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 340
15 - 21 July 2006


CONTENTS:

UGANDA: Six-month plan to resettle IDPs in the east
UGANDA: Gov't rules out truce with LRA before final peace deal
DRC: Act now to ensure post-polls stability, ICG says
DRC: No newspapers as journalists protest killing
BURUNDI: Rebels attack civilians as ceasefire talks continue
KENYA: Suspected kala-azar cases hospitalised in northeast
GREAT LAKES: Diaspora committed to poverty alleviation


ALSO SEE:

UGANDA: Turning Karamoja away from guns
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54675]

UGANDA: Coping without money to buy medicine
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54707]

DRC: Forgotten killer is back
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54690]

DRC: Diamonds, children and witchcraft
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54634]

CAR: Interview with Mai Moussa Abari, head of FAO
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54653]

KENYA: Booming tourism boosts juvenile sex trade
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54633]


UGANDA: Six-month plan to resettle IDPs in the east

The government has started implementing a six-month emergency plan to
resettle thousands of people displaced by the 20-year old conflict
between the army and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda's
eastern region, a senior official said on Wednesday.

"The emergency plan spans six months and is intended to help returnees
rebuild their lives and have infrastructure restored, such as roads,
schools and health centres," Musa Ecweru, the minister of state for
disaster preparedness and refugees, said.

About 90 percent of the Acholi population have been displaced and live
in 200 camps, relying almost entirely on aid agencies for survival.
According to data compiled by the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than a million people are
displaced in the Acholi districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54706]


UGANDA: Gov't rules out truce with LRA before final peace deal

The government ruled out on Wednesday a ceasefire with the LRA until a
comprehensive peace pact with the rebels has been signed, saying the
group has not respected previous truces.

"We are opposed to signing [a] cessation of hostilities with the LRA
[...] because the government of Uganda has on previous occasions held
peace negotiations with the LRA and it was proved that most of the time
they abused the cessation of hostilities we offered," Ruhakana Rugunda,
Uganda's internal affairs minister, said.

Thousands of people have been killed and two million displaced in
northern Uganda since the LRA took leadership of a regional rebellion
among the Acholi in 1988 in a bid to oust Ugandan President Yoweri
Museveni and replace his government with one based on the biblical Ten
Commandments.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54692]

[On the Net: Peace talks start, but positions far apart:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54638]

[Juba talks to focus on cessation of hostilities:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54674]


DRC: Act now to ensure post-polls stability, ICG says

The international community and the government of the Democratic
Republic of Congo must put in place measures to ensure stability after
general elections scheduled for 30 July, an official of the
International Crisis Group (ICG) said on Friday.

"The elections could destabilise the DRC unless both the government and
the international community invest more in addressing issues such as
corruption in the country's administration and putting in place an
accountable political system," Jason Stearns, a senior ICG analyst, said
at a news briefing in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

According to the ICG, "A complete overhaul of the approach to good
governance is needed after the elections, with much greater focus on
strengthening institutions, especially parliament and courts."

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54734]


DRC: No newspapers as journalists protest killing

No newspapers were published in the DRC on Tuesday in protest at the
killing of a reporter in the previous 10 days.

"A day without newspapers throughout the country; it is our way of
protesting against those who want to muffle the freedom of the press and
that of expression. We are not afraid of death; we will continue doing
our work," John Richard Kasonga, the secretary of the National Union of
the Congolese Press, said.

At least 1,000 journalists took part in a demonstration on Monday in the
capital, Kinshasa, during which they presented a memorandum to the
United Nations Mission in the DRC, MONUC, seeking its protection.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54679]

[On the Net: Trio in military court over journalist's murder
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54589]


BURUNDI: Rebels attack civilians as ceasefire talks continue

The Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), Burundi's remaining active
rebel group, continued on Monday to attack civilians even as ceasefire
negotiations with the government went on in Dar es Salaam, the
commercial capital of Tanzania.

The attacks, mostly in Burundi's northwestern province of Bubanza and
the western province of Bujumbura Rural, have resulted in deaths and the
internal displacement of civilians. The latest attack, in which three
people died and seven were wounded, occurred in Rugeyo village in
Bubanza's Musigati Commune.

The administrator of Musigati, Isai Niragira, said the frequent attacks
had forced some 75 households in Rugeyo to flee. "They attend to their
activities during the day but they leave their homes in the evening and
seek refuge in households neighbouring military positions at the
Musigati parish," he said.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54693]

[On the Net: Rebels, Gov't resume ceasefire negotiations
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54669]


KENYA: Suspected kala-azar cases hospitalised in northeast

At least 30 children have been admitted to hospital in the northeastern
Kenyan town of Wajir with symptoms of kala-azar, a deadly parasitic
disease characterised by anemia and the inflammation of the liver and
spleen, health officials said on Thursday.

"We have received 22 patients this morning in addition to the 10 last
week," Ahmeddin Omar, the doctor in charge of the Wajir District
Hospital, said.

He said that those affected were mainly children between the ages of one
year and 13 years. Most were younger than five years, he added.

Almost all the cases in the hospital had come from Merti administrative
division of the neighbouring Isiolo District.

Kala-azar, known as visceral leishmaniasis, is caused by parasitic
protozoa transmitted to humans by the bite of infected female sandfly,
according to the United Nations World Health Organization. The disease
lowers the immune system, causes persistent fever, anemia, liver and
spleen enlargement, and is fatal if untreated.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54708]


GREAT LAKES: Diaspora committed to poverty alleviation

Members of the Diaspora from Africa's Great Lakes region want to be part
of efforts to fight poverty and brain drain in the region, according to
participants at a conference that opened on Monday in the Burundian
capital, Bujumbura.

"It is time for the Diaspora, which had for long lost contact with their
countries, to cease being called the lost citizens," Jean-Marie
Rurimirije, president of a bank known as the Mutualite de Grand Lacs,
said at the conference, which was opened by Burundian President Pierre
Nkurunziza.

The two-day conference is organised by the Forum international des
praticiens du micro credit et de la mutualite - an association providing
money transfer services and micro credit. It is sponsored by the
European Union, the World Bank and the United Nations Development
Programme. Members of parliament, government officials and diplomats as
well as representatives of religious organisations are also attending
the conference.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54656]


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