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 361
9 - 15 December 2006


CONTENTS:

GREAT LAKES: Regional pact highlights humanitarian issues
GREAT LAKES: Appeal calls for US $84m
BURUNDI: Food crisis looms in the north, east-central
KENYA: Red Cross appeals for $21.9m for flood-affected people
DRC: Heavy rains render 3,600 Bumba residents homeless
TANZANIA: Zanzibar issues ultimatum over pollution
UGANDA: Northern situation improving, but IDPs still reluctant to go
   home
CAR: Army recaptures last rebel-held town


ALSO SEE:

UGANDA: Northern situation improving, but IDPs still reluctant to go
home [http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56715]

DRC: Healing the wounds of war at Panzi Hospital, South Kivu
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56704


GREAT LAKES: Regional initiative to help IDPs

Presidents from several Great Lakes countries signed a pact at the end
of a two-day summit in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Friday to address
security, stability and development across the region.

The pact contains a protocol on protection and assistance for the
displaced - the first legally binding regional instrument specifically
dealing with internally displaced persons.

It also includes protocols on the prevention and suppression of sexual
violence against women and children, which obliges member states to
punish the perpetrators of sexual violations in both conflict and
non-conflict situations.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56760]

[On the Net: Leaders meet over peace, development and humanitarian
crises: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56739]


GREAT LAKES: Appeal calls for US $84m

The humanitarian appeal to donors for the Great Lakes region for 2007 is
aimed at alleviating the suffering of thousands in the region and
improving emergency preparedness and response, a senior United Nations
official in Nairobi said on Wednesday.

The $84-million appeal focuses on the provision of humanitarian aid
including food security, health and nutrition, HIV/AIDS and gender
violence, the head of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) Regional Office for East and Central Africa, Besida
Tonwe, said.

The funds will also be used for education, coordination and support
services, emergency preparedness and response, and early recovery and
transition, Tonwe said.

The largest portion of the appeal is $54.5 million required for food
assistance for 2.5 million people, including refugees in Rwanda and
Tanzania, while $13.8 million is required for protecting refugees and
returnees.

The funds are expected to provide food aid to at least 584,000 returnees
and refugees in the region, "which is emerging from deadly conflict",
Tonwe said.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56727]


BURUNDI: Food crisis looms in the north, east-central

A food crisis is looming in the north and east-central Burundi, a
consultant at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has
said.

However, Methode Niyongendako said the severity of the food crisis in
Ngozi, Kirundo, Kayanza, Muyinga, Karuzi and Cankuzo provinces would not
be as bad as in 2005.

Adverse climatic conditions are to blame, with poor rains in September,
the planting season for maize and beans, followed by heavy rains in
November, which caused flooding in some areas, damaging crops in the
wetlands.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56723]


KENYA: Red Cross appeals for $21.9m for flood-affected people

The Kenya Red Cross Society has appealed for $21.9 million to help
563,000 of those affected by the floods, amid fears that the heavy rains
may continue until January.

Six weeks of heavy rains in various parts of Kenya have led to flooding
that has killed 114 people and affected another 723,000 in the remote
northeastern region, coastal districts and low-lying areas in the
western parts of the country.

A week ago, the heavy rainfall spread to the western region, causing
large-scale destruction in Budalangi, Busia district. About 12,500
households were displaced after Nyando River burst its banks. A few
people are marooned or camped on top of dykes while the schools are
under water.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56705]


DRC: Heavy rains render 3,600 Bumba residents homeless

Nearly 3,600 people are without shelter after heavy rains in Bumba, 520
km northeast of Mbandaka, the main town in Congo's Equateur Province.

"Some of the victims have sought shelter with close relatives in
surrounding villages, but most are still in Bumba and living in canoes,"
Charles Longoso, the provincial health inspector, said from the village
of Iyonda, 15 km west of Mbandaka.

Several homes, most made of non-durable material, have been swept away
or submerged in water. One child has died, he said.

Equateur Governor Yves Mobando Yogo said rice fields had been ruined,
and an emergency committee had been set up to organise the relief
effort. The committee was comprised of the United Nations World Health
Organization, the UN Children's Fund and the provincial medical office,
he said, and was not expected to get help to the victims until Monday
because of lack of transport.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56703]


TANZANIA: Zanzibar issues ultimatum over pollution

In a bid to control pollution of beaches and the Indian Ocean,
authorities in Tanzania's semi-autonomous Island of Zanzibar issued an
ultimatum on Monday to hotel owners and other investors to install
sewage-treatment facilities on their premises or risk being barred from
operating.

Environmentalists in Zanzibar have on several occasions alerted the
government to the increasing pollution of the ocean, which they said
poses a major threat to fish and people, especially children and
tourists who swim in the water.


UGANDA: Northern situation improving, but IDPs still reluctant to go
home

The security situation in northern Uganda has improved, allowing
hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people to return to their
villages, but many others are still apprehensive and see the camps as
safer than home, the United Nations said.

At the launch on Tuesday of the 2007 Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP),
where aid agencies are seeking $296 million to support humanitarian
activities in the region, the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Activities (OCHA), noted that up to a million people would
remain in camps in 2007, waiting for confirmation that it was safe to
return home.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56715]


CAR: Army recaptures last rebel-held town

The army has recaptured a town in the northeast of the Central African
Republic, the last of several held by rebels since November, a spokesman
for President Francois Bozize said on Monday.

"The town of Ouadda-Djalle was recaptured on Sunday without any
fighting," Cyriaque Gonda, the spokesman, told IRIN.

The recapture of Ouadda-Djalle, in the northern prefecture of Vakaga,
ends the occupation of areas in the northeast by a rebel coalition known
as Union des forces democratiques pour le rassemblement, which began
operations on 30 October by capturing the town of Birao, the provincial
capital of Vakaga. Ouadda-Djalle is 110 km south of Birao.

[Full story on:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56686]


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