Burundi: En bref ce 26 JUILLET 2006 ...

LE PALAIS DE CONGRES DE KIGOBE VIENT D’ETRE REFECTIONNE PAR L’AIDE DE LACOMMUNAUTE FRANCAISE DE BELGIQUE
Bujumbura, le 26 Juillet 2006 (RTNB)-La présidente de l’assemblée nationale, l’honorable Immaculée Nahayo a réceptionné ce mardi 25 juillet, l’immeuble renoué dénommé « Palais des Congrès de Kigobe » où siège régulièrement l’assemblée nationale du Burundi. La présidente de l’assemblée nationale a apprécié hautement l’assistance de la communauté française de Belgique qui était représenté sur les lieux par l’ambassadeur de Belgique au Burundi. Il faut signaler que le Palais des Congrès de Kigobe est flambant neuf avec de équipements modernes dont un parc informatique octroyé par la communauté française de Belgique.

DOUZE MILLE RESSORTISSATS DE LA REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO RESIDANT AU BURUNDI ONT DEJA OBTENU DES « JETONS » A LA FRONTIERE POUR ALLER VOTER LES NOUVELLES INSTITUTIONS
Bujumbura, le 26 Juillet 2006 (RTNB)-Douze mille Congolais résidant au Burundi iront voter en RDC à la fin de ce mois. Cependant, des cas de vol de jetons qui devraient les permettre de traverser la frontière pour aller en RDC ont été observés. L’ambassade de la RDC a décidé de faire confectionner de nouveaux jetons.

LE MOUVEMENT REBELLE FNL-PALIPEHUTU DEMANDE A DAR-ES-SALAAM QUE LES FORCES DE DEFENSE NATIONALE CHANGENT D’APPELATION
Bujumbura, le 25 Juillet 2006 (RTNB)-Les négociations entre le gouvernement et le mouvement rebelle FNL/Palipehutu sont toujours en cours à Dar-es-salaam en Tanzanie. Le mouvement FNL demande que la constitution du Burundi soit amender afin de pouvoir changer la dénomination «Forces de défenses nationale». Pour le ministre de l’intérieur les parties en négociations n’ont pas les prérogatives d’amender la constitution. Il était prévu que les deux parties en négociation à Dar-es-salaam mettent en commun leurs analyses et appréhensions ce mardi 25 juillet 2006 à en croire, le chef de la délégation gouvernementale et ministre de l’intérieur et de la sécurité publique, le Général de brigade Evariste Ndayishimiye.

LE MINISTRE DU COMMERCE ET DE L’INDUSTRIE DEMANDE A LA PRESSE DE PREPARER L’OPINION SUR LES AVANTAGES DE L’ENTREE DU BURUNDI DANS LES PAYS DE LA COMMUNAUTE ECONOMIQUE DES ETATS DE L’AFRIQUE DE L’EST
Bujumbura, le 25 Juillet 2006 (RTNB)-Le Burundi se prépare à son entrée dans la Communauté Economique des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Est a déclaré ce lundi 24 juillet 2006 le ministre du commerce et de l’industrie, madame Denie Sinankwa à l’occasion d’une conférence tenue en faveur des professionnelles de la presse du Burundi. La ministre Sinankwa a demandé aux professionnels des médias de relayer le message du gouvernement de nature persua de l’opinion sur les avantages que le Burundi va tirer de l’adhésion dans la Communauté Economique des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Est. Les Barundi devraient savoir à travers les divers médias que le Burundi va bientôt quitter sa situation d’enclavement géographique par le biais de l’appartenance à la Communauté Economique.

LANCEMENT PAR LES PLUS HAUTES AUTORITES DES ACTIVITES COMMUNAUTAIRES DE DEVELOPPEMENT
Bujumbura, le 24 Juillet 2006 (RTNB)-Le président de la République, monsieur Pierre Nkurunziza a lancé officiellement ce samedi 22 juillet 2006 les activités communautaires de développement qui seront dorénavant exécuter tous les samedi entre sept heures et demi du matinet dix heures et demi de l’avant-midi. Le président Nkurunziza a utiliser sa main pour nettoyer les caniveaux de la commune urbaine de Kinama. Il a ensuite dirigé une réunion publique avec la population de Kinama et à cette occasion il a déclaré qu’aucune autre activité ne sera autorisée durant la période réservée aux activités communautaires de développement. Il a également indiqué que ces activités communautaires à Bujumbura visent à redonner et à embellir la capitale Bujumbura. Le président Nkurunziza a également déclaré qu’une commission ad hoc a été créée pour analyser la question de déménager les vaches en mairie de Bujumbura et qu’un terrain d’entente avec les éleveurs est imminent. Il a décerné à cette occasion un certificat de mérite à monsieur Jean Marie Rurimirije pour avoir lancé et initié la Mutuelle d’Epargne et de Crédit MUTEC depuis la Belgique. Il faudrait signaler que le premier-vice-président de la République, le docteur Martin Nduwimana et la deuxième vice-présidente de la République madame Alice Nzomukunda ont lancé respectivement les activités communautaires axées sur la salubrité publique dans la commune urbaine de Musaga et dans les communes de Rohero, Bwiza et Buyenzi. La deuxième vice-président de la République a déclaré à la presse à cette occasion que la population urbaine doit pouvoir se protéger contre les maladies générées par les saletés observées dans les lieux publics. Il faut dire que la population s’est montrée intéressée tout en laissant entendre que les véhicules de transport d’immondices ne pas légions.

