World Bank: Republic of Congo & DR Congo eligible to participate in initial $26.2m phase of CAB program to develop high-speed telecoms

$215 Million Central Africa Backbone Program (CAB Program) Will Bring Low Cost, High Speed Internet to the Region. Program is expected to bring significant development impact.

Source: World Bank Press Release No:2010/094.SDN
Contact
In Geneva: Ian Larsen
Phone: +41(0)79 477 96 17
E-mail: ilarsen@worldbank.org or ianlarsen71@yahoo.com

GENEVA, October 6, 2009 – Today the Executive Board of Directors of the World Bank Group has announced its endorsement of the $215 million, ten-year Central African Backbone Program (CAB Program). This program will support the countries of the Central African region in developing their high-speed telecommunications backbone infrastructure to increase the availability of high-speed Internet and reduce end-user prices. The CAB Program will also help countries harmonize the laws and regulations that govern the ICT sector to increase private sector investment and improve competition.

Three countries – Cameroon, Chad and Central African Republic (CAR) – are participating in the initial $26.2 million phase of the Program. A further eight countries are also eligible to participate in the Program—Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Principe, and Sudan.

The CAB Program is being supported through a partnership between the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The program also aims to leverage an additional US$98 million from the private sector. In conjunction with the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), the African Union Commission (AUC) will play an important role in facilitating inter-governmental cooperation and policy harmonization. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will also assist governments in structuring Public Private Partnerships under the program.

Development Impact

The CAB Program brings much needed connectivity to Central Africa. Until now, people in Central Africa have the lowest quality and highest cost Internet and telephone services in Africa. The population pays up to two times more in monthly Internet rates than people living in other African countries, and up to three times more than those living in other parts of the world. “The CAB Program is very important for the countries involved and lies at the heart of their development strategies. It will assist countries to strengthen their enabling environment, create competition and, ultimately increase access and lower the costs for end users,” said Mary Barton-Dock, World Bank Country Director for Cameroon, Chad and Central African Republic.

In its recent Information and Communications for Development 2009: Extending Reach and Increasing Impact, the World Bank found that for every 10 percentage-point increase in high speed Internet connections there is an increase in economic growth of 1.3 percentage points. The report also identifies the mobile platform as the single most powerful way to reach and deliver public and private services to hundreds of millions of people in remote and rural areas across the developing world.

“Ultimately, our goal is to develop regional and national broadband backbones and significantly reduce the cost of ICT services in Central Africa. Through better and affordable connectivity, the aim is to leverage the transformational powers of ICTs to support economic growth, SME development, employment creation, productivity gains and trade integration in the region,” says Mohsen Khalil, Director of Global Information and Communications Technologies at the World Bank Group.

Modernizing the ICT Sector

In addition to infrastructure development, the CAB Program will strengthen the capacity of public institutions such as the sectoral ministries and regulatory authorities and will promote a competition-friendly environment by liberalizing the sector and restructuring telecommunications operators.

The Program is also meant to be a model of regional integration and successful public-private partnerships. Its design and implementation require the cooperation of several countries and international and regional organizations. Design goals will be to: (i) maximize the use of private financing (or minimize the use of public financing); (ii) ensure feasibility and attractiveness of the transaction; and (iii) secure open access to regional connectivity infrastructure and ensure competitive, reasonable tariff of international, regional and national capacity.

“This program is a great example of the World Bank’s increasing emphasis on regional infrastructure as part of Africa’s development,” said Rick Scobey, Acting Director for Regional Integration in Africa at the World Bank.

Part of a Broader Regional Strategy

The World Bank Group and African Development Bank (AfDB), in partnership, are committing significant resources and are making progress on the ground in helping to achieve the goals outlined at the October 2007 Connect Africa Summit. The Summit was convened by the International Telecommunications Union, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the African Union, and the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development.

This partnership has already launched three major regional connectivity programs, among a range of other ICT activities, with a fourth in the pipeline.

Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (RCIP)

The World Bank is providing US$424 million in financing for the Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (RCIP) to support regional connectivity and transparency in government through the use of ICT. The Program is available to all countries in the East and Southern Africa region and can be tailored to each country’s specific needs and priorities. The first phase of RCIP included Kenya, Madagascar and Burundi and was approved by the Board of the World Bank in 2007. The second phase was for Rwanda and was approved in 2008. The third phase includes Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi and was approved by the Board of the World Bank in June 2009.

East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) – World Bank Group, AfDB and other Development Finance Institutions (DFIs)

EASSy is a 10,000 km submarine fiber-optic cable running along the East Coast of Africa from Sudan to South Africa. It will directly connect eight of the countries along the route and indirectly connect all of the others in the region to the international communications infrastructure. It will provide broadband connectivity to the global fiber-optic cable networks, supplying low-cost, high bandwidth capacity to the markets in the region.

The project was developed by a consortium of 26 telecommunications operators, mostly from Eastern and Southern Africa with the support of five DFIs: International Finance Corporation (IFC), the AfDB, European Investment Bank, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). The total cost of the project is $235 million with around $70 million coming as debt-financing from the DFIs. Of this, IFC contributed $32.7 million and AfDB contributed U$14.5 million.

EASSy is one of three submarine fiber-optic cables that are due to become operational in the region between 2009 and 2010. Experience shows that competition between submarine cables is the best way to achieve efficient and affordable ICT services.

West African Power Pool – Joint World Bank-AfDB

Limited inter-country connectivity in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region results in inefficient, costly routing of calls between neighboring countries by satellite. Policy makers in the region have identified the emerging regional electricity transmission infrastructure as a way of improving high bandwidth regional communications capacity. These electricity networks have built in fiber-optic cables whose spare capacity can be utilized to provide backbone services to communications providers on a wholesale basis.

The World Bank and AfDB have been closely involved in developing the regional electricity transmission infrastructure through the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP). This transmission infrastructure will also be able to carry telecommunications traffic. In 2008, a stakeholder workshop in Benin endorsed the opportunity and committed to removing the bottlenecks associated with creating a regional backhaul network.

The World Bank and AfDB continue to provide support to the development of this network in FY09 through the preparation of the detailed technical, commercial and financial feasibility studies. Staff are also working with governments in the region to address the legal/regulatory and contractual arrangements for implementation, and continue to work with other donor agencies to ensure that efforts in this area are complementary.

“Regional communication infrastructure programs such as the CAB program illustrate what can be achieved through a strong partnership between the governments, private-sector and development partners,” said Yann Burtin, Project Manager for the CAB Program. The contributions of the AfDB and of the African Union Commission are essential to the process, added Burtin.

“The CAB program is an exciting development for Chad, Cameroon and the Central African Program. Regional connectivity projects like this one are increasingly important in the African Development Bank’s strategy for the region,” said Amadou Thierno Diallo, Manager for Energy and ICT at theAfDB.

