The New Vision
29 January 2009
By Frederick Kiwanuka
Editor's Note: For recall, Nakasongola is where an active arms factory is located, as well as a military training center used by US military personnel to train the UPDF.
Uganda will no longer spend huge amounts of money on training UPDF aircraft personnel abroad, following the launch of the first Military Aviation Academy in Nakasongola.
The institution was officially launched by President Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday.
“The money that used to be spent on expatriates and sending students abroad will now be put to the development of the academy,” he said.
Museveni, flanked by the chief of defence forces, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima and the defence state minister, Ruth Nankabirwa, said the launch of the school was another achievement by the UPDF in building a professional force.
Museveni said the Government would build more colleges for the army to boost existing academies like the senior staff college at Kimaka, the Cadet Academy at Karama and the junior staff college in Jinja. He commended the UPDF leaders for initiating the academy.
The President reiterated his message to the UPDF officers to live responsibly and avoid catching HIV/AIDS. He also cautioned prospective students to handle the aircraft equipment with care.
The commandant of the academy, Maj. Gen. Masaba, said they would train pilots, aviation technicians and crew, who should have a minimum education requirement of A’level. He added that they would soon start admitting students.
Nankabirwa said following the relative return to peace to the north, the defence ministry had saved money which was used to set up the academy.
She said the army was faced with the challenge of modernising the force.
The function was attended by several senior officers from Nakasongola army barracks, led by the air division commander, Gervasse Mugyenyi.
31 January, 2009
Chad: Rebels Reportedly to Operate From Cameroon.
Post Newsline
By Peterkins Manyong
30 January 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Following the inability of rebels based in Chad to oust President Idris Deby, a new resistance movement will reportedly operate from Cameroon, The Post has learnt.
The new rebel force, claiming to be named the "Forces Progressistes pour l'Independence et la Renaissance" roughly translated as "Progressive Force for Independence and Rebirth." It has been launched by the "Forum for Exiled Chadians in Central Africa" better known by its French acronym as FECAT.
The politico-military movement, as it is described, has its headquarters in Douala and will reportedly launch attacks on the Chadian army from Southern Chad. The announcement is contained in communiqué No.002/CSC/cc/2009 dated January 25 and posted on the internet and signed by one Monifue Denehodjimbaye, acting as the Vice President of the Forum's Superior Coordination Council.
The membership of the said forum and resistance movement, as well as the list of recruits will be made public in a few days time, further states the communiqué. A Chadian citizen, who spoke to The Post in confidence, wondered how a serious movement which intends to carry out operations in the south of the country could succeed pitching tents thousands of kilometres away. He said he was sure that the aim of the movement was to force the government of President Deby to the negotiating table.
Already, seven of the more than a dozen rebels fighting the Chadian government formed a coalition a week ago and is in the process of absorbing many more. Our informant attributed the failure so far of the Chadian rebel forces to greed and vaulting ambition of their leaders, each of whom is determined to be the next president.
He regretted that the press statement of the rebels would so scare the Chadian Government as to cause the tightening of security around the borders, making it difficult for Chadian citizens to return to their fatherland.
It is worthy to note that the civil unrest in Chad is the direct consequence of President Deby's decision to cling to power. Like President Biya, President Deby changed the Chadian Constitution to enable him continue in office beyond the stipulated term.
By Peterkins Manyong
30 January 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Following the inability of rebels based in Chad to oust President Idris Deby, a new resistance movement will reportedly operate from Cameroon, The Post has learnt.
The new rebel force, claiming to be named the "Forces Progressistes pour l'Independence et la Renaissance" roughly translated as "Progressive Force for Independence and Rebirth." It has been launched by the "Forum for Exiled Chadians in Central Africa" better known by its French acronym as FECAT.
The politico-military movement, as it is described, has its headquarters in Douala and will reportedly launch attacks on the Chadian army from Southern Chad. The announcement is contained in communiqué No.002/CSC/cc/2009 dated January 25 and posted on the internet and signed by one Monifue Denehodjimbaye, acting as the Vice President of the Forum's Superior Coordination Council.
The membership of the said forum and resistance movement, as well as the list of recruits will be made public in a few days time, further states the communiqué. A Chadian citizen, who spoke to The Post in confidence, wondered how a serious movement which intends to carry out operations in the south of the country could succeed pitching tents thousands of kilometres away. He said he was sure that the aim of the movement was to force the government of President Deby to the negotiating table.
Already, seven of the more than a dozen rebels fighting the Chadian government formed a coalition a week ago and is in the process of absorbing many more. Our informant attributed the failure so far of the Chadian rebel forces to greed and vaulting ambition of their leaders, each of whom is determined to be the next president.
He regretted that the press statement of the rebels would so scare the Chadian Government as to cause the tightening of security around the borders, making it difficult for Chadian citizens to return to their fatherland.
It is worthy to note that the civil unrest in Chad is the direct consequence of President Deby's decision to cling to power. Like President Biya, President Deby changed the Chadian Constitution to enable him continue in office beyond the stipulated term.
Moderate Islamist leader elected Somali president.
Reuters
31 January 2009
Somalia's parliament elected moderate Islamist opposition leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed as new national president on Saturday during a run-off vote in neighbouring Djibou opposition leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed as new national president on Saturday during a run-off vote in neighbouring Djibouti.
Ahmed passed the necessary majority of votes, 213, just before 4 a.m. local time (0100) during an all-night session of parliament under a U.N.-brokered plan to forge a unity government in the Horn of Africa nation.
Applause broke out in the session.
(Reporting by David Clarke and Abdiaziz Hassan; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne)
31 January 2009
Somalia's parliament elected moderate Islamist opposition leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed as new national president on Saturday during a run-off vote in neighbouring Djibou opposition leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed as new national president on Saturday during a run-off vote in neighbouring Djibouti.
Ahmed passed the necessary majority of votes, 213, just before 4 a.m. local time (0100) during an all-night session of parliament under a U.N.-brokered plan to forge a unity government in the Horn of Africa nation.
Applause broke out in the session.
(Reporting by David Clarke and Abdiaziz Hassan; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne)
Former Manitoba politician cleared over Milosevic case.
By CAMERON MACLEAN
January 30, 2009
Winnipeg Free Press
A former Manitoba deputy justice minister has been cleared of any wrongdoing in an investigation for an international criminal tribunal into the former Yugoslavia and ex-Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic.
Bruce MacFarlane was brought on as a special investigator for the case last spring.
His job was to look into allegations that Ms. Florence Hartmann, a French journalist who worked as a spokeswoman for the tribunal's chief prosecutor until 2006, knowingly revealed the contents of minutes of the Supreme Defence Council of Serbia which were privately submitted to the tribunal during its trial of Mr. Milosevic.
After reviewing Mr. MacFarlane's report, the tribunal formally charged Ms. Hartmann with contempt.
Ms. Hartmann's lawyers accused Mr. MacFarlane of conducting a ``negligent, incomplete and thoroughly flawed investigation' and of numerous instances of contempt and wanted the proceedings against their client to be halted.
But judges on the case ruled Thursday that there was nothing wrong with Mr. MacFarlane's investigation and denied the defence's requests.
Mr. MacFarlane was relieved with the decision.
``That has been the strategy of the defence, to shift the focus off the defendant and onto me,' Mr. MacFarlane said in a phone interview from The Hague.
``The tribunal has now said, 'Let's get this back on track and focus on the real issues in the trial.''
Ms. Hartmann and her defence lawyer could not be reached for comment.
The court will hold a status conference Friday before heading to trial next week.
If convicted, Ms. Hartmann faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and a $150,000 fine.
Ms. Hartmann contends she was simply repeating information that was already publicly available.
January 30, 2009
Winnipeg Free Press
A former Manitoba deputy justice minister has been cleared of any wrongdoing in an investigation for an international criminal tribunal into the former Yugoslavia and ex-Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic.
Bruce MacFarlane was brought on as a special investigator for the case last spring.
His job was to look into allegations that Ms. Florence Hartmann, a French journalist who worked as a spokeswoman for the tribunal's chief prosecutor until 2006, knowingly revealed the contents of minutes of the Supreme Defence Council of Serbia which were privately submitted to the tribunal during its trial of Mr. Milosevic.
After reviewing Mr. MacFarlane's report, the tribunal formally charged Ms. Hartmann with contempt.
Ms. Hartmann's lawyers accused Mr. MacFarlane of conducting a ``negligent, incomplete and thoroughly flawed investigation' and of numerous instances of contempt and wanted the proceedings against their client to be halted.
But judges on the case ruled Thursday that there was nothing wrong with Mr. MacFarlane's investigation and denied the defence's requests.
Mr. MacFarlane was relieved with the decision.
``That has been the strategy of the defence, to shift the focus off the defendant and onto me,' Mr. MacFarlane said in a phone interview from The Hague.
``The tribunal has now said, 'Let's get this back on track and focus on the real issues in the trial.''
Ms. Hartmann and her defence lawyer could not be reached for comment.
The court will hold a status conference Friday before heading to trial next week.
If convicted, Ms. Hartmann faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and a $150,000 fine.
Ms. Hartmann contends she was simply repeating information that was already publicly available.
Puntland leader appoints petroleum director.
Garowe Online
29 January 2009
The regional president of Somalia's Puntland State government formally appointed a petroleum director who will help steer oil policy in the coming four years, Radio Garowe reports.
A decree issued Thursday and signed by Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed "Farole," Puntland's new leader, officially named Mr. Isse Mohamud "Dholowa" to lead the Minerals and Petroleum Agency, which falls directly under the president's office.
The previous administration in Puntland, led by ex-President Adde Muse, had established the region's first Ministry of Petroleum, which led efforts to boost oil exploration in Puntland by Australian and Canadian firms.
In 2005, President Farole became embroiled in dispute with then-Puntland President Muse after the latter inked a highly controversial exploration contract with Australia's Range Resources, Ltd., giving the small mining firm exclusive rights to minerals and petroleum found in Puntland.
Farole, who was Muse's planning minister at the time, strongly opposed the deal on grounds that Muse sidestepped the political process by keeping the Puntland parliament in the dark.
Muse's oil deal sparked deadly battles in erstwhile peaceful Sanaag region in early 2006, forcing Range Resources to suspend operations there.
President Farole's position on oil contracts is not clear yet, but he has been a fierce advocate of Puntland's right to self-manage its resources and share with the Somali people.
29 January 2009
The regional president of Somalia's Puntland State government formally appointed a petroleum director who will help steer oil policy in the coming four years, Radio Garowe reports.
A decree issued Thursday and signed by Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed "Farole," Puntland's new leader, officially named Mr. Isse Mohamud "Dholowa" to lead the Minerals and Petroleum Agency, which falls directly under the president's office.
The previous administration in Puntland, led by ex-President Adde Muse, had established the region's first Ministry of Petroleum, which led efforts to boost oil exploration in Puntland by Australian and Canadian firms.
In 2005, President Farole became embroiled in dispute with then-Puntland President Muse after the latter inked a highly controversial exploration contract with Australia's Range Resources, Ltd., giving the small mining firm exclusive rights to minerals and petroleum found in Puntland.
Farole, who was Muse's planning minister at the time, strongly opposed the deal on grounds that Muse sidestepped the political process by keeping the Puntland parliament in the dark.
Muse's oil deal sparked deadly battles in erstwhile peaceful Sanaag region in early 2006, forcing Range Resources to suspend operations there.
President Farole's position on oil contracts is not clear yet, but he has been a fierce advocate of Puntland's right to self-manage its resources and share with the Somali people.
Norway leaves Canada's Barrick, United States' Textron out in the cold.
Financial Post
30 January 2009
Norway's US$300-billion-plus sovereign wealth fund has excluded U.S. weapons producer Textron Inc and Canadian mining group Barrick Gold Corp from its investment portfolio for ethical reasons.
The finance ministry said on Friday that Textron was ejected from the fund, one of the world's biggest investors, because it produced cluster munitions and Barrick Gold due to environmental problems, particularly at its mine in Papua New Guinea.
"We cannot participate in the funding of this type of production," Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen said in a statement.
She said Barrick Gold's exclusion was "based on the assessment that investing in the company entails an unacceptable risk of the fund contributing to serious environmental damage."
The Government Pension Fund -- Global, which held 1.25-billion Norwegian crowns (US$184.7-million) worth of Barrick Gold stock at end-July 2008 and 249 million crowns worth of Textron stock at end-October, has divested its holdings in both companies, the ministry said.
So far, Norway has shut 27 companies out of the fund for ethical reasons, including nine producers of cluster munitions, but also landmine and nuclear arms manufacturers and groups that its ethics council has blamed for damaging the environment or abusing human rights or worker rights.
In December 2008, Norway hosted a conference that agreed a new international ban on cluster munitions, a type of weapon blamed for tens of thousands of civilian casualties around the world in conflicts from Vietnam to Afghanistan.
"The company (Textron) produces cluster weapons, which are banned pursuant to the Convention on Cluster Munitions," the finance minister said in the statement.
Textron says its munition meets some but not all of the criteria for acceptable cluster bombs under the Oslo treaty.
A spokesman said Textron's munition offered a way to maintain "a needed military capability while helping solve the unacceptable risk to civilians posed by (unexploded ordnance)."
"We share in the international community's goal of limiting the impact of war, particularly hazardous unexploded ordnance, on civilian populations," Textron Systems spokesman Stephen Greene said in an email statement to Reuters.
Mr. Greene declined to comment on how Norway runs its fund.
"They are free to do those things, and it is important that they follow the local rules and regulations they need to follow."
Textron shares traded down 1.5% at US$8.95 on the New York Stock Exchange at 1800 GMT.
Barrick, the world's largest gold miner, joins South Africa's DRD Gold, India-focused Vedanta Resources and U.S. group Freeport McMorRan among miners removed from Norway's investment fund for environmental reasons.
The ethics council based its recommendation to exclude Barrick on an investigation of its activities at the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea, the finance ministry said.
"In the opinion of the Council, the way this mine is run provides sufficient basis for recommending exclusion," the ministry said.
Barrick's spokesman Vince Borg said: "We continue to operate in full compliance with legal and other requirements."
"Whether it is the government of New Zealand or Norway, they have a right to decide which investments to make and which ones to hold, or sell -- that is their business."
Barrick Gold shares firmed slightly to $47.25 on the Toronto stock exchange.
30 January 2009
Norway's US$300-billion-plus sovereign wealth fund has excluded U.S. weapons producer Textron Inc and Canadian mining group Barrick Gold Corp from its investment portfolio for ethical reasons.
The finance ministry said on Friday that Textron was ejected from the fund, one of the world's biggest investors, because it produced cluster munitions and Barrick Gold due to environmental problems, particularly at its mine in Papua New Guinea.
"We cannot participate in the funding of this type of production," Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen said in a statement.
She said Barrick Gold's exclusion was "based on the assessment that investing in the company entails an unacceptable risk of the fund contributing to serious environmental damage."
The Government Pension Fund -- Global, which held 1.25-billion Norwegian crowns (US$184.7-million) worth of Barrick Gold stock at end-July 2008 and 249 million crowns worth of Textron stock at end-October, has divested its holdings in both companies, the ministry said.
So far, Norway has shut 27 companies out of the fund for ethical reasons, including nine producers of cluster munitions, but also landmine and nuclear arms manufacturers and groups that its ethics council has blamed for damaging the environment or abusing human rights or worker rights.
In December 2008, Norway hosted a conference that agreed a new international ban on cluster munitions, a type of weapon blamed for tens of thousands of civilian casualties around the world in conflicts from Vietnam to Afghanistan.
"The company (Textron) produces cluster weapons, which are banned pursuant to the Convention on Cluster Munitions," the finance minister said in the statement.
Textron says its munition meets some but not all of the criteria for acceptable cluster bombs under the Oslo treaty.
A spokesman said Textron's munition offered a way to maintain "a needed military capability while helping solve the unacceptable risk to civilians posed by (unexploded ordnance)."
"We share in the international community's goal of limiting the impact of war, particularly hazardous unexploded ordnance, on civilian populations," Textron Systems spokesman Stephen Greene said in an email statement to Reuters.
Mr. Greene declined to comment on how Norway runs its fund.
"They are free to do those things, and it is important that they follow the local rules and regulations they need to follow."
Textron shares traded down 1.5% at US$8.95 on the New York Stock Exchange at 1800 GMT.
Barrick, the world's largest gold miner, joins South Africa's DRD Gold, India-focused Vedanta Resources and U.S. group Freeport McMorRan among miners removed from Norway's investment fund for environmental reasons.
The ethics council based its recommendation to exclude Barrick on an investigation of its activities at the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea, the finance ministry said.
"In the opinion of the Council, the way this mine is run provides sufficient basis for recommending exclusion," the ministry said.
Barrick's spokesman Vince Borg said: "We continue to operate in full compliance with legal and other requirements."
"Whether it is the government of New Zealand or Norway, they have a right to decide which investments to make and which ones to hold, or sell -- that is their business."
Barrick Gold shares firmed slightly to $47.25 on the Toronto stock exchange.
Préface du Colonel Luc Marchal au livre de G. Musabyimana.
http://www.musabyimana.be/lire/article/preface-du-colonel-luc-marchal-au-livre-de-g-musabyimana/index.html
Pour avoir été, très modestement et durant une période limitée, confronté aux événements abordés dans ce livre, je ne peux m'empêcher de me sentir concerné par toute tentative honnête d'appréhender le pourquoi et le comment de cette tragédie humaine de la démesure qui, depuis tant d'années, n'en finit pas d'ensanglanter la région des Grands Lacs. Il est vrai que forcé et contraint, le 19 avril 1994, de quitter le Rwanda en pleine implosion, j'ai aussi emporté avec moi nombre d'interrogations dont certaines, depuis, sont toujours en attente de réponse.
Nous connaissons tous cet adage : les peuples qui ignorent leur histoire sont appelés à la revivre. C'est précisément dans cette optique que s'inscrit la démarche de Gaspard Musabyimana : œuvrer à la manifestation de la vérité historique. Car, en effet, de l'avis unanime des experts de l'Afrique centrale (même ceux qui ne partageaient pas cette façon de voir à l'origine), la véritable histoire des événements qui se sont succédé dans cette région reste encore à écrire.
La seule façon pour le Rwanda d'assumer un jour le lourd héritage qui est le sien est de pouvoir regarder son passé en face et de l'intégrer lucidement dans son futur. Mais pour ce faire, il est impératif que le binôme "Justice et Vérité" devienne une réalité. Tant que ce ne sera pas le cas, malheureusement, les Rwandais continueront à se battre avec leurs démons. Dès lors, je salue la démarche citoyenne de l'auteur. Le combat qu'il mène depuis de nombreuses années déjà, concerne sans doute la mémoire de ses concitoyens emportés dans la tourmente, mais aussi et surtout l'avenir de son propre pays.
Le travail historique réalisé repose pour une bonne part sur les archives de l'Internationale démocrate chrétienne (IDC). D'aucuns pourraient trouver à redire à pareille approche qui peut sembler, à première vue, plutôt unilatérale. Toutefois, force est de constater, qu'hormis cette documentation, il n'en existe guère d'autre qui couvre de façon aussi exhaustive la période concernée par le présent ouvrage. Ceci n'est qu'un aspect de la question car, de façon beaucoup plus fondamentale, le lecteur guidé par un réel souci de comprendre, réalisera, sans aucune difficulté, que les analyses et les documents de l'IDC, cités en référence, ont été rédigés in tempore non suspecto. On ne peut, dès lors, évoquer des prises de position a posteriori, destinées à développer une sorte de plaidoyer pro domo en vue de se dédouaner d'une hypothétique responsabilité morale dans les événements d'avril à juillet 1994. Reproche parfois exprimé à l'égard de l'IDC. Soulignons, au contraire, non seulement la pertinence des analyses formulées, mais aussi et surtout leur caractère précoce. Quand on prend la peine de les confronter à d'autres analyses rédigées au même moment, on ne peut qu'être interpellé par l'approche superficielle, approximative, voire partisane de ces dernières.
