Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2000 14:59:03 +0300 (BEAUT)
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Subject: GREAT LAKES: IRIN-CEA Update 1,047  [2001107]
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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 1,047 for the Great Lakes (Tuesday 7 November)

CONTENTS:

DRC: Thousands displaced from Shabunda
DRC: New rebel group in Goma
DRC: Killings reported in South Kivu
DRC: Banyamulenge villages attacked
BURUNDI: Pro-Tutsi parties name presidential candidate
BURUNDI: FRODEBU faction no longer recognises vice-president
BURUNDI: Malaria in Mwaro province
RWANDA: US lawyer says ethics prevent him defending suspect


DRC: Thousands displaced from Shabunda

Some 27,000 people, displaced by fighting in Shabunda, near Bukavu, have
descended on the town of Kalima and remain there without any humanitarian
assistance, according to a report by the Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Kinshasa. It noted that only religious
workers are operating in the area which continues to serve as a
battleground between troops of the Rassemblement congolais pour la
democratie (RCD-Goma)  and militias from the Mayi-Mayi and Interahamwe.
The World Food Programme in Bukavu has been forced to suspend its
interventions because of a lack of resources, OCHA noted. However, some
12,955 families have returned to villages around Kalonge where security
has been restored. Many of them had been hiding out in forests and their
state of health is "very critical" with numerous cases of malnutrition
reported, particularly among women and children. 

DRC: New rebel group in Goma

The creation of another rebel group has been reported in Goma, OCHA said.
It is named the 'Mouvement des patriotes congolais' [Movement of Patriotic
Congolese], and was established by a businessman, Victor Ngezayo. The
party says it is seeking to bring about peace in Congo. 

DRC: Killings reported in South Kivu

There have been reports of killings in the Bukavu area over the weekend,
according to local sources. A nuns' hostel and a health centre as well as
the village of Mbobero were surrounded by a large number of "men in
uniform", and about three people were reportedly killed. The local priest
was bound and beaten, the sources said. Elsewhere in South Kivu, the
governing RCD reported an attack by Interahamwe militia against a mission
school in Kitmahini late on Sunday. Two people were reportedly killed and
the mission looted. 

DRC: Banyamulenge villages attacked

Further south in the Uvira area, three Banyamulenge villages near Baraka
came under attack at the weekend by Mayi-Mayi militia and Burundian rebels
of the Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD), local sources told
IRIN on Tuesday. At least nine people were killed and property destroyed. 
Local organisations have warned of the existence of an "extremist"
Mayi-Mayi group "cooperating with the FDD and bent on exterminating Tutsis
in the region". The main Uvira-Bukavu road is reported safe and calm these
days after a major operation against militiamen conducted by the RCD and
its Rwandan allies. 

BURUNDI: Pro-Tutsi parties name presidential candidate

Six pro-Tutsi parties have put forward an army officer as a presidential
candidate to lead the transition.  The six - ANADDE, AV-Intwari, INKINZO,
PIT, RADDES and PRP - nominated Colonel Epitace Bayaganakandi, a former
interior minister and chief of the gendarmerie, whom they identified as a
"responsible leader and saviour", the private Netpress news agency
reported on Monday. The six parties stated that "neither power-sharing nor
internal political cohabitation have helped bring Burundians together in a
spirit of peace and reconciliation".  It was therefore necessary to
identify "men of integrity ... with a genuine agenda of reconciliation".
Netpress recalled that the four presidential contenders representing Tutsi
interests so far include Bayaganakandi, the current president Pierre
Buyoya, former president Jean-Baptiste Bagaza of the PARENA party and
ABASA (African-Burundian Alliance for Salvation)  leader, Terence Nsanze. 

BURUNDI: FRODEBU faction no longer recognises vice-president

Meanwhile, the internal wing of the opposition FRODEBU party has declared
it no longer recognises Frederic Bamvuginyumvira as the country's first
vice-president, Netpress said. The faction, led by Augustin Nzojibwami,
accused the vice-president, "whom it had propelled to the country's
highest institutions", of disloyalty. Bamvuginyumvira was "taking
advantage of his position in government to unscrupulously give [external
FRODEBU leader Jean] Minani political mileage within and outside the
country", the group said.  The internal wing was angered by comments made
by Bamvuginyumvira during a recent trip to Nairobi stating that "unless
President Buyoya and Minani agree, peace will not return to the country".
As a result, internal FRODEBU announced "it no longer recognises Mr
Bamvuginyumvira as the first vice-president of the republic, since he has
become a servant to one man [Minani] and not the party, not to mention the
nation". 

BURUNDI: Malaria in Mwaro province

The Burundi Red Cross Society, supported by the International Federation
of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), has mobilised to
contain an outbreak of malaria currently affecting the province of Mwaro.
A team of volunteers has gone to the province to help sensitise the
population and carry out the necessary medical care. The outbreak has also
affected the provinces of Gitega and Ngozi, and medical assistance has
been sent to treat the disease. 

RWANDA: US lawyer says ethics prevent him defending suspect

A US lawyer defending genocide suspect Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza has told the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that his ethics prevent
him from continuing to defend his client, the Hirondelle news agency
reported on Monday. Barayagwiza, a founder of the extremist Radio
Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), is boycotting his own trial,
claiming he will not get a fair hearing, and has urged his lawyers to do
the same.  Earlier, the ICTR had refused to allow his defence counsel to
stand down.  The lawyer, David Danielson, stated he "simply cannot go
forward and offer a defence against his [Barayagwiza's] explicit
instructions". The court has ordered the assignment of a new co-counsel to
replace Danielson. 

Meanwhile, the initial appearance of another genocide suspect, Lieutenant
Colonel Tharcisse Muvunyi, who was recently extradited to the ICTR in
Arusha, Tanzania from London, has been postponed from Monday to Wednesday
to allow the defence more time to study an amended indictment, the
Internews press service reported. 

Nairobi, 7 November 2000, 12:00 gmt

[ENDS]

[IRIN-CEA: Tel: +254 2 622147 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin-cea@ocha.unon.org ]


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