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

Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 20
13 - 19 January 2001


CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Concern over peace agreement
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: US impressed by "commitment"
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Eritrea gives go-ahead to UN radio
ETHIOPIA: Somalia's accusations "saddening"
ETHIOPIA-KENYA: Kenyans arrested by Ethiopia
ETHIOPIA-SUDAN: Refugee status removed
SUDAN: Thousands flee Nuba mountains
SUDAN: "Gross violations" persist in Sudan
SUDAN: Church leader sends protest
SUDAN: Security "key" to aid
SOMALIA: New government now accepted
SOMALIA: Islamic court attacked
SOMALIA: Anti-Ethiopian demonstrations in Mogadishu



ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Concern over peace agreement

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has expressed concern over the delay in
establishing a security zone in the former conflict region between
Ethiopia and Eritrea. The UN Department of Public Information (DPI) cited
a document released at UN headquarters on Tuesday, in which the
Secretary-General said the 12 December Algiers peace agreement underlined
the commitment of both countries to consolidate the peace process.
According to the report, Annan, however, voiced concern over the lack of
progress in setting up the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) between the two
states because of disagreements over redeployment plans. Annan asked
Ambassador Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, to work with both sides to help
resolve the matter. 

The Secretary-General also outlined other matters which need to be
resolved in relation to the deployment of UNMEE, such as the signing of
the status-of-forces agreement. He pointed to the continued presence of
mines and unexploded ordnance as the "pre-eminent threat" to the UN troops
and population around the conflict zone. He urged the international
community to contribute to the mine clearance work. According to DPI, the
Secretary-General's report also pledged UN financial support - subject to
availability of resources - to the work of the boundary commission set up
in the Algiers accord to demarcate the border between the two countries.

Under the peace agreement, Ethiopia is to pull back to positions it held
before the conflict, and Eritrea is to withdraw to 25 km from Ethiopian
positions. But disagreement has continued over which country was
administering which area before the war broke out. 

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: US impressed by "commitment" 

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice has said in
a press conference in Washington that she is impressed by the continuing
statements of commitment to the peace deal expressed by both countries.
She made the remarks after a three-day trip to the Horn of Africa.
However, there would be "bumps in the road", she acknowledged, in
reference to concern about continued disagreements between the two
parties.

There are concerns about the continuing differences between the Ethiopia
and Eritrea over the disputed boundary as the US seeks to lift an arms
embargo imposed by the UN on Ethiopia and Eritrea. Diplomatic sources in
Washington told Reuters that the US planned to seek another vote on the
resolution before the end of this week. On Wednesday, Washington called
off a vote at the last minute after failing to line up broad support in
the 15-nation council, where many members believed the action to be
premature, Reuters said. Without council action, the embargo will expire
in May.

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Eritrea gives go-ahead to UN radio

The UN mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has successfully launched
its first radio programme, broadcast over Eritrean airwaves at 01:30 p.m. 
local time (11:30 GMT) on Tuesday. Eritrea has given UNMEE the go-ahead to
broadcast in English, Tigrignya and Arabic, but there has been no
permission yet to broadcast in Ethiopia. UNMEE said in a statement it was
"ready to broadcast a parallel programme on Radio Ethiopia, but awaits
final word from the Minister of Foreign Affairs concerning UNMEE's radio
access".

Radio UNMEE will feature news of the latest developments from the
peacekeeping mission and important markers in the unfolding peace process
such as the POW exchange, said an UNMEE statement sent to IRIN on
Wednesday. It said Radio UNMEE would also focus on humanitarian issues
such as the situation of internally displaced people, and keep listeners
informed about the ongoing mine awareness and demining programmes.

The first programme was introduced by the Special Representative of the UN
Secretary-General, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, chief of UNMEE. 

