IRIN-CEA updates: Central and Eastern Africa

for Central and Eastern Africa

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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA: IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 66 covering the
period 24 - 30 March

CONTENTS:

DRC: Morjane says "serious chance for peace" is at hand
DRC: "Armed groups" disarmament plan due by mid-May
DRC MONUC begins verification exercise
DRC: Rights abuses still rampant - Garreton
DRC: Kabila, Mugabe meet on conflict and cooperation
BURUNDI: Thousands displaced by fighting in southeast
BURUNDI: Buyoya cancels Gabon trip in rebels' absence
BURUNDI: Ceasefire issue cannot halt peace process - Ajello
RWANDA: UN finds ICTR defence system open to abuse
RWANDA: Kigali says genocide suspects funding Interahamwe
UGANDA: Troops deployed along Rwandan border
UGANDA: Overfishing threatens pollution, development - UNEP
UGANDA: LRA suspected in Pakuba killings
GREAT LAKES: World Food Programme renews funding appeal
TANZANIA: Police arrest fleeing Pemba islanders
TANZANIA: Reported split in Zanzibar opposition party
KENYA: Tanzanian refugees flee camp

DRC: Morjane says "serious chance for peace" is at hand

There had been "a perceptible change" in the DRC peace process in the
recent past, and the most serious chance for peace was now at hand, the
head of the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), Kamel Morjane, told journalists
on Tuesday. Thursday, 29 March, marked the end of troop disengagement
operations in the DRC, and the deployment on the ground of the first
contingent of UN peacekeepers. If all went according to plan, "these two
positive developments would bode well for Congo's prospects for peace", a
UN press release quoted him as saying. No serious ceasefire violations had
taken place since 16 January except in Equateur Province, where government
forces had clashed with the rebel Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC)
as recently as Monday, Morjane stated. The head of MONUC and Special
Representative for the DRC of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan outlined
three priorities for the Congo mission: disengagement and deployment of
forces; preparation of plans by 15 May for the disarming of "armed groups"
and the withdrawal of foreign troops; and free navigation and access on
the Congo river. The "armed groups", or "negative forces" as referred to
in the Lusaka peace agreement, include: the ex-Forces armees rwandaises
(ex-FAR), Rwandan Interahamwe militias and Burundi rebel Forces pour la
defense de la democraties (FDD) among others.

Some 1,100 Ugandan and 1,000 Rwandan soldiers had left the DRC, Morjane
said. The disengagement of Congolese armed forces and their allies from
Zimbabwe, Angola and Nambia was "continuing apace", he added.

DRC MONUC begins verification exercise

UN military observers on Thursday started to verify front lines in the DRC
conflict to make sure that the combatants have pulled back their forces in
accordance with an agreed disengagement process that began on 15 March.
MONUC has verified the withdrawal of Rwandan forces and the rebel
Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) from the town of Pweto in
Katanga Province, southeastern DRC, according to a UN press statement. The
government's Forces armees congolaises (FAC) were also said to be staying
away, it said. MONUC reported substantial Rwandan and RCD withdrawals from
Kabinda, Eastern Kasai Province, while the FAC claimed to have withdrawn
across the Ubangui River in the northwestern province of Equateur, the UN
said. The peacekeepers had not yet observed a withdrawal of government and
allied (Zimbabwean, Angolan and Namibian) forces from Kananga in Kasai, it
added.

The rebel Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC), led by Jean-Pierre
Bemba, has attached conditions to the withdrawal of its forces, asking for
UN forces to move into territories that the rebels vacate to protect
civilians there and also seeking progress in the inter-Congolese dialogue,
according to the UN. In light of these conditions, it appeared that Bemba
had decided not to be involved in the military disengagement for the
moment, preferring to keep the potential for disengagement as a bargaining
chip for future political talks, diplomatic sources told IRIN.

