Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 18:33:10 +0300 (BEAUT)
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Subject: GREAT LAKES: IRIN-CEA Update 1,143 [2010327]
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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 1,143 for the Great Lakes (Tuesday 27 March) 


CONTENTS:

DRC: Rights abuses still rampant - Garreton
DRC: Ugandan presence has "fuelled strife" in Congo
DRC: Kabila, Mugabe meet on conflict and cooperation
DRC: Wamba meets Masire regarding dialogue
DRC: Media group reports journalist's release
BURUNDI: Peace minister outlines progress  
BURUNDI: Administrator denies mass graves in Kinama
RWANDA: Annan forwards shortlist of judges for ICTR 
GREAT LAKES: World Food Programme renews funding appeal
TANZANIA: Refugee strike over rations reported 


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: Ugandan presence has "fuelled strife" in Congo

The Ugandan army on Wednesday came under attack from the US-based NGO
Human Rights Watch (HRW) for having allegedly "fuelled political and
ethnic strife in eastern Congo with disastrous consequences for the local
population". In a 50-page report, HRW said Uganda had meddled in rivalries
among rival factions of the rebel RCD, some of which had degenerated into
military skirmishes in which civilians were killed. It also alleged that
Ugandan soldiers had involved themselves in a long-standing dispute
between the Hema and Lendu ethnic communities in Ituri District, under
Ugandan control, sometimes loaning firearms to Hema populations in return
for payment. Both Uganda and the RCD-Mouvement de liberation (which Uganda
supported) had been involved in recruiting and training children as
combatants, and Ugandan soldiers "have blatantly exploited Congolese
wealth for their own benefit and that of their superiors at home", HRW
stated. 

The organisation also alleged that Ugandan and Congolese leaders in
Ugandan-controlled territory had detained and sometimes tortured those
identified as rivals or opponents. Ugandan troops had captured and
summarily executed members of the Congolese nationalist Mayi-Mayi
militias, "attacked local people thought to have aided the Mayi-Mayi,
killing civilians and laying waste their villages", HRW stated. The people
of these Ugandan-controlled areas were saying that the end of the war was
not enough and that justice had to be done for the wrongs imposed on them,
it said. That Kampala has pulled out some of its troops from eastern DRC
in recent weeks, though not from the areas most affected by the alleged
abuses, did not relieve it of "responsibility for investigating and
punishing the soldiers who have been involved in these crimes", or
assuring accountability from its troops in the Congo, HRW added. [for full
report, go to: www.hrw.org/]

DRC: Kabila, Mugabe meet on conflict and cooperation

President Joseph Kabila and his Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert Mugabe, on
Monday held consultations in Harare which centred on peace in the DRC and
economic cooperation between the two countries, news organisations
reported. This was Kabila's first official visit to another African
country. Reuters quoted a Zimbabwean Ministry of Foreign Affairs official
as saying that, besides advancing the Congo peace process, Kabila's visit
was meant to showcase close relations between the two countries. It 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. "So
there was a discussion of the role Zimbabwe, along with Angola and
Namibia, had played to make relative peace now a reality in the DRC," he
added. Moyo said the talks also explored Zimbabwe's plans to import 450
megawatts of electricity from DRC, the potential of investing in DRC's
agriculture, cooperation in information, and DRC's wish to import wild
animals from Zimbabwe.

DRC: Wamba meets Masire regarding dialogue

The leader of the rump Rassemblement congolais pour la
democratie-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-ML), Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, at
the end of last week held talks with the facilitator of the
inter-Congolese dialogue, Ketumile Masire, a statement from the
Bunia-based RCD-ML said. At the talks, held in South Africa, the two had
consultations on the inter-Congolese national dialogue and how the RCD-ML
fits in with Masire's overall plan, according to the statement, received
by IRIN on Monday. Wamba - a former president of the RCD, who established
the Ugandan-backed RCD-ML after being ousted by the RCD - has become
marginalised from Uganda since it supported the merger of the RCD-ML with
the Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) in the umbrella Congolese
Liberation Front (CLF), lead by Jean-Pierre Bemba. He has become
increasingly opposed to the Ugandan and Rwandan presence in the Congo,
prepared for compromise with President Kabila and active in gearing up for
a role in the inter-Congolese dialogue, diplomatic sources told IRIN on
Tuesday. Wamba still had considerable support in northeastern DRC and, as
a former RCD president and signatory of the Lusaka agreement, could be
expected to have significant input in the dialogue, they added. 

