President Yoweri Museveni has vowed to step up military action against rebels in northern Uganda, after a seven-week truce expired without agreement. The government says the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rejected a deal meant to pave the way for peace talks, and staged an ambush on the army. Mediators said the LRA wanted more time to study the government's proposed memorandum of understanding.

Thousands of people thronged the streets of Banjul in December in a peaceful protest against the murder of one of the Gambia's leading journalists by unidentified gunmen. About 300 journalists - virtually the entire press corps of this small West African country - marched through the streets to protest at the killing of Deyda Hydara, a newspaper editor and veteran campaigner for press freedom, who was shot dead.

On 2 August this year in the UK, thirty police officers, twenty Immigration Service officers and two officials from the Department of Work and Pensions raided a factory near Bolton run by Stateside Foods, a company which makes frozen pizzas. They spent four hours checking the status of workers at the factory and arrested twenty-one people, including Alain Kimolo Kikeni. Most of those arrested were 'failed asylum seekers', from Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), all countries with well-known human rights problems. The government has made it a priority to clamp down on 'illegal working' among migrants, with increasing numbers of raids on workplaces.

The UN has suspended its relief operations in parts of the Sudanese state of South Darfur due to fighting between government and rebel forces, and a reported build-up of armed groups in the area, a spokesperson said. Radia Achouri, spokesperson for the UN Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS), told IRIN on Thursday that fighting between government troops and the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) had continued in areas east and southeast of Nyala town.

Emerging consensus at a meeting on peace and conflict in Africa has pointed accusing fingers at “external influences” as the main motor of conflict making in Africa. The meeting is one of several thematic meetings taking place at the 2004 African Social Forum in Lusaka, Zambia from December 10-14. In his contribution to the discussion, the veteran South African rights and anti-apartheid campaigner and writer, Dennis Brutus said that conflicts in Africa are mostly about Africa’s resources

“Conflict is like a fire: It can keep you warm and can cook your food, but if it gets out of control, it can burn your house down.”

One thousand people die every day in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and nearly half of these deaths are accounted for by children under five years of age, according to a report released this week by the International Rescue Committee (see Conflicts and Emergencies for more details). The IRC says these deaths add daily to the cumulative total of 3.8 million fatalities since the crisis began in August 1998 to the end of April 2004. Far from being resolved, the volatile situation in the east of the country continues to cause grave concern, with recent reports that Rwandan troops have entered the DRC to pursue rebels it says threaten its security. Pambazuka News emailed some questions about the situation in the DRC to YAV KATSHUNG JOSEPH, Executive Director of CERDH (Centre for Human Rights and democracy Studies / Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche en Droits de l’Homme et Démocratie).

PZ: News reports indicate a higher level of sabre rattling between Rwandan president Paul Kagame threatening to pursue forces hostile to Rwanda in the DRC and the DRC government sending troops to the eastern border. Reports indicate that Rwandan troops are operating in the DRC. In May, Bukavu was the focus of violent conflict, with Rwanda fingered as having provided logistical support, but strongly denying any involvement. This time Rwanda has stated in a very clear way that they will cross into the DRC to pursue forces that threaten them. What are the circumstances and the sequence of events that have led to this situation?

YKJ: Rwanda’s goals are to neutralise the rebel groups/interahamwe based in the DRC who destabilise peace; to prevent incursions from the DRC based rebel-groups; and natural resources control, etc. The DRC goals are security of the people, resources, property and state.

I noted with surprise that barely a week after the conclusion of the international conference on the Great Lakes, where leaders of the DRC, Uganda and Rwanda expressed willingness to co-operate in matters of common concern, there has been an eruption of fresh conflict. In fact, reports are that Rwanda has re-invaded the DRC.

Rwanda has twice invaded DRC in recent years - it says to attack Rwandan rebels based there. Rwanda has consistently said it is prepared to take military action because of the threat it says is posed by the group of some 8,000 men, which includes fighters who took part in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus. As usually, Rwanda justified their invasion by saying that they were pursuing interahamwe who were said to have sought refuge in the DRC.

Even after signing an agreement in Dar es salaam (Declaration on the Great Lakes) in November 2004, the Rwandan president threatened to pursue forces hostile to Rwanda in the DRC. Under the peace deal, the Hutu rebels were supposed to have been disarmed but progress has been slow. For Rwanda, the deadline of demobilizing the interahamwe have passed and the DRC and MONUC failed to do so and therefore, Rwanda would like to do it by force.
PZ: How serious is this latest round of hostilities and what are the implications for the transitional government in the DRC and peace in the Great Lakes region?

YKJ: The Congolese government said 6,000 Rwandan troops had crossed the border and attacked villages. Some 2,000 people have fled in North Kivu province. As a consequence, some 10,000 troops have been sent to expel Rwandan forces from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Rwandan military action is unravelling tentative moves towards peace throughout the Great Lakes region and the trust between the various elements in government has thinned because, the RCD (Congolese Rally for Democracy) is seen to deal with the Rwandans.

