Africa

Reuters 2 July 2004 Africa must end silence on Darfur-Nobel laureate By William Maclean ADDIS ABABA, July 2 (Reuters) - Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka denounced African governments on Friday for what he called their silence on Suda n's Darfur crisis and habit of closing ranks in the face of foreign criticism. "The silence of African governments over this issue is unacceptable," Soyinka told a news conference about curbs on the press in Africa. "This business of solidarity with criminality is a contradiction in terms. The African Union, the African nations and the media must denounce what is happening in Sudan today. There is no other word for it but genocide." U.S. officials and human rights groups accuse Khartoum of arming and supporting Janjaweed Arab militias to raid black African villages in troubled Da rfur in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. The Sudanese government denies the accusations and calls the Janjaweed outlaws. The United Nations says two million people have been caught up in the fighting, creating one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. "So we cannot accept this silence of solidarity when there is an evident crime being committed to muzzle the aspiration and salvation of peoples. This is where the African media have a very important role to play," Soyinka said. Soyinka, who became Africa's first Noble Literature laureate in 1986, spent two years in detention in Nigeria for political activities and has been a voice for human rights in Africa since the 1960s. The two-year-old African Union, the successor body to the defunct Organisation of African Unity, which was long criticised as a dictator's club, i s under international pressure to take a lead in peacekeeping in Africa. But few African leaders have spoken publicly about Darfur and an African bloc of countries rejected a strongly worded, U.S.-sponsored motion on Darfur at the UN Commission on Human Rights earlier this year, finally accepting a watered-down version. Developing nations went on to elect Sudan to the Commission, an act that caused U.S. representatives to walk out, expressing dismay that the African grou p had submitted the candidacy of a country that massacred its own citizens in Darfur. Last year the African vote was crucial in resisting a motion to reappoint a U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Sudan. Soyinka said African solidarity of that kind should be a thing of the past. "We cannot continue to trot out that perennial excuse that criticism will become an instrument in the hands of foreign economic interests," Soyinka said. "When Americans violated the rights of their prisoners in Iraq it is a matter for the entire world. The same standard must be applied to what is happening in Sudan. Is the government culpable or are these (Janjaweed) merely renegades?"

www.afrol.com 8 July 2004 African parliament locates in South Africa afrol News, 8 July - The ongoing African Union summit today decided that South Africa is to host the new pan-African parliament. This was decided after Egypt withdrew its bid. While South African officials show pride in hosting the new parliament, there are growing concerns over the yet to be defined costs. A larger number of African Heads of State are currently gathered in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, at the African Union (AU) summit. Here, they have discussed ongoing security problems in Africa, including the Darfur crisis, and have continued on the process of strengthening the AU's institutions. A pan-African parliament was set up and officially inaugurated in Addis Ababa at an AU summit on 18 March this year. The first session of the new parliament was thus held, although only 38 out of the AU's 53 member countries had designated MPs to the inauguration ceremony. By now, 200 MPs have been sworn in, but only 38 countries are still represented. The pan-African parliament is to have very limited powers and will mainly be debating on issues that affect the entire continent. It is loosely modelled on the parliament of the European Union, which has faced criticism by European voters for not transferring sufficient powers to the EU's only democratic institution. Africans may expect the same debate as the parliament starts its sessions. As the parliament was inaugurated earlier this year, two countries, Egypt and South Africa, sought to host the new pan-African institution. Egypt today withdrew its bid, thus making the decision easy. A vote was made unnecessary and it was declared that South Africa was to host the new body. South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma today in Addis Ababa said she hailed the decision and added that South Africa was "happy to serve the continent in that way." Also the speaker of South Africa's parliament, Baleka Mbete, in a statement today welcomed the new body to her country: "We shall work hard to make the institution serve its purposes as a true African parliament." Critical voices have however already been heard in South Africa as there do not exist plans for the funding of the new body. It is generally assumed that South African tax payers will have to assume responsibility of the pan-African parliament - which has led many South Africans to question the purpose of the new body without powers. The pan-African parliament in its first sessions also has contributed to this scepticism. MPs have failed to agree upon the means of funding the new body's activities and have failed to distance themselves from dictatorships like Zimbabwe. This has cost the new body a large amount of trust even before it gets grounded in South Africa. In other developments at the AU summit in Addis Ababa, the state leaders yesterday elected Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as the Union's new Chairman for the next year. President Obasanjo becomes the AU's third Chairman, following the Presidents of South Africa and Mozambique. The daily leadership of the AU however remains with the Chairman of the African Commission, Malian ex-President Alpha Omar Konaré. By staff writer

