http://www.irinnews.org/irin-fp.aspxUpdated everydayen-gbMon, 15 Mar 2010 18:14:05 GMTNAIROBI Friday, March 12, 2010 (IRIN) - Government troops - the FARDC - in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are to blame for much of the epidemic of sexual violence in the east of the country, according to US and UN reports detailing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by various groups there.NAIROBI Friday, March 12, 2010 (IRIN) - Government troops - the FARDC - in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are to blame for much of the epidemic of sexual violence in the east of the country, according to US and UN reports detailing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by various groups there.

FARDC is trying to rout the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) and the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) from the Kivu region and Oriental province in eastern Congo, but operations have been criticized for their impact on civilians.

“Armed groups such as the LRA and FDLR commit atrocities that amount to grave breaches of international humanitarian law and, in some instances, may also constitute crimes against humanity,” according to the UN experts.

“In North Kivu, an assistance provider for victims of sexual violence recorded 3,106 cases between January and July 2009; half of these cases were perpetrated by FARDC members,” a group of seven UN experts said in their second report on the situation in DRC, submitted to the Security Council on 8 March.

Many of the FARDC troops used to be members of rebel groups who joined the army as part of peace initiatives.

In 2009, groups still under arms “continued to commit numerous, serious abuses - some of which may have constituted war crimes - including unlawful killings, disappearances, and torture”, according to the US government’s annual global human rights report, released on 11 March.

The UN experts added arbitrary arrest, forced labour and extortion to this litany of abuses.

In Dungu territory of Oriental Province, according to the US-based Enough Project, soldiers committed 116 rapes in a single neighbourhood last October.

“A particularly egregious case involved the gang rape of a pregnant woman by five Congolese soldiers near the market of Bangadi on 8 October, 2009,” it said.

FARDC commander General Leon Mushale told Enough the problem was isolated: “It is the fault of the man, not of the organization … we are dealing with the problems on a case–by-case basis,” he said.

“There is a correlation between peace and rape,” Bora Kawende, acting head of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) office in North Kivu, recently told IRIN. “During war, soldiers here commit collective, massive rape.”

Legal gaps

The UN experts’ report said impunity, absence of the rule of law and women’s subordinate social and legal position reinforced a climate of general acceptance and tolerance for violence against women and girls in increasingly militarized societies, such as eastern DRC.

"The application of the law is weak," Kawende said. “And if a perpetrator is sentenced, the government must have a good jail where he can stay,” she added. In Mbandaka, a soldier was sent to jail for rape, but could not be locked up because the prison had been destroyed during the war.

Congo’s military justice system, the experts said, had retained jurisdiction over most cases involving serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, but was weak and susceptible to executive interference by military or political decision-makers.

“The solution is justice, justice, justice,” said Esteban Sacco, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs (OCHA) in North Kivu. “There has to be a system that brings to justice those who commit the crime of rape.”

Speaking at a seminar in Goma, North Kivu prosecutor-general Mulumba Kifulya said arrests and prosecutions took too long, and many victims were too poor to pursue cases or preferred to keep quiet.

Involving men

The charity, Women for Women, called on men to help reduce sexual abuse. “In December, we held a seminar for 550 trainers of trainers, including soldiers, clergy, traditional rulers and local administrators,” Clovis Mulungula, sponsorship assistant, told IRIN. “In the seminars, we noticed that some men did not know the consequences.”

At least 1.36 million are displaced by violence in the Kivus, according to OCHA. In Hauts Plateaux, Uvira region of South Kivu, thousands of civilians have been trapped by conflict since February, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said.

"We heard from people who have reached our medical structure that there are many civilians who are afraid to come to the hospital,” Philippe Havet, MSF's head in DRC noted on 11 March. “They are in constant fear of being attacked.”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88410DAKAR Friday, March 12, 2010 (IRIN) - This year there are less than half the reported meningitis infections than in the same period in 2009, but more patients are dying - 13 percent in 2010 versus 8 percent in 2009 - according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Multi-Disease Surveillance Centre in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, which tracks 14 countries prone to meningitis outbreaks between Senegal and Ethiopia.DAKAR Friday, March 12, 2010 (IRIN) - This year there are less than half the reported meningitis infections than in the same period in 2009, but more patients are dying - 13 percent in 2010 versus 8 percent in 2009 - according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Multi-Disease Surveillance Centre in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, which tracks 14 countries prone to meningitis outbreaks between Senegal and Ethiopia.

Infections typically "peak" at the end of March or early April, when the disease is most widespread. "This year pales compared to last year's outbreak," the West Africa medical expert at the European Commission Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), Amparo Laiseca, told IRIN.

In response to the 2009 outbreak, ECHO provided more than US$6 million to support meningitis vaccinations in the region. Based on the current threat, ECHO will spend about $400,000 at most this year, she said.

Below is a snapshot of the epidemic across the region.

Ghana

More than 100 people have been hospitalized with meningitis complications and another 27 have died, according to the Ministry of Health. WHO delivered 100,000 doses of meningitis vaccines on 2 March, the second delivery this year from its emergency stock of meningitis vaccine.

Prisons received 200 doses and another 300 went to security agency personnel on a peacekeeping mission in Bawku in Ghana's upper east region, a flashpoint of electoral rows, land disputes and ethnic violence.

The north, upper east and upper west of Ghana, 12 hours by car from Accra, the capital, have all reported cases.

W135

At $1.37 per dose, the vaccine for preventing the spread of W135 costs one-third more than the vaccine used to treat the more widespread A and C strains.

Because W135 is rarer, there is only one manufacturer and fewer doses are required, according to the multi-agency International Coordinating Group (ICG), which manages an emergency stock of meningitis vaccines. ICG has 2.7 million doses of the W135 vaccine, but 6.3 million of the meningitis A and C vaccines.

After a seven-year absence, W135 reappeared in the region in 2009, contributing to one of the largest epidemics in the past decade.
Ghana's Health Minister, Benjamin Kumbuor, told IRIN on 4 March: "I just returned from a tour of the affected areas. It was a new strain [W135] ... happily, the cases are dropping. We have not had any more casualties."

Burkina Faso

On 12 March the Ministry of Health said there had been 2,188 reported cases and 336 deaths, and the 15-percent fatality rate had not changed in the past month. Health Minister Seydou Bouda said the situation was "under control", and after vaccination campaigns the five most recently affected of the country’s 65 districts were no longer in epidemic phase (10 infections per 100,000 residents).

Benin

WHO representative Léon Kohossi told IRIN that in the central Benin towns of Tanguiéta and Bassila the pneumococcal meningitis bacteria had led to a number of deaths. Overall, the country has had 104 reported infections and 16 deaths - mostly from the more common "A" meningitis strain - as of 28 February. Benin has not yet introduced the pneumococcal vaccine.

Subsidized mass roll-outs of pneumococcal vaccine have taken place only in Rwanda and the Gambia, starting in 2009. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) has estimated that this vaccine could save the lives of seven million children globally over the next two decades.

To qualify for GAVI support for this vaccine – which brings down the price from the retail cost for low-income countries of $7 to just $0.15 per dose - income-eligible countries must give at least half of all newborns the third dose of the diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus (DTP3) vaccine.

Niger

The recently formed post-coup government is drafting a response plan. As of 28 February, 425 infections and 34 deaths have been reported.

Nigeria

Alejandro Javier Costa, of ICG, said Nigeria's request for vaccines from the emergency meningitis vaccine stock was being reviewed. As of 21 February, 565 infections and 55 deaths have been reported.

Togo

The country has experienced one of the region's highest fatality rates - as of 28 February there have been 188 infections and 49 deaths - but the data is hard to interpret as it may be incomplete, according to ECHO's Laiseca. "Health workers often do not have any means to communicate the information to a central level. It is possible not all infections were recorded [which would decrease the fatality rate.] "

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88414NAIROBI Thursday, March 11, 2010 (IRIN) - Rwanda's upcoming presidential election has cast a spotlight on its democratic credentials, with observers warning that allegations of intimidation of opposition leaders could mar the process.NAIROBI Thursday, March 11, 2010 (IRIN) - Rwanda's upcoming presidential elections has cast a spotlight on its democratic credentials, with observers warning that allegations of intimidation of opposition leaders could mar the process.

"It is a very important event for our country because it is the second time we are electing a head of state," Chrysologue Karangwa, President of the Electoral Commission, told IRIN. "The people are preparing themselves for it."

Observers say the prevailing political environment restricts opponents of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).

“Rwanda needs to allow the democratic process, to create political space for everybody,” a Nairobi-based regional analyst, who requested anonymity, said. “Otherwise the elections will be a fait accompli. That will undermine Rwanda's democratic growth.”

Paul Kagame has been president since March 2000, after leading the RPF to power in July 1994 and ending the Rwandan genocide. The slaughter of more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus was by far the bloodiest chapter in a long power struggle between the minority Tutsis and majority Hutus.

In August 2003, Kagame won 95 percent of the votes in the first national elections since 1994. His main competitor, Faustin Twagiramungu, won 3.5 percent.

Kagame is widely expected to be nominated again as the RPF flag-bearer in the 9 August election, but recent incidents involving other potential candidates have fuelled concerns that the poll will not be fair.

Election questions

"It is very difficult to imagine any opposition candidates who can get a significant share of the votes," Thomas Cargill, assistant head of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, said. "The RPF dominates political life in Rwanda, but it is good for Rwanda to start going through the motions."

He warned, however, that elections sometimes delivered only a semblance of democracy. "Like Ethiopia and Uganda, the governments of the day need to maintain the strings of power in some kind of democratic process. So you need an opposition.

"These governments tread a fine line - allow the opposition to operate and field candidates, but in a way that does not readily give them any chance," he added.

Aid workers in the capital, Kigali, and in Goma, in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), are concerned about the potential fallout.

"A political crisis in Rwanda could trigger a humanitarian problem, including displacement across borders," an international security observer at an aid mission in Goma told IRIN. "There is also the unresolved question of armed Rwandan militias in DRC."

The alleged “lack of political space” in Rwanda is frequently cited by the Hutu diaspora, refugees and such DRC-based militias to justify their refusal to return home.

Karangwa insisted nothing would disrupt the polls. "I can assure you the forthcoming elections are going to be free and fair," he told IRIN on 10 March. "We are working towards that objective and are totally open."

Jean Paul Kimonyo, a policy adviser to Kagame, writing in The New Times newspaper of 9 March, said the country was on the right political track. "The issue here is how do you ensure political cooperation when confrontational politics will almost certainly lead to renewed violence?

"Under President Kagame’s leadership, Rwanda has persistently ensured ownership of its nation building process by its citizens. It is much more challenging but certainly more promising."

Impressive gains

Rwanda has, since 1994, recorded impressive gains towards the Millennium Development Goals, according to the UN Development Programme. Primary school enrolment, for example, is now 97 percent of all school-going age children.

Family planning, according to the World Bank, has tripled in the last three years, while assisted deliveries have increased from 39 to 52 percent. The use of insecticide-treated nets is up by 70 percent, and under-five mortality has fallen by 30 percent.

