Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 17:27:06 +0300 (BEAUT)
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Subject: GREAT LAKES: IRIN-CEA Update 957  [2000630]
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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
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org

IRIN-CEA Update 957 for the Great Lakes (Friday 30 June)


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Rebel leader says peace deal "a long way off"
BURUNDI: FDD denies planning attacks from Tanzania
BURUNDI: Situation worsening, rights group says
BURUNDI: UK envoy briefed on peace process 
DRC: Kabila marks 40th anniversary of independence  
DRC: Constituent Assembly set for go-ahead
DRC: Kinshasa set to attend OAU mini-summit 
DRC: Belgian Foreign Minister meets Goma-based rebels
DRC: Belgian "laxity" condemned 
RWANDA: 'Military group' genocide accused to be tried jointly   
RWANDA: Confession procedure still has potential - African Rights 


BURUNDI: Rebel leader says peace deal "a long way off"

The leader of the rebel Conseil national pour la defense de la
democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD), Jean-Bosco
Ndayikengurukiye, said on Thursday that agreement was still "a long way
off"  in the Arusha peace talks on Burundi. "I don't believe Mandela can
ask us to sign any peace deal in July... It would be very dangerous to
sign a peace agreement which would be very volatile and fragile - it would
be a terrible risk," he said in an interview with Reuters news agency.
Ndayikengurukiye said he was going to Arusha principally to argue that
years of repression by "mono-ethnic Tutsi army" had created a
"humanitarian catastrophe". Regional analyst Jan Van Eck agreed that it
was difficult to envisage an "implementable" peace deal emerging soon. The
rebels [FNL and FDD] were not in the process for the past two years, he
noted. "The fact that they were excluded, we don't just expect them to
agree to join the process now," Van Eck told IRIN. "It is like telling
them, 'You weren't part of it, but just sign'," he added. So far, Burundi
peace facilitator Nelson Mandela did not seem to have won the "total
commitment" of the armed rebel groups to the Arusha process, he said. Much
more needs to be done to get the rebels "fully involved", and that "might
need a change of strategy or the Arusha peace process as a whole", Van Eck
added. 

BURUNDI: FDD denies planning attacks from Tanzania

Meanwhile, the FDD has denied Burundi government accusations that its
troops are mobilising to launch attacks on Burundi from Tanzania. In a
statement, received by IRIN on Friday, the FDD described the allegations
as "false", aimed at "creating pretexts to justify their [government]
chronic dreams of attacking refugee camps in Tanzania and democracy in
Tanzania". The statement accused government troops of "massively
deploying" in the provinces of Makamba and Rutana, bordering Tanzania.

Regional police commander in Tanzania's Kigoma area Placid Chaka told IRIN
on Friday that security officers in Manyovu and Kagunga area did not
report any "likely regroupment" of Burundi rebels. "Reports from that area
say everything is normal, so if there is any regroupment of rebels for an
attack, then it could be in the bushes on the Burundi side," he said. The
Net Press agency had reported on Wednesday that nearly 6,000 CNDD and
PALIPEHUTU troops were "ready in Tanzanian areas of Manyovu and Kagunga,
in Kigoma district, to launch another attack in the southern part of
Burundi".  It said that the "killers" were undergoing intensive training,
and had started recruitment even on Burundi territory, particularly in the
communes of Bukemba and Giharo in Rutana province. Burundi army spokesman
Colonel Longin Minani recently denied that the security situation was
deteriorating. "The rebels carry out attacks to show that they are still
around," he said. 

BURUNDI: Situation worsening, rights group says

The national human rights organisation, Ligue Iteka, says that five months
since it held its general assembly in January, the security situation in
Burundi has further deteriorated. In a press release, received by IRIN on
Friday, the organisation recalled that in January it had condemned massive
human rights violations in the provinces of Makamba, Rutana, Ruyigi,
Muramvya, Bujumbura-Mairie, Bujumbura-Rural and Bubanza. "Five months
later, Ligue Iteka believes the climate of war and insecurity is worsening
in the country," the statement said. "The same violations - clashes
between security forces and rebels, ambushes or attacks against civilians,
looting and destruction of property - have now reached communes in the
centre of the country in Gitega and Mwaro, as well as some areas
surrounding Bujumbura-Mairie." In view of the worsening situation, Ligue
Iteka called on the peace talks mediator, Nelson Mandela, to demand a
cessation of hostilities before the signing of a peace accord. It urged
the negotiators themselves to engage in a frank and sincere dialogue,
rather than resorting to military solutions, and said the international
community should stop being silent and condemn the "massacres of
civilians".