COMMEMORATION DU DIXIEME ANNIVERSAIRE DES MASSACRES ETHNIQUES DE BUGENDANA EN PROVINCE GITEGA
Bujumbura, le 24 Juillet 2006 (RTNB)-Les survivants des massacres ethniques de Bugendana ont commémoré ce dimanche 23 juillet 2006 le dixième anniversaire des horribles massacres des déplacés de Bugendana survenus en juillet 1996. Les cérémonies ont eu lieu à l’endroit où les victimes ont été suppliciés et où une centaine de personnes composées d’enfants, de femmes et des vieillards ont été tués au seul délai de faciès. Les parents des victimes ont demandé au gouvernement de trouver un moyen de sécuriser les survivants.

POURSUITE DES NEGOCIATIONS ENTRE LE GOUVERNEMENT DU BURUNDI ET LE MOUVEMENT REBELLE FNL-PALIPEHUTU
Bujumbura, le 24 Juillet 2006 (RTNB)-Les négociations entre le gouvernement du Burundi et le mouvement rebelle FNL/Palipehtu se poursuivent à Dar-es-salaam en Tanzanie. La facilitation serait entrain de préparre un déficit qui sera présenté aux deux parties en négociations ce lundi 24 juillet 2006 dans la soirée pour qu’il sert de base de négociations. Le ministre de l’intérieur et de la sécurité publique, le Général de brigade Evariste Ndayishimiye qui est chef de la délégation gouvernementale à Dar-es-salaam a déclaré ce lundi 24 juillet 2006 que les questions encore en discussions sont surtout techniques pour arriver à la signature d’un cessez-le-feu.

Obasanjo exhorte ses pairs africains à l’honnêteté
mercredi 26 juillet 2006. burundi-info

Le Président de la République du burundi Pierre Nkurunziza en visite officielle en République Fédérale du Nigéria, a exhorté les présidents africains à retourner vers Dieu pour réaliser la paix véritable et le salut. Le Président Burundais participe au premier Forum africain sur la Religion et le Développement AFRED en sigle, qui se tient à Abuja du 25 au 28 juillet 2006.

"Sans Dieu, la paix véritable et la bonté nous échapperont. Le monde doit savoir que le moment de la réconciliation est venu", a t-il déclaré.

Le président nigérian, Olusegun Obasanjo a quant à lui, invité ses pairs à travailler ensemble dans la sincérité et l’honnêteté pour sortir le continent du dénuement, de la pauvreté et de la corruption.

"Nous avons assez condamné le commerce des esclaves et le colonialisme, passons à autre chose", a déclaré le leader nigérian à l’occasion du premier Forum africain sur la religion et la gouvernance (AFREG) qui s’est ouvert mardi.

Le président Obasanjo n’adhère pas à l’idée de la restitution et de la réparation pour les pratiques esclavagistes d’antan, estimant que ceux qui le demandent maintenant ont été les plus grands complices dans le commerce des esclaves.

Selon lui, les Africains de la diaspora sont ceux qui méritent une réparation pour avoir été directement affectés par ce commerce illégal.

"Comment peut-on réconcilier un continent très religieux avec des leaders corrompus et avides de pouvoir, s’est-il interrogé avant de lancer un appel en faveur d’un mouvement plus fort des leaders intègres en Afrique.

Tout en admettant que l’intégrité est chose rare en Afrique tout comme dans le reste du monde, le président Obasanjo préconise la formation de leaders intègres pour transformer le continent.

"L’Afrique a besoin de retourner au culte de l’industrie, du service et de la production", a-t-il déclaré, ajoutant que le défi qui interpelle l’Afrique est "Comment donner à la spiritualité sa véritable place".

Dans son discours, un prêtre basé aux USA, Delanyo Adadevoh a déclaré que l’intégrité est le fondement du leadership en Afrique et que ceux qui ne sont pas intègres ne doivent pas être élus.

Il a aussi lancé un appel en faveur d’une "décolonisation radicale de l’esprit africain".

Delanyo Adadevoh a noté que les leaders doivent laisser le soin aux populations de choisir librement leurs propres dirigeants et cesser de se proclamer messie.

"Nous devons passer de la médiocrité à l’excellence", a t-il martelé.

Burundi vows justice for slain Irish archbishop

BUJUMBURA (Reuters) - 26-07-2006 Burundi pledged on Tuesday to track down gunmen who killed an Irish archbishop in a 2003 ambush blamed on rebels in the tiny central African nation.

"We can't let this crime go unpunished. We promise to do whatever possible to bring those criminals to justice," government spokesman Karenga Ramadhani said at the unveiling of a memorial to Archbishop Michael Courtney.

Burundi's Catholic Church has fixed a cross and a photo of Courtney, who was also the Vatican's envoy, at the spot on a roadside 40 km (25 miles) south of Bujumbura where he died.