Policies and laws that guarantee equal opportunities for men and women, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, have resulted in Rwanda holding a world record of women parliamentarians: 56.3 percent, just ahead of Sweden at 46.4 percent.

This year, according to Finance and Economic Planning Minister John Rwangombwa, the economy should grow by 7-8 percent, up from 5.5 percent in 2009.

Nevertheless, Rwanda “needs to open up and encourage past wounds to heal positively”, a diplomat in the capital, Kigali, told IRIN. Advocacy groups claim a lack of respect for basic political and human rights, and harassment of perceived political opponents.

According to the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), an Indian NGO, article 13 of Rwanda’s constitution, which makes it an offence to engage in “revisionism” or “negationism” [denial of genocide], has been “broadly defined to include anyone who disagrees with the ruling RPF’s account of the genocide”.

"CHRI is deeply concerned at the continued restrictions and threats to opposition parties in the run-up to Rwanda’s Presidential elections,” it said in 6 March statement.

Referring to a 25 February warning by the security ministry that politicians who “slander the country” or are “against public unity” would be punished, it called for “immediate steps to ensure respect for the basic, universal rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association and peaceful assembly of opposition parties”.

Attacks on opponents

The 3 February attack on Victoire Ingabire, president of the United Democratic Forces party, and her aide Joseph Ntawangundi, by a mob in Kigali was the most visible example of opposition harassment so far, the Nairobi analyst said. Attacked while reportedly collecting party registration documents, she reportedly lost her passport, while Ntawangundi was severely beaten.

Ingabire returned to Rwanda in January, after living in Europe for 16 years. During a visit to the Gisozi Genocide memorial site, she upset survivor groups by alluding to the killing of Hutus, 85 percent of the population.

The day after the attack on Ingabire, Frank Habineza, president of the Green Party, reported being threatened. Earlier, the leader of the Ideal Social Party, Bernard Ntaganda, was called before the senate to answer accusations relating to propagation of genocide ideology.

Soon after, local government minister James Musoni warned politicians "who violate the constitution and the rule of law by politicking along ethnic lines. Whatever they do should not be a stumbling block to people's peace, unity and security," he said in a press statement.

“Politicians and all those who wish to practise politics are not allowed to do anything that undermines the sovereignty of Rwanda and its citizens."

The attack on Ingabire, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said, “appeared to have been well coordinated, suggesting it had been planned in advance”.

"The Rwandan government already tightly controls political space," said Georgette Gagnon, HRW’s Africa director. "These incidents will further undermine democracy by discouraging any meaningful opposition in the elections. On several occasions, the government has used accusations of participation in the genocide or ‘genocide ideology’, as a way of targeting and discrediting its critics.”

Karangwa denounced HRW. "That woman has not been beaten, not at all," he told IRIN. "I do not believe the entire Human Rights Watch report. In our country there is no intimidation or harassment of opposition leaders."

Kigali resident Joseph Barigye said Ingabire had "provoked" people. "The memories [of the genocide] are still fresh, so one needs to talk to people carefully," he told IRIN. "And that is the reason Kagame will win again."

Silencing critics

Ingabire, in an interview with The EastAfrican newspaper on 15 February, said: “Kagame's government is not ready to accept opposition. This is why they sent young men to beat me and my aide two weeks ago - which was a true reflection of the lack of democracy and freedom of expression in Rwanda.

“This treatment extends to all opposition politicians,” she added. “We are not enemies. Instead, he uses the genocide ideology against us. The genocide took place 16 years ago and now is the time for democracy.”

Kagame told a recent news conference that Ingabire had "gone too far in abusing the country’s goodwill in attempting to destroy [Rwanda’s] positive steps", but "whoever tries to act in contradiction to what the laws say will not be given room".

Meanwhile, there are concerns about Kagame’s relations with the media after he publicly accused unnamed journalists of conspiring with two former military officers he accused of carrying out two recent grenade attacks in the capital.

“Kagame’s televised warnings will help silence critics prior to the August presidential election," wrote Tom Rhodes, Africa programme coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists, on the organization’s website.

“With pro-government media outlets outweighing the country’s beleaguered private press, the chances of balanced election coverage are now slimmer than ever,” he added.

Chatham House’s Cargill said Rwanda's past had to be put in context. "There are clearly some authoritarian tendencies within the Rwandan state, but Rwanda is coming from a place few countries have to been in recent years," he told IRIN. "Still, there is a need for balance because the government is using all the advantages of incumbency."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88392NAKIVALE Wednesday, March 10, 2010 (IRIN) - With at least 67,000 refugees in southwest Uganda, the government and aid workers are still battling inadequate resources in what a UN official described as a "silent emergency". NAKIVALE Wednesday, March 10, 2010 (IRIN) - With at least 67,000 refugees in southwest Uganda, the government and aid workers are still battling inadequate resources in what a UN official described as a "silent emergency".

"We can hardly meet international standards of indicators such as water, health and food," Nemia Temporal, deputy representative of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Uganda, told IRIN on 8 March. "For instance, we are delivering 15 litres [of water] per person per day instead of the standard 20l."

After years of protracted conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with large influxes to neighbouring countries, the situation of the majority Congolese refugees is no longer considered that urgent by the wider aid community, Temporal said.

At least 45,000 Congolese live in the 217sqkm Nakivale settlement in Isingiro District and Kyaka II in Kyegegwa District, where, thanks to the Ugandan government’s refugee-friendly policy, they cultivate small pieces of land.

Temporal said the delivery of quality services was complicated by new arrivals fleeing fighting between government troops and rebels, as well as militia groups, in North Kivu.

"We plan for the existing refugee population but, often, many others continue arriving and this has an impact on the quality of the services we provide," she said.

Temporal said among the aid delivery gaps were the provision of shelter (plastic sheeting), water, health and sanitation, infrastructure and refugee protection.

She urged a shift in humanitarian assistance so that relief aid goes hand-in-hand with livelihood support "right from day one. We need money to get livelihood interventions going at the same time that we are offering emergency humanitarian assistance.”

Asylum seekers

UNHCR and other agencies also cater for asylum seekers and urban refugees, bringing the total to 142,758, according to UNHCR's 28 February figures.

"Overall, the food security situation in the country deteriorated last year in comparison to the previous year," UNHCR said in a briefing document. "For the refugee programme, WFP [UN World Food Programme] is planning to roll out a 'cash-in-lieu-of-food' project with a pilot expected to start in Oruchinga - a refugee settlement with some 2,032 refugees in southwest Uganda."

Stanlake Samkange, Uganda's WFP country director, told IRIN the project, due to begin in April, would help improve the plight of Rwandan refugees who have not been receiving food as they are long-time residents – some for up to 14 years.

"We hope the pilot project will help the refugees to better cope with breakages in the food pipeline," he said, adding that food distributions for March and April were in place but that a gap was looming in May.

In October-November 2009, refugees in Nakivale rioted over delays in food distribution. Officials said most of those who took part were new arrivals.

"Interim assessments indicate that if the food shortage is not adequately addressed by the next distribution, UNHCR operations in settlements will be affected, with limited staff access on safety grounds," UNHCR said in a January briefing document.

Limited funding for the refugees' care and maintenance programme continues to bring protection risks, such as insufficient quantities of water, inadequate health services, limited access to post-primary education services and lack of follow-up in cases of sexual and gender-based violence, according to UNHCR.

Service gap

Mupepelo Songa Nyangi, chairman of Base Camp II or the New Congolese Village, told IRIN most refugees were grappling with myriad problems, high on the list being inadequate food (for both those on full rations and those who arrived earlier than 2006 who receive half rations), lack of specialized treatment for those suffering from stress-related ailments, poverty-induced sexual exploitation and abuse and limited access to education as well as different syllabuses and languages of instruction.

"The life we lead as refugees is hard," Nyangi said. "We don't know what the future holds for us; our children who go to school study in congested classrooms in languages different from what they were taught at home and most of the time when we visit health centres the medication prescribed is not available or there is no special doctor to handle the more difficult cases of mental illness."

However, UNHCR and aid officials in Nakivale said efforts were made to meet the refugees' needs, with investigations of sexual violence cases being made, monthly visits by a psychiatric specialist, and schools being improved or expanded, including a new secondary school that began operations this year.

Agency officials said it was focusing on boosting refugees' livelihood activities in 2010, with various projects, such as goat-rearing and cooperatives planting vegetables in both Nakivale and Kyaka II settlements.

Moreover, UNHCR officials said, adult literacy programmes were in place and a youth centre was being renovated at Nakivale to offer vocational and recreational support for the mostly idle youths.

Side by side

Established in the 1950s, Nakivale has served hundreds of thousands of refugees. About 20,000 Ugandan nationals live inside the settlement alongside the refugees; they are allowed to build permanent iron-roofed buildings while the refugees are only allowed semi-permanent structures, with tarpaulin and plastic sheets.

Nakivale is divided into three zones, with different aid agencies operating in each zone. Four health centres serve the refugees as well as Ugandan nationals living close by. There are seven primary schools and one secondary school within the settlement.

Further southwest is the 209sqkm Kyaka II refugee settlement, home to at least 16,785, mainly Rwandan, refugees, according to UNHCR.

In 2009, UNCHR, local and international partners and the Ugandan government conducted a voluntary repatriation programme for thousands of South Sudanese refugees, resulting in a sharp drop in their number to 21,151 as of January 2010.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88379NAIROBI Tuesday, March 09, 2010 (IRIN) - Global funding shortfalls for fighting AIDS could make it impossible for developing countries to implement new World Health Organization treatment guidelines, activists have said. NAIROBI Tuesday, March 09, 2010 (IRIN) - Global funding shortfalls for fighting AIDS could make it impossible for developing countries to implement new World Health Organization treatment guidelines, activists have said.

WHO released new guidelines on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in December 2009, raising the CD4 count - a measure of immune strength - at which HIV-positive people should start ART from 200 to 350. Research has shown that starting ART earlier reduces the rate of death and opportunistic disease.

"WHO's new recommendations are excellent in theory, but they did not give us a practical way of implementing the guidelines - already we have shortages of drugs in trying to put people with CD4s below 200 on treatment," said James Kamau, coordinator of the Kenya Treatment Access Movement.

"How will we now put so many more people on ARVs? The increased number of people on drugs means not just more drugs, but more labs, more health centres and health workers, more general care - the expense is enormous."

An estimated four million people around the world are currently on ART - a 10-fold increase since 2003, when the drugs became widely available - but this figure still represents just over one-third of the people who need the medication.

"If WHO's new recommendations are not implemented, the international community risks subsidising less expensive yet sub-standard care for developing countries," said Sharonann Lynch, MSF's HIV/AIDS policy advisor, in a press release.

"Avoiding this will depend on the willingness of donors to make new commitments. Although this is not easy in today's financial environment, donor countries cannot back away from supporting the promise of universal access to treatment made five years ago."

