Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) A Seven member
subregional Development Organisation formed by Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. See also Canada's news site on IGAD http://www.igad.org/
http://www.igad.ca/
Algeria
BBC
1 Oct 2005 Violent past haunts Algeria's fresh start By Jeremy Bowen BBC
News, Algiers Algerians have overwhelmingly approved a government peace plan aimed
at ending its civil war which began in 1992. In the capital, Algiers, Jeremy Bowen
discovers the legacy of what Algerians refer to as "the black decade". The architecture
in Algiers reflects its French colonial legacy Algiers has a lot of sadness, but
there is something irresistible too. It took a particularly savage war to dislodge
the French colonialists who went in 1962. But they left behind a beautiful city.
The old buildings in the centre are whitewashed, and gleam in the Mediterranean
light, with narrow, tall windows and blue slatted shutters. Some people hang blue
and white awnings over the balconies to keep the sun out and they billow in the
wind that comes off the bay in the afternoons. Dangerous towns I went to a small
town called Rais, where around 800 people were killed in a single night Algiers
is a sad city, because of what happened here, and in the outlying towns during
the 1990s. Their war started in 1992, after the military cancelled elections that
an Islamist party was about to win. At least 150,000 people were killed. The war
has been more or less over for a couple of years although there are still pockets
of killing. The government still provides armed bodyguards for visiting journalists,
if you tick the box requesting protection when you apply for your press card.
But although this is not a normal country it is starting to look like one. Most
Algerians are poor but a litre of petrol in this oil rich place only costs about
the same as a bar of chocolate. 'Brutality' Over 150,000 died in the war between
the military and insurgents Driving out of Algiers is a slow business because
the roads are choked with cars. During the worst time in the war the same roads
were very empty. In the summer of 1997 and the winter of 1998 there was a series
of massacres of civilians, and people were too terrified to move. Then, I went
to a small town called Rais, where around 800 people were killed in a single night.
Some were shot, some had their throats cut, the heads of babies were severed.
A group of extremists who claimed to be motivated by Islam carried out the killings,
but there were always dark whispers about the role of the security forces in what
was happening. The claim was that the insurgents had been infiltrated by the military
and pushed even deeper into brutality to discredit them. There was an army base
close to Rais, but local people complained that no soldiers had arrived in the
town until the killers had gone. The massacre eventually made the Islamist insurgents
look so bad that some of them gave up their fight, but the killing left deep wounds
among the survivors. 'Anger' One of the big drawbacks of the president's peace
charter is that he has chosen not to establish a truth commission as they did
in South Africa Rais this week, 8 years later, still feels stunned. Thirty seconds
into every conversation I have with people there, in two visits, the rawness of
their pain and anger became very obvious. The two men who run a small grocer's
shop at the top of Tariq Hussain Street were furious when I asked them about President
Bouteflika's plan to pardon Islamist insurgents. "I don't believe in reconciliation."
One of them spat, angrily. "I'm 20 years old and I lost 10 years of school. Because
of the war, I have no education." Half a dozen members of his family were killed
in the massacre, along with his future. When I pointed out to them that the president's
charter for peace and national reconciliation says explicitly that those responsible
for massacres, rapes and the bombing of civilians would not get pardons, they
dismissed it as a lie. The eyes of the other man, who was in his mid-30s, filled
with tears of rage. "The president said on TV," he insisted "that the charter
would make the fighter in the hills the same as the victim." Whether or not the
president meant it like that, it is not a comparison they like in Rais. 'Reconciliation'
Tariq Hussain Street is dusty and straight with small houses behind high walls
and gates. Seventy of its residents were killed in the massacre and their families
are still waiting for justice. One of the big drawbacks of the president's peace
charter is that he has chosen not to establish a truth commission as they did
in South Africa. However painful or difficult, South Africans needed to know what
happened, why and how people died. It is hard to escape a conclusion that there
are events here that powerful Algerians want to keep secret Former fighters and
repentant killers had to make a full confession before they could get an amnesty.
That is not considered necessary in Algeria. Perhaps it was easier in South Africa
because the old regime had gone. There was a new ruling elite. That is not the
case here. The generals are still powerful, though they have stepped back from
politics. It is hard to escape a conclusion that there are events here that powerful
Algerians want to keep secret. But the great mass of Algerians are exhausted by
war. Even though it is flawed, the charter for peace and reconciliation is what
they have now. They are ready for a new start. No-one wants to fight, and in a
country that has had so much sadness, that is good.
Reuters
1 Oct 2005 Algerian Rebels Said to Reject Amnesty By REUTERS ALGIERS, Oct.
1 (Reuters) - An Internet statement attributed to Algeria's largest outlawed Islamic
militant group, aligned with Al Qaeda, says that it opposes amnesty in exchange
for laying down its arms and that it will continue its jihad, or holy war. In
a Sept. 29 referendum, Algerians approved a government offer of partial amnesty
for combatants in a civil war that lasted more than a decade and claimed more
than 100,000 lives, mostly those of civilians. "This vote is a waste of time,"
said the statement on an Islamist Web site, dated Sept. 27 and attributed to Abdelmalek
Droukdal, also known as Abu Mossab Abdelwadoud, the leader of the Salafist Group
for Preaching and Combat. "Algeria is not in need of a charter for peace and national
reconciliation, but in need of a charter for Islam." It was the first time the
Salafist Group had seemed to comment on the controversial amnesty project, but
the statement's authenticity could not be immediately verified. The Salafist Group
is on the United States' list of foreign terrorist organizations and has recently
expanded its activities to neighboring countries. "The jihad will go on," the
statement said. "We have promised God to continue the jihad and the combat." The
conflict began after the army in 1992 canceled the second round of Algeria's first
multiparty legislative election, which the Islamic Salvation Front was on course
to win. The authorities estimate that only a few hundred rebels are still armed
and fighting security forces. Most belong to the Salafist Group. At its height
in the mid-1990's, up to 25,000 Islamists were involved in the insurgency. Many
have since accepted amnesties, or been captured or killed. "There will be no peace
and no reconciliation as long as Islam is not taken into consideration," said
the statement attributed to Mr. Droukdal, which also praised Osama bin Laden and
his deputy in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Botswana
IRIN
10 Oct 2005 Govt denies claims of ethnic cleansing [ This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © Survival International
Bushmen groups claim the government has conducted a forced evictions campaign
JOHANNESBURG, 10 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - The government of Botswana says accusations
that Bushmen are being evicted at gunpoint from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve
(CKGR) are "absolute rubbish". In a damning statement, 'Ethnic Cleansing Reaches
Final Phase', the London-based rights group, Survival International, said police
carried out forced removals of Bushmen from the CKGR at gunpoint at the weekend.
