NAIROBI, 11 May 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS:

DRC-ZAMBIA: Congolese refugees return home DRC: Displaced mistreated in North Kivu RWANDA-DRC: Kagame seeks co-operation on rebels CONGO-DRC: Refugees from Kinshasa to be repatriated

TANZANIA: Government denies rights violations TANZANIA: RVF death toll rises SUDAN-UGANDA: Frustration over LRA's refusal to free women and children

Also see:

CONGO: Controversy ahead of legislative elections  [Full story] http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72065

DRC-ZAMBIA: Congolese refugees return home

The first group of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo who fled to neighbouring Zambia to escape the civil war in the 1990s arrived back home last week under a voluntary repatriation organised by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The 416 people travelled by boat across Lake Tanganyika, disembarking at the town of Kalemie in the southeastern province of Katanga, according to Jens Hesemann, spokesman for the UNHCR. Those who could not go home immediately were taken to a transit point to await transport to their villages. Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72024

DRC: Displaced mistreated in North Kivu

Fighting between forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo government and Rwandan rebels has displaced tens of thousands of villagers in the eastern DRC's North Kivu province since February, who were now being victimised by the military and other civilians, humanitarian sources said.

"The security situation is harsh for these displaced people as they are victims of grave human rights violations and are directly targeted in the fighting," said Jens Hesemann, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Goma on Monday. Full report:

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72021

RWANDA-DRC: Kagame seeks co-operation on rebels

Authorities in Kigali are keen to work with their counterparts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to solve the insurgency crisis that has persisted since 1994 rather than attempt to disarm the rebels themselves, even as the DRC army pursues a military operation to oust the Rwandan rebels.

The rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Fdlr) comprises the remnants of the former Rwandan army and ethnic Hutu militias blamed for the 1994 genocide. It has been active mostly in the North Kivu region of the DRC, where fighting with the DRC army in the first week of May left more than 40 rebels dead, according to the army. Full report:

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72010

CONGO-DRC: Refugees from Kinshasa to be repatriated

The Republic of Congo and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have signed an agreement whereby civilians who fled clashes in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, in March will be repatriated voluntarily.

About 203 people from the DRC crossed the Congo River to Brazzaville when fighting erupted between the army and guards of opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba. The refugees included 121 of Bemba's fighters, but the repatriation agreement signed on Friday between the DRC's humanitarian affairs minister, Jean-Claude Muyambo, and his Congolese counterpart Charles Zacharie Bowao will only cover the repatriation of unarmed civilians. Full report:

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72007

TANZANIA: Government denies right violations

Tanzanian authorities have denied accusations by a human rights agency that their expulsion of refugees and immigrants from neighbouring countries amounts to a violation of human rights.   "It is true that repatriation of refugees from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] and Rwanda has been carried out by the government for several months. But that was being done on a voluntary basis," Joseph Mungai, the Home Affairs Minister, said on Wednesday. Full report:

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72047

TANZANIA: RVF death toll rises

Authorities in Tanzania are still struggling to control an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever (RVF), a highly contagious viral disease that infects livestock and humans, which has spread to 10 of the country's administrative regions in four months and killed more than 100 people.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that 264 human cases of RVF had been reported in Tanzania between mid-January and 3 May, with 109 of the patients having died. Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72066

SUDAN-UGANDA: Frustration over LRA's refusal to free women and children

The Ugandan government on Tuesday said the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) continued to hold thousands of abducted children and women, despite repeated pleas for their release from both the state and international organisations.

"We keep reminding the LRA about the request over the issue and on numerous occasions we tell them face-to-face to release the children and women they hold hostage. The answer we get is that the women and girls are their wives and children," Okello Oryem, junior foreign minister and deputy head of the government delegation to peace talks with the LRA in Southern Sudan, told reporters in Kampala. Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72038

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