coupures 11 mai 2007 (english)

DR Congo's unending war
By Mike Thomson BBC News, eastern DR Congo
The brutal war in the Democratic Republic of Congo which left between three to four million dead is supposed to be over, but you would not know it.
Thousands of people have been pouring into this camp for displaced people north of the regional capital, Goma, in recent weeks and the stories they bring with them are horrific.
A woman who lost her father and brother in an attack on her village by rebel militia told me she saw 100 people killed.
"And that is not even counting the dead bodies they made us throw down the wells."
Another man tells me about similar carnage that happened not far away. This time the attackers were members of the Congolese army itself.
"Rebels ambushed a colonel of the army and after this they said they would attack all the population because they said we were directly helping the rebels against them.
"So, the army began to kill people inside my village, going from street to street to kill people without taking care whether they were rebels or not."
Broken peace promises
The United Nation's World Food Programme says that more than 50,000 people from three villages have been forced to flee their homes over the past month alone.
A spokesman told me that in the past such people would return soon after but not anymore.
Camps like the one I am in, about 30 kilometres from the Ugandan border, are becoming permanent for the first time.
In all, 200,000 people here now need food aid and 1,000 across the east are estimated to be dying of conflict related diseases every single day.
This is supposed to be a country at peace.
In December 2002, a peace agreement signed between DR Congo's President Kabila and various militia leaders brought an official end to the fighting.
Many of the rebel commanders were given lucrative posts in the transitional government and most of their militia men were integrated into the national army.
Part of the problem has been that a combination of low wages for soldiers, only around a dollar a day, plus endemic corruption which often reduces that still further, means they do have enough to live on.
As a result they go back to do what they have done for so long, taking what whey want from civilians at the point of a gun.
Collapse of justice

In 2005 alone, there were more than 40,000 reported rapes or other serious sexual assaults in Congo, most of them committed by either rebel or government soldiers.
Murders, kidnappings and robberies are also rife. Few, however, face justice for their crimes in a country where the criminal justice system has, in many places, virtually collapsed.
Those who are convicted of such offences can usually buy their way out of jail, many others simply offer to pay bereaved families the price of a coffin for the loved one they killed.
The government in Kinshasa still insists that it's winning the battle against marauding militia gangs in the east.
With the help of 17,000 UN peacekeepers, the biggest and most expensive force of it's kind in the world, it claims to have demobilised around 150,000 rebels.

