DRC: Moved on to a minefield

Photo: Gwen Dubourthoumieu/IRIN

Dangerous ground: The area around Kisangani’s airport is thought to be the most heavily mined in DRC

KISANGANI, 4 April 2011 (IRIN) – More than 1,000 people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been ordered to move to a suspected minefield because the authorities want to build shops and restaurants on the site of their old homes.

However, Kisangani mayor Augustin Osumaka Lofanga told IRIN; “The landmine argument doesn’t stand up.

“If there is a risk, it is only 10 percent. Nobody has died yet,” he said, adding that demining of the area had already been conducted by Handicap International Belgium and “if not properly done, it is their responsibility…

“This is a simple demolition of shacks and makeshift homes… Investors should take advantage of the land to build inns, hotels and flats.”

On 4 March the mayor told the 1,350 villagers of Tsamaka they had 30 days to move about 100m towards the suspected minefield, and on 18 March, with police in attendance, the local authorities started destroying their shacks – against the advice of the UN Mine Action Centre (UNMAC), and despite the fact that Mechem Demining was to have begun mine-clearance operations there on 1 April.

“It’s exactly as if we were told: Go die,” said Kamulete Michel, who lived in one of the 206 demolished homes on the edge of an airport.

Local deminers in charge of the programme said they were very surprised by the municipal decision. One of them, Dikon Limbombe, told IRIN: “We have asked the mayor to postpone his ultimatum for two months, or give the villagers another option.”

Former employees of Handicap International said only trial clearance operations had been conducted on a 50 sqm area. The arrival in Kisangani of a Mine Wolf MW330 on 16 March was part of UNMAC plans to sweep the whole area over the next two months.

Furthermore, the mined area of Bamgboka, opposite the airport, was recently added to the list of dangerous areas near Kisangani.

At risk

According to Mike Kelly of Mechem Demining, the field in question was considered at risk after a farmer found seven mines there late in 2010, and a further three mines were discovered in early 2011.

On the night of 19-20 March, a fire set by villagers to clear the land they were supposed to move to caused two explosions. “The intensity of the noise suggests a mine went up,” Kelly said.

Photo: Gwen Dubourthoumieu/IRIN

Mine clerance in the area is far from complete

It is difficult to determine the extent of a minefield and that is why the whole area is considered dangerous, he added.

“We’re like refugees; we should at least have tarpaulins while we wait for our new homes to be finished; last night’s storm flooded everything,” said village chief Mondo Songola, adding that his villagers were further at risk by having to find the timber for rebuilding from a nearby forest.

They do not know that this forest zone has been marked with signs by teams from Handicap International Belgium, he said, “but we have no choice… We’re supposed to finish our houses by next week, and the municipal authorities are only helping by destroying what we had.”

IRIN noticed that children had taken down mine warning notices and were playing with them.

The villagers have been living on the site since 1979, one year after the inauguration of the nearby airport.

UNMAC has registered 2,412 victims of mines and unexploded ordnance in the DRC since 2002, but many others have not been identified.

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source http://www.irinnews.org

BURUNDI: “Die-in” to protest lack of HIV care

Photo: M. Sayagues/PlusNews

NGOs fear the erratic drug supply could lead to the deaths of people living with HIV

BUJUMBURA, 4 April 2011 (PlusNews) – Hundreds of Burundians living with HIV/AIDS recently staged a demonstration in the capital, Bujumbura, to protest against a lack of treatment.

Men, women and children lay on the ground for 10 minutes to “show the government that if nothing is done rapidly - this week, this month – we will all die”, said Jeanne Gapiya, a leading Burundian HIV activist.

The protest was staged on 29 March by REMUA, Reseau de Reinforcement Mutuel des Acteurs de la Première Ligne, a network of six NGOs providing HIV treatment to more than 9,000 people – about one-third of all people receiving antiretrovirals in Burundi. REMUA includes, among others, the National Association for the support of People Living with HIV/AIDS, ANSS; the Society of Women Against AIDS, SWAA, and APECOS, the Association for the Support of Children Orphaned through HIV.

According to Gapiya, despite funding from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in 2010, organizations caring for HIV-positive people had not signed agreements with the National Council for HIV/AIDS Control, CNLS, to access the cash.

The Global Fund approved about US$35 million to fight HIV in Burundi under its eighth round of grants. An estimated 150,000 Burundians are living with HIV; the pandemic has left more than 20,000 orphans in the central African country.

“The funds are there, we do not know why the agreements are not signed,” she said. “There is nothing worse than funds not totally absorbed in spite of the needs… patients really need to be assisted.”

