News24
Half of seized land unoccupied
Harare - Only about half of
the farm land confiscated by the government in
one of the country's formerly
most productive agricultural areas has been
occupied by new settlers, close
to a month after the expiry of the first
deadline for them to move
on.
David Karimanzira, the governor of Mashonaland East province in
northern
Zimbabwe, the biggest tobacco producing region and a major source of
other
crops and livestock, said only 50.5% of the people allocated plots on
the
confiscated farms had moved on.
"We have given them a deadline up
to the end of this month, failure of which
the land will be given to other
applicants," he said in the daily Herald
newspaper on Monday.
It is
the second deadline issued in two months to the new settlers.
The farm
seizures include the homesteads and billions of Zimbabwe dollars of
equipment
from combine harvesters to thousands of tons of fertiliser.
Amid a famine
in which half of the country's 13 million people are facing
starvation,
agricultural output in the country once dubbed "Africa's
breadbasket" has
dropped to at least a quarter of normal, according to food
monitoring
agencies.
"We want production on the farms and people should be on their
farms before
the end of the rainy season," said Karimanzira.
The
Herald has reported that a survey of the rate of occupation of seized
farms
in the country's other nine provinces was not complete.
In August, local
government minister Ignatius Chombo who heads the
government's resettlement
committee, gave the intended new farmers a month
in which to move on to the
land allocated to them.
He said then "about half" of the land seized all
over the country had been
occupied by new settlers.
Gerry Davidson,
chief executive of the Commercial Farmers' Union, said the
real rate of
occupation was likely to be much lower.
Efficiency decreased
Local
farmers' associations still operating around the country "would not
even put
the figure as high as half", he said.
Farms designated for new black
commercial farmers had been split into at
least 12 plots for their new
occupiers. One property had been cut up into 61
plots.
"If there are
three or four people on the land, its surprising. The end
result is a serious
decrease in efficiency."
On several farms one new settler has moved into
the plot around the
homestead, but the rest of the plots were
vacant.
"A lot of these people didn't realise the implications of what it
meant to
start farming," Davidson said.
Most were unable to raise
finance to begin cropping or keeping livestock,
many were reluctant to start
without a ready-built home and others were
allocated land unusable for
agriculture.
"If there had been a properly scheduled take-over this
trough in production
could have been avoided," he said.
"Clearly it
demonstrates it is not a land reform programme. It was done
because there is
an election coming."
The CFU estimates there are now about only 600 of
the former commercial
farmers left on their land out of about 4 000 six
months ago.
The Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe said last week that
about 250 000 farm
workers had been left jobless by the evictions.
In
August, police arrested hundreds of white farmers for allegedly
disobeying
eviction orders, although many of them had obtained court orders
ruling that
their eviction orders were illegal.
Ruling party officials, usually
backed by mobs of party militants, have
forced many more farmers who have not
received eviction notices off their
land, often at gunpoint.
ZIMBABWE: MDC official dies in custody
JOHANNESBURG, 22 October (IRIN) -
Zimbabwe's opposition party on Tuesday called for an independent investigation
into the death in custody of Learnmore Jongwe, former spokesman and MP for the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Jongwe, who was arrested three
months ago for allegedly murdering his wife, was found dead on Tuesday morning
in the prison where he was awaiting trial, state radio reported.
"We are
extremely distressed by the death of Mr Jongwe. We have yet to ascertain the
cause of his death. However, at this early juncture we have to bear in mind that
Mr Jongwe was an opposition party MP. It is imperative that an independent
investigation is carried out in the interest of transparency," MDC legal affairs
secretary David Coltart told IRIN
Coltart added that the MDC has written
to the attorney-general demanding that an independent pathologist carry out a
post-mortem examination.
"If Mr Jongwe's death was due to natural causes
or if he took his own life then the Mugabe [President Robert Mugabe] regime has
nothing to fear from an independent investigation," Coltart said.
State
radio quoted Commissioner of Prisons Paradzayi Zimonde as saying that a full
investigation into Jongwe's death had already been launched.
But
Department of Information senior press secretary Steyn Berejena refused to
comment on the investigation. He said the department had not received "any
reports from the police".
News of Jongwe's death came as a shock to
teachers' union leader, Raymond Majongwe, who last saw the ex-MDC official on
Monday afternoon.
"I am completely devastated. For three days we shared
the same cell. Just yesterday we ate from the same plate. He was in a jovial
mood. He did not complain of any pains or any illness. It is just shocking and a
tragedy," Majongwe told IRIN.
On Monday a court dismissed fresh charges
against Majongwe, the secretary-general of the Progressive Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe (PTUZ), for his role in a nationwide teachers' strike.
Last
Friday, the attorney-general's office declined to press new charges against
Majongwe but the police changed the accusations against him and kept him in jail
over the weekend.
"On Monday at around 1 pm I left the Chikurubi prison.
Learnmore asked if I could bring him a packet of cigarettes and some Mazoe
[concentrated orange drink]. To learn that in a matter of hours something could
of happened to him is really worrying," Majongwe added.
Majongwe was
freed on bail 10 days ago after reportedly being tortured while in police
custody.
"I am a most recent victim of torture at the hands of this
government. I was subjected to electric shocks in prison and the worst form of
treatment. The UN should really take a look at this," Majongwe told IRIN.
The police accused Majongwe and other union leaders of visiting schools
and intimidating teachers into following the strike call.
Earlier this
month MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai called on the United Nations to investigate
alleged human rights abuses in the country.
"The Mugabe regime, through
the police force, has continued to defy provisions of the Constitution of
Zimbabwe, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and several protocols to
which Zimbabwe is a signatory, which clearly prohibit torture and other
degrading treatment," the MDC said in a statement
Jongwe, a lawyer,
handed himself over to police on 21 August, two days after fleeing his Harare
home where the body of his wife, Rutendo, was found with multiple stab wounds.
He admitted stabbing his wife during a domestic row but denied intending
to kill her. He was due to go on trial in the Harare High Court on 25
November.
[ENDS]
IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11 880-4633
Fax: +27 11
447-5472
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za
Independent (UK)
Inquiry urged after Zimbabwe MP is found dead in
cell
By Basildon Peta Southern Africa Correspondent
23 October 2002
The
main opposition party in Zimbabwe has demanded an independent
investigation
after one of its legislators, Learnmore Jongwe, was found dead
in his prison
cell yesterday.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) leader, blamed
President Robert Mugabe's government for Mr Jongwe's
death. He said it
wanted to eliminate as many opposition MPs as possible to
create a big
enough majority in parliament for the ruling Zanu-PF party to
change the
constitution. "He was in government custody and, without any
explanation of
the circumstances [of his death], they are accountable," Mr
Tsvangirai said.
Mr Jongwe, 28, a lawyer, had been in custody since July
over allegations
that he murdered his wife, 23, in a domestic dispute. Mr
Jongwe resoundingly
won the slum township of Kuwadzana in the 2000 election
and had been seen as
a rising star.
The MDC's justice spokesman, David
Coltart, said the circumstances of Mr
Jongwe's death justified an immediate
independent investigation and
post-mortem examination. He asked why Mr Jongwe
had been in a cell on his
own when remand prisoners were normally kept in
groups of up to 30.
Two of Mr Jongwe's friends said they wanted
investigations into allegations
that state agents had been torturing him to
extract information about the
operations of the MDC.
Zimbabwe's
director of prisons, Paradzai Zimondi, confirmed Mr Jongwe's
death in a state
radio interview but did not explain how he died. A
post-mortem examination
was due to be made yesterday. State radio claimed Mr
Jongwe had tried to
commit suicide several times, but it did not provide
details.
Mr
Jongwe had been due to appear in court on 25 November. He surrendered to
the
police on 23 July after his wife was stabbed eight times with a
kitchen
knife. Mr Jongwe's lawyers said he admitted to stabbing his wife
after he
had caught her having sex with another man, but that he had not
intended to
kill her.
SABC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MDC holds Zimbabwe govt responsible for MP's death
October 22,
2002, 22:00
Morgan Tsvangirai, the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC)
leader, today said he held the Zimbabwean
government responsible for the
death in prison of Learnmore Jongwe, his
spokesperson and MP. Jongwe was
awaiting trial in the Harare central prison
on charges of allegedly
murdering his wife.
He turned
himself in to police on April 21, two days after the
body of his wife,
Tatenda (23), was discovered at their Harare home with
multiple stab wounds.
Tsvangirai said he believed that the 28-year-old
lawyer's death was part of a
plan "to eliminate as many MDC MPs as they can"
to give the ruling party
absolute power in parliament.
Wayne Bvudzijena, the police
spokesperson, said Jongwe was found
dead in a cell of 80 inmates at 4am this
morning. He said Jongwe had been
treated in the prison clinic on Saturday for
severe chest pains and
coughing, and that he had vomited and suffered from
diarrhoea last night
after eating food delivered to him by his
relatives.
"We hold the government accountable for Learnmore
Jongwe's
death," Tsvangirai said. "He was under government custody, and
without any
explanation of the circumstances, they are accountable. We
believe this is
part of a grand plan to eliminate as many MDC MPs as can be
eliminated to
create a constitutional majority in
parliament."