Mon propos n'est pas de détailler les nombreux domaines explorés par l'auteur. Le lecteur les découvrira au fil des pages. A mon sens, un des mérites de cet ouvrage, et non des moindres, est la minutie avec laquelle la période récente que connurent le Rwanda, le Congo et le Burundi est resituée dans ses véritables dimensions historique, sociologique, régionale et internationale, ainsi que géopolitique. De sorte que le lecteur découvrira sans grande difficulté le fil conducteur qui relie ces différents aspects entre eux. Ce faisant il éprouvera aussi le troublant sentiment d'être comme happé par un tourbillon destructeur dont on ne peut, en aucun cas, sortir indemne.
J'ai fait allusion à ma présence au Rwanda à un moment clé de son histoire. La fonction que j'occupais au sein de la Mission des Nations Unies pour l'assistance au Rwanda (MINUAR) me place évidemment dans une position privilégiée pour apprécier le bien fondé de nombre d'éléments développés dans ce livre. Le fait d'avoir pu les confronter à mon propre vécu constitue pour moi un véritable gage de crédibilité pour l'auteur. A titre illustratif, je citerai trois situations, parmi d'autres, qui me semblent significatives du contexte qui était le nôtre à l'époque.
Au cours d'un entretien en tête à tête avec le président Habyarimana, fin janvier 1994, j'ai pu me rendre compte de son réel souci d'améliorer la collaboration entre les autorités gouvernementales, politiques et militaires, et la MINUAR. Les considérations qu'il exprimait sur la question s'inscrivaient parfaitement dans la philosophie du processus de paix. La finalité de son propos visait à permettre une stabilisation de la situation interne du pays et ce, dans l'intérêt de tous les Rwandais. Effectivement, trois jours après cet entretien j'ai pu constater une évolution significative dans la qualité des relations de travail avec les autorités gouvernementales. Cette amélioration se concrétisera jusqu'au 6 avril 1994.
On a abondamment commenté les écarts de conduite de certains casques bleus belges. Il est un fait que l'attitude contestable de quelques-uns fut à ce point mise en évidence qu'elle occulta le travail de qualité de tous les autres. Il aurait été facile pour les dirigeants du pays de tirer prétexte de cette situation pour exiger le remplacement du contingent belge par un autre plus "malléable" et d'affaiblir, si tel avait été leur objectif, la MINUAR. Au contraire, début février, au cours d'une réunion à laquelle participaient entre autres le chef de l'Etat, le ministre de la Défense, le chef d'état-major de l'armée, l'ambassadeur de Belgique, divers autres responsables militaires et moi-même, le discours tenu par les autorités rwandaises fut guidé par une volonté de conciliation. Ici aussi, l'intérêt supérieur du processus de paix fut pris en compte, afin que, d'un côté comme de l'autre, tout soit mis en œuvre pour qu'il puisse être mené à bonne fin.
Le dialogue pathétique au cours duquel le général Dallaire adjurait, le 7 avril 1994, les autorités du FPR de ne pas commettre l'irréparable et de ne prendre aucune initiative à caractère militaire qui mettrait de facto une fin au processus de paix, me reste bien présent en mémoire. Sans attendre la fin de la négociation, comme si tout cela n'avait plus aucune importance, l'ordre fut donné au bataillon du FPR cantonné au CND de passer à l'attaque. Sait-on qu'à ce moment-là, le FPR s'était déjà rendu coupable du massacre ciblé de plusieurs dizaines de civils à Remera, à quelques mètres du Quartier Général de la MINUAR ?
Si la MINUAR (dont je faisais partie) n'est pas exempte de reproches, il ne faut pas non plus la rendre responsable de tous les péchés de la terre. Déjà, avant l'attentat du 6 avril 1994, elle n'était pas en mesure de remplir sa mission. Non par absence de volonté, mais bien par manque de moyens. Cet état de carence ne doit pas être reproché aux casques bleus qui tout autant que la population rwandaise furent les premières victimes de cette situation. Dès lors, ne confondons surtout pas "mission impossible" et "échec lamentable". Si la MINUAR fut inopérante et ne put empêcher ce qui est arrivé, la responsabilité en incombe à ceux qui précisément devaient veiller à ce que les moyens alloués à la force de paix soient en adéquation avec les enjeux réels de cette mission. Il n'en fut rien, malgré les demandes réitérées du général Dallaire lui-même. Cette absence de réaction me laisse penser que c'est exactement ce que certains recherchaient : éviter que la MINUAR ne remplisse son rôle et ce faisant, empêche le bon déroulement du scénario prévu. Tout comme certains ont tout fait pour que le mot "génocide" ne soit pas prononcé dans l'hémicycle du Conseil de Sécurité. Ceci pour éviter une intervention de la communauté internationale, ce qui aurait pu contrecarrer le grand chambardement géostratégique qui se mettait en place dans la région des Grands Lacs.
Comme beaucoup d'autres je ne demande qu'à comprendre. Je ne prétends pas tout savoir, loin de là. J'attends surtout que l'on m'explique et que l'on me permette de confronter mon expérience et mes conclusions personnelles à une véritable argumentation. Celle-ci est en tout cas bien présente dans le livre de Gaspard Musabyimana. Puisse sa contribution à une connaissance plus objective de ces tragiques événements constituer, tant pour les Rwandais que pour la communauté internationale, un encouragement à la nécessaire poursuite d'un examen de conscience qui se doit d'être honnête et scrupuleux. Que cette contribution favorise également l'éclosion de la Vérité, ultime reconnaissance que nous puissions rendre à ces millions de victimes de la soif de pouvoir de certains et de l'indifférence coupable de beaucoup d'autres.
Luc Marchal
ancien commandant
Secteur Kigali - MINUAR
Pour avoir été, très modestement et durant une période limitée, confronté aux événements abordés dans ce livre, je ne peux m'empêcher de me sentir concerné par toute tentative honnête d'appréhender le pourquoi et le comment de cette tragédie humaine de la démesure qui, depuis tant d'années, n'en finit pas d'ensanglanter la région des Grands Lacs. Il est vrai que forcé et contraint, le 19 avril 1994, de quitter le Rwanda en pleine implosion, j'ai aussi emporté avec moi nombre d'interrogations dont certaines, depuis, sont toujours en attente de réponse.
Nous connaissons tous cet adage : les peuples qui ignorent leur histoire sont appelés à la revivre. C'est précisément dans cette optique que s'inscrit la démarche de Gaspard Musabyimana : œuvrer à la manifestation de la vérité historique. Car, en effet, de l'avis unanime des experts de l'Afrique centrale (même ceux qui ne partageaient pas cette façon de voir à l'origine), la véritable histoire des événements qui se sont succédé dans cette région reste encore à écrire.
La seule façon pour le Rwanda d'assumer un jour le lourd héritage qui est le sien est de pouvoir regarder son passé en face et de l'intégrer lucidement dans son futur. Mais pour ce faire, il est impératif que le binôme "Justice et Vérité" devienne une réalité. Tant que ce ne sera pas le cas, malheureusement, les Rwandais continueront à se battre avec leurs démons. Dès lors, je salue la démarche citoyenne de l'auteur. Le combat qu'il mène depuis de nombreuses années déjà, concerne sans doute la mémoire de ses concitoyens emportés dans la tourmente, mais aussi et surtout l'avenir de son propre pays.
Le travail historique réalisé repose pour une bonne part sur les archives de l'Internationale démocrate chrétienne (IDC). D'aucuns pourraient trouver à redire à pareille approche qui peut sembler, à première vue, plutôt unilatérale. Toutefois, force est de constater, qu'hormis cette documentation, il n'en existe guère d'autre qui couvre de façon aussi exhaustive la période concernée par le présent ouvrage. Ceci n'est qu'un aspect de la question car, de façon beaucoup plus fondamentale, le lecteur guidé par un réel souci de comprendre, réalisera, sans aucune difficulté, que les analyses et les documents de l'IDC, cités en référence, ont été rédigés in tempore non suspecto. On ne peut, dès lors, évoquer des prises de position a posteriori, destinées à développer une sorte de plaidoyer pro domo en vue de se dédouaner d'une hypothétique responsabilité morale dans les événements d'avril à juillet 1994. Reproche parfois exprimé à l'égard de l'IDC. Soulignons, au contraire, non seulement la pertinence des analyses formulées, mais aussi et surtout leur caractère précoce. Quand on prend la peine de les confronter à d'autres analyses rédigées au même moment, on ne peut qu'être interpellé par l'approche superficielle, approximative, voire partisane de ces dernières.
Mon propos n'est pas de détailler les nombreux domaines explorés par l'auteur. Le lecteur les découvrira au fil des pages. A mon sens, un des mérites de cet ouvrage, et non des moindres, est la minutie avec laquelle la période récente que connurent le Rwanda, le Congo et le Burundi est resituée dans ses véritables dimensions historique, sociologique, régionale et internationale, ainsi que géopolitique. De sorte que le lecteur découvrira sans grande difficulté le fil conducteur qui relie ces différents aspects entre eux. Ce faisant il éprouvera aussi le troublant sentiment d'être comme happé par un tourbillon destructeur dont on ne peut, en aucun cas, sortir indemne.
J'ai fait allusion à ma présence au Rwanda à un moment clé de son histoire. La fonction que j'occupais au sein de la Mission des Nations Unies pour l'assistance au Rwanda (MINUAR) me place évidemment dans une position privilégiée pour apprécier le bien fondé de nombre d'éléments développés dans ce livre. Le fait d'avoir pu les confronter à mon propre vécu constitue pour moi un véritable gage de crédibilité pour l'auteur. A titre illustratif, je citerai trois situations, parmi d'autres, qui me semblent significatives du contexte qui était le nôtre à l'époque.
Au cours d'un entretien en tête à tête avec le président Habyarimana, fin janvier 1994, j'ai pu me rendre compte de son réel souci d'améliorer la collaboration entre les autorités gouvernementales, politiques et militaires, et la MINUAR. Les considérations qu'il exprimait sur la question s'inscrivaient parfaitement dans la philosophie du processus de paix. La finalité de son propos visait à permettre une stabilisation de la situation interne du pays et ce, dans l'intérêt de tous les Rwandais. Effectivement, trois jours après cet entretien j'ai pu constater une évolution significative dans la qualité des relations de travail avec les autorités gouvernementales. Cette amélioration se concrétisera jusqu'au 6 avril 1994.
On a abondamment commenté les écarts de conduite de certains casques bleus belges. Il est un fait que l'attitude contestable de quelques-uns fut à ce point mise en évidence qu'elle occulta le travail de qualité de tous les autres. Il aurait été facile pour les dirigeants du pays de tirer prétexte de cette situation pour exiger le remplacement du contingent belge par un autre plus "malléable" et d'affaiblir, si tel avait été leur objectif, la MINUAR. Au contraire, début février, au cours d'une réunion à laquelle participaient entre autres le chef de l'Etat, le ministre de la Défense, le chef d'état-major de l'armée, l'ambassadeur de Belgique, divers autres responsables militaires et moi-même, le discours tenu par les autorités rwandaises fut guidé par une volonté de conciliation. Ici aussi, l'intérêt supérieur du processus de paix fut pris en compte, afin que, d'un côté comme de l'autre, tout soit mis en œuvre pour qu'il puisse être mené à bonne fin.
Le dialogue pathétique au cours duquel le général Dallaire adjurait, le 7 avril 1994, les autorités du FPR de ne pas commettre l'irréparable et de ne prendre aucune initiative à caractère militaire qui mettrait de facto une fin au processus de paix, me reste bien présent en mémoire. Sans attendre la fin de la négociation, comme si tout cela n'avait plus aucune importance, l'ordre fut donné au bataillon du FPR cantonné au CND de passer à l'attaque. Sait-on qu'à ce moment-là, le FPR s'était déjà rendu coupable du massacre ciblé de plusieurs dizaines de civils à Remera, à quelques mètres du Quartier Général de la MINUAR ?
Si la MINUAR (dont je faisais partie) n'est pas exempte de reproches, il ne faut pas non plus la rendre responsable de tous les péchés de la terre. Déjà, avant l'attentat du 6 avril 1994, elle n'était pas en mesure de remplir sa mission. Non par absence de volonté, mais bien par manque de moyens. Cet état de carence ne doit pas être reproché aux casques bleus qui tout autant que la population rwandaise furent les premières victimes de cette situation. Dès lors, ne confondons surtout pas "mission impossible" et "échec lamentable". Si la MINUAR fut inopérante et ne put empêcher ce qui est arrivé, la responsabilité en incombe à ceux qui précisément devaient veiller à ce que les moyens alloués à la force de paix soient en adéquation avec les enjeux réels de cette mission. Il n'en fut rien, malgré les demandes réitérées du général Dallaire lui-même. Cette absence de réaction me laisse penser que c'est exactement ce que certains recherchaient : éviter que la MINUAR ne remplisse son rôle et ce faisant, empêche le bon déroulement du scénario prévu. Tout comme certains ont tout fait pour que le mot "génocide" ne soit pas prononcé dans l'hémicycle du Conseil de Sécurité. Ceci pour éviter une intervention de la communauté internationale, ce qui aurait pu contrecarrer le grand chambardement géostratégique qui se mettait en place dans la région des Grands Lacs.
Comme beaucoup d'autres je ne demande qu'à comprendre. Je ne prétends pas tout savoir, loin de là. J'attends surtout que l'on m'explique et que l'on me permette de confronter mon expérience et mes conclusions personnelles à une véritable argumentation. Celle-ci est en tout cas bien présente dans le livre de Gaspard Musabyimana. Puisse sa contribution à une connaissance plus objective de ces tragiques événements constituer, tant pour les Rwandais que pour la communauté internationale, un encouragement à la nécessaire poursuite d'un examen de conscience qui se doit d'être honnête et scrupuleux. Que cette contribution favorise également l'éclosion de la Vérité, ultime reconnaissance que nous puissions rendre à ces millions de victimes de la soif de pouvoir de certains et de l'indifférence coupable de beaucoup d'autres.
Luc Marchal
ancien commandant
Secteur Kigali - MINUAR
List of Confirmed Murdered Civilians by the CNDP in Kiwanja Massacre.
http://www.rodhecic.org/IMG/pdf/Victimes_kiwandja2-2.pdf
30 January, 2009
NORTH KIVU: JOINT OFFENSIVE CONTINUES.
MISNA
29 January 2009
“We shall not give unconditional support to the joint operations, we have proposed our participation for logistical support and the protection of civilians, but in return, we must be informed of maneuvers”, said colonel Jean Paul Dietrich, spokesman for MONUC, to MISNA, outlining the general scope of the UN peacekeepers’ intervention in the offensive led by the Congolese and Rwandan in FDLR. “In about ten days’ time, should our conditions be accepted, we shall take full part in these operations” said Dietrich, adding that “until now the offensive has not met string opposition” and that more significant operations “could begin starting from next week”. None of the actors on the ground has yet to understand how the 1000 or so FDLR fighters hiding in the bushes of North Kivu shall react: “they may surrender or they may start a resistance struggle that threatens largely the population of the villages and the nearby areas”. And precisely to cut any form of popular resistance toward the FDLR, last week Congolese authorities launched a sensitization campaign with the peoples of the Rutshuru and Masisi.
“It is also a time for the population to take note – said Julien Paluku, governor of the province, speaking to the local media – that the time has come for the FDLR to return the place from which they have come”. Meanwhile, yesterday at the military base in Rumangabo, a symbolic ceremony was held to mark the integration of the CNDP fighters under the leadership of Bosco Ntanganda in the regular Congolese army. The ceremony was attended by representatives of the international effort to protest the presence of Ntanganda, against whom an international arrest warrant has been issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). On the political front, meanwhile, the government of DR Congo has reietarted its request to Rwanda for the extradition of rogue general and leader of the CNDP, Laurent Nkunda, who was captured two weeks ago in Rwanda and placed under surveillance. But the Congolese government has been told by Rwanda that the preferable solution to the case of Nkunda be political rather than legal”.
29 January 2009
“We shall not give unconditional support to the joint operations, we have proposed our participation for logistical support and the protection of civilians, but in return, we must be informed of maneuvers”, said colonel Jean Paul Dietrich, spokesman for MONUC, to MISNA, outlining the general scope of the UN peacekeepers’ intervention in the offensive led by the Congolese and Rwandan in FDLR. “In about ten days’ time, should our conditions be accepted, we shall take full part in these operations” said Dietrich, adding that “until now the offensive has not met string opposition” and that more significant operations “could begin starting from next week”. None of the actors on the ground has yet to understand how the 1000 or so FDLR fighters hiding in the bushes of North Kivu shall react: “they may surrender or they may start a resistance struggle that threatens largely the population of the villages and the nearby areas”. And precisely to cut any form of popular resistance toward the FDLR, last week Congolese authorities launched a sensitization campaign with the peoples of the Rutshuru and Masisi.
“It is also a time for the population to take note – said Julien Paluku, governor of the province, speaking to the local media – that the time has come for the FDLR to return the place from which they have come”. Meanwhile, yesterday at the military base in Rumangabo, a symbolic ceremony was held to mark the integration of the CNDP fighters under the leadership of Bosco Ntanganda in the regular Congolese army. The ceremony was attended by representatives of the international effort to protest the presence of Ntanganda, against whom an international arrest warrant has been issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). On the political front, meanwhile, the government of DR Congo has reietarted its request to Rwanda for the extradition of rogue general and leader of the CNDP, Laurent Nkunda, who was captured two weeks ago in Rwanda and placed under surveillance. But the Congolese government has been told by Rwanda that the preferable solution to the case of Nkunda be political rather than legal”.
DARFUR: CALM IN EL-FASHER, THOUSANDS OF REFUGEES IN MUHAJERIYA.
MISNA
29 January 2009
“The situation in El Fasher is calm again. After the attacks of last January 26-27, there has not been any violence, but the situation remains tense”, said Josephine Guerrero, spokesperson for the joint UN-AU mission in Darfur (Unamid), to MISNA, confirming that the the situation in El-Fasher capital of northern Darfur has stabilized after the recent Sudanese air force attacks around the city which, said a military spokesman, “had been threatened by an advance of JEM fighters. “There have not been any new clashes in past few days” said the spokeswoman from El Fasher. The recent and very heavy fighting come just days after the attacks in Muhajeriya in early January and which also saw participation of the SLM separatists led by Minni Minnawi.
“We have evacuated our workers in Muhajeriya but the distribution of aid in the refugee camps continues thanks to local NGO’s and authorities” said Guerrero, confirming that many families had recently arrived in he camps, feeling from the violence. Some 3000 people have arrived in the camps in Muhajeriya since January 15 to avoid the violence. “Making matters worse has been the fact that many are returning refugees, who have already been debilitated by extended presence in the camps and who are now forced to abandon their homes”. The renewed tensions in Darfur have also re-ignited a latent crisis between Chad and Sudan, which, despite various attempts to mediate by the neighboring countries, have accused each other of backing rebel groups deployed along their respective borders. The Sudanese information minister, Kamal Obeid, has accused the government of Chad of having backed Jem’s advance on Muhajeriya. For his part, Chadian president Idris Deby had accused Khartoum of supporting an alliance of armed factions intending to overthrow him.
29 January 2009
“The situation in El Fasher is calm again. After the attacks of last January 26-27, there has not been any violence, but the situation remains tense”, said Josephine Guerrero, spokesperson for the joint UN-AU mission in Darfur (Unamid), to MISNA, confirming that the the situation in El-Fasher capital of northern Darfur has stabilized after the recent Sudanese air force attacks around the city which, said a military spokesman, “had been threatened by an advance of JEM fighters. “There have not been any new clashes in past few days” said the spokeswoman from El Fasher. The recent and very heavy fighting come just days after the attacks in Muhajeriya in early January and which also saw participation of the SLM separatists led by Minni Minnawi.
