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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 247
2 - 8 October 2004


CONTENTS:

DRC: India, Pakistan to send more troops
DRC: Death sentence for former prosecutor
DRC: Immunisation drive postponed in three areas of North Kivu
DRC: ICC signs accord for cooperation with government
BURUNDI: Constitutional gridlock creates doubt about elections
KENYA: Joy at news of first African woman to win Nobel Peace Prize
AFRICA: Museveni urges continent to focus on demand for small arms

SEE ALSO: DRC: Security in east improves as UN mission cleared for more 
troops [http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=43523 ]

SEE ALSO: DRC: Interview with Independent Election Commission President 
Apollinaire Malu Malu

ALSO SEE: BURUNDI: Housing efforts 'a drop in the ocean'
[http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=43505 ]


DRC: India, Pakistan to send more troops

India and Pakistan are due to rapidly deploy some 1,700 soldiers to the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo, following Friday's resolution by the UN 
Security Council to increase the strength of its peacekeeping mission 
there, UN News reported on Tuesday.

UN News said since the Council's unanimous adoption of the resolution, 
arrangements had been made for an emergency deployment of two battalions 
of some 850 soldiers each, from these two countries. India will also 
provide four attack helicopters. [Full item on: 
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=43521 ]

On the Net: MONUC gets six-month extension, 5,900 more troops: 
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=43471 ]


DRC: Death sentence for former prosecutor

A former prosecutor of a military court, Col Charles Alamba, was among 11 
people condemned to death on Tuesday after being found guilty of murder, 
mutilation and extortion.

As military prosecutor at the time of the assassination of former 
President Laurent Kabila, Alamba led the trial in which 30 people accused 
of the crime were condemned to death, the same sentence now imposed on 
him. Alamba's downfall occurred in September 2003, following the murder of 
Steve Nyembo, a senior official in the Department of Taxation. The killers 
ripped out Nyembo's genitals before burning his body. [Full item on: 
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=43547 ]


DRC: Immunisation drive postponed in three areas of North Kivu

A measles and polio immunisation drive in the eastern Democratic Republic 
of the Congo has been postponed in three of the six health zones of North 
Kivu Province because of insecurity, an area health official told IRIN on 
Thursday.

"We have excluded the Walikale, Pinga and Manguregipa health zones because 
of the frequent fighting between the army and dissident Congolese forces," 
Dr Dominique Baabu, the provincial medical officer, said in Goma, the main 
town in the province.

He said the areas excluded this time would be covered in the second round 
of vaccinations scheduled for 10-14 November, security conditions 
permitting. Phase one of the vaccination effort started on Wednesday and 
is due to end on Sunday. It will now cover the health zones of Lubero, 130 
km northeast of Goma and those of Mwesso and Birambinzo, respectively 70 
km and 80 km southwest of Goma. [On the Net: Africa launches largest-ever 
immunization campaign: http://www.unicef.org/media/media_24281.html ]


DRC: ICC signs accord for cooperation with government

The assistant prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Serge 
Brammertz, signed an accord on Wednesday with DRC Justice Minister Kisimba 
Ngoy, to allow the two-year old international body to begin investigations 
into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in country.

The court's 12-member delegation headed by Brammertz arrived in Kinshasa 
on Monday to finalise the accord. In the coming days, it and the 
government are to sign other diplomatic agreements. The court will be 
properly established in the DRC by the beginning of 2005.

The court's prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, first formally considered 
investigating crimes in the DRC earlier in 2004, following a request by 
President Joseph Kabila for him to do so.


BURUNDI: Constitutional gridlock creates doubt about elections

Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye withdrew on Wednesday his request 
for the Constitutional Court to validate a draft constitution, saying that 
the court had delayed its decision beyond the time required.

"The court's deliberation period ended without it having even met," 
Ndayizeye said in the capital, Bujumbura.

Without a constitution, the electoral commission has been unable to 
release an election timetable. According to the Arusha Peace and 
Reconciliation Accord of August 2000, under which the country's three-year 
transitional government was established, democratic elections should be 
held by 31 October when the transitional period ends. [Full story on: 
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=43556 ]


KENYA: Joy at news of first African woman to win Nobel Peace Prize

Kenyan environmental activists were thrilled at the news on Friday that 
the country's leading conservationist, Wangari Maathai, had won this 
year's Nobel Peace Prize, becoming its first African woman recipient.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced in Oslo that it had decided to 
award the prize to Maathai, 64, in recognition of her "contribution to 
sustainable development, democracy and peace".


AFRICA: Museveni urges continent to focus on demand for small arms

A conference exploring the evolving dynamics of small arms as the most 
pressing security challenge in Africa, ended on Friday with the Ugandan 
leader, Yoweri Museveni, calling on governments to tackle the causes of 
their use and proliferation.

He listed undemocratic governance on the continent, oppression of certain 
groups, atrocities committed with impunity, underdevelopment and ordinary 
crimes, as the main issues generating demand for small arms.

According to Dr. Stephen Emerson, a professor of security studies at the 
African Centre for Strategic Studies, a survey has estimated that there up 
to 30 million small arms and light weapons in Africa, with only 21 percent 
of them in government hands.


[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN 
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views 
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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004


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