Africa

Algeria

BBC 20 Apr 2003 Berbers protest in Algeria Thousands of Algerian Berbers have brought towns to a standstill in the eastern region of Kabylie, in a mass demonstration for cultural and linguistic rights. They were marking the anniversary of riots in 1980 in the provincial capital, Tizi Ouzou, when protesters demanded recognition for their separate identity from the Arabic-speaking majority. A general strike closed down businesses and shops in Tizi Ouzou, Bejaia and Bouira on Sunday and in Algiers, several hundred students also demonstrated. The protests were mainly peaceful but riot police clashed with students outside a theatre in Tizi Ouzou when a 10,000-strong march was diverted away from a prison holding Berber leader Belaid Abrika. In the Algerian capital, student protesters were prevented by police from leaving campus. Marchers in Bouira carried black banners and shouted slogans including "Release the prisoners", "No to oppression" and "No to the arrest of youths and demonstrators". The demonstrations also commemorated protests in April 2001, when dozens of people were killed in clashes with police. Berbers are believed to make up about 20% of Algeria's population of 30 million. Demonstrations to mark the Berber Spring are an annual event.

Angola

ICG 7 April 2003 Angola's Choice: Reform or Regress For the first time since independence, economic and political reform has become a strategic imperative for the government of Angola. Elections and the desire to enhance its image after four decades of war are important motivations. But reform will not come quickly and requires a long-term strategy of international engagement. This report sets out policies to encourage a democratic post-war transition and fiscal transparency - especially in the oil sector. The report also urges economic diversification beyond oil, more equitable distribution and use of land, and poverty reduction strategies. If the destructive legacy of the war is allowed to fester, development and stability cannot be assured. For the full report, please see CrisisWeb - http://www.crisisweb.org

Botswana

Survival International 25 April 2003 Botswana: government ban on Survival materials condemned The Botswana government has banned Survival materials from the country's schools, as part of ongoing attempts to silence criticism of the treatment of the Gana and Gwi 'Bushmen'. The ban, which has provoked concern from teachers and others, specifically refers to Survival's 'We, the world' education pack for 8 to 12 year olds. The pack, which mentions the Bushmen only in one short paragraph, was described as 'excellent' by the Times Education Supplement and 'brilliant' by the head of the Botswana centre for human rights. In Brazil, on the other hand, government agencies have requested Survival materials for display. http://www.survival-international.org/bushman.htm http://www.survival-international.org/books.htm#children Botswana: Bushmen barred from their own homes Gana and Gwi 'Bushmen' trying to return to their ancestral homeland, from which they were evicted by the Botswana authorities, are being physically turned back by officials. In some areas, Bushmen are not being allowed in even if they offer to pay the tourist fee. Military personnel are rumoured to be in the area now. http://www.survival-international.org/bushman.htm Brazil: two arrested for Marcos Veron's murder Two people have been arrested and a third is wanted in connection with the murder of Marcos Veron, the leader of the Guarani-Kaiowá community of Takuára in southern Brazil. Marcos was beaten to death in January of this year when he and others from his community were trying to move back onto the land stolen from them by ranchers 50 years ago. Marcos had visited Europe in 2000 to launch Survival's book on Brazilian Indians and speak about his people's long struggle for their land. A group from Marcos's community is now lobbying the authorities to recognise their land as an Indian reserve. South Africa: landmark court verdict A court has ruled that the 'Richtersvelders' indigenous people have a right to their land, although they have never had title deeds or had their rights recognised by the government. This historic victory brings hope to the Gana and Gwi 'Bushmen' in Botswana, where the legal system is similar. Both peoples live in areas where there is diamond mining or prospecting. Survival International is a worldwide organisation supporting tribal peoples. It stands for their right to decide their own future and helps them protect their lives, lands and human rights. It receives no government funding and is dependent on donations from the public. e-news from Survival International, supporting tribal peoples worldwide. Founded in 1969, registered charity (UK) no. 267444

Burundi

AFP 30 Mar 2003 600 arrested in Bujumbura, 70 held in custody BUJUMBURA, March 30 (AFP) - Close to 600 people were arrested in the Burundian capital in a weekend raid on two neighbourhoods, police said Sunday, as the country's second largest rebel group accused the government of launching a manhunt against Hutus. "Friday we arrested more than 250 people in the Musaga area (south) and Saturday we arrested 340 others in the Kamenge neighbourhood (northeast) in an crackdown on 'irregulars'," a police officer in charge of security in Bujumbura told AFP. The term "irregulars" refers to people who do not hold the necessary paperwork. "We are holding around 70 people who did not have identity cards or were not recognised by anyone in their neighbourhoods," the officer said. "The others will be released as soon as the investigation is complete," he added. The arrests sparked an angry response from the rebel National Liberation Forces (FNL), Burundi's second largest Hutu rebel group. "This is a government-sponsored hunt for Hutus, because the police is only targeting Hutus, in Hutu neighbourhoods," Pastor Habibama, FNL counsellor and spokesman, charged on Sunday. FNL rebels are highly active around the capital and enjoy wide popular support in Hutu neighbourhoods on the city's outskirts. "We are giving (President Pierre) Buyoya's government seven-days to release all those arrested, safe and sound and without exception," the FNL spokesman said. More than 300,000 people have been killed in Burundi's civil war which has pitted four Hutu rebel groups against the Tutsi-led army since 1993, according to UN figures. Of the four Hutu rebel movements, three signed ceasefire agreements with Bujumbura in 2002, including the largest, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) under Pierre Nkurunziza. However, the FNL under Agathon Rwasa has not even begun negotiations. Meanwhile, the FDD and the army regularly accuse each other of violating the ceasefire agreement.

IRIN 31 Mar 2003 - Burundi: President vows to step down on 1 May BUJUMBURA, 31 March (IRIN) - President Pierre Buyoya of Burundi has promised to leave office on 1 May, as agreed in a power-sharing deal with some rebel groups and political organisations. In a nationwide broadcast on Friday, Buyoya, a Tutsi, said he would hand over to Vice-President Domitien Ndayizeye, a Hutu, in accordance with the transitional constitution. State-controlled Radio Burundi said the decision was a difficult one to make, as some politicians wanted key issues such as the ceasefire to be resolved before any change of power. In February, Buyoya hinted that he might not step down by calling for a national debate on whether or not the handover should take place before the integration of Hutu rebel fighters into the national army. Nineteen political parties signed the Arusha accord in August 2000, which defined a transitional period divided into two equal 18-month phases. The first phase began in November 2001.

IRIN 1 Apr 2003 UN rights rapporteur says violence against civilians increasing NAIROBI, 1 April (IRIN) - The UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Burundi has reported an increase in violence against civilians caught up in 10 years of civil war. Presenting her sixth report on Burundi to the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on Monday, Marie-Therese Keita Bocoum said that state and nonpstate actors had violated the right to life in the continuing war. She said that between July and September 2002, state agents had allegedly killed a number of civilians (including women, children and the elderly). Bocoum said the Burundian government continued to run illegal detention centres within military camps and in insecure places. Also, torture and other forms of punishment continued to be inflicted in different police stations and underground detention centres. Law enforcement agents, she said, had been accused of torturing civilians. The UN's information service quoted Bocoum as saying that with the approach of the rotation of power between Tutsi and Hutu presidents due on 1 May, "the political situation was clouded with concern". A Burundian government representative questioned the reliability and objectivity of the special rapporteur's information, in particular the figures she advanced and the responsibilities attributed. The government representative said it must not be forgotten that the country had been suffering from a complex civil war since 1993. The government said that cases of misconduct by the armed forces were investigated and those responsible were punished. Reports that displaced people were afraid to visit health and relief centres were part of a campaign by "certain Burundian political circles and rebels who tended to demonise the army", the government representative said. During a question-and-answer session, Bocoum told the commission she intended to visit Burundi as soon as possible. While there had been some improvements with regard to the peace process, civilians still could not feel the full effects of peace, she said. Bocoum said attacks against women and children had been serious, and called for a special inquriy into the violence. Asked if the leaders of rebel groups were willing to respect human rights, Bocoum said she had been unable to meet the rebel groups. The only appeal she could make was through the recommendations in her report.

IRIN 2 Apr 2003 440 civilians reported killed in recent fighting in eastern Burundi NAIROBI, 4 Apr 2003 (IRIN) - An independent radio station in Burundi, African Public Radio, reported on Thursday that around 440 civilians have been killed in fighting in the eastern province of Ruyigi since January. The radio, which has an office in Ruyigi, said the civilians died in fighting between the rebel CNDD-FDD (National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy) and government troops in Gisuru commune in Ruyigi. The report, based on survivors' testimonies and interviews with local officials, said hundreds of houses had been looted and burnt. Ruyigi province, bordering Tanzania, has been the centre of continued fighting between rebels and the army for a number of months. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has expressed concern at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the whole province. Hundreds of people displaced by the fighting in the hills have been sleeping rough in the bush, local officials have reported. Humanitarian agencies say the Burundian army has prevented them from delivering food and medicine to the displaced, claiming the area is insecure.

Reuters 4 Apr 2003 Burundi frees ex-president from house arrest BUJUMBURA, April 4 ( Reuters) - Authorities in Burundi released former President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza from six months of house arrest on Friday but maintained a ban on his extremist Tutsi opposition party. Bagaza was placed under house arrest in November, accused of planning to topple the government and assassinate old rival President Pierre Buyoya, who had ousted the hardline Tutsi leader in a 1987 coup. "We decided to release Mr Bagaza, but he will continue to report to the court," Interior Minister Salvator Ntihabose told a news conference. "The government will continue to keep an eye on his activities, because we are not sure if he has given up his plan." Bagaza leads the opposition PARENA party, an extremist Tutsi group that is unhappy with the relatively moderate Buyoya -- also a Tutsi -- for signing a peace deal in Arusha, Tanzania in 2000 which they believe may hand power to the Hutu majority. Bagaza, who has protested his innocence, is banned from holding any public meetings as a condition for his release. "I never planed to destabilise the security of the country nor to kill leaders of this country," Bagaza told reporters, saying he was happy to be freed. "It is the best day of my life." Burundi, one of the smallest countries in Africa, has been ripped apart by ethnic conflict between Hutu rebels and troops of the Tutsi-led army in which more than 300,000 people have been killed during the past decade. Many Tutsis fear that genocide such as Rwanda's 1994 massacre of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus by extremist Hutus could happen in Burundi if they gave up power. Ntihabose denied Buyoya's recent promise to hand over power to his deputy on May 1 had had any influence on the decision to free Bagaza. "There's no relation between Bagaza's release and the political change due on May 1," he said. Last Friday, Buyoya said he would honour the Arusha peace accord and hand over power to his Hutu deputy, Vice-President Domitien Ndayizeye, as scheduled on May 1 after 18 months in office. Although Bagaza's PARENA party -- the biggest Tutsi opposition group -- signed the Arusha deal it has never accepted taking part in the transitional government. The three-year transitional plan aims at sharing power between majority Hutus and minority Tutsis in a bid to bring an end to Burundi's 10-year civil war.

