Ethno-Net Database: Africa

Reports on Ethnic Relations / Rapports sur les relations éthniques

The following section is mainly consisted of part, full or summaries of articles taken from newspapers.
La section suivante est essentiellement constituée d'exraits, de la totalité ou de résumés d'articles issues de journaux .

IRIN

L'article: "Luttez ensemble contre les armes de petit calibre, demande le Conseil de sécurité aux Etats"

Le Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU a exhorté mardi les pays ouest-africains à renforcer leur coopération pour pallier aux menaces à la paix sous régionale posées par le trafic des armes de petit calibre et par les activités de mercenariat à l'intérieur de leurs pays, a rapporté l'ONU.

Lors d'une séance publique présidée par la Guinée, le Conseil a adopté à l'unanimité une Déclaration sur la prolifération des armes de petit calibre et les activités de mercenariat en Afrique de l'Ouest. Il a recommandé aux Etats ouest-africains d'élargir un moratoire sur les armes légères, que la Communauté économique des Etats d'Afrique de l'Ouest (CEDEAO) a approuvé en 1998, de manière qu'il englobe un mécanisme d'échange d'informations sur tous les types d'armes légères, et la création d'un registre des propriétaires de ces armes.

Intervenant pendant la séance, le Secrétaire-Général de l'ONU, Kofi Annan, a instamment invité la communauté internationale à aider à stopper les activités de mercenariat, qui contribuent à la propagation non contrôlée des armes de petit calibre en Afrique de l'Ouest. la prolifération non contrôlée des armes légères et de petit calibre, et l'utilisation de mercenaires, ne font qu'exacerber la violence, la criminalité et le terrorisme, a-t-il déclaré.

" La prolifération des armes légères et de petit calibre, dont l'accès est facile, est étroitement liée à l'augmentation de victimes parmi les femmes et les enfants et le phénomène d'enfants soldats, les armes automatiques pouvant aisément être portées par des enfants de 9 ou 10 ans ", a remarqué M. Annan. " Tant qu'elle ne sera pas traitée d'une manière adéquate, la prolifération des armes de petit calibre et des mercenaires continuera à poser une sérieuse menace aux espoirs de la région d'atteindre une paix et une sécurité durables ".

Il y a eu plus de 25 intervenants pendant la séance. Il s'agissait notamment de Said Djinnit, Commissaire intérimaire pour la Paix, la Sécurité et les Questions Politiques de l'Union Africaine; de Nana Effah-Apenteng, représentant du président de la CEDEAO ; de Mohamed Ibn Chambas, secrétaire exécutif de la CEDEAO ; et d'Ibrahima Sall, Directeur régional du Programme de Coordination et d'Assistance pour la Sécurité et le Développement (PCASED).

[PCASED, sis à Bamako, au Mali, assiste les Etats de la CEDEAO à prendre des mesures pour s'assurer que les armes ne franchissent pas leurs frontières, pour diminuer la demande d'armes, élaborer des mesures juridiques et régulatoire liées à la possession et aux transferts des armes, et encourager la transparence et la responsabilisation dans les secteurs militaire et de la police].

M. Chambas a indiqué que les dirigeants ouest-africains ont amorcé l'approche de "la sécurité d'abord" pour mettre fin aux conflits, qui a abouti à l'adoption en 1998 du Moratoire sur l'Importation, l'Exportation et la Fabrication d'armes légères. Le ministre des Affaires étrangères du Sénégal, Cheick Tidiane Gadio, a exprimé sa préoccupation devant l'émergence de mouvements mercenaires, l'appétit grandissant pour certaines ressources naturelles, les fissures politiques et sociales, et les conflits transfrontaliers.

Un document d'information générale sur le sujet, préparé par le président du Conseil, souligne que la prolifération des armes légères et de petit calibre pose à l'Afrique de l'Ouest des défis complexes, comportant des dimensions humanitaires, de sécurité et de développement. Il indique qu'on estime que huit millions d'armes illicites de petit calibre sont en circulation dans la sous région.

IRIN

The Article: "Sahelo-Saharan states agree on conflict resolution mechanism"

Member countries of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States [CEN-SAD] have agreed to set up a mechanism for preventing, managing and settling conflicts within the 18-member community. A protocol to this effect was adopted at the fifth annual summit of the CEN-SAD [in French, Communauté des Etats sahélo-sahariens], held on 14-15 March 2003 in Niamey, Niger.

At the meeting, CEN-SAD heads of state and government expressed their commitment to seeking peaceful solutions to existing or future conflicts between member states or with third-party states. They said they would promote conflict prevention and the culture of peace and dialogue as a means of managing internal conflicts within the community, according to the meeting's final communique, issued on Saturday.

Participants in the meeting also agreed to develop those approaches and mechanisms for conflict prevention and the promotion of a culture of peace that already exist within their respective societies and to create a framework for exchanging experiences in that sphere.

"Security is an essential issue," Libyan leader Muammar Qadafi said at the summit. "We cannot go from underdevelopment to development if there is no peace and stability. Therefore, peace and stability are necessary to achieve the aspirations of our peoples. We shall be making a big mistake if we ignore this reality."

According to the CEN-SAD heads of state and government, the main causes of the crises and conflicts that have plagued Africa are the extreme poverty of its populations and poor governance. These crises and conflicts aggravate poverty and condemn governments to emergency management of daily problems of survival, they said in their final declaration. By the same token, the heads added, they prevented the conception of medium and long-term policies and jeopardised the results expected from states' economic and social development plans, as well as regional and subregional integration efforts.

