ugnet_: Fwd: STATEMENT BY BISHOP OCHOLA II
U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) UGANDA: Improved human rights record tainted by conflict, says HRW NAIROBI, 31 January (IRIN) - Uganda's human rights record improved throughout 2002, but this achievement was tainted by the National Resistance Movement government's continued involvement in regional conflicts, and its repression of opposition political parties, according to an international rights watchdog. The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its 2002 report on Uganda, that its political landscape had been characterised by the severe restrictions imposed on opposition political parties under the existing no-party system. Uganda had also been a major combatant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), while at the same time the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) fought a major military offensive against the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda and southern Sudan, with severe effects on civilians in all three countries, the report said. According to HRW, legal restrictions, particularly the new Political Organisations Law, adopted by parliament in May, which retained constitutional restrictions on political parties, as well as providing for arbitrary arrest and detention, were used to suppress political dissent. There were also several cases of arbitrary arrest, where detainees were held in overcrowded cells and sometimes tortured by security forces. In many cases, agents carrying out the arrests wore civilian clothes with no identifying insignia. Civilians were held in army barracks in different parts of the country (although by law the army is allowed to carry out arrests only in emergency situations), the report stated. New anti-terrorism legislation which came into force had further served to restrict individual and press freedoms. The legislation, known as the Anti-Terrorism Act, carried a mandatory death sentence for those found to be terrorists, HRW said. HRW said Ugandan security forces had killed nine people and arrested over 400 during its Operation Wembley to crack down on criminals in Kampala. Local authority elections in February 2002 had been marred by irregularities, but the overall level of violence was lower than that affecting the previous year's elections, and in some areas opposition representatives had been voted into leadership positions, the report noted. Meanwhile, defenders of human rights, such as NGOs, church bodies, and other independent associations had continued to play a vital role in Uganda's public life, but their freedom was under threat from the Nongovernmental Organisations Amendment Bill brought before parliament. The bill would introduce more complicated registration procedures, and allow the suspension of NGOs whose objectives are in contravention of any government policy or plan, and NGO leaders could be imprisoned if they violated the bill, the report stated. Uganda's human rights record was also tainted by its involvement in two armed conflicts wracking the region, according to the report. In March, the UPDF, with permission from the Sudanese government, launched a major offensive in southern Sudan against the LRA, which has been waging a war in northern Uganda and committing gross human rights violations since 1987. The offensive, dubbed Operation Iron Fist, was aimed at eliminating the LRA, but resulted in severe human rights abuses against civilians when the LRA fled to mountains in southern Sudan and then crossed back into Uganda in May. LRA increased its attacks in northern Uganda, abducting and killing civilians, looting villages, and attacking camps for internally displaced persons. The United Nations sources indicated that the LRA had attacked 16 such camps by July, The report noted. The UPDF also committed human rights abuses in the course of the northern war, particularly in the protected camps for displaced people, where they stepped up the existing pattern of arbitrary long-term detention of civilians suspected of collaborating with the LRA, and tortured some detainees, HRW said. The camps provided little or no protection from the LRA, and residents were vulnerable to abuse by the UPDF and individual soldiers. The Ugandan army recruited children in the camps as 'home guards', a reserve force used to guard the camps and fulfil other security functions, it said. Meanwhile, the UPDF had also continued to occupy the northeastern parts of the DRC, where it trained, equipped, and supported several rival rebel groups and competing ethnic militias, which committed gross abuses and continued to recruit child soldiers, according to the report. The Ugandan involvement fuelled conflict among different communities. Members of the UPDF continued to be involved in highly profitable business in the northeastern DRC, such as the exploitation of timber, diamonds, and gold, as well as collecting fees for the
ugnet_: Fwd: STATEMENT BY BISHOP OCHOLA II