“We have evacuated our workers in Muhajeriya but the distribution of aid in the refugee camps continues thanks to local NGO’s and authorities” said Guerrero, confirming that many families had recently arrived in he camps, feeling from the violence. Some 3000 people have arrived in the camps in Muhajeriya since January 15 to avoid the violence. “Making matters worse has been the fact that many are returning refugees, who have already been debilitated by extended presence in the camps and who are now forced to abandon their homes”. The renewed tensions in Darfur have also re-ignited a latent crisis between Chad and Sudan, which, despite various attempts to mediate by the neighboring countries, have accused each other of backing rebel groups deployed along their respective borders. The Sudanese information minister, Kamal Obeid, has accused the government of Chad of having backed Jem’s advance on Muhajeriya. For his part, Chadian president Idris Deby had accused Khartoum of supporting an alliance of armed factions intending to overthrow him.
EU Urges Arrest of Congo Rebel Wanted for War Crimes.
Bloomberg News
30 January 2009
By Franz Wild
The European Union’s top diplomat in Central Africa called for the arrest of Congolese rebel General Jean Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
Bosco, who allegedly recruited and used child soldiers, should be handed over “as soon as possible,” said Roland Van Der Geer, the EU special envoy to the Great Lakes region. Bosco, who is known as “the Terminator,” is the former deputy military commander of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga, whose war crimes trial began in The Hague earlier this week.
“The European Union’s position is that he should be brought to The Hague as soon as possible,” Van Der Geer told reporters today in Goma, capital of Congo’s North Kivu province. “We do hope his arrest will be effected.”
Bosco earlier this month ousted Laurent Nkunda as leader of the National Congress for the Defense of the People, or CNDP, a militia claiming to protect Congo’s ethnic Tutsi minority. He led about 60 of the CNDP’s 6,000 fighters in a ceremony yesterday marking their integration into the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The CNDP forces are expected to participate in the United Nations-backed operation by Congolese soldiers and troops from neighboring Rwanda to disarm members of an ethnic Hutu militia whose leaders fled across the Rwandan border after participating in the 1994 genocide against Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Bosco is the deputy of the integration commission.
UN Peacekeepers
The United Nations’ largest peacekeeping operation, known as Monuc, has more than 5,000 troops stationed in North Kivu and controls Goma, where Bosco was frequently seen this month. Monuc spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai didn’t answer several calls to his mobile phone. Earlier this month he said it wasn’t Monuc’s responsibility to arrest Bosco.
Failure to arrest Bosco, who now circulates freely in North Kivu, could undermine international justice, according to Anneke Van Woudenberg, a senior researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.
“This is not just about Bosco, this is about what international justice means,” Van Woudenberg told reporters today in Goma. “They can’t let someone with an arrest warrant be promoted into a senior position with the international community looking on and doing nothing.”
Congolese Communications Minister Lambert Mende said arresting Bosco isn’t a priority right now.
‘State Authority’
“Before we arrest him, we need to establish state authority across the country,” Mende said in a telephone interview today from Bamako, Mali. “We will resolve all the other problems first. We need to pacify the country and reestablish the authority of the state first.”
The CNDP routed Congo’s army in three months of clashes late last year, displacing more than 250,000 people in North Kivu.
Following the arrest of CNDP leader Nkunda, the group’s commanders are seeking guarantees before they fully integrate into the army, Van Der Geer said.
The integration “is a complex military process,” Van Der Geer said. “It will have to be prepared with great care and it will need to be placed in a setting in which the CNDP can see a future.”
Families of the Rwandan Hutu rebels in eastern Congo are fleeing to safety across the border and elsewhere in the country as the group braces for a military assault, Laforge Fis, a spokesman for the Hutu militia, known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, said yesterday.
30 January 2009
By Franz Wild
The European Union’s top diplomat in Central Africa called for the arrest of Congolese rebel General Jean Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
Bosco, who allegedly recruited and used child soldiers, should be handed over “as soon as possible,” said Roland Van Der Geer, the EU special envoy to the Great Lakes region. Bosco, who is known as “the Terminator,” is the former deputy military commander of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga, whose war crimes trial began in The Hague earlier this week.
“The European Union’s position is that he should be brought to The Hague as soon as possible,” Van Der Geer told reporters today in Goma, capital of Congo’s North Kivu province. “We do hope his arrest will be effected.”
Bosco earlier this month ousted Laurent Nkunda as leader of the National Congress for the Defense of the People, or CNDP, a militia claiming to protect Congo’s ethnic Tutsi minority. He led about 60 of the CNDP’s 6,000 fighters in a ceremony yesterday marking their integration into the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The CNDP forces are expected to participate in the United Nations-backed operation by Congolese soldiers and troops from neighboring Rwanda to disarm members of an ethnic Hutu militia whose leaders fled across the Rwandan border after participating in the 1994 genocide against Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Bosco is the deputy of the integration commission.
UN Peacekeepers
The United Nations’ largest peacekeeping operation, known as Monuc, has more than 5,000 troops stationed in North Kivu and controls Goma, where Bosco was frequently seen this month. Monuc spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai didn’t answer several calls to his mobile phone. Earlier this month he said it wasn’t Monuc’s responsibility to arrest Bosco.
Failure to arrest Bosco, who now circulates freely in North Kivu, could undermine international justice, according to Anneke Van Woudenberg, a senior researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.
“This is not just about Bosco, this is about what international justice means,” Van Woudenberg told reporters today in Goma. “They can’t let someone with an arrest warrant be promoted into a senior position with the international community looking on and doing nothing.”
Congolese Communications Minister Lambert Mende said arresting Bosco isn’t a priority right now.
‘State Authority’
“Before we arrest him, we need to establish state authority across the country,” Mende said in a telephone interview today from Bamako, Mali. “We will resolve all the other problems first. We need to pacify the country and reestablish the authority of the state first.”
The CNDP routed Congo’s army in three months of clashes late last year, displacing more than 250,000 people in North Kivu.
Following the arrest of CNDP leader Nkunda, the group’s commanders are seeking guarantees before they fully integrate into the army, Van Der Geer said.
The integration “is a complex military process,” Van Der Geer said. “It will have to be prepared with great care and it will need to be placed in a setting in which the CNDP can see a future.”
Families of the Rwandan Hutu rebels in eastern Congo are fleeing to safety across the border and elsewhere in the country as the group braces for a military assault, Laforge Fis, a spokesman for the Hutu militia, known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, said yesterday.
Iran and Iraq can be gas suppliers for Nabucco.
Today's Zaman
via Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections
19 December 2008
by Cagri Cobanoglu
19-12-08 Natural gas from Iran and Iraq could help fill a pipeline that would transport the commodity from the Caucasus, through Turkey and on to Western markets, President Abdullah Gul has said.
The planned $ 12 bn Nabucco gas pipeline has long been delayed. The project is intended to carry 30 bn cm of Central Asian gas a year to Europe via Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary as part of a plan to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas. The EU gets about one-third of its oil and about 40 % of its natural gas from Russia.
On the sidelines of discussions with visiting Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, Gul was asked whether there was any development regarding the Nabucco project. Gul noted that he discussed the issue in detail with Parvanov.
"This project is about supplying Europe's energy need sufficiently and in a safe way. A considerable amount of gas is planned to be transported through Turkey. Turkey attaches importance to this project. The most important issue regarding this project is to obtain enough gas," Gul said, noting that the Caucasus, the Caspian and Central Asia were considered to be sources for this project at its first stage.
"There are also some problems. Turkey is exerting efforts for supplying gas from other dimensions. Arab gas -- in particular Iraq gas -- is 50 km from the Turkish border. Construction is going on. If the problems are resolved, then more Iran gas may be bought," Gul added, underlining importance of diversity of sources in gas supply.
The pipeline is due to be operational by 2013, but before building can begin, its participants need commitments of at least 15 bn cm of gas a year. Azerbaijan could provide at least half of that, but the Russian gas monopoly, Gazprom, has also offered to buy Azerbaijani gas at European prices. August's war between Russia and Georgia -- one of the transit countries -- increased doubts about the security of investing in the turbulent region.
Parvanov, for his part, voiced his country's commitment for working together with Turkey on the Nabucco project. There are agreements reached by his country, Azerbaijan and Egypt concerning gas transportation, Parvanov said, adding that he hoped to reach an agreement with Turkmenistan as well. Parvanov is expected to pay an official visit to Turkmenistan shortly.
Earlier this month, Sofia hosted the Egyptian oil minister, who held talks about selling up to 1 bn cm of natural gas a year to Bulgaria, which is trying to cut its dependence on Russian energy imports. Bulgarian Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov then said Egyptian gas could come to Bulgaria through the existing Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline if Turkey and Egypt were to link their gas networks.
Cooperation on rivers
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also held talks with Parvanov. Speaking following the meeting, Erdogan said they discussed issues related to the River Tunca (Tundzha) and the River Rezve (Rezovska).
"Mr President has displayed a positive approach toward these issues. Within the framework of this approach, a commission has been established between undersecretaries of the foreign ministries," Erdogan said. "This commission will be following these issues. I will also personally follow this matter. We hope that steps concerning the River Tunca and the River Rezve will be taken upon this follow-up."
In the late 1960s, Bulgaria and Turkey signed a cooperation agreement on the use of the water from rivers flowing through the territory of both countries -- namely the rivers Meric (Maritsa), Tunca, Degirmendere (Veleka) and Rezve. The agreement noted "the need for close cooperation in the use of the waters or rivers, which are important both for economic development and for protection against damage caused by floods and floating ice, for the purpose of meeting the irrigational and other needs of the two countries."
The two countries most recently agreed to build a dam on the River Tunca, but the Turkish side has been complaining of an absence of concrete steps takenby the Bulgarians. The dam is expected to be built three years after its construction begins. Turkey is also urging neighbouring Bulgaria for progress on transporting water from the River Rezve to Istanbul for distribution to city residents as drinking water.
Schroeder: Obama may be open to Iran option
The United States may withdraw its objection to Iran's involvement in a pipeline that would transport natural gas from the Caucasus to Western markets after US President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has suggested. Schroeder was appointed head of the shareholders' committee of Nord Stream AG, controlled by Gazprom, Russia's state-run natural gas supplier, soon after leaving office in November 2005.
The former chancellor was in Istanbul to deliver a speech at a meeting titled "Turkey and Germany: Construction of the Future Together."
There is currently ambiguity over natural gas sources for the Nabucco pipeline project, Schroeder said,pointing to Iran as an option. He said Iran had not been considered an alternative for supplying natural gas for the project to date because of the Bush administration's stance on the issue. Schroeder stated that Obama, however, was expected to change the US's current hard-line policy toward Tehran. With this change, the purchase of Iranian natural gas for the US-backed Nabucco project may also come on the agenda, he said.
"Azerbaijan will be the main supplier in the beginning, while Turkmenistan, Russia, Iraq, Iran or Egypt could follow later," Reinhard Mitschek, managing director of the Nabucco venture, was quoted as saying recently.
In November, Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Turkey for the development of two phases of its South Pars gasfield in the Persian Gulf and on transferring gas to Europe. The two sides had signed a deal in 2007 on joint gas production and export of Iranian gas to Europe via Turkey. But since then they have been working to finalize the details of the deal, such as hammering out investment terms.
Ankara has repeatedly said it wants to expand energy cooperation with its eastern neighbour, a move that has drawn criticism from the US, which seeks to isolate the Islamic republic over its nuclear plans.
via Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections
19 December 2008
by Cagri Cobanoglu
19-12-08 Natural gas from Iran and Iraq could help fill a pipeline that would transport the commodity from the Caucasus, through Turkey and on to Western markets, President Abdullah Gul has said.
The planned $ 12 bn Nabucco gas pipeline has long been delayed. The project is intended to carry 30 bn cm of Central Asian gas a year to Europe via Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary as part of a plan to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas. The EU gets about one-third of its oil and about 40 % of its natural gas from Russia.
On the sidelines of discussions with visiting Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, Gul was asked whether there was any development regarding the Nabucco project. Gul noted that he discussed the issue in detail with Parvanov.
"This project is about supplying Europe's energy need sufficiently and in a safe way. A considerable amount of gas is planned to be transported through Turkey. Turkey attaches importance to this project. The most important issue regarding this project is to obtain enough gas," Gul said, noting that the Caucasus, the Caspian and Central Asia were considered to be sources for this project at its first stage.
"There are also some problems. Turkey is exerting efforts for supplying gas from other dimensions. Arab gas -- in particular Iraq gas -- is 50 km from the Turkish border. Construction is going on. If the problems are resolved, then more Iran gas may be bought," Gul added, underlining importance of diversity of sources in gas supply.
The pipeline is due to be operational by 2013, but before building can begin, its participants need commitments of at least 15 bn cm of gas a year. Azerbaijan could provide at least half of that, but the Russian gas monopoly, Gazprom, has also offered to buy Azerbaijani gas at European prices. August's war between Russia and Georgia -- one of the transit countries -- increased doubts about the security of investing in the turbulent region.
Parvanov, for his part, voiced his country's commitment for working together with Turkey on the Nabucco project. There are agreements reached by his country, Azerbaijan and Egypt concerning gas transportation, Parvanov said, adding that he hoped to reach an agreement with Turkmenistan as well. Parvanov is expected to pay an official visit to Turkmenistan shortly.
Earlier this month, Sofia hosted the Egyptian oil minister, who held talks about selling up to 1 bn cm of natural gas a year to Bulgaria, which is trying to cut its dependence on Russian energy imports. Bulgarian Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov then said Egyptian gas could come to Bulgaria through the existing Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline if Turkey and Egypt were to link their gas networks.
Cooperation on rivers
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also held talks with Parvanov. Speaking following the meeting, Erdogan said they discussed issues related to the River Tunca (Tundzha) and the River Rezve (Rezovska).
"Mr President has displayed a positive approach toward these issues. Within the framework of this approach, a commission has been established between undersecretaries of the foreign ministries," Erdogan said. "This commission will be following these issues. I will also personally follow this matter. We hope that steps concerning the River Tunca and the River Rezve will be taken upon this follow-up."
In the late 1960s, Bulgaria and Turkey signed a cooperation agreement on the use of the water from rivers flowing through the territory of both countries -- namely the rivers Meric (Maritsa), Tunca, Degirmendere (Veleka) and Rezve. The agreement noted "the need for close cooperation in the use of the waters or rivers, which are important both for economic development and for protection against damage caused by floods and floating ice, for the purpose of meeting the irrigational and other needs of the two countries."
The two countries most recently agreed to build a dam on the River Tunca, but the Turkish side has been complaining of an absence of concrete steps takenby the Bulgarians. The dam is expected to be built three years after its construction begins. Turkey is also urging neighbouring Bulgaria for progress on transporting water from the River Rezve to Istanbul for distribution to city residents as drinking water.
Schroeder: Obama may be open to Iran option
The United States may withdraw its objection to Iran's involvement in a pipeline that would transport natural gas from the Caucasus to Western markets after US President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has suggested. Schroeder was appointed head of the shareholders' committee of Nord Stream AG, controlled by Gazprom, Russia's state-run natural gas supplier, soon after leaving office in November 2005.
The former chancellor was in Istanbul to deliver a speech at a meeting titled "Turkey and Germany: Construction of the Future Together."
There is currently ambiguity over natural gas sources for the Nabucco pipeline project, Schroeder said,pointing to Iran as an option. He said Iran had not been considered an alternative for supplying natural gas for the project to date because of the Bush administration's stance on the issue. Schroeder stated that Obama, however, was expected to change the US's current hard-line policy toward Tehran. With this change, the purchase of Iranian natural gas for the US-backed Nabucco project may also come on the agenda, he said.
"Azerbaijan will be the main supplier in the beginning, while Turkmenistan, Russia, Iraq, Iran or Egypt could follow later," Reinhard Mitschek, managing director of the Nabucco venture, was quoted as saying recently.
In November, Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Turkey for the development of two phases of its South Pars gasfield in the Persian Gulf and on transferring gas to Europe. The two sides had signed a deal in 2007 on joint gas production and export of Iranian gas to Europe via Turkey. But since then they have been working to finalize the details of the deal, such as hammering out investment terms.
Ankara has repeatedly said it wants to expand energy cooperation with its eastern neighbour, a move that has drawn criticism from the US, which seeks to isolate the Islamic republic over its nuclear plans.
Turkey, India and Israel plan oil pipeline to the Red Sea.
Global Magazine
via Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections
25 November 2008
Turkey, India and Israel want to improve the transport of oil from central Asia and the Black Sea region using a common pipeline. For this purpose, they planned to build an undersea pipeline from the Turkish oil port Ceyhan to the Israeli coastal city Ashkelon, and from there, on to Eilat, on the Israeli coast of the Red Sea, after the Turkish Energy Minister, Hilmi Guler led discussions in the country.
"It is not a simple project [...]. Within a month, there should be a meeting between representatives from India, Israel and Turkey", said Guler.
India wants to transport the oil from Eilat further using tankers. After the Turkish reports, both Israel and Russia want to take part in the project. Ceyhan, on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, has been until now, the point where the BTC pipeline, running from Azerbaijan across Georgia, ends. Kazakhstan is, in theory, ready to supply oil, via Russia, on the western markets.
In mid-November, representatives from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan signed a principle agreement over an appropriate transport system during an energy conference in Baku.
As a result, oil from Kazakhstan is to be supplied across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, using tankers in order for it then to be pumped through the BTC-pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean coast.
via Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections
25 November 2008
Turkey, India and Israel want to improve the transport of oil from central Asia and the Black Sea region using a common pipeline. For this purpose, they planned to build an undersea pipeline from the Turkish oil port Ceyhan to the Israeli coastal city Ashkelon, and from there, on to Eilat, on the Israeli coast of the Red Sea, after the Turkish Energy Minister, Hilmi Guler led discussions in the country.
"It is not a simple project [...]. Within a month, there should be a meeting between representatives from India, Israel and Turkey", said Guler.
India wants to transport the oil from Eilat further using tankers. After the Turkish reports, both Israel and Russia want to take part in the project. Ceyhan, on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, has been until now, the point where the BTC pipeline, running from Azerbaijan across Georgia, ends. Kazakhstan is, in theory, ready to supply oil, via Russia, on the western markets.
In mid-November, representatives from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan signed a principle agreement over an appropriate transport system during an energy conference in Baku.
As a result, oil from Kazakhstan is to be supplied across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, using tankers in order for it then to be pumped through the BTC-pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean coast.
Gazprom delays launching of South Stream gas pipeline.
Sofia News Agency
via Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections
8 January 2009
The Russian energy giant Gazprom is going to take its time with the South Stream gas transit pipeline by putting off the launching of the projects by at least two years.
In January, 2008, Gazprom Director Aleksei Miller stated the first gas would be delivered through the pipe in 2013. Bulgaria is an important participant in the South Stream project. However a report seems to have noted that the company's "General Plan for the Development of the Gas Sector by 2030" said the gas deliveries through South Stream would start in 2015-2024.
The documents also mentions the exact projected capacity of the pipeline, which had not been revealed previously -- 31 bn cm per year.
The exact time of the launching of the South Stream would depend on a number of factors, according to the Gazprom's General Plan, including the conditions on the domestic and foreign markets, the state policy in the sectors, and the success of the negotiations on its route with other countries. The report also said that earlier the South Stream section going through the Black Sea was estimated to cost $ 10 bn (EUR 7.7 bn), plus at least as much for its land part.
The General Plan also mentions that Russia needed to construct 2,400 km of pipeline on its own territory in order to be able to launch South Stream.
A Russian analyst was quoted as saying this delay by at least two years could allow the EU-sponsored Nabucco gas pipeline, which is considered a competitive project, to grab hold of the Central European market. Respectively, this could then force Russia and Gazprom to reconsider the South Stream project.
