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 406
3 - 9 November 2007


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: VP's resignation eases political deadlock
CONGO: Heavy rains leave key rail link underwater
DRC: MONUC blames disinformation as protests over aid mount in North
   Kivu
DRC: Sixteen Ituri warlords give up the fight
UGANDA: Government and rebels extend ceasefire

See also:
UGANDA: Nightmares spoil the dreams of returnees at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75189


BURUNDI: VP's resignation eases political deadlock

The resignation of First Deputy President Martin Nduwimana should help 
break a crippling political impasse and expedite peace talks in Burundi, 
according to an opposition leader.

Nduwimana resigned on 7 November, saying he wanted to give the country's 
institutions a chance to resume work. "I handed my resignation to the 
head of state who accepted it," Nduwimana said.

[Full report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75210]


CONGO: Heavy rains leave key rail link underwater

A stretch of the railway linking Congo's capital to the Atlantic port of 
Pointe-Noire has been flooded following heavy rains, cutting off a key 
supply route.

Road traffic in the affected area, around Goma Tse Tse, 25km southwest 
of Brazzaville in the Pool region, has also been severely affected by 
the deluge.

[Full report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75153]


DRC: MONUC blames disinformation as protests over aid mount in North 
Kivu

Growing impatience over aid deliveries to displaced civilians in 
Democratic Republic of Congo's province of North Kivu has sparked 
another demonstration against the UN mission there, MONUC, which blamed 
the unrest on deliberately-spread false rumours.

"A group of between 400 and 500 angry displaced people threw stones at a 
MONUC convoy in the village of Buray, 2km south of Rutshuru on 6 
November," MONUC spokesman Colonel Pierre Chareyron told IRIN. [Full 
report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75192 ]


DRC: Sixteen Ituri warlords give up the fight

A senior DRC official has declared the war-ravaged northeastern region 
of Ituri free of armed groups after 16 senior commanders flew to 
Kinshasa to join the regular army.

"There are no more armed groups in Ituri because now that the heads of 
the three main militias have arrived, there remain only a few isolated 
elements of the FPRI [Front des resistants patriotes de l'Ituri - Ituri 
Patriotic Resistance Front]," said Ntumba Luaba, the coordinator of the 
National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration.

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75168]


UGANDA: Government and rebels extend ceasefire

The Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have 
extended a ceasefire due to expire at the end of November by three 
months to give both sides time to finalise a comprehensive deal to end 
two decades of devastating conflict.

The extension was agreed on 3 November in a landmark meeting in Kampala 
between President Yoweri Museveni and LRA negotiator Martin Ojul. [Full 
report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75157 ][END]


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