Burundi: En bref ce 31 JUILLET 2006 ...

Burundi grenade blasts kill three
Monday, 31 July 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk

Refugees have returned since Burundi began emerging from war
At least three people were killed in hand grenade attacks on two suburban bars on Sunday in Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, officials said on Monday.
Several others were injured by the explosions in the suburb of Gihosha.

Army spokesman Adolphe Manirakiza said the attacks had been carried out by the rebel National Liberation Forces (FNL), a group now involved in peace talks.

But local government official Vincent Bacanamwo has blamed disaffected people living in the area for the violence.

The FNL has not admitted responsibility for the attacks, leading to widespread speculation about who the perpetrators were, says the BBC's Prime Ndikumagenge in Bujumbura.

Weapons are easy to come by and many Burundians have them, our correspondent says.

Tension

Burundi's government estimates that there are about 300,000 illegal guns in the hands of civilians and armed groups, left over from more than a decade of ethnic civil war.

This latest violence comes as peace talks, aimed at bringing a final end to Burundi's war, continue in Dar es Salaam between the government and FNL, the last active rebel group.

Since independence in 1961, Burundi has been plagued by tension between the dominant Tutsi minority and the Hutu majority.

In the peace process that brought President Pierre Nkurunziza to power last year, posts in the previously Tutsi-dominated army have been split equally between Tutsis and Hutus.

More than 300,000 people have died in the war sparked in 1993 by the assassination of Burundi's first Hutu head of state and democratically-elected president, Melchior Ndadaye.

East Africa: Kategaya Calls for Integration of Burundi Into EAC
The Monitor (Kampala) July 31, 2006 Joseph Mazige Jinja

THE First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Affairs, Mr Eriya Kategaya, has said the East African Community should focus on considering the admission of the republics of Burundi and Rwanda into the community.

"The implementation of a customs union protocol, attaining common market, monetary union and the eventual political federation require that we exert all skills at our disposal. But we shall not only focus on that," Kategaya said on July 26.

He was speaking at the official opening of the retreat workshop for the senior East African Community staff in Jinja.

EAC Secretary General Juma Volter Mwapachu said this year's retreat was aimed at deliberating on the achievements and challenges the region is facing.

Nigeria/Burundi: Burundi President Rates Abuja Stadium High
Daily Champion (Lagos) July 31, 2006 Lagos

Burundi President, Mr. Pierre Nkurun Ziza has doffed his hat for the state of art Abuja national Stadium.

Ziza who was at the Stadium at the weekend while on an official visit to Nigeria described the stadium as one of the best in the African Continent.

According to the Burundi President who was accompanied with in the visit by his wife and his country's vice President's wife confessed that the Stadium in Abuja remains an inspirational for all of Africa.

"This Stadium is a beautiful master piece, It's the pride of Nigeria and indeed of the entire African continent' he said while commending Nigeria's leading position in Sports development in the black race.

In his response to the observations of the Burundi President the permanent secretary in the Federal Ministry of Sports and Social Development, Ambassador, Thaddeus. Hart said that the stadium is equipped with Modern facilities that make it rank among the best in the world.

He however assured that the Nigerian government is ever ready to cooperate with African nations in the development of Sports in the continent.

Rwanda: Rwanda, Congo to Reopen Embassies After Elections
The New Times (Kigali) July 30, 2006
Gasheegu Muramila & Ignatius Ssuuna Kigali

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will reopen their respective embassies soon after the July 30 polls, the Foreign Affairs minister, Dr Charles Murigande, has revealed.

Congo, the Central African country is holding her first-ever presidential and parliamentary elections today (Sunday), the first elections in 46 years. Murigande, who was appearing before MPs of the Lower Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday, said the bad blood between Kigali and DRC was healing and urged leaders of two countries to work towards total peace.

"Our two embassies will reopen soon after presidential and parliamentary elections slated for Sunday [today] end. These are positive developments we must support," Murigande said.

Rwanda had earlier sent a name of Diplomatic nominee Munyakazi Juru but the opening up of the two embassies was stalled when Congo failed to act accordingly.

The two countries' embassies closed after Rwandan army entered the Congo to hunt down Interahamwe militias, responsible for the 1994 Genocide. Rwandan leadership was accusing Kinshasa government of not acting against the militias who were carrying out cross-border attacks against the Rwandan population. The relationship between Congo and Rwanda has been low since.

"The Tripartite commission put mechanisms in place and these have helped much in the normalization of our relations with Congo," said Rosemary Museminari, the minister of state for Foreign Affairs told The Sunday Times on Friday.

Murigande said: "Many perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide ran to Congo and, during their stay there, they planted bad seeds of genocide ideology. This caused friction between the two governments."

Murigande told the House that Congo's position on Rwanda's enemies there had now changed because the leadership was fighting to get rid of the Interahamwe problem.

"They try with the means at their disposal to fight to the end of this menace. The threat is there but minimal and, after elections, we hope all will be okay," Murigande stressed.

Rwanda: USAID Commits US$3.8 Million to Nyungwe Forest
The New Times (Kigali) July 30, 2006
Robert Mukombozi & Sulah Nuwamanya
Kigali

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has committed US$3.8 million in a four-year Nyungwe National Park bio-diversity conservation project, a senior official has disclosed.The USAID Team Leader in charge of Agriculture and Rural Enterprise Development, currently the acting head of mission, Ryan Washburn, told The Sunday Times in an interview on Thursday, July 27 that the project is based on mainly four components of promoting tourism in the country.

