Uganda Lifts Ban on Oil, Gas Exploration Licensing.

by Nicholas Bariyo
Dow Jones Newswires
February 08, 2008

The Ugandan government has lifted a ban on licensing new companies to explore for oil and gas after the approval of the national gas and oil policy which will guide the exploration and exploitation activities in the sector, a government official said Friday.

Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Energy and Minerals Kalisa Kabagambe said the government will start licensing companies through a competitive bidding process from this month.

In September last year, the ministry of energy and minerals announced that it had suspended issuing exploration licenses in the sector until the policy was in place. Kabagambe said the policy would guide the administration, regulation as well as management and it also presents a basis for regulating and investing in the oil and gas sector.

In 2006, Uganda announced that it had discovered commercial oil and gas deposits in its Lake Albert valley on the border with Congo. Previous licences were granted on a first come first served basis.

William Swing to Head IOM?

World News Journal
9 February 2008

It was announced yesterday that Mr. William Swing, former Chief of Mission in MONUC, has been named head of the International Organization for Migration.

*Post-Correction:* As noted in the commentary of this article, a source from the IOM corrects me and rightly points out that the above report is incorrect. Mr. Swing is, at this time, only a candidate to head the IOM. Elections take place 18 June. An American has occupied the Directorate General position all but one time since the IOM's creation in 1951. The US has lobbied some of the African nations heavily at the recent Islamic conference in Senegal to support Mr. Swing's candidacy. I sincerely apologize for any confusion or inconvenience, especially to members of the IOM community.-Editor.

For Additional Information:

http://geneva.usmission.gov/Press2008/March/0312Swing.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/29/europe/EU-GEN-Migration-Director-Race.php
http://www.state.gov/g/prm/rls/87663.htm

Press Release from the Spanish Legal Team Indicting 40 RDF Soldiers.

Apreciats, podeu trobar a continuació el Comunicat de Premsa que s'ha entregat als mitjans de comuniació avui dia 8/2/08, a les 11 h, a la Roda de Premsa que té lloc en el Centre Internacional de Premsa de Brussel·les (Bèlgica). Sala Passage. També us senyalem al final de l'email, dues notícies destacades publicades a EL PAÍS i a la CNN en relació a què el Jutjat d'Instrucció nº 4 de l'Audiència Nacional el dia 6/2/2008 va notificar un Auto en el que resol dictar ordres d'arrest internacional contra 40 persones que formen -o han format part- de la cúpula polític-militar de la Armée Patriotique Rwandaise/Front Patriotique Rwandais (APR/FPR), que des de juliol de 1994 ocupa el poder a Rwanda, processant-los per crims de genocidi, crims contra la humanitat, crims de guerra i crims de terrorisme, entre d’altres.

Apreciados, podeis encontrar a continuación el Comunicado de Prensa que se ha entregado al los medios de comunicación hoy dia 8/2/2008, a las 11h, en la Rueda de Prensa que tiene lugar en el Centro Internacional de Prensa de Bruselas (Bélgica). Sala Passage. También os señalamos al final del email, dos notícias destacadas publicadas en EL PAÍS y en la CNN en relación a que el Juzgado de Instrucción nº 4 de la Audiencia Nacional el dia 6/2/2008 notificó un Auto en el que resuelve dictar órdenes de arresto internacional contra 40 personas que forman -o han formado parte- de la cúpula político-militar de la Armée Patriotique Rwandaise/Front Patriotique Rwandais (APR/FPR), que desde julio de 1994 ocupa el poder en Rwanda, imputándose los crímenes de genocidio, contra la humanidad, crímenes de guerra y terrorismo, entre otros.

Chers, vous pouvez trouver ensuite le Communiqué de Presse qui a été livré les aux moyens de communication aujourd´hui, 8/2/2008, aux 11h, dans la conférence de presse qui a lieu dans le Centre International de Presse de Bruxelles (Belgique). Salle Passage. Aussi nous vous indiquons à la fin de ce qui est email, deux nouvelles importantes publiées au EL PAÍS et à la CNN en relation au Tribunal central d’instruction nº 4 de l’Audience nationale de Madrid (juridiction qui applique le principe de la compétence universelle en Espagne), vient de decider lancer des mandats d’arrêt internationaux contre 40 personnes membres (ou anciens membres) de l’appareil politico-militaire de l’Armée patriotique rwandaise / Front patriotique rwandais (APR/FPR), au pouvoir au Rwanda depuis juillet 1994. Parmi les crimes qui leur sont imputés figurent le crimes de génocide, le crime contre l’humanité, les crimes de guerre et crime de terrorisme.

Dears, you can find enclose the Official notice of Press that has been given to media today, 8/2/2008, at 11 o´clock, during the Press conference , in the International Press Center in Brussels (Belgium). Passage Room. Also we reference to you at the end of this e-mail, two news outstanding published in the EL PAIS and at CNN in relation to Juzgado Central de Instrucción nº 4 of the Audiencia Nacional, Spanish National Court, (court having legal jurisdiction to apply the universal principle of justice in Spain) has just decided to issue international arrest warrants against 40 people who belonged or continue to belong to the highest ranking political-military helm of the Rwandan Patriotic Army/Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPA/RPF) which has held power in Rwanda since 1994. The arrest warrants charge them with the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and terrorism, among others..


Notícies/Notícias/Nouvelles/News:

- EL PAÍS: http://www..veritasrwandaforum.org/dosier/juez_procesa_pais.pdf
- CNN: http://www.veritasrwandaforum.org/dosier/spanish_genocide_cnn.pdf

Judith Pujol
Assistent del
Sr. Jordi Palou i Loverdos
Advocat i Mediador
Fòrum Internacional per la Veritat i la Justíca a l'Àfrica dels Grans Llacs
www..veritasrwandaforum.org

N’DJAMENA: FRANCE DEMANDS GENERAL POLITICAL SOLUTION.

MISNA
7 February 2008

Six organizations, including religious ones – including Secours catholique (French Caritas) Justice and Faith Network Africa - Europe’ and NGO’s – have written a letter to the French executive suggesting that any long term solution to the current crisis in Chad depends on a wider scope of negotiations backed by the international community rather than unconditional support to the Deby government. "The situation in Chad is still confused and dangerous for civilians. Many of our partners have been threatened and they risk being tortured or even disappearing" says the letter. "We wonder about Frances’ position and the role of France’s soldiers in the ‘Hawk’ operation’ – said the signatories -. Despite its objective to help stability in Chad and the region, we note that France has an important responsibility for the events of recent days by backing a contested regime". The authors include also CCFD, Survie, Acat France – also ask that France act in favor of ensuring the release of political opponents, to protect human rights and to commit to a wider political process to resolve the crisis.

N’DJAMENA: RUMORS OF FIGHTING IN EAST.

MISNA
8 February 2008

It was a calm day in N’Djamena; however the latest toll suggests that the recent clashes between the army and the rebels ahs left at least 160 dead and about 1000 wounded. “The roads are full of people and the markets in the suburbs have been busy all day,” said father Renzo Piazza, a Combonian missionary in Chad, to MISNA.

The government has issued a curfew in the capital and six other provinces as a preventative measure to prevent criminal behavior and looting. The curfew shall remain in place “for such time as needed to find enemies who are still hidden”, said the prime minister Delwa Kassiré Coumakoye. While hundreds of refugees who fled in the past days toward Cameroon continue to return to N’Djamena, suggesting the situation is improving, local media (close to the rebels) continue to speak of intense fighting between the rebels and the Darfur rebels of JEM near the Sudanese border. Jem had intervened in favor of the government. The news has not been verified, yet there are claims that the rebels have managed to take over Mongo and Bitkine. The anti-government militias have also issued a communiqué denouncing the position of the Un Security Council, which allows France to justify its intervention in the conflict in favor of the regime of Idris Deby. The Council had condemned the rebel attacks against the government of Chad two days ago.

N’DJAMENA (2): FRENCH TROOPS PARTICIPATED IN BATTLE?

