Reuters
1 December 2007
By Dany Danzoumbe
Chadian President Idriss Deby sacked his defence minister on Saturday following a week of clashes between government troops and rebels in the east of the landlocked African country.
A presidential decree said Mahamat Nour Abdelkerim, a former anti-Deby rebel chief who became defence minister in March after signing a peace deal with the government, had been dismissed.
Official sources said Nour had taken refuge in the Libyan embassy in N'Djamena.
No reason was given for the sacking, but Nour's position had been tenuous since last month, when former rebel fighters loyal to him were involved in ethnic clashes with a rival community on Chad's eastern border with Sudan's violent Darfur region.
The former members of the rebel United Front for Democratic Change (FUC) which Nour once led come from the Tama ethnic group and they had been resisting efforts to disarm them by the government army and militia from Deby's own Zaghawa ethnic clan.
Chadian troops and ex-FUC fighters clashed on Friday at Guereda, an eastern border town in the Tama heartland.
Deby's sacking of his defence minister injected further uncertainty into the situation in conflict-torn eastern Chad ahead of the planned deployment there of a European Union peacekeeping force early next year. The EU force has been tasked by the United Nations to protect refugees and aid workers.
No replacement for Nour was immediately announced.
Deby himself had been directing combat operations by the government army this week against rebels of another rebel group, the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), which abandoned a month-old peace accord a week ago.
In the worst fighting in eastern Chad in months, government troops and the UFDD rebels fought several battles which both sides said killed hundreds. The UFDD is led by another former defence minister, Mahamat Nouri, who defected to join a two-year-old eastern insurgency against Deby.
Diplomats said Nour's sacking could trigger more bloodletting around Guereda between Nour's Tama fighters and members of Deby's ruling Zaghawa clan.
Chad declared a state of emergency last month along its eastern border with Sudan's Darfur after ethnic fighting between the Tamas and Zaghawas killed at least 20 people.
Deby's government has accused Sudan of supporting the UFDD rebels, who are largely drawn from their chief Nouri's Gorane ethnic group. Khartoum routinely denies accusations that it supports anti-Deby rebels.
(Additional reporting by Stephanie Hancock; Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
01 December, 2007
AN ICTR WITNESS IS REFUSED PROTECTION MEASURES.
Hirondelle News Agency
30 November 2007
A witness called by the defence of Protais Zigiranyirazo was rejected by the chamber because he asked to testify anonymously and wished to receive protection measures, reports good sources in Arusha on Friday.
Called by the pseudonym CJP1, this witness would be a former adviser of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana for 12 years until December 1993. He was to be questioned on the operations of the presidential entourage. Protais Zigiranyirazo was the brother-in-law of President Habyarimana. He is accused of having planned the genocide and has pleaded not guilty.
Having come from North America, this man, evoking concerns for himself and his family, wished that his testimony be made under anonymity and that he be concealed from the public. The prosecutor was opposed and the chamber agreed with him. With this decision, CJP1 refused to go further and left Thursday evening.
"He was an essential witness" regretted Mr. John Philpot, Zigiranyirazo’s lawyer, who confirmed this incident. As the prosecution’s case is about to be rested, he had been solicited by the lawyer to prove that the administrative rules were complied with at the presidency of the Rwandan Republic before the genocide.
Besides expert witnesses, the large majority, more than 80 %, of the witnesses, Rwandans in general, have been protected by the ICTR. All agree that these measures are relatively illusory considering the density of the Rwanda population, the social grid and Rwandan sociology.
These measures did not prevent certain witnesses to have become victims of violence on their return to their country. One of them was even assassinated, without Rwandan justice seizing the case; claiming they were not able to prove the link between his testimony and his murder.
30 November 2007
A witness called by the defence of Protais Zigiranyirazo was rejected by the chamber because he asked to testify anonymously and wished to receive protection measures, reports good sources in Arusha on Friday.
Called by the pseudonym CJP1, this witness would be a former adviser of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana for 12 years until December 1993. He was to be questioned on the operations of the presidential entourage. Protais Zigiranyirazo was the brother-in-law of President Habyarimana. He is accused of having planned the genocide and has pleaded not guilty.
Having come from North America, this man, evoking concerns for himself and his family, wished that his testimony be made under anonymity and that he be concealed from the public. The prosecutor was opposed and the chamber agreed with him. With this decision, CJP1 refused to go further and left Thursday evening.
"He was an essential witness" regretted Mr. John Philpot, Zigiranyirazo’s lawyer, who confirmed this incident. As the prosecution’s case is about to be rested, he had been solicited by the lawyer to prove that the administrative rules were complied with at the presidency of the Rwandan Republic before the genocide.
Besides expert witnesses, the large majority, more than 80 %, of the witnesses, Rwandans in general, have been protected by the ICTR. All agree that these measures are relatively illusory considering the density of the Rwanda population, the social grid and Rwandan sociology.
These measures did not prevent certain witnesses to have become victims of violence on their return to their country. One of them was even assassinated, without Rwandan justice seizing the case; claiming they were not able to prove the link between his testimony and his murder.
Coalition Talks Collapse in Brussels.
BBC News
1 December 2007
The head of Belgium's Flemish Christian Democrats, Yves Leterme, has abandoned his party's efforts to form a coalition government, his spokesman has said.
Mr Leterme informed King Albert II that he had been unable to come up with a plan acceptable to both Dutch- and French-speaking politicians.
French-speaking politicians in Wallonia have rejected his demands for greater autonomy for the country's regions.
Mr Leterme was nominated to form a government after the 10 June election.
His party emerged as the largest party after winning 30 seats in the 150-seat lower house of parliament, ending eight years in opposition.
The deadlocked coalition talks have meant Belgium has spent the last 174 days without a national government.
Stalemate
A spokesman for the Christian Democrats said Mr Leterme had decided to resign as coalition negotiator after a deadline he set for all four parties to agree to his proposals passed at midday on Saturday.
Mr Leterme informed King Albert of his resignation - which was accepted. He is due to make a short statement to parliament, the spokesman said.
His party said the Flemish and French-speaking Liberals had signed up to his reform programme, but that the French-speaking Christian Democrats had declined to do so.
Correspondents say the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia fears that greater regional self-rule will deprive it of federal tax revenues and have a negative impact on social services.
Unemployment in Wallonia is more than double that of Flanders, and twice as many Walloons as Dutch-speaking Flemings are employed by the state.
The Walloons make up about 40% of Belgium's 10.5m population, while the Flemings, who are based in the northern half of the country, represent the majority.
No single party bridges the linguistic and geographic gulf between Belgium's two regions.
1 December 2007
The head of Belgium's Flemish Christian Democrats, Yves Leterme, has abandoned his party's efforts to form a coalition government, his spokesman has said.
Mr Leterme informed King Albert II that he had been unable to come up with a plan acceptable to both Dutch- and French-speaking politicians.
French-speaking politicians in Wallonia have rejected his demands for greater autonomy for the country's regions.
Mr Leterme was nominated to form a government after the 10 June election.
His party emerged as the largest party after winning 30 seats in the 150-seat lower house of parliament, ending eight years in opposition.
The deadlocked coalition talks have meant Belgium has spent the last 174 days without a national government.
Stalemate
A spokesman for the Christian Democrats said Mr Leterme had decided to resign as coalition negotiator after a deadline he set for all four parties to agree to his proposals passed at midday on Saturday.
Mr Leterme informed King Albert of his resignation - which was accepted. He is due to make a short statement to parliament, the spokesman said.
His party said the Flemish and French-speaking Liberals had signed up to his reform programme, but that the French-speaking Christian Democrats had declined to do so.
Correspondents say the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia fears that greater regional self-rule will deprive it of federal tax revenues and have a negative impact on social services.
Unemployment in Wallonia is more than double that of Flanders, and twice as many Walloons as Dutch-speaking Flemings are employed by the state.
The Walloons make up about 40% of Belgium's 10.5m population, while the Flemings, who are based in the northern half of the country, represent the majority.
No single party bridges the linguistic and geographic gulf between Belgium's two regions.
Kurdish Leader Presses for Independence.
United Press International
30 November 2007
The leader of Iraq's Kurdish region says Kurds could have occupied Kirkuk after Baghdad fell, but chose instead to pursue independence peacefully.
Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani says Kurds could have occupied the territory after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, The New Anatolian reported Friday.
"We could have taken over Kirkuk by various means in 2003 when Saddam was toppled. However, we choose to do this through peaceful means and through the laws," he said.
Barzani, speaking at the opening of the United Nations mission in Erbil, accused the Baghdad government of delaying a referendum on the territory to be decided this year, the Turkish newspaper reported.
Kurds do not want Kirkuk because of its oil resources, he said, noting that they get 17 percent of Iraq's oil revenues -- a share that will not change regardless of who controls Kirkuk.
30 November 2007
The leader of Iraq's Kurdish region says Kurds could have occupied Kirkuk after Baghdad fell, but chose instead to pursue independence peacefully.
Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani says Kurds could have occupied the territory after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, The New Anatolian reported Friday.
"We could have taken over Kirkuk by various means in 2003 when Saddam was toppled. However, we choose to do this through peaceful means and through the laws," he said.
Barzani, speaking at the opening of the United Nations mission in Erbil, accused the Baghdad government of delaying a referendum on the territory to be decided this year, the Turkish newspaper reported.
Kurds do not want Kirkuk because of its oil resources, he said, noting that they get 17 percent of Iraq's oil revenues -- a share that will not change regardless of who controls Kirkuk.
Turk army gets green light to hit rebels in N.Iraq.
By Gareth Jones
Reuters
30 November 2007
Turkey's prime minister said on Friday his cabinet had authorized the armed forces to conduct a cross-border operation against Kurdish PKK rebels in northern Iraq, but analysts said major action did not appear imminent.
Tayyip Erdogan's comments, following up on a parliamentary resolution last month and emergency talks with U.S. President George W. Bush, seemed chiefly designed to keep up pressure on U.S. and Iraqi forces to honor pledges to tackle the PKK.
"We took our cabinet meeting decision on November 28 and with the president's approval our Turkish Armed Forces are now authorized for a cross-border operation from November 28," Erdogan said in televised comments.
Turkey has amassed up to 100,000 troops near the mountainous border, backed up by tanks, artillery and warplanes, for a possible strike into mainly Kurdish northern Iraq against rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) hiding there.
Ankara has made many threats of military action but, under heavy U.S. pressure, has so far shown restraint. Washington fears a large-scale operation could destabilize the most stable part of Iraq and possibly the wider region.
There was a muted reaction in financial markets to Erdogan's comments, with the lira weakening slightly against the dollar.
Turkey's parliament approved a resolution on October 17 giving the government the legal basis to order cross-border military operations if and when it deemed them necessary.
The resolution, approved by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers, followed a series of deadly PKK attacks on Turkish security forces that fanned an angry wave of nationalism across Turkey, a NATO member that also wants to join the EU.
That resolution is valid for one year. The cabinet decision this week effectively frees up the generals to act as they see necessary without seeking further political approval.
"TACTICAL MOVE"
"They (the government) want to keep up the pressure. If you let go, both the Americans and the Kurdish administration in northern Iraq may relax their positions. It is a tactical move," said Dogu Ergil, a professor at Ankara University.
"Intelligence reports show about 2,000 of the rebels have passed into Iran and a further 1,000 into Turkey, leaving only about 500 or so in caves in the Qandil mountains (of northern Iraq). This is not worth a major military operation," he said.
Weather conditions are also rapidly worsening, further hampering the likely effectiveness of military action.
But analysts said it would be wrong to think the Turks were only bluffing. Another deadly PKK attack inside Turkey could prove the tipping point.
"Erdogan's words show the Turks do mean business this time. They are serious. They will not be satisfied with just promises from the Americans and Iraq," said Wolfango Piccoli, a Turkey expert at Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy.
Erdogan held emergency talks with Bush on November 5 in the White House, wringing from him pledges of closer cooperation, including more intelligence sharing against a group Washington also brands as terrorist.
Three top U.S. generals have visited Ankara in the past 10 days to discuss intelligence sharing with the Turkish military.
Northern Iraqi Kurdish authorities have also taken steps to stop supplies reaching the PKK rebels in the mountains.
But government ministers repeated again this week that they expected more concrete action from U.S. and Iraqi forces against the PKK, blamed by Ankara for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since the group began its armed separatist insurgency in 1984.
(Additional reporting by Daren Butler in Istanbul)
(Editing by Diana Abdallah)
Reuters
30 November 2007
Turkey's prime minister said on Friday his cabinet had authorized the armed forces to conduct a cross-border operation against Kurdish PKK rebels in northern Iraq, but analysts said major action did not appear imminent.
Tayyip Erdogan's comments, following up on a parliamentary resolution last month and emergency talks with U.S. President George W. Bush, seemed chiefly designed to keep up pressure on U.S. and Iraqi forces to honor pledges to tackle the PKK.
"We took our cabinet meeting decision on November 28 and with the president's approval our Turkish Armed Forces are now authorized for a cross-border operation from November 28," Erdogan said in televised comments.
Turkey has amassed up to 100,000 troops near the mountainous border, backed up by tanks, artillery and warplanes, for a possible strike into mainly Kurdish northern Iraq against rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) hiding there.
Ankara has made many threats of military action but, under heavy U.S. pressure, has so far shown restraint. Washington fears a large-scale operation could destabilize the most stable part of Iraq and possibly the wider region.
There was a muted reaction in financial markets to Erdogan's comments, with the lira weakening slightly against the dollar.
Turkey's parliament approved a resolution on October 17 giving the government the legal basis to order cross-border military operations if and when it deemed them necessary.
The resolution, approved by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers, followed a series of deadly PKK attacks on Turkish security forces that fanned an angry wave of nationalism across Turkey, a NATO member that also wants to join the EU.
That resolution is valid for one year. The cabinet decision this week effectively frees up the generals to act as they see necessary without seeking further political approval.
"TACTICAL MOVE"
"They (the government) want to keep up the pressure. If you let go, both the Americans and the Kurdish administration in northern Iraq may relax their positions. It is a tactical move," said Dogu Ergil, a professor at Ankara University.
"Intelligence reports show about 2,000 of the rebels have passed into Iran and a further 1,000 into Turkey, leaving only about 500 or so in caves in the Qandil mountains (of northern Iraq). This is not worth a major military operation," he said.
Weather conditions are also rapidly worsening, further hampering the likely effectiveness of military action.
But analysts said it would be wrong to think the Turks were only bluffing. Another deadly PKK attack inside Turkey could prove the tipping point.
"Erdogan's words show the Turks do mean business this time. They are serious. They will not be satisfied with just promises from the Americans and Iraq," said Wolfango Piccoli, a Turkey expert at Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy.
Erdogan held emergency talks with Bush on November 5 in the White House, wringing from him pledges of closer cooperation, including more intelligence sharing against a group Washington also brands as terrorist.
Three top U.S. generals have visited Ankara in the past 10 days to discuss intelligence sharing with the Turkish military.
Northern Iraqi Kurdish authorities have also taken steps to stop supplies reaching the PKK rebels in the mountains.
But government ministers repeated again this week that they expected more concrete action from U.S. and Iraqi forces against the PKK, blamed by Ankara for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since the group began its armed separatist insurgency in 1984.
(Additional reporting by Daren Butler in Istanbul)
(Editing by Diana Abdallah)
U.S. Secretary Rice in Marathon Visit to Africa
SAPA
1 December 2007
By Matthew Lee
Washington - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hopes to try to cool several explosive African conflicts and shore up faltering peace deals when she travels next week to Ethiopia, headquarters of the African Union, the State Department said.
In meetings in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, Rice plans to explore prospects for peace in the Horn of Africa, where Somalia is ravaged by violence and humanitarian crises and fresh tensions between Ethiopia and arch-foe neighbour Eritrea threaten a 2000 peace pact that quieted a two-year border war, a senior official said on Friday.
She also will press leaders from Africa's volatile Great Lakes region on a comprehensive strategy to deal with insurgents from various conflicts, including those in Burundi, Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, who have sought haven in largely ungoverned stretches of the vast eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the official said.
In addition, in a jam-packed, one-day visit to the Ethiopian capital on December 5, Rice intends to urge senior Sudanese officials to recommit to a 2005 accord that ended the country's 21-year north-south civil war that was Africa's longest running conflict, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer told reporters.
That agreement, which could be a model for a resolution to the fighting in Sudan's western Darfur region, has been under strain with the autonomous ex-rebel south accusing the north of reneging on elements of the deal, including sharing oil revenue, and briefly suspending participation in a unity government.
Rice will hold talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who has been an ally in President George W Bush's campaign against terror and whose forces last Christmas Eve invaded lawless Somalia to oust Islamic militants who were close to replacing the ineffectual Somali transitional government.
She also will meet in Addis Ababa with Somalia's interim president and the new prime minister of the transitional government, which has been unable to assert authority in most of the country. Somalia has been without a functioning central administration since 1991.
Frazer said the United States placed a priority on political reconciliation among fractious Somali clans that would allow elections to be held as planned in 2009.
Rice will push for full deployment of an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia to replace Ethiopian troops still there and supplement the presence of Ugandan soldiers. Frazer said Burundi is preparing to deploy peacekeepers very soon, and Ghana and Nigeria might be close behind.
On Eritrea and Ethiopia, there are fears that a 1998-2000 border war, in which an estimated 70 000 people died, may flare again. The frontier has never been demarcated, and on Friday the commission charged with setting it disbanded after neither side could agree on border pillars.
Rice does not plan to meet with officials from Eritrea, which accuses the United States of favoring Ethiopia, while she is in Addis Ababa, Frazer said.
Washington has accused Eritrea of playing a negative role in Somalia by arming and supporting Islamic extremists in Somalia in part to harass Ethiopia.
With leaders of the Great Lakes countries of eastern Africa, Rice wants to address the issue of the lingering insurgents in eastern Congo, including Hutu rebels responsible for Rwanda's 1994 genocide, combatants loyal to dissident Congolese General Laurent Nkunda and members of Uganda's notorious Lord's Resistance Army, Frazer said.
Frazer said the United States was continuing to urge Nkunda to go into exile.
Meanwhile she said Washington still supported peace talks between Uganda's government and the Lord's Resistance Army, despite evidence suggesting that the rebels' shadowy leader, Joseph Kony, may have ordered the execution of his pro-peace deputy, Vincent Otti, despite rebel denials that he is dead.
"We can't confirm that Otti is dead," Frazer said, "but the evidence is pointing in that direction."
1 December 2007
By Matthew Lee
Washington - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hopes to try to cool several explosive African conflicts and shore up faltering peace deals when she travels next week to Ethiopia, headquarters of the African Union, the State Department said.
In meetings in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, Rice plans to explore prospects for peace in the Horn of Africa, where Somalia is ravaged by violence and humanitarian crises and fresh tensions between Ethiopia and arch-foe neighbour Eritrea threaten a 2000 peace pact that quieted a two-year border war, a senior official said on Friday.
She also will press leaders from Africa's volatile Great Lakes region on a comprehensive strategy to deal with insurgents from various conflicts, including those in Burundi, Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, who have sought haven in largely ungoverned stretches of the vast eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the official said.
In addition, in a jam-packed, one-day visit to the Ethiopian capital on December 5, Rice intends to urge senior Sudanese officials to recommit to a 2005 accord that ended the country's 21-year north-south civil war that was Africa's longest running conflict, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer told reporters.
That agreement, which could be a model for a resolution to the fighting in Sudan's western Darfur region, has been under strain with the autonomous ex-rebel south accusing the north of reneging on elements of the deal, including sharing oil revenue, and briefly suspending participation in a unity government.
Rice will hold talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who has been an ally in President George W Bush's campaign against terror and whose forces last Christmas Eve invaded lawless Somalia to oust Islamic militants who were close to replacing the ineffectual Somali transitional government.
She also will meet in Addis Ababa with Somalia's interim president and the new prime minister of the transitional government, which has been unable to assert authority in most of the country. Somalia has been without a functioning central administration since 1991.
Frazer said the United States placed a priority on political reconciliation among fractious Somali clans that would allow elections to be held as planned in 2009.
