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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 127
08 - 14 February 2003


CONTENTS:

ERITREA: Eritreans reapplying for refugee status in Sudan
ETHIOPIA: Project to provide clean water in remote region
ETHIOPIA: Journalists say draft press law breaches NEPAD goals
ETHIOPIA: Measles killing children who fled drought
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: UN notes countries' commitment to peace
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Ethiopia denies massing troops on border
SOMALIA: Some food security improvements in south
SOMALIA: Fishermen accuse foreigners of depleting coastal waters
SOMALIA: EC to support road improvements in Somaliland
SOMALIA: Peace talks to be moved to Nairobi
SUDAN: Washington condemns targeting of civilians
SUDAN: Report says civilians targeted by gov't and affiliated militias
SUDAN: Bring militia groups on board, says ICG

See also: 
ETHIOPIA: Interview with UN Country Representative Sam Nyambi at:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32228]

ETHIOPIA: Interview with EFJA president Kifle Mulat at:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32267]


ERITREA: Eritreans reapplying for refugee status in Sudan

Tens of thousands of Eritreans are reapplying for refugee status in Sudan,
according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). It said that more than a month
after the 31 December deadline which ended refugee status for hundreds of
thousands of Eritreans - most of them living in Sudan - dozens of legal
teams are sifting through nearly 27,000 applications from Eritreans who
want to remain in Sudan as refugees. The applications - one per family -
represent nearly 100,000 people living mainly in refugee camps and urban
centres in Sudan. "Some Eritreans say they cannot return home for fear of
persecution because of their political affiliations or religious beliefs.
Others say their marriage to non-Eritreans, particularly to Ethiopians,
will place them and their families at risk if they return home," UNHCR
said. The legal teams recently completed screening applications in Gedaref
and Wad Madani, and have shifted the emphasis to remote refugee camps in
eastern Sudan before these are rendered inaccessible by the rainy season.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32220]

ETHIOPIA: Project to provide clean water in remote region

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has handed over a drilling rig in the
remote Benishangul-Gumuz region to boost child health by improving access
to clean water in one of the most water-scarce parts of Ethiopia. The rig
- which was handed over to the regional government - is capable of
drilling 80 shallow wells a year and is designed to provide clean, safe
water for villagers. UNICEF's Ethiopia representative David Bassiouni said
that access to clean water was a vital for improving the lives of
impoverished families. "Access to clean water has an impact not only on
the water and sanitation of local villages but also improves the quality
of health and nutrition in the region as a whole," he noted. Bassiouni
also said that access to clean water boosts school attendance by children
who normally have to travel in search of water for their family.
Benishangul-Gumuz has one of the lowest water supply coverage rates in the
country, at just 30 percent. The drill will boost water supply by eight
percent a year.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32221]

ETHIOPIA: Journalists say draft press law breaches NEPAD goals

A controversial new Ethiopian draft press law violates African goals of
freedom of expression and good governance, Ethiopian journalists said on
Tuesday. The Ethiopian Free Press Journalists' Association (EFJA) said the
planned law breaches the New Partnership for Africa (NEPAD) which
governments have signed up to. Under NEPAD - which is heralded as a
development lifeline for the continent - governments have agreed to
enshrine the rights of freedom of expression. The criticism follows a
symposium over the weekend where journalists and government officials
tried to thrash out sticking points over the new law. Although the EFJA
welcomed the weekend talks as "historic" and said it would try to overcome
weaknesses in the fledgling private press, it refused to accept the new
law. "It is a law that is directed against our very existence and designed
to render us completely ineffective," the EFJA said in a joint statement
with editors, publishers and media professionals. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32224]

ETHIOPIA: Measles killing children who fled drought

A measles epidemic is killing children in a camp where families sought
sanctuary from the drought, an international aid organisation said on
Monday. UK-based Christian Aid said that the crisis in the makeshift camp
in Haraghe, in the eastern Oromiya region, is getting worse as more people
arrive in search of food and promises of resettlement on fertile land.
"The situation in the camp is dire and people - especially children - are
dying every day," said the organisation in an appeal for help. According
to the aid agency, some 37,000 people fled to the camp - a former military
base of the previous Derg regime. "They have been driven there out of
desperation," it said. "Their land, already largely infertile due to
over-farming and the pressures of over-population, has been hit by three
years of drought. "They have also been lured by government promises of
resettlement on new, fertile land here," Christian Aid added.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32192]

