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 366
13 - 19 January 2007


CONTENTS:

GLOBAL: Donors pledge $1.4bn for humanitarian crises
GLOBAL: World Social Forum descends on Kenya
TANZANIA: Measles outbreak in Zanzibar prompts vaccination drive
CAR: Dire situation needs prompt attention, UN coordinator says
KENYA-SOMALIA: Border closure keeps children out of school
KENYA-SOMALIA: Food aid for displaced near Kenyan border
DRC: No decision yet on amnesty for dissident general


GLOBAL: Donors pledge US$1.4bn for humanitarian crises

Donors pledged US$1.4 billion on Wednesday for humanitarian aid in 2007 at 
a conference organised by the United Nations Office for the Coordination 
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva. Of the funds pledged, $280 
million was earmarked for the OCHA-led 2007 Consolidated Appeals Process 
(CAP).

"What we request is only a few cents for every hundred dollars of national 
income," Margareta Wahlstrom, the acting UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, 
told donors. "If some of the biggest economies improve their performance 
even partway to the level of the best, humanitarian action worldwide could 
be fully funded."

She said the UN still needed $3.7 billion for the CAP.


GLOBAL: World Social Forum descends on Kenya

Tens of thousands of people from around the world will converge on the 
Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Saturday for the World Social Forum.

Themes for the seventh social forum, running Saturday through Thursday, 
have been pegged to the motto, 'People's struggles, people's alternatives 
- Another world is possible'. Topics to be addressed include HIV/AIDS, 
gender, privatisation, landlessness, peace and conflict, migration and 
diaspora, youth issues, debt relief, free trade agreements, labour and 
housing.

The social forum styles itself as an open gathering where ordinary people, 
groups and movements opposed to the forces of capitalism can reflect and 
exchange ideas to further social equity. The social forum is also intended 
to counter the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, 
where leaders from business, politics, academia, the media and civil 
society discuss how to improve the world economy. Since the poor majority 
have virtually no voice at Davos, according to the social forum, their 
concerns are not taken into consideration when global economic and social 
policies are formulated.


TANZANIA: Measles outbreak in Zanzibar prompts vaccination campaign

An outbreak of measles in Zanzibar, where 184 cases have been reported in 
one district on the island of Pemba since mid-December, has prompted 
health officials to plan a two-day emergency immunisation campaign 
beginning on Saturday to curb the disease.

Zanzibari Health Minister Sultan Mohamed Mugheiry told reporters on 
Thursday that 166 of the 184 cases were reported in the Micheweni District 
of Pemba in the past two weeks. He said the outbreak was the first on the 
islands in about five years.


CAR: Dire situation needs immediate attention, UN Coordinator says

Fighting between unidentified groups in Central African Republic's 
crisis-ridden north has left one million people in need of humanitarian 
aid, the majority of whom have been directly exposed to conflict, the UN 
Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, Toby Lanzer, said on Tuesday.

"They've been directly affected by the violence, which has been sweeping 
across the northeast and northwest parts of the country in wave after 
wave," he told reporters in New York, "It's violence unlike what's been 
previously seen in the country. It is being perpetrated by men in uniform, 
whose identity is unclear, and whose nationality is unclear."

Armed men have been burning homes and villages in the area over the past 
12 months, according to field assessments conducted by aid workers. Lanzer 
described the humanitarian situation as dire. An estimated 150,000 people 
are internally displaced, while some 80,000 have fled to neighbouring Chad 
or Cameroon.


KENYA-SOMALIA: Border closure keeps children out of school

At least 2,000 Somali children who attend schools in northeastern Kenya 
have failed to resume classes a week after school reopened, due to the 
closure of the border on 3 January, officials said.

Kenyan officials confirmed that the children, who attend schools in the 
districts of Mandera, Ijara, Wajir and Garissa, have not been allowed in 
the country since fighting broke out in Somalia in December. Northeastern 
Province Deputy Commissioner Mike Kimoko said the order to stop Somalis 
from entering Kenya was meant to prevent "dangerous persons" from getting 
into the country.

Kenyan children who go to schools located close to the border have also 
failed to attend classes after a government directive that all Kenyans 
must move more than 18km away for security reasons.


KENYA-SOMALIA: Food aid for displaced near Kenyan border

Displaced Somalis living near the Kenyan border have received some food 
aid, despite the recent closure of the frontier, the United Nations World 
Food Programme (WFP) said.

"Some WFP-contracted trucks loaded with food were allowed to cross into 
Somalia from Liboi, but others were stopped at the border. These people 
have been trapped near Dhobley," Leo van der Velden, the WFP-Somalia 
Deputy Country Director, said.

An increasing number of civilians have moved towards the border, which 
remains closed due to the Kenyan government's security concerns. Many of 
these are near Dhobley, a village of 12,000 people in Lower Juba region.


DRC: No decision yet on amnesty for dissident general

Discussions are still continuing on whether to grant amnesty to the 
dissident general, Laurent Nkunda, who led an anti-government rebellion in 
North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Deputy 
Defence Minister for Army Integration Bernard Mena Mboyo said on Friday.

"Negotiations are open," he said. "The amnesty question could be raised as 
was the case with other combatants, in the interest of peace and to avoid 
population displacement and hunger because of war."

He said that while the government could pardon Nkunda for leading the 
rebellion, the law did not permit it to grant amnesty for crimes against 
humanity that might have been committed by him or his troops. The 
transitional parliament passed a law in 2004 granting amnesty only for 
acts of war and politics against the state.


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