The Nabucco pipeline is expected to be launched in 2013, and to transport between 26 and 32 bn cm of natural gas per year.
The routes of the two colossal pipelines will cross on Bulgarian territory.
Bulgaria's government signed the agreement for the South Stream pipeline during former Russian President Putin's visit to Sofia in January 2008, and it was ratified by the Parliament several months later.
via Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections
8 January 2009
The Russian energy giant Gazprom is going to take its time with the South Stream gas transit pipeline by putting off the launching of the projects by at least two years.
In January, 2008, Gazprom Director Aleksei Miller stated the first gas would be delivered through the pipe in 2013. Bulgaria is an important participant in the South Stream project. However a report seems to have noted that the company's "General Plan for the Development of the Gas Sector by 2030" said the gas deliveries through South Stream would start in 2015-2024.
The documents also mentions the exact projected capacity of the pipeline, which had not been revealed previously -- 31 bn cm per year.
The exact time of the launching of the South Stream would depend on a number of factors, according to the Gazprom's General Plan, including the conditions on the domestic and foreign markets, the state policy in the sectors, and the success of the negotiations on its route with other countries. The report also said that earlier the South Stream section going through the Black Sea was estimated to cost $ 10 bn (EUR 7.7 bn), plus at least as much for its land part.
The General Plan also mentions that Russia needed to construct 2,400 km of pipeline on its own territory in order to be able to launch South Stream.
A Russian analyst was quoted as saying this delay by at least two years could allow the EU-sponsored Nabucco gas pipeline, which is considered a competitive project, to grab hold of the Central European market. Respectively, this could then force Russia and Gazprom to reconsider the South Stream project.
The Nabucco pipeline is expected to be launched in 2013, and to transport between 26 and 32 bn cm of natural gas per year.
The routes of the two colossal pipelines will cross on Bulgarian territory.
Bulgaria's government signed the agreement for the South Stream pipeline during former Russian President Putin's visit to Sofia in January 2008, and it was ratified by the Parliament several months later.
Army chief hails French decision.
AFP
29 January 2009
Ivory Coast's army chief on Wednesday hailed a decision by former colonial ruler France to pull out more than half of its more than 2,000 troops deployed in a country split after a failed 2002 coup attempt.
"We think this is good news. This is an indication that the (peace) process we have undertaken is going well and Ivory Coast is not on fire," said General Philippe Mangou.
Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower, was essentially sliced in half after a September 2002 coup attempt against President Laurent Gbagbo, with former New Forces rebels and foreign fighters controlling the north and the government troops controlling the south.
Mangou said the French decision - announced in Paris Wednesday by Prime Minister Francois Fillon - showed that "peace is not far away".
The UN peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast, or ONUCI, Tuesday said it was cutting authorised military personnel from 8 115 to 7 450, as recommended by UN chief Ban Ki-moon in his report released earlier this month.
Ivory Coast's founding president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, had signed a military cooperation agreement with France, calling for the deployment of French soldiers. The numbers had never been made public.
29 January 2009
Ivory Coast's army chief on Wednesday hailed a decision by former colonial ruler France to pull out more than half of its more than 2,000 troops deployed in a country split after a failed 2002 coup attempt.
"We think this is good news. This is an indication that the (peace) process we have undertaken is going well and Ivory Coast is not on fire," said General Philippe Mangou.
Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower, was essentially sliced in half after a September 2002 coup attempt against President Laurent Gbagbo, with former New Forces rebels and foreign fighters controlling the north and the government troops controlling the south.
Mangou said the French decision - announced in Paris Wednesday by Prime Minister Francois Fillon - showed that "peace is not far away".
The UN peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast, or ONUCI, Tuesday said it was cutting authorised military personnel from 8 115 to 7 450, as recommended by UN chief Ban Ki-moon in his report released earlier this month.
Ivory Coast's founding president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, had signed a military cooperation agreement with France, calling for the deployment of French soldiers. The numbers had never been made public.
29 January, 2009
Rwanda: End Lifetime Solitary Confinement.
Human Rights Watch
January 29, 2009
Move to Secure Transfers From International Tribunal Falls Short.
Prolonged solitary confinement is cruel and inhuman treatment. Parliament needs to ban this penalty across the board to comply with its international obligations and to show a genuine commitment to human rights.
Alison Des Forges, senior advisor to the Africa division at Human Rights Watch (New York) - The Rwandan government should honor its international obligations by enacting legislation to abolish life imprisonment in solitary confinement, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the presidents of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.
In December 2008, the Rwanda Parliament prohibited life in solitary confinement for genocide suspects transferred from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) or extradited from other countries and found guilty by Rwandan courts. However, the penalty remains on the books for other persons tried and convicted of genocide-related crimes in Rwanda. In its letter, Human Rights Watch outlined its concerns about the December legislation and called on Parliament to bar such a punishment from Rwandan law.
"Prolonged solitary confinement is cruel and inhuman treatment," said Alison Des Forges, senior advisor to the Africa division at Human Rights Watch. "Parliament needs to ban this penalty across the board to comply with its international obligations and to show a genuine commitment to human rights."
The recent legislative move is part of Rwanda's effort to prosecute in Rwanda persons suspected of involvement in the country's 1994 genocide. Until now, its efforts to have suspects sent back to Rwanda for prosecution have been largely unsuccessful. The ICTR, located in Tanzania, denied transfer in five cases this year, and France denied extradition in three cases. Another case involving genocide suspects is on appeal in the United Kingdom.
"Rwanda's decision to eliminate solitary confinement only for suspects transferred from other jurisdictions, including those alleged to have played a leading role in the 1994 genocide, also gives Rwandans the impression that different rules apply to different people," said Des Forges. "All suspects tried and convicted in Rwanda should be treated equally and none should be subjected to this punishment."
Rwanda's criminal sentencing scheme came under scrutiny after Rwanda expressed its willingness to receive cases from the ICTR nearly two years ago. At that time, with its trial completion date of 2008 looming, the ICTR undertook to find other jurisdictions to hear remaining cases. Rwanda was among the potential candidates, except that the ICTR cannot transfer cases to a jurisdiction where the death penalty may be imposed.
Rwanda passed a March 2007 law precluding the death penalty for any suspects transferred from the ICTR to Rwandan courts. In July 2007, the legislature adopted legislation definitively abolishing the death penalty. However, the law replaced it with life imprisonment in solitary confinement in certain cases, a sentence that cannot be reviewed or commuted for a period of at least 20 years.
A constitutional challenge was mounted against the lifetime solitary confinement penalty, but the Rwandan Supreme Court found it constitutional in August 2008. The government has announced plans to issue instructions on how the punishment should be implemented, but has not done so.
The solitary confinement provision impeded the transfer of cases from the ICTR to Rwanda, despite assurances by Rwandan government officials that transfer suspects would not be subject to lifetime solitary confinement if convicted by Rwandan courts. The ICTR denied transfer of five suspects, with appeals by the prosecutor rejected on the same grounds in several of the cases. The ICTR also expressed concern over whether suspects would be able to secure witnesses to testify in their defense in order to ensure a fair trial.
Solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time violates the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. Rwanda ratified the African Charter in 1983 and acceded to the ICCPR in 1975 and to the Convention against Torture on December 15, 2008.
"The new law sends the wrong signal to both Rwandans and the international community," said Des Forges. "It suggests that the country is more concerned with securing the transfer of cases from the tribunal than with respecting human rights for all of its citizens."
Life imprisonment in solitary confinement can be imposed by Rwandan conventional courts and community-based gacaca courts. In May 2008, the Rwandan legislature transferred most of the remaining genocide cases to gacaca courts and requires the mandatory punishment of lifetime solitary confinement for cases in which a suspect is convicted and has not previously confessed or pled guilty.
"In providing justice for the genocide, Rwanda needs to abide by its international human rights obligations and to respect the dignity and rights of all persons," Des Forges said. "Life imprisonment in solitary confinement should be definitively abolished."
January 29, 2009
Move to Secure Transfers From International Tribunal Falls Short.
Prolonged solitary confinement is cruel and inhuman treatment. Parliament needs to ban this penalty across the board to comply with its international obligations and to show a genuine commitment to human rights.
Alison Des Forges, senior advisor to the Africa division at Human Rights Watch (New York) - The Rwandan government should honor its international obligations by enacting legislation to abolish life imprisonment in solitary confinement, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the presidents of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.
In December 2008, the Rwanda Parliament prohibited life in solitary confinement for genocide suspects transferred from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) or extradited from other countries and found guilty by Rwandan courts. However, the penalty remains on the books for other persons tried and convicted of genocide-related crimes in Rwanda. In its letter, Human Rights Watch outlined its concerns about the December legislation and called on Parliament to bar such a punishment from Rwandan law.
"Prolonged solitary confinement is cruel and inhuman treatment," said Alison Des Forges, senior advisor to the Africa division at Human Rights Watch. "Parliament needs to ban this penalty across the board to comply with its international obligations and to show a genuine commitment to human rights."
The recent legislative move is part of Rwanda's effort to prosecute in Rwanda persons suspected of involvement in the country's 1994 genocide. Until now, its efforts to have suspects sent back to Rwanda for prosecution have been largely unsuccessful. The ICTR, located in Tanzania, denied transfer in five cases this year, and France denied extradition in three cases. Another case involving genocide suspects is on appeal in the United Kingdom.
"Rwanda's decision to eliminate solitary confinement only for suspects transferred from other jurisdictions, including those alleged to have played a leading role in the 1994 genocide, also gives Rwandans the impression that different rules apply to different people," said Des Forges. "All suspects tried and convicted in Rwanda should be treated equally and none should be subjected to this punishment."
Rwanda's criminal sentencing scheme came under scrutiny after Rwanda expressed its willingness to receive cases from the ICTR nearly two years ago. At that time, with its trial completion date of 2008 looming, the ICTR undertook to find other jurisdictions to hear remaining cases. Rwanda was among the potential candidates, except that the ICTR cannot transfer cases to a jurisdiction where the death penalty may be imposed.
Rwanda passed a March 2007 law precluding the death penalty for any suspects transferred from the ICTR to Rwandan courts. In July 2007, the legislature adopted legislation definitively abolishing the death penalty. However, the law replaced it with life imprisonment in solitary confinement in certain cases, a sentence that cannot be reviewed or commuted for a period of at least 20 years.
A constitutional challenge was mounted against the lifetime solitary confinement penalty, but the Rwandan Supreme Court found it constitutional in August 2008. The government has announced plans to issue instructions on how the punishment should be implemented, but has not done so.
The solitary confinement provision impeded the transfer of cases from the ICTR to Rwanda, despite assurances by Rwandan government officials that transfer suspects would not be subject to lifetime solitary confinement if convicted by Rwandan courts. The ICTR denied transfer of five suspects, with appeals by the prosecutor rejected on the same grounds in several of the cases. The ICTR also expressed concern over whether suspects would be able to secure witnesses to testify in their defense in order to ensure a fair trial.
Solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time violates the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. Rwanda ratified the African Charter in 1983 and acceded to the ICCPR in 1975 and to the Convention against Torture on December 15, 2008.
"The new law sends the wrong signal to both Rwandans and the international community," said Des Forges. "It suggests that the country is more concerned with securing the transfer of cases from the tribunal than with respecting human rights for all of its citizens."
Life imprisonment in solitary confinement can be imposed by Rwandan conventional courts and community-based gacaca courts. In May 2008, the Rwandan legislature transferred most of the remaining genocide cases to gacaca courts and requires the mandatory punishment of lifetime solitary confinement for cases in which a suspect is convicted and has not previously confessed or pled guilty.
"In providing justice for the genocide, Rwanda needs to abide by its international human rights obligations and to respect the dignity and rights of all persons," Des Forges said. "Life imprisonment in solitary confinement should be definitively abolished."
HRW Letter to Rwanda Parliament Regarding the Penalty of Life Imprisonment in Solitary Confinement.
Human Rights Watch
January 29, 2009
Hon. Rose Mukantabana
President of the Chamber of Deputies
Kigali, Rwanda
Dr. Vincent Biruta
President of the Senate
Kigali, Rwanda
Your Excellencies:
Human Rights Watch urges the Rwandan government to honor its obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), by definitively abolishing the penalty of life imprisonment in solitary confinement. This punishment, which condemns a convicted person to total isolation for a minimum of twenty years, amounts to cruel and inhuman treatment and should not be imposed by Rwandan courts or gacaca jurisdictions under any circumstances.
When Rwanda abolished the death penalty in July 2007, many around the world - including Human Rights Watch - applauded the decision and viewed it as a tremendous step forward for the country. However, the law had flaws in that it substituted the death penalty with life imprisonment in solitary confinement for certain cases.
In early 2008, the law came under scrutiny when the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), based in Tanzania, considered transferring five cases to Rwanda for prosecution. The ICTR denied transfer in all five cases, in part because it found that the punishment of life in solitary confinement as prescribed under Rwandan law did not meet international human rights standards and might be imposed upon an individual if convicted.
In response to these decisions, Parliament adopted legislation on December 1, 2008, barring application of the penalty of life imprisonment in solitary confinement to criminal cases transferred from the ICTR or from abroad. The Rwandan government seems to recognize that the penalty of lifetime solitary confinement does not adhere to international standards and that it must be eliminated in order to have cases sent back to Rwanda for trial.
Yet the penalty may still be imposed on other individuals tried and convicted of crimes in Rwanda.
Solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time constitutes inhuman treatment and violates the Convention against Torture, Article 7 of the ICCPR, and Article 5 of the ACHPR. Human Rights Watch is therefore dismayed that the Rwandan government has chosen to allow the penalty to remain in effect for domestic criminal cases. The recent legislative move suggests that the country is more concerned with securing the transfer of cases from the ICTR than with respecting human rights across its justice system.
All suspects tried and convicted in Rwanda should be treated equally and should not be subjected to this punishment. Human Rights Watch calls upon Parliament to enact legislation definitively abolishing the penalty of life imprisonment in solitary confinement.
We thank you in advance for your attention to this pressing matter.
Georgette Gagnon
Africa Director
Human Rights Watch
January 29, 2009
Hon. Rose Mukantabana
President of the Chamber of Deputies
Kigali, Rwanda
Dr. Vincent Biruta
President of the Senate
Kigali, Rwanda
Your Excellencies:
Human Rights Watch urges the Rwandan government to honor its obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), by definitively abolishing the penalty of life imprisonment in solitary confinement. This punishment, which condemns a convicted person to total isolation for a minimum of twenty years, amounts to cruel and inhuman treatment and should not be imposed by Rwandan courts or gacaca jurisdictions under any circumstances.
When Rwanda abolished the death penalty in July 2007, many around the world - including Human Rights Watch - applauded the decision and viewed it as a tremendous step forward for the country. However, the law had flaws in that it substituted the death penalty with life imprisonment in solitary confinement for certain cases.
In early 2008, the law came under scrutiny when the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), based in Tanzania, considered transferring five cases to Rwanda for prosecution. The ICTR denied transfer in all five cases, in part because it found that the punishment of life in solitary confinement as prescribed under Rwandan law did not meet international human rights standards and might be imposed upon an individual if convicted.
In response to these decisions, Parliament adopted legislation on December 1, 2008, barring application of the penalty of life imprisonment in solitary confinement to criminal cases transferred from the ICTR or from abroad. The Rwandan government seems to recognize that the penalty of lifetime solitary confinement does not adhere to international standards and that it must be eliminated in order to have cases sent back to Rwanda for trial.
Yet the penalty may still be imposed on other individuals tried and convicted of crimes in Rwanda.
Solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time constitutes inhuman treatment and violates the Convention against Torture, Article 7 of the ICCPR, and Article 5 of the ACHPR. Human Rights Watch is therefore dismayed that the Rwandan government has chosen to allow the penalty to remain in effect for domestic criminal cases. The recent legislative move suggests that the country is more concerned with securing the transfer of cases from the ICTR than with respecting human rights across its justice system.
All suspects tried and convicted in Rwanda should be treated equally and should not be subjected to this punishment. Human Rights Watch calls upon Parliament to enact legislation definitively abolishing the penalty of life imprisonment in solitary confinement.
We thank you in advance for your attention to this pressing matter.
Georgette Gagnon
Africa Director
Human Rights Watch
Amnesty International: Laurent Nkunda and Bosco Ntaganda must face justice.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC STATEMENT
28 January 2009
AI Index: AFR 62/001/2009
The arrest of Laurent Nkunda should be followed by swift steps to prosecute him on charges that he committed war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Amnesty International said today. Any trial must be fair and exclude the death penalty. If states fail to do so, then the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction to seek to prosecute him. Since 2004, the ICC Prosecutor has been investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity in the DRC, particularly in the Ituri region, and has sought and obtained arrest warrants.
Laurent Nkunda, former leader of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) armed group, was arrested on 22 January and is detained at an undisclosed location in Rwanda. The Government of Rwanda must immediately clarify on what charges and in what circumstances it is holding Laurent Nkunda, announce what course it intends to pursue to ensure that he is prosecuted in a fair trial where witnesses are effectively protected, and guarantee that his rights are fully respected.
Members of the CNDP and previous armed groups led by Laurent Nkunda have been accused of war crimes and other serious human rights abuses by the UN, national and international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International. These allegations include the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, unlawful killings and systematic rape of women and girls. He is the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by the DRC authorities in September 2005 for war crimes and crimes against humanity as well as insurrection. Despite these multiple accusations, Laurent Nkunda was for many years able to move freely between his base in eastern DRC, Rwanda and Uganda.
Although the possibility exists that Laurent Nkunda may be extradited from Rwanda to the DRC, he is unlikely to receive a fair trial in the DRC. The DRC criminal justice system is characterized by a lack of independence of the judiciary, particularly in its military courts before which Laurent Nkunda would be prosecuted, routine torture and ill-treatment in detention, inhumane prison conditions and prolonged detention without trial. Witnesses and lawyers do not receive adequate protection and are routinely threatened and attacked. The DRC retains the death penalty. The DRC government must address the longstanding failures of its judicial system that prevent the effective prosecution of suspected war criminals before domestic courts.
Laurent Nkunda’s sudden downfall contrasts with the rise of Bosco Ntaganda, the new leader of the CNDP and Laurent Nkunda’s former Chief-of-Staff, who now appears to enjoy the full confidence of the DRC and Rwandan governments. Bosco Ntaganda is the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued under seal in August 2006 and made public on 28 April 2008 for the war crime of recruiting and using children as soldiers in the Ituri region of eastern DRC between July 2002 and December 2003. He also reportedly commanded CNDP fighters who unlawfully killed scores of civilians in Kiwanja, North Kivu province, eastern DRC, on 4/5 November 2008.
The DRC government is under a legal obligation to arrest and surrender anyone named in arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court. However, on 16 January, shortly after he had announced that he had deposed Laurent Nkunda as head of the CNDP, Bosco Ntaganda appeared publicly in Goma alongside the DRC Minister of Interior, Célestin Mbuyu Kabango, and senior DRC army officers to declare an end to the CNDP rebellion and commit his forces to the joint DRC and Rwandan government military operation against the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) armed group. James Kabarehe, the Rwandan army Chief of Staff, attended the same event.
Time and again, justice has been sacrificed to the interests of political and military expediency in the DRC. A number of other persons suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity now occupy senior positions in the DRC’s army and police. Persistent impunity is one the major reasons why war crimes and crimes against humanity continue to be committed on a large scale in the DRC. They will not end until regional governments and the international community demonstrate an unequivocal commitment to bring all those responsible for war crimes or crimes against humanity to justice.
PUBLIC STATEMENT
28 January 2009
AI Index: AFR 62/001/2009
The arrest of Laurent Nkunda should be followed by swift steps to prosecute him on charges that he committed war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Amnesty International said today. Any trial must be fair and exclude the death penalty. If states fail to do so, then the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction to seek to prosecute him. Since 2004, the ICC Prosecutor has been investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity in the DRC, particularly in the Ituri region, and has sought and obtained arrest warrants.
