UN
United Nations Peacekeeping
5 Mar
2009
Press Review
Expulsions of Congolese from Angola, rumours about the presence of Rwandan soldiers in Eastern DRC and the long-awaited nominations for territorial administration constitute the major issues broached by today's papers in Kinshasa.
Much is now known about the motive for the brutal expulsions of the Congolese from Angola, reports FORUM DES AS. Following Doctors without borders (MSF)'s revelations, the paper indicates that bloody fights currently pitting ex-Katangese-gendarmes against Angolan regular troops around the mining deposits under control of the ex- gendarmes also known as ''Congolese Tigers''. The paper echoes some witness' accounts from the patients taken care by the MSF, according to which ''Angolan armed forces encircled an isolated mine deposit in Kaninda (Luanda Norte) for four days, leaving the people in without water nor food. When the Angolan troops entered, they immediately separated families before subjecting them to humiliating searches to get money or diamonds'', reveals the paper, adding that several mine deposits are now violently disputed by Angolan armed forces and the former Katangese gendarmes who are in possession of a portion of the mine deposit.
L'OBSERVATEUR, sharing the same view, reveals the existence of prisons in Kakanda and Lukapa in Angola where between 1000 and 2000 Congolese miners are jailed. The paper recalls that if the Angolan party agrees to slow down the expulsions, the Congolese miners repatriated are however in destitution and no arrangement has been made to accommodate them.
In Eastern DRC, L'AVENIR reports the presence of 22,000 Rwandan soldiers and entitles a third war between Rwanda and Congo is becoming clearer. According to the paper, ''the official declaration issued by Rwandan Officials alerting that the security situation along its border with DRC is precarious is an alibi intended for the international community that will be used to spark a fresh open war on the DRC''. The paper further says that ''MONUC's dithering with its smoke-screen investigations that never find anything, fuels Paul Kagame's hegemony''. The paper mentions a plan of attack prepared by Rwanda, and indicates that the latter has infiltrated 15,000 Rwandan troops into Rutshuru and 7,000 others reportedly into Idjwi, Ihusi village and Kalehe districts. According to the same strategy, further says the paper, 500 tutsi women and girls are preparing to fly to Kinshasa, from Havu and Idjwi to throw Kinshasa into insecurity. The paper declares without beating around the bush that MONUC representatives in Goma are aware of this situation.'' It now remains to know whether they trust the information or just wait until the 'irreparable occurs before apologizing profusely'', says the paper acknowledging that a MONUC strategic meeting was scheduled for 20 April.
LE PALMARES devotes its headline to the nomination within the territorial administration recalling that this is a dossier on which every Congolese hope was pinned for a week. '' But for some time now, tension has dropped and no one hardly ever talks about'', writes the paper disclosing ''the reasons behind Government's dead silence''. It recalls that this dossier has divided the components and entities, for no one is ready to hand over the juiciest provinces to another. The paper indicates that in order to ease the tension and passions, a decision was reportedly made by the presidential space to temporise this burning issue.
However, according to LE POTENTIEL, the nomination of new governors allegedly hit a snag over the handing over of South-Kivu to the civil society accused of being composed of extremists. The question was at the heart of yesterday's discussions between the members of the International Committee to Support the Transition (CIAT) and Vice-President Azarias Ruberwa, says the paper revealing that CIAT reportedly proposed a crossed-territorial administration, consisting in the transfer of the components currently running the Western provinces to the east and vice-versa. This ''surrealistic'' proposal was immediately rejected by the RCD and opposed by PPRD, reports LE POTENTIEL.
LE PHARE continues going on and on about the Transition road map, noting that the never-debated chronogram in cabinet meetings is apparently something that concerns only one component. The paper refers to a serious legal irregularity. It wonders how they are going to implement such an official programme rejected by the other parties in the government. The paper feels that the road map is now a mere proposal from a component. But even so, notes the paper, the framework for such a proposal to be discussed is and remains the cabinet meetings.
