Africa

ghanaweb 27 Oct 2005 African Armed Forces to adopt code of conduct ACCRA, October 27 -- A preparatory meeting to draft a West African Code of Conduct for Armed and Security Forces (WACOCAS) ended in Accra on Wednesday. The meeting attended by military officers and security experts from the sub-region focused on panel discussion on various country codes, civil society perspectives, peacekeeping and regional lessons, guiding principles and international humanitarian laws and inter-service relations. Other issues considered included relating with civilians in peace times, during conflict and peacekeeping period, implementation and dissemination of the code. Lieutenant-General Joseph Boakye Danquah, Chief of Defence Staff of Ghana, condemned the lack of power to bring to justices abusers of human rights, "sometimes the leaders of some of the most criminal rebel leaders are given juicy ministerial appointments as part of the peace deal". He therefore acknowledged the urgent need for a unified code in the light of the horrific human right abuse experiences in Liberia, Sierra Leone, La Cote D'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Dafur in the Sudan. Lt-Gen. Danquah challenged governments to collectively commit themselves to act to stop war crimes and genocide, wherever they occurred. "Each of the countries in the sub-region should share the responsibility of not only stopping such war crimes but also ensuring accountability for them as well as implementing preventive strategies to detect, stop and mitigate situations that could potentially get out of control". The CDS also called for the broadening of the code not only to what the fighters do on the battlefield but should cover areas "like code of conduct for the arms industry, arms trade, individual countries military expenditure, private militaries and so called security companies, who are actually mercenary forces". He also suggested that the code should cover communication and media practitioners whom he identified as important stakeholders, whose activities to a large extent affect the conduct of soldiers and fighters in combat. Dr Adedeji Ebo of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic control of the Armed Forces (DCAF) outlined the draft code, which has been divided into five chapters with 33 articles. Chapter one deals with regulatory framework governing civil military relations, chapter two covers relations between the armed forces and the security forces, chapter three relations between the armed and security forces and the civilian population and chapter five armed and security forces, human rights and international humanitarian law. Dr Ebo said the code would be integrated in the training and educational programmes and taught to the armed and security forces of all Member States of the African Union. He said periodic meetings would be organised to assess its implementation at the local, national, sub-regional and regional levels. The meeting was organised by ECOWAS and the Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of the Armed Forces. The meeting paid tribute to the late General C. O. Diarra, Deputy Executive Secretary of ECOWAS who was to have given the keynote address, but unfortunately died in a Bellview Airlines plane crash in Nigeria on Saturday, October 22, 2005. Most of the delegates were with a heavy heart at the opening day of the meeting, as they stood motionless in a minute silence to honour the memory of the late accomplished military officer. Bellview flight 201, a Boeing 737 carrying 111 passengers and six crew, took off from Lagos at around 7:50 pm (1850 GMT) on Saturday on a scheduled shuttle run to Abuja. Within three minutes it lost contact with air traffic control and shortly afterwards it hit the outskirts of a village, Lissa, on the northern edge of the greater Lagos area. Everyone on board was killed and the plane completely destroyed. Some witnesses said it exploded in mid-air.

Burundi

AFP 15 Oct 2005 Burundi rebels attack capital in first strike after leadership splitBUJUMBURA, Oct 15 (AFP) - At least three people were wounded when Burundi's last active rebel group fired mortars on the outskirts of the capital in its first attack since a deep split in its leadership, the army said Saturday. Fighters from the National Liberation Forces (FNL) launched shells into Mutanga district in southern Bujumbura late Friday, dashing hopes that divisions among rebel leaders that emerged this week might signal an end to hostilties, it said. “The FNL fired three 60 mm shells last night around 2100 (1900 GMT) in the direction of Mutanga that lightly injured three civilians and caused some small property damage,” army spokesman Major Adolphe Manirakiza told AFP. He said the mortars were fired from hills in neighboring Bujumbura Rural province where the FNL has been most active. The attack was the FNL's first since a splinter faction wanting to engage in peace talks with the government broke ranks with the group's hardline leadership on Monday and announced it had taken control of the movement. The split, in which former FNL deputy chief Jean-Bosco Sindayigaya ousted longtime supremo Agathon Rwasa, had raised hopes that the group was losing strength as a unified guerrilla army and that an end to the fighting might be imminent. Sindayigaya has openly agitated for the FNL to join peace talks with Burundi's new government while Rwasa has steadfastly refused to accept the legitimacy of the administration that came to power in August and rejected its peace overtures. Neither side -- whose relative strengths are unknown -- could be reached for comment on Friday's shelling. Manirakiza said the army was unaware of any change in the rebels' behaviour since the split. “We're not able to distinguish between the FNL of Rwasa or of Sindayigaya because for the moment there is no visible change on the ground,” he said. Burundi's new President Pierre Nkurunziza has given the FNL until the end of October to join peace talks, but has not specified consequences for their failure to do so. The FNL is the only one of Burundi's seven Hutu rebel groups not to have signed onto the peace process aimed at bringing a final end to 12 years of civil war. The conflict has claimed some 300,000 lives since it erupted in 1993 after the assassination of the country's first democratically elected president, a member of the Hutu majority, by officers in the minority Tutsi-dominated military.

AFP 16 Oct 2005 War, rural overpopulation stoke chronic hunger in Burundiby Esdras Ndikumana BUJUMBURA, Oct 16 (AFP) - As the tiny central African nation of Burundi slowly emerges from 12 years of bloody civil strife, chronic hunger and food shortages continue to ravage the largely rural war-weary nation. With war-sparked internal migrations leaving parts of the country overpopulated and others nearly deserted, agricultural production is overstretched and more than two million of its 7.5 million people are dependent on food aid. In a country ranked as world's third poorest, where farming accounts for 85 percent of gross domestic product, food insecurity is widespread with 68 percent of Burundians living below the minimum threshold, officials say. According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), this means that nearly 70 percent of the country are surviving on just 1,200 calories per day, well below the minimum requirement of 2,100 calories. “More alarming is that 16 percent of the population are chronically vulnerable because they only have one meal a day,” said Zlatan Milisic, the WFP country director for Burundi. High population density has exacerbated the situation, with each family only having an average of 0.6 hectares (1.5 acres) of land for farming or other agricultural uses, according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). “With more than 270 people per square kilometre (0.4 square mile) in certain provinces, and others having more than 350 people the pressure on land is enormous,” said Moustafa Cassame, the FAO country chief in Burundi. For 2005, Burundi's total agricultural production is estimated at 1.7 million tonnes of cereal grains, a deficit of 350,000 tonnes “if we want to properly feed the population,” he said. Burundi's food crisis stems essentially from problems of land management and planning, the UN officials said. In addition to being among the world's most impoverished nations, Burundi is also the least urbanised with 91 percent of the population living in the countryside, according to the agriculture ministry. “The food crisis in Burundi is structural,” said Milisic. The country's new president, Pierre Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader who came to power in August under a lengthy peace process intended to finally bring an end to the war, has acknowledged the problem, as have top aides. “If we continue to build in a dispersed way, we will never develop our country,” Nkurunziza said recently as he introduced an urbanisation plan aimed at relieving the countryside of people to boost agricultural production. “The country's main challenge today is its urbanisation,” said a senior official in the agriculture ministry. “This country cannot come out of (the crisis) without more judicious land planning.” Despite a return of relative stability with the installation of a new government and attempts to solve the nation's problems, food forecasts for next year remain bleak. “Humanitarian needs have, unfortunately, not disappeared,” said Milisic. “We will launch an appeal for humanitarian aid in 2006 equivalent to the one in 2005.” Rebuilding Burundi from the rubble of war remains a huge task: resurrecting the economy and infrastructure, spurring development and silencing the guns of the last active rebel group are all priorities. But addressing the land and agriculture problems is critical. “The war we are struggling to emerge from should not be forgotten, people sought refuge abroad, others were internally displaced,” said former agriculture minster Salvator Ntihabose. “It ruined Burundi's agricultural economy.” T

