5/29/08

UNIKIN a vous de vraiment juger.


 




A VOUS DE JUGER!

Il ne suffit pas de juger, mais de se dire qu'il FAUT QUE CELA CHANGE !

Université de Kinshasa (Congo)
Voilà une université qui se meurt.

Au lieu de concentrer les efforts sur lavenir de la jeunesse et du pays, nous nous battons inutilement pour des causes vaines. Il ny a rien duniversité ici à comparer aux universités dailleurs. Là c'est Kinshasa, qui forme des juristes, des Médecins, des Politiciens, des Ingénieurs. En étudiant dans ces conditions, quelle référence a-t-on à la fin, lorsquon occupe des fonctions politiques et des postes de responsabilité ? Biso ba Congolais : « Grand Pays, Petits Esprits »
Université de Kinshasa
Ces beaux bâtiments nont plus de toilettes, plus de douches.
Alors les étudiants se sont érigés des
toilettes de fortunes en plein air. Question de respirer encore un peu dair pur !
Une toilette existant au bâtiment des étudiants
finalistes de lUniversité. Oyo soni monene!
Un modèle de toilettes externes
fabriquées par les étudiants.
Cette situation est grave et dangereuse.
(Bongo soki nyoka eswi étudiant ?)
Des douches dans les bâtiments des étudiantes
Une douche des étudiants finalistes
(Moto akoki ko piquer crise awa!)
A l'intérieur des bâtiments, les tableaux électriques sont des simples fils interconnecté s. « Danger »!
Tout l'environnement universitaire est rempli d'immondices
Les bacs à ordures placés par le PNA sont devenus des pépinières car les arbres ont poussé dessus.
Voilà où est formée l'élite intellectuelle congolaise d'aujourd'hui.
Et dire que cette situation n'est pas particulière à l'Université de Kinshasa, car l'Université Pédagogique Nationale (UPN) est pratiquement dans le même état. Au Home I et au Home II, l'eau sale des toilettes des niveaux supérieurs tombe sans pitié sur les toilettes des niveaux inférieurs. Les étudiants sont obligés de se protéger quand ils y sont? A la toilette comme à la guerre!
Savez-vous qu'à l'Université de Kinshasa, il existe un réseau d'insalubrité dénommé Home 40, où étudiantes et étudiants vont se soulager? Faut-il condamner les étudiants, les autorités académiques, ou le gouvernement? Pourquoi ne peut-on pas construire de nouvelles latrines ou réfectionner celles qui existent déjà? L'entretien et le maintien des infrastructures sont souvent des aspects négligés chez nous! Quelle est la part du budget national consacré à l'éducation nationale pour cette année 2006? Le ministre de l'enseignement supérieur est-il informé de cette situation?
Il y a de l'argent pour acheter des Pajeros 4X4 pour plus de 500 parlementaires, ou pour payer des salaires colossaux aux membres de l'espace présidentiel, mais il n'y a pas d'argent pour réfectionner les bâtiments universitaires! On laisse les étudiants, futurs cadres du pays, s'exposer aux morsures des serpents et/ou des scorpions en allant déféquer en brousse en plein vingt-unième siècle! Quelle honte pour le grand Congo!
Quand on est rebelle, il est facile de crier sur tous les toits que nos écoles sont mal gérées, le pays est mal dirigé; eh ben! maintenant que vous êtes au pouvoir, que faites-vous?
Et si l'état restituait la gestion de l'Université de Kinshasa à l'église catholique? Car apparemment, il est incapable de la gérer. Les institutions gérées par l'état sont très loin de ressembler celles gérées par les églises à l'instar des Facultés Catholiques de Limete et l'Université Protestante au Congo .
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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
kayisa@gmail.com
Procurement Consultant
Gsm:   +250-08470205
Home: +250-55014140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali - RWANDA
East AFRICA
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID: kayisa66

Une entreprise ougandaise refectionne les rues de Goma (Nord-Kivu)



 


Une entreprise ougandaise refectionne les rues de Goma
Photo: Beni-Lubero Online

Le Gouverneur du Nord-Kivu refectionne les rues de Goma
 avec l'entreprise EBC de l'Ouganda!
 

 
_



Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
kayisa@gmail.com
Procurement Consultant
Gsm:   +250-08470205
Home: +250-55014140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali - RWANDA
East AFRICA
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID: kayisa66

] Israël : Jimmy Carter lâche une bombe


 

Lundi 26 Mai 2008

Israël: Carter lâche une bombe

Par Maud PIERRON (avec Reuters)
leJDD.fr
 
Israël possède au moins 150 armes atomiques. C'est Jimmy Carter qui a fait cette déclaration choc en marge d'un salon du livre au Pays de Galles dimanche, alors que l'Etat hébreu a toujours refusé de communiquer sur son arsenal nucléaire présumé. C'est la première fois qu'une personnalité américaine de premier plan, un ancien président, confirme ainsi l'existence de telles armes. 
 
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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
kayisa@gmail.com
Procurement Consultant
Gsm:   +250-08470205
Home: +250-55014140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali - RWANDA
East AFRICA
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID: kayisa66

Little information on NZ photojournalist

May 30, 2008 6:28 AM

Police in Kenya are being vague about the death of a New Zealander in Kenya.

Trent Keegan, an accomplished freelance photographer in his early 30s, lived in Ireland for several years before travelling to Africa.

A statement from Nairobi police says Keegan's body was found in a drainage ditch near a main highway that runs through the Kenyan capital. Police say a document found on the body indicates the dead man was Trent Keegan. The body had head injuries.

