03 / 31 / 2003
IRIN
The Article: "Rebel
appoints ex-government officers"
The
Rwandan-backed movement in eastern Democratic Republic of the
Congo, the rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma),
has appointed to its ranks four former army officers who had
been condemned to death the assassination of President Laurent-Desire
Kabila.
One
of the men, Bora Uzima Kamwanya, was a major in the government
army. He has been given the rank of brigadier general in the
guerilla army. The others are Georges Mirindi, John Bahati and
Amuri Chap Chap, all former lieutenants in the government army.
They now hold the guerrilla rank of colonel. They all escaped
government detention, after a military tribunal handed down
their sentences.
DRC
State Prosecutor Luhonge Kabinda Ngoy told IRIN on Saturday
that the nominations were "an act of provocation".
The prosecutor of the Military Order Court that sentenced the
four men, Col Charles Alamba, termed the nominations "irregular
and illegal".
However,
the RCD chief of external relations, Joseph Mudumbi, said since
the Military Order Court was abolished by the Sun City accord
signed with the government in April 2002, the judgments were
null and void. He said the nomination should not prevent agreement
on the reunification of the army with other rebel groups.
AFP
reported that the RCD and the government "signed an agreement
Saturday in Pretoria on a high command for an integrated armed
force" for the country.
Laurent-Desire
Kabila was shot dead on 16 January 2001 by one of his bodyguards.
Kabila's son, Joseph, succeeded him as president.
L'article:
"L'ONU nie la présence de troupes rwandaises
en RDC"
Le
Représentant spécial du Secrétaire général
de l'ONU en République démocratique du Congo (RDC),
Amos Namanga Ngongi, a rejeté vendredi les allégations
selon lesquelles des troupes rwandaises seraient revenues en
RDC. S'adressant aux journalistes au quartier-général
de Kinshasa de la Mission de l'ONU en RDC, appelée la
MONUC, M. Ngongi a reconnu que la situation demeurait tendue
dans le district de l'Ituri, malgré la présence
de troupes ougandaises ayant pour mandat d'y assurer la sécurité
en vertu de l'accord conclu en septembre 2002 entre les présidents
Joseph Kabila de la RDC et Yoweri Museveni de l'Ouganda.
L'évêque
catholique de Beni-Butembo, Sikuli Melchisedech, et un groupe
d'ONG basées à Bruxelles, ont affirmé que
des mouvements massifs de troupes rwandaises et burundaises
avaient effectivement eu lieu en mars dans l'est de la RDC.
M.
Ngongi a par ailleurs souligné que les troupes ougandaises,
qui seraient dans une position pour le faire, ne se sont pas
plaintes de la prétendue présence de troupes rwandaises.
Il a justifié son rejet des rumeurs à cet effet
en rappelant que les observateurs de la MONUC n'avaient pas
pu confirmer la présence de troupes rwandaises en RDC.
La
semaine dernière, M. Ngongi a visité les capitales
de l'Ouganda et du Rwanda pour s'entretenir avec des dirigeants
de ces deux pays. Il a également eu des discussions avec
le président Kabila à Kinshasa. M. Ngongi a soutenu
que les chefs d'État de la RDC, du Rwanda et de l'Ouganda
lui ont tous donné l'assurance qu'il n'était pas
dans leur intérêt de reprendre les combats au Congo.
Les
troupes ougandaises doivent se retirer de la RDC le 24 avril,
en vertu de l'accord de cessez-le-feu que les belligérants
ont signé le 13 mars à Bunia, dans le district
de l'Ituri de la province Orientale.
Durant
ce temps, le Mécanisme de vérification de la Tierce
Partie, mis en place pour faire respecter l'accord de paix de
juillet 2002 entre le Rwanda et la RDC, a rendu publique une
déclaration vendredi, après une mission d'enquête
au Rwanda, en Ouganda et dans l'est de la RDC, entreprise selon
les directives du président de l'Union africaine. Cet
organe de vérification a précisé que ses
tâches consistaient surtout à vérifier les
allégations et contre-allégations faites par le
Rwanda et l'Ouganda concernant la sécurité dans
l'est de la RDC, et à enquêter sur les informations
relatives à un déploiement imminent de troupes
par le gouvernement de la R DC pour réagir à ces
menaces.
Le
rapport préliminaire de cet organisme de vérification
a été soumis au Secrétaire général
de l'ONU, Kofi Annan, et au président sud-africain, Thabo
Mbeki, à titre de composantes principales de la Tierce
Partie à l'Accord de paix de Pretoria.
Dans
sa déclaration, le mécanisme de vérification
a rapporté que "beaucoup d'activités militaires
agressives représentant une menace directe au processus
de paix" se déroulent actuellement dans certaines
zones de la RDC, notamment dans celles de Minembwe, Lulimba,
dans le Parc national de Virunga, à Rutsuru, Bunyakiri,
Walikale, ainsi que dans les axes Beni-Butembo-Lubero et Kanyabayonga-Bunyatenge.