PZ: The Great Lakes conflict involving Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola, DRC, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi is reported to have resulted in three million deaths and more than two million refugees and internally displaced people. In the east of the country instability and the flagrant violation of human rights has continued. The scale of the human suffering is almost unprecedented and yet somehow it seems that the DRC crisis has played second fiddle to other international and regional concerns, such as for example Sudan. Why do you think this is?

YKJ: The war in the DRC has resulted in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis with over 3.4 million displaced persons scattered throughout the country. An estimated 3.5 million people have died as a result of the war. This is a figure much higher than the national population of many African countries and several times superior to the number of victims of the Rwandan, Yugoslav, Sierra Leonean and Sudan conflicts that attracted so much attention. All in all, the international response to human rights violations in the DRC was an unsatisfactory one. Even worse was the response of the African Commission. Anyone concerned with the protection of human rights should be interested in the DRC conflict which impacted so negatively on the rights of more than 50 million African people and the resolution of which constitutes a step forward in the promotion of human rights in Africa as a whole.

PZ: South Africa has played a role in the peace negotiations in the DRC but the process seems to keep on stumbling against the same obstacles. What does this say about the South African approach to establishing peace on the continent in relation not only to the DRC, but also their involvement in the Ivory Coast?

YKJ: It is true that South Africa has been instrumental in putting in place the transitional Government in the DRC and actually, facilitating negotiation in the Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). However, there is a kind of fear at some level regarding the Congolese experience. In fact, initially, people were very enthusiastic about its role in the DRC as the main engine driving the process.
Things have however changed. Firstly, there is a general feeling that it is not Congolese, or Rwandans who won the war (if the armed conflict can be considered as such), but South Africa. This is largely in economic terms. South African companies have since invested heavily in the DRC and are behind most explorations and other economic activities. Some even think that this could have been the driving force behind South Africa's fervent involvement in the process. Others are saying that South Africa simply wants to have control in Africa and it is behaving like an imperialist characterized by hegemonic ideas. To me, the South African approach to establishing peace on the continent is a good thing but the objective must be genuine and for the interest of Africa.

PZ: What action needs to be taken and structures put in place to end this latest threat to peace and secure human rights in the region?

YKJ: The Security Council urged Rwanda not to send troops into DRC but did not condemn Rwanda's action or impose sanctions on the President, as the Congolese had wanted.

Incursion of the forces of one state into another can lead to rising tensions and inter-state armed conflicts. If the conflicts are not addressed, this can affect the well-being of the population’s socio-economic development and resources might be diverted to warfare instead of human and economic development; and if the conflict is not addressed it can have an impact on inter-state trade and restrict free movement of the people.

THERAPY:

1. There is a need to Disarm, Demobilise, Repatriate and re-integrate armed groups;
2. The international community should assist with the quick implementation of the agreements signed;
3. There is a need to put into consideration/revisit the mandate of MONUC-reinforcing the capacity of MONUC within a realistic time frame to implement the Agreement;
4. Establish joint border patrols between the national armies of all countries;
5. Need to reinforce confidence-building measures and joint and regional verification mechanisms should be reinforced with continued dialogue;
With regards the internal crisis in the DRC, the transitional government brought relative peace to the country, however there still exist pockets of crisis in the eastern regions. The transitional government should be pressurized by the international community and supported to conduct elections in June 2005 as planned. Furthermore, the MONUC should assure the security in the eastern borders of the country for the disarmament of armed groups

PZ: Further comments?

YKJ: In conclusion, all states in the Great Lakes region must know that: “Conflict is like a fire: It can keep you warm and can cook your food, but if it gets out of control, it can burn your house down.”

* Please send comments to [email protected]

UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children report for 2005 focuses on how poverty, conflict and HIV/AIDS threaten children around the globe. Since the adoption in 1989 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child – a landmark human rights treaty spelling out the basic rights that children everywhere have – there have been significant gains in fulfilling children’s rights to survival, health and education. But more than a billion children living in poverty around the world are still at risk. For hundreds of millions of children the promise of childhood that undergirds the Convention already appears broken as poverty, armed conflict and HIV/AIDS threaten their survival and development. The report concludes by calling on all stakeholders – governments, donors, international agencies, as well as communities, families, business and individuals – to reaffirm and recommit to their moral and legal responsibilities to children.

The Non-Governmental Organisations Bill, condemned by human rights organisations because it will severely restrict their activities, had its third reading and was passed by Parliament at a late night sitting on 9th December. It now requires only the signature of the President and to be gazetted before it comes into force. "Helpless against a determined regime holding all the levers of power, we watch aghast as one after another of the spaces formerly providing independent thought and action are closed down, and a fascist regime takes control of every aspect of social existence," concludes this article from the activist website Sokwanele.