Tsvangirai said that the MDC's legal department
had asked for an
independent pathologist to carry out an autopsy. Bvudzijena
responded later
that police did not rule out the presence of outside
witnesses being present
at the examination. The examination is expected to be
carried out tomorrow.
Jongwe's lawyers said that he admitted
to police after he gave
himself up that he had killed his wife in a rage of
fury after he allegedly
caught her having sex with a male colleague in the
law firm where she
worked. He was due to go to trial in the Harare high court
on November 25. -
Sapa
Not the Land of Milk And Honey
Business Day
(Johannesburg)
October 22, 2002
Posted to the web October 22,
2002
Dumisani Muleya
Even the most basic commodities are
scarce in Zimbabwe
A SEVERE shortage of basic commodities continues to
grip Zimbabwe as the
country's economic situation worsens.
The
catalogue of goods in short supply is increasing almost every week, but
bread
has now become the most scarce commodity as the government and the
Bakers'
Association of Zimbabwe remain locked in a price-increase
deadlock.
Bakers are demanding a hike of up to 40% in the controlled
price of bread so
that they can stay in business, but the government is
reluctant to grant
permission for the review for political
reasons.
The organisation's president Armitage Chikwavira said his
organisation had
appealed to the government to increase the bread price by
between 30%-40% to
save their struggling operations.
"We have
forwarded proposals to the government and we expect them to come up
with
something concrete in the next few weeks," he said. "The most
hard-hit
producers are small-scale bakeries, which continue to reel under
severe
operational conditions because they cannot stay afloat due to soaring
input
costs."
Apart from the rising input costs, the shortage of wheat
has been at the
centre of the bread crisis.
The state-run Grain
Marketing Board has cut the supply of wheat to millers
from 7400 tons a week
to about 4500 tons due to the grain shortage, forcing
millers to reduce flour
supply to bakeries from 639 tons to 336 tons.
Zimbabwe consumes 400000
tons of wheat annually, but it is expected to only
harvest 150000 tons this
season. Maize production is also expected to fall
heavily and the current
maize meal shortage will worsen.
The price of bread is officially fixed
at Z60 but shops are now selling it
for up to Z150 due to the shortage. Most
basic commodity prices in Zimbabwe
were pegged in October last year when the
government reverted to price
controls in a bid to put a lid on skyrocketing
inflation, which now stands
at 139,1%.
Economists say the inflation
rate calculated by the government's Central
Statistic Office is grossly
underestimated.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is apparently
forecasting a 522,2%
inflation rate in Zimbabwe next year. The IMF expects
inflation to surge to
200% by the end of the year.
Analysts say price
controls have inevitably led to the shortages. People now
rise as early as
2am to queue for bread. The other basic goods in short
supply are maize meal,
sugar, milk, salt, and cooking oil. The shortages
have been worsened by the
decline in agricultural produce due to
government's corrosive land reforms
and drought.
Most of these commodities in short supply in the
supermarkets are now found
in the black market where the prices are not
controlled.
Carrington Backs Zimbabwe Farmers
Sunday Times
(Johannesburg)
October 27, 2002
Posted to the web October 21,
2002
Andrew Unsworth
London
LORD Carrington, who chaired the
Lancaster House conference that led to the
end of white minority rule in
Zimbabwe, has joined in the growing
controversy over Prime Minister Tony
Blair's government's reluctance to
support white farmers who have been
evicted from land in Zimbabwe.
In a question tabled in the House of Lords
this week, Carrington asked
whether the British government was prepared to
use money earmarked for land
reform more than 20 years ago to help farmers
now left destitute.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, he said that funds were
available for land
redistribution in 1979.
"What we intended to do at
the Lancaster House negotiations and subsequently
was to help Zimbabwean
farmers on a willing buyer-willing seller basis, and
to help the Zimbabwean
government . . . to make more farms available to
black farmers," he said this
week. "It all fell down because the Zimbabwean
government gave farms to their
own cronies and the British government of the
day decided the money could not
be used on that basis."
He said the government's response to this had
been to "waffle" . No specific
sum was pledged originally, but £44-million
(about R750-million) had been
given to Zimbabwe up to 2000.
The
Conservative Party has accused the British government of complacency
over the
plight of people fleeing Zimbabwe, and comparisons have been made
with the
response to the expulsion of Asians from Uganda by Idi Amin 30
years
ago.
Prince Charles recently wrote to Blair pointing out that
Zimbabweans
arriving in Britain faced difficulties claiming benefits, getting
work and
finding schools for their children.
The United Nations World
Food Programme has suspended food relief
distribution in the drought-stricken
Inziza district in Matabeleland South,
reports Methembe
Mkhize.
Programme spokesman Kevin Farrell said the immediate stoppage of
the
food-aid distribution was prompted after relief workers were intimidated
by
ruling Zanu-PF party militants.
Farrell said militants seized
"three tons of food aid and distributed it in
an unauthorised manner".
Reuters
22 Oct 2002 16:37
U.S. fears too late to halt
Zimbabwe
famine
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
By David Brough
ROME, Oct 22 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. official
believes it may be too
late to prevent famine striking Zimbabwe and says the
country is largely to
blame for its dire food shortages.
"Zimbabwe is heading into a major, major disaster and probably
famine," Tony
Hall, the newly appointed U.S. ambassador to the United
Nations food
agencies, who returned from a visit to Zimbabwe and Malawi this
month, told
Reuters on Tuesday.
On Monday, Hall told the executive board
meeting of the U.N. World
Food Programme (WFP), the world's largest food aid
agency: "People will die
and Zimbabwe is headed for famine. I'm not sure we
can stop it."
Hall said Zimbabwe, formerly an exporter of food, was
in large part
responsible for the hunger because its land seizure programme
had deprived
commercial farms of thousands of skilled workers, jeopardising
production of
the staple maize.
The ambassador also blamed a
long drought, a soaring HIV/AIDS rate
which has eroded productivity, and
resistance to biotech food aid.
Hall, who took office as ambassador
in Rome last month, estimated that
half of Zimbabwe's population was
hungry.
"The international community is now reaching just 20
percent of the
people who need food in Zimbabwe," he said.
He
called on Zimbabwe to open its doors to a massive influx of food
aid to
prevent famine, which also threatens millions in Malawi, Zambia,
Mozambique,
Lesotho and Swaziland.
Hall, who estimated Zimbabwe would need
600,000 tonnes of food aid by
March 2003, said he had seen many chronically
malnourished people during his
trip to Zimbabwe.
"They were
weak, very thin and they don't have visible means of
support," he said,
adding that HIV/AIDS was ravaging farming communities.
Hall
criticised Zimbabwe for delaying the arrival of biotech food aid,
mainly
maize, which was sitting in South Africa awaiting entry to
the
country.
The United States, where the genetically modified
food comes from,
provides half of all food aid that Africa requires and has
said it will be
unable to help countries that refuse gene-altered relief
aid.
"All of the food donated by the United States has passed
rigorous food
safety and environmental impact testing, and in fact, is eaten
daily -- and
has been for years -- by millions of Americans," Hall said.
Irin
DRC: Focus on UN Panel report on the plunder of the Congo
[
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations]
© IRIN
NAIROBI, 21 Oct 2002 (IRIN) -
Despite the withdrawal of foreign forces from
the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC), "elite criminal networks" have
become so deeply entrenched that
continued illegal exploitation of the
country's natural resources is assured,
independent of the physical presence
of foreign armies, said the latest
report from the United Nations Panel of
Experts on the Illegal Exploitation
of Natural Resources and Other Forms of
Wealth of the DRC.
"Three
distinct criminal groups linked to the armies of Rwanda, Uganda and
Zimbabwe
and the Government of the DRC have benefited from overlapping
micro-conflicts
[and] will not disband voluntarily even as the foreign
military forces
continue their withdrawals," said the Panel in the report,
released on
Monday.
"The looting that was previously conducted by the armies
themselves has been
replaced with organised systems of embezzlement, tax
fraud, extortion, the
use of stock options as kickbacks and diversion of
state funds conducted by
groups that closely resemble criminal
organisations," it said.
The human toll
The humanitarian
consequences of the financially driven conflict had been
horrific: in the
five eastern provinces of the DRC, the number of excess
deaths directly
attributable to the Rwandan and Ugandan occupation since the
outbreak of war
up to September 2002 had been between three million and 3.5
million people,
said the panel.
Based on interviews with local and international relief
NGOs, the Panel
reported a mortality rate for children under five years of 35
percent in
areas most affected by the conflict, while malnutrition studies
carried out
by NGOs in both northern Katanga and the Kivus had shown that, in
some
places, 25 percent to 30 percent of all children under five years
were
malnourished.
Widespread and repeated displacement had become
commonplace: the Panel
quoted the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs as having
estimated that in the northern Katanga area
alone, 350,000 displaced persons
were living away from their homes, with
neighbours, in the cities or in the
bush, while in North Kivu, four out of
five rural residents had been
forcibly displaced at one time or another since
1998. This is the highest
number ever registered for Africa.