MISNA
8 February 2008

Reports and rejections continue in regard to the participation of French soldiers in the fighting last weekend in N’Djamena after the rebels stormed the city. In addition to the voices, in circulation for days in the Chadian media (very close to the rebellion), a report was published yesterday on the prestigious French “La Croix” Catholic newspaper. An article entitled “France permitted Idriss Deby to save his regime” claims that based on “information received from French diplomats and military sources”, “the French special forces took part in last weekend’s clashes” and that “French officers coordinated the attack carried out on February 1 (last Friday) by the Chadian army against a column of rebels in Massaguet (50km north-east of N’Djamena)”, in an aim to halt the rebel advance on the capital.

General Christian Baptiste, a French Defence ministry spokesman, rejected the allegations stating, “Contrarily to claims made in the article, no special forces or French soldier took part in fighting between government forces and rebel forces”, he told the AFP news agency. Also the Human Rights Minister Rama Yade excluded any intervention by the French military. According to “Le Croix”, after a phone conversion between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Chadian counterpart, France “delivered ammunition through Libya, and more precisely those necessary for the Russian T-55 tanks, which permitted Idriss Deby to trounce the assailants in N’Djamena”; the paper claims that “many tonnes of ammunition arrived in Tripoli”. After the offensive of the past days, the rebels were repelled and are now apparently 600km from the capital.

Editor's Note: This blog has commented twice briefly already on the French assistance to the Chadian Government.

‘AFRICOM’: ABUJA SAYS “NO” AGAIN.

MISNA
8 February 2008

Nigeria’s position is that should Africom serve to help train military personnel, the supply of health services and the struggle against AIDS, it is not needed for its headquarters to be based in Africa”. So said Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, reiterating his government’s ‘no’ to the hosting of Africom, the US command for the defense of Africa. Minister Yayale indicated his refusal just a month after Nigeria’s president Umaru Yar’Adua rejected Africom before president Bush last December. So far, Africom has been rejected by almost all African heads of state and African regional bodies, while appeals intensify for Africa’s governments to “resist American requests’.

N’DJAMENA: DEBRIS CLEAN UP CONTINUES, REBELS REPORTED IN EAST.

MISNA
8 February 2008

“The situation in the city is calm and operations are continuing for the removal of debris from the fighting of the weekend”, said a MISNA source contacted this morning in the Chadian capital N’Djamena, theatre last weekend to violent fighting between government troops and rebels that stormed the city last Saturday after an advance of a thousand kilometres from their bases in the east. “Civilians are also slowly continuing to return after fleeing in the past days over the border with Cameroon to Kousseri”, added the source, referring to the tens of thousands of people, between 50,000 and 70,000 based on current estimates, that since Monday crossed the bridge on River Chari into Cameroonian territory.

Meanwhile, as the polemic continues on the participation of French troops in the fighting of the past days, denied by the government, local sources refer that the rebels are around 600km from the capital in an area between the towns of Mongo and Bitkine, where heavy fighting took place in the past 48 hours with pro-government militia that ended with the seizing of the two locations of the Chadian rebellion. Focus and concern of humanitarian workers remains on the remote areas of eastern Chad, where over 200,000 Sudanese refugees from Darfur live in dire conditions and the rebels have their strongholds. In a statement issued yesterday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed serious concern “about the impact of the recent violence on our ability to deliver life-saving assistance to almost a half million people, most of whom are heavily reliant on humanitarian aid for their survival”. The main concern is the shortage of nutritive food, medicine and fuel, as also the risk that the persisting tension outside the Chadian capital may block the needed provisions.

PRIME MINISTER RESIGNS AMID ECONOMIC CRISIS.

MISNA
8 February 2008

São Tome and Príncipe Prime Minister Tome Soares da Vera Cruz resigned claiming the impossibility of governing in the current economic crisis afflicting the archipelago in the Gulf of Guinea. In announcing his decision in a radio address, Vera Cruz specified that “the final drop” was being forced to withdraw from Parliament the proposed 2008 budget, destined to be rejected. The majority parties are due to convene to evaluate the formation of a new government. Relations became tense recently between Vera Cruz, in office since 1 April 2006, and President Fradique de Menezes, who is critical of the government’s handling of the economic situation. The former Portuguese colony, independent since 1975, is considered among the poorest countries in the world, with an economy dependent on the not adequately developed agricultural and fishing sectors, while the majority of other products have to be imported. Fifty-four percent of the around 200,000 inhabitants live under the poverty rate. In 2003 oil reserves were discovered.

President Kikwete dissolves cabinet.

Afrol News
8 February 2008

President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania on Thursday dissolved cabinet after he had accepted the resignation of his Prime Minister, Edward Lowassa, and two other members [Nazir Karamagi and Ibrahim Msabaha] who were indicted in the country's major corruption scandal report.

The officials and several other officials were accused of interfering with an energy contract and favour the US company, Richmond, contravening laws and rules on procurement.

Lowassa told parliament that he had been forced to resign because his credibility was tarnished by a report into a deal involving Tanzania and Richmond for emergency power supply.

The Texas-based firm was hired in 2006 to provide emergency electricity during Tanzania's power crisis. Lawmakers complained of Richmond's failure to normalise the situation after all the deal costs more than US $140,000 a day.

"Because I have been linked to this scandal, I have decided to write to the President asking to be relieved of my duties," Lowassa told the parliamentary session in Dodoma.

"The whole process was unjust to me," he said, complaining that the parliamentary committee that investigated the scandal had not questioned him. "The report has tarnished my credibility."

The man, who had been the Premier since December 2005, believed that the parliament might have been misled.

Karamagi and Msabaha resigned hours after that of the Prime Minister, expressing concern over the scandal.

Karamagi told parliament thus: "I am taking collective responsibility as a cabinet minister."

The ball is now in Kikwete's court to go ahead with the parliamentary committee's recommendation that indicted officials be prosecuted.

But Msabaha held that "some of the problems some of the problems were caused by my subordinates, and I am also taking responsibility for their acts, which have tarnished the image of the government."

The acceptance of the Prime Minister's resignation by President Kikwete automatically follow the dissolution of the government.

President Kikwete is expected to appoint a new Prime Minister ahead of a visit by US President George Bush next week.

Kikwete, the new AU Chairman, said his government would do everything humanely possible to stamp out official corruption in the country. It was in that regard that he sacked the Central Bank Governor, Daudi Ballali, last January after he was linked to fraudulent transactions transactions.

Clearing the Confusion: The Financial Times and Official Statements.

Mr. Laurent Nkunda, reportedly a Pentecostal preacher, gives a sermon to his followers during a relatively recent weekend mass service held in Kitshanga.

World News Journal.
Press Release.
By David Barouski
8 February 2008

A few days ago, an article appeared in the Financial Times online dated as 3 February 2008. It contained a disscusion by officials, including former UN Chief of Mission William Swing, of the Rwandan presence in the Congo. This article was a reprint of an old Financial Times article that originally appeared on December 16 2004, in the Financial Times. It was printed during the joint attack on Walikale Territory by the RDF and soldiers loyal to Gen. Nkunda. While passing off the article as new information by re-dating it is a highly questionable act, it is important to reflect on MONUC's admissions over the years and ask why the North Kivu region is today engulfed in such terrible violence and suffering?

In La Potentiel today, MONUC civilian sector spokesman Mr. Kemal Saiki reported that the RDF is not present in Congo. This is not the truth and I cannot possibly imagine that Mr. Saiki is so poorly informed that he honestly does not know they are there. Such an act seriously erodes MONUC's credibility with the Congolese people and the international community, who both already know the RDF is there.

Ever since the Goma peace conference began and the informal (and later formal) ceasefire agreement was signed, the RDF has and continues to have a heavily reinforced presence in Bukima, Bikenge, near Bunagana and other pockets of the Virunga forest along the border area. They protect CNDP supply lines and keep watch on the road north from Goma, which is apparently the demarcation line as things are as normal as they can be in Rumangabo. Indeed, General Nkunda travels daily between Rwanda and Congo without problems. He spends his nights in Rwanda at his villa and he never fails to travel back to Congo on Sundays and preach at his formal and informal church services in Kitshanga and Mwesso.

One of the grand failures of the Goma peace agreement signed at the Conference was that FDLR/FOCA and Rwandan Government officials did not attend. Therefore, no provision for a full and unconditional withdrawal of Rwandan soldiers was included and signed off on by the Rwandan military and government as a binding agreement, unlike the Pretoria Accords of 2002, which they also did not abide by. The FDLR/FOCA forces did not commit to a peaceful disarmament and repatriation for Rwandan nationals. The core elements at the heart of the strife in the Kivus was not addressed, which leaves the agreement wide open to failure.