Rice will push for full deployment of an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia to replace Ethiopian troops still there and supplement the presence of Ugandan soldiers. Frazer said Burundi is preparing to deploy peacekeepers very soon, and Ghana and Nigeria might be close behind.
On Eritrea and Ethiopia, there are fears that a 1998-2000 border war, in which an estimated 70 000 people died, may flare again. The frontier has never been demarcated, and on Friday the commission charged with setting it disbanded after neither side could agree on border pillars.
Rice does not plan to meet with officials from Eritrea, which accuses the United States of favoring Ethiopia, while she is in Addis Ababa, Frazer said.
Washington has accused Eritrea of playing a negative role in Somalia by arming and supporting Islamic extremists in Somalia in part to harass Ethiopia.
With leaders of the Great Lakes countries of eastern Africa, Rice wants to address the issue of the lingering insurgents in eastern Congo, including Hutu rebels responsible for Rwanda's 1994 genocide, combatants loyal to dissident Congolese General Laurent Nkunda and members of Uganda's notorious Lord's Resistance Army, Frazer said.
Frazer said the United States was continuing to urge Nkunda to go into exile.
Meanwhile she said Washington still supported peace talks between Uganda's government and the Lord's Resistance Army, despite evidence suggesting that the rebels' shadowy leader, Joseph Kony, may have ordered the execution of his pro-peace deputy, Vincent Otti, despite rebel denials that he is dead.
"We can't confirm that Otti is dead," Frazer said, "but the evidence is pointing in that direction."
Rwanda frees U.N court staffer "provisionally."
Original report by Reuters.
30 November 2007
A Rwandan court has ordered the provisional release of a defence investigator of a U.N. court probing the 1994 genocide who had been accused of bribing witnesses and "minimising" the extent of the slaughter.
Rwandan authorities in June arrested Leonidas Nshogoza, who works at the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), set up to prosecute those reported to have planned the genocide.
But ICTR defence lawyers have argued the charges undermine their rights and independence, and leave them prone to similar prosecution. They have demanded his unconditional release.
Rwandan prosecution spokesman Jean Bosco Mutangana said Nshogoza had been "released provisionally" while judgment in his case was adjourned, allowing the prosecution more time to study an immunity application raised by the defence.
"We had asked the court to give more time to study immunity issues raised by the defence, but the court decided anyway to release him temporarily," Mutangana said.
The case has highlighted tensions between the U.N. court and Rwanda, where some believe the expensive tribunal has not done enough to find and arrest those charged with crimes.
The court has sentenced 29 people since 1997.
With a total budget of about $1 billion, each completed case at the court in Arusha, northern Tanzania, has cost the world about $31 million according to ICTR figures given to media.
(Original Reporting by Arthur Asiimwe; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
30 November 2007
A Rwandan court has ordered the provisional release of a defence investigator of a U.N. court probing the 1994 genocide who had been accused of bribing witnesses and "minimising" the extent of the slaughter.
Rwandan authorities in June arrested Leonidas Nshogoza, who works at the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), set up to prosecute those reported to have planned the genocide.
But ICTR defence lawyers have argued the charges undermine their rights and independence, and leave them prone to similar prosecution. They have demanded his unconditional release.
Rwandan prosecution spokesman Jean Bosco Mutangana said Nshogoza had been "released provisionally" while judgment in his case was adjourned, allowing the prosecution more time to study an immunity application raised by the defence.
"We had asked the court to give more time to study immunity issues raised by the defence, but the court decided anyway to release him temporarily," Mutangana said.
The case has highlighted tensions between the U.N. court and Rwanda, where some believe the expensive tribunal has not done enough to find and arrest those charged with crimes.
The court has sentenced 29 people since 1997.
With a total budget of about $1 billion, each completed case at the court in Arusha, northern Tanzania, has cost the world about $31 million according to ICTR figures given to media.
(Original Reporting by Arthur Asiimwe; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
Mémorandum du FOCAS en rapport avec la crise sécuritaire à l’Est du Congo.
Mémorandum du FOCAS en rapport avec la crise sécuritaire à l’Est du Congo
"Les pillages des ressources naturelles à l’Est de la Rdc par le Rwanda et les entreprises multinationales en connexion avec le Rwanda, le Burundi et l’Ouganda ont été largement documentés et condamnés. Les milices telles que le Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (Cndp) de Nkundabatware, les Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (Fdlr) et d’autres ont été utilisées dans l’extraction des mines ou dans la protection des mines. Armes et argent leur ont été régulièrement remis en échange avec leurs services. Il est maintenant évident que l’invasion de Bukavu par Nkundabatware en 2004 a été juste une stratégie pour pousser le gouvernement congolais et la Monuc à orienter leurs efforts militaires sur Bukavu pendant que les forces rwandaises seraient occupées à contrôler Walikale et Lueshe et à extraire les ressources minérales de ces mines très enviées", C'est ce que l'on peut lire dans un extrait du mémorandum du Focas dont, ci-dessous, l'intégralité du texte.
Mémorandum du Forum des Organisations Congolaises en Afrique du Sud (FOCAS) en rapport avec la crise sécuritaire à l’Est de la République Démocratique du Congo à l’Ambassade de Belgique en Afrique du Sud
1. Ce mémorandum s’oppose fermement à la désinformation et aux discours propagandistes sur la crise sécuritaire dans les provinces du Kivu (Est de la RDC) principalement répandus par le chef de la milice du Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP), le Général Laurent Nkundabatware. Ce document a été remis à l’Ambassadeur de la Belgique en Afrique du Sud, M. Jan F. Mutton, lors de sa conférence sur “ l’engagement de la Belgique à la paix et la stabilité dans la région des Grands Lacs”, tenue à l’Université de Witwatersrand, à l’Institut Sud Africain d’Affaires Internationales, le 13 novembre 2007.
2. FOCAS demande à la communauté internationale de rejeter toute manipulation et propagande fondée sur une prétendue division ethnique à l’Est de la RDC. Rien et absolument rien ne peut justifier les massacres, les viols, les tueries et les déplacements actuels des populations congolaises, particulièrement dans les provinces du Kivu. 3. FOCAS est une coalition des organisations de la société civile oeuvrant en Afrique du Sud. Il a des contacts avec les ONGs du Kivu et quelques-uns de ses membres ont des familles parmi les déplacés de l’Est de la RDC. Selon des informations en provenance de ces derniers, il y a suffisamment de preuves sur le soutien du Rwanda au Général-renégat Laurent Nkundabatware [1]. Ce soutien s’explique par le fait, d’une part, que le Rwanda cherche à préserver son régime contre la menace de la majorité hutu qui cherchent à rentrer au Rwanda et, d’autre part, par le fait qu’il veut continuer à piller les ressources naturelles et d’autres formes de richesse du Congo.
4. Les pillages des ressources naturelles à l’Est de la RDC par le Rwanda et les entreprises multinationales en connexion avec le Rwanda, le Burundi et l’Ouganda ont été largement documentés et condamnés [2]. Les milices telles que le Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP) de Nkundabatware, les Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) et d’autres ont été utilisées dans l’extraction des mines ou dans la protection des mines. [3] Armes et argent leur ont été régulièrement remis en échange avec leurs services. Il est maintenant évident que l’invasion de Bukavu par Nkundabatware en 2004 a été juste une stratégie pour pousser le gouvernement congolais et la MONUC à orienter leurs efforts militaires sur Bukavu pendant que les forces rwandaises seraient occupées à contrôler Walikale et Lueshe et à extraire les ressources minérales de ces mines très enviées. [4] Le mouvement de Nkundabatware et ses alliés rwandais ont ouvertement pillé les ressources minérales congolaises et les ont commercialisé avec la complicité des entreprises internationales généralement établies au Rwanda, mais avec affiliation à des compagnies aux Etats Unis d’Amérique, en Grande Bretagne, en Allemagne, et en Afrique du Sud [5].
5. Des hommes d’affaires malhonnêtes et incontestés continuent à entretenir des liens d’affaires avec Nkundabatware et autres mouvements rebelles sans aucune condamnation de la MONUC ou de leurs pays d’origine. L’instabilité dans les provinces du Kivu continue à cause du Rwanda qui offre un refuge paisible à ces réseaux de mafia et à cause du fait qu’aucun des pays développés où ces minerais sont acheminés ne veut tenir ses citoyens malhonnêtes et ses entreprises criminelles responsables de leur sale business en RDC. Recommandations.
6. Nous demandons à la Belgique d’appuyer l’Etat congolais dans les secteurs-clés du rétablissement de l’autorité de l’Etat sur l’ensemble du territoire national. Il s’agit de lui apporter de l’expertise et des ressources financières dans les secteurs tels que l’administration des entités décentralisées, l’administration de la justice sociale, la défense et la sécurité nationale, ainsi que la police de migration (DGM).
7. Nous souhaitons que la Belgique pousse la Communauté Internationale à la formation d’Un « Trust Board » pour résoudre le problème de la criminalité internationale dans la région des Grands Lacs, en particulier à l’Est de la RDC. Il est important que les communautés locales soient consultées et impliquées dans le processus visant à établir ce « Trust Board ». Cette initiative devrait aussi inclure l’établissement d’un fond de développement pour les communautés brutalisées dans les Kivus.
8. Il est grand temps que l’actuel gouvernement rwandais arrête d’utiliser le « génocide » comme un outil idéologique visant à obtenir la sympathie de la communauté internationale et à cacher ses activités génocidaires à l’endroit des réfugiés hutus et ses ambitions expansionnistes en RDC. Le temps est révolu pour continuer à faire du génocide passé un fond de commerce au détriment du peuple congolais qui, du reste, subit une politique d’extermination secrète par le régime Kagame dans les provinces de l’Est du Kivu, avec l’objectif de peupler ce territoire congolais des ressortissants rwandais qui vont par la suite réclamer un droit d’autodétermination politique.
9. Nous exigeons de la Communauté Internationale, à travers la MONUC et autres initiatives, de s’efforcer à garantir le succès du processus DDRRRR qui vise le désarmement, la démobilisation, le rapatriement, la réintégration et la réinsertion des réfugiés hutus. Il est aussi important que la communauté internationale fasse pression sur le Rwanda pour une réelle démocratisation de l’espace politique et l’organisation d’un dialogue inter-rwandais, ce qui figure parmi les conditions posées par les FDLR.
10. La communauté internationale devrait arrêter d’être prise dans le piège de la propagande rwandaise. Les acteurs de l’insécurité dans les provinces du Kivu tendent à justifier leurs actions militaires et leurs atrocités sur les populations locales sous le prétexte d’une imminente menace pesant sur les Banyamulenge et les Tutsis Congolais. C’est fort de ce prétexte que le Général dissident Nkundabatware prétend défendre les Banyamulenge et les communautés Tutsi congolaises prétendument en voie d’extinction et que le Président du RCD-G, Monsieur Azarias Ruberwa, appuie ces prétextes par l’argument de la prétendue sous-représentativité des Banyamulenge et des Tutsis congolais dans les institutions publiques. Une analyse profonde de la situation politique en RDC montre que de telles allégations sont fallacieuses et propagandistes.
11. Nous voulons que la justice internationale et nationale ne soit point sacrifiée sur l’autel de la complaisance sous prétexte de rechercher des compromis politiques qui ne sont souvent que précaires et inappropriés. Les victimes ont placé un grand espoir en la Cour Pénale Internationale ou une juridiction internationale ad hoc pour connaître la vérité sur les abus subis et pour obtenir un redressement. Nous nous attendons à ce que la Cour Pénale Internationale aille au-delà des cas de Thomas Lubanga et Germain Katanga. Les grands criminels comme le Général dissident Nkundabatware et autres fauteurs de trouble doivent faire l’objet d’un mandat d’arrêt international dans un effort concerté de lutter contre la culture dominante de l’impunité. Nous demandons que la Cour Pénale Internationale enquête et poursuive les dirigeants régionaux qui ont soutenu, financé et armé les milices en RDC.
Background
12. La République Démocratique du Congo a accédé à la souveraineté internationale le 30 juin 1960. Tour à tour propriété du Roi Belge Léopold II (1885-1908) et du Royaume de Belgique (1908-1960), elle demeure de nos jours encore sous la domination des puissances extérieures.
13. La République Démocratique du Congo respire encore l’air pollué de sept ans de guerre (1996-2002) dite « troisième Guerre Mondiale » [6] qui a impliqué plus de huit pays africains (Rwanda, Ouganda, Burundi comme pays agresseurs; et Angola, Namibie, Zimbabwe et Tchad comme alliés de la RDC) et plusieurs groupes rebelles nationaux et étrangers (UNITA de Savimbi, FDLR anciens rebelles hutu, MLC, RCD et ses variantes, etc.). Mais en réalité, beaucoup d’acteurs privés et étatiques d’autres continents en ont retire d’énormes avantages économiques et politiques. [7] Les conséquences de ces guerres sont une catastrophe humaine [8], écologique et économique incalculable. Des rapports crédibles ont montré que plus de 3.500.000 des personnes sont mortes, environ 40.000 cas de viols ont été reportés [9] et plus de 17.000 enfants ont été recrutés comme soldats. [10] Le Secrétaire Général adjoint des Nations Unies en charge des Affaires humanitaires et Coordonnateur de l’assistance d’urgence, John Holmes, a eu ces mots forts pour exprimer ce qu’il a entendu au Kivu/RDC : « c’est tout simplement incroyable; pas de mot juste pour décrire ce que j’ai entendu. Je ne peux dire qu’une seule chose : « Plus jamais ». Je n’oublierai jamais ces récits toute ma vie ». [11] “ Plus jamais”, l’expression qui a été utilisée après les deux guerres mondiales l’est encore aujourd’hui.
13 Novembre 2007, Johannesbourg, Afrique du Sud
FOCAS
---------------------------------
[1] Barouski D. 2007. “Blood minerals” in the Kivu Provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=12971 . Barouski D. 2007. Laurent Nkunda, His Rwandan Allies and the Ex-ANC mutiny : Chronic Barriers to Lasting Peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo. http://www.zmag.org/racewatch/LKandexANC.pdf. United Nations Security Council. “Letter Dated July 9 From the Coordinator of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo Addressed to the Chairman of the Security Council Committee Established Pursuant to Resolution 1533(2004) S/2004/551. 15 July 2004. Amnesty International 2005. Democratic Republic of Congo: arming the East. AFR62/006/2005
[2] Conseil de Sécurité des Nations Unies, Rapport final des Experts du Panel sur l’exploitation illégale des ressources naturelles et autres formes de richesse de la République Démocratique du Congo.
[3] Human Rights Watch 2007; Barouski D., 2007
[4] Barouski D., 2007
[5] Parmi les compagnies impliquées dans ce réseau de commerce illégal des ressources congolaises pillées, on note: Metal Processing Association (MPA) basée en Afrique du Sud; Metmar Trading; Iron and Steel Association of South Africa; Mittal Steel; Metal Processing in Congo; Bangandula Mining Group; Edith Krall Metal Congo SCARL (de l’autrichien Michael Krall); GBC liée à M. Albers d’Allemagne; H.C. Stark; Bayer Group A.G; COPIMAR (Coopérative pour la Promotion des industries minières artisanales); Godefrey Bayoli Stones; Masingiro (M. Albers d’Allemagne); Karl Heinz Albers Holding International (KHA); Alfred Knight Holdings (AKH), une compagnie britanique; Nobium Mining Company (NMC) basée à Londres; NMC Metallurgy SARL( Kigali); A&M Minerals Limited (basée à New York et Bruxelles). Pour plus d’informations sur la question de savoir comment ces compagnies sont liées à l’exploitation et au commerce illégal des ressources minérales de la RDC, lire: Barouski D 2007. ‘Blood Minerals’ in the Kivu Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Znet/Activism.
[6] F. Borello, A First Few Steps: The Long Road to a Just Peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, ICTJ October 2004, p.iii.
[7] Jakkie Celliers & Mark Malan, “Peacekeeping in the DRC: Monuc and the Road of Peace”, ISS Monograph Series, No. 66, October 2001, p. 24, § 3.
[8] Yves Beigbeder, International Justice against Impunity: Progress and New Challenges, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, p.174, § 6.
[9] “Sexual Violence Against Women and Children in DRC: A Joint Initiative With View to Prevention and to Meet the Needs of Victims”, Kinshasa, November 2003. Cette initiative conjointe comprend un nombre d’ONG internationales et des agences des Nations Unies oeuvrant en RDC dans la lutte contre les violences sexuelles et les viols, à l’Est de la RDC. En novembre 2003, cette initiative conjointe a élaboré un Projet d’action national pour arrêter les violences sexuelles à l’Est de la RDC et répondre aux besoins des rescapés de la guerre. Ce projet est actuellement sur la table des Officiels des Nations Unies et autres partenaires bilatéraux et multilatéraux de la RDC.
[10] www.rdc.humanitaire.net/f/IMG/pdf/RDC_humanitarian_focus_Feb_07-1pdf
[11] http://www.jeunesafrique.com_afrique/article_depeche.asp?art_cle=XIN70027johnhsuvikx0 (See on 6 Sept.07)
"Les pillages des ressources naturelles à l’Est de la Rdc par le Rwanda et les entreprises multinationales en connexion avec le Rwanda, le Burundi et l’Ouganda ont été largement documentés et condamnés. Les milices telles que le Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (Cndp) de Nkundabatware, les Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (Fdlr) et d’autres ont été utilisées dans l’extraction des mines ou dans la protection des mines. Armes et argent leur ont été régulièrement remis en échange avec leurs services. Il est maintenant évident que l’invasion de Bukavu par Nkundabatware en 2004 a été juste une stratégie pour pousser le gouvernement congolais et la Monuc à orienter leurs efforts militaires sur Bukavu pendant que les forces rwandaises seraient occupées à contrôler Walikale et Lueshe et à extraire les ressources minérales de ces mines très enviées", C'est ce que l'on peut lire dans un extrait du mémorandum du Focas dont, ci-dessous, l'intégralité du texte.
Mémorandum du Forum des Organisations Congolaises en Afrique du Sud (FOCAS) en rapport avec la crise sécuritaire à l’Est de la République Démocratique du Congo à l’Ambassade de Belgique en Afrique du Sud
1. Ce mémorandum s’oppose fermement à la désinformation et aux discours propagandistes sur la crise sécuritaire dans les provinces du Kivu (Est de la RDC) principalement répandus par le chef de la milice du Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP), le Général Laurent Nkundabatware. Ce document a été remis à l’Ambassadeur de la Belgique en Afrique du Sud, M. Jan F. Mutton, lors de sa conférence sur “ l’engagement de la Belgique à la paix et la stabilité dans la région des Grands Lacs”, tenue à l’Université de Witwatersrand, à l’Institut Sud Africain d’Affaires Internationales, le 13 novembre 2007.
2. FOCAS demande à la communauté internationale de rejeter toute manipulation et propagande fondée sur une prétendue division ethnique à l’Est de la RDC. Rien et absolument rien ne peut justifier les massacres, les viols, les tueries et les déplacements actuels des populations congolaises, particulièrement dans les provinces du Kivu. 3. FOCAS est une coalition des organisations de la société civile oeuvrant en Afrique du Sud. Il a des contacts avec les ONGs du Kivu et quelques-uns de ses membres ont des familles parmi les déplacés de l’Est de la RDC. Selon des informations en provenance de ces derniers, il y a suffisamment de preuves sur le soutien du Rwanda au Général-renégat Laurent Nkundabatware [1]. Ce soutien s’explique par le fait, d’une part, que le Rwanda cherche à préserver son régime contre la menace de la majorité hutu qui cherchent à rentrer au Rwanda et, d’autre part, par le fait qu’il veut continuer à piller les ressources naturelles et d’autres formes de richesse du Congo.
