Sources: AllAfrica, IRIN, Africa Infodoc
May 27, 2002
- The Un panel of experts on the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the DRC issued a preliminary report of its findings to the Security Council. It said that it had gained a better understanding of the roles of the different foreign armies and armed groups in the exploitation of resources and in the continuing war in the country. The humanitarian toll is widespread, especially in Eastern DRC. Local populations, including children are conscripted and used as forced labour after the destruction of the infrastructure for agricultural production. The Ugandan president Museveni was quick to dismiss continued accusations against his country.
May 29, 2002
- The International Court of Justice will organise an emergency hearing on June 13 following a complaint introduced by the RDC against Rwanda accusing this country of violations of human rights and humanitarian law on Congolese territory since august 1998. The complaint also comprises the recent victims op the massacres in Kisangani on May 14 of this year.
- The head of MONUC, Amos Ngongi, has denied charges of partiality by RCD-Goma. RCD-leader Onusumba accused Ngongi of declaring himself a supporter of the Bemba-Kabila accord. He also took offence at a recent MONUC report on the mutiny in Kisangani, in which MONUC accuses RCD-Goma of grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law in repressing the uprising.
- The US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and the Irish rock star Bono have visited Uganda. O'Neill and Ugandan Finance Minister signed an agreement writing off the remaining debt owed to the US. Aid organisations argued for 100% debt cancellation and called upon O'Neill to support this is relevant international fora.
May 30, 2002
-Most donors appear to believe that it is appropriate to restore assistance to the DRC in order to support recovery in the country. Only Britain maintains that a fully integrated transitional government, in line with the Lusaka principles, must be in place before the resumption of large-scale aid. Several other countries received Britain's s position with consternation!
- New violence is reported near Kitutu, 230 km South-West of Bukavu, Local sources say that Interahamwe have attacked the town.
May 31, 2002
- MONUC is embarrassed by leak of an analytical report to the RCD-Goma.
- Signatories to the Sun City accord are scheduled to meet in Matadi on Saturday in an effort to draft a constitution for the transitional period.
- The DRC is heading the list of countries in loan arrears to the Africa Development Bank (ADB). At the end of 2001 its arrears totalled US$ 798 million.
- An eerie atmosphere still pervades Kisangani. Many civilians and soldiers remain in hiding, fearing for their lives. Onusumba met six civil society leaders, including Dismas Kitenge of the Lotus Group, who had taken refuge in the Kisangani compound of MONUC. Civil society unanimously rejects the official RCD-version of event that there had been a mutiny within its ranks. In their opinion the so-called mutiny was a provocation by the RCD.
June 2, 2002
- The Rwanda Tribunal finally accepts a proposition by the DRC government to open an office in the country. The Rwandan government opposes to it.
June 3, 2002
-RCD-Goma has expelled three UN-officials from areas under its control. It concerns the UN Human Rights chief Luc Henkinbrand and the peacekeeping officials Lionel Gasparot and Magda Gonzales. The letter are accused of having links to a group accused of a grenade attack in a Goma church on 24 March that killed and wounded a number of people.
- Time stays difficult for the population of Goma after the 17 January eruption of Mt Nyiragongo.Importers have expressed their frustration with the RCD-Goma. They complain that the tariffs were never lifted, contrary to the promise of RCD-Goma. Most displaced families are still living is shelters on host family's property. The UN and a number of international NGOs are examining humanitarian priorities for a strategic plan for the rest of 2002. Relations between the UN and RCD-Goma remain bad.
June 4, 2002
- Close to one hundred Interahamwe are being sought in DRC for genocide. The list comprises: August Bizimungu, Tharcisse Renzaho, Athanase Gasake and Protais Mpiranya.
- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said he strongly deplores the recent public attacks on MONUC by RCD-Goma. He expressed strong support for the UN staff, and in particular the Special Representative, Amos Ngongi.
- The Burundian human rights group Iteka reported that about 1000 Banyamulenge were refusing transfer from transit camps near Bujumbura to a refugee camp in Muyinga in north-eastern Burundi where Hutu rebels are active. They also fear that in Muyinga, far away from the media s gaze, they would be arrested and deported to Rwanda.