L'organisme a par ailleurs incité l'Ouganda à
s'en tenir à la date prévue pour retirer ses troupes.
Il a aussi exhorté la RDC à ne pas se laisser
pousser à déployer ses troupes dans la partie
orientale du pays.
03
/ 28 / 2003
IRIN
L'article: "Les
combats près de Bunia provoquent la fuite de milliers
d'habitants dont beaucoup auraient trouvé la mort"
Plus
de deux milliers de personnes ont fui les affrontements qui
se sont déroulés dans la région située
entre Bunia, au nord-est de la République démocratique
du Congo, et la frontière de l'Ouganda voisin, a déclaré
vendredi à IRIN Thomas Lubanga, chef de la faction rebelle
de l'Union des patriotes congolais qui contrôle la ville.
Ce
dernier a indiqué qu'environ 760 personnes - essentiellement
des civils - ont trouvé la mort. Ce bilan n'a toutefois
pas été confirmé de source indépendante.
Selon
M. Lubanga, la plupart des personnes déplacées
sont arrivées de Bogoro et Tshiayi, respectivement à
20 km et 15 km au sud-est de Bunia.
«
Des combats violents ont éclaté depuis lundi à
Bogoro, et ce matin lors d'une offensive que nous avons repoussée
à Tshiayi, » a fait savoir M.Lubanga.
Les
attaques auraient été lancées par une force
de coalition soutenue par les Forces armées congolaises,
et approvisionnée en armes et munitions par l'armée
ougandaise, a expliqué M. Lubanga.
Ce
dernier a ajouté qu'il soupçonnait la participation
du Front pour l'intégration et la pacification de l'Ituri,
une milice rivale créée en début de mois.
M.
Lubanga n'avait, pour l'heure, encore reçu aucune information
sur les pertes subies par ses opposants, mais il a pu donner
un bilan de ses propres forces faisant état de huit morts
et 12 blessés.
Il
a prévenu que les conditions de vie déjà
difficiles des habitants de Bunia - où un grand nombre
de déplacés y ont déjà trouvé
refuge lors de précédents combats - ne feraient
que s'aggraver avec l'arrivée probable de milliers de
nouveaux déplacés.
03
/ 26 / 2003
IRIN
L'article: "Plus
de 400 rebelles du nord-est se rendent à l'armée
ougandaise"
L'armée
ougandaise a révélé qu'entre 401 et 425
combattants du mouvement de Thomas Lubanga, l'Union des patriotes
congolais (UPC), se sont rendus parce qu'ils voulaient participer
au processus de paix. L'UPC est ce mouvement rebelle que les
Ougandais ont chassé de Bunia, le 6 mars.
L'Agence
France-Presse et le journal New Vision, propriété
du Gouvernement ougandais, ont indiqué que des représentants
de ce groupe rebelle, qui opérait dans le district de
l'Ituri de la province Orientale (République démocratique
du Congo), ont annoncé leur capitulation après
avoir rencontré des officiers supérieurs des Forces
de défense populaire de l'Ouganda, le week-end dernier.
Parmi les rebelles congolais en question, on comptait le "major"
Kyaligonza, commandant de toutes les troupes de l'UPC à
Bunia.
Le
New Vision a soutenu mercredi que les rebelles avaient fait
défection parce qu'ils estimaient que M. Lubanga les
trompait. L'UPC a refusé de signer l'Accord de cessation
des hostilités en Ituri, conclu le 18 mars entre les
gouvernements rivaux, les groupes politiques et ethniques, de
même que les milices de cette zone.
L'armée
ougandaise a affirmé qu'elle demeurerait à Bunia
jusqu'au 24 avril, date à laquelle la Commission de pacification
de l'Ituri doit être constituée.
03
/ 24 / 2003
IRIN
The Article: "DRC-Uganda:
Military will not prolong stay in Ituri, says officer"
The
Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) are not interested in
prolonging their stay in Ituri District, northeastern Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), since they have achieved their
objectives, Kale Kaihura, the military assistant to President
Yoweri Museveni, said on Sunday.
Government-owned
Radio Uganda quoted a statement by Kaihura, saying the UN and
all signatories to the Lusaka Peace Accord should identify a
third party to take over security in Ituri. The UPDF ousted
Thomas Lubanga's Union des patriotes congolais (UPC) from Ituri's
main town, Bunia, on 6 March.
Kaihura
said the UPDF went to Ituri to stop supplies of arms to Ugandan
dissidents in the area. He said the UPDF also wanted to ensure
that the Ituri Pacification Commission (IPC) was installed as
the only guarantee for peaceful resolution of the conflict in
the area.
The
radio also quoted the Ugandan minister of state for defence,
Ruth Nankabirwa, as saying that the that the UPDF was in the
DRC "with the full knowledge of the UN and President Joseph
Kabila".