4. Les pillages des ressources naturelles à l’Est de la RDC par le Rwanda et les entreprises multinationales en connexion avec le Rwanda, le Burundi et l’Ouganda ont été largement documentés et condamnés [2]. Les milices telles que le Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP) de Nkundabatware, les Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) et d’autres ont été utilisées dans l’extraction des mines ou dans la protection des mines. [3] Armes et argent leur ont été régulièrement remis en échange avec leurs services. Il est maintenant évident que l’invasion de Bukavu par Nkundabatware en 2004 a été juste une stratégie pour pousser le gouvernement congolais et la MONUC à orienter leurs efforts militaires sur Bukavu pendant que les forces rwandaises seraient occupées à contrôler Walikale et Lueshe et à extraire les ressources minérales de ces mines très enviées. [4] Le mouvement de Nkundabatware et ses alliés rwandais ont ouvertement pillé les ressources minérales congolaises et les ont commercialisé avec la complicité des entreprises internationales généralement établies au Rwanda, mais avec affiliation à des compagnies aux Etats Unis d’Amérique, en Grande Bretagne, en Allemagne, et en Afrique du Sud [5].
5. Des hommes d’affaires malhonnêtes et incontestés continuent à entretenir des liens d’affaires avec Nkundabatware et autres mouvements rebelles sans aucune condamnation de la MONUC ou de leurs pays d’origine. L’instabilité dans les provinces du Kivu continue à cause du Rwanda qui offre un refuge paisible à ces réseaux de mafia et à cause du fait qu’aucun des pays développés où ces minerais sont acheminés ne veut tenir ses citoyens malhonnêtes et ses entreprises criminelles responsables de leur sale business en RDC. Recommandations.
6. Nous demandons à la Belgique d’appuyer l’Etat congolais dans les secteurs-clés du rétablissement de l’autorité de l’Etat sur l’ensemble du territoire national. Il s’agit de lui apporter de l’expertise et des ressources financières dans les secteurs tels que l’administration des entités décentralisées, l’administration de la justice sociale, la défense et la sécurité nationale, ainsi que la police de migration (DGM).
7. Nous souhaitons que la Belgique pousse la Communauté Internationale à la formation d’Un « Trust Board » pour résoudre le problème de la criminalité internationale dans la région des Grands Lacs, en particulier à l’Est de la RDC. Il est important que les communautés locales soient consultées et impliquées dans le processus visant à établir ce « Trust Board ». Cette initiative devrait aussi inclure l’établissement d’un fond de développement pour les communautés brutalisées dans les Kivus.
8. Il est grand temps que l’actuel gouvernement rwandais arrête d’utiliser le « génocide » comme un outil idéologique visant à obtenir la sympathie de la communauté internationale et à cacher ses activités génocidaires à l’endroit des réfugiés hutus et ses ambitions expansionnistes en RDC. Le temps est révolu pour continuer à faire du génocide passé un fond de commerce au détriment du peuple congolais qui, du reste, subit une politique d’extermination secrète par le régime Kagame dans les provinces de l’Est du Kivu, avec l’objectif de peupler ce territoire congolais des ressortissants rwandais qui vont par la suite réclamer un droit d’autodétermination politique.
9. Nous exigeons de la Communauté Internationale, à travers la MONUC et autres initiatives, de s’efforcer à garantir le succès du processus DDRRRR qui vise le désarmement, la démobilisation, le rapatriement, la réintégration et la réinsertion des réfugiés hutus. Il est aussi important que la communauté internationale fasse pression sur le Rwanda pour une réelle démocratisation de l’espace politique et l’organisation d’un dialogue inter-rwandais, ce qui figure parmi les conditions posées par les FDLR.
10. La communauté internationale devrait arrêter d’être prise dans le piège de la propagande rwandaise. Les acteurs de l’insécurité dans les provinces du Kivu tendent à justifier leurs actions militaires et leurs atrocités sur les populations locales sous le prétexte d’une imminente menace pesant sur les Banyamulenge et les Tutsis Congolais. C’est fort de ce prétexte que le Général dissident Nkundabatware prétend défendre les Banyamulenge et les communautés Tutsi congolaises prétendument en voie d’extinction et que le Président du RCD-G, Monsieur Azarias Ruberwa, appuie ces prétextes par l’argument de la prétendue sous-représentativité des Banyamulenge et des Tutsis congolais dans les institutions publiques. Une analyse profonde de la situation politique en RDC montre que de telles allégations sont fallacieuses et propagandistes.
11. Nous voulons que la justice internationale et nationale ne soit point sacrifiée sur l’autel de la complaisance sous prétexte de rechercher des compromis politiques qui ne sont souvent que précaires et inappropriés. Les victimes ont placé un grand espoir en la Cour Pénale Internationale ou une juridiction internationale ad hoc pour connaître la vérité sur les abus subis et pour obtenir un redressement. Nous nous attendons à ce que la Cour Pénale Internationale aille au-delà des cas de Thomas Lubanga et Germain Katanga. Les grands criminels comme le Général dissident Nkundabatware et autres fauteurs de trouble doivent faire l’objet d’un mandat d’arrêt international dans un effort concerté de lutter contre la culture dominante de l’impunité. Nous demandons que la Cour Pénale Internationale enquête et poursuive les dirigeants régionaux qui ont soutenu, financé et armé les milices en RDC.
Background
12. La République Démocratique du Congo a accédé à la souveraineté internationale le 30 juin 1960. Tour à tour propriété du Roi Belge Léopold II (1885-1908) et du Royaume de Belgique (1908-1960), elle demeure de nos jours encore sous la domination des puissances extérieures.
13. La République Démocratique du Congo respire encore l’air pollué de sept ans de guerre (1996-2002) dite « troisième Guerre Mondiale » [6] qui a impliqué plus de huit pays africains (Rwanda, Ouganda, Burundi comme pays agresseurs; et Angola, Namibie, Zimbabwe et Tchad comme alliés de la RDC) et plusieurs groupes rebelles nationaux et étrangers (UNITA de Savimbi, FDLR anciens rebelles hutu, MLC, RCD et ses variantes, etc.). Mais en réalité, beaucoup d’acteurs privés et étatiques d’autres continents en ont retire d’énormes avantages économiques et politiques. [7] Les conséquences de ces guerres sont une catastrophe humaine [8], écologique et économique incalculable. Des rapports crédibles ont montré que plus de 3.500.000 des personnes sont mortes, environ 40.000 cas de viols ont été reportés [9] et plus de 17.000 enfants ont été recrutés comme soldats. [10] Le Secrétaire Général adjoint des Nations Unies en charge des Affaires humanitaires et Coordonnateur de l’assistance d’urgence, John Holmes, a eu ces mots forts pour exprimer ce qu’il a entendu au Kivu/RDC : « c’est tout simplement incroyable; pas de mot juste pour décrire ce que j’ai entendu. Je ne peux dire qu’une seule chose : « Plus jamais ». Je n’oublierai jamais ces récits toute ma vie ». [11] “ Plus jamais”, l’expression qui a été utilisée après les deux guerres mondiales l’est encore aujourd’hui.
13 Novembre 2007, Johannesbourg, Afrique du Sud
FOCAS
---------------------------------
[1] Barouski D. 2007. “Blood minerals” in the Kivu Provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=12971 . Barouski D. 2007. Laurent Nkunda, His Rwandan Allies and the Ex-ANC mutiny : Chronic Barriers to Lasting Peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo. http://www.zmag.org/racewatch/LKandexANC.pdf. United Nations Security Council. “Letter Dated July 9 From the Coordinator of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo Addressed to the Chairman of the Security Council Committee Established Pursuant to Resolution 1533(2004) S/2004/551. 15 July 2004. Amnesty International 2005. Democratic Republic of Congo: arming the East. AFR62/006/2005
[2] Conseil de Sécurité des Nations Unies, Rapport final des Experts du Panel sur l’exploitation illégale des ressources naturelles et autres formes de richesse de la République Démocratique du Congo.
[3] Human Rights Watch 2007; Barouski D., 2007
[4] Barouski D., 2007
[5] Parmi les compagnies impliquées dans ce réseau de commerce illégal des ressources congolaises pillées, on note: Metal Processing Association (MPA) basée en Afrique du Sud; Metmar Trading; Iron and Steel Association of South Africa; Mittal Steel; Metal Processing in Congo; Bangandula Mining Group; Edith Krall Metal Congo SCARL (de l’autrichien Michael Krall); GBC liée à M. Albers d’Allemagne; H.C. Stark; Bayer Group A.G; COPIMAR (Coopérative pour la Promotion des industries minières artisanales); Godefrey Bayoli Stones; Masingiro (M. Albers d’Allemagne); Karl Heinz Albers Holding International (KHA); Alfred Knight Holdings (AKH), une compagnie britanique; Nobium Mining Company (NMC) basée à Londres; NMC Metallurgy SARL( Kigali); A&M Minerals Limited (basée à New York et Bruxelles). Pour plus d’informations sur la question de savoir comment ces compagnies sont liées à l’exploitation et au commerce illégal des ressources minérales de la RDC, lire: Barouski D 2007. ‘Blood Minerals’ in the Kivu Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Znet/Activism.
[6] F. Borello, A First Few Steps: The Long Road to a Just Peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, ICTJ October 2004, p.iii.
[7] Jakkie Celliers & Mark Malan, “Peacekeeping in the DRC: Monuc and the Road of Peace”, ISS Monograph Series, No. 66, October 2001, p. 24, § 3.
[8] Yves Beigbeder, International Justice against Impunity: Progress and New Challenges, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, p.174, § 6.
[9] “Sexual Violence Against Women and Children in DRC: A Joint Initiative With View to Prevention and to Meet the Needs of Victims”, Kinshasa, November 2003. Cette initiative conjointe comprend un nombre d’ONG internationales et des agences des Nations Unies oeuvrant en RDC dans la lutte contre les violences sexuelles et les viols, à l’Est de la RDC. En novembre 2003, cette initiative conjointe a élaboré un Projet d’action national pour arrêter les violences sexuelles à l’Est de la RDC et répondre aux besoins des rescapés de la guerre. Ce projet est actuellement sur la table des Officiels des Nations Unies et autres partenaires bilatéraux et multilatéraux de la RDC.
[10] www.rdc.humanitaire.net/f/IMG/pdf/RDC_humanitarian_focus_Feb_07-1pdf
[11] http://www.jeunesafrique.com_afrique/article_depeche.asp?art_cle=XIN70027johnhsuvikx0 (See on 6 Sept.07)
US Secretary of State to pay a visit to Ethiopia.
Sudan Tribune
By Tesfa-alem Tekle
30 November 2007
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will pay a visit to Ethiopia next week.
In her tour to the continent, she will hold talks with leaders and officials from the African Great Lakes region, Sudan, Somalia, Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.
Ways of maintaining regional peace and security, is the prior agenda of her visit to Africa which includes the issue of Darfur crises and ways of deploying peace keepers acccessing humanitarian aid in the fragile Sudanese region.
Rice is expected to be in Addis Ababa on December 5, 2007 according to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
This is her third time to pay a visit to sub-sahran Africa since she is appointed as secretary of state for the US government in 2005.
During her two-day visit, Rice will also discuss on the issues of Somalia and on implementing Sudanese comprehensive peace agreement with African Union members, the United Nations and east African ministers.
By Tesfa-alem Tekle
30 November 2007
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will pay a visit to Ethiopia next week.
In her tour to the continent, she will hold talks with leaders and officials from the African Great Lakes region, Sudan, Somalia, Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.
Ways of maintaining regional peace and security, is the prior agenda of her visit to Africa which includes the issue of Darfur crises and ways of deploying peace keepers acccessing humanitarian aid in the fragile Sudanese region.
Rice is expected to be in Addis Ababa on December 5, 2007 according to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
This is her third time to pay a visit to sub-sahran Africa since she is appointed as secretary of state for the US government in 2005.
During her two-day visit, Rice will also discuss on the issues of Somalia and on implementing Sudanese comprehensive peace agreement with African Union members, the United Nations and east African ministers.
UK troops ready in case of Kosovo crisis.
The Guardian.
Ian Traynor, Europe editor
November 30, 2007
Britain yesterday offered to be the first Nato country to send extra troops to Kosovo within weeks, as the Conservatives and Balkan experts warned of a potentially violent crisis brewing.
While David Cameron accused the Kremlin of stirring up trouble in the Balkans and warned of a new crisis by Christmas, Gordon Brown's government also risked Russian wrath by issuing a robust statement of support for quick Kosovan independence.
Lord Ashdown, the former international governor of Bosnia, accused the Russians and the Serbian government of fomenting trouble in Bosnia and Kosovo, and demanded troops reinforcements to try to keep the peace. "Unless we get a grip on this situation very fast, the issue of the Balkans will be back on our agenda with a vengeance," Ashdown told the BBC.
Amid a growing sense of foreboding after the collapse of two years of negotiations between the Serb and Kosovo Albanian leaderships over the future of the contested Balkan province, the Foreign Office signalled strong support for a breakaway Kosovo.
"Long-term European stability and security demand a viable status settlement for Kosovo without delay," a spokesman said, voicing support for the supervised independence proposed by the UN envoy, Martti Ahtisaari. If more peacekeepers were needed in Kosovo, Britain would be the first to send extra forces, he said.
In one of his first big foreign policy speeches in Washington last night, Cameron called for extra troops immediately to pre-empt violence. "There could be a new crisis in the Balkans by Christmas ... That is a direct threat to our national security, and we must take decisive action now to prevent it," he said.
British diplomats indicated that any call for extra troops should first come from Nato commanders on the ground.
Ian Traynor, Europe editor
November 30, 2007
Britain yesterday offered to be the first Nato country to send extra troops to Kosovo within weeks, as the Conservatives and Balkan experts warned of a potentially violent crisis brewing.
While David Cameron accused the Kremlin of stirring up trouble in the Balkans and warned of a new crisis by Christmas, Gordon Brown's government also risked Russian wrath by issuing a robust statement of support for quick Kosovan independence.
Lord Ashdown, the former international governor of Bosnia, accused the Russians and the Serbian government of fomenting trouble in Bosnia and Kosovo, and demanded troops reinforcements to try to keep the peace. "Unless we get a grip on this situation very fast, the issue of the Balkans will be back on our agenda with a vengeance," Ashdown told the BBC.
Amid a growing sense of foreboding after the collapse of two years of negotiations between the Serb and Kosovo Albanian leaderships over the future of the contested Balkan province, the Foreign Office signalled strong support for a breakaway Kosovo.
"Long-term European stability and security demand a viable status settlement for Kosovo without delay," a spokesman said, voicing support for the supervised independence proposed by the UN envoy, Martti Ahtisaari. If more peacekeepers were needed in Kosovo, Britain would be the first to send extra forces, he said.
In one of his first big foreign policy speeches in Washington last night, Cameron called for extra troops immediately to pre-empt violence. "There could be a new crisis in the Balkans by Christmas ... That is a direct threat to our national security, and we must take decisive action now to prevent it," he said.
British diplomats indicated that any call for extra troops should first come from Nato commanders on the ground.
US military delegation ends visit to Burkina Faso
PANAPress (Senegal)
November 28, 2007
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso - An American military
delegation has rounded off its visit to Burkina Faso,
as part of efforts by the US to explain to African
leaders the mission of the US Africa Command
(AFRICOM).
The delegation, headed by Rear Admiral Robert Moeller,
was received Tuesday by the Head of State of Burkina
Faso, Blaise Compaore, who also chairs the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
"We explained the mission of AFRICOM to him and we
hope that we can work together," Moeller told
journalists after his meeting with Campaore.
He said the AFRICOM was set up to co-ordinate American
military activities in Africa, to ensure the
effectiveness of the military partnership between
United States and the continent.
After Burkina Faso, the American delegation will head
for Abuja, the Nigerian capital, where it will visit
the ECOWAS Commission headquarters.
The establishment of AFRICOM last October has
generated fears across the continent that the US will
set up military bases in the continent.
Several countries, including Nigeria, has openly
rejected the setting up of US military bases in their
territories.
November 28, 2007
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso - An American military
delegation has rounded off its visit to Burkina Faso,
as part of efforts by the US to explain to African
leaders the mission of the US Africa Command
(AFRICOM).
The delegation, headed by Rear Admiral Robert Moeller,
was received Tuesday by the Head of State of Burkina
Faso, Blaise Compaore, who also chairs the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
"We explained the mission of AFRICOM to him and we
hope that we can work together," Moeller told
journalists after his meeting with Campaore.
He said the AFRICOM was set up to co-ordinate American
military activities in Africa, to ensure the
effectiveness of the military partnership between
United States and the continent.
After Burkina Faso, the American delegation will head
for Abuja, the Nigerian capital, where it will visit
the ECOWAS Commission headquarters.
The establishment of AFRICOM last October has
generated fears across the continent that the US will
set up military bases in the continent.
Several countries, including Nigeria, has openly
rejected the setting up of US military bases in their
territories.
Kosovo deadlock puts Balkans on the brink.
The Times (London)
November 29, 2007
By Catherine Philp
-Russia, which sided with Serbia to block a previous
Western-backed independence deal, looks set to remain
opposed. But even countries such as Spain, Greece and
Cyprus have signalled their disquiet at an
independence deal, fearing that it could embolden
separatists within their own borders.
No precedent exists for the creation of a new state by
international committee and against the will of the
sovereign power.
-Any declaration of independence will force other
states to decide whether to recognise Kosovo's
independence.
That dilemma raises the old Balkan ghosts surrounding
the break-up of Yugoslavia, in which domino-like
independence declarations by Croatia, Slovenia and
Bosnia set the stage for the Bosnian War.
The threat of a new war in the Balkans loomed
yesterday after the collapse of talks between Serbs
and Albanians over the future of Kosovo.
Three days of negotiations overseen by international
mediators broke down, with both sides refusing to
budge over their claims to the breakaway province.
The Albanian majority of Kosovo has threatened to
declare independence unilaterally.
Serbia, which regards Kosovo as the cradle of its
civilisation, said that this could cause unrest across
the fragile Balkans, which still bear the scars of the
conflict of the Nineties. "The peace of the Balkans is
very much at stake," Frank Wisner, the United States
envoy to the talks, said. "It is a volatile region."
The breakdown of the talks leaves Kosovo in the same
limbo that it has inhabited since the United Nations
took over its administration in 1998 after Nato drove
out Serbian troops.
Tensions have already spilled over into violence
several times this year.
The United States, the European Union and Russia, who
make up the "troika" of international mediators, now
have until December 10 to give their recommendations
for a settlement to the United Nations Security
Council.
Russia, which sided with Serbia to block a previous
Western-backed independence deal, looks set to remain
opposed. But even countries such as Spain, Greece and
Cyprus have signalled their disquiet at an
independence deal, fearing that it could embolden
separatists within their own borders.
No precedent exists for the creation of a new state by
international committee and against the will of the
sovereign power.
Kosovo may enjoy powerful support on the international
stage, but there are plenty who do not want to see it
win independence now.
Fatmir Sejdiu, the President of Kosovo, promised that
an independence declaration would come "very quickly."
Boris Tadic, the Serbian President, vowed to "annul"
any such announcement. "Serbia will not accept the
independence of Kosovo," he said.
Serbia has cautioned that international recognition of
the independence of Kosovo could cause the Serb
enclave of northern Kosovo to secede and spark a
secession movement among the Serbs of Bosnia. It has
also threatened to mount an economic blockade.
Both sides said that they were committed to a
non-violent outcome, but Albanian militia are said to
be patrolling the boundary between Kosovo and Serbia,
while Serbian militia are said to be arming themselves
to defend their Kosovan compatriots.
Mr Wisner warned that a settlement would have to come
soon. "The status quo over Kosovo is not sustainable,"
he said. With independence all but inevitable,
diplomatic efforts are now likely to focus on Hashim
Thaci, the Prime Minister in waiting for Kosovo, who
will decide when such a declaration is made.
It could come as early as December 10, the official
deadline for negotiations to end. The Western backers
of Kosovo, however, are likely to pressure Mr Thaci to
wait until the new year while they try to limit the
fallout.
Any declaration of independence will force other
states to decide whether to recognise Kosovo's
independence.
That dilemma raises the old Balkan ghosts surrounding
the break-up of Yugoslavia, in which domino-like
independence declarations by Croatia, Slovenia and
Bosnia set the stage for the Bosnian War.
November 29, 2007
By Catherine Philp
-Russia, which sided with Serbia to block a previous
Western-backed independence deal, looks set to remain
opposed. But even countries such as Spain, Greece and
Cyprus have signalled their disquiet at an
independence deal, fearing that it could embolden
separatists within their own borders.
