D.R. CONGO

DR Congo grants amnesty to hundreds of M23 rebels

Source: AFP World News

Kinshasa, 30 April 2015 - The Democratic Republic of Congo announced Thursday it had granted amnesty to around 375 ex-members of the defeated M23 rebel movement.

The rebels' 18-month war, during which they briefly seized the key eastern DR Congo town of Goma, capital of the mineral-rich North Kivu province, was brought to an end in 2013 by government troops and UN peacekeepers.

Some 1,300 rebels fled to Uganda and others took refuge in Rwanda after their insurgency was crushed.

According to decrees from DR Congo's justice ministry read out on public television, the amnesty law covers "insurgent acts", "acts of war" as well as "political offences" and requires rebels to sign a promise not re-offend.

The amnesty does not include offences like crimes against humanity, war crimes, terrorism, torture, sexual violence, use or conscription of children, embezzlement of public funds and looting.

In February last year President Joseph Kabila announced the amnesty as part of the deal to end the conflict with the rebels.

The rebels complained in August that only 31 members of M23 had been granted amnesty out of the 3,657 people who had signed a pledge not to take up arms again.

The insurgents also complained that "dozens" of their comrades were arrested after returning to DR Congo.

Of the ex-rebels benefitting from the amnesty about 30 were locked up in the Congolese capital Kinshasa, 220 others in Uganda, 122 in Rwanda and four others in Goma.

While the M23 rebels were defeated, numerous armed groups still operate in a region that has been in turmoil for the best part of the past two decades.

Much of the rebel activity consists of abuses against civilians and illegal exploitation of natural resources, be it metals, ivory or timber.

Vers la délimitation de la frontière terrestre entre Rwanda et RDC

Source: RFI

En fin de semaine, les experts rwandais et congolais ont fini de localiser sur le terrain l’emplacement des 22 bornes qui démarquent la frontière telle que définie en 1911 par les colonisateurs belges et allemands. Prochaine étape désormais : reconstruire ces bornes.

3 mai 2015 - Sur une trentaine de kilomètres à vol d’oiseau, les experts rwando-congolais ont passé dix jours à retrouver et marquer sur le terrain l’emplacement des fameuses bornes.

Ces 22 bornes séparent le Rwanda de la République démocratique du Congo sur un tracé allant de la ville de Goma jusqu’au mont Ehu. Une zone où les incidents frontaliers ont été fréquents ces derniers mois, il y a dix jours encore.

Résultat, pour Rachidi Tumbula, l’un des experts de cette commission mixte, il est urgent de terminer ce travail commencé en 2009: « Il faut vider les prétextes de conflits. Parce que, aujoud'hui, à chaque fois qu'il y a des conflits, les gens de la commission de vérification de la CIRGL interviennet. Mais eux-mêmes ne connaissent pas non plus où se trouvent les frontières. Donc il faudrait qu'il y ait une commission comme la nôtre pour dire 'c'est ici la frontière acceptée par nous tous'. Et que si quelqu'un traverse, qu'ils soient capables de dire : 'vous, vous avez traversé...'».

Au final, aucune perte de territoire pour l’un ou l’autre pays, insistent les experts, mais des ajustements. A l'emplacement de la deuxième borne, par exemple, une maison rwandaise. Mais à la borne 3, 4, 5 et 6, ce sont des Congolais qui ont construit leur domicile et empiètent sur la frontière.

Or l’idée est de recréer une zone neutre de 12 mètres entre les deux pays. Faut-il détruire ou déplacer ces maisons ? Ces ajustements vont être adoptés dans les prochains jours, car les présidents de la commission frontalière rwandaise et congolaise sont attendus à Goma mardi pour adopter le rapport final des experts.

Une fois les ajustements adoptés, restera ensuite à reconstruire l’ensemble des 22 bornes. Mais le plus dur reste à faire : délimiter la frontière liquide, celle qui traverse le lac Kivu, riche de ressources notamment gazières. Et pour cela, aucun calendrier n'est prévu.

