coupures 4 juin 07 (eng)

West Michigan native appointed as U.S. ambassador for Congo
Updated: June 2, 2007 02:28 AM
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A West Michigan native and 1971 Calvin College graduate will serve as the U.S. ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
President George W. Bush nominated William Garvelink to the post.
As the U.S. ambassador, Garvelink will serve as the president's "eyes and ears" in the African Republic.
Garvelink is from Holland and graduated from Holland Christian schools.
He is a career diplomat and currently represents the U.S. in overseas humanitarian operations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Central Africa: The Congo FDLR Problem is No Longer Rwanda's But the Region's

New Times (Kigali)
EDITORIAL31 May 2007Posted to the web 1 June 2007
Kigali
The most recent string of violence in Congo territory close to Rwanda's shores is, sadly, nothing new. Killing for the sake of killing is a hallmark of these violent rebels. Yesterday, Kinshasa was reported to having written letters to Kigali requesting a final solution to a thirteen-year old problem. Either country will have its chance in next week's security meeting between the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, in Lubumbashi.
Let's make this meeting the last of its nature. The next time Burundi, Congo, Rwanda and Uganda come together to discuss security, let it be in celebration of security.
But the question remains; whose problem is this really?
Yes, the FDLR are historically Rwandan, but in no way do they reflect the people living here today or the national sentiment. Congo is the era to which Rwanda wishes never to return.
This is the Congo's problem, as it is the region's problem. Since the region, as with other uninterested parties, frowned upon Rwanda's attempts to sort out FDLR on its own, it should do everything possible to arrive at a solution. Quickly. Otherwise complaining to Rwanda after tying its hands will not yield the much desirable results.
Then again...
It is the belief of this newspaper, that while resources and political instability certainly contribute to the present presence of the paramilitary there, a simple refocus in military priorities of Congo will fix the problem in a matter of days. A rag-tag, yet clearly resilient rebel group can be stopped if the will is there. The Congo can handle this itself.
There is always the threat that such bloodlust may spill over into Rwanda. Countering such aggression swiftly and on its own, as even other neighbouring states have done when faced with similar troubles, might not be the solution sought by the region. Which is exactly why this problem must be quarantined by the entire region immediately.
This column has also talked about the need to expedite resolutions coming out of such rounds and rounds of meetings.
Let us say only this. Regional leaders should solve the situation however it must be solved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
South Africa: Congo Law Leads to Chrometco Rethink On Refinery

Business Day (Johannesburg)
1 June 2007Posted to the web 1 June 2007
Johannesburg
MINERALS company Chrometco appears to have been compelled to move its planned copper and cobalt refinery from SA to the Democratic Republic of Congo, as that country takes an ever-harder line on minerals beneficiation.
The loss of jobs and investment to SA is an irony, as the South African government also has a policy insisting on local beneficiation of raw materials.
In early March, the governor of Congo's Katanga province closed the border post to Zambia for three weeks to trucks carrying unrefined copper and cobalt ore, on the grounds that Congolese laws prohibited the export of ore that could be processed locally.
The move trapped about 400 laden trucks. Mining companies said the Congo was blocking more than 5000 ton s a day of unrefined copper and cobalt due to be processed in Zambia.
Later, the prohibition was relaxed to permit copper concentrates to be exported.
Chrometco said last year it had completed a feasibility study on building a copper and cobalt refinery near Brits and would make a decision on whether to proceed when the funds were available.
But it said yesterday it had needed to revisit the project "because the long-term risk of obtaining raw ore from the Congo became an issue that the company could not ignore".
It did not cite Congo's government's recent clampdown. But it already has a joint venture partner in Congo with whom it had been discussing constructing a concentrator to upgrade copper ore being mined by artisanal miners at Kawama.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Congo-Kinshasa: New UNDP Supported DDR Project for Ituri Combatants

