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

Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-Up 277
30 April - 6 May 2005


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: President issues a decree to disarm civilians
BURUNDI: Death sentence for killers of WHO official
BURUNDI-RWANDA: Hundreds of Rwandans returning from Burundi
RWANDA-DRC: As new refugees flee DRC, existing ones move inland
DRC: EU to insert advisers into national defence
TANZANIA: Hundreds of thousands in need of food aid
KENYA: Floods kill one, displace thousands from refugee camp
KENYA: UNICEF seeks funds to aid most vulnerable in drought-hit areas


ALSO SEE:

CONGO: Power shortfall a nightmare for Brazzaville residents: Full report


BURUNDI: President issues a decree to disarm civilians

Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye signed a decree on Wednesday 
creating a new programme to disarm civilians. The decree states that a 
commission is to be set up to disarm "all persons residing in Burundi 
other than police and defence forces in possession of weapons and 
ammunition".

The nine-member disarmament commission is to be chaired by the minister of 
public security. Other members include the ministers of defence, interior 
and justice, as well as senior police and intelligence officers. The 
commission is to organise the collection of weapons. Civilians will be 
issued with a receipt as proof that they no longer have them.

In another decree signed on Wednesday, Ndayizeye banned all strikes and 
other public gatherings, besides political rallies. Effective immediately, 
the ban is to continue at least until 4 July when legislative elections 
are scheduled. The measure was taken to create a "favourable environment", 
according to the decree.

Burundi is said to have some 250,000 small arms in circulation.

Full 
report


BURUNDI: Death sentence for killers of WHO official

The Criminal Chamber of the Bujumbura Court of Appeal sentenced four 
senior army and police officers to death on Tuesday for the planning and 
execution of the World Health Organization representative to Burundi, 
Kassy Manlan.

The convicts are Emile Manisha, a former police superintendent; Col Gerard 
Ntunzwenayo, the deputy director general of the Burundi Intelligence 
Service; Japhet Ndayegamiye, head of the Intelligence Service in Bujumbura 
City; and Capt Aloys Bizimana, who headed the army's Kiyange Brigade in 
Bujumbura Rural. They said they would appeal the sentence to Burundi's 
Supreme Court.

Manlan, an Ivorian, was killed on 19 November 2001. His body was found the 
following day on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. The motive for the killing 
has not been established.

The court also sentenced three others to life imprisonment and two to 20 
years.

Full 
report


BURUNDI-RWANDA: Hundreds of Rwandans returning from Burundi

At least 1,000 of the nearly 7,000 Hutu Rwandans who fled their country in 
April have returned home, a Rwandan government official told IRIN on 
Friday.

"We visited these people in their camps in Burundi and told them there was 
no need for them to flee," Charles Ntakirutimana, the mayor of Mugombwa 
District, told IRIN. The district borders Burundi.

Many of the Rwanda's Hutu said they fled because they feared unfair 
treatment in the new village-level "gacaca" courts that the government 
recently created to speed up trials of suspects of the 1994 genocide.

Speaking on local Rwanda radio, some refugees said they fled their homes 
fearing possible revenge killings after people heard testimonies being 
given at the gacaca courts. The courts are a new version of traditional 
Rwanda justice.

Since April, at least 5,000 Rwandan Hutus fled into Burundi; another 1,200 
crossed into Uganda.

Full 
report


RWANDA-DRC: As new refugees flee DRC, existing ones move inland

New refugees have been fleeing the DRC to Rwanda since April, causing 
crowding in Rwandan border centres, according the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which has begun transferring the 
existing refugees to a camp farther inland.

"Over 900 refugees have arrived [from DRC] in recent weeks, due to 
fighting, looting and pillaging in their new homes and more are still 
coming at an average rate of 50 per day," Jennifer Pagonis, the UNHCR 
spokeswoman said on Tuesday at a briefing for the media in Geneva.

Since 29 April, UNHCR had moved 567 of the existing 7,500 refugees at the 
border centres in the Rwandan provinces of Gisenyi and Cyangugu. The 
refugees have been there since fleeing eastern DRC in 2004.

Full 
report


DRC: EU to insert advisers into national defence

The European Union (EU) announced on Monday it would be assigning military 
and security advisers to posts within various key security apparatus of 
the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) administration, including the 
private office of the minister of defence.

"Code-named EUSEC RD CONGO, the mission will provide advice and assistance 
for security sector reform in the DRC with the aim of contributing to a 
successful integration of the Congolese army," the Council of the EU said 
in a statement.

EUSEC will be comprised of eight EU advisers assigned to posts in the 
DRC's new integrated military structure, the army general staff, the 
National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration, the 
Joint Operational Committee and the Ministry of Defence. With a budget of 
E1.6 million (US $2.1 million), the mission will be headed by French Gen 
Pierre Joana and is expected to start functioning in May, the EU said.

Full 
report


TANZANIA: Hundreds of thousands in need of food aid

Some 254,000 people in 13 northern districts will find it difficult to 
feed themselves in April and May, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network 
(FEWS NET) said in its April food security update, its latest.

It said because in the 13 districts the 2003/04 cropping season rainfall 
was poor and production was low, "most households exhausted their 
retentions before or around February".

FEWS NET, a USAID funded activity, said although the food security 
situation remained satisfactory, poor rainfall in 2004/05 had affected 
crops and livestock conditions in the country's north coast and northern 
highlands.

[Full FEWS NET item on: www.fews.net]



KENYA: Floods kill one, displace thousands from refugee camp

A young boy was killed and an estimated 25,000 people displaced by 
torrential rains in the Dadaab Refugee Camp in northeastern Kenya, aid 
agencies said on Tuesday.

The spokesman for the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Emmanuel 
Nyabera, told IRIN that aid agencies had begun providing blankets, 
tarpaulins and kitchen sets to 1,000 affected people. He said the floods 
occurred in Dadaab's Ifo Camp, which hosts about 53,000 refugees.

"Most of the displaced have gone to live with relatives in the area," he 
said.

Dadaab Refugee Camp, composed of three separate camps, was opened in Kenya 
in 1991, following an influx of Somali refugees fleeing civil war in their 
country.

Full 
report


KENYA: UNICEF seeks funds to aid most vulnerable in drought-hit areas

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has made an emergency appeal for nearly US 
$3 million to help thousands of children, pregnant women and nursing 
mothers cope with the effects of continuing drought in several districts 
of Kenya.

Approximately 30,000 children and 10,000 pregnant and nursing mothers were 
in immediate need of nutritional support, UNICEF said on Wednesday. Some 
200,000 other people required emergency water supplies, it added.

Inadequate rainfall from December 2005 to January had caused the 
continuation of the crisis, UNICEF said. Among the districts under stress 
were Mandera, Wajir, Turkana, Isiolo and Kajiado. In Kajiado many water 
sources had failed and those still in operation were under severe stress, 
UNICEF said.

UNICEF said during the next four months it would work with its partners, 
including the Office of the President's Kenya Food Security Group, to 
reach the most vulnerable with emergency health, water, nutrition, 
education and protection programmes.


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