AP 8 July 2004 AU Demands an End to Darfur Bombings Associated Press July 08,2004 ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - African leaders pressed Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir Thursday to halt airstrikes against civilians and disarm the Arab militiamen who have killed thousands of people in the Darfur region and forced more than a million black Africans to flee, an African Union spokesman said. The presidents of Nigeria, Chad and South Africa met el-Bashir Thursday to discuss plans to improve security in Darfur in a bid to encourage refugees to return to their homes and facilitate distribution of humanitarian aid to victims of the violence, spokesman Adam Thiam said. The leaders pressed el-Bashir to immediately stop airstrikes against civilians in Darfur using Antonov transport planes and helicopter gunships, the African Union Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said after the meeting with el-Bashir. Civilians who fled attacks have said they were chased from their homes by aircraft and armed men in pickup trucks and on horses and camels. ``We have asked for an immediate stop to the bombing,'' Konare told reporters. U.N. officials and human rights groups have accused el-Bashir's government of backing the Arab militiamen - known as the ``Janjaweed,'' or horsemen - in a violent campaign to expel African farmers from the France-sized region. U.N. officials have called the situation in Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and say that thousands of people have been killed and more than a million others have been forced from their homes. Most of the refugees have taken shelter in makeshift camps along the Chad-Sudan border. Sudan denies the allegations, but last week el-Bashir promised U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.S. Secretary of State Collin Powell - both of whom were visiting the country - that his government would disarm the militia. ``Improving the security conditions is a serious matter because the main obstacle to the return of refugees is the fear of attacks'' by the militias, Thiam told The Associated Press. In Thursday's meeting, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo, Chad's Idriss Deby and Konare met el-Bashir to discuss how peace and stability should be restored in Darfur. They discussed security plans that include increasing the number of the unarmed African military observers to monitor an April cease-fire between the government and Darfur insurgents. The plan also aims to disarm the government-allied Janjaweed militiamen, who are accused of committing the bulk of the atrocities, and putting rebel forces into camps, Thiam said. ``We are talking of a very serious humanitarian crisis in Darfur which has to be solved very urgently and it is the responsibility of the government of Sudan to address it,'' Thiam said. The African Union said Monday it also plans to send some 300 troops to Darfur to work with the unarmed monitors and protect people displaced by the violence. The force ``would not sit by idly'' while atrocities continue, Konare said. Darfur is a France-sized region in western Sudan. ``They do not have the mandate to prevent (attacks) but it doesn't mean they are going to sit idle with their hands folded,'' Konare said. The Sudanese government promised to cooperate with the force, Konare said, without elaborating. African leaders ``have got a very strong commitment from el-Bashir that they (Sudanese authorities) would disarm the Janjaweed and the rebels and to have a monitoring team to make sure that it is implemented,'' said African Union spokesman Desmond Orjiako. In other business on the final day of the African Union summit, heads of state from 38 countries agreed that the new Pan-African Parliament would be based in South Africa after Egypt withdrew a rival bid to host the continental legislature.

News 24 SA 28 June 2004 www.news24.com African court a long way off 2Cape Town - The African Court for Human and Peoples' Rights, one of the main organs designed to deal with human rights abuses on the African continent, is struggling to see the light of day. Commentators are suggesting it could only be formed next year, more than 12 months after its intended establishment. "We may have in place significant principles, but the mechanisms still need to be worked out," says advocate Brian Spilg, human rights convenor of the General Council of the Bar of South Africa. Bearing this in mind, Spilg says it will be premature for the judges who will serve on this body to be appointed by the proposed July date. His understanding is that appointments will only follow after the seat of the court is decided at the African Union Summit in July. Spilg says it is essential that there is a transparent process for the nomination and election of judges, based on fair representation for the legal systems on the continent, including securing proper gender balance. The court will see 11 judges serving on it, one permanent member and 10 temporary members doing duty when the need arises. The establishment of the court, first proposed during the 1960s, only became a real possibility in 2004 when 15 countries, including South Africa, ratified the 1998 protocol paving the way for the court to be established. According to Spilg, no procedural rules for the court have been worked out yet, so presiding officers have no guidelines to act when confronted with cases. "What happens in the case of a human rights violation, who can bring it, what procedural laws will apply and what kind of sanctions can be imposed?" he asks. The location of the court is still undecided, with front-runner countries including Senegal, South Africa and Ethiopia. Spilg describes the establishment of the "supercritical" as an imperative, with regard to the "unfortunate number of despotic regimes with lack of accountability" - a trend Africa is trying to eradicate with its New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad). However, Spilg says getting AU states to support the process is going to be the litmus test. This despite the fact that all 53 African countries belonging to the AU are parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. "Unless far more countries submit to the scrutiny of the African Court, it is unlikely that we will see the socio-economic upliftment envisaged by Nepad," says Spilg. Edited by Anthea Jonathan