Irish Independent reporter Jason O'Brien says some reports claim he was found on Tuesday and others say as early as Sunday.
 
He says Kenyan police have been very reticent to give out information, because they wrongly stated he was an Irish national when they first found him.

O'Brien says Keegan was a freelancer who had won several awards.

He says the photographer was quite well known amongst his colleagues, because he was over six foot tall so he stood out in a media scrum.

O'Brien says people remember him as someone who knew what he wanted, and wasn't shy about going to get it.

Police are expecting post-mortem results in the next couple of days. The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs is investigating.

Source: Newstalk ZB






--
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: +250-08470205
Home: +250-55104140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali-Rwanda
East Africa
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID : Kayisa66

Trip to Rwanda is worth 'more than any paycheck'

Trip to Rwanda is worth 'more than any paycheck'

By Sheryl Kay, Times Correspondent
In print: Friday, May 30, 2008


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NORTH TAMPA — Despite a distance of more than 7,000 miles, there is a strong connection between the Church of the Resurrection in north Tampa and the country of Rwanda.

In fact, the local church is a mission of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, led by Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini.

Peace and economic development have finally come to the African nation that was almost destroyed by tribal genocide in 1994. But the progress is slow, so members of the Church of the Resurrection send missions to Rwanda to help with health care, engineering and other areas.

Thirteen members of the church, at 12720 N Florida Ave., will embark on just such a trip this Monday.

"It's what you call a reverse mission," said David Brookman, a mission leader at the church. "They've taken us under their wings, and now we go and help them."

With Christianity the faith of more than 90 percent of Rwanda's population, church missions are more for development than for proselytizing, said Brookman, a software engineer.

"Most of these people know the Bible really well," said Brookman, 50. "They are teaching us more about Christianity than we could ever teach them."

This year's mission includes several nurses, among them Peggy Rodebush, who also traveled on last year's mission to Rwanda. Rodebush and her colleagues will train health educators in the treatment of infectious diseases, operating room procedures, trauma care and other disciplines.

All participants in the mission pay all of their own expenses, including airfare, food and gas while in Rwanda. This year's estimated cost is just under $3,000 per person and does not include any lost wages while away.

Rodebush, 53, of South Tampa said helping people get back on their feet while watching them practice forgiveness and compassion far outweighs any investment on her part.

"Going over there last year and going this year has helped me get back to the basics about what is important in life," she said. "What I get out of this is so much more than any paycheck I get here."

Even upon completion of the mission, there remains a day-to-day connection between the church and the coffee-producing nation.

Several years ago the Anglican Church helped small groups of women form co-ops to cultivate and sell the coffee. Today, under the label the Land of a Thousand Hills, the coffee is sold at the Church of the Resurrection ($10.50 for 12 ounces), at other churches and via the Internet.






--
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: +250-08470205
Home: +250-55104140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali-Rwanda
East Africa
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID : Kayisa66

Barack Obama’s Unlikely Supporter: Rupert 'Fox News' Murdoch

Barack Obama's Unlikely Supporter: Rupert 'Fox News' Murdoch

Posted May 29, 2008 12:34pm EDT by Sarah Lacy in Investing, Internet, Media, Newsmakers, Venture Capital, M and A, IPOs

Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg had a long day of grilling executives at their All Things Digital Conference. But they saved Rupert Murdoch -- their Wall Street Journal overlord -- for last. The highlight? Murdoch's not-quite-but-almost endorsement of Barack Obama for president.

The founder -- and defender -- of Fox News said he expected Obama to win in a landslide, citing widespread unhappiness with the current administration and his disenchantment with Republican contender John McCain. Murdoch added that after a long career in the Senate, McCain had been forced to compromise too much and doesn't stand for much. Murdoch even nonchalantly owned up to influencing the New York Post to back Obama in the New York primary.

During the Q&A, I pressed Murdoch -- a new U.S. citizen -- on whether he would actually vote for Obama in November. He said he was leaning toward it, but would know in the next six months. When I asked if I could call him, he said yes, then joked I could probably just figure it out from reading the Post.

I also asked Murdoch about reports that he said he would buy the New York Times if he had the opportunity, just to shut it down. He said he was kidding, but likely Times staffers in the audience shuddered.

I caught up with Kara of the WSJ and All Things D once they got offstage to discuss her newfound admiration for the outspoken mogul -- not to mention Alaskan elk.

: Rupert 'Fox News' Murdoch

Posted May 29, 2008 12:34pm EDT by Sarah Lacy in Investing, Internet, Media, Newsmakers, Venture Capital, M and A, IPOs

Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg had a long day of grilling executives at their All Things Digital Conference. But they saved Rupert Murdoch -- their Wall Street Journal overlord -- for last. The highlight? Murdoch's not-quite-but-almost endorsement of Barack Obama for president.

The founder -- and defender -- of Fox News said he expected Obama to win in a landslide, citing widespread unhappiness with the current administration and his disenchantment with Republican contender John McCain. Murdoch added that after a long career in the Senate, McCain had been forced to compromise too much and doesn't stand for much. Murdoch even nonchalantly owned up to influencing the New York Post to back Obama in the New York primary.

During the Q&A, I pressed Murdoch -- a new U.S. citizen -- on whether he would actually vote for Obama in November. He said he was leaning toward it, but would know in the next six months. When I asked if I could call him, he said yes, then joked I could probably just figure it out from reading the Post.

I also asked Murdoch about reports that he said he would buy the New York Times if he had the opportunity, just to shut it down. He said he was kidding, but likely Times staffers in the audience shuddered.