A local Bushmen rights group, First People of the Kalahari, claimed police were
"setting fire to their huts". The government said they had merely assisted a group
of Bushmen, who had returned to the reserve after having been resettled outside
the park, to leave the CKGR voluntarily because their livestock were diseased.
According to the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks, the residents
of Molapo settlement in the CKGR "requested that they be transported back to the
village where the came from, New Xade. Government facilitated their transport
- 34 people in total - to the village on the 7th and 8th October 2005". Another
"12 people from Metsiamanong settlement also requested for transport to New Xade,
and government again facilitated their return to that village and the houses they
have there". Officials alleged that several Bushmen had said they were returning
to New Xade so they could claim their old-age pensions. "Contrary to some reports,
at no time was anyone removed forcibly or at gunpoint". But Survival reported
that the "the police have told them [Bushmen still in the CKGR] they will be killed,
and are following them to prevent them hunting or gathering any food". The
rights group said the "Botswana government has been trying to get the Gana and
Gwi Bushmen off their ancestral lands in the CKGR since the 1980s when diamonds
were discovered". Survival's Stephen Corry accused the government of "ethnic
cleansing". Presidential spokesman Jeff Ramsay told IRIN the accusations were
"absolute rubbish, an insult and a disgrace". "The group [of Bushmen] who requested
to go back to New Xade were facilitated in doing so," he said. "The whole return
exercise was fully filmed and documented so anybody is free to see [the footage]
in its unedited form if they like - it runs for a couple of hours." Botswana's
government had resorted to "filming these things" due to the number of accusations
it has faced with regard to its dealings with the Bushmen. "We're not taking any
chances," Ramsay added. He admitted that tensions had escalated in recent weeks,
when "a group of people tried to enter the park and police fired rubber bullets
and teargas", but said there "is no ethnic cleansing in the CKGR; there's no shooting
[of people] in the CKGR".
WP 11
Oct 2005 Bushmen Villages Nearly Emptied Botswana Accused Of Forced Removal
By Craig Timberg Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, October 11, 2005; Page
A13 JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 10 -- All but a few of the Bushmen living in Botswana's
Central Kalahari Game Reserve have been forcibly removed from their homes in recent
days in what spokesmen for the affected communities said is a final push by the
government to end human habitation there after tens of thousands of years. The
First People of the Kalahari, an activist group in Botswana, said that Bushmen
villages had been cut off from their main sources of food and water and that outsiders
had been prohibited from entering to provide relief for the past six weeks. The
group said a heavy contingent of police, military and park rangers trucked out
about 40 people -- most of the remaining residents -- at gunpoint on Friday and
Saturday. The stragglers face constant harassment, it said. Botswana officials
gave a strikingly different account, saying the police activity was prompted by
a quarantine because of a disease affecting the goats many Bushmen keep. The officials
also said that all those who had left had done so voluntarily. But Jumanda Gakeredone
of the First People of the Kalahari said that such basic activities as hunting
game and gathering water-filled roots had been prohibited and that officials had
seized goats, sheep and other livestock the Bushmen use for food. "The situation
is really, really bad," he said from Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. "Every
day, they are there with guns." Officials acknowledged that one of the game reserve's
two main villages, Malapo, had been deserted since 25 residents were trucked out
Friday. The other substantial settlement, Metsiamanong, lost nearly half its remaining
residents when 14 left on government trucks Saturday. They are not permitted to
return as long as the quarantine remains in force, the government said. No date
has been set for the end of the quarantine, and activists said it was just a pretext
for removing the Bushmen while their right to stay is being argued in a major
court battle. Government officials have long sought to drive the Bushmen from
the game reserve, saying their increasingly sedentary lifestyle -- which includes
keeping domestic animals and using motorized vehicles -- makes them incompatible
with a park for wild animals. The Kalahari reserve is a major tourist attraction
for the southern African nation of 1.6 million. The total number of Bushmen remaining
in the reserve, which is larger than Switzerland, is now 27 people in three villages,
said Ruth Maphorisa, the top government official for the district, speaking from
Gaborone. "There was no harassment whatsoever," Maphorisa said. "We didn't force
anybody to leave." She added that a government videotape of the removals shows
the villagers leaving freely. She said police and military troops were there only
to help load household belongings onto waiting trucks. Told of her comments, Gakeredone
responded angrily. "It's a lie. No one has left Malapo by choice," he said. "Every
day, the police are there and threatening with guns." He also said he could not
verify the number of Bushmen left inside the reserve because he and other activists
had been barred during the quarantine. His account of incidents there, he said,
was based on conversations with those who had been removed. Bushmen once roamed
most of southern Africa, before the encroachment of white settlers moving north
from Cape Town and African Bantu farmers migrating south squeezed them nearly
out of existence. Among the final places where Bushmen have maintained traditional
ways is the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. But the government has gradually cut
off water deliveries and medical services, while forcing children to study outside
the reserve in classrooms dominated by speakers of Setswana, the national language.
