Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 18:26:34 +0300 (BEAUT)
From: IRIN <irin@ocha.unon.org>
To: IRIN - English Service <english@ocha.unon.org>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.96.1010109182503.20076M-100000@mail.ocha.unon.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE
Subject: IRIN-CEA Update 1,088 for the Great Lakes [2010109]
Precedence: bulk
Sender: IRIN Africa English Service <africa-english@ocha.unon.org>


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

IRIN-CEA Update 1,088 for the Great Lakes (Tuesday 9 January)

CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: "Alarming increase" in malnutrition - MSF
BURUNDI: Community health volunteers get on their bikes
DRC: 'Common front against aggression' established
DRC: Church group to open office in Kisangani
RWANDA: Mkapa, Kagame discuss Great Lakes crisis
RWANDA: US reward for genocide suspects
TANZANIA: "Rwandan refugees not expelled" - Mkapa


BURUNDI: "Alarming increase" in malnutrition - MSF

The health agency, Medecins sans frontieres (MSF), has reported an
alarming increase in malnutrition rates, especially in the central
province of Karuzi, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) stated in its weekly information update. An MSF nutritional
survey in November found out that 23 percent of the population were
malnourished and 14 percent severely undernourished, "MSF urgently
recommends renewed distribution of food aid at the household level," OCHA
noted.

Meanwhile, to tackle malaria in the region more effectively, MSF is
currently supporting hospitals and health posts with medication, and
spraying insecticides in the worst affected regions. "Distribution of
10,000 mosquito nets is underway," the update said. The NGO is providing
vehicles to enable mobile health teams to provide treatment in remote
areas, besides conducting surveys with government health experts on the
resistances of different types of malaria to different types of
medication.=20

BURUNDI: Community health volunteers get on their bikes

The Burundi Red Cross has launched a project in which 279 community
volunteers are getting on their bikes to bring information to people at
grassroots level on priority health issues. The volunteers have been
recruited and trained to give people throughout the northern provinces of
Ngozi, Muyinga, Kirundo, Muramvya and Gitega basic health information on
immunisation, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, nutrition and diarrhoeal
diseases. One of their priorities is to locate expectant mothers and
newborn babies in need of vaccination as well as under-fives who require
supplementary feeding. The community-based volunteers, two of whom will
share one bicycle to make their rounds, will spray insecticides and
distribute impregnated mosquito nets to tackle malaria, two million cases
of which are reported in Burundi each year. They will also gather
information about the general state of health and hygiene, and refer
people in need of particular assistance to the nearest medical facilities.=
=20

"In a region where cholera and diarrhoeal diseases are endemic, this
represents a pure example of self-help," says Fran=E7ois Landiech of the
French Red Cross, which is supporting the Africa Red Cross Red Crescent
Health Initiative. "The community groups discover for themselves their
hygiene problems and then find the solutions." The system relies on a team
of Red Cross provincial health assistants, who are provided with a
motorcycle and supervise 50 of the community-based volunteers, according
to a Red Cross statement on Monday. Each "coach" also liaises and
coordinates with the provincial health authorities and Red Cross partners
in the area. Both UNICEF and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) have used the
community-based health workers, and the Red Cross expects the programme to
eventually cover the Burundi Red Cross Society's 13 provincial committees.=
=20

DRC: 'Common front against aggression' established

An estimated 100 delegates at the DRC government-led political dialogue in
the Gabonese capital, Libreville, formed the 'Inner Common Front Against
the War of Aggression' at the weekend, Congolese national radio reported
on Monday. The delegates, who included members of religious organisations,
political parties, professional organisations, trade unions and human
rights organisations, on Sunday signed a statement establishing the front.
It also called for the revision of what it termed "obsolete provisions" of
the Lusaka peace agreement on the DRC, Radio-television nationale
congolaise (RTNC) reported. The delegates decided to support the current
institutions of the DRC state, including the presidency of Laurent-Desire
Kabila, and regretted the "war of aggression" which had brought the death
of over two million people, the displacement of millions more and the
systematic looting of Congolese resources, it said.=20

The Kinshasa government boycotted the proposed inter-Congolese dialogue
process, due to be facilitated by former Botswana President Ketumile
Masire under the terms of the Lusaka agreement; it has pushed ahead with
its own dialogue, which has in turn been rejected by the Congolese rebel
groups and the main political opposition in the DRC, who maintain it is
not part of the Lusaka process.=20

