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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-Up 293
20 - 26 August 2005


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Belgium grants 3.8 million euros for good governance
BURUNDI: Peace-building commission proposed, UN official says
TANZANIA: Election campaigns kicks off
CAR: France grants 25,000 euro for floods victims.
CAR: Red Cross distributes non-food items to Bangui flood victims
CAR: Conditions not yet ripe for return, refugee agency says
DRC: 700 UN troops sent to Fataki; protecting voter registration
DRC: End of demobilisation in Mushaki
DRC: 12,500 Girls members of armed groups, NGO report says
GREAT LAKES: Rwandan Hutu rebels given till 30 September to disarm
RWANDA: UNHCR launches refugee census
UGANDA: Food operations in northeast face logistical problems, WFP says
UGANDA: Global fund suspends anti-AIDS grants
KENYA: New draft national constitution made public
AFRICA: Continent needs "home-grown" democracy, President Mkapa says


ALSO SEE:

BURUNDI: New president faces monumental tasks
[http://www.irinnews.org/S_report.asp?ReportID=48704 ]
DRC: Interview with MSF head of mission in DRC, Jerome Souquet:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48678 ]
CONGO: Ebola attack seemingly over, for now
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48724 ]


BURUNDI: Former rebel leader becomes president

Former rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza, 40, was sworn in as Burundian
president on Friday for a five-year term. He becomes the country's first
democratically elected leader since 1993.

"I pledge to fight all ideology and acts of genocide and exclusion, to
promote and defend the individual and collective rights and freedoms of
persons and of the citizen," he said in Kirundi, Burundi's national
language, in a ceremony attended by 10 African heads of state.

His inauguration in Bujumbura marks, more or less, the end of a 12-year
civil war between Hutu rebels and an army led by the country's Tutsi
minority. However, Nkurunziza faces a low intensity rebellion by a minor
Hutu rebel group, the Front national de liberation, which refused to end
its war against the outgoing transitional government; and has given no
sign that is it ready to stop fighting now.


BURUNDI: Belgium grants 3.8 million euros for good governance

Belgium granted Burundi 3.8 million euros (approx US $4.6 million) on
Monday as part of a six-year funding programme to make the country's
public institutions, especially those involved with good governance and
social services, more efficient, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
Bujumbura said.

The total cost of the six-year programme is 5.9 million euros (approx
$7.2 million).

In July Belgium, which is the former colonial ruler of Burundi, gave the
transitional government under Domitien Ndayizeye money to pay salary
arrears to teachers, thereby ending a two-month strike.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48688]

In addition, on Tuesday, Belgium's Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted
488,953 euros ($598,087) to the Belgian NGO, Caraes, to repatriate
Burundian secondary school teachers and pupils living in Tanzania
refugee camps, an official said from Brussels.

An official of Caraes (Caritate Aegrorum Servi), Benjamin Nyssen, said
some 7,500 pupils - among whom 28 percent are girls - and 442 teachers
were targeted under the project due to end in February 2007.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48707]


BURUNDI: Peace-building commission proposed, UN official says

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed the creation of a
peace-building commission to settle problems in Burundi after the UN
peacekeeping function is complete, UN Special Representative Carolyn
McAskie said on Monday.

She was speaking in the Burundi capital, Bujumbura, at the last session
of the Implementation Monitoring Committee for Burundi. The committee,
under UN chairmanship, was entrusted with ensuring the full and speedy
implementation of the 2002 Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for
Burundi.

McAskie said despite the end of the committee's mandate actions planned
under the body would be implemented. She also said international support
to the country would continue.

The committee held its last and special session four days after the
country's new president, Pierre Nkurunziza, was inaugurated for a
five-year term.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48703]


TANZANIA: Election campaigns kicks off

Campaigning for the 30 October presidential election kicked off in
Tanzania on Sunday, with political leaders promising to wrench the east
African nation out of grinding poverty, as well as fight graft and
enhance the status of women in society.

The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi was the first to launch its campaign with
candidate Jakaya Kikwete pledging to maintain the nation's peace and
stability "at all costs", while keeping improvement of the economy on
top of its agenda.

Other parties, promising much the same, launched their campaigns later
in the week. Some published their elections manifestos at the weekend.
On Sunday, the National Convention for Construction and Reform released
its manifesto that focuses on maintaining peace, reducing poverty,
creation of at least two million jobs, and raising the status of women.

The main opposition party is the Civic United Front.
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48681 ]

On the semiautonomous island of Zanzibar, 17 registered political
parties signed an electoral code of conduct on Saturday.