For more information, please visit:
http://www.worldbank.org/gict

Cross-posted to Sudan Watch and Niger Watch.

Rwanda: Habyarimana killed by his own army, UK experts report

Rwanda is this week expected to release the findings of an investigation by UK defence experts into the causes of the April 6, 1994 air crash that killed president Juvenal Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart Cyprian Ntaryamira, triggering off a 100-day genocide in which nearly a million Rwandans, mainly Tutsi, died.

Click here for full story by The East African (Kenya), Monday, 11 January 2010 via Afrika.no - The Norwegian Council for Africa.

Africa Cup of Nations: Togo footballers shot on bus in Congo, near Angolan border

Togo footballers shot in ambush
Report from BBC News at 17:44 GMT, Friday, 8 January 2010:

Gunmen have fired on a bus carrying Togo's football team to the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, wounding several players, competition officials say.

They say robbers shot at the bus in Congo, near the Angolan border. There are reports of serious injuries.

The Africa Cup of Nations is due to start on Sunday.

Togo's first game is to be played on Monday in the oil-rich territory of Cabinda, where rebels have been fighting for independence.

The Togolese team includes Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor and Aston Villa's Moustapha Saliphou.

Those wounded also include team doctors. The identities of the injured are not known.

The BBC understands Adebayor is not among them.

- - -

Africa Cup of Nations: Venue guide

Four brand-new stadiums spread across Angola's west coast will give fans the chance to explore more than just on-field excitement at the Africa Cup of Nations. The BBC's Louise Redvers gives an insider's guide to the venues. Click here for full story at BBC News, Thursday, 7 January 2010.
- - -

Africa Cup of Nations ready for kick-off

Africa Cup of Nations
Venue and dates: Angola, 10-31 January Coverage: Final and semi-finals live on BBC TV, BBC World Service and commentaries on BBC Sport website. Live commentary on opening match on BBC World Service and BBC Sport website. Click here for full story by Alistair Magowan, BBC News, Friday, 8 January 2010.

FDLR Inc: Congo’s multinational rebels, one of Africa's most feared militias

The German authorities have arrested leaders of a militia which operates in the Democratic Republic of Congo - but how strong is the case against them? The BBC's East Africa Correspondent Peter Greste investigates.


The FDLR is one of Africa's most feared militias

From BBC News
By the BBC's East Africa Correspondent Peter Greste, 18 November 2009:
FDLR Inc: Congo’s multinational rebels

Over the past few months, I have been investigating connections between war crimes allegedly committed by the FDLR in the Congo, and their leaders living in Europe.

One of them is Callixte Mbarashimana, an unlikely-looking warlord, elegantly dressed in a suit, tie and overcoat. With his neatly trimmed goatee and easy smile, he looks more like a university professor than the second-most powerful man in one of Africa's most feared militias.

Mr Mbarashimana is the executive secretary of the FDLR - one of the most potent rebel forces fighting in the dense forests and bush-land along the eastern frontier of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

They are, he says, "a military-political organisation to protect Rwandan refugees and … to liberate the Rwandan people from the yoke of the fascist regime of the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front)".

'Conglomeration'

These are claims that gall human rights workers, the United Nations and countless Congolese civilians, who accuse the FDLR of a catalogue of abuses, including mass rape, murder, forced recruitments, child soldiers, using slaves to illegally exploit minerals.

"It's just a conglomeration of criminals," according to the head of the UN's programme to demobilise the region's armed groups, Greg Alex. "What have they done in the Congo that's been righteous?"

According to UN investigators, FDLR executives operate relatively freely in North America, and Europe. Those connections have infuriated peacekeeping officials in the Congo who have repeatedly called on host governments to dismantle the support structure that keeps the rebels fighting.

"The linkages are clear," said a frustrated Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, head of the UN's peacekeeping force in the province of North Kivu.

"The FDLR has remained cohesive as it is now because of the political leadership in Europe. These are people that encourage those in the field to kill, to rape every day. These are crimes, so they should be prosecuted."

'Commander-in-chief'

The FDLR's president, Ignace Murwanashyaka, lives in Mannheim in Germany. He was arrested on Tuesday, charged with being a leader of a terrorist organisation, of war crimes and crimes against humanity.



German authorities accuse Ignace Murwanashyaka of war crimes

In interview after interview, serving and former FDLR officials told me that he is not only the ideological and political force behind the movement, he is its supreme military commander.

He is "like President Obama," according to the FDLR's spokesman in the Congo who goes by the nom de guerre of "La Forge".

"Just as President Obama is also the commander-in-chief of the US armed forces, so President Murwanashyaka is our military leader as well."

The BBC has obtained a log of calls from satellite phones owned by senior FDLR commanders that shows a regular and consistent communication with leaders in the diaspora, notably Ignace Murwanashyaka.

The evidence - supported by testimony from former officers - suggests that he personally directed strategy and approved operations.



The UN estimates over a thousand civilians have been killed this year

Child soldiers

Captain Busokoye Donat is a former FDLR officer now in Rwanda under the demobilisation scheme. He used to be in charge of officer training before taking over what he described as "civil defence" - which is training civilian supporters in weapons and military tactics.

"You have to understand that in our organisation, Dr Murwanashyaka is like God," he said.

"He might not give tactical orders - that's the job of the officers who know the situation on the ground - but every operation is run past him for approval."

"He knows everything that happens in the field."

I asked Donat about reports that the FDLR is recruiting child soldiers.

"We have been losing a lot of troops through DDRRR (the UN's demobilisation programme) so we have to go to schools to get more soldiers. We have no choice," he said.

"Does Dr Murwanashyaka know this?" I asked.

"I told you. Dr Murwanashyaka knows everything that happens."

Donat also linked the leader to attacks on innocent villagers.

"I personally saw a telegram in which President Murwanashyaka told commanders that they should attack villages to force civilians to flee."

"That's to put pressure on the international community and Rwanda to negotiate with us," Donat said.

Justice

Before his arrest, we asked Mr Murwanashyaka for an interview. He referred us to his executive secretary Callixte Mbarashimana in Paris.



Callixte Mbarashimana defends the FDLR's human rights record

Mr Mbarashimana denied complicity in war crimes. "I am in a country where justice works. I am ready to face justice if there are any allegations that come with evidence."

"I have always claimed my innocence and I am ready - I repeat ready - to face justice if they come with allegations."

Mr Mbarashimana fiercely defended the FDLR's human rights record. "There is no FDLR policy to attack any civilian population," he said. "We condemn all those abuses. We have consistently called for an international investigation so that they can identify the authors of those abuses and bring them to justice. That is our policy."

The French authorities told me Mr Mbarashimana has broken none of their laws. They said free speech legislation protects his right to act as the organisation's spokesman, and they have not received any formal request for an investigation.