CEN-SAD was created in 1998 with the main aim of establishing an economic union based on a development plan that would be complementary to the national development plans of member countries. Its aims include eliminating all restrictions to the free movement of persons, goods and capital, and freedom for nationals of member states to own property and carry out economic activity anywhere in the community.

Malian President Amadou Amani Toure noted that from six states at its creation in 1998, the community now had 18, occupying a total area of 12,424,000 km2 with a combined population of 320 million inhabitants. "In the space of a few years, our community has been able to resolve and face the most crucial challenges of the subregion, whether this had to do with synergizing our efforts, our economic, social and human resources to improve the living conditions of our populations, or whether it was a matter of efforts to ensure the free circulation of persons and goods for a more harmonious integration and a better asserted solidarity within the CEN-SAD area."

The results of the meeting included the opening a protocol on the free movement of goods and people for signature by member states. Once that instrument enters into effect, nationals of a CEN-SAD country would no longer need entry visas and residence permits to visit or live in another member state.

Libyan leader Muammar Qadafi urged his peers to encourage the free circulation of know-how, human resources, capital, goods and services within CEN-SAD by creating airlines and intensifying transport and communication links.

"We shall be making a mistake to believe that hampering the circulation of goods and people would be in our peoples' interest," he said. "On the contrary, the interests of our peoples will be achieved through concrete measures which require the elimination of all obstacles that could hamper the circulation of goods and people."

The conference also adopted the principle of the creation of a free trade zone and requested CEN-SAD's secretary-general to continue discussions with other regional groupings such as the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA, which groups Francophone West African countries) so as to ensure harmony and complementarity.

The heads expressed concern about the fact that some member countries continued to be affected by food insecurity caused by factors such as drought, other adverse climatic conditions, poor harvests and production costs. They welcomed the establishment within CEN-SAD of a special food security programme and thanked Qaddafi for contributing US $9.3 million to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for projects in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Sudan.

FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf attended the meeting, as did the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention Against Desertification Hama Arba Diallo. Fourteen countries were represented by their heads of state and two by prime ministers.

The heads also instructed CENSAD's secretary-general to pursue a partnership with the Lake Chad Basin Commission in order to contribute to the implementation of a project to fill Lake Chad, which has been shrinking in recent years, with waters diverted from the Oubangui-Chari river.

Cote d'Ivoire and Iraq were among other issues which retained the summit's attention.

On the Ivorian crisis, the heads appealed to all parties to focus on dialogue and expressed support for the president of a contact group on Cote d'Ivoire set up by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

They also expressed their attachment to the sovereignty and integrity of Iraq as well as [their] respect for the independence, territorial integrity and security of the states of the region, in keeping with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations. Further, they "welcomed Iraq's acceptance of [UN] Resolution 1441" on weapons inspections and "urged it to continue giving its full cooperation to the United Nations inspection mission".

The heads expressed support for action taken by the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to implement the resolution and called on all African and Arab states, especially those which are members of the UN Security Council, to support the principle of a peaceful disarmament in Iraq.

IRIN

The Article: "Policy makers urged to examine ecological sources of conflict"

African policy makers should move beyond "traditional" methods of conflict management, that have so far failed to produce tangible solutions to conflicts in the region, researchers argue.

Instead they should adopt an intergrated approach which takes into account ecological sources of conflict, if their efforts to bring peace to the region are to be successful.

This relatively new school of thought is being advanced by conflict management scholars, who seek to incorporate an environmental perspective into diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving and preventing wars in the sub-Saharan region.

At a meeting, held this week in Nairobi, experts said conflict management approaches had largely focused on political sources of conflict, which simply acted as triggers, rather than the root causes of conflict in the region. Diplomatic approaches traditionally used in the region have largely focused on the text-book concepts of conflict management, notably "conflict resolution", "conflict management" and "post conflict disarmament and rehabilitation", they argued.

The meeting, jointly organised by the Nairobi-based African Centre Technological Studies (ACTS) and the Freidrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation (FES), a German funding agency, urged policy makers to adhere to the principles of good governance and fair use and distribution of natural resources.

The meeting also examined the findings of a new research project, which studied ecological dimensions in selected conflicts in sub-Saharan countries. The findings of the project have been documented in a book, "Scarcity and Surfeit: the ecology of Africa's conflicts".

The book, jointly published by ACTS and the South African-based Institute of Security Studies (ISS), has identified important ecological factors that often not only sustain the cycle of violence in the sub-Saharan Africa's conflicts, but in some cases trigger conflicts.

"Conflict systems in Africa are operationally complex. The levels of engagement and the number of variables underlying conflict are many; and more often than not the operation of conflict is uncertain," noted Joao Gomes Porto, a senior researcher with the South African based Institute of Security Studies.

According to Chris Huggins, a research associate at ACTS, sub-Saharan countries have environments that not only have diverse extremes but which have great significance to the livelihoods of local communities. Climatic factors also characterise these environments, in cyclical patterns that have shaped population movements and regional conflict systems.

In addition, many of the ecological factors and livelihood systems straddle international borders in the form of drainage basins, rivers and lakes, which result in seasonal cross-border migration by pastoralist communities, Huggins said.

Where resources are scarce, resulting from environmental stress and mismanagement, high population growth or unfavourable climatic factors, conflicts have emerged out of competing interests for the resources, he added.

Ethnicity also has become a factor of survival and conflict in specific ecological zones with resource scarcity.

"Because conflict takes on ethnic dimensions in Africa, where wars generally involve militias and guerrilla groups rather than troops, civilians are targeted just because they belong to the 'enemy group'," said Huggins. "Ecological borders, therefore, tend to become ethnic and social borders, and often the scene of conflict."

Scarcity of land and continued environmental degradation is one of the main ecological dimensions that the researchers have associated with several conflicts in the region.

