"); NewWindow.document.close(); return false; } // end hiding from old browsers -->

Tuesday 1 November 2005


Search

Regions

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 293 for 20-26 August 2005

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Former rebel leader becomes president
BURUNDI: Belgium grants 3.8 million euros for good governance
BURUNDI: Peace-building commission proposed, UN official says
TANZANIA: Election campaigns kicks off
CAR: France grants 25,000 euro for floods victims.
CAR: Red Cross distributes non-food items to Bangui flood victims
CAR: Conditions not yet ripe for return, refugee agency says
DRC: 700 UN troops sent to Fataki; protecting voter registration
DRC: End of demobilisation in Mushaki
DRC: 12,500 Girls members of armed groups, NGO report says
GREAT LAKES: Rwandan Hutu rebels given till 30 September to disarm
RWANDA: UNHCR launches refugee census
UGANDA: Food operations in northeast face logistical problems, WFP says
UGANDA: Global fund suspends anti-AIDS grants
KENYA: New draft national constitution made public
AFRICA: Continent needs "home-grown" democracy, President Mkapa says

ALSO SEE:
BURUNDI: New president faces monumental tasks
Full report

DRC: Interview with MSF head of mission in DRC, Jerome Souquet
Full report

CONGO: Ebola attack seemingly over, for now
Full report

BURUNDI: Former rebel leader becomes president

Former rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza, 40, was sworn in as Burundian president on Friday for a five-year term. He becomes the country's first democratically elected leader since 1993.

"I pledge to fight all ideology and acts of genocide and exclusion, to promote and defend the individual and collective rights and freedoms of persons and of the citizen," he said in Kirundi, Burundi's national language, in a ceremony attended by 10 African heads of state.

His inauguration in Bujumbura marks, more or less, the end of a 12-year civil war between Hutu rebels and an army led by the country's Tutsi minority. However, Nkurunziza faces a low intensity rebellion by a minor Hutu rebel group, the Front national de liberation, which refused to end its war against the outgoing transitional government; and has given no sign that is it ready to stop fighting now.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

BURUNDI: Belgium grants 3.8 million euros for good governance

Belgium granted Burundi 3.8 million euros (approx US $4.6 million) on Monday as part of a six-year funding programme to make the country’s public institutions, especially those involved with good governance and social services, more efficient, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bujumbura said.

The total cost of the six-year programme is 5.9 million euros (approx $7.2 million).

In July Belgium, which is the former colonial ruler of Burundi, gave the transitional government under Domitien Ndayizeye money to pay salary arrears to teachers, thereby ending a two-month strike.

Full report

In addition, on Tuesday, Belgium’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted 488,953 euros ($598,087) to the Belgian NGO, Caraes, to repatriate Burundian secondary school teachers and pupils living in Tanzania refugee camps, an official said from Brussels.

An official of Caraes (Caritate Aegrorum Servi), Benjamin Nyssen, said some 7,500 pupils - among whom 28 percent are girls - and 442 teachers were targeted under the project due to end in February 2007.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

BURUNDI: Peace-building commission proposed, UN official says

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed the creation of a peace-building commission to settle problems in Burundi after the UN peacekeeping function is complete, UN Special Representative Carolyn McAskie said on Monday.

She was speaking in the Burundi capital, Bujumbura, at the last session of the Implementation Monitoring Committee for Burundi. The committee, under UN chairmanship, was entrusted with ensuring the full and speedy implementation of the 2002 Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi.

McAskie said despite the end of the committee's mandate actions planned under the body would be implemented. She also said international support to the country would continue.

The committee held its last and special session four days after the country's new president, Pierre Nkurunziza, was inaugurated for a five-year term.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

TANZANIA: Election campaigns kicks off

Campaigning for the 30 October presidential election kicked off in Tanzania on Sunday, with political leaders promising to wrench the east African nation out of grinding poverty, as well as fight graft and enhance the status of women in society.

The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi was the first to launch its campaign with candidate Jakaya Kikwete pledging to maintain the nation's peace and stability "at all costs", while keeping improvement of the economy on top of its agenda.

Other parties, promising much the same, launched their campaigns later in the week. Some published their elections manifestos at the weekend. On Sunday, the National Convention for Construction and Reform released its manifesto that focuses on maintaining peace, reducing poverty, creation of at least two million jobs, and raising the status of women.

The main opposition party is the Civic United Front.

Full report

On the semiautonomous island of Zanzibar, 17 registered political parties signed an electoral code of conduct on Saturday.

"The move is aimed at facilitating free, fair and peaceful elections," Augustino Ramadhani, vice-chairman of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission, said from the island on Monday

The code signed on Saturday binds all political stakeholders to responsible behavior during campaign, election and after the polls. It also commits all political parties to respect and accept the official poll results, forbids the use of offensive and derogatory language in the run-up to and during the elections.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

CAR: France grants 25,000 euro for floods victims.