"The situation is now an emergency"

In Uganda, where the government plans to release new treatment guidelines reflecting WHO's recommendations, officials said the number of people needing treatment would rise from 300,000 to about 750,000. The country recently suffered drug shortages in its public health sector, partially caused by funding problems.

"The numbers will be too great for us to manage," said Dr David Kigawalama, head of prevention services at the Uganda AIDS Commission. "We need to sit with our AIDS development partners to forge a way forward."

Ahead of a high-level meeting between Group of Eight (G8) leaders and AIDS advocates in London on 10 March, AIDS activists met with British International Development Minister Gareth Thomas on 9 March and called on the world's wealthiest nations to honour their 2005 Gleneagles pledge to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care by 2010.

"Instead of building on progress, some donor nations and governments of highly affected countries are backing away from the universal access commitment with a series of poorly funded half-measures on AIDS," the executive director of the International AIDS Society, Robin Gorna, said in a press statement.

"The situation is now an emergency: new treatment enrolments in many countries are coming to a standstill, the risk of drug resistance is increasing, and fragile gains made over the last 10 years may soon erode, with potentially serious consequences for future efforts to control this epidemic."

The activists singled out Canada - the only G8 nation firmly opposed to the Financial Transactions Tax, a tiny tax on financial transactions that could raise the billions of dollars needed to fulfil the universal access pledge.

The global economic downturn forced the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the world's largest funder, to cut disbursements by 10 percent in 2008, while the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has flat-lined funding to many countries, limiting the growth of PEPFAR-funded treatment programmes.

kr/kn/he http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88368NAIROBI Friday, March 05, 2010 (IRIN) - Here are the most popular new articles on the IRIN website over the last 24 hours. Updated hourly. This feature was launched on 18 July, but will display the latest, most popular items of today.NAIROBI Friday, March 05, 2010 (IRIN) - ---http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=73277BUJUMBURA Thursday, March 04, 2010 (IRIN) - As Burundi approaches elections designed to cap the country’s democratic transition after years of civil conflict, there is growing concern about worsening security and limits to political freedom.BUJUMBURA Thursday, March 04, 2010 (IRIN) - As Burundi approaches elections designed to cap the country’s democratic transition after years of civil conflict, there is growing concern about worsening security and limits to political freedom.

“The situation is explosive,” Pierre Clavier Mbonimpa, chairman of the Association for the Promotion of Human and Prisoner Rights (APRODH), told IRIN.

“Demobilised people [former members of now defunct armed groups] have become uncontrollable,” he said. (Read an IRIN story on the prevalence of weapons and political youth wings)

“Youths from the [ruling] CNDD-FDD party cause many problems in the country. But in reaction, the [opposition] FRODEBU youth has become very active. Judging by their name, Intakangwa, which means ‘those who cannot be frightened’, they are prepared to respond to any provocation,” said Mbonimpa.

Elections for councillors in Burundi’s 117 communes take place on 21 May. There is a presidential election on 28 June, a legislative poll on 23 July, and senators will be elected on 28 July. In September, Burundians will vote for heads of 2,639 “collines”, the country’s smallest administrative units.

“People are killed in their houses for unknown reasons,” according to François Bizimana, spokesman for the CNDD opposition party.

“When we organize meetings, the Imbonerakure break them up and beat our supporters,” he said, referring to the ruling party’s youth arm, whose name means “those with foresight”.

“Some of our supporters are arrested. How can people come to meetings under such conditions? How can people vote for our programme if we have no chance to explain it?” he asked.

“They used to sing war songs to intimidate our members, but they have now passed from threats to acts, killing our supporters here and there,” alleged Jean-Bosco Havyarimana, spokesman for the National Liberation Forces, one of several rebel groups turned political parties.

Destabilizing factor

Party youth wings are a “major destabilizing factor” in Burundi, Gertrude Kazoviyo, deputy president of the Observatory of Government Action, warned while presenting the annual report of the Forum of Civil Society Organizations in late February.

Alexis Sinduhije, leader of another opposition party, the Movement for Solidarity and Democracy, who spent several months in jail in late 2008 and early 2009 for insulting President Pierre Nkurunziza, accused “agents of the national intelligence service” of killing two student members of his party in February 2010.

“I do not know if an arrest warrant has been issued, but they have not been prosecuted,” he told IRIN.

Ruling party chairman Onesime Nduwimana dismissed the idea that politics or the elections were linked to recent killings in Burundi. Cases of one kind of manslaughter or another feature in newspapers on an almost daily basis. According to APRODH, in 2009 there were 411 killings in Burundi, a country of some eight million inhabitants.

“We have a history of conflicts of every kind, conflict over land… People can kill each other because of what they have gone through during the civil war. But there is a tendency to use some facts for political ends,” he said.

For Salathiere Muntunutwiwe, a political analyst and university lecturer, the prevailing climate imperils the whole electoral process.

“In the absence of the free exercise of political competition, people will not have the right to choose whoever they want. Coupled with the opposition parties’ mistrust of the government’s ability to organize free and fair elections, this could lead to the rejection of the election results,” he said.

Isolated cases

But as far as the ruling party chairman was concerned, by and large the situation was under control. “There are isolated cases in provinces where the administration is weak and not well organized, like Kirundo [in the north], or zones like Kinama, in the capital. However, those behind such acts are punished accordingly,” Nduwimana said.

“Compared with the situation of the 1960s and in 1993 the situation is more favourable. Today there is no ethnic or regional mistrust among Burundians, there is no situation of war as it was in 1993,” he added.

While discounting the likelihood of a return to full-scale war, Sinduhije, the once-jailed opposition leader, believes the instability is a deliberate ploy by the ruling party “to have its term extended or to force people to vote for it”.

A view echoed by FRODEBU’s chairman, Leonce Ngendakumana, who in late February accused elements of the police and army of “intimidating the population to force them to vote for the ruling party”.

Police neutrality questioned

The partisan nature of some in the security forces is in part due to the fact that many were drawn from former rebel groups integrated into state machinery after signing peace accords.

“In spite of the training, some elements of the national security forces have not yet [internalized] that they have to remain neutral during the electoral process,” explained Kazoviyo of the Observatory of Government Action.

In a February report on Burundi, Ensuring credible elections, the International Crisis Group also noted that “the police have remained passive or become accomplices to the ruling party abuses”.

“There are thus legitimate fears they could become politicized, similar to the national intelligence service, which is already trying to destabilize the opposition,” ICG warned, calling for neighbouring countries to provide a regional force to help train their Burundian counterparts and to support election security and monitoring.

Grievances over living conditions among the lower ranks are yet another cause for concern, after protests led to some arrests and sackings.

“There is serious mistrust between junior officers and commanders. A delegation of junior officers came and told me that if their claims were not met before the elections, the polling stations would be burned,” Mbonimpa, the human rights activist, told IRIN.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88313GOMA Monday, March 01, 2010 (IRIN) - For the many thousands of people displaced by conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kivu regions who have returned to their villages, home has its many hardships.GOMA Monday, March 01, 2010 (IRIN) - For the many thousands of people displaced by conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kivu regions who have returned to their villages, home has its many hardships.

“Return has not always been durable, as the reduction of food rations in camps [for displaced people - IDPs] and the arrival of the new planting season rather than any improvement in security have led people to go back,” the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) stated in a 24 February report. 

“Many people returned home to find their land occupied, while renewed clashes in return areas also forced people to flee again soon after their arrival home,” it said.

Across eastern DRC, “access to basic necessities … has deteriorated over the last year in the context of military operations and reprisals and continuing abuses against the population. The vast majority of IDPs and returnees have no access to health centres and schools, or to clean water, food, seeds, tools or building materials,” according to the report.

During 2009, according to IDMC, about a million people returned to their villages in North and South Kivu - about the same number who fled because of clashes, mainly between government forces and Rwandan Hutu rebels.

In North and South Kivu, there are 1.36 million IDPs, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In the North Kivu capital of Goma, some 77,000 people live in IDP camps, against about twice that number two years ago.

"Many have gone back to their land, and we are getting noises that more want to return," Masti Notz, head of the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, in North Kivu told IRIN.

“Positive change is progressively taking place in Eastern DRC,” Alan Doss, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, wrote in the East African newspaper on 1 March.

"While displacements and isolated attacks remain a problem in the Kivus, a number of people feel more secure today than they were a year ago," he added.

Status issues

Aid workers believe that in the wake of a tripartite agreement between Rwanda, DRC and UNHCR, many of the 50,000 DRC nationals living in Rwandan camps could soon return home.

Before the accord, thousands had already returned spontaneously. "In 2009 in Masisi, more than 6,000 people told us they had returned from Rwanda since 2000, under the auspices of various groups that controlled the area," Karl Steinacker, UNHCR coordinator for eastern DRC, said. "The challenge is to identify genuine civilians."

The status of the returnees, according to Refugees International, needs to be resolved given that some are Rwandans. There is also a need for stronger verification mechanisms to regulate future population movements.

In a 19 February statement, the group said locals had told its researchers of an area inside the Virunga National Park called "Coline Banyarwanda" ("the hill of those who come from Rwanda"), where they should not be.

Another large group of recently arrived Rwandans was living illegally in Bwiza, in a settlement inside the national park. In nearby Matanda, armed cattle herders had reportedly occupied land by force.

"It is important to note that these tensions are taking place in zones that are controlled by the former CNDP [The Congrès national pour la defense du peuple ] rebel group, who are clearly protecting these Rwandans," it added.

The CNDP, led by Bosco Ntaganda, theoretically ceased to be a rebel movement with the integration of its elements into the Congolese army in 2009, but security sources in Goma say it has retained some of its structures.

Land pressures

Competition for land, exacerbated by the destabilizing effects of enforced or spontaneous migration, is more commonly a source of conflict than generally supposed, according to analysts.

The Overseas Development Institute (ODI), for example, argues that reallocations of land during conflict or the profit from sale or use of land can provide a means of sustaining such conflict.

In the Kivus, notes the Goma-based Pole Institute , the economy is historically based on agriculture and long-distance trade, while the economic dimension of ongoing conflict is about rights of access to land and control of trade routes, not about minerals.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88269KIGALI Friday, February 26, 2010 (IRIN) - Rwandan nurses will soon be authorized to start HIV-positive patients on life-prolonging antiretroviral treatment (ART), a move Ministry of Health officials say will speed up the rollout of ART in the East African nation.KIGALI Friday, February 26, 2010 (IRIN) - Rwandan nurses will soon be authorized to start HIV-positive patients on life-prolonging antiretroviral treatment (ART), a move Ministry of Health officials say will speed up the rollout of ART in the East African nation.

"Task-shifting will reduce the number of cases requiring the presence of a doctor, thereby reducing the number of treatment-eligible patients that have not initiated ART because they have to wait for the doctor's visit," Aimable Mbituyumuremyi from TRAC Plus, the Centre for Treatment and Research on AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and Other Epidemics, told IRIN/PlusNews.