In Rwanda for example, land scarcity was politicised by the ruling elite who framed the issue on political terms, further aggravating the conflict, which resulted in the 1994 genocide, said researcher Caroline Abong.

"The Rwandese conflict has been wrongly portrayed as a purely ethnic problem. But there were also issues of ecological scarcity," she noted. "The management of the conflict was not properly addressed. They aimed at defusing ethnic tensions, but ignored aspects of ecological scarcity."

Land scarcity also has been found to be an indirect source of conflict in the agriculturally-rich Jubaland region of southern Somalia, where much of the fighting in the country's civil war is concentrated, according to Ibrahim Farah, an officer on the Somalia desk at the US embassy in Nairobi.

Several factions in Somalia have battled for control in the Jubaland region, in part to stake their claim to its resource-rich "deegan" [a Somali concept referring to exclusive control of land and its resources].

"Conflict in Jubaland centres on access and control of deegan. The overall ecology of the southern Somalia region is considerably drier and less favorable to agro-pastoralists than is the Jubaland region," Farah told the meeting.

Scarcity, however, is not the only source of conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. Ecological abundance also has been found to be the source of some of the most violent conflicts in the region. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a case in point, where abundant natural resources such as gold, diamonds, and coltan, have resulted in the deaths of millions of people since the colonial period.

According to John Katunga, a programme coordinator with the Nairobi Peace Initiative organisation, up to 3.5 million people have been killed in eastern DRC as a direct result of regional and international interests in exploiting coltan, a valuable mineral discovered only recently in the country.

Regional efforts aimed at bringing peace to DRC, notably the Lusaka peace accord, have only addressed the political interests of the parties to the conflict, Katunga said. "History repeats itself in the way of violent and illicit exploitation of its abundant resource base."

"There is a long and tragic history of resource predation in Congo, beginning during the time when Congo was a private concession held by Belgian king Leopold, lasting through to the time the country was ruled by Mobutu Sese Seko, and continuing during the ongoing civil war that followed the demise of Mobutu's regime," Katunga said.

"This is no longer a Congolese war. There were six foreign armies in Congo. Now they have been reduced to three. The fact the Rwanda and Uganda have fought six times inside Congo is a clear sign that they are interested in Congolese wealth," he added.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, exploitation of natural resources - which directly determine the livelihoods of communities - is often marked by patterns of predation, exploitation and lack of political accountability, the researchers noted. At the same time, those with the means to add value to the commodities often belong to particular elite groups, which act in their own interests at the expense of primary producers.

In Burundi for example, the commodity chain linking peasants to consumers includes a number of actors and groups, at the top of which the government coffee sector regulatory body maintains a monopoly over coffee exports, while fixing lower prices for the producers.

Ecological conflicts between people and their governments also have been sustained by foreign elements which are interested in exploiting the resources, the researchers said.

Ecological conflicts in sub-Saharn Africa also have international dimensions, such as the Nile river basin, whose resources are contested by 10 countries. Although the Nile waters were entirely allocated to Egypt and Sudan, by a treaty they signed with British colonial government, upstream riparian countries - particularly Ethiopia - have challenged the agreements.

African leaders have initiated a mechanism for assessing one another's performance in areas such as democracy and good governance. The African Peer Review Mechanism was launched on Sunday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, at a summit on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), an initiative aimed at spurring development and reducing poverty on the continent.

Some 21 African countries, including seven heads of state, were representated at the meeting, which was presided over by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and attended by NEPAD's other initiators - President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Abdelazziz Bouteflika of Algeria and Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal.

A communique at the end of the meeting described the mechanism, to which 10 countries immediately acceded, as a "system of voluntary self-assessment, constructive peer dialogue and persuasion". It also set out criteria and indicators of democracy and good governance expected of member countries of the African Union (AU).

Obasanjo, chairman of the NEPAD implementation committee, was asked by the summit to set up a special committee by the end of March with responsibility for monitoring compliance with the peer-review requirements.

Officials said the peer-review system was designed as a means of bringing pressure to bear on governments falling short of NEPAD's expectations in the areas of good governance and respect for human rights, but contained no punitive measures.

Under NEPAD African countries are expected to create an environment that encourages investment capital inflows to stimulate rapid development. About US $6 billion has already been pledged by the Group of Eight (G8) highly industrialised countries.

Obasanjo said at the summit that substantial progress had been made towards meeting the objectives of the NEPAD initiative. "NEPAD has moved beyond the level of rhetoric to the concrete and pragmatic stage of implementation," he said.

In addition to Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria and Senegal, six other countries signed the peer review mechanism: Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Botswana and Ghana.

The imminence of war in Iraq was a major issue of concern at the summit. A special committee headed by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa was appointed by the summit to study and present a report on the likely effects the war on Iraq would have on Africa.

IRIN

L'article: "Les rapatriés dépassent les 150 000, selon le gouvernement"

Environ 158 144 Burkinabès sont retournés dans leur pays en provenance de la Côte d'Ivoire depuis le 19 septembre 2002, date du déclenchement d'une guerre de rébellion dans le pays voisin, selon Mariam Lamizana, la ministre de l'Assistance sociale et de la Solidarité nationale du Burkina Faso.

Mme Lamizana a déclaré lundi, dans une conférence de presse, que 70 000 dollars environ ont été dépensés jusqu'à présent pour répondre aux besoins des immigrés rapatriés.

Le 14 février, le gouvernement et ses partenaires ont mis sur pied une commission conjointe pour appuyer un plan d'action national en vue d'assister les rapatriés, a indiqué la ministre aux journalistes. " L'UNICEF ", a-t-elle souligné, " a assisté avec des manuels " pour les enfants en âge scolaire, et avec des citernes d'eau pour faire en sorte que les rapatriés aient accès à l' eau potable.