ETHIOPIA: Somalia's accusations "saddening" 

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin has expressed the Ethiopian
government's concern over complaints made recently by Somalia's
Transitional National Government (TNG), accusing Ethiopia of interfering
in the internal affairs of Somalia. The official Walta Information Centre
said on 12 January, that Seyoum termed complaints by Somali Prime Minister
Ali Khalif Galayr "both saddening and a source of concern for Ethiopia".
Seyoum made the remarks in a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan and to the President of the Security Council. Seyoum said in
the letter that "the people within the TNG should be the first to know how
much Ethiopia has done to help the people of Somalia achieve national
reconciliation and establish a broad-based government".  He said the TNG
had shown little interest in bringing on board Somalis who were not party
to the TNG. The accusations could have been intended to "drive a wedge"
between Ethiopia and sections of the international community, said the
report. 

The Somali prime minister accused Ethiopia of interference in the internal
affairs of Somalia on Djibouti radio and television on 9 January, and
again at a press conference last week in New York.
 
ETHIOPIA-KENYA: Kenyans arrested by Ethiopia

Three Kenyans allegedly abducted by Ethiopians on Sunday have been
arrested by Ethiopian authorities. Kenyan North Eastern provincial police
boss Samuel Kilemi said the three men were safe and had been arrested by
the Ethiopian authorities for possessing "offensive publications", Kenyan
state radio said on Thursday. Kilemi said the Mandera District security
committee, North Eastern Province, is currently holding discussions on the
best way of securing the release of the three, said the report, monitored
by the BBC. 

Kenyan residents in the border area around Moyale demonstrated this week
against raids by Ethiopian militia, in which 10 people were killed, and
demanded official action. A meeting held on Wednesday between Kenyan
Minister of Foreign Affairs Boyana Godana and Ethiopian Embassy officials
agreed to investigate and resolve the border problems, the Kenyan press
said on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, spokesman for the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) Lencho Bati told
IRIN by telephone that the organisation had sent a letter to the Kenyan
government this week in response to events on the Kenyan-Ethiopian border.
He said the letter condemned the actions of the Ethiopian government
against Kenyan citizens, and said the OLF had "a good working
relationship" with the Kenyan government. He said the Ethiopian government
"can only speak on behalf of its own government, not Kenya"  when it
labelled the organisation "terrorists". Bati said he "categorically
denied" that the OLF had any military bases in Kenya, but said the Oromos
lived on both sides of the border and were closely related to ethnic
groups living in Kenya: "You cannot stop these two people meeting each
other." Ethiopian officials told IRIN that both Ethiopia and Kenya
regarded the OLF as "terrorists". 

ETHIOPIA-SUDAN: Refugee status removed

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has resumed
repatriation of some 13,000 Ethiopian refugees in Sudan. In a press
briefing in Geneva on Tuesday, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said the
refugees had volunteered to go home after blanket refugee status for
Ethiopians who fled their country under the former regime of Mengistu
Hailemariam was lifted. He said UNHCR believed "conditions that drove the
refugees out of Ethiopia have changed significantly" since the collapse of
the regime in 1991. 

On Tuesday, the sixth convoy, carrying 900 Ethiopian refugees, left Tendba
and Umm Gulja refugee camps, eastern Sudan, for Ethiopia. The returnees
have been promised arable land, as well as reintegration packages, which
include nine-month food rations, basic household supplies and a cash
reintegration grant, Janowski said.

Tens of thousands of refugees have returned to Ethiopia with UNHCR
assistance since the collapse of Mengistu regime. These included 72,000
from Sudan and 80,000 from Kenya. There are still 12,000 Ethiopian
refugees in Sudan. Since mid-December, UNHCR said it had assisted 2,400
refugees to return home, in an operation that is expected to be completed
before the end of January. This will pave the way for the closure of the
camps which hosted the refugees for nearly a decade, the UNHCR spokesman
said. 