Furthermore, UNDP officially handed over the DDR program (Disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration) of the Congolese armed groups to Conader (National Commission for the Demobilisation and Reintegration). The report, issued by L'OBSERVATEUR indicates that Ms Julia Taft, the head of UNDP's department for countries in crisis, while on a working visit to the DRC, handed down its legacy to prophet Daniel Kawata, the General coordinator of the Conader.
The same paper also announces the visit of the Uruguayan president, Mr. Jorge Batlle, scheduled for next week in Kinshasa. ''The Uruguayan President is due to leave his country next Sunday for the DRC where he is to visit the Uruguayan contingent participating in the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo'', says L'OBSERVATEUR.
L'OBSERVATEUR, sharing the same view, reveals the existence of prisons in Kakanda and Lukapa in Angola where between 1000 and 2000 Congolese miners are jailed. The paper recalls that if the Angolan party agrees to slow down the expulsions, the Congolese miners repatriated are however in destitution and no arrangement has been made to accommodate them.
In Eastern DRC, L'AVENIR reports the presence of 22,000 Rwandan soldiers and entitles a third war between Rwanda and Congo is becoming clearer. According to the paper, ''the official declaration issued by Rwandan Officials alerting that the security situation along its border with DRC is precarious is an alibi intended for the international community that will be used to spark a fresh open war on the DRC''. The paper further says that ''MONUC's dithering with its smoke-screen investigations that never find anything, fuels Paul Kagame's hegemony''. The paper mentions a plan of attack prepared by Rwanda, and indicates that the latter has infiltrated 15,000 Rwandan troops into Rutshuru and 7,000 others reportedly into Idjwi, Ihusi village and Kalehe districts. According to the same strategy, further says the paper, 500 tutsi women and girls are preparing to fly to Kinshasa, from Havu and Idjwi to throw Kinshasa into insecurity. The paper declares without beating around the bush that MONUC representatives in Goma are aware of this situation.'' It now remains to know whether they trust the information or just wait until the 'irreparable occurs before apologizing profusely'', says the paper acknowledging that a MONUC strategic meeting was scheduled for 20 April.
LE PALMARES devotes its headline to the nomination within the territorial administration recalling that this is a dossier on which every Congolese hope was pinned for a week. '' But for some time now, tension has dropped and no one hardly ever talks about'', writes the paper disclosing ''the reasons behind Government's dead silence''. It recalls that this dossier has divided the components and entities, for no one is ready to hand over the juiciest provinces to another. The paper indicates that in order to ease the tension and passions, a decision was reportedly made by the presidential space to temporise this burning issue.
However, according to LE POTENTIEL, the nomination of new governors allegedly hit a snag over the handing over of South-Kivu to the civil society accused of being composed of extremists. The question was at the heart of yesterday's discussions between the members of the International Committee to Support the Transition (CIAT) and Vice-President Azarias Ruberwa, says the paper revealing that CIAT reportedly proposed a crossed-territorial administration, consisting in the transfer of the components currently running the Western provinces to the east and vice-versa. This ''surrealistic'' proposal was immediately rejected by the RCD and opposed by PPRD, reports LE POTENTIEL.
LE PHARE continues going on and on about the Transition road map, noting that the never-debated chronogram in cabinet meetings is apparently something that concerns only one component. The paper refers to a serious legal irregularity. It wonders how they are going to implement such an official programme rejected by the other parties in the government. The paper feels that the road map is now a mere proposal from a component. But even so, notes the paper, the framework for such a proposal to be discussed is and remains the cabinet meetings.
Furthermore, UNDP officially handed over the DDR program (Disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration) of the Congolese armed groups to Conader (National Commission for the Demobilisation and Reintegration). The report, issued by L'OBSERVATEUR indicates that Ms Julia Taft, the head of UNDP's department for countries in crisis, while on a working visit to the DRC, handed down its legacy to prophet Daniel Kawata, the General coordinator of the Conader.
The same paper also announces the visit of the Uruguayan president, Mr. Jorge Batlle, scheduled for next week in Kinshasa. ''The Uruguayan President is due to leave his country next Sunday for the DRC where he is to visit the Uruguayan contingent participating in the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo'', says L'OBSERVATEUR.
