U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 60
20 - 26 October 2001


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: PM warns security council
SOMALIA: UN/NGOs issue famine warnings
SOMALIA: MP's debating no-confidence vote
SUDAN: Annan calls for unrestricted access
SUDAN: UN envoy on humanitarian mission
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: UN calls for collection of bodies
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: UN day marked by celebrations
ERITREA: Students still being held in work camps
ERITREA: UNHCR resumes repatriation
DJIBOUTI: Relations with Somaliland on the mend

SOMALIA: PM warns Security Council

Addressing the UN Security Council on 19 October, the prime minister of
Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG), warned that unless his
fledgling administration received more international support Somalia could
disintegrate further and become a haven for international terrorism. Ali
Khalif Galayr said more money was needed to build a properly functioning
state in Somalia, adding that the consequences would be dire if his plea
went unheeded. "In the worst-case scenario, Somalia will degenerate again
into lawlessness and a lack of central authority," he said. "This will be
a place for terrorists, for people who are trafficking in drugs, people
who are involved in the arms trade."

Galayr assured the Council that the TNG was already doing everything it
could to combat terrorism, primarily through the establishment earlier
this month of a terrorism task force. He said the government had enlisted
the support of religious leaders in the fight against terrorism, and was
engaged in dialogue with the owners of the "hawalah" cash-transfer
agencies, which have been accused in the past of acting as conduits for
the transfer of funds to terrorist groups. The prime minister also
welcomed a recent report on Somalia issued by UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan, but expressed deep regret that it had not recommended the
establishment of a peace-building mission.

The report had concluded that Mogadishu, the Somali capital, was still too
insecure to establish a high-level inter-agency UN presence there.
However, Galayr challenged this assumption, and called for a UN mission to
be sent to Somalia with a mandate to examine the work of the UN Somalia
Security office based in Nairobi, which had recommended to Annan to rule
Mogadishu as remaining unsafe. Galayr said failure to establish such a
mission would send the wrong message to the international community,
donors and warlords, and would further contribute to the vicious cycle of
insecurity.

SOMALIA: UN/NGOs issue famine warnings

The United Nations and NGOs working in Somalia warned this week of a
worsening food crisis in Somalia which has put hundreds of thousands of
Somali's at risk of famine. UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima
said emergency relief was urgently needed to assist an estimated 300,000
people at risk of immediate starvation in Somalia, and called on donors to
"provide the resources needed to forestall a serious humanitarian crisis".
A further 450,000 people are also increasingly vulnerable. In a press
statement issued on Monday, the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs said food stocks were depleted and that 40,000 mt of
food was urgently needed to avert a new disaster in Somalia.

The statement also said that non-food items such as water and medical
supplies were desperately needed to secure the wellbeing of tens of
thousands of children at growing risk of malnutrition and disease. The
food shortages have arisen largely as the result of the failure of the Gu
(spring) and Deyr (autumn) rains, and have worsened since the 11 September
attacks in the US, which led to a reduction in crucial financial
remittances from Somalis overseas which traditionally help Somalis at home
to overcome difficult times.

In Gedo Region meanwhile, the French NGO Action contre la faim (ACF) told
IRIN on Thursday that, "the situation is extremely bad. Right now the
best-case scenario is that with good rains and harvests we might see some
improvement by December or January. Until then, the situation can only get
worse," an ACF spokesman told IRIN. After three years of consecutive
drought, which has occasioned a drop in cereal production to less than a
third of what had been forecast, and the consequent scarcity of pasture,
coupled with an attendant decimation of livestock numbers, populations
have been forced to leave their villages and are now crowded into camps
near the town of Luuq.

ACF told IRIN that they had seen a massive increase in arrivals at ACF
feeding centres in the last few weeks, and had recently opened a second
therapeutic feeding centre in Luuq in addition to two supplementary
feeding centres. As many as 4,500 malnourished people are being cared for
at the feeding centres. Stressing that existing aid would not prevent
famine in southwestern Somalia, ACF called for the mobilisation of the
international community to bring rapid assistance to these populations.
"On top of the failure of the rains, the problems facing people here are
compounded by the closure of the border with Kenya, the devaluation of the
Somali shilling and continued insecurity in the area," the ACF spokesman
said. Local authorities in Luuq are said to be so worried about the
collapse of the Somali currency that they are considering the adoption of
the Kenyan shilling as an alternative.

SOMALIA: MPs debating no confidence vote

Members of the Transitional National Assembly (TNA), who have been
debating a motion of no confidence in the Transitional National Government
(TNG), are likely to vote on the motion by Saturday or Sunday, or "at the
earliest next week", because over 60 MPs have asked for time on the floor
to contribute to the debate, a Somali local journalist told IRIN on
Friday. The motion was tabled last week by MPs who accused the government
of Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galayr of lapses such as corruption and
failure to promote national reconciliation, one MP, Prof Abdirahman Adan
Ibrahim Ibbi, said. TNA members were given two days to study a report
prepared by a parliamentary committee charged with investigating the
conduct of the TNG, said Ibbi. "Once that is done, parliament will
reconvene on Saturday to decide on the fate of the government, he said. It
was likely that the matter would come to a head by Sunday, said Ibbi.