Laurent Nkunda, former leader of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) armed group, was arrested on 22 January and is detained at an undisclosed location in Rwanda. The Government of Rwanda must immediately clarify on what charges and in what circumstances it is holding Laurent Nkunda, announce what course it intends to pursue to ensure that he is prosecuted in a fair trial where witnesses are effectively protected, and guarantee that his rights are fully respected.
Members of the CNDP and previous armed groups led by Laurent Nkunda have been accused of war crimes and other serious human rights abuses by the UN, national and international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International. These allegations include the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, unlawful killings and systematic rape of women and girls. He is the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by the DRC authorities in September 2005 for war crimes and crimes against humanity as well as insurrection. Despite these multiple accusations, Laurent Nkunda was for many years able to move freely between his base in eastern DRC, Rwanda and Uganda.
Although the possibility exists that Laurent Nkunda may be extradited from Rwanda to the DRC, he is unlikely to receive a fair trial in the DRC. The DRC criminal justice system is characterized by a lack of independence of the judiciary, particularly in its military courts before which Laurent Nkunda would be prosecuted, routine torture and ill-treatment in detention, inhumane prison conditions and prolonged detention without trial. Witnesses and lawyers do not receive adequate protection and are routinely threatened and attacked. The DRC retains the death penalty. The DRC government must address the longstanding failures of its judicial system that prevent the effective prosecution of suspected war criminals before domestic courts.
Laurent Nkunda’s sudden downfall contrasts with the rise of Bosco Ntaganda, the new leader of the CNDP and Laurent Nkunda’s former Chief-of-Staff, who now appears to enjoy the full confidence of the DRC and Rwandan governments. Bosco Ntaganda is the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued under seal in August 2006 and made public on 28 April 2008 for the war crime of recruiting and using children as soldiers in the Ituri region of eastern DRC between July 2002 and December 2003. He also reportedly commanded CNDP fighters who unlawfully killed scores of civilians in Kiwanja, North Kivu province, eastern DRC, on 4/5 November 2008.
The DRC government is under a legal obligation to arrest and surrender anyone named in arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court. However, on 16 January, shortly after he had announced that he had deposed Laurent Nkunda as head of the CNDP, Bosco Ntaganda appeared publicly in Goma alongside the DRC Minister of Interior, Célestin Mbuyu Kabango, and senior DRC army officers to declare an end to the CNDP rebellion and commit his forces to the joint DRC and Rwandan government military operation against the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) armed group. James Kabarehe, the Rwandan army Chief of Staff, attended the same event.
Time and again, justice has been sacrificed to the interests of political and military expediency in the DRC. A number of other persons suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity now occupy senior positions in the DRC’s army and police. Persistent impunity is one the major reasons why war crimes and crimes against humanity continue to be committed on a large scale in the DRC. They will not end until regional governments and the international community demonstrate an unequivocal commitment to bring all those responsible for war crimes or crimes against humanity to justice.
Abkhazia sees Russian military bases deal to be completed within months.
Reuters
29 January 2009
By Dmitry Solovyov
MOSCOW, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia expects to sign a deal within a few months allowing Russia to establish a naval base and an airbase on its soil, a separatist official told Reuters on Thursday.
NATO expressed concern on Wednesday at reports quoting unnamned military sources in Russia as saying Moscow planned a naval base in Abkhazia, one of two breakaway regions Georgia seeks to reclaim. There has been no Kremlin confirmation.
"This is true -- the Russian Federation and Abkhazia are in talks on setting up two Russian bases on Abkhaz soil, proceeding from our treaty on friendship and mutual assistance," Kristian Bzhania, spokesman for the Abkhaz separatist leadership, told Reuters by telephone from the region's capital Sukhumi.
"The talk is about a naval base in Ochamchira, where a group of Russian Black Sea Fleet warships will be based, and a former airborne troops base in the town of Gudauta," he added.
"We are now talking about this deal being signed, most probably, within the next few months."
Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed Russian military official as saying that the airfield near Gudauta, also known as the Bombara aerodrome, could accommodate around 20 jet fighters, ground attack aircraft and military transport planes.
A spokesman for Russia's air forces declined to comment.
During Russia's war with Georgia in August -- when fighting focused on the second rebel region of South Ossetia -- Russia sent its warships to Abkhazia and landed its marines at the site of the projected naval base, Ochamchire.
Georgians spell the port as Ochamchire while the Abkhazian separatists call it Ochamchira.
Russia's Black Sea fleet is currently based at Sevastopol in Ukraine, a legacy of the Soviet Union. Kiev has told Moscow to withdraw when its lease expires in 2017. Russia hopes to stay on beyond that, but is also exploring other options.
WESTERN ENERGY SUPPLIES
Russia's crushing of Georgian forces in the five-day war raised concerns in the West and stirred fears for the safety of western energy supplies that run through Georgia.
Both Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Tbilisi's rule during wars in the 1990s that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Moscow has pledged to deploy bases in both regions to protect them from "a repeat of Georgian aggression".
A naval base at Ochamchire and revival of the airfield could present fresh concern for NATO strategists worried about Russia projecting its military strength beyond its borders into the region.
Abkhazia is close to NATO member Turkey and the Soviet military presence there was a frontline position in the Cold War standoff with the West.
Gudauta hosted Soviet paratroopers and later Russian troops after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
Russia said it had withdrawn its forces from Gudauta under the 1999 Istanbul agreement on post-Cold War force reductions in Europe, but Tbilisi claims Moscow kept a military presence there in violation of the agreement.
"As for Ochamchira, it may take a year for it to become a fully-fledged naval base," Bzhania said, adding the base had earlier hosted vessels of the Soviet border guard.
He said the port would undergo modernisation, including dredging, to "meet the standards of a modern navy and accommodate bigger warships of different types and configuration".
(Editing by Richard Balmforth)
29 January 2009
By Dmitry Solovyov
MOSCOW, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia expects to sign a deal within a few months allowing Russia to establish a naval base and an airbase on its soil, a separatist official told Reuters on Thursday.
NATO expressed concern on Wednesday at reports quoting unnamned military sources in Russia as saying Moscow planned a naval base in Abkhazia, one of two breakaway regions Georgia seeks to reclaim. There has been no Kremlin confirmation.
"This is true -- the Russian Federation and Abkhazia are in talks on setting up two Russian bases on Abkhaz soil, proceeding from our treaty on friendship and mutual assistance," Kristian Bzhania, spokesman for the Abkhaz separatist leadership, told Reuters by telephone from the region's capital Sukhumi.
"The talk is about a naval base in Ochamchira, where a group of Russian Black Sea Fleet warships will be based, and a former airborne troops base in the town of Gudauta," he added.
"We are now talking about this deal being signed, most probably, within the next few months."
Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed Russian military official as saying that the airfield near Gudauta, also known as the Bombara aerodrome, could accommodate around 20 jet fighters, ground attack aircraft and military transport planes.
A spokesman for Russia's air forces declined to comment.
During Russia's war with Georgia in August -- when fighting focused on the second rebel region of South Ossetia -- Russia sent its warships to Abkhazia and landed its marines at the site of the projected naval base, Ochamchire.
Georgians spell the port as Ochamchire while the Abkhazian separatists call it Ochamchira.
Russia's Black Sea fleet is currently based at Sevastopol in Ukraine, a legacy of the Soviet Union. Kiev has told Moscow to withdraw when its lease expires in 2017. Russia hopes to stay on beyond that, but is also exploring other options.
WESTERN ENERGY SUPPLIES
Russia's crushing of Georgian forces in the five-day war raised concerns in the West and stirred fears for the safety of western energy supplies that run through Georgia.
Both Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Tbilisi's rule during wars in the 1990s that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Moscow has pledged to deploy bases in both regions to protect them from "a repeat of Georgian aggression".
A naval base at Ochamchire and revival of the airfield could present fresh concern for NATO strategists worried about Russia projecting its military strength beyond its borders into the region.
Abkhazia is close to NATO member Turkey and the Soviet military presence there was a frontline position in the Cold War standoff with the West.
Gudauta hosted Soviet paratroopers and later Russian troops after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
Russia said it had withdrawn its forces from Gudauta under the 1999 Istanbul agreement on post-Cold War force reductions in Europe, but Tbilisi claims Moscow kept a military presence there in violation of the agreement.
"As for Ochamchira, it may take a year for it to become a fully-fledged naval base," Bzhania said, adding the base had earlier hosted vessels of the Soviet border guard.
He said the port would undergo modernisation, including dredging, to "meet the standards of a modern navy and accommodate bigger warships of different types and configuration".
(Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Loophole in President Obama's executive order allows "terrorist" detentions.
WASHINGTON TIMES
28 January 2009
BY ELI LAKE
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/28/obama-order-allows-short-term-cia-sites/print/
Exclusive:
President Obama's executive order closing CIA "black sites" contains a little-noticed exception that allows the spy agency to continue to operate temporary detention facilities abroad.
The provision illustrates that the president's order to shutter foreign-based prisons, known as black sites, is not airtight and that the Central Intelligence Agency still has options if it wants to hold terrorist suspects for several days at a time.
Current and former U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition that they aren't identified because of the sensitivity of the subject, said such temporary facilities around the world will remain open, giving the administration the opportunity to seize and hold assumed terrorists.
The detentions would be temporary. Suspects either would be brought later to the United States for trial or sent to other countries where they are wanted and can face trial.
The exception is evidence that the new administration, while announcing an end to many elements of the Bush "war on terror," is leaving itself wiggle room to continue some of its predecessor's practices regarding terrorist suspects.
According to the executive order, "The terms 'detention facilities' and 'detention facility' in section 4(a) of this order do not refer to facilities used only to hold people on a short-term, transitory basis."
Analysts inside and outside government say this refers to so-called safe houses, which are buildings where operatives can go to protect themselves from pursuers or can hide people they have taken into custody.
"This executive order does not close down all operations. There are still facilities on a temporary basis, often called safe houses, for holding someone for a matter of days," an administration official said.
Ken Gude, the associate director of international rights and responsibilities at the Center for American Progress, said the temporary facilities operated by the CIA should not be confused with the Bush administration's black sites.
"My understanding is that these types of temporary facilities can be in no way described as a prison," Mr. Gude said. "They are temporary holding facilities that the CIA has used in the past for decades, ... often parts of exchange agreements with other foreign intelligence agencies."
"For example, we may have an agreement with the Pakistanis, where we agree to pick someone up and we need a place to hold them temporarily while we decide what is the next appropriate course of action," he said. "This is not like the so-called black site prisons that we heard about as part of the extraordinary rendition program."
Michael Kraft, a former senior adviser at the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the State Department, said the temporary facilities could be used for any number of reasons.
"A scenario might be, someone is picked up in country X, and maybe for logistics reasons, we hold him somewhere else, while a plane with larger fuel tanks is prepared to take him to his final destination," said Mr. Kraft, who retired in 2004.
Duane Clarridge, who founded the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, said the temporary facilities may be used for interrogations.
"It seems to me that they will take down terrorist suspects, bring them to a safe house, which is acquired on a temporary basis and controlled by the CIA or the military, where they interrogate the suspect over a period of days before making a decision on future disposition.
"We don't know what that is; it could be a variety of things. It could be turn him over to the country of origin, or for standing trial in a third country, or release," Mr. Clarridge said.
The practice of moving terrorist suspects abroad, called rendition, began during the Reagan administration and escalated under President Clinton. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush administration began classifying terrorist suspects as enemy combatants and holding them indefinitely without formal charges or the protections afforded prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.
The closure of black-site prisons by Mr. Obama was part of a series of orders issued last week that included closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other measures to undo the previous administration's war on terrorism. The president revoked all executive directives issued by the CIA between Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 20, 2009, that have been used to justify harsh interrogation techniques, which critics have called torture. Mr. Obama also revoked Executive Order 13440, which declares al Qaeda and Taliban fighters to be "enemy combatants" and therefore not protected by the Geneva Conventions.
The CIA practiced rendition before Sept. 11, 2001, and in some cases sent suspected terrorists to countries where human rights groups have claimed they were tortured.
The issue of rendition will be one of the policies studied by a Cabinet-level special task force on interrogation and transfer policies.
While the CIA operated special prisons overseas for high-value al Qaeda and Taliban detainees, the agency holds no such detainees in custody today, two U.S. officials said.
The last person in the CIA detention program was Muhammed Rahim, purported to be a driver for Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Taliban that governed Afghanistan until being overthrown in a U.S.-led invasion shortly after Sept. 11.
Rahim was transferred to the Guantanamo Bay prison on March 14, 2008.
One of the two officials, when asked about the executive order Tuesday, said: "The wording seems to preserve the ability to capture terrorists. But long-term detention by the CIA is out."
The loophole for safe houses worries the American Civil Liberties Union, which has pressed for the closing of Guantanamo Bay and the black sites.
"This is a place where what we all understood to be the CIA's secret prison system with prisons in places like Poland and Thailand is shut down here, and there is no future detention authority to operate those facilities," said Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel for the ACLU.
"But there is a provision on some kind of short-term detention authority, and our position is that the CIA should have no detention authority," Mr. Anders said. "If President Obama has taken the CIA out of the prison business, he should also take the CIA out of the short-term jailer business as well."
28 January 2009
BY ELI LAKE
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/28/obama-order-allows-short-term-cia-sites/print/
Exclusive:
President Obama's executive order closing CIA "black sites" contains a little-noticed exception that allows the spy agency to continue to operate temporary detention facilities abroad.
The provision illustrates that the president's order to shutter foreign-based prisons, known as black sites, is not airtight and that the Central Intelligence Agency still has options if it wants to hold terrorist suspects for several days at a time.
Current and former U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition that they aren't identified because of the sensitivity of the subject, said such temporary facilities around the world will remain open, giving the administration the opportunity to seize and hold assumed terrorists.
The detentions would be temporary. Suspects either would be brought later to the United States for trial or sent to other countries where they are wanted and can face trial.
The exception is evidence that the new administration, while announcing an end to many elements of the Bush "war on terror," is leaving itself wiggle room to continue some of its predecessor's practices regarding terrorist suspects.
According to the executive order, "The terms 'detention facilities' and 'detention facility' in section 4(a) of this order do not refer to facilities used only to hold people on a short-term, transitory basis."
Analysts inside and outside government say this refers to so-called safe houses, which are buildings where operatives can go to protect themselves from pursuers or can hide people they have taken into custody.
"This executive order does not close down all operations. There are still facilities on a temporary basis, often called safe houses, for holding someone for a matter of days," an administration official said.
Ken Gude, the associate director of international rights and responsibilities at the Center for American Progress, said the temporary facilities operated by the CIA should not be confused with the Bush administration's black sites.
"My understanding is that these types of temporary facilities can be in no way described as a prison," Mr. Gude said. "They are temporary holding facilities that the CIA has used in the past for decades, ... often parts of exchange agreements with other foreign intelligence agencies."
"For example, we may have an agreement with the Pakistanis, where we agree to pick someone up and we need a place to hold them temporarily while we decide what is the next appropriate course of action," he said. "This is not like the so-called black site prisons that we heard about as part of the extraordinary rendition program."
Michael Kraft, a former senior adviser at the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the State Department, said the temporary facilities could be used for any number of reasons.
"A scenario might be, someone is picked up in country X, and maybe for logistics reasons, we hold him somewhere else, while a plane with larger fuel tanks is prepared to take him to his final destination," said Mr. Kraft, who retired in 2004.
Duane Clarridge, who founded the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, said the temporary facilities may be used for interrogations.
"It seems to me that they will take down terrorist suspects, bring them to a safe house, which is acquired on a temporary basis and controlled by the CIA or the military, where they interrogate the suspect over a period of days before making a decision on future disposition.
"We don't know what that is; it could be a variety of things. It could be turn him over to the country of origin, or for standing trial in a third country, or release," Mr. Clarridge said.
The practice of moving terrorist suspects abroad, called rendition, began during the Reagan administration and escalated under President Clinton. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush administration began classifying terrorist suspects as enemy combatants and holding them indefinitely without formal charges or the protections afforded prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.
The closure of black-site prisons by Mr. Obama was part of a series of orders issued last week that included closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other measures to undo the previous administration's war on terrorism. The president revoked all executive directives issued by the CIA between Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 20, 2009, that have been used to justify harsh interrogation techniques, which critics have called torture. Mr. Obama also revoked Executive Order 13440, which declares al Qaeda and Taliban fighters to be "enemy combatants" and therefore not protected by the Geneva Conventions.
The CIA practiced rendition before Sept. 11, 2001, and in some cases sent suspected terrorists to countries where human rights groups have claimed they were tortured.
The issue of rendition will be one of the policies studied by a Cabinet-level special task force on interrogation and transfer policies.
While the CIA operated special prisons overseas for high-value al Qaeda and Taliban detainees, the agency holds no such detainees in custody today, two U.S. officials said.
The last person in the CIA detention program was Muhammed Rahim, purported to be a driver for Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Taliban that governed Afghanistan until being overthrown in a U.S.-led invasion shortly after Sept. 11.
Rahim was transferred to the Guantanamo Bay prison on March 14, 2008.
One of the two officials, when asked about the executive order Tuesday, said: "The wording seems to preserve the ability to capture terrorists. But long-term detention by the CIA is out."
The loophole for safe houses worries the American Civil Liberties Union, which has pressed for the closing of Guantanamo Bay and the black sites.
"This is a place where what we all understood to be the CIA's secret prison system with prisons in places like Poland and Thailand is shut down here, and there is no future detention authority to operate those facilities," said Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel for the ACLU.
"But there is a provision on some kind of short-term detention authority, and our position is that the CIA should have no detention authority," Mr. Anders said. "If President Obama has taken the CIA out of the prison business, he should also take the CIA out of the short-term jailer business as well."
Nigeria Bribe - Halliburton to Pay U.S. $559 Million Settlement.
This Day
28 January 2009
By Davidson Iriekpen
Indications emerged last night that world's second-largest oilfield-services provider and the US energy services group, Halliburton Inc., has agreed to pay $559 million to settle federal charges for its employee's bribing of officials in Nigeria.
The settlement, still awaiting formal approval from the US Department of Justice (DoJ), would be the biggest fine by far of a U.S. company in a bribery case, topping the $44 million that Baker Hughes Inc. paid last year in relation to charges that it paid bribes in Kazahkstan.
Penalties for bribery and corruption offences have been increasing worldwide with Siemens, the German conglomerate, agreeing to pay $800 million (£564 million) to settle US allegations regarding payments to government officials in several countries to win infrastructure contracts.
The investigation stems from the construction of a giant liquefied natural gas plant on the Nigerian coast near Port Harcourt from 1996 through the mid-2000s.
Halliburton, however, in a statement, did not disclose whether it would admit or deny the accusations as part of the final settlement, which will see the oil group pay $382 million (£269 million) to the DoJ and $177 million (£125 million) to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The oilfield services giant, based in Houston and Dubai, agreed to pay $382 million to settle U.S. Justice Department charges linked to its former subsidiary KBR Inc.and $177 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said it was awaiting approval of both transactions.
Lawyers and others who follow cases under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act say the Siemens and Halliburton payments mark a new era in antibribery enforcement.
When THISDAY sought for clarification last night, a source close to the Economic and Finanical Crimes Commission (EFCC) said he was not aware of the new development.
The source added that EFCC was closely monitoring the case and liasoning with the department responsible for it, saying that the commission would issue a statement on its findings at the appropriate time.
The case received a boost last year when former Halliburton executive Albert J. "Jack" Stanley agreed to plead guilty to orchestrating $180 million in bribes to senior Nigerian officials. Under the plea agreement, he faces up to seven years in prison and $10.8 million in restitution.
