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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 193
20 - 26 September 2003


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Rebel fighting displaces 47,500 civilians
BURUNDI: Diseases "remain major cause of disability, mortality"
BURUNDI: Minister lifts ban on second radio station
GREAT LAKES: African leaders pledge non-interference
DRC: Government to send 3,035 police officers to Ituri
DRC: Kabila defines roles of his four vice-presidents
RWANDA: World Bank gives US $30 million for HIV/AIDS programme
RWANDA: Kigali evacuates Uganda crash victims
RWANDA: Short-term food security improving, says FEWS
CAR: FAO signs US $187,000 feasibility study deal for development centre
ROC: Work on country's largest hydroelectric dam begins
UGANDA: Concern over health of displaced people in east
KENYA: HIV/AIDS - "People's Tribunal" demands access to life
AFRICA: Far fewer small arms than prior estimates, says NGO

BURUNDI: Rebel fighting displaces 47,500 civilians

Two weeks of fighting between two rival rebel groups has led to the
displacement of an estimated 47,500 civilians in the east and north of the
Burundian capital, Bujumbura, local officials told IRIN on Thursday.

"At least 43,000 people have fled their homes in Mubimbi Commune
[Bujumbura Rural], some are at the commune office and others are at Kinama
in Mageyo zone in Mubimbi," Ignace Ntawembarira, the governor of Bujumbura
Rural, said.

Fighting between Agathon Rwasa's Forces nationales de liberation rebel
faction and soldiers loyal to the Conseil national pour la defense de la
democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie faction led by Pierre
Nkurunziza was also reported at Mpanda Commune in the province of Bubanza,
12 km north of Bujumbura.

The Mpanda administrator, Fidele Niyonkuru, told IRIN that 4,500 civilians
had been displaced by rebel fighting in the commune, and that the
displaced were without food or shelter. [Full story on
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36819]

BURUNDI: Diseases "remain major cause of disability, mortality"

Despite a 10-year civil war in Burundi, diseases remained the major causes
of disability and mortality in three provinces surveyed by the
International Rescue Committee (IRC).

Presenting the results of the 2002 survey on Monday in the capital,
Bujumbura, the IRC reported that diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis,
leprosy, polio and measles accounted for the largest number of
disabilities in the provinces of Bujumbura Rural, Makamba and Muyinga.

The IRC carried out the survey to establish causes of disability and
mortality rates in the conflict-ridden country.

Out of 169 disabled people in Muyinga, from a sample of 2,068 people, 45
percent became disabled due to diseases that could be prevented or
treated.  [Full story on http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36756]

BURUNDI: Minister lifts ban on second radio station

Another private radio station in Burundi, Radio Publique Africaine resumed
broadcasting on Saturday after Communications Minister Albert Mbonerane
lifted an indefinite ban he had imposed, state-owned Radio Burundi
reported.

It said that the new measure followed discussions between the minister and
an RPA director. The move follows the removal of a similar ban on another
private broadcaster, Radio Isanganiro.

Both radio stations had been suspended for broadcasting interviews with
the spokesman of Agathon Rwasa's faction of the Forces nationales de
liberation rebel group. [Full story
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36726]

GREAT LAKES: African leaders pledge non-interference

Leaders of three neighbouring African countries pledged on Thursday to
respect each other's territorial integrity and prevent arms shipments to
eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UN News reported.

In a communiqué issued after an ad hoc meeting in New York of
representatives of the Congo, Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda, the countries
vowed to "refrain from any action aimed at the partial or total disruption
of the stability and national unity" of each other.

The presidents of Burundi and DRC, the Rwandan prime minister, the second
deputy prime minister of Uganda, in the presence the chairman of the
African Union, Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, agreed to the statement.

They reached the accord following a meeting called by UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan. In his opening speech, Annan told the leaders: "All states in
the region must respect one another's sovereignty. All support for armed
groups must end.

