coupures 14 juin 07 (eng)

DRC: Conflict causes state of permanent displacement
KINSHASA, 13 June 2007 (IRIN) - Intermittent clashes and frequent attacks on civilians by armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have created a state of permanent displacement in the volatile central African country, an official of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said. "There are a million internally displaced persons [IDPs], but each time there is a successful return of IDPs, there are new displacements because of conflicts elsewhere," said Judy Cheng-Hopkins, UNHCR's assistant high commissioner for operations. "For us, the great challenge is to provide protection and assistance to the IDPS, especially protection against physical and sexual violence, protection of children, civil protection," Cheng-Hopkins told IRIN in an interview in Kinshasa on Tuesday. She noted that the problem of displacement in the DRC was unique because of the large number of people who had fled their homes and the difficult logistics of delivering aid to them. "Here, the people are always on the move, living with other families in the communities of reception or they are completely dispersed, so much so that it is a great challenge finding the displaced for identification and for the provision of assistance," she said. Internal Affairs Minister Denis Kalume said there were 1.2 million IDPs in the DRC, mostly in the eastern region, which has been riven by local inter-ethnic conflicts and destabilised by the presence of hostile armed groups from neighbouring countries. An estimated three million people were displaced by war in the DRC between 1998 and 2002. The majority has since returned home but insecurity in the east and northeast continue to cause displacements. Cheng-Hopkins, who is on a three-day visit to the DRC, is expected to visit Bunia, the main town in the volatile northeastern district of Ituri, and Goma, capital of North Kivu province, the two areas most affected by displacement. --------------------------------------------------
DR Congo: UN Envoy Stresses Value Of Disarmament
Thursday, 14 June 2007, 1:21 pmPress Release: United Nations
In DR Congo, UN Envoy Stresses Value Of Disarmament And Reintegration After Conflict
The processes of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration are essential if countries emerging from conflict are going to make a successful and lasting transition to peace and stability, the senior United Nations envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) told a conference today.
William Lacy Swing, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative to the DRC and the head of the UN peacekeeping mission to the country (MONUC), told the conference – held in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa – that Sierra Leone and Mozambique offered useful examples of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programmes.
African countries emerging from war would also benefit from sharing their experiences of DDR programmes with those countries that have already gone through those processes, he said.
Mr. Swing added that “we must do all in our power to control conflicts that are tearing the continent apart and we must exploit all African mechanisms in the promotion of peace and security.”
With the help of MONUC and others, the DRC is trying to rebuild its economic and social infrastructure after a six-year civil war ending in 2003 that cost 4 million lives due to fighting, hunger and disease. Landmark presidential and parliamentary elections were held last year, but the country continues to be plagued by violence and instability.
The three-day DDR conference, which started yesterday, includes representatives from MONUC, UN agencies, 20 African nations and the international community. The meeting is expected to focus on several issues, including security sector reform, women and children associated with armed groups and traditional forms of justice.
ENDS
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INTERVIEW-Congo logging contracts under review
13 Jun 2007 19:14:17 GMT
13 Jun 2007 19:14:17 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove-->Source: Reuters
By Mary Childs
WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - A significant number of logging concessions issued by previous governments in the Democratic Republic of Congo, home to the world's second-largest tropical forest after the Amazon, could be scrapped under a World Bank-sponsored legal review.
"It's very hard to predict, but given the very clear criteria, it is reasonable to expect that a significant amount of the concessions will be canceled," Guiseppe Topa, a forest specialist for Africa at the World Bank, said in an interview with Reuters.
The independent review being conducted by the World Resources Institute is considering 156 titles, most of them issued during Congo's 1998-2003 civil war and a three-year transition period led by an interim power-sharing government.
The Congo Basin forest, which spans six countries including the DRC, hosts the world's largest populations of lowland gorillas, chimpanzees and forest elephants. In addition, it provides a direct global benefit by absorbing atmospheric carbon.
Cutting and burning tropical forests contributes 20 percent of the overall carbon emissions that are accelerating climate change. Logging, often illegal or unregulated, and clearing of land for agriculture are eating away at the intact ecosystems of the Congo Basin forest, which are being degraded at the rate of 2 million acres every year.
