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 450
27 September - 3 October 2008


CONTENTS:

DRC: "Save eastern peace process from collapse"
CONGO: "Irresponsible officials" put patients at risk
UGANDA: Karamoja region is "worst place to be a child"
UGANDA: Returnees caught up in land disputes
KENYA: Disease threatens pastoralist livelihoods


ALSO SEE:

AFRICA: Call to ban cluster bombs
[Full Report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80655]

RWANDA: Turning ex-child soldiers into able citizens
[Full Report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80668]

KENYA: IDPs struggle to rebuild their lives
[Full Report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80665]



DRC: "Save eastern peace process from collapse"

The international community must exert pressure on the Democratic 
Republic of Congo (DRC) government and ensure a "more impartial" UN 
peacekeeping mission to avoid a total collapse of the peace process in 
the east, a think-tank has warned.

Over the past month, at least 100,000 civilians have been displaced in 
North Kivu Province by a surge in hostilities between DRC forces and 
rebels loyal to former army general Laurent Nkunda, NGOs said. [ Full 
Report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80727 ]


CONGO: "Irresponsible officials" put patients at risk

Health officials in some hospitals in Congo are putting patients' lives 
at risk by engaging in unethical practices, local human rights groups 
have warned.

"The behaviour of such officials, notably their greed and the fraudulent 
sale of medicines, is a great obstacle to the right to healthcare," 
Maixent Fortunin Hanimbat, president of the rights group, Forum pour la 
gouvernance et les droits de l'homme, said. In 2007, a watchdog to 
tackle corruption was created but according to civil society activists, 
its work "is not yet apparent".

[Full Report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80697]


UGANDA: Karamoja region is "worst place to be a child"

The remote Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda has such poor health 
indicators that up to 100 children younger than five die each week, many 
of preventable illnesses, officials said.

"Karamoja faces development challenges that put it in a different sphere 
from the rest of Uganda," Health Minister Stephen Malinga said at the 
launch of a child health campaign. "The situation is alarming and health 
indicators are beyond emergency levels."

[Full Report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80708]


UGANDA: Returnees caught up in land disputes

The return of relative peace to most areas of northern Uganda had 
convinced Akello Jucantina, 78, to leave the camp for internally 
displaced people (IDPs) in Amuru District where she had lived for years 
to restart life in her original village. Then she learnt that her family 
land was now owned by somebody else.

"I was surprised to find out that part of our family land in Purongo [in 
Amuru] has been given to somebody as a farm," she told IRIN. Jucantina 
is not alone. According to local officials in Amuru, disputes over land 
ownership are threatening the resettlement of thousands of former IDPs.

[Full Report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80694]


KENYA: Disease threatens pastoralist livelihoods

Wario Golicha was working as a long-distance truck driver until he 
retired in 2006 to keep livestock in the eastern district of Isiolo.

With his pension, Golicha bought 100 goats to supply his family with 
milk as well as an income; the herd had doubled by April. However, an 
outbreak of the viral livestock disease, Peste des Petits Ruminants, 
threatens to wipe out his entire herd.

[Full Report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80670]


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