Africa

The East African Standard (Nairobi) OPINION August 22, 2004 African Union And Nepad Should Rein in the Tyrants By Makau Mutua Nairobi Last year, amid doom and gloom, Eritreans observed 10 years of their independ ent republic, born after the bitter divorce with Ethiopia in 1993. Although a decade is a fleeting moment in the life of a nation, the future of Eritrea does not augur well. The problem is all too familiar. After three decades of a deadly war for independence from Ethiopia, Eritreans now find themselves in the claws of a maniacal dictator who has dashed their hopes of paradise. What is sad is that Eritrea is bucking the trend of more open, democratic, and progressive states that are steadily growing in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last decade, we have witnessed an irreversible, if uneven, movement towards more accountable governments in many formally one-party or military dictatorships in Africa. Even veiled dictators like President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda have been subjected to elective politics. At the continental level, new institutions for regional governance are more openly, even if only rhetorically, committed to democracy. Two important continental initiatives bear this out. In June 2002, in Durban, South Africa, African states formally buried the Organisation of African Unity and triumphantly inaugurated the African Union, on which all hopes for a renaissance have been pinned. The other equally interesting initiative is the New Partnership for Africa's Development, which is supposed to lead to good governance and economic renewal. The bet by African states is that if you clean house, more assistance and better terms of trade and investment will be forthcoming from the West. But neither the African Union nor Nepad, touted as the master plan for Africa's rebirth, will deliver the continent from damnation if leaders like President Isayas Afewerki of Eritrea continue to be the rule rather than the exception in Africa. Africa's hands are already full with the negative effects of globalisation. African states have little choice today in the global market. They have to remove whatever obstacles exist for development. But Mr Afewerki, a freedom-fighter-turned-despot, is not alone in defying popular demands for democratic reform. Several long time African dictators, such as Presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Omar Bashir of Sudan, have made a career out of pillaging their own states. In Rwanda, the post-genocide state is busy entrenching Tutsi exceptionalism and domination, a basis for a future genocide. What is shocking is that Mr Afewerki, dubbed in the 1990s by the Clinton administration as one of a new breed of African leaders, has turned out to be more Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire and nothing like Nelson Mandela of South Africa. Eritrea was much admired both in Africa and the West after it gained freedom from an oppressive and backward Ethiopian state. But everything has been downhill ever since. Led by the then popular Mr Afewerki, Eritreans and their supporters abroad viewed the new state as tabula rasa on which a utopian democracy would be established, a shining example to other African states. But in the last six years, Mr Afewerki has dashed those hopes, instead bucking the democratic trend that has haltingly swept most of Africa in the last decade. In 1997, after Eritreans ratified the country's first democratic constitution, Mr Afewerki refused to promulgate it. He has rejected free elections, and now rules by fiat. Since 2001, he has instituted a sweeping crackdown on democratic reformers and outspoken government critics. He has detained without trial senior government officials. Afewerki has closed down all independent media and employed the Judiciary as an instrument of repression. Yet it is Afewerki and his ilk who the African Union and Nepad must target if the continent is to be pulled back from the abyss. Unlike the defunct OAU, the African Union promises not to be a club of dictators. A new African Army should have the authority to enter member states to stop genocide, war crimes, and other gross violations of human rights. These are commitments of enormous significance because they most probably would have stemmed the Rwandan genocide of 1994 or helped prevent the catastrophic dismemberment of the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo. The African Union hopes that the democratisation of African states will open the way to regional economic integration. That is why member states have agreed to establish an African Central Bank, a common currency, a Pan-African Parliament, and a regional security council. But African leaders must be careful not to put the cart before the horse. Theories of regional economic integration presume the existence of viable, legitimate states. That is why the African Union cannot simply mimic the European Union. It is absolutely essential that the internal structures of African states be rewritten. Otherwise, there will not be any political and economic revival. Both the African Union and Nepad must not be cost free receptacles, ready to embrace any and all African states. Nepad requires that member states establish democratic, honest, and accountable governments to be eligible for participation. The African Union should follow suit. The peer review system of Nepad - in which African states oversee the compliance of each other to the tenets of the body - must be extended to the African Union so that unfaithful member states are excluded. It will be counterproductive to launch these new bodies, only to allow Afewerki and his fellow travellers to hijack them. The African Union and Nepad will only succeed if the West forgives Africa's crushing debts, substitutes fair trade and investment for aid, removes domestic subsidies for agriculture, and gives Africa a larger voice within the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organisation. But defiant and recalcitrant leaders like Mugabe and Afewerki are first and foremost the responsibility of the African Union and Nepad, and not the West. In the case of Zimbabwe, for example, the African Union ought to kick Mugabe out of the club. African leaders such as President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa should not, as he did at the Commonwealth, defend the decrepit and totally objectionable Mugabe. The case of Afewerki is equally blatant. In the past two years, he has embarked on the construction of a republic of fear, a police state. All independent media has been vanquished. Political opponents rot in jail. The judiciary is completely meaningless. Unless something is done, both the African Union and Nepad will become sad shadows of the OAU. It is true that running a liberation movement is not the same as ruling a state. The guerrilla freedom fighter must be transformed into a statesman. This is a difficult transition to make. Just look at the slow mutation of former freedom fighters or guerrillas like President Museveni when they capture power. We should appreciate these difficulties. But we should not use them as an excuse to apologise for dictatorships. The AU and Nepad must squeeze Afewerki - and hard - if they are to fulfill their mission. Mutua is Professor of Law at the State University of New York at Buffalo and Chair of the Kenya Human Rights Commission.

Regional

BBC 9 Aug 2004 Arab League backs Sudan on Darfur The UN says Darfur is the world's worst humanitarian crisis The Arab League has rejected any sanctions or international military intervention as a response to the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region. Arab foreign ministers at an emergency session in Cairo backed Khartoum's measures to disarm Arab militias and punish human rights violators. They called on the UN to give Sudan more time to resolve the conflict. And Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Taha said he thought the UN's end of August deadline was impractical. He told the BBC's Hard Talk programme that Khartoum was committed to disarming all militia forces in Darfur. He said 6,000 Sudanese police and government troops were currently in Darfur, and there were plans to expand the force to 12,000. "We are really committed to disarm whoever is acting outside the law," he said, adding that comprehensive stability was only possible if both the Arab Janjaweed militia and rebel groups disarmed. But he added that logistical problems were hampering deployment, which meant that fully disarming the Arab Janjaweed militia, and other forces, by the end of August would not be possible. "We cannot have comprehensive stability without disarming both sides," No surprises On 30 July, a UN resolution gave Sudan 30 days to bring Arab militia under control or face international action. About one million people have fled their homes in a crisis exacerbated by the pro-government Janjaweed militia. DARFUR CONFLICT 1m displaced Up to 50,000 killed More at risk from disease and starvation Arab militias accused of ethnic cleansing Sudan blames rebels for starting conflict Arab press split on Darfur Text: UN Darfur agreement Foreign ministers from the 22-member Arab League attended the meeting, which was chaired by the group's Secretary General Amr Moussa. Mr Moussa said before the talks that the group was inclined towards helping Sudan avoid sanctions. The BBC's Magdi Abdelhadi in Cairo said there were no surprises in the Arab League statement and Khartoum got what it wanted. The statement welcomed measures already taken by the Sudanese government to disarm the Janjaweed and bring those responsible for human rights violations in Darfur to justice. The Arab foreign ministers also pledged to assist Sudan and the international community in resolving the conflict peacefully. Our correspondent says the statement was very much in line with a report by an Arab League fact-finding mission to Darfur earlier this year, which largely exonerated the Sudanese government from responsibility and laid the blame on a combination of factors, including protracted drought, tribal conflict and under-development in western Sudan. Peace talks Top officials from the UN and African Union were also meeting on the sidelines of the talks. UN aid officials in Darfur have warned of severe outbreaks of disease in refugee camps for displaced people. On Saturday, the African Union announced that Sudan's government would try to resume peace talks with two rebel groups in the Nigerian capital Abuja later in August. Khatoum has denied it supports the militia and has angrily rejected the threat of foreign intervention, trying to draw parallels with the invasion of Iraq which was opposed by many Arab countries. Human Rights Watch has demanded the Arab League "stand behind the victims" in Darfur. Its Africa division chief Peter Takirambudde accused Sudan of "trying to manipulate opinion in the Arab world to hide the massive crimes it has committed against Sudanese citizens"

Bostwana

Survival International 4 Aug 2004 www.survival-international.org NEWS RELEASE 4 August 2004 BUSHMEN DESCRIBE EVICTION HORROR IN COURT Botswana's High Court has heard the first Bushman witnesses in their case against the government tell their harrowing stories of eviction from their ancestral land. Tshokodiso Botshilwane from Metsiamenong in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve gave evidence on 27 and 28 July. He told the court how government officers arrived in trucks and ordered everyone to move. He watched helplessly as they dismantled his huts, but refused to leave the reserve himself, sleeping instead under a tree for many days. He implied that whatever the statutes said, the Bushmen have always lived in the CKGR, and said the government of Botswana could not claim to respect the Bushmen's opinion when their views had not been taken into consideration. 'I prefer death to relocation,' he told judges. Amogelang Segootsane from Gugama described how government officials had emptied the tank that had held his community's water, leaving them 'having to rely on desert melons as their source of water.' The land 'belongs to my forefathers and all my children who were born there,' he told the court. Segootsane gave evidence on 26 and 27 July. Motsoko Ramahoko on 30 July described the government officers who forcibly relocated he and his community from Gope to the resettlement camp Kauduane as 'arrogant and so vicious that they could even kill a person.' They told him nobody would give him water if he refused to move. Kauduane, he said, was noisy, with no job opportunities, and was full of drunkards. People there had to eat dogs, and HIV/AIDS was spreading. The government 'removed us from the graves of our fathers,' he said. He wanted to return to Gope and to be able to hunt and gather, even without government services like water: 'I want my land back.' The Bushmen's case has now been adjourned until November. 'We want the case to be concluded as soon as possible, so that we can return to our land,' said a Bushman representative today.

Burundi

IRIN 4 Aug 2004 Burundi-DRC: Army repels Interahamwe militiamen [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] BUJUMBURA, 4 Aug 2004 (IRIN) - Burundian government troops have succeeded in repelling an unknown number of Rwandan militiamen who crossed into Burundi from neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, army spokesman Maj Adolphe Manirakiza said on Tuesday. He said the Interahamwe militiamen had fled across the River Rusizi at the Buganda Commune of Burundi's northwestern Cibitoke Province, bordering Congo. He said the invaders were flushed out after security forces prevented them from getting food supplies from the Congo. The army engaged the Interahamwe on Sunday after local residents reported the rebel presence in the area, he said. The army seized a rocket launcher, three sacks of ammunition, and cooking materials. A Buganda resident told IRIN that the army had used heavy machine guns against the Interahamwe, prompting some residents to flee momentarily. Cibitoke Governor Antoine Buzuguri said on Wednesday that villagers had since returned to their homes because the fighting had stopped. In July, some 160 Interahamwe militiamen entered Burundi from the Congo but soon retreated into the Burundi's Kibira Forest, via the Cibitoke communes of Rugombo, Mugina and Mabayi. Thousands of Interahamwe militiamen, and Rwandan government soldiers now known as the ex-FAR, fled their country in 1994 fearing prosecution for their involvement in the genocide in which, according to the most recent government statistics, 937,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed. During his visit to Burundi in June, Congolese Vice-President Azarias Ruberwa proposed a joint security programme involving Rwanda, Burundi and the Congo to help neutralise what he called "negative forces", including the Interahamwe militia. Since 1994, the ex-FAR and the Interahamwe have been using eastern Congo to staging attacks on Rwanda. The government in Kigali has, on more several occasions, threatened to re-enter Congo if the UN peacekeeping mission there, known as MONUC, and the Congolese government fail to take stronger action to neutralise the Rwandan rebels.

