UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
Central and Eastern Africa: IRIN Update 351 for 10 Feb 98.2.10

Central and Eastern Africa: IRIN Update 351 for 10 Feb 98.2.10

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@dha.unon.org

IRIN Update No. 351 for Central and Eastern Africa (Tuesday 10 February 1998)

RWANDA: Rebels massacre 58 in Gisenyi

Hutu rebels massacred 58 people and wounded 64 in northwest Gisenyi prefecture last week, the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) reported yesterday (Monday). It quoted local administrator Jean Baptiste Muhirwa as saying the rebels crossed from the Democratic Republic of Congo into the border village of Ngugo on Friday night during heavy rain. They broke into houses and began killing people with guns and traditional weapons.

Akayesu trial resumes with testimony by defence witness

The trial of genocide suspect Jean-Paul Akayesu resumed at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Rwanda yesterday. A defence witness for the former mayor of Taba in Gitarama prefecture testified that Akayesu was opposed to a group of Interahamwe militia from Taba and "tried to save Tutsis".

BURUNDI: Army flushing out rebels near Bujumbura

Residents of Bujumbura reported heavy weapons fire in the hills surrounding the city yesterday and Sunday, according to AFP. Army spokesman Colonel Isaie Nibizi said the army was conducting an offensive against "localised terrorists" in the area . "Armed bands never totally left the hills overlooking the capital," he told AFP, adding that the flushing out operations wound continue as long as armed gangs remained in the area.

Kenya Airways resumes flights to Bujumbura

Kenya Airways announced the commencement of humanitarian flights to Bujumbura, with the inaugural flight set for 17 February 1998. The once weekly flight will operate on Tuesdays.

Nyerere calls for democratically-elected government

Former Tanzanian president and Burundi mediator Julius Nyerere reiterated the only solution to Burundi's political crisis lay in a democratically-elected government, Tanzanian radio reported yesterday. During talks with UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, who is visiting Tanzania, he described the current government of President Pierre Buyoya as "undemocratic".

TANZANIA: Mkapa appeals for aid to rebuild damaged roads, railways

President Benjamin Mkapa has appealed for US $45 million in aid to rebuild Tanzania's roads and railways devastated by floods, local press reports said. Speaking to foreign envoys, he described the damage as "colossal". Internal and external trade had been badly hit, cutting government revenue.

Cargo held up in flood-hit ports

Over 150,000 mt of cargo, destined for Uganda and Rwanda, are held up at Tanzanian ports following the torrential rain. IPS news agency said the two countries were seeking alternative means of moving the stuck cargo. It quoted Tanzania Railways Corporation chief Linford Mboma as saying the TRC was losing some 100 million Tanzanian shillings (US $160,000) in revenue a day.

EAST AFRICA: FAO urges assistance to prevent epidemics

The Food and Agriculture Organisation said some 10 million people in East Africa were in need of emergency assistance following months of heavy rains which had caused havoc in the sub-region. Somalia and Kenya were particularly badly affected with a heavy loss of human and animal life. FAO today (Tuesday) appealed for US $2.5 million to help contain and combat diseases such as Rift Valley fever and rinderpest in the two countries. It warned that livestock diseases if left unchecked could develop into epidemic proportions.

WFP urges aid for flood victims

WFP also launched an appeal today, calling for US $17 million to maintain food deliveries and other vital supplies to over one million flood victims in Kenya and Somalia. Most deliveries have to be made by airdrops or boats because torrential rain has destroyed roads and bridges, WFP said in a press release.

WHO says Rift Valley fever waning in Kenya

WHO said Rift Valley fever was on the decline in Kenya. Epidemiologist Dr Mike Ryan told a news conference in Nairobi that 14 new cases had been reported over the last 10 days in the northeast, indicating the disease was being controlled. He said a team of WHO experts, based in Garissa, would try to establish the link between the disease and changes in weather conditions to make it easily predictable and preventable.

New UNEP boss notes hardships facing environmental issues

Former German environment minister Klaus Toepfer who took over as Executive Director of Nairobi-based UNEP yesterday warned that it would take "extraordinary efforts" to bring environmental issues "back to the centre of global political activity". He replaces Elizabeth Dowdeswell who held the post since 1993.

KENYA: IMF team arrives

A technical team from the IMF arrived in Nairobi on Sunday ahead of another mission expected later this week which will assess reform in Kenya. In July, the IMF froze a US $205 million Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility, citing the government's failure to combat high-level corruption. Economic observers told AFP the government had reneged on promised reforms and the talks would be "protracted and difficult".

