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 392
21 - 27 July 2007


CONTENTS:

DRC: Aid workers struggle to reach IDPs in South Kivu
KENYA: Pastoralists lose 100,000 animals to livestock disease
KENYA: Earthquake scare highlights emergency response weaknesses

See Also:
KENYA: Covering elections and promoting press freedom by phone
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73464

KENYA: Inspiring young people in slums
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73366


DRC: Aid workers struggle to reach IDPs in South Kivu

Continued insecurity and poor roads have been restricting humanitarian
access to thousands of internally displaced people in eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), according to an official of the UN Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"Getting to areas where the latest displacement of the population has
occurred is hampered by activities of armed groups and the fact that
roads in these areas are very poor," Claude Mululu, liaison officer in
OCHA's Bukavu office, told IRIN on 25 July.

He said the most recent areas to be affected were around the town of
Minembwe, about 150km south of Bukavu, the provincial capital, following
reports of fighting between the Congolese army, FARDC, and militia.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73401


KENYA: Pastoralists lose 100,000 animals to livestock disease

Herders in Turkana district in northwestern Kenya have lost an estimated
100,000 goats and sheep in the past year to peste des petits ruminants
(PPR), a senior veterinarian in the area said.

The disease, which is not common in Kenya, was first noticed in the
district in March 2006 and diagnosed in July last year, George Omori,
the veterinary officer in charge of Turkana, said.

He said PPR had spread to virtually the entire district, with
pastoralist communities in the administrative divisions of Lokichoggio,
Kakuma, Oropoi and Kibish having lost a significant number of sheep and
goats. Turkana has a population of almost half a million people.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73387


KENYA: Earthquake scare highlights emergency response weaknesses

A series of earth tremors that caused panic in the Kenyan capital,
Nairobi, has raised concerns over the country's ability to respond to
sudden major disasters.

Major Stephen Sane, the acting head of Kenya's National Disaster
Operations Centre, said Kenya lacked basic rescue equipment and the
emergency medical services staff needed in the event of a serious
earthquake.

His unit was created in 1998 after devastating floods, caused by the El
Nino weather pattern, wreaked havoc on Kenya's infrastructure.

"Our disaster preparedness appears to be whimsical. It has not been
taken seriously at the policy level," Sane told IRIN, adding that the
country also lacked an emergency medical service and has to depend on
the Red Cross.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73461


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
     Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
                                    guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Central/East Africa             www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/ceafrica