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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 92
01 - 07 June 2002


CONTENTS:

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Border ruling ambiguous, Ethiopia says
ETHIOPIA: UN still undergoing new checks
ETHIOPIA: More funds needed to tackle AIDS
ETHIOPIA: Report highlights problems facing farmers
ETHIOPIA: Government criticised over Awasa shootings
ERITREA: Plans afoot to boost efficiency of ports
SOMALIA: Islamic court in Mogadishu turned over to the TNG
SOMALIA: Somaliland bans private radio stations
SOMALIA: Shatigadud reluctant to visit Ethiopia
KENYA-SOMALIA: Kenya allows feeding centres for refugees
SUDAN: US hearing links peace efforts, humanitarian access
SUDAN: Donors issue strong call for access
SUDAN: Civilian suffering continues as war rages

SEE ALSO:

ERITREA: Feature - Life slowly resuming in Tserona


ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Border ruling ambiguous, Ethiopia says

Ethiopia has said the independent border ruling of 13 April is ambiguous
and contains errors, and has therefore called for "interpretation,
correction and consultation" regarding the decision. The Ethiopian
document of 13 May was released last week. An Ethiopian foreign ministry
spokesman told IRIN the decision was taken to publicise the document "for
the sake of transparency". The document says the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary
Commission (EEBC), which issued the ruling in The Hague, had made mistakes
in identifying the confluence of key rivers, used to mark out the new
border.

Eritrea dismissed the document as the "latest ploy" by Ethiopia "to
undermine the border ruling". "This is a veiled attempt at an appeal, when
they know full well that the ruling is final and binding," Eritrea's
deputy ambassador to Kenya, Teweldemedhin Tesfamariam, told IRIN. "They
are leaving no stone unturned to delay implementation of the demarcation
phase."


ETHIOPIA: UN still undergoing new checks

The United Nations has said there is no end in sight to the new checks
imposed on its peacekeepers by Ethiopia. The UN Mission in Ethiopia and
Eritrea (UNMEE) said it was in talks to try and resolve the matter, and
lawyers were examining documents to see if Ethiopia had breached agreed
rules. The Ethiopian authorities imposed the new checks on 9 May after
UNMEE arranged a trip for journalists to the village of Badme - where the
two-year border war began in 1998 - via Eritrea. This means UNMEE staff
now have to show passports and are subject to searches when travelling
between the two countries. Both countries claim they were awarded the
village - which is currently administered by Ethiopia - under the 13 April
independent border ruling.


ETHIOPIA: More funds needed to tackle AIDS

Ethiopia needs at least US $166 million a year to fight the HIV/AIDS
crisis that is devastating the country, a government official has said. It
also needs food aid for orphans and victims of the virus, Abebe Kebede
from the metropolitan HIV/AIDS secretariat, told IRIN. "For prevention and
care, the minimum cost is estimated at US $166.9 million for Ethiopia,"
said Abebe. "We don't have that much," he added. "Unless we get support
in terms of food and other items, our capacity cannot sustain the orphans
and people living with HIV/AIDS."


ETHIOPIA: Report highlights problems facing farmers

Farmers in Ethiopia are facing major obstacles on the road to development,
a United Nations report has said. Crippling debts and a dramatic fall in
crop prices are taking a heavy toll on the rural community, according to
the study by the UN Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia (EUE). The report,
entitled "Good rains do not compensate for chronic food insecurity", also
called for a ban on making charcoal out of virgin forests to halt
deforestation and massive soil erosion.


ETHIOPIA: Government criticised over Awasa shootings

Opposition parties in Ethiopia have condemned the government for the
shootings in the southern town of Awasa, claiming that 38 people were
killed and not 15 as reported by the federal authorities. One opposition
leader, Beyene Petros, told a press conference in the capital, Addis
Ababa, on Thursday that "brutal force" was being used against people
demanding basic rights, after fighting broke out on 24 May. Skirmishes
flared up as around 3,000 demonstrators started protesting about plans to
change the status of Awasa, which is the capital of the Southern Nations
and Nationalities State, currently administered by the local Sidama ethnic
group.


ERITREA: Plans afoot to boost efficiency of ports

The Eritrean government has commissioned an extensive study into the
commercial potential of Assab, the country's second-largest port after
Massawa. Starting next month, a team of US-based consultants will assess
how to upgrade the port and its facilities to an international standard,
so that it can become a regional hub for shipping in the Horn of Africa.
The government is hoping to attract Ethiopian and Sudanese regional and
transit trade, lost during the recent border conflict with Ethiopia.
Before the war, most of the cargo that came through Assab was coming to or
from Ethiopia, which has no direct access to the Red Sea. However, when
the border dispute began in 1998 Ethiopia switched to nearby Djibouti.


