(Extract)
Great Lakes
ADB finances a road project to open up Burundi and Rwanda
According to a dispatch by the African Press Organization (APO, Tunis, in 17/12/08), African Development Bank (AfDB) Group Board of Directors approved an African Development Fund (ADF) grant of 100 million US$ to Burundi and Rwanda, to finance the Mugina-Bujumbura-Nyamitanga-Ruhwa- Ntendezi -Mwityazo- Gisenyi Road Project. Rwanda and Burundi, which are landlocked countries far from any sea ports, have experienced a long period of political instability, leading to the deterioration of their infrastructure and a cumulative decline in its maintenance. This situation constitutes a major handicap to regional integration and accessibility in the two countries. To overcome this, both governments prioritised the rehabilitation and improvement of major highways in their medium-term investment programmes (2008-2012 for Rwanda, and 2007-2010 for Burundi). As part of the development of their Transport Corridors, Burundi and Rwanda have defined a programme to facilitate transport on the corridor linking Burundi to Rwanda and Tanzania. It will be implemented in phases with parallel financing. The route is 497.5 km long. More specifically, the project aims at facilitating the movement of goods and persons along the Nyamitanga-Ruhwa-Ntendezi-Mwityazo road, and at improving the living conditions of the inhabitants of the project area. The project is expected to take 48 months (January 2009 to December 2012).
Challenges for Security Sector Reforms in Burundi and the DRC
According to a study published on 17th December 2008 by the Research and Information on Peace Group (GRIP), Reform of the Security Sector (RSS) is currently one of the bases of bilateral and multilateral donors' intervention in the post-conflict African countries. The analysis of strategical approaches, and interventions in Burundi and the DRC, shows a gap between proposed objectives and what is practiced on the ground. In Burundi, reform of the defence and security forces was one of major challenges of the Burundian conflict since 1993. The Arusha Peace Agreement, the reconciliation of 2000 and the ceasefire agreements signed afterwards promise important dispositions to be made towards this reform. Their implementation permitted, above all, ethnic imbalances between Hutu and Tutsi within the security forces to be overturned, without giving rise to confrontation and conflicts. However, in spite of significant advances, the process of reforming the security forces faces many challenges and various uncertainties.
In the case of the DRC, the global and complete Agreement signed in December 2002, which put an end to the four year war in the DRC, identified RSS as one of the primary objectives of the political transition, along with the organisation of elections. The RSS was to allow the creation of new national army, unified by the merging and integration of ex-combatants who signed the global and complete peace agreement. However, reform of the army and police during the transition has not advanced as far as expected
Nine million displaced people in Central and Eastern Africa
According to the latest report by UNDP on human development (06/01/09), the regions of Central and Eastern Africa currently have 9.1 million displaced persons. Nearly three-quarters of these displaced people are in the general area of the Horn of Africa, and particularly in Sudan and Somalia. The principal causes are linked to intra-state conflicts, as well as natural disasters, lack of resources, limited access land and to the ineffectual peace and reconciliation processes. As well as 9.1 million displaced persons, the region also has 1.8 million refugees, mainly in Chad, Tanzania and Kenya. Sudan has some 4.57 million of displaced people; the DRC has 1.37 million, Somalia 1.3 million, Uganda 833,000, Kenya 389,000, Ethiopia 250,000, Chad 185,000, Central African Republic 108,000, Burundi 100,000 and the Republic of Congo 7,800. Moreover, Chad shelters 323,338 refugees, Tanzania 316,000, Kenya 313,000, Sudan 230,000, the DRC 155,000, Uganda 152,000, Ethiopia 84,000, Cameroon 82,700, Rwanda 55,000, Burundi 28,000, Djibouti 8,700, Central African Republic 7,500, Eritrea 4,900 and Somalia 1,800.
Joint DRC, Uganda and South Sudan operation against the LRA
According to a joint statement issued by the leaders of the intelligence services in Uganda, the DRC and South Sudan, on 14th December 2008 these three countries launched a joint military operation against the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in the Garamba forests, in northeast DRC, on the border with South-Sudan. The operation destroyed the main camp at Kony, and will continue until the threat posed by the LRA is completely eliminated.