No precedent exists for the creation of a new state by
international committee and against the will of the
sovereign power.
-Any declaration of independence will force other
states to decide whether to recognise Kosovo's
independence.
That dilemma raises the old Balkan ghosts surrounding
the break-up of Yugoslavia, in which domino-like
independence declarations by Croatia, Slovenia and
Bosnia set the stage for the Bosnian War.
The threat of a new war in the Balkans loomed
yesterday after the collapse of talks between Serbs
and Albanians over the future of Kosovo.
Three days of negotiations overseen by international
mediators broke down, with both sides refusing to
budge over their claims to the breakaway province.
The Albanian majority of Kosovo has threatened to
declare independence unilaterally.
Serbia, which regards Kosovo as the cradle of its
civilisation, said that this could cause unrest across
the fragile Balkans, which still bear the scars of the
conflict of the Nineties. "The peace of the Balkans is
very much at stake," Frank Wisner, the United States
envoy to the talks, said. "It is a volatile region."
The breakdown of the talks leaves Kosovo in the same
limbo that it has inhabited since the United Nations
took over its administration in 1998 after Nato drove
out Serbian troops.
Tensions have already spilled over into violence
several times this year.
The United States, the European Union and Russia, who
make up the "troika" of international mediators, now
have until December 10 to give their recommendations
for a settlement to the United Nations Security
Council.
Russia, which sided with Serbia to block a previous
Western-backed independence deal, looks set to remain
opposed. But even countries such as Spain, Greece and
Cyprus have signalled their disquiet at an
independence deal, fearing that it could embolden
separatists within their own borders.
No precedent exists for the creation of a new state by
international committee and against the will of the
sovereign power.
Kosovo may enjoy powerful support on the international
stage, but there are plenty who do not want to see it
win independence now.
Fatmir Sejdiu, the President of Kosovo, promised that
an independence declaration would come "very quickly."
Boris Tadic, the Serbian President, vowed to "annul"
any such announcement. "Serbia will not accept the
independence of Kosovo," he said.
Serbia has cautioned that international recognition of
the independence of Kosovo could cause the Serb
enclave of northern Kosovo to secede and spark a
secession movement among the Serbs of Bosnia. It has
also threatened to mount an economic blockade.
Both sides said that they were committed to a
non-violent outcome, but Albanian militia are said to
be patrolling the boundary between Kosovo and Serbia,
while Serbian militia are said to be arming themselves
to defend their Kosovan compatriots.
Mr Wisner warned that a settlement would have to come
soon. "The status quo over Kosovo is not sustainable,"
he said. With independence all but inevitable,
diplomatic efforts are now likely to focus on Hashim
Thaci, the Prime Minister in waiting for Kosovo, who
will decide when such a declaration is made.
It could come as early as December 10, the official
deadline for negotiations to end. The Western backers
of Kosovo, however, are likely to pressure Mr Thaci to
wait until the new year while they try to limit the
fallout.
Any declaration of independence will force other
states to decide whether to recognise Kosovo's
independence.
That dilemma raises the old Balkan ghosts surrounding
the break-up of Yugoslavia, in which domino-like
independence declarations by Croatia, Slovenia and
Bosnia set the stage for the Bosnian War.
30 November, 2007
VP Receives Israel Ambassador, Outgoing UNDP Chargé d'Affaires.
The Daily Observer (Banjul)
30 November 2007
By Alhagie Jobe
Dr Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy, Vice President and secretary of State for women affairs yesterday received at her office Mr Gideon Behar, Israel ambassador in Dakar and Mr Adama Guindo, out-going UNDP Chargé d'affaires in The Gambia.
Speaking to journalists soon after his audience with Vice-President Njie-Saidy, Mr Gideon Behar, Israel ambassador in Dakar said his discussion with the Vice President centred on the result of his visit to the Gambia, four days of touring in the north and south banks of the country to know better about the Gambia, its people and geographical condition.
" We have also discussed the possibilities of cooperation between the two countries in the areas of agriculture, health, education and commerce. I hope that this visit will bear fruit and we will see concrete actions on the ground and cooperation between the two friendly states of The Gambia and Israel" he said.
He added that the Gambia will greatly benefit in the field of education in its cooperation with Israel noting that this year, people from the Ministry of education of The Gambia went to Israel for training and hope that in the coming years other people from the ministries of agriculture and environment will follow suit.
He noted that they have also discussed the possibility of Israel doctors coming to The Gambia for operations and expressed hope that this idea will materialise and concrete actions will be taken as soon as possible.
For his part, Mr Adama Guindo, out-going UNDP Chargé d'affaires in The Gambia said his visit to Vice President Njie-Saidy was to bid farewell and to brief her on stance of the cooperation between the UNDP and the government of The Gambia today. "We have reviewed the project we signed two months back and the implementation stages of those projects are on course. We are also in the process of finalising the recruitment of the project staff and today we will hand over equipment for the project to ease the job" he said.
He expressed delight at the project which was signed two months back noting that it is running smoothly and that they have also reviewed the state of the round table conference paper preparation.
He commended the government of the Gambia for successfully completing its poverty reduction programme (PRSP II) which will be tabled before the donor conference for policy dialogue and resource mobilisation. "I am also happy to say that the technical documentation for the PRSP in the round table is completed and is uploaded in the website to be seen my all interested partners. The quality of the documentation is highly appreciative" he noted.
The out-going UNDP Chargé d'affaires in The Gambia is heading to DR Congo, Kinshasa to pick up another appointment.
30 November 2007
By Alhagie Jobe
Dr Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy, Vice President and secretary of State for women affairs yesterday received at her office Mr Gideon Behar, Israel ambassador in Dakar and Mr Adama Guindo, out-going UNDP Chargé d'affaires in The Gambia.
Speaking to journalists soon after his audience with Vice-President Njie-Saidy, Mr Gideon Behar, Israel ambassador in Dakar said his discussion with the Vice President centred on the result of his visit to the Gambia, four days of touring in the north and south banks of the country to know better about the Gambia, its people and geographical condition.
" We have also discussed the possibilities of cooperation between the two countries in the areas of agriculture, health, education and commerce. I hope that this visit will bear fruit and we will see concrete actions on the ground and cooperation between the two friendly states of The Gambia and Israel" he said.
He added that the Gambia will greatly benefit in the field of education in its cooperation with Israel noting that this year, people from the Ministry of education of The Gambia went to Israel for training and hope that in the coming years other people from the ministries of agriculture and environment will follow suit.
He noted that they have also discussed the possibility of Israel doctors coming to The Gambia for operations and expressed hope that this idea will materialise and concrete actions will be taken as soon as possible.
For his part, Mr Adama Guindo, out-going UNDP Chargé d'affaires in The Gambia said his visit to Vice President Njie-Saidy was to bid farewell and to brief her on stance of the cooperation between the UNDP and the government of The Gambia today. "We have reviewed the project we signed two months back and the implementation stages of those projects are on course. We are also in the process of finalising the recruitment of the project staff and today we will hand over equipment for the project to ease the job" he said.
He expressed delight at the project which was signed two months back noting that it is running smoothly and that they have also reviewed the state of the round table conference paper preparation.
He commended the government of the Gambia for successfully completing its poverty reduction programme (PRSP II) which will be tabled before the donor conference for policy dialogue and resource mobilisation. "I am also happy to say that the technical documentation for the PRSP in the round table is completed and is uploaded in the website to be seen my all interested partners. The quality of the documentation is highly appreciative" he noted.
The out-going UNDP Chargé d'affaires in The Gambia is heading to DR Congo, Kinshasa to pick up another appointment.
Chad’s president cancels U.S. visit after rebel attacks.
United Press International
30 November 2007
Attacks on Chadian troops protecting Darfur refugees have forced Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno to postpone a scheduled visit to the United States.
A statement issued by the Chadian Embassy in Washington said Deby had been planning a trip to New York, Atlanta, Houston and Washington this week but was forced to cancel his plans when Sudan-based rebels Monday attacked refugee camps in Hadjer Hadid in eastern Chad.
The statement said Deby’s planned visit to New York included a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. Security Council to reaffirm his commitment to ending the genocide in Darfur.
"He is committed to protecting vulnerable displaced Chadians and 250,000 refugees from Darfur who are sheltering in Chad, as well as European Union peacekeepers deployed within the country," the statement said.
No new date for his trip was announced.
30 November 2007
Attacks on Chadian troops protecting Darfur refugees have forced Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno to postpone a scheduled visit to the United States.
A statement issued by the Chadian Embassy in Washington said Deby had been planning a trip to New York, Atlanta, Houston and Washington this week but was forced to cancel his plans when Sudan-based rebels Monday attacked refugee camps in Hadjer Hadid in eastern Chad.
The statement said Deby’s planned visit to New York included a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. Security Council to reaffirm his commitment to ending the genocide in Darfur.
"He is committed to protecting vulnerable displaced Chadians and 250,000 refugees from Darfur who are sheltering in Chad, as well as European Union peacekeepers deployed within the country," the statement said.
No new date for his trip was announced.
Uganda LRA rebel deserters say Kony executed deputy.
Reuters
30 November 2007
A group of deserters from Uganda's notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) said on Friday the rebels' leader Joseph Kony had executed his deputy Vincent Otti, who has been instrumental in peace talks.
"What you should know is that Kony ordered for Otti's execution on the 2nd of October," former LRA commander Sunday Otto told reporters, speaking on behalf of seven rebels flown to Kampala after handing themselves in to U.N. peacekeepers.
30 November 2007
A group of deserters from Uganda's notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) said on Friday the rebels' leader Joseph Kony had executed his deputy Vincent Otti, who has been instrumental in peace talks.
"What you should know is that Kony ordered for Otti's execution on the 2nd of October," former LRA commander Sunday Otto told reporters, speaking on behalf of seven rebels flown to Kampala after handing themselves in to U.N. peacekeepers.
ICTR Detainees Declare They Are Political Prisoners of the United Nations.
Arusha, 15 November 2007
ICTR Detainees Arusha - Tanzania
The UN Security Council President,
Members of the UN Security Council,
The UN Secretary General,
The ICTR President,
Objet: Transmission of the Declaration of the ICTR accused and convicted persons declaring their status as "Political Prisoners of United Nations"
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We, the ICTR accused and convicted persons signatory to the present letter, have the honor to forward to you hereby attached a Declaration stating our status as Political Prisoners of United Nations.
Sincerely yours.
The signatories: see the list of the signatories of the Declaration [PDF file link below]
DECLARATION OF THE ACCUSED AND CONVICTED OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR RWANDA (lCTR) STATING THEIR STATUS AS POLITICAL PRISONERS OF THE UNITED NATIONS
We, the accused and convicted persons of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, signatories to the present Declaration,
Having noted that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was diverted from its official mission to become a political instrument intended to protect the interests of the Victor in the Rwandan conflict which opposed the invading RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front), heavily supported by Uganda, to the legitimate institutions of the Republic of Rwanda and to the Rwandan people in general;[1]
Deeply concerned with the ICTR policy obviously aimed at legitimizing the exclusion of Hutus by the RPF regime from the social and economic reconstruction of our country, as well as, at judging and convicting the leaders of the Hutu community to long prison sentences in order to establish that ethnic exclusion;[2]
Recalling the Security Council Resolution 955[3] on the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda with the mission "to prosecute persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda and Rwandan citizens responsible for such violations committed in the territory of neighboring States between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994, in accordance with the provisions of the present Statute”;[4]
Noting that when creating the ICTR, the Security Council had the objective to put an end to crimes which were being committed in Rwanda and was determined "to take effective measures" for "the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law" in order to contribute to "the process of national reconciliation and to the restoration and maintenance of peace”;
Recalling that the Security Council decision to establish the ICTR was mainly founded on the preliminary report of the Commission of Experts "on the violations of the international humanitarian law in Rwanda”,[5] completed thereafter by the final report;[6]
Noting that in that final report, the commission recognized that individuals from both sides to the armed conflict "perpetrated crimes against humanity”.[7] The Commission acknowledged, in particular, that "there exists substantial grounds to conclude that mass assassinations, summary executions, breaches of international humanitarian law and crimes against humanity were also perpetrated by Tutsi elements against Hutu individuals"[8] and "recommends that investigation on violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law attributed to the Rwandan Patriotic Front be continued by the ICTR Prosecutor”,[9] including the attack against the aircraft carrying President Habyarimana,[10] which triggered the tragedy;
Noting besides that the Security Council took into account that report which implicates both sides to the conflict, in deciding to establish the seat of the ICTR in a country other than Rwanda, namely, in the town of Arusha, in Tanzania, in order to ensure impartiality and objectivity of the Tribunal;[11]
Bearing in mind that Rwandans from all sides, devoted to peace and justice, including those who fled their country following the take over of the country by the RPF by force, supported the idea of creating an international Tribunal under the auspices of the United Nations with a mission to conduct impartial investigations in order to establish the truth about the Rwandan tragedy, identify impartially those responsible for the crimes committed, including those who perpetrated the attack against the President Habyarimana's aircraft, and proceed to their prosecution;
Noting that the ICTR has largely been a disappointment by not living up to the expectations of the Rwandan people and of members of the international community genuinely committed to fair justice, to the return of everlasting peace and to national reconciliation in Rwanda, notably, by way of the following actions, omissions or decisions:
Not having taken into consideration the war launched by the RPF from Uganda, its strategy of destabilizing the country since 1st October 1990 and, especially, the attack perpetrated against President Habyarimana's plane, on 6 April 1994, as well as the resumption of hostilities by the RPF, immediately thereafter, in violation of the Arusha Agreement;
The fact that the ICTR Prosecutor has ignored these facts without which, in the view of reliable observers, the Rwandan tragedy would not have occurred;
The fact that the ICTR Prosecutor categorically refused to continue and finalize investigations on the attack against the aircraft carrying President Habyarimana, after she had been informed, in May 1997, of the report of his investigator, M. Michael Hourigan, pointing to General Kagame as the perpetrator of the attack; the fact that she claimed from then on that the attack was not under the mandate of the Tribunal and/or had no link with the massacres that yet it triggered, maintaining at the same time her fallacious theory of "pre-planed genocide of Tutsis" by Hutus;[12]
The fact that, by that decision, the Prosecutor does not want the world to know that the RPF is not the savior of the Tutsis, as claimed by the manipulated media, since, if Kagame and the RPF "were found guilty of triggering the events of 1994, the Manichean narrative concerning the evil Hutu genocidaires and innocent Tutsi victims would be thrown into question”;[13]
The fact that, on the contrary, the Office of the Prosecutor actively sought evidence to convict persons chosen arbitrarily as samples representing socio-professional and political categories from the side of the vanquished [14] even by fabricating it in complicity with the RPF, whereas judgments by the Chambers are not at all concerned with establishing the truth; hence, there is a very high risk of having innocent people convicted;
The absence of independence and impartiality on the part of the Tribunal which is reflected through several decisions blatantly partial and directed against Hutus appearing before the Tribunal,[15] and the refusal to prosecute RPF members responsible for crimes against international humanitarian law, pursuant to the ICTR Statute;
The conspiracy between the Prosecutor and the RPF regime to transfer the ICTR accused persons to Rwanda to be tried before jurisdictions of that regime whose leaders are nevertheless responsible of serious crimes against international humanitarian law;[16]
The maneuvers by the ICTR authorities to hand over ICTR convicted persons to that regime whose leaders must instead be prosecuted before this institution;[17]
Considering that the Security Council, instead of making sure that RPF soldiers responsible for serious crimes against international humanitarian law are arrested and prosecuted, in implementation of its Resolutions 1503 of 28 August 2003 and 1534 of 26 March 2004, rather confirmed by its Resolution 1774 of 14 September 2007, the closing of all trial proceedings at the ICTR by the end of 2008;
Noting the confirmation, by reliable sources including officials from the Office of the Prosecutor, of the manipulation of the Tribunal by the American Administration and the British Government in order to shield the RPF from prosecution for the crimes committed during the period that falls within the ICTR jurisdiction, including the assassination of President Habyarimana;[18]
Considering that the UN and ICTR authorities turned deaf ears to our appeals[19] and to the appeals from individuals and associations all over the world in relation to the respect of the official missions of the ICTR as enshrined in Resolution 955 of 8 November 1994,[20] to wit: 1) conduct investigations on all serious crimes against international humanitarian law; 2) prosecute all individuals responsible for such crimes; 3) contribute to national reconciliation;
Having noted that the ICTR has not accomplished any of its missions but has instead been diverted in order to serve as an instrument of the foreign policy of certain superpowers, members of the Security Council, and to reinforce the military dictatorship established in Rwanda by the RPF excluding the Hutu community from power, notably, through collective incrimination and iniquitous justice based on ethnicity;
Strongly convinced that the (CTR has deliberately and arbitrarily conducted arrests only among members of the Hutu ethnic group with a precise political goal of presenting the Hutus as the sole people responsible for the 1994 tragedy, and thus covering up the crimes committed by the RPF;[21]
Consider that the ICTR has put us in prison, first and foremost, for political reasons. On that account, we are POLITICAL PRISONERS of the United Nations. Consequently, we are going, henceforth, to act as such, notably, by denouncing before the international public opinion, the unfairness of trials and judgments issued by that Tribunal under the control of RPF criminals and its powerful supporters with the real but undeclared mission of imposing victor's justice;
Affirm that we have no intention of running away from justice. On the contrary, we strongly and loudly demand the establishment of the truth and fair justice, which are the required conditions to achieve reconciliation of the Rwandan people;
Denounce, in the strongest terms, the blatant political orientation taken by the Tribunal and its transformation into a Tribunal of the Victor, namely, the RPF, as well as the collective and arbitrary incrimination of the Hutu community, which exacerbated resentment between Hutus and Tutsis whereas the Tribunal had instead the mission to contribute to their reconciliation;
Urge the UN authorities, particularly, the members of the Security Council, to make an objective assessment of the judicial activity of the ICTR with regard to its official missions, so as to acknowledge that this Tribunal has failed in its most important objective of establishing the truth, administering fair justice, fighting impunity, as well as, reconciling the Rwandan people;
Request these UN authorities:
1) To extend the mandate of the ICTR instead of shutting it down with such catastrophic assessment and envisage to conduct ongoing proceedings taking into account the new evidence which manifestly question the judgments and the prosecution strategy based on false or partial information with regard to the Rwandan tragedy;
2) To make sure that the ICTR put at the disposal of the convicted persons necessary facilities for the preparation of their motions for the review of their judgments on the basis of the new evidence;
3) To invite the ICTR to proceed, without delay, with the indictment of General Paul Kagame and his collaborators, accused of crimes against the international humanitarian law;
4) To ensure the strict respect of the ICTR missions as enshrined in Resolution 955 of 8 November 1994 and to ensure the independence and impartiality of the Tribunal;
5) To abort the conspiracy aimed at transferring to Rwanda ICTR accused and convicted persons and, instead, to intervene strongly in favor of tens of thousands of people rotting in the death prisons of Rwanda so that they can be granted human detention conditions and benefit from fair justice,[22] to put an end to numerous arbitrary arrests and detentions without files, as well as extra judiciary executions of prisoners and mysterious disappearances of persons;
6) To intervene in order to put an end to hunting down and to arbitrary and discriminatory arrests of Hutus in exile on the basis of arbitrary lists made by the RPF regime whose awful objective is to silence any political opposition to the dictatorship established in Rwanda and even to annihilate Hutus;
Request all Rwandans, particularly, organizations of Rwandans in exile, international organizations and all persons dedicated to fair justice, to help us make our voice understood for the triumph of the truth and justice which constitute the only conditions that will enable the return of peace, promote reconciliation, democracy and harmonious development of the Rwandan people.
Done at Arusha, 15 November 2007
The signatories: see the list of the signatories of the Declaration [PDF file link]*
[1] Rwanda was victim of external aggression from Uganda with massive support from that country without sparking off any firm condemnation by the international community. Indeed, since Uganda was used by certain powerful countries to serve their strategic interests in the region, the international community did not dare to put pressure on that country in order to put an end to the war imposed needlessly on the Rwandan people, what regretted Mr. Herman J. Cohen, former US Under Secretary of State in charge of Africa, in his book titled Intervening in Africa -Superpower Peacekeeping in a Troubled Continent. Worse, the ICTR took judicial notice that the conflict was of internal character instead of international in order to protect powerful external actors in the conflict.
