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

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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 126
01 - 07 February 2003


CONTENTS:

ERITREA: Isayas says Ethiopia "spoilt child" of superpowers
ERITREA:  Boy killed in grenade blast
ETHIOPIA: Malnutrition rates on the increase
ETHIOPIA: Women protest against FGM
ETHIOPIA: African leaders stress challenge of peace
SOMALIA:  Bantu refugees being prepared for life in the US
SOMALIA:  FAO denies upsurge in rinderpest disease
SOMALIA:  Fuel shortage hits Mogadishu
SOMALIA:  UN teams visiting Puntland
SOMALIA:  Factions face sanctions for ceasefire violations
SOMALIA:  Peace talks stalled
SUDAN:    Oil displaced allowed to return home
SUDAN:    Government, rebels sign new MOU on cessation of hostilities

See also: 

SOMALIA: Interview with TNG Foreign Minister Yusuf Hassan Ibrahim at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32143

ETHIOPIA: Feature - Critical time for AU summit at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32059



ERITREA: Isayas says Ethiopia "spoilt child" of superpower

Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki has described Ethiopia as the "spoilt
child of the world's superpowers". In the first part of an interview with
the ruling party's Shaebia website, he said some countries were afraid of
Ethiopia's "disintegration" and therefore believed "it is better to take
care of the present regime". He accused Ethiopia of hindering border
demarcation, because of its "desire to incorporate Badme into Ethiopian
territory". The two countries fought a bitter two-year border war from
1998 to 2000, which flared up in the disputed village of Badme. Last year,
an independent border commission, set up after a peace accord was signed,
issued a "final and binding" ruling on where the border lies. Both
countries claim to have been awarded Badme.
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32163 ]

ERITREA: Boy killed in grenade blast

A teenage boy was killed and his younger brother seriously injured when
they accidentally detonated an unexploded ordnance, believed to be a
rocket propelled grenade, near Shilalo in western Eritrea. According to
the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), the accident occurred on
Saturday in the village of Andalia. "The 13 year old, who was holding the
grenade, was killed instantly by mortal injuries to his chest and head,"
UNMEE said. "The 11 year old boy was severely injured by fragments to his
abdomen, chest and head." The boy was evacuated to Asmara by an UNMEE
helicopter. As a result of the accident, UNMEE's Mine Action Coordination
Centre (MACC) is currently conducting mine awareness training in Andalia.
UNMEE also said an anti-personnel landmine was discovered in Shilalo town
and is being disposed of by UNMEE deminers, who will also conduct a mine
clearance operation of the general area.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32096 ]


ETHIOPIA: Malnutrition rates on the increase

Malnutrition rates in Ethiopia are gradually increasing despite widespread
efforts to help millions of people facing starvation in the country,
according to aid organisations.

The UN's Country Team (UNCT) said the increase is particularly alarming
because the so-called critical period - when current harvests normally run
out - has not been reached.

"An increasing trend gives indication of a worsening nutritional and hence
humanitarian situation," the UNCT said in its 'Focus on Ethiopia' report.
It added that typically at this time of year, when the harvests have been
brought in, the malnutrition rates should be falling - not slowly
increasing.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32122 ]

ETHIOPIA: Women protest against FGM

Four wives of African presidents joined hundreds of women in Addis Ababa
on Tuesday to call for zero tolerance to female genital mutilation. The
wives of leaders from Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mali and Guinea condemned the
traditional practice as barbaric and called for international action
against it. Chantal Campaore, the First Lady of Burkina Faso told IRIN:
"Female genital mutilation is the most widespread and deadly of all
violence, victimising women and girls in Africa." Her comments came at an
international symposium at the UN conference centre in Addis Ababa,
attended by government officials from African countries and women's
groups. For the first time, they are drawing up a common pan-African
agenda in order to tackle the practice. According to studies, some two
million girls are subjected to mutilation each year with 120 million women
in 28 African countries having gone through the ordeal.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32123 ]


ETHIOPIA: African leaders stress challenge of peace

South African President Thabo Mbeki on Monday urged African leaders to use
their influence to resolve the crisis in Iraq. Addressing the first
extraordinary summit of the African Union, he called on heads of state to
wield pressure through the UN's Security Council to ensure a peaceful
resolution to the crisis. He also told the continent's leaders they had a
duty to impoverished Africans whose lives had been destroyed by war. "In
particular, we continue to be confronted by the challenge of peace and
stability on our continent," he said. "Events in this regard have
emphasised the need for us urgently to constitute the Peace and Security
Council on which we have already decided." He said it was "imperative"
that the 53 countries which make up the AU back the plans, ahead of the
next AU summit in Maputo, Mozambique. His call for peace was echoed by AU
interim head Amara Essy who said that the Ivory Coast crisis was "of grave
concern." He added that the various conflicts in Africa were "extremely
distressing."