IFJ Urges Rwandan Government to Lift Ban on Belgian Reporter.

International Federation of Journalists
Press Release
7 February 2008

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today urged the Rwandan government to allow well-known Belgian journalist Peter Verlinden to enter the country after his critical reporting led authorities last week to claim he was “biased” and ban him from the country.

“Reporters and their editors should make all decisions regarding news coverage and governments should not intervene to shape that coverage,” said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White in a letter to President Paul Kagame.

Verlinden, who works for VRT public television news, was told last week that he could not enter Rwanda with Belgian Development Co-operation Minister Charles Michel on his visit to Kigali. Authorities claimed that his reporting on Rwandan news has been “biased” and “genocidal.”

The IFJ, the Belgian journalists’ union and Verlinden’s bosses at VRT are all supporting his reporting and calling on the Rwandan government to allow him to travel in the country and work freely.

The IFJ believes that all journalists must exercise good judgement to ensure that their reporting is fair and unbiased.

POST-ELECTION CRISIS: TALKS RESUME, CLASHES IN RIFT VALLEY.

MISNA
6 February 2008

Talks resumed this morning in Nairobi between the majority and opposition, under the mediation of the African Union (AU) envoy Kofi Annan. The talks for a negotiated solution to the crisis were threatened yesterday by a polemic over the holding tomorrow in Nairobi of a meeting of the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), the bloc that unites east African nations. Nairobi hosting the event is a move that “aims to legitimise the government of Emilio Mwai Kibaki in the eyes of the international community through the back door”, the opposition headed by Raila Odinga said yesterday, threatening new anti-government rallies. An intervention of Annan, who called for “responsibility” from the sides, salvaged the negotiations.

Meanwhile, fierce clashes continue mainly in the Rift Valley region. According to police, 19 people were killed in the violence since Sunday in Eldoret, while attacks by armed youths are still underway in the village of Trans Nzoia. The growing insecurity also caused some humanitarian workers to abandon the nation: the US Peace Corps yesterday announced its decision to pull out its almost a hundred volunteers from Kenya. The unrest and tension in the nation has also affected the foreign community in the country. The Finnish Embassy in Kenya today in fact reported receiving threats of attacks in e-mail messages. A situation that risks spiralling into a catastrophe for the nation’s economy – as in fact indicated by a delegation of the business community received yesterday by Annan – with serious consequences already being suffered in the tourism and exportation sectors.

N’DJAMENA (2): RED CROSS TO MISNA, AROUND “A HUNDRED” KILLED IN FIGHTING.

MISNA
6 February 2008

“Around a hundred people were killed in the fighting over the weekend in N’Djamena”, said to MISNA a source of the International Committee of the Red Cross contacted this morning in the Chadian capital, confirming that operations began yesterday for the collecting of bodies left on the streets for days covered only with sheets or carpets. “The victims are not hundreds, as some media reported. From the bodies we counted in the city we are looking at a total of around 100 dead, to which we must then add the number of people who died in the hospitals; a figure that we currently do not have”, added the MISNA source. Twenty-seven bodies were recovered from the streets yesterday and the operations – carried out by the Chadian Red Cross along with the city administration and supported by the ICRC – are continuing today. The Red Cross yesterday issued a first estimate of about “a thousand” people wounded in the fighting. Uncertainty remains on the number of people that fled N’Djamena for neighbouring Cameroon and some Nigeria, though estimates range from 20,000 indicated by the United Nations to the nearly 50,000 reported by Cameroon sources.

N’DJAMENA: APPEAL FOR RETURN OF REFUGEES, BODY RECOVERY BEGINS.

MISNA
6 February 2008

“We are asking our fellow citizens who have been worried and who were obliged to leave the capital to return immediately”, army General Mahamat Ali Abdallah said last night on national television on behalf of the Chadian authorities to the tens of thousands of people (between 20,000 and 50,000, depending on the sources) that in the past days fled the capital due to the heavy fighting seeking shelter in Kouesseri, in neighbouring Cameroon, or even Nigeria. The army operations commander added that “there is no longer any threat to the capital or surrounding areas”. In reality, based on information in circulation, the rebel forces loyal to the Unified Military Command are still positioned around the capital. Information emerging from N’Djamena is scarce and hard to verify, while the local media, often close to the opposition and rebellion, is reporting unconfirmed and confused news of skirmishes and interventions of French troops.

A Libyan delegation is attended this morning in the capital to mediate between the government and rebels. Chad’s Prime Minister Delwa Kassiré Coumakoye however accused Tripoli (appointed as mediator by the African Union) of “supporting” and “arming” the rebels. French Defence Minister Hervé Morin is already in the capital on a surprise visit and meeting with the Chadian Head of State, while resentment grows in the local press against France (and more generally the international community, United Nations and African Union) accused of backing a contested president to safeguard personal financial interests. Meanwhile, MISNA sources refer that the local Red Cross has begun collecting dead bodies left on the streets for days, covered only with sheets or carpets. The International Committee of the Red Cross is expected to issue a statement later today with an estimated death toll of the fighting in N’Djamena, in which up to “a thousand” people were wounded always according to the ICRC.

NORTH-KIVU: AID FOR REFUGEES AFTER CEASEFIRE.

MISNA
6 February 2008

MONUC said that it has spotted more movement of civilians in the areas of Bunagana and Rutshuru in North Kivu after the recent fighting between various factions; it has sent a patrol unit to verify the living conditions of some 2700 new refugees in the area. Meanwhile, the progressive improvement of security in the region – as the Congolese armed forces and almost all rebels in North and South Kivu have made a commitment toward a ceasefire – has facilitated the delivery of food aid to 2500 families that have taken refuge in Rugari. Caritas-Congo, last weekend, managed the distribution of essential goods offered by CAFOD, the charity agency of British bishops for overseas aid; days earlier, a similar operation had been possible for another 2500 families in Mweso. To ensure the application of the agreement of January 23 signed in Goma (capital of North-Kivu), MONUC was designated and accepted by all sides as a reference point entrusted to receive all notices of potential violations of the ceasefire, while awaiting the creation of a monitoring mechanism by the “mixed military sub commission for peace and security”.

Tanzanian prime minister quits.

News 24
7 February 2008

Tanzania's Prime Minister Edward Lowassa has told parliament on Thursday that he had tendered his resignation to the president after being implicated in a corruption scandal over an energy deal.

"Because I have been linked to this scandal, I have decided to write to the president asking to be relieved of my duties," the premier told parliamentarians, during a session of the Dodoma-based parliament broadcast live on television.

The speaker adjourned the session and explained he was awaiting a decision by President Jakaya Kikwete on Lowassa's resignation letter.

The premier's decision came after a report was submitted to parliament over a deal signed between the government and the Texas-based firm Richmond for emergency power supply.

According to a probe into the contract, the prime minister as well as two other government ministers and several other officials allegedly meddled in the tender to favour the United States company.

The emergency power supply deal aimed at providing electricity to the east African nation in case of drought. According to the report, the deal contravened laws and rules on procurement and costs the country $140 000 a day.

US diplomats visit Briton in Equatorial Guinea jail.

David Pallister
February 7, 2008
Guardian Unlimited

The British mercenary Simon Mann, who was extradited from Zimbabwe to Equatorial Guinea at the weekend, was visited in prison yesterday by the US ambassador and his deputy.

They reported that he was "shocked but physically OK", a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office in London said.

The two diplomats, David Johnson and Anton Smith, were given access to Black Beach prison after the government of President Teodoro Obiang Ngeuma refused permission to the British consul who had arrived in the country from Nigeria on Monday.

Smith later spoke by telephone to Mann's wife, Amanda, and his sister in London.

Mann, the alleged leader of an aborted coup in the west African country, was secretly flown out of Harare on Friday evening after his appeal against extradition was refused, but before he could lodge a final appeal with the supreme court.

His lawyers accused the Zimbabwean authorities of a criminal conspiracy, and the Foreign Office, in a strongly worded statement, endorsed their interpretation.