AI INDEX: IOR 30/018/2004 6 July 2004 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Public Statement AI Index: IOR 30/018/2004 (Public) News Service No: 169 6 July 2004 African Union: Assembly should establish an effective African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights The African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and Government meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia should ensure the establishment of an effective and functioning African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (African Court), Amnesty International urged today. Since its adoption on 10 June 1998, Amnesty International has consistently called on AU member states to ratify the Protocol establishing the Court, to nominate competent, independent and impartial judges to the Court, and provide the Court with sufficient resources once it is fully established and ensure full cooperation with the Court. The Protocol provides for the establishment of a human rights court with jurisdiction to hear cases challenging violations of the civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights guaranteed under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (African Charter) and relevant human rights instruments. Under Article 3 of the Protocol, the Court is empowered to judge whether a state party has violated any of the rights contained in the African Charter, or any other relevant human rights instruments ratified by the state concerned, for which the victim seeks redress. As of 29 June 2004--more than six years after the adoption of the Protocol, only 18 of the 53 AU member states have ratified the Protocol. Of these, only Burkina Faso has adopted a declaration that would grant direct access to individuals and NGOs before the Court. Moreover, only ten states have nominated judges to the Court. "The current AU summit provides another opportunity for the Assembly to live up to its promises made during earlier summits to ensure a speedy ratification of the Protocol and to increase the protection of human rights in Africa. These commitments are consistent with the Constitutive Act of the AU, which attaches particular significance to human rights," Amnesty International said. The effectiveness of the Protocol will continue to be undermined by the refusal of governments that have ratified it to make declarations that would allow individuals and NGOs direct access to the Court. Clearly, concrete actions by many African governments are needed to ensure the effective implementation of the Protocol and the full operationalization of the African Court. Amnesty International urges the AU Assembly to use its Third summit to take important decisions that translate its previously expressed commitments into reality. Specifically, AU member states that have not yet done so should: ratify without delay the Protocol establishing the African Court. In addition, AU member states, including those that have already ratified the Protocol, should make declarations accepting individual and NGO access to the African Court. review their legislation and practice, to ensure that these fully conform with the Protocol. ensure that the judges to be elected into the African Court have the relevant expertise for their position. States should also ensure adequate gender balance and representation of the different regions and legal systems in the AU. Member states should ensure a transparent nomination and selection procedure that is open to all potential candidates; they should encourage applications from female candidates, and encourage civil society organizations to participate at all stages of the nomination process. provide essential resources, including funding to the African Court once fully established. The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights should also be given adequate resources to carry out its task effectively. ensure that the African Court is allowed to function independently, impartially and effectively, and to develop its own case law. take all necessary steps to cooperate fully with the African Court, including by according high priority to the prompt compliance with the judgments and decisions of the Court. ensure that interested people are given the opportunity to be heard and to be represented by legal counsel if they cannot afford one. Also, parties and witnesses who appear before the Court should be protected and not be made to face retribution. Background The AU was established on 11 July 2000 in Lomé, Togo, following the adoption of its Constitutive Act. The AU is the successor to the defunct Organization of African Unity (OAU), in existence since 1963. The meeting in Addis Ababa is the Third Summit of the Assembly. The AU Assembly is the supreme organ of the Union. The Assembly determines the common policies of the AU; monitors the implementation of those policies and ensures compliance by all AU member states. The Protocol establishing the African Court was adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in June 1998. The African Court will operate side by side with the African Commission, and not replace it. As the Preamble to the Protocol states: "the attainment of the objectives of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights requires the establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights to complement and reinforce the functions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights." The African Charter, which entered into force on 21 October 1986, has been ratified by all the AU member states. While the African Commission has an elaborate promotional mandate under the African Charter, it does not possess sufficient protective powers to ensure states parties' compliance. Despite some positive developments in the Commission's individual complaint mechanism, the decisions it renders are non-binding, and still attract little, if any, attention from governments of member states. Amnesty International has for several years campaigned for ratification of the Protocol. Only the following entities have the right of direct access to the Court: the African Commission; the State party which has lodged a complaint to the Commission; the state party against which a complaint has been lodged at the Commission; the state whose citizen is a victim of human rights violations and African Intergovernmental Organizations. Similarly, a State that has an interest before the Court could request permission from the Court to join in the proceedings. NGOs with observer status before the African Commission and individuals may only institute cases before the Court if the State against which they want to proceed has made a declaration accepting such NGO and individual submission of cases. Without such declaration, the Court would not, under any circumstance receive any petition from an NGO or individual.

On the African Court - See Mali

Bostwana

BBC 5 July 2004 Kalahari bushmen fight eviction Almost all of the bushmen have been resettled outside the game reserve More than 200 bushmen from the Kalahari desert are taking the Botswana government to court over their forced eviction from ancestral land. They are challenging a 2002 decision to resettle them outside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, which was their home for tens of thousands of years. Activists say Monday's action could be a test case for the rights of bushmen across southern Africa. Almost 200 bushmen have returned to the reserves despite the resettlement. We are determined to remain on our ancestral land Activist Mathambo Ngakaeja The government says the resettlement has been good for the bushmen, providing them with the benefits of the modern world. But the British newspaper, the Sunday Telegraph, reports that while the authorities have tried to highlight the benefits of the programme most of the resettled people were living on state rations in a village stricken by unemployment, alcoholism and sexual crimes. The UK-based group Survival International, which has supported the bushmen's case, says the indigenous people were driven out to make way for diamond mining. 'Land trampled on' Botswana's highest court is hearing the case in New Xade, a purpose-built settlement for the bushmen in a remote desert enclave. It will begin with an "inspection in loco" of the resettlement centres and communities in the game reserve to which bushmen have returned. Mathambo Ngakaeja, co-ordinator of the Botswana chapter of the Working Group on Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa, said his people were determined to stay on their ancestral land. "The government has trampled on our land, and terminating basic and essential services is tantamount to forced evictions," he told AFP news agency. "We seek the courts to declare that those who had been effectively forced to move due to the termination of services, should be returned to the CKGR." Botswana President Festus Mogae has dismissed the demands as "nonsense", saying that the bushmen's nomadic way of life was a "vestige of the past". The bushmen took the case to court two years ago but it was dismissed on a technicality. Last month they won the right to have their case heard again.