Dear All, Please see the attached herewith a statement by his Lordship Bishop Ochola II for your kind attention. Dr. Walter Okello, Secretary-General, CamPHRU http://www.camphru.org THE CRISIS IN NORTHERN UGANDA - ISSUES OF GRAVE CONCERN. The Rt. Rev. Macleord Baker Ochola II,Vice Chairman, ARLPI*, P.O. Box 104, Gulu (Uganda). E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Introduction. The cardinal and primary responsibility of the Government of Uganda is to protect and promote the human and peoples rights of all its citizens, as enshrined in the Ugandan Constitution of 1995. For the last 17 years, however, such constitutional and legal protection has not been extended to the people of Northern Uganda. Therefore, the inability to protect and promote the fundamental rights of children in particular and the entire population of Northern Uganda generally raises serious concerns in these regards. These concerns are: (A) THE INABILITY TO PROTECT THE CHILDREN OF N.UGANDA. Well over 26,000 children have been abducted by the LRA and taken into captivity to the Sudan. Half of these children have not been accounted for since about 1994. The Human Rights and overall well-being of these children are being violated in Northern Uganda and wherever they have been taken to. While this is happening, those who know and are in a position to help are in a dead silence, and do not appear to be motivated to help. The Uganda People Defence Forces (UPDF) and the Lord Resistance Army (LRA) have continued to use these abducted children from Northern Uganda as child-soldiers. The abducted girls children are also being used as sex-slaves. These children are always killed in large numbers during armed combat and other confrontations with the UPDF. (B) MASSIVE DISPLACEMENT OF PEOPLE IN N. UGANDA. UPDF ordered the entire Acholi community through a 48-hour ultimatum forcing the people of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader Districts to move to the nearest camps or create new ones at designated areas. Right now, over 800,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are living in the camps in sub-human conditions without basic facilities or necessities. There is hardly any food, sanitation and medical facilities in these camps, especially in the newly created District of Pader. That is not to speak of education facilities. (Please see World Food Programme latest report 2003). The conditions in these camps are conducive to highly contagious diseases such as cholera, meningitis, HIV/AIDS, measles and other diarrhoeal and tropical diseases thereby exasperating the problems further. The children in the camps are not benefiting from the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programmes in the North, because of insecurity. Everywhere in Northern Uganda, children are always on the run for their dear lives due to constant attacks by the LRA rebels. Most people in Northern Uganda spend their miserable nights always in the bushes because of insecurity. A climate of fear reigns supreme over the peoples lives in these conflict, disease and insecurity ridden areas. The entire population in the North have been impoverished through cattle rustling, constant looting and destruction of their homesteads, property, and food-stores. The life support mechanisms are dwindling very fast. The miseries and desperation experienced by these people in the camps is causing psychological and irreversible trauma. The alleged camps in themselves do not offer any secure protection; hence the same children continue to be abducted from within these very secure camps. There is a total disruption and collapse of the local agricultural economy and other social services resulting into redundancy, despair and increase in criminal activities within the camps, towns and other nearby areas. 2. WAR ON TERRORISM VIS-A-VIS WAR IN N. UGANDA. The fact is that over 90% of the LRA are the abducted children, torn away from their families by force and thereby not willing participants in such wars. The abducted children range from the ages of 8 to 12 years old. The abducted children, like young plants, are very vulnerable to have their humanity manipulated or twisted and eventually destroyed by incredible trauma that they go through. This shall have serious future consequences. The future of these children is completely shattered and ruined by their life experience in captivity, next to which they may grow to know no other. The ongoing Operation Iron Fist which started early 2002, has already led to the deaths of hundreds of these children. We do not however, see any justification in linking up the war on terrorism by the US and other Western Governments with the situation in Northern Uganda that is entirely different and has its own historical, cultural and socio-economic realities as opposed to those that have given rise to the war on international terrorism in other parts of the world. The terrorists targeted by the US and their allies, voluntarily choose to become so, whereas the
ugnet_: Alliances Shift As Tension in Great Lakes Intensifies