La crise en Côte d'Ivoire a également eu de sérieuses répercussions économiques pour le Burkina Faso. Les secteurs frappés de plein fouet sont l'élevage et le transport ferroviaire.

La compagnie Sitarail [Société internationale de transport africain par rail ] a été obligée de suspendre son service ferroviaire entre la Côte d'Ivoire et le Burkina Faso lorsque la crise a éclaté. En fin de semaine dernière, les femmes des employés de Sitarail sont descendues dans les rues de la deuxième ville du Burkina Faso, Bobo Dioulasso, pour réclamer une assistance. D'après le quotidien d'Etat, Sidwaya, les femmes, accompagnées de leurs enfants, ont déambulé dans la ville avec des paniers et des sacs de riz vides en criant " Au secours ! Au secours ! Nous avons faim ".

Leur porte-parole, Bibata Coulibaly, a déclaré que les enfants ne pouvaient plus aller à l'école car ils ne sont plus en mesure de payer les frais scolaires. Sidwaya a également rapporté que les manifestantes auraient indiqué que leur familles sont en butte à des problèmes de santé et de logement.

A l'issue de la fermeture de la frontière par les autorités burkinabé au début du conflit, Sitarail a suspendu pour trois mois le contrat de travail de ses employés. Une fois cette période terminée, la compagnie a mis ses travailleurs en " chômage technique " pour une durée indéterminée.

Un autre secteur durement frappé par la crise ivoirienne est l'industrie du bétail, qui fait état d'une perte de 10 milliards de francs CFA (environ 17 millions de dollars) depuis la fin de septembre 2002. Soixante pour cent du bétail du Burkina Faso était habituellement vendu en Côte d'Ivoire.

Le président du Burundi, Pierre Buyoya, a promis de quitter ses fonctions le 1er mai, tel que convenu dans un accord sur le partage du pouvoir conclu avec quelques mouvements rebelles et organisations politiques.

Dans une allocution radiodiffusée dans tout le pays, M. Buyoya, un Tutsi, a confirmé qu'il remettra le pouvoir au vice-président Domitien Ndayizeye, un Hutu, conformément à la constitution de transition du pays.

La radio d'État Radio Burundi a indiqué que cette décision était difficile à prendre, alors que certains politiciens insistaient pour que des questions importantes, comme le cessez-le-feu, soient préalablement résolues avant de procéder à tout changement de pouvoir.

En février, M. Buyoya a insinué qu'il pourrait ne pas se retirer en réclamant la tenue d'un débat national sur l'opportunité ou non de transférer le pouvoir avant l'intégration des rebelles Hutu au sein de l'armée nationale.

Dix-neuf partis politiques ont signé en juillet 2000 l'accord d'Arusha, qui définissait une période de transition divisée en deux phases égales de 18 mois chacune. La première a débuté en novembre 2001.

L'article: "Accord entre le gouvernement et l'UA sur la force d'interposition"

L'Union africaine (UA) et le gouvernement du Burundi ont signé un accord mercredi sur les statuts de la force d'interposition prévue pour le Burundi, a informé l'agence de presse burundaise, APB.

Le ministre burundais des relations extérieures et de la coopération, Térence Sinunguruza, et l'envoyé spécial du secrétaire général de l'UA, Mamadou Bah, ont signé l'accord dans la capitale burundaise, Bujumbura. APB a ajouté que M. Bah n'avait pas pu confirmer le nombre de troupes ni la date d'arrivée de la force.

Le Burundi est déchiré par des bouleversements politiques et par la guerre depuis l'assassinat en octobre 1993 de son premier président élu de façon démocratique, Melchoir Ndadaye. Environ 200 000 Burundais sont morts depuis le début de la guerre civile.

En vertu de l'accord de paix d'Arusha d'août 2000, un gouvernement transitoire, composé de Hutus et Tutsis en nombres approximativement égaux, a été mis en place le 1er novembre 2001. Cependant, les combats ont continué malgré les accords de cessez-le-feu signés à Arusha en Tanzanie le 7 octobre et le 2 décembre 2002 entre le gouvernement et l'ensemble des factions rebelles, à l'exception des Forces nationales de libération dirigées par Agathon Rwasa.

APB a rapporté jeudi que l'accord sur les statuts était lié aux droits et devoirs des troupes de maintien de la paix ainsi qu'aux aspects de logistique concernant le transport du matériel requis par la mission au Burundi.

La force de l'UA devrait superviser la mise en application des accords de cessez-le-feu et aider à stabiliser le pays, selon ABP. Elle apportera également un appui dans le désarmement et la réintégration des personnes déplacées et des réfugiés.

Lorsque l'UA s'est engagée en février à fournir des troupes de maintien de la paix, l'Ethiopie, le Mozambique et l'Afrique du Sud ont offert des contingents mais leur déploiement est encore attendu.

Cependant, l'UA a dépêché des observateurs au Burundi pour soutenir les accords de cessez-le-feu. Le premier des observateurs est arrivé le 12 février à Bujumbura. La force est au complet depuis le 12 mars, date à laquelle huit soldats gabonais sont arrivés à Bujumbura, portant à 43 le nombre de moniteurs du cessez-le-feu déployés par l'UA au Burundi. Le Burkina Faso, le Gabon, le Togo et la Tunisie sont les autres pays à avoir mis des troupes à la disposition de la mission d'observateurs de l'UA.

A Burundi Ministry of Defence official said on Thursday that 68 rebels loyal to Pierre Nkurunziza and four government soldiers died during three days of intense fighting in the west-central province of Muramvya.