The Panel
also cited a recent study by Medecins Sans Frontieres conducted in
Kilwa -
deemed to be "a representative town" in the southern Katanga
Province - it
was found that one in four children were dying over a period
of two
years.
Years of armed conflict had led to a social environment in which
men abused
women on a staggering scale throughout the eastern DRC, and
children became
instruments of war, forced to work in the mines and
conscripted into armed
forces, the report said. Destroyed farm production had
resulted in food
insecurity, malnutrition and high mortality rates for the
displaced and host
populations, while malnutrition, in turn, had
substantially increased the
exposure of the population to life-threatening
illnesses, it added.
Unemployment had become the norm: an income survey
by civil society groups
in Butembo had found that 90 percent lived on a few
cents a day and ate one
meal a day, prompting many women to resort to
prostitution as their sole
source of income, the Panel reported.
Three
zones of control
In areas controlled by the DRC government and its
allies, the Panel reported
that the diversion of funds from state companies
and public coffers, by
fraud or under the pretext of serving the war effort,
had contributed to
eliminating funds available for public services. Most
government soldiers
were unpaid and turned intlo social predators, financing
themselves through
theft and pillage, living off the population they were
presumed to protect,
while the government's "elite criminal network"
benefited from the
instability, its representatives in Kinshasa and the
Zimbabwe Defence Forces
(ZDF) had fuelled instability by supporting armed
groups opposing Rwanda and
Burundi.
"Although troops of the ZDF have
been a major guarantor of the security of
the Government of the DRC against
regional rivals, its senior officers have
enriched themselves from the
country's mineral assets under the pretext of
arrangements set up to repay
Zimbabwe for military services," the Panel
noted. "Now ZDF is establishing
new companies and contractual arrangements
to defend its economic interests
in the longer term should there be a
complete withdrawal of ZDF
troops."
Chief figures in this "elite network" from the DRC government
were said to
include Minister of National Security Mwenze Kongolo; Director
of the
National Intelligence Agency Didier Kazadi Nyembwe; Minister of
Presidency
and Portfolio Augustin Katumba Mwanke; the president of the state
diamond
company, Societe miniere de Bakwanga (MIBA), Jean-Charles Okoto;
Planning
Minister and former Deputy Defence Minister Gen Denis Kalume Numbi;
the
director general of Sengamines, Yumba Monga; and former Minister of
the
Presidency Pierre Victor Mpoyo.
The "key strategist" for the
Zimbabwean branch of the network was said to be
Speaker of Parliament and
former National Security Minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa, with his key ally being
ZDF Commander Gen Vitalis Zvinavashe.
Among the businessmen in the elite
network, the Panel cited a Belgian
national, George Forrest;
Zimbabwean-backed entrepreneurs John Bredenkamp
and one Al-Shanfari; a
"convicted criminal based in South Africa", Nico
Shefer; and three Lebanese
"clans" - Ahmad, Nassour, and Khanafer.
In areas controlled by Uganda and
its allied rebel organisations, the Uganda
People's Defence Forces (UPDF)
"continue to provoke ethnic conflict" for
economic gain, particularly in the
northeastern DRC province of Ituri, the
Panel reported. The "elite network"
operating out of Uganda was
decentralised and loosely hierarchical, unlike
the network operating out of
Rwanda, it said.
Meanwhile, in
anticipation of the UPDF withdrawal from the DRC, a
paramilitary force was
being trained under the personal authority of Lt-Gen
(Salim) Saleh, which,
according to the Panel's sources, is expected to
continue facilitating the
commercial activities of UPDF officers after their
departure. The Panel cited
Saleh, a half-brother of Ugandan President Yoweri
Museveni, and Maj-Gen James
Kazini as "the key figures" behind this "elite
network", which was also said
to include Col Noble Mayombo, Col Kahinda
Otafiire, and Col Peter
Kerim.
Rebel politicians and administrators such as Ernest Wamba dia
Wamba, John
Tibasima and Mbusa Nyamwisi of the Rassemblement congolais pour
la
democratie-Kisangani-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-K-ML); Roger Lumbala
of
RCD-National, and Thomas Lubanga of the Union des Patriotes Congolais
were
also implicated, while private entrepreneurs were said to include
Sam
Engola, Jacob Manu Soba, Mannase Savo and other Savo family
members.
As for the announced withdrawal of the Rwandan Patriotic Army
(RPA) from the
DRC, the Panel disputed the veracity of this claim by the
Kigali
authorities, countering that the number of soldiers who had left the
DRC
was, so far, only a portion of the total number of RPA troops in
eastern
DRC, which various sources estimate at between 35,000 and 50,000.
"Instead
of departing for Rwanda, large numbers of Rwandan Hutus serving in
the RPA
have been provided with new uniforms" and assigned to brigades of
the
Rwandan-backed Congolese rebel movement, the Rassemblement congolais pour
la
democratie (RCD-Goma).
As for Rwanda's repeated claims concerning
its security as justification for
the continued presence of its armed forces,
the Panel reported to have
"extensive evidence to the contrary". Using a term
employed by the Congo
Desk of the RPA, Rwanda's "real long-term purpose" was
to "secure property".
"RPA battalions that specialise in mining
activities remain in place, though
they have ceased wearing RPA uniforms, and
will continue the activities
under a commercial guise," said the Panel. "The
rationale for Rwanda's
presence is to increase the numbers of Rwandans in the
eastern DRC and to
encourage those settled there to act in unison to support
its exercise of
economic control."
Recommendations
The Panel
decided that an embargo or moratorium banning the export of raw
materials
originating in the DRC "does not seem to be a viable means of
helping to
improve the situation of the country's Government, citizens or
natural
environment", noting that this would require massive technical and
financial
aid for the population to offset the humanitarian impact of such
restrictive
measures.
However, concerned that if it did not recommend any punitive
measures and
thereby encourage a continuation of the exploitation by
different criminal
organisations, the Panel proposed imposing certain
restrictions on business
enterprises and individuals, ranging from travel
bans to freezing of
personal assets to barring of access to banking
facilities.
Similarly, to promote peace and good governance, the Panel
called for a
reduction of official development aid to developing nations
implicated in
DRC exploitation. It cautioned, however, that reductions be
applied to
institutional budget support, stablisation lending or project
lending and
not sector-specific allocations.
As an added incentive,
the Panel recommended disbursement of aid for the DRC
and other Great Lakes
countries involved in the conflict, for reconstruction
and rehabilitation
programmes aimed at creating jobs, rebuilding
infrastructure and improving
conditions for local populations, notably in
the areas of education, health,
water and sanitation. However, "disbursal
should be contingent on the
adherence to peace agreements".
The Panel supported the idea of an
international conference on peace,
security, democracy and sustainable
development in the Great Lakes region,
and likewise called for the support of
efforts towards regional economic
integration as a means of bringing
countries involved in the conflict closer
and as acting as a barrier to
future outbreaks of armed conflicts, via trade
and other regional
organisations.
It also urged reconstruction and reform of DRC state
institutions, with a
view to increasing Kinshasa's capacity to secure its
territory and borders,
as a fundamental "counterpoint" to the withdrawal of
the foreign troops.
Echoing a call made during the inter-Congolese
dialogue, the Panel endorsed
the establishment of a special commission to
examine the validity of
economic and financial agreements reached since the
fall of the late DRC
leader, Mobutu Sese Seko, in 1997.
The Panel
insisted that governments of countries whose individuals,
companies and
financial institutions were involved in activities in DRC
should assume their
share of responsibility. It proposed adherence of
business enterprises to
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development guidelines as a
mechanism for bringing violations to the
attention of governments of
countries where the enterprises were registered.
Finally, the Panel
suggested that the UN Security Council establish a
monitoring body to report
regularly on its findings, including
recommendations about further action to
halt activities that violated the
Council's decisions. Similarly, specialised
industry organisations could be
requested to monitor trade in commodities
from conflict areas. For example,
all member states where trade in rough
diamonds was being carried out should
join the Kimberley
Process.
[ENDS]
Washington Post
Foreign Armies Seek Control of Congo's Wealth
By
Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 22, 2002; Page
A20
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 21 -- The armies of Uganda, Zimbabwe and
Rwanda have
established permanent paramilitary and criminal proxies in Congo
to control
the country's trade in diamonds, gold and other natural resources
after
their soldiers withdraw under the terms of U.N.-monitored peace
deals,
according to a United Nations report.
The 59-page report paints
a grim portrait of life in the Democratic Republic
of Congo, where
international criminal networks, backed by invading African
armies, have
extracted mineral wealth worth billions of dollars, looted the
country's
national and local treasuries, and contributed to the deaths of
more than 3
million people. The report concludes that peace agreements
signed in Lusaka,
Zambia, Luanda, Angola and Pretoria, South Africa,
designed to oversee the
withdrawal of foreign troops, are unlikely to mark a
major
improvement.
