Central & Eastern Africa: IRIN-Central & Eastern Africa Weekly Round-up 394 for 4 - 10 August 2007
Source: IRIN
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NAIROBI, 10 August 2007 (IRIN) -
CONTENTS: DRC: Starving detainees escape South Kivu prison
DRC: UNHCR set to recommence work in Moba - UN official TANZANIA: Cholera outbreak in northern region, says government official
KENYA: Displaced numbers grow as more flee attacks in volatile district
UGANDA: Marburg contracted from skinned monkey, says
official
UGANDA: 'No more Marburg cases' – health minister See Also: UGANDA: Displaced families in two minds over return home
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73654 CONGO:
Grappling with malnutrition and post-conflict woes
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73653 DRC: Starving detainees escape South Kivu prison More than 100 inmates escaped from the
rundown central prison in Uvira, an area on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in South Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, after a demonstration over conditions, area administrator Eoloko Nsala
said. "The detainees said they were starving. They staged an angry protest before threatening the prison chief," said Nsala. He said the state could not afford to feed and take care of
detainees: "The prison's food supplies had dried up. Even the donations by Caritas [a Catholic non-governmental organisation] had been suspended, leaving the prisoners without anything to
eat."
Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73594 DRC: UNHCR set to recommence work in Moba - UN official The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it will resume operations in
Moba, in Katanga Province, southern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – a week after a demonstration rocked the town and led to the evacuation of UN staff. "We had stopped the refugee
repatriation movement following the problems in Moba, now we can continue," Love Mtesa, the chairman of the executive committee of UNHCR said on 9 August in the capital Kinshasa, at the end of a
weeklong visit to the country. Mtesa, who is Zambia's ambassador to the UN, said repatriation efforts would continue and the Congolese authorities "have said they are ready to receive
them".
Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73667 TANZANIA: Cholera outbreak in northern region, says government official Ten people have died and 20 others were
admitted to various health centres after an outbreak of cholera in the northern Tanzanian region of Mara over the past week, a senior health official said. "The disease was confirmed on
Thursday. Medical supplies and teams of doctors and nurses were immediately dispatched to Bunda district, where the disease was first reported on Tuesday," Valentino Bhangi, medical officer in
charge of Mara region told IRIN by phone from Musoma on 4 August.
Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73595 KENYA: Displaced farmers pay for police escorts Ongoing clashes
that have displaced more than 100,000 people in Mt Elgon District near the Kenya-Uganda border have disrupted farming and trading activities, sources said. "Those who had planted potatoes on
their farms need to pay police escorts to go to their farms and to go to the market to sell the produce," Sokwony Laikong, a teacher in the affected areas, said. Former resident Geoffrey
Ngeywa, who is now living in the neighbouring Marakwet district, said: "Life is very hard; people have fled their homes due to the tension. There are also a lot of burglaries and destruction of
property."
Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73546 UGANDA: Marburg contracted from skinned monkey, says official The Marburg virus outbreak in western Uganda that was
confirmed on 30 July could have been contracted from a Colobus monkey, which was caught and skinned by two people, health officials said. "We have so far gone 14 days since the first case and
if 21 days elapse without any other case, then the outbreak would have passed," Sam Okware, commissioner for health services, said. Okware added: "[The first victim] killed a Colobus
monkey and skinned it with the help of the second person who also fell sick. We strongly suspect that this how he got infected.
Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73593 UGANDA: 'No more Marburg cases' – health minister The outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus in Uganda's western Kamwenge District has been contained, but the country will maintain active
surveillance for several more weeks, authorities said. "Today is 25 days since the last contact with the case of the last Marburg patient, who was buried on 14 July 2007 in Luwero District,"
said Health Minister Steven Malinga. "This is more than the maximum incubation period of 21 days for the Marburg virus infection. There have been no more Marburg cases in the country over that
period." He added: "Theoretically, the transmission chain has been broken, the transmission has been stopped and the outbreak contained. However, we have decided, as a precautionary measure, to
maintain active surveillance, case management, infections control and social mobilisation activities for an additional 21 days."
Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73652 © IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org
