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 384
26 May - 1 June 2007


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Government pledges transparency
DRC: Massacred villagers found dead in their beds
CAR: Kidnapped health workers released but NGOs stay away
AFRICA: UN report exposes widespread abuse of children
KENYA: Schools closed as cattle raids force thousands to flee
UGANDA: WFP suspends operations in northeast after ambush
UGANDA: Poverty funds cut over management concerns

Also see:
BURUNDI: Moise Barekezabe, "Home is home, despite the hardships"
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72448

DRC: Demobilisation of ex-militias slowly taking root in northeast
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72406

GLOBAL: Making relief aid count
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72396


BURUNDI: Government pledges transparency

The Burundian government has pledged to strengthen good governance to 
ensure that funds earmarked for poverty reduction programmes are used 
properly.

"Barundi people thank you for your contributions and expect that the 
funds will be disbursed as soon as possible," President Pierre 
Nkurunziza said at a donor meeting in the capital of Bujumbura on 25 
May. "I express my firm commitment to strengthen good governance and 
ensure that the funds go into the right hands."

The donors, who pledged US$665.6 million to fund the poverty reduction 
action plan for 2007-2010, called for better coordination of funded 
activities, prompting the government to promise to set up a coordination 
committee within two weeks.

[Full report at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72399]


DRC: Massacred villagers found dead in their beds

Seventeen villagers who died in a brutal attack by suspected Rwandan 
rebels in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo were killed in their 
beds, the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC) said.

The attackers had escaped by the time a UN military patrol arrived in 
Walungu sector on the morning of 27 May, said Maj Gabriel de Brosses, a 
MONUC spokesman. Another 12 bodies were found in surrounding forests, 
said Samuel Zungrana, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination 
of Humanitarian Affairs in Bukavu.

"A group of 12 armed men suspected to be Rwandan fighters entered three 
small villages where they attacked and killed 17 villagers," the 
spokesman said on 28 May. "Almost all the victims were found in their 
beds. The fighters used sticks, machetes and other light weapons and the 
wounded are villagers who managed to flee."

[Full report at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72402]


CAR: Kidnapped health workers released but NGOs stay away

The Italian charity, Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI), will not 
resume activities in northwestern Central African Republic, despite the 
release of two kidnapped health workers, an official said.

"We closed our bureau in Bozoum because of insecurity," Marco Cordero of 
the Italian NGO, COOPI, said on 29 May. "The whole zone is in danger."

"The abduction of the two nurses has had serious consequences for the 
activities of the Italian NGO in the region," Cordero told IRIN. [Full 
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72420]


AFRICA: UN report exposes widespread abuse of children

Efforts to eradicate abuse of children in Africa should concentrate on 
fighting gender-based violence, including rape, which exposes youngsters 
to HIV/AIDS, mistreatment at school and harmful traditional practices, a 
senior United Nations official said.

"Within the region, two out of three new HIV/AIDS infections in the 15 
to 24 age group are in girls or women," said Per Engeback, the UN 
Children's Fund regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, on 28 
May. "The face of HIV is a woman's face, a girl's face."

Engeback was speaking during the launch in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, 
of the UN World Report on Violence Against Children. It was prepared by 
an independent expert, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, for the UN 
Secretary-General.

[Full report at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72407]


KENYA: Schools closed as cattle raids force thousands to flee

Violence related to cattle rustling in the central Kenyan districts of 
Laikipia and Samburu has forced thousands of people to flee and led to 
the closure of 12 schools, leaving about 2,500 pupils without classes, 
local community leaders and teachers in the area said.

"It is the second year now that thousands of children are missing 
education because of insecurity. It must be addressed," said Mureithi 
Kamanja, the executive secretary of the Kenya Union of Teachers in 
Laikipia district.

Incidents of cattle rustling and a subsequent operation by security 
forces against suspected raiders last week are believed to have left 50 
people dead, most allegedly at the hands of the police. The violence is 
reported to have been triggered by an attack by suspected ethnic Pokot 
raiders from Samburu district on villages inhabited by ethnic Samburus 
in the neighbouring Laikipia district on 21 May.

[Full report at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72430]


UGANDA: WFP suspends operations in northeast after ambush

Gunmen ambushed a convoy of United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) 
trucks in northeastern Uganda's Karamoja region, killing a driver and 
forcing the agency to temporarily suspend operations in the drought-hit 
area, the agency and the Ugandan military said.

Richard Achuka, 41, was shot in the neck and shoulder and died after the 
attack on four WFP trucks in Kotido District. The convoy had delivered 
food to schools and other sites in neighbouring Kaabong District. The 
attackers fled the scene.

"WFP condemns this vicious attack on a clearly marked WFP humanitarian 
convoy in the strongest terms and demands that the killers be pursued 
and brought to justice," said WFP Country Director Tesema Negash. "WFP 
has no choice but to temporarily suspend our activities in Karamoja 
until security is improved."

[Full report at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72440]


UGANDA: Poverty funds cut over management concerns

The World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) has reduced 
support for poverty alleviation programmes in Uganda over concerns about 
the allocation of funds and financial management, the Bank said.

The IDA is a section of the Bank that makes interest-free loans to the 
world's poorest countries.

"The reduction in IDA support from US$150 million to $125 million for 
PRSC [Sixth Poverty Reduction Support Credit] underlines the need for 
the government to consider ways of improving performance in budget 
execution, decentralisation and anti-corruption," Uganda's World Bank 
Country Manager Grace Yabrudy said.

[Full report at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72454]


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