DRC: "Armed groups" disarmament plan due by mid-May

In all, 56 days will be needed to verify military disengagement from all
sectors: 14 days each for four sectors, according to the head of MONUC,
Kamel Morjane. By mid-May, MONUC expects to have completed its
verification work, and to be able to present a plan to the UN Security
Council for disarming the "armed groups", Morjane said. This was crucial
in the context of the peace process, he added, because Rwanda would not
withdraw from the Congo until it was certain that the Interahamwe and
ex-FAR, as well as other foreign forces, were not a threat to its
territory. Free access on the Congo river between the capital, Kinshasa,
and the northeastern city of Kisangani was also crucial, for political,
military, humanitarian and economic reasons, Morjane stated. The river was
"a lifeline for aid" to many vulnerable people who needed assistance, he
added.

DRC: UNHCR worker killed in Bas-Congo

A UNHCR staff member, Nsakara Tshiama, was shot dead on Tuesday by armed
men, who stole his vehicle in the town of Kimpese, some 200 km south of
the DRC capital, Kinshasa, a UNHCR statement said on Tuesday. Tshiama was
a driver with the UNHCR office in Kimpese, which provides for the care of
nearly 60,000 Angolan refugees in the Bas-Congo area of DRC. "We are
shocked by the cold-blooded murder of yet another innocent humanitarian
worker," it quoted UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers as
saying. "On behalf of all UNHCR staff, I want to express our deepest
sympathy to Tshiama's family. Words cannot express our sadness and our
anger at the loss of yet another colleague," he added.

On Tuesday, the UN's annual day of solidarity with staff who have been
taken hostage while carrying out official duties, Secretary-General Kofi
Annan spoke of the "real and constant" dangers facing UN personnel. Annan
observed that, in some cases, governments were unable to maintain law and
order while, in others, UN staff were subjected to deliberate and targeted
aggression. "This situation is unacceptable," he said.

DRC: Rights abuses still rampant - Garreton

Despite positive signals from the government of President Joseph Kabila on
the peace process, human rights abuses across the country have not abated,
according to a report by the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the
DRC, Roberto Garreton. "The situation for human rights defenders is very
precarious and dangerous," said Garreton, who visited both government- and
rebel-held areas of the country from 21 to 29 March. "Across the entire
territory they are persecuted, arrested or harassed, and their offices are
closed. In the territory controlled by Kinshasa, [human rights defenders]
are considered as Rwandan allies, and in rebel-controlled areas they are
perceived as allies of Kabila."

Garreton said freedom of association and expression were severely limited
across the country. Although the death penalty and torture were carried
out by both government and rebel troops, and their respective allies,
killings were more prevalent in the area controlled by the rebel
Rassemblement Congolais pour la democratie (RCD), Garreton said. In these
parts, he said, a "climate of terror" prevailed. "As in previous years,
the local population were the victims of massacres and other atrocities,"
he said. "Several people died from torture." Those considered opponents
are accused of "inciting genocide". Priests and pastors were assassinated
and religious establishments were attacked. Garreton cited massacres that
claimed thousands of lives, allegedly carried out by the RCD, in Ngenge,
Kalehe, Kilambo, Katogota, Kamanyola, Lurbarika, Luberezi, Cidaho, Uvira,
Shabunda, Lusenda-Lubumba, Lulingu, Butembo and, in November 1999, in
Mwenga, where 15 women were buried alive after being tortured.

DRC: Kabila, Mugabe meet on conflict and cooperation

President Joseph Kabila and his Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert Mugabe, on
Monday in Harare held consultations, which centred on peace in the DRC and
bilateral economic cooperation, news organisations reported. This was
Kabila's first official visit to another African country. Reuters quoted a
Zimbabwean foreign ministry official as saying that, besides advancing the
Congo peace process, Kabila's visit was meant to showcase close relations
between the two countries.

The agency quoted Zimbabwe's information minister, Jonathan Moyo, as
saying that the two leaders had met privately for talks that focused on
the war in the DRC and later led their ministers in discussions on
economic cooperation. "The two presidents discussed and noted the fact
that the existence of relative peace in the DRC now has been made possible
by the intervention of the Southern Africa Development Community [SADC]
allied forces [of Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia]," he said. "Without that
intervention we would not be having the disengagement process that started
last week, and with it the expectation that we will now have total peace,"
Moyo said.