AFP 9 Apr 2003 African peacekeeping force due in Burundi by May BUJUMBURA, April 9 (AFP) - The head of an African peacekeeping force for war-ravaged Burundi said Wednesday that the force itself would be deployed in Burundi by next month. "The troops will be here before May 1," South African General Sipho Binda said in Bujumbura. When Binda left for Burundi earlier Wednesday, Colonel John Rolt, South African National Defence Force (SANDF) spokesman, said he was assessing the situation ahead of the arrival of an expected force of some 3,200 troops. "He has travelled to Burundi to go and look at the situation and to make an appraisal," Rolt told AFP. Officials in Bujumbura said that the force, acting under the authority of the African Union, will initially be made up of 1,500 troops from South Africa, 900 from Ethiopia and 200 from Mozambique. Binda arrived in Burundi, where civil war has raged since 1993, with about 50 soldiers from South Africa and Mozambique, who will form part of his general staff. The general is due to remain in Burundi for a week before returning to South Africa. The force's deployment comes at a time when a ceasefire reached between government forces and the main Hutu rebel group, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy, shows little sign of holding. Both sides accuse the other of violating the truce. The force's mandate will be to demobilise and disarm all armed groups and to set up an integrated national army and police force. The African Union has already sent 43 military observers to Burundi to monitor various ceasefire accords.

South African Press Association (Johannesburg) 8 Apr 2003 South African Troops Start for Burundi Pretoria The first South African troops forming part of a peace support mission to Burundi are to leave for that country on Wednesday, the SA National Defence Force said on Tuesday. They are to be accompanied by Major General Sipho Binda, the first commander of the African Union mission, which would also comprise troops from Mozambique and Ethiopia. Binda is to command a force of about 3200 soldiers, the SANDF said in a statement. SANDF spokesman Major Niko Allie said about 1200 of these would be South Africans. They are to be deployed in phases -- the last being by the end of May. Allie could not say when the Mozambican and Ethiopian troops would join the South Africans. The troops would be tasked with enforcing a series of ceasefire agreements and political settlements. A total of 751 SANDF members are already deployed in Burundi in a separate United Nations-endorsed VIP protection operation in support of the transitional government. Last month, Burundi's two main political parties signed a political and security agreement in Pretoria. A transitional government is to take over in Burundi on May 1 in a bid to end the civil war which has claimed more than 250000 lives since October 1993.

Washtington Times 10 Apr 2003 Burundi struggles to halt violence Carter Dougherty BUJUMBURA, Burundi — The country is entering its 11th year of civil war, and despite peace accords and cease-fires, guns are still blazing and people are still dying. According to U.N. sources, 440 persons have been killed in the eastern province of Ruyigi since January. This tiny, impoverished East African country of 8 million people has had 300,000 people killed since violence erupted in 1993, and at least that many have fled their homes amid constant armed clashes. President Pierre Buyoya agreed last week to step down May 1 as part of an agreement that includes elections late next year. But the country's war grinds on, and "Burundi is as fragmented now as I've ever seen it," said Jan van Eck, a professor at the University of Pretoria in South Africa who has studied this country extensively. For most of Burundi's history since independence in 1962, parties dominated by the minority Tutsi people have used their control of the army to subjugate the Hutu majority. In 1993, under international pressure, Burundi elected a Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye, in what turned out to be a brief respite from violence. Renegade army officers assassinated Mr. Ndadaye a few months later, and Hutu militias went on a rampage against Tutsis before heading into the hills to start an insurgency, a situation that remains unchanged today. What makes the past few months notable, diplomats and Burundian officials say, is that all the elements of peace are in place — a formal agreement, cease-fires, neutral troops from the African Union and fresh injections of aid. Yet the violence continues. "Everything is in place," said one Western diplomat who asked not to be identified. "The ball is in the court of the Burundians to show some political will." In August 2000, the government of Mr. Buyoya, a Tutsi, signed a power-sharing accord in Arusha, Tanzania, mediated by South African elder statesman Nelson Mandela, with a group of Hutu political parties, but not with armed rebels. The agreement forsaw Mr. Buyoya stepping down May 1 in favor of his Hutu vice president, Domitien Ndayizeye. Signatories of the deal expected that cease-fires with the rebels would quickly follow. But the last such agreement came into place in December, and one rebel group — the Forces of National Liberation — fights on, regularly shelling Bujumbura, the capital. Most observers predicted that Mr. Buyoya would point to the shaky cease-fires as a reason why he could not leave May 1, and he appealed to the parliament to hold a debate on his continued tenure. But last week, facing solid opposition from his Hutu partners in the peace process, he agreed to step down. Though this decision bodes well for the Arusha accord, Burundian politicians have still not tackled its core provision — a plan to integrate the army's Tutsi-dominated officer corps. Nor have they begun to demobilize some of its 60,000 soldiers, far more than a tiny country like Burundi might need in peacetime. "In this country, the army is playing the major role in whether or not there's peace," said Alexis Sinduhije, director of African Public Radio, an independent station in Bujumbura. The most powerful Hutu rebel group — the Forces for the Defense of Democracy, led by Pierre Nkurunziza — still fights pitched battles with government troops in the countryside, despite the December cease-fire. It also keeps up a steady stream of angry rhetoric that hardly suggests it is ready to talk instead of fight. "Buyoya and his army do not respect any agreement aimed at restoring peace in Burundi," Mr. Nkurunziza said in a recent statement. During the past week, the country saw "an upsurge in violence throughout Burundi's eastern and central provinces," said a U.N. report. In separate incidents, the army reported a battle involving 68 rebels, and other, smaller clashes. Civilians reported that armed men stole 50 cows from a village and looted dozens of other settlements. Burundi's civilian population, most of which engages in subsistence agriculture in the hills and mountains outside Bujumbura, has been caught in the vise of clashes between rebels and the army. In a typical engagement, rebels ambush army patrols, especially at night, and the army responds by lobbing heavy artillery into the nearest hillside, killing mostly peasants. In other incidents, hungry rebels loot villages in search of food and blame it on army provocation. An estimated 260,000 civilians have been displaced from their homes, and many of them have fallen into regular habits in which they tend their fields during the day, but sleep in the bush at night for fear of getting caught in the cross fire, according to U.N. officials. "It is sad to say, but the population has gotten used to war," said Antoine Gerard, head of U.N. humanitarian relief operations in Burundi. Nevertheless, the African Union will soon send up to 5,000 troops to Burundi, in the hope that it can help turn the promises of the Arusha accord, and the cease-fires, into reality. Already, there are 43 African military observers mapping out deployment routes, and the troops will have what one African official described as a "tough mandate" to intervene and stop conflicts, rather than simply observe the fictitious peace. "It is going to make the role [of South Africa and other countries] much more risky and much more suspect as far as many Burundians are concerned," Mr. van Eck said. Burundi's donors, especially the World Bank, hope to follow on with a share of $500 million that the bank and several countries have earmarked for demobilization of soldiers in eight African countries. But as Burundi strives for a shaky peace, extremist Tutsis who oppose the Arusha agreement serve as a reminder that for every person committed to peace, there is another bent on war. Amasekanya — a group whose name means "hard like a rock" in Kirundi, the language of Burundi — argues that the peace agreement protects Hutu rebel leaders who may have been complicit in the killing of roughly 20,000 Tutsis in 1993. The group, many of whose members are in prison, is a thorn in the side of Mr. Buyoya or any other Tutsi who tries to make peace. "These [Hutus] are the people who tried to exterminate us," said Diomede Rutamucero, Amasekanya's president. "Buyoya must leave Burundi, and the army must pursue these terrorists."

IRIN 24 Apr 2003 No more coups, says Buyoya BUJUMBURA, 24 April (IRIN) - President Pierre Buyoya, who is due to leaves office on 1 May, said on Wednesday he would never try to regain power by force in the future. "I will continue to remain active in politics, and I will be a candidate once elections are organised in five to six years," he told reporters. For now, he said, he would serve as a senator. Buyoya, a Tutsi, is expected to hand over power to his vice-president, Domitien Ndayizeye, a Hutu, in line with the Arusha accords of 2002 and the Burundian constitution. Buyoya seized power in two coups: in 1987 when he ousted President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, recently released from house arrest; and in 1996 when he ousted Slyvestre Ntibantunganya, a Hutu. Buyoya said that Ndayizeye and his vice-president designate, Alphonse Kadege, would have tough tasks ahead of them such as eradicating poverty and ending the war. Nevertheless he expressed optimism for the future. "I am confident they could return the country to peace because they are supported by their respective parties, Frodebu and Uprona, which are strong parties," he said. Another advantage for the new leaders, he said, was that Burundians were determined to achieve peace and that the international community was willing to help. Buyoya said the ceasefire agreement between his government and the main Hutu rebel movement, the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Force pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) of Peter Nkurunziza, was not implemented because the rebels did not show any willingness to respect the accord. "It now wants to seize power by force," Buyoya said.

IRIN 30 Apr 2003 President Buyoya transfers power to Ndayizeye BUJUMBURA, Domitien Ndayizeye was inaugurated president of Burundi on Wednesday, to lead the second half of a three-year transitional power sharing government designed to end 10 years of civil war. "I swear to work for the good of all Burundians, to fight genocide and exclusion, and to ensure the respect of human rights," the BBC reported Ndayizeye as saying when he took the oath of office in the Burundi capital, Bujumbura. He takes over from Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi, who led the country during the first 18 months of the transitional government. Ndayizeye, a Hutu, will rule until presidential elections are held at the end of the transitional phase. Buyoya handed over power under the terms of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement, signed between Tutsi and Hutu political parties in 2000. The accord was the culmination of two-and-a-half years of negotiations, led by the late Tanzanian president, “Mwalimu” Julius Nyerere. The talks resulted in a transitional government that brings together 19 Burundian political parties for the three-year transition phase prior to democratic elections. Under Buyoya, the government was charged with securing a ceasefire with non-signatories to the Arusha Accord; beginning reformation of the judiciary, administration and the security services; repatriating refugees and beginning reconstruction of the war-shattered country. Buyoya seized power in two coups: in 1987 when he ousted President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, a Tutsi, recently released from house arrest; and in 1996 when he ousted Slyvestre Ntibantunganya, a Hutu. South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, the chief facilitator in the peace process, said on Tuesday the transfer of power would be an important landmark and showed how much progress had been made toward peace. "I think the Burundian people should celebrate that we have moved so far," he told reporters shortly after his arrival in Bujumbura. "The last period is going to be more testing because there is nothing that we can leave untouched," he said, "but I think people should be convinced that the Burundians are ready for peace and now that the peacekeeping force is coming, we must say that the situation is changing." In his speech at the presidential inauguration ceremony, Zuma described the event as a "significant step forward". He paid tribute to Buyoya for displaying "statesmanship, courage and patriotism by stepping down from office when the time came to do so". Zuma also saluted former South African President Nelson Mandela, present at the ceremony, who took over as facilitator of the peace process when Nyerere died. "I wish to single out for praise two outstanding statesmen who have driven this peace process at different periods, Mwalimu Nyerere and former President Nelson Mandela," Zuma said. "Mwalimu must be smiling upon us today as he see yet another realisation of his dream of restroring peace, stability and democracy in this country," Zuma added. Not all Burundians are convinced, however, as they say that they have seen many ceasefire ceremonies and inaugurations, but they still live in a state of war. "I don't see this as an important event," Eugene Nindorera, a former minister for Human Rights in Buyoya's government, told IRIN. "There are lots of events like this, but none of them have brought what most Burundians want - an end to the war." While humanitarian organisations in Burundi welcomed the positive steps in the peace process and the renewed international attention that Burundi was receiving, they warned that the humanitarian situation on the ground was still a serious concern. "Today people's eyes are on the political situation, but I think that it is important that we also talk about the people of Burundi as they are suffering extremely from this war," Antoine Gerard, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said on Tuesday. Burundi has been embroiled in internal conflict for decades, but the UN estimates that the most recent conflict, which was sparked off by the assassination of the first democratically elected Hutu president in October 1993, has left an estimated 300,000 dead and over a million people internally displaced or living abroad as refugees.

