Weekly anb06083.txt #6

[anb-bia <anb-bia at village.uunet.be>]

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 08-06-2000      PART #3/6

* Congo (RDC). Reprise des combats a Kisangani  -  Le 5 juin au
matin, de nouveaux combats ont eclate a Kisangani entre les armees
rwandaise et ougandaise, alors qu'elles etaient en train de quitter
la ville conformement a un accord de paix conclu apres d'autres
affrontements debut mai. C'est un incident qui a mis le feu aux
poudres: deux camions ougandais transportant des vivres ont ete
detruits par des tirs et un soldat a ete tue. Dix minutes plus
tard, la guerre reprenait. Les seize officiers de la Mission de
l'Onu (Monuc), rassembles a l'hotel Palm Beach ou se negociait la
pacification, etaient pris pour cible et se sont replies vers la
Procure du diocese ou ils furent accueillis par des Peres Blancs.
Toute la journee, a Kigali et a Kampala, les chefs d'etat-major
promettaient de faire taire les canons, mais il apparut qu'un
nouveau protagoniste etait entre en scene: le mouvement rebelle du
RCD qui prenait son autonomie. Le soir, alors que les hommes de la
Monuc tentaient de faire respecter un improbable cessez-le-feu, la
confusion la plus grande regnait toujours dans la ville. - Le 6
juin, les combats ont encore fait rage toute la journee, mais dans
la soiree un accord final semblait etre intervenu, prevoyant
l'arret des hostilites et la creation d'une zone demilitarisee sous
la surveillance des observateurs de l'Onu. Les degats a la ville
semblent tres importants. Des rumeurs inverifiables font etat de
300 morts et blesses; la Croix-Rouge parle d'au moins 50 morts et
une centaine de blesses. - 7 juin. Malgre l'accord d'un cessez-le-
feu la veille, les combats ont repris pour la 3e journee
consecutive. En fin de matinee, un obus est tombe sur la cathedrale
et l'a incendiee, provoquant d'importants degats. Le grand hopital
a egalement ete touche. La ville est sans eau et electricite. Le
Rwanda a demande une reunion urgente du Conseil de securite de
l'Onu. L'envoye special de l'UE a denonce les combats
"intolerables".   (D'apres C.B.-Le Soir, et autres sources, 8 juin
2000)

* Congo (RDC). Fighting in Kisangani  -  5 June: "Uganda's minister
of state for defence, Steven Kavuma, confirms that a Uganda army
vehicle has been shot at and burnt in Kisangani, this morning. He
cannot say who attacked the vehicle, but says "it must have been
forces not very much amused by the demilitarisation of Kisangani."
Kavuma says the vehicle had taken logistics to the Uganda army at
Bangoko, and it was on its return, shot at first with small arms
and then by a Rocket Propelled Grenade. The incident occurred at
the T-junction at Kabondo. When the information reached the Uganda
army base at Kapalata, the soldiers rushed to the scene to rescue
their comrades and firing ensured. Kavuma says the first phase of
disengagement of Ugandan and Rwandan troops from Kisangani had gone
on well, and 5 June was the beginning of the second phase.
Observers say the process of the demilitarising Kisangani appears
to be in danger as reports emerge that Rwanda-backed rebels of the
Rally for Congolese Democracy were over the weekend removing their
military uniforms and hiding in the suburbs of the city. Claver
Pashi, the foreign minister of the Kisangani-based faction,
supported by Uganda, is quoted by the state-run Kampala daily, The
New Vision, as saying he had heard Rwandan soldiers and the rebel
Goma-group plan to leave a secret army in Kisangani to continue
with their unfulfilled mission "of looting and torturing the
Congolese." A spokesman of the Ugandan army, Maj. Phinehas
Katirima, says "it is a mistake to say Ugandan soldiers are totally
withdrawing from Kisangani. Uganda needs a back-up force. We are
protesting to MONUC (the UN mission in Congo) over the issue""
(PanAfrican News Agency) "The clashes are a worrying setback as the
UN prepares to send to Kisangani an advanced contingent (possibly
South African) of peacekeepers (Financial Times). 6 June: "After
two days of fighting between Rwandan and Ugandan troops in Congo
RDC, both sides have agreed to observe a ceasefire. UN officials in
Kisangani say the ceasefire took effect in the early evening. There
were reports of sporadic gunfire after nightfall" (BBC News) 7
June: "Fighting has intensified between Rwandan and Ugandan troops
battling for control of Kisangani. Mortar shells have landed on
Kisangani's cathedral and the adjoining UN headquarters as heavy
shelling and machine-gun fire echo across the city. A Reuters
reporter says the cathedral's wooden roof is in flames after the
shell hit it, while three shells landed inside the church compound
where the UN military mission has its headquarters. Local people
clamber onto the roof to extinguish the flames while others run
inside to bring out bibles, pews, flowers and an electronic
keyboard. The Red Cross says at least 50 civilians have been killed
and about 100 others injured in the fighting" (BBC News). "The UN
Security Council condemns recent fighting between Rwandan and
Ugandan forces, saying it does not only violate the country's
sovereignty and territorial integrity, but is incompatible with the
ceasefire agreement" (PanAfrican News Agency). ""They are fighting
their own wars in our city", says businessman Gabriel Makombo as he
doges the shells and bullets whizzing around him. "This has nothing
to do with us"" (CNN). 8 June: "Latest reports say fighting in
Kisangani has gone into a fourth day. A UN military official says
clashes continued all night and townspeople were unable to leave to
seek safety" (BBC News).   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 8 June 2000)