UNHCR: LRA killed 1,200 & abducted 1,400 in N.E. Congo Sep 2008 to Jun 2009 + killed 80 in 27 attacks in S. Sudan Dec 2008 - Mar 2009

UN report details attacks on civilians
Report from Associated Press, December 22, 2009:

GENEVA - The United Nations accused the Uganda-based Lord’s Resistance Army yesterday of killing, mutilating, and raping villagers in Sudan and Congo in what may have been crimes against humanity.

The rebels killed at least 1,200 people and abducted 1,400 in northeastern Congo from September 2008 to June 2009, said a report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

A separate report by the UN’s rights office said that, in at least 27 attacks on villages in southern Sudan, the Lord’s Resistance Army killed more than 80 civilians and kidnapped many others to use as child soldiers, sex slaves, and spies. The report said the attacks in Sudan took place between December 2008 and March 2009.

Both reports were based on hundreds of interviews with survivors and several field trips to the remote areas by UN employees, said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the high commissioner.

Survivors in Sudan told UN investigators that armed Lord’s Resistance Army rebels arrived in groups of between five and 20 and attacked people with axes, bayonets, hoes, knives and machetes. They reserved the use of firearms for those who tried to flee, the report said.

The attacks in Sudan may amount to crimes against humanity, while the widespread abuses in Congo may have been war crimes as well, it said.

UN ends Congo campaign - 21,000 peacekeepers in DRC

Report from BBC News online at 23:01 GMT, Wednesday, 16 December 2009:
UN ends criticised Congo campaign

The UN envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo says a joint military operation against rebels will be concluded at the end of this month.

Alan Doss told the UN Security Council that the campaign in the east of the country had "largely achieved" its goal of weakening the Rwandan Hutu rebels.

The operation was criticised by rights groups, who accuse Congolese government troops of killing and raping civilians.
UN experts had said the campaign failed to dismantle militia infrastructure.

But Mr Doss declared that had not been the objective, as the rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), is deeply entrenched in eastern Congo.

He did acknowledge there was a dilemma at the heart of the peacekeeping mandate to both protect civilians and work with an undisciplined Congolese army.

Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch said the offensive had seen 1,400 civilians murdered this year by both Congolese troops and rebels.

New mandate

Mr Doss told the Security Council that Congolese troops backed by the UN force "will now concentrate on holding ground recovered from the FDLR and preventing attacks on civilians in areas of vulnerability".

The FDLR has been active in eastern Congo for 15 years.

Some of its older members are accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda, which targeted the Tutsi minority and claimed about 800,000 lives.

Mr Doss said during the first half of next year UN officials would propose a realistic plan for reconfiguring the 21,000-strong peacekeeping force in Congo, known as Monuc, which has been deployed in the country for the past 10 years.

Diplomats say a draft resolution submitted to the Security Council would extend the peacekeepers mandate by five months.

At that point, the idea would be to begin phasing them out of combat and into a programme to reform the army and police forces, says the BBC's Barbara Plett at the United Nations in New York.

KEY STORIES

Rebels Inc 
Is the feared FDLR being run from Europe? 

'UN failings have led to more suffering'

In pictures: Behind rebel lines

From rebel-held Congo to beer can

DR Congo outsources its military

Congo trial starts road to justice

Nkunda's spectacular fall

Refugees' reactions 

Children forced to fight

Impossible task for UN

Q&A: DR Congo conflict

Q&A: International Criminal Court

BACKGROUND

Harvest of death

DR Congo: Key facts

Rwanda's Kagame concerned by dominance of DR Congo radios

Source: RNA news agency, Kigali, in English 10 Dec 09 via BBC Monitoring:
Rwandan leader concerned by dominance of DR Congo radios
December 10th, 2009 - 11:06 UTC by Andy Sennitt.
Text of report in English by Rwandan news agency RNA

President Paul Kagame demanded Thursday that the national broadcaster deploys any appropriate technology to stop the dominance of DR Congo state radio and other FM stations which relay to western Rwanda, RNA reports.

Most areas bordering the large neighbour have for years not been able to capture Radio Rwanda or even state TV. Instead, they watch several Congolese television channels as well as radio stations including Congolese State Radio.

Local officials from there and parliamentarians petitioned the government arguing that their people were not closely following government programmes because there is no communications medium. The Ministry of Information was directed to take up the issue. At the ongoing National Dialogue, a person raised the issue by SMS and President Kagame was on hand - putting whoever is responsible to task.

Former Information Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said that in addition to new relay antennas that are being installed, her office was engaging the Congolese government to reduce the strength of radio signals which come from there.

President Kagame was not convinced, wondering whether Congo needs to reduce the strength of its signal or Rwanda had to increase the capacity of its own broadcaster. He also wondered how a signal from such a large country can reach some parts of Rwanda - dominating the signal from Kigali

“Do you ask your neighbour to reduce the volume of their radio when yours has a low volume or you simply increase the volume?” he demanded amid loud cheers, as Ms Mushikiwabo struggled to explain.

The former minister, now Foreign Affairs Minister, said her office had also preferred to engage with DRC officials to have the signal from Kinshasa regulated.

“No, that is not how things are done,” Kagame said. “The solution is increasing the volume of your radio.”

He also complained that it had been too long but this problem of Radio Rwanda and TV Rwanda remains unsolved. It should not be simply that something is going or is being done, he said adding “we want time lines for when the problem will be over”.

The minister said in a period of six months, the problem will be no more. The state broadcaster ORINFOR has injected some 13m dollars into upgrading its transmission equipment.

American firm Harris Corporation - a broadcast communications technology provider will install new antennas, put up new studio equipment, buy new long-distance relay vans and train technical staff.

The areas bordering Uganda also [more] easily capture FM stations from there than Rwanda state radio.

First visit of ICC President to DR Congo

Source: International Criminal Court (ICC)
First visit of ICC President to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
KINSHASA, Dem. Rep. of Congo (DRC) December 10, 2009/APO/ — ICC-CPI-20091209-PR485

The President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Judge Sang-Hyun Song, will begin tomorrow, 10 December, 2009, a visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where he will be meeting with senior government representatives, members of the local civil society, and affected communities in Ituri, until 15 December, 2009. This first visit of the ICC President to the DRC will provide an opportunity to strengthen the country’s co-operation and to enhance local awareness in order to fulfil the Court’s mandate in the DRC.

In the country’s capital, Kinshasa, President Song will meet with the Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs, with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Mission in the DRC and with members of the diplomatic community.

President Song will address the members of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) during its conference on Justice and peace in the Great Lakes’ region and Central Africa. The focus of the conference will be on the impact of justice in the Great Lakes and Central Africa, including the DRC and on security and post-conflict recovery, with particular attention on the protection of women and children. He will also participate in an outreach event of the Court with Congolese academic and judicial communities.

