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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 110
12 - 18 October 2002


CONTENTS:

HORN OF AFRICA: Warning of massive humanitarian crisis
HORN OF AFRICA: Ethiopian, Sudanese leaders in Yemen for talks
SUDAN: Truce agreement signed
SUDAN: Row breaks out over terms of temporary truce
SOMALIA: Peace talks under way in Kenya
SOMALIA: Cautious optimism as peace talks enter second day
SOMALIA: Peace talks will not fail, says mediator
SOMALIA: UN to step up support if security improves
ETHIOPIA: Premier pledges action on rights abuses
ETHIOPIA: Purge in coalition party
ETHIOPIA: International and Ethiopian Red Cross launch drought relief effort
ETHIOPIA: Concern over number of children dying before five

ALSO SEE:

SOMALIA: Chronology of events leading to peace talks at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30387

ETHIOPIA: Interview with top athlete Haile Gebreselassie at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30437

ETHIOPIA: Focus on trafficking in women at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30386

ETHIOPIA: Interview with outgoing German ambassador Herbert Honsowitz at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30443

HORN OF AFRICA: Warning of massive humanitarian crisis

Up to 15 million people in Ethiopia and Eritrea could face famine
conditions in the coming months, spelling a massive crisis for Africa, a
senior UN relief official warned on Monday. Speaking in New York on his
return from a visit to the Horn of Africa, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator
Kenzo Oshima said this figure, combined with 14 million people in southern
Africa facing hunger and food shortages, was "quite an enormous number".
"The magnitude of the financial and logistical requirements of these two
emergencies combined will present an enormous challenge in the coming
months in Africa," he said. Oshima said that Ethiopia and Eritrea had once
again been struck by serious drought, leading to enormous humanitarian
needs this year. "It will lessen next year, [but] if the worst-case
scenario prevails, we may be having a humanitarian crisis similar to the
scale of the disaster we are now witnessing right now in southern Africa,"
he warned. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30411]

HORN OF AFRICA: Ethiopian, Sudanese leaders in Yemen for talks

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Sudanese President Umar
al-Bashir have flown into Yemen for talks on the Horn of Africa,
diplomatic sources told IRIN on Monday. The pair are due to meet Yemeni
President Ali Abdallah Salih for discussions on wide-ranging issues,
including the situations in Somalia and Eritrea, the source said. The move
comes amid increasing tensions between Sudan and Eritrea, after Khartoum
accused Asmara of involvement in rebel attacks in eastern Sudan recently.
Eritrea has strongly denied the allegations, and urged the Arab League to
intervene and help heal the rift with Sudan. In an interview with Eritrean
radio and television on Sunday, President Isayas Afewerki said Sudan and
Yemen were trying to "besiege" Eritrea, but their attempts "showed nothing
but their weaknesses, and would wear out in time". [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30385]

SUDAN: Truce agreement signed

Sudanese rebels said on Tuesday they had signed a truce agreement with the
government of Sudan for the duration of peace talks due to start on
Wednesday in Machakos, Kenya. Samson Kwaje, spokesman for the rebel Sudan
People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) told IRIN that the signed
memorandum committed both parties to cease hostilities throughout Sudan
for the duration of the talks, and to ensure a military stand-down of
their respective forces "including allied forces and affiliated militia".
Both sides would send messages to their respective forces, which would
come into effect at midday on Thursday, he said. The text of the agreement
also committed both sides to maintaining a "conducive atmosphere"
throughout the negotiations until "all outstanding issues in the conflict
were resolved", he said. This is the first politically motivated ceasefire
agreement signed between the government and rebels in 19 years of civil
war.

SUDAN: Row breaks out over terms of temporary truce

A row between Sudan's warring parties over the terms of the temporary
ceasefire has plunged the Sudanese peace talks into uncertainty. The row
began on Thursday when the SPLM/A claimed that the Sudanese government had
violated the ceasefire only 10 minutes after midday, local time, when it
became effective. Kwaje, the SPLM/A spokesman, confirmed the fighting,
which had taken place in the east and lasted three hours, as Sudanese
troops attempted to recapture significant towns the Eritrean-based
opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) - of which SPLM/A is the
biggest component - seized on 3 October. "Of course our forces will fight
back. But we can't say now how this will affect the talks. We will examine
[the matter] case by case," he said. Khartoum has not officially responded
to the charge, but has insisted that the fighting in in the eastern part
of the country was a result of Eritrean aggression, and was not covered by
the temporary ceasefire it signed with SPLM/A.
[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30495]

SOMALIA: Peace talks under way in Kenya

Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi on Tuesday opened the much-postponed
Somali national reconciliation conference in the Kenyan town of Eldoret,
and urged delegates to make it the last.  His plea was echoed by regional
heads of state and government, as well as high-level representatives of
the international community. The conference is taking place under the
auspices of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development
(IGAD). All IGAD member states are present, with Ethiopia represented by
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Uganda by President Yoweri Museveni, Sudan by
President Umar al-Bashir, and Djibouti and Eritrea by their foreign and
agriculture ministers respectively. Delegates already present in Eldoret
include a large delegation of the Mogadishu-based Transitional National
Government (TNG), led by Prime Minister Hasan Abshir Farah, and a
delegation led by Puntland leader Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmad. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30421]

