UN
United Nations Peacekeeping
5 Mar
2009
DRC Press Review
*Original in French
The precarious situation prevailing in North and South Kivu provinces constitutes the main focus of today's press, as the papers report on Wednesday's MONUC weekly news briefing. The papers also consider the apparently imminent sacking of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antoine Ghonda.
The precarious situation prevailing in North and South Kivu provinces constitutes the main focus of today's press, as the papers report on Wednesday's MONUC weekly news briefing. The papers also consider the apparently imminent sacking of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antoine Ghonda.
'Over the last few days, hundreds of civilians have been fleeing the provincial capital of South Kivu (Bukavu) fearing new clashes between government and rebel troops,' LE PALMARES says. Titling 'Leaflets threatening a genocide empty Goma of its inhabitants,' the paper, quoting reliable sources, explains that innocent populations are moving in the direction of Bukavu and Butembo. 'A mini-bus trying to evacuate displaced people from Butembo unfortunately capsized resulting in one person killed and 28 others seriously wounded,' the paper deplores. The first group of displaced people from Goma travelling aboard two vehicles arrived in Butembo on Monday, it says. It quotes them as saying, 'Among those first to flee Goma were non Banyamulenge merchants and intellectuals, because they were identified as first to be killed, as shown in the lists of names posted at street corners.' According to the paper, 'the Rwandan army' was behind those leaflets, which call for the killing of 'Nande, Shi, Tembo and Nyanga people to whom an ultimatum was launched.' In Goma, residents of the Mabanga neighbourhood stoned to death 'a Rwandan found with weapons and uniform on Tuesday night.' He and two accomplices allegedly tried to rob the residence of a nurse. 'All of this shows that our compatriots of the East are still living in the torture of insecurity,' LE PALMARES concludes.
In a front-page story titled 'MONUC against any attempt to destabilise Kivu' and devoted to the UN Mission's news briefing Wednesday, LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES quotes the military spokesman as saying 'For God's sake, let us stop rumours!' Commander Abou Thiam was referring to the rumours being spread among the Congolese population about a new war in Goma and/or Bukavu. As he was quoted, 'The population of Bukavu has the right to live in peace (..)' What these people need is moral comfort and not these discouraging rumours of new fighting, the military spokesman said. Recalling MONUC's news briefing of July 14, the paper says 'Commander Abou Thiam warned that the mission would use all means at its disposal to thwart any new attack.'
Quoting MONUC spokesman Hamadoun Touré, L'OBSERVATEUR titles 'The situation is calm in Goma.' 'MONUC confirms the territory of Kalehe to be calm,' announces L'AVENIR, while LA REFERENCE PLUS and LE PALMARES talk about 'a tense situation in Goma,' but announces a return of calm to the district of Ituri where the latest hostilities between rival militias fighting for a gold mine claimed 48 lives.
Denouncing 'the tactlessness' of the DRC Executive, LE PALMARES titles 'scandal again: Here's how the Government was bent in front of the mutineer Laurent Nkunda.' This is in reference to an interview an ambassador granted to a local private TV, expressing his disgust in veiled words, 'as diplomatic restraint requires of him'. The paper regrets that the governors of North and South Kivu, acting on behalf of the Government, went to Minova to meet renegade General Nkunda. This visit, says the papers, was undertaken in 'violation of the Constitution which states that no one has the right to take power by the force of arms'. It is a breach of protocol as well, the paper goes on saying, because civilian authorities normally take precedence over their military counterparts. 'By going to pay homage to the god of Minova, the two regional officials dishonoured their duties. Hence they should resign as a matter of urgency,' the paper comments.
In another article, LE PALMARES also laments ''the plight of the inhabitants of Minova 'under the law of General Nkunda.' According to the paper, Nkunda forces the population to finance his war efforts with one dollar per month for the unemployed, 5 dollars per month for economic operators and 20 dollars for mining developers. 'Those unable to pay are beaten up in public,' claims the paper. Recalcitrant men are forced to witness their wives being raped by rebels, it says. Residents go to sleep in neighbouring villages; fishermen spend the night in their fishing boats with their families, ready to sail way at the slightest gunshot. All these people keep looking to Kinshasa, hoping for the time to come when 'this sinister General' would be neutralised, the paper concludes.
'Ghonda's case: Will Jean-Pierre Bemba cross the Rubicon' ' asks LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES, recalling the much-heralded dismissal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is said to be at odds with his MLC party leader Jean-Pierre Bemba. According to FORUM DES AS, 'the MLC is due to settle Ghonda's case this Thursday.' Titling 'Jean-Pierre Bemba to do away with Antoine Ghonda,' LE PHARE notes 'With the MLC leader having already confirmed his request for sacking the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the decree will be published today.' The paper echoes a news conference held by Désiré Mbozi wa Mbozi, chairman of 'Dynamic Horizon Baïmoto', an MLC specialised structure, 'of which the views are considered by many to reflect those of the party leadership.' Shocked at the 'media hype and political propaganda' surrounding this case, Mbozi accused Antoine Ghonda of exploiting it for his personal interests and to the detriment of the MLC, which he represents in the Government. Supporting Ghonda, L'OBSERVATEUR accuses Yoweri Museveni of exerting pressure to have the Minister replaced in the Government. The paper suggests that the Uganda President, an MLC ally, is bitter about how Ghonda, at the latest African Union summit, defended his country's interests to the expense of those of Kampala. 'Is our country doomed to endlessly undergo the fate decided and imposed on it by its neighbours, just because it is facing a crisis created by those very countries'' asks the paper. 'Ghonda needs to be commended for his courage,' L'OBSERVATEUR concludes.