"All three countries have anticipated the day when pressure
from the
international community would make it impossible to maintain large
forces in
the Democratic Republic of Congo," according to the report by a
U.N. panel
of experts. "The governments of Rwanda and Zimbabwe, as well as
powerful
individuals in Uganda, have adopted other strategies for maintaining
the
mechanisms for revenue generation, many of which involve
criminal
activities, once their troops have departed."
The authors of
the report recommended imposing a financial and travel ban on
83 individuals
and companies, including foreign businessmen, senior
Congolese, Rwandan,
Ugandan, and Zimbabwean military officers, as well as
multinational firms
from Africa, Europe and the former Soviet Union. It
charged that 85
multinational firms are in violation of guidelines
established by the
Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development
governing corporate
conduct in conflict zones.
After backing the overthrow of Mobutu Sese
Seko by the late Congolese leader
Laurent Kabila in 1997, Uganda and Rwanda
turned against their former ally
in August 1998. Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola
intervened on behalf of Kabila,
who was later killed by a palace guard, and
was succeeded by his son, Joseph
Kabila. At the height of the war, more than
40,000 troops from seven
countries were deployed in Congo. But under
international pressure, the
foreign armies have begun to withdraw.
The
report says the initial motivations for the war have been replaced
largely by
economic interests. "These conflicts are fought over minerals,
farm produce,
land and even tax revenues," the report said. "The elite
networks derive
financial benefit through a variety of criminal activities,
including theft,
embezzlement, diversion of public funds, undervaluation of
goods, smuggling,
false invoicing, non-payment of taxes, kickback to public
officials and
bribery."
Each foreign power has developed unique strategies for
enforcing control
over its respective sphere of influence. The Rwandan
military, which uses
its Congo gains to finance its military operations, has
placed Rwandan
businessmen in charge of Congolese state companies to ensure
control over
the water, power and transportation facilities in eastern Congo.
It also has
obtained large numbers of Congolese passports and has begun to
assign
Rwandan soldiers to local rebel movements, to protect Rwandan
assets.
Senior Ugandan military officers, including retired Lt. Gen.
Salim Saleh, a
brother of President Yoweri Museveni, have "taken steps to
train local
militia to serve as a paramilitary force," the report said, and
added,
"there will be little change in the control Ugandans now exercise over
trade
flows and economic resources." Congolese and Zimbabwean political,
military
and business elites have transferred ownership of at least $5
billion of
assets from state-owned mining companies to private firms they
control, and
are paying no taxes.
© 2002 The Washington Post
Company
Multinationals in scramble for Congo's wealth
Scathing UN report points
finger at British companies for helping to plunder
resources of war-torn
African country
Rory Carroll, Africa correspondent and
agencies
Tuesday October 22, 2002
The Guardian
Dozens of
multinationals including Barclays Bank, De Beers and Anglo
American have been
accused of facilitating the plunder of the Democratic
Republic of Congo's
wealth in a scathing UN report published yesterday.
An independent panel of
experts reported to the UN security council that 85
multinational companies
based in Europe, the US and South Africa had
violated ethical guidelines in
dealing with criminal networks which have
pillaged natural resources from the
war-torn central African country.
According to the panel, a scramble for
gold, diamonds, cobalt and copper by
army officers, government officials and
entrepreneurs from Congo and
neighbouring African countries had generated
billions of dollars which found
its way to mining companies and financial
institutions.
The panel did not detail the accusations against the 85
multinationals but
said it had evidence that they violated OECD ethical
guidelines, to which
Britain was a signatory. The British government will be
expected to take
action because 12 of the companies are registered in
Britain.
"Home governments have the obligation to ensure that enterprises
in their
jurisdiction do not abuse principles of conduct that they have
adopted as a
matter of law," said the 59-page report.
The panel's
report accuses a Zimbabwean businessman of procuring military
equipment from
BAE Systems (part of the former British Aerospace) in
violation of European
sanctions. The report named John Bredenkamp as a key
investor in the Aviation
Consultancy Service Company, which represents BAE
Systems. The report alleges
that he offered to mediate sales of British
Aerospace military equipment to
Congo. The panel said he procured aircraft
parts for Zimbabwe, which was
propping up the Kinshasa government.
"Mr Bredenkamp's representatives
claimed that his companies observed
European Union sanctions on Zimbabwe but
British Aerospace spare parts for
Hawk jets were supplied early in 2002 in
breach of those sanctions," the
report said.
The publication of the
report caught several of the multinationals by
surprise and they scrambled to
obtain copies.
A Barclays spokesman said: "We have not yet seen a copy of
the report . . .
but I can assure you that we take our ethical
responsibilities extremely
seriously and apply high standards of business
conduct across our operations
worldwide."
De Beers declined to comment
until it had seen the report and Anglo American
did not return calls. The
other British-registered companies were Afrimex,
Mineral Afrika, Euromet, Das
Air, A Knight International, A&M Minerals and
Metals, Alex Stewart,
Arctic Investment and Amalgamated Metal Corporation.
François Grignon,
the central Africa director for the research organisation
International
Crisis Group, welcomed the report's targeting of
multinationals. "Even
providing a bank account to those who are exploiting
the resources is a
substantive role," he said. "The corporations must accept
responsibility.
They benefit more from this dirty business than those doing
the digging and
mining."
The report named an additional 29 companies and 54 individuals,
mostly
African and Belgian, which it said were directly involved in the
plunder and
should be considered for financial restrictions.
The
five-member panel had Egyptian, Canadian, American, Belgian and
Senegalese
members, and British and Swiss technical advisers. It was
mandated by the
security council to investigate the scramble for Congo's
resources in the
wake of four years of war which left 2 million dead.
Some of the report's
harshest criticism was levelled at officials from
several African countries
who stayed in Congo after peace deals led to the
official withdrawal of
outside forces. The list of the accused is a roll
call of top military
officers, government officials and businessmen,
including the Rwandan army's
chief of staff, James Kabarebe, Zimbabwe's
parliament speaker, Emmerson
Mnangagwa, and Uganda's army chief of staff,
Major General James
Kazini.
"The elite networks derive financial benefit through a variety of
criminal
activities, including theft, embezzlement, diversion of public
funds,
undervaluation of goods, smuggling, false invoicing, non-payment of
taxes,
kickbacks to public officials and bribery," the report said.
So
lucrative and elaborate was the looting that there were attempts to
prolong
the fighting by stirring conflict between rival militias and rebels.
"Those
[criminal] groups will not disband voluntarily. They have built up
a
self-financing war economy centred on mineral exploitation," the panel
said.
Rwanda's claim to have stayed in Congo to hunt the Hutu interahamwe
militia
responsible for the 1994 genocide was described as a cover for its
army's
desire to strip minerals. The report even claimed that Rwanda
had
collaborated with its enemies. It cited a letter from Jean-Pierre
Ondekane,
a senior pro-Rwandan official, urging all army units to maintain
good
relations "with our interahamwe and Mayi-Mayi brothers", and "if
necessary
to let them exploit the sub-soil for their
survival".
Companies under the spotlight
British-registered firms
accused of violating business ethics in Congo
Afrimex Exports coltan, an
ore essential for making most electronic goods,
such as mobile
phones
A. Knight International Ltd
Based in Merseyside, weighs,
tests and examines metals, a process known as
assaying
A & M
Minerals and Metals Ltd Based in London, trades metallurgical raw
materials
worldwide. Ships non-ferrous scrap and residues
Alex Stewart Ltd
Specialist in assaying
Amalgamated Metal Corp Holding company of AMC
Group, operates in 15 nations.
Supplies raw materials, steel, chemicals and
coltan. Total sales of £1.5bn
in 1998/99
Anglo American Plc Mining and
natural resources conglomerate, owned by the
Oppenheimers, formed in 1998
when Anglo American Corp merged with Minorco,
moving from Johannesburg to
London. Beyond the precious minerals market,
company interests include
construction (LTA), financial services
(FirstRand), explosives (AECI), wine
(Vergelegen) and forestry (Mondi). Also
holds a 45% share in De
Beers
Arctic Investment Investment firm in Europe and
Africa
Barclays Bank Active in Africa for over a century, with offices
across
Africa, but not in Congo. Declares mission to become Africa's leading
bank.
Donates millions to community projects but image tarnished by
apartheid
boycott in the 1980s. Lawsuit filed from former employee claiming
it
exploited black workers in South Africa
Das Air Airline's motto: we
deliver. Operates at Gatwick, serves Africa,
Middle East, US and India. Named
best cargo operator 1999 by Nigerian
federal airport authority. Has interline
services with Air Gabon, Scibe,
Monarch, and Air Yemenia
Euromet
Trades in coltan in the Great Lakes region. Was named in
International Peace
Information Service report into coltan exports from
Congo
Mineral
Afrika Ltd Mines and exports natural resources from Africa to Europe
CNN
Diamond deaths in DR Congo
Tuesday, October 22, 2002 Posted: 1:19
PM EDT (1719 GMT)
NAIROBI, Kenya (Reuters) -- Amnesty International
has said that diamond mine
guards and Zimbabwean soldiers were killing
illegal miners, including
children, in government-held parts of DR
Congo.
