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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 102
17 - 23 August 2002


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: UN concerned about humanitarian access
SOMALIA: IGAD ministers to meet on Somali peace process
SOMALIA: Reservations voiced about reconciliation conference
SOMALIA: Killing of traditional elder "unintentional"
ETHIOPIA: Officials arrested over rights violations
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Isayas pledges to free Ethiopian POWs
DJIBOUTI: Ship not a public health threat
SUDAN: Continuing conflict worsens malnutrition in the south
SUDAN: SPLM/A and Didinga community end long-standing dispute
SUDAN: House arrest of opposition leader extended

See also: SUDAN: Focus on Egyptian role in peace process:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29415

SOMALIA: UN concerned about humanitarian access

Humanitarian access to vulnerable communities caught up in recent conflict
is the UN's paramount concern in Somalia at present, Maxwell Gaylard, the
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, said at a press
briefing in Geneva. "In key locations throughout Somalia, factional armed
conflict is again on the rise at levels not seen in years," Gaylard was
quoted as saying in a press release issued on Thursday. Gaylard noted that
a crime wave - notably kidnapping - had rendered the UN's work in the
Somali capital, Mogadishu, difficult. In the past six months alone, three
UN national staff had been abducted and subsequently released. Heavy
fighting in the southwestern town of Baidoa between rival factions of the
Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA), which controls the area, had forced the
UN to temporarily evacuate its staff. At the same time, in the
southwestern region of Gedo, "the laying of landmines during clan fighting
has hampered access to parts of the drought-stricken region". [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29467]

SOMALIA: IGAD ministers to meet on Somali peace process

A meeting of the foreign ministers of Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya to
discuss the Somali peace process, originally fixed for 16 August, has now
been scheduled for the 23rd, a Kenyan official told IRIN. The three
countries have been mandated by the Inter-Governmental Authority on
Development (IGAD) to take the lead in preparing for the Somali
reconciliation conference, which is to be held in Kenya. An IGAD technical
committee completed its report last week, after ending a fact-finding
mission to Somalia, during which it held talks with the Transitional
National Government (TNG) and all other groups.  [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29428]

SOMALIA: Reservations voiced about reconciliation conference

Mogadishu-based faction leaders are having serious doubts about
participating in the Somali reconciliation conference due to be held next
month, one of them told IRIN on Tuesday. The conference, sponsored by the
IGAD, is scheduled to open in Eldoret, western Kenya, on 16 September.
Muhammad Qanyare Afrah, one of the most important faction leaders in
Mogadishu, speaking on-behalf of his counterparts Usman Hasan Ali Ato,
Umar Mahmud Finish, and Mawlid Ma'ane, said they had "serious
reservations" about the way the conveners were preparing for the
conference, including the fact that the faction leaders had not been
consulted. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29414]

SOMALIA: Killing of traditional elder "unintentional"

The killing of a traditional elder, who was also a UK passport holder, in
the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, was
accidental, Isma'il Warsame, chief of cabinet of the Puntland leader, Col
Abdullahi Yusuf, told IRIN on Monday. Sultan Ahmad Mahmud Muhammad, better
known as Sultan Hurreh, was killed on Saturday in the village of
Kala-Bayrkah, 50 km south of Garowe, the region's capital. According to
Isma'il, Sultan Hurreh, who had opposed Abdullahi Yusuf, was one of those
targeted for arrest by the Puntland security forces, "because of his
association with extremist elements". "He died in a shoot-out between his
guards and security forces, who were trying to apprehend him", he said.
"It was unintentional, and we regret that it happened", he added. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29400]

ETHIOPIA: Officials arrested over rights violations

At least 90 government officials of the Southern Nations, Nationalities
and Peoples' State (SNNPS) have been arrested by the state authorities in
the Sheko Zone for involvement in human rights violations and abuse of
office, a member of the Investigation and Peace Restoration Committee of
the SNNPS told IRIN. The zone was rocked by ethnic clashes between the
indigenous Sheko-Mezhenger and settler ethnic communities in March, in
which over 100 people were killed. The clashes reportedly broke out when
the Sheko-Mezhenger tried to dislodge other ethnic groups in an attempt to
take over the main town of Tepi, said the source. Those arrested include
41 policemen, 11 administrative officials and 39 militia, all from the
Sheko Zone, said Sahelu G. Wolde, the deputy head of the education bureau
of the SNNPS and a member of the Committee. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29433]

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Isayas pledges to free Ethiopian POWs

The Eritrean government has pledged to free some 300 Ethiopian prisoners
of war (POWs) captured during its border war with Ethiopia between 1998
and 2000, an official of the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) told IRIN on Thursday. Vincent Bernard, the ICRC communications
delegate, said the pledge was made by Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki
during a meeting with the visiting ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger on
Tuesday. The ICRC president went to Eritrea to raise unresolved issues of
humanitarian concern, "especially POWs and civilian internees", said
Bernard. The return of all POWs was part of the Algiers peace agreement,
signed on 12 December 2000 by the two Horn of Africa neighbours to end
their conflict. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29468]

DJIBOUTI: Ship not a public health threat

A Romanian ship carrying fertilisers which was allowed to dock at the
Djibouti port over the weekend does not pose a health hazard to the
country, a Djibouti port official told IRIN on Wednesday. The Sylvia, a
bulk carrier, docked at Djibouti after three members of its crew
reportedly died from inhaling toxic fumes. "The ship was allowed to dock
on humanitarian grounds, after three crew members died, and others were
taken ill," said Muhammad Abar, the Djibouti harbour master. The decision
had been reached following confirmation that "the problem was internal to
the ship and posed no risk to Djibouti", he added. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29432]

SUDAN: Continuing conflict worsens malnutrition in the south

Recent fighting between Sudanese government troops and forces of the rebel
Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in the oil rich regions
of southern Sudan, which has led to massive displacement, has further
undermined the already precarious food security situation and increased
rates of malnutrition in the area. The latest report by the US Agency for
International Development-funded Famine Early Warning System Networks
(FEWS Net) on southern Sudan has painted a gloomy picture of food
prospects there. The report, released on Tuesday, stated that the
situation was particularly adverse in the Jonglei and Upper Nile regions
due to continuing conflict, and was not expected to improve before the
September/October harvests. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29436]

SUDAN: SPLM/A and Didinga community end long-standing dispute

The SPLM/A, which controls much of southern Sudan has reached an agreement
with the Didinga people of the Equatoria region in the south to end their
long-standing bilateral conflict. A two-page declaration issued after a
"reconciliation and healing" conference between the Didinga and SPLM/A
held in Nakwatom between 8 and 12 August said about 170 delegates from the
local Didinga community, as well as from the neighbouring Toposa, Latuka
and Dinka communities, attended the conference, according to a statement
from the Kenya-based New Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC). Telar Deng, the
NSCC Peace and Advocacy Coordinator and main facilitator of the
conference, told IRIN on Tuesday that the declaration was a breakthrough,
because it had resolved a "problem that has existed for a long time". He
said a special committee had been set up to ensure the smooth
implementation of the declaration, which would be supervised by himself.
[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29416]

SUDAN: House arrest of opposition leader extended

Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir has extended the house arrest of the
opposition-leader, Hasan Abdullah al-Turabi, for one year. No trial has
taken place after 19 months in detention. "President Bashir, on the basis
of Article 132 of the Constitution and Article 15 of the Law on Emergency
and Public Security of 1998, has taken an extraordinary decision to extend
the detention of Hasan Abdullah al-Turabi, for a renewable period of one
year," AFP quoted the state-run Sudan News Agency as saying on Sunday.
[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29396]


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