United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa)
1 June 2007Posted to the web 1 June 2007
Eoin Young
A memorandum of understanding was signed this Friday June 1 2007, which will launch a UNDP supported US$3 million DDR (Disarmament Demobilisation and Reinsertion) pilot project for more than 3,000 ex combatants from three armed groups in Ituri district, due to begin in the coming weeks.
The memorandum of understanding for the project, financed by Japan, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and the United States, as well as UNDP funds, was signed by UN Deputy Special Representative to the Secretary General in the DRC and UNDP country coordinator Ross Mountain, as well as the DRC Minister of Defense representative Chikez Diemu.
Once the project is officially announced at the local level, the Disarmament and Demobilisation centres, located at Bunia and Kwandroma, will remain open for 60 days to take in those who wish to join the programme.
To benefit from the project, each armed group must submit an exhaustive list of their combatants, seven days before the opening of the transit centres, who will open on day 15 of the project.
Once the lists have been submitted and validated by the national authorities, the combatants that want to join the project must present themselves at disarmament points managed by MONUC and the Military Integration Structure (SMI).
Once disarmed, they will proceed to the transit sites with their disarmament certificates, where they will remain for five days. At the transit centres they will receive a welcome kit comprising of toiletries, and cooking items, and will attend an information session that will give them the option of joining the FARDC (DRC Armed Forces), or to rejoin civilian life.
Form previous experience, UNDP reckons that more than two thirds of the combatants will chose the second option of returning to civilian life. With this option, the participants will receive a once off payment for transport and reintegration of $US 110. They will then be assigned to high intensity manual labour (HIMO) projects in the district, principally road rehabilitation, for a period of three months.
Contrary to prior DDR phases, the renumeration of US$25 per month has been changed into a daily payment of US$2 per day. The aim of the project, according to Fernando Larrauri, UNDP head of post conflict in the DRC, is for a durable reinsertion.
"During the period of three months, the demobilised will be offered various reinsertion possibilities, such as apprenticeships, or help in starting a revenue generating business. After the initial accompaniment period of 12 months they will be autonomous and their insertion will become a reality," he explained.
At the signing, Mr. Mountain said that the programme was intended to benefit not only the ex combatants, but the whole population of Ituri.
This accord allows for a significant stabilisation impact in Ituri, to relaunch the local economy by allowing a freer movement of people and goods, and to reinforce the humanitarian aid to vulnerable populations," he explained.
"The DRC government has demonstrated their will to have a durable reinsertion process in Ituri, as there has been 160 incidents involving combatants in Ituri in the first four months of 2007 alone. We hope that this programme constitutes a new stage for security and prosperity in Ituri," he added.
DRC Minister of Defense representative Chikez Diemu, in addition to thanking the UNDP and the various donors behind the project, said that the programme marks the start of the completion of the DDR process in DR Congo.
"We hope that this collective reinsertion programme will have a long term impact on stability and peace in Ituri. We will insist on a good follow up and evaluation of this programme, which is a new dynamic that will open dialogue and consolidate peace in Ituri which has suffered so much," he said.
With the aim of permitting the DRC government to complete the process of peace in Ituri, the joint commission on security sector reform initiated this project with the recommendation of the immediate entry of the armed groups into the DDR process on November 15, 2006.
A subsequent peace accord was signed on November 29, 2006 between the government and the three armed groups of the FRPI (of Cobra Matata), and the MRC (of Mathieu Ngudjolo). The FNI group commanded by Peter Karim subsequently signed the accord on December 14, 2006.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congo-Kinshasa: Police Violently Break Up Meeting of Journalists in Mbuji-Mayi

