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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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 52
25 - 31 August 2001


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: FSAU supports urgent appeal
SOMALIA: Government warns of hunger crisis
SOMALIA: Child casualties in Hargeysa clashes
SOMALIA: Southern town taken by pro-government militia
SOMALIA-KENYA: Militia hijack ship and crew
SOMALIA-KENYA: Traders evade ban
SOMALIA-ETHIOPIA: Drought-affected migrate to Somali region
ETHIOPIA: OLF deny reports of split
DJIBOUTI: Drought-exodus creates emergency
SUDAN: MP warns of flooding in the south
ERITREA: Political debate is spreading
ERITREA: Official concern over sex case and HIV/AIDS


SOMALIA: FSAU supports urgent appeal

A food gap for Somalia of 36,530 mt over the next 12 months has been
predicted by the European Commission-funded and FAO-implemented Food
Security Analysis Unit (FSAU). If security deteriorated over the year, the
size of the food gap would be likely to increase further, FSAU told IRIN.
The figure was based on a poor Deyr harvest and prices increasing
significantly over the same period, FSAU said. The statement followed
workshops held in Hargeysa, capital of the self-declared state of
Somaliland, northwestern Somalia, and in Baidoa, southern Somalia, which
analysed data collected during the August harvest. The term "food gap" was
described as the shortfall in access to food at household level.

Asserting that it "fully supports WFP in its recent urgent appeal to
strengthen the Somalia pipeline", the agency said it was willing to
facilitate discussions and explore the most suitable options for
alleviating the food gap with agencies and donors in the coming weeks. WFP
has warned that half a million Somalis in the south face hunger, and has
urgently appealed for 40,000 mt to contain a looming crisis following
widespread rain failure.

SOMALIA: Government warns of hunger crisis

The Somali transitional government held a press conference on Tuesday to
warn that several million Somalis were threatened by a food crisis. A
report presented to journalists by the agriculture ministry said the
regions along the borders with Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya were facing
serious food shortages following the absence of adequate rainfalls in
recent months, news agencies said. Awdal, Togdher, Nugal, Mudug, Galgudud,
Hiran, Gedo, Middle Juba and Lower Juba regions were suffering from severe
drought, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) quoted Deputy Agriculture Minister
Muhammad Umar Ibrahim as saying.

The report said the long civil war had crippled the main export sectors,
such as livestock and bananas, and hard currency was lacking. In addition,
recent fighting in the Middle and Lower Juba regions had also had a very
serious negative impact on local crop production, and had displaced
several hundred thousand people, the government said. The use of land
mines in the regions had "seriously discouraged subsistence farmers from
returning to their farms", the report said. Information Minister Zakariya
Muhammad Haji Abdi said emergency supplies of food and medical assistance
were needed immediately, and appealed for 60,000 mt of food, including
cereals, oil, beans, sugar and wheat.

SOMALIA: Child casualties in Hargeysa clashes

Children were seriously wounded during recent clashes between police and
demonstrators in Hargeysa, capital of the self-declared state of
Somaliland, northwestern Somalia. In response to the woundings - including
that of a 12 year-old boy who was shot in the stomach - a UNICEF press
release urged "greater attention to the safety and protection of children
throughout Somalia". The UNICEF Somalia Representative, Dr Gianfranco
Rotigliano, appealed to all parties to bear consider "the grim and cruel
consequences that innocent children all too often bear in such
circumstances".

The statement was issued after children became involved, and wounded, in
the recent unrest in Hargeysa. On 23 August, a 10 year-old girl was
hospitalised in the first of a series of clashes, when police arrested and
detained four sultans, whom the authorities accused of challenging the
government. On 27 August, two processions of children marched to where the
sultans were being held to call for their release. "The two columns of
demonstrating children met, there were scuffles between armed escorts and
shots fired in the air," humanitarian sources told IRIN. Many children
were caught up in the panic and confusion, and a stray bullet caught one
12 year-old boy in the stomach. He was operated on immediately, and was
now in a stable condition, the source said. In a statement released on
Wednesday, UNICEF said it had become all too clear in Somalia "that
whenever and wherever violent clashes have recently taken place... very
young children have consistently been numbered amongst the casualties".

SOMALIA: Southern town taken by pro-government militia

The regional capital of the southern Middle Juba Region, Bu'aale, was
captured on Tuesday by the militia of Juba Valley Alliance (JVA), local
sources in Kismayo, 500 km south of Mogadishu, told IRIN. The latest round
of fighting puts Bu'aale, 200 kms north of Kismayo, in the hands of
militia believed to support the Mogadishu interim government, Somali
sources said.