Radio
Uganda reported that the minister, who was speaking at a Bunia
town council meeting, said Museveni and Kabila had endorsed
UPDF's stay in Ituri during a meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, late
last year.
Nankabirwa
told the meeting that the UN endorsed UPDF's presence in Ituri
through the UN Secretary-Genera, Kofi Annan. She said the UN,
which is supposed to provide security to the region, did not
have enough troops to deploy there, adding that the UPDF would
remain in Ituri until 24 April when the IPC was expected to
have been established.
However,
the spokesman for the UN mission in the DRC, known as MONUC,
said on 13 March that MONUC had never asked Uganda to maintain
a troop presence in the DRC. On the contrary, he said, the withdrawal
of the UPDF from Bunia by March had been provided for under
the agreement signed by Kabila and Museveni in Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania, on 9 and 10 February.
The
radio also quoted Nankabirwa as saying Uganda would "never"
accept a vacuum in Ituri, because the district could easily
be turned into a hiding place for Ugandan rebels.
A
preparatory technical committee for the establishment of the
IPC convened its first meeting on Thursday, in Bunia. The committee
was set up as the result of an agreement reached on Tuesday
by six of seven rebel groups in Ituri to cease hostilities.
The UPC did not sign the agreement.
Toure
said on Thursday that the technical committee comprised two
representatives from MONUC, representatives of ethnic militias
in Ituri, and officials of the governments of Angola, the DRC,
and Uganda.
The
Article: "Red
Cross reunites 45 children with their families"
The
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has reunited
45 children separated from their families by the conflict in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
An
ICRC statement said one of its aircraft flew the unaccompanied
children, aged between six and 17 years, between the eastern
and western parts of the country. The aircraft flew 17 children
from Goma in the eastern province of North Kivu to the capital,
Kinshasa, on Thursday, and returned on Friday, bringing 28 other
children home to Goma.
The
ICRC said some of the children had been separated from their
families for years.
Since
the beginning of 2003, the ICRC has reunited more than 240 Congolese
children with their parents.
03
/ 21 / 2003
IRIN
The Article: "MONUC
unable to confirm Rwandan troop presence"
A
spokesman for the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC), known as MONUC, said on Thursday that MONUC was
unable to confirm reports that Rwandan troops had re-entered
the country after their withdrawal earlier this year.
"We
are not in a position to confirm the accusations," Hamadoun
Toure said.
He
was responding to reports that truckloads of Rwandan and Burundian
troops had re-entered North Kivu Province between 13 and 16
March. The pro-Kinshasa government Rassemblement congolais pour
la democratie-Kisangani/Mouvement de liberation militia and
a Roman Catholic bishop, Melchisedek Sikuli, have also made
such accusations.
Sikuli
said numbers of Rwandan soldiers had been seen last weekend
in Kirumba, Kayla and Kanyambayonga in the Lubero area of North
Kivu Province on their way back into the DRC. He said thousands
of people were fleeing the reported incursion, and that 152
internally displaced persons (IDPs) had arrived in Kyimba, having
fled Pinga in the Walikale area, where the presence of Rwandan
soldiers had first been reported. He said another 1,227 IDPs
from Pinga had arrived in Kayla on Wednesday.
Sikuli
did not specify the number of Rwandan troops the IDPs had reportedly
seen. He said, however, that "according to those who escaped,
the soldiers have killed mostly the Wanianga, Wakobo and Walendu
ethnic groups".
He
said the troops had withdrawn two days ago and had subsequently
assembled on the shores of Lake Edward in the vicinity of the
fishing villages of Nyakakoma, Vitshumbi and Ishasha.
Meanwhile,
the Okapi UN radio said on Wednesday that some MONUC observers
had reported the presence of Rwandan troops in the DRC.
On
Friday, however, Rwanda denied that its troops had entered the
DRC. The Rwandan special envoy for the DRC, Patrick Mazimpaka,
told IRIN that civilians might have mistaken members of some
of the various fighting groups in eastern DRC for Rwandans.
"We
have not sent troops back into the Congo," he said from
the Rwandan capital, Kigali.
When
Rwandan troops first entered the DRC, he said, they had walked
and left the same way. He said they never rode in trucks. Mazimpaka
also denied that Rwandan troops were now massing on their side
of the border with the DRC, but said if they were the action
would be justified.
This,
he said, was because of the continued presence of Ugandan troops
in the DRC's Ituri District close to the Rwandan border, and
the threat of infiltration by members of the Interahamwe extremist
Hutu militia and of the former Rwandan army, ex-FAR, the two
groups responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide of Tutsis and
politically moderate Hutus.
Convened
to discuss this threat, the Rwandan parliament summoned Defence
Minister Maj-Gen Marcel Gatsinzi and the armed forces chief
of general staff, Maj-Gen James Kabarebe, on Wednesday. Radio
Rwanda reported that parliament had requested that all diplomatic
avenues be exhausted towards reducing this threat before any
country thought of going to war. However, parliament said if
war did break out, it should be fought on DRC, as opposed to
Rwandan, territory.