Courtney, 58, was shot dead by gunmen believed to be from the Hutu Forces for National Liberation (FNL), who are Burundi's last remaining rebel group after a long civil war.

He died just months after the largest rebel group, led by current President Pierre Nkurunziza, signed a new peace deal, bringing some stability to Burundi.

Courtney was closely linked to the peace process and in June 2003 negotiated the release of hostages taken by Nkurunziza's Forces for Defence and Democracy (FDD) rebels.

"Three years after the assassination of Michael Courtney, the truth is not yet known," Jean Ntagwarara, chairman of Burundi's Catholic Bishops' Conference, told local media.

"Early investigations had incriminated fighters from FNL of being responsible. Unfortunately no trial was held."

At least 300,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed in over a decade of brutal civil war pitting the politically and economically dominant Tutsis against majority Hutus.

Burundi's Catholic Church has decreed 29 December -- the day Courtney died -- as a day of remembrance.

by Omar Valdimarsson in Bujumbura, Burundi Date: 25 Jul 2006
Source: International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

"People no longer ask what the Burundi Red Cross does, they know it. They can see it in their communities."

Balthazar Bacinoni, the branch coordinator for the Burundi Red Cross, is visibly proud of the progress his society has made in the last couple of years. The society that was sometimes seen as East Africa's ‘problem child' and was in long-standing discussions with both the International Federation and the ICRC over integrity issues (including not holding a general assembly for nearly three decades) is undergoing a remarkable transformation.

Headquarters staff has been cut from nearly 60 to eleven, all but two of provincial branches have held elections, governance members and volunteers are undergoing basic training, there is a strategic plan in place, the statutes have been revised and there is clear separation between governance and management. Relations with the new government of the country have gotten off on a mutually respectable footing. But most importantly, says Balthazar Bancinoni, "the society is now owned by the volunteers and the elected branch committees."

So, what happened? What caused this transformation and the new spirit that is found in the tormented country's National Society?

Well, partly it's the peace agreement and Burundi's possibility to look to the future for the first time in nearly a decade and a half – but most people seem to agree that it's mostly thanks to Anselme Katiyunguruza, the society's new secretary-general, and his hand-picked staff.

When he took over the helm two years ago – and had only one staff - Balthazar Bacinoni - there was no functioning national board, no structures, no active branches. The country was in ruins after a long-running civil war – only the latest in a series of violent conflicts in the tiny country since independence in the mid 1960s. Both the International Federation and the ICRC had had a long-standing presence in the country and devoted much time, funds and energy into revitalizing the society and its branches. After the Federation left in the late 1990s, the branches went back into hibernation and the ICRC worked independently in fulfilling its mandate.

Anselme was not new to the Burundi Red Cross. As a younger man he had worked as a voluntary communications officer for ten years while working as a journalist and communications officer for the state radio, UNICEF and the president's office, as well as teaching journalism at Bujumbura University. "It never entered my mind that I would one day be working here full time," he says.

With a National Society that was more an idea than reality, there was a lot of work to be done. After being given a guarantee by Burundi RC's long-serving president, Dr. François Xavier Buyoya, that he would be allowed to have a free rein in making management decisions, Anselme set about organizing regional meetings with four provincial branches. "We sat down and thought about what the future of the Red Cross in Burundi should and could look like," he says. "Quite a number of people showed up and I asked them: Well, do you want to be members of the Red Cross? Fortunately, many said yes."

The new leadership of the society encouraged the newly elected boards to register members, organize assemblies in the communes and come up with 3-year work plans. Provincial assemblies followed with a 2-year work plan.

When this was in place the International Federation helped organize a General Assembly in Bujumbura in May 2005 – by then all but one of the provincial branches had held elections; the single remaining branch did so before the end of 2005. The General Assembly elected a new national board and formulated a Plan of Action for the next four years. An extra-ordinary assembly in February this year adopted new statutes. In cooperation with the Federation, the ICRC and the Spanish Red Cross new staff were recruited – for communications, health, finance and logistics, eleven in all.

Anselme was very clear on what sort of people he wanted: they all had to come from the volunteer corps.

"People who have been volunteers know what the Red Cross is about, they understand the needs of the communities and they are not here because this is a job, but because they want to belong to the Red Cross," he says. "In the past, even if we had a large number of staff, we didn't really have a vision of the future so we were more or less working in a vacuum. And, it should also be said, not everyone on the staff had the actual capacity to do what was needed."

Anselme took his newly formulated vision into a partnership meeting in Nairobi and presented it to the participants during a half-day session on Burundi. "They liked what they heard and now we are in discussions with a few PNSs about partnerships in various areas," he says.

A year after the first General Assembly in decades, the Burundi Red Cross now has some 40,000 volunteers in all provinces across the country. They're being given basic training and are eager to work – but with so few resources and so many needs, it is hard going. All elected governance committee members, provincial and communal, have undergone general training on the Movement.

"Our challenge is to create permanent structures at the branch level but having only volunteers and no staff this is proving to be difficult," Anselme says. "I want us to have a limited number of staff in the headquarters but more in the countryside – that's where the work is done. We have appointed disaster management coordinators in all branches, a focal point for volunteering and a communications officer. What we really need, and are hoping to be able to set up in the near future, is a VHF radio network covering all the country. The telephone system is weak and not everyone can afford to have a mobile phone."