Alliances Shift As Tension in Great Lakes Intensifies Email This Page Print This Page African Church Information Service February 3, 2003 Posted to the web January 31, 2003 Crespo Sebunya Bunia/Kampala Rebel groups in eastern Congo are re-aligning themselves, with several Ugandan-backed factions now opting to cooperate with Rwanda. The move has intensified tension between Uganda and Rwanda. The Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), led by Thomas Lubanga, who leads 5,000 Hema militia, and controls Bunia, signed a cooperation treaty with Rwanda mid January. Join allAfrica's Discussion: How to Wage the War on AIDS The group had also voted overwhelmingly for the withdrawal of 1000 Ugandan troops from eastern Congo. And the Rally for Congolese Democracy-Liberation Movement (RCD-ML), whose forces were thrown out of Bunia in a coup in May 2002 backed by Uganda, has switched to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) side. Early this year another warlord, Jean Bosco Barihima, shifted base from Kampala to Kigali. The mistrust between Rwanda and Uganda has deepened since the defection of Barihima. Barihima alleged an insidious anti-Rwanda programme to allow Ugandan controlled territories be used by Hutu dissidents to plan several frontal attacks on Rwanda. Though Uganda has dismissed such claims, it has done little to unnerve Rwanda. The massive influx of Rwandan refugees into Uganda is also source of tension. Minister of state for refugees, Christine Aporu said recently that Uganda would restrict entry of 3,000 Rwandese refugees from crossing into Uganda from Tanzania. Among these are some who are armed. Authorities in Rwanda know refugees have provided a pool from which rebels are recruited. Rwanda is still concerned about a report issued by a joint military verification committee by both countries last year, which established that Hutu dissidents crossed into Uganda on their way to conducting subversive activities in Rwanda. However, Ugandan minister for regional affairs, Col Kahinda Otafiire said Uganda is exercising maximum restraint on events in eastern Congo. Apparently factions still aligned to Uganda are gearing themselves for anti-Rwanda propaganda war. The power struggle has not only enhanced insecurity in the region, but has also threatened United Nations (UN) trust on Uganda to pacify the region. A letter dated November 22, 2002 from the then UN permanent representative in Uganda, Professor Semakula Kiwanuka, committed Uganda into working with UPC and RCD-ML to pacify Ituri region through establishment of Ituri Pacification Committee. Uganda has instead fallen out with the two congolese rebel factions.
ugnet_: Fw: [rwanda-l] Re: ALLOWING USA AND ITS POPULATION TO ADOPT RWANDA
The Mulindwas communication group"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 9:45 PM Subject: [rwanda-l] Re: ALLOWING USA AND ITS POPULATION TO ADOPT RWANDA To all members of Rwanda-I and all Rwandans and their friends, regarding Shaka's story. Much of what he has said, might be true or not, but he has repeated what most media have reported without acknowledging them, thereby violating academic standards. What a shame that he could even have the guts to speak as if it his own authority. He need to learn to quote his sources very well in order to avoid law suits. What Rwanda needs in order to survive in the future competitive global markets as a tiny small land locked nation (the size of Maryland State in the USA) without international harbors, rail lines and good road is good relations with its neighbors Maryland State is one of the top ten richest states in the USA. That means, it has more money even to build Rwanda and other African nations. It is also made mostly of African-American citizens who have plenty of wealth resources Rwanda can use in order to survive. If I had the power to convince all Rwandans of all ages and tribes, is what the Chinese did ninety years ago with the British. They cravenly decided that they needed future power from European know how. So they leased Hong Kong to the British people. None of the old British or the old Chinese are there now to witness this miracle. Hong Kong became a free trade zone. The British built the harbor, rail lines, schools, hospitals and export, import and re-export markets. Do you remember those days in Africa when every thing was made in Hong Kong. Our oldest Rwandans called it Congo Kong.Well, now that those days are gone and China took over its leased land. Who benefits. Indeed the Chinese are bearing the fruits of their fore fathers and mothers. Their wisdom is beneficial to the British as well as to the entire Chinese population.What Rwanda and all Rwandans should do now, is to completely forget running themselves with the Europeans and choose the most powerful parent in the whole world which is the USA. Diplomatically, cravenly, politely, kindly and wisely plead with the USA government and all Americans to adopt Rwanda. USA will then take Rwanda as its own