I caught up with Kara of the WSJ and All Things D once they got offstage to discuss her newfound admiration for the outspoken mogul -- not to mention Alaskan elk.






--
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: +250-08470205
Home: +250-55104140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali-Rwanda
East Africa
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID : Kayisa66

le Mwami dénonce la naissance d’une nouvelle milice

Rutshuru : le Mwami dénonce la naissance d'une nouvelle milice

Nord Kivu | 29 Mai 2008 à 11:28:03

 

 Le chef coutumier de Bwisha dénonce l'encadrement d'une nouvelle milice armée des Maï-Maï dans sa juridiction. Il met en cause des politiciens, dont un député provincial. Ce dernier, accusé d'être un nouveau seigneur de guerre, réfute ces accusations. Quant à l'abbé Malu Malu, coordonnateur du programme Amani, il met en garde les tireurs de ficelle dans la destruction de la paix en chantier, rapporte radiookapi.net

Tout était parti de la déclaration écrite du 25 mai 2008 de Mwami Paul Ndeze de la chefferie de Bwisha en territoire de Ruthsuru. Celui-ci regrettait une vive tension suscitée par une milice activée par des politiciens et des députés. Il dénonçait, sans le citer directement, l'honorable Kenda Kenda Zang-Tchung, député provincial indépendant élu de Goma : « En fait, c'est un cri d'alarme que je suis entrain de lancer à toutes autorités. Un député a débarqué dans le groupement de Binza et a distribué des armes aux Maï-Maï. Ça nous inquiète. »

Pour l'honorable Kenda-Kenda, il s'agit d'une mauvaise campagne contre lui : « Il y a une cabale montée de toute pièce contre ma personnalité, parce que les gens voient que j'ai une position ferme. Tous ces gens qui le disent sont des méchants. »

Les autorités administratives, militaires et policières, ainsi que les services de renseignement disent avoir fourni plusieurs rapports administratifs sur cette question. L'Assemblée provinciale a été saisie officiellement avec les différents rapports en provenance du Rutshuru sur l'existence de cette nouvelle milice. Un comité de sages a été constitué afin de mèner des enquêtes sur ce dossier.

Quant à l'abbé Malu Malu, il a regretté les informations faisant état de l'apparition de cette nouvelle milice. C'était en présence des députés provinciaux qui l'avaient convié de présenter un exposé sur l'évolution du programme Amani. L'abbé Malu Malu a rappelé avec fermeté que le processus Amani dispose des mécanismes pour la concrétisation de la paix. En conséquence, il prévient que les nouveaux seigneurs de guerre finiront en prison.






--
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: +250-08470205
Home: +250-55104140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali-Rwanda
East Africa
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID : Kayisa66

Request to Transfer Munyakazi’s Case to Rwanda Denied


Rwanda / Request to Transfer Munyakazi's Case to Rwanda Denied

 

Arusha, 29 May 2008

 

 

Request to Transfer Munyakazi's Case to Rwanda Denied

 

 

On 28 May 2008, the Trial Chamber issued its decision, denying the application for referral of Yussuf Munyakazi case to the Republic of Rwanda on mainly two grounds. Born in 1935 in Kibuye, Munyakazi was a businessman and farmer in Cyangugu Province.

 

First, the Trial Chamber acknowledged that the Republic of Rwanda has abolished the death penalty which will not apply to the referred cases.

However, the Trial Chamber was concerned about the sentence of life imprisonment in isolation which replaces the death penalty in the Rwandan law. The Trial Chamber was of the view that certain safeguards listed in the Decision should be put in place to make such a penalty conform with international human rights standards.

 

Secondly, the Trial Chamber expressed serious concern about the fair trial right of the Accused, with specific reference to the independence of the tribunal that would try the case if referred, and the ability of the Accused to call witnesses in his defence and the witness protection program in place. Specifically, the Tribunal was concerned that there is a lack of sufficient guarantees against outside pressure on the judiciary and that, based on the past actions of the Government, the independence of the judiciary would not be respected.

 

On 7 September 2007, the Prosecutor filed a motion for referral of the case to the Republic of Rwanda. On 2 October 2007, Trial Chamber III was designated to consider the motion. The Trial Chamber granted amicus curiae status to the Republic of Rwanda, the Kigali Bar Association, Human Rights Watch and the International Criminal Defence Attorneys Association, while denying such request from IBUKA & AVEGA, and from ADAD (Organisation of ICTR Defence Counsel). On 24 April 2008, the Trial Chamber heard the parties and the amici curiae in open session.

 

The Trial Chamber composed of Judges Inés Mónica Weinberg de Roca, presiding, Lee Muthoga and Robert Fremr was particularly concerned in view of the fact that the High Court hearing the referred case would be composed of a single Judge who would be less likely to be able to resist any pressures than a panel of three or more judges. The Trial Chamber also highlighted that the factual findings of that single Judge could only be reviewed by the Supreme Court in the case of a miscarriage of justice. The Trial Chamber stated that its concerns regarding the independence of the tribunal would be substantially reduced if the High Court was composed of three or more Judges. With regard to witnesses, the Trial Chamber was concerned by the fact that the Accused may not be able to call witnesses due to their fears for their safety and in addition, the witness protection program is understaffed, run by the Prosecutor and the Police whom a Defence witness may not consider as neutral bodies.

 

In summary the Trial Chamber found that Rwandan penalty structure does not meet internationally recognised standards and was not satisfied that the right of the Accused to a fair trial would be respected if the case was referred. However, the Chamber acknowledged the positive steps already taken by Rwanda to facilitate referral, and indicated that if Rwanda continued along this path, the Tribunal will hopefully be able to refer future cases to Rwandan courts.

