U N I T E D   N A T I O N S 
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
Integrated Regional Information Network for the Horn of Africa

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Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN Weekly Round-up 7
14 - 20 October 2000



CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: New government formed
SOMALIA: Committee formed to investigate killing
SOMALIA: Hungriest country says UN
ETHIOPIA: Rift Valley fever impact
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: New mission for the displaced
SUDAN: Vice-president dismissed
SUDAN: Condemnation for renewed bombing
SUDAN: British government "must respond"

SOMALIA: New government formed

Somali Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galayr announced on Friday the formation
of his government. The cabinet consists of 25 ministers, drawn from
different clans and sub-clans, news agencies reported. Thirteen of the
ministers and Galayr were sworn in on Friday, in the presence of interim
President Abdulqasim Salad Hasan in Mogadishu. 

Uthman Jama Ali 'Kalun', from northwest Somalia, was appointed first
deputy prime minister, and Hasan Abshir, from northeastern Somalia, second
deputy prime minister. Abdullahi Baqor Musa 'King Kong' - also from the
northeast - was appointed defence minister. The foreign minister, Isma'il
Muhammad Hurreh 'Buba' had been appointed earlier, on Sunday, and was
sworn in on the same day. Also on Sunday, Idris Hasan Diriyeh, was
appointed government spokesman.

The administration in the self-declared state of Somaliland, northwest
Somalia, has declared its opposition to the new government, which was
elected in August in Djibouti-hosted peace talks. Other leaders who oppose
the new government include Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf in the self-declared
autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, Mogadishu faction
leaders and Colonel Muhammad Hasan Nur 'Shatigudud', the military head of
the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA), which operates in Bay-Bakool,
southern Somalia. 

SOMALIA: committee set up to investigate killing

A special committee has been set up by the interim government to
investigate the killing of General Yusuf Talan. Talan, recently appointed
to head a demobilisation commission, was shot dead in Mogadishu on
Wednesday.  Government sources told IRIN that the commission was set up
"to get to the bottom of this... but we don't want to rush to
conclusions". According to 'Xog-ogaal' a south Mogadishu newspaper, Talan
was buried on Thursday, at Ceel Cirfeed cemetery, in the presence of
interim President Abdiqasim Salad Hasan and members of the Transitional
National Assembly. Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galayr announced a six-day
mourning period, from Thursday. 

Meanwhile, 'Ayaamaha' a south Mogadishu daily, reported that
demonstrations had been held close to the Sahafi Hotel, where the general
was killed, to protest against the killing. Demonstrators demanded the
immediate arrest of the perpetrators. No one has so far claimed
responsibility, but the killers are said to be allied to faction leader
Uthman Ali Ato, diplomatic and political sources told IRIN. 

SOMALIA: Hungriest country says UN

The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO, rates Somalia the
hungriest country, along with Afghanistan and Haiti.  The FAO published a
"depth of hunger" measurement in its annual food security report, which
compared the average dietary intake of the undernourished in a country
with the minimum requirement needed to maintain body weight under light
activity. The FAO found that hungry Somalis were missing 27 percent of
their minimum requirement, compared to 26 percent in Afghanistan and 24
percent in Haiti.

Meanwhile, USAID's Famine Early Warning System (FEWS), in its monthly food
security update, raised concern over the livestock ban announced on 19
September this year. The ban was imposed by Saudi Arabia and later by all
the Gulf countries. The report says that if it was "a comprehensive ban
involving all livestock species and all Gulf markets, the implications for
the economy and food security are very grave". This was especially so for
the central and northern Somali regions, where the economy depended almost
entirely on livestock exports.

