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IRIN Emergency Update No. 216 on the Great Lakes (Wednesday 23 July 1997)
* Khartoum has stopped supplying the Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) with food supplies, according to a Ugandan military spokesman. Lieutenant Shaban Bantariza told the Kenyan Daily Nation that Sudan, which Uganda accuses of helping the LRA, continues to send arms to the LRA, but that food rations have been cut off as "Sudan is not finding much use in them". The LRA is reported to have attacked two villages near Kitgum on Friday and Saturday.
* The Ugandan army operations commander in the west, Lt Col Charles Angina is willing to meet the leader of the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), Fideli Miranawa, according to the Ugandan state-owned New Vision. Speaking on a private FM radio station, Angina said "I am willing to meet the rebel commander and discuss with him how to surrender".
The New Vision also reports that 50 people have been killed by ADF rebels since the attack on Bundibugo on June 16. The independent Monitor reported yesterday that another clash took place between the ADF and Ugandan national forces at Kyansozi, 30 km outside Fort Portal town on 20 July. BBC radio reported today that another ADF attack yesterday left eight dead and thirteen wounded. Six of the dead were displaced people staying in a primary school.
About 27,000 Ugandans are now thought to be in the Beni area of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, having fled fighting between the rebel Allied Democratic Forces and the Ugandan army. UNHCR reported yesterday that about 6,000 are in a village called Rwenzori and 20,000 in Watalinga, bothe close to the Ugandan border near the Ruwenzori mountains. The area is remote and UNHCR is looking into the feasability of repairing the airstrip at Buisega near the area to deliver supplies. UNHCR also reports the displacement of about 1,800 Congolese due to renewed fighting to the northwest of Goma, in the Masisi region.
The Ugandan army has recruited 700 former West Nile Bank Front (WNBF) rebels under the age of 25 and is training them at Gulu. Over seven hundred other rebels, including deputy WNBF commander Abdullatif Toya are still in detention awaiting trial in Kampala. * South Africa has agreed to resume arms sales to Rwanda, lifting a suspension imposed unilaterally in November 1996. A UN embargo against the government was lifted in August 1995, while UN reporting requirements on arms sales to the Rwandan government were totally lifted on 1 September 1996. An embargo remains in force against arms destined for non-governmental forces in Rwanda.
* Another suspect wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has been arrested in Kenya. Belgian Georges Ruggiu, a journalist with the inflammatory Radio Television Milles Collines was transferred to the ICTR's detention facilities in Arusha, Tanzania, today. Twenty people are currently held by the ICTR in connection with charges relating to the 1994 genocide.
* Genocide survivors in Murambi, Rwanda, have complained that 10-year prison sentences handed down to 10 people who confessed to genocide crimes in a recent trial were too lenient, reports Radio Rwanda. A recent report by the UN Human Rights Field Operation in Rwanda (UNHRFOR) supported the confession procedure, which is provided for in Rwanda's Genocide Law. UNHRFOR also recommends that "separate detention facilities be established for those who decide to take part in the Confession and Guilty Plea Procedure and notes that the Government of Rwanda has agreed in principle to the establishment of such facilities".
* The Gabonese government is eager to repatriate some 1,200 Rwandan refugees who crossed Congo-Brazzaville to reach the country, but only 150 have expressed a willingness to return, reports UNHCR.
* Thirteen people were killed and two abducted in a rebel attack in Nyanza-Lac, Burundi on Sunday, a military spokesman told AFP yesterday.
* Kenyan pro-reform campaigners, including opposition politicians, were to present a list of demands to President Daniel arap Moi this afternoon. A National Convention Assembly conference held at Limuru in April had drawn up lists of targets for constitutional and legal reform.
* Tanzania is planning a military operation to flush out armed Rwandan bandits who are accused of eight recent armed robberies in Karagwe and Ngara districts, the Tanzanian Minister for Home Affairs, Ali Ameir Mohamed told the Daily Nation yesterday.
* Talks to resolve the conflict in Congo-Brazzaville showed little progress yesterday, while Congolese state radio today reported that more than 4,000 people have died in the clashes which began in June. Efforts to help 10,000 Rwandan refugees in northeastern Congo are hampered by deteriorating security in the area. UNHCR estimates that 20,000 Rwandans are in Congo-Brazzaville.
The UN is to send a peacekeeping survey team to the region to look into the creation of a peacekeeping operation in Congo-Brazzaville, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said yesterday. "Both parties had agreed to cooperate with the team", Eckhard added. A UN peacekeeping mission had been requested by Congolese President Pascal Lissouba, while Senegal has undertaken to lead the force.
Nairobi, 23 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: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 18:57:57 -0300 (GMT+3) From: UN DHA IRIN - Great Lakes <irin@dha.unon.org> Subject: Great Lakes: IRIN Update 216 for 23 July 1997 97.7.23 Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.970723185752.11593z-100000@amahoro.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Dr. Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D
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