Shabelle News Network
25 August 2007
Administrators of the semiautonomous province of Puntland in northeast Somalia stated that they would never abide by Somalia's parliament debate results over Puntland's oil deals with foreign firms.
The regional president, Adde Mussa, told Shabelle that his administration would not accept any results from Somalia's parliament if it would harm Puntland's natural resources rights.
Two years ago, the Puntland government signed a lucrative deal with Australia's Range Resources, giving the company exploratory rights to minerals and oil reserves in region. The clause in the interim government's oil bill nullifying any post-1990 deals would automatically cancel that deal and others being negotiated.
Puntland officials say they are concerned that the bill will divert power and potential wealth away from the region.
The province has been trying to thrive economically, making deals with foreign oil firms, despite Prime Minister Gedi's refusal to allow Puntland to be independent for the production of its natural resources.
Interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told reporters last week that no deal would be considered valid until the new legislation is enacted. He has urged foreign companies to negotiate only with the interim government.
The prime minister says even a deal interim President Abdullahi Yusuf recently concluded with a Chinese company to explore for oil and gas in Puntland is subject to the new law.
The second chief speaker of Somalia's transitional parliament, Osman Elmi Boqare, told Shabelle last week that the parliament received documents from the country's top leaders over oil contracts they signed with foreign oil companies.
Somali has had no effective central government since the ouster of former dictator, Siad Barre, in 1991.
25 August, 2007
Khartoum: More Details Over Explulsion of Diplomats
MISNA
24 August 2007
Contacts with rebels and the Sudanese opposition while pressuring national security services to obtain the release of two minority leaders are the reasons why Khartoum has expelled the EU Commission envoy, Degerfelt Kent, and the Canadian charge’ d’affaires, Nuala Lawlor according to Sudanese statements given to Arab media. Sudanese sources said that the two diplomats had received previous communication asking them not to interfere in Sudan’s internal matters. Speaking to Al-Jazeera TV, the foreign affairs undersecretary, Ali Karti, said the two diplomats had called on the security services “about an issue that could have been handled with methods that would not have contradicted the diplomatic traditions of the ministry of foreign affairs”, referring to pressure made by the two for the release of two opposition representatives (including Mahmoud Hassanein, a primary figure of the Democratic Unionist Party) who has been arrested for an alleged coup attempt. Karti described the pressures as a “flagrant interference” in internal questions.
“It is necessary – he said – to send a clear message to whoever thinks that relations between Sudan and the UN, or the international community in general, are those of submission or complacence to concepts or convictions of Western people”.
According to the Al-Hayat newspaper, citing an anonymous government source, Khartoum was not pleased by a series of meetings that the two expelled diplomats recently had with members of the rebellion, the opposition and local NGO’s which Khartoum considers as a cover for dissident activities.
24 August 2007
Contacts with rebels and the Sudanese opposition while pressuring national security services to obtain the release of two minority leaders are the reasons why Khartoum has expelled the EU Commission envoy, Degerfelt Kent, and the Canadian charge’ d’affaires, Nuala Lawlor according to Sudanese statements given to Arab media. Sudanese sources said that the two diplomats had received previous communication asking them not to interfere in Sudan’s internal matters. Speaking to Al-Jazeera TV, the foreign affairs undersecretary, Ali Karti, said the two diplomats had called on the security services “about an issue that could have been handled with methods that would not have contradicted the diplomatic traditions of the ministry of foreign affairs”, referring to pressure made by the two for the release of two opposition representatives (including Mahmoud Hassanein, a primary figure of the Democratic Unionist Party) who has been arrested for an alleged coup attempt. Karti described the pressures as a “flagrant interference” in internal questions.
“It is necessary – he said – to send a clear message to whoever thinks that relations between Sudan and the UN, or the international community in general, are those of submission or complacence to concepts or convictions of Western people”.
According to the Al-Hayat newspaper, citing an anonymous government source, Khartoum was not pleased by a series of meetings that the two expelled diplomats recently had with members of the rebellion, the opposition and local NGO’s which Khartoum considers as a cover for dissident activities.
The Transfer Policy of the ICTR Prosecutor Takes Another Hit
Hirondelle News Agency
24 August 2007
After the decision of a Dutch court that ruled that it did not have the jurisdiction to try suspects of the Rwandan genocide and the release in France of two accused, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is facing a true puzzle if it wants to finish its mandate by the end of 2008.
The Security Council, which created it in 1994, has asked it to finish its first instance trials within 16 month as 12 trials are ongoing and nine accused await to be tried. For that purpose, the ICTR has already stated its intention to transfer its last defendants towards other courts, including in Rwanda. But after this resignation by the Netherlands, and the rupture of diplomatic relations between France and Kigali, the list of volunteers to replace of the ICTR is not so long.
First to be transferred on the basis of rule 11 bis of the rules of procedure and evidence, Michel Bagaragaza is once again in the custody of the ICTR which is awaiting his arrival at the detention center in Arusha. On 30 August 2006, he had already seen his transfer to Norway refused because the legislation of that country did not recognize the genocide as a crime.
He was finally sent to The Hague, for his safety while awaiting his trial, because he had agreed to testify in other ICTR cases. Today, if the international tribunal does not assume his case or if it does not find other countries which will agree to try him, he should be transferred to the Rwandan authorities who have been requesting his extradition.
Generally, international law recognizes in countries a universal repressive jurisdiction. "Universal crime universal repression" explains Olivier Corten, head of the center of international law of the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
This universal jurisdiction is sometimes allowed (for example, the convention on the prevention and the punishment of the crime of genocide of 1948), sometimes binding (in particular, the Geneva Conventions of 1949). However, it is unanimously allowed only when the suspect is found on the territory of the country which wants to prosecute.
As the world unceasingly relives these same horrors and massacres, certain countries like Belgium, Switzerland and Spain decided in the nineties to equipped themselves or to recognize themselves with absolute universal jurisdiction which enables them to try any person, whatever their nationality, that of the victim and the place of the crime.
These countries had posed, at the same time, a legal and moral requirement to do whatever possible to prosecute the authors of these crimes which we had sworn, following the Nuremberg trials, would never happen again. A legal requirement due to the international commitments undertaken and a moral requirement like an ethical duty to fight against the impunity of the most serious crimes.
All have exercised it, but today, Spain is the only country that still posses this power. The other countries succumbed to the various political pressures (lack of means in the face of the number of complaints filed, interests of the countries on the international stage, commercial activities abroad, effects of appeals in regard to asylum requests, etc.) and exert nothing more than a delegated power.
In the majority of other countries, such as Canada, Australia, the United States (which all the three have already exerted their delegated universal jurisdiction), the presence of accused on the territory is required to be able to try them, this leads to obvious problems within the framework of the transfer procedure of rule 11 bis of the rules of procedure and evidence of the ICTR because they were arrested elsewhere.
But finally, even when this condition was met, the prosecutions were suddenly no longer possible, for lack of internal legal grounds, as in the Bagaragaza case in the Netherlands.
The only option remaining for these countries that refuse to try persons accused of genocide would be to extradite them to Rwanda, which is henceforth possible due to its new law that abolishes the death penalty.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has already carried out several transfers on the basis of rule 11 bis (14 until now). But all were towards countries of the former Yugoslavia, while the ICTR authorizes the transfer to any country which would possess jurisdiction.
The goal of the ICTY is, at the same time, to decentralize criminal justice in order to free the buildup of cases by only keeping high officials but also, and especially, to associate these countries, victims of their own war, with the judgment of their nationals.
24 August 2007
After the decision of a Dutch court that ruled that it did not have the jurisdiction to try suspects of the Rwandan genocide and the release in France of two accused, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is facing a true puzzle if it wants to finish its mandate by the end of 2008.
The Security Council, which created it in 1994, has asked it to finish its first instance trials within 16 month as 12 trials are ongoing and nine accused await to be tried. For that purpose, the ICTR has already stated its intention to transfer its last defendants towards other courts, including in Rwanda. But after this resignation by the Netherlands, and the rupture of diplomatic relations between France and Kigali, the list of volunteers to replace of the ICTR is not so long.
First to be transferred on the basis of rule 11 bis of the rules of procedure and evidence, Michel Bagaragaza is once again in the custody of the ICTR which is awaiting his arrival at the detention center in Arusha. On 30 August 2006, he had already seen his transfer to Norway refused because the legislation of that country did not recognize the genocide as a crime.
He was finally sent to The Hague, for his safety while awaiting his trial, because he had agreed to testify in other ICTR cases. Today, if the international tribunal does not assume his case or if it does not find other countries which will agree to try him, he should be transferred to the Rwandan authorities who have been requesting his extradition.
Generally, international law recognizes in countries a universal repressive jurisdiction. "Universal crime universal repression" explains Olivier Corten, head of the center of international law of the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
This universal jurisdiction is sometimes allowed (for example, the convention on the prevention and the punishment of the crime of genocide of 1948), sometimes binding (in particular, the Geneva Conventions of 1949). However, it is unanimously allowed only when the suspect is found on the territory of the country which wants to prosecute.
As the world unceasingly relives these same horrors and massacres, certain countries like Belgium, Switzerland and Spain decided in the nineties to equipped themselves or to recognize themselves with absolute universal jurisdiction which enables them to try any person, whatever their nationality, that of the victim and the place of the crime.
These countries had posed, at the same time, a legal and moral requirement to do whatever possible to prosecute the authors of these crimes which we had sworn, following the Nuremberg trials, would never happen again. A legal requirement due to the international commitments undertaken and a moral requirement like an ethical duty to fight against the impunity of the most serious crimes.
All have exercised it, but today, Spain is the only country that still posses this power. The other countries succumbed to the various political pressures (lack of means in the face of the number of complaints filed, interests of the countries on the international stage, commercial activities abroad, effects of appeals in regard to asylum requests, etc.) and exert nothing more than a delegated power.
In the majority of other countries, such as Canada, Australia, the United States (which all the three have already exerted their delegated universal jurisdiction), the presence of accused on the territory is required to be able to try them, this leads to obvious problems within the framework of the transfer procedure of rule 11 bis of the rules of procedure and evidence of the ICTR because they were arrested elsewhere.
But finally, even when this condition was met, the prosecutions were suddenly no longer possible, for lack of internal legal grounds, as in the Bagaragaza case in the Netherlands.
The only option remaining for these countries that refuse to try persons accused of genocide would be to extradite them to Rwanda, which is henceforth possible due to its new law that abolishes the death penalty.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has already carried out several transfers on the basis of rule 11 bis (14 until now). But all were towards countries of the former Yugoslavia, while the ICTR authorizes the transfer to any country which would possess jurisdiction.
The goal of the ICTY is, at the same time, to decentralize criminal justice in order to free the buildup of cases by only keeping high officials but also, and especially, to associate these countries, victims of their own war, with the judgment of their nationals.
London to Host Rwanda EU Expo.
Rwandan Development Gateway
25 August 2007
The first ever Europe-wide Rwanda Investment conference & exhibition will take place in London on October 3rd 2007. The theme for Rwanda Expo in Europe2007 (REE’07) is “Unveiling a New Rwanda to the World”. The one-day event, organised by Rwanda Diaspora Investment (RDI) Ltd, in partnership with the Rwandan Embassy in London and Rwanda Investment & Export Promotion Agency (RIEPA), is aimed at bringing together Rwandan business community and their European counterpart to exchange ideas, discuss mutual projects and build long-term business networks and partnerships. The event is also intended to give opportunity to Rwandan companies and agencies to promote their products and services not only to the increasingly influential Rwandan Diaspora community, but also to EU markets, and to promote Rwanda as a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and tourist destination.
On the sidelines of the investment conference, which will take place at the Royal Institute of British Architects in central London and is expected to attract high-profile political and corporate leaders from both Rwanda and EU, there will be an exhibition of Rwandan products and services to expose them to the European consumers.
Organisers say the conference bit will be dedicated to explaining Rwanda’s investment climate , opportunities and incentives to EU investors, through speeches and presentations by corporate and government leaders, while the exhibition will showcase Rwandan products and services and there will be one-on-one meetings and deal-making opportunities. “ London is the undisputed deal-making centre & financial capital of the world and there is a lot of capital here looking for investment exit to emerging markets. We want to position Rwanda as one of the best and well-managed emerging markets in Africa ” an RDI official said. “We are determined to completely reverse our country’s image here as a war-ravaged, ethnically divided and an object of charity, to a country ready and capable to conducting serious business with the rest of the world” he emphasised.
The event was originally planned for 17th & 18th September and moved to October due to other competing activities.
25 August 2007
The first ever Europe-wide Rwanda Investment conference & exhibition will take place in London on October 3rd 2007. The theme for Rwanda Expo in Europe2007 (REE’07) is “Unveiling a New Rwanda to the World”. The one-day event, organised by Rwanda Diaspora Investment (RDI) Ltd, in partnership with the Rwandan Embassy in London and Rwanda Investment & Export Promotion Agency (RIEPA), is aimed at bringing together Rwandan business community and their European counterpart to exchange ideas, discuss mutual projects and build long-term business networks and partnerships. The event is also intended to give opportunity to Rwandan companies and agencies to promote their products and services not only to the increasingly influential Rwandan Diaspora community, but also to EU markets, and to promote Rwanda as a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and tourist destination.
On the sidelines of the investment conference, which will take place at the Royal Institute of British Architects in central London and is expected to attract high-profile political and corporate leaders from both Rwanda and EU, there will be an exhibition of Rwandan products and services to expose them to the European consumers.
Organisers say the conference bit will be dedicated to explaining Rwanda’s investment climate , opportunities and incentives to EU investors, through speeches and presentations by corporate and government leaders, while the exhibition will showcase Rwandan products and services and there will be one-on-one meetings and deal-making opportunities. “ London is the undisputed deal-making centre & financial capital of the world and there is a lot of capital here looking for investment exit to emerging markets. We want to position Rwanda as one of the best and well-managed emerging markets in Africa ” an RDI official said. “We are determined to completely reverse our country’s image here as a war-ravaged, ethnically divided and an object of charity, to a country ready and capable to conducting serious business with the rest of the world” he emphasised.
The event was originally planned for 17th & 18th September and moved to October due to other competing activities.
US Training Saudis to Ward Off Attacks on Oil Fields.
Jang Group
25 August 2007
US defence giant Lockheed Martin is training thousands of recruits for a special force designed to protect Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities from attack, a specialist economic newsletter said on Friday.
Saudi authorities have recruited around 5,000 members of the Facilities Security Force and plan to raise the number to 8,000-10,000 over the next two years as an interim target, the Nicosia-based Middle East Economic Survey said.
The plan to set up a 35,000-strong force to guard oil and other vital installations was announced in July by Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz as the oil powerhouse continues to battle suspected Al-Qaeda militants.
In February 2006, militants carried out an abortive attack on a massive oil processing plant in the Eastern Province.
Nayef said that Saudi Arabia had foiled 180 “terrorist” operations by Al-Qaeda since 2003, when the Islamist militants launched a spate of bombings and shootings in the vast Gulf country.
In April, the interior ministry said 172 terror suspects had been rounded up, along with weapons and cash, in a series of swoops.
Some of the militants were allegedly plotting airborne attacks on oil facilities and army bases.
The decision to recruit from outside the ranks of the existing armed forces and security services has necessarily slowed the process, and several years are likely to elapse until the new force is fully capable, it said.
“The force is being equipped and trained by Lockheed in the use of state-of-the art defence technology including laser security and satellite imaging to help protect installations and the kingdom’s extensive oil and gas pipeline network,” the newsletter said. Saudi Arabia already maintains a 75,000-strong army, an air force of 18,000, a navy of 15,500 and an air defence force of 16,000, according to MEES.
These formal armed forces are on top of the 75,000-man National Guard, a tribal force loyal to the Al Saud ruling family.
25 August 2007
US defence giant Lockheed Martin is training thousands of recruits for a special force designed to protect Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities from attack, a specialist economic newsletter said on Friday.
Saudi authorities have recruited around 5,000 members of the Facilities Security Force and plan to raise the number to 8,000-10,000 over the next two years as an interim target, the Nicosia-based Middle East Economic Survey said.
The plan to set up a 35,000-strong force to guard oil and other vital installations was announced in July by Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz as the oil powerhouse continues to battle suspected Al-Qaeda militants.
In February 2006, militants carried out an abortive attack on a massive oil processing plant in the Eastern Province.
Nayef said that Saudi Arabia had foiled 180 “terrorist” operations by Al-Qaeda since 2003, when the Islamist militants launched a spate of bombings and shootings in the vast Gulf country.
In April, the interior ministry said 172 terror suspects had been rounded up, along with weapons and cash, in a series of swoops.
Some of the militants were allegedly plotting airborne attacks on oil facilities and army bases.
The decision to recruit from outside the ranks of the existing armed forces and security services has necessarily slowed the process, and several years are likely to elapse until the new force is fully capable, it said.
“The force is being equipped and trained by Lockheed in the use of state-of-the art defence technology including laser security and satellite imaging to help protect installations and the kingdom’s extensive oil and gas pipeline network,” the newsletter said. Saudi Arabia already maintains a 75,000-strong army, an air force of 18,000, a navy of 15,500 and an air defence force of 16,000, according to MEES.
These formal armed forces are on top of the 75,000-man National Guard, a tribal force loyal to the Al Saud ruling family.
24 August, 2007
In Memoriam.
This is Cathy B., my good friend's sister. She was 36 years old when she died on the evening of 12 July 2006. I had the pleasure of meeting her only briefly one time while I was in Congo. She died like so many other young Congolese: treatable illness. She conducted malaria and she was unable to get treatment because her family did not have enough money for the hospitalization. Though I did not know about her illness until after she contracted it and passed, I feel responsible since I did not supply the family with enough money beforehand to have in case of such an emergency. Please help support malaria prevention projects from honest people and organizations. Education on malaria prevention and the distribution of free mosquito netting can help. I am resolving to look into this issue this next year, though I know it can't help Cathy or alleviate the family's pain.
Thousands of Congolese Cross Border Fleeing From Fighting
MISNA
23 August 2007
Renewed fighting in the eastern North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo forced over 10,000 civilians to flee toward the south-western Ugandan district of Kisoro. As referred by the spokesman for the Ugandan armed forces (UPDF) in the west, Lt. Tabaro Kiconco, “district authorities and aid organisations are trying to find a solution for them”. David Masereka, the resident district commissioner of Kisoro, quoted today by the Ugandan Daily Monitor, “the influx began yesterday morning and continues up to now”.
The Congolese refugees attribute the renewed violence in the Rutshuru area to local militias headed by Laurent Nkunda, the dissident Congolese General backed by Rwanda, already in the past responsible for violence in north-east DR-Congo, whose integration in the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) continues to pose problems. A joint mission of the government of Kampala, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) was sent yesterday to Kisoro to verify the situation.
