DRC:
Kinshasa launches major infrastructure rehabilitation programme
KINSHASA, 22 October (IRIN) - The national unity government of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) launched a major roads and
infrastructure rehabilitation programme on Monday, known as the
Multi-sectoral Emergency Programme for Reconstruction and
Rehabilitation
(PMURR - Programme multi-sectoriel d'urgence de reconstruction et de
rehabilitation).
Jean-Pierre Bemba, one of the country's four vice-presidents, who also
heads the government's economy and finance commission, announced the
programme at the start of a three-day workshop aimed at getting the
initiative off the ground.
"The programme, which I am launching, is part of the transitional
government's economic and social programme, around which a consensus
has
been found for economic stabilisation and recovery in the DRC," Bemba
said
during a ceremony marking the launch at the Grand Hotel in the capital,
Kinshasa.
Projects under the PMURR will be financed by some US $2 million from
donors such as the World Bank.
According to Planning Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, the objectives of
the PMURR are to restore not only human and institutional capacities
but
also to rehabilitate and rebuild various infrastructures.
The programme also has a social component.
"The programme will put in place a system of financing in favour of
community initiatives in rural, urban and semi-urban areas," Thambwe
said.
"It will help to develop basic social and community services through
the
maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction of social infrastructure
in
order to ensure food security for all segments of our population."
Although the PMURR was unveiled a year ago, it was limited to Kinshasa
because of the war that had divided the country for years.
"The problems affecting the DRC are, of course, numerous, and extend to
all vital sectors," Thambwe said. "However, faced with limited
financial
resources, it was necessary for the PMURR to target key sectors, such
as
good governance, economic infrastructure and the social sector."
The PMURR coordinator, Benjamin Bonga, noted that the initiative had
already enabled the rehabilitation of a large part of Kinshasa's road
network, and that rehabilitation of National Highway No 1 would soon
begin. This route links the DRC from west to east: beginning in the
southwestern town of Moanda, it passes through Boma, Matadi, Kinshasa,
Kikwit, Pont Loange, Kananga, Mbuji-Mayi, Kamina and Lubumbashi,
finally
reaching the southeastern town of Sakania in southern Katanga Province.
Roads adjacent to the national highway are also scheduled for upgrades
under the PMURR.
Rights group renews call for justice in Ankoro massacres
NAIROBI, 23 October (IRIN) - A human rights NGO in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC) has called for the resumption of investigations
and trials of those responsible for the November 2002 massacres of
civilians in the town of Ankoro, in northern Katanga Province.
In a statement issued on Wednesday from Lubumbashi, the Katanga branch
of the Association Africaine de defense des Droits de l'Homme (ASADHO)
called for the resumption of investigations and trials that had been
suspended in April 2003 pending a restructuring of the military justice
system, at which time some 27 combatants had been indicted.
Although the leadership of a unified national military was inaugurated
on 5 September in the capital, Kinshasa, progress towards integration
of forces of numerous former belligerents has lagged.
On Tuesday, an international committee overseeing the two-year
transitional process in the country criticised the national unity government
for a wide range of delays, and urged it to send military commanders to
their posts, to complete the formation of a united national army and the
drafting of laws on national defence. [see earlier IRIN story,
"Oversight committee chides transitional government for delays", at
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37352]
"The survivors of the Ankoro massacres are impatient," ASADHO said.
The precise toll of the massacres has remained unclear. An
investigation from 7 to 9 April conducted by the UN Mission in the DRC, known as
MONUC, found that at least 70 people were killed during fighting in
November 2002 between government forces and Mayi-Mayi militias in Ankoro.
However, MONUC said the death toll could be higher.
ASADHO said at least 300 people were killed, while 7,715 houses, 11
churches and a health centre were pillaged and burned, during attacks that
involved heavy weaponry such as 107 mm type 63 multiple rocket
launchers.
ASADHO called on the transitional national government to accord all
means necessary to the military judicial system so that fair trials could
resume, and on the military justice system to speed investigations into
the events of November 2002, particularly by including civilian
parties.