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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Over 84,000 refugees in Republic of Congo
More than 84,000 Congolese refugees have crossed from Equateur province in northwestern DRC into the Republic of Congo (ROC), UNHCR Regional Representative in Kinshasa N.K Maidjol has told IRIN. However, he said this figure included some 25,000 refugees who had arrived in ROC before July this year. He said the areas of influx in ROC were Betou with 27,000 refugees, Impfondo with some 21,000, and an area between Loukolela and Impfondo, which has about 22,000 refugees.
"The only group UNHCR has access to are the ones at Impfondo, because of the good road between Impfondo and Betou," Maidjol said.
Other places are not accessible because of "security reasons", he noted. Maidjol explained that government troops and those of the rebel Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) "are using the Rivers Congo and Oubangui as points of departure", which was making them hard to be used by humanitarian agencies. "The main problem we have is access," he reiterated. "We are ready in terms of the means of assistance." Although he could not confirm the total number of Congolese refugees who have crossed over to the Central African Republic (CAR), he said that the figure could be around 20,000.
DRC: Gunfire in Kinshasa
Shooting broke out on Wednesday at a major military camp in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, government officials said. "A group of undisciplined elements opened fire on a police patrol at camp Tshatshi," Eddy Kapenda, one of Kabila's aides, was quoted as saying by state television. He added that things had returned to normal by late Wednesday. No official death toll was given, but diplomatic sources in the capital said up to 10 soldiers had been killed and 16 wounded.
Meanwhile, the armed wing of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-ML), the Congolese People's army (APC), and their allies of the Uganda People's Defence Forces were scheduled to carry out joint military exercises on Friday, according to rebel-controlled Candip radio in Bunia.
Meanwhile, expressing its deep concern over the continuation of hostilities in the DRC, the UN Security Council on Thursday called for "the accelerated withdrawal" of Ugandan and Rwandan forces and of all other foreign contingents from the country, a statement from the UN spokesman's office said.
DRC: Zambian President to kick start Congo peace process
Zambian President Fredrick Chiluba on Thursday told Reuters that he was working around the clock to try to kick-start the DRC peace process in Congo. "The priority is to try and get the peace process back on track. And this involves talking to the government of President Laurent Kabila, to the United Nations, and to the rebels, as well as Rwanda and Uganda," he said.
Chiluba mediated last year's Lusaka peace agreement to end fighting in the DRC war. African leaders have attempted on numerous occasions to revive the process, which involves the inter-Congolese party dialogue and deployment of United Nations troops, without success.
DRC: Protests against Bukavu "deportations"
In an 18-page document, headed "Mobilisation contre la politique des déportations", the Congolese Christian network 'Réseau d'organisations des droits humains et d'éducation civique d'inspiration chrétienne en République démocratique du Congo' (RODHECIC), said it aimed to focus "national and international opinion" on the fate of four civil society leaders arrested on 29 August in Bukavu and still detained in Kisangani by the authorities of the Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie (RCD).
Gervais Chirhalwira Nkunzimwami, Paulin Bapolisi, Aloys Muzaliwa and Regine Mutijima were accused on 28 August of defaming RCD-Goma and its Rwandan ally by telling Radio France Internationale (RFI) that Rwandan soldiers were responsible for a grenade attack in Bukavu on 26 August. Eight people were killed and some 100 wounded at a trade fair at the Bralima brewery. The arrests provoked demonstrations by students, who then clashed with RCD fighters.
In its investigation, the network said there were "very few possibilities" that the people behind the grenade attack were "external to the RCD". "Grenade attacks are a typical Rwandese technique", it said.
The report further argued that Congolese "resistants" would never have attacked Congolese citizens, and that it was impossible for the Interahamwe to enter into the city. The RCD blamed the grenade attack on Interahamwe, Mayi-Mayi and "Kabilist" movements in collusion with civil society groups in order to create insecurity in the town. Rwanda and its allies have strongly denied accusations they were involved in the attack, saying it was a ploy by their enemies to blacken their name with local people.
Two other possibilities, the report said, were a "settling of accounts inside the RCD-Rwandan cartel", or even an economic "mafia-style" struggle involving the brewery.
Bralima brewery suffers from heavy taxes levied by the RCD authorities while at the same time when Rwandan beer is sold in Bukavu with few or no taxes. "And the occupying forces don't like that the brewery is still depending on its head office in Kinshasa," the report added. It demanded an international investigation into the incident.
The report called for the release of the four detainees. "It is obvious that these arrests have been premeditated and planned for a long time, and if international reaction remains passive, other arrests and deportations will follow", the report said.
UGANDA: Museveni vows to root out rebels in the west
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday vowed to flush out rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces from the western part of the country. The Ugandan President was speaking at a public rally in the western district of Hoima, where ADF rebels attacked a refugee camp and killed two people, according to UNHCR. Ugandan army officials said the rebels had dispersed in various districts in western Uganda after being dislodged from their bases in the Rwenzori mountains along the border with DRC. "The rebels' activities have not escalated but they are on the run following their defeat in the Rwenzori. We are dealing with desperate elements attacking civilian targets, but we have deployed a mobile force to track them," the spokesman of the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF), Major Phineas Katirima told IRIN. The ADF has been active since 1996 when they attacked major towns in western Uganda. The Ugandan authorities accuse the Sudanese and Congolese governments of backing them.
TANZANIA-BURUNDI: Army says only warning shots fired
The Tanzanian army on Wednesday denied press reports that it had exchanged fire with Burundi rebels last week, saying that it had fired only warning shots to make its "presence known to advancing rebels."
"We did not exchange fire with them," the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) quoted a defence ministry spokesman as saying. "We only wanted to warn them that we were awake. This came after seeing them approaching our border as if they wanted to get into Tanzania," he added.
According to 'The Guardian' newspaper, Burundian rebels, believed to be members of the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) and the PALIPEHUTU, were reportedly fleeing fierce fighting with Burundi government forces in Makamba province in the southeastern part of the country near the border with Tanzania.
CNDD-FDD vehemently denied 'The Guardian' report. It said in a statement from Brussels that the exchange was actually between the Tanzanian army and the Tutsi-dominated Burundian army, which was opposed to changes urged by the largely Hutu-dominated rebel movements and enshrined in the Arusha peace plan endorsed by most political groups at the end of August.
BURUNDI: Bujumbura "calm"
Considerable calm has returned to Bujumbura and the surrounding area since the signing of the peace agreement at the end of last month in Arusha. Humanitarian sources and the Burundi army spokesman, Colonel Longin Minani, dismissed recent press reports of fighting in Bujumbura as "untrue" and "exaggerated". Minani confirmed the incidents in the area around Burundi's border with Tanzania and also said there had been what he termed "a few cases of banditry" in Bujumbura. "The fighting is caused by attacks launched by rebels who have their bases in Tanzania," he told IRIN. "The army has been pursuing them but we wish the Tanzanian army could act as stipulated in the agreement signed between the defence ministers of the two countries [Burundi and Tanzania]," Minani said.
Minani added that the most recent rebel attack in the southeast took place on Thursday night when two people were killed and five others injured. He said the "rebels" attacked Bukemba centre and drove away some 170 cattle.
Nairobi, 8 September 2000
[ENDS]
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