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32063 ]

SOMALIA: Bantu refugees being prepared for life in the US

The first Somali Bantu refugees will probably reach the United States this
spring after the US agreed to take them in, according to a report released
by the US State Department on Wednesday. The 12,000 or so refugees under
consideration for admission to the US have been in refugee camps in Kenya
for over 10 years. Most of them were moved from the Dadaab camp in
northeastern Kenya to Kakuma in the northwest between June and September
last year, Sasha Chanoff, a spokesman for the International Organization
for Migration (IOM) told IRIN on Thursday. The refugees have already begun
the process that will see them into the US. "US Immigration and
Naturalisation Service (INS) officers had already started interviewing
them from September up to the end of November last year, said Chanoff,
noting that the officers had since taken a break, but would resume in
March.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32142 ]

SOMALIA: FAO denies upsurge in rinderpest disease

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has denied that there has
been an upsurge in the cattle disease, rinderpest, in Somalia. In a press
release, issued on Wednesday, the FAO pointed out that rinderpest has been
targeted for global eradication by 2010 and the disease is believed to be
absent from Asia and the Middle East. It said an earlier FAO press
release, issued last November, had created the inference that the
organisation was reporting an upsurge or epidemic of the disease in
Somalia. "This is not the case," the latest statement said. "Within the
past decade, rinderpest has been progressively controlled and then
eradicated from virtually the entire continent [Africa]." "The only
exception to this is the eastern Horn of Africa, which includes the Somali
pastoral ecosystem and some adjoining areas of Kenya and Ethiopia, where,
because of the difficulty of accessing cattle and pastoral populations,
the exact status of rinderpest could not be ascertained," the statement
said.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32126 ]


SOMALIA: Fuel shortage hits Mogadishu

A severe fuel shortage has hit the Somali capital, Mogadishu, over the
past two weeks, according to a local businessman. Fuel prices have
sky-rocketed, with the price of petrol doubling within a week. The
shortage was reportedly affecting not only the transport sector but many
of the light industries which had proliferated in the city over the last
couple of years, businessman Husayn Haji told IRIN on Wednesday. He said
the shortage was due to the fact that no cargo of petroleum had reached
Mogadishu for "at least a month", and some traders were taking advantage
to hike the price. The fear of a war in Iraq was also contributing, with
"rumours that once war starts, there will be no fuel coming from the Gulf
countries", he said. The bulk of fuel for Somalia comes from the United
Arab Emirates.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32125 ]


SOMALIA: UN teams visiting Puntland

A high-level United Nations team is visiting the self-declared autonomous
region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, to consolidate cooperation,
according to a UN source. The team, led by Maxwell Gaylard, the UN
Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, will be in the region
from 5 to 9 February, and will explore "the potential for the UN to do
more work in Puntland", the source told IRIN on Wednesday. The team will
also be trying to strengthen the "working relations with the Puntland
authorities, which we have been developing in the last six months".

UN staff members were evacuated from the region in early May 2002 for
security reasons, but on 15 October of the same year, UN agencies and the
Puntland administration signed a memorandum of understanding on bilateral
cooperation.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32121 ]

SOMALIA: Factions face sanctions for ceasefire violations

Somali factions attending peace talks underway in Eldoret, Kenya, face
expulsion or other sanctions if they continue to violate the ceasefire
agreement, Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka warned on Monday.
Speaking on behalf of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on
Development (IGAD) technical committee, which is steering the talks, he
expressed concern that since the deal was signed on 27 October, factions
and warring parties had continually violated the agreement. He was
speaking at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa. The technical
committee is made up of the so-called frontline states - Kenya, Djibouti
and Ethiopia.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Somali groups meeting in Eldoret
agreed to suspend all hostilities for the duration of the conference.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32085 ]


SOMALIA: Peace talks stalled

The Somali peace conference underway in the Kenyan town of Eldoret is said
to have stalled for lack of a quorum by the regional technical committee
which is piloting the proceedings, a source close to the talks told IRIN
on Monday. "Nothing is happening here [Eldoret] today, and nothing has
been happening in the last few days," he said. Of the Inter-Governmental
Authority on Development (IGAD) technical committee members "only the
Djibouti delegation is in Eldoret", said the source. The newly appointed
Kenyan special envoy, former Ambassador Bethwel Kiplagat, who is the
chairman of the talks, is reported to be away, and the Ethiopian envoy to
the talks, Abdulaziz Ahmad, is said to be in Ethiopia. The IGAD technical
committee comprises Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32061 ]


SUDAN: Oil displaced allowed to return home

The government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation
Movement/Army have committed themselves to "effect the immediate voluntary
return" of civilian populations displaced in the country's main
oil-producing area, Western Upper Nile (WUN), to their homes. A joint
communique issued on Tuesday said the new measure would include those
displaced within Western Upper Nile, those displaced from WUN to
neighbouring Bahr el Ghazal, and all other civilians who had been
displaced since the signing of the 17 October Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) on a cessation of hostilities. The agreement could lead to the
movement of tens of thousands of people.  Both sides to the conflict also
appealed to the international community to address the "humanitarian
crisis" in drought-stricken areas in Bahr el Ghazal and "other areas",
likely to mean WUN and Southern Blue Nile.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32127 ]


SUDAN: Government, rebels sign new MOU on cessation of hostilities

The government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army
(SPLM/A) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Tuesday to reaffirm
their commitment to the total cessation of hostilities, spokespersons from
both sides told IRIN. The spokesman at the Sudanese embassy in the Kenyan
capital, Nairobi, Muhammad Dirdiery, said the MOU provided, for the first
time, for a verification mechanism to monitor all ceasefire violations.
"In case of any violations, the party will have to surrender the area
taken," he added. The monitoring team would consist of representatives
from the government, the SPLM/A, the US, the UK, Italy and Norway, and
they would start "immediately", said Dirdiery. The existing US-led
Civilian Protection Monitoring Team monitoring team would be incorporated
into the new team, he added.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32098 ]


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