Bu'aale was captured last month by militia led by general Muhammad Sa'id
Hirsi Morgan of the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC).
The SRRC is a grouping of Southern factions opposed to the Transitional
National Government (TNG), while the Kismayo-based JVA is a pro-TNG
grouping of the Ogaden, Marehan and Habar Gedir clans. The JVA expelled
the SRRC militia led by Morgan from Kismayo on 7 August - just a day after
they had taken the town. Attempts by IRIN to obtain comment from the
Baidoa-based SRRC were unsuccessful.

SOMALIA-KENYA: Militia hijack ship and crew

A Kenyan-registered ship and its crew, hijacked off the northeastern coast
of Somalia a month ago, are being held in the coastal town of Eyl, 150 km
southeast of Garowe, capital of the self-declared autonomous region of
Puntland, northeastern Somalia, a local journalist told IRIN. The MV
Bahari Kenya had a crew of 25 Kenyans and five Italians on board when it
was hijacked, the Kenyan 'Sunday Nation' newspaper reported on 26 August.
The fishing vessel was hijacked, with help from local fishermen, by the
militia assigned to guard it, Adan Abdirahman Dolar, editor of the
Garowe-based 'Nugal Times', said. The ship reportedly had a permit issued
by the Puntland administration of Abdullahi Yusuf to fish in Puntland
waters. Dolar told IRIN that in such situations, "crews were usually
brought before a kangaroo court and accused of illegal fishing", then
fined between US $100,000 to $200,000.

According to the Kenyan 'Sunday Nation', family members of the sailors had
appealed to the Kenyan government to take action, when their relatives
disappeared after the trawler set off more than a month ago in South
Africa. The vessel's chief engineer had telephoned relatives on 27 July
and said more than 30 pirates armed with machine-guns had stormed the
fishing trawler.

The Kenyan government has dispatched a team to Somalia to negotiate for
the release of the crew of a Kenyan-registered ship being held in Somalia,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on 28 August. The ship in question was
reportedly hijacked a month ago off the northeastern coast of Somalia, and
is being held in the town of Eyl, 150 km southeast of Garowe, the regional
capital of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland. The team
included officials from the transport ministry and representatives of the
ship's owners, and was reportedly already in Bosaso the commercial capital
of Puntland, AFP said. The militiamen holding the fishing vessel are
demanding one million dollars for the release of the crew, according to
AFP.

SOMALIA-KENYA: Traders evade ban

Traders in qat (also known as miraa, leaves of a mildly narcotic shrub -
Catha edulis) are evading the trade ban imposed on Somalia by Kenyan
President Daniel arap Moi on 28 July, the Kenyan 'Daily Nation' newspaper
reported on 28 August. About 10 light aircraft carrying qat were leaving
Nairobi's Wilson Airport for Somalia on a daily basis, said the 'Nation'.
Traders were airlifting the merchandise to Kenyan border towns, then
trucking it into Somalia. Others were flying the qat direct to Somalia,
with the help of unscrupulous Kenyan security officials, the paper said.
According to the 'Nation', in order to confuse Kenyan security personnel,
some aircraft briefly land in Kenyan towns, then take off again and
continue their flights to Somalia. Qat is an important and lucrative trade
in Kenya, and the main market is Somalia. The ban was imposed by Moi
because of insecurity in Somalia, lack of an effective central authority,
and the worrying trade of small arms across the border, diplomatic sources
said.

SOMALIA-ETHIOPIA: Drought-affected migrate to Somali region

Somalis migrating from the drought-affected Gedo and Bakol regions in
southern Somalia are congregating in areas of the Somali Regional State,
southeastern Ethiopia, humanitarian sources in Ethiopia told IRIN on
Tuesday. The regions most affected in the Somali region were those which
enjoyed reasonable rains this year, and could offer pasture and water, the
source said. In Afder zone, a main watering point was described as
"overwhelmed by people from Bakool and Gedo coming to find water and
grazing". Other areas affected include Gode and Liban.

Humanitarian sources in Addis Ababa told IRIN that while the migration did
not constitute an emergency, there was concern that the new movement of
people would place a burden on already fragile communities trying to
recover from prolonged regional drought over the last three years. "At
this stage it is not alarming; there have been some good rains, and there
is still some food in the pipeline...but it must be carefully monitored."
There was particular concern over the continued availability of water,
from wells which have only recently been replenished, the source said. Aid
agencies are discussing the possibility of regional coordination,
including a cross-border assessment mission from Ethiopia into the
affected regions in Somalia.