At present, starting on ARVs requires a medical consultation and prescription from a physician. Nurses are responsible for regular patient follow-up and can refill existing ARV prescriptions. Physicians are generally based at district hospitals and visit health centres once a week.

According to officials from TRAC-Plus and the Ministry of Health, the new programme aims to train two nurses from every health centre offering HIV services. By the end of May, 600 nurses will be trained on the theoretical and practical aspects of ART prescription. Training will be followed by a three-month mentorship period, where physicians from district hospitals will conduct follow-up visits to each health centre to guide nurses on patient management.

By September the nurses will be authorized to prescribe ART in uncomplicated cases requiring first-line drugs.

Cases with significant complications that may require second-line ART will continue to be referred to physicians. Doctors and supervisors from the district hospitals will continue to monitor nurses during their quarterly formative supervision visits to health centres.

A 2009 study http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000163 by the NGO, Family Health International, and the Ministry of Health, evaluating nurse-centred ART in rural health centres in Rwanda found that nurses could "effectively and safely prescribe ART when given adequate training, mentoring, and support".

Rwanda suffers from a severe shortage of health workers; according to the UN World Health Organization http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS09_Full.pdf, the country has approximately one physician per 10,000 population and four nurses and midwives per 10,000, compared with 13 physicians per 10,000 globally and 32 physicians per 10,000 in the European region.

The country's limited number of health workers has been put under enormous stress by the rapid scale-up of ART. According to TRAC, clients on ART increased from approximately 34,000 at end-2006 to more than 75,000 at end-2009 - an increase of 120 percent - while the number of health centres providing ART increased from 133 to 252 during the same period.

The latest Rwanda National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS aims to have all health facilities in Rwanda able to provide a full package of HIV services, including ART, by 2012; it also intends to put 90 percent of eligible patients on HIV treatment. The plan envisages task-shifting as critical to achieving these goals.

rj/kr/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88243JOHANNESBURG Wednesday, February 24, 2010 (IRIN) - Temperatures seem set to soar to perilously high levels because of climate change. In another 40 years, would maize still be the staple food in Kenya, already hit by five failed rainy seasons? If not, what could people grow and eat? And if you could grow maize, how much water and fertilizer would it need? JOHANNESBURG Wednesday, February 24, 2010 (IRIN) - Temperatures seem set to soar to perilously high levels because of climate change. In another 40 years, would maize still be the staple food in Kenya, already hit by five failed rainy seasons? If not, what could people grow and eat? And if you could grow maize, how much water and fertilizer would it need?

If you live in the remote semi-arid Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda - beset by 14 droughts in 25 years - you might also want to know what your options are for continued food security.

For the first time, a customized regional climate model linked to crop growing and water models, run on a supercomputer at Michigan State University (MSU), will help provide crop breeders in three East African countries - Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania - with detailed answers on crop yields.

Many research institutions have been working on models to predict the impact of climate change on food production in Africa, but in a few months the MSU model will help scientists and breeders to zoom in at a regional level on the possible impact of climate change on a wide variety of crops in these countries.

The research could help produce climate-resilient varieties of food crops, said Jennifer Olson, lead researcher and associate professor at MSU's College of Communication Arts and Sciences.

"East Africa is already experiencing the impact of climate change - food crops are experiencing extreme water stress," she commented. People living in Kenya's highlands, who have traditionally grown tea and coffee, have begun experimenting with maize and beans as the climate has grown warmer.

Work on the model began 10 years ago with the recording of relevant data, such as the impact of nutrients on a certain food crop, or the impact of water stress on another, which were subsequently fed into the model. "The model is still being perfected," said Olson.

The model can experiment with the impact of climate change, such as high temperature and water stress on a certain crop variety, saving the time that would have been spent on field trials, "which will help speed up the agricultural research cycle", she noted.

The researchers intend to launch the model at a workshop in June. Concern about increasing food insecurity in East Africa has prompted two institutions to set up a research grants to encourage innovative solutions.

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), based in South Africa, and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, announced a US$10.67 million grant from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) to support the establishment of a multidisciplinary competitive funding mechanism for biosciences in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

ILRI's Bruce Scott said they would be looking for innovative solutions using bioscience to improve crop resilience to climate change, or perhaps to improve the shelf-life of a food product.

jk/he http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88225KIRUNDO Tuesday, February 23, 2010 (IRIN) - Failed rains in northern Burundi have left tens of thousands of people needing food aid and prompted many to seek work in neighbouring Rwanda to earn enough to feed their families.KIRUNDO Tuesday, February 23, 2010 (IRIN) - Failed rains in northern Burundi have left tens of thousands of people needing food aid and prompted many to seek work in neighbouring Rwanda to earn enough to feed their families.

Some 35,710 households (about 180,000 people) in Kirundo province require food and seeds, according to government officials and UN agencies*, who last week visited the province.

“It is clear that the population of the communes of Busoni, Bugabira and part of Kirundo face a food shortage that can even worsen if nothing is done,” said Floribert Kubwayezu of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Charles Dei, the humanitarian coordinator in Burundi, who also serves as country director of the World Food Programme (WFP), told IRIN that the lack of rain had adversely affected the January bean and maize harvest. This season accounts for 35 percent of Burundi’s total food production.

Rains stopped just after crops were planted and did not resume until mid-February, so many farmers had nothing to harvest, Benoit Miburu, the secretary of Busoni commune, told IRIN.

As a result, the little food on sale in local markets tends to be imported and therefore expensive. Whereas 1kg of beans usually sells for 300-350 francs (about 30 US cents), in Gatare market the price is now 900 francs.

Coping mechanisms

Many residents of the affected communes go to Rwanda in search of food or work.

“In Rwabikara and Marembo in Gasenyi zone you can see every morning 500 people leaving and coming back in the evening after a day’s work in Rwanda,” said Louis Ciza, an agronomist with Action Agro Allemande, a German NGO.

Domitille Vuguziga, a widow, was among many people IRIN saw returning home from Rwanda after a long day’s work, and an even longer commute.

“I left here at 2am and arrived there at six. I worked until [midday],” she said, explaining that she was paid with just enough maize to feed herself and three children for a day.

This flimsy safety net will be unavailable in March and April, when there will be nothing to harvest in Rwanda.

And even now, it is not a viable option for some, such as Pascaline Kanziza, 57, who cares for her sick husband and a 12-year-old grand-daughter in Busoni commune. “I am not able to go to Rwanda like others. So I try to find work here and there but at my age, it is not easy to get. They prefer young people who are able to work. If they see me working, they generally tell me not to come back the next day even if here is still work,” Kanziza said.

Conditions in Kirundo have prompted many people to move elsewhere permanently.

“When they see that there is no other option, they leave. Some first sell the house’s roofing or cattle at very low prices just to get food. At Murambi hill alone [in Gasenyi zone], some 253 households have fled the country since January,” Miburu told IRIN.

But Dei, the humanitarian coordinator, said the situation in Kirundo was not as bad as in some previous years. “The number of people leaving is decreasing,” he said.

Response

Dei said food aid would first be sent to the most vulnerable people: such as children under five, the chronically sick, elderly and pregnant and nursing mothers. “We will also identify food-for-work activities whereby we can inject more food to [deter] people from moving,” he added.

New systems of seed distribution and better water management are required to mitigate the effects of future droughts, say aid workers.

In one longer-term project already in place, with help from Agro Action Allemande and funding from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), farmers are growing vegetables on the shores of Lake Cohoha in Busoni commune. The UN mission recommended the project be extended to the shores of other lakes.

* FAO, WFP, OCHA, World Health Organization, UN Children’s Fund; UN Development Programme and their partner organizations

See also: Jacqueline Kabagirwa, "How can I tell my children there is nothing to eat for a day or two?"
[http://www.irinnews.org/HOVReport.aspx?ReportId=88210]

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88209KIRUNDO Tuesday, February 23, 2010 (IRIN) - Jacqueline Kabagirwa, 35, lives in the northern Burundi commune of Busoni but because of failed harvests following a drought, she commutes to neighbouring Rwanda, where a day’s work in the fields earns her just enough to feed her family. She tells IRIN of her experience: KIRUNDO Tuesday, February 23, 2010 (IRIN) - Jacqueline Kabagirwa, 35, lives in the northern Burundi commune of Busoni but because of failed harvests following a drought, she commutes to neighbouring Rwanda, where a day’s work in the fields earns her just enough to feed her family. She tells IRIN of her experience:

“My husband often goes to Rwanda and stays there a week or more but his pay is not enough to sustain the whole family. As I have nothing here, I cannot wait for his return. One of my children is lucky because he gets food at school but how can I tell the others there is nothing to eat for a day or two?

“I leave early in the morning and go to Rwanda to work in the fields. But sometimes I am so tired I cannot wake up early enough. In Rwanda, we go from one household to another asking if they need a hand. If you are lucky, you get work immediately but some have to cover long distances; some even come back without a job. Sometimes, I go with my older child, who is 12.

"With so many Burundians seeking jobs in the fields, the pay has been reduced. We used to get about [US$1.50] but now we only get a third of that. I was lucky this time, because, in addition to my pay, my employer has let me take sorghum from her fields.

“Now that the rains are back I will go once a week, that way I can work in my own field. It is now time for planting sorghum and beans, but we have no seeds.”

Related story: Drought leaves thousands needing food aid
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88209]

jb/am/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88210DAKAR Monday, February 22, 2010 (IRIN) - A meningitis epidemic has struck earlier than usual and is spreading across sub-Saharan Africa's "meningitis belt" from Senegal to Ethiopia, according to health ministries in the region. The disease occurs during the dry season, with most cases reported in mid-April. DAKAR Monday, February 22, 2010 (IRIN) - A meningitis epidemic has struck earlier than usual and is spreading across sub-Saharan Africa's "meningitis belt" from Senegal to Ethiopia, according to health ministries in the region. The disease occurs during the dry season, with most cases reported in mid-April.

As of 7 February, health ministries in high-risk countries reported 2,298 cases, with a 13-percent fatality rate. Burkina Faso has reported the highest number of cases, but Togo has experienced the highest fatality rate, where 25 of 108 infected people died.

The World Health Organization (WHO) described the situation as "alarming".

Mamoudou Harouna Djingarey, a WHO epidemiologist and meningitis expert, told IRIN it was still not clear why infections were spreading earlier than expected. "This [timing] is a sign of a major epidemic risk if no action is taken," he warned. Extensive meningitis outbreaks tended to occur every eight to 10 years, he said, but were now occurring about every four years.

In the 2009 meningitis season, 14 African countries reported a total of 78,416 suspected cases, including 4,053 deaths, the largest number of infections since the 1996 epidemic.

Studies are being carried out to determine whether climatic and environmental factors might be influencing the extent of the current epidemic. Djingarey told IRIN that infections had also been reported further south than usual, including in Uganda, Kenya and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Burkina Faso

On 17 February the Health Ministry in Burkina Faso reported 1,251 meningitis cases, with a 15.4 percent fatality rate. This time last year there were 25 percent less infections, but a similar percentage of deaths.