An estimated 2,000 Bushmen lived in the reserve before the government undertook
forced removal campaigns in 1997 and 2002. Most were relocated to New Xade, a
settlement outside the reserve. Some Bushmen said they grew despondent in New
Xade, separated from their homes and the graves of their ancestors. Last month,
the First People of the Kalahari loaded five trucks full of cornmeal, water and
tobacco and attempted to defy the quarantine. There was a confrontation, which
grew violent, and police fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, injuring
one, the government has said. Twenty-one people were arrested.
Diamonds.net,
NY 16 Sep 2005 9th Grader Rallies for Bushmen, Court Grants Time By Jeff
Miller Posted: 9/16/2005 1:59 PM (Rapaport...September 16, 2005) Botswana's visitor
ban in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve has prohibited journalists and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) from access to some 200 San Bushmen still living in the reserve.
Miriam Ross of Survival International (SI) told Rapaport News that it is difficult
to get an accurate picture of what is going on in the reserve other than conversations
between some Bushmen and the SI representatives in the region. But Ross said the
situation is only worsening for the Bushmen. There are no photographs or video
available to document events after the reserve was put off-limits by Botswana
on September 1, 2005. However, during this past week, Botswana deployed armed
wildlife guards into the game reserve and the government contends that sarcoptic
mange has spread amongst the Bushmen's goats. Sarcoptic mange is an external mite
that burrows into the skin of the host. Bushmen held the right to live on the
reserve, which is the basis for their court case against Botswana, but a constitutional
change before Parliament is expected to remove that right. Furthermore the Bushmen
have claimed that Botswana removed them in order to open the reserve for mining
diamonds. London-based SI also claims that Bushmen were driven out of the Kalahari
in order to mine diamonds and has waged a campaign against De Beers for its diamond
concessions on the reserve. However, the Bushmen's court case took a new turn
on September 14. Attorney Gordon Bennett, representing the Bushmen, requested
a five-month reprieve in order to raise more funds. The judge granted the delay
that now buys Bennett until February 2006 before resuming defense of Bushmen settlement
claims on the reserve, which has been their ancestral homeland for the past 20,000
years. "We did not have the funds to see the case through. We needed a break to
try to raise more money," Bennett said. SI's director, Stephen Corry, says that
Botswana's government and presidential appointments to the country's diamond company,
Debswana, are part of a "clique" with deep-seated racism against the Bushmen.
Half the world away from Botswana, in Cleveland, Ohio, 9th grade student, Aaron
Kohn of the Hawken School has taken action as well. Kohn, 14, said that he learned
about the Bushmen in 2004 during his world cultures studies. "I was inspired by
the lifestyle of the indigenous peoples known as the Bushmen, as portrayed in
the popular 1984 movie 'The Gods Must Be Crazy.' I later found out that the movie
was inaccurate in its portrayal of the Bushmen's lifestyle," Kohn wrote in a letter
the school released on September 14. Kohn says the Bushmen's culture is "going
through a cultural genocide. "This culture, the more politically correct name
of which is the San people, is the oldest human culture in existence today. According
to the well-known Human Genome project, there is a San woman in the ancestry of
each one of us, as far back as 200,000 years." But the student's letter is
not his first attempt to raise awareness about the Bushmen. In April 2005, Kohn
brought experts on the San's culture to his private school "for a conference to
tell the truth about the situation. It ended up being the biggest conference ever
for the Kalahari Peoples Fund, the biggest turnout (over 100 people,) biggest
fundraiser, and most press coverage (local and national,)" he writes. And now
Kohn announces that two Bushmen will visit the school in October. "Tinau Thu and
Gkao Goma are from the Nyae Nyae Conservancy (NNC) in Namibia, which is a long
10-hour drive in off-road vehicles into the northern region of the country. This
is where a small but strong population of San people retain some hunting and land
rights to preserve the national land for nature conservation." Hawken will sponsor
the event on October 19 to raise funds for the Kalahari Peoples Fund. "The San
people have lived for a long time with little conflict or dissent," Kohn writes.
"This shows that their environmental, political, and social skills are lessons
for us all. They offer lessons that we can learn, so that we can preserve their
culture, even after they have become completely modernized in the world we have
created. "They have answers to the needs and conflicts in our modern society,
and also they can give us a sense that we have not destroyed the entire world
through change. This is why our help is so critical, because the Bushmen could
be gone in just a few years, and their heritage will vanish if we do not fight
to learn about it now."
Chad
AP
4 AOct 2005 Ex-Chad leader's atty. expects extradition By NAFI DIOUF ASSOCIATED
PRESS WRITER DAKAR, Senegal -- A lawyer for Chad's former dictator said Tuesday
he was confident Hissene Habre would not be extradited to Belgium to stand trial
for war crimes allegedly committed during his rule in the 1980s. Belgium issued
an international warrant last week for Habre, who has lived in exile in Senegal's
capital, Dakar, since rebel forces ousted him 15 years ago. "We are not at all
worried," Habre's lawyer El Hadji Diouf told The Associated Press. "They are just
wasting their time." Senegal's high court dismissed earlier Senegalese charges
against Habre in 2001, ruling it had no jurisdiction to try him. Diouf said that
precedent could bode well for Habre this time around. Habre, 63, is accused
of torture, murder and a host of other crimes during his eight-year reign. A commission
set up in Chad in 1992 accused Habre's regime of 40,000 political killings and
200,000 cases of torture. He is being pursued under Belgium's "universal jurisdiction"
laws which allow for prosecutions for crimes against humanity wherever they were
committed. On Monday, Belgium sent Senegal a request for Habre's extradition,
which has been forwarded to legal authorities here, a close aid to Senegal's President
Abdoulaye Wade said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to
speak to the press. Habre is not the only ex-African head of state being pursued
for alleged war crimes. Former Liberian President Charles Taylor has been indicted
by the U.N.-backed tribunal in Sierra Leone for alleged crimes against humanity
for backing Sierra Leone rebels during a vicious decade-long insurgency.