The President will then travel to Bunia, the capital of the Ituri District, in eastern Congo, where he will meet the members of communities affected by the crimes currently under investigation before the ICC and with local authorities, members of local tribunals, local human rights organisations, and journalists.

His journey will conclude in the town of Fataki, 85 km north of Bunia, one of the sites of conflict in 2003, for a town-hall style meeting with the general public, including local authorities, religious and traditional leaders, teachers, women’s groups representatives and local media.

The situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was referred to the Court by the Government of the DRC on 3 March, 2004. The case of The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui is the second case in the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after that of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, whose trial commenced on 26 January, 2009, before Trial Chamber I. A fourth warrant of arrest was issued by Pre-Trial Chamber I on 22 August, 2006, against Bosco Ntaganda, who remains at large.

For further information please contact Ms Sonia Robla, Head of Public Information and Documentation Section at +31 (0)70 515-8089 or +31 (0) 6 46 44 87 26 or at sonia.robla@icc-cpi.int.

Rwanda: Mixed reactions on restoration of Rwanda - France relations

From The New Times (Rwanda)
December 1, 2009 (via Afrika.no)
Rwanda: Mixed reactions on restoration of Rwanda - France relations

Kigali (Rwanda) — The announcement by government Sunday that Rwanda is set to restore relations with France has been received with mixed reactions, with many, particularly the diplomatic corps, welcoming the development.

The government announced the decision to reinstate relations with France after Presidents Paul Kagame and Nicolas Sarkozy spoke on phone Sunday and agreed to start the process of normalizing ties.

It says this has been the finale of prior extensive consultations between the two governments, at different levels, and Rwanda emphasized willingness "to working out in due course all outstanding issues based on mutual understanding."

A seemingly ecstatic Ivo Goemans, the Belgian ambassador in Kigali, told The New Times that Belgium, being a European country, was pleased and would "welcome our French colleagues when they come to reopen their embassy in Kigali."

"It is very good news, but we are waiting for details of course, especially on how the crucial problem (indictments by a French Judge) will be resolved. The judicial problem is the most important - it was the origin of the breakup.

"This also concerns the other EU countries and we are really eager to know about it," Goemans said.

German Ambassador, Elmar Timpe, also welcomed Sunday's revelation, saying it is "a very good step and very good news" for both countries.

"I think that each and every one in the international community and in Europe is very pleased by this step - and that there will be progress made in order to improve relations. We can only congratulate them," Ambassador Timpe said.

However, Theodore Simburudali, the head of the genocide survivors' organization, Ibuka , seemed not entirely moved by the development largely due to France's role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

"We don't make these decisions - it is the government of Rwanda that decides who to have relations with as well as with whom not to have relations with," Simburudali said.

"It is okay as long as it doesn't diminish France's responsibility - the role they played in the killing of the Tutsi during the Genocide in this country."

Since the election of President Sarkozy, Paris says the country has made efforts to turn the page and normalize relations with Rwanda. Presidents Kagame and Sarkozy have met twice since the breakup.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has travelled to Kigali twice, and Rwandan and French officials have held several discussions in an effort to find a common ground.

Rwanda becomes a member of the Commonwealth

The Commonwealth has admitted Rwanda as its 54th member.

The African country was admitted at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago, a statement from the group said.

A Rwandan minister said the move showed his country's "tremendous progress" over the last 15 years.

The former colony of Germany and Belgium is the second country to be admitted without a British colonial past or constitutional link to Britain.

Mozambique is the only other Commonwealth member without historic UK ties.

It joined the organisation 14 years ago.

Full story: BBC News, Nov. 29, 2009 - Rwanda becomes a member of the Commonwealth

SEE ALSO What would the Commonwealth do for Rwanda?

DR Congo war crimes trial begins - Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui have pleaded not guilty

According to the following report, interethnic violence in DR Congo has claimed the lives of 60,000 people since 1999, NGOs say.

From Aljazeera.net (Agencies), Wednesday, November 25, 2009:
DR Congo war crimes trial begins

Two Congolese men accused of directing an attack on a village, during which at least 200 people were killed, women raped and child soldiers allegedly recruited, have gone on trial in The Hague.

Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui appeared at the International Criminal Court on Tuesday, facing charges of seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The men, who pleaded not guilty, stand accused over an attack by their forces on the village of Bogoro in Democratic Republic of Congo's northeastern Ituri region in February 2003.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the court's chief prosecutor, said the pair were "responsible for some of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community".

"They used children as soldiers, they killed more than 200 civilians in a few hours, they raped women; girls and the elderly, they looted the entire village and they transformed women into sex slaves," he said.

"Some were shot dead in their sleep, some cut up by machetes to save bullets. Others were burned alive after their houses were set on fire by the attackers."

'Killing without distinction'

Katanga, 31, an ethnic Ngiti, is said to have commanded the Patriotic Resistance Force (FRPI), while Ngudjolo, 39, a Lendu, is accused of being the former leader of the National Integrationist Front (FNI).

The prosecution say more than 1,000 fighters from both groups, including child soldiers, entered Bogoro in the early hours of February 24, six years ago.
"The plan was to wipe out Bogoro. They killed without distinction," Moreno-Ocampo said.

Until the attack, Bogoro had been controlled by rival Thomas Lubanga's Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), blocking FRPI and FNI fighters and camps from the road to the key city of Bunia.

Lubanga's own war crimes trial, the ICC's first, started in January.

Defence lawyers disputed whether Katanga or Ngudjolo were actually the commanders of the groups at the time of the attack and suggested both the governments' of Uganda and DR Congo had much to gain from the violence.

'Clear conscience'

David Hooper, Katanga's lawyer, said that his client's role during the conflict "was merely to defend his own people", accusing Uganda of fuelling the violence through its "plunder" of the natural resources.

"The defence disputes that Germain Katanga ... planned the attack or that he participated in it," Hooper said.

Jean-Pierre Kilenda, the defence counsel for Ngudjolo, said his client had a "clear conscience" and "was never involved personally or through intermediaries in the attack on Bogoro".

Non-governmental bodies say that inter-ethnic and militia violence in Ituri, largely over control of the area's gold mines, has claimed 60,000 lives since 1999.

Katanga was handed over to the ICC by the Democratic Republic of Congo government in October 2007, while Ngudjolo was arrested and transferred to The Hague in February 2008.

The two defence teams will give their opening statements later on Tuesday.

Quote of the Day
"The plan was to wipe out Bogoro. They killed without distinction" -Luis Moreno-Ocampo, ICC chief prosecutor

ICC's Outreach Programme is active in Uganda, DR Congo, CAR and Darfur (Sudan)

Currently, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Outreach Programme is active in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and Darfur (Sudan). The programme promotes access to and understanding of judicial proceedings and fosters realistic expectations about the court's work. This in turn has engendered greater local community participation by addressing their concerns and countering misperceptions.

