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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: JMC meets in Kampala
The Joint Military Commission (JMC) overseeing implementation of the Lusaka ceasefire agreement for the DRC started a meeting in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Tuesday and discussions were scheduled to continue to Wednesday, a Ugandan foreign ministry official confirmed. The talks, convened by JMC acting chairman Brigadier General Timothy Kazembe of Zambia, would be followed by a meeting of the ministerial-level Political Committee from Thursday to Saturday, also in Kampala, the official told IRIN. Among the major issues to be discussed were the ongoing ceasefire violations, cooperation of the belligerents with the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC) and the financing of activities related to ceasefire supervision, Radio Uganda reported on Tuesday.
DRC: Morjane and Chiluba seek to reinvigorate Lusaka
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the DRC, Kamel Morjane, on Friday travelled to Lusaka for a meeting with Zambian President Frederick Chiluba to brief him "on the deteriorating situation in the DRC and the latest developments in the peace process," a MONUC official told IRIN on Monday. Morjane's visit to Chiluba, one of the key facilitators of last year's Lusaka agreement, also sought his support for the next steps needed to consolidate the peace process during this week's JMC meeting, he stated. Morjane and Chiluba, meeting "with the intention of reinvigorating the peace process," had positive and successful talks, he added.
DRC: Government urges speedy deployment
The DRC's representative to the UN on Monday questioned the Security Council's sincerity about deploying peacekeeping troops in his country. "You either go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to bring peace and stop the suffering, the misery, death and desolation in the country, or you simply let them die," Andre Mwanba Kapanga said at a press conference at UN Headquarters. "I think, so far, the Council has chosen the latter," he stated, according to a UN account of the briefing. Kapanga said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan should already have made a decision to send UN observers to areas where no combat was taking place, and he urged Annan not to hold the deployment process "hostage to technical or administrative difficulties."
DRC: Rwandan advances in Kasai
Meanwhile, Kapanga said that Rwanda had recently taken the towns of Idumbe and Demba in Kasai Occidental province, "as well as the provincial capital of Kananga, Mashala in the east and Luiza in the south," the press statement said. Rwanda had used Angola's rebel UNITA movement to take Luiza, he stated. Both Rwanda and Uganda were intent on continuing to "plunder the resources" of the country, Kapanga added.
DRC: Annan "not convinced" of parties' commitment
Annan on Monday said the deployment of UN troops would be to help the parties to the Lusaka ceasefire agreement respect the accord they signed. "Right now, I am not convinced that those who signed the agreement are prepared to respect it," he said at a UN Headquarters press conference. "If the parties concerned are not prepared to do that, then the United Nations must not be blamed," he stated. Annan noted that UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Bernard Miyet had been "given promises" during his recent trip to the region - including to the DRC, Uganda and Rwanda - but that "some days later the war began." A UN press release quoted Annan as saying that if the Lusaka signatories were "really serious", they could implement the ceasefire even without the presence of observers.
DRC: Security Council team expected
Meanwhile, Bangladesh's ambassador to the UN, Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, on Friday said a Security Council mission was expected to travel to the DRC by early May. Council members wanted to see first-hand how the operations were going, a UN statement quoted him as saying at a UN Headquarters press briefing at the end of his month-long presidency of the Council. The members "wanted to send a strong message to the parties concerned: cease hostilities and engage in bringing back law and order," the statement said. Meanwhile, the UN's Fifth Committee on administrative and budgetary matters on Friday approved a draft resolution - for action by the General Assembly - that would authorise US$ 200 million to cover the expenses of MONUC from 6 August 1999 to 30 June 2000, a UN press release said.
DRC: Senior RCD officials fired
Rebels of the Goma-based Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) on Monday said they had fired three senior officials on charges of spying for President Laurent-Desire Kabila, news agencies reported. The Associated Press (AP) quoted RCD spokesman Kin-Kiey Mulumba as saying those suspended included Alexis Thambwe-Mwanba, Jose Endundo-Bonange and Lambert Mende. "Their activities were contrary to the high interests of our movement," Mulumba said. Thambwe-Mwanba and Endundo-Bonange were due to return this week to Goma from Brussels, while Mende was under house arrest in Goma, AP reported.