Journaliste En Danger (Kinshasa)
PRESS RELEASE1 June 2007Posted to the web 1 June 2007
A gathering of some 100 journalists on 31 May 2007 in Mbuji-Mayi, capital of East Kasai province, was violently broken up by police led by Commander Jean-Claude Kabeya, also known as "Shegué". Journalists were beaten and one of them, Luboya Nokia of Radio Mont Carmel, was seriously injured and taken to Bonzola Hospital in Mbuji-Mayi. Other journalists told JED that they lost work-related equipment during the attack.
About 100 journalists representing all types of media outlets had gathered for an extraordinary general assembly on 31 May at 2:30 p.m. (local time) at a bar, "La Primature", in the Diulu neighbourhood. According to information obtained by JED, the goal of the meeting was to suspend the local coordinator of the Congo Press Union (Union de la presse du Congo, UNPC), who was reportedly guilty of badly managing the Union and of misappropriating funds.
During the meeting, the journalists noticed that there were non-journalists in the room, whom they asked to leave. It was just after these intruders, who had been identified as security service agents, were expelled from the meeting that police, who had arrived in two Jeeps, burst into the bar. The police commander ordered his men to disperse all the journalists in the room.
JED is shocked by this illegal police intervention to break up a peaceful meeting and by the gratuitous violence used by the officers. JED notes that the right to association and assembly is guaranteed by the country's Constitution.
To put an end to the impunity that police officers enjoy, JED asks the minister of the interior, decentralisation and territorial security, General Denis Kalume Numbi, and the general inspector of police, Daniel Katsuva, to prosecute Commander Jean-Claude Kabeya and all the police officers who took part in yet another shocking police operation, which violated the rights guaranteed to citizens by the Constitution of the republic.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congo-Kinshasa: Monuc Supports Increased Participation of Women in Forthcoming Local Elections

United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa)
31 May 2007Posted to the web 1 June 2007
Eoin Young
In partnership with CAFCO (Framework for Congolese women), MONUC's Gender division organised a national consultation and evaluation workshop on the participation of women in DRC society in Kinshasa on 30 May 2007, with the aim of improving their representation in the forthcoming local elections to be held next year.
Head of MONUC's Gender Affairs division Amy Smythe explained that the Kinshasa workshop was a consolidation and validation of the recommendations formulated following 11 different workshops held in the provinces during the month of May.
"During these workshops, we worked with women candidates who both won and lost in the recent elections, as well as those in decision making areas, NGO's, churches and society in general. The aim of the consultations was to reach down to women at all levels of society within the DRC, and to identify potential female candidates and also effective strategies so that we can have more women in decision making positions," she said.
"There needs to be more women in DRC political life, and the electoral law as its stands is not favourable towards women, and the DRC Ministry of women and other womens organizations within the DRC are now advocating change," she added.
Among the participants at the Kinshasa workshop was the UN Deputy Special Representative in the DRC, Ross Mountain, and a representative from the DRC Ministry of Women, Marie-Claire Yandju, as well as diverse participants from the provincial workshops and representatives from UN agencies in the DRC.
During his speech, Mr. Mountain drew attention to the presence of women in decision making positions in the DRC which at present was effectively neglible, but was nonetheless a right that women must exercise.
"I would like to strongly encourage Congolese women to actively invest and support every lobbying effort in order for them to have a much larger political participation. The active presence of women in decision making positions is one of the principal conditions for real democracy and durable development," he said.
Mr. Mountain added that the results from the consultations will be used as a working base for agencies such as UNIFEM and UNDP, as well as those who work with the same objective of improving the level of Congolese women's participation in decision making processes.
Despite the fact that 51% of the DRC electorate are female, women only constitute an average of 8% of all members in DRC political life, and the series of workshops organised by MONUC's Gender division aims to address this imbalance.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congo-Kinshasa: How Trade is Mending Fences Along Rwanda-DRC Border

