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 280
21 - 27 May 2005


CONTENTS:

CAR: Incumbent wins presidency
CONGO: Ebola districts sealed off
DRC: Latest killings in South Kivu part of long-standing abuses
DRC: Two militiamen die in Kisangani fighting
DRC: UN agency helps thousands of IDPs return home
KENYA: Hundreds homeless as flash floods hit western Kenya
RWANDA: Appeals Court reduces sentence for ex-mayor convicted of
   genocide
TANZANIA: Millions at risk of contracting elephantiasis
TANZANIA: Elephants cause havoc in the north


CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Incumbent wins presidency

Francois Bozize, the incumbent leader of the Central African Republic, 
who came into power through a coup in 2003, was on Tuesday declared the 
winner of the country's presidential elections.

Bozize won the final round of the poll by 64.6 percent of the vote, the 
chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Jean Willybiro Sako, 
announced at an official ceremony at the National Assembly.

The election, held on 8 May, was a runoff between Bozize and former 
Prime Minister Martin Ziguele, who gained 35.4 percent of the vote.

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47277]


CONGO: Ebola districts sealed off

As the number of suspected cases of the deadly Ebola virus rise in 
Republic of Congo's northern Region of Cuvette-Ouest, the government and 
the UN World Health Organization (WHO) announced they had quarantined 
the districts of Etoumbi and Mbomo.

A medical surveillance team has been monitoring 84 people who could be 
infected in the two districts, an adviser to Congolese Ministry of 
Health Jean-Vivien Mombouli said on Monday.

On 13 May, WHO reported that nine people had died between 27 April and 
11 May 2005 in Etoumbi and Mbomo from an "acute haemorrhagic fever". On 
18 May, it confirmed that one of the people had died from the Ebola 
virus.

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47269]

As a precautionary measure, Uganda has stepped health surveillance along 
its borders although, Deputy Health Minister Michael Mukula told IRIN on 
Sunday.

[On the Net: UGANDA: Surveillance stepped up after Ebola reported in 
Congo: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47241 ]


DRC: Latest killings in South Kivu part of long-standing abuses

An armed group of mostly Rwandan Hutus in eastern DRC is accused of 
killing 18 civilians, mutilating 11 others and taking around 50 hostages 
on Monday.

The group, known as the Rastas, has been committing numerous 
human-rights abuses in the region, according to sources in the 
government and MONUC.

The Rastas allegedly committed the violations at Nindja, a village in 
the territory of Walungu in the eastern province of South Kivu. [Full 
report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47312 ]


DRC: Two militiamen die in Kisangani fighting

Two militiamen died on Tuesday during fighting between local Mayi-Mayi 
militiamen recently integrated into the new national army and members of 
the Presidential Guard in Kisangani, the provincial capital Orientale, 
according to MONUC.

"Disgruntled Mayi-Mayi, who have not been paid for a while, were in the 
middle of looting when a group of GSSP [Groupe special de la securite 
presidentielle] surprised them," Thierry Provendier, the MONUC military 
spokesman, said on Wednesday.

The fighting started at about 0130 (1130 GMT) near Kisangani's market, 
he said. Light and heavy weapons were fired throughout the night. [Full 
report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47311 ]


DRC: UN agency helps thousands of IDPs return home

Some 1,600 internally displaced people (IDPs) began their journey home 
on Thursday along the mighty River Congo, from the nation's capital, 
Kinshasa, to the provinces of Equateur and Orientale, according to a UN 
official.

In a statement, Jens Laerke, the information officer in the 
post-conflict unit of the UN Development Programme, said on Friday the 
IDPs boarded a Congolese naval vessel at the Kinshasa harbour, marking 
the start of the operational phase of a joint UN pilot project aimed at 
providing protection and security for 67,554 IDPs.

The IDPs had fled their homes following years of civil war, which ended 
officially in 2003. According to the unit, there are an estimated 2.4 
million IDPs in the country.

[Full report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47247]

[On the Net: DRC-RWANDA: Refugee agency records sharp rise in returnee 
figures: [http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47289]


KENYA: Hundreds homeless as flash floods hit western Kenya

Hundreds of people have been left without shelter in western Kenya after 
flash floods caused by torrential rains destroyed their homes last 
weekend, relief officials said on Monday.

A total of 900 people in Homa Bay and Kisumu districts were homeless 
after several rivers breached their banks and flooded the plains near 
the shores of Lake Victoria, Anthony Mwangi, spokesman for the Kenya Red 
Cross Society, told IRIN.

Flooding also had wreaked havoc in Nyando, Rachuonyo, Migori and Nyatike 
districts, where many homes had been submerged in raging water from the 
Oluch River. It was not immediately clear, however, how many people were 
affected in the four districts.

[Full report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47255]


RWANDA: Appeals Court reduces sentence for ex-mayor convicted of 
genocide

The Appeals Court of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda 
reduced on Monday a life sentence that a lower court had, in 2003, 
imposed on a former Rwandan mayor convicted of genocide.

Presiding Judge Fausto Pocar ordered that the two life sentences plus 15 
years earlier imposed on Juvenal Kajelijeli be set aside and converted 
into a single sentence consisting of a fixed term of imprisonment of 45 
years.

The reason, Pocar said, was that Kajelijeli's "fundamental rights" were 
violated during his arrest and detention in Benin. He was wrongly 
detained for 306 days and was not promptly informed of the provisional 
charges against him, Pocar ruled.

[Full report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47237]


TANZANIA: Millions at risk of contracting elephantiasis

Over 30 million Tanzanians are at risk of contracting elephantiasis, a 
disorder of the lymphatic system caused by parasitic worms, according to 
the National Institute for Medical Research.

"More than 90 percent of the population is in great danger and the 
situation could get worse if the trend is left unchecked," Hussein 
Mwinyi, the assistant minister for health, said on Monday at the 
beginning of a three-day workshop to assess progress made in efforts to 
eliminate the disease.

The ministry launched a programme in 2000 aimed at eradicating the 
disease, but statistics released in early 2005 by the research institute 
and other health workers paint a grim picture. Under the ministry's 
programme, control measurements include improvement of hygienic 
conditions, use of mosquito nets and spraying insecticides on mosquito 
breeding grounds.

Parasitic worms that are primarily transmitted by mosquitoes cause 
elephantiasis, or lymphatic filariasis. The disease damages lymphatic 
vessels, which leads to gross enlargement of the affected area, mostly 
limbs. The disorder occurs in tropical regions, particularly in some 
parts of Africa. The disease is curable, using drugs such as Mectizan 
and Albendazole.

[Full story on: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47260]


TANZANIA: Elephants cause havoc in the north

Marauding elephants continue to cause havoc in northern Tanzania, where 
they have destroyed 80 hectares of crops and disrupted learning for 
children who now have to be escorted to school, an official told IRIN on 
Monday.

"Some parents are even afraid to escort their children for treatment in 
clinics for fear of encountering the animals," said Anthony Malley, the 
district commissioner for Monduli, northwest of the region's main town, 
Arusha.

Most of the damage caused to food crops has been in Mto-wa-Mbu area in 
Monduli, a district bordering the Lake Manyara and Tarangire national 
parks.

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47232]


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