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 135
05 - 11 April 2003


CONTENTS:

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Eritrean refugees to be moved from border area
ETHIOPIA: Over 1,000 "unlawful killings" last year, US says
ETHIOPIA: UNICEF warns of social services collapse due to AIDS
ETHIOPIA: Major resettlement programme underway in north
ERITREA: US says human rights worsened, prominent detainee reportedly
  freed
ERITREA: Isayas visits US warship
DJIBOUTI: Rights record poor, says US
SOMALIA: Puntland warns of drought
SOMALIA: Somaliland warns of water and food shortages
SOMALIA: No elections in disputed regions, Puntland says
SUDAN: Consensus regarding reconstruction
SUDAN: Government accused of Darfur attacks
SUDAN: Plea to include disputed regions in peace talks


ALSO SEE:

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Feature - Peacekeepers winning hearts and minds at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33333

ETHIOPIA: Feature - Hope for border business boom at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33316


ETHIOPIA: Eritrean refugees to be moved from border area

Thousands of Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia are to be moved away from the
border area which separates the two countries, the UN told IRIN on
Thursday. The move follows increasing calls that the refugees, who fled
Eritrea during the bitter two-year border war, should be moved from the
Wa'ala Nihibi camp - some 20 km from the existing border - for their
“protection and emotional safety". Furthermore, a fire recently swept
through the camp, which is near Shiraro in western Tigray, destroying
around 256 huts that were housing the Eritreans. Wa’ala Nihibi falls in
one of the most hotly contested border areas: the Yirga Triangle – the
flashpoint of the two-year border war. The camp is home to around 4,000
ethnic Kunama and over 1,000 other Eritreans. The UN’s Emergencies Unit
for Ethiopia (EUE) has called for relocating the refugees to a better site
with improved facilities. It also called for new clothing be handed to the
refugees, as some are ex-fighters from the Eritrean armed forces and are
still dressed in their combat clothes. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33405]

ETHIOPIA: Over 1,000 "unlawful killings" last year, US says

More than 1,000 people were victims of “unlawful killings” in Ethiopia
last year – many at the hands of the security forces, according to the US
State Department. In an annual report, released by the Bureau of
Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, the US also criticised the Ethiopian
government’s human rights record. “The government's human rights record
remained poor. Although there were some improvements in a few areas,
serious problems remained,” said the report for 2002. “The security forces
committed many unlawful killings, including some alleged political
killings during the year,” added the report, which was released at the end
of March. It continued: “The number of unlawful killings during the year
was estimated to be between 1,000 and 1,500. There continued to be
numerous unconfirmed reports of unlawful killings by government security
forces from Oromiya and the Somali regions.” Information Minister Bereket
Simon acknowledged there had been serious problems in isolated regions of
Ethiopia, but said the government was cracking down on rights abuses.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33398]

ETHIOPIA: UNICEF warns of social services collapse due to AIDS

Ethiopia will face a collapse in “social services, governance and safety
nets” within a decade because of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the UN Children’s
Fund (UNICEF) has warned. Traditional ways of coping with orphans by
integrating children into extended families are being eroded because of
the scale of the crisis, UNICEF head for Ethiopia Bjorn Ljungqvist said.
Ljungqvist spoke out on Tuesday at an HIV/AIDS orphans conference in Addis
Ababa, which is being held in conjunction with the ministry of labour and
social affairs. He told delegates at the two-day conference that eastern
and southern Africa is facing an explosion in children orphaned by the
virus – but added that it can be tackled. There are some 13 million AIDS
orphans in the world, and 12 million of those are in sub-Saharan Africa.
Around one million children have been orphaned in Ethiopia. “This rapid
increase of children orphaned or made vulnerable because of HIV/AIDS is
affecting the traditional ways of caring and protecting children who have
lost their parents,” Ljungqvist said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33395]

ETHIOPIA: Major resettlement programme underway in north

A major resettlement programme for thousands of people is underway in
northern Ethiopia, despite a warning that facilities like water and health
supplies are not in place. Some 75,000 people are expected to be moved
from central Tigray to western areas of the region within the next five
months. Several thousand started moving in late February. But according to
the UN’s Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia (EUE), local officials in charge of
the resettlement are cautioning that supplies are not ready for the move.
“For the new resettlement programme to be undertaken in West Tigray Zone,
resettlement sites have already been selected,” the EUE said.
“Nevertheless zonal officials reported gaps in the present resettlement
programme such as lack of roof thatching materials for new houses,
inadequate water supply and health posts, and shortage of food that should
be supplied to the new settlers until they bring in their own first
harvest," it said.  “Despite these gaps, reportedly, mobilisation of the
people started end of February 2003,” the EUE added in a recent report on
the region. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33302]
 
