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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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-Up 407
10 - 16 November 2007


CONTENTS:

DRC-RWANDA: New pact on armed groups in the Kivus hailed
DRC-UGANDA: Cholera prompts evacuation of Lake Albert island
DRC: IDPs go back to camps as fears of renewed North Kivu violence die
   down
DRC: Ex-militiaman jailed for life for murder of UN observers
BURUNDI: Government of consensus formed

See Also

DRC-RWANDA: Putting the past behind them - former child soldiers prepare
to go home
[http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=75258]

CONGO: Conflict leaves legacy of widespread addiction
[http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=75260]


DRC-RWANDA: New pact on armed groups in the Kivus hailed

Analysts have welcomed the latest in a series of agreements between the
governments of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) aimed
at resolving the perennial threat to regional stability posed by the
armed groups in eastern DRC.

DRC's two Kivu provinces are swarming with a variety of such groups,
including remnants of Rwandan Hutu army units (ex-Forces armees
rwandaise, FAR) and Interahamwe militias who fled across the border
after carrying out much of the killing during Rwanda's 1994 genocide;
former members of defunct Congolese rebel groups supported by Rwanda
during DRC's 1998-2002 civil war, who have resisted reintegration into a
new national army; and pro-DRC civil defence brigades loosely grouped as
Mayi Mayi.

Fighting between one group of recalcitrant rebels, led by General
Laurent Nkunda, and the regular army has exacerbated the humanitarian
crisis in North Kivu, with 370,000 civilians displaced since December.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75301


DRC-UGANDA: Cholera prompts evacuation of Lake Albert island

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have ordered the
partial evacuation of a disputed island in Lake Albert, where health
workers are unable to tackle a cholera outbreak partly because of
security concerns linked to the discovery of oil.

"We have just ordered the section head and police on the ground to
evacuate children and the elderly" from Rukwanzi island, which lies on a
poorly-defined border separating DRC and Uganda, said Dieudonne Rwabona,
acting district commissioner in DRC's northeastern region of Ituri.

Since 5 October police on the island have reported 57 cases of cholera
and three fatalities.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=75276]


DRC: IDPs go back to camps as fears of renewed North Kivu violence die
down

People have been returning to camps for displaced people (IDPs) in the
DRC's North Kivu province after fresh fighting near the main town of
Goma prompted up to 40,000 to flee. Some IDPs said looters had ransacked
their shelters while they were away, taking what little possessions they
owned.

Panic spread through the camps on 13 November when the sound of heavy
gunfire ricocheted through the mountains behind Mugunga, 15km outside
Goma, where about 38,000 IDPs were housed. Another 2,000 people fled a
third camp in Bulengo, 5km from Mugunga.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=75321]


DRC: Ex-militiaman jailed for life for murder of UN observers

A court in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has found a
former militiaman guilty of the 2003 murder of two UN military observers
and sentenced him to life in prison.

Agenonga Uforunyu, alias Kwisha, who fought with the Fronts des
Nationalistes Integrationnistes (FNI), an armed group in Ituri, was
sentenced by a court in the regional capital, Bunia, on 12 November. He
was found guilty of shooting to death Major Saswat Oran, a Jordanian
serving with the UN mission in DRC, MONUC, and his Malawian colleague,
Captain David Banda.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75295


BURUNDI: Government of consensus formed

Political leaders in Burundi have welcomed the formation of a new more
inclusive cabinet as an important step towards bringing the country's
last active rebel group into a stalled peace process.

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza reshuffled the cabinet on 14
November to make room for members of two main opposition parties, the
Front pour la Democratie au Burundi and the Union pour le Progres
National, as the country's constitution stipulates. Both had been
boycotting parliament since July, demanding that the previous cabinet be
sacked.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=75323


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