SUDAN: Thousands flee Nuba mountains

Thousands of people have fled rebel-held areas in Sudan's Nuba mountains
and sought sanctuary in government-controlled territory, a Sudanese
government official said on Wednesday. State-run Sudanese television on
Tuesday night showed thousands of civilians, mostly women, naked children
and elderly people, in the Nuba mountains town of Kaduqli, about 900 km
southwest of the capital Khartoum, Associated Press (AP) said. The
television report said about 30,000 such people had fled to Kaduqli and
its surrounding areas after the army defeated a rebel force in the Nuba
mountain area. Muhammad Harun Kafi, a former member of the Sudan People's
Liberation Army (SPLA), told AP that more people were expected to follow
after the government victory: "These people have been under check by the
rebel movement, not allowing them to move outside and... and not provided
with any services." Kafi is now a minister of state in the Khartoum
government.

A statement by the SPLA received by IRIN on Thursday denied that
government forces had scored recent victories, including in the Nuba
mountains. It said the government had started a dry-season offensive
before the end of December when civilian targets were bombed at Kawdah and
neighbouring villages: "The few ground attacks that were staged by the GOS
[Government of Sudan] army and the Popular Defence Force [PDF] have been
repulsed with heavy casualties," the statement said. The SPLA said "claims
by GOS that its forces have "liberated" 30,000 Nuba civilians from rebels
are... ludicrous".

Humanitarian sources told IRIN that humanitarian access to Nuba mountains
"has always been a problem" and that any assistance would have to be
requested by the government, separate from the established UN Operation
Lifeline Sudan (OLS) agreement. 

SUDAN: "Gross violations" persist in Sudan

Both the government of Sudan and rebels groups have violated human rights
in the civil war, says the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) in its World
Report 2001. The government has "stepped up its brutal expulsion of
southern villagers from the oil production areas and trumpeted its resolve
to use the oil income for more weapons", said the report. Under the
leadership of President Umar al-Bashir, the government had intensified its
bombing of civilian targets, denied relief food to needy civilians, and
abused children's rights, particularly through military and logistical
support for the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), said HRW. The
Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), the principal armed
movement based in the south, had "continued to loot food (including relief
provisions) from the population, sometimes with civilian casualties,
recruit child soldiers, and commit rape". Gross human rights violations in
Sudan came from the fact that "on both sides, impunity is the rule". The
government's human rights record was a factor in the UN General Assembly
vote in October that denied a Security Council seat to Sudan, said the
report. It said efforts to end the war had stalled on the issues of the
relation of religion to the state and self-determination. (For full HRW
2001 report on Sudan see )


SUDAN: Church leader sends protest

The British Archbishop of Canterbury has protested to the government about
the destruction of the Episcopal Church Cathedral in Lui, western
Equatoria, southern Sudan. In a letter to the Sudanese ambassador in
London, he said the bombing of the church "highlights the continued
targeting of undoubted civilian centres by the government of Sudan". It
said Lui was a renowned centre of religious life, education and health
care, and "has never been a military centre, except during the period
1995-97 when it was a base for government troops". "When such a centre is
consistently targeted it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the
intention is to harm and terrorise the civilian population," said the
letter, dated 16 January. It requested that the letter be forwarded to
President Umar al-Bashir, and that he "clearly state that the armed forces
will not target civilian centres of population, but only legitimate
military targets, and then to abide transparently by this commitment".

SUDAN: Security "key" to aid

The European Commission (EC) has approved euro 15 million (US $14.1
million) to maintain delivery of humanitarian assistance to Sudan. A
statement posted on Monday by the EC Humanitarian Office (ECHO) said the
assistance would aim to reduce morality rates among the most vulnerable
sections of the population and to promote increased self-reliance in the
war-affected society. It said that the country was entering its 18th year
of civil war. "Administrative structures have all but collapsed in the
south and there are large numbers of internally displaced people (IDPs) in
both government- and rebel-held areas." The aid would be directed through
ECHO and would focus on health, water/sanitation, food security, non-food
relief and logistical support both in government-controlled and rebel-held
areas. According to the statement, "the security situation in Sudan
remains highly volatile, jeopardising the safety of relief workers". The
ability to obtain access to affected populations and security
considerations would be key to the success of future proposed
interventions, ECHO said. 