A spokeswoman said: "We understand that the appeals process was still ongoing at the time of his removal from Zimbabwe. We have serious concerns about the legality of this under both domestic and international law. We have made representations to the Zimbabwean authorities to this effect."

Mann was arrested in Harare in 2004 as his plane, carrying 67 South African mercenaries, landed to pick up weapons. He served four years in prison in Zimbabwe and was immediately rearrested upon his release last year over the extradition warrant from Equatorial Guinea.

During his appeal, his lawyers argued that he could face torture if he was extradited because of Equatorial Guinea's poor human rights record.

Equatorial Guinea has given assurances that he will not be mistreated and that no attempt will be made to ask for the death penalty.

To avoid allegations of judicial partiality, the government has also promised that his trial will be conducted by a judge chosen by the head of the African Union, currently the Tanzanian president, Jakaya Kikwete.

Mann is expected to be visited shortly by members of the International Red Cross based in Cameroon.

AU: Comesa’s Mwencha replaces Mazimhaka.

Rwandan News Agency
6 February 2008

Rwandan Mr. Patrick Mazimhaka steps out of the African Union executive arm - the African Union Commission - in favour of Kenyan Mr. Erastus Mwencha, RNA reports. The election took place last week on February 01, during the 10th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Born on April 26, 1948 in Rwanda, he was until his election in July 2003, the Senior Presidential Advisor to the President of Rwanda on the Great Lakes Region. Mr. Mazimhaka was also a long serving Minister in Rwanda in the post 1994 governments.

Kenyan national Mr. Mwencha is currently the Secretary General of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

Gabonese Foreign Affairs Minister, Jean Ping, edged in as the new Chairperson of the Commission.

Mr. Jean Ping was elected with a two thirds majority vote of the Assembly in conformity with the African Union rules of procedure in matters of elections for a four-year mandate at the helm of the Au Commission.

He will be replacing the outgoing Chairperson of the Commission, Professor Alpha Oumar Konaré, from the Republic of Mali, who has been at the head of the African Union Commission from September 2003 up to date.

The seven other commission members were also replaced with candidates from other countries.

Chad ready to pardon kidnap aid workers.

The Guardian
7 February 2008
By Elizabeth Stewart and agencies

The president of Chad indicated today he is prepared to pardon six French aid workers convicted of the attempted kidnap of Sudanese child refugees.
In his first public statement since rebels attempted to take the capital, N'Djamena, and the presidential palace over the weekend, Idriss Déby said he would issue a pardon if a request was made by France over the six, who were sentenced to eight years of hard labour by a Chad court.

The charity workers were returned to France under a 1976 judicial accord between the two countries and the sentence was converted by a French court last month to eight years in prison.

The group, members of the aid group Zoe's Ark, were arrested in October as they sought to smuggle out 103 children on a plane to France.

The workers claimed they had been trying to help orphans in Sudan's conflict-wracked Darfur region, which borders Chad. But investigations showed most of the children had at least one parent or close adult relative.

Déby issued a "solemn call" for a European force to take up positions in Chad.

The beleaguered president said his government had quashed the rebellion, declaring: "We are in total control, not only of the capital, but of all the country."

But he said three-quarters of his officials had disappeared during battles with insurgents that left hundreds dead and prompted thousands to flee the capital.

After meeting the French defence minister, Hervé Morin, Déby denied reports that he had been injured when N'Djamena was besieged.

Chad has accused neighbouring Sudan of backing the rebels to prevent the deployment of a European peacekeeping mission to protect refugees from its war-ravaged Darfur region.

Editor's Note: The recent French intervention in Chad to help end the coup attempt was, in part, President Deby's cashing in on the proverbial IOU President Sarkozy gave him after he allowed the Zoe's Ark workers convicted of child trafficking to return to France. Now, as a show of gratitude and a political wink to the French, they be pardoned by President Deby and the international community will forget the whole event.

DEFENSE RAISES ALLEGED RPF CRIMES BEFORE UN COURT.

Hirondelle News Agency
6 February 2008

The Defence and the Prosecution Wednesday were once again locked in arguments over the alleged crimes committed by the former Rwandan rebellion(Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF),now in power in Kigali, in a joint trial before the International Criminal Court for Rwanda (ICTR) of four former top army officers accused of participating in the 1994 genocide

The debate re-surfaced in the trial known as “Military II “ when a defence lawyer brought up the issue of the alleged war crimes of RPF between 1990 and 1994.

Christopher Black, Canadian lawyer defending the former Chief of Staff of the Rwandan Gendarmerie General Augustin Ndindiliyimana, questioned a protected defence witness, a former gendarme over RPF’s role in 1990s.

The witness claimed before the UN Court that the former rebellion committed tortures in Mutare, eastern Rwanda.

The representative of the prosecutor, Segun Jegede from Nigeria strongly opposed the line of questioning, saying the defence was diverting the facts facing the accused.

Mr. Black responded that the witnessed testimony corroborated his theory according to which "the majority of the massacres committed in Rwanda in 1994, and even before this date, were the work of the RPF".

Spanish judge indicts 40 Rwandan military officers for genocide.

General James Kabarebe, RDF Chief of Staff (left), is among those listed as participating in a genocide.

CNN

6 February 2006

A Spanish judge Wednesday indicted 40 current or former Rwandan military officers for several counts of genocide and human rights abuses during the 1990s when several million Rwandans died or disappeared.

A Spanish judge Wednesday indicted 40 current or former Rwandan military officers for several counts of genocide and human rights abuses during the 1990s when several million Rwandans died or disappeared.

The judge issued international arrest warrants against the 40, including Gen. James Kabarebe, whom the judge said is believed to be the chief of staff of Rwanda's military; Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, whom the judge said is believed to be Rwanda's ambassador to India; and Lt. Col. Rugumya Gacinya, whom the judge said is believed to be a military attaches at Rwanda's embassy in Washington D.C., USA, according to court documents viewed by CNN.

Rwanda does not have an extradition treaty with Spain, a court spokeswoman told CNN.

The indictments against the 40 are for "crimes of genocide, human rights abuses and terrorism," during the 1990s in Rwanda, "when more than four million Rwandans were killed or disappeared under an extermination plan for ethnic and/or political reasons," the court documents said.

The judge, Fernando Andreu, named eight Spaniards who died or disappeared during those tumultuous years in Rwanda. Their plight prompted his investigation at Spain's National Court in Madrid, which previously has investigated human rights violations against Spaniards during past military regimes in Chile, Argentina and elsewhere.

Five of the Spanish victims were missionaries. The bodies of four of them were found in late 1996 after they were tortured, and shot or hacked to death with machetes, the documents said, while a fifth is still missing.

Three other Spaniards were shot to death in early 1997 while working for a non-profit medical group providing aid to Hutu refugees in Rwanda, the documents said.

The majority of the victims during the genocide, the documents said, were Hutu. The Hutu included Rwandan refugees and Congolese civilians.

The judge did not indict Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame, but only because he has immunity as head of state, the documents said. The judge found evidence of criminal activity by Kagame, based on the testimony of a former Rwandan Army informant who told the judge he previously worked on Kagame's security detail, the documents said.

In preparing the indictments, the judge heard testimony from 22 people who said they witnessed the horrors in Rwanda in the 1990s. All of them live in exile, mainly in Europe, and all have changed their identity for security reasons, except Marie Beatrice Umutesi, who lives in Belgium and has written a book about the killings, the documents said.

The documents included a 182-page indictment and two accompanying summary documents.

Spanish Criminal Court Issues Arrest Warrants for 40 RPA Officials.

BBC News
6 February 2008

A judge in Spain has issued international arrest warrants for 40 Rwandan soldiers accused of mass killings following the 1994 genocide.

Judge Fernando Andreu also indicted them for the murder of nine Spanish citizens, including six missionaries.

He said he had evidence implicating Rwanda's current President Paul Kagame, who has immunity from prosecution.

Under Spanish law, a court can prosecute human rights crimes even if the alleged offences took place abroad.

Judge Andreu began considering the case in response to a complaint from a human rights group in 2005.

The judge said that, after taking power, the army under Mr Kagame carried out mass killings of Hutus in Rwanda and in refugee camps in what was then neighbouring Zaire.