"The move is aimed at facilitating free, fair and peaceful elections,"
Augustino Ramadhani, vice-chairman of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission,
said from the island on Monday

The code signed on Saturday binds all political stakeholders to
responsible behavior during campaign, election and after the polls. It
also commits all political parties to respect and accept the official
poll results, forbids the use of offensive and derogatory language in
the run-up to and during the elections.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48726]


CAR: France grants 25,000 euro for floods victims.

France granted 25,000 euro ($30,590) to buy medicines for thousands of
floods victims in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, the
French Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday.

It said the money had been channelled through the French embassy in
Bangui, which has already arranged to buy drugs from a local
pharmaceutical firm. The medicines, which are to be handed over the NGOs
for distribution, are to combat malaria, typhoid, diarrhoeal and
respiratory diseases, and parasites.

This donation follow appeals by the CAR government after first
torrential rains battered Bangui on 6 and 7 August, inundating the
eastern and southern parts of the city. CAR Red Cross officials say at
least 14,517 residents have been affected by the floods.

Since October 2004, the French Development Agency, AFD, has undertaken a
2.3-billion-franc CFA ($42.8 million) water drainage project in a number
of districts in Bangui, which, when completed, would prevent floods of
this nature.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48731]


CAR: Red Cross distributes non-food items to Bangui flood victims

The Red Cross of the Central African Republic distributed on Sunday
non-food items, high energy biscuits and medicines to some 461 families
affected by floods in the capital 17 days ago, the society's
coordinator, Alphonse Zarambaud, said.

"Five thousand people received the items," he said on Sunday in Bangui,
the capital.

This round of distributions went to families with more than 10 members
each in the southern neighbourhoods of Bangui. The items consisted of
blankets, pots, soap and jerry cans. UN agencies provided lamps, the
high energy biscuits and the medicines.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48687]

[On the Net: CAR: Red Cross gets some $39,024 for flood victims:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48666]


CAR: Conditions not yet ripe for return, refugee agency says

Conditions are not yet conducive in the northern part of the country for
the return home of thousands of people who have sought refuge in
southern Chad, a local official of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on
Thursday.

"The necessary level of security does not seem to be guaranteed for the
resumption of agricultural and economic activities in the northern part
of the country where the refugees were living before," Bruno Geddo, the
UNHCR representative in Bangui, said.

Geddo, who had just returned to the CAR capital, Bangui, from a tour of
the area, said armed bandits were still attacking villages near the
border with southern Chad. This, he said, made the refugees reluctant to
return home. Another factor, he said, was the excessive movement by
herdsmen, which prohibited the resumption of farming.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48760]


DRC: 700 UN troops sent to Fataki; protecting voter registration

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) sent 700 troops
to the northeastern territory of Fataki on Thursday to provide security
for the voter registration process, following an attack there earlier in
the week by unidentified gunmen.

"The deployment is a reaction to militia attacks and also to prove that
even if we are in charge of security of the electoral process, we still
have an important capacity to react against armed groups," Lt. Col.
Thierry Provendier, the UN military spokesman, said.

Fataki is in the troubled Ituri District, a region that has been prone
to sporadic attacks by armed groups.

In Monday's attack on Fataki unidentified militiamen shot dead an
electoral official in charge of identifying people arriving at a voter
registration centre without identification cards. It was the first
attack on a registration centre since the process began in Kinshasa, the
nation's capital, on 20 June.

Disruption of registration has always been a distinct possibility given
the insecurity in Ituri, although some 16,000 militiamen have disarmed
voluntarily under the supervision of the UN Mission. However, some 1,000
other militiamen have refused to disarm and have actually been attacking
UN peacekeepers, government troops and civilians.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48762]

[On the Net: DRC: Ituri militiamen kill electoral official:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48697]


DRC: End of demobilisation in Mushaki

The demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration process (DDR) of 3,200
militiamen ended on Monday in Mushaki District, 30 km south of Goma in
the east of the country, national Defense Minister Adolphe Onusumba
said.

He said the disbanded fighters now formed the 4th brigade of the
national army and were commanded by Col Willy Bonane, former member of
the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Goma. The brigade
will now be deployed to the troubled northeastern district of Ituri, to
reinforce the 1st brigade of the integrated national army.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48705]

[On the Net: DRC: Former militiamen now form army's 4th Brigade:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48705]


DRC: 12,500 Girls members of armed groups, NGO report says

Some 12,500 girls currently belong to government and non-government
forces and a programme to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate all
militias into society is failing them, Save the Children, an NGO, said
in an August 2005 report.

The report, titled "Forgotten Casualties of War", said many girls did
not want to be in the DDR process. It said they did not see themselves
as "child soldiers", but as "wives" or camp followers and, therefore,
were not entitled to demobilisation and reintegration benefits.

