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 129
22 - 28 February 2003


CONTENTS:

ERITREA: Conditions set to worsen unless more aid arrives
ERITREA: President says electoral process to be implemented
ETHIOPIA: Call for accountable government to avoid food crises
ETHIOPIA: ICRC launches major food relief campaign
ETHIOPIA: New camp identified for frightened Sudanese refugees
SUDAN: US stresses commitment to peace
SUDAN: Amnesty urges probe on security situation in Darfur
SUDAN: Government denies existence of new rebel group
SOMALIA: International committee to monitor ceasefire accord
SOMALIA: TNG says peace talks facing collapse
SOMALIA: Faction leaders want Kenya to run peace talks alone
SOMALIA: Monitoring committee meets after heavy fighting in Mogadishu


ALSO SEE:

ERITREA: Feature - Sniffing out mines at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32547

ETHIOPIA: Feature - Trade opportunities on show at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32493



ERITREA: Conditions set to worsen unless more aid arrives
 
International donors are being urged to give a comprehensive, integrated
response to the drought in Eritrea to save the lives of thousands of
vulnerable people. Some 2.3 million people, out of a population of 3.4
million, are in need of food assistance and UN agencies have warned that
without further food pledges - and early shipment of those pledges - the
current food aid pipeline will rupture in April. "Conditions are set to
worsen, perhaps dramatically," one UN official told IRIN. Water tables
have now fallen up to 10 metres in many areas, with the grain-basket
provinces of Gash Barka and Debub the worst-affected. While lack of rain
and drought is almost "normal" for Eritrea, the current situation is
complicated by repeated droughts, the border conflict with Ethiopia, the
closure of the borders, lack of manpower due to mobilisation and landmine
problems, aid workers pointed out. Malnutrition levels now stand at over
15 percent. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32487 ]

ERITREA: President says electoral process to be implemented

President Isayas Afewerki of Eritrea has said the electoral process is
ongoing and will be "seriously implemented". Speaking at the opening
session of National Union of Eritrean Women's (NUEW) congress on Thursday,
he said the process had been delayed "because of Ethiopia's war, the
disruption caused by internal defeatists and external intervention". But,
he said, it was "firmly on the agenda and would be seriously implemented".

Parliamentary elections, scheduled for December 2001, were postponed
because the draft electoral law had not been ratified. It was subsequently
ratified by the National Assembly in January 2002 and an electoral
commission, headed by Ramadan Muhammad Nur, was formed. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32571 ]

ETHIOPIA: Call for accountable government to avoid food crises

Ethiopia faces permanent food crises unless it embraces open, accountable
government and radical market reforms, the head of the US government’s aid
arm said on Tuesday. Addressing the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
Andrew Natsios, head of the US Agency for International Development
(USAID), said Ethiopia must also boost growth and investment in
agriculture to avoid future famines. Natsios, who visited Ethiopia last
month, said without economic and political changes, the country would
always face “chronic hunger". “While the Ethiopian government has taken a
leadership role in responding to the famine, it has been reluctant until
very recently to embrace the policies that will stimulate growth and
investment in its agricultural sector to avoid future famines,” Natsios
said. He urged the international community to invest more on “recovery and
prevention” and boost funding in the agricultural sector to avoid food
crises in the country. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32515 ]

ETHIOPIA: ICRC launches major food relief campaign

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is stepping up its
emergency relief effort in Ethiopia, the organisation said last week. In a
statement launching a major food relief campaign for some 700,000 people,
ICRC said it would be supplying emergency food and seeds to help farmers
in the regions of Oromiya, Tigray, and the Southern Nations, Nationalities
and Peoples Regional State. The ICRC, which will be working with the
Ethiopian Red Cross Society, will also launch other projects such as
building and repairing wells and rainfall catchments. "The whole operation
has been planned in close cooperation with other humanitarian
organisations working in the country, and forms part of the global
strategy to relieve humanitarian needs in Ethiopia," ICRC said. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32458 ]

ETHIOPIA: New camp identified for frightened Sudanese refugees

The Ethiopian government has identified a new camp for Sudanese refugees
in the country after over 100 Sudanese were killed in violent ethnic
attacks over the last five months. According to the UN refugee agency,
UNHCR, the new site at Odier in western Ethiopia can accommodate 24,500
refugees. "[It] was chosen based on its accessibility, proximity to
administrative and security establishments, and the tribal composition of
local residents," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said. "Most important, the
site was chosen with the consent of the refugees themselves, who want to
move from the sprawling, insecure Fugnido camp.” The attacks at the
existing Fugnido refugee camp in Ethiopia's Gambella region were sparked
by increased tensions between Nuers and Dinkas on the one hand, and Anuaks
on the other. The Ethiopian government has reportedly rounded up those
accused of the killings and brought them to court. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32456 ]

SUDAN: US stresses commitment to peace

The US government has emphasised its commitment to a peaceful end to
Sudan's long running conflict. In a new report, Walter Kansteiner, the US
Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, said bringing peace to Sudan was
a key priority of President George Bush's administration. The report,
entitled "Peace, Conflict and Mediation In Africa: An Historic Opportunity
in Sudan", said bringing peace to Sudan was also in the national security
interest of the US government.  I am pleased to be able to say that we
have an historic opportunity to achieve peace. President Bush and
Secretary [of State Colin] Powell are deeply committed to this effort,"
Kansteiner said. He said a just settlement of the Sudanese conflict would
contribute to regional stability in the strategic Horn of Africa, and help
in the US global war against terrorism. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32496 ]

