Burundi: En bref ce 29 JUIN 2006 ...

Projet de Loi Portant Ratification de la République du Burundi de l’Accord sur l’Encouragement et la Protection des Investissements

senat.bi 29 juin 2006
Ce jeudi 29 juin 2006, les Sénateurs ont analysé et adopté à l’unanimité un projet de loi Portant Ratification par la République du Burundi de l’Accord sur l’Encouragement et la Protection des Investissements, signé le 30 janvier 2001, entre le Fonds de l’ OPEP pour le Développement International et la République du Burundi.

Ladite convention est articulée autour de 11 articles comprenant les définitions, les principes généraux applicables, la notification préalable de la proposition de l’investissement et du consentement du pays hôte, l’expropriation ou la nationalisation, le traitement le plus favorable, les paiements et transferts, la consultation, la clause arbitrale, la loi applicable, le maintient des droits et obligations, l’entrée en vigueur, la durée de l’expiration dudit accord.

Signalons que le fonds de l’ OPEP pour le développement international est né de la volonté des Etats membres de concrétiser le besoin de solidarité parmi les Etats en voie de développement et de la conscience de l’importance de la coopération financière existant entre les pays membres dudit Fonds et ceux en voie de développement.

L’ADMINISTRATEUR DE LA COMMUNE BUTERERE EN MAIRIE DE BUJUMBURA VIENT D’ETRE LIMOGE PAR LE GOUVERNEUR DE BUJUMBURA SUITE A LA MECONDUITE
Bujumbura, le 28 Juin 2006 (RTNB)-L’administrateur de la commune Buterere en mairie de Bujumbura madame Nadine-Victoire Biraguma issue du FRODEBU vient d’être limogée par le gouverneur de Bujumbura-mairie. Le nouveau administrateur de la commune Buterere qui remplace l’administrateur sortant, monsieur Moïse Ndayisenga est du CNDD-FDD. A l’origine du limogeage se trouve notamment la méconduite lors d’une visite du premier vice-président de la République à Buterere, le soutien affiché à l’endroit des enseignants réclamant des parcelles et le prêt d’une portion de terre un tradi-praticien. Les membres du conseil communal en majorité du FRODEBU dénoncent le diktat du gouverneur de Bujumbura-marie à travers le président du conseil communal qui aurait viré vers le parti au pouvoir.

L’ONUB SE DECLARE PREOCCUPE PAR LA DETENTION DE TERENCE NAHIMANA ET DU JOURNALISTE ALOYS KABURA
Bujumbura, le 28 Juin 2006 (RTNB)-L’Opération des Nations Unies au Burundi (ONUB) se déclare très préoccupée par la détention du journaliste Aloys Kabura et du président de l’association CIVIC Térence Nahimana. Selon cette organisation, leur emprisonnement n’a pas toujours respecté la loi en vigueur au Burundi. Enfin l’ONUB s’est montrée inquiète face à l’état de santé du journaliste Aloys Kabura qui ne cesse de se détériorer à cause des mauvaises conditions de détention.

LES NEGOCIATIONS DE DAR-ES-SALAAM ENTRE LE GOUVERNEMENT ET LE FNL/PALIPEHUTU SUSPENDUES DEPUIS TROIS JOURS
Bujumbura, le 28 Juin 2006 (RTNB)-Les négociations entre le gouvernement et le mouvement FNL/Palipehutu ont été suspendues le 23 juin 2006 à Dar-es-salaam. La délégation du FNL exige deux conditions : le retour aux négociations sur les questions politiques ainsi que le démantèlement de la force de défense nationale (FDN). Le chef adjoint de la délégation burundaise le Général de brigade Lazare Nduwayo a indiqué à la radio nationale que le gouvernement peut faire de concessions sur les autres points sauf sur celui qui concerne la réforme de la FDN. Le médiateur dans le conflit burundais Charles Ngakula était attendu à Dar-es-salaam pour prendre connaissance de la situation.

