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 398
8 - 14 September 2007


CONTENTS:

CAR: Civilians bear brunt of abuses in conflict - HRW
DRC: Call to address sexual violence in the east
DRC: Kabila urges rebel leader to agree on army integration
DRC: Outbreak in Kasai Occidental confirmed as Ebola
DRC: Ebola outbreak "contained" - Kabila
DRC: Vaccination campaign for displaced in North Kivu
DRC: Fresh clashes reported in North Kivu
CONGO: Peace process to benefit from ex-rebel leader's presence in
   capital
BURUNDI: Rebel activity displaces hundreds in Bubanza
RWANDA: Heavy rains wreak havoc in northwest
TANZANIA: Authorities urge residents to move from volcano area

See Also:

KENYA: Livelihoods hit as water hyacinth takes over Lake Victoria at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74270

UGANDA: Residents cheer as first camp is officially closed at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74251

KENYA: Trapped in Budalangi flood plain at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74212


CAR: Civilians bear brunt of abuses in conflict - HRW

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused government troops in the Central
African Republic (CAR) of killing hundreds of civilians and torching the
homes of thousands in an operation against insurgents since 2005, in a
report released on 14 September.

"Just across the border from Darfur [Sudan], the army of the Central
African Republic has killed hundreds of innocent civilians and forced
tens of thousands to flee their villages," Peter Takirambudde, Africa
director at HRW, stated in the report, State of Anarchy: Rebellion and
Abuses Against Civilians.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74296


DRC: Call to address sexual violence in the east

The international community must take urgent action to eliminate rampant
sexual violence in war-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
Stephen Lewis, former UN special envoy for AIDS in Africa, has said.

"The contagion of sexual violence on the African continent is
blood-chilling, and nowhere more so than in the eastern DRC," Lewis said
at a press conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on 13 September.
"Despite this, there seems to be unwillingness among the international
community to take action."

He noted that while the world focused, understandably, on the crisis in
the western Sudanese region of Darfur, eastern DRC - which has suffered
10 to 20 times more casualties than Darfur over the course of its
decade-long war - had fallen off the agenda.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74293


DRC: Kabila urges rebel leader to agree on army integration

President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo has urged
dissident General Laurent Nkunda to integrate his forces voluntarily
into the national army or face force.

"We will continue to build up the army's capacity to force him to accept
the integration into the army," Kabila said. "I have spoken on previous
occasions about stick and carrot politics but it appears that they have
eaten all our carrots and the only thing we have left is the stick.

"I won't allow anyone - whether an individual or a society - to have a
militia. It's unacceptable," Kabila said.

Nkunda and his men launched hostilities more than two weeks ago in North
Kivu province to fight the regular army, which had strengthened its
presence in the area in a bid to force the rebels to integrate. Full
report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74295


DRC: Ebola outbreak "contained" - Kabila

Measures have been taken to prevent the spread of Ebola following the
deaths of at least 160 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo's
southern province of Kasai Occidental during the past two months,
President Joseph Kabila said.

"The village of Kampungu [the worst affected] has been quarantined to
prevent population movement towards Kananga," Kabila told reporters on
13 September. Kananga is the main town in the province.

"The situation is at the moment, I cannot say under control, but at
least the problem has been contained very well in the area," he said.
"There is no risk that the whole country will be affected," said Kabila.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74300


DRC: Vaccination campaign for displaced in North Kivu

A vaccination campaign targeting thousands of displaced children and
pregnant women is to commence next week in a camp in North Kivu, eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), health officials said.

"In seven days, at least 22,000 children between the ages of six months
and 15 years will be vaccinated against measles," Stephane Bateyi, the
coordinator of the vaccination programme in Goma, the main town in the
province, said.

Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74246


DRC: Outbreak in Kasai Occidental confirmed as Ebola

Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have
identified a fever outbreak that has claimed at least 167 lives in the
southern province of Kasai Occidental as Ebola.

"The results from the referral laboratory in Franceville in Gabon and
the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] in Atlanta in the United States
confirmed the diagnosis of the haemorrhagic viral Ebola fever," health
minister Victor Makwenge Kaput said on national television on 10
September.

Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74229


DRC: Fresh clashes reported in North Kivu

Even before civilians who fled fighting between the national army and
forces loyal to dissident General Laurent Nkunda in North Kivu province,
in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, could return to their homes
after a truce, another outbreak of violence was reported in the area.

Militias known as Mai Mai clashed with other armed groups on 9 September
in the villages of Kitshanga and Bwila, about 100km northwest of Goma,
the main town in North Kivu, according to Colonel Delphin Kahindi, the
deputy commander of the Congolese army in the province.

Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74211


CONGO: Peace process to benefit from ex-rebel leader's presence in
capital

Congo's former rebel leader, Frederic Bintsangou, alias Pastor Ntoumi,
is to take up his position in the government and participate in efforts
aimed at restoring stability.

"We've come to Madibou [a suburb of Brazzaville, the capital] with the
reverend to speed things up. We left Kinkala district for Brazzaville
this morning," said Anne-Philippe Bibi, Ntoumi's spokesperson and legal
adviser.

Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74203


BURUNDI: Rebel activity displaces hundreds in Bubanza

Residents of 700 households, or about 4,000 people, have fled their
homes in the northwest Burundi province of Bubanza following raids by
suspected members of the country's last active rebel group, a government
official said.

"For the time being, security is not good at all. Some residents have
been beaten, while others have had their property looted," the governor
of Bubanza, Pascal Nyabenda, told IRIN.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74202


RWANDA: Heavy rains wreak havoc in northwest

Torrential rainfall in northwestern Rwandan has left at least 15 people
dead and damaged homes in three villages, leaving hundreds of people
homeless, local leaders said.

At least 562 houses were destroyed by flash floods, most of them in the
villages of Bigogwe and Mukamira in Nyabihu district.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74297


TANZANIA: Authorities urge residents to move from volcano area

Tanzanian authorities are persuading people in villages near Ol Doinyo
Lengai to move to safer areas after the volcano erupted.

Since July, areas around Ol Doinyo Lengai have been hit by earth tremors
as a result of volcanic activity. The earthquakes caused panic in
settled areas, including the Kenya capital, Nairobi.

The mountain has spewed smoke and discharged lava since the beginning of
September.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74303


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