23 August 2007
Renewed fighting in the eastern North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo forced over 10,000 civilians to flee toward the south-western Ugandan district of Kisoro. As referred by the spokesman for the Ugandan armed forces (UPDF) in the west, Lt. Tabaro Kiconco, “district authorities and aid organisations are trying to find a solution for them”. David Masereka, the resident district commissioner of Kisoro, quoted today by the Ugandan Daily Monitor, “the influx began yesterday morning and continues up to now”.
The Congolese refugees attribute the renewed violence in the Rutshuru area to local militias headed by Laurent Nkunda, the dissident Congolese General backed by Rwanda, already in the past responsible for violence in north-east DR-Congo, whose integration in the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) continues to pose problems. A joint mission of the government of Kampala, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) was sent yesterday to Kisoro to verify the situation.
A Daughter of Former President Habyarimana Will Recive Comphensation in France
Hirondelle News Agency
23 August 2007
France, by the means of the fund for compensation for victims of acts of terrorism, will grant compensation to Marie Merci Habyarimana, one of the daughters of the former Rwandan president whose plane was shot down by two missiles on 6 April 1994, reported from Paris Wednesday the French news agency AFP.
Miss Habyarimana, who has French citizenship has already received 20 000 euros (27 000 USD) from the guarantee fund for victims of acts of terrorism and other infractions (FGTI) which took its decision on 20 July after receiving the case eleven days before. The FGTI will come to a conclusion, within a few weeks, about the total amount to grant her, continues the AFP. Miss Habyarimana is asking for compensation of 75 000 euros (100 000 USD) for "non-pecuniary damage" and 200 000 euros (270 000 USD) for "material damage" after having had to "hastily" leave her country.
The attack against the plane of President Juvénal Habyarimana was used as a trigger for the 1994 genocide which resulted, according to the Rwandan Government, in nearly a million deaths, primarily Tutsis. The investigation opened in France into this attack led to the indictment of nine acquaintances of President Paul Kagame, currently in power, and a request for refer the Head of the Rwandan State to an international tribunal. Following these decisions, the Rwandan Government, which has always denied these allegations, broke its diplomatic relations with France.
The other children of the former president, who do not have French citizenship, do not have the right to this recourse. The young woman, who is 28 years old today, was in the presidential residence when she saw crash, in the garden, of the plane transporting her father.
Furthermore, adds the AFP, the members of the Habyarimana family requested on 30 July, by way of their lawyers, a meeting with the new French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
23 August 2007
France, by the means of the fund for compensation for victims of acts of terrorism, will grant compensation to Marie Merci Habyarimana, one of the daughters of the former Rwandan president whose plane was shot down by two missiles on 6 April 1994, reported from Paris Wednesday the French news agency AFP.
Miss Habyarimana, who has French citizenship has already received 20 000 euros (27 000 USD) from the guarantee fund for victims of acts of terrorism and other infractions (FGTI) which took its decision on 20 July after receiving the case eleven days before. The FGTI will come to a conclusion, within a few weeks, about the total amount to grant her, continues the AFP. Miss Habyarimana is asking for compensation of 75 000 euros (100 000 USD) for "non-pecuniary damage" and 200 000 euros (270 000 USD) for "material damage" after having had to "hastily" leave her country.
The attack against the plane of President Juvénal Habyarimana was used as a trigger for the 1994 genocide which resulted, according to the Rwandan Government, in nearly a million deaths, primarily Tutsis. The investigation opened in France into this attack led to the indictment of nine acquaintances of President Paul Kagame, currently in power, and a request for refer the Head of the Rwandan State to an international tribunal. Following these decisions, the Rwandan Government, which has always denied these allegations, broke its diplomatic relations with France.
The other children of the former president, who do not have French citizenship, do not have the right to this recourse. The young woman, who is 28 years old today, was in the presidential residence when she saw crash, in the garden, of the plane transporting her father.
Furthermore, adds the AFP, the members of the Habyarimana family requested on 30 July, by way of their lawyers, a meeting with the new French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Appeals Court Confirms Sentence Against Activist.
Human Rights Watch
Press Release
22 August 2007
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/08/21/rwanda16714_txt.htm
An appeals court has upheld the 19-year prison sentence of a Rwandan human rights activist on genocide-related charges, failing to address the errors of a lower court judgment that violated Rwandan law and fair trial standards, Human Rights Watch said today.
The court, which issued its decision against François-Xavier Byuma on August 18, is part of an innovative judicial system known as gacaca that was set up to try some 818,000 people accused of participating in the 1994 genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda.
The law that established gacaca requires judges who have had a past conflict with an accused to step aside, reflecting the principle that for a trial to be fair the judge must be independent and impartial. In the lower court proceedings, the president of the gacaca jurisdiction, Fraridhi “Saudi” Imanzi, had a conflict with Byuma but did not step aside when asked to do so. Instead, he proceeded to hear the case along with four other judges.
“For gacaca courts to deliver justice, the judges must be, and be seen to be independent and impartial,” said Alison Des Forges, senior advisor to Human Rights Watch’s Africa division. “The appeals courts are supposed to guarantee that independence and impartiality, but in this case apparently failed to do so.”
Byuma, who heads an organization for the defense of children’s rights known as Turengere Abana, had previously investigated allegations that Imanzi had raped a young girl. Imanzi was briefly detained and questioned but never prosecuted for rape.
The trial court, relying on witness testimony, had found Byuma guilty, among other charges, of having assaulted a Tutsi during the genocide. At least one of those witnesses had testified in court four years before that another person was guilty of the assault.
The appeals court permitted Byuma to defend himself and allowed him to present court records establishing that a witness against him had previously testified that another person had committed the crime. Byuma was also allowed to explain that the trial court had failed to hear some of the witnesses whom he wished called in his defense. He said too that the court had not reconciled contradictions in the evidence presented. After hearing these arguments, the appeals court nonetheless decided to uphold the guilty verdict of the lower chamber.
The appeals court gave no reasons for its decision and offered no explanation of how it reconciled the requirement of impartiality with the fact that a judge of the lower court had a history of prior conflict with Byuma.
Byuma announced he would request a review of the decision. Under Rwandan law, such a review is possible only when a gacaca judgment conflicts with a judgment given in conventional court or when new evidence is discovered. Prior sessions were recorded on videotape, simplifying any review of the gacaca hearings.
“People put faith in the courts when they are fair and seen to be fair,” said Des Forges. “When an appeals court renders a decision that provides no reasoning and seems to take no account of evidence and of procedural errors in a prior trial, efforts to establish the rule of law in Rwanda suffer. Gacaca authorities should use available video recordings to review the case and assure that appropriate procedures were followed.”
Press Release
22 August 2007
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/08/21/rwanda16714_txt.htm
An appeals court has upheld the 19-year prison sentence of a Rwandan human rights activist on genocide-related charges, failing to address the errors of a lower court judgment that violated Rwandan law and fair trial standards, Human Rights Watch said today.
The court, which issued its decision against François-Xavier Byuma on August 18, is part of an innovative judicial system known as gacaca that was set up to try some 818,000 people accused of participating in the 1994 genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda.
The law that established gacaca requires judges who have had a past conflict with an accused to step aside, reflecting the principle that for a trial to be fair the judge must be independent and impartial. In the lower court proceedings, the president of the gacaca jurisdiction, Fraridhi “Saudi” Imanzi, had a conflict with Byuma but did not step aside when asked to do so. Instead, he proceeded to hear the case along with four other judges.
“For gacaca courts to deliver justice, the judges must be, and be seen to be independent and impartial,” said Alison Des Forges, senior advisor to Human Rights Watch’s Africa division. “The appeals courts are supposed to guarantee that independence and impartiality, but in this case apparently failed to do so.”
Byuma, who heads an organization for the defense of children’s rights known as Turengere Abana, had previously investigated allegations that Imanzi had raped a young girl. Imanzi was briefly detained and questioned but never prosecuted for rape.
The trial court, relying on witness testimony, had found Byuma guilty, among other charges, of having assaulted a Tutsi during the genocide. At least one of those witnesses had testified in court four years before that another person was guilty of the assault.
The appeals court permitted Byuma to defend himself and allowed him to present court records establishing that a witness against him had previously testified that another person had committed the crime. Byuma was also allowed to explain that the trial court had failed to hear some of the witnesses whom he wished called in his defense. He said too that the court had not reconciled contradictions in the evidence presented. After hearing these arguments, the appeals court nonetheless decided to uphold the guilty verdict of the lower chamber.
The appeals court gave no reasons for its decision and offered no explanation of how it reconciled the requirement of impartiality with the fact that a judge of the lower court had a history of prior conflict with Byuma.
Byuma announced he would request a review of the decision. Under Rwandan law, such a review is possible only when a gacaca judgment conflicts with a judgment given in conventional court or when new evidence is discovered. Prior sessions were recorded on videotape, simplifying any review of the gacaca hearings.
“People put faith in the courts when they are fair and seen to be fair,” said Des Forges. “When an appeals court renders a decision that provides no reasoning and seems to take no account of evidence and of procedural errors in a prior trial, efforts to establish the rule of law in Rwanda suffer. Gacaca authorities should use available video recordings to review the case and assure that appropriate procedures were followed.”
Feingold Visits to Focus on Regional and International Security Issues
US Senate
PRESS RELEASE
Washington, D.C.
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold is traveling through the African countries of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda to focus on security issues and their regional and international impact. For Feingold, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, the trip marks his eighth visit to the continent during his tenure in the U.S. Senate. Senator Feingold will meet with a number of political and military leaders throughout the region and will focus on a broad range of issues including the DRC’s efforts at security sector reform, ongoing violence in eastern DRC, and peace negotiations to end the conflict in northern Uganda. Feingold will also focus on the proposed U.S. military command in Africa or AFRICOM.
“It is in the security interest of these African nations, the United States and the international community as a whole that democracies and good governance take root in this critical region of Africa,” Feingold said. “As chairman of the African Affairs subcommittee, I hope that my visit will provide us with a better understanding of what more we can do to help bring peace and security to a region that has been crippled by violence for years. I’m looking forward to meeting with elected officials, military leaders, diplomats, and others to gain a better understanding of how far we’ve come, how far we need to go, and how the U.S. can continue to be a good partner in achieving these goals.”
Feingold has followed issues in the region very closely from his position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. On July 18th, Senator Feingold held a subcommittee hearing on democratic developments in sub-Saharan Africa including a focus on the DRC’s first free and open election in almost four decades. On August 1st, Senator Feingold held a hearing on AFRICOM, the U.S. military’s Africa combatant command, which is still in its nascent phase. Earlier this year, the Senate passed a resolution sponsored by Senator Feingold calling for recommitment to the Ugandan peace talks and for increased U.S. engagement. And just this week, Senator Feingold sent a letter to World Bank President Zoellick regarding the mismanagement of natural resources in the DRC.
Feingold last visited the continent in late 2006 when he toured the Horn of Africa including Kenya and Ethiopia to monitor the situation in Somalia. Feingold has been a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as well as the Subcommittee on African Affairs during his entire fourteen-year tenure as a U.S. Senator.
PRESS RELEASE
Washington, D.C.
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold is traveling through the African countries of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda to focus on security issues and their regional and international impact. For Feingold, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, the trip marks his eighth visit to the continent during his tenure in the U.S. Senate. Senator Feingold will meet with a number of political and military leaders throughout the region and will focus on a broad range of issues including the DRC’s efforts at security sector reform, ongoing violence in eastern DRC, and peace negotiations to end the conflict in northern Uganda. Feingold will also focus on the proposed U.S. military command in Africa or AFRICOM.
“It is in the security interest of these African nations, the United States and the international community as a whole that democracies and good governance take root in this critical region of Africa,” Feingold said. “As chairman of the African Affairs subcommittee, I hope that my visit will provide us with a better understanding of what more we can do to help bring peace and security to a region that has been crippled by violence for years. I’m looking forward to meeting with elected officials, military leaders, diplomats, and others to gain a better understanding of how far we’ve come, how far we need to go, and how the U.S. can continue to be a good partner in achieving these goals.”
Feingold has followed issues in the region very closely from his position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. On July 18th, Senator Feingold held a subcommittee hearing on democratic developments in sub-Saharan Africa including a focus on the DRC’s first free and open election in almost four decades. On August 1st, Senator Feingold held a hearing on AFRICOM, the U.S. military’s Africa combatant command, which is still in its nascent phase. Earlier this year, the Senate passed a resolution sponsored by Senator Feingold calling for recommitment to the Ugandan peace talks and for increased U.S. engagement. And just this week, Senator Feingold sent a letter to World Bank President Zoellick regarding the mismanagement of natural resources in the DRC.
Feingold last visited the continent in late 2006 when he toured the Horn of Africa including Kenya and Ethiopia to monitor the situation in Somalia. Feingold has been a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as well as the Subcommittee on African Affairs during his entire fourteen-year tenure as a U.S. Senator.
Threatened Defense Witness Flees Rwanda
Rwanda News Agency/Agence Rwandaise d'Information (Kigali)
24 August 2007
A defence witness for the former Prefect Tharcisse Renzaho, currently on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), had to leave Rwanda where he lived because of threats made against him, RNA has established.
According to Arusha-based Hirondelle News Agency, the principal counsel for Renzaho, François Cantier of the Bar of Toulouse (France), has already on several occasions announced to the chamber that there are threats made on witnesses.
An investigation was opened in June by the registrar's office of the tribunal on this subject and it was entrusted to a Rwandan lawyer.
Tharcisse Renzaho was prefect of Kigali and the last remaining civil authority in the capital after the entire government fled to the south of the country.
The missing witness, the 23rd of the defence who is called MAY for safety reasons, apparently had to escape Rwanda several weeks ago because he had received death threats. His destination is yet to be established.
He testified before the chamber at the beginning of the week. The majority of his testimony was made in closed session. At a brief public hearing, he indicated that he had heard at a roadblock Prefect Renzaho be called an "accomplice" of the RPF, the rebel movement then in war against the government.
However, Hirondelle reports that the disappearance could not be confirmed by an official source. Questioned on the subject, the spokesperson of the tribunal affirmed that no contact on this issued had been made by the defence team.
The witnesses who testify before the ICTR are theoretically protected by the United Nations which guarantees their anonymity and ensures their safety.
Colonel Renzaho is accused of genocide and murder as a crime against humanity. He has pled not guilty. His trial began on 8 January and should end next month.
24 August 2007
A defence witness for the former Prefect Tharcisse Renzaho, currently on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), had to leave Rwanda where he lived because of threats made against him, RNA has established.
According to Arusha-based Hirondelle News Agency, the principal counsel for Renzaho, François Cantier of the Bar of Toulouse (France), has already on several occasions announced to the chamber that there are threats made on witnesses.
An investigation was opened in June by the registrar's office of the tribunal on this subject and it was entrusted to a Rwandan lawyer.
Tharcisse Renzaho was prefect of Kigali and the last remaining civil authority in the capital after the entire government fled to the south of the country.
The missing witness, the 23rd of the defence who is called MAY for safety reasons, apparently had to escape Rwanda several weeks ago because he had received death threats. His destination is yet to be established.
He testified before the chamber at the beginning of the week. The majority of his testimony was made in closed session. At a brief public hearing, he indicated that he had heard at a roadblock Prefect Renzaho be called an "accomplice" of the RPF, the rebel movement then in war against the government.
However, Hirondelle reports that the disappearance could not be confirmed by an official source. Questioned on the subject, the spokesperson of the tribunal affirmed that no contact on this issued had been made by the defence team.
The witnesses who testify before the ICTR are theoretically protected by the United Nations which guarantees their anonymity and ensures their safety.
Colonel Renzaho is accused of genocide and murder as a crime against humanity. He has pled not guilty. His trial began on 8 January and should end next month.
Ethiopia Upset by Bill
Washington Times
Brian Blackwell
23 August 2007
Ethiopian officials are disturbed by legislation pending in Congress that would restrict military assistance and travel to the United States by certain Ethiopian officials unless President Bush certifies that the Addis Ababa government is acting to address specific human rights concerns.
The Ethiopians argue that it is unfair to lump them in with countries like North Korea and Iran at a time when their troops are acting as allies in the war on terrorism, defending an interim government in neighboring Somalia against Islamist extremists.
"This would be the fatal blow to cooperating security arrangements between the United States and Ethiopia," said Samuel Assefa, Ethiopian ambassador to the United States. "Ethiopia is a vital ally to the U.S. in this region in the fight against terrorism. The bill could cut off economic and bilateral aid at a most inopportune time."
The legislation — known as H.R. 2003 — was proposed by Rep. Donald M. Payne, New Jersey Democrat, and is backed by members of the Ethiopian community in Washington, most of whom support the main opposition party in Addis Ababa and remain angry over the outcome of a May 2005 parliamentary election.
Shortly after the election — in which the opposition party won an unprecedented number of seats but not enough to defeat Prime Minister Meles Zenawi — violent protests erupted, leading to a government crackdown.
The government admitted its security forces arrested about 30,000 protesters and killed 193 civilian protesters, but denied excessive force was used. Many more were arrested and have been held in many cases until recently.
Mr. Assefa argued in an interview at The Washington Times that his government was addressing the problem. Last weekend, the government reported that 32 members and supporters of the opposition coalition were released.
Another 38 prisoners had been freed three weeks earlier, and Mr. Assefa said only one political prisoner who signed a plea requesting a pardon remains jailed because his court case is still pending.
Under the country's legal system, Mr. Assefa said, "a plea for a pardon can only be considered after a conviction and sentencing is passed."
However leaders of a local support group, Coalition for H.R. 2003, contends the Ethiopian government is using the political prisoners as "pawns in its shell game with the U.S. Congress."
"Every time the bill is scheduled for markup [by a full House committee], the regime touts out a hapless bunch of political prisoners and threatens the U.S. that they will not be released if the House Foreign Affairs Committee marks up H.R. 2003," said Alemayehu Mariam, member of the Coalition for H.R. 2003.
"The bottom line on the ruling regime's opposition to H.R. 2003 is that it is incapable of making a morally and politically convincing case against the bill in its entirety, or any of its provisions," Mr. Mariam said.
"So it has to resort to the thuggish tactic of strong-arming members of Congress and holding the freedom of innocent political prisoners in the balance."
While the Ethiopian government questions the timing of the bill, Noelle LuSane, staff director for the subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, emphasized there was a two-year gap between the time the 193 protesters were killed and the bill's introduction in April.
"The government had plenty of time to resolve the issue," Ms. LuSane said. "So Congressman Payne does not feel the government should have been given more time, as they had two years to fix the problem."