He pointed out the four components as increasing the number of tourists, developing the infrastructure, protecting wild game, and developing tourism skilled manpower.

"The project is in its advanced stages for it to be launched in August this year. We started discussing it with stakeholders, the National Office of Tourism and National Parks (ORTPN) six months ago," Washburn explained. "We have designed the description programme and agreed on it. The project is part of efforts of assisting the government to boost its tourism sector and increase revenues for sustainable economic growth."

He added that they were in close talks with one firm selected out of over five bidders to reach consensus over the effective implementation of the project.

Although World Conservation Society (WCS) is undertaking research to look at the most cost-effective methods of encouraging the regeneration of Nyungwe -- especially the forest reserves - the national park faces a variety of threats, the greatest of these being fires that have occurred in El Nino years and have destroyed large areas.

When contacted for comment, the director-general of ORTPN, Rosette Chantal Rugamba, hailed the USAID for investing in the project that intends to improve the tourism sector. She pointed out however that the projected is in the hands of USAID.

"The support is timely to our accomplished tourism plan for Nyungwe which has just been declared a national park and it's one of the gifts of Nature to Rwanda. It's an impressive development on our part and on development of the whole tourism sector to receive such huge funding from US government," Rugamba said.

She stressed that support will not only bring funding but also expertise, variety of services to tourists and improve on lengthy stay of tourists in the country.

Extending across the majestic hills of south-east Rwanda, Nyungwe National Park is the largest block of Montane forest in East and Central Africa. Contiguous with the Kibira National Park in Burundi, Nyungwe, covering 980 square kilometres of tropical mountain forest, is most alluring for its primates: 13 species in all, including humankind's closest living relative, the chimpanzee, as well as the handsome L'Hoest's golden monkey and hundred-strong troops of the delightfully acrobatic Angola colobus.

And, the most important ornithological site in Rwanda, Nyungwe harbours almost 300 bird species, of which two dozen are restricted to a handful of mountain forests on the Albertine Rift valley.

However, the natural beauty and attractiveness of Nyungwe is crowned by its recent discovery by experts that the national park is home to the furthest source of River Nile, the world's longest.

UGANDA

Uganda: Rights Activists Oppose Kony, Otti Arrest
The Monitor (Kampala) July 31, 2006 Tabu Butagira Arua

THE International Criminal Court's pressure on Uganda to apprehend the LRA five top commanders is a "problematic option", human rights activists have said.

Mr Zachary Lomo, the executive director of the Refugee Law Project at Makerere University and his counterpart from Human Rights Focus, Mr James Otto, argued that the threat to prosecute Joseph Kony and his top commanders could derail the peace talks between the government and the rebels.

"Insistence on prosecution would demand that Uganda jeopardises this chance to pursue peace," they said in a July 24 press statement.

A Ugandan team led by Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda on July 22 rounded up the preliminary phase of the peace negotiations with the LRA rebels.

Southern Sudan's Vice President Riek Machar mediates the peaces talks between the government and LRA rebels to end the 20-year insurgency in the north.

Uganda and Sudan signed the Rome Statute therefore they are required to help the ICC arrest Kony.

"The presence of the LRA delegation in Juba [Southern Sudan capital] and the government's openness in engaging in the talks suggest that the parties are taking this [mediation] process seriously," the statement said.

"Given the International community's overriding commitment to contributing to peace, the logic of prosecution is untenable."

Last year, the ICC indicted Kony and commanders Vincent Otti, Dominic Ongwen, Odhiambo Okot and Raska Lukwiya over crimes against humanity.

"The ICC's 2005 indictments should not and do not preclude the peace talks taking place (in Juba)," the statement said in part.

Tanzania: TRA in Ambitious $34 Million Tax Reform
East African Business Week (Kampala) July 31, 2006
James Mwakisyala Dar Es Salaam

The Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) is embarking on a US$34 million tax modernization programme to update the tax laws, increase revenue collection, promote tax compliance and its Information and Communication Technology across the country.

This will be undertaken under the $34million financial assistance from Tanzania's 'Development Partners'. The TRA has already started announcing tenders for provision of various goods and services towards the implementation of this tax administration project.

In a 'General Procurement Notice' this week, TRA says it is inviting eligible local and international companies wishing to enlist with the Commissioner General of TRA to receive a copy of advertisements for the various expressions of interest in the programme.

The Tanzania government intends to use the $34 million to pay for goods and consulting services to be procured through five strategic goals highlighted in TRA's second corporate plan.

The five strategic goals include: increasing revenue collection in a most effective way; integrating TRA operations; providing high quality and responsive customer services; promoting tax compliance through fair, equitable and transparent application of tax laws; and improving staff competence, motivation, integrity and accountability.

The goods and services to be sought and provided by tender will consist of ICT equipment, office furniture, additional motor vehicles and customs patrol boats that are required to support the programme, all to be procured under the International Competitive Bidding (ICB).

Under the financial support TRA will seek consultancy services to up date tax laws, software supply and customization, communication networking system, and a few long and short term consulting services for Zanzibar Revenue Board, the Domestic Revenue Taxes, Internal Audit, and ICT systems. The TRA notice says the contracts under this programme will be conducted through the procedures specified in the World Bank's guidelines: Procurement under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits, and under Tanzania's 'Public Procurement Acts as published in 2005.

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