The disease has reached epidemic proportions in Pama in the east, Titao in the north, Sapouy in the centre west, and Batié in the southeast, defined by WHO as areas where at least 10 out of 100,000 people are infected. Three other districts with half as many reported infections are on alert, according to Burkina Faso's Ministry of Health.

Vaccinations have been carried out in Pama and Titao, and more are scheduled to take place in the centre west on 20 February. "If we can react quickly the numbers will drop," Health Ministry epidemiologist Jean Ludovic Kambou told IRIN.

WHO recommends vaccinating everyone aged from 2 to 29 years and living in an epidemic zone, as well as people in neighbouring areas that are on "alert". If the country does not have enough vaccine, it can request no-cost or minimal-cost vaccines from a meningitis vaccine stock managed by WHO. Alejandro Costa, a WHO vaccine scientist, told IRIN no countries have requested vaccines as of 19 February.

Costa told IRIN 100,000 doses of vaccine from the stockpile had been sent to Chad, which did not have vaccines on hand but was facing an epidemic in the southern regions of Mandoul and Logone Orientale. Chad's Ministry of Health said 42,000 people in the southern town of Doba needed vaccination.

On 19 February the government reported 507 meningitis infections that have led to 56 deaths, an 11 percent fatality rate.


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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88179GOMA Monday, February 22, 2010 (IRIN) - A year ago, Goma town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was temporarily home to tens of thousands displaced by fighting between government forces and various armed groups. Now, many have returned to their villages.GOMA Monday, February 22, 2010 (IRIN) - A year ago, Goma town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was temporarily home to tens of thousands displaced by fighting between government forces and various armed groups. Now, many have returned to their villages.

"It does not mean peace has come to Kivu region," a military observer in Goma, capital of North Kivu Province, said. "Some villagers are relatively safer, but the general situation is still very volatile."

Goma hosted about 140,000 displaced people (IDPs) in camps at the height of violence in North Kivu in 2008 and 2009, according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR. In early 2009, some started voluntarily leaving the camps and now 77,000 have left.

"Places like Goma have improved, but you can put concentric circles around the town," Karl Steinacker, UNHCR coordinator for eastern DRC, said. "The further you go, the worse it gets. It is a situation of return, displacement and movement."

There are 47 camps in North and South Kivu, hosting more than 117,000 IDPs at present. These include 15,000 who were displaced by clashes between armed groups in December.

The violence is the bane of the Kivu region. In a recent attack, on 11 February, the FDLR, a Rwandan rebel group based in eastern DRC and the target of UN-backed FARDC (DRC army) operations, reportedly killed seven women who were going to Bisembe forest market in Rutshuru area. Eight escaped, but only three reached home.

Alan Doss, head of the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), said it was an act of cowardice because the FDLR targeted the most vulnerable. MONUC is working with the FARDC to secure that zone.

"Armed men still roam the villages," said a former IDP from Bukavu in South Kivu who now lives in Goma. "There is no effective government in much of North and South Kivu. Until government arrives, it is a free-for-all."

Most of the recent violence is blamed on the FDLR, whose strength, according to military observers in Goma, is about 5,000.

"The FDLR are like bees in a corner," Esteban Sacco, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in North Kivu, told IRIN. "Nothing happens when you don't touch them, but if you poke them, trouble will break out."

NGOs targeted

Some 1.36 million people are displaced in Kivu region, according to OCHA, one million of whom fled their homes in 2009.

UNHCR is worried about the situation in some camps. "In Kichanga, IDPs are being used for forced labour," said Masti Notz, head of the UNHCR North Kivu office. "We have increasing concerns about what is going on."

Attacks against aid workers are another source of worry. On 13 February, local NGO employees were ambushed and lost property in Rutshuru, according to security sources.

In January alone, some 20 attacks targeting humanitarian actors were recorded in North Kivu.

"We have had 14 incidents in Masisi alone since the year began," Sacco said.

Raphael Wakenge, head of the civil society group Congolese Coalition for Transitional Justice, said that "people may be willing to return but worry" about insecurity.

"The return conditions are not attractive; there is no guarantee of security," he told IRIN. "When you visit Fizi territory there are military operations that are hindering population return."

New offensive

A new offensive was launched in January to rout the FDLR. The operation, code-named Amani Leo, Swahili for “Peace Today”, replaced Kimia II, which was strongly criticized [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84943] by human rights watchdogs for abuses against civilians.

According to Wakenge, Kimia II was "a good initiative" that was spoilt by "civilian protection issues".

Koen Vlassenroot of the University of Ghent wrote in a paper that it complicated the local political and military situation, and had a dramatic humanitarian impact.

"Even more worrisome was the conduct of the new integrated Congolese army brigades, which were reported to be increasingly involved in gross human rights violations, including random killings of civilians in the new territories of control," Vlassenroot noted.

Amani Leo has so far attracted cautious optimism. "The formal concept of this... offensive [puts] a strong emphasis on [the] protection of civilians, common planning, and conditionality of MONUC support linked to respect of human rights by FARDC," Guillaume Lacaille, a senior analyst for Central Africa with the International Crisis Group (ICG), told IRIN.

According to MONUC, the operation will give priority to civilian protection, especially of children and women, holding territory liberated from armed groups and helping to restore state authority.

"Protection of civilians has been the central concern in our planning," MONUC commander Lt General Babacar Gaye told the Security Council in January. A zero tolerance policy on human rights violations will be enforced.

"Whether Amani Leo will succeed is something one should wait to see," said Nelson Alusala, senior researcher at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies. DRC and Rwanda would, however, want to fast-track it ahead of possible MONUC cuts, and Congolese and Rwandan elections in 2011.

"The FDLR have two options - go back voluntarily or force their way back because Rwanda cannot negotiate with them," a security source in Goma told IRIN. "These were regular soldiers and they remain capable of destabilizing parts of the Kivu region."

Resource battle

The conflict in the Kivus is fuelled by vast natural resources in the region, including gold. The main warring parties, according to Global Witness, control much of the lucrative mineral trade.

"Natural resources must be recognized not only as part of the problem but also as an essential part of the solution," the group's Mike Davis wrote in a recent report.

"Numerous armed groups in DRC thrive on unregulated trade in minerals," Alusala said. "Minerals are also exchanged for weapons, and that sustains the conflict."

The Bonn International Centre for Conversion [http://www.bicc.de/] argues that those interested in the DRC's natural resources still "possess a spoiling potential". These include influential former fighters who are now part of informal power and trading networks.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88193KIGALI Thursday, February 18, 2010 (IRIN) - Rwandan health authorities have embarked on a campaign to sensitize the country's prisoners - considered high risk for HIV – on how to protect themselves from contracting and transmitting the virus.KIGALI Thursday, February 18, 2010 (IRIN) - Rwandan health authorities have embarked on a campaign to sensitize the country's prisoners - considered high risk for HIV – on how to protect themselves from contracting and transmitting the virus.

"We have adopted new measures of sensitizing people in correctional facilities as high-risk sexual behaviour in Rwandan prisons seems to be a major contributing factor to the increase in the spread of HIV," said Anita Asiimwe, executive secretary of the National AIDS Control Commission, CNLS.

The new strategy will use peer educators to teach prisoners about HIV; they will also encourage prisoners to attend voluntary counselling and testing for HIV so that those who are already HIV-positive can access treatment.

"We put emphasis on providing care to those inmates that are HIV-positive," said Antoine Semukanya, deputy executive secretary of CNLS.

Like other countries in the region, including Kenya and Uganda, Rwanda's HIV policy regards prisoners as a group that is "most at-risk" of contracting and transmitting HIV.

Risk factors

"Prison grounds offer ideal conditions for the transmission of HIV, especially through homosexuality," Dative Mukanyangezi, director-general of Kigali Central Prison - where 16.5 percent of imprisoned women and 15 percent of male prisoners were HIV-positive, according to 2006 data - told IRIN/PlusNews.

She noted that practices such as intravenous drug use and the sharing of non-sterile sharp instruments for tattooing were widespread in Rwanda's prisons.

According to a 2009 study by the Ministry of Health and its partners, prisoners in Kigali's Kimironko Prison reported having sex with sex workers, girlfriends and wives while out of prison on work detail.

"Considering all these practices and [the fact that] most prisoners are sexually active males between the ages of 19 and 30, this could explain why prisoners are a most-at-risk population for HIV," Mukanyangezi added.

The study also found structural issues such as over-crowding - Rwanda has one of the highest prison populations in the world, with an estimated 604 out of every 100,000 people in prison - short and complicated visitation rights, and insufficient food to be risk factors for HIV in prison. It recommended conjugal visits for some prisoners

The case for condoms

CNLS's Semukanya noted that the illegal nature of sex behind bars meant that the new strategy would not include the provision of condoms or water-based lubricants, recommended for use along with condoms to prevent lesions during anal sex.

However, experts recommended the use of condoms in prison. A 2009 report by TRAC-Plus, the Centre for Treatment and Research on AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and Other Epidemics, found there was a need to strengthen HIV prevention in prisons, especially condom promotion.

"Behaviour change communications could be more appropriate than sanctions to prevent MSM [men who have sex with men], and should focus on increasing risk perception, de-stigmatizing condoms, and promoting other strategies for sexual gratification," said the ministry's study.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88152GOMA Tuesday, February 16, 2010 (IRIN) - Perched on a hillside, the volcano observatory in Goma, capital of North Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, commands a great view of nearby Nyiragongo mountain. GOMA Tuesday, February 16, 2010 (IRIN) - Perched on a hillside, the volcano observatory in Goma, capital of North Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), commands a great view of nearby Nyiragongo mountain.

"Goma faces the highest risk any city in the world could face," said Dario Tedesco, coordinator, project for the prevention and analysis of volcanic hazards in the DRC. The project is based at the Prevention and Analysis of Volcanic Hazard Unit of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), near the observatory.

"We don't just have volcanoes; we have gas emissions, acid rain, polluted water and endemic fluorosis," he added. "People are asphyxiated in this region every year, because there are fractures emitting carbon dioxide all over the rift."

"It is difficult to estimate the number of people who are dying," Ciraba Mateso, scientific secretary in the department of geophysics at the observatory.

"People who live around here know where the gas is, so they avoid it," he added. "But there were more deaths when IDPs [internally displaced people] came to this region because they did not know where the gas is."

Nyiragongo is one of the two active volcanoes in North Kivu. The other, Nyamulagira, erupted on 2 January, spewing lava 10km away and threatening the town of Sake and the Sake-Goma road. Sake is a major source of Goma's fresh food.

That eruption was Nyamulagira's 35th since 1882. Little damage occurred because the lava mainly flowed into Virunga National Park, according to North Kivu deputy governor Feller Lutaichirwa.

Two days later, the lava movement increased, flowing 500m within 24 hours. Then it slowed down. By the time it stopped, according to Action by Churches Together, rainwater collected for drinking in Sake, Kingi and Rusayo villages was polluted.