From The Guardian in Nigeria, Wednesday, November 25, 2009:
ICC registrar presents outreach report to member states
By Francis Obinor

THE International Criminal Court (ICC) has presented its Outreach Report 2009 to representatives of States and Non-Governmental Organisations attending the Eighth Session of the Assembly of the States Parties to the Rome Statute in The Hague.

The court's head of the Outreach Unit, Claudia Perdomo, yesterday told The Guardian that the Registrar, Silvana Arbia, informed those present that during the period covered by the report, from October 1, 2008 - October 1, this year, more than 39,665 individuals participated in 365 Outreach activities.

According to her, the use of local radio and television stations was dramatically increased in order to expand the number of people receiving the message of the Court in a most effective way and to support daily Outreach activities.

"It is estimated that nearly 34 million people were regularly informed through the media during the yearly timeframe," she said.

Arbia recalled that the Outreach Programme was established to cultivate a level of awareness and understanding of the court's mandate and activities among the most affected communities of situation and cases before the court.

Currently, the Outreach Programme is active in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and Darfur (Sudan). The programme promotes access to and understanding of judicial proceedings and fosters realistic expectations about the court's work. This in turn has engendered greater local community participation by addressing their concerns and countering misperceptions.

Building on the experience of the last three years, in the upcoming period, the Outreach Unit will continue to apply participatory and interactive methodologies in all activities, and will prioritise themes agreed upon with beneficiaries of the Outreach Programme.

To facilitate this evolving process, the following four categories have been defined, under which activities and key target populations are grouped, and relevant thematic approaches are identified: the Community Outreach Programme engaging affected communities and civil society organisations; the Legal Outreach Programme engaging legal practitioners; the Academic Outreach Programme engaging schools and universities; and the Media Outreach Programme engaging journalists.

The Registrar concluded that "in all situations, to fulfill the mandate to communicate with affected communities support from States, including national authorities and local civil society organisations, remains crucial. Putting public radio stations and television channels at the court's service would ensure public access to the court's proceedings which is a fundamental element of a fair trial."

Lastly, a video documenting key findings of the Outreach Report in each of the situation related countries was shown. Questions asked by State's delegates attending the meeting, as well as Civil Society representatives, were answered by ICC staff, including the Outreach Co-ordinators who are based in the field, in the situation countries.

Meanwhile, ICC prosecutor has told judges at the international court that two Congolese militia leaders sent child soldiers and other fighters to wipe out a village in a revenge attack that left more than 200 men, women and children dead.

"Some were shot in their sleep, some cut up with machetes to preserve bullets. Others were burned alive after their houses were set on fire," Luis Moreno Ocampo said in his opening statement.

The two alleged commanders, Germain Katanga, 31, and Mathieu Ngudjolo, 39, both pleaded not guilty to three crimes against humanity and seven war crimes, including murder, rape, sexual enslavement and pillage.

It was only the tribunal's second trial since it began operations in 2002. The first case, of alleged Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga who is accused of recruiting child soldiers, started in January.

Prosecutors say Katanga and Ngudjolo led two mobs of child soldiers and older fighters armed with automatic weapons, machetes and spears to destroy the village of Bogoro in Congo's mineral-rich Ituri Province on February 24, 2003. Many of the victims were hacked to death.

The village was strategically located on a crossroad and was the base of a rival militia known as the UPC.

Ocampo said the attack went far beyond a legitimate military campaign to become revenge for earlier UPC attacks.

"The plan was to wipe out Bogoro," he said. "Destroy not only the UPC camp but the whole village."

Katanga and Ngudjolo both sat impassively as Ocampo outlined his case, accusing their soldiers also of raping women and forcing others into marriage or sexual slavery.

He quoted Katanga as boasting after the attack that "nothing was spared. Absolutely nothing. Chickens, goats, everything ... was wiped out."

Lawyers for some 345 victims - including some of the child soldiers forced to carry out the massacre - are also taking part in the trial.

"Their childhood was brutally interrupted and they have been in hell from one day to the next," said Belgian attorney, Jean-Louis Gilissen, who is representing child soldiers. He said the children were abducted and ordered to fight "as vanguard troops for the butchery of Bogoro."

Another victims' lawyer, Fidel Nsita Luvengika, said establishing the truth will allow his clients to mourn slain family members.

"They don't know what happened to their families. They don't know how they were killed or whether they were buried," he said.

Prosecutors plan to call 26 witnesses to support their case. In an indication of the ongoing climate of fear in Ituri, 21 of them will testify with their identities shielded from the public.

Among other cases at the world's first permanent war crimes court, former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba is in custody and is scheduled to go on trial next year for alleged crimes in the Central African Republic. Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and two other Sudanese have been charged with atrocities in Darfur. The leaders of brutal Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army also are under indictment.

Cross-posted to Sudan Watch and Uganda Watch.

LRA leader Kony has instructed his troops to move into Darfur, Sudan?

Note that I have put a question mark against each of the following news reports because the reports could be propaganda aimed at diverting attention and gaining publicity.   The information contained within each of these reports, until verified elsewhere, ought to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Sudan Watch, November 23, 2009:
LRA leader Kony has instructed his troops to move into Darfur, Sudan?

Uganda Watch, Monday, November 23, 2009:
Ugandan security forces kill senior LRA commander Okello Ukuti in CAR?

Sudan Watch, November 06, 2009:
Leading LRA rebel commander Charles Arop surrenders to Ugandan army?

DR Congo: Calls for LRA to face Congo charges

Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
Date: 18 Nov 2009 (via ReliefWeb)
DR Congo: Calls for LRA to face Congo charges
Campaigners want ICC to indict Ugandan rebels for crimes they are alleged to have committed in DRC.
By Melanie Gouby in the Hague and Gabriel Shabani in Kinshasa (AR No 236, 18-Nov-09)

Human rights activists are calling on the International Criminal Court, ICC, to charge the Lord's Resistance Army leaders with a series of brutal crimes they are accused of perpetrating in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.

LRA leader Joseph Kony and two others are wanted by the ICC for war crimes in northern Uganda. However, the LRA moved into the DRC in 2005 and since 2008 has staged raids across the northeast – reportedly raping, abducting and burning villages in retaliation for attacks by the Ugandan army. They have also alleged to have committed crimes against civilians in the Central African Republic, CAR, and Sudan.

One of the most recent attacks took place on September 25 in Digba, DRC, where 22 people were killed with machetes and knives in a raid carried out by over 40 members of the LRA, according to the Agence France Presse.