BURUNDI: UK envoy briefed on peace process

Burundi President Pierre Buyoya held talks on Thursday with Britain's
Special Envoy to the Great Lakes, Douglas Scrafton, Burundi radio
reported.  Scrafton, who has just been appointed envoy to the region, said
it was important that he "visit the region as soon as possible, to get to
know better the situation concerning its governments and peoples". "I had
the honour of being received by the president who explained his position
regarding the Burundi peace process," Scrafton said. "We also discussed
how the United Kingdom could assist concerned parties in finding a
solution to their problem," he added. 

DRC: Kabila marks 40th anniversary of independence

The DRC was free to celebrate its 40th year of independence on Friday with
great optimism for the future, since its aggressors and their supporters
were no longer convinced they could easily win the war, President
Laurent-Desire Kabila told Congolese television on Thursday. "I am
delighted because our people have resisted the war of aggression, and we
are now celebrating our anniversary. This is very important indeed," he
said. The government planned an official ceremony and a military parade in
Kinshasa, but reports from the capital said there had been few signs of
public celebration, in a country wracked by corruption, war and faction
fighting, the BBC reported. The opposition daily, 'Le Potentiel', said
"independence has been a nightmare ... the country has ceased to function
as a country. It has become a vast battleground," it added.

DRC: Constituent Assembly set for go-ahead

Kabila also told Congolese television that the Constituent Assembly he had
pledged would be inaugurated "absolutely, as promised" on Saturday, 1
July.  He announced in May that he would establish a transitional national
assembly, comprising 300 deputies, since he could "no longer be expected
to put Congolese democracy on hold" in the absence of an inter-Congolese
dialogue as provided for in the Lusaka agreement. Kabila offered his
reassurances at that time that Kinshasa had no interest, "no interest at
all", in avoiding that dialogue. Regional analysts suggested that the DRC
government felt its international position had been strengthened by the UN
Security Council censure of Rwandan and Ugandan operations in DRC, and
that the Assembly offered an opportunity to press home the advantage with
a gain over its domestic political foes. What was as yet unclear, they
said, was whether it was considered that the Constituent Assembly would
replace the dialogue process. 
 
DRC: Kinshasa set to attend OAU mini-summit 

Kabila has accepted an OAU invitation to attend a mini-summit in Algeria
on Tuesday, 4 July, to review the DRC peace process, diplomatic sources
told IRIN on Thursday. It is understood that the heads of state of all the
countries that are party to the Lusaka peace agreement will attend, in
addition to those who were present at the 30 April Algiers summit,
including South Africa, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zambia. Two items,
in particular, are expected to dominate the Algiers meetings: the poor
state of relations between the OAU-nominated facilitator of the
inter-Congolese dialogue, former Botswana president Ketumile Masire; and
the deployment of UN forces to consolidate the peace process. The UN and
the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) are carrying out shuttle diplomacy
between the belligerents of the Lusaka agreement to try and find a
solution to the DRC government's rejection of Masire as dialogue
facilitator. Officials from both Masire's office and the OAU confirmed
this week that efforts were being made for a possible meeting of those
involved. 

DRC: Belgian Foreign Minister meets Goma-based rebels

Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel on Thursday met officials of the
rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD), rebel-controlled
radio from Goma reported. RCD-Goma described the meeting as the first such
high-profile meeting between the movement and the representative of a
European government, and called the gesture "proof of the new legitimacy
accorded to the RCD". Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted the party's
director of Communications and culture, Kin-Kiey Mulumba, as saying that
they spoke about the Lusaka accords, which Belgium backs strongly. "We
confirmed to him our irrevocable choice to apply the peace accords,"
Mulumba added. Michel arrived in Kinshasa on Thursday for celebrations on
Friday to mark the 40th anniversary of Congolese independence.

