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 Central and Eastern Africa

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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 36
5 - 11 May 2001


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Tension in Las Anod over referendum
SOMALIA: Cholera team investigating cases in the south
SOMALIA: New passports controversy
SOMALIA: SRRC slams reconciliation committee
SOMALIA-KENYA: Refugees ordered to leave Mandera
SUDAN: Agencies warn of food emergency
SUDAN: Red Cross pilot killed in attack on aircraft
SUDAN: Government, rebels blame each other for attack on aircraft
SUDAN: Sixty reported dead after tribal clashes
SUDAN: Row over UN rights commission
ETHIOPIA: Serious concern over nutritional decline
ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian academics arrested over riots
ETHIOPIA: Students return peacefully to class
ERITREA: Massive displacement requires new attention
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Government denies restricting peacekeepers
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Concern over militia numbers in buffer zone


SOMALIA: Tension in Las Anod over referendum

Militia from the Dulbahante clan in Las Anod (8.13N 48.16E) have clashed
over the issues relating to the planned referendum by the self-declared
state of Somaliland, northwestern Somalia. Local media reported that
Dulbahante militia had attacked a checkpoint in the western part of Las
Anod, which is on the border of Somaliland, neighbouring the self-declared
autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia.

Sources close to the Somaliland administration said that tensions had been
rising over the last three days, with some 300 Dulbahante militia moving
from the Puntland side into Las Anod. Rival Dulbahante militia clashed
when those from Puntland tried to take over the western checkpoint, the
source told IRIN. A three-hour battle resulted in at least two injuries,
but much of the fighting was "posturing", the source said. According to
Somaliland sources, tensions have heightened over a referendum planned at
the end of May, which includes a vote on the independent status of
Somaliland. Some Dulbahante clan representatives have refused to accept
ballot boxes in the town. "Clan leaders will have to decide on this
issue", the source said. The pro-Somaliland newspaper 'Mandeeq' said on 10
May that a soldier from the Somaliland national army had been wounded in
the attack, along with two of the attacking militia. No soldiers had been
mobilised by the Somaliland administration, the source confirmed; 
Somaliland soldiers are stationed at most checkpoints. 

Sources close to the Puntland administration confirmed that Puntland
militia were moved this week into all areas near the affected border to
stop the arrival of ballot boxes. The Dulbahante are a minority clan
within the boundaries defined by the Somaliland administration, and some
Dulbahante representatives have expressed opposition to the self-declared
status of the territory, the source said. Somali political sources told
IRIN that the affected area is geographically in what was British
Somaliland, which constitutes the Somaliland borders; but that the
Dulbahante clan, along with the Warsangeli and the Majerten, form the
Harti sub-clan of the Darod, which the Puntland area is based on. 

SOMALIA: Cholera team investigating cases in the south

A joint UNICEF, World Health Organisation (WHO) and COSVI (Italian NGO) 
team is investigating cases of suspected cholera recently reported in
southern Somalia, from Qoryoley District in Lower Shabelle Region,
humanitarian sources have told IRIN. In March, a cholera outbreak was
reported in the coastal town of Marka, along with several other outbreaks
in southern Somalia since the start of the year. UNICEF Somalia said the
cumulative figure up until mid-April for cases in these outbreaks was 881,
with 71 deaths confirmed - a case fatality rate of 8.1 percent.

As of 2 May, no positive confirmation of cholera in two cases from two
separate villages was made by the team, UNICEF said. Medical supplies and
chlorine have been pre-positioned in Qoryoley, and the team is
investigating another case in Gobale village, Lower Shabelle. Humanitarian
sources told IRIN that recent reports of cholera in Wanle Weyne, Lower
Shabelle, had been "exaggerated", and confused with other diarrhoeal
diseases. With the onset of the rainy season, a rise of diarrhoeal
diseases was expected, said the source, but not cholera. Cholera is
endemic in Somalia and, although appearing with different outbreaks every
year, is typically associated with the dry season from December through to
May, according to a UNICEF fact sheet. Regarding cholera and other
diarrhoeal diseases in Somalia, it says Somalia's infant mortality and
under-five mortality rates "remain among the highest in the world". 
Diarrhoeal disease, acute respiratory infections, tuberculosis and malaria
are still the leading causes of death for infants and young children in
Somalia, accounting for more than half of all child deaths. 

