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


HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 50
11 - 17 August 2001


CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA: Heavy rains cause flooding
ETHIOPIA: Speaker resigns, seeks political asylum
ETHIOPIA: US to give $155 million for development
SUDAN: Thousands flee flooding
SUDAN: Army claims victory in Nubah Mountains
SUDAN: Ministry will double oil output
ERITREA: Chief justice sacked
ERITREA: Critics creating "division"
ERITREA: Student dies in detention
SOMALIA: Abdullahi Yusuf "temporarily shifts"
SOMALIA: Interim government appeals to opposition
SOMALIA-KENYA: Businessmen try to bypass trade ban


ETHIOPIA: Heavy rains cause flooding

The Ministry of Water and Natural Resources Development has said that
during the current rainy season the major rivers in Ethiopia are
experiencing some of the highest water levels on record. The head of the
hydrology department, Kidane Aseta, said that the water level of major
rivers and water reservoirs was rising as a result of the increased
rainfall in many parts of the country, the pro-Ethiopian government Walta
Information Centre web site said on Monday. He said the western part of
Ethiopia had been significantly affected by the increased rainfall, and
was experiencing "possible flood problems". He said rains were also
increasing in eastern Ethiopia, including areas within the Rift Valley.
"The rains will continue up to 20 September... It is too early to say that
there won't be any more floods." Kidane called on the public to take
"precautionary measures" to cope with "possible flood problems".

There have also been recent reports of heavy flooding affecting thousands
in the Gambela region, southwestern Ethiopia. In southern Ethiopia, the
River Omo had burst its banks and displaced 10,000 people, Ethiopian radio
said on 10 August. The South Omo Zone council said five people and 300
head of livestock had been washed away by the floods, and grain stores had
also been washed away. The radio quoted the head of the social department
of the council, Lusunde Lunyswa, as saying that over 3,000 residents of
Duba, Beire and Diraji should be evacuated by helicopter.

ETHIOPIA: Speaker resigns, seeks political asylum

Former Speaker of the Council of the Federation Almaz Meko, who defected
to join the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), has asked for political asylum.
Almaz, who had held the position of Speaker for six years, reportedly
stopped in the US for medical treatment with her eight year-old son, on
transit after attending a women's conference in the Caribbean, but later
asked for political asylum. When she declared the reasons for her
defection in a public statement, Almaz said her efforts to improve the
situation for the majority Oromo people had led her to be blacklisted as a
separatist sympathiser. AFP on Wednesday quoted Taye Selase, an Ethiopian
embassy official in Washington DC as saying Almaz's defection would have
little effect on the government. He said she had left because she was
"scared of the intensity of the anti-corruption evaluation programme"
currently being implemented in Ethiopia.

Almaz held the country's fourth most important public office, heading a
chamber responsible for preserving the rights of each of the states,
nationalities and peoples which make up Ethiopia, AFP said. According to a
report by the BBC, the Speaker was a popular figure in the government, a
central committee member, and destined for high office. The defection
would be a blow for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who had struggled to
consolidate his position amid an internal split in his party and rising
dissent, the BBC said.

ETHIOPIA: US to give $155 million for development

The United States government will provide Ethiopia with a US $155 million
grant to support development. The money is earmarked for basic education,
democracy and governance, health, food and agriculture, and special
projects for pastoralists, the pro-government Walta Information Centre
reported on Tuesday. The announcement was made on Monday when an agreement
was signed between the two countries at the Ethiopian Ministry of Economic
Development and Cooperation in Addis Ababa, said Walta. The agreement was
signed for the American side by US charge d'affaires, Thomas Hull, and
United States Agency for International Development Country Director
Douglas Sheldon, while Mulatu Teshome, the economic development
vice-minister, signed for Ethiopia. Part of the money would be used to
improve the livelihood of pastoralists in two zones of the Somali State
and one zone in Oromiya State on a pilot basis, Walta said.

SUDAN: Thousands flee flooding

Tens of thousands of people were fleeing their homes and the authorities
were urging others to be prepared to move at short notice as the swollen
Nile submerged whole villages, the International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies said on Monday. Whole settlements had been
flooded in Nile River and Sinnar states as the Nile burst its banks, but
growing concern was for the capital, Khartoum, which was also at risk, it
said. The Federation is appealing for nearly 1.3 million Swiss francs
(almost US $770,000) to support ongoing relief work for flood victims, and
for contingency measures should the Nile burst its banks in the capital,
as it did in August 1988, with catastrophic consequences.  "The next two
to three weeks will be crucial," it said. "The rivers and dams upstream of
the Blue Nile are full, and any additional rainfall could trigger a
disaster. Latest reports are of heavy rains in the Blue Nile catchment
areas in Ethiopia."