ETHIOPIA: OLF deny reports of split

Reports that three prominent leaders of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)
had been dismissed were denied by an OLF spokesman on Thursday. The
Washington-based spokesman, Lencho Bati, told IRIN that Gelasa Dilbo,
Abiyu Geleta and Tchala Leta continued to be members of the OLF national
council, but were being "reassigned" to new duties. According to reports
in the Ethiopian private press, two rival groups have emerged in the OLF
over the issue of self-determination. The veteran leadership of the OLF
reportedly insists on the need to create an independent Oromiya, while a
"new breed" of leaders advocates an option of voluntary union with other
Ethiopians. [For more details, see IRIN separate ETHIOPIA: Oromo rebel
group denies ideological split]

DJIBOUTI: Drought-exodus creates emergency

More than 95,000 drought-affected people in Djibouti need emergency
assistance, after consecutive years of poor rainfall led to an influx into
urban areas and vulnerability among pastoralist populations. The World
Food Programme (WFP) said in a press release that the new emergency
operation would assist 95,000 people, and target rural populations
suffering the effects of drought. Over the next seven months, more than
11,000 mt of supplies would be given, at the cost of US $6.5 million, said
the statement, released in Djibouti on Monday.

Since January 1999, the central regions of Djibouti have received less
than 50 percent of the normal annual rainfall, hitting nomadic populations
hard, who have often sought refuge in urban centres. Women and children
have suffered in particular, WFP said. An inter-agency evaluation mission
in May underlined the extreme vulnerability to drought-related
malnutrition and illness among nomadic and displaced populations. "No
longer able to deal with the difficult conditions... populations have
poured into urban centres to benefit from aid, traditional family support,
to find a job or to resort to begging", the WFP representative in
Djibouti, Fatma Samoura, said. The emergency operation would also
intervene in urban centres with food-for-work programmes, and would try
and stop the exodus from the rural regions. Samoura said the
infrastructure in the Djibouti capital for water, health and hygiene were
already overloaded because of the influx of people, including the
drought-affected from neighbouring countries.

SUDAN: MP warns of flooding in the south

A Sudanese MP warned on 24 August that authorities trying to tackle
flooding in northern Sudan had overlooked the problem of rising waters in
the south, the 'Khartoum Monitor' reported. In a letter to the newspaper,
the MP for Juba North Constituency, Muhammad al-Hajj Baballah, said the
towns of Luri, Mongalla, and some islands south of Terakeka along the
White Nile had been badly affected by flooding. People in those areas had
lost their animals and crops and needed immediate supplies of food and
drugs, he said. "I have been appealing on behalf of the state government
of Bahr al-Jabal for assistance and provision of authorities with the
necessary information. But the state has only given 1,000 canvas sheets,
while the number of victims is over 4,000," Baballah stated.

Meanwhile, Sudan TV reported on Saturday that flooding along the Nile had
destroyed more than 3,500 houses, 40 schools and 60 health centres in the
Al-Shurayq region of Nile River State, northern Sudan. Crops, grain
stores, and livestock had all been lost, and thousands of families had
been forced to leave their homes, Sudan TV said.

ERITREA: Political debate is spreading

Debate and dissent have spread quickly among the general public in
Eritrea, as the country hits its first political crisis since establishing
independence, 'The Economist' UK-based weekly said on Tuesday. It said
that within the ruling elite "arguments had been going on for a while
about the record of the government, the future of the country and the
conduct of the debilitating war with Ethiopia". This month, two critics
from the central committee of the ruling People's Front for Democracy and
Justice were sacked from ministerial posts. They were among 15 members who
had signed a letter accusing President Isayas Afewerki of high-handedness.
'The Economist' said lack of accountability was the chief complaint. "The
government is still called 'transitional', but looks pretty well
entrenched," it said.

Isayas is accused of blocking democracy and his government of failing to
abide by the rules. "The party's vast business interests have never been
audited, nor has it paid taxes," 'The Economist' said. But according to
the report, Afewerki is still popular and some say it is not time for
debate and change. Elections are scheduled for December. 'The Economist'
said Eritrea's aid donors, particularly Italy and the United States, were
watching closely. "War and its aftermath have changed Eritrea, and it
cannot be the same politically passive place again."

ERITREA: Official concern over sex case and HIV/AIDS

The Eritrean government has expressed concern over allegations of sexual
abuse by a UN peacekeeper of an underage girl, and said that justice must
be done either under national or international laws. The commissioner for
coordination with the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Andeberhan
Woldegiorgis, said in a letter to the special envoy of the UN
secretary-general, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, that Eritrea was anxious to
probe a report which recently appeared in the Italian media, official
Eritrean radio said. It was referring to a report alleging that some
members of the Italian peacekeeping soldiers in Eritrea had had sex with
child prostitutes. Andeberhan said the alleged report "which had appeared
in the media was of great concern to the Eritrean government".

According to the letter, the Eritrean government had asked for HIV/AIDS
tests to be carried out on all UN peacekeeping soldiers, "but the
directives had not been implemented by the UN peacekeeping soldiers...
This has been another issue of concern to the Eritrean government," the
radio report said on Wednesday. UNMEE has said in an official statement
that it considers the allegations concerning sexual abuse very serious,
and said it will conduct an investigation. "The Mission has zero tolerance
towards such acts and will do its utmost to quickly and thoroughly
establish the facts."


Nairobi, 31 August 2001


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


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


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