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Sunday 25 December 2005


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IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 286 for 2-8 July 2005

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

CONTENTS:

CAR: Disarmament, reintegration extends to the northwest
DRC: UN troops sweep area near park to clear armed groups
DRC: NGO to suspend operations in camp for 7,000 IDPs
DRC-RWANDA: At UN court, lawyers finish their oral arguments over jurisdiction
UGANDA: ICRC begins war-injury training in the north
UGANDA-RWANDA: Kampala, Kigali refute Amnesty arms traffic report
RWANDA: New debt relief worth US $224 million announced
BURUNDI: Winning the legislature, former rebels vow to negotiate peace

ALSO SEE:
KENYA: Thousands left homeless in forest evictions
Full report

CAR: Disarmament, reintegration extends to the northwest

Ex-combatants began voluntarily handing over their weapons to UN and government officials on Friday in the Central African Republic's northwestern district of Nana-Grébizi. The measure is part of a nationwide effort begun on 18 June to disarm and reintegrate thousands of ex-combatant into civilian life.

"If there’s a gap between the disarmament and the start of reintegration, the ex-combatants will loose confidence and violence might return," Jonas Mfouatie, the UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) chief technical adviser on reintegration of ex-combatants, said on Wednesday.

The disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme is being run by UNDP. The agency has contributed US $1.25 million mainly for the disarmament, while the World Bank is funding $9.77 million specifically for reintegration and community support.

In the country's capital, Bangui, 733 ex-combatants have so far been demobilised including 314 women, with 181 of them already reintegrated, Mfouatie said.

Full report

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DRC: UN troops sweep area near park to clear armed groups

UN troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) launched on Monday what commanders codenamed Operation Falcon Sweep to drive all armed groups from a locale in the territories of Walungu and Kabare, close to a national park in South Kivu Province, a UN military spokesman said.

"The objective of Falcon Sweep is to prepare for the deployment of permanent UN troops to Ninja. It will last as long as there are armed groups in the area," Lt Col Thierry Provendier, the spokesman for the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), said on Tuesday in Kinshasa, the nation's capital.

He said the operation in the two territories near the Kahuzi-Biega National Park was being spearheaded by 70 Guatemalan UN troops specialised in night operations. They are being supported by units of the UN South Kivu Brigade and 12 Congolese regular army troops. Provendier said the operation was primarily dissuasive but that the UN-led force would "neutralise" any armed group resisting.

Local Mayi-Mayi militiamen, the Rwandan Hutu rebel groups the Forces democratiques pour la liberation du Rwanda (FDLR) and the Rasta operate in the area and have been frequently plundering, raping and killings civilians.

Full report

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DRC: NGO to suspend operations in camp for 7,000 IDPs

Humanitarian NGO Atlas Logistic has said it has suspended all aid to internally displaced people at Camp Aéro, adjacent to the Bunia's airport, in the troubled northeastern district of Ituri in the DRC.

"We think that for the moment there has been considerable progress in efforts to restore the socioeconomic and security situation in Bunia and in the rest of Ituri District so we prefer, right now, to encourage people to return to their homes," Hellène Robin, the head of the NGO in Bunia, told reporters on Wednesday.

She said the suspension would last until 31 August. Those who agree to return home would be given two months food rations, agricultural tools and cooking utensils.

Camp Aéro, on the south side of Bunia, was set up in May 2003 and has hosted some 20,000 IDPs. The number of people in the camp has dropped considerably over the past few months since the army and UN troops began confronting armed groups in the area. The operations has weakened the armed groups and encouraged most IDPs to return to their homes. Now, only 7,000 remain at the camp.

Full report

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DRC-RWANDA: At UN court, lawyers finish their oral arguments over jurisdiction

After four days of oral arguments at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, lawyers representing Rwanda said they were confident that they had convinced the judges not to go further with the case that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is seeking to bring against Rwanda.

However, lawyers representing the DRC said they were upbeat that they had convinced the judges to the contrary.

"We brought convincing arguments to the court that it has jurisdiction to judge the case and that our application is admissible," Richard Lukunda, assistant to the DRC's lawyers, told IRIN on Friday after the hearings.

Lawyers for the two countries each had two days to present and defend their arguments.

The DRC frequently submitted that it had brought the case to the ICJ because Rwanda had sabotaged its efforts to negotiate bilaterally. However, Rwanda said it had never been invited.