IRIN 18 Oct 2005 Officials agree to repatriate "asylum seekers" [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] BUJUMBURA, 18 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - Burundian and Rwandan government officials agreed on Monday to the eventual repatriation of some 3,225 Rwandans who have sought refuge in northern Burundi. Governors of the northern provinces of Kirundo and Ngozi, where the Rwandans are, are due to meet on 24 October to determine ways of implementing the conclusions of Monday's meeting between delegations led by Burundi's minister of interior and public security, Salvator Ntacobamaze, and Rwandan Minister of Interior Protais Musoni. However, the status of the Rwandans remains unclear, with the Burundian and Rwandan officials terming them refugees while the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, considers them to be asylum seekers. Up to 4,000 of the Rwandans first fled to Burundi between April and June but they were all repatriated after a meeting of officials from both countries. However, they have since returned to northern Burundi. A public information assistant for UNHCR in Burundi, Didier Bukuru, told IRIN on Tuesday that the agency considered the Rwandans "asylum seekers" because "until now they have not got any refugee status". He said the agency had been allowed to provide food aid to the Rwandans. A local reporter who attended the ministers' meeting on Monday in Ngozi Province said of the 3,225 Rwandans counted by Monday, 1,300 were at Gatsinda in Mwumba Commune, 30 at Mivo Commune, both communes in Ngozi; 311 at Mparamirundi in Busiga Commune and 2,600 at Rwisuri in Vumbi, in Kirundo Province. Bukuru said there was need to settle the Rwandans far from the border as required by law that camps for the displaced be at least 150 km from the common border. He said one location would be ideal to facilitate aid distribution and protection of the asylum seekers. During Monday's meeting, the Rwandan and Burundian officials also agreed on the need to control border movement to prevent armed Rwandan and Burundian rebels from hiding among the asylum seekers. Rwandan Interior Minister Protais Musoni said elements of Burundi's rebel Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) and Rwanda's Front Democratique pour la liberation du Rwanda (FDLR) had been arrested in Rwanda and that they had owned up to belonging to these groups. "They agree they collaborate and are mandated to recruit among the Rwandan asylum seekers and take them to rebel training centres in the Kibira Forest and in other training camps," he said. He said such rebels had been stealing motorcycles and livestock in Rwanda and taking them to Burundi, contributing to insecurity in the two countries. In a communiqué they issued after the meeting, the officials agreed there was no reason for Burundians and Rwandans to flee their homes as peace and security is gradually re-established in both countries. They recommended that both countries should collaborate in determining why the Rwandan asylum seekers had really fled their country. The officials also called for a joint sensitisation for a rapid return of the Burundian refugees and the Rwandan asylum seekers to their respective countries, with the help of the local administration. The officials called on local administrators to meet regularly in order to exchange information on security on the common border and ensure security. Officials from the two countries urged the international community to support "the move to boost governance, security and democracy in both countries".

IRIN 21 Oct 2005 Iteka denounces rights violations [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] BUJUMBURA, 21 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - Burundi's human rights watchdog, Iteka, has expressed concern over increased attacks on civilians by the rebel Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) and human rights violations committed by the rebels and the country's defence forces. The government must act quickly to prosecute any element of the police and other security forces involved in "extrajudiciary executions, torture and inhuman treatment", Jean-Marie Vianney Kavumbagu, the leader of Iteka, said in a report issued on Wednesday in the capital, Bujumbura. Despite the FNL attacks, "nothing can justify violation in terms judiciary procedure committed by police in general and the national intelligence services in particular", he added. In the month of September alone, Kavumbagu said, the FNL had killed 20 civilians and the army killed 11 and arrested at least 50 others. However, the army spokesman, Maj Adolphe Manirakiza, dismissed Iteka's claims on Thursday as "groundless", saying the army had not killed any civilian. Regarding those arrested, Manirakiza said: "Arrested persons who are suspected of collaborating with the FNL are normally sent to police stations for investigations, after which files are sent to judicial institutions." Iteka said fighting between the FNL and the army had led to an increase of serious "unprecedented violations of human rights, including the rights to life and other challenges that government must face". Kavumbagu said instead of joining the negotiation table, the FNL had continued to carry out attacks in its stronghold of Bujumbura Rural Province as well in several other provinces. He said the civilian victims of the FNL had been killed using rifles or other sharp objects, "prior to being mutilated or decapitated". Iteka had also recorded incidents of torture, Kavumbagu said. "Some of the tortured people are not allowed visits by their family members and human rights organisations," he said. "The government has the obligation to protect the population and their rights despite the tension still prevailing in provinces such as Bujumbura Rural." On Thursday, Manirakiza said the people who got killed were "those found on the battlefield or those made human shields" by the rebels. "Iteka should, from now on, think twice before issuing any written or spoken statements for the good of the country," he said.