Congo's government insisted on Tuesday that its forces were fighting Rwandan troops in the mineral-rich east of the country and not dissident units of the national army, as local commanders had said. "The Rwandans have sent soldiers to reinforce the positions they never really left in North Kivu (province)," Democratic Republic of Congo Information Minister Henri Mova Sakanyi said. Local military commanders have said Congolese troop reinforcements have been fighting factions loyal to the Rwandan-backed RCD Goma former rebel group. Rwanda has repeatedly stated its troops are not involved.

Ugandan rebels say that attacks by the army may undermine the peace process, supposed to end an 18-year war. The army says it has killed 16 rebels but stresses that the clashes took place outside a ceasefire zone, set up for rebel fighters. The conflict in northern Uganda has driven 1.6m people into refugee camps and triggered what aid workers call one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.

Two Darfur rebel groups at peace talks with the Sudanese government in Nigeria refused to take part in any further discussions until Khartoum stopped attacking their forces, rebel delegates said on Monday. The African Union, which had been mediating in the talks in the Nigerian capital, had accused both sides of increasingly frequent ceasefire violations in the western Sudanese region where 1.6 million people have been driven from their homes.

The perception is that the Affirmative Action Policy is ethnically based and might rip the country off if it is not managed properly, says the Director of the Labour Resource and Research Institute (LaRRi) Herbert Jauch.
Jauch told New Era that based on a survey that was conducted recently on the effectiveness of the policy four years after its launch, it was found that most companies have not made an effort to practise what the policy stipulates and the whole concept is taken as something that should be applied based on ethnic grounds.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, intends to complete the repatriation of Angolan refugees living in camps in neighbouring countries by next year, and will then help those that have settled in the wider community to return home. This year UNHCR assisted nearly 51,000 Angolans to return home from Zambia (27,579), the DRC (19,082) and Namibia (4,189), with lesser numbers from Botswana, the Republic of Congo and South Africa.

The Chief Representative of Nigeria and ECOWAS on the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Mr Eusebe Hounsokou, has raised an alarm over the influx of refugees from war torn Darfur region in Sudan, to Nigeria. President and Founder of African Concern International (ACI), Prince Bola Ajibola said the problems of refugees have become global issues, which must be tackled.

"As the first African woman to receive this prize, I accept it on behalf of the people of Kenya and Africa, and indeed the world." With these words, Wangari Muta Maathai accepted the Nobel Peace Prize Friday in Oslo. Maathai used her lecture to warn that environmental destruction must be reversed so that "humanity stops threatening its life-support system." Saying that as a mother she hopes her selection for this award will inspire young people, Maathai acknowledged the work of "countless individuals and groups across the globe" who "work quietly and often without recognition to protect the environment, promote democracy, defend human rights and ensure equality between women and men."

One thousand people die every day in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and nearly half of these deaths are accounted for by children under five years of age. These deaths add daily to the cumulative total of 3.8 million fatalities since the crisis began in August 1998 to the end of April 2004. This makes the DRC conflict worse than any other conflict since the end of World War II and in terms of death toll exceeds other recent crises, including Bosnia (estimated 250,000 dead), Rwanda (800,000), Kosovo (12,000), and Darfur in Sudan (70,000).

Despite this, the international community has failed to take the necessary action to alleviate the crisis. During 2004, only 42% of funding sought by the United Nations for its activities had been raised by August, while contributions by the United States Agency for International Assistance to DRC for 2004 have declined by almost 25% when compared with 2003.

“No other recent conflict has claimed as many lives and mortality rates remain elevated at an alarming level. In spite of these unambiguous facts, the international community has not yet mobilized the necessary will or resources to effectively address the crisis,” according to the latest mortality study, a joint effort by the New York based International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Australia's Burnet Institute.

* Related Link: Why Does No One Care That The World’s Worst Conflict Has Broken Out Again?
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=6860

United Nations aid agencies have again appealed to donors to step up assistance to the estimated 200,000 refugees in Zambia, who have seen their food rations halved in the last two months due to the lack of funds. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday said it was "extremely concerned" and warned that the deteriorating situation was likely to impact on the health of the refugees.

"Africa was a Mecca for scholars from other parts of the world, where many Greek scholars studied. We now know that the oldest Mathematics texts (over 4000 years old)-The Rhind, Berlin, and Moscow papyri were all excavated from Africa. But do they bear the names of either African cities or persons? No! The Rhind papyrus was named after a Scottish traveler Alexander Rhind who bought it in Africa; but the author was a black African Mathematician called Ahmes."

For the last six months, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport has been Sanjai Shah’s second home. Unlike other passengers on transit, he is known to many of the airport staff and they know him as "the man in limbo", for he can neither enter nor leave the country. He has no travel documents.The Kitale-born man of Asian descent is at the airport courtesy of what he calls "racist and dehumanising" treatment from British immigration officials.

A senior UN official called for more international and local assistance for thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees in the self-declared autonomous republic of Somaliland. “These IDPs and returnees are among the poorest of the poor,” Dennis McNamara, head of the UN Inter-Agency Internal Displacement Division, said during a visit to returnee camps in Burao, 340 km east of the Somaliland capital, Hargeysa. “They desperately need assistance."