"Every day blood is being spilled in the diamond fields
of
government-controlled Democratic Republic of Congo and nobody in
the
international community is taking any notice," the human rights group
said
in a statement on Tuesday.
It said dozens of people were shot
dead every year for mining illegally.
Most of them were killed in the
Mbuji-Mayi diamond fields run by the
state-dominated mining company
MIBA.
RELATED STORY
Africa
fury at U.N. looting report
The report is another blow to
central African countries who were blasted by
a U.N. report on Monday that
said Congolese officials and criminal networks
were continuing to help
Rwandan, Ugandan and Zimbabwean troops plunder DR
Congo's
resources.
"When we see bodies floating in the river, or survivors hiding
their
injuries for fear of reprisals by the authorities, you just have the
feeling
that these young people are being killed like dogs," Amnesty quoted
an
unnamed observer as saying.
It said the Zimbabwe Defence Forces,
military allies of DR Congo's Kinshasa
government, were helping defend the
diamond fields and were responsible for
some of the killings.
Amnesty
said some of its delegates on an official visit to the diamond
fields last
year were stopped at gunpoint by Zimbabwean soldiers and an
officer
threatened to shoot them.
"There has so far been no international
pressure on the DR Congo government
to break the link between its diamond
trade and human rights abuses,"
Amnesty said.
States Set Up Cartels to Plunder Congo UN
Business Day
(Johannesburg)
October 22, 2002
Posted to the web October 22,
2002
Jonathan Katzenellenbogen, Eddie Botha And
Agencies
AFRICAN states that withdrew their armies from the
Democratic Republic of
the Congo set up criminal cartels in their place to
continue plundering
resources, says a United Nations expert panel report
released yesterday.
Among those identified in the report are Zimbabwean
businessman John
Bredenkamp, SA company Tandan, top Congolese officials and
army chiefs from
Uganda and Rwanda, as well as the speaker of Zimbabwe's
parliament, Emmerson
Mnangagwa.
The report recommends that the 54
individuals it mentions get four to five
months to halt their activities. It
recommends freezing their assets,
barring them from banking facility access
and instituting travel bans if
they do not.
Bredenkamp, a former
Rhodesian rugby captain with close ties to the
Zimbabwean government, is
among the international businessmen mentioned. The
report says he paid
$400000 to the Congolese government through his Tremalt
company for the right
to exploit more than 2,7-million tons of copper and
325000 tons of cobalt
over 25 years. The concessions were worth about $1bn.
Mnangagwa has
denied allegations of involvement. He is said to be the "key
strategist for
the Zimbabwean branch of the elite network" operating the
cartels. A copy of
a note to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe from his
Defence Minister,
Sidney Sekeramayi, is part of the evidence.
Mining company Tandan made
headlines during a 1998 public protector's
inquiry after then minerals and
energy minister Penuell Maduna accused then
auditor-general Henri Kluever of
covering up theft of R170m from the
Strategic Fuel Fund.
At the time
Tandan was run by Israeli businessman Niko Schefer.
The inquiry heard he
provided cellphones for secret contacts between Maduna
and fund officials on
payments to intermediaries in oil transactions.
Tandan and Bredenkamp
could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Mining Giants Puzzled By UN Allegations
UN Integrated Regional
Information Networks
October 22, 2002
Posted to the web October 22,
2002
Johannesburg
Two of the worlds largest gem and mining firms
have denied any involvement
in unethical activity in the war-torn Democratic
Republic of the Congo
(DRC).
The two South African born companies,
Anglo American and De Beers diamond
company, were among dozens of
multinationals in South Africa, Europe and the
United States that allegedly
violated ethical guidelines on conflict zones
stipulated by the Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD).
A UN statement on
Monday said an expert panel appointed by UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan to
investigate the illegal exploitation of
natural resources and other forms of
wealth of the DRC reported that steps
needed to be taken against companies or
individuals to discourage
exploitative and illegal activities. It said behind
the exploitation were
"elite networks" of civil, military and government
power-brokers.
The report recommended that financial restrictions be
placed on 29 companies
based in Belgium, Rwanda, Uganda, DRC, Zimbabwe and
South Africa, and that a
travel ban and financial restrictions, such as the
freezing of assets, be
imposed on 54 individuals.
"By contributing to
the revenues of the elite networks, directly or
indirectly, those companies
and individuals contribute to the ongoing
conflict and to human rights
abuses. More specifically, those business
enterprises are in violation of the
OECD guidelines for multinational
enterprises," the report said.
De
Beers spokesman in South Africa, Brian Roodt, told IRIN the diamond
company
was puzzled by its inclusion in the report. "We're trying to get
hold of the
UN to find out what the specifics are in relation to their
allegations," he
said.
Meanwhile, Anglo American issued a statement saying it has had no
operations
in the DRC "for several years".
"The group's interests have
included a couple of potential projects, only
one of which ... proceeded
beyond the earliest form of pre-feasibility
stage. It was precisely because
of the company's concerns with regard to
broad governance issues surrounding
mining in the DRC that Anglo American
hesitated to become further involved in
the country.
"We discussed our concerns with the World Bank and
participated with groups
involved in the drafting of the new Mining Code -
which we fully support -
the objective of which was to increase transparency
in the allocation of
mineral rights and set clear rules," the company
said.
In July 2002 Anglo Base Metals (a division of Anglo American)
divested
itself of its 50 percent stake in the one project that had gone
beyond the
pre-feasibility stage.
Alex Yearsley, of international
lobby group Global Witness, said the report
was a "pretty emphatic
condemnation of the diamond industry".
"It shows how the majority of
independent diamond dealers - from Belgium to
Israel to New York - are still
operating outside of the law and have no
regard for human safety and are not
interested in the conflict diamond
process," he said.
With regards to
the two gem and mining giants, Anglo American and De Beers,
Yearsley said:
"If the UN has specific evidence against those two companies
then they should
make it available in the wider domain. However, [I would
like] to note that
De Beers has been very active in working on solutions to
the conflict
diamonds problem."
CNN
Africa fury at U.N. looting report
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Posted: 1:11 PM EDT (1711 GMT)
KIGALI, Rwanda (Reuters) -- Central
African nations are angered over a U.N.
report accusing key officials of
plundering the Congo's rich mineral
resources.
Although fighting that
once involved armies from seven African nations has
diminished, Monday's
report said "elite networks" are running a
self-financing war economy centred
on pillaging the Democratic Republic of
Congo's resources.
Government
officials flatly rejected the report on Tuesday, which said
members of the
Rwandan, Ugandan and Zimbabwean armed forces were involved in
extracting gems
and minerals from war-ravaged Congo.
RELATED
STORY
Diamond deaths in
Congo
Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia sent thousands of
troops to back the Kinshasa
government in 1998 when Rwanda and Uganda invaded
to support rebel forces.
"It has no factual evidence to prove we are
plundering Congolese resources,"
Rwandan presidential aide Theogene
Rudasingwa told Reuters on Tuesday.
He said Rwanda was particularly
disappointed by the section of the 59-page
report which accused its army of
making common cause with its arch-enemy
Interahamwe militia to plunder
Congo.
Tutsi-led Rwanda has always said it invaded eastern Congo to
capture the
mainly ethnic Hutu Interahamwe for their role in the country's
1994 genocide
in which 800,000 people were killed.
"It is the most
tragic part of the report. It is cynical, absurd," said
Rudasingwa.
He
said he was surprised by the charge that Rwandan soldiers were still in
Congo
disguised as locals, despite the army's much-publicised pull-out which
ended
earlier this month.
But diplomats and analysts said that dragging the
shadowy trade in diamonds,
other gems and commodities into the light may
force some governments at
least to make a show of taking to task some of
those named.
'Heavyweights' accused
A Ugandan army spokesman rejected
the findings, which point the finger at
heavyweights such as President Yoweri
Museveni's brother Lt-Gen. Salim
Saleh, army commander Maj-Gen. James Kazini,
military intelligence boss
Colonel Noble Mayombo and regional affairs
minister Colonel Kahinda
Otafiire.
"They have just recycled old
information, they should not involve us in that
recycling of lies," he
said.
But Andrew Mwenda, political commentator for the independent
Monitor
newspaper, said sanctions the report recommended might force action
by
donor-reliant Uganda.
"If the U.N. imposes sanctions on the
individuals, Uganda will most
definitely censure them, if only to maintain
good international relations,"
he told Reuters.
Other analysts and
Western diplomats had lower expectations.
"This is a good chance for the
army to clean up its act but that seems
unlikely," one Western diplomat
said.
Philip Kasaija, lecturer on international relations at Makerere
University,
said the major Ugandan players had been building militias and
forging
alliances to ensure their interests remained after the army completed
its
pull-out.
"They will probably lay low, go underground or even try
to legitimise their
activities after this report," he said.
In
Kinshasa the government declined to respond to the report, but
opposition
politician Kabamba Mbwebwe said he was happy it exposed political
forces
interested in ensuring Congo's conflicts continued.
