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Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 200
8 - 14 November 2003


CONTENTS:

DRC-Rwanda: MONUC to develop new deployment strategy
DRC: UN envoy calls for end to rights violations in east
DRC: UN troops kill militia commander, arrest nine
DRC-BURUNDI: Human rights situation remains bleak, UN reports
BURUNDI: Four civilians killed as FNL rebels shell Bujumbura
BURUNDI: WFP condemns killing of staff member
BURUNDI: Government launches new malaria medicine
RWANDA: UN tribunal official in first visit to Kigali
CAR: UN agencies warn of food crisis within four months
CAR: Former chief of Patasse's protection force arrested
TANZANIA: UN official in plea over refugee movement
TANZANIA: EU provides €114 million in budgetary support
UGANDA: UN to appeal for help for IDPs
UGANDA: Uganda told to stop child soldier recruitment by others
UGANDA: FAO gives US $386,000 to eastern region

ALSO SEE:

DRC-UGANDA: IRIN interview with OCHA chief Jan Egeland at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37810

TANZANIA: IRIN interview with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud
Lubbers at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37786

TANZANIA: Focus on drawing on traditional remedies to fight HIV/AIDS at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37749

DRC: MONUC to develop new deployment strategy

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as MONUC,
has designed a new "proactive deployment strategy" to move troops into
various provinces in the Congo to provide security for civilians and
intensify the disarmament of combatants, the UN special envoy to the
Congo, William Swing, said on Friday.

"We were deployed along the ceasefire line that came out of the Lusaka
accord. It no longer makes much sense to keep our forces along these lines
because there's no more fighting there," Swing said in the Rwandan
capital, Kigali, where he held talks with Rwandan President Paul Kagame on
peace in the Great Lakes region.

He told reporters that MONUC troops would now concentrate in the war-torn
district of Ituri and the city of Kisangani, both in Orientale Province;
Maniema Province; and parts of the Kivus such as the lakeside city of
Uvira. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37886]

DRC: UN envoy calls for end to rights violations in east

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief
Coordinator Jan Egeland has called upon the DRC government to make greater
efforts to end massive human rights violations in eastern regions of the
country.

"I am convinced that much more could be done in these places, and that
much more needs to be done, although I do not doubt that the government
supports the respect of human rights," he said on Wednesday at a news
conference in the capital, Kinshasa.

"We need to see greater action in eastern Congo, especially in areas where
we have had very worrying reports of sexual assault against women, as well
as the killing and extortion of civilians," he added. "This has to end, we
must not have a culture of impunity."

He was speaking after a meeting with Azarias Ruberwa, one of four
vice-presidents of the country's two-year transitional government. Egeland
arrived in Kinshasa on Wednesday to begin a three-day tour of the capital
and eastern regions of the country. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37844]

DRC: UN troops kill militia commander, arrest nine

A commander of the Parti pour l'Unite, la Solidarite et l'Integrite du
Congo (PUSIC) was shot dead and nine militiamen arrested when the group
opened fire on a UN military patrol on 8 November in Ituri District of the
DRC, Leocadio Salmeron, a spokesman for the UN Mission in the DRC, known
as MONUC, told IRIN.

He said another militiaman was wounded during the shooting that occurred
in Shari, eight km northwest of the town of Bunia, which is considered a
PUSIC stronghold. He named the dead PUSIC commander as "Col" Claude Aboli.

MONUC would hold the arrested militiamen for two or three days before
handing them over to the local authorities, he added. No UN soldier was
wounded in the shooting.

Sporadic militia fighting continues across Ituri, despite the deployment
of MONUC troops outside Bunia, the main town in the district. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37754]

DRC-BURUNDI: Human rights situation remains bleak, UN reports

Women and children continue to bear the brunt of human rights violations
in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where, despite
some progress towards peace, rape is still being used as a weapon of war,
and children are still being recruited to fight these wars, according to
two new UN reports.