France granted 25,000 euro ($30,590) to buy medicines for thousands of floods victims in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday.

It said the money had been channelled through the French embassy in Bangui, which has already arranged to buy drugs from a local pharmaceutical firm. The medicines, which are to be handed over the NGOs for distribution, are to combat malaria, typhoid, diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases, and parasites.

This donation follow appeals by the CAR government after first torrential rains battered Bangui on 6 and 7 August, inundating the eastern and southern parts of the city. CAR Red Cross officials say at least 14,517 residents have been affected by the floods.

Since October 2004, the French Development Agency, AFD, has undertaken a 2.3-billion-franc CFA ($42.8 million) water drainage project in a number of districts in Bangui, which, when completed, would prevent floods of this nature.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

CAR: Red Cross distributes non-food items to Bangui flood victims

The Red Cross of the Central African Republic distributed on Sunday non-food items, high energy biscuits and medicines to some 461 families affected by floods in the capital 17 days ago, the society's coordinator, Alphonse Zarambaud, said.

"Five thousand people received the items," he said on Sunday in Bangui, the capital.

This round of distributions went to families with more than 10 members each in the southern neighbourhoods of Bangui. The items consisted of blankets, pots, soap and jerry cans. UN agencies provided lamps, the high energy biscuits and the medicines.

Full report

[CAR: Red Cross gets some $39,024 for flood victims]

[Top of the Page]

CAR: Conditions not yet ripe for return, refugee agency says

Conditions are not yet conducive in the northern part of the country for the return home of thousands of people who have sought refuge in southern Chad, a local official of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Thursday.

"The necessary level of security does not seem to be guaranteed for the resumption of agricultural and economic activities in the northern part of the country where the refugees were living before," Bruno Geddo, the UNHCR representative in Bangui, said.

Geddo, who had just returned to the CAR capital, Bangui, from a tour of the area, said armed bandits were still attacking villages near the border with southern Chad. This, he said, made the refugees reluctant to return home. Another factor, he said, was the excessive movement by herdsmen, which prohibited the resumption of farming.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

DRC: 700 UN troops sent to Fataki; protecting voter registration

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) sent 700 troops to the northeastern territory of Fataki on Thursday to provide security for the voter registration process, following an attack there earlier in the week by unidentified gunmen.

"The deployment is a reaction to militia attacks and also to prove that even if we are in charge of security of the electoral process, we still have an important capacity to react against armed groups," Lt. Col. Thierry Provendier, the UN military spokesman, said.

Fataki is in the troubled Ituri District, a region that has been prone to sporadic attacks by armed groups.

In Monday's attack on Fataki unidentified militiamen shot dead an electoral official in charge of identifying people arriving at a voter registration centre without identification cards. It was the first attack on a registration centre since the process began in Kinshasa, the nation's capital, on 20 June.

Disruption of registration has always been a distinct possibility given the insecurity in Ituri, although some 16,000 militiamen have disarmed voluntarily under the supervision of the UN Mission. However, some 1,000 other militiamen have refused to disarm and have actually been attacking UN peacekeepers, government troops and civilians.

Full report

[DRC:Ituri militiamen kill electoral official]

[Top of the Page]

DRC: End of demobilisation in Mushaki

The demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration process (DDR) of 3,200 militiamen ended on Monday in Mushaki District, 30 km south of Goma in the east of the country, national Defense Minister Adolphe Onusumba said.

He said the disbanded fighters now formed the 4th brigade of the national army and were commanded by Col Willy Bonane, former member of the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie-Goma. The brigade will now be deployed to the troubled northeastern district of Ituri, to reinforce the 1st brigade of the integrated national army.

Full report

[DRC: Former militiamen now form army's 4th Brigade]

[Top of the Page]

DRC: 12,500 Girls members of armed groups, NGO report says

Some 12,500 girls currently belong to government and non-government forces and a programme to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate all militias into society is failing them, Save the Children, an NGO, said in an August 2005 report.

The report, titled "Forgotten Casualties of War", said many girls did not want to be in the DDR process. It said they did not see themselves as "child soldiers", but as "wives" or camp followers and, therefore, were not entitled to demobilisation and reintegration benefits.

The DDR process, it said, acted to alert communities that girls were involved with armed groups, thereby giving rise to community rejection of them.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

GREAT LAKES: Rwandan Hutu rebels given till 30 September to disarm

Rwandan Hutu rebels in neighbouring DRC have until 30 September to disarm or else face "severe" consequences, ministers of regional cooperation from DRC, Rwanda and Uganda said on Thursday.

