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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 234
3 - 9 July 2004


CONTENTS:

GREAT LAKES: DRC-based Rwandan militiamen enter Burundi
DRC: Civilians displaced in renewed fighting in Ituri
BURUNDI: UN mission deploys troops to Bujumbura Rural
BURUNDI: Plea to international community over electoral process
RWANDA: Fire destroys one-third of Akagera National Park
RWANDA: Kigali integrates four ex-rebel commanders into national army
CAR: New treatment for sleeping sickness
UGANDA: LRA kills over 100 villagers in southern Sudan
KENYA: Political activists plan more rallies after Nairobi riots
KENYA: Donors urge government to intensify fight against corruption
KENYA: President appeals for food aid


ALSO SEE:

DRC: Focus on peace train arriving in Maniema at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42001

UGANDA: Parliament decries situation in troubled north at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42045


GREAT LAKES: DRC-based Rwandan militiamen enter Burundi

At least 100 Rwandan Hutu Interahamwe militiamen entered Burundi's
northwestern province of Cibitoke on Monday from the Democratic Republic
of the Congo (DRC), according to a local official. The governor of
Cibitoke, Antoine Buzuguri, told IRIN on Tuesday that the militiamen had
entered the country through the commune of Rugombo, using Burundian
civilians as porters. He said the militiamen were believed to be heading
for the Kibira Forest. "They were seen in Bukinanyana yesterday on their
way to Kibira," he added.

A Burundian army spokesman, Cdt Adolphe Manirakiza, told reporters on
Tuesday in the capital, Bujumbura, that the exact number of the militiamen
had not been established as they were reported to have entered the country
in small groups. He estimated that they could be 150 in total. "Government
forces are tracking them down since yesterday in the commune of
Bukinanyana, and we have enough forces to dismantle those negative
forces," he said.

Monday's entry of the militiamen from the DRC into Burundi is not
unprecedented. In April, 150 militia were sighted in Kibira forest, an
areas they have operated from to destabilise the province of Cibitoke,
particularly the communes of Bukinanyana and Mabayi, which adjoin the
forest. Buzuguri said he believed that Monday's groups were the same as
those seen in April. He said they could be returning from the DRC where
they had gone to get supplies of weapons and ammunition. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42026]


DRC: Civilians displaced in renewed fighting in Ituri

Civilians in Ituri, northeastern DRC, have been displaced following
renewed fighting between armed groups in the district, an official of the
UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, told IRIN on Monday. "There was
still fighting in the morning [Monday] between two armed groups, les
Forces armees populaires du Congo and le Front des nationalistes
integrationnistes, in the village of Djegu, some 35 km east of Mahagi,"
Rachel Eklou, the MONUC spokeswoman, said in Bunia, the main town in
Ituri, where the mission has set up a permanent base.

The fighting affected the villages of Aru, Rona, Ngote and Ndrele, despite
the signing on 14 May of an "engagement act" between seven militia groups
in Ituri to end all hostilities. Eklou said MONUC initially dispatched a
civilian verification team to confirm Monday's fighting. A military
mission was later deployed to the scene.

Eklou said many civilians had fled towards the border with Uganda, noting
that the village of Ngote was entirely deserted as its inhabitants had
taken refuge in Uganda. On Tuesday, she reported that calm had been
restored following a MONUC-brokered ceasefire agreement signed on Monday
night between the two militia groups.

[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42035]
[See also: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42107]


BURUNDI: UN mission deploys troops to Bujumbura Rural

The newly established UN Mission in Burundi, known by its French acronym
ONUB, has deployed some 300 troops in the commune of Kabezi in the western
province of Bujumbura Rural, where fighting has displaced thousands of
civilians, an ONUB official said on Tuesday. ONUB Spokesman Saiki Kemal
said the UN troops had started patrolling the commune last week, and made
contact with local administrative officials and the gendarmerie, as well
as the civilian population.

Up to 40,000 civilians have been displaced, and many face starvation
following three months of fighting between the army and Forces nationales
de liberation (FNL) rebels loyal to Agathon Rwasa. Rwasa's FNL is the only
rebel group in the country that has refused to enter into ceasefire
negotiations with the transitional government. Three other former rebel
movements have signed agreements with the government and are participating
in the transition.

