Weekly anb03063.txt #7

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

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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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