3/01/b/97
IRIN Emergency Update No. 109 on the Great Lakes
UNITED NATIONS
Department of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network
Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@dha.unon.org
- Laurent-Desire Kabila, rebel leader of the Alliance of Democratic Forces
for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL), held talks in Pretoria, South
Africa, with South African, US and UN officials. Joint OAU/UN Special
Representative for the Great Lakes region, Mohamed Sahnoun, arrived in South
Africa on Tuesday. The South African news agency SAPA reported that Sahnoun;
US secretary of State for African Affairs George Moose; and South African
deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad were present at the first round of "close
proximity" talks. The South African government continues to stress that the
talks would take time. One diplomat present at the talks said that the
presence of UN/OAU and US officials aimed at reconciling all the
international and regional initiatives for eastern Zaire (see IRIN Update
105).
The Zairean government representative, Honore Nzambo Ngbanda - senior
security advisor and nephew to President Mobutu Sese Seko - is reported to
have left South Africa. He participated in last weeks exploratory talks in
Cape Town.
- Rebel spokesman Raphael Ghenda told AFP today in Goma that Kindu garrison
town "is about to fall". He said that looting by soldiers and flight of the
population "has become a classic scenario - our forces are on the point of
capturing the town". Kindu has a major airport, is a railhead for the
mineral-rich Shaba province, and was a major military base for the
government counter-offensive. The Zairean government denies there has been
looting.
- World Food Programme sent in its first airlift of emergency food supplies
to Punia yesterday - an outpost about 170 kilometers south of Tingi-Tingi
camps, eastern Zaire - where 4,000 Rwandans have arrived in poor nutritional
condition. An estimated 160 refugees are arriving daily. A WFP/UNHCR mission
visited Punia on Sunday. WFP said it completed its largest food distribution
to date in Tingi-Tingi on Monday, where some 170,000 Rwandans received a
seven-day food package containing maize, beans, corn-soya blend and
vegetable oil. WFP said it now had "ample stocks" in Tingi-Tingi camps but
was concerned about the impact of insecurity and the onset of the rainy
season.
Humanitarian sources from Tingi-Tingi camps confirmed today that a
commercial air operation has been flying Rwandans out of Tingi-Tingi camp to
Kisangani, and on to Nairobi. The flight costs around $800. Well-placed
sources say a few hundred Rwandans, including ex-FAR, have left Tingi-Tingi
by air recently. Sources say the exodus of ex-FAR could facilitate
repatriation attempts of refugees to Rwanda, and assist the on-going
negotiations for the opening of safe corridors. Unconfirmed reports say
ex-FAR have requested that lower-ranking former-FAR from Tingi-Tingi be
re-integrated into the Rwandan army.
In Punia, an AFP reporter says refugees arriving fearful of the rapid rebel
advance. The reporter, who interviewed refugees in Punia, says most of then
hid in thick forest and scrub for weeks and are fearful of being caught in
fighting. Refugees are arriving from the north and south, and feel trapped;
AFP say the refugees are hoping the international community will open a new
camp to provide them with a safe haven.
- Speculation continues about the security situation in Kindu and Kisangani.
The Governor of Maniema, based in Kindu, left the garrison town yesterday
for Kisangani, and went on to Kinshasa by a private airline last night. In
an interview with AP, a group of senior Zairean officers said dissension and
chaos within the army leadership, as well as low morale, years of low wages
and dismal living conditions, had driven them to defect to the rebel ADFL.
Nine senior officers have fled to Brazzaville, Congo, and say they are in
"transit" to join the front in eastern Zaire. Speaking to AP, a former
colonel who gave his name only as "Anti" said the other officers included
three other colonels, two majors and two captains, as well as one other
officer. Anti claimed hundreds of other officers and rank-and-file soldiers
had already switched sides and were in eastern Zaire to aid the rebels.
