U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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 201
15 - 21 November 2003


CONTENTS:

GREAT LAKES: US $121.29 million sought for regional aid in 2004
ROC: Government, WHO confirm Ebola outbreak
ROC: China announces $5.7 million grant for reconstruction
BURUNDI: Government, rebel group sign final peace pact
BURUNDI: Agriculture, health main target sectors of UN funds appeal
DRC: UN, NGOs need $83.7 million to feed the vulnerable
DRC: Foreign rebel fighters prepare for repatriation
RWANDA: Kagame welcomes return of Hutu rebel
RWANDA: UN agency lauds women's involvement in government
CAR: Appeal focuses on health, food security
CAR: Former President David Dacko, 73, dies
UGANDA: UN launches appeal for "one of the world's worst crises"
UGANDA: Rebels kill 12 in Lira District
UGANDA: Minister says more defence spending will protect aid workers
TANZANIA: UN appeals for $38.7 million for refugees and host population

ALSO: SEE:

TANZANIA: Focus on the return of Somali Bantus at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37866]

GREAT LAKES: US $121.29 million sought for regional aid in 2004

Hoping to seize current momentum towards peace in the Great Lakes region
of central Africa, humanitarian agencies have called on international
donors to provide $121.29 million for five main areas of intervention:
protection of children's rights; prevention of sexual violence; assistance
for internally displaced persons; prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS;
and advocating for adherence to humanitarian principles in all aspects of
conflict resolution, including disarmament, demobilisation and
reintegration.

Speaking at the start of a round-table discussion to mark the launch of
the Great Lakes Region and Central Africa 2004 Appeal, Valerie Julliand,
head of the regional support bureau for central and east Africa of the UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that the
total $3 billion sought to help 45 million people in 21 countries through
the inter-agency consolidated appeal process was only one-tenth of the
amount the international community had pledged for assistance to Iraq -
"not to take anything away from that crisis". [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37971]

ROC: Government, WHO confirm Ebola outbreak

The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Congo (ROC), together with the
World Health Organisation (WHO), on 14 November confirmed that a new
outbreak of acute haemorrhagic fever syndrome in the northwestern
department of Cuvette Ouest was, in fact, the Ebola virus.

"Findings of blood-sample analyses were officially communicated to us on
Friday [14 November] by the World Health Organisation," ROC Health
Minister Dr Alain Moka told IRIN on 15 November.

The WHO office in the ROC capital, Brazzaville, said the current outbreak
had originated in the village of Mbanza, some 15 km from Mbomo, when a
family consumed a dead wild boar they had found in the forest, with the
first death occurring on 16 October. It said that although the epidemic
was so far confined to Mbomo District, there was a "serious risk" of the
disease spreading to the nearby districts of Kelle and Itoumbi.

By 21 November, a total of 24 cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever, including
12 deaths, in the villages of Mbomo (19 cases, nine deaths) and Mbanza
(five cases, three deaths) in Mbomo District, in the country's
northwestern Cuvette Ouest Department, were reported by the Ministry of
Health and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The ROC authorities said that whereas they had not yet imposed a
quarantine for the current outbreak, population movements in the affected
region were being limited. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37912] By Tuesday, the number
of confirmed cases had risen to 18, the WHO reported from Brazzaville.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37978]

ROC: China announces $5.7 million grant for reconstruction

China has announced a grant of three billion francs CFA ($5.7 million) to
the Republic of Congo for the rebuilding of the country's infrastructure,
damaged during repeated civil wars during the past decade, the Congolese
government reported on Thursday from the capital, Brazzaville.

The contribution follows another of 1.5 billion francs CFA ($2.8 million)
in January which supported construction of the Alphonse Massamba-Debat
athletics centre, a radio station in Djoue, the radio and television
centre of PK 13, and the foreign affairs building, the Congolese
government reported.

BURUNDI: Government, rebel group sign final peace pact

The transitional national government of Burundi and the Conseil national
pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie
rebel group led by Pierre Nkurunziza finalised peace negotiations on 16
November and signed an agreement endorsing political, defence and security
power-sharing.

At the same time, the 20th summit of the Great Lakes regional peace
initiative on Burundi gave the Forces nationales de liberation rebel
faction led by Agathon Rwasa three months to enter negotiations with the
government or face the consequences of regional action. The summit also
appealed to the international community to support the cash-strapped peace
initiative.

In a statement issued at the end of the two-day summit, the region's
leaders also requested that the UN consider sending peacekeepers to
Burundi given the "qualitative change that has taken place following the
signing of the Pretoria Protocols, which have created a total condition of
peace and stability in over 95 percent of the territory in Burundi". [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37900]

BURUNDI: Agriculture, health main target sectors of UN funds appeal

Agriculture and health are the sectors to receive most of the $71.1
million the UN and NGO partners are requesting for Burundi in their
Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP) for 2004.

