the first of some 340 children formerly associated with the FNL to be sent homeward after psychosocial reorientation

TO BE NOTED: From ReliefWeb:

"Burundi's last child soldiers homeward bound toward a new life

Source: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

Date: 15 May 2009

By Olalekan Ajia

GITEGA, Burundi, 15 May 2009 – This week, 136 former child soldiers separated from Burundi's last rebel group, the Forces Nationales de la Libération (FNL), left the Gitega Transit Centre to rejoin their respective families in Bujumbura Mairie, Bujumbura Rural, Bubanza and Gitega.

The clearly elated returnees, including two girls, were the first of some 340 children formerly associated with the FNL to be sent homeward after psychosocial reorientation. They leave behind 204 others, including four girls, who are scheduled to leave in their turn on 18 and 20 May.

Since their arrival from FNL assembly areas in early April, the children had undergone psychosocial counselling on respect for child rights, peaceful cohabitation in their communities and prevention of HIV/AIDS. The sick also received medical attention.

In-kind support and schooling

According to the director of the Gitega centre, Romain Ndagabwa, each child's family will receive a total of about $330 over the next 18 months, not in cash but in kind, as agreed by the children and their families.

Those who return to school will be educated free of charge; the same applies to those who choose vocational training and wish to set up their own business.

Meanwhile, each former child soldier's return package includes a new pair of shoes and socks, jeans, a belt and a shirt, in addition to 10 kg of rice, 10 kg of beans, 2 kg of sugar and – to ease their travel – two loaves of bread, one tin of sardines, bottled water and soap.

Demobilization and reintegration

UNICEF, the Integrated Office of the United Nations in Burundi, South Africa's facilitation team for the Burundi peace agreement, and the African Union have supported the Government of Burundi's efforts to demobilize and reintegrate child soldiers. The World Bank and the Governments of France and Spain have provided financial aid for this process.

However, 44 children associated with the 'dissident' faction of the FNL are still waiting at two assembly areas for their turn at psychosocial reorientation and family reunification."

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final phase of the repatriation of tens of thousands of Burundian civilians who fled to Tanzania in 1972

TO BE NOTED: From

Some of the 1972 Burundians even dismantled their homes at Katumba and took the construction materials back to Burundi. © UNHCR/B.Bannon

UNHCR News Stories

Repatriation of 1972 Burundian refugees from Tanzania enters final phase

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, April 24 (UNHCR) - The final phase of the repatriation of tens of thousands of Burundian civilians who fled to Tanzania in 1972 got under way this week when a UNHCR convoy carrying almost 500 people crossed the border and arrived at a new transit centre in Burundi.

The UNHCR assisted voluntary repatriation operation, organized in cooperation with the governments of both countries, aims to end one of the world's most protracted refugee situations.

The refugee agency hopes this year to repatriate some 25,000 of the so-called 1972 Burundians, from three "old settlements," who have opted to go back home. The remaining 165,000, most of them born and raised in Tanzania, have opted to stay.

The first UNHCR return convoy of the year left the Lake Tanganyika town of Kigoma in north-west Tanzania on Wednesday carrying 473 refugees from Katumba. They had left this old settlement by train on Tuesday with their personal belongings and livestock. Some even dismantled their homes and took the construction materials back to Burundi.

Returnees who talked to UNHCR were glad to be going back home after so many years. "I feel relief in my heart, because I am finally back in my home country. This is what I longed for before I die," 76-year-old Yokoniya Ntabiye told UNHCR after arriving at the Gitara Transit Centre in southern Burundi.

But the refugees also acknowledged the debt they owed to Tanzania and the refugee agency. "I want to thank the government of Tanzania for treating us all these years with dignity, and not just as refugees," said Phillip Budogero, who was an infant when his parents fled inter-ethnic conflict in Burundi. "We have benefitted from communal services such as education and health," he added.

On arrival at the newly-built Gitara centre, the refugees underwent a medical check and were given an aid package, including cash support, food and household items. They will be transported to their home communes.

But the returnees will face many challenges in Burundi, especially because they left the country so long ago. Many will face problems reclaiming their land in the small Central African nation. For these people, UNHCR provides temporary shelter and supports the peaceful mediation of their land disputes.

As for landless returnees, the Burundian government and UN partners, including UNHCR, help them settle in integrated "peace villages." Four of these villages have been opened for hundreds of people in recent months.

The returnees arrived shortly after the last active rebel group in Burundi disbanded and converted into a political party.

