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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 79
02 - 08 March 2002


CONTENTS:

SUDAN: Khartoum set to sign agreement to end attacks on civilians
SUDAN: UN secures partial lifting of flight bans
SUDAN: Washington sees little improvement in human rights
SOMALIA: Opposition factions to join TNG in peace talks
SOMALIA: Three suspects held in murder of aid worker
SOMALIA: UN staff member freed
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Mapping, demining urged after border ruling
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Border ruling set for 13 April
DJIBOUTI: UN team arrives to assess environmental damage

SUDAN: Khartoum set to sign agreement to end attacks on civilians

The Sudanese government said on Monday that it had accepted an amended
proposal from the United States aimed at stopping the targeting of
civilians in the country's 19-year civil war. "The new version is
addressing the whole issue of protecting civilians instead of focusing
only on aerial bombardment," said Ghazi Salah al-Din al-Atabani, the
Sudanese presidential peace adviser, in a statement. The scope of the US
proposal has been widened beyond the issue of bombing attacks to include
shelling, the taking of civilians as human shields and the use of civilian
installations for military purposes, according to Atabani's statement,
released by the Sudanese embassy in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. "The
[new] proposal is therefore more balanced and inclusive," the statement
added.

Robert Oakley, a former US ambassador and adviser to the US peace envoy to
Sudan, John Danforth, said an agreement on protection of civilians had
been reached with the Sudanese government, but that the papers had not yet
been signed, United Press International (UPI) reported on Monday. The
agreement, if signed, would include "an international verification
mechanism to deal with reports of attacks on civilians in contravention of
the Geneva Convention", UPI quoted Oakley as saying. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23751]

Subsequently, on Tuesday, the US government said it was moving even closer
to an agreement with Sudan to end the targeting of civilians. "The
Sudanese government has indicated that it will agree to a verification
mechanism that will monitor and prevent attacks against civilians. The
Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army [SPLM/A] has not yet agreed to
this point," Richard Boucher, US State Department spokesman, said in a
press briefing on Tuesday. SPLM/A representatives were unavailable for
comment on the announcement. According to Boucher, an explanation and an
apology for the 20 February government helicopter attack on the village of
Bieh, in which 24 people were killed, had been offered by Khartoum, and
efforts were now being made to prevent similar incidents. Boucher said the
US had received a letter from Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman
Isma'il in which he acknowledged the tragedy at Bieh, and indicated
concrete steps the government intended to take to ensure there was no
repeat of such attacks, "including moving the approval process for all
military flights to the Khartoum military command". [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=24092]


SUDAN: UN secures partial lifting of flight bans

The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday that there has been a
partial lifting of restrictions on humanitarian relief flights in southern
Sudan. A WFP spokeswoman, Laura Melo, told IRIN that the Sudanese
government had removed an effective one-week blanket ban on flights in
western Upper Nile (Unity, or Wahdah State) following discussions with UN
officials. However, newly imposed restrictions on 19 specific locations in
southern Sudan, some of them in western Upper Nile, were scheduled to
remain in place, also for one week, Melo said. UN officials were
continuing discussions with Sudanese government authorities in an attempt
to lift these restrictions, she added. The western Upper Nile region is
the site of many of Sudan's oilfields, and has been subject to an
escalation of fighting between government and rebel forces in recent
weeks. [Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23750]

SUDAN: Washington sees little improvement in human rights

"The government's human rights record remained extremely poor, and
although there were some improvements in a few areas, it continued to
commit numerous, serious abuses," the US State Department stated in its
Sudan country report on human rights practices for 2001, issued on Monday.
The continued imposition of an official state of emergency in the country
had restricted some basic civil liberties, including freedom of expression
and association, the report said. Although the Sudanese constitution
prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention without charge, the state of
emergency had superseded these provisions, and the government continued to
use arbitrary arrest and detention in 2001. "Critics argue that the state
of emergency decree effectively allows indefinite detention of persons
without trial and does not require formal charges during the period of
detention," it noted.