Local health centres also reported increased cases of diarrhoea and eye diseases while residents reported the deaths of livestock, the charity added.

Crisis management

UN agencies, international and local NGOs, such as the Congolese Red Cross, set up a contingency plan and a crisis management team. On 10 January, the agencies and government evaluated the situation in nearby villages and found the situation quiet.

"Nyamulagira is 32km west of Goma, but we were terrified when it happened," a local resident in Goma, Françoise Turange, told IRIN. "There was a lot of panic. We thought it would be like 2002 when Nyiragongo erupted."

That eruption lasted 24 hours. The volcano is 17km from Goma town, but it left scores of people dead, 120,000 homeless and 18 percent of the town's surface covered in lava, according to the observatory.

About 300,000 people had to be evacuated. Others fled across the Rwandan border to Gisenyi town, according to aid workers. At Goma airport, half the runway was covered in lava, further complicating relief efforts.

"The eruption of Nyamulagira in January was a wake-up call, a reminder that Goma faces a grave risk," one aid worker told IRIN on 13 February. "After Haiti, we need to be prepared for eventualities."

Exposed

Located in the East African Rift Valley, Goma lies in a region that has been wrecked by years of fighting between DRC government forces and various armed groups, including Rwandan Hutu militants.

The insecurity has affected the work of the observatory, forcing experts to monitor the volcanoes mainly using helicopters from the UN Mission in Congo, MONUC. For example, after Nyamulagira erupted, MONUC arranged daily flights to assess the intensity of the volcano. That has now been reduced to two weekly flights.

Against these odds, the population of Goma has grown to about one million from 400,000 in 2004 and 250,000 in 2002, making it difficult to evacuate in the event of a volcanic eruption, a military observer in Goma said.

Preparedness

The 2009 contingency plan that was used by the government, UN agencies and NGOs to respond to the Nyamulagira eruption was developed on past scenarios.

The DRC government has endorsed it, and this now forms the basis for response in the event of an eruption that will require the evacuation of the population. But, say aid workers in Goma, the plan is largely under-resourced.

"Everybody living here is scared," one NGO worker said. "The trouble is, aid agencies will fly out their staff. What about the locals? Can anybody really move a million people out of this town quickly enough?"

Residents worry too. "It is one thing to hear on the radio that we should run towards Gisenyi, but I have 11 children and moving them on foot would be hard," said Turange, who is in his early 50s.

"The idea is to have an early warning alert," Dario told IRIN. "But this needs specific work - we call it science for end-users. The problem is that we are not getting enough support and funding."

The observatory has some equipment, but it needs to conduct a tomography [a sort of radiography beneath the volcano] to understand where the magmatic reservoirs are, but has so far failed to find the required US$500,000-$1 million, partly to fly in scientists.

"In January, all activity started without any specific warning, without any detectable precursor," Dario said. "This tells us the magma was already there, waiting to get out. It could happen again.

"We fear that the fracture reached the city during the 2002 Nyiragongo eruptive event, meaning the next eruption could start from the city itself. We need to know how it is working and where the magmatic reservoir is."

The volcanoes are also being watched by experts in Luxembourg, Italy, Belgium, NASA, and Michigan in the USA, who collect satellite information. Some of them also watch Lake Kivu, which is rich in methane and carbon dioxide.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88115KIGALI Tuesday, February 16, 2010 (IRIN) - Doreen Uwimana, in her early 20s, carries condoms in her bag even when she goes to classes at a college in an upmarket suburb of the Rwandan capital, Kigali.KIGALI Tuesday, February 16, 2010 (IRIN) - Doreen Uwimana, in her early 20s, carries condoms in her bag even when she goes to classes at a college in an upmarket suburb of the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

"You never know," she told IRIN/PlusNews. "I carry them just in case I find myself in a difficult situation... I don't want to get pregnant or ill."

Uwimana learned the consequences of unprotected sex the hard way. Five years ago, a sexual encounter without protection left her pregnant. Unable to care for her daughter in the city, she had to send her to live at her parents' home up-country.

"The father is at school out of the country and I am a mere student who is equally struggling," she told IRIN. "There was no way I could cope, so my parents are helping out."

But despite her best intentions, she admitted to occasionally failing to use protection.

"Sometimes, it depends and sometimes one gets so excited," she said.

High awareness, low use

Uwimana is typical of many young Rwandans who have heard about HIV and condoms, but still fail to use them consistently.

According to a 2008 health ministry survey, sexually active Rwandans use, on average, just three condoms every year.

A 2005 survey by social marketing NGO, Population Services International [http://www.psi.org/], found that more than 80 percent of Rwandans had seen a condom, had heard about condoms, and were aware of them as an HIV prevention method.

Officials say awareness about HIV has increased, but infection rates have not declined by the same proportion. Rwanda's HIV national HIV prevalence is just over 3 percent - 2.2 percent in rural areas and 7.3 percent in urban areas.

A three-month campaign to advance the condom agenda and distribute 10 million condoms ends this month, but senior government officials say it is only the beginning of national efforts to popularize condom use.

Intensifying the campaign

"The use of condoms is a new national strategy," Anita Asiimwe, executive secretary of the National AIDS Control Commission, CNLS, told IRIN/PlusNews, adding that the idea was to make sure "condoms are available when needed and that they are correctly and consistently used".

According to Minister of Health Richard Sezibera, the target is young people because studies [http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/97/6/1090] show that youngsters who use condoms the first time they have sex are more likely to engage in subsequent protective behaviour and experience fewer sexually transmitted infections than those who do not.

The current campaign involves a raft of activities, including condom distribution by village health workers, as well as in offices and health centres; and installing vending machines in “hot spots” such as bars and night-clubs.

In Kigali, posters have sprouted at various places across the rolling hills to encourage condom use and warn against risky sexual behaviour. “Nkoresha Agakingirizo... Ni uburenganzira bwanjye kwirinda” – “I use a condom... it's my right to protect myself”, they proclaim.

Some of the city's residents say the message is slowly taking root. "More and more people are using them... it is not worth the risk," said Kigali taxi driver Joseph Barigye.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88121BUNIA Friday, February 12, 2010 (IRIN) - Eight months after the end of joint military operations by the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, many parts of Orientale Province, in northeastern DRC, are still in turmoil, says the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.BUNIA Friday, February 12, 2010 (IRIN) - Eight months after the end of joint military operations by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda, many parts of Orientale Province, in northeastern DRC, are still in turmoil, says the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Attacks on civilians by Ugandan rebels and local militias have left 340,000 people displaced, and 30,000 refugees have fled to Sudan [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87516].

“Following attacks by the LRA [Lord’s Resistance Army] in December, there has been a 9 percent rise in the number of displaced in Haut Uélé [near the border with Sudan], and an 11 percent increase in Bas Uélé [near the border with the Central African Republic] compared to earlier months,” said Jean Charles Dupin, head of OCHA in Orientale Province.

Aid workers say 100,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are inaccessible due to insecurity in Uélé District.

“Since the departure of the Ugandan forces, the LRA has regrouped... The security forces can’t be everywhere, and the LRA is exploiting this situation to attack villages,” said Lt-Col Jean-Paul Dietrich, spokesman for the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC).

The joint DRC-Uganda military operation from 14 December 2008 until mid-March 2009 weakened the LRA but did not succeed in neutralizing it. The rebels dispersed in small, highly mobile groups into territory five times bigger than before the operation, according to civil society groups in Ituri.

“The LRA came and broke down our door, and took away four of my daughters, one boy and myself. We spent five days which I will never forget. We suffered a lot. We were starving... They made us carry very heavy things, and if you tried to argue, they killed you,” said Digida Vungu.

“We carried people injured in the fighting and fresh cassava; they didn’t even give us water to drink. At night they tied us up so we couldn’t escape,” said Pascal Mubelega.

“The LRA uses the people it kidnaps to replenish its forces… Those seized go through a rite of passage involving drugs to embolden them to kill... A child who managed to escape from the LRA was reunited with his family, but one day this child did not think twice about killing his mother over a petty family quarrel,” said Nicolas Mapendo, a journalist coming back from Dungu.

Since December 2007 when the violence began, 1,776 people have died in LRA attacks in the DRC, according to aid workers.

Ituri

Militias within the Front Populaire pour la Justice au Congo (FPJC) and the Front de Résistance Patriotique de l’Ituri (FRPI), having refused to take part in the 2007 disarmament drive, have been very active in Walendu-Bindi territory, especially in the Bunia-Komanda and Aveba-Gety-Bukiringi areas, 70-100km south of Bunia in the eastern part of Orientale Province; in December 2009 six attacks were reported.

Following a 12 January attack by unidentified armed men on eight villages in Zunguluka, 100km south of Bunia, 3,519 families were forced to flee, according to OCHA. The attacks reportedly left six dead; four women were kidnapped and raped before being released. Several buildings were looted and burned down.

“We found 56 children walking around naked because all their clothes were gone. More than 108 houses were looted and burned down. Kamapondi and Zunguluka primary schools and the local Anglican church were also torched,” said a senior official from Boga, 120km south of Bunia.

Some 30,000 IDPs are inaccessible because of insecurity in the south of Irumu Territory, said OCHA’s Dupin.

According to Joel Adjiba, an aid worker helping those displaced from Aveba (90km south of Bunia), tens of thousands of people are still effectively kidnapped by militia groups in the Mukatangazi area (140km south of Bunia).

“To keep the population under control, the militias are saying ‘anyone who tries to escape will be killed during the upcoming offensive to capture Bunia town. Stay with us if you don’t want to be killed’,” said Adjiba.

According to aid workers, the total number of IDPs south of Bunia is about 102,000.

Ibrahim Diouf, head of the MONUC political affairs office in Ituri, said it was down to the local and central authorities to deal with the militias; MONUC could only provide logistical support.

MONUC has 20,000 troops in the DRC; 4,000 are based in Ituri for operations in Ituri, Haut Uélé and Bas Uélé.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88082KIGALI Thursday, February 11, 2010 (IRIN) - Sixteen years after the Rwandan genocide, many women are struggling to come to terms with the violence they endured. KIGALI Thursday, February 11, 2010 (IRIN) - Sixteen years after the Rwandan genocide, many women are struggling to come to terms with the violence they endured.

According to the association of genocide widows NGO, Avega Agahozo, sexual violence was used to humiliate, degrade and abuse women during the 6 April to 16 July 1994 killings. In many cases, the violence was meted out before, during or after the women had witnessed the killing of a relative.

“Some of the women are only coming out now because they are sick,” said Sabine Uwase, the head of advocacy, justice and information for Avega. "We also receive special cases suffering from cancer or with damaged sexual organs.”

Avega has turned into a refuge for some of these women. Founded in 1995 by 58 widows, it now has three branches and 25,000 members. More than 47,400 women are receiving medical treatment through its programmes.

Each day, 20 to 30 women come knocking on its doors. Asked why it took some of the women so long to seek help, Uwase said: “Many of the women were ashamed to come out. We had to counsel them first. Many of them were victims of rape and are traumatized.”