The three old settlements in western Tanzania - Ulyankulu, Katumba and Mishamo - housed some 220,000 of the 1972 Burundians. Last year, more than 30,000 of them returned home after they were given the option of repatriation or local integration. The citizenship applications of those who opted to stay are now under review by the Tanzanian authorities.

The 1972 refugees differ from those who fled from Burundi to Tanzania in the 1990s and for whom UNHCR actively promotes return to Burundi. Numbering some 40,000, they are hosted at the Mtabila camp in the Kigoma region.

UNHCR has helped some 390,000 Burundian refugees return home from Tanzania since the beginning of its assisted repatration operations in 2002. When assisted and unassisted are totalled, more than 470,000 people have returned to Burundi since 2002.

By Eveline Wolfcarius in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and Bernard Ntwari in Gitara Transit Centre, Burundi"

"Islam is a religion of peace and stability. It is not a terrorism religion, and al Shabaab is Somalia's biggest threat,"

A Somalia roundup. From Reuters:

"MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Fighting between rival Somali Islamist groups and hardline insurgents on Washington's foreign terrorist list killed dozens of people north of the capital Mogadishu on Sunday, witnesses said.

An Islamist insurgency has been battling government and Ethiopian troops for the past two years, ever since Addis Ababa sent forces to oust the Islamic Courts Union from Mogadishu.

More than 16,000( 16,000 ) civilians have been killed in the insurgency, a million people have been forced from their homes and more than a third( 1/3 ) of the population depend on aid.

But an estimated 3,000 Ethiopians are now withdrawing and some Islamist factions appear to be turning on al Shabaab fighters, a hardline insurgent group that wants to impose a strict version of Islamic law traditionally shunned by Somalis( THEY DON'T WANT IT. GOOD. ).

Analysts say while the Ethiopian withdrawal could usher in a new chapter of violence, it may also be a window of opportunity to bring some Islamist groups into the political process and form a broad, inclusive government.

Witnesses said more than 20 people, mostly fighters, were killed in Sunday's battles between Hareka al Shabaab al Mujahideen, or the Mujahideen Youth Movement, and another Islamist group in Gurael, a trading town in central Somalia.

Sheikh Abdullahi Abu Yusuf, spokesman for the Islamist group Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca, said its fighters had killed 30 al Shabaab militants and seized most of their weapons.

Resident Ahmed Ali told Reuters by telephone he had seen two dead, including an al Shabaab leader, and said Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca was in control of the town after repulsing an attack.

A doctor at Istarlin hospital in Gurael said it had received 20 wounded on Sunday and more were on their way.

The fighting followed clashes a day earlier between al Shabaab rebels and moderate Islamists in Balad, 30 km (19 miles) north of Mogadishu, on Saturday.

Al Shabaab, which spearheaded attacks last year to become the face of the insurgency, is also battling Ethiopian and government soldiers elsewhere outside the capital.

While the fighting may be a struggle between Islamist groups jostling for position as the Ethiopians go, local militias angry with al Shabaab's acts are reported to be helping.

Washington accuses the group of having close ties to al Qaeda. Al Shabaab has been imposing strict sharia law on the towns it controls in southern Somalia -- banning drinking or films and beheading suspected government collaborators( WAR CRIMES ).

Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca accuses al Shabaab of hunting down and killing its religious leaders and desecrating graves.( THEY ARE AWFUL )

Somalia's interim President Sheikh Aden Madobe said on Saturday that al Shabaab was the biggest threat to stability in the Horn of Africa nation and appealed for international help to build up Somali security forces."

We should hope that al Shabaab does not take full control of Somalia, for the sake of Somalis."

And:

"Which way will Somalia go?

Post a comment (6)

Posted by: David Clarke

Tags: Africa Blog, Somalia, AU, conflict, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Islamic, Islamist, Mogadishu, peacekeeping, Sharia, Somalia, UN, violence

The withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia has left a nation beset by conflict for nearly two decades at a crossroads.

Ethiopia invaded to oust Islamists from the capital, but insurgents still control much of southern Somalia and more hardline groups that worry Washington have flourished during the two-year intervention.

The United Nations is unlikely to send peacekeepers to replace the Ethiopians. Africa is struggling to send more troops to help the 3,500 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi protecting key sites in the capital.

Some analysts say sending an international force would be counterproductive anyway as it would simply replace the Ethiopians as the hated foreign invader and maintain support for the most militant insurgents.

But without more African peacekeepers deploying soon, it seems unlikely the small and largely ineffectual existing force will remain with a weak mandate to face attacks from insurgents.