The US State Department reported that there had been seven reported death
sentences handed down by emergency tribunals during 2001, including the
sentencing in December to amputation and subsequent execution of a man for
armed banditry. Rebel groups had also continued to commit numerous and
serious abuses, and the SPLM/A had continued to violate citizens' rights,
despite its claim that it was implementing a 1994 decision to assert civil
authority in areas under its control, the report stated. "The SPLM/A was
responsible for extrajudicial killings, beatings, rapes, arbitrary
detentions, and forced conscription of boys," the report said.

Although the government had "severely restricted" freedom of speech and of
the press, some improvements in this area were observed in 2001. In
December, the government announced the lifting of official press
censorship on all newspapers, and internal security censors were no longer
stationed in publishing houses to approve copies of articles, Monday's
report stated.

However, the Press Council continued to have the authority to suspend
publications that contained articles considered objectionable by the
government, it added. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=24030]

SOMALIA: Opposition factions to join TNG in peace talks

The prime minister of Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG) has
expressed reservations over a decision by opposition groups to attend
Somali reconciliation talks in Kenya next month. "It is a welcome
development if it is genuine," Prime Minister Hasan Abshir Farah told IRIN
on Monday. "I don't, however, believe it is genuine".

At the end of three days of discussions in the Ethiopian town of Dire Dawa
towards the end of February, leaders of the opposition Somali
Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC) agreed to attend the peace
talks in Nairobi. According to the pro-Ethiopian government Walta
Information Centre, a press release issued by the SRRC said the Dire Dawa
meeting was briefed by a high-level Ethiopian delegation. "The Ethiopian
delegation underlined the imperative necessity of participating at the
upcoming national reconciliation conference," the press release said. The
delegation "further emphasised that there is no other option for all
Somali parties than to commit themselves to fighting terrorism and
establishing a broad-based and viable government for Somalia." [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23527]

Subsequently, on Thursday, 7 March, news organisations reported that Muse
Sudi Yalahow, a Mogadishu faction leader and one of the most ardent
opponents of the TNG, had said he would also attend the Nairobi talks. The
meeting will be convened by the regional body, Inter-Governmental
Authority on Development (IGAD), in late April. However, according to
Agence France Presse (AFP), Yalahow said he would only attend the
conference if there was prior consensus that no central government existed
in Somalia. The status of the TNG has been a bone of contention between
the interim authority and the faction leaders ever since its inception in
August 2000, in the Djibouti town of Arta. The TNG insists it is the
legitimate and internationally recognised government of Somalia, and has
declared its willingness to negotiate with those opposed to it.
Conversely, the faction leaders have always argued that the TNG should
come to the negotiating table as another faction. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=24032]

SOMALIA: Three suspects held in murder of aid worker

Police in Mogadishu have arrested three men suspected of involvement in
the murder two weeks ago of a Swiss aid worker in the town of Marka, a
police spokesman told IRIN on Monday. Colonel Muhammad Yusuf Madale said
the three suspects had been brought back to Mogadishu by investigators
sent by the TNG to Marka. "We believe that one of those in custody is the
gunman who pulled the trigger," he said. He said police were still looking
for another individual, who "could be the second gunman". Madale added
that police were also continuing with their investigations and were
"actively looking for other individuals who may have had a hand in the
murder". "Three senior CID [criminal investigations department] officers
are working round the clock to bring to book all those who were involved
in this, directly or indirectly," he added.

Seventy-year old Verena Karer, who arrived in Marka as a volunteer nurse
in 1993, at the height of the famine in Somalia, was murdered by gunmen on
22 February, in the compound of a secondary school she had built and
opened late last year. Karer, who was funded by 'New Way', a women's
organisation in Switzerland, was also running a primary school and a
clinic in the town.

SOMALIA: UN staff member freed

A national officer working for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the
Somali capital, Mogadishu, was released on Monday night after he was
kidnapped by gunmen last week, a UN official confirmed to IRIN. "We are
very happy he is out," Gianfranco Rotigliano, the UNICEF-Somalia
representative, said. "The whole UN team worked to get him released."

