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 379
21 - 27 April 2007


CONTENTS:

EAST AFRICA: Region unveils tougher measures to fight malaria
DRC: Civilians fleeing fighting in east forced into makeshift camps
DRC-UGANDA: Army, UN to monitor rebel move to assembly point
UGANDA: Restarting talks would reassure displaced - local leaders
UGANDA: Broaden peace process, ICG urges delegates
CONGO: Parties to encourage elections in volatile Pool region

See also:
CENTRAL AFRICA: Indigenous communities fight discrimination at:
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71750]

KENYA: Emmanuel Barasa, 17, 'My education has been affected' at:
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71843]


EAST AFRICA: Region unveils tougher measures to fight malaria

East African countries on Wednesday marked Africa Malaria Day by
announcing a review of control strategies, ranging from the use of more
effective drugs to indoor spraying with DDT.

According to United Nations estimates, between 350 million and 500
million people are infected with malaria each year, of whom one million
die. Malaria accounts for one death every 30 seconds in Africa alone and
strains already overburdened health systems.

Africa Malaria Day was established by African heads of state at the
Abuja summit on 25 April 2000 to intensify the fight against malaria.
This year's slogan is 'Free Africa from Malaria NOW'.

[Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71804]


DRC: Civilians fleeing fighting in east forced into makeshift camps

Civilians fleeing fighting between Congolese government troops and rebel
militias in North Kivu Province have been forced to shelter in makeshift
camps 100km from Goma town, aid workers said. Thousands of others are
living in the bush, hiding during the day and going to their fields at
night.

Humanitarian sources said thousands of people had been displaced since
clashes between the two groups started in January, including more than
64,000 who fled their homes in North Kivu alone over recent weeks.

"The deployment of the mixed brigades and repeated clashes between the
army and armed groups have caused the displacement of more than 100,000
people in this area," said Andrew Zadel, spokesman for the United
Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Goma.

The latest fighting flared up on Tuesday as the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) troops launched an offensive against Rwandan rebels hiding
in the east of the vast country.

[Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71795]


DRC-UGANDA: Army, UN to monitor rebel move to assembly point

The Democratic Republic of Congo army and the United Nations will verify
that Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have assembled near
the DRC-Sudan border, at Ri-Kwangba.

A week ago, the Ugandan government and the LRA renewed a ceasefire
agreement that expired in February. They also agreed to resume peace
talks on 26 April to end a brutal, two-decade insurgency that has
wrecked the northern region.

"The FARDC [DRC army], with support from MONUC [the UN mission in DRC],
will verify the movement of the LRA to the designated area of
Ri-Kwangba," stated a communique signed after a meeting in the Ugandan
capital of Kampala on Saturday.

[Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71747]


UGANDA: Restarting talks would reassure displaced - local leaders

The resumption of talks between the Ugandan government and the rebel
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) could boost hopes that most internally
displaced people in northern Uganda can safely return home, local
leaders said on Wednesday.

More than a million people displaced by the war continue to live in
camps where they mainly depend on relief agencies. Hundreds of thousands
of others have, however, returned to their villages, after a lull in
fighting in the past few months.

The talks, which aim to end more than two decades of civil war in
northern Uganda, resumed on Thursday in the southern Sudanese capital of
Juba.

According to Odama, uncertainty had reigned in northern Uganda since the
talks hit a stalemate in December, after the rebels walked out, saying
they had lost confidence in the mediators. They also demanded a new
venue and a mediation team before they would return to the table.

Ayena Odongo, a lawyer based in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, and one of
the LRA delegation, said: "Our concerns were addressed during the
meeting with President Joaquim Chissano and we hope [the talks] will be
smooth this time," he added.

[Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71796]


UGANDA: Broaden peace process, ICG urges delegates

The resumption of talks between the government and the Lord's Resistance
Army (LRA) may end one of Africa's most brutal conflicts and lead to
economic empowerment, but it is too early to write off the rebels, a
global think-tank warned.

The process should also lead to the economic empowerment of affected
populations to redress Uganda's north-south divide and break the cycle
of conflict, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said.

The talks resumed in Juba, southern Sudan, after a meeting between the
rebels, mediators and Ugandan officials near the border between Sudan
and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The meeting also extended an
earlier cessation of hostilities agreement to June, giving the rebels
six weeks to assemble at Ri-Kwangba.

The ICG, however, said in a report that the resumption of the process as
previously constituted would be a recipe for failure. "It is hamstrung
by major weaknesses in representation, structure and substance," the
report, issued on Thursday, said. "And the Juba negotiations are the
wrong forum for tackling the underlying economic, political, and social
problems of northern Uganda."

Titled: 'Northern Uganda: Seizing the Opportunity for Peace', the report
said the process should proceed along two tracks - one in Juba
concentrating on ending the military conflict and providing a roadmap
for handling broader grievances, including accountability for serious
crimes.

The second track is one to which the Ugandan government and donors
should commit at Juba but then pursue subsequently in a broader, more
inclusive forum in Uganda.

[Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71846]


CONGO: Parties to encourage elections in volatile Pool region

President Dennis Sassou Nguesso's Parti Congolais du Travail and former
Prime Minister Bernars Kolelas's Mouvement Congolais pour la Democratie
et le Developpement Integral (MCDDI), signed on Tuesday an agreement
that paves the way for peaceful legislative elections in the
war-devastated Pool region.

Years of conflict have turned the area into one of the most isolated,
despite the fact that Brazzaville, the capital, falls within its
administrative area. According to aid workers, only one doctor exists
for every 30,000 inhabitants - six times fewer than in the rest of the
country.

Only 8 percent of the Pool's population, which was estimated at 362,358
in 2005, has access to clean water. Malnutrition is high among children
and the rate of school attendance is about 30 percent.

According to aid workers, violence in the region is exacerbated by the
flow of arms. A study by the Swiss NGO, Small Arms Survey, published at
the beginning of 2006, showed that between 37,000 and 40,000 weapons of
all calibres continue to circulate in the country.

[Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71798]


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