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 339
8 - 14 July 2006


CONTENTS:

AFRICA: Unclear policies blamed for donor aid misuse
CAR: France provides military help to restore security in the north
DRC: Police disperse demonstrators
DRC: Kinshasa accepts militia leader's plea to join army
TANZANIA: Zanzibar sprays households in anti-malaria effort
UGANDA-SUDAN: Govt, LRA to start talks on Friday, says Machar
UGANDA: Gov't ponders asking ICC to lift LRA indictments


ALSO SEE:

DRC: No money, no school
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54558]

DRC: Countdown in Congo
[http://www.irinnews.org/DRCelection.asp]

KENYA: Battling malaria in western region
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54595]



AFRICA: Unclear policies blamed for donor aid misuse

African countries misuse development aid from donors because of
"unclear" policies, Burundi's first vice-president, Martin Nduwimana,
said at an ongoing regional conference on gender and development in
Bujumbura, the country's capital, on Tuesday.

"If we [African governments] set up clear policies, which would put an
end to mismanagement, corruption and embezzlement, we will for sure give
a chance to the integration of women in all sectors," Nduwimana said in
an opening address at the four-day conference organised by the United
Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and Burundi's ministry of
national solidarity, human rights and gender equality.

Participants drawn from 22 African countries are to use the conference
to prepare a forum on gender and integral development scheduled to take
place in Ghana in 2008.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54556]


CAR: France provides military help to restore security in the north

France is to provide military assistance to help the Central African
Republic (CAR) restore peace and security in its troubled northern
region, an official of the French embassy said on Wednesday.

"The assistance will be available in days to come," Jacques Schwartz,
first counsellor of the French embassy, said in the CAR capital, Bangui.

The French military aid comes after months of unrest in northern CAR.
The insecurity started in the north-western town of Markounda in
September 2005 and has since spread to the whole northern part of the
country and to parts of the east where suspected foreign troops are
reported to have occupied the towns of Tiringulu and Gordil. Thousands
of civilians have subsequently fled the north.

Past military operations by the regular army and troops of the Economic
and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) to secure the north
have failed as the armed groups are well equipped.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54583]

[On the Net:
Silent crisis in northwest lingers
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53771]


DRC: Police disperse demonstrators

Riot police in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC), on Tuesday fired into the air and used tear gas to disperse
demonstrators calling for transparency in the country's general
elections, scheduled for 30 July.

One demonstrator lost his hand when a tear-gas canister exploded, while
a parliamentary candidate was admitted to hospital suffering from
tear-gas inhalation after the demonstration.

"We want everyone included in the elections, including veteran
opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi," said Roger Lumbala, a
presidential candidate and leader of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la
democratie-national (RCD-N), who was among the demonstrators.

At least 25 million people are registered to vote in the elections in
which 33 candidates are contesting the presidency and at least 9,000
candidates are competing for seats in the country's 500-member
parliament.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54554]

[On the Net:
Suspend poll campaigns, 19 presidential candidates say
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54402]


DRC: Kinshasa accepts militia leader's plea to join army

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has responded
positively to a request by a militia leader in the northeastern district
of Ituri to be integrated into the national army.

Peter Karim Udaga is leader of the Front des nationalistes et
integrationnistes (FNI), which was responsible for the recent abduction
of seven United Nations peacekeepers, who have since been released.
Karim's FNI group took the seven hostage on 28 May as they conducted an
operation code-named 'Ituri Element III' to drive out the militias from
the area.

"They [Karim's group] wrote a letter to the government and received a
response from Kinshasa about their integration," Mbitso Ngedza, the
assistant police chief in Ituri, said on local radio on Thursday.

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=54614]


TANZANIA: Zanzibar sprays households in anti-malaria effort

Health officials in Tanzania's semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar on
Monday began spraying thousands of households with a non-toxic
insecticide in an effort to control the breeding of mosquitoes that
transmit malaria, Africa's top killer.

At least 452 workers took part in spraying the households with the
lambda-cyhalothrin (ICON) chemical in the campaign dubbed Indoor
Residual Spray.

The spraying, expected to go on for 54 days, will be done in all
districts of Unguja and Pemba - the islands that make up Zanzibar -
under the supervision of the Zanzibar Malaria Control Programme (ZMCP).

"We hope we shall reduce malaria prevalence drastically, down from the
31 percent [May 2006 government statistics] to 15 percent or below, by
successful spraying," Mahdi Ramsan, a ZMCP malaria expert said.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54499]


UGANDA-SUDAN: Govt, LRA to start talks on Friday, says Machar

Southern Sudanese Vice-President Riek Machar returned to Juba on
Thursday with leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and announced
that peace talks between the rebels and the Ugandan government would
start on Friday.

"Our understanding is that the Ugandan government will talk to the LRA
unconditionally," Machar said at Juba airport. "The talks will start
tomorrow [Friday]. The delegation of the LRA is here - they [the Ugandan
government] said they would come." However, he added that no agenda for
the peace talks had been set. "We have a secretariat. We will let them
decide whether to enter into direct talks or negotiate through
mediators," he told reporters.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54592]


UGANDA: Gov't ponders asking ICC to lift LRA indictments

Uganda is considering asking the International Criminal Court (ICC) to
lift indictments against five leaders of the rebel Lord's Resistance
Army to facilitate peace talks between the government and the
insurgents, an official said on Monday.

"We will ask them [the ICC] to give peace talks a chance. We want to
convince them that there will be no impunity whatsoever. They should
allow the traditional justice system to handle the situation. We find
that to be the ideal situation because those people [the ICC] cannot get
[LRA leader Joseph] Kony," said Paddy Ankunda, a spokesman for a
delegation of government officials due to travel to southern Sudan for a
meeting with LRA representatives.

The ICC indicted five top leaders of the LRA, including Kony, in October
2005 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including
abduction and sexual enslavement of children. It insists that Kony
should be arrested and put on trial. However, on 4 July, Uganda's
President Yoweri Museveni announced a total amnesty for Kony, on
condition that the rebel leader renounced terrorism and accepted
peace.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54503]

[On the Net:
Kony will eventually face trial, says ICC prosecutor
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54503]


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