SOMALIA: New government now accepted

In a press briefing in New York, the Secretary-General's representative
for Somalia, David Stephen, said the international community had accepted
there was now a government in Somalia. He told journalists that it was "no
longer a case of armed factions and the need for mediation. It is a case
of a destroyed state and a traumatised society, which has stopped using
violence and warlords to settle disputes, and now wishes to move in a new
direction."  But he said the TNG should now be supported in its efforts
"to reach out to those leaders whose support it does not have, in order to
complete the process". On the issue of demobilisation, he said that
although the presence of some 20,000 militia "sounds terrifying", the
majority were working for private sector companies or for Islamic courts,
which were sectors supporting the TNG. The problem was "not armed elements
facing each other down... Rather the challenge now is youths with guns who
had no training and only a doubtful future." Rehabilitation,
demobilisation and reintegration must be high on the agenda, said the
Secretary-General's representative.

Stephen pointed out that other problems in the country were lack of
infrastructure, administration and government buildings. He said a lack of
land writs meant there was need for a system to determine to whom land
belonged.  He also drew attention to environmental damage, including the
dumping of toxic waste. Stephen said the UN was working in peaceful parts
of Somalia, including Somaliland, but had no presence yet in Mogadishu
because of security concerns. 

SOMALIA: Islamic court attacked

Gunmen attacked one of Mogadishu's Islamic courts on Sunday night and
released 48 prisoners, including five convicted murders. More than 50
gunmen attacked the court, located in south Mogadishu, near the city's
main stadium, freeing the prisoners and looting the court premises, AP
said. The attackers used three jeeps mounted with guns to carry out the
attack.  Business sources told IRIN that the attackers were angry because
they were not being paid. "They were former members of the court militia
who were not added to the list of those being encamped and paid by the
interim government," a Mogadishu resident told IRIN. No-one was hurt in
the incident, said the source. It is the first time the courts have been
attacked, sources in Mogadishu said. The Islamic courts have employed
their own militia, and have their own prisons, which are often just steel
shipping containers with a few holes pierced in them to enable prisoners
to breathe, AP said.

Meanwhile, sources in the president's office told IRIN that President
Abdiqassim Salad Hassan had appointed Shaykh Adan Muhammad Ibrahim, a law
professor, as the head of the new civilian supreme court on Sunday. 

SOMALIA: Anti-Ethiopian demonstrations in Mogadishu

Thousands of Somalis demonstrated on Sunday against what they called
Ethiopian interference in Somalia, news organisations reported. The
demonstration was organised by civil society groups, the BBC reported, and
held at Mogadishu's main stadium. Some members of the TNG were present but
did not speak at the rally, the BBC said. The demonstrators chanted
anti-Ethiopian slogans and burned the Ethiopian flag, Reuters reported. 
"We ask the Ethiopian government to withdraw its troops from Somalia's
soil and stop its supply of weapons and ammunition to factions in
Somalia," Abshir Nur Farah, a businessman was quoted as saying by AP.

Meanwhile, the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA), which controls the Bay and
Bakool regions (southern Somalia), organised a demonstration on Sunday in
Baidoa to protest against the proposed UN peace building mission in
Somalia, reported AP. The RRA is opposed to the TNG in Mogadishu. 

Nairobi, 19 January 2001


[IRIN-HOA: Tel: +254 2 622147 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: 
irin-hoa@ocha.unon.org ]


[This item is delivered in the "africa-english" service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or Web:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2000
 

distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Volunteers in Technical Assistance
Disaster Information Center             lists: www.vita.org/listsub.htm
                                                     sitreps    nat-dsr
      web: www.vita.org                              fireline
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Horn of Africa  -   http://www.vita.org/humanitarian/hafrica