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 418
2 - 8 February 2008


CONTENTS:

KENYA: Officials grapple with implications of sending IDPs "home"
KENYA: Violence slowing down humanitarian effort
KENYA: Healthcare threatened by political crisis
KENYA: IDPs leave city for "ancestral homes"
DRC: Cholera kills 59, more than 2,000 infected in Katanga
DRC: Amid aftershocks, many Bukavu residents sleep in the open
DRC: Third ex-rebel commander charged with war crimes

See Also

KENYA: No place to call home
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76581

KENYA: University's re-opening a lesson in peace amid diversity
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76606

KENYA: Crisis ripple effects felt across the region
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76598


KENYA: KENYA: Officials grapple with implications of sending IDPs "home"

UN and Red Cross officials briefed negotiators from Kenya's political
parties meeting on 4 February as part of a dialogue aimed at resolving
the political crisis.

Leaders from the government and opposition discussed humanitarian issues
as the second item on a four-point "national dialogue" agenda. They were
told that displaced people trapped in "hostile" areas may need further
organised transport operations to take them to safety.

A briefing prepared by the officials listed the dimensions of the
humanitarian problems, mechanisms for response, coordination and
fund-raising efforts. The Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) estimates
301,000 people were displaced in post-election violence as of 31
January, not including those hosted by other families.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76562


KENYA: Violence slowing down humanitarian effort

Roadblocks and violence across much of western Kenya are putting a
strain on efforts to assist hundreds of thousands of internally
displaced people (IDPs), according to relief workers.

"On 14 January, one of our trucks, carrying 17 tonnes of vegetable oil
for IDPs, was looted in Burnt Forest [in Rift Valley Province]," Peter
Smerdon, senior public information officer for the UN World Food
Programme (WFP), told IRIN. "Then on 28 January three of our trucks were
stoned; one of the trucks was looted of some of its corn soya cargo."
Another three WFP trucks heading for the western city of Kisumu only
managed to reach their destination after security escorts guided them
through numerous roadblocks

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76587


KENYA: Healthcare threatened by political crisis

NAIROBI, 7 February 2008 (IRIN) - Health officials are concerned about
the long-term impact of Kenya's political crisis on healthcare,
especially in areas hardest hit by violence since the end of December
2007.

"The most worrying issue is that of drug resistance among patients of
chronic diseases," Ian van Engelgem, the medical coordinator of Medecins
Sans Frontieres (MSF), told IRIN on 5 February. He said HIV and
Tuberculosis (TB) patients who had missed out on their regular
medication for up to a month due to displacement and violence could
develop resistance to the drugs.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76620


KENYA: IDPs leave city for "ancestral homes"

Thousands of people displaced from the suburbs on the western edge of
the capital, Nairobi, have left for their "ancestral homes" in western
Kenya, according to humanitarian workers.

"We had a total of 17,000 people here [Kabete Police Station] last week
but they have been leaving since Friday [1 February] for their ancestral
homes in areas such as Kisumu, Bondo, Busia, Kakamega and Kitale,"
Regina Munguti, a volunteer with the Catholic Justice and Peace
Commission, told IRIN on 8 February.

The displacement in Nairobi as well as in the central Kenya region has
followed the initial displacement of thousands of people from Western,
Nyanza and Rift Valley provinces, which were hardest hit by the violence
that erupted in late December 2007 following disputed presidential
elections.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76646


DRC: Cholera kills 59, more than 2,000 infected in Katanga

An outbreak of cholera in the southern Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) province of Katanga killed 59 people and infected more than 2,000
in January, health officials said.

The first cases of the epidemic were noticed between late December and
early January in the town of Bukama and the cities of Likasi and
Lubumbashi, farther south, according to Vital Mondinge Makuma, the
official in charge of epidemics surveillance in the ministry of health.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76554


DRC: Amid aftershocks, many Bukavu residents sleep in the open

Aftershocks continue to rattle the eastern town of Bukavu three days
after an earthquake killed six people and injured hundreds. Many
residents are still sleeping in the open for fear their damaged houses
might collapse.

According to the OCHA spokesman, 312 people were injured in the weekend
quake, 50 of whom were still receiving treatment. He added that 99
buildings had collapsed and 815 were unsafe for habitation.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76610


DRC: Third ex-rebel commander charged with war crimes

A third former rebel commander accused of committing atrocities in the
Ituri district of the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
has been flown to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to
be tried on charges of war crimes, including murder, conscription of
children and sexual enslavement, a spokesman for the tribunal said.

Col Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, a former commander of the Fronts
Nationalistes et Integrationnistes (FNI) rebel group, whose ex-fighters
were recently integrated into the national army, was on 7 February flown
from Kinshasa to The Hague for trial, according to Paul Madidi, ICC's
spokesman in the DRC capital.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76629


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