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Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-Up 342
29 July - 4 August 2006


CONTENTS:

DRC: Polls body to probe fraud claims
DRC: Food shortages for 80,600 IDPs
DRC: Militia leader gets 20-year jail sentence
DRC: 17 die in South Kivu air crash
BURUNDI: Colonel arrested as coup crackdown continues
BURUNDI: Regional body to decide date of ceasefire agreement
UGANDA: Government, rebels to resume talks in Sudan


ALSO SEE:

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

DRC: "Hear Our Voices" - I hope women will no longer be raped - elderly
voter [http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54919]

DRC: Hear Our Voices - "Why we didn't vote"- displaced persons
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54961]

DRC: Rape victims hope new leaders will halt violence
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54940]

DRC: Children abused in electoral campaign
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54892]

UGANDA: Locals want rebel leader forgiven
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54920]

UGANDA-SUDAN: LRA child abductees cry for home
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54898]



DRC: Polls body to probe fraud claims

As vote-counting continued on Wednesday in the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC), the Independent Electoral Commission announced it was
looking into claims of irregularities and would make its findings public
in a week.

The chairman of the electoral commission, Apollinaire Malumalu, said the
commission had started making inquiries into allegations of fraud and
irregularities. Congo's previous multiparty presidential elections took
place when it gained independence from Belgium in 1960.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54949]

Should no clear winner emerge from Sunday's poll, round two of the
presidential election is scheduled for 29 October. Voting for the 11
provincial legislative elections will take place at the same time. On 29
December, another election will be held for a new Senate. Then, on 16
January 2007 voting will take place for provincial governors and their
deputies.

The second round of presidential elections would involve only the two
leading candidates from Sunday's first round. Definitive results for
that election could still take weeks, Malumalu said.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54903]

[On the Net: Vote starts with good turnout:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54890]

[Militiamen stop voters from going to polls:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54893]


DRC: Food shortages for 80,600 IDPs

Food aid is running short for about 80,600 people displaced by
insecurity in the country's northeast, a local official of the United
Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Ituri District said on 28 July.

"We have only 40 to 60 tonnes in stock for the displaced in camps, and
with 40 tonnes we can only serve pregnant women, nursing mothers and
children," said Francois Djissou, the WFP official in charge of the
agency's Ituri office in Bunia.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54897]

[On the Net: NGO launches anti-hunger campaign:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54859]


DRC: Militia leader gets 20-year jail sentence

A military tribunal in the northeastern district of Ituri sentenced a
militia leader to 20 years' imprisonment on Tuesday for crimes against
humanity.

Yves Panga Mandro Kahwa was charged with creating an insurrection
movement, called the Parti pour l'Unite et la sauvegarde de l'Integrite
du Congo, in 2002 in Tchomia, 60 km southeast of Bunia, the main town in
Ituri. The tribunal ruled that the movement, also known as PUSIC, was
responsible for the destabilisation of the district.

Ituri has remained volatile due to militia activity, despite various
Congolese political parties and rebel groups signing an agreement in
2002 that ended the civil war in most parts of the country.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54967]

[On the Net: Trial begins despite former militia leader's absence:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54529]


DRC: 17 die in South Kivu air crash

All 17 people aboard a Russian-built aircraft were killed on Thursday
when it slammed into a mountain just north of the town of Bukavu, an
aviation official said.

The Antonov 28 twin propeller passenger aircraft owned by Trasept Congo
was carrying 14 passengers and three crew members, Kavumu Airport
Commandant George Matutu, who was among the first at the crash site,
said. Kavumu is 50 km north of Bukavu, near the Rwandan border. There
were no reported casualties on the ground.

There have been numerous crashes in Congo due to poorly maintained
aircraft.

Following several fatal crashes, the central government in September
2005 grounded 33 of the country's 51 private airlines until they
complied with safety standards.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54979]

[On the Net: Country without roads:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54422]


BURUNDI: Regional body to decide date of ceasefire agreement

Negotiations between the Burundian government and the rebel Forces
nationales de liberation (FNL) are proceeding smoothly and it will be up
to the head of the peace initiative to decide when the ceasefire
agreement should be signed, the mediator of the talks said on Wednesday.

"President Yoweri Museveni, as chairperson of the regional initiative on
Burundi, will decide when to call the regional summit for the signing of
a ceasefire deal between the government and the FNL wing," Charles
Nqakula, the mediator, added.

The FNL wing to which he referred to is led by Agathon Rwasa.

Rwasa's FNL is the only rebel group still outside Burundi's government.
Several other rebel groups joined the government institutions after
signing peace agreements with the transitional government. The country's
transitional period ended in August 2005 with the election of
Nkurunziza, himself a former rebel leader whose group is now the ruling
party.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54964]

[On the Net: Rebels attack civilians as ceasefire talks continue:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54693]


BURUNDI: Colonel arrested as coup crackdown continues

Secret service agents in Burundi arrested an army colonel on Wednesday
in a government crackdown on suspected coup plotters, the government
spokesman said.

Agents of the internal intelligence agency, the Agence nationale de
renseignement, arrested Col Damien Ndarisigaranye at a bank in the
capital, Bujumbura, bringing to nine those being held since Monday on
similar allegations.

Government spokesman Ramadhan Karenga said all those under arrest were
on a list of 15 people "wanted for preparing to overthrow the elected
institutions".

Burundi is emerging from 13 years of civil war, in which the minority
Tutsi-dominated army fought several rebel groups headed by the majority
Hutus. At least 300,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands
displaced.

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54954]

[On the Net: Former VP, ex-rebel leader arrested over coup plot
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54927]


UGANDA: Government, rebels to resume talks in Sudan

Peace talks between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA) will resume on Monday in Juba, Riek Machar, the
chief mediator and southern Sudanese vice-president, said on Tuesday.

Speaking near the Sudan-DRC border after meeting LRA leader Joseph Kony
Machar said, "I am optimistic that this time they will come up with a
positive result because I have seen the commitment of the Ugandan
people."

However, Kony demanded a cessation of hostilities before talks. "We wish
to categorically state that no meaningful negotiations can take place
without a cessation of hostilities," he said.

The LRA has fought the Ugandan government for 21 years,

[Full Story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54938]


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