wfn.org | All Africa News Agency June 2 2003 (b)

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

AANA BULLETIN No. 21/03 June 2, 2003 (b)

ALL AFRICA NEWS AGENCY
P. O Box, 66878, 00800 Westlands, NAIROBI, Kenya.  Tel: 254-2-4442215,
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Fax: 254-2-4445847, 4443241; Email: aanaapta@insightkenya.com , 
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Regional Trade Boss Wants Tanzania Back Into COMESA

NAIROBI (AANA) June 2 - The director of trade, customs and monetary affairs 
of Common Markets for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), has expressed 
hope that Tanzania may consider rejoining the regional economic bloc.

In an exclusive interview with AANA, Dr. Charles Chanthunya, said that as 
East Africa moved towards integration, it would be wise for Tanzanian 
authorities to rescind their move to quit COMESA three years ago, and "come 
back to the fold".

Dr Chanthunya was in Nairobi to attend a one day COMESA workshop.  He said 
that if Tanzania changed its mind, it would be admitted without having to 
sign any treaty, since the country was a partner in the East African
Community.

Tanzanians withdrew from COMESA in October 2000, citing near zero tariffs 
requirement of COMESA member states as disadvantageous to growth of their 
infant industry, and a serious loss of government revenue.

But, without much explanation, Dr Chanthunya said, "it will be a matter of 
time before Tanzania comes back to the fold".

Reported by Herman Kasili

Refugees Influx, Misdeeds Worry Host Communities

LILONGWE (AANA) June 2 - Malawi government is facing complaints from 
communities surrounding areas earmarked for settlement of refugees.  The 
villagers are blaming asylum seekers for land shortage, environmental 
destruction and rise in crime rate.

The Ministry of Poverty and Disaster Management has now embarked on 
negotiations with traditional leaders in Mwanza district, near the border 
with Mozambique, to find ways of redressing the situation.

Most of the refugees flooding Malawi, one of the most peaceful states in 
southern Africa, are from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, 
Burundi and Somalia.

Dzaleka refugee camp in the central region district of Dowa, is the 
designated place for all refugees and asylum seekers.

But the camp, which is designed to accommodate 4,000 refugees, now has more 
than 15,000 inhabitants.

Ludoviko Shati, the Minister for Poverty and Disaster Management, after a 
tour of Luwani, assured the villagers that no land would be taken from them 
for the refugees' small-scale farming and business activities.	He pleaded 
with the communities to peacefully co-exist  with the asylum seekers.

"We shall not snatch anybody's property.  Instead, communities will enjoy 
all amenities that will be constructed for the refugees," said Shati, 
citing electricity, clean portable water and recreational facilities as 
examples.

Commissioner for the department of Disaster Preparedness, Relief and 
Rehabilitation, Lucius Chikuni, said the government, in conjunction with 
United Nations Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), will soon rehabilitate the 
campsite.  He asked traditional leaders to co-operate.

"All we need is co-operation. Do not harass them, but conduct development 
activities together," appealed Chikuni.

Malawi is still reeling under the effects of massive degradation of 
vegetation in most of the districts formerly inhabited by Mozambican
refugees.

Besides depleting vegetation, a number of refugees have been implicated in 
criminal activities.  They escape from Dzaleka camp into the cities of 
Lilongwe and Blantyre, where some engage in illegal business activities.

Just recently, three refugees from the DRC were arrested by police in 
Blantyre having been tipped by residents that they were renting a house 
after their escape from Dzaleka.

George Chikowi, public relations officer at police headquarters in 
Lilongwe, confirmed that the  remanded refugees were being investigated for 
a series of armed robberies in Blantyre.

Previously, UNHCR and immigration officials had reacted angrily to public 
discontent over refugees, saying Malawi, as a signatory to the UN Charter 
on the rights of refugees and other international conventions, had the 
obligation to look after refugees and permit them opportunity to engage in 
income raising ventures.

Reported by Hobbs Gama

TRANSITION

Glowing Tribute To Departed Continental Youth Leader

NAIROBI (AANA) June 2 - The All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) has 
lost its Youth Desk executive, Paul Tex Koku Adzor, who died here on May 25 
after having been taken ill. He was aged 35.

A household name in Africa's youth network, Paul, who hailed from Togo, 
joined the organisation three years ago, but not before serving in various 
high profile capacities in a number of national, as well as international 
youth movements.

Until his death, he was involved in peace building initiatives across the 
continent, collaborating with youth movements abroad.

In a moving tribute at a funeral service on May 29, AACC Interim General 
Secretary, Melaku Kifle, described Paul as a determined employee who would 
go against all odds to push through his constructive ideas.