Central African Republic

IRIN 9 Apr 2003 CEMAC forces in CAR to number 350 BANGUI, 9 Apr 2003 (IRIN) - The strength of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC) force which will remain in the Central African Republic (CAR), has been set at 350, CEMAC said on Tuesday. "Donors have accepted to support a force of 350 men", Martin Mavoungou, the commander-in-chief of CEMAC in CAR, told IRIN. The force, which currently comprises 272 men from Gabon and the Republic of Congo, was originally brought in to CAR to protect the former president, Ange-Felix Patasse, to secure the CAR-CHAD border and to restructure the CAR army. On 15 March, Patasse was ousted in a coup by Francois Bozize, who declared himself the new president. Mavoungou said that CEMAC leaders were discussing a new mandate for the force, and that a draft was being passed around "for amendments and suggestions." He said that the Gabonese ministers for foreign affairs and for defence, Jean Ping and Ali Bongo, visited CAR on Monday to assess the situation. A summit in Brazzaville on 21 March agreed that Chadian troops who entered CAR to secure the capital for Bozize four days after his coup, would be integrated into the CEMAC force. Mavounga said the number of Chadians in the new CEMAC force had not yet been decided.

Côte d'Ivoire - Also read News Monitors for Côte d'Ivoire from 2002 and 2001

IRIN 1 Apr 2003 Parties endorse document of transitional constitution SUN CITY, SOUTH AFRICA, 1 April (IRIN) - Government representatives and rebel groups from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), meeting in South Africa for the final session of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, have unanimously endorsed a transitional constitution to govern DRC for two years. The talks opened on Tuesday in Sun City, Pretoria, with a five-minute plenary session, involving delegates from the government, rebel groups, the political opposition, civil society and various militia groups. They endorsed the gobal agreement signed in Pretoria on 17 December 2002. It is hoped that the dialogue, due to end on Wednesday, will result in the signing of an accord by all the parties to set up a national government for the DRC, and to integrate the different forces into the national army. The main principles have already been agreed by all parties, but questions remain over the sharing of responsibilities, especially in the military. At a press conference after the short session, the secretary-general of the Rwandan-backed rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), Azaria Ruberwa, said, "We will come tomorrow to put an end to the war." The delegates agreed that DRC president Joseph Kabila would keep his post in the new national government. There would be four posts of vice-president to be filled by members of the rebel movments and the non-armed political opposition parties. All the delegates agreed to call for a neutral international military force to ensure the security of the transitional government and its members.

AFP 31 Mar 2003 A chronology of peace talks for DR Congo SUN CITY, South Africa, March 31 (AFP) - Since war broke out in Democratic Republic of Congo on August 2, 1998, numerous efforts have been made to end the conflict through dialogue. Herewith a chronology of the key talks on the war: 1998 Aug 8: The first summit on the DRC conflict brings together seven heads of state from southern and east Africa at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Sept 13-14: The annual summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) recognises Zimbabwe's, Angola's and Namibia's intervention on behalf of the Kinshasa government and condemns Rwanda and Uganda for supporting DRC rebels. Oct 26-27: Ministers from 11 African countries meet in the Zambian capital Lusaka and adopt the framework for a ceasefire in DRC. Zambia acts as regional mediator. 1999 July 10: A ceasefire agreement is signed at a summit in Lusaka by the DRC government and its allies Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia, and by Rwanda and Uganda. The Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC, backed by Uganda) and the two factions of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD, backed by Rwanda) ratify the agreement in August. 2000 Jan 24-26: Seven regional heads of state meet in New York with UN mediators. Feb 23: Seven African heads of state meet in Lusaka and adopt a new timetable for applying the DRC ceasefire. 2001 Feb 15: DRC's new President Joseph Kabila -- who came to power after his father Laurent was assassinated in January -- takes part in his first summit on the DRC in Lusaka, together with four other countries involved in the conflict and the rebel movements. Announcement of deployment of UN observers for DRC, MONUC, and appointment of Sir Ketumile Masire as Inter-Congolese Dialogue facilitator. Oct 15: Inter-Congolese Dialogue officially opens in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa but is suspended after three days and later adjourned. 2002 Feb 25-April 19: Inter-Congolese Dialogue opens in Sun City, South Africa. The talks run on for six weeks and eventually result in a non-inclusive accord on power sharing, which is never implemented. Sept 6: The DRC and Uganda ratify a protocol of agreement for Kampala to withdraw its troops from DRC soil. Dec 17: All parties to the DRC war sign an agreement in Pretoria on a power-sharing transition government aimed at taking DRC through to its first democratic elections since 1960. 2003 March 6: After 11 days of talks in Pretoria, delegates adopt a draft constitution and a memorandum on the military and security arrangements during the transition period. March 16-30: At the end of talks on integrating rebels into the DRC armed forces and on security measures during the transition period, only the RCD rebel group signs an agreement in Pretoria on a high command for an integrated armed force.

IRIN 18 Apr 2003 Scores injured, some die, following air attacks - NGOs ABIDJAN, - A number of civilians, including children, are reported to have died this week following air attacks in western Cote d'Ivoire, according to NGO and humanitarian sources. Scores of people were evacuated and dozens were being treated in a hospital in Man, a rebel-held town 578 km northwest of the Ivorian commercial capital, Abidjan. Eight die following helicopter attacks - MSF On Thursday, Medecins sans frontieres (MSF) said in a communique that nearly 50 wounded civilians were treated within the space of a few hours on 15 April at a hospital in the rebel-held town of Man. It said its teams expected to receive other wounded in the coming hours. According to MSF the patients, who included nine children, 13 women and elderly persons, said they had been injured during helicopter attacks on the rebel-held towns of Danane and Mahapleu. "Most of the injured had extensive abdominal wounds, open fractures and shattered limbs," MSF said. The surgical team had to do 12 emergency operations including amputations, it said. At least eight persons, including three children, died from their wounds within the hospital compound. The number of civilians who died on the spot during the attacks was unclear. Patients evacuated from Zouan-Houien Also on Thursday 62 people, 45 children and 17 adults, arrived in Abidjan from the town of Zouan-Hounien, near the border with Liberia, on board two helicopters provided by a French force stationed in Cote d'Ivoire. They were evacuated from a Burulli Ulcer Centre run by Catholic priests in the town after the centre’s church was hit by bombs dropped from the air. Zouen-Hounien is located some 671 km northwest of Abidjan, in an area that was under the control of the rebel Mouvement Populaire Ivoirien du Grand Ouest (MPIGO - Ivorian Popular Movement of the Great West). Danane and Mahapleu were also controlled by the rebel group, and was reported to have changed hands on more than one occasion this week. Over seven million CFA francs (US $11,500) worth of medicines and bandages were either stolen by armed men or destroyed during the bombardments, a medical source told IRIN. Fighting was also reported this week in the town of Daloa in the centre west. Violence against civilians outside rebel zones - MSF MSF said "other cases of violence against civilians are regularly observed by our teams in the field in our programmes of assistance to displaced persons around Daloa, Duekoue and Guiglo". The three towns, located in the centre west and far west, are controlled by forces loyal to the government of President Laurent Gbagbo. "In the face of these attacks and their consequences for the victims, MSF is alarmed at the non-protection of civilian populations who, in no case should be deliberately targeted," the NGO said, urging all parties to the conflict to respect civilian populations and do everything possible to protect medical facilities, equipment and staff.

DR Congo (see China, Rwanda Uganda)

AFP 6 Apr 2003 At least 1,000 people dead in ethnic violence in DR Congo: UN mission KIGALI, April 6 (AFP) - At least 1,000 people have been killed in ethnic violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations said on Sunday, one day after the signing of an accord to end over four years of war in the vast Central African country. The massacres, which took place on Thursday in the northeastern region of Ituri, claimed "at least one thousand victims", the UN mission in the DRC said in a statement sent to AFP's office in the Rwandan capital Kigali. It said this information came from "witness accounts" of the massacres, which took place in the parish of Drodo and 14 neighbouring areas. According to lists compiled by local leaders, 966 people were "summarily executed" in three hours of massacres, said the UN mission, which on Saturday sent a team to Drodo and the surrounding areas. The UN mission said it had visited 49 seriously injured victims in a local hospital. Most had machetes wounds and some had been hit by bullets. The team had also witnessed "20 mass graves, identifiable by traces of blood that was still fresh". The UN mission, MONUC, said it would continue its investigations to identify those responsible for the bloodletting. DRC's minister for human rights, Ntumba Luaba, called on the MONUC to help catch the killers. "MONUC, which has already gathered some information on the massacre, must quickly pursue its investigation so the perpetrators are don't remain unpunished," he told AFP in a telephone interview from the capital Kinshasa. The violence came one day after the warring parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a historic pact on Wednesday to end more than four years of brutal warfare. The accord between the government, opposition parties and several rebel groups ended 19 months of tortuous peace negotiations. It enabled President Joseph Kabila to issue on Friday a new constitution which opens the way for a national unity government and the first democratic elections in the former Belgian colony for more than 40 years. A commission, set up to try and bring peace to the troubled Ituri region, began work on Saturday. Earlier on Sunday, Ugandan officers, who have troops stationed in Ituri, said between 350 and 400 members of the Hema ethnic community had been killed in the region in attacks by members of the Lendu ethnic group. The head of the rebel Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), Thomas Lubanga, confirmed the massacres and said more than 900 people had died. Lubanga, whose rebels recently engaged in fighting against the Ugandan troops in Ituri, accused the Ugandan army of taking part in the Lendu attacks. But General Kale Kaihura, the commander of Ugandan troops in Ituri, rejected the claims, saying he had sent his men to the site of the massacres after receiving information from local chiefs. Representatives of the Hema community in Kinshasa who had been in contact with Drodo accused the UPC of being responsible for the massacre with support from neighbouring Rwanda, which supported rebel groups operating in eastern DRC. "It wasn't an interethnic massacre, but an operation controlled by Rwanda to spread terror and block the advance of peace in Ituri," said one of the community's leaders, on condition of anonymity. In a sign of further instability elsewhere in the Democratic Republic of Congo, weapons fire resounded on Sunday afternoon in the town of Bukavu, the main centre in the eastern province of South-Kivu. A spokesman for the rebel group which controls Bukavu, the Congolese Rally for Democracy, said it was a "restrained" attack by local militia in protest at the arrest of their leader on Thursday. "We are hearing shots from heavy and light arms which started some time ago and are continuing," said an inhabitant from the village who was taking refuge inside a church. The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Zaire, broke out in 1998, one year after the fall of reviled dictator Mobuto Seke Seso. It has claimed around 2.5 million lives, either directly or through disease or starvation.

