ONU
Nations Unies Maintien de la paix
6 mar
2009
Press Review
Today's local medias go back over Vice-president Azarias Ruberwa's statements following the massacre of Congolese refugees at the Gatumba camp in Burundi.
L'AVENIR recalls that Vice-President Azarias Ruberwa made his statements prior to any investigations. He ''accused the Congolese of attacking the Banyamulenge refugee camp in Burundi''. Besides, ''he called for a halt of the transitional process''. Mr. Ruberwa, Vice-President for Political, Defence and Security Affairs has then taken a number of ''tactless and suicidal'' initiatives that would ''destroy him politically'', the paper says.
Vice-President Ruberwa is also criticized for unilaterally deciding an official mourning in Goma. In this respect, LA REFERENCE PLUS indicates, Mr. Ruberwa has allegedly pressured the RCD Senators, MPs, Ministers, Deputy-Ministers and other members within the transitional Institutions supporting the DRC democracy to ''join Goma to attend the lifting of the mourning due on Saturday 21 August''. The paper adds that Kigali also put pressures on ''all the RCD members within the Transition's institutions to be present at the ceremony''. With regard to such pressure, the paper wonders ''whether a scenario is prepared by RCD Goma whereby all the RCD members would be obliged to remain in their rebel stronghold until their request for a halt of the transition is met''.
Under the title PPRD reacts, L'OBSERVATEUR, echoes the reaction of President Kabila's party 'PPRD' to the Gatumba tragedy. In a news conference held Thursday in Kinshasa, PPRD Secretary-General, Vital Kamerhe, ''voiced the indignation and discontent of the Congolese people over the tragic incidents in Gatumba''', the paper says, indicating that Vital Kamerhe also denounced the one-component organised official funerals as well as ''the statements made by some politicians through the media reflecting Rwandan and Burundian views, describing the Congolese people as genocidaires'. For Vital Kamehre, the paper explains, ''only the Rule of Law would set the conditions for a durable peace in the Great Lakes region''. He further called on the United Nations Security Council ''to reinforce Monuc mandate as requested by the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, and to do everything in their power to put in place a security curtain between the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi''.
Mindful of a successful transitional process in DRC for which he is one of the architects, the South African President Thabo Mbeki reportedly ordered Azarias Ruberwa to refrain from public statements, says LE PALMARES which reveals that Thabo Mbeki did not appreciate Azarias Ruberwa's handling of the Nkunda and Mutebutsi dossier. The paper also indicates that South Africa's President was shocked by Ruberwa's speech at the funeral of the 160 Banyamulenge, calling for a break in the transition. In this regard, the paper writes, ''Ruberwa has been ordered by the South African President to shut up'', and purely and simply cancel the news conference which he had planned to hold last Wednesday.
LE POTENTIEL, which titles DRC is neither the Near East nor Kosovo, continues wondering about the actual motivation behind the Gatumba massacre. The most important remains to determine to whom did the crime benefit. For the paper, ''there is now every indication that it was a trap to make the world believe that the Congolese minority in Eastern DRC was persecuted''. The proof lies in their continued ''appeal to the international Community to witness the massacre''. The paper concluded ''the hardliners are determined to turn the Great Lakes region into another Near East or Kosovo''.
The same paper reports that the United Nations Security Council discussed the ongoing situation in the Great Lakes region yesterday. The paper recalls that the meeting was convened at the request of the UN Chief of Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, who submitted a report to the UN Security Council over the fear sparked off by the spiralling violence in the Great Lakes region, following the Gatumba massacre.
Vice-President Ruberwa is also criticized for unilaterally deciding an official mourning in Goma. In this respect, LA REFERENCE PLUS indicates, Mr. Ruberwa has allegedly pressured the RCD Senators, MPs, Ministers, Deputy-Ministers and other members within the transitional Institutions supporting the DRC democracy to ''join Goma to attend the lifting of the mourning due on Saturday 21 August''. The paper adds that Kigali also put pressures on ''all the RCD members within the Transition's institutions to be present at the ceremony''. With regard to such pressure, the paper wonders ''whether a scenario is prepared by RCD Goma whereby all the RCD members would be obliged to remain in their rebel stronghold until their request for a halt of the transition is met''.
Under the title PPRD reacts, L'OBSERVATEUR, echoes the reaction of President Kabila's party 'PPRD' to the Gatumba tragedy. In a news conference held Thursday in Kinshasa, PPRD Secretary-General, Vital Kamerhe, ''voiced the indignation and discontent of the Congolese people over the tragic incidents in Gatumba''', the paper says, indicating that Vital Kamerhe also denounced the one-component organised official funerals as well as ''the statements made by some politicians through the media reflecting Rwandan and Burundian views, describing the Congolese people as genocidaires'. For Vital Kamehre, the paper explains, ''only the Rule of Law would set the conditions for a durable peace in the Great Lakes region''. He further called on the United Nations Security Council ''to reinforce Monuc mandate as requested by the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, and to do everything in their power to put in place a security curtain between the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi''.
Mindful of a successful transitional process in DRC for which he is one of the architects, the South African President Thabo Mbeki reportedly ordered Azarias Ruberwa to refrain from public statements, says LE PALMARES which reveals that Thabo Mbeki did not appreciate Azarias Ruberwa's handling of the Nkunda and Mutebutsi dossier. The paper also indicates that South Africa's President was shocked by Ruberwa's speech at the funeral of the 160 Banyamulenge, calling for a break in the transition. In this regard, the paper writes, ''Ruberwa has been ordered by the South African President to shut up'', and purely and simply cancel the news conference which he had planned to hold last Wednesday.
LE POTENTIEL, which titles DRC is neither the Near East nor Kosovo, continues wondering about the actual motivation behind the Gatumba massacre. The most important remains to determine to whom did the crime benefit. For the paper, ''there is now every indication that it was a trap to make the world believe that the Congolese minority in Eastern DRC was persecuted''. The proof lies in their continued ''appeal to the international Community to witness the massacre''. The paper concluded ''the hardliners are determined to turn the Great Lakes region into another Near East or Kosovo''.
The same paper reports that the United Nations Security Council discussed the ongoing situation in the Great Lakes region yesterday. The paper recalls that the meeting was convened at the request of the UN Chief of Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, who submitted a report to the UN Security Council over the fear sparked off by the spiralling violence in the Great Lakes region, following the Gatumba massacre.
