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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 54
8 - 14 September


CONTENTS:

HORN OF AFRICA: Leaders express shock at attacks on US
SOMALIA: Dozens killed in Mogadishu explosion
SOMALIA: New UN representative presents credentials
SOMALIA: FSAU warns of fragile situation
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Extension of UNMEE mandate recommended
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Annan urges reversal of evictions
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Disagreement on map causes "concern"
ETHIOPIA: Civilian guards to replace police at university
ETHIOPIA: Meles re-elected TPLF chairman
DJIBOUTI: Representatives attend regional meeting on crime


HORN OF AFRICA: Leaders express shock at attacks on US

Leaders in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia expressed shock at
Tuesday's attacks in the USA, when terrorists used hijacked planes to
destroy the New York World Trade Centre and hit part of the Pentagon in
Washington DC. Individual leaders condemned the attack and loss of life in
messages of condolence to US President George W. Bush. The messages made
available to IRIN on Wednesday included that of the Somali interim
president, Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, who said that he deplored the "cowardly
terrorist action" which had led to "the tragic deaths of innocent American
citizens". In a message to the US president, Djibouti President Ismael
Omar Guelleh said he was "profoundly shocked and deeply distressed by the
series of terrorist attacks against the USA", which resulted in massive
loss of life and huge material damage.

SOMALIA: "Scores" killed in Mogadishu explosion

The explosion of an antiaircraft missile in north Mogadishu on Tuesday
morning killed "scores" of people and injured many more, local sources
told IRIN. The explosion occurred at an old air defence force base, about
a kilometre from Mogadishu's main livestock market, said Awil Hashi, a
Mogadishu resident. The explosion was reportedly caused by a man who was
trying to open an old surface-to-air missile near his makeshift home to
extract explosives from it, said Awil.

"The explosion occurred at around 0930 local time and affected an area of
about 1,000 square metres," Awil said. Squatters had settled in the former
base, which is scattered with pieces of unexploded ordnance, he added. So
far seven families living in the immediate vicinity of the blast were
missing, including seven members of the family of the man who reportedly
caused the explosion. "As of 1130 this morning, 20 bodies have been
recovered from the site." Most of the injured are being taken to Shifo
private hospital, in Huriwa District, in north Mogadishu, local sources
said. Humanitarian sources told IRIN that given the nature of the blast
and flimsy housing of the squatters, the death toll is expected to rise.

Meanwhile, the president of the Transitional National Government (TNG)
visited the site of the disaster, the TNG director of information,
Abdirahman Dinari, told IRIN. Abdiqassim Salad Hassan described the scene
as catastrophic, and instructed the police to establish how the incident
happened.  Abdiqassim also instructed the military to find ways and means
of removing the remaining explosive materials at the former base.

SOMALIA: New UN representative presents credentials

Somalia's new permanent representative to United Nations, Ambassador Ahmad
Abdi Hashi Hasharo, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan on Wednesday, a senior official of the TNG confirmed to IRIN.
Abdirahman Dinari, the TNG director of information, told IRIN on Thursday
that it was "the first time in 10 years that Somalia has had a permanent
representative at the UN".

Hasharo, who is a lawyer by profession, served in senior positions in the
administration of former President Muhammad Siyad Barre, where he was an
ambassador and a permanent secretary of the higher education and justice
ministries, a former colleague told IRIN. He comes from Sool Region, which
is part of the self-declared independent state of Somaliland, in
northwestern Somalia. In his early sixties, Hasharo "is a highly
intelligent and sober individual", Ahmad Abdisalam, a former colleague,
said. Hasharo has since 1992 lived in Toronto, Canada, where he was
involved in immigrant and refugee rights issues, Abdisalam said.

SOMALIA: FSAU warns of fragile situation

There will be a food gap of close to 22,000 mt in southern Somalia over
the next 12 months. In its monthly food security report, the European
Union-funded and FAO-implemented Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU)
estimates that according to data collected during the August harvest, more
than 400,000 people will be affected by the shortfall. The report also
warned that if security deteriorated then the food gap was likely to
widen.

In the Bay and Bakol regions, in southern Somalia, where coping mechanisms
are already stretched, FSAU predicts that any further constraints on
people's ability to cope could result in up to 50 percent of the
population suffering a 40 percent food deficit over the next year. "This
is equivalent to the very poor in the region having no food for five
continuous months," said the report. While no widespread emergency
conditions are expected in northern Somali territories, FSAU warns that
food security for the poor in many food economy groups will become
borderline.