adopted and neglected new child and will introduce democratic rules similar to the USA. Will introduce stable constitution similar to the USA. Will introduce and build rail lines, international markets, roads, airports, build schools, hospitals, export, import re-export business to the point where unemployment in Rwanda will be minus five. Rwandans will be able to earn income similar to those in the USA. This sounds like a dream to be true and may be when this dream becomes true, many of us reading this story will no longer be here. Our children and their grand children will be like those in China.Let us all work together to accomplish this. If this fails, we can try to join Rwanda, Burundi to Democratic Republic of Congo as one nation and use the federal system, or the State system in the USA. But leave the federal part to the new Federal government. We will be able to heal the wounds and generate new friendship for the future generation.If this fails to work, we can try to join Rwanda, Burundi to Tanzania. if every thing fails, we are doomed to complete failure and we cannot survive on our own.Rwanda and Rwandans all over the World will elect the Governor of Rwanda to represent USA. The title for President will no longer be needed. Its forces will join the USA forces. The King already lives in the USA and has plenty of friends and he will welcome this idea with open hands wishes to see the development of all Rwandans. President of Rwanda will have equal footing with all USA governors and he could even run for political office in the USA.What a unique idea to try.Protais To Post a message, send it to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
ugnet_: Military Launches Widespread Offensive
Military Launches Widespread Offensive Email This Page Print This Page Visit The Publisher's Site UN Integrated Regional Information Networks January 31, 2003 Posted to the web January 31, 2003 Nairobi For 13 days now the Burundian military has been engaged in a widespread offensive throughout Nyabitsinda, Kinyinya and Gisuru communes (Moso region in Ruyigi Province), initially in response to a rebel ambush and killing on 18 January of 10 soldiers in Gisuru. As a result, a large number of internally displaced people - dispersed among host families or in close proximity to public structures - were affected late last week, according to international NGOs. The spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Burundi, Nicholas McGowan, told IRIN on Friday that within Ruyigi Province and Gisuru Commune about 5,000 people had gathered in Rusengo, 1,000 had sought refuge at the transit centre of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nyabitare, while an unknown number of people were dispersed throughout Gisuru. Join allAfrica's Discussion: How to Wage the War on AIDS He added that for almost a month now, access to the Moso region has been largely restricted to international humanitarian organisations, including the UN, despite the fact that the Ruyigi-Gisuru road is open to commercial transport. Targeted food distributions by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), however, have been severely disrupted in Ruyigi Province throughout January, McGowan said. The "UN has also received reports that medical supplies in hospitals and health centres in Moso region are running dangerously low," he added. On 20 January, the interim UN humanitarian coordinator, Stefano Severe, WFP Representative Mustapha Darboe and the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Antoine Gerard, met interior ministry officials to voice their concerns and seek assurances that the ministry and the provincial governor would redouble their efforts to facilitate humanitarian aid distributions in the strife-torn province. A six-person OCHA-led inter-agency assessment team, comprising representatives from the UN Children's Fund, WFP, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNHCR, visited Ruyigi Province on 27 and 28 January. Upon their return to the capital, Bujumbura, on Tuesday, Gerard voiced the UN's concern that although access had been gained to some areas, large tracts of the province remained inaccessible. "Remarkably, in the areas we visited [Rusengo and Nyabitare] there were simply no people at all," he said. Humanitarian sources reported that on 24 January local authorities had asked displaced people to return to their hills and villages. "Our principal concern remains for the safety and appropriateness of their return," Gerard said. "The atmosphere remains very tense, with many people too scared to move out of their local communities to seek assistance. At the moment, there is a clear sense that the local people live in fear - in fear of reprisal attacks, and in fear for their lives." At Friday's daily security meeting in Ruyigi Province between the authorities and humanitarian community, the district military commander advised UN agencies and national and international NGOs that, yet again, they were not permitted to operate in Moso.
