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BURUNDI: Tutsi parties to see Mandela
Leaders of the three minority Tutsi parties which did not sign the Arusha peace accord travel to South Africa on Tuesday to meet talks' mediator Nelson Mandela, one of the leaders told IRIN. "We shall leave Nairobi for South Africa on Tuesday to meet President Mandela for consultations, but our position is that we should not sign until there is a ceasefire in place," the president of the Ralliement pour la democrate le developpement economique et social (RADDES), Joseph Nzeyimana, told IRIN. Other parties which did not sign the accord last month are the Alliance nationale pour le droit et le developpement economique (ANADDE) and the Parti independent des travailleurs (PIT). Burundi radio over the weekend reported that another small Tutsi party which had not signed had reversed its position and its leader had gone to Tanzania to sign the accord.
BURUNDI: Seven government soldiers killed
Seven government soldiers and an unspecified number of rebels were killed over the weekend near the capital Bujumbura, military sources told IRIN. "The heavy fighting resulted in the death of many rebels and seven of our soldiers," a military source said. The Associated Press(AP), quoting a military officer on condition of anonymity, on Sunday reported that fighting took place 15 km south of Bujumbura along the main highway connecting the capital with Lake Tanganyika.
Representatives of the Burundi government and two rebel factions, the Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD) and the Front pour la liberation national (FROLINA), which did not take part the negotiations which led to last month's accord in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha, are scheduled to meet in Nairobi on 20 September to negotiate a ceasefire.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: RDC-Goma meets over security
The executive of the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) met last week at Imbi in eastern Congo to address rising insecurity in the rebel-held territories and the peace process, according to rebel-controlled Radio Goma. First Vice-President of RCD-Goma Jean-Pierre Ondekane told the meeting the grenade attack in Bukavu and attacks at the Kauzibiega national park were carried by "negative forces on the payroll of Kabila's fascist regime who are spread all over Ruzizi plain". RCD-Goma's second Vice-President Moise Nyarugabo was quoted by Radio Goma as telling the same meeting that a delegation from another Congolese rebel group, the Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo (MLC) led by Jean-Pierre Bemba would be visiting Goma this week for a follow-up meeting to one held between the two groups in Gbadolite, the seat of the MLC, from 1-3 September.
RWANDA: Defence asks judges to withdraw from case
The defence counsel for genocide suspect Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza has called on two judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to withdraw from the case, following their recent visit to Rwanda. The independent Hirondelle news agency quoted the counsel as demanding that ICTR President Navanethem Pillay and Vice-President Eric Mose disqualify themselves from hearing the case. The two, with other three ICTR judges, visited Rwanda at the end of August, on an itinerary which included visits to two massacre sites and meetings with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and the country's Attorney-General Gerald Gahima. "With respect, we urge you to excuse yourself from hearing Mr Barayagwiza's case pursuant to Rule 15 of the Rule of Procedure and Evidence," the defence said.
"Meetings with messrs Kagame and Gahima in a non-judicial setting, when the very conspiracy to commit genocide and crimes against humanity which are alleged against our client are the reason for the meeting, are highly inappropriate," the counsel argued. "The appearance of impropriety is exacerbated by the fact that it comes three weeks after the scheduled start of this trial." Article 15 of the ICTR Rules of Procedure and Evidence, requires judges to withdraw from a case if they have a personal interest in it, or have been in a situation which could compromise their impartiality. Barayagwiza is a former politician and founder of the Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) and the anti-Tutsi publication "Kangura". He is about to be tried alongside two other suspects linked to the "hate-media" which allegedly incited the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The trial is slated for 18 September.
RWANDA: Catholic Bishop meets Pope
Meanwhile, former Rwandan Roman Catholic Bishop Augustin Misago, who was acquitted of genocide charges in July, on Saturday met Pope John Paul II, Rwandan radio reported. Bishop Misago who was remanded for a year in Kigali, was quoted as saying he was ready to return to Rwanda after under going medical treatment in Europe. The Rwandan government accused some Catholic priests of complicity in the genocide that claimed the lives of more than 500,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus.
RWANDA: Over 51.8 per cent illiterate
More than 51.8 per cent of Rwandans cannot read and write, Rwandan Minister of State for Social Affairs Odetta Nyiramirimo said on Friday. "Illiteracy is the source of poverty, disease, violence and sectarianism," Nyiramirimo was quoted by Rwanda News Agency (RNA) as saying at the celebrations to mark World Illiteracy Day. He said that, according to the 1996 census, some 51.6 percent of the total population who could read and write were males and 44.8 females. Nyiramirimo regretted that females who make up 54 percent of the total population, had the highest number of illiteracy.
RWANDA: Insecurity in Kigali on the rise
Armed robberies and banditry are on the rise in Kigali, forcing the police into a fresh crackdown, according to a Rwandan news agency(RNA) report. Police spokesman Tony Kurumba was quoted as telling RNA that: "following the new wave of banditry and armed robberies in Kigali, the police had caught six bandits and killed two others. The Rwandan police spokesman told RNA: "such banditry acts are carried out by demobilised soldiers, unemployed youths and army deserters who possess guns and use them as means of survival." Diplomatic sources told IRIN that armed robberies have been on the rise for the last two months.
GREAT LAKES: WFP team recommends continued expansion
A WFP team, which conducted a mid-term review of that agency's Great Lakes regional protracted relief and recovery operation (PRRO), recently recommended continuation of the expansion phase in all the four countries involved. In its weekly emergency update, WFP said the team, the mandate of which was to assess progress and recommend a future course of action, visited Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. It recommended the expansion of the protracted relief (nutritional support activities and targeted feeding, protracted refugee feeding), general distribution, selective feeding and support to refugee-affected areas.
The expansion would also include recovery - food-for-work in agricultural recovery, basic infrastructure and seed protection projects. They recommended that the flexibility of response within the regional approach should be retained.
TANZANIA: New wave of refugees cross into Tanzania
Renewed fighting in Burundi reportedly triggered a new wave of refugees into Tanzania's western districts of Ngara and Kibondo. WFP said that a total of 3,300 new arrivals were recorded during the past two weeks. "New Congolese and Burundian refugees were reported in Kigoma," it said. Construction of a new reception centre and other facilities has started in Lugufu to extend the current camp which has reached its maximum holding capacity. It said that refugee statistics maintained by UNHCR currently indicated a presence of 465,580 refugees in Tanzanian refugee camps in Kasulu, Kibondo, Kigoma and Ngara provinces.
TANZANIA: "Decreased" food rations to refugees
WFP's general food distribution was carried out in Ngara and Kigoma refugee camps, with "decreased rations" due to "insufficient funding", the agency said. A 60 percent of all commodities was distributed, with a 50 percent ration of oil. "The most vulnerable refugees received full rations," WFP said. A total of 467,225 refugees were recorded as receiving food aid rations provided by WFP during the last distribution, with 16,740 "most vulnerable" women and children also benefiting from supplementary or therapeutic feeding. WFP added that in view of the good results and positive impacts of the ongoing school feeding project, its expansion to new areas was currently being considered.
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Nairobi, 11 September 2000
[ENDS]
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