Two recent events signal the growing recognition of Burundi Red Cross by the government and the humanitarian community in Burundi: the society is now likely to be given responsibility for food distribution in the five provinces most affected by food insecurity and returning refugees – and during an inter-agency disaster management meeting at the end of May there was general consensus that the society should be a key actor in the proposed national disaster management committee.

Anselme Katiyunguruza is optimistic that the peace will now hold in Burundi and that the ethnic clashes are a thing of the past. "I think we all realize that there is no need to continue fighting," he says. "People are tired of war."

LES BOMBES LANCEES SUR LA COMMUNE URBAINE DE MUSAGA FONT UNE PERSONNE BLESSEE
Bujumbura, le 24 juillet 2006 (RTNB)-Une bombe a été lancée des hauteurs surplombant la ville de Bujumbura dans la nuit du 23 au 24 juillet 2006 et est tombée dans un ménage de la deuxième avenue de la commune Musaga. Une personne y a été blessée et la maison a été endommagée ; les vitres de la maison ont été cassées par les éclats de la bombe. D’autres bombes sont tombées dans le quartier Gikoto et Gitaramuka sans faire de dégâts.

LE MINISTRE DU COMMERCE ET DE L’INDUSTRIE A DECLARE QUE LE GOUVERNEMENT NE VA REINJECTER LES DEUX MILLIARDS DE FRANCS BURUNDAIS QUE LE COMPLEXE TEXTILE DU BURUNDI RECLAME
Bujumbura, le 25 Juillet 2006 (RTNB)-Le Complexe Textile de Bujumbura éprouve de sérieux problèmes à cause du manque de fonds de roulement. Cependant, le gouvernement n’a pas jugé bon de lui accorder les deux milliards de francs burundais que la direction de l’entreprise COTEBU réclame, selon la déclaration faite ce lundi 24 juillet 2006 par le ministre du commerce et de l’industrie, madame Denise Sinankwa. Le même ministre du commerce a déclaré que le gouvernement a décidé de mettre sur pied une commission chargée d’identifier les vrais problèmes qui ont fait que le COTEBU en arrive à l’état actuel de difficulté économique pour une entreprise jadis prospère.

FRAUDE DOUANIERE DU PETROLE EN PROVINCE BUBANZA
Bujumbura, le 25 Juillet 2006 (RTNB)-La police de sécurité intérieure a saisi au début de cette semaine nonante bidons de pétrole qui sont entrés frauduleusement au Burundi en provenance du Rwanda. Il faudrait signaler que c’est pour la deuxième fois au cours de cette année que le même contrebandier du pétrole a été attrapé par la police pour les mêmes infractions.

AUDIENCE A LA DEUXIEME VICE-PRESIDENCE DE LA REPUBLIQUE DU NOUVEAU REPRESENTANT DU PNUD AU BURUNDI
Bujumbura, le 25 Juillet 2006 (RTNB)-La deuxième vice-présidente de la République madame Alice Nzomukunda a reçu en audience ce lundi 24 juillet 2006 le nouveau représentant-résident du Programme des Nations Unies pour le Développement au Burundi, monsieur Georges Charpentier. A l’issue de l’audience, le nouveau représentant du PNUD a indiqué à la presse que leurs entretiens ont porté sur la mise en place du bureau intégré des Nations Unies au Burundi.

RETOUR DE MISSION DU PRESIDENT DE L’ASSEMBLEE NATIONALE
Bujumbura, le 24 Juillet 2006 (RTNB)-Le président du sénat, l’honorable Gervais Rufyikiri est revenu ce dimanche 23 juillet 2006 d’une mission qu’il venait d’effectuer au Soudan. L’honorable Rufyikiri venait ainsi de répondre à une invitation de son homologue, le président du sénat du Soudan.

LE PRESIDENT DE LA REPUBLIQUE VIENT DE PRENDRE SON AVION EN DIRECTION DU NIGERIA
Bujumbura, le 24 Juillet 2006 (RTNB)-Le président de la République, monsieur Pierre Nkurunziza a pris l’avion ce dimanche 23 juillet 2006 en direction du Nigeria. La source de la communication de la présidence de la République a indiqué à cet égard que l’objectif de cette visite est de renforcer a coopération entre le Burundi et le Nigeria. Les mêmes sources ont indiqué que cette visite du président de la République a été précédée par les visites respectives du deuxième vice-président de la République et du premier vice-président de la République au cours de l’année en cours. Le service de communication de la présidence de la République a également déclaré que le vice-président du Nigeria a rendu visite au Burundi en février 2006 à l’occasion de la tenue de table ronde des bailleurs de fonds pour le Burundi et qu’une conjointe des experts du Burundi et du Nigeria a été organisée à Bujumbura à l’issue de la table ronde des bailleurs de fonds pour le Burundi. Le président Nkurunziza prendra part au sommet des chefs d’Etat africains sur le forum de l’interaction entre religion et développement. La visite sera clôturée par la signature d’un accord de coopération entre le Burundi et le Nigeria. Il faudrait signaler que la coopération entre le Nigeria et le Burundi englobe les domaines militaires, l’agriculture, le commerce et la santé.