AP 7 Apr 2003 966 Congolese Are Killed in Attacks on Villagers By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AIROBI, April 6 (AP) — At least 966 people were killed in attacks on more than a dozen villages in northeastern Congo last week, United Nations officials said today after a preliminary investigation. It is not clear who carried out the attacks, which occurred in Ituri Province, the scene of some of the worst battles in Congo's 4 1/2-year civil war. Rival fighters, rebel factions and Ugandan troops all have been involved in the fighting in the mineral-rich province. Witnesses told the United Nations investigators that the attackers included women and children, while others were men in military uniforms, said Manodje Mounoubai, a spokesman for the United Nations mission in Congo. "This is the worst single atrocity since the start of the civil war," he said. Officials said the killing occurred over a period of just a few hours on Thursday in the Roman Catholic parish of Drodro and 14 surrounding villages. "The attack started with a whistle blow and lasted between five and eight hours," Mr. Mounoubai said. United Nations military observers visited the area on Saturday and spoke to witnesses, survivors and local leaders who led them to 20 mass graves, he said. Another spokesman for the United Nations mission, Hamadoun Touré, said the mass graves had "fresh blood on them." Investigators said some of the survivors were seriously wounded, mostly by machetes but also by bullets. On Saturday, a Congolese rebel leader, Thomas Lubanga, accused Ugandan troops and fighters from an allied Congolese ethnic group, the Lendu, of carrying out the killings. A Ugandan military spokesman, Capt. Felix Kulayigye, denied that any Ugandan troops were involved. He said 400 people had been killed in ethnic fighting. An aid worker and a local leader in Bunia said that Ugandan forces were in the area when civilians were killed, but that they could not say whether the troops took part. The rebel group draws its support from the Hema, who have traditionally fought with the Lendu for control of land and other resources. .

BBC 7 Apr 2003 Hope survives DR Congo killing The Hema and Lendu have a long history of conflict The BBC's Mark Dummett was in north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo last week, when up to 1,000 people were killed in a massacre by an ethnic militia. On Friday, talks opened in Bunia, the capital of Ituri district, that, for the first time grouped in one room representatives of all the different ethnic factions, militias and concerned governments. The talks were, everyone said, the best chance for peace that the long suffering four and a half million people of Ituri had. At the same time survivors in Drodro, some 80 km away were recovering from an appalling experience. The day before men, women and children from a rival ethnic group charged into the town and neighbouring villages from five directions. Using machetes and some guns, survivors say they butchered 966 people. The attackers were from the Lendu ethnic group, the victims Hema. Human bones That same day the UN rights investigators who visited Drodro over the weekend, drove 45 kilometres out of Bunia to Cobu. I travelled with them - through a succession of burnt-out villages. DR CONGO'S WAR Four years Seven foreign armies At least 2 million dead Disease and abuses widespread A hard road to peace At one place we passed human bones in the road - apparently placed as a warning. We were later shown what locals said were the mass graves of between 35 and 75 people. The victims that time were Lendu, the killers Hema. Bunia's White hospital - named so because in colonial days only the Europeans were allowed to be treated there - is full of victims of the fighting. Ngayo is about to give birth, she is nine months pregnant, but she is also dying. To either side of 20-year old Ngayo's cot are other victims of Ituri's ethnic war - an old woman with wounds to her neck which Lendu fighters tried to slash, and there are two young women with legs blown off by landmines planted by Hema militiamen. Praying for peace Her mother Jean Ernestine explained that the family home is near the town's airstrip. Heavy fighting broke out there when the ruling faction - a Hema militia called the UPC attempted to oust its one-time backers the Ugandan army. Thousands of people have fled their homes Because Ngayo was heavily pregnant she could not find shelter in time, a bomb exploded over head and she was hit. Everyone in Bunia I spoke to said they were praying the so-called Ituri Pacification Commission would end the terrible cycle of violence in Ituri, that started with a simple land dispute between the pastoralist Hema and the Lendu, who tend fields. Local groups say more than 50,000 people have been killed, while villages and towns are out of bounds to aid workers and UN peacekeepers. Schools, hospitals, and the gold mines of the area, have been looted. Neutral force Things however are changing for the better. For the first ever time, Bunia seems to have a responsible Ugandan soldier in charge. Previously rival Ugandan commanders armed rival factions and flew the region's wealth back to Kampala. Now they say they want to leave Ituri for good and, what's more, an Ituri that is peaceful and functioning. The plan is to have a neutral force in charge of Bunia itself. Angola, South Africa, or the UN might provide the troops for this task. Houses rebuilt The UN too seems to be getting its act together. There are reports that more peacekeepers, perhaps with a stronger mandate will be sent in soon. I saw houses being rebuilt and saw districts of Bunia, which had been terrorised by Hema death squads, filling up with returnees. But no-one thinks the killings will stop soon. There are worries that too many people still have guns, and that the mutual hatred still has not gone away. Jean Enerstine, caring for her dying daughter, however is optimistic things will improve. "We are all fed up with this war," she says. "We are praying to God that peace will return to Ituri."

U.N. lowers Congo massacre toll African leaders meet amid charges of troop movements Wednesday, April 9, 2003 Posted: 4:30 PM EDT (2030 GMT) A woman from the Drodro hospital visits a mass grave in the village after the April 3 killings. Story Tools RELATED • U.N. finds Congo mass grave • Witnesses tell of Congo massacre • Congo Conflict Chronology NAIROBI, Kenya (Reuters) -- A U.N. official said investigators believed up to 350 people were massacred by tribal militias in Congo last week, far fewer than the nearly 1,000 deaths initially reported by local witnesses. "As far as our team has been able to verify, they have been able to determine 150 to 350 dead," Behrooz Sadry, a senior official with the U.N. mission in Congo (MONUC), told Africa Journal, a Reuters Television program. Interviewed late Tuesday, Sadry said U.N. teams were still investigating reports from local witnesses that the true death toll was 966 civilians. The Congolese government said the perpetrators should be put on trial, echoing a call by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Tribal militia armed with machetes and guns raided Drodro and 14 neighboring villages in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo on April 3, according to U.N. officials. Most of those shot or hacked to death were women, children or old men. Dozens of survivors were left with deep wounds, but most of the younger men in the villages managed to flee the attacks. U.N. investigators said they saw some 20 mass graves after the raids near Ituri province's capital Bunia, about 50 miles from the border with Uganda. "We haven't been able to count the bodies and we have not been able to dig up the mass graves," MONUC spokesman Hamadoun Toure told reporters in Kinshasa Wednesday. "A massacre is still a massacre," he said when asked about the revised death toll. The Ugandan army has put the number of dead at between 350 and 400. The figures could not be independently confirmed. Human rights groups say thousands of people have been killed in northeastern Congo since 1999 in ethnic fighting between tribes allied to the armies of Rwanda and Uganda. Drodro's population is made up mainly of Hema, who have been pitted against the Lendu in a conflict that has drawn in factions from the wider war. Survivors said last week's attackers spoke Lendu and were backed by soldiers in uniform. Rights groups have accused Ugandan troops of fueling ethnic tensions in the area, but Uganda's army has denied any involvement in the attack. The Congolese government has left the investigation to the United Nations. Africa summit tries to stop killing African leaders met Wednesday to try to halt a new wave of ethnic killing in the Congo's devastating and complex war amid fresh allegations of troop movements in the region. South African President Thabo Mbeki, who hosted the summit in Cape Town, has spearheaded efforts to get countries neighboring the Democratic Republic of Congo to withdraw their armies from its territory and make a peace plan work. But as leaders converged in Cape Town, Uganda's army said Rwandan troops had returned to Congo and were advancing toward Ugandan positions in Ituri province, where tribal conflict led to ethnic massacres last week. "They are heading toward Ituri and we have advised them against it," army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza told Reuters in the Ugandan capital Kampala. Rwanda's army, which has threatened to send troops back into Congo unless Uganda withdraws, retorted that it had not yet done so. "They [Ugandans] want to incriminate us into the massacres being performed in Ituri. Uganda knows very well that we are not yet in Congo. This talk is meant to legitimize their stay in the DRC," Rwandan army spokesman Gill Rutamemara said in Kigali. Under an agreement with Congolese President Joseph Kabila, Uganda has promised to withdraw troops from Congo by April 24. Army officers have said they will keep to that date, even though hundreds more troops flew in after last week's killings. Saber-rattling by Rwanda and Uganda, whose leaders were both in Cape Town for the summit, has kindled fears of an open battle between their two armies on Congolese soil, as has happened before with devastating consequences for civilians. Kabila and Tanzania's Benjamin Mkapa were at the summit. Most foreign troops have left Congo and the internal warring factions signed up last week to an interim administration. But new bloodshed in the east threatens to derail peace efforts. "It is a situation which has to stop. The meeting will find ways to halt the war and restore territorial integrity," Mbeki's spokesman Bheki Khumalo said as the summit began. Allegations that an ethnic Lendu militia carried out the Ituri massacre have added to fears of yet another cycle of violence. "The massacre ... raises all the old demons of the past, where people kill each other with machetes on an ethnic basis," said one Western diplomat. "Clearly there are two objectives: to agree terms for a Ugandan withdrawal and to negotiate guarantees for the security of the civilian population of Ituri." Uganda says Rwandans heading toward Ituri base Bantariza, the Ugandan army spokesman, said Rwandan soldiers had marched past Kanyabayonga, about 40 km (24 miles) as the crow flies from the Rwandan border in Congo's Kivu province. The town is 140 km north of Goma. He said they were heading for Lubero, about 300 km (180 miles) south of Uganda's base at Bunia. U.N. spokeswoman Patricia Tome said the organization was not aware of any Rwandan troops near Ituri. Meanwhile, the Kinshasa-allied RCD-ML group said they were fighting troops from the rebel RCD-Goma, backed by Rwandan soldiers, near the town of Mbingi, south of Lubero, on Wednesday. "Rwandan troops are still attacking us. Fighting is still going on," said RCD-ML commander Jean Louis Kyaviro. A U.N. official said they had not received reports of fighting in the area since March 29, when the U.N. confirmed that RCD-Goma had captured two towns south of Lubero from the RCD-ML. Ituri has been the scene of some of the worst atrocities in Congo's civil war, which started in 1998 when Rwanda and Uganda backed an eastern rebellion against their former ally Laurent Kabila, Joseph's slain father, but the rebels they supported split into rival factions. Congo's war is estimated to have killed more than three million people and is intertwined with other conflicts in the region, including those in Burundi and Rwanda. Under a peace deal signed last July with the Kinshasa government, Rwanda agreed to withdraw its troops in return for the disarmament of Hutu militiamen involved in Rwanda's 1994 genocide who, according to Rwanda, are still roving around Congo. With a host of rebel groups acting as proxy forces, mineral-rich eastern Congo has become a minefield of shifting front lines, changing loyalties and systematic looting, jeopardizing efforts to install power-sharing institutions.