June 6, 2002
- Five new members have been named to the executive council of RCD-K-ML of Mbusa Nyamwisi, rebel-controlled Radio Candip reported.
June 7, 2002
- Relations between MONUC and the RCD-Goma were described as "good and cordial" following a meeting between the heads of the two organisations on Thursday.
- The UPDF and RCD-K-ML denied claims by the Rwandan government of the presence of Hutu-extremists in the areas under their control in the DRC.
- President Museveni of Uganda has assented to the Political Parties and Organisations Bill. It is internationally criticised because of severe restrictions to political activity. The Bill provides that no party or political organisation shall open branches below the national level. These organisations are prohibited from holding public meetings except for the national conference, seminars etc.
June 10, 2002
- About 1000 heavily armed Rwandan soldiers have departed from Goma in the direction of Butembo
- Thousands of residents were forced to flee into the nearby forest when RCD-Goma forces attacked the town of Kampene in the Maniema region. A Mai-Mai faction had seized control of the gold- and coltan-rich area from RCD-Goma.
Leaders from eastern DRC have expressed concern over the increasing number of Ugandan settlers in their country. They said that about 5000 pastoralists had seized land in the Busongora County in the DRC, which may provoke tribal clashes with the local population.
June 11, 2002
- The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Asma Jahangir, will go to the DRC from 16 to 22 June to gather information concerning the killings in Kisangani on 14 May and immediately thereafter.
- General Moutaga Diallo, commander of the MONUC -troops, will investigate the recent mass killings during ethnic conflicts between Hema and Lendu. Hema spokesman Jean Baptiste Dhetchuvi said that since April 1468 members of his ethnic group have been killed, and that 73 villages have been attacked. Diallo fears a worsening of the situation. The mission is still waiting for consent of RCD-K-ML.
June 12, 2002
- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has recommended that the peacekeeping mission of MONUC should be extended for a further year. He also recommended the Security Council to increase MONUC's authorized strength by 400 troops for tasks in Kisangani and Kindu. He stated that actually MONUC is not sufficiently equipped to take action to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence.
- In Washington the international financial institutions have decided to renew the relations with the DRC. Worldbank is ready to give DRC a loan of US $ 459 million.
- An unspecified number of Zimbabwean army officers have been suspended from duty on charges they masterminded a million-dollar racket in which food meant for southern African troops in the DC was diverted and sold on the black market.
- The Rwandan army has captured the village of Bonyatenge near the dividing line between territories controlled by RCD-Goma and The RCD-K-ML. Rwanda says it is looking for Interahamwe in the area.
June 14, 2002
Allegedly, South African intelligence services have used a controversial French businessman, Jean-Yves Ollivier, in their Congo peace bid. His name is mentioned in the report of the UN-panel as a partner of Jean-Pierre Bemba in diamond- and coffee deals.
- The World Bank has pledged to intensify its support for the DRC and four other countries, to allow it to qualify for financing under the Education For All fast track system, which aims to provide every child with primary education by 2015.
- In a resolution the EU-Parliament has made a clear stand against the behaviour of Rwandan the Congolese tragedy.
June 17, 2002
- The UN Security Council has extended the mandate of MONUC until June 2002. Its strength may grow to 5,537, including observers.
June 18, 2002
- Uganda moved to ease tension in eastern DRC, sending leaders from the Ituri province for talks in Kinshasa with Kabila's government.
- In Nairobi the UN-organisation UNDP has created a Centre for Control of Light Weapons. Its aim is to reduce proliferation in the Great Lakes region.
June 19, 2002
- RCD-Goma has apologised for the forcible entry by its officers into UN premises at the port of Kisangani.
June 21, 2002
- Human Rights Watch has published a report "The War within the War: Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in Eastern Congo". Rape is used as a form of punishment for civilian population, suspected of cooperation with the enemy. Women and girls are forced to sex slavery. Since HIV is thought to have reached 50% among fighting forces, rape can be a death sentence, HRW says.