Burundi peace talks mediator expected in Tanzania
Thu Jun 29, 2006 DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) -

The chief mediator in stalled peace talks between Burundi's government and the country's last rebel groups will return to Tanzania on Thursday, an official said, lifting hopes of a comprehensive ceasefire.

The rebel Hutu Forces for National Liberation (FNL) said on Tuesday they had stopped talks with the government until Charles Nqakula, the head of a South African mediating team, returned to Tanzania where the negotiations are being brokered.

The FNL accuse the mediators and the Burundi government of trying to bully them into agreeing a pact.

"(Nqakula) is coming back to Tanzania in the afternoon," said an official at the South African High Commission in Dar es Salaam.

Nqakula, South Africa's safety and security minister, said on Monday he expected both sides to agree a truce on July 1.

The FNL and government signed a deal on June 18 to stop fighting.

A comprehensive ceasefire is seen as one of the last hurdles to stability in the coffee-growing country of 7 million, which is recovering from more than a decade of fighting between the Hutu majority and the economically dominant Tutsi minority.

In 1993, Tutsi paratroopers assassinated the first elected Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye, triggering ethnic retaliations in which at least 300,000 people were killed.

UGANDA

Uganda: EADB, China Bank Sign Agreement
The Monitor (Kampala) June 29, 2006 Kampala

The East African Development Bank and China Development Bank have signed a framework agreement on cooperation.

The two Banks signed the agreement during a three-day visit by the Governor of the CDB, Mr Chen Yuan to Uganda last week. According to the terms of the agreement, the two institutions will cooperate to finance mutually agreed projects in the three East African states.

Speaking at the signing ceremony in Kampala on June 23, Yuan expressed CDB's interest in establishing a long-term relationship with EADB, and CDB's intention of getting involved in regional infrastructure and agricultural projects.

China Development Bank is the largest development finance institution in the world with assets of over $300 billion.

EADB's Director General, Mr Godfrey Tumusiime in turn expressed EADB's willingness to cooperate with CDB especially at this time when EADB is poised to be transformed into the leading agency for facilitation of East African regional integration and development.

The two institutions are expected to cooperate in agency establishment, personnel training, information exchange as well as financing of commercially viable projects in infrastructure and agriculture.

Uganda to consult Sudan on LRA peace talks

June 29, 2006, Source: Xinhua By ANDnetwork .com

The Ugandan government has formed a team that will consult the government of southern Sudan on the proposed peace talks with the Lord Resistance Army, a rebel group that has been fighting in northern Ugandan for the last 20 years.

Robert Kabushenga, head of the government media centre, told a news agency by telephone on Wednesday that the team comprises of Ruhakana Rugunda, minister of internal affairs, Okello Oryem, minister of international affairs, and security officials.

He said the team will go to southern Sudan at the end of this week or early next week to meet Salva Kiir, vice president of Sudan and president of Southern Sudan, among other officials.

The team is mandated to carry out consultations with the southern Sudan government. The Ugandan government will work out the next step regarding the proposed talks according to their findings, said Kabushenga.

The government of southern Sudan is trying to broker a peace deal between the Ugandan government and the LRA rebels, who are blamed for killing tens of thousands of people and leaving over 1. 4 million people homeless in the northern region.

Joseph Kony, leader of the elusive rebel group, and four of his commanders are wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague to answer for the war crimes they have committed.

Kony recently named his 15-man delegation to negotiate with the government. The LRA delegation is currently in Juba, southern Sudan.

The two warring parties have already set terms that have to be addressed in the talks. The LRA have demanded that the Ugandan government asks the ICC to withdraw charges against Kony and his commanders, share cabinet portfolios with President Yoweri Museveni's government and release all LRA fighters who were captured by the Uganda People's Defense Force.

The government has insisted that the LRA must disarm before the talks start. It also said it would talk only to genuine LRA delegates, excluding Kony and his four commanders who are wanted by the ICC.

