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 357
11 - 17 November 2006


CONTENTS:

DRC: Bemba rejects poll results
CAR: Concerns over food availability as rebels advance
ROC: Six die as heavy rains continue to pound Brazzaville
RWANDA: Military tribunal convicts priest of genocide, rape
TANZANIA: Expulsion of illegal immigrants begins
TANZANIA: Environmental woes hit lakes, rivers
SUDAN: Government 'accepts' UN troops in Darfur


ALSO SEE:
AFRICA: Continent lags behind in carbon market - World Bank
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56395]

SUDAN-UGANDA: Jungle boost for peace process
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56411]

GLOBAL: Continue supporting Africa, Annan urges
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56393]



DRC: Bemba rejects poll results

Jean-Pierre Bemba, challenger to President Joseph Kabila, has rejected
the provisional results of the run-off presidential poll announced by
the Democratic Republic of Congo's Independent Electoral Commission.

"I regret to say to our people and the international community that I
cannot accept the results that are far from reflecting the truth of the
election results," Bemba told a news conference on Thursday in the
capital, Kinshasa.

The commission announced on Wednesday that Kabila had won the 29 October
poll by garnering 58 percent of the vote, against Bemba's 43.5 percent.

"I promise to use all the legal channels to respect the will of our
people," Bemba said, without giving details of what he planned to do.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56409]

[Also on the Net: Kabila wins presidential election:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56387]


CAR: Concerns over food availability as rebels advance

A humanitarian team on an assessment mission to Bria, northern Central
African Republic, found a shortage of meat in the area, a sign that most
of its cattle-breeding residents had fled because of rebel activity, a
United Nations official said on Thursday.

At the same time, a rebel coalition that has already captured three
towns in the north claimed it had captured a fourth town on Wednesday.
The town of Ouadda, in the northeastern prefecture of Haute-Kotto,
reportedly fell into rebel hands after government troops there joined
the rebellion.

Briefing journalists in Bangui, the capital, on Wednesday's trip to
Bria, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Toby Lanzer, said local
authorities had told him that 5,000 to 10,000 people had fled the town.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56396]

[Also on the Net: Displaced civilians flock to town targeted by rebels:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56358]


ROC: Six die as heavy rains continue to pound Brazzaville

Six people have died and at least 5,000 others rendered homeless by
heavy rains that have caused extensive flooding in Brazzaville, capital
of the Republic of Congo.

The rains have continued non-stop for the past three days, sweeping away
houses and causing massive population displacement, a government
official said on Friday on national radio. The deaths occurred in the
past two weeks after landslides in Brazzaville's southwestern
neighbourhood of Kinsoundi, the official said. Two of the dead were
children aged six and eight.

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

[Also on the Net: Flood victims in need of aid:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56398]


RWANDA: Military tribunal convicts priest of genocide, rape

A military tribunal in Rwanda has found a priest, resident in France,
guilty of rape and involvement in the 1994 genocide and sentenced him in
absentia to life in prison. The tribunal handed down the sentence on
Wenceslas Munyeshyaka on Thursday in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

It found Munyeshyaka guilty of rape and aiding militias in the killing
of hundreds of Tutsi refugees at the Holy Family Cathedral in downtown
Kigali, where he was head priest.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56408]


TANZANIA: Expulsion of illegal immigrants begins

Tanzanian authorities have started sending back immigrant pastoralists
in the northwestern region of Kagera, who had moved into the area from
neighbouring Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, the deputy Livestock
Development minister, Charles Mlingwa, has said.

"We began repatriating the illegal immigrants last month [October] with
their livestock as the trend was likely to create a serious
environmental crisis in the area," Mlingwa said on Tuesday during a
parliamentary session in Dodoma, the country's political capital.

The immigrants, estimated by the government to number at least 100,000,
moved into grazing land in Kagera, bringing 42,550 cows, 8,920 goats and
2,100 sheep, he added.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56376]


TANZANIA: Environmental woes hit lakes, rivers

The Tanzanian government is working with community stakeholders to
mitigate the effects of climate change on water levels in Lake Victoria
and other lakes.

The effects are biting hard as millions of people in the East African
country suffer from power outages, decimated water supplies and
suspended or reduced transport services. Minister of State in the
Vice-President's Office in charge of Environment, Mark Mwandosya,
attributed the changes to the reckless felling of trees and cultivation
on river banks.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56388]


SUDAN: Government 'accepts' UN troops in Darfur

The Sudanese government has 'agreed in principle' to the deployment of
United Nations peacekeepers in the western region of Darfur alongside
African Union forces, officials said after a high-level meeting in the
Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

"A hybrid operation is agreed in principle, pending clarification of the
size of the force," stated a communique released at the end of the
meeting. "The peacekeeping force will have a predominantly African
character [but] backstopping and command and control structures will be
provided by the UN."

The meeting, which discussed the continuing violence in Darfur, was
attended by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the AU and
representatives from Security Council member countries.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56407]


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