SUDAN: World Vision warns of imminent disaster in Bahr el Ghazal

World Vision today warned of a looming "human tragedy" in southern Sudan following Khartoum's decision to ban aid flights to Bahr el Ghazal state. It said thousands of people displaced by fighting had arrived at its operation centres in Tonj and Gogrial where limited relief supplies were available. Continued fighting in Wau, Aweil and Gogrial was aggravating the crisis. World Vision's relief director for Sudan Bruce Menser described the flight ban as "abominable, criminal and unacceptable".

CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE: Disgruntled militiamen on looting spree

Dozens of dissatisfied militiamen, loyal to current leader Denis Sassou-Nguesso during last year's civil war, went on the rampage in Brazzaville yesterday. Former Cobra militia fighters looted shops, especially in the northern Ouenze district, before riot police restored order, AFP reported. They were apparently protesting against being omitted from the ranks of the new security forces. State radio reported shooting in the Bacongo district, close to the Total market.

UGANDA: LRA rebels kill eight in ambush

Rebels belonging to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have killed eight people in an ambush on a pick-up truck in the northern Gulu district, the independent 'Monitor' newspaper reported yesterday. The vehicle was set ablaze near the town of Adak and the victims, including a three year-old boy, were bayonetted to death. Meanwhile, in the western Uganda, rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed three villagers and wounded two over the weekend, the state-owned 'New Vision' said. The rebels were being chased away by a combined force of Ugandan and DRC soldiers, the newspaper added. About 1,000 villagers were displaced.

Nairobi, 10 February 1998, 14:30 gmt

[ENDS]

[The material contained in this communication comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN IRIN Tel: +254 2 622123 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin@dha.unon.org for more information or subscriptions. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. IRIN reports are archived on the WWW at: http://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail to archive@dha.unon.org. Mailing list: irin-cea-updates]

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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@dha.unon.org

IRIN Update No. 352 for Central and Eastern Africa (Wednesday 11 February 1998)

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Aid workers return to Baraka after brief evacuation

UN and NGO staff returned to Baraka in eastern DRC today (Wednesday) after they were evacuated for at least two hours following an outbreak of fighting between different units of the army, humanitarian sources told IRIN. The early morning flare-up between rival elements was the first such incident since December. A group of returning refugees from Kigoma were also able to disembark after a short delay, the sources added. They said local authorities had assured UNHCR that "calm was restored" and they should continue with their operations as usual. Reuters reported that UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata, who is currently on an African tour, had watched the several hundred refugees board the ferry yesterday for the journey home across Lake Tanganyika.

UN says two investigators join Mbandaka advance team

Spokesman for the Secretary-General Fred Eckhard said that the human rights investigative mission to DRC had reported that two investigators had joined the advance team in Mbandaka on Sunday. The others remained in Kinshasa where they continued preparations for their deployment in the eastern part of DRC, he told reporters in New York on Tuesday. An advance preparatory team of five investigators left Kinshasa for the northwestern town of Mbandaka on Friday.

Kapalata to close finally at end of week

The Kapalata military camp near Kisangani is to be closed by the end of the week, according to a decision by the governor of Orientale province and the chief military doctor. UNICEF told IRIN today the move represented a common stance between the civilian and military authorities. The camp, which houses mostly children whom the authorities consider as Mai-Mai rebels, has been declared unfit for human habitation by aid agencies after about 300 inmates died from cholera and other diseases. Yesterday, 140 children were transferred from the camp to "site H" in Kisangani and another 250 are due to leave today. UNICEF said it seems the camp housed some 1,500 children rather than the 3,000 previously reported. Estimates indicate as many as 46 percent of the children are severely malnourished. Care is being provided by NGOs with medical supplies from UNICEF.

UGANDA: UNICEF say almost 1,300 abducted children from Kitgum still missing

UNICEF Uganda told IRIN today that 1,290 children from just one Ugandan district, Kitgum, have been abducted in the last two years by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and have not come back. Another 1,310 did manage to return, preliminary findings show. UNICEF has released initial figures for Kitgum district in a survey of abductions in seven northern and southwestern Ugandan districts. Results from other districts are expected in the coming weeks.