BBC 12 July,2004 Botswana bushmen seek redress By Alastair Leithead Central Kalahari Game Reserve The bushmen's way of life has changed A group of bushmen from Botswana who claim the government illegally evicted them from their ancestral lands have gone to court. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve used to be home to thousands of bushmen, widely accepted as the indigenous people of Botswana. Now only 100 or so remain after a government resettlement programme. The government says it could no longer afford to provide services to the bushmen in remote parts of the desert. 'Homes burnt' The case began at a temporary courtroom in New Xade, the biggest of the villages outside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, where the bushmen have been relocated to. Representatives of the Basarwa community - as they are known in Botswana - will describe how water supplies were cut off by the government to force them out of the reserve, and houses were burned down. The Basarwa community is recognised by many internationally as the indigenous people and claim a right to stay on their ancestral land. But the government argues it has become just too expensive to provide services such as water supplies to remote parts of the Kalahari, and that they need to be moved to more accessible areas where education and support can be provided. Reserve visit The judges, lawyers and court officials spent four days travelling through the reserve to establish how the San live today ahead of the case. It is clear they no longer live a traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and keep domesticated animals in the reserve - something the government says is to the detriment of the wildlife and should not be allowed in the reserve. The case is expected to drag on for many weeks; the President of Botswana, who has appointed one of his special advisers to fight the government's case, said if they lost they would appeal until they emerged victorious,

www.survival-international.org 14 July 2004 e-news from Survival International, supporting tribal peoples worldwide. Founded in 1969, registered charity (UK) no. 267444 Botswana: Government will 'change constitution to get its way' The Botswana government said yesterday that if it loses the current court case being brought by the Bushmen for the right to return to their land it would 'change the law, or amend the constitution, to get its way.' The 'senior government source' was quoted in the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper on 13th July. Survival's Director Stephen Corry said in response, 'This is extremely disturbing news, with grave overtones for justice throughout all Botswana. What's the point of an independent judiciary if the government simply changes the constitution when it doesn't agree with a judgement? Botswana's image as the 'shining light' of Africa is dimming rapidly.'

Burundi

AFP 15 Jul 2004 Up to 15 civilians massacred by rebels: army BUJUMBURA, July 15 (AFP) - As many as 15 civilians were massacred in an attack south of Burundi's capital Bujumbura by the Hutu rebel National Liberation Forces (FNL), the army and residents said on Thursday. The attack occured in the early hours of Wednesday in the town of Mukike some 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the capital in the area where the FNL has been most active. "The FNL infiltrated an enclosure on Rurambira hill and massacred a man, two woman and three children with small hoes," army spokesman Adolphe Manirakiza told AFP. The governor of rural Bujumbura province, Ignace Ntabarirarana, confirmed his account. But several of the residents of the Rurambira area said 15 people had been killed by the rebels. "The FNL wants to take revenge on the population," said one resident who asked not to be named. The head of the United Nations mission in Burundi, Carolyn McAskie, who is due to have her first meeting with the FNL in the coming days, has said obtaining a ceasefire is a top priority. The FNL is the last rebel group opposing Burundi's power-sharing Hutu-Tutsi government. More than 300,000 people have been killed in Burundi since civil war erupted in the east African country in 1993.

News24.com SA 15 July 2004 Burundi rebels massacre 15 Bujumbura - As many as 15 civilians were massacred in an attack south of Burundi's capital Bujumbura by the Hutu rebel National Liberation Forces (FNL), the army and residents said on Thursday. The attack occurred in the early hours of Wednesday in the town of Mukike some 40km south of the capital in the area where the FNL has been most active. "The FNL infiltrated an enclosure on Rurambira hill and massacred a man, two woman and three children with small hoes," army spokesperson Adolphe Manirakiza said. The governor of rural Bujumbura province, Ignace Ntabarirarana, confirmed his account. But several of the residents of the Rurambira area said 15 people had been killed by the rebels. "The FNL wants to take revenge on the population," said one resident who asked not to be named. The head of the United Nations mission in Burundi, Carolyn McAskie, who is due to have her first meeting with the FNL in the coming days, has said obtaining a ceasefire is a top priority. The FNL is the last rebel group opposing Burundi's power-sharing Hutu-Tutsi government. More than 300 000 people have been killed in Burundi since civil war erupted in the east African country in 1993. Edited by Anthea Jonathan

