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IRIN Emergency Update No.209 on the Great Lakes (10 July 1997)
* The IGAD summit was a "positive step in the right direction" towards peace, but there will be no ceasefire until a comprehensive settlement is agreed, spokesman for the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), George Benjamin, said in Nairobi today. The five nation summit ended Wednesday with Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir's agreement to abide by the Declaration of Principles presented by the IGAD mediating team in 1994 as a basis for peace which he had earlier rejected. The key points Khartoum now accepts are the country's return to a secular constitution and a four year interim administration to address issues surrounding self-determination. A timetable for the resumption of talks under the auspices of IGAD is now awaited, Benjamin said.
* South Africa's unilateral arms embargo on Rwanda is under review following a visit by Vice President Paul Kagame. South African Deputy President, Thabo Mbeki, said his government recognised that "the security problems of Rwanda need to be addressed". AFP cited diplomatic sources as suggesting that South Africa was "working towards" lifting the sanctions introduced in November. Kagame, who began his three day official tour Wednesday, stressed: "our ambition is to survive. Genocide is one problem, refugees (are) another, security on the border from neighbouring countries is also a problem." According to a BBC Kirundi/Kinyarwanda service broadcast Thursday, a group of Rwandan pilots recently completed military training in South Africa. Approval was given for BBC FM broadcasts into Rwanda at a cabinet meeting Tuesday. The BBC will use the Mount Jari transmitters just north of Kigali, Radio Rwanda announced.
* South Africa is offering technical assistance to help rebuild Rwanda's shattered infrastructure. South Africa's Mossgas and Safoil energy companies are to provide advice over the exploitation of Rwanda's large methane reserves in Lake Kivu. Kigali currently spends 40 percent of its foreign reserves importing energy, AFP reports.
* Protesting over the Burundian authority's delay in processing their papers, about 800 Congolese refugees demonstrated in front of the UNHCR office in Bujumbura Tuesday, the BBC Kirundi/Kinyarwanda service reported. An interior ministry official interviewed denied that the vetting process was taking too long.
* The Angolan news agency ANGOP alleged UNITA was responsible for an attack this week on the southern village of Canajoaxa in which 14 people were killed. The assault was the third in two weeks in the area which has left a total of 25 people dead, including five soldiers, army commander Joao Carlos Carvalho said. Nairobi, July 10 1997, 15:20 GMT
[ENDS]
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Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1997 18:21:37 -0300 (GMT+3) From: UN DHA IRIN - Great Lakes <irin@dha.unon.org> Subject: Great Lakes: IRIN Update 209 for 10 July 1997 97.7.10 (fwd) Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.970710182132.32155F-100000@amahoro.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Dr. Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D
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