BURUNDI: "Huge gaps" remain between negotiating parties
Former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans has praised Nelson Mandela for reinvigorating the Arusha peace process, but cautions that unless several outstanding issues are "comprehensively dealt with", there is little chance of a lasting settlement. Evans, who has recently toured the Great Lakes region and met with local actors and senior political figures, told IRIN on Tuesday that quite apart from the immediate concern of a ceasefire, three "huge gaps" between the parties still need to be bridged before a final accord could be reached. These were: the reintegration of rebel forces into the army and civil society, the question of accountability of those guilty of crimes against humanity, and the management of the political transition.
Evans, who is currently president and chief executive of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG), said that unless "these major issues are dealt with on a basis genuinely acceptable to all parties, there is a huge risk any agreement would fall apart at the implementation phase." The ICG recently set up a regional office in Nairobi and plans to expand its activities in the coming months. [http://www.crisisweb.org]
BURUNDI: Five groups reject Arusha process
Five organisations representing radical Tutsis have rejected peace talks underway in Arusha, Tanzania, and threatened to take up arms to protect the interests of Burundi's genocide survivors, news agencies reported on Monday. "Burundians should not have to agree to be led by perpetrators of genocide," AFP quoted Diomede Rutamucero of the Paamasekanya Self-Defense Force as saying at a public meeting on Saturday. A peace accord signed in Arusha without the groups' voices being heard would be tantamount to a "declaration of war on the survivors of the genocide and they will have no other choice but to fight," he said. The four other organisations were UPRONA, the Rwagasore Revolutionary Youth, the Coalition Against Dictatorship and Action Against Genocide, AFP reported.
BURUNDI: Fuel shortage persists
Fuel products remain scarce in Burundi and the government has now rationed fuel to 20 litres per vehicle for a period of 15 days, WFP said in its latest weekly emergency report. The fuel shortage has led prices of other commodities and services to more than double, it stated. Meanwhile, 13 stations in Bujumbura received fuel supplies from the Societe d'entreposage des produits petroliers since last Friday, the Net Press agency reported on Monday.
RWANDA: Mazimhaka says "nothing wrong" within government
Patrick Mazimhaka, the former minister in the Office of the President, has denied that he was part of the problem between parliament and former president Pasteur Bizimungu. Mazimhaka, whose removal from Rwanda's cabinet in February was considered part explanation for Bizimungu's subsequent resignation, told the 'East African' newspaper that Bizimungu was atodds with parliament over his belief that legislators must follow the laws they made, and because its manner of carrying out corruption enquiries could have given "an unfortunate impression" that it was targeting Hutu officials. However, he denied there was any upheaval within Rwandan politics and said that recent changes would have no adverse effect on its programmes, especially in the DRC.
Mazimhaka said it was wrong to think that Tutsis dominated the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), or that people of different tribes were at each others' throats within the government. "The changes that are taking place are normal. There is no fall-out of any kind ... there is nothing wrong," Mazimhaka said. Though he and others such as Bizimungu were now out of government, they were still politically active and "not excluded from policy issues," he added.
GREAT LAKES: Bleak food situation demands action - FAO
The food supply situation "remains bleak" in the region due to the combined effects of civil strife, insecurity, shortage of inputs and erratic rainfall, a report from FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) stated on Monday. In Burundi, food supply was tight due to drought, population displacement - particularly in the government's regroupment camps, from which most people did not have access to their fields - and increased insecurity, especially in the provinces of Rutana, Makamba and Bujumbura Rural, the report on food supply and crop prospects stated. In the DRC, food shortages and malnutrition were reported to be particularly poor in the Ituri district of Province Orientale, northeastern Katanga and South Kivu, especially in parts that continue to be inaccessible due to insecurity.
Rwanda had enjoyed a significant improvement in food production and a decline in food aid requirements, the report stated. However, it said Rwanda had persistent food supply difficulties in some parts, especially in the northwestern province of Ruhengeri and in eastern and southern provinces affected by drought in October 1999. Greater volumes of food assistance to help war-displaced populations in Burundi and the DRC, and to support the rehabilitation of the agricultural sector in Rwanda, were a priority, the report added.
Nairobi, 4 April 2000, 16:00 gmt
[ENDS]
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