Cameroon

Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé) 13 July 2004 Civil Society Drilled On Human Rights By Esther Azaa A three-day training seminar on the eradication of racism and xenophobia in Central Africa opened yesterday in Yaounde. Organized by the U.N Sub-Regional Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa, the seminar is co-chaired by the Director of the Centre, Ambassador Teferra Shiawl and the Minister Delegate at the Ministry of External Relations in charge of the Commonwealth, Ndion Ngute. For three days, participants at the seminar would be drilled on human right laws particularly on the role of the civil society in the implementation of the Durban plan of action, following one of the resolutions taken during the Durban World Conference in August 31st to September 8, 2002. Speaking while presiding at the opening ceremony, Minister Ndion Ngute lauded the efforts of the civil society and NGOs involved in human rights. He called on them to reflect on the strategies for a better follow up of the Durban resolutions, and its implementation. He pointed out that the government is preoccupied with the maintenance of peace in the country. "The seminar would help to sensitize the population on the importance of consolidating peace in the Sub-region," he explained. Teferra Shiawl, on his part, said Cameroon is a good example of a peaceful environment. He explained that the country has successfully consolidated peace irrespective of its diversified ethnic groups. "The Durban plan of action calls for every measure to fight racism", he said. Adding that, racism leads to underdevelopment. "Consequently, the malaise must be cut right from its roots", he emphasised. Mr. Teferra said intolerance leads to genocide as witnessed in some parts of Africa. To that effect, issues that have been identified as threats to social peace were handled at the seminar. Particular emphases were laid on issues of racial discrimination. Participants at the seminar are expected to identify the causes of racial discrimination in Central Africa. They would build up a strategy for the implementation of the Durban plan of action, as well as examine the national rules and regulations in the protection of human rights. NGOs involved in the protection of human rights as well as researchers in racial discrimination, are also expected to take part. The seminar ends tomorrow.

Chad

AFP 25 Jul 2004 Two Darfur refugees killed in Chad amid tensions with aid groups: UN ABECHE, Chad, July 25 (AFP) - Two Sudanese refugees from the war-torn Darfur region staying in a camp in Chad were shot dead in clashes with local security forces amid rising tensions with aid workers, the United Nations said Sunday. The fatal clashes on Thursday came 10 days after UN and other aid workers were forced to leave the camp of Forchana accommodating nearly 12,000 people in the east of Chad when refugees started throwing stones at them. A spokesman for the Office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Abeche, some 70 kilometres (45 miles) west of Forchana, said that weapons caches had been found at the camp and 19 people had been arrested. Sixteen of the detained were Sudanese refugees from Darfur, while two were Chadian nationals and the other was Saudi national who was said to be preaching holy war within the camp. Refugees had hurled stones at UN and NGO aid workers on July 13 when the UN started planting trees in the camp, which they took as a sign that they could be staying in the camp for a long period of time, said spokesman Eduardo Cue. There are 11,800 people in the camp, mostly "semi-nomadic people who could feel that they have been wronged", said Cue. The Chadian authorities started negotiating with the refugees but sent in security forces after this failed to bear any fruit. It was in the course of this operation that a man and a woman were killed in unspecified circumstances. According to a UNHCR official, the situation in the camp is still "very tense" but it is hoping to resume its operations in Forchana in the coming week. The crisis in the Darfur province, which borders onto Chad, started when rebel groups rose up against Khartoum in February 2003, claiming that the mainly black African region had been ignored by the Arab government. In return, the government and its loyal Janjaweed militias responded with a brutal armed crackdown that aid and rights groups have called a massive campaign of ethnic cleansing. UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland has said the death toll could be as high as 50,000. About 1.2 million people have been forced from their homes during the 17 months of conflict, and some 200,000 have taken refuge in Chad. The incident at the Forchana was not the only example of violence against aid organisations, as two humanitarian workers were stabbed in the Brejing camp on July 16, leaving several officials speaking of "provocative elements" in the camps. The Brejing camp accommodates nearly 30,000 people and is said by the UN to be massively overcrowded.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees 27 Jul 2004UNHCR back in Chad's violence-hit camps; completes transfer from border town ABECHE, Culy 27 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency has resumed work at two troubled camps in eastern Chad and completed the transfer of Sudanese refugees from a border town to another camp in the north. Over the weekend, UNHCR and its partners returned to Farchana and Breidjing camps after being ordered by the Chadian government to withdraw temporarily due to unrest over the last two weeks in which two refugees were killed. The agencies had met with the local authorities and refugee leaders at both sites on Saturday and agreed that humanitarian work could resume safely. Water supply in Farchana, home to 11,800 Sudanese refugees, was restored on Thursday following a two-day cut-off due to the incidents. Breidjing camp now hosts 30,000 registered refugees as well as an estimated 5,000 who have arrived on their own at the site and have not yet been integrated into a camp. The latter group will receive food once the Chadian government refugee agency, CNAR, completes their registration in a few days. There will also be a general food distribution for the rest of the camp this weekend. "The Breidjing site cannot support such a large number of refugees, so we are planning to move those who arrived on their own to other camps," said UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis at a news briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. "We will also move some of the registered refugees to another camp to help ease the pressure on Breidjing." Further north, UNHCR has completed the transfer of refugees from the border town of Bahai to Oure Cassoni camp. The agency has begun moving refugees from nearby Cariari, which should be completed by the end of the week. The total number of refugees in these two border towns now seems to be lower than expected based on the figures provided by CNAR. So far, UNHCR is accommodating a total of more than 140,000 refugees who have moved from the insecure Chad-Sudan border to the nine camps in eastern Chad. There is a separate group of 14,800 refugees registered by CNAR at the site of Am Nabak, where there is insufficient water to establish a camp. They have been receiving some assistance and UNHCR has been offering to move them from Am Nabak to Mile camp. The refugees were reluctant at first, but have now indicated they would be willing to move to another site. The UN agency is trying to identify a location to accommodate them. Meanwhile, UNHCR's emergency airlift to Chad continues, with flights from Spain, Sweden and Denmark expected to arrive this week with vehicles, water buckets, tents, generators, fuel bladders and other relief items. The final flight of an airlift of 16,100 tents from Pakistan to Chad will arrive later today in the Chadian capital, N'djamena. .