LE CHEF DE L’ETAT ACCORDE UN DON DE VELOS AUX FEMMES MACONS DE BUBANZA
Bujumbura, le 22 Juillet 2006 (RTNB)-La province de Bubanza est une des entités qui a souffert des effets néfastes du conflit qui secoue le pays depuis 1993. Des associations de développement ont vu le jour pour faire face à la pauvreté qui tend à s’installer un peu partout au Buurdi. Parmi ces associations il y a celle qui regroupe des femmes maçons. Elle vient dé bénéficier d’un don de vélos offerts par le chef de l’Etat Pierre Nkuurnziza.

LES POLICIERS QUI SE RENDENT COUPABLES DE BAVURES DOIVENT ETRE SEVEREMENT SANCTIONNES AFFIRME LE MINISTRE DE L’INTERIEUR ET DE LA SECURITE PUBLIQUE
Bujumbura, le 22 Juillet 2006 (RTNB)-A l’occasion de la rencontre entre le chef de l’Etat Pierre Nkurunziza et les responsables des corps de police au chef-lieu de la province Gitega, le ministre de l’intérieur et de la sécurité publique le Général de brigade Evariste Ndayishimiye a réaffirmé sa détermination à sanctionner les policiers qui se rendent coupables de bavures de toutes sortes. Une attention particulière a été accordée aux policiers de roulage qui laissent les transporteurs faire des dépassements dangereux. Il a cité comme exemple une voiture taxi qui a récemment fait un accident ave onze personnes à bord.

Rwanda: Canadian Ambassador Leaves
The New Times (Kigali) July 25, 2006 Edwin Musoni Kigali

The Canadian Ambassador to Rwanda, Jim Wall is set to leave after serving for three and a half years. Speaking to The New Times Tuesday 25 at Village Urugwiro after bidding...

President Paul Kagame farewell,Wall said his tour of duty had expired. "I was in Rwanda in 1994 and I returned in 2003 presenting my credential as an Ambassador, now my mandate has expired," he said adding that his discussions with President Kagame centred on the achievements registered by Rwanda over the past twelve years.

"Some of the pertinent issues we talked about include NEPAD and the situation in the region" said Wall adding that he is optimistic about the future partnership between Canada and Rwanda.

Canada established diplomatic relations with Rwanda in 1962 and, to date Canada has an office in Kigali, while the Ambassador is resident in Nairobi. Rwanda reopened its embassy in Ottawa in 2004.

According to Wall, Canada has participated extensively in the international efforts to re-establish Rwanda's social institutions and infrastructure.

Last year, Canada started a programming framework of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for the period 2005-2011, focusing on fighting poverty, enhancing rural development and strengthening local governance.

Rwanda features on CIDA's list of 25 development partners, as defined in the International Policy Statement launched in April 2005. Rwanda also benefits from Canada's $15 million contribution to the Multi-Country Demobilization and Reintegration Program of ex-combatants in the Great Lakes Region.

Also, in April this President Kagame visited Canada at the invitation of the Canadian Council on Africa to open a Conference on Education & Economic Development in Africa in Montreal. Yesterday, the German Ambassador Hubert Ziegler also bid farewell to President Kagame.

The laughter of children carries Rwanda's hope
By Elizabeth Yuan CNN Tuesday, July 25, 2006

KIBUYE, Rwanda (CNN) -- Vast Lake Kivu sparkles, with its waves and lush islands. It conjures up visions of a tropical paradise, perhaps somewhere in the South Pacific.

But the lake is in Africa's landlocked Rwanda, where the beauty of the landscape has been overshadowed for more than a decade by the hellish memory of genocide. In 1994, more than 800,000 people were killed during a systematic campaign by Hutu extremists to wipe out minority Tutsis. Hutus who stood in the way also were slaughtered.

Shortly after arriving by a short boat ride in Kibuye, Rwanda, I decided to see the town whose reputation and history belie its beauty. Reminders of what happened are plentiful here, where a mass grave holds the remains of more than 10,000 people. The town is just up the road from the Presbyterian-run mission where I stayed during a recent trip to the east African country to run in the International Peace Marathon of Kigali.

The marathon is one small part of the effort to reintroduce to the world a country that has slowly begun to recover. But that is no small task. Even the maps tell the story. The one in my guidebook laid out a 200-meter stretch of Kibuye, north to south, like this: church, school, mass grave, stadium.

Atop a hill on the other side of town from the mass grave is the Catholic church where thousands sought refuge in April 1994 and were massacred within the sanctuary.

As I walked there, many faces looked overcast and suspicious. Stares followed me as I walked down the street. I said "bonjour" and waved to every person whose path I crossed. That helped break the spell, and I'd get a "bonjour" in return.

I wondered about some of those stares. What had they seen 12 years ago? Were they the eyes of survivors? Of those who had killed?

The local United Nations Refugee Agency office sat along the road, and I went in to say hello. The chief of the U.N. mission sat in the garden, with a stack of papers in his hands. Just nine miles away was Kiziba refugee camp, home to 17,000 people, many of whom have been there for 10 years, he said.

