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 356
4 - 10 November 2006


CONTENTS:

CAR: Rebels claim seizure of second town
KENYA: Thousands flee clashes in Nairobi slum
DRC: ICC begins hearings in case against militia leader
DRC: Kabila, Bemba meet in efforts to maintain calm
TANZANIA: Zanzibar implements ban on plastics
UGANDA: Gov't optimistic over talks with northern rebels


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AFRICA: Worst hit by global warming, least prepared to tackle climate
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GLOBAL: Climate change to hurt poor people most
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56262]


CAR: Rebels claim seizure of second town

A rebel coalition operating in northern Central African Republic (CAR)
captured a second town on Friday, their spokesman said.

"We captured the town of Ouadda-Djalle in the early hours of the
morning," Abakar Saboune, spokesman of the Union des forces
democratiques pour le rassemblement coalition, told IRIN. He said rebel
forces had engaged government soldiers in a "fierce battle" before
seizing the town.

However, Cyriaque Gonda, the spokesman of President Francois Bozize,
said the town's current status was unclear.

"I cannot confirm the capture of the town of Ouadda-Djalle by rebel
groups for the time being," he said. "All I know is that some rebels
were located around this town a few days ago."

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56319]

[Also on the Net: Help us kick rebels out of town, Bozize urges France:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56298]


KENYA: Thousands flee clashes in Nairobi slum

At least 9,000 people have been displaced by three days of clashes
between gangs in a large slum in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, an
official of the Kenya Red Cross (KRC) said on Thursday.

"A lot more people are still fleeing their homes because of fear of more
attacks," Anthony Mwangi, the KRC's public relations manager, said. "We
are distributing food to thousands who have camped at [Kenya Air Force]
Eastleigh airbase."

By Thursday, eight people were reported to have died in the clashes,
which started on Tuesday between two gangs following a row over control
of a lucrative illicit brew market in the sprawling Mathare slum, local
residents said. Government security forces tried but failed to restore
calm between the 'Mungiki' and 'Taliban' gangs, they added.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56299]


DRC: ICC begins hearings in case against militia leader

The Hague-based International Criminal Court began on Thursday its first
pre-trial hearings of a case against a former militia leader from the
Democratic Republic of Congo.

Referred to as "Confirmation of Charges Hearing", the court's sessions
are presided over by a bench of three judges, led by Claude Jorda of
France. During the sessions, expected to last until 28 December, the
judges will assess whether charges brought by ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno
Ocampo against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo can be confirmed.

Lubanga was a militia leader in the DRC's volatile northeastern district
of Ituri, where armed activity has claimed the lives of at least 60,000
civilians and displaced hundreds of thousands since 1999. He founded and
led the Union des patriotes Congolais (the Union of Congolese Patriots -
UPC), which has since transformed itself into a political party.

The prosecution claims that as UPC leader, Lubanga coordinated the
recruitment of child soldiers for the militias.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56303]


DRC: Kabila, Bemba meet in efforts to maintain calm

Congolese presidential contenders Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba
have met in the capital, Kinshasa, in a bid to ensure that calm prevails
when the results of the run-off election are announced, a spokesman for
Kabila said on Wednesday. The results are due to be released on 19
November.

The spokesman, Kasongo Kudura, said neither man spoke to the media after
their meeting but they released a communique reflecting their
sentiments.

"The president, Joseph Kabila, and the vice-president, Jean-Pierre
Bemba, invite the entire population to remain calm, respect national
institutions and the laws of the republic, and avoid acts of provocation
and of violence," Kudura said.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56286]


TANZANIA: Zanzibar implements ban on plastics

Authorities in Tanzania's semiautonomous island of Zanzibar began on
Thursday to implement a ban on the importation, distribution and sale of
light plastics.

"The ban becomes effective today and any one violating the ban risks a
jail sentence of up to six months or a fine of US $2,000 or both
punishments," Ali Juma, Zanzibar's director of environment, told a news
conference in Stone Town, the island's capital.

Zanzibar's chief minister, Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, initially announced the
ban in parliament, giving a 45-day deadline - which ended on Wednesday -
for the business community to stop importing light plastic bags.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56304]


UGANDA: Gov't optimistic over talks with northern rebels

The Uganda government has said it is confident that faltering peace
talks with the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) will succeed, despite
the slow pace that officials initially said was unanticipated.

"We thought that we would finalise the talks in less than two months,
but we have been proved wrong," Interior Minister Ruhakana Rugunda,
leader of the government's delegation to the talks in Sudan, told a news
conference in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on Thursday. "But we are
confident the peace process will succeed."

The talks, he added, were on course and progressing. They are aimed
ending 20 years of the LRA's insurgency mostly in the north of the
country.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56318]

[On the Net, UGANDA: Violence taking toll on education in northeast:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56289]


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