- An article in Le Monde today said a Western eyewitness, who has lived in
the region for four years, claims that rebels in eastern Zaire have
massacred civilians in the Goma region. The eye witness says he saw mass
graves and gave nine examples, with their location. Two of the examples he
gave were mass graves outside Katale camp, one containing more than a
hundred people killed by machine gun, and the other containing 300 people
wrapped in plastic sheeting. To-date, there have been no independent human
rights monitors in eastern Zaire to investigate various claims relating to
killings by the fleeing Zairean army and the rebels.
- A statement today from the Belgian government emphasised it was concerned
about human rights violations committed by all parties in Zaire, and was
trying to verify any information regarding genocide in the region. The
statement, by a spokesman from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, follows a
published interview with Belgian Development Minister Reginald Moreels, who
said rebels were committing genocide in eastern Zaire.
- A meeting of the Organsiation of African Unity in Tripoli, Libiya, is
preoccupied with the crisis in Zaire, reports AFP. OAU Secretary-General
Salim Ahmed Salim in a report prepared for the meeting stressed the need for
a ceasefire as soon as possible. Rwandan Foreign Minister Anastase Gasana
called for an "African solution" to the conflict. In his report Salim Salim
underlined the urgency for an international conference on peace, security
and stability in the Great Lakes region. Other items on the agenda include
Burundi and Somalia. Burundi's representative at the OAU, Luc Rukingama, is
trying to get regional sanctions lifted, report AFP. 53 Foreign Ministers
are meeting in Tripoli at the OAU conference.
- President Daniel arap Moi of Kenya said yesterday he was "hopeful" of an
imminent solution to the conflict in Africa's Great Lakes region, and said
he had made "concerted efforts in finding a solution". Moi complained
African leaders had recieved little international support in imposing
sanctions on Burundi's military regime. Moi said Kenya had been thrown into
turmoil because of regional conflicts, resulting in "influx of refugees,
illegal possession of firearms and the disruption of economic activities".
The Kenyan president made the remarks in Gaborone at a banquet held at a
Commonwealth conference on democracy. About three thousand Kenyan students
and other protestors marched through Nairobi in a another day of
demonstrations over the death of a student leader.
- President Mobutu Sese Seko has postponed his return to Zaire from his
villa on the French Riviera, aides said on Tuesday. Mobutu arrived in France
on Friday and underwent medical tests at the weekend. He had planned to
leave for Zaire on Tuesday, but aides said he would leave on Wednesday at
the earliest, report AFP.
- A five-day conference on the River Nile basin opened yesterday in Addis
Ababa. At least 250 government representatives and researchers are attending
from Burundi, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania,
Uganda and Zaire. The ten states are expected to spell out their positions
on the use of the Nile resources. Also taking part are representatives of
international orgnaisations such as the World Bank, UNDP, the European Union
and donor countries. Opening the conference, the Ethiopian Minister for
Water Resources said Ethiopia contributed 86% of the Nile's waters and had
the right to equitable share.
- Hutu rebel leaders in Burundi have announced they had set up their own
"courts" to try those they deem responsible for political and other killings
in Burundi, reports AFP. Rebel leader Leonard Nyangoma said several trials
in Burundi had convicted Hutus of genocide against Tutsis in the massacres
that took place after the 1993 coup; the rebel "courts" would now try Tutsis
suspected in involvement in the military coup, said a statement released to
the press. Leonard Nyangoma - head of the National Council for the Defence
of Democracy (CNDD) - said roving tribunals had been set up in all the
country's provinces. He also denounced the United Nations, charging that it
was indifferent to the unrest in Burundi and was failing to set up an
international criminal tribunal similar to the one set up for Rwanda.
- Deposed Burundi president Sylvestre Ntibantunganya is reportedly ready to
leave the US ambassador's residence in Bujumbura after talks with his
successor, Major Pierre Buyoya. In a statement yesterday, the opposition
Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU) said Ntibantunganya was ready to
leave after hiding since July 1996 in the US residence. The announcement has
not been confirmed.