This still leaves an estimated 70,000 armed militia still roaming the bush, some of them children as young as seven.
As many as 10,000 of these are Rwandan Hutu militia known as Interahamwe, who fled here after their part in the 1994 genocide across the border which left up to two million people dead.
Congolese troops are currently involved in a new military effort to drive these viscous fighters from the forests that cover the border area, but they face a daunting task.
The first democratic elections last year in more than four decades brought fresh hope to this trouble country, but for many here in the east, that optimism is already beginning to fade.
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Congo probes Camec on arrest request
Congo is probing the operations of CAMEC
Congo`s government said it`s probing the operations of Central African Mining & Exploration Co (Camec), a UK-based copper producer, after being asked by South Africa to arrest a company shareholder.
South Africa`s Justice Department asked Congo to detain Billy Rautenbach, a Camec shareholder, on charges of fraud, corruption and theft, Victor Kasongo, Congo`s vice minister of mines, said in an interview on Thursday from Kinshasa, Congo`s capital. Rautenbach is in China and unavailable for comment, his father Wiesel Rautenbach said by telephone from Harare on Thursday.
"This company used business practices which are not in alignment with international corporate governance standards," Kasongo said in a separate statement.
"Operators like Camec who fail to meet international standards will be neither supported nor tolerated by the ministry."
(May 10 Bloomberg)
Related Articles:
Cameco-Tenex update
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SA asks the DRC to arrest Rautenbach for corruption May 11, 2007By Antony Sguazzin and Franz WildJohannesburg - The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was probing the operations of Central African Mining & Exploration Company (Camec), a UK-based copper producer, after being asked by South Africa to arrest a company shareholder, the country's government said yesterday.South Africa's justice department asked the DRC to detain Billy Rautenbach, a Camec shareholder, on charges of fraud, corruption and theft, said Victor Kasongo, the DRC's vice-minister of mines. Rautenbach was in China and unavailable for comment, his father, Wiesel Rautenbach, said from Harare. Calls to his son's Zimbabwean cellphone did not connect."This company used business practices which are not in alignment with international corporate governance standards," Kasongo said in a separate statement. "Operators like Camec that fail to meet international standards will be neither supported nor tolerated by the ministry."The DRC is seeking to improve its reputation among foreign investors after two civil wars between 1996 and 2003 left 4 million people dead. The nation, which held its first democratic elections in four decades last year, began a review on March 7 of all mining contracts with the aim of amending those deemed unfair to the state.
"We arrived in the office this morning to find this on our desks," Philippe Edmonds, Camec's chairman and a former England cricket player, said from London. "We're totally astonished." He declined to comment further but confirmed Rautenbach was a Camec shareholder.Camec shares fell 4.25p to 51p yesterday, giving the company a market value of £574 million (R7.9 billion).Panyaza Lesufi, a spokesperson for South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority, said that while he could not confirm that the department had spoken to DRC authorities, it had been in contact "with a number of countries" over Rautenbach. South Africa had asked Zimbabwe to extradite Rautenbach, who is a Zimbabwean citizen. – Bloomberg
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DRC to receive one bln U.S. dollars from donors: World Bank
Donors have earmarked one billion U.S. dollars to be used in various projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to Jean-Michel Happi, World Bank representative in DRC.
Speaking Wednesday at the end of discussions with government technocrats led by budget minister Adolphe Muzito, Happi said the funds will go to various sectors with electricity and health getting 500 million U.S. dollars and 180 million U.S. dollars respectively.
The World Bank representative said donors were ready to help the DRC strengthen its capacities and improve quality in public finances within the framework of the agreement on good governance in line with the 2007 budget, at the same time deploring misuse of public resources notably with regard to the 45 million U.S. dollars set aside for paying retirees and in the implementation of projects agreed within the framework of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative.
According to Happi, discussions between donors including the World Bank, Britain, the European Commission and the DRC side centered on the improvement of efficiency and transparency in government spending, government support through short-term actions for reforms being carried out in health, education and security sectors.
On the other hand, Muzito told the development partners there was need to avail expertise to the government instead of calling for reforms.
In addition, the minister said the government realized a surplus in March and April, 2006, which was used to clear salary arrears and confirmed the budget will be presented to parliament for approval within the shortest time possible.
Source: Xinhua
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Angola: Govt and DRC to Re-Launch Cooperation in Oil Sector

Angola Press Agency (Luanda)
10 May 2007Posted to the web 10 May 2007
Luanda
The minister of Hydrocarbons of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lambert Mende Omalanga, on Wednesday in Luanda manifested his country's interest in re-launching and strengthening the cooperation with Angola, in the oil sector.
Speaking to the press, on his arrival at Luanda's "4 de Fevereiro" International Airport, Lambert Mende Omalanga reminded that the two countries have had before good relations in the oil field, but due to the recent political instability in DRC, there was a period of some lethargy.
The Congolese official revealed that in his three-day work visit to Angola, he intends to tackle this issue with the local authorities, so as to revert this situation.
Thus, a meeting is already on schedule between the Lambert Mende Omalanga and the Angolan Oil minister, Desidério Costa.
The Congolese official informed that during this meeting the two personalities will identify other areas of common interest, aimed at reinforcing the bilateral relation, since DRC already has a project to explore natural gas in the Angolan provinces of Zaire and Cabinda.
He further added that there is also the intention to sign partnership agreements for future projects, between the Angolan National Fuel Public Company (Sonangol) and DRC's state-owned firm Cohydro.
Lambert Mende Omalanga, who heads a delegation from his governmental department, was welcomed at the airport by the Angolan Oil deputy minister, Aníbal Silva.
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UNHCR stops transfer of DR Congo refugees to US
Bujumbura, Burundi 05/10 - An official of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said the agency had stopped the transfer of DR Congo refugees in Burundi or the Banyamulenges, to the US on exile.UNHR Resident Representative, Kaba Guichard Negaya, said here Tuesday, there would be new transfers beyond the 550 who were assisted to travel early this year to the US to receive specialised medical treatment.The Congolese refugees seeking asylum in the US, are mainly survivors a 2004 massacre carried out by yet-to-be identified armed men against the refugees in a Burundi camp.More than 160 people were killed in that attack among the 800 Congolese refugees in the transit camp at that time.In all, there more than 20,000 Congolese refugees, including the Banyamulenges living in Burundi and being assisted by the UNHCR. They fled the war in their country in the 1990s.
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