[2] International Crisis Group (ICG), in its Report Africa No 30 dated 7 June 2001, p. 2 and particularly on page 9 where it says: . At the present stage, it [ICTR} contributes to reinforcing the authority of the Kigali regime. By hunting down the leaders of the defeated regime, the ICTR disqualified them from pretending to exercise one day a political role in Rwanda."
[3] S/RES/9S5 (1994) on 8 November 1994.
[4] Article 1 of the ICTR Statute adopted as Annex to the Resolution 955 of 8 November 1994.
[5] Report transmitted to the Security Council by the UN Secretary General by his letter on 1st October 1994 (Doc. 5/1994/1125).
[6] Doc. S/1994/1405 of 9 December 1994.
[7] Doc. S/1994/1405 on 9 December 1994, §§ 181-182.
[8] Ibid., §§ 95; 186.
[9] Ibid. §§ 100; 186.
[10] The Security Council requested several times to the Secretary General to collect information about the responsibility in the death of Presidents of Burundi and Rwanda and to report to it (Declaration of the President ofthe Security Council- S/PRST/1994/16 on 7 April 1994; Resolutions: S/RES/912 (1994) of 21 April 1994; S/RES/918 (1994) of 17 May 1994.
[11] Doc. S/1995/134 of 13 February 1995, §§ 42-43.
[12] Concerning that refusal and his new theory about the ICTR mandate concerning the attack, see Report made by Mr. Michael Hourigan, ICTR investigator, dated 1st August 1997, put into evidence notably in Military I Case as Exhibit DB247, as well as his testimony in the same case put into evidence as Exhibit DNT365. The Prosecutor sustains, since 1997, that fallacious theory within and out of the court, whereas ICTR chambers systematically rejected defense motions requesting investigation on the assassination of President Habyarimana. On the contrary, in his reaction to the “Ordonnance de soit communiqué” of the French Judge Jean louis Bruguiere, dated 17 November 2006, against RPF members for their implication in the attack against President Habyarimana plane, the former Prosecutor M. Richard Goldstone rightly confirmed in the Danish Daily of 10 December 2006 (Berlingske Tidende¬National) that the attack against the President Habyarimana's plane falls well within the mandate of the Tribunal [the ICTR Statute is sufficiently clear on the subject, in its articles 1 and 4]. Despite the fact that Judge Bruguiere's investigations were serious and well detailed, Mr. O'Donnell, ICTR Deputy Registrar and spokesperson of the Tribunal, rejected his conclusions, confirming, once again, the bad faith of the Tribunal. Concerning his theory of planned genocide of Tutsis by the Hutus, the Prosecutor has not been able, as of today, to prove it.
[13] See the Article of Steven Da Silva dated 1st June 2007. Even the Prosecutor Mme Carla Del Ponte declared during her interview made public in Aktuelt Journal on 17 April 2000 that “If it is the RPF that shot down the plane, the history of genocide must be rewritten.”
[14] See the list attached to our letter dated 31 October 2005 denouncing “Two-speed and discriminatory international justice".
[15] Review, on 31 March 2000, of Appeal's Decision releasing Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza dated 3 November 1999, following pressure on the Tribunal and its judges; The Appeal' Decision dated 16 June 2006, in Karemera et al Case [ICTR-98-44- T] about judicial notice of genocide, while this fundamental question was still the subject of debate before the Chambers. These are blatant examples, among others, that we mentioned particularly in our letter denouncing "Double-standard and discriminatory international justice", dated 31 October 2005.
[16] Prosecutor's motion for the transfer of M. Fulgence Kayishema, indicted person not yet arrested, dated 11 June 2007 and Prosecutor's motions to transfer to Rwanda the cases of detainees Yusuf Munyakazi, Gaspard Kanyarukiga and IIdephonse Hategekimana.
[17] See detainees letters dated: 10/06/2002; 16/02/2004; 29/03/2004; 24/05/2004; 1 4/06/2004; 04/07/2004; 15/07/2004; 19/09/2004; 19/02/2005; 03/04/2006; 10/1/2007; 23/01/2007; 28/03/2007; 21/06/2007; 06/08/2007 et 05/10/2007.
[18] See notably: the testimony of Michael Hourigan in Military I Case put into evidence as DNT365; Madame Florence Hartmann, former spokesperson for the Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, in her book entitled "Paix et châtiment: les guerres secrètes de la politique et de 10 iustice internationals" (Paris, Flammarion, 10 September 2007, particularly in pages 262 to 275 and Agence Hirondelle of 7 September 2007). All those elements are mentioned in our letter 05 October 2007 and in the open letter of Prof. Erlinder addressed to the Security Council on 26 March 2007.
[19] See ICTR detainees letters addressed to the UN and ICTR authorities, notably on: 14/09/1998; 28/10/1998; 19/04/1999; 03/06/1999; 09/08/1999; 18/10/1999; 12/09/1999; 30/11/1999; 17/01/2000; 08/03/2000; 20/03/2000; OS/04/2000; 12/06/2000; 24/10/2000; 15/12/2000; 28/05/2001; 13/12/2001; 12/03/2002; 10/06/2002; 12/08/2003; 16/02/2004; 29/03/2004 ; 14/06/2004; 04/07/2004; 14/01/2005; 19/02/2005; 03/06/2005; 25/06/2006; 10/01/2007; 23/01/2007; 28/03/2007; 08/07/2007; 14/07/2007; 06/08/ 2007 ; 05/10/2007.
[20] They include: Amnesty International, International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), Professor Filip Reyntjens, French Judge Jean Louis Bruguière, Juan Carrero Saralegui, Forces Démocratiques unifiées (FDU), International Crisis Group (ICG), Centre de Lutte Contre l'impunite et 1'injustice au Rwanda (CLIIR), Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Mme Marie-Roger Biloa, Robin Philpot, Charles ONANA, Edouard Herman, Steven Da Silva, Victoire Ingabire, Déo Mushayidi, Forum International pour la Vérité et la Justice dans l'Afrique des Grands Lacs. It is necessary to mention, particularly, the letter dated 7 August 2003, to the Security Council, signed following the removal of Ms Carla Del Ponte from the ICTR, in order to prevent the prosecution of RPF soldiers, by the following personalities: Sidiki Kaba, Président de la Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de I'Homme ; Mike Posner, Executive Director of Lawyers Committee for Human Rights; Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch; Alioune Tine, Secrétaire-Général de la Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de I'Homme. Those personalities requested the Security Council to "ensure that any changes do not undermine the ICTR's efforts to prosecute charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against members of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA)."
[21] Some accused were arrested without any indictment and had to wait in prison for many months to be indicted; others had their indictments modified several times before and/or during the trial because the Prosecutor had no precise charges against them.
[22] The same intervention is required in favor of those who are tried before the Gacaca courts. They are facing a policy of arbitrary denunciation imposed by the RPF regime; they do not have lawyers to defend them and risk severe sentences.
The signatories: see the list of the signatories of the Declaration [PDF file link above*
Copy to:
The ICTR Judges (all);
The ICTR Registrar, Arusha;
The ICTR Prosecutor, Arusha;
Defense Lawyers (all);
ADAD President, Arusha;
The President of the European Union;
The President of the African Union;
Commission for Human Rights, Geneva;
International Commission of Jurists, Geneva.
American Association of Jurists;
International Association of Democratic Jurists, New Delhi. European Court of Justice;
European Court for Human Rights, Strasbourg;
African Court for Human Rights;
Center fighting against Impunity and Injustice in Rwanda, Brussels; FDU (Forces Democratiques Unifiees);
Dukomere Association, Brussels;
Families of the signatories;
Amnesty International, London;
Lawyers without borders, Paris;
FDIH, Paris;
Human Rights Watch;
The Press
ICTR Detainees Arusha - Tanzania
The UN Security Council President,
Members of the UN Security Council,
The UN Secretary General,
The ICTR President,
Objet: Transmission of the Declaration of the ICTR accused and convicted persons declaring their status as "Political Prisoners of United Nations"
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We, the ICTR accused and convicted persons signatory to the present letter, have the honor to forward to you hereby attached a Declaration stating our status as Political Prisoners of United Nations.
Sincerely yours.
The signatories: see the list of the signatories of the Declaration [PDF file link below]
DECLARATION OF THE ACCUSED AND CONVICTED OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR RWANDA (lCTR) STATING THEIR STATUS AS POLITICAL PRISONERS OF THE UNITED NATIONS
We, the accused and convicted persons of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, signatories to the present Declaration,
Having noted that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was diverted from its official mission to become a political instrument intended to protect the interests of the Victor in the Rwandan conflict which opposed the invading RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front), heavily supported by Uganda, to the legitimate institutions of the Republic of Rwanda and to the Rwandan people in general;[1]
Deeply concerned with the ICTR policy obviously aimed at legitimizing the exclusion of Hutus by the RPF regime from the social and economic reconstruction of our country, as well as, at judging and convicting the leaders of the Hutu community to long prison sentences in order to establish that ethnic exclusion;[2]
Recalling the Security Council Resolution 955[3] on the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda with the mission "to prosecute persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda and Rwandan citizens responsible for such violations committed in the territory of neighboring States between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994, in accordance with the provisions of the present Statute”;[4]
Noting that when creating the ICTR, the Security Council had the objective to put an end to crimes which were being committed in Rwanda and was determined "to take effective measures" for "the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law" in order to contribute to "the process of national reconciliation and to the restoration and maintenance of peace”;
Recalling that the Security Council decision to establish the ICTR was mainly founded on the preliminary report of the Commission of Experts "on the violations of the international humanitarian law in Rwanda”,[5] completed thereafter by the final report;[6]
Noting that in that final report, the commission recognized that individuals from both sides to the armed conflict "perpetrated crimes against humanity”.[7] The Commission acknowledged, in particular, that "there exists substantial grounds to conclude that mass assassinations, summary executions, breaches of international humanitarian law and crimes against humanity were also perpetrated by Tutsi elements against Hutu individuals"[8] and "recommends that investigation on violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law attributed to the Rwandan Patriotic Front be continued by the ICTR Prosecutor”,[9] including the attack against the aircraft carrying President Habyarimana,[10] which triggered the tragedy;
Noting besides that the Security Council took into account that report which implicates both sides to the conflict, in deciding to establish the seat of the ICTR in a country other than Rwanda, namely, in the town of Arusha, in Tanzania, in order to ensure impartiality and objectivity of the Tribunal;[11]
Bearing in mind that Rwandans from all sides, devoted to peace and justice, including those who fled their country following the take over of the country by the RPF by force, supported the idea of creating an international Tribunal under the auspices of the United Nations with a mission to conduct impartial investigations in order to establish the truth about the Rwandan tragedy, identify impartially those responsible for the crimes committed, including those who perpetrated the attack against the President Habyarimana's aircraft, and proceed to their prosecution;
Noting that the ICTR has largely been a disappointment by not living up to the expectations of the Rwandan people and of members of the international community genuinely committed to fair justice, to the return of everlasting peace and to national reconciliation in Rwanda, notably, by way of the following actions, omissions or decisions:
Not having taken into consideration the war launched by the RPF from Uganda, its strategy of destabilizing the country since 1st October 1990 and, especially, the attack perpetrated against President Habyarimana's plane, on 6 April 1994, as well as the resumption of hostilities by the RPF, immediately thereafter, in violation of the Arusha Agreement;
The fact that the ICTR Prosecutor has ignored these facts without which, in the view of reliable observers, the Rwandan tragedy would not have occurred;
The fact that the ICTR Prosecutor categorically refused to continue and finalize investigations on the attack against the aircraft carrying President Habyarimana, after she had been informed, in May 1997, of the report of his investigator, M. Michael Hourigan, pointing to General Kagame as the perpetrator of the attack; the fact that she claimed from then on that the attack was not under the mandate of the Tribunal and/or had no link with the massacres that yet it triggered, maintaining at the same time her fallacious theory of "pre-planed genocide of Tutsis" by Hutus;[12]
The fact that, by that decision, the Prosecutor does not want the world to know that the RPF is not the savior of the Tutsis, as claimed by the manipulated media, since, if Kagame and the RPF "were found guilty of triggering the events of 1994, the Manichean narrative concerning the evil Hutu genocidaires and innocent Tutsi victims would be thrown into question”;[13]
The fact that, on the contrary, the Office of the Prosecutor actively sought evidence to convict persons chosen arbitrarily as samples representing socio-professional and political categories from the side of the vanquished [14] even by fabricating it in complicity with the RPF, whereas judgments by the Chambers are not at all concerned with establishing the truth; hence, there is a very high risk of having innocent people convicted;
The absence of independence and impartiality on the part of the Tribunal which is reflected through several decisions blatantly partial and directed against Hutus appearing before the Tribunal,[15] and the refusal to prosecute RPF members responsible for crimes against international humanitarian law, pursuant to the ICTR Statute;
The conspiracy between the Prosecutor and the RPF regime to transfer the ICTR accused persons to Rwanda to be tried before jurisdictions of that regime whose leaders are nevertheless responsible of serious crimes against international humanitarian law;[16]
The maneuvers by the ICTR authorities to hand over ICTR convicted persons to that regime whose leaders must instead be prosecuted before this institution;[17]
Considering that the Security Council, instead of making sure that RPF soldiers responsible for serious crimes against international humanitarian law are arrested and prosecuted, in implementation of its Resolutions 1503 of 28 August 2003 and 1534 of 26 March 2004, rather confirmed by its Resolution 1774 of 14 September 2007, the closing of all trial proceedings at the ICTR by the end of 2008;
Noting the confirmation, by reliable sources including officials from the Office of the Prosecutor, of the manipulation of the Tribunal by the American Administration and the British Government in order to shield the RPF from prosecution for the crimes committed during the period that falls within the ICTR jurisdiction, including the assassination of President Habyarimana;[18]
Considering that the UN and ICTR authorities turned deaf ears to our appeals[19] and to the appeals from individuals and associations all over the world in relation to the respect of the official missions of the ICTR as enshrined in Resolution 955 of 8 November 1994,[20] to wit: 1) conduct investigations on all serious crimes against international humanitarian law; 2) prosecute all individuals responsible for such crimes; 3) contribute to national reconciliation;
Having noted that the ICTR has not accomplished any of its missions but has instead been diverted in order to serve as an instrument of the foreign policy of certain superpowers, members of the Security Council, and to reinforce the military dictatorship established in Rwanda by the RPF excluding the Hutu community from power, notably, through collective incrimination and iniquitous justice based on ethnicity;
Strongly convinced that the (CTR has deliberately and arbitrarily conducted arrests only among members of the Hutu ethnic group with a precise political goal of presenting the Hutus as the sole people responsible for the 1994 tragedy, and thus covering up the crimes committed by the RPF;[21]
Consider that the ICTR has put us in prison, first and foremost, for political reasons. On that account, we are POLITICAL PRISONERS of the United Nations. Consequently, we are going, henceforth, to act as such, notably, by denouncing before the international public opinion, the unfairness of trials and judgments issued by that Tribunal under the control of RPF criminals and its powerful supporters with the real but undeclared mission of imposing victor's justice;
Affirm that we have no intention of running away from justice. On the contrary, we strongly and loudly demand the establishment of the truth and fair justice, which are the required conditions to achieve reconciliation of the Rwandan people;
Denounce, in the strongest terms, the blatant political orientation taken by the Tribunal and its transformation into a Tribunal of the Victor, namely, the RPF, as well as the collective and arbitrary incrimination of the Hutu community, which exacerbated resentment between Hutus and Tutsis whereas the Tribunal had instead the mission to contribute to their reconciliation;
Urge the UN authorities, particularly, the members of the Security Council, to make an objective assessment of the judicial activity of the ICTR with regard to its official missions, so as to acknowledge that this Tribunal has failed in its most important objective of establishing the truth, administering fair justice, fighting impunity, as well as, reconciling the Rwandan people;
Request these UN authorities:
1) To extend the mandate of the ICTR instead of shutting it down with such catastrophic assessment and envisage to conduct ongoing proceedings taking into account the new evidence which manifestly question the judgments and the prosecution strategy based on false or partial information with regard to the Rwandan tragedy;
2) To make sure that the ICTR put at the disposal of the convicted persons necessary facilities for the preparation of their motions for the review of their judgments on the basis of the new evidence;
3) To invite the ICTR to proceed, without delay, with the indictment of General Paul Kagame and his collaborators, accused of crimes against the international humanitarian law;
4) To ensure the strict respect of the ICTR missions as enshrined in Resolution 955 of 8 November 1994 and to ensure the independence and impartiality of the Tribunal;
5) To abort the conspiracy aimed at transferring to Rwanda ICTR accused and convicted persons and, instead, to intervene strongly in favor of tens of thousands of people rotting in the death prisons of Rwanda so that they can be granted human detention conditions and benefit from fair justice,[22] to put an end to numerous arbitrary arrests and detentions without files, as well as extra judiciary executions of prisoners and mysterious disappearances of persons;
6) To intervene in order to put an end to hunting down and to arbitrary and discriminatory arrests of Hutus in exile on the basis of arbitrary lists made by the RPF regime whose awful objective is to silence any political opposition to the dictatorship established in Rwanda and even to annihilate Hutus;
Request all Rwandans, particularly, organizations of Rwandans in exile, international organizations and all persons dedicated to fair justice, to help us make our voice understood for the triumph of the truth and justice which constitute the only conditions that will enable the return of peace, promote reconciliation, democracy and harmonious development of the Rwandan people.
Done at Arusha, 15 November 2007
The signatories: see the list of the signatories of the Declaration [PDF file link]*
[1] Rwanda was victim of external aggression from Uganda with massive support from that country without sparking off any firm condemnation by the international community. Indeed, since Uganda was used by certain powerful countries to serve their strategic interests in the region, the international community did not dare to put pressure on that country in order to put an end to the war imposed needlessly on the Rwandan people, what regretted Mr. Herman J. Cohen, former US Under Secretary of State in charge of Africa, in his book titled Intervening in Africa -Superpower Peacekeeping in a Troubled Continent. Worse, the ICTR took judicial notice that the conflict was of internal character instead of international in order to protect powerful external actors in the conflict.
[2] International Crisis Group (ICG), in its Report Africa No 30 dated 7 June 2001, p. 2 and particularly on page 9 where it says: . At the present stage, it [ICTR} contributes to reinforcing the authority of the Kigali regime. By hunting down the leaders of the defeated regime, the ICTR disqualified them from pretending to exercise one day a political role in Rwanda."
[3] S/RES/9S5 (1994) on 8 November 1994.
[4] Article 1 of the ICTR Statute adopted as Annex to the Resolution 955 of 8 November 1994.
[5] Report transmitted to the Security Council by the UN Secretary General by his letter on 1st October 1994 (Doc. 5/1994/1125).
[6] Doc. S/1994/1405 of 9 December 1994.
[7] Doc. S/1994/1405 on 9 December 1994, §§ 181-182.
[8] Ibid., §§ 95; 186.
[9] Ibid. §§ 100; 186.
[10] The Security Council requested several times to the Secretary General to collect information about the responsibility in the death of Presidents of Burundi and Rwanda and to report to it (Declaration of the President ofthe Security Council- S/PRST/1994/16 on 7 April 1994; Resolutions: S/RES/912 (1994) of 21 April 1994; S/RES/918 (1994) of 17 May 1994.
[11] Doc. S/1995/134 of 13 February 1995, §§ 42-43.
[12] Concerning that refusal and his new theory about the ICTR mandate concerning the attack, see Report made by Mr. Michael Hourigan, ICTR investigator, dated 1st August 1997, put into evidence notably in Military I Case as Exhibit DB247, as well as his testimony in the same case put into evidence as Exhibit DNT365. The Prosecutor sustains, since 1997, that fallacious theory within and out of the court, whereas ICTR chambers systematically rejected defense motions requesting investigation on the assassination of President Habyarimana. On the contrary, in his reaction to the “Ordonnance de soit communiqué” of the French Judge Jean louis Bruguiere, dated 17 November 2006, against RPF members for their implication in the attack against President Habyarimana plane, the former Prosecutor M. Richard Goldstone rightly confirmed in the Danish Daily of 10 December 2006 (Berlingske Tidende¬National) that the attack against the President Habyarimana's plane falls well within the mandate of the Tribunal [the ICTR Statute is sufficiently clear on the subject, in its articles 1 and 4]. Despite the fact that Judge Bruguiere's investigations were serious and well detailed, Mr. O'Donnell, ICTR Deputy Registrar and spokesperson of the Tribunal, rejected his conclusions, confirming, once again, the bad faith of the Tribunal. Concerning his theory of planned genocide of Tutsis by the Hutus, the Prosecutor has not been able, as of today, to prove it.