ETHIOPIA: Rift Valley Fever impact

A report produced by the UN Country Team in Ethiopia has said the Rift
Valley Fever (RVF) ban imposed by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states will
have far-reaching implications in the Ethiopian Somali National Regional
State.  According to the UN Emergency Unite in Ethiopia's (EUE} October
report, more than two-thirds of household incomes are based on livestock
production and trade. Somali "blackhead" sheep are in high demand by
consumers in both Saudi Arabia and Yemen. It said Somali State livestock
shipped through the ports of Berbera, in the self-declared state of
Somaliland (northwestern Somalia), and Bosaaso, in the self-declared
autonomous region of Puntland (northeastern Somalia) in 1997 was nearly
three million head, valued at US $120 million. During the period of the
Saudi RVF ban in 1998, livestock prices dropped by about 30 percent, while
consumer products increased by about 25 percent. See
for special report on ban).

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: New mission for the displaced

A UN-led inter-agency mission will visit Ethiopia and Eritrea to look into
the problems of internally displaced persons (IDPs), particularly in the
light of the recent fighting during the two-year border conflict. The
mission will be led by Dennis McNamara, the UN Special Coordinator on
Internal Displacement, and will include representatives from humanitarian
agencies and NGOs. In a press conference in Nairobi, McNamara said that
once the mission reached Ethiopia and Eritrea it would be joined by
representatives from WHO, UNICEF, FAO and Human Rights, as well as the Red
Cross. He said it was a new setup, which would create a network of all the
agencies concerned with internally displaced people. Although the problem
of IDPs was "enormous", no single UN organisation with a specific mandate
for IDPs existed at present, he explained, in spite of the fact that the
population of IDPs worldwide was probably double that of refugees, most of
the IDPs being in Africa. There were big displacements in Eritrea and
Ethiopia as a result of the war, and Sudan alone "has about four million
displaced people", he pointed out.

SUDAN: Vice-president dismissed

President Umar al-Bashir dismissed his second vice-president, George
Kongor Arop, on Sunday. A statement released by the government gave no
reason for the surprise decision, news agencies reported. George Kongor,
who is southern Sudanese, has been a close assistant to Bashir since he
was appointed to the post in 1992. The day before his dismissal, Kongor
had been on an inspection tour of Khartoum teaching hospital, after which
he was summoned by Bashir, who informed him of the decision, press reports
said.  The Sudanese constitution provides that the country's second
vice-president be a southerner. 

SUDAN: Condemnation for renewed bombing

Sudanese government planes bombed two civilian targets in Ikotos and
Parajok in eastern Equatoria, southern Sudan, on 15 October. The US
Committee for Refugees said in a press release on Monday that the bombings
"appear to indicate that Sudanese officials are prepared to intensify
their bombing campaign against civilians and international humanitarian
aid workers in southern Sudan now that their bid for a Security Council
seat has been defeated". It said there had been four bombings of civilian
or humanitarian sites this week, following "a three-week bombing lull that
preceded the 10 October vote by the UN General Assembly to select new
members to the Security Council". Sudan was defeated in the final vote,
with the US leading a campaign against its bid on the basis of its human
rights record and alleged involvement in terrorism. 

The US Committee for Refugees called on the US government, the UN Security
Council and the UN General Assembly to officially condemn each aerial
bombing in southern Sudan. "Occasional criticisms of the bombings voiced
by foreign policy makers are insufficent," it said. 

SUDAN: British government "must respond" 

Little attention has been paid to the development needs of the people of
southern Sudan, where chronic conflict has "systematically destroyed the
social fabric of institutions sustaining food security, education and
health care". In a joint statement, Christian Aid and Oxfam said despite
humanitarian efforts in the war-affected south, underdevelopment had
become institutionalised. "Southern Sudan now represents one of the most
glaring examples of development failure in the whole of sub-Saharan
Africa", the statement said. It criticised British government policy for
"reducing development assistance while war continued", saying it had done
little to further the pursuit of peace.

British non-governmental organisations working in southern Sudan called on
the British government to step up efforts to secure a negotiated
settlement to the conflict, sustain the provision of humanitarian
assistance and respond urgently "to the development disaster in the
Sudan". 

Nairobi, 20 October
 
 
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