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 381
5 - 11 May 2007


CONTENTS:

DRC-ZAMBIA: Congolese refugees return home
DRC: Displaced mistreated in North Kivu
RWANDA-DRC: Kagame seeks co-operation on rebels
CONGO-DRC: Refugees from Kinshasa to be repatriated
TANZANIA: Government denies rights violations
TANZANIA: RVF death toll rises
SUDAN-UGANDA: Frustration over LRA's refusal to free women and children


Also see:

CONGO: Controversy ahead of legislative elections

[Full story]
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72065


DRC-ZAMBIA: Congolese refugees return home

The first group of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo who 
fled to neighbouring Zambia to escape the civil war in the 1990s arrived 
back home last week under a voluntary repatriation organised by the 
United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The 416 people travelled by boat across Lake Tanganyika, disembarking at 
the town of Kalemie in the southeastern province of Katanga, according 
to Jens Hesemann, spokesman for the UNHCR. Those who could not go home 
immediately were taken to a transit point to await transport to their 
villages.

Full report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72024


DRC: Displaced mistreated in North Kivu

Fighting between forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo government 
and Rwandan rebels has displaced tens of thousands of villagers in the 
eastern DRC's North Kivu province since February, who were now being 
victimised by the military and other civilians, humanitarian sources 
said.

"The security situation is harsh for these displaced people as they are 
victims of grave human rights violations and are directly targeted in 
the fighting," said Jens Hesemann, spokesman for the United Nations High 
Commissioner for Refugees in Goma on Monday.

Full report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72021


RWANDA-DRC: Kagame seeks co-operation on rebels

Authorities in Kigali are keen to work with their counterparts in the 
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to solve the insurgency crisis that 
has persisted since 1994 rather than attempt to disarm the rebels 
themselves, even as the DRC army pursues a military operation to oust 
the Rwandan rebels.

The rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Fdlr) 
comprises the remnants of the former Rwandan army and ethnic Hutu 
militias blamed for the 1994 genocide. It has been active mostly in the 
North Kivu region of the DRC, where fighting with the DRC army in the 
first week of May left more than 40 rebels dead, according to the army.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72010


CONGO-DRC: Refugees from Kinshasa to be repatriated

The Republic of Congo and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo 
(DRC) have signed an agreement whereby civilians who fled clashes in the 
DRC capital, Kinshasa, in March will be repatriated voluntarily.

About 203 people from the DRC crossed the Congo River to Brazzaville 
when fighting erupted between the army and guards of opposition leader 
Jean-Pierre Bemba. The refugees included 121 of Bemba's fighters, but 
the repatriation agreement signed on Friday between the DRC's 
humanitarian affairs minister, Jean-Claude Muyambo, and his Congolese 
counterpart Charles Zacharie Bowao will only cover the repatriation of 
unarmed civilians.

Full report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72007


TANZANIA: Government denies right violations

Tanzanian authorities have denied accusations by a human rights agency 
that their expulsion of refugees and immigrants from neighbouring 
countries amounts to a violation of human rights.

"It is true that repatriation of refugees from Burundi, the Democratic 
Republic of Congo [DRC] and Rwanda has been carried out by the 
government for several months. But that was being done on a voluntary 
basis," Joseph Mungai, the Home Affairs Minister, said on Wednesday.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72047


TANZANIA: RVF death toll rises

Authorities in Tanzania are still struggling to control an outbreak of 
Rift Valley Fever (RVF), a highly contagious viral disease that infects 
livestock and humans, which has spread to 10 of the country's 
administrative regions in four months and killed more than 100 people.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday 
that 264 human cases of RVF had been reported in Tanzania between 
mid-January and 3 May, with 109 of the patients having died. Full 
report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72066


SUDAN-UGANDA: Frustration over LRA's refusal to free women and children

The Ugandan government on Tuesday said the rebel Lord's Resistance Army 
(LRA) continued to hold thousands of abducted children and women, 
despite repeated pleas for their release from both the state and 
international organisations.

"We keep reminding the LRA about the request over the issue and on 
numerous occasions we tell them face-to-face to release the children and 
women they hold hostage. The answer we get is that the women and girls 
are their wives and children," Okello Oryem, junior foreign minister and 
deputy head of the government delegation to peace talks with the LRA in 
Southern Sudan, told reporters in Kampala.

Full report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72038


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