Reuters 9 Apr 2003 War and tribal violence ravage eastern Congo NAIROBI, April 9 (Reuters) - Ravaged by warring tribal militias and rebel factions, and beyond the reach of many aid agencies, eastern Congo is one of the worst sffected areas in a devastating and complex civil war. Fighting between the Lendu and Hema tribes in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri province has killed thousands of people in recent years in a conflict over land and resources. Aside from ethnic tensions, political feuds among Congolese rebel leaders and their foreign backers -- Rwanda and Uganda -- have also fuelled the clashes in northeastern Congo. Amnesty International said in a 2002 report that fighting between members of the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups had killed an estimated 50,000 people, mainly civilians, since June 1999 and forced around 500,000 people to flee the province. Long running conflicts between the pastoralist Hema and Lendu farmers mirror the relationship between the minority Tutsis and majority Hutus in nearby Rwanda -- where 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis were killed in the 1994 genocide. It was partly to pursue the perpetrators of that genocide that Rwanda invaded Congo in 1998. The Lendu, who number some 700,000 in the area, live primarily from their crops. The wealthier 150,000 Hema rely on both cattle raising and cultivation. After Congo's civil war began in 1998, guns poured into the region from Rwanda and Uganda and made their way into the hands of tribal militias previously armed with machetes and spears. Much of Ituri is controlled by troops from Uganda, the last foreign state to have soldiers openly in Congo, although it has pledged to withdraw by April 24. Uganda is traditionally close to the Hema, but its troops have clashed with the Rwandan-backed Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), which has accused Uganda of siding with the Lendu and using their militia to contain the Hema. Rwanda says it has already withdrawn its tens of thousands of troops from eastern Congo, but has threatened to send them back if Uganda does not keep to its pledge to pull out its forces. Bunia, the biggest town in Ituri and strategically located near the Ugandan border, lies at the epicentre of the conflicts and is a gateway for exploration of timber and gold. Following are key events in the conflict: 1998 - Rwanda and Uganda invade Congo to back rebels fighting to oust Congolese President Laurent Kabila, just over a year after the two neighbouring countries propelled him to power. 2000 January - Aid groups say thousands have died from fighting between Hema and Lendu around the town of Bunia since mid-1999. Uganda deploys more troops to cool ethnic tensions. May - Fighting between Rwandan and Ugandan forces destroys much of largest eastern Congo city Kisangani, which Rwandans capture. 2001 January - Amnesty International says it fears more violence after 200 people die in fighting between Hema and Lendu near Bunia. It blames the Ugandan army for not stopping the killings. 2002 June - Congo's Hema tribe release report of what they said were attacks on 73 villages in the Ituri region in which 1,468 Hema had been killed in the two months since the end of May. There was no independent confirmation of the figures. October - Amnesty International urges United Nations to prevent "genocide" in northeastern Congo. 2003 January - Over 100,000 people flee as rival rebel groups battle for control of mineral-rich region near town of Beni. March 2 - Congolese rebels say 467 civilians are killed by pro-government soldiers, tribal militia and Ugandan army troops south of Bunia. Uganda denies involvement. March 6 - Ugandan troops drive the Rwandan-allied Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) from Bunia after fierce fighting. Rwanda warns it will send troops back to Congo if Uganda does not withdraw its remaining forces. March 19 - Hema and Lendu militias sign ceasefire deal, paving the way for peace talks. March 20 - Ugandan army says it captured two towns in eastern Congo -- fueling fears of renewed conflict with Rwanda. The United Nations says Ugandan and Congolese governments agree to delay Ugandan troop withdrawal to April 24, citing security concerns in the region. April 5 - Ituri Pacification Commission begins peace talks. April 6 - The United Nations receives reports of hundreds of Hema massacred by Lendu tribal militias armed with machetes and guns on April 3 and buried in mass graves around Drodro. April 9 - Region's leaders hold summit in Cape Town where Uganda confirms plan to withdraw from Congo by April 24 and that "Third Party Verification Mission" should investigate Ugandan claims that Rwandan troops have returned to Congo.

NYT 9 Apr 2003 With All the Little Wars, Big Peace Is Elusive By MARC LACEY NAIROBI, Kenya, April 8 — Amid celebratory handshakes last week, representatives of the Congolese government and some of the rebel groups and militias that have been fighting for their own slice of power signed an accord aimed at ending a war that has claimed millions of lives, most of them through hunger and disease. A day later, in a place called Drodro and in 14 surrounding villages, all in the northeast of the country, about 1,000 people were killed in a matter of hours, according to United Nations military observers in Congo. It is a cruel pattern, one that seems to be repeated endlessly in Africa. A peace deal, often reached after months of arduous negotiations, is followed almost immediately by violence that makes a mockery of the pact. As a Kinshasa newspaper said about the latest accord, "The Congolese people have had no faith in these ceremonies, whose impact will be forgotten as soon as the doors close." Why is it that the deals never seem to stick? Why do they seem to fall apart as soon as they are announced? No two countries are alike, but Congo provides as good an example as any to explain how war and peace can seem so easily to coexist. The latest war began in 1997, after the dictator Mobutu Seke Seso was ousted. Outside armies from Congo's many neighbors rushed to fill the country's power vacuum. The warring parties fought as well over the country's abundant deposits of gold, precious stones and valuable minerals. Most lethal of all: the invading armies stoked existing tribal conflicts by arming villagers with guns. In a country of more than 50 million people speaking 700 different languages and divided into 250 ethnic groups, many of them warring, this can be a problem. Today, no negotiating table is large enough to fit all the belligerent parties. Analysts distinguish between the big war, the main conflict between the Congolese government and the rebel armies trying to topple it, and the many smaller wars being waged deep inside Congo's jungles. The peace deals that are signed with some regularity deal with the big war. Smaller wars can be just as deadly. The national peace deal appears to be progressing. The many foreign armies that had crossed into Congo, compounding the country's woes, have pulled out the bulk of their forces. Rebel factions have agreed in principle to trade their guns for a chance at governance. On Monday, the president of the fractious country, Joseph Kabila, took an oath of office, the first step toward the formation of a transitional government that is aimed at balancing many of the rival power bases in the country. He will soon have four vice presidents representing various competing factions. Yet, the killing goes on. "The national level and the local level are two different things in Congo," said Fabienne Hara, co-director of the Africa program at the International Crisis Group, a think tank based in Brussels. "Signing a national peace deal is not enough for peace to happen on the ground. That's more difficult." The International Rescue Committee released a mortality study today that captures the country's terror. It calls the Congo conflict the deadliest war since World War II, with about 3.3 million victims. Most of those people have died from preventable diseases. Others have been shot or beaten or hacked to death, most of them in small wars. The Ituri region, where the latest round of killing occurred, is the fiercest part of Congo. There is one foreign army in place, the Ugandans, although their bitter rivals, the Rwandans, are inching back into the country farther south. There are militia groups trying to gain control of land and Congo's mineral wealth. There are ethnic tensions as well — the conflict between the Hema and the Lendu, the communities involved in the massacre, has been going on for over a century. Given the overwhelming number of tribes and ethnic groups, there can never be enough positions in any government to keep everyone happy. "Right now, there are many kings in Congo with their own little jungle kingdoms," said an aid worker who lives in the east of the country. Many of the royals have an interest in the conflict continuing and they regularly stoke the tensions that exist. A huge outside military presence in Congo is one suggestion offered to end the chaos in the country. But the 6,000 or so international military observers already in the country know the number of troops it would take to contain such a vast country — about the size of the United States east of the Mississippi — is impossibly high. The ultimate answer is not one peace process but a separate peace for each little war. Grandiose agreements among those with the largest armies can contain much of the shooting. But true peace will only come when each and every conflict across the land is addressed. Such a local pacification process was set to begin in Ituri last week. The Ituri Pacification Committee was created to calm local animosity. But the massacre happened before the committee could convene a single reconciliation meeting. Now, Congo's death toll is even higher than before and its inter-ethnic tension is even more intense. Yet the committee's work, analysts agree, is even more urgent now than before.

Irin 8 Apr 2003 Protect civilians in Ituri, Human Rights Watch urges Uganda NAIROBI, 8 Apr 2003 (IRIN) - Following reports of a massacre of about 1,000 civilians on Thursday in Ituri district, north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Ugandan forces to prevent further civilian deaths in the region. In an open letter to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, HRW said on Monday that the killing of civilians in Drodro and Blukwa in Ituri "is the latest in a surge of killings and other serious human rights abuses that have taken place in the area". "This massacre follows a horrific pattern we've seen in Ituri in recent months, where military operations often turn into the slaughter of civilians," said Alison Des Forges, senior advisor for HRW Africa division. HRW said that reports from the field suggested that Lendu militias, "who may have been supported by Ugandan soldiers, attacked remnants of the recently ousted Union des patriots congolais (UPC) Hema forces". HRW said the Ugandan forces had a responsibility to prevent such killings by their own troops and their allies. However, the commander of the Ugandan forces controlling Ituri, Brig Kale Kayihura, told IRIN on Sunday that Ugandan troops were not in Drodo when the massacre occurred. He said they heard about the massacre on Thursday and got to Drodro on Saturday, when they were able to secure the area. Kayihura estimated that between 300 to 400 had been killed in the attacks. He said the Lendu fighters attacking Drodro, Mbulukwa and Largo had used "mostly cutlasses, bows and arrows." The Hema villagers had not put up a fight, he said. News reports on Monday said the governments of France, the United States and the United Kingdom condemned the Drodro massacre. In a press release issued from New York on Monday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan demanded that basic human rights of civilians be respected in Ituri. "The reported massacres underscore the need for the local leaders to participate fully in the Ituri Pacification Commission, which has been established to find peaceful solutions in this troubled region," Annan said. Fighting between the Lendu and Hema communities dates back years, but has intensified in the last four years. The Ituri Pacification Commission (IPC), involving representatives of armed groups and local communities in the district, opened in Bunia, the principal town in Ituri district, on 4 April.

IRIN 9 Apr 2003 MONUC delivers household kits to massacre survivors DRODRO, The humanitarian arm of MONUC, the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on Tuesday delivered 100 kits of household items to survivors of Thursday's massacre in Drodro, a town of 8,000 inhabitants in Ituri district, northeastern DRC. The kits, each comprising two blankets, a saucepan, a jerry can, two plates, two drinking cups, two bars of soap and cutlery, were flown in by helicopter. "This distribution was for the affected population in the latest attack," Alieu Khan, MONUC humanitarian affairs officer, told IRIN. The Catholic charity Caritas will distribute the kits with the help of the church in Drodro and local leaders. The kits were donated by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Italian NGO Coopi. Congolese minister of human rights, Ntumba Lwaba, who comes from Ituri, and the minister for the peace process, Vital Kamerhe, were in Drodro to watch the delivery. Lwaba told around 150 local people that their presence was to show them that the government of President Joseph Kabila had not forgotten them. "Well be here till the end," he said. A visit to the hospital where survivors of the massacre were taken revealed 79 people receiving treatment. The majority of them were women, many of whom sustained cutlass wounds. Two had their arms cut off above the elbow. One survivor, Charles Wa Molindo, told IRIN he had also been a victim of an earlier attack in 2002. The hospital wards were basic, and dirty. There was no food for the wounded and other patients because farmers were too afraid to work their fields. "People are traumatised," Sister Alfosine, the hospital administrator, told IRIN. She said the hospital urgently needed antibiotics and anti-malarial drugs. After the 3 April massacre, when members of the Hema community in Drodro and surrounding localities were attacked by Lendus, local chiefs gave the names of 996 people they said had been killed. The Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF), now patrolling the area, estimated the number of dead at between 300 and 400. Many were already buried in mass graves when the Ugandan troops arrived in Drodro two days after the massacre.