SOMALIA: New passports controversy

The Transitional National Government of Somalia (TNG) would soon issue new
passports, a senior government official confirmed to IRIN. He said there
would be three categories of passports, respectively for government
officials, diplomats, and ordinary citizens, to replace the old Somali
passport. The new passports are being printed in France, and will aim to
counter the widespread forgery of Somali passports since the collapse of
the former regime in 1991. Old and new passports would be used
"concurrently for one year", while the old ones were phased out, the
source said. 

The Mogadishu-based TNG said it did not recognise passports issued this
year by the self-declared independent state of Somaliland, northwestern
Somalia, but said people in all regions had "equal rights to get the new
passport". Somaliland officials told IRIN that the Somaliland passports
had been accepted when administration officials travelled this year in
Ethiopia and Italy.

The Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), a group of
southern faction leaders opposed to the TNG, said it was opposed to the
planned issuing of the new passports by the TNG. A senior SRRC official
told IRIN that the move was "an arbitrary and illegal decision". 

Abdullahi Shaykh Isma'il, one of the five co-chairmen of the SRRC, told
IRIN that the issuing of passports was an action "sovereign in nature and
a state prerogative". The self-declared autonomous region of Puntland,
northeastern Somalia, also criticised the issuance of new passports, AFP
reported. The Puntland administration called it "a crime against the
people of Somalia" and said people in the region would continue to use the
old passports, according to AFP.

SOMALIA: SRRC slams reconciliation committee

The SRRC has criticised a reconciliation committee recently formed by the
TNG, saying it was an attempt to undermine the SRRC. Abdullahi Shaykh
Isma'il, one of the five co-chairmen of the SRRC, said the reconciliation
committee was "an arbitrary and desperate action" by the TNG. The office
of the prime minister of the TNG announced on 6 May the appointment of a
25-member peace and reconciliation committee, which would send
representatives to all regions in Somalia.

Abdullahi Shaykh said it was an attempt by the TNG to deceive the
international community into believing it was "serious" about
reconciliation. He said Somalia's problems could only be addressed by a
"truly representative reconciliation conference" of all concerned parties.

SOMALIA-KENYA: Refugees ordered to leave Mandera

Kenyan authorities have ordered some 10,000 Somali refugees who have been
living in the Kenyan northeastern border town of Mandera to leave the
area, the BBC reported on Wednesday. Local officials told the refugees
that they had a week to either go back home or move to existing refugee
camps in Kenya, the BBC said. Local officials said the presence of so many
people in Mandera had placed a burden in the town's infrastructure.

Humanitarian sources said the refugees had fled into Kenya a month ago
after fighting broke out in the border town of Bulo Hawa, southwestern
Somalia, among rival factions of the Marehan clan. Many were staying with
friends and relatives in the Kenyan town, or had set up temporary
shelters; others were "commuting" to and from Bulo Hawa in the hope that
security would improve. At least four people have been killed by land
mines near Bulo Hawa since the fighting erupted, said the source. 

SUDAN: Agencies warn of food emergency

Severe drought across many parts of Sudan continued to affect several
million people, many of whom are at acute risk of severe food insecurity
over the coming months, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies (IFRC) reported on Thursday. The WFP has warned that as
many as three million people face disaster (600,000 as a result of drought
and 2.4 million because of the civil war) unless food assistance reaches
them. Low and sporadic rainfall had severely affected agricultural
production and depleted water resources; in addition, stagnation in the
livestock trade had reduced access to this traditional source of extra
income, further eroding the coping capacities of the affected communities,
according to the IFRC. Low immunisation coverage and the usual health
risks related to a scarcity of safe drinking water threatened to increase
the incidence of death and illness through preventable diseases, the IFRC
stated. Access to safe water, emergency food and medical care had been
identified as the most critical interventions required, it added. 

Meanwhile, a localised nutritional assessment by the international NGO
Medair in Northern Darfur State indicated that an average of 11.4 percent
of children were moderately or severely malnourished. This was below the
20 percent threshold that would have indicated a really serious situation,
but it was still worrying given that there were still six months before
the next harvest can be expected, the agency reported. A lack of food and
water had already caused many people to migrate to the state capital,
Al-Fashir, where a nutritional survey indicating that 26 percent of
migrant children were malnourished was "of great concern," Medair added. 