The Article: "Boost
MONUC's presence in Ituri, Security Council tells Annan"
The
UN Security Council asked Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday
to increase the presence of the peacekeeping mission in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), known as MONUC, especially
in the northeastern Ituri District of Orientale Province, where
violence has escalated in the recent past.
In
a statement issued from New York, the UN's highest decision-making
body also asked Annan to increase the number of personnel in
MONUC’s human rights component "to enhance the capacity
of the Congolese parties to investigate all the serious violations
of international humanitarian law and human rights perpetrated
on the territory of the country since the beginning of the conflict
in 1998".
The
Council made the requests when it passed a new resolution, welcoming
the 6 March agreement in the DRC on arrangements for a transitional
government. The Council called for the establishment of such
a government as soon as possible.
The
facilitator of the inter-Congolese Dialogue, former Botswana
President Ketumile Masire, announced on Wednesday that the final
session of the talks would be held in Sun City, South Africa,
on 1 and 2 April. The parties to the dialogue are expected to
ratify several agreements during the session, in order to legalise
all agreements and pave the way for a transitional government.
On
Thursday, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution
1468 (2003), condemning the massacres and other human rights
violations perpetrated in the DRC, "particularly sexual
violence against women and girls as a tool of warfare, and atrocities
perpetrated in the Ituri area".
It
demanded that all the parties to the DRC conflict ensure the
security of civilians and grant MONUC and humanitarian organisations
"full and unimpeded" access to the populations in
need.
On
Tuesday, delegates of the Ugandan and DRC governments, different
rebel groups, and ethnic militias operating in Ituri signed
a ceasefire accord in Bunia, the district's principal city.
Annan's special representative to the DRC, Amos Namanga Ngongi,
presided over the ceremony, which was also attended by Presidents
Joseph Kabila of the DRC, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda
and diplomats accredited to the DRC.
The
15-member Security Council on Thursday requested Annan to increase
MONUC’s presence in Ituri, especially the number of observers
and human rights personnel, "to monitor developments on
the ground, including the use of airfields in the Ituri area".
MONUC
should "provide further support and assistance to humanitarian
efforts, as well as to facilitate the formation of the Ituri
Pacification Commission [IPC] and assist the work of this commission
as consistent with MONUC’s current mandate, in consultation
with all the Congolese parties to the conflict," the Council
said.
As
the Security Council met, a preparatory technical committee
for the establishment of the IPC convened its first meeting
in Bunia. The committee was set up following the agreement reached
on Tuesday by six of seven rebel groups in Ituri area to cease
hostilities.
The
MONUC spokesman, Hamadoun Toure, said the technical committee
comprised two representatives from MONUC, representatives of
ethnic militias in Ituri, and officials of the governments of
Angola, the DRC, and Uganda. "This committee will work
to identify Ituri delegates for the pacification commission,"
he said.
During
its Thursday meeting, the Security Council demanded that all
governments in the Great Lakes region "immediately cease
military and financial support to all the parties engaged in
armed conflict in the Ituri region". All foreign troops
must be withdrawn from Congolese territory, it said, adding
that Uganda should complete the withdrawal of all its troops
"without further delay".
The
Uganda People's Defence Forces and allied Lendu and Ngiti militiamen
on 6 March ousted the rebel Union des patriotes congolais (UPC)
led by Thomas Lubanga, from Bunia. The UPC did not sign Tuesday's
ceasefire agreement. Lubanga told IRIN on Wednesday that UPC
was ready to sign an agreement with Uganda, but not with the
other groups, "with which we are not an adversary".
The
UN Security Council expressed its "deep concern" over
the "rising tensions" between Rwanda and Uganda and
their proxies in the DRC, stressing that the two countries "must
take steps to build mutual confidence and settle their concerns
through peaceful means".
03
/ 20 / 2003
IRIN
The Article:"UPC
refuses to sign ceasefire accord"
The
rebel Union des patriotes congolais (UPC), which Ugandan troops
expelled from Bunia earlier in March, did not sign the Ituri
Cessation of Hostilities Agreement reached on Tuesday by rival
governments, political, ethnic and militia groups.
"We
are ready to sign a ceasefire with Uganda, but not with the
other groups with which we are not an adversary," Thomas
Lubanga, the UPC leader, told IRIN on Wednesday
Lubanga,
who had reportedly died in a Kisangani hospital from battlefield
wounds, said he was speaking from a location near Bunia, the
main town of Ituri District in northeastern DRC.
Ugandan
and UPC forces fought each other in Fataki, 60 km northeast
of Bunia, as the accord was being signed. Under the terms of
the deal the parties have agreed to stop acquiring weapons,
munitions and other military materials, and to halt the recruitment
of child soldiers. They also agreed to free all hostages. In
addition, the locales of Komanda and Mambasa should be demilitarised,
in line with the Gbadolite accord of 30 December 2002.
