Sources: AllAfrica, Le Soir, De Standaard, AfroInfodoc
May 21 2001
-After an encounter with mediator Masire European commissioner Chris Patten says that the EU will release an amount of 1.9 million Euro for the Congolese peace process. The president of the European Commission Romano Prodi has already promised aid to Congo when the results of the discourse between Masire en Kabila have completed.
Kabila thinks that the number of peacekeepers must be extended to 20 000. He wants the intercongolese dialogue will be finished this year and that the elections will take place in 2002.
-A 12-man mission of the UN Security Council has visited Kinshasa. The mission is optimistic about the advance of the peace process. The parties involved in the conflict have withdraw their troops -except one of them - according to the agreement, they work together with MONUC to accomplish the planning of a total withdrawal and of disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration and repatriation (DDRR) of the armed groups. The Political Committee of the signatories of Lusaka will discuss with the UN mission the beginning of MONUC phase III that will also include the DDRR.
The UN mission stresses that economical support will be necessary and it rejects the plundering of Congolese wealth. The president of the mission, Jean-David Levitte, announces the release of financial support for 40 small projects in the places where MONUC is stationed.
May 22 2001
-UN rapporteur of the Human Rights in Congo, Roberto Garreton, has finished a ten days visit to Congo. He has drawn the attention of the Congolese government on the continuing human rights violations especially concerning the role of the 'Cour d'ordre militaire', the restriction of free expression and political activities. According to him the forthcoming Congolese human rights conference has to keep in mind the results of the 'Conference Nationale Souveraine' of 1992 at the time of Mobutu's regime.
-The Ugandan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kategaya, says it will be impossible to completely withdraw the Ugandan troops till the unity and security in Congo will be re-established. 4000 man troops, about the half of the total number present in Congo, now have withdraw over a distance of 15 km from the frontlines.
-The Mayi-Mayi in Butembo (eastern Congo) call for the total withdrawal of the Ugandan troops before releasing 20 foreigners taken hostage last week. These foreigners were working out illegal woodcutting in Congo for the Ugandan regime.
-Rebel movement MLC of Bemba has promised to pull back its troops from the frontlines on the first of June paving the way for MONUC stationing.
May 23 2001
-The Ministers of Foreign Affairs and of Defence of the involved countries have agreed to begin the withdrawal of their troops by February next year.
-A contingent of 250 Tunisian soldiers has arrived in Kinshasa where they would take up positions at the airport and surrounding areas. They are replacing the Zimbabwean troops withdrawing in keeping with 'Lusaka'. The Tunisians would also protect MONUC installations in Kingabwe. Their arrival brings to 2000 man the number of the UN peacekeeping troops; Moroccans in Kisangani, Senegalese troops in Kananga and Uruquay troops in Goma and Kalemie.
May 24 2001
-The Congolese human rights organisation 'La Voix des Sans Voix' denounces the murder of 7 pregnant women in health centre Ilangi, region Mwenga (South-Kivu) on April 23. This massacre was executed by Rwandan RPA soldiers. They had thrown the corpses of the women in the river Ulindi.
-The Ugandan government has appointed a commission that must investigate the looting of Congolese minerals and other wealth. A former English judge, David Porter, and some Ugandans form the commission.
-The Congolese commission to the investigation of the murder on Laurent Kabila says that the murder was part of a coup attempt planned by foreign powers. It also charges rebel leaders Onusumba and Bizima Karaha.
May 25 2001
-The UN is ready to assist in establishing an International Criminal Tribunal for Congo (ICTC) once the government of Congo puts it in a request.
May 29 2001
-The joint meeting of the UN Security Council mission and the Political Committee for the implementation of Lusaka demands the immediate demilitarisation of Kisangani. RCD-Goma under the leadership of Onusumba is still occupying this town.
-Uganda says that the second phase of the complete pullout of its troops is starting today in Gemena. The UPDF has allegedly withdrawn from the northeastern town of Isiro.
-A Human Rights Watch reports that the rebels of RED-Goma supported by Rwandans still continues recruiting children to wage war against the Congolese government. They simply abducted children and young men who are sent for military training and later service in the rebel forces.
June 1 2001
-According to the Congolese Ambassador in the US, Mrs Faida Mitifu, Rwanda is escalating its involvement in the war. Strongly armed Rwandans with heavy equipment crossed the frontier between the DRC and Rwanda throughout May to deploy in northern and southern Kivu.
-Rebel movement RCD-Goma accuses the Congolese government 'to transfer the conflict to the east'.
June 5 2001
-The Congolese government has implemented two major financial measures in a bid to stabilise the economy. It has adopted a daily floating rate for the Congolese franc and adjusted the cost of fuel on economic parameters, resulting in a 400 percent hike on petroleum products. These measures have been taken in accordance with an IMF and Worldbank program.
-Kabila has sent a special message to Museveni. It was presented to the President of Uganda by the Congolese minister for Security and Public Order, Mwenze Kongolo.