IRIN 6 Aug 2004 First Nepalese peacekeepers arrive [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] BUJUMBURA, 6 Aug 2004 (IRIN) - The first 170 Nepalese peacekeeping troops for the UN Operation in Burundi arrived in the capital Bujumbura on Friday, ONUB military spokesman Maj Modisane Masebe said at a weekly news conference. They are part of the 900-man Nepalese contingent expected to join the mission next week. They are also the first non-African troops to arrive but will be joined by Pakistanis in a few days. Masebe said equipment for a Pakistani second level hospital had already reached Burundi. ONUB Chief of Public Information Isabelle Abric said these contingents would join the 2,900 UN African troops already in Burundi. Those troops - from Ethiopia, Mozambique and South Africa - had previously served in the African Mission in Burundi until 1 June, when they began operating under a UN mandate. That mandate, which the UN delegated to them on 21 May, authorises the deployment of 5,650 peacekeepers. The troops are due to deploy to several parts of the country, especially Bujumbura Rural Province, where there is sporadic fighting between government forces and those of the Front national de liberation loyal to Agathon Rwasa. Rwasa’s Hutu movement is the only rebel faction that has rejected negotiations with the transitional government, demanding instead direct talks with members of the Tutsi community.

IRIN 9 Aug 2004 Main rebel group turns into political party [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] BUJUMBURA, 9 Aug 2004 (IRIN) - Around 500 members of the former rebel movement the Conseil national de défense de la démocratie-Forces de défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD), took a formal decision of becoming a political party at a congress held from 7 to 8 August in the central province of Gitega. In accordance with a ceasefire agreement, Burundi’s Ministry of Home Affairs will automatically approve the new political party once combatants begin cantonment. The ceasefire agreement was reached in November 2003 between the government and the CNDD-FDD, in Dar es Salam, Tanzania. Several foreign delegates also took part, including members of the ruling parties from Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa. The CNDD-FDD also held elections for positions within the party. The leader of the former rebel movement, Pierre Nkurunziza, was re-elected president. Hussein Radjabu was also re-elected secretary-general and Pasteur Mpawenayo was elected executive secretary. The event was the third congress held by the CNDD-FDD but the first since November 2003 when it joined the peace process. Some 300,000 people have died in Burundi since rebels took up arms in 1993.

Regional leaders to meet on power sharing deal [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] KAMPALA, 9 Aug 2004 (IRIN) - Regional leaders are to hold a two-day summit beginning on Wednesday on the latest power sharing agreement that 19 political parties signed in Pretoria, South Africa, last week. Ten Tutsi-dominated parties refused to sign. The acting permanent secretary in the Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Julius Onen, told IRIN on Monday that the Dar es Salaam summit was expected to ratify the Pretoria agreement and reconfirm Burundi's election process and timetable. "The summit will also receive reports from both the facilitator, [South African] Deputy President Jacob Zuma and the United Nations special envoy in Burundi who recently held talks with one of the rebels groups," Onen said. The UN envoy, Carolyn McAskie, held a meeting recently with the Forces nationales de liberation. Heads of states from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia are due to attend the summit, Onen said. The leaders are expected to reaffirm the deadline for holding elections at the end of the transitional government’s three-year period on 31 October. Officials from the UN, African Union and European Union are also expected to attend. Uganda chairs a group of regional states overseeing efforts to attain peace in Burundi. South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, who has mediated between the various parties, hailed Friday’s agreement of Burundi’s political parties in Pretoria. According to the South African Independent Online he called the agreement "a decision taken by the majority of parties and therefore a decision taken for the Burundian people". The Burundi news agency, ABP, reported that Zuma would present a report on the agreement to the summit. The agreement is to serve as a draft for the country’s constitution. Zuma had traveled to Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, to try to settle issues raised by the Tutsi-dominated political parties. Last week’s meeting in Pretoria was the second he had held there with political parties in less than a month. Rejecting the latest agreement, Jean Baptiste Manwangari, the party chairman of the main Tutsi party Union pour le progrès national, said the country’s constitution could not be imposed from outside and that a mediator had to listen to more than one side. The agreement provides for a government and national assembly composed of 60 percent Hutu and 40 percent Tutsi. It also provides for two vice-presidents from different ethnic communities and political families. Some 300,000 people have died in Burundi since rebels from the Hutu majority took up arms in 1993 against the Tutsi-led government and army.

AFP 10 Aug 2004 Tutsi parties threaten to pull out of peace accord over power-sharing deal BUJUMBURA, Aug 10 (AFP) - The Tutsi minority threatened Tuesday to pull out of Burundi's peace process over a new power-sharing deal between the nation's two ethnic groups. The agreement, brokered by South Africa, was signed Friday in Pretoria to pave the way for elections and end a decade-long civil war fueled by ethnic rivalries between Hutus and Tutsis. Deo Niyonzima, president of the Reconciliation of the People (PRP) party said, "If this document is imposed, we will end our participation in the peace process." The PRP was one of 10 Tutsi groups that signed a communique rejecting the Pretoria deal. Jean-Baptiste Manwangari, president of the main Tutsi party, the Union for National Progress, said Niyonzima was speaking on behalf of all the Tutsi groups. The power-sharing deal is intended to become part of the constitution that is theoretically due to come into effect November 1 as part of the nation's transition toward democracy. Twenty of the 30 parties represented at the talks signed up to the document, including the principle ex-rebel Hutu group in Burundi, the Forces for the Defense of Democracy. Niyonzima warned that the dissident Tutsi parties would not recognize the constitution, nor participate in the elections and the institutions that result from them. "We're going to pull out of the process," he warned, "and the peace process cannot continue without us." The dissident groups control most of the 40 percent of seats reserved for Tutsis in the national assembly, as well as about half the seats in the senate. Saying "everything is not lost," Niyonzima called fora dialogue with other political forces to achieve a real consensus. Although the Tutsis make up only 14 percent of the population, they controlled the government and the military almost without interruption until the Arusha peace agreement of 2000.

ICRC 16 Aug 2004 ICRC News 04/96 Burundi: Help for the victims of attack on Gatumba refugee camp Bujumbura (15 August 2004) – During the night from 13th to 14th August, the Gatumba refugee camp in Bujumbura rural province, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, was attacked. At least 150 persons were reported killed in the attack, and at least 100 were wounded including many women and children. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) condemns this attack on the civilian population, which, according to the rules of international humanitarian law, must not be targeted. The ICRC calls attention to the fact that all direct or indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population are prohibited, as are acts of retaliation. Confronted with the influx of wounded persons, the ICRC, working in coordination with the Ministry of Health and other humanitarian organisations, immediately provided drugs, surgical materials and blankets to the Prince Régent Charles Hospital and to the Prince Louis Rwagasore clinic in order to ensure treatment for about 60 victims currently hospitalised. The ICRC also used tanker trucks to provide drinking water for the refugees who were transferred to a school near the refugee camp. At Gatumba camp, the ICRC provided body bags while volunteers of the Burundi Red Cross Society helped to collect the remains of the victims. The ICRC continues to closely follow the situation at Gatumba camp as well as the situation of the wounded treated in the hospitals of Bujumbura.

BBC 20 Aug 2004 Burundi survivors to be relocated The massacre victims had already fled violence in DR Congo Survivors of a massacre in a Burundi refugee camp are to be relocated away from the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN says. Burundi's government and the UNHCR have agreed to open two new camps for the 20,000 Congolese Tutsi refugees, who fled fighting in DR Congo in June. Last Friday, attackers crossed over the border from DR Congo and killed more than 160 in Gatumba camp. Fearing more attacks, refugees are leaving camps in search of shelter. Food burnt According to the UN's World Food Programme, conditions in Gatumba camp are very difficult for the 1,000 survivors. "After the attack, all the food was burnt. There was a lot of destruction and they're very frightened," Peter Smerdon of the WFP told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme. He said the WFP was providing food for the refugees and a 15-day ration had been given to more than 100 wounded refugees being cared for in hospitals in the capital, Bujumbura. DR Congo press fears war The new sites for the camps are in Muramvya and Rutana provinces, south-east of Bujumbura, the UNHCR says. Mr Smerdon said he hoped all Congolese refugees in the three camps along the border would be moved to the new centres in the near future. A Burundi Hutu rebel group claimed responsibility for last week's attack, but some sources say they were aided by Hutu militias operating inside DR Congo. The head of UN peacekeeping operations, Jean-Marie Guehenno, has warned that the massacre has brought the central African region to the brink of war. Speaking to the UN Security Council on Thursday, he asked all parties to show "maximum restraint", saying "there has to be justice, not revenge". "This horrific massacre of Gatumba [refugee camp] must not lead to a cycle of revenge," Mr Guehenno said. Negotiation Meanwhile, a dissident general in eastern DR Congo has backed down from the threat he made earlier this week to overthrow the Congolese government in response to the massacre. Speaking in the Congolese border town of Goma late on Thursday, Gen Laurent Nkunda said war could still be avoided through negotiation. Gen Nkunda took over the town of Bukavu in June, saying he was saving the Tutsi population, but later withdrew, admitting there had been no genocide. Violence between the majority Hutu tribe and the minority Tutsis has afflicted the Great Lakes region of central Africa for more than a decade.

AFP 21 Aug 2004 Burundi rebel group ready to appear before international tribunal BUJUMBURA : The Hutu rebel movement which has claimed responsibility for last week's massacre of about 160 Congolese Tutsis at a refugee camp in Burundi said it was ready to appear before an international tribunal. "We are never going to present ourselves in front of the Tutsi justice of Burundi... but we are ready to respond in front of an international tribunal," Pasteur Habimana, spokesman for the Hutu National Liberation Forces (FNL) told AFP by phone. Advertisement He said he backed the establishment of an "international tribunal which would judge all the crimes committed by Hutus and Tutsis in the region since the independence of Burundi" in 1962. Burundi has issued international arrest warrants for Habimana as well as FNL leader, Agathon Rwasa for crimes against humanity and war crimes following the killings at Gatumba on August 13. Burundi was plunged into civil war in 1993 when rebel groups drawn from the Hutu majority rose up against the government and army, then dominated by the Tutsis, who make up around 15 percent of the population. The FNL is the last remaining Burundian rebel group still active.