Cote d'Ivoire

29 Jun 2004 Ivory Coast president, opposition hold first talks in three months by Laurent Banguet ABIDJAN, June 29 (AFP) - Ivory Coast's political opposition met President Laurent Gbagbo on Tuesday for the first time in three months, with high hopes that a rebel boycott of the talks will not impede efforts to reconcile the troubled African cocoa giant. The day of talks, split into two parts, aimed to revive a moribund French-brokered peace pact signed in January last year to reunite the rebel-held north and the ferociously partisan south after a failed coup against Gbagbo plunged the country into war. Top on the agenda was the restoration of normal government function, suspended since opposition ministers quit attending cabinet meetings to protest a deadly state-sanctioned crackdown on a pro-peace rally in March that left at least 120 dead according to a UN human rights team. Key demands from the loosely-aligned opposition coalition known as the G7 were the reinstatement of three ministers sacked by the president in the wake of the walk-out. They also sought security guarantees amid new tensions in the main city Abidjan following incursions by both sides into the ceasefire zone slashed across the center of the country. On the ruling party's side was the continued insistence that the rebels disarm before the peace pact, which addresses key catalysts of the war including land ownership and national identity, is fully implemented. Tuesday's talks came barely a week after a UN Security Council delegation traveled to Abidjan bearing a stern message for the main protagonists in the crisis that has pummeled the economy that has been a driver of the west African economic engine. Should there be no tangible progress towards reconciliation and the outbursts of violence continue, Ivory Coast could be hit with targeted sanctions, diplomats said, including travel bans and the freezing of bank accounts. Pronouncing that the president was a "dilettante" responsible for the Ivory Coast impasse, the rebels announced their boycott Monday, saying they refuse to sit down with Gbagbo without mediation by the United Nations. UN peacekeepers have been deployed in Ivory Coast since April and have been seen by Gbagbo partisans to favor the rebels and the opposition. A UN spokesman said Tuesday that the request had been declined. Little emerged in the break between sessions, though it seemed unlikely that much progress would be made despite the stated intentions from all sides prior to the opening of discussions, which were expected to continue Wednesday. "(The opposition) told President Gbagbo that it was up to him to act, as a show of faith so that government function would be restored," a source close to the talks told AFP on condition of anonymity. "Laurent Gbagbo said he has already done a lot." Regional leaders fear that continued unrest in Ivory Coast could bleed over its porous borders, reigniting conflict in next-door Liberia, itself emerging from 14 years of war, or destabilizing northwestern neighbor Guinea. While Ghana, to the east, has reaped some benefits from Ivory Coast's struggle -- including higher traffic at its expanding Tema port -- President John Kufuor has been key to regional mediation efforts under the aegis of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which he currently leads. The Ghanaian capital Accra is to host a third summit of Ivorian political actors in coming days, local media reported, with Kufuor and Gabonese President Omar Bongo, considered a key Gbagbo ally, mediating.

ICG 12 July 2004 Cote d'Ivoire: No Peace in Sight Lack of good faith on the part of all sides in the Côte d'Ivoire peace process is jeopardising the October 2005 elections and could cause the war to spread to neighbouring countries. None of the parties to the January 2003 Linas-Marcoussis Accords has shown the will to break the impasse and compromise on key issues of nationality, eligibility for elections, and disarmament. Meanwhile, profits from the shadowy war economy are benefiting almost everyone except ordinary citizens, making progress even less likely. If there is to be any chance of peace, the international community, and especially the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), needs to take on the spoilers more assertively and openly, and end impunity for the perpetrators of continued violence. ICG reports and briefing papers are available on our website: www.icg.org