AlertNet 27 Oct 2005 Hope and fear as Burundi’s exiles come home Tens of thousands of Burundian refugees are returning home following the end of civil war. AlertNet’s Tim Large talked to some about the challenges they face. MUGANO, Burundi (AlertNet) - Truck after truck rumbles over the border at the dusty frontier town of Mugano, each crammed with Burundian refugees returning from Tanzania. Children lean out, some waving, some singing. For the 464 people in this latest repatriation convoy organised by the United Nations, it’s a bitter-sweet homecoming. Joy at leaving the crowded refugee camps in eastern Tanzania is tempered by trepidation over starting anew in their former communities – communities they fled to escape rape and massacre. “I didn’t want to come back until there had been a change of government,” said Buchumi Cezarie, 30, a mother-of-four who fled ethnic violence in the northern Giteranyi region in 1996. She was speaking at a U.N.-run transit camp in Mugano in Burundi’s northeastern Muyinga province, after registering for an identity card that will guarantee her family a three-month “starter kit” containing food, pots and pans, plastic sheeting and other supplies to help them resettle. “I hope we’ll be able to grow something to eat,” Cezarie said. “I don’t know if my old house will still be there or not.” The legacy of Burundi’s years of conflict is a country of people on the move. The tiny central African nation has been torn by sporadic bloodshed between the politically dominant Tutsi minority and the Hutu majority virtually since independence in 1962. In 1993, it plunged into civil war that killed 300,000 people and displaced more than a million. The United Nations estimates 430,000 Burundians are still in exile, mostly in Tanzania. But with the return of relative peace, many are keen to return. Only one rebel group remains outside the peace process, and a smooth election in August of a Hutu president at the head of an ethnically mixed government has convinced many it’s at long last safe to come home. LAND CRUNCH The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates it will organise the voluntary repatriation of about 150,000 Burundians this year, mostly from Tanzania. The challenges for returnees are enormous. They face the same problems as other Burundians, including grinding poverty, lack of clean water, malnutrition and disease. But many also come home to discover their land has been occupied by former neighbours or the government. The land problem may be the most combustible issue facing the new government formed in August by former Hutu rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza. Association des Femmes Juristes (AFJ), a local NGO that provides legal advice to returnees, says about 65 percent of cases it handles in Muyinga involve land disputes. It documented almost 80 disagreements in September alone. In other parts of the country, especially in areas where thousands of Hutus fled Tutsi massacres in 1972 and returned 30-odd years later, the figures are far higher. AFJ mediator Jean-Pierre Havyarimana said it was up to the government to parcel out new land to returnees whose properties had been given to others by local authorities. In cases where neighbours had simply seen an opportunity and moved in, he said the law should be on the side of returnees. “If the government doesn’t deal with this soon, it could be explosive,” he said. “Measures are not yet in place. As repatriation accelerates, they’re going to have to get to grips with this problem.” FESTERING TENSIONS In Burundi land is everything. The nation of 7.1 million is slightly smaller than the Netherlands and has one of the world’s highest birth rates. Ninety percent of Burundians are farmers, subsisting on bananas, beans and rice. “The conflict was over power, and power means access to resources, which are extremely limited in Burundi,” said Catherine-Lune Grayson, UNHCR’s Burundi spokeswoman. Evidence of tension over resources was not hard to find on the outskirts of Muyinga town, where aid agencies like UNHCR and World Vision have been helping returnees build mud-brick houses with corrugated iron roofs. The structures are far more solid than the mud-daub huts with thatched roofs belonging to many Burundians. Idi Bihagangwa, a 60-year-old returnee, was describing how he fled massacres in the region in 1996 when a neighbour appeared at the doorway of his UNHCR-funded house, shouting angrily and making cut-throat gestures with his finger across his neck. “He’s upset at me because he doesn’t have a house,” Bihagangwa said. “If you could give everyone a house, there’d be no jealousy.” Adama Besse, head of UNHCR’s field operations in Muyinga, warned that without more help from the international community, the property issue could be the breaking of Burundi. “If the land problem is not resolved, the whole process will collapse,” she said. “The country doesn’t have the resources to do what needs to be done… Burundi’s fate depends on more aid. Everything will collapse – peace-building, development – the day the international community stops.” 'FORGOTTEN CRISIS' Burundi, the second-poorest country after Ethiopia according to the World Bank, was dependent on foreign aid before the civil war. Since then, its roads have been washed away by rains and its schools and hospitals have fallen into disrepair. The World Food Programme says 2.75 million need food aid, but it only has enough for 1.8 million. A U.N. appeal for $121 million is only about 45 percent funded. “It’s not easy to raise funds for Burundi, partly because people don’t know Burundi exists,” UNHCR’s Grayson said. “Burundi is a completely forgotten crisis.” Besse contrasted Burundi’s situation with the level of international attention given to neighbouring Rwanda to the north after the slaughter of some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994. “The difference between Burundi and Rwanda is that in Rwanda it took place at one time, from April to July ’94,” she said. “In Burundi, it took place from 1972 to 2000-something. So it was slow and long.” COMING BACK TO NOTHING Many of the children returning from Tanzania are unaccompanied. Some are rejoining parents who had gone on ahead to prepare for resettling their families. But others are among Burundi’s 623,000 war orphans. “Children are especially vulnerable,” said Onesphore Bangenza, a field co-ordinator with International Rescue Committee, a U.S.-based NGO that helps refugees. “They can’t work and don’t have the means to pay for medical care. They can’t pay for school. They may not have land or anywhere to live. Sometimes their families had sold the land and they come back to nothing.” Many adults find themselves in similar situations. At the Mugano transit camp, Ngomirakisa Leopold, 33, sat alone with the torn sack that held his sole possessions – a blanket, some clothes and a jerry can. As other refugees loaded up on buckets and sleeping mats, he told his story. Leopold fled bloodshed in Kwichukiro village in northern Kayanza province with his mother in 1994. They re-settled in a village in Tanzania, where his mother remarried. He said his mother and step-father subsequently died, leaving him to fend for himself. “Two days ago, the hill chief organised a meeting and told all Burundian people they had to leave by October 30 so they wouldn’t vote in elections,” he said. “I decided to leave the same day because I heard a Burundian had been murdered. “I had a pair of trousers that I sold for 400 Tanzanian shillings to get some food. I left and walked for two days to the border where I met the U.N. convoy and asked to be taken on board.” Because Leopold was not formally repatriated, he is not eligible for the three-month starter kit, but Burundian authorities at the transit camp said they would take him to Kwichukiro. “I’m going to try to find my grandfather in Kayanza,” he said. “I don’t know where he is but I think he’s alive.” Photo captions, from second-to-top: Sinzotuma Sifa, 20, stands with her two sons in front of her mud-brick house on the outskirts of Muyinga town. The house was built under a UNHCR-sponsored programme to help resettle Burundian refugees who have returned from Tanzania. REUTERS/Tim Large Idi Bihagangwa sits with his children in his house on the outskirts of Muyinga town. The family fled ethnic violence in 1996 and returned from a refugee camp in Tanzania IN 2004. ALERTNET/Tim Large A Burundian woman whose family returned from exile in Tanzania in 2004 cooks outside her house. The family had fled massacres in the area around the town of Muyinga in 1994, walking for two days to reach a refugee camp across the border. REUTERS/Tim Large Ngomirakisa Leopold, 33, sits in the Mugano transit camp for Burundian refugees returning from Tanzania. ALERTNET/Tim Large

Congo, Democratic Republic of the see Belgium

Crisis Group 19 Oct 2005 INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP - NEW BRIEFING A Congo Action Plan The Democratic Republic of the Congo will likely relapse into mass violence unless the Congolese parties and the international community take urgent measures. Reunification has been plagued by government corruption and mismanagement, failure to reform the security sector, the ongoing threat of the Rwandan Hutu insurgency FDLR based in the eastern Congo, and a weak UN peacekeeping mission (MONUC) that is not adequately protecting civilians. Crisis Groups Congo Action Plan lays out a comprehensive and urgent set of actions to save the peace process and produce a successful transition to elected government by June 2006. These include: preparing for and carrying out free and fair elections; curbing state corruption; creating an integrated national army and police force; and resolving the FDLR problem.Crisis Group reports and briefing papers are available on our website: www.crisisgroup.org

