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Weekly anb03063.txt #7

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 06-03-2003      PART #3/7
* Congo (RDC). Radio Mandeleo - Les journalistes qui couvrent les discussions des commissions du dialogue intercongolais à Pretoria (Afrique du Sud), ont annoncé qu'ils ne rapporteraient plus ce qui s'y passe tant que la guérilla du RCD-Goma maintiendrait sa décision de fermeture de Radio Mandeleo, à Bukavu, a indiqué l'ONG congolaise "Journalistes en danger". L'émetteur est fermé depuis décembre dernier pour avoir diffusé un programme sur le mécontentement de la population devant l'obligation, imposée par le RCD-Goma, d'acheter (fort cher) de nouvelles plaques de voitures, non reconnues dans les pays voisins. La population y voit l'indice d'une volonté de séparatisme. (La Libre Belgique, 1er mars 2003)
* Congo (RDC). Congo's war refuses to end - Pro-government forces have slaughtered hundreds of civilians in Congo in one of the worst massacres since a peace deal was signed, rebels claimed on 2 March. A coalition of loyalist troops, tribal militia and Ugandan army soldiers rampaged for two days last week in Bogoro, south of the town of Bunia which is near the Ugandan border, according to Thomas Lubanga, leader of the Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC), a small rebel group backed by Rwanda. "Until yesterday we had counted up to 467 people had been killed. We're still receiving more reports today. They were all civilians," Mr Lubanga told Reuters. A rival rebel group, RCD-Kisangani, also said there had been a massacre but said the toll was 250 and rising. An official from the United Nations mission in Congo (MONUC) confirmed there was an attack and said the higher death toll "could be true". The war, which has devastated the vast central African country for the past four years, is supposed to be winding down, following accords between neighbouring countries which became involved, as well as between Congolese factions. However, fighting in Ituri province in the north-east has continued, as different groups vie for control in a power vacuum, sending tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes in recent months. More than a million civilians are thought to have died in the war, most through disease and hunger, but many as the victims of massacres. There was often confusion and doubt over which of the myriad groups were responsible. Rwanda and Uganda have denied breaching the accords but sceptics say both countries are still hooked on plundering a chaotic neighbour rich in diamonds, gold and other mineral reserves. Residents of Bunia said Ugandan troop reinforcements arrived in recent weeks following heightened tension with the UPC rebels. (The Guardian, UK, 3 March 2003)
* Congo (RDC). Massacres en Ituri - Dans une dépêche du 28 février, l'agence congolaise DIA rapporte que depuis la semaine du 16 février, on assiste à une montée de tension à Bunia. On signale des affrontements entre les éléments de l'UPC (Union des patriotes congolais) de Thomas Lubanga et les miliciens lendu à Niangaray, Lipri, Bambu et Kobu. Des sources signalent des massacres de la population lendu par les éléments de l'UPC. Le 25 février, Bogoro, un village hema, a subi une attaque qui a mis en déroute les forces de l'UPC. L'ampleur de cette attaque et les armes utilisées par les assaillants posent question sur la véritable identité de ceux-ci, indique DIA. L'UPC accuse l'armée ougandaise, dont des militaires ont été retrouvés parmi les morts. Les rescapés parlent de la présence de Lendu parmi les assaillants. A Bunia, on craint une attaque de la ville. -- Le 2 mars, Thomas Lubanga, président de l'UPC, a dénoncé qu'un groupe de soldats gouvernementaux, de miliciens et de soldats ougandais ont tué plus de 400 civils à Bogoro. "Nous avons compté 467 morts. Mais nous continuons à recevoir des informations. Tous étaient des civils", a-t-il précisé. Jean-Pierre Bemba, leader du Mouvement pour la libération du Congo (MLC) a accusé le RCD-ML de Mbusa Nyamwisi, un groupe rebelle allié aux forces gouvernementales. L'Ouganda a démenti avoir des soldats à Bogoro. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 3 mars 2003)
* Congo (RDC). Hundreds killed - 3 March: A rebel leader has called for an international investigation into a reported massacre of civilians in eastern Congo. Jean-Pierre Bemba, head of the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC), said that hundreds of people had been killed by pro-government soldiers and other militias. Last year, the main antagonists in the four-year Congolese war signed a peace deal. The government of Joseph Kabila, Rwanda, Uganda and the main rebel groups agreed to set up a new power-sharing government. But fighting has continued in Ituri province near Bunia, featuring a myriad of different groups and shifting alliances. About 150,000 people have fled the fighting. Mr Bemba said he was shocked by the lack of an international reaction to the fighting. "We urgently call for an investigating commission into these grave violations of human rights so that those responsible both political and military can be brought before international justice," he said. 4 March: MISNA says that the UN Mission in Congo will send a special team to the Bogoro area in the next few days to collect information on the massacre reported by Bemba. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 4 March 2003)