Here is the list of the 40 RPA officials accused of perpetrating mass murders:

1. JAMES KABAREBE, General Major.
2. KAYUMBA NYAMWASA, General Major
3. KARENZI KARAKE, Brigadier general
4. FRED IBINGIRA, General Major
5. RWAHAMA JACKSON MUTABAZI, Colonel
6. JACK NZIZA (o JACKSON NKURUNZIZA o JAQUES NZIZA),Brigadier general
7. RUGUMYA GACINYA, Lt Colonel
8. DAN MUNYUZA, Colonel
9. CHARLES KAYONGA, Lt General
10. JOSEPH NZABAMWITA, Lt Colonel
11. CEASER KAYIZARI, General Major
12. ERIK MUROKORE, Colonel
13. DENYS KARERA, Major
14. EVARISTE KABALISA, Captain
15. JUSTUS MAJYAMBERE, Major
16. EVARISTE KARENZI,Sgt
17. ALEX KAGAME, General de Brigade
18. CHARLES MUSITU, Colonel
19. GASANA RURAYI, Lt Colonel
20. SAMUEL KANYEMERA known as SAM KAKA, Brigadier general
21. TWAHIRWA DODO, Colonel
22. FIRMIN BAYINGANA, Lt Coronel
23. AGUSTÍN GASHAYIJA, Brigadier general
24. WILSON GUMISIRIZA, Brigadier general
25. WILLY BAGABE, Coronel
26. WILSON GABONZIZA, Lt
27. SAMUEL KARENZEZI, alias “Viki”, Caporal
28. JOAQUIM HABIMANA, Captain
29. KARARA MISINGO, Captain
30. ALPHONSE KAJE, Captain
31. FRANK BAKUNZI, Captain
32. DAN GAPFIZI, Brigadier general
33. JOHN BUTERA, Lt
34. CHARLES KARAMBA, Colonel
35. MATAYO, Captain
36. PETER KALIMBA, Colonel
37. SILAS UDAHEMUKA, Major
38. STEVEN BALINDA, Major
39. JOHN BAGABO, Colonel
40. GODEFROID NTUKAYAJEMO, alias “Kiyago”, Captain

N’DJAMENA: APPEAL FOR RETURN OF REFUGEES, BODY RECOVERY BEGINS.

MISNA
6 February 2008

“We are asking our fellow citizens who have been worried and who were obliged to leave the capital to return immediately”, army General Mahamat Ali Abdallah said last night on national television on behalf of the Chadian authorities to the tens of thousands of people (between 20,000 and 50,000, depending on the sources) that in the past days fled the capital due to the heavy fighting seeking shelter in Kouesseri, in neighbouring Cameroon, or even Nigeria. The army operations commander added that “there is no longer any threat to the capital or surrounding areas”. In reality, based on information in circulation, the rebel forces loyal to the Unified Military Command are still positioned around the capital. Information emerging from N’Djamena is scarce and hard to verify, while the local media, often close to the opposition and rebellion, is reporting unconfirmed and confused news of skirmishes and interventions of French troops. A Libyan delegation is attended this morning in the capital to mediate between the government and rebels. Chad’s Prime Minister Delwa Kassiré Coumakoye however accused Tripoli (appointed as mediator by the African Union) of “supporting” and “arming” the rebels.

French Defence Minister Hervé Morin is already in the capital on a surprise visit and meeting with the Chadian Head of State, while resentment grows in the local press against France (and more generally the international community, United Nations and African Union) accused of backing a contested president to safeguard personal financial interests. Meanwhile, MISNA sources refer that the local Red Cross has begun collecting dead bodies left on the streets for days, covered only with sheets or carpets. The International Committee of the Red Cross is expected to issue a statement later today with an estimated death toll of the fighting in N’Djamena, in which up to “a thousand” people were wounded always according to the ICRC.

DUAL ATTACK IN BOSASO, 20 DEAD AND DOZENS WOUNDED.

MISNA
6 February 2008

An investigation has been opened by authorities in Puntland, the semi-autonomous region in northern Somalia, into twin explosions last night in Bosaso that according to local press sources left around 20 dead and some 90 wounded. Though reporting an analogous toll of 25 dead (fairly close to the official toll of 20 dead issued by the Puntland Information ministry), the Somali press reported contrasting versions of events. According to some sources, two bombs went off minutes apart near the seaport, where thousands of people (mainly Ethiopians and Somalis) set off each day across the Gulf of Aden to illegally enter Yemen in search of work in the Arab Peninsula. According to other sources, two grenades were hurled into a cinema crowded with aspirant immigrants. All however agree that most of the casualties were Ethiopians. No anti-government and anti-Ethiopian groups have so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

RWANDAN WITNESS CLAIMS OF THREATS, SEEKS ASYLUM IN CANADA.

Hirondelle News Agency
5 February 2008

A Rwandan defence witness claimed Monday before the Superior Court of Quebec to have received threats for testifying in the trial of Desire Munyaneza, an ethnic Hutu accused of participating in the 1994 genocide.

The witness is known only as “DDM 12 “and is 46-years-old.

Before Judge Andre Denis, he narrated the circumstances which led him to leave Rwanda and seek asylum in Quebec, Canada.

"I had received threats", he claimed, adding that a Rwandan man threatened him with serious consequences if he testified for the accused. The threats were made in Kigali on 20 October 2007, he told the Court.

“This Rwandan man (whose identity was not revealed) said that I have been contacted to testify in the trial of Munyaneza. If it is true, there will be consequences ", the witness said.

The witness said he took the threats seriously and benefited from a meeting at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, to come to Montreal on 15 November.

Since then, he said, he was working on procedures to seek for an asylum in Canada.

The witness told the court that he considered the defendant "as a friend" whom he met regularly, since their first meeting in 1986.

The two men had not seen each other since their last meeting in Butare, southern Rwanda, in July 1994.

Mrs Ledoux requested on several occasions that DDM 12 specify his role in the killings near Butare.

The witness claimed that he never saw dead bodies; neither controlled Tutsis, nor even heard shots when he was on guard at road blocks.

"One can describe me as an Interahamwe [militiaman], because I was at the barricade", he said, adding: "It was an obligation. If you disobeyed you will be killed immediately. You will be accused of complicity ".

The testimonies will continue for next six weeks.

The court moves to Rwanda from 14 April to 9 May and later to Tanzania from 19 to 30 May.

ICTR MAKES PUBLIC ARREST WARRANT ISSUED AGAINST A RWANDAN LAWYER.

Hirondelle News Agency
5 February 2008

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) lifted Monday confidentiality of the arrest warrant issued against a Rwandan lawyer, Leonidas Nshogoza, accused of bribing a
witness.

The decision was rendered by Judge Dennis Byron and transmitted to the Rwandan authorities.

However, the indictment still remains confidential.

Mr Nshogoza worked until his arrest by the Rwandan authorities last June, as an investigator of the defence team of Emmanuel Rukundo, former Military Chaplain on trial before the ICTR.

However, the Rwandan lawyer was given a bail in November, pending further details from the Arusha-based UN Court.

The arrest warrant wants the accused transferred to the Special UN Detention Facility (UNDF) in Arusha to face a trial.

Clinton-linked ‘Better World' mining initiative to roll out in Africa.

By Martin Creamer - Mining Weekly
Feb/06/2008

A Bill Clinton-linked nongovernmental organisation, which has already raised $350-million to create sustainable development, will roll out in South America from March 1 and then Africa.

Clinton-Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative chairperson Frank Giustra told the Mining Indaba in Cape Town on Tuesday that the initiative was investing in the future of countries where mining was taking place.

This would result in economic activity continuing when mining, which had a finite horizon, ceased.

Giustra, who made hundreds of millions of dollars from mining and movies, said the initiative chose the Clinton Foundation as a partner because of Clinton's record in getting things done.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"He's focused on getting results in his lifetime," Giustra said of the former US President, who, he said, understood how to get maximum leverage in working with governments, the private sector and communities.

"He hates to waste money and has never asked any business to sacrifice profits," Giustra said.

While initial focus was on health and education, the ultimate was to facilitate business enterprise development that created jobs.

In March it would be launched in Peru, Colombia and Mexico and would then come to Africa.

