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

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e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-Up 404
20 - 26 October 2007


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Villagers flee as rebel fighters attack splinter group's
   position
BURUNDI: Assessment to determine whether FNL "dissidents" are genuine
DRC: Nkunda's men fail to show up at integration centre
DRC-UGANDA: Influx of IDPs to Uganda as clashes continue in North Kivu
KENYA: UN honours Red Cross chief
KENYA: Land feud claims more lives in Mt Elgon district

See Also
DRC: Caught in a web of clashes between armed groups
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74974


BURUNDI: Villagers flee as rebel fighters attack splinter group's 
position

Fighters of Burundi's last active rebel group have for the second time 
in one week attacked a position occupied by a break-away faction, 
forcing villagers to flee their homes, a senior military official said.

The evening raid by combatants of the Front National de Liberation 
(FNL), led by Agathon Rwasa, took place on 24 October evening on a site 
where the so-called FNL "dissidents" have gathered in Gakungwe village 
of Kabezi commune in Bujumbura Rural province.

Full report 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74983


BURUNDI: Assessment to determine whether FNL "dissidents" are genuine

Mediators in Burundi's peace process are investigating whether members 
of the country's last active rebel group, who have fallen out with their 
leader and expressed a willingness to join the process, were genuine 
combatants with the movement.

"We will not just sit and make an assessment and say that they are FNL 
combatants without testing," said the head of the mediation team, 
Charles Nqakula, who is also South Africa's security minister. Full 
report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74955


DRC: Nkunda's men fail to show up at integration centre

Some 200 men under the command of dissident Democratic Republic of Congo 
(DRC) General Laurent Nkunda failed to show up at a centre for 
integrating armed groups into the regular army, a UN official said - a 
day after Nkunda's top aide announced their handover.

Military integration, or 'brassage', is a key component of efforts to 
bring peace to eastern DRC, a region rife with pro-government militia 
and renegade troops, where fighting has displaced some 370,000 civilians 
since the end of 2006.

Full report 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74980


DRC-UGANDA: Influx of IDPs to Uganda as clashes continue in North Kivu

An estimated 8,000 people fleeing violence in the North Kivu province of 
eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have entered Uganda since 19 
October, the UN Refugee Agency (UNCHR) said.

"The influx into Bunagana [a border post in southwestern Uganda's Kisoro 
district] started Friday [19 October] night as Congolese living in 
villages close to the Uganda border crossed into Uganda to escape 
clashes between government soldiers and troops allied to the renegade 
army general Laurent Nkunda," said Robertta Russo, spokeswoman for UNHCR 
in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

Fighting between Nkunda's forces and government troops in North Kivu has 
intensified since September. UN estimates say violence has forced at 
least 370,000 civilians in the region to flee their homes since December 
2006.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74908


KENYA: UN honours Red Cross chief

Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) secretary-general Abbas Gullet has been 
given the UN in Kenya Person of the Year 2007 award for his work in 
reforming the organisation into a successful and partly self-financing 
operation.

In 2001, when Gullet was appointed, the society was heavily in debt and 
had lost credibility among its membership. Today, the KRCS says it is a 
leading humanitarian agency, partly self-financing and operating through 
a network of 58 branches and 69,000 volunteers countrywide. Gullet 
attributes the revival to good governance and transparency and has 
challenged local and national NGOs to do the same.

Full report 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74959


KENYA: Land feud claims more lives in Mt Elgon district

A simmering feud over land rights in western Kenya's Mt Elgon district 
was blamed for several killings there in October, as disease spread 
among those displaced by the unrest.

"At least seven people have been killed in the month of October in the 
district," Maurice Anyango, Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) relief 
officer, said on 26 October. The dead include an area administrator 
(locally known as a 'chief'), who was shot dead in his office on 16 
October in Kapkaten, in Kopsiro division.

Full report 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75000


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