Despite a five-year moratorium on new logging titles, environmental group Greenpeace estimates 107 new logging titles were awarded in the DRC at low prices.
Greenpeace estimates that the 156 contracts under review covers 21 million hectares (51.87 million acres) of forests, which in total span across 172 million hectares (424.84 million acres).
It said that by 2002, even though production was brought to its knees by the war, about 43.5 million hectares of forest -- an area larger than California -- were controlled by the logging industry and overlapped with villages, agricultural land and biodiversity hotspots.
As Congo's new President Joseph Kabila, the country's first democratically elected leader in over 40 years, focuses on rebuilding the central African country, Greenpeace said it was worried many of the illegal logging contracts would remain.
But Topa said there was too much at stake for Congo not to correct the problems of the past.
"The legal review is not only key to reestablishing minimum governability conditions for the forest sector," Topa said. "It is also a test for DRC's capacity to improve the country's governance and domestic and international credibility."
The World Bank is by far the country's largest donor and has approved $4 billion in loans, credits and grants for the Congo between 2001 and 2006.
Susanne Breitkopf, a Greenpeace policy advisor, said the group was concerned that the criteria for evaluating the titles were insufficient, and that some, if not all, of the titles allocated since the moratorium will be authorized.
"They must be canceled," she told Reuters.
The organization has urged the World Bank to make its loans to Congo conditional on commitments by the government to tackle widespread corruption in the timber industry and ensuring proper land use and conservation planning.
The moratorium on new logging titles could be lifted once the legal review is completed, as soon as October or November, and when a three-year concession allocation plan is in place.
"(The World Bank's) own credibility is at stake," said Filip Verbelen of Greenpeace Belgium. "If this doesn't work out well, it once again shows that the World Bank is really not capable of implementing sound reforms in these sectors."
Breitkopf said she worried the World Bank would not follow through to ensure adequate monitoring of Congo's forests and that local communities are protected.
"The bank has started to speak the right language," she said, "but it needs to stop turning a blind eye to the realities on the ground, especially in a country like the DRC. Otherwise, the Congo forest will soon be under the chain saw."
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Congo changes defence chiefs, seeks better security
13 Jun 2007 13:50:26 GMT13 Jun 2007 13:50:26 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove-->Source: Reuters
By Joe Bavier
KINSHASA, June 13 (Reuters) - Congo President Joseph Kabila replaced the country's top military chiefs on Wednesday after recurring violence by eastern rebels threatened to undermine efforts to establish security across the war-scarred nation.
An official decree published by Congolese media appointed Lieutenant-General Dieudonne Kayembe as armed forces chief in place of General Kisempia Sungilanga Lombe. It also named new heads of the navy, air force and national intelligence agency.
Analysts said the appointments indicated Kabila was moving to promote commanders loyal to him in the security forces after his election victory last year in Democratic Republic of Congo's first free elections in more than four decades.
Despite the presence in Congo of the world's largest U.N. peacekeeping force -- 17,000-strong -- rebels, renegade militias and undisciplined army soldiers still terrorise civilians in the east of the country long after the end of a 1998-2003 war.
In the transition leading to last year's polls, former rebel leaders formed part of the government and the military.
"After the power-sharing of the transition, which was not only political but also military, I think Kabila wanted to purge the ranks, placing people loyal to him in the high command," Jason Stearns, a senior researcher with the International Crisis Group think tank, told Reuters.
Armed Forces chief Kayembe has been an ally of both Joseph Kabila and his father, former rebel leader turned president Laurent Kabila, who overthrew longtime Congo ruler Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997 but was assassinated four years later.
Many of the changes appeared aimed at removing ex-rebel officers, especially those seen allied to defeated presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba, from command positions.
In March, Bemba's personal guard clashed with government soldiers during two days of heavy fighting in the capital Kinshasa that killed several hundred people.
The ex-rebel leader, elected to the Senate earlier this year, travelled to Portugal in April, saying he feared for his life. He faces possible prosecution at home on security charges and aides say he will remain in Portugal for the moment.
VIOLENCE IN THE EAST
Kabila carried out the military shakeup amid fears of a return to large-scale conflict in Congo's eastern Kivu provinces, long a breeding ground for regional instability.
