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 412
15 - 21 December 2007


CONTENTS:

GLOBAL: Pledges put UN response fund within "touching distance" of
   target
UGANDA-DRC: Ebola under control but experts fear re-emergence in Congo
ETHIOPIA-KENYA: FAO forecasts locust swarms in January


SEE ALSO:
KENYA: Inefficient peace committees frustrate reconciliation in clash areas
[http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=75905]
AFRICA: Tackling deforestation is critical
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75868]


GLOBAL: Pledges put UN response fund within "touching distance" of 
target

Some 70 donors, ranging from wealthy industrialised countries to poor 
states to corporations, today pledged US$420 million for 2008 to the UN 
emergency fund that seeks to save the lives of millions of people by 
providing immediate aid in the case of sudden or neglected crises, be 
they natural disasters or man-made conflicts.

"Their generosity is really overwhelming and it is very good news," UN 
Under-Secretary-General General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency 
Relief Coordinator John Holmes told a news briefing at UN headquarters 
at the end of the pledging conference for the Central Emergency Response 
Fund.

Launched in March 2006 as part of the ongoing process of UN humanitarian 
reform, the CERF has now received more than US$1 billion, both donated 
and pledged, for the three-year 2006-2008 period. Yesterday's pledges 
brought the Fund to within what Holmes called "touching distance" of its 
US$450 million target for donations.

[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75864]


UGANDA-DRC: Ebola under control but experts fear re-emergence in Congo

Ugandan health officials said they had an outbreak of a rare Ebola 
strain under control in their country but expressed concerns that the 
disease could resurface in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of 
Congo.

At a news conference in the capital Kampala on 18 December, the Ministry 
of Health said a person "with the appropriate clinical case definition 
of Ebola" had been identified in an area in DRC near the border.

They said Uganda had contacted the UN World Health Organization (WHO) 
over the current threat. "We have asked our people in Bundibugyo [the 
epicentre of the latest outbreak in Uganda] to encourage them to come 
over for treatment because these diseases know no boundaries," Emmanuel 
Otaala, the minister in charge of primary health care, said.

[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=75921]


ETHIOPIA-KENYA: FAO forecasts locust swarms in January

Locust swarms are expected in late December and early January in 
northeast Kenya and southeast Ethiopia in November, the UN Food and 
Agriculture Organization has said.

"From mid-December onwards, small swarms are expected to form in 
[Ethiopia's] the Ogaden north of the Sheble [river] and gradually move 
south towards Kenya," the agency said in its latest bulletin, 
forecasting the locust situation in the region until mid-January 2008.

[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75936]


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