On Tuesday, the Zimbabwean opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
boycotted a special address to parliament by Joseph Kabila, the BBC
reported on Wednesday. All 56 MDC members stayed away from parliament as
Kabila gave the 30-minute address, the report said. The MDC is bitterly
opposed to Mugabe's 1998 decision to have some 12,000 Zimbabwean soldiers
deployed in the DRC. "The involvement of Zimbabwe in the DRC has brought
untold suffering to the ordinary men and women of Zimbabwe who suffer fuel
and food shortages directly attributable to the millions of Zimbabwean
money pumped into the DRC war," BBC quoted an MDC statement as saying.

DRC: Bemba-led rebel group signs accord with Mayi-Mayi

The Congolese Liberation Front (CLF), led by Jean-Pierre Bemba, last week
reached a local ceasefire agreement with Mayi-Mayi tribal militia in
Butembo, northeastern DRC, rebel-controlled radio from Bunia reported on
Tuesday. The two sides agreed on "immediate cessation of violent acts" in
North Kivu Province. During a visit to the area, Bemba reminded provincial
council members of the urgency of continuing with the implementation of
the resolutions of this accord, the station said. Bemba also informed
council members of the imminent arrival of Congolese instructors who would
train eight Mayi-Mayi brigades, which would be incorporated into the CLF
and entrusted with watching the DRC's northeastern borders with Uganda,
Rwanda and Burundi, the report said. The agreement was a result of a
series of meetings with traditional leaders, Mayi-Mayi leaders and those
of civil society, it added.

BURUNDI: Thousands displaced by fighting in southeast

Authorities in Rutana Province, southeastern Burundi, on Tuesday received
"several thousand" displaced people who had fled from rebels who had
occupied their hills, Burundi news agency ABP reported on Tuesday.
"Administrative authorities, who are preoccupied with the situation,
gathered these people at the Rutana primary school, forcing the school and
the Gifunzo college not to conduct the term's examinations," ABP said. The
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affaires (UNOCHA) in
Burundi on Wednesday confirmed to IRIN that they had received reports of
displacement in the Rutana area of an estimated 10,000 people. It said an
evaluation of the situation would be undertaken soon.

Net Press had reported last week that "genocidal terrorists" had been seen
in Rutana Province. They had attacked Gatereni trading centre in Kinzanza
zone of Gitanga commune, south-central Burundi. It said the "terrorists"
were also sighted along the Baba and Kabanga ranges of hills, towards
Rutovu commune, Bururi Province, southwestern Burundi. Renewed violence in
Gitanga commune followed recent large-scale military operations in
neighbouring Kayogoro commune, the agency added.

BURUNDI: Buyoya cancels Gabon trip in rebels' absence

President Pierre Buyoya announced on Wednesday that he was cancelling a
planned trip to the Gabonese capital, Libreville, for ceasefire talks,
because the rebel FDD leader, Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye, did not plan to
attend. Buyoya said he had just been informed that "the FDD officials are
not going to attend on the pretext that they were advised of it too late",
AFP news agency reported. The trip was cancelled "at the last minute"
after a Burundi advance team in Libreville told Buyoya that
Ndayikengurukiye would not attend the meeting, presidential spokesman
Apollinaire Gahungu told IRIN on Thursday. "The president was at the
airport when he was informed that Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye said he
would not attend the meeting," he added. The Burundi president said he had
been prepared to go to Libreville, where South African Deputy President
Jacob Zuma and a senior delegation from the DRC had already arrived on
Wednesday, "to study how to begin negotiations with the rebels, in
particular the FDD". The FDD and fellow-Hutu rebel Forces national pour la
liberation (FNL) have refused to participate in the Arusha peace process,
and intensive negotiations to thrash out a ceasefire agreement between
them and the government have so far failed to produce results.