In its statement on Monday, Wamba's RCD-ML said it was pleased and
encouraged by the positive change of attitude exhibited by the new
leadership in Kinshasa during Masire's recent visit to the capital,
describing it as a step forward in the peace process. The RCD-ML proposed
that, in order to boost the effectiveness of the dialogue, Masire should
note the difference between the proposed inter-Congolese national
dialogue, which would be taking place in a balkanised state, and Congo's
need for a Conference Nationale de souverainete, seeking democratisation
of the country and society as a whole. 

DRC: Media group reports journalist's release

The editor-in-chief of the Kinshasa-based satirical weekly "Pot Pourri",
Guy Kasongo Kilembwe, was released last Thursday, the media watchdog,
Journaliste en Danger (JED), reported on Monday. It said the journalist
was freed from solitary confinement at the Agence nationale de
renseignments/Direction interieure (ANR/DI), secret services in
Kinshasa/Gombe, where he had been transferred the day before (Wednesday).
It said Kilembwe was freed after ANR officials forced him to sign a
statement saying that he took a solemn oath "to never again write articles
that are hostile to the regime in power in Kinshasa". He was also ordered
to present an apology to the government, JED added.

Kilembwe's release was reportedly ordered by ANR's administrative
director-general, Didier Kazadi Nyembwe, who said that no file on the
journalist's case existed, JED said. No release documents were given to
him when he was let out of the cell, it added. JED quoted Kilembwe as
saying that he was flogged, whipped with metal strips and threatened with
death several times. His family were not allowed to see him. Kilembwe was
arrested on 28 February in Kinshasa, allegedly because of "the satirical
newspaper's manifest hatred towards the minister of state responsible for
the interior, Gaetan Kakudji, who is from the same province as Kilembwe,
Katanga". JED reported that, despite President Joseph Kabila's orders to
close all illegal detention centres, the ANR facility was still
operational.

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 upon 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 Ligue 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. 

BURUNDI: Administrator denies mass graves in Kinama

The civilian administrator of Kinama suburb in the Burundi capital,
Bujumbura, on Monday denied press reports that a mass grave had been found
there after a spell of intense fighting between the Burundi army and Hutu
rebels, the Associated Press agency (AP) reported. Idi Nziragucumura said
the bodies of 205 people killed in the fighting, including residents and
rebels, had been found in houses, on the streets and in three common
graves in Kinama, and not in a single mass grave, the report said. Kinama
was the site of the heaviest fighting between the Burundi army and rebel
FNL fighters who entrenched themselves in the suburb during an intensive
onslaught on Bujumbura.

RWANDA: Annan forwards shortlist of judges for ICTR

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has forwarded the names of four judges to
the UN Security Council for its consideration in connection with the
imminent appointment of two judges to the International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, northern Tanzania. The Council is due to
propose at least four candidates to the General Assembly, which will then
elect the two judges for the Tribunal, Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard told
journalists at UN headquarters in New York on Monday. The candidates
recommended by Annan are from Benin, Zambia, Malawi and Madagascar, and
all have been proposed by their respective governments, according to news
reports. "The terms of the two judges are to last until 24 May 2003, when
the terms of all the judges currently sitting on the Rwanda Tribunal are
to expire," Eckhard stated on Monday. 

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". 

Drought and internal displacement in Burundi had increased the number of
people WFP was feeding on a monthly average basis from 1.2 million to 2.1
million people, 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: Refugee strike over rations reported

During the week to Friday 23 March, refugees in Lugufu I camp in western
Tanzania went on strike for three days due to discontent with reduced food
rations being received in the camp, WFP reported on Friday. UNHCR and WFP
staff had explained in a meeting with NGOs, refugees' zone leaders,
village leaders and food group leaders that rations depended on donor
contributions, and that the food stocks available were only sufficient to
cover 80 percent of the normal full ration in Tanzania, it said. After the
meeting, refugees ended their strike, and the security situation had
remained calm for UN personnel and at WFP warehouses throughout the three
days, the agency added. WFP reported low stocks of all commodities in
Lugufu; low stocks of cereals, pulses and biscuits in Ngara; and of
cereals and pulses in both Kibondo and Kasulu. "Urgent stock replenishment
is needed," it added. 

Nairobi, 27 March 2001

[ENDS]

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