DRC: Church group to open office in Kisangani

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has decided to open an office in
Kisangani, northeastern DRC, to work with local churches in responding to
the acute humanitarian needs of the people. An alert issued by the Action
by Churches Together (ACT) on Monday said the LWF-Kisangani office would
be under the management of its Kigali office. Together with the Eglise du
Christ au Congo (ECC), LWF proposes to pursue activities in the areas of
food production, health care, nutrition and capacity building for local
church members, ACT stated. Kisangani was devastated by fighting between
the armies of Rwanda and Uganda in June 2000. The clash caused the death
of close to 800 people with about 3,000 injured and a huge number
displaced. Public infrastructure, schools and churches were damaged or
destroyed by shelling.=20

RWANDA: Mkapa, Kagame discuss Great Lakes crisis

Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa on Monday called for the ongoing
fighting between government forces and rebels in Burundi to stop
"immediately". Tanzanian radio quoted Mkapa as telling journalists in
Kigali, after a day's visit to the Rwandan capital, that the "cruel" war
was shaming Africa because it was directed against innocent civilians. He
denied that Burundi's armed rebel Forces pour la defense de la democratie
(FDD) was training in Tanzania, and reiterated that his government could
not allow any military training on its territory, Rwandan radio reported.
Mkapa also dismissed allegations that Congolese soldiers had a base in
Tanzania, saying that some Congolese soldiers had crossed the Tanzanian
border and were "immediately disarmed".

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda said his meeting with President Mkapa was
a great success and that if what had been proposed at the meeting were
upheld, it would facilitate the implementation of the Arusha peace accord
on Burundi and that of the Lusaka accord on the DRC. He also called on the
UN to ensure that it carried out its duties before pressuring Rwanda to
withdraw its troops from the DRC. The UN Security Council recently
reiterated its call for foreign troops, mainly Rwanda and Uganda, to
withdraw from the DRC. News organisations said the meeting between Mkapa
and Kagame was one of a series between regional leaders on common security
issues. On Friday 5 January, Mkapa met Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
in Kampala. Mkapa is scheduled to meet Burundi President Pierre Buyoya on
Wednesday in Dodoma, central Tanzania, Tanzanian officials said.=20

RWANDA: US offers reward for genocide suspects

The United States on Monday offered rewards of up to US $5 million for
information leading to the transfer to the trial and/or conviction of 13
fugitive Rwandans, who have been indicted by the International Criminal
Court for Rwanda (ICTR) on charges related to the genocide of 1994. The
suspects include former Planning Minister Augustin Ngirabatware, former
Minister of Youth and Sports Callixte Nzabonimana, and two former officers
of the presidential guard: Commandant Protais Mpiranya and Captain
Cedeslas Kabera, Reuters news agency reported. The rewards, similar to
those available for war crime indictees in the Balkans and for alleged
terrorists, would be available to those providing information leading to
the 13 Rwandans' transfer to the ICTR or their conviction, it said. The US
'Rewards for Justice' programme was established in 1984 to combat
international terrorism. As one of the main donors supporting the ICTR,
the US had a great interest in "stopping the cycle of impunity" and making
sure people are brought to justice, a US state department official told
IRIN on Tuesday.=20

TANZANIA: "Rwandan refugees not expelled" - Mkapa

Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa on Monday reiterated that the Rwandan
refugees who recently crossed from Tanzania into southern Uganda were not
expelled by his government. Rwandan radio quoted Mkapa as saying that an
operation was being carried out to identify and "regularise the presence
of foreigners" in Karagwe, northwestern Tanzania. "Those wishing to
acquire refugee status were being sent to camps ... these people who were
leaving for Uganda [were doing so] because they did not want to go to the
camps," Mkapa said. On Friday in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, Mkapa said
that some of the refugees had refused government measures undertaken to
legitimise their stay in Tanzania and instead opted voluntarily to go to
Uganda.

About 1,400 Rwandan refugees crossed into Uganda from Karagwe, northern
Tanzania, a UNHCR official in Nairobi, Dominik Bartsch, said last
Thursday. A local Ugandan newspaper had reported on Tuesday 2 January that
about 15,000 Rwandan refugees had arrived in southern Uganda following an
order in Karagwe to expel all non-citizens from the district. "The figure
was exaggerated and we have no information on the expulsion of the
refugees," Bartsch said. Whether or not the refugees at Nakivale transit
centre in southwestern Uganda would be granted asylum in Uganda depended
on the Ugandan government, he said.=20

Nairobi, 9 January 2001, 15:35 gmt

[ENDS]

[IRIN-CEA: Tel: +254 2 622147 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail:
irin-cea@ocha.unon.org ]

=20


[This item is delivered in the "africa-english" service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or Web:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2000
 

Subscriber: zdwf-@t-online.de
Keyword: IRIN-CEA