ERITREA: US says human rights worsened, prominent detainee reportedly
freed

The Eritrean government's "poor" human rights record worsened last year
and it continued to commit "serious abuses", according to the US State
Department's latest report on the situation in the country. "Arbitrary
arrests and detentions continued to be problems," it said, noting that an
unknown number of people were detained without charge and some were held
incommunicado. Eleven top government officials and liberation war
veterans, part of a group known as the G-15 who were rounded up for
criticising the government in 2001, were still under arrest and their
whereabouts were unknown, said the report which covered events in 2002. It
added that in the course of last year, relatives of the G-15 were
arbitrarily arrested, as were a number of diplomats who were recalled from
their posts. "At least four of these detainees, in addition to many
detained in previous years, remained in prison without charges at the
year's end," it stated. The report also noted that government informers
were present throughout the country and there were reports that telephone
calls and e-mails were being monitored. [full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33396]

ERITREA: Isayas visits US warship

Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki has become the first head of state from
the Horn of Africa to visit the operational headquarters of the Combined
Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) aboard the USS Mount Whitney,
according to a press statement from the CJTF-HOA. It said the Eritrean
delegation, which included Defence Minister Gen Sebhat Ephrem, Foreign
Minister Ali Sayyid Abdallah and other senior government and military
officials, was hosted by the CJTF-HOA commander, Maj-Gen John F. Sattler.
The two sides discussed a number of topics, "primarily focusing on the
CJTF-HOA mission to detect, disrupt and defeat transnational terrorist
groups in the Horn of Africa region". During the meeting, held last week,
Isayas and Sattler and expressed readiness for cooperation "in the areas
of security, information sharing, commitment to defeating terrorism and
establishing conditions necessary for long-term stability throughout the
Horn of Africa region", said the statement. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33311]

DJIBOUTI: Rights record poor, says US

The Djibouti government's human rights record last year was poor and
"serious problems remained", according to the US State Department's annual
report. The report, covering 2002, said the ruling People's Rally for
Progress had continued to dominate the political system and suppress
organised opposition. Other human rights violations included the arbitrary
or unlawful deprivation of life by the government or its agents. The
report pointed out that country's judiciary was not independent and did
not provide citizens with due process. The government had infringed on
privacy rights, limited freedom of assembly and restricted freedom of
association, it added. The government had also remained "antagonistic" to
the formation of human rights groups. Violence against women had
persisted, "and, although the government prohibited such practices, the
practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) continued to be widespread".  
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33399]

SOMALIA: Puntland warns of drought

Parts of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland are facing
serious water shortages, Puntland's acting information minister,
Abdishakur Mire Adan, told IRIN on Thursday. He said the problem is most
acute in the regions of Sool and Sanaag, which are claimed by both
Puntland and the neighbouring self-declared republic of Somaliland. Also
seriously affected by are the districts of Bargal, Iskushuban, Qandala,
Alula, Badar Beyla and Qardo, all of Bari Region, and parts of Nugal
Region, said Abdishakur. "We have had very little rain in the Gu season
[April-June] so far and the delay of Gu season has exacerbated an already
bad situation." He said the Puntland administration had dispatched fuel to
some of the most seriously affected districts in Sanaag to help in the
trucking of water. Abdishakur told IRIN that the Puntland authorities "do
not have the wherewithal" to deal with the situation, and they had called
on international aid agencies to intervene before the situation
deteriorated even further. He said the first priority was to deliver water
to affected areas and to distribute food to those who had lost their
livestock. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33407]

SOMALIA: Somaliland warns of water and food shortages

Almost all parts of the self-declared republic of Somaliland are facing
serious water and food shortages, according to its minister of pastoral
development and environment, Muhammad Muse Awale. The problem is most
acute in the eastern regions of Togdheer, Sanaag and the Hawd. "We had
very little rain in the Gu season [April-June] and we have had even
smaller Deyr rains [October-November] so far," he told IRIN on Wednesday.
Awale, who heads the newly created inter-ministerial Committee for
National Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation, warned that if there were
no rains in the next two to three weeks, "we will have a disaster on our
hands". The livelihood of most of the population of Somaliland, like the
rest of Somalia, revolves around livestock, and "livestock has already
started dying", he said. He added that the Somaliland administration was
calling on the international community to assist before the situation
turned into a catastrophe. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33374]