Apart
from the UPC, the other six active political-military groups
in Ituri signed the agreement in Bunia. The signatories are
the Lendu from Djugu territory; the Lendu-Bindi; the Parti pour
l'Unite, la Sauvegarde et l'Integrite du Congo (or PUSIC), the
FNI, the FPDC, and the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-ML.
These militia and leaders of various ethnic groups have been
rivals in this mineral rich area for decades. Lubanga said he
was not ready to lay down his weapons but would, instead, pursue
the war against what he said was the "Ugandan occupation
of Ituri".
The
signing ceremony was witnessed by envoys of the governments
of the DRC, Uganda, as well as military attachés of member
states of the UN Security Council: Angola, Cameroon, China,
the United Kingdom, the United States. Envoys of Belgium, the
former colonial ruler of the DRC, and South Africa were also
present.
The
accord is due to be followed by the establishment on Thursday
in Bunia of a preparatory body for the long-awaited Ituri Pacification
Commission. The DRC official in charge of the peace process
in the Great Lakes region, Vital Kamerhe, said the commission
would enable Kinshasa to reassert its authority in Ituri.
L'article:
"La session finale du dialogue prévue le
1er avril"
La
session finale du dialogue intercongolais se tiendra à
Sun City en Afrique du Sud les 1er et 2 avril, a annoncé
le médiateur des pourparlers et ancien président
du Botswana, Ketumile Masire.
«
Mon équipe s'occupe de préparer la reprise du
dialogue intercongolais à Sun City, » a-t-il indiqué
mercredi dans un communiqué de la capitale du Botswana,
Gaborone. « Maintenant que tous les obstacles techniques
ont été résolus, j'espère que la
session finale du dialogue va se dérouler sans entraves.
»
M.
Masire a fait cette déclaration au retour d'une visite
en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), où
il a rencontré toutes les parties au dialogue. M. Masire
s'est dit « encouragé » par la compréhension
et la réponse des parties devant le « léger
» changement des dates de rencontre, initialement fixées
aux 23 et 24 mars.
M. Masire a rencontré lundi le président Joseph
Kabila. Il a également tenu des pourparlers avec les
chefs des partis de l'opposition, les représentants de
la société civile et les leaders du Rassemblement
congolais pour la démocratie-Mouvement de libération
et les Maï-Maï. Il s'est entretenu mardi avec les
chefs du Mouvement de libération du Congo et le Rassemblement
congolais pour la démocratie, à Gbadolite et à
Goma respectivement.
Le
11 mars, M. Masire a reçu à Gaborone des copies
de l'Accord global et sans exclusive pour la transition en RDC
et la Constitution transitoire de Moustapha Niassé, l'Envoyé
spécial du Secrétaire général de
l'ONU en RDC.
La
première partie des pourparlers s'est achevée
le 17 décembre 2002 lorsque toutes les parties au dialogue
intercongolais ont signé un accord sur le partage du
pouvoir. La seconde partie des négociations, qui se sont
achevées le 6 mars à Pretoria en Afrique du Sud,
était centrée sur la constitution transitoire,
les mesures de sécurité pour la période
transitoire et l'intégration de l'armée nationale.
Les
parties au dialogue doivent ratifier les accords pendant la
session finale afin de légaliser tous les accords et
ouvrir la voie à la mise en place d'un gouvernement transitoire
en RDC.
03
/ 18 / 2003
IRIN
L'article: "La
MONUC achemine ses fournitures par Dar es Salaam"
La
Mission de l'ONU en République démocratique du
Congo (MONUC) utilise aujourd'hui la Tanzanie comme relais pour
transporter des fournitures destinées à ses troupes
cantonnées à l'est de la RDC, ont informé
des responsables de la MONUC, précisant que cette décision
leur a permis à la Mission d'améliorer le rapport
coût-rendement du transport des marchandises.
«
Cette décision a été payante et nous a
rendu la tâche plus facile, » a déclaré
lundi à IRIN Sandro Calavalle, coordinateur des mouvements
de la MONUC dans la capitale commerciale de Tanzanie, Dar es
Salaam.
«
Comme dans toute opération militaire, il y a un facteur
temps, et nos hommes ont besoin de recevoir le matériel
dans les temps, » a-t-il ajouté.
Auparavant,
la MONUC transportait ses fournitures à travers le Congo
en se déplaçant d'ouest en est. Aujourd'hui, a
précisé M. Calavalle, les fournitures et le matériel
sont transportés par avion depuis Dar es Salaam directement
vers le Congo, ou à Kigoma, au nord-ouest de la Tanzanie,
mais la Mission continue de chercher d'autres options plus efficaces.
«
Il faut sécuriser le lac Tanganyika, nous pourrons alors
envoyer le matériel par voie de terre vers Kigoma, puis
vers la RDC de l'autre côté du lac, » a-t-il
expliqué.
Il
a ajouté qu'il conviendrait de mettre en place un bateau
de patrouille en vue de renforcer la sécurité
du lac et empêcher les marchandises d'être pillées
par des pirates.
