Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 17:32:16 +0300 (BEAUT)
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Subject: GREAT LAKES: IRIN-CEA Update 978  [2000731]
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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 978 for the Great Lakes (Monday 31 July)

CONTENTS:

DRC: Congolese flee Libenge bombing into CAR
DRC: Security Council hears of deployment problems
DRC: Morjane calls for pressure on Kabila 
DRC: Kabila to quiz UN on peace mission 
DRC: Lusaka process in a serious situation 
DRC: Opposition party complains of "harassment" 
DRC: Insecurity on Bunia-Beni road
UGANDA: Soldiers in DRC due home this week
BURUNDI: Accord "rushed", government says
BURUNDI: Accord problematic - diplomatic sources
RWANDA: Results of genocide census delayed
RWANDA: Food, fuel prices up


DRC: Congolese flee Libenge bombing into CAR

Fighting in the northwestern province of Equateur has prompted some 6,000
people from the DRC, mostly women and children, to flee into the Central
African Republic (CAR), UNHCR reported on Friday. On Saturday 22 July
alone, some 1,203 people arrived in the CAR town of Zinga, situated along
the Ubangui River opposite DRC territory, agency spokeswoman Delphine
Marie stated. "They say they are fleeing bombing by the Congolese army,
reportedly around the town of Libenge," Marie said, adding that a recent
UNHCR mission to the area across the river from Libenge confirmed seeing
bombs being dropped on the town. Libenge has around 20,000 inhabitants,
many of whom have now fled into the forest and many more of whom could
cross the Ubangui to seek refuge in CAR. Congolese rebels from the
Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) were reportedly cruising the
Ubangui River - the target of DRC government aircraft. The MLC presence on
the river had made it especially difficult for refugees to cross, and the
rebels sometimes charged a fee for them to do so, Marie said. Meanwhile,
refugee registration in CAR was now underway, and could reveal a much
higher numbers of DRC refugees, she added. 

Diplomatic sources confirmed that DRC refugees were arriving in the CAR
border towns of Mogoumba and Zinga and the authorities were taking
measures to accommodate the new arrivals at various sites in the country.
The refugee situation was described as worrying and precarious,
particularly regarding food and sanitation. The sources warned that if the
government offensive in Equateur province continued, the situation in CAR
would give even more cause for concern. 

DRC: Security Council hears of deployment problems

UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hedi Annabi on
Friday briefed Security Council members, meeting in closed consultations,
on the postponed deployment of an expanded UN presence in the DRC. Earlier
last week, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan decided to suspend the
dispatching of a Tunisian support unit to the Kinshasa headquarters of the
UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), following the DRC government's announcement
that it would not permit armed UN troops in Kinshasa or any other city it
controlled. The Security Council reiterated its call for all parties in
the DRC to adhere to their peace commitments, and re-pledged its own
support for the Lusaka peace process and the Kisangani Disengagement Plan.
Annabi also told Council members of the "critical humanitarian problem"
along the Ubangui and Congo rivers that form the DRC's borders with the
Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

DRC: Morjane calls for pressure on Kabila

At a weekend meeting of the Political Committee, a year after its
establishment to oversee implementation of the Lusaka process, the UN
Special Representative for the DRC, Kamel Morjane, said none of the
conditions sought for UN deployment had been met and MONUC had not had the
opportunity to implement its mandate. "Unfortunately we see that ceasefire
violations are numerous and the peace accord is not being honoured. Maybe
our mission has not been a success," Reuters news agency on Sunday quoted
him as saying. "President Frederick Chiluba [of Zambia] is trying to
arrange a summit, possibly before the UN meets to decide on whether to
extend our mandate," he told Reuters. MONUC's mandate runs out on 31
August and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is due to submit his
recommendations for the future on 24 August. Morjane called for African
leaders to intensify the pressure on President Laurent-Desire Kabila to
abide by the Lusaka accord, saying: "We consider as obstruction the
decision taken by the Congo government not to allow UN troops in some
areas. You cannot find a military officer who will agree to send soldiers
to another country without arms. We cannot deploy troops under the
conditions that the government is asking." 
        
DRC: Kabila to quiz UN on peace mission

Meanwhile, the DRC government is expected to appeal to the UN Security
Council for clarification of MONUC's mission and mandate, according to
diplomatic sources. Kabila has said he does not understand why the
Security Council has passed resolutions demanding the withdrawal of
foreign forces without the UN - as he sees it - using full economic and
diplomatic pressures to bring this about.

DRC: Lusaka process in a serious situation

The prospects for the inter-Congolese dialogue remain poor - DRC officials
reportedly walked out of the Political Committee meeting in Lusaka on
Friday when the OAU-appointed facilitator, Ketumile Masire, whom it
rejects, addressed the meeting, the sources said. Many see the
government's plans to establish a Constituent Assembly in Lubumbashi in
August as undermining the dialogue process further. Worse still, the
virtual non-existence of discourse between the belligerents in the past
two months has led to a standstill on other political issues such as
transitional arrangements, elections and a new constitution, they added.
The UN had based its planning for the DRC peace process on the cooperation
of the belligerents but ongoing military actions, combined with the
political deadlock, meant its ability to deploy peacekeepers in the DRC
was seriously in doubt, the sources told IRIN.

DRC: Opposition party complains of "harassment" 

The opposition political party, the Union for Democracy and Social Forces
(UPDS), has criticised the work of "armed elements dressed in army
uniform"  for causing panic near the home of party leader Etienne
Tshisekedi on Wednesday night last, rebel-controlled radio Uvira reported
on Sunday. A party statement also protested the "relentless harassment" of
the UPDS, including the arbitrary arrest of its activists held in remand
and an ongoing police crackdown against political activities, the report
added.  Meanwhile, National Director of Police Services Major Kashogon
Kitenge announced on Thursday that it was still forbidden for individual
or political groups to engage in any political activities or make
political statements without being a member of a party or movement
registered with the interior ministry. Kitenge issued a warning to anyone
who, "defying the state authority, would, through newspapers or any other
media, incite some weak minds to disrupt law and order," state television
reported. 

