Great Lakes: IRIN Update 131, 3/19/97

U N I T E D N A T I O N S Department of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network

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IRIN Emergency Update No. 131 on the Great Lakes (19 March 1997)

* Zaire's Transitional Parliament (HCR-PT), voted yesterday to remove Prime Minister Kengo wa Dondo from office. About 470 delegates of a total 738 attempted to oust Kengo in a vote "by consensus" shortly after he flew to Kenya to attend a summit in Nairobi to discuss the Zairean crisis. The vote also called for a ceasefire and talks with the rebels. It was not immediately clear whether the vote carried legal authority; many of Kengo's supporters stayed away. Kengo had been re-appointed Prime Minister of the Crisis Government by President Mobutu in December 1996. Kengo said in Nairobi today that he was still Prime Minister, according to Kenyan KTN television. EU Special Envoy Aldo Ajello told KTN that the Parliament's decision was "illegal". Zaire's deputy Prime Minister Lambert Mende Omalanga is quoted by AFP today as saying the vote was "unconstitutional". Zaire has suffered from constitutional chaos since the early 1990s. Anzuluni Bembe, a senior Zairean parliamentarian, told Reuters that a three-quarter majority would be needed fo rthe vote to be valid.

* CNN showed pictures of troops of the former Rwandan government captured in the battle for Kisangani. They claimed they were forced to fight by the Zairean Armed Forces. Hundreds of Zairean government troops were reported to have handed over their weapons to rebels at a military camp outside Kisangani. The ex-FAZ troops are to be "re-educated" re-trained, rebel commander Joseph Kabila, son of rebel leader Laurent-Desire Kabila told Reuters. Serb mercenaries based at Kisangani are accused of executions and torture of civilians by local people. An IPS report from Belgrade yesterday reported that despite Serbian government denials of official involvement in mercenary operations in Zaire, CNN TV pictures had shown Yugoslav-made uniforms, sniper rifles and fighter planes being used in Kisangani. A mercenary recruiter in Bosnian Serb army said that Croats and Muslims had also been recruited; "Imagine, we'll be on the same side now", he is reported is saying. In a CNN interview, Jospeh Kabila denied that the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL) was receiving help from either Angola or Uganda.

* ADFL rebels claim to be over 100 kms west of the Zaire river, and have taken Kasongo and Kibombo, south of Kindu. In an AFP report, Kabila is reported to offer the Zairean military the opportunity to lay down their weapons and "await the army of liberation." He threatened those who continue fighting with trials in special tribunals. Well-placed sources told IRIN of looting by retreating FAZ forces in Kabinda, 100 kms northeast of Mbuji-Mayi. Isangi, 150 km west of Kisangani has also suffered looting, the sources say. Lebanese businesspeople in Lubumbashi have started to evacuate their families, according to Reuters. Twenty-five Lebanese women and children were evacuated to South Africa last night.

* The diaspora of Rwandan refugees in eastern Zaire continues to spread. Humanitarian sources say some up to 2,000 refugees have arrived in Lodja, over 250 km west of Kindu. They are thought to have come from a group earlier collected at Kalima. The refugees remaining at Tingi-Tingi, despite being in poor condition, are being moved to Amisi by ADFL authorities. A further 28 unaccompanied minors were flown by UN agencies from Tingi-Tingi to Goma yesterday.

* A 35 metric ton WFP IL-76 cargo flight headed for Kisangani from Mwanza had to turn back today when it was ordered to land at Goma. A later flight succeeded in reaching Kisangani. A smaller plane carrying an interagency team flew from Goma to Kisangani to meet the cargo flight and make preliminary assessments. Rebel authorities in Kisangani broacast a demand to the local population to return looted relief food seized from aid agency warehouses within two days or "face severe consequences". Two truckloads have so far been returned. WFP currently has about 150 MTs in stock in Kisangani, and an additional 100 MTs or more may have been looted during the takeover of Kisangani and retreat of FAZ troops last weekend. The re-opening of the airlift route bodes well for the supply of food to 35,000 displaced Zaireans in Kisangani, but means of reaching refugees at Ubundu, 30,000 of whom have now crossed to the west of the river, remain uncertain.

* US State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns said that reports of the involvement of neighbouring countries in the Zaire conflict was "an extremely troubling development... that Zaire is threatened on all sides." Burns also mentioned "men in arms coming across the Angolan-Zairean border." US military specialists and contractors are due to arrive in Brazzaville, Congo, on Wednesday to make preparations for a possible evacuation of US citizens, reports AP. Reports from Congo indicate that several dozen US citizens have already taken refuge in Brazzaville. Belgium has recommended that its citizens quit Zaire if their presence is not essential. The foreign ministry announced that there were 2,800 Belgians living in Zaire at the beginning of the month.