- The Mai-Mai has arrested representatives of Tshisekedi in Kindu. They were in Kindu in order to prepare the arrival of their boss. The Mai-Mai threatens to cut off their ears.
June 22, 2002
- Tshisekedi and Katebe Katoto, leaders of the ASD-group, will visit Kagame in Kigali. After that they want to go to Kisangani to celebrate "30 juin".
- Asma Jahangir has terminated her investigations in Kisangani. She said that there is still a climate of tension and fear in the town. Many citizens are afraid to talk about what has happened last May. She estimates that at least 200 persons have been killed.
- Jean Pierre Bemba has declared to journalists that he wants to cooperate cordially with Kabila. His presence in Kinshasa will depend on the results in Matadi and the deliberations of the military commission in Gbadolite.
- Mai-Mai has occupied Pweto, a town that is considered as demilitarised.
- Fighting is continuing on the Hauts Plateaux near Baraka. Rwandan troops are fighting with Banyamulenge, led by Masunzu who has deserted from the RCD-army. Masunzu is supported by Mai-Mai. About 10,000 civilians have already fled. The Rwandan army uses airplanes for bombing.
- The NGO La Voix des Sans-voix complains about the disgraceful state of affairs in the central prison in Kinshasa.
June 24, 2002
-RCD-Goma threatens to attack the town of Pweto.
-Clashes threaten to break out between troops of Mbusa Nyamwisi and J.P. Bemba. A spokesman of the civil society deplores the continuation of the plundering of Congolese minerals while the international community doesn't care at all.
-The US government initiative to arrest the organisers of the 1994 Rwandan genocide - the Rewards for Justice programme, which offers up to $ 5 million for information - is to be extended to the DRC, a spokesman for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda said.
-Ngo's from Cameroon, Ghana, Congo-Brazzaville, Liberia and Congo-Kinshasa say that forest crimes are pervasive in Africa and are causing enormous damage to the environment. They called on regional governments and international community to impose a ban on trade in conflict timber.
June 25 2002
-Canadian mining company Heritage Oil has acquired a DRC concession for the oil winning around Lake Albert area that covers approximately 7.7 million acres.
-The leader of the RCD-Kis-ML, Mbusa, has told the MONUC that 44 Interahamwe in Beni are willing to be demobilised.
June 28 2002
-The UN is working on a proposal to get the parties in the DRC conflict to reach an all-inclusive agreement.
-President Joseph Kabila has met his South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki in Kinshasa in a bid to revive the peace-process.
-African leaders, invited to the G8 gathering in Kananaskis, Canada, expressed deep disappointment that the G8 rescue plan for Africa did nothing to open western markets, cancel debts or provide financial aid needed to meet the UN's targets for tackling the global poverty by 2015.
July 1 2002
-The 42th independent day of Congo was attended by other African presidents: Mbeki of South Africa, Mwanawasa of Zambia, Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Nujoma of Namibia and Bongo of Gabon.
-The African Development Bank approved a mechanism designed to help the DRC clear arrears of $ 800 million owed to them. The main reason is that the Congolese government had adopted an economic reform programme in mid-2001 that had gained the support of the international community.
July 2 2002
-Fighting between the Rwandan Army and Banyamulenge in Southern Kivu continue. Up to 100 villages have been deserted and some 40 000 people have been displaced on the Minembwe/Itombwe Plateau.
-The UN has set aside $ 67 600 for a two-year project to distribute seeds directly to 1800 people of the Ikela region (Equateur). In its humanitarian situation report OCHA (UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs) said landmines had inhibited farming in Ikela, making direct food necessary.
July 3 2002
-The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it would transport 1100 mt of food to at least 24000 people in the northern part of Katanga. Ten of thousands of people continue to come out of their hiding places in the woods.
-The Congolese government has cleared all overdue service payments to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association.
July 5 2002
-MONUC confirmed it has received reports of the presence of hundreds of Rwandan troops and their RCD allies near Moba, northern Katanga.
July 8 2002
-Resumption of donor funding to the DRC is attracting Kenyan businessmen keen on exploiting timber and minerals. Following them South African, Zimbabweans and Zambians are already investing, trading and exploiting Congolese resources.
