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CENTRAL & EASTERN AFRICA: IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 256 for 4-10 Dec 2004 - OCHA IRIN

Sunday 16 January 2005


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IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 256 for 4-10 Dec 2004

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Demobilisation phase launched, targeting 650 children
CAR: Referendum held, constitutional court members appointed
CAR: Court acquits ex-premier of corruption charges
GREAT LAKES: African Union to help in disarming militias
GREAT LAKES: DRC absent from tripartite meeting to easy regional tensions
DRC: Humanitarian crisis is the world's deadliest, IRC says
DRC: UN troops break up militia camp in Ituri
CONGO: ADB approves clearance of 33 percent of Congo's arrears

ALSO SEE:
BURUNDI: Landmines keep killing two years after ceasefire
Full report

BURUNDI: Demobilisation phase launched, targeting 650 children

At least 650 children in Burundi are due to be freed from military service by 14 December, following the launch on Monday of a second demobilisation phase by the National Structure for the Demobilisation and Reintegration of Child Soldiers, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported.

It said these were children in the ranks of the six-armed movements and political parties that had signed ceasefire agreements with the government of Burundi.

UNICEF is supporting the national structure for the demobilisation and reintegration of child soldiers. UNICEF said since the launch of this demobilisation effort on 23 January, the national demobilisation body had reintegrated 2,261 children with their families and communities.

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CAR: Referendum held, constitutional court members appointed

Citizens of the Central African Republic (CAR) went to the polls on 5 December to vote for a post-transition constitution, a day after President Francois Bozize appointed members of the country's Transitional Constitutional Court. The result of the referendum, in which 1.5 million voters took part, will be known in a week.

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CAR: Court acquits ex-premier of corruption charges

A court of appeals in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), acquitted former Prime Minister Jean-Edouard Koyambounou of corruption on Tuesday, after a jury found the prosecution's evidence inadequate to support the charges.

Prosecutor Sylvain Nzas had accused Koyambounou, who served as prime minister under former President Ange-Felix Patasse, of embezzling $106,000 of public funds. He was detained for 16 months at the Ngaragba Prison.

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GREAT LAKES: African Union to help in disarming militias

With Rwanda threatening to send its army, once more, into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to disarm Rwanda rebels operating from there, the African Union's (AU's) Peace and Security Council announced on Tuesday that it would seek a greater role in helping with disarmament. At the same time, the AU asked Kigali to desist from any unilateral action.

"The AU must commit itself to getting involved in the demilitarisation and disarmament of these genocidal forces," Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopia's minister of foreign affairs, said at the end of a three-hour emergency session at the organisation's headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia holds the December presidency, which rotates between members monthly, of the AU council. It consists of foreign ministers of 15 African countries.

In late November, Rwandan President Paul Kagame announced that his troops would enter eastern DRC to hunt down the Rwandan Hutu rebels who carried out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and who continue to threaten Rwanda's security. The DRC responded by saying its troops would fight off any invasion.

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In bid calm tempers, the Great Lakes Parliamentary Forum on Peace urged both countries on Saturday to discuss their differences. The forum - also known as AMANI, the Swahili word for peace, had held a one-day meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, during which it said Congolese and Rwandan legislators should meet, "hopefully before March", to settle the issue of disarming the Rwandan militias.

The 12-member AMANI forum comprises legislators from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Legislators from the DRC were invited as observers.

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GREAT LAKES: DRC absent from tripartite meeting to ease regional tensions

The DRC effectively cancelled a high-level inter-government meeting scheduled for Thursday with Rwanda and Uganda to develop mechanisms by which they could peacefully work out their differences and ensure the security of their respective borders.

"Before talks can be held we insist that Rwandan troops withdraw from our territory," Simon Tshitenge, Congo's deputy minister for information, told IRIN in Kinshasa.

"Our county is at war. This is not the moment for us to leave it," he added.

DRC, Rwanda and Uganda had signed a tripartite security agreement in October, which would put in place a commission to deal with diplomatic and security issues.

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DRC: Humanitarian crisis is the world's deadliest, IRC says

At least 31,000 people die each month as a result of conflict in the DRC, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said on Thursday on releasing the results of a nationwide mortality survey.

"Eighteen months after the signing of a formal peace agreement, people in DR Congo continue to die at a rate that is one-third higher than the average rate for sub-Saharan Africa," IRC said.

The IRC survey, covering January 2003 to April 2004, measured mortality among nearly 58 million people, representing at least 90 percent of the Congolese population. IRC said an estimated five million people were inaccessible due to security problems.

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DRC: UN troops break up militia camp in Ituri

UN troops shut down a militia camp on Thursday in the embattled northeastern district of Ituri in DRC, a UN official said on Thursday.

Christophe Boulierac, a spokesman of the UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, said the militia camp was near a transit demobilisation centre that had been set up in the town of Mahagi, to receive fighters from the Forces armees du peuple Congolais militia group.

"The operation aimed to force the militiamen out of the camp because they were a threat to demobilised soldiers whom they threatened with death," Boulierac said.

MONUC broke up the camp early on Thursday. It subsequently discovered 15 AK-47 rifles, a rocket, munitions and some documents.

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CONGO: ADB approves clearance of 33 percent of Congo's arrears

The African Development Bank has approved a grant of $50 million to clear 35 percent of arrears owed to it by the Republic of Congo (ROC), the bank reported on Wednesday. It said the nation's arrears to the bank amounted to $150 million at the end of 2003.

In a statement, the bank said the grant would facilitate the "rapid resumption" of its aid to the country, in conjunction with international financial institutions and the donor community. The bank said this intervention lay within the framework of its new aid to post-conflict countries, approved on 19 July 2004.

The bank added that ROC had fulfilled the conditions required to qualify for an arrears-clearance programme under the bank's framework for post-conflict countries.

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[ENDS]

Other recent CENTRAL & EASTERN AFRICA reports:

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 261 for 8-14 Jan 2005, 14/Jan/05

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 260 for 1-7 January 2005, 7/Jan/05

Conflict in eastern DRC threatens region //Yearender//, 4/Jan/05

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 259 for 25-31 December 2004, 3/Jan/05

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 258 for 18-24 Dec 2004, 24/Dec/04

Other recent reports:

MIDDLE EAST: MIDDLE EAST: Weekly round-up Number 4 for 8-14 January 2005, 14/Jan/05

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 213 for 8-14 January 2005, 14/Jan/05

HORN OF AFRICA: IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 226 for 8-14 January, 14/Jan/05

CENTRAL & EASTERN AFRICA: IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 261 for 8-14 Jan 2005, 14/Jan/05

LESOTHO: New trade regime threatens economy, 13/Jan/05

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