It spun off KBR as a separate company two years ago but agreed to the settlements to close the books on investigations that date to 2003.
Last September, former KBR chief executive Albert "Jack" Stanley pleaded guilty to conspiring in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain $6 billion in engineering and construction contracts for a liquefied natural gas plant.
Stanley acknowledged in his plea that a four-company joint venture that included KBR paid about $182 million to consulting companies that then paid bribes to several Nigerian government officials.
Under federal law, it is illegal for U.S. companies to pay bribes to win foreign business. The investigation, under the US Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act, focused on KBR's involvement in the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in Nigeria from 1996 onwards. At the time it was Africa's largest ever industrial investment project.
The probe was later expanded to include other projects but Halliburton has not specified which matters the agreed settlement covers. If approved, the settlement will close the case in the US. Authorities in Europe and Nigeria are still investigating the matter.
Though the fines have not been finalized, Halliburton took a $303 million charge against fourth-quarter profits related to the fines.
As a result, the oilfield services provider said it made $468 million, or 53 cents a share, in the quarter, down 32 percent from $690 million, or 75 cents, a year earlier. Revenue was said to have risen 17 percent to $4.9 billion.
Former Vice-President Dick Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive from 1995 to 2000, and some of the allegations date to that period. The Justice Department did not name him in the charges.
In a conference call with financial analysts Monday, Halliburton chief executive Dave Lesar declined to discuss the proposed government settlements but touted the company's "excellent performance" in the quarter despite difficult market conditions.
Halliburton said Jan. 8 that it would cut an undisclosed number of jobs, citing the economic downturn.
Lesar said Monday that "it is clear 2009 will be a challenging year for both the company and the industry." The company wants to minimize job cuts, he said.
Schlumberger Ltd., the largest oilfield-services company, also announced job cuts this month, saying that it would eliminate 5,000 positions worldwide.
Schlumberger, based in Houston and Paris, said last week that its fourth-quarter net income dropped 17 percent to $1.2 billion, or 95 cents a share.
28 January 2009
By Davidson Iriekpen
Indications emerged last night that world's second-largest oilfield-services provider and the US energy services group, Halliburton Inc., has agreed to pay $559 million to settle federal charges for its employee's bribing of officials in Nigeria.
The settlement, still awaiting formal approval from the US Department of Justice (DoJ), would be the biggest fine by far of a U.S. company in a bribery case, topping the $44 million that Baker Hughes Inc. paid last year in relation to charges that it paid bribes in Kazahkstan.
Penalties for bribery and corruption offences have been increasing worldwide with Siemens, the German conglomerate, agreeing to pay $800 million (£564 million) to settle US allegations regarding payments to government officials in several countries to win infrastructure contracts.
The investigation stems from the construction of a giant liquefied natural gas plant on the Nigerian coast near Port Harcourt from 1996 through the mid-2000s.
Halliburton, however, in a statement, did not disclose whether it would admit or deny the accusations as part of the final settlement, which will see the oil group pay $382 million (£269 million) to the DoJ and $177 million (£125 million) to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The oilfield services giant, based in Houston and Dubai, agreed to pay $382 million to settle U.S. Justice Department charges linked to its former subsidiary KBR Inc.and $177 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said it was awaiting approval of both transactions.
Lawyers and others who follow cases under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act say the Siemens and Halliburton payments mark a new era in antibribery enforcement.
When THISDAY sought for clarification last night, a source close to the Economic and Finanical Crimes Commission (EFCC) said he was not aware of the new development.
The source added that EFCC was closely monitoring the case and liasoning with the department responsible for it, saying that the commission would issue a statement on its findings at the appropriate time.
The case received a boost last year when former Halliburton executive Albert J. "Jack" Stanley agreed to plead guilty to orchestrating $180 million in bribes to senior Nigerian officials. Under the plea agreement, he faces up to seven years in prison and $10.8 million in restitution.
It spun off KBR as a separate company two years ago but agreed to the settlements to close the books on investigations that date to 2003.
Last September, former KBR chief executive Albert "Jack" Stanley pleaded guilty to conspiring in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain $6 billion in engineering and construction contracts for a liquefied natural gas plant.
Stanley acknowledged in his plea that a four-company joint venture that included KBR paid about $182 million to consulting companies that then paid bribes to several Nigerian government officials.
Under federal law, it is illegal for U.S. companies to pay bribes to win foreign business. The investigation, under the US Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act, focused on KBR's involvement in the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in Nigeria from 1996 onwards. At the time it was Africa's largest ever industrial investment project.
The probe was later expanded to include other projects but Halliburton has not specified which matters the agreed settlement covers. If approved, the settlement will close the case in the US. Authorities in Europe and Nigeria are still investigating the matter.
Though the fines have not been finalized, Halliburton took a $303 million charge against fourth-quarter profits related to the fines.
As a result, the oilfield services provider said it made $468 million, or 53 cents a share, in the quarter, down 32 percent from $690 million, or 75 cents, a year earlier. Revenue was said to have risen 17 percent to $4.9 billion.
Former Vice-President Dick Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive from 1995 to 2000, and some of the allegations date to that period. The Justice Department did not name him in the charges.
In a conference call with financial analysts Monday, Halliburton chief executive Dave Lesar declined to discuss the proposed government settlements but touted the company's "excellent performance" in the quarter despite difficult market conditions.
Halliburton said Jan. 8 that it would cut an undisclosed number of jobs, citing the economic downturn.
Lesar said Monday that "it is clear 2009 will be a challenging year for both the company and the industry." The company wants to minimize job cuts, he said.
Schlumberger Ltd., the largest oilfield-services company, also announced job cuts this month, saying that it would eliminate 5,000 positions worldwide.
Schlumberger, based in Houston and Paris, said last week that its fourth-quarter net income dropped 17 percent to $1.2 billion, or 95 cents a share.
27 January, 2009
Full Declaration of the Nabucco Summit in Budapest.
27 January 2009
We, the participants of the Nabucco Summit held in Budapest on the 27th of January 2009,
Attaching great importance to the diversification of hydrocarbon sources, markets and routes of delivery based on the principles of market economy, transparency, reliability, predictability, free competition and mutual benefits, as well as to the uninterrupted and secure supply of natural gas for the domestic markets of all countries at competitive prices and conditions,
Considering that the harmonisation of the interests of energy consumers, suppliers, transit countries and energy companies is a prerequisite of the overall energy security, which will also contribute to the economic development and prosperity of the countries concerned,
Underlining that the growing interdependence between energy producing, consuming and transit countries requires a strengthened partnership among all stakeholders with a view to enhancing energy security,
Emphasising, against the background of growing energy supply concerns in the transit and consumer countries, the viability of additional energy supply projects, complementing deliveries from existing routes and suppliers,
Bearing in mind in this context the EU-Central Asia Strategy and the European Neighbourhood Policy, as important frameworks for enhancing relations of the European Union and countries of the Caspian Sea region and the Middle East in the field of energy security,
Aware of the necessity to create a new energy corridor (the Southern Energy Corridor) linking the European Union, Turkey and Georgia to the Caspian Sea region and the Middle East,
Considering Nabucco an innovative, viable and robust priority project to directly connect the natural gas suppliers of the Caspian Sea region and the Middle East to the European Union, Turkey and Georgia, and encouraging the upcoming European Council to be held on 19-20 March 2009 to place Nabucco among the Union’s priority energy projects,
Reiterating the importance of the Ministerial Statement on the Nabucco Gas Pipeline project signed in Vienna on 26 June 2006,
Acknowledging the progress achieved in the preparation of this project due inter alia to the efforts made by the countries party to the project, the European Commission, the Nabucco International Ltd. and other stakeholders to further accelerate the early implementation phase, to secure the necessary volumes of natural gas for the pipeline, to complete the legal framework (intergovernmental agreement and project support agreements), and to exempt the project from the EU Gas Directive according to the provisions of Article 22,
Welcoming all endeavours aimed at increasing the natural gas production in the countries of the Caspian Sea region and the Middle East, in particular the efforts the Republic of Azerbaijan makes to develop Shah Deniz and other gas fields, as well as the efforts of other interested partners to transport gas through the Caspian Sea to the consumer countries, which fit well with the goals of the Nabucco pipeline project,
Highly appreciating the results of the Baku Energy Summit of the 14th of November 2008, particularly concerning the Nabucco project,
Reiterating our strong commitment to the Nabucco pipeline project,
Deciding to further expand the mutually beneficial cooperation among the producer, transit and consumer countries, international institutions and energy companies to create the necessary political, legal, economic and financial conditions for the successful and prompt realization of the Nabucco pipeline project,
We express our willingness to:
• support the development of a clear, transparent and cost-based transmission regime along the entire length of the Nabucco pipeline;
• strongly encourage foreign direct investment in the source and transit countries, as well as the transfer of know-how and technology, which require active participation of energy companies;
• foster cooperation among the European Union, its Member States, Turkey, Georgia, the countries of the Caspian Sea region and the Middle East, aiming at the creation of an effective energy partnership including reliable ways of meeting the domestic needs of producing countries, transit countries and European markets;
• actively support all initiatives and proposals that would secure the above objectives, inter alia
o the proposal of the European Commission and Turkey to establish the Caspian Development Corporation, a concerted sector initiative to combine political, legal and commercial resources to build a strong link across the Caspian Sea;
o Turkmenistan’s intention to hold a high-level conference in 2009 based on the Resolution of the 63rd Session the United Nations General Assembly on the Reliable and Stable Transit of Energy and Its Role in Ensuring the Sustainable Development and International Cooperation initiated by Turkmenistan;
o the Sofia Energy Summit “Natural Gas for Europe: Security and Partnership” to take place on 24-25 April 2009;
o the “Southern Corridor Summit” to be organized by the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 7 May 2009;
o the closing event of the Nabucco Intergovernmental Conference and signing of the agreement in the first half of 2009 in Turkey.
We, the participants of the Nabucco Summit held in Budapest on the 27th of January 2009,
Attaching great importance to the diversification of hydrocarbon sources, markets and routes of delivery based on the principles of market economy, transparency, reliability, predictability, free competition and mutual benefits, as well as to the uninterrupted and secure supply of natural gas for the domestic markets of all countries at competitive prices and conditions,
Considering that the harmonisation of the interests of energy consumers, suppliers, transit countries and energy companies is a prerequisite of the overall energy security, which will also contribute to the economic development and prosperity of the countries concerned,
Underlining that the growing interdependence between energy producing, consuming and transit countries requires a strengthened partnership among all stakeholders with a view to enhancing energy security,
Emphasising, against the background of growing energy supply concerns in the transit and consumer countries, the viability of additional energy supply projects, complementing deliveries from existing routes and suppliers,
Bearing in mind in this context the EU-Central Asia Strategy and the European Neighbourhood Policy, as important frameworks for enhancing relations of the European Union and countries of the Caspian Sea region and the Middle East in the field of energy security,
Aware of the necessity to create a new energy corridor (the Southern Energy Corridor) linking the European Union, Turkey and Georgia to the Caspian Sea region and the Middle East,
Considering Nabucco an innovative, viable and robust priority project to directly connect the natural gas suppliers of the Caspian Sea region and the Middle East to the European Union, Turkey and Georgia, and encouraging the upcoming European Council to be held on 19-20 March 2009 to place Nabucco among the Union’s priority energy projects,
Reiterating the importance of the Ministerial Statement on the Nabucco Gas Pipeline project signed in Vienna on 26 June 2006,
Acknowledging the progress achieved in the preparation of this project due inter alia to the efforts made by the countries party to the project, the European Commission, the Nabucco International Ltd. and other stakeholders to further accelerate the early implementation phase, to secure the necessary volumes of natural gas for the pipeline, to complete the legal framework (intergovernmental agreement and project support agreements), and to exempt the project from the EU Gas Directive according to the provisions of Article 22,
Welcoming all endeavours aimed at increasing the natural gas production in the countries of the Caspian Sea region and the Middle East, in particular the efforts the Republic of Azerbaijan makes to develop Shah Deniz and other gas fields, as well as the efforts of other interested partners to transport gas through the Caspian Sea to the consumer countries, which fit well with the goals of the Nabucco pipeline project,
Highly appreciating the results of the Baku Energy Summit of the 14th of November 2008, particularly concerning the Nabucco project,
Reiterating our strong commitment to the Nabucco pipeline project,
Deciding to further expand the mutually beneficial cooperation among the producer, transit and consumer countries, international institutions and energy companies to create the necessary political, legal, economic and financial conditions for the successful and prompt realization of the Nabucco pipeline project,
We express our willingness to:
• support the development of a clear, transparent and cost-based transmission regime along the entire length of the Nabucco pipeline;
• strongly encourage foreign direct investment in the source and transit countries, as well as the transfer of know-how and technology, which require active participation of energy companies;
• foster cooperation among the European Union, its Member States, Turkey, Georgia, the countries of the Caspian Sea region and the Middle East, aiming at the creation of an effective energy partnership including reliable ways of meeting the domestic needs of producing countries, transit countries and European markets;
• actively support all initiatives and proposals that would secure the above objectives, inter alia
o the proposal of the European Commission and Turkey to establish the Caspian Development Corporation, a concerted sector initiative to combine political, legal and commercial resources to build a strong link across the Caspian Sea;
o Turkmenistan’s intention to hold a high-level conference in 2009 based on the Resolution of the 63rd Session the United Nations General Assembly on the Reliable and Stable Transit of Energy and Its Role in Ensuring the Sustainable Development and International Cooperation initiated by Turkmenistan;
o the Sofia Energy Summit “Natural Gas for Europe: Security and Partnership” to take place on 24-25 April 2009;
o the “Southern Corridor Summit” to be organized by the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 7 May 2009;
o the closing event of the Nabucco Intergovernmental Conference and signing of the agreement in the first half of 2009 in Turkey.
Karl Rove Subpoenaed on U.S. Attorneys
AP via The New York Times
26 January 2009
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Mr. Karl Rove, a former top White House aide, to testify about the Bush administration’s firing of United States attorneys and prosecution of a former Democratic governor. The subpoena, issued by Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, continues a long-running legal battle and directs Mr. Rove to appear for a deposition next Monday. Mr. Rove previously refused to appear before the panel, arguing that former presidential advisers cannot be compelled to testify before Congress. Mr. Conyers said the transfer of power in the White House, with President Obama now in office, could affect the legal arguments available to Mr. Rove.
26 January 2009
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Mr. Karl Rove, a former top White House aide, to testify about the Bush administration’s firing of United States attorneys and prosecution of a former Democratic governor. The subpoena, issued by Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, continues a long-running legal battle and directs Mr. Rove to appear for a deposition next Monday. Mr. Rove previously refused to appear before the panel, arguing that former presidential advisers cannot be compelled to testify before Congress. Mr. Conyers said the transfer of power in the White House, with President Obama now in office, could affect the legal arguments available to Mr. Rove.
UN official claims enough evidence to prosecute Donald Rumsfeld for war crimes.
The Raw Story
by David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster
26 January 2009
Monday, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, told CNN's Rick Sanchez that the US has an "obligation" to investigate whether Bush administration officials ordered torture, adding that he believes that there is already enough evidence to prosecute former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
"We have clear evidence," he said. "In our report that we sent to the United Nations, we made it clear that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld clearly authorized torture methods and he was told at that time by Alberto Mora, the legal council of the Navy, 'Mr. Secretary, what you are actual ordering here amounts to torture.' So, there we have the clear evidence that Mr. Rumsfeld knew what he was doing but, nevertheless, he ordered torture."
Asked during an interview with Germany's ZDF television on Jan. 20, Nowak said: "I think the evidence is on the table."
At issue, however, is whether "American law will recognize these forms of torture."
A bipartisan Senate report released last month found Mr. Rumsfeld and other top administration officials responsible for abuse of Guantanamo detainees in US custody.
It said Mr. Rumsfeld authorized harsh interrogation techniques on December 2, 2002 at the Guantanamo prison, although he ruled them out a month later.
The coercive measures were based on a document signed by Mr. Bush in February, 2002.
by David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster
26 January 2009
Monday, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, told CNN's Rick Sanchez that the US has an "obligation" to investigate whether Bush administration officials ordered torture, adding that he believes that there is already enough evidence to prosecute former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
"We have clear evidence," he said. "In our report that we sent to the United Nations, we made it clear that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld clearly authorized torture methods and he was told at that time by Alberto Mora, the legal council of the Navy, 'Mr. Secretary, what you are actual ordering here amounts to torture.' So, there we have the clear evidence that Mr. Rumsfeld knew what he was doing but, nevertheless, he ordered torture."
Asked during an interview with Germany's ZDF television on Jan. 20, Nowak said: "I think the evidence is on the table."
At issue, however, is whether "American law will recognize these forms of torture."
A bipartisan Senate report released last month found Mr. Rumsfeld and other top administration officials responsible for abuse of Guantanamo detainees in US custody.
It said Mr. Rumsfeld authorized harsh interrogation techniques on December 2, 2002 at the Guantanamo prison, although he ruled them out a month later.
The coercive measures were based on a document signed by Mr. Bush in February, 2002.
Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom-DRC
Reporters Without Borders
Democratic Republic of Congo - Annual Report 2008
Area : 2,344,860 sq. km.
Population : 60,644,000.
Language : French.
Head of state : Joseph Kabila, president.
The vast territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo boasts hundreds of newspapers and scores of privately-owned radio and television stations. Political tensions run high and the media, often dependent on parties competing for power and unscrupulous businessmen, are frequently targets of sometimes deadly score-settling.
The Congolese media is highly politicised and consequently suffers as a result of highly-charged political tensions across the country. Following the 2006 presidential election, media owned by Jean-Pierre Bemba, former vice-president and unsuccessful election rival to Joseph Kabila, were particularly targeted. The broadcast signal of TV and radio stations owned by Bemba was interrupted on 21 March 2007, after he said in an interview in the Lingala language, that the army command was embezzling 500 million Congolese francs a month from the army payroll. Over the next two days bloody clashes erupted in the streets of Kinshasa pitting the DR Congo Armed Forces (FARDC) against the personal guard of Senator Bemba, who had refused to allow his men to be integrated into the regular army, for lack of sufficient guarantees of their safety. During the clashes, uniformed men raided the studios of Canal Kin Télévision (CKTV), Canal Congo Television (CCTV), and Radio Liberté Kinshasa (Ralik). Repeated death threats forced numbers of staff on Jean-Pierre Bemba-owned media into hiding.
In another sign of the close surveillance imposed on the Congolese private media, a botched decision by the information minister silenced four community radios in Kinshasa and put at risk the continued existence of 200 more throughout the country. The ministry took the view that the targeted media did not have licences for regular broadcasts, receipts or proof of payment of taxes owed to the government. Some of them subsequently produced documents proving they were complying with the law, including a payment schedule agreed with the General Directorate for Administrative and State Revenue Collection (DGRD). Broadcasts resumed on 24 October. Community radios operating in a legal vacuum, without any state aid, played a crucial role in providing the public with news about the transition process and the various election dates in the Democratic Republic of Congo in recent years. A solution was finally found at the end of the year.
Frequent imprisonment
Journalists are imprisoned frequently both in Kinshasa and in the provinces. Press freedom organisations often face Kafkaesque situations because of absurd laws, a high level of corruption in all sectors of the administration and the authorities’ aggressive policies. In one such case, Bosange Mbaka, knowns as “Che Guevara”, editor of the periodical Mambenga, spent ten months in custody because of a ridiculous event. He was covering a public hearing at Kinshasa’s Supreme Court on 21 November 2006, when clashes broke out between soldiers and militants of Jean-Pierre Bemba’s party during which demonstrators torched the building. During the clashes, the journalist recovered a soldier’s mobile phone which he was about to hand in to the guardroom. He was arrested minutes later and charged with “theft of military property”. He was only acquitted on 7 September 2007. A total of ten Congolese journalists saw the inside of prison during the year and 54 were stopped and questioned by security forces, according to Reporters Without Borders’ partner organisation, Journalist in Danger (JED).