DRC: Insecurity on Bunia-Beni road

Humanitarian sources have confirmed the pullout of Ugandan troops from the
Beni-Bunia area in eastern DRC, which is controlled by the Rassemblement
congolais pour la democratie-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-ML) of Ernest
Wamba dia Wamba. They said security was now being maintained by RCD-ML
troops trained in Nyaleke (Beni) and Rwampara (Bunia), and which included
several child soldiers. However, insecurity was rife along the road
between Beni and Bunia, due to the presence of armed men in uniform
described as a combination of DRC government troops, former Zairean troops
(ex-FAZ), Interahamwe militia and Ugandan NALU rebels from the Rwenzori
mountains.  They are reportedly blocking roads, looting passing vehicles
and raping women and girls who they then abduct into the bush. The dangers
present on this road have seriously hindered aid deliveries to Beni and
Bunia. 

UGANDA: Soldiers in DRC due home this week

A contingent of about 4,000 soldiers from five battalions of the Uganda
People's Defence Force (UPDF), who were assembled in the eastern DRC town
of Buta, are to be flown home this week, the semi-official 'New Vision'
newspaper reported on Saturday. Quoting army sources, the paper said that
some private air operators had been contacted to airlift the troops. 
However, army spokesman Phineas Katirima would not say when the airlift
would begin. "The movement of troops is a security secret," he said. "We
have told the troops in Buta to be on full alert." The paper also quoted
other sources as saying that many units in Buta had been paid their salary
arrears and that the last instalments were to be paid over the weekend.
The soldiers had reportedly not been paid for nearly six months. The chief
army paymaster, Captain Dan Byakutaga, has since 15 May gone missing with
an equivalent of US $1.05 million meant for the soldiers' pay. An
investigation team was recently set up to probe his disappearance. Sources
said the delay in flying out the soldiers was due to shortage of money for
the arrears. 

BURUNDI: Accord "rushed", government says

The Burundi government on Saturday said certain aspects of the draft peace
accord, circulated in Arusha, Tanzania, earlier this month were "not
practical". In an interview with Burundi radio, Peace Process Minister
Ambroise Niyonsaba said the government believed the document was prepared
"in a hurry". "There are some contradictions within the draft," he said.
He refused to be drawn on whether the government rejected the document
outright, saying the most important issue was to have a workable
agreement.  "If we reach a good draft agreement, we will sign, and if we
do not reach a good draft agreement we shall discuss it further," he said.
He added that even a "gentleman's agreement" was possible which was
"far-reaching and which may carry more weight than a signature". "Certain
provisions of the draft agreement are not practical," he commented. "There
was no effort made to place things in time and fix them
chronologically...This is particularly true of the transitional
arrangement and the interim periods." 

His comments were echoed by government spokesman Luc Rukingama who said
the draft accord was "replete with confusion, ambiguity and double
standards".  "The institutional vacuum...risks leading to
destabilisation," he warned, speaking after a cabinet meeting last week.

BURUNDI: Accord problematic - diplomatic sources

Diplomatic sources have also voiced several concerns over the draft
Burundi peace accord, which the peace process facilitator, Nelson Mandela,
would like to see signed on 28 August. Potential problems of the
agreement, according to the sources, include some of the provisions for a
transitional government aimed at achieving an ethnic balance of power. The
sources said that the distribution of "transition" posts is due to be
based on a power-sharing arrangement between the 19 sides negotiating in
Arusha. This makes the new coalition administration "very politicised"
and, given their performance over two years of negotiations, does not
inspire much confidence in the ability of the sides to conduct the
transition smoothly, they said.  The sources also noted that Tutsi parties
oppose the fact the draft does not take into account a 1996 report by a UN
commission of enquiry, which established that a genocide took place in
Burundi after the 1993 murder of president Melchior Ndadaye.

RWANDA: Results of genocide census delayed

The Rwandan government at the weekend said that the results of the 1994
genocide victims' census conducted from 17-27 July would be out before the
end of the year, the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) reported. "The delay in the
announcement of official results is due to the collections of more than
2,000 files that were distributed countrywide and two more months needed
for analysis," RNA quoted the local government ministry executive
secretary, Protais Musoni, as saying. According to the national
coordinator of the census, Nepomuscene Rugemintwaza, results from more
than 9,104 prison cells in the country have to be collated and the names
recorded.

RWANDA: Food, fuel prices up

Food and fuel prices have gone up in Rwanda, the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) 
said at the weekend.  It attributed the rise in prices of various food
products around Rwanda's prefectures - some by up to six percent - to
drought and the increase in fuel prices. RNA quoted an agriculture
ministry report as saying that the price of groundnuts had gone up from
400 to 500 Rwandan francs a kilo. The agency quoted the president of the
Rwandan Petroleum Importers, Egide Gakuba, as saying the increase in
petroleum products was due to high transportation costs, the devaluation
of the Rwandan currency against the US dollar and the taxes imposed on
importers.

"Petroleum prices will not go down unless the taxes imposed on them are
reduced, otherwise, petroleum dealers would operate on a loss," he said.
RNA quoted sources from the commerce ministry also as saying that the
government is trying to streamline the route through Isaka port in
Tanzania, in order to lower transportation costs. Petroleum products have
risen from 310 to 330 Rwandan francs.

Nairobi, 31 July 2000, 14:30 gmt

[ENDS]

[IRIN-CEA: Tel: +254 2 622147 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin-cea@ocha.unon.org ]





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