January 2, 2002

Genocide Financier --ICTR investigators to meet new Kenyan government -DRC: 130,000 displaced around Beni, Lubero

GOVERNMENT NOTIFIES EXCISE DUTY EXEMPTION ON ETHANOL BLENDED PETROL

Ethanol blended petrol will carry an excise duty concession of 30 paise per litre. The notification to this effect has been issued by the Ministry of Finance on 31.12.2002.

As per the notification, the additional excise duty on petrol has been reduced from the normal rate of Rs. 6 per litre to Rs. 5.70 per litre for petrol to be sold after blending with ethanol. A portion of the concession will be utilised by the oil companies to meet the extra cost of blending operation, additives, etc. The remaining concession will be passed on to the consumers in the form of lower price of the new product. It is expected that the retail prices of gasohol will be lower by about 15 to 20 paise per litre as compared to the normal rate of petrol. However, the actual reduction would depend on the detailed working by oil companies, local taxes etc.

To encourage the use of ethanol in petrol, Ram Naik, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas had requested the States to exempt the sales tax payable on ethanol to be used for blending with petrol. The Government of Andhra Pradesh has already issued a notification in this regard. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra has assured to grant similar concession. Uttar Pradesh Government has also agreed to consider the proposal of the Union Petroleum Ministry for sales tax exemption. The concessions in the excise duty by the Union Government and in the sales tax by the State Governments would help in selling ethanol-blended petrol at a price lower than the normal rate of petrol. This in turn, would promote increased used of ethanol in petrol, which would help millions of sugarcane producers in the country.

It may be recalled that Ram Naik at a public function organised in Mumbai on 1st January 2003, launched introduction of environment friendly ethanol blended petrol in the States of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. The supply of the new product in these States and in the States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Goa and Haryana and in the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Pondicherry will be completed by June 2003. The rest of the country will be covered in the second phase.-keralamonitor.com

KENYA-RWANDA: ICTR investigators to meet new Kenyan government

NAIROBI, 2 January (IRIN) - The Rwandan businessman who allegedly financed the 1994 genocide in his country, Felicien Kabuga, is "most likely" in Kenya, the commander of the investigation section at the Kigali office of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Maxwell Nkole, told IRIN on Thursday.

He said that the tribunal was "in the process of establishing contact" with the new Kenyan government, and that ICTR staff members were "on their way" to discuss the case with Kenyan officials. To date, indications were that the new administration would be "more than willing" to help with investigations, he added.

The US ambassador-at-large for war crimes, Pierre-Richard Prosper, told reporters on Tuesday that Kabuga had been using "government infrastructure to maintain his fugitive status in Kenya", the Associated Press reported. Prosper accused Zakayo Cheruiyot, the Kenyan permanent secretary for public administration and internal security, of providing Kabuga with "protection", news agencies said. Cheruiyot has denied the charge.

Nkole went on to say that the latest information about Kabuga's whereabouts had been obtained through the tribunal's investigations, as well as the US-led Rewards for Justice programme, which offers up to US $5 million for information leading to the arrest of war criminals.

The tribunal indicted Kabuga in 1998, accusing him of being "the main supporter and financier of the Interahamwe militia" responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide. He was accused of making "massive purchases" of machetes, hoes, and other agricultural implements, knowing that they would be used to kill. He was also part owner of the infamous Radio Television Milles Collines in Rwanda, which ordered Hutus to kill Tutsis, and which Human Rights Watch has called "the voice of genocide".

Kabuga has been traced to several homes in the Kenyan cities of Nairobi, Nakuru and Eldoret, according to the International Crisis Group, including three belonging to Hosea Kiplagat, the nephew of Kenyan former President Daniel arap Moi.

DRC: 130,000 displaced around Beni, Lubero

KINSHASA, 2 January (IRIN) - At least 130,000 people had been displaced around the towns of Beni and Lubero, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations Mission in the DRC (known as MONUC) said on Thursday.

It said 23,000 internally displaced people had come from Oicha (30 km north of Beni), 40,800 from Mangina (30 km northwest of Beni) and the remainder from Rengeti and other neighbouring locations, MONUC announced on Radio Okapi.

The Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Kisangani-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-K-ML) had accused the Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo (MLC) of attacking its positions in Rengeti on Wednesday, RCD-K-ML Secretary-General Kolosso Sumahili told IRIN. "According to the report that we have, it is a humanitarian catastrophe," he added.

Meanwhile, MLC has accused RCD-K-ML of attacking its ally, RCD-National (RCD-N).

"There are still some clashes, but we do not think that it is a proper attack or a continuation of fighting," Mounoubayi Madnodge, the MONUC spokesman, said. "We think that these clashes are due to communication problems between the commanders of the military movements and the groups themselves. We don't think that these clashes have compromised either the ceasefire agreement or the deployment of MONUC in the region."

Throughout Thursday Beni remained calm. The coordinator with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Beni, Alexandre Gashangi, said on Radio Okapi that a humanitarian intervention would begin with an explanation over the airwaves of its purpose. "Our explanations are addressing both the military and civilian populations," he said. The leaders of the three rival militias fighting along the Isiro-Beni axis of northeastern DRC signed a ceasefire agreement on Monday.