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

Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 113
02 - 08 November 2002


CONTENTS:

HORN OF AFRICA: US planning anti-terror base
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Border talks held in London
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: New UN force commander urges impartiality
ETHIOPIA: "Incompetent" Addis city council dissolved
ETHIOPIA: Anti-AIDS taskforce criticised
ETHIOPIA: Local NGO closed down by authorities
ETHIOPIA: Drought stimulates outbreaks of violence
SOMALIA: Peace talks deadlocked
SOMALIA: Factions protest against representation at peace talks

ALSO SEE:

ERITREA: Feature - Fear of hunger sets in at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30776

ETHIOPIA: Feature - Economic growth still beset by obstacles at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30780

ETHIOPIA: Interview with British MP Tony Baldry at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30754

ETHIOPIA: Focus on land reform at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30817

SUDAN: Interview with CARE officials Howard Bell and Peter Bell at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30760

HORN OF AFRICA: US planning anti-terror base

The US is planning to set up an anti-terrorist headquarters in the Horn of
Africa, the US embassy in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, has
confirmed. Some 400 troops are to be sent in to Djibouti to set up the HQ.
The Horn of Africa has increasingly become a focus in the American global
war on terror and its hunt for suspected Al-Qaeda members and their
sympathisers. At present there are some 800 US army and Special Forces
troops already stationed in Djibouti. But the embassy said that the troops
could "stage attacks against fighters of Al-Qaeda who are believed to be
hiding throughout the region". The new base is expected to operate from a
naval command ship off the coast, but may then move onshore. It is also
expected to work with "friendly nations" in the region to help in the
fight against global terrorism. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30753]

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Border talks held in London

Crucial talks to iron out the final phase of the peace process between
Ethiopia and Eritrea have been held in London this week. The three-day
meeting - hosted by the independent Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission -
aimed to thrash out final details on border demarcation. The talks were
expected to address where the complex physical demarcation of the 1,000-km
border would actually start, informed sources said. Other probable issues
on the agenda included discussion on the transfer of land between the two
countries, following the Commission's 13 April border ruling. UN
peacekeepers are due to de-mine areas where border posts will be placed
marking out the new boundary. The area has already been photographed from
the air and mapped. But the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has
said it could take at least another six months before demarcation begins -
around April 2003.

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: New UN force commander urges impartiality

The UN's new military commander in Ethiopia and Eritrea has called on his
troops to remain "impartial" during their peacekeeping mission. British
Maj-Gen Robert Gordon, the new UNMEE force commander, told the
4,200-strong Blue Helmets not to shy away from their role as independent
peacekeepers. "I know impartiality is not easy, it requires good training,
tough choices and moral courage, he said during a handover ceremony in the
Eritrean capital, Asmara. "Nevertheless do not shrink from your
responsibilities as peacekeepers." Gordon's comments came as he took over
the peacekeeping mission from the outgoing force commander, Maj-Gen
Patrick Cammaert of the Netherlands. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30734]

ETHIOPIA: "Incompetent" Addis city council dissolved

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has dissolved the entire Addis Ababa city
council for incompetence, and replaced it with a caretaker administration.
The move follows increasing criticism of the city's ruling authority,
which caters for around three million people. Elections for a new
administration are expected to be held in three years. The caretaker
administration will run day-to-day activities until then. The new
transitional authority will be made up of 20 officials drawn from the four
party ruling coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic
Front. The move comes as part of the "renewal" process - which plays a
crucial part in EPRDF politics - whereby officials face public
denouncement and criticism from their colleagues. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30782]

ETHIOPIA: Anti-AIDS taskforce criticised

Ethiopia's anti-AIDS taskforce came under fire on Wednesday for failing to
fund projects aimed at tackling the spread of the virus - despite a
three-year US $59 million loan from the World Bank. Dr Yigeremu Abebe, a
board member of the Executive Committee of the taskforce, told IRIN the
bank loan should have been ploughed into anti-AIDS projects. The National
HIV/AIDS Secretariat has spent just one fifth of the funds in the last two
years despite the pandemic sweeping the Horn of Africa country. And fears
are now mounting that if the task force does not spend the money, it will
not be able to access a US $500 million anti-AIDS grant to Africa by the
World Bank. "It is surprising that only 20 percent of the money has been
spent given the scale of the problem in the country," Dr Yigeremu told
IRIN. [Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30779]

ETHIOPIA: Local NGO closed down by authorities

A local NGO has been closed and its director jailed after being accused of
corruption, sources told IRIN on Friday. Mahmud Abdi Ahmad, the head of
the Ogaden Welfare Society (OWS), was arrested and being held in the
federal jail in Jijiga, sources close to the case said. The charity, along
with another local NGO, Guardian, had been at the centre of a row with the
Ethiopian government after being accused of "threatening national
security". Their offices in the Somali Regional State were raided by
police in May and closed down after being banned from operating by the
justice ministry. After initially winning the right to continue operating,
pending a court case, the OWS was eventually banned from operating in
August. Mahmud was arrested a month later. An appeal by the OWS has now
been lodged with the High Court, but no date has been set for the hearing.
[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30833]

ETHIOPIA: Drought stimulates outbreaks of violence

At least 20 women have been shot dead in northeastern Ethiopia,
humanitarian sources told IRIN on Friday. The women, all ethnic Afars,
were killed as they were on their way home from a market, the sources
confirmed. The shooting, which took place in late October, is believed to
be part of increasing tensions in the Afar Regional State sparked by a
severe drought affecting many parts of the country.

Fierce clashes have occurred in Afar, particularly in Zone Five, between
ethnic Afars and Issas competing for scare water resources. "If the
[current] conditions continue, tensions will only increase," one source
told IRIN. "Depending on the drought and the rains, if you can't move
freely it's going to heat up. There is a drought and there is a lot of
fighting." Regional government officials have been in talks with the Issas
in an effort to resolve the tensions and calm the situation.

SOMALIA: Peace talks deadlocked

The Somali peace talks, under way in the Kenyan town of Eldoret, are
deadlocked over representation in the various committees being set up to
discuss the establishment of an all-inclusive government, sources close to
the talks told IRIN on Tuesday. Members of the leaders' committee
(comprising representatives of faction leaders, the Transitional National
Government [TNG] and five members from civil society), which met on
Monday, failed to agree on the number of participants each group would be
allocated in the various committees, the sources said. In an attempt to
break the impasse, the mediating Inter-Governmental Authority on
Development's (IGAD) technical committee and the Kenyan special envoy,
Elijah Mwangale, were meeting members of the leaders' committee
individually on Tuesday. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30757; also see:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30815]

SOMALIA: Factions protest against representation at peace talks

The leaders of eight factions have sent a letter of protest to the
organisers of the peace conference in Eldoret, according to one of the
leaders. Muhammad Qanyare Afrah, one of the most important faction leaders
in Mogadishu, told IRIN on Friday that the faction leaders were protesting
against the way the conference was being conducted by the organisers, "and
the arbitrary manner by which the number of delegates was reduced, which
favoured one particular group at the conference". The organisers reduced
the number of delegates from over 700 to 362 after the groups failed to
agree on the issue, a source close to the talks told IRIN. Qanyare said
the way the reduction was effected and the remaining seats distributed
among the Somali groups "doesn't lead to a balanced participation and is
likely to lead to the conference's failure". [Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=30832]


IRIN-CEA
Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
Email: IRIN@ocha.unon.org

[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or to
change your keywords, contact e-mail: IRIN@ocha.unon.org or Web:
http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this
item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2002


distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International Disaster Information
Volunteers in Technical Assistance
                                          web: www.cidi.org
                                     listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Horn of Africa                   www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/hafrica