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Tuesday 21 February 2006


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IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 308 3-9 December 2005

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

CONTENTS:

TANZANIA: Clinical trials on HIV/AIDS vaccine to start in March
BURUNDI: Germany grants Bujumbura 9.5 million euros to fight poverty
DRC: Relief efforts blocked in northern Katanga as fighting continues
DRC: World Bank approves US $125-million grant for reconstruction
KENYA: Political unease as some MPs reject cabinet positions
CAR: Government sets up new road maintenance agency
KENYA: EC provides 125 million euros in budget support
GREAT LAKES: EU calls for revival of regional economic bloc
GREAT LAKES: Returning refugees risk being displaced
GREAT LAKES: UN appeal seeks $154.5 million for recovery efforts

ALSO SEE:

BURUNDI: INTERVIEW: Nkurunziza optimistic about education, security
Full report

TANZANIA: Clinical trials on HIV/AIDS vaccine to start in March

Tanzania will start clinical trials of an HIV/AIDS vaccine in March 2006, the head of a local university announced in Dar es Salaam on Saturday.

"This is taking place after successful trials were done in Sweden to determine any side effects," said Kisali Pallangyo, the principal of the Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences in Dar es Salaam.

Muhimbili, which is a university teaching hospital, will conduct the trials on the vaccine DNA-MVA, developed by researchers at the Swedish Institute of Infectious Disease Control. The trial will only be conducted in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's commercial capital.

Full report

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BURUNDI: Germany grants Bujumbura 9.5 million euros to fight poverty

Germany has granted Burundi 9.5 million euros (US $11.1 million) for a one-year programme aimed at reducing poverty across the country by providing safe drinking water, fighting HIV/AIDS and promoting peace and reconciliation, a German government official said on Wednesday in Berlin.

The spokeswoman at the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, Barbara Wieland, said the grant would cover the period from December 2005 to December 2006 and would prioritise water projects.

She said Germany would support reforms in Burundi's judiciary, conflict prevention and human rights programmes in an effort to promote peace and reconciliation in the country that is recovering from 12 years of civil war.

Full report

[GREAT LAKES: EU calls for revival of regional economic bloc]

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DRC: Relief efforts blocked in northern Katanga as fighting continues

The international humanitarian aid body Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says the army in northern Katanga Province of the DRC has blocked relief workers from entering the area since beginning a military campaign against local Mayi-Mayi militias there in mid-November.

"We think there are many people who need assistance," Laurence Sailly, the coordinator of MSF's Emergency Team in the DRC, told IRIN on Monday from Kinshasa.

However, MSF said as it could not get close to the front line it could not give a reliable estimate of the scale of the problem.

"We are asking for access so that we can assess the situation," Sailly said.

MSF reported on Friday that some 3,000 internally displaced persons fled fighting in their camp at Mazwombe in Mitwaba Territory. In addition, thousands of people have fled their homes as the army moves north from the town of Kilwa.

Full report

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DRC: World Bank approves US $125-million grant for reconstruction

The World Bank said on Thursday it had approved a US $125-million grant to help the DRC revamp its agricultural production and enhance food security.

In a statement issued in Washington D.C., the bank said the grant would provide additional financing for priority activities in the country that were not being paid for under its original Emergency Multi-sector Rehabilitation and Reconstruction project, approved in August 2002.

"The project seeks to restore essential social services and build community infrastructure and strengthen government capacity to implement and manage medium and long-term development programmes," the World Bank said.

Full report

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KENYA: Political unease as some MPs reject cabinet positions

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki's bid to reconstitute his government and ease political tension in the country hit a snag on Thursday after some members of parliament appointed to the new cabinet refused to take up their positions.

Kibaki, who named his new cabinet on Wednesday, had left out seven key members of the previous administration who campaigned against the proposed new constitution he favoured, which was rejected in a national referendum last month.

Among those who refused to sit in the new cabinet are the leader of the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD-Kenya), FORD-Kenya leader Musikari Kombo; Orwa Ojode, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party who had been given the environment portfolio; former Health Minister Charity Ngilu, leader of the National Party of Kenya.