The official, Serge Nizigiyimana, said the fighting occurred around the Kavumu and Musenyi hills in Muramvya. He said the army captured 10 rebels of Nkurunziza’s faction of the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD), 29 machine guns and a large quantity of ammunition. Nizigiyimana said four government soldiers were wounded. However, CNDD-FDD commander, Manace Nzobonimpa, said the government's figure for the death toll was propaganda.

Nizigiyimana, who is in charge of communication at the ministry, said the rebels had come from Kiganda Commune, Muramvya, and intended to go into their Kibira forest hideout.

Although the government and Nkurunziza’s CNDD-FDD have signed a ceasefire agreement, sporadic fighting continues. On 13 March, an army officer, his bodyguard and 13 rebels died during heavy fighting at Muhwazi, Nyabitsinda Commune, in the eastern province of Ruyigi.

The African Union pledged in February to send a peacekeeping mission in Burundi but Ethiopia, Mozambique and South Africa, the countries that agreed to contribute troops to the mission, have yet to deploy them.

Thousands of people from Ruyigi commune in eastern Burundi are surviving in critical conditions, sleeping rough in order to escape repeated attacks by Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD) rebels, which began three weeks ago, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"Every night for the past three weeks, more than 200 people from the hills have been spending the night at the site of the chief residence of Ruyigi commune, and at surrounding military posts," a humanitarian worker in Ruyigi told IRIN on Wednesday. "Most of them are children, women and the elderly. In the morning, they go to their fields, and in the late afternoon they move towards Ruyigi town with their cattle in order to escape being attacked by the FDD rebels."

Authorities in Ruyigi estimate that altogether 4,654 families are sleeping rough in the bush. Hospitals and health centres are registering many patients suffering from respiratory infections and malaria after spending nights in the rain.

"The people are not able to pay for their health care, but MSF [Medecins Sans Frontieres] Holland has agreed to cover the expenses," a humanitarian worker told IRIN.

He added: "Humanitarian NGOs want to locate the dispersed people and then assemble them in a secure place and supply them with blankets to give them protection from the cold. Until now there hasn't been a problem with provisions, because they go to their fields to cultivate."

For the past year Ruyigi Province has been a battlefield for rebels from the principal FDD rebel faction led by Peter Nkurunziza, and the government army. The government complains that the rebels cross easily from Tanzania, which borders the province.

An army officer, his bodyguard and 13 rebels died on Thursday during heavy fighting between government forces and rebels of the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD)faction led by Pierre Nkurunziza, a Burundi Defence Ministry official told IRIN.

The official, Serge Nizigiyimana, who is in charge of communication at the defence ministry, said on Friday that the fighting occurred at Muhwazi in Nyabitsinda Commune, in the eastern province of Ruyigi.

"FDD rebels attacked the military post of Muhwazi, the commander of the post and his bodyguard were shot dead; the army replied and killed 13 FDD rebels," Nizigiyimana said.

However, FDD spokesman Gelase Ndabirabe denied that 13 FDD rebels were killed. "On the contrary, we killed many government soldiers. A commander is always protected by a big number of soldiers, when he is killed, all his escort is killed too," he said.

He said FDD fighters had been "facing the army" in the communes of Nyabitsinda, Kinyinya and Gisuru in Ruyigi Province since 12 March.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has expressed concern at the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the entire province of Ruyigi.

Since January 2003, the Burundian army has prevented humanitarian agencies from delivering food and medicine to the displaced people in Nyabitsinda and Kinyinya communes, claiming that the areas are insecure.

"We don't know what is really happening in Nyabitsinda and Kinyinya," Danielle Lustig, an OCHA Humanitarian Affairs Officer in Bujumbura, said. "I have been in Ruyigi in the past two weeks to see how we could create a humanitarian corridor but no agreement has been reached with army authorities in Ruyigi province: the reason is the same - the region is not secure."

La force d'interposition de l'Union africaine (UA) au Burundi est aujourd' hui au complet après l'arrivée mercredi de huit soldats gabonais dans la capitale, Bujumbura, portant à 43 le nombre de moniteurs du cessez-le-feu déployés par l'UA.

Ce nouveau contingent a rejoint les soldats de Tunisie, du Burkina Faso, du Gabon et du Togo chargés de surveiller le fragile cessez-le-feu au Burundi, signé par le gouvernement et toutes les factions rebelles hutues à l'exception d'une seule - la quatrième - les Forces nationales de libération dirigées par Agathon Rwasa. Les premiers observateurs sont arrivés le 12 février et ont commencé à travailler immédiatement, a déclaré à IRIN le représentant résident de l'UA au Burundi, Mamadou Ba.

"Le commandant de l'équipe, le lieutenant colonel Tahar Ayari de Tunisie, accompagné de mon conseiller militaire, s'est déjà rendu dans les endroits où les observateurs seront déployés," a-t-il dit.

Ils s'agit des provinces de Ruyigi à l'est du pays, Makamba et Kayanza au nord, et Gitega au centre. M. Ba a indiqué qu'ils visiteraient également Bubanza au nord-ouest et Muyinga au nord.

"Ce n'est pas tout, ils sont régulièrement en contact avec des institutions de l'ONU travaillant au Burundi, pour connaître la situation qui prévaut sur place : la sécurité ainsi que les situations humanitaires et des droits de l'homme," a ajouté M. Ba.

L'UA, le principal organe politique du continent, a dépêché des observateurs pour consolider les pourparlers de cessez-le-feu du Burundi. Une force d'interposition plus importante est aussi attendue.