Cote d'Ivoire

AP 7 Aug 2004 Dozens dead in box in Ivory Coast INFIGHTING REBELS LOCK MORE THAN 100 IN SHIPPING CONTAINER; U.N. FINDS MASS GRAVES By Sidibe Oumar ASSOCIATED PRESS KORHOGO, Ivory Coast - Dozens of boys and men suffocated in an airless, sweltering shipping container in which rebels locked more than 100 people for days, two survivors told The Associated Press, backing accounts of atrocities during factional fighting in Ivory Coast's rebel-held north. With detainees packed in too tightly to move -- or even breathe -- one man, named Siaka, said he survived by gasping air through a small hole in the top of the container. When the 40-foot-long by 9-foot-high container was opened, 75 bodies were pulled out, a second survivor, Amadou, said yesterday. "I thought I was going to die," said Amadou, a 25-year-old herdsman, speaking on the condition that he not be identified further. Surviving was "a miracle. It's due to God." The accounts -- along with others describing numerous missing men -- support U.N. and Amnesty International findings on three newly discovered mass graves in rebel territory. The graves hold 99 bodies, some of whom suffocated, the United Nations said Monday. "We were in difficult conditions: no water, no food, no air. Sometimes they pumped tear gas into the container," said Siaka, who also refused to allow his full name to be used. The allegations represent the most serious charges of rights abuses lodged against Ivory Coast's rebels since a nine-month civil war, which officially ended in July 2003. The killings occurred during a flare-up of factional fighting in June, when the main rebel leader, Guillaume Soro, put down an uprising by followers of dissident Ibrahim Coulibaly.

AP 8 Aug 2004 Survivors recount mass killings in Ivory Coast THE ASSOCIATED PRESS August 8, 2004 KORHOGO, Ivory Coast - Dozens of boys and men suffocated in an airless, sweltering shipping container in which rebels locked more than 100 people for days, two survivors told reporters this week, backing accounts of atrocities during factional fighting in Ivory Coast's rebel-held north. With detainees packed in too tightly to move - or even breathe - one man named Siaka said he survived by gasping air through a small hole in the top of the container. When the 40-foot-long by 9-foot-high container was opened, 75 bodies were pulled out, a second survivor, Amadou, told reporters Friday. "I thought I was going to die," said Amadou, 25, a herdsman who spoke on condition he not be identified further. Surviving was "a miracle ..." The accounts - along with others describing numerous missing men - support UN and Amnesty International findings on three newly discovered mass graves in rebel territory. The graves hold 99 bodies, some of whom suffocated, the United Nations said Monday. The UN Security Council called the killings a massacre. "We were in difficult conditions: no water, no food, no air. Sometimes they pumped tear gas into the container," said Siaka, who also did not want his full name to be used for fear of reprisal. The allegations represent the most serious rights-abuse charges against Ivory Coast's rebels since they took control of the north in a nine-month civil war that officially ended in July 2003. The killings occurred during a flare-up of factional fighting in June, when top rebel leader Guillaume Soro put down an uprising by followers of dissident Ibrahim Coulibaly. Soro's forces said 22 people died in the uprising. Rebel spokesman Alain Lobognon denied the container was used to imprison people and would not comment on the other allegations. Rebels have controlled the north of cocoa-rich Ivory Coast - once one of West Africa's most stable and prosperous nations - since an unsuccessful coup attempt in September 2002. The civil war that followed split the country between the mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian and animist south. During the past year, troops and militias loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo have been accused of numerous abuses, including the killings of at least 120 people during and after an attempted March opposition rally in the commercial capital, Abidjan. However, survivors and others now accuse the chief rebel movement of killing dozens of prisoners during and after the June uprising. Amnesty International said it believes some of the 99 mass grave victims had their hands tied behind their backs before being beheaded, while others suffocated in shipping containers. Korhogo residents said a metal shipping container that stood at the entrance of the town's rebel-held army base was used as a prison by rebel commander Fofie Kouakou. Siaka and Amadou said they were confined there before Coulibaly's uprising began June 20, locked up by Kouakou's men on unrelated complaints - Siaka in a violent family dispute and Amadou in an alleged motorcycle theft. Rebel leaders opened the container two days later - at 3 a.m. on June 22, Amadou said. By that time, it was filled with dead people.

IRIN 9 Aug 2004 Power sharing cabinet meets for first time in four months [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © IRIN/Karene Bassompierre Prime Minister Seydou Diarra flanked by rebel leader Guillaume Soro and Justice Minister Henriette Diabete make their way to Monday's cabinet meeting ABIDJAN, 9 Aug 2004 (IRIN) - The cabinet of Cote d'Ivoire's government of national reconciliation met on Monday for the first time in four months following a peace summit in Accra to put the country's deadlocked peace process back on track. President Laurent Gbagbo sat at the same table as nine ministers representing the rebel movement, which has occupied the north of Cote d'Ivoire for the past two years, and 17 others ministers representing the four main opposition parties in parliament. All 26 had walked out of the broad-based cabinet following the security forces' bloody repression of a banned opposition demonstration in Abidjan on 25 March. UN investigators have said at least 120 people died in the political violence which followed. Rebel leader Guillaume Soro, who holds the portfolio of Communications Minister, was present at Monday's hour-long cabinet meeting, along with two other ministers who Gbagbo had tried to sack on May 19. Diplomats said the fact that the G7 opposition alliance had returned to government represented an important first step back to political normality. A statement from the presidency issued after the cabinet meeting said Gbagbo had passed three decrees -- one to let the three previously-fired ministers back into the government and another naming a new government spokesman. The third decree delegated certain powers to politically independent Prime Minister Seydou Diarra, as Gbagbo had agreed at Accra. In the Ghanaian capital last month, UN General Kofi Annan and 12 African heads of state worked hard for two days with the leaders of Cote d'Ivoire's rival factions to stop a slide back to conflict. However, the cabinet appears to have made little substantive progress towards legislating political reforms by 31 August, the target date agreed after the Accra talks. The legislation of these reforms is due to clear the way for a long-delayed disarmament programme to start on 15 October. Gbagbo and Diarra, told reporters that Monday's cabinet meeting was just a first get-together to re-establish contact. The president's office said the cabinet would meet again on Thursday and twice more next week. Since they signed up to the Accra agreement on 30 July, all the various parties to the Ivorian conflict have maintained a low profile in their public statements. But it is clear that Gbagbo and the rebels still have very different ideas about how some of the key provisions of the agreement should be implemented. During a speech on Friday to mark Cote d'Ivoire's 44th anniversary of independence from France, Gbagbo pleaded for more time to work out the details of what had been agreed at Accra. "I ask you to give me the time to finish the round of talks which I have decided to undertake before I speak about the road we have run, about the outcome of the various negotiations, and, in particular, about the agreement signed at the end of the meeting which has just taken place in Accra," he said. Soro was equally cautious and low-key in his own independence day speech in the rebel capital Bouake in central Cote d'Ivoire on Saturday. "You see that this morning I have not inspected soldiers and I haven't trodden upon a red carpet. This is what reconciliation and peace demand," Soro said. But the rebel leader made clear that his forces would only disarm if all the political reforms promised by the January 2003 Linas Marcoussis peace agreement were in place first and that UN peacekeeping forces were fully deployed to maintain security throughout the country. "There are several conditions for disarmament," Soro said. "We did not just take up arms just to hand them over to our adversary so that a second later he would be able to shoot us dead. Laws must be voted through the national assembly first... These fighters that you see before you, the day they are given a national identity card, it will be easier to ask them to lay down their weapons." One of the key reforms demanded by the French-brokered Marcoussis peace deal is a revision of the nationality law to make it easier for immigrants to Cote d'Ivoire from other West African countries and their descendents to gain Ivorian nationality. Before the outbreak of civil war in September 2002, about a quarter of Cote d'Ivoire's 16 million population was of immigrant origin. Most of the incomers came from Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea. Another key reform called for by the Marcoussis peace agreement is an amendment to article 35 of the constitution to make it easier for Ivorians of immigrant descent to stand for the presidency. This article was invoked to ban former prime minister Alassane Ouattara, who is popular in northern Cote d'Ivoire, from standing against Gbagbo in the 2000 presidential election. Key advisers of Gbagbo are sticking to the line that any change to article 35 must be approved by a nationwide referendum after disarmament has taken place. However, since the Accra summit, Ouattara's own party, the Rally for the Republic (RDR), has said it expects Gbagbo to use emergency powers provided for in the constitution to dispense with the need for a referendum in this instance.

Reuters 10 Aug 2004 UN report draft details Ivory Coast killings By Peter Murphy ABIDJAN, Aug 10 (Reuters) - At least 60 people were left to die of suffocation in a crammed transport container after June clashes between rebels in northern Ivory Coast, according to witnesses quoted in a draft report by U.N. human rights experts. The preliminary report, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, detailed the findings of a U.N. team which last month discovered three mass graves containing the bodies of at least 99 people -- some of whom had been beheaded -- in the rebel-held town of Korhogo. The victims were killed during or in the wake of two days of fighting between rival rebel factions on June 20-21. Scores of people were arrested after fighters loyal to the rebels' political leader, Guillaume Soro, prevailed. The draft report -- which a U.N. spokesman said could differ from the final document expected to be published soon -- said it was not possible as yet to say who was responsible for the killings and said more investigation was needed. The draft quoted survivors as saying detainees were left with no water or food in at least two transport containers that were used as a makeshift prison. The survivors said between 60 and 70 people had suffocated in one of the containers, which was in the sun and had no air vents. There were instances when prisoners begging for food and water were sprayed with teargas. "To drink, the detainees licked their own sweat or that of other prisoners," the report quoted witnesses as saying. One prisoner who survived was unable to walk as his feet were infected after being trapped underneath other prisoners' corpses for several days. Other witnesses said three groups of about 15 people were taken out of the containers and executed. One witness told the U.N. team he could hear people screaming as shots were fired in one of the containers. Residents also reported seeing a four-wheel drive vehicle from which blood was dripping being driven to a cemetery, where the investigators said clothing was seen sticking out of a freshly dug mass grave. The rebels, who have so far refused to comment on the U.N. team's findings, say the June clashes broke out after a failed assassination attempt against Soro. They blamed fighters loyal to a Paris-based rebel military chief, Ibrahim Coulibaly, for the fighting. Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, has been split in two since a civil war which began in September 2002 after a failed coup. Human rights groups say serious abuses and killings have taken place in both the rebel-held north and government-controlled south.

DR Congo

ICC 30 July 2004 www.icc-cpi.int PRESS RELEASE 30 July 2004 FIRST MISSION TO THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO The Office of the Prosecutor and the Registry of the International Criminal Court organised a first official visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo from 26 to 30 July 2004. The delegation composed of the Deputy Prosecutor, Serge Brammertz and other representatives of the Registry, held meetings with senior political and judicial Congolese authorities in order to discuss mechanisms of cooperation between the DRC and the Organs of the ICC. The delegation held consultations with representatives of international organisations and embassies present in DRC, and with members of the civil society. On this occasion, the difficulties of the operation of the Court in the field were assessed and how important justice and fight against impunity are for the Congolese population. The delegation welcomes the very fruitful exchange of views with all interlocutors, and the cooperation, bearing in mind the development of the investigation process in the coming months.