Vile murder
Beyond the usual minor scandals, the Congolese press was badly shaken by a vile murder followed by an outrageous legal error. Journalist and editor on local Radio Okapi, Serge Maheshe, 31, was shot dead by two men in plainclothes as he left a friend’s home in a residential neighbourhood of Bukavu, capital of South Kivu in eastern Congo in the evening of 13 June. The gunmen waylaid Maheshe and two friends as they were about to get into a “UN” marked vehicle used by the radio journalists and ordered them to lie on the ground. One of them fired two bullets into the journalists’ legs and three into his chest. Maheshe had worked for Radio Okapi since 2002 and was a leading media figure in the region.
To general incredulity, the trial of two soldiers arrested some 50 metres from the murder scene in possession of weapons that had just been fired, opened before the Bukavu military court on the evening of the following day. Around 20 people had been arrested in a round-up within hours of the murder. The travesty of a trial ended on 28 August with a new and astonishing turnaround in which four men were sentenced to death : Freddy Bisimwa and Masasile Rwezangabo, two small-time crooks ; and two of the journalist’s close friends, Serge Mohima and Alain Shamavu. The verdict was based solely on the contradictory accusations of the two criminals without any proof and complete absence of motive. No other leads were followed. The court itself recognised that there were gaps in the case in which the prosecution scenario did not stand up to examination. The verdict was based on the “confessions” of the two main suspects, which had accused the journalists’ friends of instigating the murder but without producing any motive or evidence. In a further development a few weeks later, the two men wrote a letter from prison clearing the two friends and accusing military judges of having bribed them and provided them with compromising material to support their story. Serge Mohima and Alain Shamavu remain in prison and under death sentence while awaiting their appeal.
A few weeks after the murder of Serge Maheshe, Patrick Kikuku Wilungula, a freelance photographer working for the Agence congolaise de presse (ACP) and privately-owned weekly Kinshasa-based weekly L’Hebdo de l’est, died from a single shot to the head fired by a gunman in Goma, North Kivu, eastern Congo. The motive and identify of killer were unknown
Under permanent threat
Reporters Without Borders has voiced its exasperation and anxiety about constant threats against the JED, whose leadership is forced to live with unrelenting risk. Even though they have received frequent anonymous death threats and insults for the past two years, the JED leaders received at least two serious warnings in 2007, prompting them to temporarily leave the country.
Democratic Republic of Congo - Annual Report 2008
Area : 2,344,860 sq. km.
Population : 60,644,000.
Language : French.
Head of state : Joseph Kabila, president.
The vast territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo boasts hundreds of newspapers and scores of privately-owned radio and television stations. Political tensions run high and the media, often dependent on parties competing for power and unscrupulous businessmen, are frequently targets of sometimes deadly score-settling.
The Congolese media is highly politicised and consequently suffers as a result of highly-charged political tensions across the country. Following the 2006 presidential election, media owned by Jean-Pierre Bemba, former vice-president and unsuccessful election rival to Joseph Kabila, were particularly targeted. The broadcast signal of TV and radio stations owned by Bemba was interrupted on 21 March 2007, after he said in an interview in the Lingala language, that the army command was embezzling 500 million Congolese francs a month from the army payroll. Over the next two days bloody clashes erupted in the streets of Kinshasa pitting the DR Congo Armed Forces (FARDC) against the personal guard of Senator Bemba, who had refused to allow his men to be integrated into the regular army, for lack of sufficient guarantees of their safety. During the clashes, uniformed men raided the studios of Canal Kin Télévision (CKTV), Canal Congo Television (CCTV), and Radio Liberté Kinshasa (Ralik). Repeated death threats forced numbers of staff on Jean-Pierre Bemba-owned media into hiding.
In another sign of the close surveillance imposed on the Congolese private media, a botched decision by the information minister silenced four community radios in Kinshasa and put at risk the continued existence of 200 more throughout the country. The ministry took the view that the targeted media did not have licences for regular broadcasts, receipts or proof of payment of taxes owed to the government. Some of them subsequently produced documents proving they were complying with the law, including a payment schedule agreed with the General Directorate for Administrative and State Revenue Collection (DGRD). Broadcasts resumed on 24 October. Community radios operating in a legal vacuum, without any state aid, played a crucial role in providing the public with news about the transition process and the various election dates in the Democratic Republic of Congo in recent years. A solution was finally found at the end of the year.
Frequent imprisonment
Journalists are imprisoned frequently both in Kinshasa and in the provinces. Press freedom organisations often face Kafkaesque situations because of absurd laws, a high level of corruption in all sectors of the administration and the authorities’ aggressive policies. In one such case, Bosange Mbaka, knowns as “Che Guevara”, editor of the periodical Mambenga, spent ten months in custody because of a ridiculous event. He was covering a public hearing at Kinshasa’s Supreme Court on 21 November 2006, when clashes broke out between soldiers and militants of Jean-Pierre Bemba’s party during which demonstrators torched the building. During the clashes, the journalist recovered a soldier’s mobile phone which he was about to hand in to the guardroom. He was arrested minutes later and charged with “theft of military property”. He was only acquitted on 7 September 2007. A total of ten Congolese journalists saw the inside of prison during the year and 54 were stopped and questioned by security forces, according to Reporters Without Borders’ partner organisation, Journalist in Danger (JED).
Vile murder
Beyond the usual minor scandals, the Congolese press was badly shaken by a vile murder followed by an outrageous legal error. Journalist and editor on local Radio Okapi, Serge Maheshe, 31, was shot dead by two men in plainclothes as he left a friend’s home in a residential neighbourhood of Bukavu, capital of South Kivu in eastern Congo in the evening of 13 June. The gunmen waylaid Maheshe and two friends as they were about to get into a “UN” marked vehicle used by the radio journalists and ordered them to lie on the ground. One of them fired two bullets into the journalists’ legs and three into his chest. Maheshe had worked for Radio Okapi since 2002 and was a leading media figure in the region.
To general incredulity, the trial of two soldiers arrested some 50 metres from the murder scene in possession of weapons that had just been fired, opened before the Bukavu military court on the evening of the following day. Around 20 people had been arrested in a round-up within hours of the murder. The travesty of a trial ended on 28 August with a new and astonishing turnaround in which four men were sentenced to death : Freddy Bisimwa and Masasile Rwezangabo, two small-time crooks ; and two of the journalist’s close friends, Serge Mohima and Alain Shamavu. The verdict was based solely on the contradictory accusations of the two criminals without any proof and complete absence of motive. No other leads were followed. The court itself recognised that there were gaps in the case in which the prosecution scenario did not stand up to examination. The verdict was based on the “confessions” of the two main suspects, which had accused the journalists’ friends of instigating the murder but without producing any motive or evidence. In a further development a few weeks later, the two men wrote a letter from prison clearing the two friends and accusing military judges of having bribed them and provided them with compromising material to support their story. Serge Mohima and Alain Shamavu remain in prison and under death sentence while awaiting their appeal.
A few weeks after the murder of Serge Maheshe, Patrick Kikuku Wilungula, a freelance photographer working for the Agence congolaise de presse (ACP) and privately-owned weekly Kinshasa-based weekly L’Hebdo de l’est, died from a single shot to the head fired by a gunman in Goma, North Kivu, eastern Congo. The motive and identify of killer were unknown
Under permanent threat
Reporters Without Borders has voiced its exasperation and anxiety about constant threats against the JED, whose leadership is forced to live with unrelenting risk. Even though they have received frequent anonymous death threats and insults for the past two years, the JED leaders received at least two serious warnings in 2007, prompting them to temporarily leave the country.
Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom-Rwanda
Reporters Without Borders
Rwanda - Annual Report 2008
Area : 26,340 sq. km.
Population : 9,464,000.
Languages : Kinyarwanda, French, English, Swahili.
Head of state : Paul Kagame.
Appalling relations persisted between the government and a section of the independent press, especially the more highly critical publications. The strength of government hostility pushed some newspapers into closure. Meanwhile journalist Tatiana Mukakibibi was finally released ... after 11 years in custody.
Even though the government denies it, Rwanda’s independent press is forced to live under relentless harassment from the highest levels of the state. President Paul Kagame turned on Emmanuel Niyonteze, a journalist on the bi-monthly Umuseso, who questioned him at a press conference at the start of the year about his rapprochement with Ivorian president, Laurent Gbagbo. The state-run press also displayed antagonism towards some media, including the US-run public Voice of America (VOA). One journalist on state-owned weekly Imvaho Nshya, even called at a 2 February press conference for the closure of VOA, accused of favouring the Rwandan opposition. The government in June 2006 expelled without explanation the correspondent for French public Radio France Internationale (RFI), Sonia Rolley, then in November ordered the closure of its transmitter after breaking off diplomatic relations with Paris.
A reviled newspaper
A few months later, pressure on the government’s bête noire Umuseso, was ratcheted up to such an extent - repeated threats of prosecution against the press group which owns the paper and government smears against its journalists - that it closed all its publications. Several minister and the army and police spokesmen made very aggressive statements against the privately-owned press in a programme broadcast on 9 September 2007 by state-run Radio Rwanda and public Télévision rwandaise (TVR). The interior minister announced that the authorities were going to take “steps” against journalists who were trying to “overthrow” the government. He said it was the duty of the police to arrest and detain any journalist who published an official document until they divulged its source, who would in their turn be punished. It was an obvious allusion to Umuseso, which had recently carried a classified defence ministry document.
An example of this dreadful climate was the arrest and accusation of rape against the newspaper’s editor Gérard Manzi in what appeared to be a frame-up. Manzi was arrested at a bus station in the evening of 22 August, while on his way home after a drink with friends, in the company of a young girl, whom to his concern, he had found alone there just a few moments beforehand. At the police station he was accused of rape, which he denied and asked for the alleged victim to be produced, which police refused to do, saying they no longer knew where she was. He was released one week later, after his lawyer produced witnesses backing up his alibi.
As well as Umuseso, all the small-scale newspapers appearing in Kigali also suffered harassment. Jean-Bosco Gasasira, publisher of the independent bi-weekly Umuvugizi, was beaten up by thugs at his home on 9 February and was admitted to King Faisal hospital in a critical condition and lay in a coma until 13 February. Gasasira had been subjected to intimidating phone calls since August 2006 and was followed by military intelligence officers. “I received calls from private numbers threatening to beat me to death,” he told Reporters Without Borders. He had refused to provide the authorities with information about the whereabouts of Bonaventure Bizumuremyi, editor of the privately-owned weekly Umuco, in hiding after coming in for repeated threats himself. In the face of these accusations, the intelligence services accused Umuco and other similar papers of looking for “cheap publicity”. The authorities also criticised the newspaper Umuvugizi for condemning, along with Umuco and Umuseso, cronyism on the part of the economy and finance minister, James Musoni.
The after-effects of the genocide
The 1994 genocide against the Tutsis left such a mark on Rwandan society that any criticism of the government is swiftly repressed, sometimes brutally. Such was the case when Agnès Nkusi Uwimana, editor of the privately-owned bi-monthly Umurabyo, one of the few critical publications in Kigali, was arrested on 12 January and accused of “creating division”, “sectarianism” and “defamation” after publishing an article in which she wrote, “Anyone who kills a Tutsi has problems, but if you kill a Hutu you go free”. She pleaded guilty to all charges at her trial, acknowledged the “enormity of what she had written” and promised to “publish an apology. The Press High Council, media regulatory body controlled by the government, called for the paper to be closed for three months. The information ministry had not yet confirmed the decision as required by law, when Uwimana Nkusi was arrested. She was released one year later, on 19 January 2008.
Similarly, Congolese academic, Idesbald Byabuze Katabaruka was arrested while lecturing at the Kigali Lay Adventist University (UNILAK) on 16 February in connection with a report critical of the president and the ruling party. The prosecutor told him that he was being charged with “endangering state security”, “segregation” and “sectarianism”. A court in Kagarama on 23 February ordered him to be held in custody for 30 days while awaiting trial. Also professor at the Catholic University of Bukavu in South Kivu, eastern DRC, had just launched Mashariki News, a newspaper which had only appeared twice at that point. He was editor for several years of alarming reports on the humanitarian crisis on the Rwanda-Congo border and was co-signatory, on 8 June 2005, of an article “Rwanda Alert” for the Missionary Service News Agency (MISNA) which was fiercely critical of the governance of Rwanda by President Paul Kagame and his ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR) since coming to power in 1994. The two other signatories were an Italian nun and a Congolese nun of the Catholic Missions in eastern DRC. Idesbald Byabuze Katabaruka was released on 21 March, expelled from the country and then declared “persona non grata”.
Acquitted after 11 years
The year however ended with some good news. A gacaca (people’s) court after three hours deliberation, acquitted a former journalist on Radio Rwanda Tatiana Mukakibibi, on 6 November of “genocide”, “planning and participating in genocide” and “distributing arms” in the Kimegeri area between April and July 1994. She had been officially accused of killing Eugène Bwanamudogo, who made programmes for the agriculture ministry, but she denied it and maintained she had been framed. She was released a few days later ... after 11 years in custody. Tatiana Mukakibibi was a presenter and producer on Radio Rwanda. After the genocide, in August 1994, she worked with the priest André Sibomana (former director of Kinyamateka and laureate of the 1994 Reporters Without Borders prize, who died in March 1998). She was arrested on 2 October 1996, taken to a collective cell, where she was held in extremely harsh conditions until December 2006.
Rwanda - Annual Report 2008
Area : 26,340 sq. km.
Population : 9,464,000.
Languages : Kinyarwanda, French, English, Swahili.
Head of state : Paul Kagame.
Appalling relations persisted between the government and a section of the independent press, especially the more highly critical publications. The strength of government hostility pushed some newspapers into closure. Meanwhile journalist Tatiana Mukakibibi was finally released ... after 11 years in custody.
Even though the government denies it, Rwanda’s independent press is forced to live under relentless harassment from the highest levels of the state. President Paul Kagame turned on Emmanuel Niyonteze, a journalist on the bi-monthly Umuseso, who questioned him at a press conference at the start of the year about his rapprochement with Ivorian president, Laurent Gbagbo. The state-run press also displayed antagonism towards some media, including the US-run public Voice of America (VOA). One journalist on state-owned weekly Imvaho Nshya, even called at a 2 February press conference for the closure of VOA, accused of favouring the Rwandan opposition. The government in June 2006 expelled without explanation the correspondent for French public Radio France Internationale (RFI), Sonia Rolley, then in November ordered the closure of its transmitter after breaking off diplomatic relations with Paris.
A reviled newspaper
A few months later, pressure on the government’s bête noire Umuseso, was ratcheted up to such an extent - repeated threats of prosecution against the press group which owns the paper and government smears against its journalists - that it closed all its publications. Several minister and the army and police spokesmen made very aggressive statements against the privately-owned press in a programme broadcast on 9 September 2007 by state-run Radio Rwanda and public Télévision rwandaise (TVR). The interior minister announced that the authorities were going to take “steps” against journalists who were trying to “overthrow” the government. He said it was the duty of the police to arrest and detain any journalist who published an official document until they divulged its source, who would in their turn be punished. It was an obvious allusion to Umuseso, which had recently carried a classified defence ministry document.
An example of this dreadful climate was the arrest and accusation of rape against the newspaper’s editor Gérard Manzi in what appeared to be a frame-up. Manzi was arrested at a bus station in the evening of 22 August, while on his way home after a drink with friends, in the company of a young girl, whom to his concern, he had found alone there just a few moments beforehand. At the police station he was accused of rape, which he denied and asked for the alleged victim to be produced, which police refused to do, saying they no longer knew where she was. He was released one week later, after his lawyer produced witnesses backing up his alibi.
As well as Umuseso, all the small-scale newspapers appearing in Kigali also suffered harassment. Jean-Bosco Gasasira, publisher of the independent bi-weekly Umuvugizi, was beaten up by thugs at his home on 9 February and was admitted to King Faisal hospital in a critical condition and lay in a coma until 13 February. Gasasira had been subjected to intimidating phone calls since August 2006 and was followed by military intelligence officers. “I received calls from private numbers threatening to beat me to death,” he told Reporters Without Borders. He had refused to provide the authorities with information about the whereabouts of Bonaventure Bizumuremyi, editor of the privately-owned weekly Umuco, in hiding after coming in for repeated threats himself. In the face of these accusations, the intelligence services accused Umuco and other similar papers of looking for “cheap publicity”. The authorities also criticised the newspaper Umuvugizi for condemning, along with Umuco and Umuseso, cronyism on the part of the economy and finance minister, James Musoni.
The after-effects of the genocide
The 1994 genocide against the Tutsis left such a mark on Rwandan society that any criticism of the government is swiftly repressed, sometimes brutally. Such was the case when Agnès Nkusi Uwimana, editor of the privately-owned bi-monthly Umurabyo, one of the few critical publications in Kigali, was arrested on 12 January and accused of “creating division”, “sectarianism” and “defamation” after publishing an article in which she wrote, “Anyone who kills a Tutsi has problems, but if you kill a Hutu you go free”. She pleaded guilty to all charges at her trial, acknowledged the “enormity of what she had written” and promised to “publish an apology. The Press High Council, media regulatory body controlled by the government, called for the paper to be closed for three months. The information ministry had not yet confirmed the decision as required by law, when Uwimana Nkusi was arrested. She was released one year later, on 19 January 2008.
Similarly, Congolese academic, Idesbald Byabuze Katabaruka was arrested while lecturing at the Kigali Lay Adventist University (UNILAK) on 16 February in connection with a report critical of the president and the ruling party. The prosecutor told him that he was being charged with “endangering state security”, “segregation” and “sectarianism”. A court in Kagarama on 23 February ordered him to be held in custody for 30 days while awaiting trial. Also professor at the Catholic University of Bukavu in South Kivu, eastern DRC, had just launched Mashariki News, a newspaper which had only appeared twice at that point. He was editor for several years of alarming reports on the humanitarian crisis on the Rwanda-Congo border and was co-signatory, on 8 June 2005, of an article “Rwanda Alert” for the Missionary Service News Agency (MISNA) which was fiercely critical of the governance of Rwanda by President Paul Kagame and his ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR) since coming to power in 1994. The two other signatories were an Italian nun and a Congolese nun of the Catholic Missions in eastern DRC. Idesbald Byabuze Katabaruka was released on 21 March, expelled from the country and then declared “persona non grata”.
Acquitted after 11 years
The year however ended with some good news. A gacaca (people’s) court after three hours deliberation, acquitted a former journalist on Radio Rwanda Tatiana Mukakibibi, on 6 November of “genocide”, “planning and participating in genocide” and “distributing arms” in the Kimegeri area between April and July 1994. She had been officially accused of killing Eugène Bwanamudogo, who made programmes for the agriculture ministry, but she denied it and maintained she had been framed. She was released a few days later ... after 11 years in custody. Tatiana Mukakibibi was a presenter and producer on Radio Rwanda. After the genocide, in August 1994, she worked with the priest André Sibomana (former director of Kinyamateka and laureate of the 1994 Reporters Without Borders prize, who died in March 1998). She was arrested on 2 October 1996, taken to a collective cell, where she was held in extremely harsh conditions until December 2006.
Freedom in the World 2008: Rwanda
Freedom House
Scores are out of 7, with 1 being the most free and 7 being the least free.
Political Rights Score: 6
Civil Liberties Score: 5
Status: Not Free
Trend Arrow
Rwanda received an upward trend arrow due to reforms that permitted political parties to organize at the local level.
Overview
While the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) maintained its careful control over political life, there were some improvements in political rights during 2007. The government lifted a ban on political party offices at the local level, and former president Pasteur Bizimungu was released from prison after serving five years of a 15-year sentence. Rwanda’s postgenocide reconciliation effort continued, with increased adjudication of cases through the traditional gacaca dispute-resolution mechanism and in trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Also during the year, however, the press faced restrictions including the closure of an independent magazine and a number of incidents of harassment and persecution.
