CongoNews Updates Nov 10 97 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit congo-news@thor.cmp.ilstu.edu Kinshasa says U.N. probe will go ahead this time 10:46 a.m. Nov 11, 1997 Eastern By William Wallis KINSHASA, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Government officials in Kinshasa in charge of liaison with a United Nations investigation into alleged massacres in the former Zaire said on Wednesday the bitterly disputed probe could now go ahead smoothly. Emmanuel Kamanzi, president of the inter-ministerial liaison team, said he hoped to meet the three leaders of the U.N. mission soon after their return to Kinshasa on Wednesday. ``I hope they will bring everything in order as soon as they arrive and communicate their work programme so we can make arrangements for their security,'' Kamanzi told Reuters. ``I hope we are now in agreement, and they will not be deaf to our point of view,'' he said. Kamanzi confirmed that the investigation could go ahead across the entire territory of the renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo, and not only in the conflict-ridden east of the country. The chief of the mission, Togolese Atsu-Kofi Amega, and his two deputies, American Reed Brody and Zimbabwean Andrew Chigovera, were withdrawn from Kinshasa for consultations at U.N. headquarters last month after two months in which they were blocked by disputes over the terms of the investigation. The final straw occurred when President Laurent Kabila's government limited the mission to the east of the country. Investigators had wanted to hunt for evidence of alleged killings of thousands of Rwandan Hutus in the northwestern town of Mbandaka. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, won assurances from Kabila in a visit to Kinshasa on October 25 that there would be no more impediments to the investigation. However, some U.N. officials were unhappy Kabila did not put his own side of the agreement in writing. They fear the United States and other potential Congo allies are now prepared to see a fudged inquiry in order to release vital reconstruction aid to the country which has been made conditional on the government's cooperation with the probe. They also fear that a loose government translation of vital points in Richardson's statement after he brokered the deal provides loopholes and suggests continuing government hostility to the probe. Kamanzi denied continuing reports that witnesses to massacres of refugees had been intimidated and that evidence at mass graves had been cleaned up during the months of wrangling which prevented the probe from going ahead earlier. He added that he was optimistic the addition to the original team of two new investigators, British lieutenant-colonel Peter Mills and Ruud Shouten of the Netherlands, would foster better relations this time round. The two men are due to arrive on November 21. ``We hope they will orientate the mission. We all have an interest in agreeing this time,'' he said, adding that he expected the Togolese chief of mission to work ``scientifically and not sentimentally.'' Kabila's government earlier accused Amega of being partisan to the ousted regime of the late Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko because of his Togolese origins. U.N. chief Kofi Annan appointed Amega and his deputies in July after giving in to Kabila's demands about the composition and mandate of a previous team, led by Chilean Roberto Garreton. Kabila objected to a report by Garreton identifying what the Chilean said were more than 100 sites where thousands of Rwandan refugees were killed and blamed the deaths on Kabila's troops. Aid officials and local human rights groups believe thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees were systematically massacred by Kabila's troops and their Rwandan Tutsi backers during the course of Kabila's successful military campaign to topple Mobutu, who died in exile in September. Kabila denies such charges, blaming the killings at refugee camps on hardline Rwandan Hutus, including former soldiers who lost Rwanda's civil war in 1994 to Tutsi guerrillas. He won U.N. agreement for the probe to cover atrocities committed from March 1993 onwards under the Mobutu regime his troops and regional allies ousted in May. Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. U.N. investigators return to probe Congo killings 06:39 p.m Nov 11, 1997 Eastern KINSHASA, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The three leaders of a troubled United Nations investigation into alleged massacres of Rwandan Hutu refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo returned on Tuesday evening to the capital Kinshasa. Atsu-Koffi Amega, the mission's Togolese chief, said on arrival he hoped the investigation -- blocked since late August following weeks of wrangling between the government and the U.N. over its scope and mandate -- would now be able to get under way. ``We are hoping for the government's full cooperation, and we are willing to cooperate so we can fulfill our mandate,'' Amega told journalists at the Intercontinental hotel where the team is staying. But in what could mark the beginnings of further disputes over the terms of the mission, Amega made clear the U.N. would not be held to statements concerning the investigation made by American envoy and ambassador to the U.N, Bill Richardson. During a visit to Kinshasa last month, Richardson won assurances from President Laurent Kabila the government would cooperate fully with the mission, thus enabling Amega and his two deputies, American Reed Brody and Zimbabwean Andrew Chigovera, to return. ``Mr Richardson came as a representative of his own government in order to reach agreements which permitted the clarification of the mandate we have since July 15,'' Amega said, insisting, however, that the mandate itself remained the same. Some U.N. officials have expressed fears Richardson's statements concerning the probe, which were loosely translated into French by the government, could be interpreted as a new mandate for the investigation. The mission has been plagued since its original arrival in Kinshasa in August with endless objections by the government which denied access to the forensic scientists and human rights experts who made up the team to areas where alleged massacres took place. Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. Forrest group opens mine with Congo copper giant 08:42 a.m. Nov 10, 1997 Eastern By William Wallis LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Congo, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The International Forrest Group has formally re-opened Luiswishi copper mine in a joint venture with the Democratic Republic of the Congo's state copper giant, Gecamines. Saturday's ceremony marked the start of what the new government of President Laurent Kabila, who took power in May following a seven-month military campaign that ousted veteran dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, hopes will be a resurgence in the country's delapidated but potentially booming mining sector. The project, initiated in 1996 following the signing of a protocol agreement, is small-scale in Congo terms. ``In terms of production the project at Luiswishi will translate into 3,500 tonnes of cobalt per year sold initially in concentrated form to Finland and 8,000 tonnes of copper per year in the same concentrated form,'' George Forrest, the director of the family company, said in an inaugural speech at the Luiswishi mine on Saturday. ``In three years, if we don't encounter technical difficulties, I will be able to invite you again, to the inauguration of a new metalurgical factory where the same quantities of metal will be produced as finished products,'' he added. The reserves at three sites on the mine, situated just outside Lubumbashi, capital of the mineral rich province of Katanga, are estimated according to Gecamines, at 216,577 tonnes of copper and 81,032 of cobalt at concentrations of 2.9 percent and 1.1 percent respectively. At the turn of the century Luiswishi was one of the first copper mines to be exploited under the former colonial power, Belgium. But production ground to a halt in 1962 and renewed prospection initiated in 1980 by Gecamines was abandoned due to budgetary problems. With recent technological advances in the extraction of the metals, the companies hope to produce an additional 12,000 tonnes of copper and 8,000 tonnes of cobalt from old stock-piles from the mine. The project is expected to run for 13 to 15 years producing 13,300 tonnes of copper per year and 2,800 tonnes of cobalt, according to Gecamines. Forrest says the total investment of his group in the mine including the building of the treatment plant, will amount to $30 million. Forrest is already producing copper at a smaller mine at Kasombo and is involved in plans to exploit a vast mountain of old copper and cobalt tailings which dominates the Lubumbashi skyline. The ex-Zaire, with up to 10 percent global copper reserves and 50 percent of its cobalt, was one the world's leading copper producers with annual production as high as 475,000 tonnes of copper and 17,000 tonnes of cobalt in the 1980s. Mismanagement, political crisis and massive looting of the mines in 1991 and 1993 led to the collapse of the industry under Mobutu, and production has sunk to 10 to 20 percent of its former levels. Gecamines opened up to private investment in the mining sector during Mobutu's final years but many of the projects initiated then are only now coming to fruition under Kabila. Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. U.N. probe chiefs to return to Kinshasa Tuesday 07:04 a.m. Nov 10, 1997 Eastern KINSHASA, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The three leaders of a U.N. team investigating alleged massacres of Rwandan Hutu refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will return to Kinshasa on Tuesday, a spokesman for the team said on Monday. Jose Diaz said the investigation, stalled for months because of differences between the United Nations and President Laurent Kabila's government over the scope and mandate of the probe, would start ``very shortly thereafter -- we hope in a matter of days.'' Team leader Koffi Atsu Amega of Togo and his two deputies, Reed Brody of the United States and Andrew Chigovera of Zimbabwe, were expected in the capital of the former Zaire on Tuesday evening. The team must first meet with the government, which denied any involvement in massacres during the seven-month war that toppled veteran dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and brought Kabila to power in May. The team then plans to start its inquiry simultaneously in the east, where the revolt began, and in Mbandaka in the northwest, where the most recent massacres allegedly took place and which proved the latest stumbling block between the two sides. Kabila's government and the United Nations reached a compromise on October 25. Bill Richardson, Washington's U.N. ambassador, brokered an agreement whereby the inquiry would cover the period from April 1993 to December 31, 1997 and the team would be allowed to deploy simultaneously in the east and the west. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan withdrew the team leaders in early October in an attempt to get the Kinshasa authorities to clarify their position on the investigation. He dropped an earlier team leader following objections from Kabila. Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. Paris pledges reconstruction aid to Sassou's Congo 01:23 p.m Nov 10, 1997 Eastern KINSHASA, Nov 10 (Reuters) - France will give reconstruction aid to the Republic of Congo after the civil war that destroyed whole parts of the capital Brazzaville between June and October, the French ambassador to Congo said on Monday. Raymond Cesaire, speaking on Congolese state radio, said: ``France intends to be present alongside Congo for the reconstruction.'' Cesaire said that, given the situation on the ground, France's first priority was and would continue to be giving humanitarian aid and helping to restore living conditions in Brazzaville to normal. He cited a mine-clearing squad and a field hospital that were sent to Brazzaville by France, and said French teams were also helping with the restoration of water, electricity and telephone services. France is the biggest aid donor to Congo, a former colony, and its main trading partner. France's Elf Aquitaine (ELFP.PA) has extensive interests in the country's oil fields. The ambassador's statement followed news that Congo had freed and pardoned a group of foreign nationals -- including seven French -- who were accused of having backed the regime of ousted President Pascal Lissouba by serving as mercenaries or by involvement in arms trafficking. 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