NAIROBI, 15 December (IRIN) - CONTENTS:

GREAT LAKES: Regional pact highlights humanitarian issues GREAT LAKES: Appeal calls for US $84m

BURUNDI: Food crisis looms in the north, east-central KENYA: Red Cross appeals for $21.9m for flood-affected people DRC: Heavy rains render 3,600 Bumba residents homeless TANZANIA: Zanzibar issues ultimatum over pollution UGANDA: Northern situation improving, but IDPs still reluctant to go home CAR: Army recaptures last rebel-held town

ALSO SEE:

UGANDA: Northern situation improving, but IDPs still reluctant to go home [http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56715 ] DRC: Healing the wounds of war at Panzi Hospital, South Kivu http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56704

GREAT LAKES: Regional initiative to help IDPs

Presidents from several Great Lakes countries signed a pact at the end of a two-day summit in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Friday to address security, stability and development across the region.

The pact contains a protocol on protection and assistance for the displaced – the first legally binding regional instrument specifically dealing with internally displaced persons.

It also includes protocols on the prevention and suppression of sexual violence against women and children, which obliges member states to punish the perpetrators of sexual violations in both conflict and non-conflict situations. [Full story on: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56760 ] [On the Net: Leaders meet over peace, development and humanitarian crises: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56739 ]

GREAT LAKES: Appeal calls for US $84m

The humanitarian appeal to donors for the Great Lakes region for 2007 is aimed at alleviating the suffering of thousands in the region and improving emergency preparedness and response, a senior United Nations official in Nairobi said on Wednesday.

The $84-million appeal focuses on the provision of humanitarian aid including food security, health and nutrition, HIV/AIDS and gender violence, the head of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Regional Office for East and Central Africa, Besida Tonwe, said.

The funds will also be used for education, coordination and support services, emergency preparedness and response, and early recovery and transition, Tonwe said.

The largest portion of the appeal is $54.5 million required for food assistance for 2.5 million people, including refugees in Rwanda and Tanzania, while $13.8 million is required for protecting refugees and returnees.

The funds are expected to provide food aid to at least 584,000 returnees and refugees in the region, "which is emerging from deadly conflict", Tonwe said. [Full story on: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56727 ]

BURUNDI: Food crisis looms in the north, east-central

A food crisis is looming in the north and east-central Burundi, a consultant at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has said.

However, Methode Niyongendako said the severity of the food crisis in Ngozi, Kirundo, Kayanza, Muyinga, Karuzi and Cankuzo provinces would not be as bad as in 2005.

Adverse climatic conditions are to blame, with poor rains in September, the planting season for maize and beans, followed by heavy rains in November, which caused flooding in some areas, damaging crops in the wetlands. [Full story on: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56723 ]

KENYA: Red Cross appeals for $21.9m for flood-affected people

The Kenya Red Cross Society has appealed for $21.9 million to help 563,000 of those affected by the floods, amid fears that the heavy rains may continue until January.

Six weeks of heavy rains in various parts of Kenya have led to flooding that has killed 114 people and affected another 723,000 in the remote northeastern region, coastal districts and low-lying areas in the western parts of the country.

A week ago, the heavy rainfall spread to the western region, causing large-scale destruction in Budalangi, Busia district. About 12,500 households were displaced after Nyando River burst its banks. A few people are marooned or camped on top of dykes while the schools are under water. [Full story on: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56705 ]

DRC: Heavy rains render 3,600 Bumba residents homeless

Nearly 3,600 people are without shelter after heavy rains in Bumba, 520 km northeast of Mbandaka, the main town in Congo's Equateur Province.

"Some of the victims have sought shelter with close relatives in surrounding villages, but most are still in Bumba and living in canoes," Charles Longoso, the provincial health inspector, said from the village of Iyonda, 15 km west of Mbandaka.

Several homes, most made of non-durable material, have been swept away or submerged in water. One child has died, he said.

Equateur Governor Yves Mobando Yogo said rice fields had been ruined, and an emergency committee had been set up to organise the relief effort. The committee was comprised of the United Nations World Health Organization, the UN Children's Fund and the provincial medical office, he said, and was not expected to get help to the victims until Monday because of lack of transport. [Full story on: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56703 ]

TANZANIA: Zanzibar issues ultimatum over pollution

In a bid to control pollution of beaches and the Indian Ocean, authorities in Tanzania's semi-autonomous Island of Zanzibar issued an ultimatum on Monday to hotel owners and other investors to install sewage-treatment facilities on their premises or risk being barred from operating.

Environmentalists in Zanzibar have on several occasions alerted the government to the increasing pollution of the ocean, which they said poses a major threat to fish and people, especially children and tourists who swim in the water.

UGANDA: Northern situation improving, but IDPs still reluctant to go home

The security situation in northern Uganda has improved, allowing hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people to return to their villages, but many others are still apprehensive and see the camps as safer than home, the United Nations said.

At the launch on Tuesday of the 2007 Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP), where aid agencies are seeking $296 million to support humanitarian activities in the region, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Activities (OCHA), noted that up to a million people would remain in camps in 2007, waiting for confirmation that it was safe to return home. [Full story on: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56715 ]

CAR: Army recaptures last rebel-held town

The army has recaptured a town in the northeast of the Central African Republic, the last of several held by rebels since November, a spokesman for President François Bozize said on Monday.

"The town of Ouadda-Djalle was recaptured on Sunday without any fighting," Cyriaque Gonda, the spokesman, told IRIN.

The recapture of Ouadda-Djalle, in the northern prefecture of Vakaga, ends the occupation of areas in the northeast by a rebel coalition known as Union des forces démocratiques pour le rassemblement, which began operations on 30 October by capturing the town of Birao, the provincial capital of Vakaga. Ouadda-Djalle is 110 km south of Birao. [FULL story on: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56686 ]

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