Political Rights and Civil Liberties
Rwanda is not an electoral democracy. Presidential and parliamentary elections in 2003 presented Rwandans with only a limited degree of political choice. The 2003 constitution grants broad powers to the president, who can serve up to two seven-year terms and has the authority to appoint the prime minister and dissolve the bicameral Parliament. The 26-seat upper house, the Senate, consists of 12 members elected by local councils, 8 appointed by the president, 4 chosen by a forum of political parties, and 2 representatives of universities, all serving eight-year terms. The 80-seat Chamber of Deputies, or lower house, consists of 53 directly elected members, 24 women chosen by local councils, two deputies named by a youth council, and one representative of a federation for the disabled. All serve five-year terms.
The constitution officially permits political parties to exist, but only under certain conditions. Parties closely identified with the 1994 genocide are banned, as are parties based on ethnicity or religion. The cabinet must consist of representatives from several different parties, and the largest party is not allowed to occupy more than half of the cabinet seats. The constitution also stipulates that the president, prime minister, and president of the lower house cannot all belong to the same party. Hutus have some representatives in the government, including Prime Minister Bernard Makuza, who belonged to the MDR before it was banned in 2003.
The constitution’s emphasis on “national unity” as a priority has the effect of limiting political pluralism. The RPF dominates the political arena, and eight other parties associate themselves with the government rather than adopting fundamentally independent positions on issues. The constitutionally mandated Political Party Forum vets proposed policies and draft legislation before they are introduced in Parliament. All parties must belong to the Forum, which operates on the principle of consensus. In practice, the RPF guides its deliberations. Parliamentary committees have begun to question ministers and other executive branch officers more energetically, and some of these deliberations are reported in the local press.
The government has undertaken a number of anticorruption measures, but graft represents a significant problem. A number of senior government officials in recent years have been fired and faced prosecution for alleged corruption, embezzlement, and abuse of power, including several generals, the minister of agriculture, and the ambassadors to France, Ethiopia, and the African Union. Government institutions focused on combating corruption include the Office of the Ombudsman, the auditor general, and the National Tender Board. Rwanda was ranked 111 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index.
The RPF has imposed a number of legal restrictions and informal controls on the media, and press freedom groups have accused the government of intimidating independent journalists. Publications such as the independent national weekly Umuseso have been closely watched, harassed, and repeatedly prosecuted. Journalists censor their own writing and say the authorities have made it clear that certain topics cannot be discussed. In June 2007, the Weekly Post magazine was shut down after its first issue. The editor of a local-language newspaper was brutally attacked by three men in February after a series of antigovernment articles. The Sunday editor of the progovernment New Times was fired in October for printing a picture of President Paul Kagame that was deemed unflattering. In October, the Rwanda Independent Media Group, publisher of several newspapers, announced that it would suspend its publications for an unspecified time due to government criticism.
The broadcast media are government controlled, although private radio and television stations can be licensed. There is limited but increasing internet access. The government has recently shown greater willingness to engage with independent media in organized events like presidential press conferences, where critical questions are entertained, and radio call-in shows, where the president and his ministers respond to comments and questions from average citizens. Government officials in 2007 also used these platforms to warn against abuse of press freedoms.
Religious freedom is generally respected. Clerics were among both the victims and the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide. The implication of several Catholic clergymen in the genocide has complicated relations between the government and the Roman Catholic Church. Academic freedom is generally respected.
Although the constitution codifies freedoms of association and assembly, in reality these rights are limited. NGOs have complained that registration and reporting procedures are excessively time-consuming and onerous, and activities that the government defines as “divisive” are prohibited. In 2004, Parliament advised the government to ban five NGOs and several religious groups and also called for action against several international NGOs operating in the country. International human rights organizations expressed concern that these decisions were based on overly broad interpretations of the law, vague allegations, and insubstantial research. Responding to the ban threat, several organizations muted their independent and sometimes critical attitudes toward the RPF. Nevertheless, most civil society organizations function without direct government interference.
The constitution provides for the rights to form trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and strike. According to the 2007 Annual Survey of Trade Union Violations compiled by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, while the government appears to be trying to improve relations with trade unions, its overall record of trade union rights has been poor, with pressure being exerted upon the unions often in subtle and indirect fashion. . The list of “essential services,” in which strikes are not allowed, is excessively long. The largest union umbrella group, the Central Union of Rwandan Workers, was closely controlled by the previous regime but now has greater independence.
The judiciary has yet to secure its independence from the executive. However, new courts staffed with trained officials have been established, and much of the old legal code has been revised to better respect human rights. Planned reforms aim to streamline the judicial process, train a competent corps of judges, and assert enhanced oversight over the prosecutorial function. While their behavior does not appear to reflect official policy, individual police officers sometimes use excessive force, and local officials periodically ignore due process protections.
While those bearing the greatest responsibility for the genocide face trial in the regular courts, those facing lesser charges are being tried by gacaca courts, which are in the process of adjudicating some 700,000 cases. Amnesty International in 2007 expressed concerns about this process, reporting that “poorly qualified, ill-trained and corrupt gacaca judges in certain districts fuelled widespread distrust of the system.” Government officials have claimed that the gacaca trials should be over by the end of 2008. The Tanzanian-based ICTR, established in 1997, has moved ahead with its work in a deliberate fashion and will begin to phase out its operations in 2008. By the end of 2007, trials for almost all of the defendants in custody were either under way or had been completed.
Equal treatment under the law is guaranteed, and legal protections against discrimination have increased in recent years. A national identity card is required when Rwandans wish to move within the country, but these are issued regularly. In previous years, there were cases of government officials forcing citizens to return to the districts listed on their identity cards, although this no longer appears to be a problem.
The 2003 constitution requires women to occupy at least 30 percent of the seats in each chamber of Parliament. Rwanda has the highest percentage of women in national parliament in the world, with 48.8 percent representation in the lower house. In December 2003, the Senate elected Aloysia Cyanzaire as the first female chief justice of the Supreme Court. Women’s rights to inherit land have been strengthened through legislation. An international report found in 2006 that Rwanda had made significant strides toward achieving an equal balance of girls and boys in primary school education and that special incentives exist to promote the advancement of girls in science-related study topics. Despite these improvements, ongoing de facto discrimination against women continues. Economic and social dislocation has forced women to take on many new roles, especially in the countryside.
Press Freedom (2008)
Status: Not Free
Legal Environment: 24
Political Environment: 34
Economic Environment: 26
Total Score: 84
Although there have been some improvements in political rights and civil liberties in Rwanda since the 1994 genocide, authorities continued to restrict the media in 2007 through the illegal imprisonment of critical journalists and the harassment of independent outlets. The constitution provides for freedom of the press “in conditions prescribed by the law,” but the government routinely limited the ability of the independent media to operate, often invoking the destructive role that certain radio stations played in the genocide. The media are tightly controlled by the government in practice despite a 2002 law that formally forbids censorship. Libel remains a criminal offense, and there are no laws guaranteeing access to information. In June 2007, the minister of information arbitrarily revoked the license of the Weekly Post, a new private publication, three days after its first edition was issued, despite laws requiring a court order for such a move.
Throughout 2007, the government of President Paul Kagame regularly arrested and illegally detained journalists. In fact, the risk of imprisonment posed by far the greatest threat to independent journalists in Rwanda. On January 12, for example, authorities arrested and charged the editor of the private periodical Umurabyo, Agnes Nkusi-Uwimana, with divisionism and discrimination following the paper’s publication of an article that was critical of the government. On the belief that Nkusi-Uwimana represented a “threat to state security,” a judge kept her in pretrial detention until April, when she was sentenced to a year in prison and fined approximately US$760. Separately, in February, authorities arrested a Congolese journalist and professor who was teaching in Kigali on charges of threatening state security, following his publication of a critical online article; he was released on March 21 and subsequently deported, but his case marked Rwanda’s first imprisonment in response to an online publication. Also in March, police detained a reporter and a photographer with the American magazine U.S. News & World Report, along with a local journalist for the private newspaper Umuco, as they attempted to cover a trial. The two Americans were released after three hours following the confiscation of their equipment, while the local journalist escaped from detention. A number of other incidents of harassment took place during the year. Umuseso, a critical independent newspaper, faced repeated hounding by the authorities; its editor, Gerard Manzi, was arrested and held for a week in August on fabricated rape charges.
The aggressive stance of the authorities toward the media could be seen in official rhetoric as well. During a state-run television program in September, government ministers accused many in the media of working with “negative forces” inside and outside of the country, with the interior minister suggesting that any journalist who publishes an official document should be detained until he or she reveals the source of the leak. In response, RIMEG—which produces papers including Umuseso and is Rwanda’s largest independent private publisher—announced that it would suspend its operations until the government apologized or provided evidence for its accusations. Umuco soon followed suit. Both publishing houses remained closed for several weeks but started publishing again despite the government’s inaction, citing the ongoing demand for independent news. On a more positive note, Tatiana Mukakibibi, a former presenter for the state-owned Radio Rwanda, was finally acquitted of genocide charges after spending 11 years in pretrial detention.
Most newspapers operating in Rwanda face a number of financial constraints that prevent them from publishing on a daily basis. The New Times, a private paper with close government ties, is the only paper that appears daily, and the government refuses to advertise with outlets that regularly produce critical reports. The state broadcasters continue to dominate radio and effectively monopolize television in the country, with the handful of private radio stations focusing largely on entertainment. The British Broadcasting Corporation and Voice of America are available in Rwanda, but Radio France Internationale is still banned after the government severed diplomatic relations with France in 2006. Internet access was not restricted or monitored by the government, but it was available to less than 1 percent of the population in 2007.
Scores are out of 7, with 1 being the most free and 7 being the least free.
Political Rights Score: 6
Civil Liberties Score: 5
Status: Not Free
Trend Arrow
Rwanda received an upward trend arrow due to reforms that permitted political parties to organize at the local level.
Overview
While the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) maintained its careful control over political life, there were some improvements in political rights during 2007. The government lifted a ban on political party offices at the local level, and former president Pasteur Bizimungu was released from prison after serving five years of a 15-year sentence. Rwanda’s postgenocide reconciliation effort continued, with increased adjudication of cases through the traditional gacaca dispute-resolution mechanism and in trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Also during the year, however, the press faced restrictions including the closure of an independent magazine and a number of incidents of harassment and persecution.
Political Rights and Civil Liberties
Rwanda is not an electoral democracy. Presidential and parliamentary elections in 2003 presented Rwandans with only a limited degree of political choice. The 2003 constitution grants broad powers to the president, who can serve up to two seven-year terms and has the authority to appoint the prime minister and dissolve the bicameral Parliament. The 26-seat upper house, the Senate, consists of 12 members elected by local councils, 8 appointed by the president, 4 chosen by a forum of political parties, and 2 representatives of universities, all serving eight-year terms. The 80-seat Chamber of Deputies, or lower house, consists of 53 directly elected members, 24 women chosen by local councils, two deputies named by a youth council, and one representative of a federation for the disabled. All serve five-year terms.
The constitution officially permits political parties to exist, but only under certain conditions. Parties closely identified with the 1994 genocide are banned, as are parties based on ethnicity or religion. The cabinet must consist of representatives from several different parties, and the largest party is not allowed to occupy more than half of the cabinet seats. The constitution also stipulates that the president, prime minister, and president of the lower house cannot all belong to the same party. Hutus have some representatives in the government, including Prime Minister Bernard Makuza, who belonged to the MDR before it was banned in 2003.
The constitution’s emphasis on “national unity” as a priority has the effect of limiting political pluralism. The RPF dominates the political arena, and eight other parties associate themselves with the government rather than adopting fundamentally independent positions on issues. The constitutionally mandated Political Party Forum vets proposed policies and draft legislation before they are introduced in Parliament. All parties must belong to the Forum, which operates on the principle of consensus. In practice, the RPF guides its deliberations. Parliamentary committees have begun to question ministers and other executive branch officers more energetically, and some of these deliberations are reported in the local press.
The government has undertaken a number of anticorruption measures, but graft represents a significant problem. A number of senior government officials in recent years have been fired and faced prosecution for alleged corruption, embezzlement, and abuse of power, including several generals, the minister of agriculture, and the ambassadors to France, Ethiopia, and the African Union. Government institutions focused on combating corruption include the Office of the Ombudsman, the auditor general, and the National Tender Board. Rwanda was ranked 111 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index.
The RPF has imposed a number of legal restrictions and informal controls on the media, and press freedom groups have accused the government of intimidating independent journalists. Publications such as the independent national weekly Umuseso have been closely watched, harassed, and repeatedly prosecuted. Journalists censor their own writing and say the authorities have made it clear that certain topics cannot be discussed. In June 2007, the Weekly Post magazine was shut down after its first issue. The editor of a local-language newspaper was brutally attacked by three men in February after a series of antigovernment articles. The Sunday editor of the progovernment New Times was fired in October for printing a picture of President Paul Kagame that was deemed unflattering. In October, the Rwanda Independent Media Group, publisher of several newspapers, announced that it would suspend its publications for an unspecified time due to government criticism.
The broadcast media are government controlled, although private radio and television stations can be licensed. There is limited but increasing internet access. The government has recently shown greater willingness to engage with independent media in organized events like presidential press conferences, where critical questions are entertained, and radio call-in shows, where the president and his ministers respond to comments and questions from average citizens. Government officials in 2007 also used these platforms to warn against abuse of press freedoms.
Religious freedom is generally respected. Clerics were among both the victims and the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide. The implication of several Catholic clergymen in the genocide has complicated relations between the government and the Roman Catholic Church. Academic freedom is generally respected.
Although the constitution codifies freedoms of association and assembly, in reality these rights are limited. NGOs have complained that registration and reporting procedures are excessively time-consuming and onerous, and activities that the government defines as “divisive” are prohibited. In 2004, Parliament advised the government to ban five NGOs and several religious groups and also called for action against several international NGOs operating in the country. International human rights organizations expressed concern that these decisions were based on overly broad interpretations of the law, vague allegations, and insubstantial research. Responding to the ban threat, several organizations muted their independent and sometimes critical attitudes toward the RPF. Nevertheless, most civil society organizations function without direct government interference.
The constitution provides for the rights to form trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and strike. According to the 2007 Annual Survey of Trade Union Violations compiled by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, while the government appears to be trying to improve relations with trade unions, its overall record of trade union rights has been poor, with pressure being exerted upon the unions often in subtle and indirect fashion. . The list of “essential services,” in which strikes are not allowed, is excessively long. The largest union umbrella group, the Central Union of Rwandan Workers, was closely controlled by the previous regime but now has greater independence.
The judiciary has yet to secure its independence from the executive. However, new courts staffed with trained officials have been established, and much of the old legal code has been revised to better respect human rights. Planned reforms aim to streamline the judicial process, train a competent corps of judges, and assert enhanced oversight over the prosecutorial function. While their behavior does not appear to reflect official policy, individual police officers sometimes use excessive force, and local officials periodically ignore due process protections.
While those bearing the greatest responsibility for the genocide face trial in the regular courts, those facing lesser charges are being tried by gacaca courts, which are in the process of adjudicating some 700,000 cases. Amnesty International in 2007 expressed concerns about this process, reporting that “poorly qualified, ill-trained and corrupt gacaca judges in certain districts fuelled widespread distrust of the system.” Government officials have claimed that the gacaca trials should be over by the end of 2008. The Tanzanian-based ICTR, established in 1997, has moved ahead with its work in a deliberate fashion and will begin to phase out its operations in 2008. By the end of 2007, trials for almost all of the defendants in custody were either under way or had been completed.
Equal treatment under the law is guaranteed, and legal protections against discrimination have increased in recent years. A national identity card is required when Rwandans wish to move within the country, but these are issued regularly. In previous years, there were cases of government officials forcing citizens to return to the districts listed on their identity cards, although this no longer appears to be a problem.
The 2003 constitution requires women to occupy at least 30 percent of the seats in each chamber of Parliament. Rwanda has the highest percentage of women in national parliament in the world, with 48.8 percent representation in the lower house. In December 2003, the Senate elected Aloysia Cyanzaire as the first female chief justice of the Supreme Court. Women’s rights to inherit land have been strengthened through legislation. An international report found in 2006 that Rwanda had made significant strides toward achieving an equal balance of girls and boys in primary school education and that special incentives exist to promote the advancement of girls in science-related study topics. Despite these improvements, ongoing de facto discrimination against women continues. Economic and social dislocation has forced women to take on many new roles, especially in the countryside.
Press Freedom (2008)
Status: Not Free
Legal Environment: 24
Political Environment: 34
Economic Environment: 26
Total Score: 84
Although there have been some improvements in political rights and civil liberties in Rwanda since the 1994 genocide, authorities continued to restrict the media in 2007 through the illegal imprisonment of critical journalists and the harassment of independent outlets. The constitution provides for freedom of the press “in conditions prescribed by the law,” but the government routinely limited the ability of the independent media to operate, often invoking the destructive role that certain radio stations played in the genocide. The media are tightly controlled by the government in practice despite a 2002 law that formally forbids censorship. Libel remains a criminal offense, and there are no laws guaranteeing access to information. In June 2007, the minister of information arbitrarily revoked the license of the Weekly Post, a new private publication, three days after its first edition was issued, despite laws requiring a court order for such a move.
Throughout 2007, the government of President Paul Kagame regularly arrested and illegally detained journalists. In fact, the risk of imprisonment posed by far the greatest threat to independent journalists in Rwanda. On January 12, for example, authorities arrested and charged the editor of the private periodical Umurabyo, Agnes Nkusi-Uwimana, with divisionism and discrimination following the paper’s publication of an article that was critical of the government. On the belief that Nkusi-Uwimana represented a “threat to state security,” a judge kept her in pretrial detention until April, when she was sentenced to a year in prison and fined approximately US$760. Separately, in February, authorities arrested a Congolese journalist and professor who was teaching in Kigali on charges of threatening state security, following his publication of a critical online article; he was released on March 21 and subsequently deported, but his case marked Rwanda’s first imprisonment in response to an online publication. Also in March, police detained a reporter and a photographer with the American magazine U.S. News & World Report, along with a local journalist for the private newspaper Umuco, as they attempted to cover a trial. The two Americans were released after three hours following the confiscation of their equipment, while the local journalist escaped from detention. A number of other incidents of harassment took place during the year. Umuseso, a critical independent newspaper, faced repeated hounding by the authorities; its editor, Gerard Manzi, was arrested and held for a week in August on fabricated rape charges.
The aggressive stance of the authorities toward the media could be seen in official rhetoric as well. During a state-run television program in September, government ministers accused many in the media of working with “negative forces” inside and outside of the country, with the interior minister suggesting that any journalist who publishes an official document should be detained until he or she reveals the source of the leak. In response, RIMEG—which produces papers including Umuseso and is Rwanda’s largest independent private publisher—announced that it would suspend its operations until the government apologized or provided evidence for its accusations. Umuco soon followed suit. Both publishing houses remained closed for several weeks but started publishing again despite the government’s inaction, citing the ongoing demand for independent news. On a more positive note, Tatiana Mukakibibi, a former presenter for the state-owned Radio Rwanda, was finally acquitted of genocide charges after spending 11 years in pretrial detention.
Most newspapers operating in Rwanda face a number of financial constraints that prevent them from publishing on a daily basis. The New Times, a private paper with close government ties, is the only paper that appears daily, and the government refuses to advertise with outlets that regularly produce critical reports. The state broadcasters continue to dominate radio and effectively monopolize television in the country, with the handful of private radio stations focusing largely on entertainment. The British Broadcasting Corporation and Voice of America are available in Rwanda, but Radio France Internationale is still banned after the government severed diplomatic relations with France in 2006. Internet access was not restricted or monitored by the government, but it was available to less than 1 percent of the population in 2007.
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