One study carried out by the organization in Rwanda’s 12 provinces found that in a sample of 1,125 widows, about 80 percent showed signs of trauma and 67 percent had HIV. The study was limited by inadequate resources.

Legal aid

Apart from healthcare, Avega provided legal services for widows who wished to testify against those accused of genocide in the traditional gacaca courts.

The 12,103 courts, which were started in 2001 and modelled on Rwanda’s traditional justice mechanisms, are being wound up after handling more than a million cases. At least 800,000 perpetrators have been convicted nationwide.

However, human rights organizations have criticized the gacaca courts, saying they did not provide adequate legal services to suspects, were plagued by unfairness and have been used to settle scores.

Government officials strongly deny the criticism, saying 94 percent of Rwandans believe in the courts. The process, they argue, has promoted reconciliation and reunited communities.

“Previously, the widows were unwilling to testify,” Uwase told IRIN on 8 February. “We have trained 419 trainers of trainers who go back to the villages to teach others how to testify. In Kigali, we have helped testimony in 150 cases. Now, we are also teaching the widows and orphans about land law.”

Avega also built 919 houses for widows and orphans between 2007 and 2008, and tackles gender-based violence. Over the years, it has encouraged the women to engage in income-generating activities, such as basket-weaving. The baskets are sold internationally and help to supplement the US$60 monthly government grant provided by the Assistance Fund for Genocide Survivors.

Genocide widows form a significant percentage of survivors because the genocidaires targeted mainly men and boys. Data compiled by the genocide survivors fund shows that between 250,000 and 500,000 women were raped during the 100 days of violence in which 800,000 to one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus died.

Trauma

While some women were gang-raped, others were violated with sharpened objects, resulting in extensive damage to their reproductive systems.

Up to 20,000 children were born from rape. Across the country, there are 10 times more widows than widowers among the 300,000-400,000 survivors.

Some 100,000 survivors are categorized as vulnerable, including 40,000 who lack shelter. There are also 75,000 orphans.

According to Avega, the widows and orphans who survived the genocide bear the burden of the atrocities committed. Having witnessed or suffered extreme violence, many of them have a very negative attitude towards life.

“Many of the women still find it difficult to talk about their experiences,” a Kigali-based journalist said. “They are haunted by [the genocide].”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88069KINSHASA Wednesday, February 10, 2010 (IRIN) - Schools in Dongo, Equateur Province, in western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the scene of inter-ethnic clashes from October to December 2009, are still closed because parents are worried about security, despite a call for their reopening by the provincial government.KINSHASA Wednesday, February 10, 2010 (IRIN) - Schools in Dongo, Equateur Province, in western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the scene of inter-ethnic clashes from October to December 2009, are still closed because parents are worried about security, despite a call for their reopening by the provincial government.

"We asked if the schools could be reopened, but parents are reluctant as long as the militia are still at large,” said provincial education minister Richard Baengeto.

"Some parents and their children are still in the forest and refusing to go back to their villages, fearing for their safety,” Baengeto told IRIN.

Clashes between the Lobala and Boba ethnic groups led to more than 200 deaths and the flight of 150,000 more - of whom 60 percent are children - to neighbouring Republic of Congo, says the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

According to a December 2009 report by UN agencies in South Ubangi District, of which Dongo is the capital, the region has 1,085 primary schools with 251,383 children.

The area affected by displacement has 904 primary schools and 200,110 enrolled children. Schools in Dongo have been closed since November and in other areas since December after the population fled.

"In and around Dongo there are 132 schools. A dozen were destroyed or burned down, but most are in a state of advanced dilapidation, having been built in the Belgian colonial era. Others were constructed out of straw by villagers,” Raphaël Sanduku, director of education in Equateur Province, told IRIN.

Apart from the destruction of schools, teaching materials have been stolen and desks taken to Dongo and Boyazala for firewood, according to the report.

Saving the school year

The provincial authorities have taken measures to save the current school year by rearranging the school calendar to make up for lost days, said Sanduku. "But some parents have sent their children to finish their studies in Bomboma, Muanda or Bokonzi."

Paul Mbila, a resident of Dongo and father of eight, three of whom are in secondary school, believes "the future of our children is compromised… It is difficult to persuade me to send my children to school until security is fully restored.”

Children and adolescents have also been subjected to violence. Some were recruited by insurgents. In Bozene and Bobito, four children were the victims of sexual violence; in Bozene, a girl with trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) was raped by four DRC army soldiers. Similar cases were registered in Bobito market, according to NGOs.

According to the provincial education minister, the rehabilitation of schools is “an urgent need. The government of Equateur will invest in the rehabilitation of some of the burned-down schools.”

In response to the crisis in Dongo, NGOs and the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC) are planning in the next six months to set up temporary schools in areas where the displaced have moved, for at least 24,600 children - 41 percent of those displaced. They envisage supplying schools with teaching kits, and rehabilitating 12 schools at a cost of US$1.5 million.

em/cb/aw/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88061NAIROBI Monday, February 08, 2010 (IRIN) - Internally displaced people (IDPs) are still being abducted by armed groups for forced labour in several territories in North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) even as authorities beef up security in IDP camps, officials said. NAIROBI Monday, February 08, 2010 (IRIN) - Internally displaced people (IDPs) are still being abducted by armed groups for forced labour in several territories in North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) even as authorities beef up security in IDP camps, officials said.

“Men often spend the day away from the [IDP] sites for fear of being abducted, but most abductions occur during the night,” states a 5 February update issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Rutshuru Territory, which has about 129,000 IDPs, is among the most affected.

In southern Walikale Territory, Rwandan Hutu Forces démocratiques pour la libération du Rwanda (FDLR) militia on 28 January attacked civilians in the village of Isuka and abducted seven people, who have yet to be released, to transport looted goods, added OCHA.

Marie-Claire Bangwene, Masisi Territory administrator, said police had been deployed to two IDP camps there to ensure security and prevent militia attacks.

Armed attackers raided Muhanga IDP camp, in Masisi on 15 January, looting aid from an NGO. On 22 January, another attack on Nyange camp, also in Masisi, left three people dead. The government has started an inquiry into the attacks, Bangwene told IRIN.

"After the Nyange [attack], the camps were secured by FARDC [DRC army] soldiers and the FDLR withdrew toward the villages of Binga [about 60km away], and Mutongo [90km by road]…” the president of Masisi civil society, Thomas d'Aquin Muipi Luanda, told IRIN, noting that the often unpaid FARDC sometimes lacked the motivation to promptly respond to rebel attacks.

"Many people spend the night hidden outside their homes, while checkpoints established by the national army hinder the passage of civilians from areas affected by combat," OCHA said. "This compounds an already difficult situation in terms of humanitarian access, where 30 percent of intended beneficiaries are not currently accessible to humanitarians."

At least 12 incidents targeting humanitarian organizations occurred in the region in January, OCHA said.

Better protection

An aid official in Goma, North Kivu capital, who requested anonymity, said some IDP camps were in remote areas, making them more vulnerable to attacks, forced recruitment and other forms of harassment.

There are about 900,000 IDPs in North Kivu, most of whom live with host families; about 117,000 are in 47 camps. There are about 2.1 million IDPs in the DRC, according to UN estimates.

"Ultimately, better protection for IDPs [is a] subject of national security," he told IRIN. "Physical security/protection of IDPs is the responsibility of the Congolese government. However, IDP camps are prone to entry by anyone. [It is] therefore impossible to police each of the camps’ perimeters."

However, raids on and intrusions into camps by armed military personnel or militia groups "were in direct violation of the civilian purpose for which these camps were established and the civilian population that lives in these camps", UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) external relations officer for eastern DRC, David Benthu Nthengwe, told IRIN.

The Nyange camp attack was reportedly carried out by the FDLR militia. In Muhanga, FARDC soldiers took possession of items belonging to an NGO, disrupting aid distribution.

The attacks came as the Congolese government, with logistical support from the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), started a military offensive dubbed Amani Leo [Swahili for “peace today”] to oust FDLR rebels within three months.

Sovereignty

"The formal concept of this third consecutive military offensive [puts] a strong emphasis on [the] protection of civilians, common planning, and conditionality of MONUC support linked to respect of human rights by FARDC," Guillaume Lacaille, a senior analyst for Central Africa with the International Crisis Group (ICG), told IRIN.

FARDC has often been accused of perpetrating civilian abuses.

"After a full year of military offensives... the Congolese authorities have not yet been able to establish state sovereignty over both the North and South Kivu provinces," he said. "Many Congolese illegal armed groups continue to recruit and operate... Several hundred thousand IDPs remain scared of coming back to their area of origin. Human-rights violations are still at a dramatic level."

Bringing peace in the east, Lacaille said, demanded a more comprehensive strategy than military force [alone] and would require a long-term effort from both MONUC and the Congolese authorities.

"It is a reminder that even though President [Joseph] Kabila [has called] for MONUC to start withdrawing its blue helmets in June 2010... MONUC still provides a security guarantee for the [whole] country that FARDC [alone] cannot provide," he said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88030BUJUMBURA Friday, February 05, 2010 (IRIN) - By age 15, Annonciata Nduwimana was an accomplished fighter for Burundi's opposition Forces nationales de liberation and knew how to kill in battle. BUJUMBURA Friday, February 05, 2010 (IRIN) - By age 15, Annonciata Nduwimana was an accomplished fighter for Burundi's opposition Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) and knew how to kill in battle.

"My father was killed, accused of sheltering rebels. We [her mother and two elder brothers] then fled to Bujumbura to seek safe haven," she said.

Life in the capital, however, proved tough for a widow with three children. Unable to pay rent, the family returned to their village of Muyira in Bujumbura Rurale Province.

The area was an FNL stronghold. "The army was convinced that we pretended to be school pupils by day but turned into FNL fighters during the night," Nduwimana told IRIN. "I knew by staying here, I would be killed. I chose to die on the battlefield."

That was 2003. Two weeks after joining the FNL, she had completed basic training and was deployed on the battlefield.

"I was afraid, I couldn't figure out I could kill people," she said. "But there was no way out - you either killed or you were killed. The choice was clear."

Now 21, Nduwimana is back to civilian life in Muyira, but with little to show for her time as a combatant. She is traumatized, has not been fully accepted by society and lacks capital to start an income-generating activity.

Like Nduwimana, many women in the province were forced into war. Others who stayed in the villages ended up performing chores either for the army or the FNL.

While some took food to combatants, others fetched water or firewood, or sheltered the fighters in their houses.

"We used to leave home [carrying food] at around 8pm in the night and walk and walk; we arrived at their [FNL] hiding places at dawn," Annabelle Nshimirimana, 20, said.

"The next night we walked back home, taking care nobody observed our absence," she added. "It was a difficult task because it was a long way through the mountains. Sometimes we were ambushed and forced to fight."