ugnet_: U.S. President Speaks on Fighting Global and Domestic HIV/AIDS
U.S. President Speaks on Fighting Global and Domestic HIV/AIDS Email This Page Print This Page Visit The Publisher's Site The White House (Washington, DC) DOCUMENT January 31, 2003 Posted to the web January 31, 2003 Washington, DC Remarks by the President on Global and Domestic Hiv/Aids, The Dwight E. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Thank you all for coming. I'm honored you all are here. I'm so grateful that many from the diplomatic corps are here. Join allAfrica's Discussion: How to Wage the War on AIDS This is an historic year for America. It's a year of great consequence. It's a year in which we have an opportunity to work with others to shape the future of our globe. We have a chance to achieve peace. We have a chance to achieve a more compassionate world for every citizen. America believes deeply that everybody has worth, everybody matters, everybody was created by the Almighty, and we're going to act on that belief and we'll act on that passion. You know, the world looks at us and says, they're strong. And we are; we're strong militarily. But we've got a greater strength than that. We've got a strength in the universality of human rights and the human condition. It's in our country's history. It's ingrained in our soul. And today we're going to describe how we're going to act -- not just talk, but act, on the basis of our firm beliefs. I want to thank Tommy, he's the new chairman of the board of the Global Fund. He's also the Secretary of Health and Human Services, doing a great job for our administration. I want to thank so very much the ambassadors from Guyana and Uganda for standing up here with us today. I appreciate the other ambassadors from the continent of Africa and the Caribbean for being here. With us as well is Bill Frist, a United States Senator, Majority Leader, passionate advocate of good health care for every citizen on the globe; a man with whom this administration will work, along with Russ Feingold, from Wisconsin, to make sure that the proposal becomes real. That means funded. (Laughter and applause.) There's no doubt in my mind that when you've got the Majority Leader and a distinguished senator like Senator Feingold teaming up together, that this will get done. It's just a matter of time. I'm honored that Mark Malloch is here -- Mark Malloch Brown is here, who is the U.N. -- administrator of U.N. develop program. I want to thank the U.S. Surgeon General, Carmona is here with us. Rich, thank you for coming. Andrew Natsios is USAID administrator. Dr. Zerhouni of NIH is with us. Tony Fauci is here with us. There are a lot of docs here today. (Laughter.) Julie Gerberding of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thank you, all, for coming today. Les Crawford is the deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. And, of course, a man who is on my staff who is going to make an enormous difference here and abroad as direct advisor to the President, and that's Dr. Joe O'Neill, who's the director of National AIDS Policy. He's about as fine a human being as you'll ever know. He cares deeply and his care has had -- he's got a lot of influence, let me put it to you this way, because of his convictions. As I mentioned, we're a strong nation. But we're also a blessed nation. And it's important for our citizens to recognize that richness is one thing. Recognizing that we're blessed gives a different perspective, I think. I think it enhances the fact that we have a responsibility. If you're blessed, there is a responsibility to recognize your blessings in a compassionate way. Blessings are a two-way street. We've got to understand in this country that if you value life and say every life is equal, that includes a suffering child on the continent of Africa. If you're worried about freedom, that's just not freedom for your neighbor in America, that's freedom for people around the globe. It's a universal principle. As I said in my State of the Union, freedom is not America's gift to the world, freedom is God's gift to humanity. Freedom means freedom from a lot of things. And today, on Africa, in the continent of Africa, freedom means freedom from the fear of a deadly pandemic. That's what we think in America. And we're going to act on that belief. The founding belief in human dignity should be how we conduct ourselves around the world -- and will be how we conduct ourselves around the world. I want you all to remember, and our fellow citizens to remember, that this is nothing new for our country. Human dignity has been a part of our history for a long time. We fed the hungry after World War I. This country carried out the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Airlift. Today we provide 60 percent -- over 60 percent of all the international food aid. We're acting on our compassion. It's nothing new for our country. But there's a pandemic which we must address now, before it is too