* Cote d'Ivoire. Ouattara vote oui  -  L'ancien Premier ministre
ivoirien Alassane Ouattara, candidat a l'election presidentielle
prevue en septembre prochain, s'est prononce en faveur du projet de
Constitution propose par le chef de l'Etat, le general Guei, et qui
sera soumis au referendum le 23 juillet. Bete noire de l'ancien
regime, Ouattara estime que le texte ne le disqualifie aucunement
de la course presidentielle, contrairement a ce qu'avancent ses
adversaires. Dans une interview accordee au journal francais
Liberation, il affirme: "Quant a la disposition qui veut que le
candidat ne se soit "jamais prevalu d'une autre nationalite", elle
n'a aucun contenu juridique: en matiere de nationalite, on a la
nationalite ou on ne l'a pas". En appelant a voter oui au
referendum, l'opposant prive le general Guei de la rampe de
lancement de sa campagne presidentielle. Au mois d'aout, la
bataille autour de l'eligibilite de Ouattara risque de tourner au
Blitzkrieg politico-juridique.   (D'apres Liberation, France, 3
juin 2000)

* Cote d'Ivoire. Mandat d'arret contre Bedie  -  Un mandat d'arret
international a ete delivre a l'encontre de l'ancien president
ivoirien Henri Konan Bedie, qui vit actuellement en exil a Paris,
a-t-on appris le 5 juin de source judiciaire. Son ancien ministre
des Finances N'Goran Niamien fait l'objet d'un mandat similaire.
Les deux anciens responsables font l'objet d'une information
judiciaire dans leur pays pour detournement presume de fonds
publics. - Le 6 juin, a Paris, M. Bedie a estime que le mandat
d'arret apparaissait "comme un acte purement politique dans le seul
but de l'ecarter de la candidature a l'election presidentielle". Le
gouvernement francais a confirme l'existence de quatre commissions
rogatoires transmises par les autorites ivoiriennes, concernant des
faits de blanchiment d'argent et de corruption.   (ANB-BIA, de
sources diverses, 6 juin 2000)

* Erythree/Ethiopie. Les combats continuent  -  2 juin. Au
quatrieme jour des negociations d'Alger, l'Erythree a accuse
l'Ethiopie d'avoir bombarde la veille des objectifs pres du port
d'Assab sur la mer Rouge. Cependant, Addis Abeba a commence a
retirer ses troupes de l'ouest de l'Erythree, notamment de Barentu;
et Asmara a declare qu'un accord de cessez-le-feu etait possible
s'il y avait un calendrier precis et specifique sur un retrait
ethiopien. -4 juin. Les pourparlers pietinent. L'Erythree affirme
avoir repousse les forces ethiopiennes au terme d'une journee de
combats non loin du port d'Assab. Le Premier ministre ethiopien a
declare que ses troupes ne se retireraient du territoire erythreen
qu'a condition d'etre remplacees par une force internationale. -6
juin. Les deux pays ont annonce la reprise des combats sur tous les
fronts, s'accusant mutuellement de les avoir provoques. L'Erythree
affirme avoir reconquis la ville de Tesseney, sur le front ouest.
De son cote, le HCR fait etat d'un nouvel exode des populations; au
total, selon les estimations de l'Onu, 750.000 Erythreens ont ete
deplaces par la guerre. -7 juin. Pour la premiere fois, l'Erythree
a reconnu avoir place dans des camps des ressortissants ethiopiens,
expliquant qu'il s'agissait d'assurer leur propre protection.
L'Ethiopie affirme que plus de 7.000 des quelque 80.000 Ethiopiens
vivant en Erythree ont ete regroupes et places de force dans des
camps de detention. D'autre part, l'Ethiopie fait etat d'une
reprise des affrontements sur le front est. A Alger, les
negociations menees depuis plus d'une semaine n'ont rien donne de
concret jusqu'a present.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 8 juin
2000)

* Eritrea-Ethiopia. "Proximity talks" -- but war continues  -  4
June: Eritrea and Ethiopia have until 5 June to respond to a new
peace plan aimed at ending their border war. The Organisation of
African Unity, which is brokering indirect talks in Algiers, says
the proposal contains details for a ceasefire and troop withdrawals
as a first step to resolving the dispute. Eritrea says Ethiopia has
launched a new attack on Assab. 5 June: The Ethiopian Government
has accused Eritrea of forcibly rounding up nearly 7,500 Ethiopians
and putting them into camps. Ethiopia says fighting has resumed on
all fronts despite continuing peace talks in Algeria. Both sides
present their views on a revised peace document put forward by
Algeria's special envoy, Ahmed Ouyahia, representing the OAU. An
Ethiopian Government statement says Ethiopian aircraft have bombed
Eritrean positions on the eastern Bure front, where there was also
a heavy exchange of artillery fire. The statement says there were
also clashes in western Eritrea, as Ethiopian troops were
withdrawing towards Himora. 6 June: Eritrea says it has beaten back
an Ethiopian advance out of the far-western town of Tessene, 250km
from Asmara. The Eritrean soldiers say the battle started at dawn
on 5 June, by which time they had reached the Ethiopian positions
on the rocky hills. The fiercest fighting raged for five hours. 7
June: Ethiopia says its troops have clashed with Eritrean forces on
the eastern front. Peace talks in Algiers fail to show any
progress. Eritrea has allowed foreign journalists to visit
internment camps in which several thousand resident Ethiopians are
being housed. Eritrea's Foreign Ministry says the camps are for the
Ethiopian's own protection, and people are not being forcible
detained. 8 June: The Washington Post describes the scenario at the
Algiers talks: "Representatives are staying in proximity to each
other in the same seven-story hotel in Algiers, but they never
actually met. One group stays on the second floor, the other on the
third. They try to avoid each other in the coffee shop. Instead,
they communicate through a representative of the OAU and Anthony
Lake, President Clinton's special envoy."   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 8
June 2000)

Weekly News anb0608.txt - End of part 3/6