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Tuesday 21 February 2006


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IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 309 10-16 December 2005

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

CONTENTS:

TANZANIA: Ruling party wins national elections in Zanzibar
UGANDA: Insecurity hampering aid efforts in the north, UN official says
UGANDA: Northwestern communities engage in fish farming
UGANDA: War-affected civilians receive reconstructive surgery
UGANDA: Opposition leader's trial set for 19 December
BURUNDI: UN appeals for $128m in humanitarian aid for 2006
BURUNDI: UN to start troop pullout on Wednesday
CAR: Police stops rally by unpaid civil servants

ALSO SEE:

DRC: Stakes high for vote on draft constitution
Full report

CONGO: Rural residents left high and dry for lack of clean water
Full report

TANZANIA: Profile on CUF presidential hopeful Ibrahim Lipumba
Full report

TANZANIA: Profile on presidential candidate Jakaya Kikwete
Full report

TANZANIA: Ruling party wins national elections in Zanzibar but islands remain divided

Tanzania's National Electoral Commission announced on Thursday that the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party had won the most parliamentary seats in the politically troubled semiautonomous islands of Zanzibar.

As with elections in October for Zanzibar's local parliament, the ruling CCM won the majority of seats in the national parliament, but only in Unguja, Zanzibar's largest island, and not in Zanzibar's smaller island of Pemba.

In Pemba the opposition took all 18 seats for the national parliament; and one seat in Stone Town, on Unguja Island. However, the election commission said Unguja had 32 seats of which the ruling CCM won 30. Elections in one constituency in Unguja had to be postponed until Sunday because of technical problems.

Election officials said they were still compiling results for the union presidential vote in Zanzibar.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

[TANZANIA: Large turnout in presidential elections]

UGANDA: Insecurity hampering aid efforts in the north, UN official says

Continued attacks by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda have made it difficult for humanitarian workers to assist about 2.5 million people in the region to meet their basic needs, a senior UN official said on Monday.

Speaking at the launch of the UN's 2006 Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) for Uganda, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Martin Mogwanja, said since 2004 the region had "witnessed renewed attacks by the LRA on the civilian population and more recently even on humanitarian workers".

According to the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), beneficiaries of the US $223-million appeal will include 1.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in extreme poverty and inhuman conditions in camps in Acholi region.

Others include IDPs in Teso and Lango regions; some 260,000 refugees in eight districts in the West Nile and western regions of the country; and more than 500,000 drought affected people in Karamoja region.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

[The complete CAP document is available at: http://ochaonline.un.org]

UGANDA: Northwestern communities engage in fish farming

A pilot fish-farming project launched by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in northwestern Uganda is helping poor communities in the region to increase their incomes and improve their diets, according to local residents.

The project, launched by WFP in October 2004 and specifically targeted at food-insecure communities in the districts of Arua and Yumbe, saw its first yield on 2 December, when enthusiastic villagers harvested some 600 kg of fish.

Brian Achikule of Wece village near Koboko town said the fact that he no longer had to travel 50 km to buy fish was "a dream come true."

Full report

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UGANDA: War-affected civilians receive reconstructive surgery

Civilians in northern parts of the country who were mutilated by rebel fighters during two decades of war have begun to receive reconstructive surgery, the international medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said.

"In this round of interventions, individuals will undergo surgical procedures including the reconstruction of lips. Some of the victims have multiple mutilations," MSF said in a statement.

Many of the patients have had their lips, ears, noses or fingers cut off as part of the campaign of violence directed at civilians in the region in recent years.

The reconstruction surgery - provided by MSF and Interplast Holland - started on Monday at St Joseph's Missionary Hospital in the northern district of Kitgum. The first 12 patients will be operated on this week.

Full report

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UGANDA: Opposition leader's trial set for 19 December

The treason and rape trial of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye is due to begin on 19 December, according to a high court schedule.

The schedule, signed by Principle Judge James Ogoola and made public on Monday, said Besigye and 22 co-defendants in the treason case would stand trial in the court presided over by Justice John Bosco Katutsi.

However, a judge once again declined to grant Besigye temporary bail after the court referred to the constitutional court his objection to standing trial before a military court, where he faces separate charges of terrorism and illegal possession of fire arms.

Full report

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BURUNDI: UN appeals for $128m in humanitarian aid for 2006

Much of the $128-million in humanitarian aid to Burundi that the OCHA appealed for on Wednesday will not be for emergency relief, an official of the agency in the country said.

"More than half of the funds will go to [more long-term] development," Jean Sebastien Munie, the interim head of the OCHA Burundi, said at a news briefing in Bujumbura, the capital.

He was speaking at the launch the CAP, an appeal for aid made for countries experiencing humanitarian crises.

One key objective of Burundi's 2006 CAP is to link humanitarian aid to more long-term objectives, Munie said. The country is emerging from more than a decade of civil war; elections in 2005 brought about a peaceful change of government.

Full report

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BURUNDI: UN to start troop pullout on Wednesday

Some 180 soldiers in a Mozambican contingent are set to leave Burundi on Wednesday, marking the start of the withdrawal of the UN Mission there known as ONUB.

"The pull out comes in accordance with the Burundi government's wish for a progressive disengagement of UN troops," Gen Derrick Ngwebi, the UN commander in Burundi, said during a news conference on Thursday.

All of the roughly 5,000 UN peacekeepers in Burundi will leave by February 2006, Ngwebi said. In February, the 817 peacekeepers of the Kenyan battalion will leave. Then, in March, the 640-strong Ethiopian contingent will leave along with 60 physicians from Jordan and 224 Pakistani engineers.
Ngwebi said the pull out of troops from South Africa, the largest contributor to the mission, will start in April 2006.

Full report

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CAR: Police stops rally by unpaid civil servants

Around 100 riot police stopped striking civil servants from holding a rally in the capital, Bangui, on Saturday by sealing off the headquarters of the largest trade union. Civil servants have been on strike since October demanding up to 45 months of salary arrears.

Labour Minister Jacques Bothy acknowledged that the police acted illegally.

"Security forces violated workers' rights," Bothy told IRIN. "The trade union headquarters is an international zone under the control of the International Labour Organization."

He said the police action complicated "the whole negotiation process" to find a solution to the ongoing strike.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

[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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