ugnet_: Ivory Coast Peace Plan in Tatters, W.African Leaders Meet
Ivory Coast Peace Plan in Tatters, W.African Leaders Meet Email This Page Print This Page Visit The Publisher's Site allAfrica.com February 1, 2003 Posted to the web February 1, 2003 Ofeibea Quist-Arcton Johannesburg As West African leaders gathered in Senegal, Friday, in a bid to rescue the Cote d’Ivoire peace accord and find urgent resolutions to the escalating crisis, thousands of youths invaded the airport runway in the main city, Abidjan. They vowed to prevent the prime minister-elect from flying in and tried to stop Western foreigners from fleeing. Television images of Felix Houphouet Boigny international airport in Abidjan, showed youths harassing foreigners heading to the departure terminal, as they prepared to leave a troubled Cote d’Ivoire. Join allAfrica's Discussion: How to Wage the War on AIDS There were days of anti-French riots earlier in the week in protest at a peace deal brokered by the former colonial power. The agreement immediately hit a hurdle when it was challenged this week by the Cote d’Ivoire army, government supporters, political parties and traditional leaders. They complain that Paris used strong-arm tactics to impose a one-sided peace package on President Laurent Gbagbo that favoured the rebels who control half the country. The new deal would drastically reduce the president’s powers, handing them to a new consensus prime minister, named as Seydou Diarra. But the main contentious issue has been the apparent , yet unconfirmed, designation of the defence and interior ministries to the main rebel Patriotic Movement of Cote d’Ivoire (MPCI). Rebel officials say they were promised these sensitive portfolios at a peace conference in France, with Gbagbo’s approval. But the Ivorian security forces have refused to share power with their adversaries on the battlefield, as the agreement dictates, saying that such a move would be a total "humiliation". The military has also refused to be cantoned or returned to barracks, saying its troops must not be treated in the same way as "rebel invaders". Diarra was scheduled to fly back to Abidjan, Friday, but had to delay his return after the protestors invaded and besieged the international airport. The youths warned Diarra, a Muslim northerner and respected former premier, not to come home: "Seydou Diarrhea (sic), if you are clever, resign. Otherwise!" Reuters reported one threatening placard as saying. West African officials, meeting at a regional summit in Senegal, told Reuters: "There have to be guarantees before Seydou Diarra will go to Abidjan." French troops and Ivorian security forces intervened to protect the foreigners and stop the demonstrators who earlier pelted the French military with stones. One French soldier was reported injured in the stand-off which lasted several hours, trapping families in the airport during an agonising wait before they could fly out. Hundreds of French people - particularly women and children - lined up in long queues, desperate to get out of the country which, as the world’s number one cocoa-producer, was once a regional bastion of stability and prosperity in West Africa. Most of the French nationals were able to fly out, but some failed to get on the flights and will have to return to the airport Saturday, possibly again running the gauntlet of the angry, pro-government protestors. Friday the stone-throwing mob attempted to storm planes on the tarmac, while other demonstrators taunted and insulted terrorized French families, slapping and spitting at them all the way from the car park to the terminal, a hundred metres away. West African summit While another day of disturbances unfolded in Cote d’Ivoire, further west, in Senegal, regional leaders gathered to try to find some urgent solutions to the conflict, which began with a failed coup launched by the rebels on September 19, 2002. Ghanaian president John Agyekum Kufuor, was elected to succeed the Senegalese leader, Abdoulaye Wade, as chairman of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas). The regional organisation tried and failed to broker peace in Cote d’Ivoire before the French diplomatic initiative. The new Ecowas chairman, and other heads of state of the regional presidential contact group on Cote d’Ivoire, are scheduled to meet Gbagbo in Abidjan, Saturday. West African diplomats will have to try to convince him to compromise, after reportedly putting pressure on the rebels in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, to drop their demands to control both the defence and interior portfolios. The rebels have indicated that they are not prepared to renegotiate the deal, reached after a marathon nine days of talks in France. When he returned to Abidjan on Sunday, Gbagbo promised to address the nation about his views on the accord. All week Ivorians have been anxiously waiting to hear from their leader. Several planned television
ugnet_: Zambia like Uganda?