While a power vacuum may result in even more violence, some Western diplomats in the region hope it will spur the feuding Islamist opposition groups to settle their differences and work towards forming a broad-based, inclusive government.( YES )

They also hope the departure of the Ethiopians will deflate the insurgency and marginalise hardline groups imposing a strict version of Islamic law traditionally shunned by many Somalis( PLEASE ).

African diplomats pushing hard for some sort of political reconciliation say there are more and more signs of “war fatigue” among the various camps and clans.

They are consistently upbeat about Somalia’s prospects, even more so since President Abdullahi Yusuf resigned, and are reaching out to some of the hardline Islamist groups.

Western opposition to some hue of Islamist administration in Somalia — precisely what Ethiopia invaded to quash — seems to be waning as diplomats take a more pragmatic approach to the political and military reality on the ground( TRUE ).

Is there any reason for optimism after 17 years of violence?( YES )

(Picture: Somali al-Shabaab insurgents arrive in capital Mogadishu, Decemcer 27, 2008. REUTERS/Omar Faruk)"

And more:

1 of 1Full Size

By Abdiaziz Hassan

NAIROBI (Reuters) - A group of hardline Islamist fighters on Washington's list of foreign terrorists poses the biggest threat to Somalia and the government needs more support to avoid a crisis, its interim president told Reuters.

Islamist insurgents control much of southern and central Somalia and the government holds only the capital Mogadishu and the seat of parliament, Baidoa. Some 3,000 troops from Ethiopia are withdrawing after propping up the government for two years.

Western diplomats hope the insurgency will fracture when the Ethiopian soldiers finally go, and marginalise the hardline al Shabaab fighters who are imposing a strict version of Islamic law traditionally shunned by Somalis.

Speaking on Saturday in Nairobi, Somali President Sheikh Aden Madobe said the government and moderate Muslim scholars would never let al Shabaab seize power, but without help things could get worse for the Horn of Africa nation.

"Al Shabaab is supported by enemies of peace and doing something that is not Islam. Islam is a religion of peace and stability. It is not a terrorism religion, and al Shabaab is Somalia's biggest threat," Madobe said.( WELL SAID )

The hardline rebel group Hareka al Shabaab al Mujahideen, or the Mujahideen Youth Movement, is fighting Ethiopian and Somali government forces alongside other Islamist groups.

The completion of Ethiopia's pullout could help al Shabaab seize more ground, unless more moderate Islamists turn against them. The United States fears a takeover by al Shabaab and other Islamist militants it sees as linked to al Qaeda.

Madobe, who is Somalia's parliament speaker and interim president since Abdullahi Yusuf quit last month, said Somalia needed more money to build up its security forces.

"Ethiopia has decided to leave and insists on that, and we have not succeeded in forming the troops supposed to take over," he said. "Somalia is tired of chaos."

ELECTION DATE SET

The African Union said in a statement after a summit in Addis Ababa on Saturday that the international community needed to redouble commitments to help get a 10,000-strong Somali force of government and opposition soldiers up and running to support the political process.

The AU has been desperately trying to beef up its existing force of some 3,500 troops from Uganda and Burundi. But despite pledges of extra battalions from those two nations and Nigeria, they have yet to deploy. ( TOO BAD )

Analysts say unless the African Union force is strengthened soon there is a risk those peacekeepers will pull out as well, leaving even more of a security vacuum.

"The survival of this government depends on how its leadership works together, how the Somali people assist it in its task and how the international community supports it," Madobe said, before flying back to Baidoa.

He said the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) would respect the 30-day deadline in a transitional federal charter for selecting a new president.

The AU statement issued later on Saturday said the TFG and the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia had agreed to hold the election process in Djibouti from January 20-26( GOOD ).

The African Union also said "significant progress" had been made on expanding the parliament to include opposition groups.( GOOD )

Madobe said so far two people had applied for president: Yusuf Azhari, a former envoy to Kenya and adviser to former president Abdullahi Yusuf, and Mohamed Deeq Abdimadar Barqadle, a member of the Somali diaspora who has been living in Sweden."

If the international community focuses on Somalia, there is some hope.

"consumers in the west do have the power to limit their funds."

Caroline Sourt in the Guardian about the East Congo, and what we can do about it ( which isn't much ):

"Caroline Sourt

• 
  
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 25 December 2008 17.00 GMT
• Article history

As Simon Tisdall has pointed out on Comment is Free, the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo looks intractable – and there is little appetite, in Britain or elsewhere, to send more troops there. But while the fighting is not going to stop as long as militias control the region's natural resources, consumers in the west do have the power to limit their funds( GOOD ).