Ahmad Ma'alin Muhammad, better known as 'Dishapilin', was kidnapped by
four armed men in Medina, southwest Mogadishu, while he was walking to his
office on 28 February. He was released "at around 8:00 p.m. [1700 GMT]
last night", a humanitarian source in Mogadishu told IRIN on Tuesday.
According to the source, the kidnappers had demanded an unspecified
ransom. However, pressure was put on their clans to make sure they
released their captive unconditionally. "The TNG definitely pressured the
clans involved to get their boys to release the man," the source added.
Ahmad was released unharmed after four days in captivity. "I spoke with
him this morning and he is fine and in good humour," Rotigliano said.

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Mapping, demining urged after border ruling

Members of the UN Security Council have recommended that mapping and
demining should go ahead as soon as a ruling on the border between
Ethiopia and Eritrea is announced later. A report, issued by a high-level
Security Council mission which visited the two countries last month,
stressed the importance of the upcoming ruling by the international
Boundary Commission in The Hague. Ethiopia and Eritrea went to war in 1998
over a border dispute, and the ruling will delimit the common border,
ahead of the physical demarcation. "The Boundary Commission should, in
accordance with the Algiers [peace] Agreements, be encouraged to proceed
immediately, upon announcement of its delimitation decision, with the
necessary technical arrangements to establish an aerial photo map to be
used in the demarcation process," the report stated. "Once the Boundary
Commission has located the individual boundary pillars on the aerial photo
map, all demining required for demarcation should move forward without
delay."

Thousands of mines were laid during the two-year war, and although
demining activities are under way, many areas still remain heavily mined.
"The Boundary Commission should be encouraged to proceed with physical
demarcation on the ground immediately as stretches of the border are
declared mine-free," the report added. It also recommended that the
Security Council should look into how the UN peacekeeping mission in
Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) could play an "appropriate role" in the
demarcation process. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23721]

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Border ruling set for 13 April

The international ruling on border delimitation between Ethiopia and
Eritrea is to be announced on Saturday, 13 April. According to a statement
sent to both sides by the international Boundary Commission at The Hague,
the announcement is set for 10.30 am [local time] and should not take
longer than one hour. The decision was originally due to be announced at
the end of February, and was then postponed until the end of March for
"technical reasons". [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=24102]

DJIBOUTI: UN team arrives to assess environmental damage

A UN team has arrived in Djibouti to assess the environmental and
humanitarian situation at Djibouti port, where a toxic pesticide began
leaking out of shipping containers in January. The Djibouti authorities on
Tuesday announced that the situation had been "brought under control",
according to the Djibouti news agency (ADI). Environment Minister Abdallah
Abdillahi Miguil told a news conference there had been a phased approach
to try and contain the situation. "The first phase is an emergency phase
and it is almost over," he said. "The second phase, which has not yet
begun, is linked to an appeal we issued to friendly countries, as well as
international and regional organisations, to help us with the expertise
and the finances to tackle the pollution."

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) announced last month that
10 shipping containers in Djibouti port were leaking a toxic pesticide -
chromated copper arsenate - which was causing serious health and
environmental problems. The pesticide is used primarily as a wood
preservative and is carcinogenic. According to the FAO, over 200 mt of the
chemical were shipped from Britain for onward delivery to the Ethiopian
Power Corporation. An FAO expert, Kevin Helps, said all previous shipments
of the chemical had used steel drums, but this time plastic containers
were used. "There is no doubt that the incorrect handling of the chemical
has exposed many workers to unacceptable levels of this toxic material,"
Helps said.

Vladimir Sakharov, who is the deputy chief of UN-OCHA's emergency services
branch and heads the environmental services section, said a UN Disaster
Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team had just arrived in Djibouti at
the request of the government. "They will be working with the national
authorities and the UN on the ground to understand the situation," he told
IRIN on Wednesday. He described the situation as an emergency. "It is an
environmental and humanitarian disaster," he said, adding that a number of
people who had been affected by the toxic leak were undergoing hospital
treatment. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23876]


IRIN-CEA
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