A contingency plan had already been activated, and volunteers from the
Sudanese Red Crescent had been clearing debris, distributing food and
blankets and providing first aid and social support to several of the
affected areas along the banks of the Blue Nile, the Federation stated. In
the first instance, it was important to provide food and non-food
assistance to an estimated 10,000 vulnerable, displaced people in Nile
River, Kassala and Sinnar states; there was still an urgent need for
non-food relief items such as tarpaulins, chlorine tablets and essential
drugs and equipment for mobile health clinics, while transportation for
relief teams was also a problem, the agency said. In view of the rising
levels of the Blue Nile still forecast, further needs would have to be
assessed later, it added.

On Thursday, the daily newspaper 'Al-Ayyam' reported that 500 houses and
several commercial buildings had been destroyed by flooding in the
Hadaliya area of eastern Sudan. Flood waters of the River Gash in Kassala
State had "isolated totally" the town of Wager, and caused the collapse of
its grand mosque, the report stated. Six villages in the Al-Hawsh province
of Al-Jazirah State, central Sudan, had also been devastated by flooding,
and large agricultural areas were now under water, it added. [For more
details and UNOCHA situation report, see Sudan page at:
www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/WCE?OpenForm]

SUDAN: Army claims victory in Nubah Mountains

The Sudanese army on 11 August claimed to have repelled a rebel Sudan
People's Liberation Army (SPLA) attack in the Nubah Mountains, news
agencies reported. Army spokesman Lt-Gen Muhammad Bashir Sulayman was
quoted by the official Sudanese News Agency (SUNA) as saying that
government troops had beaten back an SPLA offensive at Umm Dhuhayb in the
eastern Nubah Mountains, inflicting "heavy losses in lives and equipment".
Sulayman did not say when the attack had taken place. He called on rebel
fighters "who are taking up arms against their desire" to abandon military
action and join the government ranks, AFP reported.

Many of the three million Nubah people living in the mountains in Southern
Kordofan State had joined the SPLM/A in its war against Khartoum, Reuters
news agency reported. Aid agencies have accused forces loyal to Khartoum
of intensive bombing campaigns and of preventing the delivery of essential
humanitarian aid to the estimated 400,000 people in SPLA-controlled
territory in the area. Many Nubians have reportedly been abducted by
government troops and taken to army-controlled "peace camps" against their
will.

SUDAN: Ministry will double oil output

The secretary-general of the Ministry of Energy and Mining announced on 12
August, that Sudan planned to more than double oil production by the end
of 2005, according to SUNA. Hasan Muhammad Ali al-Tawm was quoted by SUNA
as saying the ministry intended to "intensify oil exploration work" and
increase production from about 200,000 barrels per day to 450,000 barrels
per day over the next four to five years. Speaking at a conference of the
ruling National Congress party, Al-Tawm said the government was also
trying to attract investors to explore for oil in central, northern,
eastern and western Sudan. Oil operations in the south - carried out by a
consortium of foreign oil companies - have been severely criticised by
human rights groups, who allege Sudanese government forces have committed
human rights abuses and forcibly depopulated concession areas to make way
for production.

The SPLM/A has repeatedly accused foreign oil companies operating in
southern Sudan of collaborating with the Sudanese government, and warned
that they were "legitimate targets" in the country's 18-year civil war.
The rebel movement claimed on 7 August to have attacked oil installations
in central Sudan, causing oil extraction at the Heglig (Hajlij) fields to
be stopped. The claims have been denied by the both Sudanese government
army and Canadian oil company, Talisman, operating in Heglig.

ERITREA: Chief justice sacked

The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Eritrea, Teame Beyene, has been
sacked, an Eritrean source confirmed to IRIN on Monday. "It is not
official yet, but he has been removed from his post," said the source. The
chief justice was reportedly dismissed by Justice Minister Fawziyya
Hashim, Eritrean opposition web site Awate.com reported on 10 August. In a
speech to Eritrean scholars, academics, and politicians on 23 July, the
chief justice had criticised the president's office for interfering with
the court's operations, Awate said.