-A UN Joint Logistic Centre led by World Food Program was established in the north of Katanga on May 28. Some 59 megatons foodstuffs were already dispatched to Kalemie, Manono and Kongolo. Over the coming days WFP intends to airlift 650 tons of food from Kalemie to various locations in northern Katanga, but the railway network in that region is in very deplorable condition.
June 6 2001
-Activities in the eastern town of Uvira came to a standstill over the weekend, following a call by Mayi-Mayi for a two-days "ville morte" action. The Mayi-Mayi called for this action as a way of protesting against their non-inclusion in the inter-Congolese dialogue. It is also reported that the Mayi-Mayi attacked the Banyamulenge of Lemera and Gatobwe, near Uvira.
-The Congolese government condemns threats by the RED to resume the war under the fallacious pretext that the government is transporting the war to the east. The government refutes that it gives any kind of support to any armed group, but the government considers the Mayi-Mayi as Congolese patriots fighting against the foreign occupation.
-The Congolese government signed and ratified an amendment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which calls for an end to the use of child soldiers. The human rights minister Ntumba Luaba handed the signed document to the UN special Representative for Children affected by armed conflicts, Olara Otunnu.
-The Congolese government has formally submitted a request to the UN Security Council for a UN International Tribunal to try people who took part in the death of up to three million Congolese.
June 8 2001
-The Rwandan government pretends to have killed in clashes in northwestern Rwanda 150 Hutu soldiers who had crossed the frontiers of the DRC to Rwanda with a force of 300 men.
Some 2000 Hutu soldiers in Congo are said to have travelled eastwards from Masisi and Walikale to the National Virunga Park. A number of 400 of them have been already killed by Rwandan troops and 200 of them are arrested, according to the Rwandan authorities.
-The UN has given its panel of experts who investigated the plunder of valuable minerals from the DRC up to August 3 to compile its report.
-The Namibian Defence Force has over the past few weeks withdrawn 600 soldiers from the Congo. The total pullout of Namibians would be completed by the end of August.
-A delegation from the office of the facilitator of the Inter-Congolese dialogue Masire will on Saturday begin a tour of the 11 provinces of the DRC to supervise the selection of representatives who will participate in the inter-Congolese dialogue, particularly for its preparatory committee, due to be convened on July 16. All Congolese signatories to the Lusaka Accord adopted the Fundamental Principles to the dialogue on May 4 in Lusaka.
June 9 2001
-Ugandan chief of staff James Kazini returned to Congo as the redeploys to diffuse the growing conflict between Bemba's MLC and Mbusa Nyamwisi's militia. In the fighting between these rebel groups in the northeastern Congolese town of Beni some 50 people have been killed. It is said that Mbusa's militia receives more support from the population and from the Mayi-Mayi than Bemba. Mbusa describes Bemba as a businessman with no leadership qualities who came to the northeastern to loot the minerals. The Ugandans are supporting Bemba.
June 11 2001
-The WFP announces that it was restarting food distribution in Equateur. The agency it would be able to reach tens of thousands more who had been isolated by war for years. The move comes after a WFP river barge carrying 527 tons of food arrived in Mbandaka last month.
-The leader of RCD-Kisangani, Wamba dia Wamba, has called for a review of the united rebel movement FLC saying it has failed to work. He disagrees with Bemba who lately arrested 20 of his supporters.
-Bemba praised the Ugandan UPDF for helping him in his fighting against the other rebel group in the northeastern town of Beni. He said he had arrested 35 militias loyal to Mbusi Nyamwisi.
-The Ugandan Commission of Inquiry into allegations by the UN team that Uganda plundered wealth from the DRC starts today.
-The Ugandan army UPDF has redeployed its forces in the northeastern Congolese areas of Kanyabayonga, Butembo, Beni and Bunia.
June 12 2001
-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has recommended extending the mandate of the MONUC by one year. He expressed concern over reports of eastward movements by armed militia groups into Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, noting they were moving out of the DRC in order to evade participation in the disarmament program.
-A group of 16 Belgian ngo's has condemned the 'passive attitude' of the Belgian government regarding reports of massive looting of Congolese wealth. The statement noted that the UN report of experts had accused several Belgian companies of complicity in the trade of coltan and other products. According to the ngo's the 'Marshall plan' for Central Africa due to be unveiled by the Belgian prime minister on June 30 in Kinshasa has no chance of success if nothing is done about the economical and structural causes of the conflict. They call upon the Belgian parliament to launch an investigation into the role of Belgian companies, ask for a temporary embargo on the trade in coltan, diamonds, wood and gold and the suspension of aid to all countries involved in the looting.
-The commander of SADC forces in the DRC accuses Rwanda of executing Hutu prisoners and displaying them to foreign media as rebels killed in battle.
June 15 2001
-The UN Security Council adopted the Resolution (Res.1355) that strengthens the MONUC through the addition by police officers and extends its mandate till June 15 2002.