BBC 19 Oct 2005 DR Congo faces renewed violence The FDLR threat in the east remains a stumbling block to unity The Democratic Republic of Congo could see a return to mass violence unless its transitional government makes urgent reforms, a report warns. The International Crisis Group report says that two years after the end of the civil war, 1,000 people are dying each day from war-related causes. Polls due next year are threatened by corruption and mismanagement among the various government factions, it says. Under a 2002 peace deal, most warring parties joined the government. Some 3m people died in DR Congo's brutal five year civil war. Disarmament "With elections already postponed for a year, security sector reform, good governance and justice... must be prerequisites for elections or the transition process will continue to crumble, and the country will descend into renewed ethnic violence," Crisis Group's Suliman Baldo says. Extensive embezzlement... makes the state itself perhaps the largest security threat to the Congolese people A Congo Action Plan Reunification is being hampered by failure to integrate the national army and disarm militia, the Brussels-based think tank says. Its report entitled A Congo Action Plan also points to the ongoing threat of the Rwandan FDLR Hutu rebels the east. These fighters should be returned to Rwanda and forcibly disarmed if they don't want to voluntarily, the report says. Other armed factions have also not been dealt with. "In northern Katanga, Mai-Mai groups have fought each other and the Congolese army, displacing over 280,000 people in the province." While Some 4,000 to 5,000 combatants in Ituri still regularly attacked the local population. Hostages released It blames a weak UN peacekeeping mission for not adequately protecting civilians and calls on the UN Security Council to authorise more troops to join the UN 19,000 peacekeepers already in the DR Congo, with a formally strengthened mandate. The main problem facing DR Congo, however, was the reluctance of former adversaries to give up power "and assets for the national good". The UN currently has 19,000 peacekeepers in DR Congo "Extensive embezzlement has resulted in inadequate and irregular payment of civil servants and soldiers, making the state itself perhaps the largest security threat to the Congolese people," the report says. So far, 60% of the estimated 28m voters have been registered for next March's polls, AFP reports. The ICG advises the Congolese government to pass key electoral laws to ensure free and fair elections and the international community to set up a robust monitoring system. Meanwhile, the UN says militiamen near the eastern town of Bukavu have freed a group of around 40 disarmament officers they had briefly held hostage. They were seized in a disarmament camp by militiamen who had been waiting for several weeks for their promised disarmament payments, a UN spokeswoman said. The UN peacekeepers went to the scene and the release of the officers came after National Commission for Disarmament officers promised the men they would be paid by Sunday.

www.africanrights.org . 20 Oct 2005 African Rights yesterday sent a letter to the President of the United Nations Security Council, Ambassador Mihnea Ioan Motoc, to welcome and support the Security Council’s statement of 4 October 2005 which deplored the failure of the Forces démocratiques pour la liberation du Rwanda (FDLR) to disarm and repatriate their members peacefully back to Rwanda. On 31 March 2005, the FDLR, composed of Rwandese rebels based in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), declared its intention to demobilize and return its troops voluntarily to Rwanda, following negotiations facilitated by the Sant’Egidio Community in Rome. A deadline of 30 September 2005 was set by the Joint Tripartite Plus Commission comprising the DRC, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, with the African Union, the United Nations and the European Union as observers, and the United States as facilitator. In a 16-page letter, African Rights highlights the threat which the FDLR, which includes key genocide suspects within its senior military ranks and among its civilian supporters, poses to security, peace, development and co-operation in the Great Lakes region. It described their untroubled lives in eastern DRC, 11 years after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, “as an insult to the victims of the genocide and to the world community, a source of anguish and fear to the survivors of that genocide and a reminder to those working for justice in Rwanda and in the DRC of the responsibilities that lie ahead.” The letter provides detailed information, drawn from African Rights’ research, on 8 leading perpetrators of the genocide in eastern DRC, including three senior officers of the FDLR. On 20-21 October, the Joint Tripartite Plus Commission will meet in Kampala. African Rights’ letter urges the Commission to begin implementing the sanctions they had previously agreed upon in the event that the FDLR did not disarm voluntarily by 30 September. The letter also contains a range of recommendations addressed to the Security Council, the African Union, the United States Government and the European Union. African Rights, Bureau Rwanda B.P. 3836 Kigali, Rwanda Tel: 250 501007 Fax: 250 501008 Email: rights@rwanda1.com

BBC 20 Oct2 005 DR Congo asked to help fight LRA The Ugandan army has been fighting the LRA for 19 years Uganda says it wants to launch joint military operations with the Democratic Republic of Congo to attack the rebel Lord's Resistance Army. Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa said the rebels' move into eastern DR Congo had brought a new dynamic to a regional problem, which needed to be solved. He said the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo should also be involved. He was speaking at a regional security conference near Kampala but there has been no response from other ministers. "We should coordinate first and then operate jointly because of our accumulated knowledge and experience with the LRA," Mr Kutesa told regional ministers. "Without our involvement, this problem will not be solved." Concern The BBC's Will Ross at the conference says the discussions by regional ministers on how to deal with the LRA will be welcomed by the international community, which had become extremely concerned about Uganda's earlier threat to send its troops into DR Congo without consulting its neighbours. The United Nations peacekeeping force is trying to disarm all the rebel groups but has so far had limited success. Officials from the United States are also attending the talks at the Ugandan resort of Munyonyo on Lake Victoria. In recent months the American government has increased its involvement in the Congolese peace process, resulting in regular meetings between the governments of Uganda, Congo and Rwanda. Uganda and Rwanda both sent troops into the Democratic Republic of Congo during the civil war of the 1990s. The LRA under Joseph Kony has been waging a war with no clear agenda for 19 years.

Congo, Republic of

Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) 14 Oct 2005 Six people killed in clash between Congolese army and Ninja militia Brazzaville/Nairobi (dpa) - Six people were killed in the southern Congolese town of Bacongo in clashes between the army and the paramilitary 'Ninja' militia, an official said in Brazzaville Friday. A Chinese trader and five law enforcement officers were killed in an incident the State-run Radio Congo described as “an altercation'' between state armed forces and the 'Ninja' militia''. It did not elaborate. The Ninja militia has been fighting the central African country's armed forces in the southern Pool region and in certain suburbs in the capital, Brazzaville.

IRIN 20 Oct 2005 Residents flee as army storms rebel stronghold [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © IRIN Frédéric Bitsangou, alias Pasteur Ntoumi, leader of the Ninjas. BRAZZAVILLE, 20 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - Panic and fear spread across Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, on Wednesday as government troops exchanged heavy gunfire with "Ninja" rebels holed up in the Bacongo District of the city. As the fighting raged, residents in the southern part of the city, where Bacongo is located, fled to the safe northern parts of the city. Vehicles heading to the southern city districts were halted temporarily and the state-owned television station in Bacongo only resumed transmission on Wednesday evening. City hospital officials have reported receiving casualties. The Minister for Public Safety, Law and Order, Maj-Gen Paul Mbot, said three gendarmes, two police officers and a civilian of Chinese origin had died in the unrest. It remains unclear if they died in Wednesday's fighting or last week when the police tried to evict the Ninjas. The government ordered the army to support the police who, on 13 October, failed to evict the Ninjas from Bacongo. The security forces are trying to dislodge the so-called Ninjas, loyal to the Rev Frédéric Bitsangou, alias Pasteur Ntoumi, who illegally occupied homes in Bacongo. The district is a Bitsangou "stronghold" where in 2003 the government built him a home, in an effort to get him to end his armed rebellion. Wednesday's fighting coincided with the return on Friday of exiled Prime Minister Bernard Kolélas, who founded the Ninja militia in the 1990s. The government allowed Kolélas to return to bury his wife - after eight years of exile in Bamako, capital of Mali. In 2000, a Congolese court sentenced Kolélas to death, in absentia, for various crimes committed by his militia during a five-month civil war in 1997. However, President Sassou-Nguesso has asked that legal procedures begin to grant Kolélas amnesty.

