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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 130
01 - 07 March 2003


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Talks "in danger of collapse"
SOMALIA: Human rights offices closed in Puntland
SOMALIA: Militias on looting spree as Mogadishu death toll tops 50
SOMALIA: New committee to arbitrate on representation at peace conference
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Peace "unraveling", says Eritrea's ruling party
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Sides urged to keep up peace momentum
ETHIOPIA: Water availability one of world's lowest
ETHIOPIA: US helping to combat HIV/AIDS in the military
SUDAN: Government accused of violating ceasefire agreement
SUDAN: Peace talks resume on disputed areas
SUDAN: Church leaders want international support for peace

ALSO SEE: ETHIOPIA: Interview with malnutrition expert, Prof Mike Golden
at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32614



SOMALIA: Talks "in danger of collapse"

The Somali peace talks currently underway in Kenya are in danger of
collapsing unless strong leadership is provided by the mediators, the
Somalis and the international community, the Brussels-based think tank,
International Crisis Group (ICG), warned this week. "There is a serious
need to revive the flagging support and interest of the Somali public for
the peace process," it said in a report. The report said that participants
in the talks should have the ability to implement on the ground the
agreements they sign. It said faction leaders and civil society
representatives at the talks were "self-appointed", with a real risk that
the meeting would produce another "government in exile". "Ultimately, what
matters most is not who 'deserves' to sit at the table, but rather who
possesses authority and legitimacy in sufficient measure to implement an
agreement and deliver a lasting peace," the report said.  [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32674 ]

SOMALIA: Human rights offices closed in Puntland

The authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland have
ordered the closure of the offices of several local human rights groups,
according to a senior official in the region's commercial capital, Bosaso.
Abdishakur Mire Adan, the Puntland deputy information minister, told IRIN
that the region's internal affairs minister, Ahmad Abdi Habsade, had made
the announcement in a decree publicised on Wednesday. The groups affected
by the decree are INXA, an umbrella organisation of the Peace and Human
Rights Network; the Dulmidid Centre for Human Rights; and We Are Women
Activists (WAWA), he said. INXA is a Somalia-wide organisation, while the
others are Puntland-based. According to Abdishakur, the groups "have
violated their mandates and engaged in political activities and actions
inimical to the interests of the people of Puntland". Mahmud Jama Ali, the
chairman of Dulmidid, told IRIN that the groups had received no official
communication from the authorities. But, he added, "we have heard about it
[the decree] and seen it on the local media". [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32646 ]

SOMALIA: Militias on looting spree as Mogadishu death toll tops 50

Hundreds of families are fleeing their homes in Mogadishu's southwestern
Medina district after fierce clashes broke out in the Somali capital last
week. Ibrahim Abikar, a local businessman, told IRIN on Tuesday that the
area "is almost empty today". Some families have remained to safeguard
their homes from looters, but Medina - normally one of the most densely
populated areas of Mogadishu - was described as a "ghost town". Many
families had lost relatives "to indiscriminate shelling by both sides", a
local journalist told IRIN. Residents began fleeing Medina after fighting
between rival factions broke out on 26 February. "They are basically
leaving so as to keep what is left of their families alive," he said. The
latest round of fighting began when militias loyal to faction leader Muse
Sudi Yalahow, attacked positions occupied by fighters loyal to his former
right-hand man, Umar Mahmud Muhammad Finish, the journalist said. Both men
belong to the Da'ud subclan of the Abgal and the fighting is said to be an
attempt by the two leaders to gain supremacy within the subclan. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32616 ]

SOMALIA: New committee to arbitrate on representation at peace conference

An arbitration committee to comprise representatives of Somali clans is
being set up to resolve ongoing disputes over seats for delegates to the
Somali peace conference, the Kenyan mediator, Bethwel Kiplagat, told a
press conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Monday. Kiplagat also
said that an international monitoring commission on the shaky Somali
ceasefire may start sending fact-finding missions to Somalia shortly. The
peace conference opened last October in Eldoret, western Kenya, under the
auspices of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development
(IGAD). It was recently moved to Mbagathi, near Nairobi, for financial
reasons. The IGAD technical committee organisers had also hoped to resolve
the issue of excess delegates there, but now say there are still many
disputes, particularly over the representation of subclans. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32598 ]

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Peace "unravelling", says Eritrea's ruling party

Eritrea's ruling party has warned that peace with Ethiopia is
"unravelling" and accused Addis Ababa of "sabotaging" implementation of an
independent border ruling. A commentary, posted on the People's Front for
Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) Shaebia website, said it had become "starkly
clear" that Ethiopia had refused to accept the April 2002 border decision,
issued by the independent Boundary Commission, based in The Hague. Under
the terms of the December 2000 peace accord, following their two-year
border war, Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to accept the ruling as "final and
binding". "Ethiopia has not only rejected in practice the boundary
decision, it is wilfully and systematically sabotaging its
implementation," the Shaebia commentary said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32643 ]

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Sides urged to keep up peace momentum