Brian Blackwell
23 August 2007
Ethiopian officials are disturbed by legislation pending in Congress that would restrict military assistance and travel to the United States by certain Ethiopian officials unless President Bush certifies that the Addis Ababa government is acting to address specific human rights concerns.
The Ethiopians argue that it is unfair to lump them in with countries like North Korea and Iran at a time when their troops are acting as allies in the war on terrorism, defending an interim government in neighboring Somalia against Islamist extremists.
"This would be the fatal blow to cooperating security arrangements between the United States and Ethiopia," said Samuel Assefa, Ethiopian ambassador to the United States. "Ethiopia is a vital ally to the U.S. in this region in the fight against terrorism. The bill could cut off economic and bilateral aid at a most inopportune time."
The legislation — known as H.R. 2003 — was proposed by Rep. Donald M. Payne, New Jersey Democrat, and is backed by members of the Ethiopian community in Washington, most of whom support the main opposition party in Addis Ababa and remain angry over the outcome of a May 2005 parliamentary election.
Shortly after the election — in which the opposition party won an unprecedented number of seats but not enough to defeat Prime Minister Meles Zenawi — violent protests erupted, leading to a government crackdown.
The government admitted its security forces arrested about 30,000 protesters and killed 193 civilian protesters, but denied excessive force was used. Many more were arrested and have been held in many cases until recently.
Mr. Assefa argued in an interview at The Washington Times that his government was addressing the problem. Last weekend, the government reported that 32 members and supporters of the opposition coalition were released.
Another 38 prisoners had been freed three weeks earlier, and Mr. Assefa said only one political prisoner who signed a plea requesting a pardon remains jailed because his court case is still pending.
Under the country's legal system, Mr. Assefa said, "a plea for a pardon can only be considered after a conviction and sentencing is passed."
However leaders of a local support group, Coalition for H.R. 2003, contends the Ethiopian government is using the political prisoners as "pawns in its shell game with the U.S. Congress."
"Every time the bill is scheduled for markup [by a full House committee], the regime touts out a hapless bunch of political prisoners and threatens the U.S. that they will not be released if the House Foreign Affairs Committee marks up H.R. 2003," said Alemayehu Mariam, member of the Coalition for H.R. 2003.
"The bottom line on the ruling regime's opposition to H.R. 2003 is that it is incapable of making a morally and politically convincing case against the bill in its entirety, or any of its provisions," Mr. Mariam said.
"So it has to resort to the thuggish tactic of strong-arming members of Congress and holding the freedom of innocent political prisoners in the balance."
While the Ethiopian government questions the timing of the bill, Noelle LuSane, staff director for the subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, emphasized there was a two-year gap between the time the 193 protesters were killed and the bill's introduction in April.
"The government had plenty of time to resolve the issue," Ms. LuSane said. "So Congressman Payne does not feel the government should have been given more time, as they had two years to fix the problem."
Kony Not Welcome in CAR
The New Vision
Rodney Muhumuza
23 August 2007
Central African Republic President François Bozize has said there is no actionable evidence to back claims that the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels occupy some of his territory.
“We have taken all the necessary measures and tried to verify [claims that LRA rebels occupy a territory inside the CAR]. Up to now, we have not found truth in this information,” Gen. Bozize said through a translator, responding to a reporter’s question.
But should new information show that LRA leader Joseph Kony has crossed into his country, “We shall be able to know what to do next,” Gen. Bozize, who also doubles as his country’s defence minister, told a press conference at State House. Reporters were not told in precise terms what Presidents Bozize and Museveni discussed, although there were suggestions that security issues could have been on the table.
“First of all, the Central African Republic is an African country…they are part of the Great Lakes Conference,” Mr Museveni told reporters. “We were able to discuss matters of mutual interest…so that we can move together.”
Kony has in the past said he cannot settle in Uganda, even if he signs a comprehensive peace agreement with the government. And there were reports early this year that LRA rebels, who are involved in a protracted negotiation process with the government, were transiting between the DR Congo and CAR, which have a common border.
Daily Monitor reported on August 23, 2006 that Kony had formally approached CAR to ask for asylum. President Bozize, on receiving the request, reportedly dispatched his chief of staff, Dr E. Jebbari, to consult with President Museveni over the rebel leader’s application. State House officials denied that such a meeting ever happened.
Most reports say Kony and his top lieutenants now occupy a part of the forested Garamba National Park, not far from the DR Congo-CAR border.
President Museveni yesterday said it did not matter where the LRA rebels are, because they are “no longer a problem as far as Uganda is concerned”.
Mr Museveni, who has fought Kony for almost as long as he has been in power, said he blamed the rebel leader’s continued survival on the DR Congo, “which has not acted”. The DR Congo area occupied by the LRA is not controlled by President Joseph Kabila’s government in Kinshasa. And rebels fighting President Bozize’s government control the CAR area that borders DR Congo.
In response to a question about whether his country would be sending troops to Darfur, Gen. Bozize admitted that CAR has “enough internal problems”. A report of the International Crisis Group, released in April, said a group of LRA rebels travelled to CAR to collect ammunition sent by Khartoum and established links with a rebel outfit fighting Gen. Bozize’s government.
The CAR leader came to power in March 2003 after leading a successful rebellion against President Ange-Felix Patasse. After a period of transition, he won a presidential election in May 2005, completing a chequered story that goes back to the 70s, when he was an army officer serving the dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa.
Rodney Muhumuza
23 August 2007
Central African Republic President François Bozize has said there is no actionable evidence to back claims that the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels occupy some of his territory.
“We have taken all the necessary measures and tried to verify [claims that LRA rebels occupy a territory inside the CAR]. Up to now, we have not found truth in this information,” Gen. Bozize said through a translator, responding to a reporter’s question.
But should new information show that LRA leader Joseph Kony has crossed into his country, “We shall be able to know what to do next,” Gen. Bozize, who also doubles as his country’s defence minister, told a press conference at State House. Reporters were not told in precise terms what Presidents Bozize and Museveni discussed, although there were suggestions that security issues could have been on the table.
“First of all, the Central African Republic is an African country…they are part of the Great Lakes Conference,” Mr Museveni told reporters. “We were able to discuss matters of mutual interest…so that we can move together.”
Kony has in the past said he cannot settle in Uganda, even if he signs a comprehensive peace agreement with the government. And there were reports early this year that LRA rebels, who are involved in a protracted negotiation process with the government, were transiting between the DR Congo and CAR, which have a common border.
Daily Monitor reported on August 23, 2006 that Kony had formally approached CAR to ask for asylum. President Bozize, on receiving the request, reportedly dispatched his chief of staff, Dr E. Jebbari, to consult with President Museveni over the rebel leader’s application. State House officials denied that such a meeting ever happened.
Most reports say Kony and his top lieutenants now occupy a part of the forested Garamba National Park, not far from the DR Congo-CAR border.
President Museveni yesterday said it did not matter where the LRA rebels are, because they are “no longer a problem as far as Uganda is concerned”.
Mr Museveni, who has fought Kony for almost as long as he has been in power, said he blamed the rebel leader’s continued survival on the DR Congo, “which has not acted”. The DR Congo area occupied by the LRA is not controlled by President Joseph Kabila’s government in Kinshasa. And rebels fighting President Bozize’s government control the CAR area that borders DR Congo.
In response to a question about whether his country would be sending troops to Darfur, Gen. Bozize admitted that CAR has “enough internal problems”. A report of the International Crisis Group, released in April, said a group of LRA rebels travelled to CAR to collect ammunition sent by Khartoum and established links with a rebel outfit fighting Gen. Bozize’s government.
The CAR leader came to power in March 2003 after leading a successful rebellion against President Ange-Felix Patasse. After a period of transition, he won a presidential election in May 2005, completing a chequered story that goes back to the 70s, when he was an army officer serving the dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa.
Massacre Probe Intensifies
Afrol News
S. Makalo
23 August 2007
Another badge of Ghanaian investigators will tomorrow leave for The Gambia to dig into the whys and wherefores surrounding the killings of eight Ghanaians and disappearance of 44 others in the country in July 2005 while en route to Europe. Their killings resulted after Gambian authorities accused them of trying to overthrow the government.
In a statement, Accra authorities said a seven-member delegation comprises experts from the Criminal Investigations Department, Ghana Police and Attorney Generals Department.
Ghanaian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Information have been closely collaborating with the country’s mission in Senegal and other contacts in The Gambia on the matter.
Ghanaian investigators have been in The Gambia several times, but according to the Media Relations Officer at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Jefferson Kwamina Sackey, the final phase of investigation is due for completion next month. A final and comprehensive report on the killing will then be presented to the Ghanaian government.
After receiving a report on the killing in 2005, Ghanaian President, John Agyekum Kufuor, sent a high level fact-finding mission to The Gambia to open up dialogue with key authorities, including President Yahya Jammeh and high-ranking Gambian security officials, on the matter.
During its 2005 visit to the country, Ghana’s fact-finding mission proposed a joint Ghana-Gambia investigative team to unravel the circumstances leading to the murder/disappearances. This proposal was accepted by the Gambian leader who pledged his country’s full co-operation to unearth the truth.
Since then, Ghana government had been pilling mountains of pressures on Gambian authorities to open up. Gambian authorities have been blamed for derailing investigations into the issue.
S. Makalo
23 August 2007
Another badge of Ghanaian investigators will tomorrow leave for The Gambia to dig into the whys and wherefores surrounding the killings of eight Ghanaians and disappearance of 44 others in the country in July 2005 while en route to Europe. Their killings resulted after Gambian authorities accused them of trying to overthrow the government.
In a statement, Accra authorities said a seven-member delegation comprises experts from the Criminal Investigations Department, Ghana Police and Attorney Generals Department.
Ghanaian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Information have been closely collaborating with the country’s mission in Senegal and other contacts in The Gambia on the matter.
Ghanaian investigators have been in The Gambia several times, but according to the Media Relations Officer at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Jefferson Kwamina Sackey, the final phase of investigation is due for completion next month. A final and comprehensive report on the killing will then be presented to the Ghanaian government.
After receiving a report on the killing in 2005, Ghanaian President, John Agyekum Kufuor, sent a high level fact-finding mission to The Gambia to open up dialogue with key authorities, including President Yahya Jammeh and high-ranking Gambian security officials, on the matter.
During its 2005 visit to the country, Ghana’s fact-finding mission proposed a joint Ghana-Gambia investigative team to unravel the circumstances leading to the murder/disappearances. This proposal was accepted by the Gambian leader who pledged his country’s full co-operation to unearth the truth.
Since then, Ghana government had been pilling mountains of pressures on Gambian authorities to open up. Gambian authorities have been blamed for derailing investigations into the issue.
Burundi Leaders Hold Crisis Talks
Afrol News
23 August 2007
In a bid to douse the looming political and institutional crisis in the country, the Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has engaged the leaders of the country’s main opposition parties for a dialogue.
This follows grenade attacks on the homes of five key political kingpins last weekend. The opposition blamed President Nkurunziza for the Sunday attacks.
The five were among 69 parliamentarians who have been hard on the President to open talk with the opposition about forming a unity government.
Officials of the two main opposition Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU) and Unity for National Progress (UPRONA) this week confirmed to have held dialogue with Mr Nkurunziza.
Opposition leaders described the dialogue as fruitful, though they raised concern about the disruption of the peace process.
The European Union representative for the Great Lakes region, Roland van de Geer, who spent four days in Burundi to ease the tension between government and opposition, was impressed about the dialogue between President Nkurunziza and the opposition.
The EU convoy told a news conference that he had found an “extremely constructive and positive atmosphere among all those I met“ because political parties are willing to find solution through dialogue while President Nkurunziza admitted being responsible for unblocking the institutional crisis.
The EU is concerned about the persistence of the crisis, fearing its negative offshoot on its cooperation with Burundi.
Over the years, the EU had been the main donor of Burundi, which had just emerged from more than a decade long civil war. The country has now found itself in a political crisis for several months. The lost of the ruling party majority in parliament made it impossible to legislate laws.
Police raided on the house of Spokesman of FRODEBU, Pancrace Cimpaye, seizing computers and documents while talks to resolve the institutional and political crisis continued. Police said he was wanted for insulting President Nkurunziza.
But most people believed he has caused anger among Burundian authorities after uttering comments accusing the government of being behind the weekend grenade attacks. His arrest has been vehemently condemned by his colleagues, arguing that it was untimely.
23 August 2007
In a bid to douse the looming political and institutional crisis in the country, the Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has engaged the leaders of the country’s main opposition parties for a dialogue.
This follows grenade attacks on the homes of five key political kingpins last weekend. The opposition blamed President Nkurunziza for the Sunday attacks.
The five were among 69 parliamentarians who have been hard on the President to open talk with the opposition about forming a unity government.
Officials of the two main opposition Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU) and Unity for National Progress (UPRONA) this week confirmed to have held dialogue with Mr Nkurunziza.
Opposition leaders described the dialogue as fruitful, though they raised concern about the disruption of the peace process.
The European Union representative for the Great Lakes region, Roland van de Geer, who spent four days in Burundi to ease the tension between government and opposition, was impressed about the dialogue between President Nkurunziza and the opposition.
The EU convoy told a news conference that he had found an “extremely constructive and positive atmosphere among all those I met“ because political parties are willing to find solution through dialogue while President Nkurunziza admitted being responsible for unblocking the institutional crisis.
The EU is concerned about the persistence of the crisis, fearing its negative offshoot on its cooperation with Burundi.
Over the years, the EU had been the main donor of Burundi, which had just emerged from more than a decade long civil war. The country has now found itself in a political crisis for several months. The lost of the ruling party majority in parliament made it impossible to legislate laws.
Police raided on the house of Spokesman of FRODEBU, Pancrace Cimpaye, seizing computers and documents while talks to resolve the institutional and political crisis continued. Police said he was wanted for insulting President Nkurunziza.
But most people believed he has caused anger among Burundian authorities after uttering comments accusing the government of being behind the weekend grenade attacks. His arrest has been vehemently condemned by his colleagues, arguing that it was untimely.
23 August, 2007
S.Leone Opposition APC Party Wins Parliamentary Majority
Reuters
23 August 2007
Sierra Leone's opposition All People's Congress (APC) won a parliamentary majority with 59 of the assembly's 112 seats, but the presidential race will go to a run-off, the National Electoral Commission said on Thursday.
The party ruled the West African country for two decades until a 1991-2002 civil war, prompted in part by widespread official corruption and funded by gems plucked from the country's rich alluvial diamond fields.
The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) of outgoing President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, which dominated the last parliament, won 43 seats, while the breakaway PMDC clinched the remaining 10 seats, results from Aug. 11 elections circulated by the electoral commission (NEC) showed.
The commission confirmed APC leader Ernest Bai Koroma would face a second round presidential run-off against Kabbah's chosen successor at the head of the SLPP, Vice-President Solomon Berewa.
Charles Margai, a veteran SLPP figure who turned his back on the party when it selected Berewa as candidate and founded the People's Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC), has already indicated he would support Koroma in a second round.
"There will be a need for a presidential run-off," NEC Chairman Christiana Thorpe said as the commission began to announce complete provisional results from the election.
Results showed Koroma won 44.3 percent of votes in the presidential poll, Berewa 38.3 percent and Margai 13.9 percent. The remaining votes were shared between four more minor candidates.
"These are official results, but still preliminary. We will be conducting our final checks today and tomorrow and will announce the certified results on Saturday," she said.
Under the former British colony's electoral rules, the run-off should be held within two weeks of the publication of certified results, and officials have said informally it will likely be held on Sept. 6 or 8.
23 August 2007
Sierra Leone's opposition All People's Congress (APC) won a parliamentary majority with 59 of the assembly's 112 seats, but the presidential race will go to a run-off, the National Electoral Commission said on Thursday.
The party ruled the West African country for two decades until a 1991-2002 civil war, prompted in part by widespread official corruption and funded by gems plucked from the country's rich alluvial diamond fields.
The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) of outgoing President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, which dominated the last parliament, won 43 seats, while the breakaway PMDC clinched the remaining 10 seats, results from Aug. 11 elections circulated by the electoral commission (NEC) showed.
The commission confirmed APC leader Ernest Bai Koroma would face a second round presidential run-off against Kabbah's chosen successor at the head of the SLPP, Vice-President Solomon Berewa.
Charles Margai, a veteran SLPP figure who turned his back on the party when it selected Berewa as candidate and founded the People's Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC), has already indicated he would support Koroma in a second round.
"There will be a need for a presidential run-off," NEC Chairman Christiana Thorpe said as the commission began to announce complete provisional results from the election.
Results showed Koroma won 44.3 percent of votes in the presidential poll, Berewa 38.3 percent and Margai 13.9 percent. The remaining votes were shared between four more minor candidates.
"These are official results, but still preliminary. We will be conducting our final checks today and tomorrow and will announce the certified results on Saturday," she said.
Under the former British colony's electoral rules, the run-off should be held within two weeks of the publication of certified results, and officials have said informally it will likely be held on Sept. 6 or 8.
Sudan Tells EU and Canadian Envoys to Leave
Reuters
23 August 2007
Sudan has expelled the European Union and Canadian envoys from the war-torn African country, state radio and Western officials said on Thursday.
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry had declared them persona non grata "for involving themselves in activities that constitute an interference in the internal affairs of the country", Sudan radio reported, according to BBC monitoring.
The EU Commission said its ambassador Kent Degerfelt had been ordered out, while an official at the Canadian embassy in Khartoum confirmed that its chief of mission had also been asked to leave.
Degerfelt was on holiday in Italy at the time.
"I have been in Sudan for five years and I have always worked for the good of Sudan and its people and that is why I believe that maybe there is some sort of misunderstanding somewhere," he told Reuters.
"I am in contact with the Sudanese authorities ... if need be I will go back to Khartoum next week to try to sort this out in a constructive spirit," he added.
The Canadian charge d'affaires, Alan Bones, had already ended his posting in the country and left. His replacement is not due to arrive until next month.
Sudan's foreign minister declined to comment on the decision.
Diplomats in Khartoum said both missions had been working on human rights issues. Sudan has been widely criticised for its counter-insurgency campaign in the western Darfur region.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for a junior government minister and a militia leader accused of conspiring to commit war crimes in Darfur.
An African Union force in Darfur has failed to stem the violence despite a 2006 peace deal. International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003.
Sudan has a history of difficult relations with Western diplomats, whom it sometimes accuses of meddling with the country's internal affairs. Last year, it expelled Jan Pronk, the head of the U.N. mission in Sudan. (Additional reporting by Opheera McDoom in Khartoum)
23 August 2007
Sudan has expelled the European Union and Canadian envoys from the war-torn African country, state radio and Western officials said on Thursday.
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry had declared them persona non grata "for involving themselves in activities that constitute an interference in the internal affairs of the country", Sudan radio reported, according to BBC monitoring.