BURUNDI: Ceasefire issue cannot halt peace process - Ajello

The Burundi peace process "has to go on", even though the talks must
continue without a ceasefire being in place, European Union (EU) Special
Envoy to the Great Lakes Aldo Ajello said on Friday. EU assistance to
Burundi would be tied to positive developments in the peace process, which
must continue with what can be achieved even while other issues - like the
crucial need for a ceasefire - remained outstanding, Ajello told
journalists in Bujumbura after a three-day visit to Burundi. "The
ceasefire problem should be settled because it proved to be serious
recently [with the FNL attack on Bujumbura], though this does not mean in
any way that we should stop the peace process and wait," he told Radio
Burundi. "Let the peace process go on while these things that are
achievable are pursued. What is left can be settled depending on the
urgency they deserve," he added. Burundi President Pierre Buyoya said
earlier this month that it was "not appropriate" to implement the general
terms of the Arusha peace accord, and particularly to put in place
transitional institutions of state, while violence persisted.

BURUNDI: Peace minister outlines progress

Burundi Minister for the Peace Process Ambroise Niyonsaba said on Sunday
that the Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC) of the Arusha accord
had "managed to do good work" during its working session last week. The
membership of the executive council had been finalised, and the IMC had
agreed to establish a working group on the repeal of laws which limited
political freedom, Radio Burundi quoted him as saying. That group is due
to report back to the IMC with proposals two weeks before the next IMC
meeting in two months' time. It was agreed to ask the peace process
facilitator, Nelson Mandela, to launch a campaign to sensitise the Burundi
public on the content of the Arusha accord, Niyonsaba said. It was also
recommended that the IMC chairman, UN Ambassador Berhanu Dinka, give a
press conference in Burundi, together with Burundi-based members of the
Commission, to show that its members were "genuinely concerned about the
implementation of the accord", the minister added.

The IMC recommended that the government sets up an independent commission
on the issue of political prisoners as soon as possible, and that the
government and National Assembly undertake preparatory work on the issue
of temporary immunity [for politicians in exile] and report back before
the next meeting, Niyonsaba said on Radio Burundi. The minister did not
mention it, but sources close to the Arusha talks told IRIN that the IMC
had also called on the government to establish a commission for the
rehabilitation and resettlement of refugees and displaced people, as
required under the Arusha accord. The chairman of the Burundi human rights
group League Iteka, Pie Ntakarutimana, on Saturday expressed
disappointment with the talks, Azania news agency reported. He said that
if the same energy that had been devoted to having parties sign the peace
agreement or the search for a transitional president had instead been
devoted towards seeking a ceasefire, then peace would have been achieved.
Ntakarutimana warned that the possibility of an alliance between the Hutu
rebel FNL and FDD, and a political crisis which gave room for bickering
about transitional leadership, were further "warning signs" that the
situation could worsen in Burundi.

RWANDA: UN finds ICTR defence system open to abuse

A UN investigation into alleged fee-splitting arrangements between defence
counsel and detainees at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR) has found that several former defence counsel have either been
solicited and/or accepted requests by their clients to engage in
fee-splitting arrangements. The concern was that money being provided for
the legal fees of supposedly indigent (poverty-stricken) defendants was
being forwarded to the accused or their families in unauthorised and
inappropriate ways. The inquiry found that there was no clear definition
of indigence to define when an accused did not have the means to retain
counsel of his/her choice; that detainees at the ICTR were receiving
substantial gifts from defence teams, particularly from one (unnamed)
country; and that the current system was open to abuse. "The type and
number of gifts [including expensive electronic items] that detainees may
receive from defence teams and other visitors at the ICTR appear to be
part of the problem," according to the inquiry report. Investigators were
also told of the hiring of friends and relatives of suspect/accused
persons as defence team investigators - even though not a single
investigator had travelled to Rwanda to collect evidence in their cases.

The investigation team made a number of recommendations to the registrar
of the ICTR - and that of the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia - to curb the potential for abusive practices. They
included that the tribunals should impose a limit on the gifts that can be
received by detainees; investigate suspects' claims of indigence,
including asset-tracing and possible links with defence team members;
implement rules to control changes of defence lawyers; review the
qualifications of defence team investigators; and require defence counsel
to give a detailed breakdown of charges, set against specific tasks
performed. The inquiry team said they had found "credible information
about possible ongoing fee-splitting arrangements between detainees and
selected counsel", and this needed to be further developed and
corroborated in continued investigations.