President Museveni has set July 31 as the deadline for the talks.

In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, Kony said his group was not responsible for killings, maimings and abductions and called for peace talks.

"This is not true. I cannot cut the ear of my brother, I cannot kill the eye of my brother. I cannot kill my brother, that is not true," he said describing himself as a freedom fighter.

Kabushenga said the world knows what Kony has done to the civilians in northern Uganda and can not claim innocence.

"We all know what Kony and his group have done. His former commanders, formerly abducted children all tell stories of the atrocities the LRA has committed," said Kabushenga.

UNDP halts Uganda disarmament program

By NICK WADHAMS ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Wednesday, June 28, 2006

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. Development Program has halted a voluntary disarmament program in Uganda's troubled northeast amid new reports of rights abuses by government troops in the region, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The $1 million U.N. Development Program project awarded people in the Karamoja region food, building materials or cash in exchange for their weapons. Less than $300,000 had been spent so far, UNDP spokesman William Orme said.

It was meant to complement a Ugandan plan announced last year to bring peace to the region after failed government attempts at disarmament, both voluntary and by force. That program originated in response to international concerns about earlier reports of abuses.

But UNDP field workers report that the attacks continue and the area has become too dangerous, Orme said.

"Our operations in the region have halted due to a continuing difficult security situation and concerns about Ugandan military operations in the area," Orme said.

Karamoja is an impoverished, drought-ridden area along Uganda's northeast border with Kenya. It has been a trafficking point for small arms, many of which went to cattle rustlers who carried out raids in neighboring villages.

For several years, President Yoweri Museveni's government has been carrying out an aggressive campaign to disarm the Karamojong, but those efforts have only increased tensions.

In a letter to the Ugandan government dated Monday and obtained by The Associated Press, the UNDP expressed concerns among groups working in the area about recent reports of "killings, beatings, arbitrary detention, intimidation and harassment" by groups including the security forces.

It asked the government to clarify its policy toward Karamoja in light of army operations that seem to contradict the government's announced intention to foster development there.

"This has raised questions amongst development partners on the timeliness and usefulness of their own efforts," the letter said.

The decision comes after the U.N. human rights office had indicated it would boost its presence in Karamoja in response to the reports of lawlessness.

In a strategy report released earlier this month, Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said the government has essentially lost control of Karamoja and a system of traditional justice "based on reprisals and revenge" has arisen in its place.

In response, Arbour said her office planned to send human rights officers to the region and would try to draw more attention to the situation there through an office it opened in Uganda in 2005.

Uganda: Defence, British Envoy Discuss Military Expenditure
The Monitor (Kampala) June 26, 2006 Grace Matsiko

THE British envoy, Mr Francois Gordon, and the Defence Minister, Dr Crispus Kiyonga, have held a meeting in which they discussed Uganda's military expenditure.

The meeting took place at the Defence ministry headquarters in Bombo on Thursday. "The parties discussed bi-lateral relations, with particular interest on budget and defence spending, the Kony problem and peace keeping in the region," Maj. Kulaigye, the defence spokesman, said.

He said, "on defence spending, the envoy was informed that defence now is the fifth priority area after the economic sector, which takes 18 percent, followed by education which takes 17.5 percent, while works takes 11 percent, then health which takes 10 percent and defence nine percent of the budget."

The British government is among the western countries that have been critical of Uganda's military expenditure.

The British insist more spending has to be made on social services other than acquisition of sophiscated military equipment.

Kulaigye said the two parties called on the international community to get more interested in dealing with the LRA rebels in northern Uganda.

"The High Commissioner was informed that Uganda regards peace keeping as an obligation, according to the international legal framework (International Convention Law and Agreements)," Maj. Kulaigye said.

Tanzania accuses 12 for Rwanda genocide
June 28 2006 By Sukhdev Chhatbar - Sapa-AP

Arusha, Tanzania - The government has accused 12 people involved in the investigation into Rwanda's 1994 genocide of taking part in the slaughter, the Rwanda war crimes tribunal said on Wednesday.