The EU Commission said its ambassador Kent Degerfelt had been ordered out, while an official at the Canadian embassy in Khartoum confirmed that its chief of mission had also been asked to leave.
Degerfelt was on holiday in Italy at the time.
"I have been in Sudan for five years and I have always worked for the good of Sudan and its people and that is why I believe that maybe there is some sort of misunderstanding somewhere," he told Reuters.
"I am in contact with the Sudanese authorities ... if need be I will go back to Khartoum next week to try to sort this out in a constructive spirit," he added.
The Canadian charge d'affaires, Alan Bones, had already ended his posting in the country and left. His replacement is not due to arrive until next month.
Sudan's foreign minister declined to comment on the decision.
Diplomats in Khartoum said both missions had been working on human rights issues. Sudan has been widely criticised for its counter-insurgency campaign in the western Darfur region.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for a junior government minister and a militia leader accused of conspiring to commit war crimes in Darfur.
An African Union force in Darfur has failed to stem the violence despite a 2006 peace deal. International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003.
Sudan has a history of difficult relations with Western diplomats, whom it sometimes accuses of meddling with the country's internal affairs. Last year, it expelled Jan Pronk, the head of the U.N. mission in Sudan. (Additional reporting by Opheera McDoom in Khartoum)
Uganda Distances Itself From Lubanga.
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
23 August 2007
The Ugandan government is keen to distance itself from indicted war crimes suspect Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a militia leader whom it backed in the 1996-2003 civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Lubanga was arrested by the Congolese authorities and placed in custody in the capital Kinshasa following the killing in February 2005 of nine United Nations peacekeepers in the northeastern Ituri region. The International Criminal Court, ICC, in The Hague issued an arrest warrant against him in February 2006, accusing him of conscripting children under the age of 15 to fight as guerrilla soldiers with the UPC.
He was transferred to The Hague in March 2006, and is currently awaiting trial on these charges, which constitute war crimes.
Human rights groups have campaigned for the charges to be widened to encompass crimes of sexual violence, for which they say there is evidence.
Uganda supported a number of militia groups during the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, including Lubanga’s Union of Congolese Patriots, UPC, in an attempt to establish a foothold in its neighbour.
Officially, Uganda sent its armed forces into Ituri to flush out Ugandan dissidents fighting the government from bases in the dense jungle there. In the process, the Ugandan military armed one local faction group after another, including the UPC – contributing to a prolonged bloodbath, which continues intermittently today.
But while the authorities in Kampala admit supporting Lubanga during the bewilderingly complex inter-ethnic conflict in the Ituri region, they insist they did so in an attempt to restore order in DRC and are not culpable for any wrongdoing on his part.
The UPC, a Hema tribal armed force, received cash, arms and personnel from Kampala to wage a war against the rival Lendu ethnic group in the conflict that left more than 60,000 civilians in Ituri dead and another half a million displaced.
Uganda stands accused of using its presence to plunder resources from Ituri's rainforests and rich mineral reserves, including gold, silver and diamonds.
The international watchdog Human Rights Watch, HRW, estimates that the Ugandan military stole more than nine million dollars’ worth of Ituri gold between 1999 and 2003, with the help of Lubanga's UPC.
As a result of international pressure, Uganda withdrew its soldiers from DRC, and a UN peacekeeping force was deployed there.
In December 2005, in a case at the International Court of Justice, ICJ, the Ugandan state was found guilty of killing and torturing civilians, destroying villages and plundering resources during its five-year occupation of northeastern DRC. The government of DRC claimed reparations of ten billion US dollars, but the compensation issue is yet to be worked out through negotiations between the two states.
The ICJ resolves legal disputes between sovereign states, while the ICC, which began work in The Hague only in 2002, focuses on war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by individuals.
Uganda has been keen to distance itself from Kinshasa to The Hague.
Officials in Kampala insist Uganda’s image has not been negatively affected by Lubanga's impending trial.
"There is no way we supported him to rape and loot," Uganda's regional affairs minister Isaac Musumba told IWPR. "Those were his actions, for which we are not accountable. We were supporting this man to restore order in the Congo, but not to loot, rape or recruit child soldiers."
But reports from human rights groups suggest otherwise. Amnesty International said in a June 2000 commentary that, "Ugandan troops are reported to be involved in killings and other abuses against members of the Lendu ethnic group in Kibali-Ituri province. Tens of thousands of Lendu have fled their homes into the forests."
A 2003 report from HRW said that Uganda worked directly with Lubanga and accused the Ugandan military of participating in the massacres of civilians.
But the HRW report made no connection between Kampala and Lubanga’s recruitment of child soldiers.
While Uganda accepts that it supported Lubanga during the conflict in Ituri, it insists that it had no connection with the crimes of which he now stands accused.
"We flatly deny that we have any connections to his [Lubanga’s] activities," said Musumba. "What he did cannot be our actions, and our international image is not therefore affected. That is why he is in the dock alone. We are not affected."
Alphonse Owiny-Dollo, a Kampala-based lawyer specialising in international law, told IWPR he expects Uganda to be able to dissociate itself from Lubanga with ease, because the dictates of international law are on its side.
He said Kampala is legally distanced from Lubanga’s activities because the ICC only deals with individuals, and therefore "the trial of Lubanga cannot affect any country”.
“The ICC tries individuals who commit crimes in the process of war and, more than that, the people who committed the crimes as individuals," said Owiny-Dollo.
The ICC is the world’s first permanent war crimes court, and states which sign up to it can ask for help in investigating and prosecuting war crimes suspects on their territories.
A preliminary hearing in the Lubanga case will be held in The Hague on September 4.
Editor's Note: Unfortunately, this article completely ignores the history of the UPC-L war. While Uganda indeed helped found the UPC in 2001, Lubanga, a Hema, turned against Uganda when they started playing both sides and armed his rivals, the Lendu militias. Lubanga turned to Rwanda for support. Rwanda, eager to wrestle the gold trade in Ituri away from Uganda just as it had taken the diamond trade in 1999, began to arm and train the UPC to take Mongbwalu, Durba, Watsa, and Moto away from the Lendu and the RCD-ML of Mbusa Nyamwasa. The MLC was also actively working to get in the good graces of the RCD-ML. The MLC, led by Jean-Pierre Bemba, was actively supported by Uganda.
In 2002, before the UPC split, they turned to Rwanda for military aid. Hema Chief Kahwa Mandoro approached General Kabarebe in June 2002. Chief Mandoro claimed they agreed to his preposition because the RPA wanted to use Ituri as a rear base to attack northern Uganda. The RPA trained over 100 UPC children and adults at Gabiro military camp in Rwanda and they also trained UPC intelligence agents in Bunia. The RPA also sent soldiers to Mandoro to train Bahema and child soldiers. RPA soldiers were also reported in Bunia. MONUC was aware of the situation and was monitoring it. (“The Curse of Gold: Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Human Rights Watch. 26 April, 2005. pg. 24-27, 33.) (“Democratic Republic of the Congo: Arming the East.” Amnesty International. AFR 62/006/2005. 5 July, 2005; United Nations Security Council. “Letter Dated 16 July 2004 From the Secretary-General Addressed to the President of the Security Council.” S/2004/573. 16 July, 2004. pg. 13-14; “Ituri:’Covered in Blood’.” Human Rights Watch. Volume 15, Number 11. July 2003. pg. 10-12, 17.)
During August of 2002, President (of the UPC) Lubanga and several Hema, including former Uganda-appointed Governor of Ituri Adele Lotsove Mugisa, proposed to commit genocide against the Ngiti and Lendu people in Ituri. (“Ituri: ‘Covered in Blood’.” Human Rights Watch. Volume 15, Number 11 (A). July 2003. pg. 21.) On 7-8 August, 2002, UPC and local militias under Bosco Taganda's command burned down all the houses belonging to Bira, Lendu, and Nande, killing 110 civilians in the process. They had a prearranged list of people targeted for assassination in the villages of Mudzipela, Bigo I, II, III, and Saio. (United Nations Security Council. “Letter Dated 16 July 2004 From the Secretary-General Addressed to the President of the Security Council.” S/2004/573. 16 July, 2004. pg. 18.)
In October of 2002, the UPC aided Vice President Bemba’s ALC soldiers during Operation Effacer le Tableau (“Erase the Board”), which intended to gain control of RCD-ML territory and target Nande and Pygmy civilians. Countless rapes, murders, and even acts of cannibalism were reported. (United Nations Security Council. “Letter Dated 16 July 2004 From the Secretary-General Addressed to the President of the Security Council.” S/2004/573. 16 July, 2004. pg. 31-32.)
In November of 2002, Bosco Taganda led the UPC into battle along with the ALC (shortly after the ‘Effacer le Tableau’ operation), UPDF, and RPA to take the gold-mining town of Mongbwalu. The battle turned into a massacre. Any Lendu, Ngiti, or Nande people found hiding or caught running were butchered. House-to-house searches for Lendu were conducted. An entire church full of trembling non-combatants was “cleansed.” Abbé Boniface Bwanalonga was visciously murdered. Some UPC militia members used knives and hammers to torture civilians in the gristliest fashion while killing them. An absolute minimum of 200 civilians were killed. After the battle, the UPC promised to ship the gold mined in Mongbwalu to Kigali. (“Ituri:’Covered in Blood’.” Human Rights Watch. Volume 15, Number 11. July 2003. pg. 24-26.)
Mongbwalu is located on the Offices de Mines d'Or de Kilo Moto (OKIMO) Concession #40. Two of OKIMOs directors (at the time) were Bahema. General Director Etienne Kiza Ingani helped the UPC manage the mines after they captured Mongbwalu and Finance Director Roger Dzaringa Buma became Commander Lubanga’s official financial advisor. (“The Curse of Gold: Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Human Rights Watch. 26 April, 2005. pg. 24.)
On 6 December, 2002, UPC forces attacked the town of Kilo and perpetuated one of the most vicious massacres of the war. Anyone who was suspected of being a Lendu was rounded up and bound. After several days of terrorizing and abusing the captives, UPC commanders gave an order to kill all the civilians. Women and children were forced to dig their own shallow graves. When they were finished digging, they were forced to knee in their own graves where they were bludgeoned over the head with a sledgehammer one-by-one in front of the other villagers. The Nyali living in town were forced to finish burying the bodies. (“The Curse of Gold: Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Human Rights Watch. 26 April, 2005. pg. 24; “UPC Crimes in Ituri 2002-2003.” Human Rights Watch. Press Release. 8 November, 2006.)
In late December 2002, Commander Lubanga flew to Kigali and personally met with General Kabarebe and President Kagame. He returned to Ituri on a plane loaded with all kinds of arms and ammunition. Rwandan officials flew in arms, RPA soldiers, and uniforms to Mandoro, Tchomia, Bule, Bulukwa, Mongbwalu, Boga, and Dhego. The UPC then armed the FAPC with those weapons. When the UPC and the FAPC jointly attacked the Lendu to take over the gold-mining town of Mongbwalu in mid-November 2002, the RDF planned the attack and even gave battlefield orders. Commander Jérôme of the FAPC and the UPC’s General Kisembo Bahemuka answered directly to RDF officers General Kabarebe and General Jackson (Jack) Nziza, (Chief of the RPA's Military Intelligence branch[G2]) during the battle. (Ibid.)
In January 2003, the UPC’s Foreign Minister Dhetchuvi forged a military alliance with the RCD-G in order to rearm and launch a counteroffensive to gain control of Bunia. In March 2003, Mr. Lubanga returned to Kigali with General Bosco after Rwanda evacuated them from Ituri. In return for their military aid, Commander Lubanga promised to ship Mongbwalu’s gold through Kigali instead of Kampala. In addition, investors from Rwanda met with OKIMO employees to discuss investment possibilities. (Ibid.)
So while Human Rights Watch and the ICC is right to be critical of Uganda's connections to Thomas Lubanga, why are they ignoring their links to Rwanda? Why was there no investigation?
23 August 2007
The Ugandan government is keen to distance itself from indicted war crimes suspect Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a militia leader whom it backed in the 1996-2003 civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Lubanga was arrested by the Congolese authorities and placed in custody in the capital Kinshasa following the killing in February 2005 of nine United Nations peacekeepers in the northeastern Ituri region. The International Criminal Court, ICC, in The Hague issued an arrest warrant against him in February 2006, accusing him of conscripting children under the age of 15 to fight as guerrilla soldiers with the UPC.
He was transferred to The Hague in March 2006, and is currently awaiting trial on these charges, which constitute war crimes.
Human rights groups have campaigned for the charges to be widened to encompass crimes of sexual violence, for which they say there is evidence.
Uganda supported a number of militia groups during the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, including Lubanga’s Union of Congolese Patriots, UPC, in an attempt to establish a foothold in its neighbour.
Officially, Uganda sent its armed forces into Ituri to flush out Ugandan dissidents fighting the government from bases in the dense jungle there. In the process, the Ugandan military armed one local faction group after another, including the UPC – contributing to a prolonged bloodbath, which continues intermittently today.
But while the authorities in Kampala admit supporting Lubanga during the bewilderingly complex inter-ethnic conflict in the Ituri region, they insist they did so in an attempt to restore order in DRC and are not culpable for any wrongdoing on his part.
The UPC, a Hema tribal armed force, received cash, arms and personnel from Kampala to wage a war against the rival Lendu ethnic group in the conflict that left more than 60,000 civilians in Ituri dead and another half a million displaced.
Uganda stands accused of using its presence to plunder resources from Ituri's rainforests and rich mineral reserves, including gold, silver and diamonds.
The international watchdog Human Rights Watch, HRW, estimates that the Ugandan military stole more than nine million dollars’ worth of Ituri gold between 1999 and 2003, with the help of Lubanga's UPC.
As a result of international pressure, Uganda withdrew its soldiers from DRC, and a UN peacekeeping force was deployed there.
In December 2005, in a case at the International Court of Justice, ICJ, the Ugandan state was found guilty of killing and torturing civilians, destroying villages and plundering resources during its five-year occupation of northeastern DRC. The government of DRC claimed reparations of ten billion US dollars, but the compensation issue is yet to be worked out through negotiations between the two states.
The ICJ resolves legal disputes between sovereign states, while the ICC, which began work in The Hague only in 2002, focuses on war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by individuals.
Uganda has been keen to distance itself from Kinshasa to The Hague.
Officials in Kampala insist Uganda’s image has not been negatively affected by Lubanga's impending trial.
"There is no way we supported him to rape and loot," Uganda's regional affairs minister Isaac Musumba told IWPR. "Those were his actions, for which we are not accountable. We were supporting this man to restore order in the Congo, but not to loot, rape or recruit child soldiers."
But reports from human rights groups suggest otherwise. Amnesty International said in a June 2000 commentary that, "Ugandan troops are reported to be involved in killings and other abuses against members of the Lendu ethnic group in Kibali-Ituri province. Tens of thousands of Lendu have fled their homes into the forests."
A 2003 report from HRW said that Uganda worked directly with Lubanga and accused the Ugandan military of participating in the massacres of civilians.
But the HRW report made no connection between Kampala and Lubanga’s recruitment of child soldiers.
While Uganda accepts that it supported Lubanga during the conflict in Ituri, it insists that it had no connection with the crimes of which he now stands accused.
"We flatly deny that we have any connections to his [Lubanga’s] activities," said Musumba. "What he did cannot be our actions, and our international image is not therefore affected. That is why he is in the dock alone. We are not affected."
Alphonse Owiny-Dollo, a Kampala-based lawyer specialising in international law, told IWPR he expects Uganda to be able to dissociate itself from Lubanga with ease, because the dictates of international law are on its side.
He said Kampala is legally distanced from Lubanga’s activities because the ICC only deals with individuals, and therefore "the trial of Lubanga cannot affect any country”.
“The ICC tries individuals who commit crimes in the process of war and, more than that, the people who committed the crimes as individuals," said Owiny-Dollo.
The ICC is the world’s first permanent war crimes court, and states which sign up to it can ask for help in investigating and prosecuting war crimes suspects on their territories.
A preliminary hearing in the Lubanga case will be held in The Hague on September 4.
Editor's Note: Unfortunately, this article completely ignores the history of the UPC-L war. While Uganda indeed helped found the UPC in 2001, Lubanga, a Hema, turned against Uganda when they started playing both sides and armed his rivals, the Lendu militias. Lubanga turned to Rwanda for support. Rwanda, eager to wrestle the gold trade in Ituri away from Uganda just as it had taken the diamond trade in 1999, began to arm and train the UPC to take Mongbwalu, Durba, Watsa, and Moto away from the Lendu and the RCD-ML of Mbusa Nyamwasa. The MLC was also actively working to get in the good graces of the RCD-ML. The MLC, led by Jean-Pierre Bemba, was actively supported by Uganda.
In 2002, before the UPC split, they turned to Rwanda for military aid. Hema Chief Kahwa Mandoro approached General Kabarebe in June 2002. Chief Mandoro claimed they agreed to his preposition because the RPA wanted to use Ituri as a rear base to attack northern Uganda. The RPA trained over 100 UPC children and adults at Gabiro military camp in Rwanda and they also trained UPC intelligence agents in Bunia. The RPA also sent soldiers to Mandoro to train Bahema and child soldiers. RPA soldiers were also reported in Bunia. MONUC was aware of the situation and was monitoring it. (“The Curse of Gold: Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Human Rights Watch. 26 April, 2005. pg. 24-27, 33.) (“Democratic Republic of the Congo: Arming the East.” Amnesty International. AFR 62/006/2005. 5 July, 2005; United Nations Security Council. “Letter Dated 16 July 2004 From the Secretary-General Addressed to the President of the Security Council.” S/2004/573. 16 July, 2004. pg. 13-14; “Ituri:’Covered in Blood’.” Human Rights Watch. Volume 15, Number 11. July 2003. pg. 10-12, 17.)
During August of 2002, President (of the UPC) Lubanga and several Hema, including former Uganda-appointed Governor of Ituri Adele Lotsove Mugisa, proposed to commit genocide against the Ngiti and Lendu people in Ituri. (“Ituri: ‘Covered in Blood’.” Human Rights Watch. Volume 15, Number 11 (A). July 2003. pg. 21.) On 7-8 August, 2002, UPC and local militias under Bosco Taganda's command burned down all the houses belonging to Bira, Lendu, and Nande, killing 110 civilians in the process. They had a prearranged list of people targeted for assassination in the villages of Mudzipela, Bigo I, II, III, and Saio. (United Nations Security Council. “Letter Dated 16 July 2004 From the Secretary-General Addressed to the President of the Security Council.” S/2004/573. 16 July, 2004. pg. 18.)