Côte
d'Ivoire
BBC 30 Sep 2005 Leaders
pursue Ivory Coast peace Laurent Gbagbo did not give a reason for his absence
West African leaders are meeting to try to revive the stalled peace process
in Ivory Coast. At least nine heads of state from the regional grouping, Ecowas,
are meeting, but Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has said he will not be attending.
Ivory Coast has been split in two since a failed coup and subsequent uprising
by rebels who now control the north. The meeting in the Nigerian capital, Abuja,
is expected to discuss South Africa's role as mediator. Leaders of the New Forces
rebel group have objected to South Africa's involvement, saying that the South
Africans favour Mr Gbagbo. 'Not tired of summits' Nigerian President Olusegun
Obasanjo's determination to hold this summit was interpreted by many as a desire
to bring the peace process back into West African hands. Mr Gbagbo has already
said he will not accept any Ecowas mediation on Ivory Coast, accusing member states
of having supported the New Forces rebels. This is a reference to Burkina Faso
and Mali, who deny the accusations. Elections were due to be held in Ivory Coast
at the end of October but these have been postponed. Neither the rebels not the
pro-Gbagbo militias have disarmed as planned and few other preparations have been
made. Several summits have been held in France and Africa to try and solve the
problems in Ivory Coast - previously West Africa's richest country. But Remi Oyo,
spokeswoman for Mr Obasanjo told journalists: "The heads of state are not tired
of trying to solve the problem. African solutions can always be found to African
problems." "
Congo, Dem. Rep. of
the
BBC 2 Oct 2005 UN investigates
DR Congo graves The DR Congo saw incursions by Rwandan troops in 1996 A
United Nations team has started investigating three mass graves found in the Democratic
Republic of Congo. Dozens of skulls and bones have been exhumed from the graves,
discovered at Rutshuru, about 50km (30 miles) north of Goma more than a week ago.
They are the latest in a number of mass graves found in the region recently. A
UN spokeswoman told the BBC the remains were believed to be those of Congolese
and Rwandan Hutus killed by Rwandan soldiers in 1996. At the time the Rwandan
Army was venturing into the DR Congo trying to find those responsible for mass
genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The graves were exhumed by Congolese troops. "They
are Congolese Hutus who were massacred by the Rwandan army in 1996 and in the
following years," the commander of the troops, Col Jean-Marie Shekasikila, said.
Following the 1994 genocide, which saw more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus
killed, many Rwandan Hutus fled to neighbouring DR Congo fearing for reprisals
from the new-Tutsi-led government. Hutu extremists who are thought to have helped
carry out the killings also crossed the border to set up camps. Some 15,000 are
still thought to be in the country. The resource-rich country has been in turmoil
for years We believe that thousands of people were massacred and that we will
discover more graves," said Colonel Shekasikila of the 5th Brigade, who are carrying
out the diggings.. "We found the first one as we were doing digging work to build
a latrine, then town residents showed us two other spots where there were bones,"
he said. Captain Jose Mabiala, a spokesman for the 5th Brigade, accused Rwandan
officers of being responsible for the killings. "Rebels backed by Rwanda dominated
the Rutshuru region at the time and young army officers came to kill residents,"
he said. The country, one of Africa's most resource-rich states, was in political
turmoil at the time, which eventually led to the overthrow of its dictator Mobutu
Sese Seko. UN troops continue to keep the peace in the country, which threatens
to erupt into civil war.
IRIN 6 Oct 2005
Kigali says it not responsible for mass killings [ This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © IRIN Richard Sezibera,
Rwandan President Paul Kagame's special envoy to the Great Lakes region. KIGALI,
6 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - A senior Rwandan government official dismissed on Thursday
allegations that the army was responsible for a massacre nearly 10 years ago of
hundreds of people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), whose bodies
were discovered recently in mass graves. "It is very unfair to jump at accusations,"
Richard Sezibera, Rwanda's special envoy to the Great Lakes Region, told IRIN.
"The area has a bad history of killings which should be investigated." Sezibera
pointed to a 1993 massacre of Congolese ethnic Tutsis by the army of the late
Congolese president, Mobutu Sese Seko, as well as numerous ethnic clashes in that
country. Sezibera said there were many mass graves in the area. He said thousands
of Rwandan Hutu refugees in camps in Goma, capital of Congo's North Kivu Province,
and Rutshuru, 50 to 70 km north of Goma, died from a cholera epidemic in 1994
and were buried in mass graves. The information officer of the UN Mission in the
DRC in Goma, Jacqueline Chernard, said residents of Rutshuru town discovered mass
graves two weeks ago and alerted the Congolese army. Then, the army informed the
UN mission. The spokesman for the mission know as MONUC, Kemal Saiki, said from
Kinshasa on Thursday that a UN team of investigators had gone to the grave sites.
Skulls, bones and human tissue have been exhumed. The graves contained the remains
of hundreds of people believed to be Rwandan exiles and Congolese citizens killed
sometime around 1996, at the start of the country's armed conflict. Residents
of the area where the graves were found allege that at least 300 people were killed
by a Rwandan-backed Congolese armed group, which was fighting Mobutu's government.
Another now deceased Congolese president, Laurent-Desire Kabila, father of current
President Joseph Kabila, led the insurrection against Mobutu.