Parallèlement, les combats continuent au Burundi, suscitant des craintes pour l'avenir du processus de paix si la force n'arrive pas. L'un des signataires du cessez-le-feu, la faction du Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie, dirigée par Pierre Nkurunziza, s'est plaint le 25 février de ne pas avoir été consulté sur le déploiement des observateurs, ni sur le projet d'envoyer des soldats de maintien de la paix, et a prévenu qu'il ne pouvait pas garantir leur sécurité.

Some 3,000 residents of Rukaramu, an area 10 km northwest of the capital, Bujumbura, have been living in the open since Sunday for fear of attacks by rebels of the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) loyal to Agathon Rwasa, according to local authorities.

"During the day, they [residents] go to farm in their fields, but they spend the night in the neighbouring zone of Gatumba," Daniel Nsazurwimo, the chief of Rukaramu, told IRIN. "We are trying to persuade them to return to their homes."

Gatumba is eight kilometres southwest of Rukaramu, which is surrounded by the Rukoko Forest - an ideal haven for the rebels. Residents have promised to go home when security is in their area is strengthened.

The army has been pursuing the rebels over the past two weeks, forcing many to flee across the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the towns of Uvira, Makobola or Luvungi.

On Saturday, the rebels attacked Rukaramu, spreading panic among residents. Nsazurwimo said the rebels killed one person, wounded 10, and looted 200 homes. Local authorities and residents of Rukaramu zone said the attack was in revenge for two rebel fighters the army had captured two weeks earlier.

The rebels have accused Rukaramu residents of collaborating with the army, but deny hostility towards them. "We live together with the populations of Rukaramu, they often bring food to our combatants, we cannot kill them," Pasteur Habimana, the rebel spokesman, told IRIN.

Government has said that Rwasa’s fighters have killed at least 800 Hutu local officials and many Hutu civilians since 1996, after accusing them of collaborating with the army.

The EU wants the transitional government in Burundi to set up a "neutral and independent" inquiry into the 9 September 2002 killing of civilians in Itaba Commune, Gitega Province. The EU issued a statement on Friday, saying that a recent trial of two army officers "did not meet minimum judicial standards".

Members of the Burundi armed forces allegedly killed between 173 and 267 civilians in Itaba, an area that had been vacated by rebels. On 22 February, a military court found the two officers guilty of failing to obey orders. They were sentenced to four months in prison, but released for having served the time since their arrest.

The EU said an independent inquiry would "establish the facts rapidly and identify the guilty parties so that they can be prosecuted and judged in accordance with due judicial process". It said: "The EU therefore urges the transitional government of Burundi to apply those standards to the full to all individuals who are responsible for this massacre of civilians by the army as soon as possible, as was underscored by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights during his visit to Bujumbura."

The EU reminded all parties to the Burundi conflict of their obligations under international humanitarian law to respect civilians.

On 2 March, at the end of a three-day visit to Burundi, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello appealed to all parties in the country to forge ahead with the peace process, protect civilians and end the recruitment of child soldiers.

Vieira de Mello called for an end to the culture of impunity, emphasising that trust could only be restored through holding accountable those responsible for gross human rights violations, such as the Itaba massacre.

The president of Burundi has ordered private radio stations not to broadcast statements by opposition rebel groups, media reports said on Thursday.

President Pierre Buyoya issued the ban during a meeting on Tuesday with editors of the country's private radio stations, according to reports from a variety of media. Radio Publique Africaine, based in the capital Bujumbura, and the British Broadcasting Corporation said the ban extends to comments from the Forces for Defence of Democracy (FDD) and the Forces of National Liberation (FNL) rebel groups.

The FNL has not signed a ceasefire agreement with the government and the FDD has been criticised by Buyoya for not observing it. Burundi has been wracked for a decade by a power-struggle between ethnic Hutu rebel groups and the government, dominated by the minority ethnic Tutsis, since an elected Hutu president was overthrown and assassinated in a military coup. More than 200 000 people, mainly civilians, are believed to have died in the conflict.

Buyoya is scheduled to hand over the reins of government on May 1 to a Hutu president under the terms of a power-sharing deal forged by former South African president Nelson Mandela. However he has told parliament he may hold on to power if peace is not prevailing.(DPA)

The EC decided on Tuesday to donate €1.23 million (about US $1.34 million) towards the establishment of an African Union (AU) Ceasefire Observer Mission in Burundi, according to the Commission. The mission will monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreements signed at the end of 2002 between the transitional government and all but one rebel faction.

"This contribution is an expression of support for the peace process in Burundi and of the priority which the European Commission attaches to the restoration of peace and security in Burundi and the Great Lakes Region in general," the EC stated.

Burundi has been in the throes of political instability and war since the assassination in October 1993 of Burundi's first democratically elected president. Some 200,000 Burundians have died as a result.

Based on the Arusha Peace Agreement of August 2000, a transitional government, made up almost equally of Hutus and Tutsis, was inaugurated on 1 November 2001. However, fighting has continued despite the ceasefire accords signed on 7 October and 2 December 2002 between the government and all the rebel factions but one.

An AU peacekeeping force was at the planning stage, the EU reported, but, in order not to lose momentum, there was "a strong need" for an immediate deployment of a ceasefire observer mission. "The Commission of the AU approached the European Union with a proposal for such a mission, with 35 observers from at least four African countries (Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Togo) to be deployed at short notice," the EC reported.

A leading Burundi opposition politician, Charles Mukasi, is still in prison six days after a Bujumbura court ordered him to be freed, because defence lawyers have been unable to find the deputy public prosecutor to sign the release warrant, according to Net Press, a privately owned agency.