Reuters 9 Apr 2003 Pope calls on Congolese leaders to stop massacres VATICAN CITY, April 9 (Reuters) - Pope John Paul appealed to Congolese leaders on Wednesday to bring an end to "massacres and summary executions" in the African country where nearly 1,000 civilians were reported killed by rival tribesmen last week. "I make a grief-stricken appeal to the responsible politicians...to commit themselves to stop the violence and abuses of power, putting aside personal interests and those of groups, with the cooperation of the international community," the 82-year-old Roman Catholic leader told pilgrims gathered in St Peter's Square. Witnesses told U.N. investigators 966 civilians were shot and hacked to death on Thursday in the Ituri province in what may have been the worst atrocity in the Democratic Republic of Congo's 4-1/2 year war. It occurred a day after a final peace deal was signed by leading parties involved in the many-sided conflict, which at one point involved six foreign armies. "In recent days, we have had news of massacres and summary executions," the pontiff said. "For this reason, every effort at reconciliation among the Congolese, Ugandan and Rwandan populations must be encouraged...in the hopes that they could bring about dearly wished for peace," he added. Ituri province has been the scene of some of the worst atrocities in Congo's war, which began in 1998 when Uganda and Rwanda backed an uprising to overthrow the Kinshasa government. About half of Congo's people are Catholics.

AFP 9 Apr 2003 Toll in clashes between DRCongo rebels, militia rises to 12 KIGALI, April 9 (AFP) - Twelve people were killed in fighting at the weekend between rebels and a local militia in Bukavu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a rebel spokesman told AFP on Tuesday. The rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) had previously said three of its soldiers and the wife of one of its officers had been killed on Sunday in fighting with the Mudundu 40 militia. "We now know three of our soldiers died, seven of the assailaints and two civilians, including the wife of the officer. There were dozens of injured," RDC spokesman Jean-Pierre Lola-Kisanga said. Bukavu, the main town in Sud-Kivu province near the border with Rwanda, is controlled by the Rwandan-backed RCD. On Monday a human rights group in the Democratic Republic of Congo blamed Rwanda for engineering the fighting in Bukavu, accusing it of wanting to keep troops in the eastern DRC. Kigali deployed troops in its vast central African neighbour in 1998, to back the RCD against the government of then president Laurent Kabila. Under the terms of a peace accord signed between Rwandan President Paul Kagame and current DRC President Joseph Kabila in July last year, Rwanda withdrew its troops last October. The fighting in Bukavu occurred just four days after the government, rebel groups, militias, civil society groups and the political opposition signed a peace plan in South Africa to end more than four years of war. At its height the war, which began in 1998, drew in seven African countries. The conflict has claimed some 2.5 million lives, either directly in fighting or through famine and disease, according to United Nations estimates. The signature of the "final act" in the peace process on Wednesday was followed a day later by the massacre of around 1,000 people in the northeastern region of Ituri. The RCD rebels have said the Ituri massacre was ethnic cleansing encouraged by the government in Kinshasa and the Ugandan army, which backed a rival rebel group during the war and has kept troops in Ituri at the request of the UN mission in DRC, to try to prevent recurrent ethnic clashes. Those clashes have mainly pitted the Hema tribe against their arch-rivals and long-time enemies, the Lendu.

AFP 9 Apr 2003 DR Congo massacre: Uganda sends more troops, urges UN to act KAMPALA, April 8 (AFP) - Uganda said Tuesday it had deployed some of the thousands of its troops based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to northeastern area where 1,000 people were massacred last week but said the UN should do more to keep the peace there. "We have deployed some more troops in the area of the massacre and the situation has calmed down," said Major Shaban Bantariza, spokesman for the Ugandan army, which has several thousand troops in northeast DRC. On Thursday, about 1,000 members of the Hema ethnic group were killed, reportedly by fighters of the rival Lendu tribe, during a three-hour attack on some 15 villages in the Ituri region. Bantariza went to call for the UN monitoring force in the DRC, MONUC, to beef up its presence in Ituri. The United Nations "should increase its numbers to be able to carry out such investigations, instead of calling on Uganda to investigate. They should do their job," Bantariza said. The spokesman said the main role of Ugandan forces in Ituri was to search for members of a Ugandan rebel group, the People's Redemption Army. On Monday, the United States condemned the massacre and called on Uganda to exercise its responsibility to protect civilians in Ituri. Bantariza responded by saying, "we don't have enough forces to enforce law and order in every village and every forest in Ituri." He pledged, however, that Ugandan forces would give full support to the Ituri Pacification Commission, which was borne out of a September accord reached by the Kinshasa government and Uganda to try to restore peace to Ituri.

Reuters 9 Apr 2003 UN revises Congo massacre toll amid talk of trial (Recasts with details, background) By David Mageria NAIROBI, April 9 (Reuters) - A United Nations official said investigators believed up to 350 people were massacred by tribal militias in Congo last week, far fewer than the nearly 1,000 deaths initially reported by local witnesses. "As far as our team has been able to verify, they have been able to determine 150 to 350 dead," Behrooz Sadry, a senior official with the U.N. mission in Congo (MONUC), told Africa Journal, a Reuters Television programme. Interviewed late on Tuesday, Sadry said U.N. teams were still investigating reports from local witnesses that the true death toll was 966 civilians. The Congolese government said the perpetrators should be put on trial, echoing a call by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Tribal militia armed with machetes and guns raided Drodro and 14 neighbouring villages in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo on April 3, according to U.N. officials. Most of those shot or hacked to death were women, children or old men. Dozens of survivors were left with deep wounds, but most of the younger men in the villages managed to flee the attacks. U.N. investigators said they saw some 20 mass graves after the raids near Ituri province's capital Bunia, about 80 km (50 miles) from the border with Uganda. "We haven't been able to count the bodies and we have not been able to dig up the mass graves," MONUC spokesman Hamadoun Toure told reporters in Kinshasa on Wednesday. "A massacre is still a massacre," he said when asked about the revised death toll. The Ugandan army has put the number of dead at between 350 and 400. The figures could not be independently confirmed. TALK OF WAR CRIMES TRIAL Ituri has been the scene of some of the worst atrocities in Congo's civil war, which began in 1998 when Uganda and Rwanda backed an uprising to overthrow the Kinshasa government. Human rights groups say thousands of people have been killed in northeastern Congo since 1999 in ethnic fighting between tribes allied to the armies of Rwanda and Uganda. Drodro's population is made up mainly of Hema, who have been pitted against the Lendu in a conflict that has drawn in factions from the wider war. Survivors said last week's attackers spoke Lendu and were backed by soldiers in uniform. Rights groups have accused Ugandan troops of fuelling ethnic tensions in the area but Uganda's army has denied any involvement in the attack. The Congolese government has left the investigation to the United Nations. "We want MONUC to investigate this and if they find out that people committed genocide, they should be charged for genocide," Congo's Minister for Peace Vital Kamerhe told Reuters. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello said those responsible could go before the new International Criminal Court, set up in March to tackle cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. "The perpetrators of these atrocious abuses will be placed under the spotlight and will have to answer for their actions," he said on Tuesday. Pope John Paul appealed on Wednesday for an end to "massacres and summary executions" and called for "every effort at reconciliation among the Congolese, Rwandan and Ugandan populations". The presidents of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda are attending talks in South Africa aimed at averting a further flare-up of hostilities in the east of the mineral-rich Congo. Kamerhe said renewed fighting would threaten efforts to set up a new transitional government in Kinshasa, agreed under a peace deal signed last week to pave the way for the former Belgian colony's first democratic elections in four decades. "What we are saying is that if they have problems they should fight at their border and not in Congo," he said.

IRIN 9 Apr 2003 UN warns Ituri massacre perpetrators may face international court NAIROBI, 9 Apr 2003 (IRIN) - The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, warned on Tuesday that those behind last week's massacre in the Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could be charged before the International Criminal Court (ICC). "The perpetrators of these atrocities will be put under the spotlight and will have to answer for their actions," de Mello said in a statement. The ICC in The Hague is the first permanent international tribunal established to try cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. De Mello said he was "seriously alarmed" by the report of the UN mission in DRC, known as MONUC, on the "savage" killings that took place in the town of Drodro, northeastern DRC. He called on all parties to the conflict in Ituri to identify those responsible for these "criminal and odious" acts and bring them to justice. The UN Security Council on Tuesday requested the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to initiate an investigation into the massacre in Ituri district and report to the Council as soon as possible. Members of the Council condemned the killings and called for the perpetrators to be identified and brought to justice. News agencies reported on Wednesday that Pope John Paul made a "grief-stricken appeal" to Congolese leaders to stop massacres in the DRC. In a separate development, Antoine Mindua Kesia-Mbe, representing the government of the DRC, told the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on Tuesday that human rights abuses were "widespread" in rebel-occupied areas of the DRC. He called on the Commission and the UN Security Council to pay greater attention to human rights violations in occupied territory, and called for an international criminal court to punish perpetrators of crimes in the eastern part of the country.

