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BURUNDI: Buyoya says appointment "important step"
President Pierre Buyoya, who returned to Burundi on Thursday, said the decision to appoint him as first leader of the transition was an "important step towards implementation of the peace agreement". Speaking on arrival from the OAU summit in Lusaka, he said the decision had been made by the peace mediator Nelson Mandela after extensive consultations with regional heads of state and the signatories of the Arusha peace accord. "We also believe that this step will open a new way, and instil more vigour into the search for a solution to the other pending problems, especially that of a ceasefire," Buyoya said, according to Burundi radio. "As you know, some people were claiming that a solution to the [ceasefire] issue could not be found, because the issue of transitional leadership had not been resolved. Therefore, I believe that all that is now out of the way."
BURUNDI: G6 says it's not the greatest loser
Alphonse Rugambarara, spokesman for the G6 pro-Tutsi parties opposed to Buyoya, said his group "was not the greatest loser" following the appointment of Buyoya to lead the first half of the transition, sources in Bujumbura told IRIN on Friday. Speaking at Bujumbura airport on his return from Pretoria, he said the Burundian people had most to lose, followed by "democratic principles and the army". "The army has once again been trapped as in 1993 [when democratically-elected president Melchior Ndadaye was assassinated] when it refused to accept a person democratically appointed to lead the country."
"President Mandela himself acknowledged this by saying that if we took into account democratic principles Colonel Bayaganakandi [the G6 candidate for the presidency] would under normal circumstances preside over the first phase of the transitional period," Rugambarara added.
RWANDA: Government welcomes arrest of genocide suspects
Rwanda has hailed the arrest of more genocide suspects in three European countries. On Thursday, three suspects - including a former minister - were arrested in Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Rwandan Justice Minister Jean de Dieu Mucyo called on the entire world to cooperate with the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) reported. "Given the cooperation of all countries, genocide perpetrators can be detained, therefore eliminating the culture of impunity," the minister said. The three suspects - arrested on an international warrant by ICTR chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte - are former finance minister in the 1994 interim government Emmanuel Ndindabahizi who was arrested in Brussels; Emmanuel Rukundo a former military chaplain who was arrested in Geneva; and Simon Bikindi a Rwandan musician who was arrested in the Netherlands.
The three - who are charged with genocide, complicity in genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and crimes against humanity - will be transferred to the ICTR's detention facility, bringing the number of detainees to 50.
ICTR spokesman Kingsley Moghalu described the arrests as "very important developments" in the work of the Tribunal and "another sign of the effective cooperation that we are receiving from states".
RWANDA: US to provide assistance worth over US $11 million
The government of the US - through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) - and the government of Rwanda have signed three "strategic objective grant agreements" which commit an additional US $11.2 million in economic and social assistance to Rwanda for fiscal year 2001, the Rwandan News Agency (RNA) reported on Thursday. The funds will be made available to continue and expand USAID's ongoing programmes in three assistance areas: rule of law and transparency in governance; health and social sector assistance; and food security and agricultural-based economic growth.
RWANDA: US $200 million needed to ensure supply of water and electricity
The director-general for Electrogaz (Rwanda's national water and power company) said the company needs US $200 million in order to guarantee steady supplies to urban centres. In an interview with the Rwanda News Agency (RNA), Nkusi said most of the machines at the power stations were worn out and required immediate refurbishing to boost the overwhelming public demand for power and water in urban centres. "There is a marked increase in the numbers [of] residents and economic activities in urban centres which calls for a proportionate raise in the supply of these utilities," Nkusi was quoted as saying, adding that Electrogaz plans to open two more power stations and water distribution points.
DRC: Nigeria to contribute troops to UN mission "if peace is reached"
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said his country would contributed troops to the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC) once peace was reached. "If peace is reached based on a real conciliation [between the DRC government and the armed rebels], Nigeria is prepared to contribute to the UN mission by sending troops," he was quoted as saying in Brussels on Thursday by the Belgian newspaper 'De Standaard'. Cooperation in ending conflict in Africa was one of the key themes of Obasanjo's talks on Wednesday with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, whose country has just taken over the EU presidency, Reuters reported on Thursday. "We are going to be partners with the European Union in bringing about peace and security and development in Africa," Obasanjo said during a two-day visit to Belgium to meet EU and Belgian leaders.
