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
28 July - 3 August 23007


CONTENTS:

RWANDA: Economic inequalities affecting poverty reduction efforts
RWANDA: New law brings hope for extradition of genocide suspects
CONGO: Prison system criticised for ill-treatment
DRC: Government seeks help for 75,000 IDPs
DRC: Calm returns after anti-Banyamulenge demo - UN
CAR: Civilians in northwest still afraid of going home
UGANDA: National task force formed to tackle Marburg fever alert
KENYA: Water cuts leave slum residents 'at risk'
KENYA: Displaced farmers pay for police escorts

See Also:
KENYA: Climate change and malaria in Nairobi
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73501

DRC: 'Pendulum displacement' in the Kivus
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73524


RWANDA: Economic inequalities affecting poverty reduction efforts

Rwanda has progressed in education, gender equality and democratic
governance, but a concentration of wealth within the top income bracket
is affecting overall poverty reduction efforts, a United Nations report
said.

"Soaring inequality is threatening poverty reduction and economic
growth," the National Human Development Report 2007 noted, adding that
Rwanda's high growth rates have hidden large and growing inequalities
between social classes, geographic regions and gender.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73483


RWANDA: New law brings hope for extradition of genocide suspects

Rwanda's Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama has expressed optimism
that countries hosting genocide suspects would soon expedite their
transfer to Kigali now the death penalty has been abolished.

"We have already signed extradition agreements with many countries in
Africa, Europe and in North America," he said on 2 August in the
capital, Kigali. "We are hoping that those countries will cooperate to
bring to trial all genocide suspects, or to extradite their cases before
Rwandan justice."

Before the legal reforms, which came into force on 25 July, countries
such as Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands and Switzerland had
refused to extradite suspects linked to the 1994 genocide over fears
they would be executed after trial in Rwanda. Full repoort
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73561


CONGO: Prison system criticised for ill-treatment

Congo's legal system has come under fire for delaying trials and keeping
remand prisoners in jail for long periods in poor conditions.

The director of Brazzaville's central prison, Colonel Sedar Oben, told
IRIN: "Some are detained for six months, others for more than a year
before they go to trial and most of them are detained for minor crimes.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73503


DRC: Government seeks help for 75,000 IDPs

The Democratic Republic of Congo's Humanitarian Affairs Minister
Jean-Claude Muyambo has said there were 75,000 homeless people in the
two biggest cities, adding to a growing number of internally displaced
people countrywide.

His ministry released a documentary film showing that armed conflicts,
natural catastrophes and the destruction by government officials of
informal settlements have displaced 10,000 families (50,000 people) in
Kinshasa and another 5,000 families (25,000 people) in the economic
capital Lubumbashi.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73506


DRC: Calm returns after anti-Banyamulenge demo - UN

Calm has returned to the town of Moba in Katanga Province, southern
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a day after demonstrators assaulted
and wounded four United Nations military observers and destroyed several
offices belonging to the UN and non-governmental organisations, an
official said.

"After a day of looting, stone-throwing and break-ins into offices, the
town is now calm and the last group of UN staff being evacuated is at
the airport," Eusebe Hounsokou, the head of the UN Refugee Agency in
DRC, said on 2 August from Lubumbashi, the provincial capital. Full
report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73549


CAR: Civilians in northwest still afraid of going home

Thousands of people who fled their homes in northwestern Central African
Republic are reluctant to return despite improved security conditions,
the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

The 18-month conflict between government forces and the rebel Army for
the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy has displaced tens of
thousands of people, especially around the towns of Kaga Bandoro and
Paoua, according to aid workers.

Many villages have been burnt down, and possessions, crops and livestock
stolen - prompting those displaced to seek shelter mostly in forests,
close to their fields.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73544


UGANDA: National task force formed to tackle Marburg fever alert

Ugandan health officials on 1 August issued an alert after three
suspected cases of Marburg haemorrhagic fever were reported in a remote
district near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Preliminary medical tests on two of the cases suggested they had
contracted the deadly disease, officials said. One of them died in
Kamwenge District, western Uganda.

"A national task force has been set up, tracing all potential contacts
of the cases for further investigations and tests," the Ministry of
Health said in a statement.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73527


KENYA: Water cuts leave slum residents 'at risk'

Residents took to the streets of Nairobi's second largest slum, Mathare,
on 31 July after five days without water left them facing serious
disease outbreaks, they said.

"The public toilets are polluted and sick people are using the toilets
as well, so we are afraid that diseases will break out soon. We have not
had drinking water for a couple of days, only dirty water is left," one
resident said.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73510


KENYA: Displaced farmers pay for police escorts

Ongoing clashes that have displaced more than 100,000 people in Mt Elgon
District near the Kenya-Uganda border have disrupted farming and trading
activities, sources said.

"Those who had planted potatoes on their farms need to pay police
escorts to go to their farms and to go to the market to sell the
produce," Sokwony Laikong, a teacher in the affected areas, said.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73546


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