The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burundi, Marie-Therese
Keita-Bocoum, said she had found no improvement in the situation of
economic, social and cultural rights during the months of March through
August, UN News reported. She urged the international community to
encourage humanitarian organisations to support the protection and
promotion of human rights, especially those of women and the Batwa people,
often referred to as pygmies, who are widely discriminated against in the
region.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring DRC, genocide, crimes against humanity and war
crimes serve to "create a frightening picture of one of the most serious
human rights situations in the world", according to the UN special
rapporteur on human rights in the DRC, Iulia Motoc. She highlighted the
country's northeastern Ituri District as a source of particular concern,
where she warned that "without effective intervention by the international
community, Ituri will be turned into a bloodbath", as quoted by UN News.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37788]

BURUNDI: Four civilians killed as FNL rebels shell Bujumbura

Four civilians were killed and five wounded, while a rocket damaged the
Chinese ambassador's home when the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL)
rebels loyal to Agathon Rwasa shelled the capital, Bujumbura, on 9
November, the mayor of Bujumbura told IRIN.

"FNL rebels, who were armed with rockets and grenades, attacked the city's
northern and eastern suburbs last night, killing four people, injuring
five others and burning houses," Pontien Niyongabo, the mayor, said on
Monday.

He said the dead were a man, a woman and two boys. They died in separate
incidents when the rebels struck Kamenge zone, in the north of the city.
Niyongabo said the man died and five people were wounded when the rebels
launched rockets into the eastern residential suburb of Kiriri, which also
damaged the home of the Chinese ambassador. Another rocket fell on the
home of the US military attache, damaging a vehicle.

FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana told IRIN on Monday that since the signing
of a power sharing agreement between the government and the CNDD-FDD on 8
October, the army and CNDD-FDD had decided to chase the FNL out of
Bujumbura Rural.

"We have urged diplomats to tell them to stop this, but in vain. So, as we
do not have other ways of expression, we decided to shell the capital,
maybe now people will understand us," he said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37764]

On Wednesday, Ignace Ntawembarira, the governor of Bujumbura Rural
Province, told IRIN that about 12,000 civilians had fled their homes in
his province following the latest fighting between the army and Rwasa's
FNL. This brings to at least 60,000 the number of people displaced since
fighting in September between the FNL and the army, and between the FNL
and the country's largest rebel movement, the Conseil national pour la
defense de la democratie-Forces nationales pour la defense de la
democratie faction led by Pierre Nkurunziza. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37818]

BURUNDI: WFP condemns killing of staff member

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has condemned the killing of a staff
member in northern Burundi on 7 November. Unknown armed men shot the WFP
employee, Philbert Nsengiyumva, dead at close range at 11 p.m. at his home
in Ngozi town, WFP reported on Tuesday.

WFP expressed regret that "such a violent act should be perpetrated
against a person engaged in providing urgently needed humanitarian
assistance in Burundi".

"The security of our staff is paramount," Zlatan Milisic, WFP's country
director for Burundi, said. "Such brutality cannot be tolerated,
especially because it might compromise our ability to carry out the
humanitarian work which is so necessary here."

WFP said it had conveyed its condolences to the family of Nsengiyumva, a
Burundian national who joined WFP as a driver in March 2001, and who
leaves behind a wife and seven children. It said Burundian police were
investigating the killing.

BURUNDI: Government launches new malaria medicine

The government of Burundi has launched a new malaria treatment, a
combination therapy of artesunate and amodiaquine. "The new medicine will
be available in all public hospitals and health centres," Dr Jean Kamana,
the health minister, said during the official launch in Bujumbura on
Monday.

"We will do whatever possible to have sufficient stocks so that private
hospitals and pharmacies should get their supplies from our stock," he
said.

He added that the new therapy was being introduced after studies showed
that chloroquine and fansidar had failed to cure more than 25 percent of
patients.