Reuters 21 Aug 2004 CONGO WITHDRAWS DIPLOMATS Congo has pulled all of its diplomats out of neighboring Burundi, its foreign minister said. The decision was made after protests outside Congo's embassy in Bujumbura, Burundi's capital, earlier in the week in which windows were broken and the Congolese flag shredded. Tensions between the countries have increased since the massacre of 160 Congolese refugees a week ago at a camp in western Burundi. A Hutu rebel group fighting in Burundi claimed responsibility, but Tutsi rebels in Congo have accused the Congolese Army of playing a role.

NYT 23 Aug 2004 Congo VP Boycots National Unity Government By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 10:02 p.m. ET GOMA, Congo (AP) -- One of Congo's four vice presidents announced Monday he was boycotting the country's national unity government, saying genocide was being committed against his ethnic Tutsi kinsmen and questioning the success of peace accords ending the country's civil war. Azarias Ruberwa, who was awarded his post under the accords ending Congo's 1998-2003 war, said he will not join cabinet meetings in Kinshasa, the capital, while his ex-rebel group decides whether the peace deals are working. Ruberwa, a leader of the former rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy, insisted he had not permanently withdrawn from the government, but he refused to say when -- or if -- he would return to his post. He also did not say what would happen if he and other former rebels decided the peace deals have failed. Ruberwa said his boycott was prompted by the recent massacre of Congolese Tutsi refugees at a U.N. camp in neighboring Burundi. At least 163 Tutsi refugees were killed in an Aug. 13 raid on a camp just over Congo's eastern border with Burundi -- an attack that Ruberwa said shows Congo's central government, army and security forces cannot provide security in the vast nation. ``Genocide is being committed,'' he told reporters in the eastern city of Goma, where his rebel group once was based. A Burundian Hutu rebel group claimed responsibility for the massacre, but Ruberwa and Burundian and Rwandan officials say the attacks were carried out with the aid of ethnic Hutu extremists based in Congo. Conflicts between Hutus, who comprise a majority in Burundi and Rwanda, and Tutsis, a minority in those two countries and in eastern Congo, have wracked this region of Africa for more than a decade, spawning a civil war in Burundi, the 1994 Rwandan genocide and two rebellions in Congo since 1996. The last rebellion in Congo began in 1998 with Rwanda backing the Congolese Rally for Democracy. It eventually turned into a war fought by six African countries in which an estimated 3.5 million people died, most through war-induced hunger and disease.

ICG 26 Aug 2004 Maintaining Momentum in the Congo: The Ituri Problem The collapse of the peace process in the Congo (DRC) and a return to war are real possibilities. While last week's massacre of Congolese refugees in Burundi focused attention on the Kivus region of the Congo, the closely related situation in Ituri is equally worrying. The Security Council must strengthen the Un Mission in the Congo (MONUC) when it is up for renewal on 1 October. It is vital to clarify when and for what purposes MONUC should be prepared to use force and to improve the capabilities of its Ituri Brigade. MONUC needs a clearer mandate and more resources to encourage it to go proactively after armed groups and to devise a diplomatic and political strategy that can help the fragile Transitional Government in Kinshasa assert control before it is too late. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To find out more about the crisis in the Congo, go to www.icg.org and follow the link to "Conflict in Congo". This page has details of ICG's reports and opinion pieces on the conflict, details of our advocacy efforts to date, information on what you can do to support ICG's efforts, and links to other resources on the conflict. ------------------------------------- ICG reports and briefing papers are available on our website: www.icg.org

Egypt

Al-Ahram Weekly 19 - 25 August 2004 Issue No. 704 weekly.ahram.org.eg Dragging feet over Darfur Egyptian NGOs have sent a fact-finding mission to Darfur. But to what end, asks Gamal Nkrumah At a time when civil society organisations in Egypt are still struggling to establish a convincing domestic role, they are being called upon to pull their weight in Sudan, and particularly over the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur. "Arab governments, like governments everywhere, usually have a predictable agenda and set of vested interests. Arab civil rights organisations, on the other hand, often seem to lack a coherent agenda," Baheieddin Hassan, head of the Cairo Centre for Human Rights told Al- Ahram Weekly. "Civil society organisations must have some clout and influence in Egypt before they can be expected to exert pressure on Sudanese affairs," says Hassan. "In many instances they seem to take their cue from Arab governments, something that is particularly pronounced when it comes to criticising other Arabs. The deafening silence over Darfur is similar to that which prevailed when Saddam Hussein was slaughtering 185,000 Kurds in Iraq." Media and civil society organisations have always reacted passionately to the plight of the Palestinians, and are now doing the same for the Iraqi people, both of whom suffer under foreign -- read non- Arab -- occupation. And, according to Hassan, Arab governments are quick to exploit the overriding sentiments of the Arab street for their own benefit. But while events in Palestine and Iraq meet with a vociferous response, the same media and civil society organisations have shied away from the seemingly more prickly issue of genocide and gross human rights abuse in Darfur largely because non- Arab victims are being oppressed by people labelled as Arab. But the fact is that both oppressed and oppressor in Darfur are black Africans and predominantly Muslim, whether they identify themselves as Arab or not. "It is more convenient to criticise non-Arabs than to scrutinise the Arab record on human rights. The Arab public seems more attuned to jingoistic songs, flag- waving and the rhetoric of patriotism. It is easier for it to sympathise with Palestinians and Iraqis than with Kurds and Darfurians," says Hassan. Western media, governments and even charitable and humanitarian relief agencies are often accused of trying to drive a wedge between Arab and non-Arab in Africa, portraying the Darfur conflict as between black Africans and Arabs. "The Western media labelled the insurgents in Darfur as non-Arab. So Arab media and civil society organisations began to view the Darfur conflict largely in terms of foreign intervention, as a conspiracy to dismember Sudan and dilute its Arab identity," said Helmi Shaarawi, director of the Arab-African Research and Studies Institute. In an attempt to clarify their own position Arab civil society organisations have finally organised a fact-finding mission to Darfur. A delegation of representatives of Arab civil societies, organised by the Arab Lawyers Union, was dispatched on a fact-finding mission on 15 August. The NGOs will assess the humanitarian needs of the people of Darfur and see how they can be of assistance. They include the doctors and pharmacists syndicates, two organisations that are seen as having a potentially useful role in Darfur. But while the final report of the mission has yet to be completed many commentators suspect that it is an exercise in rearranging the deck chairs rather than rethinking the destination. "The vast majority of the most effective and dynamic Arab civil society organisations are Islamist in orientation. These organisations rushed to the help of the people of Bosnia -- assistance at the material and moral levels was tremendous," says Hassan. "But there are no non- Islamist organisations with similar resources and capabilities." But the shortage of resources and funding is not the only explanation for the lack of concerted action over Darfur. The Arab media and NGOs reflect a view of the Darfur conflict that is prevalent in Arab world. There is widespread suspicion over the motives of the US despite the fact that many Arab governments have been happy to accommodate themselves within the Pax Americana. For their part many Sudanese express growing frustration with Arab governments and NGOs, in particular the wealthy oil-rich states of the Gulf who, following increases in the price of oil, are in a position to fund development projects and relief operations in Darfur. Hassan believes that Arab NGOs have entered a stage of denial when faced with information released by Western humanitarian groups. "Most of Arab civil society dismisses the claims of Western humanitarian and rights groups as a gross exaggeration," he says. There is also much ambiguity concerning the local Darfur Arab Janjaweed militias blamed for the escalating violence and the humanitarian crisis. Islamist-oriented NGOs in Egypt for example, many dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, are loath to criticise the Janjaweed which is closely aligned to the Sudanese government. "We must first assess the material resources, human capacity and technical expertise of Arab civil society organisations," believes Ibrahim Nasreddin, professor of political science at Cairo University and a member of the board of Usrat Wadi Al-Nil (The Family of the Nile Valley), an Egyptian-based NGO that caters to Sudanese refugees in Egypt and on strengthening Egyptian-Sudanese social and cultural ties. But given the lack of available resources among local NGOs or, where resources exist, the lack of any desire to find out what is really happening, hopes that the delegation will have any real impact are slim.

Al-Ahram Weekly 19 - 25 August 2004 Issue No. 704 weekly.ahram.org.eg 19 - 25 August 2004 Issue No. 704 Sudan in the dock Fresh violence breaks out in Darfur as Africa seeks to end the continent's most serious political crisis, writes Gamal Nkrumah - The conflict in Darfur, one of Sudan's poorest and least developed regions, has a military dimension. But the primary struggle is political, ideological and economic. Oil reserves have been discovered in commercial quantities in Darfur, and the protracted oil-fuelled war in Darfur is far from over. There is a lot of money at stake. Fighting has recently escalated in several parts of Darfur, a sprawling area the size of France. The Sudanese government and the armed opposition groups have accused each other of instigating the new bout of fighting. The two main armed groups in Darfur -- the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) -- point an accusing finger at the local Arab militias, better known as the Janjaweed, claiming that the militiamen are masquerading in Sudanese government troop outfits, and that many of the 6,000 government policemen ostensibly keeping the peace in the province are actually Janjaweed. Widespread protests by the indigenous non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur have in the past been put down with brutal military force. And contrary to popular misconception, the conflict had simmered for a long time before breaking into the open in February 2003. According to United Nations figures the conflict has cost the lives of 50,000 people and rendered one million homeless. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) -- the umbrella opposition organisation grouping the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Amy (SPLA), led by John Garang, and other mainly northern Sudanese opposition parties -- has adopted the cause of Darfur. The SLA is a fully-fledged NDA member and representatives of the SLA are meeting next week in Cairo with other NDA groups to discuss Darfur and political reform in the country. JEM which has so far stayed away from the NDA is closely aligned to Hassan Al-Turabi's Islamist opposition Popular Congress Party. Moreover, the Sudanese regime itself appears now to be split between doves and hawks. The doves, allegedly led by President Omar Hassan Al-Beshir himself, want to see the Darfur crisis resolved quickly -- which in practical terms implies stabbing the government's Janjaweed allies in the back. Al-Beshir has not hesitated to do so in the past whenever he deemed it politically expedient. For example, in 2001, Al-Beshir jailed his mentor Hassan Al-Turabi, Sudan's former speaker of parliament and chief Islamist ideologue. The hawks, on the other hand, are claiming that it would be impossible to meet the UN deadline and are more reluctant to bring the Janjaweed to book. The problem is not simply that the Janjaweed are being sheltered from justice. It is that the Sudanese government appears to be trying to protect itself from the consequences of chastising the Janjaweed. The Sudanese government has staked its political future on disarming the Janjaweed accused of war crimes in Darfur. Observers, however, note that it would be very difficult for either doves or hawks to castigate the Janjaweed. Such a move could be tantamount to political suicide, for the Janjaweed are an important component of the Sudanese regime's constituency. "The Sudanese authorities have a moral obligation to protect the Janjaweed. They know the type of weapons they armed the Janjaweed with. They find it difficult to turn against the Janjaweed, when the latter have so faithfully served the Sudanese government interests in Darfur," Farouk Abu Issa, former head of the Cairo-based Arab Lawyers Union and official spokesman for the NDA told Al- Ahram Weekly. "The Sudanese regime turned to the Janjaweed for help only after the army failed to quell the Darfur uprising. The Janjaweed came to the government's rescue," he added. As often happens within such contexts, infighting among former allies could get out of hand. Already there are signs of tension. The hawks are even persuading the Janjaweed militias, who are accused by the UN and human rights groups of war crimes, to dissolve quietly into the Sudanese army. But will the international community condone such flagrant disregard of international law? The African Union (AU) fact-finding mission to Darfur has already noted continuing gross violations of human rights and atrocities committed by the Janjaweed against the civilian population. The AU observers sent to monitor a cease-fire agreement in April between the Sudanese government and the SLA and JEM are now considering concentrating instead on disarming the Janjaweed. Khartoum, however, is resisting any move to upgrade the AU peace-keeping force in Darfur. Indeed the Sudanese regime insists that the force's main task is not to keep the peace in the war-torn region. "The Nigerian and Rwandan forces of 300 troops, which are now arriving in Darfur, were assigned only to maintain protection for the 80 AU observers deployed in Darfur," Sudanese army spokesman General Mohamed Said Soleiman told reporters in Khartoum. The AU protests that security in Darfur must not be sought by returning to repression. In a flurry of diplomatic activity, Libya hosted talks in Sirte last week to try and resolve the crisis. And next week peace talks in Nigeria are scheduled to take place. On 30 July, the UN Security Council passed a resolution urging Sudan to disarm the Janjaweed militia or face sanctions. The UN has so far ruled out military intervention even though both the United States and the European Union have signalled that if a peaceful diplomatic settlement to the Darfur crisis is not reached and the humanitarian situation does not improve then international military intervention would have to be considered an option. The Security Council is to decide on 29 August whether to indict the Sudanese authorities for failing to contain the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur and for arming the Janjaweed. Khartoum now appears to be sending conflicting signals. President Al-Beshir sounded optimistic about Sudan's chances of meeting the deadline set by the UN. Sudanese Vice-President Ali Othman Mohamed Taha, on the other hand, seems to think that it is impossible to meet the deadline. "We are doing our best to meet that deadline but definitely due to the logistical problems and limitations we have at the moment, I don't think the time frame is practical," warned the Sudanese vice-president.

