U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-Up 333
27 May - 2 June 2006


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Government, rebel group begin peace talks
DRC: German parliament approves contingent for Congo's EU force
DRC: Operation against militiamen displaces civilians in Ituri
GREAT LAKES: ICC defers militia leader's hearing
UGANDA: Programme to combat spread of tuberculosis launched
UGANDA: Probe recommended in AIDS fund scam
KENYA: Call for coordinated anti-corruption strategy


BURUNDI: Government, rebel group begin peace talks

Peace talks between the government of Burundi and the Forces Nationales de 
Liberation (FNL), the country's remaining rebel group, began on Monday in 
Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

South Africa's safety and security minister, Charles Nqakula, is 
facilitating the latest peace talks, which - in addition to Burundian 
government representatives and officials of the FNL faction led by Agathon 
Rwasa - are attended by representatives of the African Union, the United 
Nations, the governments of the Great Lakes countries and other diplomats. 
There is no representative of the FNL faction led by Jean Bosco 
Sindayigaya at the talks.

Burundi is emerging from over a decade of civil war, which erupted in 1993 
following the assassination of the country's first democratically elected 
president, Melchior Ndadaye. At least 300,000 Burundians have died as a 
result of the war, pitting the mainly Tutsi army against several Hutu 
rebel groups.


DRC: German parliament approves contingent for Congo's EU force

The German parliament, the Bundestag, voted 135-5 on Thursday to send a 
maximum of 780 soldiers to a United Nations-mandated European Union force, 
due to be deployed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to 
support the UN mission there during general elections set for 30 July.

"The main mission of German soldiers is the evacuation of civilians," a 
spokesman of the German Defence Ministry, who requested anonymity, said on 
Friday from the German capital, Berlin.

He said the contingent would have planes designed for medical evacuations. 
The contingent would comprise airborne troops, medical, and reconnaissance 
and communications personnel.

Meanwhile, the Swedish parliament is due to announce on 14 June whether or 
not it would send a contingent to the force.


DRC: Operation against militiamen displaces civilians in Ituri

Civilians in Libi, a commercial centre in the embattled northeastern Ituri 
District, have fled into the bush following fighting between militia and 
the national army, which is supported by troops from the UN peacekeeping 
mission, Idrissa Conteh, the information officer for the UN Office for the 
Coordination of Humanitar ian Affairs in Ituri, said on Tuesday.

The exact figure of the displaced civilians has not been established, but 
Libi normally has a population of some 16,000. The commercial centre is 
between the Mahagi and Djugu territories and 100km north of Bunia, the 
main town in Ituri.

The aim of the joint military operation is to force the militia to give up 
their guns and join the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration 
programme that 14,000 former militiamen in Ituri have already undergone. 
Some 12 UN peacekeepers have died in such operations since the beginning 
of 2006, bringing the death toll of UN troops to 74 since MONUC began its 
mission in the DRC in August 1999.


GREAT LAKES: ICC defers militia leader's hearing

The International Criminal Court (ICC) will hold the confirmation hearing 
in the case against former Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga on 28 
September, three month later than the initial date set, ICC Chief 
Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said on Wednesday during a media briefing at 
the court's headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands.

"I have requested this postponement because of the resurgence of violence 
in Ituri which poses the problem of the protection of witnesses," 
Moreno-Ocampo said.

Lubanga has been in the court's custody in The Hague since March. He faces 
war crimes charges including enlisting and conscripting children and 
actively using them in hostilities. The procedural phase of his case was 
initially set to end with a confirmation hearing on 27 June.


UGANDA: Programme t o combat spread of tuberculosis launched

Uganda's Health Ministry launched on Monday a programme to stem the spread 
of tuberculosis, a disease that afflicts at least 40,000 people in the 
East African country every year.

"One-third of the [27 million] population of Uganda has been affected by 
TB, and 10 percent of these will develop the disease and fall sick," 
Joseph Imoka, a Health Ministry official, said.

He said there were over 40,000 cases in 2005, and about half of these had 
open infections which were full-blown symptoms of the disease. "The number 
of people infected by TB is on the rise, especially in urban areas," he 
said.

The new project entails the provision of treatment and care for TB 
patients and awareness campaigns that will run concurrently with existing 
efforts to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. According to the health 
ministry, about 50 percent of TB patients are also infected with HIV, 
making TB the leading cause of morbidity among AIDS patients.


UGANDA: Probe recommended in AIDS fund scam

A Judicial probe into the mismanagement of grants to Uganda from the 
Geneva-based Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria 
recommended on Wednesday that Health Minister Jim Muhwezi and his two 
deputies, Mike Mukula and Alex Kamugisha, who have been implicated in the 
mismanagement of funds, be investigated for possible criminal prosecution.

The commission of inquiry said Muhwezi influenced the recruitment of 
Tiberius Muhebwa - who headed the unit that managed the funds in the 
Health Ministry - against the recommendation of consultants who had 
identified another candidate. Muhebwa, it added, had "failed badly to 
efficiently and effectively provide a safe managerial environment to 
protect the resources and operations of the Global Fund". Kamugisha is 
said to have in fluenced the recruitment of his son, Julius Mugisha, to 
work on the project.

In August 2005, the global fund temporarily suspended grants worth US $367 
million to Uganda, citing "serious mismanagement" of the funds. It lifted 
the suspension in November 2005, following assurances by the government 
that it would look into the management of the money.


KENYA: Call for coordinated anti-corruption strategy

Kenya's efforts to combat graft would be greatly enhanced if the country's 
anti-corruption commission were given the power to prosecute individuals 
suspected of engaging in corruption, participants said on Tuesday at a 
meeting on how best to fight the vice.

Currently, the mandate of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission is 
restricted to investigating cases of suspected corruption and then handing 
over evidence to the attorney general~Rs office for prosecution. 
Representatives from state institutions and the public sector gathered in 
the capital city of Nairobi to discuss a proposed national anti-corruption 
plan, designed with a view to ensuring a more coordinated approach against 
graft in Kenya.

Critics said resources were not being equitably shared between the 
investigative commission and the Office of the Director of Public 
Prosecutions. They warned that the disparity in resource allocation could 
result in corruption cases meticulously investigated by the well funded 
commission failing to lead to convictions in court because of weaknesses 
in prosecution.


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