In a US government-facilitated meeting in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, ministers from the three countries told the rebels to start laying down their guns voluntarily.

The ministers did not detail the action they would take if the rebels, known as the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda, failed to comply. However, the Rwandan special envoy to the Great Lakes region, Richard Sezibera, said the repercussions would be political and military.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

RWANDA: UNHCR launches refugee census

The UN agency, UNHCR, announced on Thursday the launch of a census in Rwanda to gather accurate data on numbers, ages, gender, skills, professions and places of origin of refugees in their home countries.

"Having an accurate database helps us better plan our operations," Emile Belem, a UNHCR programme officer, was quoted saying in a statement released by the refugee agency.

The agency said it would also collect data on professional and educational background essential for the voluntarily repatriated refugees. This, it said, would allow for planning of reintegration programmes.

At the end of the census, it said, the Rwandan government would issue all refugees with an attestation and identification card.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

UGANDA: Food operations in northeast face logistical problems, WFP says

Efforts to feed thousands of people affected by drought in Uganda's northeastern Karamoja region have run into logistical trouble after floodwaters washed away a major bridge there, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday.

Officials said the route, through which up to 174,883 people are fed, was cut off by floods that washed away the bridge to Karamoja's drought-stricken areas of Kabong, Kalapata and Kathile.

Kabong, with up to 78,389 beneficiaries; Kalapata with 50,000; and Kathile with 45,797 have been badly affected by the bridge's destruction.

WFP said people living in rural areas near Kabong would now have to walk several hours to Kabong town to receive food, while other areas would still require physical delivery due to their inaccessibility.

Karamoja - comprising Moroto, Kotido and Nakapiripirit districts - has been hit by drought every five years since 1980.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

UGANDA: Global fund suspends anti-AIDS grants

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced on Wednesday a suspension of all its grants to Uganda due to "evidence of serious mismanagement" of the funds.

The Ugandan minister of health, Jim Muhwezi, said the suspension would disrupt the country's hitherto successful anti-AIDS campaign. However, $45.5 million of the $201-million earmarked has already been disbursed.

Global fund said it had suspended the grants until the Ugandan Ministry of Finance put in place a new structure that would guarantee the effective management of the money.

In a statement issued from its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the fund said the decision was based on a review of one of the five grants - undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers - that revealed "evidence of serious mismanagement by the Project Management Unit in the Ministry of Health".

Full report

[Top of the Page]

KENYA: New draft national constitution made public

Kenyan Attorney General Amos Wako released on Tuesday the country's proposed new constitution, which voters are expected to adopt or reject in a referendum in November.

The draft features major changes to the current constitution, including the addition of a deputy president and prime minister, as well as two deputy prime ministers.

Under the new 197-page document, the presidency would remain powerful, with the authority to appoint and dismiss the prime minister and other cabinet ministers.

The provision is different from proposals made in the "Bomas" draft - submitted by a constitutional conference in 2004 - which proposed to significantly reduce presidential powers and create a powerful prime minister.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

AFRICA: Continent needs "home-grown" democracy, President Mkapa says

The African continent must discard the political systems it inherited from its colonial masters and develop a "home-grown" democracy that would better reflect conditions on the continent, outgoing Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa said on Wednesday.

"After all those years of colonial rule and the five decades or so of self-rule, with its mistakes of all colours and shades, the time has now come for Africa to go back to the drawing board and try to engender a new democracy for Africa with African characteristics," Mkapa said in a speech to the Ugandan parliament.

He said Africans should be allowed to participate in their governance, which should be built on transparency and accountability.

Mkapa arrived in Uganda on Wednesday to bid farewell before his retirement later this year. He has been president of Tanzania since 1995. Re-elected in 2000, he is constitutionally ineligible to stand for a third five-year term. He will step down after presidential elections on 30 October.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Other

Other recent CENTRAL & EASTERN AFRICA reports:

Governments to meet over rebel menace, 25/Oct/05

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 301 for 15-21 October 2005, 21/Oct/05

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 300 8-14 October 2005, 14/Oct/05

EU adopts development, security partnership strategy, 13/Oct/05

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 299 for 1-7 October 2005, 7/Oct/05

Other recent reports:

SOUTH AFRICA: Black youth still struggle for economic equality, 31/Oct/05

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Countries must prepare for bird flu, 28/Oct/05

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 254 for 22-28 October 2005, 28/Oct/05

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round up 301 covering 22-28 October 2005, 28/Oct/05

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 28/Oct/05

[Back] [Home Page]

Click here to send any feedback, comments or questions you have about IRIN's Website or if you prefer you can send an Email to Webmaster

Copyright © IRIN 2005
The material contained on www.IRINnews.org comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies.
All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer to the IRIN copyright page for conditions of use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.