Prominent personalities in the ecumenical movement, both from Africa and 
abroad, sent messages of condolences, among them the newly appointed AACC 
General Secretary, Bishop Hamilton Mvume Dandala.

By AANA correspondent

RECONCILIATION

Women Say Yes To Reconciliation, But  After Justice

NAIROBI (AANA) June 2 - Women in Kenya have expressed urgent need for a 
truth and justice commission, to spill wrongs committed on them and their 
families during the past regime.

The women, some of them survivors and victims of political repression and 
persecution, say such a commission will be a platform for victims to come 
out from their dens of "fear, humiliation and anger", and narrate 
atrocities meted on them, as the first step to	healing.

Speaking here on May 28, at a consultation to reflect on the need for a 
truth, justice and reconciliation commission, women victims of repression 
gave tear-rending accounts of how they were manhandled by government 
authorities in the previous regime.

Mrs Ida Odinga, wife of political heavyweight and minister for Roads and 
Public Works, Raila Odinga, moved the audience when she narrated how she 
was subjected to constant police harassment during the 10 years that Raila 
was in detention.

"I was under police surveillance for 24 hours.	I was locked up in jails on 
and off, to give information about my husband.	This, coupled with the role 
of taking care of my children single-handedly for all that time, was not an 
easy thing," she recalled.

On the proposed commission, she noted: "All those who committed such ills 
must come up and confess what they did to Kenyans. There were other 
detainees who used to be injected with unknown substances, and this has led 
to their ill health today.  Some have even died."

Uba Omari Mwaphatsa, a victim of the alleged government sponsored Likoni 
clashes in 1997, recalled how government officers poked her private parts 
on pretext that they were searching for ammunition, which they accused her 
of hiding.

"Is this really human? Can one's private parts accommodate huge machinery 
like guns?" she posed amid sobs, adding: "Is this something that can be 
forgiven and forgotten even in a truth commission?  I cannot forget the 
humiliation and shame I feel until today."

Doris Kariuki Nyambura, widow of slain politician Josiah Mwangi Kariuki, or 
JM Kariuki, as he was popularly known, is still demanding to know who 
killed her husband 28 years ago. "The JM story is full of intrigue and 
back-stabbing. This, together with many problems in his estate can only be 
solved in a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission," she noted.

Fatuma Ibrahim, survivor of little talked about Wagalla Massacre in 1984, 
could hardly speak when she was asked to reveal what happened. After a 
moment of fighting back tears, she narrated how her two brothers were 
butchered in the incident.

About four hundred villagers were wantonly killed by government security 
forces in Wagalla region in North-Eastern Kenya, in what many believe was a 
politically motivated move.

"I have had to take care of my brothers' children, thanks to the government 
of that time. My father was paralysed and went blind on hearing the news of 
the death of his sons. The government is responsible for our pain," said 
Fatuma.

About the suggested justice and reconciliation commission, she stated: "I 
do not believe in reconciliation, unless justice is done first. I am not 
willing to forgive anyone. First, we need truth, then justice, [after 
which] we can talk of reconciliation."

The Chief Guest, at the Nairobi discussions was Executive Secretary of 
National Unity and Reconciliation Commission of Rwanda, Fatuma Ndangiza.

She described a truth and reconciliation commission as an institution that 
provides a platform for people to freely analyse causes of divisions in 
their society, and suggest solutions, while promoting reconciliation 
policies among stakeholders.

Her organisation was set up in 1999 by parliamentary law to among other 
things, organise and oversee national public debates aimed at promoting 
national unity and reconciliation among the people of Rwandan, in view of 
the 1994 genocide.

"Without truth and justice, there cannot be reconciliation and sincere 
conflict resolution," she said, elaborating that reconciliation would be 
impossible "when there is a culture of impunity."

She reiterated that it was necessary to involve women in reconciliation 
processes and conflict prevention, because it was women who bore the brunt 
of war and atrocities committed during political instability.

Ndangiza underlined that reconciliation involved poverty reduction 
strategies, democratisation and decentralisation, justice, mechanisms for 
equal distribution of national resources and empowering people to manage 
their security and that of their property.

She noted that these were some of the interventions being undertaken by her 
government, and were bearing fruit.

A Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) for Kenya was 
proposed mid February, to help tortured Kenyans heal wounds inflicted by 
the former government.

An 18- member task force was subsequently appointed to determine the 
viability of such a commission. It is expected to submit its 
recommendations to the government by end of August this year.

Reported by Joyce Mulama.