Ethiopia

news.minnesota.publicradio.org 2 Aug 2004 Anuak in Minnesota fear for homeland August 2, 2004 An Anuak man sits in front of his burned-out home, which he claims was one of many burned as part of a campaign against the Anuak in Ethiopia. (Photo courtesy of Doug McGill) Widespread ethnic killings in Darfur, Sudan, have been in the news lately, but another human crisis is taking place next door, in Ethiopia. A group of Minnesota immigrants is struggling to alert the world to what they call an Ethiopian genocide. This is in east Africa -- and involves the Anuak ethnic group, which numbers about 100,000 people. Many Anuak have immigrated to southern Minnesota. They insist their Anuak parents, siblings, cousins and friends still in Ethiopia are being systematically killed by the Ethiopian army, and by other ethnic groups incited to violence by the army. The Anuak say they believe the government is trying to exterminate their small community to get hold of their homeland, and to send a message to separatist groups active in Ethiopia. By Doug McGill Rochester, Minn. — Telephones in Rochester, Burnsville and other towns where Anuak immigrants have settled in Minnesota started ringing urgently Dec. 13, 2003. Many Anuak had moved here from Ethiopia over the last decade, to escape persecution by the Ethiopian army and other ethnic groups in the region. But just before Christmas, the calls from their home region, Gambella state in western Ethiopia, brought new fear. Map Ethiopian government soldiers reportedly were going door to door, calling out Anuak men by name and shooting them in the street, said Obang Jobi, an Anuak immigrant living in Burnsville, who heard the news in a telephone call from a friend. "She's so scared because ... people are being killed on the street and she don't want to talk on the phone," Jobi said. "And I said, 'Just stay o nthe phone. Just keep talking, just keep talking to me and tell me what's going on.' She was crying, and she was nervous, and she couldn't talk. She couldn't talk. She is saying that nobody is going to survive." Jobi rushed to call a friend of his, Omot Bowar from Austin, Minnesota, who was visiting relatives in Gambella. "While we are talking I heard the noise that the military, they are coming to get Omot. They came to the door, and Omot told me that, 'Obang! Obang! They are coming to get me! They are coming to get me! They are coming to get me!'" Jobi recalled. Obang Ojobi "I said, 'Keep talking to me! Keep talking to me! Just don't hang up the phone! Don't hang up the phone!' And he kept talking to me, and they came and just took the phone and threw it down. And we were silent for almost 30 minutes in the house, without talking to my wife. I thought that Omot has been killed," Jobi said. More than 425 Anuak were slaughtered from Dec. 13-16, according to lists compiled by Anuak survivors. Bowar survived by showing his U.S. passport to the soldiers, and was later rescued by a team of U.S. embassy officials who drove to Gambella on Dec. 17. Since the killings, 8,500 Anuak fled their homes in Gambella and walked for days through the malaria-infested scrubland to Pochalla, a village across the border in Sudan. Survivors tell of massacre Refugees At Pochalla, the Anuak live in a camp, a slum of lean-tos made of sticks and white plastic sheeting, which is ripped from United Nations food packages dropped by planes. The air drops, every six weeks or so, are not enough to feed the thousands of Anuak who have gathered in the camp. There are very few older people at the camp. Many died en route. Obang Ojok worked as an office messenger in Gambella until the Dec. 13 massacre. He stood on crutches in a dirt-stained Lakers T-shirt, the stump of a missing leg resting on the crossbar of one crutch. "I lost my leg during the massacre in Gambella last December," Ojok says through a translator. "And not only my leg, but that day I lost my children, my wife, and many other relatives." Obang Ojok Ojok explained that while he was running away, he was shot from behind in the arm and leg. His left arm has a small round hole on the back, and a jagged three-inch wound on the front where the bullet exited. He says he was saved by local missionaries who found him, persuaded the soldiers not to kill him, and later amputated his leg. "I don't have hope. I don't think I will live much longer," Ojok said. "Even if the government doesn't come here to this camp to kill me, I don't have any food to eat. I survived the massacre but now starvation may kill me. Other people go to the bush to get leaves to eat. But I have only one leg now. I can't go out to get food." Under a giant tree filled with birds that provides rare shade in the camp, Obang Opara, in a tan cap and a loosely buttoned dress shirt, limped over to a white plastic chair. He arrived in Pochalla from his trek in the bush in mid-April. He says both of his legs were broken during the Dec. 13 massacre. Oboge Opara had to heal in hiding for four months, before making the long walk to the camp. He says groups of ethnic Ethiopians known as highlanders, who have lighter colored skin than the Anuak, attacked him. "They came carrying knives and spears and clubs, and the government forces themselves carrying guns, rifles," Opara said. Like all the Anuak refugees here, Opara says the highlanders worked together with armed Ethiopian troops in twos and threes. "If you try to run away, just, they will shoot you," said Opara. A thin and striking young man named Oboge danced around the Pochalla camp in his underwear, singing. He recited bits of poetry and struck poses of people shooting guns, and then of people writhing and falling. Oboge was a soccer star in Ethiopia. But he lost his family on Dec. 13, and now somme refugees say, he has lost his mind. Collecting food "Other people dance with me, but they think I lost my mind," Oboge said through a translator. "But I haven't lost my mind. When I sing a song I feel really happy." His song questioned why the massacre happened: "You people, you people, you people, Tell me what did we do wrong?" Some Anuak say they know why the Ethiopian government is driving their tiny tribe from its homeland. The government wants their rich farmland for economic development, and as a place to resettle Ethiopians from larger tribes who were driven out of their own homelands by famine, the Anuak say. The Anuak home in Gambella also has active gold mines and potential oil reserves. And, recently, the Anuak have pushed for more autonomy over the region. Looking for water The Ethiopian government may have a deeper, political reason for pursuing the Anuak. The government is struggling to bind together a country composed of many ethnically distinct regions. It faces armed separatist movements. Anuak leaders in Minnesota say the Ethiopian government may be using ethnic cleansing on their relatively small tribe as a warning to the larger separatist groups that the government will use violence, if necessary, to keep the country unified. Government denies involvement Ethiopian officials like Barnabas Gebre-ab vigorously deny any involvement in the Dec. 13 massacre, or the subsequent devastation of about a dozen Anuak villages. Gebre-ab is the minister of federal affairs for Gambella, and he insists the Ethiopian army is not killing its civilians. "It is not an army that changes to heinous thugs all of a sudden when it reaches to Gambella. I just don't buy that." Lean-tos Gebre-ab is the civilian chief of the country's military in Gambella. Anuak were killed on Dec. 13, Gabre-Ab acknowledged, but he blamed the problem on ethnic tension, not his soldiers. The morning of Dec. 13, unknown attackers sprayed an official state vehicle carrying eight highlanders with bullets, killing all the occupants. Later that morning, the victims' bodies were put on display in Gambella town, and Anuak separatists were blamed for the killings. A mob mainly composed of highlanders started attacking Anuak neighbors in revenge, Gebre-Ab said. "They assumed the Anuak were the ones who killed these guys on the road," Gabre-Ab said. "So when you see it on face value, this is a gut reaction. But it's also something that's related to animosity. It's hatred, you know. Why couldn't they control themselves? Why did they go into this emotional outburst and start to kill? Because they are social scums." Asked why the Anuak and the government versions of the massacre differ, Gebre-Ab said, "This is something we have to probe." Doug McGill Gebre-Ab denied the Anuak claim that up to a dozen of their villages have been razed by Ethiopian troops. But the army is seeking out armed Anuak rebels who hide in Anuak villages and who occasionally kill Ethiopian troops and civilians, he said. "There is an Anuak group that claims to have formed a liberation front," Gebre-Ab said. "They kill health workers. They kill teachers. If they are highlanders, they kill them. Deliberately. So what do we do with these people? We have to hunt them down." The Anuak respond In the Anuak refugee camp in Pochalla, several men admitted to being members of the liberation force. One of them, a recent recruit who studied at South Central Technical College in Mankato, Minnesota, said that after Dec. 13 he moved to Pochalla to help the Gambella People's Liberation Force. Shot-up ambulance "The Ethiopian government is in the pursuit of killing our people, so we are defending our interest," said the man, who requested anonymity. After 20 years of persecution, only now have the Anuak raised a militia, he said. "There is a time, even in the Bible -- I've heard the Bible, been going to the Bible college -- there is a time for everything," he said. "A time for war, a time for peace. A time for life and a time to die." But armed resistance is the last thing on most refugees' minds. They are obsessed with simple survival. And for many of them, survival is synonymous with Minnesota. They either want to contact relatives in Minnesota who can send them money, food and clothes, or they want to immigrate to the safety of the state. Anuak immigrants already in Minnesota are trying to help. They have been meeting in cramped apartments, trying to figure out how to focus the world's attention on their tribe's crisis. They organized a protest rally at the state Capitol in December. They convinced U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., to write to the U.S. ambassador in Ethiopia and urge her to pressure Ethiopia to stop the killings. Denies government involvement Most Anuak are churchgoing Christians, the result of missionary work in Africa, and they are trying to mobilize their ministers and congregations throughout the state. Some churches have organized fundraising campaigns and sent relief funds to Anuak victims. "Our goal is actually to try to educate people here so they can stand with us together," said Omot Ochan, executive director of the Anuak Community Association of North America. Based in St. Paul, the association represents the roughly 1,500 Anuak who live in the state. "If you speak out and explain the situation clearly to the people here, people really will come to your aid, and be able to stand up with you together," Ochan said. So far, the Anuak appeals have not been heard. The United States and the United Nations are more involved with a larger ethnic cleansing occurring in Sudan, where 1.3 million refugees in Darfur have been driven from their homes, and 30,000 killed by Sudanese soldiers and Arab militias. Anuak king Several human rights organizations, such as Genocide Watch and the World Organization Against Torture, have researched the Anuak stories and declared that the Ethiopian government is using ethnic cleansing against the Anuak. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the two largest human rights groups, say they are aware of the Anuak crisis, but their attention has been largely diverted to Darfur. The U.S. embassy in Ethiopia said it deplores the killings, and called on Ethiopia's government to investigate the claims against its military. An inquiry commission appointed by the Ethiopian Parliament on July 6 absolved the army of wrongdoing, the official Ethiopian News Agency reported. The commission also found that 65 people were killed in Gambella, contrary to Western reports that put the number of dead at more than 400. Meanwhile, roughly $300 million in U.S. foreign aid continues to flow each year to the Ethiopian government. And the Anuak immigrants in Minnesota continue to send money to their relatives in refugee camps, to write letters to U.S. officials, and to worry that their small culture may be wiped out while the world's attention is on other matters.