Côte d'Ivoire

IRIN 14 Oct 2005 UN endorses plan to leave president in office beyond mandate [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © UN The UN Security Council has backed AU proposals to grant President Gbagbo another year in office NEW YORK/ ABIDJAN, 14 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - The United Nations Security Council on Friday endorsed a peace plan for Cote d’Ivoire enabling President Laurent Gbagbo to remain on as head of state after his current mandate expires on 30 October. The peace blueprint, which was worked out last week at an African Union (AU) summit, has been criticised by the opposition as well as by the rebel forces in control of the northern half of the West African country. "The Security Council endorses the decision of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union on the situation in Cote d’Ivoire," read the presidential statement from the UN Security Council. But the body made clear that it was withholding any commitment on a substantial increase to the 6,600-strong peacekeeping force, as requested by the AU at its Addis summit. Cote d’Ivoire, the world’s top cocoa producer and once a regional beacon of peace and prosperity, has been split in two since September 2002, with the UN troops monitoring a buffer zone between the rebel north and loyalist south. The AU plan calls for President Gbagbo to remain in office “for a period not exceeding 12 months” after his term expires 30 October. That was the date when new elections were to have been held under the terms of the latest in a series of botched peace deals. But the failure of the rebels and of pro-government militia to hand in weapons beforehand has scuttled plans to hold the elections on deadline. To help steer the country until elections are held, the AU plan also calls for the appointment of a new prime minister acceptable to all parties. In a statement, the 15-member Security Council said it would support the holding of “free, fair, open, transparent and credible elections as soon as possible and no later than 30 October 2006.” On a troop increase, the statement said members of the Security Council had taken note of the request and would consider reinforcements “based on a careful study of conditions in the country and of evidence of meaningful progress toward implementation of longstanding commitments" under a 2003 peace deal. The Security Council also welcomed an upcoming visit to Cote d’Ivoire by AU leader and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and South African President Thabo Mbeki, who mediated the latest Ivorian peace deal on behalf of the AU. The visit is expected to take place in the next few days, according to South African officials. It will be followed by a trip to the West African nation by the head of the UN’s Sanctions Committee, which has threatened travel and assets freezes against individuals holding up peace. Obasanjo and Mbeki will face a hard task convincing Gbagbo’s opponents to sign on.

BBC 30 Oct 2005 Shots fired at Gbagbo protesters Protesters held a rally at a sports stadium before the trouble Riot police in Ivory Coast have fired warning shots and used tear gas to disperse hundreds of opposition protesters in the main city of Abidjan. Opposition militants were threatening to remove President Laurent Gbagbo after his failure to step down. His five-year mandate was supposed to end on Sunday. But scheduled elections have been postponed and the UN decided to keep him in power for another year. The country has been in turmoil since rebels seized the north in 2002. More than 10,000 French and UN troops patrol a barrier zone between the northern rebels - known as the New Forces - and the militias who support President Gbagbo in the south. Laurent Gbagbo says rebels must disarm before any elections The BBC's James Copnall, in the main commercial city Abidjan in the south, says the division of the country has made it impossible to hold elections to find a successor to Mr Gbagbo. Electoral rolls have not been drawn up, he says, and it was no surprise when elections were postponed. Rage Several thousand opposition supporters attended a rally in Abidjan to demand that President Gbagbo leave office. Women wearing white face paint danced round in circles while young men loudly shouted their rage at Mr Gbagbo. Riot police fired in the air and used tear gas when some demonstrators tried to march to Mr Gbagbo's residence in the city centre and set alight wooden barricades. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The leaders of the opposition's youth wing had called for calm but were unable to control their supporters, our correspondent says. Similar rallies are being held in the north. Supporters of President Gbagbo, known as the Young Patriots, have postponed a rally they were going to hold in Abidjan due to fears about clashes between the rival groups. In March last year, more than 120 opposition supporters were killed by the Ivorian armed forces as they tried to demonstrate, according to a UN report. The UN Security Council has demanded that a new prime minister acceptable to all be appointed, with reinforced powers. However, our correspondent says it is not yet clear who could fill the role, nor how he and President Gbagbo will share power.

Eritrea

AFP 17 Oct 2005 UN vacates nearly half its monitoring posts in Eritrea ASMARA, Oct 17 (AFP) - The UN operation monitoring the increasingly tense border between Ethiopia and Eritrea said Monday that Asmara's ban on helicopter overflights would force it to vacate nearly half its posts on Eritrean territory. The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) said the ban had led it to conclude that it could no longer staff 18 of the smallest and most isolated of its 40 observation posts as well as one larger base it runs in Eritrea. "As a result of the continuing ban on UN helicopter flights by the Eritrean Government, (UNMEE) has carried out a review of the adverse impact of the ban on its own operational effectiveness and monitoring capability," it said. "From the assessment, it was deduced that the continuing occupation of small posts in isolated places has become untenable and operationally unviable," UNMEE said in a statement. "Out of a total of 40 posts that it has so far maintained, UNMEE has now decided to vacate 18 of them and one Team Site of military observers," it said, adding that troops from the abandoned sites would be shifted to the remaining posts. It said the decision to leave the posts, of which both Asmara and Addis Ababa had been informed, would take effect immediately. On Friday, UNMEE officials said the restrictions had reduced their monitoring capability by 55 percent and that they were no longer able to verify with certainty troop levels on the Eritrean side of the border. UNMEE has 3,293 military personnel in the border area monitoring the frontier and implementation of a 2000 peace deal that ended a bloody two-year war between the arch-rival neighbors. Since the beginning of the year, tensions along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) frontier have steadily risen with reports of new troop deployments and security incidents raising fears of renewed conflict. Asmara has not yet given an official reason for imposing the ban earlier this month over UN objections or for new restrictions slapped on UNMEE ground patrols that limit the mission's night operations. Eritrea has repeatedly warned that a new conflict is looming because of Ethiopia's refusal to accept a binding 2002 border delineation from an international panel set up as part of the pact that ended the war.

IRIN 21 Oct 2005 Government downplays helicopter restrictions [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © Corinne Archer Yemane Gebremeskel, adviser to the Eritrean president. ASMARA, 21 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - Eritrea downplayed the significance of restricting UN helicopters on Thursday, describing recent remarks by the Ethiopian prime minister as duplicitous. Speaking to journalists for the first time since Eritrea grounded UN peacekeeping helicopters earlier this month, a senior government official said that recent comments by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi were offensive. Yemane Ghebremeskel, a presidential adviser in Eritrea, was referring to remarks made by Meles in Addis Ababa on Wednesday. The Ethiopian prime minister told reporters in the capital that the flight restrictions were a violation of the peace agreement signed by the two countries, adding that the UN "should take necessary measures to restore the status quo." "I find the audacity of the prime minister marvelling," said Ghebremeskel. "If he is serious, it is an extreme case of duplicity because Ethiopia and the prime minister have violated the Algiers Agreement flagrantly and repeatedly." The Algiers Agreement was signed at the end of the 1998-2000 border war between the two countries, in which an estimated 70,000 people from both sides were killed. Both nations agreed to demarcate their border as decided by an independent boundary commission. Ethiopia later rejected the commission's decision, however, and the two countries have been locked in a stalemate ever since. While the Ethiopian government has maintained repeatedly that it wants to discuss the issue, it declined an invitation to meet representatives from the boundary commission and Eritrea in London in February. Meanwhile, Eritrea refuses to negotiate an agreement that was meant to be "final and binding". Eritrea still has not explained why it imposed the helicopter restriction, which has compromised the UN's ability to cover the 1,000-km long and 25-km wide Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) running along the boundary of the two countries. The measure has forced the UN to reduce the number of peacekeeping posts along the border from 40 to 18 and redistribute its troops; brought a halt to demining activities in the area; and delayed urgent medical treatment for two UN peacekeepers that were injured in a traffic accident in the TSZ. Ghebremeskel refused to discuss the helicopter restrictions. "If anything Eritrea has shown the maximum patience, the maximum restraint so far," he said. "We feel both Ethiopia and the Security Council have violated the agreements," he added, expressing his country's frustration with the lack of border demarcation and with the international community in general. "They continue to pamper Ethiopia. They continue to pamper the prime minister in spite of his violations," he said.

