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 397
1 - 7 September 2007


CONTENTS:

DRC: Fighting restricting humanitarian access in North Kivu
DRC: Concern as violence causes more displacement in North Kivu
DRC-RWANDA: Good neighbourliness a long way off - analyst
BURUNDI: Hundreds flee as 20 die in rebel clashes near capital
BURUNDI: Calm returns as army warns it may crack down on rebels

See Also
UGANDA DIARIES: George Oringa, 27, is a paralegal at Pabbo camp, in
Uganda
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73957

UGANDA DIARIES: Dalson Oyo, organiser at Aloto resettlement site for
formerly displaced people
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73953


DRC: Fighting restricting humanitarian access in North Kivu

Clashes between government forces and dissident General Laurent Nkunda's
fighters in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are hampering
efforts to deliver aid to thousands of civilians displaced from their
homes by the violence, aid workers said.

"This is a worsening crisis," Claude Jibidar, the UN World Food
Programme (WFP) country director in DRC, said on 7 September. "The
fighting is uprooting more people every day and making it ever harder
for WFP to reach them with the assistance they urgently need. We need at
least US$12 million to buy more food in the region and move it in fast."

The latest outbreak of fighting pits the national army against fighters
loyal to Nkunda. It has forced an estimated 40,000 people to flee their
homes in recent days.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74176


DRC: Concern as violence causes more displacement in North Kivu

The UN Refugee Agency has expressed concern over the plight of thousands
of civilians forced to flee worsening tension and fighting in North Kivu
province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on 3 September that
an inter-agency team had, the day before, met groups of displaced people
fleeing from Rubaya and villages in Masisi district walking towards Sake
and Mugunga, where there is a site for internally displaced persons
(IDPs), about 15km west of Goma.

"They had a few belongings packed in bundles. Mugunga IDP site, which
had some 9,000 people at the beginning of August, continues to receive a
daily trickle of new arrivals. According to the site leader, himself an
IDP, this figure may have doubled in the past three weeks," UNHCR noted
in a statement.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74084


DRC-RWANDA: Good neighbourliness a long way off - analyst

The recent meeting between senior Rwandan and Congolese officials saw
some agreement on strategies to minimise tension between the two
countries, but did not achieve a breakthrough to firmly deal with the
rebellion in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an analyst
said.

"The two governments more or less repeated what they had said in
previous encounters, but it is some way from specifying what they expect
from each other to achieve a lasting return to peace," Philippe Biyoya,
professor of political science and law at the Protestant University of
Kinshasa, capital of the DRC, said.

According to Biyoya, Rwanda should make clear to the DRC government that
it wants support and no overtures to the Interahamwe or the Forces
Democratiques de Libration du Rwanda (FDLR).

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74133


BURUNDI: Hundreds flee as 20 die in rebel clashes near capital

Hundreds of families fled their homes in the northern suburbs of the
Burundian capital, Bujumbura, as factions of the rebel Forces nationales
de liberation (FNL) clashed, leaving 20 fighters dead.

"The clashes took place at Mugaruro where one of FNL wings opposed to
[Agathon] Rwasa [FNL leader] has retreated into a small forest," the
administrator of Buterere commune, Moise Ndayisenga, said on 3
September.

Other witnesses heard heavy gunfire and bomb blasts near the capital, as
the fighting started early in the morning. They also saw bodies in the
bushes.

Ndayisenga said residents and local administrators had been urging the
FNL factions to move away from the area, pending their assembly for
demobilisation or integration.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74103


BURUNDI: Calm returns as army warns it may crack down on rebels

Residents of Buterere commune near the Burundian capital of Bujumbura
have returned to their homes after fleeing clashes between rebel
factions that left 20 fighters dead.

An uneasy calm enveloped the commune, with residents saying the fighters
had left the area. The Burundian army, however, vowed to crack down on
the rebels unless they abandon their current positions.

"Our defence forces did not react quickly to calls to chase the
combatants away from the population's neighbourhood," the defence
minister, Lt-Gen Germain Niyoyankana, said on 5 September.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74135


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