RWANDA: Kigali says genocide suspects funding Interahamwe

Martin Ngoga, the Rwandan government's special representative to the ICTR
in Arusha, on Thursday alleged that detainees at the UN Detention Facility
were actively funding Interahamwe Hutu militia, which conducted the 1994
genocide and were still attacking Rwanda from bases in the neighbouring
DRC. "Like others sharing the same ideologies, these detainees are funding
the fighting," the independent Hirondelle news agency quoted Ngoga as
saying. "We have no clear evidence, but we have indications," he said,
adding that the government hoped to produce such evidence in the future.

Ngoga said he was pleased that a UN report into recruitment practices for
Tribunal defence teams had been published, and that it raised issues about
which Rwanda had already expressed concern, Hirondelle reported. He said,
for instance, that three serving defence investigators in Arusha were on
the Rwandan government's list of category one genocide suspects, comprised
of the alleged planners and leaders of the 1994 genocide. Ngoga encouraged
the ICTR to conduct investigations into the backgrounds of proposed
defence investigators, and to be reasonably diligent in ensuring that they
recruited people "with clean hands," the report added.

UGANDA: Troops deployed along Rwandan border

The Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) have deployed heavily armed
troops along the border with Rwanda, citing security concerns, Rwandan
News Agency (RNA) reported on Monday. "We have deployed along our border
with Rwanda for our security and we are ready to defend ourselves in case
of any attack," it quoted Ugandan army spokesman Lt-Col Phineas Katirima
as saying. Ugandan soldiers had been deployed in the areas of Gatuna,
Kagitumba, Kamwezi, Kivuye, Mgahinga, Hakekuba, Kidaho and Ruhaya,
southwestern Uganda, the report said, citing local residents. The
deployment had not disrupted day-to-day life in Kabale District and trade
was continuing between the two countries, Radio Uganda reported.

Uganda said it had deployed in response to reports that Rwanda had
deployed only 15 km from the border with Uganda, while Rwandan security
officials said they had deployed to stop Rwandans from crossing into
Uganda to participate in the 12 March presidential polls, according to
RNA. Meanwhile, police have started escorting tourists and expatriates
travelling between the Ugandan capital, Kampala, and Entebbe airport after
several attacks on and robberies of foreigners, according to the
semi-official 'New Vision' newspaper on Monday.

UGANDA: Overfishing threatens pollution, development - UNEP

UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer on Tuesday cited overfishing in
Uganda as an example of why environmental considerations needed to be
taken into account in the negotiation of new trade agreements. Toepfer
said that while "trade liberalisation contributes to economic growth...
the benefits have not been fairly shared between countries and, in some
cases, have led to greater environmental degradation and increased
poverty," UNEP reported on Tuesday. The UNEP Executive Director
highlighted Uganda, where, he said, trade liberalisation in the form of
industrial privatisation and tariff reduction on fishing technology had
contributed to overfishing of the Nile Perch in Lake Victoria. "While
export revenues increased, over-exploitation led to a 20 percent reduction
in catches, and degradation of the lake ecosystem, including negative
impacts on water quality," he added.

As a source of employment and export revenue, the fisheries industry has
become one of Uganda's most important industrial sectors and its main
foreign exchange earner outside of traditional agricultural exports, but
this tremendous growth has led to a variety of concerns about the
long-term sustainability of the industry - and, therefore, about fishing
communities. The Ugandan fisheries report cited by Toepfer expressed
concern about overfishing and resource depletion, loss of biodiversity,
effluent pollution, degradation of ecosystems and resource mismanagement,
in a context of export growth with inadequate environmental planning. [for
full report, go to: http://www.unep.ch/etu/etp/acts/capbld/rdone/ugda.htm">

UGANDA: LRA suspected in Pakuba killings

Eleven people were killed in an attack by gunmen suspected to be members
of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) near Pakuba in northwestern
Uganda on Tuesday, news organisations reported. The armed raiders attacked
a mini-van carrying students through Murchison Falls National Park, they
said. Nine students, the director of their catering institute in Kampala
and a park ranger escorting them through the park died in the incident,
the BBC reported. Two other students were badly wounded, it said.

