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 345
19 - 25 August 2006


CONTENTS:

UGANDA: Gov't ready for conditional truce with rebels
DRC: Counting the casualties after Kinshasa battle
KENYA: Tension in camp after refugees killed
BURUNDI: Former president's arrest seen as part of pattern of abuse
BURUNDI: Officers in demobilisation for the first time, official says


ALSO SEE:

DRC:
Frontrunners need alliances for 2nd round of presidential polls
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55218]

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


UGANDA: Gov't ready for conditional truce with rebels

The Ugandan government said on Friday it would accept demands by the
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) for a ceasefire on condition the rebels
agreed to assemble their forces in designated locations.

"The president [Yoweri Museveni] has agreed that a ceasefire or
cessation of hostilities should be given, but with conditions," Ruth
Nankabirwa, the minister of state for defence, said.

She said the proposal gave assembly points, safe passages and how the
rebels' welfare would be handled and how the monitoring should be done.

"If they agree to assemble at designated locations, the government will
then order the cessation of operations by the Ugandan People's Defence
Force," she told reporters in Kampala, the Ugandan capital.

The LRA has called for a unilateral ceasefire, but the Ugandan
government has refused to reciprocate, saying this should be part of a
more comprehensive peace deal.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55279]

[On the Net: UGANDA: Gov't, rebels discuss ending hostilities:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55207]

[UGANDA: Gov't rejects rebel demand for reconstituted army:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55222]


DRC: Counting the casualties after Kinshasa battle

At least 66 people were killed and wounded during three days of fighting
in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, between forces of President Joseph
Kabila and Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba, Interior Minister Theophile
Mbemba said on Friday.

"The tally was made in areas the police patrolled during hostilities and
does not include combatants from each side of the conflict," Mbemba
said.

He said 43 of the 66 people were wounded and 23 killed, among them 12
policemen and seven civilians, as well as four soldiers who were not
part of either Kabila's or Bemba's forces. Neither side has so far
released a tally of their casualties.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55280]

[On the Net: DRC: Guns silenced with a ceasefire:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55248]

[Battling it out in Kinshasa:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55219]


KENYA: Tension in camp after refugees killed

Tension between refugees in Kakuma camp and the local population have
escalated after four people died there over the past two weeks, the
spokesman in Kenya for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Thursday.

"A Somali refugee was killed on Tuesday night," Emmanuel Nyabera, the
spokesman, said in Nairobi. "The situation is calm but tense. We're
holding community meetings to diffuse the tensions."

Relations between the refugees and the Turkana people have been strained
by several violent incidents earlier in August, a local observer, who
did not wish to be named, said. Two weeks ago, bandits from outside the
camp shot dead a Somali man; two days later a Sudanese refugee was
attacked and killed by local men.

When the relatives of the Sudanese man were digging his grave, they
attacked two Turkana men in retaliation, killing one and seriously
wounding the other.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55254]


BURUNDI: Former president's arrest seen as part of pattern of abuse

The recent arrest of Burundi's former president, Domitien Ndayizeye, on
allegations that he was planning to overthrow the state, is one of a
spate of abuses by the government, according to human-rights groups.

"The situation is deteriorating, with reports of summary extrajudicial
executions, arbitrary and illegal arrests and kidnappings," Audace
Ndayisaba, the vice-chairman of Iteka, a local human-rights group, said
in Bujumbura on Thursday.

Reports emerged on Wednesday that seven people in police custody had
been executed and nine others were missing in the northeastern province
of Muyinga. The bodies of the seven were found in Ruvubu River on 17
July, Pierre Mbonimpa, the chairman of APRODH, the association for the
protection of human rights and the rights of detainees, said on
Thursday.

On Friday, the state prosecutor, Jean Bosco Ndikumana, refused to
comment on the allegations of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests
and kidnappings. "We should let justice do its job," he said, in
reference to ongoing investigations.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55274]


BURUNDI: Officers in demobilisation for the first time, official says

Officers have been included for the first time in Burundi's
demobilisation process that started in 2004, an official said on Monday.

Ninety-seven officers were demobilised on Monday in the central province
of Gitega, 58 from the government's Forces de Defense Nationales, and 39
from the former rebels, the Conseil national pour la defense de la
democratie-Forces Nationales pour la defence de la democratie.

Apart from former rebel leaders, previous demobilisations had involved
only non-commissioned officers and rank and file troops. The spokesman
for the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration team, Col Augustin
Nzabampema, said the demobilisation of officers was "a normal and second
step" of the demobilisation process.

The process is continuing even though one rebel movement, the Front
National de Liberation led by Agathon Rwasa, is still fighting in
Bujumbura Rural and Bubanza provinces.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55212]


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