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 367
20 - 26 January 2007


CONTENTS:

DRC: Thousands homeless in Maniema after flood damage
DRC: Civilians caught up in fighting between dissident troops
DRC: Prison riot over conditions leaves two dead in Ituri
BURUNDI: Floods threaten food security in Bujumbura Rural
UGANDA: Drastic drop in measles deaths
UGANDA: Displaced civilians still scared of rebels, gov't says
TANZANIA: Zanzibar redoubles efforts to combat cholera
TANZANIA: Bird flu still a threat in Zanzibar, minister says
GLOBAL: Forum ends with calls for social equity

ALSO SEE:

KENYA: HEAR OUR VOICES: "Why I attended the World Social Forum" - slum 
resident

KENYA: Hear Our Voices - "Mosquitoes make terrible noises"


DRC: Thousands homeless in Maniema after flood damage

At least 20,000 people in the eastern half of the country are still 
without shelter after floods caused by heavy rains destroyed their homes 
in November 2006, humanitarian agencies have said.

"The flood waters have swept away everything - homes, livestock, plants - 
everything is under water," Guy-Marin Kamandji, the information officer 
for Congo Caritas Development, a member of Caritas International, said on 
Tuesday after a tour of Katanga Province where several towns and villages 
remain submerged.

Rising river water levels due to heavy rains, which started in October 
2006, have caused the flooding in the provinces of Maniema, North Kivu and 
Katanga.


DRC: Civilians caught up in fighting between dissident troops

Hundreds of civilians who fled their homes on 13 January after fighting 
between dissident soldiers in the villages of Luke and Murambi in North 
Kivu Province had not received relief aid, humanitarian workers said on 
Thursday.

Andrew Zadel, an information officer with the United Nations Office for 
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said from Goma, capital of North 
Kivu Province, it was difficult to evaluate the condition of the 
displaced. This is because they had fled in different directions and 
because the humanitarian community was overstretched and already dealing 
with 600,000 displaced persons in other parts of the country.


DRC: Prison riot over conditions leaves two dead in Ituri

Two prisoners were killed and 25 others wounded when police moved into a 
jail in the restive Ituri District, in eastern Democratic Republic of 
Congo (DRC), on Friday to quell a riot sparked by frustration over poor 
conditions, police said.

"There were several reasons for the revolt, including allegations of 
prolonged detention, complaints over food rations and the frustration of 
those who already knew their fate [death-row convicts]," said Maj Magnat 
Tchani, head of the police, who led the operation to quash the mutiny.


BURUNDI: Floods threaten food security in Bujumbura Rural

Thousands of people in western Burundi face food insecurity after floods 
swept away crops during the January harvest, officials said.

President Pierre Nkurunziza, handing over relief aid for distribution to 
the 17,000 people displaced by flood in Gatumba Zone, Bujumbura Rural 
Province, said on Tuesday the government was seeking more aid.

At the same time, the United Nations World Food Programme expressed 
concern over food security in seven provinces. The agency's programme 
officer in Burundi, Guillaume Foliot, said it would begin providing relief 
food for those who did not receive government aid in Mutimbuzi Commune.

Since November 2006, heavy rains have damaged crops and destroyed 
infrastructure in many provinces of Burundi.


UGANDA: Drastic drop in measles deaths

Aggressive immunisation drives in Uganda have cut the numbers of children 
dying of measles from 6,000 to 300 annually over the past 10 years, 
Director of Health Services Sam Okware said on Tuesday.

He said the Ministry of Health used to record up to 60,000 cases, with 
6,000 deaths, 10 years ago. He attributed the drop to increased 
immunisation coverage: from 43 percent in 2000 to 85 percent in 2006.

The introduction of second courses of immunisation for all children 
countrywide, scheduled for July, would further increase the coverage to 99 
percent.


UGANDA: Displaced civilians still scared of rebels, gov't says

Most civilians forced out of their homes in the north of the country by 
two decades of conflict have stayed in camps for years for fear of 
possible attacks by rebels, the government said.

Refugees and Disaster Preparedness Minister Tarsis Kabwegyere told 
reporters in the capital, Kampala, that nearly one million internally 
displaced persons (IDP) had expressed interest in returning home, but 
fears that they would be killed or abducted had stopped them from doing 
so.

Aid agencies estimate that 230,000 IDPs in the region returned to their 
villages in 2006 because of improved security, following the start of 
talks between the government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.


TANZANIA: Zanzibar redoubles efforts to combat cholera

Cholera outbreaks in Tanzania's semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar have 
continued due to poor hygiene standards, health officials said on 
Wednesday, while announcing renewed efforts to raise public awareness.

"We need to double our efforts of awareness; we also need to strengthen 
by-laws to make sure that the islands are kept clean," Dr Omar Suleiman, 
an officer in the Ministry of Health, said in Stone Town, capital of 
Zanzibar.

Following recent outbreaks in Jambiani village, 35km south of Stone Town, 
where at least 10 people have been hospitalised and one died, health 
officials said cholera remained a problem, attributing the continued 
outbreaks to unhygienic living conditions and improper or lack of use of 
toilets. In 2006, cholera killed at least 50 people in Unguja and Pemba 
islands. Zanzibar, with a population of one million, has been repeatedly 
hit by cholera epidemics since 1998.


TANZANIA: Bird flu still a threat in Zanzibar, minister says

The Zanzibari government will not lift a ban imposed in 2005 on poultry 
imports, despite pressure from poultry farmers and retailers, the island's 
chief minister, Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, said on Thursday.

"The ban will remain in force indefinitely," he said in a statement issued 
in the capital, Stone Town.

Poultry farmers, businessmen and residents have been urging the government 
to allow them to at least import poultry produce from the Tanzanian 
mainland, which, together with Unguja and Pemba - the islands that form 
Zanzibar - make up the United Republic of Tanzania.

Zanzibar imposed the ban in a bid to protect the public from the deadly 
avian flu.


GLOBAL: Forum ends with calls for social equity

The World Social Forum ended in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, on Thursday 
with participants hailing the event as an opportunity for people from 
around the world to exchange ideas on global social problems often 
overlooked by capitalist interests they said dominated the world.

"The forum provided an opportunity for thousands of citizens and 
organisations to be together," said Farouk ben Abdallah, a delegate from 
Tunisia. "It gave them the opportunity to reinforce relationships, to 
exchange views on what they are doing in the world, to design a new 
agenda, a new programme together for the future."

The Social Forum is intended to counter the World Economic Forum annual 
meeting, when 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, Switzerland, according to the 
Social Forum, their concerns are not taken into consideration when global 
economic and social policies are formulated.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
     Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
                                    guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Central/East Africa             www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/ceafrica