[13] See the Article of Steven Da Silva dated 1st June 2007. Even the Prosecutor Mme Carla Del Ponte declared during her interview made public in Aktuelt Journal on 17 April 2000 that “If it is the RPF that shot down the plane, the history of genocide must be rewritten.”
[14] See the list attached to our letter dated 31 October 2005 denouncing “Two-speed and discriminatory international justice".
[15] Review, on 31 March 2000, of Appeal's Decision releasing Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza dated 3 November 1999, following pressure on the Tribunal and its judges; The Appeal' Decision dated 16 June 2006, in Karemera et al Case [ICTR-98-44- T] about judicial notice of genocide, while this fundamental question was still the subject of debate before the Chambers. These are blatant examples, among others, that we mentioned particularly in our letter denouncing "Double-standard and discriminatory international justice", dated 31 October 2005.
[16] Prosecutor's motion for the transfer of M. Fulgence Kayishema, indicted person not yet arrested, dated 11 June 2007 and Prosecutor's motions to transfer to Rwanda the cases of detainees Yusuf Munyakazi, Gaspard Kanyarukiga and IIdephonse Hategekimana.
[17] See detainees letters dated: 10/06/2002; 16/02/2004; 29/03/2004; 24/05/2004; 1 4/06/2004; 04/07/2004; 15/07/2004; 19/09/2004; 19/02/2005; 03/04/2006; 10/1/2007; 23/01/2007; 28/03/2007; 21/06/2007; 06/08/2007 et 05/10/2007.
[18] See notably: the testimony of Michael Hourigan in Military I Case put into evidence as DNT365; Madame Florence Hartmann, former spokesperson for the Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, in her book entitled "Paix et châtiment: les guerres secrètes de la politique et de 10 iustice internationals" (Paris, Flammarion, 10 September 2007, particularly in pages 262 to 275 and Agence Hirondelle of 7 September 2007). All those elements are mentioned in our letter 05 October 2007 and in the open letter of Prof. Erlinder addressed to the Security Council on 26 March 2007.
[19] See ICTR detainees letters addressed to the UN and ICTR authorities, notably on: 14/09/1998; 28/10/1998; 19/04/1999; 03/06/1999; 09/08/1999; 18/10/1999; 12/09/1999; 30/11/1999; 17/01/2000; 08/03/2000; 20/03/2000; OS/04/2000; 12/06/2000; 24/10/2000; 15/12/2000; 28/05/2001; 13/12/2001; 12/03/2002; 10/06/2002; 12/08/2003; 16/02/2004; 29/03/2004 ; 14/06/2004; 04/07/2004; 14/01/2005; 19/02/2005; 03/06/2005; 25/06/2006; 10/01/2007; 23/01/2007; 28/03/2007; 08/07/2007; 14/07/2007; 06/08/ 2007 ; 05/10/2007.
[20] They include: Amnesty International, International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), Professor Filip Reyntjens, French Judge Jean Louis Bruguière, Juan Carrero Saralegui, Forces Démocratiques unifiées (FDU), International Crisis Group (ICG), Centre de Lutte Contre l'impunite et 1'injustice au Rwanda (CLIIR), Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Mme Marie-Roger Biloa, Robin Philpot, Charles ONANA, Edouard Herman, Steven Da Silva, Victoire Ingabire, Déo Mushayidi, Forum International pour la Vérité et la Justice dans l'Afrique des Grands Lacs. It is necessary to mention, particularly, the letter dated 7 August 2003, to the Security Council, signed following the removal of Ms Carla Del Ponte from the ICTR, in order to prevent the prosecution of RPF soldiers, by the following personalities: Sidiki Kaba, Président de la Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de I'Homme ; Mike Posner, Executive Director of Lawyers Committee for Human Rights; Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch; Alioune Tine, Secrétaire-Général de la Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de I'Homme. Those personalities requested the Security Council to "ensure that any changes do not undermine the ICTR's efforts to prosecute charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against members of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA)."
[21] Some accused were arrested without any indictment and had to wait in prison for many months to be indicted; others had their indictments modified several times before and/or during the trial because the Prosecutor had no precise charges against them.
[22] The same intervention is required in favor of those who are tried before the Gacaca courts. They are facing a policy of arbitrary denunciation imposed by the RPF regime; they do not have lawyers to defend them and risk severe sentences.
The signatories: see the list of the signatories of the Declaration [PDF file link above*
Copy to:
The ICTR Judges (all);
The ICTR Registrar, Arusha;
The ICTR Prosecutor, Arusha;
Defense Lawyers (all);
ADAD President, Arusha;
The President of the European Union;
The President of the African Union;
Commission for Human Rights, Geneva;
International Commission of Jurists, Geneva.
American Association of Jurists;
International Association of Democratic Jurists, New Delhi. European Court of Justice;
European Court for Human Rights, Strasbourg;
African Court for Human Rights;
Center fighting against Impunity and Injustice in Rwanda, Brussels; FDU (Forces Democratiques Unifiees);
Dukomere Association, Brussels;
Families of the signatories;
Amnesty International, London;
Lawyers without borders, Paris;
FDIH, Paris;
Human Rights Watch;
The Press
UMA rejection frustrates U.S. efforts to find home for AFRICOM.
Xinhua News Agency
30 November 2007
The U.S. efforts to seek a home for the Africa Command (AFRICOM) have suffered one more blow as the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) stated strong opposition Tuesday to any foreign military establishments on the soil of African countries.
The UMA, founded in 1989 by Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia, said through its consultative committee that such foreign establishments would not bring any benefit to the UMA or the African Union countries.
Instead, they will risk catastrophic results for host countries and might be used as an excuse for certain factions to launch attacks on organizations of foreign, especially U.S., interests.
The rejection was not the first to U.S. plans to find a host country for its military headquarters in Africa, approved by President George W. Bush in February.
Many African countries, starting from those in the north of the continent, have already made it clear that they would not host the AFRICOM or provide permanent bases for the U.S. forces.
Nations including Uganda, Algeria, Libya and the 14 members of the Southern African Development Community all refused to provide a home for the headquarters.
Analysts said refusals from so many countries showed that African nations have reached a broad consensus on rejecting the U.S. military headquarters for fears of sacrificing their own sovereignty.
Even though the United States tries to present the AFRICOM as a helping hand offering aid and training, the Africans are afraid that the United States intends to militarize its foreign policies under the banner of combating terrorism.
Another major concern is that the AFRICOM could be followed by more U.S. bases and troops on the African continent. The United States currently has about 1,800 troops at a counter-terrorism task force base in Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa.
Analysts said some governments fear that enlarged U.S. military presence might lead to interventions into their sovereignty, citing examples of the toppling of Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Oil is also a major concern. In 2006, Africa's oil exports to the United States reached 2.23 million barrels per day, surpassing that from the Middle East region for the first time in 21 years.
The United States wants to secure oil flows from a continent that is already a key source of U.S. energy imports in a volatile world, analysts said.
Hosting more U.S. facilities and personnel could also risk the African countries becoming targets of global enemies of the United States.
As many African countries hold that Africa's affairs should be dealt with through the African Union rather than being meddled in by a foreign force, the U.S. plan to expand military presence on the continent will most likely be opposed by most of the Africans, the analysts said.
Development and the relief of poverty, not more U.S. troops, are what the Africans need the most, they said.
30 November 2007
The U.S. efforts to seek a home for the Africa Command (AFRICOM) have suffered one more blow as the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) stated strong opposition Tuesday to any foreign military establishments on the soil of African countries.
The UMA, founded in 1989 by Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia, said through its consultative committee that such foreign establishments would not bring any benefit to the UMA or the African Union countries.
Instead, they will risk catastrophic results for host countries and might be used as an excuse for certain factions to launch attacks on organizations of foreign, especially U.S., interests.
The rejection was not the first to U.S. plans to find a host country for its military headquarters in Africa, approved by President George W. Bush in February.
Many African countries, starting from those in the north of the continent, have already made it clear that they would not host the AFRICOM or provide permanent bases for the U.S. forces.
Nations including Uganda, Algeria, Libya and the 14 members of the Southern African Development Community all refused to provide a home for the headquarters.
Analysts said refusals from so many countries showed that African nations have reached a broad consensus on rejecting the U.S. military headquarters for fears of sacrificing their own sovereignty.
Even though the United States tries to present the AFRICOM as a helping hand offering aid and training, the Africans are afraid that the United States intends to militarize its foreign policies under the banner of combating terrorism.
Another major concern is that the AFRICOM could be followed by more U.S. bases and troops on the African continent. The United States currently has about 1,800 troops at a counter-terrorism task force base in Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa.
Analysts said some governments fear that enlarged U.S. military presence might lead to interventions into their sovereignty, citing examples of the toppling of Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Oil is also a major concern. In 2006, Africa's oil exports to the United States reached 2.23 million barrels per day, surpassing that from the Middle East region for the first time in 21 years.
The United States wants to secure oil flows from a continent that is already a key source of U.S. energy imports in a volatile world, analysts said.
Hosting more U.S. facilities and personnel could also risk the African countries becoming targets of global enemies of the United States.
As many African countries hold that Africa's affairs should be dealt with through the African Union rather than being meddled in by a foreign force, the U.S. plan to expand military presence on the continent will most likely be opposed by most of the Africans, the analysts said.
Development and the relief of poverty, not more U.S. troops, are what the Africans need the most, they said.
German troops to boost Kosovo.
The Washington Times
November 29, 2007
By Cajsa Collin
Germany will send an additional 500 troops to Kosovo to ensure stability after delegates failed to reach an agreement on the future of the territory, the defense ministry announced yesterday.
The 500 troops will be added to the 17,000-strong NATO-led Kosovo Force.
Officials fear renewed violence in the Balkan territory after Serbian and Kosovar delegations failed to agree on Kosovo's final status. A three-day meeting outside Vienna, Austria, was the last of six meetings between Kosovar and Serbian leaders. Kosovo is now expected to declare independence within the next three months.
"We cannot say the exact time and date when independence will be declared in coordination with the international community but it will happen very quickly," Kosovar President Fatmir Sejdiu told Agence France-Presse yesterday.
In March, U.N. special envoy Martti Ahtisaari presented a comprehensive plan to determine the final status of Kosovo, a Serbian province that has been under U.N. administration since 1999.
The plan — supported by the European Union, United Nations and the United States — describes the current situation as unsustainable and says an independent Kosovo under international supervision is the only viable option.
The negotiators are scheduled to report back to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon by Dec. 10.
"Only in an independent Kosovo will its democratic institutions be fully responsible for and accountable for their actions. This will be crucial to ensure respect for the rule of law and the effective protection for minorities," Mr. Ahtisaari wrote in a letter to the U.N. Security Council.
Serbia, backed by Russia, has offered relative independence to Kosovo as an autonomous part of Serbia but want to retain control over its foreign policy, security and borders.
In a joint statement, Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said negotiations should continue until an agreement is reached.
Mr. Tadic warned that Belgrade would immediately take legal steps to quash any unilateral independence proclamation. He said Kosovo's independence would contribute to instability in the region but underlined Serbia's determination not to resort to violence.
"We are going to annul all these decisions that would bring Kosovo to independence. We are going to use all legal and diplomatic measures to fight any such decision," Mr. Tadic said.
The U.S. strongly supports the Ahtisaari plan and considers complete independence with international supervision the only option, State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson said.
But she said the U.S. would strongly discourage both parties from making statementsthat might harm stabilization in the area.
If Kosovo declares independence within the next few months, most of the European countries together with the U.S. are likely do recognize it within the first six months, said James Lyon, a senior adviser for the International Crisis Group stationed in Belgrade.
Although it can't be ruled out, Mr. Lyon does not think Serbia will intervene militarily, but he said the main risk is that unrest will spill over to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro.
"At this stage, it does not appear Serbia will intervene; they will certainly have a concerted diplomatic response but not an armed response," he said.
November 29, 2007
By Cajsa Collin
Germany will send an additional 500 troops to Kosovo to ensure stability after delegates failed to reach an agreement on the future of the territory, the defense ministry announced yesterday.
The 500 troops will be added to the 17,000-strong NATO-led Kosovo Force.
Officials fear renewed violence in the Balkan territory after Serbian and Kosovar delegations failed to agree on Kosovo's final status. A three-day meeting outside Vienna, Austria, was the last of six meetings between Kosovar and Serbian leaders. Kosovo is now expected to declare independence within the next three months.
"We cannot say the exact time and date when independence will be declared in coordination with the international community but it will happen very quickly," Kosovar President Fatmir Sejdiu told Agence France-Presse yesterday.
In March, U.N. special envoy Martti Ahtisaari presented a comprehensive plan to determine the final status of Kosovo, a Serbian province that has been under U.N. administration since 1999.
The plan — supported by the European Union, United Nations and the United States — describes the current situation as unsustainable and says an independent Kosovo under international supervision is the only viable option.
The negotiators are scheduled to report back to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon by Dec. 10.
"Only in an independent Kosovo will its democratic institutions be fully responsible for and accountable for their actions. This will be crucial to ensure respect for the rule of law and the effective protection for minorities," Mr. Ahtisaari wrote in a letter to the U.N. Security Council.
Serbia, backed by Russia, has offered relative independence to Kosovo as an autonomous part of Serbia but want to retain control over its foreign policy, security and borders.
In a joint statement, Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said negotiations should continue until an agreement is reached.
Mr. Tadic warned that Belgrade would immediately take legal steps to quash any unilateral independence proclamation. He said Kosovo's independence would contribute to instability in the region but underlined Serbia's determination not to resort to violence.
"We are going to annul all these decisions that would bring Kosovo to independence. We are going to use all legal and diplomatic measures to fight any such decision," Mr. Tadic said.
The U.S. strongly supports the Ahtisaari plan and considers complete independence with international supervision the only option, State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson said.
But she said the U.S. would strongly discourage both parties from making statementsthat might harm stabilization in the area.
If Kosovo declares independence within the next few months, most of the European countries together with the U.S. are likely do recognize it within the first six months, said James Lyon, a senior adviser for the International Crisis Group stationed in Belgrade.
Although it can't be ruled out, Mr. Lyon does not think Serbia will intervene militarily, but he said the main risk is that unrest will spill over to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro.
"At this stage, it does not appear Serbia will intervene; they will certainly have a concerted diplomatic response but not an armed response," he said.
Ghana Welcomes APS.
Military.com
Navy News
By PO2 RJ Stratchko
November 26, 2007
Tema, Ghana -- The second port visit of Africa Partnership Station's (APS) seven-month deployment, aboard the Amphibious Dock Landing Ship USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43), arrived in Tema, Nov. 18.
APS is an international effort aiming to enhance regional and maritime safety and security in West and Central Africa.
Although the Navy has conducted training during routine deployments in West Africa for years, the size and focus of the APS mission is new and different.
"While in Ghana, the events that are planned cover a wide spectrum of maritime activities involving some military training to the naval and fishery industries, small boat courses, maintenance, force protection, medical and personnel protection courses. We also will do some non-military activities including community relations," Cmdr. Nigel May, a British Navy officer, Chief Staff Officer of APS. "We have a team of Seabees from the U.S Navy who are going to build a medical clinic which is to be used by the military population and civilian population, and as a liaison with many of the Aid organizations to enhance the community relations with Ghana."
With APS, training is conducted as requested by the partner countries. In Ghana, that means traditional military training, such as maintenance and small boat handling, plus a handful of specialty areas.
APS includes African, European and American Sailors all on the same staff, working towards a common goal, partnership in maritime safety and security, and is bringing an international team of expert trainers in a variety of military capacities, and a handful of civilian fields such as fisheries management.
"This partnership is a real good thing, because it is enlightening to a lot of people, for them to see the other side of the world, which is Africa. It is very important for us to get this partnership going. You can't just sit back and let it go. You have to build a relationship with people and whatever we have to offer them. They have to take it or leave it. It's up to them," said Culinary Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Darone Parker.
In addition to his culinary duties, Parker is serving as a translator between English and Akan-speaking communities.
"As an Akan speaking petty officer aboard, I'm assisting with Project Hope, helping the Seabees buying materials in town. I also know the area because I lived in Accra, Ghana for 28 years before joining the U.S. Navy eight years ago," said Parker.
APS is more than training. APS will conduct large community relations projects in each of the countries visited.
APS 2007 is a U.S. Naval Forces Europe-led initiative, executed by a multi-national staff aboard Fort McHenry and High Speed Vessel 2 Swift. Commander Task Group 60.4 and training teams from various U.S. and European military commands, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations are embarked on board Fort McHenry to enhance cooperative partnerships with regional maritime services in West and Central Africa and the Gulf of Guinea on a seven-month deployment.
Editor's Note: Tullow Oil made massive offshore oil discoveries near Ghana in recent months. Also note the US aid package granted to Benin, a country not far from Ghana.
Navy News
By PO2 RJ Stratchko
November 26, 2007
Tema, Ghana -- The second port visit of Africa Partnership Station's (APS) seven-month deployment, aboard the Amphibious Dock Landing Ship USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43), arrived in Tema, Nov. 18.
APS is an international effort aiming to enhance regional and maritime safety and security in West and Central Africa.
Although the Navy has conducted training during routine deployments in West Africa for years, the size and focus of the APS mission is new and different.
"While in Ghana, the events that are planned cover a wide spectrum of maritime activities involving some military training to the naval and fishery industries, small boat courses, maintenance, force protection, medical and personnel protection courses. We also will do some non-military activities including community relations," Cmdr. Nigel May, a British Navy officer, Chief Staff Officer of APS. "We have a team of Seabees from the U.S Navy who are going to build a medical clinic which is to be used by the military population and civilian population, and as a liaison with many of the Aid organizations to enhance the community relations with Ghana."
With APS, training is conducted as requested by the partner countries. In Ghana, that means traditional military training, such as maintenance and small boat handling, plus a handful of specialty areas.
APS includes African, European and American Sailors all on the same staff, working towards a common goal, partnership in maritime safety and security, and is bringing an international team of expert trainers in a variety of military capacities, and a handful of civilian fields such as fisheries management.
"This partnership is a real good thing, because it is enlightening to a lot of people, for them to see the other side of the world, which is Africa. It is very important for us to get this partnership going. You can't just sit back and let it go. You have to build a relationship with people and whatever we have to offer them. They have to take it or leave it. It's up to them," said Culinary Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Darone Parker.
In addition to his culinary duties, Parker is serving as a translator between English and Akan-speaking communities.
"As an Akan speaking petty officer aboard, I'm assisting with Project Hope, helping the Seabees buying materials in town. I also know the area because I lived in Accra, Ghana for 28 years before joining the U.S. Navy eight years ago," said Parker.
APS is more than training. APS will conduct large community relations projects in each of the countries visited.
APS 2007 is a U.S. Naval Forces Europe-led initiative, executed by a multi-national staff aboard Fort McHenry and High Speed Vessel 2 Swift. Commander Task Group 60.4 and training teams from various U.S. and European military commands, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations are embarked on board Fort McHenry to enhance cooperative partnerships with regional maritime services in West and Central Africa and the Gulf of Guinea on a seven-month deployment.
Editor's Note: Tullow Oil made massive offshore oil discoveries near Ghana in recent months. Also note the US aid package granted to Benin, a country not far from Ghana.
Army foils coup attempt in Philippines.
The Independent
By Kathy Marks, Asia Pacific Correspondent
Published: 30 November 2007
Amid a flurry of gunfire and teargas, an armoured personnel carrier smashed through the plate-glass entrance of a five-star hotel in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, ending a seven-hour coup attempt by a group of dissident military officers.