"There are
people who are not trying to find a solution to the war because
it is so
profitable for them," he said.
General Vitalis Zvinavashe, Zimbabwe's
defence forces commander named in the
report, said opponents of his country's
involvement in the Congo war were
behind the U.N. probe.
"The story is
meaningless. No one in the world, especially in the West, was
happy with the
assistance that we rendered to the DRC government. So they
just want to
tarnish our names," he told the official Herald newspaper.
From BBC News, 21
October
Sanctions urged for Congo
plunderers
A United Nations panel has called on the Security Council to
impose financial sanctions against companies and individuals who plunder the
Democratic Republic of Congo's wealth. In the report, the five-member panel
details how the Rwandan Government and army, the Ugandan army, and Congolese and
Zimbabwean Government officials plan to continue to exploit the DR Congo's
resources. The central African nation is rich in gold, diamonds, cobalt, copper
and coltan, which is used in mobile phones, and medicinal barks. The scramble
for those resources has helped fuel a four-year war in which two million people
have died. The Council is set to debate the report on Thursday 24 October. More
than 27,000 foreign soldiers, including at least 20,000 Rwandans, have now left
the country, the UN said last week, but fighting is continuing in the east of
the country between the rebels of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) and
the Mai-Mai militia, which Rwanda accuses of being supported by the Congolese
government. Most of the 29 companies named are African but the list includes
four Belgian diamond firms and the Belgian Groupe George Forrest mining group,
which has a joint venture with the US-based OM Group. The panel recommended 54
individuals face travel bans, a freeze on their personal assets and the same
financial restrictions as the businesses. Prominent among the individuals named
is the Ukranian born arms trader, Victor Bout, who was once described by UK
minister Peter Hain as a "merchant of death". The plunder continues, despite the
withdrawal of foreign troops, by "elite networks" running a self-financing war
economy on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the report said. "The elite
networks derive financial benefit through a variety of criminal activities,
including theft, embezzlement, diversion of public funds, undervaluation of
goods, smuggling, false invoicing, non-payment of taxes, kickback to public
officials and bribery," it said.
Several senior political and military figures are named from
African countries including:
Rwandan army Chief of Staff James Kabarebe
DR Congo Minister of the Presidency Augustin Katumba Mwanke
Ugandan army Chief of Staff Major General James Kazini
Zimbabwe Parliament Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa
The report also names 85 multi-nationals in South Africa,
Europe and the US for violating the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) ethical guidelines on conflict zones. These include the
world's largest gem and mining firms, such as Anglo American, Barclays Bank,
Bayer and De Beers diamond company among others.
While Rwanda, with the largest force, has withdrawn troops, it
has left soldiers behind to operate the "Congo Desk of the Rwandan Patriotic
Army," which in 1999 contributed $320m or 80% of the Rwandan military budget,
the panel said. Congolese and Zimbabwean government and military officials have
transferred the ownership of at least $5bn in assets from the state mining
sector to private companies "with no compensation or benefit for the state
treasury", it said. Zimbabwean officials claim their contracts are legal payment
for troops, which support the Kinshasa government. The Ugandan army is accused
of provoking ethnic fighting in eastern Congo and of training militias to
control "directly and discreetly" trade and tax collection. The panel suggested
that these individuals and companies be given a four to five month "grace
period" before the restrictions begin. It also said an embargo or moratorium on
the export of Congolese minerals and resources was impractical. No companies or
individuals named in the report have responded so far.
From BBC News, 21
October
Key figures on UN
list
BBC News Online profiles some of the 54 people linked by a
United Nations commissioned report to the exploitation of natural resources
during the four-year war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Emmerson Mnangagwa
Zimbabwe's parliamentary speaker and number four in the
hierarchy of the ruling party, Zanu-PF. He is seen by many as President Robert
Mugabe's preferred choice to succeed him. Was in charge of Zimbabwe's secret
service during the "Matabeleland massacres" in the early 1980s, when thousands
of Mr Mugabe's opponents were killed. He retains close links to the security
forces.
James Kabarebe
Rwanda's army chief of staff is an ethnic Tutsi who helped
Rwandan President Paul Kagame mastermind the overthrow of the perpetrators of
the 1994 genocide. His involvement in DR Congo began in 1996, when Rwanda and
Uganda backed Laurent Kabila's march against the late dictator, Mobutu Sese
Seko. When Mr Kabila took power, Mr Kabarebe was named as chief of staff of the
Congolese army. But in 1998, Rwanda no longer backed Mr Kabila and tried to
remove him. Mr Kabarebe left Kinshasa and was put in charge of the Rwandan
army's operations in DR Congo. Despite persistent accusations of his involvement
in plundering DR Congo's resources, he was promoted to army chief of staff.
James Kazini
Uganda army chief of staff, with a similar career path to his
long-time rival, James Kabarebe. Despite being accused of looting DR Congo's
resources, while in charge of Uganda's operations there, was promoted to army
chief of staff. Rwanda blamed him for the clashes between Rwandan and Ugandan
forces in the Congolese city of Kisangani in 1999. Has denied the looting
allegations but admitted helped Ugandan businesses profit from the war in DR
Congo. Also admitted defying orders from President Yoweri Museveni during the
Congolese war. The United Nations says he is close to Mr Museveni's
half-brother,Major General Salim Saleh, also accused of looting DR Congo's
resources.
Katumba Mwanke
One of the most powerful ministers in DR Congo and a key
negotiator in the various peace talks held this year. Originally from DR Congo's
mineral-rich Katanga province. Named as Governor of Katanga in 1998, by former
President Laurent Kabila, who also came from Katanga. Most of DR Congo's diamond
mines are in Katanga.
Victor Bout
A Ukrainian-born arms dealer. Belgium issued a warrant for his
arrest earlier this year, for allegedly selling weapons to the al-Qaeda network.
The United Nations has also accused him of breaking arms embargoes on Angola's
Unita rebels and Liberia's President Charles Taylor. British Minister for
Europe, Peter Hain, called Mr Bout a "merchant of death".
Other key figures named are: Zimbabwean Businessman John
Bredenkamp; DR Congo Minister Mwenze Kongolo; Retired Zimbabwean General Sibusio
Moyo; Retired Ugandan General Salim Saleh; Zimbabwean General Vitalis
Zvinavashe; Director of DR Congo's National Intelligence Didier Kazadi Nyembwe;
DR Congo's ambassador to Zimbabwe Mwana Mawapanga; Ugandan Colonel Dan Munyuza;
Ugandan military intelligence chief Nobel Mayombo.
From ZWNEWS: Part of the UN report
reads:
"Towards the end of its mandate, the Panel received a copy of a
memorandum dated August 2002 from the Defence Minister, Sidney Sekeramayi, to
President Robert Mugabe, proposing that a joint Zimbabwe-Democratic Republic of
the Congo company be set up in Mauritius to disguise the continuing economic
interests of ZDF in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The memorandum states:
"Your Excellency would be aware of the wave of negative publicity and criticism
that the DRC-Zimbabwe joint ventures have attracted, which tends to inform the
current United Nations Panel investigations into our commercial activities." It
also refers to plans to set up a private Zimbabwean military company to guard
Zimbabwe’s economic investments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after
the planned withdrawal of ZDF troops. It states that this company was formed to
operate alongside a new military company owned by the Democratic Republic of the
Congo."
News24
Students riot over fired staff
Harare - Up to 1 000
school pupils stormed through two low-income suburbs of
Zimbabwe's capital
Harare on Monday to protest against the dismissal of
their teachers following
a strike, state television reported.
The demonstrations were in the
Tafara and Mabvuku suburbs, where one school
was left teacherless and the
other with only a handful of staff after the
government last week ordered the
dismissal of hundreds of teachers for
taking part in a strike over
pay.
Police were called in and have arrested a teacher who allegedly
organised
the protest, ZBC television said.
Last week, the government
sacked more than 600 teachers for taking part in
the strike. Most of those
dismissed say they have not yet received official
notice and have continued
working. - Sapa-AFP
Business Day
Harare acts against Judith
Todd
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HARARE
Government lawyers seeking to strip veteran human rights campaigner
Judith
Todd of her Zimbabwean citizenship asked the supreme court for a
postponement
yesterday.
Todd, the daughter of former prime minister Sir Garfield Todd,
filed suit
after Zimbabwe's registrar-general, Tobaiwa Mudede, said she
had
automatically forfeited her citizenship because she did not renounce
any
claim to New Zealand citizenship that she may have inherited from
her
father.
She has rebuffed moves by President Robert Mugabe to have
her father, who
died last week aged 94, declared a national hero and given a
state funeral.
Her father campaigned for black advancement in Zimbabwe
when it was the
British colony of Southern Rhodesia. Although the government
wants to
declare him a national hero, the registrar stripped him of his
citizenship
and right to vote before the elections in March because he was
not born in
Zimbabwe.
Todd said on Friday that declaring her father a
hero would be inappropriate
and an embarrassment because he abhorred the
ruling Zanu (PF)'s "suppression
of democracy, erosion of civil liberties,
assassination of opposition
officials and supporters, arrests and torture,
and the climate of fear
spread throughout the country".