Nairobi, 26 February 1997, 15:35 GMT
Via the UN DHA Integrated Regional Information Network. The material
contained in this communication may not necessarily reflect the views of the
United Nations or its agencies. UN DHA IRIN Tel: +254 2 622123 Fax: +254 2
622129 e-mail: irin@dha.unon.org for more information. If you re-print,
copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and
disclaimer.
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Source: DHA, Integrated Regional Information Network
Date: 25 Feb 1997
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IRIN Emergency Update No. 108 on the Great Lakes
UNITED NATIONS
Department of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network
Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@dha.unon.org
- Reports of insecurity in Kisangani and Kindu have increased concern among
the humanitarian community. There have been conflicting reports concerning
looting in Kindu; the Zairean government has denied soldiers are looting in
the garrison town.
- Rebel leader Laurent-Desire Kabila flew to South Africa today, report news
agencies. According to Reuters, a "regional military source" stressed that
Kabila would not be meeting representatives of the Zairean government, but
confirmed that his visit was "part of consultations with the South Africans
on the Zaire conflict". Kabila's departure comes a day after South African
President Mandela announced that he and regional leaders (including Kenya,
Tanzania, Zambia and Congo) would meet Zairean President Mobutu on March 19.
In Cape Town, Honore Ngbanda Nzambo, senior security advisor and nephew to
President Mobutu, said he met last week with a US delegation led by
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs George Moose, reports AFP.
Ngbanda said a South African delegation was present, acting as facilitators.
The Zairean representative also said he had met Ugandan President Yoweri
Museveni who was in Cape Town last week. Ngbanda praised the "sincerity" of
the US team but said the international community "still seems to be playing
the hypocrite, and double-talking", reports AFP. He said that the
international community had proof of "involvement" of Uganda, Rwanda and
Burundi in the fighting but refused to "denounce the agressors".
- Tingi-Tingi (I and II) camps - served by air and ground transport from
Kisangani only - continue to have an alarmingly high death rate despite
improved rations of now 1700 kilocalories. Aid workers point out that health
recovery is difficult to achieve on less than a full ration, but also fear
that the high mortality rate points to appropriation of food by Rwandan
militia and ex-soldiers in the camps. UNHCR has said it is investigating the
possibility of evacuating by air the most vulnerable refugees (predominantly
children); but any significant change in the security situation in Kisangani
directly threatens the existence of the Tingi-Tingi camps.
Rwandan leaders in the two camps at Tingi-Tingi are said to have strong
control over refugees and are preventing amalgamation or dispersal of the
camps. A journalist recently returned from Tingi-Tingi told IRIN that
dormitories and houses on one side of Tingi-Tingi (1) camp were "full of
healthy men without dependents". According to the journalist, Rwandan
militia and ex-FAR (Armed Forces of Rwanda) are fighting against the rebels
- "FAZ have the guns, but FAR have the motivation". There are unconfirmed
reports of executions of refugees by the Rwandan camp leaders. In Lubutu
hospital, of 126 soldiers wounded in combat last week, only 13 were Zairean
and the rest were Rwandan, humanitarian sources confirm.
- Seven people were killed and an infant wounded in an attack on Monday
evening, in Bujumbura, Burundi, reports AFP. The attack targetted Paul
Nkunzimana, a district secretary of Kamenge, an outlying district of
Bujumbura; his wife was killed in the attack. Five suspects, identified as
Hutu rebel sympathizers by the authorities, were later arrested. It was the
second attack in a week in Kamenge, known as a centre of Hutu unrest in
1994-95 until the authorities swept the district. District chief Joseph
Ndayizeye said that residents have slowly been returning since September and
now number 2,500, reports AFP.