"There must be no illegal exploitation of the natural resources of the
DRC. Transparent good-neighbourly relations must be established. There
must be respect for civilians and for the human rights of all citizens."
[Annan's full statement online at
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8371&Cr=democratic&Cr1=congo]

DRC: Government to send 3,035 police officers to Ituri

The national unity government of the DRC has decided to send 3,035 police
officers to Ituri District in the northeast of the country, Vice-President
Azarias Ruberwa said at a news conference on Saturday in the capital,
Kinshasa.

Ruberwa, leader of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie
(RCD-Goma) former rebel movement - now party to the Congo's power-sharing
government - is responsible for defence and security portfolios in his
capacity as one of four vice-presidents of the national transitional
government.

"To bring an end to the belief that Bunia is a protectorate [of the UN],
the government has decided to send a mixed police force comprising
elements of the forces of the former government, RCD-Goma, the MLC
[Mouvement de liberation du Congo] - the other main former rebel movement
- and the Mayi-Mayi [militias]," he said.

Ruberwa said the mixed force should be in place by December, and would
cost about US $3 million. He said that the government had already received
assurances from the World Bank and the African Development Bank that
financial support would be forthcoming. [Full story on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36739] [Also see DRC:
Government to battle increased crime in Kinshasa and other cities on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36736]

DRC: Kabila defines roles of his four vice-presidents

DRC President Joseph Kabila signed a series of decrees last weekend
regarding the operation of his two-year transitional government, including
how responsibilities would be divided among his four vice-presidents.

Azarias Ruberwa will handle political affairs, defence, security,
decentralisation and demobilisation of former combatants.

Jean-Pierre Bemba, head of MLC, will be responsible for the
economic/financial sector, while Arthur Z'Ahidi Ngoma, head of the unarmed
political opposition component of the power-sharing government, will be in
charge of the sociocultural sector.

Abdoulaye Yerodia Ndombasi, who hails from Kabila's former Kinshasa
government, will oversee reconstruction of national infrastructure.

Another decree signed by Kabila also defined specific responsibilities of
various ministries.

RWANDA: World Bank gives US $30 million for HIV/AIDS programme

Rwanda has received US $30 million from the World Bank to help it
implement its multisectoral programme of combating HIV/AIDS, an official
in the Rwanda National AIDS Control Programme told IRIN on Wednesday.

"The issue of AIDS is no longer a health issue only, it has to be
broadened to all sectors," Jean-Marie Manzi Kabarega, financial specialist
in Rwanda's Multi-Sectoral AIDS Project (MAP), said. "The biggest portion
of the funds will be spent on treatment and care."

Rwanda recently established MAP, which seeks to promote HIV/AIDS
awareness, improves access to treatment and the care given to those living
with HIV/AIDS. MAP also seeks to initiate research on the pandemic. [Full
story on http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36778]

RWANDA: Kigali evacuates Uganda crash victims

Rwandan government authorities have evacuated several people to Kigali who
were injured in a Ugandan road accident involving a bus and a UN truck,
Rwandan Police spokesman Damas Gatare told IRIN on Tuesday.

Two Rwandan military helicopters and two ambulances were used to evacuate
the seriously injured, he said in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. Doctors
from Uganda's Kabale Hospital coordinated the evacuation.

Five of the 20 people currently under intensive care in three major Kigali
hospitals are Burundians, he said.

Gatare said 47 people died, 33 of them on the spot, and 30 others
sustained serious injuries in Monday's accident that occurred some 5 km
into Uganda, from the Rwandan border. [Full story on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36762]

RWANDA: Short-term food security improving, says FEWS

Short-term food security is improving in Rwanda, mainly due to early
indications that the harvest of crops from swampy regions would be
satisfactory, and that there has been an early start of rainfall for the
next growing season (September 2003-January 2004), FEWS NET reported on
Wednesday.

Meanwhile in Bugesera, FEWS NET reported that the food crisis affecting
the region had not worsened in recent weeks.