GREAT LAKES: World Food Programme renews funding appeal

The WFP on Tuesday repeated its appeal for US $95 million to continue
feeding hundreds of thousands of refugees, displaced persons and
drought-affected people in the Great Lakes region. "WFP has been
struggling to feed more than one million people every year in Burundi,
Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, but their plight has been nearly forgotten by
the world, which has focused more on other crises on the continent and
around the world," said Burke Oberle, WFP Regional Manager for the Great
Lakes region, in a press statement. He said that unless the funding was
received "immediately" to purchase 111,800 mt of food, the result would be
"widespread hunger".

The number of people WFP was feeding on a monthly average basis had risen
from 1.2 million to 2.1 million people throughout the Great Lakes region,
Oberle said. In Tanzania, the agency was assisting more that 500,000
refugees from the DRC and Burundi but, due to resource shortfalls, they
were receiving only 80 percent of their needs. In Uganda, 25,000 refugees
living in settlements were relying on WFP assistance, but supplies in the
country were nearly depleted, according to the press release. In Rwanda,
meanwhile, nearly 30,000 Congolese and Burundian refugees depended on WFP
but recent shortages had forced it to suspend food-for-work activities.
"We strongly urge donors to step up food assistance to the Great Lakes now
to stave off a massive crisis that is just around the corner," said
Oberle.

TANZANIA: Police arrest fleeing Pemba islanders

Police in the northeastern coastal town of Pangani on 23 March arrested 88
of a group of people who had landed in two boats from Pemba island.
Reporting the incident, the Tanzanian newspaper 'Sunday Observer' said the
islanders were on their way to Mombasa in Kenya, where they intended to
seek asylum. It quoted "reliable sources" as telling Press Services
Tanzania (PST) that the islanders had arrived in Pangani in the evening of
23 March and, having anchored their boats in Kigombe harbour, they
dispersed in the town and surrounding villages. A unit of the marine
police subsequently rounded up 88 of them and a confrontation ensued
during which "the Pembans hurled stones at the soldiers as they were
trying to arrest them", according to the sources. More police then arrived
and the group was "overpowered". They were then taken to Tanga, another
coastal town about 50 km north of Pangani, and placed under police guard
at the regional commissioner's offices, where, according to the paper, the
guards "barred jopurnalists from interviewing them". In conclusion, the
report said that according to information reaching the paper late on
Saturday, "the Pembans, believed to be refugees, had been brought to Dar
es Salaam".

TANZANIA: Reported split in Zanzibar opposition party

A split is reported to have occurred within Zanzibar's opposition Civic
United Front (CUF) party. The Tanzanian daily 'The Guardian' on Friday
quoted the registrar of political parties in Zanzibar as saying "recently"
that "some disappointed CUF members have formed a splinter group and were
[engaged] in a process to register their new party, to be known as the
National Alliance Party [NAP]". The paper said that the former CUF
national publicity secretary, Ramadhani Mzee, "has been mentioned as the
leader" of the group. "Reliable sources in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar" had
told PST on Thursday that "other leaders" included Yusufu Sued, Bakar
Hamis, Idd Suleiman, Asha Seif and Johari Abdallah. The sources had said
most of the members of the new group were from Pemba, but that others from
Zanzibar and the mainland "are likely to join them".

KENYA: Tanzanian refugees flee camp

More than 1,200 of the refugees from Pemba and Zanzibar have "disappeared"
from the camp housing them in the coastal town of Shimoni, south of
Mombasa. Reporting on the situation, the BBC on Thursday quoted Kenyan
officials as saying that a "major operation" was under way to "flush out"
the refugees and that villagers in the nearby area had been warned that
"they risk heavy fines if they were found to be housing any of the
refugees". The report went on to say that last week a number of refugees
had fled from the Shimoni camp after it was hit by storm floods. It quoted
a local UNHCR official as saying that "urgent steps need to be taken to
improve the situation at the camp" and calling on the Kenyan authorities
to provide the refugees with an alternative site.

Nairobi, 30 March 2001

[ENDS]

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