The tribunal said it received the list of suspects from the Rwandan government in March. It was not immediately clear why the announcement came Wednesday. The suspects' names were not released.

The tribunal's acting deputy registrar, Everard O'Donnell, told reporters the tribunal was investigating and would release its findings shortly after its August recess.

Alloys Mutabingwa, Rwanda's special representative to the tribunal based in the northern Tanzania town of Arusha, called for a quick investigation.

The Rwandan government has complained in the past that genocide suspects are working in the tribunal. The 12 suspects are not all employees of the tribunal; some are paid by defence lawyers to act as investigators, O'Donnell said.

The 1994 slaughter was orchestrated by a regime of extremists from Rwanda's Hutu majority. More than 500 000 people, most of them minority Tutsis, were killed in the genocide.

The UN Security Council set a 2008 deadline for the tribunal to finish all trials. The panel has convicted more than 20 people and acquitted three since it was set up in 1994. Trials are under way for 27 others.

Tanzania’s Foreign Minister Briefs Journalists
Wednesday 28th June 2006 By Pap Saine http://www.thepoint.gm

Dr Asha Rose Migiro, Tanzania’s Foreign Minister, yesterday briefed journalists about the outcome of the meeting in Banjul on the Great Lakes region.

“We have agreed that the second summit that was supposed to be held in Nairobi has been moved to December 14-15 in Nairobi due to the elections of DR Congo,” she said.

“The authorities of DRC have assured that they will have a government in place by December.”

Dr Magiro said the Foreign Ministers would convey meeting in December 11 prior to the summit.

She explained: “We have put in the agenda of the meeting of Great Lakes region and this has been for consultation among ourselves.

“We have also considered budgetary issue, we have agreed in the first year. We will adopt the skill of assessment. This is currently by the AU, a year after we will consider an other methodology.

“The eleven member countries will participate at the summit. The presidents of the Great Lakes region are expected to sign a pact on peace security and development. This pact will put in place fundamental principles that will ensure there is a peace, that peace is sustainable.”

She further said there would also be a protocol on social and economic development.

This aims at bringing sustainable peace in their region, she added.

UN Kofi Annan Sees High Risk of DR Congo Elections Violence
London GLCSS 28 June 2006 by William Church

The United Nations Secretary-General urged the Security Council to allow MONUC, the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to keep the nearly 850 police and 700 peacekeepers that were authorized on a temporary basis in 2005 and 2006. In addition, he once again called for additional peacekeepers, air assets, and civilian personnel to support the DRC’s first free elections in 40 years.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his 21st Report on MONUC, gave a frank assessment of the risks to the election.

‘’Risks of violence during the forthcoming elections are potentially high,’’ the Secretary-General told the Security Council. ‘’ Security sector reform efforts remain largely incomplete and most of the former belligerents maintain a military capacity with which they could challenge electoral results. The deployment of the Garde républicaine to parts of the country has raised concern about possible intimidation of certain candidates.’’

Annan stressed that the main security challenges are two fold:

There could potentially be tension between political parties in large population centers resulting in civil disturbance.
The rural areas of the eastern DRC could be affected by the large presence of Congolese soldiers refusing brassage, which include militia and Mayi-Mayi, which might be manipulated by political rivals.

The DRC elections were mandated to be held by 30 June 2006 by the 2003 Sun City Agreement, which ended one of Africa’s most deadly wars, along with other key transitional tasks. However, the elections to end the Transitional Government have been postponed five times and now will be held on 30 July, a month after the allotted, legal transition period.

In addition, the Sun City Agreement also called for the creation of a ‘’suitably sized, professional and well managed and well equipped national Congolese army’’. The FARDC (the new Congolese national army) was originally sized at 18 brigades of 3,500 soldiers but the process has stalled with only ten brigades and some of them only manned by 2,500 soldiers. With only ten brigades, it is short of the minimum number of 15 brigades required to maintained elections security.