Ethiopia

Xinhua News Agency Date: 15 Oct 2005 Print E-mail Save Ethiopia beefs up military presence on Eritrea borderADDIS ABABA, Oct 15, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi admitted Saturday his country has reinforced its troops on its border with Eritrea since December as a “precautionary measure, “ the same day he offered first ever direct talks with Eritrean leader on border disputes. “We have taken measures and beefed up our defense capabilities around the border since December to prevent any miscalculation by the other side,” Meles told journalists. Earlier this month, Eritrea banned air patrols along the 1,000-kilometer temporary security zone and it did not give any reasons for the restrictions, according to Gail Bindley-Taylor Sainte, spokeswoman of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). Eritrea's move increased concerns that the Red Sea state was trying to cover up troop redeployment, diplomats here said. Meles said Eritrea's actions on UN flights violated a ceasefire agreement signed by the two countries in 2000 and urged the UN Security Council to enforce it. “We are still hopeful that the other side (Eritrea) will not miscalculate,” he added. Under a 2000 peace deal ending their two-year border war, Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to accept the conclusions of an independent boundary commission on where the border should lie. The commission issued its findings in April 2002 and Eritrea fully accepted them. But the process of marking out the new boundary on the ground broke down after Ethiopia objected that the flashpoint western town of Badme had been awarded to Eritrea. The border war, which killed more than 70,000 people, began when Ethiopia accused Eritrea of invading Badme. In support of the stalled peace process, UNMEE, which now numbers about 3,000 troops and observers, has been patrolling a buffer zone separating the two countries' militaries since July 2000.

BBC 19 Oct 2005 'Arms cache' arrests in Ethiopia Ethiopian students died in May election protests Ethiopian police have arrested 34 opposition party supporters. A police commander said the Coalition for Unity and Democracy members were caught with a cache of arms in Oromia State, some 250km east of the capital. Much of the opposition has boycotted parliament, claiming Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government rigged the May general election. The boycotting MPs have had their immunity stripped. Mr Meles accuses the CUD of seeking to overthrow him. The police found 23 rifles, five pistols, three hand grenades, other firearms and 626 rounds of ammunition, the Ethiopian news agency reported. Last week, the CUD head warned that there could be a campaign to harass and jail political opponents. Several days of violence followed the 15 May poll and around 40 people were killed when police fired on crowds of protesters. The Ethiopian government angrily dismissed an assessment by European Union monitors that the elections failed to meet international standards.

www.eastandard.net 25 Oct 2005 AG is summoned over Wagalla massacre By Judy Ogutu A Nairobi court yesterday ordered Attorney-General Amos Wako to appear in court to show cause why a case by Wagalla massacre victims should proceed without his response. High Court judge, Justice Mohammed Ibrahim, also directed that should the AG fail to appear in person, he should swear an affidavit to show cause why the case should proceed without a replying affidavit from the State. He made the orders after it emerged that the AG had not filed a replying affidavit. Through Gitobu Imanyara and Company advocates, more than 300 plaintiffs sought the court’s direction on how to proceed. After getting AG’s word, the court shall have discharged its duties and would not be responsible if the trial proceeds in default, Ibrahim said. There was also no representation from the AG’s office yesterday. The 364 applicants are seeking a court declaration that the events that took place at the Wagalla Airstrip between February 10, 1984 and February 14, 1984 "were committed by known people serving in the Public Service". They want a court declaration compensating families of the victims. Following the directive, the court should also order that a public inquest be conducted, they argue. It should also order the District Magistrate’s Court in Wajir to open an inquest and the North Eastern provincial police boss to initiate steps necessary to conduct the inquest. Yesterday, Justice Ibrahim said the case was serious and ought to have a replying affidavit. "This is not merely a compensatory case but also to record the likely true events of the Wagalla saga in order that we all learn the truth, and if the allegations are true, how to avoid a repeat of such events in the future in this country," he said. The court, he said, was not inclined to refer the matter to the Chief Justice on whether it should be heard by more than one judge. He said he would only do so if it was clear the AG did not require to file a replying affidavit. He gave the AG 15 days to do so and fixed a hearing date for November 9, 2005.

Liberia

IRIN 17 Oct 2005 "King George" squares up for election run-off with "Iron Lady" [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © Claire Soares/IRIN Liberians look set to head to the ballot box again on 8 November to choose between George and Ellen MONROVIA, 17 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - Soccer legend George Weah looks set to go head-to-head with former finance minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in a run-off to decide who will be the next president of war-battered Liberia, according to preliminary results released on Monday. With returns in from 95 percent of polling stations across the heavily forested country, Weah was in the lead with 28.8 percent of the votes and Sirleaf was trailing in second with 20.0 percent. A candidate must get 50 percent plus one vote to be declared the winner of Liberia's first presidential elections since the end of a 14-year civil war. "Looking at the numbers above... the NEC sees it prudent to begin preparations for a presidential election run-off," Frances Johnson-Morris, the head of the National Elections Commission, told reporters on Monday evening. "The run-off election will be held on November 8," she added. Almost a week after Liberians went to the polls, radios are still constantly tuned to news bulletins and residents hang around on street corners animatedly discussing the latest twists and turns and moaning about how slowly the results are coming in. Johnson-Morris said death threats had been sent by text message to her mobile phone, warning she would be killed if she did not "release the results well." Meanwhile, the political jockeying has already begun ahead of the November run-off. "We are preparing for the second round," Rudolph Johnson, Weah's running mate, told IRIN on Monday. Both camps are trying to win endorsements from some of the other 20 hopefuls who contested last Tuesday's first-round ballot. Top of the list will be former Senate leader Charles Brumskine, who is currently on 13.9 percent, and Winston Tubman, a onetime UN special envoy, who has so far captured 9.4 percent of the votes. Behind-the-scenes wrangling "We are talking to almost everyone. The message we are carrying is what's good for Liberia," said Sirleaf's campaign manager, John Bestman, in between meetings. "We are confident." Frances Johnson-Morris, head of Liberia's National Elections Commission, briefs reporters Cole Bangalu, chairman of Weah's political party, was also in an upbeat mood. "We are constructively engaging other parties to see how they can join forces with us. We are getting a very positive response. We believe the run-off will give an overwhelming result in our favour," he said. Liberians hope that the polls will cement peace and stability in this West African nation, torn apart by a brutal civil war between 1989 and 2003, which left an estimated quarter of a million people dead and forced hundreds of thousands of others to flee their homes. A run-off would give the country a choice between "King George", a roaring success on a football pitch but untested in the political arena, and veteran opposition leader Sirleaf, known as the "Iron Lady" because of her no-nonsense political style. Sirleaf, a 66-year-old grandmother, boasts a resume including stints at the World Bank and the United Nations. She says an experienced head is needed to kick-start Liberia's battered economy and use its abundant natural resources to make it the pride of West Africa. Weah, who grew up in a shantytown kicking a ball about barefoot before playing for the cream of Europe's clubs, says he understands the youth and the underprivileged. The 39-year-old believes his lack of political experience is a bonus because it means he has clean hands. As the negotiations play out behind closed doors ahead of the formal announcement of a run-off, some Liberians are cynical, saying any alliances will be more about personal gain than political values. "It would have been better if the politicians had teamed up before the first round but politicians are greedy," said 32-year-old Varney Lake, whose store in the capital, Monrovia, sells everything from shampoo to kitchen sinks. "No-one wanted to give up the chair, everyone wanted to be president so we had to choose between 22 people! And now we're going to have to vote all over again."