Kemal said the UN troops were patrolling the commune during daytime,
returning to the capital, Bujumbura, in the evening. He did not indicate
when the troops would set up a permanent base in the area. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42037]


BURUNDI: Plea to international community over electoral process

The International Crisis Group (ICG) has appealed to the international
community for intervention to set Burundi's electoral process on track in
order to safeguard the country's peace as it approaches the end of a
three-year transitional period.

In its latest report, entitled "End of the Transition in Burundi: The Home
Stretch", issued on Monday, ICG said the considerable progress the country
had made in consolidating its transition to democracy risked ending in a
"dangerous political vacuum if strong commitments are not made immediately
to the constitution and the electoral process" outlined in the Peace and
Reconciliation Accord signed in Arusha, Tanzania, in August 2000.

ICG said Burundi's transitional process was in danger of being compromised
if the country's political leaders failed to live up to the commitments
they made in the Arusha accord. "Burundi has become much safer, and for
the first time in more then a decade, the country could be headed towards
a genuine end to conflict," Stephen Ellis, the director of ICG's Africa
programme, was quoted as saying. "The international community has to stay
engaged, and Burundi's political leaders must also live up to their Arusha
commitments by adopting a constitution. Lack of political now could cause
the whole transition process to unravel," he warned. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42032]


RWANDA: Fire destroys one-third of Akagera National Park

One-third of Rwanda's Kagera National Park has been destroyed by wild
fires that broke out four days ago, an official of the country's wildlife
agency told IRIN on Wednesday. "Fortunately, the fire is now under
control. We are doing everything possible to stop it before the end of
today," Fidel Ruzinganekwe, the executive director of the Rwanda Wildlife
Agency, told IRIN on Wednesday.

He attributed the cause of the fires to the dry season and poachers, who,
after killing wild animals, roast them within the park. Ruzinganekwe said
the agency had sought support from local residents, the police and the
army in extinguishing the fire. Army helicopters were being used to spray
the burning savannah vegetation with water, he added.

Meanwhile, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reported this week that over the
last two months, 1,500 ha of prime mountain gorilla habitat had been
cleared by illegal settlers in Rwanda's Virunga National Park, a World
Heritage Site in northwestern Rwanda, according to evidence uncovered by
the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, one of WWF's
partners. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42062]


RWANDA: Kigali integrates four ex-rebel commanders into national army

The Rwandan government has integrated four former rebel commanders into
the Rwanda Defence Force, the Rwandan news agency, RNA, reported on
Tuesday. They are: Maj-Gen Paul Rwarakabije, Col Jerome Ngendahimana,
Lt-Col Evariste Murenzi and Thadee Nzeyimana, all former members of the
former Rwandan armed forces who, until recently, had been based in the
DRC. They had fled to the DRC after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which
claimed lives of at least 937,000 people, according to Rwandan government
figures.

RNA reported that the integration of the former rebels into the army was
intended to foster reconciliation between Hutu and Tutsi Rwandans.

The RNA also reported that the government had promoted Maj-Gen James
Kabarebe, the chief of the general staff, and Maj-Gen Marcel Gatsinzi, the
minister of defence, to full generals. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42052]


CAR: New treatment for sleeping sickness

Health authorities have introduced a new treatment for trypanosomiasis,
also known as sleeping sickness, in the eastern province of Haut Mbomou in
the Central African Republic (CAR), an official told IRIN on 3 July.

Dr Carlos Recio, the coordinator of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the
CAR, said the new drug had been introduced after a significant percentage
of patients developed resistance to Melarsoprol, the drug that had
previously been used.

The new drug, Eflornithine, which patients are receiving free of charge,
was introduced under an initiative of MSF, the UN World Health
Organisation (WHO) and the CAR health ministry through its national
anti-trypanosomiasis programme. Recio said MSF had been supporting the
activities of the national programme in Haut Mbomou, which has had the
highest prevalence rate of 1.8 percent since 2001. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41997]


UGANDA: LRA kills over 100 villagers in southern Sudan

More than 100 people were recently killed in southern Sudan by Ugandan
rebels belonging to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in raids on villages
around the towns of Torit and Juba, a relief worker in the area said. "I
have been in southern Sudan, and the reports we got indicate that the LRA
attacked people in the villages and in the fields. They [the LRA] killed
many of them," the relief worker told IRIN.