IRIN
4 Oct 2005 Thousands return to Ituri gold town after army ousts rebels [
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] BUNIA,
4 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - Some 5,000 civilians who fled fighting last week between
the army and local armed groups in a gold mining area of northeastern Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC)'s Ituri District began returning to their homes on Monday,
a Roman Catholic clergyman said. "They have been in perpetual movement. They
need help to resettle," Abbot Innocent Ngabu said on Monday in Kilo, a locality
25 km north of the Bambu Gold Mines. The information officer in Bunia for the
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Idrissa Conteh,
said, "We don’t yet know the humanitarian situation but we plan to organise a
mission in the region." Armed groups had first attacked government troops on
27 September who were guarding the Bambu Gold Mines, which serves as the headquarters
of the state-owned Office des Mines d’Or des Kilo Moto - OKIMO, an army officer
who asked not to be identified told IRIN. Thousands of civilians fled in various
directions: some to the army post at Bambu Mines; others 12 km south to the town
of Petsi. Many others just hide in the surrounding bush. The mines are in
a mountainous area 50 km north of the district capital Bunia. The officer identified
the attackers as members of the Front des Nationalistes Intégrationnistes (Nationalist
and Integrationist Front led by Floribert Ndjabu) and those of the Union des Patriotes
Congolais (Union of Congolese Patriots) headed by Thomas Lubanga. The army officer
said the attackers surrounded the government troops and started shooting. One
soldier was killed, he said, and at least 10 of the attackers were wounded. By
Wednesday the army had repulsed the attackers who fled into their sanctuary in
the Dala Forest some 30 km northeast of Bambu Mines. The army has since deployed
to the locality of Kilo, which is 25 km north of Bambu Mines in an effort to secure
the area.
UN News Centre 6 Oct 2005 DR
of Congo: clock is ticking on political transition goals, UN Mission chief says
William Lacy Swing 6 October 2005 – The United Nations and its peacekeeping mission
in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have nine months to accomplish crucial
objectives in the country’s political transition – organizing credible elections,
maintaining peace and security and addressing the devastation wrought by war,
senior UN envoy William Lacy Swing said today. “Our biggest challenge is that
of time,” he told a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York as he reviewed
the recent work of the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC), established
in November 1999. “That, I think, is really what lies before us: whether we and
the international community in the Congo, working together, can ensure that the
remaining nine months of the transition are sufficient to accomplish these objectives
overall to arrive at conditions of stability and legitimacy before the end of
the transition on 30 June 2006,” the Special Representative of the Secretary-General
said. Saying he was explaining, not complaining, he responded to persistent questions
about the likelihood that the Security Council would increase the 16,900-strong
MONUC force by saying: “The province of Kinshasa is about the size of Kosovo,
where we had 46,000 troops. Ituri district, where we have 4,800 troops, is the
size of Sierra Leone, which had 17,500 troops.” In addition, DRC is five times
larger than Côte d’Ivoire, Burundi, Liberia and Sierra Leone put together, with
twice the population, Mr. Swing pointed out. The Security Council has authorized
a force of 7,090 for Cote d’Ivoire, 5,650 for Burundi and 15,000 for Liberia.
With MONUC stationing 80 per cent of its forces in the troubled eastern DRC, Mr.
Swing said it had created the first-ever UN divisional headquarters in Kisangani,
bringing the peacekeepers two hours closer to the conflict areas of Ituri and
the Kivus. Meanwhile, though, the rest of the vast country – Equateur province,
which is larger than France, Bandundu, the Kasais, Bas-Congo and Kinshasa – has
three UN battalions, he said. “I work with what I am given and we try to make
the adjustments that we need to make,” he said. .
BBC
6 Oct 2005 Congo soldiers on trial for rape Many women in the DRC have become
victims of rape Twelve soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have gone
on trial accused of raping 119 women. The soldiers are accused of the gang rape
in north-eastern Equateur province following a mutiny on 21 December 2003.
The United Nations has welcomed the trial as it says it is the first time alleged
rapists in DR Congo are being charged for crimes against humanity. Armed men have
raped tens of thousands of women and girls since DR Congo's five-year civil war
began in 1998. Only a handful of the perpetrators have been brought to justice.
Stealing pay "Rape is for the first time being charged as a crime against humanity,"
the UN's Kemal Saiki said. The war in DR Congo Soldiers from the 9th Battalion
of the DRC army mutinied in December 2003 after accusing their commanding officer
of stealing their pay. They were then allegedly involved in gang-raping women
and girls in Nsongo Mboyo, as well as looting afterwards. "According to our
investigations, at least 119 women, including girls under the age of 18, were
raped," Reuters quotes UN spokeswoman Rachel Eklou as saying. The accused soldiers
originally fought for the Congolese Liberation Movement rebel group and were integrated
into the national army following the 2002 peace deal. The trial began on Tuesday
in Mbandaka, the main city in Equateur province, and is set to continue on 18
October, the UN says.
www.prnewswire.com
6 Oct 2005 U.S. Holocaust Museum Online Congo Exhibition Highlights Angelina
Jolie and John Prendergast's Trip to Country More Than 3.5 Million Dead From Ongoing
Conflict Precipitated by 1994 Rwandan Genocide WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/
-- The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Committee on Conscience, in cooperation
with Angelina Jolie and the International Crisis Group, launched an online
exhibition, Ripples of Genocide: Journey Through Eastern Congo, chronicling the
devastation unfolding in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC). The site, http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/congojournal, includes
a teachers guide to aid educators in developing lessons on the country's situation.