As I continued down the road, a man passed by, and he smiled. A little later, from a distance, he turned around and asked me where I was from. I raised my voice a bit, so he could hear me: "The United States," I said. The man, who spoke in English, asked me how long I was staying. About two-and-a-half weeks in Rwanda, I said, a day in Kibuye.

We finally walked toward each other to talk without having to raise our voices. He told me he had friends in California and in Canada, and if he wrote them letters, would I be able to mail them for him? I said yes. He was pleased. He was a teacher and a preacher, but for him, even stamps are too costly.

On the way to the sad church on the hilltop, one of many in this country nicknamed "The Land of a Thousand Hills," I passed a cornfield and a school and heard the laughs and shouts of children.

About a quarter mile up the hill, a girl and a little boy saw me changing film in my camera and began to follow me. They were walking home from school, carrying plastic bags -- the kind given out at grocery stores in richer countries -- and these improvised schoolbags contained their papers, pens and books.

Their smiles tore my heart apart.

"Bonjour!" I greeted them. "Bonjour!" they said back, enthusiastically. I asked what their names were, but they didn't understand my French. So, I flipped to the back of my guidebook, where I found the translation to "What's your name" in Kinyarwanda, the language they spoke. "Witwande?"

"Dian!" said the girl. The boy, a bit shy, straggled behind a bit. Both had close-cropped hair, and she was almost a head taller than he was.

Dian and her friend were walking from school, when they met a stranger heading up a hill to a church.She noticed my sunglasses and gently lifted them from my shirt. She also noticed my guidebook, a mountain gorilla on its cover. She put on the sunglasses and leafed through the pages as we continued to walk on the quiet road leading up to the church. The English words didn't seem to pose a barrier; to her they belonged to a mysterious language.

Dian paused over photographs of baby mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park and fellow Rwandans in Ruhengeri and Cyangugu. She looked at the maps and the words on the pages.

She was so intent in reading the book, wearing the purple sunglasses that seemed out of place on her innocent face. I couldn't help thinking that these children and the rest of their generation are Rwanda's future.

The church -- where people were killed with guns, grenades, machetes, clubs and spears -- today lays quiet, a place of refuge for those who wish to be alone with their thoughts.

When I stepped inside, the benches were empty, the place still in the late afternoon, save for the creaking of the door when two people entered a few minutes apart. They prayed with their heads in their hands, and the only movement I saw was that of the shadows cast through the rose windows onto the bare floor.

Early the next morning, I took a walk on the 200-meter stretch laid out in the guidebook: the chapel, school, mass grave, and stadium.

The elementary school sits next to the chapel. A wall separates the school from the mass grave and memorial. The stadium, where a few young men were going through their morning workout, didn't escape the horror in 1994. Here too, thousands of men, women and children were massacred that April.

Before the start of the school day, the children played in the yard. Some went inside the church to listen as an older child played on an electric keyboard. Outside the church window, a dozen prisoners in pink garb -- the uniform of genocide convicts -- filed past, part of a work crew.

As they walked by, the music and the gleeful shouts of playing children filled the morning air.

UGANDA

Uganda urged to probe 'torture'
26 July 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk

Uganda must investigate allegations that a security detainee was tortured and killed in a Kampala house, says international group Human Rights Watch.
Abdu Semugenyi, 55, was detained in western Uganda in April, and accused of being associated with a rebel group.

HRW called on Uganda to shut the secret detention centres called "safe houses".

The organisation says it asked the Ugandan government to comment on the circumstances of Mr Semugenyi's death but received no response.

"The anti-terrorist force runs a safe house in an upscale Kampala neighbourhood where they torture suspected rebels and dissidents," HRW's East Africa co-ordinator Jemera Rone said in a statement.

"And in this case, they allegedly killed a man by electrocuting him," Ms Rone added.

"Abdu Semugenyi was not charged with any crime, the authorities denied he was in custody, and now he's dead."

HRW says that others detained with Mr Semugenyi had reported seeing him being tortured, and some claimed to have been tortured too.

One fellow detainee told HRW that Mr Semugenyi, a businessman, was electrocuted to death on 4 May and that he died crying for water.

His body has not been handed over to his family, HRW says.

Mr Semungenyi had reportedly been accused of links with the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group that was active in the 1990s, and which Uganda believes still operates from bases in DR Congo.

Tanzania was still hosting 530,555 refugees from neighboring Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said reports reaching here on Wednesday from the ongoing Tanzanian National Assembly session in Dodoma.

The reports said Tanzanian Deputy Home Affairs Minister Bernard Membe told lawmakers that 220,009 refugees were repatriated to their native countries last year. Among them, 18, 000 returned to the DRC while the rest went back to Burundi.

Tanzania has been hosting more than 800,000 refugees who fled due to domestic conflicts in Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC.

The United Nations has been assisting Tanzania in accommodating these refugees through its various institutions such as the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, World Food Programme and the UN Children's Fund.

Uganda: 1,000 Ugandans to Visit Kony in Congo
The Monitor (Kampala) July 26, 2006
Angelo Izama, Frank Nyakairu & Emmanuel Gyezaho
Kampala/Juba

AN opportunity is being offered to over 1, 000 ordinary Ugandans to meet the elusive rebel leader Joseph Kony in Garamba National Park in the DR Congo.