A leading Congolese human rights activist says the crimes committed in DRC should be added to the indictment against the LRA. Kony, Vincent Otti, Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odiambo and Dominic Ongwen were charged with crimes against humanity five years ago. Lukwiya and Otti have since been killed.

"The crimes committed by Kony's troops in the DRC correspond to the description of international crimes punishable by the ICC. Therefore they must not be left aside. Kony and the other leaders have not been arrested yet and the case has not moved forward, thus [the ICC] has plenty of time to add new charges," said Delly Mawazo Sesete, executive director of Goma-based Creddho.

Elise Keppler, senior counsel at Human Right Watch, echoed Mawazo's call for additional charges against the LRA leaders.

"In order to see justice done it is vital that there be prosecution for the crimes committed in the DRC in addition to the crimes committed in northern Uganda," she said. "Human Right Watch has urged the ICC to look closely at the crimes that have been committed in the DRC, and if the evidence meets the necessary threshold to add charges or to issue arrest warrant for additional persons."

The LRA was formed in 1987 and claimed to represent the Acholi people of northern Uganda against President Yoweri Museveni. Fighters are said to have mutilated victims by cutting body parts such as noses, ears or lips. They are also believed to have abducted over 20,000 civilians, many of them children, to use them as soldiers.

Between 2005 and 2008, the violence diminished as the LRA took refuge around Garamba national park in the DRC. But in 2008, as peace negotiations with the Ugandan government failed, Kony called for his men to take up arms and atrocities began again in the northeast.

A coordinated offensive by the Ugandan, Congolese and Sudanese forces merely scattered the fighters across the region.

ICC rules say it is possible for prosecutors to add new charges against the LRA with article 58.6 of its founding Rome Statute stating, "The prosecutor may request the pre-trial chamber to amend the warrant of arrest by modifying or adding to the crimes specified therein. The pre-trial chamber shall so amend the warrant if it is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person committed the modified or additional crimes."

But that doesn't seem likely to happen soon. A representative of the ICC's office of the prosecutor told IWPR that arresting Kony and the others is the court's priority, not adding new charges to the existing indictments.

"Too much time has been wasted and the reason why crimes are continuing is the lack of arrest of persons for whom arrest warrants were issued in 2005," Emeric Rogier said.

"The highest priority for the office of the prosecutor, and for all those seeking to put an end to continuing LRA crimes, needs to be the arrest of the three top commanders of the LRA for whom arrest warrants have been outstanding for more than four years now."

However, Rogier said the ICC has investigated alleged LRA crimes in DRC.

"In the last 18 months, this office collected information, including victim and insider witness testimony, which indicates that, following orders by Joseph Kony to begin a new abduction campaign, there have been more than 2,000 abductions, more than 1,250 killings and well in excess of 300,000 people displaced in DRC, Sudan and CAR," he said.

The Congolese government also believes the arrest of Kony should be the top priority.

"For everything that occurred after the arrest warrant was issued, we must take into account that the court will be able to add these new developments when the arrest is made. The prosecutor will be able to add them to his indictment," said Lambert Mendé, the DRC minister of communication.

Mendé estimates the number of LRA fighters in DRC at 150-200 though others suggest the figure is closer to 1,000.

Keppler says new charges are important for the victims of the LRA.

"Currently there are Ugandan victims' communities represented by the existing charges. Communities in the DRC are not incorporated into the charges for the crimes that currently exist," she said. "Insuring that justice is done includes having a sense of redress for the victims, which will not be possible where there is no representation of the kind of crimes committed in the DRC."

Mariana Goetz from the NGO Redress, which works with torture victims, agrees that DRC-related charges should be added to the ICC case against the LRA.

"For the victims, it is important that justice publicly acknowledge their sufferings," Goetz said.

Melanie Gouby is an IWPR reporter in the Hague. Gabriel Shabani is a Kinshasa-based journalist who produces IWPR's Facing Justice radio programme.

ICC Trust Fund for Victims: Elisabeth Rehn elected to the Board of Directors

From the Finnish Government's Ministry for Foreign Affairs
November 18, 2009 14.24
Elisabeth Rehn elected to the Board of Directors of the ICC Trust Fund for Victims

Elisabeth Rehn has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Trust Fund for Victims within the International Criminal Court. The Board members were elected at the session of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court on 18 November in the Hague.

States Parties have been grouped into geographical areas, each of which has a representative on the Board of the Trust Fund for Victims. Elisabeth Rehn represents the group of Western European countries and Australia, Canada and New Zealand. A distinguished and internationally recognised human rights expert, she has previously served as a Member of the Finnish Parliament, Minister of Defence, Minister of Equality Affairs, a Member of the European Parliament, as UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, and as Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in the former Yugoslavia. In recent years, she has dedicated herself to international tasks. In particular, the impact of war on women and their role in peace building have figured prominently on Rehn’s agenda.

Besides Elisabeth Rehn, the following persons were elected to the five-seat Board of Directors: Betty Kaari Murungi, human rights lawyer from Kenya; Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, former President of Latvia; Eduardo Pizarro Leongómez, President of the National Reparation and Reconciliation Commission o Colombia; and Ambassador Bulgaa Altangerel of Mongolia. The Board’s principal task is to guide the Trust Fund’s activities and allocation of resources and to coordinate and oversee assistance projects. The Board reports to the Assembly of States Parties. The new Board will start its three-year term on 1 December 2009.

The Trust Fund for Victims was established in 2002. Its objective is to assist victims of crime and their families in cases being processed by the International Criminal Court. The crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC are genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Trust Fund and its mandate are unique when compared against other international tribunals.

The special target groups of the Trust Fund’s assistance efforts are victims of sexual violence, former child soldiers and abducted children, the families of murder victims and victims of other brutal crimes, and victimised villages. The Fund’s assets are mainly used for the physical and psychological rehabilitation of victims and for material support. The Fund may also pay victims damages or other reparations by virtue of a decision given by the ICC during a trial. Initiatives for assistance projects come directly from target areas approved by the ICC. At present, a total of 29 projects are under way in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Uganda. The intention is to expand the scope of activities to the Central African Republic and to Sudan/Darfur.

The bulk of the funds used for assistance come as voluntary donations from states. Donations can also be made, for instance, by corporations, private individuals and organisations. The Court may also order that fines or other assets obtained be transferred to the Trust Fund. Finland has consistently supported the Trust Fund’s activities. In terms of the total contribution, Finland is one of the Fund’s biggest donors.

Additional information: Legislative Counsellor Sari Mäkelä, Unit for Public International Law, mobile tel. +358 40 739 2853, First Secretary Miia Aro-Sanchez, Embassy of Finland in the Hague, tel. +31 70 3110143

Crossposted on Sudan Watch and Uganda Watch.