* President Mobutu Sese Seko's son, Nzanga Mobutu, said that rumours concerning his father's health "criminal and irresponsible", and said he would invite the press to Mobutu's villa near Nice, France to "clarify the situation" as soon as the ailing president is discharged, reports AFP. Close aide Honore Ngbanda Nzambo Ko Atume announced that Mobutu would return to Zaire at the end of the week. Le Monde reported Tuesday that Mobutu was receiving blood transfusions to compensate from "bladder hamorrhaging."

* The Nairobi summit today included the presidents of Kenya, Congo, and Zimbabwe as well as Vice President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge of Cameroon. International envoys Howard Wolpe (US) and Aldo Ajello (EU) as well as Joint OAU/UN Special Representative Mohamed Sahnoun will attend as observers. Senior US diplomat George Moose and Salim Ahmed Salim, OAU Secretary-General are also attending the summit. Canadian special envoy Marius Bujold was also in Nairobi today. Ajello said that one of the tasks before the meeting was to develop an agenda for the OAU-sponsored meeting in Lome on March 26, reports Reuters.

Rebel leader Kabila, not invited to the summit, has dismissed it as "irrelevant", and has scorned Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi as "another Mobutu", reports say.

* US Assistant Secretary of State George Moose and French Foreign Minister Herve de Charrette made a joint plea for Kabila to "accept the international community's invitation to a ceasefire and dialogue". French Foreign Ministry spokesman Yves Doutriaux said that continued operations by the rebels could have "extremely grave consequences".

* The population of Lugufu camp near Kigoma, Tanzania, housing Zairean refugees transferred from centres in Kigoma town, has swelled to 46,000. About 500 new arrivals (down from 1,000 a day last month) are registered every day in Tanzania, a mixture of Zaireans and Burundians. Kigoma region in Tanzania holds the largest concentration of refugees in the Great Lakes region. The combined population of Zairean and Burundian refugees in Tanzania has quadrupled in the last four months.

* A press release from the Ugandan President's office appeals to the UN Secretary-General to assist Uganda in securing the release of Ugandan abductees, alleged to be held in Sudan. The statement says that 24 school girls from St Mary's College, Aboke were kidnapped on 10 October 1996 and were being held in Aruu, southern Sudan. Another six girls were rescued by Ugandan forces, the statement says. President Museveni's letter to Annan said that the girls are among "thousands who have been abducted into Sudan by agents of thhe Sudan Government.. Many of these, according to evidence, are sold into slavery and others are gang-pressed into banditry activities." Uganda reserves the right to take "all legitimate measures to end such criminality", the statement said.

Another round of peace talks between Sudan and Uganda are scheduled for June in Iran. Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Osman Mohammad Taha, announcing the talks in Khartoum, said, however, that Ugandan "agression" and "direct support" to southern rebels meant that the current crisis in relations would be hard to resolve, reports AFP. Sudanese SPLA rebels said on Wednesday that their forces had retaken Chali-el-Fil from government forces, near the Ethiopian on Monday.

* UNHCR Nairobi say that about 100 Rwandan detainees remain at Wilson airport, having flown in from Tingi-Tingi camp in Zaire just before it fell under the control of Zairean ADFL rebels. At the beginning of the week, unconfirmed reports say that some detainees are thought to have escaped.

* The UN today launched an appeal for $324.5 million for the Great Lakes region. The appeals covers needs in the countries of the region during 1997 excluding Rwanda, which has requested to be treated separately. The appeal describes programmes by UN agencies to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to 1.4 milllion refugees, displaced and war-affected populations. It also includes projects to repair environmental and social damage caused by refugee camps in eastern Zaire and Tanzania. Voluntary repatriation of Rwandan refugees remains a priority objective, while repatriation of Burundians is not currently promoted.

Two previous appeals for the Great Lakes launched in 1996, covering calendar 1996 plus January 1997, raised a total of $582.2 million.

Nairobi, 19 March 1997, 15:30 GMT [ENDS]

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Date: Wed, 19 Mar 1997 18:43:27 +0300 From: UN DHA IRIN - Great Lakes <irin@dha.unon.org> Subject: Great Lakes: IRIN Update 131 for 19 Mar 1997 97.3.19 Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.970319184332.23343E-100000@amahoro.dha.unon.org>

Editor: Ali Dinar, aadinar@mail.sas.upenn.edu