The site features a travel log narrated by Angelina Jolie, who visited the region
in September 2003 with John Prendergast, Senior Advisor, International Crisis
Group. Jolie, reading from her travel log, delivers commentary on the country's
dire situation and details her meetings with affected populations: child soldiers,
rape victims and civilian refugees. Observations are accompanied by extensive
photographs of the trip and of the region. Prendergast provides historical context
to the complex conflict engulfing the region. "Despite the horrors that continue
to be perpetrated in the Congo, Angelina and I returned from our trip with the
overwhelming sense that the Congolese people still hope and work for a better
future," stated Prendergast. "There are solutions, but they require more international
engagement. This can only happen if citizens in the U.S. and around the world
tell their governments it is unacceptable to allow 1,000 Congolese to die every
day." The conflict's causes are multifaceted, with a bewildering array of foreign
armies, militias, criminals, and others with disparate loyalties fighting over
ethnic divisions and for economic dominance. Caught between these warring factions
are Congolese civilians and some refugees. They have been targeted, often along
ethnic lines, for murder, rape, torture and other human rights abuses on a colossal
scale. "Since 1998, more than 3.5 million people have died in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo," states Jerry Fowler, Director of the Museum's Committee
on Conscience. "More people have died in this conflict than in any other since
World War II, but it has received scant attention in the U.S., and few Americans
are aware of its massive scope." The destruction began following the 1994
Rwandan genocide. The Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front overthrew the Hutu government
that orchestrated the Rwandan genocide. The genocidaires fled into eastern DRC
(then known as Zaire) along with more than one million Hutu civilians, who feared
Tutsi reprisals. The presence of the genocidaires, who used eastern Congo/Zaire
as a base to attack Rwanda, ultimately precipitated the present conflict. At one
point, more than a half-dozen African nations had military forces in Congo. Numerous
militias and rebel groups also formed, often along ethnic lines. An internationally
backed accord, signed in 1999, called for the formation of a unity government
that incorporates the major rebel groups from the East and for foreign forces
to leave the country. While some aspects of the accords have been fulfilled, they
have not been successful in rebuilding communities in the East, which remain vulnerable
to militias and ethnically based violence. In addition to the conflict's military
and political aspects, governments, militias, corporations, and individuals are
exploiting the chaos to loot Congolese resources. Everything of value -- from
mineral resources to food and medical supplies -- is being pillaged as the civilian
population increasingly suffers and is targeted for attacks. In June 2003, Luis
Moreno Ocampo, the International Criminal Court prosecutor, announced that the
Court's first-ever investigation would probe crimes committed throughout the DRC.
The investigation was requested by the Congolese transitional government. However,
the violence continues, and many more lives are at risk. Situated among our national
monuments to freedom, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is both a memorial
to the past and a living reminder of the moral obligations of individuals and
societies. The Museum fulfills its mission through a public/private partnership
in which federal support guarantees the institution's permanence and hundreds
of thousands of donors nationwide make possible its educational activities and
global outreach. More than 22 million people -- including more than 7 million
schoolchildren -- have visited the Museum since it opened in 1993, and through
its Web site, traveling exhibitions and educational programs, the Museum reaches
millions more every year. The Committee on Conscience guides the Museum's efforts
to educate about, prevent and respond to contemporary genocide and related crimes
against humanity. For more information, visit http://www.committeeonconscience.org.
The International Crisis Group is an independent, non-profit, non- governmental
organization covering over 50 crisis-affected countries and territories across
four continents, working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy
to prevent and resolve deadly conflict. For more information, visit http://www.crisisgroup.org
SOURCE United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Web Site: http://www.ushmm.org
http://www.committeeonconscience.org http://www.crisisgroup.org
Reuters
10 Oct 2005 Suspected rebels massacre Congo civilians-official By David
Lewis BUNIA, Congo, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Suspected Rwandan Hutu rebels hacked
to death 24 Congolese villagers, including several children, in the latest attack
against civilians in eastern Congo, a senior local official said Monday. United
Nations spokesmen said the massacre was carried out by machete-wielding raiders
who attacked at least two hamlets late on Sunday in the Walungu area of Democratic
Republic of Congo's South Kivu province, which borders with Rwanda. "The territorial
administrator who is on the ground has told me that 24 people were killed," Didace
Kaningini, the interim governor of South Kivu, told Reuters. "All reports indicate
that the Rwandan Hutus are responsible for the killings," said Kaningini, who
added many other civilians had been wounded in the attack. Thousands of Rwandan
rebels, many of whom fled to neighbouring Congo after participating in the 1994
genocide in Rwanda, have been terrorising villagers in South Kivu province two
years after Congo's latest war ended. Kaningini said letters written in Lingala,
one of Congo's main languages, and also in Swahili, found left at the villages
claimed the attacks in the name of the Rastas, a violent splinter group of Rwanda's
FDLR rebels. "In the letters, they said that the war had begun and they were not
afraid of the Congolese army. They also said they had proved what they could do
and would continue doing it," he said. The United Nations mission in the Congo
said earlier at least 10 to 12 civilians were killed. "There are definitely children
amongst them ... These people were killed with machetes," U.N. military spokesman
Major Hans Reichen told Reuters. He said a patrol of U.N. peacekeeping troops
reached one of the attacked villages, but arrived too late to intercept the raiders
and could give only first aid to the survivors. Twice during the 1990s, Rwanda
used the rebels' presence in the Congo as justification for invading its western
neighbour, sparking two large-scale conflicts. The United Nations has it biggest
peacekeeping force in the world -- nearly 17,000 troops -- deployed in the Congo.