Gulu LC5 Chairman Nobert Mao, who is currently compiling the list, told Daily Monitor the request for a meeting came from Kony himself.

"I got a call from Joseph Kony to make this request. He first suggested meeting members of the community particularly those affected by the war as far back as 2003," Mao said.

" He is very excited about the meeting and seems to be looking forward to it".

An advance delegation composed mainly of relatives of Kony and his top commanders has already left Juba aboard two Russian Antonov planes to meet the rebels.

The meetings, which are part of confidence building measures agreed upon by the rebels and the government, could pave way for an end to the 20-year-old war in the north.

According to Mao, the LRA by meeting relatives, cultural and community leaders was setting the stage for coming out of the bush.

"They want the community to be part of their decision to get out of the bush", he said.

According to Mao, the delegation he is organising will be free and open to everyone.

"Joseph Kony suggested even teachers and local people should come," he said.

No date has been set yet for the delegation which is expected to travel by road on several buses. By press time, the Juba group, altogether numbering 180 people was expected to have landed at Maridi airstrip.

Southern Sudan Vice President Reik Machar heads the group.

From there, they will embark on a six-hour road journey to Nabanga at the western Sudan border where the meeting with the rebels is expected to take place.

The Ugandan delegation includes 30 relatives of the LRA commanders including Kony, 15 members of the LRA delegation, 10 elders, religious leaders from northern Uganda, about 20 chiefs, council and religious leaders and other members of the Southern Sudan government.

Also four officials from the Ugandan consulate in Juba, journalists and security officials are among the delegation.

Among the leaders from northern Uganda is Archbishop John Baptist Odama.

Kony's mother, Ms Nora Oting and the State Minister for Defense, Ms Ruth Nankabirwa, were also expected to fly from Kampala directly to Maridi yesterday according to government sources.

The delegation is the largest ever to attempt to meet Kony, save for Mao's planned visit dubbed the Community Peace Convoy. Their meeting follows a one-week pause in formal peace talks in Juba between the LRA and the Ugandan government in Juba.

The talks hit a deadlock last week with government negotiators refusing to sign a ceasefire agreement with the LRA before other issues had been dealt with, saying they might use the occasion to regroup and rearm. The talks resume next week.

To mediate

Daily Monitor has established that Prof. Dani Nabudere, the head of the Africa Study Centre in Mbale, has been asked by the LRA to join the mediation.

Speaking on the phone yesterday, Nabudere , a peace and conflict expert, confirmed that he had been contacted by Machar.

"He said the invitation was made by Mr Leo Onek of the LRA who said I could help give the talks a national perspective. I think that the LRA should form a political party because the issues now need to be framed politically and not through fighting" Nabudere said. At the time the talks adjourned, no agreement had been reached.

But yesterday a high-ranking government official close to the talks said the two sides had reached an agreement "in principle" with the Lords Resistance Army rebels that will include a cessation of hostilities.

The official position of the Ugandan side, however, is that the country will only sign a comprehensive agreement that is capable of ending the two-decade war.

The government has been pursuing a multi-faceted strategy, on the one hand engaging the rebels in formal talks while maintaining direct contact with the rebel leadership in Garamba. Highly placed government sources said Uganda was willing to back up its offer of amnesty to the rebels, upon successful negotiations, by approaching the Peace and Security Council of the African Union.

Ugandan negotiators told Daily Monitor that President Yoweri Museveni is willing to convince the AU that his offer is meant to guarantee stability to the war-torn Great Lakes Region.

Once the AU accepts, Uganda argues, the LRA leaders some of who are facing arrest on charges of human rights abuses would be immunised from the fear of ending up in the International Criminal Court.

A major demand of the rebels is that this threat be extinguished as part of any deal.

US gives DRC elections thumbs up
July 26, 2006 SABC

The United States (US) has expressed confidence that the weekend elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will be free and fair.

Jendayi Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for africa, has told foreign journalists in Washington that the preparations for the elections, and the support given by the South African government would ascertain that the process is fairly smooth. Frazer will be leading the American observer mission to the DRC.

Frazer dismissed speculations that the boycott of the election by Etienne Tshisekedi, a veteran opposition leader, might derail the process. Frazer says the Congolese, backed by South Africans and Angolans, have invested a lot of time and resources into these elections and that the US will back these efforts by all means.

She says all parties, including SADC, the African Union and the United Nations, have a vested interest in the success of these elections.

More than 1 000 die in DRC daily - report
Sapa-AFP July 25 2006

About 1 200 people die every day in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), more than half of them children, as a result of violence in the troubled country, a report published on Monday by the United Nations' Children's Fund (Unicef) said.

The conflict that engulfed the former Belgian colony for nearly a decade has claimed more victims every six months than the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami that struck in December 2004, the report claimed.

Tens of thousands are believed to have been killed directly by the fighting, while disease and malnutrition caused by instability pushed the death toll higher.

In a glimmer of hope, however, the study said the DRC's first multi-party elections in 46 years on Sunday offered an opportunity for change.

The author of the report, Unicef ambassador Martin Bell, said: "Peace is the missing link between a violent past and a more hopeful future. Elections are not a panacea for all a nation's woes, but can go a long way to restoring order and stability."