SOMALIA: No elections in disputed regions, Puntland says

There will be no elections in the disputed regions of Sool and Sanaag when
Somaliland holds its presidential polls next week, according to the
neighbouring self-declared autonomous region of Puntland. Both the
self-declared republic of Somaliland and Puntland claim the regions, which
geographically fall within the borders of the former British Somaliland,
but where the majority of the clans inhabiting them are associated with
Puntland. "There is no way that elections will take place in Sool and
Sanaag," Isma'il Warsame, the chief of cabinet of Puntland's president,
Col Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmad, told IRIN. He said the people of the area did
not want the elections, so "their wishes must be respected". "The people
of these regions have decided that their destiny is with Puntland and not
with Somaliland," he added. He warned that any attempt to bring election
materials to Sool and Sanaag would be regarded as "a hostile act against
Puntland". Garad Abdullahi Ali Id, a Sanaag traditional elder told IRIN
that the people of Sool and Sanaag were Harti - a Darod subclan - and
“therefore are part of Puntland, and do not want to be a part of the
so-called Somaliland”. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33338]

SUDAN: Consensus regarding reconstruction

There was "considerable consensus" at a donor conference, held in the
Netherlands last week, on how to begin reconstructing Sudan following a
definitive peace agreement, according to Dutch Development Minister Agnes
van Ardenne. "The Sudanese delegations showed that as far as substantive
issues, priority setting and timing are concerned, differences are small
and will be easy to resolve," she said in a statement. "The participation
of the government of Sudan and the [rebel] Sudan People's Liberation
Movement (SPLM) was of great importance," she said, adding it was the
first time both sides had participated in such a meeting. Sudanese foreign
ministry official Dr Mutrif Siddiq told IRIN that the participants had
agreed on a "quick impact" programme for the first six months of the
transitional period. This would "reassure Sudanese, especially those
affected by the war, that the international community is supporting them",
he said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33367]

SUDAN: Government accused of Darfur attacks

The Sudanese government has been accused of stepping up attacks against
indigenous communities in Darfur, western Sudan, as part of its response
to the recent formation of a new armed movement. According to Muhammad
Adam Yahya, chairman of the US-based Masalit Community in Exile, the
attacks include the killing last month of a prominent religious leader of
the indigenous Masalit community. In a statement, Yahya claimed
government-sponsored Arab militias opened fire on Shaykh Salih Dakoro and
four of his companions while travelling to West Darfur. He further accused
the Khartoum government of exploiting the international focus on the
current conflict in Iraq to escalate human rights abuses in western Sudan,
an area not covered by the ceasefire between the government and rebel
Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). "In the past few months,
the Sudanese government security forces and Arab militias have
dramatically increased attacks against leaders of Masalit, Fur, Zaghawah,
Tama and other non-Arab groups in Western Sudan," the statement said. The
new rebel movement in Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A),
was formed early this year. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33340]

SUDAN: Plea to include disputed regions in peace talks

Mediators in the ongoing peace talks between the Sudanese government and
rebels have been urged to include three disputed regions if any lasting
solution to the country's long-running conflict is to be reached. The
contested areas of Abyei, Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile do not
fall within the geographical definition of southern Sudan, but the
indigenous people have historically been identified with the rebel Sudan
People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). In an analytical paper, two
independent Sudan researchers - Justin Corbett and Paul Murphy - said the
ongoing peace process must focus on these areas where the indigenous
population have "similar legitimate grievances", which are grounded in
"clear historic realities". "All evidence suggests that the people will
continue to resist and fight unless their demand for the right to decide
on their future is accommodated within the wider IGAD [regional
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development] framework for peace," the
report said. "Given the intensity of resistance to date, there is every
reason to predict that this will destabilise any wider peace agreements in
the country." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33332]

SUDAN: Monitoring team grounded for a month

The Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT), which was established
under the framework of the Sudanese peace process to monitor attacks on
civilians, says it has been grounded since 7 March and therefore unable to
conduct any investigations. "There is a lack of agreement between the
government of Sudan and the team on their responsibilities," CPMT Director
of Operations Laney Pankey told IRIN on Monday. Since 7 March the two
teams, located in Rhumbek and Khartoum, had only been able to conduct
administrative flights to deliver supplies or relocate personnel, he said.
"There have been no visits to sites to complete investigations and no new
investigations have been initiated." Normally, the CPMT would notify the
Sudanese foreign ministry of any planned investigations, which would then
inform a military intelligence division. Since 7 March, Sudanese military
intelligence had stopped processing the notifications which meant CPMT
teams were unable to travel, Pankey said. "They [military] are supposed to
provide security protection and acknowledge what we are going to do," he
added. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33300]


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003


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