But the U.N. blue helmets are thinly stretched across a vast country the size
of Western Europe and have focused recently on trying to organise Congo's first
democratic elections in more than 40 years. (Additional reporting by Charles Dimandja
in Kinshasa)
MONUC.org 13, October 2005
All Conferences MONUC condemns the massacre of at least 15 people by Rwanda
Hutu rebels in South Kivu Yulu Kabamba MONUC condemns the massacre of at least
15 people by Rwandan Hutu rebels in South Kivu MONUC "condemns in the strongest
terms possible the attack by a group of about 25 Rwandan Hutu rebels on the locality
of Buba, 60 km south west of Bukavu, in South Kivu," the Director of MONUC
Public Information and spokesman, Mr. Kemal Saïki told the weekly news conference
today. "The attack happened during the night of Sunday 9 October to Monday 10
October, between 22h30 and 23h30," indicated Mr. Saïki before adding, "MONUC recorded
that 15 people were killed with knives and 12 seriously injured. DRC authorities,
for their part, reported 25 dead." Referring to the "South Kivu brigade that rushed
a quick reaction unit to the scene along with a medical assistance team," MONUC
military Spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Thierry Provendier, informed that on the
basis of "the information gathered by MONUC troops, a group of about 25 Rwandan
Hutu elements infiltrated, from Mugaba forest, the Kanyola-based Armed Forces
of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC)." Hence, with a view to securing more
effectively the area, "the South Kivu brigade ever since has been maintaining
a military presence in the Walungu territory. Three patrols secure the surroundings
of Kanyola around the foothills of Mugaba forest. Operation Night Flash has been
also stepped up and has been ongoing every night," further said Lieutenant-colonel
Provendier. Moreover, "MONUC team conducted a preliminary investigative mission
but was denied access to the attacked villages by the local population. The team
returned to Walungu and visited the 12 injured in Walungu hospital without being
able to interview them due to their poor health condition," highlighted Ms Sonia
Bakar of MONUC Human Rights Division. The Director of MONUC Public Information,
recalled that "DRC, Rwanda and Ugandan governments had issued an ultimatum to
Rwandan hutu rebels operating in the DRC that they had up to end of September
to implement their decision to lay down weapons and return to Rwanda," indicating,
"MONUC believes the Tripartite Commission should implement its decision to enforce
the serious consequences against Rwandan hutu rebels. FARDC must take concrete
actions against the Hutu rebels operating in North Kivu." "North Kivu brigade
proceeds with deterrent and sensitisation actions with a view to neutralising
Nkunda and the troops that joined him and to encourage the disarmament of civilians
(.). A mobile operational basis was established in Burungu, not far from Kichanga,"
indicated the Military Spokesman. Following the news on the human bones uncovered
in the headquarters of the newly deployed 5th integrated Brigade of the FARDC,
in Rutshuru, "a MONUC multidisciplinary mission based in Goma visited Rutshuru
on 27 September 2005 to enquire about the locations and origin of the mass graves.
MONUC visited three mass graves, along with the Commander of the 5th integrated
Brigade, Colonel Jean-Marie Kasikila," underscored Ms Sonia Bakar. "MONUC team
saw human skulls and bones at three locations within the perimeter of the headquarters
of the 5th Brigade. During the visit, Human Rights colleagues were approached
by people who introduced themselves as either survivals of the massacres or members
of the families of the victims (.). They claimed knowing many other mass graves
in the area," reported Ms Sonia Bakar. At this point, MONUC "is unable to confirm
these allegations. A forensic investigation is needed and must be complemented
by witnesses' testimonies," added Ms Sonia Bakar. However, "MONUC will provide
the necessary assistance to the transition government officials to help preserve
the various identified sites against deterioration or possible intromission likely
to destroy the mortal remains and hence enable the Congolese authorities to
conduct investigations," concluded Ms Sonia Bakar. "The departure of LRA members
from the DRC territory made the news since last week," also indicated the Director
of MONUC Public Information, Mr. Kemal Saïki. Indeed, "MONUC was due to meet with
some members of the Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan armed group on Friday 7
October - noted that the latter had left - the information was confirmed by the
FARDC which maintains a military presence in Aba. MONUC and FARDC travelled to
Ima - 6 km from Aba - where the Mission noted that the LRA group had left through
the same route it came to the DRC, across Imbesi river, towards Sudan," explained
MONUC Spokesman. The United Nations Secretary-General "hailed Friday the indictment
of six members of the Lord's Resistance Army by the International Criminal Court,
referring to it as a strong and clear message by the Court against impunity,"
also reported Mr. Kemal Saïki, who noted, "as of now three dossiers have been
filed to the ICC: the Darfour, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the
LRA," echoing the UN Secretary General. Finally, "MONUC firmly condemns the heinous
and dangerous rhetoric over the media by the provincial leader of UNAFEC (Union
nationale des Fédéralistes du Congo)," declared the Director of MONUC Public Information.
"Statements inciting to violence and offence against national security are unacceptable
in the current context, especially in a country which is in the process of laying
the foundations of a democratic state, respectful of the Rule of Law," noted Mr.
Saïki before highlighting, "the UNAFEC national leader is the Minister of Justice
who has the responsibility of putting in place the Rule of Law." "Intimidation
and threats against members of the Public Information in Lubumbashi, notably Radio
Okapi staff, are also unacceptable. As a result, we are warning any individual
who would be tempted to indulge in such activities that they will certainly meet
an appropriate reaction. We would react most vigorously," the Director of MONUC
Public Information hammered.
Côte
d'Ivoire
IRIN 30 Sept 2005 West
African leaders try to revive flagging peace efforts [ This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © ECOWAS ABUJA, 30 Sep 2005
(IRIN) - West African leaders have met for an extraordinary summit aimed at reviving
flagging efforts to bring peace to divided Cote d’Ivoire although the country’s
president refused to attend. Winding up the talks in the Nigerian capital late
Friday, leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) publicly
issued no new proposals to end the three-year crisis, instead referring the matter
to next week's wider African Union (AU) summit, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Ivorian
leader Laurent Gbagbo boycotted the talks after accusing ECOWAS of bias towards
the rebels, who seized control of the northern half of the cocoa-rich nation in
2002. After the AU summit 6 October, the United Nations Security Council is due
to consider the crisis in Cote d’Ivoire on 13 October. In a statement, ECOWAS
leaders “expressed deep concern about the persistence and the deterioration of
the situation in the country, a situation with the potential to destabilize the
entire West African Sub-region." The summit significantly said that a recent peace
deal known as the Pretoria Accord that was brokered by AU mediator and South African
President Thabo Mbeki, along with two previous failed accords, the Linas Marcoussis
and Accra III agreements, were their preferred framework for the peaceful resolution
of the crisis. On the eve of the talks, the UN envoy to the once prosperous and
peaceful Cote d'Ivoire warned that the country once again stood teetering on the
brink of war. “We are far off from national reconciliation and this dangerous
atmosphere explains why ECOWAS, the AU and the UN are becoming involved,” Pierre
Schori told reporters in Abidjan, the de facto capital, before heading to the
Nigerian capital for the summit. Schori said tension was rising ahead of 30 October,
the date when Gbagbo's current mandate was supposed to end with fresh elections
sealing the peace, according to the terms of the Pretoria Accord. But like earlier
accords the deal crumbled and everyone -- from Gbagbo, to the rebels, the UN --
has acknowledged that the ballot cannot be held. Rebels in the north have refused
to disarm, pro-Gbagbo militia in the south have failed to hand in weapons, electoral
registers have not been updated and the country is still divided. Gbagbo meanwhile
has said he has the constitutional right to remain in office until a new election
is held, while the opposition and the rebels insist that he must stand down and
allow a transitional authority to take his place. At the Abuja talks, attended
by nine West African leaders, Gbagbo’s delegates circulated documents stating
that he had respected pledges made under the Pretoria Accord though the rebels
had not. “I was the sole signatory of the accords to have held to my commitments,”
the president told the Ivorian nation in a speech broadcast on state radio and
television this week. He announced he would boycott the ECOWAS summit on the grounds
that some countries backed the insurgents. “Cote d’Ivoire will never agree to
allow these countries to decide its fate while they are both judges and players,”
he said. Meanwhile the rebels have rebuffed further mediation efforts by Mbeki
and said they will have no further dealings with him. In this stalemate, analysts
say ECOWAS, the AU and the UN will have few options other than proposing new election
deadlines and hardening the threat of sanctions against individuals holding up
the accord.
