice for the Rwandese," the Internews agency quoted foreign affairs spokesman Seth Kamanzi as saying.
RWANDA: IMF approves loan
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a US $32.7 million loan to support Rwanda's economic programme. In a press release, the IMF said the loan, approved on Friday, was the second payment under the country's three-year US $98 million Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF). IMF directors "commended the authorities for maintaining macroeconomic stability, improving fiscal management and transparency, and making progress with structural reforms...despite a difficult security environment", the release said. Rwanda had achieved "solid economic growth and low inflation" and its recovery from the 1994 war "now seemed to be almost complete", the IMF said. However, it stressed the importance of improving tax administration, reducing defence outlays and proceeding promptly with civil service reform, among other things. The impact of the DRC conflict on Rwanda's economy has been limited, it added.
UGANDA: Army hunting Ikondere killers
State Minister for Defence Steven Kavuma on Tuesday said the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) was searching for those responsible for the 14 November killing in eastern DRC of Lieutenant Colonel Reuben Ikondere. "We are hunting for them inside Congo and we will bring them to book," the 'New Vision' quoted Kavuma as saying. "But this does not mean the UPDF should pull out of Congo because a person has been killed, we are in Congo because of our security concerns," he told the parliamentary committee on defence and internal security. "It is very easy to fly from Gbadolite and bomb Kasese, we have to protect those areas," he added.
REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Systematic rape of girls in "forgotten war"
Congolese children are facing "terrible suffering" in the country's "forgotten war", the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, said last Thursday. There were reports of widespread atrocities, including the systematic rape of young girls, children returning to Brazzaville were malnourished, and many were severely wounded, he said. Otunnu, speaking to journalists in New York on the tenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, urged the international community to give the Congo's humanitarian crisis "the attention it deserved," a UN statement said. Meanwhile, humanitarian sources told IRIN this week that the number of serious human rights abuses reported against returning internally-displaced persons (IDPs) had increased. Those abuses included summary executions and rapes, the sources said.
SUDAN: WFP warns of "looming crisis" in the south
WFP has warned of a "looming humanitarian crisis" in southern Sudan because humanitarian agencies were being denied access to vulnerable populations by government restrictions on humanitarian flights and inter-factional fighting. Humanitarian agencies could not get access to many areas of Western Upper Nile in October and November, "and 140,000 targeted and vulnerable people could not get their emergency food assistance", the WFP representative in Sudan, Mohamed Saliheen, said on Wednesday. "If this combination of factors continues, we could face the same horrifying tragedy that happened in Bahr al-Ghazal last year," Saliheen said, referring to the famine which cost thousands of lives.
DJIBOUTI: Guelleh seeks IGAD endorsement for Somali peace plan
The Djibouti peace proposal for Somalia is scheduled to be a key item on the agenda of an Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) summit meeting set for Friday, diplomatic sources told IRIN on Wednesday. A document outlining peace proposals for Somalia is expected to be tabled by Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh, who is seeking endorsement from IGAD heads of government. If Djibouti secures IGAD's endorsement, it would then seek implementation of the arms embargo on Somalia, establishment of a standing committee to consider an implementation plan and the creation of a trust fund to support the peace process, the sources said.
ERITREA: Boycott of Djibouti-hosted IGAD summit
One of the IGAD members, Eritrea, will not be attending the organisation's summit meeting this week because it claims the host country Djibouti "has been making all sorts of accusations against it", its Nairobi embassy spokesman Kidane Woldeyesus told IRIN. Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh last week warned of deteriorating relations between his country and Eritrea, and said there was "almost a state of war" between the two. "It would not be appropriate for us to take part in this context," Kidane said on Tuesday. Eritrea is considered a key regional player in relation to Somalia, not least because it has been consistently accused of arming anti-Ethiopian factions there - a charge it has repeatedly denied.
ETHIOPIA: Government denies mistreating Eritreans, seizing property
Ethiopia has denied allegations of mistreating deported Eritreans and confiscating their property. The Ethiopian embassy in Nairobi told IRIN Eritrean citizens were "not subjected to any form of inhuman treatment" and their rights to property were in no way affected. Ethiopia adhered to international humanitarian laws and the ICRC had "full access to follow up the whole exercise" of Eritreans being sent back to their country, the embassy stated. "No property that belongs to any Eritrean has been expropriated. Eritreans have been allowed to name legal agents of their choice to take care of their property," it added.
SOMALIA: MSF suspends activities in Kismayo
The humanitarian relief NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is to officially hand over management and responsibility of Kismayo hospital to the Regional Health Board on Tuesday, 30 November, after suspending its operations in the area due to sustained insecurity, a press release from the agency stated last Friday. MSF said that, with insecurity preventing the return of expatriate staff evacuated in June amid deteriorating conditions, it could no longer fulfill its "fundamental principle of guaranteeing the quality of healthcare through direct supervision" and had to suspend its activities in Kismayo.
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: RDC members killed in Kembe
Seven members of former president Andre Kolingba's opposition Rassemblement democratique centrafricain (RDC) party were killed last week by unidentified armed men in the eastern city of Kembe, some 450 km from Bangui, diplomatic and media sources said. Those killed included an army lieutenant, the head of the local gendarmerie and a vice-president of the RDC youth movement, but the motive for the killings remained unclear. The bodies were dumped in neighbouring towns and villages, one source told IRIN. "Troops are being sent in Kembe and Dimbi today to protect the civilians from this new wave of acts of banditry," Defence Minister Jean-Jacques Demafouth said on state radio on Monday.
Nairobi, 26 November 1999, 13:45 gmt
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