SUDAN: Red Cross pilot killed in attack on aircraft

The Danish co-pilot of an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 
aircraft was killed when it came under attack between Lokichoggio,
northwestern Kenya, and Juba in Western Equatoria, southern Sudan, early
on Wednesday morning. The staff transport shuttle flight between
Lokichoggio and the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, was halfway between
Lokichoggio (the Kenyan base for most relief operations in southern Sudan) 
and a stage stop at Juba when the attack occurred, ICRC spokesman Michael
Kleiner told IRIN on Wednesday. The aircraft had just climbed back to its
assigned altitude after a technical problem forced it to descend briefly
to 6,500 feet (2,000 metres) when it came under attack, the ICRC stated in
a press release. The pilot heard what sounded like "explosions", after
which the co-pilot, Ole-Friis Eriksen (26), died instantly. The pilot, who
was not injured, turned back to Lokichoggio and landed safely at 0850
local time, some 50 minutes after takeoff, according to Kleiner. 

There were no passengers on the flight, for which prior notice had been
given and authorisation had been received from all the parties on the
ground, Kleiner said. There were two "impact marks" near the co-pilot's
seat and another on the right wing, but it was "much too early" to comment
on what exactly had hit the plane and how the incident had come about, he
added. The ICRC had decided to suspend all its flights to southern Sudan,
the agency stated on Wednesday afternoon.

SUDAN: Government, rebels blame each other for attack on aircraft

The Sudanese government and the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation
Movement/Army (SPLM/A) have each accused the other of responsibility for
Wednesday's the attack on the Red Cross aircraft. 

The government categorically denied that its forces had fired on the
aircraft, Muhammad Dirdiery, Deputy Head of Mission at the Sudanese
Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, told IRIN on Thursday. He said the aircraft had
come under fire while it was flying over rebel-held areas, and an SPLM/A
statement accusing government forces of responsibility was "totally
baseless" since there were no government forces in the area.  The Sudanese
government called on the international community to "condemn this barbaric
act perpetrated by the SPLA", he added.

SPLM spokesman Samson Kwaje said that his movement had no forces in the
area of the attack, which he placed in the Loronyo (4.39N 32.38E) area of
Torit County (Eastern Equatoria), and said that the government and allied
militias controlled the towns of Kapoeta, Torit and Juba, as well as the
countryside around them. The SPLM/A "therefore puts the blame squarely on
the government of Sudan and its allied militias", which comprised the
so-called Equatoria Defence Forces (EDF), the (Ugandan rebel) Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA) and various Kapoeta-based groupings under Peter
Lorot, Chief Lokipapa and Paul Langa, Kwaje added. 

SUDAN: Sixty reported dead after tribal clashes

At least 60 people were killed on 6 May in clashes between people of the
(black African) Zaghawah tribe and an Arab tribe in the area of Bi'r
Tawil, in Darfur in western Sudan, the Khartoum daily newspaper 'Al Ayyam'
reported on Wednesday. The clashes erupted when a group from one tribe
killed a man from the other and stole his camel; the second tribe then
sought revenge, according to the report, which did not specify which tribe
instigated the conflict. Fifty-six Zaghawah men and four members of a
joint military and police force who contained the fighting were killed in
the clashes, the paper said. 

SUDAN: Row over UN rights commission

The US State Department on Wednesday voiced opposition to plans in the US
Congress to withhold American dues to the UN because the US was last week
ousted from its membership of the UN Human Rights Commission in a secret
ballot, which saw Sudan and other "human rights abusers" elected. The
non-election of the US was galling enough to US congressmen, but the
election of Sudan - which is on the US list of states sponsoring
terrorism, and was recently described by US President George W. Bush as "a
disaster for all human rights" - had reinforced a deep disillusionment in
the US Congress about the UN, the Associated Press agency (AP) reported on
Wednesday.

The Human Rights Commission election, by 54 UN member states on the UN
Economic and Social Council, follows a series of public disagreements
between Sudan and the new US administration, which has come under strong
pressure domestically to take a harder line against Khartoum on human
rights - and particularly religious rights. News organisations reported
Bush's "human rights disaster" comments and an allegation that Khartoum
was using humanitarian aid for southern Sudan for its own interests, and
not to relieve suffering; these were strongly denounced by Sudanese
presidential adviser for the South, Makki Ali Balayil. He also denounced
the US appointment of a special humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, saying
that it appeared from Bush's comments that "the new envoy will proceed
from a hostile attitude, and from ideas and convictions which have been
formed beforehand and which are not related to reality", AFP quoted
Balayil as saying.