New Vision (Kampala) April 17, 2003 A Whole New Genocide is Well Underway in Congo Felix Osike in Drodro the DRC Kampala We used to stay well, but I don't know what happened. The Lendu started this war. Our houses have been burnt and we have nowhere to go," says Dunji Ijamarie, 43, a Hema peasant. Ijamarie and 2000 others taking refuge in a Catholic church compound in Drodro, 80km north of Bunia, are among the survivors of a systematic massacre in north eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Ituri is a home to several ethnic groups, the main ones being the Lendu, Hema, the Bira, Alur, and Nande. The civil war in the Ituri pitting the Lendu cultivators against the mainly affluent and economically powerful Hema has plunged the area into chaos. On April 3, death visited Drodro village. Survivors say the killings were signaled by a warning shot, followed by a whistle. Lendu militias thereafter wrecked havoc on the whole village. From 5:00am till 8:00 am the assailants who included children and women burnt and razed buildings to the ground. Three hours later over 500 lay dead. As we drove to the scene of mayhem bands of Lendu militia carrying guns dived into the bush upon seeing the UPDF convoy. Some Congolese in this region have turned to God for solace. We found open air choirs along the roads. Finally, at Drodro Catholic church premises, every evening, people arrive carrying papyrus mats and torn blankets, coming to spend the night. Bonfires and bundles of firewood litter the entire compound. Inside one crammed room, children lay on papyrus mats without blankets or bed-sheets for protection against the cold night. There is a foul smell emanating from the large room. "We have been here four years," says Ijamarie adding that because of the Lendu attacks they go to tend their gardens in the morning and come back to the safety of the church at night. But even the church is not always safe. Besides offering insufficient accommodation, there is little food and no clean water available. Ibeda Borire 50 cannot hold back her tears. A mother of three children, she last saw her husband four years ago. Francis Chechu, 66, has nothing to offer his six children starring at him. The children in the camp look frail and are dying of hunger, dehydration and illness. Drodro Missionary Hospital is a horrific sight. The wailing of patients and relatives fills the air. Nemanzale, a breastfeeding mother, has multiple head wounds. Her hand was chopped off as she protected her head from the attackers. One of her daughters did not survive the machetes. She cries out in pain as she narrates her ordeal. The Lendu took all her belongings except the blood stained dress she was wearing: "This is all I am left with," she says. A bespectacled Loi Sharile, 63, has an amputated arm. He is a bitter man. Besides, he has a fresh bullet wound on his back and he can't walk. Sharile tries to narrate the origin of the conflict. He says that after independence, the Hema claimed the huge chunks of land left by the Belgians, but which originally belonged to the Lendu. The Hema elite had great access to education and wealth. "In June 1999, full scale fighting broke out. The Lendu killed our people, stole cows, burnt houses and raped our women," he says. Sharile says, besides the land issue, the Lendu are fighting for political power, which has been a preserve of the Hema. Amnesty International says between 1999 and 2000, Hema militias, often backed by the UPDF, gained the upper hand. The Lendu were driven from their traditional areas, particularly along the lucrative roads leading to the Uganda border. Banyanise Emeraso suffered machete wounds all over her body. Her two children were killed. She says the attacks have provoked fear among the population. Marie Ngaventale is in hospital with her two injured children. She fears to go back to the village. She lost one daughter, but does not know in which mass grave she was buried. Drodro Hospital medical assistant John Membe says they have tried their best to save peoples lives, albeit drug shortages. Two days before we went there, a UN transport helicopter flew 200kg of medicines and plastic sheeting to help survivors. Drodro Parish priest Father Desire Abbi Ngomolo says the problem was exacerbated by political ascendancy in the region caused by the actions of some UPDF commanders. He says when Adele Lotsove, a Hema was, appointed as governor of Ituri Province there was apprehension: "The Lendu were not happy with this and the burning of the houses and looting of Hema property continued and the war spilled to all areas in Ituri." "This shows you that it is not only a land problem. If it was a land problem it would not have spread to other areas in Ituri," says Ngomolo, adding that the war has gone beyond civilian hands. "It is now political and the issue of controlling of resources has also been a factor to the conflict," he says. The mass graves tell it all. Church statistics indicate 1,011 people killed between March 15 and April 3. In one grave 22 people are buried. Tattered children's clothing was strewn all over the place. There were also traces of blood. Near another grave lies a jaw of an adult. At another, only a toe is visible. In all there were 20 mass graves and many other individual graves scattered all over 14 villages. Survivors said they were attacked from five different directions, making it difficult to escape. Some of those killed had their throats slit, others were shot or hacked to death. Some children and women also accompanied the group with a primary duty to carry the loot. Smoke was still billowing from the burnt houses. The overseer of the UPDF operation in Ituri province, Brig. Kale Kaihura, says there are all indicators of a possible genocide if the UPDF leaves the area without an effective peace keeping force and administration. The savage killings in Drodro are a reminder to the international community to stop the genocide before it reaches alarming levels. According to Amnesty International (AI), at least 50,000 people have died and more than 500,000 are displaced as a result of the conflict since 1999. AI also says the governments of Rwanda, Uganda and DRC have been partly responsible for arms transfer and offered training to the different political groups in the region. Uganda has tried to play the mediator role, but has found itself trapped in the conflict because of switching support to different groups. All the armed political groups fighting in Ituri have enjoyed Uganda's political patronage. They include the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD-ML) led by Mbusa Nyamwisi, Movement for Liberation of Congo under Jean Pierre Bemba, RCD-National led by Roger Lumbala, the UPC and Front for the Integration of Ituri of Gegere chief Kawa Mandro Panga. Although UPDF was widely seen as defending the interests of the Hema, they have also defended Lendu villages. Military analysts say it is expensive and risky for the UPDF to remain in Congo if it is not recognised by the UN Security Council as a peace-keeping force. There are some suggestions that Angolan troops should replace the UPDF. But the UN says no neighbouring country to Congo can claim neutrality. MONUC, even at the proposed staffing level of 8,700 personnel, lacks the capacity to contain the situation in the vast territory. A security vacuum in the area will only aggravate the situation. And a plan by the Kinshasa government to deploy their forces in Ituri is not the solution. Some of the militia may have to be integrated into the national army so that they can police the area. Sergio Vierra de Mello, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, says the perpetrators of these atrocities will answer for their crimes in the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. Grief stricken Bena Baunoba, 67, sums it up: "This is not Lendu land. It is for the Hema. They want to finish us, nothing else."

New Vision (Kampala) April 23, 2003 A Genocide Could Erupt After UPDF Quits DRC Bunia Uganda's presence in Ituri has drawn considerable criticism. Some of that criticism has been directed at its alleged past role in playing off the Hema and Lendu communities in Ituri against each other to justify its presence in the mineral-rich district. Some Ugandan military officers who have served in Ituri have also been blamed for exploiting the natural resources of the district. The result has been international pressure for the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) to begin leaving the DRC, a departure now set for tomorrow. Yet observers of the political scene in Ituri worry that if a Ugandan pullout leaves a security vacuum a disaster could follow swiftly. "If there is the slightest security vacuum, there will be genocide here," one analyst in Bunia told IRIN. Expectations are that Thomas Lubanga's Congolese rebel group, the Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC), ousted from Bunia by the UPDF on March 6, would try to make a comeback and fighting between Lendu and Hema would erupt anew. Uganda has repeatedly called for a neutral international force in Ituri to fill any vacuum when its forces leave. Also, it has suggested that the Congolese government organise a security structure for the district. The commander of Ugandan forces in Ituri, Brig Kale Kaihura, drove this message home at the opening of the Ituri Pacification Commission (IPC) meeting on April 4. "We are anxious to withdraw back to our country. Indeed, we are even ready to withdraw before tomorrow," he told delegates. An 18-member body of the IPC is assessing the security context of Ituri and will submit recommendations to a district assembly that is to be set up to govern Ituri. So, despite the calls for an international force for Ituri, the IPC for the moment has responsibility for security in the district after the withdrawal of the Ugandans. Another analyst, who has a military background, told IRIN that it was dangerous to ask UPDF to leave Ituri without providing an alternate security formula for the district. "Peace needs to be created with a military presence with at least three mobile infantry brigades and one airmobile battalion for quick reaction ," the analyst told IRIN. In addition, an international Police Force of between 400 and 600, as well as 200 advisers were needed, the analyst said. The immediate installation of an international criminal court and the clearly declared presence of the DRC government in Ituri were a must to bring legitimacy to these actions the analyst added. Failing that, another long-time analyst of Ituri said, the international community could pay for Uganda to carry out peace operations on condition its force cooperates with UN military observers and that the operation is conducted under the command of the present Ugandan force commander, [Brig. Kale] Kaihura who has been credited with bringing relative stability to Ituri. He said a neutral force would need at least two mobile infantry brigades with land and air transport. (One brigade consists of about three battalions or 2,400 men). "The incoming force would also need an air monitoring capability to cover Ituri," Kaihura said. On UPDF's entry into Ituri, Uganda has denied its presence in Ituri is for material gain. Kaihura told IRIN there were several issues related to Uganda's presence in Ituri: for example the need to secure the IPC process, which was concluded on April 13; the need to eliminate the presence of the Ugandan dissident group, the People's Redemption Army (PRA) in Kwandruma, about 80km northeast of Bunia; the need to halt the shelling of Uganda from Ituri; and the need to stop armed cattle rustlers from crossing from Ituri into Uganda. Kaihura said these PRA dissidents, led by former UPDF Col. Edison Muzoora, lieutenant colonels Samson Mande and Anthony Kyakabale were linked to Ugandan politician and a former army colonel, Kiiza Besigye. Kaihura said the bulk of the PRA's arms had come through the Congolese rebel UPC group to the Aburo Hills in eastern Ituri, south of Kwandruma. "This group [the PRA] is allied with Thomas Lubanga's UPC and the Lendu of Kpawdroma," he said. "The PRA wants to go to West Nile and link up with the Joseph Kony's Lords Resistance Army," Kaihura said. However, Kaihura said the UPDF had been deployed along the axis to Uganda's West Nile Province, near the northwest tip of Uganda and the border with the Congo, to block the move. Ugandan jet bombers destroyed the PRA camp and airstrip at Kwandruma, Kaihura said. Scared by this action, he added, the Lendu in the area turned in 22 PRA, loyal to Muzoora, but he escaped to the Blue Mountains, east of Fataki. Kaihura said this group "was neutralised" on March 16, forcing the PRA to scatter. Four of the PRA surrendered to UDPF in Bunia, he said. Besigye, a former Ugandan presidential candidate, has denied any link with the PRA. A privately owned Kampala daily, The Monitor, reported him as saying on April 12 that the PRA was "a concoction" of the Ugandan intelligence services "competing for a cut in the hefty budget of the intelligence industry." Disposition of the Congolese UPC, Kaihura said the remaining UPC elements and the PRA were allies. He said they were concentrated and were reorganising around Drodro, Largo, and Mblukwa. Some of Lubanga's remnant 'army" and those of the PRA, he said, were moving towards Lake Albert along a north-south line running from Largo to Kasenyi, a lakeside town southeast of Bunia. "Ugandan troops have now confined themselves along the lakeshore between Lidyo and Kwandruma," Kaihura said. The UPC retreat followed their expulsion from Bunia. Observers and residents of Bunia say that before Ugandan troops moved into Bunia under Kaihura, Lubanga had introduced a harsh regime spreading fear among people in Bunia. Movement of people was curtailed to the point where access to different parts of the district was close to impossible. Ugandan forces moved into central Bunia after the UPC shelled the UPDF's tactical headquarters at the airport and planted four mines across the airport road. The attack had been expected since March 1 after the UPC former chief of intelligence, Ali Ngabo, and other local informants passed intelligence to the UPDF. On improved security, whatever the reasons for Uganda's entry into the DRC, observers in Ituri told IRIN that since UPDF troops forced the UPC out of Bunia, security has improved considerably in Ituri. Under this political climate, roads have reopened, Bunia's residents are able to walk the streets without fear, and food has started appearing in the town's tiny market. The Ugandan army says it has reopened the Bunia-Kasenyi road and has enabled fish catches to reach Bunia's market. The Bunia-Komanda and Bunia-Djungu roads are also open. "Following the defeat of the UPC at the hands of the UPDF on March 6 and its retreat from Bunia entire communities of the Ituri District may now become accessible," OCHA reported in its draft Open Ituri Humanitarian Action Plan document. Loolomg at the Lendu, Hema rivalry it is noted by analysts that a security vacuum would probably lead to the resurgence of the worst forms of rivalry. The underlying and complex web of ethnic rivalries in Ituri that date back centuries and appears to be at the cor of Ituri's current problems. In Djugu territory, in the centre of Ituri District, the Lendu (a Sudanic ethnic group) are pitted against the northern Hema, also known as the Gerere, who are a pastoral people. In the southern Ituri area of Gety, the southern Hema are pitted up against the Ngiti, also a Sudanic group. The north and south Hema are allied against the Lendu and Ngiti who speak different languages. Age-old land feuds between Lendu and Hema grew in intensity with the breakdown of government control in Ituri and with the power play of foreign and local political heavyweights. "There was no protection so little by little communities started to protect themselves," Ruhigwa Baguma, a Hema chief and delegate to the IPC, told IRIN. Baguma, who is a professor of agronomy, said gold, timber, Coltan and fish are the new spoils for which the rivals were fighting. Other analysts said that because of their cattle wealth, the Hema were traditionally stronger than Lendu, who worked the land. When state control broke down in the district, the Lendu attempted to break their underling status. Where previously they used bows and arrows to settle scores, the proliferation of arms increased the intensity and volume of violence. "The anger with which these killings have been carried out is indescribable," Kaihura said. In August 2002, the Hema-Gerere communities (that dominated the UPC, took over the administration and the UPC assumed its repressive rule of other communities. Soon various ethnic militias formed self-defence units and political parties set up paramilitary forces "operating uncontrolled throughout Ituri". German Agro Action, which fights hunger worldwide, estimates that 80,000 IDP families (some 224,000 individuals) were immediately victims of the on going inter-ethnic fighting before, during and after the UPC took over Ituri. Analysts said constantly shifting alliances and the initial UPDF support to one particular community created an anarchic environment that never allowed Iturians to recover from a period of continuous persecution which began in 1997. However, that changed with the UN report on the exploitation of DRC's resources and the UPC alliance with the Rwandan-backed RCD-Goma. With this knowledge, Uganda finally dropped its support for the UPC. "President Yoweri Museveni found out that if he supported UPC against other communities, Uganda would be forced to leave Ituri (leaving him unable to defeat Ugandan dissidents)," an analyst told IRIN. "Uganda could only control Ituri with the cooperation of at least one of the major groups." Till recently vulnerable communities in Ituri had been living under a climate of lawlessness and disorder. "Sometimes clothing is very difficult to acquire," a humanitarian worker told IRIN. In 2002, access was very restricted when the UPC denied aid agencies permission to go beyond Bunia's immediate surroundings, a representative of a humanitarian agency told IRIN. But, aid agencies said, UPDF had been cooperative. For example, the UPDF has been guarding WFP warehouses since March 6 and humanitarian actors are no longer targeted. Despite these improvements, the continued presence of pockets of armed groups, the very poor road network, hostile communities and the presence or suspected location of landmines still prevent full-scale humanitarian action district wide. The presence of mines in Ituri, planted by the UPC and earlier by the Armee populaire du Congo of Mbusa Nyamwise, has caused humanitarian agencies to limit the reach of their operational areas. "Our concern today is these mines. There are areas suspected and areas of known land mines," a humanitarian worker told IRIN. UN Mine Action (known as UNMAS) and Handicap International are trying to locate and clear these areas of mines. For humanitarian actors to work effectively, there must be access to the vulnerable after the departure of the UPDF. Therefore the international community must follow through on the UPDF's efforts to pacify Ituri, observers say. Some humanitarian organisations are ready to spring into full action once security improves. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is unable to reach large areas such as Gety, in the south of Ituri and armed elements still exist. However, the agency is shipping food deliveries from Kasenyi to Bunia, although quantities are limited to 150 metric tonnes of relief food each week due to a lack of trucks, Robert Deckker, the WFP head of sub-office for North Kivu and Ituri, told IRIN. Water and sanitation remain one of Ituri's greatest needs and the British charity, Oxfam, is the only NGO involved in this line of work in Ituri. Its first objective is to work with IDPs and returnees. Six months ago Hema prevented Oxfam from helping the Lendu but since March 6 Oxfam has found it easier to enter all areas of Ituri. But needs remain significant, Oxfam's Flory Balaga told IRIN in Bunia. He said that 200,000 people needed aid in the town. "It would be suicidal if Oxfam left Ituri," Balaga said. As far as the health situation is concerned, Ituri lacks all functional health and medical facilities. It only has seven practising doctors in the area, a doctor with the humanitarian NGO Medair told IRIN. Again, health workers say their greatest need is security so they can access certain localities and help with the rehabilitation of medical facilities. Medair has still not reached the western district town of Mambasa from Bunia because of perceived insecurity. So Medair is serving Mambasa from its North Kivu base of Beni. Since March 6, Kanyamanda said, the situation had improved with people moving freely. However, pockets of danger remained such as the Ngiti towns of Gety and Songola, and the Lolwa-Mambasa road. Kanyamanda said if Ituri's medical facilities were to provide a minimum service at pre-war levels, it would need at least 15 doctors who are paid regular salaries. Those who have stayed throughout the war out of dedication to their jobs, get monthly stipends of between US $70 and $100 from Mediar. Children have also suffered grossly in the four-year war in Ituri and have been prime candidates for recruitment into the various armies. Kassi Conda Ntare of Save the Children UK in Bunia said some children had joined fighting forces out of the need to protect their parents. In other cases parents have compelled their child to join the militias because they have been unable to give cows, money or other material goods. "In the African context, to have a weapon is a sign of virility," Ntare said. By February, the UPC had 6,000 children aged between eight and 17 years in its ranks. Lenti Ngiti leaders told SAVE UK they had about 5,000 child soldiers in their ranks. All child soldiers are also used as bodyguards, spies, cooks, guards and munitions porters. SAVE UK is sensitising communities to disallow recruitment of the children. Girls (10%) have been recruited to serve as concubines of "officers" while boys serve as cools, spies and munitions porters. "These horrors have affected these children," he said.

