UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
Great Lakes: IRIN Update 133, 3/21/97

Great Lakes: IRIN Update 133, 3/21/97

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

Tel: +254 2 622147 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin@dha.unon.org

IRIN Emergency Update No. 133 on the Great Lakes (Friday 21 March 1997)

* President Mobutu Sese Seko has called for a ceasefire and the creation of a "national council" to resolve the crisis in Zaire. In a statement issued from his villa at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in the South of France, the ailing president said "a national council, representing the various sides, the army and the parliament should be set up quickly in order to find - along with all our brothers, without exception - appropriate ways of getting out of the current situation, which is having such a serious impact on our dear country." A plane carrying Mobutu and his entourage landed in Kinshasa from Nice this afternoon, but more than half an hour after landing, the ailing president had still not emerged from the aircraft. A welcoming committee was told to wait at the official presidential residence and journalists were asked to leave the tarmac, Reuters reports.

Mobutu's son, Mobutu Nzanga, speaking in southern France, said "it is urgent to find a diplomatic, and not a military solution to the conflict." Rebel finance "minister" Mawampanga Mwana Nanga, however rejected the proposal, and said that until the day Mobutu steps down, the rebels would go on fighting", reports AFP. Prime Minster Kengo wa Dondo, returning to Kinshasa yesterday said in a statement he would remain prime minister "until it is proven otherwise".

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday that he thought diplomatic efforts would move ahead on three fronts: "the ceasefire, talks, and a design of a mechanism to monitor a ceasefire." He also urged South Africa and other African countries to prepare to play a part in a possible ceasefire monitoring force; "the days when African troops were kept back and troops from outside Africa came are gone", Annan said, according to Reuters.

* The US newspaper Washington Post today alleges that members of Mobutu's family are involved in a multi-million dollar arms smuggling operation to supply Angolan rebels of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Spokesmen for UNITA and Mobutu denied the charges.

* Burundian Security Minister Epitace Bayagawakandi told AFP yesterday he was sending a team to Cibitoke in investigate the reports of a massacre in camps in Buganda commune, Cibitoke, in which 135 people are said to have been killed. Independent radio Studio Ijambo reports today that state TV showed witnesses claiming the attack was carried out by rebels who were exacting revenge on people who refused to collaborate with them. Many of the people killed had recently repatriated from Zaire. Roi Khaled hospital in Bujumbura is treating 40 wounded from the attacks. Studio Ijambo pointed out that the attack may be intended to show that the camps are not effective in their official purpose - to protect the people in them.

The first significant attempt to prosecute those responsible for the assassination of Burundian President Melchior Ndadaye in October 1993 was postponed today. Trials are planned for 79 people accused of being involved in the unsuccessful coup, but the cases were postponed today for "procedural reasons", according to AFP. Among the accused are former army Chief of Staff Jean Bikomagu, and UPRONA party "president-in-waiting" Francois Ngeze. Studio Ijambo in Bujumbura said today that 20 people appeared in court today, 19 of whom were military. A further 46 accused failed to show up.

* Kongolo Mwenze, Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Zaire (ADFL) "justice minister" told AFP yesterday that aid agencies should "stop crying" about the refugees at Ubundu. He said the international community should "come and get them". An ADFL representative said yesterday in Nairobi that the ADFL could no longer guarantee the safety of refugees fleeing further west.

Laurent-Desire Kabila, leader of the ADFL arrived in Kisangani today to the greetings of a crowd estimated at 15,000. An ultimatum to government troops to surrender expires on March 23. Political re-education programmes lasting 10 days in Kisangani are targeted at civilians as well as former government troops, accoridng to AFP. The opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) announced today it had sent envoys to meet Kabila. UPDS Secretary-General Adrien Phongo demanded that President Mobutu endorse Etienne Tshisekedi as Prime Minister, following the inconclusive parliamentary attempt to sack Kengo wa Dondo on Wednesday.

* Joint UN/OAU Special Representative Mohamed Sahnoun is reportedly meeting Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Gulu today, and expected to fly to meet Kabila tomorrow, news agencies report. Kabila again today rejected a ceasefire, the first part of Sahnoun's five-point peace plan. The Kenyan Daily Nation reported that Wednesday's mini-summit had chosen Sahnoun to communicate the summit's decisions to rebel leader Kabila. In the same press briefing, Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka denied that that Kenya was taking sides in the Zaire conflict.

* Kenyan opposition politicians have expressed support for the ADFL rebels in Zaire, and "deplored the waste of public money" on summits held in Nairobi, the Kenya Daily Nation reported yesterday.

* Amnesty International, in a report released this week, accused the Zairean army of raping, pillaging and killing with "virtual impunity" in the Kivu region. In particular, the report highlights the rape and killing of schoolgirls in Bunia and attacks on church workers suspected of supporting the rebellion. Amnesty, saying that governments have appeared "unwilling or unable" to take action on gross human rights abuses in Zaire, asks both the Zairean government and the ADFL to allow full access to territories under their control to human rights activists and investigators. Amnesty appeals for the death sentences passed on Zairean soldiers convicted of looting and desertion to be commuted, and for the prevention of further arms, materiel and military personnel transfers.

Another Amnesty Intenational (AI) press release received by IRIN today says that an AI delegation returning from Rwanda reports a series of "worrying developments", including an increase in unlawful executions by the Rwandan Patriotic Army, killings of civilians by ex-FAR and Interahamwe, killings of Hutu civilians by Tutsi civilians and "disappearances". The north and northwest of the country are most seriously affected. The lack of access by independent observers to parts of the country has led to a "dangerous situation", the report states.

* Burundi's food security has `deteriorated significantly in recent months' and the overall food supply situation remains `extremely tight', according to the latest FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply report on Burundi (3 March). The agencies estimate aggregate food production of the 1997 first season crop at about 1.2 million MTs, 7% below 1996 and 18% below the pre-crisis average for 1988-93. Food prices have increased by more than 40-50% since early 1996, while the price of beans alone has doubled in most areas since July 1996, reflecting a reduced harvest. The low first season crop is the result of poor security, population movement, sanctions and adverse weather conditions in some parts of the country.

The report spells out in detail the effects of the economic embargo on Burundi, stating that `[t]here is little doubt that the economic embargo on Burundi has exacerbated the adverse affects of civil strife in the country and resulted in further lowering of agricultural production and incomes and a deterioration in the food supply situation.' The main effects have been to reduce the area planted and food production as a result of shortages of food, seeds and other inputs, deteriorating livestock health due to the lack of veterinary products, the difficulties and increased costs of distributing inputs, a significant reduction in local food trade, and price distortions.

Looking to the future, FAO/WFP estimate that total food production in the 1997 marketing year will be 3.47 million MTs, representing 95% of the average food produced annually during the 1988-93 pre-crisis period. This estimate, however, assumes improved security conditions and better availability of agricultural inputs, the latter being likely to take place following the Regional Sanctions Co-ordination Committee's decision to allow fertilizers and seeds to be imported. FAO/WFP admit uncertainty as to the effects on food production of the Government of Burundi's current regroupment policy and report `considerable concern among UN agencies, donors and NGOs over the capacity of the affected farmers to produce the food they need if the camps are far from their farms.'

Nairobi, 21 March 1997, 16:00 GMT [ENDS]

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Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 19:06:28 +0300 From: UN DHA IRIN - Great Lakes <irin@dha.unon.org> Subject: Great Lakes: IRIN Update 133 for 21 Mar 1997 97.3.21 Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.970321190337.556i-100000@amahoro.dha.unon.org>

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