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

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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-Up 313
7 - 13 January 2006


CONTENTS:

DRC: Voters give new constitution overwhelming support
DRC: Retraining of prison officials begins in France
TANZANIA: Cholera breaks out in Dar es Salaam
TANZANIA: Government pardons, rehires medics
UGANDA: Situation in north "extremely grave", says UN official
UGANDA: Ugandan rebels still getting aid from Sudan, says ICG
UGANDA: LRA rebels attack disco, kill three ALSO SEE:


[GREAT LAKES: Year in Review 2005 - Returnees and refugees
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50997 ]


DRC: Voters give new constitution overwhelming support

Voters in the Democratic Republic of Congo have, by an overwhelming
majority, approved a new constitution put to a referendum in December
2005.

The results of the referendum, released on Wednesday by the Independent
Electoral Commission, show that 84.31 percent voted for and 15.69
percent against.

Commission Chairman Apolinnaire Malumalu said the results of the 18 and
19 December plesbicite would have to be endorsed by the Supreme Court
before they become definitive. He said 61.97 percent of the 25 million
registered voters - that is 15.5 million voters - cast ballots; 38.3
percent abstained.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51059]


DRC: Retraining of prison officials begins in France

The retraining of 20 Congolese civilian and military prison personnel
began on Wednesday in the southwestern French town of Agen, as part of
the Democratic Republic of Congo's effort to shore up its maintenance of
the rule of law, the press attache at French embassy in the Congolese
capital, Kinshasa, said.

The official, Pascal Perennec, said training at the National
Penitentiary School of Administration at Agen (l'Ecole Nationale de
l'Administration Penitentiaire d'Agen) would cost 112,000 euros (US
$135,241). The training is part of a larger three-million-euro ($3.6
million) project that includes revamping the judiciary and the police.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51051]


TANZANIA: Cholera breaks out in Dar es Salaam

At least 52 cases of cholera have been reported in parts of the
Tanzanian commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, over the last month, a city
official said on Tuesday.

"We are worried over more new cases although we have warned the people
to adhere to rules of hygiene, including boiling drinking water, use of
toilets and washing hands with soap," Gaston Makwembe, the Dar es Salaam
City Information Officer, said.

However, he said an acute shortage of water due to drought could be one
of the reasons for increased cases of cholera because people use water
from ponds and other unsafe sources.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51018]


TANZANIA: Government pardons, rehires medics

The government has pardoned and rehired 224 medical personnel it had
sacked in November 2005 after they went on strike for better pay and
working conditions, Health Minister David Mwakyusa said on Tuesday.

However, he said the pardon did not extend to 29 others believed to have
been the ringleaders of the strike. The doctors' action lasted several
weeks, paralysing operations at the Muhimbili National Hospital, the
country's largest health facility.

He said the government pardoned the strikers because they apologised in
writing to the former prime minister, Frederick Sumaye. The government
has started withdrawing military doctors it had deployed to Muhimbili to
replace their striking civilian counterparts.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51043]


UGANDA: Situation in north "extremely grave", UN official says

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said on
Thursday the human rights situation in Uganda's war-torn north was
"extremely grave".

Speaking during her weeklong visit to the country she said, "People are
deprived of social, material and human rights needs."

She added that rights violations by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army
(LRA) had been of "great magnitude. However, she said, the Uganda
People's Defence Forces, which has been fighting a rebellion in the
north for nearly 20 years, had also committed violations.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51087]


UGANDA: Ugandan rebels still getting aid from Sudan, says ICG

Sudanese military officers have continued to aid the LRA, despite
international arrest warrants for the rebel group's leaders, the
International Crisis Group, a think-tank, said on Wednesday.

It said LRA leader Joseph Kony's location roughly 100 km north of Juba,
southern Sudan, indicated he was still being given sanctuary "by
elements in the government".

However, the ICG said while the Sudanese government had admitted using
Kony for its destabilisation strategy against a rebellion in the south
in the past, any support currently being given to the LRA did not
reflect official policy.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51068]


UGANDA: LRA rebels attack disco, kill three

LRA rebels killed three revellers on Sunday at a discotheque in Zaipi
sub-county in Adjumani District, northwestern Uganda. They also wounded
12 others critically, northern Uganda army spokesman Lt Chris Magezi
said.

He said the army had caught up with the rebels on Monday killing two;
one of whom he said was a LRA "major". He also said the army killed five
rebels in unrelated battles in the country's northern region on Sunday;
three along the River Aswa in Pader District, one in Kitgum and another
in Gulu.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51011]


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