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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 64
17 - 23 November 2001


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Former Puntland leader seizes Garowe
SOMALIA: No sanctuary for terrorists - UN envoy
SUDAN: Khartoum claims new victory in Bahr al-Ghazal
SUDAN: Focus on US efforts to be "a catalyst for peace"
SUDAN: US pressure group urges tough line on Khartoum
ETHIOPIA: Italy, Australia announce debt relief
ERITREA: Two million land mines and UXO
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: "No military build-up" in security zone - UN


SOMALIA: Former Puntland leader seizes Garowe

Fighting broke out in Garowe, the regional capital of the self-declared
autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, on Wednesday. Forces
loyal to the region's former president, Col Abdullahi Yusuf, leading a
force of 300 militia with 17 "technicals" (pick-ups mounted with heavy
weapons), attacked at 8am local time (5am GMT) and were "reported to be in
control of the town", according to Muhammad Sa'id Kashawito of the
Bosaso-based Radio Midnimo. The newly elected president of Puntland, Jama
Ali Jama, had reportedly retreated to Qardo, 280 km north of Garowe, said
Kashawito. The fighting was concentrated on the residence of President
Jama Ali Jama, and the Puntland bank area. At least 11 people, including
one woman, are reported to have died in the fighting, with scores of
wounded.

By Friday, families were fleeing their homes in Garowe because of reports
of more militia approaching the town, and the fear of renewed fighting,
Kashawito told IRIN. "People are talking of a convoy of 60 vehicles moving
toward Garowe," he said. A source in Garowe told IRIN the town was almost
empty and that people were "taking their children and families out to
safer places". The source said most businesses were closed but that
telecommunications links, which had been cut on Wednesday, were back on
Friday. The forces of Jama Ali Jama and others opposed to Abdullahi Yusuf
were reportedly mobilising, and there was "a real fear of a major
confrontation inside Garowe" within a day or two, the source told IRIN.
The source said Abdullahi's forces were in control of the town, but he
himself was reported to be in Ligle village, seven kilometres south of
Garowe.

UN agencies have condemned the fighting and called for the protection of
civilians as well as continuing humanitarian access, a press release from
the office of the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator stated on
Thursday. It said a pattern of peace was gradually emerging in Somalia,
and that the recent outbreak of violence was a setback. "UN plans to bring
international staff back to parts of the region this week after a three
month suspension have been put on hold again, because of the fighting in
the region." UN agencies and members of the relief umbrella Somalia Aid
Coordination Body were very concerned about any actions that could worsen
the already fragile humanitarian conditions of Somalia, the statement
said. It called "for all parties to the current conflicts in Somalia to
exercise maximum restraint."

SOMALIA: No sanctuary for terrorists - UN envoy

Somalia's permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Ahmad Abdi Hashi
Hasharo, told the UN General Assembly in New York that Somalia would not
offer sanctuary to any terrorist coming to its shores. "We will arrest and
hand them over immediately," he promised. Hasharo condemned the 11
September attacks, which, he said, had "shocked the conscience of all
decent human beings", and had been launched by people who had nothing in
common with the Islamic faith, because Islam stood for peace, tolerance
and compassion. He said Somalis could relate to the pain and suffering of
the people of the US "in a very profound and special way", pointing out
that the Somali people had themselves been subjected to a reign of terror
by warlords.

The ambassador condemned what he described as persistent reports alleging
the existence of terrorist camps in Somalia. He said Somalia neither
hosted terrorists, nor offered them training facilities. The Somali
government would invite in the media and any other interested parties to
verify the facts on the ground, he added. In view of the Somali
government's serious concern in this context, Hasharo said, it proposed
"the setting up of an international committee of inquiry under the
auspices of the UN Security Council to investigate these allegations".

Hasharo assured the Assembly that the Somali government fully supported UN
resolution 1373, and was firmly committed to translating its provisions
into action. He said terrorists exploited fragile and unstable states, and
that the international community was "under a moral obligation to come to
the aid of these states in the form of post-conflict peace-building and
national reconstruction". The international community had two options in
Somalia, Hasharo said: "to watch the country slide back into anarchy and
chaos, or to fully support the struggling Somali state by providing the
necessary resources to enable it play a meaningful role in the fight
against terrorism".

SUDAN: Khartoum claims new victory in Bahr al-Ghazal

The Sudanese government on Sunday claimed to have recaptured the town of
Deim Zubeir (Daym Zubayr), Western Bahr al-Ghazal, after over five months
of its occupation by the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army
(SPLM/A). "The recapture of Deim Zubeir is part of an operation which has
been continuing since [the town of] Raga was recaptured by the
government," the deputy head of mission at the Sudanese embassy in
Nairobi, Muhammad Dirdiery, told IRIN on Monday.There has, as yet, been no
independent capture of the town, which is located in an active military
zone from which humanitarian agencies are banned, and SPLM/A spokespersons
were unavailable for comment. Sudanese radio on Monday reported a
statement from the general command of the armed forces as saying that
government troops had inflicted heavy losses in lives and materiel on the
SPLM/A, as "the rebels fled in a disgraced manner". It also claimed that,
during their occupation of the town, rebel soldiers had "mistreated the
citizens and violated their dignity and human rights". [Full report at
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=15131]

SUDAN: US hopes to be "a catalyst for peace"

The SPLM/A on Tuesday said it "supports the provision of uninterrupted
relief to the Nuba [Nubah] Mountains", and will cooperate for the easy
delivery of humanitarian assistance there, including ongoing emergency
airdrops of food. In a response to SPLM/A chairman John Garang's meeting
with US special envoy for Sudan, former Senator John [Jack] Danforth, the
rebel movement said it would also support any other initiative aimed at
alleviating the enormous suffering of the people in the Nuba Mountains,
and called for the extension of an agreement on humanitarian access to
other areas such as Buoth, Nhial Dieu, Boaw, Wichok, Nguop and southern
Blue Nile.