"They never produced any documentary proof of their attempt to negotiate," Martin Ngoga, Rwanda’s deputy chief prosecutor, said after the hearings.

The DRC first filed its complaint against Rwanda in May 2002, accusing it of "massive, serious and flagrant violations of human rights and international humanitarian law" during its 1998-2002 occupation of the eastern part of the DRC.

Full report

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UGANDA: ICRC begins war-injury training in the north

Medical personnel treating the war-wounded in the north of the country began training on Wednesday in skills to handle those casualties in the region's protracted conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

ICRC spokesman Juan Carlos Carrera said on Thursday the training, with a focus on the treatment of both war casualties and general surgery, would be for military doctors and health staff, including medical personnel at Gulu District Hospital, about 350 km north of the capital, Kampala.

Carrera said ICRC's regional surgeon, usually based in Nairobi, would also perform operations on patients from different parts of Gulu District, many of whom had waited for surgery for a long time.

Northern Uganda has for close to two decades witnessed a civil war in which tens of thousands have either died or been severely wounded. The conflict pits the Uganda government against the rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Full report

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UGANDA-RWANDA: Kampala, Kigali refute Amnesty arms traffic report

The governments of Rwanda and Uganda have denied a recent report by the human rights NGO Amnesty International that they are involved in trafficking arms to eastern DRC.

"It is absurd that these reports continue to surface without our part of the story and we disagree with the contents," Protais Mitali, Rwanda’s regional cooperation minister, said on Wednesday in Kigali.

In releasing the report on Tuesday, Amnesty’s research manager for arms and security trade, Brian Wood, said: "International arms flows into the region have been channelled by powerful agents close to the governments of the DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda to various armed groups and militia in eastern DRC who practise banditry and show little or no respect for human rights."

However, Uganda's information minister, Nsaba Buturo, said in Kampala the charge about his country was untrue. "It does not help to make blanket statements," he said. "We believe that long term stability cannot be attained through arms proliferation."

Full report

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RWANDA: New debt relief worth US $224 million announced

The African Development Fund, the concessional window of the African Development Bank, announced on Wednesday that it would provide Rwanda with US $224 million in debt relief.

"Rwanda will be released from up to 80 percent of annual debt service to the Bank Group until the entire amount is delivered in July 2032," the bank said in a statement from its Tunis headquarters.

It said the boards of directors decided that Rwanda had satisfactorily implemented reforms agreed to under the enhanced framework of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative. The conditions included implementing its poverty reduction strategy; maintaining macroeconomic stability; implementing structural reforms in the tea sector and improving social indicators related to education, gender equality and health.

Full report

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BURUNDI: Winning the legislature, former rebels vow to negotiate peace

One of the former rebel groups during Burundi’s recent civil war has won most of the votes in the legislative elections and pledged on Wednesday to enter into talks with the sole rebel force still fighting the government, the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL)led by Agathon Rwasa.

"We will negotiate immediately with the Palipehutu-FNL," Jeremie Ngendakumana, spokesman for the winning Conseil National pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces nationales pour la défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD) party of Pierre Nkurunziza, said in Bujumbura.

Provisional results announced on Wednesday by the chairman of the National Electoral Commission, Paul Ngarambe, show that the CNDD-FDD won between 60 percent and 70 percent of the vote. The party of current President Domitien Ndayizeye, the Front pour la démocratie au Burundi, or FRODEBU, came second followed by the Parti de unite pour le progres national, or UPRONA. Ngarambe said the CNDD faction led by Léonard Nyangoma came fourth and the Movement pour la restoration de lacitoyenneté, fifth.

The FNL did not take part in Monday's elections.

Full report

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[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Other

Other recent CENTRAL & EASTERN AFRICA reports:

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 310 17-23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 309 10-16 December 2005, 16/Dec/05

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 308 3-9 December 2005, 9/Dec/05

UN appeal seeks $154.5 million for recovery efforts , 7/Dec/05

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 307 26 November to 2 December 2005, 2/Dec/05

Other recent reports:

RWANDA: Body found in Brussels canal confirmed that of ex-minister's, 23/Dec/05

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 23/Dec/05

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 309 covering 17 - 23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

CENTRAL ASIA: IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 51 covering the period 17 - 23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 262 for 17-23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

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