While acknowledging that Burundians live in some of the worst conditions
in the world, the UN, which launched the appeal globally on Tuesday in New
York, said it had identified food security, protection, access to basic
services and emergency response as the means "to provide life-sustaining
humanitarian assistance to the Burundian people".

The UN said of the funding requirements for Burundi during 2004, $26.3
million would be required for health and $11.9 million for agriculture.
Education would require $7.4 million; multi-sector requirements $6.7
million and protection, human rights and the rule of law would require
$5.8 million. Some $5.8 million would be required for water and
sanitation. The other sectors targeted for funding in 2004 comprise family
shelter and non-food items - $3 million; coordination and support services
- $3 million; and security - $1.07 million. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37958]

DRC: UN, NGOs need $83.7 million to feed the vulnerable

UN agencies and partner NGOs will require $83.7 million in 2004 to feed
vulnerable populations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),
according to the 2004 CAP for the country, launched by the UN. This amount
would come from a total of $187.09 million required in 2004 to provide
protection and aid to populations in need.

The UN reported that despite turning "a positive page in their political
history" in 2003, the Congolese continued to suffer intensely from over
five years of war that had left 3.3 million people dead and wreaked
destruction throughout the vast central African nation.

As a result of continued violence and displacement, especially in eastern
DRC, the UN and NGO partners would require $25.3 million in 2004 to
support the health sector, $11.5 million for agriculture, $8.8 million for
coordination and support services, and $8.2 million for economic recovery
and infrastructure. Some $23.1 million would be required for multi-sector
needs and protection. Human rights and the rule of law would require $9.5
million.[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37991]

DRC: Foreign rebel fighters prepare for repatriation

Hundreds of foreign rebels and their families in the DRC are being
processed for voluntary repatriation, according to Vital Kamerhe, the
government spokesman.

"These folks have agreed to voluntary repatriation and are in transit
under the supervision of the national military," he told reporters in the
capital, Kinshasa, on Monday.

The second in charge of the Department of Disarmament, Demobilisation and
Reintegration of the UN Mission in the DRC, Col Jean-Pierre Boutroy, said
most of the rebels were Ugandan, but there were also Burundians, Rwandans
and Sudanese who were members of a so-called Sierra Battalion. The
Rwandans included members of the Interahamwe, Hutu militias who were
largely responsible for that country's 1994 genocide. He said the group
(made up of 361 fighters, 137 women and 247 children) arrived in Kikwit,
400 km southeast of Kinshasa, on Wednesday by boat. They had come from
Ilebo, Kasai Occidental Province, where they had been fighting for four
years.

"These people have come with their weapons, their families and their
cattle. They are to be taken to the Kitona Military Base, in Bas Congo
Province, where they will be disarmed and demobilised," he said. [Also
see: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37944]

RWANDA: Kagame welcomes return of Hutu rebel

The return on 15 November of Rwandan Hutu rebels from the DRC would help
expedite the repatriation of more rebels remaining in the jungles there,
President Paul Kagame said on Tuesday.

"We are going to treat them in a manner that will encourage others to
come," he said after meeting the US ambassador at large for war crimes,
Pierre-Richard Prosper, in the capital, Kigali.

Kagame said the government would explore ways of integrating the rebels
into Rwandan society. "The fact that they made this decision is important
and sets an example for others to follow," he told reporters.

Rebel commander Paul Rwarakabije, who was with 103 fighters, surrendered
to the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan government when he arrived from the DRC.
Rwarakabije's Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda, has been based in
eastern DRC for nine years. It was established following the flight of
Hutu extremists after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37944]

RWANDA: UN agency lauds women's involvement in government

With almost half the parliamentarians in Rwanda being women, the country
is a world leader in gender balance in political representation and
decision-making, a senior UN official said.

"What Rwanda has achieved is by any measure anywhere in the world
remarkable and noteworthy, especially if one takes into account this
country's recent political history and the development challenges that it
faces," Macharia Kamau, the resident representative of the UN Development
Programme (UNDP), said.

Women won 45 percent of the seats in parliamentary elections held in
September. Only the Swedish legislature matches this proportion, according
to the UNDP Human Development Report 2003.

In a statement, the UNDP quoted Kamau as saying that Rwanda was now set to
achieve key Millennium Development Goals, "including Goal 3, which calls
for countries to promote gender equality and empower women".

Kamau said, "This is indeed testament to a people and a leadership
determined to put in place democratic foundations that will ensure that
this nation maximises the potential of its people, irrespective of
gender." [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37934]

CAR: Appeal focuses on health, food security

Focusing mainly on people affected by a political-military crisis in the
Central African Republic since October 2002, the UN and partner NGOs are
seeking $7.8 million to make health and food provisions for the country in
the coming year.