* Congo (RDC). Mercenaires pour la Monuc? - Des entreprises militaires privées cherchent à participer aux opérations de maintien de la paix de l'Onu au Congo-Kinshasa, indique la lettre d'information sur l'Afrique australe "Southscan" (7 févr. 2003). L'Onu a du mal à trouver des troupes pour cette mission, dont il est prévu de doubler les effectifs. Un consortium d'entreprises militaires privées (autrement dit, fournissant des mercenaires) basé aux Etats-Unis est candidat, "pour un coût de 10 à 20% de celui des habituelles missions de l'Onu", écrit la publication, éditée à Londres. La Monuc coûte actuellement 608 millions de dollars, dont un quart est financé par Washington. Le consortium comprend les entreprises PAE, ICI (Oregon), MPRI (ex-officiers américains), AirScan International et TASK International (utilisant des vétérans Gurkhas de l'armée britannique). (La Libre Belgique, 5 mars 2003)
* Congo (RDC). Police repress Kinshasa demonstration - On 5 March, MISNA reported that the struggle continues between Joseph Kabila's government and Etienne Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS). The previous day, the police in Kinshasa had violently repressed peaceful demonstrations by political protestors, in favour of Tshisekedi's candidature for one of the four vice-presidential seats foreseen by the so-called "4+1" formula adopted by the Pretoria Agreement. The Agreement designates a leadership formed by one President and four Vice-Presidents. (MISNA, Italy, 5 March 2003)
* Congo (RTDC). Dialogue intercongolais - Réunis à Pretoria depuis le lundi 3 mars, les délégués congolais se préparent à conclure à propos des derniers points encore en litige. C'est ainsi qu'une force internationale de 3.200 hommes pourrait être dépêchée à Kinshasa pour assurer la protection des leaders rebelles qui participeraient au gouvernement de transition. Cependant, dans l'Ituri, la situation continue à se dégrader et l'Onu a envoyé une commission pour enquêter sur le récent massacre de Bogoro. (Le Soir, Belgique, 6 mars 2003)
* Côte d'Ivoire. Massacre denied - 27 February: Rebels have denied accusations that they executed in cold blood about 60 policemen and their sons last year. Human rights group Amnesty International said the policemen were detained by members of the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast (MPCI) when they captured the central city of Bouake in mid-September at the beginning of the uprising. The Amnesty report, based on testimony from survivors, says a few weeks later the rebels went to the army barracks where the police and their families were living, and opened fire. But almost immediately after the allegations were made public, MPCI political leader Guillaume Soro said that the deaths occurred during fighting around Bouake in mid-September. "For health reasons and humanitarian reasons we had to bury them in a communal grave. We consider that this is thus something which was done with clarity and openness," he told French television. Survivors quoted in the Amnesty report said that some two weeks after the clashes in Bouake, rebels went to the detainees massed in Bouake's military prison three times and opened fire, killing and wounding dozens of people. "I heard children screaming: "We are not gendarmes! Don't kill us"," said one policeman quoted in the report. Another survivor was hiding in his cell when they came. "One of the rebels came close to us and glanced into our cell, saying: "Hell, there are still a lot of them here!" He sprayed the room with bullets, then loaded another magazine and fired randomly. When he left, I smeared myself in blood and hid under a body," he said. Survivors say they were then forced to dig mass graves for the victims. About 10 have since "disappeared" and are believed to have been killed after they buried their comrades. Others paid sums of money to the rebels to be freed. Witnesses say some 40 policemen, 30 of their children and five civilians detained with them were killed. But Amnesty said it could only confirm the death or "disappearance" of 60 people. (BBC News, UK, 27 February 2003)
* Côte d'Ivoire. Exactions devant la CPI - 27 février. Le président Gbagbo a décidé de saisir, via le Conseil de sécurité de l'Onu, la Cour pénale internationale (CPI) pour enquêter sur l'ensemble des exactions commises dans son pays depuis septembre dernier. Lors d'une conférence de presse à Paris, deux avocats travaillant pour les autorités d'Abidjan, ont justifié cette décision par la situation de guerre prévalant dans le pays. Selon eux, la police et la justice ne sont pas en mesure de mener à bien leurs enquêtes, y compris à Abidjan où sévissent des "escadrons de la mort", dont les avocats sont "dans l'incapacité de dire qui ils sont". Le MPCI a catégoriquement réfuté les affirmations d'Amnesty International qui accuse les rebelles d'avoir exécuté, le 6 octobre à Bouaké, une soixantaine de gendarmes. -- Le 28 février, une équipe d'experts de l'Onu est arrivée à Abidjan pour faire la lumière sur les crimes commis. Sa mission devrait durer jusqu'au 11 mars. Le 1er mars, M. Gbagbo a fait devant la presse un discours très offensif, où il a nié toute implication dans les escadrons de la mort. Il a annoncé qu'il comptait attaquer devant la justice française les journaux Le Monde et La Croix. Il a par ailleurs précisé, à propos des crimes commis en zone gouvernementale, que 38 personnes avaient été arrêtées, dont 23 inculpées d'atteinte à l'autorité de l'Etat. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 3 mars 2003)