Belgium, the former colonial power in the DRC, has said it wants to use its six-month presidency of the 15-nation EU to encourage its European partners to help restore peace and prosperity to Africa's war-torn Great Lakes region.
DRC: Namibia to withdraw all troops by end of August
South Africa's Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said Namibia has committed itself to withdrawing all its troops from the DRC by the end of next month, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported on Thursday. Lekota told SABC he received the assurance from his Namibian counterpart Errki Nghimtina. Namibia has about 2,000 Namibian Defence Force (NDF) troops in the DRC, where they have been fighting since 1998 alongside government forces and troops from Angola and Zimbabwe against rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda.
Nghimtina told journalists on Thursday that Namibia suffered "minimal losses" , with a total of "only 30" NDF soldiers killed in the DRC. "Whenever you are in a war you will have casualties. Our casualties are not as high as the others," he said.
Meanwhile, Uganda welcomed Namibia's decision to completely withdraw from the DRC. "It is a welcome development if it is done according to the Lusaka peace agreement. We hope that everybody will withdraw from the DRC so that negotiations could begin," AFP quoted Ugandan minister of state for defence Amama Mbabazi as saying. Mbabazi said Uganda had itself withdrawn thousands of troops from the DRC in recent weeks and was committed to a full withdrawal, but it would maintain a small force in the DRC to ensure security along its common border.
DRC: EU official says aid to depend upon peace progress
The humanitarian commissioner of the European Union (EU) expressed concern on Thursday regarding progress in the DRC peace process and said future aid would depend on meetings to be held next week in the DRC, Reuters reported. "The response [from government and rebels] both in words and deeds...will be decisive for how much we do and what we do," Poul Nielson of Denmark, the EU development and humanitarian aid commissioner, said. He added that planned aid, worth some 120 million euros (US $102 million), would not be delivered before all parties had shown a clear willingness to be part of one political system.
DRC: Opposition leader to mediate hostage release
DRC opposition leader Francois Lumumba agreed on Wednesday to act as a mediator for the release Thai hostages held by Mayi-Mayi guerrillas in eastern DRC, AFP reported. "I accept, under certain technical and practical conditions to discuss this request, for humanitarian reasons," Lumumba said in a written statement. Mayi-Mayi leaders earlier Wednesday called for Lumumba - who heads the Mouvement national congolais (MNC-Lumumba) and is the son of assassinated Congolese independence prime minister Patrice Lumumba - to play a role in the hostage negotiations.
Seven Thai nationals and one Swede national were released in June. The remaining 17 hostages, 16 Thais and one Kenyan, have been held for nearly two months since their 15 May abduction in the Butembo region of northeastern DRC. The Thais worked for the Thai-Ugandan Dara-Forest logging company based in Mangina near Butembo.
GREAT LAKES: Funding shortfall hampers humanitarian relief efforts
The heads of main UN aid agencies on Thursday said that poor funding and a lack of safe access for aid workers threatened the core of humanitarian work worldwide, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) reported. In a joint statement, four top-ranking UN humanitarian officials urged wealthy governments to be more generous and consistent in helping the victims of conflicts and natural disasters. Kenzo Oshima, Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator; Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP); and Ruud Lubbers, High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) made the statement in Geneva where they are attending ECOSOC's annual meeting.
Bellamy reiterated the need for strengthened donor support, but also underlined the need for access to the civilian population, hardest hit in times of conflict. "Humanitarian access and security for staff are often determining factors in reaching and supporting vulnerable groups caught up in conflict," she said. "In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for example, women and children on both sides of the conflict depend on our support which, in turn, is dependant upon the good will of local authorities." She added however that the DRC was also an example of how all parties could work together to facilitate access, citing the current anti-polio immunisation campaign.
Nairobi, 13 July 2001
[ENDS]
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