He added that the government would avail the new drugs at affordable
prices because they were expensive in private pharmacies. Artesunate costs
between 6,000 and 7,000 francs (US $6 and $7), and amodiaquine costs a
similar amount, he said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37795]

RWANDA: UN tribunal official in first visit to Kigali

The new prosecutor for the UN International Criminal Tribunal (ICTR) for
Rwanda, Hassan Jallow, arrived in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, on Monday
for a week-long visit during which he will try to mend relations with the
government, which has criticised the UN court as slow and inefficient.

"Jallow is in Rwanda on a courtesy visit on the country's leadership and
victims of the genocide," Zouleka Godji, an ICTR official, told IRIN on
Tuesday.

In August, the UN Security Council appointed Jallow, a Gambian, to the UN
court based in Arusha, Tanzania. The tribunal was established in 1995 to
try the alleged perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which claimed
at least 800,000 lives.

Rwandan political analysts described Jallow's visit as a significant step
in mending relations between the tribunal and the government.

"It looks like he wants to do away with all the trouble that has been
existing between government and the tribunal," Emmanuel Kamasa, a
political analyst in Kigali, told IRIN on Tuesday. "I think he does not
want to be a stranger to the victims of genocide like his predecessor
was." [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37789]

CAR: UN agencies warn of food crisis within four months

UN agencies active in the Central African Republic (CAR) have warned that
the country could experience a severe food crisis within the next four
months. In an effort to draw greater attention of the media and
international donors, representatives of seven UN agencies held a news
conference on Monday in Kinshasa.

"The Central African Republic could experience an acute food crisis by
February or March if no action is taken," Samuel Nana-Sinkam, the UN Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative in the CAR, told
reporters.

In order to meet anticipated needs, the UN agencies have launched a joint
appeal for US $19.2 million. Of this total, $3.6 million would be for the
health sector; $7.7 million would be used to help reinvigorate the economy
and ensure food security; $2.1 million would be for the education sector;
$1.7 million would be used to improve civilian security; and $3 million
would go towards community rehabilitation projects.

Furthermore, $690,000 would be needed to help provide security for
humanitarian operations, while $260,000 would be used to help build
national crisis response capacities and coordination. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37814]

CAR: Former chief of Patasse's protection force arrested

Gendarmes have arrested Gen Ferdinand Bombayeke, the former commander of
ousted President Ange-Felix Patasse's protection forces, according to a
government official. "He was presented to the prosecutor after his
arrest," David Gamou, a justice ministry spokesman, told IRIN on Thursday.

Gamou said allegations against Bombayeke had not yet been made public.
Bombayeke, an air force general, had been in the French embassy in the
capital, Bangui, since 15 March when Francois Bozize seized power from
Patasse. He was arrested as he left the embassy for his home, which was
looted after Bozize's coup.

Bombayeke, together with several officials of Patasse's administration,
sought refuge in the embassy following the coup. Most of these people
returned to their homes weeks later. Some left the country, like former
Prime Minister Martin Ziguele, who went to France in late May. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37840]

Meanwhile, a CAR official told IRIN on Wednesday, that the government had
disbanded a military intelligence unit in the presidential security
services because of reported human rights violations.

"The government has decided to do away with the institution that has had
many CAR citizens suffer for years," Thierry Maleyombo, the government's
high commissioner for human rights, said. The unit has been accused of
committing torture, rape and extortion. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37842]

TANZANIA: UN official in plea over refugee movement

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers has appealed to the
government of Tanzania to continue its tradition of hospitality to
refugees by reviewing its new policy restricting their movements.

"The last chapter in the history of Burundian refugees in Tanzania should
not be blemished by stricter measures that have been imposed on refugees
living in camps in western Tanzania," Lubbers was quoted on Monday as
telling Tanzanian Foreign Minister Jakaya Kikwete during a meeting in Dar
es Salaam.

The agency reported that Lubbers, who is on a four-nation visit to Africa,
also appealed to the Tanzanian government to consider reinstating previous
practices that allowed refugee movement within a four-kilometre radius of
the camps so that "together we can be proud of the refugee programme".