According to Ibbi, the government's most significant failure has been its
"inability or unwillingness to promote the reconciliation process". A
25-member peace and reconciliation committee was formed in May, with
former Prime Minister Abdirazzaq Haji Husayn as its chairman. Abdirazzaq
resigned on 25 July, accusing Galayr of failing to support the committee's
work. The motion also accuses the government of failing to establish
regional administrations. "For one year this government has failed to
constitute a single regional administration," Ibbi charged.

Galayr and his government are also accused of corruption. A prime example
cited in this context is that the government reportedly handed out about
1,600 mobile phones to various individuals, something which cost the
treasury over US $700,000 in calls alone. "This money could have been used
to build a clinic or a school; instead, people used it for personal
purposes," Ibbi told IRIN. He said the parliamentary oversight committee
had produced a document detailing cases of government corruption. Debate
on the motion was still in progress, but the matter would probably put to
a vote "no later than this weekend", Ibbi said on Tuesday. MPs opposed to
the motion were accusing the Speaker of plotting to topple the government
by allowing it to go ahead, the BBC reported on 22 October. They were
maintaining that the motion was part of a power struggle between the
president, Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, and Galayr.

SUDAN: Annan calls for "unrestricted access"

UN secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday released a report on the
current state of humanitarian assistance to Sudan, in which he stressed
the need for warring parties to allow humanitarian agencies "unrestricted
access" to vulnerable people in order to save lives. In addition to the
effects of prolonged drought and occasional flooding in various parts of
the country (Darfur and Kordofan, Red Sea Hills, Bahr al-Ghazal and
Eastern Equatoria), military activities had displaced tens of thousands of
civilians in the Nuba (Nubah) Mountains and in Western Bahr al-Ghazal
State in recent months, according to the report.

Humanitarian access, safety and protection of civilians, adequate
resources and guaranteed security for humanitarian workers remained the
core conditions for the UN-coordinated aid programme, Operation Lifeline
Sudan, it said. Sudan remained "one of the most dangerous operating
environments for relief workers", the report added.

With widespread internal displacement and disruption of livelihoods,
mostly as a result of war and drought, "malnutrition among the very young
and the elderly remains a source of constant concern", Annan reported to
the General Assembly. Food insecurity, fragile coping mechanisms and poor
health had become the norm for several million Sudanese, and beneficiary
communities continued to rely heavily on emergency food and non-food
assistance for their survival, he said. Short of a peace settlement, the
parties to the conflict must work at reinstating and implementing
humanitarian cease-fires, he added.

SUDAN: UN envoy on humanitarian mission

Ambassador Tom Vraalsen, the UN Special Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs in
Sudan, is on a mission to the country from 23 to 27 October, to seek
agreement from the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A)
on establishing "days of tranquillity" for polio eradication and other
humanitarian purposes, among other issues. In addition, Vraalsen was
expected to contact government officials on continuing humanitarian
concerns, but also on recent military attacks on civilians gathered in
Mangayath, Bahr al-Ghazal State, to receive food assistance from the UN's
World Food Programme (WFP), humanitarian sources told IRIN. The WFP
distributed some 170 mt of food just after the first attack on Mangayath
on 5 October, which should have been enough for 20 days (for about 20,000
beneficiaries, including Mangayath residents and displaced people), and is
aiming to explore the delivery of more food when it can get access to the
area, an official told IRIN on Friday.

Relief officials have said that up to 5,000 people have fled from Raga,
which government forces recently retook from the SPLA after five months,
towards Mangayath, bombed by government planes during a food distribution
in early October, and Sopo. The Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation
Association (SRRA), which is the humanitarian branch of the SPLM/SPLA, is
understood to be encouraging people to move to Daym Zubayr.

Meanwhile, thousands of displaced people who fled Raga to Ed Daein
(Al-Duwaym) in southern Darfur during fighting in late May/early June,
when the SPLA seized control of the town, have expressed interest in
returning when the situation calms down, but are reluctant to return at
the moment given the continuing instability, aid workers told IRIN this
week.

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: UN calls for collection of bodies

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has called on
Ethiopia and Eritrea to collect the bodies of hundreds of dead soldiers
left lying along the former front lines of their two-year border war.
Addressing journalists from both countries via a video-link news
conference from Asmara, Jean Victor Nkolo, the UNMEE spokesman, said on 19
October that the remains of at least 300 soldiers remained scattered on
former battlefields within the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) that now
separates the two countries. Nkolo said the rotting corpses, which had
been lying there for at least a year, posed a serious health threat to UN
peacekeepers operating in the TSZ, and were hampering demining operations.
Nkolo called on both sides to take action to remove and bury their dead.
"These are the remains of human beings who had families, who had countries
and who were people," he said. "They should be given all the respect that
they deserve." Both sides deny that the corpses are those of their own
soldiers, and maintain that they have removed and buried all their dead.

