War and Peace

Burundi

http://www.africantimes.com/articlepg1.asp?ID=49404 Burundian President Pierre Buyoya said Wednesday his government will hold peace talks with Hutu rebels in Tanzania next week, a report reaching here said. Briefing journalists upon his return from Durban, Buyoya said he met on the sidelines of the African Union summit with South African Vice President Jacob Zuma and Gabon's President Omar Bongo,as well as the head of the regional initiative for Burundi, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni.

DR Congo

Scores of people have died in fighting between the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-ML) and a militia representing the Hema people, in the northeastern town of Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

"We have counted 40 dead among the soldiers, and we do not know how many casualties there are on the other side," Ernest Uringi Padolo, a RCD-ML official, said from Bunia.

Residents and NGOs in Bunia reported civilians as being among the dead. Many have stayed indoors. RCD-ML said the fighting, which started on 9 July, intensified on Wednesday, and was between Ugandan troops backing a faction of the RCD mutineers led by Thomas Lubanga, the head of the Hema militia and the RCD-ML's former "minister of defence". The latter is detained in Kinshasa, the DRC capital.

"The Ugandan troops demanded that our fighters lay down their arms, then shot at them, killing two," Kolosso Sumahili, the RCD-ML secretary-general, told IRIN.

The Ugandans, he added, had protected the Hema mutineers, who had seized the car of the area's governor. The spokesman for the UN Mission for the DRC, known as MONUC, said UN military observers were yet to file a report. "This is strictly an affair within the RCD-ML," Hamadoun Toure, the mission's spokesman, said.

During a recent visit to the area, the DRC minister of human rights, Ntumba Luaba, said three years of fighting between the Hema and Lendu, another ethnic group, had led to 20,000 deaths. (Source: IRIN)

Ethiopia

The rebel Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) last Friday denied claims by the Ethiopian army that it had "completely annihilated" separatist forces in the west of the country. "This is not the first time the Ethiopians have claimed total victory against our forces," OLF spokesman Lencho Bati told IRIN. "Our forces are intact." He admitted that OLF troops had sustained casualties in the fighting which has been raging in the Gambela region for the past two months when the OLF launched an offensive in the area. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28665 (Source: Pambazuka News)

Madagascar

The situation in Madagascar calmed down after the Foreign Minister of France visited the island and officially recognized Ravalomanana as President. President Ratsiraka realized that he had no support internationally and “he decided to leave the country”, said Fr. Rosario Selarno of Radio Don Bosco to Fides Service. Fr. Selarno said, “It is important to underline that there has been no violence against the supporters of the former president, revenge is not a custom among the Malagasy people. Attempts to trigger ethnic conflict were unsuccessful.”

The peaceful solution to this crisis is an example to Africa and the rest of the world, he said. (Source: FIDES)

Sudan

The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) has agreed to the extension of a ceasefire in the Nuba Mountains region of south-central Sudan, sources close to the rebel group told IRIN. "They [SPLM/A] have agreed to the extension for a further six months following the SPLM/A-Nuba congress," the sources said.

In June, the Sudanese government agreed to an extension of the initial six month ceasefire period, Usamah Mahjub Hasan, Second Secretary at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, told IRIN on 9 July. The government also agreed that the ceasefire provisions would remain unchanged for the additional period.

The government and SPLM/A-Nuba signed the renewable six-month ceasefire in the 80,000 sq km Nuba Mountains region, Southern Kordofan State, on 19 January this year. The agreement followed six days of closed-door negotiations facilitated by the US and Swiss governments in Burgenstock, central Switzerland. The ceasefire agreement states, among other things, that both parties should "facilitate humanitarian assistance" by opening up humanitarian corridors and creating conditions "conducive to the provision of urgent humanitarian assistance".
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28715]

Somalia

A UN report has concluded that Somalia is an "excellent" location for terrorist activities and says neighbouring countries have a "key role" to play in preventing illegal arms shipments to the country. "These countries all regard the internal security situation in Somalia as a current threat to their national security," said a fact-finding report to the Security Council, issued on 11 July. The report gave some details of the embargo's violations. "Individuals may bring small numbers of weapons - perhaps just one weapon or up to five or six - along with them when returning to Somalia, often on board dhows that move goods and people through the local seaways to ports all along the coast of Somalia," it said. It also said donkeys were used to transport weapons and other goods "such as endangered wildlife species, drugs and ivory". [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28785]

Meanwhile The UN Security Council on 9 July confirmed that the planned Somali peace talks to be held under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, are now scheduled to take place in September. The Council's current president, Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of the United Kingdom, said the Council, which is to consider a draft resolution on Somalia this week, "has discussed the prospects of the conference in Nairobi". "The Council focused in some detail on what is going on in Somalia and what the parties need to do to make that conference a success," he said.

Speaking to reporters, Greenstock said the draft resolution, to be introduced by the Norwegian delegation, would be discussed by experts "to take forward our business in Somalia". A technical committee, comprising the neighbouring states - Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya - was established by the IGAD foreign ministers' committee, which met in Nairobi in February. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28733]