The report notes that each year more children under the age of five die in the DRC than in China, which has 23 times the population of the DRC.

Home to what Unicef estimates is the world's largest concentration of child soldiers, the DRC is thought to have up to 30 000 children either fighting or living with armed forces.

The UN body, with its partners, provides short-term emergency aid and relief, but said peace was needed to enable long-term development plans and prosperity.

It has requested $93,67-million (about R663-million) from the international community to fund ongoing aid programmes, noting that the current DRC appeal is 62 percent underfunded.

Unicef DRC representative Tony Bloomberg accused the outside world of turning a blind eye to the misery and death in the country.

"While the DRC has experienced death rates like that of the tsunami every six months, it has not received the attention it deserves."

He hoped the Unicef report would help raise the profile of the plight of the DRC people, especially the country's long-suffering children.

SOUTH AFRICA:

AFRICA / AU :

Nigeria: Turn to God, Obj Urges African Leaders
Daily Champion (Lagos) July 26, 2006 Daniel Idonor Abuja

President Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, declared that the numerous socio-economic and political problems confronting the Africa continent can only be solved when leaders and other stakeholders turn to God.

The president, who was reflecting on the age-long state of underdevelopment confronting the continent, concluded that transforming the continent required spiritual response.

Addressing the maiden edition of the African Forum on Religion and Government (AFREG) at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, the President noted that "if there is one thing Africa badly needs, it is perhaps such a unifying principle that commands the respect of all and life-changing enough to energise us to make awesome sacrifices for the development of the continent".

According to him, the challenges of the continent transcended moral principles to moving spirituality to "its proper place as the underpinning factor of everything else," noting that "morality without a spiritual base is hollow."

President Obasanjo stressed that a "spiritual response will define our core positions on all aspects of life, whether in our work ethics, or relationships or interfaith issues, or even morality."

He also said that Africa required the "ethics of development" especially that of production, to be able to confront its crisis of under-development head-on.

President Obasanjo while calling AFREG a "timely initiative," noted that its intention "to build a movement of African leaders of integrity who are committed to transforming Africa into a First World continent shaped by God-centred moral values," was indeed a monumental task, given the "scarcity of integrity" on the continent today.

The President challenged AFREG to enlarge its membership to include Muslim faithful and seek to "internalize the truths of our two historical religions" in order to "ensure relative peace so conducive to drive development on the continent."

President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, urged Africa "to return to God who is the source of true peace," stressing that "any attempt to attain power without God will lead to failure."

The Burundian leader, who attended the Forum with his wife, also noted that his country had recognised the fact that "the co-existence of religions is a prerequisite for peace," while advising African leaders to depart from evil and depend on God always.

The international coordinator of AFREG and United States-based Ghanaian, Dr. Dela Adadevoh, said in a keynote address, that there was a great need for leaders of integrity to spearhead the holistic transformation of Africa.

The opening ceremony of the four-day Forum with the theme, "Building Leaders of Integrity for Transforming Africa," was attended by Christian leaders from Africa and the Middle-East.

AU okays DRC's election campaign conditions
Source: Xinhua July 26, 2006

The African Union (AU) on Tuesday expressed satisfaction with the prevailing election campaign conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), saying that it "noted with appreciation the progress" made by the Independent Electoral Commission in preparing for the elections.

It urged all political stakeholders and civil society groups " to work together to ensure the completion of this process in a calm and serene atmosphere and to continue to display a high sense of responsibility in this delicate phase of the ongoing process in the DRC," said a press statement issued after a meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council.

The press statement said the pan-African body welcomed the deployment of election observers by the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the AU Commission, as well as by South Africa, the Republic of Congo and Nigeria.

The giant central African state was scheduled to hold the presidential elections this coming Sunday. Over 30 presidential candidates are contesting the first democratic poll in 40 years. The polls are intended to end the transition period following the official end of DRC's five-year war in 2003.

UN /ONU :

USA :

CANADA :

AUSTRALIA :

EUROPE :

CHINA :

INDIA :

BRASIL:

Pasiya, Jordaan set off to Brazil to lure coach
By Sipho Masondo July 26, 2006 http://www.theherald.co.za

SOCCER World Cup local organising committee head Danny Jordaan and Safa‘s technical committee chairman Sturu Pasiya fly to Brazil today to finalise the Bafana Bafana coaching contract with former Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira.

The pair expect to return later this week with Parreira‘s confirmation that he will take the vacant post.

“We are hoping to lure the Brazilian into South Africa. We are also hoping to sign a contract with him there. Our mandate is to give the coach a contract until 2010,” Pasiya said. Safa hopes to have the new coach for four years to build a world-class Bafana team for the 2010 World Cup. Parreira resigned from coaching Brazil following their World Cup quarter-final exit in Germany three weeks ago. “We will make announcements in time, but I can tell you that we went through a vigorous and proper vetting process. We didn‘t make an emotional decision. What we did is best for the country,” he said.

Pasiya said Jordaan was accompanying him on the trip because “he is part of Safa and has negotiated quite a few deals for the organisation. He will be playing that very same role in Brazil.”

Parreira is said to have asked for a salary of about R1-million a month.