About 15 assistant ministers also rejected their posts, citing various reasons. Some said their political parties had not been consulted before the appointments. Others apparently refused to accept the offers because they belonged to the Orange Democratic Movement, a loose alliance of politicians from various parties that spearheaded the campaign against the draft constitution.

Full report

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CAR: Government sets up new road maintenance agency

The government of Central African Republic set up a new agency on Saturday to rehabilitate and maintain 24,000 km of roads.

The new agency, known as the Fonds d'Entretien Routier, will repair and maintain the national network of trunk, regional and rural roads; 65 percent of which the director of public works for road maintenance, Auguste Nambea, said were in "bad condition".

He said the agency would be funded from road and fuel taxes. Motorists would be charged 55 francs CFA (a fraction of a US cent) on every litre of petrol sold.

Full report

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KENYA: EC provides 125 million euros in budget support

The European Commission is to provide some 125 million euros (US $147.3 million) in budget support and technical aid to strengthen poverty-alleviation programmes in Kenya, the EC delegation in Nairobi announced on Tuesday.

A financing agreement to facilitate the disbursement of the Poverty Reduction Budget Support II Programme had already been signed between the Kenyan government and the EC, the organization said. The programme seeks to enhance macroeconomic stability and stimulate economic growth in Kenya by reducing borrowing and reversing the rise in domestic debt burden.

Full report

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GREAT LAKES: EU calls for revival of regional economic bloc

The EU commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, Louis Michel, called on Monday for the revival of the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries of Africa(the Communauté Economique des Pays des Grands Lacs, or CEPGL), that collapsed in 1998 as a result of war in the region.

Michel made his appeal while meeting with Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza who was on a four-day visit to Belgium.

"The Commissioner is encouraging the revival of the CEPGL because political conditions are ripe after transitions successfully completed in Burundi and Rwanda and the hopes raised by massive voter registration in the DRC," Amadeu Altafaj, the EU spokesman, told IRIN on Tuesday.

Full report

[GREAT LAKES: Ministers move to revive economic cooperation]

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GREAT LAKES: Returning refugees risk being displaced

Tens of thousands of refugees in the Great Lakes region have started returning home, but without adequate support they could reignite conflicts and end up joining the millions of people displaced within their own countries, a senior UN official said on Tuesday.

"The future is IDPs [internally displaced persons]," said Dennis McNamara, director of the UN Inter-Agency Internal Displacement Division, on Tuesday in Nairobi ahead of the launch of a $154-million UN Consolidated Appeal for the Great Lakes region.

He said there were currently only three million refugees in all of Africa - but over 11 million IDPs in the DRC, Uganda and Sudan.

Full report

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GREAT LAKES: UN appeal seeks $154.5 million for recovery efforts

The 2006 annual UN appeal to donors for humanitarian aid for the Great Lakes region, which is for US $154.5 million, has begun focusing more on recovery efforts while still providing emergency relief, UN officials said at the appeal's launch on Tuesday.

"Countries in the region are moving towards peace, and this appeal takes that into account," said Valerie Julliand, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Regional Support Office for East and Central Africa (OCHA-RSO), in her opening remarks at the 2006 Consolidated Appeal for the Great Lakes in Nairobi.

"We are now, for example, concerned with food security - not just food aid," she said, referring to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization projects in the appeal, which will cost $3.6 million, up from $2.7 million in 2005.

Full report

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[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Other

Other recent CENTRAL & EASTERN AFRICA reports:

Regional ministerial meeting opens, 20/Feb/06

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 318 11-17 February 2006, 17/Feb/06

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 317 4-10 February 2006, 10/Feb/06

IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 316 28 January - 3 February 2006, 3/Feb/06

Regional summit to be held after DRC polls, UN envoy says, 1/Feb/06

Other recent reports:

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Donors pledge support for humanitarian crisis, 21/Feb/06

ANGOLA: Ready to play larger security role in Africa, 21/Feb/06

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 17/Feb/06

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 270 for 11-17 February 2006, 17/Feb/06

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 317 covering 11-17 February 2006, 17/Feb/06

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