Nshimirimana's neighbour, Odile Nibizi, 34, remembered one night when FNL fighters knocked at her door, asking for shelter. Although she did not know any of them, the men stayed at her home for a whole year.

"I was providing them [with] everything; this cost me my beer business because I ended up with nothing at all," the mother of six said. "We were caught between two fires: If we sheltered the FNL, the army targeted us; if you refused, you were also killed,"

The three are among thousands of women in Burundi who are trying to pick up the pieces after the FNL gave up their military struggle and became a political party in April 2009.

Starting again

With Burundi now largely calm, female ex-combatants like Nduwimana, Nshimirimana and Nibizi are trying to integrate back into civilian life.

However, it is a difficult journey for most of them as they struggle on their own to heal their wounds, get over the trauma of being an ex-combatant, fight stereotypes and get accepted in a society not accustomed to female ex-combatants.

"They [neighbours] call me names. When they see me passing, they say, 'look, she was a solider'; they still believe I am a bandit; all cases of banditry are blamed on us," Nduwimana said.

Another ex-combatant, who declined to be named, said ex-combatants who were impregnated by other combatants were worse off, and they were shunned by the society.

"They tell us to take the children to their fathers, but how can we?" she said.

Many women are struggling to make ends meet.

"I got 4,500 francs [US$3.6 - as a demobilization fee] and I used it as a capital; I sell cooking oil. Up to now I have only three litres. I can get soap and food," said Nshimirimana, who was forced to leave school at an early age.

With no parents, her five brothers and sisters are taken care of by relatives at Rumonge in the southern province of Bururi.

Glimpse of hope

But all is not lost. The aid organization CARE International has initiated a project aimed at the social and economic integration of female ex-combatants.

Remy Ndayiragije, head of the project known as “Dushigikirane” ("Let us help each other" in Kirundi), said the aim was economic empowerment of female ex-combatants, and their social integration.

Ndayiragije said CARE was working with the UN World Food Programme, Survival Corps and the International Rice Institute. Among other activities, the project is trying to introduce new varieties of rice in Bujumbura Rural.

It is also setting up a savings and loan scheme, and awareness is being raised among women of the importance of working in associations. Many have now formed solidarity groups that aim to save money weekly, with a view to offering loans to members.

"We also want to bring together, with the ex-combatants, women who did not get involved in the fighting," Ndayiragije said. "When they are working together, they talk about their past experience; they can understand each other. Those who have had not been accepted in the community can get a listening ear in the group."

jb/js/cb http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88006DAKAR Friday, February 05, 2010 (IRIN) - Natural disasters, epidemics and political unrest deal a particularly heavy blow to communities in West and Central Africa, where people live in a “fragile” state daily, UN Children’s Fund said on 4 February. DAKAR Friday, February 05, 2010 (IRIN) - Natural disasters, epidemics and political unrest deal a particularly heavy blow to communities in West and Central Africa, where people live in a “fragile” state daily, UN Children’s Fund said on 4 February.

UNICEF briefed reporters in Dakar on its $1.2-billion global emergency appeal for 2010; the request calls for $263 million for West and Central Africa. The annual Humanitarian Action Report and accompanying appeal spotlight crises UNICEF sees as needing additional funds outside of the regional UN-wide appeal, to save lives and protect children and women.

“What sets this region apart is a lot of people are vulnerable in normal times, in stable times,” UNICEF West and Central Africa spokesperson Martin Dawes told reporters. “The problem is that any change can make populations slip.”

Of the 182 countries in UN’s 2009 human development index 13 of the bottom 20 are in the region.

UNICEF and other aid organizations have expressed worry over the potential humanitarian impact of severe food insecurity this year in the Sahel, where families already live in difficult conditions.

“The food insecurity and malnutrition are worrying, not only in the Sahel region but also in other areas notably northern Nigeria,” UNICEF West and Central Africa emergency response chief Grant Leaity told reporters. The conditions stem from the global economic crisis – with decreased demand for raw materials and remittances down – as well as climate change effects, he said.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in its 2010-11 West Africa and Sahel strategy also notes that the Sahel countries – among the poorest in the world – face multiple hazards related to climate change, including health emergencies and food insecurity. "The poor human development is manifest in the high infant and child mortality and high maternal mortality rate," IFRC says.

UNICEF's requested funding for West and Central Africa would assist children and women affected by emergencies in Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Mauritania and Niger, as well as smaller-scale emergencies or post-conflict situations in Benin, Cameroon, the Congo, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali and Togo, UNICEF says.

Emergency funding requirements for the region have increased, mainly due to increased humanitarian needs in Chad and DRC, recurrent crises (flooding and epidemics) and the financial slowdown, UNICEF says. In DRC renewed conflict in several areas has triggered new population displacements, Leaity said; Chad, already coping with hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons, is one of the countries facing severe food insecurity this year. In both countries continued armed conflict makes humanitarian aid delivery more complicated and expensive, he pointed out.

The global financial crisis has also hit aid donations, Leaity said. UNICEF’s 2009 humanitarian action appeal for US$1.15 billion was funded to just 39 percent as of October 2009, down from the same period in 2008. “Of course it is difficult to say how [the financial situation will affect aid] for 2010,” he said. “The best we can do is to always be on top of what the most urgent needs are.”

Short and long term

Leaity pointed to the importance of incorporating mid- and long-term assistance into emergency response in the region, where infrastructure is weak.

“In normal times things are fragile,” he said. “As soon as the emergency hits not only is there an immediate or short-term effect but there’s also a mid-term or longer-term effect because the emergency often damages or breaks the infrastructure.”

Recovery is still a relatively new aspect of emergency response for many international organizations and governments, according to Leaity. It is necessary but it is hard work, it takes time and is more difficult to find funding for it, he said.

np/am/ajhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88018BUJUMBURA Tuesday, February 02, 2010 (IRIN) - When her husband cut off her arms in 2008 for giving birth only to girls, life changed drastically for Francine Nijimbere. BUJUMBURA Tuesday, February 02, 2010 (IRIN) - When her husband cut off her arms in 2008 for giving birth only to girls, life changed drastically for Francine Nijimbere.

She fled her home in Burundi's southern province of Makamba and sought refuge in Bujumbura, under the care of the Association for the Protection of the Human Rights of Women (ADDF).

In September 2009 ADDF moved her to a suburb where she shares a two-room house with another woman, also a victim of gender-based violence. Nijimbere told IRIN about her life:

"[ADDF] rented this house for us; it supplies us with food. But life is not only food; there are many other things we have to find by ourselves like clothes, soap, body lotion, etc. It is not always easy to get them. All depends on good-hearted people who can offer us this or that.

"ADDF also hired a housemaid to help me in daily activities. I totally rely on her for bathing, feeding, dressing myself, cooking - everything. I am like a baby; without her, I am helpless. In fact, my six-year-old girl performs better.

"ADDF told us it would cater for everything for six months. After that, we are supposed to sustain ourselves. We are waiting to know if the assistance can be extended. If it stops, I do not know what I will do.

"I cannot go home because I have nobody to help me. My mother is old and my father incapacitated as a result of an accident.

"My husband’s family live near mine, [but] I fear that his relatives could do me harm. They may think if I am killed, the [court case] could be shelved with nobody to follow it up.

"When he was released last year [her husband was jailed] by presidential decree as he was suffering from an incurable disease, I appealed and he was sent back to prison.

"My child is in boarding school at Rutana but I cannot go to see her. I do not have [the money for the] bus fare.

"I need a house of my own to live with my child, and money to start a small business. I am not stupid; I can work if the maid is with me. I am tired of begging. I was not used to this life.

"I dream that one day I can buy something, a pair of shoes, a dress for my child, and offer her a present, knowing it really comes from me, her mother."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87960KINSHASA Tuesday, February 02, 2010 (IRIN) - Rival ethnic communities in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo have clashed many times over the years, but most recently over fish, observers say.KINSHASA Tuesday, February 02, 2010 (IRIN) - Rival ethnic communities in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo have clashed many times over the years, but most recently over fish, observers say.

More than 200 people have died and another 150,000 have fled to the neighbouring Republic of Congo (ROC) since October 2009, when fighting erupted between the Lobala and Boba clans in Dongo, Equateur Province.

The clash was triggered by two attacks against Boba villages, including one in July 2009, in which 200 homes were burnt down.

"The clashes could have been prevented - or at least curbed - had there been more oversight of the distribution of resources at the Iwandi pool," said local analyst Polycarpe Nyalua.

Iwandi is one of the most prolific fishing spots along the River Ubangi which runs along the border between the two countries.

In February 1972, according to a Congolese army information officer, a pact was signed that would have shared fishing resources in Iwandi, putting an end to what he described as illegal fishing by the Boba.

A generation later, the Boba have revoked the pact and banned the Lobala from accessing the forest or the pools, the officer who preferred anonymity explained.

Lobala difficulties were compounded by the dramatic decline in the other mainstay of the local economy: agriculture. Coffee, cocoa and palm oil plantations across the Kungu region were virtually abandoned despite population increases.

Old quarrel

DRC government spokesman Lambert Mende said the fighting in Dongo represented a "contemporary resurgence of an inter-clan quarrel dating back to the 1940s".

"The Lobala planned and executed an ethnic attack, considering themselves to be above the law," said local deputy Jean-Faustin Mokoma.

With the two main pools around 71km from Dongo, more accessible seasonal pools have been stretched to capacity, leading to skirmishes over who has the rights to the fish, which are sold in markets locally, in ROC and the Central African Republic (CAR).

Government spokesman Mende said: “The Dongou attackers had but one objective - to remove [other communities from] a strip of land that they consider belongs to them".

Nyalua, the analyst, suggested persistent aggression by the Boba had left the Lobala with few options.

Powder keg

A military source from the UN peacekeeping operation in DRC (MONUC), who preferred anonymity, told IRIN: "The Kinshasa authorities played down the seriousness of the situation, allowing it to degenerate before reacting… The conflict in Dongou is a powder keg that no one knows how to manage.”

"In Kinshasa, they dragged their feet before sending in qualified police," said local nurse Jude Liengo from the Boba ethnic group.

The government in Kinshasa said a Lobala militia group, made up in part of demobilized soldiers, staged an attack on Dongo in late October, targeting police and security forces. Government forces, however, recaptured the town in mid-December.

But local residents continued to flee. By mid-January, more than 107,000 reached the Likoula region (ROC), according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Most were crammed into 70 sites along a 250km stretch of the River Ubangi.

Many more remain displaced within the DRC itself, while CAR hosts about 17,000 refugees, settled temporarily in sites near the River Ubangi in the Lobaye region. At least 60 percent of the refugees are children, many having fled orphanages, according to UNHCR.

A month has passed since the Congolese armed forces arrived to restore peace to Dongou, but the town remains deserted.

"The government has every interest in resolving the conflict through mediation, before pressing the populations to return to their villages, but they have to instill confidence and restore a climate of security," a MONUC source told IRIN, adding: "We cannot have a zone of instability and turbulence in the west of the country while we are trying to pacify the east."

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