 

Both parties have the right to appeal the Decision. They have 15 days to file any such notice.

 

Yussuf Munyakazi was jointly indicted in 1997, with Bagambiki and Imanishimwe.

In 2000, the Trial Chamber granted the severance of his case, and the indictment was subsequently amended in 2002, charging the Accused for genocide and alternatively complicity in genocide, and extermination as a crime against humanity.

 

He was arrested on 5 May 2004 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and transferred to the UN detention facility in Arusha on 7 May 2004. During his initial appearance on 12 May 2004, Yussuf Munyakazi pleaded not guilty to charges brought against him by the Prosecutor that he participated in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.






--
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: +250-08470205
Home: +250-55104140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali-Rwanda
East Africa
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID : Kayisa66

Civilians suffer the effects of armed violence in North Kivu.


MEDIA RELATIONS UNIT

International Committee of the Red Cross

19, avenue de la Paix

1202 Geneva

Switzerland

Phone: +41 22 730 3443

Fax: +41 22 734 8280

press.gva@icrc.org

http://www.icrc.org

 

ICRC News Release No. 08/90

29 May 2008

 

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ever more civilians suffer the effects of
armed violence in
North Kivu

 

Kinshasa/ Geneva (ICRC) – More and more civilians are suffering the effects of the lack of security in the province of North Kivu, which has persisted despite the peace agreement reached by the main warring parties. Recent clashes in Lubero territory forced several thousand people to flee their homes. In Masisi and Rutshuru territories, the situation of displaced people and those who have returned to their home villages is constantly worsening. An estimated 100,000 people were reportedly displaced from their homes in North Kivu during the first three months of 2008 alone.

 

The vast majority of these people are in areas that are hard for aid workers to reach owing to security problems or poor roads. Over the past few months the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in cooperation with the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has taken action to respond to urgent needs. It has focused its efforts on areas where the need for food is greatest.

 

The ICRC is currently distributing more than 115 tonnes of corn flour, 19,200 litres of peanut oil, 38 tonnes of beans and 4,608 kilos of soap to nearly 9,500 displaced people in Buguri, in the North Kivu territory of Masisi – enough to cover their needs for one month. "The area is especially difficult to reach because there are basically no practicable roads," said Fabienne Garaud, an ICRC delegate who is in charge of the aid distribution. "Moving heavy loads through the mud in Masisi is a challenge."

 

In early February the ICRC delivered emergency supplies, including tarpaulins, kitchen utensils, soap and jerrycans, to these same people. In addition, in mid-May it launched an operation to bring relief to over 11,300 local and displaced people in the southern part of the North Kivu territory of Lubero.

 

At the beginning of March, the ICRC provided more than 5,000 people who returned home to the Rwanguba area of Rutshuru territory with food and such items as seed and agricultural implements in order to make it easier for them to once again fend for themselves.

 

"In this unstable and unpredictable situation, it is important to monitor closely how the real needs of the people concerned are evolving," declared Garaud. "That is why all of the ICRC's aid operations are preceded by thorough assessments on the ground. People's needs and the appropriate response are not the same everywhere."

 

The ICRC reminds all parties of their obligation under international humanitarian law to respect the lives and health of persons not, or no longer, taking part in the conflict. Civilians "trapped" in a conflict area are especially vulnerable.

 

For further information, please contact:

Olga Miltcheva, ICRC Goma, tel. +243 81 036 68 12

Pierre-Emmanuel Ducruet, ICRC Kinshasa, tel. +243 81 700 85 36

Anna Schaaf, ICRC Geneva, tel. +41 22 730 22 71 or +41 79 217 32 17

or visit our website: www.icrc.org

 





--
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: +250-08470205
Home: +250-55104140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali-Rwanda
East Africa
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID : Kayisa66

] L'épouse avait menti sur sa virginité,le tribunal annule le mariage


 


 

Justice

L'épouse avait menti sur sa virginité,le tribunal annule le mariage

Par LEXPRESS.fr, mis à jour le 29/05/2008 à 12:42 - publié le 29/05/2008


En avril, le tribunal de grande instance de Lille a annulé un mariage car l'épouse avait menti sur sa virginité, a t-on appris ce jeudi auprès de l'avocat du mari. La cour a estimé que l'époux avait conclu cette union "sous l'empire d'une erreur objective".


Le tribunal de grande instance de Lille a annulé en avril un mariage "pour erreur sur les qualités essentielles du conjoint" car l'épouse avait menti sur sa virginité, a-t-on appris ce jeudi auprès de l'avocat du mari, Me Xavier Labbée.

Alors que sa fiancée lui avait affirmé qu'elle était chaste, une valeur essentielle pour lui, l'homme, musulman comme elle, avait découvert le soir de leurs noces, le 8 juillet 2006, qu'elle ne l'était pas.

"On aurait pu faire un divorce par consentement mutuel (...) J'ai opté pour la procédure de nullité relative car c'est celle qui correspond le mieux. Elle est utilisée quand il y a erreur sur les qualités essentielles" du conjoint, a déclaré Me Labbée.

"Le divorce sanctionne un manquement aux obligations issues du mariage. Je dois fidélité à mon épouse, je trompe mon épouse, donc celle-ci divorce. Ici, il y a un vice dès le départ", a-t-il expliqué.