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: UN notes countries' commitment to peace

The UN's Force Commander in Ethiopia and Eritrea on Thursday reaffirmed
the two countries' commitment to the peace process. Major General Robert
Gordon told IRIN that the armed forces of both countries had shown great
discipline in abiding by the terms of a peace deal signed in December
2000. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bitter two-year border war from
1998-2000 and under the terms of the Algiers peace agreement, they agreed
that an independent Boundary Commission would map out a new border in a
"final and binding" ruling. Earlier this week, Eritrea accused Ethiopia of
massing troops on the border, a claim strongly denied by Addis Ababa.
President Isayas Afewerki of Eritrea has said Ethiopia is trying to
"incorporate" into its territory the disputed village of Badme, where the
border conflict flared up. Asked about reports of the troop build-up,
Gordon replied: "UNMEE's [UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea] mandate is
to monitor the temporary security zone [TSZ] and the redeployed positions
of the Ethiopian and Eritrean forces in the adjacent areas outside the
TSZ." [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32264]


ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Ethiopia denies massing troops on border

Ethiopia on Tuesday dismissed claims by Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki
that it is massing troops on the common border. Information Minister
Bereket Simon told IRIN the last thing Ethiopia wanted was another
conflict in the war-ravaged region. "We have seen the information but
there is no troop-massing along the border," the minister said. "There are
normal day-to-day movements but that is all." He added that if Ethiopia
had been massing troops, the UN peacekeeping force which patrols a 25-km
wide buffer zone would be aware. "The last two years have been good years
for Ethiopia apart from the drought," he added. "We would like to avoid
any conflict. That is the last thing we need." In a speech at the weekend
marking the 13th anniversary of the liberation of Massawa, Isayas accused
Ethiopia of massing troops on the border and of refusing to accept the
border ruling issued by an independent boundary commission last year. He
claimed Ethiopia was trying to isolate Eritrea regionally and globally "by
preventing it from receiving foreign aid". Both countries are suffering
from a devastating drought. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32222]

SOMALIA: Some food security improvements in south

A food security watchdog for Somalia has predicted a good secondary
harvest during January-February in southern Somalia, following a
satisfactory Deyr, or short rainy season, in the country. The Food
Security Assessment Unit for Somalia (which is funded by the EU and
implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organisation) said in its latest
report that in Hiiran region, south-central Somalia, the good Deyr season
had resulted in crops "likely to reverse the poor food security situation
that was predicted". According to the report, crops in the area under
cultivation are above normal and yields are expected to be good. Livestock
conditions had also improved, it said. The report, however, warned that
longer-term food security issues affecting Hiiran region - such as poverty
and low income levels - still remained, "particularly among the poor
riverine groups (situated by the banks of the Shabelle river) of the
region".

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32270]

SOMALIA: Fishermen accuse foreigners of depleting coastal waters

Large foreign ships are harassing and intimidating Somali fishermen around
the southern coastal towns of Marka and Barawe, according to local
fishermen. Marka fisherman Mahmud Kulow Aweys told IRIN on Wednesday that
many of the ships were fishing in Somali waters illegally. "We see them on
a daily basis, a few miles off our shores," he said. "Local fishermen
usually go out late at night to set their nets, but subsequently we find
that the crews of some of the ships have cut the nets. Some of them even
try to ram our boats." He claimed that some of the foreign vessels had
arms and occasionally opened fire on Somali fishing boats. There have been
reports that some Somali faction leaders have licensed foreign fishery
companies and provide armed militiamen to go on board the ships. Kulow
said that so far none of the Somali fishermen had been hurt, but warned
that "it is only a matter of time before serious damage is inflicted".
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32244]
 
