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
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e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-Up 445
23 - 29 August 2008


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: FAO predicts serious food shortages
CONGO: Campaign highlights importance of testing diabetes, hypertension
CONGO: "We remain marginalised", indigenous people say
DRC: Tension on the rise in Katanga mining town
DRC: Leprosy almost eliminated, says government


ALSO SEE:

RWANDA: Sustainable peace key to post-genocide reconciliation at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79996



BURUNDI: FAO predicts serious food shortages

Parts of eastern and southern Burundi are threatened with acute food
shortages following low agricultural yields compounded by an influx of
returning refugees, an official of the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) has said.

Presenting the country's Integrated Framework for Classification of Food
Security on 26 August in the capital, Bujumbura, the FAO consultant,
Methode Niyongendako, said the north of the country would also be
affected. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80024]


CONGO: Campaign highlights importance of testing diabetes, hypertension

A campaign to test for the prevalence of diabetes and hypertension,
considered as growing causes of mortality in the Republic of Congo
(ROC), has been launched in the main cities of Brazzaville and
Pointe-Noire.

"Many Congolese are affected but are ignorant of their status," Arsene
Niamba, the secretary general of local NGO L'Association Demain le Congo
(ADC) said during the launch of the campaign, which will run until 30
August. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80049]


CONGO: "We remain marginalised", indigenous people say

Despite government efforts to provide public services to all citizens of
the Republic of Congo, indigenous communities (also known as Pygmies)
continue to be discriminated against, the community's representatives
have said.

"It is difficult; we don't have a health centre, no school, even though
we are near the capital," said Jean Dominique Dambo, the leader of the
indigenous people in Dzaka, a village near Ouesso, the main town in the
Sangha region in northern Congo. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79995]


DRC: Tension on the rise in Katanga mining town

Human rights and local government officials in Democratic Republic of
Congo's Katanga province have expressed concern about rising tension
between different communities in a mining town there.

Clashes broke out on the night of 26 August between residents of Kolwezi
and people from neighbouring provinces who work in the town's copper,
cobalt, tin and manganese mines. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80048]


DRC: Leprosy almost eliminated, says government

Leprosy is under control in Democratic Republic of Congo where the
number of cases being reported has fallen dramatically, health officials
said.

"Our country made a commitment to eliminate leprosy nationally by the
end of 2007. Today, we consider it done," Makwenge Kaput, the minister
of health said. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79999][END]


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