ERITREA: Critics creating "division"

The secretary-general of the Ruling People's Front for Democracy and
Justice (PFDJ) party, Ahmad al-Amin Muhammad Sa'id, condemned dissident
members of the central committee of the PFDJ for trying to divide the
country, Eritrean radio reported on 9 August. Some 15 members of the
central committee of the PFDJ have accused President Isayas Afewerki of
working in an "illegal and unconstitutional" manner by failing to hold
regular meetings with government members, as provided for under the
constitution. The accusations were contained in a letter leaked to an
Eritrean web site in May. Ahmad Al-Amin said the action of the members was
not one of democrats against reactionaries, but rather of dividing "the
firm national defence" at such a time, and was therefore criminal and
should make them accountable, said the radio.

ERITREA: Student dies in detention

A University of Asmara student has died while in government detention.
Yirga Yosef, a third-year student, died of heatstroke on Tuesday in a
desert detention centre in Wia, 30 km from the port city of Massawa, AFP
reported on Thursday. Government and university officials would not
confirm the student's death. It is believed some 2000 students have been
in detention since last weekend for refusing to report for a government
summer work programme, said AFP. The students had refused to comply until
their student union's president, Semere Kesete, arrested on 31 July, was
released or brought before a court. Kesete was arrested three days after
he made a speech critical of the government at a graduation ceremony, said
AFP.

SOMALIA: Abdullahi Yusuf "temporarily shifts"

Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland
was in Burtinle District, some 150 km south of Garowe, the regional
capital, a senior official told IRIN on Tuesday morning. Abdullahi Yusuf
had gone there to "brief the people on the overall situation in Puntland",
Isma'il Warsame, spokesman for Abdullahi said, adding that the colonel
would return to Galkayo the evening of the same day. Isma'il told IRIN
that "the Puntland seat of government has been temporarily moved from
Garowe to Galkayo". Elders from Abdullahi Yusuf's Umar Mahmud sub-clan of
the Majerten, who had been meeting in Galkayo over the past few days, had
come out in support of Abdullahi, Isma'il said. Confusion over the status
of Puntland leader Abdullahi Yusuf has continued, after High Court Judge
Yusuf Haji Nur invoked the constitution and assumed the powers of
president in June. Both leaders have described the other as having
"illegitimately" claimed authority.

SOMALIA: Interim government appeals to opposition

Interim President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan said on Monday that the
Transitional National Government (TNG) was ready to share power with
opposition groups, a senior official told IRIN. Abdiqassim made the
remarks while addressing the closing session of the Transitional National
Assembly (TNA). He urged opposition groups to lay down their arms and come
to the negotiating table, said the official. Abdiqassim reiterated that
the TNG would welcome any opposition members wishing to join it. On
reconciliation efforts, he said the TNG should explore all avenues to
achieve a comprehensive reconciliation in Somalia.

SOMALIA-KENYA: Businessmen try to bypass trade ban

Restrictions on trade with Somalia are likely to push Kenyan firms in
Mombasa to switch to Tanzanian ports and or Djibouti to beat the ban
imposed by the Kenyan government, the regional weekly 'The EastAfrican'
says. A Mombasa-based trading company told the paper that companies had
started negotiations with the Kenyan government to allow them to clear the
goods they had already bought in readiness for transportation to Somalia,
after President Daniel arap Moi directed the police commissioner last
month to ensure no trading activities took place along the Kenya-Somalia
border. According to one businessman in Mombasa, companies were attempting
to "work on the logistics of shipping our goods to either Tanzanian ports
or Djibouti before transshipping them to Somalia".

The government ban has also affected the miraa (or qat, a mildly narcotic
shrub - Catha edulis) trade between the two countries, forcing exporters
to route their cargo through Eldoret Airport, western Kenya, to Uganda's
Entebbe for onward transportation to Somalia, the report said in the
paper's 13-19 August edition. Goods worth more than an estimated US
$190,000 leave Mombasa for Somalia fortnightly, the businessman said.
Dried fish from Somalia is imported in return for tea, coffee husks,
cigarettes, detergents, cooking oil, petroleum products and construction
materials. The businessmen told the 'The EastAfrican' that goods worth
millions of Kenya shillings were being held in different warehouses in
Mombasa since the ban was announced. Diplomatic sources told IRIN that the
ban had been imposed by the Kenyan government because of concern over the
increased flow of small arms into Kenya over the last eighteen months,
which the Kenyan government linked to spiraling crime. When Moi announced
the ban, he said the onus was on the TNG of Somalia to behave like a
national authority.

Nairobi, 17 August 2001


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irin-hoa@ocha.unon.org]


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


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