NAIROBI, 27 April 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS:

EAST AFRICA: Region unveils tougher measures to fight malaria DRC: Civilians fleeing fighting in east forced into makeshift camps DRC-UGANDA: Army, UN to monitor rebel move to assembly point UGANDA: Restarting talks would reassure displaced - local leaders UGANDA: Broaden peace process, ICG urges delegates CONGO: Parties to encourage elections in volatile Pool region

See also:

CENTRAL AFRICA: Indigenous communities fight discrimination at: [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71750]

KENYA: Emmanuel Barasa, 17, 'My education has been affected' at:

[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71843]

EAST AFRICA: Region unveils tougher measures to fight malaria

East African countries on Wednesday marked Africa Malaria Day by announcing a review of control strategies, ranging from the use of more effective drugs to indoor spraying with DDT.

According to United Nations estimates, between 350 million and 500 million people are infected with malaria each year, of whom one million die. Malaria accounts for one death every 30 seconds in Africa alone and strains already overburdened health systems.

Africa Malaria Day was established by African heads of state at the Abuja summit on 25 April 2000 to intensify the fight against malaria. This year's slogan is 'Free Africa from Malaria NOW'. [Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71804]

DRC: Civilians fleeing fighting in east forced into makeshift camps

Civilians fleeing fighting between Congolese government troops and rebel militias in North Kivu Province have been forced to shelter in makeshift camps 100km from Goma town, aid workers said. Thousands of others are living in the bush, hiding during the day and going to their fields at night.

Humanitarian sources said thousands of people had been displaced since clashes between the two groups started in January, including more than 64,000 who fled their homes in North Kivu alone over recent weeks.

"The deployment of the mixed brigades and repeated clashes between the army and armed groups have caused the displacement of more than 100,000 people in this area," said Andrew Zadel, spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Goma.

The latest fighting flared up on Tuesday as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) troops launched an offensive against Rwandan rebels hiding in the east of the vast country. [Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71795]

DRC-UGANDA: Army, UN to monitor rebel move to assembly point

The Democratic Republic of Congo army and the United Nations will verify that Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have assembled near the DRC-Sudan border, at Ri-Kwangba.

A week ago, the Ugandan government and the LRA renewed a ceasefire agreement that expired in February. They also agreed to resume peace talks on 26 April to end a brutal, two-decade insurgency that has wrecked the northern region.

"The FARDC [DRC army], with support from MONUC [the UN mission in DRC], will verify the movement of the LRA to the designated area of Ri-Kwangba," stated a communiqué signed after a meeting in the Ugandan capital of Kampala on Saturday. [Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71747]

UGANDA: Restarting talks would reassure displaced - local leaders

The resumption of talks between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) could boost hopes that most internally displaced people in northern Uganda can safely return home, local leaders said on Wednesday.

More than a million people displaced by the war continue to live in camps where they mainly depend on relief agencies. Hundreds of thousands of others have, however, returned to their villages, after a lull in fighting in the past few months.

The talks, which aim to end more than two decades of civil war in northern Uganda, resumed on Thursday in the southern Sudanese capital of Juba.

According to Odama, uncertainty had reigned in northern Uganda since the talks hit a stalemate in December, after the rebels walked out, saying they had lost confidence in the mediators. They also demanded a new venue and a mediation team before they would return to the table.

Ayena Odongo, a lawyer based in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, and one of the LRA delegation, said: "Our concerns were addressed during the meeting with President Joaquim Chissano and we hope [the talks] will be smooth this time," he added. [Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71796]

UGANDA: Broaden peace process, ICG urges delegates

The resumption of talks between the government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) may end one of Africa's most brutal conflicts and lead to economic empowerment, but it is too early to write off the rebels, a global think-tank warned.

The process should also lead to the economic empowerment of affected populations to redress Uganda's north-south divide and break the cycle of conflict, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said.

The talks resumed in Juba, southern Sudan, after a meeting between the rebels, mediators and Ugandan officials near the border between Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The meeting also extended an earlier cessation of hostilities agreement to June, giving the rebels six weeks to assemble at Ri-Kwangba.

The ICG, however, said in a report that the resumption of the process as previously constituted would be a recipe for failure. "It is hamstrung by major weaknesses in representation, structure and substance," the report, issued on Thursday, said. "And the Juba negotiations are the wrong forum for tackling the underlying economic, political, and social problems of northern Uganda."

Titled: 'Northern Uganda: Seizing the Opportunity for Peace', the report said the process should proceed along two tracks - one in Juba concentrating on ending the military conflict and providing a roadmap for handling broader grievances, including accountability for serious crimes.

The second track is one to which the Ugandan government and donors should commit at Juba but then pursue subsequently in a broader, more inclusive forum in Uganda. [Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71846]

CONGO: Parties to encourage elections in volatile Pool region

President Dennis Sassou Nguesso's Parti Congolais du Travail and former Prime Minister Bernars Kolélas's Mouvement Congolais pour la Démocratie et le Développement Intégral (MCDDI), signed on Tuesday an agreement that paves the way for peaceful legislative elections in the war-devastated Pool region.

Years of conflict have turned the area into one of the most isolated, despite the fact that Brazzaville, the capital, falls within its administrative area. According to aid workers, only one doctor exists for every 30,000 inhabitants - six times fewer than in the rest of the country.

Only 8 percent of the Pool's population, which was estimated at 362,358 in 2005, has access to clean water. Malnutrition is high among children and the rate of school attendance is about 30 percent.

According to aid workers, violence in the region is exacerbated by the flow of arms. A study by the Swiss NGO, Small Arms Survey, published at the beginning of 2006, showed that between 37,000 and 40,000 weapons of all calibres continue to circulate in the country. [Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71798]

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