SOMALIA: Islamic court in Mogadishu turned over to the TNG

One of the first Islamic courts to be set up in the capital, Mogadishu,
was on Tuesday officially turned over to the Ministry of Justice of the
Transitional National Government (TNG), according to Information Minister
Abdirahman Ibbi. The court, better known as the Shirkole Islamic Court,
was one of the first to be set up in the mid-1990s in south Mogadishu
along clan lines, in response to spiralling crime rates, local sources in
Mogadishu told IRIN. The Islamic courts in Mogadishu played a dual role:
operating under Islamic Shari'ah law, militia recruited by the courts were
used to deal with criminals and provide protection, while the courts also
handed down sentences on offenders.


SOMALIA: Somaliland bans private radio stations

The authorities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland have banned
the establishment of private radio stations, the official Radio Hargeysa
reported on Tuesday. A circular issued by the Somaliland information
ministry said that until broadcasting regulations were laid down, there
would be no private radio stations because of the "potential dangers" of
such operations. "No other voice can be heard on the air waves except
Radio Hargeysa, which is the national voice," the statement said. It said
any broadcasting equipment already in the country should be surrendered to
the information ministry. "Anyone found opposing the contents of the
circular will be brought before a court of law," the statement added.


SOMALIA: Shatigadud reluctant to visit Ethiopia

The president of the self-declared South West State of Somalia, Col Hasan
Muhammad Nur Shatigadud, is still in Baidoa, despite the fact he was
expected to visit the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Shatigadud is also
chairman of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA) and Baidoa, 240 km
northwest of Mogadishu, is the headquarters of both the RRA and the
opposition Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC).
Shatigadud had been expected to go to Addis Ababa after two of his
deputies returned from there with an invitation from the Ethiopian
authorities. "The chairman is still here, but he and his delegation will
go to Addis Ababa soon," Muhammad Ali Adan Qalinle, a senior RRA official
and governor of Baidoa, told IRIN on Tuesday.


KENYA-SOMALIA: Kenya allows feeding centres for refugees

Following the deaths of 10 Somali refugees from malnutrition and disease,
the local authorities in northeastern Kenya have allowed aid workers to
set up three supplementary feeding centres, the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported. Construction work on the first
centre, near the town of Mandera, is set to begin on Wednesday, and is
expected to be completed within a week, a UNHCR spokesman said in Geneva.
This centre will cater for refugees at a nearby makeshift camp - which
hosts up to 5,000 Somali refugees - along the volatile Kenya-Somalia
border area. The other two centres, to be set up in Mandera itself, will
meet the supplementary feeding needs of the local population and refugees
living with family and friends.


SUDAN: Congress hearing links peace efforts, humanitarian access

Despite the misery being caused by the Sudanese civil war - Africa's
longest-running and bloodiest - very little is being done to end the
suffering of the helpless and innocent, Henry J Hyde, chairman of the US
Committee on International Relations, told a special Congressional hearing
on Sudan on Wednesday.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter H Kansteiner
testified that US strategic interests in Sudan involved denying it as a
base of operations for international terrorism, working on a just and
lasting peace, and pushing for unhindered humanitarian access, improved
human rights and religious freedom. He also emphasised the "inextricable
link" between the search for peace in Sudan and gains in humanitarian
access and human rights.

This was also a theme addressed by Roger Winter, Assistant Administrator
of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), who said the
government of Sudan was erecting too many bureaucratic and operational
barriers to the delivery of assistance to vulnerable populations, in a
manner "so consistent as to amount to a deliberate strategy". The surest
way Khartoum could now display its peaceful intent would be to "fully
collaborate with US and UN humanitarian initiatives by providing
unrestricted international humanitarian access to civilians in need", he
added.


SUDAN: Donors issue strong call for accessss

A joint meeting of donors to Sudan and aid agencies operating under the
Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) umbrella has come out with "a clear and
unambiguous message" to all parties in Sudan to ensure "unimpeded
humanitarian access to all populations in need". The principle of
"unimpeded access to those in need" must be pursued vigorously and
persistently by donors, the United Nations and NGOs, it concluded. In
particular, these organisations should push for increased access to key
locations in war-torn western Upper Nile (also known as Unity/Wahdah
State) and to Eastern Equatoria, before the imminent arrival of the rainy
season, which will hamper aid interventions, according to participants.


SUDAN: Civilian suffering continues as war rages

The Sudanese army and Popular Defence Forces (PDF) militias have claimed
recent military victories in Bahr al-Ghazal State, southern Sudan, and in
Blue Nile State, in the east of the country, during recent engagements.
The Sudanese army reported that it had destroyed rebel camps in Sabun, on
the Raga-Aweil road, and Miri, both in western Bahr al-Ghazal, according
to the Republic of Sudan Radio in Omdurman, outside the Sudanese capital,
Khartoum. The army had also claimed military victories in Magok and
Maryam, near Aweil in Bahr al-Ghazal, and to have taken control of Makway
town, between Wau and Gogrial, the report added.


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