M.
Calavalle a indiqué que le lourd matériel de génie
civil serait transporté par avion depuis Dar es Salaam,
mais les livraisons de fournitures seraient effectuées
en fonction des besoins de la MONUC dont les effectifs doivent
passer de 5 000 à 8 000 membres.
L'article:
"Signature d'un accord de cessez-le-feu en Ituri"
Les
délégués des gouvernements ougandais et
congolais, les différents mouvements rebelles et la milice
ethnique opérant dans la République démocratique
du Congo (RDC) ont signé mardi un accord de cessez-le-feu
à Bunia, la ville principale du district de l'Ituri en
Province Orientale.
La
cérémonie a été présidée
par Amos Namanga Ngongi, représentant spécial
du Secrétaire général de l'ONU en RDC.
Des diplomates accrédités en RDC étaient
également présents, notamment l'envoyé
de l'Angola, qui a agi en qualité de médiateur
dans le cadre de l'accord du 6 septembre 2002 entre les présidents
Joseph Kabila de la RDC et Yoweri Museveni de l'Ouganda.
La
Mission de l'ONU en RDC, la MONUC, a fait savoir que le cessez-le-feu
serait suivi jeudi de l'ouverture d'un comité préparatoire
pour la mise en place de la Commission de pacification de l'Ituri
longtemps attendue. La création de cette commission a
été, à plusieurs reprises, retardée
par les combats entre diverses factions et milices rebelles.
Le
retrait de la RDC de toutes les troupes ougandaises qui contrôlent
Bunia depuis qu'elles ont chassé leurs anciens alliés
de l'Union des patriotes congolais (UPC), n'est attendu qu'après
la mise en place d'une administration locale congolaise dans
la ville, une question qui sera évoquée par la
Commission de pacification de l'Ituri. « Les notables
ethniques et les représentants de différents mouvements
armés seront associés à ce processus, »
a déclaré Hamadoun Touré, porte-parole
de la MONUC.
La
question du retrait des troupes ougandaises a été
à l'origine des tensions croissantes entre Kampala et
Kigali, lequel soutient le Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie-Goma
et son nouvel allié, l'UPC. Considérant la présence
des troupes ougandaises en RDC comme une menace pour la sécurité
du Rwanda, Kigali a menacé de redéployer ses troupes
à l'est de la RDC.
Le
ministre congolais des affaires étrangères, She
Okitundu, voit dans la menace du Rwanda un moyen de «
renouveler la bataille de Kisangani" qui a éclaté
entre les troupes ougandaises et rwandaises le 4 juin 2000,
divisant des alliés autrefois très proches.
03
/ 14 / 2003
IRIN
L'article: "Kinshasa et
Kampala conviennent d'un cessez-le-feu à Bunia"
L'Ouganda
et la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) sont
convenus d'un cessez-le-feu à Bunia qui entrera en vigueur
à partir de lundi. Les troupes ougandaises ont récemment
expulsé de cette ville du nord-est de la RDC la faction
rebelle congolaise dirigée par Thomas Lubanga, a rapporté
le journal officiel ougandais.
Le
journal « New Vision » a indiqué que cet
accord s'est conclu à l'issue d 'une rencontre, dans
la ville de Gulu au nord de l'Ouganda, entre le président
ougandais Yoweri Museveni et une délégation congolaise
représentant son homologue, Joseph Kabila.
La
délégation congolaise était dirigée
par le ministre des droits de l'homme Ntumba Luaba, selon un
communiqué émanant du palais présidentiel
ougandais cité par le quotidien. La Mission de l'ONU
en RDC organisera la cérémonie de cessez-le-feu,
lisait-on.
Le
6 mars, les troupes ougandaises et leurs alliés Lendu
et Ngiti Entraient dans Bunia, dans le district de l'Ituri,
expulsant de la ville la faction de Lubanga, l'Union des patriotes
congolais (UPC). Cette offensive a conduit l'ambassadeur américain
en poste en RDC, Aubrey Hooks, à lancer un appel pour
que l'Ouganda retire ses troupes de Bunia. Or, Kampala a refusé
et son ministre de la défense Ruth Nankabirwa a répliqué
jeudi que les troupes ougandaises n'ont, pour l'heure, aucune
intention de se retirer de Bunia. « Sa déclaration
appelant à notre retrait est très prématurée,
» a déclaré M. Nankabirwa lors d'un point
presse hebdomadaire organisé par la présidence.
Entre-temps,
l'armée ougandaise a demandé à l'UPC de
se retirer de tous les aéroports en Ituri, une occupation
considérée par l'armée comme une menace
stratégique pour l'Ouganda. Cet ordre a été
communiqué par le biais d'un message transmis mardi à
M. Lubanga et à son commandement par le premier commissaire
politique ougandais, le général de brigade, Kale
Kaihura.
