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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 123
11 - 17 January 2003


CONTENTS:

HORN OF AFRICA: "Stage set for success" in counter-terrorism, US says
DJIBOUTI: Pro-presidential parties win poll
SOMALIA: Puntland to crack down on boat people
SOMALIA: Peace committees to conclude this month, says mediator
SOMALIA: Another faction leader leaves Eldoret
ETHIOPIA: Warning over high toll of AIDS orphans
ETHIOPIA: UN officials gain access to troubled camp
ETHIOPIA: Canada announces assistance


See also:

SOMALIA: Review of 2002 at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31758

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Review of peace process 2002 at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31759




HORN OF AFRICA: "Stage set for success" in counter-terrorism, US says

US military commanders have said counter-terrorism activities in the Horn
of Africa region over the last 30 days have "set the stage for success". A
spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF), Maj
Stephen Cox, told a telephone news briefing aboard the USS Mt Whitney in
the Gulf of Aden that the US was working with host nations to "deny the
re-emergence of terrorist cells and activities". Addressing the same
briefing, the force commander, Maj-Gen John Sattler, said areas under
particular scrutiny included Somalia and coastlines across the Gulf of
Aden. He stressed that the US was in a coalition with regional states.
"We're not just tracking al-Qaeda," he said. "Our mission is for all
transnational terrorism, regardless if it's individual, if it's sponsored
by an organisation like al-Qaeda or [if] it's even cells that we haven't
heard of." The US currently has some 900 military forces stationed in
Djibouti, and a further 400 aboard the USS Mt Whitney. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=31679 ]


DJIBOUTI: Pro-presidential parties win poll

The pro-presidential coalition in Djibouti has taken all 65 seats in the
national assembly, following the country's first full multi-party
elections held last week, according to official results. The announcement,
reported by the Djibouti news agency, was made by the country's Interior
Minister, Abdulkader Doualeh Wais, on Saturday. Parties supporting
President Omar Ismael Guelleh - grouped under the Union pour la majorite
presidentielle (UMP) - won 62.2 percent of the votes, against 36.9 percent
for the opposition in the country's five districts. This included the
northern district of Obock, considered an opposition stronghold.According
to Djibouti's electoral system, the party which wins the majority in a
constituency is awarded all the assembly seats.
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31682 ]


SOMALIA: Puntland to crack down on boat people

The authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland,
northeastern Somalia, on Thursday said they would crack down on people
trying to go to Yemen by boat. Colonel Abdirazaq Afgadud, the Bari region
(Bosaso area) police chief, told IRIN the decision comes after a boat
carrying 115 people sank off the coastline of Puntland earlier this month,
with most of the people feared dead. "Only 30 survived," he said. He said
the authorities were mounting a campaign to stop any boats leaving the
Puntland coast. "From now on we will do all in our power to stop these
boats," he said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31739 ]


SOMALIA: Peace committees to conclude this month, says mediator

Technical committees discussing core issues of the Somali conflict should
conclude their work this month, Kenya's special envoy for Somalia Elijah
Mwangale announced on Tuesday. This means that the power-sharing phase of
peace talks should start early next month, he told a news conference in
Nairobi. Mwangale is chairman of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority
on Development (IGAD) technical committee that is overseeing Somali peace
talks in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret. The talks, which began on 15
October last year, have been fraught with difficulties, notably over the
allocation of delegate seats. Somali leaders, who last week met the new
Kenyan foreign minister, Kalonzo Musyoka, have accused Mwangale of being
dictatorial. Mwangale was appointed by the previous Kenyan government
which lost power in the December elections. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=31702 ]


SOMALIA: Another faction leader leaves Eldoret

A prominent Mogadishu-based faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow left the
Eldoret peace talks on Monday because he is unhappy over the progress of
the meeting. A local journalist told IRIN that Yalahow, who arrived in the
Somali capital on Monday afternoon, believed the talks had not made much
progress "and there was no point for him to remain in Eldoret". Yalahow's
departure follows that of another Mogadishu-based faction leader Muhammad
Qanyare Afrah and of Colonel Barre Hiiraale, the leader of Juba Valley
Alliance, which controls the port city of Kismayo and much of the Juba
valley area of southern Somalia. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31703 ]


ETHIOPIA: Warning over high toll of AIDS orphans

A quarter of children in Ethiopia could be orphaned by the HIV/AIDS virus
within eight years, experts warned on Friday. The warning came during a
conference on HIV/AIDS in Addis Ababa, where it was also revealed that 2.2
million Africans are dying of the virus each year. Alan Whiteside, head of
the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division at Natal University in
South Africa, said the clock was ticking for at least a dozen African
countries. Whiteside also warned that the virus would become the single
biggest catastrophe to hit the continent this century. He said by 2010
some 15 to 25 percent of children in 12 countries - including Ethiopia -
could be orphaned. Alex de Waal, a senior adviser to the United Nations
Children's Fund and the UN's Economic Commission for Africa, echoed his
comments. He pointed out that the AIDS crisis worsened current food
shortages, increased dependency and placed a huge burden on surviving
family members. The experts were speaking ahead of a conference on
governance and HIV/AIDS to be held in Addis Ababa later this month. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31681 ]


ETHIOPIA: UN officials gain access to troubled camp

UN officials have made their first visit to a troubled refugee camp in
western Ethiopia where more than 40 people were killed during ethnic
clashes two months ago. But the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said tensions in
Ethiopia's remote Fugnido camp still remained high. In a statement
released after the visit, UNHCR also said 531 refugees were moved from the
camp to another refugee centre for their safety. Increasing tensions
between rival ethnic groups sparked the clashes, which broke out in late
November. There was also some looting after aid workers had to pull out of
the camp - which is close to the Sudanese border - for their own safety. A
spokesman for UNHCR said the plight of the refugees had worsened
dramatically since aid agencies had pulled out. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31680 ]


ETHIOPIA: Canada announces assistance

Canada has announced that it will contribute C $40 million (US $26.7
million) towards emergency assistance for Ethiopia. This is in addition to
$6.6 million worth of food aid announced in October 2002, according a
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) press release, issued on
Thursday. The announcement was made by Canadian International Cooperation
Minister Susan Whelan who said: "Today's announcement demonstrates
Canada's leadership in responding to the needs of Africans and our
unwavering commitment to assisting Africans who are victims of famine and
other disasters." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31760 ]


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