Former spy chief says he helped rig Zambian election Court could nullify results Thursday, January 30, 2003 Posted: 3:42 PM EST (2042 GMT) Story Tools LUSAKA, Zambia (Reuters) -- Zambia's former intelligence chief told a court Thursday he authorized and directed the siphhoning of millions of dollars of state funds to Zambia's ruling party ahead of controversial 2001 elections. Xavier Chungu was speaking at a Supreme Court hearing into alleged rigging in the election of President Levy Mwanawasa, who has led a crackdown on corruption since taking power and has said he is willing to face fresh elections if the court rules there was fraud. Chungu was subpoenaed to appear by opposition lawyers who have challenged Mwanawasa's election. Chungu said he was ordered by former President Frederick Chiluba to raise money for the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy, or MMD, in the runup to the polls. He said he helped divert 16 billion kwacha ($3.3 million at current exchange rates) to the MMD from the state-owned Zambia National Commercial Bank (Zanaco) and the intelligence service through a secret account he operated in London. If proven, the case could lead to a court order nullifying Mwanawasa's victory. Zambian laws prohibit the use of state funds for campaigning. Earlier this month, Katele Kalumba, former finance and foreign minister, and seven finance officials were charged with misuse of public funds as part of Zambia's biggest anti-graft drive since independence from Britain in 1964. Chiluba is not facing charges and is appealing the removal of his presidential immunity. Ordered to raise cash Before his election, Mwanawasa was seen as a puppet of Chiluba who was barred from running for a third term by the constitution. But Mwanawasa's anti-corruption campaign has targeted Chiluba and his associates. Chungu told the court: "I was given specific instructions to raise 22 billion kwacha for the MMD. But I only managed to raise in the range of 16 billion. Some of the money we took (for) the MMD came from donors." He said he personally bought 158 vehicles for the MMD which were used during the campaign, and also used state funds to charter a plane in which Mwanawasa flew around the country. Chungu said $76,000 in public funds was used to print the MMD election manifesto. He said Chiluba kept all the money at State House. "Once Dr. Chiluba told me to look for money because the candidate (Mwanawasa) needed money. I delivered 250 million kwacha and Mr Mwanawasa arrived at State House soon after me. Mr. Mwanawasa walked out of his (Chiluba's) office with a big khaki envelope full of money. ... He looked very happy," Chungu said. Mwanawasa has not commented on the allegations, saying he will respond in court. Chungu said he had also fed money to traditional rulers. "We used funds from the intelligence service to pay them allowances which were meant to harness their support for the MMD, since they wield a lot of influence among their people." Chungu said he helped hatch a plot to weaken opposition parties by giving some of their leaders cash they used to destabilize their parties. Gook We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of bad people but also for the appalling silence of good people". M.L.King MSN 8 helps ELIMINATE E-MAIL VIRUSES. Get 2 months FREE*.
ugnet_: Rwandan diplomacy in winds of change
From: shyakalexd [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 5:15 AM Subject: [rwanda-l] Rwandan diplomacy in winds of change "Kagame realized that his claims to be fighting a bad government no longer worked" President Paul Kagame quickly understood that Rwanda's so far successful diplomacy was crumbling when the new Congolese President Joseph Kabila became the rising sun of the region. The US Bush administration demonstrated it would not be as good an ally as Clinton had been, and the French were on the return. The Rwandan diplomacy needed to change, and it did. Rwanda finds itself in the peculiar position of being a small, African nation, but nonetheless having been in the focus of international intention for many years. The reasons are however obvious, Rwanda being the scene of humanity's most recent genocide, and Rwanda being one key player in the Congo Kinshasa conflict. The 1994 genocide, killing an estimated 1 million Tutsi and moderate Hutu brought shame on the international community. Instead of trying to prevent the genocide, the United Nations and other foreigners were quick to leave the country and leave the Hutu radicals to turn the country into the last killing fields of the 20th century. This extreme event will change Rwanda forever, but it has also changed Rwanda's position in international politics. Although the acting government cannot claim total innocence to the events leading up to the genocide, it is generally seen as the representative of the victims of the genocide. Paul Kagame therefore often is received with the same moral weight as Jewish Holocaust survivors, heirs of the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide (by Ottoman Turks) and the Cambodian killing fields of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. UK and US alliesThis weight had given the Kagame government strong allies in the United States and the United Kingdom, accepting the slow progress of democratisation and Rwanda's need to insure its security, even at the cost of invading neighbouring Congo Kinshasa. The Congolese support for the ex Forces Armées Rwandaises (ex-FAR) and Interahamwe, armed groups that carried out the Rwandan genocide in 1994, was generally accepted as an understandable reason for Rwanda's actions. Ex-President Laurent Kabila undemocratic, unpredictable and rather hostile image further enhanced this. The UK/US support was strong enough for Rwanda to break away from the French zone of influence and the "Francophonie" (there is much evidence supporting French aid to the genocide perpetrators) - something unheard of in Paris. The French diplomacy has been hostile to Rwanda ever since Kagame and his mostly Anglophone cabinet came to power, but Paris has had little success gaining majority within the European Union (EU) or other international bodies for its anti-Rwandan policy. Rwandan diplomacy seemed firmly based on its widespread sympathy in the international community, again based on the understanding that Rwanda was a special case. It was accepted that democratisation was to be a slow process and that Rwanda had special security rights to prevent the return of the genocide perpetrators. The fruits of the seeds were many, but most significantly international aid for the reconstruction of the country and a deaf ear towards information that Rwandan troops or allies committed human rights violations in the Congo or that Rwanda facilitated the illegal trade in Angolan rebel diamonds. The Rwanda diplomacy however also showed signs of weakness, as the Kigali government alienated the great majority of African countries. Breaking out of the French folder automatically made most of francophone Africa turn against Rwanda (however, a French push towards this is not to be underestimated). Rwanda's and Uganda's invasion of Congo Kinshasa, an answer to late Laurent Kabila's support for the ex-FAR and Interahamwe, alienated most Southern Africa, finally pushing Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe to send troops to Kinshasa and prevent the fall of Kabila's regime. Also neighbouring Uganda sees Rwanda as a hostile country, after clashes between Rwandan and Ugandan forces in the Congo. The French comebackThe turning point for the Rwandan diplomacy's successes started with the French being able to make a diplomatic comeback in June 2000, orchestrating a UN Security Council condemnation of the Rwandan and Ugandan invasion of eastern Congo Kinshasa (Resolution 1304). The Security Council resolution was a victory for the French diplomats, who wrote it. Since the beginning of the war in August 1998, Paris has always been concerned to prevent the de facto partition of the DRC, the second largest francophone country in the world. French diplomacy began to capitalise on the mistakes of the Rwandan and Ugandan invaders summer 2000, according to a 2001 study by the International Crisis Group (ICG). After six days of fighting between their armies
ugnet_: Fwd: BBC News E-mail: Iraq war 'devastating for African growth'
*Iraq war 'devastating for African growth'* A spike in oil prices could play havoc with African economies and outweigh recent aid and debt forgiveness, South Africa's president believes. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/business/2703249.stm MSN 8 helps ELIMINATE E-MAIL VIRUSES. Get 2 months FREE*.
ugnet_: Mandela calls Bush Shortsighted Arrogant on Iraq
Mandela: Bush arrogant on Iraq(by Japan Mathebula; c. The Associated Press)JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Jan. 30) - Former President Nelson Mandela called President Bush arrogant and shortsighted and implied that he was racist for ignoring the United Nations in his zeal to attack Iraq.In a speech Thursday, Mandela urged the people of the United States to join massive protests against Bush. Mandela called on world leaders, especially those with vetoes in the U.N. Security Council, to oppose him. ''One power with a president who has no foresight and cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust,'' Mandela told the International Women's Forum.Mandela also criticized Iraq for not cooperating fully with the weapons inspectors and said South Africa would support any action against Iraq that was supported by the United Nations.White House spokesman Ari Fleischer responded to Mandela's criticism by pointing to a letter by eight European leaders reiterating their support of Bush. ''The president expresses his gratitude to the many leaders of Europe who obviously feel differently'' than Mandela, Fleischer said. ''He understands there are going to be people who are more comfortable doing nothing about a growing menace that could turn into a holocaust.''A Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mandela has repeatedly condemned U.S. behavior toward Iraq in recent months and demanded Bush respect the authority of the United Nations. His comments Thursday, though, were far more critical and his attack on Bush far more personal than in the past.''Why is the United States behaving so arrogantly?'' he asked. ''All that (Bush) wants is Iraqi oil,'' he said.He accused Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair of undermining the United Nations and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is from Ghana. ''Is it because the secretary-general of the United Nations is now a black man? They never did that when secretary-generals were white,'' he said. Mandela said the United Nations was the main reason there has been no World War III and it should make the decisions on how to deal with Iraq.He said that the United States, which callously dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has no moral authority to police the world. ''If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don't care for human beings,'' he said.''Who are they now to pretend that they are the policemen of the world, the ones that should decide for the people of Iraq what should be done with their government and their leadership?'' he said. He said Bush was ''trying to bring about carnage'' and appealed to the American people to vote him out of office and demonstrate against his policies.He also condemned Blair for his strong support of the United States. ''He is the foreign minister of the United States. He is no longer prime minister of Britain,'' he said.