Congo : Le port du voile intégral interdit dans les milieux publics

Source: Le Griot.info (quotidien panafricain d'informations générales)

Le port du voile intégral par les femmes musulmanes en milieux publics est désormais interdit au Congo. La décision a été prise par les autorités congolaises, pour « pour prévenir tout acte de terrorisme et d’insécurité », a indiqué le ministère congolais de l’Intérieur, dans une notification adressée entre autres au Conseil supérieur islamique du Congo.

4 mai 2015 - Ainsi, les femmes musulmanes ne peuvent désormais arborer leur voile intégral qu’à la maison, dans les lieux de culte mais pas dans les milieux publics. Les autorités congolaises ont également interdit aux musulmans venant d’autres pays de passer leurs nuits dans les mosquées. En effet, des milliers de personnes – principalement des musulmans – ont fui la violence de la Centrafrique voisine et ont trouvé refuge dans les mosquées au Congo.

Ces décisions prises par les autorités congolaises, semblent plutôt avoir été bien accueillies par la communauté musulmane. D’ailleurs pour El Hadj Abdoulaye Djibril Bopaka président du Conseil supérieur islamique du Congo, « La décision de l’autorité est bonne parce qu’il y a eu des témoignages selon lesquels des non musulmans se cachaient derrière le voile intégral pour commettre des actes inciviques », a-t-il indiqué.

Pays à 80% chrétiens, le Congo accueille sur son sol 90% de musulmans venus d’Afrique de l’Ouest et des pays arabes, selon les chiffres révélés par le Conseil supérieur islamique du Congo. Et, sur les 800 000 fidèles musulmans que compte le pays 10% sont des congolais.

Le Congo, est le premier dans la sous-région Afrique Centrale à avoir pris cette décision d’interdire le port de viol intégral dans les milieux publics. Le pays n’ayant pas encore été frappé par des actes terroristes, comme c’est le cas pour son plus proche voisin le Cameroun durement frappé par le groupe islamiste nigérian Boko Haram.

Russia: U.N. Security Council should stay out of Burundi dispute

Source: Reuters World Service; Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Ted Botha

Michelle Nichols

United Nations, 1 May 1, 2015 - Russia said on Friday the United Nations Security Council should not intervene in Burundi's constitutional dispute that has sparked the biggest political crisis in the East African state since an ethnically fuelled civil war ended in 2005.

Diplomats said Russia and China on Thursday blocked a French-drafted council statement on the situation in Burundi, where there has been almost a week of street protests over President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters, "it's not the business of the Security Council and the U.N. Charter to get involved in constitutional matters of sovereign states."

The Burundi constitution and the Arusha peace accord [...] limit the president to two terms, but Nkurunziza's supporters say he can run again because his first term, when he was picked by lawmakers, does not count.

The draft council statement, seen by Reuters, "stressed the need to hold a peaceful, credible, transparent and inclusive electoral process to sustain the gains of peace at a critical time, in accordance with the spirit of the Arusha Agreement, which led to over a decade of peace in Burundi, and with the rule of law."

It also expressed concern about the unrest and escalation of violence since the announcement of Nkurunziza's candidacy for the June 26 presidential vote and condemned the use of lethal weapons in response to the protests.

Statements by the 15-member U.N. Security Council have to be agreed to by consensus.

The crisis is being closely watched in a region still scarred by the 1994 genocide that killed more than 800,000 people in neighboring Rwanda, which like Burundi is divided between ethnic Tutsis and Hutus.

"If some members of the council, some others, want to discuss with people in Burundi how they should interpret their own constitution, we would have no objection to that," Churkin said. "But the Security Council has nothing to do with constitutions in other countries."

The African Union's Peace and Security Council on Wednesday said both sides should await Burundi Constitutional Court's decision on his eligibility.

Nkurunziza warned on Friday of tough measures against those staging protests. Hundreds of students from a university shuttered by the government sought refuge outside the U.S. embassy in the capital Bujumbura on Friday.

The United Nations says about 26,000 Burundians have fled to Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo in the last month.