"We must tell you that Mr Mukasi is still in prison despite the court statement favourable to him and according to which President Mukasi must be released," Claude Sibomana, the Net Press editor-in-chief, told IRIN on Wednesday.

The agency had reported earlier this week that Mukasi's lawyers had also sought the Bujumbura city prosecutor who also refused to sign the warrant until it was endorsed by the deputy public prosecutor.

Mukasi, who is president of the Union pour le progres national (Uprona), has been in Mpimba Prison since 21 January. He was arrested after calling for the restoration of the rule of law in Burundi.

The agency recalled that President Pierre Buyoya had ordered provincial governors and military commanders to "use political, administrative, judicial and police" powers to restrain people and organisations demanding restoration of the rule of law.

The Article: "UN rights commissioner urges implementation of peace agreement"

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello appealed on Sunday to all parties in Burundi to forge ahead with the regional peace process, protect civilians and end the recruitment of child soldiers, UN News reported.

Vieira De Mello made the remarks at the end of a three-day visit to Burundi. UN News quoted him as saying that it was important to strengthen Burundi's capacity to deal with human rights issues and reform the judiciary.

On Sunday he met President Pierre Buyoya, Vice-President Domitien Ndayizeye and other senior officials and appealed to them for "broad commitment" to the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement of 2000. Vieira de Mello also discussed with the officials how his office could support the overall peace process in Burundi, according to UN News.

"The High Commissioner also called for an end to the culture of impunity, emphasising that trust could be restored through holding accountable those responsible for gross human rights violations, such as the massacre that took place in Itaba, and settling the issue of prisoners and detainees," it said.

Also on Sunday, Burundi's transitional government and the main rebel movement, Pierre Nkurunziza's faction of the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD), recommitted themselves to implementing past agreements to end nearly 10 years of civil war.

The commitment was made in a joint communique they signed at the end of a two-day regional summit on Burundi in the Tanzanian commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

L'article: "Reprise des négociations entre le gouvernement et les rebelles"

Le gouvernement transitoire du Burundi et le principal mouvement rebelle du pays, la faction du Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD), dirigée par Pierre Nkurunziza, ont renouvelé leurs engagements dimanche à mettre en application des accords déjà existants en vue de mettre fin à 10 ans de guerre civile.

Cet engagement a été annoncé dans un communiqué conjoint que les deux parties ont signé à l'issue d'un sommet régional de deux jours sur le Burundi dans la capitale commerciale de la Tanzanie, Dar es Salaam. Les présidents Yoweri Museveni de l'Ouganda, Benjamin Mkapa de la Tanzanie, Pierre Buyoya du Burundi, et le vice-président de l'Afrique du Sud Jacob Zuma, qui est le médiateur de l'accord de cessez-le-feu du Burundi signé par les factions en guerre, étaient présents à ce sommet. Le secrétaire général du CNDD-FDD, Hussein Radjabu, représentait Nkurunziza, qui avait été invité à cette rencontre, a rapporté l'AFP. Ils se sont rencontrés en vue de résoudre l'impasse sur la mise en application totale du cessez-le-feu.

Le CNDD-FDD a reproché au gouvernement d'avoir bloqué des livraisons de denrées alimentaires et de fournitures médicales destinées à ses combattants, et d'avoir violé le cessez-le-feu. Dans leur communiqué commun, les deux parties ont fait voeu d'appliquer l'accord lié à la distribution de nourriture en deux endroits situés dans les provinces de Bubanza et de Ruyigi respectivement.

Les deux bords ont convenu de se partager le pouvoir conformément à l'Accord de paix et de réconciliation signé à Arusha en 2000 et à l'accord de cessez-le-feu du 2 décembre 2002, dont les dernières modalités doivent être finalisées par les parties concernées.

"Il a ensuite été confirmé que l'ensemble des joueurs politiques concernés recevront, dans l'intervalle, l'immunité de poursuites, aux termes de l'accord d'Arusha signé en 2000," annonçait le communiqué.

Les deux parties se sont également entendues sur la nécessité de créer une nouvelle constitution pour le Burundi, dans laquelle les éléments du document de 1992, l'accord d'Arusha, ainsi que d'autres documents connexes, seraient pris en considération.

Cependant, dans son propre communiqué, également publié dimanche, le CNDD-FDD proteste contre l'absence d'une cessation des hostilités et regrette que les négociations sur l'Accord des forces techniques n'aient pas encore abouti et que la formation des équipes de liaison se fasse encore attendre.

En outre, le CNDD-FDD a critiqué la nature, selon lui, ambiguë du déploiement de la mission des observateurs de l'Union africaine. "La composition, le mandat, l'engagement mutuel, les attributions et le déploiement des observateurs de la Mission de l'Union africaine doivent être clairement définis et soumis à l'approbation du CNDD-FDD et du gouvernement transitoire," selon le CNDD-FDD.

Le mouvement demande également un délai de deux autres semaines pour qu'il puisse avec le gouvernement transitoire "conclure des négociations sur toutes les questions relatives à la politique, la défense et la sécurité", et demande que "tous les efforts" soient déployés pour garantir que la mission d'interposition soit opérationnelle d'ici la fin du mois de mars.

L'engagement de dimanche vient une semaine après que le CNDD-FDD a suspendu toutes les négociations avec le gouvernement.

The Article: "Conference addresses "critical" state of Africa's refugees"

Africa's four million refugees are impeding social and economic development on the continent, a conference in Addis Ababa heard on Thursday.

The continent still "bears the scars" of scores of conflicts in the shape of millions of refugees, the two-day meeting was told.

The conference, held jointly by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR), is aimed at raising awareness of the rights of refugees and families who are forced to flee their homes because of wars and famine on the continent.