Eritrea and Ethiopia have been urged to keep up the momentum of the peace
process, two months before demarcation of their common border is due to
take place, diplomatic sources told IRIN on Tuesday. Both the European
Union and the US handed over a diplomatic note, known as a demarche, to
the two countries. Both sides have been stepping up their war of words
recently as demarcation approaches. "We just want to make sure that eyes
are firmly focused on the peace process," one senior diplomat close to the
peace process told IRIN. "We do not want to rock the boat, but we want to
ensure that both Ethiopia and Eritrea fully realise that the goal here is
peace and it is not worth losing sight of that." Both Ethiopia and Eritrea
have publicly committed themselves to a peace deal - signed in December
2000 after a devastating two-year border war - which states that an
independent border ruling issued in April 2002 is "final and binding".
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32619 ]
 
ETHIOPIA: Water availability one of world's lowest

Ethiopia has one of the lowest amounts of water availability in the world,
according to a major UN study released on Wednesday. According to the
World Water Development Report, the country also has one of the poorest
quality water supplies, with only 11 countries worldwide in a worse state.
The key study, carried out by UNESCO, is the most comprehensive,
up-to-date overview of the state of the world's water resources. In
Ethiopia 1,749 cubic metres of water is available per person per year
while French Guyana - which ranked top in terms of access to water - had
nearly 500 times as much. The report also states that half the people in
developing countries are exposed to polluted water. "Of all the social and
natural crises we humans face, the water crisis is the one that lies at
the heart of our survival and that of our planet earth," said UNESCO
Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura. "No region will be spared from the
impact of this crisis which touches every facet of life, from the health
of children to the ability of nations to secure food for their citizens."
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32649 ]

ETHIOPIA: US helping to combat HIV/AIDS in the military

The US has launched a campaign to combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases in
the Ethiopian military, it was announced on Tuesday. It will donate some
2.8 million Ethiopian birr [about US $325,000] to fight the spread of
HIV/AIDS in the armed forces. The five year prevention and control
programme will be carried out by the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), working alongside the National Defence Forces of
Ethiopia (NDFE). The agreement was signed on Saturday by US ambassador
Aurelia Brazeal, CDC head Dr Tadesse Wuhib, and Head of Administration and
Finance of the Ethiopian Defence Ministry, Major-General Haile Tilahun. A
spokesman for the US embassy said that a peer system will also be used
where soldiers will help train each other in combating the virus. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32618 ]

SUDAN: Government accused of violating ceasefire agreement

The Brussels-based think tank International Crisis Group (ICG) has accused
the Sudanese government of violating a key agreement on the cessation of
hostilities, signed with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLM/A)
last October. In a statement issued on Thursday, the ICG said government
forces and government-sponsored militias had continued to attack oilfields
in Western Upper Nile in an effort to dislodge the SPLM/A and continue to
expand oil industry development in the disputed region. The primary
victims of the violence were civilians, the statement said. "The
international community must immediately condemn the continuing violation
of the cessation of hostilities by the government of Sudan," said John
Prendergast of the ICG. "The parties must be held accountable for
agreements signed in the context of the peace process. Otherwise, neither
the government, the SPLM/A, nor the Sudanese people can be expected to
take the process seriously." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32692 ]

SUDAN: Peace talks resume on disputed areas

Peace talks between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's
Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) resumed in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi,
on Tuesday. The negotiations will focus on the administration of the three
disputed areas of Southern Blue Nile, the Nuba Mountains (Southern
Kordofan State) and Abyei (also Southern Kordofan). On Wednesday, separate
consultations will be held with each delegation regarding the agenda and
timetable of the talks which had not been agreed on, the Sudanese News
Agency (SUNA) reported. The talks would then cover the issues of
development in the regions, the economic situation, peace and security,
the cease-fire in the Nuba mountains and ways of promoting it into a
permanent peace agreement, as well as the possibility of adopting a
similar agreement in Southern Blue Nile and Abyei, SUNA quoted the head of
the government delegation, Dr Mutrif Siddiq, as saying. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32623 ]

SUDAN: Church leaders want international support for peace

Southern Sudanese church leaders have welcomed the ongoing peace process
aimed at ending the country's protracted civil war, but have called for
urgent, internationally suported measures to guarantee a "just and
sustainable" peace agreement. The church leaders who last week attended an
ecumenical meeting in Pretoria, South Africa, also demanded an end to 20
years of fighting between the Khartoum government and the rebel Sudan
People's Liberation Movement/Army, to alleviate the suffering of the
people of southern Sudan. The forum, which took place between 24 and 26
February, also brought together more than 60 senior representatives of the
churches in Sudan and their international church partners."The war in
Sudan must stop now - our people have died enough," the church leaders
said in a communiqué issued after the forum. They hailed recent
significant progress made in the talks between the warring parties,
currently underway in Kenya. In particular, they welcomed a framework
agreed upon last year incorporating the right of self-determination for
the people of South Sudan. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32620 ]


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