Hero status
confers large cash benefits on heirs, including pensions and
exemption from
estate taxes.
Godfrey Chidyausiku, a former Mugabe minister appointed
chief justice of the
supreme court, had angry exchanges with Todd's lawyer,
Adrian de Bourbon, in
court yesterday.
Chidyausiku criticised De
Bourbon for not presenting the court with New
Zealand statutes on
citizenship. However, De Bourbon protested that it was
up to the government
to prove Todd held New Zealand citizenship. He said it
was not up to her to
renounce a theoretical right she had never attempted to
exert.
The
court said it would rule later in the week on a government request
for
postponement to allow time to get copies of New Zealand
statutes.
The case could outline the rights and duties of up to 2-million
Zimbabweans
of foreign descent.
Mugabe passed tough new citizenship
laws last year, claiming 40000 whites of
British descent were behind
opposition to his 22-year rule. However, under
the law many black Zimbabweans
of Zambian and Mozambican parentage now face
statelessness.
Todd's
test case is being funded by international donors.
Zimbabwe has been
racked by political unrest and economic collapse since
Mugabe lost a
constitutional referendum in February 2000. His claims to
victory in later
elections have been widely challenged.
The former premier is due to be
buried on Sunday at his farm near
Zvishavane, 500km south of
Harare.
Meanwhile, a magistrate's court yesterday released the leader of
a teachers'
union that has called for its members to go on strike for better
pay,
resulting in 627 teachers losing their jobs.
A magistrate said
the decision to release Raymond Majongwe, secretarygeneral
of the Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, was made "in the interests
of
justice".
Majongwe was arrested last week. Police alleged he went
around schools in
Harare urging teachers to join the strike. But the
attorney-general declined
to prosecute Majongwe as it said no offence had
been committed.
Police changed their charge to one of behaviour conducive
"to riot, disorder
or intolerance" and Majongwe was kept in jail over the
weekend.
He is due to appear in court on Friday facing charges of
"invading the
rights of others". Sapa-AP-AFP
This is London
Council slated over Zimbabwe couple
SUPPORTERS
of an elderly couple who fled in fear from Zimbabwe have slammed
Bexley
Council for its "lack of compassion".
They are accusing the council of
failing to lift a finger to help Lionel and
Olwyn Cook after they arrived,
virtually penniless, in Sidcup in July.
But the council denies the
claims, saying it can only act within the rules.
Jim Wilson, a counsellor
with the Soldiers, Sailors and Air Force
Association, has been dealing with
the couple, who are British citizens,
since they arrived and is furious with
the council's lack of action.
He said: "No-one has done anything. Bexley
supplied the Cooks with meals on
wheels but charged them £4 a meal each. Now
it has sent them a council tax
bill."
Mr Cook, 83, a former Second
World War fighter pilot, who was shot down and
injured in combat, and his
79-year-old wife have been living at his stepson
Shaun Lanigan's Sidcup flat
since arriving in the country. He moved out to
accommodate them.
The
couple, who were unable to bring more than £500 with them because of
the
strife-torn nation's strict exchange controls, have so far been unable
to
claim benefits in Britain.
They now owe £2,000 in rent and face
possible eviction.
Mr Wilson said: "The couple are existing on what Shaun
can given them and on
charity. Feelings are running pretty high on
this.
"Bexley Council is saying it is doing things, but it has done
nothing. These
people would be dying of exposure and malnutrition if it had
not been for
their son and charitable institutions.
"It has tried to
fob me off as well. Bexley should be exposed. There is a
total lack of
compassion."
Mr Lanigan is also angry at the council's lack of action. He
says the only
cash the couple have received since July is £500 from the Royal
British
Legion, which has gone to their landlord to help pay their
rent.
He accused Bexley Council of trying to pass the buck to other
agencies.
"It has been completely aware of their situation since the day
they arrived.
It has a responsibility as a local authority and it has done
absolutely
nothing except send them bills."
Bexley Council accepted it
had billed the couple for council tax and meals
on wheels but says the bills
will be put on hold until the couple's benefits
come through.
It says
it is expecting the couple's entitlement to income support to be
confirmed in
the next week. Then it will be able to deal with claims for
housing benefit
and council tax rebate.
IOL
SA would never invade Zimbabwe - Pahad
October 22
2002 at 11:35AM
By John Battersby
South
Africa would step up its engagement with Zimbabwe to resolve the
country's
economic and political problems, but would never invade another
country to
effect a regime change, said Deputy Minister Department of
Foreign Affairs
Aziz Pahad.
Briefing the media on the annual report of the Department of
Foreign
Affairs, he said President Thabo Mbeki had said that because events
in
Zimbabwe impacted on the whole region, South Africa had an obligation
to
work with the international community and the African Union (AU) to
resolve
the crisis in the country.
"I don't know whether that is a
tougher stance," said Pahad, adding that
Mbeki had made clear for the first
time that there was no question of South
Africa "crushing" Zimbabwe
militarily or politically.
"We will never invade another country to
effect a regime change," said
Pahad. "If they want that then they are barking
up the wrong tree."
'We can establish they have withdrawn'
But
he said South Africa would help Zimbabwe in every way possible. "The
nature
of their crisis is so deep that all Zimbabweans need to talk
internally to
each other to resolve their problems," said Pahad.
He said as far as
South Africa could ascertain most Zimbabwean soldiers had
been withdrawn from
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
"There might be a few left but as
far we can establish they have withdrawn,"
he said.
He described the
current military activity in the DRC as a "hiccup" in the
peace process and
was confident that the peace process could be rescued.
"We are in touch
with the UN secretary-general and we hope we can prevent
the collapse of the
talks, given the recent military action," he said.
Pahad said Angola had
turned the corner on peace and would never go back to
war.
South
Africa could now work with the international community for the
reconstruction
of Angola while it grappled with the major legacy of 25 years
of war -
thousands of refugees and internally displaced people.
Pahad said South
Africa and the AU would prioritise conflict resolution as
there could be no
development without peace and no peace without
development.
"Angola
and the DRC at peace will give the African continent two major
players both
with huge resources to help realise the implementation of
Nepad," he
said.
ZIMBABWE: Teachers vow to continue striking
JOHANNESBURG, 22 October
(IRIN) - The leader of the nationwide teachers' strike underway in Zimbabwe has
vowed to continue pressing for better pay, despite alleged government
harrasment.
"The government's continued harassment has only strengthened
our resolve to continue with the strike. The organisation's solidarity with my
fate and the conditions I am facing is unquestionable," Raymond Majongwe
secretary-general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) told
IRIN.
Majongwe was released on Monday after a court dismissed fresh
charges against him. He was detained after being accused of trying to force
teachers at two schools in the capital, Harare, to join the dispute.
Under the controversial new Public Order and Security Act it is an
offence for "any person who, acting in concert with one or more other persons,
forcibly invades the rights of other people".
The union leader had been
arrested twice last week for his role in the teachers' strike.
Majongwe
confirmed reports that up to 2,000 students had taken to the streets of Harare
on Monday to protest the dismissal of their teachers.
"So far our reports
tell us that a teacher who has been accused of organising the protest in the
Tafara and Mabvuku suburbs has been arrested," Majongwe said.
Last week
the government ordered the dismissal of hundreds of teachers for taking part in
a wage strike.
But Majongwe said most of those dismissed have not yet
received official notice and have continued working.
"It is not up to the
education ministry to fire teachers. Teachers are hired by the Public Service
Commission. So far, the commission has not contacted any of the teachers,"
Majongwe said.
"It is the teachers' constitutional right to engage in a
peaceful strike, and the regime should be, instead, making concerted efforts to
address the grievances of the teachers who are the most expensive resource in
the education system," legal affairs secretary of the opposition the Movement
for Democratic Change David Coltart, told IRIN.
The teachers have been on
strike since 8 October and are demanding a 100 percent salary increment
backdated to January this year and another 100 percent cost of living adjustment
backdated to June.
World Bank will not offer support to Zimbabwe
Reuters
October 22 2002 at
08:10AM
Johannesburg - The World Bank would not return to Zimbabwe until
the
government had restored the rule of law and respected property rights,
a
senior official said on Sunday.
Zimbabwe and the World Bank have
been at loggerheads since 1999.
President Robert Mugabe says his country
can manage without the support of
the World Bank and International Monetary
Fund (IMF).
Programme support from Western bilateral lenders had also
stalled because of
the failure to strike
a deal between the bank, IMF and
Zimbabwe.
"We are at a loss. They owe us arrears of around $145 million
to $150
million and bank policy will not lend into arrears," said
Zimbabwe-born
World Bank vice-president for Africa Callisto Madavo.
"I
do not see the World Bank returning to Zimbabwe until we have
substantive
changes. The World Bank supports policies that are conducive to
investment
and wealth creation, and without the rule of law, attracting
investment is
not possible."