Saying the dead numbered more than 100, he added: "The villages are
situated between Torit and Juba, [and] are remote and inaccessible,
because some are either in areas controlled by the SPLM/A [Sudan People's
Liberation Movement/Army] or the government forces."

The Equatoria Defence Forces, a local militia group allied to the SPLM/A,
said in a statement issued on Wednesday that 122 had been killed. It said
the LRA, which has bases in southern Sudan, had killed the villagers
between 25 June and 27 June. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42073]


KENYA: Political activists plan more rallies after Nairobi riots

Political activists demanding a quick enactment of Kenya's new draft
constitution said on Monday that the police had authorised them to hold
future rallies, following weekend riots in the capital, Nairobi, when
crowds clashed with police. Hundreds of demonstrators who defied a
government a ban on a rally convened by a lobby group called Katiba
(Swahili for constitution) Watch to demand the enactment of the
controversial new constitution clashed with police, sparking riots in the
city that left dozens of people injured and several shops looted. Police
arrested many other people during the Saturday fracas.

Police, some on horseback, beat the youthful demonstrators with batons and
used tear gas and water cannons to prevent them from gathering at Uhuru
Park in central Nairobi, where they were to have been addressed by
activists and politicians.

"We have basically come to a truce. We can have our rallies and take
responsibility for whatever will happen," Leslie Mwachiro, the chairman of
Katiba Watch, told reporters after meeting Nairobi Provincial Police
Officer King'ori Mwangi. Mwachiro said police had assured the group that
the simultaneous rallies it planned to hold in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru,
Eldoret and Kisumu on Friday would not be interfered with. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42003]

On Wednesday, one person was killed and several others were injured when
police clashed with demonstrators who took to the streets in the western
town of Kisumu to demand a quick enactment of the new draft constitution.
A police spokesman, Jaspher Ombati, said in a statement that a police
officer opened fire when "rowdy youths" threw stones at police trying to
stop them from barricading roads and stoning cars. The officer who opened
fire was arrested and investigations had been launched to determine the
circumstances under which the shooting took place, Ombati said. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42055]


KENYA: Donors urge government to intensify fight against corruption

Donors have expressed concern over alleged malpractices in the awarding of
government contracts, and warned that Kenya risked losing donor support
unless authorities intensified the fight against corruption. "This is a
key moment in Kenya's fight against corruption. What is required is
intensification of effort and purposeful commitment," said a joint
statement issued on Monday by the embassies of Britain, Canada, Germany,
Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

The embassies were reacting to reports in the media during the past couple
of months that there had been apparent impropriety in the awarding of some
contracts to firms to build a forensic laboratory for the police and to
print passports that could not be easily forged. The government later
cancelled the contracts, and the down payments to the company were
refunded. Three senior civil servants were sacked for their role in the
alleged scandal, which is still under investigation.

"Thorough investigations, public disclosure of facts and full
accountability, whether political or before the law, are clearly called
for. Those who appear to be implicated should be required to step aside in
order to facilitate investigations," the joint statement said. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42022]


KENYA: President appeals for food aid

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Tuesday appealed for food aid, saying many
parts of his country were experiencing food shortages because of
inadequate rainfall, his office said. Kibaki said meagre rainfall had
seriously affected food production in several regions, but insisted that
his government would ensure that food aid reached those affected,
according to a statement issued by the Presidential Press Service.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) last month estimated that between 85,000
mt and 90,000 mt would be required to feed an estimated 1.4 million people
for six months beginning in August.

A WFP spokesman told IRIN on Tuesday that the Kenya Food Security Steering
Group, comprising officials from WFP, the government, the UN Children's
Fund and NGOs, was preparing a report on the situation after visiting the
most affected areas with a view to launching an inter-agency appeal for
food aid. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=42048]


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004


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