Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 17:50:58 +0300 (BEAUT)
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Subject: GREAT LAKES: IRIN-CEA Update 961  [2000706]
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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 961 for the Great Lakes (Thursday 6 July)


CONTENTS:

RWANDA: Thousands of refugees flee to Tanzania
RWANDA: Minister outlines food security plans  
BURUNDI: Defence minister visits Tanzania
TANZANIA: Mkapa criticises Kabila
DRC: Belgium issues warrant for foreign minister
DRC: RCD-Goma denies knowledge of new Congolese rebel group
DRC: Rebels reiterate they will not leave Kisangani
GREAT LAKES: Uganda, Tanzania set pace on cutting "malaria taxes"


RWANDA: Thousands of refugees flee to Tanzania

Thousands of Rwandan refugees have fled to Tanzania since the beginning of
the year, according to the UNHCR. "The number of refuges moving to
Tanzania from Rwanda has increased significantly since the beginning of
the year,"  spokesman Paul Stromberg told IRIN on Thursday. He said the
reasons given by the refugees ranged from conscription into the army,
disappearance of their relatives and general insecurity. The BBC
Kinyarwanda service on Wednesday reported that 5,000 Rwandan refugees had
fled Kibungo prefecture to Ngara in Tanzania since the beginning of the
year. Refugees interviewed by the radio said they were fleeing killings
and insecurity back home, as well as the 'gacaca' traditional justice
system, to be introduced later this year. 

The Rwandan authorities have blamed their opponents for "creating panic" 
among the population, which has led to people fleeing to Tanzania. 
"Opportunists are telling people that gacaca will lead to the arrest of
more genocide suspects and that the coming census will determine the
number of genocide survivors, so that revenge killings can take place,"
Rwandan presidential adviser Major Emmanuel Ndahiro told IRIN. "This has
caused panic and some people have fled the country." He said a ministerial
delegation would visit the affected areas next week to explain certain
issues to the population and calm down the situation.

RWANDA: Minister outlines food security plans

Agriculture, Livestock and Forestry Minister Dr Ephraim Kabayija has
briefed parliament on his ministry's food security policy after being
summoned to do so by the national assembly, Rwanda News Agency (RNA)
reported on Thursday.  Kabayija said the policy had been reformulated with
the intention of boosting food and cash-crop production through methods
including water and soil conservation, swamp reclamation and environmental
production, in line with a cabinet decision in October 1999. It was also
intended to increase production of easily stored crops (rice, maize, wheat
and sorghum), and special programmes for crops like cassava, beans and
Irish potatoes that do well in some parts of the country, he said. The
ministry would continue to use artificial insemination and introduce
high-breed animals in an effort to boost milk and meat yields as part of
an overall trend towards the intensification, specialisation and
commercialisation of agriculture, Kabayija added. The minister is expected
to return to parliament to answer additional questions on the
implementation and impact of these policies on the Rwandan population,
over 90 percent of which is dependent on agriculture, the report added. 

BURUNDI: Defence minister visits Tanzania

Burundian Defence Minister Colonel Cyrille Ndayikengurikiye on Wednesday
led a delegation of senior military officers to Tanzania for an official
visit, according to the private Netpress new agency. The security
situation on the common border between the two countries where the Burundi
army is fighting rebel groups is expected to top the agenda of the
meeting. The Tanzanian minister of defence visited Bujumbura early this
year to discuss the security situation on the common border. Burundi has
accused the Tanzanian authorities of training and arming rebels fighting
to overthrow President Pierre Buyoya, which Tanzania has strongly denied.

TANZANIA: Mkapa criticises Kabila

President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania has criticised his DRC counterpart
Laurent-Desire Kabila for unilaterally naming a transitional parliament,
the PANA news agency reported. "My recollection is that the [Lusaka]
accord provides for an institution of such a transitional parliament, but
after the national dialogue and consensus [have been attained]," he told
journalists in the Zambian capital Lusaka on Wednesday. He said the move
did not advance the dialogue process. "What we need is the courage to sit
back in order to give the people of Congo a fresh start on their
own...rather than our imposition of a dispensation which we think is
beneficial to them," he said.  He was speaking after talks with Zambian
President Frederick Chiluba on the DRC conflict. 