Full transparency would be an important hallmark and the initiative would act as the implementing nongovernmental organisation.

"We will leverage the success rate across the board," Giustra promised

Clinton-Giustra was launched in June 2007 as a novel approach to alleviating poverty.

"From a moral point of view, it behoves this industry to create sustainable development for when mining ends," Giustra stressed.

"Imagine an industry as vilified as ours becoming a model for others. I think that's a pretty cool thing," he said.

Published February 5, 2008.

Priest Doing Well After Attack on N'Djamena.

MISNA
5 February 2008

Father Francesco Guarguaglini, an Italian priest serving in N’djamena since 1998, and whose contacts were lost last Saturday, is doing well. Missionary sources in N’djamena told MISNA that the 40-year old priest met a Jesuit missionary who went to the parish of don Guarguaglini in Dembé, in the eastern outskirts of the capital, to verify his health. “He is well, the area saw some fighting during the weekend, but his parish is fine. He said that he was even able to celebrate mass for the Christians in his area”, said father Renzo Piazza, Combonian missionary who is in the house of the Jesuits in N’djamena to MISNA. The Jesuits in N’djamena now say that “all the religious staff in N’djamena is well. Only don Guarguaglini and a Chadian Jesuit were left, and we have been able to find them today”. In the absence of the bishop and Apostolic Nuncio, the Jesuits are coordinating the gathering of information. Meanwhile, the missionaries of the Sacred Heart, a school which was damaged in the fighting, have left the capital. Religious sources also said the French nuns of ‘Xavier’ are also expected to leave.

CRISIS: CLASHES IN KERICHO, RAMAPHOSA'S MEDIATION REJECTED.

MISNA
4 February 2008

Kofi Annan, mediator in the crisis in Kenya, has proposed the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which would include national and international jurists. The South African businessman Cyril Ramaphosa has withdrawn from the mediation effort after he was accused of having private interests with the opposition leaer Odinga. Ramaphosa has denied it. Meanwhile, the fighting continued in Kericho e Chebilat, where 34 people were killed according to Francis Murei, of the justice and peace commission, who noted that the "violence eshows no sign of ending soon". In Chebilat, armed youth formed roadblocks, but the nearby monastery of Kipkelion, which ahd been attacked a few days ago, was not involved. In the Rift Valley, there was news of a partial return to calm. “The situation is calm and there is great expecation for Kofi Annan's mediation", said Nixon Oira, a member of the justice and peace commission of Eldoret, to MISNA . "In the past 48-72 hours, the violence has ceased and people are looking to the ongoing talks with hope” said Oira. Calm has also returned to Kisumu and other western areas, where schools reopened today. Testifying to the improving conditions was also the fact that the a government spokesman said that all media restrictions imposed on the local press have now been revoked.

JUBA TALKS: CONTROVERSY OVER AMERICAN PROPOSAL.

MISNA
4 January 2008

Editor's Note: US Military forces are currently present in Northern Uganda. Officially, they are building infrastructure and helping relocate the IDPs in Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader Districts.

The LRA has rejected a proposal to the founder and leader Joseph Kony, from American observers at the talks in Juba, to surrender unconditionally. The report comes from the ‘Daily Monitor’, quoting a document by Timothy Shortley, advisor to the US undersecretary of state of African affairs, Jendayi Frazer, which asks Kony and two other LRA commanders, who face arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court (ICC) to leave their hideouts in Congo and make themselves available to Ugandan judicial authorities. In a 'fit of rage' said the newspaper, Kony replied, ordering his head of delegation in Juba, David Nyekorach-Matsanga, to sign no agreement on mechanisms of "responsibility and reconciliation" over the crimes perpetrated in 20 years of war. “The document has fueled confusion” said Matsanga, notingn that Shortley prepared his proposal with the contribution of Martin Ojul, former head of the LRA delegation in Juba until Kony revoked his mandate, and of army colonel Ray Achama. “We do not oppose the fact that the US is present as an observer but we deplore the way in which some documents appear from under the negotiating table” said Matsanga.

…N’DJAMENA: CLASHES NEAR AIRPORT

MISNA
4 February 2008

Editor's Note: Libya is backing the JEM's foray into Chad. The French have already intervened on behalf of the Chadian Gov. even before UN 'approval.'

Rebel troops have been confronting the regular army loyal to president Idriss Deby in the area near the N'djamena airport. Local sources said the members of the JEM, one of the main Darfur (Sudanese region which borders with Chad) based rebel movements, have also joined the forces in support of Deby. International sources have also noted that French troops are also responding to the rebels' fire. Six French 'Mirage' aircraft have been seen flying over the combat zone.

Nevertheless, the infomration from N'djamena is scarce. The latst news suggests that most of the rebeles are based in the Diguel area, east of the city, though there are persistent rumors of a rebel presence within N'djamena itself. “The situation is very difficult, people mare fleeing. We have a hospital near the bridge linking N’djamena con la città di Kousseri, in Cameroon, and many of the people fleeing are wounded” said father Serge Semur, a Jesuit missionary,in N’djamena. Father Semur added that theere is "of looting and vandalism which continue undisturbed. Today, the situation was a bit calmer, I managed to walk around the area and sw many corpses in the streets. The majority of them wore a uniform and they semeed military”. As for civilian victims, there are no acccurate reports: “surely tehre were some, as I saw some home destroyed by howitzer fire with my own eyes", said father Semur

PROSECUTOR IS HIDING EVIDENCE, CLAIMS DEFENCE LAWYER.

Hirondelle News Agency
4 February 2008

The defence in the trial of four top army officers Monday accused the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Mr Hassan Jallow, of concealing evidence favourable to their clients.

The claim was made by Christopher Black, a Canadian lawyer defending General Augustin Ndindiliyimana, former Chief of Staff of Gendarmerie.

Mr. Black stated that the Prosecutor was withholding statements of detained witnesses stating that Ndindiliyimana protected ethnic Tutsis during the 1994 genocide.

He urged the UN Court to impose sanctions on the Prosecutor for the scandal. Mr Black also said that he has no confidence in the Gambian-born head of the tribunal.

Mr. Black requested the court allow him to investigate the database of the Prosecutor. He also sought in the, meantime, suspension of the trial pending completion of his investigations and his client temporarily be
released.

The prosecution’s lead attorney Ivorian Alphonse Van, said that the misunderstanding was because of "problem of interpretation of the issue".

“What the defence lawyer regards as a disculpatory element can be, from the point of view of the prosecution, be accusative,” he said.

Mr Black was supported by his colleagues Charles Taku (Cameroon), Fabien Segatwa (Burundi) and Gilles Saint-Laurent (Canada).

Mr Black added that he has requested results from the investigations into the crimes committed by the former Rwandan rebellion during the genocide, but the prosecution was dilly-dallying. It looks like that the prosecution is protecting the current Kigali regime, he alleged.

The Presiding Judge Sri Lankan, Joseph Asoka de Silva, has ordered the Prosecutor to communicate to the defence all the disculpatory elements in his possession.

On trial since September 2004, General Ndindiliyimana is jointly charged alongside with General Augustin Bizimungu, former chief of staff of the army and Major Francois-Xavier Nzuwonemeye and Captain Innocent Sagahutu, both ex-officers in elite units of the former Rwandan army (FAR) posted in the capital, Kigali.

WITNESS CRITICIZES ICTR PROTECTION SYSTEM.

Hirondelle News Agency
4 February 2008

A defence witness Monday criticized protection system of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), claiming that he did not need any protection measure.

Abubacar Nduwayezu, a Rwandan national, made the remarks at the start of his testimony for the defence of the former Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister, Jerome Bicamumpaka, who is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1994 genocide.

Mr Bicamumpaka has pleaded not guilty.

The witness had already testified as a protected witness in the same case last year but alleged before the UN Court that his status was leaked out.

"On my return to Rwanda, everyone knew that I had come to testify here (before ICTR)", he claimed and therefore he has decided in the trial to divulge his identity.

Sensitive witnesses before the ICTR are normally “protected”, referred only with code names and are hidden from the public by an opaque curtain—only their voices reach outside the court.

In October 2002, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) stated that this anonymity of the witnesses only protects the witnesses from the media and the public and not from other actors in the trial.