About a hundred people, including hotel workers and foreign guests, were trapped inside the Peninsula hotel, in the downtown Makati financial district, when it was taken over by renegade soldiers on trial for staging an attempted coup in 2003.
Yesterday, the defendants marched out of court and into the hotel, where they tried to stage another coup against the government of President Gloria Arroyo. They were joined by several dozen more dissident soldiers, a priest, a retired bishop and a former vice-president, Teofisto Guingona Jnr.
Holed-up inside the Peninsula, the rebels posted grand speeches on a website, urging the masses to rise up in another "people power" revolution, like the one that toppled the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. They worked their mobile phones furiously, making calls and sending out text messages in an effort to muster the crowds to support them.
But their call went unheeded, except by the hundreds of curious onlookers who gathered outside the hotel, and by nightfall the uprising had been crushed. The military ignored the rebels' urging to withdraw its backing for the President.
After an army deadline to surrender had passed at 3pm local time, an armoured vehicle rammed the front of the building, and elite forces swarmed in. Despite gunfire in the lobby, no one was injured, and the soldiers quickly gave themselves up.
One of the rebel leaders, Senator Antonio Trillanes, explained to journalists trapped inside: "We're going out for the safety of everybody. We won't be able to live with our consciences if some of you get ...killed in the crossfire."
Mr Trillanes, a navy lieutenant elected a senator in May while on trial for leading the 2003 coup, was taken away in a prison bus. With him was another leader of yesterday's abortive uprising, Brigadier General Danilo Lim. The 2003 mutiny failed when the army declined to join action begun by about 200 soldiers.
President Arroyo, who has survived a series of attempted coups and three impeachment attempts during nearly seven years in power, addressed the nation on television after the latest drama. "Wrong and misguided deeds of the few do not speak for the people or the army and police," she declared. "The full force of the law will be meted out."
The country's police chief announced that 101 people had been arrested at the hotel. The government then imposed a midnight-to-5am curfew in Manila and two surrounding provinces, calling it a precautionary measure. Checkpoints were set up around the capital.
Mrs Arroyo came to power in 2001 after her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, was forced to flee the presidential palace following a second "people power" uprising. Before surrendering, Brigadier General Lim said: "Mrs Arroyo stole the presidency from Estrada, and later manipulated the results of 2004 elections."
By Kathy Marks, Asia Pacific Correspondent
Published: 30 November 2007
Amid a flurry of gunfire and teargas, an armoured personnel carrier smashed through the plate-glass entrance of a five-star hotel in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, ending a seven-hour coup attempt by a group of dissident military officers.
About a hundred people, including hotel workers and foreign guests, were trapped inside the Peninsula hotel, in the downtown Makati financial district, when it was taken over by renegade soldiers on trial for staging an attempted coup in 2003.
Yesterday, the defendants marched out of court and into the hotel, where they tried to stage another coup against the government of President Gloria Arroyo. They were joined by several dozen more dissident soldiers, a priest, a retired bishop and a former vice-president, Teofisto Guingona Jnr.
Holed-up inside the Peninsula, the rebels posted grand speeches on a website, urging the masses to rise up in another "people power" revolution, like the one that toppled the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. They worked their mobile phones furiously, making calls and sending out text messages in an effort to muster the crowds to support them.
But their call went unheeded, except by the hundreds of curious onlookers who gathered outside the hotel, and by nightfall the uprising had been crushed. The military ignored the rebels' urging to withdraw its backing for the President.
After an army deadline to surrender had passed at 3pm local time, an armoured vehicle rammed the front of the building, and elite forces swarmed in. Despite gunfire in the lobby, no one was injured, and the soldiers quickly gave themselves up.
One of the rebel leaders, Senator Antonio Trillanes, explained to journalists trapped inside: "We're going out for the safety of everybody. We won't be able to live with our consciences if some of you get ...killed in the crossfire."
Mr Trillanes, a navy lieutenant elected a senator in May while on trial for leading the 2003 coup, was taken away in a prison bus. With him was another leader of yesterday's abortive uprising, Brigadier General Danilo Lim. The 2003 mutiny failed when the army declined to join action begun by about 200 soldiers.
President Arroyo, who has survived a series of attempted coups and three impeachment attempts during nearly seven years in power, addressed the nation on television after the latest drama. "Wrong and misguided deeds of the few do not speak for the people or the army and police," she declared. "The full force of the law will be meted out."
The country's police chief announced that 101 people had been arrested at the hotel. The government then imposed a midnight-to-5am curfew in Manila and two surrounding provinces, calling it a precautionary measure. Checkpoints were set up around the capital.
Mrs Arroyo came to power in 2001 after her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, was forced to flee the presidential palace following a second "people power" uprising. Before surrendering, Brigadier General Lim said: "Mrs Arroyo stole the presidency from Estrada, and later manipulated the results of 2004 elections."
Chinese Institute: According to secret report of French foreign ministry, Kosovo is to be recognized in February 2008.
Global Research, November 30, 2007
Regnum - 2007-11-27
“According to our information, the French foreign ministry elaborated a secret report on the Kosovo issue saying that recognition of Kosovo is scheduled for February 2008,” the head of the East European Section of the Chinese State Council Eurasian Institute Ma Sipu announced today while speaking during a televised conference between Beijing and Moscow on the situation in Kosovo and Russia and China’s stance on the issue, a Regnum correspondent reports.
“According to the plan, first Kosovo will be recognized by small EU countries, than recognition of Kosovo by Muslim countries will be organized, and later by the United States that will be playing a role of an outside observer before the recognition,” the Chinese expert mentioned.
“Recognition of Kosovo, contrary to stance of Serbia and other members of the world community, including Russia and China, and the role played by the United States in the process, all those things are unjust,” believes the analyst. “So, both Russia and China must become involved more actively in the process of settling the Kosovo issue, to prevent from the USA acting one-sidedly."
Regnum - 2007-11-27
“According to our information, the French foreign ministry elaborated a secret report on the Kosovo issue saying that recognition of Kosovo is scheduled for February 2008,” the head of the East European Section of the Chinese State Council Eurasian Institute Ma Sipu announced today while speaking during a televised conference between Beijing and Moscow on the situation in Kosovo and Russia and China’s stance on the issue, a Regnum correspondent reports.
“According to the plan, first Kosovo will be recognized by small EU countries, than recognition of Kosovo by Muslim countries will be organized, and later by the United States that will be playing a role of an outside observer before the recognition,” the Chinese expert mentioned.
“Recognition of Kosovo, contrary to stance of Serbia and other members of the world community, including Russia and China, and the role played by the United States in the process, all those things are unjust,” believes the analyst. “So, both Russia and China must become involved more actively in the process of settling the Kosovo issue, to prevent from the USA acting one-sidedly."
Benin: US supports development projects with over CFA6 billion.
African Press Agency
30 November 2007
The American government granted Benin some US$13.6 million in subsidy, i.e . over CFA 6 billion, to support the development programmes for the 2007 fiscal year, APA learned Friday in Cotonou.
The Beninese Foreign Affairs Minister, Moussa Okanla, and the United States ambassador to Benin, Gayleatha Brown, signed the agreement on Thursday in Cotonou.
"This subsidy is not only intended to finance the development projects, but also to consolidate the impressive political reforms made during the last decade," the American diplomat said during the signing ceremony.
Four million dollars out of this subsidy, will be used to ensure an equal and quality basic education to a greater number of Beninese children.
"To reach this goal, the programme will improve teaching and training, encourage the access and the performance of the girl child in school, a better response to HIV/AIDS in the education sector and a better condition for women," the ambassador added.
In addition to education, she continued, family health will also get US$9.6 million, i.e. over CFA 4,267 billion.
"This programme includes family planning, maternal and infant health, HIV/AIDS prevention and sexually transmissible infections (STIs)," she added.
30 November 2007
The American government granted Benin some US$13.6 million in subsidy, i.e . over CFA 6 billion, to support the development programmes for the 2007 fiscal year, APA learned Friday in Cotonou.
The Beninese Foreign Affairs Minister, Moussa Okanla, and the United States ambassador to Benin, Gayleatha Brown, signed the agreement on Thursday in Cotonou.
"This subsidy is not only intended to finance the development projects, but also to consolidate the impressive political reforms made during the last decade," the American diplomat said during the signing ceremony.
Four million dollars out of this subsidy, will be used to ensure an equal and quality basic education to a greater number of Beninese children.
"To reach this goal, the programme will improve teaching and training, encourage the access and the performance of the girl child in school, a better response to HIV/AIDS in the education sector and a better condition for women," the ambassador added.
In addition to education, she continued, family health will also get US$9.6 million, i.e. over CFA 4,267 billion.
"This programme includes family planning, maternal and infant health, HIV/AIDS prevention and sexually transmissible infections (STIs)," she added.
KBR to Conduct Feasibility Study to Build Refinery in South Africa.
African Oil Journal
30 November 2007
KBR today announced that it has been awarded a contract by PetroSA to conduct the pre-feasibility study to build a USD 6 billion crude oil refinery in Coega, Port Elizabeth.
The proposed crude oil refinery, called Project Mthombo, is expected to come on stream in 2014/2015. Project Mthombo, which could produce more than 200,000 barrels of fuel per day, will be one of the largest post-2010 investments in South Africa.
“KBR has a well-established track record developing downstream projects, accessing global resources and crude oil refining. We look forward to applying this expertise to PetroSA’s world-scale refinery project,” said John Quinn, President, Downstream for KBR.
The pre-feasibility study focuses on determining the economic optimum configuration for the refinery including crude oil type and costs, required product slate, prices and specifications, and capital and operating costs. The study is expected to take about six months to complete and will be conducted out of KBR’s Houston offices with support of KBR South Africa and Ilitha, a local engineering company. After the configuration has been approved, Project Mthombo will move on to the feasibility phase, which will define the engineering scope of the refinery.
The project will also generate approximately 20,000 direct and indirect jobs in one of the most impoverished provinces in South Africa, beginning with numerous South African personnel assigned to work on the study. “PetroSA is using this opportunity to develop job skills capacity in South Africa and has selected several promising candidates from previously disadvantaged South Africans, who will be assigned to KBR for the duration of the study. The development of these engineers, who are essential for the successful construction and operation of the refinery, is part of a well-defined strategy by PetroSA in anticipation of future needs,” said Jorn Falbe, vice-president, new ventures—midstream for PetroSA.
Project Mthombo underpins South Africa's security of energy supply and reduces South Africa's dependency on imported automotive fuels. Project Mthombo, which is nominally sized for 200,000 barrels of fuel per day to satisfy the South African demand, could be expanded to allow for exports or other growth opportunities and could be integrated with downstream petrochemical opportunities.
KBR is a global engineering, construction and services company supporting the energy, petrochemicals, government services and civil infrastructure sectors. The company offers a wide range of services through its Upstream and Downstream, Technology, Services, Government and Infrastructure and Ventures business segments.
Editor's Note: KBR is Kellogg, Brown, and Root, the former Halliburton construction subsidiary. They have a history of support for US covert operations and built the Rwandan military bases in Ntendezi and Bugarama on the border with South Kivu back in 1995.
30 November 2007
KBR today announced that it has been awarded a contract by PetroSA to conduct the pre-feasibility study to build a USD 6 billion crude oil refinery in Coega, Port Elizabeth.
The proposed crude oil refinery, called Project Mthombo, is expected to come on stream in 2014/2015. Project Mthombo, which could produce more than 200,000 barrels of fuel per day, will be one of the largest post-2010 investments in South Africa.
“KBR has a well-established track record developing downstream projects, accessing global resources and crude oil refining. We look forward to applying this expertise to PetroSA’s world-scale refinery project,” said John Quinn, President, Downstream for KBR.
The pre-feasibility study focuses on determining the economic optimum configuration for the refinery including crude oil type and costs, required product slate, prices and specifications, and capital and operating costs. The study is expected to take about six months to complete and will be conducted out of KBR’s Houston offices with support of KBR South Africa and Ilitha, a local engineering company. After the configuration has been approved, Project Mthombo will move on to the feasibility phase, which will define the engineering scope of the refinery.
The project will also generate approximately 20,000 direct and indirect jobs in one of the most impoverished provinces in South Africa, beginning with numerous South African personnel assigned to work on the study. “PetroSA is using this opportunity to develop job skills capacity in South Africa and has selected several promising candidates from previously disadvantaged South Africans, who will be assigned to KBR for the duration of the study. The development of these engineers, who are essential for the successful construction and operation of the refinery, is part of a well-defined strategy by PetroSA in anticipation of future needs,” said Jorn Falbe, vice-president, new ventures—midstream for PetroSA.
Project Mthombo underpins South Africa's security of energy supply and reduces South Africa's dependency on imported automotive fuels. Project Mthombo, which is nominally sized for 200,000 barrels of fuel per day to satisfy the South African demand, could be expanded to allow for exports or other growth opportunities and could be integrated with downstream petrochemical opportunities.
KBR is a global engineering, construction and services company supporting the energy, petrochemicals, government services and civil infrastructure sectors. The company offers a wide range of services through its Upstream and Downstream, Technology, Services, Government and Infrastructure and Ventures business segments.
Editor's Note: KBR is Kellogg, Brown, and Root, the former Halliburton construction subsidiary. They have a history of support for US covert operations and built the Rwandan military bases in Ntendezi and Bugarama on the border with South Kivu back in 1995.
CNOOC Could Buy Shell's Stakes in Nigeria.
African Oil Journal
30 November 2007
China National Offshore Oil Corporation is keen to pick up Royal Dutch Shell's stakes in two offshore Nigerian oil and gas blocks.
Shell is reportedly planning to restructure its Nigeria assets and the sale of the two offshore blocks is deemed to be part of the process. The company is said to be looking to generate around $9 billion from asset sales during the current fiscal year.
The minority stakes of 49.8% each are expected to fetch around $900 million. Italian oil giant, Eni, holds the remaining 50.2% stake in the offshore blocks through its Agip division.
30 November 2007
China National Offshore Oil Corporation is keen to pick up Royal Dutch Shell's stakes in two offshore Nigerian oil and gas blocks.
Shell is reportedly planning to restructure its Nigeria assets and the sale of the two offshore blocks is deemed to be part of the process. The company is said to be looking to generate around $9 billion from asset sales during the current fiscal year.
The minority stakes of 49.8% each are expected to fetch around $900 million. Italian oil giant, Eni, holds the remaining 50.2% stake in the offshore blocks through its Agip division.
Belgian military chief visits.
The New Times
30 November 2007
Belgian Chief of Defence General August van Daele is in Rwanda for a week-long visit as part of strengthening military cooperation (emphasis mine-Editor.) between the two countries. He arrived in the country on Wednesday. He is companied by three high-ranking officers.
Yesterday, the visiting Belgian top officer met with Chief of General Staff, James Kabarebe, before paying courtesy call on Defence Minister, General Marcel Gatsinzi and Prime Minister, Bernard Makuza in Kimihurura.
Sources said General Daele is today expected to pay a courtesy call on President Paul Kagame.
He is also due to visit Genocide memorial sites of Gisozi, Camp Kigali and Murambi.
The Belgian delegation will tomorrow travel to Musanze District in the Northern Province where they will visit gorillas in the Virunga National Park, after which they will proceed to Rubavu District in the Western Province.
Editor's Note: A week-long visit by such a high ranking official is extremely significant. General Daele's arrival also coincides with Col Karengeya's flight roughly a week ago, which make the implications of this visit all the more important for Rwandan miltary officials.
30 November 2007
Belgian Chief of Defence General August van Daele is in Rwanda for a week-long visit as part of strengthening military cooperation (emphasis mine-Editor.) between the two countries. He arrived in the country on Wednesday. He is companied by three high-ranking officers.
Yesterday, the visiting Belgian top officer met with Chief of General Staff, James Kabarebe, before paying courtesy call on Defence Minister, General Marcel Gatsinzi and Prime Minister, Bernard Makuza in Kimihurura.
Sources said General Daele is today expected to pay a courtesy call on President Paul Kagame.
He is also due to visit Genocide memorial sites of Gisozi, Camp Kigali and Murambi.
The Belgian delegation will tomorrow travel to Musanze District in the Northern Province where they will visit gorillas in the Virunga National Park, after which they will proceed to Rubavu District in the Western Province.
Editor's Note: A week-long visit by such a high ranking official is extremely significant. General Daele's arrival also coincides with Col Karengeya's flight roughly a week ago, which make the implications of this visit all the more important for Rwandan miltary officials.
Equatorial Guinea jails men for coup plan.
Original report by AFP
28 November 2007
Four Equatorial Guinea citizens were sentenced on Tuesday to heavy prison terms and fines for attempting to stage a coup and invade the tiny West African nation in 2004.
A civilian tribunal sentenced Juan Bestue Santander and Carmelo Ncogo Mitogo each to 17 years in prison and a 10-million CFA franc fine for their role to topple Equatorial Guinea's long-term leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema, court officials said.
Two others, Juan Maria Itutu Menda and Juan Micha Micha received a 10-year sentence and five-million CFA fine apiece, officials said.
The four were accused of trying to invade the small island of Corisco in 2004 and strike a military garrison. One of their counterparts was killed in the attack, while the others fled to neighbouring Gabon.
Several months later, Gabonese authorities arrested five of them and expelled them to Equatorial Guinea.
One of them, Salvador Nguema Ndong, was pardoned in May by Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich state with an iron fist since 1979.
Another coup plot, also in 2004, implicated Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Mr. Thatcher was fined and received a suspended sentence for negligence after he pleaded guilty for a deal.
28 November 2007
Four Equatorial Guinea citizens were sentenced on Tuesday to heavy prison terms and fines for attempting to stage a coup and invade the tiny West African nation in 2004.
A civilian tribunal sentenced Juan Bestue Santander and Carmelo Ncogo Mitogo each to 17 years in prison and a 10-million CFA franc fine for their role to topple Equatorial Guinea's long-term leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema, court officials said.
Two others, Juan Maria Itutu Menda and Juan Micha Micha received a 10-year sentence and five-million CFA fine apiece, officials said.
The four were accused of trying to invade the small island of Corisco in 2004 and strike a military garrison. One of their counterparts was killed in the attack, while the others fled to neighbouring Gabon.
Several months later, Gabonese authorities arrested five of them and expelled them to Equatorial Guinea.
One of them, Salvador Nguema Ndong, was pardoned in May by Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich state with an iron fist since 1979.
Another coup plot, also in 2004, implicated Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Mr. Thatcher was fined and received a suspended sentence for negligence after he pleaded guilty for a deal.
Chad rebels declare war on French, foreign forces.
Reuters
30 November 2007
Chadian anti-government rebels on Friday declared a "state of war" against French military forces in Chad and against any other foreign soldiers who might deploy there.
French military aircraft are stationed in Chad under a bilateral peace accord, and a European Union peacekeeping force, comprising mostly French soldiers, is preparing to deploy in the east in coming weeks to protect refugees and aid workers.
The rebel Union of Forces for Democracy and Development said in a statement that it now "considers itself to be in a state of war against the French army, or against any other foreign forces in the national territory".
UFDD fighters have been battling government forces loyal to President Idriss Deby in eastern Chad since the weekend, in fierce clashes that have shattered a month-old peace accord.
The rebels said French military aircraft had flown over their positions, and accused France of providing "diplomatic, strategic and logistical support" to Deby.
"This is an act of hostility and will be treated as such," the UFDD statement said.
(Reporting by Stephanie Hancock; Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
30 November 2007
Chadian anti-government rebels on Friday declared a "state of war" against French military forces in Chad and against any other foreign soldiers who might deploy there.
French military aircraft are stationed in Chad under a bilateral peace accord, and a European Union peacekeeping force, comprising mostly French soldiers, is preparing to deploy in the east in coming weeks to protect refugees and aid workers.
The rebel Union of Forces for Democracy and Development said in a statement that it now "considers itself to be in a state of war against the French army, or against any other foreign forces in the national territory".
UFDD fighters have been battling government forces loyal to President Idriss Deby in eastern Chad since the weekend, in fierce clashes that have shattered a month-old peace accord.
The rebels said French military aircraft had flown over their positions, and accused France of providing "diplomatic, strategic and logistical support" to Deby.
"This is an act of hostility and will be treated as such," the UFDD statement said.