"Persistent insecurity is one of the main barriers to the resumption of
normal life, and economic and social development," the UN said when it
launched the annual global CAP in New York.

The country, especially the north, experienced months of instability from
October 2002 to March 2003 when former army chief of staff Francois Bozize
launched a rebellion against President Ange-Felix Patasse. Fighting ended
on 15 March when Bozize ousted Patasse, but insecurity persisted across
the country.

Of the $16.8 million required in 2004 for all sectors of humanitarian aid,
$3.9 million would be used to improve food security, $3.8 million would go
to health and $2.3 million for agriculture. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37966]

CAR: Former President David Dacko, 73, dies

Former Central African Republic President David Dacko died on Thursday in
the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, where he had been receiving medical
treatment, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported. Dacko, 73, was flown
to Cameroon in early November, after his health deteriorated. He was
asthmatic. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38030]
 
UGANDA: UN launches appeal for "one of the world's worst crises"

The UN on Wednesday launched an appeal for nearly $128 million for
humanitarian aid to help over a million Ugandans displaced by insecurity
plaguing more than half the countryside.

At the launch in the capital, Kampala, OCHA urged donors to give $127.9
million to help expand the UN's presence in troubled districts.

The money will also be used to provide for increases in food aid,
medicines, improved access to water and sanitation, educational and
psychosocial support services, including the rehabilitation of former
child soldiers with the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

A statement issued in Kampala on behalf of the appeal noted that the
"problem of internal displacement in Uganda has been going on for the last
17 years and it continues to worsen both in scope and intensity, making
Uganda Africa's fourth-largest displaced population after Sudan, Angola
and DR Congo". Officials attending the meeting reiterated recent comments
by OCHA boss Jan Egeland, who described Uganda as "one of the world's
worst forgotten crises". [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37965]

UGANDA: Rebels kill 12 in Lira District

LRA rebels bludgeoned to death 12 people in the northern Lira District on
Tuesday, including nine abducted children they were moving with, the army
said.

The attacks follow intense LRA operations in Lira last week in which up to
100 people were reported to have been killed, forcing some 300,000 to flee
their homes.

"This latest attack happened about 10 km from Lira town towards Kitgum,"
Maj Shaban Bantariza, the army spokesman, told IRIN. "They came and killed
three local youths and then turned their weapons on the nine abductees
they had captive. All were killed by bashing them to death."

Bantariza said the army did not have enough local defence forces to
prevent all the attacks in Lira. "We have enough mobile forces, but we
need more zonal forces to counteract the threat," he said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37940]

However, the army spokesman for Lira and Kitgum districts, Chris Magezi,
told IRIN on Thursday that the group involved in the attack had since
split into smaller groups.

"We ambushed [one of] them at a place called Akura, north of Lira town. We
killed one and captured one, forcing the others to flee. We also recovered
25 abductees."

Magezi said the army had hit another group in Pader, north of Lira, which
had broken away after the first ambush. "We killed two LRA and captured
one gun and six magazines," he told IRIN. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38001]

UGANDA: Minister says more defence spending will protect aid workers

The first deputy premier and minister for disaster preparedness, Moses
Ali, said on Wednesday that defence had to be strengthened to provide
security for humanitarian workers.

Speaking at the launch of the UN's humanitarian appeal to donors in
Kampala, he said there was some "confusion" over Uganda's needs.

"The donors say to us 'you must reduce the defence budget' and at the same
time you say you want military escorts for your aid workers and that we
are a weak government because we cannot protect our people from the
rebels," he said. "What is this confusion? You are traumatising us."

Donors have said Uganda must not be permitted to spend more than 2 percent
of its GDP on defence. But Ugandan government officials, including
President Yoweri Museveni, have complained repeatedly that the restriction
is too draconian for a country suffering from an insurgency.

"We have tried to always provide escorts for the humanitarian agencies,"
Ali said. "But some understandably do not want soldiers sitting in their
trucks, which are supposed to be neutral. In that case, we are asking for
more money to buy more military trucks so that we can escort them safely."

TANZANIA: UN appeals for $38.7 million for refugees and host population

The UN appealed on Wednesday for $38.7 million for its 2004 operations to
look after refugees and promote development in western Tanzania.

"The 2004 CAP makes a strong appeal to donors to ensure that adequate
humanitarian assistance in order to meet international minimum standards,
reduce future vulnerability and simultaneously promote conditions leading
to sustainable development in western Tanzania," the UN said in its 2004
CAP for Tanzania.

It highlighted the continued presence of at least 470,000 refugees from
Burundi and the DRC and the possibility of their imminent return. A plea
was also made for development funds to ease the pressure the refugees'
presence has, in the last decade, put on local resources and the 1.9
million Tanzanians living in refugee-affected areas. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37973]


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


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