SUDAN: Amnesty urges probe on security situation in Darfur

The UK-based human rights organisation Amnesty International (AI) has
expressed concern over the deteriorating security situation in the Darfur
region of western Sudan, where armed bandits have in the past few months
intensified attacks on civilians. AI has urged the Sudanese government to
set up an independent commission of inquiry into the situation in the
region, with a view to preventing its possible escalation into another
civil war similar to that fought between the government and the Sudan
People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in the south of the country.  
According to AI, hundreds of civilians, mostly from sedentary agricultural
groups like the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawah, have been killed or wounded,
their homes destroyed and herds looted by nomadic groups over the past few
years. Sometimes dozens of civilians had been killed in a single raid, AI
noted. "The situation must not be allowed to deteriorate further into
another Sudanese war. Those who commit crimes, must be brought to justice,
but international human rights standards of fair trial must be respected,"
it said. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32462
]

SUDAN: Government denies existence of new rebel group

The Sudanese government has denied the existence of a new rebel group in
the country, which was this week reported to have seized a town in western
Sudan. AFP reported from Khartoum on Wednesday that a new rebel group,
calling itself the Front for the Liberation of Darfur, had seized the town
of Gulu in Jebel Marrah province, and installed its own administration.
The region is not currently covered by ongoing peace talks to end the
long-running civil war in the country. Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, spokesman
at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, described the reports as an
"exaggeration". He told IRIN that the so-called rebel group was a "gang of
bandits" who had been terrorising residents of the region and who had no
political agenda. He however admitted that the group had taken over "some
mountainous areas because they think the government could not handle the
terrain". He said the Khartoum government was currently considering its
next course of action, but added there was no chance of the incident
jeopardising the ongoing peace process. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32550 ]

SOMALIA: International committee to monitor ceasefire accord

An international committee is being set up to monitor a shaky ceasefire
accord signed by Somali faction leaders, Kenya's special envoy for
Somalia, Bethwel Kiplagat, said on Tuesday. He was speaking at a plenary
session to relaunch the Somali peace talks at their new venue in Mbagathi,
near Nairobi. The Mogadishu-based Transitional National Government (TNG)
boycotted the plenary to protest against the new conference facilities,
while a number of factions were also absent. "We have already contacted
the United Nations, the African Union, the Arab League, the European Union
and all are now committed to be members of the committee which will be
monitoring the ceasefire in that declaration [of 27 October 2002],"
Kiplagat told the conference. "IGAD [Inter-Governmental Authority on
Development] of course is a member of that committee and also the United
States of America," he said. "And I will be calling the committee this
week to discuss what action we need to take for those who violate what
they have signed." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32490 ]

SOMALIA: TNG says peace talks facing collapse
 
Somalia's TNG has refused to take part in the peace talks, which were
moved recently from the Kenyan town of Eldoret to the capital, Nairobi,
warning that they are facing collapse. In a statement, received by IRIN,
the TNG listed a range of issues it was unhappy with. These include a
threat to the "legitimacy" of the conference, caused by the participation
of "all sorts of people with no-one to represent". The statement also
called for representation from the self-declared republic of Somaliland,
and complained about the "unclear" programme and timetable of the
conference, as well as the fact that the talks had "not yet been turned
over to the Somalis". The statement accused Ethiopia of "working
tirelessly to marginalise or undermine the TNG and some factions, while
favouring others". "Ethiopian activities at the conference are motivated
and driven by its sinister designs for Somalia," the statement said.  
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32516 ]

Subsequently, on Thursday, civil society delegates to the peace talks said
they would resist any attempts to disrupt the conference. "We know, of
course, that governments have interests but we believe they all want to
see a friendly government in Somalia," civil society chairman Dr Sharif
Salah Muhammad Ali told a press conference. And he said people should not
sit around criticising. He appealed to all groups, including the TNG, to
participate. Civil society delegates believed Somalis should have
ownership of the conference, he said, but that overall leadership should
be left with the technical committee of the IGAD. He added that the
technical committee, which is made up of Ethiopia, Kenyan and Djibouti,
deserved support. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32544 ]

SOMALIA: Faction leaders want Kenya to run peace talks alone

Faction leaders attending the peace talks have condemned the slow pace of
the conference and accused Somalia's neighbours - the so-called frontline
states - of working for their own interests. A statement, signed by 11
faction leaders, blamed "continuous contradictions, differences and
misunderstandings" between the three frontline states - Kenya, Djibouti
and Ethiopia - for the "very slow progress of the process". The frontline
states, the statement said, were "contesting for their own interests in
Somalia, as well as [for] the existing political differences of those
countries". "Such an attitude shows that there is a deliberate attempt to
fulfil a hidden unknown political agenda with the objective to wreck the
reconciliation process and consequently blame the Somalis," it claimed. To
this end, the leaders said, Kenya, as the host nation, should have sole
responsibility for conducting the process "without any interference of the
Ethiopian and Djibouti governments". [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=32460 ]

SOMALIA: Monitoring committee meets after heavy fighting in Mogadishu

A newly-formed committee, set up to monitor a shaky ceasefire accord
between the warring sides in Somalia, met on Thursday following clashes
between rival warlords in Mogadishu. The monitoring committee - made up of
the US, EU, AU, Arab League and the regional Intergovernmental Authority
on Development (IGAD) - met at the venue of the Somali peace talks in
Mbagathi near the Kenyan capital Nairobi, sources close to the talks told
IRIN on Friday. They discussed the issue of imposing sanctions - such as
travel restrictions - against sides which breach the cessation of
hostilities agreement, signed by faction leaders and the Transitional
National Government (TNG) in the Kenyan town of Eldoret last October.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32580 ]


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


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