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BURUNDI

Hundreds of students seek refuge outside U.S. embassy in Burundi

Source: Reuters World Service

By Edmund Blair; Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Dominic Evans

Bujumbura, 1 May 2015 - Hundreds of students from a Burundi university shuttered by the government were seeking refuge outside the U.S. embassy in the capital on Friday, amid unrest and escalating tensions ahead of the June 26 presidential vote.

The east African nation has been rocked by days of protests triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term, a move opponents say violates the constitution and a peace deal that ended an ethnically charged civil war in 2005.

Citing security fears, the government on Wednesday closed University of Burundi, a prestigious institution where football-fanatic Nkurunziza taught physical education in the mid-1990s. Students said they left halls on Thursday but those from rural areas were unable to return home due to road blocks.

An official at the U.S. embassy in Bujumbura said late on Thursday that hundreds of students were "seeking a safe refuge" and had lined the street next to the embassy compound. A witness said they were still there on Friday but did not give numbers.

The embassy spokesman had no immediate comment.

Tom Malinowski, U.S. assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor told Nkurunziza in a meeting on Thursday that the country risks "boiling over," especially if political space is closed for opponents.

"We have urged the government not to let the situation get past a point of no return, because if that happens the gains of the last decade really will be at risk," Malinowski told a news conference on Thursday, adding that there would be "consequences" if violence continues or gets out of hand.

Bujumbura suburbs, where five consecutive days of protests had taken place since Sunday, were generally calmer on Friday, a national Labor Day holiday.

The crisis is being closely watched in a region still scarred by the 1994 genocide that killed more than 800,000 people in neighboring Rwanda, which like Burundi is divided between ethnic Tutsis and Hutus.

Burundi's electoral commission on Friday started accepting applications to stand for president, but it was not immediately clear if any opposition figures have submitted their bids. They have until May 9 to do so.

Diplomats say independent candidate Agathon Rwasa, who like Nkurunziza is a former Hutu rebel commander turned politician, stands the best chance of challenging the president.

Rwasa has trodden a cautious path during the protests that erupted on Monday, criticizing the government's heavy-handed tactics and defending people's right to rally, but refraining from calling for mass protests.

Analysts say Rwasa does not wish to give the government, who term the protests an "insurrection" and illegal, a justification to detain him and exclude him from running for presidency.

The constitution and the Arusha peace accord limit the president to two terms in office, but Nkurunziza's supporters say he can run again because his first term, when he was picked by lawmakers and not elected, does not count.

Three killed, including two policemen, in Burundi attack: police

Source: AFP World News

Bujumbura, 2 May, 2015 - Three people, including two policemen, were killed and several people wounded Friday in a grenade attack in the capital of Burundi, which has been rocked by protests at the president's bid to seek a third term in office, police and witnesses said.

The deaths came in an attack in the Kamenge district of Bujumbura.

Police director general General Andre Ndayambaje told AFP two officers were killed and one was wounded, while a local resident said a civilian also lost his life and two others were wounded.

A similar attack in the centre of the capital of the small central African nation wounded three policemen, the general said.

A senior police officer, who requested anonymity, said police patrolling on foot in Kamenge were attacked with a grenade and a police vehicle was also hit with a grenade.

The local resident said the grenade attack was followed by automatic gunfire.

One policeman died on the spot and another was wounded in the legs, he said.

Minutes later, a grenade exploded under the car of the local police chief who had arrived on the scene. He got out but was killed by a shot.

According to the resident, a civilian was also killed in the shooting and a woman and a child wounded by the second grenade.

A reporter at the scene saw two small craters a few hundred metres (yards) apart and traces of fresh blood in the vicinity.

Seven dead, 66 hurt in week of Burundi protests: officials

Source: AFP World News

Bujumbura, 1 May 1 2015 - At least seven people have died and 66 others been wounded in nearly a week of clashes between police and protestors in the central African nation of Burundi, officials said Friday.

Giving an overall toll of those injured in the violence, Burundian Red Cross spokesman Alexis Manirakiza said 29 people w