coupures 27 juin 2007 (eng)

DRC seeks Scottish aid with waste
DAVID BLACK
June 27 2007
A fact-finding delegation from the Democratic Republic of Congo toured Scotland's biggest landfill site yesterday seeking solutions for their capital city, Kinshasa's, chronic waste problems.
The delegation was at The Waste Recycling Group's (WRG) Greengairs site in North Lanarkshire to check out best practise in waste disposal and recycling.
Ayrshire-based waste management firm Albion Environmental, who are playing host to the delegation, had earlier given a demonstration of waste analysis.
Five years of civil war and the lack of enforceable waste management procedures have left Kinshasa vulnerable to disease and flooding, and the accumulating waste is also crippling its infrastructure.
Ruffin Bangu Mbuandi Pwaty, provincial environmental co-ordinator for Kinshasa said: "Every single day in Kinshasa people are dying from diseases such as malaria and yellow fever because of the waste problem. Now is the time to put in place a proper waste management policy - otherwise we could be on the verge of a real disaster in our capital city."
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Congo president chides UN forces over eastern violence
KINSHASA, June 25 (Reuters) - United Nations peacekeepers play an essential role in Democratic Republic of Congo but they should be much more active in combating rebels and renegade militias in the east of the country, the president said.
In published comments, President Joseph Kabila said the 17,000-strong U.N. mission in Congo (MONUC) risked losing relevance unless it achieved better results on the ground in the fight to bring peace to the conflict-torn east.
"MONUC plays an essential role. But it should be much more effective," the Congolese president said in an interview published by the French-language news magazine Jeune Afrique.
The U.N. troops and police in Congo, the biggest peacekeeping force in the world, have several times been accused by civilians in the eastern provinces of not doing enough to protect them from attacks by several marauding armed groups.
In one of the latest incidents, suspected Rwandan fighters, remnants of Hutu militias responsible for Rwanda's 1994 genocide, slaughtered 18 sleeping villagers in Congo's South Kivu province in May.
"The population in the east sometimes ask what (MONUC) is there for," Kabila said.
Catholic Church leaders have warned that unless the Congo army and its U.N. allies take firmer action, the volatile east could slide back into all-out conflict, despite elections last year which crowned a peace process ending a 1998-2003 war.
The U.N. Security Council voted in May to keep its 17,000 peacekeepers in Congo at least until the end of the year.
But U.N. envoys have urged Kabila's government to work with neighbour Rwanda to find a political solution to the violence.
Kabila also said in the interview he hoped Congo's state prosecutor would pursue legal proceedings against his former political rival, Jean-Pierre Bemba, who is accused of provoking fierce fighting in Kinshasa in March.
Several hundred people were reported killed in the clashes which pitted Bemba's private militia against the Congo army. After the fighting, Bemba, the defeated contender in last year's elections won by Kabila, left for Portugal.
"Let's let justice do its work," Kabila said, repeating his own belief that Bemba had wanted to kill him and take power.
Public Prosecutor Tshimanga Mukeba wrote to the Senate in April requesting that Bemba's immunity as a senator be lifted so he could be prosecuted as "intellectual author" of the violence.
Bemba's advisers said earlier this month that he hoped to return from a self-imposed exile in Portugal at the end of July after Senate leaders allowed him to extend his leave of absence requested on medical grounds.
In the Jeune Afrique interview, Kabila also promised to take a tough line against corruption and illicit enrichment among members of his government, saying that all those found guilty of wrongdoing would be sent to prison.
((Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Mary Gabriel))

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DR Congo star unlikely to make permanent Blackburn move
11:41 June, 26, 2007
Mark Hughes looks to have made up his mind about a deal for Shabani Nonda

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The 30-year-old scored 7 times for Rovers last season while on loan from AS Roma and early indications were that he had done enough to land a £2m move.

Blackburn's interest has cooled however and a source close to the club has been quoted as saying: "Mark still has an interest in Nonda but the fact he still hasn't pushed through a deal suggests he has other targets in mind."
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