" Une procédure assez rare mais pas totalement inhabituelle"

Le tribunal a annulé l'union car il a estimé que l'époux l'avait conclu "sous l'empire d'une erreur objective" et qu'"une telle erreur était déterminante dans son consentement", selon le jugement publié dans la revue juridique le "Recueil Dalloz".

Cette décision est "parfaitement logique", a estimé Me Labbée, car "l'épouse a reconnu qu'elle avait menti".

Pour Me Labbée, la question de la religion n'est "pas essentielle". "Il faut ramener la question au mensonge. La solution aurait été la même pour quelqu'un ayant (...) caché quatre pages de casier judiciaire, le fait d'avoir déjà été plusieurs fois marié ou de s'être prostitué", a-t-il noté.

"C'est la question d'une qualité qui a été dissimulée", a-t-il ajouté.

"L'exemple traditionnel qu'on donne aux étudiants, c'est celui d'une femme qui a épousé un homme sans savoir qu'il était un ancien bagnard. C'est le fameux arrêt Berthon, qui date de 1868", a rappelé l'avocat.

C'est une procédure "quand même assez rare, mais pas totalement inhabituelle", a-t-il souligné, en précisant que "la différence entre un mariage et un divorce, c'est que quand un mariage est nul, il n'a jamais existé, on l'efface".

  
 

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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: +250-08470205
Home: +250-55104140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali-Rwanda
East Africa
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID : Kayisa66

L'Hélico: Outil privilégié du pillage des ressources minières à l'Est (Beni-Lubero Online)

 



L' Hélico:
 
Outil privilégié du pillage des
 
 ressources minières à l'Est du Congo
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
La route Butembo-Manguredjipa étant impraticable, la délégation provinciale ainsi que les officiels de Loncor Resources Congo ont fait le déplacement de Manguredjipa en Hélicoptère. Dans la partie orientale de la R.D.Congo, l'Hélicoptère est devenu l'outil privilegié du pillage des ressources minières. En effet, l'Hélico peut atterir partout dans la forêt ou dans les villages où se trouve le butin. Son équipage et son chargement échappent ainsi aux milices et aux divers dangers au sol.
 
La petite administration improvisée au sol pour jouer à la légalité dans un état en faillite n'est ni rodée en matière d'aviation civile ni en lien avec les aéroports et pistes d'aviation du pays. Tout se fait localement, au taux du jour, sans document justificatif, sans trace. Tout est décentralisé. Le commandant militaire ou rebelle qui assure la sécurité du carré minier avec son contingent d'hommes en armes, est à la fois l'autorité civile, politique, militaire, sécuritaire, etc. Le commandant du carré minier peut ne pas savoir non plus ce qui se passe loin de la mine. Les villageois au sol ne savent non plus d'où est venu l'Hélico et où il s'en va après le chargement. Seul le pilote est maître de l'opération. Lui seul sait d'oú il est parti et où il va... Il en sera ainsi tant que les congolais ne seront pas les pilotes de la destinée de leur pays en restaurant l'administration, les moyens de communication, la capacité technique de contrôle  et de maitrise de leur sol, leur sous-sol, et surtout de leur espace aérien qu'ils ont trop longtemps laissé aux cannibales... Le contrôle de l'espace aérien congolais est un autre chantier de la reconstruction que Joseph Kabila a oublié...
 
Beni-Lubero Online
 
 

 

 
.

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--
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: +250-08470205
Home: +250-55104140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali-Rwanda
East Africa
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
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Repression in Zimbabwe and the South Africa Connection

Repression in Zimbabwe and the South Africa Connection: 29/05/08


An Interview with Zvisinei C. Sandi

by Russell Berman  

Zvisinei C. Sandi is a writer from Zimbabwe, where she was active in the democratic movement. She is currently a Scholar Rescue Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford University.

Despite extensive efforts to rig the March 29 elections, the ZANU PF proved incapable of providing a victory to Mugabe. So the run-off election, which should have taken place promptly, has been postponed for 90 days—presumably to allow for more intimidation of the population, attacks on the opposition, and corruption of the electoral process. Yet the international press does not report on public responses to this blatant disregard for democratic process. How do you explain the domestic mood? Has the Zimbabwean population been beaten into submission? Or is there some strategy of resistance that is not carried in the press?

No one knows just how much courage it takes to go out everyday and fight against Mugabe, when you've been told that there are comrades' cameras in the ballot boxes and that his henchmen will be watching you. But Zimbabweans have shown that courage, they have gone out into the streets and demonstrated, they have written, they have given press conferences and put up blogs, even if some of their number have been shot down in cold blood, terribly beaten up, or, worse still, arrested, detained, and slowly tortured to death.

What are Zimbabweans expected to do? They have a government that is clinging on to power by sheer force, responding to even the slightest criticism with tremendous violence. The system of oppression covers the whole country. Even in the most remote corners, where only one bus passes each day, Mugabe's henchmen are there. Always ready for a fight, they knock on every door, demanding contributions (in cash) to ZANU PF, and driving everybody out to attend ZANU meetings. Anyone who is smart enough will just hand over the money, and will go to the meeting, for to do otherwise is to sign your own death warrant. These people will kill without even stopping to blink, and they do not care who knows it. They will drag you out of your house, beat you to death, steal your possessions and then burn everything they cannot carry away. If a whole town is at fault, they will bring in a battalion of soldiers, riot police, secret service agents, and youth militia, and in the end Mugabe and his people will prevail. There are places in Zimbabwe's rural areas where the mere sound of heavy vehicles approaching is enough to send people running off into the hills.