DRC: Belgian "laxity" condemned

Meanwhile, two Belgian NGOs, members of the Concertation chretienne pour
l'Afrique centrale (CCAC), have accused Michel of a "lax attitude" towards
Rwanda and Uganda, concerning the fighting between the two countries'
armies in Kisangani earlier this month. In a statement, issued ahead of
the minister's visit to the DRC, the Broederlijk Delen and Entraide et
Fraternite accused Michel of failing to publicly condemn the human rights
violations by the two armies. Neither had Belgium taken any initiative in
support of the UN Secretary-General's call to invoke Chapter 7 of the UN
Charter in a bid to compel Rwanda and Uganda to withdraw from Kisangani,
the statement said. "The Belgian government can and must do more," it
stressed.  It called for public condemnations by the government and said
Belgium should demand that those responsible for the fighting be exposed
and the victims compensated. Belgium should also suggest that all
financial aid to Rwanda and Uganda by the EU, the World Bank and IMF be
put on hold until both countries met the demands, the statement said. A
"principled attitude" by Belgium towards Uganda and Rwanda would in no way
suggest the government was favouring President Kabila and his allies, it
added. 

RWANDA: 'Military group' genocide accused to be tried jointly

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Thursday granted
the Prosecutor Carla del Ponte's motion that it would try together the
cases of four senior members of the Rwandan military hierarchy, known as
"the Military Group", for their alleged role in planning the 1994
genocide. The Tribunal's Trial Chamber 3 agreed with the argument that the
accused - Theoneste Bagosora, Gratien Kabiligi, Aloys Ntabakuze and
Anatole Nsengiyumva - were charged with the same crimes, in particular
conspiracy to commit genocide, among other offences, an ICTR press release
stated. The Prosecutor argued that all four were members or former members
of the military hierarchy in Rwanda in 1994, and were all involved in
preparation for the genocide and in anti-Tutsi programmes, including
military training and the supply of the Interahamwe militia. "This created
a nexus between the accused justifying their being tied together," the
statement said. Trial Chamber III ruled that joining the trials would
reduce the overall time required to try the accused, allow for a more
consistent and detailed presentation of the evidence, and for better
protection of the victims' and witnesses' physical and mental safety by
eliminating the need for them to make several journeys and to repeat their
testimony.

In a separate development, the Tribunal's Appeals Chamber announced that
it had completed the hearing of Jean Kambanda, the former Prime Minister
of Rwanda, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment on genocide
charges. The Appeals Chamber said it would deliver its decision on the
appeal later.  Kambanda had pleaded guilty to charges of genocide and
crimes against humanity, and was sentenced to life imprisonment on 4
September 1998. He has since appealed the sentence, that his guilty plea
be quashed and that he stand trial. Kambanda on Tuesday told the Tribunal
he felt he was "forced"  to sign his guilty plea agreement with the
prosecution and completely rejected the "context" in which the plea
agreement was signed.

RWANDA: Confession procedure still has potential - African Rights

While the confession and guilty plea procedure alone could not hope to
clear the backlog of cases related to the 1994 genocide or relieve
pressure on Rwanda's saturated prisons, its potential to contribute to
justice may not yet have been exhausted, according to a report released on
Friday by African Rights. The scheme was an attempt to expedite justice by
relieving the burden on the prosecution by offering sentence reductions in
return for confessions. "Overall, the procedure has not quickened the pace
of trials sufficiently; severe problems continue to afflict the
administration of justice in Rwanda," African Rights stated. 

The absence of confessions from category one prisoners - those who
planned, organised and supervised the genocide - had prevented important
information from emerging, and delays in the administration of justice had
undermined the procedure, it said. Despite these and other problems, there
had been a general affirmation of the broader truth of the genocide -
"that the Tutsis were the target of a planned programme of extermination,
led by the authorities" - and detainees no longer "stand together as a
solid wall of denial and resentment," the report stated. Alongside the
introduction of popular 'gacaca' courts, the confession procedure still
had a role to play, it said. "The increased willingness of prisoners to
cooperate might make the prospects for justice a little brighter," African
Rights concluded.

Nairobi, 30 June 2000, 14:30 gmt

[ENDS]   


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