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 394
4 - 10 August 2007


CONTENTS:

DRC: Starving detainees escape South Kivu prison
DRC: UNHCR set to recommence work in Moba - UN official
TANZANIA: Cholera outbreak in northern region, says government official
KENYA: Displaced numbers grow as more flee attacks in volatile district
UGANDA: Marburg contracted from skinned monkey, says official
UGANDA: 'No more Marburg cases' - health minister

See Also:

UGANDA: Displaced families in two minds over return home
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73654

CONGO: Grappling with malnutrition and post-conflict woes
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73653


DRC: Starving detainees escape South Kivu prison

More than 100 inmates escaped from the rundown central prison in Uvira, 
an area on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in South Kivu, eastern 
Democratic Republic of Congo, after a demonstration over conditions, 
area administrator Eoloko Nsala said.

"The detainees said they were starving. They staged an angry protest 
before threatening the prison chief," said Nsala.

He said the state could not afford to feed and take care of detainees: 
"The prison's food supplies had dried up. Even the donations by Caritas 
[a Catholic non-governmental organisation] had been suspended, leaving 
the prisoners without anything to eat."

Full report 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73594


DRC: UNHCR set to recommence work in Moba - UN official

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it will resume operations in Moba, in 
Katanga Province, southern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - a week 
after a demonstration rocked the town and led to the evacuation of UN 
staff.

"We had stopped the refugee repatriation movement following the problems 
in Moba, now we can continue," Love Mtesa, the chairman of the executive 
committee of UNHCR said on 9 August in the capital Kinshasa, at the end 
of a weeklong visit to the country.

Mtesa, who is Zambia's ambassador to the UN, said repatriation efforts 
would continue and the Congolese authorities "have said they are ready 
to receive them".

Full report 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73667


TANZANIA: Cholera outbreak in northern region, says government official

Ten people have died and 20 others were admitted to various health 
centres after an outbreak of cholera in the northern Tanzanian region of 
Mara over the past week, a senior health official said.

"The disease was confirmed on Thursday. Medical supplies and teams of 
doctors and nurses were immediately dispatched to Bunda district, where 
the disease was first reported on Tuesday," Valentino Bhangi, medical 
officer in charge of Mara region told IRIN by phone from Musoma on 4 
August.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73595


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.

Former resident Geoffrey Ngeywa, who is now living in the neighbouring 
Marakwet district, said: "Life is very hard; people have fled their 
homes due to the tension. There are also a lot of burglaries and 
destruction of property."

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


UGANDA: Marburg contracted from skinned monkey, says official

The Marburg virus outbreak in western Uganda that was confirmed on 30 
July could have been contracted from a Colobus monkey, which was caught 
and skinned by two people, health officials said.

"We have so far gone 14 days since the first case and if 21 days elapse 
without any other case, then the outbreak would have passed," Sam 
Okware, commissioner for health services, said.

Okware added: "[The first victim] killed a Colobus monkey and skinned it 
with the help of the second person who also fell sick. We strongly 
suspect that this how he got infected.

Full report 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73593


UGANDA: 'No more Marburg cases' - health minister

The outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus in Uganda's western Kamwenge 
District has been contained, but the country will maintain active 
surveillance for several more weeks, authorities said.

"Today is 25 days since the last contact with the case of the last 
Marburg patient, who was buried on 14 July 2007 in Luwero District," 
said Health Minister Steven Malinga. "This is more than the maximum 
incubation period of 21 days for the Marburg virus infection. There have 
been no more Marburg cases in the country over that period."

He added: "Theoretically, the transmission chain has been broken, the 
transmission has been stopped and the outbreak contained. However, we 
have decided, as a precautionary measure, to maintain active 
surveillance, case management, infections control and social 
mobilisation activities for an additional 21 days."

Full report 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73652


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