In October of 2002, the UPC aided Vice President Bemba’s ALC soldiers during Operation Effacer le Tableau (“Erase the Board”), which intended to gain control of RCD-ML territory and target Nande and Pygmy civilians. Countless rapes, murders, and even acts of cannibalism were reported. (United Nations Security Council. “Letter Dated 16 July 2004 From the Secretary-General Addressed to the President of the Security Council.” S/2004/573. 16 July, 2004. pg. 31-32.)
In November of 2002, Bosco Taganda led the UPC into battle along with the ALC (shortly after the ‘Effacer le Tableau’ operation), UPDF, and RPA to take the gold-mining town of Mongbwalu. The battle turned into a massacre. Any Lendu, Ngiti, or Nande people found hiding or caught running were butchered. House-to-house searches for Lendu were conducted. An entire church full of trembling non-combatants was “cleansed.” Abbé Boniface Bwanalonga was visciously murdered. Some UPC militia members used knives and hammers to torture civilians in the gristliest fashion while killing them. An absolute minimum of 200 civilians were killed. After the battle, the UPC promised to ship the gold mined in Mongbwalu to Kigali. (“Ituri:’Covered in Blood’.” Human Rights Watch. Volume 15, Number 11. July 2003. pg. 24-26.)
Mongbwalu is located on the Offices de Mines d'Or de Kilo Moto (OKIMO) Concession #40. Two of OKIMOs directors (at the time) were Bahema. General Director Etienne Kiza Ingani helped the UPC manage the mines after they captured Mongbwalu and Finance Director Roger Dzaringa Buma became Commander Lubanga’s official financial advisor. (“The Curse of Gold: Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Human Rights Watch. 26 April, 2005. pg. 24.)
On 6 December, 2002, UPC forces attacked the town of Kilo and perpetuated one of the most vicious massacres of the war. Anyone who was suspected of being a Lendu was rounded up and bound. After several days of terrorizing and abusing the captives, UPC commanders gave an order to kill all the civilians. Women and children were forced to dig their own shallow graves. When they were finished digging, they were forced to knee in their own graves where they were bludgeoned over the head with a sledgehammer one-by-one in front of the other villagers. The Nyali living in town were forced to finish burying the bodies. (“The Curse of Gold: Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Human Rights Watch. 26 April, 2005. pg. 24; “UPC Crimes in Ituri 2002-2003.” Human Rights Watch. Press Release. 8 November, 2006.)
In late December 2002, Commander Lubanga flew to Kigali and personally met with General Kabarebe and President Kagame. He returned to Ituri on a plane loaded with all kinds of arms and ammunition. Rwandan officials flew in arms, RPA soldiers, and uniforms to Mandoro, Tchomia, Bule, Bulukwa, Mongbwalu, Boga, and Dhego. The UPC then armed the FAPC with those weapons. When the UPC and the FAPC jointly attacked the Lendu to take over the gold-mining town of Mongbwalu in mid-November 2002, the RDF planned the attack and even gave battlefield orders. Commander Jérôme of the FAPC and the UPC’s General Kisembo Bahemuka answered directly to RDF officers General Kabarebe and General Jackson (Jack) Nziza, (Chief of the RPA's Military Intelligence branch[G2]) during the battle. (Ibid.)
In January 2003, the UPC’s Foreign Minister Dhetchuvi forged a military alliance with the RCD-G in order to rearm and launch a counteroffensive to gain control of Bunia. In March 2003, Mr. Lubanga returned to Kigali with General Bosco after Rwanda evacuated them from Ituri. In return for their military aid, Commander Lubanga promised to ship Mongbwalu’s gold through Kigali instead of Kampala. In addition, investors from Rwanda met with OKIMO employees to discuss investment possibilities. (Ibid.)
So while Human Rights Watch and the ICC is right to be critical of Uganda's connections to Thomas Lubanga, why are they ignoring their links to Rwanda? Why was there no investigation?
MONUC National Workers Strike.
Reuters
23 August 2007
Thousands of local United Nations employees in Democratic Republic of Congo stopped work on Thursday to protest at pay and working conditions, hampering the world's largest peacekeeping operation.
Some 500 protestors blowing whistles and chanting slogans gathered in the capital Kinshasa outside the headquarters of the U.N. mission, MONUC, which employs some 7,000 local workers, many of them without contracts.
The strike grounded many U.N. transport flights across the central African nation the size of Western Europe, which is struggling to recover from a 1998-2003 war which killed nearly 4 million people, mainly from hunger and disease.
Union officials said the stoppage would continue until their demands were met regarding wages, grading and some other benefits.
"Since 1999 when MONUC was founded, many Congolese workers have not received the smallest promotion and their salaries have remained the same," said Guershom Nondo, president of the union delegation of Congolese MONUC workers.
One Congolese worker, who asked not to be identified, said that a local employee might receive $650 for a job for which a similarly qualified foreigner would be paid $7,500.
"Our expatriate colleagues treat us with disdain, some of them to the extent that they forbid us to use the toilets ... reserved for international staff," said the employee.
MONUC senior officials met for talks with the union delegation on Thursday, in the company of some foreign ambassadors.
A MONUC statement expressed optimism the talks would lead to the successful resolution of the strike, but it said some of the issues raised would need to be resolved by the international U.N. system.
23 August 2007
Thousands of local United Nations employees in Democratic Republic of Congo stopped work on Thursday to protest at pay and working conditions, hampering the world's largest peacekeeping operation.
Some 500 protestors blowing whistles and chanting slogans gathered in the capital Kinshasa outside the headquarters of the U.N. mission, MONUC, which employs some 7,000 local workers, many of them without contracts.
The strike grounded many U.N. transport flights across the central African nation the size of Western Europe, which is struggling to recover from a 1998-2003 war which killed nearly 4 million people, mainly from hunger and disease.
Union officials said the stoppage would continue until their demands were met regarding wages, grading and some other benefits.
"Since 1999 when MONUC was founded, many Congolese workers have not received the smallest promotion and their salaries have remained the same," said Guershom Nondo, president of the union delegation of Congolese MONUC workers.
One Congolese worker, who asked not to be identified, said that a local employee might receive $650 for a job for which a similarly qualified foreigner would be paid $7,500.
"Our expatriate colleagues treat us with disdain, some of them to the extent that they forbid us to use the toilets ... reserved for international staff," said the employee.
MONUC senior officials met for talks with the union delegation on Thursday, in the company of some foreign ambassadors.
A MONUC statement expressed optimism the talks would lead to the successful resolution of the strike, but it said some of the issues raised would need to be resolved by the international U.N. system.
DRC Government 'Shortsighted' if it Stops Concentrate Export, According to Metorex CEO.
Mining Weekly Online
23 August 2007
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government would be "shortsighted" if it disallowed the export of concentrate while it had insufficient smelter capacity, Metorex CEO Charles Needham said on Thursday.
Needham said that Metorex currently had a dispensation to move its concentrates through to Zambia.
"Going forward, we would like to run the concentrator plant when Ruashi Two comes on stream, because it amounts to an incremental 10 000 t of copper a year," he said.
But to be able to do that, the company would have to obtain further dispensation.
"Until the DRC is equipped with sufficient smelter capacity, I think that the government would be shortsighted not to continue to permit the export of that concentrate for the reasons of royalties, taxes, employment, etc," Needham said.
"We believe that with some careful discussion with the governor and the government, we will get this dispensation," he said.
Although the border had been closed for a while, it had reopened and Metorex material was permitted to flow from the DRC to Zambia.
"There are a few more regulations that have been introduced and there are more costs relating to moving the material out, and it relates to sampling and getting sample certificates and gettiing assay certificates, on the material you are sending out," he said.
The export of raw ore from DRC had been outlawed.
"We are beneficiating. We are getting our material out. Hence the need and the urgency to get phase two on stream and to produce cathode in the country," he said.
He said that operating in the DRC had been a learning curve for Metorex.
What had become clear was that things tended to take longer than originally envisaged.
Soucing of materials, getting materials through the border, constructing and becoming operational took longer than envisaged and, in some instances, required more money.
Metorex was, however, comfortable with the political situation in the DRC, which it believed to be stable, and also comfortable with the mining code, which it believed to be mature.
Operationally, there were also certain skills upon which it drew as intensively as it possibly could.
23 August 2007
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government would be "shortsighted" if it disallowed the export of concentrate while it had insufficient smelter capacity, Metorex CEO Charles Needham said on Thursday.
Needham said that Metorex currently had a dispensation to move its concentrates through to Zambia.
"Going forward, we would like to run the concentrator plant when Ruashi Two comes on stream, because it amounts to an incremental 10 000 t of copper a year," he said.
But to be able to do that, the company would have to obtain further dispensation.
"Until the DRC is equipped with sufficient smelter capacity, I think that the government would be shortsighted not to continue to permit the export of that concentrate for the reasons of royalties, taxes, employment, etc," Needham said.
"We believe that with some careful discussion with the governor and the government, we will get this dispensation," he said.
Although the border had been closed for a while, it had reopened and Metorex material was permitted to flow from the DRC to Zambia.
"There are a few more regulations that have been introduced and there are more costs relating to moving the material out, and it relates to sampling and getting sample certificates and gettiing assay certificates, on the material you are sending out," he said.
The export of raw ore from DRC had been outlawed.
"We are beneficiating. We are getting our material out. Hence the need and the urgency to get phase two on stream and to produce cathode in the country," he said.
He said that operating in the DRC had been a learning curve for Metorex.
What had become clear was that things tended to take longer than originally envisaged.
Soucing of materials, getting materials through the border, constructing and becoming operational took longer than envisaged and, in some instances, required more money.
Metorex was, however, comfortable with the political situation in the DRC, which it believed to be stable, and also comfortable with the mining code, which it believed to be mature.
Operationally, there were also certain skills upon which it drew as intensively as it possibly could.
North: Army Denies Losses in Clashes With Rebels
MISNA
23 August 2007
According to the rebels of the MNJ (Niger Movement for Justice), 17 soldiers were killed and several wounded in fighting in the past two days in the area of Gougaram, in the northern Agadez region. While the government of Niamey denies this claim, referring that just one soldier was killed in a road accident and seven more were wounded, four when their vehicle hit a mine and three in a gunfight with MNJ rebels.
“In the end, the only death recorded during this mission was due to a traffic accident”, said in a statement the chief of the Niger Armed Forces (FAN) General Moumouni Boureima, specifying that the vehicle involved in the accident was taking food to the population of the area of Iferouane.
“It is senseless to maintain silence on the fighting around Gougaram… we have proof”, responded the MNJ rebels.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed concern over the conditions of the civilians in the north, calling for the creation of a corridor for the distribution of essential aid.
“The floods are making access more difficult because they could bring buried mines to the surface and increase the risk of accidents. The security situation in north Niger is deteriorating more and more”, warns the statement.
23 August 2007
According to the rebels of the MNJ (Niger Movement for Justice), 17 soldiers were killed and several wounded in fighting in the past two days in the area of Gougaram, in the northern Agadez region. While the government of Niamey denies this claim, referring that just one soldier was killed in a road accident and seven more were wounded, four when their vehicle hit a mine and three in a gunfight with MNJ rebels.
“In the end, the only death recorded during this mission was due to a traffic accident”, said in a statement the chief of the Niger Armed Forces (FAN) General Moumouni Boureima, specifying that the vehicle involved in the accident was taking food to the population of the area of Iferouane.
“It is senseless to maintain silence on the fighting around Gougaram… we have proof”, responded the MNJ rebels.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed concern over the conditions of the civilians in the north, calling for the creation of a corridor for the distribution of essential aid.
“The floods are making access more difficult because they could bring buried mines to the surface and increase the risk of accidents. The security situation in north Niger is deteriorating more and more”, warns the statement.
Rebel-Military Clashes in the North.
MISNA
22 August 2007
Violent fighting erupted yesterday between Niger government forces and rebels of the MNJ (Niger Movement for Justice) in the area of Gougaram, in the extreme northern region of Agadez. The news was referred by the rebels in a statement, saying that a convoy of around a hundred military vehicles since Monday had advanced towards the town of Iferouane, still under control of the MNJ.
Yesterday morning at around 11:00, indicates the statement, the government forces clashed with the rebels. The rebels claim to have killed at least 15 soldiers and destroyed four military vehicles with “dozens of soldiers” onboard in the fighting, which lasted several hours. Government officials in the capital Niamey could not confirm the fighting. First appearing on the scene last February with an attack on an army barracks in the north, the MNJ demand a more equitable repartition of profits from the extraction of uranium in the northern territories, in addition to a better application of the peace accords of 1995, which ended a Touareg revolt that started in 1990.
22 August 2007
Violent fighting erupted yesterday between Niger government forces and rebels of the MNJ (Niger Movement for Justice) in the area of Gougaram, in the extreme northern region of Agadez. The news was referred by the rebels in a statement, saying that a convoy of around a hundred military vehicles since Monday had advanced towards the town of Iferouane, still under control of the MNJ.
Yesterday morning at around 11:00, indicates the statement, the government forces clashed with the rebels. The rebels claim to have killed at least 15 soldiers and destroyed four military vehicles with “dozens of soldiers” onboard in the fighting, which lasted several hours. Government officials in the capital Niamey could not confirm the fighting. First appearing on the scene last February with an attack on an army barracks in the north, the MNJ demand a more equitable repartition of profits from the extraction of uranium in the northern territories, in addition to a better application of the peace accords of 1995, which ended a Touareg revolt that started in 1990.
UN and AU Concerned Over Political Violence
MISNA
22 August 2007
The offices in Burundi of the African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) today in a joint statement condemned the grenade attacks conducted over the weekend against the homes of at least five Burundian politicians and the atmosphere of serious political crisis in which these acts occurred.
“We firmly condemn an unjustifiable blind violence (…) in attendance of findings of the investigations competent services pledged to open”, reads the joint statement, specifying “the time has come to concretise the appeals for dialogue of the past days” instead of wasting energies on “gratuitous acts of intimidation and violence”.
Unidentified gunmen on Sunday attacked the homes of three members of opposition FRODEBU (Front for Democracy in Burundi) and one of the ruling CNDD-FDD. The attacks, in which three people were wounded, were linked to the political crisis underway for months in Burundi. The opposition, as also some elements of the ruling CNDD that in fact remained without a solid majority in parliament, in the past days criticised the government reshuffle carried out by President Nkurunziza, which apparently sidelined the minority parties. Parliament works in fact remained blocked over the past weeks over the polemic. FRODEBU sources yesterday accused President Nkurunziza of fomenting the attacks with an inflammatory speech given in the past days at a rally. In an interview with the local and international press, the spokesman for the CNDD-FDD denied any involvement of the ruling movement in the attacks and rejected the accusations against the President.
“Our party condemns these acts of terrorism that do nothing but obscure Burundi’s new image”, said the CNDD-FDD spokesman. Some sources reported that FRODEBU spokesman, Pancrace Cimpaye, who yesterday launched accusations against the ruling party, escaped arrest this morning.
22 August 2007
The offices in Burundi of the African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) today in a joint statement condemned the grenade attacks conducted over the weekend against the homes of at least five Burundian politicians and the atmosphere of serious political crisis in which these acts occurred.
“We firmly condemn an unjustifiable blind violence (…) in attendance of findings of the investigations competent services pledged to open”, reads the joint statement, specifying “the time has come to concretise the appeals for dialogue of the past days” instead of wasting energies on “gratuitous acts of intimidation and violence”.
Unidentified gunmen on Sunday attacked the homes of three members of opposition FRODEBU (Front for Democracy in Burundi) and one of the ruling CNDD-FDD. The attacks, in which three people were wounded, were linked to the political crisis underway for months in Burundi. The opposition, as also some elements of the ruling CNDD that in fact remained without a solid majority in parliament, in the past days criticised the government reshuffle carried out by President Nkurunziza, which apparently sidelined the minority parties. Parliament works in fact remained blocked over the past weeks over the polemic. FRODEBU sources yesterday accused President Nkurunziza of fomenting the attacks with an inflammatory speech given in the past days at a rally. In an interview with the local and international press, the spokesman for the CNDD-FDD denied any involvement of the ruling movement in the attacks and rejected the accusations against the President.
“Our party condemns these acts of terrorism that do nothing but obscure Burundi’s new image”, said the CNDD-FDD spokesman. Some sources reported that FRODEBU spokesman, Pancrace Cimpaye, who yesterday launched accusations against the ruling party, escaped arrest this morning.
Dialogue Attempts Between Government and Opposition
MISNA
23 August 2007
Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has begun consultations with the main opposition parties in a bid to end the institutional crisis, deepened last weekend by grenade attacks against the homes of at least five politicians. According to the international press, already on Monday Nkurunziza held talks with some representatives of the UPRONA (Unity for National Progress), second opposition party, and yesterday with top members of the FRODEBU (Front for Democracy in Burundi). The talks were confirmed by a European Union representative for the Great Lakes, Roland van de Geer, who has been in Burundi for four days to hold talks with the parties involved in the crisis:
“I found an extremely constructive and positive atmosphere among all those I met. The political parties have shown their willingness to find solutions through dialogue, and President Nkurunziza highlighted that he was responsible for unblocking this institutional crisis”. Van de Geer also stressed “if the crisis persists for long it will have a negative impact on our cooperation”; the EU is Burundi’s main donor.
23 August 2007
Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has begun consultations with the main opposition parties in a bid to end the institutional crisis, deepened last weekend by grenade attacks against the homes of at least five politicians. According to the international press, already on Monday Nkurunziza held talks with some representatives of the UPRONA (Unity for National Progress), second opposition party, and yesterday with top members of the FRODEBU (Front for Democracy in Burundi). The talks were confirmed by a European Union representative for the Great Lakes, Roland van de Geer, who has been in Burundi for four days to hold talks with the parties involved in the crisis:
“I found an extremely constructive and positive atmosphere among all those I met. The political parties have shown their willingness to find solutions through dialogue, and President Nkurunziza highlighted that he was responsible for unblocking this institutional crisis”. Van de Geer also stressed “if the crisis persists for long it will have a negative impact on our cooperation”; the EU is Burundi’s main donor.
A Set up to Isolate Agathon Rwasa.
Burundi Realites
Aug 23 07
Since August 16th some FNL combatants have reportedly regrouped in Buterere II in Bujumbura rural. It all started with two combatants who left FNL after stealing the movement funds.
According to reliable sources, the government has provided all the means necessary to the two former combatants to separate as many combatants loyal to Rwasa as possible and the number has already mounted to 60 combatants.
Residents in the area claim to witness military trucks bringing food for these combatants on daily basis. The Buterere population has asked the government to take these fighters out of the area as they are frightened by nightly gunshots under the pretext the they are being attacked by Rwasa Agathon forces.
According to experts who monitor this event as it unfolds, the government is suspected to be behind this set up which is meant to weaken Rwasa's movement by isolating him from his loyal combatants.