DR Congo: Germany arrests top Rwanda rebels FDLR leader Ignace Murwanashyaka & deputy Straton Musoni

Ignace Murwanashyaka, the leader of the FDLR rebel group, and his aide Straton Musoni were held on suspicion of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Source: BBC News at 17:52 GMT, Tuesday, 17 November 2009. Copy:

Germany arrests top Rwanda rebels



Mr Murwanashyaka has lived in Germany for several years

Police in Germany have arrested two Rwandan militia leaders on suspicion of crimes committed in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Ignace Murwanashyaka, the leader of the FDLR rebel group, and his aide Straton Musoni were held on suspicion of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

FDLR leaders fled to DR Congo after the Rwanda genocide in which some 800,000 people - mostly ethnic Tutsis - died.

The FDLR's presence in DR Congo has been at the heart of years of unrest.

The arrests come as UN peacekeepers continue to help the Congolese army battle the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda).

The operation has been underway since January but the FDLR remains active.

The FDLR is accused of funding its arms purchases by smuggling gold and other minerals from areas it controls in the North and South Kivu provinces, just across the border from Rwanda.

Mr Murwanaskyaka, 46, was arrested in the city of Karlsruhe, while 48-year-old Mr Musoni was held in the Stuttgart area, German prosecutors said in a statement.

The statement said that the pair were the leader and deputy leader of the FDLR.

"The accused are strongly suspected, as members of the foreign terrorist organisation FDLR, of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes," it said.

It added that "FDLR militias are believed to have killed several hundred civilians, raped numerous women, plundered and burned countless villages, forcing villagers from their homes and recruiting numerous children as soldiers".

'Brutal crimes'

Lobby group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has welcomed the arrests.

"Our research clearly indicates that Mr Murwanashyaka has a powerful influence over the FDLR militia who have deliberately targeted and killed hundreds of civilians in eastern Congo and that he is directly linked to the crimes," said HRW DR Congo expert Anneke Van Woudenberg.

EYEWITNESS
Mark Doyle, BBC News

There is no doubt that Ignace Murwanashyaka has had direct command and control over some of the illegal mining activities of Rwandan rebels operating in eastern DR Congo.

I know, because when I travelled in the area earlier this year with a BBC team, it was he who gave us permission to enter the rebel mining strongholds in the South Kivu region.

I had sought permission from rebel officers on the ground. All of these officers declined to give us permission to enter their area until Mr Murwanashyaka agreed.

It was a public relations gaffe on the rebels' part, however, because we managed to prove, despite rebel denials, that they were deeply involved in illegal mineral mining.

From rebel areas to beer can

"Mr Murwanashyaka's arrest on war crimes and crimes against humanity is a welcome step to bringing justice for these brutal crimes," she added.

Mr Murwanashyaka, an ethnic Hutu, has lived in Germany since before the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

He has always denied that his men, believed to number 5-6,000, were involved in the genocide and says they are fighting to bring democracy to Rwanda.

He was among 15 people whose assets were frozen by the Security Council in 2005 on suspicion of involvement in war crimes in Rwanda or DR Congo.

The FDLR's presence in eastern DR Congo has led to years of fighting in the region, and Rwanda's Tutsi-dominated government has twice invaded, saying it is trying to wipe them out.

Some FDLR leaders have been accused of involvement in the Rwandan genocide.

IGNACE MURWANASHYAKA
Ethnic Hutu, aged 46
Been in Germany since before Rwanda genocide
Denies charges his men are linked to genocide
Says fighting for democracy in Rwanda
Commands 5-6,000 men
FDLR said to smuggle gold from DR Congo to buy weapons
Accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity
Accused of killings, rape, looting and conscripting child soldiers in DR Congo

Congo gold 'still funding' rebels

AGI: Tony Blair meets with 'visionary leader' Paul Kagame during latest two day visit to Rwanda

From The Office of Tony Blair
Monday, November 16, 2009:
Tony Blair meets with 'visionary leader' Paul Kagame during latest two day visit to Rwanda

Tony Blair hailed President Kagame's visionary leadership as he saw for himself the remarkable pace of Rwandan progress during a two-day visit to the East African country.

The founder of the Africa Governance Initiative met with the President and senior officials to discuss ways in which Mr Blair and his team could help Rwanda build the capacity to deliver on the priorities of the Rwandan people, before witnessing examples of Rwandan progress in education, clean energy and business.

Speaking during his visit, Tony Blair said: "I'm delighted to be back in Rwanda working with my good friend Paul Kagame. It is through his visionary leadership that Rwanda has become the African success story it is today, a country moving in the right direction at a remarkable pace."

At the Institute of Scientific and Technical Research in Kigali, Rwandan scientists showed Tony Blair how they transform Jatropha and vegetable oil into biofuel for motor vehicles.

He said: "These Rwandan scientists are developing the green technology that could one day produce Rwanda's main source of energy. Projects like this are the mark of a truly innovative and pioneering country with a leadership that is not only taking the threat of climate change seriously, but taking on the challenge with practical and sustainable solutions."

Tony Blair also visited the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) to attend the signing ceremony of an Eco Fuels Jatropha bio-fuel investment worth $35m. Whilst at the RDB, Mr Blair visited the One-Stop Centre which helped the country gain its status as the top global reformer.

Speaking at the ceremony, Tony Blair said: "Whether you want to start a small business or construct a complex multi-million dollar deal, the Government of Rwanda is serious about helping people do that. With this progressive drive for green investment and clean technology development, Rwanda gives us hope that climate change can be tackled."

Tony Blair's visit takes place as his Africa Governance Initiative enters its second year. The charitable organisation works with African governments to help them to develop the capacity to drive sustainable development.

Tony Blair added: "I'm extremely proud of my excellent team who are working side by side with their Rwandan counterparts to build the capacity to deliver on the priorities of the Rwandan people such as health, education, technology and building infrastructure in this great country."

President Kagame and Tony Blair have agreed to place 10 expert advisers in areas across government:

- In the Presidency where advisers will work in the Strategic Policy Unit, The Executive Office and the Communications Unit where they will help deliver on key priorities for Rwanda's development.

- In the Prime Minister's office where two advisers will focus on government delivery, especially in the Coordination Unit.

- In RDB where three expert advisers will work to help to increase the ability of the RDB to grow Rwanda's private sector.

- In the Ministry for Labour offering assistance and advice to the Government on its capacity building strategy.

Cross posted to Blair Foundation Watch.

NEW PUBLICATION: Peace and Security Council Report - November 2009

Here is a copy of an email received

From: Security Council Report
Subject: Peace & Security Council Report
12 November 2009

Readers of Security Council Report may be interested to know of the recent launch in Addis Ababa of a similar publication designed to provide monthly information about the work of the AU Peace and Security Council. It is called the "Peace and Security Council Report" (To access the November 2009 edition you can click here).