The majority of Zimbabwean people are law abiding citizens who have entrusted all of their law enforcement mechanisms into the hands of their government. They have no guns, no militias, nothing. Now that the government is the one that's breaking the law, they have no effective means of resisting. They have done all that they can, and they cannot go any further without outside help. And that help is desperately needed now. One of the basic rules of human etiquette is that, if you see your neighbor's house going up in flames, and you hear screams coming from within, you run there and you break the door down. Unfortunately, Zimbabwe's neighbors seem incredibly deaf.

The world's indifference reminds me poignantly of someone whom for years I have been trying to forget—a teenage girl I once shared a cell with. Time: March 2003. Location: Bindura, a mining town and 90 km north of Harare. There had been massive anti-Mugabe riots in a town that had been believed to be pro-ZANU PF, and Mugabe, in retaliation, sent whole detachments of army, riot police, and intelligence to "clean up the area." The general strategy was to keep these troops out of sight until the main tide of commuters returning from work had subsided (about 7 p.m.) and then let them loose on the town, beating every man, woman, and child found outside of their home. These troops would attack people in the street, the restaurants, nightclubs, driving in their cars, and even those who had outside toilets and had to go during the night.

I was caught out on the second night of this crackdown, and I knew that even though my home was only half a mile away, there was no way I could get there without running into one of these groups. In desperation, I walked into a police station and told them a cock-and-bull story about being a traveler who had missed my only bus to a remote part of the country and now was too scared to spend the night at the bus stop because of thieves (no one mentioned the obvious problem—the troops). The ill-tempered sergeant looked me over, and, deciding that I was harmless, announced that he had no time to waste and if that was what I wanted he would lock me up for the night in a holding cell, and I wasn't arguing. One of my cellmates was a teenage girl who had come to report a rape and aggravated assault by unknown attackers. The police had "considerately" insisted on keeping her until they could find officers to go with her and arrest the perpetrators. In the meantime she stayed in the horrible cell, without medical care, food, or toilet facilities. In the middle of the night our door was pushed open and a group of men came in. They kicked us and demanded to know why each one of us was in the cell. When they heard the girl's story, they simply went berserk. Calling her a cheap MDC [Movement for Democratic Change] tramp, they beat her up and dragged her down the corridor to another cell, out of sight. I'll never know what they did to that child, but I'll never forget her screams. She screamed, and screamed over and over again for hours. She screamed for her mother, for her father, for someone, anyone to come rescue her. But no one came. And for that one child, no one will ever come again. And right there in the middle of the panic and confusion and the pain she must have been feeling, I could imagine what was going on in her child's mind. Her mother must have taught her that if she screamed help would come, right? Most of us believe that, even me, in spite of everything. I could imagine her desperation and her confusion as she realized that no one was going to help her, ever. Now, more than five years later, I share her confusion. Why doesn't someone do something?

What role does the South African political leadership, especially Thabo Mbeki, play with regard to the Mugabe regime? One might have thought that the establishment of democratic norms in post-apartheid South Africa might spill over into Zimbabwe.

Thabo Mbeki has played a large role in Zimbabwe's political crisis, and I am afraid to say that that role had been chiefly negative. If he had (at the very least) kept his hands off the Zimbabwean crisis from the beginning, it is my belief that the country would not have been in as bad a situation as it is now. He has wasted years for the Zimbabwean population, pretending to be working for peace in Zimbabwe, when all he was concerned with was the welfare of Mugabe and his ZANU PF colleagues. Mbeki's policy of "quiet diplomacy" towards Mugabe, seen now in its fading days, seems to be nothing more than a protective cocoon for the dictatorship in Zimbabwe. It allowed Mbeki to absorb all the pressure directed at Mugabe, giving that dictator the space and opportunity to unleash extreme violence against his own people. The last two words that the world heard from Mbeki on the Zimbabwean question (just weeks ago) were that there was in fact no crisis in Zimbabwe and that Mugabe must be given a free hand. Now the world can see the results of Mbeki's advice.

What most people fail to appreciate is that there is a very close link between Mbeki and the ANC on the one hand and Mugabe and his ZANU PF on the other. They stood side by side, as they fought for independence in their respective countries. After 1980, the ANC and its leaders, among them Thabo Mbeki, had to continue the anti-apartheid struggle for 14 long years after Zimbabwe regained its own independence, relying heavily on the support of the young nation for its struggle. Zimbabwe openly opposed the apartheid government to such an extent that the apartheid regime felt that it had to undertake a destabilization campaign against Zimbabwe, if only to discourage it from assisting the ANC. It is impossible to imagine that apartheid agents were busy planting bombs in Zimbabwe, without Mugabe's Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) also being actively involved in South Africa. As a result, Mbeki and Mugabe share a strong bond. They have been through a lot together, having stood shoulder to shoulder through decades of bloody conflict. Mbeki feels a strong loyalty, alas, not to the Zimbabwean people, but to Mugabe, his ZANU PF government, and the bloodthirsty War Veterans militia that has so ravaged the country. Like Mugabe, Mbeki cannot understand the so-called "Born-Frees," the people whose voices have come up after independence, calling for more democratic rights and economic development. According to the reasoning of these veterans, why should these young people want to take power from the people who worked so hard to bring the independence in the first place?

In addition to these feelings of loyalty, Mbeki might have an extra reason for his "quiet diplomacy." The reports coming up suggest that Mbeki dirtied his hands rather badly in the anti-apartheid fight. One apparently credible report ties Mbeki to the 1994 assassination of the popular ANC leader Chris Hani, who was at the time the most likely candidate to succeed Nelson Mandela in the South African presidency. If this is true, which I personally believe it is, it is unlikely that Mugabe's CIO would have missed collecting the evidence of such a juicy piece of news and even less likely that it would hesitate to use it in now as leverage against arguably the most powerful figure in contemporary African politics. The CIO has passed muster when it comes to blackmail and threats.