Liberia

DPA 4 Aug 2004 UNMIL concerned as conflict within Liberian government deepens Monrovia (dpa) - Concerns are mounting in the war-torn Liberian capital Monrovia about the possibility of another round of fighting as the leadership rift within the Liberian government deepens. Addressing journalists Wednesday, the head of the U.N. Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), Ambassador Jacques Klein blamed the confusion in the country on warring faction representatives who he said "want to maintain their factional identity while serving in the transitional government". He said this was creating the impression in the international community that the government is not unified. "Everytime we have such incidents here, the donor money goes away. That's the reality we are facing here. Every time this happens there is the perception that the government is not united, that it is factionalized," Klein emphasized. Information Minister William Allen told journalists in Monrovia that the transitional government was concerned about the internal wrangling with the rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). "The confusion in the rebel LURD leadership is slowly spilling over to the peace process, and the government is considering it a security threat," the minister said. Similar confusion within the defunct ULIMO-J and exiled former president Charles Taylor's erstwhile NPFL led to outbreak of hostilities in Monrovia in April 1996 that claimed many lives. The remarks come against the background of clashes between revile groups over the past two days.

August 7, 2004 TV REVIEW | 'LIBERIA: AN UNCIVIL WAR' Close Relationship to U.S. Did Not Help Liberia Much By JOHN SHATTUCK In their brave film "Liberia: An Uncivil War" Jonathan Stack and James Brabazon make us witnesses to the continuing implosion in one of Africa's failed states. But they do something else as well in the documentary that has its premiere tonight on the Discovery Times Channel. They also show how the United States has turned its back on the land it created as a colony in 1821. In one of the film's many riveting images, three United States warships loom in the haze off Liberia's coast while thousands of civilians are slaughtered on shore by a ragtag army wielding American-made weapons. "For the last 13 or 14 years," a resident of Monrovia remarks as the shooting rages around him, "America has washed its hands of Liberia." Meanwhile, a couple of United States marines are shown scrambling outside the American Embassy to protect an incoming beer delivery. Mr. Stack and Mr. Brabazon show Liberia's agony during the civil war in the summer of 2003. Everything is filmed in real time. Terror, uncertainty and despair, mixed with humor and bravery, are captured in the faces of people imprisoned by chaos. The strength of the documentary is its immersion in the violence of the moment, and its extraordinary access to all sides of the conflict. Charles Taylor, a former convict who escaped from a Massachusetts prison to lead a revolt in 1989 against the brutal regime of Samuel Doe, terrorizing Liberia and Sierra Leone in the years that followed, is the film's central actor. Mr. Taylor resists entreaties from the United States and other countries to leave office and spare the country the mass killings that are predicted once a rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, reaches the capital. When President Bush embarks on an African trip in July 2003, he comes under pressure to resolve the Liberian crisis and vaguely promises to send in peacekeepers after Mr. Taylor has left. But Mr. Taylor perfectly plays President Bush, asserting that to leave before the peacekeepers arrive would be irresponsible. Buoyed by his countrymen's hope that United States marines are on the way, Mr. Taylor maneuvers himself into a position to buy time for a better deal (he's eventually given asylum in Nigeria) while blaming the United States for not intervening (the marines wait for Mr. Taylor's departure before landing shortly after the bloodbath and staying for about a month). The film makes clear how easy it would have been to prevent the spasm of violence that swept through Monrovia, Liberia's capital, in July 2003. With President Bush in Africa and United States troopships in Liberian waters, the stars seemed aligned for the United States to help the people of its historically closest African ally. Rebel youths on bridges aimlessly firing a few mortars and grenade launchers would certainly have been no match for the heavily armed marines for whom the streets were lined with cheering, expectant citizens. But all hopes were dashed when the rebels arrived. One of the film's most wrenching moments comes when the United States Embassy compound, where thousands of Liberians had sought refuge, takes a direct mortar hit, wreaking mass death and havoc. In a poignant comment after the bombing, a Liberian peace worker tells the filmmaker, "Those of us with the blue passport that says, `Love of liberty brought us here,' are doomed. But you Americans can get out." Of all the countries in Africa, Liberia has long had the closest relationship with the United States. A republic of liberty was founded there as a refuge for freed slaves by the American Colonization Society. In 1847 Liberia declared its independence, and for the next 133 years freed slaves and their descendants dominated the country's political life. In 1980 longstanding tensions between "Americo-Liberians" and the country's indigenous population exploded into a bloody conflict that led to a series of brutal governments, cost over a quarter of a million lives and tore the country apart. Liberia is a minor star in a growing constellation of failed states, but its historic connection to the United States should make it more accessible to Americans struggling to understand the forces of disintegration that threaten global security. "Liberia: An Uncivil War" is a powerful film that warns about the future by showing a version of the present. It explores the appeal of violence to those who are desperate and the lure of chaos to those who plan violence. For more than a decade, Washington has been skittish about mobilizing efforts to stop the deadly progress of civil war, crimes against humanity and genocide as these man-made disasters have engulfed whole countries in sub-Saharan Africa, from Rwanda to Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Sudan, to name just a few. The result has been unstable societies and havens for terrorism, drug trafficking and corruption, to say nothing of untold human suffering. The prosecutor of the Special War Crimes Tribunal that has indicted Charles Taylor for crimes against humanity asserts that a disintegrating Liberia has become an attractive refuge for Al Qaeda. "War gives young men with no future a strange dignity," a Liberian intellectual says. A Liberian doctor overwhelmed by casualties at John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia simply says, "How much time we have to live depends on the international community." "We consider ourselves a 51st state," observes a wistful Liberian when the marines don't come, "but maybe it's a one-sided thing." LIBERIA An Uncivil War Discovery Times, tonight at 9, Eastern and Pacific times; 8, Central time. Jonathan Stack, producer and director; James Brabazon, co-producer and co-director; Michael Kovalenko, editor; Christopher Luchini, assistant editor. Produced by Gabriel Films for Discovery Times Channel. John Shattuck, former assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, is chief executive of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and author of "Freedom on Fire: Human Rights Wars and America's Response."

Namibia

Internews 5 Aug 2004 Remembering Germany's African Genocide The largely forgotten 1904 Herero massacre is one of the worst atrocities in colonial history Alexander Krabbe (internews) German soldiers encamped in Southwest Africa at the turn of the 20th century. ©2004 BLZ "We demand a place where the sun is shining," Heinrich Goring (1885) These words of Heinrich Goring, the father of Hitler's "Reichsmarschall" Hermann Goring, mark the initiation of the bloodiest period in German-African history. During the colonial push of Great Britain and France, the German public, encouraged by the conservative media of the time, called for colonial engagement. Two Hereros ©2004 In the 1890s, Southwest Africa was marked as Germany's own imperial "run for Africa" which was in line with Social Darwinism. Many were arguing for the "civilizing role of imperialism." The major tribe living in Southwest Africa -- the Hereros -- were quickly defeated by German troops dispatched by Emperor Wilhelm II. Berlin immediately began to take the natives' land and sell it to German farmers. Hereros and Namas were abused as slaves, their societies were crushed, poverty and despair took hold, and the weak and the handicapped were left to die. "The great general of the German troops, sends this letter to the Herero people. Hereros are no longer German subjects ... All the Hereros must leave the land. If the people do not want this, then I will force them to do it with great guns. Any Herero found within the German borders with or without a gun, with or without cattle, will be shot. I shall no longer receive any women or children; I will drive them back to their people -- otherwise I shall order shots to be fired at them ... No male prisoners will be taken. I will shoot them. This is my decision for the Herero people," wrote the German military commander of Southwest Africa Lothar von Trotha (1848-1920). "I know enough tribes in Africa. What they have in common is that they all just yield to violence. To exercise this violence with terror, and even with cruelty, was and is my policy," he once said. Lothar von Trotha ©2004 On January 12, 1904, the Hereros began an uprising against the occupation in the city of Okahandja, a German military operation base. Railways near the city of Osona were blown up in order to stop the reinforcement for German troops. The Hereros fought the occupation for four years, but the German counterstrike decimated at least 80 percent of their population. 65,000 Hereros died in combat or concentration camps. In the view of many experts on world history, Germany's war against the Hereros stands for the beginning of genocide as a part of geopolitical strategy. For the first time in German history, concentration camps were established, inspired by the "invention" of such camps by England in its own Boer War in 1900. During detainment, at least half of the prisoners were executed by hanging or firing squad, starved or died of infectious diseases. On August 11 to 12, 1904, the counterstrike against the Hereros' uprising became a war of extermination. Thousands of fighting Hereros were killed in a bloody battle by German artillery cannons and machine-gun fire. The survivors, surrounded by German troops, were left to die of hunger and thirst. Southwest Africa later became a colony of the Republic of South Africa and gained independence in 1990. It is now the nation of Namibia. To ordinary Germans, the genocide of 1904-1908 is largely unknown. I wouldn't have been able to write this article without the engagement of my old history teacher in school, a man with a wide range of knowledge. The focus of history teachers in Germany is concentrated mostly on World War 2. So most German history teachers don't tell their pupils about war crimes in Southwest Africa. Often they don't even know anything about the genocide themselves. Naturally Germany's political class, the media and the public do not remember the crimes committed in Africa 100 years ago. In 1995, former Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl refused a meeting with Herero officials while making a state visit to Namibia. Roman Herzog, Germany's president from 1994 to 1999, also refused to issue an official apology for the Herero genocide during a state visit in 1998. While visiting Namibia four weeks ago, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer also avoided a gesture of reconciliation and confession of guilt. Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schroder doesn't seem to have realized the problem yet. There is only one famous book describing the horror of the Herero genocide: Gerhard Seyfried's "Herero" (2001), by the publishing house "Eichborn." Israel Kaunatjike, a descendant of a German soldier who assaulted his grandmother ©2004 No official commemoration ceremonies, no apologies, no regrets -- no memory. 100 years after German troops killed, raped and humiliated Southwest Africa's natives, there seems to be no interest within German society to remember and regret its first genocide. The mass murder was not even recognized by the German Parliament as what it was -- a genocide. There are no memorials for the brave Hereros, neither in Germany's capital city of Berlin, nor in any other German city. Only some diligent German magazines publish articles retelling the story of Germany's first steps towards "nation building" which later imploded into one of the most horrifying war crimes in history. Since 1990, Herero representatives have struggled for an official German apology and for financial compensation. In September 2001, the "Herero People's Reparation Corporation" submitted a claim for compensation in a U.S. court totaling US$2 billion against the Federal Republic of Germany, Deutsche Bank and several other companies which profited from slavery and the war in Southwest Africa. Experts on German law are sure there is at least a good chance for a financial compensation package to be approved for the 30,000 living descendants of children of African women who were raped by German soldiers during the occupation. Map of the Herero Rebellion 1904-5

