Great Lakes: IRIN Update 134, 3/24/97

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. 134 on the Great Lakes (Saturday 22 - Monday 24 March 1997)

* Joint UN/OAU Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed Sahnoun arrived in Kisangani on Saturday for talks with Laurent Desire Kabila, leader of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL). Sahnoun attended a rally in which Kabila addressed a crowd estimated to number 10,000. Kabila, encouraged by the crowd, again refused a ceasefire as a precondition to talks. Kabila announced that ADFL forces had taken Yangambi, about 100 kms west of Kisangani, and Malemba, southwest of Manono, over the weekend.

Zaire's defence ministry, according to AFP, said on Sunday that Pweto on Lake Moero in the southeastern corner of the country was still under government control. Rebels announced they had taken Pweto on Friday 14 March. Kabila withdrew a claim that the ADFL had taken Kabina over the weeked, saying only that his troops were advancing on the town.

Kabila said that Sahnoun had conveyed an invitation to the Lome OAU summit from Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema and that the ADFL would be sending a delegation to the talks. Rebel officials told journalists however, that they would not negotiate at the summit, AFP reports.

* An ADFL transitional government will only share power with those who "have never been in power and who never shared power", Kabila said on Saturday. The dividing lines between "opposition" and "Mobutist" politicians in Zaire have become blurred since the advent of multi-partyism in the early 1990s, analysts say. Kabila said the ADFL planned a transitional government that would last no more than one year. Kabila himself denied any ambitions for the presidency, Reuters reports. Associated Press on Saturday reported that Kabila had "announced the suspension of political parties until the war ends."

* Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko emerged from his residence at Tshatshi military camp in Kinshasa on Sunday, somewhat quelling speculation about his health following his mysterious arrival on Friday. He said he would offer his proposals for resolving the crisis within 48 hours. "I have returned to deal with the higher interests of the nation, that is unity and territorial integrity", Mobutu said to reporters.

Prime Minster Kengo wa Dondo's political future seems precarious after Mobutu announced on Zairean radio in a special news flash he has "taken note" of the parliamentary vote to sack him last week. A close Mobutu advisor, Mamweni Vangu, said the president recognized parliament's "autonomy on the issue".

* South African Deputy President Thabo Mbeki made a flying visit to Kinshasa on Sunday to deliver a letter from President Nelson Mandela to Mobutu. He said he expected a reply from Mobutu "before [the summit at] Lome." Speaking on his return to South Africa, he insisted that South African diplomatic efforts were undertaken as part of the Nairobi initiative. The weekly East African newspaper today reports that a "tiff" between Kenya and South Africa, caused by surprise talks in Cape Town earlier this month, was defused at the mini-summit last week. "Everybody is talking with everybody," US envoy Howard Wolpe was reported as saying.

The East African further reported that Kabila claimed mining companies had already contacted him, even from areas not yet under rebel control, but denied that he had issued any new concessions.

* Preliminary meetings for Wednesday's summit in Lome, Togo begin today. OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim and Joint UN/OAU Special Representative Mohamed Sahnoun have arrived in Lome. A preparatory meeting at ambassadorial level is scheduled for today, with a further meeting at Foreign Minister level tomorrow. Twenty countries are expected to attend.

* Military checkpoints have been established in Lubumbashi, where troops of the Special Presidential Guard remain, as expectations of a rebel attack mounted. A clash was reported on Sunday at Bwalia, about 50 kms southwest of Kasenga on the road to Lubumbashi. AFP reports the soldiers of the Special Presidential Division fought with retreating Zairean soldiers bent on looting.

* Belgium is sending 550 paratroopers to Brazzaville to aid any evacuation of the 2,800 Belgians in Zaire, AFP reports. The US has sent 150 troops to Brazzaville and Libreville to prepare for a possible evacuation of its citizens from Zaire.

* About 50 pro-ADFL demonstrators occupied Zaire's embassy in Paris on Saturday, but left later in the day, news agencies report.

* UNHCR Nairobi reports that during the last week 1,300 Rwandan refugees have emerged from the forest and presented themselves at UNHCR Goma for repatriation. Transportation of refugees - many of them unaccompanied children - by air from Tingi-Tingi, Amisi, Kindu and Kisangani continues, and the total number transported so far is 549, 419 of whom have already been moved back to Rwanda, with the remainder staying at Goma. Air transport is also being considered to relocate displaced people from Kisangani to their home areas in Goma and Bukavu.

