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dam-l Southern Africa violence



>
>
>Electronic Mail & Guardian 13 August, 1998
>Lesotho troops fire
>          at protesters
>
>          OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Wednesday 4.30pm.
>
>          LESOTHO army troops fired stun grenades at several
>          hundered protesters outside King Letsie III's palace in
>          Maseru on Wednesday afternoon after protestors refused to
>          obey an army order to disperse. Earlier on Wednesday morning
>          troops surrounded the palace after the order, issued on
>          Tuesday night by army chief Lieutenant-Colonel Makhula
>          Motakeng, was largely ignored. "Early on Wednesday morning
>          the army began surrounding the Royal Palace. Another tank,
>          inside the palace, is facing the gate in the direction of
>          the crowd," Basotho National Party official Bareng
>          Sekhonyana said. He added that there are a number of issues
>          that need to be resolved before the protesters will
>          disperse. Protesters have for days surrounded the palace,
>          demanding the monarch overturn the results of the May
>          general election, which opposition parties claim was rigged
>          in favour of the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy. *
>          Meanwhile, a Lesotho government official who allegedly tried
>          to flee Maseru was beaten and stoned to death on Tuesday by
>          a crowd blocking the road to the South African border.
>          Spokesperson for the country's opposition parties Monica
>          Mopeli said that witnesses said the man, driving a car
>          without number plates, drove straight towards the group and
>          opened fire on them, wounding three people. The crowd set on
>          the vehicle, smashing its windows, and the unidentified man
>          was beaten and stoned to death.
>
>                            ELECTRONIC MAIL&GUARDIAN
>                            Johannesburg, South Africa. August 11,
>                            1998
>
>
>               Unita uses terror
>               to force new deal
>
>               Unita has been accused of a string of atrocities in its
>               attempts to force a renegotiation of the peace deal
>               that it has so far refused to honour. CHRIS GORDON
>               reports
>
>
>                    UNITA is continuing to recapture small areas in
>                     the Angolan countryside on a daily basis, sowing
>                     terror to reach their objectives.
>
>               Diplomats in Luanda believe Unita leader Jonas Savimbi
>               now wants the Lusaka protocols renegotiated, with a
>               better deal for Unita. Savimbi described the protocols
>               as being the destruction of Unita. They should have
>               led, on Unita's side, to complete disarmament and
>               transition into a political party. Savimbi's inability
>               to take the final steps of this process provoked the
>               present crisis in Angola.
>
>               Observers here suggest that Unita is attacking in order
>               to be able to renegotiate the protocols from a position
>               of strength. The atrocity at Bula, where 88 garimpeiros
>               (farmworkers) were burned alive, was the worst of many
>               such attacks on the unarmed population. The attack was
>               carried out by 440 heavily armed men who robbed the
>               population of about 700 mainly Zairean diamond miners,
>               money, food and equipment.
>
>               Monua, the United Nations's monitoring force in Angola,
>               could not verify that it was Unita who attacked since
>               many of the killers wore civilian clothes. Monua said
>               that attributing the attack to Unita is hostile
>               propaganda. Survivors of the massacre and workers in
>               the region say they believe it was a Unita attack, in
>               revenge for being forced out a few weeks earlier.
>
>               More than 105 000 newly displaced
>               people are fleeing either Unita attacks
>               or the threat of them. Valerie Julliand,
>               deputy director of the UN's Unit for the
>               Co-ordination of Humanitarian
>               Assistance (Uncah) told the Mail &
>               Guardian that the situation in the
>               interior has deteriorated rapidly since
>               May, when Unita went on the offensive.
>
>               Uncah is expecting the number of
>               people displaced by Unita attacks to
>               reach 200 000 and aid agencies are
>               finding it more difficult to reach them.
>               Aid workers have been pulled back
>               into provincial capitals as ambushes,
>               landmines and attacks on agency
>               teamsites by Unita have made the
>               countryside unsafe . The reduction of
>               Monua means that only 500 armed escorts for food
>               convoys are available - and conditions on the ground
>               are getting more dangerous.
>
>               For the aid agencies, responding to a new humanitarian
>               crisis when they had moved on to the resettlement of
>               those displaced by the previous war is difficult. Donor
>               funding was given for development projects, not
>               emergency aid.
>
>               While there is enough food, there is a critical
>               shortage of other items: no water purification tablets,
>               not enough buckets and cooking kits. If the political
>               situation doesn't improve in the next few months, it
>               will mean a humanitarian disaster, Julliand believes.
>
>               The visit of UN special envoy Lahkdar Brahimi to Angola
>               has resulted in Unita agreeing to send their
>               representative, Isias Samakuva, back to Luanda for
>               further talks on the hand-over of Unita's headquarters
>               region, and the towns of Bailondo and Andulo.
>
>               Lahkdar met President José Eduardo dos Santos and
>               Savimbi, as well as Monua and the representatives of
>               the monitoring nations, the United States, Russia and
>               Portugal. The outcome has been an apparent step back
>               from the brink, although this may only have the effect
>               of buying more time for Savimbi. --
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>Steve Rothert
>International Rivers Network
>Okavango Liaison Group
>Plot 253 Moremi Road
>PO Box 2723
>Gaborone, Botswana
>Tel: 267-353-337, Fax: 267-359-337
>Email:  stever@info.bw
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