Peace and Security Council Report is produced and published by the Addis Ababa office of the Institute for Security Studies of South Africa. Security Council Report has assisted ISS with the development of this concept and it is pleased that ISS has taken SCR's Monthly Forecast as a model. We are pleased to have been able to help.

You are able to subscribe to regularly receive the Peace and Securty Council Report by clicking here.

Further details may be obtained from the programme directly at:
Peace and Security Council Report Programme
Institute for Security Studies
PO Box 2329
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tel: +251-11-372-11-54
Fax: +251-11-372-59-54

_______________________________________________

Security Council Report
One Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza
885 Second Avenue at 48th Street, 31st Floor
New York NY 10017

Tel: 212.759.9429 • Fax: 212.759.4038

contact@securitycouncilreport.org
www.securitycouncilreport.org

Cross-posted to Ethiopia Watch and Uganda Watch and Sudan Watch and Kenya Watch.

IMPORTANT NEWS: Some Sudanese living abroad may vote in elections - Ten arrested for impersonating registration officials in Rumbek, Southern Sudan

Report by Sudan Radio Service, Thursday, November 12, 2009:
Some Sudanese Living Abroad May Vote in Elections

(Nairobi) - Sudanese living in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Malaysia will now be able to register for the elections scheduled for 2010.

The National Election Commission had earlier exempted some countries from participating in the voter registration exercise which started on November 1.

The Sudanese Ambassador to Kenya, Majok Guandong, told Sudan Radio Service in Nairobi on Thursday that he had received a circular from the NEC instructing him to start the voter registration. exercise in Kenya.

[Majok Guandong]: “Yes it is true, the news came yesterday morning (Wednesday) that the NEC has allowed us to establish voter registration centers in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Malaysia. So since yesterday we have been informing the Sudanese who are residing here, starting from tomorrow (Friday). The registration process will start at the Embassy and the GOSS liaison office. This is good news, because it is a constitutional right for the Sudanese to vote in the elections.”

Majok Guandong said that the registration period will be extended to compensate for the late start. He emphasized that the exercise will take 30 days, as required by NEC.

[Guandong]: “If we start tomorrow (Friday), we will be counting the days we have missed since the official start day, because it should be 30 days as scheduled. Secondly, all the documents are available at the Sudanese Embassy, and all Sudanese have the right. Since 1997, more than 5000 Sudanese have managed to get official documents, the passport, identity cards etc. The process is still on. So they have the right, if they need any official documents, there is no problem at all.”

Earlier, the deputy chairman of the NEC, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, told Sudan Radio Service that NEC was only concentrating on the countries with large Sudanese populations.

The countrywide voter registration exercise is scheduled to finish at the end of November.

- - -

Report by Sudan Radio Service, Thursday, November 12, 2009:
Ten Arrested for Impersonating Registration Officials in Rumbek

(Rumbek) - Ten people posing as registration officers have been arrested in Rumbek, Lakes state.

The 10 are under police custody as investigations are going on. They are being held for registering voters, collecting people’s identification and convincing people not to register at the official registration centers set up by the state High Elections Commission.

Our correspondent in Rumbek, Mageng Wade, sent this report.

[Mageng Wade]: “These people said that they were being sent and given money by the NCP to come and register people locally in order to prevent them from registering for the elections next year. So that is the agenda behind the registration of people in their houses.”

Rumbek Central county commissioner Abraham Akol Bol also spoke to Sudan Radio Service.

[Abraham Akol] “They have been arrested by the police and they are now under police investigation and we have not yet received information from the police whether this group belongs to a political party. They were trying to register people and were telling them not to go to the registration centers because they had already been registered. They also took ID cards from the citizens, those who tried to register but the culprits were found by police and they are now under investigation.”

The deputy governor of Lakes state, David Ngok, said that the people are trying to sabotage both the voter registration exercise and the elections.

[David Ngok]: “If there are some people who are trying to sabotage the voter registration process then they are also sabotaging the elections. We will not tolerate this as the government because this is government policy and it’s part of the CPA and the constitution so we will not allow them to do it.”

The deputy governor of Lakes state, David Ngok, spoke to Sudan Radio Service on Thursday

Click on 'Election' label (here below at Sudan Watch) to read news report Nov. 10, 2009, entitled "SSDF to sue NEC for denying Sudanese in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia a chance to register as voters in the general elections"

Cross-posted to Sudan Watch and Kenya Watch and Uganda Watch and Egypt Watch and Ethiopia Watch.
- - -

UPDATE: From Sudan Tribune by Ngor Arol Garang, Friday, Nov. 13, 2009:
National election board accepts additional countries for Sudanese Diasporas

November 12, 2009 (MALAKAL) — The National Election Commission (NEC) of Sudan today confirmed acceptance of additional countries to the previous list for registration and voting to enable Sudanese abroad to participate in the upcoming elections next year.

Following the publication of a list of countries comprised mostly the Golf countries where the members of the Sudanese Diaspora are from northern Sudan, the SPLM asked to take in consideration African countries where Southerners reside massively.

The initial list includes Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Sultanate of Oman, Bahrain, the UK, Belgium (for all Western Europe) and Washington, New York, Los Angles for the USA.

"We have allocated more registration and voting centers in Africa and Asia, said Abel Alier, NEC chairman at Malakal airport as he was en route to Khartoum after inspecting southern states voter registration centers.

Countries newly agreed upon for inclusion by the two parties in Africa includes Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa as well as and Malaysia, he said adding discussions are underway to add other neighboring countries.

Therefore, as commission, "we request Sudanese people residing in those countries to immediately establish contacts with the Sudanese embassies and other designated offices for registration," he emphasized.

Asked why being selective with countries hosting number of Sudanese people abroad to participate in the ongoing voter registration, he said, national election commission gets approval of countries to be included in the registration process from the presidency.

"The Presidency is the highest authority which decides on issues pertaining to country affairs such as voter registration," he commented expressing wishes all Sudanese people abroad open registration centers.

However, he was quick to say the Commission tries its best to ensure inclusion of more centers so that every Sudanese participates in the upcoming elections.

He said constitution allows participation of legally registered citizens to elect their leaders in the upcoming April 2010 elections.

"If you are not registered, it will be hard to vote for the person one sees as leader," he said adding voter registration remains opened to the last day of November 2009.

Alier also requested local authorities to give logistical supports to voter registration teams. He also acknowledged assistance being rendered by United Nation Mission in Sudan in transportation of voter registration materials and teams in where government supports is required.

"UNMIS is greatly supporting registration process in water zones and areas without good roads mostly in the southern part of the country and transitional areas," he stressed.

Meme: Joe Trippi's Eleven-Eleven 1111Campaign - America's and Britain's Veterans have given so much. Now, you can give back.

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November 11, 2009