Global Fund grants to Burundi are channelled through a coordinating body called the Intensification and Decentralization Programme for the Fight against HIV/AIDS (PRIDE), which funds CNLS, which in turn pays for HIV-positive people’s healthcare. According to Sabine Ntakarutimana, Minister of Public Health and HIV/AIDS control, problems with the implementation of PRIDE had caused the delay in disbursement of funds.

“In the drafting of the PRIDE project, the salaries of January [2011] up to June [2011] for workers from HIV organizations were not taken into account,” she said, adding that Global Fund approval for a revised budget was pending. “In spite of the needs, we cannot use the funds without the approval of the Global Fund.”

If nothing is done rapidly – this week, this month – we will all die

At a press conference on Wednesday, Ntakarutimana said following the first complaint from the NGOs several months ago, she had written to health facilities instructing them to continue to provide HIV treatment free of charge as the government waited for funds. However, NGOs say many health centres had refused to comply with the minister’s directive without official agreements being signed.

Théophile Sakubu, communications officer at the network of people living with HIV/AIDS, RBP+, said access to medicines for opportunistic infections was of particular concern, as many of these were not on the list of drugs provided free by CNLS.

Burundi has suffered several setbacks in its fight to treat HIV, first missing out on Global Fund grants in 2007 and facing problems with the supply of medicines for opportunistic infections in 2010.

Speaking to IRIN/PlusNews during the demonstration, a representative for orphaned and vulnerable children said: “If today nothing is done, what will become of them [orphans]? We have the right to life, to a future like other children,” he said. “My brothers and sisters will now get opportunistic diseases. With no means, how will they get medical care?”

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source http://www.irinnews.org

KENYA: In the dock over torture, murder claims

Photo: Ann Weru/IRIN

The suit claims the government has failed to investigate allegations of extrajudicial killings and torture committed between 2006 and 2008 in Mt Elgon district

NAIROBI, 1 April 2011 (IRIN) – Kenya’s failure to investigate allegations of extrajudicial killings and torture during counter-insurgency operations in the Mt Elgon district has landed the country in the East African Court of Justice (EACJ).

The initial substantive hearing of the case, filed in July 2010 by the Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU), an NGO, began in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha on 31 March, when the Kenyan government challenged the jurisdiction of the court, whose remit covers the treaty establishing the East African Community (EAC).

IMLU contends that Kenya violated provisions of this treaty, notably article 6(d), through its failure to ensure access to justice, uphold human rights and the rule of law.

Attempts to contact Kenya’s counsel about the case were unsuccessful.

The NGO’s suit also names EAC Secretary-General Juma Mwapachu as a respondent, claiming he failed to intervene or respond to the alleged abuses.

The EAC is a trading bloc comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. While the EACJ is not a criminal tribunal, it does have the power to order payment of damages to affected parties.

IMLU’s suit claims the government failed to investigate, prevent, punish, or provide redress for the alleged abuses, despite recommendations by the UN Committee against Torture and the UN Special Rapporteur on Summary Executions, Arbitrary Executions and Forced Disappearance.

The abuses allegedly took place during Operation Okoa Maisha (“Save Lives” in Swahili) conducted by police and military personnel in 2008 against the Saboat Land Defence Force (SLDF), a militia set up with the professed aim of halting the redistribution of land in the Mt Elgon area.

Kenyan authorities accused the SLDF of abducting, mutilating and killing hundreds of civilians who refused to rally to its cause.

We look forward to a fair hearing and a firm stand by the court against torture and extrajudicial executions in Kenya and throughout the region

Human Rights Watch (HRW), whose extensive research IMLU used in its case, claims that security agents, acting with impunity, tortured and ill-treated hundreds of detainees. Both IMLU and HRW investigated and documented claims of extrajudicial executions and scores of enforced disappearances.

Daniel Bekele, HRW’s Africa director, said: “The Mt Elgon case provides an important opportunity for the East African Court to demonstrate the role that African institutions can play in combating impunity. We look forward to a fair hearing and a firm stand by the court against torture and extrajudicial executions in Kenya and throughout the region.”

Donald Deya, the chief executive officer of the Pan African Lawyers’ Union, who has practised before the EACJ, told IRIN the court was “growing from strength to strength” and had the ability to tackle cases of impunity in the region.

“The real challenge, before, was that East Africans were not confident to approach the EACJ,” Deya said. “But, in the recent past, we have seen more courage, and the court now has at least one case concerning each of the five countries, ranging from issues of torture, illegal arrest and detention to environmental degradation.”

HRW said in a 30 March statement: “The Kenyan government has systematically dismissed reports about the abuses by IMLU, Human Rights Watch and other NGOs, as well as the quasi-governmental Kenya National Commission on Human Rights [KNCHR]. It has failed to take necessary measures to ensure justice for the victims.”

In 2008, the KNCHR called for investigations into allegations of torture committed by security forces deployed in Mt Elgon district.

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source http://www.irinnews.org