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IRIN Emergency Update No. 215 on the Great Lakes (Tuesday 22 July 1997)
* Over 80 Rwandans in Kenya were arrested over the weekend and yesterday. The arrests follow the Friday raids by Kenyan police and officials of the International Crimial Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) which captured seven suspects who were taken to Arusha. A raid in Mombasa netted four more persons supected of being involved in the 1994 genocide, according to AFP, while dozens of other Rwandans were arrested in roundups unconnected with investigations by the ICTR. Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi said yesterday that "foreign spies and criminals" were masquerading as refugees in Kenya. Among those said to be sought by the Tribunal but still at large are Felicien Kabuga, chairman of the board of Radio-Television Milles Collines (RTLM) and Belgian Georges Ruggiu, a former journalist with RTLM.
ICTR Prosecutor, Judge Louise Arbour, praised the work of the Deputy Prosecutor Bernard Muna and Tribunal Registrar Agwu Okali in netting the suspects in Nairobi and thanked the Government of Kenya for its assistance. She said in a press briefing in New York yesterday that the attitude of the Kenyan authorities had "changed dramatically from its position at the outset when it was not receptive to the Tribunal's work." Arbour said the Tribunal would be following its mandate of pursuing those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law "in a very aggressive manner".
* Seven thousand Congolese from Congo-Brazzaville are registered as refugees in Kinshasa and receiving food assistance from UN agencies. Up to 100,000 people displaced by fighting in Brazzaville are reported in N'kayi, Dolisie and Pointe-Noire in Congo-Brazzaville.
The latest peace talks on the Brazzaville crisis in Libreville, Gabon today were set to include Joint UN-OAU Special Representative Mohamed Sahnoun, the host, President Omar Bongo, Congolese Prime Minister David Charles Ganao and delegations from the two warring sides in Brazzaville. Mediator Bernard Kolelas, mayor of Brazzaville is also at the talks. Senegalese President Abdou Diouf was also expected to arrive yesterday, reports AFP. The EU today said it would be willing to help pay for an African peacekeeping force for Congo-Brazzaville.
* The UN Secretary-General has written to DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila on the proposed terms of reference of his new human rights investigation. UN Spokesman Fred Eckhard said yesterday that Kofi Annan "had no argument" with the extension of the period of investigation to include events from 1993 until 1997.
Sunday's Kinshasa meeting of African Heads of State "welcomed the setting up of a UN Commission to investigate alleged violations of human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo", but "condemned the campaign of villification and the unjustified pressures" exerted on the DRC, according to the joint communique. Eleven countries, including DRC, were represented at the meeting, which pledged political and material support for DRC's new government.
* Amnesty International expressed fear yesterday for the safety of refugees grouped at Shabunda, west of Bukavu, DRC, following the recent arrival of about 300 troops in the area. Aid agencies were planning a repatriation of Rwandans from Shabunda, but UNHCR reported on Friday that refugees had scattered back into the forest after hearing of the arrival of new troops.
* WFP reports that crop forecasts from Tanzania's Food Security Department in the Ministry of Agriculture indicate a possible production shortfall of up to one million tons of cereals. Alternative crops such as cassava and bananas may only be able to compensate for half of this gap.
* The refugee population in Tanzania as of 13 July is reported by WFP as follows: 413,352 of whom 94,855 are Congolese, 1,347 Rwandan and 317,152 Burundian.
* Over 100 US "Green Beret" special forces troops arrived in Uganda this morning on a peacekeeping training mission with the Ugandan military. Among the exercises, AFP reports, will be a "mock peacekeeping refugee situation". The training is part of a US scheme to help build up an African peacekeeping capacity including several countries.
Nairobi, 22 July 1997, 15:20 GMT [ENDS]
[Via the UN DHA Integrated Regional Information Network. The material contained in this communication may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN DHA IRIN Tel: +254 2 622123 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin@dha.unon.org for more information. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts from this report should include attribution to the original sources mentioned, not simply "DHA".]
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Date: Tue, 22 Jul 1997 18:35:51 -0300 (GMT+3) From: UN DHA IRIN - Great Lakes <irin@dha.unon.org> Subject: Great Lakes: IRIN Update 215 for 22 July 1997 97.7.22 Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.970722183207.5393P-100000@amahoro.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Dr. Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D
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