NYT 20 Apr 2003 Chaos in Congo Suits Many Parties Just Fine Adam Hochschild, The New York Times, 4/20/03 As in the Sherlock Holmes story about the dog that didn't bark in the night, sometimes silence says more than words. About one of the great tragedies of today's world, the silence is telling indeed. In Congo, according to an International Rescue Committee report released earlier this month, at least 3.3 million people have lost their lives in four and a half years of civil war. They have perished in combat, in massacres of civilians (the most recent occurred on April 3) and, most of all, in the disease and famine that strike when millions of desperately poor people are forced to flee their homes. This number does not include the estimated 2.8 million Congolese who have H.I.V. or AIDS, some of it spread through mass rapes by marauding bands of soldiers. Nor does it encompass the misery of having to live for years in refugee camps that turn into fields of mud during the rainy season. The war has been marked by a series of ineffective peace agreements among three major factions, one of them the national government in Kinshasa, and several smaller groups. And a token force of United Nations observers is now on the scene. But Congo's separation into rival segments continues, and last week one faction boycotted talks that are supposed to form a power-sharing government. Few Americans, however, seem to care about stopping a conflict with a death toll larger than any since World War II. Why? American interest in Africa is erratic, but there is a larger reason that few countries have put much effort into ending this war. Simply, Congo's current situation -- Balkanized, occupied by rival armies, with no functioning central government -- suits many people just fine. Some are heads of Congo's warring factions, some are political and military leaders of neighboring countries, and some are corporations dependent on the country's resources. The combination is deadly. To begin with, the warlords of most of Congo's factions are happy to divide up its vast treasure of mineral wealth while spending little on public services. The few schools open are mainly run by the Roman Catholic Church. The continuing turmoil also suits the various countries nearby, above all Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe, whose troops have long propped up one or another side in the conflict. In return, they have received a stream of timber, gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt and columbium-tantalum, or coltan, a valuable mineral used in cellphones, computers and many other electronic devices. At its peak price a few years ago, coltan was selling for $350 a pound. Such riches have made the war self-supporting, with profits to spare. Despairing Congolese say they would be better off if they were not so rich. Finally, the Balkanization and war suit the amazing variety of corporations -- large and small, American, African and European -- that profit from the river of mineral wealth without having to worry about high taxes, and that prefer a cash-in-suitcases economy to a highly regulated one. An exhaustive report to the United Nations Security Council last year detailed the dozens of companies now making money from Congo's conflict, based everywhere from Ohio to Johannesburg to Antwerp to Kazakhstan. As a result, neither the United States nor any other nation now seems to have much interest in seeing a strong Congolese central government keep profits from the country's patrimony -- the word the White House uses about Iraq's oil -- mostly at home. When Patrice Lumumba, Congo's first and last democratically chosen leader, threatened to do just that after taking office in 1960, the Eisenhower administration secretly sought his overthrow and assassination. Emboldened, Congolese and Belgians then carried out the job. Congo's current disorder grows directly out of a long, unhappy history. Ethnic groups speaking more than 200 different languages live in the territory. For centuries, it served as raiding grounds for the Atlantic slave trade and the equally deadly slave trade from the east coast of Africa to the Islamic world. When the colonial era began, the land became the privately owned colony of King Leopold II of Belgium. His army turned much of the male population into forced laborers, working many to death. First the laborers gathered ivory -- Joseph Conrad gave an unforgettable image of this in "Heart of Darkness" -- and then a still more lucrative crop, wild rubber. During Leopold's rule and its immediate aftermath, the territory's population was slashed roughly in half. Belgian state colonialism followed; it was less brutal and more orderly, but still the profits flowed overseas. In 1965, five years after independence, Joseph Mobutu seized power in a military coup, encouraged by Washington. He renamed himself Mobutu Sese Seko and his country Zaire, and ruled as a dictator for 32 years, receiving more than $1 billion in American aid and repeatedly being welcomed at the White House. Meanwhile he looted the national treasury of an estimated $4 billion. Small wonder that his ravaged country has been having a hard time ever since. It has not helped that in the 1990's the United States supplied more than $100 million in arms and military training to six of the seven African countries that have been involved in the fighting of the Congo war. Even in a magical world where great powers always had good intentions, no outside intervention -- whether by American, European, African or United Nations forces -- would be likely to solve Congo's problems. "Nation building" by outsiders is inherently arrogant and risky, and there are few success stories. More than 28,000 NATO-led troops are currently keeping the peace in Kosovo; Congo's population is more than 25 times as large as Kosovo's, and its land area more than 200 times bigger. There are other problems as well. In Africa, loyalty to the extended clan or ethnic group is often far stronger than to the nation-state. These divisions have allowed Congo's plunderers to profit so much for so long. In the immediate future, factional leaders, generals and politicians from surrounding countries, and various Western companies are likely to continue making money. What hope is there for an end to Congo's misery? The United States made one surprising step forward earlier this month when Congress approved American participation in an international agreement not to trade in "conflict diamonds" -- the gems coming from anarchic, war-torn areas like Congo. More than 50 other countries have already signed on. The pact will be hard to enforce -- but so was the ban on the Atlantic slave trade in its early years. And if conflict diamonds can be made taboo, why not conflict gold or conflict coltan?

Women's E-News 27 Apr 2003 In War-Riddled Congo, Militias Rape with Impunity Run By Tiare Rath WeNews correspondent As the five-year conflict rages on in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, women and girls continue be sexually assaulted by members of the many warring militias, the majority of whom are infected with HIV/AIDS. BUKAVU, Democratic Republic of the Congo (WOMENSENEWS)--At just 13, Gisele Buhendwa possesses a tough exterior that reveals little. She tells her story in a matter-of-fact manner: her deep, scratchy voice never changing tone, and her scrawny, boyish body never showing a hint of emotion. The only physical sign that displacement, kidnapping and rape affected her, like thousands of other girls in war-tortured East Congo, is that she refuses to look anyone in the eye. In July, Buhendwa and her older sisters fled to escape the fate of other girls recently snatched by militiamen raiding their village in South Kivu. Knowing the kidnapped girls would be raped and most likely never heard from again, Buhendwa's parents told her to run to Bukavu, the largest city in South Kivu, where they believed she would find safety living with her sister high on the mountain. Two days after her arrival, she was raped. She got lost, she said, staring out the window, her neck constantly craned away from those in the small room without electricity. She lost her way home while fetching water, and was approached by two men in uniform who said they'd help get her back home. One instead took her to his militia camp and spent the night violating her, telling her when he left in the morning to have breakfast ready when he returned or she would be killed. Another man wearing a uniform appeared after her rapist departed, advising her to escape while she had the chance. For the second time in 48 hours, she ran. "When I remember it, I feel I might go mad. I get a headache and I feel very sick," Buhendwa said. "When I see any soldier, my heart starts pounding and I run away." By this war's standards, Buhendwa was lucky. It took her five hours, but she made it to her sister's house and received support from her family, rather than shame. She bled after the rape, still has stomachaches and cannot bear to go out after dark. But she was not held for months, beaten and sexually assaulted every night like many of the girls at a center for women and children in Bukavu where she spent time last fall. Rape Used as Brut