Security in the Kivus has deteriorated dramatically in recent months, with rebels groups attacking villages and the Congolese army launching retaliation raids against insurgents.
Congolese troops backed by U.N. peacekeepers killed 14 suspected Rwandan Hutu rebels in recent operations, the U.N.'s commander in South Kivu, General Qamar Bajwa, told U.N.-sponsored Radio Okapi on Wednesday.
The fighters killed were believed to be members of a group blamed for clubbing and hacking to death 18 sleeping villagers last month.
In neighbouring North Kivu, a Rwandan-brokered deal aimed at integrating soldiers loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda back into the ranks of the Congolese national army is now widely perceived as having failed.
General John Numbi, the air force chief who helped negotiate the deal, was one of the officers removed in the defence shakeup. The North Kivu army commander was replaced last month.
"We see that Kabila has also used this opportunity to express his dissatisfaction with how the situation in the east has been handled," Stearns said. -------------------------------------------------
Uganda: Congo Plunder - Spy Claims $25m From Country

The Monitor (Kampala)
13 June 2007Posted to the web 13 June 2007
Hussein Bogere & Solomon MuyitaKampala
A SOUTH African investigator has lodged a $25 million ( Shs40.5 billion), claim against Uganda as payment for an assignment he executed in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Frans Rootman investigated the alleged "theft and illegal exportation of cobalt from the DRC worth millions of US dollars" around 1998. His move is a third-party claim out of the compensation owed the DRC by Uganda, resulting from the December 2005 International Court of Justice judgement.
The DRC took Uganda to the ICJ for plundering its resources and illegal entry into its territory. Uganda was found guilty of "killing and torture of civilians and destruction of villages" and plunder of valuable natural resources during its five-year occupation of the DRC, from 1996-2001. The court ordered Uganda to pay reparations.
The DRC and Uganda are supposed to negotiate an agreement, but the Court could settle the amount of damages if both countries disagree. Kinshasa put the likely amount to demand from Kampala at US$10 billion, which the judges described as "appropriate". But so far, there has been no progress in that direction.
Rootman claims in a series of communications since January to Uganda's Attorney General Khiddu Makubuya that he has the right to attach the rights of DRC's monetary claim under the ICJ judgement. Earlier, Mr Rootman successfully sued DRC in a South African High Court in 2003 when he secured an order for payment against DRC, which has failed to pay up. It is on this basis that Mr Rootman sought to seek to attach a fraction of DRC's expected damages from Uganda.
Through Ugandan attorneys Sebalu, Lule and Co Advocates, Rootman filed his claim in the Ugandan High Court in Kampala recently. He is now demanding speedy negotiations between Uganda and DRC so that he can get his cut out of the compensation.
"It is incumbent upon Uganda to resolve the matter of the quantum of damages as ordered by the ICJ," Mr Rootman partly claims in his letter to the Dr Makubuya dated April 26.
"Should Uganda and DRC fail to take this essential step in the ICJ judgement, then Frans Rootman will have no option but to drag Uganda to Court to comply with this obligation and pay the damages to settle his claim."
Dr Makubuya dismissed the company's claim in a telephone interview with Daily Monitor. "But what do we owe that company for it to have a claim against us? If their claim is against Congo, then what are they doing here?" he wondered. He however said he would take a second look at their claims.
The AG said both Uganda and Congo were now at the phase of determining who would pay what. "We are supposed to negotiate and come up with the figures owed to one another. ICJ said in case we fail to negotiate, we go back to the court for guidance," he said. He said the ministry of Foreign Affairs was in charge of the negotiations with the Congo.
Patience needed
At the ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador James Mugume, the permanent secretary told Daily Monitor: "DRC has been preoccupied with elections. We were waiting for the new president and government to settle in. Many new people have been appointed. With DRC you have got to be patient."
He said he would get in touch with the DRC to resurrect the matter. Sebalu & Lule Advocates have said their client had instructed them to pursue the claim through court, having failed to get a proper response from the Uganda government.
"The effect of these proceedings will be to cause Uganda government to be subject to litigation it could have avoided by cooperating with Frans Rootman. We have laboured to get this scenario on record so that it is known that the proceedings are not being made in bad faith," they state in the communication to Dr Makubuya.
