Date: Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 10:09 AM
Subject: CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA: IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 454 for 25-31 October 2008
To: Patrick Nugent
CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA: IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 454 for 25-31 October 2008
NAIROBI, 31 October 2008 (IRIN) - CONTENTS:
DRC-UGANDA: Facilities overwhelmed as refugees stream to bor
DRC: Many aid agencies quit Goma
DRC: Government troops "on the rampage"
DRC: Instability increasing in Orientale province
UGANDA: Displaced first by war, now by elephants
KENYA: Child deaths on the rise
KENYA: Aid workers under siege
ALSO SEE:
RWANDA: Ex-militia struggle with civilian life
[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81156]
DRC: Eric - "There's real panic in town"
[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81182]
CONGO: Bibouti - "I work non-stop but never see my salary"
[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81165]
UGANDA: Post-traumatic stress rife in the north
[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81084]
KENYA: Isolation wards vital in TB fight
[Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81214]
GLOBAL: Climate change may drown cities
[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81117]
DRC-UGANDA: Facilities overwhelmed as refugees stream to bor
Food, water, health and sanitation facilities at several villages on the Uganda-Democratic Republic of Congo border are overstretched as civilians continue to pour into Uganda, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said on 31 October.
The agency said the facilities were inadequate for the more than 6,500 people scattered in 12 villages along the border who are being hosted by the local communities.
"It is very difficult for us to provide assistance to the refugees at the border, where the security situation is unstable and people are scattered in various villages," Stefano Severe, UNHCR representative in Uganda, said.
[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81220 ]
DRC: Many aid agencies quit Goma
Several aid agencies have evacuated their staff from the eastern town of Goma, where an uneasy calm prevailed on 30 October after days of fierce fighting between government troops and those loyal to renegade army commander Laurent Nkunda. On 29 October, UN civilian staff were moved from Goma to a compound on the shores of Lake Kivu.
"We heard some shooting in town last night and heard reports of looting ... we have pulled out all expatriate staff to Gisenyi [a town just across the Rwandan border] but have tried to maintain minimum activities in Goma," an official with Save the Children told IRIN.
"This morning MONUC were saying the situation is calm in town. They said NGOs can carry out operations but should return to the safety of the UN compounds before 5pm," he added.
[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81206]
DRC: Government troops "on the rampage"
Government troops went on the rampage overnight in Goma, according to witnesses in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) town, which renegade general Laurent Nkunda has threatened to overrun.
"Last night I was in my home with my family," Stuart, a resident who fled to Gisenyi in Rwanda, told IRIN. "Government troops were shooting outside, in the street, all over the neighbourhood. They were shooting heavy guns and breaking into people's houses, and killing people, and looting; I saw them. It felt like anarchy, there was no law," he said.
[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81204]
DRC: Instability increasing in Orientale province
Airplanes may be needed to help some 6,000 people displaced during attacks by Ugandan rebels in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo who are not accessible by humanitarian agencies, officials said.
"The idea is to send food and non-food items in by plane, given that it is difficult now to send a road convoy because of logistical and security reasons," said Jean-Charles Dupin of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Orientale Province.
The civilians fled attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army in September along the main north-south road in the province's Dungu territory. [Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81177]
UGANDA: Displaced first by war, now by elephants
Marauding elephants in northern Uganda have added to the challenges faced by civilians trying to rebuild their lives in the wake of 20 years of civil war, destroying their crops and prompting some to return to displaced people's camps they had only recently left.
"The villagers are scared of the elephants; some of them have sought refuge in huts they had left in the camps," John Bosco Okullo, a local leader in Amuru District told IRIN.
Most affected are hundreds of returnees from six IDP camps - Goma, Anaka, Purongo, Ongako, Corner Nwoya, and Aler, all in Amuru District - whose crops have also been eaten by wildebeest roaming the villages in search of water and pasture.
[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81100]
KENYA: Child deaths on the rise
The number of children dying before their fifth birthday in Kenya has risen in the past 10 years, according to health specialists.
One in nine children dies before the age of five. "For every 1,000 children born, 121 die, compared with 97 in 1990," Shahnaz Sharif, the senior deputy director of medical services in Kenya's health ministry, told IRIN.
"A shortage of skilled health workers and a lack of access to referral facilities are partly to blame for the increasing deaths," Sharif said. [Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81162]
KENYA: Aid workers under siege
The Kenya Red Cross Society has appealed for respect for aid workers providing assistance to thousands after its staff were attacked by bandits and accosted by security personnel in Mandera, in the northeast.
"Bandits attacked the Kenya Red Cross personnel who were returning from their work in Garissa [a neighbouring town], robbing them of their personal effects such as money and mobile phones," the agency said in a statement.
[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81173]
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