The organization proposed to abandon anonymity as a protection measure.

Before the semi-traditional Rwandan Gacaca courts, charged with trying the majority of alleged authors of the genocide, the witnesses testify openly--before the judges and the defendants.

Refuting the Article by Collette Braeckman and Linda Melvern.

L’attentat du 06 avril 1994
par Emmanuel NERETSE

Colette Braeckman et les services secrets belges s’obstinent à vouloir absoudre Paul Kagame de ce crime odieux. Ils persistent également à tenter de le faire endosser aux services français. S’agit-il d’une guerre entre services secrets ou tout simplement de calculs de certains milieux politico-maffieux de la politique et des médias ?

Après la publication du rapport du Juge Bruguière en 2006, le moral des thuriféraires de Paul Kagame avaient vacillé et certains semblaient s’être résignés à se laisser rattraper par l’histoire. Mais depuis la nomination de Bernard Kouchner au Quai d’Orsay et connaissant sa longue amitié avec le bourreau de Kigali, les tenants de la thèse d’un ‘‘complot hutu’’ exécuté avec l’aide de la France ont repris du poil de la bête. Kouchner a déclaré lui-même douter de ce que Kagame ait commandité l’attentat, un fait pourtant établi par un juge anti-terroriste français Jean Louis Bruguière.

Dans sa livraison du 2 au 3 février 2008, le quotidien belge « Le Soir » publie un long article signé par Colette Braeckman. Sur plusieurs colonnes, celle qu’on qualifie de spécialiste de la région des Grands Lacs ne cache pas sa jubilation pour avoir découvert qu’un détenu raconte une histoire qui désigne les agents français comme ayant comme ayant commis l’attentat.

L’homme qui est détenu depuis 14 ans prétend avoir observé les préparatifs, à partir du 4 avril, jusqu’au tir fatal dans la soirée du 6 avril 1994. Colette Braeckman souligne avec fierté qu’elle avait émise cette hypothèse déjà en 1994. Pour donner du poids au nouveau récit, Colette Braeckman fait le rapprochement avec certains témoignages des services de renseignements militaires belges.

Pourtant, à y regarder de plus près, cette nième histoire ne mériterait pas une telle attention. Elle est tellement truffée de contradiction, de contre-vérités et d’invraisemblances que ceux qui l’ont inventée et inculquée au pauvre prisonnier devraient plutôt en avoir honte.

Ainsi par exemple :

Il est dit que le témoin XXG était officier de gendarmerie en 1994. Il dépendait donc des échelons hiérarchiques de la gendarmerie (Etat-major, Unités, …). D’après son récit, il aurait travaillé pratiquement 24 h sur 24h au service du Colonel Sagatwa pour filer les Français. En effet, il affirme les avoir tenus à l’œil du 4 jusqu’au 6 avril 1994 au soir, en observant tous leurs faits et gestes ainsi que leurs déplacements.

Pour accomplir une telle mission, l’officier XXG devait ou bien être détaché de son unité et mis aux ordres du Colonel Sagatwa, ou bien être en disponibilité de service dans la gendarmerie (congé,…) pour mener de telles activités en dehors de son unité.

Or ni l’Etat-major de Gendarmerie ni aucune unité de Gendarmerie de la garnison de Kigali n’avait mis son officier aux ordres du Colonel Sagatwa le 4 avril 1994. De plus XXG ne pouvait être en congé ou en disponibilité puisqu’il affirme avoir utilisé les moyens de l’Etat (véhicules, uniformes de gendarmerie) pour filer les Français. S’il l’a fait, c’est qu’il était en service commandé. Ce qui est exclu.

Le Français venu du Burundi que XXG devait filer aurait logé à l’hôtel Kiyovu. Ce n’est pas vrai car à l’époque, l’hôtel Kiyovu ne recevait plus d’hôtes. Il était en rénovation et en restructuration au niveau de la gestion. Seule la section « Bar » fonctionnait.

Le Commandant du camp Kanombe était le Colonel Félicien Muberuka et non Aloys Ntabakuze comme l’affirme le fameux XXG. Le Colonel Muberuka vit en exil et affirme qu’il n’a jamais reçu des Français dans son bureau le 6 avril 1994. Quant à Aloys Ntabakuze, il est détenu à Arusha depuis 1997. Peut-être que ceci explique cela !
La MINUAR (Mission des Nations Unies au Rwanda) présente à Kigali en 1994 possédait des jeeps peintes en blanc avec les lettres U.N. Ces jeeps étaient toutes du contingent belge et étaient de la marque « ILTIS BOMBARDIER ». Le bataillon de reconnaissance ne possédait pas ce genre de jeeps et ne faisait jamais réparer ses véhicules au camp Kanombe. Il ne pouvait pas repeindre une des jeeps aux couleurs de l’ONU. Il avait son propre garage au camp Kigali et au besoin les acheminait à la Base logistique toujours à Kigali.

Ceux qui ont concocté cette nouvelle histoire et qui l’ont inculquée à notre pauvre prisonnier XXG ne connaissaient probablement pas la situation qui prévalait dans les garnisons des FAR (Forces Armées Rwandaises). Depuis la signature des Accords d’Arusha en août 1993, certaines clauses de cet accord ont commencé à être appliquées. C’est ainsi que dès décembre 1993, tous les camps militaires étaient contrôlés aux entrées et aux sorties et au niveau des magasins des armes par les éléments de la MINUAR. Ceux-ci devaient surveiller toute entrée et sortie du camp militaire et veillait sur les magasins d’armement et n’autorisait de prendre que ce qui était nécessaire pour le service.

Le camp Kanombe n’a qu’une seule entrée. Celle-ci était gardée par des éléments de la MINUAR. Un véhicule peint en blanc avec mention U.N. et pas de type « ILTIS BOMBARDIER » belge qui était utilisé par eux au Rwanda et de surcroît avec à bord des militaires inconnus de la MINUAR et non annoncés devrait à coup sûr éveiller leur attention. D’autant plus que, d’après le récit rocambolesque, le véhicule ne serait pas entré déjà peint aux couleurs de l’ONU ! N’importe quel chef de poste, si étourdi soit-il, devait demander d’où sort ce véhicule ! Colette Breckman ne doute pas un seul instant que son témoin XXG soit le seul, 14 ans après à avoir vu sortir un véhicule U.N. du camp Kanombe, avec à bord des militaires aux uniformes belges mais n’avaient jamais été vu y entrer sans déclencher une moindre interrogation des éléments de la MINUAR qui observaient les entrées et les sorties du camp.

Colette Braeckman cite le Colonel belge Walter Ballis. Il l’affuble du titre d’adjoint du Général Dallaire. Ce n’est pas vrai. L’adjoint du Général Dallaire était le Colonel Marchal. D’ailleurs Ballis n’apparaît nulle part sur l’organigramme de la MINUAR. Et pour cause : il était un officier du Service Général de Renseignement (SGR) militaire belge et spécialement chargé de la liaison avec le Front Patriotique Rwandais (FPR). C’est ainsi qu’il partageait l’hôtel avec Karake Karenzi au MERIDIEN. Parmi ses activités, il devait fournir des alibis aux éléments du FPR qui devaient se déployer à l’intérieur du pays. Il était toujours en civil alors que les éléments de la MINUAR étaient toujours en tenue militaire avec leurs casques ou casquettes bleues. Aujourd’hui il est en retraite dorée et déclaré ami du ‘‘Nouveau Rwanda’’ par Paul Kagame qui le reçoit régulièrement à Kigali. Que vaut alors son témoignage ?

Ainsi donc, l’histoire se répète. Colette Braeckman veut nous faire douter de la responsabilité de Paul Kagame dans l’assassinat de deux Chefs d’Etat africains et de trois citoyens français. Elle met sur le même plateau les élucubrations d’un prisonnier qui négocie sa survie dans les geôles de Kagame et les conclusions du Juge anti-terroriste Jean Louis Bruguière mondialement reconnu pour sa rigueur et sa compétence. Le même juge qui avait réussi à pointer du doigt le responsable de l’explosion d’un avion survenue en plein désert, sans que sa thèse ne soit contestée se voit opposé des récits rocambolesques par ceux-là même qui l’avaient applaudi dans les affaires de « Lockerbie » ou du « Ténéré ».