-During a meeting of a US parliamentary sub commission has appeared that the US military has been covertly involved in the wars in Congo. Intelligence specialist Wayne Madsen said that American companies are stoking the Congolese conflict for monetary gains. Special American forces, so-called Private Military Contractors (PMC), have been training troops on both sides. They have supported the rebellion against Laurent Kabila by 1998, as the Kabila regime had become an irritant to the US, North American mining interests and Kabila's Ugandan and Rwandan patrons.
June 19 2001
-Amnesty International called on the various combatants in eastern Congo to halt killings and other mass human rights abuses against unarmed civilians. Tens of thousands of Congolese civilians have been attacked and killed by Rwandan government forces and by RED rebels. An estimated 2,5 million people have died in eastern Congo from war related causes. The A.I. report is entitled: "Rwandan-controlled eastern Congo: Devastating human toll."
June 21 2001
-A women's organisation in South Kivu has alleged that some 2300 internally displaced women in the Shabunda area have been raped by Interahamwe and Mayi-Mayi fighters since the beginning of the year.
-About 4000 Zimbabwean troops have pulled out of the DRC since April but the exercise has stalled to allow the deployment of the MONUC.
-The Belgian-Swiss airline consortium Sabena/Swissair has announced an embargo on the transport of coltan and all related minerals from eastern Africa.
-The World Diamond Council (WDC), representing all the segments of the diamond industry in the world, hailed the introduction today of the legislation that would prohibit the importation into the US of diamonds from conflict areas and impose tough penalties on those who trade in conflict stones. The bill, "Clean Diamond Act", supports the work of the Kimberley Process, which is working under UN auspices to create an international diamond certification system. The US imports 65% of the world's diamonds.
June 24 2001
-The American Committee for Refugees (USCR) has published a report about Congolese refugees: 1,8 million people are displaced and 350 000 million have fled the country as refugees to countries like Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Congo-Brazzaville etc. 8000 Congolese have fled to Europe.
June 25 2001
-Human Rights Watch accuses the Congolese government of arbitrarily arresting human rights activists. The arrests have occurred as the DRC prepares a national conference on human rights, scheduled to start June 24.
June 27 2001
-The Congolese minister of Foreign Affairs, Che Okitundu, rejected accusations that his government was allowing Rwandan rebels to attack Rwanda from bases in the DRC.
June 28 2001
-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has replaced the president of the panel of experts investigating the illegal exploitation of natural resources in Congo, Mme Safiatou Ba-N'Daw, by an Egyptian diplomat, Mr. Mahmoud Kassem.
-The World Health Organisation and the UNICEF have published together a report about the Congo: There can be no mistake: Congo is facing a disaster. Food- and health situation are catastrophic and every facet of society: education, infrastructure, water etc has collapsed. The present international answers to the problems of Congo are not sufficient. The minimum initial investment in the health care plan to halt mortality is $350 million a year. The Congolese government will need international support for at least five years. The donors must contribute to a countrywide initiative which incorporates all resources and sources of support.
-The Worldbank announces that the Belgian and Canadian governments will convene an informing donor meeting about Congo on July 3. On the Congo's Independence Day, June 30, Belgian first minister Guy Verhofstadt, has promised the amount of $ 18 million for aid. He said to consider lobbying for international debt relief ($13 b) and cancelling the Congolese debt to Belgium. Verhofstadt had been present on Congolese national Independence Day together with his ministers of Foreign Affairs and of Cooperation, Louis Michel and Eddy Boutmans. They also visited Kisangani.
July 3 2001
-The National Conference on Human Rights, which brought together 385 delegates from all provinces along with 30 observers and Congolese from abroad, concluded on Saturday. It culminated in the adoption of a "Congolese Charter of Human Rights" and a national plan of action for the promotion and protection of human rights, among them training the police and military to respect civilians, the creation of a commission akin to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, and regular payment of reasonable salaries to civil servants.
-The Donor meeting in Paris expressed support for an urgent reform and rehabilitation plan presented by the Congolese government. Projects amounting to $ 240 million were planned for the coming months.
July 4 2001
-Kabila and Museveni have met today in Dar-es-Salaam, hosted by President Mkapa of Tanzania.
July 7 2001
-Representatives of the IMF are visiting Kinshasa. They have congratulated the Congolese monetary authorities, who follow the application of the intermediate program, especially with the new economical measures about the unification of the exchange rate. The Congolese government has mastered the monetary mass, the control of the incomes and public expenditures. The inflation went down to 2% in May. There is now control over the banking system.
-The official presentation of the new mining code has taken place.
July 11 2001
-Masire says that the foreign armies occupying areas in Congo are delaying the peace process. The date for a pre-dialogue has been suspended till August 20.
-The Congolese representative of the UN, Ileka Atoki, have protested in a letter to the UN Security Council against the failure of the rebel movement FLC and the UPDF to fulfil withdrawal commitments. Atoki also sought to draw the attention to the refusal of the RCD-Goma and Rwandan authorities to demilitarise the city of Kisangani.
July 14 2001
-The humanitarian commissioner of the EU, Poul Nielsen, says that future aid (120 million Euro) will depend on the results of the inter-Congolese dialogue.
chronicle 9, september 29 -october 12 1997
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