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Central and Eastern Africa: IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-Up 1-99 covering the period 1 -7 Jan 1999
U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa
Tel: +254 2 622147 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Rebels to probe alleged massacre
The rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) on Wednesday ordered an investigation into allegation that its forces massacred at least 500 civilians in a remote village in eastern DRC over the New Year. "If it is true, then those responsible will be punished ... but we cannot say if it is true or not," RCD leader Ernest Wamba dia Wamba told Reuters from Goma.
The Roman Catholic missionary news service MISNA said on Tuesday the massacre in the village of Makobola, 15 km from Uvira, was in retaliation for an earlier Mayi-Mayi attack in the area. MISNA said the victims had been shot and hacked to death and then buried. They included women and children and a local protestant church leader.
Human rights sources in touch with the region confirmed to IRIN the killings had taken place. They said a Mayi-Mayi group infiltrating the Uvira region from Fizi had attacked an RCD position in the Makobola area before escaping into the bush. RCD reinforcements from Uvira arrived in the village and exacted revenge on the local population, the sources said. An RCD statement denied its forces had massacred civilians in Makobola but said they had killed hundreds of Burundi rebels in the area where the alleged slaughter took place. The statement said that 400 Burundian rebels crossed into eastern DRC on 31 December and were routed and the majority killed.
ICRC told IRIN it had been informed that Red Cross volunteers were among the alleged victims. Regional ICRC information officer Nina Galbe said the organisation was collecting first-had accounts of the alleged killings.
Meanwhile, local sources refuted RCD claims that they still control Fizi. They said Mayi-Mayi and Burundi rebel forces hold the town under the command of an ex -FAZ officer, Colonel Njabiola. They added that Moba and Zongo were in government hands while the RCD controlled Nyunzu, Businga and Gemena.
Concern over humanitarian situation in Kinshasa
Humanitarian sources told IRIN that the situation in Kinshasa continued to be of "considerable concern". Chlorine stocks were now reportedly exhausted with serious potential ramifications for clean water provision and that food stocks were again low and market prices high.
Serious food shortages in Kisangani
In addition, they said flooding around rebel-held Kisangani had left the eastern city without electricity for the last several days. LWF, which sent a fact -finding team to Kisangani in late-December, reported that although foodstuffs were available the lack of purchasing power on behalf of the local population was contributing to serious food shortages. "Many Kisangani residents remain unable to feed themselves adequately due to lack of financial resources. This is evidenced by increasing numbers of children requiring supplementary feeding," the team reported.
In general, the team concluded there was a humanitarian crisis, though "not an acute emergency", saying many among the town's estimated 500,000 population had fled into the bush. "The isolation of Kisangani has reduced supplies of most commodities and has affected the health standards of the people. There are no supplies of soaps. Skin infections are very common among children and women," the team's report stated. In addition, it said a water purification plant was expected to have exhausted its supply of chemicals by the end of December. "After this date the population will only have access to untreated water and will suffer increased exposure to water-borne diseases," the report added
UNHCR reports refugee exodus
UNHCR said renewed fighting in DRC has led to an exodus of refugees into the neighbouring Central Africa Republic and Uganda. The UN agency said that since Saturday some 5,000 Congolese refugees, mostly women and children, had fled the northern town of Zongo for the CAR capital Bangui. The refugees said they feared the town was about to fall to the RCD. In Uganda, UNHCR has registered more than 2,900 refugees over the past several days. Most of them had arrived from the DRC's Tutshuru district.
Government sends more troops to Zongo
Meanwhile, human rights sources told IRIN that 500 DRC government troops have been flown into Bangui to reinforce government forces in Zongo. The sources said the soldiers were ferried in on a plane requisitioned from the state mining company Societe Miniere du Kivu (SOMINKI).
Rebels reach accord
Earlier in the week, a threatened split within the RCD was apparently averted after talks with senior Ugandan and Rwandan officials, the Associated Press reported rebel leaders as saying. On Tuesday, AP quoted RCD president Ernest Wamba dia Wamba as announcing: "We have agreed on the objectives of the struggle".
The RCD's faction feuding essentially pits Wamba dia Wamba against Mobutu's former prime minister Lunda Bululu. AP said that Bululu was unavailable for comment on the reported reconciliation. In a New Year's address, Wamba dia Wamba lashed out at power-hungry and corrupt ex-Mobutuists in the movement who threaten to "destroy" the RCD. In the broadcast, a copy of which has been received by IRIN, Wamba dia Wamba said: "We will not allow that our politics of openness serves only these former rulers who have ruined our country and who are now looking to confiscate all power and to destroy the RCD movement." He added the RCD assembly was a "syndicate" controlled by ex-Mobutuists opposed to accountability and professionalism. According to news reports Wamba dia Wamba's address was cut off by his political rivals.
Lusaka peace talks likely next week
On the political front, the long awaited Lusaka peace talks on the Congo conflict are now expected to begin next week. Officials in Lusaka told IRIN on Friday the date would be announced after Zambian President Frederick Chiluba holds a final round of preparatory talks in Harare at the weekend with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
The officials said Chiluba had cautioned after a visit to Rwanda this week that a solution to the DRC conflict "cannot be found in a week or a month". He met Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu on Thursday. He said the summit talks in Lusaka would follow a meeting of regional foreign affairs and defence ministers, and he appealed to all sides in the conflict for "patience" in the search for an end to the conflict.