DRCongo

AP 2 July 2004 Congo hopes court will bring justice after years of killing By DANIEL BALINT-KURTI, Associated Press Last Updated 2:49 pm PDT Friday, July 2, 2004 KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - Recovering from five years of conflict that were Africa's deadliest ever, Congolese see a glimmer of hope for justice with the International Criminal Court's investigation into atrocities that could range from ethnic killings to cannibalism. Congo expects the first investigators within weeks, although the court will not confirm it. The Hague, Netherlands-based tribunal will be looking only at alleged crimes committed since its establishment in July 2002, shortly after a peace deal in South Africa paved the way for the end of most fighting in Congo's 1998-2002 war. The conflict claimed the lives of more than 3 million people. The investigation will be the court's first, and the tribunal will have plenty to look into. Potentially, all the main players in Congo's fighting could be targeted, including troops loyal to Congolese President Joseph Kabila. The court also is likely to look at the roles played by Uganda and Rwanda and abuses by a host of rebel groups - including massacres, child rapes and cannibalism. Congolese Foreign Minister Antoine Ghonda said his government welcomed the investigating team. Asked whether he was worried the court would look at any government abuses, he said: "Let them come first, and then we'll see." Rebel officials have expressed a willingness to work with investigators. "We are completely open and ready to collaborate with any investigators the International Criminal Court may send over," said Baya Ramanzi, an aide to Jean-Pierre Bemba, whose former rebel group, the Congolese Liberation Movement, was backed by Uganda during the war. A postwar power-sharing deal made Bemba one of four vice presidents under Kabila. Bemba's group continued fighting in the troubled northeastern Ituri province after the 2002 peace accord. A U.N. team reported "massive rapes," forced labor, and cannibalism in the province during that campaign. The court has said Ituri will be a major focus of investigation. Since 1999, fighting in Ituri has killed more than 50,000 people and forced 500,000 to flee their homes, according to the United Nations and human rights groups. Fighting is largely between rival ethnic Hema and Lendu militias. U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said in a report last year that there also have been reports of rapes, mutilations and cannibalism "meant to bring ritual strength to perpetrators." Last week, U.N. troops arrested two warlords, one of whom stands accused of recruiting child soldiers. The United Nations has some 10,500 peacekeepers in Congo, mostly in Ituri. In Congo's capital, Kinshasa, residents said they wanted justice. "The aggressors must be punished," said Siska Mangouma, 25, a mother of two who earns a living selling grilled plantains by the roadside. "They make us suffer for nothing." Landlord Leonard Tshima, 55, said the prosecution of even a handful of war criminals in Congo would set an example. "If you punish two, three or four of the big criminals, the others will be afraid," he said. "The real pity is that they are only going back to 2002, whereas the biggest crimes were committed before then." Congo's war started in 1998 when Rwanda and Uganda backed Congolese rebels in a bid to overthrow Congo's government, accusing it of harboring Hutu militias responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia entered the war on Congo's side. Fears were raised of a new war last month, when renegade troops with links to Rwanda seized the eastern, gold-trading center of Bukavu for eight days. Fighting has subsided for now.

Reuters 10 Jul 2004 1 Congo troops kill 10 Rwandan militiamen-commander KINSHASA, July 10 (Reuters) - Congolese troops killed 10 Rwandan Hutu militiamen who attacked them in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, the local military commander said. "The rebels attacked my troops at Katwa, 50 km (30 miles) north of Goma," General Obedi Rwibasira told Reuters by phone, adding that three of his men had been wounded. "So far we have killed 10 of them and captured seven submachine guns, but the fighting continues as we speak." Goma is the capital of North Kivu, a province that has been the scene of repeated clashes with the Hutu militias known as Interahamwe who took part in Rwanda's genocide in 1994 and fled to eastern Congo. Rwanda invaded Congo in 1996 and 1998, arguing that it had to destroy the rebels who posed a threat to its Tutsi-led government. Rwandan troops officially withdrew in 2002 but Kigali says it retains the right to return if the government or U.N. soldiers fail to disarm the estimated 10,000 rebels who remain.

