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 326
8 - 14 April 2006


CONTENTS:

DRC: Soldiers jailed for mass rape
BURUNDI-RWANDA: Gov't to expel asylum seekers
CONGO: Dead poultry test negative for avian flu
BURUNDI: Gov't launches reconstruction plan
BURUNDI: Demobilisation camp for FNL rebels opened
RWANDA: Ex-mayor sentenced to 15 years in prison for genocide
SUDAN: Thirteen killed in cattle raids in Upper Nile
KENYA: Government officials killed in plane crash


ALSO SEE:

CAR: Interview with Joseph Foumbi, UN humanitarian coordinator
[http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=52751 ]

DRC: Interview with Pierre Akele Adua, president of the Congolese
military high court [http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=52778 ]

KENYA: Back to class in Kibera slums
[http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=52750 ]



DRC: Soldiers jailed for mass rape

Seven soldiers in the Congolese army have been sentenced to life in
prison for crimes against humanity, including the mass rape of at least
119 women in the northwestern province of Equateur. This was the first
sentence against the country's military personnel for crimes against
humanity.

However, the military garrison court in Songo Mboyo, 600 km northeast of
the provincial capital Mbandaka, acquitted five other soldiers of
similar charges. The convicted soldiers committed the crimes in December
2003 at Songo Mboyo.

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=52801]


BURUNDI-RWANDA: Gov't to expel asylum seekers

The Burundian government will expel all Rwandan asylum seekers who fail
to meet conditions for their acceptance as refugees, Interior Minister
Evariste Ndayishimiye said on Monday in the capital, Bujumbura.
Burundi's northern provinces currently host at least 19,000 Rwandan
asylum seekers.

Ndayishimiye told a news conference that a commission - made up
officials from Burundi, Rwanda and the United Nations refugee agency -
had from December 2005 analysed requests for asylum from 1,249 Rwandans.
The commission found that only 52 people, or 4.6 percent of the
applicants, were eligible for refugee status. He said that based on the
commission's data, the government would transfer those eligible for
refugee status to a camp to be built in Giharo commune in the eastern
province of Rutana. Those who were ineligible would be sent back to
Rwanda in the coming days.

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=52710]


CONGO: Dead poultry test negative for avian flu

Poultry that died from an unspecified disease in the Republic of Congo
(ROC) did not die of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu, according to a
government minister. All test results on samples of organic matter from
the dead birds conducted at both the Pasteur Institute in Paris and the
Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute in South Africa came back negative,
said agriculture minister Jeanne Dambendzet.

"The government is very concerned about bird flu and is diligently
following epidemiological surveillance activities," she added. ROC has
banned all poultry imports since October 2005.

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=52713]


BURUNDI: Gov't launches reconstruction plan

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has launched a seven-year
reconstruction plan in the three provinces most affected by the
country's 12-year civil war. The US $32.7 million project aims to
re-establish agricultural activities and rebuild infrastructure.

Speaking on Tuesday during the launch in the capital, Bujumbura,
Nkurunziza said the plan would facilitate communication between the
provinces of Bujumbura Rural, Buriri and Ruyigi and other provinces and
help restart trading activities. It would also revive communities'
subsistence means. At least 370,000 people in the three provinces,
including 74,000 described as "most vulnerable", will benefit from the
project.

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=52747]


BURUNDI: Demobilisation camp for FNL rebels opened

A demobilisation camp that is scheduled to host combatants of Burundi's
remaining rebel group, the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) has
been opened in the northwestern province of Bubanza, a stronghold of the
rebel group.

The decision to open the camp, to be manned by the Burundi National
Defence Force, was made at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. At the same
time, preparations are on going for FNL-government negotiations, a
communique issued after the cabinet meeting said. The government has
sent a team to Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania, where
the talks are set to be held.

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=52799]


RWANDA: Ex-mayor sentenced to 15 years in prison for genocide

The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda sentenced
on Thursday a former mayor to 15 years in prison for his role in the
1994 genocide.

The Rwanda government welcomed the sentencing of Paul Bisengimana, 58,
who pleaded guilty, reversing an early "not guilty" plea he had made
before the court. Bisengimana was mayor for Gikoro Commune in Kigali
Rural Province during the genocide. Presiding Judge Arlete Ramaroson
said while Bisengimana had been present when the mass murders of Tutsi
refugees occurred at Musha Church in Kigali Rural Province, he did
nothing to stop the killings. "His presence accelerated the killings,"
she added.

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=52788]


SUDAN: Thirteen killed in cattle raids in Upper Nile

Heavily armed attackers have killed 13 herders in a series of four
cattle raids near Akobo town in Upper Nile State of southern Sudan
during the past one week, a source in the area said.

Members of the Muerle ethnic group attacked Nuer-Lao cattle camps in
various locations around Akobo on the Ethiopian border, David Lochhead,
a Sudan analyst visiting Akobo said. The victims included five men
killed in nearby Ogalo, two people murdered during a raid at Brumath and
four children killed in an attack on Pagay.

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=52790]


KENYA: Government officials killed in plane crash

Some 14 people, among them several members of parliament and government
officials, were killed when a military aircraft crashed as it prepared
to land on an airstrip near the northern Kenyan town of Marsabit on
Monday, officials said.

The Y-12 plane with a total of 18 people on board was ferrying the
government officials and politicians to a meeting to discuss ways of
improving security in the area, where members of different ethnic
communities often clash over water and pasture, said Bogita Ongeri,
spokesman for the defence department.

The pilot and three officials were reported to have survived. The rest
of the passengers, including three members of parliament and a junior
minister, were feared dead, according to local media reports. The
aircraft, which left a military air base in Nairobi on Monday morning,
had crashed on a hill near the airstrip and burst into flames, said
Muthea Iringo, the district commissioner for Marsabit. President Mwai
Kibaki expressed shock and concern following the crash. Two planes had
been dispatched to Marsabit to help with the rescue effort and airlift
the four survivors to Nairobi for medical treatment.


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