Weekly anb03302.txt #7

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

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 30-03-2000      PART #2/7

* Burundi. Reprise des pourparlers d'Arusha  -  Le 26 mars, Nelson
Mandela s'est rendu a Arusha (Tanzanie) pour un nouveau round de
pourparlers inter-burundais apres avoir obtenu la promesse de
participation des deux principaux mouvements rebelles, dont
l'absence entravait jusqu'alors le processus de paix: les Forces
nationales de liberation (FNL) et les Forces de defense de la
democratie (FDD). Les deux mouvements ne devraient toutefois pas
etre presents des le debut de la session. Interroge sur
l'interruption eventuelle des violences, M. Mandela a affirme qu'on
"ne peut predire ce qui peut se passer a l'interieur du Burundi".
Mark Bomani, l'adjoint de M. Mandela, estime que les pourparlers
sont a un tournant: pour la premiere fois, on dispose d'un projet
d'accord de paix, incluant des directives qui devraient mettre fin
au conflit qui a fait plus de 200.000 victimes depuis 1993. - Le 27
mars, les pourparlers ont repris en presence de six chefs d'Etat
africains. Le president nigerian Olusegun Obasanjo a livre les
experiences de son propre pays et affirme: "A vrai dire, plus les
militaires restent au pouvoir, plus la societe perd sa capacite
vitale de penser de maniere creative et democratique pour regler
ses problemes". Le president burundais, Pierre Buyoya a juge
l'etape "cruciale" et affirme que son gouvernement etait pret "sans
hesitations a negocier un arret des hostilites". - Le 28 janvier,
M. Mandela a encore exprime son optimisme, justifie par deux
avancees: l'accord de participation des rebelles aux negocations,
et la mise au point, faite la veille, d'un projet de protocole de
paix synthetisant les travaux des commissions. Les delegations ont
trois semaines pour etudier le document et l'amender. Mais bien des
desaccords subsistent. D'autre part, M. Mandela s'est attaque aux
prisonniers politiques et aux camps de regroupement au Burundi
"invivables pour tout etre humain". "Cette situation est totalement
inacceptable pour une personne comme moi qui ai passe 27 ans en
prison", a-t-il dit. Pendant ce temps, la violence au Burundi se
poursuit. Dans ses depeches du 28 mars, l'agence Azania indique des
affrontements notamment dans la region de Nyanza Lac et dans la
province de Rutana.   (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 29 mars 2000)

* Burundi. Peace Talks  -  23 March: On 27 March, Nelson Mandela
will resume his bid to bring peace to Burundi, when he meets
government and opposition leaders in Tanzania. Mandela scored a
major diplomatic victory on 20 march when the rebel group CNDD-FDD
agreed to take part in future negotiations after its leader, Jean-
Bosco Ndayikengurukiye, met Mandela at his office in Johannesburg.
"But the CNDD-FDD is unlikely to attend the talks because it needs
time to study Mandela's draft peace plans", says Zelda La Grange,
Mandela's spokeswoman. 27 March: A new round of peace talks is due
to begin today in Arusha. Burundi's President Pierre Buyoya tells
a public session at the latest round of peace talks: "We will do
all we can to reach a negotiated settlement that is acceptable and
applicable to Burundi. This step is extremely crucial and
important. Our government is ready without any further hesitation
to negotiate a cessation of hostilities". Earlier, regional heads
of state met privately with Buyoya, and sources close to the talks
said he was under great pressure to agree to meet the rebels. At
the opening ceremony, Nigeria's President Obasanjo warned Buyoya of
the dangers of clinging to power. "It is a delusion that the
military has quick-fox solutions to the human problems in society.
Economic problems do not obey military orders". 28 March: Nelson
Mandela has sharply criticised President Buyoya for not doing more
to create conditions for ending his country's civil war. He says it
is totally unacceptable that Mr Buyoya's opponents are being kept
in jail. "Some are languishing in jail simply because they do not
agree with the head of state," he said as he sat next to the
Burundian military ruler. "Others are in regroupment camps that the
United Nations has described as not fit for any human being to live
in", he added. "This is a situation that is totally unacceptable to
a person such as me, who has spent 27 years in jail". The same day,
the World Food Programme launches an appeal to the international
community to help supply food-aid for the 350,000 people living in
the approximately fifty regroupment camps in the area surrounding
Bujumbura. Earlier, Mr Mandela's spokesman, Mark Bomani, said that
proposals for ending the war had been compiled into a single text
for the first time since the negotiations began in mid-1998.
Describing this as a "major development", Mr Bomani said the draft
peace accord was the work of four negotiating committees. 29 March:
The authorities in Burundi have said they will announce the closure
of more regroupment camps. The announcement came after Nelson
Mandela recalled criticism that the camps were unfit for humans.
Correspondents say it could pave the way for a breakthrough on
efforts to end the civil war.   (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 30 March 2000

* Congo-Brazza. International help needed  -  24 March: Congo-
Brazza asks for international help to consolidate the peace process
which began when it signed a truce with rebels at the end of 1999.
A statement released in Brazzaville said Congo needed help with
collecting weapons, reintegrating militia fighters into society and
providing seeds for rural areas. The statement said the measures
included the organisation of "free and transparent elections".  
(CNN, 24 March 2000)

