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 351
30 September - 6 October 2006


CONTENTS:

UGANDA: Gov't troops resume operations in the north
UGANDA: Monitoring team finds no rebels at assembly area
CAR: 10,000 Sudanese refugees to be repatriated
DRC: Plague kills 29 in Orientale Province, infects 500, WHO says
DRC: Joint patrols to enforce arms ban in Kinshasa
DRC: Majority coalition in parliament backs Kabila
TANZANIA: Court dismisses claim that union with Zanzibar is illegal


ALSO SEE:

UGANDA-SUDAN: Waiting in vain for rebels
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55834
SUDAN-UGANDA: Southern Sudanese still live in fear and hope
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55828
CONGO: Isolated Sangha region falls off the map
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55772


UGANDA: Government troops resume operations in the north

The Ugandan military has resumed operations in areas of war-affected
northern Uganda, despite ongoing talks with the rebel Lord's Resistance
Army (LRA) in Juba, southern Sudan, an army spokesman said on Wednesday.

"We have sent squads to areas we withdrew from to make sure there are no
[LRA] elements there that can cause trouble and these will establish
whether there are still some LRA elements in the region," Lt. Chris
Magezi, the army spokesman for northern Uganda, said.

Under a 26 August Cessation of Hostilities Agreement between the LRA and
the Ugandan government, the rebels had until 19 September to assemble at
two sites in southern Sudan, via designated safe passage routes. They
were to remain there for the duration of the talks.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55822]


UGANDA: Monitoring team finds no rebels at assembly area

A fact-finding team consisting of parties to talks between the Ugandan
government and the LRA left one of the assembly points, Owiny Ki-Bul,
southern Sudan, without establishing the presence of the LRA rebels in
the area.

The team, which came from the south Sudan capital of Juba, where the
talks are taking place, were to verify complaints by the LRA and the
Ugandan government over alleged violations of the Cessation of
Hostilities Agreement signed in Juba.

The government had said the LRA violated the agreement by failing to
assemble its fighters at Owiny-Ki-Bul as required. However, the LRA
accused the Uganda People's Defence Force of surrounding its troops at
Ngomoromo and Puger, south of Owiny Ki-Bul; at Parajok and Palutaka,
east of Owiny Ki-Bul; as well as other areas near the assembly point.

The monitoring team left on Tuesday for Palutaka, where they were to
verify the LRA's claim that the UPDF had deployed in the area in
violation of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. They were also due
to visit Parajok, 15 km from Owiny Ki-Bul.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55809]


CAR: 10,000 Sudanese refugees to be repatriated

At least 10,000 Sudanese refugees in the Central African Republic are to
be repatriated after an agreement between the government and the United
Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, an agency official said.

The repatriation is to begin in M'Boki Camp in October, according to
UNHCR CAR representative Bruno Geddo.

The refugees were stranded in M'Boki when an earlier repatriation effort
was suspended in April with the closure of the Sudan border because of
growing insecurity in eastern CAR and constant border crossings by
Chadian rebels.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55763]


DRC: Plague kills 29 in Orientale Province, infects 500, WHO says

Pneumonic plague has since 16 August claimed 29 lives and infected
another 500 people in the Pawa and Wemba areas of Isiro District in
northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, an official of the World
Health Organization said on Monday.

Dr Florent Ekwanzala, an epidemiologist, said a WHO-backed health team
comprising a supervisor, laboratory nurse and members of an
international NGO had collected samples that have been sent to the
National Institute of Bio-Medical Research in Kinshasa for analysis.

Pneumonic plague is a bacterial infection that can be transmitted to
humans by the bite of infected fleas, direct contact with infected
patients, and inhalation or, rarely, ingestion of infective materials
such as infected tissue. Infected persons usually develop flu-like
symptoms after an incubation period of three to seven days. The disease
is contagious and mortality rates can be high.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55811]


DRC: Joint patrols to enforce arms ban in Kinshasa

Congolese police, with the UN and European Union security forces, began
joint patrols on Monday aimed at enforcing a weapons ban in Kinshasa
during the election period, a UN official said.

"These patrols will stop fighting breaking out between [anyone's]
guards," said Lt Col Christian Lescoffit, the military spokesman for the
UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, known as MONUC.

When results from the first round of election results were announced on
20 August, President Joseph Kabila's guards and those of his rival,
Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba, fought for three days in Kinshasa,
killing at least 23 people.

The new, well-armed patrols, comprising up to 248 police and military
personnel, operate citywide, Lescoffit said, seizing weapons from anyone
possessing them illegally.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55808]


DRC: Majority coalition in parliament backs Kabila

A coalition of political parties backing transitional President Kabila
in the second-round polls due 29 October has achieved a majority in the
new parliament with 300 out of 500 seats, coalition spokesman Olivier
Kamitatu of the Alliance pour la majorite presidentielle said on
Thursday.

Kabila's coalition includes the party of veteran politician Antoine
Gizenga, who in the first round of presidential elections on 30 July
came third; and Zanga Mobutu, the son of the late president, Mobuto Sese
Seko, who came in fourth.

The second round of presidential polls will be a run-off between Kabila,
who took 44.8 percent of the first-round vote, and Jean-Pierre Bemba,
who won 20 percent. In the parliament, Kabila's Parti du peuple pour la
reconstruction et la democratie premiere took 111 of the 500 seats,
while Bemba's Mouvement de liberation du Congo won 64 seats.

Bemba is fashioning his own political coalition, which includes 15 of
the 33 other presidential candidates who ran in the first round.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55765]


TANZANIA: Court dismisses claim that union with Zanzibar is illegal

The High Court of Zanzibar dismissed on Tuesday a case challenging the
legality of the 1964 Act of Union, which formed Tanzania out of the
islands of Zanzibar and the mainland area formerly known as Tanganyika -
yet the claimants say their fight had just began.

"We will continue to struggle against this fake union," Rashid Addiy,
the leader of the anti-union group, said after the ruling.

He said his anti-union movement was growing and that at least 10,000
people had signed a petition calling for an appeal.

"If the appeal doesn't work we will find other means," Addiy said.

During the hearing, the lawyer defending the union, Masumbuko Lamwai,
said the claimants in the case were asking the court to commit treason.
"Not only does this endanger the union, it incites the population to
violence," Lamwai said.

In dismissing the case, Zanzibar High Court Judge Mbarouk Salim said the
claim had not been properly filed. "The applicants had no proper
understanding of legal procedures," he said.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55825]

[On the Net: [TANZANIA: Court case on Zanzibar union begins:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53463]


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