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Sunday 25 December 2005


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IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 292 for 13-19 August 2005

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

CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Parliament elects Nkurunziza nation's president
BURUNDI: Rebels spread fighting to northern provinces
BURUNDI: FRODEBU suspends its chairman
BURUNDI-RWANDA: Bujumbura, Kigali UN refugee agency sign repatriation deal
RWANDA: Genocide suspect Bagaragaza transferred to The Hague
CAR: Red Cross gets some $39,024 for flood victims
KENYA-SOMALIA: First Somali refugees return home from Dadaab
DRC: Voter registration extended in Orientale, Bas-Congo provinces
CONGO: Court acquits top army, police officers of mass murder

BURUNDI: Parliament elects Nkurunziza nation's president

Burundi's parliament voted 151 to 9 on Friday, electing Pierre Nkurunziza as the country's first post-transitional president. There was one abstention.

Nkurunziza, 40, won 91.52 percent of the votes cast by a joint congress of the National Assembly and the Senate, the two houses of parliament. Running on the ticket of the Conseil pour la defense de la democratie-Force pour la defense de la democratie, Nkurunziza was the sole presidential candidate. He required two-thirds of the vote, corresponding to 108 ballots, to win in the first round.

Announcing these results, the president of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Paul Ngarambe, said the results must go to the Constitutional Court for endorsement.

Full report
[Woman elected speaker of lower house]

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BURUNDI: Rebels spread fighting to northern provinces

The only remaining Burundian Hutu rebel movement, Front National de Libération (FNL), has for the first time since 1993 intensified its attacks, moving its offensives from the traditional strongholds of Bujumbura Rural and Bubanza provinces to other areas in the north of the country.

National army spokesman Maj Adolphe Manirakiza said FNL attacked an army position in Matongo and Muruta communes, north Kayanza Province, on Tuesday and looted from several families.

The rebels did not kill any civilians but, Manirakiza said, "FNL lost two combatants."

FNL fighting was also reported last week in Musigati Commune, Bubanza Province, near the Kibira Forest. The army pounded the rebels with warplanes; a weapon that Manirakiza said was used because it was difficult to penetrate the forest on the ground and not because the rebel force was powerful.

The Burundian government and the palipehutu-FNL had signed a declaration to stop the hostilities and start negotiations, but they have since accused each other of violating the deal.

Full report

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BURUNDI: FRODEBU suspends its chairman

Burundi's main Hutu party, FRODEBU, suspended its leader for six months on Sunday because the party had lost recent communal and senatorial elections to the main rebel group; Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie.

In a statement issued on Sunday, FRODEBU said 70 of the party's 110 management committee members - among them transition President Domitien Ndayizeye - blamed party Chairman Jean Minani for the electoral losses. The party also accused Minani of corruption.

Full report

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BURUNDI-RWANDA: Bujumbura, Kigali UN refugee agency sign repatriation deal

Rwanda, Burundi and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, signed on Thursday in Kigali, Rwanda, an agreement that lays ground rules for the voluntarily repatriation of thousands of Burundian refugees in Rwanda.

Rwanda and Burundi have in the past been criticised for forcefully repatriating refugees, contrary to international conventions on rights of refugees.

"The Government of the Republic of Rwanda undertakes to guarantee the voluntary character of the repatriation of Burundian refugees and will take, in consultation with UNHCR, all measures necessary to uphold this fundamental principle inherent to international protection," the signed tripartite agreement says.

Full report

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RWANDA: Genocide suspect Bagaragaza transferred to The Hague

Rwandan genocide suspect Michel Bagaragaza, who surrendered on Tuesday to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania, has been transferred to The Hague, the Netherlands, for detention pending his trial, tribunal Acting Prosecutor Bongani Majola, said.

Bagaragaza, 60, had been detained in a facility at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Majola said the transfer was necessary due to security concerns in light of Bagaragaza's voluntary surrender. In a statement, the ICTR said Bagaragaza's transfer was facilitated through the continued cooperation of the Netherlands government with the tribunal, and by the relationship between the Rwandan and Yugoslav tribunals.

Following his surrender, Bagaragaza pleaded not guilty to charges of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and complicity in genocide in his initial appearance. No date has yet been fixed for his trial.

Full report
[RWANDA: Genocide suspect surrenders to genocide tribunal]

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CAR: Red Cross gets some $39,024 for flood victims

The Central African Republic Red Cross now has 21 million francs CFA (approx US $39,024) to help flood victims following torrential rains early August in the capital, Bangui, the society's chairman said on Thursday.

Briefing the media in Bangui Red Cross Chairman Antoine M'Bao Bogo said of this money, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Yaounde, Cameroon, had given 16.6 million francs ($30,845) and the French Red Cross 4,000 euro (approx $4,874). In addition, he said, the International Committee of the Red Cross had donated 500 blankets valued at 2.5 million francs (approx $4,645).

On Tuesday, the CAR Red Cross announced it needed at least 350 million francs (approx $660,689) per month to care for some 9,000 flood victims. However, providing revised figures on Thursday, M’Bao Bogo put the number at 14,517.

"Among the affected persons there are 3,494 women and 6,057 children," M’Bao Bogo said.

Full report
[Prime minister visits flooded area]
[Homeless thousands in urgent need of aid after heavy rains, minister says]

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KENYA-SOMALIA: First Somali refugees return home from Dadaab

The first repatriation in two years of Somali refugees from the Dadaab camp in northeastern Kenya began on Tuesday when 43 refugees returned home, aid workers said.

"They are mostly families - men, women and children and a few individuals," Emmanuel Nyabera, spokesman for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, said on Tuesday.

Nyabera said the refugees had arrived safely in Galkaayo, in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland in northeastern Somalia, and a second group of 16 was expected to fly to the nearby port of Bossaso on Wednesday.

Some 134,000 Somali refugees live in Dadaab, according to UNHCR. Another 12,000 are in Kakuma, in northwestern Kenya. The majority of those in Dadaab are from central and southern Somalia. Most Somali refugees fled their country when it was plunged into anarchy after the collapse of the Siyad Barre administration in 1991.

Full report

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DRC: Voter registration extended in Orientale, Bas-Congo provinces

Voter registration was extended on Sunday for an additional week in the Democratic Republic of Congo provinces of Orientale and Bas-Congo due to transport and security difficulties, the chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Appollinaire Malu Malu, said.

In Kinshasa, he said there had been difficulties transporting registrations materials to some centres of these two provinces.

Only 475,600 voters have registered in Orientale Province, 438,777 in Bas-Congo ahead of the July 2006 general election.
Registration started in these provinces on 24 July and is now due to end on 21 August.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

CONGO: Court acquits top army, police officers of mass murder

The Criminal Court of Brazzaville cleared 15 high ranking army and police officers on Wednesday of killing 353 refugees who returned home to the Republic of Congo (ROC) in 1999.

"The defendants were not individually responsible for committing war crimes, genocide or crimes against humanity," Charles Emile Apesse, president of the court, said in Brazzaville, referring to the charges against the defendants.

Most prominent among the defendants were the inspector general of the armed forces, Gen Norbert Dabira; the commander of the Brazzaville Military Region, Gen Blaise Adoua; and the director general of police, Jean François Ndenguet.

The returning refugees had fled to neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998 to escape their own country's civil war. On their arrival at Brazzaville's river port known as "Le Beach" in 1999, they were arrested on suspicion of being supporters of a local militia known as the Ninjas. They were never seen in public again.

Full report
[CONGO: Truth on the "Beach saga" is needed, president says]

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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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