The army spokesman Adolphe manirakiza stated there has not been any signs of security threat to the population by these combatants. While Manirakiza stated that the government does not want get involved into FNL internal problems, he acknowledged that the army is there to protect the population and if there was to be any attacks on civilians it will act accordingly.
A comprehensive cease fire agreement was signed between the two belligerents last September but was often interrupted due to wrangling.
Aug 23 07
Since August 16th some FNL combatants have reportedly regrouped in Buterere II in Bujumbura rural. It all started with two combatants who left FNL after stealing the movement funds.
According to reliable sources, the government has provided all the means necessary to the two former combatants to separate as many combatants loyal to Rwasa as possible and the number has already mounted to 60 combatants.
Residents in the area claim to witness military trucks bringing food for these combatants on daily basis. The Buterere population has asked the government to take these fighters out of the area as they are frightened by nightly gunshots under the pretext the they are being attacked by Rwasa Agathon forces.
According to experts who monitor this event as it unfolds, the government is suspected to be behind this set up which is meant to weaken Rwasa's movement by isolating him from his loyal combatants.
The army spokesman Adolphe manirakiza stated there has not been any signs of security threat to the population by these combatants. While Manirakiza stated that the government does not want get involved into FNL internal problems, he acknowledged that the army is there to protect the population and if there was to be any attacks on civilians it will act accordingly.
A comprehensive cease fire agreement was signed between the two belligerents last September but was often interrupted due to wrangling.
22 August, 2007
Byuma Sentence Confirmed in Appeals Court.
Hirondelle News Agency
20 August 2007
François Xavier Byuma, a Rwandan human rights activist who had been sentenced to 19 years in prison for genocide saw his sentenced confirmed Saturday in appeal, reports Monday the League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LIPRODHOR).
The appeal judges confirmed the judgment and the sentence rendered in first instance, according to the organization.
In May, Byuma, also a well known fiction author in his country, had been sentenced to 19 years in prison by the gacaca (pronounced gatchatcha) court of the Biryogo sector, in Kigali.
He had been found guilty of “criminal conspiracy" and violence against a Tutsi woman during the 1994 genocide.
The trial had been criticized by certain Rwandan and international human rights associations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Member of several Rwandan human rights organizations, Byuma is president of the "Turengere abana" (Let us protect the children) association which, in a report, had accused Judge Sudi Imanzi, president of the gacaca court of Biryogo, of having raped a young girl.
Byuma can still ask for the revision of his trial, a recourse available by the gacaca courts law.
20 August 2007
François Xavier Byuma, a Rwandan human rights activist who had been sentenced to 19 years in prison for genocide saw his sentenced confirmed Saturday in appeal, reports Monday the League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LIPRODHOR).
The appeal judges confirmed the judgment and the sentence rendered in first instance, according to the organization.
In May, Byuma, also a well known fiction author in his country, had been sentenced to 19 years in prison by the gacaca (pronounced gatchatcha) court of the Biryogo sector, in Kigali.
He had been found guilty of “criminal conspiracy" and violence against a Tutsi woman during the 1994 genocide.
The trial had been criticized by certain Rwandan and international human rights associations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Member of several Rwandan human rights organizations, Byuma is president of the "Turengere abana" (Let us protect the children) association which, in a report, had accused Judge Sudi Imanzi, president of the gacaca court of Biryogo, of having raped a young girl.
Byuma can still ask for the revision of his trial, a recourse available by the gacaca courts law.
Tin Prices Soar, Rwanda Cashes In.
The New Times
Gertrude Majyambere
22 August 2007
Editor's Note: And its no secret where Rwanda gets much of it's tin. While Rwanda Cashes in, the Congo loses out.
Cassiterite, a metal tin is processed from registered a sharp price increase on the world market, as of April this year.
The country earned $6.76m compared to $3.39m earned in 2006.
“Tin still commands a high price on international market."
"Export earnings increased from $7,000 to $15,000 per tonne,” the chairman of the mining task force Michael Byabarema said.
But in general, earning from the mining sector improved hitting 83.2 per cent mark. Consequently, the country bagged a record $18.36m, more than $9.05m earned in 2006.
Besides, statistics from the mining task force indicates that earnings from coltan increased from $3.49m to $3.94m while wolfram rose from $2.27m to 7.66m.
“The strong performance in the mining sector has triggered the government to begin evaluating and exploiting the full potential of the sector,” Byabarema said.
Besides, the Rwanda mining association is wooing potential investors to improve on production and export of different minerals. Byabarema attributes the strong performance of the industry to value addition.
Plants that clean and separate minerals have been established in the country.
And now the country is now targeting smelting the minerals before exporting them.
“Our ores are highly considered on international markets. They don’t need too much cleaning,” Byabarema said.
He said the sector is still challenged by lack of professionals and weak mining associations.
Most of the mining is still artisanal and not mechanised. Miners still use traditional equipment, meaning it is on a small scale.
Miners still mine with out knowing the volume of the deposit.
Potential investors can not invest in a deposit without knowing its volume.
Currently the mining sector has about 170 associations; six are foreign while the rest are joint businesses.
Rwandans are majority share holders in these joint ventures.
To diversify exports, government intends to conduct industrial mining of clays, sand and stones.
These will be used in production of glasses, marble, granite, tiles, cups and bath taps.
Gertrude Majyambere
22 August 2007
Editor's Note: And its no secret where Rwanda gets much of it's tin. While Rwanda Cashes in, the Congo loses out.
Cassiterite, a metal tin is processed from registered a sharp price increase on the world market, as of April this year.
The country earned $6.76m compared to $3.39m earned in 2006.
“Tin still commands a high price on international market."
"Export earnings increased from $7,000 to $15,000 per tonne,” the chairman of the mining task force Michael Byabarema said.
But in general, earning from the mining sector improved hitting 83.2 per cent mark. Consequently, the country bagged a record $18.36m, more than $9.05m earned in 2006.
Besides, statistics from the mining task force indicates that earnings from coltan increased from $3.49m to $3.94m while wolfram rose from $2.27m to 7.66m.
“The strong performance in the mining sector has triggered the government to begin evaluating and exploiting the full potential of the sector,” Byabarema said.
Besides, the Rwanda mining association is wooing potential investors to improve on production and export of different minerals. Byabarema attributes the strong performance of the industry to value addition.
Plants that clean and separate minerals have been established in the country.
And now the country is now targeting smelting the minerals before exporting them.
“Our ores are highly considered on international markets. They don’t need too much cleaning,” Byabarema said.
He said the sector is still challenged by lack of professionals and weak mining associations.
Most of the mining is still artisanal and not mechanised. Miners still use traditional equipment, meaning it is on a small scale.
Miners still mine with out knowing the volume of the deposit.
Potential investors can not invest in a deposit without knowing its volume.
Currently the mining sector has about 170 associations; six are foreign while the rest are joint businesses.
Rwandans are majority share holders in these joint ventures.
To diversify exports, government intends to conduct industrial mining of clays, sand and stones.
These will be used in production of glasses, marble, granite, tiles, cups and bath taps.
Burundi Government 'Behind Attacks'
News 24
22 August 2007
Police in Burundi raided the home of a senior opposition politician on Wednesday who had accused the central African country's government of being behind a string of mysterious grenade attacks at the weekend.
The police gave no details of their interest in Pancrace Cimpaye, spokesperson of the main Hutu opposition party, FRODEBU, but vowed to arrest him if he had subverted state security.
Police spokesperson Pierre Chanelle Ntarabaganyi said: "We executed the order of the public prosecutor who sent us to search his house. We will arrest him in case we find anything that could compromise state security."
Witnesses said scores of officers surrounded the opposition official's house in the capital, Bujumbura, early on Wednesday, then forced their way inside after failing to find him at home.
Cimpaye had accused the government of being behind grenade attacks on Sunday that were aimed at properties belonging to five politicians opposed to President Pierre Nkurunziza.
Three people were wounded in the blasts, but none of the apparent targets, who included a member of the ruling CNDD-FDD party and the deputy chairperson of FRODEBU, were hurt.
Four of the apparent targets were among 69 members of parliament and senators who called on Nkurunziza last week to form a new national unity government after his CNDD-FDD party lost its majority in parliament last month.
22 August 2007
Police in Burundi raided the home of a senior opposition politician on Wednesday who had accused the central African country's government of being behind a string of mysterious grenade attacks at the weekend.
The police gave no details of their interest in Pancrace Cimpaye, spokesperson of the main Hutu opposition party, FRODEBU, but vowed to arrest him if he had subverted state security.
Police spokesperson Pierre Chanelle Ntarabaganyi said: "We executed the order of the public prosecutor who sent us to search his house. We will arrest him in case we find anything that could compromise state security."
Witnesses said scores of officers surrounded the opposition official's house in the capital, Bujumbura, early on Wednesday, then forced their way inside after failing to find him at home.
Cimpaye had accused the government of being behind grenade attacks on Sunday that were aimed at properties belonging to five politicians opposed to President Pierre Nkurunziza.
Three people were wounded in the blasts, but none of the apparent targets, who included a member of the ruling CNDD-FDD party and the deputy chairperson of FRODEBU, were hurt.
Four of the apparent targets were among 69 members of parliament and senators who called on Nkurunziza last week to form a new national unity government after his CNDD-FDD party lost its majority in parliament last month.
Somali Government Rift Grows over Oil Resources
Shabelle News Network
22 August 2007
Editor's Note: The VOA is a frequent visitor to this blog.
In a sign of a growing rift between Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region and the country's interim government, Puntland's president says he will not recognize a proposed oil law that nullifies any exploration deals struck after 1990. VOA correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi.
The Somali interim parliament in Baidoa is expected to pass the controversial bill this week, which would have a direct impact on Puntland.
Two years ago, the Puntland government signed a lucrative deal with Australia's Range Resources, giving the company exploratory rights to minerals and oil reserves in region. The clause in the interim government's oil bill nullifying any post-1990 deals would automatically cancel that deal and others being negotiated.
Puntland officials say they are concerned that the bill will divert power and potential wealth away from the region.
Speaking on behalf of Puntland's president, Mohamed Adde Muse, Chief of Cabinet Aidarus Osman Yusuf tells VOA that the president is willing to share the region's wealth with the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu. But he rejects the interim government's position that it owns Puntland's natural resources.
"The position of the president of Puntland is that we are recognizing, of course, the federal system of Somalia and the federal government," he said. "But this is the right of the Puntland states to have such agreements with companies. When we reach the level of production, then, we have to deal with the government. So, we agree on that issue."
Interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told reporters last week that no deal would be considered valid until the new legislation is enacted. He has urged foreign companies to negotiate only with the interim government.
The prime minister says even a deal interim President Abdullahi Yusuf recently concluded with a Chinese company to explore for oil and gas in Puntland is subject to the new law.
In an interview with Reuters News Agency, the head of Puntland's Department of Minerals and Energy, Hassan Osman Mahmud, angrily warned that his government may end its relationship with the interim government in Mogadishu, if parliament passed the bill.
In 1998, seven years after Somalia descended into factional warfare, Puntland declared autonomy with a view to reunite with southern and central Somalia in a federalist arrangement with a stable government in Mogadishu.
Since mid-July, Puntland has had 250 delegates attending a government-hosted national reconciliation conference in Mogadishu, aimed at ending the civil war and unifying the country.
But Nairobi-based political analyst Barak Muluka says he believes Puntland and Somalia are moving further apart than ever.
"Somalia, in terms of stability, is very far from a peaceful settlement," he said. "We are going to witness external forces and interests at play because there have been British and Australian interests in the oil concerns in Puntland. Meanwhile, the TFG is not going to want to let go because this [oil] is a vital resource."
The relationship between Somalia and Puntland began deteriorating two months ago, following Interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's declaration that a fishing deal the Puntland president had signed with Yemen was not valid, because it did not have the interim government's consent.
22 August 2007
Editor's Note: The VOA is a frequent visitor to this blog.
In a sign of a growing rift between Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region and the country's interim government, Puntland's president says he will not recognize a proposed oil law that nullifies any exploration deals struck after 1990. VOA correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi.
The Somali interim parliament in Baidoa is expected to pass the controversial bill this week, which would have a direct impact on Puntland.
Two years ago, the Puntland government signed a lucrative deal with Australia's Range Resources, giving the company exploratory rights to minerals and oil reserves in region. The clause in the interim government's oil bill nullifying any post-1990 deals would automatically cancel that deal and others being negotiated.
Puntland officials say they are concerned that the bill will divert power and potential wealth away from the region.
Speaking on behalf of Puntland's president, Mohamed Adde Muse, Chief of Cabinet Aidarus Osman Yusuf tells VOA that the president is willing to share the region's wealth with the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu. But he rejects the interim government's position that it owns Puntland's natural resources.
"The position of the president of Puntland is that we are recognizing, of course, the federal system of Somalia and the federal government," he said. "But this is the right of the Puntland states to have such agreements with companies. When we reach the level of production, then, we have to deal with the government. So, we agree on that issue."
Interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told reporters last week that no deal would be considered valid until the new legislation is enacted. He has urged foreign companies to negotiate only with the interim government.
The prime minister says even a deal interim President Abdullahi Yusuf recently concluded with a Chinese company to explore for oil and gas in Puntland is subject to the new law.
In an interview with Reuters News Agency, the head of Puntland's Department of Minerals and Energy, Hassan Osman Mahmud, angrily warned that his government may end its relationship with the interim government in Mogadishu, if parliament passed the bill.
In 1998, seven years after Somalia descended into factional warfare, Puntland declared autonomy with a view to reunite with southern and central Somalia in a federalist arrangement with a stable government in Mogadishu.
Since mid-July, Puntland has had 250 delegates attending a government-hosted national reconciliation conference in Mogadishu, aimed at ending the civil war and unifying the country.
But Nairobi-based political analyst Barak Muluka says he believes Puntland and Somalia are moving further apart than ever.
"Somalia, in terms of stability, is very far from a peaceful settlement," he said. "We are going to witness external forces and interests at play because there have been British and Australian interests in the oil concerns in Puntland. Meanwhile, the TFG is not going to want to let go because this [oil] is a vital resource."
The relationship between Somalia and Puntland began deteriorating two months ago, following Interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's declaration that a fishing deal the Puntland president had signed with Yemen was not valid, because it did not have the interim government's consent.
Offor Quits As JDZ Oil Firm Chairman.
This Day
17 August 2007
By Chika Amanze-Nwachuku with Agency Report
Chairman of Chrome Oil services Ltd, Sir Emeka Offor has tendered his resignation as Nigerian Chairman and non-executive director of Houston -based ERHC Energy Inc, a company that signed a potentially lucrative Joint Venture with the government of Sao Tome and Principe in 1997. His resignation has been accepted by the company, which has started shopping for his replacement.
ERHC holds assets in the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) between Sao Tome and Nigeria where it has signed participation accords with Swiss explorer Addax Petroleum and with Chinese giant Sinopec.
Addax replaced US independent oil firm, Pioneer Natural Resources, which had pulled out from the consortium with ERHC, in which Chrome has a majority stake.
Offor, who took up the position in 2001, has however pledged to remain committed to ERHC and his investment in the company.
ERHC is currently under investigation by a US Senate sub-committee concerned with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Also, the Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting an enquiry into payments allegedly made by the company to officials in Sao Tome.
ERHC also has preferential rights to acreage in Sao Tome's Exclusive Economic Zone. The company was the first to raise the possibility of oil exploration with the government there and orchestrated Sao Tome's efforts to demarcate its offshore claims under the United Nations' Law of the Sea Treaty.
Deep-water exploration in the JDZ is set to start in the third quarter of 2008.
17 August 2007
By Chika Amanze-Nwachuku with Agency Report
Chairman of Chrome Oil services Ltd, Sir Emeka Offor has tendered his resignation as Nigerian Chairman and non-executive director of Houston -based ERHC Energy Inc, a company that signed a potentially lucrative Joint Venture with the government of Sao Tome and Principe in 1997. His resignation has been accepted by the company, which has started shopping for his replacement.
ERHC holds assets in the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) between Sao Tome and Nigeria where it has signed participation accords with Swiss explorer Addax Petroleum and with Chinese giant Sinopec.
Addax replaced US independent oil firm, Pioneer Natural Resources, which had pulled out from the consortium with ERHC, in which Chrome has a majority stake.
Offor, who took up the position in 2001, has however pledged to remain committed to ERHC and his investment in the company.
ERHC is currently under investigation by a US Senate sub-committee concerned with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Also, the Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting an enquiry into payments allegedly made by the company to officials in Sao Tome.
ERHC also has preferential rights to acreage in Sao Tome's Exclusive Economic Zone. The company was the first to raise the possibility of oil exploration with the government there and orchestrated Sao Tome's efforts to demarcate its offshore claims under the United Nations' Law of the Sea Treaty.
Deep-water exploration in the JDZ is set to start in the third quarter of 2008.
Congo-Kinshasa and Angola Negotiate Demarcation of Common Oil Area.
Macau Hub
21 August 2007
The negotiations with Angola on the demarcation of the common oil area in the Atlantic Ocean are progressing well, the Oil Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said in Kinshasa Monday. Lambert Mende Omalanga added that negotiations underway would make the oil exploration area of the DRC, “grow significantly.”
"Our production is currently of 25,000 barrels per day as compared with 1.3 million in Angola and 350,000 in the Republic of Congo. This means that our exploration area is very small and that is why we are negotiating with Angola," the minister said.
He also said negotiations were underway with Uganda for the exploration of oil and gas in Lake Albert, which borders both countries.Noting that significant reserves had been found in the lake, the minister said that Uganda had already begun oil exploration and said that his government was negotiating with the Ugandan authorities “so that exploration does not enter our territory.
”Relations between Kampala and Kinshasa are currently tense with Kampala threatening to send troops to the DRC if nothing is done about Congolese troops who captured four Ugandan soldiers
21 August 2007
The negotiations with Angola on the demarcation of the common oil area in the Atlantic Ocean are progressing well, the Oil Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said in Kinshasa Monday. Lambert Mende Omalanga added that negotiations underway would make the oil exploration area of the DRC, “grow significantly.”
"Our production is currently of 25,000 barrels per day as compared with 1.3 million in Angola and 350,000 in the Republic of Congo. This means that our exploration area is very small and that is why we are negotiating with Angola," the minister said.
He also said negotiations were underway with Uganda for the exploration of oil and gas in Lake Albert, which borders both countries.Noting that significant reserves had been found in the lake, the minister said that Uganda had already begun oil exploration and said that his government was negotiating with the Ugandan authorities “so that exploration does not enter our territory.