Parallèlement,
on apprenait sur les ondes de Radio Candip, à Bunia,
que les troupes ougandaises avaient repris mercredi la ville
orientale de Mogbwalu, ainsi que sa piste d'atterrissage. Les
Ougandais auraient également pris le contrôle de
la ville d'Irumu, à quelque 30 km de Bunia.
03
/ 13 / 2003
IRIN
The Article: "MONUC
in peace talks with Ituri belligerents and others"
A
team from the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(MONUC) has held talks with Ugandan army commanders and with
representatives of the Union des patriotes congolais (UPC),
of civil society and of different communities in Ituri District
on the possibility of ending hostilities in this part of the
country, UN spokesman Hamadoun Toure said on Wednesday.
He
told reporters in the capital, Kinshasa, that the team, sent
to Bunia on Monday, had also discussed who would participate
in a meeting of the technical preparatory committee for the
establishment of the Ituri Pacification Committee.
He
said the UPC would not be locked out of the committee. "UPC
leader Thomas Lubanga is an actor like any other within the
Ituri communities. Consequently, his movement should not be
excluded from the efforts for the restoration of peace,"
Toure said.
MONUC,
Toure said, had received a statement from 38 representatives
of different communities in the area, saying they "favoured
the pacification of Ituri". The area has been the scene
of fierce fighting between Ugandan troops and their erstwhile
allies, the UPC. The Ugandans drove the UPC out of Bunia on
6 March.
Contrary
to reports, Toure said MONUC had never asked Uganda to maintain
troops in the town. Uganda's definite withdrawal from Bunia
by March, Toure said, was provided for in the agreement signed
by the presidents of the DRC and Uganda on 9 and 10 February,
in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Toure
said another MONUC military team would soon fly to Bogoro, 25
km from Bunia, to assess the security situation before "a
multidisciplinary team" moved in to assess the impact of
the recent clashes in the area.
03
/ 12 / 2003
IRIN
The Article: "Rights
group decries atrocities by "false" Mayi-Mayi factions"
A
human rights group has protested against the impunity with which
certain Mayi-Mayi factions in the isolated region of Malemba
Nkulu in central Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo continue to terrorise local populations, perpetrating
widespread acts of pillage, murder and even cannibalism.
The
allegations are contained in a report issued on Monday by the
local NGO Commission de vulgarisation des droits de l'homme
et de developpement (CVDHO), based in the city of Lubumbashi
in southern Katanga.
The
report singles out a certain Kabale Makana a Nshimba and his
followers as being ringleaders of rampant human rights abuses
in the region, where they have installed themselves as the de
facto rulers in the absence of an authoritative local government.
Kabale
and his followers were reportedly among some 8,000 Mayi-Mayi
disarmed in early February by the provincial governor, Aime
Ngoy Mukena Lusa. At the time, human rights activists protested
that authorities had disarmed the militants - widely accused
of cannibalism - without having initiated criminal proceedings
against them.
"The
governor of Katanga presented the militia leaders and the population
of Musau with motorcycles, bicycles, salt and second-hand clothing,
but nothing was said about any future judicial investigation
into the serious violations of human rights and international
humanitarian law of which Makabe, Gedeon, Kabale, Mangi and
their fanatically devoted henchmen are guilty," said the
Centre des droits de l'homme et du droit humanitaire, a human
rights NGO based in Lubumbashi, in a statement issued on 12
February.
The
CVDHO was equally unsparing in its criticism. "This horde...
has deviated from its primary objective, which is to protect
civilians from enemy military forces, to instead prey upon the
people it was meant to defend," the report states. "Dressed
as a bunch of unkempt thugs, wearing genital organs or skulls
of their victims as amulets, they are a bunch of mystical cannibalistic
false Mayi-Mayi who have never confronted the enemy [ostensibly
the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie
(RCD-Goma) rebel group], located only 50 km away in Kipuzi."
The
report concludes with an appeal to the international community
to establish a commission of inquiry into the alleged violations
with a view to bringing those responsible before the International
Criminal Court. It also requests humanitarian assistance for
the people of the region.
The Article: "Dialogue
in South Africa to end last week of March"
The
final session of the inter-Congolese dialogue (ICD) will be
held in South Africa in the last week of March, according to
the talks facilitator, Botswanan former President Ketumile Masire.
The
announcement was made in the Botswanan capital, Gaborone, on
Tuesday, shortly after Masire had received copies of the Global
and All-Inclusive Agreement for the Transition in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the Transitional Constitution
from Moustapha Niasse, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special
envoy for the DRC peace process, in the presence of South African
President Thabo Mbeki, who is on a state visit to Botswana.
The
first part of the mediation ended on 17 December 2002 when all
the parties to the ICD signed an agreement on power sharing.
The
second part of the negotiations, which concluded on 6 March
in Pretoria, South Africa, involved work on the transitional
constitution security measures for the transition period, and
the integration of the national army.