"Encouragingly, the affected population believes that with a combination
of favourable rainfall, immediate support with acquiring beans and maize
seeds, and sustained food aid until December 2003, it will largely
overcome the current crisis by January 2004," FEWS NET said. "In other
areas of the country containing pockets of food insecurity, key informants
there too have stated their belief that the situation is improving."

FEWS NET, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, is a USAID-funded
activity that collaborates with international, national, and regional
partners to provide early warning and vulnerability information on
emerging or evolving food security issues. [Full story on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36784] [For further
information, go to http://www.fews.net/]

CAR:  FAO signs US $187,000 feasibility study deal for development centre

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Economic and
Monetary Community of Central African States, known as CEMAC, signed a US
$187,000 agreement on Wednesday for a feasibility study for a regional
rural development communication centre to be built in Bangui, capital of
the Central African Republic.

When completed, the centre would have branches in the CEMAC member states:
Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial
Guinea and Gabon.

The facility will train rural communicators and community animators on
appropriate pedagogy and methodology of transmitting information to
farmers, breeders and fishermen through rural radios or printed materials.

The centre, to be known as the Centre Communautaire Multimedia d'Appui au
Developpement Rural, would be managed by the Communaute Economique du
Bétail, de la Viande et des Ressources Halieutiques, a CEMAC agency in
Chad specialising in fishing and fish-breeding techniques. [Full story on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36810]

ROC: Work on country's largest hydroelectric dam begins

Construction of what will be the largest hydroelectric dam in the Republic
of Congo began on Tuesday in Imboulou, 215 km north of the capital,
Brazzaville, in the central department of Plateaux.

Once completed, the US $280-million Imboulou Dam, on the Lefini River 14
km from where it joins the Congo River, will provide an additional 120
megawatts of power.

Congo's three main power stations - the Djoue Dam, built in 1951;
Moukoukoulou Dam, built in 1978; and the Djeno gas factory - currently
provide some 110 megawatts, or 25 percent of the country's power needs.
[Full story on http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36814]

UGANDA: Concern over health of displaced people in east

The deteriorating health situation in areas occupied by eastern Uganda's
internally displaced people has reached crisis proportions, with malaria,
measles, diarrhoea and pneumonia killing a number of people every day,
according to camp residents and local health officials.

Most of those dying from preventable diseases are young children. Parents
in the camps are burying their young on a daily basis as attacks of
malaria rage through the Teso region's densely packed settlements. [Full
story on http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36799]

KENYA: HIV/AIDS - "People's Tribunal" demands access to life

"We need treatment, we need treatment," Kenyans shouted loud and clear on
Tuesday outside the venue of the 13th International Conference on AIDS and
Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa, being held from 21 to 26
September in Nairobi.

The "People's Tribunal", organised outside the Kenya International
Conference Centre, demanded that Kenyans be given access to antiretroviral
medicines to keep themselves alive.

At least 250,000 Kenyans are in urgent need of antiretrovirals (ARVs), but
only between 7,000 and 10,000 can afford them. The government has laid out
plans to treat only 9,000 others over the coming year. [Full story on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36765]

AFRICA: Far fewer small arms than prior estimates, says NGO

The number of small arms in sub-Sahara Africa is much lower than
previously estimated, according to a new report from the Small Arms Survey
presented on Tuesday in Nairobi, Kenya.

The report, "The Small Arms Survey 2003: Development Denied", also found a
downward trend in armed conflict in Africa that appeared to be reducing
the demand for small arms. It said that attempts to resolve long-running
wars in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Sudan
had contributed to this trend, as had a number of regional small arms
agreements.

A statement from the Small Arms Survey said their research showed that
there were "likely no more than 30 million small arms in sub-Saharan
Africa". It said the vast majority of these guns were in civilian hands
(79 percent), followed by the military (16 percent), police (3 percent)
and insurgents (2 percent). Previous estimates commonly put the total
figure at 100 million. [Full story on
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=36758] [For further
information, go to http://www.smallarmssurvey.org]



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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003


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