The latest session of the UN Human Rights Commission, which concluded on
Monday, expressed "concern at violations in areas under control of the
government, including restrictions on freedom of religion, expression,
association and peaceful assembly, arbitrary arrest and detention without
trial, and cases of torture". It also called on Khartoum "to cease
immediately all indiscriminate aerial bombardments of the civilian
population", and for the rebel SPLA "to abstain from using civilian
premises for military purposes". It urged all parties to the conflict to
respect and protect human rights; to put in place an effective and
monitored ceasefire; to resume peace talks immediately; and to stop the
use of weapons against the civilian population. 

ETHIOPIA: Serious concern over nutritional decline

A recent nutrition survey in parts of the Somali State, southeastern
Ethiopia, has demonstrated a worsening of food security conditions,
humanitarian sources say. A nutrition survey by Medicins Sans Frontieres
(MSF) Belgium in Denan, Gode Zone, showed that the nutritional status
among children under five years of age was declining. Other areas which
have caused concern are Segeg and Dihun of Fik Zone, where the seasonal
rains have not yet arrived. Populations recovering from the drought crisis
last year were "extremely vulnerable", humanitarian sources told IRIN. 
While substantial rains have recently fallen in the Somali region, and
pasture availability still remains sufficient in most parts of the region,
supplementary food rations have had to be recently distributed in some
areas. "There is reason for serious concern about a persistently deficient
humanitarian condition in much of the Somali region," humanitarian sources
said.

Following a major international-led humanitarian intervention last year
after a long regional drought, general food rations in the Somali region
had been "severely cut back" over recent months, humanitarian sources
said. Gode was the epicentre of the crisis. However, recovering
populations have remained vulnerable. As a result, there had been
persistent complaints from local administrators in various parts of the
Somali region over decreased rations, the World Food Programme (WFP) 
Emergency Report said this month. According to the report, the Ethiopian
Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC) early warning
department mission is investigating the situation of the drought-displaced
in Fafen, Jijiga Zone and near the established refugee camps in Hartishek,
Kebri Beyah and Harshin. Preliminary results have resulted in the local
Mother and Child Development Organisation (MCDO) reopening its
supplementary feeding centre.

ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian academics arrested over riots

Police on Tuesday morning arrested two prominent Ethiopian academics in
connection with last month's riots in the capital, Addis Ababa.  Professor
Mesfin Woldemariam, former head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, and
Dr Berhanu Nega, an economist, were detained on charges of inciting Addis
Ababa University students into stirring up chaos in the capital, the
pro-Ethiopian government Walta Information Centre web site said. The
Federal Police Investigation Coordination Division said in a statement
that the two were arrested after evidence had been collected indicating
that they had been "engaged in acts of inciting student unrest". 

The BBC said the two prominent academics were considered controversial
characters by virtue of their outspokenness. They have been detained at
the Makalawi State Prison, and are expected to appear in court after the
police have completed their investigations. 

ETHIOPIA: Students return peacefully to class

Students at Addis Ababa University have returned to class, the official
Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) said on Tuesday. Students re-entered the
university on Monday, and a spokesman from the office of the academic dean
of the university said that teaching was now "peacefully under way in the
main campus", ENA said.

The Ethiopian Council of People's Representatives (the lower house of
parliament) had instructed its social and legal affairs standing committee
to investigate students' claims against the Ethiopian security forces, and
to report its findings in one week's time. The council had urged students
at the university to continue attending classes while their complaints
were being dealt with. Addis Ababa university was temporarily closed when
clashes between students and police on 17 April led to violent riots. 

ERITREA: Massive displacement requires new attention

Drought and war have contributed to the many needs of internally displaced
people (IDPs) in Eritrea, with people losing their homes, livestock and
belongings as they fled in panic during the conflict with Ethiopia. Up to
one million people in Eritrea suffered "massive displacement" last year,
the international Action by Churches Together (ACT) network said. ACT said
it had revised a previous appeal issued in June 2000, which had mainly
focused on providing relief assistance. It called for a total of US
$5,161,555 for assistance to war- and drought-afflicted populations,
including for food and non-food items, mine-clearance programmes, and for
the rehabilitation of the water sector. The appeal included the activities
proposed by ACT members DanChurch Aid, for a mine action programme; Dutch
Interchurch Aid for relief food distribution; and Norwegian Church Aid for
shelter construction.

