AFRICANEWS
Views and news on peace, justice and reconciliation in Africa
November 2001
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War and Peace
BurundiAt least 35 civilians were killed and an unknown number of students kidnapped on November 6, by Hutu warriors belonging to the Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD) in various parts of Burundi. The Government of National Unity installed on November 1, and formed on the basis of the Arusha agreement mediated by former South African President Nelson Mandela, is threatened by these attacks, since FDD and Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) did not sign the Agreement. The Arusha Agreement established that Tutsi Premier Pierre Buyoya will be president for 18 months along with a Hutu vice-president Domitien Ndayizeye, after which he will hand over to a Hutu representative for another 18 months. The transition period will close in 2004 with general elections. Meanwhile, Hutu rebels raided three primary schools in eastern Burundi and abducted 80 boys aged between 13 and 15, a government official told AP on November 9. The rebels abducted the pupils and four teachers on November 8 after raiding the schools which are between, five and 20 kilometres from Ruyigi town, 100 kilometres east of Bujumbura, said Issac Bujaba, governor of Ruyigi province. "The rebels entered the schools and picked out the older boys, looking them in the face and telling them ‘you follow ,us," Bujaba said, adding that the rebels wanted the boys to join their rebellion. No one was injured in the raids, but the rebels threatened to shoot the boys if they ran away, Bujiba said. (Source: AP)South AfricaThe government and media on November 14, blasted a court ruling that sentenced a white businessman to seven years in prison for brutally killing one of his black workers. In a case ahs rekindled racial tension seven years after the end of apartheid, a magistrate’s court on November 12, found Pieter Odendaal guilty of culpable homicide for his death behind his track last year. Critics of the sentence condemned the ruling by the white judge as too lenient, saying it smacked of "white justice" so common during apartheid when crimes against blacks by whites were often treated differently by the courts. The government signalled its displeasure with the sentence despite risking accusation that it was interfering with the independence of the judiciary. (Source: Reuters)DR CongoCongo’s president Joseph Kabila said he expects the war that has devastated his country and engulfed much of central Africa to end next year. Even though rebels have stepped up fighting in eastern Congo and still control half of the country, President Kabila said things have improved and a peace process is under way ... "a peace process that we intend to see to the end." "I personally expect the year 2002 to be a year of peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," the president told a news conference after addressing the UN General Assembly early this month. The war in Congo has been a major preoccupation of the 15 member UN Security Council because it has destabilised the heart of the continent. Congo’s civil war broke out in August 1998 when Rwanda and Uganda backed Congolese rebels seeking to oust then-President Laurent Kabila. Troops from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola now back the government, and Burundi joined the fray to fight Burundi rebels based in eastern Congo.SudanGerhart Baum, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Sudan, called for documentation to verify how the Sudanese government uses its oil revenues in a report discussed early this month at the UN General Assembly. "Oil exploitation has continued to have a negative impact on the human rights situation," Baum told delegates in New York on 10 November. "There is no concrete evidence of oil revenues being spent for the development of the south, in spite of the fact that 40 per cent of the national budget comes from oil." But Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations Elfatih Mohamed Ahmed Erwa rejected these claims saying that his government was using oil revenues to improve the infrastructure and social services throughout the country, particularly in the South. "The Government of Sudan categorically rejects the linking of oil exploration with human rights violations," Erwa said on in New York on Thursday. He added that Baum's request to see proof of the oil expenditures was a "breach of sovereignty." In his reply Baum said that in a war situation, such as that in Sudan, oil fields attracted aggression. The tensions resulted in victims, and people had no other options than to flee. Since internally displaced persons were part of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur he had a right to ask the Government, since it claimed to use the money for development purposes. In his address to the General Assembly Baum said that the overall human rights situation continued to be a matter of serious concern despite efforts made towards democratisation during the past three years. "I am particularly concerned at the recurrence of bombing of civilians, particularly in the Nuba Mountains and in Blue Nile State, which has continued unabated, thus severely hampering access to humanitarian aid," Baum said. He added that he had received reports of serious human rights violations by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and allied militias, particularly in the oil-rich Western Upper Nile. Baum was appointed to his post last December. He intends to visit the Sudan again in February or March next year.
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