Ilunga Ngandu, the Ethiopia-based regional head of UNHCR, said that refugees or displaced people are always victims of massive human rights abuses because they have been forced to flee.

"This creates desperation and outflows of too many Africans to exile or internal displacement," he said. "Even when refugees have reached an asylum country, we have witnessed over the years serious violations."

Currently there are some 12 million refugees in the world - four million of them in Africa costing UNHCR around US $1 billion.

Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world, is home to some 37,000 refugees from Somalia and more than 90,000 from Sudan.

Jean Mfasoni, head of political affairs at the newly-formed African Union, described the refugee crisis on the continent as critical.

"Most of these refugees have been violated, either their human rights or their basic rights," he said, adding that refugee protection organisations in Africa must be "revitalised".

Ethnic conflict is "spreading like wildfire" in Ethiopia because the government is failing to tackle the problem, according to a national human rights organisation.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) urged the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) to crack down on tribal clashes.

In its latest report, the organisation laid the blame for recent troubles between the Surma and Dizzi tribes who live in southwest Ethiopia at the door of the government.

The latest clashes in the Bench and Maji zone occurred after a member of the Dizzi tribe was killed. In a revenge attack, two Surma were killed. The nomadic Surma then carried out another attack on Dizzi groups living in at least four local districts.

More than 1,000 Dizzi tribe members fled their homes and some 31 people were killed in the clashes which broke out last July, according to the report.

"The ethnic policy pursued by the EPRDF government badly undermined the culture and tradition of mutual respect and concern that held the two tribes together for years on end," the report said.

EHRCO said that groups carrying guns in areas where ethnic clashes occur should be disarmed and that elders should be used to calm down tensions.

It also said that talks between the Dizzi and Surma tribes could ensure "an environment of mutual respect, peace and tranquility".

Successive wars have erupted, raged and subsided in West Africa, staking claim one after the other for the attention of the international community, however a low-intensity conflict has dragged on in Senegal, arousing little interest regionally or internationally.

The war in the southern Casamance area has outlasted more recent conflicts such as the Tuareg rebellions in Mali and Niger in the early 1990s, Sierra Leone s rebel war (1991-2002), the fighting between Liberia s armed factions (1989-1997) and Guinea-Bissau s internal war in 1998-1999.

Begun in 1982, it has pitted successive governments against the Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de Casamance (MFDC- Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance). The MFDC wants self-determination for Casamance, which lies between The Gambia, to the north, Guinea-Bissau to the south, and eastern Senegal.

Figures provided by the Rencontre Africaine pour la Defense des Droits de l'Homme (RADDHO - a continental human rights organisation based in Dakar, Senegal) give some indication of the toll the conflict has taken on vulnerable populations in Casamance.

Armed bands in Kolda, central Casamance, strip residents of anything of value, Raddho reported - from bicycles and money to cattle and cashew nuts, an important cash crop in both southern Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. More than 8,500 displaced persons are forced to flee their villages at least once a year as a result of raids by such groups, the human rights watchdog said.

In western Casamance, entire villages have been abandoned because of mop-up operations by the Senegalese army and rebel incursions, RADDHO added in a recent statement. It estimated at over 17,000 the number of IDPs in Ziguinchor - the area s main town - Bignona, north of Ziguinchor, and Oussouye, towards the border with Guinea-Bissau.

Other people have fled to neighbouring countries. Gambian authorities estimate at about 5,000 the number of Casamancais living in refugee camps in their country. Guinea-Bissau s authorities put the number in theirs at 6,000.

However, keeping statistics on displacement from Casamance is difficult, RADDHO said, because many displaced people tend to stay with relatives and are not usually included in IDP headcounts. Moreover, large numbers of people flee their homes when the level of insecurity is high and go back when calm returns to their areas.

The conflict has been characterised by unsuccessful negotiations punctuated by periodic clashes that have resulted in the loss of many lives and displacement. Each side blames the other for the lack of progress towards peace.

To this day we do not know of any concrete proposals by [President] Abdoulaye Wade for a resolution of the crisis, Alexandre Djiba, the MFDCs spokesman, told IRIN. Djiba accused other African states and the international community of remaining silent on the Casamance crisis despite the fact that negotiations have been at a stand still for some time.

He charged that the Senegalese government s strategy has been to announce negotiations every now and then so as to give international public opinion the impression that it wants to pursue a negotiated settlement.

Nothing has been done to pave the way for negotiations on the end of the war in Casamance, Djiba charged. As a result, the military situation on the ground has hardly changed, except the army s mop-up operations in Ziguinchor which, he said, are aimed solely at infiltrating our ranks, contrary to the stated objective of ensuring populations safety.

However, Abdou Azize Ndiaye, director of international organisations in Senegal s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, does not agree that there is an impasse in the negotiations. It s not easy to solve a conflict that has lasted more than 20 years, he told IRIN.

MFDC hardliners are stumbling block - state official

He recalled that in an address on 31 December 2002, President Abdoulaye Wade stressed his determination to achieve peace in Senegal through the creation of a negotiation and follow-up committee.

Wade had promised that the Casamance conflict would be resolved within three months when he took office two years ago. However, the conflict has dragged on, despite agreements between the government and MFDC leader Abbe Diamacoune in 2001.

Ndiaye blames this on the MFDC s hardline wing which operates in southern Casamance, towards the border with Guinea-Bissau. While the northern wing is open to negotiation, the hardliners have remained intransigent, rejecting any concessions, he charged.

This militates against the resumption of negotiations, he said.

Asked whether he thought the deployment of a buffer force would help, Ndiaye said he did not see the need for such a move since the Casamance conflict was well contained.

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