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: UN Day marked by celebrations

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) on Wednesday
held a symbolic celebration on the Mereb River bridge, attended by
diplomats, journalists and religious leaders, to mark United Nations Day.
Although the governments of the two neighbouring countries declined to
send any official representatives, the ceremony was designed to foster a
spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation between Ethiopia and Eritrea,
which have been ostensibly at peace since signing a peace agreement in
December last year. More than 4,000 UN peacekeeping troops are based along
their common border as part of an ongoing effort to normalise relations
between the former allies.

Speaking from the bridge, which links the Ethiopian village of Rama with
the Eritrean town of Adi Kwala, the UNMEE special representative, Legwaila
Joseph Legwaila, said that 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". He called on both parties to "stay the course
of peace. We need their continued cooperation." Legwaila said UNMEE had
made significant progress since the war ended, including the separation of
the two armies, the return of displaced people to their villages and the
resumption of agriculture on former battlefields.

ERITREA: Students still being held in work camps

Five Asmara University students were still being held in a work camp, AFP,
citing diplomatic sources, reported on Thursday. The five are Daniel
Asmelash, Filmon Bedali, Sebhat Berhe, Kibroh Asmerom, and Bereket Ogbe,
who are all members of the student union disbanded in August, said AFP.
Last month Asmara University President Woldeab Isak said that all the
university's students, estimated at 2,700, had returned from their summer
work camp. More than 2,000 Asmara University students were arrested in
August for refusing to report for the work programme until their student
union president, Semere Kesete, arrested on 31 July, was released.

Semere was arrested three days after making a speech critical of the
government at a graduation ceremony, said AFP. The five students now under
arrest are being held for questioning on possible links with the
government critics arrested in September. They were being detained in a
work camp in Galaalo in Eritrea's eastern lowland desert region, AFP said.
Since the student leader's arrest, at least 25 prominent individuals have
been arrested, followed by the suspension of the private press and the
arrests of eight journalists. The government had defended its clampdown on
dissent as a necessary measure to protect national security, said AFP.

ERITREA: UNHCR resumes repatriations

The voluntary repatriation of more than 160,000 Eritrean refugees, many of
whom have been in exile since the 1960s, from Sudan was to resume toward
the end of the week, a UNHCR spokesman said on 19 October. A 20-truck
convoy carrying more than 200 refugees, was expected to leave on 20
October, said UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond. The returnees from the Shagarab
camp, southwest of Kassala on Sudan's eastern border with Eritrea, would
be transported to a transit centre in the western Eritrean town of
Teseney, where they would be registered and provided with basic
mine-awareness information, before being transported to their destination
of choice, said Redmond. The repatriation exercise, which started in May,
was suspended in July after heavy rains cut some of the roads to camps in
eastern Sudan, said the spokesman. He said that by the time the exercise
was suspended the UN agency had assisted about 21,000 refugees to return
home.

According to the spokesman, so far roughly 15,000 refugees have signed up
to be repatriated, including 1,900 in the Port Sudan area, where there are
an estimated 4,000, who will be transported by sea. UNHCR expected to aid
another 40,000 refugees before the end of the year to reach a target of
62,000 voluntary returns for the year, said Redmond. To assist the
long-term returnees, who had no place to call home, "local authorities
will give families up to two hectares of arable land to aid their
reintegration", he said. Every family will also receive a cash grant, as
well as a two-month food package, household supplies and agricultural
implements. Redmond said the repatriation and reintegration exercise was
planned to continue until December next year.

DJIBOUTI: Relations with Somaliland on the mend

Improved relations between Djibouti and the self-declared independent
state of Somaliland, northwestern Somalia, would depend on the extent to
which Somaliland implemented bilateral agreements reached, a senior
Djibouti official told IRIN on Tuesday. The provisions of the agreements
include ending hostile propaganda, according to Somaliland radio in
Hargeysa. Earlier this month, a Somaliland delegation led by its foreign
minister visited Djibouti in a move towards improving relations. The
official said the reopening of the common border - closed by the Djibouti
government in April - was on the cards, "but will depend on how they
behave".

Relations between the two sides soured following Djibouti's hosting of
last year's Somali peace talks, which led to the establishment of the
Transitional National Government (TNG). The Somaliland administration
boycotted the talks, accusing Djibouti of interfering in Somalia's
internal affairs. The official, however, told IRIN that Djibouti "will
continue to support the TNG and Somali unity in general, and will not
compromise on this". The people on both sides of the border were one and
the same, and would eventually solve their differences, he stressed.


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