Ethiopia
BBC
12 Oct 2005 Ethiopia pins hopes on new settlements By Martin Plaut BBC
News, Ethiopia As the Ethiopian government tries to alleviate poverty by encouraging
people to move into uninhabited areas, Martin Plaut meets one of the families
trying to make a new life on the land. Last year our fields produced 600 kilograms.
This year's harvest will be even better Adema In pictures: The resettlement Adema
cradles his one-year-old daughter in his arms, as he stands outside his hut. His
wife, Alamit, who is heavily pregnant, sits beside him. The rain, which has been
coming down incessantly, has eased off for a while. Adema is wearing shorts and
a T-shirt but has no shoes on. The thick, brown mud oozes between his toes. It
has taken two days driving south of Addis Ababa to get this far. Leaving the floor
of the Rift Valley, with its banana plantations and lakes, we climbed over the
mountains. Finally, stopping by the side of the road, we see the settlement of
Gum-Gumeta in the distance. The terrain slopes steeply into a valley before rising
to the newly cleared village lands. It looks a 20-minute walk. But the rains have
turned the path into a sticky morass and within moments our shoes are encased
in heavy clay. Every step is an effort. Panting and sweating, we arrive an hour
later. Adema is immensely proud of his new farm. Harvest Two years earlier he
had walked here from his village 15 miles away to hack down the forest and begin
to build his hut. Alamit joined him, living off government rations until the first
crop came in. Now the second is ready for harvesting: stalks of maize standing
almost as tall as the hut. "We are a big family," Adema tells me. "Many brothers
and sisters so our family farm was not big enough. There was nowhere else to go.
That is why we came. Last year our new fields produced 600 kilograms. This year's
harvest will be even better." I ask Alamit what would really make a difference
in her life. She looks down, and smiles shyly. "I am happy," she says. I press
her, what more would she like. "We have one child," she says. "Soon we'll have
two. So I would like to have a cow for milk." It is not much to ask. And with
their new land they might just be able to afford one. Exhausted earth Families
like this are found all across Ethiopia. Some, like Adema and Alamit, are fortunate
in being within walking distance of their villages. Others have to travel hundreds
of miles in search of a new life. What the aid agencies call 'emergencies' are
now an annual, predictable event The government sees resettlement as the answer
to the perennial problem of what to do about the highlands. Denuded and degraded
after 3,000 years of cultivation, many farms are no longer sustainable. The soil
is exhausted by generations of farming. Divided and sub-divided again and again,
families scrape a living on pocket-handkerchief sized holdings. Oxen drag wooden
ploughs up the steep slopes. Rain sends torrents of mud into the rivers, which
carry the topsoil as a precious gift to Sudan and Egypt, just as they have since
the time of the pharaohs. But now that agricultural system, which has been handed
down since the Queen of Sheba ruled on the Ethiopian throne, is finally bankrupt.
Urban slums and vast pools of discontent are the last thing the government wants
Between 3 million and 5 million Ethiopians simply cannot feed their families
from their own efforts. What the aid agencies call "emergencies" are, in reality,
now an annual, predictable event. This is no crisis. It is a problem that will
not go away. Year after year trucks loaded with American grain make the tortuous
journey from the port of Djibouti, bringing food to remote feeding stations in
the mountains. The farmers of the American Midwest are now as tied in to feeding
the destitute of Ethiopia as they are the underclass of Detroit or Milwaukee.
Malaria If the resettlements fail, the poor could stream into Ethiopia's cities
searching for a better life So the government in Addis Ababa encourages its
farmers to look for a new life elsewhere. In the lower lying parts of the country
there is malaria and other diseases, which is why the area was not farmed in the
first place. Opening up new land is a risk but one that cannot be postponed. A
lot hangs on the success of these resettlement programmes. They are central to
the government's aim of raising living standards and keeping peasant farmers on
the land. If they fail, the poor could stream into Ethiopia's cities, searching
for a better life. Urban slums and vast pools of discontent are the last thing
this government wants. New roots Adema and Alamit are the lucky ones. Their farm
is relatively high up. There may be some tsetse flies but the agricultural officer
thinks it can be controlled. They are beginning to put down roots and make a new
life. But when their daughter grows up, where will she find the new lands she
needs? And can some way be found to break the tragic spiral of deforestation,
soil erosion and degradation? As I leave, I turn and wave. They wave back. Smiling
and happy. There may be problems in the future but for the moment their thoughts
are on the coming harvest. And, who knows, that cow might just be on the cards.
Comment:
in 1984-85 the Dergue regime in Ethiopia also embarked on a program of resettlement.
What steps is the current regime taking to make sure that the present resettlement
scheme is truly voluntary? Since the current regime is not democratic how can
it be held accountable for abuses of this program?
