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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e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-Up 364
30 December 2006 - 5 January 2007


CONTENTS:

DRC: Displaced civilians desperate for help, UN agency says
SUDAN-UGANDA: Suspected rebels kill 13 in southern Sudan
SUDAN: Southern Sudan government launches probe into sex crimes
KENYA: Death toll rises as Rift Valley Fever spreads
KENYA-SOMALIA: Kenya halts Somali asylum seekers
KENYA: Floods displace more people in west and northeast regions


DRC: Displaced civilians desperate for help, UN agency says

Civilians displaced by clashes between the army and militias in
northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo are facing a major health risk,
the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) has said.

"There is the risk that cholera could break out any moment in the schools
and churches where the displaced are," said Idrissa Conteh, the OCHA
public information officer in Bunia, the main town in the district of
Ituri.

About 4,000 displaced civilians are at Fataki, 90 km north of Bunia. Since
24 December, the area has been the scene of several clashes between
militiamen loyal to the Fronts des nationalistes et integrationnistes
(FNI) led by Peter Karim, and the Congolese army, known by its French
acronym, FARDC.


SUDAN-UGANDA: Suspected rebels kill 13 in southern Sudan

Thirteen people hav e been killed in two ambushes in southern Sudan by
suspected fighters of the Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group
currently engaged in peace talks with the government, military officials
said on Thursday.

The deaths occurred in an ambush on a lorry on Monday in Jabuleen, about
100 km south of Juba, the capital of southern Sudan. Two passengers died
on the spot and eight others were abducted before being killed in the
surrounding bushes, according to Ugandan army spokesman Lieutenant Chris
Magezi.

"When we pursued them we found that the eight that they abducted had been
massacred and their bodies were left in the bush," said Magezi.


SUDAN: Southern Sudan government launches probe into sex crimes

The government of Southern Sudan has joined the United Nations in
launching an investigation into media reports of sexual abuse by
international peacekeepers. The investigations come in the wake of media
reports on Tuesday which claimed that at least 20 children ~V some as
young as 12 - had been forced to have sex with UN peacekeepers in the
capital Juba.

Describing child sexual abuse as a terrible crime, the Southern Sudanese
minister for presidential affairs, Luka Biong Deng, said in a statement:
"If any persons are proved to have committed these terrible crimes, the
government will take all possible steps to ensure the perpetrators are
brought to justice."


KENYA: Death toll rises as Rift Valley Fever spreads

At least 60 people in Kenya's Northeastern Province are now known to have
died from Rift Valley Fever (RVF), while health experts are warning that
the virus may have begun spreading south.

"All evidence suggests that the disease is still spreading," said Kariuki
Njenga, a virologist and laboratory director for the United States Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) in Kenya. The worst affected districts in the
Northeastern Province are Garissa, where 100 cases, including 40 deaths,
have been reported; and Ijara, where 20 out of 42 people infected with RVF
have died, Njenga said.


KENYA-SOMALIA: Kenya halts Somali asylum seekers

Several thousand asylum seekers fleeing recent fighting in Somalia have
been stranded for days near the border with neighbouring Kenya that has
blocked their entry, aid workers said on Wednesday. According to local
community workers in the Dobley area of Somalia (about 30 km from the
border), the people trying to enter Kenya were mainly women and children.

"We understand that there are security concerns, but we hope that the
right of those seeking asylum will be respected," said Amanda Di Lorenzo,
spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA-Somalia).


KENYA: Floods displace more people in west and northeast regions

A further several thousand people have been displaced by floods in west
and northeast Kenya following a week of heavy rains, the Kenya Red Cross
Society (KRCS) has reported. Areas under water include Budalangi, Migori,
Nyando and Kisumu in Nyanza in Western Province, the KRCS said.

Nyanza area is the most affected by the latest floods, the KRCS said in a
statement issued on Saturday, noting that the latest floods were occurring
after a short lull in the December short rains. Kisumu has experienced
heavy rainfall since 21 December, resulting in the displacement of at
least 2,700 people after the River Awach burst its banks.


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