With
discussions and negotiations complete, all parties to the ICD
must now ratify the agreements at its final session, in addition
to those agreed in Sun City last year. According to Masire's
office, this act will legalise all agreements and pave the way
for a transitional government to be installed in the DRC.
Masire
expressed gratitude to Mbeki and the joint UN-South African
mediation team, "without whom these negotiations would
not have been concluded". He also thanked Annan for "his
enduring commitment to the Congolese peace process".
"The
road from Lusaka, where the Congolese signed the ceasefire agreement
in July 1999, has been a long and difficult one," Masire
stated.
"We
are encouraged, however, that in the end, with the support of
the international community, the United Nations, the African
Union and its chairman, and the sister peoples of South Africa,
we have now reached the stage where we can conclude the negotiation
process and look forward to the implementation of the agreements
reached by the Congolese for the good of their country and people,"
he added.
03
/ 11 / 2003
IRIN
The Article: "DRC-Uganda:
MPs question Ugandan army's presence in Bunia"
Growing
dissent is emerging among Ugandan members of parliament over
the continued presence and redeployment of the Uganda People's
Defence Forces (UPDF) in northeastern Democratic Republic of
the Congo (DRC) in the wake of fighting that erupted on Thursday
in the city of Bunia, resulting in the ouster by the UPDF of
the Union des patriotes congolais (UPC) rebel group.
Adonia
Tiberondwa, head of political affairs for the opposition Uganda
People's Congress (UPC), on Monday criticised the redeployment
of the UPDF in the DRC without the approval of parliament, saying
that such action was again exposing parliament and proving it
a "toothless dog", according to the independent Monitor
newspaper.
"UPC
is expressing concern, because parliament is abdicating its
responsibility by allowing the president to send the daughters
and sons of Uganda to fight in other countries without permission
of parliament as prescribed in the constitution," Tiberondwa
was quoted as saying.
He
added that Ugandan soldiers had died previously in wars in DRC,
Sudan and Rwanda when their participation had not been sanctioned
by parliament.
For
his part, the Rukiga MP and vice-chairman of parliament's Public
Accounts Committee, Jack Sabiiti, was more reserved in his critique,
and called for dialogue among Uganda, Rwanda and DRC.
"Some
of us, and Ugandans who believe in peace, believe there is something
wrong with our foreign policy. We have lost a lot of resources,
money, personnel, and equipment instead of dialoguing,"
The New Vision government-owned newspaper quoted Sabiiti as
telling a news conference in his office at parliament on Monday.
"There
is no way you can take our machinery, resources, people and
throw them in another country without consensus," he added.
The
dissent follows a public inquiry made last week by Ugandan MP
Ben Wacha, who asked the government to clarify allegations that
the UPDF had participated in massacres in Ituri District, of
which Bunia is the principal city.
"I
would like to know if Uganda's presence in the Congo is for
massacring the Congolese," the paper quoted Wacha as asking
during a debate in parliament on Wednesday.
It
further quoted Wacha, who is also the chairman of the parliamentary
committee on rules and privileges, as telling parliament that
he had heard a BBC report on Wednesday in which a Congolese
rebel leader was quoted as saying that the UPDF was behind the
fighting that claimed "hundreds" of lives in Ituri.
The
New Vision reported that the ministers of defence and foreign
affairs were not in the House, so Wacha's question had not been
answered.
Meanwhile,
in a particularly surprising move on Tuesday, The New Vision
published an editorial entitled "Pull out of Congo",
in which the paper urged the UPDF to leave the DRC.
"If
the Congolese cannot get their act together, Uganda cannot do
it for them. Uganda should stick to its 31 March deadline for
complete withdrawal from the Congo. If there is chaos in Congo
thereafter, so be it," the editorial stated.
It
also noted irony in the fact that for the last five years the
UPDF had been under constant international criticism for supporting
the Hema in their conflict with the Lendu - yet the UPC was
"essentially a Hema outfit".
"The
UPDF's presence in Congo is now a case of 'damned if you do,
and damned if you don't'," it stated.
During
a two-day summit between Presidents Joseph Kabila of the DRC
and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda on held on 9 and 10 February in
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment
to abiding by the Luanda accord of 6 September 2002, which provides
for the total withdrawal of Ugandan troops from the DRC, and
the normalisation of relations between Kinshasa and Kampala.
An amendment to the Luanda accord was signed, allowing for a
new timetable for the work of setting up the Ituri Pacification
Commission (IPC).
Under
the new timetable, the IPC was to have been established and
operating by 17 February. It was to have concluded its work
on 20 March, by which date Ugandan troops were to have completed
their withdrawal from the DRC.
Speaking
to IRIN on Friday, the UPDF spokesman, Maj Shaban Bantariza
said establishing the IPC was a prerequisite for a Ugandan withdrawal
from the DRC.
"We
are doing what we can to see the IPC [Ituri Pacification Commission]
is put in place as per the Luanda accord signed by Ugandan President
Yoweri Museveni and DRC President Joseph Kabila, so that we
can withdraw from the Congo," he said.