New figures show abductions may be higher than previously thought

UNICEF had earlier estimated a total of between 5,000 and 8,000 children had been abducted. The figures from Kitgum may indicate a much higher overall total. Some 80 percent of the children were between the ages of 12 and 18 when taken from schools, fields or while collecting water, but 11 percent were between only four and seven. The LRA uses children for slave labour, as fighters and as "wives" for their soldiers. "It's going to take years and years for these children to recover - a lot of them come back physically as well as mentally scarred," a UNICEF spokeswoman told IRIN today. The abuse continues - seven children were taken from one parish alone last week. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), operating in southwestern Uganda, also abduct children, UNICEF says.

TANZANIA: Mkapa puts total El Nino cost at over US $100 million

Tanzania will need US $117.3 million to repair damage to infrastructure caused by three months of torrential rain blamed on the El Nino phenomenom, AFP reported President Benjamin Mkapa as telling parliament yesterday. The bill includes $17.2 million to repair major roads and $64.5 million to replace or repair houses. Repairs to railway lines are estimated at $18.3 million dollars and expected to take at least six months. Yesterday, AFP said trucks en route from Dar es Salaam to northwestern Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi were forced to detour via Kenya because of road damage, but were blocked at the border following a demand by Kenya they obtain customs bonds before crossing the country. Meanwhile, PANA reported Uganda would receive an emergency world bank loan of US $30 million to repair roads and bridges damaged by the rains in that country.

Zanzibar detainees appeal to Roman Catholic church

Seventeen members of Zanzibar's opposition charged with treason have appealed to Roman Catholic Cardinal Polycarp Pengo to intervene for their release, the Kiswahili daily 'Majira' reported. Quoting a letter dated 7 February from the accused to Pengo, which was smuggled out of the Zanzibar jail at the weekend, the newspaper said the accused asked the cardinal to appeal to President Benjamin Mkapa to intervene and to have the charges dropped and secure their release. The accused maintained in the letter that the charges were false and designed to prevent credible political opposition on the semi-autonomous islands of Zanzibar and Pemba.

Tanzania secures Ivory markets - IPS

IPS news agency reported from Dar es Salaam that Tanzania had secured markets in China and Japan to dispose of its stockpile of 80 tonnes of elephant tusks. The country, which has stocks worth an estimated US $20 million, is therefore expected to be one of the first to take advantage of last year's lifting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Flora and Fauna (CITES) ban on exports.

KENYA: At least 354 die in highland malaria epidemic

At least 354 people have died in two weeks in a highland malaria epidemic sweeping western Kenya's Nyanza province, Reuters reported yesterday. The news agency quoted District Medical Administrators Morris Ope and Andrew Nyamweya as saying dozens of people were dying daily and the outbreak had reached "epidemic proportions." The doctors said their figures covered the period between 26 January and 9 February. During that time they had also seen more than 6,946 patients tested positive with highland malaria.

RWANDA: Tribunal lawyers demand better conditions

Lawyers defending suspects accused of war crimes during Rwanda's 1994 genocide are seeking improved work conditions at the Arusha UN tribunal set up to judge their cases, according to AFP. "We must fight to get the means to defend the suspects. We don't want to just appear to be defending our clients," the agency quoted Charles Tchoungang, a Cameroon lawyer who heads the association of defence lawyers at the tribunal, as saying.

ANGOLA: Elf announce another oil find off Angola

French oil group Elf Aquitaine has just made a new discovery in bloc 17 off Angola, in the wake of the discoveries of the big fields of Girassol and Dalia 1 and 2, the Oil Industry Bulletin reported on Tuesday. The new offshore well, called Rosa, reportedly displays a very promising flow, more than 10,000 barrels a day, the publication said. Last week, Total announced what it called an "encouraging" oil find off the Angola coast, its fourth discovery in the 2/92 block it operates.

Nairobi, 11 February 1998 14:30 GMT

[ENDS]

[The material contained in this communication comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN IRIN Tel: +254 2 622123 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin@dha.unon.org for more information or subscriptions. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. IRIN reports are archived on the WWW at: http://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail to archive@dha.unon.org. Mailing list: irin-cea-updates]

Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 17:37:33 +0300 (GMT+0300) From: UN IRIN - Central and Eastern Africa <irin@dha.unon.org> Subject: Central and Eastern Africa: IRIN Update 351 for 10 Feb 98.2.10 Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.91.980210173627.12692A-100000@dha.unon.org>

Editor: Dr. Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D

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