observer.guardian.co.uk New warlord opens Congo's old wounds Rory Carroll in Ntendeza, Rwanda Sunday July 11, 2004 The Observer Officially Jules Mutebutsi is a colonel in Congo's army, but he recently rose to a more senior rank - warlord. A conflict the world hoped was over blazed up again last month when Mutebutsi rebels led against the Democratic Republic of Congo's government and turned the city of Bukavu into a battleground. The uprising was quelled and the colonel retreated with 300 men into Rwanda, where The Observer found him at a rickety table in a glade playing cards with friends, considering his next move. Softly spoken and skinny, wearing a green tracksuit and black slippers, he did not look like a master of mayhem. So far his warlord stint had not been successful. After a week pillaging Bukavu, his force was chased out, along with the Congolese Tutsi civilians it claimed to be protecting, turning them all into refugees. Yet Mutebutsi knows the advantage of being a warlord is that the eventual loser may not be him but Congo. Traditionally you need victory for spoils, but in central Africa instability works just as well. The colonel's adventure shook a fragile peace which continues to wobble, prompting warnings last week from the African Union and European Union about the potential for a new conflagration. 'Bukavu was the start of the second half of the Congolese champions' league,' said a Western diplomat. A grim joke referring to the five-year war, supposedly brought to an end last year, which drew in six countries and killed three million people. With a second half, Mutebutsi would be back in business, accumulating wealth, power and status as his men grabbed what territory they could. Advertiser links Volunteer Internationally Experience a country from a whole new perspective by signing... crossculturalsolutions.org Volunteer in 24 Countries Worldwide Volunteer travel and TEFL training. Projects in... hypertracker.com Volunteers Required in India Smile Society is one of the NGOs working for the welfare of... smilengo.org He did not express it that way. His task, he said, was to defend Congo's Tutsis, known as Banyamulenge. 'There were plans for genocide against them; we made it possible for them to escape.' Investigators from Human Rights Watch found no evidence of genocide, planned or actual. Dozens of Banyamulenge were killed but that was retaliation for the uprising, according to witnesses. As a result, 30,000 fled into Burundi and Rwanda, but started trickling back last week, evidently not expecting to be slaughtered. But the colonel suggested that his services would be needed again: 'The government has ordered the killing of the people.' Mutebutsi wields limited power, but embodies what could be the undoing of Congo - the human factor, the calculation of a few individuals that they have more to gain from war than peace. The peace deals brokered by South Africa were diplomatic triumphs. All six foreign armies withdrew from the former Belgian colony and all the major militias and rebel groups formed a transitional government to rule from the capital, Kinshasa, until elections in 2005. Former foes were to be integrated into a single army. Expecting such diverse factions to build a unified nation was ambitious, but it seemed to work. The UN bolstered its peacekeepers to more than 10,000, not much for a country the size of western Europe, but with extra French muscle they kept a lid on tensions in the eastern provinces. Under the peace accord, Mutebutsi, a rebel backed by Rwanda during the war, was reborn as a commander in the national army which owed allegiance to Kinshasa. But in late May the strategic city of Bukavu erupted when he took matters into his own hands and attacked loyalist troops. With help from another renegade, General Laurent Nkunda, he occupied the city in a week-long binge of rape, looting and killing which humiliated the UN's blue helmets and enraged Kinshasa. But Mutebutsi could not hold his prize and fled to Rwanda, where he was disarmed, and lodged in a military camp at Ntendeza. Kinshasa accused the colonel's hosts of sponsoring the rebellion and moved 10,000 troops to the border. Pressure from African and Western governments calmed talk of imminent all-out war but none of the underlying problems has been solved, said Susan Linnee, of the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think-tank. 'Bukavu could quickly fall again to the renegades, and the town of Goma could become the next centre of turmoil.' Aldo Ajello, the EU's envoy to the Great Lakes Region, said rival Congolese groups behaved as banana republics trying to control territory. 'That must stop. The country must be unified as quickly as possible,' he said. But when key players do not want unification, that is difficult. Unrest suits Rwanda's goal of keeping eastern Congo in its sphere of influence, as it suits factions in Kinshasa who want former foes out of the government. Mix overlapping micro-conflicts over mineral resources and disputes between tribal and ethnic groups, and Congo's brew turns very murky. But one ingredient is unmistakeable - the ambition of men such as Mutebutsi. He signed up to peace expecting to become commander of Bukavu, said former friends-turned-refugees, only for Kinshasa to appoint him deputy and make another officer, General Felix Mbuza Mabe, the chief. Mutebutsi became a warlord not because he was a psychopath or bloodthirsty, or because he was following orders from Rwandan masters, or because he wanted to defend his ethnic group, but because he was disappointed that he did not get a better job. Out of uniform, the only thing that distinguished him as a leader was the mobile phone which his fingers fiddled with constantly. One nice thing about going freelance was that nobody could ring it and tell him what to do. He said: 'I have no boss.'

Reuters 12 July 2004 23 killed in eastern Congo fighting: army KINSHASA: Congolese troops have killed at least 23 Rwandan Hutu militiamen who attacked them at two locations in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo over the weekend, the local military commander said on Sunday. “In fighting that has continued since yesterday morning, we have killed at least 23 rebels and seized some arms,” General Obedi Rwibasira told Reuters from the border town of Goma, 50km south of the scene of the initial fighting. “But they [the rebels] also attacked my troops in Kingi, 40 km west of Goma, during the night,” he added, without giving further details of the second attack. Rwibasira blamed the attacks on the Interahamwe, Hutu militias who fled Rwanda after they took part in the 1994 genocide that killed some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Thousands of Rwandan Hutu rebels have remained in eastern Congo since then and Rwanda has invaded Congo twice, in 1996 and 1998, arguing it has an obligation to hunt them down. Rwandan troops withdrew after peace deals were signed in 2002 but Kigali has threatened to return if neither Congolese forces nor UN peacekeepers disarm the rebels. reuters Home

Reuters AlertNet Full site Homepage | Login | Newsdesk | From the field | Emergencies | Relief resources | Africa | Americas | Asia | Europe | Middle East | Country profiles NEWSDESK 11 Jul 2004 16:40:09 GMT More than 20 killed in eastern Congo fighting-army KINSHAS