On the nationality issue being examined in Parliament, L'AVENIR runs an interview of former Minister of Foreign Affairs Leonard She Okitundu, currently President Joseph Kabila's roving ambassador. The notion of exclusive nationality is 'not in keeping with the evolution of today's world,' said Okitundu, wishing that 1960 be the reference year for Congolese nationality. According to him, Banyamulenge should be allowed to lay a claim to nationality but in accordance with the law and thus satisfy its requirements.
In a front-page story titled 'MONUC against any attempt to destabilise Kivu' and devoted to the UN Mission's news briefing Wednesday, LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES quotes the military spokesman as saying 'For God's sake, let us stop rumours!' Commander Abou Thiam was referring to the rumours being spread among the Congolese population about a new war in Goma and/or Bukavu. As he was quoted, 'The population of Bukavu has the right to live in peace (..)' What these people need is moral comfort and not these discouraging rumours of new fighting, the military spokesman said. Recalling MONUC's news briefing of July 14, the paper says 'Commander Abou Thiam warned that the mission would use all means at its disposal to thwart any new attack.'
Quoting MONUC spokesman Hamadoun Touré, L'OBSERVATEUR titles 'The situation is calm in Goma.' 'MONUC confirms the territory of Kalehe to be calm,' announces L'AVENIR, while LA REFERENCE PLUS and LE PALMARES talk about 'a tense situation in Goma,' but announces a return of calm to the district of Ituri where the latest hostilities between rival militias fighting for a gold mine claimed 48 lives.
Denouncing 'the tactlessness' of the DRC Executive, LE PALMARES titles 'scandal again: Here's how the Government was bent in front of the mutineer Laurent Nkunda.' This is in reference to an interview an ambassador granted to a local private TV, expressing his disgust in veiled words, 'as diplomatic restraint requires of him'. The paper regrets that the governors of North and South Kivu, acting on behalf of the Government, went to Minova to meet renegade General Nkunda. This visit, says the papers, was undertaken in 'violation of the Constitution which states that no one has the right to take power by the force of arms'. It is a breach of protocol as well, the paper goes on saying, because civilian authorities normally take precedence over their military counterparts. 'By going to pay homage to the god of Minova, the two regional officials dishonoured their duties. Hence they should resign as a matter of urgency,' the paper comments.
In another article, LE PALMARES also laments ''the plight of the inhabitants of Minova 'under the law of General Nkunda.' According to the paper, Nkunda forces the population to finance his war efforts with one dollar per month for the unemployed, 5 dollars per month for economic operators and 20 dollars for mining developers. 'Those unable to pay are beaten up in public,' claims the paper. Recalcitrant men are forced to witness their wives being raped by rebels, it says. Residents go to sleep in neighbouring villages; fishermen spend the night in their fishing boats with their families, ready to sail way at the slightest gunshot. All these people keep looking to Kinshasa, hoping for the time to come when 'this sinister General' would be neutralised, the paper concludes.
'Ghonda's case: Will Jean-Pierre Bemba cross the Rubicon' ' asks LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES, recalling the much-heralded dismissal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is said to be at odds with his MLC party leader Jean-Pierre Bemba. According to FORUM DES AS, 'the MLC is due to settle Ghonda's case this Thursday.' Titling 'Jean-Pierre Bemba to do away with Antoine Ghonda,' LE PHARE notes 'With the MLC leader having already confirmed his request for sacking the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the decree will be published today.' The paper echoes a news conference held by Désiré Mbozi wa Mbozi, chairman of 'Dynamic Horizon Baïmoto', an MLC specialised structure, 'of which the views are considered by many to reflect those of the party leadership.' Shocked at the 'media hype and political propaganda' surrounding this case, Mbozi accused Antoine Ghonda of exploiting it for his personal interests and to the detriment of the MLC, which he represents in the Government. Supporting Ghonda, L'OBSERVATEUR accuses Yoweri Museveni of exerting pressure to have the Minister replaced in the Government. The paper suggests that the Uganda President, an MLC ally, is bitter about how Ghonda, at the latest African Union summit, defended his country's interests to the expense of those of Kampala. 'Is our country doomed to endlessly undergo the fate decided and imposed on it by its neighbours, just because it is facing a crisis created by those very countries'' asks the paper. 'Ghonda needs to be commended for his courage,' L'OBSERVATEUR concludes.
On the nationality issue being examined in Parliament, L'AVENIR runs an interview of former Minister of Foreign Affairs Leonard She Okitundu, currently President Joseph Kabila's roving ambassador. The notion of exclusive nationality is 'not in keeping with the evolution of today's world,' said Okitundu, wishing that 1960 be the reference year for Congolese nationality. According to him, Banyamulenge should be allowed to lay a claim to nationality but in accordance with the law and thus satisfy its requirements.