New Times (Kigali)
1 June 2007Posted to the web 1 June 2007
Ambrose GaheneKigali
Rwandans living on the border with DRC in Rusizi District Western Province are doing brisk business with their Congolese counterparts. This can explain why almost all Rwandan banks Banque Commercial du Rwanda (BCR), Banque de Kigali, BANCOR, BCDI and most of all Banque National Rwanda (BNR) are found at the border town of Kamembe.
The Congolese, armed with their hot dollar, buy almost every foodstuff from the Rwandan side of Kamembe town, namely: meat, cassava flour, tomatoes, onions, banana, rice and fish among others. This explains why food is expensive along this border area compared to other parts of the country, including Kigali. In fact, the entire town of Bukavu in DRC (almost the size of Kigali) is fed by food from the Rwandan border town of Kamembe.
The Congolese Merchants along this border area bank their money in foreign currency in Rwandan banks on daily basis, after transacting their businesses. Asked why they don't bank the money in their Bukavu Banks, the Congolese who preferred anonymity says,
"Rwandan banks are more secure than our own banks on the other side of the border in Bukavu."
One may ask where the food to feed the entire population of Bukavu and Rwandans along the border comes from. Rusizi District produces a variety of foodstuffs like banana, rice, onions, "Isambaza" fish, Cassava and Irish potatoes from Gisenyi in Rubavu District among others. To meet the high demand of food at this border town, other Rwandan Provinces supplement the demand. These include the Eastern Province, which supplies cattle for meat from Umutara, the Northern Province, which supplies more Irish potatoes from Ruhengeri and the Southern Province that supplies cassava flour and beans.
Many neighbouring countries also supply food to this tiny but densely populated town of Rusizi District. These include Burundi, which supplies cassava flour and "Mikeke" fish; Tanzania supplies "Indagara" fish, which comes all the way through Rusumo border via Kigali to Kamembe town. Uganda is the major source of maize flour and industrial processed long lasting milk. This is why one meets many heavily loaded trucks and pickups while driving to Cyangugu
On the other hand, the Rwandans residing along the border cross to Bukavu to buy industrial products such like "Bitenge" textile materials, radios and TV sets; Nido powdered milk, Mobile phones, Wines and Liquors, Sugar and "Amamesa" type of cooking oil among others. Many wholesale and retail traders can be seen crossing Rusizi 1 and 11 to Bukavu in the morning hours and return at mid-day or late in the evening with heavy luggage, containing various industrial products. Asked why they don't buy these goods from Kigali, one resident who preferred anonymity said:
"Kigali is far and the transport costs cannot make me realize any profits."
Besides business transactions along border areas, the Rwandan International Airport at Kamembe serves as a gateway to the outside world for Congolese residents at Bukavu and even beyond. Many use Rwandair express to Kigali to connect to other international Airlines such as SN Brussels Airline, Ethiopian Airline and Kenya Airways, to Dubai and other European destinations.
In addition to business transactions, many Rwandans residing along the border cross to Bukavu to study in secondary schools and other institutions of higher learning there.
It is a common sight to see students crossing to Bukavu in the morning hours and return home in Rwanda in the evening.
There are many Universities at Bukavu that offer full and part time education services to both Congolese and Rwandan students. Bukavu University (UOB), African Evangelist University (UEA), Bukavu Institute of Education (ISP), Rural Development Institute (ISDR), Bukavu Catholic University (UCB), Institute of Finance and Commerce (ISECOF) and Bukavu Medical Institute (ISTM) are among the institutions that offer services.
This has led to the mushrooming of hostels that provide accommodation for the growing number of students. Many Rwandans resident at the border go to study in DRC town of Bukavu because it is near than other Universities located in Butare, Gitarama or Kigali. Besides, many people who operate their businesses at Kamembe and other border areas find it convenient to study at Bukavu than other parts of Rwanda.
The many economic activities that bind Rwanda and DRC along this border town have helped to improve the political, economic and social relationship between the two countries. However, the Interahamwe militias who committed Genocide in Rwanda in 1994 are still operating in Kanyola of Walungu zone, about 20 KM from Bukavu town. They pose a big threat to the security of both Congolese and Rwandans along the border areas.
On many occasions, these Interahamwe militias have been reported on DRC RTNC (Radio Television Congolese), as having raped women, raided and killed Congolese people and committed other atrocities. Their inhuman activities are a threat to the relationship between Rwanda and DRC.The African Union and the International Community need to intervene to get rid of the Interahamwe remnants still active in the South Kivu region of DRC.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------