Madavo said the World Bank was also
following events in the Ivory Coast
closely, where fighting has raged for a
month, left hundreds dead, displaced
more than 200 000, intensified ethnic
bitterness and raised the prospect of
all-out civil war in the world's
biggest cocoa grower.
"I have set up a team at the World Bank following
events and the potential
impact on the sub-region," said Madavo, adding that
Burkina Faso, Niger and
Mali could require post-conflict assistance. -
Reuters
Mail and Guardian
Half of confiscated land in Zimbabwe lies
fallow
Harare
22 October 2002 07:29
Only about
half of the farm land confiscated by the government in one of the
country's
formerly most productive agricultural areas has been occupied by
new
settlers, close to a month after the expiry of the first deadline for
them to
move on.
David Karimanzira, the governor of Mashonaland East province in
northern
Zimbabwe, the biggest tobacco producing region and a major source of
other
crops and livestock, said only 50,5% of the people allocated plots on
the
confiscated farms had moved on.
"We have given them a deadline up
to the end of this month, failure of which
the land will be given to other
applicants," he said in the daily Herald
newspaper on Monday.
It is
the second deadline issued in two months to the new settlers. The
farm
seizures include the homesteads and billions of Zimbabwe dollars
of
equipment from combine harvesters to thousands of tons of
fertiliser.
Amid a famine in which half of the country's 13-million
people are facing
starvation, agricultural output in the country once dubbed
"Africa's
breadbasket" has dropped to at least a quarter of normal, according
to food
monitoring agencies.
"We want production on the farms and
people should be on their farms before
the end of the rainy season," said
Karimanzira. The Herald has reported that
a survey of the rate of occupation
of seized farms in the country's other
nine provinces was not
complete.
In August, local government minister Ignatius Chombo who heads
the
government's resettlement committee, gave the intended new farmers a
month
in which to move on to the land allocated to them.
He said then
"about half" of the land seized all over the country had been
occupied by new
settlers.
Gerry Davidson, chief executive of the Commercial Farmers'
Union, said the
real rate of occupation was likely to be much
lower.
Local farmers' associations still operating around the country
"would not
even put the figure as high as half", he said. Farms designated
for new
black commercial farmers had been split into at least 12 plots for
their new
occupiers. One property had been cut up into 61 plots.
"If
there are three or four people on the land, its surprising. The end
result is
a serious decrease in efficiency." On several farms one new
settler has moved
into the plot around the homestead, but the rest of the
plots were
vacant.
"A lot of these people didn't realise the implications
of what
it meant to start farming," Davidson said. Most were unable to raise
finance
to begin cropping or keeping livestock, many were reluctant to start
without
a ready-built home and others were allocated land unusable
for
agriculture.
"If there had been a properly scheduled take-over
this trough in production
could have been avoided," he said.
"Clearly
it demonstrates it is not a land reform programme. It was done
because there
was an election coming." The CFU estimates there are now about
only 600 of
the former commercial farmers left on their land out of about 4
000 six
months ago.
The Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe said last week that
about 250 000 farm
workers had been made jobless by the evictions.
In
August, police arrested hundreds of white farmers for allegedly
disobeying
eviction orders, although many of them had obtained court orders
ruling that
their eviction orders were illegal.
Ruling party officials, usually
backed by mobs of party militants, have
forced many more farmers who have not
received eviction notices off their
land, often at gunpoint. - Sapa
THE INSIZA BY-ELECTION DUE TO
BE HELD THIS WEEKEND IS REALLY IMPORTANT - WE NEED YOUR
SUPPORT
WE HAVE TO GIVE THIS OUR BEST SHOT AND TRY
BY ALL MEANS TO RETAIN THIS SEAT BY MDC.
MRS SIBANDA, WIFE OF OUR VICE PRESIDENT, IS
ORGANISING THE FEEDING OF POLLING AGENTS IN INSIZA AND HAS ASKED FOR SOME
ASSISTANCE.
AS THERE IS NO MEALIE MEAL
AVAILABLE TO US THIS MAKES FEEDING MORE DIFFICULT. THEREFORE, WE WOULD BE
GRATEFUL FOR DONATIONS OF ANY FOODSTUFFS, FOR EXAMPLE A TIN OF JAM, TIN OF BEANS
or TOMATOES, PACKET OF RICE or VEGETABLES SUCH AS CABBAGE, CARROTS. WHATEVER
YOU CAN SPARE.
DONATIONS CAN BE HANDED IN TO
THE REGIONAL OFFICE, 145 HERBERT CHITEPO STREET, BULAWAYO OR
THE VETERINARY SURGERY, 125a
J Tongagara Street (Cnr 13th Ave).
Please pass this onto your friends and
e.mail list.
MANY
THANKS.
TOGETHER WE CAN COMPLETE THE
CHANGE
Dear All,
Sorry about this guys -
yes afraid so - another appeal!
In these days of Hyper-inflation I hate to ask for
anything from people but I also know we have junk and old clothes etc in
our cupboards, either, because we have grown out of them or lost weight -
whatever they just don't look right anymore. Sometimes we just don't like
certain items of clothing and they have been sitting in the cupboard for years
or children's clothes that your kids have grown out of.
This is an appeal for old clothes,
blankets and in fact any item that you would like to throw out. Cups, mugs,
plates, kitchen utensils and pots would also be welcome.
I did put out an appeal some time ago to which some
people gave generously. The reason for the
renewed appeal is that THEY are at it again. Numerous families have recently
had their houses burnt to the ground and literally lost everything because they
are perceived by war vets, militia etc to have voted for the opposition or are
known to be opposition supporters. This is truly disgusting that
innocent Zimbabweans have to lose everything they possess because they choose to
support another party.
Please be assured any items collected will only go
to genuine victims and will be shared out as fairly as possible.
Dr Inge Boye has offered her surgery as a
collection/drop off point -
Veterinary
Surgery
125a J Tongogara Street (cnr
13th Avenue)
Alternatively I will arrange collection if
you phone me on 242467 or 011 230 733.
Many thanks,
Fiona Lander
In the last week teachers in Germany have been on
strike and I have watched with great interest how they went about making their
feelings known and having their grievances heard. They took to the streets in
their thousands, men and women, young and old. They carried banners and flags,
displayed posters and blew whistles. They marched peacefully and almost gayfully
through the streets attracting the attention of not only their own
authorities but also of the worlds' cameras. I wonder if they, or in fact anyone
in the world knows that Zimbabwe's teachers are on strike.
There are no banners and posters here, no flags and
whistles, no smiles and marches. In Zimbabwe when people go on strike they are
fired, arrested, or worse, tortured. What kind of barbaric country has Zimbabwe
become?
Where else in the world would the leader of a
teachers union be arrested twice in a fortnight? Where else in the world would
that union leader twice be assaulted whilst in police custody and no one says or
does a thing about it? I wonder what would have happened if the leader of the
striking German teachers had been arrested twice and was, on both occasions
assaulted by fellow civil servants who happen to wear the uniform of the police
force of their country.
I was appalled to read in the press on Saturday
morning that Raymond Majongwe had again been abused whilst in police custody.
His lawyers say that Mr Majongwe was blindfolded and driven down a dusty road to
what he thought was a pig farm. He was slapped around and then had electrodes
attached to his testicles through which electric shocks were administered. I
wonder why a pig farm was chosen? Perhaps it was because the screams of Mr
Majongwe would not be heard over the noise of the animals? I wonder if a farm
was chosen because it is one of the properties so recently seized by the
government and the perpetrators of this obscene torture knew that there would
be no one there on that grabbed farm who would either stop them or report them.
With 95% of Zimbabwe's farms to be taken by the Zimbabwe government before the
end of 2002 I can only wonder how many more of these properties will become
places where ordinary citizens will be taken and tortured - out of sight and out
of mind perhaps.
I cannot think how one man could do these things to
another man. It is beyond all comprehension to think that one civil servant
could abuse another civil servant in such a barbaric way. Zimbabwe has gone
back in time to the dark ages where supposedly professional men attach
electrodes to a man's genitals and get away with it. I wonder if the men who
were clipping on the electrodes have children who go to school. If they do, I
wonder if they are happy with the thought that perhaps one day their children
will be taught by such brave men as Raymond Majongwe.
I wonder if the men who abused the leaders of the
teachers union can sleep at night. Perhaps for now the abusers of Raymond
Majongwe do what they do for the money but I cannot think how they will live
with themselves in the years ahead. The next time they eat sausages or bacon or
ham will they not hear the screams of the man they tortured on a pig farm? In
the last 30 months there have been many, many stories of the misfortunes that
have overtaken the lives of the murderers of Zimbabwe's farmers and opposition
supporters. There is talk that many of these murderers who still walk our
streets as free men are always sick. Apparently they are plagued by nightmares
and their teeth and hair is falling out. Their lives have become a living hell,
their minds are making them pay for what they have done.
Can you not see Mr Policeman that Raymond Majongwe
is a real man? He is a man of principle and dignity. You may burn him on his
testicles and in his mouth but still, in the eyes of Zimbabweans, Raymond
Majongwe is the real man here.
......................cathy
buckle..............19th October 2002.....................