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 446
30 August - 5 September 2008


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Prisoner release to help peace process
DRC: Civilians displaced as army and rebels clash again in Rutshuru
DRC: 17 feared dead in plane crash near Bukavu
TANZANIA: Vaccination campaign treats millions of children
KENYA-SOMALIA: Refugee surge stretching camp facilities

ALSO SEE:
RWANDA: Vulnerable children living on the margins
full report

UGANDA: Landmine victims struggle to reintegrate
full report

KENYA: From rubbish dump to cabbage patch
full report


BURUNDI: Prisoner release to help peace process

The release of detainees suspected to be members of the 
Palipehutu-Forces for National Liberation (FNL), Burundi's last rebel 
group, would remove a major impediment to the ceasefire between the 
group and the government, sources said.

The FNL has repeatedly demanded the release of its detained members as a 
pre-condition for implementing a ceasefire with the government. A 
meeting between President Pierre Nkurunziza and FNL leader Agathon Rwasa 
on 29 August agreed an unspecified number of detainees would be 
released.

Full Report:
www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80145


DRC: Civilians displaced as army and rebels clash again in Rutshuru

Fresh clashes broke out on 3 September between government troops and 
rebel forces in Rutshuru district in eastern Democratic Republic of 
Congo, prompting civilians to flee their homes.

"There was an exchange of heavy weapons fire in the village of 
Ntamugenga from yesterday afternoon until this morning," resident 
Benjamin Mbusa told IRIN.

The army "retook Ntamugenga, which had been under the control of the 
CNDP", said MONUC's military spokesman, Col Jean-Paul Dietrich, 
referring to the National Congress for the Defence of the People, led by 
renegade general Laurent Nkunda.

Full Report:
www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80173


DRC: 17 feared dead in plane crash near Bukavu

An airplane carrying humanitarian workers crashed on approach to Bukavu, 
the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo's South Kivu province, on 1 
September.

The plane had flown from Kinshasa bound for Goma, the capital of North 
Kivu province, with stopovers scheduled in the provincial capitals of 
Mbandaka, Kisangani and Bukavu.

Full Report:
www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80122


TANZANIA: Vaccination campaign treats millions of children

Millions of parents and guardians sent their children to be vaccinated 
on 30 and 31 August in a national campaign against measles, polio and 
other diseases.

"The exercise has been generally successful as many parents turned out 
with their children in most districts in the country," Donan Mbando, 
director of preventive health in the health ministry, said.

At least 22 people died and 3,527 were affected following a measles 
outbreak in the towns of Dar es Salaam and Tanga in 2006.

Full Report:
www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80123


KENYA-SOMALIA: Refugee surge stretching camp facilities

The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, has registered some 38,000 new arrivals in 
Dadaab in northeastern Kenya, the vast majority of them from Somalia, 
where widespread violence, extensive drought, severe food price rises 
and runaway inflation have created a major humanitarian crisis.

According to UNHCR, providing shelter for the new arrivals is a growing 
challenge. There are also inadequate resources and land to properly 
allocate refugee families and to assure proper shelter for everyone, 
said the agency.

Full Report:
www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80094


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