SOMALIA: Cautious optimism as peace talks enter second day

More participants on Wednesday joined Somali peace talks in the western
Kenyan town of Eldoret, raising hopes that the conference could achieve
real progress. "For the first time since these meetings have been taking
place, we have virtually everyone together, and this augurs well," Kenyan
Foreign Minister Marsden Madoka told delegates. "Those who are not yet
here are on their way." Delegations in Eldoret include the TNG, the
self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, the opposition Somali
Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), the Kismayo-based Juba
Valley Alliance and several Mogadishu warlords. Notable faction leaders
present include Husayn Muhammad Aydid (SRRC) and Muse Sudi Yalahow
(Mogadishu). "The outcome of the conference depends on the participants,"
TNG Prime Minister Hassan Abshir Farah told IRIN. "So if the Somali
warlords come like us in goodwill and readiness, I'm sure the result will
be very outstanding and we will establish a broad-based government."
[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30441]

SOMALIA: Peace talks will not fail, says mediator

The Kenyan special envoy for Somalia, Elijah Mwangale, on Wednesday
expressed confidence that the current Somali peace talks would succeed,
and could make progress fast. He said this was because the international
community and the region were united in exerting pressure for success, and
because all the major players in the Somali conflict were present.
Hundreds of Somali delegates have arrived for the conference, which began
on Tuesday in the Kenyan town of Eldoret. Addressing a press conference
there, Mwangale said the number of people attending the conference was
"way beyond our expectation", and that the "key military stakeholders" in
Somalia were all present. "We have literally everybody," he told
reporters. "I can tell you that there is nobody who has not arrived or is
not arriving. In other words, this conference will be completely different
from the other conferences that we've had before on Somalia."

SOMALIA: UN to step up support if security improves

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said the UN will step up its
humanitarian and development assistance to Somalia if the Somali parties
ensure access and the safety of humanitarian workers. "The United Nations
will do all it can to help the people of Somalia heal the wounds of
conflict, including through the development of a post-conflict
peace-building mission when security conditions permit," Annan said in a
statement read out on his behalf at the Somali National Reconciliation
Conference. While congratulating the efforts of IGAD, Annan said no amount
of goodwill, support and assistance could bring peace to Somalia. "Only
Somalia's leaders can decide to end the suffering of their people, and
only they can decide to negotiate an end to the conflict," he said. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30439]

ETHIOPIA: Premier pledges action on rights abuses

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has pledged to crack down on human rights
abuses such as those which left at least 100 people dead in two separate
shooting incidents earlier this year. He said the government would take
action against regional officials who may have been implicated in the
killings. "Stern measures will be taken against all forms of violations of
human rights and tendencies of taking the law into one's own hands, like
the incidents witnessed in various parts of the country last year," he
said. "Perpetrators of the incidents in the Southern Nations,
Nationalities and People's [Regional] State will in this regard be dealt
with seriously based on the rule of law," Meles said. "The necessary
measures shall be taken based on the provisions of the constitution,
including against regional states, should they choose to protect and
defend such criminals." The prime minister also warned that political
parties would not be able to hide behind their membership of the ruling
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front.

ETHIOPIA: Purge in coalition party

One of the ruling coalition parties in Ethiopia - the Southern Ethiopian
People's Democratic Front (SEPDF) - has replaced its chairman and purged
more than 30 members in a bid to wipe out corruption. However, opposition
groups claimed the purge was an attempt to rid the SEPDF of links to
violence in the towns of Awasa and Tepi earlier this year, in which more
than 100 people were killed. Haile Mariam Desalegn, who has been appointed
the new chairman of the SEPDF, is already the president of the Southern
Nations and Nationalities People’s Regional State. The former president,
Dr Kasu Ilala, is said to have stood down because of his busy timetable.
Dr Beyene Petros from the opposition group, Council of Alternative Forces
for Peace and Democracy, said the changes were aimed at political rivals.
"They are retaining people who are strongly implicated in the shootings
which occurred in Awasa and Tepi," he told IRIN. "All the SEPDF is doing
is creating scapegoats."
[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30416]

ETHIOPIA: "Huge food gap" reported in north

Inadequate food distributions in northern Ethiopia have left more than a
million people facing a "huge food gap", a report warned on Monday. The
joint report by the UN Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia and the US Agency for
International Development said supplies to both the Amhara and Tigray
regions were woefully short of the needs required. In Amhara some
1,325,000 people needed food aid, but only 7,000 mt is available for
560,000 people. In Tigray, a third of the 836,000 people in need of food
aid have been sent supplies. Poor rains earlier in the year and a
"massive" shift by farmers to short cycle crops will hit the overall
production in the region, the report warned. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30395]

ETHIOPIA: International and Ethiopian Red Cross launch drought relief
effort

The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Ethiopian Red Cross
Society have warned that ethnic conflict is exacerbating the effects of
drought in the country. In a joint statement sent to IRIN on Thursday,
they said that the ability to cope with the severe conditions arising from
the drought had been weakened because of tribal violence in eastern
Ethiopia. They had launched a massive relief effort to provide 100,000
people in some of the worst-affected areas hit by the drought with
emergency food assistance. They were mainly targeting pastoralists living
in villages in Afar Regional State and in the Shinile Zone of the Somali
Regional State, the statement said. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30473]

ETHIOPIA: Concern over number of children dying before five

Half a million children under the age of five die each year in Ethiopia
because of illnesses such as malaria and measles, as well as pneumonia,
diarrhoea, and malnutrition. Deputy Health Minister Dr Demissie Tadesse
said three out four children taken to a health centre suffered from at
least one of the illnesses. Speaking at a conference on the Integrated
Management of Childhood Diseases , he said that in Ethiopia around 140
children out of every 1,000 would die before reaching their fifth
birthday. "More than 70 percent of these child deaths are due to five
diseases namely pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, measles and malnutrition
and often to a combination of these conditions and HIV/AIDS," he said.
[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30436]


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