"Our client has caused a range of steps to be taken to execute the order, including causing a writ to be issued in South Africa against DRC, as well as instituting application proceeding in a number of foreign courts to recognise the order and allow execution thereon," the letter reads further.
One such court is the High Court Kampala under Civil Application No.79/2005. "The Uganda High Court granted our client's application to register and enforce in Uganda the judgement granted in his favour against the DRC by the South African High Court".
According to Mr Rootman, because his Civil Application No.79/2005 was granted in the High Court Kampala, he "intends to pursue if necessary, a third party execution procedure against Uganda in respect of monies owed by DRC arising from the judgement of the ICJ of 19 December 2005".
Deadline
Rootman thus urges Uganda and DRC to consider his claim, failure upon which he "will be left with no choice but to institute third-party garnishee proceedings against Uganda based on the judgement registered in his favour under Civil Application No.79/2005 by the Uganda High Court". In his reply dated 18 January, Dr Makubuya promised to reply to Mr Rootman's letter. "We shall without prejudice, send you a substantive response to your letter not later than 31 January," the AG wrote.
Mr Rootman had given the AG up to 19 January to respond to his claims, a proposition Dr Makubuya rejected outright because it contradicts "natural justice". With no response for three months, Mr Rootman's patience seemed to have run thin, thus instructing his lawyers to take action "to file the necessary Court papers". It remains to be seen what course of action Dr Makubuya will take in response to Mr Rootman's threats.
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U.N. journalist shot dead in Congo's troubled east
KINSHASA, June 14 (Reuters) - Two gunmen shot dead a journalist working for United Nations-sponsored radio in Democratic Republic of Congo's troubled eastern city of Bukavu, U.N. officials said on Thursday.
Serge Maheshe was the local head of Radio Okapi, a nationwide radio network set up to aid the peace process in Congo following a 1998-2003 war.
He was walking from a friend's house to a U.N. vehicle late on Wednesday when he was approached by two men dressed in civilian clothes who asked the 31-year-old to sit down and then opened fire. The attack took place around 9.00 p.m. (20:00 GMT).
"We still don't know if it was simply criminal or if it was related to his job," said Kemal Saiki, spokesman for 17,000-strong peacekeeping mission in Congo.
Media reported that Maheshe, a respected local journalist, had received death threats.
Several reporters have been murdered in Congo in recent years. Franck Ngyke, political editor of "La Reference Plus" newspaper, and his wife were shot dead in Kinshasa in 2005 and freelance journalist Bapuwa Mwamba was gunned down at his home in the capital last year after denouncing police intimidation.
The international press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders classifies Congo as a "difficult situation" country.
"There is an atmosphere of deep sadness at Radio Okapi. We are deeply affected by this," the station's national editor-in-chief Yves Renard said. "Everything possible must be done to uncover the exact facts and identify those responsible."
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National
Red carpet, gun salute for Kabila in Cape Town


Cape Town, South Africa
14 June 2007 01:24
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Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila arrived at Tuynhuys in Cape Town on Thursday for talks with President Thabo Mbeki.Kabila, who jetted into the city on Wednesday afternoon, is on an official visit to discuss, among other things, political and economic relations between South Africa and his mineral-rich country.His cavalcade entered Stalplein at Parliament shortly after 10.30am where the youthful head of Africa's third-largest state -- he turned 36 earlier this month -- was greeted by Mbeki. The pair proceeded along a red carpet to a podium, where Kabila was saluted by a guard of honour, a 21-gun salute was sounded and the national anthems of the two countries were played.Kabila and Mbeki then walked back to Tuynhuys, greeting members of Cabinet who had lined up to meet the Congolese president. The proceedings were interrupted at this point by a small group of French-speaking Congolese immigrants who started calling out to Kabila in that language from behind the high wrought-iron fence and shrubs bordering Stalplein.Mbeki and Kabila turned and walked towards the scene. Both men waved at the group, who, according to one official close to the scene, wanted to say hello to their president and speak of the ongoing violence in the eastern parts of their homeland.The DRC is still recovering from the effects of the so-called Second Congo War, the world's bloodiest conflict since 1945 in which an estimated four million have died, most from disease and starvation. The country remains plagued by outbreaks of violence.There was a marked security presence at the welcoming ceremony, with police marksmen atop an adjoining high building, security officials on the roof of Tuynhuys and numerous police and plainclothes security officers within the parliamentary complex.Also on the agenda for the bilateral talks are recent political developments in the DRC.Kabila became his country's first democratically elected president in January this year, following elections the previous November, although he has ruled the strife-torn Central African state since 2001, after his father, Laurent Kabila, was assassinated.He was set to address a joint sitting of Parliament later on Thursday, meet Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and attend an official dinner hosted by Mbeki in his honour in the evening.On Friday, Kabila and Mbeki will take part in the DRC Business Forum before Kabila leaves Cape Town for a visit to North West province. -- Sapa
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Bemba’s fate not in my hands: Kabila
Sapa
Published:Jun 14, 2007
The fate of defeated Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba is in the hands of the country’s justice system, DRC President Joseph Kabila said.