- In a nine-page report, the Rwandan government has criticised the United
Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. According to the
statement, the tribunal has become "discredited in the eyes of the Rwandan
people who have been bitterly disappointed by its seeming inability to make
serious and sustained efforts in bringing to justice the architects of the
genocide". In a press conference last week, Justice Minister Faustin
Nteziryano said the tribunal had failed to go after the ringleaders of the
genocide, but had pursued "lesser criminals". The Rwandan government
criticised the tribunals chief prosecutor Louise Arbour, who divides her
time between the international tribunal for Rwanda and the international war
crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, based in the Hague. The
government said she had failed to fulfill the court's main objective "to try
persons responsible for genocide to the end that justice may become a tool
for promoting reconciliation and peace in Rwanda." The complaints follow a
highly critical internal UN report that said the tribunal was failing in all
its administrative functions.
- The Sudanese army and militias have killed more than 35 Ethiopian
"mercenaries" and Sudanese rebels in Khor Al-Gana area, eastern Sudan,
reported a government paper on February 22. The report said Ethiopian forces
and rebels of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) had fled, leaving
behind their dead, weapons and food supplies carrying Ethiopian markings.
Sudan has accused Ethiopia and Eritrea of supporting the rebel offensive.
Both countries deny any involvement.
- European Union Foreign Ministers gathering for their monthly meeting in
Brussels were greeted by drum-beating protestors yesterday. Protestors were
demonstrating for more positive EU action in Africa's Great Lakes region,
reports Reuters. The Great Lakes was one of the subjects to be discussed at
the monthly meeting.
- A heads of state summit was held at Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire on 20
February under the chairmanship of President of Togo, General Gnassingbe
Eyadema. A joint communique issued after the summit included recommendations
on the Great Lakes crisis, and called for an intervention force. It also
requested an extraordinary session of the Central Organ (for Conflict
Resolution) of the OAU on the crisis at the heads of state and heads of
government level.
- A two day peace conference will be held in Kampala, Uganda, from tomorrow.
The conference - "The Challenge of Peace in Northern Uganda: A Search for
Solutions" - is being coordinated by the Agency for Cooperation and Research
in Development (ACORD) and the Ugandan Women's Network (UWONET).
Participants will include representatives from local communities,
government, UN agencies, NGOs and experts in conflict resolution. For more
information contact Sam Aisu at ACORD, PO Box 280, Kampala (Tel:
256-41-267667/8, FAX: 256-41-267669, e-mail: ACORD@MUKLA.gn.apc.org).
- Following yesterdays student riots in Nairobi over the death of a student
leader, the United States embassy issued a statement today deploring the
"violent and so far unexplained death" of leader Solomon Muruli. The
statement urged the government to give high priority to investigating the
circumstances surrounding Muruli's death, and a full and prompt disclosure
of the results. The British High Commission also released a statement.
Nairobi University was closed until further notice yesterday, and hundreds
of riot police stood by as students packed up and left the campus.
- Leader of the mercenaries fighting for the Zairean army, Christian
Tavernier, said on Sunday in a telephone interview from eastern Zaire that
"the balance of strength is currently against us", reports Reuters.
Tavernier accused Uganda of supporting the rebels, claiming "well-organised
units come from Uganda, carry out an operation, attack a position, and then
retreat". He said "The Zairean army is in a tangle, like the rest of the
country, with almost no logistics". On the other side of the fence, Colonel
Willy Mallants, a former advisor to President Mobutu who is now an advisor
to the rebels, told Belgian radio that the Zairean government was employing
"war criminals" to fight its battle. He said the mercenaries should "be
before the international tribunal in the Hague".
Nairobi, 25 February 1997, 15:45 GMT
Via the UN DHA Integrated Regional Information Network. The material
contained in this communication may not necessarily reflect the views of the
United Nations or its agencies. UN DHA IRIN Tel: +254 2 622123 Fax: +254 2
622129 e-mail: irin@dha.unon.org for more information. If you re-print,
copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer
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