The appeal pointed out that two of the front lines of the conflict were
situated within the two most populated regions of Eritrea. Gash Barka
Region to the west, and Debub Region in the south were also "the most
fertile and productive zones of the country and together produce 70-75
percent of the country's agricultural output". It said the two Eritrean
regions hosted 48 percent of the population. The appeal also pointed out
that although some refugees from Sudan and Eritrean IDPs had started
moving back to their traditional homes at the end of last year, major
population movements were expected to start now because of increased
security and expectations for a lasting peace. Land-mine clearance
programmes were essential for these returning populations. According to
the most recent figures from the Eritrean Information Coordination Centre
(ICC Update, February) about 250,000 IDPs were still in camps in Eritrea,
the appeal said.

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Government denies restricting peacekeepers

Eritrea has rejected claims by the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea
(UNMEE) that restrictions have been imposed on the mission's freedom of
movement in and around the disputed border. The Eritrean Commission for
Coordination with the UN Peacekeeping Mission said in a statement on
Wednesday that "UNMEE has no restriction on any supply and access routes
throughout the country where it has been granted all the necessary bases,
camps and facilities". 

Eritrea denied there had been an incident on the Mendefera-Tserona road,
in which an UNMEE logistics convoy was reported to have been forced to
turn back by Eritrean Defence Force (EDF) personnel. No UNMEE vehicle had
tried to use the Mendefera-Tserona road on 3 May, and no such incident had
occurred on that road, the statement said. According to Eritrea, UNMEE had
never used that road to access the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ).

The Eritrean government denied the incident, but said there had been
several occasions where UNMEE units had moved into military zones in parts
of the country "very distant" from the TSZ without notification, and
refused to stop at checkpoints. "In all these cases, not a single warning
shot has been fired," a government statement said.

In accordance with the Algiers Peace Agreement, UNMEE is granted complete
freedom of movement in and around the 25 km-wide TSZ. In a briefing to the
UN Security Council on Tuesday, the head of UNMEE, Legwaila Joseph
Legwaila said that freedom of movement for UN peacekeepers within the TSZ
was currently "the most serious problem" in the peace process. 

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Concern over militia numbers in buffer zone

UNMEE is seeking to establish the exact number of Eritrean militia to be
stationed in the TSZ. The deputy spokeswoman for UNMEE, Angela Walker,
told IRIN that "diplomatic efforts were being made to try and obtain the
numbers from the Eritrean authorities". UNMEE has repeatedly requested
from the Eritrean authorities details on the size and composition of their
militia and police in the TSZ. A signed protocol agreement allows for
Eritrean civil administration to be restored in the TSZ, but does not
specify numbers of armed police and militia. Ethiopia had issued a
statement which said the Protocol Agreement signed between Eritrea and
United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) violated the spirit
of the Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities of 18 June. Ethiopia also
objected to the fact that the Protocol Agreement allowed for weapons to be
used by militia inside the TSZ, diplomatic sources told IRIN.

Temedhin Temariam, Counsellor at the Eritrean Embassy, Nairobi, denied
that Eritrea had regular troops under the guise of militia in the TSZ. He
told IRIN that it was up to UNMEE, in its peace-keeping and observer role,
to speak up about violations and "declare whether of not there are regular
Eritrean troops remaining in the TSZ". Temedhin said Eritrea was adhering
to the protocol agreement it had signed with UNMEE.

Alongside concerns over restrictions on freedom of movement for UNMEE in
and around the TSZ, the issue of Eritrean militia in the TSZ remains at
present one of the major concerns for the peacekeeping mission, she said.  
Other issues of concern included the definition of the boundaries of the
TSZ, with several villages on the southern boundary initially placed in
the TSZ remaining under Ethiopian control, diplomatic sources said. There
was also disagreement with Ethiopia concerning the Eastern Sector, with
the unilateral return by Ethiopia to earlier positions two kilometres
inside the established TSZ on the Bure-Assab road, the source said.

 
Nairobi, 11 May 2001


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