Briefing the media following his meeting with President Thabo Mbeki at Tuynhuys on Thursday, Kabila said it was up to the DRC Senate and the justice system to decide whether Bemba should return to the country.
"That’s not part of my job. Not at all," Kabila said.
Bemba, a former vice president, left Kinshasa in April under the protection of United Nations armoured vehicles, three weeks after violent clashes between the DRC army and his bodyguards.
Although he has been living in Lisbon ever since, he has denied that he is in exile, saying he is in the country for medical treatment.
Kabila said, soon after Bemba left, the prosecutor general of the DRC introduced a demand in the Senate for his immunity to be removed so that he could answer a number of charges pertaining to the "situation in Kinshasa between March 22 and 23".
"It is now up to the Senate to agree to that demand; accept the demand or not. Otherwise the issue is as simple as it presents itself. It’s not at all complicated.
"So it’s no longer an issue for [Kabila], its rather an issue for the institutions, one of them being the justice system and of course the Senate," he said.
Mbeki said delegates at the recent Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting had also agreed that Bemba’s situation should be dealt with in line with DRC laws.
Kabila, who is on three-day visit to South Africa, will meet a group of business people in an effort to boost investment in his country.
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Kabila arrives at Tuynhuys
Sapa
Published:Jun 14, 2007
Democratic Republic of the Congo president Joseph Kabila arrived at Tuynhuys in Cape Town today for talks with President Thabo Mbeki.
Kabila, who jetted into the city yesterday afternoon, is on an official visit to discuss, among other things, political and economic relations between South Africa and his mineral-rich country.
His cavalcade entered Stalplein at parliament shortly after 10.30am where the youthful head of Africa’s third-largest state - Kabila turned 36 earlier this month - was greeted by Mbeki.
The pair proceeded along a red carpet to a podium, where Kabila was saluted by a guard of honour, a 21-gun salute was sounded, and the national anthems of the two countries played.
Kabila and Mbeki then walked back to Tuynhuys, greeting members of Cabinet who had lined up to meet the Congolese president.
The proceedings were interrupted at this point by a small group of French-speaking Congolese immigrants, who started calling out to Kabila in that language from behind the high wrought-iron fence and shrubs bordering Stalplein.
Mbeki and Kabila turned and walked towards the scene. Both men waved at the group, who, according to one official close to the scene, wanted to say hello to their president and speak of the ongoing violence in the eastern parts of their homeland.
The DRC is still recovering from the effects of the so-called Second Congo War, the world’s bloodiest conflict since 1945, and one in which an estimated four million have died, most from disease and starvation. The country remains plagued by outbreaks of violence.
There was a marked security presence at the welcoming ceremony, with police marksmen atop an adjoining high building, security officials on the roof of Tuynhuys, and numerous police and plainclothes security men within the parliamentary complex.
Also on the agenda for the bilateral talks are recent political developments in the DRC.
Kabila became his country’s first democratically elected president in January this year, following elections in November last year, although he has ruled the strife-torn Central African state since 2001, after his father, Laurent Kabila, was assassinated.
Kabila is set to address a joint sitting of Parliament later today, meet Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and attend an official dinner hosted by Mbeki in his honour in the evening.
On Friday, Kabila and Mbeki will take part in the DRC Business Forum, before Kabila leaves Cape Town for a visit to North West Province.
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