Lubbers was speaking to Kikwete about new government measures restricting
the movement of at least 480,000 Burundian and Congolese refugees living
in 12 camps along Tanzania's western border, the UN agency reported. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37773]

TANZANIA: EU provides €114 million in budgetary support

The EU and the Tanzanian government signed on Tuesday an agreement under
which the EU will provide €114 million (US $131 million) in budgetary
support for the government's work in basic education, primary health,
rural roads, water, HIV/AIDS, agriculture and the judiciary over the next
two years.

The signing of the agreement marked a new stage of EU aid to Tanzania,
which in 2003 will total €140 million, more than any other country in
Africa.

"The [government's] current Poverty Reduction Strategy was adopted in 2000
and provides for increased funding in seven priority sectors which
directly contribute to poverty reduction and impact greatly on the lives
of the poor," the EU said. "The purpose of the new EU programme is to
increase the government's capacity to undertake key expenditure in these
areas," it added.

The permanent secretary in the finance ministry, Peniel Lyimo, said
education was an area the government had tackled. Since launching its
universal primary education initiative in 2001, he said, enrolment targets
had been surpassed. On the other hand, despite making progress in
immunisation campaigns, not enough progress was being made in the
development of health care, due to the impact of HIV/AIDS, he said. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37785]

UGANDA: UN to appeal for help for IDPs

An appeal for assistance for hundreds of thousands of people affected by
conflict in northern Uganda is to be launched later in November, UN
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland said on
Tuesday.

Speaking in Nairobi following a two-day visit to northern Uganda, he said
the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)
planned to launch the appeal on 19 November, when it would urge donors to
increase funding for humanitarian aid.

"This is not a war in which the population is affected by the collateral
damage. It is a war which is directed against the civilian population and
children," he said. "How can we live with a situation where nearly 1,000
children are being abducted every month to become killing machines?"

Egeland, who described the situation in northern Uganda as the "world's
biggest, neglected, ignored" humanitarian crisis, also lamented the lack
of humanitarian access for the displaced population, which, he said, had
reached 1.3 million. He pledged to help increase the humanitarian presence
of UNOCHA and other UN agencies in the region. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37790]

UGANDA: Kampala told to stop child soldier recruitment by others

Uganda is not actively recruiting child soldiers into the army, but
neither is it trying hard enough to stop them being recruited, a senior
officer with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.

"There isn't in Uganda a deliberate policy to recruit children. No one is
questioning the sincerity of the Ugandan government. But there are big
problems in the implementation [of safeguards]," Mads Oyen, the UNICEF
child protection officer for Uganda, told IRIN on Wednesday.

Oyen was speaking after the release of a UN Secretary-General's report on
children and armed conflict, which named Uganda as one of the countries
violating the Geneva Convention by recruiting child soldiers.

The UN report, internally distributed on 30 October, accused both the
Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) and allied Local Defence Units of
"recruiting and using children".

The UN said, "UPDF has also re-recruited children who have escaped or been
rescued from the LRA [Lord's Resistance Army rebel group]." [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37836]

UGANDA: FAO gives US $386,000 to eastern region

The FAO has released a grant of $386,000 to supply agricultural inputs to
vulnerable families living in the troubled eastern districts of Kapchorwa,
Katakwi, and Lira, according to the FAO.

The money will be used to buy farm implements and seeds to be distributed
to some 22,000-target households; all headed by children, widowed or
single mothers, the elderly or the disabled. In a statement issued on
Wednesday, the FAO said it had signed a "technical cooperation agreement"
with the Ugandan government to use the money to buy and distribute the
items.

"We are working closely with the office of the prime minister," Ajmal
Qureshi, the FAO representative, told IRIN. "The aim is to give those
displaced a means of standing on their own feet as a supplement to the
relief they already receive from WFP."

FAO has committed to supply some 14,000 pangas - large, heavy knives used
for cutting vegetation - and 22,000 hand hoes to cultivate an estimated
9,750 ha. The organisation has also pledged to deliver 70 mt of maize
seeds, 140 mt of a variety of bean seeds, 40 mt of cowpea seeds and 24 mt
of sorghum seeds to be distributed to the targeted households. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37838]


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


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