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

Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-Up 355
28 October - 3 November 2006


CONTENTS:

UGANDA: Revised gov't-LRA ceasefire deal signed
CAR: Rebels call for dialogue after capturing key town
DRC: Kabila, Bemba pledge to keep the peace after poll
CENTRAL AFRICA: 'Ratify protocol on African Court of Human Rights'
KENYA: Polio case sparks immunisation campaign


UGANDA: Revised gov't-LRA ceasefire deal signed

Talks aimed at ending two decades of fighting in northern Uganda, were
given a boost on Wednesday with the signing of a revamped truce in Juba,
south Sudan, officials said. The Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA) ended a week-long impasse when they penned the
landmark agreement.

Under the latest ceasefire, the LRA will return to two previously
abandoned neutral sites in southern Sudan which they had fled fearing
attacks from the Ugandan People's Defence Force. As part of the
agreement, the South Sudanese government has pledged to keep the camps
secure. This open-ended deal replaces an August agreement that
technically expired in September, but which was still in force amidst
accusations of its violation from both sides. LRA leader Joseph Kony and
four of his senior commanders have been indicted over war crimes by the
International Criminal Court for atrocities against civilians in
northern Uganda; these include murder, rape, mutilation and mass
abductions.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56146]


CAR: Rebels call for dialogue after capturing key town

An alliance of three rebel groups that captured the Central African
Republic town of Birao on Monday says it is ready to hold talks with the
government to resolve the country's problems and avoid "useless
bloodshed".

"We want to go to the negotiating table with the ruling regime," Michel
Detodia, leader of the coalition calling itself the Union des forces
democratiques pour le rassemblement (UFDR), said on Thursday from Birao,
in the north of the country.

Reacting to this, Cyriaque Gonda, the spokesman for President Francois
Bozize, said: "The government has not received any official request or
demand from any rebel group over an eventual discussion. As soon as the
government officially gets such a demand, it will see what to do."

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56182]

[On the Net: CAR: Gov't in plea for help as rebels capture key town:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56127]


DRC: Kabila, Bemba pledge to keep the peace after poll

The Democratic Republic of Congo's incumbent president, Joseph Kabila,
and his challenger in Sunday's presidential election run-off,
Jean-Pierre Bemba, have pledged to respect the results and promised that
whoever loses the poll would not resort to violence.

Representatives of both men signed a post-election declaration of
intention document on Sunday, in which they promised that the loser
would renounce force. They pledged that any poll disputes would be
resolved legally, as required under the election law. The document
requires that, in the event of unrest, both candidates would publicly
appeal to their supporters to keep the peace.

Observers welcomed the accord, but expressed some doubts over its
implementation. "Congo is the winner here because today we can say that
the results of the second round are not going to help create the scope
for further fighting like that which occurred during the first round,"
Jean-Marie Labila, a political analyst at the University of Kinshasa and
adviser to the Ministry of International Cooperation, said.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56106]

[On the Net: Countdown in the Congo:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56097]

[On the Net:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56097]

[On the Net: Delayed presidential elections underway in Fataki:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56189]


CENTRAL AFRICA: 'Ratify protocol on African Court of Human Rights'

Central African nongovernmental organisations are urging states within
their region to ratify the protocol on the African Court of Human and
Peoples' Rights to bolster the fight against impunity and corruption.

"It is time civil-society organisations in central Africa mobilised
together to get our states really engaged in the establishment of the
African Court," Loamba Moke, the central Africa coordinator and focal
point for the coalition advocating the establishment of the court, said.

The appeal was made at the end of the coalition's meeting on Friday in
Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. The request was made
after a poor response to the document by the region's nine states:
Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic
of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda and the Republic of Congo.
Only Burundi and Gabon have ratified the protocol.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56104]


KENYA: Polio case sparks immunisation campaign

A polio immunisation campaign is being launched across five districts in
northern and northeastern Kenya, after a child in a refugee camp was
diagnosed with the paralysing disease, health ministry officials said on
Friday.

A total of 250,000 children are to be targeted after the three-year-old
Somali girl was found to have polio on 13 October despite having
undergone all the necessary vaccinations, the ministry added.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56238]


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
     Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
                                    guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Central/East Africa             www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/ceafrica