-Disagreements over command and control of the army constituted delay at the talks about a transitional government between the DRC government and the MLC.
July 10 2002
-Officials from the DRC and Rwanda are in talks to establish a buffer zone on their shared border with the help of the UN.
-A barge of Caritas left Kinshasa with 214 mt of assorted items of humanitarian aid destined for people in Makanza, Lisala, and Lolo, towns at the border of the Congo River.
July 11 2002
-Scores of people have died in fighting between the RCD-Kis-Ml and Hema militia near Bunia. The three years of fighting between Hema and Lendu in this area has led to 20 000 deaths.
-MONUC have disarmed 16 ex-Far soldiers in Beni.
-Kagame and Kabila held talks in Durban, South Africa, under the leadership of president Mbeki.Congo wants a security curtain, consisting of UN troops on the border, with the Rwandans getting out of the country.
-The International Court of Justice in Den Haag (Netherlands) has rejected the demand of Congo to press Rwanda to withdraw immediately. The Court will nevertheless investigate the case till the bottom.
-Anglo American has ended its investment in the cobalt-copper tailings of Kolwezi in Congo. It has sold its 50 percent stake in Congo Mineral Developments for $ 3.5 million to its joint venture partner American Mineral Fields.
July 15 2002
-US deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Mark Bellamy, announced his country's willingness to accelerate the peace process in the Great Lakes region. Bellamy is in Kinshasa together with an envoy of the British Foreign Minister.
-Worldbank president Wolfensohn has proposed the cancellation of more than 80% of the DRC's $12 million debt. He hopes that this will be decided in the first three months of next year.
July 18 2002
-The RCD is responsible for the massacres in Kisangani on May 14. That is the conclusion of a report for the Security Council presented by Mary Robinson, the UN Human Rights Commissioner.
-Rwanda is planning to replace the Congolese currency with the Rwandan francs in eastern Congo. This was announced by RCD leader Onusumba. It seems that Rwanda is also planning to annex areas of Eastern Congo forming a new state: "La Republique des Grands Lacs du Volcan".
July 19. 2002
- African Development Bank (ADB) Vice-President Bisi Ogunjobi is due in Kinshasa on Friday for talks with the DRC government about Congo's debt to the ADB.
- Peace talks between the DRC and Rwanda are going on behind closed doors under mediation of South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
- The mandate of the UN expert panel investigating the exploitation of natural resources in the DRC has been extended until 31 October 2002.
- COJESKI, a human rights organisation in Kivu, reports the murder by the Rwandan army of Prof. Byamungu of the Catholic University of Bukavu.
July 22, 2002
- The first commercial convoy on the Congo River since hostilities erupted in the DRC left Kinshasa for the towns of Lisala and Bumba in Equateur Province, a region controlled by the MLC. The two barges will be escorted by MONUC. They will return to Kinshasa with food supplies for the capital.
- After five days of negotiations officials from the DRS and Rwanda in Pretoria reached an agreement aimed at guaranteeing the sovereignty and integrity of the DRC while ensuring Rwandans security.
- The American author Stephen R. Weissman writes that he has obtained classified US government document, including a chronology of covert actions approved by a National Security Council subgroup that reveal US involvement in and responsibility for the death of Lumumba. [See his analysis in allAfrica.com, July 22, 2002]
July 24, 2002
- The Christian human rights group Justice et Liberation in Kinshasa protests against the introduction of the Rwandan currency in the regions, occupied by Rwanda, and imposing taxes on goods passing the borders of these regions. This is a manifest violation of the sovereignty of Congo and of the Lusaka agreement, they say. The group demands the immediate withdrawal of these decrees.
- Joseph Kabila is willing to sign the agreement reached in Pretoria. RCD-Goma says to welcome the accord, but cautioned that it must remain part of the peace process. The agreement is very ambitious: The disarmament of the ex-FAR and Interahamwe would begin 90 days after signing of the accord, and Rwanda would begin to withdraw its troops 45 days after that. Verification of the process will be done by the UN together with South Africa.