(Reporting by Stephanie Hancock; Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
US's Rice to visit Ethiopia in rare Africa trip.
Reuters
30 November 2007
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Ethiopia next week for meetings on the conflicts in the volatile African Great Lakes region and Sudan and Somalia, said the State Department on Thursday.
Rice, a rare visitor to the African continent, will make her third trip to sub-Saharan Africa since becoming secretary of state in 2005. She has previously been to Liberia, Senegal and Sudan but canceled a trip to Africa last July.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Rice would be in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, on December 5 to attend a meeting of leaders from the African Great Lakes region -- Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
"(They) will discuss issues of regional peace and security," he said.
After her brief Africa trip, Rice will travel to Brussels on December 6 for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers to discuss Afghanistan, Kosovo and other issues, McCormack said, before she returns to Washington on December 7.
McCormack had no details on whether Rice planned to offer any new proposals on how to curb violence in lawless eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a conflict that has brought in the vast central African country's neighbors.
The conflict in the eastern province reflects the political and ethnic tensions behind Congo's 1998-2003 war in which six neighboring countries, including Rwanda, invaded Congo to plunder its vast mineral wealth.
Congo's President Joseph Kabila met President George W. Bush in Washington last month and appealed for U.S. help in trying to stabilize his country. Kabila has been battling to forcibly disarm soldiers in North Kivu province in the east, loyal to renegade Tutsi Gen. Laurent Nkunda.
The United States plans to help train a Congolese army rapid reaction force to tackle the rebels, and the State Department has been negotiating terms of a training contract.
During her two-day visit, Rice will also discuss Somalia and Sudan with African Union members, the United Nations and east African ministers, said McCormack.
In addition, the top U.S. diplomat will meet officials from Ethiopia, which cooperates closely with the United States on counter-terrorism issues.
Tensions have been rising in recent months between Ethiopia and its neighbor Eritrea over its disputed border, with Eritrea accusing the United States of siding with Addis Ababa.
30 November 2007
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Ethiopia next week for meetings on the conflicts in the volatile African Great Lakes region and Sudan and Somalia, said the State Department on Thursday.
Rice, a rare visitor to the African continent, will make her third trip to sub-Saharan Africa since becoming secretary of state in 2005. She has previously been to Liberia, Senegal and Sudan but canceled a trip to Africa last July.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Rice would be in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, on December 5 to attend a meeting of leaders from the African Great Lakes region -- Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
"(They) will discuss issues of regional peace and security," he said.
After her brief Africa trip, Rice will travel to Brussels on December 6 for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers to discuss Afghanistan, Kosovo and other issues, McCormack said, before she returns to Washington on December 7.
McCormack had no details on whether Rice planned to offer any new proposals on how to curb violence in lawless eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a conflict that has brought in the vast central African country's neighbors.
The conflict in the eastern province reflects the political and ethnic tensions behind Congo's 1998-2003 war in which six neighboring countries, including Rwanda, invaded Congo to plunder its vast mineral wealth.
Congo's President Joseph Kabila met President George W. Bush in Washington last month and appealed for U.S. help in trying to stabilize his country. Kabila has been battling to forcibly disarm soldiers in North Kivu province in the east, loyal to renegade Tutsi Gen. Laurent Nkunda.
The United States plans to help train a Congolese army rapid reaction force to tackle the rebels, and the State Department has been negotiating terms of a training contract.
During her two-day visit, Rice will also discuss Somalia and Sudan with African Union members, the United Nations and east African ministers, said McCormack.
In addition, the top U.S. diplomat will meet officials from Ethiopia, which cooperates closely with the United States on counter-terrorism issues.
Tensions have been rising in recent months between Ethiopia and its neighbor Eritrea over its disputed border, with Eritrea accusing the United States of siding with Addis Ababa.
Habyarimana Was Not a Commoner (expert).
Hirondelle News Agency (Lausanne)
29 November 2007
Juvénal Habyarimana, the former Rwandan president, was not a "commoner" compared to his wife Agathe Kansiga, explained to a chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Bernard Lugan a French historian called as an expert witness.
The former Rwandan president, was like his wife, originally from Buciru, an area in northern Rwanda. He belonged to a historical line known as the "clearers" installed in the area in the 17th century as this area was covered with forests, explained Lugan. For this reason he had the right known as Ubukonde, explained the expert.
These aristocratic roots, explained the expert, are in contradiction with an explanation usually retained until now of a more common extraction compared with that of his wife Agathe Habyarimana, born Kansiga. According to this explanation, the higher social origins in Rwandan society would have allowed Agathe Habyarimana to be higher placed than her husband by creating the famous "Akazu" family circle, accused of having had important powers under the Habyarimana regime and having a share of the responsibility in the organization of the genocide.
According to the French historian, Habyarimana descended, like his wife, from the last king of Buciru, even if the family of his wife was richer than his. Juvénal Habyarimana was assassinated in an attack against his plane which cost the lives of 11 other people.
29 November 2007
Juvénal Habyarimana, the former Rwandan president, was not a "commoner" compared to his wife Agathe Kansiga, explained to a chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Bernard Lugan a French historian called as an expert witness.
The former Rwandan president, was like his wife, originally from Buciru, an area in northern Rwanda. He belonged to a historical line known as the "clearers" installed in the area in the 17th century as this area was covered with forests, explained Lugan. For this reason he had the right known as Ubukonde, explained the expert.
These aristocratic roots, explained the expert, are in contradiction with an explanation usually retained until now of a more common extraction compared with that of his wife Agathe Habyarimana, born Kansiga. According to this explanation, the higher social origins in Rwandan society would have allowed Agathe Habyarimana to be higher placed than her husband by creating the famous "Akazu" family circle, accused of having had important powers under the Habyarimana regime and having a share of the responsibility in the organization of the genocide.
According to the French historian, Habyarimana descended, like his wife, from the last king of Buciru, even if the family of his wife was richer than his. Juvénal Habyarimana was assassinated in an attack against his plane which cost the lives of 11 other people.
29 November, 2007
South Sudan government establishes new mission in Belgium.
Sudan Tribune
29 November 2007
The Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) announced that it has inaugurated a new office in Brussels that will serve as a liaison office to Belgium and the European Union (EU).
The GOSS announced that the new mission will be headed by Dr. Francis G. Nazari.
The Belgian government gave its approval for opening the mission the visit to Juba by its foreign minister Karel de Gucht, in May 2007.
The semi-autonomous government of South Sudan has been seeking to establish a worldwide diplomatic presence separate from Sudanese embassies. GOSS has a mission in Washington headed by Ezekiel Gatkuoth.
The interim constitution of Southern Sudan states that GOSS “shall establish, develop and maintain good relations and cooperation with foreign governments, Foreign Non-governmental organizations and associations for mutual advantage in trade, investment, culture, sports, education, credit, loans, grants, technical assistance and other fields of development Cooperation.”
GOSS officials say that these offices “are not contradictory or competitive to the diplomatic missions of the Republic of the Sudan”.
The inauguration of the new office was attended by Luka Biong Deng, Minister for Presidential Affairs and other GOSS officials.
The office is located at Rue de la Loi 26, 1040 Brussels, Belgium.
The 2005 peace agreement brokered by the US and other western countries ended two decades of civil war between the Arab and Muslim-dominated north and the mainly Christian and animist black southerners.
In 2011, southerners will be asked to vote in a referendum on whether they want to be independent or remain part of Sudan.
29 November 2007
The Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) announced that it has inaugurated a new office in Brussels that will serve as a liaison office to Belgium and the European Union (EU).
The GOSS announced that the new mission will be headed by Dr. Francis G. Nazari.
The Belgian government gave its approval for opening the mission the visit to Juba by its foreign minister Karel de Gucht, in May 2007.
The semi-autonomous government of South Sudan has been seeking to establish a worldwide diplomatic presence separate from Sudanese embassies. GOSS has a mission in Washington headed by Ezekiel Gatkuoth.
The interim constitution of Southern Sudan states that GOSS “shall establish, develop and maintain good relations and cooperation with foreign governments, Foreign Non-governmental organizations and associations for mutual advantage in trade, investment, culture, sports, education, credit, loans, grants, technical assistance and other fields of development Cooperation.”
GOSS officials say that these offices “are not contradictory or competitive to the diplomatic missions of the Republic of the Sudan”.
The inauguration of the new office was attended by Luka Biong Deng, Minister for Presidential Affairs and other GOSS officials.
The office is located at Rue de la Loi 26, 1040 Brussels, Belgium.
The 2005 peace agreement brokered by the US and other western countries ended two decades of civil war between the Arab and Muslim-dominated north and the mainly Christian and animist black southerners.
In 2011, southerners will be asked to vote in a referendum on whether they want to be independent or remain part of Sudan.
Ethiopia accused of civilian abuses.
McClathy Newspapers
29 November 2007
Ethiopian soldiers have forcibly drafted hundreds of civilians to fight separatist rebels in the desolate, predominantly Muslim, Ogaden region in a shadowy military campaign supported by the Bush administration, say refugees and former recruits who've fled to neighboring Kenya.
The untrained and ill-equipped draftees – including students, camel herders and tribal leaders who had never fired weapons in combat – are being thrown into pitched battles with ethnic Somali guerrillas and often suffer heavy casualties, more than a dozen refugees and ex-recruits said.
Men who resist joining these civilian militias – known as dabaqodhi, or "puppets" of the government – are beaten, locked up in military prisons or killed, the refugees said in interviews. When recruits perform poorly in combat, as they often do, they're abused and accused of aiding the rebels, refugees said.
The accounts offer a disturbing glimpse into the U.S.-backed Ethiopian government's months-long battle against an ethnic Somali separatist group known as the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). The fight has been conducted virtually in secret in the dry, craggy eastern region that's home to about 4 million mostly ethnic Somali nomads.
The refugees' accounts also have renewed questions about the Bush administration's unflinching support for Ethiopia's Christian-led government, its main African ally in the war on terrorism. Ethiopian troops, with U.S. military support, invaded neighboring Somalia last December to oust a hard-line Islamist regime and have been bogged down by a stubborn insurgency there ever since.
Some U.S. and Ethiopian officials claim that Islamist fighters from Somalia are aiding the ONLF. On a recent visit to Ethiopia, Jendayi Frazer, the ranking State Department official for Africa, said Ethiopia had a right to defend itself and that allegations of civilian killings were unsubstantiated.
An Ethiopian government spokesman, Zemedkun Tekle, said the allegations were untrue.
"The policy of the country to recruit soldiers is on a voluntary basis," he said. "In our country, no one is forced without his will to join the military."
"They came into my school one morning and selected 20 boys and put us into military barracks," said Abdirahman Ali Hashi, a lanky, bookish 23-year-old who described how government troops plucked him last February from his 10th-grade classroom in the town of Degehabur.
With no training other than a cursory lesson on how to fire their AK-47 rifles, they were sent to the battlefield to guide Ethiopian troops who didn't know the terrain, Hashi said. But the guerrillas outgunned them.
"Forced recruitment of militia members is one of a number of very credible allegations of abuses that we've heard coming from the Somali region of Ethiopia," said Leslie Lefkow, a senior researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch.
"There's no question that there has been abuses taking place for many years, but there seems to have been a very serious escalation this year with the government's intensified (military) campaign."
29 November 2007
Ethiopian soldiers have forcibly drafted hundreds of civilians to fight separatist rebels in the desolate, predominantly Muslim, Ogaden region in a shadowy military campaign supported by the Bush administration, say refugees and former recruits who've fled to neighboring Kenya.
The untrained and ill-equipped draftees – including students, camel herders and tribal leaders who had never fired weapons in combat – are being thrown into pitched battles with ethnic Somali guerrillas and often suffer heavy casualties, more than a dozen refugees and ex-recruits said.
Men who resist joining these civilian militias – known as dabaqodhi, or "puppets" of the government – are beaten, locked up in military prisons or killed, the refugees said in interviews. When recruits perform poorly in combat, as they often do, they're abused and accused of aiding the rebels, refugees said.
The accounts offer a disturbing glimpse into the U.S.-backed Ethiopian government's months-long battle against an ethnic Somali separatist group known as the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). The fight has been conducted virtually in secret in the dry, craggy eastern region that's home to about 4 million mostly ethnic Somali nomads.
The refugees' accounts also have renewed questions about the Bush administration's unflinching support for Ethiopia's Christian-led government, its main African ally in the war on terrorism. Ethiopian troops, with U.S. military support, invaded neighboring Somalia last December to oust a hard-line Islamist regime and have been bogged down by a stubborn insurgency there ever since.
Some U.S. and Ethiopian officials claim that Islamist fighters from Somalia are aiding the ONLF. On a recent visit to Ethiopia, Jendayi Frazer, the ranking State Department official for Africa, said Ethiopia had a right to defend itself and that allegations of civilian killings were unsubstantiated.
An Ethiopian government spokesman, Zemedkun Tekle, said the allegations were untrue.
"The policy of the country to recruit soldiers is on a voluntary basis," he said. "In our country, no one is forced without his will to join the military."
"They came into my school one morning and selected 20 boys and put us into military barracks," said Abdirahman Ali Hashi, a lanky, bookish 23-year-old who described how government troops plucked him last February from his 10th-grade classroom in the town of Degehabur.
With no training other than a cursory lesson on how to fire their AK-47 rifles, they were sent to the battlefield to guide Ethiopian troops who didn't know the terrain, Hashi said. But the guerrillas outgunned them.
"Forced recruitment of militia members is one of a number of very credible allegations of abuses that we've heard coming from the Somali region of Ethiopia," said Leslie Lefkow, a senior researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch.
"There's no question that there has been abuses taking place for many years, but there seems to have been a very serious escalation this year with the government's intensified (military) campaign."
Somalia: Ogaden Locals Allege Abuses by Ethiopia Soldiers.
Associated Press
29 November 2007
In the desert stretches of eastern Ethiopia, locals accuse soldiers fighting an insurgency of burning villages to the ground, committing gang rape and killing people "like goats."
The allegations have drawn the attention of international human rights campaigners to this remote corner of a key U.S. ally.
Ethiopia's prime minister says his troops are fighting against a separatist movement in the region known as the Ogaden, and he denies that soldiers have committed such atrocities.
"This is a counterinsurgency. I am not going to tell you there hasn't been anyone beaten up. I am absolutely confident that there has not been any widespread violation of human rights," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told journalists Wednesday.
But a thin, pensive 30-year-old man, who spoke on condition of anonymity this week because of fear of reprisals, told The Associated Press that the army had burned two villages — Lebiga and Korelitsa — to the ground last Friday, killing one man.
The army, the man said, was killing his neighbors "like goats."
Officials in the area, which covers nearly 80,000 square miles, said they had heard similar reports. They also asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The 30-year-old man described gang rapes and public hangings, and said villagers had been told not to speak to international observers. Officials in the area also said villagers had been told not to speak to outsiders, and that also was mentioned in a September report by a UN fact-finding mission.
A 26-year-old man, who also asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, accused the government of withholding food to punish fighters and supporters of the Ogaden National Liberation Front.
For more than a decade, the ethnic Somali rebels have been fighting for greater autonomy in the region, which is being heavily explored for oil and gas. In April, they attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration field in the region, killing 74 people. The Ethiopian military began counterinsurgency operations in May.
The ONLF accuses the government of human rights abuses; the government accuses the rebels of being terrorists funded by its archenemy, Eritrea.
The U.S. claims Ethiopia is needed to help fight the war on terror in East Africa, where al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 225 people.
But working with Ethiopia means an alliance with a country accused of violating human and political rights. Last year, the Ethiopian government acknowledged its security forces killed 193 civilians protesting a disputed election but insisted excessive force was not used.
Earlier this year, New York-based Human Rights Watch accused the Ethiopian army of blocking aid, burning homes and displacing thousands of civilians in the Ogaden region.
Ethiopia expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Dutch branch of Medecins Sans Frontieres from Ogaden. But in recent weeks, the government has allowed 19 non-governmental organizations to return.
In the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, the prime minister told journalists Wednesday that human rights abuses and a humanitarian crisis, "didn't exist. Doesn't exist. Will not exist" in the Ogaden.
Meles, a former rebel, said that he would not repeat the measures taken against him by previous regimes and his government will not commit "widespread human rights violations."
"We know firsthand how to fight an insurgency and how to avoid stupid mistakes," Meles said.
John Holmes, the UN's humanitarian chief, visited the region Tuesday and on Wednesday described the humanitarian situation there as "potentially serious."
He said that he had talked with Meles and other Ethiopian officials about opening up transport and trade, expanding food distribution and addressing human rights concerns. He said Meles took the human rights "issue seriously."
Holmes said he heard many secondhand reports of human rights abuses and said that "they come from numerous and sufficiently varied sources to be taken seriously." He did not give details.
The UN fact-finding mission said in September that the situation in the Ogaden had deteriorated rapidly and called for an independent investigation.
The mission also said that recent fighting in the region had led to a worsening humanitarian situation and called for a substantial increase in emergency food aid.
29 November 2007
In the desert stretches of eastern Ethiopia, locals accuse soldiers fighting an insurgency of burning villages to the ground, committing gang rape and killing people "like goats."
The allegations have drawn the attention of international human rights campaigners to this remote corner of a key U.S. ally.
Ethiopia's prime minister says his troops are fighting against a separatist movement in the region known as the Ogaden, and he denies that soldiers have committed such atrocities.
"This is a counterinsurgency. I am not going to tell you there hasn't been anyone beaten up. I am absolutely confident that there has not been any widespread violation of human rights," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told journalists Wednesday.
But a thin, pensive 30-year-old man, who spoke on condition of anonymity this week because of fear of reprisals, told The Associated Press that the army had burned two villages — Lebiga and Korelitsa — to the ground last Friday, killing one man.
The army, the man said, was killing his neighbors "like goats."
Officials in the area, which covers nearly 80,000 square miles, said they had heard similar reports. They also asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The 30-year-old man described gang rapes and public hangings, and said villagers had been told not to speak to international observers. Officials in the area also said villagers had been told not to speak to outsiders, and that also was mentioned in a September report by a UN fact-finding mission.
A 26-year-old man, who also asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, accused the government of withholding food to punish fighters and supporters of the Ogaden National Liberation Front.
For more than a decade, the ethnic Somali rebels have been fighting for greater autonomy in the region, which is being heavily explored for oil and gas. In April, they attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration field in the region, killing 74 people. The Ethiopian military began counterinsurgency operations in May.
The ONLF accuses the government of human rights abuses; the government accuses the rebels of being terrorists funded by its archenemy, Eritrea.
The U.S. claims Ethiopia is needed to help fight the war on terror in East Africa, where al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 225 people.
But working with Ethiopia means an alliance with a country accused of violating human and political rights. Last year, the Ethiopian government acknowledged its security forces killed 193 civilians protesting a disputed election but insisted excessive force was not used.
Earlier this year, New York-based Human Rights Watch accused the Ethiopian army of blocking aid, burning homes and displacing thousands of civilians in the Ogaden region.
Ethiopia expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Dutch branch of Medecins Sans Frontieres from Ogaden. But in recent weeks, the government has allowed 19 non-governmental organizations to return.
In the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, the prime minister told journalists Wednesday that human rights abuses and a humanitarian crisis, "didn't exist. Doesn't exist. Will not exist" in the Ogaden.
Meles, a former rebel, said that he would not repeat the measures taken against him by previous regimes and his government will not commit "widespread human rights violations."
"We know firsthand how to fight an insurgency and how to avoid stupid mistakes," Meles said.
John Holmes, the UN's humanitarian chief, visited the region Tuesday and on Wednesday described the humanitarian situation there as "potentially serious."
He said that he had talked with Meles and other Ethiopian officials about opening up transport and trade, expanding food distribution and addressing human rights concerns. He said Meles took the human rights "issue seriously."
Holmes said he heard many secondhand reports of human rights abuses and said that "they come from numerous and sufficiently varied sources to be taken seriously." He did not give details.
The UN fact-finding mission said in September that the situation in the Ogaden had deteriorated rapidly and called for an independent investigation.
The mission also said that recent fighting in the region had led to a worsening humanitarian situation and called for a substantial increase in emergency food aid.
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