DRC: Belgium issues warrant for foreign minister

Belgium has now issued an international arrest warrant for DRC Foreign
Minister Abdoulaye Yerodia, indicting him for crimes under international
law, Belgian radio reported. The Belgian authorities announced their
intention to issue the warrant last week, accusing the minister of charges
of inciting racial hatred against ethnic Tutsis during speeches in August
1998 where he used words such as "vermin" and "extermination". The radio
said measures to enforce the warrant had been taken and international
police services informed. Yerodia has been charged by the Belgian
authorities on the basis of a 1993 law that allows those alleged to have
committed crimes under international law to be prosecuted, regardless of
where the alleged crime was committed. 

The rebel RCD-Goma welcomed Belgium's decision. "It sends a message to
reckless politicians in this region who use their tongues to cause
trouble," RCD foreign affairs representative Adolphe Onusumba told IRIN.
"In South Kivu we are having problems because of such people." 

DRC: RCD-Goma denies knowledge of new Congolese rebel group

The RCD-Goma on Thursday denied that the leaders of a new rebel movement,
known as the Front populaire pour la liberation du Congo (FPLC), have
defected from the movement. "They have never been part of us," RCD
security and intelligence chief Bizima Karaha told IRIN. "I think this
group has a connection with former Mobutu generals."  Uganda also denied
any connection with the new group. According to some reports, Uganda was
allegedly backing the FPLC - which is thought to be based in Province
Orientale - against Rwanda and RCD-Goma. However army spokesman Pheneas
Katirima added: "We have heard about this particular group's intention to
liberate Congo and we wish them success because we believe it is the duty
of the Congolese to liberate themselves." 

DRC: Rebels reiterate they will not leave Kisangani

The RCD-Goma has said it forces will not leave Kisangani until the UN
mission in DRC, MONUC, can adequately defend the city. "Kisangani is a
strategic town with two airports and a port, we cannot risk leaving it to
people who cannot defend it," RCD foreign affairs chief Adolphe Onusumba
told IRIN. "Suppose Kabila comes in and takes over the place. That means
fighting again. Moreover the Lusaka agreement allows us to maintain a
logistical centre in Kisangani." He said his group had advised the UN to
deploy a company at each airport and the port "but they are insisting that
we get our forces out and leave the town to the police and the local
administration".

The leader of the rival Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC), which is
supported by Uganda, Jean-Pierre Bemba, on Wednesday accused the RCD of
"beating up" his supporters in Kisangani and warned that he would deploy
troops "if the harassment continues". However, Onusumba denied the
allegations. "Bemba is using it as an excuse to start trouble in
Kisangani,"  he said.

Uganda meanwhile has denied media reports that it has abandoned its
Congolese allies by withdrawing five battalions from DRC. "We are not
abandoning the Congolese," army spokesman Major Pheneas Katirima said. "We
still have the capacity to defend them if necessary. Our complete
withdrawal will be in accordance with the Lusaka agreement."

GREAT LAKES: Uganda, Tanzania set pace on cutting "malaria taxes" 

Uganda's scrapping of taxes and tariffs on mosquito nets and insecticides
used in the fight against malaria has set an excellent example for other
malaria-endemic countries, including most in the Great Lakes region and
East Africa, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated on Wednesday.
Uganda was the fastest country to follow up on a pledge made at the
African Malaria Summit in Nigeria in April, when it scrapped the tariffs
in its June budget, a WHO press release said. Tanzania had been the first
African country to take concerted action on the 'malaria tax' last year,
reducing the combined total of taxes and trade tariffs to 5 percent and
making mosquito nets more affordable at an average US $3.50, it added.
Rwanda, Congo, the Central African Republic, Kenya and Sudan are
high-tariff countries, taking 42 percent or more on the cost of mosquito
nets and malaria insecticides, according to statistics cited in the WHO
statement. Burundi and Tanzania are low-tariff countries, with takings
between 5 percent and 25 percent. Malaria kills more than one million
people a year worldwide - with nine out of 10 cases in Africa - but could
be prevented by using insecticides and bed nets to stop transmission, if
the price of these were not completely out of reach of most Africans. [for
full statement, go to:  http://www.who.int/inf-pr-2000/en/pr2000-48.html]

                   
Nairobi, 6 July 2000, 14:50 gmt

[ENDS]

[IRIN-CEA: Tel: +254 2 622147 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin-cea@ocha.unon.org ]





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