IRIN 18 Oct 2005 Vigilante gangs patrol streets as police force rebuilds [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © Claire Soares/IRIN Vigilantes ready to head out on patrol MONROVIA, 18 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - Every night Gibson Karchold and his neighbours pick up their machetes and nail-studded sticks and go out on patrol, trying to protect their homes in a run-down area of the Liberian capital, Monrovia. “Criminals come around to hijack you while you are in bed. They take your generator and then wake you up and take your mattress,” explained the 31-year-old, a construction worker by day and vigilante by night. Residents support his group, providing food and water to see them through until the watch ends just before dawn. “It’s really the police’s job,” the diminutive Liberian told IRIN. “But you could be killed before the police arrive. They are far away from where the action is.” After more than two years of peace in Liberia, worries about war have given way to concerns about crime. “You have a lot of people accustomed to violence and nothing to preoccupy their minds… and the country is awash with small arms,” said Peter Zaizay, a spokesman for the Liberian National Police. “Armed robberies have increased to some extent.” In response, vigilante gangs have sprung up around the capital and the trend is worrying those in the upper echelons of the United Nations, which has some 15,000 troops and 1,000 policemen charged with helping keep the peace in Liberia. “A troubling development is the formation of vigilante groups by some Liberians,” UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in his most recent report on the West African nation. However, some officials on the ground in Liberia, who requested anonymity, said that the impromptu patrols might help cut the crime rate. “Hoodlums capitalise on the fact that everyone stays indoors. Now the vigilantes are out there. They know their community. It’s not a solution to the problem but they are helping,” one official said. Working by moonlight Accompanying the police on a Saturday night patrol, an IRIN correspondent saw vigilante groups working by the light of the full moon or torches in several areas of the city, which has no mains electricity and thus no street lights. “We had an armed robber round here who killed one person and wounded three others. It got so desperate we decided to keep watch to save one another,” said Francis Jallah, a telephone technician-turned vigilante in the so-called GSA neighbourhood. Down the road in Jacob’s Town, another group had cornered a suspected robber. They held him more than half an hour – the time it took police to reach the remote area, bumping down kilometres of dirt track, flooded after a heavy downpour. Even the beach shacks have barbed wire in Monrovia This suspect was handed over, unharmed, and taken to the local police station. But there have been other instances, where no such restraint has been shown. The body of Magic D, described by locals as a notorious armed robber, lay on a rubbish dump in the Fiamah neighbourhood for days after residents tired of his repeated offences and took matters into their own hands, beating him to death. “Magic fought for former president Charles Taylor during the war,” said 19-year-old Moses Maldinho, a former schoolmate. “After the war, he stole because of poverty. He wanted a cool life and didn’t want to wait.” Some say that vigilantes are proof of the lack of trust in the forces of law and order, a hang over from the civil war when officers were not only corrupt but also involved in human rights abuses. “There’s a lack of confidence in the justice system. That’s really the problem,” said police spokesman, Zaizay. “That’s why we have the community policing strategy, to increase awareness and share information.” The peace accord that brought Liberia’s civil war to an end in August 2003 called for the police force to be restructured, with the old force demobilised, and new recruits trained by the United Nations. Some way to go Two years later, around 1,600 trained police officers are on the streets of Liberia, just under half of the UN target. “Considerable progress has been made but there’s a way to go yet,” said Alan Doss, head of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). “Between US $3 million and $4 million is still needed.” Some human rights experts have criticised how the new police force is being formed. “Problems in the vetting and removal of human rights abusers from the police force… and the lack of donor support to rebuild the decimated judicial infrastructure has undermined progress in establishing the rule of law,” Human Rights Watch, a New York-based group, said in a recent report. The Liberian police, themselves, have also admitted to some teething problems. At the beginning of the month, six officers, including a deputy inspector, were suspended after using tear gas against their superiors to protest their pay shortly after returning from special riot training in Nigeria. And equipment is still lacking. “The guns and cutlasses that the armed robbers carry sometimes scare the police who just have batons and handcuffs,” said police spokesman Zaizay. For the past month or so, local police have been backed up on their patrols by armed UN peacekeepers, and officers say this is giving them new authority to stem the tide of crime. But police vehicles are in short supply. There are only two outside Montserrado, the county that surrounds the capital, and these are in Maryland, home of the interim president. One Liberian, whose stolen mobile phone was tracked down by police last week, was asked to pay US $30 –- an average officer’s monthly salary -- to cover the petrol the patrol car used to retrieve it. Emergency service? Police trucks are plastered with stickers urging people to call 911, but residents complain they can never get through. At a recent media briefing, a senior police officer attempted to prove that there were six lines in operation. He called the emergency number and was connected immediately, but when another person tried, a busy signal rang out and the demonstration was quickly abandoned. This doesn’t surprise mother of six and Fiamah resident, Mama Gray. She laughs when asked if she has been burgled. “Of course,” she sighs, shaking her head. Cooking utensils and water carriers were considered sufficient booty to raid her corrugated-iron roofed home. Gray, like many Liberians, is hoping that the newly-elected government will provide an alternative to crime for thousands of ex-combatants by creating jobs. Her neighbour, Saye Kehinah, voices the same hopes. “The poverty rate is so high in this country and people have no jobs,” he told IRIN. “We want that to change. We need that to change.” For him, politics and crime, are inextricably linked. He couldn’t vote in last week’s landmark presidential and parliamentary elections, the first since the end of the civil war. “My wallet was stolen the other week with my voting card inside,” he said, with an air of resignation.

