U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-Up 279
14 - 20 May 2005


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Government, rebel group agree to end hostilities
BURUNDI-RWANDA: Asylum seekers forced to return home, UN agency says
CONGO: UN agency confirms outbreak in Cuvette-Ouest as Ebola
DRC: Rwandan rebels abuse Congolese civilians - UN report
DRC: Annan names panel of experts to monitor arms embargo
DRC: Police impose curfew on Mbuji-Mayi after protests
DRC: Electoral process irreversible, Kabila says
TANZANIA: Row over water contract could mean continued shortages
UGANDA: Government urged to prosecute perpetrators of torture
UGANDA: UN to set up human rights office


BURUNDI: Government, rebel group agree to end hostilities

Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye and Agathon Rwasa, the leader of
the country's remaining rebel group, the Forces nationales de
liberation, agreed on Sunday to end hostilities and to work for lasting
and sustainable peace in the country.

"We have agreed to end hostilities immediately," Ndayizeye said in
Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, shortly after signing the
agreement with Rwasa. "Technical committees of the two parties are going
to be picked as soon as possible so that they start working out
modalities for negotiations and implementation of the ceasefire."

He added, "We have agreed that detailed negotiations by technical teams
are to start within a month."

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47124]


BURUNDI-RWANDA: Asylum seekers forced to return home, UN agency says

Hundreds of Rwandan asylum seekers, who had fled to Burundi in fear of
tribunals at home, may have been intimidated to return to Rwanda, the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reported.

"UNHCR is not organising these departures and is often not present when
the asylum seekers are leaving the sites," Ron Redmond, UNHCR spokesman,
was quoted as saying on Friday in Geneva.

He said most of those departing Burundi were leaving between 4 p.m. and
9 a.m., when UN in-country staff was subject to a curfew.

"It is difficult to know exactly how many of the 7,000 Rwandans who
arrived in Burundi since early April have left," Redmond was quoted as
saying. "We cannot confirm that everyone who left has gone back to
Rwanda. Some of the people who departed the sites are thought to be
hiding in neighbouring areas."

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47145]


CONGO: UN agency confirms outbreak in Cuvette-Ouest as Ebola

An outbreak of acute haemorrhagic fever in the Republic of Congo's
Cuvette-Ouest Region is the deadly Ebola disease, the UN World Health
Organization (WHO) confirmed on Wednesday.

By Tuesday, WHO said, a total of 11 cases, among them nine deaths, had
been reported in the districts of Etoumbi and Mbomo. Of these cases, one
case was laboratory-confirmed and 10 epidemiologically linked.

WHO added that the Ministry of Health, the WHO Regional Office for
Africa and the medical NGO, Medecins Sans Frontieres-Holland, were
carrying out surveillance, following up contacts and raising awareness
about the disease among the public in the affected districts. [Full
story on: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47196 ]


DRC: Rwandan rebels abuse Congolese civilians - UN report

Rwandan Hutu rebels based in eastern Congo are responsible for hundreds
of summary executions, rapes, beatings and hostage-taking of Congolese
civilians in the territory of Walungu, South Kivu Province, the UN
Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUC, said on Wednesday in
a report documenting the human rights violations.

"The 1,724 accusations of abuse are essentially against two groups of
Rwandan combatants," Fernando Castanon, the head of the MONUC section of
human rights, said.

He said one group is the Rwandais forces democratiques pour la
liberation du Rwanda while the other one, known as the Rastas, consists
of Rwandan Hutus and some Congolese.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47195]


DRC: Annan names panel of experts to monitor arms embargo

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has named a five-member panel of experts
to monitor an arms embargo the UN has imposed against the DRC, according
to a letter from Annan to the UN Security Council, dated 17 May. The
panel's mandate expires on 31 July.

He named Ibra Deguene Ka, from Senegal, as the panel's chairman. The
other members are arms trafficking expert Kathi Lynn Austin from the US;
aviation expert Abdoulaye Cissoko from Mali; and customs and border
control expert Jean Luc Gallet from France.

The panel of experts is expected to monitor the embargo until 31 July,
when the Council would review progress made in the country's peace
process and political transition.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=47210]


DRC: Police impose curfew on Mbuji-Mayi after protests

Police imposed a curfew beginning late Tuesday in Mbuji-Mayi, a major
mining town in middle of the country, following violent demonstrations
in which at least two people died and 12 others were wounded.

The provincial police inspector-general, Gen Jean Dieudonne Oleko, told
IRIN on Wednesday that the "restriction of movement", as he termed the
curfew, would deter vandalism and children from venturing out at night.

"The police have complete control of the situation," he said. However,
he did not say how long the curfew would last. The curfew runs from
midnight to 1800 (1700 GMT). [Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47176 ]


DRC: Electoral process irreversible, Kabila says

At a ceremony held on Monday to present the country's newly adopted
draft constitution, President Joseph Kabila urged all Congolese to rally
in support of democracy, saying that following the adoption, the
country's electoral process was irreversible.

"I want to reassure our population that the [democracy] train is in
motion; the process is really irreversible and the elections will
certainly take place," he said.

The draft constitution, adopted by the country's parliament on Friday,
was presented to Kabila, to make public, in preparation for a referendum
on it within six months. [Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47150 ]


TANZANIA: Row over water contract could mean continued shortages

Hundreds of thousands of Dar es Salaam residents could continue to
experience acute water shortages if a row between the Tanzanian
government and a private international water company remains unresolved.

The government announced on 13 May that it had terminated a 10-year
contract with City Water, for what it described as "poor performance".
The firm had been contracted to provide water to the estimated three
million residents of the city and its neighbouring districts of Kibaha
and Bagamoyo.

However, on Tuesday, City Water Chief Executive Officer Cliff Stone said
his company would take legal action to challenge the government's
decision. He said City Water had asked the government to clarify
Lowassa's announcement. [Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47177 ]


UGANDA: Government urged to prosecute perpetrators of torture

Human Rights Watch and the Uganda-based Foundation for Human Rights
Initiative urged the Ugandan government on Tuesday to prosecute
perpetrators of torture, saying the practice was still common in the
country.

On 11 May, the Ugandan government presented measures it had taken to
comply with its obligations under the Convention Against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to a session
of the UN Committee Against Torture in Geneva. [Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47169 ]


UGANDA: UN to set up human rights office

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is to
establish an office in Uganda in June to monitor abuses related to
conflict in the northern and eastern regions of the country, Jose Luis
Diaz, the spokesman for the office, said at a news briefing in Geneva on
13 May.

The OHCHR presence in Uganda was intended to "help strengthen the
response to the abuses and violations resulting from the conflict
afflicting the northern and eastern parts of the country," he said.
[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47143]


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