* Congo (RDC). La paix s'eloigne  -  Le 23 mars, les rebelles
congolais et leurs allies rwandais ont affirme avoir repris les
villes de Dekese, Mashala, Demba et Luiza. Ce succes permettrait
d'encercler Kananga, la capitale de la riche region miniere du
Kasai occidental. Le representant special de l'Onu, Kamel Morjane,
a deplore les recentes hostilites en RDC, les qualifiant de
"violation inquietante du cessez-le-feu". De meme, l'OUA a declare
que la reprise du conflit arme en RDC est une menace pour toute la
region des Grands Lacs. Par ailleurs, le facilitateur du dialogue
inter-congolais propose par l'accord de Lusaka, Ketumile Masire, a
declare le 23 mars que le refus du gouvernement de Kinshasa de le
laisser se rendre dans les regions tenues par les rebelles etait
une "tentative claire d'entraver ses efforts pour amener le paix". 
 (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 24 mars 2000)

* Congo (RDC). Congo Peace Process  -  23 March: Parliamentarians
from 17 countries, meeting in Lusaka under the Parliamentarian For
Global Action Task Force For Africa, sign a declaration in support
of the Lusaka peace process, aimed at ending the conflict in Congo
RDC. 24 March: The former Botswanan president, Ketumile Masire, has
left Congo after being refused clearance to visit cities in the
interior of the country. Mr Masire is the designated facilitator in
a planned dialogue between the Congolese Government and rebels, and
his departure is a blow for the fragile peace process. In a
statement issued after his departure on 23 March, Mr Masire said
the Congolese government's refusal to allow him to travel to the
cities in question was a clear attempt to frustrate his efforts to
bring peace. According to the statement, the Congolese Government
had also unsuccessfully tried to prevent Mr Masire and his team
from boarding their flight to Johannesburg to Kinshasa on 20 March. 
 (BBC News, 24 March 2000)

* Congo (RDC). Fresh military tension in Kisangani  -  27 March:
Tension is building up again in Kisangani, where the Ugandan army
is "consolidating its positions", in violation of an accord signed
in August to demilitarise the town, Rwanda's national radio
reports. It claimed that the Ugandan army had also cut off all
major roads linking the city, and panic was engulfing the
residents. Rwandan forces support a faction of the Rally for
Congolese Democracy, led by Emile Ilunga, while Uganda backs the
Bunia wing, led by Ernest Wamba dia Wamba. By ordering the
deployment of extra forces in Kisangani, the Uganda army is
"creating the conditions for the return of Wamba dia Wamba and his
faction" in his former headquarters, the radio said. It also
claimed that Uganda had moved three battalions and special units
into Kisangani over the past three days.   (PANA, Dakar, 27 March
2000)

* Congo (RDC). Tensions rwando-ougandaises  -  Le 27 mars, le
Rwanda et ses allies congolais ont accuse l'Ouganda de faire
stationner inutilement des troupes dans les regions qu'ils
controlent ensemble et d'intensifier ainsi les tensions. Selon le
Rwanda, l'Ouganda a envoye au moins 2.000 militaires pour occuper
des positions strategiques dans la ville divisee de Kisangani. Le
Rwanda et l'Ouganda sont allies dans leur guerre contre le
president Kabila, mais soutiennent differentes factions rebelles
qui occupent des secteurs divers a l'est et au nord du Congo.
L'annee passee, les troupes rwandaises et ougandaises se sont
affrontees durant quatre jours a Kisangani, faisant plusieurs
centaines de victimes, principalement ougandaises. A la suite de
ces evenements, les accords passes entre les etats-majors ougandais
et rwandais prevoyaient de demilitariser la ville et de faire
cantonner chacun un bataillon hors de Kisangani. Selon la radio
rwandaise, l'Ouganda aurait positionne, ces derniers jours, trois
bataillons et des unites speciales dans la ville, et coupe les
principaux axes routiers menant a Kisangani.   (ANB-BIA, de sources
diverses, 28 mars 2000)

* Congo (RDC). L'Onu doit retablir la paix  -  Selon l'ancien sous-
secretaire d'Etat americain aux affaires africaines, Herman Cohen,
le refus des Nations unies d'envoyer des troupes de maintien de la
paix en RDC tant que la paix n'aura pas ete etablie sur le terrain
engendre un "cercle vicieux", dans la mesure ou de nombreuses
personnes, dont lui-meme, estiment qu'il ne peut y avoir de paix
sans les casques bleus. Interroge par la television congolaise en
sa capacite de "conseiller special du president Kabila", M. Cohen,
qui dirige une firme de lobbying, a declare que les rebelles ne
"souhaitent pas voir revenir la paix" car leurs sponsors, le Rwanda
et l'Ouganda, seraient alors forces de partir et les rebelles se
retrouveraient sans rien. - Le 29 mars, le president sud-africain
Thabo Mbeki a declare que son pays serait pret a reagir rapidement
pour mener une mission de maintien de la paix en RDC. L'armee sud-
africaine est prete et planifie deja une telle mission, a-t-il
affirme.   (IRIN, Nairobi, 28-29 mars 2000)


WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 30-03-2000  END OF PART #2/7