Malawi

BBC 25 Oct 2005 Clashes over Malawi impeachment Bingu wa Mutharika (back) has fallen out with his predecessor Bakili Muluzi (front) Supporters of Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika, angered at moves to impeach him, have attacked opposition MPs outside parliament. The police say that five vehicles belonging to MPs were destroyed after stones were thrown at them. The violence followed a demonstration by members of Mr Mutharika's party. Earlier, the High Court ruled that former President Bakili Muluzi did not have to undergo questioning about his financial dealings with foreign donors. Mr Muluzi's United Democratic Front is at the forefront of the bid to impeach Mr Mutharika, who was elected on the UDF ticket. Mr Mutharika has fallen out with his predecessor over the probe into corruption allegations during Mr Muluzi's time in office. Mr Muluzi had been summoned to testify at the Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday, to account for millions of dollars of aid money during his presidency between 1994 and 2004. Armed guards Heath Minister Heatherwick Ntaba, spokesman for Mr Mutharika's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), condemned the violence outside parliament and distanced his party from it. "This was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration but was hijacked by thugs," he said. "This was not only a DPP demonstration; it had other people from other parties." Musician-turned-politician Lucius Banda said he was astonished that the police outside parliament could not prevent the violence. "Here was the most fortified place with armed guards guarding the president but they could stop these thugs," he said.

Niger

IRIN 15 Oct 2005 Tuareg ex-combatants to get promised assistance a decade after peace accord [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © Edward Parsons/IRIN Financial assistance for Tuareg ex-combattants NIAMEY, 14 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - Ten years after the Niger government and insurgents signed an accord to end a Tuareg rebellion, authorities have launched an economic assistance programme for more than 3,000 ex-combatants in the north – the final phase as laid out in the peace pact. Under the project, 3,160 former combatants will be granted around US $300 each in the form of micro-loans for projects in animal husbandry, the craft industry and vegetable gardening, Michele Falavigna, Niger UN Development Programme (UNDP) representative, said. The UN says the launch was held up mainly for lack of funds, along with lingering instability in the north of this mainly desert nation of about 11 million people. The US $1.8-million project is funded by France, the United States and Libya. “It is historic, that countries that have sometimes had disagreements have been able to pool their resources to consolidate peace in northern Niger,” Falavigna told IRIN from the capital, Niamey, on Thursday. The micro-credit project – to be run jointly by the government and UNDP – will be implemented in the northern Air and Azawak regions. Since the 1995 signing of the peace accord, nomad groups have occasionally claimed responsibility for attacks in the north, complaining that the government was not holding up its end of the agreement. The Tuareg rebellion began in the north in 1990, with an attack on the locality of Tchintabaraden, 800 kilometres north Niamey, and later spread to the far east of the country, where it was joined by other nomadic groups such as the Toubou. The uprising centred on social, political, and economic grievances and dissatisfaction over what rebels called inequitable economic policy and excessive centralisation of the government. The Tuareg rebels wanted a federal system that would allow them to run their own affairs in their mineral-rich areas. The government and rebels signed the peace agreement in Niamey following mediation by Algeria, Burkina Faso – which both share borders with Niger – and France. The accord stipulated in part: government decentralisation and the integration of former combatants into the defence and security forces, public service, professional training institutions, universities and secondary schools. Around 800 former combatants eventually were integrated into the public services, but the socio-economic reintegration of the largest chunk of the ex-rebels had yet to be achieved. Tuareg representatives welcomed the funds. “We rejoice over the project and hope the available resources will be increased,” Mohamed Akotey, a former chief of the rebellion and now Niger’s high commissioner for the restoration of peace, said on national radio on Wednesday. The launch of the project came a month after Niger’s President Mamadou Tandja nominated the former Tuareg rebel leader to lead the government office for the restoration of peace. UNDP’s Falavigna noted that lingering insecurity was also cause for the delay in the loan project. In the Air mountain range 1,000 kilometres northeast of Niamey, where international companies have been prospecting for oil, security forces have clashed several times over the last two years with what the government called common banditry. But the culprits claimed to be Tuareg rebels of the now-dissolved Air and Azawak Liberation Front (FLAA).

Nigeria

www.sunnewsonline.com20 Oct 2005 Zaki Biam massacre: Obasanjo no longer owes Tiv apology, says Daboh By ROSE EJEMBI, Makurdi Thursday , October 20, 2005 • Daboh National Index National Assistant Auditor of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Godwin Daboh says the Tiv people are not waiting for any apology from President Olusegun Obasanjo over the Zaki-Biam massacre, as apology has long been tendered and accepted by the Tiv nation. He said this while reacting to a story in Daily Sun of Thursday, September 29, 2005 credited to the President/CEO of Capital Base Development Limited, Mr. Joshua Manasseh. In the interview with Daily Sun, Chief Daboh averred that the Zaki-Biam massacre is a forgotten issue, adding that, “We the Tiv people have put it behind us so that we can move forward.” No more apology The Tiv people are not waiting for any apology from President Olusegun Obasanjo because the Tiv people have settled with him long ago. In fact, when the Zaki-Biam issue happened, Obasanjo was not in Nigeria. He was far away in America. It was General T.Y Danjuma, who was the Minister of Defence and who has very close relationship with the Tiv people that was responsible for giving the operational order. All he needs to do was to get the consent of General Obasanjo. But General Obasanjo granted consent based on the report that was given to him by General T.Y Danjuma that his presidential approval was required to take immediate action to condemn the crisis that was there. Apology already tendered When General Obasanjo came back (from his trip) after the massacre, Governor Akume led a delegation of leaders of Benue State to Aso Villa to meet him. We discussed extensively what had happened in Zaki-Biam and we realised that the killing of some soldiers precipitated the action. We, the Benue leaders, who were in Aso Rock with President Obasanjo tendered an apology for the killing of the soldiers who were on active duty in the Taraba-Benue border. The president himself had apologised on behalf of the soldiers and the Federal Government. It was then we required that a judicial commission of enquiry be constituted to look into the matter, which the president did. Also, there was an interactive session in Jos, where Obasanjo looked at the whole element as a thing which affected everybody. To crown it all, in October 2001, all the leaders of PDP were in Aso Villa with Obasanjo, where we held a meeting and resolved that this matter as settled. On January 2003, President Obasanjo left his family and came to Benue. He was at the IBB square, with more than 500,000 people drawn from every Tiv local government to apologise. So, anybody raising the matter, is just trying to open up old wounds, because as far as we are concerned, it is a dead issue. We, the Tiv people voted massively for President Obasanjo in 1999 and 2003 elections because we did not have a quarrel with him. If anybody has a quarrel, he should not use the Zaki-Biam card. The Zaki-Biam card is a dead card. It was amicably resolved between us and we want to move forward. Today, the Tiv people are marginalised in federal appointments because of people like Manasseh Joshua, who will attack the president unjustly. Where other people are looking for reconciliation and forgiveness and participation, people like him give the impression that they can do without the Federal Government, which is not true. Today, no Tiv man is holding any reasonable position in the Federal Government apart from Dr. Iyorcha Ayu and Prof. Ayua, who is a Permanent Secretary. Look at the recent board appointments that were made, it is because of people like Manasseh, that we were completely margninalised. We are the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria, but because of attitude of people like Joshua, that is why Tiv people are not getting anything from the Federal Government. I want to say that we the Tiv people, have buried Zaki-Biam and we don’t want to exhume a corpse that will bring back bad memories to us. We must move forward. The Germans killed more than six million Jews in the Second World War, but today, Germany and Israel are in very great harmony. Recently, they marked the 60th year of the massacre of the Jews. The Germans and the Jews all joined together to celebrate the event. We the Tiv people have put behind us the unfortunate Zaki-Biam crisis. Anybody who is trying to raise the issue now, is on his own