”Relations between Kampala and Kinshasa are currently tense with Kampala threatening to send troops to the DRC if nothing is done about Congolese troops who captured four Ugandan soldiers
21 August, 2007
Liberian President Receives German, Israeli Diplomats
African Press Agency
21 August 2007
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has received the letters of credence of the German and Israeli ambassadors accredited to the country and appealed to both countries to pursue cooperation as they did before the civil war.
Madam Johnson particularly appealed to Canadian businessmen to consider investing in Liberia’s mining and mineral sectors.
Speaking Monday when she received the letters of credence of the Ambassador to Canada accredited to Liberia Ambassador Marie Isabelle Massip, President Johnson Sirleaf said the mining and mineral industry of Liberia is gradually gaining momentum following the lifting of United Nations sanctions on the country.
" As you know, now that sanctions are lifted, we are trying to re-establish our mining activities. There are now so many biddings to start operations; we hope Canada with strong technical skills will take advantage of the opportunities," President Sirleaf said.
President Johnson Sirleaf hoped the tour of duty of Ambassador Massi would ensure the further strengthening of ties between Canada and Liberia.
"The government and people of Canada have admired your effort and determination to bring Liberia back on the path, and build the country on the principles of democracy and good governance," Ambassador Massip said.
She assured that her government would continue to work with thge United Nations and other bodies to assist Liberia.
Meanwhile, a presidential mansion press statement on Tuesday said President Sirleaf on Monday received the letters of credence of the new Israeli Ambassador to Liberia, Daniel Kadem.
Speaking at the occasion, the Liberia leader observed that relations between Israel and Liberia go back several years, during which this Middle East country has been a strong partner to the development of Liberia.
She said "Israel has always been there for Liberia at the level of the United Nations, providing support for the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia and supporting NGO activities".
"Quite recently, Israel granted opportunity to over 100 Liberians who should have been deported to stay in that country. We are very thankful for that partnership," President Sirleaf told Ambassador Kadem.
21 August 2007
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has received the letters of credence of the German and Israeli ambassadors accredited to the country and appealed to both countries to pursue cooperation as they did before the civil war.
Madam Johnson particularly appealed to Canadian businessmen to consider investing in Liberia’s mining and mineral sectors.
Speaking Monday when she received the letters of credence of the Ambassador to Canada accredited to Liberia Ambassador Marie Isabelle Massip, President Johnson Sirleaf said the mining and mineral industry of Liberia is gradually gaining momentum following the lifting of United Nations sanctions on the country.
" As you know, now that sanctions are lifted, we are trying to re-establish our mining activities. There are now so many biddings to start operations; we hope Canada with strong technical skills will take advantage of the opportunities," President Sirleaf said.
President Johnson Sirleaf hoped the tour of duty of Ambassador Massi would ensure the further strengthening of ties between Canada and Liberia.
"The government and people of Canada have admired your effort and determination to bring Liberia back on the path, and build the country on the principles of democracy and good governance," Ambassador Massip said.
She assured that her government would continue to work with thge United Nations and other bodies to assist Liberia.
Meanwhile, a presidential mansion press statement on Tuesday said President Sirleaf on Monday received the letters of credence of the new Israeli Ambassador to Liberia, Daniel Kadem.
Speaking at the occasion, the Liberia leader observed that relations between Israel and Liberia go back several years, during which this Middle East country has been a strong partner to the development of Liberia.
She said "Israel has always been there for Liberia at the level of the United Nations, providing support for the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia and supporting NGO activities".
"Quite recently, Israel granted opportunity to over 100 Liberians who should have been deported to stay in that country. We are very thankful for that partnership," President Sirleaf told Ambassador Kadem.
Activists Demand Free Speech in Pre-Poll Rwanda
Agence France Presse
21 August 2007
A central African human rights league has urged Rwanda's authorities to open up more channels for free speech ahead of a parliamentary election in the small, densely populated nation next year.
The League for People's Rights in the Great Lakes region (LDGL) argued in a statement received Tuesday by AFP that "success in next year's elections will depend on a broad opening of channnels for expression and free speech regarding the workings of the state."
The lobby group, with members in Rwanda and Burundi and their vast western neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo, urged the government to take steps "to enable domestic Rwandans and those abroad to win over the people's ballots."
Many political opponents of President Paul Kagame's regime have lived abroad since he in 1994 seized power as a rebel leader from the Tutsi minority and put an end to the genocide of Tutsis and Hutus who resisted the slaughter.
Some 800,000 people were massacred, according to the United Nations, which estimates today's population at close to 8.4 million, making Rwanda's hills the most densely peopled nation in Africa, tightly ruled by traditional systems and Kagame's powerful Rwandan Patriotic Front.
Opposition parties consist of Hutus and Tutsis who escaped the genocide, but some of their memmbers, particularly in the politico-military Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, are suspected of taking part in the killings before fleeing across the border into the DRC.
A few parties still based abroad have announced they will take part in the parliamentary poll next year and a presidential one in 2010, which will both be the first since 2003.
However, just before those last elections, opposition parties were banned and the vote was followed by a constitutional amendment to stop any party linking itself with an ethnic group.
No opposition party has yet gone to work within Rwanda itself.
The rights league, based in the Rwandan capital Kigali, is a coalition of a score of associations in Rwanda, Burundi and the DRC, and some of those belong to the International Federation of Human Rights.
21 August 2007
A central African human rights league has urged Rwanda's authorities to open up more channels for free speech ahead of a parliamentary election in the small, densely populated nation next year.
The League for People's Rights in the Great Lakes region (LDGL) argued in a statement received Tuesday by AFP that "success in next year's elections will depend on a broad opening of channnels for expression and free speech regarding the workings of the state."
The lobby group, with members in Rwanda and Burundi and their vast western neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo, urged the government to take steps "to enable domestic Rwandans and those abroad to win over the people's ballots."
Many political opponents of President Paul Kagame's regime have lived abroad since he in 1994 seized power as a rebel leader from the Tutsi minority and put an end to the genocide of Tutsis and Hutus who resisted the slaughter.
Some 800,000 people were massacred, according to the United Nations, which estimates today's population at close to 8.4 million, making Rwanda's hills the most densely peopled nation in Africa, tightly ruled by traditional systems and Kagame's powerful Rwandan Patriotic Front.
Opposition parties consist of Hutus and Tutsis who escaped the genocide, but some of their memmbers, particularly in the politico-military Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, are suspected of taking part in the killings before fleeing across the border into the DRC.
A few parties still based abroad have announced they will take part in the parliamentary poll next year and a presidential one in 2010, which will both be the first since 2003.
However, just before those last elections, opposition parties were banned and the vote was followed by a constitutional amendment to stop any party linking itself with an ethnic group.
No opposition party has yet gone to work within Rwanda itself.
The rights league, based in the Rwandan capital Kigali, is a coalition of a score of associations in Rwanda, Burundi and the DRC, and some of those belong to the International Federation of Human Rights.
Malaysia Signs Gas Development Agreement With Ethiopia
Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections
21 August 2007
The Malaysian oil company, Petronas, and Ethiopia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) have signed a gas development agreement that would enable the company to develop the natural gas reserve in Calub and Hilala areas in east Ethiopia’s Somali State.
The agreement was signed by Petronas President Mohamed Hassan Marican and Alemayehu Tegenu, minister of MME, in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur.
Petronas has won the international tender put up by the MME to award the Calub and Hilala gas fields in the Ogaden basin, Somali State a year ago.
In July 2006, the MME sent an awarding letter to Petronas and since then the two parties have been negotiating on the details of the gas field development projects in Addis Ababa and Kua Lalampur. Petronas has also secured two exploration blocks (B11 & 15) in the Ogaden basin. The blocks are found in the vicinity of the Calub and Hilala gas fields.
Petronas plans to build a gas processing plant and construct a gas pipeline that stretches from the gas fields to a seaport. In addition to extracting the gas reserve, the company plans to conduct seismic surveys and to drill exploration wells in the gas fields as well as in Block 11 and 15.
The Calub and Hilala natural gas fields are located 1,200 km southeast of Addis Ababa. The total area of the gas fields is 285 sq km.
Petronas, one of the top ten leading international oil companies in the world, was established in 1974. Wholly owned by the Malaysian government, the company has 110 subsidiary companies.
Petronas operates in 14 African and 21 Asian countries. The company is active in Sudan, Chad, Cameroon, Angola and Yemen.
Editor's Note: Kind of makes you wonder why the number of incidents with the ONLF has risen recently...
21 August 2007
The Malaysian oil company, Petronas, and Ethiopia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) have signed a gas development agreement that would enable the company to develop the natural gas reserve in Calub and Hilala areas in east Ethiopia’s Somali State.
The agreement was signed by Petronas President Mohamed Hassan Marican and Alemayehu Tegenu, minister of MME, in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur.
Petronas has won the international tender put up by the MME to award the Calub and Hilala gas fields in the Ogaden basin, Somali State a year ago.
In July 2006, the MME sent an awarding letter to Petronas and since then the two parties have been negotiating on the details of the gas field development projects in Addis Ababa and Kua Lalampur. Petronas has also secured two exploration blocks (B11 & 15) in the Ogaden basin. The blocks are found in the vicinity of the Calub and Hilala gas fields.
Petronas plans to build a gas processing plant and construct a gas pipeline that stretches from the gas fields to a seaport. In addition to extracting the gas reserve, the company plans to conduct seismic surveys and to drill exploration wells in the gas fields as well as in Block 11 and 15.
The Calub and Hilala natural gas fields are located 1,200 km southeast of Addis Ababa. The total area of the gas fields is 285 sq km.
Petronas, one of the top ten leading international oil companies in the world, was established in 1974. Wholly owned by the Malaysian government, the company has 110 subsidiary companies.
Petronas operates in 14 African and 21 Asian countries. The company is active in Sudan, Chad, Cameroon, Angola and Yemen.
Editor's Note: Kind of makes you wonder why the number of incidents with the ONLF has risen recently...
More Needs to Be Done for Burundians' Security
Burundi Realites
21 August 2007
English Translation
The South African mediator between the Burundi government and the the Palipehutu-Fnl, Charles Nqakula met with the Palipehutu-Fnl representatives in Dar Ess Salaam on August 13th, 2007. The aim of the meeting was to try to find away for the Palipehutu to rejoin the cease fire truce monitoring team, which was put on hold since July 21 when Palipuhutu members who were part of the cease fire monitoring team escaped their guards in Bujumbura and went back to the bush.
Recall that the movement's spokesman Pasteur Habimana had indicated that the movement have asked the South African mediators to organize a regional summit in which President Nkurunziza and the Palipehutu-Fnl leader Agathon Rwasa can sort out unresolved issues such as the release of FNL prisoners, and an accord on its role after its combatants are assimilated into Burundi armed forces.
In the recent meeting, while Mr. Charles Nqakula indicated that the movement has until December to rejoin the cease fire agreement signed last September, the spokesman of the movement Pasteur Habimana indicated that the movement was ready to rejoin the cease fire monitoring team as long the mediator is willing to organize a meeting with the Palipehutu leader Mr. Agathon Rwasa in order shed a light on number of the movement's concerns, for instance their security and the release of Palipehutu-Fnl political prisoners ect....
On June 17th, 2007 president Nkurunziza had traveled to Tanzania to meet the Palipehutu leader Rwasa Agathon in an effort to try revive the cease fire agreement which has often been disrupted due to wrangling. Their talk lead to a promising move which resulted in Palipehutu-Fnl agreeing to rejoin the cease fire monitoring team after president Nkurunziza promised to release all Palipehutu political prisoners, but Mr. Nkurunziza has failed to honor his promise.
This gesture by president Nkurunziza was interpreted by many as a result of the enthusiasm shown at May Donors Roundtable Conference when Burundi presented its Priority Plan Action (PAP) whose first priority was to implement the cease fire agreement with Palipehutu-Fnl. In that conference Burundi was promised $1.4 billion from its partners in support of the PAP. Burundians still await that international financial support, whose disbursement depends on improvement in the political and security situation in the country.
Mr. Charles Nqakula meets the movement in time when the trust he has previously earned from the movement is on backslide. The movement accuses him of lacking impartiality that would lead to a successful implementation of the last September cease fire agreement. On August 16th, 2007, the Palipehutu spokesman stated that the movement has submitted a list of accusations that explain the mediator's partiality to the United Nation. It was not clear whether the movement requested a different mediator.
On July 27th, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had voiced deep concern at the withdrawal of a rebel group in Burundi from arrangements to monitor the ceasefire it signed with the Government last year, calling on both sides to refrain from any actions that might lead to a resumption of hostilities.
Besides, the Palipehutu-Fnl dilemma, Burundi is currently experiencing chaos in its history. The key governmental institutions such as the parliament and the senate do not function, armed robbery is reported on daily basis, ten of thousands of fire arms circulate among the civilian population, corruption has reached its highest peak, hunger is killing Burundi people in different parts of the country on daily basis and the population has no access to basic health care,..... and the list could go on and on....
Experts who follow the situation very closely have argued that ending rebellion might not guarantee security and lasting peace in Burundi. ‚As long as there is hunger and arms are circulating within the civilian population, there won't be any peace or security. If I have no food, I won't hesitate to use my gun to take the food from people who have it.“ A women who did not wish to be named was quoted as saying.
21 August 2007
English Translation
The South African mediator between the Burundi government and the the Palipehutu-Fnl, Charles Nqakula met with the Palipehutu-Fnl representatives in Dar Ess Salaam on August 13th, 2007. The aim of the meeting was to try to find away for the Palipehutu to rejoin the cease fire truce monitoring team, which was put on hold since July 21 when Palipuhutu members who were part of the cease fire monitoring team escaped their guards in Bujumbura and went back to the bush.
Recall that the movement's spokesman Pasteur Habimana had indicated that the movement have asked the South African mediators to organize a regional summit in which President Nkurunziza and the Palipehutu-Fnl leader Agathon Rwasa can sort out unresolved issues such as the release of FNL prisoners, and an accord on its role after its combatants are assimilated into Burundi armed forces.
In the recent meeting, while Mr. Charles Nqakula indicated that the movement has until December to rejoin the cease fire agreement signed last September, the spokesman of the movement Pasteur Habimana indicated that the movement was ready to rejoin the cease fire monitoring team as long the mediator is willing to organize a meeting with the Palipehutu leader Mr. Agathon Rwasa in order shed a light on number of the movement's concerns, for instance their security and the release of Palipehutu-Fnl political prisoners ect....
On June 17th, 2007 president Nkurunziza had traveled to Tanzania to meet the Palipehutu leader Rwasa Agathon in an effort to try revive the cease fire agreement which has often been disrupted due to wrangling. Their talk lead to a promising move which resulted in Palipehutu-Fnl agreeing to rejoin the cease fire monitoring team after president Nkurunziza promised to release all Palipehutu political prisoners, but Mr. Nkurunziza has failed to honor his promise.
This gesture by president Nkurunziza was interpreted by many as a result of the enthusiasm shown at May Donors Roundtable Conference when Burundi presented its Priority Plan Action (PAP) whose first priority was to implement the cease fire agreement with Palipehutu-Fnl. In that conference Burundi was promised $1.4 billion from its partners in support of the PAP. Burundians still await that international financial support, whose disbursement depends on improvement in the political and security situation in the country.
Mr. Charles Nqakula meets the movement in time when the trust he has previously earned from the movement is on backslide. The movement accuses him of lacking impartiality that would lead to a successful implementation of the last September cease fire agreement. On August 16th, 2007, the Palipehutu spokesman stated that the movement has submitted a list of accusations that explain the mediator's partiality to the United Nation. It was not clear whether the movement requested a different mediator.
On July 27th, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had voiced deep concern at the withdrawal of a rebel group in Burundi from arrangements to monitor the ceasefire it signed with the Government last year, calling on both sides to refrain from any actions that might lead to a resumption of hostilities.
Besides, the Palipehutu-Fnl dilemma, Burundi is currently experiencing chaos in its history. The key governmental institutions such as the parliament and the senate do not function, armed robbery is reported on daily basis, ten of thousands of fire arms circulate among the civilian population, corruption has reached its highest peak, hunger is killing Burundi people in different parts of the country on daily basis and the population has no access to basic health care,..... and the list could go on and on....
Experts who follow the situation very closely have argued that ending rebellion might not guarantee security and lasting peace in Burundi. ‚As long as there is hunger and arms are circulating within the civilian population, there won't be any peace or security. If I have no food, I won't hesitate to use my gun to take the food from people who have it.“ A women who did not wish to be named was quoted as saying.
Simultaneous Attacks Target Opposition Members of the Parliament
Burundi Realites
21 August 2007
English Translation
Many personalities were targeted in simultaneous attacks that were carried yesterday 19 August 2007 around 7:00. The perpetrators of these attacks are still unknown. Most of the personalities that were targeted include some opposition members of the parliament.
These members of the parliament include Jean Marie Nduwabike who was initially in Frodebu but migrated to Cndd-Fdd, Pasteur Mpawenayo from Cndd-Fdd, Nephtalie Ndikumana from CNDD, MP Frédérique Gahigi from FRODEBU and MP Félicien Nkenguburundi from Cndd-Fdd. The assistant of the leader of Frodebu, Frédéric Banvuginyumvira was also targeted. All the targets live in the commune of Gihosha.
There were no human casualties except a neighbour of Frédéric Banvunginyumvira who was wounded in the attacks. These attacks however caused material damages.
These attacks follow the publication of the pro CNDD-FDD newspaper ‚Intumwa N°108‚ which qualified some members of the parliament as mercenaries.
Most of the targeted persons have signed a letter urging the Head of State to start talks with political partners in order to find a way-out to the political impasse that is blocking the national assembly. This letter was signed by 67 senators and members of the parliament including MPs Alice Nzomukunda, Jean-Marie Ngendahayo and Senator Domitien Ndayizeye. In this letter the Head of State was urged to appease the population in a speech to the nation, to start talks with political partners, which would lead to the formation of a cabinet in accordance with the Constitution.
Frodebu issued today a statement in which the Head of State and his party, Cndd-Fdd, are openly alleged of being behind these attacks. These attacks occur when the situation is strained following rumours of a military coup in preparation as well as imminent attacks of FNL-PALIPEHUTU.
21 August 2007
English Translation
Many personalities were targeted in simultaneous attacks that were carried yesterday 19 August 2007 around 7:00. The perpetrators of these attacks are still unknown. Most of the personalities that were targeted include some opposition members of the parliament.
These members of the parliament include Jean Marie Nduwabike who was initially in Frodebu but migrated to Cndd-Fdd, Pasteur Mpawenayo from Cndd-Fdd, Nephtalie Ndikumana from CNDD, MP Frédérique Gahigi from FRODEBU and MP Félicien Nkenguburundi from Cndd-Fdd. The assistant of the leader of Frodebu, Frédéric Banvuginyumvira was also targeted. All the targets live in the commune of Gihosha.