To mitigate the risk of violence, the Secretary-General recommended that MONUC be allowed to maintain the additional military, police and enabling assets approved on a temporary basis by resolutions 1621 (2005), 1635 (2005) and 1669 (2006). He also cited an urgent need for additional solders for a mission that is already the largest UN peacekeeper force.

‘’Furthermore,’’ Annan stated, ‘’to ensure a successful national electoral process MONUC has determined that it will need to deploy personnel at sites closer to polling stations. This requires deploying, equipping and sustaining small groups of personnel at up to 80 new remote locations for a limited period. Support for elections would also require the deployment of another nine rotary-wing and two fixed-wing aircraft and 88 civilian support personnel.’’

Last year, the Security-General’s request for a larger MONUC force was significantly reduced by US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton. In a face-saving compromise Annan was granted a fraction of his request with the stipulation that the peacekeepers be repatriated by July 2006. This most recent request comes at the same time as a call for additional peacekeepers in Cote d’Ivoire and Darfur.

Great Lakes Centre for Strategic Studies is a London-based think tank.

DRC: Copper, cobalt mining resumes in DRC town
Philippe Siuberski Wed, 28 Jun 2006 Sapa-AFP

Kolwezi - The Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) battered copper and cobalt mining centre, Kolwezi, has marked a new start of its ore production, almost three decades after rebels attacked the city.

As the country was gearing up to key July 30 elections, vice-president Abdulaye Yerodia, seven ministers and more than 10 foreign envoys attended a ceremony putting responsibility for the mining process into the hands of the newly created Kamoto Copper Company (KCC).

The semi-public company was taking over from state-run Gecamines which still holds 25 percent of its assets, with the remainder owned by private Belgian-Canadian group Kinross Forrest Limited.

Belgian businessman Georges Forrest, who holds other major stakes in Katanga, the region around Kolwezi, hailed the rebirth of the city's mining industry as the "most important private investment in DRC since (the country's) independence" in 1960.

Gecamines, once DRC’s economic powerhouse, suffered dramatically from mismanagement under the regime of late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who was ousted in 1997 after more than three decades in power in what was then Zaire. He died in exile in Morocco the same year.

The company was also hard hit by the consequences of the country's 1996-2003 wars and has been effectively carved up since the start of the political transition three years ago.

Some 30 joint-ventures now share its most profitable concessions among themselves, but a parliamentary report last year called for deals that benefited from particularly generous fiscal largesse to be re-negotiated or terminated.

In 2002, Gecamines production was less than one percent of the 1989 figure.

"Now Congo will develop very quickly," said a confident 35-year-old, Innocent Muteba, who has worked for the company for 12 years, as the price of copper, used for electrical wiring and plumbing, reached more than $7 000 per tonne, compared to $4 500 at the start of the year.

"Our children will be able to stop working in makeshift mines and return to school," he added. Forrest has pledged to open a number of schools.

The dramatic upheavals of the late 1970s when France sent the Foreign Legion to Kolwezi to free Europeans taken hostage by rebels were now a thing of the distant past.

"There's no risk today, the city is peaceful," said another miner.

To create the Kamoto Copper Company, Gecamines gave up its production rights while Kinross Forrest promised to invest $426mn to restart operations and another $257mn dollars to help the new company over the next 20 years.

Re-launching full production was expected to take five years, with annual production due to reach more than 150 000 tonnes of copper and 5 000 tonnes of cobalt.

Royalties and income taxes of up to $2.2bn were also expected to give the country a much needed boost after years of civil strife.

Forrest expects the company to create 2 500 new jobs, 12 000 if subcontractors were also included, with an overall 240 000 people benefiting indirectly from the restart.

SOUTH AFRICA:

AFRICA / AU :

UN /ONU :

USA :

CANADA :

AUSTRALIA :

EUROPE :

CHINA :

INDIA :

BRASIL: