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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 111
19 - 25 October 2002


CONTENTS:

U N I T E D  N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network

HORN OF AFRICA: IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 111 for 19 - 25 October 2002

CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Tension reported at peace conference
SOMALIA: MSF condemns attack on clinic
ETHIOPIA: Conference discusses trafficking of women
ETHIOPIA: Thousands of drought-stricken people invade national park
ERITREA: Opposition alliance establishes leadership, vows to topple Isayas
ERITREA: Govt protests over "mass arrest" of Eritreans in Sudan
ERITREA: US denies trying to overthrow government
ERITREA: US accused of "unwarranted intervention"
ERITREA-SUDAN: Khartoum's accusations "pretext" for scuttling talks
SUDAN: Bush signs 'Peace Act'


ALSO SEE:

SOMALIA: Feature - Peace talks: the alternative voice at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30560

SOMALIA: Interview with Barre Adan Shire, chairman of the Juba Valley
Alliance (JVA)at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30536



SOMALIA: Tension reported at peace conference

Tension is said to be rising at the Somali national reconciliation
conference in the Kenyan town of Eldoret as differences emerge between
civil society organisations and leaders of the political groups, a source
at the talks told IRIN on Thursday. After days of inactivity, Somali
political leaders have asked the mediating team from the regional
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to give them some time
alone. "The leaders asked for a chance to meet alone, as Somali leaders,
to discuss amongst themselves," said the source. The leaders reportedly
met "from 11:00 a.m. till 8:00 p.m. [on Wednesday], breaking only for
lunch". Civil society groups have complained that the organising committee
has allowed faction leaders "to hijack the conference", a member of the
civil society told IRIN. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30578 . See also:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30537 ]


SOMALIA: MSF condemns attack on clinic

The international aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has
condemned an attack last week on one of its clinics in Adan Yabal in the
Middle Shabelle Region of central Somalia. It says it has suspended its
activities in the area. MSF spokesman Wyger Wentholt told IRIN that on
Saturday (19 October), "a number of armed men came into an MSF-run clinic
and opened fire, killing one patient and injuring two others - a patient
and a visitor." According to MSF, the patients had been brought to the
clinic the previous day after being wounded in a confrontation with a
rival militia. Somali sources told IRIN the fighting had been between the
Abgal subclans of the Warsangali and the Agon Yar. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30579 ]


ETHIOPIA: Conference discusses trafficking of women

Mass unemployment in Ethiopia is leading to an alarming rise in the
illegal trafficking of women, according to the Ministry of Labour and
Social Affairs. It said women were being forced to leave the country in
search of work, and often became victims of cruel employers. Labour and
Social Affairs Minister Hassen Abdella said the government would have to
overhaul the legal overseas employment agencies with the aim of rendering
them capable of protecting women’s rights. "Today, many Ethiopian women
who have migrated to the Middle East illicitly in search of employment are
deprived of their human rights and freedoms," he told a conference in the
Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. He went on to say that the women were
often "physically and psychologically tortured and murdered", describing
the situation as "increasingly alarming". [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30581 ]


ETHIOPIA: Thousands of drought-stricken people invade national park

Thousands of drought-stricken people have migrated into one of Ethiopia’s
most important national parks, threatening its ecosystem, the UN
Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia (EUE) has warned. It said the large numbers
of people entering the Bale Mountains National Park - and more are
arriving daily - could severely accelerate the deforestation of the area.
The park, in southern Ethiopia, is one of the most precious in the
country, being home to the Ethiopian wolf – one of the rarest animals in
the world, with only 500 still in existence. The warning comes as the UN’s
World Food Programme (WFP) said the severe drought hitting pockets of
Ethiopia was spreading to other regions. It said it had received "alarming
reports" of food shortages and failed rains in parts of the country. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30538 ]

ERITREA: Opposition alliance establishes leadership, vows to topple Isayas

Hiruy Tedla Bairu, the new secretary-general of an alliance of Eritrean
opposition forces, has said the aim is to set up a "democratically elected
administration" in Eritrea as soon as possible. "Our resolve is to remove
the dictatorship in Asmara in the shortest possible time with the least
possible damage and set up a democratically elected administration," he
told IRIN on Thursday, at the end of a conference convened by the Alliance
of Eritrean National Forces (AENF) in Addis Ababa. The conference, which
brought together some 14 opposition groups, also elected Abdella Idris -
leader of the Eritrean Liberation Front independence movement - as AENF
chairman.  [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30585 .
See also: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30535 ]

ERITREA: Govt protests over "mass arrest" of Eritreans in Sudan

The Eritrean government has protested to the Sudanese authorities over the
"mass arrests" of Eritrean citizens in the country. The Eritrean News
Agency (ERNA) quoted the foreign ministry as saying Sudanese security
forces on Monday "illegally entered" the compound of the Eritrean
Community Centre in Khartoum "and arrested many Eritreans, including two
members of the Eritrean embassy in Khartoum". "Apart from this, the
Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed that the government of the
Sudan has started mass arrests of innocent Eritreans all over the Sudan,"
the news agency said. The foreign ministry summoned the Sudanese
ambassador in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, and handed him an official
memorandum of protest, demanding the immediate release of all arrested
Eritreans. It also called on the Sudanese government "to refrain from such
irresponsible acts". [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30584 ]

ERITREA: US denies trying to overthrow government

The US on Monday dismissed allegations it had tried to overthrow the
government of Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki. On Friday, the Eritrean
government reacted strongly to a statement by the State Department last
week accusing it of human rights violations. A foreign ministry statement
said Eritrea "totally rejected" the remarks and accused the US of
"unwarranted intervention". It went on to claim that officials from the
previous US administration had, during the two-year border war with
Ethiopia, used the CIA to "unlawfully change the [Eritrean] government".
But State Department spokesman Richard Boucher denied the allegations. "We
have called on the government to change its ways, but no, we're not trying
to overthrow it," he told a press briefing on Monday. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30534 ]

ERITREA: US accused of "unwarranted intervention"

Eritrea has accused the US State Department of "unwarranted intervention"
after it questioned Asmara's human rights record. State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher last week recalled that two Eritrean employees
at the US embassy in Asmara had been held without charge for a year.
"The government of Eritrea should either release the two employees of the
US embassy in Asmara or grant them due process and an opportunity to
defend themselves in a fair and open trial," Boucher told a press
briefing. He also reminded journalists of last year's detention of 11
prominent Eritrean politicians "who had called for greater democracy", as
well as the arrest of journalists, a ban on the private media and new
restrictions on freedom of religion.  [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30514 ]

ERITREA-SUDAN: Khartoum's accusations "pretext" for scuttling talks

Eritrea on Monday again denied involvement in the fighting in eastern
Sudan, saying the Sudanese government was making such accusations as a
"pretext" to scuttle ongoing peace negotiations with Sudanese rebels. A
Sudanese government statement on Friday reiterated its commitment to a
cessation of hostilities agreement (Memorandum of Understanding) signed
with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) last week during
resumed peace talks in the Kenyan town of Machakos. But, it said, fighting
in the east, launched by "an unprovoked military attack by Eritrean
forces" in the Rasai area earlier this month, was not necessarily covered
by the Memorandum. The agreement "does not preclude the government of
Sudan's [right] to repulse the Eritrean aggression", the Sudanese
statement said. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30515 ]

SUDAN: Bush signs 'Peace Act'

US President George Bush has approved legislation calling for sanctions
against the Sudanese government if it fails to act in good faith during
negotiations with southern rebels. "The Government of Sudan must choose
between the path to peace and the path to continued war and destruction,"
Bush said in a statement released by the White House on Monday. The
legislation empowers the US administration to suspend diplomatic relations
with Khartoum, to oppose loans and assistance from international financial
organisations, to take steps to deny Sudan oil revenues, and to seek a UN
resolution for an arms embargo against the Sudanese government. If the
Sudanese government "makes the right choice, that course will mean
improvement in the lives of all Sudanese, better bilateral relations with
the United States, and the beginning of its reacceptance into the
community of peace-loving nations," Bush said. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30540 ]


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