The DDR process, it said, acted to alert communities that girls were
involved with armed groups, thereby giving rise to community rejection
of them.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48752]


GREAT LAKES: Rwandan Hutu rebels given till 30 September to disarm

Rwandan Hutu rebels in neighbouring DRC have until 30 September to
disarm or else face "severe" consequences, ministers of regional
cooperation from DRC, Rwanda and Uganda said on Thursday.

In a US government-facilitated meeting in the Rwandan capital, Kigali,
ministers from the three countries told the rebels to start laying down
their guns voluntarily.

The ministers did not detail the action they would take if the rebels,
known as the Forces democratiques de liberation du Rwanda, failed to
comply. However, the Rwandan special envoy to the Great Lakes region,
Richard Sezibera, said the repercussions would be political and
military.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48758]


RWANDA: UNHCR launches refugee census

The UN agency, UNHCR, announced on Thursday the launch of a census in
Rwanda to gather accurate data on numbers, ages, gender, skills,
professions and places of origin of refugees in their home countries.

"Having an accurate database helps us better plan our operations," Emile
Belem, a UNHCR programme officer, was quoted saying in a statement
released by the refugee agency.

The agency said it would also collect data on professional and
educational background essential for the voluntarily repatriated
refugees. This, it said, would allow for planning of reintegration
programmes.

At the end of the census, it said, the Rwandan government would issue
all refugees with an attestation and identification card.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48764]


UGANDA: Food operations in northeast face logistical problems, WFP says

Efforts to feed thousands of people affected by drought in Uganda's
northeastern Karamoja region have run into logistical trouble after
floodwaters washed away a major bridge there, the UN World Food
Programme (WFP) said on Monday.

Officials said the route, through which up to 174,883 people are fed,
was cut off by floods that washed away the bridge to Karamoja's
drought-stricken areas of Kabong, Kalapata and Kathile.

Kabong, with up to 78,389 beneficiaries; Kalapata with 50,000; and
Kathile with 45,797 have been badly affected by the bridge's
destruction.

WFP said people living in rural areas near Kabong would now have to walk
several hours to Kabong town to receive food, while other areas would
still require physical delivery due to their inaccessibility.

Karamoja - comprising Moroto, Kotido and Nakapiripirit districts - has
been hit by drought every five years since 1980.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48680]


UGANDA: Global fund suspends anti-AIDS grants

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced on
Wednesday a suspension of all its grants to Uganda due to "evidence of
serious mismanagement" of the funds.

The Ugandan minister of health, Jim Muhwezi, said the suspension would
disrupt the country's hitherto successful anti-AIDS campaign. However,
$45.5 million of the $201-million earmarked has already been disbursed.

Global fund said it had suspended the grants until the Ugandan Ministry
of Finance put in place a new structure that would guarantee the
effective management of the money.

In a statement issued from its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the
fund said the decision was based on a review of one of the five grants -
undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers - that revealed "evidence of
serious mismanagement by the Project Management Unit in the Ministry of
Health".

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48730]


KENYA: New draft national constitution made public

Kenyan Attorney General Amos Wako released on Tuesday the country's
proposed new constitution, which voters are expected to adopt or reject
in a referendum in November.

The draft features major changes to the current constitution, including
the addition of a deputy president and prime minister, as well as two
deputy prime ministers.

Under the new 197-page document, the presidency would remain powerful,
with the authority to appoint and dismiss the prime minister and other
cabinet ministers.

The provision is different from proposals made in the "Bomas" draft -
submitted by a constitutional conference in 2004 - which proposed to
significantly reduce presidential powers and create a powerful prime
minister.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48732]


AFRICA: Continent needs "home-grown" democracy, President Mkapa says

The African continent must discard the political systems it inherited
from its colonial masters and develop a "home-grown" democracy that
would better reflect conditions on the continent, outgoing Tanzanian
President Benjamin Mkapa said on Wednesday.

"After all those years of colonial rule and the five decades or so of
self-rule, with its mistakes of all colours and shades, the time has now
come for Africa to go back to the drawing board and try to engender a
new democracy for Africa with African characteristics," Mkapa said in a
speech to the Ugandan parliament.

He said Africans should be allowed to participate in their governance,
which should be built on transparency and accountability.

Mkapa arrived in Uganda on Wednesday to bid farewell before his
retirement later this year. He has been president of Tanzania since
1995. Re-elected in 2000, he is constitutionally ineligible to stand for
a third five-year term. He will step down after presidential elections
on 30 October.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48756]


[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
2005


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