July 26, 2002
- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has completed repair work at the Tshopo power station in Kisangani. The power station supplies the electricity needed to operate the city's only water treatment plant, which provides safe water for the population.
- Police in the DRC on Monday shot dead 14 demonstrators demanding autonomy for Bas-Congo Province. They belonged to a nationalist politico-religious group Bundu-dia-Kongo, which seeks the restoration of the ancient Kongo kingdom.
July 30, 2002
- Kagame and Kabila have signed the Pretoria accord that implies the withdrawal of the Rwandan troops from Congo and the readiness of Congo to cooperate in order de disarm the ex-FAR and Interahamwe on its territory.
- In a statement, the spokesman for the Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR), Alexis Nshimyimana, said that his group would oppose the Pretoria accord, until the Rwandan government agreed to stop massacres of Hutu and Congolese population and unconditionally withdraw its troops from DRC and Burundi. It must also hold an inter-Rwandan dialogue and stop demonising political opposition, he added.
- RCD-Goma refuses freedom of movement of Kinshasa's armed forces in the territory controlled by it in order to disarm Rwandan Hutu fighters.
August 2 2002
-British International Development Secretary Clare Short said that Britain might join France and the US in retraining the army of the DRC after the departure of Rwandan Interahamwe and ex-Far.
August 4 2002
-The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is preparing to send 1500 combat troops to the DRC to assist the UN in demobilising Rwandan rebels.
August 5, 2002
-Southern African Development Community minerals and mining ministers have declared that SADC diamond producing states are ready for international diamond certification.
August 6 2002
-The recent signing of a peace deal between the DRC and Rwanda will see an accelerated withdrawal of Zimbabwean troops from the Great Lakes region, according to the Zimbabwean minister of Defence, Sekeramayi. Now, there are still 3000 Zimbabwe National Army soldiers in Congo.
-The board of the Worldbank approved a $ 410 million credit and a $ 44 million grant to the DRC to help finance a $1.7 billion emergency reconstruction and rehabilitation effort.
August 7 2002
-War criminals sought by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda transit between countries in the region, according to Pierre-Richard Prosper, US ambassador for war crimes.
August 9 2002
-The Zimbabwean government has begun regularising its business operations in Congo to transfer control of the ventures from the military to civilians.
-The European Committee has prepared a draft legislation aimed at introducing an international certification system for trade in rough diamonds, known as the "Kimberley Process".
- In Bunia the tension between Hema and Lendu has been increased. The UN has found a mass grave of 38 bodies. They have asked the Ugandan army to stay in Bunia and to restore calm. CONGO-developments 45
August 14, 2002
- The Canadian company Banro is peddling a package of rich gold properties in the DRC; it says that world's majors are queuing up to take a look. It concerns concessions at Twangiza, Lugushwa, Kamituga and Namoya. They were returned to Banro in April this year, after Laurent Kabila had seized them in 1998. The state retains all of the expropriated tin assets. This area has the potential to be one of the most important gold producing areas in the world, an expert said. The real question is whether stability will return to the Eastern Congo.
August 15, 2002
- Ugandan president Museveni has told the UN that he plans to immediately withdraw his troops from Gbadolite and Beni. However, an unspecified number of troops would remain in Bunia, following recent confrontations among rebel forces, ethnic militia and the Ugandan army, as well on the slopes of the Ruwenzori Mountains, until the DRC government took full control of those areas. He expressed his willingness to engage in further dialogue with DRC President Kabila in order to solve remaining tensions between the two countries. Zimbabwe also is studying the possibility of removing its estimated 3,000 troops in the DRC.
August 20, 2002
- In a new report Human Rights Watch identifies top commanders of the RCD movement implicated in the massacres in Kisangani, and calls for their prosecution for war crimes. HRW names: Gabriel Amisi("Tango Fort"), Bernard Biamungu and Laurent Nkunda as principal offenders. The report "War Crimes in Kisangani", documents the murder on tens of citizens in the Mangobo area, numerous rapes, beatings and widespread looting. The HRW team says to have established that Congolese military and police elements attempted a mutiny against Rwandan elements within RCD-Goma in Kisangani on May 14. [This point of view is not in agreement with sources from the civil society in Kisangani, such as the Groupe Lotus, who are convinced that the "mutiny" has been staged by RCD-Goma as an argument to hit the local population.]