Aside from the political leadership in South Africa, do prominent public figures like Desmond Tutu play a role in condemning the Mugabe dictatorship? What about the influence of other African leaders?

Prominent public figures in South Africa have been largely silent on the question of the Zimbabwean crisis. Partly because of Thabo Mbeki's role as the official arbitrator in Zimbabwe and because of South Africa's chairmanship of the United Nations Security Council, the Zimbabwean problems has been seen chiefly as a problem for politicians to solve. To compound matters, Mbeki has chosen, in order to protect Mugabe, and to centralize power into his own hands, to stay personally in charge of the Zimbabwean situation.

Although he has never been particularly fond of Mugabe, one prominent person who has been surprisingly silent is the former South African president, Nelson Mandela. One would have expected that with his record, and with what he has personally suffered under an unjust regime, he would have spoken out against what is happening in Zimbabwe. His silence is especially baffling. A possible explanation for this is the anti-colonial record that made Mugabe one of the greatest heroes of the 20th century. Given everything he did for African independence, attacking him would probably seem to Nelson Mandela to entail attacking everything that he himself has stood for during the last half century, a feeling shared by many Africans who have not witnessed Mugabe's human rights atrocities firsthand.

Unlike Thabo Mbeki, Desmond Tutu has not been silent. He has consistently called for international intervention to solve the crisis in Zimbabwe, but for some reason, he is one of the voices that in this case the world has chosen to ignore. I wonder why.

As for other African leaders, until recently, there has been a level of solidarity with Mugabe that has left the rest of the world perplexed. We have already discussed the main cause of cause of this—the Mbeki factor. Hiding behind his policy of "quiet diplomacy," Mbeki has stood firmly beside Mugabe, arguing that Mugabe needed to be handled carefully handled since he would not respond to hostile pressure. That has put the two most powerful countries in Southern Africa—South Africa and Zimbabwe—on the same side, and it would have therefore been unwise for the weaker countries in this region to show hostility to Mugabe's policies; this would have only exposed them both militarily and in terms of international politics.

The other factor to be considered in this question is economic expediency. It's all very well to try and heal Zimbabwe's shocking political wound, but until recently, all the trouble in Zimbabwe has actually benefited its neighbors. The white commercial farmers who lost everything in Zimbabwe and have largely been driven out of the country, have been welcomed with open arms in Zambia and Mozambique, where they have brought more than a century of farming experience. Now Zimbabwe, the region's former bread basket, is trying to raise the foreign currency to buy some of the food that the farmers it kicked out are currently producing just across the border. Zambia, which until 2001 had relied on food imports, is now racking in a lot of foreign currency from food exports. The same goes for tourism: once the region's most popular tourist destination, Zimbabwe is now a pariah nation, as tourists now prefer to go to either South Africa or Zambia. The major transnational corporations that once had their headquarters in Harare have long since moved to South Africa and any new investments targeted at the area will certainly not go to Zimbabwe, but to one of its more peaceful neighbors. So for Zimbabwe's closest neighbors, the soft policy on Mugabe has paid off well.

The international press has begun to report on outbreaks of anti-foreigner violence in South Africa, which frequently targets Zimbabweans. Do you see some connection between such violence and the larger political issues at stake between Zimbabwe and South Africa?

On the surface, the anti-Zimbabwe violence in South Africa seems easy to understand. For one thing, South Africa is a high crime country, and much of the crime is violent. People often kill each other over trivial arguments, and violent, often fatal robberies are for sums as small as 100R (about 16 US dollars). Much of the violence is a carry-over from the apartheid era, when almost everything was criminalized, and it was virtually impossible to follow the law. Almost a decade and a half of the new ANC government have done nothing to change the situation. African communities are still desperately poor, the crime rate is still high and escalating, and the standards of education remain low. Into this situation you pour in millions of Zimbabweans who are fleeing the violence and the economic meltdown in their own country, and you have serious problems. The average Zimbabwean is far more educated and far more prepared to work than the average South African (under apartheid, African schools could not teach science, mathematics, or English, and the Mbeki government has been hard-pressed to remedy the situation), which means that Zimbabweans get most of the jobs that are up for grabs. To make matters worse, they are likely to have much more money to start with (the South African government demands, among other things, to see 2000R up front before a visa can be granted to a Zimbabwe national). In addition, most Zimbabweans coming into South Africa are not expecting to stay forever; they want to save as much money as possible and send it home, which means that they tend to stick to the cheapest possible accommodation, in the shacks— among the poorest of the poor, who have no jobs, no education, and, as things stand now, no hope of bettering their situation. It is easy to see how tension can build up and explode into violence.

This, as I said, is how things appear on the surface, until one looks more closely at the situation and sees a more sinister pattern at work. The real culprits in the abuse of Zimbabwe nationals are the authorities themselves, namely the Zimbabwean and the South African governments. First of all, in recent years, the Mugabe government has almost stopped issuing travel documents at a time when the economic crisis and the political situation have made most of the population desperate to travel, causing queues to form outside the Registrar General's office in every town. People have been known to sleep outside these offices for weeks at a time, hoping against hope that they would one day be among the few whose names are called out. In the end, most of these people give up trying to get any travel document and simply walk across the border without documentation. The only place they can go this way, without travel documents and with no clear idea of where and no plan of what to do once they get there, is down to South Africa. Such travel involves crossing the Limpopo River (a dangerous venture, which, if the river is in flood, often results in drownings and crocodile attacks), somehow making their way past the border fence, made of sharp razor wire, and then walking through miles of forest, infested with wild animals and desperate criminals that prey upon the equally desperate population, until they finally reach the relative safety of Mussina, the South African border town.