SOMALIA: EC to support road improvements in Somaliland

The European Commission has approved a major project to support
rehabilitation of the core road network in the self-declared republic of
Somaliland, northwest Somalia. In a statement, the EC described the
project as a continuation of ongoing support through the German Federal
Agency for Technical Releif (THW), which will include technical assistance
to the Somaliland Roads Authorities. "The total budget is E4.5 million
with contributions from the European Commission (E4.2 million), the
implementing partner - the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief
(THW), and the Somaliland Road Fund," the statement said. It described
Somaliland's roads as the region's lifeline. "With no railway network and
with air travel being far beyond the reach of most Somalis, roads are
crucial channels for trade and communications," the EC said. Noting that
the port of Berbera had been growing in importance, it stressed the need
to continue improving the road between the port and the region. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32226]

SOMALIA: Peace talks to be moved to Nairobi

The Somali peace talks currently under way in the western Kenyan town of
Eldoret are to be moved to the capital, Nairobi, by the end of this week,
according to a source close to the talks. "The technical committee [of the
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, IGAD] is planning to move the
delegates on Saturday, 15 February," he told IRIN on Monday. However, the
question of who would be moved to the new venue had yet to be decided.
"The number of the delegates who will be moved has not been agreed on
yet," the source said. "It is up to the technical committee and the Somali
leaders' committee to agree on an exact number." The talks, which opened
on 15 October last year under the auspices of IGAD, have been dogged by
disagreements over the allocation of seats to delegates of the various
participating groups. The conference was initially meant to bring together
300 delegates, but ended up with nearly 1,000. That number had now been
reduced to around 400, a Somali delegate told IRIN. The technical
committee had been trying to reduce it to 300, but so far without much
success. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32193]

SUDAN: Washington condemns targeting of civilians

The US government, having studied a report by the Independent Civilian
Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) operating in Sudan, on Tuesday condemned
what it termed "unconscionable attacks and abuses against civilians" by
the government there. Richard Boucher, spokesman for the US Department of
State in Washington DC, said government and allied militia forces had
"deliberately targeted and displaced civilians" during operations in the
oil-rich western Upper Nile (Wahdah State) region of southern Sudan in
December and January. Last week, the government and the Sudan People's
Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) committed themselves to "effect the
immediate voluntary return" of civilian populations displaced in western
Upper Nile to their homes. A joint communique said the new measure would
include those displaced within western Upper Nile, those displaced from
there to neighbouring Bahr al-Ghazal, and all other civilians who had been
displaced since the signing of the 17 October 2002 memorandum of
understanding on a cessation of hostilities. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32249]


SUDAN: Report says civilians targeted by gov't and affiliated militias

Civilians in Western Upper Nile (Wahdah State), southern Sudan, including
women and children, have been targeted by the Government of Sudan and
allied militia groups in a series of attacks since the new year, a new
report has said. A preliminary report issued on Sunday in Khartoum by the
independent Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) stated that the
attacks had occurred in villages around Mayom, Mankien, Tam and Leel.
Civilian men and boys had been abducted for military purposes, while women
and children were taken to government-controlled towns, such as Mankien,
Mayom and Bentiu, the report said. Multiple interviews with escaped
abductees, both men and women, had revealed that the children had been
held captive and the women forced to provide manual labour and sexual
services. Cattle and crops were reportedly looted from villagers and moved
to Mankien, Mayom and Bentiu, the report said, while crops and personal
possessions had also been looted from Lara. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32231]

SUDAN: Bring militia groups on board, says ICG

A think-tank, the International Crisis Group (ICG), has said much more
attention needs to be paid to pro-government southern militia groups in
Sudan in order for the peace process to work. A report issued on Monday,
entitled "Sudan's Oilfields Burn Again: Brinkmanship Endangers the Peace
Process", notes the potential spoiler role that the militias can play in
the peace process, if greater efforts are not made to encourage their
reconciliation with the country's main rebel group, the Sudan People's
Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). "If the peace process does not pay more
attention to these local factors, it could easily break apart, even if a
national-level agreement were to be signed under the auspices of IGAD
[Inter-Governmental Authority on Development]," said ICG. Militia leaders
repeatedly referred to the SPLM/A's "exclusionary policy", arguing that
they were not bound by the 10 October cessation of hostilities accord
signed by the two main sides to the conflict, because those leaders had
not been parties to its negotiations, said ICG. "We know that we are
protecting the government, and southerners are dying as a result, but it
is better than being ruled by [SPLM/A leader John] Garang," said one South
Sudan Defence Force spokesman quoted in the report.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32200]


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


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