* A new Arusha summit on Burundi is set for April 8. An official of Tanzania's foreign ministry told AFP that Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ugandan Zambia and Zaire would attend. The last Arusha summit on Burundi, "Arusha III" was held on October 14. The meeting will review the sanctions applied to Burundi at the Arusha II summit of 31 July 1996 which demanded the restoration of parliament, the unbanning of political parties and unconditional negotiations with all parties. Little progress has been made on the third demand.

* Conflict in Burundi escalated between October and December 1996 with both the army and rebel groups taking advantage of the crisis in eastern Zaire to launch new offensives, according to the UN Special Rapporteur in Burundi in his latest report on the human rights situation (10 February 1997). Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, in a damning and wide-ranging report, states that "the intensification of fighting in November and December 1996 fuelled the constant stream of killings and massacres, targeted assassinations, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, looting and acts of banditry and the destruction of private property by both sides to the conflict."

Pinheiro depicts Burundian society in an acute crisis. The accession to power of Major Buyoya has, he believes, "radilicalized the positions of extremist groups both in political circles and in the army, thus encouraging the increasing militarization of Burundi society." While the Government has declared it is committed to peace and open to negotiations, "it has recently adopted measures which... indicate a desire to pursue the war and conquer the enemy wherever he may be." The report cites the December decree-laws establishing compulsory civic service for all citizens and requiring contributions to `national welfare', as well as the Government's current `regroupement policy', as evidence that "the behaviour of the de facto authorities is based on a wartime rationale for conquering the rebels." The Burundi rebels, for their part, continue their insurgency, with large numbers of rebels, including their general staff, having fled the camps in eastern Zaire and relocated to Tanzania.

Pinheiro criticizes the Government of Burundi's `regroupement' policy, citing reports that persons refusing to submit to this policy `find themselves rapidly accused of complicity with the rebels and treated as enemies.' He points out, however, that rural populations are caught between the army and the rebels.

* Reuters reports a South African government official saying that legislation to control the activities of South African mercenaries should be tabled before the end of the current parliamentary session. Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper alleged that South African mercenaraies were fighting on the side of ADFL rebels in the Zairen conflict, and that some 500 others were in Zaire, preparing to intervene on the side of the government.

The state-owned Ugandan New Vision newspaper, quoting a "top security source", alleged today that Christian Tavernier, self-professed leader of mercenaries fighting on behalf of Zairean President Mobutu, has been detained at Zaire's Makala prison. It reported that mercenaries were "wrangling" over money and had been threatened by Zairean troops whom they prevented from looting.

* In a commentary published by the Inter Press Service today, Emma Bonino, EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, argues that the principle of neutrality in humanitarian intervention outweighs the risk of "certain compromises of conscience -- the risk of helping a few war criminals along with women, children, and the old, and possible interaction with hateful regimes." The article criticizes linkages made by USAID between foreign policy objectives and humanitarian aid.

* The Ugandan New Vision newspaper reports that Ugandan government forces (UPDF) had repelled an attack by 150 Lord's Resistance Army rebels who had attempted to cross into northern Uganda through Palabek-Kal in Kitgum. The attack, confirmed to AFP by Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi, took place on Thursday. Three rebels were killed. The New Vision also reported that civilans were again being displaced in Kasese, due to instability caused by attacks launched from forests by the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). Despite reports to the contrary, the New Vision reported yesterday that rebel leader Juma Oris of the West Nile Bank Front was still alive, quoting President Yoweri Museveni

* The Kenyan government has asked UNHCR to accomodate over 90 Rwandans who had fled Tingi-Tingi via Kisangani on privately-organized charter flights and held by Kenya immigration authorities at Nairobi's Wilson airport. They have been transported to Kakuma, a camp mainly for Sudanese refugees in northwestern Kenya. UNHCR Nairobi today declined to comment on whether the group had qualified for refugee status in Kenya.

* The UK Government's Overseas Development Administration announced a contribution of 1.5 million pounds for humanitarian programmes, particularly for refugees, in the Great Lakes region. Of this, 1 million has been allocated to the UNHCR, 0.14 million to the World Food Programme, and 0.36 million for the ICRC. The pledge was made at the launch of the UN Consolidated Appeal for the Great Lakes on 19 March.

Nairobi, 24 March 1997, 15:40 GMT [ENDS]

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Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 18:46:26 -0300 (GMT+3) From: UN DHA IRIN - Great Lakes <irin@dha.unon.org> Subject: Great Lakes: IRIN Update 134 for 24 Mar 1997 97.3.24 Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.970324184330.18750B-100000@amahoro.dha.unon.org>

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