SAPA 5 Aug 2004 Germany urges Hereros to drop lawsuit August 05 2004 at 09:31AM Windhoek - Germany's ambassador to Namibia has called on the Herero people to drop a $4-billion (about R25-billion) lawsuit filed three years ago in American courts for atrocities committed under colonial rule. Ambassador Wolfgang Massing told a panel discussion on the 1904 Herero uprising against German rule that the case filed in a US court would "lead us nowhere" and proposed that other ways be found to deal with the "wounds of the past". "The German side will not move as long as this court case is on the roll. It will not lead to any results," Massing said late on Wednesday. "While it is necessary to remember the past we should move forward together and find projects that will heal the wounds of the past," Massing said. 'The German side will not move as long as this court case is on the roll' About 200 ethnic Herero filed a lawsuit in the US court of the district of Columbia in September 2001 demanding $2-billion (about R12-billion) from the German government for atrocities committed under colonial rule. Germany ruled Namibia, then called German South West Africa, between 1884 to 1915 before handing over the territory to South Africa after its defeat in World War 1. Namibia won independence in 1990. Between 45 000 and 65 000 Hereros died after German officers issued an extermination order against the tribe in 1904 to crush an uprising against colonial rule. The tragedy is remembered by Namibia's 120 000 Hereros as genocide. The lawsuit lodged by the Herero Peoples' Reparation Corporation is also seeking $2-billion from several German companies including Deutsche Bank, mining company Terex Corporation, formerly Orenstein-Koppel, and the shipping company Deutsche Afrika Linie, formerly Woermann Linie. The district court of Columbia was chosen as it has a 215-year-old law on its books, the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789, that allows for such civil action. Several Herero representatives reiterated calls for a formal apology from Germany and negotiations on a settlement. "We want an apology and Germany should start a serious dialogue with us. The Herero issue will not stop, it will continue ad infinitum," said Festus Muinjo, one of the panelists. To break the deadlock, a law professor proposed the establishment of a reconciliation commission. "We should think of a reconciliation commission with leaders of the Herero people and Germany to work out an appropriate form of apology and possible reparation and hopefully an out of court settlement," Manfred Hinz proposed. - Sapa-AFP

The Namibian (Windhoek) 6 Aug 2004 Germany Mulls Remedy Other Than Reparations By Petros Kuteeue Windhoek GERMANY has hinted that it is ready to open dialogue with Namibia's Herero people who are suing Berlin for their near-extermination by colonial troops a century ago. Addressing a panel debate in Windhoek on Wednesday about the German-Herero war of 1904-1907, Germany's Ambassador to Namibia asserted that the lawsuit filed by the Herero "would not bring any solution" to the current stand-off between his government and the tribe. "What is needed is dialogue between all parties; we have to listen to each other and find a common solution. Forget about the court case, it will not help anything. There are many other possibilities to settle this matter," said Wolfgang Massing. Massing's comment came in the wake of a proposal by the Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Namibia, Professor Manfred Hinz, for a reconciliation commission to be established to seek a negotiated settlement to the reparation issue. The Herero have filed lawsuits seeking US$4 billion from Germany and German companies they say profited from slavery and exploitation in what was then German South West Africa. Though Berlin has assumed moral responsibility for the massacre of about 65 000 of the 80 000-strong Herero tribe by German colonial soldiers, it has ruled out paying direct compensation and making a formal apology. Successive German leaders who have visited Namibia in recent years, including former President Roman Herzog in 1998, have refused to meet representatives of the Herero people. Massing's remarks on Wednesday, and his Government's decision to send its Minister for Economic and Technical Co-operation, Heidi Wieczorek-Zeul, to the centenary commemoration of the Herero genocide later this month, appear to point to a softening in Berlin's hard-line stance on the issue. "We want to move forward. This year is the first time that Germany recognises and sends a high-ranking official to these commemoration... this is a positive step," the diplomat said. The Ambassador, however, irked many people in the audience, including some German citizens, when he remarked that a recent resolution on the 1904 genocide by the German parliament was a "positive step forward". "Not all Germans feel the same about this issue. The resolution failed at the least to recognise that there was genocide or give a formal apology. I find it a slap in the face of the victims. The remarks of the ambassador are even a slap in my face by my own government," responded German journalist Henning Hintze. The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) welcomed Germany's willingness to negotiate but said the former colonial power should not expect the Herero to discontinue their court case as a pre-condition for a negotiated settlement of the reparations dispute. The NSHR then took a swipe at the Namibian Government's continuous snubbing of activities to commemorate the 1904 war. "Such an attitude is probably one of the clearest indicators of the discriminatory and exclusionist fashion in which German development aid is implemented in Namibia," NSHR Executive Director Phil ya Nangoloh charged. During the debate, a prominent member of the Herero People's Reparation Corporation and historian, Festus Muundjua, warned of a Zimbabwean-style land grab if Germany did not heed his people's demands for reparation. He said Herero leaders constantly had to restrain their people because tensions were running high in the Herero community as land that was forcefully taken from them was still occupied by descendants of German settlers. "If these people, out of frustration, start getting out of hand, maybe it would be too late and the consequences would not be desirable," Muundjua warned. Experts say the Herero suit filed in a US federal court has a limited chance of success as international conventions against genocide were not agreed to until decades after the Herero war. Some believe the genocide was a foretaste of Nazi Germany's Jewish holocaust more than three decades later and that Germany should compensate the Herero like the Jewish community. Since their final defeat by German troops in 1907, Herero survivors have been scattered over Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. Thousands of Herero are expected to gather at Ohamakari in the Otjozondjupa Region, the scene of the last battle against the Germans, on August 14 as part of year-long activities to commemorate this year's 100th anniversary of the war.

AFP 7 Aug 2004 German minister to visit Namibian massacre site BERLIN - A German minister will for the first time attend commemoration ceremonies to remember Imperial Germany's extermination campaign against the Herero people of Namibia one hundred years ago, the government said. Economic Cooperation and Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul will attend the ceremonies on August 14 in Okakarara, the site in 1904 of one of the most significant battles between the German military and rebelling Herero. Between 45,000 and 65,000 Herero died after German officers issued an extermination order against the tribe in 1904 to crush an uprising against colonial rule. The tragedy is remembered by Namibia's 120,000 Herero as genocide. In a sign of continuing tensions over how to atone for the past, the president of the organising committee for the events slammed Germany for retaining colonial attitudes towards its former African possession. Arnold Tjihuiko told the Monday edition of the Spiegel news weekly that the Germans were "masters of racism" and accused them of having "a lack of respect for black people". "We want the Germans to say: we are sorry," he said. In January, Germany's ambassador expressed deep regret over the massacre, the closest a German government representative has come to an apology. Germany has resisted mounting calls from the Herero for it to pay reparations for the massacres, but has given Namibia 500 million euros (600 million dollars) in aid since 1990. Germany ruled Namibia, then called German South West Africa, between 1884 to 1915 before handing over the territory to South Africa after its defeat in World War I. Namibia won independence in 1990.