La même journaliste revient à la charge pour asséner que c’est la France officielle qui est responsable : les services secrets français auraient abattu l’avion présidentiel pour le compte des ‘‘extrémistes hutu’’. Soit. Mais nous restons sur notre soif : pour que la France se résous à tuer deux chefs d’Etats africains et en même temps que trois de ses ressortissants, il faut qu’il y ait une sérieuse motivation ou un intérêt vital pour la même France. Nous invitons Colette Braeckman à éclairer notre lanterne à ce sujet.

Bruxelles le 04/02/2008

Emmanuel Neretse

Breveté d’Etat-Major

Ancien officier des FAR

Dernière mise à jour : ( 04-02-2008 )

A Bill On Somaliland Recognition To Be Introduced To US Congress.

Addis Post
24 January 2008

Editor's Note: Now what was that Spokesman McCormack said about not persuing Somaliand's indpendence again?

A draft Bill on expressing the sense of the Congress that the United States should recognize an independent Somaliland is prepared and presented to members of the US Congress.

Prepared by a group that calls itself “Friends of Somaliland People” the Draft Bill urges the government of the United States to formally recognize the independent status of Somaliland “within its colonial borders which are still in tact, being a very reasonable step toward bringing peace to the Horn of Africa and constituting the acceptance of established international law.”

“Patrick Linberry, head of the US wing of the group has met with legislators to discuss the introduction of a bill that would recognize Somaliland as an independent country, reads a press release by the group.

“Right now we are looking for a co-sponsor for the bill so that it can be introduced into one of the two houses. It has already been looked over by the Somaliland government and the Somaliland lobby in the US. As a starting point I have met with senators and representatives of whom I am a constituent,” he told a news wire called addishorn.com.

“He has met with and spoken to the offices of Senators Dole (R-NC) and Burr (R-NC) and Representatives Miller (D-NC), who is member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Coble (R-NC), it was learnt.

“Rep. Howard Coble’s office said it is willing to offer support, whether it means writing a letter of support to the Department of State or actually seeing that this bill is introduced in the House, said the press release.

“It is to be recalled that a high-level delegation from Somaliland, led by President Dahir Kahin Rayale, departed Washington January 19 after an eight-day visit. While there, the delegation met with senior officials of the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, Department of Defense, and National Security Council staff, among others.

“This cordial and constructive visit demonstrated U.S. engagement with Somaliland in furtherance of our common interests in the areas of regional peace and security, economic development, and democratic reform,” said a statement from the US Department of State.

NO DECISION AT UN, CONTRASTING NEWS FROM N'DJAMENA.

MISNA
4 February 2008

The UN Security Council has not yet reached an accord over the resolution written by France concerning the situation in Chad; a meeting during the night did not produce any results, while the motivations that prompted some participants to ask for more time such as to gather more information to evaluate. There was contrasting news from N'Djamena itself: the rebels, who reached the capital on Saturday, said through a spokesman having contacts with the international press, that they would have stepped aside to facilitate the evacuation of civilians who wanted to leave the city; government sources, however, said that the rebels, after a day of fighting involving the use of heavy artillery, tanks and helicopters, had been defeated and pushed back.

“TENS OF THOUSANDS” OF CHADIAN REFUGEES IN CAMEROON.

MISNA
4 February 2008

"From our information, tens of thousands of Chadians have crossed the border into Cameroon” said Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) in Chad – now in Cameroon. “We have no exact numbers yet, but it is clear that, seeing the situation across the border, these are refugees coming from Chad” said the UN official, who was evacuated to Cameroon from N’djamena last week. According to information collected by MISNA from sources in N’djamena, thousands of civilians have abandoned the city fearing renewed fighting. The first areas that were abandoned are those near the presidency (where the most intense fighting took place during the weekend) and those of the northeastern area of the city, where the rebels are said to have set up camp after they retreated from N’djamena yesterday. Many of the refugees are fleeing to Cameroon crossing the bridge that connects N’djamena with Kousseri, which was reopened yesterday. Missionary sources told MISNA that some people are also fleeing toward rural areas of N’djamena.

US Assist. Sec. Frazer Makes First Visit to Somaliland.

African Press Agency
3 February 2008

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer met with officials of Somalia’s break away republic of Somali-land, North West of the country on Sunday to indicate closer US cooperation with the region, APA learnt here.

“I am here to reciprocate the recent visit of President Dahir Riyale to the Untied States and to promote closer cooperation for democracy in the region,” Mrs Frazer told reporters in Hargeisa, the capital of Somali land.

“We supported Somaliland in its previous electoral processes and we are also here to continue our support,” said Mrs, Frazer.

During her one-day visit, the U.S. envoy met with President Dahir Riyale and other government officials as well as the leaders of the opposition parties, Somali Land’s foreign minister Abdilahi Du’ale told APA.

Frazer’s heavily-guarded visit marked the first time a high-ranking U.S. official has visited Somali-Land since it announced its independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991

"She discussed with Somali-land leaders about maintaining reciprocal and closer cooperation and relationship on many aspects,” said Somali-land’s foreign minister Abdilahi Du’ale.

"She clearly expressed the U.S’ views that the best way to recognize Somali-Land as an independent state is to come through the African Union,” the minister said.

The visit came as violence continues to take its toll in southern Somalia, where eight people were killed on Sunday, when their vehicle hit a landmine in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

US Army Aids Northern Uganda Returnees.

Daily Monitor
By Hudson Apunyo
4 February 2008

The United States Army has funded the drilling of more than 50 boreholes in Lira, Pader and Kitgum districts.

They have also funded the rehabilitation of schools and hospitals.
Capt. Wendy Ormond, the commander of the US Army Civil Affairs Team 11 A/ 402nd CA BN - Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa based in Kitgum said they commissioned four boreholes in Pader on Wednesday.

In Lira, four out of 10 boreholes have been drilled at Adoma, Awing ipiny, Awinyuru Primary Schools in Apala Sub-county and one in Barr Sub-county.

"In Kitgum, we have 16 boreholes being drilled through out the district by Willis Engineering Services," Capt. Ormond said on Thursday. The team has completed roofing Adongkena Primary school. Construction of classrooms at Paracelle Parish, Ogili Sub-county, in Kitum is ongoing.

Russia, U.S. sign $5 bln uranium sales deal.

RIA Novosti
2 February 2008

Russia and the United States have signed a trade deal allowing Russia to boost enriched uranium exports to the U.S., Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom said Saturday.

Rosatom director Sergei Kiriyenko made a one-day working visit to the United States on Friday, meeting in Washington with U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. He also met with chief executives of U.S. energy companies affiliated with Ad Hoc Utilities Group, an industrial group comprised of owners and operators of U.S. nuclear power plants.

"The deal is worth $5-6 billion over the next 10 years," said Kiriyenko, after signing the document together with Carlos Gutierrez.

The deal allows for sales of Russian enriched uranium directly to U.S. utilities. Previously, such direct transactions were not permitted.

Gutierrez said: "The agreement will encourage bilateral trade in Russian uranium products for peaceful purposes. It will also help to ensure that U.S. utilities have an adequate source of enriched uranium for U.S. utility consumers."

A Rosatom spokesman said with the new trade deal the volumes of direct deliveries of uranium enrichment services may total 20% of the market.

Under the deal, Russian uranium exports to the U.S. increase slowly over a 10-year period, beginning in 2011, when shipments would be allowed to reach 16,559 tons.

Last September, the United States Court of International Trade lifted discriminatory, anti-dumping restrictions on Russian low-enriched uranium (LEU) supplies, ordering, the U.S. Department of Commerce within 60 days to cancel a 112% duty on Russian low-enriched uranium used by some 50% of U.S. nuclear power plants.

Russia currently exports uranium to the U.S. duty free via the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC), a special intermediary agent, under a conversion program called HEU-LEU.

The HEU-LEU contract, also known as the Megatons to Megawatts agreement, was signed in February 1993 and expires in 2013. It aims to convert 500 metric tons of high-enriched uranium (HEU), the equivalent of approximately 20,000 nuclear warheads, from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons into low-enriched uranium (LEU), which is then converted into nuclear fuel for use in U.S. commercial reactors.