In southern Sudan and in the Nuba Mountains, as the first official US
delegation to visit the latter, he and his team had spoken to people with
first-hand experience of bombing, slavery and the agony of war, Danforth
said. "We feel that if there is anything the US can do to be a catalyst
for peace, that's what we want to be - recognising that peace depends on
the parties more than anybody from the outside," he added.

Danforth presented four "specific, action-oriented and verifiable"
proposals to the warring parties in an effort to secure tangible gains for
the civilian population, while building trust and confidence between the
government and SPLM/A. These included: (1) Access to the Nuba Mountains,
not just for four weeks but for the indefinite future, and a cessation of
hostilities in the Nuba to make available food and medicine; (2) A
cessation of bombing, artillery attacks and so on - helicopter gunship
attacks - on innocent people, on civilians; (3) Zones of tranquillity and
times of tranquillity - the notion being to create places and times in
which humanitarian assistance can be offered, especially immunisations,
without people being the targets of military hostility; and (4) An end to
the taking of slaves. [Full report at
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=15561]

SUDAN: US pressure group urges tough line on Khartoum

A coalition of more than 100 religious and civil rights leaders in the
United States this week urged President George W Bush to take a stronger
stance towards the Sudanese government because of its restrictions on
religious freedom. In a letter dated Monday 19 November, the campaigners
particularly criticised Bush for having apparently prevailed upon the US
Congress to put aside any work on the Sudan Peace Act, which passed the
House of Representatives and had terms which would have allowed for
foreign oil companies doing business in Sudan to be barred from selling
shares and other securities in the United States.

In its "International Religious Freedom Reports for 2001", released on 26
October, the US Department of State characterised Sudan as a state which
showed hostility towards minority or non-approved religions. In Sudan, the
[Islamic] government continued to restrict the activities of Christians,
followers of traditional indigenous religions and some Islamic groups,
according to the US report. "Non-Muslims are forbidden to proselytise, and
apostasy [religious conversion] is a capital offense," it stated.
[http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2001/]

ETHIOPIA: Italy, Australia announce debt relief

The Italian government has cancelled a US $375 million debt owed by
Ethiopia, the pro-government Walta Information Centre reported on Tuesday.
It quoted the Italian ambassador to Ethiopia, Guido La Tella, as saying
the move was in line with the decision reached under the heavily Indebted
Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative as outlined by the IMF and the World
Bank. He also said Italy was implementing rural development projects in
Oromiya State worth $150 million under a bilateral cooperation programme.

Meanwhile, the African Development Bank had agreed to lend the Ethiopian
government $135.76 million, the agency reported. It quoted the Ethiopian
foreign ministry as saying the funds would help implement the Genale-Dawa
Integrated Resources Development Master Plan Study, the
Butajira-Hosaina-Sodo road project and the Structural Adjustment
Programme. The Australian government has announced debt relief to Ethiopia
worth $A 11.5 million (about US $6 million), according to a press release
issued on 15 November by the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Trade.

Ethiopia is the 24th country to qualify for debt relief under the
initiative's enhanced framework. The savings from debt servicing as result
of the country's HIPC qualification would amount to nearly $100 million a
year for the next 20 years, providing much-needed succour to a country in
whose average per capita earnings ranks second-lowest in the world at $100
per annum.

ERITREA: Two million land mines and UXO

Eritrea, a country of 3.5 million people, is infested with about two
million mines and units of unexploded ordnance (UXO), Andebrhan
Weldegiorgis, the commissioner for coordination with the UN peacekeeping
mission, told the UN General Assembly in New York, on Wednesday. The
commissioner, who was addressing the Assembly's 56th session, said "this
translates to almost one land mine per person - one of the highest levels
of contamination per capita in the world". He said the whole of Eritrea
had been infested by land mines during the 1961-91 war of liberation, and
that the Eritrean humanitarian de-mining programme had cleared about half
a million of them between 1991 and 1998. This achievement had, however,
been significantly reversed during the recent war with Ethiopia.

Andebrhan said mine clearance was dangerous work conducted in an
often-hostile environment with lots of hazards to cope with and requiring
considerable resources for training, equipment and logistics. "Hence,
resource mobilisation and adequate funding are crucial to success," he
added. Andebrhan told the Assembly that for Eritrea to win this war, "we
need the continued support from our partners to provide us with the
critical resources to wage this war against this deadly enemy".

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: "No military build-up" in security zone - UN

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) said on
Wednesday that it had found no Eritrean military build-up in the Temporary
Security Zone (TSZ), a 25-km strip of land on the border separating the
armies of the two countries. Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin, in
a speech to the UN General Assembly on 16 November, had accused Eritrea of
assembling close to 30,000 troops in the TSZ, and UNMEE of engaging in a
policy of appeasement towards Eritrea.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, UNMEE said that in response to
Ethiopian allegations of an Eritrean military build-up in the TSZ it
undertook "immediate investigations, including ground and air
reconnaissance patrols in all three sectors of the TSZ and has found no
indication of an Eritrean military build-up". [Full report at
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=15791]


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001


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