New Era (Windhoek) 23 Aug 2004 OPINION August 23, 2004 The Genocide - is German Aid Enough Reparation? By Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro Okakarara "As a show of reverence and gratitude to the heroes and heroines of this day (the day of the Battle of Ohamakari), our animosities and divisions must give way to confession, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace and harmony in Namibia," the Archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia, Reverend Zephania Kameeta, led close to 10 000 people in a meditation to pave the way for the beginning of the 100th commemoration of the Battle of Ohamakari last Saturday. As if those present might have read his benedictory wishes before the time, the day had all the ingredients of Bishop Kameeta's benediction. Reconciliation, peace and harmony were clearly manifested. Confession and forgiveness followed later from the German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. "Today, I want to acknowledge the violence inflicted by the German colonial powers on your ancestors, particularly the Herero and the Nama," came the confession. "And so in the words of the Lord's Prayer that we share, I ask you to forgive us our trespasses," came the plea for forgiveness albeit via a line from the Lord's Prayer. In turn some of Namibia's leaders accepted the plea for forgiveness, notably Chief Kuaima Riruako of the Ovaherero who was "calmed down" by the German minister's sorrowful and forgiveness-inducing speech. Lands, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Minister Hifikepunye Pohamba apparently had to skip a section in his speech in view of the forgiveness appealing speech of Wieczorek-Zeul. Bishop Kameeta further mediated that the day should not be for commemoration only but also for the liberation of the spirits, minds and hearts as the moment of change and renewal had arrived. "Those who are not willing to recognise and embrace this Kairos will loose it forever," he said. It was also the hour for the current German government to recognise in unambiguous terms the atrocities committed by the past imperial colonial government, and to reach out an honest hand of friendship and solidarity of reconciliation, reconstruction, development and peace. Yes, reconstruction because after everything has been said and done, as is the case now when the apology may have come and gone, what the descendants of the victims would want to see is assistance to help them pick themselves up. "This committee must just keep in mind that our struggle for justice and economic emancipation has just started. The journey will be long and demanding sacrifices in numerous ways but you should never and never give up," Ovambanderu Chief Munjuku II aptly sent home the message in a statement given to the German minister at Ohamakari. To Chief Munjuku II and his people and indeed to all the victims of German colonial atrocities, the apology, as much as it has been awaited with alacrity, is not an end but a means to an end. "I am not advocating for the total dispossession of the land from those with surplus but for equitable re-distribution of it. It is on the background of this information, I feel the government of Germany should first make an apology for the injustices inflicted on the Herero and Mbanderu communities. And secondly pay for all the things we lost in the process." The Ovambanderu Chief goes on to address the often-trumpeted bilateral relations between the Government of the Republic of Namibia and Germany. "We do not want a repetition of the chorus of the development aid to Namibia, a bilateral arrangement that Germany is enjoying with other governments worldwide with which it had bitter past involvement as it had with the Herero and Mbanderu scattered in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa," comes the message loud and clear from the Ovambanderu Chief. If there is any issue with which the Ovaherero and Ovambanderu, and Ovaherero and Ovambanderu leaders speak with one voice, it is the issue of their sufferings at the hands of German colonial troops, and the need to recognise these wrongs and look beyond their mere acknowledgement to their eventual rectification. "An important basis, if not a primary one, for Germany's 'special political and moral responsibility' to Namibia are the wrongs that the German Imperial Forces committed against the Namibian people, and the Ovaherero in particular. This is a historical fact that the German government must first recognise before anything else," Chief Riruako would have reminded the German minister had she not seduced him emotionally with her tears-soaked speech at Ohamakari. The chief would have maintained that there could not be a meaningful and constructive "German engagement with Namibia until the German categorically recognises that the Ovaherero were grossly wronged by various acts of imperial forces." And that is the context, Riruako would have impressed on Wieczorek-Zeul, that her government should view its special bilateral relationship with Namibia. "These people" meaning the Ovaherero and Ovambanderu who were wronged by colonial Germany's excesses and attritions, "sill exist and live in Namibia. They have their own leadership structures through which the German government can engage them. Truthfully and on an equal footing to help them in their reconstruction." It all comes back to reconstruction and axiomatically to compensation. "The assistance that the German government has been providing to Namibia on a bilateral basis does not take away the pain and deprivation my people suffered during their colonial subjugation, robbery of their land and confiscation of their cattle, subjecting them to slave labour," the German government once would have been reminded about its popular song about its development assistance to Namibia. "If the German government is to convince the Ovaherero that the assistance it provides is also intended for them, we would wish for a more direct link between this assistance and the direct victims of German colonialism if we were to by-pass the tribal hurdle that seems to lurk behind development assistance in this country," the appeal would have sounded. "We recognise and appreciate the existing bilateral development cooperation between the governments of the Republic of Namibia and the Federal Republic of Germany. However, we are equally alarmed and regret the fact that the latter government has opted to hide behind the excuse of blanket development," Chief Kaihepovazandu Maharero solidifies the position appealing to both the Namibian and German governments to work towards a future framework for bilateral cooperation that reflects "the aspirations of the various affected communities, in accordance with the intensities of the losses and suffering that they were subjected to". Chief Maharero also warns against statements that may "send conflicting messages" on the matter. From the Diaspora in Botswana, Ovaherero Chief Johannes Kaumo Maharero joins in noting the tears of sorrow of the German minister but cautioning that his people need more than tears of sorrow. He reminds the minister that the descendants of thousands and thousands of Ovaherero and Ovambanderu who died are still scattered in the Diaspora despite the fact that the land of their ancestors is free today. And worst, they are minus the language of the ancestors. "Germans and Hereros should work together to find an amicable solution to both sides of the equation," Chief Kamutuaa Hosea Kandorozu of the Ovaherero in the Diaspora in South Africa adds his voice, expressing land hunger among his people and the need to acquire it. "Experts and gurus who once dealt with cases of this nature should be quested to deal with this case. A permanent solution without trying to beat about the bush is needed, or trying out court settlement should be avoided," he says. These are the laments of the Ovaherero and Ovambanderu in unison, but which seem to go against the Otjozondjupa Region's host, Governor Theophelus Eiseb, who in his welcoming remarks at Ohamakari was of the opinion that German development assistance to Namibia was more than these lamenters could hope for. But not for the lamenters who decided to swim against the stream created by their host. Or should one say, the host swam against the stream?

Nigeria

Reuters 4 Aug 2004 Nigeria says 258,000 still displaced after killings By Shuaibu Mohammed JOS, Nigeria, Aug 4 (Reuters) - More than 258,000 people are still displaced from religious clashes in Nigeria that killed hundreds of people in the central state of Plateau three months ago, officials said on Wednesday. Christian militia massacred hundreds of Muslims in Plateau in early May after a series of tit-for-tat killings over land and political power, forcing thousands to flee and prompting President Olusegun Obasanjo to assume emergency powers. "Over 258,000 persons in the state (Plateau) have been identified as having been displaced during the state's ethno-religious crisis," said Thomas Kangnaan, Chairman of the Plateau State Committee on the Census of Displaced Persons. The majority have remained in Plateau and had no access to aid, relying mostly on family and friends to survive, aid agencies said. About 60,000 people in camps in neighbouring Bauchi state have received medical attention, water and access to makeshift schooling. Nigerian authorities said they were trying to supply relief materials to those displaced not in camps. "The camps are overcrowded and not ideal, but the others (not in camps) are much worse off, in very difficult conditions. Many have had their homes burned down," said United Nations Development Programme director Tegegnework Gettu. "It is a serious situation," he added. Ethnic, religious and communal violence has killed more than 11,000 people since Africa's most populous nation and biggest oil producer emerged from 15 years of military rule in 1999. Competition for resources in a stagnant economy has exacerbated religious and ethnic rivalries, and orchestrated purges on minority groups in several states are frequent. The country's population of 130 million is equally divided between Christians and Muslims belonging to hundreds of tribes scattered across the country.

Rwanda

Reuters 2 Aug 2004 Rwanda vows probe of French genocide role KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda will probe accusations France helped train killers who took part in the central African nation's 1994 genocide, Rwanda's foreign minister says. Charles Murigande told reporters on Monday:"It will be an objective exercise, we will share the findings with the French government.," A draft law approved by the Rwandan cabinet on Friday created an independent commission to investigate France's role. The law must be passed by parliament before the commission can start its work. "The commission will collect testimony from survivors and from ex-FAR (former army) and Interahamwe who were involved," Murigande said. While marking the 10th anniversary of the genocide in April, Rwandan President Paul Kagame told mourners France had helped train fighters knowing that they would commit genocide. France strongly denies this. "France takes note of the Rwandan government's decision to set up a national commission to 'gather evidence of France's implication in the genocide carried out in Rwanda in 1994," French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Cecile Pozzo di Borgo said. MEETING IN PRETORIA French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier and Murigande discussed the matter last Wednesday during a meeting in the South African capital Pretoria, she said. France and Rwanda have long been at odds over the French role in the genocide in which some 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus died in 100 days of ethnic slaughter. Murigande denied the move was in retaliation for previous accusations by France over Kagame's involvement in triggering the killings, saying the two countries were trying to improve relations. Kagame accused France of taking part in the genocide after the Paris newspaper Le Monde published articles blaming him for ordering the shooting down of the plane carrying then-President Juvenal Habyarimana and the Burundian president. Habyarimana's death triggered Rwanda's mass killings and plunged the heart of the continent into a decade of war and upheaval that is only now slowly abating. The newspaper reports were based on a six-year inquiry by French Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, who was asked to investigate the crash by relatives of the French flight crew.

Xinhuanet 2 Aug 2004 Two survivors killed by Rwandan genocide participants www.chinaview.cn 2004-08-02 17:04:32 KIGALI, Aug. 2 () -- Two genocide survivors in Rwanda's southern Butare province were slaughtered Sunday by the 1994 genocide participants, a state-run radio reported here Monday. The killings occurred in Nyamure district where more than 50,000 Tutsi were killed by the Hutu extremists who killed an estimated million of Rwandans in 1994. Police have arrested 10 culprits and in the wake of cracking them, two were shot dead on Sunday morning, said Regional Police Commander Eugen Kajeguhakwa. The officer added that the guilty party were all former inmateswho will face the traditional Gacaca courts and tried to kill the genocide survivors who would give out testimonies of their reprobate. Police are deeply investigating other features that would be behind the cause of the killings and ensure serious measures to the culprits, Kajeguhakwa underscored. Last week several houses of the survivors were burnt to ashes and many of them left their homes in fear of their lives. Other two related cases were reported in mid June and tension is gripping to the genocide perpetrators who ought to face Gacaca courts. While officially inaugurating the commencement of the long awaited trials of the genocide related crimes committed between October 1990 and December 1994, President Paul Kagame assured the survivors that their security would be maintained during Gacaca proceedings.

The Monitor (Kampala) 18 Aug 2004 ICTR to Refer 45 Cases to Rwanda By Nasra Bishumba Kigali The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will next year begin transferring to Rwanda 45 cases of people accused of masterminding the 1994 genocide. Mr Hassan Aboubacar Jallow, the Chief Prosecutor of the Arusha-based court, told reporters on Monday that his court and the Rwandan government would finalise talks of the transfers by December. The cases would include those of indicted suspects and those still at large. Jallow said there were modalities to be agreed upon before the effecting the transfers. They include scrapping the death sentence. Jallow has been in Rwanda for the past one week. "There is no way we are going to hit the 2008 deadline if we keep all the cases. We have to transfer some of the cases to Rwanda for national jurisdiction," he said. He said the court was facing a financial crisis after the nations which had pledged support had not delivered any on their promises.

Sudan

UN News Centre 30 July 2004 Sudan must act on Darfur in 30 days or face measures, Security Council warns 30 July 2004 – The Security Council today adopted a resolution paving the way for action against Sudan in 30 days if it does not make progress on pledges to disarm the militias accused of indiscriminate murders, rapes and other attacks against civilians in the Darfur region – a move that was welcomed immediately by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. With China and Pakistan abstaining, and the other 13 members approving the text, the Council agreed to impose an arms embargo against the Janjaweed militias and all other non-governmental forces in Darfur, which has been described as the site of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The resolution says the Council might take measures against Sudan if it does not show progress on achieving the commitments – most notably the pledges to disarm the Janjaweed and restore security to Darfur – it outlined in a joint communiqué with the UN on 3 July. Those measures include steps allowed under the UN Charter, such as issuing economic penalties, restricting transport and communications, and severing diplomatic relations. The resolution also calls for the resumption of political dialogue between the government and Darfur’s two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). Mr. Annan, who visited Darfur earlier this month and was present at the signing of the communiqué, “looks forward to the swift and sustained implementation” by Sudan of its commitments, and hopes the resolution will ensure that a humanitarian catastrophe is avoided in Darfur, according to a statement read out by UN spokesperson Marie Okabe. The Secretary-General also welcomed the Council’s backing of the efforts of the African Union (AU), which is trying to mediate a political solution to the crisis and has deployed human rights monitors as part of a mission in Darfur, a region roughly equal to the size of France. In Accra, Ghana, African leaders said they discussed plans to significantly expand the number of troops in the AU’s observer mission given the deteriorating security situation in Darfur. They also called on the international community to give financial and logistic support to that mission. Ambassador John Danforth of the United States, one of the sponsors of today’s resolution, said the Council had been forced to act because Government forces and the Janjaweed, which are allied to Khartoum, had killed 30,000 people since February last year. “The last thing we wanted to do was lay the groundwork for sanctions, but the Government of Sudan has left us no choice,” he told the Council after it voted, calling the resolution essential to global efforts to save the lives of hundreds of thousan