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Extension of UNMEE mandate recommended

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended to the Security Council
that the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea
(UNMEE) be extended for another six months until 15 March 2002. Making his
recommendation in a report submitted on 5 September, he said that despite
the fact that the bitterness and tragedy of the conflict still existed,
the "people of the two countries clearly yearn to rebuild their lives in
peace, and to renew the ties they had enjoyed before the war broke out".

The UN would continue to assist both parties in engaging in
"confidence-building activities" to build trust, the report said. But it
warned that some political developments in both countries had "given rise
to anxieties that they could impact on the peace process". The report said
the progress achieved in the past year was a tribute to both governments'
commitment to peace, and to "the common vision and action of the member
states involved". Appreciation was expressed to the UN special
representative and to all military and civilian personnel of UNMEE, as
well as to the support UNMEE had received from the OAU and member states.

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Annan urges rethink on evictions

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appealed to both Ethiopia and Eritrea
to reconsider their respective positions on the eviction of each other's
nationals. Making his appeal in a report submitted to the Security Council
on 5 September, he said the evictions had occasioned great suffering and
emotional distress, and urged both parties to comply with international
human rights conventions. Annan expressed particular concern over the
circumstances in which 704 persons of Eritrean descent were sent from
Ethiopia to Eritrea on 25 June 2001 without the assistance of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The secretary-general's report said the ICRC later withdrew from the
repatriation process when it became clear that "the manner in which these
repatriations were carried out was not in accordance with international
humanitarian law". When UNMEE protested against the way in which the
repatriations were being carried out, the Ethiopian government responded
by saying that the people had been repatriated to Eritrea of their own
free will.

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Disagreement on map causes "concern"

Disagreement on the part of Ethiopia and Eritrea over the parameters of
the final map of the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) remains a source of
concern, the UN secretary-general said in his report to the Security
Council on 5 September. The report said Ethiopia considered the map
unacceptable, because in its view an eight kilometre-wide pocket at the
eastern end of the eastern sector should be returned to Ethiopia, and that
the zone should be uniformly 25 km wide, which is not the case in the
central sector, north of the Irob area.

Eritrea has rejected the map on the basis of its being a departure from
the proposals originally presented to the parties on 30 January 2001, and
says the map cannot be fully established until Eritrean concerns over the
southern boundary have been addressed. However, both countries had
continued to show "respect" for the TSZ by basing their operations on it,
the report noted. Eritrea had nevertheless manifested its objections to
the TSZ in its refusal to cooperate on other issues with UNMEE, the report
said.

ETHIOPIA: Civilian guards to replace police at university

Civilians will soon replace police as guards at Addis Ababa University.
The police had been deployed following widespread student disturbances
there in April, according to the pro-Ethiopian government Walta
Information Centre. Mekonen Abraha, the head of the university's manpower
and general services department, told the Ethiopian News Agency that 272
trainees attending a two-month training programme would graduate and be
deployed to duty stations by 16 September. The Ethiopian federal
prosecutor has, meanwhile, filed charges against individuals involved in
the April disturbances, accusing them of incitement to riot, looting and
destruction of property. He said the trials of the accused would begin on
9 October.

ETHIOPIA: Meles re-elected TPLF chairman

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was re-elected chairman of the Tigray People's
Liberation Front (TPLF) on Monday, as the TPLF and the three other
coalition partners of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front concluded congress meetings. Seyoum Mesfin, the
long-serving foreign minister, was re-elected deputy chairman, the
pro-government Walta Information Centre reported on Monday. The Amhara
National Democratic Movement, the South Ethiopia People's Democratic Front
and the TPLF ended their congress meetings on Monday, while the Oromo
People's Democratic Organisation wound up a day earlier.

The TPLF meeting in Mekele was the first such meeting since the TPLF was
hit by internal divisions in March, when Meles narrowly survived a walkout
from a dissident faction within the TPLF central committee. The German
press agency, dpa, on Tuesday quoted Meles as telling congress delegates
that he was confident the congress had achieved a "peaceful and democratic
settlement of ideological differences in the Front".

DJIBOUTI: Representatives attend regional meeting on crime

Police representatives from Djibouti, along with other Horn of Africa
states, have attended a regional meeting in Rwanda on the rise of
organised crime across national borders. Nine African countries, including
Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia, agreed to mount joint police operations to
combat the problem, AP said on 7 September. Ministers and police
representatives from the countries also agreed to provide police units
with specialised training on combating crimes involving information
technology, conference representatives told AP. The east and central
African region was witnessing a rise in drug trafficking, motor-vehicle
theft and economic crimes committed with the help of information
technology, the Rwandan police chief said on 7 September.

Nairobi, 14 September 2001

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


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