One of the precious metals mined in eastern Congo is coltan. It is used in many common products: mobiles, computers, digital cameras, GPS equipment, airbags, hearing aids and even pacemakers. While 80% of the world's known coltan reserves are in eastern Congo, only about 1% of the metal sold on the open market is Congolese.

The reality is that most of Congo's coltan is sold illegally and the revenue, instead of going towards the country's development, is helping to fund the ongoing violence. The coltan mines in the east are controlled by various armed groups. One of the consequences is that civilians, including children, are recruited as forced labour. The mortality rate in these mines is high.

In a UN report discussed yesterday by the security council, the Congolese and Rwandan governments are accused of backing militias to fight a "war by proxy". All the groups, including the Congolese army, are accused of human rights violations that range from massacres and torture to widespread rape of women and children. In this on-off war, it's estimated that 45,000 people die each month( 45,000 ); since August, 250,000( 250,000 ) have been displaced.

The UN's force in Congo, Monuc, has so far failed to stop the fighting, despite being the largest and most expensive peacekeeping mission in the world( COME ON ). Democratic Republic of the Congo is the size of western Europe: 17,000 troops, or even the proposed increase to 20,000-strong force, are insufficient. The EU recently refused to send in soldiers, preferring to try political negotiations. What it should be doing is to regulate the international sales of Congolese minerals more efficiently( TRUE ).

Just as blood diamonds fuelled the civil war in Sierra Leone, the illegal trade fuels the DRC conflict. As long as militias and politicians continue to make money from minerals, there is no real incentive to find a lasting peace( I SUPPOSE THAT'S TRUE ). The companies involved in buying Sierra Leone's diamonds only located their consciences when consumers started asking questions about where their gems were coming from, and profits were threatened.

A certificate systemis supposed to detail the origins of any coltan, but it is not strictly adhered to. Many companies don't ask and if they do, they settle for vague answers and fraudulent papers because Congo's coltan is abundant and much cheaper than that of rival exporters.

Now, a break. From Reuters:

"By Joe Bavier

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo hopes to set up a scheme to certify columbite-tantalite produced within its borders in 2009, the country's Deputy Mines Minister Victor Kasongo said on Tuesday.

The illegal traffic of the rare metal, used in mobile phone chips and commonly referred to as coltan, helped fuel a 1998-2003 war and resulting humanitarian crisis in the central African country that killed an estimated 5.4 million people.

But a new G8-backed and German-financed pilot initiative aimed at creating a mineral fingerprint for coltan could soon help developing countries trace ore that is illegally exported and boost their profits from legal exports.

Kasongo said he hoped a global certification process aimed at ethically-minded consumers would follow.

"All the large companies are fighting for this. They'll be able to display a certificate to prove fair trade. You'll begin seeing many machines, many iPods, that are certified," he said.

Congo plans to use the data to set up its own certification process within the next eight months, which should help the creation of a global system similar to the Kimberley Process set up to end the trade in "blood diamonds" from war zones.

"We believe that in 2009 we should be able to enforce certification ... early next year," Kasongo told Reuters in an interview. "Licences. Centralised control. Certification. More revenues to Congo. More peace and stability. Those are the things we are aiming for."

A team from Germany's Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources is due to arrive in Congo on April 2.

Researchers will map the country's coltan producing areas and isolate unique characteristics of local ore samples to create mechanisms for tracing ore to its origin.

"BLOOD COLTAN"

Congo, believed by many experts to possess the world's largest coltan reserves, was one of the principal suppliers of the ore as demand from the mobile phone and electronics industries spiked in the late 1990s.

Much of the so-called "blood coltan" originating in Congo was illegally smuggled into Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi during a five-year war that saw the plunder of its natural resources by neighbours and foreign-backed militias.

Congo's coltan-rich eastern borderlands remain a patchwork of militia-controlled zones and rebel fiefdoms, where a United Nations Security Council-commissioned report recently said illegal armed groups still buy weapons with mining revenues.

Ethical concerns and more efficient industrialised mining have now made Australia the world's leading producer and exporter of coltan.

Congo hopes the certification process will rehabilitate the image of its coltan and help to stabilise its eastern reaches.

"We'll make sure that the coltan is not linked to any military activities. We understand that once we have control of the coltan itself, we'll have some control over the stability of the area," Kasongo said."

Back to our post:

The vast majority of those who donate to charitable appeals for Congo are unaware that their Christmas present purchases are probably feeding the conflict as fast as charities can alleviate it. Asking a few more questions about the gifts we buy would force the suppliers to come clean about their origins."

It's the least that we can do.