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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e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-Up 440
26 July - 1 August 2008


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Government questions lack of weapons as FNL fighters assemble
DRC: Calls to extend prisoner release
UGANDA: Starvation risk to 1m in northeast
KENYA: Investigate "torture" in Mt Elgon operation, government urged
KENYA: Cholera outbreaks blamed on contaminated water

ALSO SEE:

UGANDA: Lake Victoria degradation threatening livelihoods
[Full Report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79568]

GLOBAL: Calls to reduce taxes and controls on food aid
[Full Report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79483]

GLOBAL: What climate change does - The 2nd in a three-part series
[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79563]

KENYA: Insecurity heightens poverty in northwest
[Full Report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79500]


BURUNDI: Government questions lack of weapons as FNL fighters assemble

Several thousand combatants of the Forces for National Liberation (FNL) 
have assembled at Rugazi in northwestern Bubanza Province but only a few 
weapons have been handed in, according to observers.

FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana said 2,450 fighters were in Rugazi and 
that number would rise to 3,000 as more came in from pre-assembly areas 
in Bujumbura Rurale.

The rebels were required to surrender their weapons to an African Union 
protection unit, but only 40 weapons had been handed in, according to 
government spokeswoman Hafsa Mossi. This had prompted the government to 
question where other arms were being kept.

Full Report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79470]


DRC: Calls to extend prisoner release

The release of hundreds of prisoners from the penal and rehabilitation 
centre in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 
will decongest the prison and should be replicated elsewhere in the 
country, a senior government official said.

At least 116 civilian prisoners were released on 25 July. Another 142 
military and police prisoners were released later. The prison in 
Kinshasa, according to official figures, held at least 4,000 inmates, 
despite being designed for 1,200.

[Full report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79531 Also see: Prisoners 
dying of hunger in Kasai Oriental 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79375]


UGANDA: Starvation risk to 1m in northeast

More than a million people are at risk of starvation in Uganda's 
semi-arid and remote northeastern regions and over 40,000 children are 
suffering acute to moderate malnutrition, a government official said.

"We had expected a problem after the floods that attacked the very 
survival of the people by destroying staple food in Karamoja and Teso 
regions," Musa Ecweru, Uganda's state minister in charge of refugees and 
disaster preparedness, said.

Prolonged dry conditions after flooding in the region last year had led 
to a 90 percent crop failure.

[Full Report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79525]


KENYA: Investigate "torture" in Mt Elgon operation, government urged

A public inquiry should be set up into "torture and war crimes" 
committed by the Sabaot Land Defence Forces (SLDF) militia and the 
military in Mt Elgon District, human rights activists said.

"We need an independent civilian inspectorate of the police and military 
... to restore trust in the security forces," Ben Rawlence of Human 
Rights Watch (HRW) Africa Division said in Nairobi at the launch of a 
report, All the Men Have Gone: War Crimes in Kenya's Mt Elgon District.

The report documents two years of "abuses" by both the SLDF and security 
forces. The SLDF, it alleges, were responsible for killing at least 600 
people, terrorising thousands and torturing hundreds since 2006.

[Full Report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79478 Also see: 
Kiambaa IDPs still afraid to return home 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79526]


KENYA: Cholera outbreaks blamed on contaminated water

Recurrent outbreaks of cholera in the western province of Nyanza are 
caused by widespread water contamination, including seepage from 
latrines, health officials said.

"The major contributor to the recent outbreaks in the area was unsafe 
water," Shahnaaz Sharif, the senior deputy director of medical services 
in Kenya's health ministry, said. "In Kisumu, many wells are built near 
the latrine; eventually the sewage seeps into the wells."

An earlier outbreak of the disease in January affected the districts of 
Bondo, Homa Bay, Kisii South, Kisumu West, Migori, Nyando, Rongo, 
Siayathe and Suba in the western region, leading to the deaths of 46 
people, with 832 cases being reported. Tests done on water samples from 
Kisumu and Nyando indicated that 75 percent of sources were 
contaminated.

[Full Report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79493]


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