There were no human casualties except a neighbour of Frédéric Banvunginyumvira who was wounded in the attacks. These attacks however caused material damages.
These attacks follow the publication of the pro CNDD-FDD newspaper ‚Intumwa N°108‚ which qualified some members of the parliament as mercenaries.
Most of the targeted persons have signed a letter urging the Head of State to start talks with political partners in order to find a way-out to the political impasse that is blocking the national assembly. This letter was signed by 67 senators and members of the parliament including MPs Alice Nzomukunda, Jean-Marie Ngendahayo and Senator Domitien Ndayizeye. In this letter the Head of State was urged to appease the population in a speech to the nation, to start talks with political partners, which would lead to the formation of a cabinet in accordance with the Constitution.
Frodebu issued today a statement in which the Head of State and his party, Cndd-Fdd, are openly alleged of being behind these attacks. These attacks occur when the situation is strained following rumours of a military coup in preparation as well as imminent attacks of FNL-PALIPEHUTU.
Sanctions Not Blunting Boom in Sudan
United Press International
18 August 2007
Editor's Note: The reader is urged to realize the "boom" is largely confined to certain districts of Khartoum and Port Sudan.
Oil revenues and foreign investment have largely offset any economic damage from U.S. sanctions against Sudan.
Despite public outrage over the plight of Darfur, Sudan’s economy is growing at a rate of 13 percent this year while oil exports have reached more than $14 billion per year, the Los Angeles Times said Saturday.
Khartoum is experiencing a construction boom and the streets are busy, the Times reported. The scene is a contrast to three years ago when the ancient capital city was awash in dilapidated buildings.
The U.S. sanctions imposed on Sudan are ignored by many nations and also contain loopholes that allow even U.S. companies to do business in Sudan through local partners, the newspaper said.
18 August 2007
Editor's Note: The reader is urged to realize the "boom" is largely confined to certain districts of Khartoum and Port Sudan.
Oil revenues and foreign investment have largely offset any economic damage from U.S. sanctions against Sudan.
Despite public outrage over the plight of Darfur, Sudan’s economy is growing at a rate of 13 percent this year while oil exports have reached more than $14 billion per year, the Los Angeles Times said Saturday.
Khartoum is experiencing a construction boom and the streets are busy, the Times reported. The scene is a contrast to three years ago when the ancient capital city was awash in dilapidated buildings.
The U.S. sanctions imposed on Sudan are ignored by many nations and also contain loopholes that allow even U.S. companies to do business in Sudan through local partners, the newspaper said.
Somalia’s Puntland Region Rejects Draft Oil Law.
Reuters
20 August 2007
Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region will refuse to recognise a proposed national hydrocarbon law that nullifies any exploration deals struck after 1990, its most high-ranking officials said.
Many observers expect Somalia’s interim parliament to pass the controversial bill — widely viewed as the brainchild of interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi — in coming days.
Puntland President Adde Muse told Reuters in an interview late on Sunday that his administration planned to pass its own legislation in favour of previous oil agreements.
Puntland awarded Australian explorer Range Resources a deal in 2005 giving it concession rights to all minerals and petroleum in the region, which some geologists say has a high chance of sitting on commerical oil reservoirs.
"We are willing to give the Somali transitional federal government its due rights but we shall never break the promises we had with oil companies," Muse said by telephone from Puntland’s administrative capital Garowe.
He said Puntland — which declared itself semi-autonomous in 1998 with a view to eventually joining a federal, politically stable Somalia — was ready to share its wealth with the government.
But Muse, who spent several days in Mogadishu taking part in private talks at the presidential palace about the oil bill, reasserted Puntland’s authority over its own resources.
"Puntland and its resources primarily belong to us and we know what suitable step to take against the forthcoming endorsement of the law that deprives us of our rights," he said, without elaborating.
Somali interim government officials were not immediately available for comment.
But Gedi told Reuters last week that valid deals cannot be struck until the new legislation is in place and urged foreign firms to negotiate exclusively with the interim government.
Somalia has no proven reserves but a joint World Bank/U.N. survey of northeast Africa 16 years ago ranked it second only to Sudan as the top prospective producer.
In a separate interview, Hassan Osman Mahamud, head of Puntland’s department of minerals and energy, accused Gedi of trying to illegally acquire Puntland’s hydrocarbon.
"Gedi’s campaign is unlawful and we shall end our relationship with the government if parliament passes the (draft) law," he told Reuters.
"Exploration in Puntland has been going on for the last two years and will continue. When exploitation of resources becomes viable, a production-sharing agreement will be negotiated," Mahamud added.
Mahamud also refused to accept the legitimacy of the proposed national oil bill.
"The Somali petroleum law said to be approved by the parliament is not known here and therefore does not concern Puntland in any way."
Officials from the breakaway Somaliland enclave, bordering Puntland, have yet to comment on the draft bill which also casts doubt over the region’s claims of independence and a deal struck with South Africa’s Ophir.
The two regions are believed to be home to the most promising geology, separated as they are from the Arabian Peninsula and its huge energy reserves by the Gulf of Aden.
20 August 2007
Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region will refuse to recognise a proposed national hydrocarbon law that nullifies any exploration deals struck after 1990, its most high-ranking officials said.
Many observers expect Somalia’s interim parliament to pass the controversial bill — widely viewed as the brainchild of interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi — in coming days.
Puntland President Adde Muse told Reuters in an interview late on Sunday that his administration planned to pass its own legislation in favour of previous oil agreements.
Puntland awarded Australian explorer Range Resources a deal in 2005 giving it concession rights to all minerals and petroleum in the region, which some geologists say has a high chance of sitting on commerical oil reservoirs.
"We are willing to give the Somali transitional federal government its due rights but we shall never break the promises we had with oil companies," Muse said by telephone from Puntland’s administrative capital Garowe.
He said Puntland — which declared itself semi-autonomous in 1998 with a view to eventually joining a federal, politically stable Somalia — was ready to share its wealth with the government.
But Muse, who spent several days in Mogadishu taking part in private talks at the presidential palace about the oil bill, reasserted Puntland’s authority over its own resources.
"Puntland and its resources primarily belong to us and we know what suitable step to take against the forthcoming endorsement of the law that deprives us of our rights," he said, without elaborating.
Somali interim government officials were not immediately available for comment.
But Gedi told Reuters last week that valid deals cannot be struck until the new legislation is in place and urged foreign firms to negotiate exclusively with the interim government.
Somalia has no proven reserves but a joint World Bank/U.N. survey of northeast Africa 16 years ago ranked it second only to Sudan as the top prospective producer.
In a separate interview, Hassan Osman Mahamud, head of Puntland’s department of minerals and energy, accused Gedi of trying to illegally acquire Puntland’s hydrocarbon.
"Gedi’s campaign is unlawful and we shall end our relationship with the government if parliament passes the (draft) law," he told Reuters.
"Exploration in Puntland has been going on for the last two years and will continue. When exploitation of resources becomes viable, a production-sharing agreement will be negotiated," Mahamud added.
Mahamud also refused to accept the legitimacy of the proposed national oil bill.
"The Somali petroleum law said to be approved by the parliament is not known here and therefore does not concern Puntland in any way."
Officials from the breakaway Somaliland enclave, bordering Puntland, have yet to comment on the draft bill which also casts doubt over the region’s claims of independence and a deal struck with South Africa’s Ophir.
The two regions are believed to be home to the most promising geology, separated as they are from the Arabian Peninsula and its huge energy reserves by the Gulf of Aden.
Khartoum Unwilling to Self-Determination in South Sudan - South Sudan MP
Concord Times
20 August 2007
An MP from Southern Sudan has told a Sierra Leone audience that the situation in his country is rapidly deteriorating. He further said that Khartoum seems unwilling to the self determination as it is provided in the CPA, the Freetown based Concord Times reported.
Dr. Peter Adwok Nyaba, a senior representative of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) in Khartoum told journalists yesterday that the ongoing situation in Southern Sudan is worsening.
Nyaba, who is on a week’s visit in Sierra Leone as a guest of the Africanist Movement, said his mission to West Africa is to help other Africans understand the crisis in Sudan and its implications for the rest of the continent.
"The situation is South Sudan is that of marginalization, exploitation, racial oppression and political exclusion by the north," Nyaba said, adding that the key to the solution of Sudan’s problems is the granting of the right to self-determination to all Sudanese.
He explained that relative peace is being experienced in South Sudan due to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), but the Khartoum government appears unwilling to sincerely allow the Southern Sudanese their right to self-determination as provided in the CPA.
"According to the CPA, the South will have to decide in an international referendum whether they should remain with the north or secede in favor of self-determination," he stated and added that, "key to our struggle is for justice, equality, social reconstruction and democracy for everyone in the Sudan. If we have these, there is no point of struggle." The referendum to determine whether the South will split from the North will be held in 2011.
Earlier in the programme, Africanist leader Chernoh Alpha M. Bah said his group is hosting the visit on the basis of international solidarity.
"We believe in a free, united Africa and African people everywhere," he said, adding that the question of South Sudan is highly complicated and requires discussions and a more profound understanding.
The President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Ibrahim Ben Kargbo said this is the first visit of an official of the SPLM in Sierra Leone.
"I think it is a significant step because Africans need to know about each other’s struggles," he stated.
20 August 2007
An MP from Southern Sudan has told a Sierra Leone audience that the situation in his country is rapidly deteriorating. He further said that Khartoum seems unwilling to the self determination as it is provided in the CPA, the Freetown based Concord Times reported.
Dr. Peter Adwok Nyaba, a senior representative of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) in Khartoum told journalists yesterday that the ongoing situation in Southern Sudan is worsening.
Nyaba, who is on a week’s visit in Sierra Leone as a guest of the Africanist Movement, said his mission to West Africa is to help other Africans understand the crisis in Sudan and its implications for the rest of the continent.
"The situation is South Sudan is that of marginalization, exploitation, racial oppression and political exclusion by the north," Nyaba said, adding that the key to the solution of Sudan’s problems is the granting of the right to self-determination to all Sudanese.
He explained that relative peace is being experienced in South Sudan due to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), but the Khartoum government appears unwilling to sincerely allow the Southern Sudanese their right to self-determination as provided in the CPA.
"According to the CPA, the South will have to decide in an international referendum whether they should remain with the north or secede in favor of self-determination," he stated and added that, "key to our struggle is for justice, equality, social reconstruction and democracy for everyone in the Sudan. If we have these, there is no point of struggle." The referendum to determine whether the South will split from the North will be held in 2011.
Earlier in the programme, Africanist leader Chernoh Alpha M. Bah said his group is hosting the visit on the basis of international solidarity.
"We believe in a free, united Africa and African people everywhere," he said, adding that the question of South Sudan is highly complicated and requires discussions and a more profound understanding.
The President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Ibrahim Ben Kargbo said this is the first visit of an official of the SPLM in Sierra Leone.
"I think it is a significant step because Africans need to know about each other’s struggles," he stated.
Taiwan Shopping for Arms in US
Asia Times
By David Isenberg
The latest wrinkle in the long-running tale of US arms sales to Taiwan occurred last week when seven Taiwanese lawmakers from four different parties arrived in the United States on an 11-day visit to conduct a feasibility study for a submarine-procurement deal.
According to lawmaker Liao Wan-ju of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), the purpose of the visit, which began last Tuesday, is to learn about the production capacity of US submarine manufacturers and Washington's attitude toward the deal.
Other members of the group are KMT legislators Shuai Hua-ming and Su Chi, Fu Kun-chi of the opposition People First Party, Ho Ming-hao of the opposition Taiwan Solidarity Union, and Chang Hua-kuan and Shen Fa-hui of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
Because of media criticism and partisan disputes in Taiwan over the trip, Vice Defense Minister Ko Cheng-heng canceled a plan to join the group, and the duration and itinerary of the journey were both curtailed. According to an original itinerary revealed by Taiwan's United Daily News in mid-July, the trip will take the lawmakers to the cities of Washington, Boston and Los Angeles and the state of Hawaii, and will include visits to defense contractors General Electric, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin.
And, in response to media criticism that the trip is a waste of taxpayers' money, the sources said the legislators will have to foot part of their travel expenses out of their own pockets.
The dispute stems from an accusation by Legislator Lin Yu-fang, who claimed that the Defense Ministry was trying to "buy" lawmakers' support for its plan to acquire eight US-built submarines by offering them free trips to the United States. Lin claimed that many of the lawmakers in the delegation do not even sit on the legislature's Committee for Defense Affairs, and that the organizers altered the itinerary to accommodate some lawmakers' requests for private trips during the visit.
The Ministry of National Defense has wanted the submarines since 2004, but a budget bill for the deal has been bogged down in the opposition-controlled legislature ever since.
This visit occurs about a week after the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Taiwan of 60 AGM-84L Harpoon Block II missiles as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as US$125 million. The missile suffers from a subsonic speed and is prone to interception. But it can be launched from the air, from the sea, or from under the sea, and can hit land as well as sea targets. Taiwan has previously purchased both air- and surface-launched Harpoon missiles. The Harpoon Block IIs proposed for Taiwan are air-to-surface missiles launched from F-16 fighters.
By their range alone, the missiles could reach mainland Chinese coasts. But the fighters would have to take off successfully and reach the middle of Taiwan Strait before the missiles could be launched.
It is likely that the US Congress will approve the proposed sales, as they are relatively small compared with past sales to Taiwan. The proposed deal seems to follow a pattern in which the US would sell any weapon system that Taiwan is capable of developing by itself or procuring from a third party. The Harpoon Block II is the US equivalent to Taiwan's Hsiung Feng IIE. Hsiung Feng IIE missiles developed by Taiwan can only be launched from the island's IDF fighters, whereas its 100 F-16A/B fighters can only carry Taiwan's older Harpoon missiles.
But Taiwan may not consider the 60 Harpoon Block II missiles to be reason enough for them to give up its own project.
Ironically, the trip takes place a month after the Legislative Yuan broke a four-year deadlock over the purchase of a package of advanced US weapons. That package included 12 P-3C Orion anti-submarine-warfare aircraft, eight diesel-electric submarines, six Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile-defense batteries, as well as upgrades to older Patriot batteries already in Taiwan's possession. However, the Yuan only approved funds for the Orion aircraft and the Patriot upgrades. The sale will cost Taiwan NT$31.9 billion (US$970 million), far less than the approximately US$18.5 billion value of the total package.
In a further complication, according to a commentary by an analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, the US State Department is actively blocking the sale from going through to warn President Chen Shui-bian against holding a referendum on Taiwan's entry into the United Nations, one of Washington's leading commentators on Taiwanese affairs said.
Writing in the latest issue of Defense News, the analyst, John Tkacik, said the State Department had told the Pentagon that it opposed the sale of P-3C Orion submarine-hunter aircraft and advanced PAC-2 anti-ballistic-missile batteries, which the Legislative Yuan agreed to fund in June.
By David Isenberg
The latest wrinkle in the long-running tale of US arms sales to Taiwan occurred last week when seven Taiwanese lawmakers from four different parties arrived in the United States on an 11-day visit to conduct a feasibility study for a submarine-procurement deal.
According to lawmaker Liao Wan-ju of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), the purpose of the visit, which began last Tuesday, is to learn about the production capacity of US submarine manufacturers and Washington's attitude toward the deal.
Other members of the group are KMT legislators Shuai Hua-ming and Su Chi, Fu Kun-chi of the opposition People First Party, Ho Ming-hao of the opposition Taiwan Solidarity Union, and Chang Hua-kuan and Shen Fa-hui of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
Because of media criticism and partisan disputes in Taiwan over the trip, Vice Defense Minister Ko Cheng-heng canceled a plan to join the group, and the duration and itinerary of the journey were both curtailed. According to an original itinerary revealed by Taiwan's United Daily News in mid-July, the trip will take the lawmakers to the cities of Washington, Boston and Los Angeles and the state of Hawaii, and will include visits to defense contractors General Electric, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin.
And, in response to media criticism that the trip is a waste of taxpayers' money, the sources said the legislators will have to foot part of their travel expenses out of their own pockets.
The dispute stems from an accusation by Legislator Lin Yu-fang, who claimed that the Defense Ministry was trying to "buy" lawmakers' support for its plan to acquire eight US-built submarines by offering them free trips to the United States. Lin claimed that many of the lawmakers in the delegation do not even sit on the legislature's Committee for Defense Affairs, and that the organizers altered the itinerary to accommodate some lawmakers' requests for private trips during the visit.
The Ministry of National Defense has wanted the submarines since 2004, but a budget bill for the deal has been bogged down in the opposition-controlled legislature ever since.
This visit occurs about a week after the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Taiwan of 60 AGM-84L Harpoon Block II missiles as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as US$125 million. The missile suffers from a subsonic speed and is prone to interception. But it can be launched from the air, from the sea, or from under the sea, and can hit land as well as sea targets. Taiwan has previously purchased both air- and surface-launched Harpoon missiles. The Harpoon Block IIs proposed for Taiwan are air-to-surface missiles launched from F-16 fighters.
By their range alone, the missiles could reach mainland Chinese coasts. But the fighters would have to take off successfully and reach the middle of Taiwan Strait before the missiles could be launched.
It is likely that the US Congress will approve the proposed sales, as they are relatively small compared with past sales to Taiwan. The proposed deal seems to follow a pattern in which the US would sell any weapon system that Taiwan is capable of developing by itself or procuring from a third party. The Harpoon Block II is the US equivalent to Taiwan's Hsiung Feng IIE. Hsiung Feng IIE missiles developed by Taiwan can only be launched from the island's IDF fighters, whereas its 100 F-16A/B fighters can only carry Taiwan's older Harpoon missiles.
But Taiwan may not consider the 60 Harpoon Block II missiles to be reason enough for them to give up its own project.
Ironically, the trip takes place a month after the Legislative Yuan broke a four-year deadlock over the purchase of a package of advanced US weapons. That package included 12 P-3C Orion anti-submarine-warfare aircraft, eight diesel-electric submarines, six Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile-defense batteries, as well as upgrades to older Patriot batteries already in Taiwan's possession. However, the Yuan only approved funds for the Orion aircraft and the Patriot upgrades. The sale will cost Taiwan NT$31.9 billion (US$970 million), far less than the approximately US$18.5 billion value of the total package.
In a further complication, according to a commentary by an analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, the US State Department is actively blocking the sale from going through to warn President Chen Shui-bian against holding a referendum on Taiwan's entry into the United Nations, one of Washington's leading commentators on Taiwanese affairs said.
Writing in the latest issue of Defense News, the analyst, John Tkacik, said the State Department had told the Pentagon that it opposed the sale of P-3C Orion submarine-hunter aircraft and advanced PAC-2 anti-ballistic-missile batteries, which the Legislative Yuan agreed to fund in June.
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