* Côte d'Ivoire. Amnesty to review human rights situation - A team from Amnesty International, arrived in Côte d'Ivoire on 3 March to investigate human rights violations perpetrated since the beginning of an armed conflict in the West African country. The 10-day mission will focus mainly on the economic capital, Abidjan, where Amnesty plans to investigate 'Death squads'- groups of armed men in military uniforms who have kidnapped and killed -- usually at night -- opposition activists and other civilians in recent months. The four-member mission will meet President Laurent Gbagbo, officials of the defence and justice ministries, other top government officials, political leaders and representatives of civil society, Amnesty sources told IRIN on 4 March. The team is also scheduled to visit prisons and other detention centres, something Amnesty was unable to do during its last mission -- in October 2002. Security forces had said then that such visits required a "green light" from the Minister of Defence even though, according to Amnesty, Justice Minister Desire Tagro had authorised the visits. The Abidjan mission follows last week's highly publicized report on killings committed by Côte d'Ivoire's main rebel group, the Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire. The report accused the MPCI of executing soldiers, gendarmes and their children. The MPCI denied this, saying the victims died in the heat of battle. (IRIN, Kenya, 4 March 2003)
* Côte d'Ivoire. Un gouvernement annoncé - Le 2 mars, les rebelles ont accusé les forces gouvernementales d'avoir tué, la veille, 20 civils au cours d'un bombardement par hélicoptères de combat sur la ville de Bin-Houyé, dans l'extrême ouest du pays. Abidjan a de son côté indiqué avoir repoussé une offensive rebelle dans cette zone. D'autre part, le Premier ministre Seydou Diarra n'est toujours pas parvenu à former un gouvernement de réconciliation nationale. -- 3 mars. M. Diara s'est rendu à Bouaké. Il y a mené à huis clos des entretiens avec les responsables des trois mouvements rebelles (MPCI - MPIGO - MJP). Il a ensuite déclaré que le gouvernement de réconciliation nationale sera annoncé "au plus tard" à la fin de la semaine ou au début de la semaine prochaine, sinon il menace de démissionner. -- 4 mars. Dans un entretien public, Simone Gbagbo, l'épouse du président, considérée comme une "dure" du régime, a déclaré pour la première fois accepter les accords de Marcoussis et la présence de rebelles au sein du futur gouvernement de réconciliation, "si c'est le prix à payer". -- Le 6 mars, des représentants des trois mouvements rebelles doivent se rencontrer à Accra (Ghana) pour discuter avec les signataires de l'accord de Marcoussis sur la formation du gouvernement. Des responsables des grands partis politiques ivoiriens y sont également invités. La veille au soir, on ignorait encore si le président Gbagbo sera associé aux discussions. Il fera en tous cas le déplacement, étant invité par le président ghanéen John Kufuor, pour assister aux manifestations marquant les 46 ans d'indépendance du Ghana. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 5 mars 2003)
* Côte d'Ivoire. Fresh fighting breaks out - 2 March: Fresh fighting has reportedly broken out in the west, despite continuing discussions on a new power-sharing government for the country. The claims, from rebel and government officials, come shortly after neighbouring Liberia accused Côte d'Ivoire of employing Liberian mercenaries to carry out cross-border attacks. Felix Doh, head of the Ivorian Popular Movement of the Great West (Mpigo), accused the government on 1 March of killing more than 20 civilians in a helicopter gunship attack on the town of Binhouye, close to the Liberian border. He says that in response to the attack his rebel group will now go on the offensive. "Once helicopters start bombarding I think the ceasefire is over. I have given orders to take the offensive." 3 March: Prime Minister Seydou Diarra says he may resign if his latest attempt to form a government of national unity fails. Mr Diarra made this statement to reporters in the rebel-held town of Bouake, today, after an hour-and-a-half of discussions with representatives of three rebel movements. Few details of what was said have been made public. But the prime minister did say he believed a national unity government would be set up by the beginning of next week. 5 March: The United Nations special representative for Côte d'Ivoire, Albert Tevoedjre, has spoken for the first time about the current impasse in forming a new government of reconciliation for the country. He said that although neither side has yet agreed on a government, the new prime minister must keep up his efforts of persuasion. The apparently bland statement was more than a simple statement of support; it was a plea for perseverance. Mr Tevoedjre seemed to be asking the country's new prime minister not to give up. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 5 March 2003) 

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