August 22, 2002
- UN Envoy to the DRC, Amos Ngongi, has said that the ongoing conflicts in Bunia are not simply ethnic in nature, but rather that they are motivated by underlying political and economic interests. On 6 August Hema militias, supported by the Ugandan army and the UPC (Union des Patriotes Congolais), seized control of most of Bunia. Humanitarian sources reported that over 110 civilians were been killed.
August 24, 2002
- As the conflicts in the Great Lakes Region begin thawing with warring parties in DRC and Sudan talking and withdrawing armies, arms sales to developing nations have dropped to 34%. This information comes from a report "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1994-2001", published by the Congressional Research Service, an arm of the library of Congress (USA).
August 26, 2002
- Reportedly, preparatory work for a new constitution for the DRC has been suspended at the instance of UN representative Moustapha Niasse. This may be connected with efforts to arrive at an all-comprising peace agreement.
- Voix des Sans-Voix, a human rights group in DRC, has protested against the arrests of people believed to be members of either the MLC or soldiers of the former Mobutu army. It also protests against the arrest on 15 August of Jean-Baptiste Mulumba, the senior economic adviser of UDPS leader Tshisekedi.
August 27, 2002
- Total insecurity prevails in Bunia after the departure of governor Mulondo, and people continue to leave the town. The Hema militia do not control the town completely. It is threatened by Lendu and Ngiti fighters who want to revenge their brothers, killed by the Hema. On 22 and 23 August a delegation of the Kinshasa government, headed by the minister of Human Rights Ntumba Luaba, has tried to start peace negotiations, but Hema have rejected his proposal.
- Former MLC politician Freddy Libeba Baongoli, has announced to have established a new faction, named MLS-Renove.
August 28, 2002
- The Congolese government says that Rwanda is frustrating the Pretoria Accord by hindering disarmament of ex-Far and Interahamwe. It accuses Rwanda of seizing the village of Kasuo, some 30 km from Lubero. MONUC has send observers to verify the claim.
- In Kinshasa a meeting of 24 regional leaders and traditional chiefs from Ituri has started. It aims at ending repeated outbreaks of interethnic hostilities in the country's northeast, which are manipulated by several rebel movements and their Ugandan sponsors. Thewi Batsi, a Lendu delegate, said Uganda must withdraw its troops because it was arming the Hema to attack nine other ethnic groups in Ituri. However, Kisengo Bitambara, a Hema chief, said Uganda must remain in place, because without them, there is a risk of genocide.
August 31, 2002
- The Belgian minister Michel will go to South Africa next weekend, where he plans to talk with several leaders about the situation in Congo. He hopes to retake the initiative that Belgium and France seem to have lost to the USA by the Pretoria Accord.
September 2, 2002
- Zimbabwe has withdrawn 307 of its troops from the DRC. The DRC ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mawapanga, told journalists that if the UN was really committed to bringing peace to the DRC, it was imperative that it deployed more peacekeepers.
- Ntumba Luaba, the human Rights minister of the DRC, and his delegation were released following three days of detention by an ethnic Hema militia in the village Mandro near Bunia. He was take hostage together with UPC-leader Lubanga, a press officer and a journalist. The Hema, united in the FRP/UPC, reproach Kinshasa to support the RCD-K-ML of Mbusa Nyamwisi. They also thought erroneously that 10 members of a delegation to the peace conference in Kinshasa had been arrested.
September 3, 2002
- Le Soir reports that minister Ntumba c.s. has been taken hostage by chief Kawa who is in close contact with Kigali. At his return to Kinshasa he said that he had seen many mutilated people, a situation that remembered him to Sierra Leone.
- By UN sources Uganda has withdrawn 1164 troops from the DRC, but one battalion will stay in Bunia. In Beni the withdrawal has been greeted with enthusiasm by the local population.