I personally took that route when I left Zimbabwe for the last time, and I can tell you that it's not an easy stretch. I had to hire a smuggler to guide me through (he dealt in anything, cooking oil, clothing, people, potato chips—you name it) and most of the time that I was with him I had no idea where he would lead me, whether through to safety or to rob me. I was so brutalized at the time that had he chosen to do so, I doubt that I could have remembered his face, and even if I had, where would I file my case? But the basic decency of the Shona people won through: he took me across, stopping regularly to let me rest because my body hurt, and even loaning me his big jacket because it was so cold. Once in Mussina, he even helped to me to arrange the next part of my journey.

For most border jumpers, the next stage of the journey (and the lawful one) is to get to the offices of the South African Home Affairs and apply for asylum or at least some form of refugee documentation. Easier said than done. From the days or even weeks of sitting hopelessly outside the Registrar General's office in Zimbabwe, they go through the whole desperate process, just to find themselves continuing to wait around in South Africa. Outside the South African Home Affairs office at Marabastad in Pretoria, the refugees are told to queue by country, and then the Zimbabwean line is simply ignored. One woman I spoke to in June last year (she had a six-month-old baby in her arms) told me that she had been living outside the Marabastad offices for two months. For these refugees, there are no toilet facilities, no food, no clean water, and no personal safety. Leaving the compound to buy food across the street might mean a gruesome arrest and deportation process. According to a report by the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, the Zimbabwean refugees at Marabastad have been exposed to assault, rape, and frequent robberies, while desperately waiting for someone to attend to them.

The sorry crowd at Marabastad is so reminiscent of the crowds outside the Registrar General's offices in Zimbabwe that it suggests an ominous coordination of policy between the Zimbabwean government and its South African counterpart. One is never sure what to think.

The South African government has consistently refused to acknowledge that there is a humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, and in order to protect its position, it has refused to do anything about the thousands of Zimbabwean refugees daily flowing through its borders. Instead, there has been a systematic policy to frustrate and abuse the Zimbabwean refugees so that they think twice before coming into South Africa. There is a determined effort to detect Zimbabwe immigrants, arrest and deport them. In many cases, according to the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, police demand papers from legal Zimbabwean immigrants, and then proceed to destroy them and then arrest the immigrants concerned, ostensibly for not having papers. Once arrested, the repatriation process is brutal, often including beatings upon arrest, followed by long periods of detention without any guidelines as to the time frame of the repatriation process. The daily manhunt directed at Zimbabweans has become a major occupation for the South African law enforcement agencies, and this kind of official hostility towards what has become a significant part of the South African population tends to filter easily to the generality of the population: "if the police are always chasing after them, then there must be something awfully wrong with them. Besides, they do take all the good jobs!" If the South African government and the international community treated those people as what they are—refugees in need of help—then maybe the majority of the South African people would follow suit.

One question, ridiculous as it might seem, has to do with the authenticity of these riots. Exactly who starts them? Who utters the first battle cry? Who casts the first stone? Experience has made me a doubter. Mugabe's secret intelligence organization, the CIO, is all pervasive in Zimbabwe, to such an extent that no one knows how large it is. Its agents turn up among the bus conductors, street vendors, at university campuses, at schools, among the homeless population and in the endless queues, and they are fantastic at organizing and infiltrating demonstrations, a favorite technique, when they want to eliminate a certain member of the opposition or civil society.

Now, if ordinary housewives can jump the border into South Africa, what is there to stop these hardened thugs from doing the same? There have been rumors of them doing so, and more sinister still, of them kidnapping certain refugees and jumping them back across the border into Zimbabwe. One of the CIO's major accomplishments is its ability to make people "disappear," and I shudder to imagine the harm they can do if they penetrated the semi-legal world of Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa. It's a place full of undocumented people, many of whom Mugabe would be glad to be rid off for good. Many Zimbabwean activists in South Africa live in terror, constantly turning their heads as they move around and will not go into crowded places, and they have chilling stories to tell.

Gabriel Shumba, an exiled Zimbabwean lawyer who heads the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, tells of threats he received at the African Union Summit in Accra, Ghana in June of last year, when he went to present the case of more than a dozen victims of the violence in Zimbabwe. One CIO boss openly told him not to feel too safe just because he now lived in South Africa. "He told me that they knew where I lived and if they wanted me badly enough, they could arrange for me to wake up in a Zimbabwean jail, and this time they would finish the job (Shumba has been tortured in Zimbabwe). I think he meant it."

If one looks back to 2000, the bloody land seizures started as a "civil demonstrations." The only indication that the government was involved was that the police refused to step in and stop it, arguing that they were not equipped to put down put down riots of such a magnitude. At the time, we heard almost exactly the same xenophobic claims we are hearing in the South Africa disturbances. Even in academic circles, white-baiting showed its ugly head. There was a lot of confusion until the government finally came out into the open and admitted that it had been responsible from the beginning. Then the really bloody times began and no one was safe—White, Black, Ndebele, Shona, or Venda. That is how the CIO operates.

Most people I have talked to in South Africa say that there is little evidence that the CIO is involved and maybe they are right, but I have been around the block and I am still suspicious. I have simply seen too much.






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