September 4, 2002
- Jean Pierre Bemba threatens to take up arms again. He reproaches Kinshasa to prevent the unification of government and rebel armies. Kinshasa has called for a new round of negotiations aimed at reaching an all-inclusive agreement with RCD-Goma, the UDPS and other non-signatories to the Sun City accord. Bemba will then not automatically be prime minister.
- The USA will commit at least $36 million in newly allocated money over the next three years to the Congo Basis Forest Partnership to promote the conservation and responsible management of the Basin's tropical forest. This is the world's second large block of intact and interconnected tropical forest. Three international NGO's s will also contribute to the project.
September 5, 2002
- The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, has expressed grave concern over the apparent forced repatriation of some 1,500 Congolese refugees from Rwanda to North Kivu. [It concerns Rwandan Tutsi who lived in Congo/Zaire before 1994 but returned to Rwanda when the Tutsi took over power in their country. However they ever got a place in Rwandan society, which is dominated by Anglophone Rwandans who had lived as refugees in Uganda. Most of them lived for many years in a refugee camp near Byumba.]
- MONUC has expressed concern over recent advances made by rebel troops and the Rwandan army into territory vacated by the Ugandan army, and about advances of troops of rebel leader Roger Lumbala (RCD-N) towards Beni and Bunia. UN-envoy Amos Ngongi confirmed recent accusations by the DRC-government that about 1,000 Rwandan forces occupied the town of Kasuo, near the city of Lubero. There have been Rwandan troop movements toward Lubero, an area under control of RCD-K-ML, he said.
September 6, 2002
- Kinshasa claims the RCD-N had taken eight civil servants and a commercial aircraft hostage, and the RCD-N alleged that Kinshasa was supplying arms RCD-K-ML, which has been fighting the RCD-N. According to Kinshasa the civil servant were travelling on a mission to evaluate payment of salaries to civil servants in northeastern Congo. The commercial aircraft had been chartered by the priests of St Joseph; it contained medicine and other goods belonging to the congregation.
- Joseph Olenghankoy is demanding to be admitted to future negotiations about any future government in the DRC. He says to represent a new coalition of non-signatories to the Sun City agreement, next to "le camp de la patrie", which consists of signatories, and the ASD, made up of RCD-Goma, the UDPS and a number of other political parties.
chronicle 9, september 29 -october 12 1997
chronicle 10, october 13 - october 26 1997
chronicle 11, october 27 - november 9, 1997
chronicle 12, november 10 -november 23 1997
chronicle 13, november 24 -december 7 1997
chronicle 14, december 8 1997 - january 4 1998
chronicle 15, january 5 - january 18 1998
chronicle 16, january 19 - february 1 1998
chronicle 17, february 2 - february 15 1998
chronicle 18, february 16 - march 1 1998
chronicle 19, march 2 - march 15 1998
chronicle 20, march 16 - march 29 1998
chronicle 21, march 30 - april 26 1998
chronicle 22, april 27 - mei 10 1998
chronicle 23, mei 11 - mei 31 1998
chronicle 24, juni 1 - august 26 1998
chronicle 25, august 27 - september 28 1998
chronicle 26,september 29- october 31 1998
chronicle 27, november 1- december 5 1998
chronicle 28, december 6 - january 24 1999
chronicle 29, january 25 - march 14 1999
chronicle 30, march 15 - may 9 1999
chronicle 31, may 10 - october 24 1999
chronicle 32, october 25 - january 9 2000
chronicle 33, january 10 - april 2 2000
chronicle 34, april 3 - june 25 2000
chronicle 35, june 26 - august 27 2000
chronicle 36, august 28 - october 29 2000
chronicle 37, october 30 - january 14 2001
chronicle 38, january 15 - march 18 2001
chronicle 39, march 19 - may 20 2001
chronicle 40, may 21 - july 15 2001
chronicle 41, july 16 - october 8 2001
chronicle 42, october 9 - december 15 2001
chronicle 43, december 16 2001 - march 3 2002
chronicle 44, march 4 2002 - may 26 2002